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teamdilf · 3 months

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Break and skin for Ceci and Tully, I’m already bracing

break: What would cause your OC to break down completely? What do they look like when that happens? Has anyone ever seen them at their lowest?

Tullia - She broke down completely after Tarquin died, and it involved a lot of crying and screaming at Sparatus' home on the Citadel, where she was staying after evacuating off Palaven. For a time, she lost the will to live, and when Cerberus tried to take over the Citadel, she defended Sparatus' staff at the house, and was actually disappointed the house and panic room weren't breached, because she wanted to fight and she wanted to die on her feet.

This really scares her - she's always been a fighter and she's never, ever given up, but she perceives herself as being on the verge of giving up. She throws herself into charity work, calling and haranguing everyone she can think of for donations to help the turian refugees, but what really starts her on the road to healing is recognizing that she still wants a life with Adrien, even if she's furious with him for his role in their son's death, and rescuing Marcus and Nero on the Citadel.

Cecilia - Cecilia is a tougher one. I think her biggest breakdown comes in response to Castis' insistence that they'll find a treatment for her and that she'll respond to it. In her mind, his unending optimism was a naive coping strategy, and she needs for him to get in his head that she is going to die, and that there are things that need to be done while she still has the capacity to make her own decisions. That came in the form of a shouting match.

Now, had she lost one of her children, I think that would have been a very ugly breakdown indeed. Castis and Solana hide the fact that Garrus has left his job and gone off to who knows where specifically so that Cecilia won't worry - and so they don't have to tell her the news repeatedly and break her heart every single time. "He's busy with work" is how they protect a very ill Cecilia from the terrible worry they're feeling.

skin: How comfortable is your OC in their skin? Do they grapple with anything that lives inside them—a beast, a curse, a failure, a monster? How do they face the smallest, weakest, most horrible version of themself? Are they able to acknowledge it at all?

Tullia - The part of Tullia that she's most ashamed of is the way she told Adrien he wasn't so different from his father after all, after learning about Tarquin's death. For the most part, she's very comfortable with the person she is; she's confident and secure, but when she was at her very worst, weaponized Adrien's greatest fear and hurt him in a way few others ever could. She has to live with that, and for the rest of her life, tries to make sure he knows what a good dad he is, and that he's more than the worst mistake he ever made.

Cecilia - Cecilia has an anxiety disorder and is prone to panic attacks. After her diagnosis during her early days of basic training, I think she was probably pretty hard on herself, because it became clear that she would never live up to the "turian ideal". The thing is, her family, her friends, and her immediate superiors understood! She discovered an important part of herself - and the reason why she'd always felt so deeply scared from the time she was a young child. She has a medical condition, received an accommodation, and was discharged to serve the Hierarchy in another way - no big deal!

Still, she's not that ideal, and there were people who didn't understand. Castis taking the revelation so casually, despite being in the military himself at the time, was a real relief for her. She learns coping strategies over the years - she's neurotic about money so she handles the family's finances. She worries about Castis on the Citadel, so he makes every effort to text her goodnight every single night - and is very good at warning her if he would be unable to for some reason. I think she does need a bit of help to learn what accommodations she needs, and that it is fine to have different needs from the other people around her.

#ask games #Thank you!#Tullia Victus #Cecilia Vakarian

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 5 months

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SEASON 5 ENDING SPOILERS

ok yknow what - more thoughts about the ending of S5 and why I was so thrown by it

Cat Noir wasn't there!!! CAT NOIR WASN'T IN THE GRAND FINALE DEFEAT OF HAWK MOTH?? HOW IS THIS REAL??

That's one thing.

The other thing is how ambiguous Gabriel's feelings toward Adrien actually ARE. does he hate him? see him as someone to be controlled? as a power play? what's up with the pancakes and the 'call me dad' then??? is it just for show/a ruse/a trick/a trap that'll get revealed?

I could see a real change of heart happening when he realized he was dying. if he didn't also continue browbeating Adrien about being with Kagami and not Marinette.

he didn't HAVE a rich-person superiority complex UNTIL season 5, either, so that came out of nowhere.

his attitude towards Adrien doesn't seem to have changed at all WHAT DO THE PANCAKES MEAN THEN?? Even Nathalie is surprised by this! it is never explained!

Then Ladybug comes in with "Nathalie is dying, you're dying, how much sacrifices are you willing to make?? Adrien has moved on, but you're about to DESTROY him! Nathalie is dying! You're dying! Giving his mother back won't help anything!"

and this works?? for some reason?? looking back I suppose the pancakes DID mean he cared for Adrien?????? and the Kagami thing was the one and only thing he put his foot down about?

IDK this needed to be foreshadowed a LOT better. we needed to really see him, telling Emilie or Nathalie "wow... I've been treating Adrien so poorly lately... I should be a better dad... this is really important to me. like even to the point of like. half the reason I'm bringing Emilie back at all is for him!" And guess what? He DID tell this (or most of it) to Adrien! And I didn't believe him! Why? BC HE'S LIED TO ADRIEN BEFORE. He's also manipulated Adrien's friends (and anyone, really!) just to get an akuma victim. (don't tell me this wasn't what was happening WAY BACK IN THE BUBBLER.)

honestly I've NEVER been sure whether Gabriel's concern for Adrien is real. it seemed real in Santa Claws. It seemed very much less real in The Collector. It seemed less and less real with every alternate reality where Adrien/Cat Noir was akumatized because Gabriel found out his identity.

APPARENTLY IT WAS REAL THO? just twisted?

like - the one time Gabriel saw Adrien, just Adrien, and DIDN'T akumatize him! and the time Adrien was in danger and Gabriel gave different instructions to an akumatized villain! the moment Gabriel realizes he's Cat Noir he becomes fair game??

Anyways this. all helps us with not knowing until the last moment what Gabriel is gonna do when he has both Miraculouses to make a wish. but it's NOT WORTH THE AUDIENCE CONFUSION!

and then we have a timeskip to 'happily ever after' basically and the main focus is the environment!?!? and the political system?!?! SINCE WHEN WAS MYLENE THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THIS SHOW?? SINCE WHEN WAS MS BUSTIER THE MAIN CHARACTER?? got me really questioning also bc all this good stuff is too good to be true??? what's the catch?? is Hawk Moth ruler over all Paris or smth?? the whole show is legit about balance, does that only mean balance when it comes to Miraculouses? what's the downside to all this utopian stuff??

we see ?Emilie? I thought?!?! existing? (but apparently it was Amelie??) and that's about ALL the closure we get for ANYTHING

WHAT EVEN HAPPENED THEN? WHAT WAS THE WISH? I thought Gabriel wished for Emilie to be brought back! and the sacrifice was (plot twist!) HIMSELF since he was dying anyway??? BUT NO APPARENTLY THAT WAS AMELIE SO WHAT DID HE EVEN DO? Did he sacrifice himself so NATHALIE could live (I don't remember if she's around but she might've been) for Adrien, and Gabriel could be reunited with Emilie in death??

I COULDN'T EVEN TELL IF MARINETTE AND ADRIEN WERE STILL THE HOLDERS OF THEIR MIRACULOUSES??? WAS THAT WISHED AWAY?? ARE THEY NOT NEEDED ANYMORE BC IT'S HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER PARISIAN UTOPIA NOW?? GABRIEL TALKED ABOUT MAKING MULTIPLE WISHES WHAT DID HE EVEN DO???

and! lastly! and most importantly! WHY DOESN'T ADRIEN KNOW ANYTHING? WHY DOESN'T CAT NOIR KNOW ANYTHING? WHY WASN'T ADRIEN/CAT NOIR THERE FOR THE ACTUAL LEGIT FINALE OF THE SHOW?!?!?!?!

instead we get unified Plagg and Tikki FOR LADYBUG??

IS THIS NOT A TEAM EFFORT?

HAS IT NOT BEEN LADYBUG AND CAT NOIR AGAINST THE WORLD FROM SEASON 1, EPISODE 1? WAS IT NOT INTENTIONAL IN S5 WHEN THE MIRACULOUSES WERE LOST AND IT WENT BACK TO BEING A PARTNERSHIP INSTEAD OF A TEAM???

HOW IS ADRIEN/CAT NOIR NOT THERE FOR THE FINALE!?!?

just. for real guys

legit

endings need to be decisive. NOT vague and ambiguous. not this way.

TL;DR Adrien/Cat Noir needed to be there, and we needed much more clarity on Gabriel/Hawk Moth's motives/intentions. also the ending/epilogue needed. uh. much better prioritization lol.

#miraculous ladybug #mlb #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #hawk moth #ladybug #cat noir #monarch #legit y'all I just call him Hawk Moth #never did like bothering with him changing his name whenver he got new powers #it's a little teensy bit of a stretch whenever Ladybug unifies with another kwami and goes AHAHA I AM DRAGON BUG NOW or whatevs.#and it makes sense differnet holders of the same kwami have different names #e.g. Cat Noir and Lady Noir and Kitty Noir (clearly the 'noir' caught on and is memorable lolz)#and Ladybug and Scarabella #and Aspik and Viperion #etc. all makes sense perfectly #but the main villain changing his main title from season to season is just. ugh #IDK most of the time in S5 he's JUST Hawk Moth but his suit is still different??#nathalie sancouer #emilie agreste #s5 #miraculous ladybug season 5 #mlb s5

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blueberry-macaron · 9 months

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Watched the movie and honestly it was fine. No groundbreaking cinematic masterpiece. No disasturous dumpster fire. Just an ok movie that felt like a fanfiction from s1

Here's some more thoughts I have. There's no structure it's a little chaotic. Also spoilers (duh)

The stuff I liked:

The music was good

THE ANIMATION IS GORGEOUS. The lighting in every scene is perfect, the city actually feels populated and the colors overall are so much prettier than in the show

I loved the akuma designs

They do a good job of establishing how Marinette, in the beginning, is very anxious, affected by Chloe's bullying and how she doesn't have friends. That works better than what the show tried to establish, about how Marinette had no friends but still being popular for some reason

Alya being a good friend

The way Adrien deals with the loss of his mother and how playing the piano brings him comfort and makes him feel close to her. Imo the show went overboard with how literally everything Adrien does is dictated by his dad and never something he might genuinely enjoy doing. The fact that he had this hobby made him feel like he was more than just a sad boi

Adrien also seems to struggle with not having many friends outside Nino. Works pretty well with the characterization that he's socially awkward after being homeschooled for most of his life

Generally this Adrien has more PV vibes? I‘m digging it ngl

Marinette's dad is the best

Fu's introduction to Marinette sure was something xD

Gabriel was a good villain character. The show version is just some weird ass goof who is a huge ass to his son and everyone, yet the show wants you to feel for him without giving us a reason to care. This version actually has complexity. He’s still an ass, but now the pain over loosing Emilie feels real. You also have him hesitating to use the butterfly but ultimately spiraling completely into an actually threatening villain.

the fight scenes looked great

Marinette is still clumsy and awkward towards Adrien but without being too cringe about it and doing stupid shit. It‘s just heart eyes and day dreams and some stuttering. She‘s still nervous but I never felt like Adrien brought oit her worst side like in the show. She was simply a girl in love. This was wholesome to watch and so much better than... whatever the fuck the show did with the fucking dating trauma to use for """comedy""" bc the show runners have zero respect for her seriously I'll never get over how fucking stupid that was Marinette honey you deserve so much better

I honestly think this is a better version of the square. Still heavily flawed, but their dynamic feels so much more natural. Ladynoir stuff was sweet

The end where Marinette looses the earrings and then saves Chat without the costume was a good scene

Most of their moments were just quiet moments between just the two without any outside forces and characters constantly pushing them together. This bothers me in the show so much and is another major reason I cant get behind the ship, but for the most part the movie has some gentle pushing here and there but no convoluted and stupid cringy plans. In that regard movie love square is superior

Nino had a thing for Alya from the start pretty much, unlike in the show where he was crushing on Mari five minutes before getting with Alya. I like them in both the show and the movie, but the way they got together in the show was a little meh

Nino getting screentime in general

The stuff I don't know how to feel about:

Careless whisper. It was silly goofy but especially the second time when Paris is on fire and we skip to Adrien's room where he sulks... yeah that tome switch really threw me off

Two different voice actors for singing an talking. The difference was very jarring and while good for Bryce, Cristina has the voice of an angel like cmon I need her to do at least a cover from one song

Gabriel's redemption. Ok so I'm a little torn because the way they did it ties in very well with the the "power of love" theme that his love for Adrien makes him realize his mistakes bla bla, but he still terrorized a city and yet faces zero consequences, and Adrien forgives him, which are all thing that really rub me the wrong way. Idk the franchise is so obsessed with painting this man in a sympathetic light and in order for this to feel truly satisfying Gabriel shouldn't have tried to destroy Paris like 5 minutes earlier. I see what they went for and thematically it worked but I just need Gabriel to be put in prison

Speaking of Gabriel, the Adrien Gabe relationship isn't as abusive as in the show. This isn't good or bad, but I still think (very unpopular opinion) the show doesn't handle abuse well at all bc the only point of the abuse is pity points in oder to get the fans to care about the characters. So taking that out of the movie where you have limited time to wrap this whole thing up might've been a smart decision

With the ending they sort of hinted at a sequel

The cut off kiss at the end. They still act like a love square kiss is something sacred that they can‘t just give their fans. Commit to it already

The stuff I didn't like:

The dialogue was… something. Marinette just asking her mom over breakfast how to make her dreams come true. Babe just just woke up, that deep convos are for late nights

Generally the dialogue in both the movie and the show is a little weird

Lika Alya‘s „people try really hard to fail as hard as you“ Marinette spilled some coffee it‘s not that hard

Even though I liked the portrayel of Marinette‘s anxiety, at times the went overboard with it

Going back to the Gabriel redemption, just let Adrien have negative feeling about Gabriel already. The s5 finale have him idolize him and here he just instantly forgives and forget

So the butterfly is a villainous tool by default? They could've fixed their messy lore but noooo

The scene where Marinette gets her miraculous feels rushed.

