#or just have Ladybug ruin her own reputation

[wield-the-mighty-pen]

After seeing the episode titles and noticing that one of them is called Mister Agreste…

I just keep thinking about how Lila/Cerise/whatever knows who Gabriel is, knows what he did. And knows that for whatever reason, Ladybug is hiding that from Paris and possibly even from Adrien.

I don’t know if this will be the episode, but I at least need the fic where Lila decides to blackmail Ladybug with the knowledge of who Hawkmoth really was behind the mask…

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

They never blamed her

At the end of "Protection", Marinette finds out that Kagami had come into contact with Lila. This was huge news for Marinette because it finally answered the question of who gave Kagami that friendship test list back in "Perfection", the very list that made Kagami believe that Marinette never considered her a friend and was not good enough to be anyone's friend.

Marinette has previously dealt with Lila's attempts to ruin her friendships and reputation. Way back in "Ladybug", not only did Lila frame Marinette for various misdeeds but she also made sure to cover her tracks by making Marinette seem like the bad guy. As much as Marinette tried to defend herself, even she came to the cruel realization that her words would still fall on deaf ears even in her most dire moment, as she realized Lila was just too good at lying.

When Marinette tried to clear her name to Kagami in "Protection", she once again faced the same troubling situation as in "Ladybug", which was that she was not being taken seriously over Lila's words.

(Kagami believed Lila's lie that Marinette would lie her way out of trouble, she refused to listen to Marinette's attempts to clear her name.)

The only reason Marinette's name was cleared back in "Ladybug" was because Adrien demanded Lila come up with another lie that would prove her innocence, as even he knew he did not have the capability to expose Lila and could only threaten to end their friendship if she did not carry out his demands. And of course, Lila reluctantly agreed, not for the sake of friendship, but because she could not risk losing the privileges that came with such a friendship, including being able to stay close to Adrien amidst her (failed)plans to start a romantic relationship with him.

Near the end of "Protection", Adrien overheard the conversation between Marinette and Kagami and likely also understood that what happened in "Perfection" and "Protection" had all been the result of Lila once again having no regard for others as she now attempted to ruin the friendship between Marinette and Kagami.

Just like in "Ladybug", it was Adrien who stepped in at the end of "Protection" to try and help clear Marinette's name to Kagami, but unlike in "Ladybug", this was different. Ever since Adrien ended his friendship with Chloe back in "Derision", it was very likely that he also ended his friendship with the only other person who would willingly hurt Marinette, Lila. But while the two of them no longer being friends would end up being a good decision for Adrien, this also meant that Adrien no longer had any leverage over Lila.

Risking the friendship Lila had with him, was the only thing he had to make Lila listen as he knew she could not be reasoned with normally. However, by now, even he knew that friendship never really mattered to Lila as he learned she was still willing to make attempts to hurt the people he loved behind his back. The only chance he had at helping Kagami realize that Lila was wrong about Marinette being a liar and a manipulator, was by openly expressing his honest and heartfelt opinion about Marinette.

It was left to Kagami to decide for herself whether or not Marinette was really a bad person, Adrien could only hope that Kagami did not forget the time she shared with Marinette, what she saw Marinette do for her and for others that proved every day how much of a good person she truly was, and she didn't, but this hurt all the more as she realized that she misjudged the friends who cherished her and the love they had for each other (more here).

No matter how guilty and ashamed Kagami felt for allowing her own emotions to cloud her judgment and believe Marinette was a bad person, Marinette never shunned her for it, because in many ways, Marinette knew all too well the position Kagami was in.

Back in season 2, when Kagami first arrived to Paris, Marinette had the rough impression that Kagami was not only cold, but a threat, someone who never hesitated and was capable of making secret plans in their shared love rivalry for Adrien. The thought of the two of them ever being friends never crossed her mind as she assumed Kagami viewed her as someone who was inferior and imperfect, someone who only ever hesitated at any given opportunity.

(In the past, Marinette believed Kagami was perfect in every way)

(In "Frozer", Marinette becomes intimidated by Kagami's willingness to not hesitate with Adrien, to not be afraid to take the next step with him and not be considered just a friend in his eyes)

In "Animaestro", Marinette really believed the idea that Kagami was determined to kidnap Adrien so she could take him to japan forever, and that Adrien was too nice a person to realize Kagami's "evil plan", all things which in reality, never happened. Back in "Ikari Gozen", Marinette really believed Kagami only entered the friendship day competition in a plan to receive all the credit for winning the game that Adrien was involved in, fully intending to use the game as a chance to make Adrien fall in love with her, something that in reality Kagami never did or intended to do, all she really wanted was to make a friend.

In "Protection", when Kagami believed Lila's words that Marinette was secretly pretending to be nice to her from the start as part of her secret plan to steal Adrien from her one day, she really believed in the idea that everything she did to help Marinette get that chance to get closer to Adrien, and help direct Adrien towards understanding his feelings for Marinette, was all part of Marinette's "evil plan" to act weak as a way to lie and manipulate others into feeling compelled to help her get what she wanted (more here), and Adrien for one was too blinded by Marinette's manipulation to see through her deception, all things that in reality Marinette never did or had the intention to do, all she really wanted was to be a good friend to Kagami.

Marinette's past views of Kagami were of course brought about by her overactive imagination conjuring and believing in situations that never happened (something she would later learn to admit to herself in "Glaciator 2"), that the only solution to stopping what she thought were Kagami's "diabolical plans" was by sabotaging her and even adhering to the word of someone like Chloe, who had a hatred for Kagami, a similar course of action Lila instilled in Kagami in "Protection" as she pushed Kagami into believing that she had every right to go against Marinette and fight to take back what she stole, Adrien(more here).

Although Marinette did eventually come to her senses and realized she completely misjudged Kagami, she never forgot that overwhelming sense of guilt and shame she felt over just how much she misjudged her, especially in regards to what she did during that time she believed Kagami was the evil one in a situation, when in reality she never was.

(In "Ikari Gozen", Marinette realizes Kagami was never the cold hearted perfect person she thought, and was simply a socially awkward girl desperate to learn how to be friendlier and make friends)

Over time, Marinette grew to learn the kind of person Kagami was, she was flawed just like anyone else, she was a girl who struggled to learn about herself, especially friendships, but was eager to learn, and befriend those who were willing to accept her. Kagami has always been very strong willed, and yet despite this, those who would actually take a chance to talk to her would learn that behind that strong will, was a fragile innocence.

Which is why when Marinette and Adrien learned that it was Lila whom Kagami had been listening to, they never blamed her for doing so, and how could they? They understood Kagami knew very little about friendships, and Lila was fully willing to take advantage of this.

To know that Kagami believed the friendship test back in "Perfection" and still stay with Lila even after the matter was resolved, was likely enough to reveal to them that Kagami had considered Lila a friend who cherished and listened to her, because that's how Lila would have presented herself from the start to draw Kagami towards her.

Adrien and Marinette knew they had to warn Kagami about Lila and they did, but being upfront about Lila had already proven to be of no use in the past, so they did what they could and told Kagami that Lila was one person whose actions didn't prove she is as good of a person as she claims to be.

However, no matter how much they would try to warn Kagami about Lila, even they must have understood that Kagami was now trapped in Lila's clutches. They have seen Lila lie her way out of trouble many times before, and as we all know, that's exactly what she did the moment Kagami confronted her about the lies she spoke about Marinette.

Without proof, they could only hope Kagami would adhere to their word over Lila's the next time she attempted to lie and manipulate her into another one of her scheme's.

[miraculouscriticismshub]

Why Gabriel doesn’t deserve a redemption - the Hypocrisy of the Writers - Miraculous Season 5 Finale spoilers Ahead.

If you have seen the finale then you already know what happens to Gabriel . He dies but gets remembered as a hero and his reputation was unscratched. The writers have the audacity to say a teenage girl will never become a better person because her actions are unforgivable but they go ahead and redeem Gabriel Agreste - a literal terrorist and abuser - who has done a lot worse. This post will explain why Gabriel doesn’t deserve a redemption arc and how his character feels ruined. 

Part 1 - Gabriels crimes and why the writers think they are justifiable. Triggers of Child abuse and terrorism

This man has committed atrocious crimes of which the most obvious was child abuse. Mainly towards Adrien. The writers think due to Gabe losing his wife - it is justified why he neglects Adrien - it is a sign of grief. That he spends every day terrorizing Paris because he wants Emelie back to complete Adrien's family. They say he does all he does because he cares about his son. While this was the case during seasons 1-4 , his character changes in season 5. He no longer does it for Emily and Adrien but for power. He abuses Adrien even more this season by trapping him in a room and separating him from Marinette.

However his Character is ruined in the season 5 finale. He wishes Emily and Natalie to live and pleads with Marinette to make sure Adrien remembers him as a good father. That's not her burden to carry or her responsibility . Gabriel had the audacity to ask the girl he traumatised to keep every crime he has committed a secret from his own son ! Despite everything Gabriel has done to Marinette - she finds out he was Hawkmoth - she still forgives him and helps build a statue of Gabe in his honor. The writers think Gabriel deserves redemption because he did show remorse for what he did to Adrien and cried when he watched Emilie's tapes.  But Adrien wasn’t his only victim and child abuse wasn’t his only crime. Gabriel never showed remorse for what he put Marinette through (he knows she's a ladybug .) He never apologized for separating her from Adrien or for the trauma he inflicted on her as Ladybug. Even when Ladybug gave her a chance , he blew it by paralyzing her. 

He is also an international terrorist who primarily targets children. He threatened to kill Alya’s family and murdered many Parisians in Strike Back but still gets remembered as a hero. Even in the final fight , he says he doesn’t care about the innocent victims he hurted. He never felt bad about what he did. It gives kids a bad message. While I think Gabe dying in Emily's place isn’t a bad idea , the fact that Gabriel gets away with his crimes and is celebrated as a savior is disgusting. At the very least , he shouldn’t be presented as a good man and should be remembered as the villain and a terrorist. It’s a slap in the face for all his victims. The fact that all of Gabriel's other crimes are forgiven just because he felt remorse for one is sickening.

Especially in Season 5 , where the writer makes Gabe to be sympathetic by having his relationship with Emelie mirrors Adrienette’s relationship because he and Marinette both came from humble backgrounds. That's why the writers think Gabe is redeemable ,  because he and Marinette are similar and both care for Adrien. The fact he basically got what he wanted and is being remembered as a savior is so unfair to Marinette and Adrien. Sure he died , but Emelie came back or he reunited with her (depending if you think it was Amelie or Emelie). Therefore , Gabe doesn’t deserve redemption because he never proved himself or felt remorse for most of his crimes. He manipulated Marinette till the very end into thinking he was a good person when in reality , he doesn't care about anyone except for himself , Adrien , Natalie and Emelie.

Part 2 - Obvious hypocrisy

It is no secret that Thomas dislikes Chloe. However in Season 5 he has taken his hate for her way too far that he sacrificed good writing to bash her character and hurt her fans.  He repeatedly says on his twitter Chloe will never become a better person because she is a bully and has done too many unforgivable acts. Surprisingly , in season 5 episode 26 , they go ahead and redeem Gabriel - a terrorist , child abuser , groomer and manipulator - who has arguably done so much worse. I don’t mind if the writers don’t give Chloe a redemption arc , not all characters need a redemption but it feels hypocritical saying a teenage bully is irredeemable but an adult terrorist is sympathetic. Especially of how rushed and badly written Gabriel's redemption arc is.

So when Chloe does something evil , the writers say she in irredeemable and deserves every bit of Karma but when Gabriel does something worse , the writers justify what he has done because of his sympathetic motive and give him a redemption story. This disgusts me because it is shown time and time again that Gabriel likes to use Chloe in his heinous plans. Three episodes ago Gabriel was manipulating and grooming Chloe into joining his side. Gabriel is partly to blame for Chloe's worst crimes , he enabled her and put the ideas in her head. But the writers act like Chloe is more in the wrong than Gabriel when he is clearly more guilty than she is !! They act like it is OK for Gabriel to manipulate and akumatize Chloe because it's for the sake of getting his wife back. Chloe is not a good person , but it is unfair how she is the only character to face consequences when Characters worse than her are getting rewarded and receive happy endings !! Chloe is disowned by her father and sent to live with her abuser while Gabriel reunites with Emelie (depending on which sister you think it was at the pool party) and is celebrated as a saviour. Gabriel being more moral in the eyes of the writers than a misguided teenager - who also is one of his main victims - is sickening.  Therefore Gabriel redemption isn’t deserved because it shows the double standards the writers have for Chloe. 

To conclude - Gabriel's character in the Season 5 finale is basically ruined. Gabriel receiving a redemption is an example of bad writing and feels rushed. He only felt remorse for what he did to Adrien but never felt bad for terrorizing Paris or using Chloe. He never apologized to Marinette for separating her from Adrien or for other crimes he did. His redemption feels Hypocritical compared to the character of Chloe - who was one of Gabriel's main targets. Hopefully in season 6 , Adrien finds out about what happened and Paris receives the justice they deserve. However if you like what they did with his character , that is perfectly fine . I’m not saying you are not allowed to dislike Gabriel. This is just my opinion . Feel free to disagree :) . Please stay respectful.

[nothingtherefornow]

Potential Date and theory about Miraculous World London : at the edge of time

So it's been pretty much confirmed that the new miraculous special wouldn't come out before autumn 2024 T_T Probably the same date Miraculous World Paris got released in 2023 : November 26th T^T

For me That's still too long waiting until the release.

That's why I'll have to kill time by making some shorts theories about this special.

First, I'm convinced that this special will take place during the ellipse between the moment when Gabriel made a wish and the ending with the Adrinette kissing, the poster above pretty much shows clues about that, just like it confirm Lila's big involvement and role in this special, as well as the confirmation that Marinette will team up with young Bunnix and not the adult one. Adult Bunnix may be the one to give Marinette her own time miraculous as well as the ladybug earings received either by Master Fu from the past or the future Ladybug, after Marinette got her earings stolen by Lila.

Now there's something I'm the most curious about this special : Why London ?

If this is an adventure across time to reveal who discover Ladybug's secret indentity and how did they stale her miraculous, why does this special must take place in London and not Paris ?

My theory is that Lila won't just will not just become the new ladybug and ruin the reputation of the old one, she will arrange for all of Paris to be against Marinette, potentially by framing her as the new villain armed with the butterfly miraculous. Which is entirely within Lila's reach, since with the butterfly miraculous in her possession it would be enough for her to akumatize innocent victim and then save the day by pretending to be a heroine with the ladybug miraculous she stole.

But with the power of the butterfly, Lila can akumatize herself, and nothing would be easier than bringing back Volpina or Infox, and create an illusion showing the new butterfly villain detransform into Marinette. With all of Paris wrongly mistaking her for a super-villain, Marinette would be forced to flee to London in the company of Bunnix or even Luka and Su-han who all know that Marinette was Ladybug (Alya would stay in Paris for Nino and to try to defend Marinette's honor I will go further, perhaps it is even Felix who, as a resident of London knowing that Marinette = Ladybug, will offer the young girl a roof under which to hide. So instead of revealing to Adrien that Marinette = Ladybug to ruin their relationship, Lila will make the young girl look like a new villain, and Adrien will not be fooled because he knows his sweetheart well (we'll see what will be the excuse to put Chat Noir aside during this special)

Traduction for my fellow french :

Il a donc presque été confirmé que le nouvel épisode spécial de Miraculous ne sortira pas avant automne 2024 T_T Probablement pour la même date que le special Paris en 2023 : le 26 Novembre T^T

Pour moi, c'est encore trop long comme attente pour cette date de sortie. C'est pourquoi je vais devoir tuer le temps en faisant quelques petites théories sur ce prochain spécial Londre.

Premièrement, je suis convaincu que ce spécial aura lieu pendant l'éllipse entre le moment où Gabriel fait son vœu et la fin de la saison 5 avec le baiser Adrinette, l'affiche poster ci-dessus montre à peu près des indices à ce sujet, tout en confirmant la grande implication et le rôle de Lila. dans ce spécial, ainsi que la confirmation que Marinette fera équipe avec le jeune Bunnix et non avec a Bunnix adulte. Bunnix adulte est peut-être d'ailleurs celle qui donnera à Marinette son propre miraculeux du lapin ainsi que les boucles d'oreilles d ela coccinnelle reçues soit par un Maître Fu du passé, soit en rovenance de la Ladybug du futur, après que Marinette se soit fait voler ses boucles d'oreilles par Lila.

