#saltfic september

[sturchling]

Salt-Fic September Day 5: You’re Not Invited

Mrs. Bustier’s class was having a meeting over the end of the year trip. They still had several months to go, but it was important to start planning now so they had plenty of time to raise all the money. Every year they went on the most awesome trips. Everyone in school was always jealous. Of course, that was when Marinette had been class rep. The class had decided to vote Marinette out of the class rep position a few weeks ago and put Lila in the position instead. Now, Marinette and her friends just sat in the back of the class, trying their best to ignore the mean words and glares thrown their way through out the day.

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Most of the class had turned on Marinette, except a handful that knew Lila had been lying about Marinette. Now, only Nino, Kim, Adrien, and Juleka still believed her. Adrien had known, of course, since Ladybug called Lila out in front of him. Nino, Kim, and Juleka finally looked closer at some the lies. Nino got curious when he noticed a lot of negative comments on Alya’s blog, saying that she doesn’t fact check. Kim figured it out when Lila said that a famous Olympic swimmer was actually a figure skater. Juleka figured it out when Luka refused to have Lila at band practice. She didn’t know why he didn’t like Lila, so she asked and he told her everything. A quick google search proved everything. Now everyone in that friend group just avoids Lila.

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Now at the start of the class meeting, Lila started talking about this grand trip she had planned for the class. The trip was supposed to take them on a cross country trip through America, hitting every major city they could. As she talked about the trip, Marinette and her friends just rolled their eyes, knowing that this trip would fall through and Lila would offer some bogus excuse as to why everything went wrong. After Lila finished talking about the amazing trip she was going to organize, she looked up at Marinette. “Oh, Marinette? The class was talking and we decided you are not invited. We would just rather not have your drama on our trip.” The class was expecting Marinette to get upset, apologize, and ask to be put back on the trip. Instead all they got from her was “That’s fine. I’ll find something else to do that week. Since I’m not going, I don’t need to be here. I’m heading home, bye guys.” Marinette gathered her stuff and walked out the door. Her friends also gathered their stuff and went to leave. Lila called out to them, “Wait, you guys can still come. Its just Marinette we didn’t want.” They all looked at each other and Nino said, “Thanks Lila, but if Marinette doesn’t come, neither do we.” Then they walked out of the class to find Marinette.

  ------------------

They find her at the bakery, and expected her to be a bit upset, but she was perfectly fine. Adrien asked what was on everyone’s mind, “Marinette, not that we want you to be upset, but we expected you would be. Are you ok?”  Marinette turned with a smile on her face, and that is when the group of four noticed she was on a FaceTime call with someone. “Yeah, I’m fine. I figured this might happen with Lila as class rep. But I already have something else to go do. This is my friend Damian. He and his family have been friends with my family for a long time. Apparently, my grandma is close friends with their butler.  This year they asked for me to make them some new suits to the Wayne Gala. They also invited me to come. I originally told them no because of the class trip, but now that I’m not going, I can go to the gala instead.” Marinette looks like she had an idea and turns to face Damian. “Hey, could my friends come with me to Gotham? Knowing them, they probably backed out of the class trip after I left.” “I am sure my father won’t have a problem with it. They can come.” Then the group of friends started planning for their new trip.

  ------------------

Months went by and Marinette and her friends’ trip to Gotham was all planned. They would leave the same day the class trip was supposed to start. They would stay in Gotham for a week and the Wayne Gala would be on Friday. They would be staying with the Waynes at the manor all week. They had their passports and everything was ready. Now they just had to wait to leave.

  ------------------

Meanwhile, the class trip wasn’t working out so well. None of the fundraisers were meeting their goals, so the class had almost no money for the trip. They tried to get Marinette to help, since she was so good at these things. But she just told them no, since she isn’t going on the trip, she won’t help fund it. Lila was trying to figure out the perfect way to tell the class that the trip fell through. She ended up deciding to tell them that they friend that was helping her set up the trip had ghosted her and won’t answer any calls or texts. The class was really bummed but understood. With the money they had, they decided to go to London for the week. Lila said that she would handle everything for the trip, and not to worry. While they were sad that their trip wouldn’t be as glamorous as they had thought, they were sure they would still have a better time than Marinette and her friends.

  ------------------

When it was time for the trips to leave, the class received some bad news. Lila came to them in tears, explaining how when she went to pay for the reservations and everything for the trip, she was mugged and all the money was stolen. The class was upset, now they didn’t have a trip at all. They looked across the street and saw Marinette and her friends with a boy they didn’t know. They were all climbing into a limo! The class rushed over and Alix asked, “Hey, where are you guys going?” Marinette responded without looking at them, still packing their stuff into the limo, “We are going to Gotham. We got invited to the Wayne Gala. So, we are staying with my friend Damian for a week.” Lila and the rest of the class quickly put together that Marinette meant her friend Damian Wayne! How did Marinette know them? Lila walked closer to Damian, hoping to charm her way onto the trip. “Listen, I got mugged and we lost all the money for our class trip. Since, they are from our class and they are going, do you think we could come too?” Damian just looked at Lila with a cold look on his face. “No, you’re not invited.” Lila stood in shock as the group of friends climbed into the limo and sped off to the airport. The class was left in Paris while Marinette and her friends had the time of their lives in Gotham.

Hope you guys liked it! @maribat-central-official

[charming-mage]

Salt-fic September Day 7: “From now on, I’m gonna call you Karen.”