The way Adrien receives his miraculous. He was chilling in his room and suddenly a black cat shows up. He doesn't even have to proove himself like Mari when she almost got hit by a truck. The moment in the show was already weak but this is just fucking stupid

the first akuma was just some random dude. They should've used someone the main duo has a connection to

Chat being a lil bitch about Ladybug rejecting him. Hated it in the show, hate it here. They could've used the movie to fix Adrien and they didn't. Other than that being a dick move as so many people have explained millions of times now, I find this such a boring source of conflict for the climax of the movie? They worked well before and they both know they care for each other as partners and even if being rejected hurts, Chat acts like LB just threw their friendship away or something with how strongly he reacts to it. In the show it felt blown out of proportion and it does here as well. I think they should've had a different kind of conflict which actively hurt their partnership or Chat stops treating LB unfairly just because to her he‘s not a romantic partner.

The fart jokes. Though tbf this is a kids movie

The way Marinette falls for Adrien was extremely underwhelming. Adrien smiles at her and helps her get up and then just walks out of the library all like „she‘s so weird“. Could‘ve been fixed if he and Mari stayed in the library and had a little conversation

Also Adrien‘s introduction in general? He just chills in the library and… yeah that‘s it. I blame this on the writers of the movie cutting character introductions short because they assume the audience already knows the characters and therefore doesn‘t have to introduce them. I don‘t think that was a good choice

The Adrienette stuff was just a montage. Would've been nice to actually see them connect (though that was probably a time issue)

Also they didn't give any spotlight to Marinette's good qualities like selflessness and intelligence. Would've been nice to see her be more willing to be there for people and help them out with things as a result of her gaining more confidence

Seriously the montage was a big mistake and takes away a lot from what could've made the movie stand out

The reveal felt a lot like Adrien only loving Marinette because she's LB, which was a big reason for me to not ship Adrienette prior to the flip (not that I did after). Something like this would‘ve been believable in a setting where they didn‘t know each other as civilians I guess, but that doesn‘t work for the square. Had they actually shown Adrienette develop outside of a montage this would'be been way more believable and touching.

I think a reverse love square from the beginning would've worked better here, or they should've made the Ladynoir side canon

Adrien tells Marinette about his dead mom. Chat noir tells Ladybug about his dead mom. How does she not make the connection?

The "power of love" theme fell flat with Marinette. she doesn't have her moment of "oh I have to protect the people I love" like Tikki's dialogue suggests. There were multiple people at the theme park she could've spotted being in danger and that should've made her want to save them. Tom being there was literally the perfect set-up. The show does this with Alya being trapped under a car or something and Marinette seeing her

I also think the jump from anxious Mari to brave Mari didn't work. In both the show and the movie it just feels like she just decides to be confident now without really getting there through hard work. The motivation was there in the show (see previous point) but in both instances it just happened too fast. Let Marinette have time to really adjust to her new role

This would've worked if the movie didn't try to keep the show's formula of "villain of the week". Why are we getting a montage about that when there's already a whole ass show with five seasons where we already see that? This montage took up time that could've been used more effectively. The movie should've tried to be more of it's own thing, really shoud've tried to flesh out the characters more in a way the show doesn't. They didn't need LB and CN immediately competent and loved by the public after the theme park fiasco. Just use the run time of the movie to get adjusted to fighting crime on a weekly basis, have them fail to then fix their mistakes and learn from them. Why not do a training montage with the point of becoming better instead of flirting? The movie tries too hard to keep up the show formula and it takes away the quality the story could've had

Also in Marinette's case it felt like the only "power of love" that mattered was her partnership with Chat. Her family and friends weren't completely unimportant but definetely underutilized in that regard. Romantic love is not the only important love you know

Their powers of cataclysm and miraculous ladybug only came in at the very end. The built up could've worked if they spent more time showing how they become good and experienced heroes over time

Generally the climax was underwhelming. Gabriel learns Chat‘s identity and the damage is made undone like 10 seconds later

Adrien being like "yeah I didn't really get close to people after my mom died" what's with the Nino erasure smh

Luka wasn't important

Kagami wasn't even there

I think the end scene hinted at the sentimonster stuff and I wished they would've just not include that

Final thoughts

There are things the movie did better than the show and some things it didn't. They don't waste much time on establishing who the characters are because they expect viewers to already know that from watching the show. But like the show, they fail to use the concepts they've set up in an effective way. The movie not only tries to stay true to the show but is almost dependent on the audience knowing the series.

But yeah, the movie atmosphere was nice. Nothing extraordinary but also not super bad. It had s1 vibes and despite the problems I listed, I had a good time for the most part. Not a must watch but still fine

4/10

#ml movie #ml movie spoilers #ml review #long post #ml salt #about the movie and the show

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imthepunchlord · 1 year

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Do you think Hawkmoth was at his best when he was more mysterious (or pretty just during season 1)? Also, do you think he should have stayed mysterious for longer?

I say he was at his best in s1, not so much that he was mysterious, but he was intimidating enough with his power, but it was also the most believable and having clear limits despite the OPness (like miraculous based akumas had about the same level of power as the actual, but clearly the real was superior; OP akumas had clear limits like Mime and Timebreaker). And as it was s1, I could better humor and enjoy his dramatics and monologues. While there was some fun to the mystery of who HM was, I would vote not dragging it out unless they had more red herrings to play around with to keep us guessing. But as it was planned to be Gabriel, I'd say they should've just went ahead and revealed it at the end of s1, especially as they went ahead and confirmed it in the first ep of s2. The fun of who was HM wasn't fun enough for dragging it out for long. Especially as they weren't really going to work off Marinette and Adrien working off suspected adults. Adrien hardly interacted with his father, and Marinette interacted with him even less.

Having more villains wouldn't have made HM a better villain, especially if working off that he'd be the same as canon. At most it would've made him more tolerable as he's not the main focus, but chances are good people might've gotten fed up with him and want more focus given to other villains, and his stick could've still gotten old and many could wish that they just wrap him up as clearly he's not meant to keep Butterfly.

And he doesn't work as the big main villain to stick with as he wasn't always meant to be the big main villain. Just like the dragged out love square, his set up gets old. Especially as it goes on for 5 seasons straight with hardly any changes, our heroes hardly getting closer, and while Gabriel achieves more he also still fails which just makes him look like an idiot that we all have long lost respect for. He should have been done s2 or 3. He is not scary or charismatic enough to want to stick with as THE big main bad for a long time.

Another big issue is that he's very removed from our 2 main leads. It's no blow to Marinette whether Gabriel is HM or not, and at most, he's more of an annoyance to her day to day life than something to stress over (until later seasons but that's more having so much piled onto her than HM himself, he just doesn't help). And Adrien, despite having that personal connection, has done nothing and has been uninterested. It would be a blow to learn his dad is Gabriel, but he's not looking into anything, he doesn't care to find HM, and he's not suspecting his father. He's literally just vibing and enjoying how things are. He's not going to move anything forward.

So HM isn't much of a personal baddie to either of them, so how does he work as the big main bad when there are no personal feelings there?

Zag actually built up Mayura as the bigger bad, saying that she was HM's boss and would "make him look like a baby". There's also the factor that miraculous aren't meant to face off against each other, so that opens up a non miraculous villain to come later for them to face.

#ask Punchie #gabriel agreste #hawk moth #ml salt

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kamreadsandrecs · 8 months

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My DAD AND I agree on most things: Bloody Marys are vastly superior to mimosas. On YouTube, “Yoga with Kassandra” beats “Yoga with Adriene.” The Yankees over…is there even a question? (This season, maybe.)

But we can’t seem to settle one debate: Are e-readers superior to physical books? I, a millennial, can’t get enough of hard copies, while my baby boomer dad is enamored with his Kindle Paperwhite (from $140), which uses a unique no-glare lighting system to replicate a traditional reading experience more closely than a phone or tablet. It’s tough to operate at first, he said, but you soon get the hang of it. He also likes that it lets him control the font and its size, as well as brightness. “And you can stop wherever you want—you don’t have to put a bookmark in it—and it’ll take you back there.”

I was surprised to learn that many in his generation seem to be on the same page. Amazon says more than one-third of Kindle customers are 55 or older.

Vicki Strull, a brand strategist and packaging designer in Atlanta in her early 50s, is a Kindle evangelist. She initially bought hers in 2012, as a gift for her middle-school-aged children. After the device had collected dust for two years, Strull brought it to the beach on a whim. She was hooked, especially since the Kindle’s waterproof “pages” wouldn’t disintegrate if her soggy kids dripped on them.

Once Strull became a Kindle convert, she purchased one for her parents, now in their mid-eighties, who she says love it and heavily rely on it. “When my mother wakes up in the middle of the night, she uses her e-reader,” Strull said. Since it lights itself, the Kindle doesn’t disturb her father’s sleep.

Her kids don’t understand. “To this day,” she said, her now-high school- and college-age children “refuse to read a book on an e-reader.”

I can relate. I’ve tried a Kindle, but always miss the tactility of hardcovers or paperbacks. I love being able to scribble notes in the margins or fold over particularly captivating pages so I can revisit them later. Call me a Luddite, but the thought of my great-great-grandchild picking up my dog-eared and marked-up copy of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s “Gift from the Sea” brings me great joy.

I don’t think that kid will ever find my equally loved copy of Heather Lende’s “Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small-Town Obituary Writer” in the magnetic dust of my long-dead Kindle.

Devin Smith, 26, a marketing and public relations manager in Brooklyn, N.Y., knows the appeal of print all too well, with more than 100 books crammed into her “tiny” apartment. “I love to collect all the books I have read as a tangible memento of the stories they represent,” she said.

Though reading is a solitary act, Smith says physical books invite connection with others. She likes reading on the subway and in parks and being stopped by those eager to know whether she’s enjoying the story or shares their (often strong) feelings about the author. “There’s something about the visual of a physical book that immediately opens you up to conversation with strangers.”

For other younger readers, a physical book offers a blessed break from a digitized life. Christopher Lee, 32, a health tech strategist in San Diego, finds reading e-books too much like work. “I try to consume and apply the information quickly,” he said. Hardcovers signal leisure and let him relax.

“Easier on my eyes” is Erica Riley’s verdict on real books. The 29-year-old public relations professional in Morocco, Ind., also says she finds the motion of turning a page so much more satisfying than yet more tapping on yet another screen.

Interestingly, the option to tap, not page-turn, is what sold Frances Spillane, 57, a Boston mental health counselor, on e-books. With arthritis in her hands, hard copies trigger pain; she can read a book on her iPad’s Kindle app more comfortably. And the e-reader app lets Spillane quickly search and access the large collection of therapy books she needs for work wherever she happens to be.

Still, Spillane experiences pangs for the printed tome. “I miss the feel of turning pages,” she said. “I sometimes buy a physical copy of my favorite books, just to hold it in my hands.”

Even my e-book-devoted dad, who has kept a hard copy of “The Catcher in the Rye” handy as long as I can remember, would understand that.

#books #technology #reading

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kammartinez · 8 months

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I was surprised to learn that many in his generation seem to be on the same page. Amazon says more than one-third of Kindle customers are 55 or older.

Her kids don’t understand. “To this day,” she said, her now-high school- and college-age children “refuse to read a book on an e-reader.”

Still, Spillane experiences pangs for the printed tome. “I miss the feel of turning pages,” she said. “I sometimes buy a physical copy of my favorite books, just to hold it in my hands.”

Even my e-book-devoted dad, who has kept a hard copy of “The Catcher in the Rye” handy as long as I can remember, would understand that.

#books #technology

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gabrielagrestesaplus-moving · 3 years

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coccinelle-et-chaton · 3 years

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Adrinette April Day 13 - Family

@adrinetteapril

This one's a tear-jerker my guys 😃

Based on this thread and the ideas of @bookdragonlibrary

Family

There was no reason to be nervous, Adrien told himself. It’s not like he didn’t know the Chengs and not like it was the first time he’d spend time with Marinette’s parents, either. But things were different now.

As of a couple days ago, Adrien was, officially, Marinette’s boyfriend.

The thought still made him blush, still made him stutter. He was still assimilating the surprise, the revelations that had ultimately led to Mari and him come together.

He knew Fei and Uncle Wang would be in the city, Marinette had invited him to say hi to them before it all happened. They were going to cook food together, play some games, and catch up with Marinette’s relatives. He knew them, there was no reason to be scared. Uncle Wang was one of the sweetest men he had ever met, and he always enjoyed spending time with Marinette’s parents. Mrs. Sabine liked playing video games with him and Mr. Tom always taught him new puns to add to his arsenal. Fei was also fun to spend time with, even if her favorite pastime was to try to fluster him in Mandarin, in front of Marinette.

It was going to be okay, there was nothing to be scared of. Except now he wasn’t just Marinette’s friend. He was more than that, and to the extent of his knowledge and resolution, he’d continue to be more than just her boyfriend in the future.

The thought made his stomach churn, realizing this was the root of his anxiety.

He was going to be part of this family, sooner or later. Or at least, he hoped to. He didn’t dare say that to Marinette though, not after exactly three days of dating. He was worried he might come off as too eager even if deep down, he knew Marinette would never judge him for wishing something like that. Then, there was the fact that his family had never been big. He did have his aunt and cousin in London, and to the extent of his knowledge, some relatives he had never known lived somewhere in Belgium. But the Agrestes had never been family gathering enthusiasts. Not to mention, holidays of any kind went by uncelebrated at his house. He didn’t know how to act in front of a family, especially not one where each individual member had more or less adopted him in their own way over the years and he had confectioned a particular brand of his personality for each of them. It made him infinitely anxious.

He sighed, gathering his courage one last time before heading to the backdoor of the bakery, following Marinette’s instructions to just go in because everyone would be there--again, wrecking his nerves because that’s not at all the way he was taught to enter a room. At his house, you always had to let the person know you were headed to where they were, and even then, you had to knock and wait.

He ended up knocking at the door, unable to bring himself to just pop in.

