#there was an extra adrien part to this but I think this is a full part

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I think part of the trouble with reading ML as a magical girl team is that it’s really written to be Marinette as the Lone Hero.

Sticking with Winx Club as an example (which I absolutely loved), even though Bloom was clearly the main character, the other girls got focus and attention and their own narratives unrelated to Bloom’s. Alya doesn’t have that; nearly the entirety of her scenes and focus are still for or related to Marinette’s story, which the writers have outright told us is always meant to come first.

As such, I think the more solid reading of ML is that it’s a poorly written superhero romcom that pretends to be a magical girl team, but only ends up offering crumbs. It’s why we’re shown the extra Miraculous and given a “core four/five,” only for it to be revealed that the new holders aren’t actually permanent team members. A decision I remember thinking at the time made absolutely no sense, but now in hindsight can be perfectly explained by how doing so would necessitate that attention/focus be taken from Marinette, which ML absolutely refuses to do.

In fact, I’d wager that’s the actual reason Chat Noir has a crush on Ladybug before Adrien falls for Marinette: it keeps his attention even as a hero focused on her. There’s plenty of salters who love to deride him for not focusing enough on the “job” and making LB pick up his “slack,” but that fits the show’s intentions perfectly. Chat can’t be written to (as) capable if LB is to shine. Hence why we had the whole Catwalker argument being nonsensically centered around “perfection.” 😭

(Post with the Winx club example for context.)

You're absolutely right. Miraculous is trying to be a loan hero show (or perhaps a serious hero and silly sidekick show) where Marinette is the only important character outside of the villains, a magical girl team show where female friendships are the most important relationships in the show, and a heterosexual rom-com all at the same time which leads to a ton of nonsense choices because those are three genres that really don't mix!

While I never outright said it, the post about rom-coms vs magical girl team shows was spawned by the fandom conflict over Alya's writing in the later seasons. I wanted to take a moment to point out why she keeps being given the roles that people expect Chat Noir to get and why both sides of that fandom conflict have very valid feelings given the way that the show is being written, so I didn't talk about the lone hero thing since that doesn't really play a part in Alya and Adrien's fight for narrative importance. If we're looking at Miraculous as a whole though, then it's 100% a piece of the puzzle when you're trying to figure out where the writing went wrong.

I've mentioned a couple of times that they're putting way too much on Marinette's shoulders. The main reason that I feel that way is because they also decided to give her a full team of heroes to work with which is deeply confusing. If they really wanted to go the Marinette-is-the-only-real-hero route, then we should have never gotten any additional heroes beyond Ladybug and Chat Noir. Keep Chat Noir as the comedy sidekick and let Ladybug use all of the other miraculous as powerups without ever handing them out.

After all, when it comes down to their actual role in the narrative, most of the team feels like nothing more than a powerup since they basically just do whatever Ladybug tells them to do. Outside of Viperion and Bunnyx, there's no reason why Ladybug can't just dual, triple, or quadruple wield. This is extra true because they took the time to tell us that Marinette is able to wield more miraculous than most people and then... never really did anything with that. Why have a line like this one from Kwamibuster if you're never going to have Marinette do more than the occasional dual wield?

Master Fu: No Miraculous owner in all of history has ever been mentally and physically strong enough to use that many Miraculous at the same time. Wayzz: Marinette truly is special, Master.

Switching from a team back to a duo would also fix the awkwardness of Adrien's writing as that really wasn't a problem back in season one. The hero who does all the cool stuff and their wacky comedy sidekick who keeps things fun is a classic setup for a reason!

[mostmagical]

WIP reblog game

thanks for the tags @blur0se and @coffeebanana !! <3 I don't really have any ongoing wips at the moment to link out to but I might as well try

List the titles your top five priorities for WIP updates (link your fics for new readers!)

An upcoming scene, event, or detail in each fic that you're looking forward to writing

Bonus: make a poll for your followers to vote on which top 5 WIP they are most excited to see an update on!

Then tag 10 writer friends!

My top 5 priorities are (in no real order right now because I am... not prioritizing and that's the problem lol):

keep on coming back (to you) - name likely to change, emo adrinette

loveywalker - NO TITLE

misternette part 2 - follow up to Green & Red & Black

daisy bouquet - name likely to change, elaboration of this drabble

ladynoir fake dating - you guessed it.. no title

What I'm excited about:

this one is mainly exploring emo adrien and how he started to fall for emo marinette BUT there's a lot of focus in background of his relationship with his dad!! I have a lot of thoughts about alternate adrien and alternate gabriel's relationship and I just really want to get into it. I'm kinda shaking rn thinking about it

okay there are actually two wips for this one and that's all I'm gonna say and I'm just chomping at the bit to get something out for loveybug au because I love loveybug (SURPRISE)

I'm really excited for a scene where Chat Noir explains to Ladybug that there's this girl he's into that he's worried doesn't really like regular him, but she responded so well to Mister Bug that it gave him a little hope, which basically leads to Ladybug reassuring him that he's great on his own... A little Ladynoir for my extra-steps Marichat 🤭

I'm looking forward to writing pure obliviousness again. I just love those little details that seem so obvious to one person (and the reader) but it'll just fly over the head of the other person because they don't have the full story yet

I have this image in my head of the reveal and it's so perfect, with Adrien Agreste standing in a doorway looking so confident and Marinette just... horrified. lol.

Which of these fics would you be most excited to see an update anything for?

I'm not sure who all has already been tagged so idk if I can get 10 people lol!! but no pressure tagging @wield-the-mighty-pen, @nemaliwrites, and @torvalvt for now!

[depressed-teacup-inc]

So… the finale.

Hi yes I’m late to season finale, I will note I had a big shift at my job and therefore I was fucking exhausted, and also I think it’s very indicative of how little I care about this show✨

For simplicity’s sake let’s break the finale down to two separate reviews of its two separate episodes, and go from there.

Ok? Ok.

Finale part 1:

So… Adrien wasn’t here at all!

Ok so I was aware of what was happening in the season finale from day 1 because of the season 5 Bible leaks, but jesus it still upsets me!

You mean to fucking tell me, that after all the shit Adrien has been through, from his father, from the plot, from marinette, EVERYTHING!!!

Bitch only gets one fucking scene?!

Like the sheer audacity of this show to constantly berate the viewers for saying chat noir is sidelined and that they’re equal and you’re just sexist, AND THEN NOT EVEN LETTING ADRIEN, AND INTEGRAL PART TO THE STORY AND GABRIEL’S MOTIVATION TO EVEN KNOW GABRIEL IS HAWKMOTH AND FINALLY STAND UP TO HIM?!

And even in the one scene where Adrien gets to speak his mind and have his moment so to speak, what does he do? Talk about how he is not worthy of Marinette’s love and gives up the miraculous because of the identity rule pushing him into a corner.

…WOW ITS ALMOST LIKE THE IDENTITY RULE IS BULLSHIT OR SOMETHING (note Gabriel immediately finds out who Marinette is and Marinette finds out who Gabriel is and the fight goes on like it’s nothing) AND ADRIENS ONLY PURPOSE IS TO SUPPORT MARINETTE!

(I will note I did like the slight hint of “Adrien is scared of his own power because of what happened in the beginning of the season” so points there)

Anyways yeah upsetting, in this entire finale Adrien gets 3 minutes and 9 seconds of screen time, but I can’t even say I’m surprised!

Other then this main thing, Gabriel’s plan is convoluted as fuck and banks on this app somehow brainwashing people and convincing them the heroes are evil and kidnapped the little digital Adrien and Kagami? Which was literally confirmed to not be full proof, but yeah this was just the boomer commentary of “PHONES ARE EVIL AND BRAINWASH AND MELT YOUR MIND AND YOU CLING TO IT FOR COMFORT” which I personally hate because it completely ignores how society is nowadays dependent on phones for purely practical reasons, and also that perhaps the youth clings to phones because adults have created a world in which they feel miserable and will cling to any semblance of comfort.

Anyways!

Finale Part 2:

Let me start this by saying… I hate bug noir.

Fullll on. I do not like what she stands for and the design, EVERYTHING!

Beyond the fact that this is just an extra fuck you to Adrien and anyone that complained about him being sidelined, and the fact this literally confirms the show doesn’t see the cat and ladybug miraculouses as equals, I just don’t like how the outfit looks? Like why the three braids??? Why the weird neon green contacts??? Like when I saw the spoilers for this finale and bug noir, I genuinely thought it was one of those fan edits of miraculous heroes people make and then post as “omg guys look at this leak from season 7 miraculous”

But yeah, Bug Noir and Gabriel be fighting and Gabriel is like “I did it all for Adrien” and Marinette’s like “no you didn’t you suck he’s happy now with others (aka me)” and then when Marinette’s about to win, Gabriel whips out this bullshit ass sob story??? About how everything was perfect when Adrien was born and how he’s his miracle child (I love how adoption is just not an option for straight people)

AND WE’RE SUPPOSED TO SYMPATHIZE?! Like bitch! THIS MAN HAS LITERALLY PROVEN IN ALTERNATE TIMELINE EPISODES TO IMMEDIATELY HURT ADRIEN THE MINUTE HE FINDS OUT HES CHAT NOIR!!!

Like if the show wanted Gabriel to be this multifaceted complex guy, DONT MAKE HIM ACTIVELY HURT THE THING HE CLAIMS HES DOING EVERYTHING FOR!!!!

And of course, through manipulation, Gabriel gets the miraculouses, and rather then fuse the miraculouses to form ultimate wish form (which btw I don’t understand how marinette just fused the two like it’s nothing and didn’t get the extra power up) he makes Plagg and Tikki “Reveal themselves” to him?

So fun Kwamis are basically gods (at least Plagg and Tikki are) and then they fuse to form the kwami of reality… gimme.

…I’m sorry the name sends me laughing every time

I much preferred null, the kwami of Souls, from the PV version of Miraculous because it sounds ominous at least, but gimme?! Ha!

Anyways Gabriel makes the wish and… there doesn’t seem to be any consequences!

Like that’s right you guys, Gabriel makes the wish to get his wife back, but rather then humanity actually suffering from the consequences of that wish, he just dies instead of Emilie? And everyone is just living their best lives now in this utopian Paris that runs on clean energy and Montessori schools (miraculous really acted like their presenting a new idea with that new school, and Montessori schools are often criticized for actually not accommodating students with learning disabilities as it’s so lax if a system, so just a reminder there’s no such thing as a perfect solution!)

And to top it all off… Gabriel is deemed a hero by Paris.

I SWEAR TO GOD—

That’s right kids, Gabriel after everything he did (and in this reality he still made the alliance rings and was Hawkmoth, everything) gets to be remembered as a hero that fought against Hawkmoth alongside Ladybug, rather then the terrorist and the abusive father he was, and how much pain he caused trying to get an ultimately selfish thing, and to top it all of? MARINETTE NEVER TELLS ADRIEN SHIT AS HE LITERALLY THINKS HE SHOULD BE MORE LIKE HIS FATHER! THE ABUSIVE TERRORIST FATHER!!!!

…the way the show literally will justify the terrorist, but then go to tell us how two 14 year old girls are pure evil and give them the worst fate and treatment possible! FEMENISM!!!✨

Beyond that, all the side heroes are back permanently, like it’s not dangerous to have so many miraculouses out at once, Marinette just fixes the miraculouses back to their original form??? SOMEHOW??? Like it wasn’t confirmed that if you so much as crack a miraculous it’s broken and dangerous to use, but there’s no rules here anymore, and Lila now has the butterfly miraculous because evilll

But yeah all in all? I think this was the worst fucking way to end the season and the entire Hawkmoth plot!

I will note that there is a hint in the last minute of the episode that Gabriel’s wish did have an affect on reality as Lila sees this weird lightning thing and then the screen goes black, so maybe we’ll actually get consequences for this wish!

But yeah!

Side note: liked how they used all the heroes from the specials, also that Luka is back, but I don’t trust the show to give him any roles beyond support marinette

Full honesty, I’m not sure if I’m going to continue with these reviews or the show, because let’s be real it’s a lot to deal with, but also the show kinda feels over?

Like I know the identity reveal didn’t happen, but marinette and Adrien are already together, the wish has been made, everyone seems to have some sort of resolution, so a part of me wonders what else do you need to watch the show for? Like what’s the point.

But yeah! This might be a sendoff to be reviewing all the miraculous episodes (tho you know that if something big happens, your girl will make a post about it✨)

This has been me sarcastically reviewing miraculous, goodnight tristate area!

