#found a model. saw the annie. had to do an edit

[caesarflickermans]

Arriving at your District: 70th Hunger Games Victor Annie Cresta

[sassyduckqueen]

Miraculous: Rise of Anatis Specials 2

Ok! I am issuing a spoiler warning as this is suppose to be set after season 3 and before season 4. However, I have tried to make so you lovely people can read it :D Anyway, I hope you peeps enjoy reading this. As a lot of you know, I'm not impressed with the New York special. There was a lot of cringy moments and honestly I felt like it was hyped up but didn't mean standards. Let's not get me started on the likes of Alya and Nino. I expected something on the lines of that with Alya as that's been her dynamic for most of season 2 and 3 but Nino, you disappoint me *shakes head in shame* anyway! There's none of that in here! Hope you peeps like it :D also I hope you like the chat names for Adrien, Kagami and Marinette. I'm especially proud of Dangernodel as it's a pun on Danger Noodle and Model. I laughed for about 5 minutes straight.

Edit: This is now the updated verison of the NY special

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Heroes Unite (New York Special)

"Since Paris doesn't want us, we go to the moon just like in my favorite book!!" Mr Pigeon declared as he stood on the Eiffel Tower as it headed to space. He looked down and narrowed his eyes as he noticed Anatis and Lady Noir hanging from the tower with Anatis' yoyo. Anatis was looking round trying to formulate a plan to defeat Mr Pigeon with his lucky charm. 

  "Annie, he won't be able to breath in space and neither will we," Lady Noir gasped as Anatis's luck vision lit up the book in Mr Pigeon's hand, a pigeon and the tower itself. He looked at his lucky charm, causing it to light up as Mr Pigeon made some terrible pun but he smirked."You have a plan right?!"

  "Of course I do, kitty," He replied, retracting his yoyo so they began to free fall. "We need to bring him back to earth before he hurts himself,"

  Lady Noir nodded and took out a triangle of cheese that was purple in color. At the same time, Anatis took out a macaroon that was the same colour. The two of them ate them and shouted out the words 'power up', transforming them into their flight suits. Like most of his special forms, his basic suit was the same but he had a helmet on over his face and his spots were a glowing blue. He also had blue detail on his mask, gloves and boots as well as a backpack on his back which gave him blue insect wings that glowed. Lady Noir had a similar base outfit to her normal design as well but she had more green detail across her outfit and also had a backpack on her back. She got bright green batlike wings and she had a helmet on her face too. Unlike Anatis though, who's hair stayed the same as his normal form, her hair became a glowing blue. The two sped off towards Mr Pigeon and the two.

  "What's the plan?" Lady Noir called out.

  "The akuma is in the book. I need you to destroy it as soon as he's distracted," Anatis yelled back, getting a nod of Lady Noir. He glided across to the tower and ran up it, throwing his yoyo round Mr Pigeon's hands. He used his lucky charm to secure it to the tower and scared the pigeons enough to cause them to fly. Using the coverage that the Pigeons provided, Lady Noir called on her power and grabbed the book, destroying it and releasing the akuma. Anatis freed his yoyo and caught it, purifying it and freeing it. He grabbed his lucky charm and threw it in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!!"

  The item burst into the magical swarm of bugs and spread around fixing everything. Lady Noir and Anatis landed on the tower as Mr Pigeon turned back to normal. Anatis picked up the book and placed it back in it's place. Lady Noir walked over to him and smiled.

  "Good job today, Annie," She grinned, making him look at her as he raised an eyebrow.

  "Isn't it my job to tell you that?" He asked in a playful manner. She giggled a little before gently nudging him.

  "You can still tell me that if you want," She grinned. He smiled before ruffling her hair, making her purr a little.

  "Good job today, Kitten," He smirked before his earrings beeped their first warning. He frowned and turned to her, taking out his yoyo. "Sorry, Kitten, I have to go. You still up for patrol tonight?"

  "Of course. Usual time and place?" She asked, getting a nod of him as her ring beeped. "Cool!"

  "See you there then," He replied, getting a nod of her before he left the office and dived off the tower, swinging off into the city. Lady Noir let out a little sigh as she watched him go before jumping off the tower and heading to a nearby alleyway. She dropped her transformation and caught Plagg. He let out a tired sigh but peaked up the moment she handed him a chunk of cheese. 

  "You're the best, Dollface," He grinned as he began to devour it. Marinette smiled sweetly before slipping him into her purse and began to run off. She had to return back to school since the akuma had been defeated but even then, Mr Pigeon wasn't considered a high threat to her or Anatis. They had come up with a code in case they needed to contact the other before they arrived. Code Grey was for weak akumas such as Mr Pigeon and was named after him. Code Black was for akumas on the same power level as the likes of Lady Wifi. Code Yellow was for akumatized miraculous holders, named after Queen Wasp. Though Chloe had come leaps and bounds since the incident. She was actually been nice but not because of got her any favors but just to be nice. Sure, she still wasn't perfect. She messed up but since becoming friends with Marinette and Luka, Chloe was working on been a better person and unlike most people, Luka was not afraid to tell her off. If she threatened to call her father, he countered with a threat to call the Captain, which worked every time. As for the next code, that is code silver and was for high powered akumas such as Party Crasher. The next code was Code Blue and it meant either Mayura or a sentimonster and their final code was Code Purple. That was only used if Hawkmoth himself made an appearance. They came up with the codes after heroes day as that was all unexpected and they wanted to be better prepared. Anatis had also started to train the temp heroes both in combat and in calming techniques. They needed to be in control of their emotions. Sometimes, him and Lady Noir spend a good hour of so meditating together during patrol. They would often go through the battles and try to work out how to prevent future triggers. Thanks to Alya, they had set up a page on the Ladyblog to help people work through their emotions in a healthy way. However, they still hadn't found a way to prevent Mr. Ramier from been akumatized. They tried a lot but he seemed to have different triggers that weren't necessarily related to pigeons. However, they would go through the battle tonight. Marinette slowly down a little as she saw a new Adrien poster, making her smile and take a picture of it before she opened her messages.

  Purrincess-Nettie: @Dangernodel Saw your latest poster. Love the new outfit in it

  Dangernodel: Thanks @Purrincess-Nettie. Though I always prefer your stuff

  Purrincess-Nettie: That's because I'm a genius when it comes to making clothes

  Dangernodel: #truth #preach

  Marinette giggled and shook her head before continuing to back to the school. She skipped over to Alya as the class began to head into the library. Chloe waved at her, making her smile and wave before she sat down next to Adrien and Nino. Alya sat down next to them and gently leaned on Nino's shoulder as Mr Damocles cleared his voice.

  "As you all know, this week coming is the french American friendship week. You all did wonderful on your projects and as a reward, we have arranged for a five day trip to New York. Now you will be expected to do some school work and experience school in New York but this will also serve as a reward so we will be visiting famous locations and there will be free time to enjoy what New York has to offer," He explained, making the students grin excitedly before he handed permission slips to Miss Bustier. "We have already arranged a place to stay and the flights are booked. We just need your parents' permission to say you can go. Miss Bustier is going to hand the slips to you. Your parents will need to sign them by this weekend. A letter detailing the trip is also attached. Yes, Marinette?"

  "Are we the only class to go?" She asked, making Mr Damocles smile.

  "No, Mrs Mendeleiev's class will also be going," He replied, making her smile. That meant Luka will be going as well, along with Marc and Aurora. "We've already given out their permission slips and were about to give your class yours but Mr Pigeon interrupted us,"

  At that, the whole class groaned in annoyance. Marinette took the permission as Adrien sighed, looking sad. However, Lila went to reject the permission slip as Miss Bustier handed one to Kim, who happened to be next to her.

  "Oh, I'm so sorry but I can't possibly go to due to my charity work," She lied but Mr Damocles cleared his throat.

  "Miss Rossi, we are aware that you are not allowed to go so please don't make up some story," He stated, making her frown. Marinette held back a smile. Lila didn't have as much power as she thought she had. She still hadn't been fully exposed yet but almost everyone took her stories with a grain of salt. Mr Damocles moved past her and handed slips out to the others as Lila continued to frown.

  "What but sir, I'm not ly-"

  "Expect you are, Lila," Marinette pointed out with the rest of the class nodding. Lila glared at them before huffing and folding her arms. She did actually want to go to New York but since she had been targeted by a number of akumas, her mother didn't want her to go too far from home. She had hoped to convince the class that she had to stay behind for a charity event so she could be the talk of the class but hardly anyone took her stories as fact anymore. Even Alya was taking her stories with a grain of salt. She huffed and crossed her arms as Marinette smirked at her before turning to Adrien. "Are you ok?"

  "My father isn't going to let me go," He sighed, looking down as Nino rubbed his back. Marinette frowned deeply before grinning at him and winking in a very Lady Noir style.

  "Leave that to me, Adrien. I'll convince him to let you come to New York," She grinned, making him sigh and shake his head, claiming it was no good. "Hey, you're my friend and I will not take no for answer. You know how stubborn I can be,"

  "Everyone knows that," Alya joked, making her laugh before looking at Adrien and giving him a reassuring smile. "However, she won't be alone in this,"

  "Damn right," Kim nodded, pointing to himself. "We're gonna help. Right, Alix?"

  "Getting Adrien's dad to let him go will be a piece of cake," She grinned as the rest of the class cheered.

  "Guys, I really appreciate it but this is my dad we're talking about," He stated but then he noticed the grin on Marinette's face.

  "Which is why we're bringing in the big guns," She smirked, already texting on her phone. Mr Damocles went to tell her off but she grinned. "Kagami is down with helping us convince your father to let you come with us. Chloe, you ready to help?"

  "Of course, I am," She grinned, making Marinette smile.

  "Trust us, Adrien. We're getting you to New York,"

  "Thanks, Marinette," He grinned before looking at the rest of the class, apart from Lila. "Thank you all of you,"

  "Now that's been sorted," Mr Damocles stated. "Miss Bustier won't be able to join us due to medical problems but Mrs Mendeleiev will be substituting for her,"

  Instantly, the class groaned but Mr Damocles hushed them.

  "Now we need those slips in as soon as possible so please remember to get your parents to sign them," He explained, just as the bell rang. The class got up and left the room, heading to the locker room. Marinette grabbed her bag and skipped outside to meet Kagami. They needed a plan to get Mr Agreste to let Adrien go to New York. She hummed to herself as she sat on the bench, texting Kagami to meet her there before sending a text to her parents. A few seconds later, her mother buzzed back with permission. All she needed to do now was to get them to sign the slip.

  "Mari!!" A voice called out, making her look over. Luka waved as he walked over, making her smile and jump to her feet. She threw herself at him, causing him to laugh as he caught her. "You ok? Your heartsong is so loud and exciting,"

  "We're going to New York!!" She grinned, making him laugh. "Please tell me you're gonna be going right?!"

  "Of course. I've always wanted to visit," He smiled, holding her waist. He quickly realized and blushed, moving his hands. "You're able to go right?"

  "Yep," She grinned before frowning a little. "But I'm meeting Kagami to try and work out how to get Adrien's dad to let him go. Wanna join us? We're making a plan,"

  "No plan, Marinette," Kagami stated as she walked over before nodding at Luka. "We head to Agreste Manor now and we don't take no for an answer,"

  "Uh... no plan?" She gasped, not expecting that but Luka gave her a gentle smile. "You know what! Yeah, let's go!!"

  "That's the spirit," He smiled before looking at them. "Still want me to come along?"

"Damn right, you're my emotional support musician," Marinette grinned, grabbing his hand and dragging him off. Instantly, his face flushed, causing Kagami to rise an eyebrow and follow them. She took her phone and began to text as she followed them.

  DragonQueen: @Dangernodel heading to yours to take down your father. Also does Luka like Marinette? I think they would make a cute couple

  Dangernodel: @DragonQueen I believe he does but seems to lack the confidence to tell her. I think he believes he's not good enough for her #lies #lukanette4ever

  DragonQueen: Should we try to set them up together?

  Dangernodel: I wouldn't set them up. That could backfire and hurt both of them in the long run but encouraging them could help. No to been pushy but yes to suggesting romantic things to them

  DragonQueen: I see. We don't directly interfere but we encourage from the sidelines

  Dangernodel: Exactly. Great minds think alike, my dragon

  DragonQueen: Oh stop it, you danger noodle

  "Kagami!! Come on!!" Marinette shouted, causing her to look up and join them. Luka's face was bright red but he was holding Marinette's hand and she seemed quite happy to do so. Nodding as she walked over, she reminded herself. Encourage from the sidelines. Enough to help but not to hinder. 

  (***)

  "So that's why you should let Adrien go to New York!" Marinette gasped as she came to the end of her speech. Luka was staring at her with amazement, Kagami was nodding and Mr Agreste had his classic stony glare across his face. Marinette swallowed as she looked at him. He didn't looked convinced at all. Marinette couldn't help the thoughts that flooded her mind as she realized Mr Agreste was probably going to say no. Adrien would be so sad because he wouldn't be able to go to New York with his friends or his girlfriend. She went to add more to her argument but Mr Agreste held up his hand, silencing her. She nervously bit her lip as he glared down at her.

  "Young lady, I -"

  "We won't leave here until you agree to let Adrien go!!" Marinette declared with an expression of pure determination. "He deserves to go on this trip!!"

  "Then it's a good thing that I've decided to let Adrien to go along with his classmates," Mr Agreste declared, making the three teenagers blinked as he smiled in a way that made them a little uneasy but the three of them just thought it was because he never smiled.

  "You... have?" Luka asked as Marinette blinked.

  "You three have... convinced me," He stated, smiling in that weird way. "Clearly, the three of you are good friends to my son. Now if you excuse me, I have to attend to some new designs,"

  "R-right," Marinette nodded before smiling. "Thank you, Mr Agreste,"

  He nodded before turning on his heel and walking off. The three of them walked out, still a little shell shocked by the fact that he was letting Adrien go to New York with them. The first one to smile was Kagami though, followed by both Luka and Marinette.

  "We did it," She declared as they walked over to the rest of Marinette's class. Instantly, they began to cheer as they were happy with the outcome. Kagami turned to Marinette and smiled. "I shall inform Adrien of our victory against his father and tell him of your noble deeds,"

  "I mean it wasn't really noble... he deserved to come along with the rest of us and now we can all hang out in New York!!" Marinette grinned, excitedly before turning to Luka. "I'm so glad your class gets to come along as well, Luka! We're gonna have so much fun together!! Oooh we can have hotdogs!!"

  "I can't wait for it either, Mari," Luka smiled. "I've always wanted to see New York..."

  "Oooh! We should do a sleep over on the night before we leave! Then we can get to the coach together!" She grinned, making him smile.

  "That sounds great," He grinned, gently ruffling her hair. "Bakery or the boat?"

  "How about the bakery? We can get some croissants for breakfast," She suggested, making him smile before Juleka cleared her throat, causing them to look at her. Rose was grinning as well.

  "That actually works perfectly because me and Juleka were going to stay over mine," She declared before looking at Marinette. "Plus Luka can help you wake up on time since we all know you're terrible at getting up in the morning,"

  "Hey!! That's not true!!" Marinette gasped as Juleka snored with laughter as she attempted to chase Rose. Unfortunately, she failed to see a loose stone in front of her and tripped over, flailing her arms as she began to fall but before she could hit the ground, Luka caught her.

  "You ok?" He asked with concern as her face turned bright red. She stood up straight and rubbed the back of her head as she smiled nervously.

  "I'm good," She nodded, looking at him before she smiled shyly. "Thank you,"

  "No problem, Mari," He smiled before rubbing his own neck. "Anyway... I better head off. I have a shift to do tonight,"

  "I didn't know you were working tonight," Juleka mumbled, crossing her arms but Luka shrugged.

  "Took on an extra shift," He replied, unlocking his bike. He put on his helmet and turned to everyone. "I'll see you guys later,"

  "Bye, Luka," Marinette smiled as he waved before he cycled off. She let a gentle sigh as she watched him go but jumped when Alya placed her arm around her shoulders.

  "Girl, you have it so bad," She grinned, making Marinette blush as the rest of the class sniggered a little. 

  "You should see Luka," Juleka mumbled. "The love struck fool is head over heels for our favorite baker girl,"

  "Luka... likes me?" Marinette asked but when she thought about it, it did make sense. Luka had wrote songs for her, always complimented her and of course, he had told her that she was the song in his head. She blushed as she remembered the words he said to her when Kitty Section performed at the Kidz plus studio but of course, she had been getting over Adrien then but now... well, now her and Adrien were best friends. He felt her brother and acted like it too but Luka... Luka was amazing. So amazing that she honestly thought he was out of her league and she loved her friendship with him. She felt like she could just be herself and he never thought of her in a bad way. He believed her when Lila returned and stood up for her when she began to bully Marinette again. He supported her and encouraged her but he only liked her as a friend. Besides, he had probably moved on from her. After all, until recently she was tore between him and Adrien. "I mean sure, he likes me. I'm his friend..."

  "Girl, that boy likes you as way more then a friend!" Alya gasped with the rest of the girls nodding.

  "Even I can see how smitten he is with you," Chloe added in, smiling a little. "It's ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous,"

  "But so romantic too!!" Rose gushed, holding her hands together.

