#white cat kwami

[celestiall0tus]

And I'm back with @kittysuicoffee with another art collab. This time, we did a kwami swap where we make hero designs using each other's OC kwamis.

Here is mine using their kwami, Aphrodite, watermelon dove of love. The person I used was my self sona because why the fuck not. And yes, I would wear shit like this.

And for Kitty:

They used my OC white cat kwami of freedom, Saoirse. The person they used for their hero design is Lila.

[bakawitch]

Alright, so now that all the kwamis have been posted, I have a question regarding the au!

She is going to be an antagonist, but I'm not sure if I want to redeem her yet...

I doodled some possible costumes for her, but note that these are just concepts. I'm extremely unsatisfied with how the spider looks, because wow... my ideas did not translate on paper well at all XD

[flightfoot]

Adrien Angst Fics and Series that finished in 2023

So I love some good Adrien angst and hurt/comfort, and I figure a bunch of other people do as well! Hopefully these fics scratch that itch! They're all from the collection I set up earlier for the fics from 2023 that I recommend! I've got 31 fics in here. It's a popular genre that I like a lot, there are a lot of fics for it!

home is where the fight is by @rosie-b

Nadja Chamack’s voice greeted Adrien as he sat up straight, wiping his clammy hands on his pants and ignoring the black kwami floating by his shoulder. “—shocked to see our heroine fall in battle today, taking a direct hit from the akuma just as she detransformed. Parisians are torn between blaming Hawk Moth and Cat Walker for their roles in this tragedy, which ultimately revealed the civilian identity of Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Adrien turned off the TV and lowered his head as his vision blurred. Written for Ladrien June Day 7: Injured

I adore this fic! Which shouldn’t be a a surprise, it’s no secret that I love Sentiadrien Enemies AU. Adrien’s so worried about Marinette getting hurt, and wishes that he could help keep her safer, could tell her what’s really going on or get rid of the ring or something, but he can’t. Still, he IS able to find clever ways around some of his father’s more problematic orders. Loopholes for the win!

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Guilty by Association by @rosie-b

Marinette respected Adrien’s strength and courage more and more every day. No matter how many times people threw nasty words or literal tomatoes at him; no matter how many companies refused to work with him anymore; no matter how clear it was becoming that he would never be forgiven for his father’s crimes, he chose to greet new people with a smile and hope that this time, someone would recognize the kind heart hidden behind his hated name. She wished she’d had the chance to meet him before she’d accidentally ruined his life. Written for the Ml Writers Guild September event ‘back to school’

I love how Marinette keeps reaching out to Adrien, trying to protect him, even if it doesn’t always work. To let him know that she’s in his corner at least. Hawk Moth had to be taken down, but the consequences for Adrien… she never wanted anyone to get hurt in the process. 

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oh, look now, there you go with hope again by @ladyofthenoodle

After the defeat of Hawkmoth and his accomplice, Chat Noir, Marinette is ready to return to her normal life, but she can’t escape Adrien Agreste, who was sentenced to a fate many consider worse than prison: public school. Specifically, her public school. Still, that doesn’t mean she has to interact with him, does it? Except, if she doesn’t… who will?

I love a good enemies au, and seeing the aftermath of an enemies au… that’s rare. She’s wary of Adrien, but with how he’s being bullied, and how he’s just taking it in the hopes of being accepted, she can’t help but reach out to him.

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Disintegrated Pancakes by @scribeofrhapsody

Adrien had started expecting the family breakfasts. He had NOT been expecting his father to collapse in the middle of one.

I’m shocked I haven’t seen more of this sort of thing, with Adrien finding out his father’s Monarch via seeing the Cataclysm wound. I love that Alya gets involved in this, being the person Adrien runs into after fleeing the room, and then Adrien getting to talk things out with Gabriel and Nathalie. Thankfully Gabriel is at least not completely incapable of being reasoned with here, or things could have gone worse than they did. It’s a nice little read, though with an ambiguous ending (at least at the time when I write this).

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with this ring by @thelibraryloser

She thought “you and me against the world” had sounded like lopsided odds before, when she hadn’t even dreamed “you against me” was a possibility. Or maybe she had dreamed it, but at least in those dreams he’d had cold blue eyes and a stark white mask. The villain she’d fought today had looked at her through her partner’s own bright green eyes. It wasn’t meant to be this way.

Short and sweet Sentiadrien enemies canon divergence fic here! I adored Marinette finding out why her kitty seemed to have “betrayed” her, and the righteous anger on his behalf once she figured out that it wasn’t of his own free will. Her comforting Adrien about it was just… really good. It’s a Hawkmoth Defeat fic too, so the immediate aftermath gets covered as well. Adrien needs a hug.

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Nothing Else Matters by LiquefiedStars

Marinette couldn’t figure out Chat Noir. He was supposed to be her partner, but instead ended up working for Hawk Moth. Still, her heart betrayed her and when a strong connection forms between them, Ladybug goes to Chat looking for answers, finding out more than she bargained for.

Sentiadrien enemies AU fic! He never wanted to fight against her, but Gabriel caught him before he could transform for the first time, and with his father using his Amoks against him, he had no choice. 

I like that there’s a solid explanation for why Fu let Adrien keep his Miraculous even though he’s been working against Ladybug, I don’t often see explanations for that that I’m satisfied with.

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Slowly Fading (from my misery) by @wehadabondingmoment

“You’re looking awfully deep in thought today, minou.” Ladybug’s gloved hand stroked over his hair and Chat Noir closed his eyes with an unstable breath. He got like this sometimes. Lately, it had been getting worse. Or: Gabriel likes using the rings to order his son around. After a while, it starts having effects on Chat Noir as well. (The more often Gabriel commands Adrien to act a certain way, the more it gets ingrained in his mentality. He suffers because of it.)

This is a gorgeous fic. Adrien’s been puppeted around, forced to obey orders for reasons he doesn’t understand, for so long, so often that a lot of times his own body doesn’t even feel like his. A lot of residual orders keep on bubbling up and stopping him from doing what he wants to do, and he just… doesn’t understand why. Considering how Adrien looked in Pretension when Gabriel forced him to go to his room so he could talk to Marinette alone, and how desperately Adrien tried to head back there but couldn’t make himself open the door, how terrified and confused he’d seemed, I think his feelings here, his mindset, is pretty close to canon.

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all of your flaws and all of my flaws (are laid out one-by-one) by @coffeebanana

Ladybug and Marinette have both been acting strangely since Monarch’s defeat, and Chat Noir would give anything to know why—to be able to help them. He just…didn’t expect his answers to come when Ladybug drags him to his father’s statue in the middle of the night along with a bag full of spray paint.

If you felt unsatisfied with Adrien being left in the dark about Monarch, with Ladybug lying about Gabriel being a hero, this is a great fic to read. Marinette’s breaking down keeping this secret, seeing people treat Gabriel as the hero she told people he was, until she finally snaps and has to do SOMETHING, has to tell SOMEONE the truth. 

Which Chat takes pretty well! He knows how persuasive his father could be, and he’s mostly just relieved at finally hearing someone say that Gabriel wasn’t a hero. It’s still a lot to cope with though.

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Falling (sick) with you by @chocoluckchipz

Nothing would be easier than taking a pair of earrings off an unconscious Ladybug. Doing so would bring his mother back and end their decade-long strife. He shouldn’t be hesitating when a chance of a life time presented itself to him. He should not be looking for excuses and reasonings as to why spending another twenty or so years fighting this woman rather than pleasing his father and giving his mother another chance at life was not such a bad idea after all.

Ah, I love a good enemies au! Even when they’re enemies, Chat is unwilling to hurt Ladybug. Though honestly, he makes himself out to be more of a villain than he actually is, it’s pretty obvious to everyone that he’s not trying as hard as he could to get her earrings. There’s very good reason for that.

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adrien agreste and the consequences of tweets making fun of yourself by Anonymous

Well, Adrien thinks, what’s the worst that could come from a few poorly thought-out tweets lightly ribbing his own civilian identity?

I love the focus here on how people just assume what Adrien’s thinking and feeling and act on his behalf, without actually waiting to see what HE wants, and Adrien’s growing frustration. How they create a version of him in their heads, but don’t care to check with reality to see whether he actually wants their “defense”. 

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what makes a human (am I?) by GraceM_TheStoriedLife

Adrien comes to Marinette’s out of nowhere. Usually Chat is her rock. Tonight, it’s her turn. (Or, in which Adrien discovers some secrets he’s not prepared for and Marinette is as Marinette-y as always.

So Adrien discovers he’s a sentimonster and immediately runs to Marinette for support. It’s as cute and angsty as you’d expect. She is, of course, very supportive of him. Also some discussion of Gabriel being abusive, since both she and Nino had been trying to get Adrien to see that. Especially with how, exactly, Adrien found out he’s a sentimonster. He can relate a little better to Felix’s experiences now than is healthy, I’ll just say.

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Vengeance Noire by @phiellydinyia

After a horrific argument with his father, Adrien escaped from the mansion with his heart in pieces. In hindsight, it made sense why an akuma was sent his way. He shouldn’t have let his emotions get the better of him. But he never expected Plagg to be even more upset than he was. He never expected his own kwami to be akumatized. To become the threat of a city he swore to protect. And what’s worse is the fact that Chat Noir can’t jump in to save this one. But Ladybug can. And that’s why he has to find her as quickly as possible, suit or no suit.

I love some good Adrien angst, especially with a delicious side order of Plagg and Adrien’s bond with each other. Even as Adrien’s barely functional, though, he’ll do everything in his power to save Plagg, even if Plagg wishes he wouldn’t go quite that far. 

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This Distance Between Us by @coffeebanana

After defeating Monarch, the search for the Peacock Miraculous brings Ladybug and Chat Noir to a hotel room in London. But it’s hard to enjoy the victory when Ladybug can’t figure out why Chat’s been so quiet, why he seems so sad. How’s she supposed to help if she has no idea what’s wrong?

This is a great Sentiadrien fic, with Chat freaking out about it and feeling like he’s not worthy of Ladybug’s affections, but not telling her what’s actually wrong because he thinks she won’t want him anymore if she knows. Of course, he’s wrong about that.

Also there’s a pretty intense confrontation with Felix, pissing Chat Noir off is a bad idea.

