#but i needed a reason to get my sewing machine out and it encouraged me enough to so

[spartalabouche]

eveyvody look at my build a bear jackalope i made. she is small

[tinyshe]

Garden Report 23.07.15

The Garden Report & Frugal Living

I’ve decided that I am going to revamp/ rename the Garden Report into The Garden Report & Frugal Living since they are part and parcel to our life. In part it is to jot down a garden journal and also a way to encourage others.

We are having (still) a run-in with creatures from the green zone and surrounding area (the four legged kind). My lack of urban tidy is just too irresistible. We seem to be keeping the rodent population in check. Some have wondered what we do with the carcasses ... I plant them under flower or shrubs to become compost. I don’t put them in places that I will be digging nor that the chickens will dig up. I could let the chickens have but others in the area may be using poison bait and I’m not into taking a chance with my lovelies -- they can have our table scraps. I try to place a good size rock on top of the burial spot as a marker.

The plums off the fruitless plum are ripe and ready. I hope we can get those off this weekend. Much of the produce/fruit I am putting through the dehydrator this year is from the grocer.  It has to be a good deal aka ‘affordable’ in this economic climate. I don’t have the pocketbook weight to donate to their cause. I would love to have cherries and apricots but the market price is out of bounds. At the end of the season (if I can catch it) I will buy a small lot to dry so I can make holiday breads. I do compare to the already dry fruits but often they are treated (preservatives).

The season is still running slow. The elderberries are just now coming into full bloom! I am contemplating: do I pick the blossoms and dry or see if they can pull off a crop before the migratory birds/rains. Part of me wants the fruit because I add them to the fire cider I make. We use that more than the luxury of the dried blossoms for tea. None of the tays nor red raspb’s produced but fingers crossed for a double crop of the golden raspb’s. The crop that is coming off now is crumbly and a fight to get before the other creatures get them. There is one night visitor that is breaking down the canes and I am not happy with that! The blueb’s are coming off scant and the birds take a bite just before they are ripe. Luckily the grocer has plenty at a reasonable price. The dahlia is lovely this year with multiple heads. I love seeing rising above the sea of weeds. The seedlings of greens I brought home from the nursery are not doing well -- the same as my own seedlings. The exception are two tomato starts I got from a friend along with a cucumber. Still no flowers on those plants.

Going through my ammo can aka my seed container I have pulled these packets to plant: beets, peas, mustard greens, swiss chard, radishes, parsley, arugula, turnips, jericho lettuce, carrots. I want to do them in trays to plant out because we have some work to do in the grow beds and around the veg patch and I don’t want the seeds/seedlings destroyed in the process (need to clean the coop, distribute used bedding and lay in new shavings for winter).

This year I am doing less canning and more drying. It kills me in the budget for utilities but BUT I can store more food in smaller space and it can keep longer than the canned/bottled goods. For us, it is more useful as not only less space in pantry/fridge but easy portable and less clean up. In the long run, i think it will become not only the preferred module in keeping the pantry stocked but also more diverse in use. I don’t have to worry about broken seals, broken glass, having it freeze and a whole host of issues. Dried foods, if process properly and stored well, can last a lot longer. And as I slow with some health issues, putting food through the dehydrator is so much easier for me right now.

Sewing more is on the agenda. The new machine we got just started having troubles so that needs to be addressed asap. Unfortunately it was one of those amazing deals from a well known manufacture that is now making everything in china. Made in China: ALWAYS problems. I know better but it was cheaper than taking my husqvarna/viking into the shope for a service. Have some patterns coming in that were being discontinued/ worn envelopes  -- the price was steeply discounted just because of this (new patterns, never used).. Will be sorting through the clothes we have now to see what can be altered, adapted or recycled to quilt or to the rag bag. I collect t-shirts to make a rug (crochet/braided) once they are too worn/ get ripped. I want to start on one soon as the last one was a dense mat for the cat and that just wasn’t satisfying imo. She didn’t like how it felt and I didn’t like how it looked.

So hope you can get out and garden or maybe even get bit by the sewing bug :). Both are very satisfying and bring a bit of self sufficiency into your life.

[dausy]

Hello, just got back from our weekend trip. I hesitate to call it a vacation because we went up to the phoenix area because my husbands step dad isnt doing to well and he (my spouse) got an alarming phone call about it. So we drove down there and while the guy isn't fine, he's doing fine and was transferred back to a facility close to his home in a neighboring city.

so in the meantime we visited a quilting convention. In hindsight I probably should have filmed this visit because its still artsy fartsy. I do not understand the world of quilting and sewing but I had a connection with the people there who were obviously geeking out. Had this been an art supply convention I would be doing the exact same. So it was kind of cool. The one disappointing thing though is I saw one booth of obvious hand quilters. The only reason why I point that out is because my mom is a hand quilter. Everything else was very computerized, have the computer quilt the entire thing. Which I can see how maybe that takes away some of the artistry when talking about quilting. They were kind of cool to look at though and thats not necessarily what made me sad. What did make me sad was not only was computerized sewing machines quilting, but it was they were quilting AI generated imaging printed on fabric. Lots of very obviously AI generated dragons and kittens that then the computer quilted outlines around. Idk..like..yall ladies didnt make none of this..

but in anywho, interesting show.

The next day we visited the Grand Canyon because a member of our party hadn't been before. My inlaws took me once years ago, so this was my second trip. What they didn't tell me was that there was a nifty little walking trail and you can actually walk around the rim. We were not prepared to do any sort of hike into the canyon itself but the last time we visited we just looked at one of the lookouts and left. It felt really good to get a nice decent walk though. I don't think other people necessarily meant to encourage us to do that walk though. There was a german group there trying to feed some squirrels and they got yelled at for it. I don't know german but I definitely understood "karen" in german.

next day we just drove around a bit and did some shopping and hung out.

yesterday we drove home but stopped by Tombstone on the way out just because I'd never been. It was about what I was expecting tbh. Otherwise, not an exciting drive.

I did read the book Slewfoot because its being recommended by all the fall girlies on tiktok. I don't know what my thoughts are supposed to be on this one. I meant to watch other peoples reviews to make up my mind. My initial thought was Carrie meets Salem Witch Trial.

now that I'm home, I downloaded Visions of Mana on the PS5. I need to make a hair appointment because mine is getting ridiculous but I hate going to a hair salon so much. Also need to take the dog to the vet for her vaccines, since they're do.

but I'm really not in the mood at the moment to do anything. I don't want to do art because I don't want to sit still but I don't want to leave the house.

[chinahatbeach]

Thoughts for Today

Aloha Friday! It looks to be a rainy/showery day ahead with a weekend about the same. Oh well, Spring outdoor chores will wait until a better day. It’s chilly enough that I do not want to work in the garage on an assortment of chores. I shall use my sewing machine to create! I shall look forward to trying a new recipe. I shall live in the moment in my space. Don’t look at what you can’t do, look at what you can do.

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV).

This past week there has been sad happenings. When I get upset, I either cook or clean. This brought back a memory of past neighbors. Tracy and Trish. Tracy would create things and Trish would cook things when either of them were upset over something. I would be here cleaning my house. Trish would make homemade mac n’ cheese and Tracy would make something beautiful. It was how we three dealt with life. How do you cope when upset or troubled? Some people stress eat. Yes, that some people is me. When I cook whatever, I make sure it goes out the door so I am not tempted to eat it. Yesterday, it was cinnamon rolls with homemade cream cheese frosting. My bread dough came out perfect for those rolls. I made sure those cinnamon rolls left the house. I did leave three of them for the roommate and he did enjoy them. I took the other two pans to family and to a friend.

The reason I was upset is that a very wonderful guy died this week. He left behind broken hearts, hurt in sadness of his passing. And when someone dies, you try to help the people hurting with tokens of heartfelt food offerings. One must make sure that the people left behind eat and have food that they do not prepare themselves. They are in grief and do not think about food. So, I baked. Another friend made lasagna and I bet more people will make a dish or buy food to keep the grieving fed. And this brought back a flood of memories……….

It brought back memories of when Dennis died. It opened that wound. That wound gets healed over and then, boom, the bandage gets ripped open and once again, it is there. It’s not a bad thing in fact. It is a point where you can help others who are now dealing with the grief process. You have survived it and you are there to help others thru it. It’s not a pretty thing but I find it part of the human factor of life. You need to use all parts of life to help others, good or bad.

And one way I do not help people in grief is giving them casseroles. I still have haunting memories of hot dishes that I wondered what in the heck is that food? Yes, many of those casseroles got fed to the chickens. And chickens will eat almost anything……… all most. I didn’t keep track of who’s casseroles didn’t make the grade with the birds. No birds were harmed in this experiment.

And yes, I find that you must keep humor as part of life, even in the times that are so sad. How to cope in times of trials……. find the good………find the humor………find all parts that make it a whole. Show people you love them in good times and bad. Give encouragement in all forms, food or just a hug.

We can live with great hope. No matter how bleak the week, the future is as bright as the promises of God. Encourage each other with hope-infused words. Maybe you’re not sure what to say or who to say it to. Take a moment to send a text, note or call with an encouraging word. A kind word can be a reminder that things won’t always be so bleak.

Dear God, thank You for all Your precious promises. Place on my heart the person you want me to encourage today. Give me the words to say. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

And that’s the way it is………

[mc-lukanette]

Omg I am loving your dreaded string of fate au this is such an interesting take! As always your writing and ideas absolutely amaze me You are such a wonderful writer! If it isnt too much of a bother could we get some more writing for dsaf? Either way I hope you are staying safe, taking care of yourself, and that overall life is doing you good.

Thanks, everyone! And sure, you can have more!!

—————

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]

Luka wasn't sure why Marinette had called him over that day. As far as he knew, she was busy with projects, though he wouldn't complain about spending some time with her.

Still, he found himself tensing and steeling himself up as he walked up the stairs to her living room. The hum of her sewing machine could be heard as he got closer, reminding him of clothes, which led to the thought of thread, which then brought his mind to the red string of fate wrapped around her neck. His last venture as Viperion seemed to have improved his sensing, so now he could see someone's red string even if the person on the other end wasn't nearby.

Needless to say, he wasn't looking forward to it with Marinette.

He closed the living room door behind him, then went up the staircase, knocking to let Marinette know he was there. The sound of the sewing machine stopped, and he heard her footsteps come closer followed by the slight creak of the trapdoor.

Marinette's face was revealed to him, offering him a smile, and Luka tried not to stare too much at the red string still tied around her neck. He swallowed, but smiled back at her, which was genuine enough even if he was uncomfortable.

"Come on up," she welcomed, holding the trapdoor up for him. He nodded and walked up the rest of the stairs, hearing the trapdoor close behind him as he took a look around the room. He felt Marinette's eyes on him, but she voiced her thoughts before he could wonder about them.

"You didn't bring your guitar?" she asked.

He glanced at his back, then at her, having no way of telling her the real reason why he'd chosen not to bring it. "Yeah, I didn't. Sorry, did you want me to play for you?"

"Oh! No, it's okay—I mean, of course I love it when you play for me so I always want—but I understand!" She thankfully dropped the subject there, turning away to return to her seat. "You can make yourself at home or help yourself to the fridge downstairs if you want anything!"

"Thanks," he said with a smile, heading over to her chaise lounge and taking a seat on it. Even with Marinette's chair turned away from him while she used her sewing machine, he could still see the red string dangling off the side, though it faded into full transparency before it hit the floor.

In truth, he'd left his guitar behind to force himself to use less music and more words. He didn't want to hide behind it to try and ease his situation or make himself more comfortable with everything. The situation the love of his life - and more importantly, his friend - had gotten into through no fault of her own was horrible, and no matter how uncomfortable he was, he couldn't have been any more uncomfortable than her being strangled by fate itself.

He watched her, waiting for a lull in her work to ask, "Did you need anything?"

"Hm?" She looked over her chair to meet his gaze.

"I'm happy to be here anyway, but I didn't know if you needed me for something," he clarified.

"Oh." She understood. Waving a hand dismissively, she assured, "No! I just invited you here to hang out—" She gestured to her sewing machine, her eyes a bit shifty. "—with me, while I was busy but totally happy and relaxed and everything!"

Her wording was inherently suspicious. His eyes scanned over the room, noting the projects littered about that seemed so plentiful. He supposed he hadn't exactly been subtle in his concern for her, but he wasn't sure of exactly what tipped her off or made her feel like she had to "prove" her happiness to him.

Besides, he knew better, and he knew her. Even with the smile she gave him, her brows were furrowed and twitching, a tiredness to her eyes that definitely didn't show what he would call "happiness."

He gave her a nod anyway, not wanting to call her out when he was still piecing things together himself, and he didn't want to confirm her worries if she was merely suspecting that he felt that way.

He leaned back while she returned to working, his hand on the cushion underneath him as he considered what to say. If Sass was right in his beliefs, then Luka indeed had the power to change Marinette's fate, though there wasn't any specific method of how. He thought back to all of their conversations, wondering what he would've done differently if he'd known beforehand and trying not to get bogged down by "what if"s or blame himself for it.

He stared silently at the back of Marinette's head, remembering the day at the ice rink when he saw the same thing. She'd been running away, or more specifically running towards Adrien after he'd encouraged her to do so. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but from what he gathered from interactions he'd either seen or heard about, it hadn't gone anywhere. Maybe it hadn't even gone well at all.

Maybe he'd made a mistake?

Luka's mind grew heavy with the thoughts, his body falling back to lay down on Marinette's chaise. He didn't regret doing what he felt was right, but now he wondered if his wording could've been better.

"You should probably go over and talk to him."

He hadn't exactly been thinking at the time - a lot had happened that day - but he noted that he could've asked her how she felt. He could've questioned her on if she really wanted to go after Adrien. It was possible she'd wanted to go home on the subway with him, but was convinced to chase Adrien when he brought it up. Luka just imagined Marinette seeing Adrien and Kagami together, the red string tightening around her neck and then loosening when she was presented with the prospect of going after him.

He felt like he was the one being strangled, just thinking about it.

"Luka?"

He looked up, surprised, seeing that Marinette had stopped sewing at some point and had come to sit on the chaise lounge with him. She hovered over him, concern written across her features and the red string taunting him with its mere existence. Luka knew by now that she was very worried about him, and trying to wriggle or half-lie out of it wasn't going to convince her. He'd just really thought that she would've been sewing for longer.

He also jolted up into a sitting position upon realizing that he probably looked like he was making himself too comfy on her chaise lounge. She didn't seem to mind at least.

"...Marinette," he said slowly, trying to put his thoughts in order. She leaned closer as a sign that she was giving him her attention, and he continued, "Do you know why I let you go that day?"

She tilted her head and he belatedly caught that he hadn't been specific, still too lost in his own head. He opened his mouth to clarify, but realization struck Marinette before he could speak, her brows raising in recognition.

"Oh!" she gasped. Though the conversation was sudden, she didn't seem to mind rolling with it. "Um, yeah, I wondered about that sometimes. I mean, I knew that you knew that I—but I didn't know that you—but if you didn't back then, I—"

"No, your song was definitely in my head, even back then," he confirmed casually, smiling as he added, "Since the day we met, remember?"

She blushed at the mention of his confession, but nodded. "Y-yeah." Then, seeming to rethink the moment with that information in mind, she asked, "...Why did you let me go then?"

His eyes flickered to the red string, then back up to her face. "I want you to be happy, Marinette, no matter who it's with. I thought that Adrien would do that, but I hope I didn't make you feel like you had to go after him."

She blinked, the thought having seemingly not even occurred to her. She averted her gaze, her eyes darting around at nothing in particular. "Is...is that why you were looking like that?"

He didn't answer, but that was answer enough for her.

"Oh, Luka," she murmured sympathetically. "I—well—" She shifted uncomfortably. "—I shouldn't be talking to you about this. It'd be wrong when my feelings are so messed up. You..."

He shook his head. "You can talk about Adrien if you want. I'd be happy if you relied on me more."

He meant it. Even regardless of his fate sensing, he wanted Marinette to feel comfortable talking to him, even if it was about her love problems. He didn't want their relationship to be changed because of his feelings for her.

"Even more?" She raised a brow, the concept confusing her, but she didn't question him further. She hesitated, rubbing her cheek in thought, then dropped her hands to her lap and twiddled her fingers. "I-I don't know; about Adrien, I mean. I—" She sighed, giving a halfhearted shrug. "—he's not interested in me. He likes Kagami, but the girls kept telling me that I shouldn't give up on him because of how hard I tried." Then, stiffening, she waved her hands and rapidly assured, "N-not anything against your sister, of course! That's just what happened—and—" She huffed in frustration. "—it feels like I hit a wall, and I'm not going anywhere. Adrien doesn't notice me and I can't talk to him and... I'm tired."

Luka nodded silently to let her know that he was both listening and sympathetic towards her plight, also not wanting to interrupt her.

"Of course I tried hard, but Adrien and Kagami seem like they're good for each other and they should be happy together. Just, whenever I think of giving up or not trying, I..." She raised a hand to her neck in a gesture that he immediately understood. "It hurts, and Alya's always trying to get me together with Adrien no matter what I say. Maybe she knows best and maybe she's right, and that's why I always end up in crazy situations with him. Plus, everyone..." She looked away, her voice not having the enthusiasm one would imagine her next words would go with. "...everyone keeps saying we're made for each other."

Luka clutched his leg to ground himself while struggling to keep a straight face. He'd certainly never heard that one before, but it stung like his neck did just thinking about it. His lips pressed together, trying to contain his emotions, but he couldn't help blurting out, "No one's made for anyone."

She blinked at him, shocked, but he didn't take it back or apologize for saying it so suddenly. He recognized the fact that he was talking about destined love being nonexistent when he himself knew that "fate" was very much a real thing, but his actual opinion on the subject hadn't changed. As far as he was concerned, fate's "opinion" was about as valid as anyone else's when it came to someone else's relationship.

"No matter what Alya, or even Rose, say about you and who you love, Marinette, all that matters is you and who you want to play for. You deserve someone who makes you happy." He paused, lamenting the reality that she really hadn't gotten to think about it. "Does Adrien make you happy?"

He saw the string tighten, Marinette opening her mouth to respond before she seemed to stop herself. He felt like apologizing, but knew she wouldn't understand even if he did. She frowned, staring down at her lap and appearing conflicted with herself, so he reached out and carefully hovered his hand over her shoulder in a show of comfort. She glanced at his hand, noticing the gesture, but didn't immediately give him any sort of permission.

Then, to his surprise, she brought her hand up, gently grabbing his wrist and lowering it so his hand was placed perfectly on her shoulder. She didn't even let go, keeping his wrist held like she needed his hand there.

"...Luka," she whispered, her voice shaking, "I—no, you'll laugh, or think I'm crazy."

He squeezed her shoulder, not hesitating to insist, "I won't. I'm here for you, Marinette."

She finally met his gaze, and he saw a vulnerability there that wasn't there before. She was nervous, whether of his potential reaction to whatever she had to say, or something else entirely.

She took a breath, her fingers tightening around his wrist as she composed herself. The silence stretched, though he could tell that she was steeling herself up.

"The—the Adrien pictures," she began, tossing a pointed look to the wall where they were. "I don't remember putting them there."

He kept his expression schooled, not wanting her to overthink his reactions. Careful and quiet, he asked, "What do you mean?"

"I-I mean, obviously I started putting them there, back when I first met him," she admitted, "but I took them down. They'd been down for a while."

Luka could confirm that. He'd been to Marinette's room before when she'd been sending in their Kitty Section audition to Bob Roth, and the pictures weren’t there.

She continued, "I-it hurt when I did it, but I did, and I threw most of them away. But then—when I wake up sometimes, they're back, and I don't remember putting them up. I-I mean, maybe I did but I just don't remember it? I stay up late sometimes and I won't remember falling asleep, so it might be like that, you know? I-I know you're not exactly like me and I'm sure you don't sleepily put pictures on your wall but..."

He smiled as best as he could, even though he was hurting inside. "I know as well as you do that creativity doesn't have a schedule."

She managed a smile in return, but it returned to a frown as she dropped her gaze to her lap. "A-anyway, I can forget things, but it's never been that bad, and sometimes they'll be gone for a while but then they'll be back a few days later. There's just—there's no other explanation, so it has to be me, right? I-I don't know if it's a sign or what, but if it is then I don't know what it's telling me? Because whenever there are a lot of pictures—" She made a vague gesture with a wave of her free hand, cringing as she added, "—something humiliating always happens. That usually gets me to take them down again, but then... well, you know." She rubbed the back of her neck with a hand, blushing in embarrassment. "Sorry, I probably sound crazy. I-I swear, I'm not trying to—"

"I believe you."

Her mouth halted mid-sentence, hanging open as she stared at him.

"I believe you, Marinette," he repeated, giving her shoulder another squeeze. He didn't need any further detail to know what happened, as there was no way Marinette would take down those pictures and then put them back up the next day, or even the day before that. It didn't make any sense, and while he hadn't seen the wisps of fate move things or brush them aside, he had seen them trip Marinette, meaning they had some level of physical control. It explained it all: the convenience of the pictures appearing and disappearing, as well as the amount of them there'd be.

"T-thank you," she murmured, her lips briefly moving to form extra words but nothing coming out. She looked shy, possibly from admitting something she hadn't told anyone before, but she at least wasn't so nervous anymore.

"You don't need to thank me," he assured, "but you're welcome. Just know that you can tell me anything."

She ducked her head, peeking up at him to ask, "How much do you want to know?"

"Whatever you're comfortable sharing with me," he replied.

"Everything?" She'd said it quickly, as if she'd blurted it out, but she didn't panic afterward. She merely looked at him, hope in her eyes.

He nodded without hesitation, wanting her to be certain that he meant it. She searched his gaze for a few more seconds, one last shred of doubt remaining, but he knew he'd convinced her when her body relaxed and she smiled at him with her whole heart. Her grip on his wrist lightened, her hand sliding off and back down to her side. He pulled back as well, his heart a mixture of emotions but mostly just happy to see her happy.

"I..." She turned away, facing her trapdoor. "I'm going to get some snacks first."

He watched as she pushed herself up, then stood as well to follow after her. "Do you want any help carrying them?"

She looked at him, confused. "You don't have to."

Instead of responding with the obvious - that he wanted to - he simply replied, "You're not alone anymore, Marinette."

He didn't need to elaborate for her to understand. He let himself get lost in the warmth of her gaze, hoping that he might see it more one day if he could ever get her string removed, even if her warm gaze would end up being for someone else.

[babovens]

Girlieeeeeeee!!! How did you even get started with book-binding fics?? I wanna try it out sometime because you've completely inspired me!!! Did you watch a video about it? Did you just try it out one day? Like where do you even begin? I need the juicy deets haha

WHAT IS UP SPIFFY XD

AHHHH I’M SO EXCITED YOU’RE INTERESTED IN BINDING!!! So you’re getting ALL my notes over the past 5 months of binding YEET

But note, I have only been doing this for 5 months so I’m still new to it :)

Buckle up kiddos! Because I’ve got my whole list of supplies, tips, videos, tutorials, etc. compiled into this post.

Bookbinding tips and tricks master list 

How did I get into bookbinding?

Believe it or not, this actually started as a New Years resolution! The past two years were very dull for me creativity wise. Just as I was adjusting to college life, which was hard enough, my parents told me they were getting a divorce at the beginning of 2019 (on April fools day my dudes... they didn’t plan that one well). 

I tried several times to find a craft that I could burry myself in during this time, but honestly? Nothing I tried kept my attention span for long. Instead, I began reading books and fics (and was busy getting DEEP into Mob Psycho 100). 

That’s when I began reading Issho. I normally don’t read long books (because my attention span is… bad), but it was exactly what I needed with what I was going through at that time. Once the fic was finished, I literally sat there and thought to myself, “Oh my god if there was a physical copy of this I would 1000% buy it right now like... holy shit that was so good.”

And I was like, “Why don’t you just make your own–” “HOLY SHIT I CAN JUST MAKE MY OWN!”

And then I got really into bookbinding XD

Supplies & Such

The essentials (and the low budget alternatives):

PVA Glue - This stuff drys as hard as a rock and is great for paper crafting in general.

Ruler (but I’d get a safety ruler for, uh, reasons)

Cutting mat

Chipboard - You can also use the cardboard from the backs of sketch pads, or even cereal boxes as the cheapest option.

Book Fabric - Here’s a tutorial on how to make your own

Thick white thread (You can do other colors, but they normally will show through the book so that’s a style choice on your side)

Cardstock (for endpapers)

Specialty Paper - This just means paper with a pretty pattern. You’ll use this for your cover if you don’t want a to use book cloth for the whole cover.

Utility blade - To cut the edges of the book to make ‘em smooth.

Sandpaper - To smooth out the freshly cut edges.

Bone folder - Okay, honestly? I just use a butter knife to get nice crisp edges when folding the actual paper for the books XD.

Heavy books - this is to make sure the glue dries nice and secure)

Needle - to sew but also to poke holes in your text block)

Awl - You can just use a thick needle to poke holes if you want.

Binder clips - I use small ones to clip the end pages to the actual cover itself before I glue it.

Something to smooth out a thin layer of glue - I use a silicone paint brush but I’ve seen a regular paint brush and even a rubber spatula!

Not needed, but I encourage these for “pro” binding:

A Printer - Clearly, you can make plain books without a printer, but if you want to print fics, you kind of have to buy one unless you want to go to a print shop. And if you invest in a printer, MAKE SURE IT PRINTS DOUBLE SIDED!