“Hello, Mari’s boyfriend that wasn’t her boyfriend but now is for real her boyfriend!” Fei said in energetic Mandarin as she opened the door.

He blushed and grinned, replying in Mandarin as well, “Hi Fei. It’s good to see you!”

She signaled him to come in and announced, without switching languages, “Marinette’s boyfriend is here!”

Adrien didn’t need to see his face to know just exactly how red it was. Mortified, he stepped into the bakery kitchen, immediately assaulted by the rich, homely aromas of the food that was being prepared. Everyone was doing something: Tom and Sabine were tending to the preparation of steamed buns while Uncle Wang was teaching Marinette how to prepare dumpling filling from scratch, while simultaneously monitoring the broth he was cooking. The room bubbled with conversation, laughter, and music playing in the background. Everyone stopped momentarily to acknowledge him.

“Hi, Adrien!”

Adrien had never known a combination of anxiety and being comforted by the sense of being home could ever coexist in a moment.

Marinette wiped her hands on her apron and hurried to greet Adrien with a big hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. Adrien’s first instinct was to tense up.

“It’s okay,” Marinette said in his ear, “My parents really don’t mind.”

Hearing this, he let go of a sigh and relaxed, hugging her as well.

“Come, I got you something,” Marinette said, with a devious smile as she pulled him to the large kitchen island at the center of the room, where Fei and she had previously been mincing ingredients. She opened a drawer and produced a black apron that had a print of a little cartoon cat wrapped in a tortilla, with the words ‘I’m a purrito’.

Uncontrolled laughter escaped Adrien, immediately diluting the quiet, polite front he was trying to summon.

“I knew you’d appreciate the lame pun,” Marinette said, sliding the loop of the apron over Adrien’s head.

“Cat puns are a superior form of art, excuse you,” Adrien said, chuckling.

“I agree!” Tom said from his corner in the kitchen.

“Don’t encourage him, dad,” Marinette said while Adrien smiled, anxiety slowly leaving him as he became acclimated to the mood.

“Hello Mr. Cheng!” said Adrien in Mandarin. “I’m happy to see you again, I hope your flight was alright.” He was self-aware of the fact he had unintentionally slipped into the rehearsed politeness he usually addressed adults with.

“It’s good to see you, too, Adrien!” said Wang. “And no need to be so formal! You can just call me Uncle Wang. You want to help me with the broth or you’re helping the girls?”

“I, uh... would you like me to help you?”

“If you want,” Wang said kindly. “Or you can help Sabine and Tom with the steamed buns, whatever you feel like doing.”

Adrien smiled sheepishly at Wang and looked around himself a little bit. “Um... I think I could help the girls if that’s okay.”

“Of course!”

Adrien walked over to the part of the isle where Fei was teaching Marinette the tone difference between yī qǐ, yì qi, and yí qì as they carefully confectioned dumplings.

“No, listen, yì qi. You’re saying yí qì,” Fei said.

“I don’t hear it,” Marinette sighed, trying again.

“Yì qi, yí qì,” Adrien said, carefully intoning so that she would hear the difference. “Loyalty to your friends is one tone away from ‘abandoned’.”

“Is that what I’m saying?” Marinette said, surprised.

“Yì qi means personal loyalty,” said Adrien. “Yí qì is literally, ‘abandoned.’”

Marinette sighed. “I’ll never get the hang of it.”

“You can always practice with me,” Adrien offered, beaming at her.

“That’s what I’ve been telling her,” Sabine intervened. “See, I told you Adrien would be willing to help you.”

Marinette blushed as she sneaked a glance at Adrien.

“Besides,” Fei said. “It’ll come in useful if someone pickpockets you in Shanghai.”

Marinette and Fei smiled at each other, complicitly.

Fei and Adrien continued quizzing Marinette on her pronunciation as they slowly, but surely went through several batches of dumplings. Once the food had been prepared, they took everything upstairs to the apartment, cleaned up, and hung the aprons.

“Yours goes here, Adrien,” said Sabine, showing him the four hangers next to the door. It was apparent that the fourth one had been recently installed. Adrien found himself questioning why he felt so emotional about a wall hanger.

“Thank you...” he said, sounding more touched than he meant. Sabine simply smiled at him, seemingly unaware of his reaction.

One of the things Adrien loved about having dinner at Marinette’s was that they always put the different dishes at the center of the table. Adrien knew this was normal, of course, but he had grown up eating by himself and just one serving of one dish per meal. The idea of having several different plates you could choose from and the fact you had to share them with others gave him a bizarre satisfaction, a sense of belonging that he was sure was misplaced.

Then there was the fact that the room was never quiet. It was a stark contrast of what he had always known: Wang and Sabine were telling stories to Marinette about growing up in a village near Shanghai, what it was like when they moved. Tom told jokes to Fei, explaining to her the puns when she didn’t get them because of the language barrier. Adrien listened and watched both in wonder and with a certain melancholy, finally knowing the kind of warmth he had been missing all these years.

Noticing how he had grown quiet, Marinette reached for his hand under the table and squeezed it, then with her thumb gently caressed his ringed finger. She smiled at him, and he inevitably reciprocated, filled with overwhelming joy as he remembered they were now finally and officially, together.

After dinner, everyone gathered in the living room and played a few rounds of charades and Pictionary. Eventually, everyone voted to have Adrien and Marinette and Tom and Sabine in different teams because every time they were in the same one, there was no way for the opponents to win. They seemed to always know what the other was saying. In Marinette and Adrien’s case, her family attributed it to their talents at acting and drawing, but they knew it was because that level of synchronicity came with experience, with the bond they had inadvertently cultivated with their masks.

Eventually, the time for Adrien to go back to his house came, much to his disappointment. He was not even gone and he already missed the warmth of being around Marinette’s family. Before leaving Wang reminded him he was always welcome to visit him again at the restaurant whenever he was in Shanghai again, an invitation that had Adrien thankfully bowing to and accepting in a sudden bout of awkward Mandarin.

“I hope we get to see each other again before you leave,” said Adrien before Marinette walked him downstairs.

“We are,” said Fei. “Aren’t you coming tomorrow? Marinette said I’m meeting Alya and Nino. We’re going to do the touristy Paris things.”

“No, I have to work tomorrow,” Adrien admitted, evidently disappointed. He had lived in Paris all his life and he’d never done a walking tour or one of those hop-on-hop-off buses. It was really a shame.

“Ah, that’s too bad. But hey, Paris has a lot to see. I’m pretty sure we’ll be out for most of the day, right Mari?”

“Right,” she said, smiling at him. “You can join us when you’re done, Min-- Adrien.”

Adrien gave her a look, recognizing the slip of the tongue she evaded. Luckily, if Fei noticed, she didn’t mention it.

After saying his thanks and goodbyes, Marinette walked Adrien down and waited with him while his driver arrived.

“And?” Marinette asked. “What did you think?”

“I had a lot of fun, thanks for inviting me, Mari.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Marinette said. “I already told you, Chaton. You can come here whenever you want. Plus it was a family gathering, everyone hoped you’d be here.”

“Really?” he said.

“Of course! But you did enjoy yourself, right? You don’t have to come next time if you don’t want to. You seemed a little tense at the beginning.”

“I was a little nervous,” he confessed. “I had never been at a family gathering before.”

Marinette’s heart twisted painfully with Adrien’s confession. “Oh, Adrien,” she said, pulling him into a hug.

“To tell you the truth, I almost cried like, three times or something,” he said chuckling if only to hide how moved he actually was. “Your parents installed a hanger for my apron,” he said, burying his face on her shoulder. “Apart from all you’ve done, that’s literally the nicest thing anyone has done for me.”

“Well, now you’re going to make me cry.”

Adrien laughed, kissed her cheek, and pulled away from the hug. “No, Princess. Don’t cry. It’s okay. I’m really happy. I can’t wait for the next time we do this.”

“We do it every weekend,” Marinette said. “I mean, it’s only the three of us, but if you want you can--”

“I can come every weekend?” Adrien said, excited.

“Of course,” Marinette said. “I keep telling you, Adrien. You really can come here anytime you want. Even when I’m not here. Sometimes I find Alya literally just chilling with my mom or my dad, waiting for me to get here. I mean, you’ve met my parents and Uncle Wang, they know what it’s like... What it’s like to uh, you know...”

“You can say it, live with a horrible father.”

Marinette looked down as she chuckled. “Something like that. My dad has a complicated relationship with his own dad, too, you know? They had been fighting at least for the last twenty or so years, he had shut dad out until I intervened. And my mom, well you heard the story, she moved here young and had no one. They know what it’s like to miss your family, and they’re always happy to include others who are or were in similar situations. Especially if that person is my boyfriend.”

Adrien had to pull her into a hug again because this time she really had made him tear up and she didn’t want her to see it. “Are you doing this on purpose or what?” he said, sniffing. “You want to make me sob, milady?”

Marinette laughed, rubbing his back in circles. “No, Minou. I’m just trying to reassure you, I mean it. This is your family, too, Adrien... If--if you want it, I mean I don’t want to sound---oh wow that sounded so weird didn’t it? I--”

Adrien interrupted her by pulling her into a kiss. One that still carried the tints of surprise, realization, and excitement of the discovery of their identities, but that was also steadier, calmer, more conscious than the first few they had shared.

Adrien’s bodyguard pulled up in front of them shortly after they had broken apart. “I love you, Mari,” said Adrien, not knowing how else to convey all that he was feeling and leaning into one last, short kiss before boarding the car.

He sighed as the car drove away, head in the clouds and heart fuller and warmer than it had ever been as he thought about the Dupain-Chengs, but above else Marinette, his family.

#adrinetteapril2021 #adrinette april 2021 #day 13 - family #adrinette #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #or should i say adrien dupain-cheng #sabine cheng #tom dupain #fei cheng #wang cheng #keeping up with the chengs #ml fic #miraculous ladybug fanfic #miraculous ladybug #my writing #ml spoilers

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p-artsypants · 3 years

Text

I’ll Handle This (5)

In Which There is an Akuma

Ao3 | FF.net

Plagg was laying on the bed when he returned. “Oh good, you’re back. I was kind of worried about you—“

“There’s an Akuma!” Adrien interrupted.

Plagg’s eyes lit up. “An Akuma, you say? How interesting...”

“Yeah yeah, just do the thing that sucks me in the ring!”

“I’ll warn you ahead of time, when I’m in your body like this, the suit becomes factory default. Oh, and you’ll be able to see and hear everything I do.”

“Great. This whole ‘Invasion of the Bodysnatchers’ episode is getting better and better.”

“Adrien, Claws out!”

That was an odd sensation. Now Adrien knew what Taffy felt like. He felt his whole body grow long and thin, before spiraling smaller and smaller. There was every color in the rainbow, flashing in a nauseous wave, and then, he was looking through his eyes again.

“Ha!” Said Plagg with a little satisfaction. “Feels good to be on the other side.” He walked over to the mirror, where Adrien could finally see what ‘factory default’ meant.

He looked like a ninja. Not like a Naruto ninja, but like a real Sengoku period, 15th century ninja. An all black, cloth ensemble, with foot wraps and a thick belt. Instead of claws on his fingertips, there were long blades attached to the back of his hand, almost like wolverine. Instead of a mask around his eyes, he wore one over the lower half of his face, and only left his eyes exposed. But his eyes looked different enough. The sclera was a toxic green instead of white, and his pupils were slit. Thick black eyeliner traced the eyes and framed them, making the color pop. His hair was a complete disaster and stood up in every direction.

Finally, the ears. They were real, genuine cat ears. Complete with fur.

“Not too shabby, if I say so. Though, the first guys that wore this had black hair, which made the ears less jarring. But I can’t complain. We mustn’t leave our lady waiting!”

Plagg threw open the window and leapt into the city.

He rushed over the rooftops, doing impossible feats of parkour and agility. It actually made Adrien dizzy.

“Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention,” Plagg said aloud. “You know how when you’re in the suit, you can be body slammed into a building and be okay afterwards?”

Yeah?

“Well...you’re going to feel all that pain instead. That’s why I’m always so wiped after a fight.”

What?!

Plagg glanced at his baton, the screen looking more like parchment than the usual LED screen, and found where Ladybug was.

A hop skip and a jump, he landed next to her. “What are we up against?”

She didn’t look at him, eyes glued to the akuma. “Stretchy guy. Like Mr. Fantastic. Can’t figure out what ticked him off, but he’s able to reach anything and even shape shift. Might be difficult to fight.” Then she finally looked at him and her eyes bulged. “Chat? What’s with your suit?”

“Plagg’s having a hard time right now, so I’m factory default.”

“O...Kay...are you going to be okay fighting like that?”

“It feels fine, my Lady. Nothing to worry about. In fact, do you mind if I take the lead on this one? Give you a little break?”

She chuckled. “You know I could always use a break.”

“Great! We need to lead him over to the construction site over at Notre Dame, where all the scaffolding are.”

She smiled at him. “I think I know what you’re planning, Kitty. Lead the way.”

He dropped the bottom part of his mask, and wolf whistled quickly, before Ladybug could place his face. “Hey stretch!” He shouted. “You up for a little race?”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir! You’ll give me your Miraculous as soon as I reach you!”

“Good luck with that!” And he vaulted backwards on to the street and darted towards Notre Dame.

Plagg was fast. Faster than Chat Noir normally was, and Ladybug was surprised at how hard it was to keep up with him.

“H-Hey Chat! Don’t leave me behind!”

He only stopped a second to scoop her up into his arms before running off again. Her added weight didn’t even slow him down.

“Sorry, Bug. The Akuma has long legs, so he’s faster than usual. I can’t slow down, so hang on!”

She did, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

Adrien was going to kill Plagg if he didn’t die from ecstasy first. He could feel Ladybug pressed tightly against him, and he loved every bouncing second of it.

Soon they reached the construction site, with the Akuma hot on their tail.

“Split up,” Plagg commanded and Ladybug gave a firm nod, following right along with him.