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Rocking the Cat-Eyes by @buggachat

“I like being a girl.” “That’s the alcohol talking,” Marinette snorted. “I’ve always been a li’l jealous,” Adrien admitted. “… Of what?” “That you get to be a girl,” Adrien murmured, “and I don’t.” — When Marinette and Adrien host Girls’ Night at their apartment, Adrien is easily welcomed to attend as “one of the girls”… but has a bit too much to drink. Some drunken confessions are spilt, some assumptions are made, and most of all… Adrien is confused.

This is a great Genderfluid!Adrien fic. Marinette actually figures out that Adrien’s not entirely cis before he does, and tries to let him know she’s supportive… but unfortunately Adrien comes to some incorrect conclusions…

Anyway it’s a lot of fun, and Adrien rocks a dress and makeup!

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Family by @unecoccinellenoire

“You know,” Nino grins, “if you need advice on being a big brother in a year or two I’m sure I could help.” The bottom of Adrien’s stomach dropped out. — Adrien struggles with the concept of his father and Nathalie having children.

So this is a world where Adrien and Marinette managed to defeat Gabriel, taking his Miraculous, with them giving him an ultimatum: they won’t out him as being Hawk Moth so long as he doesn’t cause any more trouble and does right by Adrien. Gabriel does, in fact, move on finally to Nathalie, giving Adrien a lot of mixed feelings to deal with. He still loves them both despite everything, but he’s also angry at them and he definitely does NOT want them to have children, both because he thinks they’d like any biological child they had more (he’s also harboring guilt from indirectly being the cause of his mom’s death), and because frankly, they screwed up too much with Adrien for him to want them to inflict that on another child.

And then there’s also Adrien dealing with the realization that he’s a Senti on top of that and wondering why he and Felix look the way they do, what Emilie’s reasons were.

It’s mostly just Adrien getting to talk things out, navigating this emotionally fraught situation he finds himself in now that the dust is settled.

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When Secrets Come Undone by SortaArtsy

Ladybug promised not to tell Adrien… but she never promised not to confide in Cat Noir. What happens when Ladybug unintentionally vents to the one person who wasn’t meant to know any of it? ****MAJOR SEASON 5 SPOILERS WARNING! **** May not be season 6 compliant when it comes out.

This is a “Adrien finds out what everyone’s been keeping from him post-S5″ fic, and I think it’s handled really well! He feels very hurt, betrayed, and disbelieving initially about being a Senti and his father being Monarch (…mostly being a Senti, it ain’t that hard to believe that Gabriel was a supervillain), and is angry at everyone who kept it secret from him, but he still handles it well, going and talking to the people involved, getting their reasoning and perspective. 

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Wanted: Catnap by SortaArtsy

Adrien Agreste has barely been sleeping, trying to be everything expected of him. What happens when he spreads himself too thin? Sick!Adrien/ Cat Noir

Adrien’s just pushing himself so hard, trying to do his regular duties, until his illness forces him to rest. I love how concerned everyone is over him - even GABRIEL eventually relents and wants him to rest. It’s just cute and nice and fluffy.

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a winter so warm by @rosekasa

winters were hard for even the best of vampires, but at least adrien had marinette to keep him warm with her cuddles. december was going to suck without her. so it was only to be expected to get extra cuddles in before she left, right? (well, not really, considering those heating supplements he was taking, but she didn’t need to know about that).

This one’s mostly just cute cuddly adorableness! It’s basically like all those “Marinette gets the Ladybug trait of needing to cuddle up to someone for warmth”, but with Adrien instead. And of course featuring Marinette being a very talented witch who just wants to help Adrien stay warm when she isn’t there XD.

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and I thought I heard you sing by @into-september

When Hawkmoth has been defeated and unmasked, Marinette is left with two problems and no solutions. First, that Adrien is further out of her reach than ever before, and no-one can tell her how to get to him. Second, that Cat Noir is far more troubled than she knew, and the only thing she can do is wait for him at the place they agreed to meet.

It’s your classic “Hawkmoth’s defeated and taken into custody but that means Adrien’s in for a rough time” sort of fic. Everyone’s worried about Adrien and wants to give him what comfort and support that they can, but he’s being hidden away from everyone (which I mean, honestly that’s a good move), so that’s not really possible. Plus, Ladybug’s noticed that Chat’s having a tough time in his civilian life, which worries her.

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Betrayal by @jennagrinsoverml

MAJOR EPHEMERAL SPOILERS!! Ladybug planned to use Viperion’s power of Second Chance to get Chat’s identity to Su-han without Chat knowing or agreeing. Of course, then the world went crazy, and she didn’t go through with it. But when an akuma exposes Ladybug’s plan to Chat, he doesn’t know that. He just knows that his Lady betrayed him. He deals with his feelings in the best, most mature way he can think of. He disappears.

So I, like a lot of others, wanted more follow-up on Ephemeral, and particularly on the betrayal of trust it was for Marinette to try to trick Chat Noir into giving up his identity to a third party without his knowledge or consent (I wrote my own take on that at the time, called Transcient, that I’m proud of). This fic did a good job of exploring that, with Adrien reacting in a manner that made sense to me (repressing his negative feelings about the situation as much as possible and trying to justify it to himself, but still feeling terrible despite his own best efforts), and how Marinette realized that she messed up, since Luka keeping it secret that he knows hers and Chat’s secret identities caused her to be upset as well. It did a great job of exploring those negative feelings and letting everyone talk things out, explain their viewpoints, and rebuild their relationships afterwards, which is something I really value.

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I’ll give myself a name (something stupid and pretentious) by @bbutterflies

Nino looked at the number and didn’t recognize it. Usually he wouldn’t answer, but he had nothing better to do – and could still really use a distraction – so he did. “Hello?”

“Hey, Nino.”

Nino stood up quickly, chest tightening. He knew that voice. He’d been waiting to hear it again for over two years. “Adrien?” he whispered.

“Yeah. It’s me."

-

When Monarch is defeated (and revealed to be Gabriel Agreste), Chat Noir immediately goes missing. Adrien disappears not long after. When Adrien finally shows up in Paris again, Nino would do anything to make sure he doesn't disappear again.

Ah this is lovely, Adrien’s been in a lot of emotional turmoil since Monarch’s defeat, convinced that everyone would hate him, SHOULD hate him, for not realizing that his father was the villain, and should hate him even more for disappearing like he does. But slowly Marinette and Nino get through to him, convince him that they just want him back. 

And also Adrien and Nino smooch. Multiple times. So that’s a bonus XD.

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Two Steps Back (One Step Forward) by @buggachat

Sure, Adrien hadn't been texting her as often as he used to. And sure, Nino noticed it too. But just because Adrien had struggled with depression in the past, didn't mean he was struggling now. Surely, he'd tell her if something was wrong. Right?

Marinette just missed him, and she had a tendency to catastrophize. Surely, he was fine.

But if he wasn't... well, she wasn't above hopping on a flight back to Paris to make sure.

—————

Marinette's at an internship in New York, and Adrien has a depression relapse.

Once again buggachat comes out swinging with a fic centered around Adrien being super depressed and his friends charging in to help him, despite him not wanting them to because he feels like a burden. It’s not easy and Marinette goes through a lot of emotional turmoil, especially since his apartment is in bad enough shape that it can’t be changed to something that a human should be living in without also going shopping, but gradually she helps drag Adrien out of the hole he’s gotten himself stuck in. The emotions are on point and just... if you want to read a hurt/comfort fic with Found Family helping one of their own who’s struggling and doesn’t think they deserve it, this is a great fic to read.

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If only I could break free by megetstoread

It started with Adrien being upset about going away, but led to a lot of revelations.  

Another Sentiadrien fic here! After telling Adrien that he’s being sent to London, Gabriel takes advantage of Adrien being distraught to akumatize him. Luckily Ladybug’s right there and deakumatizes him before he can even do anything, but it shakes both her and Chat, leading to her allowing him to tell her a lot more about his home life than usual, and for her and Adrien to investigate to see whether there might be more to Adrien’s inability to stand against his father than just psychological abuse.

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Dr. Walker & Kitty Hyde series by @pearl484-blog

Summary of the first fic, Rain Falls, Everybody Lies:

Chat Noir loves the rain. He loves the danger. He loves the excitement, and he especially loves how much Catwalker hates it. 

Jekyll and Hyde AU

Adrien AUGreste Entry 3: Rain

So like the summary says, and the title indicates, this series is inspired by the popular conception of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - not how the book actually goes, but how it’s portrayed in popular media, with Jekyll splitting himself in two, with a “good” side and a “bad” side. 

During Kuro Neko, instead of just changing his appearance through changing his mindset, Adrien took more extreme measures, sealing off his “undesirable” characteristics, his anger and sadness and all his sharp edges, into the ring so he could assume a more placid, genial persona that’d be more accepted - Cat Walker. 

But Chat Noir’s still there, taking over whenever Adrien gets too testy, and desperately trying not to be pressed out of existence entirely. With embodying Adrien’s sealed anger and snappishness and rebelliousness, he’s not too kind to the other heroes - he already felt looked down upon and ignored before this, and seeing them accept Cat Walker while he’s fighting for his life doesn’t endear them to him either.

The series isn’t unfair to them - this isn’t a case where one party is entirely in the wrong and another’s entirely in the right. Marinette, Zoe, Nino, and all the others - they did wonder about what was going on with Chat, but he wasn’t in a position where he could see it, and he did have legitimate questions about how much Ladybug would budge on things, if he’d told her what he was going through. It’s a series that emphasizes characters hurting and lashing out in some terrible ways, but that hurt still being respected, and working things out, trying to get everything to a better place.

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The Parable of the Caller by @nemaliwrites

A week after Hawk Moth’s identity has been revealed, Adrien finds himself with nowhere to go, nothing he can do, and worst of all, strange gaps in his memory he can’t explain. In a stroke of luck, he stumbles upon a burner phone filled with voicemails from one of the Saviors of Paris: Chat Noir himself, who disappeared following Hawk Moth’s arrest.

But with each new voicemail Adrien listens to, he’s forced to confront the fact that there might be some kind of connection between himself and Chat Noir — and discovering it might leave him more broken than before.

I absolutely adore this fic, it’s a fantastic character study for Adrien! Basically in this universe, Ladybug and Chat Noir talked about who should be Guardian, with Chat eventually convincing her that he should be the one to take it on, primarily due to the whole “the Guardian gets amnesia about Miraculous-related matters” situation, and wanting to protect Ladybug from that. Then he finds out Gabriel is Hawk Moth, they take him down, and he relinquishes the Miracle Box and his guardianship to Su Han - all without having a Reveal with Ladybug, since well, he’s not in the greatest shape mentally at the time.