Silhouette cutting machine - This is for making vinyl titles on your books. (YA’LL WHILE I WAS TYPING THIS I JUST GOT A NOTIFICATION THAT MINE CAME IN THE MAIL TODAY I’M SO HYPED!)

The Guillotine™ - I’m getting one of these so I don’t have to use a utility blade.

Book Press/Finishing press - This replaces the heavy books. You don’t need it, but if you don’t want to mess around with accidentally shifting the book while the glue is drying, I highly recommend it. You can even make your own!

Then there's the optional fun stuff. If you wanna go all out and do gilded edges, rounded spines, or gold leaf imprints on leather, I recommend looking at TALAS for these items. They’ve literally got anything you could ever dream of for anything bookbinding. For paper, I get all of mine either at HobbyLobby or Michaels (Both have different selections, so if I can’t find what I want at one store, I go to the other). As for fabric, I always go to JoAnn’s. They have sooooooo many cool types of fabric that can be make into book fabric!

Typesetting a fanfiction 

Aaaaand now for the hard part... 

Typesetting.

Theres many MANY ways to typeset, but here is how I do it as a Word user:

First, you’ll want to change the size of your document to be US Legal. To do this, go to the layout tab at the top of the document and select size. It should be there as a preset.

Next, in the same tab, go to custom margins and change the margins to these settings: top 1.5″ bottom 1.5″ Left 1″ Right 1″. This way, when you are cutting the edges of your text block with a utility blade, you won’t cut too close to the text.

Now for the set up of the first few pages! First, you’ll want to set up two blank pages. That way, when they print out, you’ll have one page of nothing before the title page.

The third page is where you’ll put your title page (title of book, author, artist, etc.)

For me, I like to use the fourth page for all the info Ao3 has on the book (the link, the fandom, tags, published date, all that jazz). This is optional though, so if you don’t want to do that, leave this page blank.

Then, for the fifth page, you can begin writing your paper!

Because you are changing the size to US Legal, you’ll want your text to be pretty large (remember, 4 pages are fitting onto one piece of paper). I recommend starting with font size 18 as the smallest and then working up from there.

This is just a suggestion, but I also recommend using the “Justify” option for your paragraph alignment. It just makes the book look cleaner as a whole!

Then, export your document to a PDF!

Now for the signatures. A signature is a booklet. To make your full book, you stack multiple signatures on top of each other. 

For this to work, you’ll need Adobe Acrobat (trust me, it is worth the investment in the long run. For bookbinding, and in general, I use this literally every day). Get ready though... this is the tricky part. (Here is a good tutorial I found for this part!)

Are ya ready for some math??? I wasn't 

First, after you open your PDF document, you need to check the number of pages your document is. It must be a multiple of 4 (So you must be able to divide the amount of pages by 4). If not, you’ll need to add some extra pages.

You’ll want to add the extra blank pages at the end of the document. To add extra pages, go to “Organize Pages” and there should be a tab at the top of the page that says “Insert.” Simply click on “Insert Blank Page” and you're set!

Now, to figure out how many signatures you need. 

Signatures tend to be in groups of 12, 16, 20, or 24 pages (so booklets of 3, 4, 5, or 6 pieces of paper) and you need to decide how to divide your pages.

I’ll take the fic Break as an example. It was originally 117 pages and I needed to make it a multiple of 4, so I added 3 blank pages to the end. That way, the number of pages added up to 120.

The next step is some trial and error (and there’s probably a better way to do this, but I suck at math so here we go). You need to figure out which of the groups (12, 16, 20, 24) fit into your amount of pages. With Break, I got lucky and knew that 20 x 6 = 120, so I need to print my pages in groups of 20.

TIME TO PRINT!

So, although Acrobat is great, it does this dumb thing where it shrink the page to ‘fit everything in’. To stop this from happening, go to print and then, when the window to print shows up, you’ll want to click on “Page Setup.” There, you’ll get a window that should have the option of “Paper Size.” Go to “Manage Custom Sizes” and change each of the “Non-printable Area” measurements to 0. Now, it won’t shrink your stuff!

Time to print signatures! Select “Booklet” and then go to the box that has the number of pages. Back to the Break example. I wanted to print 6 signatures with 20 pages each, so I want to input that into the pages section by printing first pages 1 - 20, then 21 - 40, 41 - 60, etc. in a booklet form.

Now, my printer sucks and doesn’t do double sided pages, so if yours is like mine, you’ll have to manually make them double sided by printing the odd pages first then the even pages. But, if you have a printer that actually, ya know, does its job, you should have an option to print double sided. Be sure to check that box and your signatures should print like a charm!

Please let me know if you’d like me to make another post or video about this part. This is the section that took me weeks to figure out so if it doesn't work out the first time, same my dudes...

Processes of binding a book

I’m honestly just gonna link my YouTube playlist for this one! My favorite people to watch are SeaLemon for beginner bookbinding, and then DAS Bookbinding (YouTube ; Website) for more advanced (and expensive) bindings. He’s got crazy cool techniques like rounded spines and leather book covers which I hope to do when I have the funds (shameless Ko-Fi plug)

Tips and tricks I’ve learned the hard way so far

Measure it once! Twice! Thrice! Those little 1/8 of an inch can make or break your finished product.

When you are working on the actual case of the book, make sure to apply the glue to the board. If you apply it to the paper directly, it can warp the page and it’s really hard to stick it to the board properly.

When gluing your special paper to your cover, make sure to stretch it out (but careful not to rip it). You just want to make absolute sure there are no air bubbles. Use the bone folder/butter knife to smooth it out.

When it comes to PVA glue, you need to apply a thin layer. Be sure to smooth out the glue in some way to make this happen. 

After you’ve glued your end pages and your book is ready to press, make sure there is some sort of thick page (I use the cardboard from my cereal boxes) between the glued side and the actual text block. Otherwise, when it’s put in the press, the body text could warp (and that sucks... I had to throw away my first book because this happened...)

Be careful with blades (yikes)

Speaking of blades, if you use a utility blade to cut the edges of your paper, make two slits on either side of your text block before going ham with it. That way, when you’re cutting, you have a guide and the sides don't slip and cut funky.

Take your time. You don’t gotta rush. I already need to redo one book (cinderella-esque) because I rushed the heck outta it. Yes, you get that serotonin when it’s finished, but now the sides of it are all weird and I can’t really fix it.

Always check that you have added an extra page when printing! If you are going in groups of 20 and you print 1 - 20, remember to START with 21 and print pages 21 - 40 so you don’t re-print page 20 (I did that with Break... so much wasted paper and ink :’))

If there are any questions (seriously, any) about what I’ve posted above whether its “What is this tool?”, “What fonts do you use for your fics?” or even, “Words are hard... can ya make a video?” let me know! I’ll be sure to either add it to this post or create a new one!

[luvlyrv]

My Model | Yeri x f!Reader College!au

Genre: College AU, fluff

Summary: Yeri needs a model for her final project. You need some money. With the time you spend working for Yeri, something starts to bubble up in your heart.

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: Ah, school's already started again. What a bummer. It's almost 2AM and my sleep schedule is still very much fucked. Whatever, I'm feeling kind of down in the dumps so I wanted to write something cute. I also am considering writing a mafia!au series for Irene, please tell me if you'd like that or not! Otherwise, just enjoy this writing please :) even though I feel like the quality is significantly worse than my other writings. OH AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! AHH ALSO IN THE MIDDLE OF WRITING YERI POSTED ON IG. 

Date: 1/6/2021

It all started when you spent Saturday evening venting out all your stress to your close friend, Sooyoung.

"I'm sorry, I know we're supposed to be relaxing together right now but it's the only thing on my mind! I mean, they laid me off work last second and it's not like I have another job lined up and waiting for me. I wasn't even a bad employee! They were just trying to cut costs!" You tiredly half-shouted to Sooyoung.

She sat on the other end of the couch, body bundled up in your blankets while nodding. She patiently listened to your worries and complaints. After you had said what was on your mind, you both decided to binge some awful zombie movies.

* *

You were quickly redoing some of your notes when you heard a faint vibration coming from your phone. You picked up your phone, checking the notification from Sooyoung that just appeared.

"heyyy, i know this isn't an actual long-term job that ur looking for but i have a friend who could use some help rn! she'll pay!"

You feel a spark of excitement as you begin to type back a reply.

"Yes!! Anything helps. I don't care what it is I'll do it."

"are u free tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"her name is yeri and she just needs a model for her to create some outfits and shoot pictures of. meet her tomorrow at xxxx at three?"

"Tell her sure thing :)"

With that you returned to studying with a small smile on your face with a little bit of your worries melting away.

* *

You rock back and forth on your heels, nervous to meet a stranger. You knock on Yeri's door only to be met back with a faint clatter and muffled footsteps. A short while later you hear some muttering as the door finally opens. 

"Hello!" 

While you were curiously scanning the area around her dorm room, the sudden sound of her voice made you shift your focus to the now open door and the girl standing in front of you. You felt your body stiffen as you made eye-contact.

"Ah, uhm, hello! Hi, you must be Yeri, right?" You manage to say aloud.

"Yeah, and you must be Y/N! Nice to meet you. You can come in." She says as she steps aside to make room for you.

You enter her room, only to be greeted by materials being strewn across nearly every piece of furniture possible. A clean mirror was in the middle of her room and a sewing machine sat off by the side.

"I'm a fashion major if you couldn't tell already." Yeri half-joked with a smile gracing her lips.

You smile back at her. "Yeah I assumed so from what Sooyoung described yesterday. How much are you paying again?"

"Well, I assume you took this job because you're a desperate broke college student. I am also a desperate broke college student. I'll give you around $25 after every session. I can't pay much but I'll try. I mean, you're giving me your time after all."

You nod at her answer. "Sessions? Am I going to have to come over multiple times?"

"Yeah, I have to create three different outfits. I'll just get your measurements today. After that you'll have to come over and model and make sure that they fit well and so I'll know if I have to do any revisions. So, mind if I start taking measurements now?"

"I wouldn't mind at all."

Yeri pulls out a measuring tape and begins to measure your body. She makes sure your posture is correct, placing a hand on your back, sending miniscule shivers down your spine. She moves around your body carefully making sure everything is accurate all while giving you the faintest touches around your body. You felt bad. There wasn't anything unprofessional about this situation at all, yet you couldn't help but to feel your face heat up a little. Yeri was a pretty girl and you just couldn't help but to melt around pretty girls. You found it a bit adorable to see her so focused on her task at hand. 

All too quickly Yeri announced that she was done taking your measurements. 

"Is that going to be all for today then?"

"I guess, I'll start working on the outfits now that I know your sizes." Yeri is already going to her sewing machine, her hand reaching out to a sketchbook you didn't realize was there before. "Oh! By the way, we should exchange numbers so I can tell you when we should meet up again." She says while looking back at you.

You pull out your phone and walk closer to her, the both of you exchanging contact details.

"Thanks for today, Y/N. I'll pay you next time you come. I'm sure you'll love the way these outfits look on you too!" 

You make your way out of her room and shut the door behind you for her. 

* *

Time has passed and you've already been to Yeri's place a couple times. Each time feeling a little bit more suffocating under Yeri's overwhelming presence. The way her eyes would look at you, carefully judging the details of the clothing she put hours of hard work in. The way she'd always thank you for your time. You couldn't help but want to know her more.

Despite wanting to get closer with her though, you never seemed to text her for any reason besides modelling for her. Sooyoung kept encouraging to just talk to her casually. You tried to follow her advice, tried to convince yourself that it wouldn't be the end of the world if Yeri didn't want to text you back, but every time you began to write a hello or considered sending her something you chickened out.

Today was another day where you would visit Yeri. You enter her room, basking in the warmth of Yeri's now familiar and welcoming smile.

Wearing the third and final outfit of Yeri's project you shyly spoke out, "Well, do you think this one needs anymore revisions?"

You watch as Yeri once again eyes you up and down. Yet, something felt different this time. Or perhaps you were making things up in your head. You watch as she turns her head back up to you with shining eyes.

"I think you look wonderful."

You purse your lips as you feel your heart beating way too fast.

"Honestly, this is my best work yet! God, I'm a genius. Hey, one day Y/N I'm gonna become a top designer and you'll be my model again. Got it?"

You crack open a smile along with Yeri at the sight of her enthusiasm. Although you didn't really feel close with her, let alone as close as you wish the both of you could be, over the past couple of weeks it felt like the two of you had warmed up to each other.

"I really appreciate the offer." You tell her with sincerity in your voice. It seemed like there would be no more revisions though, and no more revisions meant no more modelling for Yeri. With that your happy mood seemed to be ruined as you sighed and spoke out. "Well, I guess I'll change and be on my way then. Thank you so much for allowing me to work with you, Yeri."

After all this time, you failed to get to really know Yeri. You felt upset at the fact that it felt like you just wasted a chance to do something. Even though you'd still have her number after today, it was a near guarantee you'd still be too chicken to ever message her something. Disappointment began to build up in your mind as you made your way towards a room to change clothes. All of a sudden you heard Yeri's voice calling out to you.

"Y/N, if you really want to thank me, why not go on a coffee date with me sometime?"

[sheliesshattered]

I finished my Regency corset/stays the other day and meant to post about them, but just haven’t been around Tumblr much. For a project that was really meant to be just a wearable mock-up, I ended up putting a lot of time and effort into these, and I’m really pleased with how they turned out!

The problem I posted about the other day, with the center front not being able to remain straight with support from just zip tie boning, was solved by ordering some ‘super-rigid’ steel boning in the correct (7″) length. Handily they juuuuust barely fit into the channels I’d sewn for the zip ties, so I was able to squeeze those in there and re-sew the seam I’d picked out at the lower edge. I tried the stays on basically immediately after finishing that, and then proceeded to wear them for the next 10 hours or so, which is always a good sign of success.

The fit is good, with a reasonably sized lacing gap in back and minimal need of the drawstring at the top of the cups. With the steel boning at center front, I get the right lifted and separated silhouette for the Regency era, and as long as I lace these comfortably snug and not too tight, they’re perfectly comfortable -- so long as I don’t try to slouch or lounge around on the couch.

The trade-off for good bust support is that the steel boning has to stay completely straight, which means it has a tendency to poke into my stomach if I don’t stand up straight. Since my original goal in making these was to check the pattern fit through the bust and the sizing in general, I made basically half-stays that cut off at the waist, right above where the hip gussets would start. (And besides, my hips can be super finicky about anything touching them at all, even with only as much pressure as something like trousers or leggings or tights, so I’m not sure I can even handle stays that go over my hips at all.) So the end of the boning is perfectly positioned to really jab me in the belly.

There’s also a little bit of room between my sternum and the center front boning, the same amount I get with modern bras, just because of the amount of mass being held up there. I think the bust pushing the boning forward there, while the boning doesn’t bend at all, is also part of what’s making it poke me in the tum. Like I said, as long as I stand up straight it’s fine, but I wouldn’t want to wear these on a car ride or when my day is going to be mostly sitting around handsewing or something. Great for encouraging a nice lady-like posture, bad for sitting like a gremlin on the couch with my laptop on my lap.

I do also have a wooden busk on order, just waiting for it to arrive now, and I want to see how the two play together. I may end up sewing an interior busk pocket at center front, or I might sew in a little padded pillow to cushion the lower edge of the steel boning. Or possibly both. But for now I’m calling these done, and focusing on the next project. If I did have an event to wear Regency clothing to (I don’t), I would be perfectly confident wearing these for hours at a time, but only after driving to the event.

Next up is the petticoat, and I’ve made quite a lot of progress on that this week, after finishing the stays. I’m making a bodiced petticoat, based loosely on extant examples, but winging the pattern on my own. I’m using part of the bodice from Laughing Moon Mercantile #126, partially so I can check the fit (and a good thing too -- the size I cut will be fine for the petticoat, but I’m going to want to go up a size when I start sewing dresses). The skirt is just a straight tube of two full widths of the muslin I have on hand, which I’ll pleat onto a waistband so all the fullness is in back. It’ll close with two drawstrings at center back, like I’ve seen in a bunch of surviving examples.

So far I’ve sewn part of the bodice, and sewn the front and back of the skirt together, flat-felled the side seams, and I’m currently handsewing the hem. I’m going to put four rows of 1″ wide tucks between the hem and about knee height to help provide some stiffness, and I’ve just realized that I’ll probably end up handsewing those, too, so that there’s not visible machine stitching on the outside. I have no problem machine sewing seams that I then flat-fell over, but I know if I end up with any visible machine stitching anywhere, it’ll drive me nuts in the long run. And I’m really enjoying the handsewing process, and it’s something I can work on even when Jack is in work meetings in the same room -- or when he reads to me, or when we watch movies together, etc.

I have the first dress I want to sew with LMM 126 all planned out and the fabric prepped, but I don’t want to rush myself through the petticoat, so it’ll be a few weeks at least before I start on that, I think. But hey, I’m enjoying the process, so not a bad way to spend my time.

[sassyduckqueen]

Miraculous: Rise of Anatis 35

Reverser is finally done! Ok, so this one does differ from canon. The reason why I changed it a bit is because I didn't want Nath to be a dick and I wanted to hint at Lila still been in Alya's life and influencing her plus Alya does tend to go over the top when it comes to her 'investigations'. Also the whole situation in the episode could have been avoided. Anyway hope you guys like it :D

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

Chapter Thirty-Five: Reverser

Marinette jolted as her phone vibrated, making her look away from her sewing machine. She was working on making Luka another gift to help cheer him up since he found about his father. A few days had passed since then and he appeared to be coping well but Marinette wanted to make sure he was ok. He had taken some time off from school so she hadn't seen him yet but she was glad that he was taking a bit of time to himself to deal with the shock. However, the rest of their friends might not getting it. Alya certainly hadn't but that didn't matter to her. She was annoyed at Alya's reaction to her and Luka coming into the bakery together. She had been there to walk with Marinette to the school and almost fangirled when she saw them walking into the main area together. She had demanded details and when Marinette mentioned that Luka had stayed over that night because he was upset, she ignored the whole he was upset part and squealed about how Marinette could have used it as a reason to getting closer to him. Marinette corrected her and told her that it was because he was upset and while she liked him, she had respected him enough not to hit on him while he was in clear distress. Alya had brushed off his feelings, stating that Marinette was a fool not to take up the opportunity. It reminded Marinette of how bullheaded Alya could be. She had insisted that she was right about Lila and now she insisted that she was right about how Marinette should have taken the chance to confess her love to Luka. Marinette told her to drop it, causing her to get a bit huffy but she did. Later, Juleka found Marinette and thanked her for looking at her brother. Marinette jumped again as her phone continued to vibrate, causing her train of thought to break. She picked it up and looked at the caller ID. Alya's face lit up as she called. Marinette sighed and pressed answer, causing to join the video call. To her horror, Alya was talking to Lila, who was bragging about something.

 "Ciao, Marinette," She smiled falsely. "I was just telling Alya about my current travels. I'm currently in Japan but I won't be able to stay on the phone for much later. As you know, it's around about midnight here,"

  "You're in Japan?" Marinette asked, clearly not believing her. There was no way Lila was in Japan. Marinette suspected that she was just hiding away in her room until everyone forgot about her defeat as Volpina. Alya rolled her eyes as she realized Marinette didn't believe her. While she understood where she came from as Lila had lied before but she had apologized for that and promised not to lie again. In fact, she was in therapy for it and her akumatization. Apparently, Marinette had yet to let it go and for give her.

 "Not this again, Marinette," She gasped, shaking her head. "Lila isn't lying,"

 "How can you say that when she got me expelled?!" Marinette gasped.

"I know and I'm sorry about that, Marinette. I thought Chloe was telling me the truth,"

 "See? We already know Chloe framed you and she even got akumatized over it," Alya pointed out, making Marinette frown. She closed her eyes and mentally counted to ten in her head. "Marinette?"

 "I'm just thinking, Alya," She mumbled before opening her eyes. "Why did you call anyway? I'm in the middle of a new piece,"

 "Oh, are you still designing Marinette?" Lila asked in her clear fake voice. "If you want, I could recommend you-"

 "No thank you, Lila," She cut her off before she could finish, causing Alya to stare at her. "Alya? Why the video chat?"

 "Oh... well, there's a new rumor going around the school. Apparently, one of the students has got hold of Anatis' diary!" She gasped, excited. Both Lila and Marinette started at her with surprise. "It said that it's the diary that he writes everything in, including his secret identity!! Now I've been looking into which student has it and I found out that it is Marc Anciel! I tried to approach him earlier today but he ran off. I reckon that either he is trying to protect Anatis' identity or he is Anatis! I suspect that he might be Anatis giving his love for the color red, his height and his hair. Now I know that Anatis has those red highlights and blue eyes but what if that's a disguise!"

 "Oh my gosh, Alya. If you got hold of that diary and posted it on your blog, it would get you so many likes," Lila encouraged, causing Marinette to look between them with disbelief.

 "That's what I was thinking!" Alya grinned before looking at Marinette. "Which is where you come in, Marinette. I know you and Marc are sort of friends so you can distract him while I grab the diary,"

 "No!" Marinette gasped, shocking Alya. "Firstly, Marc isn't sort of my friend... he is my friend, secondly, that diary might not actually be Anatis'. Marc does writing so chances are he is the author, making it his property. Thirdly, if that is Anatis' diary then we should leave it alone and not post it's context on the internet that everyone including Hawkmoth has access too and finally, that is stealing and I won't be part of that!"

 "Girl, this is a chance to find out Anatis' identity and maybe Lady Noir's! This is my chance at becoming a world famous journalist!" She gasped, making Marinette frown. "You have to help me,"

 "No, I do not,"

 "Marinette, that's really mean of you," Lila pointed out, making Marinette frown deeply. "Alya, if I was in the country, I would totally help you. It would be my duty as your friend,"

 "Thanks, Lila," She mumbled before looking at Marinette. "All you have to do is distract him long enough for me to take photos. I'll be quick and put it back,"

 "I said no, Alya!" Marinette gasped, ending the call. She flopped onto her seat and let out a sigh. Plagg flew out of his hiding place and landed on the top of her head, purring a little. "I can't believe after everything Alya is still in contact with that lying toad!"

 "I could cataclysm her," He suggested, making her sigh.

 "I wish it was that easy but we can't just murder her," She sighed, frowning. "But she's more then likely going to try and encourage Alya to try and steal Marc's work from him,"

 "Are you certain that it's his work?" Plagg asked. "What if Bugboy did in fact write a diary and this Marc boy found it?"

 "Well, firstly, Annie is not that careless and secondly, Marc has been into writing forever and he's really good at it. This 'diary' is probably his latest work and someone in his class saw him with the book and made the rumor based on that and even if it is Annie's diary, Marc wouldn't have just found it and kept it. Marc would have tried to return it to it's real owner,"

 "So it probably isn't Bugboy's,"

 "Exactly but Alya is going to try and steal it. I know it," She sighed, thinking back to when she thought that she was Ryuko or when Adrien was Anatis. "She'll probably be akumatized when she discovers it's a fake then go after poor Marc! No, we need to make sure that this doesn't happen!"

 "And how are you gonna do that?" Plagg asked, making her groan and face palm the table. He sniggered a little at her reaction.

 ~Next Day at School~

 "This is so tiresome," Marinette groaned as she splashed her face with water. It wasn't even lunchtime yet but she had already stopped Alya twice from trying to take Marc's book and had listen to her theories and ideas. She got that Alya wanted to be a journalist but what she didn't get was why she was so adamant to uncover Anatis' identity, despite him making it perfectly clear that he had no intention of sharing it. On the few interviews that they had been on, he had made it very clear that his identity or hints towards it were off limits. Not just that but Hawkmoth was still at large. She sighed and splashed her face again. "Ok, new plan! We get Marc to stay with us and then we can protect him. Sound good?"

 "Sound good to me as long as I get my cheese," Plagg grinned as Marinette dried her hands and took out a chunk of cheese. He flew over and swallowed it whole before holding up his thumb. "Sounds good, doll face!"

 "Alright!" She grinned before dusting down her top and opening her purse for Plagg to hide in. He flew in and she exited the bathroom before making a beeline for wherever Marc was. It took sometime and a good amount of searching but she finally found him hiding under the stairs. "Hey, Marc. How's it going?"

 "Oh, hey Marinette..." He mumbled, looking up from his writing shyly and waving a little. It made Marinette want to gush over how adorable he was before she noticed the book in his hands. She wondered if that was the subject of Alya's desires. 

 "Where's the rest of your class?" She asked, concerned about him been alone.

 "Oh, we're done with classes for today," He mumbled, looking around. "The others probably went home,"

 "Perfect timing!" She grinned, clapping her hands together. "Our class has a spare hour so some of us are heading over to the art room. You should come check it out,"

 "Sure. Why not?" He mumbled, looking down. Marinette smiled a little. If she could get him to the art room then she could protect him for the last hour of the day. She moved a little bit closer to him, trying to see if she could read a bit of his book to determine if it was the 'diary' but he jumped a little and moved it away from her line of sight. 

 "Maybe you'll find let me read some of your writing," She smiled softly, making him blush a little. 

 "Yeah... I don't know... Maybe..." He mumbled, looking at it. She could tell he felt like it wasn't good enough but she was hoping to prove him wrong and of course to protect him from Alya's plan. She grinned and gave him a thumbs up. She wouldn't drag him up with him as right now, he was safe. Alya was in the library, working on a new plan but giving him the idea won't hurt.

