#miraculous ladybug tutorial

[dogsarec00l]

Again with this villain Chloe AU, I've been working on this AU for a while now and it's a very special AU for me.

This AU is set 16-18 years after the end of season 5. With some changes that I'll discuss later. Changes not just in the ending but in the story of the show in general.

Chloe is around 32-34 years old and is working with Lila (chlolila), but she isn't really trying to hurt anyone. Besides herself.

How does she have the Bee Miraculous? Well, I'll reveal that later. Maybe in another post or in a comic, who knows. Just know that it will be painful.

[alazic02]

My full piece for the Le Blanc zine, a Chat Blanc Miraculous Ladybug zine hosted over at @leblanczine! I had a lot of fun working on this piece, playing with the shadows and saturations. Everyone's work looks amazing and it all came together so well!

The leftover sale runs through May 4, 2024 so make sure you grab what's available :)

Tumblr post || Shop

Artwork ©: alazic02 | buy me a ko-fi

Do not repost.

[fernbee]

miraculous ladybug season 5 leaks

can anyone just. . . dm me the season 5 leaked scripts?? p l. e a se? I am desperate and I will owe you one, *I need content*

[eu0n1a]

how to make origami butterflies

[australet789]

how do you watch Miraculous Ladybug and enjoy it, a tutorial:

Dont check any of Thomas Astruc's (creator) and Jeremy Zag's (profuctor) social media.

Watch the show on a non-legal site 👍

[garmaballs]

1 fav ninjago characters?? 2 other interests in general?? 3 whats your art process?? how do you make such good art !!

1 - nya, jay, lloyd, and garmadon !!! can’t pick one

2 - i’ve been obsessed with ninjago currently so i’ve abandoned my other interests 😭 but i kindaaaa play the guitar and i was obsessed with miraculous ladybug

3 - okok i made a little tutorial like a week or something ago but it was so bad. i start with sketch, then (try) to do simple lineart, then i find a reference with really cool colors that i like, kinda adjust the colors to the lighting that i want my drawing to be and ???? color ig, add detailstjat u want ?? idk it just happens im not sure 😭😭 also there’s a lot of frustration into it and this process takes 1-5 days cuz you gotta HATE the drawing for it to look good (for me) also thank you !!

[baenyth]

Bethany's Bizarre Miraculous Reviews: The Shanghai Special

Fun fact: I went to the real New York City in the gap between my reviews. I hated it more than the special. It was oversized and drab. Also, I decided: no more tagging stuff as salt! Salt is a symbol of deranged hatred, and I want to be a fair critic! I don't hate Marinette, I just hate how she practices stalking and gets away with it. Either way,

Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai; Hourai Hourai Hourai Hourai; FRANCO HOLLAND TIBET KYOTO LONDON RUSSIAN ORLEANS!

(Watch as I hate the special again, lmao.)

Alright, starting off with narmy dialogue, greed and tragedy, and a cool sacred cave.

Oooh, this girl! I don't remember her name, Fei Wu, right? But she's got a neat and detailed backstory!

"Everything was going well, until it wasn't."

Marinette, that's weird.

I heard she wanted to visit Shanghai not to learn about her roots, but to see more Adrien. It's even more disappointing to watch it happen, though.

Such sweet parents!

PSYCHOLOGY

I think he wanted you to help cook, Marinette.

This is actual stalking. The crushing disappointment is growing worse.

I love Adrien's Dad. He's silly, he cares for Adrien, he loves action figures, and he's a person magnitudes better than Hawkmoth!

Gabriel's moving like he's in a videogame lmao

So is Fei Wu. Amazing. I love her and I'd watch an entire show about her.

Sticky fingers! Amazing!

Big fan of the talking bird too. What's his ordeal?

I love the artist method of talking. And the artist's struggle. Kinda odd Marinette's looking for her earrings rather than her phone. I mean I know they make her Ladybug and everything but wouldn't her phone be useful to tell the people you're staying with what's going on? Ladybug isn't very discrete either.

Oh right. The greedy prick again.

As always, Capitalism is the true villain.

Oooh, new transformation music!

Damn, Big News.

Oh god all the ironies going on. Fei is in a deep tar pit. It's like Seinfeld again.

Zamn. Girlie had a whole character arc back there.

Pfft the prodigious kwamis are giving tutorial guides while Fei's trying to survive

Oh. It's just a puff of smoke? Whatever. I love shapeshifters.

Holy hell. Hawkmoth akumatized the guardian, of all people? Is he even sapient? Can Hawkmoth akumatize, like, dogs and cats?

VIBE CHECK

"I'm not worthy of this!" Neither is the guardian. Bro is disintegrating people left and right.

Oh right. He got possessed and isn't in his right mind.

Another plan where Marinette gets swallowed.

Mmmf. Good "what have I done?" thing. I like it.

So he's also a Kwami? Can Hawkmoth akumatize kwamis?

Pfft the excuses

Hey, that wasn't too bad! I really liked Fei's story here, although the whole revenge thing felt forced and crude. Someone who is understandably pissed about someone ruining their father's dojo and eventually life for greed and having to steal to survive (girl is practically homeless, let's be real. At some point she had to use that pawn shop cash for food or clothes that aren't rags.) has to learn about humility and everything while a girl that went to Shanghai to see the boy she has a crush on there gets off not really scot-free, but without having consequences directly for her actions. No matter. It was better than the cheating nonsense in the New York Special.

[crizztelcb]

it will be a quite simple anatomy like not that high detailed but I will try my best if someone wants it!

[moonmeg]

Hey so I really love your art and your body poses ars always so fluent! I have a very simple style what is your suggestion for artists who want to change from cartoony to a more realistic style like yours? And how do you get your anatomy so good!!!Also if you have time or effort could you give a small showcase of where you started and where you are now and how you developed the style!?!?

-Small side note in Watching and dreaming what sene made you cry the most?

-Personally balled my eyes out when the collector started crying.Sorry for the long thread but what do you think happened to the collecotr?

-KEEP UP THE JAW DROPPING ART!!!❤️

Thank you so, so much!

The time skip made me so happy yet so emotional but I think when the collector started crying after Luz "died", yeah that might be the moment :')

I started developing my own style the way it is now with my entry into the Hamilton fandom. I've had a style before, that I drew Miraculous Ladybug fanart with and it looked something like this

I was 14 when I drew this. I was still heavily influenced by an anime art style despite me never having seen an anime at that point in my life.

With entering the Hamilton fandom, however, I found animatics. Szin was an artist that had an art style I looked at with 15/16 and said "I want that.". So I started copying some things from szin's artstyle that I really liked (the way they drew hair and noses specifically). Over time I discovered other artists that I had art-style envy over. That being caw-chan and ziksua predominantly. I think I adapted more from caw-chan and szin than from ziksua but I would lie if I said her art didn't have an impact on me.

So my art style developed year by year.

