#nathalie explosion

[pitchsidestories]

HOT TO GO! II Niamh Charles x Reader

masterlist I word count: 1026

a/n: hi, it's based off this request here, have fun. <3

Usually the atmosphere in the dressing room would never be this relaxed right before a London Derby.

But this was a friendly against Arsenal. And it wasn’t even in London. So the tension and explosive nature of such a game were slightly subdued.

You slipped your sock on and pushed your shinguards down while simultaneously humming to “HOT TO GO!“ which was playing in the background.

Niamh was right next to you, tying her shoes. Her jersey hung right behind her, and alongside it, the bright yellow armband with the big C on it.

You smirked: “Nice armband, Captain Charles.“

She looked up. Her gaze shifted from you to the captains armband and back to you.

“Thanks.“ Her voice rose at the end, making it sound like a question. Still, her cheeks blushed in a subtle pink.

Smiling, you leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek. An inconspicuous way of showing how proud you were of her.

“Ugh, can’t you two be less couple-y for once?“, Erin groaned from the other side of the room, her face a grimace of disgust.

“We’re not doing anything! At least I don’t.“, Niamh protested and pointed innocently at her chest.

Nathalie laughed: “Then get your girlfriend to behave.“

You rolled your eyes in a playful gesture: “Oh come on. This was all innocent.“

Niamh turned to you with one eyebrow raised and her hand on your thigh: “Ignore them, babe. Erin’s just jealous and Nat wishes Aurora was still on her team.“

“WHAT?!“, they both said in unison.

You smiled at you girlfriend, knowing it would annoy your two teammates: “You might be right about that.“

Erin shook her head, visibly annoyed: “Let’s go warm up, Nat. Or else I’m going to puke.“

Giggling, you watched as the two left the dressing room.

“Come on, you two lovebirds need to warm up as well.“, Zecira reminded you. She was clearly biting back a grin.

Niamh got up, ready to follow the others outside as well but she patiently waited for you while you slipped into your shoes.

“Sorry, love. Blame it on the Chapell Roan songs they played. They got me in this certain mood.“, you apologized with a wink and pressed yourself into her side.

“Come on. As captain I can’t be the last to the warm-up.“, Niamh smiled.

You let go of her and nodded: “Right. Especially not on a derby day.“

Side by side you entered the pitch for the warm-up, doing your exercises.

“Girls, get ready! The game is about to start.“, Millie called across the pitch, repeating the instructions from the coaching staff.

While everyone went back into the dressing room to switch from their warm-up shirts to their actual football jerseys, you used the break to run to the bathroom.

A tradition that was part of every game for you. But this time you were lost in thought, still repeating the chorus of that song in your head.

“Ready!“, you announced as you walked back onto the pitch, high-fiving your teammates.

Once you reached your girlfriend, she just looked you up and down: “Nice Shirt.“

“What? Shit?”, you cursed when you realized you were still wearing your warmup shirt, your skin turned pale despite the tan from the summer vacation.

The horror and embarrassment were written all over your face.  Before you could think any further about what to do next your feet started running.

“Jersey to go for y/n.” With a huge grin on her lips Lucy threw your jersey at you which you pressed relived to your chest.

“Thanks.”, you mouthed gratefully as you quickly put the new third kit on.

“Everyone ready now?”, Niamh wanted to know, still looking pretty amused by what just happened to you.

“Yes, everything’s sorted out.”, you assured her.

“Luce, we’ll never let y/n forget that this has happened, right?”, Millie bumped her shoulder against the brunette defenders one.

“Never.”, she agreed smirking.

“You two aren’t as quite as you think.”, you intervened, wishing a hole on the pitch could swallow you whole to save you from the awkward situation.

“You know you deserve it.”, Lucy kept teasing.

“That was so embarrassing.”, you muttered hiding your burning cheeks with your hands while you were getting ready for the group photo.

“Stop thinking about it. This could have happened to everyone.”, Niamh tried to cheer you up, putting an arm around your shoulders encouragingly.

The two of you and the rest of the team waited for the photographer to frame this memory. After that was done, everyone was beginning to move again, eagerly anticipating the start of the derby.

“Right, but I just know that it’ll haunt me in my dreams.”, you admitted.

“That’s what you get for flirting with the captain.”, Millie threw in with a wink.

“Y/n?”, Niamh immediately approached you after the referee blew the final whistle.

“Yes?”, you looked up, feeling her gaze linger on you.

“Good game.”, your girlfriend congratulated you beaming.

“Thanks, another derby win for us and you didn’t play bad either.”, you commented cheekily.

“Oh wow, nice of you.”, she chuckled.

“I know.”, you laughed.

“At least I didn’t forget to put my jersey on.”, Niamh reminded you.

“Cold captain, what about the it-could-have-happened-to-anyone-talk from earlier.”, you pouted playfully.

“I take that back. I only said it because you seemed embarrassed.”, the defender declared.

“You can sleep on the floor tonight.”, you gasped, pretending to be offended by her thoughtful gesture.

“Okay, and you can make sure you never forget your stuff again.”, she countered promptly.

“Fine.”, you agreed.

“Are you done now?”, Niamh asked, her hand resting on your back while you made your way to the changing rooms. The heat hasn’t dropped down yet, and the sun still shone strongly on both of you.

“I am time to go to our room with no shirts on.”, you announced.

“I can tell you’re not the biggest fans of shirts.”, your girlfriend remarked smiling.

“You know it’s still hot so they can go.”, you decided bluntly, referring to the song from earlier, but also the temperature which was making the thought of nothing on very delicious.

[exhaled-spirals]

how do you have this myriad of quotes, that too on wildly different topics? do you just read a lot? what all do you read, why, how do you pick out books, how fast do you read? i wanna know everything!

Hi! Most of the quotes I share are from books I've read, although now and then I come across an interesting excerpt from a book I haven't read and I post it on here, so I can remember later why I added this title to my to-read list. (Else I tend to lose interest in the books that have been waiting on that list for years and end up removing them, not remembering why I added them in the first place...) I don't think I read very fast, I just spend a whole lot of time reading, it's my #1 hobby!

I add books to my to-read list very whimsically... The other day I bought 7 books in a secondhand bookshop, then read an article in a science magazine that made me want to read the book this scientist had written, then drove past some ruins on my way home and thought it would be nice to read some books about ruins, so I googled it and found 4 promising books, so at the end of the day I had added 12 new titles to my bottomless pit of a to-read list.

I'm not sure how I end up picking books from it—I do a lot of seasonal reading (eerie Gothic novels are enhanced by autumn and conversely!) But also I went to look at some books I've read recently, and I had a good reason to read each one when I did:

The Palace of Dreams, Ismail Kadare: I woke up from a messed-up dream and decided now (a Monday at 3am) was the perfect time to start reading this book about a dream-analysis factory

Sueños en el umbral, Fatema Mernissi: it was August and I was looking for a seasonal read, and this one is set in Morocco which made it feel summery to me. (I really enjoyed it, I recommend it if you like women's memoirs. It's called Dreams of Trespass in English)

Disent les imbéciles, Nathalie Sarraute: Someone said something dumb near me which reminded me that Nathalie Sarraute wrote a book called "So say the fools". I wouldn't recommend reading it in translation considering she is barely readable in French (I like her)

The Great Zoo of China, Matthew Reilly: life was stressful in early September and I wanted a mindless read with monsters and explosions (and exploding monsters), so this was perfect

Sto je muškarac bez brkova, Ante Tomić (I read it in French): a friend was travelling to Croatia which was a sign from the universe that I needed to read the one Croatian novel on my to-read list. I don't remember when and why I added it

La Chaîne éternelle, Fernand Gregh: the political situation in my country is shit so it's time to read some early-1900s alexandrine poetry, since poetry is the opposite of politics

So I would say my method for picking books is to add absolutely whatever to my to-read list following random impulses and let them ferment in there for years being vaguely aware of their existence, until the stars align to make this book suddenly relevant or necessary :)

[unecoccinellenoire]

i wish you would write a fic where … hesperia is flirting with our nathalie. she’s cool with it.

It happens in a matter of seconds. One moment she’s talking to a despondent Adrien on the sofa trying to coax out how exactly he got back to Paris from the train while the television drones on about Monarch and the next an explosion shatters the window.

Bomb, her mind screams at her.

Nathalie throws herself over Adrien instinctively, but her prostheses weigh her down and throw her off balance and when she lands it’s against the sofa without her charge in sight. And then a body lands against hers and panic that Adrien would try to protect her shoots down her spine before she belatedly registers she’s being shielded by someone larger than her not smaller.

As her saviour gently lifts her she relaxes against his purple suit, and lets her eyes rest for a second against the bright light as she inhales that soothing masculine scent of his. She might despise Gabriel right now, she might know that any safety he appears to offer is an illusion, but that doesn’t mean that illusion isn’t working for her right now.

“It’s alright madame,” he promises in a soft baritone that-

-that isn’t Monarch’s booming tones.

She opens her eyes. This isn’t Gabriel. He’d never wear just the Butterfly Miraculous when he has the rest of them, and even if he did this isn’t Hawk Moth. The mask only covers part of his place and his fair hair hangs freely over it.

Her brain buzzes in confusion. Or maybe that’s her ears ringing from the explosion. Either way she’s too out of it to come up with anything more sensible than, “safe?”

His eyes are kind but something sparks in them as he smiles. It looks familiar. It looks like how Gabriel had used to smile at Emilie before unleashing some phrase he thought was exceedingly charming.

“A place like this isn’t a good place for a pretty lady like you,” he says, “much as it’d be a pleasure to keep rescuing you I wouldn’t be much of a hero if I left you in danger like that.”

An embarrassing warmth spreads below her stomach. Flirtation isn’t wholly unfamiliar to Nathalie, for all that she’s buried in an industry where beauty is the currency and she hardly draws attention. But usually the flirtation comes loaded with ulterior motives from people who know who she is.

Then again. This man has apparently stolen the Butterfly Miraculous from Gabriel. No doubt he does know who she is and he does have ulterior motives.

She needs to get it together.

“A pleasure, Isn’t that a bit forward? I don’t even know your name.”

“Hesperia, my lady.” He looks like he’d tip a hat to her if he had one, “and yours? Is it worthy of you?”

“I don’t know about worthy. I’m Nathalie.”

“That’s a beautiful name. Like you. But I really should get you somewhere safe- I don’t like the sound of this Monarch character.”

“Monarch?” She traces the Miraculous on his chest, “didn’t you take this from him?”

“I’m sorry to dash your hopes. This isn’t my universe my dear.”

“Oh.” She studies his face, that tanned skin, those eyes, those cheekbones. “And you’re- a hero?”

She tries to imagine it. Gabriel, a hero and not a villain. Flirting with her rather than eternally loyal to Emilie. She can’t hold the image in her mind. It seems too impossible. And yet the man in front of her clearly exists, clear is a possibility.

“I try my best.” He says, still smiling.

She raises an eyebrow. “When you’re not flirting with random woman?”

Though maybe being easily distracted is a trait it’s easier to reconcile with her Gabriel. The real Gabriel. Because this man is probably someone completely different in his universe.

“Well-“

“Or am I not random? Do you know me back home?” She interrupts. If Gabriel could be a hero, could have moved on from Emilie then maybe-

“I’m afraid not. A loss I assure you. Now, I found you in Gabriel Agreste’s home. Does he have a panic room? A bomb shelter? Somewhere I can stow you safely.”

Her heart fell into her stomach. Of course he didn’t know her. Of course she was just a random distraction to him. How could she be so stupid that Gabriel still had this grip on her even as he cared more about defeating a teenager than he did about her life?

