#to quote a tag on my previous post

[patroclusdefencesquad]

top five iconic Damen moments go. If there’s too many give me top ten. This is urgent scientific research.

oh my god you are so lucky i have a long train journey today so here we go, in no particular order because hell if that is possible :

when he threw a mf broadsword. a sword that is meant to be swung with two hands (!!). and he just casually yeeted it from the back of a horse. into a guy who was about to kill his enemy who wasn't even his lover yet

kingsmeet. kingsmeet was the Pinnacle of the man. he broke his country's most sacred rules without even fucking hesitating out of sheer rage and love at what had been done to laurent get this man fucking husband of the year

obviously it has to be "i speak your language better than you speak mine, sweetheart" no man has ever been so stupid and yet so sexy

every moment in book three where he's like "did i fucking stutter."

"damen rose from the throne, and put his hand to the gold brooch at his shoulder. his garment dropped, and the crowd roared their approval" cock out and thriving. king

when he chose laurent he literally chose laurent over his kingdom he was prepared to sacrifice it all for him this MAN

when he was screaming crying throwing up at having to tell laurent who he was and laurent was just like "i know." sksjsks you dumb fucking bitch OF COURSE HE KNEW everything you now know about this man and you think he doesn't know the man who killed his brother god i love you how can a man be so smart and yet so. so

"i think if i gave you my heart, you would treat it tenderly" sobbing. literally sobbing on a train. he's so sweet he's so gentle he loves laurent so much. he's so. so. also that scene where he tells laurent if auguste hadn't died he still would have courted him. once he starts loving laurent he literally cannot conceive of a world where he does not love him i'm crying

he's beefy. it's not an iconic moment it's just his natural state of being but it's iconic to ME. his arms could hold me so good. his tits are as big as his heart. his ass? bouncing. his thighs? could crush me and i'd welcome it

his dimple :')

there we go it started out as a list of iconic damen moments it ended as me rambling about everything i love about him what can i say he lives in my head rent free i'll never find a man like him

[aflamboyanceofflamingos]

Tim: *Comes home with a bruise near his lips*

Jason: What the hell happened replacement?

Tim, not wanting to admit that it was caused by him dropping his phone on his face, but also knowing he would never live it down if he said he got it in a fight: I was making out with my boyfriend

[sforzesco]

Slavery and Roman Literary Culture, Sandra R. Joshel

[atsushis-fangs]

Scotland: get in the halloween spirit and make a ghost!!

Ireland: that’s called murder and I heard somewhere that it’s illegal

@winterwrites23 I’ll have you know that I am NOT dead, SoT is STILL my all time favourite fic, and I MISSED making these. Happy Halloween! :D

[disdaidal]

incorrect hellcheer

[jaggedjot]

When wounded by the past, Lestat will force his way through the initial pain and then refuse to acknowledge the untreated injury, letting it turn septic and rotten, all the while insisting that there is nothing wrong. Armand meanwhile wants to examine every inch of an injury, yet upon determining that it will likely heal in time if never work quite the same, he decides to amputate the limb anyhow.

[funeralpotatoesorbust]

@just-a-whole-bunch-of-reblogs

[eri-pl]

of Men again

AKA "Gold, East, Easterlings, humans in general and other evil-coded stuff" AKA "no, Morgoth, your trademarks are invalid" AKA "reclaiming the symbolics" AKA "another post on reading Tolkien in Christian context"

And by "Christian context" I mean less the values and more the "Silm is a fantasy prequel-fanfic for the Bible, especially the New Testament" (which is at least in some points of Tolkien's life, how he wrote it)

And as all fanfic authors, GMs and generally people working creatively in a preestablished world, especially one with some preestablished future, there's no fun like foreshadowing. Seriously. Adding foreshadowing to everything is the best creative fun. OK, I'm biased. Anyway

So, what do we have in the Silm? West is Valinor, East is the evil guys. Also, dark-skinned guys are generally in majority (I know Bór exists) evil (which is racist, but we'll make it less-racist in a moment) and serve Morgoth. He just goes and claims stuff as his own, and the Valar hold on to what is left.

hmm... I wanted to add silver/gold and moon/sun divides here, but they get complicated and aren't a good example, even if I instinctively map them to the West/East divide. I think it's just me in this case.

What do we have in the Bible? Where do the main event happens? East. To this day, churches face east, because east is the holy-ish direction. Also, symbolically, sunrise is a big thing.

That's a good metaphor for the elf-human difference. Elves are chasing the sunset, so that the last rays fade slower and last so very long. Humans cannot chase. The night falls upon them, but then the sun rises anew (spoiler: it doesn't set after that). But first the night must fall. And it is sad and scary and all that.

West-facing Elves versus East-facing Men.

So, back to the main event. Easterlings... well, the Jews aren't very pale-skinned or grey-eyed or beardless. To put it mildly. So it's kinda "Tolkien is racist in places", but maybe also kinda "Tolkien goes for maximum contrast and Morgoth getting defeated from the center of the lands he'd claimed as his own" maybe. a bit.

Like maybe in his mind putting so many evil Easterlings into the story still balanced well, because hey, later they got Jesus and all His early blorbos followers? Or maybe I shouldn't go guessing what was Jirt thinking.

Anyway, if you look at Silm as a Bible fanfic, some things suddenly jump into places.

I'm not saying it's the only way to look at it, I recently listed 2 or 3 (if we count Arthurian myth as separate) other angles. Silm is multidimensional, various parts of the story make sense when looking from various angles, that's why it's so incoherent at times.

[koko-heads]

tina, cracking her knuckles menacingly: you know what these hands are made for?

dillon:

becky:

susmita:

tammy:

jocelyn:

tina: ...cuddling!

[thebroccolination]

[FANWORK EVENT FOR THAI QL FANDOM] COMMENT CARNIVAL

DATES: February 20th-March 31st

EVENT DETAILS: Writers of all kinds thrive off feedback, and it's especially so for fic writers, since one of the main reasons we write fic in the first place is to share stories with our community. Without hearing back from the people in those communities, fic writers can get discouraged from writing and sometimes even stop entirely. On the other hand, some of the brightest, happiest moments a writer can experience come from readers. It's incomparable to know that a story you wrote made someone smile, cry, or laugh out loud, and sometimes the only way you'll know it is if a reader tells you.

With this in mind, I decided to organize a festival for the Thai QL fandom community to show our fic writers a ton of appreciation in a carnival of comments. :D

Welcome to the Comment Carnival!

NOTE: Even though this event is exclusively for the Thai QL fandom, if you'd like to use the same concept or adapt it for your own fandom, please take the idea! I'd be absolutely thrilled to see this spread and for more writers to get love for the creative work they've contributed to their spaces.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE: There are two ways to participate in the Comment Carnival. The first is simply to complete as many of the commenting tasks below as you like. That's it! You'll be boosting writers' spirits with your feedback, and you may make someone's whole day with a kind word or thought about the stories they're creating.

