#so like clearly they do know how to do an implied relationship. so for sabine and ezra they just Do Not Care

[carcasstohounds]

actually the funniest part about rebels is that every like three episodes they do a halfhearted attempt at implying that ezra has a crush on sabine and then just don’t bring it up again for another three episodes

[miraculouscontent]

Can I ask for "Sole Crusher" and/or "Queen Banana" salt?

I’ll do both at once because all my gripes are relatively small.

“Sole Crusher”

They’re still using Marinette’s clumsiness as a punchline and I’ve been tired of that since “Animaestro.” Sabine clearly looks worried about the fall and it’s just--it really feels like Sabine and Tom don’t care about Marinette’s clumsiness unless it affects them personally, considering that Marinette was carrying their supplies. They either help her with her problems or they have no right to react to them.

Zoe is... fine. She’s just fine. I like her enough on at least the fact that Marinette has a pleasant relationship with her. I’m just not crazy about the fact that she’s another sad rich kid; we’ve already got like three of those. Her sad backstory is also way over the top and unnecessary, essentially boiling down to, “I was a nice person and people hated me for it.” It’s made weirder by the fact that no one just points out that it’d be dumb to hate her because they’re not terrible people, or just the ridiculousness in general of the people who treated her horribly.

Shame that Zoe’s only akuma is just... her looking like Chloe. I know it’s the point that she imitates others but I prefer when akuma show off the personality/tastes of the person.

I rolled my eyes a bit when the goal was to convince Sole Crusher down. After “Gang of Secrets,” trying to calm akuma down has just lost all meaning. Sole Crusher still listening to Chloe was dumb and the whole scene just ended up being padding. Sure, Sole Crusher ended up going for Chloe instead of Kitty Section, but still.

“Queen Banana”

Less of an episode criticism and more of me being disappointed from what I expected for from seeing the pre-airing stuff. Seeing Chloe just complain and everyone just being generally annoyed by it was super same-y and I’d kinda hoped that they’d all planned to backstab Chloe from the beginning and would feign fawning over her, giving her exactly what she wants with the intent of doing whatever they wanted later. It just adds more variety and comedy to the interactions instead of feeling like “Horrificator.”

Marinette says that she won’t be in the movie and then she’s in the movie. Is consistency too much to ask for? (I know the answer, don’t worry.)

Marinette being caught tripping on the news, even if it’s just in the background, is just... *sigh*

It felt like they wanted to develop Andre in “Sole Crusher” and then he’s just more of a joke in this one. He does try to back off from Chloe more than usual, but they pointed out the fact that he’s made a movie and then that doesn’t even come up as a plot point in the episode, instead just being a gag about him getting cut off (Andre could’ve easily been shown thinking of his own movie experience and what he’d try and do in this situation).

It got on my nerves that people were constantly overriding whatever Marinette said to talk about “tHe bEnEfIT oF tHe mOviE.” Same with Zoe comforting Marinette; it just ends up feeling like Marinette is needlessly put in this position so she looks in the wrong for not wanting to go along with everything?

If the students all were doing this in their free time, they really should’ve just left and said that they didn’t want their name on that project, especially Nino. They just sort of complain but it’s not like they’re stuck on the project if they’re donating their spare time to it.

Okay wait. So “Mr. Pigeon 72″ had Marinette say that she was using her holidays to do guardian stuff, then Adrien later said “see you tomorrow” as if they’d see each other at school the next day, implying that the holidays are over, but now apparently there are more holidays just three episodes later??? I don’t understand.

The banana thing was so forced. No other way to say it.

Adrien literally wasn’t in the plot until Chloe insisted on it (lowkey felt like the line about Adrien being the only one “worth rescuing” was the writers projecting), and then he gets a spotlight in the movie, being the only civilian who got a noticeable amount of screen time being healed, probably due to Gabriel’s influence. We’re back to “Mr. Pigeon 72″ logic where he’s there just to be there and for love square (and also “Lies” logic where this guy apparently has nothing better to do and can just afford to come by).

ARE ADRIEN AND CHLOE STILL FRIENDS OR NOT?? (More Adrien being sad too over Chloe, plz kill me)

Zoe’s personality jump between herself and Vesperia is really jarring. Speaking of which, don’t dig the “V” theme in Vesperia’s design, nor bits of her transformation. (they also felt the need to show off her backside in the end card, whyyyyy)

Chloe seemed to remember stuff from her akumatization in “Miracle Queen” too, but I just want this detail explained to me, because Chloe called Vesperia by name despite only hearing it as Queen Banana. Does Shadow Moth control what they remember or what??

Can’t tell how much of Zoe’s speech to Chloe is genuine and how much is just her putting on an act. Likewise, confused by the whole hint/jab at a potential future Chloe redemption, as it’s all really unnecessary.

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: The Rebellion of Adrien Agreste, ch. 13

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Lila Rossi/karma, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/aneurism, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Plagg & Tikki

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Lila Rossi, Jagged Stone, Plagg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine, Penny Rolling, Anarka Couffaine, Rose Lavillant, Juleka Couffaine, Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire, Chloé Bourgeois, Wayhem, Nadja Chamack, Nathalie Sancoeur, Sabine Cheng, Tom Dupain, Tikki, Fang, Principal Damocles, Caline Bustier, Ms. Mendeleiev, original minor character, Alec Cataldi, Lila Rossi’s Mother, Sabrina Raincomprix, Roger Raincomprix, Mylène Haprèle, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste’s Bodyguard, Nino Lahiffe, Nooroo

Tags: Lila Rossi salt, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Teenage Rebellion, Swearing, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Crack Treated Seriously, Lila Rossi’s Lies Are Exposed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Luka Couffaine Needs a Hug, Paparazzi, Parentification, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Gabriel Agreste Needs an Aneurism, Uncle Jagged Stone, we’re all queer here, the spirit of punk is sometimes just being allowed to be yourself, Kagami Finds Her Groove, punk rock fashion, Savage Kagami, Marinette protection squad, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Good Parent Tom Dupain, Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Protective Luka Couffaine, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pansexual Luka Couffaine, Sharing a Bed, Pet Names, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Instagram, Bullying, Social Media, Anxiety, Makeover, Hugs, will cure your acne, Face Punching, Bad Ass Juleka Couffaine, Rumors, Protective Juleka Couffaine, Protective Adrien Agreste, Lawyers, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Holding Hands, accountability, mental health, Jagged Stone’s well-paid pet shark, How to Make the Evening News, Sexy eyeliner for days, one fish two fish Lila is a screwed fish, How to have fun and piss Gabriel off, Fuckery, sweet litigious karma, Alya sugar, lawyer shark doo doo doo doo doo doo, Schadenfreude, Bad Ass Alya Césaire, Gaslighting, abuse denormalization, Jagged likes his lawyers like he likes his pets: toothy af, Blood in the Water, Everything you didn’t know you wanted and some things you did, Gabriel Agreste is shark bait, Denial, Consequences, Principal Damocles salt, caline bustier salt, the impotence of Gabriel Agreste, snarky Nooroo, lies and the lying liars who tell them, Lila’s brain is a narcissistic hellscape, Lila’s mind is built like an Escher piece, Alec Cataldi salt, Adrien Sugar, wholesome salt, Fu Salt, Kwami Shenanigans, Nooroo is a little shit

Summary:  Sweet Litigious Karma

AO3 link

Chapters 1-2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

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They had to wait for Jagged to coax Fang out of the limo before they could proceed with phase two of the plan. Juleka murmured something to Rose, who dashed into the school and returned with Luka’s guitar.

Juleka took it and drifted to the open limo door, which had Fang hanging halfway out of it.

“I know without your guitar you feel like you’re missing a limb, so I figure you shouldn’t be without it today.” She handed it to him. “Especially after this drama.”

Luka peered out the limo and flashed a little smile. “Thanks, sis. I wanted to work on a song for Adrien, anyway. He should know what his heartsong sounds like.”

Adrien blushed at that, ducking his head.

This wasn’t part of the script, but they’d all decided ad-libbing was a good idea if anything came to mind. He’d told Luka to pretend all the reporters were naked, and apparently that had calmed him enough.

He moved back to the limo door, keeping out of Fang’s path, and took Luka’s hand. “I look forward to hearing it, ma luciole.”

An enraged high-pitched sort of bellow sounded from behind him, and Adrien turned to see Lila stomping toward him, her face a mottled red. She froze when Fang snapped in her direction, clearly bothered by her movements.

“Yeah, Fang here doesn’t like when brats like yourself harass his friends. Adrien and Luka here? They’re friends.” Jagged crossed his arms. “You’re just the liar who claimed to save my nonexistent kitten from a runway.”

Lila fumed, then turned on Marinette, who stood near her parents. “You! You did this!”

Tom protectively moved in front of his daughter as the Italian took a step in her direction, straightening his spine to increase his height.

M. Damocles cleared his throat. “Mlle. Rossi, you are on very thin ice. Stop harassing your classmates.”

“I’ll see you later,” Adrien murmured, letting go of Luka’s hand to move closer to Marinette, just in case she needed defending.

He noticed Juleka doing the same thing—and he wasn’t the only one, if Lila’s narrowing eyes were any indication.

Lila’s posture changed, becoming demure and defensive, as though she was protecting herself from harm. “I’m sorry, M. Damocles. I-I just can’t believe Marinette would go this far to bully me!”

The girl fled past the principal into the school, crying fake tears. M. Damocles blinked, looking confused. Adrien hoped he wasn’t buying into that sham.

“Fang’s better at crocodile tears than she is,” Jagged snorted, shutting the limo door now that Fang was completely out. “What a prima donna.”

The press didn’t hear him and ignored the limo as it pulled away with Luka, instead taking the opportunity to swarm Marinette, calling out questions.

“What led to Jagged Stone employing a 14-year-old girl as his designer?”

“Do you care to comment on your rivalry with Mlle. Rossi?”

“Is it true the text messages to the press were fake and you’re the real bully?”

Adrien frowned at that one, and pulled out his phone, turning it on so he could display the messages. Keeping it off wasn’t necessary since his father likely could see his location on TV.

The questions continued to ring out until…

“You seem awfully close with Mlle. Tsurugi. Are you dating?” That one was from Alec Cataldi.

Marinette blushed brightly at that question, looking more overwhelmed than he had ever seen her.

Jagged shoved his way through the crowd. “Oi! What are you doing prying into the romantic life of an underage teenager? Bloody paparazzi!”

Cataldi immediately backed off, and Penny grabbed Jagged’s arm to keep him from advancing.

That gave Adrien the opportunity to finish opening his text messages, pulling up the ones from Lila. He shoved his phone toward the reporters, scrolling up and down so they could see.

“Not faked,” Adrien announced, his voice icy. “And not ‘leaked,’ either. I made sure they went public intentionally. I do not tolerate threats against my friends. We are finished with questions, as we have other business to attend to.”

When several reporters started to ask more questions anyway, he channeled his father, as much as he hated to do that. “I will remind you that under French law taking pictures and footage of minors without permission is quite illegal, and we’ve tolerated that up to this point.”

Dead silence fell immediately, and the reporters backed off, the implied threat effective.

The space allowed them to move forward into the school, trailed by Fang. The bell rang as they entered, but the courtyard was filled with students and teachers, mostly gaping at them.

To be fair, Mme. Mendeleiev was trying to round up her students, but none of them were paying her any mind.

M. Damocles cleared his throat. “Apparently the entire school is tardy,” he announced loudly.

There was a rush as the students and teachers cleared the courtyard, with the exception of Mme. Bustier’s class, who kept watching since their teacher was beside the principal.

He turned to her. “Caline, go handle your class. I will send M. Agreste and Mlle. Dupain-Cheng along once this… matter is dealt with.”

Adrien wasn’t fond M. Damocles’ dismissive tone, but he figured that’d be destroyed by the lawyer soon enough.

In any case, as Mme. Bustier led the way up the stairs, he took quiet joy in the way his classmates gave Lila a wide berth, like she was contagious. Well, aside from Juleka, who was staying closer than was strictly necessary and smiling menacingly.

They quickly found themselves squeezed a bit tightly into the principal’s office—six adults, two teens, and a crocodile were a bit much for the small room.

Jagged took one chair, and Tom took the other, leaving the rest to stand. The lawyer placed her briefcase on the desk to open it, taking out a stack of paperwork and handing it to the principal.

“I’ll keep this brief, M. Damocles. M. Dupain and Mme. Cheng are concerned with the lack of investigation into the allegations against their daughter, and the lack of investigation into Mlle. Rossi’s claims—from illnesses and disabilities to excuses for absences. It implies not only a degree of favoritism, but additionally calls into question whether this school is following basic procedure.”

“That—”

“I am not finished, sir. Furthermore, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng has faced a multitude of instances of harcèlement moral, bullying, including destruction of her property by the mayor’s daughter—who, I might add, faced no consequences in another implied instance of favoritism. She has now been targeted by a self-admitted serial liar, whose frankly ludicrous tales managed to fool the authorities at this school, injuring her mental health. That file outlines everything she has faced in the past year.”

Adrien could see Marinette’s face redden out of the corner of his eye, and knew the lawyer wasn’t exaggerating—he’d seen and heard enough last night to know that now. He put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently to let her know he had her back.

The lawyer continued. “While current French Labor Code would see this as a violation, the law has woefully not seen fit to include schools, the workplace of students, in this definition. M. Stone is strongly disgusted by this oversight, and would be happy to see whether a suit on his employee’s behalf regarding these incidents could result in precedence in case law.”

M. Damocles’ eyes had widened, his face pale. Adrien almost felt sorry for him, but it was the inaction of far too many adults that had allowed Lila’s reign of terror to go on this long.

“However, we would prefer to resolve this outside of the courts, if at all possible. Since, unfortunately, orders of protection in France are not granted outside of situations of domestic violence. As neither M. Agreste nor Mlle. Dupain-Cheng are in a romantic relationship with Mlle. Rossi, this means they are unable to pursue one under current French law. So I will be frank: my clients seek, at minimum, an investigation into this matter and the immediate removal of Mlle. Rossi from Mme. Bustier’s classroom, so their education is not further interrupted by her behavior.”

The principal stuttered a few times. “Ah, b-but I have to consider the impact on Mlle. Rossi’s education—”

The lawyer smoothly interrupted. “Her education has already been interrupted by alleged travel outside of the country—which presumably you verified with her parents—whereas M. Agreste and Mlle. Dupain-Cheng have been in consistent attendance.”

“I-I will need to contact her mother, of course—”

“Yes, I suggest you do that. We will, of course, wait outside until you are finished speaking with Mme. Rossi. Might I suggest, if you are unable to reach her by the number provided to the school, you contact the Embassy? My clients have already been quite patient.”

With that, the lawyer closed her suitcase, and stepped over Fang to reach the door. The rest of them followed her out.

Marinette looked a bit light-headed. He led her to a bench and sat with her, Sabine and Tom joining them on either side.

After the door was closed, Adrien murmured. “I thought he was going to wet himself.”

The lawyer flashed a shark-like smile. “That is what I’m paid for.”

That got a nervous giggle from Marinette, who snuggled into Sabine’s side. She looked exhausted.

Adrien took a moment to text Kagami to let her know phase two was in progress. He also told her about the reporter’s question—he had no doubt there’d be rumors flying as a result.

[my-miraculous-headcanons]

End of Chameleon

In which Marinette tells Adrien about Lila threatening her, and things go a little differently.

“As Long As We Both Know”

     • Adrien makes the same speech as he did at the end of Chameleon. He doesn’t know Marinette was threatened, and he wasn’t around when Marinette told Alya and Nino about the event she “witnessed” in Volpina.

     • Instead of just agreeing with him, Marinette goes really silent. The look on her face worries him, so he pulls her to a more private place, like an empty classroom. He asks her what’s wrong.

     • “She threatened me,” Marinette tells him. “In the bathroom, she said she’d turn everyone against me, even you. I freaked out and almost got akumatised. I got really scared. I... I don’t want to lose my friends.”

     • Adrien is very quickly rethinking his stance on the whole matter. It’s one thing if Lila’s just telling a bunch of petty lies to get attention, but threatening someone he cares about is crossing the line.

     • “I take back what I said before,” Adrien says. “It’s not enough just knowing. Knowing didn’t stop her from scaring and hurting your feelings. But I still don’t think constantly trying to out her lies is going to work. It didn’t work before, right?”