@maribat-central-official

Salt Fic September Month Calendar

@agent-numbuh-227′s ask fits perfectly with this salt-fic September prompt, so I combined them.

Here’s my entry for Salt-Fic September.

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“Waiter, my steak is not cooked enough. Send it back and have it reheated.”

“Yes, Miss Rossi.” The waiter takes her plate to the kitchen.

Lila is having lunch at the Le Grand Paris hotel's Le Petit Restaurant. She’s not at school today as she told her gullible classmates she is in Achu for an emergency meeting. To not get caught by them, she timed it to be same time as their regular lunch hour. By the time Monday came, she’ll have new Achu stories and claim the quick lunch at Le Petit Restaurant was on a different day.

A few times during the meal, she claimed a bunch of petty stuff such as needing more ice in her water, trying to order something not on the menu, asking for more napkins when there’s already enough on the table, and ordering a caramelized onion tart with many things from it removed. The last complaint got the head chef herself to step out of the kitchen to address it. 

The head chef made it clear she wouldn’t majorly alter the food. If Lila didn’t like it, she could order something else. The silent look of ‘If you don’t like the food here, then leave’ is understood.

After the delicious meal is finished, the waiter came with the bill. 

“Waiter, since I’m a famous Gabriel model I should get a nice 30% discount. I’ll be sure to post on my social media about your restaurant’s generosity.” Lila is perfectly able to pay the bill in full. She just doesn’t like paying in full if she doesn’t have to.

“Miss Rossi, we do not offer discounts here.”

“You should after that ordeal I went through. I couldn’t finish my meal without something coming up.”

“Miss-”

“You know what, get me your manager.” 

“Is there a problem?” says the head chef as the waiter leaves.

“Oh, you’re back. As I was saying, I need a discount to make up for the multiple errors that interrupted my lunch.”

“I’m sorry, there is a no discount policy. You need to pay the entire bill.”

“Do you know who I am?” The lack of recognition on the head chef’s face infuriates her. “I’m Gabriel Agreste’s muse. You guys should be happy I’m here. A mention of me eating here on my twitter will boost your sales.”

“No discounts-”

“Mr. Agreste would not be pleased at this service. He might even need to have a talk with your manager. I’ll forgive you if you make my meal free. I’ll pay for the drinks of course,” bluffs Lila. She would not actually bother Gabriel over something like this.

The head chef’s eyes harden. “No matter to your....connection with Mr. Agreste, you must still pay your meal. If you can’t, I’m afraid I’ll have to call the police.”

“T-There’s no need to.” Lila hands over the cash and quickly scampers off before the manager arrives.

Once outside, she spots a handsome guy around her age that was in the restaurant earlier. He has slick black hair and green eyes. She tells a shorthand tale of woe hopping to win him over.

His face of indifference doesn’t change. “You wasted my 3 minutes of life with a tale of your horrible behavior. Even money can’t buy you better manners.”

Lila storms off in a huff.

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“-it was horrible. The head chef at the Le Petit Restaurant was so mean. Couldn’t even get my order right and had to get it remade several times. She wouldn’t accommodate my allergies too. She got angry when I asked her to keep some stuff off my food.”

After the handsome guy’s reaction, she tailored her story to focus more on the head chef than herself.

Alya looks shocked. “You mean the one inside Le Grand Paris?” 

Lila nods. “Yes. I’m never going back there while that horrible woman is still there. Maybe I should report her?” The class is silent and weirdly horrified. She didn’t think the woman’s actions in her story was that outrageous. 

Ayla slowly says, “You’re the difficult customer my mother was talking about.”

“What do you mean?” The shock of Ayla not cheerfully agreeing prevents her making the connection right away.

 Ayla continues on. “My mom told our family about a rude customer at work. Very picky with their food, waving their connection around, and demanding discounts and free food. Even Chloe wasn’t as demanding as this girl. She didn’t say who it was, though.” 

Kim gasps, “Oh my god. Lila’s a Karen.”

“W-Wait I can explain-”

Chloe laughs, “Shut up, Karen. You let the fame go to your head. A few modeling shoots and this amateur thinks she’s a big shot.”

A wide eyed Rose says, “What happened to you Lila? You used to be so kind and giving. Now you turned into this.”

Lila tries to do damage control. “Look guys, I’m so sorry. I’ve learned my lesson and I’ll never do this again.” She’s only ‘apologizing’ to get them to forget about this and move on. Think of it as a one time experience that’ll never happen. A little stain on her reputation is better than no one listening to her ever again over not saying some nice words.

Alix crosses her arms. “You’re not going to apologize to Alya about what you said about her mom? If you told those lies to the hotel Mrs. Cesaire could have gotten in big trouble with her disregarding allergies.” At that point Lila connected the dots and realized the source is the head chef: Ayla’s mom. No wonder the girl was so mad. A little surprised in not getting a slap in the face, though.

Chloe interrupts Lila’s storm of apologies to Alya with her fateful words, “Miss wannabe big shot, from now on, you’ll be Karen in my eyes.”

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Lila’s reign of lies may not completely fallen that day, but it’s pretty close. Mrs. Bustier’s class from then on took her stories with a grain of salt. Was Le Petit Restaurant Incident a one time occurrence or a pattern? No one trusted her accounts with other people from then on. They wonder if the people’s behavior in the story is as accurate as she claims. 

