#nino stand up. nino get up.

[moonieratty]

Rocketear was crazy cause like what is HAPPENING here??

[yelenasdiary]

Sports nat x sports reader request

Nat and reader are on opposite rival teams and are secretly dating. They don't want the others to know, so they act like rivals. Reader gets hurt during a game, nat rushes over to check on her. worried how bad it is, She picks up reader and carries her to the team medic to be looked at.

Drabble || Competitive

Pairings: Soccer Player! Natasha Romanoff x GN! Soccer Player! Reader

Summary: One would say you're a little competitive when it comes to your soccer, maybe a little too competitive which can lead to injuries.

Tiny Angst, Fluff

Warnings: This is not proof read or corrected! Medical talk | 0.5K

AC: Thank you for sending this! Please note that I have absolutely no knowledge on the sport of soccer, I am a basketball girly and I don't watch/follow soccer so bear with me! I hope you enjoy! x

All eyes were on your team, you were running slightly ahead while still keeping your eyes on the ball that one of your teammates kicked along the grass before giving it a perfect tap, passing it to you. Now, all eyes were on you.

Natasha ran ahead of you, in hopes to stop you from scoring. You knew her little plan which only made you more determined to trick her. In a quick motion, you kicked the white and black ball to your right, your teammate taking control of the ball while you ran a little further.

Your rival team quickly spread themselves out in front of the goals, to prevent the ball from getting any closer. Thinking you had a clear shot, the ball was kicked over to you once more. You tried to gain control of the ball as quickly as you could. Your eyes looking down, you saw another foot touch the ball, tripping you in the process.

You fell down hard, as did the rival team member. Pain striking your left ankle as you brought your knee to your chest, clenching your eyes shut.

"Stop!" you heard Natasha call out, but the game went on. Natasha rushed over to you, her team mate standing back on her feet. "They were in the way" they spat, but Natasha didn't care for any bickering when she lent down next to you.

"Detka, are you okay?" she asked.

"Detka?" the redhead's team mate questioned, "since when do you call the rival baby?" they added with a chuckle. Natasha rolled their eyes while she gently lifted your head. The game coming to a pause as everybody stood around watching the scene unfold.

"I think it's broken" you finally managed to speak, the pain getting worse.

"Oh please, I didn't even touch you" the rival replied.

"Shut up, Ruby!" Natasha scolded, "I'm going to take you to medical" she added, looking back at you, "can you wrap your arms around me?" she asked. You nodded, trying your best to ignore the pain as you did as your girlfriend asked.

She picked you up bridal style and rushed you off the field leaving everybody in slight shock as they watched. You were met with medical as they were coming out with a stretcher, Natasha gently laid you down on the stretcher, and explained that you think your ankle might be broken.

"Thank you, we'll take it from here. You can go back to the game now" a nurse replied.

"No way, I'm staying!" Natasha said, sternly.

"Babe, don't throw the game because of me" you gently reached for her hand, "I'll be fine" you added.

Natasha chuckled lightly, "to hell with the game. Besides, you would've had that goal if it wasn't for Ruby"

"We need to put ice on this, are you coming with us or not?" the nurse asked in a slightly irritated tone.

"Natty, come see me after you lose" you give her a playful wink but she was too stubborn and you knew she wasn't going to leave your side.

"Ice, let's go" she said, taking your hand in hers.

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[gremlinmodetweeker]

König vs Reality TV

So, König is not a reality TV fan. In general he doesn't like tv, he considers it lowclass hogwash and prefers reading books or watching horror movies, but he has his weaknesses.

He was immune to the Kardashians. The Housewives of New Jersey could kiss his ass? Honey Boo Boo? Honey Boo Who? Honey Boo Hoo Fuck You. He couldn't care for any of it. The next time Horangi tries to get him hooked on a K-Drama he's going to put the remote through the TV. Nobody could get through to him.

But then he met his match in the form of one British chef.

Yes, König is a sucker for Kitchen Nightmares. That was König's gateway drug for reality tv.

You were just playing it in the background while working when König stepped into the living room. He was gonna ask you something, but then he started watching the show. You eventually had to ask him what was wrong, but he completely tuned you out. Later, he subtly asked you about the show.

"What is this slop you're watching?"

"What? Kitchen Nightmares?" you smirk, "you really are watching it, aren't you?"

König doesn't tear his eyes away from the screen as he says, "I'm not watching it."

He stands there for ten minutes when you ask him what he came to you for. He admits he forgot. He refuses to admit that he's watching. You already know.

Late at night König looks up the show on his laptop and in an instant he's hooked. In one night, König becomes Gordon Ramsey's biggest fan (both literally and figuratively). He's obsessed. It's an entire show dedicated to food. He can't get enough of it. And, despite himself, the drama gets to him. He lives for the drama. Every now and then you'll hear König mutter something like 'My name's NINO' under his breath but you can't be sure.

The thing is that for all of König's media literacy, for all his skills at psychological warfare and his incredible understanding of psychology, König becomes a sucker for the show. He's the same brainless housewife as the next. Not that that's a bad thing! Everyone needs a show to turn their brain off to. It's fun to just chill and watch some brainless slop. But being brainless is a hit to his pride. It doesn't stop him from being completely hooked though. He's watching the show and every time they bring out a dish to Ramsey König looks at it and goes 'Oh wow that looks so good'. Then Gordon Ramsey says, 'it's overcooked, bland rubbish' and then König goes 'That looks so gross. How can anyone eat that slop? Couldn't be me'. It's incredible. It's like clockwork. Somehow, this show works its way through every one of König's defences and he becomes a complete and total sucker.

But Kitchen Nightmares is only the gateway. König learns about the entire world of the food network. He watches Masterchef seasons from multiple countries, he watches Bar Rescue with John Taffer, he eats up all the food tv out there.

Eventually, you come back to him cooking along to Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg. On one hand, he looked like such a massive dweeb that it bordered on being an ick. On the other, his already phenomenal cooking has only been getting better and it's not slowing down any time soon.

Konig Dump

Headcanons

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Any ML characters that you do think are overhated?

No one really comes to mind. While I end up defending Marinette the most, I'm more critical of specific criticisms or the way the criticisms are handled than I am of the fact that people can't stand her or any other character. Almost every significant character has come across as pretty terribly at one point or another and I understand why some viewers can't look past those bad writing choices. Many side characters have also done questionable things. Off to top of my head, here are some flaws that are understandably hard to overlook:

Alya blindly believing everything Lila says and dismissing Marinette's concerns, especially after the reveal of Ladybug's identity

Nino outing Alya's identity to Adrien and never telling her (Rocketear), then doing it again in public without asking her permission (Illusion)

Adrien pushing for Ladynoir in spite of Ladybug's multiple requests that he stop

Marinette using her trauma as an excuse for her inability to treat Adrien as a normal human being

The entire miracuclass trying to force Marinette and Adrien to kiss while they watch

Everything Nathalie did - or more damningly didn't do - in season five

Any and all of these things are understandably off-putting. While I don't particularly like pure salt fics, I do get why they exist. Sometimes you just need an outlet to express your frustration! I do it via this blog, but I don't judge anyone for doing it via a vent fic instead. I just get concerned when the annoyance and anger leads to poor media literacy where people act as if these characters are real people doing real things. They're not. They're puppets controlled by poor-quality puppet masters.

Along the same lines, I also get annoyed when people pick and choose which jokes to take at face value, when people hold different characters to wildly different standards, or when people act like their favorite is the biggest victim of the bad writing. They're all victims at this point. There's no point debating who got it worse. It's not going to fix the issues. At this point, I don't think that anything can. The last two seasons made the flaws too deep. The only way to make the story work is a full reboot.

That's why this is a writing salt, character sugar blog. I'm not here to defend the writing or tell you that the characters have done nothing wrong. I'm here to defend the basic story setup and explain why the problems all fall at the feet of the writers. This isn't the kind of story where it is intentionally making you hate the characters. Outside of Chloe and Lila, you are supposed to like basically the entire cast. It's embarrassing how hard the writers failed at that assignment.