It’s a real treat to see Adrien’s thoughts and feelings about one of the Heroes of Paris leaving him all these voicemails, treating him like this close friend for reasons he doesn’t understand, and just seeing Chat Noir as this outside person. He’s got a very different viewpoint on Chat when looking from the outside than he would from the inside, with being able to see his heroic and good qualities far more easily when he doesn’t know that he is Chat.

Also Marinette’s struggling in the background of the fic with the loss of her partner and guilt over sending Adrien’s father to prison. It gets touched on at various points, and you can tell that she’s having her own story off to the side that we’re just not entirely privy to, what with this tale being told entirely from Adrien’s perspective.

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call it even by @anna-scribbles and @sha-nwa

After a year of dating, there is one thing Marinette knows for certain: it's her and Adrien against the world. Through it all, Adrien is kind, patient, and endlessly understanding—even as she tries her best to keep her secret superhero identity hidden from him along with the rest of the world.

Nothing could ruin it, not even the supervillains of Paris: Hawkmoth and Chat Noir.

(adrinette dating // ladynoir enemies au)

This is one of those fics where Adrien and Marinette are REALLY going through it emotionally, with them starting off with wildly different perceptions of each other when untransformed, and then reckoning with the person they love the most being someone they think of as a villain, with all the betrayal and doubt that involves. Especially with Adrien having been lied to extensively by his father, and not knowing who or what to believe.

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drowning (in plain sight) by @buggachat

Everybody had expected Monarch's defeat to be a moment of triumph. Nobody had expected Gabriel Agreste, unmasked and mind frayed from continual abuse of the miraculous, crying out to all who would listen and making Paris certain of one thing:

His son, Adrien Agreste, is one of his sentimonsters.

And now he's missing.

Nobody can find him— not even the superheroes, and not even his closest friends. But Marinette, Nino, and Alya aren't ones to give up so easily. They'll find him, no matter what it takes.

(But, geez, would it kill Chat Noir to lend a hand?)

I’m sure everyone saw this one coming. If there’s one thing buggachat’s good at, storywise, it’s capturing raw, tumultuous emotions, frantic breakdowns as the characters desperately try to navigate bad situations. This was a real treat to read, as I’m betting most people reading this will agree, given just how popular the fic has been. It also has a ton of fanart, both by buggachat and by random fans, if you go looking for it (there’s a drowning in plain sight tag which I’d advise perusing). 

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Eventually by @lucid-ao3

Adrien’s life has been dictated by rules, monitored, and controlled for years. He has learned to compartmentalize. It’s not that bad. It always gets better, eventually. Doesn’t it?

Recovery can be an unexpected obstacle when you didn’t realize you were being hurt in the first place.

OR: How Adrien lives and copes with the emotional abuse inflicted on him over the years, and how he ultimately could overcome it.

If you want a good “Adrien doesn’t realize how abusive his father is but slowly buckles more and more under his tyranny, until things come to a head, and he actually gets the HELP HE NEEDS” fic, this is a good one!

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Not a Monster at All by @book-sandwich

Adrien Agreste overhears a conversation he shouldn't, and a revelation sends him falling onto the terrace of the only person he can trust: his good friend (?) Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Takes place sometime after the first two episodes of season 5!

As you can probably guess from the title, this is a Sentimonster Adrien, Monarch takedown fic. Adrien’s going through a tough time, and Marinette’s just trying to be there for him as his whole world’s collapsing around him. Unfrotunately, they still don’t know what the object is, or how likely Gabriel would be to control Adrien if he hinted that he knew the truth, which leaves Adrien in a precarious position - still not having done an identity reveal doesn’t help matters.

It’s a really solid fic for the genre, though since it started up before the later parts of season 5, there are a few things that don’t match up with the canon information we obtained later on. 

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Awaken by InkyIbis

The previously white butterfly, now oozing black and purple as a conduit of the butterfly miraculous powers, flutters softly within the silvered-gloved hand.

It sits there for a long time.

"Go, my akuma," The soft sigh pushes the butterfly, the akuma, out towards the despair of a love not returned. The same ache within his chest. On a level so great that he's willing to sacrifice the city to mend it.

It's okay if he's the villain for now. He'll force the miraculous of creation and destruction to be revealed, and once he gets his hands on them, none of this pain, none of his loss, will ever happen.

This is essentially a canon rewrite for Miraculous (specifically seasons 1 and 2, with a bunch of the events mixed around) that focuses primarily on Adrien, with his relationship with Nino being the main driving relationship of the fic. (Don’t worry, Marinette’s still treated fine, she’s just not the focus). This is the best “rewrite Miraculous with more of a focus on Adrien” type fic I’ve seen, with it reworking the plots of the episodes so that they’re different enough to be their own distinct thing - it’s not trying to just rewrite the canon episodes but from Adrien’s POV, there’s a lot of lore changes going on as well, and things occur in different orders.

Like lorewise, Chat’s given a more important role in cleaning up the mess the akumas leave, with his power helping to cleanse akuma victims and he and Ladybug needing to use their powers in tandem in order to cast Miraculous Ladybug. There’s also no Miracle Box holding the kwamis. Instead, Chat sometimes surpasses his limits and ends up summoning kwamis, which is dangerous to him, but very useful.

What really makes this fic great though, is its focus on Adrien’s emotions. You really get a feel for Adrien’s insecurities, especially when it comes to not feeling like he’s good enough for Nino, with not wanting to bother him when he absolutely should, with feeling like he’s not a good enough friend to him, and then there’s dealing with all of Gabriel’s usual abuse on top of that.

Speaking of Nino, this is an Adrino fic (though several characters get crushes on Adrien, Nino’s the one who matters most for this), though a slowburn one. Nino’s clearly head-over-heels for Adrien, but Adrien has like, no context for what a romantic crush feels like and is basically viewing Nino the way he viewed Marinette in canon prior to season 5. He clearly cares for him a lot, including romantically, he just... doesn’t get it.

Anyway, if you want an interesting canon rewrite fic from Adrien’s perspective with Adrino as the main pairing, this is a good story to pick up!

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one does not love breathing by @wackus-bonkus-maximus

All of Paris watched as Hawkmoth murdered Chat Noir, taking the Black Cat Miraculous for himself. Ladybug swears revenge, but her enemy—and every miraculous in his possession—disappear without a trace.

Six years later, a new team of villains launches an attack for the last remaining Miraculous: Volpina, armed with new powers; Queen Bee, with questionable loyalty; Argos, the new holder of the Peacock Miraculous; and Cat Walker, who Ladybug hates the most.

Takes place after S4 - Strike Back.

This is a simply phenomenal fic. You get to explore a lot of different perspectives, like Felix, Kagami, Marinette, and Adrien’s, just to name a few, and see their different thought processes and plans and priorities, and how it can cause their plans to collide with each other, even when they all ultimately are aiming for a good outcome for everyone. The characters are pretty complex and can mess up at times, even when they’re doing things (or not doing things, looking at you Luka) with the best of intentions. It was a joy to read and a real nail-biter the whole time, I actually wrote a fic for it halfway through just to resolve some of the tension for myself, One Does Not Love Shadows.

It also features the version of Luka I’ve connected best with to date, as he feels like Luka, but also is a lot more fleshed out, and can make some major errors while simply trying to avoid missteps. It’s helped me get a better handle on a character who I’ve generally had a lot of problems with really understanding.

It is an M-rated fic, though I think Wackus is being overly cautious on that front. There’s no sexual content and I wouldn’t put the violence or gore above a T-rating, so I wouldn’t let the rating scare you off.

[maddascanbe-blog]

What's this? Unifications and Kwami swaps?!?

Part 2 of the unifications

While sometimes I can come up with ideas on what a unified miraculous should look like right away, like with Shadow Moth and Dragonfly, other times I struggle way less when I draw out the characters with Both miraculous first.

Viper Noir was kind of the exception since I very intentionally didn't want it to look like Aspik that much.

But for these designs I really felt it was important to get my designs out on paper first. SO! Let's talk Kwami Swaps and then we'll get to the unifications.

Since Pegasus already exists, I couldn't call Marinette with the horse that, but according to my brief research Arion is the name of one Pegasus form Greek mythology.

Much like with Chloe as Champion I base Marinette's on equestrian uniforms, and I've always treated blue as the horses accent color since that's the color of the Voyage portals. Keep the wings cause it both keeps with the greek theme and they look cute. And some little braids in her hair like some horses have to top off her Pony-tail. Also, assume the glasses are like- attached to the mask.

Lapin Chanceux (Lucky Rabbit) was the first design I did, albeit on paper, to figure out what I was going to do. I wanted to make her look different from both Bunnix's so I dropped the dark blue that I used for them and brought in more white and light blue.

I do like giving the rabbit holders some sort of poof around their hands or feet since it invokes the feel of a rabbits foot. In the Bunnix's it was around their arms, Marinette its her legs. The pom poms by her ears were added after the drawings was initially declared done but their so cute it was EASILY worth it.

Onto the unifications, I've actually redesigned both Pegabug and Pennybug before. And the first Pegabug redesign is actually still up on my youtube channel as a speedpaint. Obviously the designs and my artstyle have changed drastically though.

I cut the brown from the design entirely, instead opting to darken the red greatly. But keeping the white accents which were in both my Ladybug and Arion's designs. I also moved the wings up to her pony-tail both because they slightly resemble horse ears like that, and in preparation for adding the rabbit.

Whenever I unify the Ladybug I cut down on the spots drastically because they can make it feel really cluttered. But I tried to keep them in places that made sense. Alluding to buttons on her coat, the ones at the ends of the stripes down her leg, which I kept from my first design. And giving her spots on her hands, just cause. Also got some shoulder pad action because I wanted to-

And finally Lady Luck. Because Pennybug sounds stupid- I assumed at the time we first saw her that Pennybug wasn't called Lady Luck because they were saving it for if when unified the Ladybug and Cat. But no, that's Bug Noir, which also sounds dumb.

So we're going Lady Luck. Since Horses, Rabbits, and Ladybugs are all associated with good Fortune.

That being said- no one should be allowed to combine 3 miraculous on the sole pretense that they almost always look bad. Pennybug looked bad, Shadow Noir (also stupid name) looked bad, Monarch is his own can of worms, but- well you'll see.