 "Awesome!" She grinned before running up the stairs and heading to the art room. She walked in and waved to Rose, who was sat listening to music and writing lyrics for Kitty Section. Nathaniel looked up and smiled as she waved at him while Alix continued to spray her wall. Marinette stopped and looked over at it before grinning. "Look good, Alix,"

 "Thanks, Marinette," She grinned back as she kicked up a spray can and began to work. Marinette smiled and set up her little area, taking out the guitar strap she was working on for Luka. She was hoping to finish it tomorrow as he was coming back to the school then. Luckily, it was mostly done, apart from a little bit of embroidery which she could finish today. She began to work on it, sticking her tongue over as she pressed the needle through the material. The Art teacher moved over to her and smiled.

 "That's some of your finest work, Marinette," He commented as she continued, thanking him as she did. "A guitar strap? Do you play?"

 "Oh, no, sir," She replied, looking at him. "It's a gift for my friend,"

 "Well, I'm sure he'll love it," He smiled, leaving her to it before he moved over to Nathaniel. "How are you drawings coming along?"

 "They're coming along great, sir," The red haired smiled, grabbing one of them and handing it to him. "This is a team up between Anatis, Lady Noir and Mightyllustrator fighting Queen Wasp together,"

 "You mean Evillustrator?" The Art teacher asked, making Nathaniel shake his head.

 "He changed his name after Anatis deakumatized him and became a superhero," He explained, smiling as he did. The art teacher nodded impressed.

 "A bad guy who comes over to the good side," He smiled, handing the paper back to Nathaniel. "Great idea. You should make a comic book about that,"

 "Yeah but I'm only good at drawing stories, not writing them," Nathaniel sighed as he sat back down and rested his hand against his head but the art teacher smiled.

 "Then you should team up with a creative writer," He suggested, making Nathaniel sigh.

 "Maybe but I don't know anyone who is in that," He replied, looking up at him. Marinette looked over, interested in their conversation.

 "Don't worry about it," Alix stated, taking down her mask and turning around. "There's gotta be someone out there, just waiting to meet you. Red, please?"

 She held up her hand as Nathaniel grabbed a spray can and tossed it over to her. She caught in and smirked, just as Marinette saw Marc lingering in the doorway. She jumped up and rushed over.

 "Marc, you made it!" She grinned, grabbing his arm and pulling him inside. "Come meet everyone,"

 "Uh," He gasped as she dragged him over to the teacher, who smiled kindly at him.

 "Marc, this is Mr Beauregard, our art teacher," She grinned, gesturing to the older man before she gestured to Marc. "And this is my friend, Marc. He loves writing and is very creative,"

 "Uh... I'm sorry..." He gasped, hunching in on himself. "I didn't want to disturb you,"

 "Welcome to room 33," Mr Beauregard smiled, stepping forward a little as Marc looked up at him. "You're never disturbing anyone here. You come whenever you want, outside of classes or after school. Anyone can create what they want, anyway they want,"

 He gestured to the whole room before walking over to Rose, who was happily writing with her head phones on.

 "Rose is writing lyrics for her rockband," He explained, lifting one of her headphones and gesturing towards Marc. "Rose, I'd like you to meet Marc,"

 "Hey there! It's nice to meet you, Marc!" She yelled, making him jump a little before she went back to her lyrics. Mr. Beauregard turned to Alix, who grinned and flipped her can in her hand, catching it as she did. "Alix is our expert in street art and Nathaniel-"

 "He likes to draw people in skinny outfits," Alix grinned, causing Nathaniel to throw a ball of paper at her. She laughed as he turned around to face Marc. 

 "Welcome, Marc," He smiled as the shy boy stared at him. "As you'll find out, the good thing about this place is you can say whatever you want and no one will judge you or only in good fun,"

 Marc gasped as he noticed Nathaniel's drawings and walked over to them, surprising Nathaniel a little bit.

 "I s-saw your drawings on the school website," He mumbled, staring at them and soaking in the details. His fingers itched to turn them into stories as he took them in. "but they're nothing compared to the real thing. The movement, the expressions, the attitudes. They're also so..."

 He went quiet as he saw how close he was to Nathaniel, causing him to blush. Nathaniel smiled softly as he looked back at the shy boy.

 "Thanks... that's nice," He smiled, causing him to go redder before he gasped and stepped back.

 "Sorry but it's true," He mumbled, holding his arm across his waist and looking down. "I've never seen drawings so amazing and uh... just ignore me,"

 "No need to be shy, Marc," Mr Beauregard smiled as someone cleared their throat, making them look towards the door. Chloe was stood there with Sabrina next to her. "Ah, Chloe, are you here to show us your own art project?"

 "Actually, I came looking for Dupain- I mean.. Marinette.." She gasped, surprising everyone as she walked up to her. "I want you to make me a dress for a party that my mother is hosting. Of course, I'll pay you for your time and effort,"

 She was looking at her nails as she talked, making Marinette blink in surprise before she looked over at Nathaniel.

 "By the way, while your drawing is pretty good, Anatis is a good couple of inches taller then Lady Noir," She grinned, making him blink. "And if you need any information of Queen Wasp, I will happily tell you what I remember,"

 "Oh... um... thank you?" He asked, unsure how to take Chloe's behavior. She nodded and moved over to Marinette.

 "Anyway, Dup- I mean Marinette... I have drawn out some designs to help you work out how to do it," She mumbled, clicking her fingers. Sabrina rushed over and handed Marinette a couple of pieces of paper that showed the kind of dress Chloe wanted. "Now the party isn't until early spring but since my mum works in the fashion world, I know how long these things take. I want your best work, Dupa- I mean Marinette and we can come up with an official contact to make sure both parties get what they want,"

 "Um... ok?" She asked, surprised and causing Chloe to smile. 

 "Excellent. I'll arrange a meeting for us to sort it out," She grinned, turning on her heel before stopping. "Oh, Cesaire is looking for you,"

 "Oh... thanks," She smiled as Chloe walked out, followed by Sabrina. Marinette looked down at the paper as she was still unsure of what happened. She knew that Chloe had seeked help after the whole Queen Wasp incident and she knew she was trying to be nicer to people but she was expecting a repeat of the aftermass of Despair Bear, where Chloe returned to her old ways but apparently, she wasn't. Sure, she had far to go but whatever Anatis said to her... it must have gotten through. She even corrected herself when she called her Dupain-Cheng and she was even offering to pay her to make a dress and had seeked her out early to ensure she had time. Mr Beauregard smiled and gently patted her back to encourage her before he turned to Marc and smiled.

 "You know you shown up at the perfect time," He smiled before gesturing towards Nathaniel. "Marinette mentioned that you're a writer and it just happens that Nathaniel needs a script writer,"

 "Me? A script writer?" Marc gasped, feeling overwhelmed. Especially with the look that Nathaniel was giving him. "Oh no. I don't write that kind of stuff! I mean I don't write anything interesting honestly... sorry! Gotta go!! Thanks for everything!!"

 "No! Marc!" Marinette called out as he bolted out of the room. She ran after him as he accidentally bumped into one of the poles, dropping his book before running off. "Hey! Wait!!"

 He kept running as she noticed the book. She picked it up and called his name as he ran off but he was too far ahead and her eyes drifted back to the pages. Her eyes widen in surprise as she read the title, realizing it was the subject of the current rumor. She bit her lip and closed it before running towards the direction he went in. She followed him down the stairs, trying to capture up with him but before she could, she saw Nino talking to him while Alya was trying to sneak up on him. She went to step forward but Marc manages to get away from them and rushed out of the building, making her gasp but Alya saw her and waved at her.

 "Yo, Marinette, I thought you were in the art club!" She yelled, causing Marinette to gasp. The last thing she wanted was to alert Alya to the fact that she had the so called Diary of Anatis.

 "Um I am... just nipping to the bathroom!" She gasped, grinning before she rushed to the bathroom and locked herself in a cubical. She let out a little sigh as Plagg floated out. She looked at him and held up the book. "I need to get this back to Marc before Alya realizes I have it,"

 "Or we could just keep it and protect it from her," He suggested, placing his paws behind his head. "Alya can't get hold of it, Marc isn't harassed and no akumas. Everyone wins,"

 "Expect Marc because I have his work, which he has worked hard on," She pointed out, making Plagg make a thoughtful look.

 "You have a point there, Doll face," He admitted. "But... at least read it before you give it back!"

 "Oh no, I couldn't!" She gasped but her eyes glanced at it before she shook her head. "Marc wouldn't want me too,"

 "But you want to..." He grinned, diving into her purse and flying back out with a chunk of cheese. "We both know you'll regret it if you don't,"

 "Plagg, you're a terrible influence," She scolded but she knew he was right. She could feel her fingers inch to turn the pages. She closed her eyes and carefully opened it on a random date before she began to read it out loud. "I saw that Evillustrator again today. Now that he's freed from Hawkmoth's control, he's been trying his best to become a true superhero. He even assisted with Kung Food's capture and put up with Lady Noir's little puns. I have to admit I'm impressed. Maybe I should ask him to join me and Lady Noir's team. Since he has his own powers, I wouldn't need to loan him a miraculous and he clearly knows how to fight. He could be extremely useful against an akuma like Queen Wasp. I'll have to talk to Lady Noir about it... Wow, this is so good! I really can imagine Annie writing this!! Marc is so talented!"

 "Eh. He's ok," Plagg stated, making Marinette glare at him. He held up his paws in defense. "Hey! I'm the kwami of destruction, not creation! That's Tikki's area and as her old friend, I can tell you that she would love this. Anyway, we now know that the rumor is completely bogus,"

 "Not completely, Plagg," Marinette replied. "Technically, Anatis' diary does exist but it's not the real deal, it's fan work. Marc is creating stories based on Nathaniel's drawings. Someone must of seen him reading over it and saw the title then spread the rumor around.... that means we have good news and bad news..."

 "Good news first,"

 "Well, it isn't real and Marc writes the kind of stories Nath draws... which means they would make an amazing comic book if they worked together..."

 "And the bad news?"

 "Alya is still gonna try and get her hands on this," She sighed, frowning. "And like I mentioned before she could get akumatized once she realizes it isn't real,"

 "So we need to keep Alya away from the book as well as help Marc and Nath work together?" Plagg asked, getting a nod of her before she suddenly jumped up.

 "I have it!" She gasped, shocking him before she turned to him. "We convince Marc to let Nath read the book! Nath sees how talented Marc is and Alya doesn't get her paws on the book because she won't realize Nath has it and not Marc! Come on! We need to find Marc and convince him!"

 With that, she rushed out of the bathroom to find him. Only she heard the sound of books hitting the floor. Curious, she moved over and saw it was Marc raiding his locker. She realized he was trying to find his book so she opened her purse for Plagg, who flew it and walked over to him as he muttered to himself. She gently cleared her throat, making him jump.

 "Looking for this?" She asked, holding out the book as he closed his locker door. He took it and hugged it to his chest, closing his eyes in relief before they snapped open again with fear and worry. He moved back at little as he looked at her.

 "Did you read it?" He asked, uncertainty clear in his voice.

 "Oh, no!!" Marinette gasped, waving her hands but she couldn't lie. She sighed and looked to her left before slouching her shoulders. "Yeah... sorry, it was too tempting,"

 "Oh, how embarrassing," He gasped, turning away from her. "It's so, so lame,"

 "No, it's not!" She gasped, making him look at her. "You should turn it into a comic book. In fact, why do you team up with Nathaniel?"

 "Uh... I'm sure he won't like it...." He muttered, looking down but Marinette edged closer.

 "You should have him read it before you jump to conclusions," She smiled, making him bite his lip and look down.

 "But... what if he doesn't like it?!" He gasped in clear distress before he hid his face in the book. "I'll be so embarrassed! I'll have to change schools so I never run into him again!!"

 "Now you're been silly," She stated before smiling. "Look, he draws Anatis and Lady Noir all the time and you write about Anatis and Lady Noir... just let him read it..."

 "But..."

 "Would it help if I gave it to him?" She asked, making him bite his lip.

 "Y-You do that?" He asked, nervously. She nodded and gave him her best smile.

 "I know it's scary doing new things but your writing is really good and I think Nathaniel would really enjoy it," She suggested, making him bit his look. He still seemed unsure. "How about we don't tell him you're the author and get him to read it first? That way it's a win-win. If he likes it, great but if he doesn't, we just won't say anything. Sound fair?"

 "O-ok..." He mumbled, carefully handing it to her. "I... I trust you..."

 "Thank you, Marc," She replied before grinning. "Just leave it to me,"

 He nodded and she took the book back to the Art room. Mr Beauregard asked her if Marc was ok and she told him he just got overwhelmed due to his anxiety issues before she took her seat and carefully erased his name from the book. She walked over to Nathaniel and trapped his arm. He looked up at her and smiled as she sat down.  

 "Is your friend ok?" He asked, making her nod. 

 "Yeah, he's just not use to been around some many people," She explained, making him nod. "Anyway, I need a favor,"

 "What is it?" He asked as she placed down the book.

 "I want you to read this over. A friend of mine wrote it but they wanted a second opinion on the writing. I suggested you since I'm gonna be busy with my commissions and other things," She asked, sliding it over to him. He carefully opened it and gasped, looking at her. "It's not... it's not the real thing... this person is not Anatis... they're like you and a fan of his... but where you draw, they write..."

 "I see," He nods, looking at her. "Sure, I'll read over but can tell me who the author is?"

 "I can't just yet. They're really shy and-"

 "It's your friend Marc, isn't it?" He asked in a hush voice, making her eyes go wide. "It is, isn't it?"

 "I- he- yeah...." She admitted. "I suggested not telling you because he's convinced you'll hate it but you'll give it a read right?"

 "Sure," He smiled. "And don't worry. I won't tell Marc I know it's his work ok? I get what it's like to have anxiety,"

 "Thanks, Nath!" She grinned before skipping back over to her part of the desk and continued work on the guitar strap.

 ~Next Day~

 "Girl, I need that book!" Alya groaned as she walked next to Marinette, who was trying her best to tune her out. "It's like the scope of the century!"

 "And it probably is just a rumor," Marinette pointed out, making her frown. "Alya, let it go. Seriously. I don't think it's the real deal. Anatis is so careful about his idenity so why would he write a diary that could easily be found and more importantly, why would he give to a random student that has no connection to him?"

 "Or so we know!" She pointed out, making Marinette frown. "Marc could be Anatis' confident and that's why he has the diary or as I've pointed out, he is Anatis!"

 "Or it's a work of fiction," Marinette countered, noticing Marc walking in. She waved at him and excused herself from Alya to walk over to him. "Hey, Marc. How are you doing today?"

 "I'm nervous..." He gasped, playing with his hands. "What if he hates it? What if he thinks it's really Anatis who wrote it and then hates me when he discovers I'm the author?! Oh god, I can't do this! This was a bad idea!"

 "Hey, it's ok. Just take slow, deep breathes," She smiled, helping him calm down. "Now I don't think Nath will hate it and he won't think Anatis wrote it. The only person who seems to think that is Alya bu-"

 "What?!" He gasped, panicking again. "No... how does Alya know about it?! Oh, god! That's she been following me!!"

 "Marc, it's ok... calm down..." Marinette gasped, taking his hands in her. "Alya heard a rumor that you have the diary of Anatis and that it's the real deal. However, I'm trying to get her to stop seeking it ok?"

 "R-Really?" He asked, getting her to nod. "O-ok..."

 "Why don't we go see Nath?" She suggested, making him gasp. "Well, not going up to him directly but go see how he's doing with the reading,"

 "F-From the other side of the courtyard?" He asked, hopefully. It's not that he didn't want to be near Nath. He did. He was just too shy. Marinette smiled and nodded before leading him there. The two of them saw him on the other side of the courtyard, sat on the stairs. He was reading the book and clearly hooked on it. The two of them hid behind one of the opposite staircases and watched him. "Do you think he likes it?"

 "He's completely enchanted by it," She grinned, making Marc smile a little.

 "It's rude to spy on people," Adrien's voice made Marinette jump and spin around, causing her to flush and shake her hands in defense. 

 "N-No! It's not what you think!" She gasped, panicking. One, Adrien was in front of her and two, Marc wouldn't want her to tell him that it's about his book. "Uh... it's Nathaniel's birthday soon and me and Marc are planning a surprise!"

 "Cool... very typical of you, Marinette," He stated, going to leave before snapping his fingers. "Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. Luka was looking for you. Anyway, see ya... oh and if you need any help, let me know,"

 "Sure will!" She gasped as he waved and walked off. Marc cleared his throat a little as she waved back.

 "Who's Luka?" He asked, causing her to blush. "Is he your boyfriend?"

 "Oh! What?! Nooo!" She gasped, going bright red. "I mean he's amazing, super cute and really cool but he's way out of my league...."

 She sighed and slouched a little, making Marc chuckle.

 "You're just as shy as I am," He mused, causing her to look at him.

 "Just do as I say and not as I do," She smiled as they looked back at Nathaniel, who was still read. "Would you mind if I went to find Luka? I actually have a gift to give him and he hasn't been at school for the past few days..."

 "S-Sure," He smiled before biting his lip. "B-But could I come with you?"

 "Sure, I'm sure Luka would love to meet you," She smiled, taking out her phone and texting him. A few seconds later, he replied. "He's in his home room and it's a good while before class starts so we can go say hi,"

 "O-ok," He mumbled, following her as they headed upstairs and to Mrs Mendeleiev's classroom. The two of them entered and saw that only Luka was in the room. He was sat at the back with his head phones on and hunched over a notepad. There was no else in the room so Marinette grabbed Marc's hand and walked over to him, who paused his pencil as soon as she walked over and looked up, taking his earphones out.

 "Hey, Lu," She grinned, making him smile before she gestured to Marc. "This is my friend, Marc... Marc, this is Luka..."

 "H-Hi..." Marc mumbled, causing Luka to smile.

 "Hey, it's nice to meet you, Marc," He smiled in a welcoming way before he tilted his head to the side and smiled a little amused. "Huh..."

 "Huh?" Marc repeated, confused as the worst case scenarios came into his head but he was taken back when he noticed Luka's expression change to one of concern.

 "Oh god, I'm so sorry," He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck as Marinette giggled, making Marc between him and her with confusion. "That must have seemed really rude... uh..."

 "Luka isn't great with words," Marinette explained, making Marc look at her. "But he is amazing with music. Right, Lu?"

 "Y-Yeah...I mean... it's just easier then words..." He mumbled, shaking his head. "I wish I had my guitar,"

 "W-what did you mean by huh?" Marc asked, playing with his hands.

 "Oh... I was interested by your song," Luka replied, making Marc blink. "It's nice... reminds me of the fluttering of a butterfly's wings... not like an akuma but as in a real, nice butterfly... sorry, I'm gonna shut up now,"

 "My song?" Marc asked, confused. "Like... my theme tune?"

 "Not quite," Luka explained as Marinette smiled. "Melody, you're so much more better at explaining these things then I am,"

 "Lies, you're excellent with words," Marinette grinned before turning to Marc. "Luka has the ability to hear people's emotions and the songs in their hearts,"

 "Oh wow... so you're a musical empath?" He asked, looking at him. Luka smiled and nodded. "T-That's cool..."

 "Thanks," Luka smiled as Marc bit his lip shyly. Marinette turned to Luka and opened her bag.

 "I made you something," She mumbled, taking out a wrapped gift. "It's not much but I wanted to cheer you up and I was worried... you are ok right?"

 "I'm ok," He nodded before looking up at Marinette. "But you didn't have to make me something, melody. You've already done so much for me,"

 "I k-know..." She blushed as Marc watched how to the two interacted. Luka had this soft look on his face when ever he looked towards her and Marinette was all blushy and cute. He honestly felt like he was intruding so he cleared his throat, making them look at him.

 "I'm gonna head to my home class," He mumbled before turning to Luka. "It was nice to meet you,"

 "Likewise," Luka smiled, making him feel calm and welcome. Marc smiled shyly and waved again before leaving. "He seems sweet,"

 "He is," Marinette smiled back before facing him. "But seriously, are you sure you're ok?"

 "I'm dealing with it as best I can and I'm better then the other day," He admitted, looking to the side before he glanced at her. "But I mean it. You didn't have to make me anything. You just been there for me was enough,"

 "Good but I wanted to so here," She mumbled, pushing it towards him. He opened it and stared at the guitar strap that had little music notes embroided in it in his signature colour. Tears filled his eyes as he stared at it, making her panic. "Oh god, you hate it... I'm such a klutz and now you're probably aware-"

 He suddenly stood and engulfed her in a hug, making her blush but hug him back.

 "I love it, Marinette," He mumbled before letting go and wiping his eyes. "Sorry... I almost cried on you again..."

 "That's ok... I mean it's not ok that you'd be crying because I don't want you to be upset but I'm not gonna judge you for crying cause that's totally normal," She smiled as he traced his fingers over the music notes with a small smile on his lips. "So...."

 "I'm lucky..." He mumbled, making her look at him.

 "Well, yeah... everyone knows you're literally the luckiest guy ever,"

 "Not what I mean..." He mumbled, looking up at her. "I'm lucky to have you in my life,"

 A blush came across her face as he looked at her with such a gentle and loving look but before she could do anything about it, the bell rang causing her to jump. Luka chuckled a little before smiling at her.

 "Better head to your class, Melody," He suggested, making her nod. "See ya at lunch?"

 "S-sure..." She gasped, running over of the room and waved him at him. He waved back before looking down at the guitar strap and smiled a little again before carefully placing it in his school bag, where Tikki gave him a thumbs up when she saw it. He smiled back at her before looking up as the rest of his class came in. Aurora and Kagami rushed over to him and welcomed him back to the class, making him smile as he chatted to them.

 ~End of School~

 Marinette let out a sigh as she rushed over to Nathaniel, who smiled at her. She was still tired at Alya's rants about the diary but now was the time to get Nathaniel and Marc to work together. She waved at him and smiled as he looked up from the book.

 "How's it going?" She asked, walking over to him. He smiled and closed the book. "Did you like it?"

 "Like it? I loved it!" He gasped. "It's seriously amazing! I can't believe how well he writes. Oh that scene about how they defeated Animan!! Amazing!!"

 "Excellent... would you be willing to meet... you know who?" She asked, looking around in case Marc was around. Nathaniel smiled and nodded. "Brilliant. Ok, go to the Place des Vosges fountain in an hour. He'll meet you there,"

 "Sounds great, Marinette," Nathaniel smiled before the two walked off, completely unaware that Alya had overheard the whole thing. Marinette rushed home and dropped off her bag before grabbing some snacks for herself and some cheese for Plagg before she called Marc and let him to know to go to the Place des Vosges fountain as soon as possible. With that done, she headed up into her room and used her phone to watch them. Four o'clock roll around and Marinette smiled as she saw Nathaniel approached Marc. The two of them chatted and Nathaniel handed him the journal back. Marc gave him a shy smile and the two of them shook hands before Nath walked off. Marinette squealed happily before she noticed Alya heading into the park but she looked angry. Marinette frowned and got up before rushing downstairs. She left the bakery and frowned when she heard shouting. She ran to the park and gasped at the sight in front of her. Marc was trying to pull his book out of Alya's grasp.

 "Give me that!!" Alya screamed as she yanked it.

 "Give it back! That's mine!!" He shouted as Marinette ran towards them but to her horror, the book ripped apart as Alya kept pulling at it. Marc cried out as he began to try and grab the pieces. “My writing!!”

 "Your writing?! No, this is Anatis' diary!" Alya snorted, causing Marc to shake his head.

 "No, it isn't!" He shouted, making her blink. "It's a story I wrote based on Nathaniel's drawings! I just called it that because I thought it would be clever!"

 "You mean this isn't real?!" Alya gasped, clearly annoyed. "What the hell?! Why did you lie?"

 "I didn't!" He cried back as Marinette rushed over.

“I tried to tell you that it wasn't real, Alya," She stated, making Alya frown. "And you still tried to steal it off him. What is wrong with you?"

 "I thought it was Anatis' actual diary!" Alya argued, crossing her arms. "It's not my fault that he was pretending to be someone he's not,"

 "Marc was never pretending! It was obvious from the beginning that it wasn't real," Marinette gasped. "But you just refused to listen to anyone again. This is the same as when you thought Adrien was Anatis and I was Ryuko. You refused to listen to reason and tried to get the 'proof' no matter who got hurt and now you've hurt Marc!"

 "I was just trying to get the scope!"

 "By hurting people and trying to steal their stuff?!" Marinette shouted back, failing to notice the butterfly that was fluttering by. "God, Alya. I've said before and I'll say it again! It wasn't real! And even if it was, you should have respected Anatis' choice to hide his identity!"

 "I just-" Alya stated but Marc suddenly stood up, making both girls look at him with surprise. Marinette gasped in horror as she noticed one of the torn pages was black and he had a purple butterfly mask around his face.

 "Nothing will ever be the same, Hawkmoth," He declared, causing Alya to take out her phone but Marinette grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the scene as Marc threw his book, causing it to grow large. He jumped on it and turned into his akuma self before he flew over to where Alya and Marinette were running. He landed in front of them, causing Marinette to push Alya behind her. "Move aside, Marinette! I don't want you! I want her!"

 "Marc, please, this isn't-"

 "I'm not Marc anymore!! I'm Reverser!" He roared, surprising her. "You're always so sweet and helpful! Well, not anymore! Reversion!!"

 He summoned a paper plan and threw it towards her but she dodged it and hit someone else. She grabbed Alya's arm and began to run with her again, causing Reverser to growl and chase them as Alya began to film. However, Officer Roger blew his whistle in annoyance. 

 "Hey you!" He called, causing Reverser to notice him as he gestured towards his glider. "What is this thing?! Vehicle registration please!"

