#ml tibet

[princess-of-the-corner]

Sorry for an ML submission but I was musing on the Renlings again and also the Kwami animal designates in general. Cos if they wanted to so specifically tie their origin to China (Technically Tibet given the Orders location but I am unsure they did that on purpose) there's a ton of great creature designs.

Off the cuff there are the Nine sons of the dragon, one dragon and 8 other hybrids from turtles, to fish, to dog like critters mixed with dragons, all with different domains and duties.

Then you have the

Xiezhi, which would tie into the Miraculous Special Well as a ox/goat-lion hybrid with the innate ability to detect right from wrong and a penchant for ramming wrongdoers.

"I know, I should give up my vengeance." "Nope, we need to ram these fuckers!"

Pixiu, winged lion-dragons whom are powerful protectors of the souls of the dead that can only eat wealth for complicated reasons as well as guard against disease.

Fenghuang, with strong sun associations, its essentially a phoenix minus the coming back from the dead trope.

Shíshī, stone lion-dogs, IE guardian lions, meant to protect against harmful material and spiritual elements.

Qilin, a deer/horse-dragon with associations to benevolence and the birth and death of sages.

Honestly yeah a lot of them would've worked well

[yolowritter]

Can I give you my rant about the absolute MESS Astruc and the rest of the staff did with the background of ML? Because it's infuriating to a history buff and cultural appreciator like me. Especially after the episode Darkblade shows they CAN do a good job (the story of the ancestor Darkblade is the last years of Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac and Conestable of France, just with names filed off), they just choose to be lazy. And infuriating.

Side material references the Fox, Bee, Turtle, Peacock, and Butterfly Miraculous as the Elemental Miraculous, drawing in the Wuxing... And they never explored that.

The Miraculous Order was based in Tibet... Except the Wuxing link above and everything else we see of the Order say they're Daoist-adiacent, and the Tibetan monasteries are Buddhist. And let's not go on the fact Tibet was a different and often rival civilization to China (even the CCP admits that, and bases their control on how China had CONQUERED Tibet before the British got involved) yet the Order is quite obviously Chinese...

Gabi Gassette changed name in Gabriel Agreste... Except this is impossible under French law. Changing one's personal name is already hard enough, and changing the family name requires a petition to the PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC proving you have a good reason under French law (and by what is shown, he didn't have one).

Joan of Arc never user her sword in combat, and in fact created her famous banner to have an excuse to not fight. So the scene of her getting time displaced and drawing a sword to fight is utterly ahistorical.

Lila Rossi is coded as an Italian, and I say that as an actual Italian. Her gestures, her expressivity, her hamminess, even her vindicativeness ("vendetta" is actually the generic Italian word for "revenge", but in English it became the word for "horrific revenge" because we're THAT vindicative), everything says she's an Italian teenaged girl. So all the "Cerise" nonsense is frankly ridiculous...

Now the really infuriating one, their take on Joan of Arc, of how she and the English bearer of the Black Cat were manipulated by the ambition of the Kings of France and England. Except Charles of France was the Dauphin, that is the heir to the throne, and grasping at straws to save France from the invasion when Joan showed up and requested he gave her an army to throw the English out of France and couldn't get crowned until Joan reconquered Reims, the city of the coronation. As for Henry VI of England, he was SIX (almost seven) when Joan entered the war (hence why Charles had a chance to reclaim the throne, to be crowned King of France one had to be a knight, and that meant one had to be an adult). These guys claimed Joan and Dark Grimalkin were manipulated by a desperate prince who was considering giving up and by a six years old child.

Sorry for the rant... But seriously, why did they do all of that?!

Because it's Thomas Astruc, and frankly I have no idea! Don't worry, rants are always welcome! By all means, I'm sure there's more stuff if we look for it! As a fellow history nerd, and also with Joan being my single favorite French historical figure ever, I have been seething ever since I saw their take on her. Henry the VI was literally just a child, and Charles was dependant on Joan because the English were demolishing France at the time! There is a perfectly good story in real history as to what could have happened to her and Dark Grimalkin! Just do an "partners on opposide sides of a war", slap in the iconic banner as her Miraculous weapon and call it a day! It would have been so much easier to follow real history! They didn't even need to do any work!

And as for the Cerise nonsense...that "explanation" better be really good. It better be Dark Souls-level deep lore with an interconnected backstory that ties up every single mystery in Lila's character better than Scooby Doo ever could, or I am going to lose my mind! I've already said this in my Lila post, but it's genuinely offensive that they had such a great idea for a character, and built her up so much...just to say "oh well actually she has three moms who don't even know eachother, and her name is Cerise, or Iris, or...something else". Lile c'mon! For Nooroo's sake here, it's a blatantly poor attempt to make her interesting again and it only worked because the fandom is grasping at straws for theory material because of the hiatus!

Any side material for the show just doesn't do a good enough job at actually giving us something new, or at the very least something interesting. The Miraculous and Kwami are constantly sidelined because why bother talking about this extremely high-potential universe you have in your show's Lore...if you didn't bother to fill in the blanks? Kwami are supposed to be Gods, Season 2 has references to Plagg blowing up Atlantis! Myths are apparently real in this universe! Please do something with that Thomas, it's free money! But nope, of course they ignore it.

The Guardian Order...well, I call them "The Jedi from Wish" for a reason. Like okay, religious order that has conservative thinking and backwards methods in a new world that is rapidly and constantly evolving. Cool concept! Unfortunately they don't even get their designs right, can't be consistent with which religion they're even based on, contradict themselves all the time, and make them utterly irrelevant after Su Han's first appearence. His only job in the story is to show up, yell at the protagonists, and then be proven wrong because "Ladybug is always right", only to apologize and then yeet himself to Brazil or something! I have an entire rant about this guy, but I'll refrain atm.

And lastly abt Gabriel's name change, I honestly didn't know that. Cool info, I'll add to my list of "times the writers didn't do their 5-minute google search". But like, c'mon. You're choosing to incorporate an important detail about your main villain into his backstory. Shouldn't you have somebody do the research to see if that's even possible? Even the intern is better than no one! I swear...and then us fanfic authors spend hours upon hours looking up obscure stuff just so one sentence/joke can be factually correct.

[itsawritblr]

Exactly how old is this photo supposed to be?

I haven’t seen the episode in which this appears, so I’m basing this post only on this photo.