Maintenant, il y a quelque chose qui m'intéresse le plus dans cette spéciale : pourquoi l'histoire doit-elle se dérouler à Londres ? S'il s'agit d'une aventure visant à percer à jour l'identité de la personne ayant découvert l'identité secrète de Ladybug et comment cette personne s'y ait prise pour lui voler son miraculeux, pourquoi ce spéciale doit-il avoir lieu à Londres et non à Paris ?

Ma théorie est que Lila ne se contentera pas juste de devenir la nouvelle ladybug et de ruiner la réputation de l'ancienne, elle s'arrangera pour que tout Paris soit contre Marinette, potentiellement en la faisant passer pour la nouvelle villaine armée du miraculous du papillon. Ce qui est tout à fait à la portée de Lila, puisqu'avec le miraculous du papillon en sa possession il lui suffirait d'akumatiser d'innocentes victimes pour ensuite sauver le jour en se faisant passer pour une héroïne avec le miraculous de la cossinnelle qu'elle aura voler. Mais avec le pouvoir du papillong, Lila peut s'akumatiser elle-même, rien de plus facile que de fire revenir Volpina ou Infox, et créer une illusion montrant la nouvelle villaine papillon se detransformée en Marinette.

Avec tout Paris la prenant à tord pour une super-villaine, Marinette serait forcée de fuir à Londre en compagnie de Bunnix voir même de Luka et Su-han qui savent tous que Marinette était Ladybug (Alya resterait à Paris pour Nino et pour tenter de défendre l'honneur de Marinette. Je vais aller plus loin, peut-être même que c'est Felix qui, en tant que résident de Londre sachant que Marinette = Ladybug, offrira à la jeune fille un toit sous lequel se cacher

Donc au lieu de révéler à Adrien que Marinette = Ladybug pour ruiner leur relation, Lila fera passer la jeune fille pour une nouvelle méchante, et Adrien ne se fera pas dupé car connaissant bien sa dulcinée (à voir donc qu'elle sera l'excuse pour mettre Chat Noir de côté durant ce spécial)

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

You know, miraculous fails at rivals And Lila is the greatest example of why

But since I want to make a argument I’ll compare her to 4 other rivals which showcase how to make a good rival

First we have…

Dr.Eggman:the doctor is the total opposite of he’s rival in all aspects, Eggman is red and sonic is blue, one likes machines the other likes nature, one is old and the other is young, one wants to slave the world and the other wants nothing but freedom, one is a man and the other a animal, one makes things to fight for him while the other fights with nothing but he’s quills. The brilliance of Eggman’s rivalry with sonic is how they are nothing alike and that makes a parallelism, they are two sides of the same coin by being the total opposite, I know people usually talk about shadow,metal sonic or knuckles when talking about the hedgehog’s rival, but everything this three have that rival sonic, Eggman has it and does it better

Meanwhile lila does not parallel Marinette in any way, shape or form than being evil. Lila is a lier… but Marinette ain’t that clean either (that time he tried to steal Adrien’s phone for example)

Now we have…

The blights of Zelda BOTW:if you don’t know about zelda then I’ll just make this quick. In this game there’s four champions representing their race and each with their own powers pilot a giant machine to aid in the war against the Calamity of Ganon. However Ganon designed something to get rid of the champions and take over the machines. The blights (fire,water,wind and thunder) do what a good rival does, do what you can do and do it better, the water champion who is a trident user? Water blight can freeze water and is a even better spear user, The fire champion with a almost indestructible shield? Fire has a better shield with a even greater power to break your shield, the wind champion who’s a amazing archer? Wind blight is a even better quick shooter and can control the air to make he’s flying and arrows turn basically useless, the thunder Champion with a great talent on the sword and shield? Thunder blight is even better and has the speed of a thunder making it able to be almost untouchable. The blights perfectly rival and surpass their champions because they are made to do so and that makes their fights so epic in the first place

Meanwhile Lila has illusions, it fits her personality and way of work but outside of using it smartly I don’t see the parallel

The next one is…

Venom:what hasn’t been said about venom? They have a personal vendetta, they hate Spider-Man with all of their soul, they can do everything spider-man Can plus the tentacles and not activating Spider-Man’s spider sense. They are different enough while similar enough to make for a perfect rival in fight, but he’s person is also perfect. Spider-Man betrayed the symbiote and Peter Parker ruined Eddie Brock’s reputation, now all that hatred joins into a corruption of the image of Spider-Man into a hulking monster searching for revenge and vindication

Then we have Lila which only has a personal vendetta against ladybug meanwhile she’s just a sociopath against Marinette, Lila is just crazy which isn’t bad but making her more evil than Hawkmoth and some other choices I made but I’ll won’t spoil… Jesus

Now we have a personal favorite and the most similar to Lila…

King K.Rool (hear me out):K.rool at first was nothing but a sociopath, he wanted DK to die by starvation so he could conquer the island… but then he kept changing after every defeat. He was humiliated so he kidnapped Donkey but he got defeated again and he’s homeland was destroyed, so he tried again kidnapping them to use them to conquer a new land… but that failed as well and now he has nothing but he’s followers… then he tries to blow up DK island out of pettiness! But then he fails again, the brother he imprisoned was freed, he’s new fortress has crashed, and he’s literally kicked out of the ring in the final match (he’s given four uppercuts, he gets he’s head smashed by the ring lights, he slips on a banana peel, he’s toes are crushed and he’s smashed by someone of he’s own size) and then he disappears for years… But he returns and he’s different. He now mimics DK’s moves but he can do them better, he can counter every attack of DK, he’s strongest attack always involves blowing up DK island, he now moves like DK to the point he imitates he’s run like a animal (he even mimics he’s alternative color pallets) and the most important is how he’s main song even mimics DK’s, he’s song starts with even monkey noises DK and crew make, but the song is quickly drowned by drums and trumpets making way for him, guitars and similarity’s to he’s other themes show and he even has a rap segment which seems to talk about how great he is and how you should praise,fear and aid him on he’s quest to conquer and ends with a chorus mocking Donkey Kong saying “you go: Banananana”. K rool sheer hatred made him imitate and improve DK to humiliate him at he’s own game by being the Cooler DK and he succeeds

Lila lacks any connection, any parallel, every reason and every thing that makes a good rival by being nothing but a bad guy who only wins because everyone around her turns into a idiot. I wish Lila tried to step up her game and instead of making Marinette look bad because she already failed at doing so, she would imitate her and be better because People believing her lies does nothing but showcase the moment she actually has to do something by herself without help or puppets involved or when the plot takes her power to make everyone around her stupid, I just know she will lose because she’s not a rival but a plot device

I don’t want Lila and Chloe to be the main villains because they are kids. But if Chloe or Lila ever become something else I just hope they stay has rivals who only want to prove themselves and show they are better than Marinette without having Adrien involved because if you involve Adrien then that will just give everyone another reason to make Adrien the main character, Marinette needs a enemy which couldn’t care less about Adrien and instead just wants to beat her because even if astruc claims this is her show, everyone and everything should he revolving around adrien even if he’s not the best character (I’ll die on this hill)

The thing about Chloe and Lila was that there actually was something to contrast them with Marinette, but the show never did anything with it.

Consider this: Marinette, Chloe, and Lila are all held in high regard in one way or another.

Marinette earned the status of being the hero of Paris and the class's "Everyday Ladybug", but stays humble about it.

Chloe was born into high status by being the child of the Mayor and a successful fashion designer, but feels entitled to more attention and power.

Lila tricks and manipulates others into believing that she's a super important person with all kinds of connections, but tries to use that influence against the people she views as enemies.

If the show focused more on the connections that Marinette, Chloe, and Lila had, we could have an interesting battle of wits between the three, with Marinette getting the help of her allies to prove she isn't wrong about Lila, Chloe using her influence to make things harder for Marinette/Ladybug, and Lila coming up with new lies to cover up any holes in the ones she's already told to keep her facade going.

Instead, the show just lumps Chloe and Lila together into a single unified force this season, and little is done to actually acknowledge how much influence they have among their peers, while Marinette never uses her connections as Ladybug to deal with Chloe and Lila in the first place.

[tenebraevesper]

Analyzer - Félix & Emotion, Part 2 (Miraculous Ladybug)

Welcome to Part 2 of my Félix and Emotion Analyzer! Last time we left off, Félix had just transformed into Argos and poofed Gabriel out of existence!

Told ya I'd dance on that bastard's grave.

Anyways, Part 2 will cover what happens during Episode 18: Emotion, as well as its resolution, with Part 3 covering everything that happens afterwards.

Let's start!

Right after Gabriel got Thanos-snapped by Argos, he proceeds to snap other people attending the party out of existence, clearly having a lot of fun with this.

This guy... has issues.

This includes Kagami's mother (Yatta!), which pisses Kagami off. Apparently, she does not know just how awful her mother is, yet, with Argos telling her how she's finally free. Argos then grabs Marinette and leaps out of the building, leaving Kagami in tears.

Marinette is, understandably, pissed off, and demands that Argos tells her what he had done with Adrien, and Argos responds how he'd never hurt Adrien (ruining his reputation is apparently a-okay, but given all the things Adrien did to piss me off personally, yeah, it was deserved). Argos then proceeds to dump Marinette unceremoniously into a dumpster, which did get a chuckle out of me.

After he made sure that Marinette was safe, Argos then proceeds to frigging walk around the city, singing and dancing as he snaps more people out of existence.

Okay, who's idea was this?! Honestly, the first time I saw this, I was like... What? Like, I legit had no idea how to react to this.

It's so goofy and out of place, but at the same time, I can't blame him for having the time of his life. He's definitely a theatre kid.

Ladybug then appears, with Argos telling her how they're waiting for Cat Noir and then he can get their Miraculous. Ladybug's conclusion is that he works for Monarch, which... well, it makes sense in her mind. She finally points out how he's the reason they lost all the Miraculous to Monarch.

Argos responds that she's correct, except he works for no one. He attacks her, proceeding to explain how he used them to get the Peacock Miraculous and now he needs the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous to make his wish.

Ladybug questions his motivation, with Argos explaining:

Argos: When I merge your Miraculous together, I'll make a wish to create a better world! A free world — where no one will be under anyone's control anymore, where no one will be excluded like I was! A world without people like you to decide what's right or wrong! Who gets powers and who doesn't! Ladybug: There would be a terrible price to pay... (Argos stops for a moment.) Argos: There's no price too high for me. I have nothing to lose.

Honestly, this kid is desperate if he's willing to go that far, but we'll get to why in a moment. Also, this line of dialogue is... frustrating to say the least after seeing the Season 5 Finale.

Ladybug: You're no better than Monarch if you use the same methods he does! I'll NEVER give you my Miraculous!! Argos: Then, I'll do without it! If you don't let me recreate the world, I'll use my own power to transform it! I'll just snap my fingers until there's no one left!

Yeah, Maribug, Félix would be no better than Gabriel for making the wish, and you would never allow something like that to happen.

Somehow, an abused teenager is still more irredeemable than a terrorist. The Miraculous Ladybug Writing, ladies and gentlemen!

Not to mention, Argos still has more braincells than Monarch (who would lose every episode despite having almost all of the Miraculous and Maribug and Adrichat still fail to take away the Miraculous from him despite having him cornered) and decides to use Red Moon to delete everyone from his new Minecraft server.

Argos has Maribug literally cornered, and honestly, this is a really tense situation. If she does anything, he'll just snap his fingers and she's gone. Maribug proceeds to use Lucky Charm... and gets absolutely nothing. Now, that's a shocker.

Argos proceeds to call a checkmate, and Maribug agrees. Here's the deal, Argos cannot be defeated the usual way. He's in control here, and only he can decide what he will do next. He demands Maribug's Miraculous, but she refuses. Argos threatens that all of humanity will disappear if she doesn't do it, but she responds how he's the only one who can decide this.

Frustrated, Argos proceeds to snap her out of existence.

We then see Argos walking around the empty city (well, more empty than usual), and it's rather eerie. Still, he smiles, clearly happy with his decision. That is, until he's confronted by Kagami, who is pissed off at him for making everyone she loved disappear. Argos' answer to it is "Not everyone." and he makes Adrien appear. Ah, so that's where he was.

When questioned about what happened, Argos tells Adrien how he created a better world for him, a world where he's free. We then get a flashback of how this whole plan got started.

Argos: Oh, little amok, can you feel my anger? Bring life to my creation, dear amok. And let my emotions come to life! (holds up a copy of Adrien's camouflaged Cat Miraculous which is where the amok transfers into, and a small, red moon appears.) Hello, Red Moon. I'm Argos. Together, we're going to save Adrien from my uncle's grasp so that he can finally be free!

So, Argos used his anger to create an amok that would help him save Adrien from his uncle's grasp, so he can finally be free. It is a noble intention, but the execution went south. The question remains, why would Argos do that? It'll be answered in a moment, but next, we see Argos spying on Marinette and Adrien's date, and once Adrien runs off, Argos calls him and snaps him out of existence, taking over his identity to sneak into the Diamond Dance.

The reason he had been in hiding was because he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to set both of them free.

Argos: To set us all free! And offer us a new world where no one can tell us what we can or can't do! And voilà! We're free! And we're together! Aren't you incredibly happy?!

Pay attention to this bit, I will go over in the conclusion.

Kagami and Adrien are, surprise, surprise, not happy, and Kagami attacks him, while Adrien calls him crazy, demanding he brings all the people back. Argos responds how this is what Adrien wanted, to be free.

Argos: What's there not to like? What's the problem? (continues to evade Kagami's attacks and goes above the roof of a car) I thought you wanted to be freed from your parents? Look, isn't this great? Just the three of us! We have everything we need to be happy!!

Adrien and Kagami are just frustrated with him, with Kagami on the verge of tears and Adrien wonders how he can be without his friends, his father (*eye-roll*) and the girl he loves. Argos tells him how he isn't that evil, since he got Marinette stashed away in a dumpster, only to learn that she isn't there. Argos then tries to snap her back, but since he snapped her away as Ladybug, Marinette won't appear.

Argos: You really think I'm that evil? (goes to open the trash bin where he hid Marinette...) Ta-da! (...only to find it empty; Adrien and Kagami peek inside, too) Huh? That's weird. (snaps his fingers in hopes of bringing back Marinette) Huh?! I don't understand! (backs away from the trash bin) She should come back! (continues to snap his fingers) Something's wrong! I can usually bring back whoever I want, but it's like she's nowhere! Like she's completely gone! I'm sorry, Adrien!

Argos starts panicking, trying to return Marinette, but it doesn't work. Just, just look at this breakdown:

Adrien tells him how he isn't even in control of his own power (you would know all about that, huh, Mr. Cataclysm), with Argos bringing everyone back, telling Adrien how he never wanted to hurt the two

Maribug is back, de-transforming and reuniting with Adrien and Kagami. Argos just watches them, clearly remorseful, and then leaves to talk to Red Moon.

Argos: My friend, I've made a terrible mistake. I shouldn't have created you out of so much anger. Your power is terrible. What would've happened if I lost control? Can you forgive me? (drops to his knees) My friend, my sister. I release you from existence. (snaps Red Moon out of existence as he bursts into tears)

We see that Argos is absolutely devastated to release Red Moon from her existence, even calling her his sister, and breaks down in tears. Honestly, I genuinely felt sorry for him here.

Back at London, Argos has a conversation with Amelie, which shows that she knew exactly what he was up to:

Amelie: You were right: I did everything you told me to and Gabriel didn't do or say anything to help me. He despises me. He's a monster! They're all monsters! Argos: Hold my feather. (He de-transforms into Félix and goes to hug Amelie) Félix: Not all of them. (smiles)

Want to bet that that person is Marinette?

So, this was Emotion. What did we learn? *rubs hands* Hoo, boy, what did we learn...

I still stand behind my statement that Félix is the best character in Miraculous Ladybug, and this episode proves it. Emotion gives Félix a lot of depth, showing that, for all his cunning and ability to outsmart any opponent, he's still just a teenager who wants to make this world better for himself and the people he cares about. His mind is completely focused on survival, and he took the Peacock Miraculous because that was what he needed to survive.

He basically takes upon himself to shoulder a burden on his own, to do what he believes is the best for Adrien, and Kagami, as he doesn't trust anyone else. He thinks that everyone besides the people he cares about are controlling bastards, similar to Gabriel - complete monsters, as he calls them. He spared Marinette, because she had shown that she cares about Adrien.

Despite having taken the Genocide Route, Félix is not heartless. I see him more as a misguided teenager who believes he knows what he's doing. He was so incredibly happy that everyone who could hurt him, Adrien or Kagami was gone, and I'm certain this reaction comes from a very traumatic moment from his life. When he learns that what he wants and what those he cares about is different, he pauses to think about it. Hell, the moment he believed that he couldn't bring back Marinette and was afraid that he lost control of his powers, he returned everyone at once, apologizing to Kagami and Adrien for what he had done.