 "You're all about law and order? Well, we're all done with that! Reversion!" Reverser shouted as he summoned another plane and threw it at Roger, giving Marinette a chance for her and Alya to escape. She grabbed Alya's arm and ran off with her, shoving her into the bakery to her parents' surprise. She ordered Alya to stay there before she closed the door, ignoring their protests. Officer Roger ran past her a few seconds later, shouting and acting like he didn't care. He ignored her as she slipped into the alleyway and transformed into Lady Noir, jumping up on the roof and looking for Reverser. She wasn't sure where he had disappeared to so she jumped across a few roofs and spotted him flying through the street. She jumped towards where he was going and threw her baton between the buildings and walked across them. She stopped in the middle, causing him to come to a stop.

 "Reverser, listen to me," She started, trying to reason with him. "I get that you're upset but-"

 "Upset?!" He growled. "Upset doesn't even cover it, you mangy cat! Alya destroyed my work then had the nerve to call me a liar! Well, everyone will see how useless she is when I get hold her off!"

 "We don't have to fight!" She argued, making him growl. "I agree that Alya was in the wrong but this isn't justice. It's revenge!"

 "Then let me change your idea of justice! Reversion!" He shouted, summoning a plane and throw it at her. She jumped down and spun around her baton, dodging his paper plans. He growled and kept throwing them at her but she kept dodging. A yoyo wrapped around his arm, stopping him from firing another plane at her and causing him to look at Anatis. "You just had to interfere, didn't you?!"

 "I'm not sure what the problem is but Lady Noir is right," Anatis pointed out as Reverser glared at him. "We don't have to fight so make the right choice and give up. Besides, I couldn't let you change her sense of justice!"

 "You sure talk a lot, Anatis," Reverser growled. "But what will you do without your powers?! Reversion!"

 He threw paper plans at him but Anatis dodged them, jumping around as he did. Reverser glared at him but stopped firing his planes. Instead, he smiled as if he was amused by the turn of events.

 "You can't keep still, can you bugboy?" He asked, making Anatis raise an eyebrow. "Well, let's go for a ride then,"

 "Wait what?!" Anatis gasped but Reverser suddenly flew off at a fast speed, dragging Anatis along with him. Lady Noir gasped and grabbed her baton before she began to chase them. Anatis held on for dear life as Reverser sped through the city, laughing as he did. They flew past a traffic jam and Anatis looked back in confusion as he saw Officer Roger running down the street and shouting something about doing whatever you wanted. He also had a two dufflebags full of money. Anatis assumed that he got hit with one of Reverser's plane. He began to try and climb up his yoyo to get closer to Reverser as they flew over the Seine but Reverser began to throw more planes at him, causing him to dodge. A butterfly mask briefly covered his face, causing Anatis to dread what Hawkmoth suggested. Reverser smirked when it disappeared and summoned one of his planes.

 "You used to be quick on your feet? Well, now you've got two left feet! Reversion!" He shouted, throwing the plane at Anatis but he dodged again. However, the plane continued to fly and hit a nearby cyclist, causing him to forget how to ride a bike. "Oops,"

 "Whoa! Sorry!!" The cyclist cried out as he attempted to try and ride the bike but he was moving around, almost hit people as he did. "How do I ride a bike?!"

 "Oh no!" Anatis gasped as he accidentally turned towards the edge of the bridge and flew over the side. Anatis freed his yoyo from Reverser's arm before diving towards the man as he flew. He threw the yoyo and caught him, using it to swing and jump back onto the bridge. "Are you alright?"

 "Yes... Thank you, Anatis but I don't know what happened," He gasped, confused but before Anatis could answer, he heard the sound of the plane. He used his arms to protect him, causing it to his forearm. Reverser smirked at the success. 

 "Got ya," He declared, causing Anatis to take out his yoyo and throw it towards him. Only it didn't work. Instead, it hit the fence, bounced back and hit him in the face, which in turn caused him to trip over the bench and fall down. He pulled himself up but his yoyo then landed on his head. Reverser laughed and moved closer to him, causing almost everyone run off in fear. "How do you like your new role, Klutzy bug?"

 He smirked as the purple mask appeared around his eyes again before it disappeared.

 "Your miraculous will be mine!" He declared, reaching out towards Anatis but before he could, Lady Noir landed in front of Anatis and whacked Reverser's hand back before spinning her baton.

 "I don't think so, Reverser!" She declared, getting into a fighting position. "Sorry I'm late, Annie. I ran into some trouble on the way here but now I'm ready to cause our new friend some trouble,"

 "It's fine..." He muttered, trying to get up and failing.

 "You ok, Annie?" She asked, glancing back at him a little.

 "You think you're so brave, Lady Noir? Well, we can change that!" He declared, summoning a plane. "From puss to wuss! Reversion!"

 He threw it at her but she dodged it, causing it to fly over the edge and into the Seine.

 "Oh, I'm so scared," She teased, flicking her braid as Anatis pushed himself up. "You'll be the one afraid when me and Annie are done, Reverser!"

 "Lady Noir! Wait!" Anatis called out as she charged towards Reverser before he lost his balance and fell over the bench again. Lady Noir stopped, turning to Anatis with worry but while she was distracted, Reverser hit her with his plane, causing her jump back in fear as Anatis was trying to get back up. She accidentally knocked him, which caused both of them to fall over the railing and straight into the Seine. Lady Noir began to panic and swam up to the surface. She broke through, taking a breathe and looked around. Reverser wasn't around but neither was Anatis. Her eyes widen in fear as she realized he must still be under the water so she placed her baton into her mouth and dived back under, her fear for Anatis's drowning was far greater then the fear of the water. She swam him near the bottom of the Seine, struggling badly to swim. Luckily, he had put his yoyo in his mouth so he breathe underwater but he was struggling to swim. She swam over to him and grabbed his arm, helping him move through the water. He tries his best to move as well but it was mostly Lady Noir doing the work. She pulled him to the side of the Seine and towards the surface. She helped him grab onto the edge of the shore before pulling herself out of the water then helping him. He crawled on the ground and let out a sigh as she shivered.

 "Even swimming is impossible with this curse," He muttered, shaking his head before looking up at her. "You ok?"

 "I'm gonna catch a cold!" She gasped, shivering as he crawled over to the stairs and used a concrete block to get himself to his feet.

 "We need to find a way to defeat him," He stated, making her gasp and look at him.

 "You want to face him again?!" She asked with a fearful tone. Anatis nodded, making her whimper. "But I don't wanna face that bad guy again.... he looks so mean..."

 "We don't have a choice, Lady Noir," He muttered before sighing. "Besides, he's gonna come looking for us sooner or later. Hey, you were fighting him first. Do you know why he got akumatized?"

 "Well, he had wrote this story that he called the Journal of Anatis but people in his school believed it was your journal and one of the students... Alya... tried to steal it off him but in the attempt, the book the story was in got destroyed and then she called him a liar when she found out it wasn't real," She explained, shivering. Anatis frowned a little. "T-that's why I was late to the fight on the bridge. Alya was heading to where he was to film him, despite been his target! So I grabbed her and took her to the Grand Paris hotel. Her mother is watching over her,"

 "My journal? She really believed that?" He asked in disbelief. "Wow... hmm... well, at least we know she's safe from Reverser so let's focus on moving away from here. Once we've gotten up those stairs, we can try and track down where Reverser would look for her,"

 "I can't! Those stairs are way too high!!" She cried, making him frown before he held out his hand to her. She blinked and looked at it before looking back at him. He gave her his best reassuring smile.

 "Come on, kitten," He stated in a gentle tone. She pouted a little as she looked at his hand again. "It's ok, kitten,"

 She carefully took his hand and he began to gently pull her towards the stairs.

 "That's right," He encouraged as they moved closer. "See? You're gonna be just- ah!"

 He knocked into the block and fell over it, letting out a sigh before carefully getting back up. He eyed up her baton and formed an idea.

 "Can I use your baton as a walking stick?" He asked, causing her to give it to him. He tried to extend it to the right size but hit himself in the chin. Lady Noir helped him, making it the right size. He leaned on it before gesturing for her to come over. He offered her his arm and smiled to her reassuringly. She hooked her arm into his and moved closer to him. "Ok, we're gonna do this one step at a time,"

 "O-Ok," She nodded. It took them almost ten minutes to get up the stairs but they managed it. Of course, Anatis almost fell once they were on street level. Lady Noir was able to help him plus he used her baton to regain his balance. He let out a sigh before looking at her. "W-what now?"

 "We go to Dupont High. If Reverser is after Alya, chances are he'll look there... right?" He mumbled, causing her to nod.

 "S-She goes to the art club to work on her blog... but how are we gonna get there?! You're in no state to fly around on that dangerous thing!" She gasped, pointing to his yoyo. He looked at it and sighed as she was right before he looked to the street and noticed a cab.

 "We're getting a taxi," He mumbled, pointing towards one. Lady Noir gulped but helped him move over. He carefully knocked on the window, causing the taxi driver to wind down his window and gasp in surprise. "Hi, how much would it be to get to Dupont High? We need to get there as soon as possible,"

 "Um... why don't you just swing there with your yoyo?" He asked, confused. Lady Noir gasped and let go of Anatis, causing him to fall.

 "Are you insane?! He could kill himself if he did that!" She gasped, placing her hands on the car door. The taxi driver blinked at her in surprise before looking down at Anatis, who was on the floor and rubbing his spine.

 "Ouch," He mumbled before trying to get up but failing again. "This is getting old!"

 "Yeah, you're right. He would die," The taxi driver mumbled as Lady Noir tried to help him up. He got out the car and helped get Anatis inside the backseats. He put on his seatbelt as Lady Noir climbed in next to him. She was shaking as she did up her seatbelt. "So Dupont High right?"

 "Yeah," Anatis replied, looking to Lady Noir. "Kitten?"

 "I'm scared of small spaces," She whimpered before let out a cry as the car began to drive.

 "It's ok, kitty," He tried to calm her down.

 "There's a blanket next to you, Lady Noir. You can wrap it around yourself for comfort," The Taxi Driver stated, causing her to do so. "So what happened?"

 "Got hit by the latest akuma," Anatis sighed as Lady Noir shivered. He took one of her hands in his to calm her down. "He has the power to reverse people's personalities and abilities. Hence my lack of ability and her crippling fear,"

 "Ah, well wherever you need to go, I'll take you there... free of charge as well," The driver stated, surprising Anatis. "It's the least I can do, given how you and the little lady save Paris from that maniac and his freaks almost every day,"

 "Thank you, sir," Anatis smiled as the car pulled up. Lady Noir undid her belt and got out, shaking and muttering to herself that he was driving too fast. Anatis shook his head and apologized to the driver before he got out. He went to close the car door but trapped his yoyo in it. He sighed in annoyance and opened the door again, taking out the string then closing it before he walked forward. Only the rope got caught around his legs, causing him to trip and fall. He groaned before forcing himself up. He made sure his yoyo string was no where near his leg and then walked extremely slow and careful into the school. He literally pulled himself up the stairs and almost knocked into Lady Noir. "Kitten?"

 "I think Reverser got here first," She mumbled as paintings got thrown out of the art room. They heard the art teacher shout about how he hated art and music. He ran out and slammed a painting to the ground, followed by Rose who threw her lyrics down. Juleka followed them and slammed her guitar against the ground, breaking it. Anatis flinched at the instrument's destruction. He carefully moved toward the guitar but slipped on a piece of paper, causing him to fall down and the paper to flutter down onto his face. He frowned and picked it up. However, his eyes widen at the picture. It showed him and Lady Noir facing Queen Wasp and possibly Evillustrator but it honestly looked like Evillustrator was actually helping them. Lady Noir rushed over and helped Anatis sit up. "Are you ok?"

 "Yeah, I just slipped over this," He mumbled, showing her. 

 "Oh, that's one of Nathaniel's!" She gasped, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "He was Evillustrator. They're on the school's website,"

 "How do you know that?"

 "The Ladyblog linked it and I checked them out," She admitted, making him nod. "Anyway, he drew himself as a hero. That's not Evillustrator but Mightyllustrator, who helps Anatis and Lady Noir fight the bad guys. It was these drawings that inspired Marc to write the journal of Anatis,"

 "Mightyllustrator hmm?" He muttered before an idea pop into his head. Apparently, his natural luck was still working. He looked up at Lady Noir, who was holding her blanket around her shoulders. "I have an idea,"

 "You do?"

 "Yeah," He nodded, looking up at her. "We need help,"

 "But you can't get a miraculous like this. You can barely walk so I can't leave you. If I do, I'm afraid you'll end up badly hurt," She gasped but he shook his head.

 "Not that kind of help," He mumbled, tapping the picture. "Now where does Nathaniel hang out?"

 "I'm not sure," She mumbled, playing with her blanket. Anatis sighed a little before looking over at the pictures on the floor. A lot of the battles that he had drawn seemed to take place at the Louvre museum. Anatis clicked his fingers, causing Lady Noir to jump and hiss.

 "Sorry... but I think I know where Nathaniel hangs out," He smiled, pointing to the pictures. "The Louvre is in almost all of Nathaniel's drawings and while I can't be sure he's there, it's a start,"

 "Does mean we have to get another cab?" Lady Noir whimpered, causing Anatis to nod before the two of them carefully made their way to the cab. They climbed inside, causing Anatis to let out a sigh. He was really getting annoyed with this curse. He shook his head and turned to the driver.

 "Can you take us to the Louvre please?" He asked, getting a nod of the guy as Lady Noir's baton vibrated causing her to jump. She calmed down and checked the notification, showing him the video. He frowned as he watched the video. It was of Nadja Chamuck reporting on the protest about the space dumpster program but thanks to Reverser, the mayor had ordered the dumpsters to return back to Paris, meaning the city will be covered in a pile of trash. Naturally, Reverser was using the situation to make a threat. Lady Noir turned up the volume so they could hear what he was saying.

 "Anatis! Lady Noir! I demand that you bring Alya Ceasire to me right now!" He growled, making Lady Noir quake. "And I demand you give me your miraclous!"

 "He's so scary," She mumbled as the taxi pulled up at the Louvre. Anatis and her quickly got out and carefully made their way into the museum. They made their way through the areas before they came across where Nathaniel was. He sat on one of the benches, drawing while Alix skated around him. They seemed to be talking about making a comic. 

 "Nathaniel," Anatis called, getting both of their attention. "We need your help. It's an em- aah!"

 Both Nathaniel and Alix stared as Anatis proceeded to trip over himself, knocking Lady Noir down in the process. He groaned and threw up his arms.

 "Seriously?!" He yelled, clearly frustrated. "This is getting annoying!"

 "Are you two ok?" Nathaniel gasped, rushing over to them with Alix. The two of them helped the heroes up to their feet. Lady Noir instantly pulled her blanket around her while Anatis leaned on Nathaniel. "What happened?"

 "Reverser," Anatis mumbled, causing both of them to look at them with confusion.

 "Who's that?" Alix asked, frowning.

 "Only the meanest akuma we've ever faced!!" Lady Noir gasped, her ears twitching. "He turned Annie into a total klutz!"

 "um..."

 "He has the ability to reverse people's personalities and abilities," Anatis sighed. "I got hit by one of his planes that took away my natural abilities. I'm not even sure if I can use the miracle cure yet and Lady Noir got hit with a plan that made her a literal scaredy cat.... which brings me to why we're here. We need help. Reverser is after a girl called Alya Ceasire-"

 "Why is he after Alya?" Alix asked, concerned. Anatis frowned before sighing.

 "She tried to steal a book from him, thinking that it was my diary but it was actually a work of fiction. Anyway, when she was trying to take it, it got destroyed and then she got annoyed that it wasn't real," He explained, frowning. "And now he's after her. He probably wants to destroy her reputation,"

 "Marc is Reverser?!" Nathaniel gasped, making both Lady Noir and Anatis look at him. "Marc Anciel. He's usually this really shy boy who Marinette introduced to the Art Club. I'm suppose to be making a comic book with him as my writer. Honestly, his story is amazing but why would Alya think it was real?"

 "Cause it's Alya," Alix snorted. "She's obsessed with getting the next scope and doesn't think about her actions. I mean she did try to take a photo of Adrien's locker because she thought he was Anatis and she's been akumatized twice because of her 'hunches'. Not to mention she doesn't exactly check her facts before posting stuff,"

 "Ok, I get the point but how can we help you?" Nathaniel asked. "I mean he wants Alya, not me. Won't he just attack you when he sees Alya isn't there?"

 "I don't think we'll have to worry about that," Anatis answered, typing on his yoyo before showing them. Alya was already at the scene and filming. "Now we're gonna grab her but we'll need help which is why we've come to you. You're one of the few people who isn't reversed right now,"

 "I'll help however I can but... does this mean I get a miraculous?" He asked, curious. 

 "Not right now... I think I'll need Nathaniel the artist," Anatis smiled.

 "In that case then I'm coming," Alix declared, making Anatis look at her.

 "No, I'm already taking a big risk bringing in Nathaniel so you're staying,"

 "You know, Annie, I could totally stay here and keep Alix company," Lady Noir suggested, clearly not wanting to fight Reverser. However, she didn't pay attention to Alix, who moved closer to her then shouted boo, causing her to scream and jump on Anatis. He tried to catch her but due to his lack of ability, he fell to the floor. He groaned as Alix offered him her hand as Nathaniel helped Lady Noir to her feet. He took her hand and Alix helped him to his feet.

 "It looks like to be you both need a hand," She grinned, making him sigh in defeat. "And I'm not leaving Nathaniel alone. He's my friend,"

 "Alright," Anatis nodded. "You can help,"

 "Alright! So how we getting to the Eiffel Tower?" Alix asked, causing Lady Noir to whimper.

 "We're riding in that death trap again, aren't we?" She asked, causing Alix and Nathaniel look at each other as Anatis nodded. "I don't wanna,"

 "It'll be fine, Kitten," He smiled, making her look at him with big eyes. "You know I won't let anything bad happen to you,"

 "A-Alright," She stated as Alix and Nathaniel helped them outside and into the taxi. They got in after them and told the driver to take them to the Eiffel Tower. Lady Noir hid her face in Anatis's shoulder for the whole ride. He gently patted her head to reassure her. 

 "Stop here!" Anatis called out, making the Taxi driver stop. Nathaniel opened the door, causing Alya to look behind her. Anatis narrowed his eyes at her, making her gulp as Lady Noir hissed. "Get in,"

 "Uh... is there even room?" She asked. Alix climbed out and grinned. 

 "Now there is," She stated. Alya frowned and got in, allowing Alix to close the door. "I'll meet you guys at the tower,"

 "Ok," Anatis nodded as the car drove off again. Alix skated towards the tower. Alya turned to the two heroes and Nathaniel as they drove to the tower.

 "Um... so would this be a bad time to ask for an interview?" She asked, gulping at the looks the heroes were giving her. They didn't answer her as the taxi pulled up. Lady Noir got out first and pulled out Alya, muttering about the speed of the driver again. Nathaniel helped Anatis out of the car as Alix arrived. "What's wrong with you two?"

 "That's strange," Alix stated, looking up into the sky and ignoring Alya. "The stars are out earlier,"

 "Those aren't stars, Alix," Anatis replied, looking up as well. "The trash is entering the atmosphere. In a few minutes, it will be like a meteor shower but with dumpsters instead,"

 "You can fix that right?" Alya gasped as Lady Noir whimpered. She moved the blanket over her head and was shaking. Anatis looked over at her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look at him with big, fearful eyes.

 "Don't be afraid, kitten," He smiled, gently moving the make shift hood down. "We can do this,"

 "Y-You're right as usual, Annie," She mumbled, giving him her best smile. "Our powers might be messed up but we still make a great team,"

 "Exactly," He smiled, patting her head before he winked at her. "Now I think it's time I changed our luck,"

 He took out his yoyo and threw up in the air, summoning his lucky charm. To his surprise, it actually worked and created a bamboo roll. It dropped down and hit him on the head then bounced into his hands. He frowned before he began to look around. His luck vision highlighted a safety cone, Lady Noir's blanket, his yoyo and his belt. He smiled as he formed a plan before handing Nathaniel the roll. He took off his belt and grabbed Alya's arms, securing them with the belt as she protested.

 "Alix, pass me that cone please," He asked, making her grab the cone and hand it to him. He held it up to his mouth. "Reverser! Listen up, I've got a deal for you! I'm sending Lady Noir up to you,"

 Lady Noir gasped as a terrified look came over her face. 

 "In exchange, you'll reverse the mayor to order the dumpsters back into space!" He shouted as Reverser looked at him. "Only then will I give you my miraculous and Alya,"

 "I'll only reverse the mayor back if I have Lady Noir and Alya!" He shouted back. "Then I'll reverse Alya and everyone will see what a horrible creature she really is. Her reputation will be irreversible by the time I'm done with her!"

 "Um... Anatis, you're not gonna let him do that right?" Alya asked but Anatis frowned before holding the cone up again.

 "Deal!" He shouted back, making her gasp before he lowered the cone and helped take Alya and Lady Noir to the lift, along with Nathaniel. "I have a plan. Use Lady Noir's blanket and the bamboo roll to make a kite,"

 "A kite?" Nathaniel asked, surprised as Alya glared at him. "How will we fly it?"

 "Use this," He stated, giving him his yoyo before he turned to Lady Noir, who is shaking. "Kitten, I need you to be really brave. This plan relies on you to make it work,"

 "W-What do you need me to do?" She asked, looking at him.

 "I need you to ride the kite," He stated, making her look at him with shock and fear. "I know how it sounds but you need to destroy his glider,"

 "I... I can't do it," She gasped, tears in her eyes. "Don't make me,"

 "I'm sorry, Kitten but you're the only one who can," He replied before leaning closer to her. "Use my belt as a blindfold. That way you don't have to look down,"

 "I'm too scared," She admitted but he smiled at her.

 "Trust me," He winked before closing the door and heading back to the street with Alix. He grabbed the traffic cone again. "Lady Noir and Alya are on their way up. I've sent Nathaniel with them to make sure they don't try anything! Now reverse the mayor!"

 "If you try to trick me, it'll cost you,"

 "Yeah, I get it but what tricks do you think I could actually pull off?" Anatis shouted back. "I'm a super klutz and Lady Noir is now scared of her own shadow. We don't stand a chance against you, Reverser,"

 He smiled at that answer and turned round, summoning a plane to reverse the mayor. He stopped as the lift came to a stop and opened, revealing Lady Noir holding onto the kite. She had Anatis' belt around her eyes and his yoyo in her mouth but she was shaking.

 "Go, Lady Noir!!" Nathaniel yelled as Alya began filming again. Lady Noir gulped but broke out into a run, stepping off the tower. She let out a scream, dropping the yoyo. Anatis reached for it but it missed and hit him on the head. Alix, however, grabbed it and yanked it. With Anatis' direction, she steered the kite and dodged Reverser's planes. Anatis moved her arms, directing Lady Noir to fly directly under Reverser's glider. He grabbed the cone and held it up again.

 "Lady Noir! Now!" He shouted, causing her to hold out her hand.

 "Cataclysm!!" She shouted, tracing her fingers across the bottom of the glider. It turned to dust and released the akuma as Alix yanked the kite, causing Lady Noir to let go and fall. It fell to Anatis and Alix, causing them to grab it. Alix helped him through up in the air and call out the magic words, releasing the cure as Lady Noir and Reverser fell towards the ground. Reverser let out a scream as he turned back into Marc and Lady Noir was already screaming. The magic ladybugs swarmed around her, making her blink before she took out her baton and threw it between the legs of the Effiel tower. She grabbed hold off it and caught Marc as the cure fixed everything else. Finally, they swarmed around Anatis, giving him back his balance and ability.

 "Hey, Anatis, you're gonna need this," Alix grinned, throwing the yoyo to him. He grinned as he caught before he opened it and threw it, catching the corrupted butterfly. He snapped it closed then released it as Lady Noir brought down Marc, who had reverted back to his shy self. He was looking down and holding onto his left arm. He took a small step forward and went to open his mouth but the mayor, Nathaniel and Alya came over. Marc instantly stepped closer to Lady Noir as Alya grinned and held up her photo.

 "So got time for a quick interview?" She asked but flinched at the look he gave her. "Um... is that a no?"

 "Miss Ceasire, do you know why this young man here got akumatized?" He asked, crossing his arms. Alya bit her lip with a guilty look. 

 "Uh... his book got ripped..." She mumbled, causing Marc to look down. "But he shouldn't have been claiming it was your diary!"

 "I didn't..." He mumbled but Anatis shook his head.

 "You shouldn't have gone after it, even if it had been real," He stated, making her frown. "I've made it perfectly clear that I don't want my identity revealed but you insist! Do you realize what would happen if my identity was revealed to all of Paris, including Hawkmoth? He would target my family, Alya and that would be on you! Do you understand? Back off from my identity!"

 "But... Paris deserves to know?"

 "Oh well by that logic so does Hawkmoth!" He shouted, making her flinch. "I don't want my identity known or anyone else on my team and you will respect that! Is that understood?!"

 "Y-Yes, sir..." She mumbled, looking down.

 "And while we're at you, you can apology to this young man for wrongful destroying his property and accusing him off been a liar," He declared, glaring at her. She looked up at Marc. "I also expect you to buy him a new notepad,"

 "But your cure fixed it," She gasped, pointing to it. However, Anatis glared at her. "O-ok... I'm sorry, Marc... I jumped to conclusions and I blamed you when it was me in the wrong. I should have done my research,"

 "Exactly," Lady Noir added in. "I highly recommend you get into the habit of fact checking,"

 Anatis went to add something but his earrings beeped, along with Lady Noir's ring. The two heroes ran off as Alya turned back to Marc, who was joined by Nathaniel.