The second way to participate involves a chance at a prize! (Hence the carnival theme.)

Below, you'll find a list of twenty Commenting Tasks to Complete. Once you complete at least ten of those commenting tasks, you can enter into a lottery to receive your very own drabble (traditionally a 100-word morsel of fic) written by one of the carnival's participating writers! If you do all twenty, your name will go into the lottery twice!

The event begins today, and on March 31st, I'll put the qualifying participants into the Picker Wheel and choose ten winners. Those winners may then select a series from the list below along with a pairing and trope (ex: "The Heart Killers, Fadel & Bison, brotherly affection") and our participating writers will post drabbles dedicated to the winners.

COMMENT QUALIFICATIONS: For your comment to qualify for the lottery, it must include the following:

At least three sentences about the fic or how the fic made you feel. ex: "I loved the way you portrayed [character name]! I can so easily imagine them saying all of that in canon. I'm definitely going to read the rest of your fic now!"

Copy & paste one line from the fic that you enjoyed. ex: "[quoted line] I'M SCREAMING!!!"

What led you to the fic (previous familiarity with the author, a rec from someone, randomly found it on a tag, etc.) ex: "My friend sent me this and told me to read it, and I'm so happy they did!"

Essentially, the purpose of the event is to give writers some specific positive feedback. In normal circumstances, it's totally fine to leave a simple, "I loved this!" or, "Thank you for writing this!" but for this event, we're gonna go above and beyond for our beloved writers.

WHERE TO COMMENT: You can comment on any fanfiction site (Wattpad, FFN, etc.) as long as you can provide links to your comments. I've just structured the event around AO3 since that's where I'm based and have the most familiarity.

And now the fun bit!

THE COMMENTING TASKS TO COMPLETE: Comment on a…

• work-in-progress (any kind) • work-in-progress that hasn't been updated in 3 months • work-in-progress that hasn't been updated in 6 months • work-in-progress that hasn't been updated in 9 months • work-in-progress that hasn't been updated in 1 year or more • one-shot with a word count under 5k • one-shot with a word count between 5-10k • one-shot with a word count between 10k-20k • one-shot with a word count between 20k-30k • one-shot with a word count over 30k+ • completed multi-chapter fic • fic with fewer than 10 comments • fic with fewer than 5 comments • fic with no comments • fic from before 2020 • fic from 2020 • fic from 2021 • fic from 2022 • fic from 2023 • fic from 2024 • fic from 2025

To qualify for the lottery, you must provide proof of your comments in the linked form below. Provide a list of at least ten links to your posted comments, and you'll be enrolled in a lottery to win a drabble based on the series of your choice from the list below provided by our participating writers.

SUBMISSIONS: Please submit your links through the form here:

As for where to get links: on AO3, when you post your comment, you'll see a button at the bottom that says "Thread." Clicking on that will create a page that starts from your comment. You can use that link for your form.

[This is my extremely subtle way to hype @faillen's Peaceful Property fic pinkies linked, palms pressed. It's so, so, so, so good.]

COMMENTING ETIQUETTE: When commenting on fic, please abide by these three points:

Offering unsolicited criticism is widely considered to be rude, so please don't critique a fic in your comments.

If it's a work-in-progress, please don't pressure the author for more updates. That's generally not received well by writers. (If you'd like to be encouraging, err on the side of the suggestions below.)

Keep the overall tone positive!

If any comments break etiquette, they'll be disqualified.

COMMENTING SUGGESTIONS: Writers are people, and people react differently to feedback, but we do share general similarities in what we love to receive from readers. Liiike…

Copy and paste parts you particularly enjoyed: The reason I made this a requirement is because I know it's commonly adored among writers. I've had readers apologize to me for copying and pasting half the fic in my comment section. I promise and guarantee you, if you ever did this, I love you. Platonically and all-consumingly. When we're writing, we're mostly on our own in our heads, in our rooms, maybe showing a friend or two snippets as we write. But when we put fic out there, we have no idea what people are going to respond to. Sometimes your favorite line is ours, too! Or sometimes the line you loved most is a line the writer almost erased! Or a line they're second-guessing. Maybe they hate it! Having someone say, "I'll think about this line for weeks," is wonderful beyond words.

CAPSLOCK: Again, be kind, but some of my favorite comments over the years have been someone so emotional about something in the fic the whole comment is just capslock screaming.

Rambling: Listen, there is no greater feeling in the world than getting multiple comments on a fic because a reader wrote so much about the fic they went past the comment box's character limit. If a fic made you feel so much you want to ramble, then please go for it! A writer spent hours working on the thing you love! Odds are good they'll be delighted!

Characterization: For many fic writers, we're trying to emulate the characterization of a character we didn't create, so when someone says, "The way you wrote this made it feel exactly like something [character name] would say/do. You really know this character!" a lot of us are especially giddy about it.

Kindness: Above all, we're just hoping for some kind thoughts. I know how daunting it can be to share your emotional responses with writers, so you can always just say, "This meant a lot to me," or, "This made me smile," and it will mean the world to a writer.

PRIZES: As mentioned, once you submit a form with at least ten qualifying comments, you'll be entered into a lottery to win one of ten drabbles from one of our participating writers! Right now, we have writers who will write for the following series:

23.5

Bad Buddy

Between Us

Dark Blue Kiss

The Eclipse

The Heart Killers

Jack & Joker

KinnPorsche

The Loyal Pin

Manner of Death

My School President

Not Me

Only Friends

Peaceful Property

Pit Babe

SOTUS

Tale of a Thousand Stars

ThamePo Heart that Skips a Beat

This Love Doesn’t Have Long Beans

Until We Meet Again

Wandee Goodday

If you're a writer interested in volunteering to write a drabble for a series we haven't provided, please DM me. :)

Even if you don't intend on participating, please please please reblog this and get the word out that it's happening.

Thank you!

Special thanks to my writing server on Discord for their brainstorming, their advice, and their suggestions to put this event together. <3

[bluecroc29]

A short comic on Bill's ascension to the Astral Plane... with his eye on the Axolotl in the sky. Plz do not repost

There's not enough of this Rare pair but I'm glad of the few shippers that exists, I remember users from a previous post in my other blog account have asked me to tag them when i post any up, Hey @lunarcrystaldraws & trg-deltarune-quotes ! Am ConstellationMelody I have others more though with schooling especially when it's intensive writing it's gonna take a while for them to finish but I am open for suggestings/prompts.

[bluberryfields]

Agreed 1000%. 14 hits all my buttons (and oh please would he hit some more?)

