#Rewriting the end of Queen Wasp

[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 in 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.

[sploopyghost]

Part 2 of rewrite idea Pt.3

I was thinking of a rewrite for Miraculous (not that i could ever write one) and the changes i would make to canon and i wondered why was Sabrina ever friends with Chloe

So then i thought what if Sabrina felt pressured to be her friend because she didn't want to disappoint her dad. So, lets say Roger and Andre have been friends for a long time even before he was mayor. This friendship would explain why he's loyal to him and he would hope that their daughters would become great friends. Sabrina hates Chloe and how she treats her but stays quiet about how toxic she is and hides it from her dad. Chloe is hated in school and by association no one wants to be near Sabrina. Because of Chloe she missed out on making actual friends

Roger has a hard time saying anything to Andre when he goes too far. Overtime Andre had let the power of being the mayor get to him on top of wanting to please his daughter. Rogercop is roger seeing the cracks in their friendship for the first time. Instead of getting akumatized because he was fired, he's instead akumatized because he's frustrated arguing with Andre about how he can't arrest a child because his daughter is throwing a tantrum. After the events of him being akumatized when Andre apologizes, he accepts it but it feels hollow. He can no longer ignore the state of their friendship and having seen the divide between his daughter and the rest of the class he begins to suspect something

Vanisher/antibug would be sabrina's breaking point. Roger is worried since his daughter has been missing for a couple of hours. He went to Andre but he was brushed off and told not to worry and chloe just didn't seem to care. When sabrina is deakumatized and back home with her dad she finally breaks down crying. She tells him everything that's been happening and how toxic chloe was. Roger is heartbroken that she felt like she had to go through this to not disappoint him and angry with himself for not noticing sooner. After a long conversation and reassuring that he could never be disappointed in her, sabrina feels confidant to end the toxic 'friendship' she had with chloe and roger decides to stop being blindingly loyal to andre

When sabrina arrives at school the next day instead of timidly looking at chloe asking if they were still friends, she holds her head up high as she tells her what she's always wanted to say. The class and chloe are shocked that sabrina, who is supposed to be chloe's best friend, would say that she always hated chloe and hated that she felt the need to make everyone around her miserable just because she had issues. With that she decides to sit in a different seat away from chloe.

A majority of season one would be Adrien finding his footing and making meaningful friendships with the class. He's aware of chloe being mean but unaware of how cruel she can be. He thinks all she does is say mean things and because chloe was there for him when he was isolated he feels the need to excuse her behavior. But when sabrina ends their friendship Infront of everyone he starts to really question it. After class he talks to sabrina and she opens up and explains in detail the torment she endured from chloe, how she was 'friends' with her because she thought it would disappoint her dad if she didn't get along with her. For the first time Adrien is truly hearing how cruel chloe can be. He starts being more vocal against chloe and being firm

Despair bear, he really puts his foot down and means it when he says that he wouldn't be her friend anymore if she didn't stop. After the events of the party chloe is on thin ice with adrien, but because she didn't think he was serious she quickly went back to being terrible to others. After queen wasp is when he decides to officially end their friendship because chloe didn't feel any remorse for almost almost crashing a train. And unlike in canon there would be outrage over what she did, the most vocal being the ones who were on the train and their friends and family. Gabriel would pull away from andre since it would ruin his image if he associated him

By this point chloe would feel alone and abandoned. She was stuck inside her room since most of paris hated her for almost killing the people on the train, sabrina wanted nothing to do with her saying how she always hated her and how she only put up with her for her dad, adrien ended their friendship because she was cruel to others, and ladybug refused give her the bee miraculous making her feel like she wasn't worthy. It would be incredibly easy for hawkmoth to take advantage of her leading to miracle queen. Whether chloe gets a redemption or not would be up to you

[princess-of-the-corner]

On the topic of mama Sabine, did you ever read my rewrite of the end of Queen Wasp?

Possibly? Yeet it over to me just in case

[butterpony100]

Ok I have just reached the episode “queen banana” and I’m here to rant about the atrocities that are Chloe Bourgeois “character arcs” cause she deserves better, and how my personal take would go (this is just mostly me ranting and rewriting this dumpster fire to sooth my anger at the writers cause chloe deserved better

The first few seasons has many episodes showing that Chloe was a bully, but also someone with layers. Someone who was raised with no expectations about how she needed to act or who she needed to be with others. As the episodes went on, we were showed how she came to realize that not everything could be handed to her, no matter her schemes to get what she wanted. She was learning that sometimes she needed to give in order to get.

And then- she just regressed to who she was before?? No- she was actually made worse than she was previously.

Now I will not be blaming characters like Zoe for this change, despite her rushed introduction, she has no part in this. The only ones we can hold responsible are the writers who, despite months and even years of planning, apparently had this atrocious character assassination planned from even as far back as “queen wasp”.

So instead I’m changing that cause that’s bs

In season three, Chloe is forced to accept that she messed up her chance to be queen bee, but it’s still a hard pill to swallow. Instead of obsessing over getting it back like in the show, she puts in renewed effort to her personality change (with mixed results). We’d have Zoe introduced in the season 3 finale of miracle queen instead. Chloe would see her half sister, effortlessly kind and considerate, and able to make friends with ease, become frustrated. In those around her and herself. The catalyst to her becoming queen bee would be that she wanted to prove she was “worthy”. Worthy of what? Not eve she is really knows. All she knows is that she’s of no use to any one around her. The rest of the finale kinda goes the same but with a different version of Chloe when deakumatized. She would be drained and upset, mostly at herself, and instead choose to silently go home after returning the bee miraculous when the dust settles. When she gets home, she and Zoe talk. About how Chloe isn’t used to meeting expectations and how Zoe herself has always been forced to meet them. Both begin to teach eachother the benefits of both reaching expectations and letting go of others opinions. We cut Sole Crusher from season 4 completely and have a desperate plot of Zoe getting akumatized to be given a charm by lady bug. Banana queen would change that Chloe, rather than wanting to kick Zoe out of the movie, just wants to be in the movie. The movie has been in production by the class for months and Chloe’s initial reaction left most of them iffy about her joining (she said the same thing that they recounted in the episode) and she would say “well yeah I said that but I didn’t mean it.” And the whole class would be like “ehhhh…” Zoe and Adrien would eventually convince the class to give Chloe a chance. Of course, once the production is underway, Chloe’s old personality slowly resurfaced and similar events from the og episode occur. In the end they go through with their original script like in the episode, and Chloe gets pretty mad, mostly hurt and upset. Later, adrien mentions the promise they made and how he wasn’t sure they could be friend anymore. Chloe would be more visibly upset by his words and, while still dismissing him, would be mush more distraught by the time shadow moth contacts her. Zoe still becomes the new holder of the bee miraculous, but I imagine at some point in the future of this au, Chloe will be able to wear a new miraculous and be given a second chance, just as soon as she finishes her own journey of learning who she is.

Im thinking of calling this au “Sour to Sweet”, and basically reworking Chloe from the ground up with the crumbs of character development the show actually gave us. I’ve also fallen in love with Zoe despite only having her for two episodes, so she’ll probably play a big part as well.

If you have any ideas, feel free to share!

[miracleandplagueau]

So I was looking through the rest of the posts for your au, and i have to say, it's becoming one of my favourite Miraculous rewrites.

I'm a massive Chloe fan, and any work that gives her a redemption I end up loving it. Speaking of Chloe, I was wondering what her relationships with her parents end up like in your au?

OHOHO I LOVE THIS PART SO MUCH

I'll start by just quickly summarizing the Queen Beeginnings Arc (Style Queen, Queen Wasp, Meledictator). In MnP It's very close to the canon version of the episodes... except for a few very important details.

On general, Chloe is still extremely attached to her mother and that way of acting. When she arrives from New York, Chloe becomes even more bossy, even more mean even when in the past episodes she really started getting better behavior-wise - all because she wants her mother to see her as an equal.

Getting the Wonder immediately feels like something she could REALLY use to make her mother see her as a daughter and maybe finally at LEAST stop mispronouncing her name, but even that doesn't work, pushing her to do even more drastic things (causing accidents on purpose). Anyway, yadda yadda yadda, Queen Wasp happens and she gives up the Wonder out of respect for Wonderbug.

And right here, in canon, the dumbest fucking thing happens. Marinette manages to unite Chloe and her mother by insulting both of them.

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

Anyway, back to MnP

Chloe is fucking DONE. When her mother still dismisses her after helping to save her in Style Queen, after being a SUPERHERO even after akumatization, she's done trying to please her. When her mother announces she's leaving Paris (and possibly taking Jiayi) she storms to the landing site and gives her an Ultimatum: either she's staying with Chloe in Paris or she's convincing her father to divorce her. With Jiayi also refusing to go to New York for the time being, Audrey sighs and under pressure promises to try and be a good mother. Does that work? HA absolutely fucking not. Why do you think Meledictator happens?

In Meledictator, Chloe keeps pointing mistakes to Audrey and Audrey keeps on bugging her husband about how annoying her daughter is. After a while of this, Audrey decides that she is done trying and is leaving to go back to New York. Andre begs her to stay - after all, they're all a family now! Back together again! She not only dismisses him, but also announces that she's getting a divorce, because of "how badly he raised their daughter". This causes him to get akumatized, chapter goes on blah blah Meledictator is defeated and Andre accepts the fact that his marriage is broken and he needs to stop trying to please his ex. On the other hand, Chloe is ecstatic! She hosts a party to celebrate her mother leaving and invites half the school, anyone she could message really.