[kaileedraws]

Introduction: Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Here are some of my changes to Marinette in my Miraculous AU! Below I'm going to go into a little bit further detail about what I'm changing about her character and why. I'll list the problems that I have with her character in the show and explain how I plan to fix it.

1. Marinette is the only character that must be there in order for a fight to be won

I've noticed in the story, other characters have little to no opportunity to save the day if Marinette is not present, and this seems a little unrealistic. She is the protagonist, but I feel like her biggest lesson is that she doesn't need to do everything herself - but unfortunately, the story's plot only reinforces the fact that she DOES need to do everything herself, or else things will backfire on her. I will be balancing the Miraculous powers to reflect the unique aspects of everyone's personality and show that Marinette can rely on others - especially Chat Noir - to win without her.

2. The show's narrative punishes characters when they trust others - making Marinette a hypocrite

An example of this is pushing the narrative that Ladybug and Chat Noir cannot know each other's identities or else the world will end (except in their alternate universe). Marinette also punishes Alya for trusting Nino with her identity - yet is not so reluctant to share her own identity with her own best friend.

More people know Ladybug's identity than Chat Noir's identity (and not even because he told him he was Chat Noir), yet Ladybug consistantly shows Chat Noir that she trusts others more than him. She has a hypocritical nature of warning him about secrets, yet does the very things he warns him against.

Fixing this, Marinette, as a character, lacks trust due to her past with Chloe - an ex-best-friend - and Kim - an ex-crush. She has a nature of becoming suspicious of strangers, and she is overly cautious and judgemental of those she meets (which would also explain her canon reactions to Lila and Kagami when she first meets them). Because of this, she stereotypes Adrien when she first meets him and thinks he is just trying to manipulate her like all of the other popular kids she has met. He is constantly trying to prove to her that she is a good person and she doesn't buy it for a while. For Alya, she is also suspicious with her at first, but because she is so brutally honest to everyone - she has an easier time with learning to trust her than anyone else she meets.

With the Ladynoir dynamic, Ladybug starts the series pushing Chat Noir away - desperately trying to keep their relationship professional. But as things blow up in her face the more she pushes him away and tries to do everything herself, she finds herself apologizing for her mistakes and trying to become closer to him so they can function better as a team (power of love always so strong~). As the story goes on, she finds that she can be more herself as Ladybug to Chat Noir than as Marinette because Marinette becomes a chronic liar to keep her identity.

In the future, when Alya comes clean to Marinette that she told Nino about her own miraculous, Marinette reacts the way she did in the show and feels betrayed, but later forgives Alya and trusts her to make her own decisions in her life (character development here).

3. Marinette doesn't have a clear character arc

the show is set up - as cooberated by many others - as a "lesson of the day"-type show, but Marinette doesn't have any character development other than becoming a little more confident and standing up to her bully (which also gets her into trouble more and happens early on in the show). I think that her character development should revolve around learning to trust others and learning that she can't do everything by herself, and learning how to cope with her anxiety.

4. Marinette's creepy obsession (Stalker) with Adrien

No one tells Marinette that she takes things a little too far with Adrien except for the school bully (Chloe). She doesn't even recongize herself until later that what she's doing is wrong. I feel like - especially aged up - that Marinette has a duality with this. She knows morally that it's not OK to stalk people or be as obsessive as she is, but she continues to make excuses that she is either protecting Adrien or herself from harm. She feels guilty about it, but her inherent curiosity and lack of trust gets the better of her sometimes.

5. Marinette is mostly bubbly and awake

Either this girl takes adderall every morning or eats coffee beans - she is always shown to be alert despite being a full-time student, overachiever, and superhero. It would be good to see her struggling with sleep more often and developing an energy drink/coffee addiction just to stay awake. Perhaps it gets so bad that she has to be hospitalized for severe sleep deprivation.

6. The plot prohibits Marinette from ever being akumatized fully

Because of her huge emotions, Marinette would definitely be akumatized at some point. She would fight it - perhaps Tikki would take her Miraculous and find a temporary holder - or not - but being a main character and a miraculous holder should not exclude her from becoming a victim of hawkmoth. This would also push the narrative that Marinette is not perfect and she is not inherently needed to save the day every time.

Conclusion

These are just a few of my changes for Marinette - once I nail down a design, I'll probably make a character sheet for her general personality. I like the idea that she is one of the weird, awkward art kids in school that is incredibly dark, tired, and weirdly bubbly around her friends, but depressed at home (my middle school experience tbh). I'm really excited to make Marinette a lot more relatable and a product of the things she experinces in the show - not just a protagonist with layers of plot armor and villian-like hypocracy!

[camryn-haitani]

c'mon bugaboo

cat noir x reader

'sentibubbler': season 4, episode 10

TW: angst and comfort, cursing, spoilers for that episode.

this is a little scenario I had in my head about him, so I decided to put it here. I don't know if this is really angst but I'm just gonna put it just in case. I'm sorry I've been gone for so long, here's my apology<3

- - - - - -

"b-but I wanna help. why can't I help?" cat noir asks.

"well, we really don't need your cataclysm so" rena says as she makes a mirage of ladybug. she runs off, rena following the fake ladybug.

"well.... there's nothing I can do now. I feel useless now ladybugs the guardian of the miracle box." cat sighs.

cat felt useless like he said. since ladybug can temporarily give people miraculous's, there was almost no need for him anymore. cat goes off with no destination in mind. he just jumps around from roof to roof. rena said their plan didn't require cat noir, so he walks around for hours. he sees the miraculous ladybug fix everything and sighs. by the time he's tired of running, he jumps down onto a roof and sits down, not knowing he's waken up someone.

y/n pov

"what the fuck, who or what is on my roof?" I get up from my bed to see what the noise came from.

I see that familiar black cat costume with the matching ears coming from that blond head.

"cat?" I walk up behind him and sit down.

"o-oh I'm sorry. I landed too hard and probably woke you up. I'll leave." he stands up to leave. "no no no, I was already awake. I've just gotta ask, what are you doing here? shouldn't you be with ladybug?" I sit down next to him.

he sighs, debating on whether to tell you or not. "well..." he goes on.

"ladybug hasn't really been needing me the last few missions. she's been asking other people for help. and...." he takes a breath, holding in tears, "it makes me feel like she doesn't need me anymore. like she's tossed me to the curb. like today, nino got akumatized into the sentibubbler by shadow moth. I was all ready to come and help, but rena said they don't need me..." I see a single tear fall from his eyes.

"ladybug has missed a lot of our nightly patrols. I miss it. I miss saving akumatized villains, I miss our patrols around Paris, I miss...." he takes a breath, "I miss her."

I look at him and hold his hand. I see him look at my hand on his.

"I'm kinda in the same situation, cat. but that's for another day. I don't wanna put this on you. do you wanna come in? it's kinda cold out here." I ask.

"sure... it is a bit chilly" he stands up and follows me.

we walk through my back door into my room. my room is quite big with the couch so it won't be too cramped with both of us in here(I know this is a bit much but just work with me please).

"hey cat." I look at him. "what's up?" he tries to say without breaking his voice. I hold out my arms to invite him in a hug. he looks at me with sad eyes, tumbles into my arms and breaks down crying.

he cries for a good while and when he calms down he asks, "am I just not enough?" he whispers. "oh cat, of course you're enough. I can't tell you why she gives other people miraculous's. but I do know that you're a great hero to Paris."

"I am?" he looks up at me. "yes cat, you're the best hero i have ever seen." I reassure him.

"thank you, truly. I'm sorry I was so loud on your roof." he apologizes. "no no it's ok, I'm glad you were because I wouldn't have met you" he smiles at my words. I hear faint beeps as cat looks down at his ring. "shit, I gotta go. it was nice meeting you......?" he pauses, not knowing my name. "it's y/n. is there a name I can call you instead of cat?" he laughs a bit at my question, "call me whatever you come up with, i don't mind." he answers.

"it was nice meeting you, kitty," I take his hand before he leaves, "if you ever feel like this again or need to talk, I'm always free. come by anytime." I smile.

"of course, cutie. I wouldn't want to miss any opportunity to see you again." he kisses the back of my hand.