ML is teasing that Gabriel, Nathalie and Emilie were treasure hunters who found the butterfly and peacock miraculous in Tibet.  Sure.  OK.  Did this happen before or after Gabriel became an unknown designer living in, as Audrey says, a cramped, dirty studio?

Anyway, I digress.

The above photo is made to look like it’s old.  Very old.  It looks like the photos taken of the discovery of King Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922.

How old are Gabriel, Nathalie and Emilie supposed to be?  How long ago were they treasure hunters, or whatever the fuck they were?

At the series’ start Adrien is 13.  By the Christmas special his mother has been missing for one year; it’s Adrien’s first Christmas without her.

Let’s guess that, during Season 1, Gabriel is 34-40 years old.  Which means he was 21-27 when Gabriel was born. Pretty young.  We can’t know how long he and Emilie were married before that.  Or when Gabriel was discovered by Audrey Bourgeois.  I seem to recall hearing, dunno in what ep, Adrien say his mother became “sick” after their trip to Tibet.  So it couldn’t have been long before Season 1, when Adrien was 13.  Given the tech in ML’s world, the story’s happening about the same time as real life, so it’s the 2010s.

Then why does the photo look like it was taken in the 1920s?  Or is it just dirty?

Why not have the photo look recent?  I assume it’s because they want to create the aura of Old Time Indiana Jones Style Treasure Hunters.  Unless they want to introduce a weird slant, like the three were young in the 20s and time-traveled via miraculous to modern day or some such shit.

And no one “treasure hunts” these days, except illegally.  Because countries now are very protective about their antiquities being stolen.  Not “found” or “discovered”  or “hunted.” In the modern day, the three wouldn’t be allowed to hunt, only excavate as members of an official archeological team, and only with the country’s permission and a shit-ton of government paperwork.

But yeah, this is ML’s world, so they can pretty much do what they want, I guess.  They’ve already messed up the canon timeline with the ML game scene between Gabriel and Nathalie, in which Gabe says they’ve been searching for the Ladybug and Cat Noir miraculous for “years.”  When in the show Emilie was only gone for a little less than one year.

Naturally the show’s creators are teasing things to keep viewers on edge, waiting for more.  I don’t like the way the writing is now, but out of intensely irritated curiousity I want to know where they’re going to take this story line.  It’s already shifted (as previously ranted) from Magical Girl to SF MCU.

[familyagrestefanblog]

Theory on the guardian Temple: Mount Kailash

Every since "The Collector" I was convinced that the guardian mountain in Miraculous is most likely inspired by a real life counterpart. Then "Feast" came around and confirmed it to me. So I started to do some research and here we are with my answer and a new theory: Mount Kailash.

This mountain is surrounded by mysteries GALORE and its was such an interesting research to do! The more I read up on it the more I was convinced that this is indeed the inspiration of the guardian mountain in Tibet (and its entire society) we see in the show.

So let's not waste any more time and let's dive in. As always, I have alot to say ^^

As always, starting with the basics:

Just like in the show, Mount Kailash is located in Tibet and is part of the Himalaya. Its shape is a bit tricky to compare but even if it wouldn’t add up I think it wouldn’t matter that much. As long as the Ml mountains shape isn’t completely off and unrecognizable let a mountain be a mountain, the shape is not what’s most important about it anyway (not in this theory at least). The height on the other hand adds up very nicely. As we see in the flashbacks the guardian mountain may have been up high but also wasn't the highest mountain in the region by far.

This also applies to Mount Kailash. It is “only” 6,638 m (21,778 ft) high, which is small in comparison to several other mountains that go up to 8,850 metres (29,035 ft). So just like in the show, its not the highest mountain but definitely high enough to sometimes be above a cloud layer.

Next is the lake. Just like we saw in Fu’s flashback, mount Kailash also has a lake. Two to be correct. Lake Manasarovar and Lake Rakshastal.

The lake seen in the flashback I believe to be Lake Manasarovar (right)

The lake is located right by Mount Kailash and is believed to be the most sacred one in Tibet and has the most transparent water among all the lakes in China. In Hinduism, Lake Manasarovar is a personification of purity and bathing in it and drinking its water is believed to cleanse all sins. That sounds definitely like a perfect fit for the ancient, mystical guardian mountain lake we are looking for here.

Of course, the show hasn’t given us any indications yet that the mountain lake has such a high status (how could it? We saw it in one picture) and for all it is, the one in the show doesn’t have to. If the lake(s) end up having such qualities as well (which I believe and I’m also convinced the second lake will be of great importance as well but all of this is an extended theory for a very different day) than that’s wonderful and I’m more than happy, but if not then I’m convinced as well that it was not just a random lake they put in there but one with a mighty cultural significance.

Beside that, the lake happens to be a fresh water lake. This would also explain how a squid or kraken was shown to us to have been there, since those are freshwater animals.

Next is the whole temple thing in general. In real life there is of course no temple on Mount Kailash, but this doesn't mean that the concept of a temple for this mountain is anything new. In fact, it's really, totally, utterly not. There may be no temple on our mountain but we still do have a Kailasa temple and MY is this one important as well!

Comparing these two makes it quite obvious right away, they do have big differences. The material, the design etc. But once again, inspiration doesn't mean copy paste.

What caught my attention here were for example the big stone circle in the middle that mirrors the guardian symbol and the big tower right beside it reminds of the biggest building from the guardian temple. While the Kailasa temple is not built on Kailash, it's shape is supposed to reflect and honor the mountain because the temple was built for the greatest of the hindu gods, lord Shiva (the main God who is supposed to life on top of kailash's peak) and therefore it was supposed to resemble his home.

Meaning what Miraculous did here in my opinion, is that they simply combined Mount kailash and the Kailasa temple to make their own version for the show that is unique enough to stand on its own but also stays close enough to its roots to properly honor and portray them.

I LOVE this.

(Okay I'm gonna take this little section to gush a little about this temple because my GOSH this temple is a beauty to behold!

You are not just looking at any temple here, all of this was CARVED out of the stonewall in ONE PIECE! This is one of the greatest architectural masterpieces in human history and today no one can actually tell how the ancient local people even DID this.

I mean LOOK at this! This is of pure stone, all in one piece and there is even a gigantic underground section!

And each and every wall is full of smaller carvings from the bottom to the top, telling the stories of their culture, their mythology and believes. And even those are little pieces of art for themselves! This is marvellous! I hope that one day I will be able to see this place in person because... wow!)

