#I keep having trouble solidifying their designs

[canisalbus]

Sometimes I still think about Hatchet, safe me non-canon eccentric potato farmer cousin safe me

Sillies aside, I love side-characters like "yaas characters that mostly interact with each other talk with that other guy". All the different sides of a character that you can only explore with the presence of a third person and the ways stabilized dynamics can chance under different presences its *chefs kiss*

Also as an end note, Machete deserves more people that try to connect with him and make him feel appreciated. Even if its his weird cousin that is probably a communist and doesn't know what a tumblr is (he's barely in his 30's)

.

#ah #cousin Hatchet! #I wonder what he's up to these days #still planting potatoes and raising chickens I presume #save me cousin Hatchet #answered #anonymous #Hatchet #modern au #yes I agree and I know I should involve more side characters #I keep having trouble solidifying their designs #Ludovica (Vasco's platonic wife in canon era) especially

[snootlestheangel]

Thistle

"These days when I'm on the brink of the edge/ I remember the words that you said/ 'Remember the life you led'/ You'd say 'Oh suck it all up, don't get stuck in the mud, thinking of all the things that you should have done'/ I'll see you again my loved one" (Lyrics from Wrecked by Imagine Dragons) An operation goes horribly, leaving Kyle "Gaz" Garrick to suffer the consequences.

****Serious content warning****: Major Character Death, gore, depictions of torture, hurt/no comfort

Experimenting with my writing a bit. Keep seeing things saying we need more Gaz angst in COD fics so here ya go. PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION! I cried while writing this, okay?

Gaz has never been superstitious. Not a day in his life had he ever given any heed to the warnings and riddles of those around him. He had a poor relationship with faith, and he always believed that if the universe was created by something intelligent, then he'd be better off just living life like the ant he was designed to be. Never once did he believe himself special by any means, but he certainly believed that each person could impact the world around them. He watched this happen in his grandmother, who despite all her ailments, never once stopped being kind, never once stopped giving of herself and the resources at her disposal. She had saved so many lives in such little ways, and Kyle witnessed this firsthand on more than one occasion. So he went on to believe that he may not solve all the world's problems, but he could at least be a change in someone else's life. 

It's this belief that landed him in this situation. Broken, bruised, and bearing a pain no medication could ease.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a week prior, the team had received a new assignment. There was nothing out of the ordinary. A simple extraction of a target with little resistance expected. Gaz wasn't worried. He and Soap even secured plans for drinks afterwards, hoping to rope the captain in. 

But the first sign of trouble was when Ghost got back from his assignment. It wasn't unusual for the lieutenant to commit to several assignments back-to-back, as work was something that was seemingly the only thing keeping the man together. This time, however, Ghost had to be medevac'd back to base. He had been caught by an unaccounted for civilian in the area, and it was his attempt to get them away from harm that cost him. Gaz never saw the injury prior to surgery, but he was told by Price that it didn't look good, that Ghost's knee clearly looked wrong. 

And in that same week, Ghost was medically discharged. Fortunately, for Ghost, he and Soap had solidified their relationship just over a year prior, and he had a warm welcome home in Scotland awaiting him. Soap clearly wasn't happy about the entire situation, and he kept anxiously pacing about during their prep. He was promised time to go home and help care for his husband when they returned, but he always scowled at the thought of a return. Gaz listened as Soap angrily hissed at Price that he shouldn't go. That he should be joining Ghost at home for the time being. That they were cursed. Price had brushed him off, at least that's what Gaz assumed. Price had told him to leave it be, to not bring it up again. Gaz should have known that was Price's way of admitting his feelings to be the same but that saying something out loud would only seal their fate. 

Gaz should have known then that something in the universe was out for blood. He didn't want to linger on what Ghost's injury meant for their upcoming assignment.

He was not superstitious, after all. 

The second sign of trouble was when they landed. When Gaz nearly twisted his ankle in a puddle that was deeper than it appeared. He cursed up a storm under his breath, and ignored the worried frown on Soap's face. Even Price had tensed when Gaz lost balance. The team had shared a knowing look, a single word crossing all their minds despite Gaz's adamant refusal to believe it.

Cursed.

The third and final warning Gaz should have heeded was when Soap handed him something. It was an old little tin box and inside was a single thistle. Gaz refused it. He knew the thistle, despite being a little old flower, held a great significance for the Scot. It was the first little gift Ghost had ever given him, and Soap often referred to it as his lucky charm. Gaz was adamant he shouldn't accept the gift. He was fine, it was just a puddle, there was no need to panic. Soap refused to listen to him, muttering something in Scots under his breath as he shoved the tin box into a pocket in Gaz's vest. Gaz didn't fight back, however. Not as Soap placed a hand against where he put the thistle, not when Soap leaned into him and listened to him breathe. No, he didn't fight back when Soap wrapped a hand around the back of Gaz's neck and touched their foreheads together, whispering a plea for him to be safe. 

"We'll be okay, brother." Gaz had whispered back, and Soap nodded as he pulled away. Such a soft, yet fragile smile; a look cursed with knowledge no human should have. Gaz fought back the ever-growing fear building in his stomach as he pondered what Soap knew that he didn't. 

But Gaz was being the fool. He knew damn well what Soap knew.

He just wasn't superstitious. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gaz may not have been superstitious still, but he's found a bit of faith again. He was whispering prayers under his breath, broken pleas to a deity he wasn't sure is listening. Desperate promises fell from his lips as tears flowed freely down his face. The only thing to do in a situation like this is to pray and cry. He could do nothing but find faith that somewhere in the universe exists a being kind enough to put an end to this misery. To wrap its hands around the wounds and heal them.

Gaz refused to put his head down. He refused to pull his attention away from the morbid scene before him. He refused to abandon his friend, not in this way.

Another slash. Soap barely made a noise in response, the only thing out of his bruised and swollen lips being a whimper of pain. Blood dripped from his mouth, fat drops pooling on the dark floor before him. His pants were stained red around the waist, his vest missing, allowing Gaz a perfect view of all the deep cuts marring his chest. A wheeze escaped Soap as their captors removed him from his bonds, allowing him to fall slack on the floor. Gaz remained motionless, staring at the broken, bloody body of his friend.

Soap weakly lifted his head, his blue eyes bloodshot and one surrounded by a worsening bruise. He smiled softly at Gaz, almost as someone would smile to a child to ensure them that everything is fine, that there's nothing to worry about.

But Gaz knew. Gaz knew the truth.

Chaos erupted around them as the doors suddenly blew open, the familiar yet disturbing thrum of gunfire following suit. But Gaz never took his eyes off Soap, never could be bothered to learn who their supposed saviors were. He let someone untie him, but he didn't give them the chance to examine his injuries. He bolted the second he was free.

Nothing could stop the sobs now as Gaz collapsed onto the ground by Soap's side. The Scot had been moved to his back, and there was a medic tending to his wounds.

But Gaz knew. He knew no amount of luck could replace the blood, no amount of luck could stitch him back together. Nothing could bring him back.

"Soap, mate, it's okay. You've got to get home, yeah?" Gaz sobbed as he leaned over Soap, doing his best to keep tears from falling on the other. Soap doesn't respond, merely weakly wheezes as he smiles again.

Soap can't respond, Gaz knows.

The wounds are too deep.

There's so much blood.

A cold touch to his cheek. Gaz is forced to look at those beautiful blue eyes, those eyes that were once so full of life and hope, of joy and mischief. Eyes that have dulled, bloody and tainted by the sins of others.

Darkened by death's shadow.

"Soap, please mate-" Gaz choked out as Soap's fingers gently trailed his cheek before falling limp. Sobs rattled Gaz as he leaned forward, his forehead touching the cold, clammy one of his friend. Of his brother-in-arms. Of the man who grounded him, kept him sane and loved.

A shudder and now nothing.

Gaz can't move. He prayed over and over, the words mixing with tears and spit as he weakly sobbed against the other's shoulder. He prayed for someone to wrap this man in the same loving manner that Simon did. To wrap this man in the love and care he so selflessly gave to others. Gaz prayed for someone to let him rest, to pay him back for all the kindness he lived by.

Gaz prayed that Soap died knowing he had done good. That everything that made him Soap was good.

Rough hands grabbed at Gaz, pulled on his shoulders and tried to pry him away from Soap.

How dare they? How dare they make him leave Soap behind? What will he say to Simon? How can he stand to look that man in the eye when he should have stayed by Soap's side? It's unfair, unjust and downright cruel to make Gaz leave.

So he fought. He screamed and cursed, thrashed his limbs against the one pulling him away. Away from a life not deserved to be lost. Away from the way things once were. He fought against the person dragging him into a dark world, a future without a light. He couldn't recognize the voice in his ear, pleading with him.

He didn't want to. He didn't want to acknowledge the way the captain kept him trapped in his arms. He didn't want to acknowledge the tears that mixed with his once he was pulled to Price's chest. He didn't want to acknowledge the sob that left them both once Gaz stopped fighting.

"Let him go, son. Let him go." Price whispered against Gaz, voice broken despite the strength in which he hugged Gaz.

"No, please-" Gaz broke off with a sob as he was suddenly pushed away from the safety of Price's hold. He never wanted to see his captain cry.

"We need to leave. Please, Gaz, not you too." The captain whispered as more tears fell from his eyes. Gaz stifled his sobs as he nodded, wiping carelessly at his runny nose as he focused. Focused on breathing, on surviving for the one that couldn't.

"How do we get out of here?" Gaz asked, and Price led him, along with a several others, towards a door. He paused, peering past it before snapping back and growling in frustration.

"Shit."

"We're not gonna make it, are we?" Someone asked, yet Gaz didn't pay mind to whom. He had let his gaze drift back towards Soap's lifeless body, no choice but to leave it be.

"Not all of us are. Sergeant, take everyone and go. I'll cover." Price's orders broke through Gaz's muddled thoughts, and he nearly threw up at the thought.

"No, absolutely not." Gaz refused, his hands clenching into fists at his side. Price stared him down, leaving no room for argument before he spoke again.

"You have your orders, Sergeant. I'll lead him home." Price whispered, eyes flicking to Soap. Gaz let out a sob, a firm salute raising his arm. The others followed suit, and Gaz maintained his cool until Price reciprocated. He was suddenly pulled back towards the captain's chest, a firm kiss placed on his temple.

"Make it home, Kyle." With that, Price pushed Gaz away, his face dark as his intentions became set in stone.

Gaz ran. He couldn't watch himself lose another friend.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gaz is still not superstitious.

His faith is lackluster, yet he still prays each night that the innocent blood on his hands will be cleaned by morning. That he won't be haunted by eyes of blue, young and full of life. That he won't be haunted by stormy eyes, wise beyond their years and full of trust. He prays he won't face the pain again, that he will sleep peacefully knowing their souls rest together.

So now he sits. Broken, beaten, and in a pain no medication can ease. Now he endures the torturous journey to Scotland. A journey that will only end in him losing everything. Losing the last one, a man already so broken this news would surely kill him.

And Gaz knows he won't blame Simon if he decides to hate him. To cast him out of his life. To let him suffer the pain he's caused everyone.

There's a cold sensation burning through his pocket. A little metal tin digging into his side. The physical manifestation of a man he once admired, once thought of as unstoppable. A powerful force of energy and life, now reduced to cold, lifeless ashes.

And inside, a single thistle burns his heart.

#kyle gaz garrick #john soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #captain john price #john price #soapghost #call of duty #call of duty fanfic #gaz call of duty #gaz cod #gaz mw2 #hurt/no comfort #angst with no happy ending #i hurt the sweet one #gaz angst fic #major character death #y'all can yell at me it's okay #i cried while writing this #*hands tissues a stuffie and water* #might be a bit ooc for Price but *shrugs*

[monsieuroverlord]

Spoilers for latest Marvel Love Unlimited Infinity Comic #43 - #48

I heard they had Gwenpool come out as aroace and I wanted to wait until the whole thing came out before reacting to it.

Now it’s all out, so here we go!

Pros:

-- art is stellar, the composition lends itself very well to an infinity comic. expressions are expressive and on-point -- suits itself well for Gwenpool

-- Gwenpool definitely has baby-ace vibes. (will explain more under the cut)

-- narrative voice is more on the light-hearted side in the beginning. It seems like the intent is to not take it so seriously at first

-- Julie Power is an absolute sweetheart here, incredibly understanding and doesn’t blame Gwen at all for being asexual

-- final 2 issues (#47 and #48) are definitely the strongest in terms of narration and introducing the reader to asexual/aromantic orientations 

Cons:

-- not that I need this to be an exposition on all the nuances of asexuality, but some things could’ve been worded A LOT better or expanded upon

-- I know Gwenpool is supposed to have reality-shaping powers, but some of  her actions are a bit too manipulative for my taste (more under the cut)

Spoilers (warning, it gets LONG):

Issue #43 Summary: Gwen stages a meet-cute with Wither (from New X-Men) by purposely bumping into him. She’s getting into the “forbidden romance” trope, like Rogue and Gambit, because she thinks he can’t touch her. They start gardening together, and turns out he actually has control of his power, so the idealized romance in her head is ruined. 

Issue #44 Summary: Gwen has a new plan. Create love triangle between her, Wither, and Elixir. She purposefully woos both of them (kissing each) to create tension and perhaps a fight between them. Her plan is foiled when they refuse to fight and talk it out instead, solidifying their friendship. Gwen feels terrible about even putting them in this situation in the first place. She leaves, immediately gets into trouble, and is promptly saved by Julie Power of the Power Pack, getting butterflies in her stomach.

Issue #45 Summary: Gwen and Julie go on a proper date at a diner. They have nice chat about Gwen’s reality shifting powers and how she feels about them. Julie talks about her current dating life and why she’s currently single and went back to college. Gwen realizes that maybe because she dropped out of High School, she never had that “moving forward in life” experience. She thought she might be bisexual, but never really acted on it. Then she realizes she won’t impress Julie by being an unemployed drop-out.  She makes an excuse to go to the bathroom. switches reality around to get her High School diploma and enroll herself in college. Julie asks her out, and after some awkwardness, Gwen agrees.

Issue #46 Summary: It opens with Julie and Gwen having a heart-to-heart talk about the pressure of life expectations. Gwen compliments Julie, saying some stuff she “truly means this time” instead of manipulation like Wither, Elixir, and even Quinten Quire (from the West Coast Avengers days) They kiss, and Gwen reassures herself that she’s doing all the things she’s supposed to! She’s doing a relationship properly. There’s a sequence of them dating -- Gwen is taking college class in game design, Julie gets a pixie cut, it’s all very domestic and non-problematic. There’s even super hero shenanigans thrown in the mix, where Julie and Gwen work well as a team together.   Gwen reassures herself that everything will be fine as long as she keeps the butterflies going and that if she tries hard enough, she can make it work. Julie wants to take things a step further (as consenting young adults often do in the romance genre) and Gwen tries to convince herself that she definitely wants this. Except, she doesn’t want to have sex. The issue ends with her bursting into tears and telling Julie to stop.

Issue #47 Summary: The issue opens with Gwen coming cleaning about her High School experience -- the solid group of friends that she had, and how she ended up feeling left behind as they all started dating and she just “didn’t get it.” Depressed, she dropped out of high school and just kind of drifted. Julie is a supportive, listening ear, and reassures Gwen that she can handle being told “no” if Gwen isn’t ready. Gwen states that she just wanted to make Julie happy and they hug. Julie asks if Gwen actually wanted to kiss her closest friend, Alice, and Gwen reveals she doesn’t WANT to kiss anyone. A little irked by this, Julie asks why didn’t Gwen just say something? Gwen says she like Julie in her way, so she figured it can’t be so bad. It’s romance! like in the movies! Gwen admits that maybe if she just kept pursuing it, even faking some stuff, she’d make Julie happy and all would be well. Julie disagrees. That kind of connection is very important to her, and she deserves to be fulfilled. Gwen says she knows and that she just wanted to make Julie happy. Julie interrupts, stating that Gwen deserves to be fulfilled too, and suggests that Gwen may be asexual. Which Gwen hadn’t considered. 

Issue #48 Summary -- the conclusion: This issues opens with some great visual references to classic comic book covers and pop culture. Julie snaps Gwen out of her spiral. There’s the classic asexual comparison to a protozoa (’cause they reproduce asexually, and that’s the classic American education introduction to asexuality as a concept). Julie, being the bisexual icon that she is, takes Gwen to the college Pride Club and introduces her to their ace rep. Ronnie, the rep, is demisexual and gives Gwen the run-down of the basics. Gwen gets very excited when she learns its a spectrum. There’s an overview of the romantic attractions (I personally would’ve like to see more explanation of that, but i digress) Gwen goes on to explain that she understands “sexy” as a concept, but doesn’t really get it and expresses her desire for a queerplatonic relationship. There is a brief mention of “some aces like sex, some don’t” and Gwen breaks up with Julie. Gwen meets a group of aces, they have a fun chat. Gwen borrows a pair of flags for the avatar icon pic. The end. 

My Thoughts:

Like I said, art was solid and flowed really well. Very good for a digital comic book setting. not really any thoughts there.

Issues #43 to #45 were okay, but i felt was a little shallow for the set-up. 