A few had darker thoughts, wondering if Lila is truely like this the entire time and the fame just made it easier to see.

It becomes a tradition to call Lila Karen whenever they catch her doing what they call her “Karen-like” ways. Like Lila trying to get special accommodations (not medical related) and claiming someone is being mean to her. So no one believed Lila when she cries about Marinette saying bad things about her when no ones looking. It could be like the Mrs. Cesaire situation all over again. Maybe it’s just Marinette being firm on her boundries.

With the exception of one, the classmates don’t call her Karen too often as they don’t want to cross the line into bullying.

Chloe, channeling her inner Style Queen, never called Lila by her name ever again. Lila will always be Karen to her.

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Before it’s asked, Ayla never asked her mom when this happened. She just knows it happened recently.

Did a small Damian cameo. I only watched parts of the Batman Animated series and the Marvel Universe. Didn’t want to butcher him too much.

[miraculesbians]

@theoryfan205

@all-mights-asscheeks

[thatonedildonamedfrancois]

Okay... so I want to participate in saltfic-september so badly!! And I have so many ideas, but I only found out about it 2 days ago, so pls bare with me because I will publish stuff for it, but it’s not gonna be on time.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

I am the anon who sent the original ask about “Saltfic September”. Sorry for flooding your inbox with asks about salt, I was only trying to inform. As an apology, have some pingus (and a seal) from my penguin island.

[flightfoot]

As much as I'm bitter about saltfic September (especially for personal reasons), I just hope nobody harasses the people participating in it.

Yeah, fair enough. I might complain about the trends a ton, but there’s a reason I don’t like mentioning specific writers or fics publicly. It’s also why I tend to direct a lot of the anger and negative feelings more generally I feel when I see some of these saltfics towards Saltinette (not Marinette) rather than the writers themselves; it’s safer that way. 

[sixtyeightdays]

hi uh

this is just a small announcement i have

ive been going through kind of a rough latch in my life right now, and i dont think ill be able to write anytime soon

yeah it means that i probably wont be doing salfic september or biodad bruce wayne month, i mean maybe i will but right now i know that i probably wont

theres just some issues going on right now and ive hit a writers block too

so basically what im saying is that ill probabky be on hiatus for a while, and i may upload some of my completed works that are in my drafts atm but i wont be doing saltfic september or biodad bruce wayne month anytime soon

im sorry guys but uh yeah

[dizzying-faust]

And of course they organize saltfic September, on my birth month...

[sturchling]

Salt-Fic September Day 1: “But I’m The One Controlling You”

Damian was growing tired of hearing about Lila and her lies from Marinette. At first, Damian didn’t think this girl was too dangerous. Just a petty liar looking for attention. He thought Marinette should try harder to expose the liar if it irritated her that much. But Marinette wouldn’t do it. Agreste had asked her not to, so this liar was akumatized. After Damian learned about the situation in Paris, he understood why Marinette might hesitate to expose this Lila. So, he let it go and listened to Marinette when she needed to vent, assuming that Lila would not actually cause any harm. He had no idea the extent of Lila’s lying.

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Then Lila got Marinette expelled, and he learned just how far Lila would go. Damian was furious. How dare this girl lie about his friend? How could she get Marinette in trouble. Although Marinette asked him not to, he knew he had to get involved. First, he reached out to Agreste and explained his plan. Normally, Agreste wouldn’t want to be a part of this, but Agreste was willing to do anything to get Marinette back in school.  Even if it meant being ‘friends’ with Lila for a while. With Agreste on board, Damian moved forward with his plan. Lila had no idea who she had messed with. Agreste told Lila exactly what she wanted to hear. He agreed to be her friend if she got Marinette back in school. Now Damian waited to see what Lila would do to get Marinette back in school.

 ---------------

Lila did exactly as Damian hoped. She went to the school and created a story about a fake lying disorder. Marinette was allowed back in school, and everyone in her class acted like none of the drama had ever happened. Damian video called her to check on her soon after she went back to school.  That is when he found out about the threats and how Lila had been trying to turn the class against Marinette. Damian was livid. Lila had been making Marinette miserable for so long. And all because Marinette knew Lila was a liar. Damian decided it was time to move on to the next phase of his plan.

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The following week, Damian was enrolled at Marinette’s school for the foreseeable future. To say Marinette was surprised was a bit of an understatement. But she was happy to see her friend in person. Damian told Marinette the rest of his plan, so she would know what he is doing. From what Marinette told him, this Lila girl was always looking for a way to become famous. Damian Wayne joining the class should be a good way to lure her in.

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Soon after Damian arrived, Lila made her move. She went to him trying to look shy, flirty, and cute. She knew this guy would be her ticket to the good life. All she had to do was convince him to like her. Should be easy, she was a pro at manipulating people. The only problem she had, was that there was almost no information about him anywhere. The Wayne family is incredibly private, so there wasn’t much to go on about Damian. Lila would just have to wing it until she found out his interests. 

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It was almost too easy to get the liar to fall into the trap. Damian just had to act interested in her, and suddenly she was glued to his side. Agreste was thrilled that Lila switched targets, but felt a little bad for Damian. Lila thought that this was incredibly easy. She had hoped that Damian might pose a challenge for her, but he was ridiculously easy to trick. She quickly discovered his interests and turned herself into his dream girl. Soon, they were close friends and Damian was in the perfect position to bring about the liar’s downfall. 