"I'm see you soon, kitty." I kiss his cheek. he smiled at my kiss and went out the window.

'i hope I see him again. he's pretty cute.' I say to myself. I go back to my bed and drift off into sleep, thinking about a certain cat in mind.

- - - - - -

I will hopefully be doing a part 2 if y'all are interested<3

[chocostrwberry]

I was thinking it be cool if Marinette was extremely lucky-

Like it’s a part of her character. She even introduces herself as “I’m Marinette, and I would say I’m a pretty lucky girl!”

Marinette being the type of person who would tell you stuff like “Oh I was worried about eating out today but then I found a 50 dollar bill so everything worked out!” Or “Apparently the road to school was blocked off, but I got there just in time for it to clear out so I wasn’t late to school!”

She finds a lil white dog at the park one day, spends some time looking for the owner out of kindness, and the owner turns out to be an old woman. BUT that old woman is extremely wealthy and a few months later turns out she had decided to sponsor Marinette’s education in her will so she can go to the most private school in Paris

Because she stands up for Juleka, Marinette starts dating Luka, and it turns out he’s one of Jagged Stone’s children so he put her on an album cover as a present AND free publicity for her designs.

Adrien, a TOP MODEL falls in love with her because she returns his mother’s necklace instead of destroying it, basically establishing the love of her life and a secure future if she likes him back.

Nino saying “This is Marinette’s world and we’re all just living in it” as a joke-

But when she gets the Ladybug miraculous, her life starts to fall apart. It’s kinda ironic, that the miraculous of luck happened to make her life worse off, but that might just be a silly side effect of being the holder? Like fate has it where it’s attracted to lucky people, but then it neutralizes it?

And so throughout the show, there are moments where like “everything turned out okay in the end”, but mostly it’s just one super slide of her civilian life going downhill. She still has moments where good things happen to her seemingly out of nowhere, but I’d like to think now they don’t last as long as she’s use to. They’re more fleeting, if that makes sense, because something always happens that ruins it.

Chloe invites her to her birthday party because they’re finally not enemies anymore, but then takes the blame for ruining it

Dates chat noir, her idol and crush, but he breaks up with her and gets akumatized

So you see her going from this happy-go-lucky girl who’s just like “Hee hee, oh well!” to a paranoid and anxious “I have to be careful, something bad is going to happen soon.”

[skania]

OnK Chapter 155 Akane Thoughts

Before I start rambling about the chapter, let me just confess that my hopes of Aka delivering some Chapter 51 & 52 parallels in the upcoming weeks just increased exponentially.

I know, I know, I'm probably playing myself but. In this week's episode we see Aqua and Akane go out together and starting to work together as a team.

And in this week's manga chapter, we see... Aqua and Akane go out together and (potentially) starting to work together as a team.

As if to prove that it's no coincidence, Akane is even wearing a choker in both, this week's episode and this week's manga chapter. Even though in the manga, she hasn't worn one since... well, the very chapter the anime is adapting this week.

It's like Aka's break was strategically placed just so the chapter & episode line up 😭

Granted, there's nothing to guarantee that he will keep it up in the next two weeks. Maybe this will be enough for him and he will call it a day. But since we've gotten this far and hope is free, may as well keep hoping while expecting nothing 😂

Moving onto the chapter, full disclosure: I've been half-expecting Akane getting the "Moving On"™ patented haircut because it very much is a thing in Asia, whether it be in manga or in real life. So no surprise there.

The reason she gave on the other hand...

^ My face knowing Aka just served Akane on a silver platter to every Akane hater out there 😂

The funniest thing about all this is that, hello?? The bangs are one thing, but are we supposed to pretend that Akane didn't wear her hair long as a kid? If anything, Akane cut her hair short that first time because her idol wore hers short. So why should anyone take short hair as a more genuine Akane thing than long hair??

But whatever, Aqua went back to his Love Now hair so the choice of haircut itself was obviously just Aka wanting Akane to be in sync with him. Because even if Aka recently spent 4 chapters establishing that Aqua is supposed to end up with someone else, he and Akane are the ones who continue to move as a pair.

Naturally.

So leaving the haircut itself aside, Akane is back to her original hair parting and thus (apparently) done imitating Ai.

The question here is: in what ways exactly has Akane been "imitating" Ai up to this point? Because I know there are a lot of different schools of thought when it comes to that.

As far as I'm concerned though, we have seen Akane, we have seen Ai, and we have seen Akane acting as Ai.

Needless to say, this isn't at all how Akane conducts herself in her day-to-day life lol

However, I don't think she means that she just shaped her hairstyle after Ai to be more like Aqua's ideal girl. That's fair and makes sense on paper, but if "imitating" Ai was just about making her hairstyle more appealing to Aqua, then why didn't she cut her hair after she and Aqua broke up? More than that, why didn't she cut it after she chose to support Kana's love life?

Because the timing of the haircut is key, IMO. She cut her hair short only after Aqua chose happiness and accomplished his revenge. In other words, she cut her hair short only after her goal of saving Aqua was accomplished.

To me, this implies that if Akane has been imitating Ai, it's been in ways that she thought would help her accomplish that goal.

Now, since she hardly speaks this chapter, it's hard to gauge what changes this will bring to Akane's characterization. However, there is one thing that already stands out to me:

Remember what happened when Akane thought that Kamiki killed Ai? She feared that Aqua would get his hands dirty by killing him in turn, and as such decided that she had to deal with Kamiki on her own in order to protect Aqua.

Now she knows that Nino is the Big Bad, and the first thing we see her do is... go discuss the situation with Aqua.

Akane now trusts that Aqua won't break, and so instead of acting on her own to protect him, she wants to be forthcoming with him.

Considering what I mentioned above about Aqua and Akane moving as a pair, I can't help but to think Aka may just be establishing Akane's own version of this:

And — what a coincidence — those lines also fit none other than Ai, who pretended to not love Kamiki and kept her distance from him because of how important he was to her.

Since Ai knew Kamiki was about to break, Ai put on a façade that wouldn't show her own doubts and fears. All in an effort to not burden him more, to protect him better even if she failed at it.

So I'm inclined to believe that may just be how Akane has been imitating Ai.

Aqua recently described Ai as someone who was always carefree, strong and who never cried. Needless to say, he was wrong about her, but that's the impression Ai deliberately tried to give. And what have we seen from Akane, especially lately?

Even when going against her true desires, Ai always put on a smile and remained flippant. So Akane may have been taking a page from that particular book... to be Aqua's perfect support.

His perfect ally.

I theorized before that this star here was Akane fully embracing the role as Aqua's girlfriend, but she wasn't just any kind of girlfriend. She was as supportive of Aqua as she possibly could, always trying to offer him solace, precisely because she knew how burdened Aqua was.

And throughout it all, Akane kept her own feelings and wants very close to her chest. She even intended to say goodbye to him with a smile, not realizing just how hard it would be on her.

Akane has been striving to save Aqua all along and playing any role she deems necessary to accomplish that goal (the supportive girlfriend, the well-meaning ex that gets in the way of his plans), but now that Aqua has finally been saved, she doesn't need to put on a mask anymore. Unlike Ai, who wore hers nearly until the very end.

With that reading, I can't help but think that Akane's wording was pretty clever. If she wants to be vague about her haircut being related to the "saving Aqua chapter" finally coming to a close for her, saying that she no longer needs to imitate Ai is a good way to convey it without actually saying it.

I may be completely off about all this, though. Truth is, we could sit here all day trying to figure out Akane's thoughts and Aka's intended meaning, but we all know that a lot of people will be running off with the most unflattering interpretations and they could be right for all I know. Aka's mind sometimes works in twisted ways 😂

That said, one unflattering interpretation I do want to fight against is that of Akane's feelings for Aqua just being an emulation of Ai's own. That doesn't add up, because Akane's goal from the get-go has been to help Aqua be happy.

And she had that goal even before she started imitating Ai:

Unless Aka retcons this, Akane's feelings for Aqua are Akane's own. He saved her and helped her be happy, and Akane has always been seeking to save him and help him be happy in turn.