Given what we learn later on about his past, there is no doubt Félix's mindset is the consequence of his upbringing, and his desire for freedom had warped him mentally and emotionally, to the point he saw no other way out but to snap everyone out of existence. He doesn't even trust Maribug nor Adrichat to help him, and I think I can pinpoint where this distrust comes from - watching the Sentimonsters in Season 4 Finale being sent into the sun by Ladybug and her hero team.

Yeah, without shying around, the truth is that Félix is a Sentimonster himself, and so are Adrien and Kagami. His focus on the Agreste Rings and the Peacock Miraculous, as well as him watching tearfully other Sentimonsters being annihilated makes it clear that not only does he understand what he is, but also that his life can easily be ended by a snap of fingers... as Gabriel had threatened him before.

That's why he didn't care about snapping away everyone but Kagami and Adrien. He knew they weren't humans, but Sentimonsters under the control of their parents. Knowing how both of them desired freedom, he decided to fulfill his own and their wishes, only for it to backfire.

I see Félix as a very tragic character, who did have the best intentions, but went wrong about them. He had no issue betraying Maribug in Season 4 because he didn't give a damn about the population of Paris, or the rest of the world for that matter. Would anyone care about him if he was snapped out of existence? Most likely, only his mother.

Furthermore, he understands that, even if there are monsters among humanity, there is someone he believes would care about him, but that's for later.

So, in conclusion, Emotion is Peak!Félix. Of course, there are a few observations I made, the main being why Félix doesn't tell someone, anyone, that Monarch is Gabriel Agreste, but to my surprise, we got that answered in another episode.

Links:

#Analyzer - Félix & Emotion, Part 1 (Miraculous Ladybug)

#Analyzer - Félix & Emotion, Part 3 (Miraculous Ladybug)

#Up Ladybug (Masterlist)

[redtippedfox]

Unlucky Ladybug Marionette Au:

In the background, we can assume that the more Mari stays in Marionette's body, her reputation among the servants and maids will improve (it's Mari so of course they will adore her). Even more seeing how much she dotes and cares about sweet Emma. In consequence, we can assume that if the King of All Jerks doesn't change his behaviour ASAP, his own reputation is going to go down faster than the faith of the Fandom in the MLB canon scriptwriters, right?

SPOILERS BELOW:

Lol yeah, Marinette in Marionette’s body is like having a sweet girl in the body of a villainess, Marinette cringes at all the past things that Marionette has done. When Marinette realizes that she’s trapped in this body she does her research and decides that the best way to ensure Emma has a safe, loving future is to boost her reputation and remind everyone her status while turning the tables. After all, Marinette is now Queen of France and yet she is treated like shit and looked down on, she has no court, no duties, so she decides to change that. She only rises to power again so she can use that power to keep Emma safe. Meanwhile with Adrien, even though all of the nobles know that Adrien doesn’t love Marionette it would ruin his reputation as King if it was revealed that his Queen who once was obsessed with him no longer loves him, because it means no more future heirs. So to make sure both of their reputations are perfect they agree to act loving in public although Marinette wonders why Adrien still acts loving to her sometimes when their done being in public. But yeah they make a deal to ensure both their reputations are fixed.

Meanwhile Emma just loves that she finally can spend time with both her Mommy and Daddy

[miraculouscontent]

Okay, first thing’s first, babe, and I’ll get to your problem-infested ask in a second, but this thing you did? That giant wall of text?

Don’t.

Here’s a little piece of advice: if you’re going to send me something that you clearly haven’t read through all my points on (quite frankly, I don’t even know where you came from), at least make it palatable to the eyes. No one’s going to see that and want to read it because paragraphs exist to make information more easily digestible.

Now, with that said, let’s get into all of the issues with your ask (you best sit down for this one too because there are a lot).

if your friend is attacking someone you and her barely know, with little solid evidence to back up her position, and that person she’s attacking is able to produce some pretty solid evidence that your friend is purposely hurting her 

I’ll ignore that “pretty solid evidence” is a laughable phrase to use here for the sake of humoring you, but just know that I would’ve stopped there otherwise.

The first problem in your ask is that this is clearly referring to the episode “Ladybug” with Lila setting Marinette up. Already, you’ve skipped previous episodes, which is a problem in its own right and I’ll address it momentarily.

I have very rarely - if at all - blamed the class for what happens in “Ladybug.” That’s not my issue with this episode and honestly I get more irritated with them for “Chameleon.” I do, however, note things like Marinette being very blatantly set up in “Ladybug.”

There’s no reason for the test answers to still be in Marinette’s backpack after the test is over, as there had been more than enough time to discard it (an investigation that Alya had done properly would also show that Marinette got a mystery call from an unknown person at the time she was at her locker; either that call can be traced back to Lila or Lila used a burner phone, but regardless, that was never mentioned by Alya despite its relevancy). It was also contrived for Bustier (who has previously taken Marinette out of the room to speak with her in “Zombizou” even when she wasn’t in trouble so as to not cause a fuss) just to embarrass Marinette and leave her in the same room so Marinette can blame Lila. The lockers in the school are easily able to be opened by anyone, and Lila was the only one around to “witness��� Marinette shoving her down the stairs with no visible injury present and the fact that you would not walk away with barely a leg injury if you were shoved down a flight of stairs. Remember that last one too because it’s going to be important.

then continue disbelieving the girl you don’t know

You keep saying that they don’t know Lila as if it furthers your point. It doesn’t, because presuming that Marinette’s friends know her at all, they would know that Marinette hates liars and lying, which is a commonly known piece of information about her. Marinette has lied and been blinded by the Adrien crush before, yes, and yet she has not gone to such levels of ruining an innocent’s reputation at the time of “Catalyst”(she tries to fact check Lila more than accuse her of lying)+”Chameleon,” the former of which is where Alya accuses her of only hating Lila because of Adrien.

In fact, most of Marinette Adrien-related “crimes” involve Chloe, who is Marinette’s bully and someone that the show has basically described as pure evil, so Marinette being against her makes perfect sense even disregarding Adrien.

Pardon me if I expect Marinette’s friends to believe her over this new girl.

The class do not know that Lila is malicious. She’s a con artist, and she’s good at it.

Remember what I said before about Marinette supposedly shoving Lila down the stairs? Because it’s coming back to bite you right now.

I do not want to hear about Lila being “a good con artist” when the show is constantly and consistently covering for her.

Think back to all of Lila’s lies in “Volpina” that she has yet to own up to, specifically the one where she states that she knows Prince Ali (who Rose knows personally and could’ve asked him about; we see that they have met again in “Guiltrip” and don’t try to tell me that Rose wouldn’t use the opportunity to bond over a supposed shared friend) and that Jagged (who Marinette knows personally and is in repeated contact with, shown by “Troublemaker” and “Gamer 2.0″) wrote a song about her. These two things could’ve come back at any time but the writers explicitly ignore them to protect Lila from being outed.

Next, look at “Chameleon” where Marinette is prevented from outing Lila by Adrien. The fact that this happens heavily implies that Marinette would’ve caught Lila in a proper trap had she not been stopped, which is why the writers had Adrien intervene in the first place. If Lila could’ve been outed so easily had feather boy not stepped in, then no, she’s not a good con artist at all.

Also in “Chameleon,” Marinette would’ve had an easy continuation to go at with her story by saying that she saw Ladybug show up when Lila and Adrien were talking, which is part of the actual truth and even has the bonus of her casually claiming that she’s not Ladybug. Alya or Nino could’ve then asked Adrien if that’s what he saw, leading to Adrien either outright lying to protect Lila or telling the truth and outing himself as someone who’s protecting a liar by not saying anything before, but I guess that would make him out to be a bad person and we know how the writers feel about that. This is a very obvious way of going about it but the writers swerve around it like they’re drifting in a racing game, all so Lila can continue lying with no repercussions.

Also also in “Chameleon,” there are conveniently no cameras around to capture Ladybug supposedly carrying Lila back, despite reporters and regular people whipping out their phones to take pictures of Ladybug normally (like Ladybug carrying Adrien in “Queen Wasp”). The newsreporters just magically disappear even though they’d been recording Ladybug previously at the Eiffel Tower and Ladybug literally circles all the way back to the Eiffel Tower when finishing the fight with Chameleon.

Then there’s the little leg injury in “Ladybug.” Conveniently enough, Lila had a similar fake injury during “Oni-Chan” (which, fun fact, takes place before “Ladybug”) only the firefighter actually, properly looked at her leg and confirmed that she wasn’t hurt at all. Also conveniently, this happened only in front of Chat Noir, who already knew that Lila was full of lies.

They did such a shoddy job in “Ladybug” of actually checking her leg injury that they bandaged her leg over her tights, which shows an obvious negligence. They didn’t even have her remove her tights to properly inspect the wound that doesn’t exist. Had Lila actually hurt herself like a true con artist would (showing real injuries that she’d react to even if you prodded them when she wasn’t paying attention), we wouldn’t be having this discussion. She didn’t even purposefully scuff up her clothes/rip her tights to make it look like she fell (this is a simple and basic texture edit; if they can put a bandage on her, they can edit a texture). Lila also has a motive at this point to go against Marinette even if she hadn’t put the test answers in Marinette’s backpack because Marinette is accusing her of setting her up.

To imply that Marinette would be dumb enough to shove Lila down the stairs in a rage when they were literally on their way to the principal’s office to see which of them was right is dumb in and of itself. To further imply that Marinette (one of the loudest, most emotion-filled people in the school) wouldn’t have yelled or screamed when shoving Lila and no one (neither the staff member nearby and Mr. Damocles in his office) would’ve heard Lila tumbling and screaming while falling down the stairs is even dumber.

Did you ever notice in “Ladybug” that Alya is seen directly interviewing Lila about the expelling situation, but nothing comes out of it? Do you honestly think that Lila would claim anything except “there was no one else around and Marinette definitely pushed me, there’s no other possibility” (y’know, after getting her expelled and having her entire goal be to turn everyone against Marinette)? This is a genuine question, because if not, then it does in fact become a situation of “either Lila is lying after all - because she can’t be this certain if it didn’t happen otherwise - or my best friend actually shoved her,” but Alya’s faith is never challenged. Hell, despite Marinette and Sabine getting akumatized to find “the truth,” Alya not being akumatized is used as a sign that she believes in Marinette rather than she can’t pick a side/wasn’t upset enough about the accusations to get akumatized herself (I refuse to believe that Alya has better control of her emotions than Sabine).

And speaking of Alya’s pathetic investigation, forget about getting fingerprints off the locker. How about getting fingerprints from the test answer sheet?? That thing that wouldn’t have Marinette’s fingerprints, would have Bustier’s, and would also have the culprit’s. Paper is easily susceptible to the oil from fingerprints, so maybe the episode shouldn’t act as if Alya is doing “professional investigative work” to clear Marinette’s name if she’s not going to actually think about what the culprit’s prints could be on?

Oh, and you may not recall this, so allow me to jog your memory: one of Lila’s biggest lies is that she’s friends with Ladybug, and Alya got handed Ladybug’s identity on a silver platter in “Gang of Secrets.” She also becomes aware (“Multiplication”) that Marinette was correct in “Risk” about Adrien not wanting to model (so she clearly wasn’t just lying for the sake of countering Lila), but what comes out of it? Nothing, not even an apology.

What’s happening here is that the writing is telling you that Lila’s great at what she does and you are falling for it, hook, line, and sinker.

You’ve got to be willing to look at this situation from the perspective of the people Lila’s trying to trick

I’m going to stop you there because that is your assumption of me based on nothing. When I talk about Lila and her issues, I’m bringing up example left and right of things that should’ve been noted but aren’t. I’m not seeing people who are being cleverly tricked by Lila, I am seeing people who are letting themselves be tricked just to bask in the awe of Lila Rossi’s fake accomplishments.

What Lila does in “Chameleon” is play the victim to get the class to turn on Marinette for the first time, but none of what Marinette did before that was anything but casually questioning Lila (confirming that she has a hearing problem, pointing out Jagged’s current pet, and asking Miss Bustier why she has to sit in the back). She doesn’t attack her by that point and literally anyone could’ve pointed out how valid Marinette’s feelings are for being forced to sit by herself without being asked, or even stood up for her by saying “oh, I’m sure Marinette doesn’t mean it that way, Lila!”

They did nothing of the sort. They turned on Marinette instantly. Do note also that part of Lila’s victim card is going, “if Marinette has an issue too, then--” with the obvious message being that the class gets upset because they believe that Marinette supposedly has no issue. However, by the end of the episode, Bustier “confirms” that Marinette must have a hearing issue when Marinette doesn’t hear her calling for her, yet no one apologizes to Marinette about it. Lila made it out like Marinette was targeting her specifically when all Marinette asked to prompt the comment was why she had to sit in the back.

This isn’t a mastermind at work. Everyone got played like the cheap kazoos that they are.

And sometimes, you may genuinely not know your friend as well as you think you do.

Let’s flip this around; how about you look at it from the class’s perspective? Virtually everyone is friends with Marinette, and they’re seeing her “attack” this “completely innocent, pure-hearted soul.” Would you be friends with someone like that? No, actually, go even further than that; if you suspected that the cause of this behavior was Marinette’s crush on a boy and nothing else, would you support it?

I can forgive Marinette’s friends being unsure (not convinced, mind you) about Marinette’s motives and wanting to find the truth. What I can’t forgive is the sheer wishy-washiness of their behavior. They’ll discourage her supposed Adrien-based attacks on Lila, even complaining at times when Marinette is talking about Adrien things, and yet when it comes down to it, they support her in her crush anyway. Sorry not sorry, but if they refuse to pick a side (either “your crush is negatively affecting your personality and we won’t support it” or “hey, she might go far with her crush but I believe that she must have a deeper reason if she’s doing this much against Lila”), then I will pick a side for them and say that they are bad friends who avoid any and all personal responsibility relating to Marinette’s behavior.

“this other person they’re attacking is obviously wrong despite all evidence to the contrary”

I would like to hear about this so-called “evidence” you mention, because Lila’s “thing” when is comes to lying is covering up her lies with more lies. Very rarely does she actually have any evidence to prove her case, and accusing Marinette of having no evidence is ridiculous when Alya shows blatant hypocrisy in how she deals with the two situations between Marinette and Lila.

Alya believes that Lila is friends with Ladybug without a word, but when Marinette puts that into question, Alya lets the burden of proof fall on Marinette when proving a negative is virtually impossible. Without digging up footage of every moment of Ladybug’s existence, she can’t prove that Lila doesn’t know Ladybug, but likewise, Lila herself has no evidence that she knows Ladybug. The burden of proof should fall on her because she is making the claim without evidence and Marinette is putting all of it into question. Therefore, Alya is being pro-Lila and anti-Marinette by demanding proof from Marinette but not Lila.

I’d also direct your attention to “Catalyst” where - as I’ve stated before - Alya accuses Marinette of only hating Lila because of Adrien. What you have failed to explain, however, is why Alya believes that when she has direct evidence to the contrary. Kagami is rich, pretty, and talented, and Marinette’s only interaction with her (pre-”Catalyst”) is “Frozer” where she literally says that she’s not jealous and wants to let Adrien and Kagami have their date. It’s Alya who starts shouting about Marinette not giving up on Adrien, not Marinette herself. Therefore, Alya has a comparison between Kagami (who Adrien even specifically expressed interest in, so Kagami is more of a rival than anyone else would be) and Lila, yet fails to connect the dots and realize that something must be wrong with Lila if Marinette is okay with Kagami.

And even if Adrien tell's everyone about Lila's true nature, that still would’ve been a ‘he said, she said’ situation, though with both Adrien and Marinette saying the same thing, I GUESS it would’ve lent more weight to it, but it still wouldn’t prove they were right, and she could’ve said they misunderstood. 

You fail to point out the fact that Adrien is lacking one thing that Marinette isn’t: a motive. It’s not a “he said, she said” situation because whenever Marinette is accused of going after Lila, they claim it to be because of Adrien. Adrien himself, however, has no reason nor motive for going after Lila, and being the “sunshine boy who can do no wrong” that the show hails him as 95% of the time, the class has no adequate reason to suspect him of foul play when accusing this “innocent” person. Lila could accuse Adrien of taking Marinette’s side, certainly, but the class has to start splitting at some point and at least Marinette wouldn’t be alone anymore like Adrien seems content with leaving her in the eyes of everyone else.