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Damian started enacting the liar’s defeat immediately. First, he got Lila to lower her guard. Lila was thrilled when Damian started opening up and asked her out. Damian was like putty in her hands. She couldn’t believe how easy it was to control Damian Wayne. Just a few pretty words and he did whatever she wanted. Lila saw a future ahead of her that was beautiful. She would live in a beautiful mansion and have only the finest things. Then she would be well on her way to having the life she dreamed off. Fame and fortune will be hers. What she didn’t realize is that Damian was playing the long game.

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Damian was ready to finish this. He found Lila to be insipid and vexing. He gathered all the proof of Lila’s lies, ready to expose her to the idiots in class. The next day at school, she came up to him expecting him to play the perfect boyfriend. What she got instead was Damian pushing her away from him. Lila stood in shock. What was Damian doing? He was supposed to be putty in her hands. She feigned hurt and asked, “Damian? Why did you do that?” By this point the whole class had gathered around to watch the commotion. Lila got ready to pull out the tears if she needed to, but Damian’s tone shocked her to the point that she forgot to cry. She had never heard him talk like this. “I am done playing at being nice to you. You are nothing but a liar who tried to hurt Marinette because she actually had the intellect to know you are nothing but a liar, unlike this class of dullards. I want nothing to do with you.” Alya sprang to Lila’s defense, telling Damian to stop being so rude. “Lila isn’t a liar Damian. Why are you being so rude?” Before her eyes, Lila watched as Adrien revealed all of Lila’s lies with proof. She watched as the class realized they had been tricked and they all started glaring at her.

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By this point, Lila knew her influence over the class was gone and there was no saving it. She whipped back around to face Damian. “How could you do this Damian?” Damian had an ice cold look on his face that no one in class had seen on him before. “I didn’t do anything Lila. This is all your fault. You walked right into my trap.” Lila started to stammer, “But, but I was controlling you!” Damian smirked at her. “No, I am the one who was controlling you.”

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Lila left Francois Dupont after that. She managed to convince her mother to enroll her at a different school all the way across the city. But she was never able to gain control of her new class. They actually looked into her lies. Lila tried to change schools again, but her mother wouldn’t let her switch again so soon. Lila was stuck in a school with no control over her class. She missed how things used to be. All of this happened because of Damian. Because she didn’t realize that he was working against her behind the scenes. Now all her work is ruined and she lost her ticket to easy street. Lila would never forgive herself for being so stupid

Hope you guys liked it! @maribat-central-official This was a lot of fun to write.

[miraculesbians]

Chapter 2 is up!

@theoryfan205

@all-mights-asscheeks

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Just a heads up: next September is "Saltfic September". Make sure both your tag and user blacklists are up to date, everyone.

Thats a thing?

Sigh....

Welp

Thanks for the heads up

[flightfoot]

The saltfic September what I mean

Oh yeah. I saw a screenshot from a popular saltblog about them running one. Which if a lot of people jump on board (and with how popular saltfics are right now I suspect that’ll be a lot)... yeah. I expect it to be BAD. The salt’s gotten less and less similar to any semblance of sanity or reality over time. 

It’ll also mean a lot of people would be checking back in with the fandom during that time (due to the New York Special releasing) will be hit with an even more intense, greater volume flood of bashing fics than have been coming out lately, and that’s saying something.

...I’m just hoping the bashing just like. DIES eventually. Though even if it does it’ll have left quite the mark on the fandom. Ten of the top 100 ML fics on AO3 (sorted by kudos) bash Adrien, Alya, the class, or some combination therein. When I entered the fandom in March 2019 and went looking through all the most popular ML fics, I don’t recall seeing even a single bashing fic anywhere NEAR that high up, and little that could be considered bashing in general. Not the case nowadays.

[sturchling]

Salt-Fic September Day 4: Breaking Point

Marinette was so excited. Valentine’s day was coming soon and it was always a lot of fun. The class always gave each other sweets and just had a fun day together. She spent the whole weekend bouncing ideas for what to do for the class off of Damian. Damian and Marinette had met when his family visited Paris about a year ago and they became close friends. Damian acted like he was irritated as Marinette came up with more ideas, but he was having fun as well. Marinette was so excited to see what the class had come up with to do on Valentine’s day. They were all supposed to discuss it on Monday, so they could have a plan by Valentine’s day on Friday. Marinette walked to school that Monday, excited with a head full of ideas on how to celebrate.

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When it came time to discuss plans for Valentine’s, Marinette offered all of her suggestions on things they could do as a class. “Ok, anyone else have any suggestions?” The class all looked at each other. Alya stood up, “Listen Marinette, we were thinking we won’t do anything for Valentine’s this year. We just aren’t that excited about it this year. I hope you aren’t upset.” While Marinette was a bit upset, she could understand. “Don’t worry guys, its fine. We don’t have to do anything this year.” While Marinette had said it was fine, she spent the rest of the day feeling a little let down. But she would respect the class’ wishes and not force them to celebrate if they didn’t want to.

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Despite her efforts to push her hurt feelings aside, when she spoke with Damian that night, he knew something was wrong. Marinette eventually told him what the class had said. “I know it is silly to be so upset over this. I just look forward to it every year.” Damian was never good at comforting people, but he did try his best. “I am sure you will still have a good Valentine’s day. It may not be what you had in mind, but I’m sure it will be fun.” Marinette gave him a week smile. “Thanks Damian.” They continued the conversation, and Marinette made a valiant effort, but it was clear that she was still upset. Damian didn’t like that at all and started making a plan.