It is possible that Akane has been trying to fill for Aqua the role of unconditional love and support that Ai would've filled for him if only she were alive. That's more or less just another way to say everything I already mentioned above.

However, even in that case, this should be motivated by her own feelings for him rather than Ai's. Not to mention, Ai's feelings for Aqua are motherly feelings and thus, strictly platonic. Meanwhile, Akane's for Aqua were paralleled to Ai's for her lover literally just a chapter ago:

So if Aka's writing is consistent, that particular interpretation should be off the table.

But that's enough time spent trying to make sense of Akane's line and Aka's intention behind it lol

Moving on, I can't help but notice what a big coincidence it is that right after we get a chapter showing that Ai and Kamiki are (in many ways) a failed Akane/Aqua, we now get a chapter where Akane cuts her hair short to differentiate herself from Ai.

Akane and Aqua may just be about to move into uncharted territory.

The first time we saw Aqua and Akane team up in Love Now, they did so as a business, fake relationship. Now, they're (potentially) teaming up all over again and being more honest while they're at it. What kind of dynamic will we see now, I wonder?

Granted, it doesn't have to involve anything romantic. This could be very well Aka setting up the stage for Aqua and Akane to end up as friends, and I'd personally be fine with that as long as it's executed well.

Regardless of the nature of his feelings though, I can't help but remember this:

Aqua once said that he will like Akane no matter what kind of Akane she is. With some luck, we may just see Aqua finally prove that he meant it.

His reaction when he saw her was so funny though. Aqua's feelings for Akane can be interpreted in many different ways, but indifference definitely isn't a plausible one lmao

Even here in this panel he's anything but indifferent. Almost like Akane just broached a sore subject

Also, it is kind of poetic that as soon as happiness is back on the table for Aqua, we see Aqua and Akane reunite on a chapter titled "Happy Ending" of all things lol

Now, onto the plot! It's nice to have confirmation that Aqua did originally intend to kill Kamiki. I'd like to know what exactly entailed his original plan, but that may be asking for too much at this point.

We still don't know what changed Aqua's mind, though. This chapter presents it as Aqua simply respecting Ruby's choice, but like I mentioned before, if that was all there was to it, then why didn't Aqua change his mind after he saw Ruby act the "I don't love you" scene for the first time? What let Aqua finally accept that Ruby's version of revenge was the right one?

On that same note, this chapter seems to confirm that Aqua has now embraced his life as Aqua Hoshino. He once discarded the naive thought of being happy, but now he seems ready to move on and getting a happy ending. Last time we saw Aqua pre time-skip on Chapter 151, his stars were still black. So, what gave?

We should still be missing a piece to solve that particular puzzle, IMO. I do think that Aka will eventually show it, even if it ends up being something as simple as "Kana True Oshi ❤️" (lmao)

Speaking about puzzles, it's hilarious how Aka makes Aqua be smart only when it's convenient to him. Just like Aqua magically could tell that his father was Kamiki just "thanks to Akane's movements", now he was suddenly able to tell that Nino was the big bad 😂 At least we're being told Akane already figured that out for herself, so that's good.

I swear though, if this doesn't all end with Aqua asking Akane what her happy ending is, I'll riot. Akane has spent the entire manga trying to save Aqua, and now that he's saved, she will be working to make everyone's happy ending possible. So Aqua better put in some effort to make sure Akane gets her happy ending too, whatever that may entail.

Things are moving super fast though, way faster than I thought they would. Now they even know about Yura, like?? Hopefully we'll at least get a few flashback panels to show how in the world they knew about her, because Aka is seriously pushing it lmao

In-before Aqua and Akane use a B-Komachi concert as bait to draw Nino into making a move so they can catch her. With everyone's help, of course 😂

I also can't help but wonder if Kamiki may pull some strings so that Ruby can have her Dome concert...

Everyone could see the Nino reveal coming after what happened with Kamiki, so I won't dwell on that. What I do find interesting though is that Nino is being presented as a fan gone wrong. She is everything a fan shouldn't strive to be. So knowing Aka, it's only natural that she will be contrasted to someone who is a true fan. Someone who genuinely wants only the best for their idol, without seeking to own them in any way.

Considering everything that has happened in the story, the two people who are most apt to fulfill that contrast are Aqua and Ruby. In Aqua's case in particular, that's a very interesting thought... especially considering his relationship with Kana and what Kana wants out of him: to be his number one idol, an idol that is an idol for him and him alone.

But we'll have to wait and see whether Aka sticks to his values or not 😂

All in all though, I'm very pleased that this chapter seems to put Akane front and center in this final arc, which is exactly what I was hoping for 😭 And I even got Miyako! I wish her relationship with Ruby and Aqua weren't so underdeveloped, because that family hug could've been one of the manga highlights for me otherwise.

I do kind of worry that Aka may pretend that now that Aqua has (more or less) embraced his life as Aqua Hoshino, there's no need for anyone else to know that he once was Goro though. Akane learning about it is the one thing I've always wanted to see in this manga, so I really hope Aka will at least let me have that much

[the-sprog]

Chat Noir, completely unprompted during an interview: "Adrien Agreste has so little personality that even calling him a wet paper towel would be a compliment"

Ladybug: *gasp* "CHAT! How could you say that? I don't even have words to tell you how insensitive talking about a civilian like that is!"

Despite having no words, Ladybug yelled at him for the next 45 minutes. Chat had to stop himself from laughing.

*Later that day*

Plagg: "...kitten... Why..."

Adrien: "shits and giggles mostly. Things have gotten boring around here"

Plagg: "I can respect that"

*the next day at school*

Nino: "dude why does Chat Noir hate your guts?"

Adrien: "what? I thought it was funny"

Nino: "... Do we need to have the talk about standing up for yourself again?"

Adrien: "what- no! I just mean- look, Chat Noir doesn't know me. And the Adrien Agreste brand my father cultivates is, admittedly, as bland as possible as to not create any controversies"

Nino: "That's one way of looking at it... People on tiktok have been aggressively coming to your defense"

Adrien: "Aw, at least people care!"

*the next day*

Alya: "Chat Noir! Care to elaborate on recent controversial comments made by yourself in this week's interview with Nadja Chamack?"

Chat: "whu- really? Y'all are still on this? Geez a dude doesn't get along with ONE GUY and gets crucified for it" *rolls his eyes*

This does not help.

Adrien goes home and watches tiktok after tiktok of people overanalyzing the situation while eating popcorn. Plagg laughs. Ladybug never forgives him. Nino is worried.

[carriagelamp]

My favourite books from 2024! Another really strong year of books for me -- every year will have some stinkers and a bunch of middling reads, but the highs of this year were really high so I'm pretty content

As always, I give more detailed descriptions and opinions of the books in my month reviews, but here's a quick breakdown for anyone who's interested:

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

A non-fiction book that looks at how childhood has been “rewired”, focusing specifically on the increase of overprotective parenting, increase of tablet/social media usage, and decrease of unstructured, independent play. It was a fascinating read that really looked at how children need to be given lots of opportunities to play, take risks, and make mistakes in order to learn and grow and how a loss of that might be impacting people’s mental health. As someone right on the cusp of the age bracket that’s being focused on, it felt very exposing.

Apothecary Diaries v1-2 by Natsu Hyuuga

Maomao is kidnapped and sold as a servant to the imperial palace, where she serves as a general dogsbody in the rear palace, home of the emperor’s various consorts and concubines. She’s determined to keep her head down until her contract is up… until she helps solve a mystery and catches the eye of the powerful eunech Jinshi who soon learns about her in-depth knowledge of apothecary work and anything to do with poisons. Very funny premise, Maomao hates Jinshi soooo much and he is such a simp for it. She just wants to eat poisons and be left alone and he says “no<3” to both of those

Bury Your Gays (and Straight) by Chuck Tingle

Both of these are very explicitly queer horror novels. Straight is a novella that riffs on the format of a zombie story, but with straight people becoming inexplicably violent towards queer people one day a year. Bury Your Gays is about a Hollywood screenwriter who realises his horror creations are begin to stalk him in the real world. Both are very intentionally built around social commentary on queer issues, and despite have audacious premises they completely own their camp and end up producing really well thought out, insightful stories. I can’t say I liked either as much as Camp Damascus but either is worth a read.