Then,,, something else happens hehe

In short, Chloe's relationship with her parents is rather tense. She uses her father's position to get what she wants and does anything to be like her mother with hope that this will get Audrey to notice her. When she finally realizes that she will never look at her and see a daughter, she gives up and attempts to break free of the toxic mindset she put herself in. After her parents' divorce, she is already mmidway through her redemption, give or take, leading to her starting to try and actually be kind to her father and seek comfort in someone who's always ALWAYS been there for her. I guess their relationship shifts to something similar that Zoe and Andre have in the canon? (I couldn't find a gif of Andre and Chloe so this is the best visualization I can)

Thanks for asking and apologies If the post is a little messy haha

[nerdy-chocomallow]

My Vesperia redesign and a bit rewrite of a queen banana:

I want to thank everyone that participated in the poll for this and the upcoming Kitty Noire redesign post I’ll be doing next. Just wanted to say this post is for pure fun and not for malicious intent just like my sole crusher redesign and sorry that wasn’t clear enough. Anyway on to this post.

My opinion about her original design:

Honestly, I like Vesperia’s design, it looks pretty great. And look, I know it has its drawbacks and may not be the best design but it is far from the worst design in the whole show. That goes to Aspik, Snake Noir, and Hawkmoth/Shadow moth/Monarch, huh like father like son. Okay back to the discussion beforehand, yeah Vesperia looks more like a wasp than a bee but I don’t find any issues with it since some of the heroes also don’t like their respective animals as well and some people weren’t complaining about them, to be honest. Also if I did have a problem with it then this post probably wouldn’t exist. Honestly, the things I don’t like about her design are her camouflage mode design, her hair, and the slider (what the wiki calls it) on her chest. Her camo mode hair comb is just a bee design but with her usual colors for her clothes, which doesn’t look that pleasing to me. Her braid isn’t just working for me and I’m kinda confused about how it looks when it is unbraid compared to Queen Bee's hair where that hairstyle makes sense. And why the slider on her chest, it feels very out of place, to be honest, and it doesn’t need to be there at all. So yeah this design is pretty solid in my book. I like the design even though there are problems with it that people have that are genuine criticisms of it.

So let's redesign Vesperia and see if the design could work for her as much as her original design.

Her Redesign:

Okay, so I ended up changing the design a lot more than expected so here we go. The things I’m keeping are her boots, her mask, her stripes, and her antennas since I like them and would fit here. First I would give her a short half-down and half-up hairstyle so the hair comb with the antennas can stay in place while her bangs and bottom layer are black hair color and then her mask being the same as before. Then I would give her a sleeveless swan-necked black shirt with warm yellow stripes and the collar is warm yellow as well. She has black fingerless biker gloves with spikes on them and warm yellow shorts with suspenders hanging down and chains belts which is where the spinning top is. She has bee wings as well because it would work for her. Lastly, having black ripped tights and boots from her original design. And as for the disguise mode for the miraculous, I would have two pink bougainvillea flowers one on the right and one on the left and they each have a skull head in the middle while having gold leaves and thorns as well for the rest of the hair comb. Here are some pictures for reference:

And yes, I know she isn’t a ginger but that stops me from pushing my Ginger Zoé agenda!!

Some notes and quotes:

Okay I know this is the part where I do a personality rewrite but honestly, it is the same as her canon self so let’s move on.

Before I do the quotes, here are some things that I would like to mention:

She can be very snarky whenever Chloé gets akumatized.

She is very close friends with Rooster Bold and Purple Tigress. And may or not ask them for love advice sometimes.

I think during Queen Banana, Zoé had a bag of honey chocolate chip cookies and gave Pollen to recharge, and ever since Pollen loved them.

She may not know Pollen that long but she and Pollen have a nice bond where Zoé was mostly scared of her at first but ends up thinking Pollen is one of the sweetest things in the world. While Pollen would help Zoé with her self-confidence and always be happy to see her (and lowkey shipping her with her crush).

And her antennas can emote as some anime ahoges can even without her noticing it.

Now here are some quotes for you guys to enjoy (and sorry these are a bit weaker than usual) also I'm did use @artzychic27 ocs in this I’m tagging them for that reason:

Reshma when Queen Banana appears: … I swear to god, the more she gets akumatized the more she looks tacky in each one.

Jean: Yep and the fact she got a gaudy car and gorilla as well is stupid.

Ismael: I’m starting to think ShadowMoth is getting worse in Akuma design as we speak that is even low for him since some of the early Akuma designs weren’t even that good.

Reshma: Yep, he is even worse than Gabriel fucking Agreste is.

Meanwhile

ShadowMoth: *crying* I’m not a bad designer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cosette: Okay, I think we’re safe here from that loony banana for now. *turn to face Zoé* Right now, we need to *sees that she upsets* Zoé?… What's wrong?

Zoé hugging her knees: …

Cosette: *sits next to her* You can tell me if you want, I just want to know if you’re okay.

Zoé: … It's my fault.

Cosette: Huh?

Zoé: It's my fault that she’s acting like this and terrorizing everyone! If I wasn’t in the movie, she wouldn’t be ruining it and got akumatized. She was probably right to want to send me back to New York. *starts tearing up* I’ll just keep messing up things for everyone else just like I did back in New York.

Cosette: Zoé, none of this is your fault.

Zoé: What?

Cosette: *gently holds her hand while blushing* You didn’t do anything wrong in this situation and Chloé is just trying to pin blame on someone else so she wouldn’t have to admit that it was her fault in the first place. There were many times when she got akumatized because she didn’t get what she wanted those were way before you came here. Even if you mess up, like I said, I and many others are going to be here to help you, no matter what. Overall, you did nothing wrong in this situation and I’m going to keep telling you that until you believe it, okay?

Zoé: *blushing* … Okay, I believe you.

Cosette: *hugs her* Good.

Zoé: *hugs them back and then let's go when she hears chaos coming from outside* But, I need to face her alone. She’s my sister and I can’t sit by and let her hurt others because of me. So I want you to stay here so you can be safe because knowing that you aren’t hurt, makes me happy, Cosette.

Cosette: Okay, just be safe out there.

Zoé: I will. *hugs it real tight before leaving* I’ll be back!

Cosette: *blushes while smiling* Okay! ‘That’s my girl.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ladybug summons a motorcycle: … What the?!

Zoé: Hmm, if you don’t mind can I drive it?

Ladybug: Oh…Okay?

Zoé: Great! *puts on her helmet and gets on it* Hang on!

Ladybug: *holds on to her* Wha- *gets freaked by the fast driving* AHHHHHHH!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An alternative way to defeat Queen Banana (sorry this is too corny for you):

Queen Banana holding Ladybug while her banana gun is against her head: Give me your miraculous, or else I’ll turn her int- *gets pulled into the ground by a yellow string and drops her banana gun* What the?! Who dares to stop me?!?

Vesperia: I did, banana brain.

Queen Banana: Who are you supposed to be, my pathetic clone?! Because there is only one Queen Bee and that is me!!!

Vesperia: .. You're right, you are the only queen bee around here. You know the one who almost caused a train to crash for her selfish reasons, the one who decided to work with Shadowmoth because she didn’t get what she wanted, and put every other hero in danger by revealing their secret identity to him not realizing the consequences of what will happen next. No one wants to be Queen Bee because she is nothing but a pathetic person that expects things to go her way all the damn time. You are queen bee since no one wants to be anything like you, especially me. *grins a sly smile* I’m Vesperia by the way! *wields her spinning top back into her hand* VENOM! *stings Queen Banana and takes her hair clip* Here you go! *throws it to ladybug, who catches it*

Ladybug/Chat Noir: 😧

Chat Noir: … That was unexpected.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vesperia while princess carrying Cosette: Are you okay, Co- I mean civilian?

Cosette: *blushing like crazy* Um-uh..um YEAH! Thank you for saving me!!

Vesperia: *also blushing while her antennas emote a heart shape* You're welcome! Let’s get you to safety, don’t want someone as cute as you to get hurt. *starts to fly up to the skies*

Cosette: ….*makes confused bisexual noises*

After a few minutes of searching for a safe place

Cosette: *blushing* Thank you for saving me Vesperia, you’re a very pretty- I mean pretty cool hero!

Vesperia: *blushing* Of course! I’m always here if you ever need saving umm…

Cosette: Cosette.

Vesperia: Right! You have such a lovely name.

Cosette: Thanks. *smiles softly and awkwardly*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pollen looking at a picture of the science kids: My Queen, who are these people?

Zoé: Oh, those are my friends. We took that photo a couple days after I first got here.

Pollen: Oh so they’re like your court?

Zoé: Well I’m not sure if that's the right way to use it like that.

Pollen: … *points to Cosette* So would that mean this girl you were talking to isn’t queen by your side then.

Zoé: … *blushes like a ripped tomato* NO! Not like that!! I mean I do appreciate Cosette as a friend of mine!!! It’s not that I have a crush on it exactly!!

Pollen who saw the whole conversation when she saved them: Uhhh right, my queen. ‘It seems like my queen may be having trouble expressing her emotions… a lot.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marc: Oh hey Zoé!

Zoé: Hey Marc, hey Nathaniel! What are you guys doing?

Marc: We’re heading to movies and the fact I finally got him to take a break from drawing all that adrienette cringe.

Nathaniel: I still think we could have stayed at home to watch some movies.

Marc: But it's lovely out here, especially the weather! Anyway, what are you doing?

Zoé: Oh I was just smelling some flowers, no biggie!

Nathaniel: Really, your cover in flowers and pollen.