While Adrien was basically on autopilot, he noted that this fight felt a lot like being on the jungle gym when he was a kid. He swung on the bars, twisting up levels onto the scaffolding, the akuma chasing after with each turn.

Except, the akuma was long, and he was starting to get tangled in all the bars.

“Oh no!” Ladybug feigned a cry. “I’m stuck! He might be able to get my Miraculous!”

“You’re mine!” Called the akuma, twisting around a pole and darting for her. As he was about to snag her, she dropped and spun on her bent knees away.

“Whoops, not so stuck after all!”

“I’m going to—“ The akuma reached out their arm, stretching and stretching to grab at her ears. But he never reached her. He was out of length, and hopelessly tangled in the mass of wood and metal. “No! No!” He wriggled, trying to untie himself, but Plagg had already found the akumatized item in the akuma’s back pocket. A roll of measuring tape.

“Akuma, coming in hot!” He called, as he smashed the tape.

The black butterfly emerged, and Ladybug caught it and purified it easily. “Bye bye little butterfly!”

One cure later, the relative damage done to the scaffoldings was repaired, and the akuma victim, a short man, was returned to ground level.

“Wow! We didn’t even have to use our powers today! Great work, kitty!” She praised as he raised her fist.

He bumped her back with a grin. “Thank you, Bug. Hope you didn’t mind me taking charge. I just figured with you being the guardian and all, having some shared responsibility would really help you out.”

She exhaled with a breath, her shoulders relaxing. “Ugh, you have no idea. When that akuma alert went off, I was already dreading it. It’s been a long day.”

Plagg frowned. “A long day?” Even after their shopping spree and awesome lunch? “Do you need to talk about it?”

She ground her toes on the roof of the church. “Are you busy? Plagg said you were doing something…”

“Oh, I was napping. I have all the time in the world for you, Ladybug.”

“Want to get some ice cream, then?”

“Only if you let me pay.”

She dramatically put a hand to her forehead, “oh, if you must!”

Plagg chuckled with her, and then took off running.

“Hey! I never said it was a race!” She called back.

“You never said it wasn’t either!” He shouted back.

When she finally located Andre’s ice cream cart, he was already sitting and waiting with her order. “Your ice cream, my lady?”

“You’re so fast! Have you just been holding out on me all this time?!” She huffed, taking the cone from him.

He shrugged. “Oh, I have a couple of tricks up my sleeves.”

They enjoyed their ice cream in comfortable silence for a while, before Ladybug asked, “hey, you’re a boy, right?”

“Last I checked.”

She shook her head at her dumb question. “Right. Um…I have a friend. Guy friend.”

Plagg crossed his legs. “OoooOOoooo is it him?”

Ladybug blushed. “Yes.”

“Tell me everything.”

Inside his head, Adrien started to panic. This could only end badly for them!

“Well today…he was acting really weird. Usually, he’s really nice and reserved and polite…I know he can be silly and rambunctious, but…today, he was larger than life. He took us out for an expensive lunch, and then shopping for clothes that would make his dad angry. I think it’s a rebellious streak, but my gal friend said his money has gone to his head…” She scuffed her foot on the floor. “I’m just worried. I don’t want him to change…but I don’t want him to fake being someone he’s not just to make others happy. I guess I’m just confused. What do you think?”

Plagg finished his cone in one gulp, hiding his face right after. “I think it’s just puberty.”

She did not think that was amusing. “Yeah right.”

“Has handsome rich boy ever shown signs of materialistic superiority?”

“No, he wears the same clothes all the time, and never flaunts the things he owns—“

“Then I think your gal pal is off base. It probably is rebellion. Just…be a safe place for him, and I’m sure it’ll end up okay.”

“A safe place? What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure what this dude is rebelling for. You’d probably know. Is his family…strict?”

“Very.”

“And controlling?”

“Extremely.”

“Okay, so if I was in his shoes, I’d want a friend that was trustworthy for me to confide in. Rebelling is liberating and exciting, but also extremely scary, because it’s risky. He needs to have someone to have his back in case things go south.” He massaged her shoulder. “And it would be best if that friend was soft and smelled nice.”

Ladybug smacked his shoulder. “When did you get so wise?”

“I hide a lot of wisdom under my ‘dumbass’ veneer.”

Ladybug cackled loudly, making Plagg smile and Adrien swoon.

“You can be a dumbass sometimes,” Ladybug admitted. “But you’re my dumbass.”

“Aww, thanks bug!” He grinned. “So, handsome rich boy is all that’s on your mind? I know identity clues have to be avoided and all, but I like knowing stuff that’s going on in your life. And I think I can manage another golden nugget of advice as well, if needed.”

Ladybug frowned, obviously something else cropping up in her mind. “Actually…there’s something I haven’t told you that I probably should have.”

“I’m all ears. I literally have four of them.” He twitched his cat ears.

She reached up and rubbed them, an affectionate look on her face as she felt the fur under her fingertips. “Not too long ago, I was expelled from school.”

“Ladybug is a bad student in her civilian life?” He joked.

“No! I’m not!” She damn-near cried. “Sorry, I just…ugh. I was framed. There’s this girl in my class that…she lies with every breath. I know she has a crush on my crush, but she’s lying and manipulating to get her way to him. She works with him now too.”

Plagg knew there was certainly more to the story than that, but he had to play dumb as Chat Noir. “Lying is bad and all, but it’s not really your problem, is it? She’ll get caught in her web eventually.”

“Argh, that’s what Ad—my boy said too. Take the high road. And it made sense, for what he knew about her at the time…but what he didn’t know was that she threatened me. Threatened to take all my friends and him away, just because I told her to stop lying.”

This was a shock to both kwami and holder. “She threatened you?”

“Yeah. And she went through with it. She got me expelled. Apparently, according to my boy, he sort of convinced her to double lie to get me un-expelled. She’s been quiet ever since, which has been a few weeks, but…she keeps staring at me. It’s unnerving.”

“I suppose it would be, with her track record.”

“I didn’t want you to find out about this, but I have to tell you. She’s almost gotten me akumatized, twice.”

Plagg slapped a hand over his mouth with a gasp.

Lila was a nuisance for Adrien, but she was a problem for Marinette. No, an imminent threat. This changed his attack strategy…though it started to look like Adrien’s three problems were weaved together. The whole situation was a little more delicate than he had considered at first.

“I’ve beaten both akumas off, but I worry about the future. I’m trying to come up with a contingency plan, but for right now it’s just ‘don’t get upset’.”

“I’ll try to come up with a plan too. Maybe next time, you could hand your earrings off to Tikki for a little while, if things start to get dicey. She can bring them to me, since she knows who I am.”

Ladybug gnawed at her lip. “Tikki’s been my greatest ally in fighting them off. If she’s not there…”

Plagg rested a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Bug, you’re the practical one here. What happens when you don’t give Tikki your earrings, and you don’t fight it off? When you’re so consumed with pain you don’t even see the Akuma coming? What then?”

She shook her head. “You’re so right, I hate it.” She sighed. “That happened the last time too…I was only spared because Hawkmoth suddenly stopped his attack. That was the day I got expelled.”

“And I’ll follow the plan too. I haven’t gotten akumatized or anything, but it might only be a matter of time.”

“Yeah…” It was awful to think about. Having to fight her partner was not something that Marinette wanted to do. But this loose plan was better than no plan. “Hey, it’s getting pretty late. I have a project I have to finish up.”

“Oh, of course, go on home.” Plagg insisted.

“Thanks for the Ice Cream, and for lending an ear. You’re the best, Kitty.”

Plagg smiled at her, though she couldn’t see through his mask. His eyes crinkled in mirth. “I try.”

“Tell Plagg I still have that cheese danish if he wants it. Night, Chat.”

“Night, Bug.”

And she swung off into the distance.

Plagg took out his baton and made his own way home. He knew Adrien didn’t really want to be transformed any longer than he had to be.

He landed inside the mansion, and called, “Claws in.”

Adrien came flying out of the ring, and Plagg caught him carefully in his hands. “How you feeling, kiddo?”

“Like I got hit by a truck,” said Adrien, weakly. “You didn’t even use my power, why am I so tired?”

“How much cheese did you eat today?”

“None.” Adrien scrunched up his nose. “Come to think of it, I didn’t eat anything today.”

“That would certainly do it.” Plagg said, with a sigh. He took out a wheel of camembert and took out a wedge for Adrien, holding it in front of his face.

Normally, Adrien couldn’t stand the smell. It was putrid and foul and moldy…but this…this was on a different level. Curse Plagg’s disgusting body! He sat up and helped himself to a nibble of cheese. A nibble turned into a bite, and a bite turned into a full inhale, almost taking off his fingers.

“Better?”

Adrien sighed as his energy started to return. “Remind never to complain about your eating habits.”

Plagg grinned. “Oh it's a deal!”

Adrien’s phone rang, and Plagg reached to answer.

“Who is it?” Asked Adrien.

“It’s Marineeeeeeetteeeee~!” Plagg sang, and connected the call, putting it on speaker for Adrien to hear.

“Hey Pooh Bear.”

“H-hey uh, Tigger? No no that was dumb. Sorry, hi Adrien.”

Plagg and Adrien shared a look of fondness. She was just too cute sometimes.

“Whats up?” Pried Plagg.

“Uh, not-not much! I just finished your second shirt! I can do more tomorrow, but for now…”

“I’ve got an outfit picked out for tomorrow, don’t worry. And you’ll love it.”

“Will I really? Or will it turn me into a pillar of salt?”

“Have a little faith in me, Mari.”

“I—of course. Did you just call me Mari?”

“Yeah, I thought it was about time I gave you a nickname. Is that okay? Or are you okay with Pooh Bear?”

Marinette’s giggle was adorable, as it was filled with thinly veiled embarrassment. “Call me whatever you like! I don’t mind!”

“Great! What’s my nickname?”

“I don’t know? Do you want one?”

“Only from you, Pooh Bear!” He sang.

“Um…I’ll have to think about it. I think I’ve heard Lila and Chloe both call you ‘Adri’, so I’ll try to come up with something else.”

“I appreciate that.” Plagg said, as Adrien smiled fondly at the phone. It sure was considerate of her to think about that.

“And Adrien?” Her tone conveyed so much. So much more than Adrien could understand. But it brought a warmth to his face.

“Yes?”

“I’m here for you. You know that, right? Whatever you need. An ear, a h-h-hug. Whatever. I…I care about you.”

Adrien wiped a paw under his eyes, fully prepared for tears to take him.

“I care about you too,” Plagg said, not faking the genuine appreciation in his voice. “I appreciate everything you do for me.”

“I-…” She trailed off, and Adrien wondered if she was going to say something else. But instead, she just exhaled and said. “It’s getting kind of late. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Of course, Pooh Bear!”

She laughed. “Thanks Adrien, goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” And he ended the call.

“She took your advice.” Adrien noted.

“She took Chat Noir’s advice. She trusts him after all.”

Adrien sat on the desk, still feeling a storm brewing inside of him. He was still upset about Plagg’s behavior with his father…but he was starting to come around. Marinette never called him, and her conversations with him were never so easy. Was this actually working?

“Adrien,” Plagg started, scratching between his ears. “I’m sorry for hurting you. If there was a way to humble your father without hurting you in the process, I’d do it…but right now…”

“I understand, Plagg.” Adrien said with a hopeful smile. “It sucks but…that Chloe-tantrum you threw was really funny.”

Plagg beamed at him.

“And,” Adrien added. “After hearing the whole truth about Lila, I’m fully on board with whatever you want to do to her.”

“Fully?”

“Absolutely. This bitch needs to go.”

The mansion was nearly silent in the night, so Plagg’s evil cackle echoed and echoed, sending goosebumps down the neighbor’s spines.

#ml #miraculous ladybug #chat noir #adrien agreste #adrienette #adrien and plagg #I'll handle this #fanfiction #ladybug

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kisilinramblings · 3 years

Note

I saw many people tweeted that Chloe is not deserved the threatment she received in the show (i.e being her miraculous taken from her, being bashed, etc), she helps lb selflessly only for lb to take her only way to redeem herself, to show she can be better person and the only reason why she's treated badly is because Thomas hate her, that's why he refused to give her a redemption arc and instead keep calling her a villain. What do you think of it? And what do you think of Chloe as a character?

I’ll come off clean right away. I too believed in Chloé. I too hoped for her to get better and gave her a chance. Was I disappointed by the turn she took? Yes. Just like Ladybug and Chat Noir too were disappointed I’m sure. Was I surprised by this development though? No.

It all comes down to 3 things that lead Chloé’s development to this result.

Chloé’s traits and motivations.

What the Bee Miraculous represented to Chloé

Chloé’s trust toward Ladybug

Let’s go back to the beginning of Chloé’s development. Despair Bear. Chloé is forced to make an effort and be nicer otherwise she will lose Adrien’s friendship.

Chloé : How can [Adrien] do this to me, Jean-Michel?

She doesn’t understand why she has this ultimatum. She isn’t reflecting on her actions. She just want Adrien to be her friend again. With the help of her butler though, Chloé works her way through. It’s a bumpy road and she obviously doesn’t like doing this. At. All. She always questions the point of this nice action or that other one, but she forces herself only not to lose Adrien’s friendship which obviously means a lot to her, but she finds this whole experience is annoying.

During the Akuma attack though, she does rescue Ladybug from being Catalysmed by a Chat Noir controlled by Despair Bear, but what does Chloé say immediately after she has realized she had been actually helpful for once?

LB : Thanks, Chloé Chloé : Hey! I was really nice just then! Did you see? No?

She boasts about her actions, wanting people to notice her. The whole audience doing the Anime Fall™ illustrates that boasting about being nice defeat the initial purpose. Doing nice actions should be because it is the right and natural thing to do, not to expect glory and reward afterward, even if Chloé instinctively wanted to protect someone she deeply idolizes.