If I make three promises to you that I can’t prove were kept, tell twenty tales that I talk my way around instead of proving are true, and give you only a few things that I can actually base in some form of reality, you would have every right to be skeptical of those last few things because I have failed to back everything else up.

Everyone asks Marinette to take responsibility and blame when no one else wants to be even the slightest bit skeptical. Alya never asked Ladybug if she knows Lila, everyone believes Lila without even a thought, and Adrien sits idly by without saying a word to the rest of the class so he can play superhero in the background and not risk any backlash from others.

I’m not even asking for everyone to turn on Lila, nor for them to blindly believe Marinette. What I am asking is that they either pick a side and drop Marinette for being “a terrible person who is trying to ruin an innocent girl’s life over a boy,” or at least believe Marinette enough to go, “That’s nice, Lila, and I won’t even accuse you of being a liar, but if you don’t have proof then I'm afraid I can’t believe you. I’d rather hear about stories that you have evidence for to prove that they happened.”

I would also expect Mr. Damocles to inform the school of Lila’s little “lying disease” (which sounds extremely dangerous to leave people uninformed about) thus proving Marinette correct, or at least for the class to apologize for not believing in her, but I have absolutely zero expectations of them honestly.

Literally this would all be over if the class went, “we’ll prove that all of Lila’s stories are true and that’ll show Marinette not to be suspicious!” at which point everything would fall apart like a Jenga tower.

But they won’t, because the class systematically searching for proof of Lila’s tall tales would mean that the writers would have to actually think to figure out how to have Lila “prove” all of these as much as possible.

They will avoid obvious solutions, literally hand characters the answers just so they can ignore them, and have Adrien actively tell Marinette to do nothing so Lila can continue her power trip (ignoring the “Origins” lesson of “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing”).

I could not care less about the class being “victims” when they’re little more than a mob sharing a single brain cell for no other reason than to make Marinette suffer.

[nxrthmizu]

kill em’ with kindness

fandom | miraculous ladybug 

genre | lila salt, so much salt 

summary | marinette takes the high road to a better life. 

w.c | 8.1k 

author’s note | had this idea for a few days after i wrote victory tastes bitter, which really blew up on ao3 (thanks for all the support <3). always wondered what it would be like if marinette just. played nice. so here she is, being an absolute badass. 

author’s note.2 | okay so since i did not write this in one sitting, i get that the story probably doesn’t flow as properly as it should. will edit if i ever find the will to do it. 

Marinette was done. They wanted her to be a model student? Fine. They wanted her to stop being mean? Fine. They wanted her to be friends with Lila? Fine.

Luckily for Hawkmoth, no akuma plagued the sky of the previous night, or she would rain hell on him. There was no more tolerance left inside her to spare, and she certainly wouldn’t go out of her way to make some for the manipulative pest problem Paris has had for way too long.

She looked up into the mirror, having exchanged her pigtails for a low ponytail, strands curled to frame her face. Bluebell eyes glistened with a fire that burned brighter than hope— Hope that her ‘friends’ would see sense. Hope that Adrien would be there for her. Hope that the good guy would always get the happy ending. No more being patient, no more being passive, no more putting up with things she didn’t have to.

If Lila Rossi wanted a battle, then fine, a battle she would get. Marinette was lowering her white flag, replacing it with a battle emblem that scorched red, redder than blood and redder than the anger her friends would feel when she was finished. No more peace negotiations. Rossi wanted a fight, Rossi wanted a challenge. Who was Marinette to deny her from what she wanted?

They didn’t know what was coming for them.

The power of makeup was truly one that reigned apex among the world. A few touches of her makeup brush was all it took to erase her dark eyes from existence, give her skin a more radiant glow (She promised that she’d take time to give it a natural glow after she was done being nice), and ease a cherry-pink blush onto her cheeks, making her freckles stand out more in contrast. Marinette Dupain-Cheng meant business, and when she meant business—

“Good morning, Marinette! You look great today!” The head of the student council, a sensible, down-to-Earth blonde by the name of Noelle smiled, speeding up slightly to catch the bluenette on the steps of Francois Dupont. “Love the new look.”

Ah yes. The new look— A royal blue blazer, detailed with golden embroidery of cherry blossoms bursting at the sleeves and the collar, accompanied by a classy-looking silk blouse tapered with a soft, black felt. The pleated black skirt (Made from heavy cloth so that it wouldn’t flap about in the wind) was lined with a beautiful scarlet at all the edges to complete the look. Knee-high black socks trailed all the way into the slight heels that Marinette had added flower adornments on, just so she could tap a little of her own touch on it.

“Thank you,” Responded the bluenette with a smile.

“Woah! Someone looks like they got a good night of rest.” Madeline, the president of the Art Club teased, flocking to the other side of the girl. “That mascara looks sharp enough to kill, girl!”

Sharp enough to kill?

Oh, that wouldn’t be necessary, Marinette mused to herself, sending out thanks to those who had complimented her on her way to class. Nothing sharp was going to be required for the liar’s downfall— No, no. That would just be too messy, and she wouldn’t even think of staining her new outfit. Of course, the ensemble was crafted from her own hands, as stated by the classic MDC that graced the inside of her blazer, the collar of her blouse, and one of the pleats of her skirt. Besides… Lila wasn’t worth getting her hands dirty.

She was going to do things the right way.

The kind way.

“Good morning, everyone.” She greeted, walking into the classroom, garnering their attention with her punctuality. Every set of eyes in the room were attracted to her, like iron fillings to magnets. Some of the gazes were malicious, hateful; Some were doubtful, wary; One was pleading, as if spelling out ‘Please keep taking the high road!’— And then there was Chloe, who was entirely uninterested.

Good, Lila was already present.

“I’d just like to take a minute of your time. Won’t be too long, I promise.” She took a deep breath, ignoring the imploring gaze that dug at her side, courtesy of a blonde that sat in the front row (And no, it wasn’t Chloe she was referring to). “I’d just like to say…”

The class watched with bated breath.

“I’m sorry.”

Alya blinked. So did everyone else in the room. Stunned faces greeted Marinette’s apologetic one, including Lila’s— She didn’t even have to fake her reaction. What on Earth was Marinette trying to pull off? What kind of stunt was this?

“I realise that I’ve not really been the best version of me lately,” She admitted sorrowfully. I haven’t been the best version of me because I was being boycotted and isolated, “It wasn’t fair to put you all through this,” It wasn’t fair that you idiots had to lose all your reputations because of the words of one liar, “And people got hurt as a consequence,” Me. I was the one who got hurt. “I realise that things haven’t been all smooth-sailing in our class lately, so I’d like to apologise to everyone.” I’d like to apologise for not being able to save you from a liar who only sees her own personal gain.

A practiced breath escaped Marinette’s throat as she waited for her cue— The school bell— And set her bag on the teacher’s desk. Good, everything was unfolding right on time. Not quite far away, there was a distinct clack-clack-clack of someone’s heels— An auburn teacher, perhaps? Marinette reached into her backpack and drew out a package she had meticulously wrapped in brown paper and tied in golden ribbon. Sitting passively on top of the package was a small note, decorated in hand-drawn flowers and a hummingbird in the corner.

“Here,” Marinette strode up the steps of the class, stopping right in front of her former seat— Now Lila’s— Internally taking pleasure in the first time she’d seen the Italian’s true expression. “For you, as a token of my apology. I understand if you don’t want to forgive me,” Marinette swallowed painfully, biting her lip, as if she was trying not to cry, “But I just want to make things right.”

Lila blinked.

What the hell was happening?

The silence was broken by a quiet sob, one that did not originate from Marinette. Instead, Mlle. Caline Bustier stood in the doorway of the class, clutching her books and notes for the day’s lesson, wiping away a tear that dropped from her eye. “Oh, Marinette,” The teacher sobbed, “I’m so proud of you.”

“That’s so sweet of you, Marinette.” Rose sniffed, wiping away a few tears of her own that had started dripping during the bluenette’s speech. Juleka patted her girlfriend’s back, trying to calm the emotional blonde before she cried out a tsunami on top of her textbooks, giving Marinette a thumbs up to show her approval.

Alya beamed, seemingly proud of her former best friend, who had (In her opinion) finally started to see sense. “I’m so proud of you, girl!”

(Adrien was too shocked to form any words.)

“Could you… Open it?” Marinette asked hopefully, ignoring the teacher for the favour of the liar who ruined her life. “I… Just want to know if you like it.”

The Italian could do nothing more than grit her teeth when Alya urged her to open it. What kind of trick was Mari-Brat up to? Never mind— She’d just spin it into something stupid and the class would take to it like starved animals. With no other choice, she tore apart the brown paper, discarding the golden ribbon on her desk. The class gasped, oohs and aahs echoing all around as the package unfolded to reveal a pretty, beige-coloured cardigan, hand-stitched with murals of foxes, jumping livelily among berry bushes.

Stitched into the inside of the cardigan in pastel blue were the words ‘Lila Rossi’, done in an exquisite cursive that could no doubt only come from Marinette’s hand.

“I made it for you myself,” Marinette sniffed humbly. “I know you’re a really great model and you’ve probably seen clothes that are much better than this one, but I poured all my feelings into it. I spent every night of last week working on it, and—” She hiccuped rather loudly, instantly covering her mouth with her hand in embarrassment. “I just hope you like it.”

“I…” Lila was at a loss for words. She had an itinerary full of the lies and stories she would spin that day (“Marinette texted me mean things last night,” she would weep tearfully to Alya, sniffing and wiping away tears on Alya’s shirt sleeve, “I just want to be friends but she just keeps… Attacking me!”) but no matter. A smirk danced along the Italian’s lips. “Did you design this yourself?” 

Judging by the smirk that Marinette could practically hear in the other girl’s tone, the liar already had a trick up her sleeve. If Marinette had to guess... 

Something along the lines of she stole this design from [random designer], who just coincidentally had the time to be Lila’s friend. Or maybe the friend of Lila’s grandmother. Whichever didn’t matter much, because Marinette was prepared. 

Marinette crossed the room in mere seconds, returning back to Lila’s seat with a sketchbook that she’d pulled from her bag. “Here!” She chirped, flipping open the page with an exercised movement, not even having to shuffle through the pages to find the correct sketch. “I brought the original sketch, just in case you wanted to see it so you could get a professional to redo it for you.” 

Lila opened and closed her mouth like a gaping fish out of water. Beside her, Alya’s eyes sparkled, envy still glowing in her eyes at the sight of the intricate foxes, coloured in hazel, gold, and orange threads. 

“Thank you, Marinette.” Lila gritted through her teeth, basically seething at the thought of having to thank the girl in front of her, who was smiling like an innocent sunshine child. 

The bluenette then turned her attention to her homeroom teacher. “Sorry for interrupting and taking up class time, Mlle. Bustier.” 

“It’s not a problem, Marinette,” Mlle. Bustier wiped at her eyes, slightly embarrassed now that the whole class was watching her cry at the sight of her ‘model student’ correcting her wrongs. “E— Excuse me.” She mumbled, clearing her throat. “Let’s pick off from where we stopped yesterday. Open your textbooks to page 63, please.” 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

The rest of the day went along smoothly. Marinette sat at the back of class, as usual, sighing in boredom as class was derailed off course, whisked off by another one of Lila’s tall tales. Honestly, they were already weeks off schedule— How the hell were they expected to sit for the final exam, at this rate? 

She huffed quietly to herself, watching Bustier trying (and failing) to act like she wasn’t interested in Lila’s story. The woman— An actual adult— Fell for Lila’s usual tricks like a fool, taking in every single word in drunken thirst. Did Mlle. Bustier really have nothing better to do than get absorbed in a teenage girl’s wild fantasies (in a way it was like that). At that thought, Marinette sat up straighter in her chair, an idea going off like a lightbulb above her brain. 

Was it...? 

After further thought, Marinette settled back into her chair, humming thoughtfully as she drummed her fingers against her table quietly. Yes... Yes, perhaps. 

Perhaps it was possible. 

The rest of the lesson passed in wasted time as the class took a major detour to go on a warped journey through Lila’s lies, and before Bustier knew it, the lunch bell had rung. Students chattered animatedly as everyone got up, Mlle. Bustier’s announcement of ‘please go home and study this chapter by yourselves, everyone’ was pathetically drowned out by the rest of the noise. 

Marinette collected her things quickly, needing her exit from the classroom to go off without a hitch, exactly the way she planned it. “I’ve got to go back to my parents’ bakery for lunch,” She said shyly, shrinking into herself as her classmates turned to look at her. “I... Was thinking of bringing some macarons back later. Before I go, though... Lila, is there anything you’re allergic to?” 

“What?” The girl being asked snapped back as a reply, the words leaving her mouth too fast for her to register. Before she knew it, the whole class was staring at her, mouths agape. “I... I mean.” Clearing her throat, the liar plastered on a sweet smile. “What was it, Marinette?” 

“I wanted to bring some macarons back for everyone.” Shyly, the bluenette repeated her plans. “And... Since I’ve been in class with everyone else here for a while, I know their allergies, but not yours. Is there anything you’re allergic to that could be in baked goods?” 

The Italian cursed under her breath— Mari-Brat really wasn’t letting up. The bluenette had made sure to cover any ground that the Italian could use and turn back against her. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m not allergic to anything.” 

Brightening visibly, Marinette nodded, shooting the Italian a smile. “I know things between us aren’t going to get better immediately, but I promise to do my best in fixing things! See you guys after lunch.” 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

Lila was getting really, really fed up. For the whole morning, she wasn’t able to come up with any reason to blame Marinette. If things kept going at the rate that they were, the class would be fully convinced that the bluenette was a changed woman, and that couldn’t happen. There was, in the end, a downside to having such a gullible bunch of classmates— Sure, they swayed easily to her side, but that meant that they swayed back to Marinette’s just as easily. 

Hissing under her breath, Lila looked up to catch Alya and Nino’s concerned looks. 

No. 

She was Lila Rossi. She was resourceful. She had Gabriel Agreste behind her back. She was powerful. She was not going to let Mari-Brat halt her plans in their tracks ever again. 

“I’m going to go use the bathroom real quick,” She said, excusing herself from the lunch table. Perfect! Now all she had to do was come back in tears, saying that Marinette confronted and mocked her in the bathroom, and the class would be all hers, once again. 

Little did she know that Dupain-Cheng was one teensy step ahead. 

As soon as Lila rounded the corner of the cafeteria, Marinette appeared, having just had a lovely chat with Rose (And Juleka, although it was Rose who did most of the talking). The two were at the front steps of Francois Dupont, having a lovely couple moment that Marinette hated to interrupt— But she needed to have at least a word with them. 

“Rose, Juleka!” Marinette greeted, box of macarons held carefully in her arms, as if it were a box of important jewelry instead of just a box of pastries. “Oh— Rose, is that a new watch? I’ve never seen you wear it before!” 

“Yep, it is!” Rose beamed, delighted that someone (Besides Juleka) had finally noticed it. “Isn’t it pretty?” Indeed it was. The watch in question was a pretty, intricate-looking thing done in rose-gold metal, with a pastel pink leather strap holding it down. The background of the watch face was a white background with a thin film of rose-gold metal, cut to resemble a wall of precious rose vines. 

“It is!” Agreeing wholeheartedly, Marinette offered her classmate a smile. “Oh by the way, what time is it?” 

Rose peered at the watchface, returning the answer with an equally-bright smile. “11.47.” 

“Thank you.” Marinette thanked, continuing her way through the school until she reached the cafeteria. Just before she fell into line of sight, though, she hid behind a wall, peering over the corner until she spotted the table she was looking for. 

Perfect— Lila just walked away. Marinette thanked the gods for all the luck that she was having— Okay, maybe she thanked one god in particular more than the others. Gently, she patted the secret pocket that was sewn into the lining of her blazer— Tikki, who had magic powers, managed to create a miniature ‘room’ inside the secret pocket, with the pocket itself acting as a portal of sorts to the room. After a few seconds, she felt the pocket tap back, managing a small smile of gratitude for her kwami’s constant love and support. 

“Hey, Alya, Nino.” Marinette greeted shyly, box of macarons propped up against her hip. “Where’s... Lila?” She hesitated slightly with her question, acting as if it was a little out-of-place to ask about the Italian girl. 

“She went to the bathroom.” Nino provided, mouth still full of unchewed food. This gifted him with a smack from his girlfriend (“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” she scolded,). 

“Oh, I see.” I definitely see. I know what she’s going to try and pull later— I have to time this properly. Timing is everything. 

Marinette continued to make small talk with the two, whom she had not talked to for a very long time. Much to her surprise, they were very warm and accepting, quite unlike the people who slung slurs and accused her baselessly a few days ago. One morning made all the difference to people who believed anything, she supposed. 