He swapped pinstripes for plaid and somehow made his hair BIGGER? Please and thank you, sir!

unpopular opinion: 14 is hotter than 10

[trueloveistreacherous]

Hello, everyone!

Here I am again with another celebration because I had so fun much with my previous one. I still can't believe I have been here for 13 years now lmao and a lot of people are still following me, so I wanted to show my appreciation once again to all of my followers! I am so grateful for all the love you’ve been sending me (whether through your tags on my gifsets, people tagging me in their gifsets or your sweet messages) for all these years I’ve been in this site. Thank you so much for following me and sticking with me and my multifandom mess of a blog.

For this celebration, here are the rules:

you must be following me

reblogging this post is not required but is appreciated

Then you can send me the following:

📺 + a tv show episode for a timestamp roulette gifset

📝 + a show/ship/character and a song lyric/quote/poem of your choice and I’ll make a gifset of it. here are some examples: x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, and x or i can make something like this: x and x. (I’d like for your requests in this to be specific as possible!)

🌈+ a character and 1 to 2 colors and I will make a gifset of it! (mutuals only)

TV shows I can gif: brooklyn nine nine, parks and recreation, the good place, abbott elementary, only murders in the building, ted lasso, barry, russian doll, the bear, the get down, ER, severance, leverage, leverage: redemption, kevin can f*** himself, the nanny, the office, icarly (2021), a league of their own, girls5eva, freaks and geeks, the afterparty, poker face, mythic quest, shrinking, bad sisters, hacks, atypical, shadowhunters, euphoria

All the posts I’ll be making for this celebration will be on the #marellas13thyearceleb tag! You can also check all the stuff I made in my previous celebration here and here!

Tagging some mutuals below the cut:

@nessa007, @montygreen, @jakeyp, @benjiwyatt, @forbescaroline, @royalarmyofoz, @narliee, @userlarri, @scratchybeardsweetmouth, @rosamundpkes, @zen-dayas, @janinegregory, @crowley-anthony, @nick-nellson, @elssbethtascioni, @mcbride, @henwilsons, @levy-tran, @alex-dutton, @gilliandersons, @nicola-coughlan, @morgana-pendragon, @violet-bridgerton, @softdavidrose, @eloiscbridgerton, @tylrgalpins, @prideandprejudice, @bellamysgriffin, @useyourtelescope, @raviposting, @avadaniels, @miriammaisel, @gamoraswonder, @damn-salvatore, @finnickodaiir, @cobbbvanth, @larajeanandpeter, @kelseas-ballerini, @chrissiewatts, @doctorobinavitch, @scullysconstant, @beetlejuce, @misty-quigley, @sophsun1, @jackabbot, @fiyerotigelar

[lawsbbygirl]

DEE'S YUMMY LULAWLU FIC RECS

Compiled in this post you'll find all of my favorite LuLawLu fics! Enjoy your reading and make sure to leave kudos/comments on the fics you enjoyed <3 The fics are listed in no particular order other than Completed vs Ongoing. I will update this list as I find more fics that I enjoy, also to add some that I've probably forgotten.

Completed works:

when we go, we go together. by happychi 3,694 words, M "When Law dies, he spends an eternity searching for forgiveness. It was the first time anyone had smiled at him in over a century." Beautifully written fic where Law is cursed with being a reaper. This fic made me cry, it's absolutely gorgeous and bittersweet. The "D" stands for Daddy by bokkuroo 9,033 words, E Bonney uses her powers to age Luffy up, and Law starts gay-panicking! I am insanely weak for dilf!Luffy and this fic hit all the right spots with the delicious smutty goodness. A new favorite of mine!

Fanservice. by Mil0o2 23,169 words, E Law gets a new neighbor who happens to be his favorite dom pornstar "PirateKing56". Incredibly hot BDSM smut and I love the way this author writes both Law and Luffy. Delicious fic, definitely a favorite of mine.'

Keep You Safe by Rei_the_Rat 7,904 words, E "A favor and a threat that could destroy everything they hold dear, bring Law and Luffy a new opportunity to face unspoken feelings from a previous encounter." LuLaw Demon AU! This fic is gorgeous and the ambience is fantastic. Definitely a classic and a must-read!

carve your name (eat you like crème brûlée) by Trashgalore 11,556 words, E Luffy is insatiable and Law has to deal with it. PWP! Check the tags for potential CW!

Slipping Through My Fingers by Camafeu 8,525 words, E Luffy takes care of Law and eats him out. Porn with feelings! Seashell Lovers by cosmicatta 2,020 words, E "Law is learning to be free. Luffy helps him." This fic is so beautiful and soft and I'm smitten with how gentle and understanding Luffy is in it. Definitely a must-read!

Inhuman Potential by sydneyxface 82,094 words, E Exciting thriller featuring vampire!Luffy and pathologist!Law! Bloodplay ensues. Check tags for CW! My Heart Is Still Beating (But I Lost It Long Ago) by betsib 27,097 words, E Post Apocalyptic AU! "Law is travelling alone between quarantine zones when he comes across a young man with three bullets in his torso and an unflinching look in is eyes." Extremely well written and thrilling fic. Read tags for CWs! feel the rythm in my chest by shishiswordsman 9,140 words, Gen Bodyswap AU! "Law and Luffy decide to swap hearts for a moment. They end up swapping much more than that." I love this fic so much, it's funny, has angst AND fluff!

Ashes of Life by chenziee 10,248 words, T Canon Compliant series filled with Hurt/Comfort and lots of fluff where we follow the two captains relationship from Zou until Wano. Beautiful!

melting into you by adore_yuu 9,873 words, E Luffy discovers fanfiction and Law has to deal with it. Gorgeous and delicious one-shot!

Curiouser by xairylle 10,125 words, E Luffy asks Law to read him to him while he fucks him. Law complies reluctantly. Smutty goodness with great dialogue!

Stow Away Captains by xairylle 1,884 words, M Zoro POV. Law sneaks into the men's quarters on the Sunny and Zoro doesn't know how to deal with it. Awkward and funny as hell!

lowkey by gentoopengwyn 6,350 words, T Fluffy and hilarious Modern AU where doctor!Law has a secret husband who turns out to be Luffy.

more than a physical attraction (it's a passion) by gentoopengwyn 11,517 words, M Luffy simps for Law! Fluffy goodness.

I Could If I Wanted To by dunkinicedcoffeebeverage 5,615 words, E Law can't lie due to unforeseen circumstances and Luffy shows up! Smut and fluff. promises under the rising sun by Yakarmi 3,736 words, T "Luffy promises Law freedom." Canon compliant one-shot set on Zou. So sweet and soft!

quote, liquid courage, unquote by naturecalls111 7,475 words, E Law consumes aphrodisiac and Luffy kindly helps him with his problem. Smutty goodness.

cough it out, loverboy by frogsterz 4,029 words, Gen Law comes back from Punk Hazard with a mating bite. Who could the mysterious alpha be that gave him the mark? Fun and cute omegaverse AU!