After helping Ladybug out to defeat Despair Bear, Chloé realizes there are some benefits to being nice, yes, but what does Chloé do after showing she is capable of making an effort and secured back Adrien’s friendship? She sighs of relief, a burden lift out of her shoulders, and reverts back to her usual self.

Now I know people will say “It’s just to maintain the statu quo”. But when you look back at this episode after Miracle Queen or even after Miraculer, you realize Despair Bear had a lesson in it that concerns people like Chloé. That is they can make an effort to be nicer and can sometimes be helpful but if they don’t want to become a better person, to be kinder to others, then they won’t change.

Over S2, we see Chloé under a new light. She isn’t just a spoiled rich bully. She is human too. When she is hurt, she hurts back. Marinette -- and by extension the viewers -- learns to see that side of Chloé and empathizes with her. But while it explains it, her snobbish, mean and entitled attitude still isn’t acceptable. Not when living in society.

But Chloé does make some some progress through S2. Small. But still, progress. Like during Zombizou, where Chloé admits for the first time her actions has hurt people.

Or the end of Queen Wasp where Chloé finally accepts to give back the Bee Miraculous she had found to Ladybug, admitting she had been irresponsible with how to use that power.

Or during Malediktator, when Chloé opens up to Ladybug, telling her the truth and how useless she feels.

That was a start. Chloé showed us she was capable of doing that when renouncing or not expecting to have a Miraculous. However, after Queen Bee is officially recognized as one of Ladybug’s allies, something else happened.

After actually saving Paris during Malediktaor, Chloé got a party celebrating Queen Bee, celebrating her.

Marinette was trying to do some positive reinforcement to encourage Chloé.

Marinette : Well, she did save Paris, so... maybe she just may be able to save herself too, am I right? [...] If she feels like she can be useful, I’m sure she’ll change her attitude.

“[Chloé] just may be able to save herself”

It isn’t Ladybug’s responsibility to change Chloé so she could become a better person, but Chloé’s. Ladybug can help her a bit, by showing support and guiding her, but it is ultimately Chloé who has to work on herself in order to save herself AKA to begin redeeming herself if she wants to. Like how Chloé desired to save her dad and fix her mistake. However, Chloé’s secret identity being publicly known has jeopardized that process.

Look at the ending of Malediktator. Chloé has a party but instead of taking pics with her and the crowd, or with people she cherishes or is thankful about, what do we get?

A selfie of her with her with no one else around her posted on her social media, showing us her self-centred image.

This behaviour repeats itself during Heroes Day as well. Everyone has prepared a nice action for the day and what was Chloé’s? Accepting to sign autographs since now she is a superhero.

And at the end of the finale, yes, she is included in the group picnic, but how is she staged on the set?

She sits on a lounge chair, not directly touching the ground where everybody else is sitting. She refuses to eat home-made meals, preferring fancy sushis. And finally, she has her butler break apart her chopsticks for her, without even politely asking him by looking him in the eyes.

What does this scene tells the audience compare to the scene where Chloé is dismantling her Bee “Lair” without any help at the end of Malediktator, telling her butler she’ll do it because she has to do this herself. (Translation : I have to fix that error of mine myself”).

As S2 concluded, since Queen Bee is now officially one’s of Ladybug superhero teammates and that everyone knows QB is Chloé, she feels above everyone else, refusing to sit at the same level as them. She still doesn’t care about others’ feelings. She expects people to serve her. Even her “benevolent” action of signing autographs for Heroes Day revolved more around herself than acutally helping others.

This is where Chloé’s character stands. This is what she values. Herself. Her needs. She feels morally superior. She has ascended to greater heights. She acts entitled because Ladybug has trusted her with a Miraculous once or twice. And it is this attitude Chloé never tries to fix and that has lead her to her descent.

The people who are mad about Chloé’s development throughout S3 often misinterpret the real reason why Chloé constantly wanted to be Queen Bee to begin with. What the Bee Miraculous truly represented to her.

Chloé didn’t want to be a superhero because she wanted to help people nor was it because she felt bad about how awful she had been to everyone in general and wanted to make amends. Chloé didn’t need a Miraculous for that. She could have accomplished that progress simply as a civilian if she had wanted to.

It wasn’t because Chloé still had something to prove to her mother either. That was settled at the end of Queen Wasp. Her mother had acknowledged her and was staying in Paris, with her. Audrey finally gave the recognition Chloé longed for. (Though I admit “you are exceptionally mean like your mother” is a shitty reason, but hey! At least Chloé got her mother’s attention and love now, so little yeah...?) And in Malediktator, we see Audrey taking Chloé’s side, agreeing they should leave for New York together.

As for wanting to be loved by others, Chloé has already the affection and attention from other people such as her butler, Sabrina, Ms Bustier, and even her father who overly spoils her, satisfying every of Chloé’s desires. They were there for her even before she got her hand on a Miraculous. And it wasn’t because Chloé wanted the power to protect the people she cared about either nor was it her symbol for a second chance.

No, Chloé only cared about herself and the reason why she wanted to be Queen Bee everytime she could is because, to her, having a Miraculous means you are part of the elites.

Miraculous Holders are chosen ones. Litterally! There are only a few select of them. They get to be famous, glorified, celebrated (Heroes Day). They get movies made about them (Animaestro). They get to be on the news, interviewed. To have their image show everywhere. To have fans. To be adulated, respected, listened to. They are exceptional. Superior.

And this isn’t new with Chloé. Ever since S1, fame and status has always been a motivator for her to do things. To be exceptional. Not just to be seen by her mother (though it started it like that), but for everyone to see it.

In fact, when there is an Akuma attack, is Chloé helping others around her or is she abandoning everyone and heading straight to light her bee signal while buzzing with excitement? Does she stay steady just in case Ladybug needs her or is she expecting Ladybug to ask for QB’s help every time? Is Chloé resilient about QB not being needed all the time or frustrated to sit on the bench? What does Chloé do to fix this? Does she give herself a purpose as a civilian or does she cling even more to Ladybug to bring her the Bee Miraculous?

Basically when Chloé is offering her help, in reality, she just want to be a superhero for the glory of it rather than actually caring for or helping people around her.

When Chloé asks for “her” Miraculous and constantly clinging for Ladybug to give it to her, it means she only sees value when she is Queen Bee. And when Queen Bee wants to be reliable to Ladybug or fears to disappoint her idol, ultimately, Chloé wants to not screw her chances to be Queen Bee again.

Thus, yes, Queen Bee does her part when battling Akumas, but does Chloé actually grow as a person after Malediktator events? Did Chloé work on herself? Does she continue reflecting on her actions? Does Chloé even sometimes try to help her classmates with their normal problems or is she resting on her laurels? How does she treat others in general? Did Chloé truly become kinder or humbler or did she instead got the big head and still is rude to them? Does she views herself as a normal person or as a superior being? If you are unsure about any of the answers, just rewatch Startrain.

Chloé just stops improving because she took her Miraculous for granted. She is an hero recognized by Paris and therefore deserve the hero treatment and doesn’t need to continue to work on herself.

Sure, Chloé isn’t provoking as much akumatization as in S1 and S2, but she didn’t become better either by receiving a Miraculous. In fact, she is even more condescending. She is Queen Bee, she is a superhero thus she is better than you, peasants!

Chloé : In this world, there are those who work and those who shine. Forever there would be this division between us, Dupain-Cheng.

And this mentality contributed to Chloé’s sense of entitlement to the Bee Miraculous, calling it hers and expecting to have it back as if it was her rightful right. Except Miraculouses belong to no one as illustrated by the Turtle Miraculous who gets shared between Master Fu and Nino. And initially, LB wanted to hand over the Bee Miraculous to Alya because LB needed help and Alya had already been trusted with another Miraculous before.

Anyway, during Heroes Day, it was part of Scarlet Moth’s plan to use the Bourgeois against Queen Bee. To destabilize her and it worked. And if he could do it once, he could attempt something again.

And this is what motivated Ladybug to be careful and ideally not give back a Miraculous to anyone who’s secret identity is known by Hawkmoth. And for the record, yes, Chloé is the first one truly affected by that rule, but she isn’t the only one through S3.

This decision is made by LB with CN’s approval because they wanted to protect Chloé and her loved ones from HM. And unbestknown to them, their doubts were found as Chloé was being watched over by HM and Mayura.

So it wasn’t because Queen Bee was doing a poor job, nor because Chloé's attitude was getting worse. This was done to protect her. Except they couldn’t protect Chloé from herself.

Yes, Ladybug did a mistake which is to not inform Chloé of this decision earlier. As a result, in Miraculer, Chloé felt ignored. Rena Rouge and Carapace were often called to help while Chloé was standing there waiting next to her bee signal.

But even if LB had told Chloé sooner, chances are the result would have been mostly the same. Because Chloé has an inaptitude to let go of things she desires.

After learning the truth, Chloé was clearly not satisfied by this decision. And while Chloé cooperates and hands back the Bee Miraculous, she is in denial.

Chloé : I understand, but I’m sure you will need me again, Ladybug. I know that I will be Queen Bee again someday. I’ll always be Queen Bee.

What allowed Chloé to not be akumatized during Miraculer was precisely because she still had faith in Ladybug then, despite being mad at her. She is still convinced LB would come ask for Queen Bee’s help again. But after that revelation, once Ladybug has left, Chloé tears apart the picture she had hold on to the entire episode.

By S3 finale, we see Chloé never accepted the reality of ever be Queen Bee again. And since the finale theme revolved about loss, well, it was time for her to be confronted to it.

We all agree that Hawkmoth exploited the situation during Heart Hunter. He planned the Akumatization of André and Audrey Bourgeois. Nathalie was on place to sabotage of the Bee Signal. And finally, they planned to find the Guardian to get the Miracle Box and offer the Bee Miraculous to have Chloé on their side.

Everything was there to manipulate Chloé, play with her emotions in order to turn her against Ladybug. But keep in mind that during that scene where HM is meeting Chloé, everything he says rings true to Chloé because this is what she internally feels. What he did was only amplifying the feelings Chloé already has since Miraculer and even a bit before that.

Chloé felt ignored, rejected, not allowed to be a superhero, to be a Queen. When Chloé answers Ladybug has done nothing for her, we know it’s not true. Ladybug gave her a second chance. We also know Ladybug is avoiding to give Chloé a Miraculous because she is trying to protect her and her loved ones from HM. Chloé knows that since the end of Miraculers events, however when her loved ones are indeed in danger during Heart Hunter, Chloé expected this would be THE occasion to be Queen Bee again and prove Ladybug wrong by helping Ladybug save her parents.

Now, Ladybug has been distracted and didn’t think of things clearly and yes, there is a chance that on other circumstances she might have picked the Bee Miraculous to give it to Chloé, but there is also the fact Chloé kept repeating the same mistake.

We have seen through S3 Chloé is constantly building her expectations up, only to set herself for disappointement. And instead of realizing that about herself, especially after Miraculer, she continues doing that and gets angry and put the blame on others. The only one making Chloé wait is Chloé herself. All the other temporary Holders have other things to occupy themselves and they do what they can as civilians, not expecting LB to come and give them a Miraculous.

But Chloé’s entitlement to the Bee Miraculous clouds her judgment there and now, HM is there is offering Chloé something Ladybug has denied to give her again.

So, Chloé prefered being Queen Bee over doing the right thing. She had the chance to double cross HM, but she didn’t because of how hurt and furious she was at Ladybug. And even after being deakumatized, that angers and feeling of betrayal persist.

And this is where Chloé’s action matters the most here. Chloé not only tries to be reakumatized by choice again, she blantantly explains she isn’t on Ladybug’s side anymore, doesn’t care if HM who terrorizes Paris is the ennemy, that she will keep the Miracle Box for herself. Chloé also rudly orders the Kwamis around without knowing how it works. She even tries to run away with the new Miracle Box and finally, when everything is falling appart and doesn’t go her own way, Chloé throws at tantrum at Ladybug, insulting her and the other temporary Holders and affirm she will leave with the Bee Miraculous to New York.

Even HM who laughs at this at first, commenting he doesn’t need to do anything, that Chloé is one of the bad guys, eventually is disappointed before leaving her behind.

Ladybug? She tries to reason with Chloé, giving her another chance to fix her mistake like at the end of Queen Wasp. When Chloé is putting all the remaining Miraculous of the Box on her, LB asks to stop because she knows how dangerous it is to combine their powers and still doesn’t want Chloé to get hurt. It’s only after Chloé tries to run off with the new Miracle Box that Ladybug stops her. And when Chloé is done talking, LB has no choice to stop this and take back herself the Bee Miraculous from her, even apologizing for doing this.

Ladybug has been very patient. She knows Chloé. She knows she is hurt and is hurting other because that’s how she copes, but Ladybug cannot let Chloé keep that Miraculous. Heck, she even feel sorry for Chloé when she finally leaves.

Is that truly the face someone who is satisfied with this result? This wasn’t what Ladybug had hoped for Chloé either.

If, through S3, it was no one’s fault for the Bee Miraculous to not be given to Chloé, her being destituted of the Bee Miraculous at the end of S3 was the consequences of Chloé’s own actions and her refusal to change. And all of this could have been prevented if Chloé didn’t become entitled to the Bee Miraculous, if Chloé had found another purpose AS A CIVILIAN rather than to depend on the prestige of her Queen Bee persona

This isn’t the end though. It only means Chloé has more work to do about herself. And that giving Chloé a Miraculous isn’t the solution to improve her.

#Anonymous #miraculous ladybug #chloé bourgeois #ml analysis #sorry it took so long anon #here you are #I hope you enjoy!

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shmowlwrites · 4 years

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(LATE) NaNoWriMo Day 4

Daminette pls. But going off the “Wonder Woman’s mother was a Ladybug” thing. Sister/mentor/(personal favorite) treating Marinette like her mom. Whatever you like.

Okay so this turned out as a general “found family” kind of thing and Daminette doesn’t happen until later. Adrien is a decent human being in this because I’m so tired of writing and reading salt that I’m just going to leave the readers to assume Adrien actually had character growth in the show and stopped being a pushy, petty, sacrificial child.

