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umichenginabroad · 7 months ago

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An In-Seine Trip to Paris!

Week 7

As you can tell from the title, the big mystery as to where I went this weekend is now revealed! Woah! To those of you who guessed correctly from last week, unfortunately I don't have any fun prizes to send you...bummer I know. However, I do have a LOT to share from this lovely excursion which is completely free to read and quite priceless. Without further ado, this is the City of Light experienced from an Emily near (or far from) you.

Day 1: Triumphing the Arc

Right off the bat we were off to a great start waking up in the early hours of 3:30 am for our bus to the Bilbao Airport. Surprisingly, I wasn't very tired but rather a bit delirious on the ride there and talked Deidra's ear off the entire time. Luckily it was a pretty speedy boarding process and the flight itself was super short so in a blip of time we were in PARIS! Ubered to our hotel where the traffic really felt like that of New Jersey and big props to our driver because he looked really fed up. Since the hotel was really close to the Arc de Triomphe, we decided to make this our first stop. We took the underground tunnel to get to the base since trying to cross the street would've ended up as us becoming roadkill after less than an hour of being in the city. It truly was a sight to see and worth what everyone says! The amount of detail in the statues was very impressive, along with seeing the eternal flame for the unknown soldier.

From there, we took a stroll down the famous Champs-Élysées which featured a bunch of different stores and strangely enough...a treasure chest? It was for some sort of Louis Vuitton promotion to cover the front of the building but we had fun speculating what they were hiding inside of it. What I really liked about this area were the window displays. For many of the high-end shops these displays were immaculate with the clear precision put into them. For example, in the pic below you can see that this was made entirely out of seashells!

We reached the Seine and took a stroll to observe the sights and sounds, slowly making our way to the one and only Eiffel Tower. This was definitely Izzy's favorite part of Paris; her love for that tower is truly unmatched. Does it live up to the hype? In my opinion it absolutely does. No picture is really able to capture how it feels to experience this in person. We were able to visit the tower during the day and at night, and I have to say that at night it was even prettier. There are three different viewings that are a must to see, one at 11, 12, and then 1 am. The 11 and 12 ones are when the tower sparkles for five minutes, and then for the 1 am it's almost the same except all the lights turn off and its just the sparkles. As a tried and true tourist, I took an atrocious amount of Eiffel Tower photos. For one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, I just had to give in a little.

If you've been here for a while you'll remember my travel buddy, Eggdar! After living it up in Barcelona I had to bring him to Paris too

Since it was the 4th of July when we arrived, to pay homage to the homeland here's Izzy and Deidra square dancing (we swear that the guy singing sounded much better in person):

Day 2: The not so Petit Palais and venturing the Catacombs

It was Izzy's dream to visit a museum known as the Petit Palais, which is actually located right across from the Grand Palais. Despite its name, this art museum was waaay bigger than it looked packed full of sculptures, paintings, artifacts, furniture, and a garden! We even got to a see a Monet and Cézanne alongside some modern artwork which I found really cool. The ornate ceilings were beautiful, and I would 100% recommend going here (also was free admission!).

Tower of Babel! And also accurate representation of what it's like to read my enlightening and entertaining blog posts :)

Mission complete: Petit Palais conquered ✅

I feel like I can't really say this for being in a city like Paris with so many highlights, but the next two things really made my day. We were walking around some of the streets looking for lunch when I saw this shop called Amorino that caught my eye. Out front was a picture of their signature gelato macaron icecream flower and to no surprise, their advertisement worked on me. I was easily enabled by Izzy to try it and was so moved by this heavenly combination of flavors that nearly brought a tear to my eye. When I first ordered, I thought that I could only pick a few flavors, but oh no no, I was told that I could pick as many as a I wanted which opened up a world of opportunities for me. I ended up choosing mango, chocolate, hazelnut, and stracciatella, topped with a cutesy raspberry macaron. 11/10 in taste, look, and savorability. I await the day when me and this icecream can be reunited once again.

Before going on this trip, I had been looking up art stores around San Sebastián since I've been running out of supplies to use. Out of curiosity, I looked for some in Paris to find that it houses the oldest art store which Picasso, Degas, and Cézanne had all stepped foot in. Naturally, I knew that I had to be there. Located right on the Seine and across from the Louvre, Magasin Sennelier was everything I ever wanted and more. With two floors, this place was packed to the brim and even featured a wall where visitors could draw or write something which was really cute. Whenever I'm in an art store, I like to take my time and test out literally every product before I decide what I want to get. I told my friends to just leave me there, stayed till my heart's content, and left with a dent in my bank account like no other.

Je t'aime Sennelier <3

At this point, we split up where Izzy and Deidra went to the Louvre and Jayashree and I to the Catacombs. Prior to that, we took a nice sightseeing journey of the Lovure pyramid and surrounding architecture. Even though I wasn't able to get tickets, seeing the outside was still super incredible!

Getting to the catacombs is a whole story in itself. Since we were at the Louvre and our destination was about a 40 minute walk away, we decided to wait for the bus. Figured it would be no problem, right? Wrong. The bus zoomed past the stop so we figured that we would just hold out until the next one. 15-20 minutes pass, other buses, come and go, but the one we're supposed to take never shows up. Jayashree looks at me and says "we gotta run, but we can make it in 20 minutes if we do." With a time crunch on our hands and no other options, I begrudgingly agreed. I'm not a runner or a trackstar by any means, so this was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad run for me. I made it a decent distance until I was winded and hailed the first taxi that I saw dripping in sweat and wanting to die. Jayashree insists that I could've made it further but I would've become a subterranean Parisian ghost if I did. Five minutes before our buffer window was up, we made it to the entrance...

Mysteries of the Paris Underground

If you're not a fan of the spooks, feel free to skip past this part. Our tour of the catacombs was self-guided, but had an audio component which explained the significance of things we saw down there. The spiral stairs took us to an astounding 65 feet in the depths, where we walked through passageways, old aqueducts, quarries, and the ossuary which houses all the skulls and bones of centuries of the dead. The oldest that I saw were from 1787, along with tombs of important figures during the French Revolution. The ossuary was the largest part of the catacombs, which makes sense since one of the main purposes was due to a lack of space in cemeteries. Walking through, it's hard to describe how I felt seeing lines upon lines of remains from people of all ages. Many of them could have also been very prominent in society, such as scientists, writers, or even nobility since there's not a way to clearly identify who is who. It really provokes a sense of morbidity and I definitely felt a bit existential at times. There was a room with a well that we walked past and learned how an experiment was done there with goldfish. Basically, some goldfish were placed in the well and left for 2-3 years, and when the researchers came back they found that the fish were blind. After performing some experiments, they concluded that the fish could predict the weather, but today that theory has been debunked. It was very interesting to hear and also imagine from the fish's perspective. Imagine being put underground, you become blind, and then you're hailed as an oracle? That would be some crazy lore to add to your backstory for sure. Another fact from the catacombs is that at one point in time there was a party thrown there. Yes, an actual party. There was someone who invited 100 guests and a 45-person orchestra for a bumpin party in the underground. I don't know how they did it but I also don't know how you get chosen for something like this either? Something to ponder...

Day 3: Rats, snails, and your friendly neighborhood wall man

For our last (so sad!) full day in Paris we decided to take a stroll up to Montmartre to see the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, Moulin Rouge, and last but most certainly not least the sculpture of Le Passe-Muraille. Deidra told us the story behind this which is about a guy who discovers he can walk through walls, becomes a professional bank robber with his newfound power, trolls his boss, falls in love, and then ends up stuck in a wall when he loses his power. He's kind of a creep though but we got some cool pictures with the guy. Montmartre also had a very picturesque view of the entire city, a wall dedicated to 250 "I love you's" in different languages, and an amazing restaurant with fire blueberry pancakes.

Jayashree and Deidra slapping palms with the wall man (maybe it brings you good luck? Or he could be cursed who knows)

Later on for dinner, Jayashree and I wanted to get the full traditional French meal experience so we went to a place called Le Hameau. Our goal was to try escargot and eat a meal that would leave us FULL! She got a seafood pasta and I got a ribeye steak, both of which were delish. The escargot was an interesting eat since it came with a two-pronged fork to get the snail out and a snail shell grabber so your hands don't get messy when you eat. Pretty ingenious really. Surprisingly, we both really liked it. The snail itself wasn't slimy at all and very tender, with a butter/pesto/parsley sauce which tasted divine. For dessert, we ordered a roasted fig crumble with icecream. This was another thing we didn't expect since we thought the crumble would be similar to an apple crumble but it was actually the whole fig fruit. Still a good eat. Overall, we did in fact leave feeling full and with love in our hearts for escargot.

For our last hurrah, we decided to go see the 1 am viewing of the Eiffel Tower. On our way to the metro, we had an encounter with a furry friend: a rat. Now, it had been Jayashree's mission this entire trip to see a rat, so when I saw it first and she missed it, we searched around the trash cans and around bushes to try and find it again. We eventually did see it scurry off, but that wouldn't be our last sighting. As we were sitting by the Seine in the grass waiting for Ms. Eiffel to sparkle for the last time, we heard a squeak and saw the shadow of another rat in the bushes! Jayashree immediately took off and was using her flashlight to find it, all while the lightshow had started. She had more important things to see than the lights, pshh. By the end of the night, we had accomplished both goals of seeing the legendary sparkle and not one, not two, but four rats in the flesh.

In three days, we saw and did a lot! Paris is a city that deserves more time to be in, and for that I want to come back sometime in my life and explore more of it. This was a very long-winded post but with quality content as always for my dearest readers.

Emily in Paris -> Emily in Spain once again. Until next time!

Emily Dobao

Biomedical Engineering

IPE San Sebastian, Spain

July 8th, 2024

#UmichEnginAbroad #IPETecnun #EmilyDobao #IPESummer24 #Spain

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acmoorereadsandwrites · 8 months ago

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An Interview with Maureen Marshall, Author of The Paris Affair

Maureen is a fan of the Romance genre, traveling, helping other authors grow in their craft, and spy novels with a Queer and neurodivergent twist.

Her debut, The Paris Affair, is a Queer historical suspense set in Paris during the building of the Eiffel Tower. When Fin Tighe, the illegitimate son of an English lord living in Paris, starts catching feelings for Gilbert, a member of the Parisian elite, he is given the choice to reclaim his birthright or to return to Paris where he made a name for himself.

AC: I think most of us understand the difference between a thriller and a mystery by now, but what is the difference between suspense, thriller, and mystery?

MM: So, I could be technically wrong, but for me, the distinction between those three would be that suspense has you guessing if there is a mystery, or if people are just behaving in a shady way, haha! A thriller is going to be like a roller coaster with twists and turns and a mystery is definitely more clear that something wrong is happening and the MC needs to figure out who and why!

AC: Why did you select the Eiffel Tower from all of the beautiful Parisian architecture?

MM: As for why I chose the Eiffel Tower, it's kind of funny. I found an article about how ballet dancers at the Paris Opéra were treated like a sexual commodity at that time period, and I needed to tie my engineer into a project that made sense at that precise moment, so the Eiffel Tower subplot fell into my lap, almost as an afterthought. However, through many rounds of editing, I made it more and more integral to the story.

AC: As a huge fan of ballet, I loved the bits about the Paris Ballet in the book. What's your favorite ballet and why?

MM: Oof, the ballet one stumped me a little because I get really nerdy about the technical aspect. I love watching the moves blossom, if that makes sense, even more than the storytelling aspect. So, I am actually almost as content watching a rehearsal as the completed ballet. I am such a behind the scenes personality!

AC: I love that. I’m the same way; I did the behind the scenes stuff when I did theater and it was a blast.

AC: You have a strong background in the Romance genre. Was the pivot to historical suspense a big jump?

MM: I actually wrote this book before I wrote the published historical romances--and I received a lot of agent notice but no one was sure how to place the book. So, I wrote the romances because I figured they were closer to what the market wanted, and I love writing romances. I held onto The Paris Affair until I could convince someone to publish it, ha! I love the romance aspect of all my books. I love, love! Still, I really enjoy digging into the psychology of suspense and I feel that personal relationships can really amp it up. For example, I have a favorite manuscript about the fallout for the queer community in Edinburgh during the Oscar Wilde trial sitting in a drawer because it’s rather quiet and character-based. Hopefully, it sees the light of day sometime.

AC: Aurelie and Fin’s relationship is so sweet and there’s a real gentleness to Fin and Gilbert’s romance. Was it conscious to make Fin’s relationships that way or did they fall into place as a reflection of his character?

MM: I'm so glad the sweetness shows through. I feel that Fin is complicated and believes he is much tougher than he really is. That he thinks his armor is stronger than it actually is. It is clear in my mind that he allows his kindness show with Aurelie much easier than with anyone else. I feel like Gilbert was working hard to lure Fin in until Gilbert finds that it's no longer a ruse. I wanted to show the two men truly falling in love with one another even though Fin is so adamant that it's not how he feels. He doesn't have many representations of long term romantic relationships to use as a template, so he doesn't recognize it until it's gone. When I'm drafting, I do a lot of character work up front and so his prickliness pops out in ways that I hope come across as real and not just character affectations. But honestly, I am so pleased that they shine through to someone who doesn't love Fin as fiercely as I do.

AC: There's all kinds of advice out there in regards to the writing process, but I've found that the best thing to do is experiment with a lot of authors' processes until you find a combination that works for you. What's your drafting process like?

MM: Usually, I draft a chapter at a time, in order--even if I really want to write a different scene, I don't allow myself to do it out of order. (I did once for a book I then never finished because I had the dessert before the main course, I guess!) Then I edit as I go. I keep reading back over newly completed chapters before writing for the day, which I know is the opposite of conventional advice, but writing is the only thing (almost) that I get perfectionistic about.

AC: We talk a lot in writers spaces about how you have to read modern authors to be part of the conversation going on in our genres. What books are your book in conversation with?

MM: I feel like there is a lot of similarity with M/F historical fiction/upmarket with the suspense angle and then again, it's sort of more modern because the queer relationships aren't dug into as an anomaly of any kind--because they weren't. Just not as discussed as the drawbacks were legion. But it is a bit of a canary in the coal mine for more queer upmarket in the historical space, for sure.

AC: Author as Brand feels like a big part of being a writer these days. What do you want your Brand to be?

MM: I'd say that my author brand is absolutely historical settings with queer characters and ND representation--even when it isn't completely overt. Fin struggles with anxiety and C-PTSD, for example, and in my romances, there is a character whose life is stymied by his anxiety and ADHD.

AC: Some authors focus on food, others on clothes. What's your favorite way to show time and place?

MM: I grew up in a house full of antiques and I like to add objects that we don't use in our modern lives to show time and place, as well as food and clothing. But I'd absolutely say my personal emphasis is on everyday objects from the time period that are being used or noticed casually to dig into the setting.

AC: Are there any writers you wanna give a shout-out to?

MM: Rose Sutherland who recently debuted with A Sweet Sting of Salt is my behind-the-scenes ride-or-die, and I’ve been draft-swapping, critiquing, and friending with Felicia Grossman who writes Jewish romance à la the Once Upon the East End series since 2016. I read anything Cat Sebastian, KJ Charles, and Alexis Hall write, and am tickled by Emma Alban’s Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend.