“If he did it wouldn’t be for me,” her tone was as sour as the bile in her throat. It wasn’t quite true. Gabriel had never changed the code to where Emilie lay. She could hide down there. Only she didn’t care not, “Gabriel wouldn’t care if I died.”

He’d as good as told her that. Told her that it wasn’t about Emilie anymore either.

“Nathalie, I’m sure-“

But she can’t bear to hear such reassurances from him. Screw it, she decides, and drags him down by his lapels and stops him with her mouth on his.

He’ll probably drop her and leave her here, or stop her and lecture her about the morality of kissing people without asking first. She doesn’t care right now. She needs him to stop. And she needs to indulge in the pretence offered by his flirtation. That someone could want her, love her.

She wants to kiss someone before she dies.

And she’s dying sooner rather than later.

Hesperia gasps against her. He doesn’t do any of those things she’s expected. He lets her tongue into his mouth, and he’s warm and wet and perfect and he tastes a little like Gabriel’s favourite coffee.

Nathalie is the one to stop, as another crash shakes the roof they’re on.

“You should go.” She says, “put me down somewhere on the streets. I’ll be fine. We’re used to akuma attacks here. And- sorry.”

Those infuriating eyes are all pity, “I think you needed that. I am sorry Nathalie. That you have to live through these, akuma did you call it? Attacks. For whatever this Gabriel Agreste has done to you. And that I can’t see you again. But I have-“

“Your own universe to get back to. I get it. And you wouldn’t like me if you knew me anyway.” He’s a hero after all. Nathalie is the opposite of that. “And I’ll probably already be dead by any time you might come back to this universe.”

His eyebrows drew together, the corners of his mouth drooped down, “I don’t know you Nathalie. But I can tell you that you deserved better.”

“I don’t.” She has no illusions about that. She brought this on herself when Emilie had asked them to let her go. She hadn’t even managed to succeed in saving her. And she’d failed completely to care for Adrien, and perhaps even Gabriel like she’d asked her to. “You should go.”

“Alright,” he jumped down to street level with her still cradled in his arms and then gently deposited her down on the ground, “but Nathalie, do something for me?”

“What?” What could she possibly do for him?

“Don’t lose hope.”

She’d lost that already, had lost it the moment Gabriel had admitted to not just giving his past self the USB she’d meticulously prepared.

The one she’d given him knowing it would save her and Emilie at the cost of the friendship between them because had Emilie never fallen sick they would have continued that relationship of just messages on birthdays and at Christmas that they’d had after Tibet.

Only to discover Gabriel wasn’t even willing to sacrifice his pride.

But looking at Hesperia she finds she didn’t have the cruelty to crush him with that reality. Maybe that means he isn’t Gabriel.

She sighs, “I’ll try.”

And as she watches him leap away she thinks that maybe that wasn’t entirely a lie. That maybe she has no hope for her but herself but she can hope for the Nathalie of that world, that she’s happy and will be loved back. Can hope that the heroes here will beat Gabriel and somehow Adrien can be protected through all of it. Can hope she can do enough to ensure he’s safe.

[logically-asexual]

I’m losing by his side

summary:

Nathalie meets Betterfly! they have a long conversation and she deals with some conflicting emotions.

Title from I Bet on Losing Dogs by Mitski

word count: 4,510

Read on AO3

Nathalie wasn’t asleep yet, but she was still annoyed by the noise of her phone ringing. Whatever Gabriel wanted at this time of the night, or rather, morning, could wait until after the sun had come out, or he could forget about it. She hung up before resuming her reading. At least she tried to do so, but as much as she stared at the text on the pages, she couldn’t process any meaning from it.

Her last hope for enjoying the last few hours of the night by herself was soon vanished by the man himself barging into her bedroom. It was true that she wasn’t in the mood to see Gabriel, but the fact that it was Monarch standing now in her room wasn’t at all better. He must have been enraged to stomp through the house without even reversing the transformation. At least he didn’t forget to close the door of her bedroom and forced her to get up and stumble over there to do it herself. Hopefully Adrien didn’t see anything.

He interrupted before she could voice any question or complaint, demanding to know why she hadn’t answered his calls. So keeping this form was intentional, Nathalie thought. He wanted to scare her. Unfortunately for him she had never fallen for that, and now wouldn’t be any different.

“Sir, it’s the middle of the night. Why can’t you just let me rest?”

She knew he had been down with Emilie since earlier, after Nathalie had arrived home from the train and came upstairs. He had said he would see if he could get something useful out of the kwamis, but she could guess now by his apparent frustration that he didn’t.

“This is important, Nathalie. Some miraculous holders from a parallel universe crossed a portal here and they—“

Nathalie was convinced he was losing his mind. “I don’t want to hear about it, Gabriel!”

“Well you could at least answer your phone so I know you’re alive!”

Oh, so now he was pretending it was just concern for her health, but she knew the truth. She knew that if he really cared about her he would have fixed everything when he had the chance.

“I already told you I’m fine. I don’t need your help and I’m not helping you with this either.” She ignored the irony of her saying that while still reclined on the bed, too weak to stand up so she could at least face him closer to eye level.

“Nathalie, you have to understand—“

“No, you’re wrong. You betrayed me, Gabriel, you betrayed Emilie and all for—“

“How dare you.” Gone was the bargaining phase as rage overtook his expression again. “You know everything I’ve done is for her, you’ll take that back.”

“No.”

“No?” He raised an eyebrow and dropped the pitch of his voice even further. The calm but threatening tone admittedly made Nathalie more nervous than his explosive anger before, but she stayed firm.

“I said no.”

“It seems you have forgotten your place, Ms Sancoeur. I tell you what to do,” he grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him, forcing her to keep eye contact, “and then you do it.” With his free hand, he slammed his fist into her bedside table, which caused the lamp and a vase to fall and shatter on the floor. “Do you understand?” he yelled.

The noise made her flinch, but she looked up again when another crash came from her window. A superhero she hadn’t seen before was standing in her room. He was dressed in a light purple suit with a matching cape and mask.

“Let go of her!” the man ordered and pointed at Monarch with his cane.

“I don’t have time for this,” Monarch groaned, but he pulled away. He turned his head at the door with the restlessness that characterized the recognition of a negative emotion somewhere.

Before Monarch could call the transformation for any of the other kwamis or otherwise make a move, the superhero moved quickly to kick him in the stomach. Then, while he gasped for air, the man took Nathalie in his arms and jumped with her back out the window.

Everything happened so fast, she was barely beginning to process it when he was helping her sit down on a bench. There was something familiar in the position of his hands around her and in the way he knelt in front of her afterwards.

“Sorry,” he said, “I was in the middle of something else when I heard a crash and I had to step in when I saw it was a villain. Are you ok?”

Nathalie heard the question, but her focus was elsewhere. “You have the butterfly miraculous.”

He seemed a little surprised that that was what had her attention. “I do.”

“But— But that’s impossible.”

“I should introduce myself,” his voice was impossibly calm, compared to her own uneasiness. “I am Betterfly. I am the holder of the butterfly miraculous in a different universe than yours. It’s a pleasure.”

He smiled at her, then he took Nathalie’s hand and kissed it the same way Gabriel did when he met a woman he respected. She felt embarrassed at the action, since she certainly didn’t consider herself on the same rank as them.

“I came here through a portal to seek help from your Ladybug and Cat Noir. We’re currently trying to track their iterations from my universe, who followed me here, but we seem to have lost them.”

He looked around, as if searching for clues, but the city was dead quiet. They were in a park, she only now noticed, and the only sound came from the leaves shifting with the wind.

Nathalie took a moment to take it all in. Apparently Monarch had been right about the parallel universe. After everything they had been through the past year, she guessed this wasn’t that unbelievable.

She looked closely at Betterfly. The resemblance to Hawk Moth’s costume was clear, but every edge was rounder and every color lighter. The smaller mask letting strands of silver hair move freely with the breeze also added to the gentleness of his appearance. And his eyes… Nathalie couldn’t hold his gaze for long because the look in them was just… overwhelming.

“You’re one of them? The heroes?” was all she could come up with.

Now he was the one who looked embarrassed. “I guess you could say that. I’m just one man trying to do what I think is best.” He smiled again.

She knew that smile, but she had never seen it so often. Not since Emilie… was gone.

If they were parallel universes, this one and wherever he came from, and both butterfly holders were already opposite in their roles, could they be similar in other ways?

Examining his face, she let her curiosity win and asked, “Gabriel?”

Betterfly’s eyes widened slightly before he turned away. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten off topic. Are you sure you’re alright? Is there anything I can do?”

His reaction was confirmation enough that Nathalie was right, yet this just opened so many more questions.

“I’m fine,” she answered. “I just have some… communication issues.”

He moved to sit down on the bench next to her. She was thankful for that, but it still gave her the impression of some sort of therapy session starting.

“Was that Gabriel Agreste’s house, the designer?”

She would indulge his pretense that the disguise was still working, if it made conversing easier for him. She nodded and clarified that she was his executive assistant.

“And you live there?”

The arrangement looked weird to outsiders, she was aware of that, but it was necessary for her to be able to do everything her job involved, including the parts of it that weren’t public, which only made it sound worse. At least now she could blame it on her disability, that her life was easier without a daily commute. She should move out soon, now that she could walk by herself with the help of the device, but she couldn’t leave Adrien and, well, most of the memories of her adult life behind just like that.

“I do,” she simply stated. “Mr. Agreste’s workplace is there so that’s where I work as well.” Eager to shift the attention away from her living situation, she asked, “Is that not my job in your world?”

Betterfly looked down at the ground with what Nathalie could identify as remorse. “From what I can tell, Gabriel and you don’t really… talk much.”

Nathalie wondered what the story behind that could be. Had he also hurt Nathalie but at least had the decency to regret it? Her Gabriel only felt guilty about one thing, and he would probably betray her trust in him a hundred times over if he had to.

Her expression might have given away some of her anger, because the superhero now also seemed curious about her relationship with her boss.

“Do you, um…”

Before he could figure out how to formulate the question, she interrupted him. “We don’t talk much anymore either.”

A slight disappointment in his face somehow felt like a heavy weight pressing against her lungs. The way his open eyes were like invitations for her to look deep into his mind made her uncomfortable. She had gotten used to reading Gabriel’s thoughts through the subtlest movement of his wrinkles, not to have them exposed for anyone to see. It was a skill she had developed through the years, and yet her boss kept surprising her.

What if her own Gabriel did share this one’s emotions, and just didn’t show it? Was that too hopeful to think? It probably was. Either way it was clear that he was hurting now worse than ever before and still wished she could help him.

“Mr. Agreste has just been going through a lot since… well, ever since his wife…”

“Passed.”

“Disappeared,” she automatically corrected.

Now he was the one with a knowing look, trying to express that he could see through her denial.

Maybe he was right to accept it. During that phone call earlier, when Gabriel told her he lost the pocket watch, it felt not only like losing Emilie all over again, but like this time she was gone for real. It would be harder to keep up the pretense after that, no matter what Gabriel would say. However, Nathalie wasn’t sure she was ready to grieve, not all alone like this.

As she thought about Emilie the heavy sensation on her chest expanded upwards, now forming a knot on her throat. Liquid was also starting to gather in the corners of her eyes. Betterfly took a handkerchief out from his suit and offered it to her. She took it, but kept it in her fist while she tried to pull herself back together.

“What about Monarch?” Betterfly kindly attempted to change the topic. “Do you know him? I know that the holder of my miraculous here doesn’t have the best intentions. Are you sure you’re not in any kind of danger?”