Anyway, this thing was 2340 words so buckle in babes!

Diana Prince perhaps should have been aware of the Hawkmoth problem, seeing as she was an employee of the Louvre. But do not blame her, she would have known the problem her city was going through if she hadn’t been on leave to deal with the other side of the world’s problems.

It was a year before she finally got to return. A year that had so much happen within it. She finally learned of the Hawkmoth issue when Hal was complaining about this reoccurring video about “Miraculous” that also managed to delete itself. If he got to watch it as soon as it appeared, he could only get halfway through before it disappeared again. He couldn’t trace it to the city it came from. Ladybug and Chat Noir never said where they were from before the video deleted itself. But he was also complaining about the Miraculous. What were they? What did they do? Ladybug and Chat Noir only said they held those Miraculous.

Diana knew. Diana nearly threw a fit at the knowledge that the miraculi were active again, somewhere in the world, and she never knew.

On her first day back at the Louvre, her boss filled her in on everything that had happened and she wanted to strangle this “Hawkmoth” and “Mayura.”

Representing the Justice League, Diana, as Wonder Woman, managed to find Ladybug and Chat Noir while they were out on a patrol. Ladybug was stiffly polite and Chat Noir was acting like a puppy getting adopted. Several meetings later, Diana learned that Ladybug didn’t know how to respond to the daughter of a previous holder.

In her meetings with them, Diana could only keep thinking of one thing: whoever their previous mentor was, they sucked. Ladybug and Chat Noir didn’t know much about their powers. They didn’t know the history of their Miraculous. They didn’t know how to properly fight and had been winging their battles since day 1.

Diana found herself connecting to the two strongly. Ladybug was like the little sister she never had. Chat Noir was like a son who melted in any show of affection - which strangely also included compliments on growth.

“I think what you two need is to get out of the city and learn how to fight from someone who has taught kids how to protect themselves quickly,” Diana found herself saying during a break in a training session.

“But what if Hawkmoth sends out an Akuma while we’re gone?” Ladybug fretted.

“You have the horse miraculous, yes?” Diana nodded to the egg box.

“Oh… you want me to take that with us?” Ladybug’s brow furrowed even more.

“Of course! Right now, I’d say nowhere is safer for the miraculous than with you. The temple is still regrowing, they won’t know what to do with your box while it is still incomplete. But, if you are so anxious about leaving Paris, I might be able to convince my friend and one of his sons to come here instead.”

“Really?” Chat Noir perked.

Diana gave him an easy smile. “I’m sure he’d be happy to.”

“For us?” Ladybug asked.

“You two are like my family by now,” Diana held out her hands. “And my friend will do anything for family.”

Bruce and Damian Wayne were in Paris by the end of the week. 16-year-old Damian was still a brat, but he was still a growing teenage boy forgetting old customs and learning about the real world. Bruce thought getting him around other young superheroes might help- he was horrendous at socializing with civilians due to still believing he was superior.

That was a horrible mistake, Robin’s first act was to insult everything about Ladybug and Chat Noir. After a good long lecture from both Bruce and Diana, Robin apologized to both… in a way that left them more confused than accepting of him.

A week later, Bruce tried the “let’s have a civilian day” card. Ladybug nearly threw a fit.

“We aren’t supposed to know each other’s identities!” She recited.

“Why not?” Robin scrunched his face. “I know all of-”

“You’re Gotham’s superheroes,” Chat sighed. “You don’t deal with a magical emotional terrorist. Ladybug and I are not immune to Akumas, we aren’t immune to strong emotions. What if one of us gets Akumatized and we know the other’s identity? We could tell Hawkmoth. We could succeed in taking the other’s Miraculous. And then what? He wins. We have to stay secret until Hawkmoth is gone.” He said it with practice, the concept having been drilled into his mind by Ladybug during their earlier days.

“I’m sorry, Batman and Robin, we would like to, but please understand that for the safety of Paris, we literally cannot,” Ladybug gave a sad smile.

They were there for another week before Robin, after pinning Ladybug with the end of his katana, suggested just hacking CTV cameras to track Akumas.

“It might work,” Chat grinned, before getting a light punch to the stomach and a “constant vigilance!” from Batman.

“I surrender,” Ladybug told Robin before pushing Robin’s katana away and pushing herself into a sitting position. “It might. But I don’t have high hopes- kwami can’t even be seen on camera. What’s to say the effects of a Miraculous can’t either?”

“But,” Chat was buzzing, “you’re Cure always does! We’ve seen it on the news enough times.”

Ladybug pursed her lips. “I don’t know the first thing about hacking.”

“Good thing we do,” Robin cracked a grin.

“Do you normally find such joy in illegal activities?”

“Are you kidding me?” Chat’s voice was shrill and Ladybug had turned to Diana with wide eyes.

“Is it true?”

“We didn’t tamper with the footage besides getting it, if that’s what you’re asking,” Robin shrugged.

“But- but-” Chat sputtered, his cat pupils in fearful slits and tears glossing his eyes.

“Chat?” Ladybug softly called.

“That’s,” Chat’s bottom lip trembled and he looked between Ladybug and Diana. “That’s my house. Hawkmoth can’t be my dad- he can’t be!” Chat shook his head in denial.

Ladybug paused in trying to comfort Chat, now realizing the boy before her was Adrien, the boy that used to be her crush. She was unsure on how to continue.

“Chat,” Diana spoke, moving forward to slowly place her hands on his shoulders. “Whether or not your father is Hawkmoth, somebody is sending out Akumas from your house. Since this is personal now, do you want to go with us? We’ll understand if you don’t.”

Chat blinked several times and looked between each person in his company. “I- I’ll go. You’ll need my help to get inside anyway.”

And so, in the middle of the next almost harmless Akuma attack, Adrien stayed in his room rather than go out. He popped open his window. Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, and Ladybug swung inside and they began their journey through the house. Adrien led them to Gabriel’s study and faced the portrait of his mother.

“There’s a safe behind the portrait. It’s where I found the grimoire. And now that I think about it, the peacock miraculous was in there too. I didn’t think much about it at the time,” Adrien rubbed his arms. Wonder Woman reached out and he grabbed her fingers in comfort.

“What’s done is done, do you think the portrait could also lead to where Hawkmoth is?” Batman asked.

“I think?” Adrien scrunched his face.

Robin walked up to the portrait, running his fingers around it. “There certainly are buttons on this, under the guise of being mosaic pieces.”

Adrien stepped up to it, fitting his fingers onto the supposed buttons, and before anyone could protest, he pressed them. The floor below them opened up and the elevator began to descend. They quickly fitted themselves into the tiny space.

Gabriel was standing in the middle of a garden, before something brightly white.

“Father?” Adrien’s voice was hardly audible but Gabriel Agreste still whipped around and saw the group of five.

“Adrien!” He barked, unsure of who to call. “My son…”

“Father, no,” Adrien moaned, backing away. “How could you!”

“Adrien, I’ve been doing this for us! I’m bringing Emilie back. Don’t you want to see your mother again?” Gabriel stepped aside, tilting his head towards the coffin.

“I would, but not this way,” Adrien shook his head, looking away from his father and the coffin. “I’ve grieved and moved on. Mom is dead and you shouldn’t be trying to change that!”

Gabriel frowned and narrowed his eyes. “Fine then. Nooroo, Dark Wings, Rise!”

He called his Akuma back and sent another one, to whom they didn’t know. But what they were trying to do was get the brooch back. Gabriel, Hawkmoth, had almost lost from the shock of seeing his son transform into one of his own enemies, Chat Noir.

Mayura joined, but Robin was quick to bring her down when she had doubled over from the sickness her Miraculous was causing her. Volpina made another return, hindering a good portion of the entire operation. Chat Noir had accidentally cataclysm-ed the entire platform, sending everyone down. There, in the dark and in the knee-high water, they continued the battle. Hawkmoth’s cane was shattered and he hid behind Volpina and her illusions.

Volpina held up a good fight, but her mistake was physically attacking Ladybug. That had cemented her as the real Volpina.

“Finally,” Volpina screeched, hands on Ladybug’s earrings. “Finally! You little bug will finally be gone!”

She had gotten one earring out before Robin had sent a flying kick towards her, and the two of them began wrestling in the water. Ladybug was slowly disappearing, and the familiar form of Marinette was coming out of the suit.

“Tikki, Spots off! Where’s my other earring?” The two of them began hunting the earring.

Chat Noir’s timer was finally up, and he returned into Adrien and was kicked away by his own father. “Plagg!”

Diana finally managed to shove Hawkmoth’s face under the water and rip the brooch off and left Gabriel to find Marinette. Batman held the struggling Gabriel by his arms.

“What’s her Akuma?” Robin called, having learned the same trick.

“It should be her necklace! Don’t destroy it, we need Ladybug to purify it!” Adrien responded, finally finding Plagg and giving him a soggy slice of cheese. His night vision back, he dove under and plucked the earring from the ground and pushed it into Marinette’s hand.

“Tikki, spots on!” Marinette called and Ladybug shot at Volpina and ripped the necklace off of her. The familiar sound of the Akuma’s wings managed to be heard over the infuriated screeches of Lila and the struggling grunts of Gabriel. Ladybug caught and released the Akuma.

Emilie’s coffin was found in perfect condition after the Cure was cast. Gabriel and Lila were given to the police. Afterward, Adrien and Marinette were standing in front of it.

“Do you think perhaps she isn't actually dead?” Adrien asked, reaching out to touch the coffin while Diana came walking up behind them.

“A misused Miraculous can be damaged, and a damaged Miraculous will injure anyone who uses it,” Diana explained, taking her circlet off.

“I had thought Nathalie was sick with the same thing as Mom, they both started coughing before it began to actually start crippling them. I wonder why she was using the Peacock, then,” Adrien trembled.

“The temple might be able to help,” Marinette suggested. “They are the ones who know everything about the Miraculous. And, now we finally have the whole box.”

“You might be right, sister,” Diana placed a hand on Marinette’s shoulder. “But don’t put all your faith in them. They might not be able to bring her back.”

“If-” Adrien began, his voice trembling. “If they don’t, where am I going to go?”

Diana offered her hand again and he squeezed her fingers. “If you want, I would take you.”

“You would?” Adrien raised his eyebrows.

“Of course,” Diana grinned. “Marinette is like the little sister I never had. You, you are like a son to me. Marinette has her family and has grown with guidance. You… when I came, you were like what I imagine Bruce feels when he found his sons. Someone who needed guidance. Someone who needed an adult there who cared.”

Adrien looked on the verge of tears.

Emilie truly was dead, when they gave her to the temple. Adrien changed his last name to Prince and stayed with Diana. Marinette let him keep Plagg, but changed Tikki for a zodiac, taking Mullo. She didn’t want both the black cat and the ladybug active at the same time anymore.

Diana stayed around in the bakery while not on Justice League business or at the Louvre, and got to know Tom and Sabine quite well. Marinette and her relationship strengthened, and Marinette quite liked to tease Adrien at school by calling him “her nephew.” Nobody really knew why.

As they grew older, Adrien and Marinette kept in touch in their civilian lives and stayed as partners in the superhero world. But, Adrien never re-entered Marinette’s love life. No, he got his kicks out of returning Marinette’s teasing here.

Damian Wayne and Marinette had gotten to know each other in the month he and Bruce had been in Paris. Marinette had a delivery to them, and then continued having deliveries. That was on Bruce’s part and him trying to set Damian up. Well, it worked, and the two fell into an awkward “I like you” stage after the downfall of Hawkmoth. When Marinette graduated, she had gone to Gotham University so she could be closer to Damian and they really did start dating then.

Adrien got his kicks from this. Whenever Diana came for a visit, Adrien was with her and always asked how Damian was treating his aunt. There were normally angry, muttered snide remarks in Cantonese from Marinette and smug replies in Mandarin from Adrien.

Life was as peaceful as the life of a superhero could be for our young, found family.

#Maribat #Diana is Marinette's older sister hc #Daminette #platonic Adrienette

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currentfandomkick · 4 years

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Miraculous and Batboys - how it starts

BIG CANNON CHANGE HERE: Chloe never revealed her identity in this one, because I like the name Queen Bee, and I prefer characters learning from mistakes and growing for real.

Marinette rubbed her forehead as she wrote down yet another of Lila’s lies, the timeframe it ‘happened’ in, and added it to the open document of ‘Lila Rossi’s life, according to her’ that she convinced the class to work on her with Adrien’s help.

Why?

Because the class was reading it over sometimes and would find the inconsistencies for themselves.

Including the changing date of when she met various celebrities, where she grew up, who she met when…

Sabrina, Max and Alya were now doing independent research into earlier stories for the class. It only took a few years, but better late than never.

The class was waking up (finally) and it looked like Chloe was in full ‘protect Adrikins’ mode now. Which was bad and good. Good, because Lila and Gabriel refused to oppose Chloe and risk upsetting the Mayor. Good because it meant Adrien could get away from Lila and her claws. Bad because it meant Chloe and not getting away to be Chat as easily. And finding time to hang out with him to talk ‘end Hawkmoth’ strategies was a lot harder.

Which meant on the ‘scour cities Wonder Woman was seen in’ days, only Marinette could go. Which was fine, just, she’s still not the greatest at English, and Adrien was better at talking to people on the fly. She did have the better cover though—helping Fu tend to his tea plants and checking on his health. Maman and Papa did worry about the old man helping their daughter with her Mandarin.

She left school with a wave to the blondes, Lila once more thwarted in trying to force Adrien to study with her by Max claiming he was the better student with a more open schedule, and therefore the superior tutor.

Marinette smiled as she slipped out knowing she’d have a few hours to scour Metropolis, the latest location Wonder Woman was spotted in. She’d go out of costume—no need to step on another hero’s toes yet. They needed help but Master Fu was careful to remind her that she still needed to be careful with how many knew of the Miraculous.

No need to get the attention of the League of Assassins—age old enemies that did almost destroy the Order on too many occasions.

“Voyage!”