Alright, leaving the materialistic basics behind us, lets take a look at its religious and cultural significance and its mystical reputation because those are *chef kiss* just beautiful.

Here is an important thing to keep in mind that since the Miraculous mountain is not going to be straight up real life Kailash, only inspired by it, this also means the show would be able to include some of its myths and folklores a lot more directly. Therefore I’m also including them here in my theory.

Coming back to what I said earlier, that apparently Mount Kailash is the holiest mountain on earth. And well, that's no exaggeration of mine. Mount Kailash is the center point of 4(!) religions, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Tibetan Bön. These religions also make the fact that the guardians are portrayed as monks a perfect fit. The fact that Mount Kailash has such an immense significance for the regional religions also led to one of the greatest check points for this theory:

Mount Kailash is to this day unclimbed. For several reasons I will cut down to the 3 most important for my theory:

1. As Mount Kailash is believed by 4 religions to be the center point/or a place of great significance, it is also a place that people hold in alot of honor, respect and fear as well. It's peak is believed to be place were their gods rest and/or where basically the divine energies of Existence are residing and therefore you don't just CLIMB that mountain.

Regional people and believers go an incredibly long way to honor it even to this day and therefore, no, regional people never dared to claim this mountain for themselves and its forbidden by the law to dishonor this sacred place by doing so. Bringing this back to miraculous I’m sure you already see why this fits like a glove.

If there is any real life mystical mountain the guardians of the miraculous would be located on, it's this one! The Miraculous are the origins of the in-universe world and as we know from Fu it is an unspeakable honor to be chosen as one of their guardians. The guardian society was/is located off of the normal society and at least the local people from Fu's childhood knew of their existence. Meaning here again, the miraculous mountain as well holds a great cultural significance and only the chosen guardians were allowed to climb it but for that they also had to dedicate their lives to the miraculous and life in isolation from the rest of the world.

This in combination with:

2. When I say it is forbidden to climb that mountain I mean FORBIDDEN. Not only by regionals and believers because of religion reasons. No. Between the 50s and the 70s Chinese authorities have officially managed to declare this sacred mountain as off limits, keeping it unclimbed and under protection with all means needed. Meaning no climbing by foot (beyond the free area that has always been allowed) or by any machine. It's peak is to be remained untouched. And this also means any footage taken from the mountain needs to be done from far away, no matter how ouf of the world the happening on the mountain may be. And that's precisely what we saw in "Feast"

One would think that the reappearance of a long-lost temple on a fuck high mountain would get the immediate reaction of storming and exploring it like hell. But that's not what's happening here and I don't think it's just for plot convenience at all. If we are indeed talking about a mountain in miraculous here that is just as protected by the law as mount Kailash in real life, then THIS reporting here is as close as anyone can officially/legally get in that moment without serious consequences with the law and Chinese government.

They didn't NOT storm the temple because of plot reasons, they didn't because they are legally aren't allowed to set foot on a sacred unclimbed mountain that is supposed to stay that way. What a great and subtle way of telling us more and more about the significance of the guardian mountain. Wonderful Miraculous, I applause you ^^

But there is still another reason why Mount kailash's unclimbed status convinced me that this is indeed the mountain we are (at least in an inspired way) being presented with in the show.

My point 3. is the reason why Kailash remained unclimbed by (the native) people in the first place which highly influenced its immense religious status although history to the point where it is believed to be the center place of GODS, THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE and ALL OF EXISTENCE.

Cause its not like no one ever tried to climb it. Naturally people did, just like with any other mountain on earth. But here is the thing: somehow no one was able to actually DO it. Odd how humans were and are able to reach the peak of freaking Mount Everest even though it's ALOT higher and objectively deadlier by a long shot but "small" and "easy" Kailash is the one still unclimbed.

Kailash didn't get its godly, mystical and fear-striking reputation for no reason. We are now officially stepping into folklore and myth terrain which is actually exactly what we are looking for because a show called "Miraculous" is going to REGALE in the supernatural stories of its influences. And when I say supernatural, I do indeed mean SUPERNATURAL. The climbers who survived their trip reported of unearthly happenings and situations that made claiming Kailash simply impossible. I'm not sure if saying Kailash seems to have a mind on its own is appropriate but it surely seems to try to defend itself from people who aren't worthy or not supposed to be there with means from another layer of existence.

Sudden weather extremes that come out of nowhere to stop the mountaineering and a seemingly changing environment that leads the climbers into confusion, the wrong direction (away from the peak) and even their end are two of the greatest examples and they fit perfectly into the nature of the Miraculous.

Another myth I’ve read quite a lot about is that on Mount Kailash time works… differently.

This also goes back to its defence mechanism of intruders because it is said that trying to climb it will let hair, nails etc grow a lot faster or fasten up the aging process all together to the point were relatively young climbers died the very next year of freaking OLD AGE! This is not only interesting for the miraculous mountain because it’s a supernatural coping mechanism of the Miraculous origin place using a power we are already familiar with (Bunnix time powers) but also because Kailash’s very same time anomalies are also said to grand a longer life (to those who are worthy if I’m not wrong). And do tell, what’s Fu’s age again? That’s right, a very impossible 186.

BUT, when the Miraculous guardian mountain does grand those who are chosen to be guardian (probably through a ritual or something like that to ultimately seal their “decision” to dedicate their lives to the Miraculous) a much longer life through its magical nature, that would definitely make Fu’s age much more plausible.

And yet still, even after everything I brought up one can still raises the questions “Yes but why THIS mountain? What’s so special about it that all of the miraculous things would happen there? Real-life and Miraculous. For all it is, is it just a coincidence?”

You all know me well enough by now that NOPE, I’m sure as heck not done yet :D Lets get to my last point and this one is what sold this entire idea to me 100%, without a single doubt left behind. This is the HEART of this theory.

Let me explain to you Mount Kailash’s status as Axis Mundi.

Trying to keep this as easy as possible, I do think its concept is comparable to the medieval believe that the earth is the centre of the universe. That everything from the sun to every known planet circles around us and we were the first and most important thing created. Axis Mundi is somewhat like this.

Axis Mundi means “earth axis” in latin and is basically the center point of the earth. It has several ways to approach its meaning from religion, astrology to geography. Good thing for us, Mount Kailash is a complete jackpot in this regard, so this makes it easy! (This is probably the reason why Kailash is seen as THE Axis Mundi for many people, even if there are several others that fit under certain categories as well)

Astrologically Mount Kailash is an Axis Mundi because of its location between the two celestial poles. Its distance to the north pole is 6666km and to the south pole LITERALLY the double: 13332km. Its wild, but it gets even better!