  "I would say it is clear how Luka feels about you, Marinette," Kagami piped in, remembering Adrien's advice. Encourage but don't pressure. Help but never hinder. "Maybe you could use the trip to New York to express your feelings to him. Statically speaking, New York is the second most romantic city in the world. The first obviously been Paris,"

  "I d-don't know..." Marinette gasped as a blush came on her cheeks. "What if he actually just likes me as a friend and I ruin our friendship by telling him that I'm in love with him?! What if he rejects me?! Oh, no! He'll hate me and refuse to hang out with me again!!"

  "According to my calculations, there is a 94 % chance that Luka will accept your confession and return your feelings," Max piped in. "There is a 6% chance that he only views you as a friend and 0% chance that he'll reject your confession and end up hating you. I believe it is impossible for Luka to hate anyone, expect XY and Bob Roth but we all know why that is the case,"

  "And Hawkmoth," Alix pointed out. 

  "Yeah but everyone hates Hawkmoth," Kim countered, making everyone nod before turning to Marinette. "Anyway, I'm sure that Luka likes you as way more then a friend. He'll be a doofus not to. Ondine totally agrees too,"

  "Thanks, Kim," Marinette smiled as they walked down the street and towards the bakery. "Alright. I'm gonna head inside. I can't wait to go to New York with everyone,"

  "See you tomorrow, girl," Alya waved as she walked off with Nino. Juleka and Rose said their goodbyes and headed off with Ivan and Mylene. Gradually, the rest of the class waved goodbye and Marinette headed into the apartment. She climbed the stairs and headed into the kitchen, gently kissing Sabine on the cheek before she sat down and began to discuss the school trip with her parents. They were happy for her to go as it was a great opportunity to see the US and it was a reward with the school. They sighed the permission slip and she placed it in her bag, ready for school tomorrow before she ate her dinner. "Actually... would I be able to have Luka round the night before I go to New York? Both of our classes are going and we figured we could do a sleepover so we can both get the coach together,"

  "Well, he'll have to sleep in the spare room but I see no issue with having Luka around," Her mother smiled as her father looked like he was able to explode with excitement. Luka and Marinette had been growing a lot closer and it was clear to him that they had feelings for each other. Been the romantic that he was, he had already attempted to invite Luka to brunch and he fully approved of the boy. He was also so respectful and came across as a kind and gentle soul. "Tom, are you ok with Luka staying over?"

  "Yes! Why don't we have brunch-"

  "Papa, we can't," Marinette gasped, going bright red. "L-Luka isn't interested in me in that way and besides we'll have a plane to catch,"

  "But sweetie-"

  "Papa, we don't want another weredad incident," She stated, crossing her arms. Her father had accidentally walked in her talking with Anatis and jumped to conclusions. He had invited him to a romantic brunch but Anatis had rejected it. He tried to explain that he was just trying to check on Marinette after an akuma had destroyed her room and that he couldn't date her as a superhero. Because of that, he had to rejected Marinette and Tom got akumatized over it. Tom sighed but nodded in agreement. "Good. Now I have home work to do then I'm off to bed. Good night,"

  "Good night, sweetie,"

  ~Meanwhile~

  Luka couldn't help but smile and hum to himself as he cycled down the street. Tikki was sat in his basket, smiling a little as he came to the liberty. His shift had gone well and had been a little short but he wasn't complaining. He took the extra shift so he had decent spending money in New York. He parked his bike and locked it up before Tikki flew up and landed on his shoulder.

  "You're in a really good mood, Luka," She grinned as he headed downstairs. The Captain was out at the studio and Juleka was on a date with Rose so she wouldn't be back til later, which he was glad about. He did not need her to tease him about liking Marinette. 

  "I'm excited, Tikki," He smiled. "I get to go to New York with Marinette and the rest of our friends,"

  "New York?" Tikki gasped. "But who's going to look after Paris?"

  "I already have a plan for that," He smiled, gesturing towards a black and red guitar case. "I'm sure Master Fu will be fine with Kaalki coming to New York with us. I'll also keep an eye with the akuma app. The moment it gets alert-"

  "You'll use the horse miraculous to teleport there, take down the akuma and return to New York," Tikki gasped, grinning. "Very creative,"

  "Well, I do have the goddess of creation as my friend," He smiled, making her giggle. "Anyway, Luka Couffaine will be in New York but Anatis will be in Paris as far as everyone else is concerned,"

  “Well, we better head to Master Fu to ask him for the Horse miraculous,”

  “That’s where we’re going,”

  ~Later that Night~

  Lady Noir grinned as she ran across the rooftops of Paris and jumped across to the meeting spot. There was nothing like the feeling of the wind in her hair as she raced across the roofs. She used her baton to fling herself across the rooftops before rolling on the roof and standing up. She looked around and found that Anatis wasn't here yet. Letting out a little sigh, she sat down on the edge of the roof and smiled as she looked out at the Eiffel tower. It would be weird not been in Paris or meeting Anatis for patrol but she had to be in New York and honestly, she was looking really forward to it, especially with the fact that she will be with Luka. The sound of a yoyo jolted her out of her thoughts, causing her to look and smile as Anatis landed on the roof. 

  "Hey, kitten," He smiled, walking over to her and sitting down.

  "Hey, Annie," She smiled, stretching. "I have some news for you,"

  "Oh?" He asked, looking at her. She nervously bit her lip. Instantly, he felt worried. "Are you ok?"

  "Oh, yeah, I'm fine... look I'm be going away for a few days," She stated, making him look at her as she pressed her fingers together. Instantly, she felt guilty as she realized he would be alone in Paris. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it through. You'll be alone to protect Paris... I'll just cancel-"

  "There's no way am I let you cancel," He grinned, gently nudging her arm with his. "You go and enjoy your trip. As far as I'm concerned, you've earnt it so don't worry about me ok? I can handle a few days without you,"

  "So you're not mad?" Lady Noir asked, making him frown a little. "Or disappointed?"

  "Of course not," He smiled, scratching her ears. She began to purr and nuzzle his hand like an actual cat. "You're allowed to have fun, kitty and if I get really desperate, I can literally phone you and get your location then borrow the horse miraculous from Master Fu and come get you,"

  "Good point," She smiled, feeling a little dumb that she forgot that but Anatis laughed a little, making her smile. "So shall we discuss Mr Pigeon?"

  "Oh kwami. I'm not sure I want to," He gasped, shaking his head as he smirked. "51 times! How is a guy obsessed with pigeons our most akumatized villain?"

  "Tell me about it," She giggled before the two of them began to do really bad impressions of him before laughing. She gently leaned on him as the two of them looked at the Eiffel tower. "At least, he's not very threatening,"

  "True," He replied before looking at her. "So how long you away for?"

  "Five days," She replied, looking at him. "You sure you'll be ok?"

  "I'll be fine," He grinned, placing his hands behind his head. "It will be a breeze,"

  "Ooh, someone's confident," She teased, making him grin before jumping up. "Wanna race to the Louvre? Loser has to buy ice cream!"

  "You're on," He declared, jumping before the two of them ran off into the night.

  ~The Night Before the Flight~

  Marinette laughed as Luka caught a piece of popcorn in his mouth, grinning as he chewed on the piece of candy. He grabbed a piece and threw it towards her. She attempted to catch it but failed, causing him to crack up with laughter along with her before she threw a piece of popcorn at him. It landed in his hair, making her giggle even more. He laughed as well before the two of them flopped down in the beanbags and looked up at her skylight. They had been spending the evening playing video games and watching films but Luka started the popcorn thing by catching one in his mouth and Marinette wanted to see if he could catch one if she threw it.

  "Hey, Mari,"

  "Hmm?"

  "Thanks for having me around," He smiled, turning to look at her. She grinned and turned to face him. He moved and leaned on his arm. "Are you looking forward to New York?"

  "Yeah, I'm not sure how I'm gonna sleep to be honest," She grinned, clearly excited. She was practically vibrating with excitement. "Are you?"

  "Excited? Yeah," He grinned before flopping back down on the beanbags and placing his hands under his head. "It's been a while since I've been on a plane though. In fact, the last time was when I was a kid. We went to go visit my grandpa for his birthday,"

  "Really? Where does he live?"

  "Scotland," Luka grinned. "Right in the highlands too but he's a grumpy old pirate... Scotland is beautiful though,"

  "I bet," She grinned. "I'd love to go to China at some point,"

  "China? That would be exciting,"

  "It really would. Oh, I could go visit my uncle Cheng," She grinned before yawning. Luka yawned as well but before he could get up, she moved and rested on him, making him blush.

  "Aren't I suppose to be staying in the guest room?" He asked as he poked her gently. She looked at him before smiling in a cheeky manner before she snuggled against him. 

  "Yeah but you're comfy," She mumbled, sleepily. He grabbed his phone and set his alarm on it before placing it down. He started to hum gently as he ran his fingers through her hair. Within a few minutes, he could hear light snoring as Marinette had fallen asleep. He smiled gently as he looked at her.

  "Cute," He muttered before closing his own eyes. He fell asleep almost straight away, holding Marinette as he did. Neither of them realized that her parents check in on her and took a photo of the two slumbering teens, cooing over how cute they looked. Once they had disappeared back downstairs, Tikki flew out and pulled a blanket over Luka and Marinette before snuggling back into his hoodie. Plagg, on the other hand, was already napping and dreaming of the American cheeses he would be trying when they got there.

  ~Next Morning~

  "Ah!! We're gonna be so late!!" Marinette gasped as the two of them rushed out of the bakery. Luka was carrying their suitcases and Marinette had their croissants in her hands. For once though, she had been able to get up on time. Luka had helped with that as he often got up early anyway, usually to practice his guitar or his martial arts but this morning, he had woken her up almost as soon as he was awake too. Her father, however, tried to make them breakfast and attempted to get them to stay. Thanks to her mother though, they had managed to escape and were on route to the school. Marinette took out her phone and called Alya. "Hi! We're nearly there. You haven't set off yet?"

  "Not yet, girl but Mrs Mendeleiev is getting impatient," Alya replied as they ran across the road. "Hold up... I think I see you. Mrs Mendeleiev, Mr Damocles!! Luka and Marinette are here!!"

  "Just in time," Luka smiled as they rushed over to the bus driver. "Sorry for been late, sir,"

  "You're just in the time," He smiled, helping them place their suitcases in the luggage area. Luka thanked him and helped Marinette onto the coach. She grinned and took her seat next to Alya as he sat down next to Aurora. 

  "That was cutting it close, Luka," Aurora grinned as the bus driver got on and began to drive. Luka couldn't help but smile as he was super excited. He had the horse miraculous on him and Tikki was happily curled up in his pocket. His phone was set to alert him the moment a live new report or an akuma alert went off and he was going to be spending five days in New York with his friends and of course, Marinette. Not that she was more important then everyone else. Aurora grinned as she gently poked his cheek, causing him to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Sooo... you told her yet?"

  "Told who what?" He asked as he glanced over to Marinette. She was happily chatting to Alya but grinned and waved when she saw Luka looking in her direction. He blushed a little but waved back.

  "That you're in love with Marinette," Aurora gasped in a hushed whisper, making him look at her with surprise. She giggled a little at his expression.

  "That obvious huh?" He asked sheepishly before sighing. "I haven't told her because she's still hung up on Adrien and I don't want to pressure her or make her feel uncomfortable,"

  "Oh, you are too much, Luka Couffaine," Aurora grinned before looking at Marinette. "But I don't think she's... uh... "hung up" on Adrien anymore. Hey, you should totally use New York to confess your love for her,"

  "Well, I kind of already told her my feelings but she hasn't returned them..."

  "Well, maybe that's because she thinks they had an expiry date so she thinks you're no longer interested," Aurora pointed out, making Luka think before gently nudging him. "But at the end of the day, it's down to you. I'll still be your best friend and help you regardless of your choice,"

  "Thanks, Aurora," He smiled.

  "Though... I might steal her away at this rate!!" She grinned, making him pretend gasp.

  "You wouldn't?!"

  ~Meanwhile, on the other side of the bus~

  "Soooo anything interest happen between you and Luka last night?" Alya asked, wiggling her eyebrows. Marinette laughed and gently shoved her, shaking her head. "Come on, girl! Give me the deets,"

  "It was just a normal sleepover, Alya," She smiled, looking over at him. He was talking to Aurora and glanced over to her. She smiled and waved at him, causing him to smile back shyly and wave back before she turned back to Alya. "We gamed, watched a movie, threw popcorn at each other... Luka is really good at catching popcorn with his mouth... and then we went to bed. He was suppose to be staying in the guest room but I kind of fell asleep on him,"

  "So he stayed in the same room as you?!" Rose gushed, making Marinette jump. "Oooh!! So romantic!!"

  "Nooo... it's just what friends do..." She gasped, blushing. Now that she thought about it, it really was romantic and it felt so nice been in Luka's arms and falling to sleep while he hummed softly and played with her hair.

  "Sure," Alya grinned before smiling. "So did you just fall asleep on him?"

  "Well... we were talking beforehand and he was humming and playing with my hair," She mumbled, making the girls go aww. She blushed even more. "W-We're just friends... right?"

  "Maybe but do you want to be more?" Alya asked, making Marinette gasp and look away shyly. Alya frowned a little before deciding to change the subject. "So what's the first thing everyone wants to do in New York? I really wanna see if I can meet Majestia,"

  "Majestia?" Marinette asked, looking at her best friend with a confused look. "Isn't that the superhero from the comic you read?"

  "It is!" Alya gasped, nodding. "But like the miraculous comics, it's based on a real life superhero. Majestia and her sidekick, Uncanny Valley, protect New York, along with Knightowl and his sidekick, Sparrow. In fact, there's a whole super group called United Heroes! If I can, I would love to get an interview with one of them for my blog!!"

  "But isn't your blog about Anatis and Lady Noir?" Rose asked, confused but Alya smiled.

  "Not for that one. I have a lesser known blog called Heroes-Unite. Of course, it's no where near as populate as the Ladyblog but still," She mumbled, blushing a little as the class gasped and looked it up. With minutes, they were all following it. "Anyway, what do you guys want to do?"

  "Me and Juleka want to go to the museums!" Rose grinned, happily before everyone began to tell them what they wanted to do before they all looked at Marinette, who blinked and smiled.

  "Well, other then get hotdogs and hang out with everyone... I really want to take photos of New York. I think I can get some inspiring ones and hopefully I'll be able to make some new pieces based on it,"

  "Aww!! That's gonna be amazing!!" Rose gushed, getting a nod of Juleka.

  "I can't wait to see how it comes out,"

  ~At the Airport~

  "So Marinette seems to think Luka isn't interested in her?" Kagami muttered as she stroked Adrien's hair. His head was in her lap as they were waiting to board the plane.

  "And Luka thinks that Marinette isn't interested in him and that she's too good for him," Adrien sighed as Alya nodded before he sat up. He looked over at where Luka and Marinette were. They were smiling as they chatted, clearly comfortable in each other's company. Nothing like how she was around him. "They would make such a good couple,"

  "I agree," Kagami muttered.

  "We could try and set them up on a date," Nino suggested but Adrien shook his head.

  "If it's to happen, it has to be a natural progression. We can't interfere directly,"

  "But we can encourage," Kagami smiled. "The blueberries deserve to be happy,"

  "Ok, everyone!! The plane is boarding now!!" Mrs Mendeleiev declared, getting everyone to bring to board. Luka smiled and helped Marinette with her case as they looked for their seats.

  "Where are you sat?" Marinette asked, looking up at him.

  "B31," He replied, looking at her.

  "B32! Luka, we sat together!!" She grinned as they walked onto the plane. He smiled as they found their seats. Marinette attempted to lift her suitcase but almost dropped it until he caught it and helped her put it away. She blushed and rubbed her neck. "Thanks, Luka,"

  "No worries, Mari," He smiled, putting his own away before the two of them sat down. Marinette, however, was playing with her hands and looking around. "You ok?"

  "I... I'm really nervous..." She gasped. "Is it hot? It feels hot,"

  "Hang on," He muttered, standing up and turning on the air conditioning. Marinette felt herself cool down as he sat back down before he faced her. "Better?"

  "Much,"

  "Is that your first time flying?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Her song was all jittery and nervous. She blushed and nodded as the captain began to talk. "Don't worry. Flying's really fun and I'll be right here next to you,"

  "Thanks, Luka," Marinette smiled, feeling a lot better as the captain began to talk, going through the safety protocols. She did up her seatbelt and smiled nervously as the plane began to move. Luka gave her a reassuring smile and held out his hand. Shyly smiling, she took it as the plane began to speed up. It suddenly jolted, making her squeeze his hand and close her eyes but then it went smooth again. Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw Luka smiling at her.

  "We're in the air now," He muttered before flicking through the films with his free hand. "Wanna watch Miraculous: The Movie?"

  "Sure," She smiled. He smiled back and pressed play, keeping his hand in hers as they watched the film. Marinette ended up leaning against him and gradually she felt asleep as the plane flew. When she next opened her eyes, she found a blanket over her but the seat next to her empty. She yawned and looked around, noticing everyone else was asleep but she couldn't see Luka. She carefully got up and made her way past the rest of the passengers. Alya and Nino were sleeping next to each other. Rose and Juleka were curled up in each other's arms while Mylene and Ivan snoozed near them. Marc had his head resting on Nathaniel's shoulder and Adrien was leaning against Kagami. Marinette smiled gently before she noticed someone stood at the rear of the plan. She frowned a little but realized it was Luka. He was stood on his own, looking outside the window. She blushed a little as he kind of reminded her of Anatis and how he would stand looking out from her balcony. She walked over and cleared her throat, making him look at her. "You ok?"