There are big time skips between these deawings but if you're interested in my Hamilton era search #hamilton on my tumblr and scroll through it a bit. Or if you go down the rabbit hole on pinterest just enough, you'll find old art to. Search "megpeggs" on pinterest for that.

During Hamilton times of course not only other artists inspired me but I also started looking up tutorials or art commentaries on YouTube. Videos where an artist genuinely critiques their viewers art proved most useful, because they show you how to improve the anatomy, what basic rules you can follow to get anatomy right etc. And of course, references and realistic portraits. (That last drawing was created with a reference.)

If you want a more realistic art style you need to study the realistic anatomy and know how to draw something realistic. For that you need a reference that you look at again and again, basically analyzing it and taking it apart to see how what looks and how you can best copy it on canvas.

Depending on complexity it of course is rather time consuming but it's a huge help. If you know how to draw something pretty damn realistic, you can easily cartoonify or simplify certain features. (Not saying I'm so great at realism but I'd say I'm not that bad at it either)

Enter Avatar era.

A show where you can bend elements and a show that is filled with quite a lot of fight scenes makes you want to do fanart that is as dynamic. So you sit there staring at pose references again. Or you take pictures of yourself doing these things. I can't say how much the ATLA and LOK art style influenced me because there barely is any resemblance between the show and my art but I do ghink it had at least a little impact on my art style.

It involved a lot of referencing and copying (important note: not tracing!) in my case. And that's really the most important tip I can give here. Studying and analyzing the reference picture you chose. How long and thick are limbs? How big are the hands? The torso? The neck? How much smaller or bigger does this limb look due to the perspective? Learn the rules before you break them.

Some examples:

Foreheads are bigger than they seem! Remember that your character needs to fit a brain in there.

You should be able to fit one third eye between the two eyes - that's the usual distance.

Eyes are on one height with where the ears begin.

The nose's end is on one height with the earlobe.

The distance from the outer corner of the left eye to the outer corner of the right eye is the same length as the neck (in thickness)

Remember that the neck supports the head. When drawing a side profile it should start at the back of the head and leave some room for a jaw.

Hands are big enough to cover your entire face.

Your elbow is on one height with your waist.

Your whole arm should reach from shoulders to about the middle of your thigh.

There's space between breasts and the neck. You have a collarbone there!

Natural breasts hang. They have weight to them and get pulled down by gravity.

There's bones and organs everywhere in your body and they need space too

Skin wrinkles Angle your arms or hand. You're not a Barbie, you've got wrinkles there on elbow and wrist.. Furrow your eyebrows. The skin on your forehead wrinkles.

Everything I listed here is something you can go check out on your own body and it should be correct. Of course this is just the usual way anatomy is like - exceptions are found everywhere.

If my art style is something you look up to, as weird as it sounds, study it. Look at the way I draw things and try to copy them and incorporate them into your own style.

It's also important you go out of your comfort zone.

With TDAAC I couldn't name what exactly changed or developed in my art style more but I do know I started to hide hands less and challenge myself to actually draw that hand pose, staring at references from pinterest or my own hands doing that pose.

Art is a matter of learning and studying. It's time consuming, it's nerve-wreking, you may sit there and ask yourself why the hell you decided to do art but it's worth it all.

I'd recommend keeping your old art around somewhere. Over the years you can then always go back to it and compare it to your current art and see just how much you grew as artist. And that is something that definitely comes. The more you draw, the more you learn. It's not witchcraft, even if it might seem like it sometimes.

I'll add some more art of mine in a reblog, since tumblr only allows me to add 10 images.

[shipmistress9]

Hey, everyone

I’m Ship (she/her). I’m old enough that my age doesn’t matter, happily married, mother of three. I’m bi/demi/ace/it’s-complicated. 

Fandom is my hobby, it brings me joy, and everyone who tries to muddle this joy gets blocked. 💜 I’m a full-time shipper, I write, sometimes I draw. I’m always happy to talk about my fandoms and ships, so feel free to ask me anything. 😉

Want to chat about fandom stuff and writing? Discord tag: shipmistress9

Writing masterlists: (or on AO3)

How to train your Dragon (Hiccstrid, Hicret, Erestrid, Hicretstrid)

Miraculous Ladybug (Adrinette, Lukanette, Lukadrien, Lukadrinette)

Fourth Wing (Xaden/Violet, Xaden/Liam, Violet/Liam, Xaden/Violet/Liam)

Other Fandoms (Zelink, Leon/Sonia (pkmn), Sebastian/Farmer (sdv)

Side blogs: 

@shippy-s-writing-advices tips and references for writing

@shippy-draws my art + tips and tutorials for drawing

* - . - * - . o O o . - * - . - *If you want to leave a tip you can buy me a coffee. I love coffee 😊 (Ko-Fi)

[trainsinanime]

Three notes on Miraculous Ladybug: Rise of the Sphynx

Yes, I finally bought a console, and so now I'm catching up on the important game releases I missed.

I'm no good at fighting games where I have to dodge and parry. There's been one exception, Infinity Blade on iOS (doesn't exist anymore). I suck at this one as well. Took two tries for Mister Pigeon (the tutorial boss), and got only a one-star rating for him.

It's kind of amazing how bad the graphics are. The style is charming and nice, but the lighting is terrible, and the eyes of all characters are so lifeless, and all the specular highlights are washed out white. And it's got frame rate issues in the cut scenes! In this day and age! People could do this better twenty years ago.

It all fits together lore-wise, though: The white isolation chamber Adrien is in during the finale of season 5? I assume that's where he goes when you press the "switch character" button in this game.

[disorganizedkitten]

A Study In Friendship Chapter 4

Miraculous Ladybug | 2019 | 1,208 | Ao3 | Prev | Masterlist | Next

Gems In The Sand

It happened slowly, but Sabrina was able to fall into a type of routine. Go to school, meet up with Marinette and Alya, and sometimes the boys, pay attention in class, ignore Chloe if she decided to try to bash Sabrina again - if this was what it was like for Marinette all those years, the girl had the patience of a saint - make small talk with Ivan, and Rose, and work on learning something not academic-related if she had extra time.

Which she did. A lot.

In the extra time she had since she wasn’t doing two sets of homework, Sabrina mostly used online tutorials to learn how to make jewelry. So far, she had a quarter of a notebook full of designs she wanted to try once she learned the techniques, the patterns she really liked, and a shoebox with seven assorted pairs of earrings, three charms she wasn’t sure what she’d turn into, and a bracelet and a half.

Or, at the moment, the box had one bracelet, since the other was on her lap.

Keeping herself busy while home alone had never been this much of a problem before. Granted, Sabrina hadn’t been home alone with this much free time in… years, probably.

That sounded sad, when she actually said it.

Sabrina threaded a seed bead through the string, then picked another two fire polished beads up, and threaded one onto the string, then another seed, and continued the pattern.

She also had a lot more time to think, which she tried to fight by having audiobook on constantly. She’d been through the first Harry Potter book just this week, and was almost done with the second. She also had the Finishing school series downloaded for next week, by recommendation of Rose.