One minute she’s in Fu’s shop, the next she’s in Metropolis. She’s careful to leave the Metropolis Museum’s bathroom and leave without the cameras seeing her. No need to end up on any meta-human watches.

Until she bumped into a brunette in too much flannel that paled when he saw her. She didn’t know what was going on with him, but she doesn’t have time for it. She was quick to leave and move about Metropolis like she was far more familiar with it than she was.

She didn’t see her before the timer went off. Maman would worry if she didn’t get home soon…

Kaalki used voyage on their own to get them back.

“Any luck Marinette?” Fu asked.

Marinette shook her head. “None. Sorry Master.”

“It is okay Marinette,” Fu reassured. “You can try again on the weekend.”

Marinette nodded, twisting a bit of her shirt. She really hoped they found her soon.

Jon froze when he saw the girl with pigtails. She—how do you get breaks like that? How can you be alive? He’s seen something like that on a few of the Leaguers but they fully healed before going back out. This girl’s were wide open.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but the girl was gone.

He tried to follow where she left, but she was gone.

He was worried and sent a message to his dad: we need to talk—saw something I can’t explain.

That night he tried to explain what he saw.

“This girl, not middle school but definitely not college, she shouldn’t have been alive, let alone walking.”

That had his dad’s attention.

“I know, she, she acted like she was fine but I x-rayed her by accident and dad, there were cracks and breaks on all her bones. Different states of healing but she shouldn’t have been moving like it was fine. I, Dad I’m worried. Can you keep an eye out if you see her?”

Superman nodded. That… she could be an experiment or meta or mage but no matter what, it sounded like she was in anything but a good place… she might be a good fit for one the League affiliates if she did have powers of some kind, or issues to work out more like the Robins. Speaking of…

“She didn’t happen to have black hair or blue eyes, did she?”

Jon frowned. “I, yeah, why?”

Superman sighed. “You might have found Bruce’s next student.”

Things got worse for Marinette. Hawkmoth and Mayura tried to kill her and Chat this time something about it being easier with dead heroes.

She felt sick.

“Master Fu, I know we said to be cautious but…”

Fu nodded. “Go as Ladybug. It might be easier if Wonder Woman is aware there is an active Ladybug.”

Marinette checked the WonderWatch. Last place was still Metropolis.

“Tikki, Spots on!”

Kaalki opened a portal for her, flying in behind her. Once they got there, Marinette put the glasses in her yoyo, Kaalki following.

It didn’t take Marinette long to run into someone—well, Superman on the roofs. Who looked ready for a fight.

“And you are?”

“Ladybug, one of Paris’ heroes.” Marinette launched into an abridged explanation while Superman froze at one point. Unknown to Marinette, he check her for injuries and felt sick at the sight of her (very much should not function) skeleton with too many injuries. Just like the girl he said he’d keep an eye out for.

“How did you get here?”

Ladybug opened up her yoyo, showing the glasses as she put them on.

“Is it time to leave Ladybug?” Kaalki asked, looking around to see Superman. And then be very unimpressed. “This is not the child of Hippolyta.”

Superman took a deep breath. “You’re coming to the Watch Tower, we can get this sorted there.”

Superman use his comm to contact Wonder Woman while Ladybug put Kaalki away.

“There a kid here that’s looking for you, looks like a magic user and goes by Ladybug—“

“You are to bring her right away!”

Superman turned to the red spandex hero on the roof, looking a bit awkward.

“Do you mind coming to the Watch Tower with me, Wonder Woman wants to speak with you.”

Marinette nodded, hoping that maybe Wonder Woman could get her in contact with the former Ladybug. Perhaps she’d have more insight on how to take down Hawkmoth and Mayura.

Once there, Wonder Woman grabbed Marinette. “How long have you wielded Tikki?”

Marinette relaxed at that one. “Three years, the Grand Guardian didn’t want the League of Assassins to know the Order survived their last purge.”

Marinette didn’t notice how Superman or Batman froze at that.

“Of course,” Wonder Woman shook her head. “How many survived?”

Marinette gave a weak smile. “Just my master to our knowledge. If Chat’s civilian life allowed for it, he’d be training more with me but as it stands…”

Wonder Woman squeezed her shoulder. “You are young to take on that burden.”

Marinette shrugged. She was the only one available. “My teammates all have a hard time getting away or haven’t earned his trust to that level.”

That had Wonder Woman narrowing her eyes. “How old are your allies?”

Marinette rubbed the back of her neck. “Uh, I’m the second youngest, but we’re all close in age.”

Wonder Woman frowned at that. “I see… the Guardian must have only just begun rebuilding the Order then.”

“Order?” Batman asked.

Wonder Woman sighed. “Order of the Miraculous, protector of the Kwami—concepts incarnate. If properly used, they are a force for immeasurable good. When used incorrectly, they could devastate the world.”

Marinette nodded. “Chat and mine are the targets by the corrupted butterfly and broken peacock user, we don’t know why beyond using them for a wish that would have some cataclysmic side effect.”

Wonder Woman took a deep breath. “Would it be of use to speak to my mother?”

“Maybe, but we need to figure out their identities since they’ve escalated beyond theft, mind control and possession into outright trying to kill us.”

“Can someone explain what’s going on,” Batman grumbled, rubbing his temples. “And how we didn’t know about this sooner?”

“The butterfly is Transmission, which means people can only learn of our situation if you see it yourself or someone tells you directly in the case of the restrictions the current butterfly user placed on the kwami.”

“And we wouldn’t see the destruction of Paris because…”

“The Miraculous Cure,” Wonder Woman launched into an enthusiastic explanation while Marinette took out Kaalki.

“Ladybug, where are—ah, Hypolita’s daughter.” Kaalki moved to examine Wonder Woman. “If you could tell me where the former Ladybug is, then we can be out of your hair.”

“What—no, we have to help!” Wonder Woman exclaimed, clearly intent on making sure Marinette wasn’t going back alone. “The current Order is operating with only one Gaurdian, and a team unsupervised children—No offense Ladybug, but I can not let you leave without ensuring your team has more support.”

Marinette winced at that. “I know, but I don’t think we could take on any Leaguers if Hawkmoth akumatized them. Or if Mayura made an amok using them.”

Wonder Woman opened and closed her mouth. “Then what can I do?”

Marinette knew there was only one way to get what she needed and keep the League out as a whole. “If you can find someone that can keep their emotions in check and knows how to investigate, they can focus on unmasking Hawkmoth and Mayura’s identities.”

“If I may,” Batman interrupted. “If you can explain the situation, I believe my sons can assist you.”

Marinette was quick to agree in exchange for Wonder Woman taking her to Thymescira to meet the former Ladybug.

Marinette was skeptical of the bayboys. Red Hood was known to kill (she’d count him in the hero category given the change in MO to moderate injury now). The current Robin had killed too… Red Robin felt off and Nightwing looked like he’d be more at home in a circus.

Chat was with her, Queen Bee at her side with a raised eyebrow.

“So this is who we’ll be working with?” Red Robin sounded tired.

Chat looked at Marinette, and what could she say, it was this or be trapped in the Watch Tower with the Justice League trying to take over. Which could get League of Assassin attention and she was avoiding that. The new order was too fragile still.

Marinette offered her hand. “Ladybug, team strategist.”

“And leader,” Queen Bee chimed in with a grin.

Nightwing frowned. “I thought some guardian was?”

Chat shook his head. “M’lady is in charge. The Guardian takes care of the kwami and decides when we should use more than mine and M’lady’s.”

“And mine now.”

“And Queenie’s now.”

Marinette fondly shook her head. This was her newly minted permanent team, and the only way to keep Chloe from sticking to Adrien during attacks.

Here’s the normal fic version, @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @littleredrobinhoodlum @northernbluetongue @kceedraws @pirats-pizzacanninibles

#maribat #daminette au idea #my writing #miraculous team and batboys

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acefrogmonarch · 5 years

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HC pt. 3

Story Time! with the bat fam

The bat language!

It's just glares and different forms of glares. Semi-glare. Glare. Glare-glare. That's about five sentences.

Ravin has cracked the code and communicated with them. They understand why Raven could but not how Mari understands them.

They are very confused because this little flower shouldn't, like why??? She wears her heart on her sleeve and you can tell when she's angry or sad. Dick and bruce do it but Mari catches them.

Unknown to them, when Mari wants to be, she can 'cut' off her emotions.

Mari found Damian to be semi-attractive. Damian was like eh, she's another girl.

But he was about 5'11 at this point, and for years to come, he would grow. Mari, herself, is barely reaching 5ft. She considers herself lucky that she even reaches 5'5.

She was 20 when she did.

She is very angry at taller beings than her. Dick is 5'11 while Jason is 6'3, Bruce is taller than both of them.

Mari hates them all. Jason still calls her a bean, even when she has him in a choke-hold during a sparring match. Mari will not hesitate to throw hands. Instead of mellowing out, she did the opposite.

Jason Todd has had sex with Talia before and he hangs it over Damian's head for years.

As a challenge, he brought it up in front of Marinette. Any other time Damian would have left but since Mari was here, he couldn't. Damian stayed but Mari was like

“Why???" Tugging, cause they were holding hands. "Mari, lovebug, Malak, Habi Alghali. Let's go." Mari is a dissatisfied bean. Reluctantly follows Dami away.

The Outlaws consisted of Kori, Roy, and Jason!

When they hang out they always have ‘baked’ goods. They were eating edibles in the city but they somehow made their way to the manor for munchies. Alfred asked if they had any left.

Assuming to part with them, they lied and said no. (they always do)

Alfred still searched the trio moved the treat around. Some sour straps, molly ranchers, and a joint.

Alfred took some straps and popped them in.

"Wait, Alfred, that's-" "I know." They will never forget. Bruce semi-believes them.

High!Mari

Mari never took a stance on cannabis. "Too young." was the excuse often used when talking about it. She was 16.

She knew what they did. It wasn't until, Gotham, that she got real experience with edibles.

Roy accidentally gave her 300mg of cannabis.

"I got brownies!" Roy came in the room, granted it was one of Jason's many hideouts and they had agreed to hang out before Mari was dragged away.

"Jason, Let's get blazed!" Roy kicked the door in and Mari took a stance, Jason got out his babies and pointed them at the door. "Uhh." Roy slowly backed out, Jason put away his guns and Mari bounced in excitement.

"Brownies!" Plucking one from the bag, Mari smelled it first. "Mari, no." Mari turned, then plopped it in her mouth, stuffed her hand in the bag and took a bunch more.

Eating 3 more and stuffing some for Tikki. Jason sighed deeply. "Dammit." It sweet chaos for Mari after that.

First, an anxiety attack then bliss. She was never afraid of heights from being Ladybug, and that just added more fun for Mari.

Damian doesn't find out until he calls Mari.

Because Mari was supposed to come back and hang out, they promised. No, Damian was not upset by the fact that Jason is not better company than him.

Not at all. Damian is superior in every way! His ringing phone brought him back to reality.

"Mari, get away from there!" That's Jason. Marinette was giggling and Damian could here the wind.

"No way, Jose," Roy shouted in the background. "Who's jOsE?!?!" Marinette laughed loudly and Damian was starting to question his existence.

"Mari, Baby girl, Demon tamer. Get off the ledge." There was an eerie silence. "Oh, that reminds me. Hi, Damian."

That's it. "Ya Qamar Barid, I'm coming to get you." Marinette started to sob at that. "I MISSED OUR MEET UP, DIDN'T I???" Damian was already driving off, he traced the call.

"No, not at all Habibti. I was just thinking about where we should eat out." Marinette stopped crying.

"Really?" Damian confirms. "Mhm." "Je vais à la pizzeria que je veux, amant.* ” The call ends and Damian is NOT panicking.

(I go to the pizzeria i want, lover.)*

Marinette hanged up and jumped down to the apartment below. "MARI!!" Jason was going to lose so many years of this. This small bean should be very afraid.

Jason jumped after her with Roy following on the other side. "Oh, shit. Mari!" Roy regrets everything leading up to this point. At first, it was funny, seeing anyone try for the first time is.

Jason caught up to Mari, who has made it down 4 apartments. They were on the 5th floor.

Almost went splat on the pavement a couple of times.

Damian pulls up in one of the many cars, he's hot-wired before. Mari doesn't notice she's trying to climb down from the first floor to the ground. She jumps to a flag and misses.

Damian catches her before she hits the ground. "Damnit Habibti."

Marinette giggles. "I would have been fine, you know that." Damian carried her back to the car, Mari's complaining the entire time.

Once she's seated in the cold car, she promptly falls asleep.

Lila causes problems for Mari, on purpose but for the wrong reasons.

To spend time with her. Lila is never going to admit that she likes or even remotely revolves her world around Mari. Max points it out to Mari and has tried to get Lila to confess.

Likes to make Marinette mad. When her cheeks go red Lila accidentally lets out a, “She’s cute.” Mari turned to her. “What?” Lila panics and shouts. “I said you’re shit!” Mari is a very confused bean.

The only reason why this is brought up is that they make Lila have Sociopathic tendencies. Like Oni-chan didn’t make sense. Why let go of Adrien? Willing? Better question, why only focus on Mari? Unless you know. . . . . . Just saying.

A lot of mini ships. Like Alix x Chloe.

Alix and Chloe are secretly dating. Sabrina covers for both of them when it’s date night. Alix’s parents know that she’s gay but not Chloe’s. She doesn’t know why she’s scared.

But she doesn’t like that way her dad dismisses gay pride parades. Marinette helps her come to terms and even helps go through her emotions and to come out.

Still doesn’t come out until very much later. Uses Adrien as an excuse. Adrien knows what she means.

Chloe's mother is alright, you know ,gay pride. She joins the parades and makes small nods in her designs.

Eventually Max x Kim!

Alix and Kim are best friends and they help each other out because they always get the wrong advice.

Max and Kim ‘got together’ because Kim didn’t want to date Odine. Max doesn’t think they are dating.