AC: I am a huge fan of both Felicia and Rose’s books. Rose really captured yearning in a gorgeous rendition of The Selkie Wife and I love how Felicia puts Jewish characters in stories that we never get to see them in.

AC: I really loved Fin’s complex relationship with his father's title as well as his desire to make a name for himself as independent from his father as possible. What are your favorite relationships to write?

MM: I really like to do sticky relationships in family's that aren't the usual kind ones most people have (or seem to have--I know families are complicated for lots of people). I like digging into people who are in some way ND and struggling to voice their needs because they've been overlooked so many times before.

AC: Do you have any advice for writers trying to breakout in the historical section of the bookstore?

MM: I believe–in my very limited knowledge–that there are a lot of oversaturated time periods that will be difficult to get your foot in the door with as a debut. And also, many time periods that publishing is unlikely to take a gamble that readers are interested in. I think that the best advice is to find something that is recognizable to audiences but hasn’t been done to death, and figure out a way to make that recognizable aspect really fresh and exciting.

AC: What's next on the horizon for you?

MM: I am currently drafting a project that is a look back at Jane Austen's works which are the basis of modern regency romances, but with an emphasis on the village life rather than the high rolling aristocratic vision that most regencies work with. I'm hoping to branch it into a series, and my village is peopled with the sorts of characters that could be in an Austen novel, but with a bit of a modern lens in their attitudes. I pitched it as "What if Lady Catherine de Burgh was running a British spy ring during the Napoleonic Wars?" After that, I have begun writing and plotting another historical suspense!

AC: Thank you, Maureen!

Where to buy:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Grand Central Publishing

Astoria, a Queer woman-owned indie bookstore

#author interview #maureen marshall #historical suspense #queer literature #queer historical suspense

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wondersworldwide · 1 year ago

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Discover 100 Epic Man-Made Wonders Worldwide: 2024 Edition!

Ever dreamed of scaling iconic heights, marveling at architectural feats, and whispering secrets to ancient walls? Brace yourself for a breathtaking journey through 100 epic man-made marvels, handpicked for the 2024 edition! From antiquity's whispering giants to modern marvels that touch the sky, this curated list will ignite your wanderlust and inspire unforgettable adventures.

youtube

Great Wall of China The Taj Mahal: This white marble mausoleum is a stunning example of Mughal architecture. It was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and it took 22 years to complete.

The Taj Mahal The Pyramids of Giza: These ancient Egyptian pyramids are some of the most mysterious and awe-inspiring structures in the world. The largest pyramid, the Pyramid of Khufu, is believed to have been built as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu.

Pyramids of Giza The Colosseum: This ancient Roman amphitheater is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy. It was used for gladiatorial contests, public executions, and animal hunts, and it could seat up to 80,000 spectators.

The Colosseum The Eiffel Tower: This wrought-iron lattice tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris. It was originally intended to be a temporary structure, but it quickly became a symbol of the city and one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world.

Eiffel Tower These are just a few examples, of course. There are countless other epic man-made wonders to be discovered around the world. So start planning your next adventure and see for yourself!

Learn more

#Man-Made Wonders Worldwide #Wonders Worldwide #Youtube

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homeowrk · 1 year ago

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IGNORE THIS IGNORE IGNORE I have this funny superpower of knowing something beforehand (like some kind of future gut feeling)…. it’s god’s whispers… thank you god…

It’s a very strong feeling. My heart rate gets much faster, I can hear it in my ears. I feel slightly faint and super duper anxious (like the feeling before major exams)

It can be good or bad. The degree of it varies from time to time, sometimes I deny it but it still happens… “there’s no way it would happen lmao” —> “oh my god”

I’m sure a lot of people experience this, I have so many collections of this. Recent example is winning a figurine from the claw machine (random ik) The minute I saw the figure I felt this feeling and got it in three tries :3 my first time ever wining a figure from the claw machine!!!!!!! I can’t believe it wasn’t rigged!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you god, goodness gracious I was so giddy with happiness I couldn’t stand up yippee yippee ! (I am not an adult so yes, I do act like a child) (I usually fall to my knees frequently from feeling overwhelmed)

Another very prominent time was years ago when I was picking which shopkins mystery blind bag to pick in the store. I chose one and the whole car ride back was like “I got the shopkin limited edition figure, I got it, I know it’s inside” before I even opened it when I was back home. (I was like Grade 4 or 3 really young) so when I got it, it wasn’t a surprise :3 (I got La petite Paris. The lil shopkin snow globe with the Eiffel Tower inside)

#random post #ramblings #ramble ramble #ignore this #vent blog #blorbos #tee hee

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marzipanandminutiae · 4 years ago

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historical movies and shows whose costumes I unequivocally love: an incomplete list

- Crimson Peak. OH MY GOD. THE GOLD STANDARD. THE A+ 1000/10 EXAMPLE OF HIGH-CONCEPT ARTISTIC COSTUMES THAT ARE STILL REASONABLY ACCURATE AND GROUNDED IN THEIR ERA (1901-ish, if anyone wasn’t sure). Designer Kate Hawley had never done a period piece before, and she now lives in my heart rent-free always and forever.

Just imagine: if you have an adult Victorian woman’s hair up like it should be, you can actually show that the character's in trouble by leaving it down all the time! What a concept! Using departures from era-normal in service to the story! Who’d have thunk it?! </s>

This list is in no particular order, but Crimson Peak is definitely #1.

- Emma (2020). BRB making 5,000 cute Regency spencer jackets. I love the costuming in this movie. I love it so much. A lot of the dresses are copied from or closely inspired by extant garments and it makes my heart sing. They even replicated my personal favorite Regency ball gown, a silk number from the V&A with a red net overlay and chenille embroidery on the sleeves, neckline, bodice, and hem. [chef’s kiss]

- John Adams (HBO miniseries). With respect to the costumers, who I’m sure did a ton of work and research, this one is what I call Too Boring To Be Inaccurate. There weren’t any particular artistic statements being made with the costumes- just normal, mostly New England clothes of the upper and upper-middle class in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Centered around a family that didn’t go in for anything flashy or ostentatious even when they had the money for it. Good, serviceable costumes that never made me want to throw things. Bless.

- Fingersmith (BBC miniseries). This one has a bit more departures from accuracy, mostly in women’s sleeve length and occasionally in hairstyle. But overall, it falls into the same category as John Adams. The costumes are there to cover the actors and inform the audience about age, gender, and status, and that’s it. Perfectly acceptable.

- Marie Antoinette (2006). Everyone talks about how inaccurate the costumes in this are. And they’re not wrong- a lot of details are off. But the silhouettes are reasonably good, they show us a lot about the characters’ world and mental states, and there’s change over time that mimics what happened IRL. It’s heightened, but not in a way that seems to mock the era. I actually really like these costumes. And the “I Want Candy” scene looks like an ideal day with my historical costuming friends.

- The Favourite. Is it time for c. 1700 badger royals being gay? Always. Always and forever. This time period doesn’t get enough exposure on film, and I feel like this movie really did it justice. Artistic liberties were taken, but nothing bad enough to detract from my enjoyment of the movie (and the costumes in particular).

- Titanic (1997). SO. PRETTY. PRETTY PRETTY 1912 PRETTINESS THAT MAKES ME WANT TO MAKE LATE EDWARDIAN CLOTHES AND BE THE PRETTIEST LATE EDWARDIAN PRINCESS. Rose’s hair should have been a bit more Up. That’s my one quibble. “Hair down to show that a character is becoming less repressed” was tired visual shorthand even back then (when I was a wee Marzi of 4 who memorized My Heart Will Go On despite not being allowed to see the movie).

- Moulin Rouge! I. I can’t even offer an excuse for this one. Except maybe that the few non-stage-costume outfits you see (and many of the stage costumes on people who aren’t Satine or Nini) aren’t actually that bad? ...look, it’s really pretty and doesn’t tick most of my particular Annoyance Boxes, okay?

- House of Wax (1953). I was surprised to see a movie from before like 1980 deliver so well on the costume accuracy front. But they do a pretty damn good job of dressing their middle-class characters in New York City c. 1905. There’s even a dressing scene where a female character appears to have all the right layers worn properly- and her tightlacing is presented as unusual, done specially for a night out with a new potential sugar daddy.

- Hugo. The early 1930s outfits are great, but I really love this movie’s near-perfect recreation of late 19th-early 20th century film costumes. Kudos to the designer (Sandy Powell, natch) and shop workers tasked with going over Méliès’ movies with a fine-tooth comb and getting all the details right from very grainy, low-quality film taken 100+ years earlier.

- The Young Victoria. DAMNIT, POWELL, YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE ME SLIP UP AND ACTUALLY LIKE SOME 1830S STYLES. RUDE.

#historical costuming #period drama #costume drama #historical fiction #there are other historical movies that I like but whose costumes- while they didn't annoy me -didn't really leave an impression #mystery of the eiffel tower for example #also Harlots is like...I ENJOY the costumes but I definitely have some accuracy questions that keep me from fully loving them #(why do none of these women own hats for one thing)#(there's also quite a bit of inappropriately loose hair for another)

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photobombingcryptid · 2 years ago

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Some BayBlaze fun facts

He wouldn’t bother adapting to an Earth vehicular form. Either his Cybertronian form is too unique and would struggle transitioning or he isn’t bothered by hiding in plain sight. Which makes for haha funny moments occuring that despite his clearly Cybertronian design, nobody can accept or deny his existence.

If we more or less stick to the canon events of the movies, he would linger in the background and truly live up to his cryptic nature. He appears in photographs like a Lochness creature. You think you’ve taken a nice family photo but in the skies behind you see a helicopter that wasn’t there before.

Debating if he should have his outlier powers in this universe. If I let him keep them, he’d abuse them to a whole new level. For example, he’d duplicate Eiffel Tower and have it appear overnight in the middle of Nevada desert. Mind you, it’s 1:1 copy. He would greatly enjoy the media attention surrounding it.

Needless to say, a lot of his actions would fuel conspiracy theories to a whole new level. It would probably get to the point both the Autobots and Decepticons start to notice the strange and bizarre and some even become invested in the mystery.

Sometimes, he lays low for months. When he strikes, it’s always unexpected.

His core theme in this Verse would be the uncertainty if this guy is even real and he might just drive certain people insane with contradicting information.

#the trophy case #[AU] BayBlaze

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misstrashchan · 3 years ago

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Holiday Podcast Recommendation:

"If you see a mouse, and you look at it like you wanna hit it with a broom or you’re scared it has diseases, it’ll just run away from you! But if you love it, and you keep really still, it’ll come right up to you. How else are you gonna find out if a mouse can tap-dance?"

Sooo... I was planning on maybe doing a podcast episode recommendations list for the Holidays like I did with Halloween, but there... wasn't as much choice. Even the Holiday special episodes I did find were mostly difficult to follow without context, (which kind of defeats the point) so there was even less choice to pick from.

But... There was one podcast in particular I wanted to make a post about as a proper recommendation to be listened to during the Holidays/Wintertime. One I love so very, very dearly. When I was thinking of podcasts episodes I'd like to listen to at this time of year, I just kept looping back to this podcast in its entirety:

The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air)

Summary: Discover a wondrously surreal world of magic, music, and mystery, with tap dancing mice, opera singing fleas, storytelling crickets, and singing saws. This immersive, cinematic audio spectacle follows the adventures of a lonely, stage-struck janitor who is drawn into the larger-than-life universe of The Orbiting Human Circus, a fantastical, wildly popular radio show broadcast from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

But where do all these fantastical acts for the circus come from?

...and come to think of it, where did the Janitor come from? Nobody seems to know, least of all the Janitor himself.

Oh my goodness. This podcast is. So so delightfully charming and whimsical. Excellent to listen to during the Holidays. And has one my favorite musical soundtracks, which is strange, because while the audio medium being used to its full advantage in fiction podcast format in how it presents and tells it's story is something I appreciate, I don't usually find myself complimenting or noticing how music in particular is used in a podcast, but here it's sort of an integral part of its identity and story?

(despite it's nostalgic charm and big heart, I feel it's fair to warn that this podcast is fairly bittersweet as well. And I mean that in a "it made me cry on mutiple occasions out of pure joy and grief all at once" sort of way)

Our main character is Julian the Janitor at the Eiffel Tower, a very endearing, shy but sensitive underdog type of character. He dreams of joining the radio show also titled The Orbiting Human Circus of the Air, which is broadcast from a large ballroom at the top of the tower. Throughout you get small anecdotes of his past, his anxiety, his abusive family, his tendency for escapism and connecting to others and grounding himself through songs and stories, interweaved with hearing the songs, stories and acts of the show he loves, watches, and listens to from afar, along with the stagehands and host of the Orbiting Human Circus as mysteries and wonders alike are unravelled.

I feel like it's hard to talk too much about the story and characters themselves without spoiling a lot, so I sort of want to focus on the sound design/music here. For example, there's a scene in the second season (Naughty Till New Years) where Julian has been soaked through by the rain, alone, experiencing a panic attack, and has to light the stove in his room by himself so he can warm up. And he feels helpless because he's never been able to do it by himself no matter how many times he's been shown. But when trying to stir the coals one strikes on the metal sides, and sounds like a musical chord. And he purposefully starts to stir the coals more and more to try and create that sound again, and he starts to calm down and realises the music is going on without him. Because the music is real. And suddenly the simple act of lighting a stove by oneself becomes this... triumph? It's so simple and so pure and I can't do it justice with words because it's something that... has to be listened to!

And the musical saws. I didn't know they were an actual instrument, but they are! And their basically melancholic whimsy in its most refined form! Am I hyping this up too much? Most likely. I also love the parallels between the different ways saws are seen to be used for cutting wood to making music by Julian by his parental figures, transforming from something he fears to something he loves:

Julian: When I first ran away to Paris.

[Young Julian screams]

I woke up one morning and I—I didn’t really—it was when I was first at my great-grandfather’s, and I didn’t know my great-grandfather very well yet, and his apartment was really big and I turned this corner and I saw my stepfather there with a saw. He was sitting down and it was in his lap. But then my eyes adjusted and I saw it was my great-grandfather. He was sitting down in a chair and he had the saw balanced, um, between his knees. I had startled him when I’d screamed, and he just looked at me and he, he asked me to scream again. [Laughing]

And so I did.

[Half-hearted scream]

He said, ‘Perfect G major’. And then he told me to scream again.

[Young Julian holding a scream note over saw music]

And the saw on his lap started singing, and I had never seen anything like that before, I’d never heard anything like that before, it was so beautiful. It’s like an angel! And I kept singing. He told me to follow the tune.

And that was how my great-grandfather got me to sing.

In one of the Q&A's Julian Koster (the creator and writer of the podcast) talks about how his grandmother served as the inspiration for how he uses audio and sound that I really love:

"Um… the question that a lot of people asked was “What are some inspirations for the Orbiting Human Circus?” Um, things that I’d heard or listened to and, um, probably the biggest inspiration for me about what you can do with, uh, recorded sound and what that can be actually were these letters that my grandmother used to send me on cassette. She used to make these, uh, recordings on tape, she was kind of obsessed with tapes, and she made all these recordings on tape. She was… she was a really, really magical woman.