     • Marinette can’t really argue against that. He’s right. Every time she tried to say something, it got turned around until she was suddenly the bad guy. Confronting her didn’t work.

     • “I mean,” Adrien continues. “I privately spoke to her and asked her nicely to stop, and she still got angry enough to get akumatised. And if she threatened you just because you didn’t believe her, then clearly there’s... something wrong. Telling her to stop lying doesn’t work, and trying to expose her lies doesn’t work. So maybe we can just warn our friends on the side? We could tell Alya and Nino that she’s lying.”

     • Marinette’s lip trembles, and he has a feeling he may have said the wrong thing.

     • “I already told them,” Marinette says simply. “They didn’t believe me. Alya asked me for proof.”

     • Adrien frowns. “Well, maybe they’ll listen if there’s two of us?” He doesn’t say anything about the proof. He’s actually a little angry on Marinette’s behalf for that comment, considering Alya never asked Lila for proof. 

     • “You could tell them. But I don’t think I want to be there when you do. I’m still a little upset with them, and I really don’t want to get in a fight...”

     • They agree that Adrien will talk with Nino and Alya tomorrow, and the bell rings. They both get to class. Since Marinette had that talk with Adrien, she doesn’t have a romantic daydream when he sits next to her. The worry about what tomorrow will bring has her wanting to focus more in class, to forget about her troubles, so Madame Bustier doesn’t ask Marinette to sit in the front. She and Adrien remain in the back.

The Next Day

     • Marinette arrives to school and tells Adrien about what Lila had said yesterday at the stairs. Adrien realises that Lila’s a lot worse than he had thought, and is even more determined to tell Nino and Alya the truth later.

     • When lunch starts, he pulls Alya and Nino aside, and Marinette decides to eat at home. He tells Nino and Alya that they should be careful of Lila, since she’s been lying about a lot of things. That they shouldn’t trust the promises she tells them.

     • Alya laughs. “Did Marinette tell you to say that? I don’t see what her problem is. Lila’s cool, she’ll see that soon!”

     • That surprises Adrien. And makes him very, very uncomfortable.

     • “Marinette didn’t make me say anything. Lila threatened her twice already, because Marinette knew she was lying.”

     • “You shouldn’t believe whatever Marinette tells you,” Alya says dismissively. “She’s just jealous. She’ll get over it soon.”

     • “Yeah,” Nino hops in. “Marinette just hasn’t gotten to know Lila, yet. Whatever problems she has, I’m sure it’ll blow over.”

     • Adrien’s beginning to understand why Marinette didn’t want to be here for this talk. Why she was worried they’d get into a fight. It’s making him angry. Marinette’s best friend is writing off her feelings and calling her jealous, and outright telling him not to believe a word she says. Nino’s known Marinette since forever, and he’s apparently not gonna defend her anytime soon. He’s agreeing and blowing off her feelings, too.

     • “What do you mean, ‘she’ll get over it soon.’ You guys realise who you’re talking about here, right? Don’t you think that, maybe, if Marinette’s acting really upset and seems to have a beef with someone, there’s a reason for it? We’re her friends. We should trust her.”

     • “Yeah, and that reason is because she’s jealous,” Alya says, rolling her eyes. “I know that girl like the back of my hand. Trust me, she’ll calm down and apologise soon.”

     • “Why should I trust you?” Adrien’s a little aware that his voice is rising in volume. Nino and Alya give him surprised looks. He doesn’t care. “Isn’t that a little hypocritical of you? And why are you so calm about Marinette being upset? You should be worried! You’re her best friend! What the hell is wrong with you?!”

     • “Hey,” Nino intervenes, looking really uncomfortable with how quickly this is escalating. “Dude, not cool. Don’t speak to her like that. Let’s just calm down, okay?”

     • “Don’t speak to her like that?! She thinks it’s a bright idea to go behind Marinette’s back and tell other people that she’s an untrustworthy, jealous liar!”

     • “That’s not what I said!”

     • “That’s exactly what you implied!”

     • Adrien’s confused by his anger at first, but he quickly realises why, exactly, he’s so angry. Why he’s reacting so badly. These were Marinette’s friends. They’re both close with her for different reasons, both have looked out for her in the past. They’re people Marinette thought she could always count on. 

     • These were his friends. And he’s watching his friends turn their backs on Marinette, their Everyday Ladybug, like it’s nothing. He’s watching them talk about her like her thoughts and feelings don’t matter. What does that say about them? What does that say about his relationship with them? Would they do this to him, too? 

     • These were people he thought were loyal. His friends. Marinette’s friends. But he and Marinette were wrong. These two won’t always have their backs. And that’s terrifying. 

     • He leaves that argument feeling devastated. He evades his driver and walks straight to Marinette’s house. She opens the door, sees his face, and lets him in without a word. She’s not surprised, but she had hoped.

Not Our Problem Anymore

     • Adrien and Marinette decide not to do anything about Lila, especially after Adrien told Marinette about what happened with Alya and Nino. They’re both pretty heartbroken with how their friends had acted, and they’re both very angry. Their friends won’t believe them? Fine. When the truth inevitably comes out, they better not come crawling back. 

     • With Adrien’s prompting, Marinette tells her parents about what had happened at school. Tom and Sabine are understandably furious, but also know that Marinette does not want to get involved with any more drama. They make plans to transfer her into a private school, and buy her a new phone. The only numbers Marinette puts in are her parents’, Master Fu’s, and Adrien’s.

     • Adrien puts a file together to convince his father to move him into the same private school as Marinette. He doesn’t trust his classmates anymore, and he doesn’t think he’ll be happy there without Marinette around. He's scared of the people he believed were his friends, and he acknowledges that’s unhealthy and wrong. He should have felt safe and trusted with them. 

     • So, he pulls up a logical, detailed list. The school has a great academics program, famously exceptional sports teams, and has spurned quite a lot of creative minds over the years. His father seems rather pleased, seemingly under the impression that Adrien’s getting more serious about his other activities. Gabriel has Nathalie make the arrangements for the transfer. 

     • Adrien also buys a new phone. He only has Marinette, Chloé, his father, Nathalie, Kagami, and his bodyguard entered into his contacts. Later, Marinette’s parents put their numbers in, too. 

     • Adrien and Marinette adjust to their new school pretty well, but have trust issues, and don’t make many more friends. Marinette gets over her stutter around Adrien, and they both become much closer for it. Kagami and Marinette put aside their differences and become friends, and Chloé surprisingly doesn’t make a fuss about Adrien’s transfer, but doesn’t really try too hard to make friends with Marinette.

     • When the truth about Lila comes out, Adrien and Marinette are blissfully unaware, up until someone gets akumatised over it. Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat and purify the akuma, both now equipped with the knowledge that Lila’s reign is finally over. They don’t feel relieved.

     • Alya and Nino had both tried to visit their houses and apologise. They were ignored. They were given many chances, and they blew all of them. Marinette and Adrien don’t want their apologies. Whatever happened with Lila, it’s not their problem anymore.

+ Bonus Content

     • Adrien realises that even though he lost Alya and Nino as friends, and left school, he still manages to have way more friends than Marinette. All Marinette has is him, while he still has her, Kagami, Chloé, Plagg, and Ladybug. He starts visiting a little as Chat Noir, which may be an abuse of his powers, but... He hates the idea of Marinette being lonely. A girl like her should be surrounded by friends. It’s a little awkward at first, because of her love confession from last time, but she’s even more goofier and sassier with Chat Noir. 

     • Rena Rouge and Carapace don’t make an appearance again. When Chat asked why, Ladybug said that they couldn’t be trusted anymore. Knowing how it feels to lose trust in people you thought you could count on, Chat says nothing. He simply nods and accepts it.

     • Lila was exposed when Jagged Stone had visited the school to ask about Marinette and why she hadn’t been answering his or Penny’s texts. One of the students asks him about his apparent close relationship with Lila Rossi, and he outright states that he’s never heard of the girl. Everything crumbles from there. Jagged Stone leaves to the Dupain-Cheng bakery, seeing Marinette’s not at school, and informs her parents that he wants to commission her again. He gets her new number there.

     • Almost everyone at Adrien and Marinette’s new school are completely convinced that the two are dating and are some sort of power couple. It doesn’t help that Adrien’s fans have taken pictures of the two on “dates” and that they only ever seem to be super close with each other. 

     • Marinette’s grades actually improve quite a bit in her new school. They take their academics very seriously, but they’re not harsh. When they see a student struggling, they take careful steps to help the student through whatever it is they can’t understand. Every student is is individually taken care of on some personal level. The art club is also fully stocked all the time and very calming to work in, so her design work improves as well.

     • Wayhem goes to school there, which is a surprise to Adrien. Despite his newfound trust issues, he’s been emailing Wayhem for a while, so he doesn’t mind becoming better friends. Wayhem is also a fashion nerd and, when Adrien introduced him to Marinette, the two got along really well. (When Adrien’s not looking, the two are gushing a little about their apparent shared crush on the boy. There’s no love rivalry, they kind of enjoy getting to gush about Adrien together, actually. Also, Wayhem’s convinced Adrien and Marinette are secretly dating.)

     • Chat Noir suggests Marinette to Ladybug as a new temporary hero, recommending the Fox Miraculous because of how creative and smart Marinette is. Ladybug almost starts crying. She tells him to ask Marinette, because she knows she’d have an easier time rejecting the offer as a civilian instead of Ladybug telling Chat no. 

     • Ladybug suggests Adrien for the Turtle Miraculous and Chat Noir panics and mentions Adrien’s very busy schedule. Ladybug thinks about it for a moment, agrees that Chat’s made a point, and drops the idea. 

That’s all I have for now. You guys can do with this what you want, either add your own HCs, use for a fic, etc etc. My blog is meant for everyone to take creative inspiration from, so knock yourself out. Hope you liked it!

[galahadwilder]

A Thief, Redux

Chapter 2: Dramatics

A sequel to A Thief, a Thief. Chapter 2 sponsored by @becauseforoncethisisme.

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KleptoMariac Archive

AO3

Warning: as always when I write Gabriel in non-crack fics, this chapter features emotional abuse. It also references self-harm, but none actually occurs.

*

It turns out that it’s much harder to say anything to Marinette’s parents than Lila expected. Because, for some bizarre reason, Marinette actually respects her parents. And not the way Adrien does—out of fear—but in a way that implies that, somehow, they actually earned it.

Which means half the messages she’d normally send would get her caught immediately. She may be able to fake that kind of relationship with her own mother, but Martina Rossi has never really paid attention to her. As far as she can tell, Marinette's parents do. Which means they'll notice if she messes this up even slightly.

She sighs, sending off a few messages to Rose, Alix, and Ivan while she tries to figure out what to say to Tom and Sabine. One to Myléne, one to Sabrina. Teenagers are easier to manipulate than adults—they're all convinced people secretly hate them. She's just proving them right. Their worst fears about Marinette come to light.

Then, inspiration strikes. What's a parent's worst fear about their child?

Losing them.

She scrolls back through the contacts, skipping over "Princess"—actually, hang on. What is that about? Does Marinette have a secret girlfriend? That would be interesting. Nothing she knows what to do with yet, though. Stick to the plan, go through with the idea before she loses it.

She taps on "Father," then "New Message."

Adrien: Papa? I don't think it's safe for me to stay at school anymore

Adrien: Everything's... too much. Too much pressure. Everyone's turning on me

Adrien: Papa

Adrien: I keep thinking about hurting myself

There's no response, which is a bit of a surprise. Maybe M. Dupain is busy at the bakery? Usually she would expect Marinette's family to be right on top of something like that.

Oh well. Lila shrugs with a grin, checking the time on the phone. The meet still has another twenty minutes to go—that's plenty of time.

She opens a text to Max.

*

"You have Nathalie's number?" Alya says as Adrien removes his helmet, steps forward, shakes his opponent's hand.

Marinette nods without looking up from her phone, not even at Adrien—she's on a mission now, and there's a fire behind her eyes that screams I am the Class President for a reason. Get out of my way. "How do you think we organized the seats at the fashion show?" she says.

"You mean the one where we pissed off Chloé's mom?" Alya says. She shudders at the sudden remembrance of every part of her body catching fire as she turned to glitter, and immediately shoves that down.

Marinette snorts. "Not like that's hard," she says, jamming her thumb down on her screen. "Okay, she knows. She's going to be shutting down the number shortly."

"Great! Glad that's... settled." Alya looks down at her hands, her fingers twiddling, and for a moment she can taste the metal of the bleachers just beyond them, the coppery taste settling right behind her teeth where they meet her gums. "Um," she says. "Something else that imposter said."

Marinette looks up from her phone. "Alya?"

”You—you’re stealing things again,” Alya says. She can't quite meet Marinette's eyes. “And you said you haven’t been sleeping.”

Marinette looks at her, swallows. Bites her lip, slowly lowers her phone to the bleachers. "Yeah."

”This isn’t just about Adrien,” Alya says. “How—” Her throat slams shut around her words; she knows she's at fault here, she knows she's been in denial about how much stress Marinette is under. But... but apologizing would mean admitting exactly how bad of a friend she's been lately and while she needs to, knowing it and saying it are two very different things. She can’t quite manage it. “I keep dumping babysitting on you,” she whispers instead. “How long as it been since you had a break?” Come to think of it... “I haven’t seen your design book in weeks.”

Marinette closes her eyes. “It’s—it’s okay, Alya,” she says, with an utter lack of conviction.

Alya’s heart drops, and her stomach begins to crawl, burning, up into her lungs. How much has she been hurting Marinette?

It doesn’t matter. Any amount is too much for their Everyday Ladybug, and she doesn’t even have to consider her decision before she flings herself bodily at her friend. “You don’t have to babysit every time I ask you to,” Alya says, hugging Marinette’s head to her chest. “You’re allowed to say no.”

Marinette stiffens, then relaxes into her grip. ”Don’t wanna disappoint people,” She whispers.

Alya grimaces. “You can’t serve from an empty cup, Marimuffin,” she says, rubbing her knuckles into Marinette’s scalp. “You have to take care of you first.”

“People don’t always listen.” Marinette looks up at her, eyes wet. “You don’t always listen.”

Alya’s eyes widen, and she swallows. “I—oh,” she says. “I... I didn’t realize.” She closes her eyes, breathes in through her nose. “I’ll... be more careful, about that,” she says. “In the future. And... I’ll make sure everyone else respects your boundaries too.”

Marinette just nods.

*

Lila is starting to get antsy. There's only a few minutes left in the fencing meet, and Marinette's father still hasn't messaged her back. The longer she has the phone, the more likely she is to get caught—but if she doesn't hold onto it, if she's not there when the message is returned, she's not going to be able to seal the deal, to properly hurt Dupain-Cheng through her family.

"Come on, come on," she whispers, willing the phone to sound. Pick up the damn phone, you useless excuse for a baker.

It dings, vibrating in her hand, and her heart leaps in her chest. "Yes!"  she hisses under her breath.  

Father: Stop the dramatics. This is not how you were raised to act.

Lila's eyes widen as a chill shatters through her veins. This—this doesn't sound like Marinette's father. This is not how she expected him to act. Is she—Marinette's parents are so perfect in public. Marinette seems to love them so much. Did Lila misread them all? How?

Is that why she can't seem to beat Marinette? Because the girl is impossible to read?

She falls forward, leans onto the next locker. This is not how she expected this to go, but... but. She looks back at the phone, and a grin widens onto her face. It's still working.

Father: I told you that public school would be too much for you, but you insisted. I have half a mind to leave you there to sort out your own problems.

Father: Honestly, sometimes you are as bad as your mother.

Lila's eyebrow raises as she turns her back to the locker, trying to stifle a cackle with her mouth. As bad as your mother? Something must be truly rotten in the Dupain-Cheng household. 

Father: If this is how you react to public school, then I will be pulling you out immediately. I'm glad you finally agree with me about your friends. They will no longer be allowed in contact with you.

Father: You will, of course, be giving up your phone. Clearly your time spent on the internet is doing damage to your mental health.

Lila presses a hand to her mouth to muffle a shriek of delight. This—she could not have imagined things going this well!

She glances toward the gym. Oh, she's won. "Hope you're enjoying your last ever gasp of freedom, Dupain-Cheng," she sneers.