So Kim makes an effort for their relationship and friendship. Alix dared Kim to date Chloe on valentine’s day, Max was there. He didn’t even hear Chloe’s answer but that didn’t matter because, at that moment.

Max heard and Kim understood why he felt like ‘that’ around Max. Max said congratulations and that just broke Kim's heart. Max is not very good at emotions.

"Mom already has enough on her plate." "I don’t need to trouble her." Max to Kim at some point.

Very later. Marc x Nathanial! Fw/B at 17

Nath only shines when art is involved. Has done sculpting and embroidery lessons from Mari, because he doesn’t want to be limited to one form of expression. Digital music is not his thing. Instruments on the other hand. Band nerd.

Sneaks into Higher writing courses. The teachers let him. He’s so talented in creating a universe from nothing. Marc had let the director of the ‘LB and CN Movie.’

Look at some of his stuff but once some criticism on Twitter started to get deleted for some reason, Marc asked around. Bad plot and all, he dismisses the story “Astruc” approved and did another one. Just because he made one good thing doesn’t mean he made the rest just as great.

Yes I am dissing Thomas

I am changing this.

No relationship. Luka helps Kagami realize that not everything in sexuality is as black as white because im a sucker for Les Kagami and Bi Luka. They can find happiness with people.

Emotions? What’s that. Barely there. No chill. Whatsoever. Sarcasm? Come again. She can make sarcastic jokes but won’t know it if it hits her in the face.

Knows exactly what you're talking about but at the same time doesn’t. Can’t relate. It’s very frustrating because she won’t disobey without feeling guilty. Mari, Adrien, and Luka help tear down her walls and ‘need to approve’ attitude. A lot of walls around her heart.

Adrien doesn't like or feel any attraction besides strong feelings.

Demi? Or Ace. Maybe Ace.

He is very disappointed when he doesn't feel explosions or fireworks when he kisses Lila (It was for a shoot, maybe audition.)

Parents fighting? Middle of most argument. Afraid of failing his father because his mother was like that?

The acting was put on hold but she would sneak out for auditions. Natalie helped her sneak out. He can’t trust Gabrial but trust his mother's judgment and maybe Natalie.

He doesn’t know what to do because Mari is, best friend and Lila don’t like Best Friend. But Mari said it was okay when it wasn’t! Proud owner of at least one brain cell.

Eventually Rose x Juleka!

Very concerned with Juleka’s being. She wants Juleka as more than a friend but if Juleka isn’t comfortable with it.

Then she can wait until she’s ready. Her father supports but her mother doesn’t. She makes fun of her depression.

World of patience. Rose and she aren’t dating but they are saving for each other. Juleka was delirious when this happened. She’ll never admit her feelings. Worried about how people would act.

And of course Alya x Nino once Alya gets her head on straight.

These are mini-stories. I'm going to reference these and mention them when I can in the story.

Bruce has movie nights.

No one knows where it is or what movie he watches. Alfred has an idea, and the boys keep trying to find where he goes. It's been so long since he's had something nice in his life.

He... adores his... children. To some extent. Okay, a lot.

But that didn't mean he could show how much he... loved them.

Regardless, they bring trouble where ever they go. Finally getting the conviction to watch a movie, he kept the tradition every chance he got.

Marinette accidentally found him at one of the run-down movie theaters around Gotham. A new movie she was excited for was already released in America but after Sams Club™

She never allowed them anywhere near her in a public place. It was chaos last time. She memorized the way to this theatre and avoided all the cameras. She checked, multiple times. On patrol.

Both, Mari and Damian, are 16.

Bruce is 38, Jason is 24, Dick is 26, Tim is finally 21. Dami is a winter baby. December. Mari is a Fall baby. October 8th.

When Adrien and Mari hang out together, Mari loses one brain cell While Adrien gains one.

They can never get anything accomplished if it doesn't involve the miraculous in some way. Mari was talking about a recent design, Adrien was in the middle of drink soup on this cold day.

Marinette stopped talking as Adrien struggled to get a single noddle in his mouth. Mari opened her mouth to try and say something, but Adrien managed to get the noodle in and grinned. As if, he just got the best Christmas gift, ever.

Mari lost if after that. "A-Adrien!" Clutching her stomach, Mari continued to laugh, Adrien joined in laughing at the slurping noise he made Nino walked in a moment ago to them laughing. It was lunchtime and they went ahead of the Alya and Nino.

Fu is a touchy subject with Marinette.

After the left with his past lover, he shortly passed away. Marianna wrote a letter back to Marinette and that just broke the Dam she built around her emotions.

Chat Noir revealed to be Adrien to destroy the Akuma after her.

Mari, as the newly appointed Guardian, didn't take away his miraculous. No one else was able and she didn't want anyone else to break down from the weight of responsibility.

Chat Noir took his duty with more dignity and less comical after the reveal.

I just saw the Chat Blanc trailer and.. I had this idea before but omg this is weird.

Let's.

Not.

Get.

This.

Bread.

Like most of this is going to be in Book 2. Book 1 is set in Paris, following Marinette. Book two is in Gotham, following Damian

#Maribat #marinette x damian #daminette #damian x marinette #Maridami #mari #marinette dupain cheng #headcanons #Cool

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commonratmiraculous · 4 years

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Why I Like Canon!Félix More Than Lila:

There are a lot of manipulative characters in the show but Félix and Lila are the one’s that have the most obvious parallels between them. They both lie and have no quelms about going through Adrien’s things or even targeting him when he hasn’t done anything wrong. However, I still like Félix more then I like Lila and unlike other members of the fandom I’ve never gotten particularly attached to PV Félix or the Fanon Félix.

Now Félix isn’t a good person, I understand this don’t get me wrong. His attempted to ruin Adrien’s friendship’s to get people akumatized in order to attempt to strike up a deal with Paris’ resident terrorist. That’s basically what Lila did in Chameleon but in a different order: though the jury’s out on whether or not I rank Félix above Lila on that (I mean, he definitely hurt others to talk to HM when Lila didn’t, but Lila was shooting for murder rather then theft...)

But the differences between the two characters lies in their motivations, who they’re willing to fight for and what is known about their situation:

Lila, like other characters in the show, only seems to have one parent. But that’s because we’ve only seen one of her parents, and there are other characters who are like that (Luka, Juleka, Alix, Adrien, Kagami, Max, Mylène, Sabrina) which isn’t to say we won’t suddenly find out more about those characters lives but Lila isn’t the only character like that. She’s not even the only character with a parent in an important job given Chloé as an example, but unlike Chloé Lila doesn’t seem to be doing what she’s doing because of a lack of attention on her from her parent/s. It’s certainly why she’s getting away with it, but it’s not why she’s doing it. Instead Lila seems to be catering to her own ego and a superiority complex. She’s not just satisfied with doing whatever she wants, Lila wants everyone to do what she wants them to do, and she feels justified in having them do it because they’re falling for her lies. Some say it’s because of bad writing, I think Lila’s the sentibeing Astruc said was in the show, but it regardless of why she’s doing it Lila’s doing it only for herself. She’s working with Gabriel and Hawkmoth for now but she wouldn’t hesitate to throw them under the proverbial bus, or perhaps even a real bus given her taste for murder. And she seems to care very little for the thoughts and feelings for others if the way she sees Adrien choosing to sit next to Marinette in Chameleon as a move made by Marinette rather then Adrien.

Félix has just lost his father and I don’t agree with Plagg at all when he points out that Adrien’s not being an ass when he lost his mother means Félix shouldn’t be different. Particularly so in an episode that tries so hard to show how different Félix and Adrien are. Because everyone grieves differently. I don’t think that Félix just targeted Adrien because he couldn’t attend the funeral, he’s clearly well aware Gabriel is a garbage person, but Félix likely took offense at the way Adrien was acting. From his point of view trying to pretend everything’s normal when Félix’ dad just died is bound to seem insensitive. I don’t want to fault either of them on that because they’re fifteen. But on top of that his motivation is making his mother a happier person, which just so happens to be through stealing the wedding ring off Gabriel. His mother’s clearly someone he’ll fight for, and while I have no doubt Félix will fight for himself too, there’s no reason to say that he wouldn’t fight for other people he ends up caring about. No matter how manipulative his methods might be.

That’s what put Félix and Lila on different levels for me. The fact Félix is motivated into going to such extreme lengths for others means there’s a greater opportunity for redemption of his character then Lila who doesn’t seem to care for the consequences: and there won’t be many consequences for her either, as much as I enjoy reading some of the fanfictions where Lila’s arrested or even sued for her lies and behaviour it’s not going to happen because she’s fifteen. She’ll be expelled, labelled a problem child in the system, and sent to a stricter school perhaps one outside of Paris - a juvenile facility, at most, if she’s caught working for Hawkmoth.

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ml #mlb #félix graham de vanily #lila rossi

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sage-nebula · 5 years

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I have to say that in the last few episodes of season two, there are some moments where I really love Chloe. Namely:

Being so confident in her ability to be Queen Bee that she’s not at risk for even one (1) second in “Hero’s Day”

Building a Bee signal to let Ladybug know she’s ready and willing to help

Using that Bee signal during the day when no one can see it

Insulting Hawkmoth’s fashion to his face

There are a few other moments, too, when I see how easily it could have been to make her redemption smoother, more believable, and realistic. Chloe’s whole thing is that she’s been neglected and emotionally abused by her mother for her entire life---and specifically, that she’s been made to feel as though she’s unloved, inferior, and useless. In order to cope with these feelings, Chloe started bragging to everyone about supposed superiority as a defense mechanism. If she claims to be the absolute greatest, and everyone believes it, then that means she really is the greatest, doesn’t it? What she really wants is love, but in the absence of love she’ll take adoration. Only she feels she’s unworthy of that, which results in her constantly bragging herself up as well as lashing out at others when she doesn’t receive the love she wants, which results in people being unable to stand her, which makes her lash out even more, and the cycle continues. Her desire to be a superheroine like her idol Ladybug (who if you ask me she has a big ol’ crush on, and one that’s far more believable than her crush on Adrien, for several reasons) lies entirely in the fact that she wants to be loved by the people of Paris and appreciated. She wants the city to love her the way her mother always refused to. (Also she wants to spend time with her crush, but that’s secondary.)

The thing is, not only did it take too long to get all this out (and in the meantime Chloe did some truly awful things that can’t be overlooked, like how she was racist toward Marinette’s uncle), buuuuuut there’s also the issue that while we almost, almost had a really fantastic moment between Chloe and her mother by Chloe asking, “Why don’t you love me, Mother?” it was ruined by Marinette “uniting” them against her. The “solution” that we got was for Aubrey to accept Chloe only when she saw that Chloe treated those around her like dirt, rather than Chloe learning that she shouldn’t strive so hard to get validation from a woman who honestly doesn’t deserve to be called her mother, and healing from there. (On that note, I think therapy would really benefit Chloe. The scene where Ladybug confronts / comforts Chloe in “Malediktator” showed that Chloe needs someone she can be open and honest with, someone she can talk to and confide in, and that this does far more to make her a better person than anything else.)

Unfortunately I doubt we’ll see any improvements where Aubrey and her relationship with Chloe are concerned, but I do hope that in season three Chloe continues to become a better person and more enjoyable character, particularly since it seems like Lila is sticking around as the non-Hawkmoth antagonist for the time being. Either way, those moments where we see just how much Chloe is hurting and how much psychological / emotional damage has been done to her as a result of her abuse, as well as the moments where she’s just Too Good For Hawkmoth’s Nonsense, and things like how she built the fucking Bee signal (I’m still not over it kdjfsldfjds) make me enjoy her as a character, and I hope her progression keeps moving . . . mostly forward. (But then again, this show is Not That Deep and that’s okay, so even if she keeps pingponging all over the place I’m chill with it. The show is still enjoyable enough and I’m not invested enough to get Big Mad like everyone else in the fandom.)

(On the note of her crush on Adrien: I really don’t think it’s a real crush, but more that Chloe thinks it’s a real crush. What I mean by that is, Adrien is basically the only person in her life that has ever really been nice to her. We get reminded a lot that Chloe was Adrien’s only friend before he was allowed to go outside, but the same is pretty much true in reverse, particularly since I feel like we can hardly call Sabrina a friend with how they regard each other. Adrien treats Chloe with kindness, but they also regard each other as equals, and given that Chloe has also been love starved pretty much her whole life (because let’s be honest, her dad doesn’t so much love her as he does . . . not exactly fear, but like, once she’s happy it seems like he’s content to ignore her, too), that kind and friendly attention from Adrien made her latch on. When you consider that Adrien is also a model, and therefore idolized around Paris, it makes sense that Chloe would want to latch on even more because, hey, if she’s dating the great Adrien Agreste, surely people will think she’s great as well. It’s the same reason she wanted to be a superhero. So I think all these factors have made Chloe think she has a crush on Adrien and wants to date him, but I don’t think she actually has true romantic feelings for / attraction to him, but she just hasn’t realized that yet because she doesn’t have enough experience with real friendship yet.

I also think she’s a lesbian with a huge crush on Ladybug, but that has no bearing on my read on her relationship with Adrien, and also she hasn’t realized that either so it’s neither here nor there.)

#these are just some thoughts i had #almost done with season 2 #i've seen the Heroes Day episodes before but i'm watching them again anyway bc they were good #also inb4 ''omg don't say Chloe is an abuse victim she's so mean!!!''#yeah guess what: sometimes abuse victims don't have pretty reactions / behaviors #some abuse victims become docile and eager to please like Adrien #but others become hostile and vicious like Chloe #not here for this Good Victim vs. Bad Victim dichotomy where we erase a ''Bad Victim's'' abuse #just to justify demonizing them some more #(besides it's not as if I don't acknowledge the awful shit Chloe's done. she's done a lot. the racism being the worst)#(but that doesn't change the fact that her mother has abused her pretty much her whole life)#(and her dad just let it happen because he figured he could buy Chloe things and that would solve the problem)#(doesn't excuse what she's done - but it does explain it and she does need help)#miraculous ladybug #chloe bougeois #meta

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