I knew I wanted to more the glasses to the top of Lady Lucks head, just because I was kinda getting sick of the normal glasses. Assume just the lenses are the miraculous and the frame changes for the user. Now they are attached to goggles- not that you can really tell because they have black straps on Marinette's dark hair.

The ear/wings were the only thing I knew some people liked about Pennybug so I kept those, albeit without the black ring around the blue. And add white to the ponytail gradient. White gloves because they looked good, and I almost always give Marinette opera gloves.

She gets a few more smaller spots since the rabbit also uses them. And combine the riding coat with the the- it's not really a shrug but I don't know what to call it? Keep the wide pants because why not, and make the red a darker cool red. The blue could have also been changed to better match the pallet but the vibrant blue is an accent I use on all the miraculous' usually so it got to stay. So long as the suit is red I think it still reads as a Ladybug.

Last thing to note are the eyes. Lady Luck's eye look freaky because she's using three miraculous and probably shouldn't. And Lapin's eye's are pink/red with white pupils because my family actually had californian rabbits at one point and they all looked like that in photo's.

Bonus- here's the doodles I did years ago for Pennybug

and Pegabug

[carpetbug]

color test numero tres! plaggs turn :3

the kwamis designs have so much potentialllll it kills me that so many of them are so simple :( hence why my ‘fixed’ design has more color and distinct features

you’ll also see the for mariblanc au, plagg will be the white cat kwami! very excited for him :) for feline blue au i still wanna keep the kwamis relatively simple? but with slightly different physical features and colors :)

tikki coming up next. having a lot of fun with these for some reason lol

[kari-go]

Kwamis from this post by @gamerknight7310

rabbit kwami - @celestiall0tus

Fangg - dog kwami - @bakawitch

cat kwami - @fabseg-reader

Poppy - giraffe kwami - me

Jassy - urutau kwami - @theytistic

I tried to make the appearance make at least some sort of sense with the power/user.

For the rabbit, I found the old post, which included a picture of an optical illusion and since the picture was black and white I chose those colors for the kwami. The pattern is kinda supposed to be like lines, or like paint splotches? It kinda looks like a cloud actually, which is also fitting (Cloud the mind? haha).

I didn't find the original post for the dog but I found Penumbra Graciela Hortenzia Truffle McSmore the III instead which is honestly so much better. Look at her, she's such a cutie, she deserves all the pets <3.

I also didn't find the cat so I just picked a random orange cat because the power name is Zoomies. Orange cats are like the cats known for their zoomies. Also, look at the picture, that cat is about to destroy the house.

I talked about poppy seeds in my reblog so I just went all out with that. She kinda looks like a strawberry to me lol

I found the urutau post, kwami included, which helped a lot! I just redrew it in my kwami style/rules.

I cannot get enough of this fucking bird omg. the eyes look like boba

I can't

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Thank you for answering my Origins Dragon!Marinette and Turtle!Adrien question! Please don’t worry about disagreeing with the idea; I asked for YOUR opinion and analysis on why it would OR wouldn’t work, and that’s what I got. 😌 It also made me consider meta and in-show stuff that I hadn’t before, which is cool. You mentioned wanting all of the Kwamis to be part of some sort of set of two or more, and I’d love to hear what those sets are in your head going down the full Chinese Miracle Box list and why you’d pair them together with consideration towards both the Kwami themselves and their Powers.

(Post this ask is referring to)

Oh good, I'm glad that you found it useful and not discouraging!

Talking about how to pair the Kwamis is a little tricky because of an issue that I've discussed before. That issue being that the "Chinese" miracle box seems to be about as Chinese as fortune cookies. That makes me uncomfortable because - as far as I'm aware - the Chinese zodiac is a major part of Chinese beliefs and traditions. As such, I personally feel like the box should reflect those beliefs and traditions, but I also don't know those beliefs and traditions, so I can't tell you how I'd effectively group the zodiac Kwamis in order to honor their cultural origins. I can't even be sure if my criticism is valid or just me being overly cautious!

In an ideal world where I had money to invest in this sort of thing, I'd hire a cultural consultant to work with me to design a Chinese miracle box that feels Chinese (or to tell me that I'm overthinking this and to just do whatever I want). Assuming that I'm not overreacting, this would probably mean redesigning a lot of the powers and looks so that they honor Chinese lore and not Western lore.

For example, one thing that I know for sure is that black cats are not unlucky in China. They're actually symbols of good luck (all cats are), so a Chinese box would not have the implied good luck/bad luck thing that we get with Ladybug and Chat Noir. My limited research has also raised some doubts about ladybugs being a go-to symbol of good luck or creation in China, but I'm a lot less confident about that one being a bad choice as the association may exist. I couldn't find anything definitive one way or the other. This leads me to think that, if the association exists, then it's probably a bit obscure, meaning that a Chinese box would probably go with a different animal if we were trying to be culturally accurate to what a Chinese-inspired box would really look like.

I can say with reasonable certainty that Creation is associated with the masculine yang and Destruction is associated with the feminine yin, so Tikki should possibly feel masculine to feminine Plagg. At the very least, their spots in the miracle box should probably be reversed with Plagg in the black and Tikki in the white since yin is black and yang is white?

[Image Description: center of the original miracle box showing that ladybug earrings are placed in the black part of the yin yang symbol while the black cat ring is in the white]

I also known that white rabbits being associated with time, watches, and umbrellas comes from Alice in Wonderland and not China. Are you starting to see why I'm doubting the cultural accuracy of the miracle box?

The alternate way to approach this is to remove the possible issue of Chinese culture being treated as "mystical" or nothing more than ornamentation by making the Chinese miracle box into the miracle box of no specified culture. Since that's kind of what the box already is in terms of deeper meanings and cultural ties, I think we can go that route for this discussion since we have taken a moment to acknowledge the potential issues with the box's existing design and why that's leading me to take this route as - to me - this seems to be the only way to stick to canon's lore while avoiding potential further insults to Chinese culture.

If we went to my ideal extremes with this approach, we'd actually massively cut down the number of miraculous in the box because I think that there are way too many miraculous! Who needs nineteen "unique" powers to arm and fight one villain? This is extra true since there's no real theme to the miraculous beyond the initial setup of Creation/Destruction + five random powers followed by the addition twelve more random powers with no clear ties to any culture or theme other than the look of the Kwamis that grant the powers.

But that's getting real extreme, so for this ask, we won't go there. Instead, I'll talk about some general ideas for grouping the powers that we already have and some ideas for how you could fix the randomness of our current powers to make them feel like they make sense.

To start, I love the fact that our two main heroes are supposed to be a pair power wise. That's a lovely way to approach your lore and is why I think that they should have grouped the other miraculous, too. Why are Creation and Destruction the only set? Why aren't the others in any sort of group? Why do these miraculous have the powers they do? What ties them to this box and not another box?

There are a few ways to approach pairing the other miraculous. You can come at it from a theme perspective such as the fact that both the snake and the rabbit are all about time. You can also look for opposites such as the turtle being all about defense and the dragon being more about offense. You can even go more broad and say that a given group of miraculous is all aspects of one type of power such as the peacock, the goat, and the ladybug all feeling like aspects of creation. There's really no clear way to go about this because the current powers are so freaking random!

When I approach this stuff, I don't just come up with powers. I come up with the lore and let that help guide the powers or I shape the lore around the powers I want to use until both things make sense. For example, it makes sense that Creation would have some magical being guiding it. It also makes sense that Creation would either create Destruction for balance or that they both popped into existence together so that there was always a balance. Once you have that, you say, "Okay, what other Forces would these two want in order to help guide the universe? What can't they do or what do they do consistently enough that they might want to hand it off?"

Going from there, you start to come up with ideas like maybe they wanted Time to have a physical embodiment so that they could get some guidance on the long term effects of the things that they were making, so that's Fluff coming online. But Time is a lot and they liked their balance, so maybe Sass was brought online too in order to balance Fluff with Fluff being focused on what was and what could be while Sass is focused on what is, thereby giving Fluff someone to ground her. Or maybe you even add in a third Kwami to be some sort of historian who remembers the past while Fluff is the future and Sass is the now.

Another thought path is that most things are not pure Creation or pure Destruction. You must destroy to create. When you make bread, yeast consumes sugar to create air bubbles. Creation and Destruction working together. So maybe Tikki and Plagg wanted to make "children" who could do what they couldn't do solo and that's how we got the peacock?

No matter how you go about this, I really don't think that there's a great way to explain/group all nineteen miraculous, especially if you add in the eagle and Fei's wacky prodigious with it's animal abilities. It's just too random! But I do think that there's a lot of potential in strong subsets of the ones we get in canon, especially if you're allowed to edit the powers or the Forces a bit to make them fit their supposed Force or granted power better. I've talked before about how I'd mess with Lucky Charm to remove the odd Luck association and focus on Creation and that's what I'd do with most of the miraculous because, right now, most of them don't make much sense.

For example, Ziggy - the goat - is supposed to be the Kwami of Passion and that somehow gives the power to create anything you want? I know creatives are passionate, but that still doesn't fit in my mind. It would make more sense for this to be an inspiration power like the pig or for the Force to change to Creation and Ziggy is just a lesser ladybug for some reason? And Stompp - the Ox - is Determination, but I'd actually label his shield power as an aspect of Protection, making him in some sort of pairing with the turtle. Self defense verses defense of others?

In short, the canon lore is a disaster that needs major work to feel solid which leads to lots of paths for fixing the mess. In my opinion, the best way to go about fixing it is to take the element that worked best - the Creation/Destruction pairing - and expand that out to make strong, logical lore for the other Kwamis and their associated powers. Lore that probably won't be rooted in any one culture because no culture seems to be a solid match for the lore that canon is using, which is only concerning because of the current obvious associations with China and that's not even touching on the whole Tibetan monks + Chinese culture issue. Go check out the post I linked at the start for my thoughts on that which basically sum up to, "I am not even remotely qualified to talk about this one, but it seems like a terrible idea."

(Once again, reminder that I'm not Chinese or otherwise deeply informed on Chinese culture. I'm just a person who tries her best to respect other cultures and the miracle box sets off a lot of warning bells for me. Those warning bells could always be a false positive, so you shouldn't take my thoughts as some sort of final say on this topic. Please feel free to look into this on your own and form your own opinions.

If you are Chinese or otherwise educated in these topics, then please feel free to reblog this or send an ask giving me some additional context as I really do love learning about this stuff, but it's near impossible to research! I spent a good hour talking to a local librarian trying to find books or articles in our library that talked about the Chinese zodiac from an academic perspective and we found nothing. I've got a few interlibrary loan requests out to academic libraries in our library network though and I'll follow up on this if those books end up having information that adds to the discussion.)