*

The fencing meet is declared over, and both teams start packing up the equipment. It's easy to pick out Kagami, even though she's begun wearing white—every move she makes is impatient, swift. Adrien, on the other hand, is slow, deliberate. He doesn't seem to want to finish.

Alya snatches Marinette's hand and leaps to her feet, yanking the other girl up with her. She yelps, catches her foot on one of the bleachers, and stumbles; Alya is barely able to catch her in time.

The twelve other people in the stands, Adrien, Milo, Jean, Kagami, and Heloise all look up at the noise. Alya can see concern on Adrien and Kagami's faces, so she gives them a nervous thumbs-up. Marinette whines, hiding her face behind Alya's shoulder.

Satisfied, everyone turns back to what they were doing—except Adrien, who's still watching them.

"Okay, girl," Alya says, placing a steadying hand on Marinette's shoulder. "I need to go talk to Adrien to tell him what's going on." She breathes in, closes her eyes. Don't pressure her, she reminds herself. Breathes out. "Are you good to come with, or do you need to stay behind?"

Marinette blinks up at her owlishly. "Um," she says, her cheeks pinking the tiniest amount. "I... think I'll come with?"

Alya's eyes narrow at the reticence in Mari's voice, but she nods. "Okay," she says. "I can do the talking?"

Marinette nods a silent yes please, her mouth tight, her eyes wide with distress. Little signs that Alya has been missing—has her Adrien-anxiety been getting worse? And Alya didn't notice this whole time?

Alya wants to punch herself in the gut. This is not how a friend should act.

She climbs down the bleachers—over the seats themselves, because who even uses the aisles aside from Marinette (because of her coordination issues)—stepping on each seat like stones of a river, dragging Marinette behind her. Adrien watches them come.

They thread their way between fencers, coaches, and referees, making their way across the gym floor toward Adrien.

"Hey guys," he says as the get close. He looks at Mari. "You... shouted my name earlier?"

Alya opens her mouth to speak, but the Marinette voca-motive steamrolls her first.

"Someonestoleyourphone!" Marinette gasps.

Adrien's eyebrows narrow. "Was... that someone... you?" he says, confused.

Marinette squeaks, hunching her shoulders and trying to hide behind Alya.

Okay, time to take over. "Well, yes and no," Alya says, hugging Marinette's shoulder. "It looks like someone broke into Mari's locker."

Adrien's eyes soften. "Oh," he says, looking at Marinette, and wow, Alya can see the shoujo bubbles in his eyes. How does this boy not know he's—no. Nope. Not pushing this.

"Whoever it is," Alya says, "they think the phone is Mari's." She hands Adrien her phone. "They're sending really nasty things to everyone, pretending to be her."

Adrien takes the phone, scrolls through it, and starts growling. He looks up, meets Mari's eyes. "Ten euros it's her."

Marinette's eyes flick down. "No bet," she mumbles.

Alya looks between them. "Her? Who are we talking about?"

Adrien and Marinette meet wide eyes, lips pursed. Marinette swallows.

Alya's eyebrows narrow. What are they—

"I was wondering why you stole from her,” Adrien says. “You didn’t, did you?”

Marinette shakes her head, sucking her lip. “She was trying to frame me,” she says.

Adrien nods, holds up the phone. "You left her off the group chat."

”Guys?” Alya asks. “What’s going on?”

Adrien sighs, rolling his shoulder. “I think it’s time we talked to you about Lila,” he says.

*

Normally, Gabriel would prefer to avoid Akumatizing his son. It’s a pragmatic thing for when he reveals his identity as Hawkmoth—any Akuma that goes after Adrien, Gabriel can claim is an accident, that they somehow got out of control or he didn’t know the target. But sending a butterfly to infect his son directly isn’t something that can be so easily explained away, and might ruin any inclination Adrien might have to help him, Emelie or not.

And yet, right now, Adrien is devastated. He’s always been so adamant about remaining in school, even down to breaking what few rules Gabriel imposes—if he wants to pull out, something terrible must have happened. Something that gives Gabriel an opportunity.

"Dark Wings Rise!" he cries, and in moments, he is once again purple-clad, searching out his son's familiar emotions. He finds him, exactly where he expects: the fencing meet.

Except... his emotions aren't at all what Hawkmoth expected of him. He should be spiraling right now—Adrien's emotions have always been dramatic, and he's always been too weak to control them, despite Gabriel's best efforts to teach him otherwise. No matter how firm Gabriel is with him to act his age, the boy always seems to break down whenever Gabriel speaks to him. And yet that's not how Adrien seems to be feeling right now. He seems... determined?

Hawkmoth is stunned. There's nothing for an Akuma to latch onto. He's not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. He's a little proud, though. And also kind of confused. Is he missing something?

He jumps as his cane buzzes. "Hello?" he says, flipping it open.

"Sir?" Nathalie says.

"What is it?" Hawkmoth snaps. "I'm very busy."

"I've just received disturbing news about Lila Rossi," Nathalie says. And as she explains what his—he's increasingly realizing, inept—spy has done, Gabriel feels his rage begin to grow.

KleptoMariac Archive

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[miraculous-rewrite]

Miraculous Rewrite- The Bubbler

The beginning of the episode marks changes primarily started in origins, but because it is chronologically the most likely episode to have taken place after Origins itself, it’s the best spot for establishing normalcy for the average viewer.

We begin by tempering Marinette a bit in the opening scene. While she’s still excited for Adrien’s birthday, she’s a bit more subdued, as her crush is less ‘cupid’s arrow’ than before.

She’d still make the scarf, but she’d be less ‘omg for the crush and the confession i’m so happy!’ Maybe have Tikki mess with her about her affection, but Marinette is hardly embarrassed, as there’s nothing wrong with it. Stop shaming girls about their crushes 2kforever

Additional side note - Change Marinette’s wallpaper to maybe a collage of her and Alya; develop their friendship that started in Origins, given how close the two are after only JUST meeting on the first day of school.(hell yeah)

Pls delete the invasive helicopter parent joke with Sabine. While yes they can still interact, but it would be less ‘threatening to go through her emails and read her diary’ but inquiring about how the scarf came out, implying a warm relationship between Sabine and Marinette where she does in fact tell her mom about the goings on of her life. It also shows that Sabine supports Marinette’s fashion endeavors (and possibly sets up another aspect of Marinette struggling to juggle her hero life with her civillian life)

The breakfast scene is only tweaked slightly. While Nathalie still says that Gabriel denied the party to him, she does give him some advice about how while she’ll try to get him to join Adrien for dinner, he has been scheduled an extra few hours of freetime after his piano lessons, a birthday gift of sorts. something to show that Nathalie is trying to find compromises since she is for the most part in Adrien’s corner, not necessarily saying ‘if your dad continues to be trash use that time to visit your friends’ but also not… not saying it. While Adrien is sullen and quiet as before, he’s a little more petulant, perhaps muttering about how he shouldn't be surprised. Following up on his more rebellious nature this time around.

Instead of Nino trying to convince Gabriel to have a party for Adrien, he’s more along the desire to have Gabriel just.. Spend the day with his son at all. And if a couple of Adrien’s friends show up well… hey, they’re not playing loud music or anything so clearly it’s not a party. Just a celebration.

Instead of pumping herself up to go talk to Adrien and give her present to him, Marinette begins to stride over confidently before stopping and asking Alya if  her gift was actually good enough for him. After all, Adrien is the son of a fashion mogul, he’s probably too used to name brands. And Alya instead talks her up as a confidence boost. Anything she’d make he’d love. Citing to us the audience that while becoming Ladybug has increased Marinette’s confidence, she’s still got a ways to go, because one can’t just grow out of low self esteem.

Only of course to be interrupted by sudden Chloe. Of course. However instead of forgetting Adrien’s birthday, because she’s already realized that while she wants to be more like a hero she’s trapped by her own self centered obliviousness, she has his gift ready, but forgot on her way there that they do indeed go to school together now so she could have brought it with her, and of course blames Sabrina for not reminding her. This not only emphasizing that Chloe really isn’t just a one dimensional mean girl archetype, but also that despite her promise in Origins to be ‘more like Ladybug’ she doesn’t actually know how or even know what’s particularly wrong with how she’s acting beyond the vague thought of ‘this isn’t the best’

When she exits from scene to yell at Sabrina of course, the dialog is slightly different, as she warns Sabrina to never let her forget things for Adrikins at home ever again.

When Nino walks up to Agreste Manor he’s able to Spot Marinette and Alya walking away, and seeing that the two of them were in fact part of Adrien’s friend group, asks them to tag along to plead Nino’s case on letting the lot of them hang out together to celebrate for Adrien’s birthday. In his mind introducing the three of them to his father would work better for everyone so Gabriel wouldn’t be inviting strange children into his home, and also possibly opening the door to let Adrien hang out with them more in general.

Though Marinette is hesitant about joining Nino in his petition for a “small celebration,” Alya reminds her about forgetting to sign the card, and that this would be a good chance to mention that, and if they do get to throw a small celebration, then Marinette could give Adrien the gift in person.

While Nino does do most of the talking in attempt to convince Gabriel to let the lot of them celebrate with Adrien still being Nino he’s accidentally disrespectful and what he says comes off as less ‘this is a win-win for everyone, sir! Adrien needs more socializing and we’re very good influences’ and more ‘spend more time with your son you douchebag’ (not the exact words, just how they come off to Gabriel) as Alya and Marinette try to make their way to Nathalie so Marinette can sign her gift, but before any of them can get what they want Gabriel is… just the worst… and gets the three of them thrown out, putting a ban on Nino’s shoulders for being disrespectful. (not on Marinette and Alya though since they’d already shown themselves to be polite when asking for the gift to correct their error)

Adrien doesn’t arrive at home until the trio are leaving, and Nino, unable to voice his frustration is only able to shrug off Adrien’s worries before storming off, leaving Alya and Marinette to explain, Marinette wanting to say that she’d left his gift unsigned so if he finds a noteless gift it's from her, but unable to find a proper moment in the conversation since it is about Nino and his father.

Monologue before akuma hits Nino cut out, pre-akumatization monologue remains.

Minor edit: Marinette is playing with her food anxiously wondering if Adrien will find out if it’s from her or not or if she’s gonna have to tell him tomorrow. Sabine merely raises a brow before the bubble hits her and takes her off.

When Ladybug spots the teenager with two little kids immediately after transforming, she checks on the three, before telling the teen to head to the school, and bring the two kids with him, as well as any other child he sees, in order to keep everyone together and safe should a fight break out. This helps establish what we will be calling Ladybug Mode to any audience members that are just tuning in.

One of the main problems with the depictions of Miraculous Ladybug that the two of us have noticed is that so often people see the different behaviors in Marinette and Adrien versus Ladybug and Chat Noir and using them to justify that ‘true selves’ theory garbage. And us two, whom have lived through multiple ‘secret identity superhero’ series have come to the conclusion that the best way to depict that persona shift is to make it more distinctly that ‘hero mode’ and ‘civilian mode’ are more directly behavioral shifts that have to do with how Marinette and Adrien see their hero personas.

Marinette sees Ladybug as duty. It’s her job. She does it because no one else can. While she does love being Ladybug and she does love saving paris, the fact that lives are on the line is an inalienable part of things that she can never forget.

Adrien on the other hand sees Chat Noir as freedom. Something he’s always wanted and plays up his goofiness out of a desire to emulate those cartoons he used to idolize. But we’ll get back to him and his views on the Hero biz later.

Adrien realizes a little sooner that Plagg was 100% wrong in trying to enjoy this party. It’s not fun if no one else is having fun after all. He begins to try and find a way to sneak away but before he succeeds we cut to Chloe convincing Bubbler to play a slow dance song.

She catches Adrien just as he’s about to go inside, trying to give an excuse of going to the bathroom, but Chloe insists they have at least one dance.

While Marinette still uses Lucky Charm too early to split up Chloe and Adrien, her reasoning is a little less ‘jealousy’ and a little more ‘Chloe was clearly harassing Adrien what was I supposed to do, just LET that happen?’ where Tikki instead says she could have just announced her presence since Nino would stop the party to fight her. And is she SURE it wasn’t just the jealousy talking? Establishing that despite being less Into Into Adrien right now, she’s still a rash person, in addition to being new to BEING a Hero, and Tikki is actually offering possible other solutions instead of just saying ‘that was a bad move’ and then doing nothing else to help.

As Alya finds Marinette it becomes obvious both of them are well aware Nino is the Akuma today. And in that vein he was throwing Adrien the party that he believed Adrien wanted. Marinette frowns and glances down at her bag, cracked open just enough for her to see Tikki chewing rapidly on a cookie. Tikki gestures that she needs more time, and Marinette, thinking on her feet, walks through the crowd carefully to the Bubbler, and requests to enter the mansion to fetch her gift so she can give it to Adrien, the first gift he’ll receive from a friend at school, and if Alya can join her to grab it.

The Bubbler, eager to make this the best party ever for Adrien, obliges, insisting if Alya comes it’s to record this momentous moment. Marinette gestures for Alya to follow, and both girls dash inside, Alya fumbling with her phone as she makes a show of “preparing to film the occasion.”

Adrien, who knows the house rather well, is also instructed to go with them, as after all, while a crowd would be great for his best bro to open his first school friend gift, even in Bubbler form, he knows the value of intimacy and thinks it would be even BETTER if Adrien walked out back into the crowd wearing what would no doubt be a gnarly Marinette Original Accessory.

This neatly sets up Marinette being careful and thinking on her feet to keep friends safe when she can’t easily transform into Ladybug for any reason, giving herself both an alibi and protecting Alya should anything happen once she goes out to face the Bubbler. While also establishing (for far later) that Alya really does work well as someone who can trick others rather well herself. Despite her desires to be a great journalist, she knows how to spin the truth with the best of them.

Once inside, Marinette tells Alya to hide somewhere in the house, while Adrien whispers to them that he can “finally use the bathroom,” and Marinette hides elsewhere, assuring Alya she’ll be fine and it’s safer to hide in different areas.

Tikki reveals that she’s all charged up just as Ivan floats past the window. Marinette Laments that she really screwed up earlier, but that’s what makes it important that she does well now. Tikki consoles her briefly, telling her she knows better for the future, too. And now that Marinette and Adrien are both alone, the two transform and head outside to take on the Bubbler.

Someone else, other than Alya, starts the chant of “Ladybug!” when the Heroes return, as Alya is currently still hiding, though perhaps filming from a window, crouching underneath the sill.

The fight scene remains ultimately unchanged, hey guys remember when the fight scenes were fun and energetic and honestly had nothing wrong with them at any point? Good times… good times. No end monologue from Hawk Moth.

The final scene with Chloe reveals that while she hadn’t forgotten his present during Bubbler it had actually been broken briefly after Miraculous Ladybug fixed the fight scene, leaving the present mangled. So She instead demands Sabrina re-order the gift right this moment.

At the end of the episode, Nino recognizes the scarf as something Marinette made, especially once Adrien brings up the odd stitches on the inside of it, but when he glances over at Marinette, she pauses for a moment, but shakes her head with a sad smile. The rest of the scene plays out like it originally did.

[ploppythespaceship]

Once Upon A Time Watch - Season 7

I DID IT. I FUCKING DID IT. I FINISHED.

Good Things:

Gonna say it right off the bat -- this season isn’t really good? But it’s also not bad. I had a good time watching it and personally, I think it’s stronger than seasons 5 and 6 were.

I love a lot of the new cast:

Andrew J. West as adult Henry

Dania Ramirez as Cinderella/Jacinda

Gabriella Anwar as Tremaine/Bellfrey

Mekia Cox as Tiana/Sabine

Adelaide Kane as Drizella/Ivy

Rose Reynolds as Alice/Tilly

Tiera Skovbye as Robin/Margot

Daniel Francis as Facilier/Samdi

Also, I think it really helps the narrative to make Cinderella a woman of color while her stepfamily is white.

Drizella is the standout new character, and I love the twist that she cast the curse, not her mother. She has a very good and satisfying arc.

For the earlier episodes of the season, I actually like more of the focus on day to day events in Hyperion Heights, rather than grand epic magic. It’s something I missed about season 1 that I’m glad came back.