She lived in this crazy, rambling house out at the border of Queens in New York, and this place called Newhide Park, and, uh, it was just full of all these old things from a world that didn’t exist anymore, I mean, except in her house, and that I got to play with and be around, and there were all these buckets of rainwater everywhere, she collected rainwater, and I used to get to, I just have all these memories of playing with rainwater and she used it for all these different things and, uh, she was… just an incredibly creative, original, very free-spirited person and, um, her sisters were blind, um, and so I don’t know if this is where it started but she always did letters, her letters were cassettes and she would send me these tapes and it would be my favorite thing in the world when they would come, and I would put it on and it would be my grandmother’s voice and she’d be answering questions that I’d asked her in the last tape that I’d sent her – we’d send tapes back and forth.

I’d record in my tape recorder talking to her and she’d record in her tape recorder talking to me, and so, much like this, she’d be answering questions and she’d stop and she’d listen to my tape and listen to more questions and then tell me the answers to those questions and then, um, she would record things – she would just go places! Like, if she was going out somewhere, she’d bring the tape recorder with her and she’d just hit record and she would carry it around and she’d just record what was happening, not even narrating it or anything, like the tape recorder would just be going for twenty minutes, it would be sometimes a whole side of a cassette, and uh… and it was just, you’d be in this environment with her, and so I’d listen to all the sounds and I’d imagine all the things that were happening in the places that she were—was, and I would disappear into them."

I personally tend to have both a soft spot and certain wariness of surreal fantasy, especially when coupled with mystery, because it can start out strong but then have little payoff, or be difficult to follow. Especially when things are handwaved with "and it was all a dream" or "and they were a ghost the whole time" and it's not that the Orbiting Human Circus avoids all those tropes per se, but the way it presents itself is something you want to simply lose yourself in and be pulled along by at first, and by the start of the second season (the first season is fairly short, only eight episodes) you find yourself more intrigued by the mysteries, and for every answer I got left me more curious and excited. The idea of what even makes something or a person real, what it means to be truly heard and understood, and the way it's been explored in the story so far always brought a smile to my face and has yet to dissapoint.

Chouinard: [Sighs] Julian, that first night.

Julian: Mm.

Chouinard: Coco. He was still able to talk, and, er… well, we spoke. He wanted me to tell you something. He said that when you met, you told him a story and disappeared.

Chouinard: He said this moved him because of a story his mother used to read him when he was little.

Julian: Really?

Chouinard: He wanted you to know this story.

Narrator: Mr. Chouinard closes his eyes.

Chouinard: How did it go? Ah. There are monsters, and they are about to eat a little child, and suddenly a fairy, she comes, she snap her finger, all the monsters disappear. The child, they ask the fairy, ‘How did you make the monsters disappear?’ And the fairy, she say, ‘The monsters are not real.’ And the child asks the fairy, ‘Are you real?’ And the fairy, she asks the child,

‘Is love here?’

But Coco’s mother is really asking him is love here, because it is a tradition when reading this story that the parent is asking their child this question. Now, Coco, he know, of course, love is here right now in this moment. His mother is telling him a story, is very nice, she is running her fingers through his air, and so he answers ‘Yes’ for the child in the story to the fairy,

‘Yes, love is here.’

And the fairy says,

‘Then I am real.’

And then she snap her finger [snap], and she disappears. And then the child disappears! And then the book disappears, right from the hands of Coco’s mother! [Laughs] This is what they do, is like a magic trick.

- Twelthly, it's a Scream (Naughty Till New Years)

There are two seasons so far, the series is still ongoing, but production for the third has been halted due to covid. The first has eight episodes around twenty minutes, the second (Naughty Till New Years) has fourteen episodes that vary between twenty five to fifty minutes long.

I don't exactly know how to end this, but I hope people give this podcast a listen during the Holidays, or any other time of year, when you want something to warm your soul. And I'll leave another quote from the Q&A here too, because I love it too:

"But to me, I feel like so many of the most important things in the world and in this universe are in the realm of what you’d call “imaginary”, you know, like the parents lovingly telling kids a story like the Great Recitating Platypus or Santa Claus or anything, is an act of love and, you know, that love is not material, um… there aren’t any, you know, material representations of love, there’s just, um, material expressions of love and, uh, I don’t think there’s anything in the world more important to those parents or to those kids or anybody, you know, than love, and…

And so, I think so much of the substance of life actually is, um, what you would describe as imaginary and only really a part of the substance of life is real, what you’d call real"

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

#happy holidays!#the orbiting human circus of the air #tohc #julian the janitor #podcasts #podcast recommendations

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miraculouswolf99 · 4 years ago

Text

Silver Siren

Happy New Year!!! This is not a New Years story, but it is a story that I am using New Years as an excuse to post it. LOL

*****

Luka Couffaine was often described as the most relaxed and chill guy that anyone could ever meet. Often seen with his guitar on hand, playing what he would call a person's heart song. He was also described as a protective older brother to his sister, Juleka. Especially when it came to her friends.

The only ones that Luka really knew were Rose, Ivan, and Mylene as they were the ones that came over the most often. This was the first time that the entire class was on the Liberty. And if Luka was being honest with himself, he was most intrigued by Marinette, Lyon, and Adrien.

While he had not met Adrien personally yet, the things he had heard from the class made him curious about the model. Marinette also seemed really sweet and the type of person that could brighten a room just by walking into it. And Lyon seemed similar to himself, calm and easily just as observant.

Lyon and his sister had seemed almost like him and Juleka. They liked to be off to the side and observe. They also spoke of animals and plants like they spoke of music, that it relates to everything and everyone. Luka was amazed by their heart songs. So full of life, harmony, and with a slight sense of mysteriousness.

But most of Luka's cool, calm, and collected personality was thrown out the window when his mother got akumatized into Captain Hardrock.

"A treasure in return for freedom," Anarka says. "Ho, ho, ho then I shall be your pirate Hawkmoth."

Black and purple smoke covers the ship.

"Oh no," Luka hears Marinette gasp.

Captain Hardrock rose up. Captain Hardrock has long red hair that is spiked upwards and golden eyes. The upper half of her face is covered with a black mark edged with dark red and she wears a black bandana with a white spiky-haired skull on the front, along with gold circular earrings.

She wears a bodysuit that is red from the collar to the chest and black from the chest, the color separation looking like flames. Her suit includes three yellow buttons vertically on her lower body, three golden spikes horizontally over each knee, and a golden patch above each hip. She has two black belts, one going around the body diagonally and the other wrapped around the waist, that have golden buckles. Over her suit, she wears a black captain jacket with golden inner lining, golden spikes on the shoulders, golden edges, and golden buckles on the sides. Black fingerless gloves with golden edges around the upper holes cover her arms up to her elbows. Her knee-high boots that end below the knees are black and red in a flame-like pattern with black soles, golden heels, black inner lining, and black stripes with golden spikes above the ankles.

"Raise the mainsail, me deck hands let's get swashbuckling around here," his akumatized mom orders.

"Mom," Juleka asks, shocked and scared.

"What's going on," Luka asked, concerned.

"Your mom has weighed anchor, me lad," the akuma says. "I'm Captain Hardrock and today Paris's timbers are about to be shivered by my cannons."

The captain looks through a telescope. Luka took that second to make a quick headcount. He realized that the Greek twins were not on board the Liberty anymore. Remembering that the two were close to the gangplank when all this started, he figured that they had most likely had gone and went to get help.

"Westward ho, Liberty next stop," she orders. "Jagged Stone at the Eiffel Tower. Soon, there will only be one concert in Paris only one Music Festival. We will destroy all the others. Now, get to your instruments and rock those decibels!"

"Mom please, you can't ruin the Music Festival," Luka calmly pleaded.

"You can't force people to listen to your music," Marinette tells the villain.

"No way we're playing like this," Ivan yells.

"Mutiny," Captain Hardrock sounded offended. "On my ship! Liberty, seize these scallywags and throw them down into the hold!"

Chains shot out from different places on the ship. But before any of the teens could react, arrows started flying over their heads and hit the chains. Every chain that an arrow hit instantly froze into ice. Then the next thing that they knew, another weapon flew past them and shattered all the ice chains.

Floating near the ship, above the water, was Beautifly with her shield-sized razor blade flower. And looking over, back on land, was White Wolf. His bow was still at the ready. Luka was amazed that the two got there so quickly and figured that it was because of Lyon and Vallia. He had seen the two newest heroes of Paris on the news and the Ladyblog, but this was the first time in person.

"If I was Cat Noir, I would probably make a very bad ice pun right about now," Wolf smirked. "But I'll stick to freezing things with my arrows."

"And I am happy you are," Beautifly giggles. "I mean, Cat is a great hero and all, but I am very close to slapping him over those cat puns."

"Creatures of the land and air are not welcome on my ship," Captain Hardrock shouts, pointing her sword at the butterfly girl.

"Do I look like I'm on your ship," Beautifly floated around. "If you haven't noticed, I'm not even touching the ground let alone your ship."

"Lock this fly in the brig, Liberty," Captain Hardrock ordered.

Chains, once again, shot out from different parts of the ship. They headed right for the butterfly hero. But unlike Ladybug, Cat Noir, and even her own partner White Wolf, Beautifly is able to fly. But that is obvious at this point. It did give her an advantage over most akumas. The way that she was currently flying around to avoid the chains was one very good example of these advantages.

"I'm a butterfly, thank you very much," Beautifly put her hands on her hips.

She made a quick dive back toward the water, flying barely a foot above it. The chains would hit the water instead as she gracefully dodged them. But she soon made a quick shot upwards as she got close to where her partner had been standing. That allowed him to fire a volley of arrows at the chains following her. Each one of them was soon frozen into ice. She quickly shattered them with her razor flower.

"Nice try, Jackie Sparrow," Wolf smirked.

Beautifly facepalmed. "What you lack in puns, you sure make up for in pop culture references."

"What can I say," Wolf shrugged. "I love American movies."

The kids still onboard the Liberty, meanwhile, seemed to finally get out of shock over the heroes showing up so quickly.

"We need to get off this ship," Alya quickly says.

"How," Ivan asked. "Do you want us to jump into the seine?"

"Would you rather be chained up on this ship," Alya countered.

"All ashore that's going to shore," Ivan headed right for the edge of the boat.

"Never thought I'd have to walk the plank of my own house," Juleka says, surprisingly still as calm as she was during the Horrificator incident.

"Why is everyone in the Couffaine family so shockingly calm," Marinette whispered to Alya.

"Your guess is as good as mine, girl," Alya whispered back. "But they can't all be that calm. Captain Crazy, over there, is one example."

"I am suddenly very grateful for my normal mother," Marinette says. "Yet, I am also intrigued by everyday life in the Couffaine household."

"I hope my crew isn't planning on jumping ship," they were caught in the act by the akuma.

"Shoot," Nino swore.

With a slash of her sword in the air, Captain Hardrock sent another round of chains toward them. Only this time, White Wolf was not fast enough with his bow. He tried, but people need to remember that nobody's perfect. The group of teenagers was soon all grabbed by the chains and pulled below deck.

"Oh, Hades," Beautifly swore. "Now we're going to need a rescue mission. Where are that cat and bug?"

"Don't ask me," Wolf said, freezing another chain.

Meanwhile, Adrien had been in his room. He was watching the news broadcast about the music festival. His father had not allowed him to go to the Liberty and play the keyboard for Kitty Section. He was pretty salty about that. (AN: An ocean pun inspired by Captain Hardrock. hehe.)

"Breaking News," Nadja Chamack interrupted the fun stuff.

"Huh," Adrien knew what this most likely meant.

"Another akuma attack is in progress along the seine," Nadja reported. "This akuma's goal seems to be to take over the music festival with its rock music by taking out all the other musical acts in the city."

"Some people just don't appreciate good music when they hear it," Plagg says, munching on some of his cheese.

"Plagg, claws out," Adrien did not have time for his sarcasm since he knew his friends were at the same river.

His friends may not currently be in much danger, but they were being held prisoner.

While the room wasn't really a brig, but the teens were still trapped in it. Ivan and Mylene were chained together, as were Nino and Alya. Rose and Juleka were both alone in their chains while Luka and Marinette were also chained together.

"You don't seem very worried, Marinette," Luka noticed.

"I am, but this isn't really my first time being held captive by an akuma," Marinette says. "Even if the Evillustrator considered that situation a date."

"Alright," Luka accepted that.

"Alya, remind to apologize to Nathaniel later for bringing that up," Marinette said.

"Girl, I am pretty sure that he wouldn't mind," Alya says. "Nath is almost as forgiving as you. And that says something considering that you could forgive anyone for anything."

"Not anything," Marinette protested. "If anyone insults my parent's bakery, I'll open up a can of butt-kick of fighting techniques that my mother taught me."

The way that she said that so sweetly was enough to send shivers down most of their spines.

Marinette then looked down. She saw Tikki waving at her, having come out of her purse to silently aid her. The kwami phased into the lock on her and Luka's chain, taking a little bit before the lock opened with a quiet SNAP.

"Wow, how'd you do that," Luka asked her.

"Uhh, I, Uhm..." Marinette had to think fast. "With this."

She holds up a guitar pick.

"You're amazing," Luka praised her. "A real magician, Marinette."

"You think so," Marinette asks, going all nervous like how she does around Adrien. "Oh, it was nothing, uh, amazing, really?"

"Excuse me, but some of us are still chained up here you know," Alya says, rolling her eyes.

Before either of the freed teens could do anything, they heard Captain Hardrock walk downstairs and laughing.

"Marinette, she's coming," Nino warned them.

"We'll come back, I promise," Marinette says as she and Luka leave the room quickly.

The two ended up locking themselves in Luka's own bedroom. They had to work quickly as Captain Hardrock soon broke in.

"Run, Marinette quick," Luka yelled out the window.

"Seize him," Captain Hardrock some more chains to catch her son.

It all happened faster than Luka could blink. Chains shot through the open door in order to trap him again. But at the same time, a trio of arrows flew through the open window/porthole and froze all of the incoming chains.

Luka turned around and saw that White Wolf was hanging from an icy-looking rope outside the window.

"My outfit is bright white, how do people miss me," he joked.

"Uh..." Luka had no idea how to respond to that.

"Whatever," Wolf shrugged. "Move that fine-looking butt, handsome, you're getting off this Black Pearl wannabe."

Luka blushed, even if he hid it very well. He didn't have much time to really try and think of anything as his mother was currently breaking through the frozen chains on her way to capture him again.

Taking White Wolf's hand, he was just barely able to get through the porthole.

"Time to leave," Beautifly tells them, seen fighting more chains with the newly arrived Cat Noir.

Luka had to immediately tighten his grip around White Wolf's waist as the icy hero fired another ice rope arrow. The two swung away on the rope, landing on the shore of the seine.

"My sister and friends are still in there," Luka immediately tells him.

"I know," Wolf says. "We will try to get as many of them off of the boat as possible. But we might need to also rely on Ladybug's Miraculous Cure if we can not."

"I understand," Luka said.

"Stay safe, Mr.Couffaine," Wolf tells him, running back into the battle.

Luka couldn't help but get lost as he caught a glimpse of the hero's beautiful eyes.

"Flirt later, Wolf," Beautifly calls.

"Yeah, that's my job," Cat Noir jokes. "OW!"

Beautifly had hit him on the back of the head.

"Sorry, I'm late," Ladybug apologizes, swinging into the fray.