Probably not any more than the fact that her days were already counted, but she didn’t want to worry this poor guy with that.

Normally Nathalie would be defensive with an interrogation like this, but after seeing what he saw, she understood that he could be concerned. It must be a shock to find that the same power that you wield could be used for completely different purposes, especially if they go against your own values.

Or maybe they didn’t. Nathalie didn’t know this Gabriel well yet, but were the same person, after all, only… shaped by different circumstances.

The question then pricked her brain. Did he know they were the same person? He had no reason to know, unless he assumed that was the case the same way Nathalie did. Would he even want to know?

“Monarch…” she sighed. “Like I said, he’s going through a lot.”

Her admission was clear enough, going by the way his eyes widened and his sharp intake of air. The reaction didn’t go further than that, and considering how expressive this man had been until now, she assumed his surprise wasn’t too strong. Maybe he had suspected it and just needed confirmation.

Nathalie didn’t want to get into Gabriel’s criminal actions and his motivations, or her own as his partner, so before Betterfly could ask any questions she spoke.

“You seem happy, though.”

He definitely smiles more. Still, earlier he couldn’t have just guessed Emilie was dead here out of nowhere. He must have known because she died there, too. If so, how were the circumstances different in order to produce such different results?

A shadow forming over his eyes contradicted her. “Not everything is great where I come from. In fact, I find your world to be quite lovely. Your heroes are strong and kind, and they have the support of the people. From what Ladybug told me, before they were stolen, the miraculous’ power was shared with others and used for the greater good!”

Very different results, indeed.

“Back home,” he continued, “there’s an entity that hoards all the power of the miraculous, which is kept secret from most of the population. I’m trying the best I can to stop him, but I’m all alone. I’ve also made a lot of mistakes which I’m not proud of, but I find peace knowing that I’m fighting for what I believe is right. All I have is the hope that we can build a better world for everyone. I have to hold on to it.”

“I wish I was strong enough to do the same,” she confessed. “It’s tough to maintain hope when all seems lost.”

“I didn’t say it was easy. I struggled a lot at first. I felt like I was drowning and nothing could bring me to the surface. Trying to swim would only make it worse. Then I realized that the only way out was through, and that if I wasn’t the one to step up then… no one else would.”

Ladybug and Cat Noir were already fighting Monarch. It was their job, not Nathalie’s, but… Despite not having yet lost their miraculous, they also hadn’t defeated Monarch. Recently Nathalie wondered sometimes if she should do something, if she would be the one to make a difference. But she couldn’t bring herself to do anything. She didn’t want Adrien to lose his father and a part of her didn’t want to lose Gabriel, either.

Besides, her lack of success with Hawk Moth showed that any attempt from her at supporting the other party would definitely end in disappointment.

“What if it’s not that simple? What if you just keep failing?”

“You know… It’s been a while but the Nathalie I knew never gave up. No task ever seemed impossible in her hands.”

Her cheeks felt suddenly too warm against the cold night air. His expression lightened back up at her blush. She would have liked to mirror him, but she still didn’t feel well enough.

“What if the task is fighting against the fabric of the universe?”

“Well, then… maybe it’s just as brave to know when to change targets.” He put his hand on top of hers, which was resting on her lap. “After losing my wife I realized that my motivation couldn’t be a desire for revenge or to bring her back. I needed to focus on what I really needed, and what would ultimately do good.”

Nathalie had thought at the beginning that what they were doing was for the best. Emilie was good for her family, for the world. She was kind and loving. She was an inspiration, not only for Nathalie and Gabriel but for anyone who met her. It would certainly have been good for Adrien if they had been able to stop the illness before… before it killed her.

“How can you know for sure what that is?”

“I can’t, but I know it’s not what The Supreme is doing; hoarding the miraculous, hiding them from the world, enslaving the kwamis, and forcing innocent people into a battle that isn’t theirs. People who do know about his abuse are too afraid to face him, but I have faith that with my power I can change their minds, so we can all build a better world together.”

Everything seemed a lot more intense in the other universe. Monarch did hoard miraculous and terrorize a city but it had started with a simple goal. The wish wasn’t supposed to directly affect anyone’s lives except from avoiding the ruin of his and his son’s. Now his goal was even more inconsequential, ridiculous even, since he was obsessed with a vendetta against two random teenagers. Of course stopping this whole fiasco would be good, but in the end all Nathalie wanted was to have a normal life again.

“I don’t have such big aspirations.” She had never been an outstanding person, after all. “I guess all I want is to be able to help the people around me be happy again, even if it’s not the most heroic thing to do.”

“I disagree.”

His hand above her tightened a little, reminding her of its presence. Hesitantly, she turned her hand around, so they could hold each other.

“I wish I was better at that.” His eyes were overcome by that sadness that Nathalie knew well enough. “While I do all this, I know I’ve been missing out on my son’s life. I mean, I do try to get close to him but I just don’t know how to. I can tell he’s struggling and I’m sure after all this is over things will be better for him. But in the meantime…”

He trailed off. Nathalie didn’t know how to fill the space, but she couldn’t stand to see him in pain. Adrien seemed to trust her, but she couldn’t figure out why. She had never been good with kids, not even when she was their age.

The only advice she could offer was, “Perhaps all he needs is to be sure that you’re there for him, that he can rely on your support whenever he needs it. If you make that clear then he’ll come to you on his own.”

His eyebrows lifted up along with his head and he said “You’re right!” in a way that was so identical to Adrien whenever she offered him her input that it was almost funny to watch. “It’s always nice to know there’s someone you can rely on.” Then, a little quieter, he added, “I assume that’s how Gabriel feels about you. I hope he knows how to appreciate it.”

Her face dropped again. “I don’t know. I’ve been wondering if it’s all really worth it. I didn’t mind helping him at first but now that he’s so… focused on his goal, he—“

The tears she thought had been gone returned to flood her eyes as she struggled with her words. He had hurt Nathalie. He lifted her hopes up only to then let her fall to greater depths. He accepted her affection only to push her away afterwards. He looked at her like she was the world and then pretended she was invisible. She had thought the contradictions were only due to the fact that she was her and not Emilie, which she could understand. But now he had betrayed Emilie, too. What did it all mean then? What was all this for? Most importantly, why did it still hurt?

Her hand was moved towards him, now enveloped in both of his. The soothing motion of his thumb over her skin didn’t distract her enough. In fact, it only seemed to encourage the need to cry further.

“I can understand that,” he said. “Sometimes we hold on to people or ideas too strongly for our own good, and we lose sight of other chances.”

“Other chances?”

“Right.”

“Like what?”

She hadn’t realized that there were now tracks of tears on her face, until his gloved hand came up to wipe them away. As he did so, his face also moved closer to hers. While the unreserved affection in his eyes was still overwhelming, this close she found herself captured by it, unable to look away.

“Like what is right in front of you,” he whispered.

Almost unconsciously she was also leaning in, enjoying the warmth she could begin to feel coming from him. Their foreheads touched, and she closed her eyes to savor the moment.

Just as she felt ready to cross the remaining distance, the sudden ringing of her phone made both of them jump apart.

She blinked a couple times as she came back to herself, taking in her surroundings and trying to perceive more than just the drumming of her heart. She finally pulled the phone out of her pocket.

It was Gabriel.

Without thinking, she hung up, then put the device away again.

As she stared towards the trees, the significance of what just happened downed on her like a bucket of cold water being dropped over her head.

Nathalie was the one losing her mind, actually. She leaned down and hid her face between her hands. “What am I doing?” she muttered to herself, “This is a dream, or a hallucination. Emilie never mentioned those but they must be a symptom, or I’m simply losing it, I—“

The other Gabriel began reaching for her but she quickly stood up. The rush of adrenaline that allowed her to do so wouldn’t be enough to let her walk back to the house, though. But she would find a way.

“I have to go.”

“Wait.” He stood, too, and she took a step back away from him.

“I have to make sure Monarch doesn’t do anything stupid.” If she remembered the start of all this correctly, Monarch had to be out there not only with Ladybug and Cat Noir, but with the versions of the heroes from the other universe, too.

“You don’t have to go yet,” Betterfly insisted. “You don’t have to help Monarch, either.”

“No, I have to.”

The look on his face made Nathalie feel guilty about leaving him, but she had no choice. She had to remind herself that he wasn’t her boss. She had only just met him.

He and Gabriel had Emilie’s death in common, but according to what he had expressed Nathalie wasn’t in the other’s life. What if that had been what made the difference? What if this had all been Nathalie’s fault?

She offered her help to track the miraculous of creation and destruction as soon as they figured that the wish was Emilie’s only hope. She enabled Gabriel’s decisions even when she disagreed with them, even when she knew Emilie would disagree with them. She promised she would make Gabriel happy again, but now she had failed both of them. If she let Gabriel get caught or if she didn’t stop him from falling into madness, either way she would be failing them, and Adrien, too.

She couldn’t continue being an accomplice, but she still had to do something, if anything, to make up for all her mistakes.

“I owe it to him. I have part of the blame and I can’t just abandon him, I—“

Her hands tightened around the handkerchief and she noticed how Betterfly’s worried expression softened into some kind of understanding.

“You love him,” he completed for her.

Her body suddenly felt weak again, too weak to hold back the sobs she had been trying to avoid since the moment Gabriel had told her he lost the time miraculous, ever since the moment Emilie had said goodbye.

She didn’t even think of wiping off her makeup before letting herself be pulled into Betterfly’s arms. It was a magical suit, surely the stains wouldn’t be a problem.

His embrace protected her from the cold outside. His hands comforted her on her back and her head, their easing motions working against her shaking.

Despite everything, she still loved Gabriel Agreste. Her Gabriel Agreste, the one she had gone through everything with, the one who struggled to express his gratitude for her but still found ways to do it. The man who could both control chaos in a runway’s backstage as well as unleash it across Paris with the snap of his fingers, the one who had built an entire empire for his family and who would tear it down piece by piece for them, too.

He was misguided, he was in over his head, but he was still the man she owed everything to, the man she promised to stick with until the very end. That didn’t have to mean doing everything he wanted for him; she would find a way to bring him back to the right track.

After all, the owner of the shoulder she was weeping into was living proof that it was possible.

Still sniffling, she pulled away from him to look at his face, to seal it in her mind and convince herself that it was real. Even if she didn’t necessarily want her own Gabriel to become this one, she wanted to know that he could genuinely smile again.

“Nathalie.” He hadn’t let go of her yet, “you have to have hope. A better world is possible.”

She nodded, she believed him.

The ground shaking and the sound of an explosion brought their attention back to their surroundings.

“I should go,” the hero said.

Nathalie nodded again. She also had to make sure that Gabriel was alright, and that Monarch wouldn’t do anything too stupid. From a distance, of course.

Her knees buckled when she tried to take a step, but Betterfly caught her before she could fall. He looked at her with concern.

“It’s a long story, but I’ll be fine.”

He seemed to accept her lie. Without thinking twice he lifted her up once again and jumped across the city, until they were back in her bedroom. He entered through —and shattered— a second window, then helped her sit down at the end of her bed and stayed crouching to be at eye level.

“Goodbye, Gabriel,” she said.

He brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes. “Goodbye, Nathalie.”

The Gabriel she knew inopportunely slammed her doors open for the second time tonight. “Nathalie! You’re back.”

He locked eyes with Betterfly for a second, before the latter flew out of the house.