This season also struck a fairly decent balance between day to day events and grand magical schemes. Characters were woken and regained their memories slowly, until both plots could interweave into one story. It had a few missteps but for the most part worked fairly well.

Alice and Robin are adorable, and I really appreciate the writers letting a lesbian couple finally take the center stage, rather than only being implied (Mulan/Aurora) or only lasting a single episode (Ruby/Dorothy).

I like Tremaine being Rapunzel. That was a nice way to combine the stories. And I much prefer this Rapunzel to the random one-off Rapunzel in season 3.

Tremaine giving her life to save Lucy is a nice touch and a good end to her character. She had a pretty solid arc for the season that I enjoyed.

At first I hated Alice being Nook and Gothel’s daughter, but it’s growing on me. I think because it’s a similar situation to Robin and Zelena, where the woman became pregnant by pretending to be someone else and tricking the man (hey OUAT writers, that’s rape, please remember this), but instead of excusing Zelena they keep Gothel as the villain the whole time, and it’s made very clear that Gothel is not Alice’s mother in any way that matters. It’s also a really nice connection for Nook, since he doesn’t have the relationships with the rest of the cast the same as regular Hook.

I like the finale taking place in the Wish Realm, purely for the sake of all the cameos they can bring in. I wish they’d played that up a bit more, honestly.

Overall, I like Rumple’s ending and his sacrifice. He did the right thing fully believing that he wouldn’t get back to Belle, and that’s ultimately what got him his happy ending with her. Good shit, good shit.

I also like how the entire story turned into Regina’s redemption arc, going full circle from the Evil Queen to the Good Queen. It’s cheesy, but it’s nice.

Bad Things:

It’s really obvious that they only had a handful of the original actors at their disposal. Some characters are unceremoniously written out, while others are awkwardly shoehorned in. They get the hang of it eventually, striking a balance between the old and the new, but for a while the setup is very awkward.

The downtown Seattle setting just isn’t working for me. Storybrooke had a very distinct feel to the entire town, and its locations were almost like characters in and of themselves. Meanwhile Hyperion Heights is just a generic downtown area that doesn’t stand out from the rest of the city at all. Also, people can freely come and go... but only sometimes. It’s very unclear.

Alison Fernandez has little kid charm, for sure, but not enough to really carry the series the way she needs to. I just can’t get attached to her the way I got attached to little kid Henry -- though I think it’s more down to the writing than her performance. They don’t let her carry the story, it’s all wrapped up in the other characters.

While Andrew J. West perfectly captures Henry, he also highlights how dull of a character Henry really is. There’s nothing really distinct about his personality or anything to latch onto for the lead character.

Everything about Rumple this season.

I didn’t care for Rumple and Belle’s final episode with the silly Up montage. And it makes no sense that Rumple spends all those years with no idea how to get rid of the dagger, but then as soon as Belle dies he knows that he needs to find the Guardian. Why didn’t he do that decades ago? That was very unclear.

They also?? Don’t explain what the Guardian is?? Ever?? It’s yet another mysterious title they give to people without ever fucking explaining it. First Anastasia is one. Then for some reason, Alice is, and we’re never given any further info. It’s the multiple Saviors from season 6 all over again.

And then to top it all off, Rumple’s immortality is removed... with the Author’s Pen. You know, something he could have found ages ago. He’s a smart dude, he would have thought of that.

Honestly, Rumple has lost all of his presence and power. It’s like he’s background noise, and it’s a waste of Robert Carlyle.

There's too many competing villains in too short a span of time, and they keep trying to one up each other. Like it’s a twist, there was secretly an even bigger villain behind it all. It’s like matryoshka dolls, but with half-assed villains. And I don't like the chief one being Gothel. There’s nothing wrong with her, but she’s just not nearly as compelling as Tremaine, Drizella, or Facilier.

The repeated Dark Curses start to feel like a cop out, but Drizella managing it without crushing anyone’s heart is the biggest cop out of all.

Robin and Zelena's mother daughter squabbles are really forced and feel like something out of a bad Disney channel original movie.

Why the hell does the curse go back in time as well? It doesn’t add anything but confusion. Now it could have been really cool if they’d shown Henry’s phone conversation only from young Henry’s side in the premiere, and that’s what prompted him to wander the realms. They could have left the mystery of that for the entire season, making for a satisfying reveal. The way it was set up, it just seems odd. It’s like they realized last minute that they had a timeline error and hastily wrote this in to cover for it.

The finale’s big bad is Wish Realm Rumplestiltskin, which is... okay. But feels repetitive since we’ve been so used to Rumple for so long.

I... I don’t understand how Rumple’s sacrifice wound up killing the other Rumple. They didn’t explain that. It’s not like characters split with the Jekyll/Hyde serum, where that’s clearly established as a rule -- these are two different versions of the same character, I... I don’t... yeah, okay.

[ambiguityisnoonesfriend]

May the 4th 2018 Letter

Dear Yoda,

I am so excited! I love all the iterations of the characters and relationships I’ve requested, and can’t wait to see what you’ve created for me!

My likes: toppy women and partners who are turned on by toppy women, humor, angst, endings with hope intact, functional relationships, dysfunctional relationships, secret relationships that aren’t really a secret, canon divergence AUs such as what if they got there five minutes sooner, time loops, porn, gen, fluff, friends with benefits, friends with benefits with feelings, interactions with the other characters who would be around at the same time except as specified, mixing and matching prompts (ex: Leia and Hera both having different troubles raising Force-sensitive kids and complaining to each other, or Ahsoka/Sabine go on a double date with Ezra/Luke, or something completely different)

My specific art likes: two or three panel simple line comics, playing card or tarot card type imagery, setting a scene, magic and metaphor

My specific porn likes: failsex including interrupted during or instead of sex, cunnilingus, both slash and het anal (DNW femslash anal), light bondage, sex pollen, aliens make them do it, the Force makes them do it, mental connections during sex, mental connections as a substitute for sex, using the Force during sex including light Force choking, Force ghost sex, toys

My line for enjoying sex pollen/AMTDI/TFMTDI is based on how much trauma the characters feel -- I prefer situations where they aren’t traumatized or upset and use the aliens/Force/pollen as an excuse for what they both/all wanted.

I do not want: noncon (okay with dubcon and sex pollen), scat, watersports, omegaverse, unrequested ships except as listed elsewhere in my sign-up, non-canon AUs such as coffeeshops, DJ, Holdo, Lux

Rey/Kylo: I went into TLJ expecting to get nothing for this pairing except maybe one dream sequence. I came out loving them even more. I love this pairing for all the potential. They are opposites. They are exactly the same. Each is incredibly jealous of the other. They keep being drawn together like two ends of a stretched spring, and the only question is if they’ll fuck, fight to the death, or both. My fondest hope is both. I love all variations of dubcon for these two, from The Force Made Them Do It and Sex Pollen, to Forced To Work Together For Reasons. Force bond sex also very welcome!

Finn/Rey/Kylo: I see Rey as drawn to both of them in a classic triangle: Finn is the pull of the light, and Kylo is the allure of the dark, and Rey is fascinated by both. Maybe Finn is enough to bring both the Jedi to the light. Maybe Kylo seduces them both to the other side. Finn and Kylo carry a lot of baggage with each other. Do they set it aside at Rey’s request, or does it define how they both must deal with her and one another? Kylo defecting and having to be babysat by Rey and Finn! Rey is injured and Kylo and Finn have to have magic Force Sex to save her! Aliens make the three of them do it!

Leia & Ben: The pain and the angst and the love in this broken family is the gift that keeps on tearing my heart out and I love it. I love every piece of heartache, how they got there, what each one thought the other thought. Given all possible futures, what would the final fallout be between Leia and Kylo after TLJ?

Poe & Ben & Jacen: At some point, these three were dragged along to some Rebellion reunion where their parents had fun reminiscing about the old days and the kids were bored. Nothing starts out well when the first words you exchange with someone are "My mother said I have to be nice to you." Knowing that Ben grew up to be a human disaster, and Poe wasn't not a disaster, and Jacen is named after a different human disaster, all I am saying is that something got set on fire by the end of the party, certainly by accident, possibly by the Force. This or any other misadventure the three kids got into would be a wonder and a delight.

Kanan/Hera & Chopper, Hera & Chopper: It's strongly implied that Chopper was Hera's only friend before Kanan came along, and from the finale, it looks like he's the one friend who will never leave her. How did they grow together? How long did it take her to fix him up after she found him, and what kinds of trouble did the two of them get into along the way? What happened when she brought aboard an alcoholic drifter who is suddenly competing with Chopper for her attention? What did Kanan make of a foul-mouthed astromech who may or may not have tried to kill him a few times?

Luke/Leia: I was ready for this ship to be sunk in the movie. I was not expecting to walk out shipping it even harder. I want all the happy times before the family reveal. I want all the angsty history post-ROTJ. Luke Denying his feelings. Leia denying hers. The times denying those feelings failed. Maybe Han knows. Maybe Han joins in. Maybe he doesn't know and that's part of the angst. Pre-TFA snuggling. Post-TLJ Force Ghost snuggling. It's all good.

Ezra/Luke: I love the idea of Ezra and Luke meeting up after the original trilogy and finding someone who understands what it's like to be them. They've both been through things nobody else would understand. Maybe Luke is the one who ends up finding Ezra out in the UR, or Ezra finds his own way back and runs into / is drawn to Luke.

Ahsoka/Sabine, Ahsoka & Sabine: Space lesbians on a quest! Everyone knows the point of a quest story is the journey and the discovery of the characters' own true inner selves, right? I want to know about all their adventures together! Does Ahsoka teach Sabine more badass lightsaber moves? Do they pretend to be married on one planet for reasons? Does Sabine build an awesome Machine that causes them unforseen plot problems? Do they date each other? Do they date other women while being happy for each other? I am okay with any combination of this, and I am happy to see them as a couple, or as dating any other female characters or OFCs except not Sabine/Ursa or Sabine/Hera.

Leia & Hera & Sabine: Capers for the Rebellion! This mission happened. I don’t know if it happened before or after the Battle of Yavin, or even several years after Endor, but it happened. Maybe they have to rescue other team members. Maybe they have to go woo new allies, or pick up supplies from a picky source. Leia and Hera are going to disagree about who is in charge. Sabine’s loyalty on the topic may vary depending on who is annoying her more at that moment. Leia and Sabine may wind up with their very first hangovers, or at a later setting, maybe they’re remembering same. For background pairings, I’d prefer Leia with Han, Luke, or both, and Hera with Kanan. Sabine is my little black femslash dress; I don’t ship her with Hera or Ursa but anyone else is fair game.

Hevy & 99: I rewatched the Domino Squad arc recently and was overcome with clone feelings. It seems like Hevy had talked to and confided in 99 before. Did he see his brother as a mentor? 99 clearly held great affection for all the clones who passed through his life. In the microcosm of his friendship with Hevy, how did he see himself? You can bring in the other clones to the story, but I'd like the primary focus to be on these two. You could take this in a more romantic direction if you like, or keep it platonic and focus on the friendship they built.

Hera/Rex: I could see them forming a FWB arrangement sometime by Hoth. Hera doesn't want to get feelings involved ever again because she doesn't want another broken heart. That doesn't mean she won't get feelings anyway but they're not in her plan. Rex has admired her for years but there are chain of command issues, which could be why he's on the Endor strike team and not directly under her command circa RotJ. They both can have angst because of the dead guy in the room, real ghost or imagined. She can have angst out of wonder if this is the best thing for her heart or her child. He can have angst because he doesn't do relationships and his time is getting shorter by the minute and should he accept this little bit of happy? Maybe they end it after one time. Maybe they knock on each other's door every several months even after the war.

Rex & Luke: The moment Rex figures out who Luke is, he is going to be Luke's number one fountain of information on Anakin Skywalker. How do they both react? Luke kept the Vader thing secret for Leia's sake, but did he ever tell Rex?

Hera & Jacen: My one DNW with this relationship is no character death for either, otherwise I am here with the fluffiest of fluffy kid fics to the most heart-wrenching of angst. Hera playing with the new baby and feeling her heart lighten! Jacen's first flying lesson! Maybe he has the Force, maybe he doesn't, maybe he really does but Hera convinces Sabine and Zeb to lie with her and say he doesn't. Does she spend every day worrying at the going rate for the Black Sun's bounty on any known Force sensitive child? Does she tell him the Good Parts stories about the Ghost family in their heyday, and is he the one she was talking to in the trailer voice over? Does she have to keep his legion of uncles and aunts from spoiling him? Does she take him into space battles with her aboard the ship, knowing they could be blasted into dust? How does the conversation go with Cham when she tells him he's going to be a grandfather? Did he ever attend Jedi Death School and how did the two of them react when they found it how it ended?

Hera/Kanan: All of it and everything. Their first months working together. Missing scenes from the time of the show. That time they banged in Ezra's old comm tower while everyone else was busy during "Flight of the Defender." Those times they banged in the various rooms of the ship. Kanan figuring out this Force Ghost business after the fact the way Qui-Gon did, and hanging out to watch and guide. Were Zeb and Sabine their first attempt at building a crew, or were there others around before, and what happened? He's been smitten with her since the beginning, and she didn't say she loved him until the end, so how did they work around feelings, and not admitting to those feelings despite the fact that everyone around them knew? What was he about to tell her when Rukh attacked? Fix-its! Post-canon angst! Comedy capers where they're just hanging out having fun!

[izzyovercoffee]

Su'cuy, vod! I read through basically all your Mando'a posts and had some thoughts I wanted to share. I semi-actively work on a Mando'a-English-German dictionary, which opens a whole new chest of translation problems, but you gave me some great ideas, so I incorporated them into the dictionary. For example that whole sheath thing, for that I added a remark to the original word, to warn about it's connotation (didn't remove it, because 'real' dictionaries include slurs sometimes as well) 1/X

Only thing, where I differed from your idea on this was cab'gam, I used this as ‘protective case/cover’. Now some other things I thought of: On colours - you pondered about the connotations of yellow regarding ‘just/barely alive’ and its comparison to gold. I thought maybe it’s about flames/light - like a bright vivid flame is a bright gold, while the flame, when it’s only small and ->barely alive

Woo this is a long ask. I’m so sorry I’ve taken so long to get around to answering this, I’ve been very busy!! Also, I think I’m missing part 7? But I think I can extrapolate what was in it, unless you’d like to send it to me again if you still have. I’m so sorry again anon!

I’m good w/ defining cab’gam that way too, maybe as a general term for protective case, since we do technically need a general/generic word for that. So cool, that def works !! I’ll go back and note that on the original post.

Also, yeah. YEAH! You know, when I was working on that post, I didn’t even consider that it might have been referencing intensity of light/fire? But the way you put it, that may actually make more sense than the direction I was going in. I was definitely perplexed somewhat, like I was missing something. This sounds like what I was missing.

That could also apply for the heat of a flame, too. Like, referring to the intensity of the light, or the intensity of the heat, or both, depending entirely on context.

I’ll notate that in my personal references. I’ll probably come back to this in the future if/when I put one long complicated color references/resources post together again. 

Thank you for bringing that up, truly.

Meanwhile I also really like your thought and explanation on yellow and orange maybe being the same for Mandalorians. Another thing I wanted to tell you is sth you already found yourself, that saviin sounds a lot like Sabine, which seems very very likely to me, considering the long i (or rather e - from an anglophone perspective) and that [v] and [b] are very similar sounds, so maybe Sabine is like a basic transcription or a dialect form of Saviin. Regarding the meaning of the colour/name 3/X 

My etymology for it would be the following: “viin”/“bine” being a degenerated/shortened form (or even the root?) of kebiin - blue connected with “sa” - as, like, it gives “sa viin” - “like blue”, what is kind of a good description for purple/violet, implying the standard shade in mandalorian perception would be a darker bluish purple ALSO implying that the concept of purple cam up comparably late in the language, similar of the color orange getting it’s name rather late in germanic languages 4/X

Ohhh that’s such a good point! I was going color by color so I missed the connection in the effort to complete the post, which was an oversight by me sadly. But that’s such a great point ??? 

If anything it might also then directly connect the connotations of blue (reliability) with purple (adaptability, survival in adversity). They who are reliable can be depended on to adapt and survive adversity, or so on, kind of like orange (lust for life) from yellow, as thought about from above (the intensity of the flame). 