[thetardisisnotourdivision]

Theory: Nathalie Sancoeur

I've seen a couple of posts about how Nathalie is only just starting to defend Adrien against his father, so I thought now might be a good time to post about my theory regarding Nathalie's backstory. 

My theory is that Nathalie was raised in a kinda abusive environment. I think she was possibly trained for a life of finding and potentially guarding the Miraculous, perhaps as some sort of response to the destruction of the Temple of Guardians, which would give her extra motivation to help Gabriel get the Miraculous - she'd be doing what she was trained to do. She never mentions her family, and in Passion she says she has nothing left to lose, implying that her family perhaps aren't in the picture anyway - in addition to this she never goes home, living with the Agrestes, even though she is severely ill. In terms of her training, she is a skilled fighter both as Mayura and Nathalie (Felix), is extremely intelligent and observant, and we know she was an Indiana Jones-style treasure hunter. She is also very stealthy, and is good at hiding herself and taking advantage of distractions to stay undercover - she has previously evaded professional guards and stolen Master Fu's tablet with the deciphered spellbook pages. She is ruthless and merciless, implying that she was trained meticulously with one goal, with no feelings to spare for any casualties - in this case emotions may have been seen as "weak".

This is where we start to allude to an abusive upbringing. Nathalie allows herself to be used by Gabriel to the point of terminal illness, and still forces herself to keep working even when ill, suggesting that she feels obliged somehow to help him, and has learned to put her own needs last. Her general personality would also indicate that she is a survivor of abuse. She is generally serious, cold, closed off and seemingly emotionless, which is a survival instinct that comes from being threatened (in my experience, it comes from living in an environment where anything you do could be used against you - it might be a similar story here). She has clearly learned to suppress her emotions, to give nothing away - possibly as part of her training, or just for survival. She doesn't pick up on Gabriel's abuse towards Adrien until she realises that Gabriel is in general a dick in Evolution. The way that she reacts towards Gabriel would perhaps suggest that he and Emilie were the first people to really treat her with kindness, explaining why she clung to the idea of helping Gabriel for so long and why she is so fiercely loyal towards him and Emilie. She regularly blames herself for things that aren't her fault, and has said she has "failed" somebody on more than one occasion - this both implies emotional abuse and an overly-formal way of speaking suggesting she was raised around adults - and is very afraid of disappointing people. She is also prone to emotional manipulation - both Lila (which isn't saying much but it still counts) and Gabriel have used this to their advantage before. Notably she herself is also a skilled manipulator and very good at messing with people's heads, such as in the episode Ladybug where she manipulates Cat Noir into thinking the sentimonster is actually Ladybug, and as a result almost manages to take his Miraculous. 

Then we come to her relationship with Adrien. Nathalie is fiercely protective of Adrien and, interestingly, we never see her face him as Cat Noir any time his identity is revealed - in Chat Blanc, when she tells Gabriel what she's seen, she seems more horrified than angry, as though she's realised she was hurting Adrien the whole time. In series five, when she starts actively defending him against Gabriel, it feels more to me like she didn't really recognise the abuse before (possibly because it was similar to the way she was brought up) and is now starting to realise what's really happening, than anything else. 

So, my full theory of Nathalie's backstory, given the evidence:

The story would start similarly to Master Fu's - at a very young age, potentially as a baby, she was chosen because of certain attributes or qualities she had, and taken away from her family to be raised and trained by some sort of organisation. This organisation was probably something to do with finding the Miraculous. Nathalie was raised as a soldier or a hunter, (think Partizans from The Rosewood Chronicles or the Widows in Black Widow - her behaviour is very similar to Jamie Volk's), and in her late teens she met Gabriel, who was also looking for the Miraculous for some reason or other. Perhaps she was sent out to start searching and ended up travelling with Gabriel and Emilie. Whatever happened, they were kind to her, so she became very loyal to them, never realising that their kindness didn't mean she owed them, or that the reason she felt obliged to them was because of how she was raised. So she stays with them - assists them with Adrien (because we pretty much know he's a sentimonster now, and she would have known enough about the Miraculous to be able to show Emilie how to use the peacock Miraculous) and then, after Emilie's disappearance, felt a strong enough connection to the Agrestes - stronger than any connection she'd ever really had before - that she felt obliged to keep helping Gabriel, even when his actions were straight up evil, because it was all she'd ever known. 

It's not a very organised theory and I'm sure someone somewhere could put it far better than I have but what do you think? Add anything I've missed and feel free to ask questions. 

A final thing I find interesting - considering the idea that Nathalie doesn't know her family… on Miraculous Wiki she is described as having "bluebell eyes". For such a serious character it seems a strangely whimsical description… unless you consider the other character described as having "bluebell eyes". I know it sounds ridiculous but I saw a post recently mentioning how all of the Asian characters in the show seem to have blue hair (which is kind of odd and I feel like there's a rabbit hole I could go down here but I'm not going to), and how Nathalie shares a lot of traits with Marinette. The post wasn't about this specifically but I think it's entirely possible that Nathalie and Marinette are linked somehow, plus Nathalie being part-Asian would support the theory. 

[princess-of-the-corner]

(Part 2)

Kim: Great, our situation can probably only become worse if Scarlet Moth himself came out from under floor, zombie-style.

Scarlet Moth: *suddenly climbs out from "secret" elevator shaft*

Max: 99% possibility that we are in deep sh*t now.

Honestly the fact that this is Public Knowledge means that it's really just.

Adrien: "You know! When a kid throws a party while he thinks his parents are away, usually they just get grounded! But no! You have to be an extra bitch and go full supervillain!"

Scarlet Moth: "I almost respected the audacity of the teen rebellion, especially as there was no way for you to get away with it. but lying to your girlfriends about it is not the way to go."

Adrien: "..... For the record, until they showed up mad, I didn't know about the lying and I am also mad and disappointed in the guys for that."

[kleenex-tissues]

Yours Truly

Maribat coming at you again twice in the same night baby

As always, click here for AO3

Chapter 2:  Marinette Dupain-Cheng Will be Fluent in English, Mark Her Words

Marinette Dupain-Cheng liked to think of herself as an optimist, not that she had much choice.

After spending the past three years fighting a guy who took advantage of the negative emotions of Paris’ civilians with nothing but a yo-yo, she had learned to ward off bad feelings rather quickly.

No matter how many times she got detention for skipping class to fight an akuma. Or got yelled at by her Maman for falling asleep at the bakery’s register after staying up all night fighting an akuma. Or her friends called her flakey when she was late to their hangout because she was across town fighting an akuma.

Quite frankly, it was a wonder just how she hadn’t been akumatized in all these years, but her ability to switch into aggressive positivity seemed to keep even Hawkmoth at bay.

This optimism was what got her into trouble when she convinced herself that she would be improving her English-speaking skills before going off to university. Applications from multilingual students looked remarkably better for programs outside of France, so in order to keep herself from being a total liar on her resume, she was going to speak English perfectly!

Easy as it sounds, no?

Well, actually, no.

Between being Ladybug: defender of Paris and menace to poorly dressed villains, class president for the fourth year in a row, going to school full-time, filling out her portfolio for design school, taking commissions for outfits and costumes, working part-time at her parent’s bakery, and having a social life, she was spread a little thin. There was no possible way she could fit in an extra language class.

After the fifth week in a row of missing her time-slot with her English tutor, Marinette felt defeated. She knew if she continued to fail, she would spiral into a panic. If she was bad at English, then she would have lied on her applications. If the schools she applied to found out she lied, she could get denied attendance. If she was denied attendance, she would have to spend the rest of her life living in a bedroom above her parents’ bakery, making out-of-fashion clothes because she lost all her inspiration to design after getting deni–

“Girl, stay with me,” Alya snapped at Marinette. “You’re catastrophizing again.”

Marinette only groaned in reply from her position face down on her school desk.

“C’mon, Mari! It’s only September, you’ve got plenty of time to improve your English,” Nino piped up from in front of her.

If Marinette could count on one thing to stay positive about in her hectic life, it was her friends. Every year since they were 14, Marinette, Alya, Nino, and Adrien had been placed into the same classes. While their classmates had shuffled and changed over time, these three had stayed solid in her life. The same four seats in the front of the classroom – Marinette and Alya behind, Nino and Adrien in front.

Her life was better for them.

“My life is over,” mumbled Marinette.

Alya, Nino, and Adrien shared a look before the former rolled her eyes and patted her friend on the back. “No, it’s not. You’re just a little busy right now. Some time will free up soon.”

Marinette shot up to look at her friend in horror.

“There is no soon! I will never make it to this stupid class without an akuma attacking, or an emergency at the bakery, or a hours-long project due the next day with zero progress done on it. How am I ever gonna learn English?”

Just as tears began to form in Marinette’s eyes, Alya hugged her tightly. Her warm embrace calmed Marinette down well enough to keep any tears from falling.

‘Breathe in. Breathe out,’ she thought to herself, trying to calm down and match the breathing pattern of the girl attached to her.

“We’ll help you figure it out. You’re never alone when we’re around, okay?”

Marinette nodded into Alya’s shoulder. “Okay.”

This was how Marinette ended up in her room a few hours later staring at a pen pal website on her monitor like it had personally wronged her.

Alya’s idea of figuring it out was a pen pal website. Something about ‘real-world application’ is how she described it.

As it turned out, Alya had discovered the service on accident over the summer and decided to look into it. She met a girl from Hawai’i named Robyn, and they had really hit it off. It was all she could talk about for months, and realizing how much her English had improved, she had an idea. Marinette didn’t know the definition of stranger, so what better way to learn than through making friends from an English-speaking country?

Everything was easier said than done for Marinette, however.

The application to just be approved for the pen pal database was brutal. A dozen questions about her demographics, ten personal open-answers, and a preference sheet made up the documents. It felt like every page dragged on before she finally reached the submit button.

Her finger hesitated over the mouse.

“What’s wrong, Marinette?”

The query came from her desk, where the source of her superpowers rested in the body of a small red creature – Tikki, the Kwami of Creation. They had been partners for three years now, ever since Hawkmoth came to Paris. There was no one she could trust more than the small goddess before her.

Marinette chewed on the inside of her lip before answering. “I’m just not sure if it’s a good idea. I barely have enough free time as it is. How am I gonna be able to spend the time actually talking to this mysterious pen pal?”

“I think you’re worrying over it too much! You only have to message them as often as you feel comfortable doing. Maybe state in your email that you have work, but still want to make a friend.” Tikki flew up to hug her holder’s face. “Plus, you can reply while you’re working at the register since the email goes to your phone too!”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. I’m sure I can make some time. All worth it to improve my English, right?”

Tikki nodded her head in agreement before moving to put her hand over Marinette’s. They would click submit together. In one quick movement, they pressed the button together.

–

Her application took its time to process, and within a few days, Marinette had forgotten all about it. As she bounced down on her chaise after a grueling akuma battle, she pulled out her phone to check her notifications. Not answering anyone for three hours in the midst of an emergency tended to let her notifications fill up fast. She scrolled through a couple texts from Alya about the amazing photos she got of today’s win, alerts for the Ladyblog – the website said friend had dedicated to recording the akuma attacks, a hoard of replies in their class group chat, and emails.

The top email description read, “New Pen Pal Awaits You!” and the one below it being her confirmation that she was accepted into the pen pal database.

She looked at Tikki nervously before opening it the top one.

To: maridesigns@xxxxx.net From: penpalsonus@xxxxx.com Subject: New Pen Pal Awaits You! Hello Marinette,

Welcome again to our service, Pen Pals On Us!

Our website is dedicated to giving you new experiences with people from all over the world. Using the application you filled out, we have found you a perfect pen pal based on your preferences.

Language(s): English, French Pronouns: She/Her Likes: Animals, Fashion, Sketching Age Range: 16-18

Through analyzing your preferences and those of the many people registered in our database, we have decided to pair you with:

d.w.redbird@xxxxx.net

Language(s): English, Arabic Pronouns: He/Him Likes: Animals, Art Age Range: 16-18

We hope you become great friends!

Pen Pals On Us XXX First St, Somewhere, CA xxx-xxx-xxxx

“Well, Tikki. It looks like I’ve got a new friend.”

[msweebyness]

Class of Heroes AU: Friendship Fluff HC’s

These are just some cute Headcanons I came up with for the kids in my AU! Enjoy, and as always, credit to @imsparky2002 and @artzychic27!

