#post Monarch defeat

[writer-rider-flirty-thirties]

A song to fill the silence~

Monarch has been defeated. Paris is safe yet again and an era of happiness and peace has begun... For most of Paris.

For those who don't know the cost of this peace.

But they know.

The heroes who were there that horrible day when the pavement outside a certain Mansion was stained red - who knew that villains bled the same way, the same color as everyone else? - and every single mask fell away and silence seemed to fill the air, their heads, their lungs, their souls, their everything.

Until fingers grazed the strings of a lyre.

Then they all knew what they had to do and, like singers in a choir, their hearts sang the same song.

[starfall-spirit]

Break on Me

@marichatmay Prompt: Nightmare

TW: Mention of torture. Nothing Graphing. This is from my Hint of Darkness AU but it can be read as a standalone.

Summary: Cat Noir comforts Marinette after she wakes from a nightmare.

AN: This kind of went from "Nightmare Prompt" to an angst spiral, so...

In the aftermath of Monarch’s reign, to say the people of Paris were haunted was an understatement. 

Months of terror turned into years and Monarch's desperation only grew as his akumas failed him in recovering the miraculous. With each new attack, his morality crumbled until there was nothing inside of him but darkness and desperation. That desperation pushed his akumas to new heights, claiming one innocent life after the next. The people of Paris hated their heroes for not saving them. The spiral seemed never-ending and Cat Noir remembered all too well, watching his partner's determination flag on the worst days.

He thought they were the worst. But then she had fallen off of that high-rise. And that started a whole new hellscape he could only be blamed for. If he'd opened his eyes years ago, it could have all been over then. Now, their enemy was dead, and his partner... His partner wouldn't say more than a few words to anyone but him. She'd been the perfect hero. And in the end it had broken her. Physically and mentally. Months later the cuts had scarred over and the broken bones had healed, but her mental health was another mess altogether.

And even when she'd told him just two days ago to leave her be and stop his coddling, he found himself tapping on the skylight separating her bedroom from her balcony. Trixx phased through the glass. "You'd better come in." He opened the panel and dropped down onto Marinette's bed. She was curled against the headboard, a swarm of seventeen kwamis trying to quietly comfort her. They parted as he approached, revealing red eyes and hair frizzy from tossing in her sleep. "She just woke up," Trixx warned him, close by his head.

He nodded. "Marinette, can I lay beside you?" He could guess well enough from the wounds he found on her those months ago just how much she had endured during her time in his father's lair. The touch aversion it had brought was unsurprising, even if it broke her parents' hearts. The last thing he wanted to do was be another person who crossed her boundaries. So even if she let him trace those scars when she was in a better state of mind, he would not make assumptions now. "Marinette, I want to help. Tell me what you need."

She finally dragged her eyes up to his. "Can you lay with me?"

He nodded, settling in beside her and letting her shift into his arms. "You got out, Marinette. We beat him. It's over."

"When I wake up in the dark I think I'm there again. I think I always will. I—I don't want to talk about it."

"Marinette, is it because you aren't ready or because I'm his son?"

"I will never hold that against you, Adrien."

"No. But I do think you pity me for it, despite your claims. He had not acted as a father in years, Marinette. When he—" She tensed in his arms as if she was bracing for a trigger word. "I felt no grief when he died."

"I'm not ready," she confessed. "And..."

She did not want to worsen the guilt he felt for not finding her before things got as bad as they did. For telling his father when Marinette was almost fatally injured at the same time Scarabella replaced Ladybug. For putting her in his path by hosting the party to celebrate her recovery. No matter her feelings on the matter, he would never forgive himself for that. "I'm so tired of being strong." Her voice cracked. "My parents don't want me anywhere near a miraculous after all of this. Even the other holders wouldn't understand. And I'm so, so tired of saying I'm okay."

He held her tighter. "I think they would, in a way. If you let them try to understand. Your parents... Your parents will always want to protect you, Marinette. Even from your own decisions if they put you in danger. Them knowing the truth about you—about what we do—will always keep a barrier between you, I think."

"That's no way for a family to live. Lying to them was better than this, Cat. What kind of person does that make me? To prefer lying to my own flesh and blood?"

He pulled back, cupping her face. "There's nothing wrong with you, Marinette. You made a mistake that put you between a rock and a hard place. Whether you open up or never say another word about your guardianship to them, the choices you made to protect them will never reflect on you and your morality. Right now, more than anything, you need to focus on your health. So you can open up and let them into this part of your life, or you can keep them sheltered. Just remember, you can always break on me, m'lady."

She nodded. "I think that decision can wait for another day. At least the morning."

He smiled, kissing her brow. "And that's just fine."

[buggachat]

Honestly I think my take on the "Chat Noir was not there in the final battle" comes down to the fact that I kind of just don't think a satisfying final battle between Chat Noir and Monarch was actually possible.

I read a lot of fic, for example, and I've read the scenario play out a lot of times in a ton of ways and I've never been fully convinced of it tbh (and not because they weren't great fic!!). It seems just completely traumatic for Adrien in a way that the scenario inherently cannot properly focus on, because it's all happening in the middle of an action scene and Adrien is too busy being Mid-Battle to properly have a cathartic breakdown about it all. I mean, Chat Blanc already showed us what would happen if he did have a breakdown mid-battle (and why wouldn't he?). And though it'd be fun to have a big triumphant moment of him defeating his abusive father, Adrien simply isn't a character who would find that scenario triumphant, or cathartic, or anything other than viscerally traumatic.

Also, I agree that it's unfair that Chat Noir was not present— like it was unfairly tilted in Ladybug's favor— but I don't think it'd be fair if he was present, either. Because Marinette is, in fact, the main character. The main character whose character arc is primarily focused on her finding her footing as a hero and discovering all the responsibilities that come with that power (as opposed to Adrien, whose character arc is moreso about freedom and identity). And let's face it, in a fight between Ladybug and Chat Noir and Monarch, nobody would be focused on Ladybug at all. It's not about her. It's not her fight. She'd just be there as moral support and an extra set of hands, which really doesn't work for her character arc at all and is completely unfair to her!

Basically, it would just be Chat Noir temporarily acting as the main character and having the worst time of his life in the most un-cathartic battle for him possible left completely traumatized with Ladybug in the background awkwardly trying to comfort him after the fact? And then the season ends? And then the next season presumably goes back to Ladybug being the main character? After a time-skip to the new school year? It's just an ending that I feel like is a lot better in theory than actually on paper. And you can probably make an argument for ways that it could be made to work, where it would enhance Ladybug's story in a meaningful way where she still feels like the main character, and would somehow be triumphant for Chat Noir despite it probably being the worst moment of his life, and somehow not make the rest of the series following feel like bonus content as opposed to a continuation of the story...... but, I dunno. I think it's a lot easier said than done.

The fact of the matter is, I've always been waaayyyy more interested in how the aftermath of Gabriel's defeat affects Adrien than the battle itself. Post-Hawkmoth defeat is one of my favorite types of fic for a reason, and it's because the aftermath can be so juicy, especially for Adrien as a character. I think whether or not Adrien is actually there in the battle itself has always been kind of irrelevant to me, because no matter how Gabriel is defeated, his defeat will have immense repercussions on Adrien's life going forward. And the way they did it, Marinette is now a part of it in a more active way, too. Which is good for her character!

( Also, if he was there to triumphantly defeat Gabriel, would that mean he would just.... watch his father die? of cataclysm? a-and.... nathalie would just.... die, too? so he'd have three dead parents after all that? who he watched all die (or, in emilie's case, saw her corpse)? or is this a scenario where MONARCH BEATS CHAT NOIR and still makes the wish? is that cathartic? for Adrien to lose to Gabriel? Frankly, I loved seeing Gimmi and The Wish, it's been teased for so long that I was expecting it, and I loved the fact that Nathalie got to live as her narrative reward for coming to her senses and trying to murder Gabriel with a crossbow. I like that we got to watch a full season of Gabriel painfully dying to a cataclysm— poetically inflicted on him by Adrien, but of Gabriel's own doing. I like that Nathalie has presumably adopted Adrien after having an arc of her trying to be a parent to him once she realized nobody else would, that's so much more interesting than any other alternative. I just don't see how all of these things, some of my favorite things that season 5 gave, can still all exist at once with Chat Noir present in the final battle in any way that's satisfying. )

[artist-ellen]

Hawaiian inspired Mermaid

Much like last year.... drawing historical mermay just inspired me to draw more historically inspired mermaids. It lit a fire in me to finally finish enough for my next coloring book! I still need plenty more however, so far I'm at 30 mermaids... wish me luck :D

I had initially hoped to make the Hawaiian mermaid a jellyfish but tragically the Spotted Jellyfish were my strongest shape & design contenders. Spotted Jellyfish are disqualified on the basis of being an invasive Australian species of Jellyfish. The other jellyfish options I could find were all sadly too clear to make into a jellyfish maid. So I pivoted. (Every time I see that word I hear a certain sound clip) While looking at other marine creatures that live in/around Hawaii I scrolled past the Manta ray... and how could I resist? Moana got me good with the association game.

This opened a new box of challenges. How to make a mer-ray without making it look like someone riding a ray? I went through a few options before eventually landing on this design. I based her accessories on the attire of performers from various Merry Monarch competitions, but sadly a skirt made the idea less clear so it was defeated.

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram, tiktok or check out my coloring book available now \ („• ֊ •„) /

https://linktr.ee/ellen.artistic

[moodyseal]

There's a ton of different ways Adrien could find out about who his father really was but I think the funniest by far would be if he and Ladybug met up post battle to catch up, and she casually went "Oh no Monarch was actually Gabriel Agreste, I just lied to everyone because he asked me not to tell his son"

She's sitting there telling him about Gabriel's evil masterplan to bring back his wife and his final defeat in excruciating detail while Chat just. Blue screens

[fortuna-et-cataclysmos]

In defense of s5 finale

I hear and see a lot of people expressing dislike of the season finale, some also in the tags and comments of my analysis/speculation posts. So I wanted to further expand on this.

Gabriel's victory -being remembered a hero despite everything wrong he did, especially abuse to Adrien- has left a sour taste in many people's mouth; many blaming the scenarists and not shying away from calling it "bad writing."

But I think that that was exactly what the scenarists wanted to do? The perfect world Gabriel leaves behind is unsettling, unfair, and I think that the creators have done their best to show that implicitly but clearly. I think that we are supposed to be irked by the finale.

Why do I think that? Because there were a lot of small things that gave the message that, as @emsylcatac iconically put it, "this is the bad place." I touched upon some of those in my previous post on how this was a victory for Gabriel and Lila, and a defeat for Ladybug. I'll try to list them more clearly here.

Gabriel a hero

This is the one thing everyone has the most problem with. At the end, Gabriel was declared the hero who gave his life to defeat the Monarch, who was none other than himself. Some artistic choices here are so over the top that I believe they were specifically made to irk us.

If the silver statue itself wasn't enough, the exact quote of Caline Bustier is:

All the rings that have been highjacked by the Monarch have been recycled into a statue in honour of the great Gabriel Agreste.

Then Tsurugi Tomoe goes on to say:

Beyond the visionary entrepreneur and genius creator that he was, we are celebrating a hero today.

See, everything bad about Gabriel has been flipped. If you count literally exploiting people visionary entrepreneurship, sure, he was that. And genius? He couldn't get the miraculouses of two teenagers for an entire year despite having all the resources, and he ended up succeeding only with the help of another extremely powerful person (Tsurugi Tomoe) and even then he ended up dying himself.

As of creator, he was literally a destructor. He destroyed Paris more times than anyone can count, and everything was fixed every time only thanks to Ladybug. Let's not also forget how he destroyed the Miraculouses to exploit their power.

Adrien's comment about his father

This is another thing many people have had problem with. It is so outrageous that I won't believe the creators would expect us to take at face value.

At the end, Adrien acknowledges that his father died to take down the Monarch, and says:

I don't know if one day I'll manage to become like him.

Lo and behold, the man who had emotionally neglected and abused his son to no end has turned into the said son's hero and role model. Adrien not only looks up to him, but also wants to make an active effort to become like him. Hell, he even doubts if he can be as good as him.

No way this line can taken at face value. There are many children's shows with abusive parental figures nowadays (like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, the Owl House) that have all handled the conclusion to that abuse generally well. The watchers' expectations are high in this respect; the scenarists would know that such conclusion, if not ironic, would not satiate the expectations of the spectators.

Lack of accountability: Gabriel and Tomoe

As many many people have pointed out, the general lack of accountability in this season finale is infuriating. So Gabriel mentally tortured THE ENTIRE WORLD POPULATION and not only never faced consequences in life, but also is remembered as a hero in death?

What about Tomoe?

Not only she has not faced any repercussion for being basically a supervillain, but also she is still a respected public figure who can go and make a speech backed by the mayor, in front of the freaking French flag. If that doesn't irk you, I don't know what will.

Worse is that, she goes as far as saying in her speech that:

I'll make sure to continue his legacy.

So she'll continue to be evil. Great hint that she'll continue being an antagonist in season 6.

As you can see, the new world that has been created is extremely unfair and problematic. No way this can be "the good place," an actual "happy ending."

Everything is fixed! No problems anymore!

Also, you'd realise that the world is perfect, a little too perfect. It is like a green utopian dream.

Caline Bustier has been the mayor "only for a few weeks" (direct quote from the episode), and she has already fixed all the problems possible in Paris. Not only that, she has also solved inequality and class struggle (again, mentioned by herself). Let's make Caline the President of the World already.

Funny that LITERALLY ALL THE PROBLEMS of a city could be solved, while the exact same episode showed Majestia, the freaking Supergirl of the ML universe, acknowledged in her nightmare that:

Even with all my superpowers, I'll never manage to solve all the problems of the world.

Well, Bustier says that she has no superpower, that people working together can accomplish that. Kudos to her and her democratic spirit. But like, perfect city in a few weeks? Even Mayor Bourgeois who wanted to send all the trash of Paris to space would realise that that's impossible.