All of a sudden, something in her chest buzzed, as if it were a fire alarm, vibrating in warning— She had to go. “It was nice talking to you guys again.” She admitted, having briefly dipped into a pool of what their friendship used to be like. “But I have to go. I promised Kagami I’d meet her for a few minutes before lunch ended.”

Alya’s eyebrows jumped up comically in surprise. “I didn’t know you still talked to her. I thought you two were… Love rivals.”

“So what if we were love rivals?” Marinette shrugged with a simple smile. “Adrien is… As much as it’s odd to admit, he’s just a boy. Neither of us let him get in between us. He’s just a boy, and it’d be stupid for us to not get along just because we like the same boy. It doesn’t bother Kagami that we used to like the same boy, so why should I let it bother me? Besides,” Marinette tilted her head slightly. “It’d be stupid to give up a great friendship just because of a boy.”

With her last words still hanging in the air, Marinette turned tail and left, walking faster than usual. She had little time left— As she neared the wall that would shield her from the view of the cafeteria, she sped up her footsteps, practically half-sprinting just so she could get out of sight before Lila Rossi returned, looking like someone just killed a puppy in front of her very eyes.

“Oh my god, what’s wrong?” Alya jumped to her feet instantly, reaching out to comfort her best friend, who was moments away from having tears stream down her cheeks.

“I… I thought she’d changed.” Lila sniffled, biting her lip to appear as if she was desperately trying not to cry.

Alya frowned. “Who?”

“Marinette.” Lila stated as if it were obvious, faltering for a moment— Why had Alya bothered to ask? Shouldn’t it come pretty obvious? The liar dismissed the thoughts and continued in her performance. “She threatened me in the bathroom. She… She confronted me and mocked me, saying… Saying that all of you… All of you are idiots for believing that she’s changed. She… She said everything was an act to turn you all against me.”

Nino’s jaw dropped so far that it touched the floor. “Uh… Dudette, are you sure it was Marinette?”

“Yes!” Lila spun to look at him so fast that it was a wonder she didn’t break her neck. “Are… Are you doubting me? Oh my god, it’s working. She’s turning you guys against me. I just want to have friends, I don’t get why she hates me so—”

“You’re… Absolutely sure it was Marinette? You saw her face?” Alya repeated her boyfriend’s words, emphasising each and everyone of them as she looked Lila in the eyes.

“Alya, not you too.” Lila sniffled, tears basically dropping out of her eyes like big, fat droplets of salt water. “It was her— I saw her blazer, it had MDC stitched onto it.”

An uncomfortable silence settled in between the girl and her boyfriend, neither quite knowing what to say. “Oh. I… I see.” Alya said at last, turning back to her food. “Well… Lunch is almost over. Let’s… Let’s get back to class.”

“Marinette just threatened me in the bathroom!” Lila puffed up, clearly upset now. “She mocked me! She called you guys stupid for believing her act!”

“Dudette.” Nino shattered the ice-cold silence at their lunch table, swallowing heavily. “Marinette was with us the whole time you were in the bathroom.”

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

The tension inside the room was so thick that Adrien could cut it with his bare hands. God, what had happened? The day had started off so well— Marinette agreed to be friends with Lila, god bless the girl— But as it turned out, one hurdle folded over only to be towered over by a taller one. 

“Alya—” Lila began tearfully, her pitiful look attracting the sympathy of those who still didn’t know what was going on. 

“You claimed that Marinette threatened you in the bathroom.” Alya interrupted. “While she was with us the whole time in the cafeteria.” 

Faltering, the Italian struggled to find a way to squeeze herself out of the tight spot. “M— Maybe it was someone else.” Reluctantly, she backed out one trap into another one. 

“You said that you were sure! You said that she was wearing a blazer with MDC stitched on it. Marinette was wearing that blazer during lunch!” The reporter shot back, Nino at her side, trying to extinguish the conflicted fire blazing inside Alya’s heart. 

The seeds of doubt had been sewn, and Lila was going to have a tough time weeding them out. “I... I’m sorry!” She burst out into tears, sobbing pitifully in front of the class, most of which were already in attendance. “My lying disease is acting up again. I... I can’t help it. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone!” 

“Uh... Is this a bad time to ask if anyone wants macarons?” Marinette cleared her throat awkwardly, standing at the front of the room. Her royal blue blazer had been shed, and it now hung over her arm, properly folded into half. Earlier, she had asked Rose for the time to make sure that she had a witness in case Lila tried to pull another act— But as it seemed, the Italian was determined to dig her own grave and all the work had been done. 

The students of Mlle. Bustier’s class shared looks. 

“I’ll... I’ll have one.” Mylene cleared her throat, hoping that it would diffuse the situation. 

“Me too.” Kim followed, not missing the way Marinette flinched slightly at his words. Most of the words he had said to her of late had not been nice at all— But he justified that with the fact that she was being a bully to Lila, like Chloe had been to Marinette herself. 

“Great!” Marinette cleared her throat awkwardly, slapping on a strained smile. She passed the box to the front row, where Sabrina and Chloe were, gesturing for them to pass the box along until everyone got their fill. 

Internally, Lila seethed, anger burning like a wildfire that tore down every lush sign of life in her path. The girl had never felt that livid in her entire life— Who did Dupain-Cheng think she was, having a change of heart out of nowhere, pretending to play along with those oh-so-innocent eyes of hers? 

“I... I think I know why my disease acted up again,” Lila sniffled, loud enough to gather attention again. Unsure glances passed around like an object that no one wanted, carried from hand to hand forcefully as no one wanted to hold onto it for too long. “It... It must’ve been because of... Of the cardigan that Marinette made me! You must’ve known that...” The Italian squinted at the cardigan on her desk, “... Cotton triggers my lying disease!” 

The bluenette, still passing around macarons, stopped in her tracks. Inside her mind, Marinette was shaking her head, an amused smile on her cheeks. She had to give Lila credit for that one— She would’ve never anticipated that lie from her nemesis. “That’s terrible!” She sucked in a breath, putting on a dismayed look. “I’m really sorry, Lila! I know it seems like I did this on purpose, but I promise I didn’t! To make it up to you, I’ll make you another one.” 

Is she serious right now? Lila scoffed mentally. How long does she plan to keep this going? No matter— She’ll eventually drain herself out and I won’t even have to meddle in this matter. 

Marinette sniffled, collecting the cardigan pitifully from Lila’s desk. “But to prevent future incidents, Lila, I just want you to know that this isn’t made of cotton... It’s made from the highest-quality of star silk, which is incredibly difficult to produce and is rather expensive. It’s such a pity... I thought that only the best of materials would be deserving to be used to make an apology present... I guess you can’t wear it. I’ll just make another copy of the cardigan with some normal-range silk.” Sighing, the bluenette pretended to mull in sadness for a few seconds before an idea struck her. “Alya! You aren’t allergic to star silk, right?” 

The flow of conversation redirected suddenly, with the reporter snapping to attention and nodding eagerly as she realised what was about to happen. 

“Then... Since I’ve spent so long on this, I don’t want it to go to waste... Why don’t you have it, instead?” Offered Marinette with a sweet, shy smile on her face. 

Lila, still caught up in shock by the reveal of the material— Was then slammed with a wall of flaming anger as Alya squealed, coddling the soft, fluffy material that made the cardigan the exquisite product it was. 

“Marinette’s right,” Adrien chipped in with his own two cents, “Father can rarely get his hands on that material— It costs a fortune, and if hand-made... It takes forever.” 

“Oh, I wove the silk by myself,” Marinette added shyly after Adrien’s contribution, “So I apologise if it’s not up to the quality of industry-level star silk.” 

The reporter gushed, still cooing and running her hands over the gorgeous threads of fabric that made up the cloud-like base of the cardigan, eyes sparkling and the details of the embroidery. 

Marinette smiled, returning to her seat without a fuss. The rest of the class continued to pass the pastries around, the perfect description of ‘ignorance is bliss’ as they pretended as if they couldn’t see the way Lila was shaking in anger. Alya, on the other hand, could see nothing but the garment in her hands, her ‘best friend’ having become invisible for the time being. 

Just as well that it turned out this way, Marinette hummed, twirling her pen in hand, Let that be my departing gift to Rena Rouge. 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

Tomorrow arrived like clockwork, never late and always on time. The crowd of students clamouring by the front of Francois Dupont hushed to silence as they parted for two dark-haired women, both of which were giving off waves of confidence. Simple conversation flowed between the two, who were perfect examples of elegance and grace, their traditional-inspired attire complementing the royal-like aura they had. 

“This dress is really lovely, Marinette,” Kagami smiled gently, admiring the way the fabric flowed around her. The designer had gifted her friend with a maroon-coloured hanfu-inspired dress, complete with hand-sewn embroidery of a golden dragon curled around Kagami’s waist and neck. The dress was completed with a pleated skirt that went all the way to the heels. At first, the fencer was reluctant about the skirt due to the limited maneuverability, but then Marinette revealed that the skirt was very simple to take off as it was just tied around the waist. 

“You look gorgeous in it. It suits you.” Marinette replied, dressed in a similar looking dress. Her hanfu-inspired dress was light pink in colour, with silver threads depicting cranes flying about freely. The pleated skirt was grey in colour, lined with a soft circle of white. 

Kagami blushed slightly. “Thank you.” Briefly, the Japanese girl wondered why on Earth Marinette would go and embroider a dragon onto her dress— Was it purely a coincidence, or...? 

“I’m really glad you decided to transfer here,” Marinette smiled softly, her dark blue bangs framing her face as the rest of it was gathered into a braid that Kagami had helped weave. “It’s going to be nice! I’ll get to see you a lot more often.” 

“We’re in different classes, though.” Frowning, Kagami wondered if she should request a change of homeroom. 

“For now.” The designer winked playfully. “Oh, I have to get to class. See you during lunch?” 

Without waiting for a reply, the blue-eyed girl moved away gracefully, leaving Kagami in confusion. 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

“Good morning,” Marinette greeted gracefully, sweeping into the classroom with her bag over her shoulder and a package in her hands. This package was clearly not as exquisitely-wrapped as the one from the day before, as it was just brown paper and some rough string. 

Alya brightened at the sight of her friend, shrinking away slightly whenever Lila tried to say anything. Sure, the reporter did shake off the initial reaction and respond to whatever her ‘best friend’ said, but the damage had been done. 

“Here’s your new cardigan. It’s made from the same material as your shirt,” Marinette smiled warmly, placing the package on Lila’s table. “It’s a little different from the one I brought yesterday, but I still poured in all my emotions when I made it, so I hope you’ll accept it.” 

Through a gritted smile, the Italian thanked the designer, clenching her fists under the table. That was the second time in two days she had to thank Mari-brat! She swore that if she had to do it again a third time, she was going to slap someone. 

“Oh, Marinette!” Alya called out excitedly, wearing the cardigan that was originally supposed to be Lila’s. “This cardigan is so soft! It’s really amazing to wear! As expected of you, girl!” 

The bluenette stared back at the reporter, wavering for a bit. She had a feeling that Alya wanted something from her... 

“So... I was wondering...” The reporter’s expression turned sheepish, with Marinette’s internal thought-train going ah, there it comes— “Could you remove this and put my name instead?” Alya picked up the corner of the cardigan, pointing to the inside of the garment, where ‘Lila Rossi’ was embroidered on. 

“Ah...” Marinette didn’t even have to fake her nervousness. We already agreed on this, She told herself, No more doing free stuff for people. No more. “Sorry, Alya. My parents need a lot of help in the bakery recently,.. You know how it is! Family always comes first. I’ve already taken out a lot of time to make the cardigan for Lila... And I promised Kagami I’d go out with her this weekend. I’m afraid I don’t have time...” 

There was no missing the way Alya’s face fell instantly. “Couldn’t you put off Kagami for me? Aren’t we best friends?” 

“I thought Lila was your best friend,” Feigning an expression of innocence, Marinette tilted her head slightly. “You shouldn’t go around saying things like that, Alya. You might hurt Lila’s feelings. Besides, a promise is a promise. I wouldn’t want to hurt Kagami’s feelings either. Not to mention— I gave you that cardigan for free. That was two weeks’ worth of hard work. I’m afraid I don’t have the ability to take time out to alter it for free either. If you really want to get it done, you could ask an external tailor to do it for you. I know a few who can do really good embroidery.” 

Alya faltered. “But... We used to be best friends...” 

Snorting mentally, Marinette continued to hold her calm composure. “Like I said, you really shouldn’t say that, Alya. Lila might get upset and we don’t want to hurt her feelings— Right, Adrien?” 

The blonde jumped when the conversation turned to him out of nowhere. All of a sudden, every eye in the classroom was fixed on him. “R— Right, of course.” He said, forcing out each word. 

Satisfied, Marinette nodded, still wearing her ever-so-kind smile. “Exactly.” 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

“Hey, why don’t we all go out and have a picnic outside during lunch?” Alya suggested loudly, jumping up as soon as the lunch bell rang. “Marinette, you can come along too!” Something inside the reporter’s chest was stirring, and with the events of the past few days, Alya felt like she just had to quench that unsettling feeling— And the first step to that was to mend things with Marinette, even though it was the bluenette’s fault for always having been biased to Lila. Alya smiled, proud of herself. She would be the bigger person, she would forgive Marinette, she would integrate the designer back into the class again. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Marinette replied just as quickly, “We don’t know what Lila might be allergic to— She could easily trigger a reaction if we go out, especially since it’s spring.” 

A collective choir of groans rounded the class. 

“Well, I’m going to go back to the hotel to have a first-class meal,” Chloe turned her nose up at her classmates. “... Dupain-Cheng, would you like to come?” 

Shock painted the faces of the whole classroom. Did Chloe just... Ask Marinette something... Politely? 

“I’d love to take that offer, Chloe.” Responded the bluenette, graceful and flawless as ever. “Perhaps tomorrow?” 

“Suit yourself. They’re serving lobster today.” Chloe huffed. “If you’re really that busy, then fine. We can discuss...” The Mayor’s daughter trailed off as she blushed. 

The bluenette giggled knowingly. “You’d like to commission a dress from me, right?” 

“... No.” 

“...” 

“... Maybe.” 

“Alright.” Marinette nodded. “Then maybe it’ll be more convenient if I head over to the hotel after school. I’ll need to take your measurements and we can discuss the prices after.” 

“Whatever.” Chloe waved her away haughtily, a poor effort to cover up her embarrassment. “Sabrina. Let’s go.” 

“Chloe?” Alya guffawed. “Why are you commissioning something from Marinette?” 

Rolling her eyes as if Alya had just asked the stupidest question ever, Chloe answered plainly. “Because she’s one of the up-and-rising designers in the industry? Have you seen what Dupain-Cheng is wearing today? Celebrities are already fighting for spots in her commission list. Even my mother and Gabriel Agreste acknowledge her talent. I’m not dumb, Cesaire. I can recognise a future fashion queen when I see one.” 

Wow, Marinette breathed, looking at the stunned faces around the room, Chloe sure knows how to create an impression. 

“W— Well.” Stuttered the reporter after Chloe made her big exit. “Then... What about going to the bakery for lunch?” 

“Didn’t Lila say she saw a rat in the bakery the last time she visited it?” Marinette pointed out. “The health officer checked the surveillance and the claim was dismissed, of course, because my parents make sure the bakery is as hygienic as possible— But I’m sure Lila is traumatised from that incident. I wouldn’t want to force her to come along to the bakery— And we wouldn’t want to leave her out either, right?” 

This elicited another round of groans. 

Oh, I am enjoying myself way too much, Marinette chuckled mentally. 

“Then— Then...” Alya struggled visibly before she was put out of her misery. 

“It’s fine, Alya.” The designer reassured her. “I wouldn’t want to bother Lila. I’m sure she’s still upset at me. You guys go ahead. I have to go back to the bakery to help my parents out. See you guys after!” 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

Slam! 

Lila fumed, hand still pressed on her locker door. What. The. Hell. Was Mari-brat trying to do? She didn’t miss the way some of her classmates sent her unsatisfactory looks after that pre-lunch stunt that Marinette had pulled. 

And what was the thing about high-and-mighty Chloe commissioning from Marinette? 

Sure, Lila would admit that the cardigan that the designer made was indeed gorgeous, and the fabric was smooth and velvety, a quality unlike any of the clothing that Lila had ever had the privilege to touch— But surely a lowly brat like Dupain-Cheng couldn’t be that popular... Right? 