Gabriel rushed to occupy the same position his twin had been in. “Who was that? Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”

Maybe Nathalie was still shaken by her encounter, but as Gabriel looked at her with worry, she could spot a faint, though distinct, softness in his gaze. Through it she could see a future content version of him, one that had finally found peace.

It had to be possible, she had to have hope that it was. Eventually, she told herself, she would figure it out.

[kisilinramblings]

How I personally recall each episode name this S5 even if the name theme isn't helping.

----

Evolution : Time travel! Also, we see past Gabriel compared to who he has now become (Monarch).

Multiplication : Alliance production and distribution.

Destruction : Chat cataclysms (accidentaly) Monarch. Also, we witness Gabriel destroy the Miraculous in that episode.

Jubilation : Power of the Pig. Ladynoir Happy Ending Dream Sequence.

Illusion : Birth of La Résistance + Monarch creates an illusion to divert suspicions again like he did as the Collector.

Determination : Musée Grévin.

Passion : Nathalie's episode.

Reunion : Meeting up with a past Holder.

Elation : Marichat.

Transmission : Marinette and Adrien both renounce to their Miraculous. New Holders are found.

Deflagration : Huge explosion caused by Plagg destroying his Miraculous so Monarch cannot have the absolute power.

Perfection : Cloud Kagami. She doesn't want to fight in this one. Communication issues.

Derision : Flashback. A very bad prank messed Marinette up about love.

Migration : Luka has to leave because he knows Ladybug and Chat Noir's secret identity.

Intuition : Gabriel as Monarch abuses of the Snake Miraculous

Protection : Kagami is gaslighted by Lila to attack Marinette. Sword and Shield.

Adoration : Love is love!

Emotion : Félix infiltrate the Diamond Bal and goes full Anarchy mode.

Pretension : Tomoe vs Félix.

Revelation : Lila gets all of Gabriel little secrets, revealing some of his past life.

Confrontation : Marinette finally gets a Gotcha at Lila with the help of Sabrina.

Collusion : The lobbies unhappy gets rid of current mayor to put someone else who will be more of use to them.

Revolution : Fight against dictatorship and other authoritarian regime!

Representation : The Play.

[hamsternamedmarinette]

All jokes aside though, Intuition was... extremely tragic. In the original "no happy ending" sense of the word. The line "I think we should start looking for permanent solutions for Adrien" from Nathalie reminded me that, oh right, this is a pretty serious situation they're all in, and the further along they go, the farther anyone gets from a happy ending.

And the fact that it ended with Gabriel just resetting everything and not even bothering to continue anymore (after countless attempts, of course) drove that home even further. Sure, the heroes avoided a catastrophe without even knowing it, good for them, but that's only bringing them closer to the nuclear explosion of this whole thing coming to a head. They won the battle (technically without even fighting) but they won't really win the war. And neither will the villains. Nobody will.

Tldr I liked this episode a lot.

[pythagoras180]

"Miraculous World: Paris, Tales of Shadybug and Claw Noir" Review

Spoiler warning for the special and all of season 5

The special begins with an alternative title sequence with Re-Verse!Gabriel instead of Marinette. Then there's a cold opening where Betterfly (Re-Verse Hawk Moth, who's a hero) and Re-Verse!Alya. Watch a news broadcast from the main universe talking about Ladybug and Cat Noir, before Betterfly uses a Kamiko (alternate Akuma name) to transform Re-Verse!Alya into Ubiquity, who can travel between universes. At this time, Shadybug and Claw Noir burst in and attack.

Meanwhile, in the main universe, Gabriel is in his lair right after being Cataclysmed, since this is right after "Destruction". He puts all his new Miraculouses on a table before trying to call Nathalie, but it goes to voicemail.

Wait a minute, doesn't this take place after the beginning of "Multiplication"? It does, because this special is the last thing that happens that night, it's dawn at the end of the special. So Nathalie should already be in the mansion, she arrived there in "Multiplication". Why doesn't he physically go talk to her? Gabriel then considers talking to Adrien, who is watching the news in his room. Wait, didn't Adrien fall asleep after calling Marinette? Did he fall asleep, then immediately wake up to take part in this special? None of this adds up.

Continuity errors: 2

Adrien still feels bad about Cataclysming Monarch, and he tells Plagg that he's afraid of his power. Gee, it would sure be awkward if Adrien intentionally tried to Cataclysm like 3 more people in season 5, none of which are as bad as Monarch, and then showed no remorse for it. That would make this scene look stupid, wouldn't it?

We have a scene between Marinette and Alya, where Marinette calls her "the best BFF ever".

Earlier this same day, Alya accused Marinette of lying about Adrien not wanting to go on the trip. Yeah, what a great friend.

There's then a scene establishing that Marinette's parents are downstairs.

Marinette expresses doubt that she can defeat Monarch, saying that she feels like she tried everything.

That's not true Marinette, you didn't take advantage of the Rabbit Miraculous's ability to spy on anyone, anywhere, at anytime to determine Monarch's identity.

Alya then is transformed into a duplicate of Ubiquity, and the two Ubiquities form a portal between universes. Betterfly jumps though the portal. He asks Marinette to lead him to Ladybug and Cat Noir, but she doesn't trust him, for obvious reasons. Shadybug and Claw Noir then force Ubiquity to reopened the portal. Alya warns Betterfly and Marinette that they're coming, and Betterfly doesn't simply recall the Kamiko to close the portal, and instead he chooses to run away with Marinette. What a great hero he is /s.

Shadybug and Claw Noir arrive in the main universe, and they tie up Alya, destroy Marinette's wall, and give chase. Only now does Betterfly recall the Kamiko. Oh, and the butterfly flies out of main universe Ayla's glasses, even though it was used on Re-Verse!Alya. That doesn't really make sense. Also, Alya immediately unties herself. Is Shadybug just terrible at tying people up?

Alya tells Sabine that the sound of the explosion was just a video game, and then she tries to call Marinette on her phone, but it's still broken from when Monarch smashed it in "Destruction". So instead she calls her using the computer.

Hey, that's actually a nice piece of continuity. Good job.

Shadybug and Claw Noir lose track of Betterfly, so Shadybug summons her Lucky Charm. She receives a pair of goggles that can identify butterfly pheromones, and uses them to track the Kamiko butterfly as it returns to Betterfly.

Oh, that's why they had the Kamiko randomly hop universes, to provide a way to track Betterfly. How convenient. Does the Butterfly Miraculous require white butterflies? Could Betterfly not have just used a random butterfly out in the wild?

Anyway, Betterfly and Marinette arrive at the Eiffel Tower, but Shadybug and Claw Noir arrive shortly after and start beating up Betterfly. Marinette watches the fight while on a call with Alya, and Tikki explains that they are Miraculous holders from a parallel universe, one of billions. Marinette asks Tikki why she never told her about this, and Tikki says she's lived billions of years in every universe, and there isn't enough time in Marinette's life to tell her even a fraction about it.

Um, Tikki, it doesn't take a lot of time to say "By the way Marinette, there is a multiverse. So don't be shocked if versions of you from another universe show up one day." This is a terrible excuse. Also, Tikki implies she is one entity across all universes, yet she doesn't seem to know anything about he Re-Verse.

During the fight, we get the first mention of "The Supreme", the evil overlord who controls all the Miraculouses in the Re-Verse.

Honestly, I think the fact that Shadybug and Claw Noir are just working for someone else instantly makes them much less interesting.

Marinette asks Tikki how Shadybug and Claw Noir can use their powers repeatedly, and Tikki explains that the one time use and time limit is to protect young holders from over-exerting themselves, but Shadybug and Claw Noir are ignoring this and hurting themselves in the process.

If the limitation on power use if the users physical body, then why did Ladybug and Cat Noir gain unlimited use in "Revolution", after allegedly maturing emotionally? Are they going to end up hurting themselves too? Maybe don't make up the rules as you go along guys.

And I'd like to point out that Shadybug can summon Lucky Charms without speaking or using her yoyo. How?

Marinette transforms into Ladybug and starts fighting the villains, and shortly afterward Cat Noir shows up too. He then immediately threatens to Cataclysm Claw Noir.

Gee Adrien, I can really see how bad you feel about the whole Monarch situation when you literally do the exact same thing mere hours later. What a good guy you are.

Claw Noir then forces Cat Noir to cataclysm his chest. And he just tanks this? How is that possible? At first I thought they would explain that his power is enhanced or something, but nope. Remember what happened to Cat Noir in "Miraculer"? Are we supposed to assume that that actually wasn't a big deal but Adrien is just a massive baby?

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, a traffic cone, which Claw Noir immediately grabs and destroys. Um, why did the Lucky Charm give her something that doesn't work? Shouldn't it have predicted that Claw Noir was going to grab it? You might be thinking "Well it would have worked if Ladybug reacted quicker." The power should have scanned her mind and determined that she wouldn't react fast enough, and adjust accordingly. Seriously, how does a Lucky Charm fail?

"Intuition", what a great and non-harmful episode /s.

Shadybug and Claw Noir get the upper hand, so Betterfly uses a Kamiko on Cat Noir. Betterfly and Cat Noir speak to each other telepathically at superspeed.

What is going on right now? The Butterfly Holder and akumatized person have always needed to move their mouths to communicate and talk at normal speed. Stop making up new rules.

Anyway, Cat Noir transform into Celesticat, which is just a reused Cat Blanc model with green eyes and wings. He then flies Ladybug and Betterfly away from danger.

Too bad Betterfly didn't just give him crazy superpowers strong enough to defeat Shadybug and Claw Noir, because otherwise this special would be over already. Yes, I know, Shadybug's Lucky Charm should still give them an out, but we literally saw a Lucky Charm fail 2 seconds ago. So thanks for making the power inconsistent. If Celesticat was even 1% as powerful as Cat Blanc, the battle would just be over.

Shadybug grabs Celesticat's tail and is dragged along, but Ladybug simply removes his belt to make her fall. Claw Noir lets her fall, and then tries to take her Miraculous. We find out that these two have repeatedly tried to steal each other's Miraculouses because they hate each other so much.

In Emilie's tomb, Gabriel already knows that his condition is terminal. How? He was wounded a few hours ago, the mark couldn't have spread yet. I guess the Kwamis may have told him, but we don't see that.

Gabriel senses the villains arguing, and sends a Megakuma after them. However, Claw Noir immediately destroys it, thinking it's a Kamiko.

Wait, why are they afraid of a Kamiko? Do they force people to be good? But they were experiencing negative emotions at the time, wouldn't the Kamiko make them more evil? Their reactions make no sense.

But there actually is some good continuity here. Claw Noir immediately destroys the butterfly, like Cat Noir did in "Cat Blanc". Meanwhile, Shadybug sees it but just stands there instead of purifying it, just like Ladybug did in "Cat Blanc". I just love consistency.

Shadybug and Claw Noir return to Marinette's room to look for clues. And Alya hides and spies on them.

In the sewers the three heroes talk as they recharge. Betterfly talks about his world, and says that all forms of mutual aid are a crime.

I'm sorry, what? There is no way such a civilization can sustain itself. This is so dumb and overly simplistic. Couldn't they have just said that the world is rampant with greed, corruption, and authoritarianism? That's at least realistic, the entire world being evil is not. But hey, maybe the people of this world don't think or feel the way we do? Nope, later in this special they are shown to be very similar emotionally speaking. The world Betterfly is describing can not exist.

Betterfly also explains that the Supreme controls all the Miraculouses, and only hands them out to his allies. Re-Verse!Gabriel stole two of them, apparently for selfish reasons.