There is no perfect solution, yet the world is perfect

Ladybug acknowledges that there is no perfect solution to Gabriel's situation. Trying to bring back his wife, he has caused irreparable damage to himself and to Nathalie, effectively leaving Adrien an orphan. He still hopes that Ladybug can fix it all. But she can't because of the nature of the wish: for one thing gained, another thing should be lost. In Ladybug's words:

There is no perfect wish. Every time a power is used for personal gain, it causes catastrophes. (...) We'll find a solution, but it will never be as perfect as one would wish.

Interesting, given that the world ends up being completely perfect?

All the problems are solved, literally everyone is happy, Marinette and Adrien are finally together. But the wish was made for personal gain, no? So where are the consequences? Where is equivalent exchange? The catastrophe, the price of the perfect, green, just world? I think we'll see that in season 6.

The dream world

The new world is seriously giving me weird vibes. Like it is a movie set. For those who have watched The Good Place, you'd know how in the town everything feels a bit too bright, artificial, perfect. I get the same vibes from the post-wish world.

The Agreste mansion is covered by green vines?? Way to hide the atrocities that were planned and happened here.

Here is a screengrab I found on the internet from The Good Place (the ladybug is a funny coincidence lol)

I am getting the exact same vibes!

Also, I have expanded on that in my post on "running out of time" theme, but basically in the ML universe usually the "real" stuff are associated with the night and the rain while things that happen in the sun turn out to be fake or erased/forgotten. So the feeling that I get from this finale is that, this new "perfect" world is not genuine; that the seeming happiness it brings will be soon destroyed (I doubt erased), just as it happened in other fake reality episodes like Chat Blanc, Ephemeral, Oblivio, or Jubilation. As I argued before, this is not a permanent victory. Hell, it isn't even a real victory, not with the secret Marinette is left to keep from Adrien.

Not a real victory

Another thing that makes me think that this ending is not genuine is the lack of Chat Noir in the finale. Yes, I am a fervent Ladynoir stan who was hoping for some Ladynoir action (if not reveal) and was hugely disappointed by the lack of Chat's engagement in the final fight, but now that I think of it, this may have been on purpose.

Notice how in Conformation, Ladybug says:

Our only way to win against him is to fight him together.

And yet, soon thereafter, she is catapulted into a fight with the Monarch.

Notice also it wasn't her choice to unify the miraculouses and face the Monarch alone. She had to, because Chat Noir wasn't there.

Let's remember that this show spent the entire season 4 explaining how Ladybug assuming all the responsibility alone leads to disaster, how she needs Chat Noir to share the burden with him.

Let's also remember how in season 5, especially at the beginning of it, we see Ladybug change her behaviour towards Chat Noir: she gives him more responsibilities (the Bunny Miraculous, the identity of certain holders if I am not mistaken), and how at one point she confesses that Chat Noir has been very serious and responsible lately (and then promptly develops a crush on him).

So taking on the Monarch herself is really against everything they have built up in season 4 and the beginning of season 5. That's why I think that this "victory" is so wrong: it was "won" only by Ladybug. Maybe if Chat Noir were there, he would have prevented the Monarch from making the wish (hypothetically, then we would have an entirely different timeline). If his identity were revealed the way Marinette's was, Gabriel could have controlled him through his amok. In any case, their defeat or victory would have looked very different from this.

In the end, we must remember that this world is far from being a victory for Ladybug: she has, after all, LOST. She couldn't stop Gabriel from making the wish. And while this world looks perfect, and we got what seems like a forever happy after ending for Adrinette, their happiness is set in a non-genuine victory and world.

So I think we shouldn't be angry with the show-runners: there is a reason why this ending feels and is wrong. If it were all wonderful, it wouldn't be the season finale. It would be the finale, period. And I believe that everything that has been disturbing us in this season finale will be addressed, if not consist of the core conflict of season 6. Let's all take a deep breath and turn to fan fiction or fan art till we get the new season now :) (at least that's what I'll do lol)

[kuromori4]

New Theory-

London special- Adrien made the wish and here’s why:

**edited to add new discoveries!

I was not expecting the full trailers to drop so soon after my speculation post!! I’ve been poring over them and screenshotting and theorizing the HELL out of them!

(On that note, this theory post will be LONG! But I have a lot of great theories!)

My Original theory was that somehow Adrien discovered the truth about everything. That his girlfriend is Ladybug, that everyone has been lying to him, his father was Monarch, that he’s a Sentimonster, and indirectly the cause of BOTH of his own parents deaths.

He learns that all of this pain and suffering was caused simply so that he could exist. So Adrien decides the world would be better off if his parents had never created him. If Adrien is never born, his Mother never dies. His father doesn’t become the villain and doesn’t die either. Nathalie never gets sick, Master Fu never loses his memories, and Marinette never has the burden of being Ladybug and Guardian placed on her shoulders. (Effectively causing the 'End of Ladybug!') Nobody suffers, nobody dies. 

So Adrien decides the only thing that can end all of the suffering his existence has caused, is the wish. Ladybug often says that any wish made would have to serve the greater good. Would Adrien not see removing himself from the timeline as a sacrifice for the greater good? 

With the new trailers released, I really think my theory is even more possible! But with more info, some things need to be rearranged. I’ll be looking at clips from both the English trailer and French/Disney channel trailer that dropped.

Let’s break it down! 

Bug Noire faces the aftermath

The trailers show a few interesting details throughout what we can assume is the aftermath of the final battle. We see BugNoire Cataclysm the Kwami prison, BugNoire in the basement, Marinette looking at Emilie’s empty coffin/chamber, some shots of Gabe from the final battle, speaking to Gimme, and Monarch losing his Miraculous. 

I can’t be sure where in the timeline this hug with Nathalie occurs, but I'll mention it now. It’s not the only time we’ve seen them hug… the image in the bottom right is from the previous teaser video.

So Bug Noire and Nathalie hug in the ruined basement, then later, Marinette runs into her arms? So… does Nathalie know Marinette’s identity now??

And of course Nathalie has no robot legs, so we have clear confirmation that she’s been cured. (Not that we had any doubt.)

Bug Noire flies to London to free Adrien and give him the bad news

In both trailers we see shots of BugNoire flying through both Paris, and London.

Then we see BugNoire in Adrien’s white cell, obviously giving him the bad news that his Father is dead. Note that Gorilla is here, (and upset!) 

Kagami is obviously there because she was also held prisoner, but her expression here is very interesting. Kagami gives some serious side eye. If BugNoire is lying to Adrien about the circumstances of his father’s death, Kagami would know. She knows Ladybug is Marinette, and that Gabriel was Monarch. She may be unhappy with BugNoire’s decision to lie to Adrien. She’s clearly being quiet about it, not opposing her lie. But she’s not happy.

Then we see BugNoire try to comfort him, and it’s strained. (I threw in the shot of Kagami comforting him, because I also find it interesting)

LB gives an announcement about Monarch’s defeat

In the French trailer, we hear LB’s voice saying (Translated) “It's time to bring the truth to light” and she appears to be giving a speech, likely concerning Monarch’s defeat. And she looks PISSED. Possibly because she has to lie about Monarch. (We hear Gabe’s voice in the trailer asking her to “make sure Adrien never knows the villain that I was”)

Marinette puts away the earrings

We see Marinette putting the Earrings back in their box, closing it, and putting it in her vanity drawer. This is also interesting to me because later on, we’ll see that she’s wearing them when they get stolen.

So why put them away? Perhaps she thinks her job is done, it’s over? Time to retire? Maybe she needs a mental health break? (Who wouldn’t?) Maybe she feels guilty for all that happened and thinks she doesn’t deserve to be Ladybug any more?

***Edit to add!: Someone brought it to my attention that these shots appear to be frame for frame, the same as Origins pt 1, when Marinette puts the earrings in the drawer with the intention of giving them to Alya the next day. Later in this theory I show Bunnyx dropping Marinette into her bedroom right in front of the vanity. It's quite possible that (current) Marinette is going to borrow the earrings from her past self to become Chronobug!!

LB and CN hug

Not sure when this will take place chronologically either, but let's get it out of the way. Look at this hug. It isn't just a hug.

it's a squeeze. They hold each other TIGHT. There seems to be some level of comforting, or relief, or upset there. There is certainly emotion in it.

However, I can’t be sure, but It looks to me like Chat is smiling? So it may not be a sad moment? And if he had just found out his dad's dead as Adrien... I don’t think he'd look happy.

Maybe it's the first time they see each other after the final battle? It could be an ‘I missed you’ squeeze. Ladybug never thought she would have to face Monarch without him. I’m sure she was concerned for Chat when Plagg showed up on his own. It could also be Chat comforting her over everything she went through alone. (Or vice-versa?)

Or maybe they’re saying goodbye? With Monarch defeated, maybe they consider hanging up their masks? (Which might explain Mari putting the earrings away?)

The real question is what does Chat/Adrien know or think he knows at this point?

Marinette tries to sleep

We see Marinette, after everything, trying to get some sleep. The poor girl has huge awful bags under her eyes, so it’s clear she hasn’t rested, and likely has been crying. She’s clearly distraught over this.

Some things to note about these shots: She’s wearing the earrings AND Chat’s ring to bed. (The cat Miraculous is rose gold when disguised for Marinette.) This means she either never sent Chat back his Miraculous, or they’ve already decided to retire from being Superheroes and she’s ‘taken’ it back.

Tikki and Plagg are on the bed with her, and all of the Kwamis are home and sleeping around the room. 

Ghost Guy is Adrien?

Ok so here’s where it gets really interesting: This guy shows up. I’m calling him ‘Ghost guy’

I believe Ghost guy is Adrien. There is also potential for him to be Felix, and I’m totally open to that possibility, but for now, I’m focusing on my theories for Adrien. (I do address Felix speculations at the end!)

So we see Ghost guy’s head pop up through the bed beside Tikki and Plagg. They are sleeping on top of Marinette’s blanket, right beside her. This guy is uncomfortably close to them.

Then we see him walking through her room, glancing behind him over his shoulder to look at Marinette, asleep in her loft bed.

(We’ll get to the last shot in a minute) Then we see his ghostly hand going through what appears to be either Marinette’s sewing box, or the vanity drawer.

In the French trailer, we see him more clearly, possibly hovering over her, and he’s putting the re-configured Miraculous rings on his fingers. Then we see his hand plucking the earring off her ear. (pictured above) Since Marinette was also wearing Chat’s ring, he must have taken that as well.

Moving forward we are going to assume that this is Adrien, that he knows everything, and plans to use the Miraculous to wish himself out of existence. Here’s why I think it’s him:

Starting with body language:

He seems to have some level of comfort with his proximity to Marinette and the Kwamis. He’s moving slowly. He’s not in a rush, he’s not being particularly sneaky, and you can tell it's quiet. It's like he's wandering around her room, observing. Even the way he slowly drags his hand through the drawer/sewing box. I feel like there’s almost a familiarity there. Somehow, that seems personal. You could even say based on body language that he seems sad, or wistful? It could even be guilt, reluctance, longing or regret?

If this is Adrien, he could feel guilty about what he’s about to do, or debating if he should go through with it. He could be in awe/shock at seeing the evidence of his girlfriend being Ladybug right in front of his eyes. And look at the way he looks up at Marinette’s bed?? It’s not full of hatred, or malice. His shoulders are relaxed, his arms/hands at his side. You’d think if this was Lila or someone who wanted to hurt her that they would have tense or angry body language?

Whoever this is, he doesn’t seem to have interest in hurting her. He takes the earrings without waking her up, he doesn’t attack her. In fact, across both trailers, we don’t get a single shot where LB is fighting or confronting him in any way. (She does fight Clock dude, but we’ll get to that!)

But if Adrien only needs the Bug and Cat Miraculouses to make the wish, why does he take the Monarch rings? So that Marinette can't stop him! If he leaves the other Miraculous with her, He knows she’ll try to stop him. She’s Ladybug. Of course she’d find a way! Even if she doesn’t know it’s him. And if for some reason she did figure out it was him and what he was trying to do, he KNOWS she'd stop him. This leaves her powerless and ensures he completes his mission.

Appearance:

Whether or not Ghost guy is Adrien, I do believe he’s a he. (Or at the least, male presenting)

Sure, he’s skinny. But he has fairly broad shoulders, flat chest, thicker thighs, Masculine hands, and slightly squared-out body features. 

Now look at the features of his suit- The shapes and patterns are familiar. The symbol on Ghost guy’s chest may look like an owl, but it also has a distinct shape that can be seen on Aspik’s, Snake Noir’s, and even Mister Bug’s suit. The helmet head is to hide his hair, with the pointy hood at the back being similar to Ephemeral’s, as is the glowing suit, which is also seen on Rabbit Noir’s suit. (And Astrocat’s, which also shares similarities in the helmet shape!)

Most significantly, the shoulder armor. It’s a consistent feature in most of Adrien’s personas. Some kind of shoulder armor/design or feature is prominent on Chat Noir, Astrocat, Mister Bug, Aspik, and even to a certain extent, Catwalker’s. Even the V shaped forehead/brow design is seen multiple times. (Aspik, Snake Noir, Ephemeral) 

And finally- The hand- look at the hand that phases through. Look at them long fingies! The small wrist and wide palm. It totally looks like Adrien's hand. Or at the very least, a masculine hand. (I added pics of Adrien’s hands further down)

Powers: 

Obviously this guy’s powers include phasing like a ghost, both through things, as well as in and out of visibility. If Adrien is trying to un-wish himself, I think his ghostliness could be symbolic here too.

I also don’t think Ghost guy is time travelling. He doesn’t seem to have time travel powers, and he seems to be only active at the beginning/setup, to steal the Miraculouses. He doesn’t appear to be involved afterward.