  "Yeah... I just wanted to look out of the window..." He smiled, looking back. "It's like a whole different world up here. I like how we're sailing in a sea of clouds,"

  "Yeah?" She asked before looking over. The sun was slowly rising so the clouds appeared in a golden light. Marinette couldn't help the soft gasp that escaped her lips as she glanced outside. It was so beautiful. She felt a sense of calm wash over her as she stood next to Luka and just looked outside. "It's really beautiful,"

  "Yeah," He smiled. "I might write a song about it,"

  "I should make a dress based on it," She grinned, making him smile before she gasped and pointed as a flock of birds flew by. He chuckled and smiled gently as she continued to look. 

  "I'm glad I can share this with you," He muttered, causing her to ask if he said something. He shook his head and looked back out of the window. He glanced down as Tikki gently poked his leg before grinning up at him and mouthed 'tell her'. Luka bit his lip and looked at her. He could tell her that he loved her. The sunrise was really romantic and everyone was asleep so she wouldn't be embarrassed. "Marinette, I ha-"

  Before he could completely his sentence, the plane jolted causing the two of them to be slammed against the floor. Luka gasped and helped Marinette to her feet, making sure she wasn't hurt. The two of them looked outside as a blue man in an orange jumpsuit landed on the wing of the plane but before either could react, he placed his hands on the plane and caused the engine to stop working, causing the plane to go lob-sided and an alert to go off. Luka groaned as his back hit the side of the plane before he looked at Marinette who was stuck against the other side of the window.

  "Are you ok?" He called out, making her look at him.

  "Y-yeah... bit scared though," She replied.

  "Don't worry, sweethearts," A female voice suddenly said, making them look to the side. A girl with three eyes was looking in the window. She was smiling as she looked at them. "We have the situation under control. Dear passengers, united heroes are here to protect you,"

  In the distance, they both heard Alya gasp and squeal with excitement. 

  "Uncanny valley!!" She gasped. "The first superhero made with artificial intelligence! She was built by Majestia... which means...!"

  Both Marinette and Luka looked at each other as Alya squealed but to their surprise, the plane stopped tilting and actually became upright again. As soon as they're feet were on the ground, Luka grabbed Marinette's hand and rushed back over their seats.

  "Are you hurt?" He asked, concern in his face.

  "No, I'm ok," She gasped, looking just as concerned. "Are you?"

  "I'm fine,"

  "Wow, Majestia in person!!" Alya gasped, making them look over at her. "So cool!"

  "Well... at least, Alya's excited?" Luka mumbled as she looked out the window. He rose an eyebrow as Mr Damocles rushed to the bathroom but an explosion outside caught his attention. He quickly got up and looked out a window as a man dressed like an owl landed on the wing with a side kick. Alya confirmed that it was in the Knightowl and Luka found himself impressed as he captured the thief quickly. He watched as the three eyed girl fixed the engine, allowing a blonde woman who he guessed was Majestia to fly up as the plane was fully functional now. She flew over to the window with the three eyed girl and smiled.

  "I'd like to welcome you to the united states and enjoy your stay," Majestia stated as she waved at them before flying off with the thief and the rest of the heroes. Almost instantly, Alya began to fangirl but Luka returned to his seat and turned to Marinette. 

  "You sure you're ok?"

  "Well... that was a bit scary but american superheroes... how cool is that?"

  "It is pretty cool," He smiled, nodding. Fortunately, the rest of the flight was normal and uneventful. They landed with no trouble and got their luggage almost straight away. Once in the airport, the classes were put onto another coach to drive them to the location they would be staying at. Marinette was sat back with Alya while Luka was sat with Aurora, who was happily chatting away about the heroes and the thief who apparently was called Techno pirate but she soon stopped talking and frowned as Luka sighed.

  "You ok, guitar boi?" She asked, making him look at her.

  "Yeah... I just... I tried to tell her but that thief turned up..." He sighed. "Why is it every time I try to tell her my feelings something goes wrong?"

  "Hey, that's not the case. It was just bad timing on Techno pirate's end, not yours," She grinned before gently nudging him. "Besides, your luck will line up. Everyone knows you're the luckiest kid in school so just pluck up some courage and tell her,"

  "Thanks, Aurora," He muttered, looking over at Marinette as she took in New York with glee and awe. His eyes softened as he looked at her. She looked beautiful as she smiled and pointed out things to Alya.

  ~Meanwhile~

  "The little croissants are en route," Sparrow declared in the earpiece as Uncanny Valley flew towards the building's roof. She landed on the roof and turned into her human form. In it, she wore a cute gray skirt with tights and a pink faded t-shirt with three stars on it. Her hair had transformed into dark curls which she wore loose and she had ballet pumps on.

  "Good, don't leave them," Knightowl ordered as the bus came to a stop. Sparrow fired their grapple gun and pulled themselves onto the roof as well before turning into their civilian form. She wore a faded blue jeans with a top that was styled similar to a baseball shirt. It was red on the arms and the main part of it was white but it had a yellow sun in the middle of it. Her hair was tied into two braids tied with leather binds. She grabbed her skateboard and head to join Uncanny Valley downstairs as the french kids came in. 

  "Two of them are missing," Valley stated, looking around before she noticed them at the door. Marinette was attempting to get her suitcase in while trying to get the door to open. Luka was trying to get her to let him help so she could open the door. "There they are,"

  She placed her hand on the door switch and used her powers to cause it to open. However, Marinette ended up tripping and falling over her suitcase. Luka rushed over and helped up as it got the attentions of some of the other teenagers in there. A guy in gray pants, yellow shirt and a dark green jacket walked over and helped them.

  "You guys alright?" He asked, getting a nod of Marinette as Luka helped her collect the things that fell out of her suitcase. She gave him a bashful smile as he handed them back to her. "Hey, nice hair dude,"

  "Thanks," Luka muttered, helping Marinette to her feet before turning to Mason. "I'm Luka. This is Marinette. We're from Dupont high in Paris,"

  "Dude, you're the French kids everyone's been talking about," He grinned, shaking Luka's hand. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Mason by the way. I'm here with my class too. We're from Armstrong High in Queens,"

  "Cool," Luka smiled as Sparrow joined Uncanny Valley. She rolled her eyes as she looked at them.

  "Urg!! Babysitting some tourists!" She groaned, placing her skateboard down and sitting down as she crossed her arms. "Don't they have something better for us to do?"

  "Those two are made from each other," Valley stated as she sat down on the edge of the sofa, causing Sparrow to groan as she looked at Luka and Marinette.

  "Seriously, Aeon, not again!"

  "But I'm programmed to help people, Jess," She replied, a little confused by Jess's reaction. Jess gently placed her hand on her shoulder and smiled.

  "Just stop meddling with people's private lives," She suggested, causing Aeon to frown a little before she nodded.

  "You're right," She smiled. "Let's just follow the orders and protect the tourists,"

  Both girls looked up as Mrs Mendeleiev clapped her hands, getting her class's attention.

  "Listen up, students. You will go to your rooms by groups of four. Everyone, come take your artillery," She ordered, causing the students to come up to her and grab them. Once all of the students had their papers, she narrowed her eyes. "And when I come up in two and half minutes, you better be in your rooms with the lights out,"

  A few of the class moaned and protested as they began to head towards the rooms but Mason leaned over.

  "Hey, blueberries," He whispered, getting Marinette and Luka's attention. "We're throwing a little party on the roof if you're interested. Hang with us but be quiet ok?"

  He smiled and looked over at Sabrina before winking at her then walking off. She went bright red as Alya walked over. 

  "I think there's an American boy who would like to see you there, Sabrina," She grinned as Marinette nodded. She smiled shyly and looked at her feet a little.

  "You... you think so?" She asked as Chloe walked over.

  "It's obvious," She declared. "And he would be totally ridiculous not to like you. Anyway, come on. We're sharing a room,"

  "All of us?" Marinette asked as they headed to their rooms. Luka smiled at her as he walked with Nino, Adrien and Ivan. She waved at him, getting a wave back before they all headed into their room. She closed the door and turned to the other girls. "Ok, what's the plan?"

  "Waiting til Mendeleiev has gone to her room then we're sneaking to the roof," Alya declared, getting a nod of the other two before she grinned at her phone. "The boys are down for it as well,"

  "As are the rest of Kitty Section and the art kids," Marinette grinned as her phone vibrated.

  "Kim and Max are planning to join us too as well as the weather girls and Kagami," Chloe confirmed as Sabrina listened to the door. As soon as they heard the door to Mrs Mendeleiev's room close, they all sneaked out and began to head to the roof. 

  "What's that noise?!" Mrs Mendeleiev suddenly shouted, causing the students to gasp and dive into random rooms. Marinette took a deep breathe as she heard the teacher come out before she went back in. She looked to the side, expecting to be alone and squeaked a little as someone was leaning against the door too. She calmed down as she realized it was Luka, who looked a little startled too before he smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

  "Sorry, Mari. I didn't mean to scare you," He muttered before they both noticed they had wondered in someone else's room. The two girls were sat on the bed. One of them glared them while the other looked excited to see them. "Oh, we're so sorry. We were just trying to get to the roof but our teacher heard us..."

  "Uh... hi... I'm Marinette and this is my boy- I mean friend! Uh... Luka... this is my Luka... I mean Luka... just Luka.." She gasped as he waved. The excited girl leaned over and smiled.

  "See... they're made for each other," She attempted to whisper but both Marinette and Luka heard her. Marinette went bright red and started to mumble while Luka went completely silent and a little red as well.

  "I think you broke them," The other girl stated, rolling her eyes. "I'm Jess and this is my sister, Aeon. Anyway, if you want to get to the roof without getting caught, you can take the stairs outside,"

  "Thanks," Marinette grinned before grabbing Luka's hand which knocked him out of his trance.

  "Uh... t-thanks..." He stuttered, making Marinette look at him. He honestly looked like he was about to hyperventilate but he gave her a soft smile. "Withdrawal..."

  "Ah, yeah. You couldn't bring her with you," She muttered, making the two girls raise an eyebrow as Marinette opened the window. "Maybe someone will let you borrow theirs,"

  "Borrow? Withdrawal?" Jess questioned as she looked at them. "Are you... ok?"

  "Oh, Luka's a musician and music helps him... how did you put it?"

  "Music is often simpler then words," He muttered, blushing a little. "I use it talk I guess..."

  "Hmm..." Jess muttered before getting up and grabbing an acoustic guitar before shoving it in his hands. She then grabbed a second one. "Well, let's head to the roof and hear your music. Come on, Aeon,"

  "Yay!!" She grinned, jumping up as Marinette climbed out the window. Luka thanked Jess, putting the guitar on his back before he followed Marinette with the other two behind them. 

  "Wow," Marinette gasped as they got onto the roof. It was lit up with fairy-lights and almost all of the students were there, talking and just hanging. Luka stood next to her and smiled, looking around as well. Alya and Nino were getting selfies with some of the students, the rest of Kitty section were sat with other musicians, playing music and singing. Kim was doing press ups against another kid with a few kids filming. Max was explaining Markov to others as Alix talked to a girl with bright green hair. Kagami was showing off her fencing skills and Adrien was talking in Chinese. Aurora and Mireille were chatting with other students too. Chloe and Sabrina were chatting with Mason and his friend. Jess and Aeon came over.

  "Alright, music boi, let's see what you can do," Jess declared before she sat down and began to play an upbeat song which caused people to begin to dance. Luka closed his eyes and listened before opening them again. He looked around and smiled as his luck vision highlighted Ivan, Rose, a girl with a tambourine and a few other instruments. He walked over and whispered something to Ivan, who grinned and nodded before telling Rose and the tambourine girl then he grabbed the other instrument. He gave Juleka a flute and handed Adrien a ukulele before walking back over as Jess rose an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

  "What I do best," He smiled before sitting down and closing his eyes before tapping his hand against the guitar. Ivan began to play and gradually the others joined in. Luka kept his eyes closed as he took it in before he began to play. The whole song was so upbeat and full of energy that it made people want to dance and clap in time with it. Jess couldn't help but smile as Luka skillfully played a melody that no one had ever heard before joining in. Aeon grinned and began dancing as the tempo got faster and faster. Luka smiled and glanced up at Marinette who was laughing and dancing with Alya and Chloe. He smiled and continued playing before the song gradually came to a natural stop, causing the students to clap and whistle.

  "What was that song, dude?" Mason asked as Jess nodded. "Did you write it?"

  "Uh... I just play what I feel... had to get the rest involved though since there's some many songs out here tonight," Luka muttered, making them raise an eyebrow but Marinette walked over and smiled.

  "Luka can hear the songs in people's hearts," She explained. "What he just played is what he heard in the hearts of everyone here,"

  "Whoa," Mason gasped as Luka smiled before he began to play a solo tune. Gradually, the others joined in again but the music came to a stop as something appeared in the sky. Luka stood up as Marinette stared into the sky. Adrien dropped the ukulele as Kagami stared with wide eyes as a flying machine came towards them. It was red and orange in color and a man with a matching suit seemed to be flying it.

  "What is that?" Luka gasped as the rest of the classes surrounded them. Mason laughed and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

  "That is Hotdog Dan!" He yelled out as it landed. A parasol popped out as it turned into a food van, revealing the man inside. He had an orange and red mask on and was dressed as a superhero. His hair resembled flames and he was grinning. 

  "Hey, hey, hey. Hotdog Dan is here to get in the mood!" He declared, taking out his blades and began to serve up hotdogs. The students rushed over in a swarm and began to get his hotdogs. Adrien grabbed Kagami's hand and rushed over as Rose ran over to buy one for her and Juleka. "I'm the hero of Picnics and tasty food!"

  "Usually, he teams up with Ketchup Boy and Mustard Girl but it looks like he's patrolling solo tonight," Jess explained before she glanced over. "You might want to hurry if you want to try one of his magic hotdogs though. They sell out in minutes,"

  "Magic... hotdogs?" Marinette gasped as she looked over. A boy with red hair took a bit into her hotdog and then to her surprise, he blew out a bit of fire that resembled a dragon. A blonde girl took a bite of hers, which caused her skin to turn a glowing blue. She laughed along with her friends. Rose ate hers and literally lifted Ivan above her head while Juleka's hotdog allowed her to change her hair color into anything she wanted. Adrien literally gave him cat ears while Kagami gained a bit super speed. Another girl had a fire breathing one, allowing her to create a dragon from fire and Sabrina's gave her long hair with flowers into it, similar to Rapunzel. Marinette's eyes went huge with excitement before she turned to Luka. "We have to try those!!"

  She didn't wait for an answer before she grabbed his hand and rushed over to Hotdog Dan as Alya and Nino walked over too. Hotdog Dan frowned as he saw the four of them.

  "Sorry, guys, I only have two hotdogs left for the four of you," He frowned, disappointed but Nino shook his head and took out his cash.

  "No worries, dude. My girl and I can take one," He smiled, buying them before he handed one to Marinette. "You can take the other. My treat,"

  He winked and pushed Marinette's hand away as she went to give Nino a bit of money for the hotdog before Alya handed him half of theirs.

  "Thanks, babe," He smiled as Marinette turned to Luka.

  "Here, you should have it. I can get a hotdog later," She smiled, offering it to him but Luka smiled softly. He picked it up and broke it half. She blinked as he handed her the other half. "Are you sure?"

  "Yeah. There's no way I'm letting you miss out on these ones," He smiled, causing her to blush and smile back as she took the hotdog half. The two of them smiled as they bit into them. Almost instantly, they began to float up into the air. Marinette gasped and flailed around but Luka grabbed her hand as he gasped, surprised at the fact they were floating. Nino and Alya were laughing at their reactions but apparently, their hotdog had the effect of helium. Jess and Aeon couldn't help but laugh as Marinette gasped as she looked down.

  "You were right," She mumbled, looking at Aeon and getting Alya's attention. "Those two are made for each other,"

  "Oh, with those two, things aren't that simple," She explained in a high pitched voice which made both girls give her a questioning look. "Luka has been in love with Marinette for like... forever but Marinette had a huge crush on Adrien. However, she realized that she also had a huge crush on Luka but she wasn't sure how to deal with but then Adrien started to date Kagami and Marinette decided to let him go and move on from her crush on him. She still has feelings for Luka but thinks he only thinks of her as a friend and Luka thinks she's still hung over Adrien. Also they both think each other deserves better then themselves and that's not even including Marinette's crush on our local superhero Anatis,"

  "Whoa... that's complicated," Jess nodded as Marinette began to relax. She spun upside down and grinned at Luka, who laughed a little too much that he floated away slightly. Marinette gasped and grabbed his hand, pulling him back to her. They both blushed as they looked into each other’s eyes, not realizing how close they were. Jess grinned as she looked at them then at her guitar. "Hey, squeaky,"

  "The name's Alya but... yes?"

  "Alya... cool... do they have a favorite song?" Jess asked as Adrien walked over. He took out his phone and showed her a song on his phone.

  "They danced together at Chloe's party to that," He explained, getting a nod of Jess who began to play it. Luka gasped as he heard it. He looked down and saw everyone had started dancing to it as Jess played the song. He looked back at Marinette who was looking at the moon before she looked at him and smiled.