"All heroes are allowed to be late every once in a while," Beautifly stated, blocking a chain with her razor flower. "May I remind you of Cat Noir's late arrival to the fight with Riposte."

"He also told me you were quite late during an akuma attack by someone called the Evilistrator," Wolf said. "That name, by the way, is horrid."

Captain Hardrock, unfortunately, then made her reappearance on deck. She was already angry over her son escaping the Liberty and seeing the four heroes together did not help her mood. She raised her sword.

"Capture those pests, Liberty," she ordered.

The heroes started flipping, jumping, and flying in Beautifly's case to avoid the flying chains. White Wolf aimed another of his arrows at the chain, but Captain Hardrock was having it this time.

"Liberty, fire," she ordered her ship.

One of the cannons aimed at the icy teen. But instead of a cannonball coming out, the cannon fired a soundwave of rock music. It was almost like the soundwave effect that Black Canary causes with her canary cry. It washed over the Greek hero.

White Wolf covered his wolf ears on the top of his head, yelling in pain. The sound was loud and horrible, actually causing pain with his enhanced wolf hearing. When Captain Hardrock sent more of her chains his way, Ladybug quickly threw her yo-yo around his waist and pulled him away from them and the sound blast.

"Leave it to me to face an akuma with sound powers when I have enhanced hearing," he shook his head like he had swimmer's ear.

"Just be happy that you and Beautifly weren't here when we were fighting Guitar Villain," Ladybug said.

"There was seriously a villain with that as a name," Wolf raised an eyebrow. "Does Hawkmoth have no creativity at all?"

"That remains to be seen," Cat Noir comments. "His villain names range from weird, to good, to not very original at all."

"Jagged Stone ahead, Liberty fire," Captain Hardrock ordered.

The ship fired its sound cannons again, only this time entire speakers were shot out. The speakers landed and attached themselves all around Jagged Stone's music area at the Itfil Tower. The music was so loud that it caused cracks to spider all around where the speakers landed.

"Where's a pair of earplugs when you need them," Beautifly remarked.

"Are you the one with sensitive ears, I don't think so," Wolf commented. "My ears are still ringing from that earlier blast."

"What do you think her akumatized object is," Beautifly asked.

"It has to be something on the ship, otherwise she wouldn't be able to control it the way she does," Ladybug theorizes.

"I could Cataclysm the entire ship," Cat Noir offered, raising the hand that he uses to destroy things.

"No," Ladybug instantly shut that idea down.

"There are hostages on the ship, Cat," Wolf informs the hero. "If you sink the ship, they might drown."

"Myself and White Wolf only managed to get one of them off the ship before you two showed up," Beautifly says. "The rest of them are still trapped somewhere on there."

"I think he is Anarka Couffaine's son Luka," Wolf said. "He might know why was hit by the akuma. I'll ask him."

"Fire at XY," Captain Hardrock commanded, the Liberty shooting more of its speakers at the Justin Beiber wannabe.

"Well, do it fast," Ladybug told him, then swung away toward the ship.

"She knows that we're not her sidekicks and she doesn't have to order us around like that, right," Wolf crossed his arms.

"We can tell her off later, let's go, Cat," Beautifly ordered, flying toward the ship.

"We are around some seriously bossy ladies," Cat Noir commented, before using his staff to get to the ship himself.

"I am surrounded by weirdos," Wolf shook his head.

He took his bow in hand, notching another arrow. He aimed it to freeze one of the cannons closed when the akuma saw what he was doing.

"Fire," she ordered.

Another sound blast came right at him. He covered his wolf ears as the sound really hurt with his magical hearing. His bow and arrow fell to the ground. He could hardly tell when another person ran up and picked up his bow. Said person aimed it at the cannon, fighting the headache that the sound was causing. The arrow froze the shooting cannon, stopping the sound.

"I never liked rock music before, and I am most certainly not going to start now," Wolf says, getting up.

"Are you okay," asked the person that fired the arrow.

White Wolf looked and saw that it was Luka that had picked up his bow.

"I'm good now, Mr.Couffaine," Wolf says. "Thanks for the assistance."

"You can call me Luka, White Wolf," Luka tells him.

"Alright, then, Luka," nobody can say that superheroes aren't great actors. "It was very brave of you to use my bow. Very telling as well."

"Telling," Luka was confused.

"Most civilians would be afraid of turning to ice by touching one of my arrows," Wolf explains. "It shows that in maybe another life, you would have made an excellent fit for the wolf miraculous."

"Wow," Luka was still as cool as they come.

"Anyway, did you see what object the akuma landed on," Wolf asked the blue and black-haired boy. "Destroying it is the only way for Ladybug to de-evilize your mom."

"I didn't see exactly, but it is most likely her compass," Luka says. "She has always said that a compass is a sailor's most prized possession."

As someone that grew up near the water, White Wolf actually understood that. He wondered how much easier Odysseus would have gotten home if he had just used a map and compass instead of the stars and a lot of faith. As much as he believed in the gods, common sense is also a thing to believe in.

White Wolf noticed the ice on the cannon starting to crack. He quickly scooped Luka into his arms and ran away just in time as the ice shattered and the sound blast started up again. The two barely got away in time. The sound waves just missed them. White Wolf put Luka down a little way more away from the akumatized ship.

"Stay here, Luka," Wolf directed.

"I have to help," Luka tells the hero. "White Wolf, there has to be a way for me to help."

White Wolf looked at the blue-haired teen. He had shown great bravery when he picked up his bow. Not many people, let alone teenagers, would do such a thing. An image of a silver box flashed into his head, giving him an idea.

"Wait right here, Luka," Wolf instructed. "If any of the others ask, tell them that I went to get help. Beautifly will understand what I mean."

Luka nodded as White Wolf got out his bow again. Using an icy rope, the Greek hero swung away from the Seine. He had no idea what the wolf hero was up to.

The holder of the wolf miraculous landed in an alley on the other side of the street from a beautiful jungle-like flower/garden shop. He de-transformed and out of the alley walked Lyon Garden. The dubbed Ice Prince made his way to the flower shop, greeting his father on the way in. He quickly made his way up to his room, which from what his sister, Vallia, had told him was almost like Marinette's bedroom but made for him instead of her.

Lyon went over to the bookshelf he keeps in his room. He pulled back the one book on the shelf that did not have a title on the spine. In a bit of a cliche turn of events, the bookshelf slid tp the side to reveal a hidden compartment. From the compartment, he pulled out a secure but elegant silver box. It was in the shape of a large jewelry box with bright blue markings that looked like a cross between ice and vines. Silver roses also were dotted around the box.

Lyon opened the box lid, revealing several other pieces of jewelry inside of it. On a raised area of the box was a place for hour pieces of jewelry. The ones marked for the wolf and butterfly miraculous were empty. But there was a bluebird necklace in the space for the miraculous of the songbird and a stag brooch in the place for the stag miraculous. The other miraculouses at the top of the box were around the raised area. A deer head pendant for the deer miraculous, a black snake armband for the python miraculous, a black panther pendant for the panther miraculous, a brown bear cuff bracelet for the grizzly bear miraculous, a feather hair clip for the falcon miraculous, and a white bird hair comb for the dove miraculous.

"I know the perfect choice for this akuma," Lyon talks to himself.

He picked up a necklace before quickly sealing the box back in its hiding place and leaving.

Back at the battle with Captain Hardrock, the remaining trio was having a bit of trouble with fighting off the chains as well as trying to search for her akumatized object.

"I have never seen Pirates of the Caribbean, and this is not making me want to," Cat Noir comments, jumping out of the way of more chains.

"There is a reason why pirates have never been very recorded in Greek history," Beautifly says. "Because there weren't any."

"Seriously," Ladybug raised her eyebrow at that.

"I'm pretty sure," Beautifly shrugs. "I'm a butterfly hero, you really think I know much about pirates at all?"

"I agree with her, only replace butterfly with black cat for me," Cat Noir says. "Cats and water do not mix, in any form."

There was a reason why being surrounded by frost and ice weakened him so much when Lady Wifi locked him in that freezer. Cats and water have never mixed.

"Heads up," Beautifly warned, darting around in the sky to avoid the chains coming her way.

"Fire at Nightingale," Captain Hardrock commanded.

The Liberty shot out more speakers at the energetic pop star.

"Beautifly, where is White Wolf," Ladybug practically demanded.

"I don't know, but I do have a pretty good idea," Beautifly tells her.

"He just abandoned us in the middle of a fight," Ladybug snapped, using her yo-yo to fight off chains.

"Need I remind you that we are not your sidekicks," Beautifly snapped back, blocking chains with her razor flower. "We don't have to inform you of everything we do. I trust that White Wolf has a plan. I do not immediately go for such negative thoughts."

"If he has a plan, he should have told us," Ladybug did not back down. "Maybe he would have if he didn't stop with those ridiculous pop culture references every other sentence."

"Not all heroes have to be stern and serious to be good heroes, Bug," Beautifly did not take any crap if someone insults her brother. "Have you ever seen videos of the Flash? He never seems all that serious, but succeeds every time in his fights."

"I've seen news of his battles, and Beautifly does have a point," Cat Noir said.

But before the other female hero could try to find a comeback, one of the chains managed to hook itself to Cat Noir's left wrist.

"Oh crud," Beautifly swore.

Cat Noir was pulled up to the crow's nest and his hands were pulled to either side of him as he was chained down by his wrists.

"Cataclysm," Cat Noir shouted.

His right hand bubbled with black energy, signaling his power of destruction. With a twist of his hand, he was able to free himself from the chain holding him to the crow's nest.

"Great, because you had to act all high and mighty with trying to boss us all around, Cat Noir now only had five minutes," Beautifly snaps at the red and black hero.

"He should have been paying more attention to what was going on around him," Ladybug countered. "He was probably too busy trying to think up another joke or another lame pick-up line to focus on the fight."

"Or maybe you distracted him by treating us all like sidekicks," Beautifly did not back down.

"These two fight more than most would think me and White Wolf would," Cat Noir thinks. "The whole cats and dogs hate each other stereotype and all that."

That was when the icy hero finally made it back to the fight. He landed not too far from where Luka was trying to keep up with the ship.

"Are those two seriously at it again," he asked the teen in blue.

"It is quite ironic," Luka says. "But their music has no way to harmonize. It is too different and can barely even be in the same song."

"It's funny that you mention harmonizing," Wolf smirked.

"Pardon," Luka faced the hero.

White Wolf pulled out a small silver box from under his cloak. It was like a mini version of the Miracle Box in his room, only square-shaped.

"Luka Couffaine, this is the miraculous of the songbird, symbolized by the gift of heart," Wolf held the box out to him. "You will use it for good in this time of need. After the battle is finished, I shall return to retrieve it should you choose to accept it."

"I...I do," Luka was actually showing shock. "I accept the miraculous, White Wolf."

Luka opened the box, and a ball of light came out. It soon turned into a kwami, but this one was a cute bluebird one.

"Geia, young holder," the kwami greeted. "My name if Meloetta and I am your kwami."

"My kwami," Luka was confused.

"Kwami's are what give me and the other heroes our powers," Wolf explained. "They are also generally good friends and guides of sorts for us."

"Wow," Luka says.

He took the necklace out of the box, putting it around his neck. The color blended quite well into his natural style choice as well as the fact that he was a musician wearing a songbird around his neck. Part of him wanted to ask the wolf hero if that was part of why he had chosen this particular miraculous for him. But he shrugged it off as a coincidence.

"All you have to say is 'Meloetta, let's rock,' and you will transform," the kwami explained. "To de-transform, you say 'concert's over.' Your special power is activated by saying 'Harmonize."

Luka nodded at the kwami.

"You ready to be a hero," Wolf asked.

"I'd do anything for my friends and family," Luka says. "Meloetta, let's rock."

"At least my weapon isn't a children's toy," Beautifly shot at Ladybug.

"Yours is nothing more than an oversized daisy," Ladybug countered.

The two of them were back-to-back fighting off the chains while constantly trading insults back and forth. It also seemed that because of the two's constant fighting with each other, Captain Hardrock had basically forgotten about Cat Noir altogether. He was just watching from the crow's nest and also scanning the ship with his eyes to see where the akumatized object could be.

White Wolf soon landed next to him.

"And Ladybug calls the two of us annoying," he raised his eyebrow at the cat hero.

"I don't even pretend to know anything about girls," Cat Noir put his hands up in defeat.

"Good, because I know a few girls back home that would skin you alive if you tried to ever say that you were a girl expert," Wolf chuckled.

"Even with that little bit of information now permanently etched into my brain, I still would want to visit Greece someday," Cat Noir snickers.

"Not like we'd ever deny the help against the myth spirits," Wolf commented.

"So, was Beautifly right when she guessed that you were getting help," Cat Noir asked.

"When is she ever wrong," Wolf smirked.

Another flying hero then came out of nowhere, even if White Wolf did know where he came from. Moving so fast that he was basically a blur, he used his weapon to slice his way through all the chains until there were none left.

"What in the world," Ladybug was shocked.

"I should have known that Wolf was going to chose that miraculous," Beautifly grinned.

"What," Ladybug gasped.

The new hero finally stopped, and everyone was able to get a good look at him. He was in a silver jean vest with matching jeans. He was now also had a turquoise t-shirt with darker silver boots. On his hands were turquoise fingerless gloves. His hair was the same black with blue streaks. And to the shock of Ladybug and Cat Noir, he also had angel-like bird wings that were also silver. The bluebird necklace was still around his neck, matching the bird's eye-like mask over his eyes.

In his hand was an ax-like weapon that also resembled a hybrid of a guitar and a lyre.

"Hope I am not late to the party," the new hero comments.

"You're right on time," Wolf smirks.

"Who are you," Ladybug did not like another miraculous being out and about, as when she recruited Alya to be Rena Rouge was risky enough.

"You can call me... Silver Siren," the newly named hero smiled softly.

"Finally, another hero with wings," Beautifly giggles. "I was getting lonely up in the air all by myself."

"Happy to be of assistance to you, Beautifly," Silver Siren smiles at her.

"Guys, we may need to speed this up," Cat Noir shows his ring as it blinked to show he had three minutes left.

"Gottcha," Beautifly gives him a thumbs up.

"Luka said that the akuma is most likely in the compass," Wolf says.

"Once you freeze it, Beautifly and I can destroy it," Cat Noir said.

For once, Ladybug had to play catch-up as the other four heroes went back to battle Captian Hardrock. The akuma did not look happy that another hero had joined the fight.

"Another pest in the sky," she snarled. "Get them, Liberty."

Chains shot at the team from all angles.

"Nature's Heart," Beautifly called upon her power, throwing her flower up.

The gem on her razor flower released a blossom that came down with the weapon.

"Amaryllis," Wolf immediately figured out. "I always thought that was a beautiful flower."

"I know exactly what this flower does," Beautifly said.

Holding up the flower, it released a number of petal missiles. Each petal exploded on contact with the chains, destroying them. The move almost looked like a combo of the draco meteor and pin missile moves from Pokemon.

"My chains too easy for you," Captain Hardrock yelled. "Then I think it is time for you land-loving pests to face the music."

"Land-loving," Cat Noir raised an eyebrow. "She does know that two of us don't even touch the ground, right?"

"Akumas, big on destruction and not so much on logic," Beautifly says.

The ship rumbled as its sound cannons aimed at the five of them. White Wolf, in particular, did not want to have to hear that loud music again.