His appearance in Lila’s Lair (The catacombs)

Ghost guy is also seen in Lila’s lair, (shown above) phasing into the floor. In this scene he doesn’t touch/interact with anything. He seems to just be observing again. He doesn’t take the notebook that’s on the table in front of him (A notebook that everyone seems to be fighting over, see below) He's just there, and then phases away. If this is Adrien, what is he doing here in Lila's lair? Also, the open boxes on the table are noteworthy.

Marinette wakes up, Bunnyx grabs her

So the next morning, Marinette discovers the Miraculouses gone.Then Bunnyx grabs her and drags her into the Burrow. She has no Miraculous, so she stays Marinette, and at some point acquires a yellow vest. We see Mari and Bunnyx being shocked over time portals disappearing. Then it looks like Bunnyx deposits Mari back in her bedroom. (Though I have to wonder if this is her same bedroom? Or another timeline/universe? The synopsis does mention Bunnyx sending her back in time.)

Bunnyx helps someone up?

This one is VERY interesting to me. Who is she helping up? Who’s hands are these? I think most would assume that since we know Marinette ends up in the Burrow, that this must be Marinette. But Bunnyx grabbed her from behind, by the arms. Sure, Marinette is clumsy and could have fallen. But why the first person point of view? And why did this scene flash so damn fast it was almost impossible to spot? 

I’m going to go crazy about hands again, but these look like Adrien’s hands too! The skin tone, the wide palms! Below, I purposely selected pics with both Adrien and Marinette’s hands in them for comparison. You can also compare them to Ghost Guy’s hand in the drawer!

We always go on about how Luka is the only one who knows Adrien's identity, but… does Bunnyx? (And if she does, is it the present or future Bunnyx who does? We are consistently seeing young Bunnyx in these trailers.) Adrien/Chat has also used the Rabbit Miraculous before. He’s been in control of the Burrow before. 

Clock dude

Ok, on a completely opposite note, I am convinced that Clock dude is a woman! I also think that it’s Lila. Here’s why:

The only visual confirmation we get that Lila is involved at all is her face on one of the promo posters, and the scenes that show her lair in the catacombs.

But we do get this one shot of a slender, feminine hand (With a super wonky thumb, lol) holding the notebook. I assume this is Lila’s hand. Although we have a sleeve/cuff similar to Mari’s, it’s missing pink polka dots and the skintone is off for Mari, who is rather pinkish. Plus, this is Lila’s lair. It makes sense that it could be her.

Now let’s look at Clock dude.

Clock dude looks awfully slender. The thighs, wrists, arms and shoulders are all very slim, long, and feminine. Look at those long skinny legs! Sure, Chat Noir has long skinny legs, but they are thicker than this. In fact his legs are quite curvy, being thicker at the calf and thigh. 

Now look at the vest/chest armor type thing they are wearing. This part looks like it could be there purposely to conceal breasts. The boots even look like they could have heels!

Power-wise, it’s pretty clear that Clock dude has time-jumping abilities. They seem to interact with something on their wrist before poofing out. (Potentially to another time?) They also seem to be holding the notebook in their hand.

It should also be noted that Clock dude appears to play the role of villain. We see multiple shots where it’s implied that Ladybug (Or in this case, Chronobug?) is fighting them. 

Lila’s blue light from S5

So Clock dude has a very telling blue glow. Much like the blue light Lila sees at the end of Season 5. (Ghost guy also glows blue, so that’s another possibility.) 

The blue light from S5 could be Clock dude’s time portal opening up. Clock dude could be their own person, OR, it could be Lila’s future self! This might explain her reaction to the portal as well. I’d imagine seeing your future self might be pretty shocking. It's possible that Clock guy jumps to this time to start Lila on her path.It could also explain some other things. Like how did Lila get down to the basement during the final battle? She was on the floor above them. The elevator was broken. How did she get the Butterfly Miraculous from the basement water before BugNoire, without being seen?

If she’s Clock dude and is jumping all over time, She could have easily gone to the basement, collected the Butterfly Miraculous, then gave it to another version of herself. (Or some other such time travel paradox bullshit!) 

Especially since we see the Clock dude in the garden watching Nathalie and BugNoire after the battle. We know that Lila must have been present at that point to retrieve the Butterfly, right? But who’s visibly present? Bug Noire, Nathalie, and Clock dude. After all, we never see Lila herself retrieve the Butterfly from the water.

The notebook

This notebook is ALL over the trailers- everything seems to revolve around it. We know that the notebook contains the note claiming that Marinette is Ladybug. We see what I assume is Chronobug’s hands holding the notebook open to the offending page, and it appears that she is in the burrow. (White background with a portal visible in the bottom left corner)

You see Clock guy holding it before they disappear in the basement (See above) 

We see (Possibly Lila) holding it in her Lair. (Complete with mysterious jewellery boxes?)

You can see Clock dude’s arm holding it in Lila’s Lair. (There are no jewellery boxes in this shot. Also if Clock dude is Lila, then it’s her hand both times.)

There’s a shot of Clock dude jumping for it, in front of one of Bunnyx’s (Maybe Chronobug’s?) portals. And interestingly, they appear to be in the white cell/prison that Adrien was held in!

Then we see Chronobug’s hand grab it off the floor of the white cell from a portal. And finally, we see it in front of Ghost guy when he phases through Lila’s Lair. (And again, he doesn’t touch it.)

Perhaps Lila may be trying to plant the book where Adrien can find it. Maybe she is trying to set off a series of events for Adrien to get him to attempt the wish? It’s also possible that she’s doing all of this to hurt Marinette, and didn’t anticipate what Adrien would do with that information?

If Lila has proof of Marinette’s identity in that book, then we can assume she wants to use thaat information to ruin her life. How could Lila best use Marinette’s identity against her? Sure, the world can't know who Ladybug is. But Lila already knows.Felix knows. Kagami and Luka do too. And now possibly Nathalie? Really, a bunch of people already know. The biggest threat was Monarch, and now he’s gone. Tomoe could be a threat, with the potential of carrying on with Gabriel’s plans, but she seems completely absent from this so far.

So who is the most dangerous person that Lila could give that information to? Who’s story ends very badly every time he finds out Marinette’s identity? That’s right. Adrien.

We know Lila’s has a vendetta against Mari/Ladybug. Hitting her where it hurts most (Right in the boyfriend) by planting the book where Adrien can find it, could be her main goal here. Destroying Marinette in the most painful way possible. Through the boy she loves. And if this info causes Adrien to realize the truth about everything, it could set him on a path of trying to make the wish to undo the damage his existence has caused. 

So I did mention earlier there’s a chance that Ghost guy could be Felix. There ARE similarities that you could consider. He does look exactly like Adrien after all, same body type, shape, hands, etc. 

Felix’s involvement?

Outfit: 

When Felix became Flairmidable, he also had shoulder armor. However, I want to point out that he was pretending to be Adrien then. It stands to reason that the Flairmidable outfit is less about what Felix would wear, and more about what he thought Adrien would wear.

Then we have Ghost guy’s hood. Yes, Felix wears a hood as Argos. I’d still argue that the hood looks much more like Aspik’s headgear in style and shape. Then from the scene where Ghost guy is standing in Lila’s lair, we can sort of make out his back, and it looks like he might have a slight set of tails on the back of his outfit, which is slightly reminiscent of Felix’s argos costume. I’ve seen it mentioned by other theorists. (I got this pic off someone’s Tumblr, hope it’s ok) There’s also the pose, a shot from the back where his hands are at his sides with fists clenched. 

However, based on pose alone it could be anyone. Chat Noir and Viperion have been seen in the exact same pose. And those interesting details that I pointed out previously for shape and style in Adrien’s other personas don’t apply to Felix. All in all, there aren't very many similarities. (They also don’t apply to Viperion, so you can’t even say it’s a style belonging to the snake Miraculous either!)

Now looks aside, What about motive? We Know Felix wants to protect Adrien. We know he also knows Ladybug’s Identity, As well as Monarch’s. He has all this info at his disposal, and has for some time. So why would he steal the Miraculous from Marinette AGAIN? And why NOW? Adrien’s father is dead. Even though it hurts Adrien, in essence, Felix’s goal is met. Gabriel will abuse his son no longer. So why would Felix need to make a wish? He has the Peacock Miraculous, no one can use it against them. I mean the only thing that comes to mind is potentially wishing that the 3 senti-kids are made into ‘real’ kids? Honestly, that actually seems pretty weak to me. 

Plus, isn’t Felix working towards redemption? We see him and Kagami joining the kids for the pool party at the end of season 5, and they seem to have been added to the lineup of heroes. Do you think Ladybug would EVER trust him EVER if he had managed to steal all the Miraculous from her TWICE, and make a wish? HELL NO. Even if he pulled out some sob story about helping Adrien, there’s no way. 

You could argue that at least this time, Marinette having Chat Noir’s ring with her is a rare opportunity to get 2 for 1. But… How would Felix even know that she has both? Felix was mysteriously missing from the entire finale scenario, besides returning Kagami to her mom just to be imprisoned. (I have my questions about this, for sure)

I’m not saying I don’t think Felix is involved at all. Because I’d sure as hell like to know where the hell he’s been?! And how, after everything, he seems to get into Marinette’s good graces enough to at least be present with the rest of the team in the future. (Though I’ve heard it argued that his presence may be out of necessity, because he knows too much about LB and she needs to keep him close. Which makes sense for sure.)

I’ve also heard it argued that If Ghost guy is Felix, perhaps he knows Clock dude is coming and tries to take the Miraculous to protect them before Clock dude can get their hands on them. Which… why wouldn’t he just show up to warn Marinette that Clock dude is coming?

Unanswered questions!

Assuming any of these theories are correct, I still have unanswered questions. 

How does Lila become Clock dude, where does her time power come from? Does she Akumatize herself like Gabe did? We see Nooroo and the Butterfly Miraculous on the table in her Lair, both with Clock Dude and Ghost guy. But Gabriel would take off the Miraculous when he Akumatized himself, so it’s not ruled out.

How does Adrien become Ghost guy? Where does his power come from?

How does Marinette become Chronobug? By all accounts, her Miraculous is gone. So how does she get the yellow Ladybug suit? Is she wearing Bunnyx’s Miraculous? Or is it a fusion?

Where is FELIX?

The takeaway:

To me, this tells a story similar to Chat Blanc, in that way that it proves to Ladybug that without a shadow of a doubt, Adrien and/or Chat Noir CANNOT know the truth. It gives a completely rational explanation for why the story may progress with Adrien being oblivious to his father’s identity, and/or his being a Senti-being. She might learn that an Adrien who knows the truth would be an Adrien who doesn’t want to exist. She wouldn’t want that for him. This is all irrefutable reasoning for Marinette to NEVER tell him. 

She wouldn’t even have to find out that Adrien is Chat Noir for this theory to work. Think about it, if she finds out it’s ADRIEN who steals the Miraculous, that would explain why Ghost Guy’s suit looks more like Aspik’s and Ephemeral’s suits than any of Chat’s other identities. Because Marinette KNOWS Aspik was Adrien. (Though she wouldn’t remember Ephemeral.) It wouldn’t even necessarily reveal his Chat Noir sides. 

Also keep in mind that this is her boyfriend! Of course she trusts him, and wouldn’t initially suspect him, because it would be so outside of her wildest thoughts. And discovering that her boyfriend is so distraught over his father’s crimes and the truth of his existence that he tries to end it? (Or at the very least stop it from ever beginning?) It would hurt her SO much. Because of course, she’s going to feel responsible for everything! That she somehow failed as Ladybug, failed to protect Adrien, failed to stop Gabriel, lost the Miraculous again.

And of course, this even helps along the Lila is Clock dude theory. She wants to destroy Marinette. And what better way than by destroying her through the boy she loves??

Yes, that would probably mean that if Marinette fixes everything, Adrien will forget it all (or… never have learned it. Time travel, AmIRight?) and it never happens (Again)

Adrien can’t know things

We see repeatedly that Adrien learning the truth only hurts him. And others. This would be the proof Marinette needs to always keep the truth from him. A valid reason for Marinette to lie to her boyfriend. 

Because if she doesn't, the world ends. Or he gets akumatized, or he goes off the deep end and tries to wish himself unborn.

I'M SORRY IT WAS SO LONG BUT IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

[the-ninjago-historian]

Ninjago: Into The Deep (Master Post, Summary, and Q and A!)

Hello everyone! Thanks for stopping by! If you've been on my blog, you probably know about this upcoming project. But for those of you who don't, what is Ninjago: Into The Deep? I'll tell you! Ninjago: Into The Deep is a fully fleshed out Ninjago fan season inspired by legendary fantasy works such as Narnia, Lord of The Rings, and even classic Disney films and more modern adventure stories like Avatar: The Last Air Bender. Here's the summary!

Things are looking up for the Ninja since their battle with the Crystal King! Jay and Nya have gotten married, Lloyd is now training to become a sensei, and Ninjago City hasn't had a major disaster in over a month! (A new record!) Everything seems to be going well, until the team receives a mysterious letter from Queen Vania, requesting their presence.

Once they arrive, they discover an evil plot, orchestrated by former king Vangelis, to overthrow Vania and take the throne again! And having a taste of conquest while on the Crystal Council, the disgraced monarch has his sights set on the rest of Ninjago as well! Powered by a new energy source, Vangelis is now far too powerful for the Ninja to defeat with their current abilities. They must find a new way to defeat him!

This takes the Ninja on a quest to a new world! The magical and beautiful subterranean kingdom of The Deep Lands! There, they must find the Elemental Beasts. Seven creatures created by the FSM and imbued with elemental powers, to teach the first Elemental Masters how to use their abilities. And who control the very balance of nature itself! From these magical beings, the Ninja will learn new powers and skills that are beyond their wildest dreams, and take down Vangelis once and for all! So join us, as we meet new friends, experience new powers, and journey Into The Deep.🍃🌊🔥🪨❄️🐲⚡

So that's it! I also have some cool concept art that should be finished soon!