(lmao this is so awesome tbh thank you for mentioning both !! I’m like vibrating from excitement from these two points !! is that weird to say lmao let me make this hard to read so I don’t embarass myself too much)

Then I wanted to ask where you got the words cingaanar and din'waadar, as they aren’t included in the dictionary I have, what confused me little, as I also only got search results linking to your very post about it. In another post you questioned the missing of a word for child of parents sibling or was it child of sibling? Anywy, I’d say the explanation is for both rooted in the way Mandalorian society is made up. As we know the ideal is a big clan living together kinda like a commune…. 5/x

so the words cinargaanar and din’waadar were pulled from mandoa.org dictionary, which is the most popular resource. it’s also in one of the editions of the mando’a dictionary that was released via spreadsheets back in the day from Karen Traviss’ site. It looks like those spreadsheets are no longer available to access, so take that with a grain of salt, but essentially mandoa.org was/is the most comprehensive of “canon” mando’a we have to date in easy access to the general person.

Going along the common phrase “it takes a village to raise a child” any capable adult is expected to participate in bringing up the kids, so while it’s known who’s whose child it doesn’t matter enough to be shown in language. So your parent-sib-kids are just your vode (remember, vode an!) and your sib-kids are “ade” as well as your own children, it’s consens that mando'a relies heavily on context, so speaking family internally context tells who your own childs are and who aren’t. Aruetiise.. 6/X 

view about love. For Mandalorians love isn’t really an emotional thing, that’s also why we shouldn’t take “kar'taylir darasuum” lit. as “hold sm. eternally in the heart”, but rather just as “knowing someone forever”. Knowing someone for so long (or so good/deep it feels like forever) that you can unconditionally trust them and you have a strong bond with each other, that’s the mandalorian meaning of “love” With having “love” as such a hard-to-achieve state of sentiment it isn’t surprising… 8/X

Okay so it looks like I’m missing part 7/X and I’m so sorry if you don’t have it around anymore. I think I can extrapolate the meaning/context though. Again, I’m so sorry for the delay in responding.

wrt children of my siblings, I can see what you mean by that for sure. If anything, maybe instead of inferring them as vode, maybe the “proper” way is to refer to them as if they are your own children? As you mentioned “it takes a village to raise a child,” I’m wondering, now, if it’s more like … because mandalorians are so community-centered / focused, if the polite thing is to indicate that these children are “your” children, as they’re just as much an aunt/uncle’s responsibility as anyone else.

We certainly see Kal Skirata refer to all children as kid/s, or his kids even if he has no intention of adopting them. Since he’s supposed to be a representation of appropriate parenthood (all of our issues regarding him notwithstanding), perhaps niece/nephew isn’t a specificity that is seen as necessary — maybe it’s considered an unreasonable boundary specifically when it comes to children. Notsomuch the adults, as mandalorians can divorce authority, but children are sacred and unnecessary boundaries may interfere with that?

It’s something to think about at least.

edit:: with some mulling over w/ @cassiansfuzzyjacket I’d like to note that it may be inappropriate to claim that one’s sibling’s child is “your” child, as a child’s parents still inhabit an entirely different role and space than aunts and uncles. it’s more likely KT never thought about it and thus that’s why it’s missing, but ultimately YMMV. 

wrt love, that’s definitely a possibility. I feel like love and its interpretations is contingent on … cultural … interpretations? Notsomuch in-universe as the general audience (like you and me) and what we bring from the context of our lives and perception and place upon difficult concepts such as love.

I’m definitely informed by my experiences, and so how I view love is dramatically different than maybe how you do (or the same!). and I feel like when it comes to defining love from a mandalorian point of view, we need to get into the perspective as its available to use.

what I mean is that I agree with you, when you put it that way. At least, for a good subset of mandalorians if not all of them, love may then require trust, or knowing not as knowledge but deeper than such, exactly as you said. 

it’s certainly how I’ve personally come to view love, and love as a bond that requires a foundation of trust and reliability as opposed to passion that may not be entirely well placed despite best intentions … but then again I have a difficult time myself with the conceptualization of love so I might not be the best person with which to develop words for it. 

It also concerns me bc mandalorians may have this deep difficult and complicated understanding of love, but then also culturally expect people to marry young and stay together … and we’ve seen many, many instances where this often leads to unhappy marriages, or even dramatic power imbalances within the relationship, maybe even rendering them inescapable. So how does one bridge these dramatically opposing ideals?

I mean context and culture already has, as divorce is a clearly supported thing across different power differentials so maybe the expectations aren’t restricted by law. Something to think about, in any case.

Thank you so much for your thoughts! You’ve given me a LOT to think about and mull over, and I deeply deeply appreciate it. Thank you. Vor’entye.

[miraculouscontent]

Always.

“Truth” is just... I mean, I want to say “garbage” but that doesn’t even do how bad it is justice? Like, okay, I take four major issues with it (my followers be like: just four? :P):

First is the writing in general and the continuity of it all. This episode looks like it’s been through multiple drafts and the final product is an amalgamation of a bunch of them with no coherency between any of them. I already could kind of guess it from the Adrimi kiss that the finale removed, but it’s obvious that there were going to be Adrimi/Lukanette arcs in Season 4 but then stuff happened (i.e: the staff being cowards) and they got cut. It’s totally possible that the plot with Jagged Stone being the father and Marinette having to keep secrets from Luka were still the same episode even in the original draft, but I imagine it at least wasn’t episode one.

There are other, more subtle hints as well, like the episode giving no time to Luka learning that Jagged is his father (making the fandom wonder if Luka remembered when he was Truth) and Ladybug being shocked when she realizes that the akuma is Luka as if she didn’t already see him be akumatized. Juleka also gets weirdly sidelined in the episode despite being Luka’s twin (Astruc has stated that both Luka and Juleka are older and Juleka got held back, which is why she’s in Marinette’s grade but Luka isn’t), so she’s Jagged’s offspring as well. One might presume that Juleka just never cared at all but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be allowed to interact directly with the guy or have any involvement at all. All it would’ve taken is for Luka to mention that Juleka never cared about who their father was but he did, thereby implying that Juleka’s reaction to Jagged would probably be more like, “oh okay.”

You know, if they didn’t reduce her to incoherent mumbling.

Second is the timing of this episode. We had the New York special with Paris being destroyed, but it’s clearly fine here (so I guess it isn’t canon now; thank God honestly), and while it’s technically possible that enough time has passed (supported by the vague implication that Marinette having to miss out on dates with Luka has gone on for a while, given Tom and Sabine’s lack of reaction to them dating), it’s not supported by Marinette examining the Miracle Box as if she’s only just gotten it.

There’s also Shadow Moth, where we’re shown an extended version of the scene from the end of “Miracle Queen” where Gabriel repairs the peacock miraculous, giving the episode a “Volpina”->”The Collector” vibe but then why are the events lining up the way they do???

The narrative also does a really bad job at showing us why Marinette is so strapped for time. She has guardian duties now but you’d think it’d balance out with her not having to go to Fu anymore for guardian training (you know, that thing we never saw but was said to be happening or at least that it was Fu’s intent to have it happen). You could argue that maybe Shadow Moth is more active, but then Chat Noir should be affected by this too; Ladybug states outright that she’s been busy and Chat Noir responds with something akin to, “oh I know, because you’re guardian,” which implies that it’s her guardian duties keeping her busy and Shadow Moth is just interrupting her dates specifically.

But we don’t even see what responsibilities she has added on as guardian. I knew the writers would make it so her being guardian was a hassle, but it’s the first episode of the series and we’ve gotten next to no answers for what being guardian actually adds.

It’s almost like this was a rushed first episode to break up the only thing that unambiguously made Marinette happy for the sake of bringing the love square back and needlessly making her suffer because the writers think it’s hilarious.

Speaking of which, the third thing thing is the comedy because--just--I hate the comedy in this show.

Like, just to start, there’s the kwami, who clearly begin with their mob mentality from the later episode of “Furious Fu” and all proceed to act like children. No, I didn’t expect them to all be wise (I mean, Xuppu exists and is very much not that, having been implied to be a fit for Kim who is known for being a total himbo), but I don’t expect them to all scatter like they do. Kaalki in particular, who was shown to be more poised and refined, blatantly reveals herself to a bunch of civilians just for the sake of Marinette freaking out and needing to make up an excuse.

Same with Alya and her friends. Marinette is panicking because of the kwami and Alya “deduces” (while shading Marinette so blatantly that it’s insulting) that Adrien must be there in her house which--maybe don’t SAY THAT OUT LOUD in case Adrien is literally in her room???). Then Marinette gets a call from Luka, shouts his name, and the girls do a complete 180 in support of Lukentte. It’s not like I’m not for them supporting whatever Marinette wants to do, but the shift is so sudden (and contradicts “Frozer”) that it gave me whiplash and the entire scene ends up being pointless since the girls still go with the “Marinette is in love with Adrien” thing when Truth asks them what Marinette’s secret is. Like, we could’ve gotten small, stupid secrets that everyone thought only they knew about Marinette, but instead it’s just the same thing over and over again (which makes no sense since, by the time Alya blabs the secret - which Alya has already told Nino before anyway - it’s no longer a secret therefore making the answer invalid).

Heck, the whole “secret” thing could’ve even been the people Truth shoots finding ways of answering his questions in a way that is technically telling the truth but also not really, such as if Anarka had answered the, “Who’s my father?” question with, “someone you know/someone famous,” so as to avoid saying that it’s Jagged Stone. It’s just boring seeing characters answer with whatever the asker wants to hear instead of being able to find a way around it.

And then there’s Chat Noir, who’s just--ugh.

Like--okay, I’m going to be extremely petty for a moment and just go off because I hate Chat Noir’s role in this entire episode. The Season 3 finale went out of its way to have Chat Noir be all like, “I have a girlfriend,” when it was a lie, and then Season 4 just parkours around Ladybug telling him that she’s dating (Ladybug clearly took no issue with Chat Noir telling her he’s dating so it’s not like she’s worried about issues there; she’s gotten on his case before in episodes like “Startrain” so there are exceptions) because they want to keep having him flirt and not be sAd because this is Marinette’s episode of suffering and Chat Noir actually having to face the reality that Ladybug is dating (not just in love with someone else) would’ve actually been interesting. Chat Noir gets tons of unnecessary screentime in the episode - mostly for the show to shove in LadyNoir shipping fuel - and then actively avoids telling him the obvious thing because he would’ve actually been forced to grow/develop/stop flirting.

It would’ve been so cute and sweet to see him awkwardly trying to flirt without overstepping boundaries (so more like banter than flirt) or - you know - actually try to support Ladybug and want her to be able to finish her dates by him offering to keep akuma/sentimonsters busy, but no, he’s just left in the dark.

The finale had Chat Noir supporting her (terribly but I digress) and then doesn’t do anything with it at the start of Season 4, meaning his support of her was completely meaningless and just there.

His first appearance is him pranking Ladybug when she’s already overstressed and busy, which comes off as super poor taste and I’m both glad he got splatted into that window for it but also upset because it’s screentime completely gone to waste, and of course it’s just a lead up to him guilting her by being like, “nooo the only thing that hurts me is when you leave me alone during patrol!”

I know he’s teasing (...probably) but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth because we know (well, I knew because I know how this show works) that Luka and Marinette were going to break up because of Marinette’s hectic schedule, so it just comes off as insensitive to joke about it, especially when Ladybug’s busy guardian status just serves as a reminder that Fu is gone.

Even when he’s protecting Ladybug from Truth’s questions by cutting in and asking a question of his own, of course he asks about himself to forcibly fish compliments out of Ladybug because she can’t lie to him, and of course they have Ladybug compliment his humor most of all as if that trait hasn’t nearly gotten them in danger multiple times and she’s been repeatedly annoyed when he decides to joke during the worst possible times. It’s as if the writers wanted to pat themselves on the back for their own comedy, so they had Ladybug be a mouthpiece to stroke Chat Noir’s ego.

He claims he won’t force a truth out of her and then literally forces her to say what her favorite things about him are. I acknowledge that this can be seen as me nitpicking but we went from the finale where Chat Noir actually stepped up and took charge (because Ladybug was stressed but I guess him doing anything useful is just whenever it serves the plot) to this where he’s back to flirting constantly and jamming in as much LadyNoir shipping fuel as physically possible. It’s not that he’s useless but he’s annoying and takes up space in an episode that’s supposed to be about Luka and Marinette.

And that leads us into the fourth thing, which is the break-up and just the treatment of Luka and Marinette in general. I could go on and on about how the Season 3 finale built up their relationship just to tear it down in the first episode of Season 4, but that’s not the main issue here.

Luka brought Marinette comfort. He made her happy. He never judged her. He was happy to just date her regardless of any conflicted feelings she might have because hey, who is he to complain if she wants to give him a try and who knows what’ll happen?

And the season couldn’t even give one moment of them being unambiguously happy without ruining or interrupting it. I was ready for the break-up and I was even ready for it to be the first episode but I wasn’t ready for it to be so bad.

Marinette’s Adrien pictures appear out of nowhere (again, makes no sense for the timeline) when they’ve been gone for basically all of Season 3 and even “The Puppeteer 2″ specifically which makes a direct reference to “Troublemaker,” the episode that purposefully overdid it with her pictures (”Truth” has more hanging up and clearly used “Troublemaker” as a reference, by the way). They’re just there for force the love square and Adrien into the episode as much as possible to remind the audience that Adrien breathes. There is literally no purpose to any mention of Adrien and bringing him up isn’t even relevant to Marinette and Luka’s break-up.

It’s just upsetting to know that the umbrella scene from “Origins” (which is already flawed in and of itself) kickstarts this whole thing. Adrien did basically nothing there except for clear up a misunderstanding and give Marinette an umbrella when his ride was a few meters away and Marinette’s house was just across the street, but that actives Marinette’s absolutely crippling crush on him that lasts for 3-4 seasons. Marinette is in this eternal struggle of not being allowed to grow and change because the writers think her stammering/crushing on Adrien is funny while actively punishing her for having this crush in the first place (again, like in the scene with Alya, which insults Marinette for her crush when she wasn’t even panicking over her crush).

It’s the same with Luka, and I can’t believe that it took me until this episode to realize that he and Marinette are both treated the same way: tormented by episodes for having a crush on someone. Episodes will go out of their way to forcibly insert Adrien into the plot to both humiliate Marinette and make Luka feel awkward when the episode isn’t supposed to be about Adrien at all. “Truth” is just “Desperada 2.0″ except Adrien is barely on screen at all and they still felt the need to name drop him constantly. The writers are so sensitive to the idea of people jumping onto another ship or forgetting that Adrien exists that they’ll find any possible way to include him.

“Silencer” knew better. “Silencer” knew that Marinette’s life didn’t have to revolve around the mere mention of Adrien’s name and that she had other interests/desires/traits outside of him. Adrien isn’t brought up once and it was great because the show didn’t feel the need (for once) to throw Adrien into an episode that he had nothing to do with.

Even if I was a love square shipper, I would feel insulted by “Truth” because one half of my ship kept getting name dropped and used as a tool to humiliate the other half, which makes it all the more eyeroll-worthy when the love square stans of the fandom praise this episode for breaking Lukanette up when--oh, wait, they didn’t even break up “because Adrien.”

And that ends up being the real thing here. The writers had to invent a reason for Marinette and Luka to break up. We already know that Jagged Stone being Luka’s dad is a retcon (not technically in the show’s canon but in information we heard about outside of it), so they shoved in Luka having issues about not knowing his father specifically so that he would be pushed over the edge when Marinette couldn’t tell him about her being Ladybug.

When Luka and Marinette were just together and hanging out, Adrien wasn’t mentioned once. Say whatever about the Adrien pictures being on the wall and Marinette’s stammering (she always says stupid stuff when she panics - especially stuff she doesn’t mean - so I’m not upset with her so much as the writing for having her mess up in that specific way), but the only time Marinette talks about Adrien at all in the episode is when someone else brings him up.

She goes on a date with Luka to the cinema and they were having a great time without Adrien involved at all. I know I already stressed this point in a previous post, but one of the reasons that I find Lukanette to be so amazing is because the show actually focuses on Marinette’s interests and doesn’t force her to be the writer’s mouthpiece for gushing about their sunshine boy a punching bag for comedy. In every Lukanette scene that doesn’t bring up Adrien/before Adrien shows up, Marinette is either praised, able to be happy, or is showing one of her interests that isn’t aDrIeN, and whereas Adrien being on-screen around Marinette usually just means that she’s gushing about/stammering around him with no development, Lukanette features us actually learning more about Luka or other characters.