 "I really am sorry,"

 ~Next Week at School~

 "The art room is great! You'll love it there!!" Marinette grinned as she and Luka walked up the stairs. "Everyone is so friendly and you already know Rose and Juleka!! Since you have a free period, you should come with me! I'm heading there now!"

 "I don't know, Melody," He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't want to intrude,"

 "You won't be," She reassured before giving him her best puppy dog look she could. "Please!!!"

 "... Alright..." He sighed in defeat but he had a little smile on his face. She let out a happy yell before grabbing his face and dragging him into room 33. As soon as she walked in, Mr Beauregard looked up and smiled at her.

 "Found another stray, Marinette?" He asked with a smile. Marinette giggled as Rose waved at Luka. He waved back

 "This is Luka, the guitarist I told you about," She smiled, making Luka blush at the fact that she mentioned him to people. Mr Beauregard turned to Luka and smiled as Marinette began to talk to Rose.

 "Welcome to Room 33, Luka," He smiled. "You can come here anytime you want between classes or after school. Marinette told us you play guitar and Rose mentioned you were in her band,"

 "Yes, sir," He mumbled, nodding. "I'm Juleka's older brother..."

 "Ah, another Couffaine huh?" He smiled. "Then you're definitely in the right place. We have a lot of different equipment here so I'm sure you'll be able to find a guitar somewhere. Ah, Marc, Nathaniel. This is Luka, Marinette's friend,"

 "Hi," Nathaniel smiled, waving.

 "I remember you. You're the musical empath that Marinette made the guitar strap for," Marc mumbled, playing with his hands. "It's nice to meet you again,"

 "So you're the lucky person who got that guitar strap?" Mr Beauregard asked, making Luka smile shyly and nod. "Well, feel free to look around as much as you want, Luka. You're always welcome here. Now, boys, how is your comic coming along?"

 "It's great, Mr Beauregard," Nathaniel grinned. "We based it off Marc's akumatization and had Mightyllustrator help Anatis and Lady Noir deakumatized him! Once he's been saved, he joins their team!"

 "Wow! That sounds great, boys," Mr Beauregard grinned as Luka felt Tikki's song beat with excitement. He smiled a little before walking over to the musical instrument area. He found an acoustic guitar. He strummed the strings and listened carefully before tuning it. Tikki peaked up at him and smiled, hidden behind the guitar before he smiled and began to play, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and listen. Once he finished the song, they all clapped, causing him to blush a little. "Wow, that's some talent there, Luka. Marinette wasn't kidding when she said you were the best guitar she knows,"

 "I never lie, Mr Beauregard," Marinette grinned as Luka went bright red. 

 "I'll say," Nathaniel smiled as Marc clicked his fingers.

 "Oh, Marinette... we just want you to know that we dedicated the first issue of our comic to you," He smiled, making her go bright red. "Since it wouldn't exist without your help, we thought it would be a nice thank you,"

 "R-Really?" She gasped, getting a nod of the boys. "Thank you,"

 "Aww, now they match!" Rose gasped, causing both Luka and Marinette to turn a brighter shade of red that caused everyone, including them to laugh.

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

Next Chapter: https://ultra-sassyduck.tumblr.com/post/636532022128574464/miraculous-rise-of-anatis-36

[artificialqueens]

Not Your Problem, Love (Taywhora) - Phryne

Thank you all for saving me a seat on the clown bus; glad to have my turn at honking the horn! This fic comes from the prompt “I think I would rather eat expired spam,” submitted by @artificialortega. The gist is: they’re roommates, they’re exes, and they’re emotionally stunted. 

Thank you as always to my wonderful girlfriend @scarletenvy, who betaed this piece, reminded me lovingly about my tenses, and encouraged me the whole way through. Take a minute to check out her writing too—you won’t regret it. 

X

A’whora pushes the pedal of her sewing machine back just a nudge and stretches out her legs. She rolls the last couple stitches back and forth, then cuts the threads unceremoniously, resigning herself to completing the project sometime in the early morning, after some food and some beauty sleep. It wasn’t as though she was going to sleep much tonight anyway. 

She rolls her shoulders, easing the tightness gathering there and trailing down her lower back, pulling herself to her feet. As much as she loves the chair her and Tayce drunkenly rescued from the curb many months ago, hauled four flights up their cramped stairwell and shoved into A’whora’s office, the air light and crisp and giggling along with them; as much as she loved drinking Tesco chard, the bottle passed between them as she taught Tayce how to sew patches of scrap fabric into the chair to hold the bursting stuffing back, bandaging and sloppily kissing many a pricked finger, it still hurts after a while. It always does. 

So Awhora throws back the last of her cuppa and heads down the hallway, stopping at the smoke detector flush against the wall, getting on her tip-toes, tapping a cotted finger against the button until it gives a firm beep. She doesn’t want the apartment to burn down, partially because she couldn’t bear to see a dress she’s already put twenty hours of work into to go up in flames, partially because she doesn’t want a reason for the lease to break early, partially because fire kills people.

“What’s with all the candles?” A’whora asks, slipping the cot off of her finger and into the bin. She asks, though she already knows. It’s not as though Tayce has changed much, and Tayce was always one to set a scene for date nights, so the candles and stemless wine glasses aren’t out of place. She doesn’t give Tayce the chance to answer, choosing to jab at her instead. “Lavender doesn’t cover the smell of burnt rubber, babes.” 

Tayce rolls her eyes in return, still stirring frantically at the pot in front of her. “You’re not helpful, Whora,” she drawls, now jabbing at whatever’s in that wretched pot with the back end of the wooden spoon, red sauce splattering across the stovetop, sticking in Tayce’s brow. “Fuck.” 

Awhora rounds the counter, grabbing at Tayce’s arm. “Slow down, Hannibal,” she chases with a laugh, taking the spoon from Tayce to stop the violent prodding and stop herself from wiping the sauce out of her brow. “Back it up and tell me what we’re doing here.” 

“What I think I’m doing here is massacring a piece of chicken until it’s cooked.” Tayce takes the spoon back, giving it a once over before tossing it into the already full sink. 

“Well…” A’whora grabs a fork and bumps Tayce’s hip away from the stove. “For starters, turn the burner off.” She brushes the pasta and sauce away from the chicken, holds it up in front of her face, and gives it a good once over. “And surprise…it’s burnt.” She then sticks it in Tayce’s face, watching intently as her eyes cross in front of the blackened chicken.

If Tayce’s bemused sigh—as though she didn’t know food could be overcooked—doesn’t do her in, then her pursed, plump lips surely do, like she’s brainstorming ways to unburn the chicken, or better yet, ways to have A’whora fix it like she always did, well, still does. 

“Just try it to be sure, yeah?” 

A’whora wrinkles her nose, returning the chicken to the pot and poking at it like it might grow legs and get on up. “I think I’d rather eat Spam, bloody canned meat, than this.” 

“At least this isn’t bloody, innit?” 

A’whora gives a playful shove. “You’re stupid,” she says, though she know’s she’s endeared by how quick Tayce thinks she is, how she jokes even when she’s fucked up, how A’whora wished she could do the same. She dodges Tayce’s return shove to grab the bin, nearly spilling over, and drags it to the stove. “You put the chicken in raw, or you cooked it first?” 

“You just put it in, let it cook with everything else, of course,” Tayce replies easily. “So we just take the chicken out and it’s a lovely Italian meal. I say I’m going vegetarian and she’s taken by my love of animals…” 

“You got to bin the whole thing.” A’whora interrupts, making a move for the pot, but Tayce grabs her wrist. 

“Just try some of the pasta. Maybe that’s done right.” 

“It’s not. It’s gonna give me food poisoning, babe.” A’whora knows it’s a touch blunt for the woman she knows can barely heat beans from a can, but is clearly trying, and that adding “babe” does nothing to soften it. She’d like to blame the feeling of Tayce’s slender fingers wrapped around her wrist on her snappishness, but she knows that makes her melt beyond her control if anything. 

Tayce scrapes the pot, muttering to the pasta “Suppose she thinks she’s a chef now. Right Gordon Ramsey but can’t make much more than a bowl of shreddies.” 

A’whora should be offended, but it’s true. And it’s Tayce. 

“I don’t know what to do, but I know what not to do, at least.” She clears her throat and tries again, releasing her wrist and holding out her hand for the fork. Tayce obliges. “You can’t put raw meat in cooked food. The chicken’s got germs and you’re overcooking the pasta and you’re boiling down the sauce to a paste.” She tries scraping a mushy noodle from the side of the pan. “That’s three reasons why I’d rather eat expired Spam, with my freshly manicured fingers, than try this, love.”

“Little old me got an upgrade to the fingers, huh.” After Tayce’s smirk falls into an indignant huff, she steals the fork back. “Lucky it’s not for you, dear.” She picks out the chicken and flicks it into the bin. 

“I’m just saying, you’re not getting fucked after feeding her that.” A’whora grabs the paper towel roll and wipes down the counter as best she can, knowing it’s going to need a good scrub later. From the sauce, of course.

Setting the fork down, Tayce tilts her head toward A’whora. “That’s not really your problem anymore,” she says, and A’whora almost thinks she’s imagining the lilting, coy tone, though she’s sure she’s not imagining the lightheadedness that comes along with it.

She swallows. “Well, I still genuinely care about you and your pussy, so I suggest you toss that in the bin and grab some takeaway.” She makes her way to the living room, tugging on a pair of boots before grabbing her wallet and phone off the coffee table. 

“And if you call in enough time, I might still be out to grab it for you.” A’whora grabs Tayce’s leather jacket off the hook—it’s the only one out here, and she’s not sure if she’s just too lazy to grab her own, or wants to send a message to whatever woman’s coming over—and shrugs it on, stuffing her hands in the pockets. “And if I’m still out, I might actually grab it for you.” She flashes a slick smile, nodding only once Tayce concedes and begins spooning the pasta into the bin. 

“That’s a love,” A’whora taunts, waving her phone a bit. “Let me know about the takeaway.” 

“Bitch,” Tayce mutters through a soft grin. 

A’whora opens the door, and says, into the falling night, “yours,” before heading out and locking up behind her.

X

[donnajons]

Leave Paris, Move to Gotham Chapter 2

So, this is over due, but it’s here and it’s alive! I couldn't  post all the tags, it was a fully mess. Please tell me what you think about. it

It was too late to change her last name.

 Her landlady registered her under that name, so the bills came under that name. Her boss, Miss Prince, wrote her checks under Marinette A. Wayne, and she got a fake ID under that name and her photo. 

But why the last name Wayne was such a bad thing? 

Well, turns out that the last name was well known in Gotham thanks to an eccentric playboy billionaire, whose company hold the 87 percent of the jobs in the Gothic city. At least twenty people asked her if she was related to Bruce Wayne last week. Even Miss Prince asked her if she was one of Bruce’s children. Apparently, the man had adopted a dozen children with black hair and blue eyes like her. 

Well, she couldn’t change her last name, but she had the option of change her appearance. That was one of the reasons why she changed her hair color to a pastel pink. She kept her bangs just to divided in two and hold them with pins, so she could show her forehead. The pink was a good choice. It made her look like a totally different person. The only thing that didn’t match were her black eyebrows, but she didn’t want to dye them too. 

After paying and say goodbye to Selena, Marinette still had more than a hundred dollars in her pocket, and it was still early, so after a whole internal debate and some encouragement from Tikki, Marinette went to a Hobby Lobby and bought a bag of embroidery thread and some needles. She felt guilty when she gave the money to the cashier and walked home with her knew embroidery set. A strong part of her wanted to go back to the store and return the threads, but Tikki was stronger than that part of her. 

“Remember, Marinette. You deserve to have pretty things and hobbies. You can buy embroidery thread and not feel guilty about it. Think of all the pretty pattern that you can sew in your clothes! Tell me one.”

Marinette smilled. What would she do without Tikki?

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 Marinette was nervous, and this time it wasn’t because of Char Noir, the miraculous, or money. 

The Pink haired girl was about to ask her boss if she could use the sewing machine in the back to fix some of her clothes in her free time. It wasn’t that her clothes were ragged. The thing about her clothes was that they were too plain. She bought them in the discount section of Walmart in the men’s and women's section. Some of them were way too big for her, and others were just… not her style. After she came back from the store and checked the miraculous box, Marinette started to decorate her clothes… well the ones that fit her. That’s why she wanted to ask Miss Prince if she could use the sewing machine, so she could fix her clothes. 

It was lunch time, and Marinette was as ready as she could be.

“M-miss Prince.” Her voice lacked confidence even though her boss was kind to her.

A tall woman with black long hair turned around to see her.

“Oh, Marinette. You change your hairstyle! Pink suits you well!”

The girl shyly moved a piece of hair from her face. “T-thank you, Miss Prince. Miss Prince I-I was wondering if you are okay with it, but of course if you don’t that’s fine. I would totally understand, and I don’t want to bother you…”

For someone that wasn’t a native English speaker, Marinette knew how to bladbling like a pro. 

Miss Prince put a hand on her shoulder and said “Hey, breathe. You can’t ask me what you want if you don’t breathe, breath, Marinette, breath.”

And she did. 

“Good. By the way, your English is getting better. You’re speaking more fluently.” Her boss smiled, “Now, tell me what you need.”

Marinette took a deep breath, “I-I was wondering if you could let me use the sewing machine on the back. I want to fix some clothes that I bought, b-but of course it would be in my lunch break and only if you let me.”

Quickly, Miss Prince smiled to her. “Of course, you can use the sewing machine but not at lunch time. You are a young woman still developing, so take your last hour to fix your clothes.”

Marinette opened her eyes in surprise. “B-but, Miss Prince, we have some clients at 3:00. You told me that you want me to take measurements and star the pattern for their suits. I could fix my clothes tomorrow if you let me.”

Her boss choked her head, “And you will, but you will only take measurements. I have seen your work. You are quick and precise when you take measurements. It would take at most ten minutes per customer. The pattern will take you less time. Now, don’t argue with me and eat something.”

As Marinette walked to the back store, she couldn’t help but be grateful for having a great boss like Miss Prince. She was always comprehensive and kind to her like the time she forgot her money lunch. Miss Prince bought her favorite sandwich and didn’t took it from her paycheck. Oh yes, Miss Diana Prince is an excellent boss by caring about her employees, well employee.

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Bruce Wayne was a patience man… most of the time. 

There were just a few things that could make him lose his cool. One of them was getting gala clothes for his oldest sons. Tim and Damian, his youngest, were easy to dress because they had a style. While Tim liked a more classic suit, Damian preferred a little bit more extravagant style and yet elegant. This was what made easy to dress them: they had a good taste in fashion. His oldests, for the other side, had not taste whatsoever. Dick was too extravagant for his own good (If it wasn’t for his father and Alfred intervention, he would be planning on buying a pink suit with falcon feathers. His next son wasn’t better. Jason’s concept of a suit is a clean letter jacket, jeans, and a bow tie. 

There was only one person who could help this fashion disasters, and that person… wasn’t, Bruce.

Diana Prince, AKA Wonder Woman, has a boutique with pretty high standards, and by God’s sake, the warrior was the only one that could tame his sons and at the same convince them to use a fucking tuxedo.

“On other news, there has been another victim from the mysterious serial killer, The Jewel Panther, this time on the city of Nice, France. The victim was a nineteen-year-old Japanese girl and was found on a local jewelry store in the same way the other victims of the Jewel Panther. We recommend all young ladies from the age of thirteen to twenty-two that have Asian heritage, fair skin, prominent freckles, black hair, and blue eyes to take precautions in France and neighboring countries…”

Bruce turned off the radio.

It was bad enough that the league didn’t want to take that case, but to hear it repeatedly was just tiring. The league didn’t consider this Jewel Panther to be a menace worthy of them. He was “too normal” for they, but what could be normal about a fucking serial killer that some how ripped off all the organs from the thoracic are of the victims without making an insertion of any kind just too leave their skin flawless.

That wasn’t fucking normal.

Bruce finally arrived at Diana’s boutique where his oldest sons were waiting for him.

“Finally, you are here. Two more minutes and I was going to leave.” Jason, his second oldest, reclaimed the three men got inside of the boutique. “For somebody that preach about responsibility, you’re late.”

“Knowing that you two aren’t a bit punctual, I told you two to be here by two thirty. You will probably arrive at two fifty. We have an appointment at three.”

“You know I would be offended if it wasn’t true.” Dick said as he sat down on one of the chairs. “So does Diana have the suits?”

“No, she is going to take your measurements to make them from scratch.”

“Do we have a saying on the style” Jason asked without hope because he knew that answer would be:

“No.” Unexpectedly, this answer came from Diana Prince, who got inside the room with a small, very small girl.

“As long as I am alive, you two will dress properly… at least just for the gala. For what you two are wearing, I cannot do miracles.” Diana said as she looked like them like if she was judging their appearances (Little note, she was.)

She got an offended hey from the brothers at what she only smiled.

“This is Marinette. She will take your measurements in the changing room. Marinette can you take them there?”

The small girl gave a shy nod “I-if you could follow me.” She said with a thick accent that neither of the brothers could identify came from. Dick and Jason followed the tiny girl.

Once his sons were gone, Bruce asked Diana “Since when do you hire help?”

“Since the business grow up” Diana knew that tone. It was the I-know-that-you-doing tone.

“Not likely, you like to do your clothes by all yourself. The only people that you have ever hired is a few Amazonians, and she has a French accent. Her physique is not anywhere near an Amazonian.” He gave her the look again. “So, what’s her story?”

Diana signed. He wasn’t the best detective just to don’t live it up.

“It’s good that you bring up the topic because I was going to tell you anyway.” She stood up closer to him “Three weeks ago, she came up looking up for work. You should have seen her. She looked so lost and even thinner than she is today. She told me she needed a Summer job, but by Artemins’ sake, she looked like she was starving for weeks. It was obvious that the money was for food and a place to sleep.” She bit her lip. “Her story had holes like how her parents haven’t move from France yet because they were busy or how she couldn’t give me her ID because she lost it in the airplane, but what gave it away was her last name.”

Bruce lift an eyebrow, “Her last name?”

“Her full name, or the name that she gave me, is Marinette A. Wayne.”

Marinette A. Wayne. What are the chances?

Bruce was about to ask when Diana interrupted him.

“I asked her if she is related to you. I mean at the time she had all the Wayne’s characteristics: black hair, and blue eyes. She seemed like one of your children, but she told me that she wasn’t related to you. She didn’t even know who you were until I told her that Bruce Wayne was a rich influence man that basically rules Gotham, which makes it even more weird.”

“There is a lot of people with the last name of Wayne, what would be weird?”

“Because, not offence, but anyone knows that the last name Wayne bring problems in Gotham. Nobody in their right set of minds would move to Gotham having that last name.”

She had a point. The Wayne family had a lot of money and prestige, but they also had an immense number of enemies. Having that last name was dangerous, and more for a teenager without supervision.

“What are your theories about her?” Bruce asked her.

“She is an immigrant, maybe illegal if she didn’t want me to see her ID. Probably from France, her accent gives her away even though she tries to sound Chinese. She is running away from somebody because her parents are not in the picture. She is always alert and ready to hide. I have seen how she shakes and jumps every time something makes a loud noise. She cries in the bathroom sometimes. She is trying to survive, but she can’t do it alone for more effort she tries to put in.”

Marinette had another characteristic of the Wayne family: Psychological trauma.

“You said you were going to tell me eventually, why?”

Diana stopped for a second.

“I’m leaving for France after the gala for two weeks. If the League doesn’t want to do something about the Panther, I will. Those girls didn’t deserve that end, and their sisters don’t deserve to live under all that fear,” For the look on his face, Diana could tell that he was with her on this. “and that’s why I need you to ask you a huge favor.”

She put her hand on his shoulder.

“I need you to keep an eye on her while I’m not here.”

“You want me to babysitter her?” Bruce asked her.

“Not babysitter her, I just make sure that she is fine without letting her know. I will leave Gotham with more peace knowing that you and your sons will keep tabs on her.”

“And what would be the excuse to come to your boutique for three weeks? Another suit?” The trillionaire asked her. He was on board to keep an eye on this girl because somehow this girl reminded him of her other daughters… I said somehow.

“The boutique will be closed, so I’ll give her three weeks in advance and the materials, so she can work from her apartment. I also will talk to her about a mandatory Summer fashion course in Gotham University that will began a week before I go. I understood that your son, Damian, is taking Summer classes there to get ahead. So that would be a good excuse to keep an eye on her. Don’t you think?”

Bruce smirked. Diana was a sneaky woman.

“You planned this pretty well, didn’t you?” 

“I like to be prepared. You better than no one should know it. So, can I count on you?”

Diana offered her hand to him, and Bruce willingly accepted.

“You can go without worrying about her.”

Diana gave him a small smile. “Just please, don’t adopt her before I come back. You have enough children.”

 Bruce was used to this constant running joke about his obsession, as Jason liked to call it, but never tease Bruce Wayne about adopting more children because it would end in him preparing the adoption papers.

“You are very funny.” Diana could swear that she saw a little smile on his face. “Lets go, before my kids start bothering your ward.”

The two of them started walking to the changing room. “I wouldn't be worried about her. Under that shy face, I can see a ferocious warrior. I kinda want to teach her how to fight when I come back.”

“Carefull, you may end up having a daughter” This time she could swear over Athermis that she saw a smile on his face.

Diana just smiled. “That wouldn’t be so bad.”

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Diana was right about her; Marinette was good at taking measurements.

It took her eight minutes to get Dick’s and another eleven to finish with Jason. It could have been eight, but the man was too ticklish and too tall. She had to stand up on two boxes just too get the measurements of the two men.

“Soo, do you like working with Diana?” Dick said trying to break the ice. Noone have something since they arrived to the changing room, well except a few reprimanding words from the little girl with pink hair. 

Marinette finished taking the last measurement from Dick’s waist. She tried not to look at them in their eyes. The less attention she got, the better.

“I-it’s good. Miss P-prince is a kind boss.” She said as she wrote down the measurement on Diana’s notebook

 “How long have you been working with her?”This time it was Jason who asked.

Was this an interrogatory?

“N-not long. Three weeks I think.” 

“That’s good. Does she gives you a discount in the store?” The man with a few white hairs asked again.

“I-I don’t think so. We have never talk about discounts, but she lets me use the sewing machines to fix some oversized clothes and finish the embroidery. She also buys me lunch most of the time and doesn’t take it out of my paycheck. So I guess that’s better than a discount.” She kept her look on the notebook even though she finished writing down on it. 

Dick and Jason shared a look. The way that she said the part about the lunch was, sad and full of gratefulness. Both men look at the girl more carefully. She was thin, at the point that they could see the bones or her hands. Maybe they should avoid that topic.

“You said you put embroidery on your clothes. Are those like the ones that you have on your blouse?” Dick asked pointing at her.

She looked down her clothes. She was wearing an orange blouse with pretty blue patrons on the collar. 

Marinette gave a shy nod.

“Did you used a sewing machine?”

She shocked her head.

“No? Well, I’m impressed. This is a pretty good job. Do you think you can put something like that on my suit for the gala?” 

Marinette’s blood cold down and her heart almost stopped. The idea of disobeyed Miss Diana terrorized her. 

“I-I don’t think that Miss Diana would let me. She already has your suits figured out.” She passed to them the photos of the suit. They looked really formal, elegant, and expensive… and boring for Marinette’s taste. 

“In your opinion, what would you change about the suit. In the hypothetical case that Diana ask you to make some adjustments for the suit.” Dick asked her. 

“I don’t know if I should. I-I may get in a problem.”

“You won’t. That’s the beauty of the first amendment. Tell us your thoughts, Stephanie. It’s not like Rovin Rotten it’s gonna appear.”

Marinette didn’t understood the reference, but somehow it gave her the it gave it the valor to tell what was on her mind.

“I-if was unto me, I wouldn’t change the design of the suits, but rather the materials. Like for example for you uhm…” Marinette pointed at the tallest.

“Jason”

“Yes, Jason, Sorry. I would change the material to a more shining, like the leather jacket that you are wearing, but it’s not actually leather. It’s lighter. And you…”

“Richard, but call me Dick.”

“Right… W-well Dick, I’m t-thinking that you would look good with some metallic blue embroidery pattern on the lapel, and...and the pockets…. But I-I guess the original design is more proper for that kind of gala.“ She could feel how her face redded at the look of the two men.

“You know…” Dick said as he gave her a polite smile… “your ideas are pretty good. Maybe if we tell Diana about it, she could put ‘em on the suit.”

No, what if she gets mad? What if Miss Prince gets so mad at her that she decides to fire her?! How could she keep the miraculous box safe if she didn’t have money to sustain herself?!

“N-no. I-I don’t want to disrespect her. S-she worked so hard in those designs.” 

“Never be afraid to speak your mind if you think that you can improve something” Marinette’s blood cooled again. She quickly stood up and bowed. It was forced habit that she did every time she apologized.

“Hey, Diana. We were just takin’ with your talented girl. She has great ideas.” Jason said.

Diana crossed her arms and gave her a sneaky smile. “Is that so?”

Marinette wanted apologize, but before she could even open her mouth, Dick spoke.

“Yeah, she is talented. Like the ideas she has for our suits. I bet that you heard them?”

The woman nodded. 

“I did, and I think they are really good ideas. You have a lot of future in the fashion field so much that I want to talk to you about a great opportunity to improve your career. We can talk about it after  our guss are gone, which remind me did you finish taking their measurements?”