The geographical point of view only supports the astrological because Mount Kailash is said to be part of a several-linked-monuments-line with the exact same km-count of 6666km in between all of them.

And maybe this is the right time to remind you that the height of Mount Kailash that I have mentioned in the beginning is 6638m.

Although this is a point, I wouldn’t bet my hand on for 100% legitimacy, since when I double checked the Kailash to Stonehenge UK distance on Google Earth, I ended up with a distance of 6.900-something km. But at the same time the measurement system there can get quite off in such mountainy terrains so that doesn’t mean its officially wrong. Just in question. Luckily it isn’t even that important if this is true or not in real-life, because even if it isn’t, then Miraculous as a TV show can still incorporate and work with this myth/conspiracy(?) no problem.

Another geographical but more local reason for why Kailash is seen as Axis Mundi in China is because there 4 main Asian rivers find their source: Shiquan (Lion!) river, Maquan (Horse!!) river, Xiangquan (Elephant) river and Kongqu (Peacock!!!) river. now that’s something to keep in mind in future. Each on one of the 4 sides of the mountain, making it indeed a source of life for all of China and therefore a “center point” as well.

And last but definitely not least and my, this one if my favourite!

As I explained earlier, Mount Kailash is seen by 4 religions as the center place of their gods, the entire universe and all of creation. But not only that. Because since it is the place where literal gods can manifest, it is also the place where our material world meets the spiritual one and they overlap (Hence the supernatural nature and abilities of the mountain).

Do you see what this means for Miraculous?

It means that the guardians didn’t chose their mountain by sheer coincidence. It means that this very mountain peak is the place where humans where/ARE able to get access to the Kwamis!

A while ago Thomas Astruc posted this on Twitter

He describes the nature of the Kwamis as not actual living creatures per se but more like the embodiments of abstract concepts found in this universe’s existence. Humans can only interact with them through the ml jewelleries but even if these get destroyed (bee miraculous in “Queen Wasp”) the Kwami doesn’t “die”, it just goes back to its original abstract (bodyless) form and can be brought back with their Miraculous because, logically, destroying the bee miraculous for example didn’t wipe out the entire concept of Submission. Duh. Therefore, Pollen was still “there”.

So if the Kwamis are more embodiments of abstract concepts which need a specific item to physically materialize in the, well, MATERIAL world then this means there needed to be a place of transition between these two layers of reality to seal the Kwamis to the Miraculous’ in the first place. And BOY, this is it!

I’m so convinced that the guardian mountain is the Miraculous inequivalent of our Mount Kailash, everything fits like a glove and explains so many questions I haven’t even considered to ask before now!

Especially the last part about the origins and nature of the Kwamis and how their transition into the real world happened is such a gigantic lore aspect! There is so much to be discovered and connected here and I’m already reworking everything about the lore I have so far and MAN I’m glad I picked up on theorizing about Ml again! I am EXCITED!

But for now, this is it :D

[peraphelic]

*In Tibet*

Gabriel: We never should've come in the temple.

Nathalie: No guts, no glory.

Gabriel: Are you ever scared of anything?

Emilie: Yeah, dying alone, that's why I brought you two here.

[cobraonthecob]

my hatred of ml stems partially from the characters but also because of the racism. even if the show was well written (i wish) i’d still be ripping into it for the racism

[jacquesthepigeon]

Still can’t believe how hard the crew goes for colonization like they made a miraculous box based on Native American lore but made the only known user a white man during colonial times and tried to make it sound heroic and literally anyone with basic knowledge about colonialism can figure out what really happened there lmao

[brokenroyalderringer]

Hawkmoth is a very season 1 villain to me, I want more evil miraculous users that don’t have to make villains ú m ù

[umbrellatori13]

Unpopular opinion but Fu was an inconsiderate coward, could’ve executed his release of guardianship better, and proved that old saying of “secrets are no fun, secrets hurt someone” pretty darn right most of the time.

[frigidlyauthorial]

hawkmoth taunting ladybug and chat noir saying “you can’t even stay in your true form after using your powers” or w/ever brings up two pressing concerns.

1) They can do that????

2) “true form” implies that Gabe sees Miraculous holders as being lesser in their civilian lives and should ideally never detransform, which might explain the whole “i have nothing to lose” if he sees “Gabriel Agreste” as being expendable.    

[miracu-less]

Gabriel and Mama Agreste

Little photo op in Tibet~

Also, @wintermoth made a post-> about how Mama Agreste disappeared at the ruined temple, and I totally have a small comic idea about it, nothing major, but some illustrated idea of how it could have POSSIBLY gone down~ Getting the two Miraculous in his possession today, and the Grimoire that Master Fu described. Look forward to that! Also, Gabriel is a hard ass, but he’s such a cinnamon roll when around her~

Background rotoscoped from google search for Tibet.

Instagram-> FireStarAnimationstumblr-> Deviantart-> Twitter-> Candasaurus~

[princess-of-the-corner]

ML Plot Points: The Agreste Family Part 2.

Nathalie is the one who I had to think about the longest, and the reason this took me so long. I wanted all three of the Agreste family adults to reflect another character by having the same issues, but different reactions to it, and I couldn’t choose a character to make her a reflection of. I wanted her to have issues taking responsibility and being the one who is in charge, as well as having confidence issues. I also wanted the character she’s linked to to be one of the teen Miraculous holders.

I quickly discarded Alya and Nino because they have no relation to the Agrestes. Same thing with Luka. I thought about making it Chloe, but I didn’t because I couldn’t come up with a way to link them that I really liked. I even thought about making it Sabrina due to their similarities (assistant to another character, fades into the background easily), but I didn’t like that option either. Then it hit me.

There is a character who’s also been in the background, but who took center stage for S5 due to Gabriel getting wounded by Felix. Another character who has issues with control and who is linked very thoroughly with the Agreste household. A character who, if I link Nathalie’s backstory with, gives me full leeway to make her childhood fucked. And less importantly but kind of amusingly, continues the trend of the adults being a different gender from teens they are linked with.

Felix.

I won’t go too into Nathalie’s backstory with her parents, but the long and short of it is that they were extremely abusive both physically and emotionally and that she grew up thinking that she was useless and that deserving of that treatment. At some point in her late teens, but before she went to college, her parents died.