*Nathaniel, Ondine, Mylene, Zoé, Cosette and Adrien all love to sing together. Hearing all six of them in harmony has brought multiple people to tears just from how purely angelic it is.

*Both classes have a pact about not eating fish due to how much it upsets Ondine. (She cried for hours when she first caught sight of the seafood selections in the cafeteria. Apparently she knew one of the lobsters…)

*Kim and Denise often have ‘lifting contests’ that tend to get a BIT crazy. There was one instance where they each lifted their entire class on a set of the rising bleachers used for choir concerts. That one ended in matching detentions.

*Hair accessories are one of Adrien’s favorite things in the world. He has at least one that each of his friends has made for him, and he wears them all, sometimes multiple at once.

*On an especially hot day during summer (this is an all year school, with holidays to go home.), after some coaxing, Marc froze over the swimming pool and taught everyone how to ice skate! (It went better for some than others…)

*Nathaniel has framed drawings and pictures of all his friends, so if things don’t work out with his true love, he’ll remember them when he wakes up.

*The students who DON’T have crappy parents have established ‘Bring Your Mom/Dad/Parent to School’ Days so the ones whose parents are garbage fires or non-existent can receive hugs from those that aren’t.

*Juleka and Ivan have a special spot in one of the high towers where either or both of them can go to hide out when being labeled by those outside of the class as the school ‘freaks’ and the bullying that comes with that gets to them. It helps them to talk with someone who understands, and they often share music with each other to help calm down.

*Max was wary of Kim when he first met his roommate, thinking he would be the type of guy who bullied him, but quickly warmed up to the demigod due to how friendly he was. Kim took an immediate liking to the young inventor and runs off anyone who tries to mess with his ‘little buddy’. Max also tutors Kim in several subjects.

*Reshma gives people flowers for any occasion she can think of, it’s one of the chief ways she shows affection to friends and family. She’s a master of the messages behind them too, and at any time each of her friends will likely have at least two vases full of her flowers in their room.

*Alya teaches a cooking class for anyone who’s interested on the weekends. Everyone from both classes has come at least twice, and they all came the day she was teaching how to make her famous gumbo.

*Mylene and Zoe are great friends due to their shared love of animals. They also find it soothing to tidy up the school common areas together, chatting and singing while they work.

*Nino is actually very fond of giving makeovers! Even without his wand, he is a MASTER of hair, makeup and clothes coordination, always making sure his friends look on point for any school event!

*Jean loves to put on productions and musical numbers for all his friends. He always finds a part for anyone who wants one and makes it a fun experience for all involved, both to watch and participate. (He does a special number for all his friends on their birthdays, with original lyrics and choreography. He’s an emperor, he’s ALLOWED to be extra!)

*When Kagami goes home on some weekends, at least one of her friends will go with her because there’s a high chance she’ll be tasked with looking after her brothers. And believe me when I say this is a multiple person job!

[sunfoxfic]

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@crizztelcb

@theultracharmingladynoire

I tagged 5,678 of my posts in 2022

Only 24% of my posts had no tags

#rambles - 1,566 posts

#art - 477 posts

#asks answered - 429 posts

#anonymous - 274 posts

#sxf - 248 posts

#ml spoilers - 215 posts

#ml - 182 posts

#djwifi - 156 posts

#ml fandom salt - 139 posts

#not ml - 125 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#and i think precedent cannot trump accuracy when the precedent is set by a single volunteer who may or may not have known the complete story

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

ALT

Hot take

3,796 notes - Posted July 11, 2022

#4

Part of what makes Anya such a good character is that despite being a telepath and frequently having access to all the information she would need to know - in the interview she was able to read Loid's mind for what she should answer, in tests she can cheat off of other children, when Loid met her in the interview she knew exactly what he wanted - she isn't overpowered. Other flaws, like bad acting, lack of emotional regulation, and inattentiveness prevent her from using her telepathy to its full advantage. And these traits are all very typical of a 5 year old child, which makes it very clever, almost! She's theoretically the most powerful character in the show, she just hasn't honed any skills on account of being 5, and that makes her character absolutely brilliant.

4,126 notes - Posted June 28, 2022

#3

ML trope that isn't actually a trope but should be a trope: Adrien fully believes that something is just normal for everyone because it's true of both Ladybug and Marinette, but it's actually the most batshit insane thing ever.

4,346 notes - Posted June 16, 2022

#2

I think if the ML universe were real and someone made a comic where it's like "Ladybug, the top surgery was a success" and Ladybug responds "where's Chat Noir?" and the doctor said "who do you think took your boobs?" and they walked to him and he just had extra large bazonkatonks. I think Chat Noir would reblog it.

8,278 notes - Posted April 7, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I fucking love friendships between fanfic writers. It's like: we exist vaguely in proximity to each other within the fandom bc of mutuals or whatever and maybe we're even mutuals ourselves but we don't talk at all until one day one of us binge reads the other's fic and then there is an unbreakable bond between us. And it SLAPS

21,158 notes - Posted July 7, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[whenimgoodandready]

We’re all goin’ through emotions here. It’s the perfect advantage for bad influencers to seek out and use for their own benefit. If those are strong enough, especially the negative ones, we’re f*cked! Then when the bad influencer needs extra help, they call upon some back-up like oh idk, a sentimonster! That’s where The Peacock Miraculous comes in. The peacock represents integrity, vision, and vibrancy. First lost and damaged cuz of Master Fu (“Feast”), then found by Gabe, Emilie and Nathalie (“Passion”), then used by Nat for an emergency last minute use (“Heroes Day Part 2:Mayura”), then fixed by Gabe (“Truth”) and then exchanged to by trade for Felix (“Shadow Moth’s Final Attack Part 2:Strike Back”) which lead to more emotions in Season 5. Speaking of which, has any one heard word from that little sh*t yet? Last we saw he activated The Peacock Miraculous after fooling the dynamic duo that he wasn’t around (“Multiplication”). No? Oh well, guess that’s it….or is it!? Let’s see:

*Emotion-There’s this big fancy ball called “The Diamonds Dance” where all the fat cats and big wigs go and bring their children along cuz it’s just like that party from “Gabriel Agreste”. You know, the one where everyone wears masks that were creepingly animal themed like in “Squad Game” to show how morally corrupt the rich are (what happened to a simple yet sophisticated black tie event huh?) and pass that on to their spoiled selfish little sh*ts. Ok, again, where’s Felix? You guys haven’t seen him around? No? Ok.

Anyways, all the rich kids will be there, Chloe, Zoe, Prince Ali, Lil-Oh no, wait! SHE’S NOT INVITED! HA! :P. A daughter to an ambassador and she gets left out in the cold! (laughs) Oh that’s rich!😅. Also, Adrien and Kagami are made King and Queen there cuz their evil parents are still trying to raise the Adrigami ship even though it’s soups awkward cuz Adrienette is sailing and Kagami is still interested in Adrien, but still supports Adrienette. Seriously, has any one seen Felix!? His mom, Amelie, is even asking about him to Gabe, but he’s acting like he’s deaf about it! Dude! Where’s your a**hole nephew!? Why isn’t he goin’ to the ball!? Huh, look at that, neither is Zoe, well good for her! She’s got better things to do! The only good “brain-eating zombies” are in the movies, so Marinette goes in her place. Adrien never told her about it and it was because Gabe “told” him not to cuz he’s subtly trying to drill holes in the Adrienette ship. Maybe if Gabe hadn’t done that, Marinette wouldn’t have been suspicious and snuck in to find out why! That’s on you Gabe!

The whole Diamonds Dance thing is pretty “secure”. The eye masks are digital invitations that only say the name on it regardless of who it is and to me, that’s not so impressive. Especially since it didn’t even have a face recognition (which is how Marinette got in) and only applied to the invites! :P. Not so smart tech! You’d think with a room full of upperclass, they could afford better security. I mean, you instantly change clothes when you go in, but you can’t put up a more efficient identity scanning system to know a fraud! Pathetic! Last time people! 👏Has👏any👏one👏seen👏Felix!? Felix Fathom!? He’s about “Yay-tall”, blond hair, green eyes?…….No! That’s Adrien!✨The golden boy!✨I mean Felix his little sh*t of a cousin! Oh no, wait, that is him! Don! Don! Don!

Actually, with The Peacock Miraculous, he calls himself Argos. This little peafowl summons up his look and unleashed a sentimonster named Red Moon. A glowing red moon that whomever it shines on makes Argos snap them away from existence.꒰ఎPoof໒꒱ There goes Chloe. ꒰ఎPoof໒꒱There goes Gabe.꒰ఎPoof໒꒱There goes Tomoe. ꒰ఎPoof໒꒱There goes, well, just about everyone else actually. WTF!? WHAT’S GOIN’ ON!? Is he doin’ that douchey Spiderman infected with darkness song and dance!? To the music from when Gabe was doin’ his “victory dance”!? (“The Kwami’s Choice Part 2:Deflagration”). What is up with these Agrestes/Fathoms men and singing and dancing!? I’m surprised they didn’t get rich from show business! ꒰ఎPoof໒꒱ There goes Ladybug!?😳….(screams)😱.

Well, well, well, look what the bus dropped off for us! It’s Felix Fathom! After so long, he’s finally come into the season. Just what was he up to and what did he want with The Peacock Miraculous? Hmmmmmmm. Turns out, Felix wanted The Peacock Miraculous so he can use its sentimonster creating powers to threaten Ladybug into giving him hers and Cat Noirs miraculous to make his own wish! BAM! But why you ask? Well, that’s complicated actually. See, the reason is despite his treachery of stealing almost all the miraculouses from Ladybug (which she was pissed af about and gave him a big lashing out for it let me tell ya) and making Monarch more powerful than ever, he did it for the sake of his beloved cousin, Adrien. He wanted himself, his mother, Adrien, and Kagami to be liberated from the controlling oppressors of the world so as not to live like “living puppets” to uphold the status quo of the rich and be themselves in their own little world. As noble as that is, HE DIDN’T FEEL ANY F*CKING REMORSE FOR THE CONSEQUENCES THAT OCCURRED AND NEVER EVEN APOLOGIZED TO LADYBUG ABOUT THE THEFT! Guess this use of The Peacock Miraculous falls into the category of Anti-Villain. One who does evil, but for good intentions. Is that how it goes? On one hand, Argos was looking out for his cousin, whom he genuinely loves (in a rather twisted way), and Kagami cuz the three of ‘em are more “similar” than we think and giving them the freedom they so longed for and not be paraded around like trophies. On the other hand, he never thought to ask what Adrien and Kagami thought about it and assumed they’d be grateful and relieved. They call him out on it and how he has no control over his powers. That and cuz Adrienette needs to sail (nice to see Felix/Argos supports that). Both of these were the reasons Argos fixed everything. I’ll elaborate more on his thoughts in the next review when the English Dubs come out. Even though by then all of Season 5 will be done and it’s fine cuz I’m spoiled by it any way so :P.

[landofanimes]

Miraculous Season 5 Finale

(not counting 5x27 since apparently that’s just a bonus/extra episode)

SPOILERS

Well then. This was it. I mean, it’s not the END of the story, but the end of the arc. I thought it was gonna be more conclusive but makes sense they’re saving some big stuff for later to keep us invested. I question some of them though...

Things got pretty wild these last few episodes, I still wish they hadn’t done the sentimoster thing but that’s just how it is. Oh and I get Felix’s situation was freakin terrible cause his life was on the line but he risked everyone’s by giving Gabriel all the miraculous last season so like... I thought things happened a bit too quickly? Not to mention his sudden romance with Kagami like whaaaat.  

Now, about Hawkmoth’s defeat... It was pretty good on the Marinette side of things, but I am once again dissappointed on the Adrien side. I know they’re gonna deal with some of his stuff later but Gabriel is literally DEAD and Adrien wasn’t a part of the fight and also doesn’t know shit. He’s gonna have to deal with the full extent of his father’s actions AFTER his death. He won’t be able to talk to him about it (I assume). And right now he thinks Gabriel died a hero which will not help once he learns the truth.

Also I thought Emilie was back but someone pointed out that was probably just Amelie (Felix’s mom) and yeah, that makes sense. Cause I was wondering how did Gabriel save both Natalie and Emilie with only one sacrifice? But apparently he only saved Natalie and died to “join” Emilie, I guess? But then shouldn’t Adrien be more upset? I know Gabriel was peak shit to him lately but not long ago Adrien was happy his father was spending time with him and then he thought he died a hero! I imagine he would have conflicted feelings but still felt upset. Like, more than was shown. He lost another parent, and Natalie is the only one left to take care of him but we didn’t see ANY of that fallout, they just cut to them all reunited at home! We didn’t see him receiving the news or Natalie promising to take care of him or anything like that. Maybe Amelie will help too? I don’t know cause THEY DIDN’T SAY. I’m gonna have to wait for more episodes.