Marinette couldn't believe this. It was too good to be true. Maybe it was true, and miss Prince wanted to talk to her about something good, but there was also the chance that she wanted to be alone with her, so she could fire her in private and not in front of her clients. 

“Marinette.” She turned at the Diana and the other. Their faces seemed concerned. “You okay?”

She spaced out. She should stop doing that.

“Y-yes, I just got lost in translation. I finished taking their measurements.”

“If we are no longer needed, my sons and I will leave.” Bruce stepped up avoiding to look at the girl to not make her uncomfortable.

“Of course, we will have your suits for the first fit in by Friday.” She and Bruce shaked hands.

Marinette saw his two sons stand up and cme closer to her. Maybe, this was the last time that she would see them again.

“It was a pleasure to meet you Pinkie Pie.” He put his hand up waiting for a high five. “Pss, this is the part you high five me back.”

The girl shakingly high fived him.

“Hey, I want a high five too.” Dick put up his hand, and Marinette awkwardly high fived him.

“Dick, Jason we got to go. Alfred is making dinner.”His sons left the room while saying goodbye to Diana. Then Bruce turned to Marinette to shake her hand. “Miss Marinette it was a pleasure to meet you. I hope we will meet again.”

“L-likewise, Mister…”

“Bruce Wayne, but call me Bruce, Miss Wayne.”

Marinette opened her eyes while open. Bruce Wayne as the Bruce Wayne, and he knew her last name. 

“P-please, c-call me Marinette.” 

The man just smiled and left the room letting Diana and Marinette alone.

So the worst things that could happen today may happened at the end. She may lose her job and get sued by the Bruce Wayne for taking his last name, and lets not forget that she is using a fake ID. Scratch that, she is an immigrant. Marinettes has seen enough news to now that that country is in thin line with immigrants She was in soo many problems.

“Marinette,” The older woman took her purse. “What do you think if we go out for dinner?”

Well… Marinette didn’t expect that.

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Marinette couldn't say no to miss Prince. She was just too nervous to reduce the offer.

The restaurant was fancy and expensive. Only the beverage was worth more than three months of rent. The people there were dressed in fancy outfits from Versace to Oscar de la Renta; it made Marinette feel underdressed with her orange T-shirt and cheap jeans. 

“So, Marinette, you told me you are interested in the fashion field.” Miss prince said as the took a sip from her glass of wine. 

“Y-yes miss Prince. I do ever s-since I was a little girl.”

“And what do you plant to accomplish them?”

Marinette froze. What were her plans?

Months ago, she had a prosperous future. She commissioned big pop and rock stars like Jagged and Clara. She won many design competitions from Gabriel Agreste. She was building a name, but now, all her work and effort was worthless. She had to start all over again, but the difference now is that she didn't have the same motivation. Before Gotham, she did it because she has her parents supporting her. Today, she did it to hold to the little sense of normality in her life of chaos.

“I-I don’t know ma’am. Maybe I could start by designing clothes and maybe sell them on Etsy. I h-hadn’t have the time to think through it. Moving here was too time consuming.” The girl said as tried not to shiver. If Miss Prince was going to fire her, Marinette hoped that she did it quickly, so she didn’t have to live with this fear any longer.

Miss Diana put her glass down. “Marinette I’m am gonna be sincere to you. You have talent and dedication. Those two qualities can get you somewhere good, but that can bring you to the glory, to your golden dream is passion. And by Arthemis’ sake, you have more passion than a hundred people together. I have seen how you enjoy creating new clothes and fixing them like if it was a way to get away from everything. That’s why I want you, if you allow me, to support you to become a fashion designer.

Okay… okay.... That took Marinette by surprise. She expected miss Prince to fire her for over speak, not to offer her support. 

“I-I.. Y-you want to help me?”

Diana smiled. “Of course, in fact, I have a proposition to you.” 

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Marinette locked the door of her apartment, put her key pack at her purse, and started happy dancing.

Diana (she insisted to be called by her first name) told her that after the Wayne’s gala she was going to close the boutique for three weeks. While this made Marinette sad because she would have to live from her saving can, what Diana told her next made her really happy. Diana offered her to work with her not for her. 

Here was the deal, for the next three week after the gala, Marinette would be working on her usual tasks but at her apartment while she attended a course about fashion design in Gotham University, fully paid by Diana. At the beginning, Marinette refused telling Diana that she felt that she would be abusing her kindness, but the older woman said that she saw this as an investment. Paying for her education was an investment so Diana and she would sell her clothes on her store under the girl’s name. They both would win. Marinette gets an education, and Diana a new brand for her boutique.

For Marinette this was like a dream come true. In fact, this was the best thing that has happened to her since… well since she defeated Hawkmoth. She will be studying in one of the most prestigious schools of fashion in the world, and if everything goes well, she will sell her clothes at Diana’s boutique, which is one of the most prestigious boutiques in the US.

“I still cannot believe it, Tikki!” Marinette said to the goddess, “this feels like a dream come true!”

The Kwami giggled, “I’m so proud of you Marinette! You deserve this!”

After putting her pajamas, Marinette let her body fell on her hard bed. She smiled like in a way that she hasn’t in the last month. “Tikki, please tell me that this is not a dream.”

The Kwami turned off the light and put a blanket over her body. “You aren’t dreaming, but you should do it soon. Diana wants to hear your ideas for the suits tomorrow morning.”

Marinette closed her eyes while she smiled. For the first time in a long time, she felt that she could just fall asleep and worry about nothing.

“Hey, Tikki?”

“Yes, Marinette?” The kwami said as she lay beside her hodder’s shoulder.

“Thank you for everything.” 

The kwami gave her a kiss on her cheek. “You don’t have to thank me for everything. You deserve the best.”

Eventhught her apartment was cold, sink in the kitchen dropped all night, and her neighbors screamed like if they wanted to kill each other, Marinette felt more at peace for the first time in ages… 

Sadly this wouldn’t last long.

@cyborgcandy 

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[kelelamentia]

Respect is Always in Style.

Respect is Always in Style.

Hi @ozmav have fun.

Marinette’s Room in Paris:

“Oh Tikki, I can’t believe they’re coming to Paris just to visit me!”

Marinette was fluttering about her room, double checking that everything was in its place.  Tikki was the eye of Marinette’s storm.

“I can Marinette, you’re such a wonderful girl, of course they want to see you.”

Tikki then turned sly.

“Damian especially seemed motivated.”

“Tikki!  It’s not like that!”

“But, you want it to be.”

“Maybe…” Marinette trailed off.

The Wayne family, Damian mostly, had started to miss the petite designer; but by a strange twist of fate (*cough*Alfred*cough*) Bruce ended up having some business to conduct in Paris.  When Marinette heard about this and immediately invited all of them to and come taste test her family’s baked goods.

“Alright everything is setup here and all the samples are ready down stairs, now all that’s left to do is wait for Damian.” Marinette breathed.

“And his family, Marinette.”

“Yes, of course his family, I wouldn’t forget about them Tikki.” Marinette amended clearly more focused on Damian’s arrival.

*Ring*

The Bakery’s front bell rang and Marinette’s mother called.

“Marinette dear, your visitors have arrived!”

“Be right down Mama.”

Turning to Marinette and asked Tikki.

“Try and find a good hiding spot Tikki, these guys are a lot smarter than my classmates.”

“That’s not a hard thing to achieve Marinette.”

Tikkis then disappeared, allowing Marinette to go down stairs.

 Front of Dupain-Cheng Bakery:

“Hello my name is Sabine Cheng and this is my husband Tom Dupain, we’re very excited to have you here.” Sabine introduced, gesturing to herself and her towering husband.

“It’s great to meet the family that inspires our daughter!” Tom welcomed.

The Wayne family, plus Alfred, smiled at the visually polar opposite duo.

“Thank you for having us Mrs.Cheng.” Bruce started.

“None of that Mrs.Cheng, call me Sabine.”

“And call me Tom.”

“As long as you call me Bruce, this is Alfred Pennyworth and these are my sons Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian.” Bruce presented, motioning to each person.

Marinette call into the room just as Bruce finished.

“Damian, I’m so happy to see you, I missed you!” Marinette exuberantly greeted.

“Hello Marinette, I’m happy to see you too and I missed you as well; you are looking beautiful today.” Damian smiled at Marinette; she blushed at the compliment and fiddled with her fingers.  They continued to stare at each other until Dick ruined the moment.

“What about us Marinette, didn’t you miss us” He pouted.

Marinette jolted in horror at the thought that she just insulted Damian’s family and rushed to correct it.

“Of course I missed you guys too! Hi Dick, Jason, Tim, Bruce, Alfred, I hope the flight wasn’t too bad.”

The boys chuckled at Marinette trying to reassure them that they were important too.

“Please relax Ms.Marinette, Master Dick was only teasing you, we know you missed us.” Alfred said defusing Marinette.

“Yeah squirt, we know you missed us; you just missed Damian more!” Jason ribbed.

Marinette meeped and buried her face in her hands, trying and failing to hide her bright red blush. Damian was also blushing at the thought of being the one Marinette missed the most. Sabine hated to draw the attention away from Marinette and her sweet heart, but these gentlemen were here to help as well.

“Everyone if you could please follow me to the kitchen we can get the taste test under way.”

“Thank you for trusting us for this Mrs.Sabine, Mr.Tom.  I know baking can be such a touchy thing.” Alfred thanked.

“Don’t you worry we always enjoy feeding people, it’s what we do.” Tom pledged.

“And it won’t due to have people scrawny and under fed.

Sabine directed her attention to Tim.

“You especially young man; are far too skinny, when was the last time you ate.”

“I had coffee this morning.” Tim winced at Alfred sharp look.

“Coffee is not a meal mister; now, you will follow me, you will sit and you will eat.  Do you understand?”

“Yes ma’am.” Tim was hunched over following Sabine to the kitchen, leading a snickering Dick and Jason, along with a quiet Damian and Marinette; both of which were smiling at each other.  Leaving Alfred, Bruce and Tom together at the front.

“You have a lively group there Bruce.” Tom praised.

“I know Tom; I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”

“It would certainly be a very empty household without Master Bruce.”

“I know the feeling, I’m not sure how I could function without hearing Marinette scrambling around her room or the her sewing machine running, and the occasional scream of frustrated designer’s block.”

“I have a hard time imagining Marinette screaming in frustration, she’s always calm when I see her, flustered when teased, but mostly calm.” Bruce admitted.

“That’s because of your youngest Bruce.”

“Could you please explain Mr. Tom?” Alfred requested.

“Damian makes Marinette feel calm and confident, even when he’s not here.  He has showed her that she can be strong, with or without the majority behind her.  He just makes her so happy and I can’t thank him, and all of you, enough for that.”

Something in Tom’s spiel caught Bruce’s attention.

“The majority?”

Tom winced.

“Caught that did you?

Bruce and Alfred nodded.

“I can’t tell you much, because I’m sure Marinette would want to tell you herself, but there is an issue at school.  It involves a liar, her classmates not listening to reason, and a teacher not wanting to act like a proper authority figure and step in because ‘It’s good for the children to work it out for themselves’.  Needless to say it has caused a lot of stress for Marinette.”

“I believe that’s more than enough information Mr. Tom, thank you for trusting us.” Alfred recognized, Bruce agreed.

“That’s enough heavy stuff; let’s go to the kitchen before all the food is gone.” Tom redirected, placing a hand on each mans should, guiding them to the kitchen.

 Kitchen:

Everyone was gathered around a buffet of treats, trying this and that, while answering Tom and Sabine’s questions:

“How’s the taste?”

“How’s the texture?”

“Do you think it needs something?”

And so on and so forth, until all the baked goods were gone and everyone was full.

“That was simply wonderful Mrs. Cheng, I must have your chocolate-banana pie recipe.”

“We’ll see Alfred; now why don’t move to the living room to digest all this.”

“Great idea my dear, I’ll clean up and you charm the guests.” Tom told his wife.

“Too late, we were already charmed by your daughter and the food.” Damian bluntly explained, triggering Marinette to blush.  

“Well, Marinette charmed Damian first, then us, the food was a bonus.” Tim needed to add.

“You have a sweet girl here, can’t expect anything less from a bakery, what’s your recipe?  Sugar, spice, and everything nice?” Dick joked.

Sabine laughed at Tim and Dick.

“I can’t just give away that secret recipe Dick, now follow me and I’ll show boys the living room. Marinette, why don’t you show them outfits you fashioned after Gotham’s Heroes.”

“Mama!  Don’t tell them I did that!”

“Why not dear?  You seemed so proud when you showed us.”

“Because I don’t want them to think I’m insulting their city’s Heroes Mama!”

“Don’t worry too much about that cupcake, it takes a lot to insult those guys with just an outfit.” Jason encouraged.

“You just want to make me blush.”

“Yeah, that too.”

With that Marinette made her way upstairs and the boys were lead to the living room.

 Marinette’s room:

“I can’t believe Mama did that Tikki.” Marinette whispered to the kwami, as got changed into the first outfit.

“I can Marinette; she wants you to show off all your hard work.”

Marinette gave an embarrassed grumble as she putting on the first outfit and made her way down stairs.

 Living room at the same time:

Alfred, Bruce and the boys were lead into a cozy room and sat down.  Damian did so in a daze, having been in such a state since Sabine mentioned “Gotham Hero themed Outfits”; which meant Marinette had a Robin outfit she would be wearing...in front of him, Damian wasn’t sure he could handle that level of cuteness.  Marinette’s voice carried to them as she called.

“Going to go oldest to youngest, is that alright?”

“That’s fine Mari-Dear.” Sabine responded.

Marinette made her way to the centre of the group, in the Batman inspired outfit.

“I thought something simple would be best for Batman.”

The outfit was a business suit that had a black jacket and dress pants, with a light gray blouse underneath and black dress shoes, with her hair in a bun.  The thing with the jacket is that was a bit longer than a normal suit jacket and the edges looked like Batman’s cape.  Marinette had also made her own Batman pin to place on the lapel of the suit jacket.

Bruce commented first.

“You look very professional Marinette; you could wear that to any business meeting.”

“And be the envy of everyone attending.” Damian praised braking out of this light shock.

“That is a brilliant hat tip to Batman, Ms. Marinette.”

“Alfred’s right, you look good Marinette.” Tim added.

“You really did the Dark Knight proud with this.” Dick applauded.

“Yeah, it’s formal and stiff like him.”

“Jason…” Bruce sighed.

Marinette giggled encouraged by the positive feedback.

“I’ll go get the next one.” Marinette said before going back upstairs.

Marinette returned quickly.

“I felt the Nightwing one should be a little more playful.”

Marinette was wearing some black biker shorts; that went half way down her thighs, with a sheer blue skirt that went to her knees over it, along with a fitted black tank top; that a pair of blue wings stitched into the back.  She dawned a pair of blue fingerless gloves of varying length, the one on her right hand went up half way up between her elbow and her should, and the one on her left hand only went half way to her elbow.  On Marinette’s feet she wore white running shoes with blue laces, with no socks visible, a blue and black choker around her neck, and her hair was pulled into a pony tail.

Damian was frozen at the sight of Marinette’s figure, leaving his family to cover for him until he could recover.

“WHOA!” Dick shouted leaping out of his seat smiling.

“That is very impressive Marinette.”

“Indeed Master Bruce, you captured Nightwing’s essence Ms. Marinette.”

Tim and Jason were trying to get Damian to snap out of it; they managed by jabbing Damian in the side when no-one was looking.

“You look like spectacular Marinette, Nightwing would be jealous of how well you pull that off.” Damian said trying to keep his thoughts about her figure to himself.

“You look great Marinette; you definitely nailed the playful aspect.” Tim nodded.

“Can’t say much else other than you look good Sunshine, you’re doing Red Hood next right?” Jason asked.

“Yes Jason, Red Hood is next.” Marinette replied before heading up stairs.

Again Marinette returned quickly wearing the Red Hood themed outfit.

“I tried to go with the tough look.”

This outfit consisted of a pair of gray skinny jeans, a black shirt with the words “RED HOOD” written across it in red; the shirt also showed a small strip of Marinette’s stomach, a cropped brown leather jacket, and a pair of black combat boots with red buckles.  Her hair was loose, only to be pulled back by a red bandana, Marinette also put on a little bit of red lip-stick.

*Whistle*

“Master Jason!  That was inappropriate!”

“Sorry Alfred; couldn’t help myself.”

“She does look good, glad to see she can pull off what Red Hood can’t.” Tim snickered, privately shooting Jason a look.

“She’s an adorable bad*ss!”

“Dick!” Bruce scolded.

“Young man, I will not have that kind of language in my house!”

“Sorry Sabine…”

As this was happening Damian couldn’t move or respond, his eyes bouncing back and forth between Marinette attractive red lips and the bit of skin her shirt showed.  Damian was trying to force himself to look at Marinette’s eyes, reminding himself that he was a gentleman NOT a pervert, but he never makes it past her lips.

Marinette was silently, but happily, freaking out as she went upstairs to change again, only to come down again wearing the Red Robin outfit.

“Red Robin I felt needed to be a little classy.”

This outfit was made up of a red pleated skirt; each pleat made to look like one of the feathers of Red Robins cape, a short sleeve yellow blouse, and a black scarf.  On her feet was a pair of black ballet flats, on her wrists were some black beaded bracelets, and her hair was in a loose side braid.

“How cute Marinette.” Dick started.

“Simple, yet sweet, excellent choice Marinette.” Bruce applauded.

“Can I take a picture of this Marinette? I need to save this.”

“Sure Tim, if that’s what you want.”

“You mean we could have been taking pictures?  Why did no-one tell me?” Dick lamented.

Sabine came to the rescue.

“Don’t worry dears; I have pictures of all the outfits, if you would like them.”

“You bet we would ma’am.”

“Mama! Jason!”

As Marinette was blushing brightly at her mom; she was swaying back and forth, now pleated skirts can be very…swishy and Marinette’s was no exception.  This movement was causing Damian eyes to follow the movement of her skirt…and hips.  Thankfully the only one to notice his behavior was Alfred; who gave him a small slap upside the head to get him focused again.

Marinette turned to Damian.

“Damian you haven’t said anything about this outfit or the last one, was there something you didn’t like?”

“No Marinette, both outfits are magnificent; you show masterful skills.  I was just blown away by your beauty.”  Damian managed to save and be smooth at the same time.

“Thank you Damian; that means so much to me that you think that way.”

Marinette scrambled up the stairs for the last outfit, coming down again Marinette was wearing a look of pride.

“This one is actually my favourite.”

The Robin outfit was a red dress with yellow trim around the skirt and three yellow buttons at the collar bone.  Marinette was also wearing a cropped jacket again; with three quarter sleeves and a hood, that was black on the outside and yellow on the inside.  Around her waist was a yellow hip pouch, on her feet were green ankle boots, her wrists had green bands on them, and her hair was tied up in her usual twin tails, with green ribbons.

“Favorite one, huh?” Jason smirked.

“So she said Jason.” Tim grinned.

Marinette tilted her head not understanding, Bruce to the rescue.

“We all have our favorite heroes; these two just have some opinions on Robin.”

“And mine is that Robin is great and would LOVE you in that.” Dick injected.

“Yes, I believe he would Master Dick.”

Damian could no longer function, HE had inspired her favorite outfit, a really cute outfit, that high-lighted all her beauty for them to see, for Damian to see.  Sabine saved Damian from having to comment.

“I’m thrilled you all think so fondly of my daughter and her skills.” Sabine said with a heart-warming smile, she was about to continue when Tom came in.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but Sabine could you come help me the store is getting busy.”

“Certainly Tom, Marinette why don’t you show your guest the roof top garden.”

“Sure Mama.”

 Roof top garden:

“This very well maintained Marinette.” Bruce admired all the blooming flowers as the boys poked around the roof.

“You certainly made the most of such a small space Ms. Marinette.”

“Thank you, I come out here to relax and think.”

“That’s a good place to have Marinette.” Bruce was cut-off and everyone’s attention was caught.

*Alarm sounds*

“What is that?” Tim asked look at Marinette as she stared of into the distance.

“That’s an Akuma Alarm.”

This worried the boys.

“What’s an Akuma? And why does it need an alarm?” Bruce questioned, standing straighter, bring Marinette’s attention to himself.

“You know how Gotham has its villains?  Paris has one too, his name is Hawkmoth.”

“Paris has a villain!? Why didn’t you say anything Marinette?”  Damian walked over to her and grabbed her hand.

“I didn’t want you to worry Damian.”

“What exactly does Hawkmoth do?”  Bruce asked trying to get Marinette to continue.

“He takes advantage of people who are feeling their lowest, promising them power and revenge if they do something for him in return.”

“How does take advantage of them and what does he want?”

“Hawkmoth sends out his demonic butterflies to possess and transform a person into something completely different.  What he wants is the Ladybug Earrings and the Black cat ring.”

Bruce was about to ask another question when a loud smash came from the distance.

“I need to go check on something at the school!  Why don’t you go back inside and I’ll catch up with when I get back!”

“Marinette!  It’s clearly too dangerous to go out there, whatever is at the school can wait!”  Damian exclaimed, still holding her hand.

Marinette looked to and fro at the Wayne family, realizing she wouldn’t any argument with them and the destructive sounds were just getting louder, she decided to take a large risk.

“Please keep this a secret.”

The all, but Alfred looked confused.

“Tikki!” Marinette shouted to the roof hatch.

“Let’s go Marinette!” Tikki cried, flying from her hiding spot, she too knew Marinette wouldn’t have won arguing with these guys.

“What is that?!” Damian bellowed tugging on Marinette’s hand.

“Tikki spots on!”

A large flash of light engulfed Marinette and a force push Damian away.  After the light died down what the Wayne family saw was Marinette wearing a skin tight red suit with black spot and a mask, swinging an object in her hand (They wouldn’t know that was a yo-yo).

“I’m so sorry about this; I’ll be back as fast as possible.”  Marinette told them before swinging away.

The Wayne’s just stared as she swung towards the Akuma.

“So…Demon Spawns girlfriend is a hero.”

“So it seems Master Jason. Might I suggest suiting up and joining her?”

“What makes you think we brought our suits Alfred?”

“Really Master Bruce?” Alfred asked raising his eyebrow, before turning to walk back down stairs.

“Now I don’t believe Ms. Marinette will mind if you use her room to change, I will cover for all of you if Ms. Marinette’s parents ask.”

“Right, let’s hurry up, we don’t know if Marinette is by herself or not.”

Damian was changed and swinging in record time, with his family not too far behind him.  What they arrived to was Marinette using her yo-yo as a spinning shield, sheltering civilians, as a giant something threw spikes at her.  Damian moved into action quickly, throwing smoke bomb in its face, triggering its eyes to water and unable to see.   This allowed the civilians to get away and drew Marinette’s attention to Damian and his now arriving family.

“Robin? Batman? Nightwing? Red Hood? Red Robin? What in the world are you doing in Paris?”

“You invited us.” Damian said; an eye for an eye after all.

“What? No I didn’t…no.” Her eyes widened in realization.

“Yes, now what is the situation?” Came Batman’s rough voice.

“I’m Ladybug and that is an Akuma caused by the fact he lost his job.”

“How do we get him back to normal?” Nightwing inquired.

“We find the Akumatized/Possessed object and break it; that will release a butterfly for me to purify.”

“Do you know where the evil butterfly is?” Red Robin probed.

“I believe it’s in his helmet, but I can’t get it and protect from his spikes at the same time.”

“Don’t you have someone to help you?” Robin queried.

“I’m supposed to.” Ladybug muttered.

“What can you do?” Batman needed to know.

“I can purify the Akuma and cast Lucky Charm.”

“What does Lucky Charm do exactly?”

“It gives me what I need to defeat the Akuma Batman.”

“Cast it.”

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug tossed her yo-yo in the air, the object that came down was…

“A rubber ducky?!  How the h*ll is a ladybug themed rubber help with the Akuma?!”  Red Hood shouted.

“I told you it gives me what I need not what I want.”  Ladybug said looking at her surroundings.

“I have an idea and I need you guys to listen.”

The Batfam nodded.

*One convoluted, but effective plan later*

“Bye-bye butterfly.”

Watching Ladybug wave goodbye to the white butterfly Red Robin couldn’t help but reflect.

“Did we real save the day with a rubber ducky?

Robin walked over to Ladybug, observing all the damage around them.

“This is a normal thing for Paris?  How does it recover?”

“Like this Robin, Miraculous Ladybug!” Ladybug cried tossing the rubber ducky in the air.  It exploded into thousands of sparkly pink ladybugs, swarming over everything, removing all damage and injuries.

“Whoa…” Red Hood said in awe.

“We could really use something like this for Gotham.” Nightwing commented as he surveyed everything.

Batman on the other hand wanted an answer for something brought up earlier.

“Ladybug, you mentioned you were ‘supposed to’ have a partner.”

Ladybug sighed.

“You see…” She was cut off.

“Milady!”

“Oh no.” Ladybug covered her eyes briefly and then looked at the leather cat boy.

“Chat! You’re late, again! You even missed it completely this time! Why?!”

Chat hesitated, showing he didn’t have a good reason.

“Chat this getting ridiculous.”

“It doesn’t matter Bug-a-boo, what matters is that were here together now.  And hey, since the Akuma is defeated we can go on a date!”

“No Chat, I don’t want to go on a date with you.  I don’t like you like that and I’m currently running out of time.”

“Then go recharge and come back Love-bug and then we can go on a date.”

“I just said no Chat; I don’t want to date you!”

“Yes you do Milady; you just don’t know it yet.”