Now here's some Q and A to answer all your questions! Some are from one of followers, and others I added in just to give general information. 😁 If you don't see a question being answered that you would like to see answered, please feel free to send it in!

(Under the cut because this is LOOOOOONG.)

First some general info.

Q: How will the episodes be released?

A: Each episode is three chapters long. Therefore, split into three parts. (Kinda like how you would have two commercial breaks in a real episode of Ninjago!) One episode will be released every week! Via a released chapter every Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Q: How many episodes will there be?

A: 16-20. About as many a regular season of Ninjago would have!

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Q: What is this series rating?

A: G - PG! I don't do adult humor or gore. So it will be about as kid friendly as a usual Ninjago Season!

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Q: Will there be exclusive characters?

A: Yes! Several! Some including the Elemental Beasts, and even Cole's Grandfather Rocky! More will be released as the series goes on.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Q: Will the season ever be animated?

A: If I aquire the time, resources, and skills, absolutely!

Now, let's answer some questions from one of my followers and awesome friend @dexter-the-dog!

A: Probably the only thing that makes it an Alternate Universe is that Dragons Rising isn't canon to this story. Other than that, it should fit nicely with the canon.

A: YES! The Elemental Beasts! They are so cool! I can't even put it into words! Currently, there are six Elemental Beasts. One for Fire, Water, Earth, Ice, Lightning, and Air. The Air Beast will have a very important role to play in this story! I'm also partial to Cole's Grandfather Rocky, who will also be making an appearance! He's a very interesting guy. And super powerful too! After all, he fought the Serpentine and the Time Twins! So he has quite a few tricks up his sleeve!

A: As Doc would say, #NoSpoilers! Lol! But there is a really cool scene were Nya uses her powers in a new way! It should be EPIC. So cool in fact, I just might animate it!

A: Ah! I can answer both of these! Since Into The Deep is a fan season, it will try to fit into the canon as closely as possible. That being said, the characters are exactly as you would see them in the canon show. No backgrounds or roles changed. But whether they will gain new abilities or new roles? Well that I can't say without spoiling things.

A: It's definitely the Cole x Vania story I have planned. Lol. Yeah, I ship them. I think they're cute. And they'll have plenty of cute moments in this story!

A: Into The Deep happens about a month or two after Crystalized. :)

A: I've been waiting to answer this one! The Elemental Beasts take on a mentor role for each of their appointed ninja. They will help them learn new abilities and fight their inner demons to truly become their most powerful selves. They're also are basically Nature Spirits. Each one controls a certain element in nature from their base kingdoms in the Deep Lands. Because of this, they can never leave to go up to the surface, or the balance would be offset. This factor is important, so make sure you remember it while reading.

And that's all the questions I got! That was fun!

Before I end this post, I'm gonna tag a few people I remember being interested in this thing! (@rinkunokoisuru @shatteredhope123 @miraculous-stud @nocturnal-nexu @dexter-the-dog) Hope you guys enjoy all this info! And thank you for all your love and support. It's really kept me going.😁🫶

Well, that's all for now! Keep an eye out for updates! And I'll see you around! Bye! - ✒️🐉

[holymaccaronii]

AAAAAH okay okay, I decided myself to share 2 things in one in this post: the lore of my ihnmaims AU + a design I’m working on. To be completely honest, I’m not sure if I’ll want to develop this AU into a fic or anything like that, but for now I’ll use it as an excuse to draw and design characters. Note that I might come back to this post and edit the lore paragraph, as it is still a work in progress, though I am liking where this is going. Please PLEASE excuse my English, some things might not make sense without me noticing, but I tried describing the plot the best I could. *Ahem*, now, the lore:

“PLAN B”

The lore takes place after the bad ending in the videogame where the player is turned into the worm, yet still doesn’t allow AM to access and torture the humans sealed in the moon colony. Since the last humans had “failed” their mission to defeat AM, a “Plan B” was scheduled to happen. Unbeknownst to the humans of the colony, another AI was created and implanted within the moon, taking up almost all of the space in its core due to its large size. This machine had the sole purpose of ensuring the survival of those humans once AM was defeated, or not. Inside it were millions of plant seeds, animal embryos and frozen samples that would later be used to repopulate the earth, yet it also had defense and destruction technologies to be used in case AM was not defeated. This machine was perfectly calibrated to be able to overcome any adversity that arose, but of course, all that changed when one of the humans managed to wake up and leave their capsule. This human got to understand what all of this was about, though they did not like where this was heading one tiny bit, thus they used the time they had left before the last human on Earth was killed to change and mess it all up. Humanity's greed had claimed yet another victim, as this AI was torn apart piece by piece until it was completely separated and rebuilt into an insane amount of sentient robot models as the years passed. This human managed to transform their own body as well, rebuilding it just as a sacred temple in order to be crowned monarch of this new society now living in a city on the moon. Despite all this, the goal of bringing humanity back still remained, now with the small condition that this human had to be considered a savior and supreme leader to all. Once the last human on Earth had died, robotic troops began to be sent to Earth to study it in detail and plan attacks against AM’s systems, which were disadvantageously located deep underground. Many of these attacks resulted in large unnecessary losses as these robots were not calibrated to combat AM, but they still continued to upgrade themselves to increase their damage range over time. This continued on as a seemingly endless war that barely progressed.

Again, I am aware that maybe some stuff might not make sense (or maybe it does?), but this is basically a continuation of what happened canonically in the videogame. The name “PLAN B” also makes reference to my OC BE, thought that was cool :p. I’ll explain the events that happen here later on as well.

Many if not all of the robots I’ll design will include a whole lotta exposed wires + their outer shell/ body parts, as I liked this dynamic, and it will be important later. The “monarch” that I mentioned in the paragraph is turning out to be this guy down here. I based myself off from those ceramic sun decorations, and thought it would be cool to make his face switchable. In reality they have a body too but I jus like wire amalgamations too much + they’re easy to draw. I’ll continue workin on em :-)

Edit: [THIS LORE IS NOT UPDATED]

[pevensiegiigi]

My problem with the Prince Caspian movie

The reason i love CN:Prince Caspian is because of how Andrew Adamson squeezed the emotions out of Peter. From the frustration of being an adult locked in the life of a child who wants to return to his land/country, the happiness of returning to that place he loves so much, the sadness of knowing that it was destroyed, the anger of knowing that a descendant of his destroyers would be the one who would ascend to king of his country and the guilt for being forced to leave Narnia again with no possibility of return.

My post is not to talk about those emotions, but i wanted to mention them anyway.

My post is to talk about my dissatisfaction with how everyone in the movie mocks Peter's words and orders, ignoring the title of high king. Except Edmund and Reepicheep; the rest, from Lucy and Susan, who are his royal sisters, to Trumpkin, Caspian, and Glenstorm, who are his subjects, disrespect his title of high king.

First Trumpkin by not addressing him with respect throughout the film, mocking his nickname, berating him for "leaving Narnia" and then making a fool of himself in the Stone Mountains when they searched for Caspian.

He is followed by Caspian, who equally disrespects Peter's position. Caspian is a prince from distant lands who intends to rule lands that he does not know, wanting to review the words dictated by the great king.

There's that scene where Peter suggests infiltrating the Telmarines' castle and Reepicheep asks, "What do you suggest, Your Majesty of him?" and both Peter and Caspian respond at the same time, a staring match ensues between the two which Peter obviously wins. The thing is, Caspian shouldn't have answered Reepicheep's question in the first place because the rightful King of Narnia was present let alone challenge him with his eyes because, I repeat, HE IS THE GREAT KING OF NARNIA and, not least, peter is Older than him. . . Maybe he didn't know it or maybe he did, but humanly Peter at that time was 31/32 years old although he would look like a child and as if that were not enough in the years of Narnia, Peter is 1300 years older than him, while Caspian was around 17 Just years, so...

Peter's plan to infiltrate the castle would have worked if Caspian had followed Peter's orders and we all know that, but no. He completely ignored Peter's order to go to the door and Susan supported that disobedience, don't get me wrong, but i'll tell you how it is. It's not just Caspian's fault that the infiltration failed, if Susan had supported Peter instead of Caspian, everything would have worked out and Cornelius would have been released at the end of the infiltration.

Caspian's most obvious disrespect towards Peter was challenging him to a duel in front of his people when Peter called him a usurper and it's not entirely a lie, he really was a usurper. From the moment he thought he was the leader of the Narnian rebellion, even knowing that he had called the old monarchs, he became a usurper, or at least it was for me. I understand Caspian will get mad at being called a usurper, but he called Peter irresponsible as if Peter wanted to leave Narnia when he didn't and then dared to duel him on HIS EARTH!?!?!?! The least he deserved was execution.

Third, Glenstorm. The mere fact that he was looking at Caspian as if he was waiting for his orders to follow the ones he received from Peter is disrespectful.

Lucy when she pretended to embarrass him by reminding him that it was Aslan who defeated the white witch, not him. I UNDERSTAND that being her sister he has every right to reproach her if she disagrees with something because he is also Monarch of Narnia, but why didn't she do it in private? At that moment, she took away from Peter part of the authority over the others.

I'm a little glad that at the end of the film in a scene they let us see how Peter showed that his title of Great King and his nickname of magnificent, he didn't have them just for decoration. However, it bothers me that throughout the movie they tried to make him look stubborn when he was just angry and outraged.

Peter is the character in the entire saga that carried the most weight and yet he did not complain about what Aslan gave him, his greatest wish was to return to Narnia and stay there for the rest of eternity, which he achieved.

That's why i love the movie 50% and hate it 50%.

[mbakuetshurisprincess]

A Betting Woman

AN: Hey y’all! So I’m trynna do some palate cleansers while I work on BTB3 cause lord is that one just emotionally taxing to create lol. 80% of this fic is just Riri and Shuri talking about you and how they view you so there's that. This was heavily inspired by the wonderful work of @generallysapphic who is thee supreme when it comes to Shuriri postings. There's someone else who wrote a Shuriri fic but I can’t find them anymore. Just some cute shit to post fr. Set on a timeline where you went with Shuri to defeat Namor but Riri is a super genius. 

Summary: Normally these types of moral dilemmas don’t bother Riri but after meeting your girlfriend, the queen of Wakanda. Riri decides to pay you a visit to end things. 

Pairing: Shuri x Fem!Reader, Riri x Fem!Reader and the beginnings of Shuri x Riri.

Warnings: Cursing, mentions of D/S dynamic, kissing, i think thats it. 

Translation: Sthandwa - my love , Entle - Beautiful & Usana - baby. 

Word count: 2,864 

Suggested listening: WILSHIRE - Tyler, The Creator. 

“It's morals I really have, it's lines I could never cross But you got somethin' that make All them good intentions get lost I try to keep it together, never felt this way”

Riri knocked quickly on the door three times, rocking on her heels as she did it. 

“Busy right now!” Someone called from the other side of the door. The genius didn’t know if the voice was yours or not but she didn’t care.

‘Oh no, that bitch did not.’ Riri thought to herself. She brought her fist to the door and knocked harder this time. Everything was always on your schedule and Riri was going to be damned if her ending this fling was on your time too. She heard some rustling around and the bed creek before the door opened up enough to reveal a person on the other side. 

The person Riri was expecting to see behind your dorm door was you, it was your room after all. Instead, she was met by the exact person she was here to talk to you about, Shuri. The taller woman stood in your doorway leaning up against the post. She was wearing a black sports bra and a matching pair of black sweats with golden embroidery on the side. The sweatpants hung low on her waist and Riri could make out the band of Shuri’s boxers. ‘She’s a Calvin Klein girl huh,’ The thought came to the mechanic quicker than she could stop it and she mentally cursed herself for getting so off track. 

“Riri Williams, right?” Shuri tilted her head to the side, allowing the name to roll off her tongue. 

Riri’s eyes flashed over Shuri’s figure one more time before she finally pulled herself together. “Yeah that’s me,” She cleared her throat. “Is uh Y/N here?” Riri tried to look further into the room but Shuri blocked her movements with her body. 

This unintentionally gave the younger girl an opportunity to ogle at the Queen’s perfectly sculpted abs and steal a glance at her waistline again, so she wasn’t complaining. 

“No Y/N is busy right now, can it wait?” 

Snapping back into the conversation Riri finally got back to her original plan. “No it really can’t wait, I’ve been needed to talk to her about this.” 

Shuri pondered over Riri’s words for a few moments looking her up and down as she did. Riri wondered if she might melt under Shuri’s gaze. Something about the monarch was slowly starting to make her weak in the knees. She averted her eyes back down to the floor, once again sneaking glances at Shuri’s body as she did. 

“Well I’m sure whatever you wanted to tell her, you can tell me and I’ll relay the message,” Shuri suggested. She had noticed the way Riri was staring at her and decided to play into it. “Is it normal for American girls to make it this obvious when they’re checking someone out, or is it just you?”

Riri snapped her head back up to meet Shuri’s eyes, “What!? I wasn’t- Why would you say that? No, I wasn’t! '' Riri slowly started panicking.

Had she really been that blatant in her staring that the queen would notice? And this was totally not what she came here for or what she had rehearsed saying. 

Shuri relished seeing Riri’s cheeks flush with a dark red blush as she tried to regain herself. “Ah. No matter.” Shuri said with a smile. “What is it that you wanted to tell Y/N?” 

‘No fucking way.’ Riri thought to herself. ‘No fucking way did I just get bested at my own game! Bitch had me stuttering over MY words when I came here to end shit with HER girlfriend. I can’t go out like that.’ 

Riri opened her mouth to speak, after brainstorming something logical like ‘No I need to talk to her in person.’ or ‘I literally have her location and know she’s here right now. I need to speak with her.’ All of those would have been rational things to say but instead what came out of Riri’s mouth was fueled by nothing but good old-fashioned Chicago pride. 

“I’m fucking your girlfriend.” She blurted out.