"Hit it, Silver Siren," he called out to the new hero.

"I'm on it," he responded. "Harmonize."

He strung his guitar ax, blue energy flowing from the strings to his throat. His eyes glowed as he started to open his mouth.

"Cover your ears," Wolf warned everyone.

Just as the heroes covered their ears, Silver Siren let out a loud scream as the akumatized ship sent out its own sonic blasts. Silver Sirens scream came out as powerful sonic waves similar to the Black Canary's canary cry. Only his seemed slightly more powerful and the sound waves were a bright blue color.

The two sound attacks met in the air, a loud BOOM resulting from the collision. It blew their hair and loose pieces of clothing back a little at the wind blast that also resulted from the collision.

White Wolf and Beautifly uncovered their ears as both sides died down their attacks. They had to move quickly.

"Winter's Touch," Wolf quickly called.

His hands started to pour out an icy mist with a slight blueish color to it. The wolf hero then jumped to where he was sure that the compass was on the ship.

"Stay away from my compass," Captain Hardrock yelled.

But with one touch, the piece of equipment was frozen into ice. With a quick jump back, he let Beautifly throw her razor flower at the compass. The weapon smashed right through the frozen compass as easily as it would be to shatter glass.

"Gotta love this thing," Beautifly smiles at her weapon.

A black butterfly soon flapped its way out of the rubble. That was when Ladybug stepped forward.

"No more evil-doing for you, little akuma," she said, opening her yo-yo. "Time to de-evilize."

She caught the corrupted insect.

"Bye, bye, little butterfly," Ladybug released the now white insect.

"That thing is definitely a moth," Beautifly comments.

Cat Noir snickered at the comment while White Wolf simply rolls his eyes playfully. Silver Siren smiled but Ladybug looked annoyed.

"She does seem like the perfect person to know a butterfly from a moth," Cat Noir joined in Beautifly's fun.

"You two give me headaches," Wolf said.

"You know you love us," Cat Noir winks in a flirty way.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Wolf waved him off, making him and Beautifly snicker. "You did great out there, Silver Siren."

"You think so," the new hero asks. "I was a bit worried about using my power against those cannons."

"If I didn't think you could help, I wouldn't have given you the miraculous," Wolf smiles at him.

All of the heroes but Ladybug all started to beep as their miraculouses flashed. Cat Noir had a minute left as his ring lost another piece of the paw. One of the wings on Beautifly's bracelet went black. A feather on Silver Siren's bird necklace went from blue to white. One of the wolf's teeth on White Wolf's medallion went black.

"You can handle the clean-up, Bug," Beautifly says. "We all have to go. Secret identities and all that jazz."

"No one likes smooth jazz, Fly," Wolf said, but then all of them separated.

#ml salt #marinette salt #original character #original heroes #original miraculous #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fandom

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soulmate-game · 5 years ago

Text

IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT YOU GUYS HAVE ADOPTED ME. THIS IS MY REBELLION (thanks)

Now, a proper introduction to this story:

—*—*—*—*—*

“I do not see why we all had to come,” Damian groused, hands shoved into his pockets. Bruce had decided to set up a new branch of Wayne Enterprises in Paris, and apparently that required him and all his sons to come with him on a weeklong trip to scout out the perfect location from a set of possibilities and start networking. Selina and the girls had decided to allow all the boys the much needed vacation, taking over Gotham-sitting in their absence. There were the Zeta Tubes in Paris if all else failed anyway.

(The girls only made this deal with the agreement that they would get their own, twice as long vacation to some tropical island once they got back).

Bruce straightened out his suit. “This trip serves two purposes at once, Damian,” he started to tell his youngest in what all his sons dubbed the Lecture Voice. “Obviously, the public reason is setting up WE’s new headquarters here. The real reason, however, is that Diana is bad at keeping secrets for long periods of time.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Jason asked, hands shoved in his jean pockets as he still had absolutely no idea how he managed to get roped into this shit. He didn’t want to be in Paris, let alone on a trip alone with his ‘family.’

Bruce hummed for a moment, looking around to make sure nobody was listening to the foreigners speaking in soft English. Nobody was. They continued walking down the street, but Bruce was careful to keep his voice low regardless. “Clark mentioned something about Lois wanting to visit a reporter friend of hers here in Paris, and Diana immediately changed the subject. What with her having worked at the Louvre in the past, Clark had wanted her feedback on the best places to take Lois to eat. Diana nearly exploded from how badly she was trying to steer the conversation as far away from Paris as possible.”

“You think she’s hiding something from the League?” Tim asked, eyebrows furrowed. He was the least upset about this whole thing, since he would have been forced to come on the trip anyway as WE’s COO. “That doesn’t seem like her thing.”

“It isn’t,” Bruce agreed. “Unless she felt honor bound to keep a secret. And if Diana of all people feels honor bound to keep a secret…”

“Then it’s big,” Dick finished with a nod. “She probably has a contact or friend here who convinced her to keep something away from the League. So you brought us all here to figure it out, then?”

“I had Barbara look into things on the Computer, but she didn’t turn up as much as we expected. Apparently something is messing with the electronic signals leaving Paris, hardly any information leaves this city on any electronic waves at all unless it’s specifically meant to, like business emails or political business. Local shows and news, any small time websites or blogs, all of those sorts of things are suddenly mysteriously inaccessible anywhere outside of city limits. Even social media posts.”

Tim frowned. That wasn’t… good.

Their conversation was interrupted by an explosion, followed by the collapse of the Eiffel Tower and the ringing of alarm bells.

“AKUMA ALERT. AKUMA ALERT. EVACUATE TO DESIGNATED SHELTERS. AKUMA ALERT.”

The group of civilian-dressed heroes tensed, looking around to see that the majority of locals seemed rather calm about the whole thing. They were brisk and efficient in evacuating, but not overly panicked. Bruce decided that was a good enough reason to tap a native’s shoulder and ask what was going on. Luckily, he and all his sons were fluent in French so none of them would be left confused.

The citizen they had pulled aside, a blond that Bruce belatedly realized was the mayor’s daughter, blinked up at them as if surprised to be interrupted. Then realization came over her face, making her relax slightly.

“Oh! You are the Waynes, correct? Daddy told me you all would be visiting from Gotham this week,” she turned her head over her shoulder to survey the chaos around them. “This is an Akuma attack. It’s the result of Paris’s own resident nut job super villain. Since you will all be here for the next few days, it’s important for you to know,” she put her hands on her hips and stared the group down as if all of them weren’t half a foot taller than her and much more well built, and ignoring the fact that everyone else around them was fleeing to safety. “Keep your emotions in check. HawkMoth, the villain behind this whole disaster, takes advantage of people’s negative emotions to turn them into temporary super powered villains called Akumas. If you get too angry or sad or even scared, you’re vulnerable to him.”

“Attacks like this happen almost every day, at this point. It’s been going on for three years now. But you shouldn’t have to worry— right on time,” Chloè Bourgeois suddenly smiled smugly as a red and black figure could be seen running across rooftops in a blur. “That’s our primary superhero, Ladybug. Her partner Chat Noir shouldn’t be far behind. As long as we go to a shelter, everything should be fine. The closest one is this way,” she told them, starting to lead the group away.

“Are you not at all worried about the Eiffel Tower?” Dick asked, disbelief clear in his tone even as he and his family followed the teenager. “Isn’t that a massive source of tourism for this place?”

Chloè snorted, waving her hand dismissively. “Please. The Eiffel Tower gets destroyed every Tuesday, practically. The news station gets ransacked almost every Thursday, and for some reason the Louvre only gets attacked every other Saturday or so. The Seine gets decent action too. Everything will go back to normal as soon as the Akuma is defeated.”

“Normal?” Jason interjected, eyebrows furrowed. “How can the Eiffel Tower suddenly come back from being rubble?”

Chloé laughed, very out of place considering the emptying streets. “That’s because of Ladybug. Her power reverses all the damage from an Akuma attack, as if it never happened in the first place. If we’re caught outside and flattened by a thrown car or giant falling rock? Poof, brought back to life without any injuries once Ladybug beats the Akuma. Drown during an attack? Poof, brought back. Beheaded by a maniac Akuma after revenge? Poof, head back on,” the heiress explained rather crassly.

Her examples were making the men behind her grimmer and grimmer. They came to the girl far too easily to just be made up scenarios.

“Watch out!” An unfamiliar voice called out, a red figure suddenly landing right in front of them before a resounding explosion rocked the whole street. Chloé shrieked, covering her head with her hands. The Waynes braced themselves and did their best to stay upright, getting right back up as quickly as possible when that failed.

When the dust cleared, it revealed the woman they had briefly caught a glimpse at before. Ladybug. True to form, she was dressed in red with black spots, though it looked as if her skin tight uniform wouldn’t offer much protection. In front of her was a slightly transparent pink shield which—oh. Nope. That was a shield she made by swinging a yo-yo.

An honest-to-Batman YO-YO was her main weapon, and it apparently could create magical shields to deflect explosives.

“Chloe! What have I told you about getting to a shelter as soon as possible?” The heroine shouted at the blonde heiress, who just pointed at the men she had been leading.

“I was! But I ran into tourists who had no idea what to do, I was trying to get all of us to a shelter!” The blond defended herself, before her eyes widened and her pointing finger moved. “Behind you!”

Ladybug turned a bit, but didn’t seem surprised at all when a black blur came out of seemingly nowhere and knocked into the floating villain dressed in gaudy oranges and yellows, knocking the Akuma’s aim off track. The explosion that the villain had meant for Ladybug and the civilians she was protecting hit the side of the road instead, hurting nothing but concrete.

“You were almost late, Chaton,” Ladybug called to the figure dressed in black, her voice teasing and eyes amused. The figure batted the Akuma away on buy time before jogging over, revealing a blond boy in a distressingly leather costume that was far too similar to Catwoman’s for any of the Gotham males to be comfortable with.

“Not my fault you took off ahead of me, Milady!” He shot right back, just as teasingly.

“Graaaaaah!” The Akuma, Explosion, pushed himself back up to his feet and glared at the heroes. “Die, die, die! You want to laugh at me, you want to say how I’ve ‘blown up,’ I’ll blow YOU up! See how you like it!”

“Their dialogue never gets any better,” Chaton, who the Gotham boys guessed was the Chat Noir that Chloé has mentioned, quipped as he spun a bo staff in his hands lazily. “Milady?”

Ladybug nodded. “The Akuma is in their belt. We’re gonna have to get up close for this one,” she remarked, getting her yo-yo ready to call on Lucky Charm. But, before she got a chance to, a blur ran out from behind her and tackled the super villain. “No!”

Ladybug immediately ran over, not caring that the green eyed boy was an amazing fighter and managed to grapple the Akuma to the ground in seconds. Power flowed into the Akuma’s gloved hands, and Ladybug was barely able to pull the civilian away before he got blasted.

“Don’t tackle a magically powered villain, what are you thinking?!” She yelled at him, grabbing the boy into a princess hold and jumping back as Explosion tried to hit them. She ignored the boy’s protests and attempts to escape her grip, dodging around every punch and kick. Her eyes strayed to the side, and the heroine suddenly smirked.

“Chat noir! Now!”

Her partner lunged, using Explosion’s distraction to use Cataclysm on the guy’s belt. Ladybug released Damian’s legs so she could purify the butterfly, one-handedly swinging her yo-yo with barely any effort. After a few seconds the cure was cast, and the damage reversed. The red clad heroine looked over at her partner and Chloé, her mouth straightening into a frown.

“Chloé, can you get the victim to calm down and try to sort out the whole issue surrounding the video that was posted without his consent? Chat, go ahead and go. I got this sorted out.”

Ladybug didn’t wait for a response, turning her head to lock gazes with Bruce, who was clearly the oldest of her group of tourists and the one in charge. “Follow me, monsieur,” she said curtly, turning and half-dragging Damian with her by the arm. She waited until they reached an alleyway that would keep any of them from being easily noticed. She didn’t want anyone to catch this confrontation on camera.

“I understand you are new to Paris,” she said softly, her voice hard as she released her hold on the teen and swept her eyes over everyone he was with. “But this is not a game. You do not tackle an Akuma unless you have a nearly indestructible suit on and the powers to combat one, do you understand me?”

“I thought you could bring the dead back to life?” Another male said, his blue eyes sharp her his fluffy black hair. “Tim Drake, by the way.”

Ladybug nodded. “I can. But that doesn’t mean I want anyone injured or dead if I can help it. X-rays have shown that even the Cure leaves a few residual marks. If someone drowns and is brought back, their lungs are weaker than before. If someone was smashed by rubble, their x-rays show evidence of the breaks even if they are healed far better than normal time and medical procedures can accomplish. Phantom pains, aches, the damage done by death doesn’t go away just because magic fixed it. Little things remain, even if your memory of the death doesn’t,” she explained sharply. She turned to the green-eyed boy again, making mutual eye contact for the first time.

“Paris is my city. I don’t care how good you are at fighting, you cannot run into a battle like that again. I asked for heroes and vigilantes to be distracted or entirely sent away from coming here to avoid this exact situation and having to fight Akumas I might not be able to handle, and I am not above using my influence to get you deported for the same reasons. Am I understood?”

The boy opened his mouth, but couldn’t get a word out before him and Ladybug’s worlds shifted. Their eye contact sparked something, sending electricity through their bodies and making both of them blink and gasp.

Their point of view was cut in half. Damian found himself staring at Ladybug, but he could also see what could only be Ladybug’s point of view as she stared right back at him.

He raised one eyebrow slowly. Figures his soulmate would be a hero. He couldn’t see how a relationship with a civilian would work for him, though he hardly gave thought to relationships in general. From both her lecture and the way she handled the fight, he knew her to be experienced and professional. The way she held herself alone was enough to garner a spark of respect from him. The fact that the Wayne name didn’t seem to mean much of anything to her also helped.

And not just anybody could grab hold of him that easily and tote him around as he tried to escape their grip.

With a smirk, he held out his hand. Ladybug clearly had no idea that he was a vigilante as well, and he was going to have fun with that.

“My name is Damian Wayne, and apparently Paris is going to become an important city for me as well if you’re my soulmate. I promise not to interfere without your permission from here on.”

Ladybug just swallowed, her eyes wide and… scared? She took a deep breath, closing her eyes.

If she didn’t already know that running away would mean he would find out her identity, she would have. But since they could see from each other’s point of view, that was not a good idea.

A few beeps sounded from her earrings, making Ladybug bite her lip.

“Okay. Here’s what’s gonna happen,” she said, ignoring the incredulous stares they were getting from Damian’s family. “I’m gonna go on the other side of this door,” she pointed to the door that she knew was unlocked and a safe place to detransform. “And then we are going to meditate until we can find a way to undo… this,” she gestured to her eyes, indicating the point of view issue.

“And then we can meet on the rooftops tonight, right?” Damian tried, his eyes sparkling with mischief. Ladybug glared at him, knowing what he was doing. He could obviously read that she was going to run away the moment she got the chance, her concern over her identity overruling her desire to know her soulmate. He was trying to make sure she didn’t.

“Fine,” she bit out reluctantly, opening the door in the alleyway and entering the fire exit it led to. She shut the door, allowing herself to detransform. Tikki remained dutifully out of eyeshot. “Meditate. Now,” she barked to the other side of the door.