Zoé: I was checking if flowers were okay and might I say, they are looking and smell lovely.

Marc: Oh okay. Well you want to come with us to the movies?

Zoé: Oh no thanks, I don’t be the third wheel on your date and don’t want to make things awkward when you two decide to make out in the movie theater. *she’s wink while MarcNath blushes*

Nathaniel: We better get going, bye Zoé.

Marc: See you at school, Zoé!

Zoé: See ya! *waves MarcNath goodbye as they walking* Well, time to go back to smell these lovely flowers!

Hope everyone has a good day and enjoy this post!

[goldensmilingbird]

What would the ML show have to do in order to meet your Adrien/Felix/senticousins needs? As in what direction would the story have taken or what conflicts/resolutions would have to appear? Your perfect Felix/Adrien rewrite, so to speak (゜▽゜*)

Hmm, this is a hard question. At this point I'm not expecting anything from the show but I still hope to just see more interactions between them. I don't know how relevant Felix will be after this arc had ended but if he and Amelie could live in the Agreste mansion that'd be nice...

As for a perfect rewrite, I don't have one. I'm not in any way a writer 🥲 I feel like Felix should've been introduced earlier though. Maybe then we'd get to know him more outside of him showing up to progress the plot and then disappearing again for most of the season (and I would like to see more of Amelie too). It just doesn't feel right to introduce such a plot-relevant character at the end of season 3 when you got a 5-season arc.

One of the criticisms I saw of Felix's intro episode is that it feels disconnected from the rest of his arc. Like: "If he cares about Adrien, why is ruining his friendships the first thing he does?" "Why is him trying to kiss Ladybug never brought up again?" "Why does Felix blame Adrien for not standing up to his father if he knows Adrien literally can't?" and so on. And I kinda agree. Maybe one of the reasons is that the show is written to be both serialised and episodic at the same time, maybe writers didn't quite know what to do with him yet and were figuring it out on the fly. But yeah, it's strange.

I think I'd keep some of the interactions between the boys from the initial script, they were cute and give a bit more insight into their relationship, and I'd just get rid of the kiss-punch scene entirely. Also Chat going "bet you don't have a lot of friends" feels uncharacteristically mean of him? (especially because Adrien was also not allowed to make other friends until recently) Even when Chloe almost caused a train crash in Queen Wasp, he was still gentle with her. But here he goes from "Felix's not being himself because he lost his dad" to this really quickly.

And small thing, maybe, but I wish Ladynoir post-Strikeback remembered that Felix already tried to make a deal with Hawkmoth "for a piece of jewelry" before.

Felix being against Adrien's friends... I feel like maybe it would make more sense if it was more about Felix being jealous that he was "replaced" with Adrien's new friends + being generally distrustful of humans? Idk. (I checked the transcript again and it's interesting that Adrien calls the video unforgivable but Felix says he doesn't deserve to be forgiven for putting his cousin in danger. Says nothing about insulting Adrien's friends. Hmm)

One of my friends had an idea that Felix used to think Gabriel was a good or at least decent parent, before he realised he was wrong and he's no better than Colt. That'd be fascinating. Then Felix could be jealous of Adrien because he thinks Adrien "got it better" than him, only to find out the truth and decide he must save Adrien from Gabriel.

But anyway, moving on, I don't have any big complaints about "Gabriel Agreste". I just wish he and Adrien could at least have one interaction here, and Marinette's plot feels kinda pointless. "Risk"-"Strikeback" - again, I don't have much to complain about Felix's plot here, but I still think he didn't need to give Gabriel Adrien's amok back. Maybe if he was planning to do Red Moon almost right after, instead of leaving Adrien to be controlled by Gabriel for a while (weeks maybe?), I'd understand it better. But would Gabriel really refuse a deal without the amok? Eh.

And Emotion... I loved it a lot but I still have gripes with it. One of the things that bothers me the most is that Ladybug confronts both Felix and Gabriel alone. I feel like Chat really should've been there - it's his family, after all. Maybe I just want to see Felix saying all of that about how he cares about Adrien and doesn't want to hurt him while literally fighting him. And I was still kinda on the fence about Feligami being canon when watching "Emotion" but "Pretension" really made me dislike their relationship. Again, if Felix was introduced earlier, perhaps it wouldn't be so rushed. And I would find it more interesting if Kagami wasn't a senti - then Felix would have to change his attitude towards humans first, and there could be more of a slowburn with them slowly gaining respect for each other. Or maybe if I was writing I wouldn't give him a love interest at all and focus more on their friendships. Either way, with Felix and Adrien being the only sentikids, the focus would be more on the Graham de Vanily family.

And I think I talked a lot already about how I hate s5 finale and Adrien being kept in the dark. If we could just... not do all of that, that'd be great. But if I had to keep the finale the same, I would still want to give Adrien some resolution. Let him find out and have a conflict with Felix because Felix genuinely thought Adrien would be happier not knowing (maybe he was even a bit jealous Adrien was so "blissfully" unaware). Maybe let him communicate with Emilie and/or Gabriel through Felix's kwagatama, or let him talk to Amelie and Nathalie about his mom (they both got grief as well). I hope Adrien and Felix get to mend their relationship and be close again, but if it happens too fast (like with Feligami), then that might not be satisfying either. Give it time.

That's all I have to say for now.

[houseofbrat]

Do you believe these latest claims, clearly briefed from KP, that it’s essentially them that directed BP’s statement in response to the H&M interview. I don’t believe it and I think it’s crass how Kp is attempting to rewrite history. Kate wasn’t at the Sandringham summit, nor at the Queen’s death bed and looked broken at her engagement after the interview. But we’re supposedly to believe she’s the “steely” one who insisted to BP and the late Queen on his things should be responded to?

Very convenient that this new narrative that they’re trying to sell paints KP as the driving force behind a positive step on Megxit, with a little input from BP and erases Clarence House completely as if Kate’s words would carry more weight than the then future King. Now add in the knives that are out for Sir Clive (the wasp) in Low and Roya’s article with the planted story that he’s leaving….

KP have ramped up their media games since the King’s Coronation and I don’t think it’s going to end well for them.

Yeah, it is suspicious to me as well. For some reason, the change in story only seems to exist post-QEII's passing, even though Ed Young stuck around until this past spring.

Kate may be saner than Harry's wife, which is a low bar, but I don't think she is as "steely" as the story or the pr is attempting to suggest. She is definitely not the "steel marshmallow" the Queen Mum was, and yet they are attempting that correlation.

Kate is a very privileged person, who lives a very self-indulgent life. The Queen Mum was also a privileged person, but she made public sacrifices when it counted and also had an excellent, innate sense of public relations. Kate does not have both of those talents.

I suspect this will be the last time Valentine Low makes this kind of mistake regarding KP staffers and the Waleses. He's not going to be suckered in the future, particularly when I consider what is about to drop in less than two weeks.

[avaford2009]

✨A Bug's Life (Rewrite)✨ - Chapter 3 - Hopper and Zing's Visit -

INT. ALICIA'S FAMILY HOME, ALICIA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Alicia is being tucked into bed by her friend, Flik.

ALICIA

What was that in the sky, Flik?

Flik doesn't know himself. But he wasn't going to admit that and scare his little girl.

FLIK

I-it was nothing, Alicia. Just the stars playing a trick on us. Nothing to be concerned over. Now get some rest, sweetheart.

Alicia does as requested and closes her eyes. As she does, the door to her bedroom opens to reveal Alicia's cousin, Princess Atta. She looks worried, and seeing his mate wield such an expression makes Flik even more concerned than before. Atta walks up to Alicia's bed and gently nudges her awake. Alicia opens her eyes, confused at the look on her cousin's face.

FLIK

Atta, what's going on?

PRINCESS ATTA

Alicia, I need you to promise me something. No matter what happens tonight, or what you hear, you must not get out of bed. Not unless you have absolutely no choice, okay?

ALICIA

Why?

PRINCESS ATTA

Just promise me. Please.

Alicia hesitates for a moment, confused and afraid. But in the end, she complies.

ALICIA

Okay.

PRINCESS ATTA

Thank you, sweetie. And remember, your friend, your grandmother, your little sister, and I all love you from the depths of our hearts.

Atta kisses Alicia on the forehead before grabbing her husband's arm and leading him out through Alicia's bedroom door. As the door closes shut, Alicia could faintly hear her parents speaking.

FLIK

Atta, will you please tell me what is going on?

PRINCESS ATTA

We got word from the perimeter. They spotted–

Whatever it was that Atta was going to say, Alicia couldn't hear it. Her parents had walked too far away from her room to be intelligible anymore. She could sneak out of her room and follow them, but she doesn't. Instead, she stays in bed, just like she had promised her mother.

Even when she hears horses riding into the hamlet, she stays still. Even when she hears the first of the night's screams, she stays still. And even as a warm glow from outside illuminates her room, a glow she could instinctively tell was not the sun, Alicia remains in bed. Her only movements are her covering her blanket over her body so that she was completely hidden in the hopes that whatever was out there, it wouldn't come for her.

Then, she hears a doorknob click and her door slowly creaking open. As footsteps slowly approach her, Alicia removes her covers expecting to see her mother, her father, or maybe even The Queen. Instead, she sees Hopper and his wasp wife Zing, leering at Alicia from just outside her room. Alicia looks up at the man, visibly afraid until he lets go of his sword and kneels down in front of her, showing her that he means no harm.

ALICIA

Wh-Who are you?

HOPPER

I am Hopper, the king of wasps and grasshoppers.