Saline by pbjnotes 19,321 words, M Modern AU with organized crime! Law is a doctor and has been terrorized by Doflamingo for many years, enter Luffy!

Aurum by bimarian 13,177 words, Gen Soulmate AU where Luffy learns about colors and the feelings they represent for him. Beautiful and soft.

Find Our Place in the Sky by lampalot7 4,615 words, T "Luffy is the Sun, Law is the Moon, and an eclipse brings them together." Beautiful and soft Moon/Sun God AU.

Modern Medicine Didn’t Prepare Me For Transmigration by betsib 17,018 words, T Isekai AU! Law gets transported into the world of the fantasy romance novel he's reading and adventures ensue!

Hook, line and sinker. by Mil0o2 1,323 words, E "Law is drunk and horny and makes sure Luffy knows exactly that." Service top Luffy PWP!

As Warm as the Sunlight by Camafeu 6,160 words, E Modern AU Porn with Feelings! Luffy finally gets to put marks on Law.

How To Top A Cop by initforthelolz 5,895 words, E Luffy is caught speeding and tries to convince the cop pulling him over to forget his crime with questionable means. PWP!

House Call by ZuviosGemini 4,854 words, Gen Sick Fic Modern AU! Law nurses Luffy back to health. Very sweet and fluffy comfort fic.

Meet Me in the Drift by riverofnara 28,460 words, T Pacific Rim/One Piece fusion! Luffy tries to convince Law to become his Jaeger co-pilot.

Shoot Me with a Smile by OliveGardenSafeSpace 42,161 words, M Mafia AU! Law is a mafia family boss and rescues Luffy during a heist gone wrong.

A Shiver of Pleasure by Camafeu 6,805 words, E Modern AU! Porn with Feelings and fluffy blankets.

i think she might be robbing (she can take what she wants) by Trashgalore 13,821 words, E Fem!LuLaw! Everyone is genderswapped in this roomate to lovers story. Fluffy and smutty!

The Straw Hat and Heart Pirates 'Alliance' by KivaEmber 6,706 words, Gen Smoker cockblocks Luffy and Law and hilarious situations happen in this series. Fluff and humor!

What Feelings? by Brewit 2,680 words, E Law is the last one to learn that him and Luffy are in a relationship. A story about how their relationships evolved! Fluff and a bit of smut.

You Don’t Love Me by xairylle 2,312 words, T Hurt/Comfort. Law has forgotten how to be honest.

A Summoner's Worst Nightmare by cringewerewolf 34,199 words, T "Law summons a demon to help him take down a crime lord. It all goes downhill from there." Hilarious AU where Law summons demon!Luffy!

Two Sinners' Conversation by bimarian 7,599 words, M "In which Luffy and Law redefine what a conversation is on their wedding night." This is technically part of a series, but this can be read as a stand-alone one shot. Fluff and smut!

Sick Heart by Cel0x 7,427 words, E Law and Luffy had been apart, missing each other deeply, and they have a delicious reunion. Porn with Feelings!

The Morning Comes Early by Alte 7,813 words, E "Law finds a new way to get a good night’s rest after forming an alliance with the Straw Hat Pirates." Very sweet and one of my comfort fics! Not a Ball or a Chain by HollowIsTheWorld 79,341 words, T Modern Soulmate AU! Asexual Luffy, Demisexual Law. Law grows up hoping he'd never develop a soulmark and tries to avoid meeting his soulmate.

the sea throws rocks together by manhattanvalleys 2,072 words, E Future Fic. Porn with feelings. I would recommend reading the three fics from this author in order. This one first, then the two below.

(but time leaves us polished stones) by manhattanvalleys 3,133 words, E Future Fic. Porn with feelings.

something that you might perhaps forgot to say by manhattanvalleys 4,391 words, E Future Fic PWP. Gorgeously written and a fic I can re-read over and over again.

Bloodied Knuckles by bimarian 9,099 words, E Flower Shop and Tattoo Parlor AU! Porn with Plot. "In which Law saw Luffy punching the life out of his rude customer—and decided right then and there that his ass was getting laid tonight." Dark Luffy, and Law's into it. Read tags for CW!

what the ocean gives by betsib 5,570 words, T Merman!Luffy gets saved by doctor!Law! This fic has a special place in my heart, it's very cute and funny.

To Call Myself Beloved by purplehairedwonder 13,202 words, T Luffy tries to get Law to marry him, and Law tells Luffy he'll have to catch him first. Betrothal Chase AU!

Give Me A Reason by betsib 6,400 words, M Band AU! Law does a cover of the Straw Hats' new single and it gets recorded in secret by Shachi and it goes viral, the attention eventually reaching Luffy who is intrigued by Law. Then they meet!

A Different Type of Hunger by karategal 25,111 words, E Luffy is King of the Pirates and he's "hungry for Torao". A game of cat and mouse begins. Funny and smutty!

Burning by vantrums 8,245 words, E Omegaverse PWP. Law is in heat and Luffy conveniently makes an appearance to help him out. One of my favorite PWPs!

Nothing compares by JustPassingBy19 4,261 words, E "Law and Luffy reunite after a long time away from each other's arms." Dilf!Luffy!!! Porn with Feelings!

combustion by Anonymous 3,799 words, E "Law pines and gets railed, both in and not in that order." Smut with a touch of angst!

Make Me Feel Good by sydneyxface 21,529 words, E Law seeks the help of Luffy, a professional cuddler, to help him get through university. Angst with a happy ending! This is one of my comfort fics and a favorite of mine.

Let's do It! by KhonekoChan 4,659 words, E Law and Luffy enjoy some sexcapades after the liberation of Wano. Smutty goodness.

find me in the shell's whisper by Deleted Account 5,441 words, M Law and Luffy run into each other on an island and Law pines.

Safe and Sound by All_My_Characters_Are_Dead 15,726 words, M Law gets taken hostage and Luffy is on a mission to rescue him. A lot of hurt/comfort with a lot of hurt before the comfort. Practicality is Useless Around Here by Ghosty_Bee 28,248 words, T Modern AU with magic! "Law's luck runs out when a series of events forces him to open his eyes to a world completely different from his own, full of magic, monsters, and danger. Luckily, or maybe not, he's found a crew of seers to help him out." This fic has fantastic world building and is a thrilling ride! Tell Me That You Love Me (I’ll Never Ask You Why) by Itycos 3,557 words, T "After Wano in a nameless port-town two captains reunite. Not all alliances are the same." Very sweet and beautiful fic about the two captain's finding something in each other they didn't quite expect. Like Sails on the Breeze by HollowIsTheWorld 5,115 words, Gen Corazon Lives AU. Luffy kisses Law and then he leaves. What's next for them? Bittersweet and fluffy in the end!

between you and i (the throths, the tide) by shishiswordsman 20,630 words, E ARRANGED MARRIAGE AU! Law is set to marry the future king of Dawn. Luffy is certainly not what Law expected.