So the Supreme decided to give out the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses to a couple of children so they can steal back the other Miraculouses, instead of just, you know, use the ultimate power to wish them back. "Oh, but what about equivalent exchange?" This is equivalent exchange. The Supreme gains two Miraculouses, Gabriel loses two Miraculouses. Equal equal. I guess the Supreme is just as dumb as everyone else. Gee, it's almost like establishing that you can choose the price of the wish and can decide who pays that price completely breaks the entire story. And I'm definitely going to make this same criticism of season 6 if Marinette doesn't immediately wish for the Butterfly Miraculous back.

Back in Marinette's room, Shadybug reads her diary and learns about how great Marinette's life is with all her friends, and that she is Ladybug.

In the sewers, Ladybug and Cat Noir deduce that the villains are alternate versions of their civilain selves.

Meanwhile, Shadybug learns from the diary about the ultimate power of the Miraculouses, and Marinette very conveniently decided to tape a copy of that Grimoire page into her diary, with exact instructions on how to use it. How nice of her /s.

By the way, establishing that the Grimoire has clear instruction on how to use the wish definitively destroys the plot of "Deflagration". Gabriel definitely knew how to use the wish then, he had absolutely no reason to attempt to unify.

Shadybug then handcuffs Claw Noir with a Lucky Charm and immediately takes his Miraculous. If it was that easy, how did she fail in the past?

Shadybug recognizes Claw Noir as famous model Adrien Agreste. She then puts on the Black Cat Miraculous and detransforms. Re-Verse!Adrien remains handcuffed, even though Lucky Charms are supposed to disappear as soon as the holder detransforms.

Continuity errors: 3

Re-Verse!Adrien recognizes her as a girl he saw in a bakery once, and immediately fell in love with.

You know, I think "Miraculous" has been pretty good at avoiding "love at first sight" until now. But Re-Verse!Adrien likes her even though he never talked to her or saw he do anything special to make him like her. They put no effort into this, huh?

Re-Verse!Marinette tries to summon Gimmi, intending to switch her life with main universe Marinette's. However, the Supreme put a safeguard in place to prevent a wish from being made. He also sealed the Kwamis mouths so they can't speak. I quite like this plot point.

Re-Verse!Marinette then gives Re-Verse!Adrien his Miraculous back. Wait, why would she do that? I thought she hated him? She tried to steal his Miraculous in the past just to get rid of him. And she doesn't know him as Re-Verse!Adrien, so that shouldn't change her opinion. Why does she suddenly trust him?

Also, Claw Noir's suit is still cracked after retransforming, even though their suits and weapons are supposed to be completely restored every time they transform.

Continuity errors: 4

Monarch then portals into the room, after apparently hearing everything. So shouldn't this clue him in that Marinette and Adrien are Ladybug and Cat Noir? Shouldn't he at least investigate them? Is he stupid? Yeah, I know the answer to that.

Shadybug and Claw Noir attack him, but he is immune to their powers thanks to the Ox Miraculous. But wait, shouldn't Shadybug's Lucky Charm sword still be able to defeat him somehow? You might be thinking "Well maybe there is a way, but Shadybug wasn't smart or creative enough to figure it out." Why would the power give her something she can't figure out? Shouldn't it have scanned her mind and given her something she can figure out?

"Intuition", what a great and non-harmful episode /s.

Monarch offers to help them steal Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses, so that they can make wishes that way. Shadybug and Claw Noir agree to this. That's it, they just agree. They have no hidden scheme, they don't plan to double cross him, they just go with his plan. What great villains these two are /s.

The three heroes see massive versions of Shadybug and Claw Noir rampaging through the city. Thinking they're akumatized, Betterfly attempts to recall the Akuma.

If that's possible, then why the hell did Lila send Timetagger to the past, where a different Butterfly holder was active? Even if Timetagger successfully stole the Miraculouses, Hawk Moth could have just recalled the Akuma and stolen them for himself. We haven't even seen Lila as the main villain yet, and they already damaged her. That's honestly kind of impressively bad writing.

Alya then gets Ladybug's attention by driving through the streets yelling for her. Couldn't that also have attracted Monarch's attention? Alya then shows Ladybug that she recorded Monarch telling Shadybug and Claw Noir his plan. Monarch created giant illusions of the villains in order to split up Ladybug and Cat Noir, so that the villains can fight them separately and Monarch can ambush them. And... Ladybug is stumped. She has no answer for this. I'm sorry, isn't she supposed to be smart? Did she really need a pep talk to solve this simple problem?

So, what is Ladybug's plan? Well, the Butterfly Miraculous has a limited range, so first they have to

Wait, wait, wait. It was shown in "Startrain" that there is a limited range for the Butterfly Miraculous, but this is contradicted in "Intuition". You might say that the Horse Miraculous is what allowed Monarch to overcome the range problem, but he has the Horse Miraculous right now. So there is no guarantee that he has limited range. Whatever, maybe Ladybug doesn't know that.

So the heroes and Alya fly far way from Paris, and then Betterfly transforms Alya into Ubiquity. Betterfly detransforms, and gives the Butterfly Miraculous to Ladybug, which she uses to become Ladyfly. She transforms Re-Verse Gabriel into Guardian Angel, who has the power to put protection spells on Ladybug and Cat Noir. He then puts the object that contains the Kamiko into the Re-Verse using Ubiquity's portal, preventing Monarch from recalling it.

Wait a minute, placing an akumatized object out of range of the holder doesn't remove their powers? So why didn't Monarch just teleport all akumatized objects outside the solar system? His minions would be invincible. Also, it's confirmed that Monarch has absolutely no control over Akumas if they're out of range. So couldn't the heroes have just used the Horse Miraculous to teleport an Akuma outside the solar system? Since he's limited to one at a time, he would be completely powerless afterward. Do you see how making up new rules makes previous stuff much stupider?

The heroes do split up and fight their counterparts, and Monarch plans to ambush them using the same invisibility strategy he used in "Illusion" and "Deflagration", even though in "Illusion" he acted like he just came up with it for the first time. But I don't really blame them for this. Also, in "Kwami Buster" the Miraculouses did not multiply along with Multimouse, they remained singular. Why is it different here? I guess maybe that's an adult power or something. Hey wait a minute, if the illusions are now taken down, why doesn't Monarch just stop using the Fox Miraculous and use the Snake instead? That would greatly increase his chances of winning. But he forgot about it I guess?

Anyway, Monarch tries to use Venom on both heroes, but they are protected by Guardian Angel's spells and the Monarch copies are immobilized by feathers. Monarch just recombines with them though, at a very great distance I might add. I thought the copies needed to gather in a group to combine, but I guess not.

Ladybug and Cat Noir continue to fight their counterparts, who decide to start ranting about their motivations. Re-Verse!Marinette was bullied by Re-Verse!Chloé (aka the Devil), and she didn't have any friends or loving parents to help her, so she accepted the Miraculous from the Supreme because she wanted to be able to protect herself. I guess that makes sense, but why was she genuinely trying to steal the Butterfly Miraculous? Wouldn't she want her assignment to last as long as possible so that she wouldn't lose her Miraculous? Also, in a world without mutual aid, wouldn't Marinette's situation be commonplace? It's almost like that world doesn't make sense or something.

Claw Noir's motivation is that he's sad that his mom died. Um, is that an explanation? Did the Supreme promise to bring her back or something? I guess that's possible, but it's never stated in the special. I don't understand why he became a supervillain. Also, this is literally the first time his mother has been brought up. That's not how you write a motivation. Cat Noir tells him that his mom is also dead, and he was also really sad about it, but his friends helped him through it. Um, what is Adrien talking about? He never seemed significantly effected by his mother's death. The audience can't just be made to assume that he was sad about it offscreen, that's not how writing works. Also, Claw Noir is angry at his father for not caring about his mom's death and moving on. Shouldn't he be angry at Cat Noir for the same reason, not moved by it? Also, Emilie died months before the start of the series, which is when Adrien started making friends. Adrien clearly wasn't very affected by her death at the time, so no, his friends did not help him through it.

Also, Re-Verse!Adrien explicitly had 2 good parents, yet he still didn't have friends. I take this as explicit confirmation that Adrien's lack of friends during childhood wasn't his parents' fault, as many claim it was.

Claw Noir says he wants to use the wish to bring his mother back, but Adrien explains that there is equivalent exchange in play. If he wished for that, someone else would lose their mom. I'm pretty sure that's not true, the rule is a life for a life, not a mom for a mom. Sacrifice a death row inmate with no family and you'll be fine.

Dear reader, I urge you to please take a seat, or get a grip on something sturdy. I am about to reveal something that annihilates Adrien's entire character. Something that permanently disqualifies him from being considered a hero. It's literally just one line of dialogue that I already mentioned, so you might have picked up on it. But I understand if you didn't, because the writers clearly didn't.

Adrien explains the equivalent exchange rule to Claw Noir. Adrien knows the rules of the wish. This special takes place the night of "Destruction". In "Passion", an episode that takes place weeks later, Cat Noir asked Ladybug if he could make a wish (he secretly wanted to cure Nathalie). Ladybug has to explain the equivalent exchange rule to him. But thanks to this special, we know that Adrien already knew the rules, so he must have just been hoping Ladybug didn't, and she would agree to let him make the wish. He was prepared to sacrifice somebody else's life in order to cure Nathalie. He would have done so if Ladybug said yes. Adrien is honestly as bad as Gabriel at this point. I would go as far as to say this is a character assassination, if I didn't already consider Adrien's character destroyed by the past 3 seasons. So surely Adrien doesn't have any fans anymore, right? I'm kidding, I'm sure he could commit cold-blooded murder and his fans would still defend him.

Continuity errors: 5

So Shadybug and Claw Noir win their fights, but Marinette and Adrien convince them with words that a better world is possible and they should stop being villains. This might have been powerful if it was earned. Shadybug uses her restoration power, which also heals the damage to her and Claw Noir's bodies? But they were acting like it was irreversible earlier, but Shadybug just had the power to fix it the whole time? Whatever, I guess they needed to stop being evil before they could be healed.

So everyone reunites. Re-Verse!Gabriel was also no longer transformed by the Kamiko? How? His object is in another universe, with no way to reach it. They couldn't have recalled it or broken the object without a portal, which they are only creating now. Speaking of, Betterfly transforms Alya back into Ubiquity, so she can bring the Re-Verse gang back home.

But wait! We can't end the special without shoehorning in some references! Monarch uses the Rooster Miraculous to give himself the power to travel to any universe he wants.

My patience with that Miraculous is really being tested. Also, Monarch used the quill to write the power he wants on his hand, even though that was never a thing before. Maybe it's just for dramatic effect.

Ubiquity senses what Monarch is doing, so Betterfly instead uses a new Kamiko to give Ladybug the power to travel between universes. Monarch travels to a universe where the heroes are Scarabella and Kitty Noire (her first chronological appearance) and tries to take their Miraculouses, but Ladybug intercepts him and kicks him back to his universe. It sure is lucky that Monarch was able to teleport directly behind the heroes. Unless you're telling me that Monarch has his own multiverse burrow, in which case I say giving him the power to also spy on anyone, anywhere completely breaks the story all over again. So Monarch keeps trying to get Miraculouses in other universes, but Ladybug intercepts him every time. Did he just forget that he has other Miraculouses to use? Use some extra powers to defeat Ladybug, genius. But whatever, the sole purpose of this is to show different universes. There's the PV's universe, the manga universe, and one where Adrien Mister Bug full time. I guess this is kind of fun, but they should have done it in a smarter way.