“Captain Hardrock” - lets her bond with Luka over a shared interest in Jagged Stone, and Luka is established as a sort of empath who uses music as a way to speak for himself

“Frozer” - gets to practice ice skating with Luka, who is actually good at ice skating and also can tie laces despite not tying his own because he’s a rebel

“Desperada” - gets to try out guitar with Luka and we learn that Luka has been playing guitar for as long as he can remember

“Silencer” - showcases Marinette’s interest in fashion and properly introduces Kitty Section; has a plot featuring all of them together doing something not even remotely love-related and we get actual confirmation of Luka’s crush on Marinette, along with Marinette’s reaction (blushy+happy; just saying, idk how anyone could watch “Silencer” and not think that Marinette was crushing on Luka)

“Heart Hunter” - Marinette gets a song written for/about her and Luka is established to have a job

“Truth” - brings up Lukanette’s shared interest in Jagged Stone, features Marinette’s interest in fashion when she gives him a gift she made + had Jagged Stone sign, and shows her raising her voice but not being judged by Luka for it, who’s happy with her just the way he is

When the show focuses on Lukanette, it’s all about lifting Marinette up, praising her, and making her feel good. When Adrien is involved or it’s hyper-fixating on Marinette’s crush on him, it’s about bringing her down and making her feel bad for a crush they keep forcing her to hold onto and humiliating her for.

Point being, the writers had to force their way into getting Lukanette broken up because of their precious love square and the fact that Marinette and Luka being happy is the opposite of what they want.

It’s embarrassing to watch a team full of old white guys (I’m convinced at this point that they just hang their female writer on a coat hanger so they can point to her whenever someone says that their staff is too male-dominated) treat their female biracial lead with such disrespect, and I can only presume that the mistreatment of Luka is because he’s supportive of her and they don’t like that, meaning that the way she’s treated ends up rubbing off on him.

It doesn’t come off as a fun or interesting plot; it comes off as cruel. When Adrien is sad, he usually gets people rushing to comfort him (”Party Crasher,” “Gamer”), but “Truth” has Marinette in tears over the fact that she can’t have a boyfriend due to being Ladybug and the writing has the gall to crack jokes about Kaalki not knowing what tears are, and then Marinette has to ask for the kwami to hug her for comfort.

When Luka gets akumatized into Truth, the episode doesn’t even hesitate at bashing away at him, from everyone saying that Marinette’s secret is that she “loves Adrien” (which, as Truth points out, isn’t a secret, and they could’ve had this somehow lead up to a twist ending where Marinette actually isn’t into Adrien anymore and the Adrien pictures were genuinely for reference, but she stammered about it because it was embarrassing that her boyfriend got sent it with no context) to one of Luka’s favorite songs actually being about how Jagged abandoned him to go on tour. Luka has to deal with Marinette ditching him constantly (not that I blame her) and not knowing who his father is despite wanting to know, and the episode treats him like trash for... what? Having a crush on a girl who’s secretly Ladybug? Because that’s all it seems to come down to in the end.

I also have serious gripes with the fact that Marinette has this huge schedule established in “Gamer 2.0″ and they don’t even try to explain why she can’t use it to keep track of her obligations. The episode has her say (in a roundabout way but still) that she’s forgetting stuff constantly because of all of her emergencies (the emergencies of which are not stated and I hate the subtle implication that forgetting something means you don’t care about it when that’s clearly not how things work and also not what Marinette comes off as because - again - they establish that she’s overworked) but fails to properly explain it. The episode hammers away at Marinette having all these issues and even has Tikki chide Marinette by asking her about leaving Luka alone while apparently neglecting the fact that Marinette HAS to go be Ladybug right now and what else is there to even do??

Both Luka and Marinette are punished for just having a crush and wanting to be together and I hate that the episode forces a break-up instead of coming up with a solution to the problem. Instead of “Marinette isn’t ready for a romantic relationship,” it feels more like she’s just not allowed to be happy.

Long-distance relationships are a thing. Relationships where people don’t get to go on dates frequently are a thing. Instead of forcing a break-up, the episode could’ve had a lesson/development where Marinette is told that she’s allowed to pursue a relationship and just needs to plan accordingly. but they just didn’t want to.

For example: instead of planning dates, Marinette could wait until an akuma/sentimonster is defeated to call Luka and ask him out, because Hawk Moth usually doesn’t strike immediately after one is dealt with. I’m positive that Luka would happily take impromptu/sudden dates over planned-but-inconsclusive ones. Heck, they don’t even have to date specifically and can just stick to phone calls (kwami can’t be picked up on technology) or hanging out in Marinette’s room/on Marinette’s balcony while they do their thing.

Relationships are a commitment, but that doesn’t mean they have to be a burden, and the episode absolutely drags Marinette over it. The whole thing with the kwami being released and stressing her out when they’re not supposed to be able to just come out normally is explained away by, “oh, the new box must be like you, Marinette; full of surprises!” when the reality is just that the show wants to take away everything that’s sacred to Marinette. The Season 3 finale had Fu’s letter telling Marinette that “life doesn’t always give you what you want, but the real gift is life itself,” then proceeds to turn Marinette’s life into a living hell.

Her room? She has to say good-bye to her privacy because now the kwami are always going to be around. The first thing one of them (Trixx) did was start reading her diary, showing that they have absolutely no shame or regard for Marinette’s feelings.

Her schedule? Conveniently pops away into the realm of non-existence so she can look bad for ditching Chat Noir on patrol and neglecting dates with Luka due to her responsibilities/stress.

Her boyfriend, the one person in the entire show who loved her, respected her agency, never judged her, actually apologized when he made her sad, and who she was genuinely in love with rather than just having the equivalent of a celebrity crush for? She had to break up with him because plot and needing to force her to go back to fawning over the guy who has only made her life worse by her crushing on him.

When I say the universe hates Marinette, this is what I mean. It created random akuma to attack Paris all for the sake of forcing Marinette away from Luka, and apparently didn’t realize what they were doing in the scene where Marinette hurries back to the Liberty when Kitty Section and Adrien are playing together when Adrien is Chat Noir so he should’ve been late too.

(Oh, and Marinette completely ignores Adrien in favor of waving at Luka and even tells Luka outright that Adrien isn’t even a factor in their relationship issues, further proving the “multiple drafts smashed together” and “the Adrien name drops are pointless” points.)

The whole thing in “Backwarder” where it was basically outright stated that Marianne could’ve been Fu’s confidant had Marianne not been outed by Ladybug’s mistake? Completely forgotten and left to the wayside. Marinette could’ve told Luka that she was watching the Miracle Box in Ladybug’s place (for any number of reasons, really: either Ladybug thinks it’s too dangerous to keep with her, or if the public doesn’t know that Ladybug is guardian, then Marinette can just say that she’s guardian) and that she has to run off to keep guard of the Miracle Box when an akuma/sentimonster happens in case Ladybug needs a miraculous.

Boom, done, episode solved. Luka gets to help Marinette with the kwami, Marinette is less stressed because someone knows half of her secret, and Luka and Marinette continue to date but are able to plan around akuma attacks.

But no. That whole thing in “Backwarder” where guardians (or at least Fu) can have a confidant was just there so Marinette could feel guilty about screwing it all up, because she’s not able to take advantage of that perk herself.

How convenient.

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: The Rebellion of Adrien Agreste, ch. 4

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Lila Rossi/karma, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/aneurism, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Plagg & Tikki

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Lila Rossi, Jagged Stone, Plagg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine, Penny Rolling, Anarka Couffaine, Rose Lavillant, Juleka Couffaine, Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire, Chloé Bourgeois, Wayhem, Nadja Chamack, Nathalie Sancoeur, Sabine Cheng, Tom Dupain, Tikki, Fang, Principal Damocles, Caline Bustier, Ms. Mendeleiev, original minor character, Alec Cataldi, Lila Rossi's Mother, Sabrina Raincomprix, Roger Raincomprix, Mylène Haprèle, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste's Bodyguard, Nino Lahiffe, Nooroo

Tags: Lila Rossi salt, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Teenage Rebellion, Swearing, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Crack Treated Seriously, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Luka Couffaine Needs a Hug, Paparazzi, Parentification, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Gabriel Agreste Needs an Aneurism, Uncle Jagged Stone, we're all queer here, the spirit of punk is sometimes just being allowed to be yourself, Kagami Finds Her Groove, punk rock fashion, Savage Kagami, Marinette protection squad, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Good Parent Tom Dupain, Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Protective Luka Couffaine, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pansexual Luka Couffaine, Sharing a Bed, Pet Names, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Instagram, Bullying, Social Media, Anxiety, Makeover, Hugs, will cure your acne, Face Punching, Bad Ass Juleka Couffaine, Rumors, Protective Juleka Couffaine, Protective Adrien Agreste, Lawyers, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Holding Hands, accountability, mental health, Jagged Stone's well-paid pet shark, How to Make the Evening News, Sexy eyeliner for days, one fish two fish Lila is a screwed fish, How to have fun and piss Gabriel off, Fuckery, sweet litigious karma, Alya sugar, lawyer shark doo doo doo doo doo doo, Schadenfreude, Bad Ass Alya Césaire, Gaslighting, abuse denormalization, Jagged likes his lawyers like he likes his pets: toothy af, Blood in the Water, Everything you didn’t know you wanted and some things you did, Gabriel Agreste is shark bait, Denial, Consequences, Principal Damocles salt, caline bustier salt, the impotence of Gabriel Agreste, snarky Nooroo, lies and the lying liars who tell them, Lila's brain is a narcissistic hellscape, Lila’s mind is built like an Escher piece, Alec Cataldi salt, Adrien Sugar, wholesome salt, Fu Salt, Kwami Shenanigans, Nooroo is a little shit

Summary:  Cuddle Piles are Like Blanket Forts, Right?

Note: These kids are dorky af. Also, thank you for helping me reach over 1K comments on this fic on AO3!

AO3 link

Chapters 1-2 | Chapter 3

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An hour later, Marinette made a trip home for her design sketchbook and supplies, and returned also with a box of pastries and a leftover black Kitty Section shirt with the blue Luka design in Adrien’s size.

“I figured this could be the basis of your outfit,” she said. “After all, you’re dating him.”

Adrien liked the idea, and Luka smiled as he held the shirt up against his chest to demonstrate the look.

“I never did get to make a design for you, Adrien. But maybe that and an outfit for the next concert if you’re able to play,” she continued. “Oh, and I was thinking—we need to call Kagami.”

“Kagami?”

Marinette nodded. “She got Akumatized when Lila sent that photo of her kissing you and implying you were dating. It’s best if we let her know. She’s your friend, and she’s trustworthy.”

He nodded. “Uh, I don’t know how closely my father monitors my phone, though…”

Luka silently unlocked his phone and handed it to him.

“I’ll text her to let her know to expect a call from an unknown number,” Marinette volunteered, pulling out her own phone. “And see if she wants to come over here. She might have more ideas.”

Pretty quickly, they had another person on board and actively planning with them. Kagami seemed to understand the gravity of the situation immediately.

“That girl is bad news,” she said when she arrived. “Your father’s actions make little sense.”

Marinette snorted at that. “They never have. I like his designing, but he’s basically awful otherwise.”

Adrien didn’t bother defending him. Really, it’d been bad for a while except for the bright spot of being allowed to go to school. Everything else had been difficult.

Kagami actually quirked a smile. “With the exception of his day wear, certainly.”

Marinette goggled, then started giggling helplessly. It didn’t take long for the rest of them to follow.

“Oh, man, Kagami. You’re right; he dresses terribly,” Marinette gasped when she could breathe again.

“So since I’m disobeying, maybe I can tell him that?” Adrien wondered. “I mean, I already called him ‘Gabe’…”

The others stared at him, and he shifted uncomfortably.

“Really?” Kagami asked softly. “For you to be that upset, you clearly feel safer angering him than being in a fake relationship with that girl.”

Adrien hadn’t thought of it in exactly those terms, but she was right.

“Her heart song is… disturbing,” Luka commented. “I’ve heard ones like it, but it’s rare.”

“What does it sound like?” Marinette asked, glancing up from her sketching.

Luka was silent for a moment, as though searching for the words to express it. “Empty. It’s like there’s an echo, and it sounds ominous. I’d compare it to foreboding music from a TV show or film, all off-beat, the kind of music that raises goosebumps in the bad way.”

“Like Jaws?” Adrien asked.

“Worse,” Luka murmured, shaking his head. “I’d offer to play it, but I’d rather not foist it on anyone else.”

They were quiet, taking that in for a minute, until Marinette cleared her throat.

“Okay, so we’re doing this. Adrien, change into the shirt so I can see what it looks like and plan accessories for Penny to get. I’m thinking torn black jeans, for starters, but I need to conceptualize.”

He grabbed the shirt to change in the bathroom; when he got back, he wasn’t expecting what she said next.

“And if you’ve been getting closer to Luka and decided to go out recently, you guys need to seem comfortable with each other.” Her cheeks were flushed. “Um. So. You need to get used to cuddling.”

Adrien blinked, glancing at Luka, who seemed to take this in stride, lifting one arm welcomingly. He moved closer, startled regardless when Luka’s arm dropped on his shoulders. The blond didn’t often have contact like this except with maybe Nino. And Ladybug, but he couldn’t admit that to anyone. And when it was people he was close to, he liked contact like this; but it was weird when it was… fake. He and Luka were friends, but they’d never…

“Is this okay?” Luka asked. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“I, um… I’m not… used to this, I guess. Like, my dad never hugs me or anything. I get hugs from friends, and…” He shrugged slightly.

No one spoke for a minute, and he internally panicked. He wasn’t supposed to speak up and be needy. When he spoke again it was soft. “I wish I got them more.”

He completely missed the way the others exchanged a glance, trying to avoid their glances.

The next thing he knew, he was halfway in Luka’s lap, his head in Marinette’s, Kagami close to her side, all of them in contact with him. It was wonderful—after the initial shock wore off, anyway—their affection and the physical warmth was just absolutely what he wanted. There were hands in his hair, Luka’s arm across his waist.

Luka was smiling. “I kind of like snuggling, anyway. Though you might have to compete with my guitar.”

Marinette was blushing a bit. “There’s nothing wrong with platonic affection, Adrien.”

“Although it is not the norm in Japanese culture, living in France has accustomed me to it,” Kagami added. “Although often between genders it is assumed to be less than platonic.”

“So probably it should mostly be you and Luka in public, unless you want to come out as bi and so not into Lila at all,” Marinette chirped.

“Careful,” Adrien joked. “I might get too used to this.”

“You’ll have to, if we’re going to pull this off convincingly,” Luka told him with a laugh.

Marinette, sadly, remembered she had a job she was doing and sighed, grabbing her sketchbook and removing her hands from his hair.

“Okay, so clothing-wise, I was thinking black jeans, maybe skinny jeans, and a leather bomber jacket. And, um, for more of a punk look, they have these awesome men’s combat boots with buckles that go like halfway up the calf. Then a few bracelets, like what Luka has. But black and green?”

“I think the green in his hair should match his eyes,” Luka commented. “Neon would seem off. So probably the same with the bracelets. They have really nice green beaded ones that would do the trick.”

Adrien glanced at Luka’s face and hair. “Like how yours is kind of similar to your eyes?”

That earned a soft look from the guitarist. “Yeah, exactly like that.”

Kagami coughed delicately. “And that is how you should look at each other.”

He knew from the way his face heated that his blush mirrored Luka’s.

Marinette snorted. “Come on, Kagami. Let’s get Penny and go shopping, and leave these two to figure out their cuddling.”

She twisted out from under Adrien, letting him fall back on the couch awkwardly, his legs flailing a bit as he tried to find balance.

“Hey,” Luka protested in faux outrage, “no manhandling my boyfriend.”

“My hero.”

Marinette and Kagami laughed all the way out of the room.