Kwami, what is my luck?

—*—*—*—*—*

“I hate you so much,” Marinette growled, pouting as she buried her face into Damian’s shoulder. Her boyfriend, her soulmate, just chuckled as he returned her hug. “You were Robin this whole time?”

“Yes, Habibiti,” he said with amusement lacing his tone. It had taken two months and a Wayne-funded weekend trip to Gotham City (for only Marinette) for the girl to put together her boyfriend’s identity.

He had figured out her’s after two weeks.

“In my defense, I didn’t meet Robin until last night and I figured out it was you as soon as I got some sleep,” she defended herself.

“Maybe you would have put it together immediately if you hadn’t stayed up for the past thirty-six hours on a commission,” Damian gently scolded, earning a snort from his girlfriend.

“I’ll sleep when I die. Speaking of die. You owe me a lot of fabric and good food to apologize for keeping this secret before I kill you. I know you only did it to mess with me.”

Damian just laughed, unrepentant. It was true.

“I’ll ask Pennyworth to make your favorites.”

“You better.”

—*—*—*—*—*

#maribat #damian x marinette #daminette #soulmate AU #mlb x dc

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fycarmensandiego · 4 years ago

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1995 Animation Magazine article

After months of trying to find a library to supply this over interlibrary loan, I’ve finally managed to get a copy of the cover story from February 1995′s Animation Magazine, about Where on Earth. Aside from the truly cringetastic headline on the cover, the article itself is poorly written and just as poorly researched (for example, saying that Carmine appears on the cartoon), but it does have snippets from interviews with several execs at both Brøderbund and Dic.

A scanned copy of the article (featuring some concept art of Carmen, Ivy, Zack, and a nameless goon in regrettably low quality) is available in my online archive, or read the text (with some spelling and punctuation corrections) below the cut.

Lady in Red by Morrie Gelman, special to Animation Magazine

The commercial television version of Carmen Sandiego, the lady in the stylish red hat and shoes who steals national treasures such as all of the sushi in Japan is, surprisingly, the most successful program ever produced by DIC Entertainment. Maybe not so surprising, since with more than 4 million units sold since 1985, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, currently out in a junior version on CD-ROM, is computer software’s best-selling history and geography title ever.

Carmen is the first software character ever to make the leap to television. In addition to the DIC-produced Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? educational/entertainment series for Fox, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, a game show, is in its fourth season on PBS.

It was four years from the time Andy Heyward, president and C.E.O. of DIC, spotted Carmen as a computer game designed by Brøderbund Software to provide young people with exposure to world geography and cultures before it ever got on commercial television.

Heyward read a story about Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? in the business section of the Los Angeles Times. He went to the Northern California community of Novato, where Brøderbund Software is based, and met with company officials. He said at the time, “I would like to option the property,” and then took it over to CBS.

DIC had the property in development at CBS for three consecutive years. It was still in the running when Heyward had lunch with Margaret Loesch, president of Fox Children’s Network at the Big Boy restaurant in Burbank.

“CBS developed it and at the final bell decided that educational programming was too risky,” Heyward recalls.

At a NATPE in the early ’90s, Barbara Kriesman, the FCC attorney in charge of the Video Services Division, was the main speaker at a children’s seminar. The seminar was focused on compliance with the recently enacted Children’s Television Act requiring broadcasters to air programming that meets the educational and informational needs of children. Stations were told, in effect, they would lose their licenses if they did not comply.

It was clear that Fox had to protect itself. Margaret Loesch is a very competitive person. She was ready to take a chance.

Heyward told her of DIC’s developing Carmen Sandiego with CBS. She asked if it was picked up yet and he said, “No, it wasn’t.”

Loesch said Fox would pick up the series if it could have an exclusive.

According to Heyward, Loesch made “a big pitch” on why Fox would be a more competitive environment for Carmen Sandiego. Heyward listened and agreed, finally saying, “OK, let’s go.” The show made its debut on Fox’s Saturday morning line-up from 11:30 to noon last February as Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?

By Heyward’s evaluation, Carmen has been more successful than any “educational” show, ever, especially because “kids don’t think of it as an educational show.”

That it be highly entertaining was DIC’s hope and aspiration from the start.

“We work very hard to get a lot of stuff in there that kids learn from,” Heyward says. “The production has not only cel animation but computer graphics, source footage and live action.”

Heyward confirms that “Carmen Sandiego is far and away the most successful program we’ve ever produced.”

For Robby London, senior vice president, creative affairs at DIC, Carmen Sandiego is the company’s “flagship” program and one of his “favorite, favorite topics to talk about.”

While London admits that everybody always says that some show or another is “unique,” that label is totally valid for Carmen.

Some of the things that make Carmen unique are the many disparate production elements not often seen on Saturday morning television.

Carmen includes regular cel animation to carry the narrative forward. Silicon Graphics Inc.’s computer animation takes characters from place to place throughout the world, allowing viewers to learn about the places. Within the SGI platform, still photos are used, such as source footage of Franklin Delano Roosevelt making a speech, along all sorts of other visuals, including graphs.

Another component is “limited animation,” which is quick, little, perhaps 5-second, images of a rather silly animation that is in a completely different style from the regular cel animation. Live action appears throughout the episodes in terms of the players playing at home on the computer against Carmen Sandiego. This is the whole basis by which DIC tells the story.

Michael Maliani was executive producer and producer of Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? the first season of the show. With DIC currently working on the third season, Joe Barruso, who previously directed the show, is now producer.

Maliani, who was in at the earliest stages of development, remembers that “What we were trying to do was make something entertaining and educational. We wanted to be different. We really wanted to make it interesting to watch. That’s why we wanted to have so many elements.”

Kids like variety, Maliani contends. With that in mind, DIC decided to produce Carmen with different media, including standard cel animation, other computer graphics and some live-action added in. “We thought we could show the educational stuff without being boring,” Maliani explains. “We didn’t want to make the show a lecture. We wanted to weave the education into the plot.”

Like the computer game, the DIC series is full of visual and spoken clues about the mysteries Carmen Sandiego, her cunning cat Carmine and her gang of goofball thieves stealing such ambitious treasures as the roof off the Taj Mahal and statues from Easter Island. Viewers (players in the computer game) get help in trying to stop Carmen and her henchmen form the ACME Detective Agency. The DIC series (and now Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Junior Detective Edition on CD-ROM as well) features the young characters Zack and Ivy who report to The Chief. The plot of each episode (and the objective of the computer game) is to follow geography-based clues and “bag the bad guys, recover the stolen loot and put Carmen Sandiego and Carmine in the clink.”

Along the way, viewers learn such facts as the height and location of Mt. Everest, and that the Sphinx in Egypt has the body of a lion with the head and breast of a man.

“We knew we were going to fit right in the 6 to 11 age demographic,” explains Maliani, “but we wanted to make Carmen a little more sophisticated so we could get the older kids.”

A major difference between Carmen the computer game and the commercial TV series is in visualizing the capers. The computer game offers as a premise that the Eiffel Tower or the Taj Mahal is stolen. DIC’s production team had to estimate the weight of the Taj Mahal and then figure out what it would take to lift it.

DIC’s researchers established that four Russian helicopters could hoist the estimated weight of the Taj Mahal roof.

The next problem was how to accomplish the feat. DIC’s solution? Use a laser to cut off the roof. Add hooks to it and lift it off.

“We had to figure this stuff out,” Maliani notes. “It’s kind of fake but almost real.”

London explains that many shows on Saturday morning have had a degree of pro-social values. One of the things that is different about Carmen from all these other shows, according to London, is that Fox and DIC took the “conservative high road” that pro-social is not sufficient to fulfill the mandate of the Children’s Television Act.

“Carmen can’t just show good moral values and teach little lessons in living,” he points out. “It must have a measurable curriculum that actually teaches information, not just lessons in living.”

Among the consultants on Carmen is Dr. Peter Kovaric, a professor at UCLA in the Graduate School of Education, who is also director of the school’s educational technology unit. Kovaric is an acknowledged expert on using technology, such as television, to teach kids.

He reviews all Carmen scripts and helps DIC’s production team conceptualize shows. “It’s an exemplary relationship,” affirms Kovaric.

“One of the very good things about Carmen is that it is a commercial venture and is reasonably successful. That may help lower the reluctance of broadcasters to try something new and different,” he observes.

DIC also employs Barbara Wong, a teacher and principal of Baldwin Middle School in the Alhambra (Calif.) school district. Wong credits the DIC production team with being “very concerned” about having quality programming for kids. “They’re very in tune with people like myself and very open.”

Carmen, she points out, “has a lot of elements in it that readily apply to a teaching situation.”

Wong explains that while Carmen is not a “surrogate teacher,” the show does quality as “a nice addendum – a nice resource to have.”

Wong gets screen credit as Curriculum Consultant. Kovaric is Educational Consultant.

According to London, Carmen, in addition to gaining an educational seal of approval, invariably wins its time period. In the Sept. 1993 to July 1994 Nielsen data, Fox’s Saturday morning line-up, which includes Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, X-Men, Bobby’s World, Tiny Toons, Taz-Mania, Eek the Cat and Carmen demonstrates the last is one of the top shows not only with kids 2 to 11 but with persons 6 to 17.

It averaged a 6.0 rating with kids 2 to 11 and 5.1 with the older demo, suggesting that as an educational program it’s holding its own handily against traditional animated entertainment, including action/adventure.

Another measure of Carmen’s appeal is that in the same Nielsen measured time-span, “the lady in the red hat” has more viewers than Beekman’s World and Bill Nye combined – not only with kids 2 to 11 but with persons 2 and over.

“It’s by no means a loss leader,” emphasizes London. “It’s not even number one by default. It really holds up Fox’s ratings.”

Maliani, who is senior vice president in charge of development, knows he risks sounding hokey but points out that in his 10 years with DIC he has wanted to try “to make a difference.” In Carmen Sandiego, he says, “we have a property where you could actually learn.”

In large measure, Maliani speaks for everyone connected with the Carmen Sandiego property when he comments: “This is the one show that really meant a lot to me and I gave it my all. I gave it everything I had and everything I could think of creatively. I wanted it to be special.”

————————————

Carmen Sandiego began life as a computer game – a history, geography, educational title – by way of Brøderbund Software Inc., Novato, Calif., a diversified consumer software company. Founded by Douglas Carlston, Brøderbund is one of the hottest names in educational software publishing.

For the recent holiday season Brøderbund published Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Junior Detective Edition, an icon- and dialog-based CD-ROM product designated for 5- to 8-year-olds.

But Carmen Sandiego isn’t just a game. The software series inspired two TV shows for kids: DIC Entertainment’s animated adventure Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? On the Fox Kids Network, and the PBS game show, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? produced by WGBH Boston and WQED Pittsburgh.

Brøderbund constantly works at new ways to update the original product. Software titles include Where in the USA Is Carmen Sandiego?, Where in Space Is Carmen Sandiego?, Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? and Where in America’s Past Is Carmen Sandiego? in addition to the signature Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

Brøderbund has creative input on every Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? script, but not necessarily every storyboard.

Ken Goldstein, publisher of Brøderbund’s Education and Entertainment Products Group, describes his company relationship with DIC Entertainment as “very healthy.”

He was deeply involved in the first season of the DIC/Fox series, establishing the working relationship and the new ground rules. Since then he’s passed on regular contact to his staff, yet still signs off on every set of script notes (drafts of every script are read by Brøderbund staff and every storyboard reviewed).

For the most part, the DIC series scripts are different from those used by Brøderbund, but there’s some synergy. Brøderbund has introduced a new character into its most recent software, Stretch the Crime Dog, described as “a lovable, clue-sniffing, crime-busting canine” who works for the ACME Detective Agency.

Reciprocally, the software is now using agents Zack and Ivy and The Chief from the DIC animated TV series.

“Carmen is a perennial for us,” notes Goldstein. “It really is an evergreen product, a premier intellectual property. I’m delighted to manage its existence.” According to Goldstein, Carmen Jr. will probably go Gold in the software business, which is 100,000 pieces, within a couple of months.

Brøderbund, Goldstein also reports, does a lot of licensing, including T-shirts, mouse pads and backpacks, among other items. Carmen is also very much an international product. Goldstein says Carmen software is “very big” in Spain and Mexico, and also especially popular in Israel.

There’s a Japanese version of Carmen, plus a cartridge version on Nintendo and Sega, which has not done as well as Brøderbund would like. “I don’t think it’s the right venue for that product,” Goldstein remarks.

Brøderbund is stepping up to a new level of international distribution on March 1, opening its own Brøderbund Europe office and publishing localized versions of new Carmen products from that time forward.

By Brøderbund’s design and demand, there are no guns or other weapons in the Carmen Sandiego TV show or software. The Carmen character does have henchmen, but, points out Goldstein, “it’s very much ‘Three Stooges.’ They botch things and they use such things as big suction cups, funny gadgets and outlandish vehicles, but there are never any guns, no bombs, no grenades, no violence. They never threaten the detectives. It’s all a game of wits.”

Brøderbund also has been very careful not to portray stereotypes, to make sure with the software that all different types of international cultures are reflected positively. DIC is equally sensitive about portraying stereotypes and respecting different cultures.

“Computers have revolutionized the teaching world, and now classrooms will never be the same,” suggests one reviewer of Carmen software.

“Programs like Carmen let students explore their own paths of learning,” points out another.

Morrie Gelman is the president of Ventures in Media, a market research, information packaging and television development firm.

#carmen sandiego #woeics #articles

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2manyfandoms2count · 5 years ago

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#LadynoirJuly Day 1

I’m back for Ladynoir July! I’m really glad I got an excuse to write something for this side of the Lovesquare :D Hope you like this first piece, it started out slightly angsty but then I decided to save most of it for the Breakdown prompt 😉

Thanks @ladynoirjuly2020 for organising the event!

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Day 1: The Wall Between Us

“Ladybug, wait!” Chat Noir jogged up to his partner, who’d been about to yoyo away.

“Yes, Chat Noir?” She interrupted her movement and waited expectantly. The patrol had been very quiet, for once, so it wasn’t as if she had to be somewhere.

The pair had long abandoned their nicknames for each other, some time between their battle against Miracle Queen and their first relationships. It hurt somewhat, at first, but they’d quickly learned how to interact without them. There was something slightly uncomfortable about lying to Luka and Kagami about their comings and goings, which wasn’t helped by the fact Ladybug felt like she was cheating anytime she’d call Chat by his pet name. Chat Noir refrained from calling her ‘my lady’ or ‘Bugaboo’, afraid he’d slip up someday with Kagami.

Unfortunately for Marinette, the secrecy and sneaking around had done little to help her develop a lasting relationship with Luka. Add to that the fact that her boyfriend had been singled out by Jagged Stone as a back up guitarist after a competition and was now touring Europe, one could say that long distance, both emotional and physical, had signed the death of romantic Lukanette. They did remain friends, Luka sending her postcards of every city he stayed in. They were gradually replacing Adrien on Marinette’s board.

“Did you think about it?” Chat asked.