  "We danced to this at Chloe's party," She mumbled, playing with her hands. "It's actually one of my favorite memories despite that akuma. I got to make macaroons with you..."

  "It's one of my favorite memories too," He admitted, blushing a little before looking at her. The moonlight illuminated her, giving her an ethereal sort of glow. Her hair seemed a little bright then usual and she looked happy. Luka gently took her hand in his, making her look at him as he smiled. "Would... would you like to dance again?"

  "Yeah... I would," She smiled, placing her spare hand on his shoulder. He smiled back and placed his hand on her waist as they began to dance. He spun her around, causing her to giggle before he pulled her closer to him. She carefully placed her arms around his neck and leaned into him. She couldn't help but smile happily as he held her close. She closed her eyes as they gently spun round in the air. Gradually, the effect of the magic hotdog began to wear off. Marinette gasped in fear, scared that they would just suddenly fall but Luka gave her a reassuring smile as they slowly descended from the sky. Gradually, their feet touched the ground but instead of separating, Marinette just smiled and leaned against him as the song continued to play. Luka smiled and closed his eyes as they couldn't to sway and move to the music, leaving the two of them in their own little bubble as Adrien and Kagami joined Nino and Alya. Kagami smiled as they watched them.

  "They appear to be making progress," She stated, getting a nod of Adrien.

  "I'm happy for them," He smiled as his cat ears twitched. "Luka helps ground Marinette but she helps him come out of his shell,"

  "So he's pretty shy then?" Jess asked, getting a nod of the four.

  "Yeah, he only recently started to go to school. He use to be home educated but after some time, he decided to join the school," Alya nodded as Rose gushed over them and Juleka just smiled. "I think shyness kind of runs in the family,"

  "Oh?" Jess asked, looking at her.

  "Well, Juleka is his sister. He's only older by her then a year so he's in the year above us but she's super shy too," Alya replied, nodding towards her. "I often forget they are Couffaines,"

  "Couffaines?"

  "It's their name and believe me when I say, they may be shy but Chaos is in their blood," She chuckled, making pretty much everyone smile or laugh. "I think that's why Rose and Marinette are drawn to them. They're pretty chaotic themselves. Marinette can be really clumsy and Rose... well, she is energy incarnate,"

  "Sound like my kind of people," Jess grinned as Aeon nodded excitedly.

  "You should meet the captain," Adrien grinned, making them look at him with confused expression. "The captain is the head of the Couffaine family. She is literally like a real life pirate. Ah what is it she says?"

  "From Chaos comes creativity," Ivan piped up as he walked over with Mylene. "Marinette's parents are really cool as well,"

  "Yeah, they run the best bakery in all of Paris," Adrien grinned as Jess listened. "The croissants are amazing,"

  "Awesome," She smiled. "So what about you? What's your family like?"

  "Oh... well... um..." Adrien muttered, suddenly looking sad. Kagami frowned and took his hand before turning to Jess.

  "His family is a sensitive subject," She stated in her usual manner. "Could we change the subject?"

  "Yeah, of course," Jess answered, nodding before she grinned. "Why don't you tell us about this Anatis dude you mentioned? You said he was a local superhero? Can you tell us about him?"

  "Yes, we would love to know more," Aeon agreed as Alya practically shook with excitement. "Like does he work alone? Or-"

  "He has a partner!" She gasped, taking out her phone and showing them pictures. "Anatis and Lady Noir! They're such badass and so nice too!! There's other heroes too!! Culpeo, Abellie and Leatherback are part of his inner circle but there's others too like Ryuko and Aspik!!”

  "And we've lost her," Adrien smiled as he glanced back over at Marinette and Luka. They were still dancing and Luka had his eyes closed. Marinette caught Adrien looking and grinned at him as he gave her a thumbs up before closing her eyes and continued to dance. 

  ~The Next Day~

  "Soo how was your dance with Luka last night?" Alya asked as her and Marinette got off the bus. Marinette had been sighing happily all morning but neither girl had a chance to talk. After the party last night, they were all really tired so they went to bed pretty quickly and this morning, they had breakfast with everyone. Alya knew better to talk to Marinette about Luka when he was in ear shot. 

  "It was so romantic, Alya," She smiled, almost walking into something. She shook her head and turned back to Alya, who had gone quiet. "Do you- Alya?"

  "Oh my gosh!!" She gasped, pointing to a teacher. "That teacher over there!! That's Dean Gate aka Doorman. He has the ability to transform any door into a teleportation passage! Oh, that is soo cool! Superheroes don't necessarily need to hide their true identity here!! Amazing!!! Ah, I have to ask him for a quote for my blog!!"

  With that, she walked away as Marinette smiled. Luka noticed and walked over.

  "Alya seems excited," He mumbled, getting a nod of Marinette as Alya talked to Mr Gate.

  "Apparently, that teacher is a superhero called Doorman but his identity is public knowledge,"

  "Really?" He asked, imagining what his life would be like if everyone knew he was Anatis. Marinette nodded. "How strange but I guess he doesn't have an insane miraculous user trying to steal his miraculous,"

  "Yeah, that's true," She nodded, subconsciously stroking her ring before turning to him. "Shall we go inside?"

  "Yeah," He smiled as they walked in, following the other students. Seeing Jess and Aeon there, Luka smiled and waved at them as they walked inside the area. Mr Gate clapped his hands and asked them to follow him as they walked through the museum. Luka couldn't help but look around as they checked out the displays. They made their way over to the special display that had been put up for the French American friendship week. The class came to a stop in front of the display as Mr Gate gestured to it.

  "This is the famous saber of the marquis Lafayette," He explained, pointing towards it before he pointed towards a necklace. "And here is the necklace he presented to George Washington as a symbol of friendship between the French and the American people,"

  Luka glanced over at it and suddenly, it was like a pulse when through his mind, causing him to groan and grip his head. His mind was pounding and he stepped back.

  "Mr Couffaine?" Mr Gate asked, concerned as Marinette gasped, gently placing her hand on his arm. "Are you ok?"

  "Y-Yeah... I just have a headache... I'm fine.." He gasped, looking up. As soon as he saw the necklace again, another pulse hit him and another like a wave, causing him to groan and stumble back as images began to flash through his mind. "C-Can... I get some fresh air?"

  "Yes, of course," He nodded, causing Luka to rush out of the building. Marinette came with him and made sure he was ok. Once he was outside, he pounding headache disappeared, allowing him to breathe in. He assured that he was fine and that it was just a headache before sending her back inside. As soon as she was gone, Tikki flew out of his pocket.

  "Are you ok?" She asked, concerned. He nodded and took out his bottle of water, taking a slip. "What happened?"

  "I'm not sure," He muttered, looking at her. "I just... It felt like... I was getting hit by something... like some sort of energy and there were... images flashing in my mind. Tikki, it felt like magic,"

  "That's strange," She mumbled, frowning. "Think you'd be ok to go back inside so we can look at it?"

  "Sure," He nodded, getting up. She flew into his pocket and he headed back in. He headed back into the room where the display was, noting it was empty. He walked over but groaned again as the pulse hit him again. Tikki flew out and moved over to it, looking at it as Luka gripped his head. "T-Tikki,"

  "Luka!!" She gasped as he fell to the ground. "Luka?!"

  Flashes of the marquis and the necklace flashed through his mind as he gripped his head. His eyes began to change silver as he continued to see them before he started to make sense of them. He saw the Marque talking to a small creature he recognized as a kwami and saw how he used the power to help liberate people. Gradually, the images disappeared and he carefully sat up, scoping up Tikki. 

  "Are you ok?" She asked, placing her paw on his face.

  "Yeah... I think it's a miraculous," He whispered, making her gasp and look at it but before he could explain more, his phone vibrated. He took it out and saw it was an akuma alert. He got up and ran over to a pillar to hide behind. He took out the sunglasses that were the horse miraculous and put them on, allowing Kaaiki to manifest as they changed into normal glasses.

  "Hello, Master Luka," She stated in a bored manner. "You know the words,"

  "Kaaiki, full gallop," He declared, causing her to be sucked into the glasses, transforming him into Appalo. With his transformation complete, he made a circle movement with his hand, creating a ring of energy around his wrist before he threw across the room as he focused on the Eiffel tower. "Voyage!!"

  The ring transformed into a portal which he stepped through bringing him into Paris. It disappeared straight away as he looked down and frowned as the destruction the akuma had been making.

  "Kaaiki, Dismount," He muttered, catching the kwami and give her a baby carrot as Tikki flew out. He turned to the two kwami. "Tikki, spots on!"

  A red light engulfed him, turning him into Anatis before he looked at Kaaiki. She finished the carrot and gave him a nod. He took off the glasses and placed them in his yoyo before diving off the tower and swinging off into the city, following the trail of destruction. He landed on a nearby building as Robustus literally destroyed another.

  "Robustus?" He whispered, frowning as that didn't make sense. Robustus was Max's Robot Markov but they were in New York with the rest of the class so how the hell did he get akumatized in Paris? Frowning to himself, he threw his yoyo in the air and called for a lucky charm. He frowned as he caught a length of rope before looking around. Robustus himself lit up then the rope and then a man on the street who was looking at the monster in shock. Knowing what to do, he swung down and used the rope to tied up the robot before landing in front of the man. His luck vision zoomed in on the man's watch and he frowned as he realized it was discolored.

  "I... I didn't... I don't know how it appeared," The man gasped in shock, making Anatis frown. "I was just feeling low and then the next thing I know that thing appeared,"

  "Can I borrow your watch?" He asked, causing the man to shake and nod but he suddenly tried to punch Anatis, causing him to grab his arm and take off the watch before he crushed it in his hand. To his surprise, it wasn't an akuma that escaped but an amok. He caught it with his yoyo before grabbing the ropes and throwing them up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!"

  The swarm fixed everything and the man looked confused as Anatis bid him farewell before he threw his yoyo and swung off. Once on the rooftops away from the scene, he opened his yoyo and took out the feather, examining it. 

  "Mayura..." He muttered, looking at it with a frown. "But why...."

  His yoyo vibrated, making him open it and click on the notification. It was a live steam on the ladyblog, showing a bright blue villain with four tentacle like arms fighting uncanny valley and Sparrow in the museum. He frowned as he wasn't sure why it was on the Ladyblog but it seemed the villain was similar to Techno Pirate but more powerful. He frowned to himself but then Lady Noir suddenly appeared on screen, throwing her baton towards the villain. However, he knocked it back and grabbed her with one of his tentacle before slamming her into a wall. Doorman appeared on screen, calling for Sparrow, Uncanny Valley and Lady Noir to get through one of his teleportation portal but Techno Pirate grabbed Valley with one of his arms and declared her powers his before throwing her against the wall. He then destroyed Doorman's door and repeatedly fired at them with a move similar to her third eye. Sparrow attempted to jump at him but was caught and throw into a different room. Lady Noir rushed in to help him as Doorman rushed over to Alya, who was still filming.

  "You need to get out of here," He declared, causing the live stream to cut off. Anatis frowned to himself and activated the dimension pocket in his yoyo. He took out the horse miraculous and put them on, allowing Kaaiki to manifest again.

  "Kaaiki," He declared, holding out one of his hands before he held out the other. "Tikki... unify,"

  He held his hands together, changing his spots to white as he merged the miraculous. His boots gained wing like details and his gloves got a white strip on them. His mask transformed into speed googles with darkened lens and he gained the horse shoe on his back. He drew the circle with his hand before opening the portal. He walked through and frowned as he stepped into the museum, just as Tikki manifested turning him into his normal horse outfit. He reached into his pocket and took out a cookie for her. She grinned and took it as he leaned down and touched the dust. Using his horse vision, he looked around for anything to stand out but to his surprise, he found the Doorman under an airplane model. He rushed over and lifted it off him before checking his pulse. Luckily, he was alive. He groaned and blinked as he saw him.

  "W-Who..." He gasped in pain. "A-Are you?"

  "I'm Appalo," He explained as he helped him to his feet. He glanced around and saw no one else in there so he helped Doorman out of the museum and to where the staff were. One of them rushed over and took Doorman off him as Tikki finished her cookie. He took out his communication device and opened it up, tracking where Lady Noir was. Apparently, she was on the New York times building which appeared to be on the other side of New York. A beep made him frown before he looked to Tikki.

  "Tikki, you charged?" He asked, making her nod. "Alright. Tikki, Kaaiki unify,"

  He turned back into his merged form, making a few people gasp before Kaaiki appeared, turning him back into Anatis. He took off his glasses and placed them into his yoyo before he took out a purple macaroon. Doorman rose an eyebrow as he ate it.

  "Power up," He muttered, transforming into his Asteroid form before he turned to the stunned hero. "Doorman, get in contact with Majestia and let her know Techno pirate has escaped and is at the New Times building,"

  "W-Will do," He nodded, getting a nod of Asteroid. "But... what are you going to do?"

  "Help the heroes fighting him," He replied before he broke into a run. He threw his yoyo up and pulled himself into the air before flying off as fast as he can. He reached the New York Times tower, just as Techno pirate grabbed Lady Noir with one of his arms. Uncanny Valley was laid on the floor but she was broken. It appeared that Techno pirate had ripped in half. Sparrow was trapped in one of his other arms but appeared to be unconscious and Lady Noir was struggling as he tightened his arm around her. She gasped in pain as he heard a crunch as if something had broken.

  "Say goodbye to your new friend, kitty cat," Pirate laughed before he dropped the unconscious Sparrow off the building. Lady Noir cried out and struggled even more but Pirate just laughed. Asteroid narrowed his eyes before diving down pass Pirate. "What was that?!"

  He caught Sparrow and flew back up before landing on the roof.

  "Spots off," He declared, changing into his normal form as he placed Sparrow down next to Valley. Pirate turned to him as Lady Noir gasped. "Hey! Big and ugly! Why don't you pick on someone you're on size?!"

  "Annie!!" She gasped in relief. Anatis took out his yoyo and threw it up.

  "Lucky charm!!" He yelled out but Pirate grabbed him around the waist. He grabbed the lucky charm in time and used it to blast a puff of air into Pirate's eyes, distracting him for a few seconds. He wrapped his yoyo around the ariel on the roof and Lady Noir used her baton and cataclysm to escape but it only damaged his arms. The two of them jumped across the roof, spinning their weapons as Pirate blasted them with Valley's power but before he could do any more damage, Majestia appeared and punched him, sending him flying throughout different buildings. Lady Noir groaned as she held her ribs, hissing a little. Anatis turned to her and cupped her face. "Are you ok?"

  "I think he crushed my ribs but..." She looked over at Sparrow and Uncanny Valley, causing Majestia to look over. She let out a cry of despair and rushed over, crying as she held the upper body of Uncanny Valley. They heard the sound of a grapple hook as Knightowl appeared and stopped as he looked at the scene before he rushed over to Sparrow. He held the child in his arms before looking angrily at the two french heroes.

  "What did you two do?!" He snarled, making Lady Noir glare at him.

  "It wasn't us! It was Techno Pirate!" She argued. "In fact, Sparrow would be dead if Annie hadn't turned up! He saved him from been splatted on the ground! Ah!"

  She gasped and gripped her ribs, making Anatis frown. He looked over at the scene before he took out the bike pump.

  "Oh, what are you going to do? Fix it with a magical bike pump?!" Knightowl mocked.

  "Exactly that," Anatis replied before throwing it up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!!"

  The bike pump burst into the magical swarm, which spread around New York, fixing all the damage before it swarmed around Lady Noir, Sparrow and Uncanny Valley. When it disappeared, Sparrow sat up and looked around. Uncanny Valley was repaired and opened her eyes, smiling as she saw her mother.

  "Rebooting," She muttered as Anatis turned to Lady Noir, who was no longer in pain and completely fixed. 

  "Oh! Man, I love that feeling," She gasped as Majestia turned to Anatis.

  "Thank you but... why are you in New York?" She asked, confused. Lady Noir gasped, panicked but Anatis stepped up.

  "We were following a lead regarding Hawk Moth's identity. I suspected it might have been someone who had connections to New York and Paris..." He muttered, making the hero nod. However, Knightowl was angry as he stormed over.

  "You two are dangerous!" He declared, causing Anatis to step in front of Lady Noir protectively. Sparrow, however, rushed in front of them too. "I suspect that Techno pirate had his power increased because of you!"

  "No, they were j-" Sparrow tried to argue.

  "So are you! You disobeyed and didn't call it in!" He growled before turning to Lady Noir and Anatis. "I don't care why you're here but I'm ordering you to revert to your civilian identities and hand me the source of your power! You'll get it back when you leave. We don't not need amateur heroes running around,"

  "Firstly, you're super rude, do you know that?!" Anatis growled back, causing Knightowl to act surprised. Lady Noir smirked as she realized no one had ever spoke to him in that before. "And secondly, your protege tried their damn best and deserves a better mentor then you! And finally, don't you dare blame us for something that a villain did!!"

  "Why you!?!" Knightowl growled before pointing at Anatis. "You liste-"

  "No, you listen!" He growled. "Me and my partner are not to blame for a villain's actions and neither is your protege! In fact, they tried their damn hardest and probably didn't have a way to contact you but instead of giving them the benefit of the doubt and actually listening to what they have to say, you just assume that their actions were based on childish decisions without even knowing the full facts and to add insult to injury, you actually have the nerve to try and order me about!"

  "Young man-," Majestia started.