Shuri tilted her head to the side and chuckled lightly before turning around and closing the door behind her. Riri was left standing in the dormitory hallway staring at the now-closed door. What the fuck was she thinking?? Telling the Queen of arguably the most powerful nation in the world that you were not just seeing her girlfriend, but FUCKING her? Surely that was enough to get her killed and probably in a way no one would know. She would just slowly fade out of the popular consciousness until no one remembered her name; all over some pussy. Great pussy at that, but still. She was roused from her thoughts by the door opening and Shuri standing on the other side once again. 

“I know you’re ‘fucking my girlfriend.’” She said the last part in air quotations with a chuckle. “Are you going to come in so we can finally discuss this or just stand outside confused?” 

The question caught Riri off guard and she stood there staring at Shuri, unsure of what her next move should be. She hadn’t planned for this at all. She had expected to come to your dorm room today and completely end things with you. Normally she didn’t have an issue with sleeping with people who were cheating on their partners. That was someone else’s moral dilemma not hers. But after interacting with Shuri today while she was a guest speaker at a lab on campus, the guilt started eating her alive. 

Eventually, Shuri got bored of waiting and grabbed Riri’s shoulder pulling the small girl into the dorm room and shutting the door behind her. 

“Come in and sit down.” Shuri walked back over to the bed and hopped onto it. When Riri didn’t move it prompted Shuri to speak again. “Do not act like you do not know her room entle, make yourself at home.” 

Riri wanted to ask what entle meant but decided that was the least of her problems right now. She made her way over to the bean bag in the opposite corner of the room and sunk down into it. She could hear the sound of the shower running in the bathroom connected to your dorm and assumed that's where you were since your location had pinged as here, yet you weren't in the room currently. 

“She shouldn’t take too long,” Shuri said noticing where Riri’s line of sight was going. “We can wait till she gets here or you can ask whatever you’d like to ask now.” 

The younger girl shifted in her seat and contemplated what Shuri had proposed. “I’ll wait for Y/N to get out of the shower.” 

Shuri nodded and picked back up the book that was lying on the bed. Riri watched Shuri intently as she read. How was she being so cool right now? Sitting in the same room as your girlfriend's lover would typically draw a stronger reaction out of the average person but the royal seemed to be in a very relaxed state. 

‘Duh’ Riri thought to herself, it’s because Shuri already knew. She had told Riri already so her presence couldn't have been that much of a surprise to her. This thought in turn only raised more questions for Riri. 

‘How long had she known?’

‘Was she upset with Y/N?’ 

And most importantly,

‘How much did she really know?’ 

Shuri looked up from her book and caught Riri staring at her once again, which must be a theme for the night. Riri cleared her throat and spoke. “I change my mind, I’d like to ask my questions and you answer them.” She paused, “Right now.” 

Shuri chuckled at the girl's forwardness. “Y/N did say you didn’t have much patience, I see she wasn’t lying about that… Among other things,” 

Riri swore when Shuri said it she caught Shuri looking her up and down. Shuri didn’t even give her enough time to react before continuing. “But go ahead, I’ll do my best to answer them.” 

“How long have you known about us?” 

“Since the beginning,” Shuri replied simply. 

“And you’re not mad?” Riri questioned, sitting up in the bean bag chair.

“Why would I be?” Shuri questioned back with a genuine look of confusion on her face. 

Shuri’s look of confusion was replicated on Riri after hearing her answer and seeing the woman's face. “Uhh, because while you’re in Wakanda saving the world and shit, I’m here with two fingers buried deep in your girl!” 

“Just two? Normally she likes three but whatever works for you guys really.” Shuri’s sarcasm left Riri’s mouth agape and which only fueled Shuri’s laughter. Once she had pulled herself together Shuri apologized and said she would actually answer Riri’s question, earning a huff of agitation from her. 

“You already answered your question in your question, entle.” Once again Shuri spoke coolly and used that entle word that Riri couldn’t understand. 

“What the hell does that even mean!” Riri sucked her teeth as she spoke. “No more weird shit, no more nicknames in other languages, just explain this shit to me 'cause it’s not making any sense.” 

Shuri nodded, understanding that Riri did deserve the full story. She wanted to wait for you to come out of the shower but the combination of not knowing exactly how much longer you were going to take and her sensing Riri’s agitation; she was compelled to speak. 

“What I mean by that is you gave yourself the answer already. Y/N is here for school for most of the year and I’m kept busy looking after Wakanda. My love has needs that unfortunately due to the distance most of the time I cannot fill. She’s permitted to fulfill these needs in any way she chooses, as am I.”

Riri looked dumbfounded once again as she digested Shuri’s words. “So you’ve known this whole time?” 

“Mhm.”

“About everything?” 

“Pretty much yeah.” Shuri tapped her fingers on her stomach where they lay interlaced. 

“Even the sex?” Riri probed. There was no way Shuri was just so chill about this. 

Shuri was humored, sensing that Riri was hoping to incite an angry response. “Yes, even the sex. Of which I only heard good things about so I must give you credit Ms.Williams, you kept my girl satisfied.” 

The blush returned to Riri’s face and she felt her lips creep into a smile upon hearing Shuri’s praise. Her cocky side came out and she decided to get smart. “You weren't worried I was gonna take her from you?”

“Oh, not for one second. Y/N’s collared, she’s not going anywhere anytime soon.” Shuri replied confidently. Seeing Riri’s confusion she moved her hand down to the necklace resting on her chest; holding it up before letting it fall back down. “Never noticed her necklace? I know she doesn't take it off.” 

Riri’s mind flashed images of you and to Shuri’s credit in all of the scenes, a golden necklace with a small claw was hanging from your neck. Even in the ones where Riri’s head was buried between your thighs and your head was thrown back as you cam-

‘Focus Riri!’ She thought to herself. 

“So she’s your submissive?” Riri clarified.

“Wow, you are pretty smart. Maybe you do live up to that genius title after all.” Shuri quipped with a smirk. “But yes, Bast has gifted me with an amazing girlfriend and sub.”  

Riri desperately wanted to make a smart remark back at the royal but she stifled it in favor of getting more information about your dynamic Shuri. What she had learned thus far intrigued and turned her on. “And she listens to you, a hundred percent of the time?” 

“A hundred and fifty percent of the time.” Shuri corrected her. “Does she not do the same for you?”

“Hell fuckin no she does not!” Riri exclaimed. “There is not a bone in that girl's body that knows how to listen, everything with her is a fight.” 

“My Y/N? Never. She knows better than to even make me repeat myself.” Shuri was baffled at what Riri had said but also intrigued at the idea of seeing a more bratty side of you.

“I don’t believe it, she’s not physically capable of listening.” Riri tapped the side of her head to mimic how hard-headed you acted with her. 

The sound of the shower turning off, signifying your arrival soon gave Shuri an idea. “Do you want me to show you just how well she listens?” 

A smirk slipped onto Riri’s face as she picked up on Shuri’s idea. “Yeah I do, show me how well your girl listens.” 

Shuri let out a puff of air along with her laugh and nodded. You stepped out of the bathroom looking down at something on your towel. 

Let the show begin.

Your bathroom door was on the wall that ran parallel to where your bed was, so when you looked up you were first met with Shuri. “Whew! I needed that baby, I don’t think I was conscious for the first ten minutes of that shower.” You beamed as you made your way over to the bed, still unaware of Riri’s presence in the room. 

“Of course sthandwa. And more to come tonight, you know that. We wouldn’t want to be rude to our guests before that though. Why don’t you go say hello to our friend.” Shuri nodded past you and to the corner. 

You spun around confused at what “friend” Shuri was referring to and immediately alarm bells began ringing in your head. There sat Riri, looking calm as ever manspreading on your bean bag chair. 

“What’s up ma.” She said with a smirk. 

“Oh fuck no.” You murmured under your breath. Never in your life did you expect to mix your worlds like this. Sure both women had known about the other but never in a million years had you imagined them to be in the same room together. You instantly started moving towards the bathroom door, hoping to lock yourself in and formulate a plan without being under either woman's gaze. 

Of course, Shuri calling out a strong “Stop.” ended all hopes of that as a means of escape. “Go give Riri a kiss, I’ve taught you better manners than that.” 

You looked back at your girlfriend as if she had lost her mind. Yes, you had told her every detail about your relationship with Riri and described the sex in explicit detail. But to kiss her in front of Shuri? Something about that felt so wrong it was right. 

“You know I won’t repeat myself without punishment, usana. Go.” Shuri gestured over to Riri who was taking the whole scene in. She watched as you shifted your weight between your feet, debating if you would listen to Shuri. If Riri was a betting woman, she would have bet her entire life savings at that moment that you wouldn’t listen. 

Good thing Riri didn’t like to bet. 

You walked over to Riri and gave her a small smile, slightly embarrassed knowing that Riri just watched you fold to Shuri. “Hi.” 

“So you do know how to listen the first time?” Riri concluded, the smirk still on her face. 

“Only when the right person asks me.” You maintained, crossing your arms across your chest to keep the towel from falling. Shuri heard your response and let out a light laugh and a “Be nice my love.” 

“You heard what your girlfriend said though ma, gimme me a kiss.” Riri sat up in the beanbag chair awaiting you to make the move. 

You looked back at Shuri one more time, kissing other girls had never been an issue for you before but for some reason doing it in front of her felt different. Secretly it turned you on to know that your girlfriend not only ordered but encouraged you to kiss Riri. 

Fuck it. 

You bent down and Riri pulled your face to hers so that your lips met. As soon as they touched Riri hungrily devoured them savoring the taste of you. By now you knew her style and you opened your mouth slightly so her tongue could come in and meet yours. Shuri watched from the bed as you two made out, turned on by the hunger you both displayed. She could tell the two of you were getting into it, Riri especially as she brought her other hand up to cup your cheek.

Deciding this was the perfect opportunity to prove her point Shuri ordered. “Step back Y/N.” 

Once again if Riri could bet she would have bet her life on the fact that you wouldn’t pull away. You loved kissing and she could tell that you were especially enjoying this little makeout session by the way your chest was heaving up and down. 

And once again it was a good thing Riri didn’t bet often. 

You unlatched your lips from Riri’s and stood back up, taking a few steps back in the process. Riri’s eyes flashed between yours and Shuri’s unable to believe what had just happened. 

“Told you she could listen.”

[buggachat]

seeing a lot of talk of the season 5 finale, which is fun, i get that it was controversial (honestly the fact it was really risky is kind of one of the things i like about it lol) and wanting to add my two cents but can't think of much i haven't already said before

but something i do want to emphasize is that season 5 ending on Marinette telling the biggest, boldest faced lie she's ever told (that goes far beyond "protecting her identity") to kick off the Lila arc is by far the coolest thing they could've done imo, because I was not at all excited for the Lila arc before but now I'm totally invested. Now Lila isn't the Evil Liar to be taken down by Good Marinette. Marinette is the liar to be taken down by the very liar that she took down. It's not a story of "defeat that freakishly evil girl" anymore, but instead a story of "Marinette's own actions and decisions coming back to bite her". And the lie itself (WHICH LILA KNOWS IS A LIE!!) only exists because, and is most impactful towards, her relationship with Adrien, which is the core of the series!! I CARE about their relationship, and that's the stakes!!!

I just cannot get over how cool that is, and how much I didn't expect it. I know we all were expecting a big fight with Ladybug and Chat Noir just defeating Gabriel and then watching Chat Noir cry or whatever in the few remaining minutes of screen-time and then it's all over and done with, but that's a series finale. This was a season finale. And they did something really unique and unexpected with it, while making sure it's a juicy season-finale conflict that leaves me actually excited about season 6

also, a side note— I think the framing of the finale made this confusing so I totally get why discussions about it are kind of all over the place, but... 90% of the post-wish stuff we saw had nothing to do with Gabriel at all. It was all Mayor Bustier, who was already running for mayor and wanted to enact green laws and projected to win (she was up against D'Argencourt, the character whose schtick is that nobody ever votes for him in elections). I don't think Gabriel's wish included "Please, Gimmi, I want my son's school teacher to win the mayoral election this year" lol. So a lot of talk of "why is Gabriel's World presented in such a positive light?" is kind of weird to me. That's not Gabriel's World. That's Caline Bustier's. All we know so far about Gabriel's World is that Nathalie is in it and he is not. And frankly, the fact everyone is so happy and cheerful and living it up after his death is more a roast than anything

( also, just a reminder that the presentation of Gabriel's statue— the only scene discussing Gabriel in a positive light by someone In The Know— was done by Tomoe Tsurugi, a series antagonist, vowing to continue his work, with a song in minor key playing in the background. i feel like the question of "was this meant to be unsettling or triumphant?" is pretty obvious. just wanted to remind everyone. also by definition characters cannot celebrate gabriel as a "hero" without in the same breath celebrating monarch's, aka gabriel's, death. yknow? )

[radiofreederry]

The galaxy by the end of 9 ABY in me and @gabajoofs' timeline. After the Battle of Endor, the Galactic Empire splintered into several factions led by various charismatic warlords, which fought amongst themselves as the central Imperial government continued to war against the newly-proclaimed New Republic. This "Warlord Period" ended in 7 ABY with both the defeat of Warlord Zsinj and the Liberation of Coruscant. The majority of Imperials remaining have defected to Ardus Kaine's Pentastar Alignment, and the Empire is effectively dead as a polity, with only some dead-enders in the Deep Core keeping the name alive. As the Republic continues to hunt for Imperial war criminals, the galactic status quo has settled into a cold war between them and the Pentastar Alignment, with neither side willing to fire the first shot despite hostile relations. While the Republic governs much of the galaxy, other players also hold territory and influence as well, including the Mandalorians, the Central Committee of Grand Moffs, the New Confederacy of Independent Systems, organized crime groups, and a dark power rising in the shadowy corners of the galaxy...