[uptoolateart]

'Perfect' White

We can't have failed to notice that in S5 Gabriel has gone all white...like Cat Blanc. So my wheels got spinning and here I am, exploring the symbolism of this 'colour'.

Many viewers will link white to ideas of innocence, cleanliness or peace. Maybe even holiness - think angels. We've even seen Adrien wearing angel wings, in 'Simpleman'.

I once read an excellent analysis, I forget by whom, suggesting that Adrien is often in white to show that he's a blank slate, waiting to be written on. We even get the word 'blank' from the Latin root of the French 'blanc', meaning white. Taking this further, we could see it as Adrien not yet being certain of his own identity.

White is also linked with virginity - think of the Western European wedding dress colour. Applying this symbolically, Adrien begins the story inexperienced and naive, kept ignorant of the ways of the world. He also takes things at face value. But this is definitely changing.

I see irony, as well, because the angelic public image of Adrien hides his 'darker' thoughts and impulses. White is often linked to simplicity, and Adrien is perhaps most fascinating for being so much more complicated than anyone in his life believes.

We could also see virginity as not being 'used' yet, and this is ironic too because Adrien is used left and right, by both his father and by Ladybug.

And of course white is honesty. Nothing has been hidden. Adrien is typically the most honest one on the show and the most open with his feelings. An interesting fact I didn't know before some quick research today is that in ancient Rome, public officials wore white, and their robes were called 'candidus', which gives us the word 'candidate' but also 'candid' meaning honest and frank (because politicians never lie...???). We'll come back to this later.

White also indicates being innocent of sins or crimes. It tells us Adrien is a victim.

So why is Gabriel all in white?

Let's start with the obvious. Scientifically, white is both the source and absence of all colour.

On the one hand, we could see Gabriel in white as him trying to swallow up everything else - think of how colourful the kwamis are, and the way Gabriel tries to consume his son.

Or we could see it as his coldness. Think of the Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen, adapted as Elsa in 'Frozen' - or 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'. White is ice. We also saw this with Cat Blanc - we all talk about his 'ice-blue eyes' in fan fics.

But Gabriel's white could also be the antithesis of Cat Noir - white versus black. Gabriel is trapped in s state of mind that Adrien is gradually leaving behind.

Another thing I didn't know is that author Robert Graves tied white with the moon goddess, who in mythology is usually said to have three faces, standing for the stages of life - childhood (waxing), motherhood (the full moon), and old age (waning). I think Gabriel's powers are beginning to wane. And although it's a stretch to say the writers of Miraculous had Graves in mind, there is so much moon symbolism tied into the show that I thought this was interesting to think on nonetheless.

Getting heavier, let's travel around the world to places like China, where white is the colour of mourning and worn at funerals. This makes white the colour of sadness, which ties up with Cat Blanc's months of grief and loneliness - but also Gabriel, who literally lives in a mausoleum for his wife and refuses to let go. Suddenly dressing all in white tells us he's gone all in. This is endgame. He's totally embodying his grief. And with white being tied to the end of life, it's a sign that the end of this particular story is nigh.

Now let's remember the old saying that 'Death rides a pale horse'. This comes from the depiction of the Apocalypse found in The Book of Revelation, at the end of the Bible. In fact, in Celtic tradition, if you see a pure white animal (especially if it has red ears), it's supernatural and not to be trusted. White is otherworldly and unnatural - about as unnatural as Gabriel making banana pancakes, amiright?

Gabriel is also straddling life and death. He's been cataclysmed and is now rotting away before our eyes. He's on that pale horse and has nothing left to lose.

There’s also a suggestion of the unknown - going back to that idea of being a blank slate, Gabriel is a wild card here. When someone like that gets truly desperate, we can no longer predict what he will do. Forcing a cataclysm on himself was definitely the start of this.

Coming back to the notion of honesty - we could apply this ironically to Gabriel, who, in his new white suit, recently shook hands with Nino, as if they were partners working against a common enemy.

On that note, let's look again at the Latin 'candidus'. This was considered the brightest shade of white, and it gives us the word 'candle'. So, white can be illuminating. We can see this as Adrien heading towards understanding, revelation. Gabriel is posing in the colour of honesty and innocence, but Adrien is soon to see through the pancakes.

On the other hand, Gabriel is slipping into a state of ignorance. He has never gained anything from all this power because he no longer understands love. He claims to do all this for Emilie, but it's gone far, far beyond that goal. He has reached the point of seeking power for power's sake.

He could learn a few lessons from Adrien, who reprised his Cat Blanc costume in 'Jubilation', this time worn as a wedding suit. It stands out because in European-style weddings the bride wears white but not the groom. The dream was a vision of grief and heartache being transmutated into something pure and beautiful - and of new starts. The slate had been wiped clean, ready for a new story to be written.

This leads me to think of the levels of karate. A lot of people don't realise that after the black belt, there's a higher level - the white belt. It's a sign of humility. Returning to the beginning shows an understanding that we never truly master anything. We're always learning. So Adrien moving from white (Alliance and other ads) to black (Cat Noir) to white again (the wedding vision) tells us he's completed one journey and is now applying the lessons he's learned to his next journey in life.

Of course, it was only a dream because he's not there yet. He needs to learn and deal with the truth about his father first. But all of this is coming.

Because white is the light at the end of the tunnel. As much as my son likes to say the Netflix show tags should now be 'grief', 'child abuse' and 'trauma', I truly see hope in every scene. White wipes the slate clean. Our favourite couple are so close to not a happy ending but a happy new beginning.

[mayaannart]

I haven’t watched all of the episodes yet but I DID design a new suit for Ladybug! Wanted something that looked more solid/protective, while drawing on ancient Chinese armor for Marinette’s ancestry and more ladybug (like, the actual bug) motifs - spots of white on her mask, the panels of armor that look like wings. But I still wanted it to look like she could be agile and do all of those kicks and jumps - hence the pants tight at the ankles and the boots.

Low-key tempted to do this for other miraculous holders I’m not gonna lie.

BONUS: I was also imagining what it would look like for Kwamis to fight at their holders’ sides, but ‘full grown’ so to speak. I’m sure I’ve seen other art of Tikki as a cat, so I played with that concept and drew her as a leopard. Hope you like it!

[junewashere]

i had a super long idea for an au but idk if anyone’s gonna read it so i’m just pulling the cooler parts

thinking about an au where kwami is a sort of experimental serum made by scientists to produce human/animal hybrids. Its ran by Gabriel Agreste as a sort of side project to see what the mix of dna could do to the human body and how that could possibly bring back his wife. they used to pull adults off the streets but they seemed to change too fast and become violent and uncontrollable. They eventually decided to to start pulling teenagers off the street to see if the results would change.

When the idea came to experiment on younger audiences they decided to let them roam after a few observations. Man parents can be quite the protective flock! It’s a good thing these Kwamis became more of a spooky little tale to not trust the white van!

Gabriel, after being displeased with results, eventually decided to test the cat kwami on his own son, Plagg they liked to call that strand. After Gabriel decided that he’d see more satisfactory results in his little clone baby since he can’t die…maybe just hurt a bit. Adrien trusting his father as he looks up to the smart man doesn’t expect much! Maybe it stings as it enters his body and it makes his veins feel fried, but that’s just a negative!

Marinette on the other hand was selected! She’s pretty docile and seems like a nervous wreck! She won’t complain too much right? Eyup! Wow were the best!

[mostmagical]

Hii @sincerely-kiwi! I'm your Secret Santa for the Ashville discord server Secret Santa exchange!! This got just a little away from me, so I'll be posting part 2 tomorrow :)

Words: 7.2k (Ch. 2/2) Summary:

After yet another late night akuma interrupts her sleepover, Ladybug and her partner are forced to find cover to recharge where an unexpected observation from Chat Noir leads to some equally unexpected revelations for Marinette (and maybe a few scars).

Read Chapter 1 either on Ao3 or below the cut!

The beeping in her ears was insistent as Ladybug touched down on the nearest rooftop from the battle location, Chat Noir sharp on her heels. A clothesline split the rooftop patio in half, long white linens blowing in the slight breeze, and she quickly dashed to the other side.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she couldn’t see her partner anymore from behind the makeshift cover. “Looks like this will do,” she said brightly. “No peeking!”

“You know I would never do such a thing!” Her partner’s voice carried an air of mock-affront, Ladybug only marginally holding back her giggle in response. “I’m a purr-fect gentleman.”

Regardless, her transformation dropped, Tikki spiralling into her hands. She smiled down at the kwami, rummaging around in her purse with one hand for one of the treats she had set aside. She couldn’t help the way her eyes drifted down as she tried to locate something in the tiny bag—especially not when she spotted something she had never seen before.

On the other side of the sheet, Marinette could see two socked feet, connected to two pale legs. The sheet stopped at the top of the calf, so she couldn’t see anything other than that. Just two gray ankle socks. So simple and so un-Chat Noir-like she almost laughed in surprise. With him, she always thought of bright colors and patterns. A goofy guy like Chat Noir should be wearing goofy socks, in her honest opinion. The positioning of the sheet meant she could only imagine what else he might be wearing, and as much as she knew she shouldn’t, Marinette’s mind loved to imagine.

He must have been wearing some sort of short pants, considering she could see his bare skin. What kind of shorts would Chat Noir wear? Was he an athlete? Considering the sort of stunts she had seen him do on the daily, she wouldn’t be surprised if he was some sort of rugby player, or soccer— No, not soccer, she remembered with a smirk. So maybe rugby fit him best.

Part of her wondered if he had been getting ready for bed. Maybe he was in pajamas like her and Alya had been. The socks with no shoes certainly told her that he had been inside somewhere. What kind of thing might Chat Noir wear to bed? Did he wear goofy prints and sets with cats all over them? Or… less? No. Her face flushing red, Marinette quickly moved on to another line of thinking.

She wondered what Chat Noir wore on a day-to-day basis. Was he casual? More formal? What kind of colors did he like to wear?

Her mind drifted to the only other time she had seen him without a miraculous transformation, when he had run around in that banana suit. Now, that was an outfit befitting Chat Noir. She covered her mouth with one hand as a giggle threatened to break free at the memory.

“Do my eyes deceive me, or is that a tail I see, m’Lady?”