I imagine Marinette will try to tell Chat about Hawkmoth but I’m guessing Plagg will stop her somehow and the drama will be postponned for later.

I also thought by now Marinette and Adrien would have had a reveal but nope! And now Lila is the villain so they won’t tell each other yet. Damn.

Anyway...

Marinette was badass and her fight with Hawkmoth was cool (though I wish Adrien had SOME part in it). I do wish Bug Noire looked better though, that suit was...not it. Also, three long braids? Eeeeeh it looked weird. I’m hoping for some fan redesigns!

The kwami’s true forms were REALLY cool, I love that shit. Give me a cute mascot who is supportive and kind to the magical kid and I’m good. But reveal a badass beast form and ohoho that’s even better!!!!! I do think Gimmi should have more cat features though, it’s literally a bug with whiskers, that’s it? Considering it’s a fusion I expected to be more balanced...But anyway.

And I know they teased Tikki’s true form before (I didn’t even remember it but I saw a post), but I just... It all happened so quickly!!!! Idk man so many huge things happening in a short period, it’s crazy!

Seriously, I can’t believe Gabriel is DEAD!!!! Like yeah I knew Hawkmoth was going to be defeated but damn, I didn’t expect it to be so final.

Everybody got their miraculous back! Doesn’t Lila know everyone’s identities though? Because fo that time she controlled Nathalie?? Hmm.....

On to waiting for the next season! We still got at least 2 more confirmed.

Oh but before that: the movie!!!! Which is a separate thing but looks promising!!! :)

[vitaliciouscreations]

Drop of Paradise - Part Three

First | Previous | Next

Note: Thanks to @dargeon-lissa for helping me with French in the last part.

Multicultural week was an annual thing at François-Dupont, Lila learned from Nino. Doing a presentation was optional, and since it happened every year, most of the kids their age who had a culture worth sharing and were interested in sharing it had done it already.

When Lila asked Ms. Bustier about it, she told Lila that there were going to be fifteen presentations this year. Four each on the first three days of the week, three on Thursday, and then on Friday they would all take a test on what they had learned to make sure they’d been paying attention. Not an important test, she reassured Lila; it was just to make sure the students had taken the week and the opportunity to learn seriously instead of goofing off. Surely someone as well-traveled as Lila would have no difficulty passing the test with flying colors.

From Alya, Lila learned that most of the presentations would be given by students in year six who had just started attending François-Dupont this year. Alya herself had thought about doing a presentation on Martinique, but had ultimately decided against giving herself more work to do when she already had all of her regular homework, her work on the Ladyblog, her babysitter duties with her younger sisters, and her dates with Nino. However, their very own class representative and Alya’s best friend was going to be giving the last presentation of the week after lunch on Thursday.

Apparently Marinette’s presentation was set to be the last one and the only one after lunch on Thursday because the school had decided it would generate much more interest than all of the other presentations. They didn’t want Marinette to accidentally upstage anyone, or rather, Marinette didn’t want to accidentally upstage anyone, and so she had offered to go last. And of course, her presentation was set to be longer than anyone else’s because the school wanted there to be enough time for as many questions as possible to be answered.

Lila would be infuriated about it all if she wasn’t so smart. Fortunately, though, Lila was nothing if not resourceful, intelligent, and clever, so she recognized the situation for the perfect opportunity that it was. Come lunchtime on Thursday, she found herself smirking as she watched Marinette bolt out of the classroom the very instant the bell rang.

She was in a hurry to get home and make sure everything was ready for her upcoming presentation, no doubt. Lila had been keeping an eye on her all week, and it was clear that Marinette had spent most of the time preparing. She was trying so hard to ensure that her presentation would be as close to perfect as it could possibly get. How sad, then, that all of her hard work would be for nothing, because by the time Marinette returned to school, all of her beloved friends would be exactly where Lila wanted them.

Lila carefully schooled her features to replace the smirk on her face with an innocent smile as she collected her lunch tray and headed over to the table where the rest of her classmates were gathered. The seat next to Alya, the place where Marinette usually sat, was vacant. Lila happily took it.

“Yeah, it’s been, like, two weeks,” Alix was saying. She nodded at Lila in acknowledgement when she sat down. “I don’t know why it’s taking so long.”

“I think her cousin is visiting,” Rose said. “We saw her enter the bakery on Saturday when we were getting snacks for our impromptu band practice. Maybe that’s why?”

“Are you guys talking about Marinette?” Lila asked.

“Yeah,” Alix replied. “She said she’d make me some pajama shorts since summer is coming up, but it’s been like two weeks since then. I should probably just buy some, but I don’t want to spend money if I don’t have to.”

“Ask her about it,” Alya suggested. “She could have forgotten about it. That girl is so forgetful. It’s ridiculous.” Alya rolled her eyes playfully.

“She’s also been working on her presentation for multicultural week,” Nino said. “And if her cousin is visiting, she might just be busy.���

“Still,” Lila interjected. “It isn’t fair for Marinette to keep Alix waiting when she promised she’d make her the shorts.”

“Mmph,” Alix grunted. “I’ll just ask her about it after lunch.”

“After her presentation, you mean,” Alya said. “I wonder what it’s about, anyway? The school has been strangely secretive about it, and Marinette’s been ‘too busy’ all week to give me any details.” Alya rolled her eyes again, significantly less playfully.

“I think they’re trying to surprise us with it,” Juleka mumbled, and Lila internally scowled at her. Ugh, mumbling.

“Surprise us?” Nathaniel repeated. “Why would they want to surprise us?”

“They probably want to make multicultural week as engaging as possible,” Lila said. “I mean, hearing about those places first hand is probably the best way to learn about what they’re like in real life. Excluding actually going there, of course.”

“So you’ll have absolutely no problem on the test, Lila,” Rose said.

Lila flipped her hair over her shoulder gracefully. “Of course not.”

“Mmh,” Alya hummed, frowning. “But what about Marinette’s presentation will surprise us?”

“Oh, I know the answer to that,” Lila said. Everyone’s attention focused on her, and she basked in it for a moment before getting back to the task at hand. “I accidentally overheard Ms. Bustier talking with another teacher this morning. Marinette’s presentation is going to be about Eden.”

Alya choked on the water she was drinking. “Eden?!”

Lila shrugged. “That’s what I heard, anyway.”

“Statistically, there’s a 91% chance Lila is correct,” Max said, and Lila had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. He was always rattling on and on about his stupid statistics. It was so annoying. “They’ve been working their way east, so to speak. From the Americas to Africa to Europe and today Asia. Additionally, Alya is correct. Ms. Bustier and the other teachers have been oddly close-lipped about the last presentation. It is quite likely that they’re trying to surprise us with something special. An opportunity to learn about the most reclusive city in the world certainly qualifies.”

“That’s awesome!” Kim exclaimed loudly.

“It’s definitely a lot cooler than what they did for last year’s multicultural week,” Nino agreed.

Alya, however, was frowning. “I didn’t know Marinette was from Eden. Why wouldn’t she tell me? Aren’t I her best friend?”

Lila took on a sympathetic look and reached out to pat Alya’s arm. “Oh, Alya. If it’s any consolation, I don’t think Marinette is actually from Eden.”

A pause. Alya blinked. “What?”

“I doubt Marinette herself is from Eden,” Lila reiterated. “I mean, think about it. Eden revealed itself a few weeks ago, and Marinette is suddenly doing a presentation on it? It seems pretty unlikely.”

Alya frowned again. “Yeah, it does seem pretty unlikely. But would Marinette lie about something like that?”

“Hmm,” Lila hummed, cocking her head. “She’s probably not lying, per say. Just stretching the truth. It’s probably something like her great, great, great, great grandfather is from Eden, and she’s taking advantage of the recent reveal to make her presentation exciting and relevant.”

Alya thought about that for a couple seconds, and then nodded decisively. “You’re right. Marinette would have told me she was from Eden if she really was.”

“Exactly,” Lila said, stifling an eye roll. For a self-described hard hitting investigative journalist, Alya was super easy to play. “And, honestly, that’s why I’m kind of worried.”

A pause. The class stared at her.

“Huh?” Myléne murmured. She was almost as bad as Juleka. “Why are you worried?”

“It’s just,” Lila cast her eyes down like she was feeling shy. “We’re going to take a test tomorrow about everything we’ve learned this week, right? But I doubt Marinette really knows very much about Eden, so I’m worried about you guys. If Marinette gives you all faulty information about Eden you could fail the test. That would be terrible!”

The class took a few moments to process that. Lila eyed Rose and Juleka rather impatiently, waiting for one of them to speak up.

After several seconds too long of silence, it was actually Max who spoke up first, not Rose or Juleka. “Failing one portion of the test would not cause instant failure, but it could severely affect our grades. However, I see no other alternative. Most of the information online is speculative or entirely made up. We currently have no better source of information on Eden than Marinette.”

Lila’s eyes drifted over to Rose and Juleka again, but again neither of them spoke up. Honestly, must she do everything herself?

“Actually,” Lila said. “I could help you guys out. I mean, if you want me to. I spent a whole year volunteering there some time ago, so I know all about Eden and its culture.”

“That’s right!” Rose finally exclaimed. “Lila even helped me start writing a song about Eden on Saturday!”

Juleka nodded. “Yeah.”

“Whoa, seriously?” Alix asked.

“Yup!” Rose chirped, saving Lila the effort of having to do it herself.

“That’s so cool,” Nathaniel said. “I can’t wait to hear it.”

“We can’t wait to play it!” Rose exclaimed, looping an arm around Juleka’s shoulders and putting her other hand on Ivan’s arm. Both Ivan and Juleka gave their versions of a smile, which were hardly worth the title in Lila’s opinion. Apparently “goth” and “socially adept” were mutually exclusive at François-Dupont.

“I want to hear it too!” Kim shouted, and Lila scowled before quickly wiping the expression from her face. They were getting off track.

“Right,” Lila said, loud enough for everyone at the table to hear her. “So if you guys need someone to teach you about Eden, I’d be happy to do it!”

“Really?” Myléne squeaked out.

“That’d be awesome!” Sabrina exclaimed, and Lila grinned viciously when she didn’t see Chloe anywhere in the area. “Please, oh please tell us about Eden, Lila!”

“Yeah, please tell us about it,” Nathaniel agreed.

Lila schooled her face into a hesitant look. She noticeably glanced at a nearby clock. “I really would love too, but I don’t know if I can tell you guys everything you might need to know before lunch is over. I have no idea what questions will be on the test, and there’s so much to say about Eden!” Lila paused for a moment, giving it time, before dramatically perking up. “Actually, I just thought of something!”

“What’s that?” Nino asked.

“They’re not actually taking attendance this week, right?” Lila pointed out. “The school just wants to make sure you know the material. That’s why there’s a test at the end of the week, right?”

“So we could skip for the rest of today and learn what we need to from you instead,” Alix said, saving Lila the effort.

“Exactly!” Lila chirped. “And we could all go out for ice cream while I tell you guys all about Eden. It would be much more fun than sticking around for another presentation, anyway.”

Kim nodded enthusiastically. “Totally!”

Max hesitated, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Getting information from a direct source is likely to be more educational.”

“And way less boring!” Kim shouted, slamming his hands down on the table and jostling everyone’s food. Lila hid her irritation with a well-practiced plastic smile.

Alya hummed loudly, drawing everyone’s attention. She tilted her head. “I can’t deny that a direct source is undoubtedly superior, but what about Marinette’s presentation? She’s been working pretty hard on it.”

Lila frowned. “Are you saying Marinette would want all of us to fail just so we’d see her presentation?”

Alya’s eyes widened. “No! Of course not.”

“Right.” Lila nodded. “Marinette isn’t that kind of person. She won’t care about a silly presentation if it means all of us will be better off. That’s just the kind of friend she is. She’s so helpful, even if she is clumsy and forgetful.”

“That’s right,” Alya agreed.

A grin overtook Lila’s face. “Yeah. So I’m sure she won’t mind you guys skipping out. It’s just a pity she won’t be able to come with us since she has to give her presentation. But maybe I can write up some notes later tonight and send them to her to make sure she doesn’t fail either.”

“That’s so nice of you, Lila!” Sabrina praised.