He points behind him to his wasp wife.

HOPPER

And this is Zing, your queen of wasps and grasshoppers.

ALICIA

Where's my family?

Hopper twists his expression to one that would show pain and regret. He hangs his head low, eyes darting away from Alicia's gaze.

HOPPER

(IN A SHAKING, CHOKING VOICE) For...give me.

[iwriteasfotini]

Epic Playlist

This LONG running playlist can be found on Spotify and is growing as each installment of the series is published. Enjoy!

Main OLIWITS Opening Theme

Crazy in Love by J2

The Heir and The Spare

Mambo Sun by T. Rex I Don't Care by Fall Out Boy Heather by Conan Gray Liars by Gregory Allen Isakov Ho Hey by The Lumineers You Need to Calm Down by Taylor Swift Bang a Gong (Get It On) by T. Rex Your Song by Elton John Could Have Been Me by The Struts Monster by Imagine Dragons Cosmic Dancer by T. Rex *WORK THEME SONG* Look After You by The Fray Tolerate It by Taylor Swift

The Prince's Pact

Mastermind by Taylor Swift Afraid by The Neighbourhood I'm Just a Kid by Simple Plan this is me trying by Taylor Swift The Joker And The Queen by Ed Sheeran Teenagers by My Chemical Romance Face Down by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Mistakes by Gregory Allen Isakov Out Of the Woods by Taylor Swift Alone Together by Fall Out Boy Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince by Taylor Swift breakdown. by YUNGBLUD *WORK THEME SONG* Ghost by Halsey In the End by Linkin Park Wasp / Behind the Wall of Sleep / Bassically / N.I.B. by Black Sabbath Poison & Wine by The Civil Wars

The Bonds of Friendship

Runaway by AURORA Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine Here's to Never Growing Up by Avril Lavigne Believer by Imagine Dragons She Looks So Perfect by 5 Seconds of Summer That's the Way by Led Zeppelin Gives You Hell by The All American Rejects I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift Mother's Daughter by Miley Cyrus If I Had You by Adam Lambert The Nights by Avicii Holding Out for a Hero cover by Nothing But Thieves Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin Wild Ones by Flo Rida (ft Sia) Wat I Just Another One by Gregory Allen Isakov Victorious by Panic! At The Disco Naked by Avril Lavigne rewrite the stars by Christina Perri Someone to You by BANNERS I Found by Amber Run *WORK THEME SONG* Wicked Game cover by Fort Nowhere *WORK THEME SONG*

Main OLIWITS End Theme

A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay

This is a LIVE UPDATES POST! It is not complete.

[generalluxun]

ML Fanfiction: Showing Love

This little one shot is a rewrite of the end of Queen Wasp. It never sat right with me, Marinette badmouthing Chloé to get Audrey to pay attention to her (and we see how well it turned out having her in Paris) Who wouldn't prefer something with some awesome Marinette and Moma Sabine in it? Link to the post on AO3 in my bio. Full text below the break.

Marinette was so sure. She had seen what everyone else had, but unlike so many people she couldn't, wouldn't look away. She might have every reason to, it might be any number of people's responsibilities before her, but she was Ladybug. It was more than a costume. It was more than fighting villains. It was saving people, and everyone deserved to be saved.

She was so sure. When that 'go away' came through the door, it was expected. When that baffled 'Dupain-Cheng?' left Chloé's lips -she never used Marinette's first name- it had been a victory. Yes Chloé, even you.

She was so sure. She marched up to the helipad with a plan fully formed. She declined Audrey's offer. She stepped aside to present Chloé to her mother. It was easy to brush aside the 'Chlorine?' It was just a quirk, right? Nothing else made sense.

She was so sure. 'Why don't you love me, mom?' broke her heart. No child should ever have to ask that. It was Chloé though, Chloé could be trusted to misread anything. This was the way to clear everything up. It was all a misunderstanding.

"But… Uh– of course I-" Audrey choked. She turned her head. She wouldn't even look at the girl, hunched and desperate before her. When she managed to force the words 'love you' from her lips they were almost unrecognizable.

She was so wrong.

"No."

Both Audrey and Chloé turned to her, one still wallowing in confusion, the other with indignant surprise.

Marinette had to fight to find her voice. Hope, warmth, and pride had turned to a burning anger and disgust. She looked at Audrey and saw something incomprehensible. "You… don't… Do you?"

Marinette was stunned, but after being contradicted twice in as many minutes, Audrey was moreso. She looked at Marinette over her sunglasses, "Excuse me?"

"You don't. It doesn't make sense, but… you don't." Marinette found strength in her anger. "You can't even make yourself say it! The one thing every child should be able to count on, and you can't even do that much!"

"Listen here Mariachi, don't you tell me how to handle my employees, Cardamom is-"

"She's your daughter, and her name is Chloé!" Marinette was shaking with rage. "I hate her and I can remember her that much! She's awful, mean, cruel, and makes my life hell but even she deserves better than you!"

Marinette snatched Chloé's hand and began dragging her off. The blonde was stumbling after her passively, clearly still reeling. Her 'Dupain- wait- I-let me-' protests were meek, Marinette ignored them.

She was waiting, listening, holding out for that last little bit of hope as she marched away from the pad. There was still a chance… but no. No outraged scream, no fervent protests, no last vestige of maternal instinct followed after them. Just to drive home the point, the sound of helicopter rotors starting up was the sound that saw them off the pad.

"Dupain-Cheng, stop!" Chloé finally found her strength and yanked back, pulling herself free. She turned back, scanning the sky.

"Chloé, where are you going?"

She didn't even look Marinette's way, instead pulling out her phone as she answered. "She can't have gone far, the limo is fast. I can get Jean-Loius to chase her dow-"

Marinette caught the phone even as Chloé lifted it to her ear. The look she got for it was crazed. She moderated her tone, speaking softly. "And then what?"

Chloé's eyes snapped to her, a hunted look to them. "Then we can- I can- … " She want from shock to shout, "Dupain-Cheng you were the one who dragged me here!"

The truth stung. Marinette channeled the pain though, admitting, "And I was wrong! Who can blame me? Who could think that… that… just, how?? It shouldn't be hard for a mother to love her daughter!"

Chloé sniffed, posture changing again, chin up. "Oh it's not hard, Dupain-Cheng. All you have to do is be exceptional."

Chloé spoke such nonsense with complete confidence, Marinette was left gaping, "No! No, that is so messed up, don't you see? You want to win a medal? Sure, be exceptional. You get your parents' love just by being alive. You're her daughter."

Chloé's head snapped to the side, she scoffed, "You're talking presents, Dupain-Cheng. You get presents by being alive. Love you have to fight for."

Marinette wasn't sure she'd ever heard anything more wrong in her life. The insanity of it threatened to overwhelm her. A part of her mind went into overdrive recontextualizing years of interactions. She wanted to just shut down. No!

She wouldn't be wrong, not about this. She grabbed Chloé's hand again and started off, "Come on."

Chloé stumbled after her again, "Where are we go-going? Dupain-Cheng!"

"It's Marinette! And you're coming to dinner. You're going to see what a family looks like."

"What? Dup-" Marinette glared and Chloé corrected herself, "-arinette. You don't even like me. I heard you."

Marinette stopped, but didn't let go. She looked back at Chloé, the girl was on the ropes, worse even than when Marinette had found her. A small selfish part of Marinette wished she could enjoy it, a very small part.

Instead she spoke evenly, "You're right. I don't like you. Can you blame me? You've been a terror, bullying me, harassing my friends. The thing is I don't have to like you to know what you just said isn't right, and I'm going to show you. You might be the worst person I know -second worst now- but even you deserve a parent who loves you."

Chloé started to talk, stopped, looked around as if the answer might be walking past them, ground her teeth, then tried and failed to speak again.

Marinette held up a hand to stop the meltdown-in-progress. “We can call it off if you want. You can go home, I can go home, and we can pretend this never happened.” She lowered her hand and tried her best Ladybug voice. “If we do that though, nothing will change. Whatever you’re feeling right now, it won’t go away. What I’m feeling won’t go away either. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want that. I want things to change. I want things to be better, for both of us, but I’m going to be honest, I don’t know if I’ll ever have the strength to do this again.”

Marinette let out a sigh, her anger was flagging and her energy with it. While she still could, she offered her hand.

She tried mimicking a familiar smirk as she asked, “So, what do you say, Bour-geois?”

Chloé flinched at her offer, more emotions played across her face in a cascade. A hint of determination flashed and she reached out, pausing halfway and looking around again.

Marinette prompted, “No one’s watching. Even if they were, just make a scene.”

A small light sparked in those deep blue eyes. Her lips curled into a smirk that was familiar but without fangs. She set her hand in Marinette’s and said, “This is ridiculous.”

Marinette turned, pulling her along before either of them could change their mind. “Utterly ridiculous!”

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

Another small burst of adrenaline saw Marinette all the way home. Chloé didn’t let go, and neither did she. It wasn’t a tender connection though, it was a lifeline. Her too-loud greeting clued her mother in right away. Her father just accepted the strange situation with his usual gentle confusion. It was still a whole bottle of nitro-glycerine waiting to go off.

Sabine spoke first, “Marinette! Honey! You’re home! And you’ve brought… a friend?”

Her mother’s doubt was palpable. Marinette spoke, again too loud, “Mom! You know Chloé from school. She’s going to be coming to dinner, if that’s okay?”

Sabine looked between the two of them, then visibly clicked into ‘mother’ mode. “Yes, of course. I was just going to go up to begin preparing it. I can call you when it’s done.”