Naturally, when she was in college, she was a complete nervous wreck. Gabriel somehow managed to befriend her through sheer introvert solidarity and through him, she met Emilie. Slowly, but surely, they got her to come out of her shell. Turns out, she’s actually a hardcore conspiracy theorist and is into occult stuff. She also loves travelling and seing different places.

After they finished college, she ended up staying with Gabriel and Emilie and lived in their house. Wanting her to come out of her shell more, they agreed to help her with her travels and accompanied her to places all around the world. She was just as surprised as them when it turned out one of her conspiracy theories was right. There was a weird temple in Tibet that disappeared for seemingly no reason 200-ish years ago. And there were two magical artifacts that were spared and which they could track down. After a few years of research, she successfully got her hands on one of the two brooches and gave it to the most important woman in her life. All was good. Professionally, she had become Gabriel’s assistant and lived a comfortable life. Personally, she spent almost all her time either with her girlfriend or her boyfriend. She is loved, she is cared for, and she works at keepin things neat and tidy for them while helping Emilie take care of their son. Life is good. 

Two years later, she tracked down another of the artifacts and gave it to the most important man in her life. Then it turned out the magical artifact she gave Emilie was killing her. They only found out about this thanks to Nooroo and after she made Amelie’s sentimonster child, so she’s already screwed.

Obviously, they panic a bit. They had all noticed Emilie was a bit more lethargic, but they didn’t think too much of it. So, they do everything they can to help her. They have Hawkmoth akumatise her to create the glass coffin that would keep her in stasis should her condition get beyond control. They keep three year old Adrien from noticing how sick she is because they can fix this. She can fix this.

After a decade of attempts and dead ends, she finally tracks down the guardian. Finally, someone who can actually, genuinely help them. They recognize that the prize for his help will probably be their brooches, but her life is more important, even if they’ll miss Nooroo and Duusu.

And then he betrayed them.

They have to force his hand.

They thought of trying to sell themselves as the heroes and the Guardian as some villain who just wants power, but for that they would have had to go public a long time ago to build up trust with the people. They never intended to be heroes, they just wanted to use their powers in peace. If they try now, it’s just going to raise doubts.

So instead, they sell themselves as supervillains. They lean into all the tropes to make people think they’re actually ruthless. It doesn’t matter. If they get their hands on the miraculi and heal Emilie, they will never appear publicly as Hawkmoth and Mayura again.

It will be worth it. 

It must be worth it.

She doesn’t know what she’ll do if it’s not.

I got kinda invested in that one, not sure why tbh. 

Like I mentioned at the beginning of the post, Nathalie as an adult is a reflection of Felix. They both spent their childhoods with parents that treated them awfully and grew up with problems about control. But whereas Nathalie is extremely unwilling to be the one in control, getting nervous and uncomfortable having to make decisions, Felix is violently opposed to giving anyone even the slightest control over him.

-

 Oh I love that actually!

[gelu-the-babosa-multiversal]

The past remembered today-ML/DC-AU Crossover

I have consumed too much ML / DC crossover content, so I decided to contribute a bit with an idea that came to me while taking a shower (the best ideas come when I take a shower).

It is about Hawkman (Katar Hol) and Hawkgirl (Shayera Hol) knowing the secret of the miraculous and kwamis since ancient times (we are going to establish it in the time of the Egyptian Ladybug), I will use the lore of DCAU Justice League Unlimited (JLU).

This is just a brief explanation of how this UA works. If you like it, leave some FeedBack, Reblog, and comment. Besides that, if you write something about this, add me in a tag.

Hawkman and Hawkgirl were worshiped as gods at that time due to their appearances, so they were relegated to emperors. Meaning that they had many servants and maidservants. With the time of his reign, Shayera and Katar became more distant, they were losing affection for each other, this turned when one of Katar's most loyal servants informed him that his wife, Shayera, was dating one of the Warriors.

In those times, Katar met two warriors, humans as powerful as he. Their names were, the cat warrior Sphinx, and the ladybug warrior Ruby Beatle (they are not canon).

Unknowingly, both warriors were servants of the palace where Katar and Shayera lived. The cat warrior worked as a village marketer, and the ladybug warrior worked inside the palace as a cleaner.

Things happen. Keter decides to keep an eye on those warriors, their powers caught his attention, but what caught his attention the most was the warrior Ruby Beatle. Besides that, they fought with creatures that Katar had never seen.

Over time, Katar and Shayera met other similar warriors, one with the theme of Bee, another with the theme of Goat, another with the theme of dog, and many more.

The thing is, Kater had no love for Ruby Beatle but considered her a good friend. Both in her warrior form and in her normal servant form, Ladybug was there to comfort Katar, for what was going on in his love life (not knowing that Katar was an alien sent to conquer the earth).

After some adventures told in Egyptian mythology, they met the Order of the Guardians and know the secrets of the miraculous, also knowing the identities of the warriors.

Chaos soon broke out as the events described in the episode The Pharaoh and the combination of the episode Shadow of the Hawk unfolded. Although Katar and Shayera helped the warriors stop the portal to the underworld from opening, Shayera lost her life to poisoning. After Katar killed himself with the same poison, the two warriors became the new rulers of Egypt.

Since then, Katar and Shayera, reincarnate for centuries meeting new versions of Chat Noir and Ladybug. Being friends again even though CN and LB don't remember/know them.

But there was a period of time when they did not find new versions of the miraculous holders until they discovered the destruction of the temple in Tibet. They searched, without anything more than being able to do, without anyone to help them, and without any clue, they could only find a book that contained part of the secrets of the miraculous (not the same as Master Fu).

Well, until the Justice League was formed, they met two Parisinian heroes who looked a lot like ... old friends.

And yea, this is inspired by the #Mominette au from@nobodyfamousposts

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML What if : Su Han is Early part 1

(What if Su Han arrived during the season 3 finale)

Considering we don't exactly know how long its been since Fu wiped his memory to when Su Han appeared. Its hard to say how much fast Su Han would have to move to get from Tibet to France. BUT if we take into account the ML NY special. Which we know takes place in between season 3 & Season 4. The monk that arrives at the end of the NY special seemed to have arrived in America a little bit after Ladybug and Chat noir left America. And since that distance from tibet to NYC is 7,413 mi. and Pais to Tibet is 4,527 mi. Su Han could theoretically get to Paris faster than the monk. Which we can also add to the fact that. 1. Su Han has the compass that leads to the miracle box in his staff. 2. The monk that found Eagle in NYC was looking for a missing miraculous, not a box. So he must have had a harder time finding it. And to get there with such speed (I.E, finding out the miraculous was there) must have meant with a hurry, he got there.