Console Wars by Blake J. Harris (and Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier)

Console Wars is a nonfiction book I’ve meant to read for years on my brother’s recommendation and I quite enjoyed it. It explores the history of the video game console market in North America, with a focus on how Nintendo revitalized it and how Sega then swooped in to upset the monopoly it held. The book is written in a very narrative, personable style and I found myself really rooting for the various people and companies being portrayed ahahaha. A shockingly fun read. I also read Blood, Sweat, and Pixels which wasn’t quite as narratively compelling but a related read that looked at games with complex development cycles.

Defekt by Nino Cipri

Technically the sequel to Finna which I also read this year, but Defekt works as a stand-alone and is, imho, the better of the two. Both deal with a surrealist horror Ikea setting, where the sheer density and liminal-space-ness of it all allows strange wormholes to open up between these stores from different dimensions. Finna deals with actual wormhole hopping, whereas Defekt focuses in on one employee who gets assigned to a very strange overnight inventory shift.

The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish v1-2 by Xue Shan Fei Hu

Fish isekai book. Is this a good book? No. Is it a really really fun book? Yes, in spades. In this book, Li Yu wakes up in a court drama novel… but not as a character but rather as the tyrannical prince’s pet fish. He is given the task to improve the prince and is stuck figuring out how the hell to do this as a fish. This book knows exactly how ridiculous it is and leans into it. Li Yu and Prince Jing are both idiots in very unique and exciting directions. No one knows what the fuck is happening.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

A prequel to Every Heart a Doorway, though it works perfectly well as a standalone. Honestly I liked it more than the first. This book has deliciously gothic horror vibes, and it plays with all the tropes you would expect from gothic horror / fear of the sublime. It’s about sisters who find a strange chest that lets them descend to the sinister land of the Moors. This is where vampires rule, werewolves stalk, and mad scientist’s ply their craft. The girls end up separated on and very different trajectories as they grow and acclimatize to the brutal existence of the Moors.

Escape From Incel Island by Margaret Killjoy

Exactly what it says on the tin. Completely insane book that is very worth the read if you feel like something that is patently insane. I strongly recommend treating this as a read aloud with a friend or loved one because I read it with my brother and couldn’t stop laughing. Top notch mercenary Mankiller Jones is sent to escort a computer scientist to Incel Island to retrieve lost governmental data. There they have to survive the hoards of Nice Guys, Volcels, Betas, and every other violent inhabitant of the island if they ever want to… escape from Incel Island.

Heaven Official’s Blessing v6-8 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

I finished the main series of Heaven Official’s Blessing (without reading the extras yet), and man what an ending! I could not have asked for a more epic or satisfying conclusion! The final battle and its various stages? The character reconciliation? The villain reveal? Perfect, no notes. The series itself follows Xie Lian, a prince who has ascended to godhood twice and been cursed and cast out from Heaven just as many times, giving him the title of the Laughingstock God. The story begins with him, to everyone’s dismay, ascending a third time.

Horrorstör (and Paperbacks from Hell, My Best Friend’s Exorcism) by Grady Hendrix

This book also deals with a Strange Alternate Ikea, but is the superior book. This was one of my top reads for 2024, and it was flawless horror. It is essentially a haunted house story set in an Ikea, that manages to be both chilling, disgusting, and a shockingly insightful critique of capitalism and retail. Very worth the read. 

After reading this I also read Paperbacks from Hell (a nonfiction book that does an analysis of horror fiction from the ‘70s and ‘80s, very good read) and My Best Friend’s Exorcism (which was decent but not my favourite of Hendrix’s since possession and exorcism isn’t my favourite brand of horror. The vaguely queer undertones and ending I found interesting, and it did some cool things throughout.)

Jeeves and Wooster books by P.G. Wodehouse

I ended up listening to so many of the Jeeves and Wooster audiobooks this summer while I was travelling. There were some I really really loved and some that fell very flat for me. I think I listened to too many in a row by the end… These books are like popcorn, not deep but very fun, and follow the airheaded but good natured Bertie Wooster and his man Jeeves who unfailing swoops in to solve all the strange and inane problems the Bertie gets involved in. They tend to be funny, light-hearted, and clever in their resolution of plot problems… though some of the issues do get rather repetitive. My favourites were: The Inimitable Jeeves, Very Good Jeeves, Right Ho Jeeves, and the Code of the Woosters.

Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

Some excellent science fiction, especially for my Pacific Rim loving heart. This bordered on the cosy fantasy genre, while mixing in plenty of science, world-building and a good dash of excitement. During the Covid-19 lockdown, Jamie Gray is stuck trying to make ends meet as a food delivery driver… until he runs into an old acquaintance who suggests he might have a very different job offer for him. Jamie ends up joining this very secretive “animal rights group” and finds out just how massive, dangerous, and otherworldly these “animals” are by being risked to an entirely different dimension filled with giant, radioactive monsters.

Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller

One of my favourite books from this year! Tthis book managed to hit on very topical subjects with both tact and humour. Lula Dean has spearheaded a book banning crusade, managing to get a number of “problematic” books removed from the library and has made a show of setting up a Little Free Library in her yard full of “appropriate” books instead. When Beverly Underwood visits her mother and hears about this she’s so exasperated with it all that she quickly hatches a plan swapping out the dust jackets of some of the banned books with the ones in Lula Dean’s Little Free Library. The rest of the story is about various people in the town who borrow a book from Lula Dean’s library and how the book they got instead ends up impacting not just themselves but their town. The first story involves a penis cake. Can’t recommend it enough, starts out humour and quickly becomes something you want to rally around.

My Happy Marriage v1 by Akumi Agitogi

This was pure mindless fluff, it was honestly a delight. This is a low-fantasy, Cinderella-esque story set in the Taishō era. It focuses on Miyo Saimori who lives under the thumb of her cruel step-mother, haughty step-sister, and indifferent father. She’s resigned to being treated like a servant in her own home and ekeing out a strained existence, but her life takes a turn when she finds herself nominally engaged to the allegedly cold and cruel Kiyoka Kudou. It’s just absolutely overwhelmingly cute and I really enjoy the contrasting POVs.

A Series of Unfortunate Events and Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket

I’d never finished The Series of Unfortunate Events when it was originally coming out, so I finally sat down and did that, and honestly it was well worth the wait! It was a very interesting series to read as an adult, especially all in one go, because it really let me appreciate everything that Snicket was trying to say. It was a much more clever and philosophical read than I was anticipating, and The End was fucking superb. He absolutely stuck the landing, it completely blew me away. Poison For Breakfast was also a very interesting standalone novella that felt like surrealist philosophy. I might have even enjoyed it more than the basic TSOUE.

The Poison Squad (and The Poisoner’s Handbooks) by Deborah Blum

Poison Squad is a very compelling and topical nonfiction about the formation of the American Food and Drug act. The state of unregulated food processing in the late 19th century was, in a word, nightmarish. Don’t read this book if you have a weak stomach. But it’s completely fascinating to see how one person, Dr Harvey Wiley, made it a personal mission to scientifically prove what all these mysterious food additives were doing to people and put limits to what could be sold to consumers. I liked it so much I went to read Blum’s other book, The Poisoner’s Handbook which is set during Prohibition and explores the rise of forensic medicine and again exposes how people were being poisoned by simply living their standard lives.

The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill

The real, true history of the New York City Pushcart War!! For real!!! This is a delightful underdog story that is really written in the style of a history textbook recounting the fictional Pushchart War. This war started in New York City as the roads get increasingly congested with traffic, the worst offenders being the increasingly massive and arrogant trucks. The trucking companies hatch a plan though: if they begin to push out the little pushcarts, framing them as the problem for the congestion, then how hard would it be to push out taxis next? Or buses? Or motorcars? How long until they can make the road a perfect habit for trucks and trucks alone? How can something as small and poor as a pushcart owner fight back?