“Call-” Marinette realized a flaw in her plans. Everything was working as long as she kept momentum, but now…

From beside her, “Don’t you design things, D- Marinette? Show me some of it.”

Choé’s voice rose and fell in a strange oscillating tone. It kept trying to settle back into its usual domineering affect, but then being knocked out of it, seeking another groove. When Marinette looked at her she snapped her head away quickly, but slowly turned back, waiting.

Marinette took a chance she was right about what she was seeing. “Sure. We’ll be upstairs, Mom.”

They had to let go of each other to climb the narrow stairs into Marinette’s room, and suddenly Marinette was adrift. On top of that, Chloé Bourgeois was in her room! Alarms, warning bells, klaxons, and a little voice perpetually screaming all sounded at once in Marinette’s head. Instead of doing any one of the dozen sane things though, she walked across to her desk and picked up one of her notebooks.

“This is your room, huh?”

Marinette froze. That voice, here. She was still fighting to force her paralyzed limbs to move when the voice came again.

“It’s small… too small. You should have it expanded. You- you’ve got a chaise too? They’re so comfy. I used to flop on mine after dance cl-  I um.. Steps, I have some leading up to my bed too, but this many Marinette? You’re just showing off.”

Chloé’s voice was still working the scales, looking for a place to call home. Marinette recognized babbling when she heard it, long proficient herself. She found she could move again. Turning, she held out the notebook. “Well, you know me, can’t do anything halfway. I think your balcony is bigger than mine too, but I like my view. If you’re still here when the sun goes down, I can show you.”

Marinette had just long enough to panic at her own offer as Chloé hesitantly reached out for the notebook. Their eyes met again and she saw the panic was mutual.

The exchange turned into a snatch, but as Marinette braced for ridicule Chloé instead retreated to the divan, opened the book, and went silent.

The pause gave Marinette a chance to question, to doubt. She shuffled to her desk, but then was stuck. She couldn't just sit there staring at Chloé, but history had her trained not to turn her back either. She settled for half-facing and with her phone out, then she wasn't *staring* staring, right?

Needing to get her thoughts down but not daring to open her diary, Marinette began typing out a note to herself with her thumbs.

What am I doing? It's Chloé. Yeah, but that isn't right no matter who it is. Why me? I could probably try and ask Miss Bustier. But

Marinette drummed her thumbs on the sides of her phone as she thought. A quick glance showed Chloé had progressed through several pages of sketches, but there was not a peep out of her. In fact Marinette wasn't sure if she had ever seen Chloé so focused. Hiding in details to keep from thinking about the big picture. Marinette was very familiar with that trick too.

I want to do this. I want to be the one.  It's not like I like her, or want to hang out. It's…

I want to win. I can't do anything about Mr. Flaps yet, but this I can do something about. Beating this villain doesn't do anything. I've been doing that all year. So maybe getting her to stop being a villain would work. That train thing was awful, and wrong, but she didn't run either. How long would she have tried to stop it on her own? All the way? She liked Ladybug. Can I use that? Is it too soon to talk about her using the Miraculous? Would clumsy Dupain-Cheng asking just embarrass her? Gah. Akumas might be hard, but at least I have my lucky charm.

She looked up again. The notebook was closed in Chloé's lap and the other girl was looking around Marinette's room in more of her uncharacteristic silence.

Marinette hit delete on her note. "Nothing in there to your liking?"

Chloé startled. She ran her hands over the front of the notebook and started softly. "No, I-" Her fingers gripped the cover and she regained some fire,"What am I supposed to say? Hmm? Should I gush? Should I pick it all apart? I was miserable in my room, with mommy leaving and you with her. Now she's still gone, I'm here in your room, with you, and I'm still miserable. Should I call Daddy? What would I even scream for? What am I doing here, Marinette?"

Marinette went through a flash cycle of feeling sorry for Chloé, being angry with herself for feeling sorry, then feeling guilty for being angry. "You could always be honest… about the designs I mean. There's no one to hear. As for the rest…"

Marinette tilted her head back and spun slightly in her chair, she didn't have Cat Noir to buy her time here.

"I-" Marinette leaned forward, elbows on knees. "Look, I'm still processing what I just saw. It's a lot. I thought if I just got you together, away from the lights things would be better. Now… Now I'm realizing it wasn't a fluke. Seeing her was like seeing an adult version of you. Or, really… you're a little version of her."

Chloé puffed up slightly at that, but it was an unsure sort of preening.

Marinette continued, "So like, everything. Everything, was that you, or you trying to be her? Has Audrey Bourgeois been my bully by proxy for all these years?"

It seemed to take hold. Chloé deflated again, and when she rallied it was the sound of someone desperately treading water. "Mommy is a winner! Winners step on losers and little people."

"And the unexceptional?"

Chloé's mouth snapped shut. Marinette could see the tears forming in real time. She knew what would come next if a certain someone was paying attention. That wasn't what prompted her though. She was just so sick of pain.

"You're not unexceptional, Chloé. You are a whole lot of things, things I would get in trouble for saying if my parents heard, but unexceptional isn't one of them. If your mom can't see it. Then she's blind."

Marinette sighed. With Ladybug it was easy, fight and flee before the timer. Staying, talking, this was hard.

"It's more than that though. You want to know why you are here? To see how it is supposed to work. My mother, she's amazing. I'm not bragging or trying to rub your face in it. I want you to see what a mother is supposed to do. Maybe if you do, you'll see that it's not worth chasing after one who doesn't. It's not worth bending yourself into her shape. It's not worth hurting other people. Hurting people is easy, Chloé. Saving people, like Ladybug does, that's hard."

As she finished, Marinette realized her trap door was slightly ajar. She was trying to steal a look without making it obvious when Chloé's voice rose in a mumble.

"I liked.. the coat."

Marinette couldn't follow, "The what?"

Chloé was still slumped."The coat, page seven. I would wear that."

Marinette squinted until it clicked. "Oh!" She tried to remember back that far. "The cropped one, with the feathered collar?"

Chloé picked at the edge of the notebook. "I always liked feathers, but… ridiculous."

Marinette filled in the blanks. "Then I came along and," She did her best Audrey impression, "feathers are in."

Chloé nodded. She stopped picking, flexing her fingers but silent.

"That just proves it, right? You shouldn't have to live like that, no one should."

"So, what? If I stop, I still don't have a mother."

Marinette struggled. Chloé wasn't wrong, and Marinette couldn't picture a life without her own mother. Not just as a mother, but as someone there, supporting her, encouraging her, and correcting her, loving her.

Marinette went to her last resort, honesty, "I don't have all the answers, Chloé. I brought you here to show you there was something else to want, a different way to be. Maybe, if you want that, you can try a different approach. It might not be Audrey -probably better if it isn't- but there are others. Ms. Bustier seems to care a lot about you."

Chloé brightened suddenly, "Or Ladybug?!"

"I, ahhh, don't think she's, unmm, looking to have any daughters right now…" Marinette hedged.

Chloé's cheerfulness evaporated. "You're right. She probably hates me now, you saw what I did. Everybody saw what I did."

"Chloé, I think Ladybug might be very understanding. I can't imagine it would be easy for a hero to hate anyone. But, let's not focus on that. Let's focus on the here and now." Marinette glanced towards the trapdoor, "And I think I smell dinner cooking."

With that, the door swung open and her mother appeared. "You do indeed, my dear. If the two of you would come down and wash your hands, it is time to eat."

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

Dinner was… well, it was awkward. Marinette wasn't sure if Chloé had eaten a family dinner ever before, and with four people the potential for miscues was exponential. Her mother was a blessing in all this, as Marinette had believed she would be.

Sabine prompted Chloé with a steady flow of questions. Like clockwork the blonde would start with a full head of steam but peter out quickly into uneasiness. Without acknowledging the change, She would simply ask something else, seemingly unrelated. Her dad was largely quiet, his eyes ping ponging back and forth between the two, and a spoon often forgotten in his mouth.

Marinette missed a good chunk of the exchange, lost in her own thoughts until a sharp clearing of her mother's throat and, 'Isn't that right, Marinette?' in just the right tone of voice clued her in. Her mother was pumping Chloé for information. It was a flood of details and stories that Marinette herself would never have been able to pry past sealed lips.

They seemed honest too. The usual bragging melted away quickly before her mother's gentle, 'That's nice, dear.' Genuine stories earned genuine engagement. Chloé was speaking to Sabine like a daughter, or at least like someone desperate to know what being a daughter felt like.

Chloé didn't eat much, which was fine because Marinette stress-ate for three. Dinner was winding down when Chloé's phone went off. The change was instant and complete. Her entire body language shifted as she pulled it out.

"What, Daddy? … So what? … No! You never come up any-"

That clearing of the throat again. Marinette's response was Pavlovian, and already she wasn't the only one. Chloé cut herself off mid-word and both girls looked to Sabine. Marinette's mother merely looked serene, the smallest of smiles on her lips. Marinette instantly tried to figure out something she might have done wrong. To her surprise Chloé winced visibly and when she spoke her tone had changed.

"I already ate. I'm eating at a… classmate's house … okay, Daddy … It's the Dupain-Cheng bakery … no rush."

She hung up and prodded an untouched portion of tofu and vegetables on her plate with her fork.

"I have to go home."

It was the weirdest experience for Marinette, feeling upset at that news.

“Well, honey,” Sabine broke the stalemate, “Would you like to take anything home? I may not work at a Michelin hotel, but I like to think my food is good the next day too.”