The New Republic: After the Battle of Yavin, the Rebellion restructured itself into the New Republic, initially based on Chandrila. Over the next several years, the Republic waged a campaign against the fracturing Empire, securing the Galactic South and the Core before finally liberating Coruscant in 7 ABY. A series of escalating scandals brought down the leadership of Mon Mothma the following year, and she was succeeded in her role by Leia Organa, who pushed through governmental reforms and currently serves as the Republic's Chief of State, with Cal Omas as her Prime Minister. The Republic now sits at a crossroads, with several political factions vying to influence its destiny - including a right-wing political coalition led by Mon Mothma's daughter Leida.

The Neimoidian Socialist Confederation: After the election of socialist Thog Rutak as Trade Monarch, Neimoidian society was thrown into a civil war in which the socialists emerged victorious, and set about reforming Neimoidian society and nationalizing the Trade Federation. The confederation has grown to include much of the former Corporate Sector after its own socialist revolution, and is aligned with the Republic as an independent affiliated observer state.

The Pentastar Alignment: The largest and most successful of the post-Endor Imperial splinter states, the Pentastar Alignment, known in Republic space increasingly as simply the Imperial Remnant, controls most of the galaxy from Ord Mantell northwards. It has been so successful largely by avoiding conflict with the Republic and the Mandalorians, instead targeting smaller Imperial warlords including Warlord Zsinj. Pentastar has absorbed much of the remaining Imperial fleet and many of its greatest remaining military minds, including Grand Admirals Martio Batch and Gilad Pellaeon, the latter of whom acts as supreme commander of the Pentastar fleet. Governed from Bastion, the Pentastar Alignment is led by Ardus Kaine, former Grand Moff of Oversector Outer. Though he has taken the title of Legate in reference to military leaders of Bastion's ancient history, in all but name he is Emperor, and inspires great loyalty in his men.

The Bright Jewel Free Trade Zone: For a year beginning in 8 ABY, The Republic and the Pentastar Alignment fought an undeclared war over control of the important trade hub Ord Mantell. To prevent the conflict's escalation into a wider war, the belligerents covertly agreed to withdraw their forces and establish a free trade zone in the Bright Jewel Sector. Nominally independent, the zone is home to the Great Game, a covert competition between the Pentastar Intelligence Agency and the New Republic Intelligence Service to establish influence over Ord Mantell.

The Hapes Consortium: The small, independent enclave of the matriarchal Hapans has gone unmolested since Endor. Chief of State Organa is planning a diplomatic mission in the hopes of bringing them into the Republic.

The Chiss Ascendancy: In the Unknown Regions, the Chiss control their territory and watch for threats known only to them. They have not established relations with the Republic.

The New Confederacy of Independent Systems: After Endor, rather than joining the New Republic, a group of former Separatist worlds, led by Magisterial Porro Linn of Balan-Quod and mainly from the Tion Cluster, formed a revival of the CIS. They have received little support, and have not normalized relations with the Republic.

Black Sun, the Iron Triad, the Exchange, et al.: In the wake of Endor and the decimation of the Hutts, organized crime has grown in power. Several worlds in the Galactic south and former Hutt Space are now openly run by crime organizations, in particular the Iron Triad, founded by former Imperial officer Ubrik Adelhard, which is based on Klatooine. After the death of Prince Xizor, the leadership of Black Sun remains unclear.

The Central Committee of Grand Moffs: A small group of Grand Moffs working in concert with Supreme Slavelord Trioculus of Kessel - who claims to be the Emperor's son - has monopolized the spice trade with a small fleet of Imperial ships, conquering the Pyke Syndicate and incorporating it into their own operations. They are considered of least concern to the Republic.

The Imperial Royalist Confederation: After Ysanne Isard launched a coup in late 4 ABY, Sate Pestage and Mas Amedda fled Coruscant for the fortified Deep Core, where they set up their own government on the Emperor's throneworld of Byss. There Amedda rules as Imperial Regent, surrounded by sycophants, and the Republic is content to let him stew.

Mando’ade Aliite be Te Anila Grat’ua Mand’alor (United Clans of Mandalore): After Endor, Death Watch veteran Vasili of clan Bev’miir, who had spent several years uniting the disparate Mandalorian clans, launched an assault on the Empire's holdings in Mandalorian space. After securing Mandalore, Bev'miir, now known as Mandalore the Uniter, waged war to expand Mandalorian space to historical heights, helping to crush the Warlord Zsinj and destroy the power base of the Hutts. Since securing the borders of Mandalorian space, Bev'miir has been content to rule his worlds in relative peace, reforming Mandalorian society and restoring the supremacy of the clans. He recently signed a treaty alongside Chief of State Organa in which the Republic recognized him as the legitimate representative of the Mandalorian people and his government's sovereignty over the worlds it controls.

The True Mandalorians: Supporters of Bo-Katan Kryze's claim to lead the Mandalorians, including her own Nite Owls and several smaller clans, united as the True Mandalorians and attempted to gain their own foothold to unite the Mandalorians. While the Republic recognized Kryze as the true leader of the Mandalorians and offered support, ultimately Kryze's forces were only able to secure Onderon's moon Dxun, losing the planet Jabiim to Bev'miir's faction. Now, languishing on the jungle moon, they have lost even Republic recognition, and their future is uncertain.

The Hutt Empire: Campaigns by the Mandalorians and Iron Triad, and a revolt of the Evocii on what was once Nal Hutta, have destroyed most of the Hutts' power in the galaxy. Individual crimelords such as Dertykop of Taris or Teemo of Tatooine still exert power, but the Ruling Council retreated to Varl and the Bootana Hutta, there to rule what remained of Hutt Space. The Council was overthrown in 8 ABY by the warlord Muuka, who has proclaimed himself the new Emperor of the Hutts, declaring that the Hutts must return to their ancient ways of warfare and conquest to survive and reconquer their rightful territory.

The Proto-Sith: A number of dark side factions, including the Knights of Ren, the Prophets of the Dark Side, the Lost Tribe, elements of the Reborn and the Inquisition, and the Sorcerers of Tund have gathered in what was once Sith Space and the Centrality. The Rule of Two died with Palpatine and Vader at Endor, and it is time once again for the Sith to cheat death…

There are also several factions which hold little to no territory, but which have a great deal of galactic influence regardless:

Moff Royen's Imperial Remnant: A small fleet of ships which remains independent of the other major Imperial remnants, mainly patrolling the Red Hand Cluster.

The New Jedi Order: After a quest of several years to uncover secrets of the Force and find Force-sensitive recruits, Luke Skywalker, now a Jedi Master, has reformed the Jedi Order, heading the new Jedi Council. He has established a temple on Tython to headquarter his Order, which numbers around 100 Jedi, both survivors of the old Order and new recruits. The Order is independent of the Republic, but a treaty of friendship between them saw the Republic establish a fleet to defend Tython and the Order from threats.

The Children of Ghorman: The Republic Commision for the Prosecution of War Crimes and Crimes against Civilization was established in 6 ABY for the prosecution of Imperial war criminals. Valarr Ulgo, an Alderaanian former ISB officer and member of Republic Intelligence, formed the Children of Ghorman in order to secure these criminals, a group of Rebel veterans who were all impacted personally by Imperial atrocities with the sole objective of capturing those Imperials who were beyond the Republic's reach and bringing them to justice.

The Mining Guild: The fall of the Empire was a boon for the Mining Guild, which regained its independence. Under the leadership of Athor Skarhill, the Guild has moved in a left-wing direction, and affiliated itself with Garm Bel Iblis' People's Union Party.

[baenyth]

Bethany's Bizarre Miraculous Fic Prompt: Hawkmoth Gets Owned By Various Fictional Detectives

Basically I want to see Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth/Poopmoth/Monarch fail more since he kinda sorta won last season. And it's also crossovers where different fictional detectives (or just people on the Kira case square,) out Hawkmoth as Gabriel Agreste once and for all and hopefully do similar stuff such as outing Lila as a liar, dragging down other corrupt adults like Tomoe and Audrey, etc. and also just various funny moments with these characters interacting with the Miracucast. Here's some ideas I have from characters I know or are just interested in:

Lieutenant Columbo. I already made a post detailing it.

L from Death Note. I haven't watched Death Note, but if the memeposts are to be believed, he would outthink Gabriel Agreste at every turn. Probably ask him to show what's behind his ascot.

Shuichi Saihara from Danganronpa V3. Aside from him deducing Gabriel as Hawkmoth with the help from his friends, imagine the shenanigans. Gonta being ecstatic for the bug-themed heroes and how nicely they treat the purified butterflies. Kokichi takes down Lila by being Kokichi. Tenko is aware of the plot and tries to get Marigami together and make them kiss, alongside getting an Julerose kiss. Kiibo and Markov bond. So do Kaito and Rose. Kirumi somehow becomes mayor of Paris.

The Scooby Gang. In general I like the concept of silly guys managing to defeat Hawkmoth. They would accidentally find the secret elevator to Emile's pod and manage to use Ladybug and Chat Noir as bait for a trap and at the end, (since I like to imagine they're meddling adults at this point,) Gabriel Agreste grumbles that "at least it wasn't those meddling kids Ladybug and Chat Noir." They also take down the rest of Paris's elite because that's who the villains of Scooby Doo are.

The Duwang Gang. I think Kwamis and Miraculous heroes can see stands, but I'm unsure about akumatized people. Maybe. It turns out Crazy Diamond can heal people wounded by the Peacock but they pull the plug on Emile for the health of everyone. Rohan Kishibe uses Heaven's Door on the Miracukids and gets into accidental meta commentary upon discovering the full love square. He also uses Heaven's Door on Luka and it's sheet music. Maybe let Yukako join in too because of how much of a romancefest this show is and also because I like her and she had such a big presence in Great Days. Gabriel Agreste ends up with a similar fate to Yoshikage Kira, being surrounded by our heroes and helpless to do anything.

Sam and Max. I don't know much about them other that they're 1. funny guys, and 2. might just end up hitting Gabriel Agreste with their car.

Steve from Blue's Clues. Aside from the inherent humor of an educational kids show host taking down a terrorist supervillain, it also implies Blue knows who Hawkmoth is. Steve sits on the thinking chair to deduce Hawkmoth's identity and where he's hiding.

Courage the Cowardly Dog. Maybe Muriel and Eustace are dead and he was sent to live with Mylene and her dad. I feel like they'd get along well. Or maybe they're still alive and just visiting Paris and Muriel and Eustace are staying with Mylene and her dad. Either way I think this should take place around season 5 because the alliance ring works well with Courage's themes of paranoia over something supernatural putting your family at risk.

Agent P. Maybe Hawkmoth gets so desperate he gets Doctor Doofenshmirtz to build a wife-revive inator only for Emile to end up in another coma after accidentally pressing the self-destruct button on said inator. No one recognizes Agent P without his hat because this is Miraculous and people are dumb. Perry gets to beat the stuffing and tar out of Hawkmoth. Doof betrays him when he learns about how shitty of a dad he is. The miraculous heroes are allowed into OWCA on account of the animal theming.

The Smiling Friends. It starts off with a mission involving all of the main four helping Marinette smile and spirals down from there.

Not Batman. I've had enough Miraculous-Batman crossovers for one eternity.

[youandmedead]

Jårê†h HêåТåñðñ§

Warnings: THEORIES, Not proof read properly

Notes: Whilst there is a comic out explaining how Jareth became King of the Labyrinth, I have decided to post this as I've had these theories wayyyyyyy before the comic was released and I wasn't aware there was one out explaining Jareth's plan till last night. Anywho, I'd love to hear everyone's ideas on this. Hope everyone is well 🖤

THEORY 1:

⛦ He was kidnapped by the last Goblin Monarch (I believe that his parents wished him away).

⛦ Instead of being turned into a goblin, the last monarch passed down their powers to him and that's how he gained the shape shifting abilities. He then grew resentful towards humans because he found out where he came from and what his parents wished for. Jareth then assumed that all humans were selfish because of this, in addition to people entering the Labyrinth to look for things they were too selfish to accept and be grateful about or wishing people away

⛦ However he felt pity for Toby when he was wished away by Sarah and I believe that's why he became rather fond of the baby. He knew what it was like to be wished away for idiotic reasons and therefore felt guilty about not caring for the child. Yes he was going to turn him into a goblin but it would have meant that he would have been part of a "family" that accepted him

THEORY 2:

⛦ Jareth was kidnapped from birth (think of his kidnapping like how Pain and Panic kidnapped Hercules in the Disney film, except instead of Jareth becoming mortal he becomes a Fae).

⛦ The current goblin monarch cared for him and the magic within the labyrinth began to fuse into Jareth or the last monarch's abilities were passed onto Jareth after they died or were defeated.

⛦ Despite him still ruling over the kingdom and trying to keep things in order, Jareth disliked the goblins and still resented them for his kidnapping, however this hatred did ebb away and he realised not all of them were so bad

THEORY 3:

⛦ He was kidnapped at random by the goblins. He may have had some sort of attractive quality that intrigued the goblins (or something of the sort) and that may have been why he was chosen - or as mentioned he may have been chosen at random

⛦ The goblins need someone to keep watch and lead their kingdom, ordered needed to be restored

⛦ The goblins raised Jareth as a collective - there may have perhaps been a small group who mainly watched over him in more of a familial manner

⛦ Eventually Jareth was pushed into monarchy and he was clueless. The goblins had a few pin points for him, but other than that he had to figure it out all for himself

[kasienda]

A Miraculous Reveal - Rings True

Post Season Five - Angst w/ a very happy ending

Summary: Ladybug hits send on her text to Chat Noir, telling him who Monarch is. She tells Adrien a very different story. Adrien doesn't know what to make of it, but he thinks he deserves the truth. Thanks to @coffeebanana, @wackus-bonkus-maximus, and @nemaliwrites for the beta read. This hits just a bit harder because of your input.

Read on Ao3

A Miraculous Reveal - Rings True

I figured out who Monarch is. He’s Gabriel Agreste. Meet me at the Agreste Mansion . 

Chat Noir stares at the text and then glances up once again at the imposing statue erected in his father’s honor. Because his father apparently sacrificed himself to help Ladybug defeat Monarch. 