  "Anatis! My name is Anatis since neither of you bothered to ask," He declared, making Sparrow, Lady Noir and Uncanny Valley hold back giggles. Sparrow leaned over to Lady Noir.

  "Is he always this sassy?"

  "Oh yeah. You should have seen him when he ripped into the style queen," She whispered, causing Valley to gasp.

  "The Style Queen? As in Audrey Bourgeois?" She gasped, making Lady Noir nod. Both of the New York heroes looked at him with awe. "Wow... he's so cool,"

  "Oh yeah," Lady Noir grinned as Anatis continued to argue with Knightowl.

  "Why you!" Knightowl growled but Majestia placed her hand on his shoulder.

  "Anatis, I understand the frustration but you're not in Paris and you two are extremely dangerous," She stated, making them look at her. She looked to Lady Noir. "I don't know exactly what your power is but I saw what you did to Techno Pirate's arms and you... your power could be used to create danger-"

  "The lucky charm doesn't work that way," Anatis argued, taking a step back as Knightowl growled and stepped forward.

  "I understand but you need to surrender the source of your power," Majestia nodded. Lady Noir looked at him and she could see he wasn't going to win this argument. "We will return it to you before you go home,"

  "That's all great and all," He muttered, looking around as Lady Noir stepped back with him, hissing a little. His luck vision highlighted an air vent. "But we can't trust you. Sorry, not sorry!"

  He used his yoyo to hit the vent, causing it to smoke before he grabbed her hand and jumped off the building. The two landed on the ground and rushed over to the nearest manhole. He opened it and jumped inside with her, following. He heard Knightowl shout at them and follow but he didn't follow them into the sewers. They climbed down the ladder and as soon as they were on the ground, Lady Noir threw her arms around him.

  "I'm so sorry!" She gasped. "I got you in trouble and-"

  "Hey, it's ok," He smiled, cupping her face. "I'm just glad I was able to get there in time... are you sure you're ok, kitten?"

  "I'm fine," She sniffed, nuzzling her hand. "My ribs don't hurt anymore... but why are you here in New York? I thought you were protecting Paris,"

  "I was but... something wasn't right," He muttered, taking out the feather from his yoyo as they walked through the sewer.

  "An amok?" She asked, frowning. "But you took care of it right?"

  "Yeah but it was Robustus," He muttered, making her frown. "But Markov isn't in Paris. I checked to see if he and Max were. Not just that and it was a sentimonster created by some random dude. It seems that it was meant to look like an akuma,"

  "That's... odd..." She muttered, handing him back the feather. "But how did you know I was in New York?"

  "I saw the Ladyblog live stream and used the horse miraculous to get her then located you with my yoyo," He replied, getting a nod of her. "I'm glad I got here on time,"

  "Me too," She mumbled. "According to Sparrow, Techno Pirate was... enhanced somehow,"

  "Hmm," He muttered, frowning before looking at her. "You should head back onto the surface,"

  "What are you going to do?" She asked, worry on her face.

  "I'm gonna follow a lead in the museum. There's something I need to check," He muttered, getting a nod of her. She turned to leave but suddenly hugged him again. He smiled and hugged back before she walked off. Once out of view, he heard her transform back before she ran off. He took out his yoyo and found an exit that led to the museum. He ran towards it and detransformed, catching Tikki before he gave her a cookie and went to climb out of the sewers. He stumbled a little and groaned, making Tikki look at him with concern. "I'm ok, Tikki but I won't be able to use the Horse Miraculous for a while,"

  "Here," She mumbled, breaking her cookie in half and handed him a bit. "I know you need a lot more then just half of a cookie but it should help,"

  "Thank you," He smiled, taking it and gently patting her head with his finger. He quickly ate it then climbed out of the sewers. He rushed over to the museum but frowned as he saw police and another superhero. He recognized them as Snowflake. He walked over and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

  "Yes?" She asked, looking at him.

  "Could you tell me what happened?" He asked. "Why are the police here?"

  "Oh, the saber of the marquis Lafayette, along with the falcon talon necklace was stolen by Techno Pirate but I'm not sure I understand why he wanted them," She mused, making him frown. "Hey, aren't you one of those french kids? I'll get Doorman to bring you back to the dorms! Hey, Doorman!"

  Before Doorman could come over, Luka turned and bolted as fast as he could out of there. He jumped a little as thunder sounded and rain began to fall heavily, soaking him within minutes. He found a place to hide and took Tikki out of his pocket.

  "That miraculous is missing," He stated, causing her to frown. "But I don't understand. Why did Techno pirate go after it and the saber? How did he get increased power? What's the connection?"

  "Well, what do we know?" She asked, making him think.

  "Techno pirate got increased power, stole the saber and the necklace and then disappeared again..." He muttered before his thoughts drifted to Paris and the amok. Why was there an amok made to look like an akuma? What was he missing? What was the connection and why was Mayura active instead of Hawkmoth? Wasn't he able to akumatize someone? Of course, he could. Plenty of dark feelings in Paris so why use Mayura? And why Robustus? He knew it couldn't be Marvok because he was here in New York... but of course, the rest of Paris wouldn't know that. They would just think it was the usual akuma attack but why go through all of this trouble to make an amok look like an akuma? It's almost like... his eyes widen in realization. Hawkmoth wasn't in Paris. He must be in New York and after that miraculous, which means Techno Pirate was akumatized. "Oh no,"

  "Luka?" Tikki gasped, causing him to look at her.

  "Hawkmoth is in New York," He gasped, making her look at him with shock. "We have to warn someone,"

  ~Meanwhile at the Lafayette building~

  "Luka Couffaine?" Mrs Mendeleiev asked as she looked around the room.

  "He's not here," Juleka muttered, frowning. Worry was clear in her eyes as she had no idea where her brother was nor was he answering his phone. The last she had seen him was at the museum when he went out for some fresh air due to his headache.

  "Neither is Marinette," Rose gasped as Alya tried to get through to her as well. She looked at Juleka with worry. "You don't think that horrible villain got them?"

  "I hope not," She mumbled as Jess and Aeon walked in with two women. One was blonde and dressed in green and the other had dark hair and dressed all in black. They seemed to be annoyed with the two girls.

  "You had one mission," The woman in black growled, making Juleka frown as she noticed. "To keep an eye on the French Students,"

  "We did and that's how we discovered Marinette and Luka are in love with each other. We tried to help but Luka got sick and we were interrupted by that supervillain. I still don't understand how he got-"

  "It doesn't matter! You failed and disobeyed orders!"

  "Barb, darling," The blonde woman stated, stroking her wife's face.

  "Mother, I don't understand," Aeon stated, making the two women frown. "You always say that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. What did I do wrong?"

  "My dear, by trying to help the french students, you ended placing them and yourselves in danger," The blonde woman explained as the woman in dark facepalmed. "Doing good doesn't necessarily mean fighting,"

  "Yeah... well maybe we were just trying to help since you know it's our job!" Jess declared, glaring at them. "We're not babysitting... we're super heroines!"

  "Superheroes! Who's mission was to keep an eye on the French students and you failed it!" Barb shouted, making Jess and Aeon look down. "You're forbidden to join in with the hunt for Techno Pirate. You're clearly not ready to leave the nest,"

  "Uh! How I am suppose to be ready when you never let me spread my wings?!"

  "No prohibits Anatis and Lady Noir,"

  "And we almost lost you because of that,"

  "No! We're almost lost her because of Techno Pirate!" Jess shouted, making both adults look at her in shock before she turned to Barb. "Anatis is right! You are rude and you're blaming us for Techno Pirate's actions!"

  "Jess, my word is final," Barb growled before turning on her heel. "Come on, Olympia. We're expected,"

  With that, the two of them walked out of the building, leaving Jess and Aeon alone. Jess sighed, defeated as the news came on. Walking over to the rest of the group, they saw it was the president, explaining that they would be postponing the French American week celebrations until Techno Pirate was captured. Majestia stepped forward, stating that she supported their decision and that it would be too dangerous to have any mass gathering. She asked everyone to keep safe while they would be patrolling the city. Alya sighed softly as the heroes talked on the screen before looking out of the window. She gasped and rushed outside as Marinette walked over to the stairs. 

  "Marinette!! Are you ok?!" She gasped as the rest of the class came out. Marinette looked up and gave them a small smile as Alya ran down the stairs and hugged her. "You're not hurt, are you?"

  "Oh... no... I'm ok," She smiled as she looked up at the rest of the class as they gushed over her, happy that she was ok. However, she looked around at them, trying to see where Luka was. Her eyes widen as she realized he wasn't there. "Where's Luka?"

  "He was with you right?" Juleka asked as Marinette frowned.

  "N-No... he went out of the museum because of his headache but then that villain attacked. I only got away because Sparrow rescued me but I didn't see Luka..." She gasped, taking out her phone. It was low battery but she didn't care. She dialed his number and held it to her ear but to her dismay, it went straight to voicemail. "I... I have to find him!!"

  "Marinette!" Alya shouted as she turned on her heel and broke into a run, heading in the direction of the museum. She didn't understand. He should have answered his phone. The museum was fixed thanks to Anatis but why wasn't Luka answering his phone?! She grabbed a bike and began to cycle as fast as she could to the museum but missed a turning, causing her bike to fall and crash. She weakly looked up but couldn't see Luka anywhere.

  "Luka..." She whispered, looking down. "Where are you?"

  ~Meanwhile in Times Square~

  "There they are," Luka gasped as he saw the heroes. He began to walk towards them but stopped when he saw Techno Pirate walking in the middle of the street. He frowned and ducked behind a dumpster to observe the screen. Techno Pirate was holding up his hands as he walked but weirdly enough, he looked different. His skin was completely black with white lines that resembled a mother board across it. His uniform had turned to a light brown color and he had wings that matched it's theme. He also had a break on his nose. Luka rose an eyebrow as he kept hidden.

  "I wanna surrender!!" He shouted, making Luka frown. "I never wanted to stop the french American celebrations from happening!! If I have to lose my freedom for everyone else to celebrate theirs then fine... I surrender!!"

  He spun around, looking as Luka narrowed his eyes. Something didn't feel right. If he was akumatized then why was he surrendering? What could this achieve? He looked around and noticed that the heroes were gathering around the pirate.

  "Put me in jail!!" The pirate wailed, making him frown even more. Especially when the heroes began to surround the villain. Luka carefully stood up from his hiding place and began to back away. All of his gut was telling him something was very wrong.

  "Don't be scared. I genuinely want nothing more then your freedom," The pirate stated as he looked at the heroes, like he wanted them to be there. He suddenly threw out his arms as eternal arrows appeared. "Liberation!"

  The arrows threw out, hitting each of the heroes as Luka ducked behind the dumpster again, causing one to miss him by inches. He let out a sigh but then he heard the sound of buildings been crushed. He jumped up as Knightowl swung past.

  "Can't park properly huh?!" He shouted, throwing a grenade under a car, causing it to blow up high in the sky. He jumped back as guns literally appeared out of the dumpsters and the manholes then Doorman ran past him, trying to decide where to go. Luka frowned and moved from his hiding place to another, peaking out. He frowned deeply as he saw all of the heroes basically doing whatever they wanted. Techno Pirate was stood in the middle of it, grinning as he looked around until a purple mask appeared over his eyes. He nodded and touched a lamp post, which glowed purple before all of the screens suddenly turned on causing Luka to gasp as it showed Hawkmoth on it. 

  "Anatis, Lady Noir... I'm in New York too," He stated, smirking evilly. "If you don't want the party ruined, you have no choice but to surrender your miraculous,"

  "Tikki, spots on!!" He declared, standing up and transforming into Anatis. He threw his yoyo up to the nearest building and pulled himself onto it, dodging the guns that fired at him before using his yoyo to destroy them. He ran across the roof and jumped off it, swinging off into the city as fast as he could. He needed to find Sparrow and Uncanny Valley as he noticed they weren't there, meaning they weren't effected by whatever Techno Pirate did. He also needed to find Lady Noir as he would need her help too. He swung across the buildings until he noticed someone walking in the rain as if they were looking for someone.

  "Luka?!" They called out, causing his eyes to widen as he realized it was Marinette. He dived down and landed near her, making her gasp. "A-Anatis? Wh-What are you doing in New York? Have you seen Luka?!"

  "Luka's fine, Marinette," He smiled, trying to reassure her. She let out a sigh of relief. "But it's not safe to be out on the streets. Hawkmoth is active in New York right now and his akuma has somehow effected the heroes, making them... well... do what they want,"

  "So they've gone... crazy?" She gasped, looking frightened. He sighed and nodded. "Oh no,"

  "Yeah... I need to find Sparrow, Uncanny Valley and Lady Noir. They're the only heroes who haven't been effected by this," He sighed before smiling. "Anyway, let's get you to a safe place. Are you staying in a hotel?"

  "The Lafayette building is where we're staying," She mumbled, gasping as he pulled her close to him.

  "I'll drop you off on the roof then. Hold on," He smiled, making her blush as she held onto him tightly. He threw his yoyo and pulled her up into the air, rushing through it as he swung through the city. Marinette gasped as she held onto him, feeling a little bit of fear as she did. It was different to swinging through Paris. The buildings were much higher and it was colder too but she didn't have much time to think as they landed on the Lafayette building. Anatis gently pulled away from her and gave her a smile. "Head inside and stay safe, Marinette,"

  "Wait!" She gasped as he went to jump. He turned to her and she blushed. "B-Be careful, Anatis,"

  "I will," He smiled before jumping off the building and swinging off. Once gone, Plagg flew out of her purse as she frowned.

  "Annie needs some help," She stated but jumped as Uncanny Valley literally landed in front of her. She quickly snatched Plagg from the air, hiding him behind her back.

  "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Hawkmoth is in New York and we need Lady Noir," She gasped, making Marinette panic.

  "Lady Noir?! Wh-Who's that?!"

  "Lady Noir, your suit's quantum masking is designing to confuse human minds," She stated, turning in Aeon and causing Marinette to gasp in surprise. "But I am not human. Without you, we have no chance of contacting Anatis and I think we will need both of your to defeat Miraclonizer,"

  "Miraclonizer?" Marinette asked. "Do you mean Techno Pirate?"

  "Yes, he's been akumatized which means-"

  "Hawkmoth's in New York. I know. Anatis informed me," She mumbled before letting go of Plagg and turning to him but to her surprise, Uncanny Valley didn't blink or even look at him. "Uh... Plagg? Is she ok?"

  "Oh, yeah. She's fine. She just can't see me because she's a robot," He grinned, pulling a funny face at Valley's confused expression. "Anyway, what are we waiting for? Bug boy's gonna need a hand,"

  "Good point," She grinned, holding out her hand. "Plagg, Claws Out!"

  A green light enveloped her and she transformed in Lady Noir. She took out her baton and instantly called Anatis. He answered straight away.

  "Kitten, Hawk Moth-"

  "Is in New York. Yeah, I know. Uncanny Valley told me," She declared, getting a nod of him. "Where are you? We'll come and meet you,"

  "Excellent. Me and Sparrow are hidden by the dumpsters near the empire state building," He stated, nodding. "Try and stay low. The heroes have gone crazy and are attacking almost everything so please be careful,"

  "I will. See you soon, Bug a boo," She grinned, making him blush before hanging up. She turned to Uncanny Valley. "Alright, let's go and meet Annie,"

  "Sounds like a plan," She smiled before the two of them headed to the empire state building. It took a bit longer then they expected but they managed to move past the heroes without getting attacked. As soon as they found the dumpsters, Anatis grabbed them and pulled them into the alleyway before making sure they weren't followed. Sparrow rushed over to Uncanny Valley as Anatis checked over Lady Noir, making sure she hadn't been hurt. She blushed a little as Valley gasped and muttered something to herself before Anatis moved over to them. He knelt down as Lady Noir joined him. "So what's the plan, Annie?"

  "Incoming message from Hawkmoth," Uncanny Valley stated before projecting the video. Anatis frowned as he watched Hawkmoth declared that they had five minutes to surrender their miraculous or he'll start world war 3. "This is not good. We have no heroes available to help us. They have all been controlled by Miraclonizer,"

  "Not controlled," Anatis muttered, making everyone look at him as he took out his yoyo and showed them a picture of Miraclonizer before he zoomed in and pointed to the necklace around his neck.. "His new look is from that. Judging by his look and his power, it's a miraculous that represents freedom or something on the lines of that,"

  "What do you mean?" Sparrow asked, making him sigh. "And how do you know that?"

  "I was there when he took out the heroes. He used the term Liberation and next thing we know the heroes have gone crazy but when you think about it, what they are doing kind of makes sense. Majestia is trying new things with her powers because she's been freed from her fear,"

  "That explains the moon," Sparrow nodded. "But Knight Owl?"

  "Taking justice to the extreme? Easy, he's been freed from moral code. Similar case with Doorman and the rest," Anatis explained. "And it's definitely a miraculous. That I'm certain about but if we have a chance to save the world from Hawkmoth and his world war 3 plan, we're gonna need to free the heroes. In turn, they can help us,"

  "I take it you have a plan?" Uncanny Valley asked, making Anatis and Lady Noir look at each other. 

  "The plan is to reclaim that miraculous,"

  "Well, that's all good but we can't get anywhere near him,"

  "Well, that's because we need a lucky charm, right Annie?" Lady Noir grinned before he threw up his yoyo and summoned his lucky charm. He caught the key ring of Lady Liberty before frowning. Sparrow pointed to it.