What Is This Thing You Call An Alliance? by cywscross 13,701 words, T Eustass Kidd observes Law and Luffy after the fall of Kaido. Introspection, light angst and fluff!

and all the things that keep us here by qunlat 9,323 words, Gen Law gets a second chance. "(Or: the one where they get married, in secret, at someone else's wedding, and make Usopp late to his.)" Law and Luffy elope!

My Love For You Is Choking Me by ObsidionWingsofMidnight 56,880 words, T Hanahaki disease AU! Very angsty with eventual happy ending.

the white city by tciddaemina 32,328 words, Gen, M "Nika/Sun God!Luffy AU, set during the genocide in Flevance." Very interesting and beautifully written series. Total Eclipse of the Heart by Aspiring_Trashpanda 33,401 words, M "Luffy almost dies, makes a deal with a god, and falls in love. Law's along for the ride." Slow burn-y goodness!

Keep This Close To Our Hearts, Love by riverofnara 3,884 words, T Modern AU! Luffy's prank on Law says everything he hasn't been able to put into words. Fluffy!

sol ex machina by Almageist 3,757 words, Gen Angel AU! I don't want to say too much about this one as I believe it's best experienced going in blindly. One of my faves!

Meat Cute by marimoes 66,823 words, T Modern AU! Law has a literal run in with Luffy's dog "Meat" and they have a meet cute! Long fic with all of your favorite tropes!

king of my heart by frogsterz 7,411 words, E "The AU where rookie Trafalgar Law and the Pirate King walk into a tavern. Things only get better from there." The summary says all you need to know. One of my favorite LuLaw fics EVER.

Sabishigari-ya by Alexgrand 15,943 words, M Modern AU. "Law finds a website where he becomes infatuated with a user named Mugiwara22."

Who, Me? My Hand? by dunkinicedcoffeebeverage 8,903 words, M "5 times Luffy holds Law's hand, 1 time Law holds Luffy's." A getting together fic filled with fluff and beautiful moments between the two captains. The art accompanying this fic is also gorgeous!

Luffy's Law by JadedCoral 32,630 words, Gen Modern AU where Law starts a rumor about himself and hilarities ensue. This fic made me cackle out loud, it's so funny and sweet!

as I hold your hollow heart by betsib 24,962 words, M Soulswap AU! "...Law wakes up in Dressrosa, with Doflamingo's symbol tattooed on his chest and servants calling him "Corazon". Very interesting AU that I loved reading, many twists and turns and suspense!

Grand Line Carnival by Bubblegumbeech 24,140 words, T Modern AU with horror themes. "Law doesn't want to go to a carnival ever again, but his crew doesn't know that and they insist that he has been spending far too much time in the hospital.." Spooky things happen and Luffy and the Straw Hats are unintentionally creepy!

Ongoing works:

from us, to the rain by toricola 10,835 words, E Modern AU LawLu. One of the most beautifully written fics I've come across so far. The characterization of Law is one of the best I've ever read, and I am dying to read more from this author. If you want to feel, definitely don't skip this one!

white elephant gift exchange by happychi 15,184 words, M "Law’s troublesome coworkers are on thin ice after gifting him a male escort for his Christmas vacation. Now he’s snowed in with a complete stranger for an entire weekend." Things aren't as they seem in this Modern AU. The author's portrayal of Law in this is on of my absolute favorites. Excited to read more of this!

Red and Yellow by BewitchingDemon 20,214 words, M Pokemon Fusion AU! A true joy to read this fic. Strangers to lovers with a lot of awkwardness and slow burn. One of my favorites!

Haze by initforthelolz 56,381 words, M Fantasy AU with dystopian themes with fantastic world building and intrigue.

Godslayer by initforthelolz 19,611 words, M Fantasy AU where Law is a Godslayer and his purpose is to defeat one of the god's that terrorized the world. Things don't go as planned. Incredibly well-written fic with solid world building and a plot that draws you in instantly.

for a wilted rose not yet withered by ame_kko 45,682 words, T Ancient Greek Gods AU! A strangers to lovers fic with Luffy as Persephone, God of Spring and Law as Hades, God of the Underworld. An all time favorite for me!

Hearts Spring Eternal by riverofnara 34,386 words, E Law performs the Perennial Youth Surgery on Luffy out of desperation, but Law somehow survives. Angst and complications happen.

In the Sultry Summer Calm by Alte 15,563 words, M Omegaverse Flower Shop AU! Two of my favorite things combined. "After the loss of his adoptive father, omega Trafalgar Law is forced to give up on his dream to become a surgeon in favor of taking over his father’s flower shop." Very sweet and I can't wait for this to be updated!

In the Night by TheeGirlWonder 8,273 words, M Fantasy AU! Vampires, werewolves and witches! Law is a vampire and helps werewolf!Luffy escape Doflamingo's clutches after being captured.

Saint Peter's Keys by Aspiring_TrashPanda 52,560 words, E Modern AND Canon Div AU! A story involving parallel universes with a fantastically written story. Slow burn!

It Was Always Blood With You by initforthelolz 14,970 words, E Vampire!Law AU! "Luffy finds a vampire on the side of the road and decides to bring him home... against better judgement that he does not possess." I immediately fell in love with this fic, the summary says it all!

The Compounding Impact of Time by salient17 14,889 words, M Time Travel AU! "It didn't matter where, or when, because Luffy would find him--time and time again." Luffy is lost in time, will he find his way back?

At the Heart of Worship by Heart_Core 8,014 words, E Sun God Luffy AU! Luffy has his attention captured by Law.

The Omegaverse Clothing Exchange Service by bananabunch 8,162 words, E Super cute A/B/O fic with a really unique plot! I love this fic so far and can't wait to read more.

As Sunflowers Do by martilla 95,283 words, E Modern AU! Luffy is in an accident and gets amnesia and forgets all about his relationship with Law. A lot of angst and heartbreak with an eventual happy ending.

[pynkhues]

Idk if uve discussed this before, im new haha but I really enjoy your readings of the show and I’m curious, would u call louis a femme? Idk i think it’s a widely accepted canon in the fandom and i constantly see it spread all over twitter with no argument whatsoever and im over here like i.. i dont see it?? Idk!

Hey! Welcome, anon! And thank you for your kind words! You’re very sweet!