Chloé cast around the table. Marinette was holding her breath. Chloé eventually mumbled, “Some of those gougères, maybe?”

Sabine nodded, “Right. Okay everyone, clear.”

Marinette stood, grabbing her plate and a nearby server. Her dad hastily shoveled several more bites into his mouth before grabbing as many plates as his big hands could carry. After a pace, Chloé even picked up her own plate and followed Marinette like a lost puppy to the kitchen. By the time the plates were scraped and stacked, Sabine had bagged up several puffs and pressed the bag into Chloé’s hands. “Marinette, why don’t you see our guest downstairs? Take care, Miss Bourgeois. You are welcome to come again.”

Chloé stood there for a moment, bag held in front of her like a shield, then without warning launched herself at Sabine, nearly knocking the smaller woman over as she threw her arms around her.

Sabine braced herself, and patted the girl gently on the back, “Bao bei.”

Chloé disentangled, shot Marinette an embarrassed glance, then dashed for the stairs.

Marinette had the space of time it took her to follow to try and catch up mentally again. She found Chloé looking out the door to the shop and stepped up beside her. “Did this help? Can you see what I mean?”

The bag crinkled in Chloé’s hands. “Don’t ask me that right now. I have to go home and sit by myself in my room, unless I can convince Sabrina to come over. I probably shouldn’t yell, right?”

“There are other ways to do things.”

“People say ‘no’.”

Marinette gave a little laugh at that. “Yeah, asking is a lot scarier, believe me.”

“You don’t like me, Marinette. Why did you do all this? And don’t give me some high-and-mighty Ladybug talk. You’re just a normal person, like me.”

Marinette shifted her weight from foot to foot. “Everyone wants to beat their bully. I do too. I just saw a way to maybe have a person left when the bully was gone.” She glanced sidelong at the other girl, “How did I do?”

Blue eyes met blue. Chloé looked away and crossed her arms, bagheld in one hand. “I’m going to take you off my list, Marinette. I guess I should take everyone off for now, so maybe that isn’t so special. You’ll be at the top of the list of people who aren’t on my list though. That’s the best I can do for now.”

Chloé’s limo pulled up outside. Chloé tried the door, then Marinette unlocked it for her. “It’s a start.” Marinette had a flash of inspiration and added, “I’ll tell you a secret. It’s not losing if your new self is the one to take down your old self.”

They exchanged another look, then Chloé stepped out into the evening. Marinette locked the door behind her and watched years of problems get into a limo and ride away, maybe for the last time.

“That was the Chloé, right?” her mother’s voice startled her, even being soft.

Her mother knew the answer, she wasn’t really asking, she was prompting again. “Yeah.” Marinette touched the window, “It was.”

“You’re not going to New York, then?”

“No, even before all this I had decided. I have too much to do here to run away around the world. Then I saw… I don’t understand it, Mom.”

“You weren’t raised to understand cruelty. Maybe I should have shared more of what is out there sooner, but I never wanted to add too many shadows to your world of color.”

“Does this mean I can’t be mad for all the things she did?”

“Of course you can. Pain is pain, and it hurts. This just means there might be a way to stop the pain and heal, rather than having to cut off that wounded part of you, like so many do.”

Marinette thought about that. The idea made her smile. She wasn’t sure, but she was hopeful. “Thanks, Mom.”

“I’m proud of you, ma choue.”

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

End Note:

Sabine uses the phrases on purpose. Mandarin for Chloe so she won't necessarily understand it. It's more for the tone and the action. It could easily have been 'there there' but Sabine's a mom and her heart also goes out to a child, so she uses the term of endearment.

For Marinette she switches, so that it's not the same phrase she used for Chloé so close. Each child should feel special.

[pro-bee-sisters]

Retiring from Miraculous

Hello everyone, so if you all saw my recent post or if you saw my post on my main blog, I announced that I will be officially retiring from the Miraculous fandom as well as the show for good.

I'm really sorry to those who followed me and only liked me for Miraculous content, but after hearing about how the recent episodes of Miraculous have been (*coughDerisioncough*), I don't see the show improving or getting better anytime soon nor do I see myself enjoying it the more it continues. Especially with how the recent season has been nothing but: Multiple retcons, terrible character development, scenes cut from the final version for the most stupidest reasons ever and to make the show have bigger plot holes than ever, inconsistent writing, and lackluster plots, I really don't see myself following through with it anymore.

However,

I won't be officially retiring at the moment!

Yep, even though I do plan on retiring from Miraculous, I won't do it for a long time for these 5 reasons:

I wanna rewatch the entire series until I start on S5 since I'm waiting for the whole season to drop at once. I mainly wanna see what still holds up and what doesn't after these 8 and a half years the show has run for. (And I think we can all agree which ones didn't age the best)

I mainly wanna watch S5 to see if I can use it as a rewrite for some of my AUs; mainly The Lost Miraculous. I know this one might be tricky to do since from what I heard, S5 did retcon a lot of characters and plots, so I'm not entirely sure if I can rewrite the whole season, but I do plan to add a few new elements to my rewrite if I ever do.

Speaking of AUs, that's another reason why I won't retire immediately from the show: I'm still hoping to use it as a source of inspiration for my AUs as I still wish to write them. Mainly The Queen Bee and the Vesperia, The Lost Miraculous, The Undercover Tales of Rena Furtive and Invisible Hornet, The Bee Sisters Duo!, Bug and Wasp Game, A Fox and Her Club, and more!

I'm incredibly excited for the Awakening movie coming out this July, and I do hope that it will at least be one last hope for the show to get better. If not, then I guess we can call that one the real canon while ignoring the show itself, LOL.

I still wanna post some of my views on Chloe and Zoe themselves.

All in all, while I won't necessarily retire from the show permanently (as of now), I will be saying goodbye to it as time goes by because it's about time I move on and start looking through other shows that have similar Magical Girl themes.

Speaking of which, I made a poll on my main blog asking people what should be the next Magical Girl show I should try while I wait to end my time with Miraculous, and when I cut ties with it. If you wish to vote, please click right here.

Alrighty, that's all I have to say for now. Please be on the lookout for any upcoming stories from me and please remember to follow my 3 other blogs:

@muggle-born-princess (Main Blog)

@princessgemsart (Art Blog)

@pens-and-gems (Writing Blog)

Have a fantastic Sunday everyone or whatever day it is in your region LOL

BUZZ ON!

[o-craven-canto]

Notes on what a supernaturally created world would look like

from “A Lorebook of Mytholinguistics”, Justin B. Rye, 2019

(Book V)

[…] there's no reason to imagine the first appearance of the “gene for magic” would be in a sapient species. And genes aren't trying to make life nicer for their carriers; they aren't even working for the benefit of their species; no, the only thing a gene “wants” is to maximise the dispersal of copies of that gene itself. So feel free to go and visit some biosphere where the wildlife has developed thaumaturgical powers, but don't come back. If you arrive early enough to find it ruled by parasitic para‐wasps that can turn you into a willing host for their larvae, you're relatively lucky, because all the non‐magical parts of that insect are vestigial. Give it another million years and the place will be a witch's cauldron of cell cultures whose sole purpose is to pump out clouds of retroviral hex‐chromosomes. As you step through the portal, they'll be rewriting your genome as a new pool of octarine goo. […]

In our world it has famously been said that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution; in theirs, nature is fundamentally inscrutable, since it's the product of the conflicting whims of beings that transcend mortal comprehension. Earth's flora and fauna naturally fall into families sharing large sets of characteristics (toothy, furry, viviparous mammals versus beaky, feathery, oviparous birds) just because all the members of a given family share a common ancestral bodyplan. A biome that was Intelligently Designed de novo last Wednesday, with each individual creature a separate expression of its maker's artistry, is never going to end up organised this way. […] Folkloric secondary worlds do often seem to nod in this direction by having furry/feathery hybrids like griffins and owlbears and whatnot, but there shouldn't be any coherent taxonomic groupings to hybridise – the things that look something like lions and something like eagles are liable to turn out to reproduce via acorns. Come to that, if the existence of half‐elves is anything to go by there may not be any such taxonomic units as species. […]

[…] we should anticipate that the creatures tailor‐made for domestication by a beneficent providence would resemble perambulatory mushrooms rather than geese or goats. And in the absence of evolution, and in particular of fast‐evolving pathogens, none of these organisms have any use for overengineered adaptive immune systems. Indeed, if predators and parasites and prey aren't all locked in an eternal genetic red‐queen's‐race, there's no point leveraging chromosomal variability with a fancy diploid reproductive mechanism. In other words, there's no practical need for sex – if the powers that be have nonetheless taken the trouble to differentiate living things into what appear to be males and females, don't be surprised if the particulars turn out to be kinky in the extreme. […]

Then there's the physiology of the elves themselves. Obviously they aren't going to have any evolutionary vestiges like tailbones or wisdom teeth; everything's there because it's biologically or aesthetically appropriate. […] Their hands aren't feet that have been put through a minor redesign to make them work better as manipulatory appendages, they're organs designed purely for their current role. And similarly, while we upstart monkeys do our talking with repurposed masticatory organs […] they have articulatory organs that were designed with that function in mind all along. Imagine if elves' oral/digestive and nasal/pulmonary tracts were unconnected, and they had something like the syrinx of a parrot built into the latter, so they could drink and sing simultaneously… or come to think of it that sounds more like dwarves.

(Book VI)

Notice that these chosen peoples didn't first spend countless generations as savanna hunter‐gatherers […] they were seemingly equipped with an instinctive urge to settle down in bronze‑ or (in the case of dwarves) iron‐age communities right from the word go, or whatever the word was.