So its not unreasonable to assume Su Han could have arrived sooner.

_____________________________________________________________

-Su han had managed to get to Paris. Having rushed immediately after waking up in the temple completely restored. The staff had guided him to Paris, and he needed to collect the box which for some reason, the staff was pointing to here.

-The events of Loveater happen very similarly up to when Hawkmoth confronts Fu. Knocking him out of his hiding place.

-Hawkmoth about to strike, when Su Han recognizes a rogue miraculous user

-"Hand over the butterfly miraculous this instant!" Su Han jumped down and demanded.

-Hawkmoth goes to swat the old man, but was not expecting mirakung fu. Sending him flying.

-Mayura attacks too, but Su Han was a grandmaster for a reason, and Fu/Jade turtle was able to assist.

-"Fu is that really you! Why are you so old, and USING A MIRACULOUS! That is against rule 133 of..."

-"Master Su Han, I will explain everything. But we need to best these two."

-Su Han agreed.

-Hawkmoth refused to let this other old monk stop him from his goal. Mayura and Hawkmoth, while more skilled then Ladybug and chat noir possibly could have bested Su Han alone, but with Fu's assistance. This was a much more difficult fight.

_________________________________________________________

-Meanwhile, Ladybug, Ryuuko, and Chat noir were fighting Loveater.

-Ladybug was actually able to explain her plan and the group went to execute it.

-Loveater zeroed in on Chat noir, reading his love for Ladybug like a book. Which Chat noir was NOT happy about, since he is trying to move on.

-Chat noir may have taken more out on the akuma then intended.

-The group managed to defeat Loveater with Ryuuko's help and the power of the lucky charm.

-Ryuuko and Ladybug fist bump but chat noir doesn't. He is still kind of shaken by the whole akuma encounter.

-Ladybug tries to reach out to him, but chat noir says he will be fine. But he just needs time. He says it was a pleasure to work with Ryuuko.

-But before he leaves, Ryuuko tells him that if he really loves Ladybug, 'He should fight for her'.

-Chat noir says he will consider her words, and leaves. He wonders if Kagami would say the same thing to him if she knew who was under this mask.

-Ryuuko gives Ladybug the dragon miraculous back. Saying she was glad to help.

-Ladybug wishes Kagami luck.

- Ladybug goes to head back to fu.

_____________________________________________________________

-Hawkmoth is super pissed because Fu and Su Han are not letting him escape with the miracle box, and Mayura is clearly tiring.

-Mayura tries to create a sentimonster but Jade turtle won't leave her any openings.

-Su Han is overwhelming Hawkmoth with his skills and Hawkmoth is trying to find a mean of escape.

-Marinette arrives to see this super hero fight going on.

-Hawkmoth sees it, A HOSTAGE!

-Hawkmoth moves and snags Marinette. He informs the old men that if they try anything, he can't guarantee the girls safety.

-Fu realizes how bad this is. And stands down. But Su Han gives ZERO F***s cause the miraculous are a priority above all else.

-Fu gets kicked hard by Mayura and she rushes to hawkmoth's side.

-Marinette holds her tongue, almost revealing her knowing Fu.

-Hawkmoth takes Marinette and escapes with Mayura. saying if they follow, they will harm her.

-Su Han stands down because Fu cuts him off.

-"What are you doing!"

-"This is not the way."

-Su Han is very pissed at his student.

-As he let two rogue miraculous wielders escape.

-"Trust me master. We will be able to find them."

-"You have a lot of explaining to do fu."

_________________________________________________________

-Hawkmoth doesn't have a miracle box, but he has a hostage. Though once they are safe from those monks. Then they can figure something out.

-Mayura is clearly fighting her exhaustion.

-Hawkmoth was furious that they didn't snag the miracle box. They didn't even get a chance to grab anything of value.

-Marinette is remaining quiet, Hawkmoth doesn't know who she is. She will need to play this safely.

[miraculousladybug3480]

ML Theory 2: the peacock and butterfly Miraculous have been in the hands of the Agreste family for years. Adrien must have drawn the picture of him and his parents while they were on their trip to Tibet.

[angelofthequeers]

Ladybug and Reine Nuit: chapter 24

Volpina I

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

So, um…I’m back? I had chapters up to 43 written but I was getting stuck even with my plan and felt like I was falling into the trap of just copying canon with a few changes, so I took a step back and worked on other fics. And it took all this time to figure out what I wanted to do with it.

Not sure yet whether I’ll turn this into a series of fics or just leave it complete at 44 chapters and see what I write for it next but either way, I realised that where I stopped writing was actually the perfect point to end a first part. So, that’s what’s happening, and I’ll see how I go from there :)

Chapter 23 | Chapter 25

“Of course you’re bothering me! I was right in the middle of something very important! What do you want?”

Adrien, who’s just come jogging down the staircase into the mansion lobby, pauses at the sound of ranting wafting out of his father’s atelier. Frowning, he tiptoes over to the door and peers inside. Gabriel is pacing in front of his desk in front of an open book, but Adrien can’t quite make out the details from here.

“What? Unacceptable! We sent you a file with all the measurements! You just had to follow my instructions! Imbecile!” Gabriel picks up the book and flips it shut with one hand, then crosses over to a small opening in the wall and deposits it inside before shutting the door…and then the massive golden portrait of Emilie Agreste. Wait. What? “What am I supposed to do now? The show is in three days! No, no, no, not him, he’s incompetent. Contact my assistant Nathalie. She’ll give you some other names.”

Adrien leaps away from the door as Gabriel approaches, ducking behind a nearby pillar just before his father leaves the room. Once Gabriel’s gone, Adrien slinks inside and over to the painting of Emilie to pull it open and reveal the door in the wall. Since when does Gabriel hide things behind it? He reaches out to the safe��but then withdraws his hand.

“I shouldn’t,” he says. ���My father would be so angry if he knew. And I don’t even know the code. But…”

Common sense and respect battle curiosity. In the end, curiosity wins out; Adrien punches in his father’s birthday, but he’s denied access. He tries his birthday and even his mother’s, but they both fail too. What else could the code be?

“Mama, what was yours and Papa’s wedding like?” little Adrien says as Emilie pulls the covers over him. Emilie smiles and kisses his forehead.