I think I’ve probably discussed it in fragments before, but not outright said it, but no, I wouldn’t call Louis a femme. It’s certainly a largely accepted fanon in a vocal part of the fandom, particularly on Twitter and ao3, and yeah - - I mean. I’m really glad people are having fun with it! I do also sometimes feel they’re watching a different show to me though, because it’s honestly not something I see at all. I don’t know if their arguments are necessarily organized in the one place (although I could be very wrong in terms of that!) but I might use this as an opportunity to collate my thoughts and the previous posts I’ve made addressing the arguments around this particular topic. SO! Okay! Let’s break it down and dive in:

Louis is femme because he’s a Gothic Heroine

I just don’t agree with this argument, I’m sorry. I’m not going to get into the weeds of this one, just because I feel like I’ve done so already, but I don’t personally read Louis as a gothic heroine at all. In fact, I see him as a very archetypical Byronic Hero, which I talked about in this post, and in others in my Byronic Hero tag.

Louis is femme because he is a Battered Housewife / relying on a Sugar Daddy

This point often gets tied up into the gothic heroine one, and it’s one that always kind of surprises me a little bit. Even putting aside the fact that it’s an ugly, misogynistic trope in general, Louis’ relationship to being a quote-unquote ‘housewife’ is one that – to me – is symbolic of his feelings of emasculation in the Rue Royale household not as a result of Lestat alone, but as a result of the white power structures in New Orleans that would disempower and disenfranchise him. He doesn’t like it, it doesn’t make him ‘femme’, in fact, my interpretation is the opposite – it emasculates him as a Black Man, and he feels that in every part of his life to the point that both his daughter and sister weaponize it against him, and I personally think it’s a factor in his periodic impotence in his marriage. Respectively, Claudia calls him the housewife, and Grace calls Lestat his white daddy – these aren’t compliments, these are callous insults from both of them designed to bruise his pride and force him into action. The fact that neither of them work to move him the way they want doesn’t mean Louis identifies with them, rather it means he’s – at the time – committed to Lestat for better and worse, but their words compound in a way that fuels his resentment of Lestat as both an adulterous husband and a symbol of everything wrong with his life.

Further to that – and I say it in the Byronic Hero/Gothic Heroine post that I link to above  – but a vital part of power dynamic tropes in gothic literature is that women lose power through marriage, they don’t gain it, and Louis does, in fact, gain it. Lestat’s a ticket to social advancement for Louis because as much as Louis (rightfully! It’s extremely racist!) hates being forced into a servitude role publicly at the theatre or in lease agreements, it’s Lestat’s whiteness that allows Louis into more conversations politically, and eventually allows him to buy the Fair Play Saloon and turn it into The Azaelia. It’s a limited power, of course, as a result of his race and the era, but the show actually explicitly lays out certain things for us like the fact that Louis pays Lestat back in full, and pointedly, that Louis never felt that he had to pay Lestat back at all:

The last line of which is Louis greeting Lestat not as a sugar baby or a housewife walking out to his sugar daddy or husband, but as a business man to his husband.

In fact, the interesting exchange of power in that sequence actually leans to the reverse as Lestat ends up playing host to a new client while Louis lords over an empire.

(You can't see it exactly in these subtitles, but it's Louis who says 'you about five years late', and Lestat honeytrapping with taking the man away).

It's a dynamic that repeats with the musician who tries to leave that Lestat coerces into staying - Louis' king of the castle, and Lestat, the show implies, I feel, plays the placating partner smooting over the edges.

But isn’t Lestat a symbol of patriarchal power in the Rue Royale Household?

I’ve had a couple of asks about this and have a long reply in my drafts that I’ll try and post this weekend, but yes and no? I think in Rue Royale, Lestat’s definitely a symbol of patriarchal power to Claudia, and I think Louis sometimes feels him that way too, but I don’t think it’s actually true for Louis in the way that it is for Claudia. Gender isn’t what divides Louis and Lestat, it’s race, and every time Louis has the chance to exert patriarchal power against anyone outside that house or inside it, he uses it – from coercing Lestat into Claudia's rebirth to physically assaulting Claudia over Lestat’s murder, to even trying to influence her diet and guilting her into staying, to throwing Lestat out of his own house and then fucking him in his lover’s bed (which, obviously, are after Lestat's singular act of violence), to being literally a pimp, strongarming his sister and his mother, to giving less than 0 fucks about Lily’s murder and the attempted anal-rape of Bricktop - - just.

Yeah. There are two patriarchs in the Rue Royale household, and both their names begin with L.

Eldest daughter syndrome

Sometimes men are also eldest siblings who feel the burden of responsibility?

Even beyond that though, I think Louis’ response to Grace is particularly paternalistic, a pattern he’d repeat with Claudia, which I talk about here. I do think Louis has a lot of responsibility and weight on his shoulders as an eldest child, absolutely, and I actually think there’s a lot to talk about in terms of his complex position as brother-father to Paul and Grace in s1 (and I empathise with him intensely in this regard as someone who’s been a sibling’s guardian), but like. That’s not a feminine trait, nor is it one that makes him an eldest daughter. I’m not one, and he’s not one either. Sibling dynamics aren’t cut and paste.

But Louis buys and reads Madame Bovary and obviously relates to Emma

I mean, he doesn’t buy it – the show literally, explicitly makes the point of telling us that it’s Lestat’s copy of the book that he’s reading, which honestly makes sense to me. I talked about it here (where I include the caps of it being Lestat's book too), but Emma as a character cheats because she finds monogamy boring, provincial life even more so and dislikes her daughter, while married to a successful man in a regional town. Louis’ not the Emma in that equation, Lestat is, given he's fucking Antoinette – allegedly because he wants variety – escaped the Auvergne in Paris, and can’t cope with parenthood and/or Claudia.

Interestingly too, Louis’ focus in that scene is on the 'denseness' of the prose and 'the absence of metaphor' not the content, as he ignores Lestat having a meltdown directly opposite him. My interpretation of that scene is that the writing is pointing out exactly how disconnected they are from each other, and that Louis can read a story that parallels a lot of Lestat’s experience, and fail to relate it to, or empathise with Lestat at all, even as Lestat indulges Louis’ depression and hoarding, which ! I love Louis, but Lestat does in that sequence (not that that justifies anything that Lestat does, of course).  

Isn’t Louis compared to Juliet and Mélisande?

Mmm, yes and no? Armand does put him in the Juliet role, which Louis riffs with Dreamstat about, but I tend to interpret that more to be about the involvement of the balcony than I do about their roles as Romeo and Juliet – because, y’know. Not everything’s actually about gender, particularly with same sex couples of that era who had limited reference points generally, and certainly limited mainstream ones.  