Railsea (and This Census-Taker) by China Miéville

I heard Railsea described on tumblr and it sounded sufficiently insane that I had to read it for myself. This author is truly unrivaled when it comes to bizarre worldbuilding that feels both very, very grounded in reality while also being completely unexplained and impossible. Railsea is essentially a Moby Dick meets Treasure Island retelling but with trains instead of boats and giant, mutated, vicious moles instead of whales. Unhinged. Can’t recommend enough. I followed this up by reading his novella This Census-Taker which was not as much of a frolicking adventure but fucked with my brain just as much or more than Railsea did. Genuinely not sure I even know what happened in that story but I enjoyed the experience of being completely fucking baffled for some 200 pages.

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

Another book to ideally not read if you have a weak stomach. This novella is very big on unrelenting body horror. This is a twisted fairytale retelling in which a cannibalistic Little Mermaid meets a plague doctor Frankenstein. Both of them are walking away from cruel past lives, along a trail that’s soaked in blood and viscera. You feel how painfuly and disgustingly human this book is, while also being so wildly separate from anything that resembles human anatomy or morality. Superb.

Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System v1-4 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

The last of MXTX’s three series I needed to read. It was the one I was most hesitant about, but I ended up having a really great time with it. It is simultaneously the most light-hearted and silly of the three series, while also the one that most gleefully dives into torture and sex. So you get a bit of everything with this, and as usual MXTX does a really good job of mixing the humour and series in a way that keeps things constantly interesting. The story is about Shen Yuan who dies our of pure, frothing fury after reading the shitty ending to the shitty, porny webnovel he’s been reading for hundreds of thousands of words. He dies cursing the lousy author and the lousy writing so he’s given a chance: step up and do it better! Which is easier said than done, when he finds himself waking up in the body of the series’ villain who is destined to be gruesomely tortured to death. Better get on that!

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea

This is the written result of a number of interviews held between Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea and she discusses her time as a Shakespearean actress. It looks into what her time working with theatre companies was like, summarizes the plays she took part in, and delivers into some fascinating character analysis of the roles she played. An absolute treasure of a book for someone who enjoyed their Shakespeare and/or Judi Dench.

Singing Hills Cycle v1-5 by Nghi Vo

Probably my favourite series that I read this year, I can’t wait for the next book! This series follows Chih and her magical bird companion who come from the Singing Hills Monastery, an order that is devoted to keep recording tales and keeping a history of the land. Chih travels all over in these various novellas, collecting stories, memories, and histories that they come across. The first book has them entering the recently unwarded palace of the late Empress to learn about her marriage, imprisonment and rise in power. The second has them trapped by a pack of tigresses with nothing to do but frantically lure them into comparing stories. 

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Ten year old Ada was born with a club foot and because of it has never been allowed to leave her apartment. She lives a hard life trying to care for her younger brother and suffer through the abuses of her mother. Things change though as the Second World War truly begins and London begins to evacuate children to the country. Ada is determined — she and her brother will evacuate, they will escape their mother’s house, even if it means her learning how to walk on her club foot. Even if it means facing how different life is for unwanted slum children in the country, and confronting how much she and her brother don’t know about life. This was a very touching book, it did a great job of balancing Ada’s justifiable pain and anger with an optimistic story. Queer elements are all subtext but there — they aren’t the main focus of this story.

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

This book absolutely took my breath away, it was a next level literary experience. It’s very, very solidly magical realism, so don’t go into this expecting true fantasy, everything going on here is allegorical and a beautifully done allegory at that. This story is set during the 1950s, in a time surrounding an event known as “The Mass Dragoning” when thousands of women suddenly, spontaneously, transformed into dragons and flew away. The story follows Alex Green who was a child during this event. Her aunt transformed. Her mother didn’t. Both of these things have profound impacts on Alex as she grows up, and a woman’s role in society, a woman’s anger, her joy, her desire are all questioned and explored.

[captainkirkk]

✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.

Merlin

The Walls of Camelot by spqr

"Camelot will fall tomorrow,” Arthur says, on the first day of the eighth month of the siege.

DC

IRIS Log #1548 by deadchannelradio

Disclaimer From Your Friendly Neighborhood Oracle:

The following is a transcript of Patrol Communications Audio written by state of the art transcription technology, IRIS (Interpretation of Recorded Intelligence Software). IRIS was created to provide easily searchable records, automatically, and eliminate the need to transcribe each patrol audio log manually. That being said, IRIS is still experimental, and may not always be entirely accurate. - (01:25) Red Hood: (Mild static) (Out of breath, slurred) You motherfuckers. Put some fuckin-

(01:25) Batman: (Shaking) Red Hood-

(01:25) Red Hood: Shut up. Put some fucking respect. On my name. Start fucking copying me. I just got thrown fucking. Um. 40 feet. Into a fucking uh. What's it. Ditch. I'm still fucking conscious.

(01:25) Batman: Red Hood, do not move, we're en route-

(01:25) Red Hood: What'll I win if I stand up.

(01:25) Batman: (Loud) Do not stand up.

we shall be free; we shall find peace by mediant

Clark has accepted what it means to be Lex's prisoner - the pain of the Green, the experiments, the hands on it. The long years buried in its containment cell, let out only to act as Lex's weapon, as Lex's tool. It had fought back at first, but years have ground it down and away to almost nothing.

Then Lex hands it a baby. And Clark realizes that while it may have hurt humans, and lied about what it is, and it may deserve to be locked away - Kon deserves to be free.

Untamed

The Absolutely True Story of the Yiling Patriarch: A Manifesto in Many Parts by aubreyli (+ podfic)

Wei Wuxian’s hand jolts, spilling a drop of wine onto the tabletop. “Love?” he croaks, then clears his throat and tries again. “Lan Zh— uh, Hanguang-jun, in love?”

“Have you not heard the story?” the other young woman asks, looking pitying. “You must, it is a truly heartrending tale of star-crossed romance and mutual pining — go to any storyhouse in town, everyone has been requesting a reading of this book.”

“There’s a book?” Wei Wuxian says blankly.

-- In which the junior disciples (namely, Lan Jingyi, Ouyang Zizhen, and a reluctant Lan Sizhui) turn to RPF in an attempt to rehabilitate Wei Wuxian's reputation so that he and Hanguang-jun can get together and get married and live happily ever after. It's... surprisingly effective.

Clone Wars

patron saint by spqr (+ podfic)

Funerary practices? Master Ti writes back. I’m not sure what you mean, Master Kenobi. Used biomass is the property of Kamino and thus is recycled into the cloning process.

So that’s how the revolution begins—with dead brothers, but not the way you might expect.

Miraculous Ladybug

drowning (in plain sight) by buggachat

Everybody had expected Monarch's defeat to be a moment of triumph. Nobody had expected Gabriel Agreste, unmasked and mind frayed from continual abuse of the miraculous, crying out to all who would listen and making Paris certain of one thing:

His son, Adrien Agreste, is one of his sentimonsters.

And now he's missing.

Nobody can find him— not even the superheroes, and not even his closest friends. But Marinette, Nino, and Alya aren't ones to give up so easily. They'll find him, no matter what it takes.

(But, geez, would it kill Chat Noir to lend a hand?)

[pdrrook]

MC hears a creepy sound in the middle of the night, who investigates and who hides under the covers with them?

Reed says ‘I’m too pretty to die, you do it,’ as he stands up to check lol

Flavio ‘omg I’m so scared, pls hold my hand,’ but will also check

Nino ‘finally I’ll get to use— check the kitchen knives,’ she’s not joking

Laurent would not walk he’d run to check it lol especially if MC asked

Alan ‘It’s fine, I’m sure it’s only a burglar,’ but he’d also check if MC insisted

Jewel:

[miraculousystuff]

Caught In A Janitors Closet

Rose was fully invested in this. Lila was talking about her dating life, and her boyfriend never ceased to amaze. She was yet to reveal the name, but Rose didn’t expect her to. Lila had only been talking about this mystery guy for a day, and she claimed it wasn’t anything serious yet. Rose did not want to pressure her into disclosing the name. “And then, after he took me to that picnic, he asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend! It was so romantic!” Lila gushed, eyes sparkling. It seems that Alya, however, did not share Rose’s sentiment. “Come on girl! Tell us who this mystery guy is!” Alya insisted. “No Alya.” Lila said, but Rose did notice her little smirk, but shrugged it off as a grimace. “Oh come on! Is it someone we know?” Alya asked, and took the surprise that flitted across Lila’s face as a yes. “Is it someone in our class?” Once again, Alya took Lila’s (clearly faked) blush as confirmation. She crossed out the obvious people (Nino, Nathaniel, Ivan) then she looked around. Then she saw him. “Is it Adrien?”