Dammit, hissed the Italian girl, Maybe I should’ve tried being friends with Mari-brat instead of Cesaire. 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

“Is that... Marinette and Kagami?” Nino gaped, prompting Alya to turn around. It was true— Walking up the steps of Francois Dupont together were the two blue-haired girls, a gentle smile dancing on Kagami’s lips as Marinette talked animatedly, her hands waving around quickly to further elaborate her point. 

Students lounging around the entrance for lunch couldn’t tear their eyes off the two and their matching dresses. Sure, the two girls had walked into school the same way that morning— But now that the afternoon sun was high up in the sky, the golden and silver embroidery was glinting luminously, revealing the true caliber of Marinette’s craft. 

“But... They’re rivals.” Stuttered Alya. She just couldn’t understand... Weren’t they supposed to hate each other? 

“They both like Adrien but they can still get along,” Nino remarked thoughtfully, taking a bite from his sandwich. “So Marinette wasn’t lying about going to meet Kagami yesterday.” 

Alya was silent. 

“Alya? What’s wrong?” Worried, Nino put a hand around his girlfriend’s shoulder, care and concern shining through his honest eyes. 

“If... If Marinette doesn’t get jealous or biased over someone who also likes Adrien...” Alya started quietly, eyes still fixed on the two girls, “Then why was she so against Lila?” 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

“Mlle. Bustier?” The teacher looked up at the voice of her favourite student. Fondly, she smiled. Marinette had finally seen the light and changed her ways, becoming the helpful, generous, kind Marinette that served as a great example for her peers. “May I make an announcement before class ends?” 

“Of course, dear.” Mlle. Bustier gave permission instantly— Marinette was taking up the reins of leadership again! The teacher couldn’t help but do a happy dance internally. 

“I have an announcement to make, so if everyone could listen, I’d be really thankful.” Marinette started, her clear blue eyes meeting those of her classmates. 

She took a deep breath. This is it. I’ve done what I needed to do, now it’s time to finish the job. 

“These past two days... Have been great,” Marinette started wistfully. “I really missed hanging around everyone, just like we did before,” Before you all turned your backs on me and stabbed me when I wasn’t looking, “But I can’t deny— And neither can you— That the things that have happened... They had a really deep impact. And I’ve realised that I can’t just ignore that damage that has been done.” The damage that has been done to me. “So, for the better of everyone— I’ve decided that I... Will transfer classes.” 

It was as if an explosion had gone off in Mlle. Bustier’s classroom. 

“Girl! You can’t do that!” Alya exclaimed in dismay, “We can fix things! Everything has been going well these few days, haven’t they?” 

“Dudette! Honestly, we forgive you.” Nino sighed, “Things just aren’t the same if you’re not here anymore.” 

Adrien didn’t say a word, but the imploring gaze he wore said enough. Please don’t leave me here alone. We promised we’d fight together, right? As long as both of us know... 

Marinette held her hand up to silence them, and the classroom, just as swiftly, became the deadly silence that followed post-disaster. “I understand. But once again, this is for the better,” — Of my mental health, “I’ve talked to Mlle. Mendeliev, and she’s agreed to take me in. I believe that once the changes have taken place, we can all grow more freely without restrictions.” 

In the corner, Mlle. Bustier was tearing up and dabbing at her eyes with her sleeve. 

“Mlle. Bustier,” Marinette turned to her teacher, no malice in her eyes. “I’ll be under Mlle. Mendeliev’s care now.” 

“Marinette...” The teacher sobbed quietly, with Chloe shooting her a look of disgust from the front row. 

“It’s not going to be easy for any of us,” Marinette turned back to the class, “But with time, I’m sure we will all prosper. Especially since you will now be under the care of our one and only Lila Rossi.” 

Adrien looked like someone had just killed a puppy in front of him. 

“Since I am the current class president, I thought I’d pass on the duties onto the most capable person in our class.” Marinette explained warmly, never moving her gaze away from the bewildered Lila. “Lila has the most connections in our class out of all of us, and she’s met so many CEOs and entrepreneurs that she must know a lot about organising and planning. I’m sure you can do it, Lila, but...” She paused. “You can handle it, right?” 

“Y— Yeah. Of course.” Lila stuttered. 

“You promised the class that you’d get BTS to perform for the year-end fundraiser since you were supposed to be in an arranged marriage with their youngest member, Jungkook.” Marinette continued, God I am enjoying myself too much honestly, but I ain’t going to stop now, “And you said you could convince your godfather, Bruce Wayne, to allow the class to go to Wayne Enterprises for this year’s class trip.” 

“She said she could convince Tony Hawk to give me an internship, too!” Alix chipped in. 

“And that she’d bring me along the next time Prince Ali asks for her help for a charity cause!” Rose smiled. 

“She said she’d introduce me to the CEO of Graham Films!” Nino’s eyes shone at the idea. 

The class continued to talk all over one another until Marinette silenced them once more. “Now, now. Let’s not overwhelm Lila. We wouldn’t want her to be overworked or to feel like the expectations are set too high, right?” 

The class agreed, nodding along. 

Marinette made eye contact with Lila, offering her a sweet smile as she did so. Lila, on the other hand, had no taste for such politeness. Instead, she straight-out glared at the former class president. 

This is your problem now. 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

“Marinette! I was hoping to catch you before you went home,” Alya panted, having been able to find the bluenette in the locker room before the designer slipped out of her reach. “You... You’re really serious about leaving?” 

“Yeah.” Smiled Marinette, organising her textbooks into her bag, dusting down her skirt. Noticing Alya’s crestfallen expression, she took the initiative to continue the conversation. “Is there anything else, Alya?” 

“Did you... Did you really hate Lila because she liked Adrien, too?” The reporter asked somewhat timidly. 

Marinette giggled. Normally, when the girl giggled, you could hear a gentle tinkling of wind chimes— But at that moment, Alya heard the freezing winds on Mount Everest instead. “Don’t be silly, Alya. All this over a boy? Besides, I’m over him.” 

“Then...” Alya swallowed difficulty. “Lila... Really was lying this whole time?” 

The gaze that swept across the reporter was stone cold, and it made Alya feel as if she was dangling over a valley of jagged rocks. “What do you think, Alya?” Even so, the bluenette maintained a sweet smile. 

“She was. She was lying the whole time.” Alya suddenly felt as if she had a shortness of air. “This whole time—” 

“Oh, good for you. You finally learned how to see further than one feet in front of you.” Marinette hummed. “I’m proud of you, really. But I’m afraid that I don’t have the time to listen to you slowly come to conclusions after I’ve tried making you see sense for the past half a year. I tried to stop you from ruining your futures, but I guess determination was always one of your good traits.” 

Alya slipped to the floor, having lost the feeling in her legs. She placed one hand against the lockers for support as she shook, weakly looking up at the girl who she was once so proud to call her ‘best friend’. 

“Marinette?” Kagami’s voice rang through the room, indicating that the girl was waiting at the doorway. “You said you were heading to Bourgeois’s hotel after school— Would you like a ride?” 

“That’d be nice, Kagami. A moment.” The designer looked down at her friend and smiled, albeit a little sadly this time— And then she lowered her voice. 

“Determination was always one of your good traits.” 

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

“Marinette,” Adrien perked up at the sight of the bluenette leaving the school doors— Side by side with Kagami, who looked ready to draw a sword and start a duel then and there. 

“This’ll just take a minute, ‘Gami.” Marinette reassured, gently patting her friend’s arm. “Why don’t you get in the car first? It looks like it’s going to rain.” 

Reluctantly, Kagami nodded. “Alright.” Warily, the fencer stepped down the stairs and into the car— But even as she sat in the vehicle, she watched over her fellow bluenette like a hawk, ready to jump out and challenge the blonde if the situation called for it. 

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, not quite knowing what to say. Luckily for him, the designer decided to start the conversation. 

“I just wanted to say thank you.” Marinette smiled softly. A few months ago, when she looked at Adrien, she would see the kind, generous, pure-hearted boy with the finest golden hair and the brightest green eyes. Now? All she saw was a spineless, sheltered, passive child that was afraid of confrontations. 

“For what?” Adrien looked at Marinette, and no longer did he see the cute, pigtail-adorning girl that would blush fiercely everytime he tried to talk to her. Instead, he saw a beautiful, young woman, a rock that had pulled through all the odds to become a vibrant, iridescent diamond. 

Marinette was glowing with confidence, her presence diffusing into the air around her and triggering eyes to look up every time she walked by. There was something about the way she held herself that just made the woman demand awe and respect from those that crossed her path. The old ‘Clumsinette’ had been shed like an old snake skin to reveal a treasure, a better version of the bluenette that had always been waiting for her time to come. 

Bluebell eyes met green ones just as rain began to patter down onto the streets of Paris. Marinette glanced up slightly, not at all bothered as she smoothly retrieved an umbrella from her bag, holding it out for the blonde to take. A flush of deja vu burst through Adrien’s veins and through his skin as he took it with a mumbled thanks, eyes blown wide as Marinette let loose her hair from her ponytail, pulling her blazer over her head to avoid getting her head wet. 

Adrien could only gape as Marinette uttered familiar words back to him, a knowing smile dancing across her lips as she ran off into the rain as if an invisible weight had been lifted off her shoulders. The bluenette looked lighter, brighter, ready to take flight and soar towards the success that her crops of hard work had finally started to bear. Before the blonde model knew it, Marinette Dupain-Cheng had slipped out of his grip, already spreading her multi-coloured wings to land among the stars. 

“Thank you for telling me to take the high road.”  

──────── ⋆⋅❉⋅⋆ ────────

this was both satisfying and tiring to write... 

[adrinoir]

Bully into friend/lover arcs - how Chloe was robbed

I was just thinking about this. There are so many good ways to write a bully into friend/lover arc. I know a couple, but Chloe Bourgeois was robbed of this because we can’t have nice things can we, Mr. Astruc?

Good examples

In The Owl House, Amity Blight went from being a school bully to being Luz’s girlfriend, and restoring her friendship with her childhood best friend, Willow. It was so well done, too.

Throughout the series, even after the arc, we see how pressured Amity is by her family. Her parents want her to be a certain way and hold up a “good” reputation. But, Amity wants to be her own person. She cares about Willow, she’s a lesbian and wants to be with Luz, she has her things she enjoys doing (ie working at the library and reading Azura). She doesn’t care about someone being “more powerful” or being a tool in helping her family’s business grow. They even made her changes in hair color represent that, and made her siblings understand her better.

Also notice how it wasn’t super rushed. Willow wasn’t entirely forgiving of Amity right away, it took time to feel okay having her around again and getting Amity to see her as a strong person. Amity also had her chance to ask Luz to prom, but got so scared, and over the course of a few episodes, their feelings for each other blossomed naturally.

There’s also Tyler in Turning Red. He’s this immature kid making fun of Mei, but it’s shown he has no friends. Tyler has all this insecurity in who he is as a person and can’t even have people come to his birthday party without having Mei there to turn into her panda form.

This one also wasn’t super rushed. Mei and her friends agreed to go to this party for the sake of making money, not for Tyler. But they connected dots as soon as they saw him at the 4Town concert, and ran to him. Then, he ends up sticking with the friend group, which was so sweet.

These characters were given reasons for why they became a bully. And you know who else was? Chloe. Their insecurities and upbringing helps the audience understand and connect with these characters, and why they do what they do. This leads me to my next point.

Chloe’s build up

Chloe has a great backstory. Her mom left her and her dad for New York, neglecting them both and having an affair. Meanwhile, her dad is very dismissive and doesn’t know how to be a good parent. He feels the most he can do is buy her whatever she wants. He cares about her, but isn’t good at being an actual dad, moreso just pleasing her impulsive desires.

Chloe also only had one childhood friend, thanks to the parents being friends: Adrien. She’s used to being around not only her rich family, but this one cute boy who also has a rich family. So, her view of other people who don’t live a life of luxury is very warped.

Chloe has this idea that you’re unworthy of being treated well if you’re not super wealthy. The one friend she made at school, Sabrina, is treated as a servant, being ordered to do things for her.

However, deep down, Chloe does care and we started seeing a lot of that at the end of season 1 and in the beginning of season 2. She has a solid enough friendship with Sabrina that she plays dress up with her, and they pretend to be Ladybug and Cat Noir. She cares so much about her friendship with Adrien that she hosted a party and invited all her classmates, just to show she cares. She felt bad about ruining Marinette’s present to Ms. Bustier, enough to apologize and hug it out with her.

Then, we really see how much she cares about her mom in the two part special, when she gets hold of the bee miraculous. She creates a risky scenario to save these people, simply to prove to her mom that she’s “exceptional.” She also wanted to prove herself to her idol, Ladybug. Her mom is shown to be so conceited and neglectful that she can’t even remember Chloe’s name and picked Marinette over her own daughter to come to New York with her. There’s such an emotional scene before her mom gets on the plane, where Chloe cries and says, “why don’t you love me, mom?” Heartbreaking.

There was such a good build up to a potential character arc. So many episodes shined a spotlight on her actions and backstory. The audience could get a good understanding and sympathize for her. But by the time season 3 rolled around, all of that was completely destroyed, as if none of that meant anything.

Thomas knew he wanted her to stay a bully. He selfishly based her off of a nasty ex girlfriend of his. He did the audience so dirty because anyone who wanted a good character arc for Chloe can’t feel that way anymore. She became even more of a brat and didn’t even want Adrien to be her friend anymore in season 4. It’s now too late for her to have any sort of character arc that would actually make sense.

What could’ve been done

If I had overthrown Thomas early on, there are things that could’ve been done to create her character arc.

She could’ve eased up on Marinette after wrecking her present. She knows Ms. Bustier sees the good in her and wants to prove she can change.

She could’ve made more of an effort to be nice to all the classmates, instead of her losing development as soon as the party in Despair Bear was over.

She could start treating Sabrina like a real friend. Hanging out with her more and showing she appreciates her company.

If she proved she can be a good person, she can eventually get the bee miraculous back in her possession, gain Ladybug’s trust.

After proving her worth, Chloe could become Marinette’s friend or at least friendly acquaintance, like Amity with Willow or Tyler with the girls. She could get close with Adrien again and have a more genuine friendship.

Or, if we want to get into lover territory, maybe Marinette feels okay enough to introduce her to Luka or Kagami, and Chloe starts feeling a certain way. Maybe it’s comphet behavior, obsessing over Adrien, because she’s shoving down feelings for girls. Maybe she hasn’t been exposed or understanding enough of other guys who don’t fit the rich boy standard. Either way, having a significant other and/or friends who see the good in her would be so good for Chloe.

She could stand up to her parents about how she needs more love and time with them. How she wants them to be here for her and accept her as a caring person.

[nothingtherefornow]

Well thinking about the Atlas thing, also the show has always made it clear that Marinette was the Protagonist and Adrien the Deuteragonist of this how. And according to wiki, the definition of a deuteragonist is : "actor playing the second most important role, after that of the protagonist". The SECOND most important role.

The main lore of the show may be about the Agreste family between season 1 and 5, yet the protagonist and main heroic role always belonged to Marinette. The opening always made that clear, only Maribug presents herself to the audience, not Adrichat. The story of Miraculous Ladybug has always been about Marinette first and Adrien second.

And beside, wether people like it or not, Marinette got involved in the Agreste family by unavoidable circumstances, not just because she's the superhero partner and girlfriend of the son's main supervillain in season 5, but also because Felix and Kagami chose to involve her in that drama during Representation, with the hope that she would be able to help them. And as the one in possession of one of the two magical jewel Gabriel coveted the most, Marinette would still have gotten involved in the Agreste family drama sooner or later.

Sure it's a shame that Adrien/Chat Noir didn't get his moment against his father during the finale, but at least he took the opportunity to beat his ass in Representation, to show us that Adrichat COULD break up from father's abuse and acknowledge Gabriel as a terrible parent. And if for now after the season 5 finale Adrien is under the false impression that his father was a hero, there's still room for him to break free from his father's ghost and lies.

And we must acknowledge that in a way, Adrien still took part in the final fight against Monarch, he is the one who sent Plagg to Ladybug, who was then able to fight with the power of her partner's miraculous of her side.

And on a personnal note, Marinette also deserved to have her moment to beat Monarch/Gabriel's ass. Because even though she was not as much of his victim as Adrien was, Gabriel still was respinsible for a lot of Marinette's suffering. Not only was their fight as Hawmoth/Shadowmoth/Monarch vs Ladybug making things difficult and painfull to handle for Marinette in her daily life, but Gabriel targeted her for akumatization more than once, encouraging Lila to ruin Marinette's reputation and relationships, forcing Marinette to break up with Adrien in Chat Blanc and being the main cause of this event that would leave Marinette with another trauma, keeping encouraging Lila to go after her in season 5 and taking matters into his own hands to ruin Marinette's and Adrien's happiness and separate them after Lila failed. Even in Revelation Gabriel was more happy about the fact that making all of Paris believe in the Adrigami couple would hurt Marinette and cause her jealousy to rise up.