Chat reached out and trying to quickly snatch Ladybug’s arm, only to be snagged by the back of his collar and hauled up into the air by Red Hood.

“Hey punk! She said no and you better respect that; unless you want to be nothing but a smear on the pavement.”

“You’re R-Red Hood! What are you doing in Paris!?”

“What?  Can’t a guy and his family visit Paris?”

“F-Family.” Chat stuttered, slowly turning his head; seeing the entire Bat-family, the very angry Bat-family.

“THIS is your partner Ladybug?” Robin snarled; walking up beside her, hearing a beeping noise as he got close.

“Yes…” Ladybug sighed, resigned to the fact.  Amore frantic beeping got her attention.

“I’m sorry, I have to go or else I’ll de-transform right here.”

“Go ahead Polk-a-dots, we’ll have a nice talk with BratCat.”

“My name is Chat-Noir!” he yelled starting to struggle in Red Hood’s grip, getting nowhere.

“Fine, BratChat.”

Ladybug looked at Batman for conformation, getting a nod, she then turn to Robin and mouthed ‘Later’. Robin gave a smile in her direction and watched her swing off.  When she was out of site he turned to her partner with h*ll burning in his eyes, the fire was burning so brightly you could see it through his mask.  Chat tried to curl-up into a ball at the look, which look silly since he was still dangling in Red Hoods grip.

“You are a disgusting piece of human garbage.” Robin insulted.

“What! No I’m not!”

“Yes you are, you came so late to a battle you actually missed it.  Making Ladybug do all the work.”

“I had to do stuff in my civilian life!” Chat tried to defend himself from Robin’s glare, a Bat-glare in the making.  Batman took a single step toward Chat, causing him to look at Batman.

“Do you think Ladybug didn’t have something going on her civilian life at the time?  Or do you believe that she doesn’t have a life outside that mask…and you.”

“I-I-I…” Chat couldn’t come up with anything to refute what Batman said.

“Robin’s right, you are human garbage.” Red Robin sneered in disgust; Nightwing wrinkled his nose in agreement.

“Don’t forget guys; after making Ladybug do all the work, BratChat here thinks it is okay to hit on her even after she gave a very firm no.”  Red Hood reminded, shaking Chat hard in his grip.

“You don’t understand! She’s supposed to love me!  I deserve her!”

That statement made Robin lose his temper.  He grabbed Chat by the front of his clothes and slammed him on the ground; pulling Chat out of Red Hoods hands, and screamed in his face.

“How dare insinuate that she is something to be owned!  She is a person, a human being, with thoughts feelings and opinions!  Just because you are her partner, does not mean you are ENTITLED to her!”

The rest of the Bat-family looked at the pinned cat boy in disgust; this is what Ladybug to work with constantly?

“Chat Noir,” Batman began “You have proven not to be a responsible hero, so I will be leaving Ladybug contact information for the league for her to call upon when she needs help.”

“But we work with magic!”

“You think there aren’t magic users in the league you entitled BratChat?” Nightwing asked.

“B-But, being a hero is supposed to be fun!”

Red Hood punched the ground besides Chats head; leaving a dent, nearly snarling at what Chat said.

“Being a hero is not fun, its work!  That attitude is going to get someone killed and it’s mostly going to be Ladybug.”

Chat was now too afraid to move or speak; Robin had him pinned, Red Hood had his hand buried beside his head, and the other three were looking like they wanted to skin him. They sat in silence before Batman spoke.

“Robin, Red Hood, let him go; we have other places to be.”

The Bat-Family was off and swinging, leaving a shaken Chat Noir in their wake.

 Marinette’s Rooftop:

The Bat-family landed on the roof, barring witness to a confused Marinette, a calm Alfred, and an amused floating red being.

“How are you so calm Alfred!?”

“I’ve seen many things in my time Ms. Marinette.”

Damian ran over to Marinette and pulled her into a tight hug.

“Marinette you’re okay!”

Marinette returned the hug full force.

“I’m fine Damian; are you okay?”

“You know; before you two get too far, we might want to head inside before we’re seen.”  Bruce interjected.

Damian and Marinette blushed hard, as everyone around them laughed.

 Marinette’s room:

“And that’s my whole situation with Chat and Hawkmoth.” Marinette finished near tears, sitting next to Damian; who had his arm draped across her shoulders and holding her close, for her comfort.  

“That is a terrible problem you have found yourself cornered with Marinette.  I’m going to give you a list of contacts for the magic users in the league; this won’t solve everything, but should make it easier on you when you need help.”

“Thank you Bruce, that means the world to me.”

They sat in quiet as Marinette got her emotions under control.  As Marinette calmed down, she had a realization; making her turn a bright red and bury her face in her hands.

“Marinette want’s the matter!?” Damien asked concerned for the sweet girl, as the other were posed; ready to comfort her.  Marinette mumbled into her hands.

“What was that?” Tim questioned, Marinette then full on freaked out.

“The outfits! You saw the outfits, I showed you the outfits, I wore the outfits in front of you!”

There a pause, and then everyone just cracked up laughing.

“That’s the problem?!” Tim inquired, wiping tears from his eyes.

“Spots, we already told you we love them and we meant it.” Jason reassured between snickers.

“Yeah, you should have seen Damian’s face at some of them, I wish I took pictures.” Dick laughed.

Damian, while embarrassed by his brothers; looked to comfort the wonderful girl beside him.

“Marinette all those outfits you made are fantastic, you should be proud of all your hard work.”

“Indeed Ms. Marinette, but we should make our way back down stairs.  Mrs. Sabine and Mr. Tom will be wondering where we are soon.”

“Good point Alfred, come on boys.”  Bruce agreed getting and leaving, Dick, Jason and Tim following.  Damian stayed behind.

“We’ll join you in a moment father; I wish to speak to Marinette.”

Bruce nodded head and left the two alone.  Alfred went last, carrying Tikki and speaking in hushed tones.  As the door closed, Damian and Marinette looked at each other.

“What did you want to talk about Damian?

Damian squared his shoulders and took a deep breath.

“Marinette you are beautiful, smart and wonderful girl.  You bring light and joy into my life; will you do me the honor of going out on a date with me?  A proper date?”

Marinette was wide eyed and stunned; at her lack of response Damian rushed to reassure her.

“It’s alright if you don’t want to, after BratChat I wouldn’t blame you.”

“No wait Damian I would love to go on a date with you!”

“Really? Even after him?”

“You’re different from Chat Damian, you’ve treated me like a person since the moment you met me.  You always considered my thoughts and feels with whatever you do and you listen to my opinion; even when you don’t always agree with it.  Going out with you would be a pleasure.”

“I’m a luck man, to have you say yes Marinette.  Would like to go to a movie tomorrow?  My Family and I are here for a few more days.”

“A movie sounds great Damian, but…” Marinette trailed off.

“But what?”

“I might need to run off because of an Akuma attack.”

“That is perfectly fine Marinette, I’ll be sure to come prepared.”

Marinette stared at Damian in shock.

“R-Really?”

“Of course Marinette, I will never willing let you face danger alone; not if I have the choice.”

“Damian…” Marinette whispered.

The two were slowly coming together, until their lips just brush one another’s.  They pulled away smiling and Damian grab Marinette’s hand leading her back down stairs and to their families.

“Tomorrow is looking to be a wonderful day Marinette.”

“I was thinking the exact same thing Damian.”

End.

That was Respect is Always in style.

Also

Extra:

Back at their hotel, Dick shouted in excitement.

“She has a magical girl transformation!”

[shannonbussberg]

Shannon Marie Bussberg is a psychopath who caused me great harm in many ways. I'm writing this as an explanation to warn off any who come in contact with her. I'm not trying to exact vengeance on her. The only thing I want from her is the money that she stole from me. A sincere and deep apology, of course, would be nice, but she would never do that. The first part of the writing below largely comprises something that I sent to Shannon recently, and the rest is addressed to you, the reader. Please keep an open mind.

***

(Note: I sent an earlier version of this writing to Shannon, hoping that she would make restitution. She said that she wouldn't, and that she came here to live with me to help me with my depression. Complete BS. Shouldered no blame at all.

Shannon,

As you know, you stole, through forgeries, all the money I had, and you put me in deep shit, not to mention throwing me into tons of debt from all the credit cards you took out in my name. I was in trouble with the IRS over the documents you forged, my credit was nonexistent, and I was psychologically destroyed. You put me in a space that I would never trust anyone ever again. You know all that you did to me, and you never tried anything to make it right.

Although you cost me so, so much pain and suffering, I’m willing to let most of that go financially. But I want recompense for the money you stole and the inflation on that money. Also the damage caused to my teeth when I was unable to afford repairs because of your thefts. Steve might lend you the money--he helped you out financially when you got in trouble for taking money from credit cards under my sister's name. So maybe he'll do that for you now.

(You know, you used to tell me that you're going to Hell. I of course assumed that you were exaggerating. Now I wonder what all other things you're done. An aside: you used to tell me that you would never pay back your student loans, and that as a result you'd have to go to school periodically for the rest of your life to avoid paying the loans back. That did bother me, because it basically meant that you'd be stealing from other students in the future. More recently I saw that you'd somehow got a master's degree. That seemed strange, since you're not a good student--having me do as much as your school and work stuff for you as possible when you were here. So I assumed that you got the degree from online courses, as part of your loan payback avoidance plan. Sure enough I see that your school has optional online coursework.)

If you don’t try to make things right, here’s what I will do. First off, I’ll tell the truth to your whole family. (It was so horrible to have to listen to your mother try to “explain” to me that you were living with me in order to try to “help” me--a lie you told your parents in order to cover the long period while you were not working, while living on the stolen money. Apparently you told her that you were my caretaker of some sort. I'm definitely going to set her straight on that.) My story will be a complete one, and you know that I don't lie. Plus I have *tons* of documents to back me up—everything from police and post office documents, to the forensic document examination report, to copies of the actual documents that you forged. (Plus I became something of a document examiner myself, so that people could see with their own eyes that you’re a forger. For example, doing your school years, you changed the way you form a particular letter--for example, in the forged signature for my last name--in a way that is nearly completely unique in this day and age. And the documents you created have all the hallmarks that document examiners know about forgeries.)

But I will use the internet as well. Social media of all kinds, of course. Forums, relevant sites. Anyplace I can find, with, as before, documents that back me up. People need to know who they’re dealing with in their lives.

***

To the reader: Shannon Marie Bussberg and I live in different states, and met online through a kinky match site. For a long while, we communicated with email and text. Then she told me that she was entering summer school at a prestigious university near me. This was a total lie, as I later learned from them when I was contacting them for writing samples for the document examiner. She ended up living at my place while she pretended to go to school. Then she stayed here with me after school supposedly ended for the term, and lived here for years, meanwhile stealing everything I had (except for a half ownership in the family house). She worked for a little while, but soon stopped, preferring to bleed me while she destroyed me. I loved her, which was a huge misjudgment on my part. In my defense, she hid her lies very well; she is a very good psychopath, and I never noticed any lies while she was here. After she used up all of my money and more, she stole from my sister, who was not in love and less gullible and vulnerable than I. That put the police on her tail, and Shannon, seeing a bleak future ahead for herself if she stayed, went back to Indiana. She, no doubt hoping that everything would blow over and she'd be able to return to continue parasitizing me further, perhaps taking the house (she had wanted to marry me, and I suspect that was the house was her objective for that). I truly thought she was innocent, for way too long. But since she was now back in Indiana and no longer had access to my mail (though she wanted me to send my mail to her, for her to "sort"), a letter from the IRS, telling me about taxes that I knew I didn't owe, was shocking. I still thought that, somehow, she was innocent, but before long I realized the truth. Looking back, I know that she only came to live with me for two reasons: my trusting vulnerability and her unusual sexual proclivities. She never loved me. The bottom line, for readers that encounter her, is that Shannon is a psychopath, is a very convincing liar, and neither looks nor acts like a psychopath. You should skip first impressions, and observe her for a while. I'm particularly concerned for her son, and the effect her behavior has on him.

On to my tidbits directed to Shannon.

⦁ 00, which was our code for a particular form of sex practice. I'm certain that's the main reason that you came to this city. The practice was disgusting and dangerous for me. And you should know that I’ve suffered permanent serious physical damage because of it. Maybe I should describe it in detail, but I'd truly like to avoid sharing it in public if at all possible, even though it gives a great insight into your evil. I'll probably wait for a little while to see whether you're going to make things right, and if you don't, give a more full account. There’s so much related info to tell people, such as the time you tried to drown me in the bathtub. Keep in mind, Shannon, that the story makes you look far worse than me.

⦁ You told the police—TWICE—that I sexually abused you. The irony, of course, is that our roles were exactly reversed. It’s interesting that, when I told the detective that I wanted to press charges against you, he predicted, matter-of-factly, that you would make that claim against me. At the time I didn’t believe him, but he was right. By his statement I guess that many women lie a lot about such things when claims are made against them.

⦁ When you stole the car (yes, OF COURSE I have documents about that as well—and I talked to the prosecutor later), you left a lot of my CDs in there. Then, when I got furious with law enforcement and the judicial system for picking on my poor, innocent (sarcasm), girlfriend, I persuaded you to go to your home state with me so that I could try to straighten things out for you. I don’t know why you agreed to go there, because of course you wouldn’t let me talk to the prosecutor and thereby learn the truth. More important these days is that you wouldn’t “permit” me to go to the police to pick up the CDs from the car, obviously because you were afraid of hearing the truth from them. The result is that I not only didn’t get the CDs, but I didn’t even remember all of the artists and titles, so that I couldn’t replace them. Of course, that's just one of many messes you left behind for me to try to straighten up, such as the reader you stole from the library, the tons of library fines over books you stole, all the services you secretly attached to my landline, and the bill that you ran up on the cell phone that was under my name but that you were the one that used.

⦁ When you decided to screw me over, you knew that any letters and such sent to my address increased your chance of being discovered. So you went to a nearby town's post office, and opened a post office box there. You even added my dead mother's name to the box. I still have the forged federal application in your handwriting.

⦁ One of the writings you left behind was a letter to my money fund, telling them to make you the beneficiary if I die. You sucked up my money so fast and thoroughly that you never had an opportunity to actually send it in, but of course I still have it, with your handwriting. But the take-home message is that you were hoping for my death. Or maybe planning it? If you had played it straightforwardly, you could have just asked me to write it myself.  Back in those innocent days, I would have done it for you eagerly.

⦁ When you knew that time was running out between you and the police because you also stole from my sister, you prepared, behind my back, for your departure. You hid all kinds of your stuff in the attic behind the costumes you and I had gathered. That’s how I got so many writing samples for the document examiner to use. Previously I had written to your former employers for any scraps. Treasure trove, afterward.

⦁ When you left, we stayed in contact for a while, before I knew the full truth of what you had done. You asked me to mail your sewing machine to you, while you encouraged me to drink a lot of vodka so I’d finish the task. And you even had me send you money for food. You used me like a parasite does, knowing full well that I was going to have to go through total financial hell in the near future. What kind of human being does that to someone else? A psychopath.

⦁ I noticed that you were looking for a car right after you left. Which is really, really wrong, because I had no car at this point and you left me with no money for a car of my own. Which makes me wonder: there was a lot of money that we could have used to buy a car before, but instead you insisted on continually getting rental cars (supposedly paid for by your father, but really paid out of the money you stole from me). Why did you do that? Buying a car outright would have made my money last longer, so this makes no sense, even for a psychopath. Is it because it would be more obvious that I alone was paying for the car for the both of us?

⦁ I emailed with your former roommate or friend (was her name Elizabeth?—I can’t exactly remember, although I can dig it up if necessary). She said that you were the most deceptive person she’d ever met. I will give you that—you certainly don’t have the *appearance* of a psychopath, shy and quiet acting and all.

⦁ Afterward, in an email to Stacy, you said that my sister and I were totally screwed up. But neither one of us hurt anyone, while you stole from both of us and destroyed one of us.,

⦁ I remember when we were first started off with emailing back and forth, I was online, both day and night. Later I asked whether it seemed strange that I was always available, and asked what you’d thought about that. You said that you’d assumed I was a genius child, keeping school hours. I was shocked, because we were conducting some seriously kinky conversation. Didn’t you worry about damaging the kid psychologically? Nope, you said.

⦁ An aside: In college, you ran away without telling anyone, leaving people thinking, for a long time, that you were dead. (Documentation is available in newspaper copies online.) When you told me about it later, you showed me a picture of your father during the time your parents spent searching for you. He was exhausted and depressed. But instead of that making you feel bad about what you had caused, you were proud that you had evaded detection. At the time, I assumed that I was reading your emotions wrong. But I now know better.

⦁ I just remembered: Once you and I happened to be driving behind a strip mall after hours. A cop car started following us. You were cool. You suggested to me that I should get out and pretend to be examining the tire tread for a stuck rock. That worked fine, and the cop moved on. I told you that I had been nervous. You told me that you hadn't been, because you always assume that you are smarter than the police. That seemed incredibly arrogant to me. True, you might be smarter than some individual cops. But you don't have their training and experience, the capability to call other police on the radio for backup, and weaponry. Every once in a while you'd let such incredible arrogance show through.

⦁ I remembered this as well. Once you joked, about a woman whose child had been killed, that it was no big deal since she can always make another. After you left here, I read a lot of books about psychopaths, to try to figure you out. The author of one of the books told the exact same joke, as an example of how psychopaths have a lack of empathy. I always wondered whether you told the joke because you had read in the same book, while you were reading to try to understand your own self.

⦁ After the police went to Indianapolis to interrogate you, they told me that you'd agreed to pay me back everything you stole. But you never sent me anything at all. I aim to change that. Please don't make the mistake that if you just ignore this email, I will simply drop it all.

[mikauzoran]

Marichat: Serendipity: Fifty Marichat and Adrienette Kisses: Kiss Seventeen

Read it on AO3: Serendipity: Fifty Marichat and Adrienette Kisses: ...to distract.

“Marinette, My Love,” Chat Noir called gently as he frowned at the clock on his staff’s readout. “I think it’s time to call it quits. It’s getting kind of late.”

“What? What time is it?” She didn’t even look up from her sewing machine as she fed the fabric through, hands rock steady.

He propped himself up on the chaise. “One-o-five.”

“Meh. That’s not too bad. I can still get another hour or two of work in,” she replied with a subtle shrug of her shoulders so as not to throw off her stitch. Then she sighed and muttered, “I had hoped to be further along on the dress Clara Rossignol commissioned, but I’m not really used to working with such high-end fabric, so I’m having a little trouble with how it’s behaving.”

Chat made a mental note to bring his girlfriend presents of different types of expensive fabrics more often. If he split the gifts between Chat and Adrien, he’d be able to give her more without her scolding him for spending too much on her.

He’d finally found an upside to her thinking he was two separate people.

“You look like you’re getting the hang of it, though. You’re such a quick learner. I’m sure you’ll be able to finish in record time now that you’ve got some practice with it,” he encouraged, sitting up.

She blew out a breath, her bangs billowing up. “Maybe, but I’m still behind where I thought I’d be, and I need to get to work on my entry for the Dior contest if I’m going to meet the deadline in a month. I need to come up with something that’s really going to wow Maria Grazia Chiuri, so I want to be able to take my time with it.”

Chat got up and went over to her, depositing a kiss to the top of her head. “Tomorrow, Princess. Right now, you need to sleep…and I need to be taking my leave.”

She stopped sewing to turn and gawk at him. “You’re going home? After what your father said to you?” she snorted incredulously.

Chat winced, remembering Gabriel’s scowl and his clipped voice as he’d succinctly raked Adrien over the coals for fumbling an interview question that had caught him off guard.

Apparently, Adrien’s awkward response about his dating life had brought shame upon the family and dishonor to the company.

He only hoped that Gabriel hadn’t guessed the real reason why Adrien had kind of freaked out a little and stuttered for a full ten seconds when asked if there was a girl or guy he was interested in. The possibility of being outted on live, national television was kind of terrifying, so he thought that his reaction was understandable, but, according to Gabriel, Agrestes were prepared for any situation and conducted themselves with poise. No son of Gabriel’s would ever behave in such an undignified manner.

So, that was kind of like getting disowned for being bi, he figured. It felt like it at least.

He’d told Marinette that his father had given him a dressing down and soft-core disowned him for not living up to expectations during a company marketing event. Now he was wishing he would have come as Adrien so that he could tell her the truth, but he hadn’t been thinking straight in his rush to transform and get away.

“No,” he responded quietly. “I’m not going home tonight. Maybe, when I’m discovered missing by his assistant tomorrow morning, he’ll think about what he said to me. For now, I’m going to head over to the Liberty. I kind of want to talk to Luka, and even though your parents said it was okay for me to sleep over when I needed a safe space, I still feel kind of awkward. I don’t want your dad thinking we’re…like…you know.” He cringed.

She gave him a warm smile and a pat on the arm. “If you want, I can explain the asexual thing to them, if that’d make you more comfortable. I want you to feel at ease here.”

“I do,” he hurriedly assured. “I am. I just… Sleeping over would feel different now that we’re in a relationship. I kind of…” He chewed on the inside of his cheek, trying to get his thoughts together.

She waited patiently.

Chat took a long inhale and blew it out slowly. “Thank you. I kind of want sleeping over to be more romantic and special than me running away from my troubled home life.”

“Okay.” She nodded, taking it in stride. “All right. Whatever you need, Minou.” She slipped her hand into his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Why don’t you head out, then, so you get to bed at a decent hour? I’m sure someone’s still up on the Liberty. Text me when you get there, though. I’m just going to get a little further on this dress, and then I’ll turn in too.”

“Marinette, you need to call it a night,” he sighed, mentally shuddering at her idea of “a decent hour”.

“I’ll wrap up within the hour. Promise,” she insisted, an innocent look on her face as if she really believed herself.

His eyes narrowed and mouth tightened into a disbelieving frown. “Princess, I know you. You’ll get caught up in your work, lose track of time, and fall asleep at your machine. Has your therapist talked with you about your self-care habits? What does she say about you burning yourself out?”

She groaned and rolled her eyes, spinning around in her chair to face her sewing machine once more. “She says I need to slow down and not take on so much,” Marinette scoffed. “She says I don’t have to save the world single-handedly because it’s not like I’m Ladybug.”

Chat’s eyes widened as he stared at the back of his girlfriend’s head, suddenly feeling like he was seeing double.

“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Marinette grumbled. “I gave her a piece of my mind about how Ladybug doesn’t save the world single-handedly. She saves Paris, and she’s only able to do it because she has you. There’s no ‘single-handedly’ about it,” she huffed indignantly, completely oblivious to her boyfriend’s internal panic.

Meanwhile, Chat Noir felt like he had been hit with a truck.

Marinette’s therapist didn’t know what she was talking about, and suddenly Marinette’s chart-topping stress levels and unwillingness to talk about her problems made a whole lot more sense.

“Shit,” Chat breathed.

“What? What’s wrong?” Marinette spun around in alarm, eyes scanning for danger.

“Nothing!” He quickly slapped on a neutral smile, hoping it didn’t register on her BS meter. “Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s great. Except for the fact that you’re not getting enough sleep. Let’s fix that.”

In a fluid motion, he scooped her up and slung her over his shoulder.

Marinette gave an indignant yelp as he carried her up the ladder to her loft followed by a squeak as he deposited her onto her bed.

“Chat Noir!” she protested.

He pushed her down, silencing her with his lips.

Quickly, her complaints were forgotten as she enthusiastically lost herself in the kiss.

“P-Please take better care of yourself,” Chat entreated breathlessly when he pulled back.

Some of the haze faded from Marinette’s eyes as her brow furrowed. “Minou?”

“Please,” he begged. “I love you so much, Marinette. You’re the most extraordinary, smart, talented, wonderful, giving person I know. I know you’re tough, but I’m afraid you’re going to break if you keep pushing yourself so hard, so…please try to take care of yourself at least half as well as you take care of everybody else. I’m worried about you.”

“Oh, Minou,” she sighed, reaching up to caress his face. “I’m sorry, Chat Noir. I’m working on it. There’s just so much to do and so few hours in the day. It’s hard to fit it all in.”

“I know,” he whispered tenderly, leaning in to nuzzle her forehead. “Believe me. I know how hard it is to juggle everything, so I get it, but the first item on your checklist needs to be you. You’re too young to abuse your health like this.”

“I’m working on it,” she mumbled self-consciously. “I’m seeing the therapist and trying her suggestions.”

“You’re doing a good job,” he praised, pressing a kiss to her temple. “and I’m so proud of you, Marinette.”

He pulled back to look her in the eye. “How can I help?”

“Help?” she echoed, blinking.

“Mmhm.” He nodded. “Is there anything I can do? Anything I can take off your plate? Like, can I do coffee runs for you or help you study for tests or do homework with you? Maybe we can sit down and look at your to do list and see if we can organize things better. Literally anything you can think of that I could do to make your life easier.”

“Oh, Chat Noir,” she sighed, a grateful smile stretching across her lips. “Thank you, but I couldn’t add more to your load. You’re busy enough with your own stuff.”

“Not too busy for you,” he objected, wearing a serious expression “I’m your partner, My La—Love,” he quickly covered his near-disastrous slip. “I’ve always got your back. We’re a team, so don’t be afraid to lean on me for support. That’s what I’m there for. I want to help.”

She studied his face for a moment, taking in his earnest expression.

She smiled, pressing her lips lightly to his. “Okay. You’re right. You’re my partner, and I shouldn’t be afraid to rely on you. I’ll brainstorm and let you know what you can do.”