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That Friday, Marinette’s school was closed early for the holiday. When she got home, she found someone she wasn’t expecting. Damian was sitting in her living room, chatting with her family. Marinette stood by the door in stunned silence. Damian noticed her first, “Hello Marinette. How is your Valentine’s day going?” Marinette stammered, trying to answer him, “F-fine. What are you doing here?” Damian stood and walked to her. “While I don’t typically celebrate this holiday, it means a great deal to you. I saw how hurt you were when your friends didn’t want to celebrate, so I came to celebrate with you instead.” Marinette was ecstatic to say the least. Damian was happy to see Marinette smiling, knowing his plan had worked. “Now, as I recall, you wanted to go get some Andre’s ice cream with the class today. Let’s go get some.” With that, the two of them left to go get some ice cream.

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Marinette and Damian were passing the park on their way to get ice cream, when they saw it. The entire class. In the park. Celebrating Valentine’s day together. They were exchanging sweets and presents and having a great time. There was music, decorations, and even a cake. They were having a class Valentine’s party without Marinette. Marinette was beyond hurt, but clung to the hope that it had just been a mistake. Damian saw the hurt on Marinette’s face and was furious with these people before he even met them. Marinette walked towards her class, and everyone in the class seemed shocked to see her.

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Marinette felt a pit in her stomach as she got to her class, asking, “Hey guys, what’s going on? Did I miss an announcement? I thought we weren’t doing anything this year?” The class looked at each other with guilty faces. Alya was the first to respond. “You didn’t miss anything…” Marinette had a growing sense of dread and hurt as she asked, “Then what happened? You guys said you didn’t want to celebrate this year.” Alix spoke up, as the class began to look more confident. “Its not that we didn’t want to celebrate. Its that we didn’t want to celebrate with you. With how you have been treating Lila, it wouldn’t have been any fun having both of you here. And since you are the one being cruel to Lila, it didn’t make sense to have Lila miss the party.” Rose still looked guilty, and she walked closer to Marinette. “I’m sorry about this Marinette. There is some candy over there that none of us want. You can have it if you like, but you need to go. You are kind of crushing the mood.” Lila started to wail about how this was all her fault that Marinette was hurt, but Marinette couldn’t hear her. Everything around her had gotten quiet. Her friends had chosen not to invite her. They left her out on purpose. Marinette was beyond hurt; she was heartbroken. She turned and fled from the park.

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Damian watched as Marinette raced from the park. He glared at the class one more time, and wished he was able to stay and make them pay for hurting Marinette. But Marinette needed someone, and he had to find her. She had told him about Hawkmoth, so he knew Marinette could be in major trouble right now. He ran to follow her and it wasn’t long before he found her. She was crouched in an alley, sobbing. He started to go to her, to try and comfort her, when he saw a purple butterfly reach her first.

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Marinette wasn’t aware of what was going on around her. She knows she stopped running and is crouched somewhere. She knows she is crying. She felt like she was underwater. She was disoriented and felt sick. Lila had won. She had got her friends to leave her. Her friends chose Lila over her. She was vaguely aware of someone running towards her, but she didn’t know who it was. Then she felt a strange feeling wash over her. The sadness she had been feeling multiplied and it was all she could feel anymore. “Heartbreaker, I am Hawkmoth. Your friends abandoned you and broke your heart. I’m giving you the power to break their hearts in return. All I ask is that you bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous. Do we have a deal?” Marinette still had enough awareness to pull off her earrings and give them to the person standing next to her, which she could now see was Damian. He looked at her in horror as a wave of dark energy enclosed her. “Yes Hawkmoth.”

Hope you guys like it, let me know what you think! @maribat-central-official

Part 2

[sturchling]

Salt-Fic September Day 7: I’m Gonna Call You Karen

The class was incredibly excited for next week, when summer break begins. Why? Because their good friend Lila had got them a trip to Gotham for the first week of the break. “I’m very close with the Wayne family. Bruce thinks of me like a daughter. When I asked if we could have a class trip to Gotham, he agreed immediately and offered to sponsor the whole thing. He is excited to have me back in Gotham. I’m even going to the manor for dinner a couple times while we are there.” The class was in awe of this amazing girl, and very thankful to her for getting them the trip. Unlike some other people in the class. Marinette, Nino, Nathaniel, and Alix had all seemed bitter when Lila announced the trip. The rest of the class couldn’t understand it, but they weren’t going to waste their time on their jealous classmates, they had a trip to get ready for.

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What the class didn’t know is that Lila was lying about the whole thing. Marinette is the one who had gotten the class the trip. She was the one who knew the Waynes for several years. Apparently, her mother had studied abroad at one point, in America. While she was there, she meant Bruce and they had been close friends ever since. When Bruce adopted Tim, Sabine started brining Marinette with her when she visited Gotham since the two kids were about the same age. The two kids became close and started a long-distance relationship when they were older. Marinette also became close with Tim’s brothers.

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Marinette had been talking with the family when she mentioned that the class still didn’t have a class trip. The boys immediately suggested a class trip to Gotham and with a little pleading, they got Bruce to agree. Bruce set the class up in a nice hotel in a safe area of the city. He also planned several activities for the class, including a tour of the Wayne Enterprises head office.