So yeah Gabriel hurt Adrien a lot, but he also hurt Marinette, and in a way I beleive that she beat Monarch's ass in Re-creation not just for Adrien but also for herself.

Let's retake the story of Spider-man for example, one of Peter's aka Spider-man's most known nemesis is Norman Osborn aka the first Green goblin, is the father of Peter's best friend, Harry Osborn. In most Spidey's story Norman is not a good father to Harry, and was very abusive in the main earth 616 universe and all the earths that deviate from it, yet Norman's main fights are with Spider-man (usually because contrary to Adrien, Harry doesn't have super powers and isn't a super hero). Because at some point Norman's fight against Peter/spider-man became personal, there's a form of hate obsession that he developped for the super-hero and that I couldn't help but find in Gabriel/Monarch reguarding Ladybug and Marinette.

And if the comics of earth 616 did gave us one confrontation between the father and the son at some point, in the end Peter/Spider-man fights against the Green Gobling also became personal on his side in most earths, not just because he personally knows Norman, but also because he wants to protect Harry from him, and because Norman hurt Peter many, many times in many earths, and in the worst ways (killing one of Peter's love interest, physically and mentally torturing him, being the catalyst of his friendship break up with Harry, the clone saga, etc, etc ...)

And in the Sam Raimi movies, Peter also kept the truth from Harry (and by extension the medias) about his father being a super villain, as the man last's request on his dying breath.

In defence of Adrian’s absence from the s5 finale

Alright, so, a lot of people are upset that we saw very little of Adrien in the season 5 two-parter finale, especially considering it as evolving around the Agreste family and especially his father. Now, while I too would have liked to see more of him (and think in general this show ignores him at times too much) the finale was set up this way that it was necessary for him to be absent.

Why was it necessary?

Remember that little episode called “Chat Blanc”? Remember what happened in that scenario where Gabriel confronted Adrien/Chat Noire not only with the fact that he is Hawkmoth but also that he wishes to bring back Emilie, all while threatening Marinette/Ladybug? Didn’t the world get kinda destroyed by Adrien becoming akumatised? 

Didn’t we kinda witness throughout all of s5 how violent/destructive Adrien can get when someone threatens someone he loves? Didn’t we all count the instances where he just wished to cataclysm everything? His trauma of cathaclysming Hawkmoth/Monarch, who while a villain, is still a human being? The sheer dread of what he saw in the nightmare scenario of becoming Anti-Chat and killing Ladybug?

Doesn’t he get that violent part from his father? Protecting loved ones even on the cost of everything else.

Adrien himself says in the session finale that he is afraid of what he could do, that he is far too emotionally vulnerable at that moment to join Ladybug in the fight. Isn’t that incredibly mature and brave of him to say?

Believe me, him being emotionally vulnerable like his father will play a part in future episodes as well as him being in the dark of what was really going on. But when it comes to the fight in the finale he was a far better help and support to Ladybug by trusting her and keeping harm away from her.

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

Lila’s new plan

In “Perfection”, as everyone gathers to try and help Marinette find the right opportunity to reciprocate Adrien’s affection and confess her feelings, it is in the midst of their yoga session with Miss Bustier that Lila begins to show hints of her next plan to ruin Marinette’s life.

Ever since the events of “Ladybug”, Lila had thus far decided to abide by Adrien’s demands to leave Marinette alone, however, knowing now that she could not directly hurt Marinette, Lila has instead decided to focus her attention on manipulating others to carry out her plans to ruin Marinette in her place.

Of all the people within Marinette's life, Lila has primarily decided to focus on people who have an obvious weakness towards Marinette, weaknesses which would be the easiest to take advantage of, through Lila’s eyes at least. Chloe being one of those people, whom Lila grew to learn held just as much anger towards Marinette and Ladybug as she did.

(in “Penalteam”, Lila seizes the opportunity to obtain Chloe’s allegiance)

Although Chloe has become one of the few to see Lila’s true colors, she has no desire to expose her so long as Lila aims to help ruin Marinette’s life. Chloe had long considered Marinette as someone who was beneath her in every way, and although she is aware Marinette is growing confident enough to stand up for herself, Chloe had quickly viewed Marinette as someone who was interfering with the one thing she alone had deemed herself to be entitled to, Adrien’s love.

Chloe and Lila are both interested in Adrien, but their views over Adrien were vastly different from the reality as they latched to the image of perfection Adrien was more commonly seen as in magazines, when presented by his father. Rather than getting to know the real Adrien behind all the business images, Chloe and Lila had both favored their own idea of who Adrien was and should be. Chloe had long believed Adrien was someone who should and would prioritize his rich status, just as she has done, and be expected to find the idea of being with someone like Marinette to be ridiculous given she was just a baker girl. Through Chloe's eyes, she and Adrien were meant to be, given their history and status, all she would need to do is teach him how the world works when it comes to people like them, something she even explains to Marinette back in “Animaestro”.

  Lila on the other hand, believed no one but her was suited to be with Adrien, viewing him as an image of perfection that she alone had a right to be with as she viewed herself as someone who only deserved the best there was. Through her eyes alone, Adrien felt the same way about her and disregarded all others who actively tried to gain his affection.

 But to both Chloe and Lila's shock, Adrien had already fallen for Marinette long before their allegiance began.

(In “Deflagration” , Chloe discovers Adrien has feelings for Marinette)

(in “Risk”, Lila comes to the shocking realization that Adrien has genuine feelings for Marinette the moment he willingly holds her hand. Lila is angered over Marinette receiving Adrien’s affection given he has never reciprocated affection in the same way towards anyone else, including herself)

Lila does not bode well to having things denied or taken from her, and knowing now that Adrien is in love with Marinette, Lila is determined to carry out whatever plan necessary to not only make Marinette feel miserable, but to additionally ruin Marinette's reputation and separate her from Adrien, and it all starts with helping improve Chloe’s image. Chloe alone has a very ill reputation among the student body, but by Lila openly displaying attempts to stay with Chloe, Lila is effectively making steps in convincing the student body that she, the kind and devoted girl who has helped resolve countless seemingly impossible problems throughout the world, has now decided to befriend the girl who would ordinarily listen to no one, no one but her.

(In “Perfection”, Lila openly shows her attempts to restrain Chloe from her typical behavior by instructing her to allow Marinette to sit next to Adrien, allowing her to not only show everyone her attempts to be more involved and better Chloe’s behavior, but additionally make it seem like she alone is someone whom Chloe will listen to)

However, despite Lila and Chloe agreeing to work together to ruin Marinette, Chloe alone believes  Lila had intended to befriend her amidst their allegiance as she remarks by saying that Lila’s efforts have now earned her a spot as her new best friend, something which Sabrina is shown to be saddened and conflicted about as she had long believed herself to be Chloe’s one and only best friend. Although Sabrina is also gradually learning about Lila’s true nature,  given she will do anything for Chloe, Sabrina remains loyal to Chloe and her choice to have Lila within their little social circle, however, the longer Lila remains with them, the more Sabrina begins to realize that Chloe does not hold the same level of respect towards her as she does with Lila (more here).

(Chloe is unaware that Lila only intends to take advantage of her and not befriend her)

Aside from Chloe, Lila is additionally attempting to pursue and take advantage of Kagami, whos inexperience with friendships have made her vulnerable towards kindness, and whos lack of social skills and understanding towards how friendships work, have left her unaware of  when someone like Lila is taking advantage of her.

In an effort to gain Kagami’s loyalty and separate her from Marinette, lila had taken steps to make Kagami question whether or not she is actually good enough to be considered a friend to others, specifically Marinette, even more so if she qualified to be viewed by Marinette herself as a friend rather than just someone she pitied and is now gradually avoiding. 

(Lila provides Kagami a “Friendship test” to persuade her into believing that Marinette does not view her in the same regard as her other friends, restricting her from properly talking to Marinette to sort out any misunderstandings and instead inching her to believing that she has no reason being friends with someone(Marinette) whom Lila claims is not considerate of her)

Despite Kagami and Marinette sorting out their misunderstandings near the end of “Perfection”, Kagami’s realization that the love people have among friends is multiplied rather than divided, has prompted her to accept Lila’s friendship as well. If Marinette views her in just as much regard as Alya and her other friends, and if the others within Adrien and Marinette’s social circle are willing to be kind and considerate enough to help make a giant banner to symbolize their acceptance of her and attempts to befriend her, then to have Lila would mean to have one more friend who cares about her and to cherish in return, all things Lila has no intention to fulfill in return as her efforts remain solely to tarnish and end the bond Kagami has developed with Marinette, making Kagami that much easier to persuade into retaliating against Marinette in her place. 

Even though it has been revealed that Kagami and Chloe are targeted by Lila, they are far from the only ones Lila intends to take advantage of. In "Perfection, Lila is seen within a mysterious bed room vastly different from her room in “Catalyst”, observing various photos of Marinette surrounded by different people within her life. The photos she has spent time cutting Marinette out of, primarily focus on Marinette’s relationships with Luka, Zoe, Kagami, as well as her parents. 

Aside from Kagami, Lila has already made steps to get close to Sabine as she is seen actively attending her class back in “Quilin”. Had Lila continued to attend Sabine's class, Lila would have planned the simple approach of focusing her attention in forging a fake bond with Sabine, but how she plans to take advantage of her as well as the others is something we will need to wait and see.

[aliensunflower-fics]

How to Exploit Kindness [A New Kind of Lila Salt Prompt]

[ Ive seen Lila and Class salt that goes a lot of different ways. In some Lilas a sad lonely girl who will do anything for friends and the class fall for her lies through a mixture of manipulation and Lila’s genuine sad lonely but real persona. In others Lila is insane and the class get basically sucked into her cult. And in others still, Lila slowly breaks the class down by preying on there insecurities, hidden jealousies ect. There are the versions where Lila just bribes the class with connections and the versions where Lila frames Marinette until no one believes her. But I wanted to write a new idea for people to use, one that I feel is a bit more realistic. One where Marinette’s classmates are more their more authentic kind selves but still get slowly pulled into Lila’s web and where Lila is just a bit more intelligent. ]

[ As usual with all my prompts feel free to borrow the idea to write for your own thing salt, sugar, cuteness angst ect just be sure to credit me for the idea so I can read it. ]

Lila was furious! This wasn’t how it was supposed to go! She was supposed to be everyone's friend! She was supposed to finally get a cute perfect boyfriend who would cherish her like she deserved! She was supposed to be HAPPY! But no, the pathetic beetle Ladybug and that goody two shoes Marinette kept ruining everything!

No… No that wasn’t quite true. As much as she wanted to blame her problems on those two it wasn’t entirely their faults. Honestly Lila wasn’t quite sure what had happened. Her lies had been working at first, they had gotten her praise and compliments and adoration and friendship! But now? Now they were all ignoring her, unimpressed by her celeb lies! She could not understand it! At first she’d been sure it was Marinette or Ladybug maybe even Adrien had turned on her! But when she’d probed for information she’d learned that none of them had blown the whistle. So what was it! Tomorrow… Tomorrow she will find out one way or another. She needed to get them back under her thumb somehow.

 It was Chloe who gave Lila her answers. Chloe was the reason none of her classmates cared about her stories! Chloe was the idiot mayor's brat. And what a brat she was constantly wiggling her way into her mothers fashion shoots or had celebrities over at the hotel. Of course Lila’s classmates didn’t care about Lila’s celebrity connections because Chloe was always name dropping just as many people as herself. The only difference was Lila used fake modesty and shyness that made her ‘friends’ view her lies in less of a gloating light than Chloe’s haughty claims of celebrity meetings.

It was a damn shame, celebrity lies were her bread and butter, they were exciting got people to think you were important and they were hard to prove or disprove allowing Lila to easily get around the messy little detail of ‘proof’ if someone asked for pictures all she could say was that her mom didn't let her take any because she didn't want her precious daughter being targeted by crazy fans. And if someone asked her to use her celebrity connections? Well she could just turn on the water works and cry about them just being her friend for her connections. Thus her prey would be forced to be her ‘friend’ , always listening to her and doing things for her, unable to ask for anything in return. Then when her mother announced their next move Lila would tearfully say goodbye and leave all her suckers behind. But without the sway of her celebrity lies her system broke down. That was the problem with picking the school full of rich talented idiots she supposed.

Well with Chloe ruining her system she’d need a new one. Scrolling through her classmates' social media for a clue she sneered at their overly cheerful and cutesy posts. Always encouraging one another and posting encouraging puff pieces about this or that. Always acting like they were so nice. As Lila scrolled over a charity fundraiser event that Alya had retweeted from Milene a sudden thought crossed her mind. Her classmates were very ‘nice’ and annoyingly so. They were always butting into each other's business, always being SO concerned, always organizing events to help each other and appreciate each other and going to charity events.

In fact now that she thought about it the stories that had intrigued her ‘friends’ always had some sort of charity garbage attached. Saving Jagged’s kitten or raising money for some cause or other that always got her heaps of praise. Sure saying Clara whatshername stole her dance moves got attention but not in the same way saying she raised money for some green project. Was it really that simple? Sure her classmates all loved Marinette for her extreme generosity and kindness but was it REALLY that simple? She needed to check.

 It was actually that easy. One simple little lie about how she pulled a blind old man out of danger when he was nearly run over and suddenly the class was bathing her in praise. And the ‘fact’ that the whole very real thing made her miss first period and sprain her ankle? Well that was just the cherry on top. Suddenly Max was offering her a copy of his notes and everyone was back to caring for her like she was a princess. The fact that Marinette looked like she was seething only for sweet naive Adrien to keep her mouth shut was just so perfect. She’d found her golden ticket. Her classmates were truly ‘good kind people’ and nothing could be exploited quite like kindness.

With this knowledge Lila would easily be able to destroy Marinette, sure she wouldn’t be able to do it quickly but slowly she would replace her, with every good deed she made up with every act of false modesty she would build a reputation greater than Marinette’s she would replace her and become there new ‘everyday ladybug’ and the best part was she wouldn’t have to say ANYTHING against Marinette. Not. A. Thing. No sweet righteous Marinette would eventually snap, sadly for her it would probably be too late with how much control Adrien had over her, so when it happened Marinette would look like the jealous crazy girl going after the girl that was kinder, sweeter, and better than herself. As for Adrien… Well she had a hard time believing it at first but he really was an idiot with a pretty face as long as she was careful as she built her new reputation he would genuinely believe that she was changing for the better and then he'd fall for her.

The best part was, her classmates were genuine. As she built her new good girl heart of gold persona they would genuinely come to love her, all the loyalty Marinette got to enjoy all the perks of being friends with such talented, kind, sweet people would become hers. Slowly no matter how Marinette struggled she would lose, eventually she’d have nothing left. Of course she’d need to be careful with her lies but that was easy. Bring the class to a charity here and there and tell them that she was the one who gave the idea for the charity to the actual organizer but didn't want any credit because she was just that kind and humble. If they tried to make her do actual work then she’d have a sudden accident that would require she sit down.

And then once she’d done more photoshoots with Adrien for Gabriel she’d ‘convince’ the man that a charity would make him look good and boost sales. She’d MAKE her lies true all while winning over her future father in law, and heck maybe she’d even pocket a little of the money, she could use a better wardrobe and the extra would be perfect to buy her ‘friends’ the occasional ice cream or presents. In between that she’d just lie about saving people or volunteering on weekends. Maybe even let it ‘slip’ how she was a temp hero for Ladybug . One of the sweetest parts was that between volunteering with Lila, there own activities and hanging out with Lila so she could ‘thank them for their hard work’ no one would be spending a second hanging out with sweet pink little Marinette, they'd abandon her without even realizing it because they’d be SO busy. Sadly this plan of hers would take a little more work then her others, but it would be worth it to become the queen bee of the class- NO the school! And when Marinette eventually slipped up and looked like the biggest jealous bully in the school. Well she’d have no choice but to leave the school with her tail in between her legs.

Victory was looking sweet and satisfying.