Lila preened. “Thanks Sabrina! It might hurt my wrists to type that much, but I don’t want Marinette to fail either.”

“What about Adrien?” Nino asked, adjusting his hat. “We can’t leave him out of the loop.”

Lila nodded. “Of course not! I was thinking that we should wait here and see if he arrives early for lunch, and if not, one of you could wait for him and lead him to the rest of us when he arrives. I don’t want to leave him out, and I’m sure Adrien will appreciate a day out with his friends. It’s a real shame his father restricts him to the house so much.”

“Oh yeah,” Nino muttered. “That dude needs to take a chill pill. Or a dozen.”

“But today Adrien might be able to spend a whole afternoon hanging out with his friends,” Lila said. “I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.”

“Totally,” Nino agreed. Lila could see he was completely on board now. They all were. She smiled gleefully.

All week long, Lila had kept an eye on Marinette. In between presentations, all she’d done was help her classmates or work on her own presentation. Both were clearly very important to her.

So for her classmates to miss the presentation she’d worked oh so hard on? That would definitely hurt her. And when she was hurt, she was volatile. Easily manipulated. Most people were.

Any way Marinette reacted, Lila had a plan. Angry? It would be child’s play to make Marinette look like a bully. Sad? How could she be upset at the class for wanting to get good grades? Distant? Being passive aggressive is so cruel and manipulative.

And if she got akumatized? Oh, if she got akumatized, Lila would hit the jackpot. Marinette would almost certainly come after her as an akuma, and Ladybug would surely protect her. Lila could reaffirm her claim to the class about being Ladybug’s best friend, and she could pretend to be scared of Marinette afterwards. Every interaction with Marinette from them on would end with Lila on top without her having to utter a single word. All she would have to do is look terrified and everyone would jump to her defense.

If Marinette was akumatized, Lila would be in the perfect position to eliminate Marinette as a problem. Her false trauma would mean she and Marinette needed to be kept apart. And that opened up a world of possibilities.

She and Marinette couldn’t possibly be in the same class anymore if Lila started trembling every time she set eyes on her. The school would be forced to separate them. The issue would be taken to the principal, and that money-grubbing suck up would obviously choose Lila over Marinette because Lila’s mother was actually important. At the least, Marinette would transfer to another class and away from all of her precious friends. At best, Marinette would be expelled from François-Dupont.

Their classmates would also be forced to choose between Marinette and Lila, and they would choose Lila. Who would side with the aggressor as opposed to the victim, after all? And when Lila had everyone else on her side, Adrien would be hers too. He valued his friendships too much to give the majority of them up for one girl who could barely get a sentence out around him, and he was terrified of rejection from his peers.

Yes, Lila wanted Marinette to get akumatized. She could make everything work out perfectly once she was. And she would be. Lila would make sure of that.

@miraculous-of-salt, @plushbookworm, @reyna-avila-ramirez-alreanaldo, @captainmac6, @unmaskedagain, @crazylittlemunchkin, @mochinek0, @diamondheart31, @schrodingers25, @northernbluetongue, @heaven428, @starberry-mina

Tell me if you want to be added or removed from the tag list.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Something I found really neat about Season 3 is that they have the mini arc where Adrien initially trusts Lila to eventually come around, but little by little she starts taking more and more advantage of how lenient he is - and when he notices how detrimental this is to Marinette, he calls Lila out himself. Despite the… writing blunders of Lila’s character, I found it kind of compelling.

Which makes me question why he’s more than happy to tolerate Chloé for almost two whole seasons more than Lila? I always found it odd, even if Chloé’s been his only friend for who knows how long, surely he would’ve noticed a pattern after Miracle Queen went down? I think Season 3 would’ve benefited from fleshing out only one of those stories and leaving the other for later, or cutting one of them entirely - it’s basically the same Adrien arc, with two different bully characters.

Me, I would fix it by having the Queen Bee matter stay in the air for most of Season 3, and Chat Noir specifically lending the bee - so the conflict doesn’t come from “Marinette NEEDS to break up the Adrigami date”, it’s an actual tough decision for him to make, and have him explain the situation to Chloé right in the season finale. Perhaps it’s too much of a shock, or Chat Noir’s too harsh, or Chloé feels lost without Pollen, or everyone else already drifted away from Chloé and she’s clinging to her Queen Bee identity only to have it snatched from her (which also goes with the theme of loss Miracle Queen wants to convey), literally anything that counts as a valid akumatization reason because “waaah Ladybug didn’t pick me” doesn’t do it for me.

Then the Lila thing, I’m still not fully sure, maybe I’d have Marinette be the lenient one that eventually realizes how much Lila’s affecting Adrien, and somehow puts a stop to it - maybe Lila’s being sympathetic to Marinette, and only really wants to use Adrien to her advantage, so Marinette lets Gabriel know after uncovering some particularly nasty stuff, and he cuts her out. Now Lila has a better (IMO) reason to start a rivalry with Marinette, Marinette can grow closer to the Agrestes even if just a little, Adrien has a good point of reference to realize Chloé’s being out of line (without writing the same arc for the same character twice), and you don’t have an explicit Lila & Gabriel alliance (which is great, because I always disliked that part of the plot - unnecessary extra complexity that only really takes away from every character involved IMO).

How would you model the two arcs?

My stance has pretty much always been that Chloe should have been Adrien's problem. Why make Marinette try to fix her bully when Adrien is right there with none of that baggage? I'm still baffled that they made Adrien and Chloe friends because that plot point went nowhere so why make it a thing? You don't introduce a juicy tidbit like "the female lead's bully is the male lead's only childhood friend" unless you're going to do something big with it!

There's a lot of ways you could take Adrien and Chloe, but no matter which path you pick, it should be used to set Adrien up to be more mentally ready to accept all the messed up elements of his home life when he finally grasps that he's a victim on multiple levels. It's much easier for him to learn those lessons of when to forgive and when to give second chances from a peer and not his parent who still has full power over him. I like this leading to a "redeemed" Chloe because I think you need an example of when to give a second chance to make the example of when to not give a second chance really pop, but that's just my preference. Chloe teaching Adrien how to set boundaries and cut someone off so that he can do that again on a much larger scale is also perfectly valid.

I think the Lila thing should have been used to develop Alya and Nino, not Marinette and Adrien. The show writes all the teen characters as pretty terrible at navigating or even identifying things like abuse. We see that in their constant love of confronting Gabriel, never once stopping to think, "Huh, will this actually be a good thing for Adrien or are we putting him in danger?"

You could include Marinette in this arc, too, but I think that she should take a backseat and let Alya and Nino take the lead since they're the ones who see Lila as a good person. Learning to be a little less trusting and a little more thoughtful is a good lesson for the way both of them have been characterized. Alya needs to learn to be a little less willing to trust sources and season-four-and-five Nino needs to learn to be a little more focused on the feelings of those around him over his own goals. Plus Marinette already has so much going on! The writers really need to let others have the spotlight for a bit so the poor girl can rest and stop looking terrible as the plot twists itself into a pretzel to always make her the one who needs to learn a lesson.

[emtornado]

I'm cancelling majority of Season 4 of Miraculous. INSTEAD...

Oh my gods, I just saw the trailer for 'Hack-san' and I AM SO ANNOYED RIGHT NOW!!!

As far as I am concerned right now, I will accept SOME parts of this season.

Telling Alya? Questionable but okay

Luka getting to know? This will help them in the future cuz Luka is awesome.

Chat getting sidelined? Heartbreaking but okay fine, I'll take it.

ALYA BECOMING LADYBUG? BITCH NO.

This show is about Ladybug and Cat Noir- Marinette and Adrien.

For me, Season 4 right now is gonna be Chat being heartbroken cuz wtf man, his lady is being distant as fuck. Being Chat Noir always gave him a sense of freedom, but now he feels more and more like Adrien as Chat as well, trapped and useless to everyone around him.

So my dude goes and tells Ladybug that he can't do this. It's too much and she has Rena Rouge, Carapace and the others to help her. He is not important anymore, so it'll be fine if he gives his miraculous back to her.

Ladybug is shocked. She never wanted this. The main reason she was staying away from Chat is because of all the mental damage she suffered from Chat Blanc, because them being close, them being in love, basically destroyed the world.

So she sits there and she listens to her best friend (cuz Chat is her best friend, not Alya, fight me Thomas Astruc) say that he is gonna leave her, and she just kinda freezes.

Chat being Chat, sees this and goes to her being like, "Milady are you okay "

and before he finishes, he sees that she is basically having a panic attack and she's not breathing (duh. The number of expectations this kid, YES KID SHE'S LIKE 14, has is heartbreaking and she's been bordering on Anxiety and Depression for too long) and has tears streaming down her face and Chat immediately goes and hugs her and helps her through it (Imma stick to the 5-4-3-2-1 technique cuz its been effective for me).

After that happens they finally show some vulnerability to each other, and Ladybug finally tells him about Chat Blanc and how she's basically traumatised because of it.

Chat is heartbroken.

He never thought that him loving Ladybug could have such drastic consequences, and so he asks her if she wants him away. She could choose another Chat Noir, but this time so the fate of the flipping world doesn't hang in the balance, and after like a few more hours of opening up to each other, they decide that Ladybug and Chat Noir will always be Ladybug and Chat Noir. Best friends, partners and each other's solace.

Nothing else. At least until Hawkmoth is defeated.

And so they both go home, and Marinette is finally at peace cuz her partner is her partner again and she doesn't have to do all the unnecessary crap of having new superheroes in every new episode.

Adrien on the other hand is defeated as fuck. My man is so sad and he doesn't know what to do. He can't talk to Nino about this, he can't talk to Alya about this (they're just not that close, honestly) and he doesn't know what to do.

So, he bribes Plagg with a wheel of Camembert and transforms before going to the one person he trusts as much as he trusts Ladybug (3 guesses who lol)

Marinette is a little surprised to see her partner less than half an hour after having a huge talk with him. Of course, Chat doesn't know that and he just wants a friendly face who he knows will listen to him without an ounce of judgement.

And so Mari invites him in for passionfruit croissants she definitely made for Adrien that morning and makes them both comfortable in her room.

And then Chat talks.

He talks about how alienated he felt, he talks about how scared he is and he doesn't stop talking to Marinette until they're both just wrapped around each other, asleep, leeching off of each other's warmth cuz getting up to take the blanket was just too much work.

In the middle of the night, Plagg detransforms and goes to the other Kwamis to look at these two dumbass kids, who have way too much weight on their shoulders.

As the sun rises, Plagg (after being told by Tikki to 'be subtle for fucks sake, Plagg') gently wakes Adrien up, and Adrien leaves a note for Marinette, thanking her for listening to him, and leaves again.

And then, they go about their days as usual. Go to school, fight Akumas side by side, with a little extra help from Rena Rouge and any other hero, but people in Paris can see that it's The Ladybug and Chat Noir team once more.

And at night if the two heroes spend a little extra time together, as Chat Noir and Marinette, then nobody knows about it.

ON THE OTHER HAND, Alya is getting a little annoyed (just like we did with her lol) and straight-up asks Marinette what was the point of telling her all this if she was just gonna use her as a sidekick and Marinette (who has a lot more confidence considering during day time Adrien boosts her ego, and at night Chat does it) just goes "cuz you are a sidekick...? Your job, along with every other hero I give the miraculous to is to help Chat and me." (is this a little OOC for Mari? I don't care lmao)

Alya bristles and goes on to make a series of bad decisions to prove that she is vital to the tram, but she only adds a lot of drama smh.

OKAY BACK TO CHAT AND MARI. Gods they are SO in love. These two fools really do friends to lovers properly and cutely. Mari unknowingly gets over her crush on Adrien, and develops one on Chat instead, never realising that she fell in love with the same idiot.

And Adrien? Gods, he doesn't know how he never SAW Mari. Funny Mari who always beats him in Videogames and always gives him the best food (cuz gabby is a dick and doesn't feed his son enough) and gives the best hugs and always comes to every single tournament of his to cheer him on and laughs at all his puns and talks to him every night until they fall asleep together, either in each other's arms or over the phone. (If you think Adrien didn't get another phone just so he could talk to Mari as Chat at night and to send her memes during his photoshoot, then you're lying to yourself, bestie.)

And so one night, they kiss.

And everything seems so, so right.

And then they both get an akuma alert so Chat has to go asap, and Mari quickly transforms to meet him. They get there, and Rena Rouge is there, but with different colours and Ladybug and Chat Noir are confused cuz you know.