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Marinette was so excited to share the news, but realized that if the class knew she had gotten them the trip, they wouldn’t want to go purely because she is the one who organized it. So, Marinette asked Mrs. Bustier to keep it a secret that Marinette had organized the trip. The plan did work and the class was excited for the trip. But there was one problem with Marinette keeping it a secret. It gave Lila the opportunity to regale the class with a new lie. But Marinette was fine with it, so long as the class enjoyed the trip, who cared who organized it?

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The day for the class to leave came quickly and the class gathered at the airport. They chatted excitedly about this new adventure and several of them were happy to have a break from akumas and Hawkmoth. Marinette was worried about leaving Paris, but she had the horse miraculous with her, just in case. They arrived in Gotham and were escorted to the hotel. Lila kept talking up how close she was to the Wayne family. None of the class noticed the looks those comments got from the locals. The locals knew that the Waynes were extremely private and that there was little chance this girl actually knew them. Especially when she kept messing up details of the family, like how old some of the Wayne boys were. But the class was oblivious to it all.

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To keep up the charade, Lila disappeared for a few hours every night, pretending to be at the manor. In actuality, she was hiding in the library where she knew none of her classmates would go during their free time. Meanwhile, Marinette was actually at the manor. She would go over almost every night they were there to be with Tim, hang out with the other boys, or just to have dinner. Marinette was having a wonderful time, despite the mean comments and looks she got every time she left the hotel to go to the manor. Little did she know, this was about to become the best trip ever.

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It was the final day of their stay, and they were ending the trip with the tour of Wayne Enterprises. Tim had promised he would try to meet Marinette at the lunch break, but his schedule was really busy now that he was working with Bruce and helping run Wayne Enterprises. That day, Lila decided that she needed to really impress the class. She planned on throwing the Wayne name around in the Wayne Enterprises building to get the staff there to meet her every whim. That was sure to impress the class.

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Throughout the tour, Lila had been telling crazy stories about ‘her time in Gotham and with the Waynes’. While most people in the building were sure the girl was lying, there were some that tripped over themselves to do whatever the girl told them to do, on the off chance that she did know the Waynes. Then Lila made a major mistake.

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The class was in the cafeteria for their lunch break when Tim and the rest of the Wayne boys walked in. They made a bee line for Marinette and instantly started chatting and laughing with the young designer. This got the class’ interest. Who were these guys, and how did Marinette know them? Lila did not like that the attention had shifted to Marinette. She did not like it at all. Then she noticed one of the guys, who looked about their age, had a Wayne Enterprises badge on. Lila knew that this meant he worked here. Lila knew she had to get rid of these guys to get the attention she craved back, so she made her move.

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Lila walked up to Marinette and her new friends and tapped on the man with the badge’s shoulder. They all stopped their conversation and stared at Lila. Lila spoke with a commanding voice, “I’m thirsty and need something to drink. Go get me some water.” The boys around Marinette looked at this young girl in shock. The man with the badge simply said, “No.” and went back to his conversation. Lila was embarrassed at the response and tapped on his shoulder again. “Look, I am really close with the Waynes. If you don’t do what I say, I can get you fired easily.” The boys looked at each other and started howling with laughter. One of them, with a streak of white in his hair was wheezing and said, “Oh man, that is too funny. ‘I know the Waynes’, yeah right.” The class stood and stared at the group in shock.

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Lila was fuming at how these guys were treating her. Why didn’t they jump to do what she said like everyone else? Lila pulled out her trump card. She tapped the man with the badge one more time and said in a sickly-sweet voice, “I hate to do this, but I’m going to need to speak with your manager.” That started a new round of laughter which confused everyone. The guy with the white streak in his hair gathered his breathe long enough to say, “Oh my god! I don’t you’re your name, but I’m going to call you Karen.” The laughter started all over again when the boys heard that comment. When the guys stopped laughing, Lila asked “What’s so funny?” The man with the badge said, “Getting my manager would be hard to do. My name is Timothy Drake-Wayne and I help run the company. And I have never met you before.” Lila froze in shock. There weren’t supposed to be any Waynes here.

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Alya stood up, ready to defend her friend. “What do you mean you have never met her? This is Lila Rossi. She practically grew up in the manor while her mom was working here. Bruce Wayne considers her to be like a daughter to him.” The man the class now knows is Tim says, “Look, neither me or my brothers here have ever seen this girl. She is a liar. The only person in this room that we consider family is Marinette.” The class stood in stunned silence. How did Marinette know the Waynes? Tim turned back to face the liar. “Miss, I will be nice and not get lawyers involved. But if you don’t stop lying about my family, we won’t have any choice but to get them involved. Now, I believe that you have over stayed your welcome. You will be escorted back to the hotel.” Lila is quickly escorted out by security at Tim’s word. The class couldn’t believe it.

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Alya tried to defend her friend, but was quickly shut down by the eldest of the group. “Young lady, I would recommend you google your friend. That will prove that she is nothing but a liar.” The class pulled out their phones and looked for any proof that Lila was telling the truth. But the only source they found was the LadyBlog. Before the class could say anything to Marinette, she was swept away by the Wayne boys, leaving the class behind in the cafeteria. They tried to speak to her on the way back to Paris, but Marinette decided to stay behind in Gotham for a while longer.