A melody interrupted Dumbledore and Harry’s talk, and a notification appeared on the top of her screen. Sabrina set the bracelet-in-progress on her bed, and picked her phone up off her knee. She swiped downward, another text coming in as she opened the app.

Marinette; Hey Sabrina! Rose, Celeste, Marc, the other art reps and I just got out of M. Damocles’ office, and he’s going to look into getting a teacher to watch the art room! We’re throwing an impromptu party at my house, do you want to join us?

Sabrina smiled, laughing to herself. When they’d found out that there was an art room, but it was never used due to there never being a teacher for it, they had been able to band together people from almost every class in the school to appeal to the principle. Marinette and Rose had spearheaded it. She was so proud of them!

Sabrina; That’s awesome! I’ll double check with dad, but I should be able to come!

She switched chats after sending that to see what Rose said.

Rose; Bri! M. Damocles agreed to it! We’re all getting together at Mari’s place to celebrate! Can you come?!

Sabrina nodded, switching again to let her dad know she was going to go hang out at the Dupain-Chengs. She told Rose she would be over in a few minutes, and set her phone down. Sabrina carefully picked up her open bracelet and put it away, followed by putting her beads back in their sorting container and putting them both under her bed.

***

Sabrina was waiting at the crosslight again, her phone in her pocket and a smile on her face. She had crossed this road more times this week than in the last three years. She liked it.

Beside her, a little old man was tapping his cane against the floor as he walked forward. Sabrina mirrored the rhythm with her fingers, taking a moment to look at him in more detail. He was wearing a bright shirt with flowers, and dark sunglasses. Really dark sunglasses.

He wasn’t stopping at the curb.

“Monsieur!” Sabrina called, lurching forward to catch his arm as he got got too close to a car’s front end.

He turned his head confusedly, stumbling back onto the safe side of the sidewalk. “Oh dear me. Was the light red again?”

“Er, yes Monsieur,” Sabrina breathed, her empty hand finding its way to her chest. She didn’t even go into traffic and her heart was beating this fast. You’d think Akuma would teach her how to deal with disasters! “Are you okay?”

“Yes, don’t worry.” He patted her hand, the motion drawing Sabrina’s eye. That turtle bracelet was interesting.“I seem to do that weekly, I’m afraid. I get so caught up in my thoughts!”

“It’s understandable, Monsieur. Do try to be more careful though, please? Maybe adjust where you walk so that you tap the pole before you reach the road itself.”

“Now that’s an idea. I will try to remember to try it. Thank you, mademoiselle, for helping me.”

“I couldn’t just stand here,” Sabrina shrugged, her voice too high to be casual. “The light’s green now, would you like me to help you across?”

“I think I’ll be alright, thank you.”

Sabrina let go, nodding. “Of course. Have a good day, Monsieur!”

“You too, mademoiselle.” he nodded back, and started to cross the road. Sabrina followed, her eyes straying back to him over and over.

That bracelet was really pretty. It looked to all be one bead, or at least the larger charm was, but maybe if she used clay she could create something similar? It was definitely worth trying. Later though, Sabrina reminded herself as she reached the bakery door.

The patrons were all at their seats, chatting amongst themselves, so Sabrina waved to Sabine. “Hello Mme. Cheng!”

“Sabrina!” Sabine shot her a smile. “They’re all upstairs, there are aprons by the door.”

“Aprons?”

“They’re painting something. Better safe than sorry, right?”

Sabrina nodded. “Yep! Thank you Mme. Cheng!” She grabbed an apron as she reached the doorway, pulling it over her head and tying it as she climbed the stairs. She pulled the last loop as she reached the apartment door, and knocked.

There was noise echoing out, and although Sabrina couldn’t understand anything being said. they sounded like they were having fun. Hopefully her joining midway through wouldn’t be awkward. She hated that part of spending time with equals, especially in group settings. It had already happened a few times over the week.

Thankfully though, Marinette almost always swooped in before long and brought everyone back together.

 More incentive to always arrive on time.

“Sabrina!” Rose squealed, yanking her into a hug almost the moment the door opened.

A call of “you made it!” came from further inside.

“Come on! We’re making a welcome a poster!”

Sabrina giggled, letting the shorter girl drag her into the living room. Most of the faces she didn’t recognize, but Nathaniel and Alix were in a corner, Juleka was adding designs to one side of the poster, and Marinette was chatting with the class rep from another class. Rose skipped over to join Juleka, picking up a paintbrush and a bottle of glitter.

Rose glanced back up at Sabrina and patted the ground beside her. “Come on!”

Sabrina scurried over and sat down. “What are we drawing?”

“Abstract,” Juleka answered. “To fill in open space, you know?”

“Oooh.”

[georgiasbloom]

How are you

i am meh!! i just had a negatively eventful weekend and i really need recharge time, but i have to work a lot </3 it is okay, i will use my free time for now to rest )):

i was thinking of binging more of lego friends girls on a mission today and tomorrow evening! i’ve also started working on a liann edit! i haven’t edited in a bit due to busy life schedule and no motivation. i miss editing, but it’s become such a tedious activity to me. usually what helps me regain inspo is watching my shows, rewatching my old edits, or watching edit tutorials

i’ve also been wanting to make my own lego friends oc? i think it could be fun! i haven’t had a proper oc for canon media since a couple years ago when i made some for rainbow high. but i haven’t worked on them in awhile. before that was for miraculous ladybug like… five years ago? wowie anyways

i was thinking i might have my oc be the sixth friend for the main five and she’d be themed on the colour red. i already have some ideas for her physical design. luckily lego friends has a more simplistic style, so i don’t have to go crazy with the design :’D i haven’t drawn in a long time and i really dislike drawing, but i mean. it’s not like tons of people will see my art since there’s not a lot of people in the legos friends fandom. i dunno if i’d even post it anyways… who knows

this is my long winded way of saying I Am Tired & I Miss Making Art ☹️☹️☹️ P.S. i was officially diagnosed with adhd so that’s something new!

[aidanchaser]

Boulangérella: A Miraculous Fairy Tale AU - Chapter Six

Table of Contents Read on Ao3 Prologue

beta’d by @7wizardsshallanswerthecall, @mothmanhamlet, @ccboomer and @aubsenroute​​

Chapter Six Volpina

The rhythm of the harpsichord piece still thrummed through his fingers, even as Adrien returned to his room. He was exhausted; it felt like his father was running him ragged purely as revenge for his brief outing to the seamstress last week.

There were lunches with the Bourgeois family, dinners with the Rossi family, teas with nobles and ambassadors and their daughters, and his evenings were spent cloistered in his father’s receiving room, either reviewing work with his father or practicing the harpsichord while King Gabriel multitasked between reading reports on his own and critiquing Adrien’s performance.