This is their friend. Their ally.

And then Rena turns around and says,

"Hello, Marinette."

End of Season.

Okay yeah, thanks for reading that. If I ever get the time I'm making this a full fanfic hehe

[aliensunflower-fics]

How to Exploit Kindness [A New Kind of Lila Salt Prompt]

[ Ive seen Lila and Class salt that goes a lot of different ways. In some Lilas a sad lonely girl who will do anything for friends and the class fall for her lies through a mixture of manipulation and Lila’s genuine sad lonely but real persona. In others Lila is insane and the class get basically sucked into her cult. And in others still, Lila slowly breaks the class down by preying on there insecurities, hidden jealousies ect. There are the versions where Lila just bribes the class with connections and the versions where Lila frames Marinette until no one believes her. But I wanted to write a new idea for people to use, one that I feel is a bit more realistic. One where Marinette’s classmates are more their more authentic kind selves but still get slowly pulled into Lila’s web and where Lila is just a bit more intelligent. ]

[ As usual with all my prompts feel free to borrow the idea to write for your own thing salt, sugar, cuteness angst ect just be sure to credit me for the idea so I can read it. ]

Lila was furious! This wasn’t how it was supposed to go! She was supposed to be everyone's friend! She was supposed to finally get a cute perfect boyfriend who would cherish her like she deserved! She was supposed to be HAPPY! But no, the pathetic beetle Ladybug and that goody two shoes Marinette kept ruining everything!

No… No that wasn’t quite true. As much as she wanted to blame her problems on those two it wasn’t entirely their faults. Honestly Lila wasn’t quite sure what had happened. Her lies had been working at first, they had gotten her praise and compliments and adoration and friendship! But now? Now they were all ignoring her, unimpressed by her celeb lies! She could not understand it! At first she’d been sure it was Marinette or Ladybug maybe even Adrien had turned on her! But when she’d probed for information she’d learned that none of them had blown the whistle. So what was it! Tomorrow… Tomorrow she will find out one way or another. She needed to get them back under her thumb somehow.

 It was Chloe who gave Lila her answers. Chloe was the reason none of her classmates cared about her stories! Chloe was the idiot mayor's brat. And what a brat she was constantly wiggling her way into her mothers fashion shoots or had celebrities over at the hotel. Of course Lila’s classmates didn’t care about Lila’s celebrity connections because Chloe was always name dropping just as many people as herself. The only difference was Lila used fake modesty and shyness that made her ‘friends’ view her lies in less of a gloating light than Chloe’s haughty claims of celebrity meetings.

It was a damn shame, celebrity lies were her bread and butter, they were exciting got people to think you were important and they were hard to prove or disprove allowing Lila to easily get around the messy little detail of ‘proof’ if someone asked for pictures all she could say was that her mom didn't let her take any because she didn't want her precious daughter being targeted by crazy fans. And if someone asked her to use her celebrity connections? Well she could just turn on the water works and cry about them just being her friend for her connections. Thus her prey would be forced to be her ‘friend’ , always listening to her and doing things for her, unable to ask for anything in return. Then when her mother announced their next move Lila would tearfully say goodbye and leave all her suckers behind. But without the sway of her celebrity lies her system broke down. That was the problem with picking the school full of rich talented idiots she supposed.

Well with Chloe ruining her system she’d need a new one. Scrolling through her classmates' social media for a clue she sneered at their overly cheerful and cutesy posts. Always encouraging one another and posting encouraging puff pieces about this or that. Always acting like they were so nice. As Lila scrolled over a charity fundraiser event that Alya had retweeted from Milene a sudden thought crossed her mind. Her classmates were very ‘nice’ and annoyingly so. They were always butting into each other's business, always being SO concerned, always organizing events to help each other and appreciate each other and going to charity events.

In fact now that she thought about it the stories that had intrigued her ‘friends’ always had some sort of charity garbage attached. Saving Jagged’s kitten or raising money for some cause or other that always got her heaps of praise. Sure saying Clara whatshername stole her dance moves got attention but not in the same way saying she raised money for some green project. Was it really that simple? Sure her classmates all loved Marinette for her extreme generosity and kindness but was it REALLY that simple? She needed to check.

 It was actually that easy. One simple little lie about how she pulled a blind old man out of danger when he was nearly run over and suddenly the class was bathing her in praise. And the ‘fact’ that the whole very real thing made her miss first period and sprain her ankle? Well that was just the cherry on top. Suddenly Max was offering her a copy of his notes and everyone was back to caring for her like she was a princess. The fact that Marinette looked like she was seething only for sweet naive Adrien to keep her mouth shut was just so perfect. She’d found her golden ticket. Her classmates were truly ‘good kind people’ and nothing could be exploited quite like kindness.

With this knowledge Lila would easily be able to destroy Marinette, sure she wouldn’t be able to do it quickly but slowly she would replace her, with every good deed she made up with every act of false modesty she would build a reputation greater than Marinette’s she would replace her and become there new ‘everyday ladybug’ and the best part was she wouldn’t have to say ANYTHING against Marinette. Not. A. Thing. No sweet righteous Marinette would eventually snap, sadly for her it would probably be too late with how much control Adrien had over her, so when it happened Marinette would look like the jealous crazy girl going after the girl that was kinder, sweeter, and better than herself. As for Adrien… Well she had a hard time believing it at first but he really was an idiot with a pretty face as long as she was careful as she built her new reputation he would genuinely believe that she was changing for the better and then he'd fall for her.

The best part was, her classmates were genuine. As she built her new good girl heart of gold persona they would genuinely come to love her, all the loyalty Marinette got to enjoy all the perks of being friends with such talented, kind, sweet people would become hers. Slowly no matter how Marinette struggled she would lose, eventually she’d have nothing left. Of course she’d need to be careful with her lies but that was easy. Bring the class to a charity here and there and tell them that she was the one who gave the idea for the charity to the actual organizer but didn't want any credit because she was just that kind and humble. If they tried to make her do actual work then she’d have a sudden accident that would require she sit down.

And then once she’d done more photoshoots with Adrien for Gabriel she’d ‘convince’ the man that a charity would make him look good and boost sales. She’d MAKE her lies true all while winning over her future father in law, and heck maybe she’d even pocket a little of the money, she could use a better wardrobe and the extra would be perfect to buy her ‘friends’ the occasional ice cream or presents. In between that she’d just lie about saving people or volunteering on weekends. Maybe even let it ‘slip’ how she was a temp hero for Ladybug . One of the sweetest parts was that between volunteering with Lila, there own activities and hanging out with Lila so she could ‘thank them for their hard work’ no one would be spending a second hanging out with sweet pink little Marinette, they'd abandon her without even realizing it because they’d be SO busy. Sadly this plan of hers would take a little more work then her others, but it would be worth it to become the queen bee of the class- NO the school! And when Marinette eventually slipped up and looked like the biggest jealous bully in the school. Well she’d have no choice but to leave the school with her tail in between her legs.

Victory was looking sweet and satisfying.

 [ And where it goes from here is up to you. Lila can win, she can slowly convince the class and school that she's a model citizen and an everyday hero. She can sneakily maneuver the class to not spend time with Marinette slowly separating the girl from her friends. In this way Alya and the rest of them don't become evil salty versions of themselves who overnight hate Marinette and love Lila, but rather they are good naive people who got slowly separated and tricked by someone who wants to use their genuine talents and skills to make herself look better. Adrien who is already shown to be naive and wants to believe the best in people, can fall into Lila’s trap and become genuinely convinced that his high road method really worked and ‘reformed’ Lila into a better person. OR Lila can fail, she can claim to be the wrong temporary hero for ladybug, or she can pick the wrong charity to lie about, or get exposed any number of ways and the class can realize with horror that because they are kind but flawed people who are perhaps too trusting and gullible that they got pulled away from Marinette through subtle manipulation and so they can be redeemed because instead of turning into outright bullies they stayed the same kind people they always were but just got genuinely tricked which is something that can actually happen in real life. You can go heavy salt where Marinette does eventually leave the school or class heartbroken that her kind friends have fallen prey to a bad person Marinette cant find a way to expose. Or you can go clever salt where Marinette figures out Lila’s plan and fights her from the inside slowly exposing the cracks in her facade. Or you can go sugar and redemption where maybe just maybe Lila actually LIKES being nice to people and having real friends who dont care about her fake celeb connections, maybe she honestly redeems herself and even makes amends with Marinette. You can do genuinely anything with this idea and I hope to see this generate some new less *and suddenly everyone is evil* content for those that like salt and angst. ]

[whumpurr]

Adrien and Sawdust part 5

masterlist

cw: descriptions of an emaciated body, disordered eating, pet whump, it as a pronoun, dehumanization, conditioned whumpee

Adrien swore he’d never moved so fast in his life. The second he saw Sawdust’s bony body tip over, he was running up the stairs to meet him. The instant he got to the second floor, he was dropping to his knees with a heavy thud, and properly touching Sawdust for the first time. He carefully lifted his face, seeing Sawdust’s eyes still open- though hardly.

The pet looked to be in worse condition than he was when Adrien had first gotten him. His skin was even paler, stretched thinner across rigid bones, his face was more sunken, the only color on it being the thick scratched scar across his nose bridge, and the deep rings under his eyes. He felt chilled. Adrien maneuvered his body like it was nothing, putting Sawdust’s head and torso to rest elevated on top of his folded legs.

“What’s wrong, Sawdust?” Adrien muttered just loud enough for the pet to hear. He was at a loss, he thought that everything was okay.

“‘M sorry, Master,” Sawdust whimpered, turning his head so he could look away from Adrien. “Need food, please, I’m- I’m sorry.” His voice was hardly a wheeze, but at least he seemed strong enough to move, so Adrien wouldn’t need to rush him to the hospital right that second. Sawdust’s words only came out in rough little squeaks and hiccups, tears gathering in his eyes. He looked terrified. “Food for- for dogs, please. If- if Master w- uh- Master may do whatever he wants but- pet- but- need-”

“Shit, okay, will you be okay if I leave you here to go get it? It’s just in the kitchen, I’ll be right over there.” Adrien was horrified and disgusted with himself as he looked down at Sawdust’s hollow figure. The tattered, oversized t-shirt he had come with was draped across his body, and with his head in Adrien’s lap and chest upturned, Adrien could see the thin fabric catch on the ridges of Sawdust’s ribs, pooling in the dip of his stomach, raised up by the ranges of his hip bones. Adrien handled him like glass, moving him off of his lap before standing and running down to the kitchen, nearly slamming his foot into the corner of his counter with his speed and recklessness.

He’d never been more grateful that he bought the dog food. He grabbed it out of the plastic grocery bag it still sat in on the counter and sliced the top of the bag with a knife, filling a bowl with it and- resigned to the situation- he poured some water into a bowl to go with it. He carried the two bowls up to Sawdust, putting them on the floor and pushing them towards the skeletal figure of his pet.

It looked like it took Sawdust considerable effort to roll himself from his back onto his elbows and knees, but he managed it and immediately dove into eating the chow out of the bowl without so much as a second thought. Adrien couldn’t help but feel like he shouldn’t be watching this. Like it was some sort of invasion to see Sawdust wolfing down his food in such a manner, but Adrien felt like if he took his eyes off him for a second, something terrible would happen.

--

Sawdust had never been more scared than when he saw Master racing up the stairs. He continued to break records of fear when he confessed, begging Master to give him something he could eat. He knew that if Master wanted to, he could deny him that, too. Sawdust was never more aware of that fact than when he asked for something to eat, but Master was merciful today. He brought him some chow.

Sawdust didn’t pause to think about whether or not the food could be poisoned, or if it would make him sick or kill him. Going that way, or not eating, it would have been death either way. Regardless of that, if Master saw fit for such things, as much as it made Sawdust want to cry, he would simply have to accept it. So he ate. He ate until the bowl was empty and he felt nearly sick, and he even drank after that.

Master would make him pay for this at some point, he was sure, but for now he could focus on his full stomach. He pulled back from the water bowl gasping, liquid dripping from his lips and chin. With his hunger sated, all he could think about was how tired he was. He didn’t care that Master was right there, and that he’d certainly hurt Sawdust soon. The dumb mutt couldn’t find the energy in him to do much about it as he laid down on the floor, curling up to sleep.

“S-Sorry, Master, pet is- is tired. Sleepy.” Sawdust murmured. “Please forgive it.”