This may or may not have required them to be equipped with brains! Supernatural Creators have metabolisms based entirely on miracles, so they habitually produce the sort of split‐level metaphysical systems hospitable to hocus‐pocus, where instead of everything working through traceable and mundanely materialistic causal mechanisms, there's a separate plane of occult essences. In such a cosmos, living things are special because they're full of élan vital; caterpillars turn into butterflies because they're attracted to the right Platonic form by morphic resonance; and magic works because the meaning of your incantation is a thing in its own right that can have a direct impact on whatever it refers to. So instead of elves being able to think for themselves because their skulls are crammed full of the kind of cells that have signal‐processing and data‐manipulating functions, each elf gets an immaterial soul hovering somewhere nearby in an adjacent dimension.

If organisms are animated not by adenosine triphosphate but by a ghostly vital essence, having a cerebral cortex as well as a soul is redundant – look at ents, which are remarkably nimble thinkers when you consider that their heads are made of solid wood.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Asstruck is just not a good writer.. Like at all. He never once calls out the ever so perfect mari for certain stalkerish tendencies I love mari but sometimes the shit she does is really creepy. he acts like someone being emotionally abused makes them weak. He created a character who would of made an excellent antagonist and stopped using them after 1 episode leading to the salt era and most of the pacing is like playing a game of ping pong blindfolded in a tornado.

Yeah like. There are. So many things.

Mari and learning her lessons is a train wreck because sometimes the wrong lesson entirely is taught(like in Rogercop)

Mari's stalker tendancies are a subject because I will give some leeway given that this is a cartoon. Like, in the same way I'm gonna watch Tangled and give leeway to Rapunzel smacking Eugene with a frying pan.

But as I said. /some/ leeway. I do think it has crossed a line at a few points.

Re: emotionally abused characters just. God. I don't even want to think about some of that rn. But let's just say that even if they turn it around and somehow give Chloé a redemption arc on par with Zuko? That does NOT erase all the horrific shit that TA said on Twitter.

And yeah Lila.

Lila my beloved. You had so much potential and they did jackshit with you. She was relevant for like. 4 episodes. And she had no effect on anything.

And ugh the pacing..... I feel like I could write a whole essay itself on how fucking slow the Lovesquare is paced and how I would rewrite it.

Honestly the one thing worse than the pacing? Is that the characterization slams back and forth!!

We've already discussed Chloé. Not just whatever the fuck happened at the end of Season Three but like. The best way someone put it is that Chloé's characterization is so polarizing that both Lady Luck and scar///let lady are valid interpretations of her character.

But you brought up Lila and god the classmates are so fucking dumb in that just to make the plot work when honestly they don't need to be!! I've written a handful of posts on this and I'm also going to rewrite that episode for Lady Luck and people won't be totally dumb!

But I think the character who gets the "personality changes for the sake of the plot" is Gabriel.

Don't get me wrong I'm not being all *uwu he did nothing wrong*. Even at his best I want to deck this man.

But just. watching Gorizilla, Queen Wasp, and Glaciator 2, and then jumping to Chat Blanc or Empheral..... Just. Are we supposed to find him a tragic and sympathetic villain, or an absolute evil bastard villain????

[a-whole-lotta-heck]

Well, I caught up on Wings of Fire and then a three and half page headcanon/partial rewriting of HiveWing society appeared on my computer. Might as well post it, so here we go.

HiveWings and SilkWings are both smaller and fuzzier than Pyrrhian dragons. HiveWings are not NightWing hybrids. Pantalan language is the fantasy equivalent of the Latin-Greek mashup used in real life scientific names, so that I can name dragons Anax and Vespa and whatnot.

Food production is a big deal in Pantala after the initial war against the othermind. Both tribes rely on plants; SilkWings are exclusively herbivorous, while plant sap and nectar makes up a large part of the HiveWing diet. Pantalans have made great advances in greenhouse agriculture, but greenhouses require constant maintenance. The structure of the hives is always being rearranged to make the most of the limited lumber supplies that can be grown. The dragons of the empire must work constantly in order to maintain their way of life, and dragonets are expected to work just as much as adults. SilkWing dragonets work on web maintenance teams, and both HiveWing and SilkWing dragonets work in food processing.

HiveWings

A collection of related tribes that unified against the threat of the othermind. The eusocial groups have queens of their own, but these are figureheads and the real governing power is held by Wasp’s parasitoid dynasty. All HiveWings have antennae, which are usually shorter than those of SilkWings, and go through metamorphosis. They tend to be yellow and black, but can be any color. Only females produce venom, but males still have tail barbs that can be used as weapons. Dragonets produce silk until they undergo metamorphosis, but most jobs that require silk production are left to SilkWings. (Bees, wasps, and ants make silk in real life—it’s actually stronger than caterpillar silk!)

·       Parasitoid ruling caste

Based on various parasitoid wasps, these HiveWings range from small to medium in size. They have a slender, almost frail, build and extremely long tails with small stingers at the end. When an egg or dragonet is stung by one of these HiveWings, the dragonet becomes unusually compliant, following any order they are given. When the dragonet goes through metamorphosis, they emerge as a parasitoid HiveWing adult, no matter what they were originally. The implanted compliance wears off, and the new adult’s mind is a blend of their original self and their parasitoid parent. SilkWings are not allowed to care for their own eggs, and the HiveWing nest caretakers are ordered to allow a small number of eggs to be implanted by high-ranking parasitoid HiveWings.

Typical parasitoid HiveWings are non-confrontational by nature and are unfailingly polite. They coordinate the activities of the different hives, acting as mediators and pacifiers when old tensions flare up. Today parasitoid HiveWings hold all of the empire’s governing positions and have other people to be aggressive for them. Some have paralyzing venom, and these are often assigned to police work.

In ancient times, parasitoid HiveWings worked with SilkWings to unite the hives against the othermind. They are known for their reluctance to fight, and the notoriously warlike hives were more willing to listen to them than anyone from an enemy hive. The parasitoids facilitated communication and cooperation between the hives. Once the hives joined together, their role evolved into governing the new empire. The SilkWings, who were once their partners, became mere tools. Queen Wasp is the latest ruling member of the parasitoid dynasty. She’s limited to standard parasitoid brainwashing in this version.

·       Eusocial wasps and bees

Based on social wasps and bees like yellowjackets and honeybees, these are the generic HiveWing: large, boldly colored, and aggressively protective of their society. They live in large family colonies, each of which has its own queen—subordinate to Queen Wasp, of course. These HiveWings have the ability to project their emotions to any of their relatives in a limited radius, so that if one is angry, all her sisters nearby are as well. They often have abilities useful in construction and craftswork, such as secreting wax or gluey saliva. They are typically assigned work as soldiers, artisans, hunters, or SilkWing overseers in construction and agriculture.

·       Ants

Based on ants, these small to medium sized HiveWings have a colony structure similar to the previous HiveWing caste. They can project their emotions over a larger area to any ant HiveWings, not just their relatives. They have four wings like all HiveWings, but their wing membranes do not heal like other dragons’ do, developing tears that cannot be repaired. Their wings become useless after only a few flights and the wing limbs eventually atrophy from lack of use.

Most ant HiveWings work as SilkWing handlers and nest attendants. In ancient times, this was a more mutualistic and equal partnership negotiated between specific groups of HiveWings and SilkWings. Today, it’s slavery pretending to be a beneficial extension of that ancient relationship. Ant HiveWings are more familiar with SilkWings than most other HiveWings; this can push them toward rebellion on behalf of their SilkWing neighbors or toward abuse of their power. It’s not a coincidence that most Pantalan hybrids are produced from SilkWing and ant HiveWing parents.

·       Solitary wasps and bees (including parasitoids that prey on adults)

Based on solitary wasps and bees, these HiveWings are similar in size to the eusocial wasp/bee HiveWings. They are the lowest ranking HiveWing caste, considered little better than SilkWings. They are notoriously meek compared to the eusocial HiveWings. Some possess paralyzing venom; these are based on parasitoid wasps that prey on adult insects. Although they are commonly considered the most useless HiveWings in combat, the most devastating venom of any HiveWing can be found in this caste. The parasitoid rulers are biologically part of this group, but due to their influence and brainwashing abilities they were able to come out on top while their relatives were pushed to the bottom. The solitary HiveWings are believed to have little culture of their own.

SilkWings

Literally connect the hives and hold the empire together. SilkWings are often used as status symbols, and work in construction and food production. Particularly dangerous work is usually left to the eusocial and solitary HiveWings, since SilkWings are so valuable and need HiveWing protection.

SilkWings produce silk all their lives, but dragonets make a lot more. The massive silken roads between the hives are only possible because of the use of dragonet labor.

Although believed to have no natural defenses, SilkWings are frequently born with venomous spines and chemical defenses such as spraying toxins. (This would replace flamesilk in my version of Pantala.) These defenses are usually removed after hatching by HiveWing nest attendants. SilkWings also have incredibly long, prehensile, pointed tongues that could poke someone’s eye out if you’re not careful.

Some SilkWings bear an uncanny resemblance to HiveWings or LeafWings. HiveWing mimics can pass as true HiveWings in society, but face severe punishment if they’re caught. LeafWing mimics are understood to be SilkWings but are distrusted and frequently the victims of violence due to their resemblance to the hives’ ancient enemies. They’re still around because they benefit the propaganda machine; they are a constant reminder of the threat LeafWings pose and also a harmless explanation for any actual sightings of LeafWing infiltrators.