Ladybug sighed as she finally let her hand fall to her side. She should’ve known Chat wouldn’t drop the topic. The previous month, drunk on lack of sleep from repeated Akuma attacks and anxiety at the idea that her relationship was slowly, but surely unraveling, Ladybug had carelessly told her partner that she was getting tired of secrets and that they deserved to know more about each other, if only just to facilitate out-of-costume communication. She tried not to rely on Chat too much with the Guardian job, but she was determined to make him realise how important he was to her (and, incidentally, to Paris) by delegating more tasks to him. She was tired of the mystery that surrounded their identities, which prevented them from communicating as freely as they should’ve been able to. With all due respect to Alya, Chat Noir was her best friend, and something told her that she officially held the same place in his life now that he had a girlfriend.

They were the only ones who shared the burden of saving Paris every day, while still having to juggle friends, family, school, and extracurriculars. All of their conversations, however, were censored by the looming wall between them, a filter which she thought it was high time to tear down. She couldn’t take the duality of their conversations anymore, either far too mundane or way too deep, the constant being the vagueness that surrounded their anecdotes. She just wanted something in between. Chances were they didn’t know each other anyway, so what difference would it make to be able to talk about the Françoise Dupont shenanigans without making the story convoluted enough that it couldn’t be traced back to the Collège?

At first, Chat had been ecstatic at the idea. He’d dreamed about this moment since the first time they’d gone home from fighting an Akuma. He’d daydreamed about a proper way to reveal his identity at least a thousand times, but scrapping all his ideas as either too sappy, stupid, obvious, in short not right. It had actually made him rethink wanting to tell her who he was.

There was no way the person behind the mask hadn’t heard about him. His father had made sure of that by apparently buying the ad spaces on all the Paris billboards, buses and whatever else could hold a perfume poster (not to mention the fact Ladybug had saved him a good dozen times), and that was the problem. What if her opinion of him was tarnished by his celebrity? Worse, what if she started treating him differently because of it? He desperately wanted to get to know her, to share his whole life with her, but the wall between them did provide a shelter he was reluctant to give up. As much as he tried to be himself in his day-to-day life, he could tell he got special treatment from a lot of people, and many of the remaining crowd was intently studying his every move, waiting for him to slip up. With Ladybug, as Chat Noir, he got to be… well, not completely ordinary, but they did share a status. He could slip without worrying about what his father or the press would say, and he knew that the fall wouldn’t be long anyway with his partner around. He was terrified about losing what they had.

Ladybug shook her head lightly, looking at her feet. Chat Noir took her hand in a reassuring gesture, and helped her sit down facing him.

“I’m sorry.” She said, hiding her face in her hands. “There are a million reasons why we should do this, but I always feel like why we shouldn’t outweighs them all.”

Chat placed his hand on her knee tentatively. “It’s alright, LB. I actually wanted to tell you… I don’t think this is the right time.”

Ladybug’s head snapped up. Of everything he could have said, this was probably the last thing she would have expected. She looked attentively at her partner, who looked more serious than she’d ever seen him before.

“Really?” She breathed, squeezing his hand in hers. She didn’t quite know how to feel, frustrated that they were putting off something inevitable again, offended that he didn’t want to know anymore, or relieved by it.

He gave her a sad smile in response, his eyes filled with fondness and something else she couldn’t quite make out. “M’lady,” her old nickname rolled off his tongue before he could register what he was saying, his thoughts directed solely towards his very best friend. “If this was it, we’d know. And maybe it won’t even happen then, purr-haps we’ll be caught off guard when the time comes, but it should be something we don’t lose sleep about.”

“I guess you’re right, Chaton.” She smiled softly, absentmindedly stroking the back of his hand with her thumb. “What made you change your mind?” She asked curiously.

“The reasons why we shouldn’t started being louder than the others.” He shrugged, his gaze losing focus as he looked into the distance.

“You know you can talk to me if you need to, right?” Ladybug said tentatively after a short pause. “Maybe we’re not ready to know who we are, but I still think we should loosen the rules a little.”

“That could work.” Chat nodded. “How do we do that?”

“We could change the names of the people we talk about. And the exact story.”

“Okay, so for example… My girlfriend’s name is... Kelly?” He tried. She nodded encouragingly. “I met her because we both… play tennis in the same place. I like her very much, but I’m afraid she’ll get tired of me finding flaky excuses when the city’s attacked by Akumas. It’s not very honourable.”

Ladybug patted his knee with her free hand. “As long as you know you’re doing the honourable thing by protecting her and this city, I’m sure you can find a way to compensate. I promise that someday, she’ll know why you couldn’t stay by her side. And if you need me to talk to her, I’ll gladly do it! She should know how amazing her boyfriend is.”

Chat was thankful for the darkness around them, which concealed his blush. Ladybug’s compliments were becoming less rare, but they generally concerned his skills or actions, not himself directly. He cleared his throat. “What about you? Didn’t you say you have a boyfriend?”

“Had.” She corrected. “Louis and I are still friends, but he left town to… study.” It wasn’t that far from the truth. “He’s a little older, so we didn’t get to see much of each other, anyway. Especially with the whole Guardian business and everything.” She gestured vaguely at the city at their feet.

“Was he the boy you had talked to me about before?” Chat pried.

Ladybug thought about Adrien. Seeing him so happy with Kagami, she had abandoned her pursuit, which had led her to Luka. In both cases, she thought, the outcome would have been the same anyway, especially since Adrien had an even busier schedule than the blue-haired boy. They would have barely seen each other if they’d dated. “No. That was… Arthur. He was a very accomplished musician. He wouldn’t have been happy with me; like you said, I would’ve been very absent for a supposedly caring girlfriend. We’re good friends, though, and I’m satisfied with that.”

“His loss, I guess. And who meows, maybe it’ll work out someday.” He winked at her.

They continued chatting for a while, moving to the edge of the roof to get a better look at the illuminated streets. Soon, they had more or less rebuilt their lives and were talking freely, Alya becoming Alice or Audrey, Nino, Nathan or Nicolas, Marinette, Madeleine… The way they distorted things, or pulled up older events they’d meant to talk about earlier made them unrecognisable, although there were times where the stories felt familiar, without them being able to put their finger on it. They laughed, more than they’d had in months, talking about their excuses to justify their absence during a fight. It felt good to finally talk about something else than strategies, Akumas or Sentimonsters.

When the Eiffel Tower flickered for the third time since the beginning of their conversation, Ladybug and Chat Noir agreed it was probably time to go home. As they walked away, both turned around before leaping off the roof, giving each other a small wave and a wide smile before leaving, already looking forward to the next patrol. Ladybug realised they hadn’t shared a moment like this in a while, if ever.

Maybe they’d be okay sitting on their own side of the wall, after all.

#ladynoir july 2020 #ladynoir #ladybug #chat noir #miraculous ladybug #the miraculous tales of ladybug and cat noir #mlb #ml #ladynoir july #miraculous fanfiction #miraculous fanfic #the wall between us #elle writes

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anangelicday-mrwolf · 5 years ago

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Wolfsbane : Noblesse Fanfic (post-ending)

(previous chapter)

Chapter 6 – Frankenstein’s Secret

“Goddamn it.”

Frankenstein spat out a contemptuous grumble, stowing away his Dark Spear. His goal was to keep the monster in his grip for 3 minutes, but the stopwatch in his pocket was marked with digits 1 and 13, a record 30 seconds shorter than the previous one.

Despite the shortness of time lapse, the chamber looked utterly disastrous, plastered with dark purple on every corner of its floor, walls, and ceiling. Frankenstein could not help marveling how he was standing on pieces of tiles instead of their particles.

“This is gonna cost me another series of days and nights,” said Frankenstein in a biting tone, looking around the calamity he brought upon the chamber once again.

Ever since the nuclear missile launch by Crombell, there had been several changes Frankenstein met.

First, for example, the number of vacancies in his house at Seoul increased. Second, the name engraved on the nameplate in the Ye Ran chairman’s office is no longer his. Third, the diplomatic relation between Lukedonia and wolfkind is now completely and literally on the bright side.

Yes, quite a lot has changed, but what Frankenstein just forced himself to encounter was the biggest and most noteworthy change. And a bad change.

Unlike before, Frankenstein’s power turned unimaginably unstable. The degree of instability was nothing like before. Now a mere act of summoning the Dark Spear has become, metaphorically, trying to make an ice cube stay perfectly unscathed while slamming down a gigantic hammer onto it in full power.

And the missile launch was the genesis of such catastrophic change. Or rather, it all began the minute Frankenstein felt his bond to his master shattered.

*****

Fifteen days ago, when the bond from his contract with Raizel was destroyed, Frankenstein was tortured by the aftermath of his loss. He felt as if the most fundamental root of his soul was broken down. He felt as if he were a prisoner to the extinction of his entire time and existence. Most of all, he felt as if every biological molecule of his body was detonated, and oh-good-heavens, how it hurt.

It was more than a loss. A mother would have deemed it the death of her child. A patriot would have dubbed it the day his country was eternally conquered. Juliet would have identified it the moment she saw Romeo fallen about her. And it hurt.

His pain burned his entity even when he with the rest of his fellow fighters returned to his home. Which is why the first thing he did upon stepping through his door was to make everyone promise that they will leave him alone for a while, so that he could let his powers screech and shriek and scream in mourning annihilation, in a special chamber under the ground.

His control was totally lost as he roared in the center of a storm of black and purple. The last bit of his sense of responsibility forbid him of pulling out his weapon, but he brandished his dark power so viciously even Gradeus would grovel, begging for his mentorship.

The only time in the past he had ever unleashed his power without restraint was when he lost the tug-of-war against his own power and forfeited his mind.

And he had rather wished he would lose his mind, for the pain was unendurable to handle with his sanity intact. Much to his dismay and heartbreak, his mind was at full function, incising his foundational essence with psychological, emotional, and spiritual trauma.

After whipping up a tempest of maddening woe, he fell asleep into a nightmare.

... ....... ...

‘...What?’

... .... r.. s.. F....

‘...What’s that noise?’

..F.. f... n....

‘What...? I can’t hear you...’

...Fr... ...tei... n....

‘I said I can’t hear you... It hurts.’

Frankenstein groaned, enveloped by mysterious noises echoing from eerie darkness.

...s.. s...

‘Shut up. I don’t wanna hear you... Just leave me alone.’

...ss... B...

‘Shut. Up. Just leave me alone...’

..ss. Bo...ss...

‘Please!!!!!’

“Boss!!!!!”

Noises resembling cacophony from unfocused radio were outdistanced by a familiar voice, and Frankenstein’s eyes frantically flashed open as if he were electrocuted.

Almost at the same time, his upper body slashed through the air in elevation, only to shrivel due to bone-wrecking pain that hit his whole body like a lightning.

Forcing himself to ignore his joints writhing in complaint as the result of his rampage, Frankenstein turned his eyes towards the source of the voice and ended up staring directly into the eyes of a man with black-hair-studded-with-white-locks. His eyes were trembling in uneasiness as he was kneeled by Frankenstein’s side.

“...What are you doing here, Tao?”

“W-what do you mean, what am I doing here? I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m bushed, not brainless. And I know same could be said of you. I’m asking how you got in here, ‘cause I do remember sealing the chamber before... Before all this.”

“Uh... Well...”

Tao, instead of answering, directed his gaze beyond his shoulder, onto the door that was nearly dissipated into debris.

That was a cue for Frankenstein to take in the status of the special chamber designed to cloak and stand against Dark Spear’s power. The door was the least damaged component of the chamber, he noticed. Wherever he locked his eyes upon was marred by dark-purple blurs, as if the apocalypse itself dawned upon the room while Frankenstein was in dark frenzy.

“I could feel your power from up there, so I had to come down. What on earth happened here?”

“...I couldn’t help it.”

Frankenstein hoped he would not have to waste his energy talking, but Tao mouthed something incoherent, hinting that he needed to hear more.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Uh... Actually, I’ve been watching you for roughly a minute.”

“...And?”

“That is, I’ve been watching you asleep. Or I think you were asleep. But when you were on the floor... I could see the Dark Spear’s aura rippling from your body.”

Tao then pointed towards the ceiling behind Frankenstein. There was a crevasse huge enough to hold the Eiffel Tower, dripping with purple aura that Frankenstein could identify anywhere, anytime.

“When I walked up to you, you started to mumble something. And that made the Dark Spear’s aura surge and do that. I would’ve thought you were showing off how strong you can be while on your back, if only I hadn’t seen how your eyes were closed, and your breathing was stable.”

Showing off how strong I am on my back? I don’t recollect beating your head that hard during our past trainings. In normal circumstances, Frankenstein would have jokingly retorted as so.

‘I emitted Dark Spear’s power during sleep?’

This was not the first time his control over the Dark Spear slipped during sleep. His past is an archive of numerous attempts and failures in governing the damned weapon.

However, now his failures are history, a record of his efforts in making friends with the Dark Spear. Ever since he honed his mastery of the Spear, he has never lost grip of his reins, regardless of the intensity or numeral degree of souls the Spear has absorbed.

He was aware that this time, out of his loss and pain, he deliberately bombarded the chamber with his power. He even considered throwing away his reasons to turn into a mad dog. Nevertheless, he did not plan at all to actually lose his control. And the level of damage was way beyond his calculation or expectation.

This chamber was repaired and improved at the time when he made a mimicry of Raizel’s seal with the power of the Dark Spear. In consideration of the chances that the Dark Spear will absorb increasingly stronger souls in the course of struggle against the Union, Frankenstein compounded the chamber’s cloaking integration and defense against Dark Spear’s power. Yet the chamber’s door was nearly unhinged, and Tao even picked up his power from dozens of meters above.

“Boss?”

Tao nervously called Frankenstein’s name, his voice now thicker with concern. Frankenstein had to intentionally change the subject, as he detected fear unparallel in Tao’s eyes.

“...What’s keeping the rest of the team?”

“...For some reason, Takio and M-21 suddenly left for school.”

“And Seira? Regis? Rael?”

“T-they left after they told me they’ll be away for a bit. So did Sir Karious. Since they asked me not to look for them for a while, unless it is absolutely necessary, I doubt they’ll be back by the end of the day.”

“Really...? Good.”

“No, it’s not good! Nothing is good! How can you say it’s good when something is obviously wrong with...”

“Yes, it is. Because I have just one person to silence on this matter.”

Tao gaped at him, quietly questioning his words. Frankenstein straightened his face, serious and devoid of fatigue from days of combat.

“I need a favor, Tao.”

Certain that his house will be empty, the next day, with Tao’s assistance, Frankenstein fixed his chamber as his time and resources allowed for an experiment: using a sample of rapidly-working sleep inducer to see if he loses his control over his weapon whenever he falls asleep.

The results from multiple rounds of experiments that therefore took place were neither helpful nor hopeful, for the Dark Spear’s aura leaked every time he was in slumber.

He wished he was mistaken. Or too imaginative. Or too tired and thus delirious. However, the fact that he always woke up to find Tao (who was in charge of injecting him with rapidly-working awakening drug before things got out of hand) wearing apprehension matching his own killed his hope.

“Maybe... Maybe this is because the Dark Spear absorbed the Blood Stone Crombell was using, at the end of your last battle with Crombell.”

And a hypothesis Tao offered to bring about a change in the atmosphere slaughtered his hope.

Frankenstein cursed the Blood Stone and its copies, as they were the direct or indirect cause of pain and damage for his master and those he held in his heart. But now the abominable stone was part of the Dark Spear – part of him.

The second the terrible realization swept through him, Frankenstein was urged to rip his own skin off his body out of self-abhorrence that exploded like a volcano.