“That’s okay, that’s okay baby.” Master was quiet. It made Sawdust confused, the way Master’s voice broke with his words. But the pet didn’t have the energy to think on it for very long, just nodding against the floor and letting his eyes shut.

--

Adrien was not going to let Sawdust sleep on the floor of the corridor. The second Sawdust was asleep, he took the pet’s dog ears off and undid the tail, setting those aside before he scooped him up in his arms and pushed Sawdust’s bedroom door open with his back, stepping in.

The room smelled of rot and spoil. Adrien muttered an expletive under his breath as looked around. Everything was as undisturbed as it had been when he first gave Sawdust the room, save for one corner that had some puddles of water sitting on the floor. He sat Sawdust down on the bed, pinching his nose. There was no way the pet smelled this bad when he got him.

He got to work looking for the source of the scent, thinking that an animal had found its way into the room or ceiling and died, but that was far from what he found. It took a few minutes of checking behind the wardrobes and dressers before looking under the bed, lifting the bedskirt only to be buffeted by the foul odour. Hidden underneath the bed was a pile of food scraps, composed of everything he’d been feeding Sawdust. Every piece of food that was missing from Sawdust’s plates was underneath his bed.

Adrien was never someone who was grossed out by things easily, but the sheer smell of the food was nothing short of disgusting. Regardless, he still had to get the room to a condition where Sawdust would actually be able to sleep in it, so with the help of a dust pan to use like a shovel, he dumped the remnants of the food into a garbage bag and tied it shut. He was at a loss for how the pet could have been tolerating this the whole time. He went through the room with a bit of air freshener, trying to solve the problem before he pushed a mop around under the bed.

With the room in a far better condition, he glanced over to Sawdust. The pet was still sleeping soundly, in near the exact same position that Adrien had left him in. Adrien took the edge of the blanket, folding one side over Sawdust’s frail body in hopes that it’d keep him warmer. Sawdust wasn’t disturbed at all when Adrien put the blanket over him, and he continued to sleep as Adrien started working to make the room more comfortable for the pet.

Once he got to see the room, it didn’t take him long at all to put together that Sawdust hadn’t been sleeping on the bed, and that he was sleeping in the corner that all the water was splashed around. Adrien mopped that up and swung by his linen closet, bringing every extra blanket and pillow he had and tossing them into the corner before arranging them in the most nest-like formation he could.

He wasn’t about to leave the pet unattended, not after an occurrence like that. Adrien grabbed his laptop and sat down in the seat in the other corner of the room, remembering just how uncomfortable the guest room’s furniture was, and why it was in this room and not being used in the living room. Disregarding that, he opened his laptop and kept himself busy.

--

When Sawdust opened his eyes the room was dim and he immediately froze up. The only source of light was warm and coming from one of the corners. Reluctantly, Sawdust sat up, body stiff. Master was sitting in the chair at the corner with a tall lamp on next to him. He looked like he was asleep, but the second Sawdust sat up, Master was awake again.

The very next thing Sawdust realized- not that he had the capacity to care much about it considering he was surely about to be punished within an inch of his life- was the new smell in the room. The old smell wasn’t good, but this new one was giving him a pounding headache. It was far too strong, but that was the least of his worries as he found himself a deer in headlights under his Master’s stare.

“Hey, Sawdust,” Master shifted a little. His voice was low and rough. “Damn, what time’s it?” He squinted at his phone in the dim light. Sawdust clenched his jaw shut, trying to stop any fear from showing on his face, but from Master’s wide eyes, he obviously wasn’t doing that good a job.

“Sorry, Master,” Sawdust whimpered, trembling under the covers. “I- didn’t- it- it-” His eyes darted all over the room and Master got up, walking over to him and sitting at the bottom of the bed.

“You weren’t eating the food?” Master asked, tilting his head. His long hair fell over his shoulder. Sawdust wasn’t ever good at figuring out what somebody really meant with their words, but Master’s tone was steady. He didn’t sound angry, and that made it worse. The punishment would be worse. Sawdust waited for the screaming to start, but all that stretching out through the room was a deafening silence.

“I just want to know why, Sawdust. I didn’t know you weren’t eating.” Master asked. Sawdust reached up to fiddle with his hair, only to realize another thing that was amiss. His ears were gone. His whole body stung with that realization, and he glanced around the room, not seeing them. His tail was also missing and he couldn’t spot them anywhere. Still, Master asked a question and he had to answer.

“Can only eat dog- dog food. Dogs eat dog food.” Sawdust said, flinching and getting ready for when the blows would come.

“Dog-” Master started before sighing. “Okay.” He dragged his hands down his face. “I found that paper with the rules on it. I don’t want to do this and I didn’t think I’d have to, but I have some rules for you, too.”

--

Adrien didn’t miss the way Sawdust perked up at the mention of rules. It made him sick, but he had to press on now that he said it.

“Three meals a day, with me, downstairs.” Adrien tried his best to sound firm in what he was saying, attempting to walk the line between stern and intimidating. “I’ll come get you when it’s time to eat.”

“Is that all, Master?” Sawdust responded. That sounded rehearsed to hell and back, but more confident and solid than anything else Adrien had heard him say before.

“This room’s yours, treat it as such.” Adrien gestured with an outstretched arm, “The bed’s yours, I put some stuff in the corner if you’d rather stay there.”

“Is that all, Master?” Again. Adrien knew there was probably more he should tell Sawdust, but he was blanking.

“For now, yes. If I think of more things I’ll tell you.” The bed shifted with the movement of Adrien standing up. “Try to get some sleep, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He turned off the lamp, gathered his laptop, and left, shutting the door behind him as softly as he could.

The second he stepped into his bedroom, he sat down on his bed and ran his fingers through his hair, that familiar, heated upset rising through his body. Sawdust was someone he took into his care and he let him get to such a state. Adrien was disgusted, and thoroughly disappointed with himself. He was in over his head, and he didn’t know what to do.

Night passed slowly for the both of them.

taglist: @starnight-whump @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi@neuro-whump @whump-me-all-night-long @cupcakes-and-pain @whumpzone @whumpcreations @dancinglifeboat @pinkraindropsfell @looptheloup @cowboy-anon @meetmeinhellcroutons @thingsthatgo-whump-inthenight @firewheeesky

[avatarmerida]

Walking Home

This is inspired by @buggachat’s Bakery AU. I hope this is okay because I love this idea so much and I loved the winery arc. I wrote this assuming Adrien also lives at the bakery, though I don’t know.

——————————————————————————

“Okay no, no first of all they did NOT kick us out because I spilled. But IF did they did then that’s your fault!” Marinette exclaimed as the four of them left the restaurant.

“I didn’t mean that time,” clarified a bubbly Adrien as he ran ahead. “I meant when you kept turning the glasses into microphones and trying to get everyone to sing when they were still pretty full.”

“No! No! No!” she insisted, running up to him and giving him a gently tap on shoulder. “It was because you kept making chicken noises and they were awful!”

“They were amazing.”

“I don’t think you’ve ever heard a chicken,” she said smugly as she attempted to suppress her laughter at the memory. “It was so high pitched.”

“Bawk bawk bawk,” said Adrien quietly. Seeing Marinette suppress more laughter, he kept going and got louder. She couldn’t stand still, the laughter causing her to bend in half unable to catch her breath. Making her laugh was somehow so addicting and so he kept doing the awful chicken noise, getting higher and louder and faster. Passerbys gave them strange looks and rolled their eyes. Alya couldn’t help but smile at the thought that everyone who saw them must assume they were lifelong friends. Maybe even more than that.

“Oh wow I didn’t realize how late it was,” announced Alya, pretending to check her phone. She was fairly certain the two forgot her and Nino were there. “Ugh, I’ve got an interview scheduled for the blog at 8am.”

“Yeah and I’ve got to wake her up otherwise she’ll never get there on time,” added Nino with a laugh, catching on quickly. Adrien and Marinette snapped out of their bubble, seeing suddenly how ridiculous they must seem.

“We should do this again soon though,” said Alya. “All of us,” she added, looking at Adrien.

“Yeah, this was fun,” said Marinette, sneaking a glance at Adrien (though he didn’t notice) before turning back to Alya. “Are you okay to get home?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna grab a taxi,” said Alya. “What about you two? Are you okay? You didn’t switch to water when Nino and I did.”

“That was water? I thought you guys just switched to white wine,” asked Adrien. Nino chuckled and handed Adrien his phone so the two could make plans to hang out later in the week.

While the boys talked, Alya pullled Marinette into a hug to supposedly say goodbye.

“No girl, for real are you okay to get home? We can drop you off,” she whispered.

“No it’s okay you guys live the opposite way and you need to get up early,” whispered Marinette back. “The bakery isn’t that far and It’s not like I’m walking alone.”

“Exactly,” said Alya, pulling away but making sure the boys were too distracted by their conversation to hear theirs. “I know tonight was fun but you didn’t start the day being Adrien’s biggest fan. You’re okay walking home with him?”

“Yes Alya I’m fine,” she hiccuped. “I’m not even that drunk.”

“Marinette!” Adrien called suddenly, very excited. “Can we make pizza at the bakery?!”

“Oh my god pizzaaaaaa!” She exclaimed far too loudly, throwing her hands in the air. “Yes, yes let’s go! Bye Alya!”

She ran ahead and Adrien excitedly and instinctively followed her, the two a collection of giggle and hiccups stumbling between the street lights.

“Text me when you get home!” Alya called after the pair. They were quite a sight. She couldn’t help but smile at the fact that this morning Marinette couldn’t say his name without grimacing and now they were rushing off into the night. She wondered how Marinette would feel about the blonde boy tomorrow.

“Pizza, pizza, pizza!” The two exclaimed as they trudged down the sidewalk.

“Okay I know we have dough and cheese I don’t know if we have any pizza sauce,” said Marinette raking her brain. “Do we want toppings? Because I think we just have sprinkles, maybe we-ahhh!” Suddenly the ground came rushing at her, but before she had time to process what was happening she was stopped inches from the pavement. She looked up and saw Adrien had caught her in the knick of time. His hands were on her waist as if he was dipping her in a some eleaborate dance. The streetlight above him reflected on his golden hair like a halo.

He really was a good model, she couldn’t help but think as she found herself drawn to his light like an innocent moth.

“Sorry,” he said realizing the position they were in. “Force of habit, I guess. I didn’t mean, I mean I-.”

“Don’t apologize,” she breathed, not attempting to remove herself from his grip. “You’ve just got like catlike reflexes.”

“Yeah, I maybe??” He laughed. He couldn’t even explain her own pun to her as he pulled her to her feet. “Hehe, uh sorry if I distracted you again.”

“No, no it’s my own fault, I’m extra clumsy when I’m drunk,” she explained, bashful suddenly for some reason. “I’m a regular public menace. But thanks for not letting me fall on my face.”

He smiled. “Anytime,” he stood up straight and offered her his arm. “To ensure you don’t fall again,” he explained.

The logic of his reasoning negated any objections her former view of him held at the ready. He didn’t have to be kind to her when it was just them, and this must be why she held onto his arm so firmly and allowed herself to be so close as they walked. She suddenly felt guilty for her ulterior motives in inviting him out. The skeptic in her wanted to point out that maybe he was faking being drunk, or was so well versed at deception that alcohol had no affect on his ability to lie. But a larger part of her just wanted to rest her head on his shoulder as he led her home, contently listening to him ramble.

“Okay but why isn’t pizza a pastry?” he continued. “Like a lot of baked goods have cheese, they all have dough. Is it the sauce? But donuts have filling and the tomato is a fruit, I think-?”

“Maybe pizza can be your menu speciality,” she murmured, following the voice that told her to rest her head. “But you can give it a fun name and make it look different so they won’t know it’s pizza until they taste it. You’d think of a good name, you’re funny.”

“I’m funny?” he asked, genuinely surprised and flattered.

“I’m drunk, who knows what I’m saying,” she joked. “I’ll deny it but yes you are funny. I like when you write puns on the specials board.”

“Really?” He chuckled. “I didn’t think you’d be a fan of bad puns.”

“I’ve heard worse,” she murmured, her mouth moving faster than her mind. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

“Like what?” he tried, trying to careful in this new territory, but fighting his catlike curiosity . “Are you a secret comedian?”

“No, no but I was in love with a boy who made puns a lot,” she said quietly, almost just to herself. “It seems so silly but now whenever I hear a good one I write it down so I don’t forget. So I can tell it to him. But I’m never gonna see him again. That’s so stupid isn’t it?”