As mentioned previously, they did a decent job with setting up Gwen’s baby ace vibes. Initially, she follows a very formulaic approach to romance, feeling like that’s what she SUPPOSED to do, that’s part of becoming an adult, that’s what people expect, that's what happens in movies, comic books, general entertainment, etc. Using her knowledge and her favorite tropes, she pursues that in her way. It does play on the trope stereotypes really well in a humorous manner. 

However, the execution was a little sketchy at times. I mean, especially with issue #44, she PURPOSEFULLY tried to cause a fight between a couple of friends. She intentionally manipulated a situation for her own goals. I mean, I can related to her reasoning/feelings a bit, but her actions don’t vibe with me.

Same with issue #45, she intentionally manipulates reality to make herself more desirable to Julie Power. At least this round, she’s a bit more honest with her feelings, but again she’s using her powers for her own selfish goals.

I do also get the impression that especially the first couple issues are not intended to be super serious, playing off a couple of tropes, some reality-bending shenanigans ensue, no-real-long-term-harm-done-so-we-can-laugh-about-it-type nonsense. But also, with intended goal and conclusion, I just don’t feel it sets up asexuality in the best light at times. 

Like I said, the narration is VERY strong. I do relate heavily to the expectations that Gwen puts on herself and WHY she wants to pursue her fairytale romance. The narration sets up the whole “feeling a certain way without understanding why” thing very well. There’s even a comment on Gwen thinking she was just bisexual at first. 

It also illustrates the internal struggle of “maybe if I try hard enough, the feelings will come later” type thing. Something I certainly before I knew what asexuality was. I mean, I used to force myself to have crushes even though i didn’t really get it. And I’ve been on dates with people I get along with. But I sure as hell didn’t play mind games with people in order to accomplish the romance expectations I set for myself. Like I said, I DO relate to Gwen’s internal dialogue and I think it sets up her blossoming exploration of her own sexuality, but some things could be improved upon. 

(apologies if I’m harping too much on this, gaslighting and manipulation are a bit of a sore spot for me. and “feeling bad” about it just isn’t enough for me)

 Reality-bending powers definitely lend itself to the moral dilemma/ethics exploration really well, so you have to be real careful with the kind of story you want to tell. I don’t expect every character to be morally pure and I do feel that Gwen may have thought she had the best of intentions -- as in, if she sets it just right, her partner will be happy and it’ll all work out in the end. But, I can’t help but feel like it COULD be read as asexuals are manipulative and unfeeling people, you know? 

Though I do understand it in terms of “doing what you can to make it work for others” type of thing. Like, she WANTS Julie to be happy, so she’s doing what she can to make herself the best partner she can be, even at the cost of her own feelings, comfort, and happiness. It’s certainly better than the fiasco with Wither and Elixir.

 Issue #46 is where it really ramps up the asexuality reveal. A lot of narration centers around Gwen basically trying to convince herself that she’s doing exactly what she’s supposed to do, so everything is all good! Then it comes to a head when she doesn’t actually want to have sex. Which likely means that Gwen is on the sex-repulsed side of things 

Which I mean, great, nothing wrong with that, but like me, not all asexuals are repulsed by sex and the whole “aces just hate sex” thing tends to be an over-simplifying trope in a lot of media, so I have mixed feelings on using that as Gwen’s “breaking point.” We don’t get to the nuances of asexuality vs. aromanticism until the conclusion.

However, I do realize that sex repulsion is a relatively common experience among aces, especially aroaces. Don’t get get me wrong, I do think the depiction is accurate as hell, especially for one first discovering themselves as a sex-pulsed aroace.

Issue #48 does a great job in reiterating the common stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding asexuality. For example, protozoa and asexual reproduction. and that being asexual means you’ll “be sad and alone forever.” To a questioning person, I think it really serves as a great intro into what asexuality actually is and alleviating common fears that the person may have heard before. Very well executed.  

One small thing I have a gripe with, is referring to allosexuals as “people who seem to let their hormones determine who they spend their lives with.”

I mean, I get in terms of the way I don’t really get crushes the way an allosexual does, but its VERY VERY oversimplified. As a biromantic, I’ve had different kinds of crushes -- very rarely, and definitely more of the romantic kind when it happens (don’t even get me started on squishes). But also, it the LGBTQ+ community, there is already a lot of discrimination from both external forces and internal forces. I do see this as very tongue-in-cheek personally, but I expect this to be misinterpreted a bit. (I’ve already seen some circles of Twitter being a little ornery about it.) 

But at the same time, I get it. There’s only so much you can do with limited space, and I personally see this intended as a cheeky and very joke-y reference to sexual attraction IN GENERAL as a foreign concept. 

In general, Julie Power is a superstar here. The epitome of bi-ace solidarity. I don’t like the fact she had broken up with her partner off-panel in order to serve the story here, but she is characterized as a sheer powerhouse of selfless understanding and being true to yourself.

But I would’ve liked to see an apology to Elixir and Wither. Not that she has to apologize for being asexual, but she really manipulated the situation and intentionally tried to set them up to hate each other for a fantasy situation. 

Anyway, these are just my own thoughts as a biromantic ace myself. I first learned the term asexuality at a sex-ed/BDSM mixer in college when I was nineteen, so I been through the struggle, lmao.

Obviously, media is never perfect, and I am optimistic this is (hopefully) a step in the right direction for ace representation. Despite my concerns, I’m happy for the increasing representation and I hope more nuances and more asexual character stories can be told moving forward. 

I do think overall, it’s a very well done story and introduces asexuality in a relatively easy-to-grasp light. The set-up could’ve been done a bit better, but the conclusion was very satisfying. I do think all of the pros outweigh the cons here. 

 And I hope Gwen’s story can be expanded on more in the future -- I get that there’s only so much you can tell with a limited number of issues and I hope we can expand upon it in the future. 

If you’ve read this far, thanks and here’s the photo dump:

#asexuality #aromantic #ace #aro #aroace #gwenpool #gwendolyn poole #marvel #marvel infinity comics #marvel love unlimited infinity comic #im just one ace so this is certainly just my personal opinion #i just hope its a step in the right direction for the ace rep #the pride issue is coming soon so we'll see #boy this post ended up LONG #the feelings around initially discovering asexuality are extremely well done #but some of gwen's actions are questionable #and i fear the misinterpretations #overall good story #some minor hiccups #i hope at least some of this makes sense

[saturrnss]

YOUNG, DUMB, AND RICH (chapter 1)

Shuri x poc!fem!royalty!reader

(please repost)

Summary: It's 1625, Your from the powerful nation of Avalon (ave-a-lawn). Your nation made an alliance with the nation of wakanda, you and one of your brothers need to marry somebody within the wakandan royal court to solidify the alliance, most people think that you will get with prince t’challa, but somebody else keeps your eye

The aesthetic of avalon:

(Basically Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola mixed with a bunch of irl p.o.c tribes)

Warnings: swearing, drug use, worrying for a little bit, corny writing

a/n: I was working on my royal dr script and watching that movie and I got an idea, if you see historical inaccuracies, no you don't!

Avalon is 100 percent a poc nation. no white people, no race wars or diaspora fights, just peace between the different people.

.

.

you wake up to the light tapping of one of your servants. "Princess y/n, the queen would like you to join thee rest of the family in breakfast please" "5 more mintues" of say grouchy, putting a pillow over your face

"I don't really think the queen would accept that answer, princess y/n" "but i want to sleeeeep" you groan as you lazily get out of bed. More servants come into the room to help you with your daily routine

Taking a bath, brushing your teeth, doing your hair, over dressing because you can. they assist you down to the dining hall, you could smell the food from a mile away. when you finally get there all you see is the most Delicious, mouth watering, heart bursting food you've ever seen (it was like this every morning but it was always something new)

your mother, Queen Felix- sitting there stone faced, lost in her own thought. and your 2 annoying brothers, prince mali and power were already half-way done with it (mostly your brothers inhaling their food and surprisingly not choking).

All of them were there except your Buba, King Amari. The last time you saw he was going on a trip but he didn't tell you where, you pestered him about it but he was being stubborn, telling you to wait till he gets back to see where he had gone

You sit down on your designated seat with a plate of already prepared food, it has a little coolness to it but that hasn't stopped you before. There was a band of live music playing for entertainment In the back of you all,

It was vibrant, something to wake you up in the morning. Your younger brother Mali tried to steal a bit of your food but you fought him for it back. "Give it back to me it's mine!" "It's literally just food I'll get you more!" Mali says.

You start to pull on his lips as he pulls on your hair which made you even more angry. "Come on now break it up" Power says slightly irritated

and when the both of you don't listen to him, he tries to pull the both of you apart, the people playing the live music look concerned to say the least, Felix tried to ignore it at first, hoping that it wouldn't go further but eventually she just snapped.

"ENOUGH" all you immediately quiet down and quickly look at your mother. she didn't get mad often but when she did--- oh dear.

"We have people who took time out of their day to come here and entertain us, I ask you one simple thing, TO BEHAVE, and YOU CAN'T EVEN DO THAT!?! GO TO YOUR ROOM AND COME BACK AND YOU CAN ACT LIKE YOU WEREN'T RAISED IN A BARN" all of you can't even look at your mother without overwhelming shame

"UNDERSTOOD?" "understood" you all say simultaneously and scurry to your bedroom. on your way back, mali flicks your ear "butthead" "fartface" you say back "don't. even. start you two" power says as he gets to his room and slams the door.

When you get too your room and belly-flop on your bed, you feel angry that you're the one that got in trouble when it should have been only mali, but you also why your mother was a little more harsher that usual.

Your dad had been gone for almost a month and she had to take care of all the political and social issues that were happening, we've only gotten two letters from him, we don't even know if he's still alive of not.

You hear something outside your window, you ignore it at first. you hear it again, and again. you go to your window to see that your two best friends Jennie and Maddy were outside, throwing rocks outside the window.

You open the window to a light spring breeze filling your room, "I thought the both of you were in India what are you doing here?!' you said quietly so no one would hear you. "catch!" Jennie says throwing you a bag a white powder, and a box of cupcakes, you almost drop it on the ground but by grace, it falls into your room

"Help us get up!" Maddy whisper yells. You run to get your unusually long ladder from one of your walk in closets and chuck it out the window for them to get in. First was Maddy and then Jennie, Jennie flops on a one that one random couch on the side, Maddy sits on your bed.

"y'all body guards are scary as hell" She says

"What's this?" you say looking at the strange green stuff. "I got It in western China, This is the most I could get cuz my parents would flip the fuck out if they ever saw." She walks over and takes the bag. "We still got enough to share." she says while smiling.

She walks over to your vanity your grandmother gifted you, and empties the bag. "do you have a cigar wrap?" "I have some" Jennie brings some out of her dress pocket, tosses them to maddy and she rolls up 3 individual blunts for each of you.

"You took one, still a little bit weary because you have never tried it before. "Any side effects?" "Don't know" You took one, still a little bit weary because you have never tried it before. "Any side effects?" "Don't know, guy just said that it would "relax you" or some shit like that" She lit a match and lit her's up

Lit two more matches up and lit you and Jennie's. 20 minutes later it felt like you were in a whole different world. a pleasant sense of relaxation and euphoria over took your body, all you 3 could do was just sit and talk about whatever came to you.

"You know what we should do?" you said to both of them. "what?" Jennie said. "We should go horseback riding" you said. "Do dragons exist??" said Maddy. You hear a knock on your door, turns out that knock is your mothers. "y/n?" you all sit up.

"what was that?" Jennie said as she tries to listen again

"can you open the door for me??" you all get up and both of them look for somewhere to hide. "are there people there?!" "NO MOM I JUST NEED A MINUTE" you open one of your closet doors and signal them to get in.

You run to the door and open it like nothing happened. "Yes mommy?" she looks you up and down to find something wrong but she can't seem to find anything. "I've been thinking, and I decided that you are lifted from punishment, you better not act like that again." "I'm sorry mom."

That was the best thing about your mom, When you actually wronged her you WRONGED her, but she doesn't really hold grudges or punishments for that long

she comes in for a quick hug but gets an overwhelming smell of weed instead "What's that smell?"

"Uhhhh...." you look around for any ideas. "my Cinnamon candle!" you say enthusiastically. "Cinnamon...Candle...?" "Yeah! I got it from....england!" you nod your head while closing your eyes, trying to convince yourself that that's a good alibi. "well if it was just a candle you wouldn't mind me going into the room-"

"Na!" you put your hand firmly at the room door. "I-I. Have an awfully dirty room You would trip." She stops trying to get into the door and takes a good long look at you.

"Why are your eyes red?" She says with suspicion. "I was sleeping until you got here" "sleeping....." she slowly turns around and walks away all while looking at you.

A big sigh of relief escapes your mouth as you close and slide down the door. "Can we come out now??" Jennie says quietly "yeah" they both come out and spray the room with a random perfume they found.

"We should do this more often"

maddy says with an ignorant smile as you look at her with bewilderment.

A/N: I have to write chapter 2 and 3 now 😖 I'm gonna make a wattpad so i could put my stories there too.

#marvel #shuri x fem!reader #shuri x you #shuri #princess shuri #shuri headcanons #black panther 2 #poc!reader #royality #shuri udaku #shuri imagine #black panther #bpwf #black panther wakanda forever #princess!reader #Spotify

[glapplebloom]

Which of these two are legit better?

So Sonic Prime ended and I really enjoyed the finale. I’m going to be doing a three parter, two of which are based on some stuff I saw on Twitter. The first being some people thinking Reverse Tails from Archie Comics is a better concept than Nine. I disagree with this assumption because, quite simply, Reverse Tails literally has nothing. 13 appearances in the comics in total. So let’s look at them real quick before we compare him to Nine.

His first appearance was in #11, which he does nothing. His next appearance #24, where he pretends to be Tails alongside the rest of the doubles. They get quickly defeated. Then #151 where he is part of a group beating up Sonic because they think he’s Reverse Sonic. They get the advantage for a while but are quickly defeated. I’m not even going to look at the Super Sonic Special #10 because it’s likely a flashback to a previous time. 

It’ll be #188-189 where he now refers to himself as Miles. He fights with Tails for a bit but in reality he’s part of an invading force with Scourge being the boss. #190 has him complain that Tails ignores his magical heritage and follows Sonic. Does he show any magic during this time? No. In fact, it is shown that all of Scourge’s crew are afraid of him. #191 shows him trying to use Scourge’s ego to have him face Metal Sonic alone. In #192 he suggested to the others that with Sonic on their side they could take over Scourge’s reign. 

#193 is when he enacts his plan. Going to the Mobotropolis to suggest to Sally an alliance to defeat Scourge once and for all. He also thinks little of Tails. #194 has the plan set in motion. Fiona was Scourge’s only ally. Of course, he double crosses them so he can send both Scourge and Sonic to the Reverse universe. #195 the plan was they expect Sonic to wear down Scourge enough so when they show up he’ll be easy pickings. And in #196, that plan blows up in their face when Super Scourge shows up.

This is the Panel I think of when I think of Reverse Tails. Someone who has a big picture, but when it comes time to step up he crumbles like a deck of cards. Even Tails went to fight Super Scourge. And the comic ends with Sally being in charge but her admitting who is really in charge. And that’s it. That’s all there is to Reverse Tails. If you saw Prime, you probably can see why thinking that Reverse Tails is better than Nine is. But for those who haven't seen it, here’s a summary.

Unlike Reverse Tails whose reason is “lol, Evil”, Nine was originally Tails who hadn't been rescued by Sonic when he got picked on for his two Tails. So he became a loner, not trusting anyone. He augmented himself and only works on keeping himself safe. Then Sonic came to town. To his surprise, he found someone he could put faith into; someone who he could trust. And that pushes Nine to be more outgoing and help others.

But when he was reforming the Paradox Prism, that’s when their ideologies clashed. Sonic wanted to restore everything back to normal. Nine wanted to recreate a world where they could live in peace without trouble. Seeing Sonic not going along with that plan, he felt betrayed and took the Paradox Prism so he can create his own world while letting the other worlds get destroyed thanks to the Egg Council’s Doing.

He would have too if not for the missing energy needed to solidify the Paradox Prism, which exists in Sonic. So Season 3 has him fighting to get Sonic. He created an Army of Mecha Versions of the Prime Cast, including a Giant Big, and when Sonic and crew got close he used the power of the Paradox Prism to fight them off himself, even though it was causing further destruction as well as taking a lot out of him.

And this is why I do not believe Reverse Sonic is a better Evil Tails than Nine. Nine has an actual reason, an actual story, a better design, implications that were explored, and most importantly he was actually important to the series. You could remove Reverse Tails from everything and nothing would have changed. You can’t say the same thing for Nine.

#research bin

[official-hawknose]

i think my favorite character I’ve written into my Courts is Rime, a cat that died and came back, and later would joke that they just couldn’t bear to leave their life partner, Opal

truthfully they DID die, of sickness, a mixture of starvation and dehydration, sickness sapping away any strength to eat or drink, making it impossible to keep anything down. He died, for a full night he was dead, and the next morning was awake again

There’s no nine lives system in my Courts, Leaders dont get any extra lives, if they die, they’re dead. And the funny thing is, Rime is part of a cult that worships death and its cycle in life. Cats are ceremoniously eaten by their group-mates, with both consent from the deceased and their closest family member. If their family member refuses, the cat is buried instead.