He appreciated the time with his father, certainly, butt even with this change in schedule it was still obvious the work was first. Adrien was second. He never thought he would miss the strict tutorial schedule he had once kept, but as he collapsed onto his bed fully clothed, he could think of nothing he wanted to do more than just have one hour fencing with his cousin again.

Well, there was one other thing he could think of, but he wasn’t sure that he had the energy for Chat Noir.

“Please?” Plagg needled, as if he could read Adrien’s thoughts. “You haven’t been out in a week.”

“The city hasn’t needed me in a week. Everyone’s so excited about a ball, I guess Hawk Moth’s been out of work.”

“We don’t need a curse or a monster to have a little fun.”

“Ladybug said she was too busy to patrol this month, so what’s the point?”

“We could steal something,” Plagg offered.

It was tempting. “We promised Ladybug that we’d behave.”

“You promised Ladybug.”

“All right, so I can’t steal. You’re welcome to go off on your own if you like.”

“What if it’s not really stealing?”

Adrien knew he was about to get an absurd spin on thievery that was closer to a flat-out lie than any true loophole.

“Is this about Lila again?”

“It’s not really her pendant, so we can’t actually steal it from her.”

“It’s the same thing.”

Plagg, who had far more energy than Adrien could even fathom, jumped on Adrien’s chest, and used each bounce to punctuate his points. “One—Lila said she inherited the necklace from her grandmother. You can’t inherit a fay gift. Two—her magic doesn’t seem to runout which means she made a lifetime bargain and those are dangerous. Three—she revealed her identity to the royal family, and now the whole kingdom knows who Volpina is. That’s a bad thing!”

Adrien closed his eyes. Plagg did not lecture very often, but it made for a decent lullaby. “Why is that bad?” he asked with a yawn.

“For one, anyone could steal her gift.”

“Like you want to do?”

“For another, Hawk Moth could target her. You think his normal curses are bad? Imagine if he cursed someone with a magical gift. Think about if he knew who Ladybug was, and he cursed her. Or even you! How would Ladybug face a cursed version of you?”

Adrien had considered, on occasion, what he might do if Ladybug fell victim to one of Hawk Moth’s curses. But it was not a very fun thought exercise, so he didn’t dwell on it.

“Come on,” Plagg whined with another jump. “You know if you take Lila’s pendant, your father won’t ask you to marry her.”

Adrien ignored this point. He knew that his father had only entertained Lila Rossi’s proposal because she bore a gift from a fay, and it was one of the reasons he did not want to go after Lila. He was not interested in stealing from her precisely because it benefited him. That broke Chat Noir’s vaguely ethical code of thievery.

“What does it really matter?” Adrien sighed. “Father will just ask me to marry Chloé or Princess Kagami instead. I can’t imagine he’ll be too thrilled if I tell him I want to marry Ladybug.” Though if his father was tempted by Lila’s fay gift, why not Ladybug’s?

Adrien twisted the ring around his finger and considered it. Not knowing who she was under her mask made it a hard pitch. At least Lila was from a noble family who had a relationship with the royal family. But if there was a chance Adrien could have Ladybug, maybe he could get married without have to give up being Chat Noir.

“What will you do when I get married?” Adrien asked.

Plagg’s growl was low and guttural, as if he were announcing just how feral and ancient he truly was. He felt displeased by the change in topic, but played along for a moment, for Adrien’s sake. “Do you want me to be the ring bearer or something?”

“No, I just mean, you know, I’ll have other… nightly duties to attend to. I won’t be able to be Chat Noir anymore.”

Plagg laughed. “Your wife won’t need more than fifteen minutes of your time. An hour if you want to be nice about it.”

Adrien ran his hand over his face in an attempt to hide the red in his cheeks. “Maybe I want to be very nice about it. It just… seems unfair to disappear if my evenings aren’t entirely my own anymore.” His parents had not kept separate chambers, and he had expected to follow suit. But he supposed his chance of marrying for love was slim. Maybe Plagg had a point…

Plagg jumped on Adrien’s chest again and this time landed in the shape of a scrawny cat, putting proper weight into Adrien’s diaphragm, and even a bit of claw.

Adrien yelped and sat up. “That was rude.” He rubbed his stomach ruefully.

Plagg returned to his fay form and hovered so that he was level with Adrien���s eyes. “Look, I don’t actually care about Lila getting cursed or whatever, but I do really think she stole this pendant with an ancient, forbidden ritual. Just like Hawk Moth stole his brooch.”

Adrien frowned. “How do you know that Hawk Moth stole his brooch?”

“I just mean Hawk Moth probably stole his brooch. The whole curse thing isn’t Nooroo’s style.”

Adrien had been with Plagg for nearly a year now, and he knew when his fay was hiding something. “Plagg, tell me the truth. Maybe it can help Ladybug and I catch Hawk Moth.”

But Plagg had no intention of telling Adrien the truth, not yet. He had chosen Adrien in the forest nearly a year ago because he had seen a desperate young man who needed a bit of hope and freedom. He saw someone who would benefit from some chaos. But Plagg had also seen someone who might lose himself in that chaos. For Plagg, that was the best sort of partner. He enjoyed walking along the knife’s edge of destruction.

But it took some care to stay on the right edge of that knife, and Plagg was not interested in pushing Adrien over. He did not know what might happen if he told Adrien all of the truth: King Gabriel had gone into the forest the night that his wife had fallen asleep and used a terrible curse to capture a fay creature. Maybe the truth would help Ladybug catch Hawk Moth, but the truth might also break Adrien Agreste.

So Plagg shared as much of the truth as he thought he could get away with. “The truth is that I know Nooroo was taken against his will because I saw it happen.” He sank down onto the bedspread and looked up at Adrien, hoping his green eyes looked earnest. “There’s a… a really dark ritual that a human can use to call a fay to them. Hawk Moth came to the forest looking for Tikki and me, but he couldn’t find us. He tried using this old ritual to capture us, but Nooroo used his magic of transmission to give Tikki the strength to resist the call. And the price was that he took her place. Tikki and I agreed to save Nooroo, but we couldn’t risk Hawk Moth capturing us, so we decided to make deals with humans that we could trust. I chose you and Tikki chose Ladybug.”

Adrien frowned. He couldn’t believe that Plagg had been keeping this from him for nearly a year. It seemed like the sort of thing that should have been brought up at the forest’s edge when they had first met, or at least after their first fight with Hawk Moth. Had Plagg really chosen him because he was the first human to wander into the forest after Hawk Moth? “You promised me freedom in exchange for cheese. You never said you wanted Nooroo back, too.”

“I’d never ask you to make a promise that you couldn’t keep.”

“You think I can’t do it?”

“I don’t make a habit of binding my humans to promises outside their power to grant. Our deal has been met. You can give me up any time you want. I wanted to give you freedom, not limit it. But I also picked you because I believed you would help.”