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: Love Language, ch. 1

Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Wayhem

Characters: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Kagami Tsurugi, Tikki, Tom Dupain, Tomoe Tsurugi, Sabine Cheng, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Alya Césaire, Nino Lahiffe, Kitty Section, Jagged Stone, Penny Rolling, Clara Nightingale, Alec Cataldi, Nadja Chamack, Fang, XY, Lila Rossi, Chloé Bourgeois, Wayhem, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste's Bodyguard

Additional Tags: Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Language of Flowers, Gifts, Traditions, Holidays, Cultural Differences, Kimono, Qipao, Family, Love, Romance, Celebrations, Symbolism, Aged-Up Character(s), Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Christmas Fluff, Identity Reveal, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Established Relationship, Marriage Proposal, Family Dinners, Airports, feeding each other, sharing ceremony, Anxiety, Engagement, Kissing, It was supposed to be a one-shot, Admiration, Pet Names, Cuddling & Snuggling, yin and yang, Communication, Smut, Food Sex, Cunnilingus, Vaginal Fingering, Multiple Orgasms, Bathing/Washing, Podfic Welcome, Kagami is a boob woman, Nudity, Instagram, Social Media, Sleeping Together, Wedding Planning, Wedding Rings, Lila salt, Alec Cataldi salt, Food Porn, Paparazzi, Panic Attacks, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Lila Rossi Lies, Date Night, Adrien Sugar, Relationship Goals, Uncle Jagged Stone, Protective Kagami Tsurugi

Summary: Marinette gets a package from Japan shortly before Christmas, with a special hinted message. Kagaminette.

Note: Several people on the Discord server I used to take part in gave me the idea of Kagami sending treats to Marinette from Japan. I did a lot of research, and if I got anything wrong that's on me. More on the kimono here: https://rosethornewrites.tumblr.com/post/611555117585629184/love-language-kimono

@obliviousblondesunite suggested I post this chapter tonight! Stan the Hamster!

AO3 link (smut in chapter 3) FFN link (implied sex in chapter 3)

This is also part of my Catch a Falling Star series.

-----

The lines were coming together on the shirt taking form on the page of her sketchbook, meant to match the skirt beside it, an embroidery pattern partly drawn out on the page next to it. Vaguely, she heard someone calling, but it wasn’t enough to break through to her as she paused in the shirt design to add more aspects to the embroidery idea.

This was a planned outfit for Kagami, something she could wear at formal occasions that wasn’t a kimono, but she only had vague ideas still.

Even though Marinette’s lycée still had several weeks until it was let out for the holidays, Kagami’s private schooling had allowed her to accompany her mother to Japan, where they would stay through Christmas. That gave Marinette a bit more time to make her gift, thankfully.

“Marinette?”

Marinette was startled out of her creative fugue when Sabine’s head popped into her room.

“Maman?”

“You must have been in the zone. You have a package from Japan.” Sabine had a twinkle in her eye. “I can’t imagine who that’s from!”

Marinette could feel her cheeks turn red, flustered and excited. She stood and rushed down past her mother to find a positively immense box in Tom’s arms.

Her jaw dropped. That had to have cost Kagami a lot, and here Marinette had to wait for her to return to give her her Christmas gift.

Tom laughed at the look on her face. “Your girlfriend must love you a lot to send such a big package international.”

He didn’t wait for her reply, instead lugging the package into her room and setting it next to the chaise.

“We’ll give you some privacy to open it, hon,” Tom told her. They left her to it.

Marinette pulled her non-sewing scissors from a drawer and took a seat, reaching forward to trace Kagami’s name. She loved how Japanese names worked, something Kagami had explained when showing her the characters that made up Kagami. Hers was 香海, which she had explained broke down into “incense” and “ocean.” A fragrant ocean.

It had inspired Marinette to call her ma sirène. In retaliation, of sorts, Kagami had started calling her Mari-tō, which she said was essentially “sugar Mari,” joking it was a bastardized term of endearment. They had giggled over that, and Mme. Tsurugi just shook her head the first time she heard Kagami say it.

“Oh, I wonder what she sent for you!” Tikki exclaimed, alighting on the box.

She gently slid the blade of the scissors under the flap to slit the tape, and opened it once Tikki took to the air again. The first thing, atop what seemed like a mountain of smaller boxes, was an envelope labelled “マリー糖, please open after the gifts.” It made her smile.

Underneath, there were two packages labelled for her parents, and so she pulled them out and took them downstairs, letting Tikki know she’d be right back.

The bakery was closed for the day, and her parents were preparing supper.

“Maman, Papa, Kagami sent gifts for you!”

She presented the packages, brightly wrapped in beautiful paper, to her parents, then sat at the kitchen table to watch them open them. She’d get to her own later.

Tom opened his first, revealing a deep green silk men’s kimono, with a pattern that looked like a bamboo forest. When he opened it, they were able to see the green faded lighter toward the bottom, which had an intricate pattern of different trees. An envelope fell with it, and the paper inside explained it was a shōchikubai “three friends of winter” pattern of pine, bamboo, and plum, which symbolized strength and happiness. The letter explained how to wear the kimono, and underneath the kimono itself were all the pieces of clothing to wear with the kimono, including the obi and zori.

At the very bottom of Tom’s box was also a book on traditional Japanese sweets, which he immediately started flipping through.

Sabine’s kimono was far more intricate, red with white blossoms on branches woven throughout. On the back was a golden dragon. An envelope underneath had a note explaining the meaning of the flowers—plum, or ume, blossoms, which Kagami chose due to their dual meanings in Japanese tradition and Chinese philosophy. Good fortune, elegance, and faithfulness in Japanese tradition, and the five blessings of longevity, prosperity, health, virtue, and good living in Chinese philosophy. The golden dragon represented wisdom, kindness, and helpfulness, and was holding a pearl to indicate good fortune.

In addition to the same instructions as Tom’s letter, Sabine’s included an invitation from Mme. Tsurugi for the family to attend a traditional Japanese New Year celebration at the Tsurugi manor and visit Sanctuaire Yabuhara with the Tsurugi family. The kimono were, in part, for them to wear to the event.

Sabine looked up at Marinette, her eyes shining. “She says you have one, too.”

Marinette tore back up the stairs and pulled a similar looking package from the box, bringing it downstairs to open.

The kimono was deep purple fading to white and back, with a beautiful wave of flowers splayed across it—pink and white roses, lily of the valley, purple and white lilacs, bluebells, among others. She knew before she read the note the symbols—innocence and love, purity, reverence, trust, happiness.

She didn’t realize she was crying until Sabine dabbed at her cheek with a tissue.

“She really loves you,” Sabine murmurs. “She’s so good for you.”

The letter told her there were violets to represent the sincere bliss of their relationship. White and pink sakurasou for long-lasting love. Falling ume blossoms for the same reason as Sabine’s, but also to represent Marinette’s pure heart. Camellias for perfect love.

“This must be why she asked for all our measurements before she left,” Marinette said finally, snuggling against Sabine. “I had no idea she planned to do this. Proper kimono are incredibly expensive, and these must be custom!”

Sabine simply smiled. “You’re dating a very traditional girl, and for her family money is no object. And I believe the symbols she chose clearly indicate her intentions.”

Marinette felt her face turning red, and she realized that her parents looked absolutely blissful.

She couldn’t say it was completely unexpected—she and Kagami started dating shortly following her fifteenth birthday, after Kagami had given up on her relationship with Adrien—it had been going nowhere, and it seemed he had someone else on his mind.

It hadn’t been Marinette; she was his ‘good friend,’ and in having André serve ice cream for Kagami and Adrien, she had given up on anything more. He didn’t see her like that. And, as it turned out, it seemed neither she nor Kagami were in his heart.

She had briefly tried to return Luka’s feelings, but he had recognized her heart wasn’t in it, and had asked instead for her friendship.

When Kagami had informed her, at her birthday party, that she wished to date her, Marinette had been thrown for a complete loop. The following days had been filled with self-reflection and careful consideration; she’d been thirteen when she’d fallen for Adrien, and her obsession had left her little room to consider her own identity. She’d never thought beyond.

Eventually, she had confessed uncertainty to Kagami, who had asked that they attempt to date and if it didn’t work out, remain friends.

Over two years later, Marinette could say with certainty that she loved Kagami Tsurugi.

When Sabine shooed her from the kitchen to open the rest of her gifts, she felt like she was walking on clouds. She brought her kimono and letter with her, and got to listen to Tikki talk about all the different complex meanings of the flowers and exclaim over the quality of the fabric and embroidery.

The process of opening the rest of the packages, filled with gorgeous fabrics, seeds for Japanese flowers, crafting supplies, stationery, several hair sticks, and Japanese treats slowly brought her down.

When Marinette opened the last package, however, it felt like the world stopped. Spread at the top of the box was a tiny kimono, black with branches of red and white tree peonies, and very tiny ladybugs. She nearly dropped the box.

Underneath was an envelope with a ladybug drawn on it.

“Tikki… I, uh…”

Tikki landed on her shoulder. “Oh…”

She opened the envelope with shaking hands, reading quickly. The letter revealed that Kagami had figured it out a few months ago, having caught a glimpse of Tikki and connecting it to her experience with Longg. The peonies represented good fortune and honor. And of course ladybugs symbolized luck—but also had an association with lovers in Japan.

Under the letter were a variety of Japanese sweets, including some specialty yatsuhashi from Kyoto and different flavors of konpeitō.

The letter ended, “Please tell your kwami that these gifts are a measure of appreciation—for the guidance and protection she has given you.”

“That’s very sweet of her, Marinette,” Tikki offered. “She, um… I think she caught me the last time she spent the night.”

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself; she was the Guardian now, so she made the rules. Marinette could allow her girlfriend to be aware of her identity as Ladybug. It felt a little like cheating, though.

Tikki seemed to recognize the decision and quickly pulled on the kimono—it looked adorable on her.

Marinette tore open the letter addressed to her.

マリー糖 ,

I would have told you all of this in person, but you tend to catastrophize, and I thought you might prefer to do that privately in the counsel of your kwami. I am given to understand that she has helped you gain a measure of self-confidence in the years since her arrival. I have been honored to know the you shaped by the responsibilities you took up, as you are passionate, kind, and honorable.

I know this places you in an awkward position, but I of course will protect this knowledge with my life, for it is yours.

Mother wishes I inform you that she tried sakura macrons at a famous pâtisserie in Tokyo, and they were pitiful in comparison to those your father made for her last spring. The book she sent for him includes multiple types of pastries and jellies he may enjoy experimenting with, some of them sakura-focused. She hopes to order some traditional winter treats for her party, and I will send you a list upon your confirmation of receipt of this package.

I look forward to celebrating the New Year and sharing our traditions in the coming weeks, and to greeting the first sun of the new year with you and your family. Perhaps we can observe the Chinese New Year together in accordance with the traditions of your ancestors.

Yours always,

香海

Marinette held the letter to her chest, touched by Kagami’s desire to share their traditions together. The idea spread warmth through her, and eventually she set the letter aside with a soft sigh.

“I suppose it’s okay she knows… since I didn’t tell her.” She gave Tikki a rueful smile.

Tikki looked sheepish, even as she preened over how she looked in the kwami-sized kimono. “You’re the Guardian now, Marinette. You get to make the rules.”

She sighed. “Yeah. I just wish it was safer—we need to work harder to uncover Hawkmoth’s identity so that threat is ended. I need to be able to plan for after lycée.”

She sent a text message to Kagami to let her know she received the package and to video chat with her at her earliest convenience, then decided to try on her own kimono.

The instructions were easy to follow, despite the layers. It was a very traditional kimono, involving a hadajuban, nagajuban, and soft sash to go under the kimono. It was almost a soothing process, putting on each layer, folding each side of the kimono properly, tying on the datejime, and finally tying the lovely obi—pink with cranes—into one of the knot options. It was not easy afterward getting the tabi socks on, which told her next time to do it before the kimono. The zori slipped right on, though it was odd to get used to them.

Just as she finished, her phone rang, and she slid her finger against the bar to accept the call.

“You look stunning in that, as I expected,” Kagami said. “I wish I could see more.”

Tikki grabbed the phone from Marinette’s hands and moved it away so she could twirl.

“Much obliged to your kwami. You truly do look lovely. Though, in the future, fold left over right. Right over left is for the dressing of a body at a funeral. I should have written that in the instructions—I apologize. As such, it is a bit discomfiting seeing you dressed in that fashion.”

Marinette let Tikki keep holding the phone while she quickly untied the obi and datejime to correct the mistake, then retied both.

Kagami beamed at her. “Absolutely beautiful. I look forward to seeing your parents in them on the New Year. I will send you a list of the traditional activities to expect for my mother’s soiree. You will be meeting a larger portion of my family, to be introduced to them.”

Marinette took the phone back from Tikki, who landed on her shoulder.

“Ah,” Kagami said, surprised. “I can see the kimono, but nothing else. That is fascinating.”

“Her name is Tikki,” Marinette confessed.

“I apologize for discovering your secret. It was unintentional on both our parts.”

That got a nod from Tikki.

“It’s okay,” she replied softly. “I… It’s a relief that someone else knows, honestly. Especially when that someone is you.”

“I am honored to know, and it explains quite a bit. Your disappearances at times, for instance.”

Marinette could feel her face turning red.

“I had not realized they all coincided with Akuma attacks, to be honest. I had worried you were hiding a chronic ailment.”

She couldn’t quite stop herself from giggling at that. “Oh, you must have been worried.”

“I still am, Mari-糖,” Kagami said seriously. “But I hope with my knowledge, I can perhaps be of service in the coming year, perhaps to end Hawkmoth’s reign of terror for good. But we can discuss that later—it is quite late here in Kyoto, and I have commitments early tomorrow. I simply wished to make sure you weren’t upset.”

“I’m not,” Marinette said with a smile. “I could never be, not with you. Sleep well, ma sirène.”

After hanging up, Marinette sat back on her chaise with a sigh. “Tikki, I think she’s hoping to introduce me as her intended for New Year.”

Tikki patted her cheek. “And how do you feel about that, Marinette?”

She was quiet for a moment, letting the sounds of her parents making dinner float through her open door, the scent of lasagna wafting in as well.

“I—”

The phone dinged, and the text message was from Kagami, with a list of different sweets Mme. Tsurugi wanted to order for the party. It also featured a stunning picture of Kagami in an intricate kimono with gold, black, and red, covered in white geometric patterns with a bouquet of flowers in the front and sprigs of blossoms throughout.

She looked amazing.

And suddenly Marinette knew exactly what she wanted to make Kagami for Christmas—a qipao to wear when they celebrated the Chinese New Year, with the gold five-clawed Long embroidered on it. And she would make her own with a phoenix, in colors that complimented Kagami’s.

Marinette stood, changing quickly and hanging her kimono and all its undergarments in the closet, before settling back in front of her sketchbook and turning to a new page.

By the time her mother called her for dinner, she had much of the concept sketched out, complete with plum blossoms, lilies, and a lotus cupped in the claw of the dragon. She intended for her phoenix to cup one as well in its talon.

Kagami wasn’t the only one who knew how to use symbolism. Marinette intended to have this ready to present to her girlfriend before the New Year, to give the answer to the question she was hinting she’d ask.

[miraculouscontent]

Oh boy.

[Pacebreaker]

Because I’ll have to keep bringing it up otherwise, let me start out by saying that the pacing in this episode is atrocious. I’ve seen some bad pacing in Miraculous before but this is close to the bottom of the barrel if not the bottom of the barrel.

Let me run down how this episode breaks up its scenes:

Fighting/Resolving Gigantitan: 2 minutes and 18 seconds (0:30-2:48)

Setting up the plot: 1 minute and 7 seconds (2:48-3:55)

Establishing characters feelings and waiting for Chat to arrive: 4 minutes and 35 seconds (3:55-8:30)

The most awkward get-together in Miraculous history: 3 minutes and 45 seconds (8:30-12:15)

wErEdaD, i Am hAwK mOtH: 1 minute and 25 seconds (12:15-13:40)

That Scene With Chat and Sabine That No One Wants to Talk About: 45 seconds (13:40-14:25)

Weredad Brings the Dupain: 3 minutes and 40 seconds (14:25-17:30)+(18:00-18:15)+(18:20-18:40)

Marinette Saves Herself: 55 seconds (17:30-18:00)+(18:15-18:20)+(18:40-19:00)

Ladybug Saves Chat and Tom: 1 minute and 15 seconds (19:00-20:15)

Resolution: 1 minute and 47 seconds (20:15-22:02)

This episode wastes time on scenes that don't have value so that scenes that should have value get no time at all. This episode serves to be little more than a Tom akumatization episode, yet Weredad doesn't even have 4 minutes of screen time.