And Melisande - - not at all, actually? I do have to say that I’m a little bit baffled by this particular argument given we have the lyrics to Come to Me and Lestat puts himself in the feminine role of Mélisande (and I actually do think you can mount the argument that he's done that because he’s intending for Antoinette to sing it, which I thought for a long time before hearing Long Face tbh, and now I actually do think it’s deliberately playing into Louis’ sense of masculinity), and he does cast Louis in the masculine role of Pelléas. The chorus literally goes:

Ruin each other Like star-crossed lovers Your Pelléas, my Mélisande Oh, come to me Come to me

So, yeah. Again, that argument just doesn't quite land for me.

Wasn’t he jealous of Grace’s pregnancy though?

Was he? That wasn’t my interpretation, but I’d actually genuinely be interested to hear a case for it, because I feel that’s kind of tasty on a narrative level, haha. My interpretation of that entire sequence though kind of feeds back into that eldest sibling thing again where he a) resented Grace building something of her own before he could, and b) was terrified of the idea that her having her own family would mean that she’d pull way from him which she, of course, did.

I tend to see Louis’ desire to have Claudia as a fairly impulsive one, and I actually see (in the show’verse) his desire to have Lestat be the one to turn her as a part of him further interlocking him and Lestat together, particularly after he's effectively just broken up with Lestat. It's messy! But yeah, I mean, I think 2.07 laid out pretty cleanly that Louis' choice to turn Claudia was inherently a selfish one, and I personally don't see it as one borne out of jealousy so much as needing an anchor. 

Anne bases Louis on herself

She also bases Lestat on herself and/or everything she wants to be, and also washes her hands of Louis as a character for books at a time, and like - - I’m sorry, this is not the tone I usually take, but like - - lowkey, who cares? Everyone in this fandom loves death of the author until Anne says one thing they can use to justify their headcanons, and I just don’t really get it. Why are you trying to interpret a vampire novel as a memoir? Obviously it’s not factual? Anne’s not a man, she’s not drinking blood, she’s not romantically entangled with her dead daughter, like I do understand that it can feel noodly sometimes with authors and characters, but as someone who works with a lot of writers, I can promise you they’re dipping in and out of characters like crazy, haha.

It doesn’t mean a character’s them, and it certainly doesn’t mean you’re interacting with Anne when you're interacting with Louis, which I suspect a lot of people don’t want anyway? I don't know, personally I view this one as a bit of a non-starter.

Louis’ pretty though

Yeah, he is! He’s your Helen of Troy! He’s beautiful! He’d look amazing in tights and heels! That doesn’t mean he’s canonically femme though.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Sorry if you've already covered this, I'm rewatching some of the show thanks to a younger sibling watching it, and I'm wondering how you'd rewrite chloes s2 (and some part s3?) episodes.

Style Queen/ Queen wasp alone end on a confusing note since I can't really tell if they want chloe to be seen as "possibly redeemable", "starting redemption" or "choosing to still suck". Allegedly, from the wiki, the staff said that *supposedly* they'd always planned for chloe to be a character that, I quote " willingly refuses to change...pulls ppl into toxic relationships by having them focus on potential good rather than ongoing cruelty".

I know you choose to avoid following what the staff say, but I'm curious, how could chloe have been written if she was meant to show how some people choose not to change despite potential for good? Or how would a proper redemption go?.

Again sorry for the long ask and if you've already responded to similar questions. I really love your analysis posts!

I'm glad you like my stuff and never worry about asking something that's been asked before. It's no big deal for me to link previous posts and, if you missed it, others probably did, too!

I've talked about redeeming Chloé quite a bit, so I'll just link to my Chloe Deserves Better tag as that's got lots of posts to read if you so choose. I've only really discussed damnation at a high level, though, so let's dig into that as it is a valid path.

Before we begin, I'll note that I would not take this path in canon because I don't think it's appropriate for little kids who may relate to Chloé (thus me wanting this message to come from Gabriel who no kid will relate to). If Miraculous were a teen drama, then this would be a fine choice as teens and adults are able to handle more complex and nuanced plots. (Reminder, Miraculous' target age group starts at age five so that's how I gage what I would and wouldn't do in canon. For the main plot elements, you generally want to aim to the youngest viewers, not the oldest.)

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let's damn Chloé!

The big problem with Chloé's canon "damnation" is this:

they'd always planned for Chloe to be a character that, I quote "willingly refuses to change"

While this is the right way to approach a damnation, it is NOT how Miraculous approached Chloé. While it's true that she doesn't change, it's also true that no one really asks her to and that's an important part of a proper damnation arc. Rare indeed is the person who just magically changes all on their own. They generally need to have something driving their change and Chloé never got that.

To dig into this, let's talk about Despair Bear because Despair Bear is basically a mini version of Chloé's overall story.

What Canon Did Wrong

In Despair Bear, Chloé does something mean, leading Adrien to threaten their friendship:

Adrien:(sighs in disappointment) Chloé, how long have you and I been friends? Chloé: Since we were adorable little tots, Adrikins. (Pouts) Adrien:(disappointed) Well, I'm sorry Chloé, but I can't be friends with someone who treats other people like this. You've gotta be nice to people! Chloé: N-Nice? Adrien: Yes, nice. It's not that hard.

This threat makes Chloé freak out and start acting nice because she wants Adrien to stay her friend. That leads to this:

Chloé: I know. This way, no one can be mad at me for calling the fire department. I'm really nice now, did you notice, Adrikins? Even Ladybug said so! Didn't she, Jean-Pascal? Adrien: I'm proud of you, Chloé. I think you've proven that you're capable of making an effort to be nicer to everyone. Chloé: Aww, Adrikins! So we'll always be best friends, forever? Pinky swear? Adrien: Pinky swear! Chloé: (Exhales and saunters off) (To Kim) So, those macarons are dreadfully ugly. (Kim sighs.) (To Mylène.) Those are so greasy, you can see yourself in them. (Mylène cries and faint.) (To Marinette.) Urgh. Too disgusting for comment. (To Rose.) Those look horrible. (Rose faints.) Adrien: She'll never change!

This is the problem with saying that Chloé had a proper damnation arc. She does what Adrien asks, then reverts because he let her off the hook. He made surface level effort and, unsurprisingly, got surface level change. You can't go to the gym once and get muscles! If you want muscles, you have to keep going for weeks! Months even! Progress is slow!

The same is true for damnation arcs. To properly damn Chloé, Adrien needs to stick to his guns and hold her to a higher standard for more than a single episode so that she can demonstrate true unwillingness to change. That's not what canon gave us. After this episode, this conflict goes away and Adrien says nothing when Chloé hurts people. He's not even disappointed when Chloé reverts! He's totally cool with her being mean again. This is the face he makes when he says that she'll never change!

[Image description: Adrien smiling and laughing as Marinette makes a face at Chloé who is offscreen being mean.]

To be clear, it's not Adrien's job to change Chloé, but this episode made him her motivation and then took that motivation away so it's wrong to say that she refused to change when asked. She did change when asked and maintained that change for as long as she had to.