Adrien bit down on his lip. He knew from the fairy tales that he had read as a boy that uneven deals were a large part of fay lore. It was common for a fay to ask for anything from a mountain of gold to a first born child in exchange for their power. But Plagg had asked for nothing but cheese in exchange for each night of freedom. Ladybug had once told him that Tikki had asked for sugar in exchange for luck. They were small gifts, ones Adrien and Ladybug could easily meet. It had never occurred to Adrien that small gifts were a fay’s version of kindness.

It still hurt to know that Plagg had kept all of this from him for so long. Adrien didn’t have much in the way of companionship outside of his family, other than Plagg.

“You think Hawk Moth and Lila could really use Nooroo and Trixx’s powers without making a proper deal?”

“If they knew the ritual, yes.”

Adrien rolled out of bed and stretched his arms behind his head. “Well, what Ladybug doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

And with a whisper of, “Plagg, claws out,” Chat Noir was free to run off into the night.

He headed straight for the Rossi family manor. He was prepared for the dogs this time and crept along the wall until he found a tree that looked climbable. He chose a branch sturdy enough and long enough to get him close to the rooftop. With a bit of trepidation and a small amount of hope, he glanced over his shoulder to see if Ladybug was there to stop him.

Chat Noir was alone.

He leapt onto the roof and slipped down to the nearest dark window. It took a bit of heft to slide it open, but soon he was inside.

Chat Noir had never snuck into the Rossi manor before. It was usually empty, and there wasn’t a lot of appeal to infiltrating an empty house, either because it lacked the recklessness that Plagg desired or the intimacy that Adrien craved.

The Rossi family traveled the world, working as ambassadors for King Gabriel, but they returned every summer solstice for the annual hunt in the Forest of Fay. Last summer had been the only exception that Chat Noir could recall, and he had assumed it was because King Gabriel had forgone the hunt in his grief.

Chat Noir had been surprised by the dogs the other night, since they were six months from the summer solstice, but now that he knew Lila Rossi had inherited the miraculous gift of trickery and illusion from her grandmother, he guessed that the family had come back for her grandmother’s funeral service.

He also had learned, after Lila had made her grand declaration of her intention to wed Prince Adrien, that one of the reasons she had come back to the city was to challenge Chloé Bourgeois for his hand. Adrien had tried to explain to her and Chloé that he would make his own decision on the twenty-second, but that had not stopped Chloé and Lila from doing their best to explain to King Gabriel why they were each more suited for Prince Adrien. Even they didn’t think Adrien would truly be the one with the final say on whom he married.

Chat Noir slipped out of the dark attic storage room and into an empty hallway. He pressed his ears against each door, listening for sounds of slow, steady breathing or, preferably, loud snoring.

He did not care that marrying into the Bourgeois family would give the royal family more money and influence; he did not care that the Rossi family had international connections around the world and ancestral connections to the Forest of Fay that could benefit the kingdom. All he cared about was having someone at his side that he trusted, that he knew would support him, and someone that he could support as well.

He already had a partner that met those qualifications.

Chat Noir pushed open a bedroom door and cast his cat-like eyes around the dimly lit room. A couple was asleep in the bed, so he closed the door softly and continued his search for Lila’s room. He finally found it at the end of the hall.

The mess surprised him. Pieces of her dresses were scattered on the floor. Her jewelry hung haphazardly on the mirror. Chat Noir looked for her pendant among the mess but he did not see it. He had a feeling it was around her neck. It wasn’t as if he took off his ring when he went to sleep, and he did not think Ladybug took her earrings off each night either.

Still, he searched the drawers of her vanity, just in case. With clawed fingertips, he picked at a locked drawer and was surprised to find nothing of value inside. He hadn’t really expected the pendant, but perhaps a family ring or a diary might be worth protecting behind a lock. Instead, it was filled with ribbons.

Ever curious, Chat Noir ran his hands along the edges of the drawer and there he found it, a catch hidden beneath the scraps of fabric. It opened up a side panel on the inside of her vanity and Chat found a collection of papers with ragged edges, like they had been torn out of a book.

His first thought was that these were pages of Lila’s diary, and he had no interest in prying, but before he could put the pages back, he saw a fairly detailed drawing of Plagg in the corner of one of the notes. Chat frowned and flipped through the pages. He could see well-enough in the dark, but reading was a bit more challenging.

He slipped closer to the window where a bit of silver moonlight could aid his night vision. As he turned through the pages, his mouth went dry.

Plagg had been right about everything that he had suspected about Lila, but Plagg had left out some key details of the ritual. Maybe to spare Adrien from the horror or maybe to keep the ritual secret. For whatever reason, Plagg had failed to mention that the ritual to summon and control a fay creature’s gift in a lifetime bargain required a different sort of price: the life of another human.

It certainly put what Lila had said about her grandmother’s passing into a new light.

Chat Noir folded the papers and tucked them into his belt. He had to tell Ladybug somehow. It might mean a lot of sleepless nights hoping she found the time for him, but this was more important.

He stepped across the floor to Lila’s bedside without a sound. As he had expected, her fox-tail pendant gleamed around her neck. Chat carefully pulled aside her hair to reach the clasp at her neck. He moved slowly, concerned about waking her. As much as he wanted to confront Lila about what she had done, he was not interested in a fight with Volpina, particularly not in these cramped quarters.

But as his hand closed around the fox pendant, Lila’s hand closed around his wrist. Her dark eyes were furious as she glared at him.

“Trixx, let’s—”

But Chat Noir yanked his hand and the pendant away before she could finish her summon. He backed towards the window.

“Sorry, Lila. I don’t think this actually belongs to you.”

Lila climbed out of bed and gripped the heavy brass candlestick from her bedside table. She seemed unbothered by a strange boy in her bedroom, even though she was dressed only in a thin nightgown. Her eyes were filled with nothing but fury, a fury that reached Hawk Moth instantly.

“Give it back, chaton,” she hissed.

“I’m afraid you don’t get to call me that.”

Her eyes drifted from the pendant in his hand to the notes at his waist, and suddenly, her anger melted as if it had never been.

“Chat Noir,” she said softly, in a pleading voice, “do you really think I stole a fay? I could never do something like that.”

“You’re the one who told Ladybug and I that your grandmother just passed away.”

She stepped closer, and though the heavy candlestick was no longer brandished like a weapon, her grip on it was still tight. “I’m not a bad person,” she said. “Will you let me explain?”

Her voice trembled like she was on the verge of tears. Chat Noir put his hand on the windowsill, but he did not run, not yet.

“My grandmother gave me that pendant, just like I said.” Lila took another step closer. “You made a trade for your gift, right? I made a trade, too.”

“You traded your grandmother’s life!”

“Because she told me to!”

Chat Noir shook his head and threw the window open. The cold night air rushed in.

“Please,” Lila begged and fell against Chat before he could slip out the window. Her hand brushed against the bell at his neck. “She gave me those pages. She gave me the pendant. She told me to do this so I could help my family. You have to believe me.”

“Lila, I’m sorry, but —”

He saw the brass candlestick move just in time.

“Cataclysm!”