Startled from her thoughts by the sudden voice, Marinette jumped straight up, breath catching in her throat with a gasp. As she came down, her feet seemed to trip over one another, and she fell backwards with half a shriek on her lips. Her body came crashing down into a collection of terracotta pots, the loud sound of shattering functioning as a backdrop as one broke directly under her elbow.

Marinette clamped her teeth together, bracing herself against the stinging pain in her arm.

Of course. Of course, she had completely forgotten she was wearing the outfit in the first place, and of course with her luck, the one person who couldn’t have possibly seen her in it actually saw her in it. Alya was going to have a field day when she heard about this. Her mind flashed back to their earlier conversation just before the akuma struck.

“What?” Marinette asked, turning to stare at Alya, having felt her friend’s eyes burning into the back of her head.

Alya snorted from across the room, shifting to hold the tray of cookies she held on her hip. “What are you wearing?” she asked.

Marinette looked down at herself, not seeing anything wrong with the black fabric covering her body. “My pajamas,” she answered simply. “I wanted to try making a onesie and I think it turned out pretty okay.” She shrugged, before remembering herself. “Oh! I made you one, too!” She quickly scrambled to her feet, rushing over to the far side of her desk where the pile of orange fabric was waiting for her. “Ta-da!”

The onesie unfurled between them as she dramatically presented it to Alya, orange tail lightly brushing against Marinette’s slippers as it fell.

“I’m also making some for Nino and Adrien, and probably Chat if I can figure out a good excuse for where it came from,” she continued to rapidly explain. “It’s a little silly, but I think they’d make great gifts!”

Alya stared at the presented outfit, eyebrows slowly raising. “M, that’s really cute! Thank you!” she said, stepping forward to finally place the tray down. “I do have to ask though, why Rena Rouge?”

“Why not Rena Rouge?” Marinette asked, winking. “She’s your favorite, right?”

“Sure, we can say that,” Alya laughed, “but you’re wearing Chat Noir.”

Marinette blinked, again looking down at her outfit. The golden bell she had fitted to the zipper pull glittered up at her. “Yeah, and?”

“Is he your favorite superhero?” Alya asked, a teasing grin on her face. Marinette did not enjoy the lilt of her tone.

Her face colored pink. “What?” she scoffed. “I don’t have favorites.”

Alya once again raised her eyebrows, staring Marinette down over the frames of her glasses. “Mmhmm,” she hummed. “You better hope he doesn’t see you in that, then.”

Marinette laughed. “Yeah, right! Like there’d be any chance of Chat seeing me in this.”

“With your luck?” Alya teased. “I think you better watch what you say.”

“Hey!” Marinette whined, folding the Rena Rouge onesie again and placing it on her desk. “That’s not—”

As if on cue, both their phones began ringing with an akuma alert.

“You were saying?” Alya laughed.

“Ha-ha, very funny.” Marinette rolled her eyes. “But I’ll be transformed the whole time anyway.” She walked towards her window as she called for her transformation.

Alya just wiggled her fingers in a wave. “Say hi to your favorite superhero for me!”

“Ladybug?” Chat Noir frantically called from the other side of the sheet, breaking her from her thoughts. “What was that?” An arm-shaped silhouette pressed against the middle-most sheet, the outline of a boy becoming clearer, before it seemed to think better and disappeared. “Sorry! I didn’t see anything but the tail and I just couldn’t help myself!”

Marinette almost laughed, but the prominent throb of her arm had her screwing her mouth shut once again.

“Are you okay?” he called again when she didn’t respond, his voice strained with worry. “What happened?”

“Nothing, nothing,” she replied. “I just fell, that's all.”

“I thought so,” he sighed. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m—” She cut herself off as she looked down at her arm. Her sleeve was torn, but that was an easy fix. An ugly red gash ran from the inside of her elbow to about halfway down her forearm, trickles of blood staining her skin. She hissed out through her teeth. “I’m fine,” she lied. Without thinking, she tried to brush some of the soil dusted over it away, but only served to hit the edges of the wound, causing her to hiss again.

“If you’re fine, what was that hiss?”

Panicked, Marinette squeaked, “Nothing!”

“No way.” She could hear a worried frown in his voice. “That sounded like an ‘I’m bleeding’ hiss. One of my friends makes that hiss all the time.”

“It was absolutely not an ‘I’m bleeding’ hiss.”

“So are you bleeding?”

Her voice came out small. “No.”

“My Lady.” His voice came out disbelieving.

“I’m not bleeding.”

“Yes, she is.”

Marinette gasped as she suddenly noticed Plagg beside her, looking down at her bloody injury. “Hey!”

Plagg looked up at her with a satisfied smirk before flying back over the clothesline divider.

Before she could make any complaints about privacy, Marinette heard her partner’s voice, quieter than she was used to. It had an air of something— was it feebleness? —to it that she never would have expected from him. “Ladybug, will you please let me see it?” he asked, pleading. “Please?”

Marinette blinked, stunned, and without even realizing what she was doing, she was standing up and walking back towards the sheet. It was only when she arrived back at her original position that she noticed there was a little issue with that plan. “Wait,” she said, “how am I supposed to show you? I’m not– My transformation will cover it up.”

“Don’t transform. Just stick your arm between the sheets here.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “No, I might…” Her voice went quieter as she finally admitted it. “I might stain them.”

“If you do, I’ll buy them a replacement.”

“What?”

“Here.”

Marinette’s eyes went wide as the sheets suddenly parted for her, a small gap about the size of her arm appearing.

“Just stick your arm through here. I won’t look anywhere else.”

Hesitantly, she complied, pushing her arm through the gap slowly. She cringed when she heard Chat’s gasp.

“It’s not that bad,” she defended.

“Not that bad?” She tried to ignore the sudden shock she felt when fingers wrapped around her wrist. Bare fingers. “Look at all this blood,” he continued. “Are you woozy? Does it hurt?”

“No.” There was a gentle prod to the inside of her elbow, right above where the cut began. Marinette hissed again.

“Yes,” Chat said, answering his own question. “I need to patch this up.” There were more prods along the gash, forcing a whimper out of Marinette’s mouth against her wishes. “Sorry, my Lady,” came his gentle voice, “I’m just trying to see how deep it is.”

She worried her bottom lip, trying to ignore the pain and the feeling of warm fingertips on her skin. “Does– Does it look deep?” she asked.

“It might be best for you to see a doctor in case you need stitch—”

“No! No stitches,” she refused. She didn’t even know how she would begin to explain this one to her parents.

“Okay, no stitches,” he relented, to her relief, “but we do need to stop this bleeding and cover it up. I’m worried you might get an infection.” His hand started to gently brush against her skin, sending the hairs on the back of her neck standing up straight. “What did you fall on? There’s dirt all over your arm.”

Marinette swallowed against the lump in her throat, looking over her shoulder at the destruction she left behind. “Uh, someone’s garden, it looks like,” she answered. “A few terracotta pots.”

Chat hummed in such a way that she could imagine his cat ears pressing flat against his head. “Is there a watering can or anything?”

“Uh, I mean…” She scanned over the shattered pots and scattered soil, spotting a squirt bottle just a bit away on a small gardening cart. “Yes, I see a squirt bottle. Why?”

“I need to clean this.”

“What?” she squeaked, turning back towards the sheet and his voice. “No– You don’t– I can just go home.”

“Absolutely not,” he replied, firm enough to surprise her. “I don’t want this to get any deeper than it already is, so it’s best I take care of this now.”

“This is silly,” Marinette whined. She tried to pull away, but his grip was strong around her wrist. Struggling only made the pain flare up again. “You really don’t have to.”

“Tikki,” Chat Noir called instead, ignoring her pleas. “Are you there?”

“Yes, I’m here!” Tikki replied, floating into Marinette’s point of view.

“Hide! Don’t let her leave!”

Marinette gasped in her betrayal as Tikki giggled. “You got it, Chat Noir!”

“Wait, you can’t do that.” She glared at Tikki who simply waved and dashed away out of sight. “You can’t turn my own kwami against me.”

“Too bad,” he laughed. “Now, about that spray bottle. Plagg, would you mind?”

Marinette watched in disbelief as Chat Noir’s kwami reappeared from over the sheet and flew towards the squirt bottle. “So, no one’s on my side?”

Chat chuckled again from the other side, his fingers now drawing small circles on the inside of her wrist that she would never admit felt very nice. “Just trying to keep the hero of Paris safe from harm. How are you supposed to throw a yoyo if you end up needing a cast? What if it needs amputation?”

She groaned, her free arm crossing over her chest in protest. Her injured arm was held captive on the other side, and she couldn’t decide if she wanted to break free or not. Chat Noir’s soft hand gently squeezed her elbow as he folded her torn sleeve over it. She swallowed. Maybe this was fine.

Plagg flew back over their makeshift divider, squirt bottle grasped between his tiny paws, and disappeared again from Marinette’s sight.

She heard a slight sloshing, as if Chat Noir had shaken the bottle.

“Okay, it looks clean,” he sighed. “It’ll have to do. I’m just going to spray a little water on your arm to clean off this dirt, okay?”

Marinette nodded, before realizing that he couldn’t see her. “Okay,” she agreed.

The water wasn’t cold, but it still surprised her when it hit her skin. A gentle hand— feather-light, as if afraid to touch her— brushed at her skin for a moment before more water was sprayed over her arm.

Chat Noir made a disappointed sound. “I really wish I had some rubbing alcohol…” he murmured. His voice was louder as he dictated an instruction to her, “When you get home, wash this again with warm water and then clean the edges with rubbing alcohol and cotton balls. If you have any antibiotic ointments, even better. That’ll stave off any bacteria from making a home here.”

She bit her lip, trying to commit his words to her memory. “Okay.”

“And then cover it with a clean bandage, okay? Don’t just reuse the old one.”

“You sound like you know what you’re talking about,” she commented.

Chat hummed approvingly. “I have a first aid certification.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Chat Noir, RN, at your service.”

Her mind conjured an image of Chat Noir, cat ears and all, in a white doctor’s coat, and she couldn’t help the snort that blew through her nose as a result. She paused as she recalled his earlier statement. “Wait, you’re going to bandage it?”

“I have to,” he said assuredly. “If I leave it open, it might just keep bleeding, or it’ll get infected.”

“Oh…” She furrowed her brows. “But where are you going to get a bandage?”

Chat Noir went quiet for a moment. It felt like he had finished cleaning the wound, and his hand still holding the underside of her forearm tapped a pattern on her skin with one finger.