“Well, it was a warm spring day – April twenty-sixth, to be precise…”

Holding his breath, Adrien types 2604. The breath escapes him in a punched gasp when the safe door clicks and swings open, and he tentatively pushes it open a fraction more to reveal the contents. There’s a photo of Emilie, a book on Tibet, an old flyer from a hotel, a blue-green peacock brooch…and the book that Gabriel had been reading.

“What is this?” he mutters, pulling the book out. In the process, he accidentally knocks the peacock brooch, but he doesn’t notice it tumble into his bag as he’s too focused on the page he’s turned to: a drawing of a woman in ancient Chinese ladybug-patterned clothing, with an enlarged picture of earrings next to her and writing in a language he’s never even heard of before. “Ladybug?”

On the next page is a picture of a man in black, cat-like clothing, next to a black ring with a green cat’s paw on it. Are these…the Miraculouses? But what’s his father doing with a book like this? Does Gabriel even know the significance of this book?

The picture of a man in a purple suit with a silvery butterfly mask on his head on the next page makes Adrien freeze. Hawkmoth? What is Hawkmoth doing in a book of superheroes? Maybe…the Butterfly Miraculous is just being misused, and this isn’t its true purpose? To be fair, Adrien could imagine how the Ladybug and Black Cat could be misused just as easily if he really tried.

Which again begs the question: why does Gabriel have this book, and does he understand the importance of it?

The sound of footsteps makes him jump out of his skin. He slams shut the safe and painting, shoves the book into his fencing bag, and dances halfway across the room just as Nathalie enters with his bodyguard.

“Adrien? You're going to be late,” Nathalie says. Adrien scratches the back of his head.

“I was…looking for my homework! I left it in here.” He chuckles nervously. But Nathalie doesn’t ask questions, so he counts his lie as successful.

.

After his fencing class, Adrien makes sure that everyone else has left the changing room before he decides to investigate the book. But when he fumbles around in his bag for it, his fingers meet cool metal, and then there’s an explosion of blue light inside his bag.

“What the –?” He yeets his bag across the room, accidentally hitting Kagami in the face when she opens the door at just the wrong moment.

“Why did you throw your bag at me?” she says, catching it before it can hit the floor.

“There’s something in there! Glowed blue! Gah!”

With a frown, Kagami brings Adrien’s bag back to him, and he reaches back inside with trembling fingers to locate the cool metal that seems to be the source of the blue light. He blinks when he pulls it out. The peacock brooch? But he hadn’t taken it out of the safe! Had he? Maybe it had fallen? He jerks and nearly drops the brooch when it once again glows with vivid blue light…and this time, a tiny creature that looks like a deep blue peacock with pink tail eye spots materialises in thin air with a yawn.

“What. The. Heck,” says a wide-eyed Kagami.

“Woohoo! Freedom at last!” the peacock creature trills and starts to zoom around the locker room.”

“What the –?” Adrien shoves Kagami behind him, ignoring her irritated look in response. “Who are you? What are you?”

“My name’s Duusu!” The peacock creature floats down to rest in Adrien’s palm, beaming. “I’m a kwami and that’s my Miraculous!”

“Miraculous?” Adrien hands the brooch to Kagami so that he can grab the book out of his bag and flip through the pages until he lands on a blue and green superhero. Sure enough, next to the Chinese woman is the very brooch that he’d just given Kagami. “This book was in my father’s safe, along with your brooch. Wait, so, like…you give powers like Ladybug’s earrings and Reine Nuit’s ring?”

“The Ladybug and Black Cat?” Duusu’s eyes – dark blue with deep pink irises – widen. “But they haven’t been active since the fall of the Guardians! I would have felt it!”

“Yeah,” Adrien says. “I think because of Hawkmoth. He’d have the Butterfly Miraculous, right? Akumatisation? That’s how he’s sending supervillains after Ladybug and Reine Nuit all the time.”

“Supervillains? Poor Nooroo.” Duusu sighs and snuggles into Adrien’s palm. “He’s the sweetest one of us, even though he’s the kwami of chaos. You know, butterfly effect! Wait, what year is it?”

“What year – wait, how long have you been, uh…asleep?”

Duusu shrugs. “Hard to say. I know I was in Tibet, and I vaguely remember some blonde woman using my Miraculous a few times, then, uh, nothing? I guess I got renounced!”

“As pleasant as this conversation is,” Kagami says, “what should we do with you, Duusu? You mentioned that there was a fall of Guardians? Does that mean that there’s someone who cares for the Miraculouses?”

“We?” Adrien says.

“Of course,” Kagami says. “You mentioned these were in your father’s safe. I highly doubt that you took them with his approval.” She smirks rather scarily and says, “If I’m going to have my typical teenage rebellion, I’d rather it be helping a little magic creature like this.”

“Yes, there’s a Guardian!” Duusu says after a moment of frowning. “I can sense him! Wang Fu, probably – I remember him when he was just a boy, yes! But I can’t tell where he is, no! Ladybug and Reine Nuit will know, though! If not them, their kwamis!”

“Aww,” Adrien says. “I was totally gonna keep you and help Ladybug and Reine Nuit fight akumas! Imagine! Me, a superhero!”

“Oh, no, no, you can’t do that!” Duusu cries before Adrien can slip too far into his fantasy. “There’s something wrong with my Miraculous! I can feel it, yes!”

“Wrong with your Miraculous?” Kagami leans in to examine the brooch with narrowed eyes. “How does that even happen? Is the damage magical?”

Duusu nods vigorously. “I don’t remember how, but yes! If you tried to use me to create a sentimonster, your body would start to break down with every use!”

“Sentimonster?” a bewildered Adrien says.

“I’m the kwami of emotion! I create sentimonsters based on someone’s emotions!” Duusu says, her tail feathers fluttering. “My holder has to imbue a feather with energy and turn it into an amok! Very similar to Nooroo’s akumas, yes!”

“Well, we’ll get you to Ladybug and Reine Nuit as soon as we can,” Adrien says, stroking Duusu’s little feathery head. “Then the Guardian can help you.”

“Won’t your father notice Duusu’s absence?” Kagami says. “If I had a Miraculous that was activated upon touch, I wouldn’t be inclined to just forget about it.”

“Yeah, but…what was he even doing with Duusu in the first place?” Adrien says. “Duusu, you said a woman found you in Tibet and used you, right? Mother and Father did go on loads of trips there…” Adrien’s eyes widen. “Do you think – was Mother in on it too? Was she the woman who used the Peacock and is that why she’s missing? I’ve thought she was dead, but what if she’s not?”