Rose was shocked. How could Alya so openly discuss it? However, if Lila was upset, she didn’t show it. To her surprise, Lila even nodded shyly, looking down at the table. Adrien was talking to Marinette. Rose was surprised as Adrien openly showed his support for Mari, the one who was bullying Lila in the first place. It seems, however, Lila had an explanation ready. “I know Marinette is bullying me, but Adrien is just being polite. Apparently Mari had been- I really shouldn’t say.” Lila said, eyes dropping. “It’s fine! You can tell us!” Mylene said encouragingly. “Adrien told me that Marinette is very clingy and possessive, like they’re dating.” Lila said. She then leaned into the table and whispered “I think she might even be sexually harassing him.” Everyone gasped. Alya gaped and scoffed. “Well let’s tell her you’re dating Adrien then! In fact, maybe she’ll finally get over her jealousy and stop bullying you!” Alya said, standing to walk to the pair. Lila’s eyes widened. “Actually, I was really hoping you won’t. I just don’t want to make Mari anymore jealous than she already is. You know how she can be.” Lila simpered and everyone nodded in agreement. But Rose just could not shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

Meanwhile, Adrien and Marinette were having a ball. Their real friends, from Miss Mendeleiv’s class, were fun, easy-going and never pushy and judgy like the akuma class. Soon, however, Adrien and Marinette got lost in their own conversation. They excused themselves, and walked towards the lockers to get their stuff for biology. “No Adrien, for the last time, I will not drop the croissants!” Marinette sighed, recalling last week’s clumsiness, or “sin” as deemed by Adrien. “I’m just making sure.” Adrien pouted, and Marinette placed a soft kiss on his lips. She meant to pull away, but Adrien didn’t want to stop. He pulled her into a supply closet and pushed her against the wall, pressing hard into the kiss. Marinette wrapped her legs around his waist, hand reaching up to mess with his hair. But something interrupted them. Or rather someone, because Rose Lavillant just busted through the door.

To say Rose was surprised was an understatement. She had just been going to get a mop because of the soup she just spilled, and was met with a rather shocked Adrienette. However the worst part was that she wasn’t alone. Everyone in Miss Bustier’s class wanted to come, because they had art next and that was always a mess, and the teacher made the students clean them up. This means that the entirety of the Akuma class saw Adrien kiss Marinette. Which also means that Adrien was…“HOW COULD YOU!” Alya screeched at Adrien, who suddenly looked very unimpressed. “How could I-what?” he asked, rather smugly in fake innocence, which only infuriated Alya more. “How dare you cheat on poor Lila with that insolent piece of trash!” Alya spat as the two of them climbed out of the supply cupboard. No-one noticed Lila go pale.

Now Adrien was smirking, his Chesire grin throwing them off. “I would never cheat on my girlfriend,” he said calmly. Alya begged to differ. “YOU JUST DID!” she yelled, and if the school had any competent teachers, this would be shut down immediately. However, we are in Francois Dupont College, so no-one came to stop this. “Wrong. I was kissing my girlfriend.” Adrien objecting, his grin only widening as Alya became purple with rage. “What do you mean? You were kissing Ma-” she broke off, realization dawning on her face. “Lila, you were lying?” she whispered, and before Lila could turn this on the head, Alya whipped out her phone to Google Lila’s claims. The class did the same, and everything came crashing down on them. “You LIED!” Alix yelled, and everyone went into a cacophony of chaos and bombarded Lila.

The next morning Lila was expelled from school, and lawsuits were filed against her. Same with Alya. The class also got their fair share of punishment, though not as severe. When Mari and Adrien came in the next morning, they were met with many apologies. Marinette accepted most of them; after all, they hadn’t done anything worse than a few arguments, and that was under the influence of a liar. However, when Alya came, she was prepared. “Listen girl, I’m so sorry! I should never have believed Lila! She lied about having connections with the people you know. In fact maybe you can let me interview them and then you can tell me all about it!” she gushed, but was met with a stone cold glare. “I cannot believe that you are still using me. I do not forgive you, and I probably never will.” Marinette said. “But we are besties!” she cried. Sighing, Marinette said quietly…

“We were  besties.”

[ambiguouslady42]

Remember Summer Days

I wrote my first fanfic. This will be reminiscent a tad to my own teen years. I'm playing with it and seeing if I can make it into a small series.

Synopsis: A hopeless teen girl has a meet-cute with the ever, handsome Satoru Gojo.

Note: This will mostly be intense fluff. I wrote this for me, but if you would like to leave feedback or notes, you can always DM me.

If you're a minor or an ageless blog, I will block you. No questions asked.

______________________________________________________________

2007

You were an awkward 16-year-old. You look back at this period and wonder how you did so little and so much. Concert ticket stubs, movie stubs, CD’s, posters. You certainly had many adventures, but you were a homebody who loved to daydream. You daydreamed of the day you would meet someone that you knew would change your life; the day came. It was the summer of 2007. His name was Satoru Gojo.

You were just cruising by high school at this time in your life. You were ambitious to pursue any career path from a politician, teacher, or a librarian. You were involved with a bunch of clubs because you were friends were involved in them. Your excited demeanour about making change and sharing ideas sometimes caught up with you; at times, you were the center of such critiques like “They’re so annoying, why do they even bother to come?” or “Is there any way that we could ditch them during this event”. 

Socializing at times was very difficult at school. At best, you had one friend, and even at times, you felt that you couldn’t really interact with a lot of your classmates. Your interests differed from that of everyone else.  Nobody has seen the movies that you have seen. Music? Most of the student populous didn’t listen to bands you listen to like Interpol, The Smiths, or The Strokes. If they did, well they weren’t part of your social circle. Your interests made you feel like an outsider. 

On the days you felt the most uncomfortable for speaking up or wanting to crawl into yourself, you would ride the rail line to head over to your favourite record store. It was a two-story building. It had everything you could possibly want. Vinyl, CD’S, cassettes, and the best part: movies. You felt a comfort in knowing that this store had everything that anyone could be searching for, if they knew where to look.

On this particular day you were looking at French films, particularly Amélie. Your best friend shared that it made an impact on her. You were talking to her on MSN Messenger during the weekend and discussed 

movies. 

[Mariella]: I just watched Amélie this last week. It’s soo cute.

[You]: What’s it about?

[Mariella]: It’s about a girl who is destined to help others, but along the way, she falls in love with her soulmate.

[Mariella]: Nino Quincampoix <333

You figured today was a great day to build your movie collection. As you were about to grab the DVD box, you noticed a tall figure across from you. You were standing right across from him. He had the flare of cool that you know you stood no chance in. What stood out to you the most was his white hair and round sunglasses. You thought to yourself “Of course they would wear sunglasses indoors. Wonder what their eyes look like.” You continued to stare.

He caught you staring. You wanted to shrivel up into a ball. You began to sweat. Suddenly he started to move towards you. You saw him circling through the aisle of DVD’s and then he was standing next to you. 

“Hi…” he said.

“Oh…hello”, you said back.

You could feel your face getting hot, but he still didn’t move away from you.  The first thing you notice is the DVD’s that he’s holding. You recognize a couple of 80’s movies You notice Gremlins, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Back to the Future.

“That’s quite a collection you have there”, you said. 

“Oh, these? I just thought I’d finally be able to grab these classics. Have you ever seen any of these?” he says.

At this point, you’re getting pretty comfortable. With a sly smile on your face: “Of course I have. Who has not seen any of these movies?” 

He gives you a confident smile: “Well then, tell me about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.

  “Well first of all, hi. I’m Isabel”

“Nice to meet you, Isabel. I’m Satoru". 