Her candlestick collided with his burning palm and it crumbled to dust. All her fury returned in full force as she reached for the pendant with her now empty hands.

“It’s mine!” she snarled, struggling to open his other fist, still closed tightly around the pendant.

Chat Noir tumbled backwards out of the open window and landed gracefully on his feet two floors below. But he looked up and saw his worst fears confirmed: a dark violet butterfly flitting through the moonlight and towards Lila. It landed on a small bundle of papers clutched in Lila’s hands and Chat Noir hastily checked his waist. His belt was empty.

He looked back up to see that Lila was no longer herself. Instead, Volpina stood in the window. She tucked the papers into the sash at her waist and glared down at him.

“Come here, chaton,” she called to him with a vicious grin.

Chat Noir’s emerald ring flickered. He gritted his teeth then turned and ran.

He had exactly one way to contact Ladybug. The trouble was that Ladybug would only know that he was trying to reach her if she was already transformed. He clutched the baton clipped to his belt and pressed on the green paw in its middle.

His emerald ring flickered again, so he made his story brief. “Hawk Moth has cursed Lila Rossi into the form of Volpina and it is technically my fault but I had good reason, I promise, and I could really use your help.”

Chat Noir avoided his usual rooftop route in hopes that he could hide from Volpina by taking to the streets. He felt like there were enough tight corners and wide roofs, but her voice was still so close as she called, “Chat Noir,” in a sing-song voice. “Come out and play, chaton. I just want my miraculous gift—and yours.”

His ring flickered again and he pressed himself into the doorway of a darkened shop. He bit down on his lip and waited until the sound of Volpina’s footsteps moved off. He could only pray it was truly a sign of her leaving and not another illusion designed to trick him.

“Plagg, claws in,” he hissed, and the cloak of Chat Noir fell away.

Plagg’s panicked face did not do anything to help Adrien’s nerves. “That wasn’t how I thought that would go at all.”

Adrien searched his pockets for cheese. “If you had just told me that the ritual involved human sacrifice, I might not have wasted time looking around her room.”

“I said it was a dark ritual!”

“That could have meant anything!” Adrien sighed as his pockets came up empty. “This is the last time we go out unprepared for a refresh.”

Plagg sniffed the air and followed the most pungent smell he could find. “You would think you might have learned to keep some on hand after a year.”

“Sorry I don’t want to smell like rotting cheese every day. I do still have appearances to keep up.” He followed Plagg down the alleyway as quietly as he could. He might know that Lila Rossi was Volpina, but she had no idea who Chat Noir really was. It was unlikely for her to realize the truth even if she managed to get eyes on him, but he also didn’t want her asking any questions about why Prince Adrien was out of the palace in the middle of the night.

Adrien held up the pendant he had stolen from Lila. “What do I do with this?”

Plagg shrugged his tiny shoulders and sniffed the air. “You could put it on and call Trixx.”

“Are you allowed to make a deal with a second fay creature?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind going mad.”

“I’ll pass, thanks.” Adrien shoved the pendant into his pocket. When he realized Plagg had stopped, he looked up at the building Plagg had chosen.

“Isn’t this that boulangerie?”

“They must have thrown out some old cheese.” Plagg disappeared into the garbage. “Glad we’re here to rescue it.”

Adrien stared up at the light visible in the top room of the building. He wondered if the family was getting prepared to start baking or if they were going to bed after a long night. Not that it mattered, really, he just liked knowing how other people lived. He thought about the seamstress girl who had invited him to eat with her family that owned this boulangerie—Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng. He wondered if she was related to the flour-covered girl who had spilled pastries in the palace. Félix had suggested that they might be twins or sisters, one incredibly nervous and clumsy, the other confident and artistic. The bakery owners must be kind people, to have raised two girls like that.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who was both the clumsy baker and confident seamstress that Adrien wondered about, was hard at work on her fifteenth redesign of Prince Félix’s outfit for the first night of the ball. Everything she came up with looked appropriate for a funeral, and none for a celebration. She wanted to honor his mourning of his father, just as she wanted to honor Adrien’s mourning of his mother, but how did she respect the princes’ grief and dress them for their birthday celebration that was supposed to turn into a wedding celebration?

To help with the enormous workload of dresses and modifications that the shop was swamped with, Master Fu had taken on a new assistant, a quiet girl by the name of Juleka. She wasn’t an apprentice proper, but she was skilled enough to put together pattern pieces, hem dresses and jerkins, and stitch buttons and lace down where they were needed. She’d been an exceptional help this last week, and though she did not talk much, she was very sweet, and had even helped Marinette through a couple of small crises of self-doubt about her commencement project. Juleka had also found some lovely black and silver shot silk just yesterday that Marinette was trying to make work, but it needed something more and she could not decide what that something was.

Marinette pinned her artwork to the ceiling in hopes of getting a second perspective, but a crash from outside distracted her. She stuck her head out of the attic window and looked down. It was hard to see in the darkness, but she thought that she heard someone burp.

Plagg finished off the cheese and burped rather loudly for someone who was supposed to be hiding from Volpina. “You know,” he said, “we don’t really have to get back to it. We could just hide until Ladybug takes care of it.”

“She’ll need our help.”

“She didn’t with the Gilded Queen.”

Adrien swallowed. He wondered if Plagg knew how much that fact hurt him. He hated that he had been unable to help Ladybug in the throne room last week. But he set aside his small heartbreak. “She had Volpina’s help then. She won’t have it now.”

“Fine,” Plagg sighed. “If you insist.”

“Claws out,” Adrien said, and once again donned the guise of Chat Noir.

Marinette had difficulty hearing more than murmurs of the conversation below as it echoed up to her bedroom. She thought the cadence of the voices sounded familiar, but just as she was about to give up on placing them, she caught a glimpse of silver flashing in the moonlight and the flick of a black cat’s tail disappearing around a chimney.

Hastily, she slammed the window closed and yanked a curtain over it. “Tikki! Spots on!”

The pink light flashed as her night clothes disappeared, replaced by her bright red dress, spotted in black and decorated with gold ribbons. She climbed up the attic trapdoor to her rooftop balcony and pulled her bandalore from her waist. The spots on it flashed, and as she searched the rooftops for a sign of where Chat Noir might have gone, she played his message.

“Hawk Moth has cursed Lila Rossi into the form of Volpina and it is technically my fault but I had good reason, I promise, and I could really use your help.”

“Oh, chaton,” she sighed, “what have you got yourself into now?”

Chat Noir had no desire to engage Volpina directly, but he wanted an idea of where she had gone. His reflective green eyes scanned the city skyline, but he could find no trace of her.

With a bit of hope in his heart, he reached for his baton, but saw no message from Ladybug. He wondered if it would be worth it to leave another message, but as he pressed his finger to the button, he heard movement behind him.

He turned, staff ready, but it was not Volpina. It was Ladybug.

“You got my message?” he asked.

She must have, because she looked displeased with him. “I know what you did, Chat Noir.”