  "That's your plan?" They asked, clearly not impressed as Anatis looked around to see how to use it.

  "We're suppose to beat the most powerful heroes with a key-chain?" Valley asked innocently before blinking. "Interesting,"

  "Yeah, that's the plan or at least it will be once I know how to use it," He muttered, looking down at it. Uncanny projected Miraclonizer again to check on the count down, causing Anatis to look up at her before looking back at the key chain. "Of course... Valley, can you show me the blue prints of the statue of liberty? I need to see how it was built,"

  "Sure," She grinned, projecting the blue prints. Anatis studied it before gasping and pointing to it.

  "Look, there's a ladder leading up to the torch platform. We can use that to get to Miraclonizer undetected," He declared, getting a nod of everyone.

  "We could use the horse miraculous to get in there," Lady Noir suggested but Anatis shook his head, making her frown.

  "I won't be any good in the battle against Miraclonizer if I use it again," He admitted, making her frown but she nodded in understanding. However, Sparrow and Uncanny blinked and looked at them.

  "Why doesn't Lady Noir just use it?" Sparrow asked but Anatis shook his head.

  "The horse miraculous isn't compatible with the cat miraculous," He explained, making the two frown. "As for me, it takes a lot of energy to use it and I've already used it to get here. If I use it again, I won't have the strength to fight Miraclonizer. We have to find an different way,"

  "Ok so what does the horse miraculous do?" Sparrow asked, making the two heroes look at them.

  "Teleportation but you have to know exactly where you're going and right now we can only use it once," Anatis explained, making Sparrow nod before the two of them looked at each as an idea popped into their heads. They both said Doorman at the same time, causing Lady Noir and Uncanny Valley to look at them with confusion.

  "Doorman can turn any door into a teleportal," Sparrow stated, getting a nod of Anatis. "With his ability, we can get into the tower unnoticed,"

  "But Doorman only uses his power to sate his own curiosity now," Uncanny Valley pointed out. "He'll never agree to help us,"

  "And we have no idea where he is," Lady Noir pointed out before she snapped her fingers. "But we could lure him to us. He mentioned that he's always wanted to find out what's in the safe in the statue of liberty but the key is in the Eiffel tower,"

  "Of course! Use his own curiosity against him. Great thinking, Kitten," Anatis grinned, scratching her ears which made her purr before he began to look around. His luck vision lit up a box and some news papers. He grabbed them and shoved them into Sparrow's hand. "Make a gift wrap for this  please,"

  "Uh... right," Sparrow nodded before doing as told. Anatis looked around and a door lit up.

  "Uncanny Valley, would you be able to unlock that door?" He asked, getting a nod of her. She rushed over and unlocked before he opened it to check it. Both Sparrow and Valley turned into the normal forms, revealing them to be Jess and Aeon. Lady Noir rose an eyebrow and Anatis just shrugged his shoulders before the two of them pushed two of the dumpsters by the sides of the door. Jess turned back into Sparrow and Aeon turned into Uncanny Valley as they placed the package down. "Head to Liberty Island. We'll meet you there,"

  "Ok... be careful," Sparrow stated as they ran off before Valley grabbed her and flew off. Lady Noir looked up from her hiding place.

  "So Sparrow's a girl huh?" She grinned, making Anatis shake his head. "Didn't see that coming. Why do you think she disguises herself as a boy? Not that's an issue... I'm just curious,"

  "Curiosity killed the cat, Kitten," Anatis stated, ducking down as the door opened. Lady Noir did the same thing as Doorman poked his head out.

  "Kids?" He questioned before seeing the box. He rushed over and opened it. "We know how fascinating you think keys are so we hope you like this one. Signed Jess and Aeon..."

  He looked at the key chain before jumping excitedly.

  "Of course!" He exclaimed, rushing over to the door. He closed it and reopened it. "That's where I should have started,"

  He disappeared into it, leaving it open. Anatis and Lady Noir followed through but kept out of sight as he searched the office of the Eiffel Tower. He gasped and held up an old looking key. He attached it to the key chain then rushed back over to the door and closed it before reopening it again. He ran out, allowing Anatis and Lady Noir to follow. They tackled him down and Anatis tried him up with his belt before reclaiming the key chain. The two of them ran upstairs as fast as they could as they only had a few seconds left. He burst through the door and jumped onto Miraclonizer, grabbing the miraculous. 

  "I'll take that thanks!" He declared, ripping off him and pushing him off the tower. He turned back into Techlonizer as he fell but landed on his four arms as Anatis turned to Sparrow and threw the necklace. "Sparrow!!"

  She caught it and landed on the ground, sliding down a staircase before jumping and landing. She put the necklace on and the kwami manifested before it turned around and faced her. They looked like a little falcon.

  "Hello, fledgling. To call off my power, just say cool down and to transform say Liiri, wings of liberty," The little creature informed before she took off her Sparrow costume.

  "Liiri, wings of Liberty!" She declared, causing Liiri to get sucked into the necklace before she created a mask that resembled a falcon's beak. She felt magic spread down her arms creating her outfit. It was a brown body suit with yellow and black boots and a black belt. A gray under-jack that resembled tail feathers appeared before a brown jack with tassels on the arms manifested. Her hands got covered with black gloves, completing her transformation into Falcon. Taking a deep breath, she held her hands out. "Cool down,"

  She felt instantly the power of the Falcon miraculous subside before she rushed over to where Anatis and Lady Noir were. They were fighting Techlonizer, trying to get the controls for the nuke off him. He laughed and turned to them.

  "Give me your miraculous!!" 

  "Never!" Anatis declared but gasped as Techlonizer pressed the button, causing the nuke to blast off. Falcon gasped as Anatis narrowed his eyes, a very dark expression coming on his face before he charged at him and began to fight him even more, gaining the upper hand. He wrapped his yoyo around him, allowing Lady Noir to dive at him as she summoned her power. She slammed her hand onto his cuffs, causing them to rust and break then a purple butterfly escaped from them and Techlonizer become Techno Pirate again. A second rope appeared around him as Knightowl appeared, allowing Anatis to remove his. He threw out his yoyo and captured the butterfly as the heroes watched. He then opened his yoyo and freed a now white butterfly before taking the keychain and throwing it up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!!"

  The key chain burst into the magical swarm and flew through the city, fixing all the damage as Majestia landed on the ground, next to Knight Owl who was watching with slight awe. Both hadn't really been paying attention when he used the power before but now they did. Anatis turned to Majestia with a worried expression.

  "Do you stop the Nuke?" He asked. Majestia nodded, causing him to let out a relieved sigh.

  "I threw it into the sun," She explained, making him smile before turning to Techno Pirate. "Now to deal with him,"

  She took out a phone and made call. Within minutes, a police van turned up and took Techno pirate away, despite his confusion. Falcon walked over to Anatis, looking sad as she looked down and went to take off the necklace but he stopped her and smiled.

  "I think you should keep it," He smiled, making her gasp in surprise.

  "Really?!" She grinned.

  "Yes," He nodded as Lady Noir moved next to him. "I know you'll use it for good. Also if you ever need our help again or vice versa, we can contact each other,"

  He took out his yoyo and showed her that a new contact under the Alias Falcon had been added. She squealed and hugged him, making him laugh before she pulled away and hugged Lady Noir as well. 

  "Thank you!!" She smiled before frowning and looking to Knightowl. "But I disobeyed again, meaning I'll never get my weapons back, will I?"

  "With that miraculous, you won't need them," Knight Owl replied before looking down. "And I was wrong. About all of you. My little sparrow was ready to become a fearsome falcon,"

  "Ahh!! Thank you, Mum!!" She declared, making Anatis and Lady Noir look at each other before they both shrugged as she pulled away. "I mean-"

  "It's fine. Besides, it doesn't matter anywhere. With that outfit, people will know that Sparrow is female and that the original Knightowl is long gone," Knight owl explained before taking off her helmet. "Maybe it's a sign that the time has come to embrace who we really are,"

  "And even though it worries us, the only way for us to let you grow is for us to let you take chances," Majestia stated, gently pressing her head against Knightowl's before they both looked to Anatis and Lady Noir. "Thank you for inspiring them,"

  "And please forgive us for misjudging you," Knightowl added in. "You two have a wonderful relationship and I was wrong to doubt you. You're welcome in New York and I hope we get to meet again but on better terms,"

  "Thank you," Anatis smiled before holding out his fist. Lady Noir placed hers against his as the two of them looked at Uncanny Valley and Falcon before the two of them grinned and added theirs next to theirs. "Pound it?"

  "Pound it," The three girls grinned as he smiled before Lady Noir turned around to Uncanny as she rubbed the back of her neck. Anatis rose an eyebrow as she only did that when she was nervous.

  "About my secret identity..." She mumbled, making Anatis stare at her in shock. "You'll erase it right?"

  "Of course. I understand that your secret identity is extremely important to you so as your friend, I promise I'll erase both yours and Anatis' secret identity as soon as we say goodbye," 

  "Wait what?!" Anatis gasped, shocked. "How do you... know that?!"

  "Your suit has quantum masking but that is designed to confuse human minds. Since I am not human, I can see who you really are," She smiled, causing Anatis to look at her with worry. "Don't worry. I haven't told anyone and I'll delete the information,"

  "Please do. Not even Lady Noir knows who I am nor do I know her identity," He gasped before Lady Noir gently elbowed him.

  "Relax, Annie," She grinned. "She'll delete the info and she hasn't told anyone. It'll be fine,"

  "R-Right... I suppose I better get going... I should return to Paris," He nodded but Lady Noir frowned and grabbed his hand, making him look at her.

  "Couldn't you stay for a little bit?" She asked, making him frown.

  "I wish I could, Kitten but chances are Hawkmoth is probably going to go straight to Paris after this defeat and who knows when Mayura will attack again," He sighed, getting a nod off her. He smiled and gently kissed her cheek, making her blush. "Don't worry. We'll have a full catch up when you're back. I want to hear about the rest of your trip,"

  "O-ok," She nodded, blushing as his earrings beeped. He saluted before throwing his yoyo and disappearing. Lady Noir sighed gently as she watched him leave before turning to the others. "Well, this kitty better disappear. Bye!!"

  She ran off and disappeared as Uncanny Valley grinned.

  "Those two are made for each other," She grinned, making Falcon roll her eyes.

  "You said that about Luka and Marinette as well," She stated before grinning. "Come on, Matchmaker. We better get back,"

  ~Time Skip~

  "Hey," Luka stated as he walked over to Marinette. She gasped and threw herself at him. He caught her and smiled as he hugged her back before he pulled away. "I'm really sorry I didn't answer my phone. I was kind of trapped until Anatis turned up,"

  "It's ok. I'm just glad you're ok," She grinned, hugging him again. "I'll have to make Anatis some special cookies for rescuing you,"

  "Hey, Luka! Marinette!" Jess called out, making them look at her. The Falcon Miraculous was around her neck and she seemed more free in a way. "Hotdog Dan's about to come by. You two should get up to the roof if you want to get some again,"

  "Thanks, Jess!" Marinette called out before grabbing Luka's hand. "Come on! I'll buy us some!!"

  "Are you sure?" He gasped as she pulled him up to the roof. "I don't mind getting them for us,"

  "My treat, Luka!" She grinned as he landed. She ran over and ordered two. Hotdog Dan grinned and gave her two before serving others. Marinette handed Luka one and took a bit in hers, grinning as it allowed her to create fireworks. Luka laughed and took a bit of his, causing him to glow bright green. The two of them laughed before sitting down and watch the rest of the students. Luka smiled as he watched them but blushed a little as Marinette gently placed her hand on top of his, making him smile a little. "I'm glad we got to come here, even if there were some crazy moments,"

  "Me too, Marinette,"

[mikkalaia]

SLU PSYCHOLOGY CLASS OF 2015; BATCH PROPHECY (SIDEDISH NOT INCLUDED)

SLU Psychology Class of 2015 Batch Prophecy

PS special side dish not included. To be served on your majestic mint condition YearBook copy. So be excited humans!

June 25, 2025

5:47 AM — Tahiti Time. As the sun radiates through the curtain lace. I woke up to the buzzing and throbbing in my head, and I’m still in the red dress I wore from last night. What did happen that night? I turned to my side table and saw a newly published book entitled “A Nomadic Entrepreneur’s Travels and Lifestyle” by Mikka Alaia Nalupa and a half filled glass of wine -still I’ve manage to stand up, and take a deep breathe and have one last look at the mile-long stretch of powder-white sand sloping gently into a shallow emerald lagoon of Bora Bora before I go back to the Philippines for our Class Gala on the 27th -exactly ten years ago from marching out of our college lives and into our own realities and fantasies. My flight’s four hours away, and I’ll be flying for thirteen hours more or less. And my bag’s already packed with the things I need for my wandering life.

8: 23 AM — It was still early. I decided to grab a cup of earl grey on my way out to the airport -while waiting for my tea I took a copy of their company pamphlet, upon reading I discovered that Minie Dimag Bagyan owns this café and she has been expanding her coffee business worldwide. After I got my tea, I walked a few blocks to hail a cab. And on my ride to the airport, I heard Mary Helen Tupong anchoring the morning news on an international radio station. The news was on; Karol Manalo‘s life as a time traveler and on her recent time travel to have tea with Queen Elizabeth II, Daniel Andrada on being the first Filipino muggle born to ever catch the flying snitch in the newest edition of the Nimbus broomstick at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Ulysses Dalog for being the first psychologist to transcend his consciousness to the digital world. After the morning news the driver changed the radio station, a rap song started playing and it was Lesley Christopher Bautista dropping rhymes on the radio until I arrive at the airport.

9:19 AM — Still early for my flight. I took the liberty of roaming around the airport looking for a magazine stand to get something to read while I’m on my 13hr flight. While browsing through all the foreign magazines a familiar face caught my sight on a cover of a well known magazine –Michelle Viray along side Jane Lennie Basco and Jaffey Mherca Cantor who are all wearing the latest ready to wear clothing line by Araceli Ronquillo. I was becoming a lot more curious about the magazine, so I flipped through the first few pages and I came across Ashley Gail Taron‘s name as the Senior Chief Editor of the magazine. I decided to grab a copy for myself. 10:13 AM— I was comfortably seated in the business class carriage of a Luxury Jet Plane owned by Adrianne Jane Amboni and piloted by Mary Chile Pasquin. The plane started to smoothly rise above the ground and glide through the gentle wind and clouds. I put my glasses on and started flipping through the magazine. Upon reading I found out that a lot of my batch mates were featured in this month’s issue; Nina Sarah Sarmiento a now renowned interior designer has been styling homes and mansions for the rich and famous, namely, Terence Fender Bania-ao, Zarah May Laroya, Rachel Lopez, Marjorie Madlon, Riza Cha-i Padcayan, and Ariane Joy Patacsil.  

During the flight, they showed a film that claims to be the top-grosser for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. It was a pleasant surprise to discover that the leading stars were Kasmir Dumpit a now Broadway artist and Ben Jan Rusby Nativadad a big time Theater Actor. It was no surprise that the film was conducted by an up-and-coming indie filmmaker and director Rafael Handiong Kapuno. During the credit, the OST was sang by Roland Milan a Broadway singer/actor and an Executive Finance Manager. It was nice to see all my performing batch mates in one project doing what they do best.

The trip was tedious and had to stopover in Osaka for a connecting flight to Hong Kong. I was feeling a bit bored in the airport so I held my phone out to check my Facebook Feeds. I saw that Gino Daniel Abalos‘s just checked-in in Indonesia for the 38th SEA Games. Albertino Miguel Dimasupil just posted a group picture with Jenina Marie Manalo and Mary Ann Masliyan fresh from the Euro NASCAR Circuit. Sheila Natalie Juyag just changed her display picture of her riding a giraffe in the Africa. Annie Timbangan just shared an Instagram picture from her shopping spree in Europe. And I just received an event invite from Jazel Robert Ramos‘ Christian Rock Concert Tour in Malaysia for next month I accepted the invite right away.

While boarding on, I came across Ferry Anne Aquino, Camille Anne Arizo, Marriel Bautista, Sunshine Kristine Ray Lopez, Pamela Singh Cudhail, Arlene Caasi and Charina Caluwag who are boarding to their last stop from their grand Asian tour. I was able to catch up with them for a little while and told me tales about our other batch mates I missed while I was away. I learned that Donne Patrick Valbuena is currently building his mini basketball league with his kids. They also showed me a new volume of a manga comic about Karen Sarvito‘s anime travels, which Myne Bullan illustrated here in Japan. They also told me that Marinette Andal, Kyla Pauline Babon, Nove Kathleen Corsino and Divine Grace Ullalim are now registered physicians in a private hospital working along side with Leandra Edano, Divimae Lumaguey, Chelsea Claudine Mendoza who pursued Psychiatric Care, Jezreetila Wayasen and Maureen Mae Aro as the hospital’s certified Psychologist. We bid our goodbyes for now and promised to catch up some more and went on to our separate flights.