Monarch eventually gives up, and Ladybug returns to her universe claiming that he won't try again any time soon. Excuse me? All he has to do is wait for the Re-Verse gang to return home. Then try again. Even if Ladybug could somehow sense you hopping universes, there's nothing she could do to stop you. Why didn't Monarch try again some other time?

You know, this problem could have been so easily solved if Monarch wasn't stopped by main universe Ladybug, but instead alternate universe heroes dedicated to maintaining peace between universes. Then he know there's always a chance they could intercept him, so he won't try again. Or maybe just don't give the Rooster Miraculous this insanely OP ability. How does that sound?

So that's about it. The Re-Verse gang departs as Ladybug and Cat Noir promise to defeat Monarch (HA!). Marinette and Alya have a scene with weirdly romantic undertones where they decided to eat breakfast then take a nap because they've been awake all night, and the special ends.

Conclusion

So that certainly wasn't great. It's pretty weak as far as multiverse stories go. I don't feel like Marinette or Adrien really learned anything from their alternate selves. This could have been a great place for Adrien to reflect on his potential as a violent person, but that doesn't work when he becomes worse later in the season. And I feel that Adrien is an even worse person than Claw Noir. Honestly, I think this special is proof Adrien shouldn't be making his own decisions. Imagine if he did make his own decision in "Passion".

Saying that the entire Re-Verse is evil is just a laughable concept, they should have at least tried to make is sound realistic. And Shadybug and Claw Noir's backstories didn't really justify their behaviors.

Giving the Rooster Miraculous the ability to travel between universe is yet another plot breaking superpower. They just can't resist adding more of these in, can they? And they couldn't resist shoehorning in cameos after the story was already over.

In total, I counted 5 blatant continuity errors, and I was being very generous.

So it doesn't seem to me like the writing quality of "Miraculous" is improving at all. I don't know if it's just because I'm analyzing it more critically, but it feels like there has been significantly less effort put in to making this make any sense.

Anyway, thanks to anyone who read this whole thing. I would like to hear other opinions as well. Have a great day.

[princess-of-the-corner]

ML Plot Points: The Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous.

I mentioned in the ask that the concept does not necessarily relate to what the Miraculous’ powers are. The Peacock is a pretty good example. In spite of having the concept of “Emotion”, its actual abilities revolve around the creation and alteration of life.

While I would give all the miraculi several powers, only one of the peacock’s will be shown in the story: 

-Nascency: The act of creating a magical creature. The attributes and powers of said creature, including shape, intellect, and whether it can procreate is up to the holder. It requires a feather from the peacock’s weapon (called an amok), an object to use as a catalyst and a host to kickstart the process, giving them their personality and purpose. The creature (called a Sentimonster by the current French holders) will remain in a state of regeneration until the object is broken. A single object cannot hold two feathers. The Peacock holder can unsummon a Sentimonster, but not control them. Someone holding the amokised object cannot unsummon the sentimonster (unless they destroy the object), but they can control them. Someone holding the peacock AND the amokised object can do both as well as change the shape of the Sentimonster (Thought they cannot give them new powers). The only exception is if the Peacock holder and the host for the Sentimonster are the same person. In that case, no one will be able to trully control or unsummon them and the only option to subdue them is to destroy the amokised object. Both the control and the unsummoning are outside magic from the Sentimonster and can therefore be disrupted (by the Monkey and the Ox miraculous, for example). Lastly, if a Cat holder uses a cataclysm on the Sentimonster that isn’t strong enough to completely destroy it, it will put the Sentimonster in incredible amounts of pain and will, in most cases, send it into a rampage, though there are exceptions.

As for the Butterfly, it is much closer to its concept of Transmission. Its powers all relate to communication and empathy. The only holder capable of using all of the powers listed is Gabriel Agreste, Though Nathalie Sancoeur can use more than one:

-Feedback: Mind reading of anyone within line of sight of the holder.

-Excursus: The ability to send physical sensations or feelings from one person to another as long as the holder knows the exact location of both. It can be used with the Holder on both positions and on more than one person.

-Bestowment: The ability to to absorb magic from a person/object into a butterfly and using a modified version of its power through it. It requires access to the magical source.Using this power on different miraculi has different effects:

      -Peacock: Can transform a person into a temporary Sentimonster. Since it’s a very niche use of the power, it had no name before the Agrestes named it akumatisation/kamikotisation.

      -Tiger: Any object that the butterfly is absorbed into becomes an explosive that the Butterfly holder can detonate at will.

      -Turtle: The butterfly can create a wall of energy.

      -Ox: The butterfly can make anything they touch immune to magic, though not themselves.

I haven’t figured out the exact mechanics of the other miraculi on the butterflies. To anyone who reads this, feel free to make suggestions.

I basically did this to explain why the Peacock’s power is so similar to the Butterfly’s. While I understand that the kwamis are personified concepts and that it’s possible for two concepts to be similar, I find that to be a very boring answer. I just made it so Akumas are discount Sentimonsters and not the other way around.

Weird. There’s a gun on the wall.

-

Ha! But that’s kinda dope though

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this week (#179):

71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance, my 10th film by Michael Haneke, and the last part of his early 'Glaciation Trilogy'. Tense, murky and uncomfortable fragments of miserable and detached people, moving on with their daily chores without passion. All the while the television newscasts in the background drone on about wars, and massacres and other disasters. Unpleasant!

By now, I've seen all of his feature films, except of the two 'Funny Games' which, even as a completist, I have no desire to do.

🍿

1958 Côte d'Azur X 2:

🍿 My 6th melodrama by Otto Preminger, Bonjour Tristesse, and another where he collaborated with Saul Bass on the fanciful title sequence. A nearly-incestuous connection between suave cocksman and playboy David Niven (strutting most of the time in short shorts) with his spoiled and alienated daughter Jean Seberg. Based on the semi-biographical novella by Françoise Sagan, which she also had published at 17. Lifestyles of the carefree High-society on the French Riviera of the '50's, and the sensuality of the coast, the sun, the water. Tragic Manic Pixie Dream Girl Seberg, a disillusioned gamine with cropped short hair, disenchanted and confused.

🍿 "All the fashionable woman are wearing blue. (Except the English)..."

My 16th by Agnès Varda, Along the coast. If somebody has a hard-on for the notion of a coast vacation in the '50s, then this is for them Pure nostalgia straight into the veins, with impossible score by George Delarue, breezing through empty tourist spots of Saint-Tropez, Nice, Toulon, Monaco, Menton, Fréjus, Èze... Imagine if it was you, and you didn't know what you know now.... Simplement merveilleux! [*Female Director*]

Best film of the week!

🍿

“Are women magical?…”

More from The French Riviera, and another of my favorite re-watches ♻️: Truffaut’s meta-film 'La Nuit américaine'/Day for night. A perfect perfect film about movie making. There has never been a better one about the deep love for cinema, not '8 1/1', 'Contempt' or 'Singing in the rain', nor 'Sunset Boulevard', 'Get Shorty' or 'Boogie Nights'.

With another of George Delerue's sweeping scores, and with Nathalie Baye as Truffault's real-life script-girl Suzanne Schiffman, the one who kept it all together. And the cat. 10/10.

🍿

2 thrillers by Spanish Daniel Calparsoro:

🍿 To steal from a thief is a sophisticated heist story, with a crisp-sounding, exciting opening. Dynamic and drenched in heavy rains, it pulled me in. But as it continue, I came to realize that it's an exact copy of Spike Lee 'Inside Man', mixed with Jason Statham's 'The Bank Job' - but in Valencia. Too bad! I started to like it a lot.

🍿 Because he is considered one of the best 'Action' directors in Spain, I tried also his latest All the Names of God, but it was even worst. A taxi driver has to survive after being kidnapped by a Muslim suicide bomber in Madrid. But again, it just copied previous plots (Tom Cruise's 'Collateral', Dennis Hopper's 'Speed', as well as the surprise explosion at the beginning of 'Children of Men') without adding much else to it. 3/10.

🍿

The Gang's All Here (1943), directed by Busby Berkeley. My first joyful experience with Carmen Miranda (here in her famous The Lady In The Tutti-Frutti Hat number). Full of sexual innuendos from Brazil and cultural appropriations, still a wonderful entry to this world.

🍿

2 more movies about the Holocaust:

🍿 Toyland was the short German Oscar winner in 2009. A dark & moving story about 2 boys in 1942, who are best friends. When the Jewish family is being deported, the other boy decides to join his "blood brother", because his mother explains their moving, as 'they are going to Toyland'. 9/10.

🍿 "They'll have to drag me out of here. You know that."

My first re-watch of The Zone of Interest; This is not about mass murder, but about a family that lives on the other side of a wall. A father reading good-night stories to his daughter, a wife who pushes her husband to take her back to their favourite vacation place in Italy. The mundane as a chilling metaphor, with distant sounds as the only reminders. 9/10. ♻️

🍿

Legendary Thelma Schoonmaker X 2:

🍿 The Key to Reserva (2007) was a Martin Scorsese joke, constructed as a faux Hitchcock homage. In it he claimed that he discovered a previously-unknown script for an unproduced Hitchcock movie, and he went and filmed it "as the master would have done it today". But in reality it was just a fucking slick commercial for some cheap champagne brand! Very much like his other meta-film 'Goncharov'. Featuring Thelma Schoonmaker as herself, and suave Simon Baker as Cary Grant. 9/10.

🍿 My third by Spanish director Isabel Coixet, Learning to drive, a standard movie about simple connections. Patricia Clarkson is a literary editor whose husband left her, and Ben Kingsley a Sikh driving instructor in Queens, NY. With a surprising and funny tantric sex scene at the end of Act 2, and music score by George Harrison's son, Dhani.

I often think that Schoonmaker doesn't get enough credit for her work for Scorsese. Here there's no bravado, just clear and thoroughly enjoyable editing. [*Female Director*].

🍿

David Ehrlich X 2:

🍿 Talking about great editing, I saw David Ehrlich’s annual Video Countdown The 25 Best Films of 2023, again♻️. It was brilliantly edited by him. So far I've seen 13 14 of these 25 films, and plan to see most of the others (especially 'The boy and the Heron', which he rated as 'The best movie of the year').

🍿 From his list: La Chimera, my second by Alice Rohrwacher, and one of many starring her sister Alba Rohrwacher. A slow, interesting mood piece about some rustic Etruscan grave robbers in the 1980's. I couldn't get into it initially, until I realize that it was an Italian Magical Realism dream. Divination gets into the picture, and treasure hunting, and nostalgia for the past and for the dead. I didn't expect it to end like the Dutch 'Spoorloos', not even metaphorically, and maybe it didn't. [*Female Director*].

🍿

First time watching: While waiting for his 'Megalopolis', the chronicles of Coppola's wife from The Philippines, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse. Documenting a self-indulgent genius, megalomaniac visionary, stubborn Macho Man, building an insane universe out of dreams. [*Female Director*].

🍿

3 by Slovenian Špela Čadež:

🍿 Boles is a dreamlike stop-motion tale about a young author with a writer's block. It is based on 'Her Lover', a sad short story by Maxim Gorky. It's depressingly Russian, and stylistically brilliant.

🍿 Steakhouse (2021), an uncomfortable and original masterpiece. Like Studio Ghibli FoodPorn, but where the sizzle signifies fear. An impatient husband prepares a steak for his wife's birthday - WOW!

🍿 In Nighthawk (2016) a drunken badger steals a cop car and goes on high-speed joy-ride that starts blurry and end up completely abstract. [*Female Director*].