My favorite thing is detailing the changes that happened to Rime after coming back.

Rime basically dies and comes back very, very different. Personality wise, they’re the same. But he doesn’t have a scent anymore, no eyeshine, he rarely has to eat or drink water. A workaround, and a fav design note to him, is that Opal, his life partner, helps the insecurity of not having a scent(or at least, only having a faint scent of death) by tying a mixture of heather and lavender into his fur.

More context: Opal and Rime have been life partners for longer than they’ve been in the cult together. They met while young, and the bond between them was solidified when Opal picked a fight with a cat way bigger than both of them. Rime immediately threw himself in between them, and defended her. They got two scars on the bridge of their nose, between their eyes, for the trouble, and both of them ended up hightailing it out of there to avoid getting hurt more.

The relationship between them is currently the only one in my Courts - it's completely platonic, they’re dedicated life partners, call each other mates occasionally, and while Opal is pregnant, her kits aren’t Rime’s and Rime’s intention is only to help her raise the kits and act as an uncle rather than a parent. They’re both dedicated to each other and closely bonded. Opal and Rime’s designs are some of my favorites, alongside Puffin and Finch, two others in the cult, though Finch was born into it and Puffin was adopted as a kit.

the cult is one of my favorite aspects of the Court’s universe, the characters are some of my favorites and I absolutely adore them

#hickoryrambles #birth of an echo #hickorys ocs #im electing to ignore that ive written posts abt Rime and the cult multiple times and then never posted them #i actually have SO much writing and LORE to the courts that i!!! havent posted!!!!!!! #literally anywhere!!!! #and i hate it!!!!!! #theres cats i love in it and LORE i love but i just havent!!! #i feel obligated to have art of these cats but i dont have full designs yet i just have small doodles and half hearted family trees #someone pls ask for more i beg #hands and knees im fucking begging #groveling if you will #some of the designs ive done are my favorites nad i need to make full designs soon. #i do actually have proper designs for like. one cat? #and a phone doodle of Finch

[flowersdaggersviolasandblood]

Assassin with a Heart of Gold

Name: Admaer Daeneiros (He/Him)

Race: High Elf

Class: Rogue (Assassin)

Background: Criminal

WARNING, SPOILERS AHEAD

We finally got to Admaer and we went a bit farther with Admaer this time around. So, after attempting to face the Absolute and discovering that its a giant tentacle, we were sent to the Mystery Flesh Pit so that Balthazar could attempt to rip the Astral Prism from our person. This immediately started combat as we tried to escape and fight Balthazar and his undead minions. Fun little detail I noticed here was that the corpses of Minthara and Dor Ragzlin were reanimated and joined the fight. I thought that was neat :D.

Because we fast traveled to the Mystery Flesh Pit, I was able to save Zevlor, release Mizora, and rushed to fight Ketheric Thorm. Another fun little detail is how he was so confident that Balthazar would take care of us that when we appeared in front of him, he went ">:O". Oh, another fun detail! After saving Mizora, Admaer was able to convince her to gift Wyll with something after going through all the trouble of saving her. Wyll was able to get a cool rapier that can summon a Incubus to fight for us.

After taking care of Ketheric Thorm, we get another new set of dialogue from Dame. Because Admaer allowed her to get got by Balthazar, she was suspicious of Admaer. After leaving the Cursed Lands, she proclaimed her alliance with Admaer by asking Selune to forgive Admaer for his transgression. Now that we have Halsin, Jaheira, Thaniel, and Dame on our side, we marched our way to Baldur's Gate to face the Absolute and find more allies.

Once again, Admaer and Astarion have a talk where Admaer becomes a bit concern about Astarion considering of taking Cazadors place in the ritual of Profane Ascension. Admaer reminds Astarion that freedom doesn't necessarily means more power, but does agree to help him kill Cazador. As for Karlach, she expressed her frustrations about Gortash abusing her trust and being the prime reason she was sent to Avernus.

As Admaer laid to sleep, the camp was ambushed by Githyanki warriors as they attempted to steal the Astral Prism away from us. We are urged by our Guardian to enter a portal and this time, we reach the dimension where our Guardian resides without having to be asleep for it. After fighting against some Gith, we discover something shocking!

Now this was somewhat spoiled for me, but our Guardian is a Mindflayer themselves! Admaer had a sneaking suspicion that something wasn't right when he started seeing Alex in his dreams because she died some time ago. This solidified his reasons for being so distrustful. However, despite this distrust, Admaer agreed to help fight the Githyanki and confronted the Mindflayer known as The Emperor. We learn that the Emperor was once a typical adventurer before their transformation. They went to Moonrise Towers in search for coin, but instead got a Mindflayer parasite in their eye. Despite becoming part of the hive mind society of Mindflayers, he was able to regain their sense of self.

So they ran away from their hive and lived in secret in Baldur's Gate. They fed off those who did wrong and soon became a prominent member of a guild. That was, until Gortash found him and had the Emperor dragged back to the hive mind of the Elder Brain. But then, he regain his freedom by use of the Astral Prism, thanks to none other than Orpheus. Orpheus apparently has the power to supress the effects of the tadpole, thus the Emperor has been utilizing his strength to keep ours under control.

The Emperor still desires to go against the Absolute, wanting to keep their freedom and seemingly is allied with stopping the Grand Design from happening. Although Admaer is becoming a reluctant hero, when offered to consume a parasite to further evolve his being, Admaer stomped that shit to the ground; angering the Emperor.

Upon returning from the Astral Prism, Admaer spoke with Lae'zel further about Orpheus. She explains that the Gith people were able to break from their Illithid slavers thanks to Mother Gith securing an alliance with Tiamat. Over the years, the Githyanki have been in servitude with different Gith who would take the title of Vlaakith. The most recent Vlaakith, the Lich Queen, wanted Orpheus dead because he was the true leader of the Githyanki and his power would usurp her. Based on the stories, he was supposedly killed by Kith Voss. However, it looks like he remains not dead.

Lae'zel, now fully convinced of her Queen's treachery, wants to free Orpheus, which Admaer promptly is like, "whoa whoa, let's slow down there for a second." Admaer DEFINITELY isn't gonna let Orpheus go as long as these parasites still sit in his head, so that's at the bottom of his bucket list.

But now that the crew is out of the Shadow Lands, our road to Baldur's Gate can continue once again. Next time, we'll continue where we left off with Pero and see where the road takes us!

#baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #bg3 spoilers #tav: admaer daeneiros

[theeversocelebratedmarktwain]

Famous For The Dialects, Just For It To Go Out of Style

Hello All!

We are at another week discussing Mark Twain, his works, and his techniques in a very in-depth approach. I have been informed that my professor is not the only one reading my blog. In that case- Hello Near!! Thank you for reading, and I hope you can engage in this conversation since tonight’s topic is built around the concept we discussed in a different class from today actually.

This week’s focus will be what Mark Twain was special for creating: the in depth dialect and voices of his characters. We will specifically be talking about the characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for this portion of the blog.

True, Mark Twain did not ‘create’ the technique of accents or dialect. However, he did master it in a lot of his works. Evidence years after Samuel Clemens passing proves that this was not just a repeat of ear for Twain, but a direct science in building the vocabulary used in his Huck Finn novel. Papers pulled from his study showing the break down of how each word would be created specifically for specific person. 

Showing these techniques, we will exhibit examples from chapter 32 from Huck Finn. For the character of Jim, Twain designs his vocabulary to reflect the mixture of his sweet, kind soul with the vocabulary of other men of color in this time and area. Jim is consistently affection towards little Huck throughout the novel. Readers see this as Jim calls him names like ‘Honey’ and ‘sweetie’ all the time. Huck even takes notice of it within the story, and this helps solidify their bond. The vocabulary Twain decides for Jim to own is exhibited in this next quote “Yes, dey will, I reck’n, Mars Tom, but what kine er time is Jim havin? Blest if I kin see de pint. But I’ll do it ef I got to. I reck’n I better keep de animals satisfied, en not have no trouble in de house” (Twain 406). The vocabulary shows what is considered ‘improper grammar’ while the dialect reflects poverty and the southern region. 

In Huck’s language, the reader can notice a bit of difference. A couple pages later, the readers see a similar voice and dialect, but coming from Huck. He says “But I ain’t going to make no complaint. Anyway what suits you suits me. What you going to do about the servant-girl?” (413). Here the readers see the similariities in the dialect from the regional aspect of both him and Tom, but vocabulary choice is a bit more proper. 

Now, why are we taking notice of this? What’s the point? In a different class I had today focused on Creative Writing for Fiction, the teachers and students engaged in a discussion about how modern fiction does not require such thick dialects, different voices, no ‘crazy punctuation’, no over the top dialogue to express the emotions or mood of the story. They originally were talking about that when it came to the aspect of other world languages when I asked does their beliefs still stand against southern dialects within fiction? Because, most of all the ‘classics’ in southern fiction (To Kill a Mockingbird, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Beloved, Big Fish, Cane, etc.) always had the element of strong dialects as a key part in the technique of building these stories. Just for now, what? For readers to say we get annoyed with language that shows excitement is on the page? Why do our brains register this hard craft of mastering voices as annoying and disinteresting if we have loved it in celebrated books previously? 

Twain mastered the art of dialects and built a footpath in literature now that is now designed, paved, and smoothed for other writers to follow their footsteps. But now, it is being edited out of modern fiction? Does this craft have an expiration date? If it was so great for crediting Mark Twain for coining it, is it not still useful in modern time?

Personally, I feel warm and at home when I see the excitement in the language. I do not mean that i was 400 pages of comic book writing styles interjected on to the pages. However, I have always pulled from previous authors to guide me, especially as a southern fiction writer. But is this a trend? Is Mark Twain’s technique the new Nickleback where everyone is going to shit on it for ten years until someone changes their mind and makes the decision for a wave of people for the next ten years? 

I do not know. I find it warm, useful, and nice. Granted all Southern Literature does not need heavy accents. Just like not everyone from the south has heavy accents. I say that firmly as a woman raised half in Alabama and half in West Virginia. Therefore, my accent lands me somewhere in the middle. 

As always, thank you for attending. I hope I brought up a new conversation to the topic of Mark Twain. Until next time...

Warmly,  Toni

#marktwain #huckfinn #huckleberryfinn #southernfiction #southernliterature

[joaquinwhorres]

doodles (Joaquin Torres x Reader, Soulmate!AU)

PAIRING ››››› Joaquín Torres x GN!Reader

REQUEST ››››› ya know the soulmate au alphabet? Could i request Torres + b and w from the alphabet?

b...ody art (doodles that a person draws on themselves appear on their soulmate’s skin). g...uardian (it is said that the person who saves you from a near-death experience is your soulmate—drowning, car crash, etc.)

WORD COUNT ››››› 1,255

WARNINGS ››››› none

A/N ››››› Sooo I kind of cheated by combining the two letters. Also the writing style is kinda different from my usual story work, but hopefully both risks pan out.

The first picture to ever blossom on his skin is a bird.

The other boys in class have flowers and suns and clouds and little stick figure girls and boys, but he has a bird. And while theirs are sketchy and smudged and disproportionate, his looks as if it's been plucked from a picture book with its steady lines and cartoonish detail.

He'd been surprised to find it, nestled into the crook of his elbow, only appearing when he raised his hand to answer a question. He's so used to seeing his friends with images that littered the backs of their hands and wrists and thighs, he’d never thought to check anywhere else.

A thought crosses his mind.

More than crosses.

It takes over.

He knows he isn't supposed to.

If his teacher catches him, he'll get into trouble. He's not even supposed to have a pen in class. The rule's supposed to help kids avoid the temptation of sending off doodles to their soulmates. Of course, like all school rules, kids find a way around it, keeping pens tucked away in pockets and backpacks and lunch bags.

He's never been one to break the rules, but this feels like he has to. His soulmate's out there somewhere, waiting for him. It only feels right to assure them that he's waiting for them too.

Joaquin pulls the pen he keeps tucked in his desk in hopes of just such an occasion and quietly uncaps it. Carefully and stealthily, he drags the pen tip across his skin, eyes darting up to track the teacher’s movements and make sure he doesn't get caught. As a result, the drawing isn't very good. The head's too big for the body and the feet too long. He’d attempted to draw the wing twice, leaving the lines thicker than the rest of the bird. But it's there, facing the first and chirping out a note, so they know he's alive and thinking of them in this moment. And that had to feel nice.

He sticks the pen back in his desk, looking up at the board and quickly copying down the problems he’s almost missed. It's not until he reaches forward to pass in his paper that he notices the addition to the doodle. Two eighth notes tweet out from the first bird.

He smiles.

It becomes increasingly clear that his soulmate’s an artist.

Most people don’t have doodles on their arms and palms anymore. Instead they have drawings sketched into places only they can see--secret notes passed between soulmates. But his body is littered with art.

Intricate patterns bloom across the back of his hand, and twist and twirl up his arm. His forearm becomes a comic strip. Constant commentary on their day or whatever social issues are on their mind. Sometimes they leave a panel open for him to finish. His drawing hasn’t improved much from the first bird.

He wishes he could send along words of praise or encouragement even though he knows words won’t go through.

He wishes that they would use this gift to pass along messages like just about everyone else his age does. But all attempts at starting a conversation like that have gone unanswered. Instead, he simply gets to witness their art and their life play out across his skin. And Joaquin has learned to be content with that.

Because while other kids are coordinating their futures around their soulmates and tailoring all plans to match the other’s, he gets to make his decisions free. He gets to sign up for the Air Force ROTC without a shred of guilt or pushback like some of the other cadets have to deal with.

Their doodles are what keeps him grounded. Throughout basic and his first deployment, their delicate designs and drawings keep him company in those moments when he feels absolutely alone. They make him feel human in moments where he’s asked to be inhuman.

Their art has saved his life more than once too. The obvious doodles keeping him from doomed missions and distracting him for just long enough to avoid disaster. But more than those obvious, blood running cold, vomiting from how close it was moments, the doodles save his life because they are a constant.

He’s not the only one who appreciates the art either. The others in his unit laugh at the comics his soulmate still draws on his arms. They marvel of the intricacy of his soulmate’s work. On how they’re able to create such a detailed band of wild flowers around their own tricep. They laugh as he attempts to draw a bird amongst the flowers. He wonders if his soulmate knows they’re a bit of a celebrity amongst the 547th.

He wonders if he’ll ever get to tell them.

That’s the thought that weighs heavily on him as he watches his friends on base turn to dust around him. As he watches planes fall from the sky and plummet to the ground. As he watches the gentle waves and roles of the ocean that cascade across his forearm disappear.

It's five years before another doodle appears on his skin. He almost cries when he sees it. A small cartoon bird wipes sweat off of its forehead as if relieved.

He lacks all creativity in terms of response and just surrounds the bird in a cloud of hearts.

And that's their reunion. After this, life continues on, and their established routine continues. While the rest of the world still feels like a mess, the familiar rhythm of waking up to a new comic, of finding a new illustration branded on his shoulder makes him feel whole again.

The art maintains its affects on others as well. Both Sam and Bucky like to tease him for the "garden on his arm" or tell him he's a "human gallery." But he notices the way they practice drawing on their arms, watches as the other eyes the spot it appears on their own skin and mercilessly roasts it. Bucky has asked Joaquin if he's willing to trade soulmates more than once.

Joaquin's not.

Ideally, Joaquin would have met his soulmate under calmer circumstances.

Maybe they could have met at a Starbucks when they accidentally reached for the same drink and noticed the matching patterns on each other's arms.

Maybe they could have met while his soulmate was taking a tour of the base, and he just so happened to stop and say hello to the guide and realized that he had the same three birds on his shoulder.

Maybe they could have just finally coordinated a time to see each other face to face.

Instead, he catches them as they're pushed from a stolen helicopter.

Later, they tell him that they wish he'd just walked into their tattoo shop. That his first impression of them wasn't screaming and crying and just about ready to vomit all over him. That they wouldn't have blamed him for keeping the connection a secret when the first thing they said to him after saving their life was "Ow! I think you broke my back." (Which, for the record, he didn't. It was just bruised.)

But when he sees the band of flowers encircling their tricep, he can't keep it in. He can't believe he's holding his soulmate in his arms. The person who's kept him company for almost two decades.

So he says something almost as idiotic as they do: "You're the bird."

And that pretty much solidifies the fact that they're meant to be.

#joaquín torres x reader #joaquín torres #joaquin torres x reader #marvel #joaquín torres x gn!reader #joaquin torres x gn!reader #gender neutral reader #genderneutral!reader #gn!reader #fatws fic #soulmates au #soulmate!au #marvel fic #mcu fic #joaquin torres fic #joaquín torres fic #joaquín torres imagine #torres x reader #torres x gn!reader #torres x you #joaquín torres x you #joaquin torres x y/n

[nobodyfamousposts]

BURN THE WITCH! - Part 8

Finally! It is finished.

Also...warnings I guess for itchiness. And severe scratching due to itchiness.

Here goes:

Lila was prideful. Exceedingly so. But let it not be said she was too prideful to know when it was time to jump ship.