And that was the reason why Frankenstein decided to leave Korea after Raizel’s return. The main reason, of course, was to discover the secret behind Raizel’s return as well as reinvigoration: to find out how in the world the Noblesse managed to not only rise from death but also become healthier than before.

On the other hand, he wanted to secretly resolve his secret. He wanted to separate pieces of the Blood Stone from Dark Spear in one way or another. And in the meantime, he wanted to somehow stabilize his power back to normal.

Hence he had to stay awake with his wolfsbane tonic, in order to prevent himself from discharging Dark Spear’s aura in sleep and to find command over the Blood Stone stuck in his weapon.

‘And here I am, not making progress at all. God, this thing would trash harder and harder whenever I pull it out.’

Sighing heavily, Frankenstein fell to the floor as he was engrossed in thoughts, speculating for how long would he be able to keep his secret a secret when he is now entrusted with Muzaka’s favor.

Until very recently, he has been wary only of his master. Although there is a link between their minds based on their contract, Raizel respected him. He would never inspect his loyal servant’s mind even if he wants to. In other words, his master would be unaware of his distress as long as he is careful. And since he happens to be away from Raizel, technically there is not a chance of getting caught in action by the Noblesse.

In fact, the greatest threat for him as of now is the secret agent Muzaka dispatched for him.

So far Lunark has noted nothing. But there is no guarantee he can keep it that way, especially when that afternoon he could see how attentive and observant she is. And much more interested in him than he had wanted.

‘Hang on. Want? Want what?’

Startled by his own thought, he soon reprimanded himself.

‘What could you possibly want from her, Frankenstein? She may not be an enemy any longer, but she is still the one to be most wary of.’

Pushing back the bitter ache somewhere in his body that rose out of unknown reason, Frankenstein calmed his breathing.

He was already plagued with tons of worries, but he knew what he had to do – get rid of his secret as fast as he can, without letting Lunark learn what is occupying his mind and soul.

‘I should borrow Tao’s hand if I have to. He is the only one who shares my secret.’

As soon as he recalled Tao’s name for once, the three initial members of the RK whom Frankenstein had left behind in Korea popped up in his mind.

‘Which reminds me, I wonder how they are doing with their duties.’

(next chapter)

Yes, this is the reason why Frankenstein had to leave Korea (at least in my fic) in addition to his new quest in discovering the secret behind Rai’s miraculous return to life, which will surely be discussed in this fic later on.

I figured it wouldn’t be so bad to decide that Frankenstein’s Dark Spear (hence his power) got unstable because of the Blood Stone that Crombell used before his demise. In fact, in the last episode of Noblesse Frankie did mention that Dark Spear will be unstable for a while because it absorbed Crombell and his Blood Stone.

Next up, we’ll be revisiting Korea to take a look at a couple familiar faces, one of whom will be an unexpected character long forgotten. :)

#fanfic #korean webcomic #korean webtoon #noblesse #frankenstein #lunark #frankensteinxlunark #wolfsbane

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glassrain · 6 years ago

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Then what House is Adrien in?

Much as it painsme to give such a by-the-books answer, I’m going to have to sayHufflepuff - though, perhaps, not for the reasons many people would.I.e., I wouldn’t put Adrien in Hufflepuff simply because he’snice. Kindness is a choice, not a character trait. People can be niceand not be in Hufflepuff; inversely, a Hufflepuff is fully capable ofbeing selfish, cold, snide, shy, or temperamental, among many othernon-sunshiny character traits. Being a nice, positive and outgoingindividual is neither a prerequisite nor a litmus test forHufflepuffs.

(Sorry about the mini rant, but I have Opinions on Hogwarts Housesorting.)

So first I’m going to touch on why I wouldn’t putAdrien in Ravenclaw, like OP of the Adrien is aRavenclaw post. (I’m quickly going to plug in here that OPis absolutely welcome to their opinion and I’m notarguing that they’re WrongTM - simply that Iapproach the character differently than they do.) OP’s pointsessentially boil down to: “Adrien is a lot smarter than peoplegive him credit for (Ravenclaw), and takes no crap when his lovedones are in the wrong (non-Hufflepuff).” I absolutely agree thatAdrien is markedly smarter than people give him credit for. He’snever shown to be any less than a straight-A student in any subject,not to mention the fact that his continued presence in public schoolis dependent on his high grades, so clearly he’s smart. He somehow manages to keep this track record, evenwhile juggling multiple extra curriculars and his superheroactivities - no minor feat. OP also references his puns and play-onwords; you have to have a pretty clever mind to do that as well andconstantly as he does, on the fly.

While I’ll give credit to the point about the puns, I’m notgoing to sort someone based solely on their sense of humor. As forAdrien’s academia … okay, brace yourself for another mini rant.Intelligent people are not automatically sorted into Ravenclaw,simply because they are intelligent. Just look at Hermione. I thinkthat if she were not originally from Harry Potter, manypeople would instantly sort her into Ravenclaw simply for thatreason, despite the fact that she is so obviously Gryffindor.Likewise, I wouldn’t sort Adrien into Ravenclaw based solely on hisbook smarts. Where are the Ravenclaw aspects in other areasin his life - the instinctual, day-to-day parts of his life insteadof the ones where he intentionally turns his mind toward studying andtaking in information? Adrien rarely tries to outsmart his opponents,usually preferring to take point physically while Ladybug riddles outthe solution (and even his fighting style is forward, flashy andaggressive instead of sly and clever). Adrien is also themost clueless character on the show - and after two years running that cannot just be from inexperience. For example,Marinette is not exactly subtle even when she’s trying to be, but Adrien still hasn’t even aninkling about her feelings toward him (at least as far as I’vewatched - I’m not entirely up to date in season 3). Adrien has noidea that his father is Hawkmoth despite the fact that Gabriel spendsall his time locked away in a mysterious attic, or the fact thatAdrien saw the peacock miraculous in hisfather’s hidden safe where he was keeping a book on themiraculous’ (or the fact that Gabriel has a hidden safe tobegin with), or the fact that he’s got butterflies decorating hisentire house, not to mention his father’s brand logo. Has Adriengot any clue that his mother is stashed away in the basement? Adrienis also one of the most easily manipulated characters on the show,because he instantly takes everything people say at face value, neverquestioning them because it doesn’t occur to histo question. It doesn’t occur to him to wonder about thediscrepancies in his life. He doesn’t even notice them,because his brain isn’t wired to observe and form connections. Hisbrain isn’t wired to be curious.

His brain isn’t wired like a Ravenclaw.

So, not a Ravenclaw. But why a Hufflepuff? After all, OP madevalid points about how easily Adrien fights his loved ones. Wouldn’tthat indicate a certain lack of Hufflepuff-ness? My answer to thatis: not necessarily.

Hufflepuffs are hardworking, patient, and fair players - alltraits Adrien has in spades. But Hufflepuff’s truly defining trait- loyalty - is the one that really cements me on this particularsorting for Adrien. It’s true that Adrien pulls no punches whenconfronting his akumatized friends, but it’s equally true thatAdrien’s goal is to free his friends from Hawkmothand restore them to themselves. At the end of the day, he fights soferociously for them, trying to defeat the enemy in orderto retrieve the friend trapped inside. What at first looks like alack of loyalty is instead a bright example of saidloyalty. OP also mentioned Adrien’s willingness to confront hisloved ones, like Chloe in Despair Bear. Confrontingsomeone you care about on a genuine problem in their life is hardly asign of disloyalty - in fact, it would be far more disloyalto stand back and allow toxic behaviors in someone’s life tocontinue hurting them, simply because confrontation makes one feeluncomfortable. The fact that easy-going, gentle Adrien is willing to stifle his natural instincts to make peace in order to confront his loved ones only highlights his loyalty to them, revealing how far he will go for their good. To again reference Despair Bear, Adrienwas speaking in defense of his friends - also people he is loyal to -gave Chloe an entire season’s worth of chances before offering hisultimatum, and all throughout the episode stood by her side,believing in her and encouraging her, and coaxing others to believein her as well. This kind of tenacity and loyalty is all markedly Hufflepuffbehavior.

Adrien continues to stay loyal to Chloe, even past the point where he should probably cut ties. He remains her friend despite the often cruel way she treats the other classmates - a fact that would look rather contradictory of Adrien’s character if he weren’t so hopelessly Hufflepuff. He remains her friend despite her habit of constantly harassing him in season 1. Adrien is very quick to forgive her and reaffirm their friendship after somewhat minimal effort on Chloe’s part to make amends in Despair Bear, because he wants to remain faithful to her, despite everything. He also defends her to Ladybug on multiple occasions, in episodes like Antibug or Queen Wasp, regardless of Ladybug’s very valid anger at Chloe. Because Adrien doesn’t turn his back on his friends.

Speaking of people Adrien is devoutly devoted to: Ladybug. OP mentioned that Adrien’s habit of constantly sacrificing himself for her is more an indication of logic - since Ladybug is the only one who can cleanse akumas - rather than loyalty. While I agree that this certainly a part of it, I don’t think there’s any indication that it’s the sole reason, or even the primary reason. From a purely cinematic perspective, nearly every episode with Chat sacrificing himself for Ladybug (Zombizou excluded) plays the scenario as a sacrifice for a friend instead of as a means to an end, indicating that loyalty is in fact the root cause. But even disregarding his fierce protection of her in battle, his faith in her boarders on irrational. (This faith, this unwavering belief that Ladybug can and will rise above any obstacle, his willingness to do practically anything she asks based on that faith, is a subtler but equally strong fact of loyalty. After all, loyalty isn’t just an action - it’s also an unwavering belief in a person/cause.) In Dark Owl, Adrien was willing to give her his miraculous, which she said she was going to surrender to Hawkmoth, simply because she asked him to. No real objections or questions, simply a blind trust that Ladybug knew what she was doing, and Adrien was willing to risk one of his few freedoms - not to mention letting Hawkmoth win - based solely on that faith. Or how about in Hero’s Day, when Adrien insists with full confidence, “You and me, we can do this,” when faced with an literal army of akumas? It’s certainly not faith in himself that prods him to say that. Adrien No-one-needs-me-as-Chat-Noir, You’re-replacing-me-with-a-turtle? Agreste, he hasn’t got the highest self esteem on a good day, let alone when virtually the entire city of Paris is hunting them down with very dangerous superpowers. His words here stem entirely from his faith in Ladybug. Another example is Reverser. In this episode Adrien, scared out of his mind at even a ride in a cab, willingly allows himself to be blindfolded and tied to a kite, then hurls himself off the Eiffel Tower, even knowing that Ladybug can barely walk three steps without making a mess, trusting her to catch the rope and guide him safely. The ability to trust someone that completely is an unabashedly Hufflepuff trait.

To further examine the topic, what about his feelings for Ladybug? Adrien is a hopeless romantic, and he wants to be in a relationship. But no matter how hard he might try - like his attempted date with Kagami - he’s already given his heart to Ladybug and can’t even comprehend the idea of taking it back and trying with someone else. Tikki and Marinette even have a conversation about it in Weredad - Tikki cautions Marinette and reminds her that Ladybug has rejected Chat Noir so many times, that he might be willing to try with someone new. Marinette simply scoffs at the idea, utterly confident that Chat Noir is devoted fully to Ladybug. And she’s right. No matter how many times she tells him she’s in love with someone else, Adrien is simply incapable of taking back his affection, or to stop trying with her (for better or for worse). In fact, I credit his devotion to Ladybug as the reason he’s so blind to Marinette - Adrien clearly adores Marinette, he has nothing but a thousand glowing praises to say about her, and is baffled at the idea that someone as amazing (in his own words) as Marinette might like Chat Noir. It’s not a lack of affection that keeps him on his “just a friend” train - it’s the fact that his eyes are so full of Ladybug that he doesn’t even see Marinette, not that way.

The final point I’m going to make (because this post has gotten quite out of hand) is Adrien’s loyalty to Gabriel. While Adrien’s loyalty to his friends and partner is commendable, his relationship with his father a much more unfortunate story: loyalty misplaced. Loyalty blinding him to faults. When Gabriel akumatizes himself into the Collector, that is a marked indication of his innocence in the Hawkmoth debate … but it doesn’t negate the previous evidences, all of which Adrien is perfectly content to ignore for the sake of maintaining his relationship with his father. The last thing he wants to believe is that his father is the madman terrorizing the city. So he doesn’t. Even beyond the question of Hawkmoth, however, Adrien’s loyalty to his father is the root of him blaming himself for his father’s behavior, while letting Gabriel off scott free. I DON’T say this to blame Adrien in any way, because Adrien is very much the victim of his father’s abuse. Adrien bends over backwards to please and appease his father: his extra curriculars are of Gabriel’s choosing, and Adrien makes sure to excel in each. Even before public school was cause for motivation, Adrien still made high grades to please his father. Adrien models for Gabriel’s company, and seems happy to do so. Adrien works so hard to be the perfect son. But he gets little to nothing out of it. Gabriel rarely dines with him, never leaves the house to support Adrien’s school activities, photo shoots, or fencing matches, keeps him locked away, isolated in his room like a cage (to the point where imprisonment becomes one of his worst fears). Gabriel tells him that he must schedule appointments with Nathalie for something as simple as a conversation with his father. Gabriel scolds and guilts Adrien for something as innocent as sneaking out to watch a movie that starred his mother (all while hiding his own heinous secrets). Gabriel intentionally manipulates Adrien into believing that Gabriel’s akumatization in The Collector is his fault. Gabriel gave him nothing but a single pen for his birthday for three years (or in the original French, completely forgot about it very often).

In the face of such treatment, many children would be inclined to grow resentful, angry and rebellious, hurting deeply over their abuse. Adrien, however, grows pensive and insecure. His loyalty to Gabriel blinds him, leads him to stalwartly refuse to acknowledge Gabriel’s treatment of him. Baring two short instances in Simon Says, Adrien never - not once - corrects, accuses,or snaps at Gabriel. The closest he comes is sadly acknowledging that Gabriel once again, won’t be showing up/ refuses to give him an inch/ etc., and even then Adrein is merely sad instead of accusatory. Adrien leaps at any crumbs of affection Gabriel might deign to toss his way, so blinded by his love and loyalty to this man that it never even occurs to him that he deserves better from his own father. Instead, he willingly shoulders the blame, or makes allowances and excuses, or ignores the situation all together. Because if Gabriel is what’s wrong with their relationship … then Adrein might have to pull away fro his own good. And that goes against his very nature. Adrien being at fault is infinitely more preferable to him than cutting ties to his father.

So, yes. I believe that Adrien is 100% a Hufflepuff - not for his sweet smile or his compassion or his penchant for optimism, but for his fierce dedication and unwavering trust in those he loves, even those who may not deserve it. Adrien is absolutely a Hufflepuff, and I cannot be convinced otherwise. Although OP did make one very valid point - poor Adrien would look terrible in yellow. Sorry, Adrien.

#adrien agreste #analysis #miraculous: tales of ladybug and cat noir #miraculous ladybug #mlb #hogwarts houses #coffeemugsforbearhugs #kate #thanks for the ask!#sorry - this got SUPER long #a lot longer than i thought it was #oops!#you don't have to read it all if you don't want #i just got a little carried away #but thank you again for the ask #you know i love this sort of thing!

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