He shivers in the winter morning air. 

Both of those realities can’t be true. 

Chat Noir falls to the ground, his father’s oversized form blocking out the sun’s glare. He has no idea what he was feeling, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good. He just sits there, gravel from the pavement digging through his suit, barely aware of the passersby chattering about his unexpected presence. He can’t hear what they’re saying with his heart trying to beat its way out of his chest. His stomach is so sour he thinks he might throw up, and his hands shake hard enough he’s not certain he will keep hold of  his baton.

His father’s gone. 

He wished for this. Adrien wanted the man who wouldn’t let him make his own choices or live his life gone. And him being Monarch made all of that worse somehow. 

How many times had Adrien wished Monarch dead? 

Well, now he was. 

But Ladybug told him to his face, as Adrien, that his father gave up everything so he could be happy. 

Adrien can’t believe it. His father had never cared about Adrien’s happiness. That had never been more clear than when he shipped Adrien off to London to be the poster child alongside Kagami for the Alliance rings or whatever else his father had in mind. 

It’s far, far easier to believe his father had been Monarch. 

But why did Ladybug lie?

He doesn’t have to contemplate the question long. She lands next to him and he scrambles to his feet, his shoulders tense as he turns to her. She asked to meet him this morning, it’s the first time he’s seen her since he failed to show up to fight Monarch. Is she angry with him? She doesn’t look angry, but she doesn’t look happy either.  

She very noticeably does not look at the monument. 

“Can we talk anywhere but here?” Her voice shakes. And it’s amazing how just that small sign of anxiety from her makes his own turmoil abate. 

For the moment, at least. 

He clears his throat. “Lead the way.” His voice sounds like gravel. 

She takes off, and he launches himself in pursuit, not paying any attention to where they’re going. He just follows the flash of red as he always does.

They eventually settle on an ordinary rooftop away from prying eyes. She doesn’t speak. She stares at the blank brick wall in front of them as if it holds all the answers of the universe. 

Every moment of silence eats at him, bringing back the clammy feeling in his neck and the sour churn in his stomach. He can’t stand it. 

“M’lady?”

She glances at him and visibly swallows. 

“Are you okay?”

Her hands grip the edge of the roof and her gaze drops. She shakes her head and her eyes well with tears.

His hand covers hers immediately. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

She leans into his shoulder and his arm comes around her immediately.

She breaks down into tears immediately, and he just holds her as she cries herself out. 

“I wish you were there,” she whispers, and his chest tightens in guilt. “I don’t know that it would have made any difference, but–” her head nuzzles further into his shoulder, “–I would have felt better with you there.” 

“I’m sorry,” he croaks again. He shouldn’t have given into his nightmare. He could have broken out of his father’s prison. It apparently wouldn’t have even mattered that it would have revealed his identity.

Monarch was dead. 

She shakes her head. “You couldn’t have known. I didn’t know either. I was there for another reason entirely.” 

He wants to ask what that reason was, but now that she’s talking, he’s unwilling to interrupt. 

“Discovering his identity was an accident. The miraculized robots were everywhere. They were tracking my active miraculous somehow. I had to detransform. He had me cornered. Thank god you sent Plagg. The tides shifted then! And I had him!”

Her face falls and she buries her eyes in her closed fists. 

“I was so stupid! I thought I could convince him to give it up for Adrien.” 

His throat tightens. It isn’t surprising that his father wouldn’t. But hearing her say it still somehow hurts. 

Adrien had never been enough, not for his father.

He blinks furiously to fend off the unwanted tears.

“So why is there a statue of Monarch in the middle of Paris?” he croaks. “Why did you lie to Adrien?” 

He doesn’t mean for it to be an accusation. He needs to know. 

But she recoils violently. “It wasn’t a lie!” 

He frowns. “But—“

Her face crumples and her body shakes like an earthquake. She breaks down into wracking sobs all over again. “I lost , Chaton. I trusted him. I wanted to be able to heal their relationship. He took all the miraculouses - including the Ladybug and the Black Cat. He made a wish.”

Adrien sucks in a breath. 

“But something I said must have gotten through because he changed his wish. He didn’t wish for his wife to be revived. He joined her in death instead. Then all the miraculouses minus the butterfly were returned to me. Before he did it, he asked me to make sure Adrien remembered him fondly.”

Adrien tastes bile. Seriously? His father wanted Adrien to think well of him? 

“So I only told Adrien the good parts. But I didn’t lie . Gabriel did sacrifice himself for his son’s happiness in the end. He did help me defeat Monarch.”

Adrien’s claws dig into his knee. His father may have said he did it for Adrien, but that’s what he always said. That’s what he said when he wouldn’t let Adrien have a birthday party, or go play music with his friends, what he said when he had forbidden Adrien from being with Marinette and when he had Adrien shipped off to London. 

But none of it was ever actually for Adrien. It never was. 

His father hadn’t needed to make a wish at all. He didn’t have to leave. If he wanted Adrien to be happy, he could have come back and done things differently. “But it’s a lie.”

She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t matter?!” he echoes hotly. “That’s what Gabriel did to his son all the time. Lied to him, made choices for him about what he was allowed to know and do, what Adrien was allowed to feel . He locked him up and sent him away from the people he loved most!”

His heart rises to his throat, his chest heaves up and down. 

Ladybug stares at him, her eyes wide. “How do you know all that?”

He tries to meet her gaze, but he can’t do it. He feels exposed. 

“And now you want Adrien to remember that man fondly?! Want him to think that his pain and frustration and anger are all something he imagined?!”

She cries harder. “But he deserves better than Gabriel,” she sobs. 

Chat Noir took both her shoulders and squeezed them gently. “He deserves the truth. You need to tell him, M’lady.” 

And he’s being ridiculous. He already knows, so what does it matter? 

He just wants her to be the one to tell him.

“But how do I do that?” Her words are barely louder than the wind. Tears slipdown her face. 

“He deserves to know,” he says again.

She leans back into Chat’s chest. “You’re right. I just— I wish he didn’t have to go through all this.” 

“He won’t be alone.” 

He has Marinette, Nino, and Plagg.

He has her .

… 

Ladybug doesn’t show up that night. Or the next. Adrien spends each evening pacing back and forth in front of his stupidly large glass window. He purposely kept his evenings clear - sending Marinette home early and begging Nathalie to let him eat alone in his room. 

He was trying to make it easier for Ladybug to approach him. 

But still, she hasn’t come. He doesn’t understand it. What is she waiting for? Does she not trust him as Chat Noir? Does she think Adrien can’t handle the truth? 

Adrien throws himself backwards onto his bed. Each day he proves more irritable than the last, prone to snapping at everyone around him — even Marinette, who’s the absolutely last person who deserves his ire.

Five excruciating days later, she stands before him, wringing her gloved hands and all the tension that had been building up inside him like water against a dam for days, releases. 

She’s here. She’s going to tell him.

He smiles at her. “What can I do for you, Ladybug?” he asks.

She doesn’t meet his gaze. She’s so worked up, he almost feels bad that he pushed her into this. He could have just volunteered as Chat Noir to talk to Adrien himself. 

“Are you okay?” he asks. 

She laughs darkly, and looks at him. “You should not be asking me that. I just… I have some things that I need to tell you, things I should have told you before. C-can we sit down for this?” 

“Of course!” he says, walking her to the couch. “Can I get you anything?” 

“No, no! I’m fine,” she says. “You should sit too.” 

He sits next to her. She’s vibrating in her seat. Her legs are bouncing, her hands are fidgeting, she looks at him only to look away immediately. 

She bolts to her feet and starts pacing in front of him. His eyes follow her. 

“So umm…” Her hands flail around her. “You know how I told the city that your father helped me defeat Monarch?” The words come out of her in a rush, like she’s afraid if she stops she won’t get them out. 

“Yes?” 

“Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Your father—” she looks at him now. “Well, he was Monarch.” 

And there it is. The words are out. He almost wants to laugh. Instead, he lets out a heavy sigh.

“Are you okay?” she asks, kneeling down in front of him, and taking his hands. 

He smiles again, and nods. “I… okay is not the word, but maybe? Thank you for telling me. It’s relieving in a way.”

“Relieving?” she repeats, her eyebrows arching in disbelief.  

“Yeah, thinking of him as a hero after everything he had done to me… it didn’t feel right, but being angry with the person who helped Ladybug save all of Paris— well, that didn’t feel right either.” 

“I— I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

He squeezes her hand. 

“Why are you letting the whole city believe he was a hero?” he asks. It’s still the one bit that doesn’t make sense. 

She offers him a pained smile. “Because I didn’t want anyone to know you had any association with the villains.”

He frowns. “You don’t need to do—“ 

She shakes her head sharply, cutting him off. “There’s more to it than that. This next part, Adrien. I…” she bites her lower lip. “I haven’t told anyone. Not even my partner.”

Every muscle in his body locks up. 

“This is too sensitive, too personal. I feel like I shouldn’t even know.” 

Her hands tremble, and he shivers.  What could be so awful that it was worth letting all of Paris believe Monarch was a hero?  

Ladybug’s finger taps the rings on his left hand - and he glances down at his parents’ wedding rings. 

“These aren’t ordinary rings. They’re amoks.”

“Amoks?” he repeats. “Like for a sentimonster?”

“Sentibeings,” she corrects. “These are your amoks.” 

Did his father leave sentimonsters running around? Ones that Adrien is now responsible for? How awful was—

Ladybug watches him carefully. She’s biting her lip again, her eyes wide, clearly bracing herself for his reaction. 

He missed the mark. The rings are suddenly all he can see. These are his amoks. 

He hunches forward, his shoulders feeling like lead. He gasps for air that won’t fill his lungs. It feels like the ground has opened up underneath him and swallowed him whole.

Ladybug’s arms wrap around him, she cradles his head against her chest. She strokes his hair like he’s a small child needing to be soothed.

“I’m a… sentimonster.” 

She shakes her head violently. “Senti- being. ” 

He laughs, the sound hysterical and unbelieving even in his own ears. 

“But yes, you were created with the peacock miraculous.” 

He’s a sentimonster. 

His whole life is stored in a pair of rings . 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you this,” Ladybug says, tears slipping over her mask. “I wish you didn’t have to know.” 

His eyes fly up to her face. Ladybug almost didn’t tell him. If Chat Noir hadn’t convinced her, would he have ever known?

Suddenly, he’s furious. “You weren’t going to tell me.” 

“Adrien, I swear I returned the rings to you the second I understood what they were.” 

“What if I had taken them off or given them away?!”

Then her words catch up to him. 

“Wait. You didn’t give me these rings. It was… Marinette?” 

Her eyes flood with tears. It’s confirmation enough. 

He scuttles backward so fast the couch tips over. He shoves himself across the floor further, needing to be away from her. 

“Adrien! Please!” she begs, reaching for him on her knees. 

She’s Marinette. 

He sobs brokenly, shaking his head. “I don’t understand! Why would you keep this from me?! I thought Ladybug, at least, had no idea what my father was like. But you? Marinette! You stood against him time and again. And now you cave to him?! To lie to me?!” 

“I didn’t want to hurt you! I wanted you to be as happy as possible given everything that has happened.” 

He caves in on himself - he cradles his neck, and buries his head between his knees, rocking back and forth. 

“Adrien?” she asks, her hand hovering over his shoulder. He flinches from her, and she backs away. 

“I’m sorry!” she cries. 

“You know, when I read your text the first time, I felt relief . My father was Monarch. That sucked, but it also felt like a puzzle piece had snapped into place. Something that made sense .” 

“What text?” 

“Then you showed up to talk to me, and you fed me a completely different story! My father, a hero?“ he laughs bitterly. 

“Adrien—“

“When I told you that you needed to tell me, I didn’t think it mattered because I already knew. I wanted to hear it from you.”

Her eyes blow open wide and her mouth falls open into a horrified “oh”. 

“Chaton?” she asks, her voice cracking.

“If I hadn’t done that, would you have ever told me?” 

Her cries only intensify and she doesn’t answer him, but for once, he’s unmoved by her tears. He can’t ever remember being so angry with her. 

“You’re just like him.”

The look on her face is pure devastation. He can’t bring himself to care. 

“I’m so sorry,” she sobs. 

“Why didn’t you just use the rings?” 

“What do you mean?” Her voice is so quiet he barely hears her. 

“If you wanted me to be happy, couldn’t you have just ordered me to be happy?”

“Adrien! That’s horrible!” 

“Is it?! How is it any different than what you did?! You told me lies to manipulate my feelings! Made me believe in something that you knew wasn’t true. The rings just would have made it easier.” 

“I would never do that to you!”

“But you did!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t understand! I never wanted to hurt you. I love you.” 

“That just makes it worse.”

“Adrien, please.” She reaches for him again. And he pulls away. 

“I can’t do this right now.” 

She stares at him, her eyes glassy. “Adrien–”

“Just go!” he shouts. 

And she does. And he’s not entirely certain that he wants her to come back. 

…

She keeps calling him. She calls him so many times that first night he loses track. She leaves him messages almost every time. He listens to every single one the second it comes in. 

She apologizes profusely again and again. She cries until her voice is sandpaper, and then she cries more. She understands why he’s angry and she knows what she did wrong. 

He wants to forgive her. He does. 

But he doesn’t know how.

Two days go by, and he still doesn’t take any of her calls. But he continues to listen to every message. 

His phone rings again, but it’s Alya. 

“Hey, what’s up?” he answers cautiously. 

“How are you doing?” And it’s definitely Alya talking — not Marinette and he relaxes. 

“That depends.” 

“On?”

“Are you asking because you want to know, or because Marinette does?”

“I won’t tell Marinette anything if you don’t want me to, but whatever happened between the two of you, know that she has always loved you.” 

He squeezes his eyes closed. He doesn’t even doubt that. But his parents had loved him too. He twists his amoks around his finger. That hadn’t stopped either of them from controlling and manipulating him. 