And the ship that was Paris was sinking fast.

All thanks to Ladybug, of course. Because “Little Miss Righteousness” just had to stick her nose into Lila’s business. How dare that insect make a fool out of her?

She would have had to leave soon anyway. While she could certainly come up with a new story to fool her classmates and explain away the previous unfortunate incident, it would still be difficult since they were starting to wise up and it would be harder to keep them under her thumb if she stayed much longer. While the akuma had been dealt with and everyone’s memories erased, Lila didn’t want to take any chances.

Then there was the matter with Hawk Moth. She had some suspicion of his identity—but that was all it was: suspicion. The evidence she had to go on was circumstantial at best. Unless she could find something to confirm it, it was useless. And even if she was right, there wasn’t much likelihood that she would be able to make use of it without proof.

She clenched her fists in growing rage at the reminder.

How dare he turn on her like that?!

There was something that grated at her knowing that she would be leaving things unfinished. That she would be letting him get away unscathed. She at least wanted to get some sort of payback for him leaving her to dry.

If there was any real justice in the world, she would get the chance to try and take his Miraculous for herself. Wouldn’t that be ironic? Especially after how he had cut ties with her.

But now he would expect her to try something. He may even try to take her out himself first. It was what Lila would do in his place.

No, it was better to cut her losses. She still had the an exemplary school record. She still had her position and experience as a model to take with her. She could just move somewhere new and start over. There was nothing worth staying in Paris for anyway. She was getting bored here.

Her decision had absolutely nothing to do with Ladybug’s threat though! Ladybug was clearly the one jealous of her! She wasn’t scared of that pathetic little bug! She was too much of a goody-goody to actually do anything to Lila herself! Ladybug was supposed to be held to a higher standard, after all! She was just bluffing! She wouldn’t actually do anything to her! So Lila had no reason to be scared! And she wasn’t!

It took a moment for Lila to realize her hand holding the phone was trembling. She bit back a curse and clutched the hand with the other to hide it and force the them to still. But when that didn’t work, she set the phone on speaker before putting it on its stand on the table.

Lila’s mother, bless her, was ignorant of this inner turmoil—or if she was aware, she simply attributed it to Lila’s claims. The woman was all too willing to blindly trust her precious daughter. All Lila had to do was use that and soon Paris and all its problems would be nothing but a bad memory.

She busied with drying her hair with a towel while regaling her mother with the tale of the latest attack—albeit a heavily edited version. Honestly though, wasn’t that stupid Cure of Ladybug’s supposed to fix everything to how it was before the attack? So shouldn’t she have been dry already? And back in her new designer clothes?

As it was, her fall in the Seine had left her hair a mess, and she barely had time to simply wash it properly, much less take the good long soak she really craved. She was fortunate enough that there had been time to return home and try to clean up at all. And especially to get rid of those clothes she had “borrowed“ from Marinette’s home. The last thing she needed was to be seen running around in that. Not that there was anything wrong with the clothes themselves, but questions would no doubt arise as to where she had gotten them or why she was wearing them. And the last thing she needed was for her mother and Marinette of all people to meet.

After a moment of consideration, she twisted the towel just enough to cause her pain. With a hiss and a gasp, it sounded quite like she had been crying. Enough to fool someone who was not physically there at any rate.

“I just miss Home. It’s been so long.” She said, ending with a sniffle that may have been partly exaggerated and may have been partly a sign of a cold coming on.

��But what about your friends? You just seemed to be getting so settled in Paris. You even have a boyfriend. From what you’ve been telling me, you two are awfully close. You have a difficult enough time seeing each other as it is. Won’t moving just make it worse?”

Geez, the woman was being annoyingly persistent today.

“We can write and video chat.” Lila replied easily. She could just “break it off” later. Maybe claim he’d been cheating on her. That was usually good for some sympathy points.

Her mother paused at that. “But long distance relationships are much more difficult. And I thought you liked it in Paris? You’ve been doing so well here. I hadn’t seen you so happy in a long time.”

Of course she’d been happy. She had people devoted to her every whim, fame and connections as a model, and a cushy front row seat to the downfall of that so-called hero.

Lila narrowly avoided clicking her tongue in irritation. Why did her mother have to be so parentally concerned now of all times?

“But Mom, I’m just worried about all of the akumas!” She said with exaggerated earnesty. “This last one was really dangerous! I could have been killed!” She bit her lip and hitched her breath, as if trying to hold back tears. Or hide her lack of them. It was a good thing her mother wasn’t there to see and possibly call her out on it.

Not that she would. She was such a good mother like that. Overly trusting and easily duped. How many teenagers could say they were so lucky?

“I’ve tried to make the best of Paris, but it’s just too much!” Lila cried.

“Oh, my poor dear!” Came her mothers’s voice over the phone. “I’m so sorry I didn’t realize how much this move has had an effect on you.”

In that instant, she knew she had good as won. From the safety of her home and with no one in direct sight, Lila allowed herself a smug grin of victory before schooling her expression back to that of the pitiful child she wanted the older woman to see her as. No one may have been there to see it, but as an avid actress of her skill level, it helped her to match her desired tone and inflection with an appropriate expression. She gasped loudly and grabbed the phone to bring it closer to her.

“But Mom, I know how important this job is to you! I don’t want to get in the way...”

“It’s all right, dear. I can contact your aunt and have you stay with her and your cousins until I can finish things here.”

That made her frown.

Lila’s aunt was...not ideal, as her cousins had been among the earlier victims of Lila’s manipulations. She dared say her aunt favored her over any of her children by the time she’d left them. And her cousins were wary of her to say the least after the way she had played them against each other and themselves. But that had been a couple of years ago and she couldn’t be sure they hadn’t caught on and solidified their relationships to better counter her.

Still, if Paris was any indication of how easily people could be fooled and turned against one another, she could probably manage it again.

“Lila?” Her mother called, drawing her attention back. “Are you all right?”

Lila played up the uncertainty. “I don’t know…I wouldn’t want to cause you or Auntie trouble…I can just stay here.” She looked down and to the side and spoke tonelessly, the picture of a dejected daughter. “I’m sure I can just try to put my fear aside and make the best of it…”

“Nonsense!” Her mother exclaimed. “You should never have to make yourself suffer like that!”

There was the sound of papers being shifted, followed by the clicking of a mouse. No doubt her mother was already looking into the procedure on how to transfer.

“I only want you to be safe and well, mi bella.” Her mother said, softly. “And if Paris isn’t the best fit for you, then I’ll discuss the matter with the Embassy and see about ending my assignment early.”

“But Mom, you don’t have to! I can manage, really!” She half-heartedly attempted. “The heroes are even starting to do a…half-way decent job.”

Her mother scoffed. “A job that they have been at for over a year and still can’t manage! It’s clearly not safe here if the city’s own heroes can’t even do their jobs properly.”

Hook.

“But let’s get you taken out of that school first.”

Line.

Lila smirked, unseen.

“Thank you, Mom.”

Sinker.

__________________

Another loss. And a worse one, even.

Witch Hunter had been ruthless and efficient. Perhaps one of his better creations to date. Her powers to know one’s sins and enthrall anyone who heard her announcements soon gained her the entirety of Paris under her sway—and by extension, his. That the powers specifically targeted one girl would have been a disadvantage had the girl in question not had such a…sordid history. That history fortunately gave plenty of opportunities to rally others to the cause, but as evidenced from the fight, it still had limitations.

If only Lila had some ounce of subtlety. Then even Ladybug would have been affected by Witch Hunter, and both Miraculous would have been willingly handed over to him if it meant getting rid of the girl in exchange. The key had been that Ladybug’s opinion of Lila had already been so low that no “reveal” of her misdeeds had been enough to enthrall her.

How curious. He had been aware of Lila’s grudge against Ladybug, but he hadn’t realized that the feelings were mutual. Just what had Lila done to make Ladybug despise her so?

He could hazard a guess, but not any that would lead him anywhere. Lila’s list of crimes was rather extensive. And despite the knowledge he had of her, even he couldn’t boast immunity to the rage.

So what had kept Ladybug from giving up on her?

Was it Ladybug’s Miraculous that protected her? Some sort of inner strength? Or was she already aware of his use of Lila? But even if she was aware, how would that be enough?

He had been able to keep his head, but some of the things he heard had been enough to turn his stomach and make him question his alliance with her. He had been accepting at first of her audacity in how she approached him on both sides of the mask, as she presented herself as useful and willing to aid him. And she had been useful, he would give her that. Her main concern was having others under her sway and she was willing to do anything to maintain it…even remove anyone who would become a threat to her.

He hadn’t lied when he told Lila she was of no more use to him. But that hadn’t been the entire truth. Given what he now realized, she was more of a threat than he had ever considered. He couldn’t put it past her to try to figure out his identity to take his Miraculous for herself.

He took a breath.

Perhaps...he needed to reconsider the girl’s position? On both sides of the mask.

“Sir? What should be done about Lila Rossi?” While the interruption from Nathalie was timely, it didn’t truly disrupt his current thought process.

It was a good question. She had been a willing ally and useful tool in manipulating people. He certainly had praise for her skills.

But...

Perhaps he should have been more cautious and try to question just how she obtained those skills?

As well as her intentions for the future. For himself and especially for his son.

How much did she know? Had she discovered him? Did she suspect? What plans did she have? And now that she had been revealed as a willing ally, what information could others get out of her that could lead back to him?

Lila Rossi was a threat. He could see that now.

But just how much of a risk was she? How much did he risk if she were allowed to remain free? It was clear Ladybug knew of their alliance, and she would be keeping an eye on the girl from here on out. What else could she gain from Lila if he didn’t remove her?

“Sir?”

He paused, considering for a moment.

Then came to a decision.

“Nothing.”

Nathalie started at that in surprise.

“Her contract with the company will be terminated, of course.” He stated, turning to go to his desk and prepare to sign the necessary paperwork. “The company will put out an official statement that we deny any knowledge of her history or dealings, and that we disavow her actions. Anything else is already held under a nondisclosure agreement she signed upon her hiring. Though we should prepare legal action if she attempts to retaliate.”

“But…what should be done about her assistance to you as Hawk Moth?” Nathalie asked.

He straightened.

“Nothing.” He repeated. And he did not like to repeat himself.

“Sir? Is that wise? She has been an accomplice.” She warned him with a frown. “What if she has learned who you are? She could become dangerous.”

He sighed.

“She is a loose thread. But to act on it at this point and try to remove her will only backfire. Ladybug will doubtless be keeping an eye on her from now on. We would risk more if we were caught trying to get rid of her.”

“But since you left her to Witch Hunter’s mercy, she may try to retaliate against you.”

Oh, of that he had little doubt. It was in her nature to turn on those who would not play by her rules.

He had little choice at that point. Witch Hunter and all of Paris were focused solely on seeing the girl punished. He had no way of knowing Ladybug wasn’t already part of the crowd by that time. His mistake was underestimating Ladybug’s will, but even then, would he really have responded differently?

Lila Rossi had lost her use as a tool, and with her antics had used up any good will he had towards her. She lacked the subtlety or even the good sense to simply limit the extent of her lies lest she be found out and face backlash. But much like Miss Bourgeois, she seemed inclined to push the limits of what she could get away with. And unfortunately, with superheroes and villains in Paris, the bounds of what she could normally get away with had increased drastically. Even worse was that she fully seemed to believe she ‘deserved’ the praise and attention simply for claiming things she had never done.

And given how one of her first actions was to buy a trinket to pass off as a false Miraculous and proclaim herself a hero, how long would it have taken for her to decide that she ‘deserved’ a Miraculous as well?

“It was only a matter of time before she set her sights too high. It would be better to cut her off now before she got any ideas about taking a Miraculous, even if it was my own.”

He couldn’t put it past her. Because as much as she despised Ladybug, how could such a girl be satisfied only with her destruction? If she did aid in Ladybug’s defeat, she’d likely just take the Ladybug Miraculous for herself at the first opportunity, and then Gabriel would be back at square one.

No, worse. Because Lila Rossi wouldn’t risk herself for others. It was highly likely she would run away with the Miraculous and then he would lose any chance of obtaining it in this lifetime.

…

Lila Rossi had her uses, but it was best to cut his losses with her now. And Witch Hunter had been the prime time to do so.

It would have been foolish of him to risk his hold over Witch Hunter just to spare Lila at that point. But there was no doubt that she will seek retribution for it. She was certainly spiteful enough, even when it would be to her own detriment.

Still…

“That girl has caused enough problems. We don’t need her interfering with our plans.“

Nathalie clutched her tablet, still worried. “But if she knows…if she tries to reveal you…”

“Lila Rossi is a liar.” He stated as he pulled up news footage of the latest akuma fight. “She is a liar and now people know it. Anything she thinks she knows, we can dismiss as a jilted teenager with delusions of grandeur and an unhealthy interest in my son.”

He paused for a moment, then leaned back in his chair to look to his assistant.

“I’m sure you’ve heard the tale of the ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’?”

“I am familiar with it, yes.” She replied, albeit confused as to the sudden subject change. “But what does that have to do with this?”

“In the story, the boy is eaten. But his final claim is ultimately proven true, for all the good it does him.” He looked back to the footage, pausing it on Lila’s expression while she was on the pyre.

“But if we do not respond…if Hawk Moth does nothing to silence her, there is no ‘proof’ to her claims. People will suspect it to be another lie. Even moreso, that it’s merely an attempt to get back at me as her ‘former employer’. There will be no ‘wolf’ to validate her claims, even once she’s gone. So yes, we will leave Miss Rossi to her daily life. Let her say what she may think she knows.”

He smirked.

“She could scream it to the world and no one would believe her.”

__________________

It took a while for them to have their conversation and for Marinette to dry her tears. By the time she was able to reach some level of calm, it was almost time to return to school.

One would think that they would be allowed the rest of the day to recover from the akuma attack, but Paris as a whole and the school in particular seemed used to the frequent interruptions by this point. Though perhaps it was more of a testament to Ladybug’s efficiency in dealing with akumas.

…as well as the efficiency of the civilians to set up an entire festival on a spur of the moment. Perhaps she should recommend they try another one at some point? One that doesn’t involve lighting anyone on fire?

When she went downstairs, she found her parents in something of a state of worry. They looked up in surprise when she came down, but were relieved to see her.

“Marinette? When did you get home? I didn’t see you come in.” Tom said.

“A little while ago. We must have just missed each other.” Marinette replied quickly. Then frowned when she notice their expressions. “Is everything okay?”

“There was an akuma attack earlier and one of your schoolmates came here.” Sabine explained. “We had tried to help her and allowed her to change clothes here into something dry, but she took it upon herself to go into your room.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “What?!”

“I don’t know what she was doing in there.” Sabine huffed, angrily. “When I caught her, she tried to claim she had gotten lost. Then your father had gotten a text message from Nadja about a ‘Witch’ and she took off running.”

Lila. There was no one else it could have been. Which meant she had probably done something to sabotage her.

Great. Just great.

They had checked her room and taken pictures of how she left it since they were uncertain of what she may have messed with. As it stood, they wanted to know if anything had been stolen and were questioning whether to call the police.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Her father told her.

“We both are. She was soaked and we had wanted to give her some privacy while she changed.” Sabine shook her head. “I hadn’t thought she would go roaming around the house, much less sneak into your room.”

Tom rested a hand on Sabine’s shoulder. “We should follow up on this though. Maybe Roger will have some advice.”

Sabine nodded to him before turning to her daughter. “Will that be all right, dear?”

Marinette hesitated.

She would be lying if she said she wasn’t frustrated. With them. With the situation. All of it.

In their defense, they hadn’t realized it was Lila. And even if they had, they weren’t aware of just how horrible Lila truly was. Despite Marinette’s pleas of innocence during her expulsion, her parents hadn’t fully taken her word for it and even afterwards hadn’t quite believed that Lila was a chronic liar.

But there was a part of her—the part that was still full of indignant anger over the incident and would have formed the core of the Princess Justice akuma Hawk Moth had wanted her to be—that blamed them. If they had just listened to her back then. If they had simply heard her out. If they had believed her about Lila.

They should have known. They should have recognized Lila. They should have remembered what she had done before and at the very least thought to keep an eye on her just in case she tried anything like she had before.

…but Marinette didn’t have it in her to hold a grudge. Especially after what she had seen with Lila and her own grudge.

It wasn’t their fault, it was Lila’s. And while she was irritated with her parents for their negligence, she was willing to forgive them and keep her focus on the one who really deserved her ire.

So for now, she would try to move forward and do what she could.

“I’m not happy about it. But if anything can be done, I’d like to see if we could.”

Her parents agreed and offered reassurances that they would try to address the issue. They also promised her they would be more cautious in the future, which was nice fo them. They offered to let her stay home from school, but that was one thing she had to turn down.

Whatever Lila had done, Marinette probably wouldn’t know until Lila revealed it. It made her dread returning to school. But she couldn’t keep putting it off. If she went now, she could at least try to meet with the others and head off anything Lila could do.

So she made a quick rush to the kitchen to get a small lunch for herself and some cookies for Tikki. With her parents otherwise occupied, that meant that Tikki could come out of hiding and they could talk freely for a bit longer.