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When she finally did return to Paris, she accepted their apologies, but they weren’t as good friends as they used to be. Lila tried to charm the class again, but the spell had been broken and she had completely lost her control. Lila left the school quickly after that, to try and find a new group of suckers to manipulate. Marinette never heard from Lila again. She eventually moved to Gotham to be with Tim and she was very happy with how her life turned out. But Marinette would always say that the highlight of her life would be watching Lila’s face as she heard Tim’s full name and realized how badly she had messed up.  

Hope you guys liked it! @maribat-central-official

[sturchling]

Salt-fic September Day 3: There’s No Need To Be Rude

Marinette and her friends were growing more and more irritated with Lila. She had been talking about her ‘adventures’ nonstop for days now. They hardly even learned anything at school anymore. And anyone who interrupted her to try and have their own conversation was quickly shut down. At least a few of Marinette’s friends knew that Lila was a liar. Adrien, Nino and Alix had figured it out and now hardly left Marinette alone, so Lila couldn’t frame her for anything anymore. And after the time Lila got her expelled, Marinette’s pen pal from Gotham, Damian, decided to come to Paris as an exchange student for a while. He wasn’t about to let this liar hurt his friend again. Finally, one day, Lila took it a step to far and made Marinette snap. She decided to lie about the bakery.

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Lila came to class that morning with a fake sheepish look on her face. Inside, she was smirking, sure that this would anger Marinette. Then she may yell at Lila and give Lila the opportunity to finish turning the class against her. Lila walked to Marinette’s desk where Marinette and her friends that seemed immune to Lila’s charms were sitting. The rest of the class watched with interest as Lila approached Marinette. “Hey Marinette? I thought I should tell you this. I went to the bakery this morning and I found a roach in my croissant.” Lila pulled out a croissant that had been torn in two and a roach obviously placed inside. Even though it was obviously faked and placed after the croissant had been torn, the class believed it. Marinette felt her rage rise as Lila continued. “I thought I should warn you, cause where there is one roach there is bound to be more. I wanted you to know, before someone else found one.”

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Marinette grew angrier with each passing word. How dare Lila go after her family’s business?! Marinette shot up from her seat. “How could you say that Lila! You are obviously lying! This is a new low, even for you. You would risk my family’s business. You are such a snake!” Lila smirked, before quickly covering it up with a fake look of shock and horror. “There’s no need to be rude Marinette! I was just trying to help you and warn you before someone finds something else.” Lila started fake crying and leaned on Kim for support. He turned to face Marinette, “Yeah Marinette. That wasn’t nice, Lila was just trying to help.” The rest of the class also voices their support of Lila.

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Marinette couldn’t believe it. The class would actually believe that her family had allowed a roach problem to start in the bakery. After class that day, Marinette and her friends went to her house to discuss what happened. Everyone in the friend group was furious. Damian hadn’t even been in Paris that long, but even he knew that it was absurd to think that this bakery was anything less than pristine. The friends spent a while working on calming Marinette down. They wouldn’t get anywhere if Marinette became an akuma. Once she was calm, they started talking about what they needed to do to end the liar’s reign. They had decided they needed to take Lila down now. Now she was trying to hurt Marinette’s family and that was the final straw. Damian was the one who came up with the plan. “We could use the lies against her. You already tried just telling the class and it didn’t work. What if we took her lie seriously? What she did is slander, and she can get in major trouble. It may be the only way to get her to leave you alone.” Everyone in the group thought about it and quickly agreed. Even if it didn’t get the liar to back off, it would be fun revenge. First, they told Marinette’s parents about what Lila had said. Marinette’s parents agreed to file slander charges against Lila since she had said this in front of the whole class.  

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The Dupain-Chengs move fast when they need to. Damian gave them access to the Wayne lawyers. The Wayne legal team was involved that night and the family even had a local inspector come to prove there were no roaches in the bakery or the food. They also gathered the proof that they have an exterminator that comes routinely every month. By the next morning, the lawyers had filed charges. The Wayne legal team moved fast, and had gotten quite good at handling slander cases over the years. The whole family and one of the lawyers, who flew in the night before, went to the class the next morning to deliver the papers to Lila personally.

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Lila was shocked. She never thought that Marinette would get lawyers involved. The class tried to defend their friend, only to be buried in proof that Lila was nothing but a liar. Lila watched as her kingdom of lies went down in flames. She was furious. How could all of her hard work fall to pieces in the span of twenty minutes. It was then that Mr. Damocles and Lila’s mother entered the room. Lila’s mother was furious and yelled at Lila in rapid Italian. Mr. Damocles also announced that Lila had been expelled because of all her lies and her truancy. Lila stood in horror as everything fell apart around her. Her friends were glaring at her, her mother was furious, she was expelled, and now everyone was aware she is a liar. She looked around and found a place to focus her rage. Marinette. This girl is the cause of all her trouble. How DARE Marinette do this to her?! “Marinette! You stupid witch! You just had to go and run your fat mouth. You ruin everything, you waste of space!” Marinette just smirked at her. “Now Lila, there is no need to be rude.”

Hope you liked it, let me know what you think. @maribat-central-official

[sturchling]

Salt-fic September Day 2: Pick

Marinette’s life had gone downhill fast. After the incident where Lila got her expelled, Marinette tried going to her friends again. She had spoken with her friend, Damian about what was going on. He was furious that this lying harlot had caused so much trouble for his friend. After talking with Damian, she thought this time, they would believe her. Lila had admitted that she had a ‘lying disease’ to get Marinette back in school. So, the two friends had thought that would be enough to get her class to listen to her. But they had been wrong.