While heading to my seat I noticed some familiar faces, It was April Grace Bandonil working on her computer, and was on the phone scheduling a business meeting with Aiza Pearl Balingao also a business tycoon in the field of science. A few seats behind her was Beatrice Erica Popa a now Literary Archeologist who was studying two old copies of manuscripts. And three seats from the rear of the business class carriage was Mark Onia flipping through a magazine on “mysterious places to go to” he seems to have just arrived from a tomb raiding spree based on his “Indiana-Jones-like” get up. I carried on to my seat and thought to myself that I could catch up with them on the reunion itself. -Feeling nostalgic about coming together and hearing a lot of stories, and catching up, I put on my earphones and listened to my most recent favorite songs composed by Murphy Liswid, performed by Lemuel Botiwey on the drums, John Paulo Aguas on the lead guitar, Tyrone Dan Rullan on the back vocals and bass, and Mainne Vhe Jamison as the lead vocals. I was asleep for the whole flight and when I woke up I was already in Bangkok.

I’m on my last connect flight to the Philippines. The trip was sort of long, so I dilly dallied at the airport lobby. I saw Shirley Lingaling and Jarlene Parraexchanging stories of how exciting was bungee jumping and sky diving at Macau. I went to find a seat and grabbed an international newspaper. For the international headline news, Linda Tokyas together with Maria Jonah Catacutan, Marjorie Donato, Alyssa Gabot, Karina Magno, Julianne Tabanand Guillian Venturozo are the first group of female astronauts sent by NASA to set foot on the moon and take flight across the Milky Way. While flipping through the travel and lifestyle section I found out that Marwin Teniosodedicated his traveling in conquering mountain tops. And Rubie Borbon was also featured on the same page, talking about his latest travel to Milan for the Fashion Week. In the entertainment section, I came across a large print of Clarize Deewaii Balutoc and Dickson Ray Kimmakim holding an Oscar Best Actor award from a motion picture they both starred in. And on the business section, Sheena Marie Tayaban a now shareholder of all the biggest companies in the world. Heading on to my last flight, I saw Jan Vincent Angeles and his fiancé, Nicole Gerome Arellano and Lenny Catiyan who are traveling with their families, and Ruth Micah Celi with her cute kids and dashing husband boarding on the same fight back home. They all came from a holiday vacation and are all heading back just as I am.

June 26,2025 3:18 AM — Manila Time. I finally arrived at NAIA with 2 connect flights. I was fatigued, but I was used to the jet lag, I made my way to the Information Center and I was delighted to see Michelle Anne Basilio who also just arrived from her stay in Paris, France. We said our goodbyes for now and saved all the catching up for tomorrow’s big event. My driver picked me up in a luxurious car hired by my company. It was the newest model manufactured by Mei Arra Roberta Rosuello‘s Automotive company. She was not only able to buy her family cars, but owned a company as well. Upon arriving, I checked into the grandest 5 star Luxury Resort Hotel Casino in the capital owned by a big time business savvy Justine Ross Bañares and two grand lottery winners Jayson Rodel Javier and Rhemielyn Belen.

On my way to the penthouse, I stood in the lift for a long while since it was located on the top level. I enjoyed the elevator music which was an instrumental of strings played and composed by Christopher Evangelista. I settled my bag on the carpeted floor and I launched myself into bed, I turned the TV on -A rerun of Bryan Stephen Briones and Abigail Irang hosting their own food and travel show, for this special segment they traveled to an island owned by no other but Chiara Angelica Castro, featuring Clay Glaiza Idos‘s beach resort that serves Jolibee Fast Food. And for the next show, It was Precious Sharizz Bautista‘s food tasting show and for this episode she is going take a bite of one of Chef Gordon Ramsay’s gourmet dish. Finally feeling rested and relaxed I fell asleep right away. 9:48 AM —I woke up to the morning news. Charissa Jose, now on her 2nd term as the president of the Philippines honored the countries top secret service agents Chelsea Anne Gabriel and Rebecca Galvan for capturing an international terrorist. Suddenly Feeling famish about the news I got ready to get breakfast down at the Hotel’s in-house restaurant. I requested for the chef’s special and the restaurant’s executive chef, Caryl Aloida Retuta, personally served my meal. After I ate and chatted with Carly. I decided to go for a walk, after a few blocks away, I looked up and there I saw a billboard of Dave Jeremy Tan, Patricia Nicole Alcaraz, Moranda Black, Myleen Epie, Lyra Anne Lopez, Jessica Valerie Julian and Shanine Denice Sison who are now members of the United Nations doing humanitarian works and their campaign to end poverty. I then grabbed a cab to visit one of the largest library in the world. Surprisingly, it was owned by Jeane Caridad Supnet. Upon entering at the receiving lounge, there was a book promotion and reading of Novy Galletes and Mary Rose Garcia they authored and I can hear Novy reading an excerpt from her new novel. Not wanting to disturb her reading I went straight to the classic section and found Patricia May Alcarazstanding by the book shelves reading.

Everywhere I look was already a reunion waiting to happen. I was unintentionally surrounded by the outstanding works and dreams of my former batch mates. I decided to grab a cup of tea to calm myself from all the excitement. Upon ordering, April Alyssa Alarin who took a sabbatical leave from her high-paying profession to work as a cashier for fun, took my order. We took the chance to exchange stories about our male batch mate while no one was ordering yet. She told me that Brandon Capuyan, Mark Kevin Damasco Ty, Jan Michael Vincent Escosio, Franiel Lamadrid, Kevin Massagan and Rafael Alvin Tugade who are now living the dream of having a lavish, contented and happy life, and as being well respected professionals. She also showed me on her Instagram feed a picture of Darren Jedrick Mejiaand Mark Anthony Gabriel captioned “Finally graduating in flying colors with their 3rd Bachelors Degree Course” and she double tapped that picture. A new costumer was heading the counter and it was a pleasure to see Sarah Faith Bannay a now guidance counselor at one of the largest universities in the country together with Zarah Jane De Gollo a well respected lawyer in a prestigious law firm are simply dropping by to grab a cup of coffee before heading back to their workplaces. I gave out a faint smile as I made my way out of the coffee shop, I was in a state of ecstasy as my batch mates shared our lives and experiences, and I too have learned a thing or two not just about living a successful life but also living an ecstatic one.

June 27, 2015 6: 13 PM— The night of the Class Gala. I don’t know why, or what but I was both feeling extremely nervous and excited, and it was a feeling that was both familiar and distant. Only I cannot hide my wide smile. I made my way up to the Ballroom where the big event will be held, I was able to share the lift with Angelica Figuero, Kimberly Joyce Langagan, Jocel Ivy Peña, Ma. Cristina Peralta, and Rowena Sibaya who are in the middle of their chats about their South American travel, showing pictures on their phone to each other and giving tips and recommendations on the go-to places to see. I also had the privilege to walk alongside Monica Margarette Molina, who just recently opened her private dental firm, Marion Nicole Rodillas a now modern Mother Theresa, Aleli Langgaman an American citizen living in NY with her family, Ferleen Caluza a famous dancer/choreographer who has been working with international artist, and Lea Sibaya a now chief police officer, heading the same direction.

As I entered the Ballroom I was surprised to suddenly see Jemima Sawey and Briverlyn Jane Atuan who casually apparated their way in. The night took off in a whirlwind of warm hi’s, hello’s and how are you’s. I was overwhelmed to see everyone in one place after 10 years, I decided to grab a drink at the bar. There I saw a group of well dressed ladies hold in their cocktails are Xhachelle Ruiz, Marleen Ilagan, Marjyl Patacsil, Candice De Castro, Florence Raiza Gonzales and Charmaine Jimday Tan sharing stories about their lavish world tours and are planning to travel all together. I pave my way to the a far end table and sitting were, Brian Nicole Ruaro who were sharing his experience with the divine, Kurvin Kindipan & Allan Dave Tacay on their journey to awesomeness, Jose Nicolo Genilo‘s life and day as a superhero, Donna May Baliton talking about living her dreams, Denice Mae Cordero sharing her thoughts on happiness, Kenny Hanna Damaslog about hearing songs from the people’s heart, Joanne Legiralde sharing her search for meaning and actually finding it, Evamarish Dyquianco speaking how it would be really nice to give God a hi-five when you reached heaven and Jara Eunice Hernandez‘s on her finally discovering her ultimate dream. Overhearing them talk about something abstract and insuperable as if it was within reach and something feasible made me giggle inside. I was glad to know that it was possible to attain your dreams into your reality.

Before serving our well plated dinner, Elaine Fatima Simon a Nobel Peace Prize winner for her unique method of bringing people together through her witty inspirational talks, gives out one of her famous motivational speeches to the whole Batch. After the dinner, the mingling continued. Phoebe Eguiaand Prynces Fae Valdez are now neighbors and living in a mansion and owning luxurious cars. I caught Shanesse Avery Garcia and Niña Rica Valeroso still eating and chatting since they’ve always been a lover of food. On the table to the right front was Denise De Padua sharing how happy she is with her stable life, Desiree Gonzales a now successful professional in her chosen field, Michelle Hafalla a family woman with a stable career and a happy family, Ma. Cristina Tamio a now boss of her own business establishment and happily living with her own family.

And on the table farther to the left side of the stage was Eloise Amor Culimay, Karleen Depolio, Larysa Malecdan, Jenny Grace Mercado, Eloiza Kaye Payap-a, Harnice Joyce Santos and Zenith Faye Litac showing each other pictures of their continental travels around the world from Europe, North and South America, Africa, Australia and Asia, they’ve gone to them all leaving their mark an collecting souvenir on every country they go to. A few tables back are a group of lovely ladies that seems to be talking about something deep that includes existential themes, which sits, Emee Lize Mamuyac sharing her achievements to the people who sits on the same table, Jovelle Kaye Navarrete showing pictures of her fangirling moments with her favorite artist, Wendy Paragas shares her dreams and has been working on it to bring forth in her reality, Marian Reiko Rimando already found what she has been longing for and Klaudyne Rose Yango is now living a happy life that God has planned for her.

11: 53 PM — The night flew by so effortlessly and quickly as my batch mates reached their dreams and fantasies. We reminisced about our college years and compared ourselves back then to who we were and who are now. Exchanges of stories of success, struggles and getting back up for that fall. I can’t believe that the night was finally over and it will be another 10 years or so to have another gathering like this. the night ended with goodbyes and swapping of contacts and what not. Each promised to keep in touch via email, call, sms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, you name it they got it. As I close the door to my hotel room I could help but feel blessed to be surrounded by passionate and eager dream catchers. as I close my eyes I whisper a little thank you my alma mater, for harboring our Christian spirit, competence, creativity and social involvement.

June 28,2015

6:15 — Amsterdam time. Finally back to living our dreams in reality. —the end—

PS all information are credited to the graduates’ ultimate dreams. No pun intended.

Inspired by my High School Batch Prophecy 

[flickdirect]

Let's all admit it. By the time a franchise is into its third sequel, the audience starts wondering if it's really worth spending the time and money going to see movie number three. It's a good thing that the writers and directors of Cars 3 are a step (or two) above other franchises because Cars 3 is going so fast, no one can catch up. "I am speed" is still the tagline of this franchise and rightly so. Come speed ahead with Lightning McQueen and some new friends into this new adventure- one that adults can clearly relate to- as our favorite racecar discovers a new purpose in life.

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson; Zoolander) isn't doing so well in this racing season. He can't seem to keep up with his younger competitors and soon realizes that no matter what, he is just simply not as fast as newbie Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer; The Birth of a Nation), a more aerodynamic, younger model. (See the whole adult theme here?) After a crash sends Lightning back to Radiator Springs to recuperate, his friends sell their company- and sponsorship of 95 to a new team owner, Sterling (Nathan Fillion; Guardians of the Galaxy), who has a custom built training facility to assist our favorite speedster. Working with his new trainer, Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo; Angry Birds), a snappy little yellow thing, who always dreamed of being a racecar driver instead of just a trainer, Lightning slowly realizes that his choice doesn't have to be solely to race or not to race.

Cars 3 is clearly a coming of age story that reverberates with those of us out who no longer play in the sandbox. The writing is well done – smooth and easy to follow and reminiscent of the writing style of the original Cars from 2006, which is not surprising, considering Disney-Pixar ensured that two out of the three writers had worked on the original Cars (Keil Murray and Bob Peterson). Mike Rich, the last member of the writing team, previously worked on Secretariat for Disney. Children of all ages will love it and hopefully, the lesson that being 1st place doesn't always mean we are a winner comes through subtlely, yet pleasing to the mind. Director Brian Fee, who directed the first Cars movie in 2006, brings his vision to the big screen once again, creating a solid movie- until you get to the last 15 minutes or so- and then, it simply takes off with Lighting speed. I was literally sitting at the edge of my seat waiting for the story to conclude. It's a simple yet powerful ending to a wonderful story. Disney-Pixar clearly leaves the door open for more movies in the Cars franchise with a new speedster on the track, Cruz Ramirez, may just have her own following, to make a fourth movie in the franchise successful.

The Ultimate Collector's Edition comes with three discs. The first disc is the 4K UHD movie version. Presented in 2160p with an aspect ratio of 2.39:1, the picture quality is amazing. The High Dynamic Range produces brilliant colors- the red of Lightening McQueen pops like never seen before. The black and purple on Storm provide a dynamic contrast and the purple is a more intense color than seen on even the HD version. The metallic of the colors and color saturation just seem to pop on the screen. The picture has a crispness to it, eliminating any blurriness or distortions. When racing on the beach, you can see all the indentations of the tire tracks in the sand and the sand flying around. Clearly, the animation team did a spectacular job with all the fine details clearly seen on the 4K UHD disc.

The audio for 4K UHD is presented in Dolby Atmos as long as you chose it beforehand, otherwise, it defaults to the Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The Atmos does provide a fuller feeling to the background noises and music than the Dolby Digital 7.1 on the HD Blu-ray disc. Clearly, in a theater utilizing Atmos, there is going to be a huge difference in sound, but in a home setting, it doesn't provide the "umph" we expect. Nonetheless, the sound quality is amazing and is still an improvement over the prior Dolby versions.

Disc two houses the 1080p Blu-ray version as well as Special Features. Disc 3 is labeled as "Bonus" and houses only bonus materials. Here's a review of the bonus features that we come to look forward to when we make a disc purchase for our collections:

Blu-ray HD Movie disc:

Lou: A short animation about recess and lost and found items.

Miss Fritter's Racing Skool: An animated mini movie

Ready for the Race: Professional Racecar Driver, William Byron, talks about his career.

Cruz Ramirez: The Yellow Car that Could: Making of the Yellow Car

Audio Commentary: Listen to Director Brian Fee, along with producers and Creative Director talk about their work on the Cars franchise.

The Bonus disc, also presented in HD, brings us the following extra features:

A 40-minute five-part feature Behind the Scenes, including the following: Generations: The Story of Cars 3; Lets. Get. Crazy.; Cars to Die(cast) For; Legendary; and World's Fastest Billboard.

Fly-Throughs: Explore digital elements, including Thomasville, Florida International Speedway, and Rust-Eze Racing Center.

My First Car: The cast and crew discuss their first cars.

Deleted Scenes: Twenty-six minutes of scenes that we all wish made it to the movie

Trailers – Five different trailers

Cars 3 is a 4 and a half star movie. It's enjoyable by all ages, and when it's over, you'll look at the time and wonder how a movie could go by so fast. Disney-Pixar definitely knows how to make a family-friendly movie, loved by all members of the household. Don't let the purchase of this movie go past the finish line without making its way into your home. Grade: B+

About Jennifer Broderick A graduate of The George Washington University and Nova Southeastern Law School Jennifer Fischer Broderick’s fascination with the movie world started when she first saw Snow White on the big screen as a young child. When the producers of the movie Annie held auditions in NYC, Jennifer stood on line in the cold to try out for a part and actually made it past the first few try-outs. A vivacious reader, she is fascinated watching books and stories brought to life on the big screen. Jennifer has passed her love of movies onto her children and they are often found planning their weekends around opening premieres.

Read more reviews and content by Jennifer Broderick.

via FlickDirect Entertainment News and Film Reviews

[gossipnetwork-blog]

'Ethical Slut': Polyamory, Open Relationships, Non-Monogamous

New Post has been published on http://gossip.network/ethical-slut-polyamory-open-relationships-non-monogamous/

'Ethical Slut': Polyamory, Open Relationships, Non-Monogamous

In 1994, sexual educator Janet W. Hardy, was bedridden for a month with a bad flu that had evolved into bronchitis. She was, as she recalls, “high off my ass on Codeine cough syrup” when she caught a showing of Indecent Proposal on TV. Married couple David (Woody Harrelson) and Diana (Demi Moore) are faced with a moral dilemma when a billionaire named John (Robert Redford) offers them a million dollars in exchange for spending one night with Diana. Hardy, who is now 62, had herself been in a marriage that had ended about a decade earlier, and had not been in a monogamous relationship since. At the scene where the couple hesitates over the billionaire’s offer, Hardy wondered if she was having a fever dream.

“I was sitting there going, ‘What’s going on here?'” she tells Rolling Stone from her home in Oregon. “A million dollars and Robert Redford, and they have a problem with this? It made no sense to me. I really got it at that point, how distant I had become from mainstream sexual ethics.”

Hardy reached out to her friend and sometimes collaborator, the psychotherapist Dossie Easton to work on a book about non-monogamy. The pair had already coauthored two books on kink which were read in BDSM circles, but not much elsewhere. Both Easton and Hardy identified as queer and polyamorous, and Easton wanted to reclaim the word slut. They combined their own experiences with both casual sex and open marriages, navigating orgies and battling jealousy. In 1997, under Hardy’s own indie sex-ed publishing house Greenery Press, they published The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities. It would go on to sell 200,000 copies.