“Marinette, maybe you should take a break and stay home for the rest of the school day?” Tikki suggested. And wow, she was certainly taking this ‘be more supportive’ role to heart.

Something in Marinette warmed at that. And in any other circumstances, she would happily have taken Tikki’s advice.

“I’m fine, Tikki. Really.”

Tikki frowned, clearly not buying it. “But you’ve spent half of your day dealing with the crisis caused by Lila and then the akuma that was caused by that crisis, all while trying to keep Lila safe. Even when she was working against you.”

Yeah. There was that.

“You did a lot today. Both as Ladybug and Marinette.” Tikki continued. “No one would fault you if you let yourself recover.”

Marinette hesitated at that.

It was tempting. She was tired. And if she was being honest, she really just wanted to sleep and not deal with anything until tomorrow at least.

But…

She bit her lip.

For all that Tikki’s words made sense and clearly came from a place of concern for her, Marinette couldn’t help but be reminded of only a couple hours ago where Tikki had been trying to convince her to let Lila burn.

She knew that this was different. A matter of self care and health. But even though it’s something she’s wanted and something she appreciates hearing from her kwami, it still felt so strange now that she was experiencing it.

This was something she was going to have to get used to. And she would, she was sure. After all, Tikki was clearly trying for her. And Marinette wanted nothing more than to reciprocate—and also to just drop off into sweet blessed sleep…

However…

“I need to see this through.” She stated, resolutely.

She needed to get back to the school. Both for class and to check on her friends.

After all, even if her Miraculous Cure had fixed the damage caused from the akuma, that didn’t mean her friends were fine. And she still wanted to check in on Rose at the very least.

Tikki looked up at her sadly. Then she floated over and nuzzled Marinette’s cheek, showing her silent support.

It only took a few minutes to gather the rest of her things and make her way to the school.

Even if Tikki assured her that what happened wasn’t her fault, Marinette still felt the need to apologize to Rose for what had happened. Maybe they could still find some way to fix things.

She reached the school in minutes and had almost immediately run into one of her classmates.

Just not the one she had been expecting.

“Adrien?”

He spun to face her, appearing nervous. Even panicked.

“Oh, hey! Marinette! Hi! Hey, um…hey.” He finished, looking embarrassed. “How…are you?”

“I’m fine. Just…have a lot on my mind.” She shrugged. “Just…with Rose and the akuma and everything.”

“Good. That’s good. Well, not good-good about the akuma. But good that you’re okay. Um. Me too.” He looked away, clearly still nervous.

She frowned in concern. “Are you okay?”

“Fine! I’m fine! Just…y’know…got caught up in the akuma attack and was one of her minions for a while. But Ladybug saved me so we’re good.” He said with a not fully sincere smile.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” She hadn’t recalled seeing Adrien among the mob. But given how big it had gotten, she wouldn’t be surprised.

He hesitated for a moment before speaking. 

“Marinette…one of the things Witch Hunter said…” He looked her in the eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me Lila had threatened you?”

She straightened in shock. “What?!”

He rubbed the back of his head, looking to the ground. “I’m sorry, it’s just…she said a lot of things Lila had done that I hadn’t known. Like…well…” The book. Her framing Adrien for insulting Nino. Her working with his father. “How she threatened you?”

“Oh.” She said, a bit blankly. Because what else could she say?

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He implored her. “I had said we were in this together, but…you didn’t tell me she did that.”

It was true. She hadn’t.

But…why hadn’t she?

“I…didn’t think it was a big deal?”

Why was she asking him instead of telling him?

“Not a big—Marinette, she threatened you!” His eyes widened in realization. “Her expelling you was part of her threat, wasn’t it?”

She flinched, but nodded.

“Just…why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped you! I would have done more!”

She waved her hands frantically, trying to console him. “It’s okay, Adrien! Really! You were only—it was just…”

A tap at her leg caught her attention. It came from her purse. A quick glance downward revealed Tikki looking up at her from the safety of the clutch she carried with her. The little kwami remained hidden to Adrien, fortunately, but visible to her. Tikki looked up at her with wide eyes and gave a smile and small nod of encouragement.

Why would she—?

Oh.

Oh, right.

“No.” She admitted. “It’s not okay.”

She had been spending months now convincing herself that things were okay when they weren’t. That she was okay when she wasn’t. And that if she at any point felt she wasn’t okay, it was a failing on her part.

That wasn’t a healthy way to live, as she was only just now starting to understand that.

“I don’t know if you realize this, but I’ve been listening to you on things because I look up to you. I took your advice because I trusted you and believed that you only had everyone’s best interest at heart.”

“But I did!” He insisted automatically before catching himself. “I mean, I thought I was...”

“I trusted you over my own intuition. I listened to you when you kept emphasizing the feelings of others over my own. Chloe was bad enough, but Lila too? Even if they were the ones who were horrible, it felt like I was expected to just...” She struggled for a moment to find the wording to accurately convey her feelings before simply shrugging. “Just deal with it.”

He winced. He hadn’t realized the impact he’d had.

“Because of that,” she continued, “whenever I started to have an issue, I brushed it off because I figured that if there was a problem with someone and something they were doing...well, it was just me, right? So I had to do the right thing. I had to be the bigger person. I had to be the ‘Everyday Ladybug’. Even when I didn’t feel like I could be.”

She took a breath.

“And that wasn’t fair to me.”

He looked up at her. Sad and worried and sympathetic all in one. “I never meant to make you feel like you didn’t matter. I just thought...”

“Chloe’s your friend so it makes sense that you’d want to defend her.” Marinette reasoned. “But Lila, too?” She wrung her hands. “They both did horrible things. They both hurt me...really badly. And it felt like you’ve cared more about their feelings than mine.”

“That’s not it!” He exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. “I just...I know they aren’t then nicest, but they’re struggling. It’s…harder for them than it is for you.“

“If they’re having a hard time, it’s because it’s entirely of their own making. Chloe has been bullying everyone for years, so it’s not our fault that we don’t want to continue to deal with that mistreatment. And Lila has been actively lying to everyone not to be like, but just so she can manipulate them. I get that you care, but your attempts to protect the people you see as ‘needing it’ has resulted in harm to other people who don’t deserve it. You aren’t just enabling them...you’re rewarding them.

“You said to take the highroad, but whatever the highroad is, I don’t think that’s it.”

He gaped at her, some combination of shocked and horrified.

“But I haven’t been encouraging any of this! I tried to help you! I made a deal with her so she would get you back into school.“

Well, that was something she hadn’t known. Although his sudden friendliness with Lila had been suspicious. As had the schools sudden change of heart about her expulsion. But she hadn’t realized the two had been related.

She was grateful to him. Truly. He had only done it for her.

However...

“I never asked you to.”

She wouldn’t have wanted it had she known.

“I never asked you to become Lila’s toy or put yourself in such a bad position for my sake. I only asked you to stand by me and support me.”

She had turned to him that day, wanting him—just someone who knew the truth to speak up in her defense.

To say she was innocent.

To admit that Lila had lied.

To just say she was believed. That she was worth believing in.

“And you didn’t.“

He stared at her. Long and hard. As if this had never occurred to him before. He seemed unable to speak for a full minute.

Until…

“I’m sorry.“

She jumped in surprise.

“I was a hypocrite. I knew she was lying but I convinced myself it wasn’t that bad. And even when I knew people were hurt, it didn’t matter until her lies hurt me.”

He gave a weak laugh.

“Witch Hunter…did you know? The way her power worked was that you only fell under her spell when she announced something Lila did that truly makes you angry.”

He covered his face. In resignation? In guilt?

“I only fell under Witch Hunter’s spell when she revealed Lila had been spying on me for my father. Not when I found out what she did to Rose. Not when I found out what she did to Nino. Not even when I found out what she did to you.” He shook his head. “It only mattered, really truly mattered when it affected me.”

He hung his head in shame.

“I’m a real jerk.”

The denial was automatic on her lips.

“You aren’t a jerk!” She insisted. “You were just—”

He gave a bitter laugh, cutting her off.

“I was so proud of myself that day. When I told you to take the highroad and not out Lila.”

He looked up at her smiling humorlessly.

“Do you know what it’s like to watch you? All the time, I see you doing the right thing. Standing up for people. Doing things to make people happy. Making things better.”

He sighed.

“It felt...it felt good being the one you would listen to and follow.” He admitted. “You were looking up to me and taking my advice. I was so proud of myself! I got to be the one who had solved the problem and made everything better!” He announced with a wave of his hands in an exaggerated fashion before slumping down.

“I’m such an idiot.”

She stared.

He…really admired her that much?

And at that time, he’d just been trying to impress her?

That…hadn’t been the inclination she had gotten at all. It had just felt that he was admonishing her at those times for not being the bigger person. Looking back, now that she was willing to admit it, it had felt like more expectations and double standards.

“I can’t say what you did was okay, because it wasn’t. Lila was able to hurt me. And now she’s hurt Rose and everyone else now because neither of us spoke up when we should have.”

She took a breath.

“But I think I get it. About wanting someone you care about to listen and look up to you. Because that was how I’ve felt about you.”

He jumped and looked up at her in surprise.

Because when it came down to it, hadn’t she been the same? Doing things that had hurt her or others because she had been so focused on Adrien and wanting him to think well of her?

Was it ironic that it was only now, after everything that had happened this day, that she could finally voice even a bit of the feelings she has for him?

They just weren’t the feelings she thought she’d ever be sharing…

But maybe, she thought as she felt Tikki’s comforting presence by her side, these were the ones she needed to?

“It hurts that even when I’m doing the right thing and you say you’re with me, it still feels like you’re not really on my side. Even—especially when I’ve let things get this far at your request.”

“I didn’t mean—I’m sorry—” He started, but he broke off as she raised a hand to stop him.

“I just...” She shook her head. “If we really are friends, I wish you would show it more. And...that you would stand up for me the way you do for them.”

He stared at her in shock. Perhaps a bit of horror as her words really got to him.

“I’m sorry.” He murmured. “I never meant to make you feel that way. I never wanted you to think I don’t care.”

He stood straight and held out his arms to her in clear indication of…something. But she was exhausted—both mentally and physically as it was and her mind was a bit slow to catch just what he was intending to do.

“I know you can handle things, Marinette. You’re strong. And brave. It’s why I know I can trust you when things get tough. But…that you can handle things doesn’t mean you should have to. It doesn’t mean you don’t need support.”

He smiled at her. And oh damn, that smile. It was like a miniature sun and she couldn’t help but stare even as her brain was yelling at her to look away.

The next thing she knew, she was in his arms and…oh…this must be how being held by the sun felt like…

“I want to be someone who you can count on to support you, Marinette.”

Oh. Okay. Nice. This was nice. More of this please. More of just all of this.

The hug must have lasted an eternity. An hour at least? Because it felt like forever until she was drawn out of the soothing feeling by a rumbling and a series of sounds that seemed to mean something…

Could she just…stay like this? For a day or two? Maybe the rest of her life? Tikki tried, bless her, but kwami arms just weren’t the same as human arms and the feeling of being wrapped up in sunshine was bliss.

Oh wait, he was talking more. She should probably be listening right now.

“—contract. Maybe I could talk to them? See what else they know of that could help?”

“Hmm?”

She was dazed and completely out of it, something Adrien seemed to pick up on as he released his hold (noo, don’t do that!) and backed away (noooooo) to arm’s length to look her over.

“Marinette? Are you okay?”

She blinked a few times as her mind reoriented to where she was.

And more specifically to who she was with.

“Oh! Right! Fine! You’re fine—I mean, I’M fine. Just…” She sighed, rubbing at one eye with the palm of her hand. “Just a…long day.”

Maybe she should have stayed home after all if just one hug could do that…

Adrien seemed to notice this and frowned in concern. He took in her state and apparently there was something about her appearance she had missed earlier because he seemed to get the same idea.

“Marinette, are you okay? If you’re tired, maybe you should go home and rest?”

She shook her head insistently. “No. I can’t.”

He rested a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to push yourself. Remember? I’m going to support you. And I know everyone else would understand.”

She didn’t think they wouldn’t. But as much as she just wanted to sleep until tomorrow and skip the rest of this day, she wasn’t sure she would be able to relax at home if she didn’t know what was happening with her friends.

“If nothing else, I want to check up on Rose.” Seeing that he looked ready to argue, she rushed on. “I need this. Please.”

He hesitated. And she was worried he would push the issue, because she was sure that she would give in if he did. She just did not have the energy to argue at this point. Fortunately though, he seemed to understand as he took her arm in his.

“Okay. But I’ll be right here with you.”

Any other day, she would be a stammering mess if Adrien were to take her arm and walk with her like this.

Today, she was simply grateful.

__________________

It didn’t take them too long to find Rose. She was in the hallway talking with Alya. The two seemed deep in conversation that they didn’t notice the duo approach.

“Rose!” Marinette exclaimed, loosening her arm from Adrien’s hold and rushing to her friend. “Are you okay?”

The blonde looked up at her, tearful.

“I’m okay.” She murmured as she wiped at her eyes. 

“But are you?” Alya broke in, asking Marinette. “Girl, I saw the footage!”

Marinette blinked.

“Footage?” She asked, and then started to back away at the expression on Alya’s face.

Alya could be headstrong, but she never really got angry. Upset, certainly. Annoyed, often. But even in the heights of Lila’s worst attempts to make Marinette look bad, Alya had never truly gotten angry—just righteous and in Marinette’s opinion that was admittedly a bit resentful at the time, acting a bit superior. Perhaps the only time she had ever seen her friend look truly angry was during Hero’s Day, and even then it took a hit from Dark Cupid and Hawk Moth’s control to get her there.

So seeing Alya looking ready to claw someone’s eyes out was…unsettling, to say the least.

Even Adrien apparently seemed to think so, as he moved up to Marinette and almost seemed to position himself slightly between them. “Alya? What happened?”

Despite Adrien’s attempt to act as a barrier, Marinette tried to reach out, concerned for her friend’s state. The way she was looking, Marinette half wondered if she wasn’t still affected by Witch Hunter. A quick glance to a worried Rose disproved that easily enough, but perhaps it was a remnant of her power the Cure missed? “Are you okay?”

“What do you mean am I okay? Are YOU okay?!” Alya shouted, pointing at Marinette. “Girl, I saw what what happened with you and Lila!”

Marinette jumped. Her mind immediately raced to her call out of Lila just a little over an hour ago. Did someone record her going off? Was there something that had revealed her as Ladybug? Had she messed up?!

“What?! No wait—it’s not what you—I didn’t mean—!”

Alya was pulling up her phone, and by the time she turned it so that Marinette and Adrien could see, the video already started playing. The video was recorded from someone within the akuma’s mob—not yet grown to the level of the city yet.

Marinette briefly recognized that the location in the video seemed familiar but hadn’t quite registered how when a sudden commotion caught the attention of the group. The person recording turned the camera sharply, which blurred and then focused on a fallen figure a short distance away.

“—conspirator helping the Witch! Someone grab her!”

…oh. That figure was her.

And the moment when Lila had betrayed her and tried to sacrifice her to the mob.

“Hey! That’s Marinette!” Came Alya’s voice from the phone, shortly followed by the exclamations from the crowd that Marinette already knew were coming because she had lived this and yet despite seeing it on record, she still struggled to believe it actually happened.

…the crowd leaving her alone part. Not the Lila betraying her part. THAT, she could believe no question.

“I can’t believe she would do that!” Alya exclaimed. The real Alya. The present one. Who was standing in front of her and not the one in the phone—who was almost disturbingly cheerful in how she was calling for Lila’s blood.

…to be honest, Marinette wasn’t sure whether that mob Alya or the furious one in front of her scared her more. Present Alya, for her part, was clearly NOT happy about the events.

Neither was Adrien, apparently, as he grabbed the phone from Alya and looked to be furious himself.

“Wait—Lila did WHAT?!” He demanded. And…wow, was this what Adrien had been like as part of the mob? She hadn’t known he could get that angry.

“She tried to throw Marinette to the mob!” Alya bit out.

“I can’t believe it!”

“How could she—?!”

“When Marinette had just been trying to help her!”

“That lousy little b—”

“WHY did she even think that was necessary?!”

“Is it too late to torch her and say the akuma did it?”

Marinette looked between the two, feeling that she should be saying something but honestly, just getting all the more overwhelmed.

A hand on her arm broke her attention away from the two and back to poor Rose, who looked almost to the point of tears again.

“I’m so sorry, Marinette! I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Oh Rose, you deserved better than this.

“No! You actually let me go.” She insisted, much to the blonde’s visible relief. “You were focused only on Lila. And aside from getting people to help you hunt her down, you didn’t do anything to anyone else.”

If anything, the people of Paris seemed pretty happy for the excuse.

…maybe she really needed to talk to the Mayor about having a fun festival to just let everyone blow off steam?

She could focus on that later though. She shook her head and returned her attention to Rose. The girl still looked nervous, but less worried at least. That was good.

Rose sniffled. “I didn’t know. I’ve just been scared to see what my akuma did.”

“No one was hurt in the end.” Marinette assured her. “Ladybug came and stopped it. Nobody was hurt.”

Because Rose never really wanted to hurt anyone, she was sure. Even if it was Lila.