“I got it,” he finally said. “One second. Stay still.”

The warmth of his hand left her, and she was surprised to realize she missed that anchor. Without it, she was reminded of the ache of the gash on her arm. She tucked her free hand under her armpit to try and support her own weight, chewing her lip.

There was a quiet rustling noise on the other side, followed by the very familiar sound of tearing fabric.

Marinette jolted, reacting immediately. “Chat, you better not be ripping up someone else’s laundry!” she growled. “I don’t care if you promise to replace it!”

“I’m not,” he replied. “This is my shirt.”

“What.”

“Yeah, it’s kinda old and I have plenty more at ho–”

“You took off your shirt?” Marinette interrupted. “Like… the one off your back?”

“I mean, yes, it’s the only one I had.”

Don’t picture shirtless Chat Noir, don’t picture shirtless Chat Noir, don’t picture—

She wished she could bury her face in her hands.

“Ladybug?”

With a flaming face, she realized she had been silent for far too long. “I– uh, you thank– Thank you,” she winced, hearing herself stutter— Ladybug wasn’t supposed to stutter—, “you didn’t have to do that.”

“No problem,” he said, as if it really didn’t matter to him that he had actually ripped the shirt off his back just to clean up her bloody mess. “I’m going to touch you again, okay?”

Marinette made a short grunt of acknowledgement, bracing herself for the feeling of his warm hands on her skin again. It came with the feeling of soft cotton fabric pressing against her, the dull ache growing sharper as he pressed against her wound.

“Is that okay?” he asked.

She chose to be honest. “It– It hurts a little, but I’m okay.”

“Good.” He sounded relieved. “It looks like the bleeding is slowing down.”

Considering all she felt was ache and wet, she decided she would take his word for it. They fell into what Marinette thought was a comfortable silence— him dabbing at her skin, and her standing still and allowing him to care for her. She tried to imagine it was just a regular trip to the nurse’s office.

In the dark. On a rooftop. In the middle of the night.

Totally normal.

After a few moments, the dabbing ceased, and instead she felt a dry cloth begin to be applied to her skin, gently wrapping around her arm.

Soon enough, Chat Noir broke the silence. “I’m really sorry, again, by the way,” he said, regret mixed with sincerity tinting the edges of his tone. “I know you said not to look and I promise I wasn’t, but I just happened to glance down and thought I saw a tail and what else could I do? Not mention it?”

Marinette steadfastly ignored the way her cheeks heated up. She couldn’t exactly get mad at him when she had been doing the same thing, after all. “It’s not your fault that I fell, you know,” she told him instead.

“It kinda feels like it is.”

“It’s not.”

Chat Noir once again fell silent on the other side of the sheet, quietly continuing his work.

Marinette tried to focus on anything other than the feeling of his fingers pressing against her skin or the melancholy hanging over them, but it was too heavy. She swallowed the lump in her throat hard enough to hurt, a dry, aching feeling pulling at her insides.

She knew what she had to do. “It is a tail,” she admitted.

Chat’s hands stopped moving. A pause fell between them. After a moment passed, he asked, “Why are you wearing a tail?”

She chewed her lip, almost regretting her decision to come clean, but she pushed through the nerves. “It’s part of my Chat Noir onesie.”

“Your what?”

He had genuine shock in his voice, clearly having heard what she said. With a laugh on the edge of her lips, Marinette tapped the bell on her zipper, letting its quiet chime answer his question for her.

“A bell?” The grip on her wrist tightened for a second before it went lax again, as if he had realized what he had done. “Oh man, I want to look so bad. Why did you do this to me?”

She laughed then, wishing she could see his face. “Just wanted you to ‘B positive,’ I guess.”

He gasped, and she could just imagine his little cat ears perking up on his head. “Oh, milady, I’m O positive you always know just what to say to make me feel better,” he laughed.

Marinette grinned, proud her little distraction worked so well. “Hey, why did the cat go to vet school?”

“Hmm… To take care of his lady?”

“No! To become a purr-fessional!”

He laughed again, loud and full. “God, I love you.”

Her breath caught in her throat at how casually he said it. She had heard him say it a thousand times, but it never failed to make her heart beat a little faster. A strangled noise made its way out of her mouth before she could stop it.

“Ah, I’m sorry,” he said. “That just slipped out. I know you don’t really want to hear me say that anymore. I meant ‘love you’ like a friend.”

“R-right…”

She didn’t want to hear that. That is what she had told him before.

Right?

There was a slight tug at the bend of her arm. “Well, you’re all set now,” Chat declared. “Miraculous Ladybug.”

She snorted. “Don’t you mean ‘Mister Bug’?”

“One of us is more miraculous than the other,” he replied. Before she could argue against him, he continued, “You even have your spots outside of the costume.”

“What do you mean?” Feeling his hands release her, she pulled her hand back through the gap. Her arm was now wrapped in white fabric, a black stripe running twice around her forearm, and a neat knot tied at her elbow. She smiled, impressed at how seamless it looked.

“Inside your wrist,” he answered, drawing her eyes to the spot. “You have two freckles. Looks just like Adalia bipunctata.”

“A-what?”

“Two-spot ladybird. It’s a ladybug.”

“Oh.” She giggled. “I have more than that,” she admitted. “In the summer, I get freckles all up and down my arms from the sun. These two just like to hang out year-round.”

“Really?” he gasped. “So you really are a real-life ladybug?”

“Maybe I am,” she teased. “Do you actually like scratches behind the ear?”

“You want to give it a try now?”

She scoffed. “You wish, kitty,” she laughed. “Tikki, you can come out now! I’m all patched up!”

A couple transformations later, Ladybug was back in her suit. She clenched and unclenched the hand on her injured arm a few times, testing the feeling. Her skin stung a bit at the pull, but otherwise it felt fine.

The hanging sheet in front of her shifted, and Chat Noir’s black pointed ears poked through the gap. He had a grin on his face. “Feel okay?” he asked.

Ladybug smiled. “Good as new.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he replied, stepping fully onto her side of the clothesline. “Well, then I guess I’ll see you next time, milady. Have a good night.”

“Wait,” Ladybug said, watching as his face turned questioning. She stepped closer, throwing her arms around his neck before she could talk herself out of it. “Thank you for taking care of me, Chaton.”

He was stiff at first, but soon melted into the embrace, wrapping his arms around her middle. “That’s what I’m here for, Buginette,” he muttered into her shoulder. “I’m sorry, again–”

“No, nope.” She pulled back, placing her hands on either side of his face to force him to look at her. His eyes were wide. “If you ever blame yourself for my clumsiness again, I won’t bring chouquettes for patrol anymore.”

“Whoa!” he gasped, eyebrows raising. “Threat perceived.”

“Good.” She patted his cheek gently before stepping out of his arms once more. “Good night, Chat Noir.”

“Night, Ladybug.”

With a flick of her wrist, she left him standing on the rooftop, heading back home and to her and Alya’s abandoned sleepover.

When Alya saw the wrapping on Marinette’s arm and her torn sleeve, she was understandably concerned.

“What happened to you?” she asked, rushing to her feet.

Marinette grinned, holding her hands up in a placating fashion. “Just a normal little slip,” she explained. “I’ll be right back, though,” she said, heading towards the trap door in her bedroom floor. “I promised Chat Noir I’d clean and change the bandage when I got home.”

“Wait, what?”

“I’ll explain when I get back!”

Marinette quickly made her way to the bathroom, pulling open the medicine cabinet where she knew her mother kept the first aid kit. She soon located the rubbing alcohol and a few skin-colored bandages to replace Chat’s shirt. Carefully, she undid his work, wincing when she got a look at the gash again. Luckily, it wasn’t bleeding anymore, but that didn’t stop it from looking scary. She set aside the torn fabric on the corner of the sink and got to work cleaning the wound.

Once she was finished, she carefully returned all the supplies to the kit and threw away her used cotton balls. She reached for the shirt as well, but paused when her eye caught on a gray tab sticking straight up.

The label was still intact on the collar of Chat Noir’s shirt.

She only faltered for a second before curiosity got the better of her. Her thumb brushed over the seam, turning it over until she could clearly see a stylized ‘G’ that she recognized all too well.

Eyes widening, Marinette wondered what kind of wardrobe Chat Noir had at home to tear up a designer Gabriel shirt without a second thought.

[celestiall0tus]

Let's knock out the last big one, the freedom kwamis

Oh, yes. The kwamis of Freedom

As always, we start with the first of them all, Alix Kubdel as herself, then Liberte in Miraculous AU. Like the horse in canon, she can teleport as her lesser power. Her greater power is mirrored by the Pig with Defiance, to which she can defy rules of reality (whereas the Pig ignores them) However, like the Pig, this is contained to herself and cannot be bestowed upon anyone else.

Activation Phrases

Transformation: "Kaalki, Full Gallop"

Lesser Power: Voyage

Greater Power: Defiance

Now we come to Adrien, the one deviation from Alix as Freedom. He holds the White Cat of Freedom in Salvation and is known as Chat Blanc. I do have plans to make him an avatar, but until that day occurs, he has one power being teleportation.

Activation Phrases

Transformation: "Saoirse, Claws Out"

Power: Voyage

My favorite freedom design so far. Alix Kubdel returns to the status quo as the Wolf of Freedom. Her passive is now teleporation, a la Nightcrawler style, with her main power being Defiance.

Activation Phrases

Transformation: "Fang, Let's Hunt"

Power: Defiance

Presenting Alix as Chevalier in All That Remained. Her power is teleportation like the others before her.

Activation Phrases

Transformation: "Kaalki, Full Gallop"

Power: Voyage

Emilie Agreste takes the spotlight as a hero with horse as Eleutheria in Siren's Song. Her power will be the Defiance.

Activation Phrases

Transformation: "Kaalki, Full Gallop"

Power: Defy

Ali makes his debut in Court of Miracles as the horse heir. He is Highborn and his powers include:

Defiance

Teleportation

Weakness Removal

Clear Mind

[bakawitch]

New box alert!

Cat of Commission

Kwami: Earl

he/him

Miraculous: hat

Weapon: rapier

Transformation:

Move out!

Retreat!

Recharge food: earl grey tea

Power:

Clepen - The power to 'knight' individuals and give them missions to complete. The user can only use this power on people who accept a mission. Knighted people are granted a weapon and temporary proficiency with it. The user can contact their champions through a psychic link.

Users can communicate with cats.