🍿

All 3 of Ellie Wen's shorts:

🍿In the intimate little documentary Single Mother Only Daughter, a young woman calls her mother in Hong Kong, after she had nearly died in a car accident. It hits much too close to home for me - 10/10.

🍿 Share (2018) is about a very young 'influencer' who struggles with coming out to his family. Not too original.

🍿 The missfits are an all female high school robotics team from San Francisco. A PBS documentary. [*Female Director*].

🍿

"This country is not built for another civil war. It's going to be the first time in history that you'll see fat refugees..."

I always loved Colin Quinn. His 2019 stand-up Colin Quinn: Red state, blue state is one of funniest political shit since George Carlin died. Sharp observations, relentless pessimism, cynical solutions. 10/10!

🍿

2 From British director Adam Butcher:

🍿 Internet Story (2010) is a clever horror mystery, an early entry in the 'Screenlife' genre, where everything is revealed via computer and phone screens (Like 'Searching' and 'Missing', Etc.). It's a treasure hunt of old internet lore, which may or maybe not be true. Art imitates Life. 8/10.

🍿 The prevailing wind (2016), an ominous tale about a woman who's searching for her missing sister on some mysterious wind-swept moors, while a deadly chemical spill threaten their lives. Atmospheric, but a bit thin.

🍿

I'm going to continue watching even more short films (Found via this massive Letterbox list):

🍿 "Those who eat their fill, speak to the hungry Of wonderful times to come."

Dinner for Few (2015) is a harrowing Greek metaphor about the "Elite", 6 fat cats, actually fat pigs, who get to feast on all the food, while the cats milling between their feet gets only crumbs. 'Orwell's Animal Farm' on bad acid! The cycle never ends. 9/10. (Full Movie Above).

🍿 I am so proud of my 94 year old mother! I introduced her to James Joyce, and she is going right now through his 'Dubliners' collection, trying to figure it out. I haven't read it for many years, but I might pick it up again. Meanwhile, it seems that many of the Dubliners stories had been filmed [John Huston's 'The dead' was magnificent], so I started with James Joyce's the Sisters (2017), a faithful, somber and literary adaptation. This was Joyce's first published story.

🍿 Hunger, a bizarre Canadian animation short, that was the very first computer animated film nominated for an Oscar (in 1974). A guy can't stop stuffing his face.

🍿 Buster Keaton’s 2-reeler One week, his first independent production (1920). Newly-wed Keaton builds a modernist kit house. It includes a risqué scene where his half-naked lovely wife takes a bath and drops her soap. Before getting out and retrieving it, she breaks the 4th wall, motions to the photographer, whose hand appears and covers the lens. Astounding! 8/10.

🍿 My second by Norwegian André Øvredal (after ‘Troll Hunter’ which I couldn’t finish), The tunnel (2016) is a terrifying science-fiction short. A family returning from a day at the beach and getting stuck in a massive traffic line. Must be seen to be felt. 8/10.

🍿 Widdershins (2018) a weird Scottish steampunk animation about an orderly gentlemen who falls for a free-spirited sky-biker. Blade Runners via Wes Anderson.

🍿 Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers, a wordless comic musical about 6 percussionists who break into a Swedish apartment when the occupants leave, and who play rhythmic melodies using everyday objects they find there. Re-Watch from 2001. ♻️

🍿 The giving tree (1973), an animated version of the classic story, narrated by Shel Silverstein himself. Still not clear if it's about selfless love, or an abusive relationship.

🍿 Pitalev (2018), a fat teenager works at an Israeli 'Shipudiya' (fast food grill stall), and tries to score a date.

🍿 Papers, Please, an interesting Russian story about a border patrol officer sitting in a small booth, and having to decide on the fate of the people in front of him; Should they be allowed to enter this fictional country of Arstotzka, or denied? Apparently, it is based on a famous computer game!

🍿 Chuck Jones’s Duck Amuck (1953) was voted as the second ‘greatest cartoon of all time’ (after ‘What’s Opera, Doc’, also by Jones). It contains some serious 4th wall breaking.

🍿 Rhapsody in blue, the 3rd movement from 'Fastasia 2000'. 1930 New York City animated in the style of Al Hirschfeld.

🍿 More, Disney's Once Upon a Studio (2023), a 9-min. commemorative compilation for the company’s 100 year anniversary.

🍿 Also, Ghibli Studio's short Zen, Grogu and Dust Bunnies, a meditative crossover clip about Baby Yoda and the dust bunnies.

🍿 See Saw - A guy wakes up to discover that his personal information had been leaked all over the internet.

🍿 First watch: Adult Swim’s 2014 parody Too many cooks. Makes me regret that I’ve never watched sit-com television - Not!… 8/10.

🍿 Your mother and I (2016), based on a story by Dave Eggers. Another off-tone father-teenage daughter relationship, where the father talks and talks, mostly spinning bullshit stories about the mother which apparently is not there any more. 2/10. [*Female Director*].

🍿

(My complete movie list is here).

[sparklecinnamonbunny]

Character Bio: Sunday Evening Offdensen

AKA: Sunday Mourning (stage name), Suns, the Cursed Seer/the Siren (depending on which side of the prophecy you ask)

Birthday: November 1, 19XX (same age as Nathan & Skwisgaar)

Zodiac Sun: Scorpio Moon: Virgo Venus: Libra Ascendant: Libra

Meaning of the Name: The day of the sun, after the sun’s set! Her mother was delirious through large portions of labor and delivery. When the nurse asked for a name, Nathalie thought she’d asked the time and said, “It’s Sunday Evening,” with such force and confidence that the nurse wrote it down. Guthrie, absent at the birth, left it after the fact as a reminder to his wife to be strong.

Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana

Gender: Cis woman

Speaking Voice: Emma Stone

Singing Voice: Floor Jansen

Appearance

Height: 5’4” flat, anywhere from 5’7” to 5’9” in heels.

Eyes: Hazel green, skewing golden. Eye shape is round/protruding, with plenty of real estate for her usual heavy goth makeup looks. Post-DSR, gold.

Lips: Full, with pronounced cupid’s bow on the upper lip.

Hair: Straight with very slight wave (2A). Sunday usually wears her hair long and layered with side swept bangs. She dyes her hair frequently. 

At first appearance (shortly after S2E10 “Dethgov”) her hair is bleached blonde, but quickly dyed cherry red thereafter. After she starts dating Nathan Explosion (S2E14 “Dethsources”), she dyes it black, leaving her bangs red (picture “slut strands”). In Season 3, she’s spotted with a shoulder length lob, dyed back to her natural medium brown. In Season 4, she has extensions to her waist and her hair colored in a black-to-burgundy ombré. In her Smugly Dismissed days, her hair is box-dyed black.

Body type: Hourglass, with wide shoulders and hips and a small waist. She tends to carry weight in her thighs and butt. She has a large bust thanks to breast implants.

Piercings: Has a habit of getting a new tattoo and/or piercing everywhere she travels. Nose ring, left nostril. Multiple lobe piercings, helix, and anti-helix holes on both ears. Industrial, left ear. Orbital, right ear. Belly button pierced.

Tattoos:  “Owl” on right bicep that looks suspiciously like a falcon. Baphomet kitten on right shoulder. Moon cycles on right wrist. Wolf howling at moon on left wrist. Left arm sleeve of the High Priestess with detailed background. Lower sternum/underboob tattoo of a bat hanging upside down with wings spread. Down right hip and thigh, a zombie mermaid. On left hip, an alligator, raised on its hind legs, surrounded by music notes and sparkles. Mark of Hecate behind left knee.

Extra details: Dimples, the left stronger than the right; large Roman nose (frequently commented on by Skwisgaar). Prominent cheekbones. A strong, square jawline not unlike her brother’s.

Preferences / Background

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual/Pansexual (would likely self-identify as bi, given the time mtl is set in, but her attraction to individuals isn’t dependent on gender)

Romantic Orientation: Panromantic

Favorite Meal: Eggs Sardou OR fresh beignets and black coffee.

Favorite Drink: Alcoholic, a Boulevardier. Non-alcoholic, a dirty chai latte.

Favorite Snack: Hummus and anything she can dip in it.

Language Fluencies: English, French, Creole, Swedish (slightly rusty), Swiss German (very rusty)

Education: Master of Music (Juilliard), Master of Business Administration (Columbia), Bachelor of Fine Arts (Loyola). Privately educated as a child, she achieved her BFA as a young teen. After Loyola, Sunday spent a brief time in a Swiss boarding school before running away to form Smugly Dismissed. When she ditched the band, she spent some time “hiding in plain sight” by simultaneously attending Juilliard and Columbia.

Occupations: Metal vocalist, Smugly Dismissed; Freelance songwriter/lyricist (post-Smugly Dismissed to present); session artist, strings (post-Smugly Dismissed - Season 4); Fetish model (post-SD - Season 1); Television/Media personality (shortly before Season 1 - Season 4); President, Metal Alliance (Season 3-4); interim Dethklok manager (briefly, post Season 2- pre Season 3); Solo recording artist, Crystal Mountain Records (Season 3 to present).

Music Credits: Three albums with Smugly Dismissed as vocalist, lyricist, songwriting, and some bass guitar; songwriting credits on two Ava Sunbeam albums (listed only as SEO); at least two albums as a solo artist. One album playing violin in the Juilliard String Quartet.

On television: Worked primarily with MBC as a judge/presenter for their reality singing competition American Voice Showdown, and made occasional guest appearances after her initial tenure. Recurring guest role on MBC’s Paw and Order during Season 1. Host of Swinging Steel Awards during Season 2. Guest appearance on the William Murderface and Dick Knubbler Christmas Special during Season 3. Host/presenter for MTV’s Sunday Mourning’s Anti-Valentine’s Ball during Season 3.

Hobbies: Witchcraft! While Sunday’s familiar with protective charms and spell work, her main focus is on divination. She owns four tarot decks, each with their own style and purpose, and performs readings for friends and family. She believes in osteomancy (throwing bones) and often uses it to address lingering questions. She’s determined to learn every stringed instrument. She’s competent with the violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, and piano. She’s currently learning the harp. Sunday’s quick to remind people that she was “the worst guitar player in Smugly Dismissed”, which the author notes is a lot like being the last pick in the NFL draft. Occasionally, Sunday visits exclusive BDSM clubs (she’s a VIP at Club Hedonism, but doesn’t partake in the same munches that Murderface does). Barring that, she’ll indulge in her fetishes with trusted dominants. As an experienced rope bunny, she’s participated in bondage shoots and demonstrations for her clubs. Her ‘guilty pleasure’ is reading trashy romance novels, the more erotic the better. She’s embarrassed by the books, despite participating in BDSM acts that would make the protagonists blush, and conceals them inside volumes of French philosophy in her home.

What About That Curse? As a child, Sunday often visited her maternal family’s occult shop. On a visit at age five, Sunday ran inside while playing and tripped against a display table. A strange antique vial fell cracked open in sync with Sunday’s head on the floor, splattering her with the fluid inside. Two days of seizures and visions later, the child got a terrible feeling when someone was about to die. It took until adulthood for her to realize that she attracted the damaged like flies to honey. Even later than that, she realizes her singing charms people.

[fabseg-creator]

I've drawn Marinette and Adrien's Opposite counterparts.

Opposite Marinette (a.k.a. M.D.C.):

-Description:

Opposite Marinette Dupain-Cheng a.k.a. M.D.C. is an orphaned teenage girl who comes at Fathom Academy of Paris where she has school fees funded by his legal tutor: Colt Fathom. She works as intern at the Hôtel de Paris. She's an ambiguous character. She's a Miraculous holder too (she doesn't own the Ladybug earrings unlike her Canon counterpart). She has the same appearance as Canon Marinette but she has a scar on the face because of a fire that burned her home and that cost her parents' life.