Hybrids

Parents from two different HiveWing tribes produce hybrids, although they are not officially recognized as such due to both parents being HiveWings. HiveWing/SilkWing hybrids are commonplace (unfortunately, given the omnipresent power differentials) and accepted. Officially, they share the caste of whichever parent legally claims them; in practice, they form a caste of their own between HiveWings and SilkWings. HiveWing parents who want the child always successfully claim them and the SilkWing parent cannot treat them as their child. Hybrids with venom are usually claimed as HiveWings, although not necessarily by their true HiveWing parent. Many hybrids do not go through metamorphosis, and their wings instead grow steadily throughout childhood.

LeafWing hybrids are extremely rare today and persecuted by LeafWings and HiveWings both. They are most often found in SilkWing communities passing as LeafWing mimics. They were much more common in the past; HiveWings were infamous for mistaking boldly colored LeafWings for true HiveWings.

Some types of hybrids:

·       Flies are produced from an ant HiveWing and any other parent tribe, and are small to medium sized. Their hindwings degrade like an ant HiveWings’ but their forewings remain. They are famously good fliers and usually raised as HiveWings due to this despite their lack of venom.

·       Beetles are produced from ant HiveWing and any other parent tribe. They are extremely variable in size; the largest Pantalan dragons are beetle hybrids. Their forewings degrade, becoming hard and immobile except at the shoulder joint. They never have venom but may have other chemical defenses, such as spraying burning hot liquid.

·       Webspinners are produced from SilkWing and ant HiveWing parents and are usually dully colored.  Both their sets of wings degrade. They are almost always raised as SilkWings, as they never have venom and produce even more silk than a true SilkWing.

·       Spiders and scorpions are produced from SilkWings and ant HiveWings. Their wing membranes degrade but their wing limbs do not atrophy and can be used as extra legs. They are usually raised as HiveWings because they always have venom, although spiders produce silk their entire lives and may be raised as SilkWings.

·       Dragonflies and damselflies are produced from SilkWings and non-ant HiveWings. They never have venom and are usually brightly colored. Dragonflies are incredible fliers and usually raised as HiveWings, while damselflies are usually raised as SilkWings.

[divine-motion]

my rewrite of tmnt 2012 is turning more into “my fan iteration within the story of 2012 which i change a bit to suit my self-indulgence” (which it pretty much was from the start but hey) so i’m just gonna write down some General Stuff abt it like arcs and stuff

Tang Shen is alive but did get sliced by Shredder like when she dies in canon, so she has scars and Shredder believes her to be dead. Tang Shen also believes that Yoshi went and disappeared on her when he went to buy those turtles so, you know, rough couple of years for her w/ regards to thinking her infant daughter is dead, moving away from japan w/ her husband, and then her husband mutates into a rat and doesn’t tell her abt it. now she works as a robotics engineer at Stockman labs and while she’s still depressed she’s getting better, she likes her work, and she’s working on a certain nanobot project which is going good

(Nano is in this version but they instead are in an arcade cabinet that the turtles then bring to the Lair so that Nano has a family and they get to play with the turtles often. Happy end for Nano!)

Raph is the one who first meets Shen and Shen starts signing the adoption papers for the turtles

Splinter is pretty much the same as in 2012 but like, he gets confronted abt his shit instead of just being Flawless Wise Mentor, mainly by Michelangelo and then Shen when she meets him again. think he’s still gonna die but only once instead of. what. three times?

the turtles have known April for about three years since they went to the surface in secret and met a curious human girl. April quickly decided she has four brothers now and they agreed whole-heartedly

April’s parents are both alive btw and very good parents, though since “the Kraang want to kidnap April” isn’t a thing here they are both unaware of her mutant friends

April isn’t trained as a kunoichi and instead relies on her telepathic powers, which would grow at the same rate as the turtles become better fighters. i have a whole list of her powers and their limits - for example, tinfoil hats do work to keep your head protected from telepathy, much to everyone’s surprise. a metal pot also works, or a metal helmet. Shredder is unknowingly immune to it with his helmet always being on...

the brain worms serve a slightly bigger role, but they are instead creatures from Dimension X, a weak, telepathic parasite that crawls into people’s brains and controls them to keep the worm safe while it feeds on the person. they are what Kraang Prime mutated himself with to create the Kraang hivemind. they are also called “mind maggots” in Dimension X, “brain worms” is just what Stockman and Donnie started calling them when first discovered. removing a brain worm from a person without using telepathic powers can result in the person’s death or severe brain damage

also the Kraang are a more literal hivemind. if one of them sees you, they all see you. the turtles have to use all their ninja stealth to deal with them, and it’s always a risk because the Kraang can easily overwhelm them with how many of them there are

Kraang Prime is probably gonna be offed at the end of the “season 1 finale”, probably by Leatherhead. he deserves it. offing Prime also frees the Kraang hivemind from his control and the Utrom have their autonomy back. either that, or they manage to release the hivemind from his control another way, and it leaves Prime like weak and useless somehow. maybe by plucking off those weird crystals on his head, i dunno, still thinking abt it

oh Leatherhead! Leatherhead is a doctor for mutants, being a bit of a mix between his 2003 and 2012 self. he wants to help other mutants since he knows they’re victims of the Kraang too, however indirectly, and that they can’t exactly get medical help. mutants do have greater regenerative properties, but that’s only going to help you so far, and your bones might grow back wrong quicker. so, Leatherhead spent his years of freedom studying medicine and mutant biology, using stuff he stole from the Kraang during his first escape.

it would be a lot more focused on helping mutants in general. like, there would still be mutant villains that would be fought when needed, but Mikey and Donnie would put their feet down and try to offer the mutants help in settling into their new life. the turtles would also not be disgusted with mutants like they are in 2012 like jeez, dumbdotcomm really put it into words

anyways the Kraang would cease being a threat after “season 1″ and the truce Karai suggests between Foot and Hamato does happen. Splinter hates it and doesn’t trust it at all

Baxter Stockman has his own lab which is pretty successful, and he is an incredibly smart and eccentric guy with a bubbly personality - until you threaten him or talk down to him, at which point he shows himself to be calculating and ruthless, still with a smile on his face. he doesn’t pick up on sarcasm very well, though, and if you ask him to explain something, he will happily do so in great detail, whether you’re friend or foe. also, he doesn’t get mutated into a fly, and he doesn’t get turned into just a brain, either. he’s just a funky regular human guy

Timothy becomes The Badger in this version. he’s also treated better by the turtles, especially Mikey who takes it upon himself to train Timothy, partially bc Mikey wants to be a superhero but knows he can’t show his face. in fact, Timothy was inspired by Mikey specifically as he saw Mikey trying to be a costumed superhero at one point. when Timothy mutates, he becomes a human mutant like Hun and Ravenwood from IDW, so he can become like an actual superhero with powers

more female characters. like just in general more girls please. i beg of you.

Angel is Casey’s older sister who’s off at college as a STEM student, and she is also Nobody here bc i absolutely love that for her, IDW was galaxy brained when they did that. Alopex is her partner here too same as in IDW, and they jokingly call themselves “Batteries, the Double-A Crime Fighting Duo”. Angel is very much against Casey being a vigilante despite being one herself, but she’s an adult so it’s different, obviously

the turtles ask Alopex to be their teacher, too, especially since Raph notices that she fights using anger in a controlled way, and she is a bit surprised and slightly awkward about it but she accepts. Alopex is an arctic fox instead of a red fox here btw, though she has a summer coat most of the time and only gets white fur during winter.

April would also have an arc where she strives to understand her mutant side and powers better, so she would venture into Dimension X alone to find the Utrom, and learns about their society before and after Kraang. Rook and Queen (named Quin here bc Bishop isn’t a Utrom in this version, and Utrom don’t have a concept of queens and kings) would have bigger roles, as they would help April out with her powers and figuring out what being part Utrom/Kraang means for her identity.

Rook is also an alchemist/scientist who created mutagen in the first place, and Kraang was her assistant. this isn’t super important to April’s arc but i just thought it’d throw it out there

the brain worms/mind maggots would result in a City Fall arc i’ve decided. but it would be the only time mind control/brainwashing becomes a plot point in this series bc i think 2012 really overused that trope. like it was there with Splinter and the Rat King, with the parasite wasp mutant episode, and then again with the brain worms but like, several times over.

this also means that Karai doesn’t get the brain worms pumped into her brain. remember that scene where she’s hooked up to the machine and Shredder’s like “damn that shit sucks i’m sorry Hamato Yoshi’s doing this to you”?? that scene was pretty fucked up. anyways Karai has like. agency in her own arc this time

in the City Fall arc Splinter would die and at the end Karai kills Shredder, and Leo and Karai as new leaders of the clans would be like “alright this stupid fucking ancestral cycle of vengeance” ends here

Northampton time after that because it would be a Lot

after that i think it would be space arc time? it would start with the turtles being separated across dimensions and planets a bit like when SAINW happened, but without SAINW. like, Donnie would get to Neutrino (elves with crazy hair version), Leo would get to Usagi’s dimension, etc. etc.

also in case it wasn’t obvious Tang Shen will play a big role as the turtles’ Better parent and she’d have her own stuff to work through, like meeting her daughter she thought was dead and finding out her boss, Stockman, is evil, that her husband got turned into a rat, and that her new kids get into all kinds of dangerous trouble constantly

anyways that’s um. already quite the wall of text so i’ll shut up now ‘til i have more art to post, digital art this time so you can like. actually see what things look like.