“You can’t exactly ask her,” says Kagami, blunt as always, popping the balloon starting to inflate Adrien’s insides. “And you can’t really ask your father either. I mean, if this book exists then it was written by someone, which means that others know of the Miraculouses. It could have just been an eccentric hobby of his, except that these magic artefacts actually exist.”

“Maybe…” Adrien says.

“We can talk about this later, okay? Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” Kagami hands Adrien back the brooch for him to stash in his bag with the book. After a moment of thought, he opens his shirt to hide Duusu inside a pocket.

“You’re the best, Kagami,” he says.

“I know,” Kagami says. “Maybe that will teach you to make sure you’re completely alone before you pull out magical jewellery.”

The minute Adrien leaves the changing rooms, he runs into an unfamiliar girl with long brown hair, tan skin, a black romper, black tights, and a red jacket. When she gasps and looks up at him, her olive-green eyes widen.

“Adrien Agreste! Oh, I am so sorry!” she babbles.

“Oh…it was nothing,” Adrien says. “I’m sorry, I should’ve been looking where I was going. You’re new, aren’t you?”

The girl smiles and runs a hand down his arm. Oh, great. She’d better not be one of those fans. “Lila Rossi. I just got here today. My mamma is a diplomat from Italy.”

“That’s cool…” Adrien steps away, but Lila just shuffles closer.

“And my name is Kagami Tsurugi.” Kagami holds out a hand, effectively forming a barrier between Adrien and Lila. For a split second, Lila seems to glare at it, but then she’s smiling sweetly and shaking it. Adrien blinks and wonders if he’s imagining things. After discovering Duusu, he’s not all that sure what’s real anymore.

“Pleasure to meet you!” Lila says. “Are you Adrien’s best friend?”

“One of them.” Kagami looks down at the courtyard, where Marinette, Alya, and Nino are watching with narrowed eyes. Lila follows her gaze.

“I can’t wait to meet your other friends, Adrien,” Lila says. “Or should I say, Ladybugreste?”

“You follow the Ladyblog?” Huh, maybe he’s just been reading Lila wrong the whole time.

“Of course! Ladybug and I are like this.” Lila crosses her fingers. “She totally saved my life once and now we’re besties!”

“Didn’t you say that you just got here today?” Kagami says.

“The akuma attack last week, silly!” Lila says. “We’ve been settling in before I started school, obviously.” She smiles at Adrien and says, “We’ve both been saved by Ladybug, right? We’re more alike than I thought!”

“I was saved by Ladybug too, but you don’t see me advertising that fact,” Kagami says. Lila just smiles at her but says nothing.

“We should get going,” Adrien says. “Class is going to start soon, and I still have to put my fencing gear away –”

“You fence?” Lila attaches herself to his arm again. Adrien shoots a pleading glance down at Marinette and Alya, since Kagami’s in an unusually foul mood right now and he doesn’t want Lila to get ripped to shreds. “Oh my gosh! What a coincidence! I’m descended from the legendary Italian fencer Salvator Fabris!”

“Wait, really?” Kagami gasps and covers her mouth with her hands. Lila beams and nods.

“Yes! Of course, I don’t like to brag about it…”

“Which of his children are you descended from?”

“Oh, it would’ve been…Amedeo Fabris, I believe.”

“Hmm.” Kagami tilts her head. “To the best of my knowledge, Salvator Fabris was unmarried and childless. You must be a miracle of conception.”

Lila pales. “I – well, no one knows about Amedeo! He was an illegitimate child, but his history was passed down through my family.” She smiles at Adrien, having miraculously recovered from being called out. “I know I only just met you, but I feel like I can trust you to keep that a secret.”

Why is Lila lying to him? To try and gain favour with a celebrity? Doesn’t she realise that he’s pretty friendly with his classmates – perfectly ordinary people – and she doesn’t need to lie to be his friend? “I’ll have to ask Kagami’s mother for a second opinion,” Adrien says. “The Tsurugi family are master fencers, did you know?”

Lila pales once again, while Kagami gives her a rather shark-like smile.

“Adrien!” Marinette – sweet, blessed, angelic Marinette – arrives with Alya and Nino at that moment and hugs him, then waves at her nose exaggeratedly. “Phew! Smells like you had a good fencing class.”

“Excuse me but I showered!” Adrien huffs. Marinette giggles, and the sound is like a choir of angels to his ears. He waves at Lila and says, “I hope I can get to really know you, Lila!” before walking off with his friends.

.

Chloé’s totally not a dumb blonde. Sure, she’s loud and stubborn and proud, but she’s got a sharp brain when she actually puts it to use and proves the people who underestimate her wrong.

That’s why, when she spots Adrien and his…ugh, “friends” …walking away from the new girl, whose fists are clenched, she seizes the opportunity that’s practically been gift-wrapped for her.

“That Marinette girl sucks, doesn’t she?” Chloé drawls, drawing level with the new girl. The new girl squints at her suspiciously.

“I’m much less a fan of Kagami Tsurugi,” the new girl says.

“Pfft, her. Thinking she can waltz in and steal my best friend Adrikins from me just because she fences.”

“Adrien’s your best friend?” The new girl’s eyes narrow even further.

“Was. Ever since Dupain-bloody-Cheng got her claws into him, he hasn’t wanted a bar of me. All because I show people their place and I’m not afraid to speak my mind. He never had a problem with it before.”

“So, Marinette would be the bigger threat here?” the new girl says.

“Yeah,” Chloé says. “Tsurugi’s close and all, but she’s the ice queen. Dupain-Cheng is the sickeningly sweet Disney Princess that everyone loves.” She holds her hand out to the new girl. “I’m Chloé Bourgeois, not that you wouldn’t know that – actually, you might not if you’re new and all. My daddy’s the mayor of Paris.”

“Hmm. Pleasure. I’m Lila Rossi.” Lila shakes Chloé’s hand.

“How about I cut you a deal, new girl?” Chloé says. “I want my best friend back. You want his “friends” out of the way. I want that baker’s girl away from my Adrikins. I think we could come to an agreement.”

The brunette smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Chloé just knows that Lila’s going to backstab her at the first available opportunity; but that’s okay, because Chloé’s planning on getting in first.

“I think I’d like that, Chloé Bourgeois,” says Lila Rossi.