 [ And where it goes from here is up to you. Lila can win, she can slowly convince the class and school that she's a model citizen and an everyday hero. She can sneakily maneuver the class to not spend time with Marinette slowly separating the girl from her friends. In this way Alya and the rest of them don't become evil salty versions of themselves who overnight hate Marinette and love Lila, but rather they are good naive people who got slowly separated and tricked by someone who wants to use their genuine talents and skills to make herself look better. Adrien who is already shown to be naive and wants to believe the best in people, can fall into Lila’s trap and become genuinely convinced that his high road method really worked and ‘reformed’ Lila into a better person. OR Lila can fail, she can claim to be the wrong temporary hero for ladybug, or she can pick the wrong charity to lie about, or get exposed any number of ways and the class can realize with horror that because they are kind but flawed people who are perhaps too trusting and gullible that they got pulled away from Marinette through subtle manipulation and so they can be redeemed because instead of turning into outright bullies they stayed the same kind people they always were but just got genuinely tricked which is something that can actually happen in real life. You can go heavy salt where Marinette does eventually leave the school or class heartbroken that her kind friends have fallen prey to a bad person Marinette cant find a way to expose. Or you can go clever salt where Marinette figures out Lila’s plan and fights her from the inside slowly exposing the cracks in her facade. Or you can go sugar and redemption where maybe just maybe Lila actually LIKES being nice to people and having real friends who dont care about her fake celeb connections, maybe she honestly redeems herself and even makes amends with Marinette. You can do genuinely anything with this idea and I hope to see this generate some new less *and suddenly everyone is evil* content for those that like salt and angst. ]

[ilikekidsshows]

The Ladybug Lie Is Old News

Okay. After ‘Gang of Secrets’, I’ve repeatedly seen people ignore everything the change in the episode implies in favor of thinking back to ‘Volpina’, and expecting Alya to now go up against Lila for lying about being Ladybug’s best friend. I’m once again going to have to disagree with the fandom consensus, because I don’t think that Alya should do something about it (since she also can’t tell people why she knows it’s not true. She’s not gonna go around saying: “I’m Ladybug’s best friend, so Lila can’t be it.”). I also don’t think the lie in ‘Volpina’ is even as important as these takes make it out to be.

I’m sorry to rain on people’s parade, but Marinette’s hatred of Lila wasn’t just because of the Ladybug lie; it was about her using the Ladybug lie to get close to Adrien specifically, and then her hatching different schemes to ruin Marinette’s reputation. The conflict between Lila and Marinette has been developing for two seasons and I doubt either one of them even remembers the lie that started it all, especially not Lila, who has no reason to think that’s the rivalry-triggering lie. Lila lying about Marinette being a cheat and a thief is a bit more important than Lila lying about knowing Ladybug.

The point is, Marinette’s beef with Lila has always been personal and has only grown more personal with time. This means Alya isn’t going to react identically to Marinette. Yeah, she might be more suspicious of the things Lila claims, but she’s never bought into Lila’s attempts to villify Marinette to begin with, so I don’t know what would suddenly be different. Alya has no idea about the other shit Lila got up to, like threatening Marinette in the bathroom, because Marinette still hasn’t told anyone about that.

Never mind how Marinette might also not think Lila is a threat now because, for all she knows, Lila took back her lies in ‘Ladybug’ of her own volition and might be turning over a new leaf. Marinette doesn’t know Adrien shielded her, because Adrien also isn’t telling anyone what he’s seen from Lila.

In addition to all of this, no other character outside of Gabriel Agreste knows that Lila is getting willingly Akumatized and seems to be just waiting for the chance to become Hawk Moth’s criminal protegé. Not a single character has all the info on Lila that the audience has, and that’s what makes her such an efficient villain. Never mind that even we don’t know what Lila’s next agenda is going to be, since she hasn’t been seen since her plans were foiled in ‘Ladybug’, and even that plan was created at Gabriel’s request.

Although, we can guess from the ending of ‘Ladybug’ that Lila is Adrien’s nemesis now. He’s the only one who’s even close to being onto her. It’s Adrien’s ball game now.

[mcheang]

Exclusive

Edna Mode was a renowned designer, famed for her harsh but accurate critiques, her fierce and practical lines, and of course, being the designer of the majority of superheroes.

And now she was hosting a fashionista gala, inviting those worthy of a Mode gala. As for those asking for an invite, Edna just asks who they are and calls security.

Lila, as the self-proclaimed BFF of Ladybug, and Gabriel’s muse, had already boasted of receiving the glamorous invitation. It didn’t just come in an envelope, it came out of the sky in a rosewood chest, accompanied by a bottle of wine and canapés. (Or so she says. Adrien and Marinette rolled their eyes. Chloé wasn’t paying attention)

Alya: Girl, I’m so jealous. But hey, maybe this will be a good thing. After all, Adrien is going with Kagami. Chloe will just stick with her mom. That means it’s a chance for you and Marinette to know each other better.

Oh yeah, did I mention that everyone knows Marinette is MDC?

Lila forced a grin but didn’t want to make any promises.

Imagine Lila’s rage to know she wasn’t given an invite because she was just a model. Adrien was the heir to a fashion company. She was not.

With all the bragging Lila did, she can’t back out or Chloe and Marinette will call out her absence. (Chloé learned about Lila being a guest from Sabrina later from gossiping)

So, she stole Marinette’s invitation. She did some editing and made her own customised invite, brandishing it for her class to see.

Marinette saw her invitation missing, rolled her eyes and reported the theft to Edna. Plz, everyone knows Edna invited her. She didn’t really need a piece of expensive paper.

The day of the gala arrived, and Lila brought out her invite.

The guard looked at his clipboard. “You’re not on the list.”

Lila: No, but I do have an invite. Obviously someone must have made a mistake with your list.

The guard snorted. “If that’s the case, then your fingerprints and eye scans should have already been registered. That’s what opens the doors.“

Lila gulped and thought about sneaking in with the next guest. But no such luck. Security made sure one person entered at a time.

As the security guard moved to push Lila back into the crowd of fans, Lila cried out that she knows Ladybug and Gabriel.

Guard: what’s your point?

Lila: You’ll be fired for this!

Guard: Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard this all before.

Another guard just scoffed. “You’re only a model. One of many in the industry. Miss Mode doesn’t care for models.”

Lila: what are models if not the face of fashion?

“Spoiled, stupid little stick figures with poofy lips who think only of themselves” Edna herself was at the entrance, wondering what was causing the disruption in her guest entrance flow.

Lila: How can you say that? Then why would Ladybug be my Best Friend?

Edna: the day Ladybug says she is your Best Friend is the day I wear crocs. And I don’t mean crocodile leather.

Edna points at a random guard. “You, get this so-called model out of the way. She is blocking the queue.

Oh by the way, Edna calling out Lila was caught on camera by the reporters.

One of them questioned why she was kicking out Gabriel’s muse when his son, a supermodel himself, was invited.

Edna: I did not invite the boy because of his face. I invited him because I saw potential (basically she realized he was Chat Noir. She would never invite Adrien otherwise. As seen from her quote, she doesn’t have a high opinion of models) That is, if he ever gets out of his father’s shadow. Because, let’s face it darling, what can Adrien do besides look pretty and play with swords and piano? You would think the boy would be in part of business meetings, but no. At this rate, Gabriel needs this gala to get out of that stuffy house. Realize that maybe his parenting methods are flawed compared to some other talented figures here. Look at Miss Kagami, focused on upholding her family legacy of fencing. MDC already knows how to run her own business after learning a bit from her parents. Even Audrey’s daughter has been joining in on becoming a fashion critic and throwing parties for political parties. But I must go, my guests await.

Back inside the party, guests were avoiding a seething Gabriel’s eyes. He had come to scout out the superhero guests, only to be called out by Edna on live tv.

Marinette went up to Edna and asked one of her fashion idols why she burned the Agrestes in public.

Edna: do you think Gabriel would change his parenting ways if we did not expose them to the influential figures of this industry, as well as the public eye? I guarantee you Adrien will be allowed more freedom of choice, lest Gabriel wants his son to be known as a coddled boy who can’t even make his own decisions.

Edna didn’t bother softening her sharp voice as she says these words.

Adrien flushed.

Quickly changing the subject, Marinette asked why Edna hated models.

Edna: it’s not that I hate them personally. I just hate their jobs and what they represent. Models nowadays are beautiful only according to the world standards. People who see them want to be like them, never mind that the models they see on the screen are airbrushed to unrealistic and impossible perfection. Now models focus only on their own appearance, trying to maintain their beauty as time ages them. They go on diets and become superficial. Whereas outside the modelling industry or such like, you don’t need to be stereotypically beautiful to be worthy. Where your worth is measured in kindness and bravery and talent and intelligence and anything beyond superficiality.

Adrien overheard and he frowned, not liking the idea where his appearance on ads is not exactly right. He only joined the company to make his father happy. But maybe it’s time he stepped into the business side of things and exit the modelling world. Bonus: no more Lila!

Edna snorted, “Though I must admit Gabriel surprised me with his newest model. Her attitude is lousy but she doesn’t strike me as a model. She just doesn’t have that model walk. But enough about the old man, my dear MDC, let’s talk about you. I love your gender-neutral line. And was wondering if you would like to join me in creating my next line of clothes for the Incredibles. A rare opportunity but I like style. Now take this offer before I change my mind.”

Marinette: wait, do I have to fly over or-

Edna: you are too excited, darling, but don’t worry, my assistants will send you the details.

Why are the Incredibles getting a new look? The kids are growing up and Edna wanted to move on to new styles.

As Marinette was flabbergasted, Audrey congratulated her for landing the job. Kagami and Adrien also beamed at her good fortune.

Even the Incredibles admitted they looked forward to working with her. Violet was a big fan.

Gabriel was seething and thought about akumatizing himself but come on, one villain against a room of superheroes? No thanks.

Drinking a glass of wine, he eventually admits that Edna had a point, however loudly and rudely it had been announced.

He would not be around forever and he wanted to leave the company in Adrien’s hands. In order for that to happen, his son needs to know business (if he can’t design, he can hire designers)

And yes, Lila was a lousy model. She survived by shooting with professional models who managed to overpower her mediocre work. But a deal was a deal. Besides, her contract was only for a year.

After the gala, Adrien happily quit modelling (aka Lila) to spend more time with his father, learning about how to run a company.

Marinette and Edna proudly claimed credit for the fashionable Incredibles.

Violet also became the talk of the school for her MDC exclusives.

Lila had been humiliated on air. Alya hesitated but finally did her research. At the end, she collapsed over the ruined credibility of her blog. But she can still get revenge by informing the principal, Ms Bustier and Mrs Rossi what Lila lied about. The perks of being a class vice president for a busy class president is that she also has the contacts list for emergencies.

Considering how Lila framed Marinette, there would be no suspension or detention. Only expulsion. Good luck finding a new school when Edna’s gala was a global topic.

When Lila returned to school for her last week (it takes time to gather evidence and get the attention of busy adults), nobody wanted to talk to her or even exchange glances. She quietly kept to herself, hoping for this to blow over soon. She was still a model working for Gabriel. She could befriend other supermodels (as if. Like they would want to befriend her after Edna called her out)

Hell, even her jobs were down. Gabriel just told her to take test shoots to fill up her portfolio until the hype died down (aka her contract expired)

When Lila was expelled, she was ready to be akumatized into Chameleon again. Except one problem. Everyone avoided her like hell so how could she kiss her target. Even Adrien was told to stay away lest his reputation be tarnished.

Ok, I admit it. I was hit by “I’m no Angel” quotes as I wrote this. But seriously, does anyone feel weird at the idea of trying to become thinner when your weight is just right, all the while you know there are people out there even thinner than you are and are starving, not because they want to be stereotypically thin, but because they cannot afford food?

[sturchling]

Alya challenges Aurore to go on this web show Blog-Off where. All the best bloggers judges which blog is best tears Alyas to pieces tell Alya off 4 her Lila worship her toxic bad friend pushy attitude that includes her own bf ex bestie and half her class (Nath Alix Julkea Sabrina Chloe) Aurore wins Lila exposed Alya defeated and devastated

Alya was feeling pretty confident about today. She was sure that she would win the contest today. Recently, she had been watching as Aurore’s blog grew in popularity and had even started to surpass Alya’s blog in viewership. It infuriated Alya and she was stewing in jealousy for weeks, wanting to do something to make Aurore’s blog less popular. She never even posted about Ladybug herself, she only talked about the akuma attacks themselves. Aurore’s blog was so boring, so Alya couldn’t understand how she had more readers than Alya’s exciting blog. But Alya was going to do something about it.

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

Alya had heard about an amazing new show where amateur bloggers could face off and have both of their blogs judged by professional journalists and bloggers to determine which of the two blogs is better. Alya was sure this would get her readers to come back. Not only would her blog be on national TV which is a great way to get her blog’s name out there, but it would also show the world that her blog is better than Aurore’s and she would get Aurore’s readers. Alya applied for the show and listed Aurore’s blog as the one she wanted to challenge. The TV network that ran the show was very interested since both blogs were about Paris’ heroes and the akumas, which would surely draw in viewers for that episode. They sent Alya an email inviting her to the show, if Aurore agreed.  

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

Alya went to school the next day with a fire in her eyes. She walked right up to Aurore and challenged her to the show. Aurore rolled her eyes, but agreed to the show. She knew how this would end, since Alya never fact checked anything and her blog was just full of lies. But Aurore knew this could be a good way to gain more readers and make connections with professional bloggers. Alya told the TV network that Aurore had agreed and it was decided that the episode would air live next Saturday. Mrs. Bustier’s class was excited and all agreed to meet at Nino’s house to watch the show, since they weren’t allowed to go to the studio with Alya. Marinette and her friends would also be watching from Marinette’s house to support Aurore. Soon, all anyone at the school could talk about was the show on Saturday.

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

Alya stood in shock on the TV stage, and couldn’t believe what she was hearing. First the blogger panel had praised Aurore’s boring blog. They said that is was well organized, well researched, and her writing was excellent. “This is a very informative blog, and I love the interactive map of akuma battle locations. Very interesting.” Then the bloggers on the show turned to Alya’s blog and began tearing her blog apart. “What is this garbage? All of these stories are obviously false. And there are no sources listed anywhere on here for your most recent stories about this Lila Rossi! This blog doesn’t even meet the basic requirements of journalism. This is shameful work Mrs. Cesaire!” Alya stuttered, trying to defend her blog. “W-what do you mean? I do have my sources listed. I got my information straight from the primary source, from Lila herself!” One of the other judges just scoffed. “Please. Putting aside the fact that a good blogger has multiple sources for each piece to corroborate the story, this girl’s stories are obvious fabrications. For example, her story about saving Jagged Stone’s cat. It is a well known fact that Jagged Stone’s only pet is a crocodile named Fang. And even if he did have a cat, how would that cat have ended up on an airport tarmac? And even more importantly, what self respecting airport would let their security be so weak that a teen girl was able to slip through and chase said cat. And being that close to a plane with no hearing protection wouldn’t just give a person tinnitus, it would make them deaf. And that is only one of the idiotic stories on this blog.”

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

This continued for several minutes, the bloggers tearing into Alya about her poor journalism skills and all Alya could do is stand in stunned silence. She had never realized how silly Lila’s stories were until it was pointed out to her, but now it was all Alya could think about. How could she have been so blind that she didn’t notice Lila lied to her? When the judges were done speaking to Alya, they didn’t even have to deliberate. They immediately declared Aurore the winner, naming her the superior blog. Everyone filtered off the stage, Alya still feeling numb to it all. She at least had the sense to congratulate and apologize to Aurore. Alya was completely devastated as she realized her blog, her pride and joy, was ruined. Sure she could fix the immediate problem. She could take down the stories Lila told her and post an apology, but in the long run she knew her blog’s reputation was ruined and there would be no recovery. It had just been torn apart on live TV, no one would ever read her blog again.

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

After everything had happened, Lila left the school, going back to Italy hoping to find a new class of suckers to trick and no one in Paris heard from her again. She didn’t want to leave, but she had just been exposed as a liar on national TV. The class had all gathered to watch the show too, and were furious when they realized that the judge was right and that Lila had been lying. She had raced from Nino’s house and convinced her mother that she was to frightened of the akumas to stay in Paris anymore. Her mother believed the fake breakdown and immediately sent her back to Italy, never learning about the trouble her daughter caused in Paris. 

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

Alya did take down the stories on her blog and post an apology, but the damage had been done. Some loyal readers stayed around, but Alya lost a lot of readers after the show and her blog wasn’t nearly as popular anymore. Alya decided that instead of chasing viewers, which is what got her in this mess in the first place, she was going to focus on her journalism and try to improve. She made amends with Aurore and Marinette for everything that she did because of Lila, and was even helping Aurore with her blog from time to time. And Aurore was helping Alya with her fact checking.  While Alya was sad about what happened, she was glad it happened. It taught her several important lessons about being a reporter and helped to improve her journalism. The lesson itself may have hurt and been embarrassing, but Alya needed it and wouldn’t change anything about what happened.