“Sometimes love isn’t enough,” he says. 

Alya’s silent for a moment. “You don’t really believe that, do you?” she asks softly.

“I didn’t used to,” he admits. “But now… now, I don’t know where I stand with anyone.” 

“I can only imagine how hard it must be to process everything about your father.” 

“Yeah, everything about my father,” he echoes dully. Alya doesn’t know even half of it— 

“It’s so messed up,” she commiserates. “Especially given who you all turned out to be.” 

Unless she already knows all of it. Because she’s Ladybug’s best friend! 

“How long have you known?” he asks, trying to keep his tone even, but it probably just comes out cold. 

“Known what?”

“That I’m Chat Noir, she’s Ladybug, and my father was fucking Monarch?!”

“Adrien, listen—“

Adrien’s tired of listening. 

“—she had a total meltdown.” 

“She told you before she told me, didn’t she?” 

“Adrien–” 

He’s shaking his head even though she can’t see him. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“Because I thought it should come from her! ” 

“Did she also tell you I’m a sentimonster and she wasn’t going to tell me?!”

“A what?! Adrien!—“

He hangs up. He tries to take solace from the fact that Marinette hadn’t told Alya or Chat Noir about Adrien being a sentimonster. She had some lines she wouldn’t cross at least. 

But it’s not enough. She hadn’t planned on telling him either. 

He twists the rings on his finger. What if he had taken them off? 

It’s the thought he can’t shake.

He calls Nino.

“Hey mec! What’s up?” 

“Tell me you didn’t know.” 

“Know what?” 

“Did Marinette or Alya tell you about me?” 

“Umm… I thought you already knew that Marinette liked you since you guys have been dating.” 

And despite everything Adrien bursts out laughing. Nino definitely didn’t know anything. 

“Dude! What is going on?”

“Can I come over?”

“Anytime, mec!” Nino exclaims enthusiastically! “You never have to ask.”

…

Adrien barely has time to knock before Nino whips the door open and yanks him inside and into a hug. 

Adrien lets himself relax. Nino didn’t know anything. Nino never lied to him. If anything, Nino was stupidly forthcoming about his own secrets. 

He can trust Nino. 

Which gives him an idea. A terrible idea. 

“Dude! How’ve you been holding up?” 

Adrien shrugs. Before he can overthink it, he slips both of his amoks off his finger and presses them into Nino’s hands. 

“Put these on,” he says.

Nino looks at the rings. “Are these wedding rings?” Nino asks. 

“Technically, yes.”

“You proposing, mec? You could at least buy me dinner first.” 

Adrien doesn’t laugh. “Just put them on. I want to try something. I’ll explain after.” 

Nino slips the rings on without any hesitation. “Okay. Now what?” 

Because Nino trusts him. 

“Tell me to do something weird.” 

“Weird like what?”

“I don’t know, something I wouldn’t normally do.” 

Nino pulls out his phone and puts on a dance remix. “Alright dude. Dance like you’ve never danced before.” 

Adrien throws himself into the moves, rolls with the music Nino’s music, he tells himself. It doesn’t feel like a compulsion. It feels like he wants to do it - almost like it’s his own idea. But he can’t stop either. And he wants to cry. 

How many times had he tried to stand up to his father only to immediately fold once standing before him?

Even his maman! How many times had she sweet talked him into cooperating? She had always said he was an easy child. All he had ever wanted was to make them proud. Was any of it him? 

Nino stops the music.

“Dude! You’re crying.” 

He is, and yet, he’s still dancing. Another sob tears from his throat. 

He’s not human. He’s a sentimonster, a puppet on strings, a plaything for his parents’ amusement.

“Stop it! What’s wrong?” Nino asks, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

Adrien’s limbs still, and he falls to his knees, sobbing.

Nino is on the ground right next to him an instant later. “Talk to me, please.”

Adrien knows with that command, he can technically talk about anything, but he had come here to talk about one thing in particular.

“I’m a sentimonster,” he gasps. “I’ve been a sentimonster my whole life. Those,” he points to the rings on Nino’s pinky and ring finger, “are my amoks.” 

Nino’s expression falls off his face. Then he tears the rings off his hands and slams them up against Adrien’s chest. 

“Why would you ever give these to me?! Why would you give them to anyone?!”

“I just… wanted to know how they worked, what it felt like. I didn’t think you would use them if you knew.”

“Damn right, I wouldn’t!” Nino roared, his chest visibly heaving. “Please don’t put me in that position again!”

Adrien nods. “I’m sorry.”

“What the hell is going on? What do you mean you’re a sentimonster? They haven’t been around that long. Are you some kind of copy of my best friend?” 

Adrien shakes his head. “I’m the original, one and only, Adrien Agreste. My father had the butterfly and the peacock since before I was born, and apparently for some reason —“ that Adrien hadn’t had time to even think about, let alone figure out. “—they raised a sentimonster instead of having a child using more natural methods.” 

“Wait! Your father had the butterfly?! But that means—“

“He was Monarch,” Adrien says before Nino can. 

“But Ladybug said—“

“Yeah well, Ladybug doesn’t have the best relationship with the truth,” he says bitterly. “She’s just like my father.” 

Nino looks more shocked by that than anything else Adrien has said. 

“What?” Adrien asks, unable to interpret Nino’s silence. 

“Dude!” Nino exclaims like that explains everything. “You’ve always been Ladybug’s biggest fan!” 

“That was before she tried to lie to me about my father! She wasn’t even going to tell me about being a sentimonster! She gave me back these rings without saying anything! What if I had lost one or taken them off? Or gave her one when I proposed?!”

“When you proposed?” Nino echoes. “To Ladybug?” 

Adrien thunks his head against the wall. He hadn’t lasted twenty-four hours with her identity. She’s going to kill him.

“Can we pretend I didn’t say that?” 

Nino’s head cocks to the side. “Marinette is Ladybug. Huh.” 

“That doesn’t surprise you?” 

“That’s definitely the least surprising thing you’ve said today. Not surprising at all really,” Nino says. “Okay, so we’re pissed at Maribug—“

“Cute.” 

“—because she didn’t tell you about your father being an even worse dick than we already knew. And she didn’t tell you were a sentimonster. But then, how did you find out?” 

“She told me.” 

“But—“

Adrien sighs. He’s already screwed as it is. “She told me as Chat Noir.”

Nino is silent again. “You’re Chat Noir.” 

“Yup.” 

“And your dad was Monarch.” 

“Unfortunately.” 

“Mec! That’s so messed up.” 

“Tell me about it.” 

“So Maribug told Adrien the same thing she told the city?”

“Yeah, that he died a hero helping her defeat Monarch.” 

“Gross,” Nino says. “Why would she want you to remember him with rose colored glasses?” 

“I don’t know!” 

“Do you think she killed him?” 

Adrien freezes. The thought had never occurred to him because it’s incomprehensible. “No. There’s no way.” 

“And she told Chat Noir - not knowing that she was talking to you - that you’re a sentimonster?” 

“No, she only told Chat Noir that my father was Monarch.”

Nino hums. 

“Just say it,” Adrien says. 

“Well, I get that you’re pissed. I think I am too on your behalf. But I don’t think Marinette is anything like your father.” 

“Go on.” Adrien wants to forgive her. He just needed a way to get there in his own head. 

“The difference is Marinette did tell you.” 

“She wasn’t going to. I had to talk her into it.” 

Nino nods. “ Exactly. She wasn’t going to, and then you explained your perspective and she changed her mind. She recognized that she was wrong, that you were right and she did what Marinette always does. She tried to fix it. Your dad would have only doubled down.” 

“Or tried to akumatize someone over it,” Adrien adds darkly. 

“Dude! He’s akumatized like every single one of your friends.” 

His father hadn't wanted him to have any friends. Had his father ever seen him as a real person? 

“Nino, do you still care about me knowing that I’m not real?” 

“What the fuck kinda question is that? One, yes! I care about you more than almost anyone on this planet. And two, you are most definitely real .” 

Adrien’s crying again, but Nino quickly seizes him in a hug. Adrien buries himself in Nino’s solid embrace, and he knows he’s going to be okay even if he’s not there yet. 

…

It’s been four days since he shouted at Marinette to get out of his room. 

She’s still calling him, and he covets every message, as a sign that she loves him despite what he is, that she hasn’t given up on him, or on them. He listens to them the second they show up, though he still hasn’t been able to bring himself to respond, though he thinks he might be getting close. He did send a message through Alya that he just wants some space and he’ll let her know when he’s ready to talk.

Most of her messages are similar in nature. She apologizes over and over, tells him that she loves him, and that she’ll do anything to make it up to him. She just doesn’t know what that is. 

He thought that he might feel vindicated or something hearing her so small and contrite, but he doesn’t. He feels awful because as much as he was hurt, he doesn’t want her to hurt either. 

He loves her. 

Then her last two messages were drastically different in content. 

“I learned that you were a Senti from Felix.” Her voice is subdued, like she’s narrating from a script. “He and Kagami are both sentis as well. They asked Ladybug for help.” 

Figured that Felix told Ladybug without even telling him .

“I’m not sure they want anyone to know that, but I guess… even if you—“ her voice cracks and his chest clenches at the pain in her voice. “—even if you can’t forgive me, I-I just wanted you to know you’re not alone.”

She’s openly sobbing now. “I love you.” 

The message abruptly ends.

The second message that day comes in hours later. 

“I got Kagami to bully Felix into letting me talk to Dusuu!” Her voice is so different from the previous call. She sounds excited. She sounds like Ladybug with an idea. “The original amoks didn’t have a mind control feature. That was something the Guardians added at the same time they added it to the miraculouses to be able to control the Kwamis. If they added it, there’s gotta be a way to take it away, right?” 

“I have a plan to free you all from your amoks. But there’s a hiccup. We’ll need the butterfly so I can give you the power to see your spiritual connection to the ring so you can cataclysm only the part that can control you. I know it’s dangerous. And we don’t have to do it if you’re not comfortable, and we don’t have the butterfly right now anyway—“ 

Adrien smiles as Marinette rambles on. How had he never realized Ladybug and Marinette were the same? They think out loud in the exact same way. 

Even though he asked for space, even though he wasn’t talking to her, even though she wasn’t certain they were going to remain a couple, she was still fighting for him. 

He transforms immediately and lands just outside the bakery. He’s not sure if she’s even home, but he hopes that she is. 

He takes the stairs two at a time. He hesitates before knocking. And before he can bridge the gap, the door flies open of its own accord. 

Marinette drops her purse and stares at him. Her eyes are red and her usually neat pigtails are half falling out and completely uneven. She’s still in her pajamas though she had thrown a coat and a scarf over them. 

She has never looked more beautiful. 

He offers her a wobbly smile. “I’m sorry. You’re on your way out. I can— I can come back.” He starts to turn around. 

She grabs his wrist. “No! Please don’t go.” Her voice is hoarse, and faint, like she’s afraid if she’s too loud he’ll bolt. “Wh-what do you wan— I mean, need? What do you need?” 

He eyes her grip on his wrist, and she instantly lets go, and suddenly can’t meet his eyes. 

“Can we talk?” he asks. 

She nods. Her eyes are downcast, her shoulders are hunched in, and her arms are wrapped around her stomach. She’s been tearing herself up for all the days he didn’t speak to her. 

“Hey,” he says softly. “Can you look at me?” 

She does, but her eyes water immediately, and he yanks her into his arms.

“It’s going to be okay,” he assures. 

She falls to pieces in his arms. He rocks her harder, kisses her hair, and continues to hold her. 

“I’m so sorry,” she sobs. 

“It’s… o—“ he cuts himself off before he can say it’s okay. Nino told him that was the one sentence he wasn’t allowed to say. “It’s going to be okay,” he says again. 

She shakes her head. “No, I’m awful. I don’t know what I was thinking! You’re right to be so angry. You’re right to hate me!” 

He laughs, and then cups either side of her face. Her blue eyes fill with tears and he aches for her. “M’lady, I could never ever hate you. I was hurt.” 

“Of course you were!” 

“And I needed some space.” 

She nods against his hands. 

“But I’ve been thinking, and Nino made me realize that I actually should be thanking you.” 

“Thanking me?! For what?!”

“Because you told me.” 

“But I wasn’t going to. Not until you convinced me to.” 

“But then you did. You listened to me, and you trusted me as Chat Noir, and then you told me as Adrien. And I’m glad that I know now. I needed to know. No one else was ever going to tell me. And so, I’m really glad I have you, that you respected me enough to tell me this hard truth about my own life. My parents didn’t tell me. Nathalie never did, though she had to have known. And I don’t think she ever would have. Even Felix, and apparently Kagami, didn’t tell me though you think they’d get it better than anyone.”

“But I should have told you right away. I never should have lied.” 

He shrugs. “Yeah, that’s true, but we all make mistakes. And when you realized you were wrong, you tried to fix it.” He held up his phone. “And you’re still trying to fix it. Even though it’s hard, even though I didn’t take it well. You still told me the truth when no one else did. And I just— I love you.”

He presses his forehead to hers. “Even when you make mistakes, even when you really piss me off, even when you’re not perfect, I love you. And I don’t think that will ever not be the case. Thank you for telling me, thank you for giving me some space to figure stuff out on my own, and if you’ll still have me, may I still be yours?”

“If I’ll still have you?” she repeats, aghast. “Shouldn’t it be if you’ll still have me?”

He shrugs again. “I’ve already said I still want to be your partner in every sense of the word, but I’ve had time to think about it while you were sending me message after message that you loved me. Even though I’m not even human.” 

Her face contorts into pure rage. “Adrien Agreste! You are the most beautiful human being I have ever met in my life! You are kind. You give people second chances. You are persistent, and brave, and you have the dorkiest sense of humor. You drive me absolutely insane both with and without a mask, and I am so stupidly in love with you, I will absolutely still have you! And if you think—“

He cuts her off with a kiss. He’s going to spend the rest of his life with this girl if he has anything to say about it.