-Personality:

Before Marinette's parents deaths, she had the same persona than her Canon counterpart. Since the tragic event until now, even if she's respected by classmates, she's emotionless coldhearted, introverted, intimidating: A fearsome "Ice queen".

-Backstory:

In the Opposite Universe, Marinette has lost her parents in the bakery fire when she was 10-11. As the one survivor, She is taken in by the Fathom Family (and this against the agreement of his grandparents). Instead to be registred at collège Françoise Dupont, she is registred at the Fathom Academy of Paris as one of class representatives. She is the best student by excellence. Some people (like Adrien, Kagami, Fei, Luka, Cerise, Wayhem and Félix) work for helping her to retrieve happiness, faith and joy of the life.

Likes: -CLASSIFIED-*

Dislikes: people who resent pity for her, powerless status, lies, conspiracy, spying on her back, Rouge Chance, Alley Cat, negligency towards people, insecurity, fire (it's a trauma for her), rivalry.

Love interest: -CLASSIFIED-*

Opposite Adrien:

-Description:

Opposite Adrien Agreste (renamed Adrien Graham de Vanily) is a teenage boy who is Gabriel's and Émilie's son, later adopted by Colt and Amélie (meanwhile, it's Amélie who has his custody) and Félix's cousin (officially adoptive brother). He comes to Fathom Academy like Marinette/M.D.C. but (unlike to M.D.C. who is the model student) he is a dunce, a public troublemaker and a prankster that annoys too many people. He has a very bad reputation towards Parisians because of his behavior. Same appearance like his Canon counterpart expect for clothes (he sometimes changes his hairstyle too).

-Personality:

Before the loss of his parents in a plane crash, he had the same persona than his Canon counterpart. Devastated by the "accident", he's saddened. Adopted by his maternal aunt Amélie, sent at Fathom Academy by Colt but ignored by the latter, he's angered and frustated about his new life. In the present, he acts like a bad boy/delinquent just for fun. In reality, he is desperated. His actual persona reminds Félix and parts of both Chloé and Zoé from the Canon.

-Backstory:

In the Opposite Universe, Adrien has been devastated by his parents' death caused by an explosion inside the private jet. Adrien and her tutor Nathalie weren't on the plane. After the crash, Fathom family adopted the orphan with Amélie as responsible parent. However, Colt is too busy by working on commercial affairs he hasn't nearly time for his son/heir and his new "son". For attract the attention on him, he commits mischieves (prank, provocation, vandalism, outrage, theft and offence). In consequences, he is rejected, blamed and hated by almost all Parisians (both adults and children) but he acts to don't care what other people think of him (similar chilhood to Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto). Only people who are worried about him are his aunt Amélie, Félix, Kagami, Luka, Wayhem and Marinette/M.D.C. his crush.

Likes: Marinette, Rouge Chance, Félix, Kagami, Amélie and making pranks.

Dislikes: lesson givers, moralists, people who talk bad words about his deceased parents, Colt Fathom, Cerise, Alley Cat (unknowning Cerise and Alley Cat are the same person).

Love interest: Marinette/M.D.C.

*Top secret: If it's classified ? So, it's CLASSIFIED !

I'm joking. ^^

I leak present you Opposite Marinette/M.D.C.'s potential love interests (below):

Adrien

Luka

Lila Cerise

Fei Wu

Chloé

Full sketch here:

[silentmagi]

Nathalie’s Secret Family! Nathalie & Fei & Cheng Shifu - Matching Red Streaks

After a minor explosion while making tomato sauce, Fei Wu makes a comment that has Nathalie laughing, and even Cheng Shifu cracking a smile.

[alexbkrieger13]

I have a feeling the 🇦🇺 vs 🇸🇪 game is just going to be something else

https://www.fotbollskanalen.se/sverige/lagkamraterna-hyllar-kerr-en-av-varldens-basta/

Teammates praise Kerr: "One of the best in the world"

Sweden vs Australia. Then Sam Kerr is praised by his Swedish teammates. - One of the world's best players in my opinion, says Zecira Musovic.  

Sweden faces Australia, away in Melbourne, on Saturday morning. It will be the third time they have faced "The Matildas" since last year.  

This means that Tony Gustavsson's gang with Sam Kerr at the head is a team that Blågult has a good grasp of.  

- It feels like we faced Australia like ten times in the last two years, says Nathalie Björn and laughs before she continues: 

- It's a team we're used to. A good team with many players out in Europe, it will be a tough match and I think it is a good football team, so I am looking forward to the match 

And there is a strong attacking threat – one of the world's sharpest finishers, Sam Kerr, who plays for Chelsea every day, will be on the opposing side. In the club she plays with Zecira Musovic, Magdalena Eriksson and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd. And the Swedish players pay tribute to their teammate ahead of Saturday's meeting.  

- It's going to be really fun. It is a player who is incredibly skilled, maybe the best player in the world in my opinion with all her qualities. It will be incredibly fun to play against her, we have played a lot with her so it will be fun to play against her, says Musovic.  

What would you say are her main strengths? - She works extremely hard on the field and scores important goals. Absolutely the best in the world with its main game.  

Eriksson joins the chorus of praise. 

- She is an incredibly difficult player to stop and it is important to look at her before and be prepared for what her strengths are and see how we can best play against her as a unit. Perhaps above all as in the back line, she says and continues: 

- She has many good qualities. But her speed and deep play becomes visible in counterattacks mostly because there are surfaces to run on. Incredibly quick and adept at spotting where the surfaces are to develop them. Her box game and main game in general is very good, she is good at outwitting her opponents in the box and is explosive. Can jump high and has very good timing in the main game.  

How unexcited are you to see a backflip? - I really hope it doesn't. She just says she usually wants to do that when she knows we're really going to win a game. So let's hope it doesn't go that far on Saturday.  

[magdasabs]

Teammates praise Kerr: "One of the best in the world"

Sweden vs Australia. Then Sam Kerr is praised by her Swedish teammates. - One of the world's best players in my opinion, says Zecira Musovic.  

Sweden faces Australia, away in Melbourne, on Saturday morning. It will be the third time they have faced "The Matildas" since last year.  

This means that Tony Gustavsson's gang with Sam Kerr at the head is a team that Blågult has a good grasp of.  

- It feels like we faced Australia like ten times in the last two years, says Nathalie Björn and laughs before she continues: 

- It's a team we're used to. A good team with many players out in Europe, it will be a tough match and I think it is a good football team, so I am looking forward to the match 

And there is a strong attacking threat – one of the world's sharpest finishers, Sam Kerr, who plays for Chelsea every day, will be on the opposing side. In the club she plays with Zecira Musovic, Magdalena Eriksson and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd. And the Swedish players pay tribute to their teammate ahead of Saturday's meeting.  

- It's going to be really fun. It is a player who is incredibly skilled, maybe the best player in the world in my opinion with all her qualities. It will be incredibly fun to play against her, we have played a lot with her so it will be fun to play against her, says Musovic.  

What would you say are her main strengths? - She works extremely hard on the pitch and scores important goals. Absolutely the best in the world with its main game.  

Eriksson joins the chorus of praise. 

- She is an incredibly difficult player to stop and it is important to look at her before and be prepared for what her strengths are and see how we can best play against her as a unit. Perhaps above all as in the back line, she says and continues: 

- She has many good qualities. But her speed and deep play becomes visible in counterattacks mostly because there are surfaces to run on. Incredibly quick and adept at spotting where the surfaces are to develop them. Her box game and main game in general is very good, she is good at outwitting her opponents in the box and is explosive. Can jump high and has very good timing in the main game.

How excited are you to see a backflip? - I really hope I won't. She just says she usually wants to do that when she knows we're really going to win a game. So let's hope it doesn't go that far on Saturday.  

[almostnormalcomics]

Mineshaft #42 https://mineshaftmagazine.com/store.html is a 60-page, digest size, black and white, anthology featuring explosive "Angst Machine" cover art by Glenn Head & "3 Bears" back cover by R. Crumb, and packed with exciting new work from Glenn Head, R. Crumb, Sophie Crumb, Bill Griffith, Christoph Mueller, Fabio Vermelho, Drew Friedman, Max Clotfelter, Kian Radpouyan, Nathalie Tierce, Leanne Davies, Hurricane Ivan, Mary Fleener, Robert Armstrong, Joost Halbertsma, ...PLUS letters from R. Crumb, David Collier, Bill Griffith, Robt. Armstrong, Nathalie Tierce, Noah Van Sciver, Art Spiegelman, & MORE! Cover printed on French Paper Company Pop-Tone Banana Split Yellow 65 pound Cover Paper, and Kraft-Tone Speckled Yellow Manila 100 pound Cover Paper. $15.00

It’s great getting a new issue of Mineshaft in the mail! This zine always has great comics and art, and no wonder looking at the talent it attracts. In this issue I was extra impressed with Glen Head’s Angst Machines, a collection of neat splash pages full of abstract images. I also really enjoyed reading the latest installment from Max Clotfelter! Max’s comics have such a raw power to them that they pull the reader in and don’t let go! Everything else in this issue is equally enjoyable and impressive. I’ve been reading Mineshaft for a few years now and it never disappoints!

See for yourself by visiting the Mineshaft store at https://mineshaftmagazine.com/store.html

[threnodise]

PORTRAYAL NOTES: WILLA HAWKE

NAME: Wilhelmina Amelia Clarissa Hawke NICKNAME(S): Hawke, Willa AGE: 25 (Act 1), 35 (DAI) BIRTHPLACE: Likely on the coast of the Free Marches or Ferelden, she's always favored the latter. RACE: Human CLASS: Mage OCCUPATION: Mercenary, adventurer-for-hire, wanted apostate FACECLAIM: Nathalie Emmanuel

The eldest daughter of a noblewoman and an apostate, Willa spent much of her early life wandering around with her parents evading capture by Templars. A mage whose powers presented early, there were a couple incidents that put everyone in danger.

When she was eleven, they finally came to settle in Lothering. Often she and her sister and brother would be sent out of the house if her father felt the Templars were growing suspicious, off to hide in the woods, only to be brought back at dawn. Her father instructed her and her younger sister, Bethany in magic.

In Lothering, life was good for the Hawkes - they had a small, but good-enough farm, Willa was well liked in the village.

Her father died when she was but eighteen, and Willa swore to him on his deathbed that she would protect her mother and siblings and never falter. His ashes were spread at a large tree on their property.

When the Fifth Blight began, Willa gathered up her mother and siblings to make good on her promise and head north, to her mother's native Free Marches, Kirkwall specifically. After fighting through darkspawn, losing her sister, and making a deal with the Witch of the Wilds, indenturing herself to a mercenary group seemed small, by comparison.

I won't go into explicit detail about everything that happened in Dragon Age 2, but suffice it to say by the end she had lost her mother, her brother, and her best friend. The apostate Anders was dead by her hand, and she was lauded as a hero for it. It made her sick. As rumors flew that the Chantry made to march on Kirkwall, Willa prepared to fly herself, hoping that their hunt for her might lead them away.

When word reached her that her friend, Varric, was being interrogated by Chantry agents, Willa returned to Kirkwall and presented herself as prisoner in hopes they would let him go. No such luck.

After being taken to the Conclave to give her testimony to Divine Justinia herself, Willa yet again found herself in the rubble of a terrible explosion - this time with no memory of how she got there, and a mark upon her hand that burned right through the heart of her.