At most, maybe Lila got a little smokey smell to her. And a lot wet. But she survived. And without burns.

Rose seemed to slump in relief. “I’m so glad.”

And this…this right here was why it was worth it. Because the difference in Rose’s posture and expression within a few seconds meant a situation she could feel move on from versus a guilt she would be carrying with her all her life.

“I can't believe I almost did that! What did I become!?" Rose cried.

“You were akumatized. You were rightfully enraged by someone you thought was a friend taking advantage of you. Honestly, the only reason I didn't join in is because nothing about her shocks me anymore.”

Despite the attempt at reassurance, the smaller girl drew in on herself more. She rubbed at her eyes to wipe away tears and merely nodded at Marinette’s words. Hearing, but not fully agreeing. Or maybe it was the reminder that Marinette had known and tried to reveal Lila sooner to no avail.

Of all people, Rose didn’t deserve this. None of the classmates did, but Rose had been particularly trusting and was affected the worst because of this.

She couldn’t help it. She hugged Rose. If Adrien’s hug earlier had been so nice for her, maybe this could help the smaller girl in turn.

Rose certainly seemed to appreciate it as she hugged back…quite strongly, actually. Marinette had known Rose had some upper body strength given how she had been able to carry Chloe during the Zombizu attack but wow. Rose was smaller than Adrien, but her hug was just as warm but more tight.

Marinette lost herself a bit in the comfort she was giving and receiving. She barely even noticed that Adrien and Alya were still talking. She was peripherally aware that it was happening, but once again had lost track of what they were actually saying.

She had checked on Rose and made sure she was doing…well even if not fully okay. Maybe this was a sign she should go home?

“LIAR!”

It seemed it wasn’t to be, however, as a sudden commotion caught her notice, dragging her attention to a gathering down the hall.

And suddenly, Marinette was wide awake.

__________________

“—trusted me. Ladybug knew I would never do such a thing! That’s how she was able to ward off Witch Hunter.”

Lila giggled.

“You could say that the ‘power of friendship’ saved the day!”

Of course she was lying through her teeth once again. Not that she needed to at this point, really. Her mother was firmly in her corner and Lila would be getting to leave Paris soon enough. But there was a part of her that wanted to see if she couldn’t convince them one more time.

While she may not have a chance of getting revenge on Hawk Moth, she at least wanted some victory to take with her when she left. After all, Lila was hardly one to simply let things go and let this end without a last hurrah. No, if anything, when the chips were down, she was used to going all in. And if she lost? Well, not like it mattered if she wasn’t there to pay afterwards.

This time would be no different.

Truthfully, the only reason she was at the school at all was so her mother could file the paperwork to transfer her out. She hadn’t really wanted to go, but she had needed to be there to run interference in case anyone attempted to approach her. It had been part of the reason she had insisted on going despite her “harrowing” experience. Her mother had insisted on starting the process to remove Lila from the school immediately. And while she was sure no one would recognize the woman if she arrived alone, Lila knew she had to be there to “lead” the discussion between her mother and the Principal, as well as protect her mother from hearing any untoward rumors that could taint her view of her loving and trusted daughter.

Lila hadn’t intended to be caught by her soon to be former classmates. The original plan had been to simply disappear from their lives and leave them with their guilt and uncertainty. It was part of the reason she had agreed to come with her mother to the school so soon, as she had expected that everyone should be in class by the time they arrived. But her mother had gotten out earlier than expected, and people were still milling about the school.

She had kept her head down and hoped that no one would notice her. But luck was not in her favor it seemed, as Bustier had been late for some unknown reason, so her students had chosen to hang out in the hallways instead of waiting in the classroom or simply calling it a day and going home early.

A minor hiccup. She was sure that they would be forced to leave once class started. She separated from her mother with the pretense of saying goodbye to all of her friends, in the actual intention of simply buying time until the teacher returned and called them away. Her mother and Damocles had even seemed eager for her to, reassuring her that they did not need her and ushering her out of the room, which was all the more in her favor she supposed.

And really, how could she resist one more opportunity to see them dance for her?

After this, she would be home free. Not like they could do anything to her across international borders even if they did try.

There was no risk to her at this point. So It was worth pushing to see just how far she could milk this.

And these were the best saps a girl could ask for.

The present classmates listened to her tale of woe. Though  only a fraction of the crowd she would normally draw and not quite as eager as they used to, they were still listening to her patiently at least instead of simply blowing her off or calling her out. Which meant there was still a chance they would believe her.

A few of them actually seemed to be buying her story. And it had been one of her better tales, in her personal opinion. There were one or two that rolled their eyes—which, rude. A couple who seemed disinterested. But most of the rest seemed uncertain.

It was a shame Rose wasn’t there. Lila was sure that she would especially appreciate the performance. Though part of her was relieved, since she figured that the emotional girl would probably start crying if she had been.

Though there was also no Marinette either, which meant no one to counter her story as she had no doubt the little Miss Perfect would.

“You’re really saying that Marinette handed you off to the violent mob?”

That also meant she wasn’t there to defend herself either.

Lila hunched her shoulders and brought up a hand to her face in a nervous expression. “It’s not her fault. I’m sure it was because of the akuma. Even she wouldn’t turn on me like that just because she doesn’t like me…”

Cry her a river? She’d be seeing Marinette cry a river once she was done here. If she accomplished nothing else before she left, she would at least make sure Marinette Dupain-Cheng regretted talking to her like that.

“I’m sure she wouldn’t have done it if she was herself.” Mylene reached forward to comfort her but stopped a foot away and immediately decided to back off and keep her hands to herself. She coughed into her hand and looked away.

Lila frowned, scratching her head. What was that about?

She shook it off and kept to her plan. Play up the innocent act and leave them guessing until it was time to go. Whatever happened after that was their problem.

“I was so scared.” Lila whimpered. “Her expression at that time was…terrifying.”

Some more of the classmates looked sympathetic. Yet none of them approached her. Now that Lila noticed, there was a distinct space between her and the rest of the class. No one would come within five feet of her.

She hugged herself, looking the picture of wounded and helpless. “I was just lucky I was able to get away after she outted my hiding place to the mob.”

“LIAR!”

Everyone jumped to see a fuming Alya approach. A somewhat less visibly angry but still no doubt displeased Adrien was right behind her.

Both of them were focused completely on Lila.

Lila gasped, as if hurt. “What do you—”

“Can it.” Alya cut her off immediately, not even giving her a chance to spin some new lie. “You can’t be trusted, Lila. Or did you think we would forget about earlier?”

“That was a misunderstanding.” Lila explained, raising her hands in a peaceful gesture. “You weren’t here, but I had already told everyone what happened and why.”

“Oh really?” Alya asked, clearly disbelieving.

“She said that she was hit by an akuma before the attack today and only snapped out of it after Rose was akumatized.” Alix stated with a droll tone and an expression that said she didn’t believe it either.

Alya gave Lila a flat stare. “Do you actually expect us to believe that?” 

“It’s the truth.” Lila rested a hand over her heart akin to an oath before curling her fingers and drawing in on herself as if pained. “I was horrified when I woke up and realized what had happened.”

“Then where is the money?” Alya demanded. 

Lila resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Usually Alya would take her at her word, which was useful when others in turn trusted her for her reporting skills. It worked to her advantage when Alya believed her, but having those skills turned on her was a real pain.

“Hawk Moth must have taken it.” She suggested. It couldn’t be proven, of course, but it couldn’t be disproven either. And this group was particularly gullible and willing to believe the best in anyone regardless of common sense.

Except this time, apparently.

“If Hawk Moth needed money, we would be seeing akumas robbing banks, not stealing donations from teenagers for a fake charity.” Kim pointed out.

“He was probably being discreet.” Lila said hastily.

“Stealing money from a charity isn’t discreet!” Alya shouted, drawing even more attention much to Lila’s annoyance.

“Everyone already knows you lied and pocketed the money. The very least you could do is admit it.“ Adrien said, looking rather cross.

Of all the times for the doormat to actually try to stand up on his own, did it have to be now?

Lila gasped, looking hurt. Internally, she was annoyed more than anything. He was supposed to be passive. He’d never stood out like this before!

“But Adrien, you said we were friends, remember?”

It was a reminder of their “deal”. As well as a thinly veiled threat of what she would have free reign to do if that deal was broken. Not just to Marinette, but to him as well. After all, Adrien knew about Lila’s lies all along and did nothing. If he was going to out her here, she would be dragging him down with her.

“I said we were friends as long as you didn’t hurt anyone I care about!” Adrien corrected her. “And you have! You hurt Kagami. You hurt Marinette. And now you’ve hurt Rose!”

“Wait—dude! You knew?” Nino asked, looking hurt.

“I knew she was a liar.” Adrien admitted to everyone. He looked down in shame. “I didn’t want to say anything because I thought…” He paused before shrugging. “Well, I thought a lot of things that were wrong.”

“Dude.” Kim muttered.

Ivan gave Adrien a stern glare. “You owe Rose. Big time.”

“Marinette, too.” Alya added, gesturing to the pig-tailed girl who had approached the group alongside Rose.

“I know.” Adrien nodded and turned to the two, even going so far as to bow lowly from the waist. “And I’ll accept any punishment if it means you will all forgive me for not speaking up sooner.”

He knew better now. The absence of overt conflict doesn’t mean that the problem is solved. He had thought he was fixing problems, but really, he was only dealing with symptoms.

Rose looked uncertain. She stared at Adrien, biting her lip. She was snapped out of her thoughts by a touch to her shoulder. Looking up in surprise, she saw Marinette and remembered that the other girl had still been beside her. Even now, she was acting as a support.

Marinette patted her on the shoulder and smiled at her reassuringly. “It’s up to you.”

Rose looked back to Adrien.

He hadn’t been the one who did it. But he knew…if not that Lila was lying, then at least that she was a liar. He knew and he didn’t say anything. Which…well, wasn’t AS bad as Lila actually lying, but still bad.

She frowned.

“I want your endorsement on the charity.”

“Done.”

“And a cake for the class as an apology.”

“Just tell me what flavor.”

“And for you to take Marinette on a date to a fancy restaurant.”

“I’ll check my sched—wait, what?” He asked, standing up straight.

Marinette covered Rose’s mouth before she could repeat herself.

“Just the first two will be fine.” She said, flushing with embarrassment. Because really Rose?

Rose, for her part, gave her an annoyed look but didn’t fight her. Nor did she attempt to keep up the demand even after Marinette released her.

“Are you sure?” He asked, holding up a hand to her as if in offering. “After everything, a nice meal would be the least I could do.”

Then he smiled.

And suddenly, Marinette’s initial willpower just took a hit.

“It’ll be my treat.” He promised.

Marinette felt herself heat up at that. He hadn’t seemed to notice the ‘date’ part of Rose’s statement, but seemed rather stuck on the idea of getting a dinner together and Marinette knew she shouldn’t, but she didn’t want to say no either…

The classmates were all grinning or sending each other knowing looks. Alya was getting her phone out to record for blackmail future wedding material. Rose was beaming excitedly. They were all glad that some good was coming out of this.

Except, of course, for Lila.

Any cheerful atmosphere or chatter immediately died at the way Lila cleared her throat. Somehow, she just seemed to draw all attention to herself. The others looked to her in question. But Marinette, who knew Lila well enough to know she was plotting something, only felt dread.

“But is that really appropriate?” Lila asked, innocently. She rubbed at her arm. “After all, you wouldn’t want Adrien to be leading on Marinette the way he did me.”

The others stared. “What?”

Marinette paled.

Oh. Oh, this was going down a bad road, she could feel it.

Adrien glared. “I never led you on, Lila.”

Lila chuckled cheerfully. “Oh, I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, of course. But taking a girl out to a fancy dinner would…well…certainly imply things. Especially if the girl in question already is enamored with you.”

He blinked.

“What?”

“She holds feelings for you.”

A moment’s pause.

“You mean…as a friend?” He asked.

…seriously? Was he not getting it?

“She is clearly crushing on you.” Lila stated flatly.

Adrien stared.

“…What?”

Lila sighed in irritation. “Why else do you think she always freaks out around you? The stammering? The nervous giggling? The weird statements that don’t fit the context?”

Marinette pulled at her pigtails in frustration. Because of course. Of-freaking-course Lila would sink this low!

Adrien blinked, then rubbed his chin. “I thought it was because of the way I kept surprising her? Like approaching her from behind. Or appearing behind her locker right as she closes it.”

Nino squinted at his friend. “Which I’ve been meaning to ask, how do you even do that?”

“Not the point.” Lila cut in before turning back to Adrien. “Seriously, Adrien, didn’t you wonder why she had all those posters of you in her room?”

“Because she’s a fan. She even told me as much.” He stated.

Lila stared as Adrien beamed at his Very Good Friend. “And it’s kind of nice knowing that a fashion designer like Marinette likes what I do. And looks up to my father.” He snapped his fingers in realization. “Hey! Maybe I could see if you can’t meet my dad sometime!”

Marinette smiled uncertainly and just…sort of nodded. “That sounds nice.”

Because really, what else could she do at this point?

Lila gaped in growing outrage.

Was…was he just going to keep ignoring her? To focus on…THAT?

“What? No! Adrien, she is crushing on you! Like…obsessively!” Lila exclaimed.

Adrien seemed to be getting annoyed with Lila’s continued interruptions, given the look he threw her. “Lila, do you really have to keep making things up?”

“I’m not making this up!”

“Yeah,” Alix said sarcastically. “Just like the charity.”

“And Marinette leaving you to the akuma.” Alya added, still clearly angry about that.

“And everything else you’ve ever said.”

Lila growled. “But this is true! And I have proof!”

With a smirk, Lila held out her phone, showing the picture she had taken earlier of the schedule inside Marinette’s room.

“See? Marinette has your schedule on her calendar!” She exclaimed.

Adrien frowned at her, disapprovingly. “Are you seriously making things up now just to make Marinette look bad?”

Marinette winced. 

He was really keeping his word and trying to support her. She knew in this moment that if she denied it, Adrien would believe her. And it may save face and protect her from any further humiliation.

As well as sticking it to Lila, which was always nice.

…But Marinette hated liars. And if there was one thing that this entire mess taught her, it was that great harm could come from lies. She didn’t want to give Lila any additional ammunition to use against her, but she knew it would only be worse if it got out later.

And she didn’t want to misuse Adrien’s trust in that way.

“Actually, I do have your schedule.” She admitted.

Adrien stopped in the middle of the lecture he was about to give Lila. He turned to her in surprise.

“What?”

“It’s just…you would mention certain activities or plans. Fencing. Tutoring. Lessons. And I would hear and add them to my calendar so I would be aware when it came to planning things.”

Silence.

Lila smirked in victory. So the goody-two shoes had a fault and was actually admitting to it for the entire class to see. Even Adrien’s protective best friend must be up in arms as he took Lila’s phone with the picture of the schedule to look it over.

Adrien, for his part, blinked as he registered the information.

“So you’ve kept track of all the events and scheduling I’ve told you about to add to your calendar?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

A longer pause. Marinette mentally kicked herself. Why hadn’t she just stayed home and avoided this mess?

Then he smiled. “That was nice of you.”

“What?” Marinette asked, stunned.

“What.” Lila less asked than stated. Shrieking even in her disbelief.

“Well, friends keep friends on their schedules.” Adrien said, nodding resolutely.

Lila stared, her eye twitching slightly.

But he paid her no mind, keeping his gaze on his very good friend.

"Can I see it?" He asked her.

Marinette blinked. "What?"

He was actually looking eager now. “That way I can fill in any gaps so we can choose better times to hang out!”

She flushed. This was not the direction she had expected this to go. And from Lila’s disgusted expression, neither had she.

Far be it from her to argue. Especially against Adrien’s hopeful puppy eyes.

"Okay."

“Great! I’ll come by your house later! Maybe we can play Mecha Strike while we’re at it.” He said with a smile that—gah, too bright! It would probably blind her if it didn’t make her heart explode.

Marinette blushed.

“Okay?” She agreed because really, what else could she do at this point?

"WHAT?!" Lila raged, her skin starting to turn red. "Why would you want to help her keep your schedule?! Isn't that creepy?!"

He turned to Lila at that with a frown. “But...she's my friend. I'm on her Personal Calendar with all the people she considers friends!" And she’d done this even before their talk today, so that meant she really did like him, right?

Lila rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Adrien! Who actually does that?"

Adrien shrugged. "Nino does."

A pause. Slowly, all eyes turned to Nino.

The cap-wearing teen realized the sudden attention he'd got and jumped back, waving his hands.

"Well, how else were we supposed to have hangouts with that schedule of his?" He defended before turning his attention to Marinette. “You’re missing his Chinese lessons by the way.”

Marinette turned to him in surprise. “What?”

“Yeah, also he has a photoshoot this weekend and in the middle of next week. And I see my schedule on there, too, but you don’t have my gig Friday.”

“Wait—you’re on her schedule, too?” Ivan asked, surprised.

“All of her friends are.” Nino confirmed.

Kim raised his hand. “Am I on there?”

“All of her friends are.” Nino repeated, and looked down at the picture of the calendar. “She has your swim meet for next Tuesday. And a plan to bring some of those tarts you like.”

“Sweet!” Kim exclaimed, giving a fist pump.