And for what? By the 7 minute mark, I was officially bored. Everything drags on and on despite the fact that it's blatantly obvious where things are going to go. The timing for some scenes even sound correct at a glance, but then the scene itself shows up and it's all over the place. In the scene with everyone having treats, Tom just jumps from awkward topic to awkward topic.

And the scene with Gigantitan didn't need to be anywhere near as long as it was. The episode spends too long re-establishing Ladybug and Chat's relationship when one or two lines would've been enough. The pacifier was an extra detail that not only isn't resolved, but that didn't need to exist.

Marinette got a giant lucky charm jammed through her room; Chat could've just wanted to check on her and found it weird that she was on her balcony so late at night (unless she'd been watching the action, which gives him the idea that she's a fan of his). The episode even tries to run with the idea that Chat would always be there for Marinette and always check on her, but he certainly wasn't concerned when her room had been destroyed late at night when she was likely inside of it.

And then the episode spends so much time establishing how characters feel about the situation when it's already been made clear. Adrien talks about it to August (I've noticed that this show doesn't care to have characters just think to themselves instead of talking out loud) about it first, then talks to Plagg, then talks to Plagg again the next day.

The pacing doesn't just need tweaking. It needs an entire makeover.

[Dia-slog]

The dialog in this episode is so contrived. It's so stilted.

Let's start with the very beginning of the episode, since that's where a huge pacing issue is. Because the episode wants to re-establish Ladybug and Chat's relationship (which it already does later in this scene and verbally by both leads later), it has Chat flirt with Ladybug mid-battle and wastes a scene of Ladybug slamming into an Adrien billboard just so she can fawn over him.

Put bluntly, it feels like one of the chibi shorts with dialog and the show's models, right down to the fact that everything is a lot of "jokes" (Chat trying to kiss Ladybug before she gets flung off so he misses his chance, the billboard, Ladybug's giant lucky charm that was apparently useless since it's in the same place during Miraculous Ladybug which means it was just a gag of Ladybug holding something heavy and also a reason for Tom to rush to Marinette's room despite the fact that an akuma being near their house at all is more than enough reason, etc.).

And I have to talk about that scene with Chat finding Marinette because there are so many things wrong with it. Not Marinette even, because I get that she's anxious and panicking and went for the first thing that came to her mind that would distract him enough, but there are serious issues with Chat's dialog.

Firstly, Chat sees Marinette on Marinette's own balcony and somehow finds that suspicious. Chat has been to Marinette's house multiple times as both Adrien and Chat; there's no excuse for this.

Secondly, Chat starts out mentioning Ladybug's de-transformation. The scene is very clearly set up for Marinette to think that Chat's about to suggest that she's Ladybug. It's not, "This isn't the first time I've seen you near a fight," or "This isn't the first time I've caught you right after a battle." If Chat is trying to imply that Ladybug isn't around but Marinette is so Marinette must be one of his fans, it still makes no sense because, again, Marinette is at her own house.

This episode already had pacing, dialog, and character problems, but even the setup was inherently flawed.

It didn't have to be about a big misunderstanding. If it had to be about Tom getting akumatized out of anger for Chat, the episode could've had Tom seeing Marinette and Chat together multiple times (whether that's because Ladybug de-transforms and runs into Chat, who takes her home, or a meta joke on how a lot of akumatizations tend to happen around Marinette), which then leads Tom to think that Chat must love Marinette (if the episode wants a misunderstanding so badly, it can be a small one: maybe Tom does talk to Marinette, but she thinks he's talking about Adrien when he refers to her love life), only for Chat to explain that he loves Ladybug and incur Tom's anger because it's as if Chat is leading Marinette on. That even brings up the fact that Chat has an issue with mixed signals.

Also, and I cannot stress this enough, but the narrative needs to stop pointing out Marinette's lying as the core issue without offering solutions. Tikki does it all the time and she never learns. Marinette rightfully argues with Tikki that she had a reason for doing it and, once again, Tikki deflects and keeps focusing on what Marinette caused. Instead of offering solutions and instead of offering comfort, Tikki waffles around the issue and leaves all of Marinette's arguments hanging without a proper answer.

Tom isn't safe from poor dialog choices either. In fact, he might be one of the worst examples, whether as himself or his akumatized form. To keep the plot going, Tom has to constantly brush off what other characters say, except when it's relevant to the plot they're trying to tell. This means that Chat and Marinette can't be blunt until the moment where Tom is meant to be akumatized.

This also means that Chat has to sit there while Tom rambles for eternity and asks Chat pressing questions. Chat sits there eating sweets they offered him when he knows that he's about to reject Marinette. It pads out the episode because the writing is panicking to build up the big moment and it's the same thing with Marinette's big reaction to Chat: a big setup.

The episode doesn't even know what it wants to be either. It seems to want to establish Marinette and Chat's feelings on each other at first, but there's a complete 30-second derail of dialog re-establishing Adrien’s issues with his father just so it can come back for a 35-second scene with Weredad later.

And because of poor pacing, the dialog in that scene with Weredad is rushed beyond belief. Tom's whole reason for getting akumatized was a want to never let any boy near Marinette again, but a 10 second speech from Chat suddenly has him like, "okay then actually--"

And speaking of Chat's speech, it's completely ineffective from a comparison standpoint! Adrien wasn't even isolated in this episode. In Season 2 "Glaciator" or "Captain Hardrock", MAYBE, but the problem is rarely isolation nowadays; it's Adrien's dad being so rarely there for him.

That's the difference. Tom was actively caring for Marinette and Adrien's dad is just too strict. Fixating on the over-protectiveness would've been so much better.

And...isolation? Weredad has specifically said that he was going to be there for Marinette. Gabriel isn't there for Adrien, but Tom would be for Marinette. The comparison between Gabriel and Tom isn't invalid (honestly, I appreciate a little nuance ignoring the fact that humanizing the main villain might not be a great idea), but it boils down to little more than something only established for Tom in this one episode.

Here's a thought: maybe instead of the episode focusing on something that's here and gone, it can focus on something that can be slowly improved and has already been a thing.

How often have Tom and Sabine comforted Marinette? How often does Marinette have to go to someone else for comfort? Heck, the only scene in this episode of one of the parents comforting anyone is Sabine comforting Chat (and trust me, we'll get there).

Maybe the parents learning about listening to Marinette? This could've addressed the fact that Gabriel and Tom+Sabine are on opposite sides but have similar problems.

Gabriel is very absent and doesn't listen to Adrien. Tom and Sabine are very attentive (or at least they think they are) yet don't pay attention to Marinette's feelings unless Marinette makes it clear (whether verbally or otherwise).

"Gamer" was Tom and Sabine constantly interrupting Marinette and Adrien's time together despite Marinette's clear discomfort, even going so far as to talk to Adrien about the fact that Marinette talks about him all the time.

When Marinette got home in "Lady Wifi", looking wholly exhausted, Sabine asked no questions and was like "oh hey Alya brought your bag home go get some exercise to help work on your forgetfulness ya scrub."

"Simon Says" had them ground Marinette as if that would solve all her issues (disregarding the fact that it's a ridiculous consequence when the place she was absent from were school activities which they can't stop her from trying to go to) instead of looking at things emotionally and worrying about why Marinette is missing classes.

It took Marinette having her privacy invaded and sobbing hysterically in "Troublemaker" before Tom and Sabine actually do anything of value and, even then, they fight off the people running the show instead of one of them being upstairs to comfort Marinette.

Even disregarding the fact that "overprotective father" has already been done (both in the show and done to death out of the show), it's aggravating that Tom and Sabine both have actual issues that could be addressed but the writing pushes them in a different direction. Sabine rambles about how she always tries to calm Tom down, but she made very few attempts and most of them led to her just smiling and letting Tom go about things.

The dialog feels wrong because it is wrong. It's not natural or flowing because the episode is holding this tightrope of a plotline as all the characters desperately try to walk across it without falling.

[Fairy Tale of Woe]

I'm keeping this one simple. From my calculations, this episode has, at most, six minutes of screen time on Weredad and his vine prison.

Six minutes is not anywhere near enough time to mash together multiple fairy tales so it’s a jumbled mess. It's nothing more than a set piece.

Fairy tales rarely mesh well together. That's why they're their own self-contained stories. I see what they were going for with Marinette being trapped and saved and fairy tale romance and whatever, but it just doesn't work.

And why fairy tales at all when it comes to Tom's character? Tom might dream of Marinette having a fairy tale romance, but Tom doesn't explicitly reference fairy tales or act like he's a huge fan of them. He's obsessed with baking for the episode instead.

"Reflekta" gave Juleka a very vibrant and attention-grabbing appearance to fit with her want to stand out. "The Evillustrator" turned Nathaniel into the hero in his story. "Stormy Weather" made Aurore into a weather girl who could force all her predictions to come true.

"Weredad"...why would Tom want to be a wolf creature? Powerful and quick on his feet, I can understand, but why a wolf? He's a baker and talks about it often in the episode, so this just doesn't fit at all.

[That Scene With Chat and Sabine That No One Wants to Talk About But We're Gonna Talk About It]

Oh, Chat. Chat. Chat. Chat.

I really hope this isn't a trend. I'd prefer to not go into each episode of Season 3 worriedly wondering, "Is Adrien/Chat going to do [the thing] again?"

So...the scene.

There are a total of three major issues with this scene.

First issue: Chat not going into enough detail about what he did wrong. The episode fixates on him not returning Marinette's feelings, but he stayed way longer than he should've when he only went to reject Marinette, brought her a rose thinking that would somehow help the situation, and kissed both of Marinette's cheeks to greet her. It's frankly no wonder why Tom was so sure that Chat was in love with Marinette; just like Adrien, he's constantly mixing up his words and the actions he takes.

Second issue: Sabine comforting Chat at all. I have no issue with Tom and Sabine doing things outside of Marinette, but this is a huge offense. Marinette went up to her room “sobbing” and instead of going up to check on her, Sabine stays downstairs to talk to Tom. Tom goes overboard, sure, and he didn't go upstairs to Marinette either, but he thought Marinette was legitimately hurt and he cared. Sabine makes her stance pretty clear at the end of the episode by basically saying that "oh marinette is strong and she can handle herself." Sabine is hardly involved in Marinette's life unless it's a special occasion or "hey marinette clean your room or i'll go through your emails," yet the second Chat comes in all upset, Sabine is immediately at his side and comforting him while also side-giving a "told him so" at Tom's behavior (something she gives to Tom personally at the end of the episode too). I'm all for Marinette's parents having confidence in her but this doesn't qualify in that field. It's just bad parenting.

Third issue: This has to do with the actual thing being talked about here: specifically, Sabine telling Chat that his feelings are valid. I can forgive Sabine on a few points, because she doesn't have the full story, but Chat says right in front of them that Ladybug keeps rejecting him. That's a big red flag. It'd be one thing if Chat simply said that he was in love with someone else, but even then, this is shown as a good thing that Sabine is doing for Chat when it's not. This is enabling Chat to keep on loving Ladybug and keep on pursuing her because that's what he feels is the right choice. If anyone should be told that their feelings are valid, it's Ladybug. Ladybug is constantly made to feel bad about rejecting Chat in any endeavor, but when it's time to start giving out sympathy cards, Ladybug doesn't get one. Chat's right, Sabine's right, but Marinette/Ladybug is wrong because she doesn't agree with Chat.

Chat can learn that it’s fine if he’s not in love with Marinette, but not that it’s fine if he continues pursuing Ladybug against her wishes.

[Nomance]

It's honestly difficult to talk about the details being discussed in this episode without derailing into a 3000 word discussion about "Will They, Won't They" plots, but I'll try to keep it brief.

This episode was a mistake. I don't mean that it's a mess all over because of the pacing, dialog, and character moments.

I mean, it is, but that's not what I’m referring to.

I’m saying that the idea for it never should've been approved in the first place.

"Will They, Won't They" is very thin ice territory that needs to be handled with care and grace. With the love square, the show gets around some of the problems by having the protagonist and deuteragonist already technically be in love with each other, but having the conflict be getting them to see the other side of their crush in the same light.

It was never a good idea to directly address Marinette's feelings for Chat and Adrien's feelings for Marinette in this way. There is no feasible way it could've gone well.

People do not like it when shows trying to directly retcon and/or put new meanings to scenes that were originally supposed to be vague and open to fandom interpretation.

Adrien does not love Marinette. That's just a fact. There's no denial, no hidden meaning...it's just the truth that the episode points out multiple times without even a shred of restraint. If there was any remaining hope left that Adrien loved Marinette after Kagami came in and Adrien showed genuine interest in her, this episode completely crushes it. If Adrien did love Marinette in any way, there would've been a moment of him acknowledging that instead of constantly shooting down the notion to Plagg.

That means that all of these

were lies. They were teases. They were bait. They didn’t mean anything.

And Chat's entire personality in this episode constantly 180s from having a massive ego to being totally self-conscious. He swaps from "obnoxiously egotistic" to "reminding everyone that he isn't in love with Marinette" to "getting another stamp on his sympathy card because he needs one more stamp for his free sundae."

Once again, mid-battle, he's flirting. Instead of helping Ladybug hold back Gigantitan, he not only ignores the battle entirely to flirt, but he tries to kiss her. Ladybug is flung into the air, slamming into a billboard, but Chat doesn't apologize for being distracted. Instead, he catches her and continues flirting like fighting Hawk Moth isn't serious to him at all.

He hasn’t learned anything. Chat faces no consequences from flirting inappropriately because any damage done while he's distracted with chatting up his crush (who is in love with someone else and he is aware of that fact) will immediately be fixed by the magical ladybugs.

This is the episode where Chat gets his feelings for Ladybug validated and it starts in the worst possible way for it.

This was never Marinette's episode. This was never Tom's episode. This is Chat's episode.

There's so little focus on Marinette being amazing and saving herself because this isn't about her. That's why there's no big moment of Chat being like "whoa Marinette saved herself she's even more amazing than I thought." Chat never even learns that Marinette broke the rose herself; he probably presumes that Ladybug did it. He fawns over how great Ladybug is for "saving Marinette" when it was Marinette herself who did that (the episode easily could've had Marinette mention that she broke the rose and then Ladybug showed up). Ladybug gets credit from Chat for the things that Marinette did, furthering the divide between the "two girls" in his mind.

Chat gets the big speech to Weredad. Chat gets the screen time where he talks about his feelings. Chat gets the sympathy and comfort.

This episode wanted nothing more than to make Chat feel valid. That's literally it. It's why everything is so contrived and Tom's overprotectiveness comes out of nowhere.

It's also why Adrien is not even mentioned once by Marinette's parents.

Tom and Sabine know that Marinette loves Adrien. That's been canon since Season 1. It's not like Marinette fake-confesses and they presume that he must Adrien behind the mask, which is why Chat stays so long so he can convince them otherwise (which would've actually been funny and left Adrien freaking the heck out for multiple reasons; bonus comedy with them deciding that he must not be Adrien in the end).

Marinette "confesses" and there's not one word from Tom and Sabine about Adrien, who they actually seemed to like and were rooting for Marinette to be with. Neither of them ask if Marinette had a fight with him or if Marinette just changed her mind.

And Marinette is the one who's given the "hints" that she might be in love with Chat, what with her being unusually angry at the idea that Chat might've changed his mind on who he loves when she "wasn't interested."  And sure, she's given lines about being happy that Chat isn't in love with her, but Chat's the one being put in the right and given sympathy. He's the one whose feelings we're told are valid.

Thus, the only reason Marinette isn't included must be because her current feelings aren't.

Listening to what a lot of people were saying about this episode, I’ve heard it be related back to fanfiction. To a degree, I can understand.

"Weredad" does have a lot of traits of fanfiction, what with its plot and simultaneously having the writing ability of amateur fanfiction.

But, in reality, "Weredad" is not like a fanfic.

A fanfic would progress the characters’ emotions, however sloppily. A fanfic would care enough to make a plot like this matter. A fanfic would make the characters’ feelings change in some way from start to finish.

A fanfic would be better than this.