[trainsinanime]

How various Miraculous Ladybug characters murder you (mostly assuming you deserve it)

I had insomnia last night, probably due to allergies (forgot to take my meds), and somehow I ended up writing this.

The basic assumption for this: You’ve been mortal enemies for half the movie, and now it’s the big action scene where you are about to die. This assumes you're the main henchman, perhaps even the main antagonist, but it can be a 009 type good guy character who dies at the start of the movie as well.

Marinette: She spent the last five minutes of the fight transforming the space into a giant set of traps, full of broken light bulbs, wire and pulley systems and so on that have killed all of your subordinates. You come face to face with her, convinced that you will be the one to finally take her down. But just as you raise your gun, you notice that you have already tripped a tiny wire. For a fraction of a millisecond, you see her grim, determined smile, before you blow up.

Roland: Still has a sub-machine gun from the time he was in the French resistance in World War 2 and knows how to use it.

Kagami: In an honourable duel, you thought you’d won. She’s battered and bruised, lying on the floor, blood coming out of her mouth. So you say “it’s over” and start your final attack. But then she remembers all her friends. Remembers them real hard. And with the renewed strength, she gets up, and runs you through with her sabre. Afterwards she respectfully closes your eyes and tells your family that you loved them.

Chloé: She’s wearing an expensive gold evening gown, and she says, “fine, I’ll do it myself”. Then she grabs a shotgun and starts blasting. There is no warmth in her eyes, no remaining bit of empathy, no warrior’s understanding. She looks at you with the exact same disdain she has for delivery people who got her order wrong. She has no remorse, but killing you will still make her unhappy.

Nino: You get trapped in the cables of his DJ equipment that have been strewn all over the room by the preceding fight. With his last strength, Nino reconnects a plug, creating a sick dub-step sound and also electrocuting you. He’s sad it had to come to this, but it was definitely your own fault.

Tikki: [Removed for being too graphic]

Luka: He bores you to death by talking about your “heart music” and replacing every other sentence with three chords on his guitar.

Lila: You didn’t even know you were fighting. You just take a sip from your drink, and you feel a bit funny. And a bit weird. Maybe you need to sit down. Or lay down. As your vision gets blurry, Lila takes off her mask and wig, and you realise your fatal mistake of letting your guard down. She is the last thing you see as you die in agony.

Sabrina: She’s smiling. She’s got you in a corner, with the knife in her hand, and she’s smiling. She keeps stabbing you, and your screams only make her smile more. There’s blood on her face, and she’s still smiling. Chloé is going to be so pleased with her.

Zoé: You follow her into the dark alley, getting ready to suck her blood and kill her. But then she turns around, and she’s confident, and you realise your fatal mistake: She is this generation’s chosen one, who stands against the vampires and demons and forces of darkness. She is— and then she drives a wooden stake through your heart.

(If your favourite character isn't on here, it's because I eventually managed to fall asleep.)

[jasmine-the-fox]

Olga can see the truth

Hey guys! Back with another salt fic request made by UnknownDrew over on AO3! So happy to write this so I hope you all enjoy it in the end like I loved writing it!

Anyways enjoy the fic!

Olga has worked with children long enough to know that when something doesn’t sound right… look it up online to see if it’s true… and Lila Rossi was a walking lie in her opinion. It didn’t matter what it was about, she has to lie about herself no matter what which is why she has given Lila detention each time she lied or made an excuse for not doing the work she was assigned.

It caused the girl to always be quiet in her class… but the second she left the classroom she would go back to lying about herself… and that’s when she noticed that something was happening to people when Lila lied about something.

Marinette would avoid any place at school where Lila could be heard. During lunchbreak or when school ended, she noticed how she looked depressed while quickly heading home… which made her worry greatly for the girl… then came Adrien Agreste. If he was with his friends, he was happy and with a smile on his face… but the second Lila came over he would either keep away from her, ignore her or excuse himself and leave the group… which would upset Lila greatly.

But it was clear that both of them didn’t like Lila and she was hurting them with her lies… with this all noted, she decided to inform Caline to see what she had planned to stop all of this… but she was shocked by her words “Olga… I think you work too much as your making all of this up about my class. Nothing is wrong with any of my students” she said before walking away.

this up about my class. Nothing is wrong with any of my students” she said before walking away.

She tried to make her see things her way but Caline simply sighed “If anything… I think you should have Marinette in your class… that girl has been causing problems in the class by refusing for them to all be friends… especially with Lila” with that said she left to get to her classroom.

This shocked Olga… Caline was blinded by her own beliefs to not see how terrible her class was the longer Lila was there lying to her students. She had noticed that the class was bullying Marinette and ended their friendship with her because of things Lila said to them while crying crocodile tears to them… disgusted by this, Olga decided to do things herself about Caline’s class and she was going to make sure things changed for the better.

Which is why she stormed into Damocles’ office which startled him with a glare “For far too long you have pampered Caline into believing she can do no wrong and how her students are perfect. But it ends now! You will give me the power to punish her and her students as she should have done or I will get the proper authorities involved to investigate her, the class and you!” she demanded making the man tremble as he went pale from her words… but he agreed and wrote her a note to give to Caline so she knows that she has no say in what Olga decides for the class in the end.

She nods back to him after taking the note and went to her classroom to get started on her plan, it was going to happen and Caline won’t be able to protect her students from being punished in the end… but she hoped it would give them a wake-up call that they needed from the start.

The very next day, she storms into the classroom before Caline could start the lesson “Olga? What are you doing here?” Caline asked in great surprise. Olga gives her the note and she goes pale after reading it “And if you have a problem, you can go speak to him” she said, this angered Caline but she left the classroom to probably try to speak to Damocles about this.

Then Caline looked them over “When I call your name you stand” she said making them look at her confused “Alya Cesaire, Kim Lechien, Alix Kubel, Nino Lahiffe, Max Kante and Ivan Bruel” she said which made them all stand “You all have one week of detention, I also will have you do cleaning with the janitor during that week. If you have a problem with this, I will have no problem speaking to your parents about the unjustified bullying towards Marinette that you have done” she said making them look at her in shock.

“Now then… Juleka Couffaine, Mylène Haprèle, Rose Lavillant, Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Sabrina Raincomprix. For now, I want you to return home and think about what Marinette has done so terrible that you saw her do to deserve the pain she received” she ordered making them slowly nod as they grabbed their things and left.

Olga noticed how nervous Marinette and Adrien looked over the situation “So this leaves… Alya Cesaire, Chloe Bourgeois and Lila Rossi… your parents have been called and informed of the bullying done towards Marinette… As for you Lila your mother was also informed of the sexual harassment you have done towards Adrien… which his father is informed about… and she also knows about how your failing” she said making Lila freak out as she tried to run out��� only to be stopped by her mother.

Once it was only her with Marinette and Adrien. She told Mari that her parents were waiting for her at home “You will also be allowed a week to stay at home to rest” she explained making Mari nod and leave the classroom. With her and Adrien alone… she turned to look at him “It is very clear that you have suffered greatly. Get yourself a therapist to get some help to help you with the pain you have gone through” she said making him nod and promise to get one before leaving to return home.

Once he left, she pulled out her phone and called Child services about what Adrien is going through at school and at home. She also described Adrien’s physical form of being skinny and also how he is pulled out of school often without the school giving permission for him to go… she then calls the Embassy and informs them of how Lila has been using her mom’s job to protect herself and lie about travelling.

This of course causes many changes… Alya was without electronics because of her actions, some were pulled out of activities because of what they have done, Chloe was banned from shopping and Lila… well she was on the next flight back to Italy where she will reside until college… if she even is able to get into one that is.

Adrien was also taken to live with his aunt in London due to child labor laws being broken by his father who made Adrien work when he should be at school, put on multiple diets that were becoming dangerous for him and worked him over the normal hours he should be working… in the end things were getting better. Marinette was smiling again and made some new friends and was confirmed doing a lot better by her parents, they even got her a therapist to talk to about her pain and suffering she was put through.

But it was all thanks to Olga… because now justice has been served… since she was the only one who knew what to do in the end…