Nino nodded to Marinette before handing the phone back to Lila. “Plus Alya and I are having a date Sunday, not Saturday, so we won't need you to babysit. Might want to add that.” 

Marinette blinked as she just…tried to register everything.

“Oh. Okay.”

Apparently, that was becoming her default word as she was still trying to process how any of this was happening.

Alya stared at her boyfriend.

“So wait, you have Adrien’s schedule, too?”

“Of course, I do! Hangouts are difficult enough, but we also need to know what times we can video chat.” Nino shrugged. “How else do you think I knew when his dad was leaving? And how to get past his bodyguard?”

Lila gaped. She couldn’t believe this!

Even the other classmates seemed unbothered. Did they really have no concept of boundaries?

…of course they didn’t. They were teenagers.

The fact that Lila herself had commonly infringed on Adrien’s boundaries in a physical way on a daily basis and most recently violated Marinette’s boundaries specifically to find this information to use against her in the first place seemed entirely lost on her.

“You’ve got to be kidding me? How are you okay with this? Are you seriously that stupid?” Lila demanded.

Adrien frowned at Lila, stepping in front of his friends. “Marinette and everyone else here are my friends. Of course, I care about them and would want them to know when I’m available—”

“You can’t possibly be that blind! MARINETTE. HAS. A. CRUSH. ON. YOU. She is so hopelessly in love with you that it’s pathetic!”

“Don’t talk about her like—”

“She has birthday and holiday gifts for you for YEARS!” Lila shouted. “HOW IS THAT NOT WEIRD?!”

The classmates blinked or jumped in surprise before all eyes turned to Marinette.

Why? Why was she Lila’s go-to target?

“I was just…I mean…” She stammered, looking down in shame and embarrassment.

The classmates seemed to be waiting for an answer. It seemed they were at least trying to give her the benefit of the doubt since it was LILA making the accusation, after all, and it was clear by this point that she was simply throwing out anything to make her look bad.

Hesitant, she looked up to see Adrien’s reaction.

And Adrien…oh god, he actually had tears in his eyes!

“Really? Is it true?”

Marinette jumped to try and explain.

“I—um—well—you see—”

His eyes widened. “I can’t believe it...”

“No wait! It’s not—”

Okay, yeah, she was a mess and had nothing.

“You felt so bad about missing my birthday that you’ve been making gifts for me ahead of time so you won’t miss it again!” He exclaimed, looking excited.

Which was okay, apparently, because Adrien had apparently drawn his own conclusions. As evidenced when he pulled her into a hug.

“You didn’t have to do all that, Marinette.” He said, giving her a squeeze. “I don’t hold it against you that you forgot my birthday. You didn’t know.”

A part of Marinette was screaming. Because oh, the irony. If only he knew…

Alya…out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Alya also looked like she desperately wanted to say something. Probably the truth about his scarf. Which now was a bad time to reveal.

“You have no reason to feel guilty for not getting me anything.” He told her, releasing her with a smile and patting her shoulders. “But I appreciate that you felt so strongly about it that you would try to get such a head start to make up for it. It means a lot that you care so much about me.”

Marinette…yeah, Marinette.exe has shut down.

“But that’s not...” Mylene started, only to pause for several seconds before frowning with a small wince. “Actually yeah, that does sound exactly like something Marinette would do.”

“Remember how she got Alya an interview with Ladybug after she accidentally deleted that video?” Kim chimed in.

Nino slapped his forehead. “Oh yeah! Alya went on and on about that for weeks!”

Alya—even Alya, her best friend, who knew full well about her crush and the gifts actually looked uncertain at the news. She bit her lip, looking back and forth between Adrien and Marinette in confusion and concern.

Because she remembered that Adrien’s father had somehow wound up with credit for Marinette’s gift to Adrien. She also remembered how Chloe had broken into Marinette’s locker and vandalized her gift to Bustier. Then there was the time Marinette made Adrien that hat but didn’t take credit for that either.

Marinette…just seemed to have bad luck when it came to giving people things, apparently.

So was it really any wonder that the girl would become that anxious over gift-giving? Or that Marinette, being Marinette, had gone so far as to prepare a multitude of gifts as backups in case something like her gift being stolen, lost, or vandalized happened again?

Alya...honestly didn’t know anymore. Maybe that was something she should try to help with more in the future.

Adrien for his part was simply basking in the glow of happiness that came with knowing how much his good friend Marinette cared about him. Nobody had the heart to argue with him. Nor did any of them even have an argument to make.

“Are you kidding? No one keeps that many gifts for one person in their closet! Can you possibly be that stupid?”

Except Lila, but after everything that had happened, no one was really feeling inclined to humor her.

“Since you’re bringing that up though, here’s a better question.” Alix cut in, giving Lila a glare. “How do you even know any of this?”

Lila drew back in surprise as she suddenly found herself the subject of glares from the rest of her classmates.

“I somehow doubt Marinette invited you into her room.” Alix continued.

“Her parents did!” Lila quickly explained, absently scratching at her wrist. “They invited me inside since the mob was after me.”

Okay, yeah no. Marinette’s brain had rebooted at that. There was no way she was going to let Lila implicate her parents.

“I already talked to my parents about what happened after I saw you wearing my clothes. They invited you into the bakery.” Marinette corrected angrily. “They did not invite you into my room.”

“It was an accident.” Lila claimed. “I had gotten lost, but once I realized where I was and what I was seeing, I just had to warn everyone—”

“‘What you were seeing’,” Marinette cut her off coldly, “should not have been seen unless you had been looking for them. I kept those gifts in my closet. The schedule was put away. The pictures were not visible from my trap door—which you should have realized right away would NOT lead you to any exit.”

Lila scratched at her neck. “Well, I hardly know anything about you since you keep me at arm’s length. Can you blame me for being a little curious?”

“YES.” Came the resounding echo from…well…nearly everyone. It was clear that nobody was buying anything Lila was trying to sell.

“You don’t try to ‘learn about someone’ by breaking into their room, recording what you find there, and sharing it with people!” Mylene ranted.

“It sounds like you’re trying to make Marinette look bad to distract us from your own actions.” Ivan said with a glare. “Because none this changes what you did.”

“You lied to us about the charity and EVERYTHING else you’ve ever said!” Alya exclaimed.

“Did you make up all those illnesses, too?” Kim asked, disappointed and disapproval evident in his voice.

“I bet you were the one who nearly caused Marinette to get expelled.” Alix hissed, leading more growls and angry muttering from the audience.

“No, I haven’t! It was just a misunderstanding!” Lila insisted.

“Was it?” Came a voice.

Everyone immediately silenced and all eyes turned to one person.

Rose stood tall. Or at least as tall as she could in such a situation. In truth, she was shaking. Her lip was trembling like she was trying not to cry. And she stared straight at Lila, almost as if she was gazing into her soul.

If it was anyone else, Lila might have been concerned.

But it was Rose. Poor simple Rose who always believed in everyone and would listen to anything she said without question.

It’d be easy enough to get back in her good graces.

And all it would take…

Lila sniffled, lowering her head. “I’m sorry.”

Everyone stared.

Marinette wanted to bang her head against something.

Lila rubbed at her eyes to give the illusion of tears. She even managed a couple of hiccups. “You were just all…all so amazing and I was scared about fitting in. I did embellish some things but I…I just wanted you all to like me.” She covered her face, effectively hiding her eyes.

“Things just spiraled out of control and before I knew it, I was trapped! I couldn’t be honest and I was so scared of what you all would think of me!” She sobbed out. 

Disregarding, of course, the fact that she had just tried to throw Marinette under the bus—and not for the first time.

Lila looked up at the group, eyes watery though no actual tears have been shed. “I never meant to hurt anyone.” She whimpered. “I just admired you all so much! I’m so sorry!”

They hesitated. Of course they did. They were easily played by emotional appeals. All she’d ever had to do was fake pain or sadness and they would fall over themselves in response before any true logic or reason could set in.

And of course, Rose of all people stepped forward.

The small blonde rested a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes, with what had to be some form of reassurance on her lips.

Leave it to Rose to forgive any transgressions and be willing to start anew. She was always the first to offer reassurances. The first to believe in someone. The first to support a good cause. If anyone would understand and show sympathy, it would be her.

“I don’t believe you.”

That…was not it.

Rose stepped back from Lila, her nose scrunched in disgust. She backed away a good couple of feet. She even wiped her hands on her dress—or attempted to, until Mylene handed her some hand wipes. As if touching Lila had been filthy to her.

“Is even touching me that bad?” Lila asked, acting pitiful.

A long pause. Several of the classmates glanced between each other. They all seemed to want to say something, but couldn’t seem to bring themselves to.

“You stink.”

Except for Juleka, who was glaring at Lila.

Lila gaped.

“What?”

Did…she mean that literally or was she just being juvenile?

Kim actually pinched his nose. “Yeah, I wasn’t going to say anything, but you kind of reek.”

Lila clenched her fists, her anger growing and her skin starting to turn red. “How dare you?!”

"Like...you stink...and you stink. Figuratively and physically." Kim said, sounding nasally with his nose plugged.

“Kind of smells wet and musty.” Nino muttered.

“I was thinking it smelled more like a dumpster.” Mylene noted.

“It’s probably her soul.” Alix muttered, shooting Lila a dark glare.

Marinette gasped and spun on Lila. “Wait! Lila, didn’t you jump in the Seine earlier?”

Lila flushed, embarrassed at the reminder and the realization that her shower earlier had only done the bare minimum for her hair. “It wasn’t by choice!”

The other teens gave Lila disgusted looks.

“You…do know the Seine isn’t the cleanest, right?” Ivan asked.

“It wasn’t my fault!” Lila exclaimed. “It was that damn Ladybug who splashed me with water!”

Several of the classmates bristled at that and the insult to their city’s hero.

“She was putting the pyre out.” Alya countered, looking up the video on her phone. “Otherwise you would have been burned. And then you would have died. And none of this would even be up for discussion right now.”

“Really, you could show a little more appreciation for Ladybug rescuing you.” Adrien said, narrowing his eyes at Lila. “Even if she wasn’t your best friend.”

He knew she wasn’t. He had been there when Ladybug herself had confronted Lila on her lies, so of course he knew that they weren’t friends. Not that anyone else did. But the reminder of that particular lie and Ladybug’s recent threat brought out a level of fear within her that she hadn’t experienced before.

She could almost swear that she felt Ladybug’s gaze on her.

Lila silently fumed momentarily but forced herself to calm and steady her nerves.

Remember, she was still the one in control here. Not the school. Not these classmates. And certainly not Ladybug!

She closed her eyes and let out a breath.

Oh well. She gave it a try and it didn’t work. An annoyance, but ultimately, no real loss. She was still leaving. And they had nothing they could pin on her.

Rose was the one who collected the money. The school and teachers were the ones who hadn’t verified her paperwork. Gabriel had been the one to hire her to spy on his own son. Hawk Moth had been the one to use her. And Ladybug had been the one who didn’t protect her.

Really, wasn’t it their own fault?

“If that’s how you all feel, then I’ll just leave.” Lila said, looking away in a manner she was sure looked dejected. Such a look would normally lead people to feel some pity for her and some remorse for anything they had done.

Here though, it just made her look petulant.

None of the classmates were impressed. Several looked ready to argue. Maybe to even try to brave the stench around her and force her to stay and admit to her acts.

Except…

“The one thing I don’t understand though is why did you keep doing it? Why all the lies?” Rose asked.

“Yeah,” Alya agreed. “Looking back, your lies were all over the place and didn’t amount to much. Not until the fake charity scam, anyway, and you were bound to get caught. What was even the point of it all?”

What was the point? Was she serious? It was everything.

Lila rolled her eyes. “Oh please. Like any of you would have really cared about me if you hadn’t thought I had something you could use.”

They all just stared at her incredulously.

“Um…but we would have.”

Lila paused, blinking in confusion.

“What?”

Rose brought her hands up. “We would have liked you regardless, Lila! You didn’t have to lie!”

“And even if you do lie,” Mylene continued, “we still could have forgiven it and liked you anyway.”

“We may not have been happy about being lied to, but we could have understood. Maybe even helped.” Ivan stated, rubbing his head.

Marinette stepped forward. “I told you before Lila. We could be friends when you stopped lying.”

Lila stared at her. Was she serious?

That was…

Lila gaped at them all in disbelief. None of them argued. Many even nodded their heads in agreement.

She couldn’t believe it…

That was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard!

Who actually forgives people for things like that? Even little acts that seemed weird were often enough to turn people off. Even good qualities like leadership, prioritizing, and professionalism could be twisted and used against the person. This was supposed to be a world where any flaw should be enough to ruin someone and warrant raking them over the coals!

And these idiots were just…fine with it?

Honestly, it was no wonder she was able to get away with so much! These idiots were practically begging to be manipulated!

Lila forced tears to her eyes. “You would be willing to forgive me? Just like that?”

“Well, not now, no.” Adrien said, finally speaking up.

Lila stared. Because…this was Adrien. Adrien Agreste who was Paris’s Sunshine Child and seemingly incapable of holding a grudge. Or standing up for himself.

And…he was going to refuse to forgive her?

“I figured your initial claims about knowing famous celebrities was just to make people like you. We could have forgiven you for that.”

His eyes narrowed.

“But then you used your lies to hurt people. And in ways you had to go well out of the way to do.”

“What?! No, I didn’t—”

But he cut her off.

“You tried to get Marinette expelled. You stole from all of us and made Rose’s charity work into a criminal act. And while we’re at it…” He drawled, making Lila nervous. “Maybe we can discuss how you’ve been spying on me for my father?”

Lila tensed briefly before putting on a wounded expression.

“That was just the akuma making things up!”

“Yeah, I spoke with my father about that.” Adrien continued, sounding…particularly cold. “Oh, and by the way, you’re fired.”

“Fired?” Lila balked. She clenched her fists and her shoulders raised in growing ire. “What do you mean ‘fired’?!”

Adrien steepled his fingers together as if he was trying to think. “Um, how else can I say it? You’re being let go. Your department’s being downsized. You’re part of an outplacement. We’re going in a different direction. We’re not picking up your option. Take your pick. I’ve got more.”

She grit her teeth.

She’d known from her call with Nathalie earlier that they were firing her. Part of her had believed that it was simply due to Witch Hunter’s control. But if that was the case, they shouldn’t remember it now. Though it could be that they remember the initial claim from Witch Hunter that brought them under her influence, but even then, there wouldn’t be any proof.

No…this had to be intentional. Given her suspicions of Gabriel, she had considered that he would cut ties, but to do it like this? Through Adrien? In front of everyone?

Oh. She was going to make him pay.

Outside of Lila’s thoughts of revenge and misery, the classmates realized something about Adrien’s totally cool and not at all corny or referenced speech.

Kim stared. “Dude…did you really just…”

Nino held up a hand. “Let him have this.” He wiped away a fake tear. “I’m so proud.”

Muffled chuckling from others indicated that they all knew what he had been referencing.

Except for Marinette, who was looking around in confusion. Because sure, Adrien was being cool just then and it was kind of funny to see Lila get some comeuppance, but what was all the snickering for? “Wait…what was that about?”

Adrien spun on her in shock. “Wait—you’ve never seen Emperor’s New Groove?”

Marinette blinked, uncertain. “Um…no?”

He took her hands in his, looking so serious that this had to be a matter of grave importance. “We must rectify this immediately. Will you come watch the movie with me? Father is being unusually lenient about things to make up for everything with Lila that he’ll probably allow a hangout this weekend.” He smiled. “So would you like to binge watch movies together?”

Oh. Oh, Marinette thought she was over this. But clearly not as she felt her face flush and her heart leap into her throat. Her brain was short circuiting because this was…this was a date with Adrien? ANOTHER date with Adrien? THREE dates with Adrien? That she hadn’t even had to be the one to ask him for? Just what is life right now? Was this life? Was this a dream? Lila finally outted as a liar and Adrien agreeing to spend time with her…this felt like a dream.

At best, she was only able to nod. And Adrien’s smile in response was near blinding. She didn’t even notice the way their classmates grinned or gave each other high fives.

…or the way Lila was turning red in her growing ire. 

Lila scratched angrily at her neck. Hard enough to leave marks.

Not only did he fire her, but now he was ignoring her and just flirting right in front of her?! It was bad enough she was revealed and chased around for the past few hours thanks to an akuma. Then betrayed by Hawk Moth. And then threatened by Ladybug. But this…this was just adding insult to injury by this point!

She wanted to say something—anything to break up this delightful little scene and wipe that happy look off their faces.

Sometimes, spite overcame reason.

“Oh please!” She shouted, drawing everyone’s gazes away from the cute scene and back to Lila where she was pointing at Adrien in anger. “The only reason he’s firing me is because I know he’s Hawk Moth!”

A long pause.

Alya looked at Adrien before turning back to Lila, eyebrow raised. “You mean Adrien?”

The blond in question paled and drew in on himself. It wasn’t true, but what if she brought up some ‘evidence’ like his tendency to disappear during akuma fights? Would anyone else believe her? Especially given how he’d messed up before and inadvertently helped Lila to create prime akuma material?

“Adrien isn’t Hawk Moth!” Marinette insisted, looking angry, and Adrien felt a combination of relief and admiration for the girl.