It's also important to note that change is a slow and messy process. If you want to help someone change, then you need to allow them grace as they work toward their goal while also having clear boundaries for what you won't tolerate. Chloé maintaining her niceness for one episode and then reverting isn't enough to actually damn her because it's too big an ask. For this damnation to work, Adrien has to think that Chloé is working to improve over multiple episodes with only the occasional slip up.

To show what that might look like, let's rewrite Despair Bear and give it some proper fallout.

Rewriting Despair Bear

Our new version of Despair Bear plays exactly like canon, but instead of Chloé reverting while Adrien is still there, she now only reverts after he's left. We're also changing the ending dialogue a bit:

Chloé: I know. This way, no one can be mad at me for calling the fire department. I'm really nice now, did you notice, Adrikins? Even Ladybug said so! Didn't she, Jean-Pascal? Adrien: I'm proud of you, Chloé. I think you've proven that you're capable of making an effort to be nicer to everyone. Chloé: Aww, Adrikins! So we'll always be best friends, forever? Adrien: Of course! As long as you keep being nice to my other friends, we'll be friends forever!

With this little change, we let Adrien stick to his guns. Chloé now knows the rules she must follow if she wants Adrien to be her friend. She has also proven that she knows what following those rules looks like. This leads to an arc where Chloé is nicer to everyone, but only when Adrien is around. As soon as he leaves, she's back to her old ways. This shows that she truly doesn't care about changing and culminates in a moment where Adrien catches her in the act, then confronts her about it. This gets us something like this:

Adrien: Chloé! I thought you were going to be nicer? Chloé: I am being nicer! Adrien: But only when I'm around. Chloé: Of course, why would I be nice when you're not around? Adrien: Because you want to be a nicer person? Chloé: And why would I want that?

The dialogue will go on to make it clear that Chloé has no interest in changing and so Adrien cuts her off because he can't trust her anymore. This will lead to a scene with Plagg where we get something like this:

Adrien: I don't understand, Plagg. Why does Chloé want to be mean? Plagg: I don't know kid. But I do know that you can't make people change. Until she's ready to try, there's not much you can do.

This lesson will also be supplemented by Queen Bee's story.

Queen Bee Rework

I think we can all agree that Chloé's first appearance as Queen Bee was a total disaster! She was selfish and petty, proving that she was totally unsuited to owning a miraculous. This is a great way to show that Chloé isn't hero material! The problem is that she got a second chance to be a hero and that second chance completely undid the initial message.

Chloé's first time as Queen Bee was a fluke. She found a miraculous and misused it, but it's worth noting that no one asked her to use it to be a true hero. No one pushed her to be a better person. As soon as the miraculous came from Ladybug, Chloé started acting like a hero. This reframes the message to be that someone needs to believe in Chloé for her to be a hero instead of keeping the message that Chloé just isn't meant to be a hero. To make Queen Bee work in a damnation arc, Chloé needs to be a bad hero no matter how she gets her miraculous.

This is how I'd rework the Queen Bee arc to make that happen.

First of all, Chloé no longer outs herself to the world. Instead, she uses the miraculous selfishly, but maintains her secret identity from everyone but Ladybug and maybe Chat Noir. We're going to pair this with the civilian side of things. Marinette knows that Adrien wants Chloé to be a better person and Marinette loves Adrien, so she tries to help by letting Chloé stay Queen Bee even though Marinette doesn't think Chloé is a good pick.

Chloé proves Marinette right. Every time Chloé gets the bee, she's more focused on looking good for the cameras and being seen as Ladybug's friend than she is on saving the day. This will culminate in Miraculer, the episode where Chloé rejects an akuma. In the new timeline, this will be how Gabriel learns Queen Bee's identity, but only Chloé and Gabriel know that this happened. Chloé now has a very hard choice to make: does she act like a hero and tell Ladybug that she can't be Queen Bee again or does she keep the identity reveal a secret so that she can stay Queen Bee?

Chloé picks Queen Bee.

The season three final comes along and Chloé gets akumatized while Queen Bee. This only happens because Gabriel was able to manipulate her by putting her parents at risk. This is also how Ladybug learns about the identity reveal, meaning that Miracle Queen is 100% on Chloé and not Marinette.

We're also changing the fallout. Instead of Miracle Queen revealing the identities of the temp heroes, it's now how Gabriel finds Master Fu to completely remove all blame from Marinette's shoulders. The Adrigami fight goes away and the message becomes all about Chloé and her choices. If Chloé had been a true hero, none of this would have happened, properly damning her.

After that, I'd either remove Chloé from the show or let this be the thing that finally makes her change. Her extreme low point where she finally realizes that actions have consequences, leading her to want to change, but that's hard to do because she's burned all her bridges so she has to build some new ones. Not totally sure how I'd let her do that. Maybe have her take down Lila or use Zoe to redeem Chloé since Zoe is an outsider who hasn't been burned. There are a lot of options.

The Audrey Complication

I didn't address the issue of Chloé's mom in my rework because, if the goal is to damn Chloé, then I'd probably cut Audrey as there's no reason to make Chloé that sympathetic if you're not going to use that sympathy. You can still keep Audrey and damn Chloé, you just have to acknowledge that Chloé's situation is keeping her from changing. It's nice complexity, just not necessary and probably a little too much for Miraculous' indented audience. There's also the option to save the Audrey reveal until after Miracle Queen. That's the route I'd go if I was redeeming Chloé after Miracle Queen as I don't want to get into her backstory until it's time to start making her sympathetic.

If you keep Audrey and plan to totally damn Chloé, then I'd cut my suggested conversation with Plagg and Adrien and replace is with Adrien talking to a human character. My ideal choice for this is Luka. I like to change it up so that he and Jagged Stone have a complicated relationship, but that Jagged never fully abandoned Luka. Jagged was just on the road a lot and kept Luka a secret for his own protection, all of which gave Luka some issues that he had to work through when he was younger. This would help explain why he's so chill now. Therapy is a hell of a drug.

This means that Luka has been through the kind of things Adrien and Chloé are going through and can speak to them from a place of understanding. He can acknowledge how hard it will be for Chloé to change because of her parents' abuse while also acknowledging that her victim status doesn't mean that people need to let her hurt them. This is actually how I use Luka is a Chloé redemption, but it works just as well in a damnation as the message is the same no matter which path you take.

As you probably noticed, all of this requires some level of serialization because of course it does! Damnation arcs aren't something you can do in 20 minutes. They have to be given room to breathe which is why it's a terrible idea to do a damnation arc or a redemption arc if you're not allowed to have plots that span multiple episodes. You can do them in episodic shows, it just needs to be the type of episodic show where the episode-specific plots are episodic, but there are strong overarching sub-plots that are allowed to be serialized.