“I’m sorry—”

“We both knew your thievery would get you into real trouble someday.” She held her hand out. “I think it’s time you give up your miraculous gift.”

Chat Noir blinked at her. “Wh… Buginette, I made a mistake—but I had to. Lila, she—”

“I already know what Lila did. You think she didn’t tell me after we first met? She’s always been honest with me, unlike you, Chat Noir.”

Chat Noir took a step away from Ladybug, as if distance might spare him some of this heartbreak. “I know I made a promise, but I…” He tried and failed to find the words to explain what he had done. “I’m your partner,” he finished helplessly.

“I can clean up your messes without you. I’ll find someone else to make a deal with your fay.”

He swallowed. If he handed his ring to Ladybug, he wasn’t just giving up her, he was giving up the only chance he had at freedom. But if Ladybug didn’t want him anymore, was his freedom really worth this heartbreak?

He clipped his baton to his belt and reached for his ring, but he did not remove it. “Please don’t ask this of me. I need this.” For however long he had left until his wedding night, he desperately needed freedom.

Ladybug’s face was unsympathetic. “Hand it over.”

Chat Noir’s shoulders slumped in defeat. Hadn’t he said that he would do anything his lady asked? Even this…

“Chat Noir, don’t!”

Chat Noir turned, surprised to see Ladybug behind him. She threw her bandalore at the Ladybug before him. The cord surrounded her, but as it closed in, the first Ladybug vanished.

Chat Noir blinked. “She wasn’t… real?”

Ladybug pulled her bandalore back into her hand and leapt across the gap between roofs to land at Chat Noir’s side. “Are you afraid to face us, Volpina?” Ladybug called out to the empty rooftops.

She was answered with a laugh from somewhere in the night.

Chat Noir drew his baton again. His voice was still unsteady as he said, “She can’t be far. She would need to be nearby to grab my miraculous gift.”

“How cute,” Volpina’s voice called, “that chaton thinks he can be helpful.” She stepped out from behind a chimney with her reed resting comfortably on her bare shoulder. “You’re never going to catch me. You might as well give up. I’m more powerful now than I ever was as a hero.”

Volpina pressed her reed to her lips and the night was filled with a haunting melody. There was no longer anything playful about her music. A dozen mirages of Volpina appeared surrounding Chat Noir and Ladybug.

“Hand over your miraculous gifts,” they said in unison.

“One of them has to be real,” Chat Noir said.

But Ladybug had seen Volpina’s fight with the Gilded Queen and she knew that it was just as possible that none of them were real. If they were going to find the real Volpina, they would need a bit of luck.

She gritted her teeth. Ladybug didn’t like to use her power before she knew where the curse was located, since its help could be limited, but she felt like they did not have much choice. She tossed her bandalore into the air and called on her Lucky Charm.

A bright light flared in the night sky and into Ladybug’s hands fell a small red sphere, decorated in black spots just like her dress.

“What is it?” Chat Noir asked, unwilling to take his eyes from the skulk of fox-like women that was closing in around them, reeds at the ready.

There was nothing unique about the sphere to indicate what exactly it was, but Ladybug was able to identify the object immediately, the way one could identify someone in a dream, regardless of the appearance.

“It’s a smoke bomb.”

“Are we running?”

It would not be the first time that her Lucky Charm told her to retreat and regroup, but she did not think that was the case this time. She scanned the encroaching pack.

“Hold your breath, chaton!” she said, and threw the smoke bomb to the ground.

The cloud rose instantly from their feet and, moved by the cold night air, spilled out into the illusions. Ladybug covered her nose, but the illusions did not react, as she had expected. They had no need to breathe, and the smoke would not irritate their illusory lungs.

“I guess Volpina isn’t here.” Chat Noir’s voice was muffled by his elbow, and Ladybug shushed him.

She heard it from behind another chimney—the sound of coughing.

Without warning, she threw her bandalore in the direction of the noise, wrapping it around the brick. She heard a yelp as the real Volpina was pinned to the chimney, and the illusions around her and Chat Noir vanished.

Chat Noir hurried across the rooftops, following the line of Ladybug’s bandalore. He found Volpina struggling to get free on the other side. He was not going to give her that chance.

“Cataclysm,” he hissed, and touched his hand to the notes at her waist. The inky black papers detailing the horrid ritual crumbled to dust. Ladybug’s magic would restore everything when all was said and done, but the object of Hawk Moth’s curse would remain broken in whatever way he and Ladybug managed to destroy it. While Chat Noir wished he had been able to save some sort of proof of Lila’s ritual, perhaps it was for the best that such terrible magic would be nothing more than dust.

As the black butterfly flitted upward into the night, Ladybug withdrew her bandalore from Volpina and swung it up to catch the butterfly. She pulled it back into her hand and when she reopened the two halves of her bandalore, the butterfly that flitted out of her hands was pure white. She wished it luck on its journey and tossed the remnants of the smoke bomb up into the air, shouting the incantation for her restorative magic.

There was not much damage for the magical ladybugs to undo. A cracked chimney and restoring Lila to herself were the most that they could fix. The rest of the damage Volpina had done was not the sort of damage the ladybugs could fix.

Chat Noir helped a disoriented Lila to her feet. She shivered in her nightgown and looked around. When she realized where she was and, more exactly, who was holding her, she yanked away, leaning up against the chimney. “Get away from me, Chat Noir!”

“I’m not going to hurt you. Let me help you home—”

“Give me my miraculous gift back.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

Ladybug came around the chimney and pushed her way between them as Lila lunged at him. “Chat Noir, is that what this is about? You stole her miraculous gift?”

“My fay creature asked me to rescue it,” Chat Noir said.

“It’s mine!” Lila said, and lunged for Chat Noir.

Ladybug barely managed to hold Lila off, digging her elbow into Lila’s stomach and bracing herself against Chat Noir’s chest on her other side. “Chat Noir, you promised me you wouldn’t steal.”

“It wasn’t hers,” Chat Noir insisted. He placed his hand over Ladybug’s, even as his ring began flickering out. “My fay believed she stole it, and when I went after it, I found evidence that he was right. That she may have even killed someone for it.”

“Liar!” Lila shrieked. Her hands scrabbled against Ladybug, pulling at the magical dress in an effort to reach Chat Noir. “You have no proof!”

Ladybug found herself grateful that Lila could not tear the magical fabric her dress, but she did not care for the scratches Lila was leaving beneath the fabric and winced, even as Tikki’s magic healed over the scrapes. “Chat Noir, where’s the evidence?”

“I destroyed it to free the curse.”

“See?” Lila snarled. “He has nothing! He’s a liar.”

Ladybug took Lila’s wrists in her hands to stop the desperate scratches. “Lila, I’m sorry, but I trust my partner. I’ll help you home and—”

Lila yanked her hands away. “You two think you’re heroes? Just wait—I’ll be a queen soon, and you can see what it’s like when everyone turns on you.”