The the first usage of the word polyamory is credited to pagan priestess Morning Glory Ravenheart Zell in 1990. Though different forms of non-monogamy have presented themselves in various cultures for millennia, in Western culture in the early 1990s it was still seen as an alternative practice, the kind favored by, well, pagan priestesses. Today, polyamory is less tied to one specific subculture or identity. In the two decades since the first edition of The Ethical Slut has been published, polyamory has expanded into a practice that, if not outright mainstream, is at least much more widely accepted and understood. According to a 2014 article from Psychology Today, at least 9.8 million Americans are in some kind of non-monogamous relationship.]

“Twenty years ago, I used to get calls from show producers all the time, and the call would go, ‘Can you point me towards a poly family that’s not either old hippies or screaming geeks?'” laughs Hardy. “I would say no, because A, that’s most of my rolodex, and B, that’s who was doing poly back then. But these days, when I speak to poly audiences, they’re young professionals, all shiny and new. It’s very different.”

Heather is a 35-year-old mental health advocate who lives with her husband and two kids in Toronto, Canada. (Her name has been changed to protect her privacy.) She and her husband started dating when they were 17 years old, a couple of years after the first edition of The Ethical Slut was published. The two Canadian teenagers didn’t yet have the language for what it is they wanted.

“This was pre-Internet forum, pre-all of that stuff. We really were going by gut,” she says. “I didn’t know the word polyamorous. I didn’t know that there were tons of other people that had ethically non-monogamous relationships.” The models they saw for longterm relationships, such as their parents or friends’ parents, were monogamous, but didn’t seem that satisfying. All that she and her then-boyfriend knew was that they liked each other a lot, and they didn’t feel the need to be exclusive.

“We had a conversation where we both realized, ‘I don’t care if you flirt with other people,'” she says about the beginning of their relationship. “‘Actually, it’s kind of great. I love that side of you.” She and her boyfriend were both extroverted, social people, and flirting with other people just felt natural. Heather, who identifies as queer, liked that she could continue to explore that side of her sexuality with other women. They moved in together at age 19. Her boyfriend started to date a woman he worked with at a restaurant, and when Heather met her at a holiday party, she realized she was attracted to her, too. The three of them entered a relationship together that lasted just under a year. The Ethical Slut describes this relationship model as a triad, but at the time neither Heather nor her partners knew that.

“That was one of our first experiences that wasn’t a casual or one-time thing,” she says. “The three of us were pretty sure we were inventing the wheel.”

Eventually, Heather says, the culture that surrounded her began to catch up. She credits this to living in a progressive city like Toronto, and the Internet’s ability to “bring people outside the mainstream together.” She finally read The Ethical Slut at age 30, while she was already well into developing what she describes as her “own kind of community of poly, kinky, queer awesome people.”

Like Heather, both Hardy and Easton had to figure out their own ideal relationship models as they went along. Easton, who is 73, was coming out of a traumatic relationship in during the summer of love in 1969 and decided that the only way for her to live from thereon out was by “being a slut. I was never going to be monogamous again,” she says. The idea of a communal lifestyle appealed to her, so she took her newborn daughter and found a home in a queer community in San Francisco. She joined a group called San Francisco Sex Organization and taught her first class on unlearning jealousy in 1973.

Hardy, 62, was married for 13 years when, in 1988, she realized that monogamy no longer appealed to her. Her marriage ended that same year. A few years later, in 1992, she met Easton through a BDSM group in San Francisco called the Society of Janus. Easton was teaching a class called “Pain Play with Canes from Psyche to Soma” and Hardy volunteered to help her demonstrate. Two years later, the pair gave a presentation on S&M in Big Sur at a Mensa gathering. (“Of all things,” says Hardy.)

“Dossie went home because it was so hetero, she couldn’t stand it,” says Hardy. Later, she ran into another friend who relayed an overheard conversation from the conference. “She said, ‘Did you hear about that S&M workshop this afternoon? There were these two women, they were talking about stuff they had done together, and one of their boyfriends was right in the room!'” Kink was no big deal to the Mensa crowd, but non-monogamy could still shock in 1994.

Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy, authors of ‘The Ethical Slut.’ Stephanie Mohan

Amber – whose name has also been changed – was born around the same time as that Mensa gathering, and today works at social justice non-profit in Brooklyn. At 23, she is barely older than the first edition of The Ethical Slut. Her vocabulary is comfortably peppered with terms that took Hardy, Easton and Heather years to start using. She prefers the term “polyamory” to “open relationship” because the latter implies a hierarchy to the people she dates, and she doesn’t have a primary partner. Friends she has sex with but doesn’t date she calls “paramours,” while “metamours” are friends that she has a romantic partner in common with. “I’m really lucky where most of my metamours and I get along,” she says. “I learned a lesson recently where you’re not always going to like your metamour, and that’s OK.” Liking your metamour can lead to “compersion,” which The Ethical Slut describes as “the feeling of joy that comes from seeing your partner sexually happy with someone else.”[2]

Her sibling, who is 18 and genderqueer, also identifies as poly, and Amber is out to her parents. “The way I told them, was I said, ‘Yeah, I’m dating this person, and this person, and this person,” she tells me. “I explained this to my mom, and her first concern was, ‘Well, what if you say the wrong name during sex?'”

Though Amber has only been identifying as polyamorous for a few years – she was 19 when she asked her boyfriend if they could open their relationship – she speaks with the confidence and authority of someone who has been allowed to experiment with her sexuality her entire adult life. She emphasizes the need for communication in all relationships, particularly when it comes to hurt feelings.

“I’m sure you’re waiting to ask me the big jealousy question,” she tells me. “Of course polyamorous people deal with jealousy, it’s just that we see it as an emotion to be acknowledged and talked about and work through.” Jealousy usually comes from insecurity and fear, she says, summarizing a large portion of The Ethical Slut, and can require “self reflection and metacognition” to work through. She is active in the New York poly, kink and queer scenes, and goes to several events a week including BDSM play parties and swingers mixers. I ask her if all her partners are part of the same community, and she laughs. “Yeah, whether they like it or not,” she says. “Even whe you break up with a partner, you’re still in each other’s peripherals.” There is little separation between her sex life and social life. Amber is unapologetic about this, and why shouldn’t she be? The word “slut” no longer has the same connotations it did when Hardy and Easton were 23.

As polyamory is treated less like a novelty and more of a valid relationship model, modern entertainment is learning to reflect that. In the eight-episode web series Unicornland, Annie (Laura Ramadei) is trying to explore her sexuality after the dissolution of her marriage. She does this by “unicorning” – the term given to women who join couples in bed for threesomes. Every three- to seven-minute episode introduces Annie to a new couple: straight, lesbian, kinky, longterm married couples looking to spice up their sex life. It depicts one very specific subset of polyamory, but in doing so manages to explore much of the richness and complexities of modern relationships that go ignored in most mainstream media.

“I was always in these long relationships, and they always had this goal of marriage and longevity,” says the show’s creator, Lucy Gillepsie, 32. Like Annie, Gillepsie got married young, at 26, and split from her husband about four months later. “Part of the reason I got divorced was I didn’t know how to communicate in my relationships, and sort of felt my needs were secondary to my partner’s,” she says. “Then I realized I didn’t have to do that to myself.” Post-divorce, she went on “a kind of tour of relationship options,” she says, and became involved in the New York fetish scene. “For the most part, it’s full of very interesting, very conscientious people who are creating and sustaining and maintaining very high functioning ethical polyamorous relationships.”

Gillepsie read The Ethical Slut two years ago, and started writing Unicornland about six months later. The idea of unicorning appealed to her as a narrative device because the evolution of her own sexuality felt like such an internal, mental process. “In Annie’s unicorning, she’s really able to try out other people’s relationships and see how they function from within,” Gillepsie tells me. “I felt that the couples were sort of the best way for Annie to try out all these different facets of polyamory.” The eight episodes take viewers through a crash course of many of the issues polyamorous couples face, such as jealousy, or navigating boundaries of what is and isn’t OK. In episode six, Kim (Ali Rose Dachis) returns from the bathroom to see Samara (Diana Oh) and Annie making out on the bed. “We have rules,” she says. “No French kissing on play dates.” It’s a simple line that shows how much work can go into creating and maintaining a healthy poly relationship, without the high stakes drama of Indecent Proposal.

“We’re seeing some TV shows that are specifically about poly,” says Hardy, when reflecting on whether things have gotten better since Indecent Proposal. She cites an episode of Crazy Ex-Girfriend in which protagonist Rebecca Bunch finds herself in love with two men and can’t decide between them. “She goes and interviews a poly triad to find out how to deal with this, and finds out that what she’s actually doing is just being a person with very bad boundaries.” I ask Hardy if she can think of other mainstream examples of polyamory. She mentions the not-exactly-recent 2001 movie Bandits, and Big Love, the HBO drama about Mormon polygamists. The pickings aren’t exactly abundant, but the critical success of shows like Unicornland and Broad City (in which Ilana Glazer’s character dates Hannibal Buress for the show’s first three seasons while continuing to pursue sex with other people) indicate that younger audiences are ready and open for more.

The 20th anniversary edition of The Ethical Slut, out September 15th, has been significantly updated and expanded from its humble debut, including sections to poly pioneers, black poly activism and yes, shifting attitudes towards polyamory within a new generation. They acknowledge that millennials reading the book today will not have been raised in the same context that Hardy and Easton were – before the sexual revolution, when saving oneself for marriage was considered the norm.

The essence of Hardy and Easton’s book, though, is the same as it was two decades years ago. “One of the things that’s radical about The Ethical Slut is that we wrote it in conversational English,” says Easton. “Most of the earlier books about sex were written like you’re supposed to have a white coat on, with a stethoscope around your neck, or you’re supposed to be writing about what those other people over there are doing.” The new Ethical Slut will sit on bookshelves beside other recent releases, like Amy Rose Spiegel’s Action and Emily Witt’s Future Sex, two books put out by mainstream publishers that combine a conversational tone with personal experience to challenge conventional attitudes about sex.

“It becomes a very intimate book for people, and we worked really hard to be affirming of everybody’s experiences,” says Easton. “The places where we get scared or embarrassed, any of that stuff, it gets in the way. People can find validation in there.”

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[patriotnewsblogger-blog]

The Fleeting Glory of <em>Trump</em> Magazine

New Post has been published on http://www.therightnewsnetwork.com/the-fleeting-glory-of-trump-magazine/

The Fleeting Glory of Trump Magazine

TRUMP: The Complete Collection, edited by Denis Kitchen, Dark Horse Books, 184 pages, $29.99

Trump—the title of which, I feel compelled to point out, has nothing to do with the current POTUS—was an illustrated satirical magazine edited by Mad founder Harvey Kurtzman and published by Playboy‘s Hugh Hefner. Both men were young, very ambitious, and perhaps a little too idealistic. Thanks partly to a storm of unforeseen business woes that almost destroyed the Playboy empire and partly to Kurtzman and Hefner’s generosity toward their contributors, the publication lasted for only two issues, one released in 1956 and the other in 1957. The result, on display in a new collection edited and annotated by Denis Kitchen, was a tragic might-have-been.

Kurtzman is best known for founding Mad, which started out as a full-color comic book satirizing other comics. As one of only two staff editors at the EC Comics company, Kurtzman was expected to write every word of the titles he edited; prior to Mad he ran the imprint’s war titles, which often featured anti–war messages. Thanks to his obsessive determination to get all his facts straight, he routinely fell into “research holes.” Mad was supposed to be a relatively easy job for him, but he soon started obsessing over it too, especially as he started to run out of comic characters to spoof and began to expand his targets into the worlds of film, TV, advertising, and literature.

Mad was a surprise hit, and it soon attracted attention from outside the marginalized, lowbrow comics world, with Kurtzman becoming a cause célèbre among humorists of all kinds. This, combined with a new industry-wide self-censorship policy (known as the Comics Code) that was threatening EC Comics’ very existence, convinced Kurtzman to ask his publisher, William Gaines, to convert Mad from a kiddie comic to an adult humor magazine. Gaines agreed, and Mad became not just more popular than ever but, eventually, a cultural institution. All this sudden and unexpected attention went to Kurtzman’s head, and he soon began making outrageous demands that the publisher wouldn’t have agreed to under any circumstances, such as 51 percent ownership of Gaines’ own company. But Kurtzman thought he had an ace in the hole: Hugh Hefner.

Like most men of that era, Kurtzman was fascinated by Playboy, with its unprecedented mixture of pornography, high-end production values, and intellectual aspirations (or pretensions, take your pick). And Hefner, who had been an unsuccessful cartoonist, was equally fascinated by what Kurtzman was doing with Mad, specifically in the way he would deconstruct—in a very pre-postmodernist fashion—his targets. Kurtzman’s commercial purpose was simply to mine humor from his subjects, but if in so doing he also revealed some heaping doses of hypocrisy and greed behind the mass media’s messages, then so much the better. (It should be noted here that Kurtzman’s parents were Communists. While he never shared their political beliefs, he certainly was raised to view American culture with a cynical eye.)

This approach appealed to Hefner’s own self-image as an observant Hip Outsider, and the two men were soon conspiring with each other to create a satirical publication that would put all others to shame, sparing no expense in the process.

Content-wise, Trump wasn’t much different than the early “adult” version of Mad that Kurtzman had only just started at EC. Kurtzman also took the cream of EC’s stable of artists with him, primarily the incomparable threesome of Will Elder, Jack Davis, and Wally Wood, as well as a young Al Jaffee. (Wood quickly returned to Mad when he learned he wasn’t allowed to work for both publications, while Davis and Jaffee were welcomed back after Trump folded. Jaffee still works there 60 years later.) What separated Trump from Mad was the former’s determination to be a demonstrably “adult” publication, which meant it included (possibly at Hefner’s insistence) a lot of semi-clad young women in the art; the only nod to modesty was a rule against exposed nipples. Mad, meanwhile, slipped back into appealing to a more adolescent audience. This noticeable difference in the sexual maturity of the respective magazines’ intended readerships was recreated 15 years later with the arrival of National Lampoon.

One highly ambitious feature from the first issue was an elaborate take-off of Life magazine’s illustrated panoramas of various stages of human development over specific time periods. Trump‘s version imagined what archeologists would make of our own culture, a million years in the future, as they study such “art objects” as fire hydrants and coke bottles and marvel over such “fertility goddesses” as Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. Being a fold-out feature, it also teased readers into thinking they were opening a Playboy centerfold by inserting a partial photo of a nude model just as you begin to turn the page.

This feature in particular represents the noticeable difference between Trump and Mad in terms of production. The former was printed on slick magazine paper rather than cheap newsprint, and it featured a lot of full-color art in its interiors—hand-colored art at that, which was unheard-of in comic books up until then. So while Kurtzman was generous with his artists, he also was quite demanding, expecting them to turn in the very best quality work they were capable of. Thus, the otherwise slapdashy (but always excellent) Jack Davis employed a far more time-consuming cross-hatching technique instead of his usual water-color approach, with stunning results.

Even more stunning are the incredibly detailed painted illustrations by Kurtzman’s childhood friend and lifelong collaborator, Will Elder. Their collaborations in the early Mads still stand out as that publication’s most remarkable achievements, and with Trump it was obvious that both men saw this as a golden opportunity to strut their stuff. There’s something almost harrowing in the way they would employ a Sistine Chapel–like effort simply to make fun of, say, Howdy Doody or Coca-Cola, and their work in this collection is worth the cover price alone. But Kurtzman and Elder’s obsessive, laborious approach was also why Trump (like the Kurtzman-era Mad) was rarely completed by deadline time. You have to wonder how two artists with such an it’s-done-when-it’s-done-and-damn-the-distributors attitude wound up working in the world of periodicals to begin with. Such prima donnas are more likely to be fine artists—though it’s unlikely that these two would have been welcomed in that world either.

Kitchen’s collection includes not just the complete run of Trump but also (mostly) unfinished work on what would have been the third issue of the magazine. And there are examples of work in progress from the two existing issues, which serves as a window into Harvey Kurtzman’s perfectionist mind. As was the case with the early Mads, he not only wrote and edited almost every feature but also roughed out and/or laid out each piece in great detail. The artists were expected to remain faithful to these blueprints. His sense of timing and composition is flawless, and has served as a go-to model of sorts for visual satirists ever since. The only shame in all of this is the relative lack of Kurtzman’s own finished art, since he was convinced the public didn’t care for it. (His stock response to anyone who complimented his art was “yeah, you and my mother.”) His drawing style was highly expressive and energetic, and he employed it to great effect in dramatic stories as well as humorous ones.

In a sense, Kurtzman’s entry into the world of Hefner was both the best and the worst thing that ever happened to him. Yes, it resulted in Trump, but the ultimate differences between the two men—one an unflinching realist, the other a peddler of fantasies—were bound to come to a head at some point. Still, they liked and respected each other, and they continued to work together for decades afterward on the long-running Playboy comic Little Annie Fanny. But that aforementioned conflict of sensibilities always hung over this feature, with one man attempting to enlighten the reader while the other was primarily interested in titillating him.

Kurtzman’s later career consisted mainly of various failed or aborted projects. But this never diminished the impact his early work—including Trump—has had on almost everyone in the comedy world ever since, whether they know it or not. He sure has inspired the hell out of me. He is one of America’s all-time greatest artists, and he deserves to be a household name.

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