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Marinette got to class early that day. She knew Lila wouldn’t be coming until after lunch because of a photo shoot. She thought it was the perfect time to make her case to the class without Lila there to try and trick them again. After she explained that Lila was lying, and even offered the proof that Alya had asked for last time, she waited for the class to respond. But it wasn’t the response she thought she would get.

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The class got angry at her for going after Lila again. “How could you Marinette. She can’t control the lying and you try to turn us against her because of her condition? That is so cruel!” Alya yelled at Marinette. Marinette was shocked. Didn’t they understand that Lila had tried to get her expelled? Why won’t they listen to her? “How could you guys still defend her? She got me expelled!” Alix yells back, “Yeah, but she came clean and got you back in school. Can’t you just forgive her and move on?” “Yeah Marinette! I can’t believe you would make us pick between you and Lila.” Marinette was stunned. “I’m not making you pick anything. I just want you to hear me out! Please!” Alya rolls her eyes. “Yes, you are making us pick. You don’t want us to be friends with her anymore, so we have to choose between you two.” Marinette was fed up by this point. “Fine, if you are so determined to make this about picking sides, then who do you pick?” The class looks at each other and unanimously say, “Lila.”

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Marinette was genuinely shocked. “What? I’ve been your friend all year Alya! And the rest of you? We’ve been friends since we were kids! And you would just toss me to the side for a liar!?” Alix stands up from her seat. “We may have been friends as kids, but you are like a different person now. You are so mean to someone as sweet as Lila. Of course, we would pick Lila over you in this situation!” Marinette lost her cool at this point and started yelling. “What situation?! I’m not asking you to pick between us! You are the ones forcing this situation. I just want you guys to realize you’re being lied to! Even if she wasn’t lying about me, I would still be worried. She has been promising all these great things to help you with your careers and she won’t be able to deliver! I’m worried about all of you!”

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The situation quickly devolved from there. The class just kept yelling at Marinette and Marinette yelled back. The situation ended with the class truly choosing between Marinette and Lila and they picked Lila. Not just to be their friend, but they also decided to pick Lila as their new class rep. They were determined to prove to Marinette that she was wrong about Lila and they thought this was the best way. They thought if she saw how awesome Lila was as a friend and class rep then Marinette would apologize and make amends. And Marinette would see that Lila hadn’t lied about helping them. The class was sure that Lila wasn’t lying when she said she could help them with their careers. Now all the class had to do was sit back and wait for the results.

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But that didn’t happen. Marinette didn’t apologize. Instead, she got new friends from other classes and moved on. Marinette even transferred from Mrs. Bustier’s class to Mrs. Mendeleiev’s. The class thought Marinette was being over dramatic and was glad that with Marinette gone, the drama left the class as well. The class was fine with it, sure they missed Marinette, but they only missed the Marinette they used to know. Before Lila showed up. Marinette became close with her new class, happy not to have everyone depending on her. She also became closer with Damian and his family. She went to visit Gotham several times, and was even asked by the Waynes to make them new suits for their gala. Doing that helped to push Marinette’s fashion career into overdrive, and she quickly became a popular designer. Marinette and Damian even started dating after a while and became an iconic couple in Gotham. Marinette was happier than she had been in a long time.

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While things were going great for Marinette, things got worse for the class. Lila had promised all these great things when she became class rep. But nothing had come of it. All of the field trips and fundraisers had failed. All of the guest speakers Lila talked about never appeared. But the class was willing to forgive her for that. They knew that she was busy with all of her charity work. Alya tried to make up for it, but she didn’t have enough experience to make things quite as successful as when Marinette was class rep. But the class assumed that Lila would still help them with their careers.

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But that also never happened. The class graduated, but they never got any details from Lila about the help she had promised. Finally, they cornered her after graduation demanding answers. That is when she revealed everything. How she had tricked them into helping her with all her course work. The class was horrified. Once Lila left to continue her modeling career, the class just stood in shock. They went to Marinette as soon as they could. When they arrived at the bakery, they saw Marinette packing up a car with all of her stuff, with a boy about their age with black hair and green eyes helping her. The class rushed over and apologized and asked her for her help. Their whole lives were a mess now because of Lila’s lies. They needed Marinette’s help to get things back on track. They expected Marinette to drop everything to help them. She always did. But that didn’t happen. She just looked at them with a blank face. “I’m sorry guys, but you chose this. I tried to warn you, but you picked Lila. I’ve got to go guys, we are heading back to Gotham today and we have a plan to catch. Good luck with everything.”  Marinette turned and got in the car, leaving the class on the curb and going to her amazing life in Gotham.

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The class tried to get their lives fixed without Marinette, but they didn’t get as far as they would have like. They all knew why this happened, they didn’t listen to Marinette. Why did they pick Lila over Marinette? How could they not see through Lila’s lies? Now their lives are all messed up and they lost the best friend they ever had. Meanwhile, they watched as Marinette and her fashion brand thrived. They watched as the Wayne family announced that Marinette and Damian were engaged. And they watched as Marinette and Damian started a family. They were happy for their old, lost friend. But they wished they were able to stand by her side still and be happy with her. They will always regret how things ended with Marinette, but they will work and hopefully someday earn her friendship back.

Hope you liked it! Let me know what you think! @maribat-central-official