“Mademoiselle Rossi—” Ladybug reached her hand out in an effort to comfort or calm her, but Lila jerked away.

“I don’t want your help. I can make my own way home.”

And, true to her word, she stalked to the nearest ladder and climbed down to the street below.

“I don’t think we should let her walk home alone,” Ladybug said, but her earrings flickered, letting her know that she would not be much of an escort for Lila.

“She’ll be all right,” Chat Noir said. “I just wish I had a way to prove what she did.”

“You don’t have to, chaton. I really do trust you. And even if I didn’t, I’m sure my fay will be able to confirm everything that your fay said.”

A small, unhappy smile worked its way across Chat Noir’s face. It was so uncharacteristic that Ladybug almost took a step back.

“If you want to confirm stories,” he said “you should ask your fay to tell you how she picked you.”

She tilted her head, unsure why he was suddenly so displeased. “She already has. She saw my creativity. Why did Plagg pick you?”

“Necessity.” Chat Noir hoped his voice did not sound as bitter as he felt. “To stop Hawk Moth after he did the same thing that Lila did.”

She rested a hand on his arm, delicately, afraid he might break if she pushed too hard. “No, chaton, that can’t be the only reason.”

“You and I made our deals nearly a year ago. Our first night together—it was the same night that Hawk Moth first attacked. Did you always think that was just a coincidence?”

Ladybug had wondered about the timing, yes, but she had not thought that the timing was a bad thing, nor a sign that Tikki had picked her foolishly. She struggled to find the words to help Chat Noir through his self-doubt. “You are my partner, Chat Noir. I wouldn’t want anyone else.”

Though Ladybug’s magic had undone the physical damage from Volpina’s attack, the illusory Ladybug’s words still stung. He had nearly given up his miraculous gift tonight. That, coupled with the new knowledge that Plagg had chosen him simply because he had been nearby, that Plagg did not even think he was capable of defeating Hawk Moth left him feeling unwanted and useless.

And, despite Plagg’s cold-hearted ideas about marriage, he had to confront the reality that in just a few weeks’ time, his nights would no longer be his own in a far more complete way than the rigorous schedule his father had recently imposed. He would have to give Ladybug up eventually, and while he wasn’t ready for that, he would have to be.

Chat Noir pulled the fox-tail necklace from his pocket and held it out to her, but still refused to meet her eyes. “I told you I won’t be around in a month, so you’ll need a new partner eventually.”

Ladybug could not understand which part of her words had been the wrong choice. “Chat—”

“Take it.” One of the emeralds embedded into his ring flashed another warning.

Reluctantly, she took the pendant from him. “Chaton, you told me you’d always be there.”

“I can’t get out of what’s coming. I might as well accept it.”

“Can you tell me what it is? Maybe I can help.”

He smiled, but it was as dark and bitter as his destructive gift. “I don’t know that you would.”

“What do you mean?” Her earrings flickered, but she ignored them. “Chat Noir, tell me what you mean.”

“Come to the ball,” he said suddenly, and finally he looked at her. His green eyes that were usually so playful were now desperate and wild. A new brand of chaos surged in Chat Noir, one Ladybug was not quite as familiar with. “One night, just give me one night with you.”

She smiled indulgently, but shook her head. “I think if you showed up to the ball, King Gabriel would arrest you on the spot. You’re a hero, but you’re also a wanted criminal.”

Chat Noir searched desperately for a way to match Ladybug’s gentle teasing. He was the expert at teasing, but he could not conjure up even a scrap of his usual good humor.

His ring flashed. He turned to go, but she reached for his hand.

“Chaton,” and his heart burned to hear her use the nickname so gently, “can’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

He hesitated, afraid to hope. “Not without telling you who I am.”

“You know that we can’t—”

He could endure no more. “Goodbye, Ladybug.”

And he disappeared into the night.

[ponytailzuko]

1, 6 and 14, no pressure to answer all of them though <3

1. what is your favorite color to work with?

i answered this one here!

6. tag your favorite artists/inspirations!

i am not tagging anyone because i don’t think i have any specific artists on the top of my head on here? but in terms of inspiration...

i first got into art because i’d go on iscribble.net boards and watch people draw, and i’d ask if i could color under their lines to try and get better at coloring! that was when i was around 10. everyone was really nice, and they all gave me different tips on how to draw something, why i should get into art, etc. one person chatted with me and drew little tutorial stuff on the board to explain art stuff to me. i remember a lot of those little exchanges even though its been 9 years because everyone was so kind. 

they also taught about impressionism in art class and that changed my life a bit, because you can draw “impressions” instead of everything being perfect. i think that’s what got me more into lineless, where i’d sketch and just color underneath and overtop my art because who cares as long as i like the finished piece? i don’t need to do a typical art “process.”

and of course, cartoons like avatar: the last airbender inspired me to want to draw in the first place! and cartoons + anime/manga made me realize you can storytell with art... mp100 manga in particular made me realize it doesn’t have to be perfect, the art just has to be effective enough to communicate something (ONE is really good at expressions and mood, and i love his perspective work, even if the anatomy isn’t perfect).  i haven’t posted much comics besides the gimmicky ones about miraculous ladybug, but i have a bunch of scribbles of comics in sketchbooks and the backs of homework!

14. what was something that you used to draw a lot that you don’t draw as much anymore?

... i drew katara every day in art class for 4 years on the whiteboard. but i’m not in art class anymore, so i haven’t been drawing katara as much. i haven’t drawn avatar in general as much as i used to, since a bunch of stuff has been coming out this fall. also miraculous ladybug took over my brain. 

[lemoncitruszest]

Welcome to my page! <3

I mostly post...

-> daily sketches (usually of my WebToon characters)

-> updates on my art studio that's in progress

-> updates on shop launches

-> updates on my animal crossing island

I organize my posts with tags to make them easier to find! These are my current tags:

-> daily sketch -- I try to post at least one sketch a day

-> sketchbook study -- Sometimes I'll also post studies from my sketchbook if I like it enough

-> Love Games -- This is a tag for all things related to my WebToon series

-> Love Games Level 4 -- This is a tag specifically for the current part of my WebToon series

My current and future projects are...

-> Love Games-- Already available on WebToon Canvas

-> Christmas Lights-- Upcoming Mystic Messenger Comic for WebToon Canvas and Twitter--December 24, 2022

-> Angel Numbers-- Upcoming Original Comic for Webtoon Canvas -- Date TBD, 2023

Lastly my other interest are...

-> The Ssum: Forbidden Lab

-> Hello Kitty, Pochacco

-> My Hero Academia, All Might

-> Other animes (Mob Psycho 100, Naruto, Saiki K, Demon Slayer, Spy x Family)

-> Miraculous Ladybug

-> Mystic Messenger, 707

-> 4Town

-> Art Tutorials, Color Theory

-> Poetry, Creative Non-Fiction

-> Organization

One final note! I'm always down for new mutuals, but please keep in mind that I don't follow people I don't think I'll have much in common with or minors.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!! <3