Origin: Puss in Boots

Dove of Adaptation

Kwami: Merry

she/her

Miraculous: key pendant

Weapon: ribbon wand

Transformation:

Send for me!

Leave me!

Recharge food: cherry

Power:

Red Dove - The power to strengthen the user's weapon. It keeps its fabric like flexibility, but it becomes more blade like.

White Dove - The power to lengthen the ribbon. This can be used for first aid purposes or as restraints.

Black Dove - The power to make the ribbon wand more durable and turn it into a protective barrier.

Users can communicate with pigeons and doves.

Origin: The White Dove

[flightfoot]

Miraculous Enemies AU fanfic recs

So I was just thinking about one of my favorite Miraculous tropes, enemies au. Whether it's Marinette getting the wrong idea about Adrien from the beginning of school, or Chat being cajoled into working for his father, I adore most fics with these tropes, and I'm betting that a lot of other people do as well, so here's a list of some good ones for people to peruse!

Note: I am only listing fics that are currently completed, so you don't have to fear any of these being abandoned. They are in no particular order (or rather, they're in the order in which I was able to track them down in for this list).

cruel youth by @anyxnka

Two teenagers are chosen to wield miraculouses. Only one becomes a superhero. Weeks later, Ladybug’s lucky charm won’t stop spitting out cats.

---

i have found someone (like a nomad finds a home) by @hanaasbananas

After Stoneheart, Gabriel figured out who Chat Noir was, and forced him to work for him, rather than with Ladybug. Years later, Adrien is miserable until one night, he meets Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

---

Unstuck by @ominousunflower

Chat Noir, notorious supervillain of Paris, experiences a wardrobe malfunction in the best and worst possible place: Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s balcony. Heart pounding, Chat pins Marinette’s wrists to the balcony. She stares up at him, her blue eyes kaleidoscopic from the lights hanging overhead, her features twisted into a scowl. “Why are you trying to take my Miraculous?” Chat hisses. “Because—you—I—” Marinette splutters, her eyes dipping down below Chat’s face. “Why is your suit unzipped?” “I—well…” Chat sighs. “My zipper got stuck.”

---

one does not love breathing by @wackus-bonkus-maximus

All of Paris watched as Hawkmoth murdered Chat Noir, taking the Black Cat Miraculous for himself. Ladybug swears revenge, but her enemy—and every Miraculous in his possession—disappear without a trace. Six years later, a new team of villains launches an attack: Volpina, armed with new powers; Queen Bee, with questionable loyalty; Argos, the new holder of the Peacock Miraculous; and Cat Walker, who Ladybug hates the most. Takes place after S4 - Strike Back.

---

with this ring by @thelibraryloser

She thought “you and me against the world” had sounded like lopsided odds before, when she hadn’t even dreamed “you against me” was a possibility. Or maybe she had dreamed it, but at least in those dreams he’d had cold blue eyes and a stark white mask. The villain she’d fought today had looked at her through her partner’s own bright green eyes. It wasn’t meant to be this way.

---

Nothing Else Matters by LiquefiedStars

Marinette couldn’t figure out Chat Noir. He was supposed to be her partner, but instead ended up working for Hawk Moth. Still, her heart betrayed her and when a strong connection forms between them, Ladybug goes to Chat looking for answers, finding out more than she bargained for.

---

home is where the fight is by @rosie-b

Nadja Chamack’s voice greeted Adrien as he sat up straight, wiping his clammy hands on his pants and ignoring the black kwami floating by his shoulder. “—shocked to see our heroine fall in battle today, taking a direct hit from the akuma just as she detransformed. Parisians are torn between blaming Hawk Moth and Cat Walker for their roles in this tragedy, which ultimately revealed the civilian identity of Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Adrien turned off the TV and lowered his head as his vision blurred. Written for Ladrien June Day 7: Injured

---

The Great War by icebelle24

'And maybe it’s the past that’s talking, screaming from a crypt Telling me to punish you for things you never did So I justified it' The unthinkable happens, and suddenly, Chat Noir’s allegiances change. Now Ladybug stands on the opposite side of the battlefield from the boy who was once her partner, left alone to make sense of an impossible situation. At least she still has Adrien to give her hope. Or maybe this war is not entirely what it seems.

---

Miss Dial by @mysticraven20

Adrien Agreste has always considered Marinette Dupain-Cheng entertaining. Whether it was the endless back and forth of their banter, the clumsiness he found so cute or the fact her anger levels could go from 1-100 in a mere millisecond; he always found there was something about her... if only he could get to know her better. Marinette Dupain-Cheng has always considered Adrien Agreste a pompous, arrogant asshole. From his constant teasing of her, to the obnoxious laugh at her discomfort and the way he could anger her quicker than any other human being; she knew she hated Adrien Agreste with all she was worth. But what happens when Adrien accidentally sends the wrong text to the wrong person and a new friendship blossoms - a friendship deeper than either have ever known? Will Marinette choose to stay faithful to the budding relationship with the boy on the other side of the phone? Or will a new job with an old foe fill the loneliness in her heart?

---

call it even by @anna-scribbles and @sha-nwa

After a year of dating, there is one thing Marinette knows for certain: it's her and Adrien against the world. Through it all, Adrien is kind, patient, and endlessly understanding—even as she tries her best to keep her secret superhero identity hidden from him along with the rest of the world. Nothing could ruin it, not even the supervillains of Paris: Hawkmoth and Chat Noir. (adrinette dating // ladynoir enemies au)

---

oh, look, there you go with hope again by @ladyofthenoodle

After the defeat of Hawkmoth and his accomplice, Chat Noir, Marinette is ready to return to her normal life, but she can't escape Adrien Agreste, who was sentenced to a fate many consider worse than prison: public school. Specifically, her public school. Still, that doesn't mean she has to interact with him, does it? Except, if she doesn't... who will?

---

Redemption by JamieHasCatEyes

Papillon has been defeated and imprisoned, but his accomplice, Chat Noir, was given a second chance. Marinette's time as Ladybug may be over, but she still has work to do if she wants to help Adrien reintegrate back into society.

---

The Son Of My Enemy by Saccha

Cat Noir never wanted to be a villain, but he doesn't have a choice. Ladybug wishes she could save him. A reverse love square, villain!Cat Noir AU.

---

metamorphosis by @peachcitt

“I was thinking about that time you hated me.” “Why?” "I don’t know." “I didn’t.” “I know.” or three years after hawkmoth's defeat, marinette is still trying to figure out her version of normal. there's also sleepovers.

---

Stealing Freedom by @rosie-b

Adrien Agreste was a good person. Marinette knew this to be true, of course; she wouldn’t be marrying him if he were some irredeemable villain. No, her fiancé was practically the opposite of evil. He cooed over babies and kittens, literally stopped to smell the roses, and always brought large bouquets of them to dates. He had trouble killing spiders and bugs, begging his partner to take on the task whenever she was around to save him. Adrien was the sweetest person Marinette knew, the most kindhearted, the most forgiving; he was almost too perfect for her sometimes. But now, Marinette knew that the same Adrien who still blushed when his fiancée kissed him was also the well-known terror of Paris, Cat Walker.

[imthepunchlord]

You know what I just realized about Gabriel and Adrien that just makes me even more frustrated about them. They had perfect color coding potential! Gabriel's main colors are white with red accents, and Chat Noir's (Adrien's True self) main colors are black with green accents, the exact opposite of Gabriel! Heck, even as his civilian self Adrien's main color is black but it's offset by his white vest. It's almost like the white is trying to overtake the black (symbolically representing Gabriel's control over Adrien). And if Adrien actually got development, maybe he could have started wearing less and less white to show him breaking away from Gabriel's control.

(Also I remember what you said about Adrien living in a monochrome world and him having a monochrome miraculous probably is not the best, which I do largely agree with (I also do agree that Adrien is not the best for the Cat), but in defense of the cat, it has been shown that the cat miraculousis capable of giving other colors, like gray, silver, gold, acid green, dark green, neon green (that boarders on yellow), and purple. It honestly a little funny when you think about how pretty much every other cat holder after Adrien has more color, like the designers realized their mistake with Chat Noir's design and made sure to give every other cat more color)

While the Gabriel vs Chat is a nice color contrast, but I'm not quite a 100% on it, but that's also on me for having different views.

Like, on the topic of "Adrien's True Self", for me, his true self is in the middle between Adrien the Civilian and Chat Noir. As Adrien is him being the "perfect son" while Chat Noir is him "letting loose". Ideally, I think his growth would've had him gradually fuse the two, having some of Chat's playfulness come into his civilian life, while having some of his self-restraint come into his hero life. But that plays into me wanting to see him grow outside Gabriel's influence and come to figure out who he is. That's what I think the "true Adrien" is, two sides of him becoming whole.

Alternatively, because they made feather babies a thing, it could be that one drawback to a senti using a miraculous means the kwami's presence influences how they behave, which can make them a tad unpredictable. So Sentidrien takes on Plagg's recklessness, selfishness, and being hand wavy at responsibility.

I will also say, I don't really associate black with Adrien's main color. I associate him more with white and yellow, largely from his white jacket and blond hair catching my eye, those are also the two colors that stand out most in his room.

Though I do like the thought of white trying to take over his attire to reflect Gabriel's control, but black as a color I just don't associate with Adrien personally.

And personally, Chat Noir's design I don't mind. I think a lot of the designs for the Cat holders have been pretty solid over all, though some I'd do tweaks to. Honestly, more bothered by Ladybug's suit and the lack of designs. Especially having only Mister Bug be the only one with padding/armor. Ladybugs do have a shell so there should be something than most having skin tight suits. They don't need to be Turtle level of expected padding but still.

There is something there to the Gabriel v Chat Noir color scheme, though I think it'd work better if HM and Adrien also had a contrasting color scheme, just for another level and to back the clash between parent and child.

[redtippedfox]

Does Capricorn feel restless and remorse for his actions or does our white cat friend beat him into line I mean he is the alpha and you have to obey the alpha

keep these facts coming I enjoy them as it gives lore on the order and ladybug

Capricorn got his revenge, he helped kill Monarch and freed his kwami. But that's all he wanted, he didn't want to corrupt Marinette, and he didn't want to rule over Paris as a tyrant. He wanted his revenge, yes, but he didn't want it to go this far. He hates being corrupted, he feels empty and is always constantly trying to fill that void with wine or alcohol anything to stop the feeling of despair. Though Chat Blanc is the Alpha, even if he doesn't want to, he has to listen to him.

I'm glad you like the facts!