He saw tears forming in her eyes. “I think it’s sweet,” he said. “Is he someone you meet in New York? On your internship?”

She stopped, her mind had brought up another similarly between him and Chat Noir and that was extra confusing right now. But she hadn’t had anyone to talk to about Chat and it felt nice to share something about him aloud. She had to tread carefully though.

“I’m sorry if you don’t wanna talk about it,” said Adrien before she could find the words. “It’s none of my business.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” he continued, gently removing his arm from her. “You’ve already done so much for me, helping me at the bakery, letting me into your home, inviting me out tonight . You’re a very kind person Marinette and I’ve invaded so much of your space already, I shouldn’t be invading your privacy.”

“No, Adrien please it is okay,” she insisted. “I brought it up. And I... I’ve never brought it up to anyone before, to be honest. And it must be because... I like talking to you. Because-.”

“-of the wine?” He offered.

“-because we’re friends,” she finished, looking up at him with soft, truthful eyes.

“I think it is the wine,” he joked, only half certain.

“Here, I’ll prove it,” she said, keeping her purse and rummaging through its contents. Finally she found what she was searching for. “Here,” she said, placing something in his hand.

“What is this?”

“My lucky charm,” she said proudly, as he opened his hand to reveal a simple keychain composed of colorful beads. “I made it during my internship, it helped me when I had deadlines or a creativity block. I take it everywhere.”

“And you’re giving this to me?”

“Well I still plan on needing it and having it close by, so I wouldn’t just entrust it to someone I don’t want in my space would I? It’s probably not as flashy as the friendship bracelets Chloe made you but-.”

She was cut off as Adrien pulled her into a tight embrace. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”

She hesitated, but returned the gesture. “You’re welcome,” she said as the two stood in the middle of the sidewalk, embracing for probably a little too long. “Adrien, since we’re friends, I think I should be honest with you.”

He pulled back to face her, his face still holding a smile despite her dismal tone. “What is it?”

“Today, when I invited you...” she began, her pride almost too big a pill to swallow. “Well, I had ulterior motives for inviting you.”

“Really?”

“I thought, oh god I’m so embarrassed,” she pushed through. “I though you had ... a secret.”

“A secret?”

“Yes,” she buried her face in her hands, utterly embarrassed. “Ugh, and I thought it you got drunk enough you would blurt it out. And that’s so awful of me and I know it’s dishonest, but I promise you it’s not like that anymore. I was paranoid, I guess. I don’t know. But I’m so sorry. really do enjoy spending time with you-.”

“What kind of secret?”

“Huh?” She said, surprised he wasn’t mad. “Oh, i-it doesn’t matter. It was still wrong of me.”

“Well why couldn’t you ask me about it before?”

“I didn’t have any sort of proof,” she admitted. “Only a hunch.”

“Why?” He asked. He wasn’t mad but she couldn’t place his tone. People must have accused him of this before. She knew now he wasn’t his father, he was more than whatever his past held, and he didn’t deserve another faker. She knew he’d ask what she suspected and it would ruin everything but maybe she could make it less awful if she kept apologizing?

“Nothing major, just because of how you acted around me-.”

“I see.”

“-but I know now I was completely wrong,” she quickly went on. “Getting to know you tonight and spending more time with you at the bakery, I know I was wrong.”

“Oh,” was that all he could say? Oh?!

“Because you’re just so nice!” She went on, her drunk brain turning to rambling. “You’re actually a really great guy, and you’re just quiet at first, you’re ... a friend...”

“Just a friend?” He asked, the word holding his attention tight.

“Yes,” she said, hoping he was considering accepting her apology. “And I- oh darn it.” Suddenly, a raindrop fell onto Marinette’s cheek. Then another. Without warning the sky began to pour, and the pair sought shelter. Adrien took off his jacket and placed it over Marinette’s head to attempt and shield her from the rain, a fruitless attempt as the jacket immediately became soaked and heavy and helpful to no one.

As they made their way through the waterfall that claimed the sidewalk, an abandoned umbrella leaning against a building caught Adrien’s eye. He swooped in to grab and quickly opened it over Marinette’s head. “Ugh, I can’t see,” she cried, the rain causing her eye makeup to run and sting her eyes. She wiped it away, only to smudge it and give cover her face with a charcoal color. Adrien laughed.

“Mademoiselle Hamster, you look more like a raccoon now,” he wheezed. Before Marinette could offer a clever response, she saw the rain continued to fall on him as she was safely covered.

“You’re going to catch pneumonia,” she stated angrily.

“It’s not a very big umbrella,” he said, still laughing.

“Nonsense,” she said, yanking the umbrella handle to spin him in. “I’m not about to let you get sick and stick me with all the work at the bakery.”

But the umbrella was very small. And in order for them both to be covered, they had to stand very close together.

“Fine by me,” breathed Adrien, looking down at Marinette. She stood in front of him, her hands landing instinctively on his chest as if they were slow dancing. She was aware of this, but did not remove them. Her eyes went to the ground, not being about to handle the closeness with eye contact. In one hand Adrien held the umbrella, the other one slowly went to removed a strand of wet hair from her face. A bolt of lighting graced the sky.

“You were right you know,” he said quietly, the rain almost drowning him out.

“About what?”

“About my secret,” he said with a chuckle. “I thought I hid it well, but I guess I made it really obvious.”

“What?” Said Marinette, looking up at him is disbelief, her hands trembled. “No, no you’re still drunk, you don’t know what you’re saying. No, no I know now... after everything that happened it can’t be true.”

“Do you... not want it to be true?”

“I guess it doesn’t really matter what I want,” she admitted, bowing her head again. “Either it’s true or it’s not.”

“I promise you, it’s very true,” said Adrien, his voice softer than she had ever heard but somehow insanely familiar. He placed his free hand under her chin and lead her to meet his gaze.

“Wait, what did you think I-.”

“Marinette, I’m sorry that I couldn’t be more direct with you,” he began. “But I didn’t think I’d ever feel this way again since... you’re so amazing and I- I’m done keeping secrets; I do have feelings for you.”

“W-what kind of feelings?” she asked, a tiny portion of her intoxicated little mind convinced he was angry with her.

Adrien closed his eyes and leaned in close to her and his lips stopped mere inches from her own. Hesitating. Waiting. Silence. She looked at him, no streetlight caught his hair now but the shine remained. The glow was just him. He wasn’t a spy, he wasn’t a traitor, he wasn’t a villain. Her mind ran with things he was not until suddenly she realized what he was. Kind. Handsome. Funny. Charming. She had taken these things for granted before and thought they were lost and locked away forever. It was like they were reincarnated, her heart fluttered in an nearly forgotten familiar way as if to say she had been here before. As if to say this is exactly where she was meant to be.

Lighting crashed in the distance.

She chased the feeling and eliminated the space between them, drawn to him like he was magnetic. She could could blame it on the wine. She could blame it on the rain. She could blame it on the way his eyes were so gentle and vibrant at the same time like a lush green forest she wanted to explore until she was hopelessly lost. But she crashed into him like a she was a tidal wave, her arms wrapping around his neck as she pulled herself up to kiss him. He stepped back, surprised but pleased and tossed aside the umbrella in favor of having both his arms around her as he eagerly kissed her back. He lifted her off the ground, perhaps a little too overzealous, and the pair found themselves on the ground in the middle of a puddle. Only then did they break apart, like a dream they were rudely awakened from, and Marinette found herself laying on top of him.

Adrien looked at her, eyes wide and curious, awaiting a sign of how she felt. Even now, with her eyeliner smudged and her hair soaking wet, his heart skipped a beat in way it hadn’t done in years. What was she thinking? Should he say something? His mind raced with what to say next, he had imagined this confession thousands of times since he realized his feelings, but none of his scenarios went quite like this. He didn’t want to risk ruining anything, if there was even something to ruin. He played the last minute over and over in his head like a romantic film scene. He smiled a wide smile and if Marintee didn’t know any better, she could have sworn he was purring.

Marinette took that as her signal to lean forward, slower and more graceful than the first attempt and kissed him again. It was less rushed and more gentle, but also more certain. The umbrella was carried away by the wind, the two seemed to have forgotten about the rain or any storms between them.

The next day, Marinette awoke feeling sicker than she had ever felt in her life. Not only did she have a massive hangover, but being stuck in the rain had given her a terrible cold as well. Her body couldn’t decide which unpleasant feeling to focus on so she remained in bed, cursing the world.

“Hey girl,” came Alya’s voice from the doorway. “Heard you weren’t feeling too good.”

“Alya I’m dying,” moaned Marinette.

“Were you so busy dying that you couldn’t text me that you go home safely?” laughed Alya, removing the pillow from her face. “Omigosh you didn’t even wash your face last night. You really were trashed.”

“Ugh I don’t even remember it raining last night, but I woke up soaked,” complained Marinette.

“Wait, you don’t remember it raining?”

“No, after we said goodbye to you and Nino the night it a total blur.”

“Oh, does Adrien remember the rain?”

“I don’t know, we don’t talk,” Marinette reminded her, covering her head with a blanket. “I don’t know what I said to him on the walk home, but my throat is killing me so it feels like I was yelling.

“Wait, you don’t remember anything from the walk home?”

“No,” repeated Marinette. “Why? Did I drunk dial you or something?”

“Uh, no,” said Alya with a mischievous smile. “But when it started to rain I told the cab driver to drive by your place to see if you guys got caught in the rain and I’m so glad I did because I saw something very interesting.”

“What?”

Alya simply handed Marinette her phone and braced herself for the reaction she knew was coming. Marinettte had to do a double take at first. But there was no mistaking this was a picture of her. And Adrien. Kissing.

“WHAT?!” She exclaimed, giving herself a worse headache. “Ouch. Ugh, Alya please tell me this is photoshopped, this is a joke right?”

“Not this time, I am an eyewitness,” assured her friend. “I saw everything.”

“Oh my god, I can’t believe he kissed me,”

“Well you shouldn’t because if you go back a little bit you see it’s clear as day who kissed whom,”

“What?” But it was true. She swiped back and forth and there was no arguing that she pulled him in, she reached up, she kissed him. Twice. “Oh no.”

“Oh, don’t be embarrassed,” said Alya taking back her phone. “If kissing a former model in the rain is the worst thing you’ve done after drinking, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. I don’t see why you don’t like him anyway, you two got along so well yesterday.”

“Oh no no no I just thought it was another dream!”panicked Marinette.

“Another?” Teased Alya. “So you often dream about kissing Adrien?”

Only when he’s working with his supervillain father “I’m never drinking again,” vowed Marinette, burying her head in her hands. “Please tell me no one else saw those photos.”

“Just me and Nino, but I’m keeping them for blackmail,” confirmed Alya as she headed for the door. “Or to show at your wedding.”

Marinette threw a pillow at the door, just missing her friend as she took her leave. What had gotten into her? Besides copious amounts of wine, that is. She prayed that Adrien’s memory of last night was even foggier than hers. She wished she had Tikki with her to talk her through this without any judgment but she just had her. And all she could do was panic.

“Hey, are you up?” Came a small voice accompanied by a knock on her door. “I just saw Alya leave and I wanted to check on you if that’s okay.”

It was Adrien. “Um yeah, I’m fine. Just tired, I guess,” she replied. He didn’t come in, she didn’t invite him. He was still wary of her. That must be as good sign, right?

“A headache?” He chuckled knowingly. “I had one too. I made a smoothie and that kind of helped. I can bring you one. Or leave it in the kitchen for you.”

“Thanks,” she said awkwardly. Silence stood between them for what felt like hours.

“Listen, about last night,” Adrien said at last. Marinette braced herself for the worst.

“Yeah?”

“I wanted to say thank you,” he said outside the door. “It meant a lot, you guys inviting me out. I had a lot of fun, well the parts I remember anyway.”

“Do you... remember walking home?”

“Hardly,” he admitted. “Apparently it rained?”

She laughed. “Go figure,” she said. She cousins sent he was right: she did enjoy the parts she remembered. “But um thank you too for helping me get home safely. You’re a good friend.”

The sound of the word made him blush, he was grateful she couldn’t see his face. “Anytime,” he said. “Feel better, I guess I’ll see you later?”

“See ya,” she said, as she heard him walk away from the door and flopped on her bed in relief. Crisis averted.

Adrien made his way down the stairs, Marinette’s keychain in hand. The moments of last night replayed in his head. It was blurry to him as well, but a few moments stood out to him. Mostly, the way she said ‘lucky charm’ and the way her smudged makeup resembled a mask.