A bright, relieved smile exploded onto his lips, rivaling the sun with its radiance. “Thank you, Marinette.”

“Thank you,” she stressed. “…All right. I think the first thing you can do is head out so that I can go to sleep before I lose all self-control and start working on Clara’s dress again.”

“Uh-oh. Can’t let that happen,” he chuckled, stealing a quick kiss for the road. “Night, night, Princess. Love you.”

“Love you,” she giggled, watching him go. “Don’t forget to text me when you make it safely to the Liberty.”

“Will do,” he promised, disappearing up through the skylight.

As he bounded across the rooftops, following the Seine to the Pont de Grenelle near where the Liberty was docked, he muttered to his kwami, “Plagg, remind me to text her when we get there because I think I’m going to be too preoccupied freaking out because my girlfriend is Ladybug.”

[valeriacastaneda]

My Autobiography

I remember being pretty young when all this inner turmoil began to stir. I remember an intense hatred of myself for no good reason. I was always too emotional. I don’t remember a time in my life where I didn’t hate myself. I remember being a little girl and feeling abandoned. I always had my parents around me but they weren’t very supportive and I don’t think they meant it to be that way. I felt like no one cared about me and I didn’t feel like I had anyone to turn to as I was growing up. I longed for my mother to put her arm around me and protect her little girl. But my parents were completely absorbed in the constant drama and fights that their relationship entailed. I just wanted my parents to get along. I was a really sensitive child and it was completely agonizing to be dragged into their fights. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy to write but anything worthwhile is going to be a bit painful. It’s been difficult to go through all of this while trying to be as honest and thorough as possible. This isn’t the first “timeline/autobiography” I had to write. I wrote one in my first rehab. But the last one wasn’t very honest- it was as honest as I could be at the time, I still had a lot to go through.

I grew up with two immigrant parents. In an immigrant home there’s a lot of stress behind closed doors. I always saw casual drinking and even binge drinking as a child, as a way to cope with emotions. I grew up on the east side of San Jose in the late 90’s. I feel like I had a complicated childhood. I was a happy child but I was also shy and incredibly anxious. I never had many friends, I felt like I always had to hide a part of myself. I dreamt of being a social butterfly cos that’s how I felt on the inside. But I was such a shy kid, I didn’t trust anyone and I had no sense of stability. It was hands growing up feeling completely alone. I even feel like there was a disconnect between me and my siblings because of how I felt about myself. Since I was a toddler, I remember feeling a deep sense of shame that I couldn’t shake. Anything that triggered this deep internal shame was to be avoided at all costs. I always felt deeply embarrassed for my existence, I always felt insecure.

I looked for stability in all the wrong places. I tried to cling to people, begging to be saved from being drowned only to drag them under the current with me. I didn’t understand that salvation could be found within myself. I looked in all the wrong places and I let my heart be broken countless times before I was able to look within myself to find the strength to push forward. I feel like I had a lonely childhood at times because I remember crying a lot. I remember feeling a deep sorrowful sadness as a child, a sadness I couldn’t express. My mother suffered from postpartum depression after I was born, maybe we had a difficult time bonding. People who know us probably wouldn’t say that we weren’t close. I felt abandoned by my parents at a very young age. They argued so loudly it shook the house and the core to my being. My dad would storm out of the house and slam the doors. I would feel shaken to my core. There was always yelling and cussing in Spanish. Words I could never whimper or my mother would strike them from my lips as soon as the thought crossed my mind.

I felt like my siblings had a bond with each other that I could never be apart of. I was too sensitive, always too emotional. I remember being a child and hiding in the darkness of the closet while my entire body shook from sobbing because of the constant torment I felt inside my soul. I never fit into my family. I always felt like the odd one out, the black sheep, and the ugly duckling. My brother’s would tease me and call me the ugly duckling and that definitely got into my head. When I grew up I started looking for the attention I never received from my father in guys my age, and eventually men. I was always looking for attention in all the wrong places. I was waiting for someone to come and save me from myself. It took me many years to realize that no one would come to rescue me. I had to do that work myself so I could be a decent partner but I didn’t realize that for many years.

Some of the happiest moments of my childhood include me learning how to read. I remember being so enthralled with my ability to read books and escape. I always had a need to escape my reality. I remember being a kid and staying in an after school program. My childhood was short and sweet and I look back on it fondly. I loved playing make-believe on the playground with my two friends. I always kept a small circle. I loved art and crafts and as an adult I learned embroidery, sewing, and cross-stitch as a hobby. I enjoyed photography and showing people my art. I was always extremely imaginative and that’s something I continue to hold onto as an adult. My parents never demanded straight A’s from me but at one point I felt like the pressure was so intense and I didn’t feel like it was fair. My other siblings weren’t held to the same standards as I was but as an adult, I now see that my parents were encouraging me to do my absolute best.

When I was a young child, someone abused me. I never shared what happened to me with anyone else in my family and if anyone had a clue about it, or would ask about it I would pretend I had no memory of what they were talking about. I remember struggling with the constant shame throughout my life. Guilt and shame are themes that pop up into my life.

I fell in love for the first time when I was 16 in high school. I was at my new school after getting transferred out of my local high school because of my emotional issues and drug abuse. I was sitting on the bus on my way to the trade school that I would go to for half the day, I was taking a forensics class. There was a handsome football player that would ride the bus with me and I was sitting with my friend when he leaned over and asked for my number. His name was Tarunbir but I always called him T. I tried not paying any attention to him but he was persistent and it made him all the more attractive. I was smoking meth constantly at this period of my life and he asked me on a date to go eat somewhere and I clearly remember replying with, “I don’t eat.” and smirking at my friend. He asked for my phone so he could call his mom and I let him but he put his number into my phone and asked me to text him.

I had absolutely no intention of talking to him but the next day I was bored at home so I decided to text him. I had no idea this interaction would change the course of my life forever. We became entangled in this relationship or more accurately described as a “trauma bond”. There were clear red flags that I chose to ignore because I thought his jealousy and possessiveness meant he actually loved and cared about me. I was always trying to break up with him but he would show up at my door crying, begging for me back with flowers and gifts. I would always give in. He physically, mentally, and sexually abused me. He abused me in every way but I stayed with him on and off for four years. I was addicted to him like I was addicted to escaping my reality. We gave into each other’s drug abuse and eventually I could only cope by constantly being high. I truly felt stuck with him and I knew I wouldn’t be able to leave him until he left me first. I remember him pushing me and forcing my head into the concrete one night. I remember an incident that happened between us that led me to a trip to the emergency room. I still have the scar on the back of my head. He went to jail but it wasn’t long before we were back together; entangled in a cycle of abuse and denial.

I constantly dealt with suicidal ideation. I remember being 18 years old when I decided I didn’t want to live a moment longer. For a bit of background, I was struggling with my sobriety and I badly wanted out. Earlier that day I had received a message on my blog from someone anonymous telling me to kill myself. Unfortunately I was so sick, I listened. I bought some pills off my dealer and I popped them all. I took one handful after another. I finished them off with my own medications, that I had somehow stockpiled. I was hanging out while my boyfriend, T, went off somewhere. I remember having a soft drink in my hand and a snack with me. I was at the apartment complex that he lived at. I started walking around after I had taken them and I don’t remember much after that. I just know what I was told afterwards. T found me unconscious and not breathing at the bottom of the concrete stairs. He started doing compressions on my chest and I remember the pain of him nearly breaking my ribs as he sobbed on the phone to the paramedics. I don’t remember what he said only that I never heard him cry like that in my life. I remember saying, “Ow” to get him to stop cos the pain was so intense. I was put into a medical coma for a few days. When I woke up, two days later my mom told me they pumped my stomach. I remember while I was intubated how much it bothered me to have that uncomfortable machine in me. I kept attempting to pull it out so they had to tie my arms down. I was basically dead. They didn’t know what was going to happen to me when I woke up. I remember waking up from that coma and asking for my baby sister, Lilibeth. I remember the dry, scratchy feeling in my throat and the hoarseness in my voice. I still carry so much guilt from that day because I know I hurt my siblings irreparably and that’s probably why I’ll never be close with them again. They saw me in so many terrible situations that I’ll never stop feeling guilty about. Words could never describe how sorry I am and I know words will never soothe their pain.

T helped me talk to my parents about sending me to rehab when I was 19 and I couldn’t stop shooting up. I was addicted to feeling the needle as much as I was addicted to drugs slipping into my vein- I could romanticize what I felt and describe it to you in detail. It’s kind of sick. The excitement I felt when I would finally register and push the plunger down was almost better than the high itself. Almost but not quite. I remember sitting on the floor of his room in his mother’s apartment for hours on end trying to hit a vein. It was pure agony because I tried every vein in my arms and legs until I was covered in small pin pricks and bruises. When I finally registered, I can’t even describe to you the calm that would wash over my body. Some people get tweaked out and start bouncing off the walls on meth, but not me. I lay back and felt the iciness crawl up my throat, and I would cough as my heart tried to pound it’s way out of my chest. My rock bottom was when I was filled with agony, covered in pricks and bruises and spending hours on end trying to get high without success. After rehab, T picked me up and brought me home. Not before I relapsed again. My parents made a huge sacrifice financially for me so how did I relapse leaving rehab? I had a Xanax prescription that a doctor had prescribed for me so I didn’t think that was an issue. T still had some of my script on him and I asked him for some. That’s how the slippery slope began. Before I knew it, I was back to shooting meth and then, I fell in love with heroin too. I started hanging out with adults who were ten years older than me and I started dealing drugs to support myself and my habit. I was filled with so much self-hatred and I felt like using drugs was the only way I could escape feeling the constant bombardment of emotions that I was constantly subjected to. I was always miserable and I didn’t know the key to true contentment was within myself.

By October of 2016, I was 20 years old with two rehab stints under my belt which also happened to be wrapped around my arm. I clenched the leather between my teeth as I tirelessly attempted to shoot up a mixture of meth and heroin. I remember being so frustrated because my hands were shaking so hard from withdrawal that when I finally did register, I slipped the rig out of my vein and ruined my drugs because the blood in the syringe had coagulated. I was trying to get high and I ruined my drugs so I chose not to use it had to shoot it into the trash because if I would’ve used it, I was risking a blood clot going to my brain and killing me. I didn’t care about those consequences- but I did care about continuing to get high. A recurring theme in my 7life is a need for escapism and I needed to escape the everlasting depression and misery I constantly felt that tormented me. I felt like I had tried to get clean so many times on my own and I felt like I couldn’t get it right. I wanted so badly to be clean even though I truly believed in my soul that I could only be happy on drugs. I was sitting on the floor of my bedroom when I truly realized how tormented I was, I knew that I was failing at my attempts at sobriety. I couldn’t understand how people in sobriety could “have fun” without drugs. I remember going to young people’s Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and not being able to understand how they could achieve long-term sobriety and be happy. It seemed so fake and unattainable to me but I knew what I kept trying was failing, I had to try something new. T had broken up with me by now, because of my addiction. At the time, I truly loved heroin more than him anyways. Heroin was awful but it never put me through the various types of abuse that he put me through. I was so hurt and angry with him that I swore to myself that I would never go back to him for leaving me when I needed someone there for me. I know it sounds twisted but I’m honestly so thankful that he had left me because it left me with resolve to do something about my situation. I didn’t have the strength to leave and stay gone during our years together because of how vulnerable I was at that point in my life.

I always knew something was different about me. I have a hazy memory about being a small child in elementary school and being attracted to a girl in a way that I had never felt about anyone. I was 6 years old when I had my first “crush” on a girl but I felt shame deeply in my young soul even then. I never pursued my interest in girls until I was an adult and I had my first girlfriend, Kemi. I was still struggling with my sobriety at the time that I met her. She had been sober for two years by the time we were together. I remember her and I sitting on the floor of my bedroom while I fixed myself a shot. I don’t remember exactly what was happening but my parents were throwing a party. I had to wear something to cover the track marks and bruises on my arms even though it was a hot August day. My memories from the time are a bit hazy from the drugs but I made her look away while I did what I had to do. I remember feeling guilty but ultimately not caring that I was possibly risking her sobriety by using around her. I was so self-centered that nothing mattered to me but having the feeling of calmness wash over me. Things ultimately didn’t work out between us but that’s okay. She was good to me and she brought me around A.A. and introduced me to what sobriety had to offer me.

I attempted sobriety again in November of 2016 and I can’t pinpoint exactly what changed this time around. I no longer desired to keep up the facade that I had perfectly crafted. Anyways, it was all crumbling down around me pretty quickly. I remember having a sort of epiphany about the state of my life. I was 20 years old and I was speeding down the highway and into my grave. I don’t think I instantly wanted to live a righteous life or anything close to it, I just needed to try something different. Especially with turning 21 years old in a few days looming over my head. I couldn’t believe I legally couldn’t drink alcohol yet but I could buy heroin and I was a pretty decent hobbyist phlebotomist at this point.

I broke up with Rami last year. I was pretty unhappy with myself and where the relationship was going so I took our dog and moved back into my parent’s house. I needed to start figuring out what I was going to do with myself and my sobriety. The stress I put on myself after Rami relapsed after we broke up in December of 2018 and it absolutely ruined me. It helped lead me here, to Center for Discovery but not before I was hospitalized at Stanford for my low body weight. Rami never asked me to be with him while he struggled with his sobriety. I blamed myself for his relapse even though the rational side of my brain knew it had nothing to do with me. My anxiety was so bad I started restricting and I wasn’t even really aware of it at the time. I just knew that my mind was constantly spinning and I was on the edge of breaking down every day. I would take some anti-anxiety medication and it was like magic, I could finally be calm enough to eat. Rami continued to relapse and I continued to work hard and skip meal after meal. I was becoming frail and I was losing my ability to think clearly. I was worried about how I would pay my bills. I didn’t want to lose the independence from my parents that I finally felt I had earned. The heavy medications I had been taking made it impossible for me to hold down a job. I was finally able to prove to myself that I could work long shifts and over 40 hour weeks. I remember when a 4 hour shift was absolute agony for me. I could never go back to how things were. I earned my independence and I didn’t care if I starved myself to death for it, I wasn’t willing to give it up even though I was sacrificing my health.

Earlier this year I started a new job and it was extremely demanding. It ruined me. Or maybe it put me on the fast track so that I could ruin myself easier. I had to work long hours extremely hungry. My boss didn’t care about me, he saw me as another dispensable person: to be used up until I wasn’t worth anything and he could easily throw me away. I quickly became aware of what kind of person he was and I wondered what I could do. My best bet was finding another job but he paid me pretty well and I didn’t have to worry about a lot of things anymore. I was becoming independent for the first time in my life and that was all I ever wanted. I started skipping meals cos I had so many routes to do. I worked for a cannabis service that existed in a gray area in California law. I worked as a delivery driver and eventually I started working the desk. There was no human resources for me to ever turn to. He called me into work when he needed me and if I didn’t drop everything in that moment to help him, he wouldn’t call me for a few days to make my pockets run dry. I was constantly stressed and unhappy- but the money was good so I stayed. I didn’t have any confidence to go and find another job and he worked me so hard that I was constantly an anxious mess. I was constantly crying and on the edge of a breakdown. I think me staying irregardless of any abuse I faced is a problematic recurring theme in my life.

I was misdiagnosed bipolar for many years. I took every medication they could prescribe me. I’m sure there are a few I hadn’t tried but antidepressants cause a manic reaction in me and make me suicidal. But nonetheless, I took my medication religiously but I was medicating the after-effects of my drug abuse. I kept trying to fix something by taking drugs or taking medications but I didn’t realize the answer was in years of therapy. There’s a lot in my history that I can’t explain or find an answer for but that’s okay, I don’t need to understand everything that happened. All that matters is now. I don’t know how I managed to have so many clinicians misdiagnose me. Even when I tried avoiding the bipolar label I still got diagnosed with cyclothymia. To me that made it pretty clear to me that I was on that spectrum. A few months ago my doctor came to me with a diagnosis that frankly, pissed me off. I had heard it before but I felt like I had been in therapy long enough that I didn’t warrant that diagnosis or the stigma attached to it. When I heard the words “borderline personality disorder” it made me angry and defensive immediately. I definitely feel like that reaction made sense with the diagnosis. The doctors didn’t realize that some of my symptoms may have been residual from my drug use.

I never really realized I was anorexic until I started feeling the pressure to keep up an appearance. And I don’t mean that literally. I didn’t have time to look in the mirror and I hated the skeletal mess that always met my eyes when I would make the mistake of looking at my reflection. I didn’t think I was anorexic but my mind is much clearer now and I see that although a lot of stereotypical behaviors weren’t there, they didn’t need to be. I started looking at what made sense. I took being perfect to a flaw. I couldn’t leave the house unless I was fashionably dressed and if I didn’t have the nicest clothes then I felt bad about myself. If my makeup wasn’t impeccable I wasn’t shit. All I had to hold onto was my appearance of a well put together girl. I still don’t fit into that label, my anxiety has made it feel impossible to eat. I look back on my years of drug use and I see that I definitely used for weight control as well as mood management throughout my adolescence and young adulthood. Labels really don't mean much though cos we're in the same place for similar reasons. I feel like at a time of my life I honestly did hate my body. I think I might have hated it for a long time- for keeping me alive when I’ve wanted so badly to give up. I’ve hated it for not being the same shape or silhouette as other women. But I don’t feel that way anymore. I’m beautiful, scars and all.

I’ve shared the deepest, darkest moments of my life for only one reason: in hopes that someone hears this and knows it doesn’t always have to be so dark. Things get better, maybe not all at once but I promise they do. I never thought I would be able to climb my way out of the pits of hell. I struggled with constantly feeling like I was just digging myself into a deeper hole. Through the adversity that I’ve experienced in my life, I’ve grown as a person and I’ve turned into a woman that I can say that I’m proud to be. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows but I know that the clouds in the sky will part and the rays of the sun will kiss my skin. I always carry hope in my heart and I truly believe things will be okay as long as I continue to keep my goals in mind. I finally understand that I have a purpose in life and that’s to help people. I know I can only achieve that goal if I continue to better myself and it’s been hard work but it’s had to be done.

[jesswsc1]

Initially, I wasn’t overly sure how to interpret our title of ‘black books and black holes’. I’ve felt awfully low for a while, and it’s been heavy on my mind, so I figured I’d take this project as somewhat of an opportunity to reflect on the past, troubles i’ve had as well as using it as a kind of venting of current frustrations. These low points act as my own personal black hole, as I fall down into them for some time. Similarly to how black does, they absorb any kind of light surrounding. To me, at times, this has meant not enjoying things I’ve adored prior - such as spending time with loved ones, music and hobbies. Growing up there were several black holes, but amongst them I have fond memories with my cousins, siblings and childhood friends. Somebody who has always been there for me (whether it be through choice or not) has been my brother. I decided to incorporate pictures of us throughout my little black book as homage to him as he is truly one of my favourite people ever, despite the troubles I don’t think our bond has ever gone away - it’s merely taken small redirections. I have such admiration for him and know I can rely on him and speak free from judgement. Years ago, I believe it was 2013, he fell ill and this meant he had to be hospitalised for a couple months. It was really hard for my family and was of course even more difficult for him. Seeing as he was hospitalised, this meant regular trips to the hospital, on the car journeys we’d always have the same Passenger CD playing in the car. I guess we just never got around to changing it. On this CD was a particular song that we’d all sing along to, which funnily enough is called ‘holes’. Hearing this song now makes me feel so safe and hopeful, knowing it got me as well as my family through a rough period in time. I made sure to incorporate some of the lyrics into one of my book spreads. One line reads, ‘but we carry on’, which has definitely stuck with me.

The constellation element of our project had me reflecting on space and the universe, and what exactly it means to me. Although I’m not too into space, I’m definitely fond of the moon. After my parents divorced, I was left in custody of my mum for a while. A teacher told me to look at the moon, because she’d be looking at it too at the same time and thinking of me. During this time I was living in a troubled home (I made this house the exterior of my book*) and would be heavily supported by her in school. She’d give me notebooks to express myself in and explain what was happening, as well as a departing gift when I inevitably left to go live with my dad here in Bury. Despite being a small part of my life, she still means a lot to me and has a place in my heart. Though not physically present with me anymore, she cared enough to find me years later and reached out to make sure I'm doing fine. It's reassuring knowing there are people as pure as she is. Because of this I dedicated a small section of my book to her that looks like a slither of the moon when the pages are flipped back onto it. 

My black book was titled ‘Wailing Ghosts’ by Pu Songling, containing 14 tales of various monsters and creatures, which is fitting to my work revolving around numerous burdens I have that seem to act as these little monsters also, creeping up every now and again. I did consider creating my own ‘chapters’, one for each black hole of mine, but didn’t want to structure my book in that way as I didn’t want to disrupt my creativity or force things.

          I say ‘was’ because I actually decided I wasn’t all that keen on how i’d layed my pages out. I instead took a second black book and collaged, reworked and inserted pages into a new one. I’m really glad I did so, as I now have a book I much prefer over the first. An aspect I did keep relatively whole was the swirly, illusion-looking front cover with a hole burned through the centre, almost like a little entrance to another world. Stanley Donwood inspired this page through his swirly seas he often features in his works, as he uses a bold thick line against white ones. I opted to put this page underneath my front cover so it still got to be showcased - only cutting a part off the corners to make sure it fit. 

Featured in my book are a few small self portraits, in varying cartoon-y styles. Some are only inspired by my face whilst others were drawn whilst staring into the mirror, then back at the page. Having struggled with low self esteem, there have been times where I don’t even want to perceive myself let alone interpret that into a drawing. Meanwhile doing my book work, I realised I have never drawn a self portrait - not since being a kid anyway - and had even actively avoided doing so during GCSE art. Over the past year or so, I’ve overcome an array of issues I’d had, so found myself able to draw these little portraits. It sounds pretty insane to me now that I would’ve found it so hard before, knowing I enjoyed coming up with various ways to put me in my book, even wanting to print pictures of me (sadly our printers decided to act up so I was not able to implement these). I feature my bathroom mirror on one page as it’s been the target of over-analyzing and although I have come far in self love, it still remains a deadly weapon. 

Claude Heath’s sketchy, rough portraits inspired me to create my own. I really enjoy how reckless his style is, as I'm trying to escape the ‘this has to be perfect’ mentality, Heath is a great example of how you don’t need to overthink your work. It can just exist and look cool. It’s fine. This was also encouraged in Thursday drawing sessions where we did blind drawings. I kept this mindset whilst doing my book as I tend to either overwork myself trying to create ‘perfect’ or do absolutely nothing, so I went with the flow of how my book panned out. 

Seeing as my work theme is a little on the darker side, I considered subduing the colours or perhaps even going full black and white. However, I love utilising colour in my art and felt this would make me feel unmotivated and uninspired. Especially seeing as this book is about me, it’s not insensitive to anybody to make it colorful and exciting. So, I have. Plus, despite everything I’m still smiling so I wanted to convey that somehow. Sort of, making the best out of bad situations. Damien Hirst’s usage of colours influenced me to just have fun with it, in the same way he does when creating his works. 

Throughout my book I have experimented with oil pastel, paint, staples, collage, rorschach ink blotting, screen printing, spray paint, photocopied pictures, flip book, tracing paper, washi tape and i’m sure there’s more. Point is, I wanted to cover a wide range of techniques seeing as there were many pages. In doing so I believe this was the best way as it meant there was a flow of ideas coming as I worked. I’ve learned that I love a range of ways of working as it keeps my brain ticking, meaning the work doesn’t feel stagnant and dull. Sadly there were lots more ideas I had for what to do into my book, but due to various reasons I couldn't. Such as wanting to sew using a sewing machine into my book, I tried to set my sewing machine up but when I would go to sew the thread would snap. But I believe it’s definitely something worth trying another time, as I was intrigued to see how it’d turn out. I also wanted to make a better flip book from the corner of my little page (see animation on blog) as it’s really simplistic. But drawing the little stick men alone took me an hour or so, and I didn’t see that being of much importance compared to getting actual pages filled out. Thus, I left it as a simple stickman. That being said I think the stick man illustrates the cycle of being in a slump, which is relatable to how lockdown is feeling and fits well with my book contents. I felt inspired by an artist who goes by ‘inhalerqueen’ (Amanda) on tiktok, who draws a simple, silhouette-like figure repeatedly. She calls this figure ‘void’ and i’d consider her work to be vent art, expressing how she feels. Originally I wanted to make my stick men look like void, however I don’t think that would be all that beneficial/change the effectiveness and would only take up more time.

If I were to have a soundtrack to my work I would opt for ‘Yellow’ by Coldplay. Reason being, regardless of my state of mind I return to this song and feel the same listening through every time. It’s such a lovely song and just feels like peace, as cheesy as that may sound considering Coldplay is very much dad music. It reminds me of my yellows, and how much they mean to me. Even with the black, I have my yellows. Lyrics to the song can be found in my book also. 

Overall, I’m relatively pleased with my work. There’s no doubt things I would do differently, but I’m glad I’ve had this experience and was able to vent a little similarly to how Amanda does. In future I hope to perhaps recreate this book and treat it as kind of a ‘rough’ or ‘plan’ for a more refined and thought-out version, perhaps this time with chapters like I'd considered and with ideas I didn’t get to delve into.  There are pages I’m not so keen on, but I’m proud of myself for just leaving them as opposed to overworking them and/or scrapping them just because they aren’t what I like. I love the pictures of me and my brother, if I could I would’ve collaged more into my book however our printer simply wouldn’t allow it. As well as the exterior of the book, as I think it adds a personal element as opposed to being left as it was.