“Yeah!” Nino agreed, wrapping an arm around Adrien’s shoulders and holding out the other hand in front of them like he was trying to ward off Lila or perhaps her stench. “Don’t be talking about my boy like that!”

“Wow.” Kim muttered. “You’ve told some bad lies before but that takes the cake.”

“Shame on you, Lila!”

Lila reared back in shock at the direction this went. “What?! NO! I meant Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth!”

But people were just…rolling their eyes and looking away from her.

She held her hand to her chest in earnesty. Her other hand went to scratching her side, which kind of spoiled the effect. “He knows I’m a threat and he’s trying to discredit me!”

A long pause.

“You’ve already discredited yourself, Lila.”

“Yeah, it sounds like you’e just saying anything at this point.”

“She’s just mad that Mr. Agreste is letting her go.”

“After everything she did, I don’t blame him.”

“The guy os a jerk, but come on. Hawk Moth? Really?”

No one was even considering what she had to say now. If it wasn’t clear before, it was now.

Lila had lost any credibility.

Several of the classmates were gathered around Adrien, trying to support and comfort him over the accusations. She had a feeling that even if she had irrefutable evidence, they still wouldn’t believe it. Not now, anyway. It grated at her, but at this point, there was nothing she could do.

There was nothing she could do and she had just wasted her last trump card to no effect. And if it got back to Gabriel that she had accused him…

All the better to get out now then.

“Hey, wait!” Alix shouted as she noticed Lila trying to sneak away. “We’re not done here!”

Honestly, it was perfect timing that the teacher arrived to start class.

“All right, class! To your seats!” Bustier said, smiling nicely in her usual fashion.

And it looked like that would be the end of it. With Bustier back, there would be no further pressing of Lila. No retribution. No way to hold her accountable.

Alya for her part tried though. She raised her hand and called out insistently. “Wait! Ms. Bustier! Lila has been—”

Bustier shook her head. “I’m sorry, Alya, but it will have to wait. We’ve missed part of the school day as it is.” She paused and turned to Lila. “Oh, Lila! Your mother and the Principal are waiting for you in his office.”

Lila smiled politely. “Thank you. I’ll head right there.”

This was it then. A final meeting and she would be out of this school and out of Paris.

…though maybe after she takes a more thorough shower first, she thought to herself as she scratched at her neck.

Still, she couldn’t help but send one last smirk back at her now former classmates as she walked away. She hadn’t managed to pull them back under her sway, and she couldn’t say she had won.

But she could at least find some satisfaction in the growls and shouts of anger as she left them behind.

__________________

In the Principal’s office, the adults had a…rather interesting conversation of their own once Lila had departed.

“Good heavens! I didn’t know how much longer I could stand that smell.” Principal Damocles asked as he opened a window to try and freshen the air.

Amara Rossi took her seat in front of the desk, feeling a bit lightheaded herself. “Did something happen today? Science class? Chemicals, perhaps?”

“It could have been an akuma attack. We had one just earlier.” He replied.

Her eyes darkened. She was reminded of the constant prolonged akuma attacks that disrupt daily living and the inept superheroes who allowed them to persist. “I see. That will be one thing we will no longer have to worry about once we leave, at least.”

“Quite right.” He agreed kindly as he went to his files to pull out Lila’s paperwork. “I do hope that Lila’s new school will be better suited to accommodate all of her illnesses.”

Amara shook her head, uncertain of what she just heard. “I beg your pardon?”

“Of course we did try to adjust to Lila’s needs as we were made aware of them. Especially with her little…fibbing illness. But it was difficult without official documentation to clarify what she had and the best ways to address them. And we were never able to get clarification during her stay here.” He rested the paperwork on his desk and looked up to make eye contact with Mrs. Rossi. “We of course are not judging, but it would be prudent for you to make the appropriate arrangements prior to her arrival at her new school, wherever it may be.” He puffed up in pride. “And of course we will be more than happy to assist in sending over documentation as well—”

“No wait. Hold on.” Amara interrupted him. “What needs are you talking about?”

Needless to say, once Lila was out of the room, it didn’t take long for them to notice things weren’t adding up. And the conversation that followed ended up being…

“What tinnitus?”

Quite informative.

“What fall down the stairs?!”

With certain parties being made aware of things they hadn’t known previously.

“WHAT LYING DISEASE?!!”

By the end of it, both adults were in shock.

Damocles wiped his forehead with a handkerchief, clearly…unnerved to say the least. “I…erm…take it that some of these things might have been said…er…erroneously?”

Amara covered her face with her left hand, exasperated. “Unless my daughter has been under an akuma’s influence for the past several months the school has been closed.”

He frowned at that, unnerved. “On that note, I’ve been trying to reach out to you for some time about your daughter’s absences. Have you not gotten my calls?”

“I only received one or two. And Lila warned me not to answer because you were akumatized.” She paused in thought for a moment before lowering her hand and looking to the Principal. “Has the school been closed at all? Lila said you had been akumatized and that the school had been shut down, which was why she had to stay home for so long.”

Damocles blanched at that. “It was only the once! Well…twice actually, with the attempted mass akumatization during that one incident. But I assure you, madam, that the school was never closed. Certainly not for more than a day at any rate!”

She frowned, unsure. “But…the heroes…”

“Are quite adept at their job for youngsters!” Damocles hurriedly told her. “Akuma battles are normally finished within a couple of hours. Some have lasted overnight at most. There is only one to my knowledge that continued for a few days, but that was a rare exception and the damage was minimal.” Though the harm to Chloe’s mental state couldn’t be quantified.

“Oh…” She murmured. Wow. While Lila’s complaints had dampened her view of the city’s heroes, she had known her coworkers and the city at large seemed to admire them greatly. She regretted that she had never really listened to their gossip about them, but she was grateful she had never spoken up on what she had believed. Otherwise she would likely be a laughing stock at work.

He shook his head. “But no akuma has lasted for months, I assure you! In fact,” He said, reaching to his monitor and turning it so that they both could see the screen, “the Ladyblog should have all the facts about the akumas and our heroes!”

Amara observed the blog, curious. It was well made. Perhaps they could get the designer to help update the embassy site.

But on point, the blog listed news reports and updates. Hero sightings. Events. Akuma attacks. And in particular, the most recent attack…

“Wait!” She gasped. “Is that Lila?!”

From there, it had been a simple matter of reviewing the footage from the latest akuma attack.

Including the incident where Lila had shoved an innocent girl to the ground in front of the mob. (“That would be Marinette Dupain-Cheng. A bright student and the Class Representative. But…er…she and Lila haven’t quite seen eye to eye and there was an…incident a few weeks ago…”)

As well as a compiled list that had been taken of every claim made by the akuma—Witch Hunter? She was apparently a classmate of Lila’s. And according to the Ladyblog, she had been a victim of Lila’s lies, which had resulted in her akumatization and targeting of Lila. (“My word!”)

And worst of all, a video of Lila tied to a pyre and surrounded by a mob of people wanting her to burn. In and of itself, it was horrifying. Especially for any parent to see their child in such a state.

But for Lila…it was like she didn’t think it was real. Like she didn’t think she was in any actual danger. Or she thought this was a game.

And that, Amara found most terrifying.

“This is…” She muttered in shock. She couldn’t even begin to describe it. Her daughter, tied to a pole. About to be lit on fire. All because she had been lying this entire time? Not just lying, but stealing from her peers? Framing people? And she didn’t dare say it, but from some of her statements in the video and the akuma’s claims, it almost looked as if she had been working with a known terrorist!

She had known her daughter wasn’t perfect or innocent. But this much? To go this far? And for what? She couldn’t even begin to understand…

“Madam, I…think this is a most serious matter.” Damocles stated. He was trying to be delicate but…well, really. How can one approach this sort of thing delicately?

“I agree.” She stated, resolutely. “Lila has been playing everyone it seems. But now that we know, what should we do from here?”

Damocles stroked his beard as he thought. “I admit we have never had a situation this extreme before. But if you will permit, I believe there may be a way to approach this…”

The rest of their time was spent discussing the matter at length and coming to an agreement. Damocles admittedly had his failings, particularly when it came to stubborn and selfish students with access to parents in positions of authority and willingness to abuse that authority to get their way. But when he wasn’t having to work around such barriers and had parents who were actually working with him instead of obstructing the school regulations, it was substantially easier to make appropriate accommodations and plan accordingly.

Which is what Lila ended up walking in to once she was asked to return to the office.

“Is everything settled?” She asked sweetly, her expression belying her earlier anger. Honestly, her only concern was finishing this as quickly as possible and going home to shower. A good three or four times.

She forced herself to ignore the way the adults in the room turned their heads away from her with upturned noses. She took advantage of the moment and attempted to unobtrusively scratch under her arm. Honestly, this itching was only getting worse! How had she not noticed it earlier?

“Well, Lila.” Damocles coughed as he turned on a fan. “Your mother and I have been discussing things and we couldn’t help but notice a few discrepancies.”

Lila froze. She steeled her expression to hide her rising panic. Because no. Not here. Not after everything.

“Lila…” Her mother called, her tone harsh and warning of her slowly boiling anger. “You told me that the school had been closed. And here I come to find that not only had it still been open and running all this time, but that you had been excusing your absences with claims of trips around the world!”

Shit.

Why had she left them alone?!

“But there were akuma attacks!” She insisted. “And the school was closed!”

“Not for weeks at a time!” Her mother exclaimed, furious. “And what is all this I’m hearing about your actions since you got here? Lying to your teachers? Stealing from a charity? Getting another student expelled?!”

Here, Lila straightened. “She had been bullying me and I had only been trying to protect myself.”

“Then why did you claim a lying disease to have her brought back?” Damocles questioned.

Lila hugged herself to look sad and sympathetic—and also used the opportunity to scratch at her side again. “I was threatened.” She admitted morosely. “Adrien said—”

“Adrien? Adrien Agreste?” Her mother interrupted. “You mean the boy you said was your boyfriend?”

Lila hesitated for a moment before a plan came together and she nodded. “Yes. It was why I wanted us to leave Paris. He’s been harassing me, Mama.” She shuddered and hitched her breath as if in fear. “He threatened me if I didn’t take back the allegations. He’s been cheating on me with her, Mama!”

“Interesting. Very interesting.” Her mother said in a blithe manner that only made Lila more nervous. “Because according to this Ladyblog, it sounds like  you were the one harassing him. As well as this Marinette girl, regardless of whether she is his girlfriend or not.”

Lila snapped up and gaped at her mother. The woman never bothered with the Ladyblog. Lila had been sure she hadn’t known it even existed!

“You can’t trust the Ladyblog! It’s just a teenager’s fan site! It’s nothing but lies!”

Her mother glared down at her. “Like this informative interview of you claiming to be Ladybug’s ‘bestie’?”

Lila paled.

“I was only trying to get people to like me and make friends.” She said, lowering her head in shame. Not that she had any, of course, but it paid to look the part at least. “I didn’t think anyone would see it.”

“Lila, the Ladyblog is extremely popular. It’s a central news source for anyone in Paris to know what the most recent update is regarding any akuma attack! Anyone would have seen it!” Damocles exclaimed.

“Even if it wasn’t,” Her mother continued. “You still shouldn’t have been claiming things like that! What if Hawk Moth saw it and thought it was true? What if he tried to kidnap or hurt you?”

She wasn’t worried about that. He wouldn’t have harmed her since she was working for him.

Well, Lila realized with a small wince. Not anymore.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal.” Lila said, looking away.

“Getting back on point.” Damocles interrupted. “There is the problem regarding all of the days you’ve missed. Your teacher was led to believe that you were out of town while you had informed your mother that the school was closed. This is a serious matter, young lady.”

There was no way to lie that she hadn’t done it now that both of them were aware and on to her. But she could still try to reframe things in her favor.

“I’m sorry. I had just needed a break for a while and I didn’t know how to tell you.” Lila spoke, tearfully. “It was just…all of the akuma attacks and everything with Adrien and the bullying…it was too much!”

She sobbed into her hands.

“I just couldn’t take it! I’m sorry!”

She continued her sobs for a good minute. Since she had her face covered and her head lowered, she couldn’t quite see how the adults in the room were responding. Sneaking a peak got her a glimpse at best lest she risk them seeing her.

Her mother looked drawn. The Principal seemed tired. Neither of them so much as tried to get closer to Lila to comfort her. Though that may very well have been due to the smell, and she cursed Witch Hunter and Ladybug both for causing the situation in the first place and for not fixing this with the Magical Cure as well.

Really, she thought hatefully. This was all their fault. Rose’s. The class’s. Hawk Moth’s. And especially Ladybug’s. She never would have ended up in this position if not for her!

“I’m sorry, Lila. If you were truly having such trouble, then you should have spoken to one of us about it and we may have been able to help you.” Damocles sighed. “I’m afraid there’s nothing else for it now. It’s already gone much too far for us to be able to overlook.”

Amara nodded, resigned. “I understand.”

Lila sniffled and raised her head.

“So I guess I’ll be expelled?” She asked with a mournful tone.

Okay. All right. So she would be sent to another school somewhere. A boarding school perhaps? Some sort of alternative or otherwise stricter school meant to “rehabilitate“ her, no doubt. She could handle this. It was still someplace new where no one would recognize her. It wouldn’t take too much before she could just start over. Within two months, no one there would even really know why she had transferred.

She could still make this work for her.

Damocles, however, looked at her in surprise.

“Expel you? What are you talking about? We don’t expel students for truancy.”

Lila froze.

“What?”

“You will be suspended for a time.” He continued. “Though I believe given the nature of your actions, it would be better for your suspension to be altered so you remain on campus and under constant supervision.”

Lila stared. She would swear she could hear cracks forming in her reality.

“And we will have to keep you in a separate classroom as well to remove any...distractions.”

Crack.

“Of course.“ her mother agreed. “I’ll be removing her computer and phone for the time being as well. Depending on how things go, we may have to dispose of them altogether.”

Lila felt her eye starting to twitch.

“This will be an opportunity for you to catch up on all the coursework you missed.”

Crack.

“And there will be a hearing as well.” Damocles continued. 

Lila jumped to her feet and slammed her hand on the desk.

“But—but you expelled Marinette immediately without a hearing!”

Damocles appeared flustered at that. “My actions at that time were…admittedly hasty, especially considering that it turned out they were based on a lie...” He gave her a sharp look at that. “But given what appeared to be dangerous and escalating behavior at the time, I had only acted in a way to protect the other students in this institution.”

He clasped his hands. “But less school is not the appropriate answer for a student whose crime was skipping school. Especially in this case given that Lila may very well need to be held back a grade as it is.”

“What?!” Lila demanded.

He gave her a dry look, unimpressed with her reaction or the repeated interruptions. “Young lady, regardless of your reasons, you’ve missed months of your precious education. Surely you didn’t think you would be able to graduate alongside your classmates. At this point, you won’t be able to get the approval from the conseil de classe to move on to the next grade, much less be prepared for the brevet.”

Lila blinked. “The what?”

Her mother groaned and covered her face. “It’s the mandated test required in secondary school into get your diploma, Lila.”

Lila gaped, glancing back and forth between the two, as if expecting this to be a joke. “But…college in France is just scuola media! It’s middle school! How do they require a diploma?!”

“It’s a national requirement and certification of the knowledge and skills acquired.” Damocles explained, ignoring the way mother and daughter were reacting as he instead puffed out his chest and straightened his jacket. “And we here at Francois-Dupont are dedicated to our students and making the appropriate accommodations to help them succeed! Regardless of any…”

He paused, sending Lila a look. “Complications.”

Amara sighed but faced Damocles. “So what would you recommend?”

He brightened at that. “The best answer to get young Lila back on track would be an alternative remedial program in which she can remain in school and make up for what she missed in a setting where she can be more closely monitored to keep something like this from happening again.”

Remain here? In Dupont? With everyone aware of her lies?

“You can’t do this!” Lila shouted. But to no avail as the adults paid her no mind at this point.

“What about the fraud?” Her mother asked. “I believe she had solicited funds under false pretenses?”

“Oh, that is outside our jurisdiction.” Damocles answered, waving it off. “We can only deal in school and school-related matters. Fraud is a legal issue, so that will be going to the courts as a separate case. But on that note, I would recommend getting a lawyer.” He said, turning serious.

“Hopefully, that won’t be necessary.” Amara replied. “As we will be making arrangements with the students who started the charity and reimburse the funds Lila took.”

“WHAT?!”

“Returning everything you bought with the money to the stores you purchased them from should be a good place to start,” the woman continued, “assuming they will even accept the exchange once they know what you did. Which you will be telling them if they didn’t already know from that akuma.”

“But…but I don’t have them!” Lila exclaimed, suddenly realizing that she had worn Marinette’s clothes back home and left her designer items at the bakery.

“Then you will just have to find some other way to make up the lost funds.” Her mother stated, dismissively.

Lila stomped her foot, the picture of a child throwing a tantrum. “But that’s not fair!” 

“You stole money from your classmates, Lila!” Her mother bit out sharply. “Giving back what you took is the very least you could do!”

“But I can’t pay it!” Lila yelled, scratching at her chin in fury.

“Then you can use your now copious amount of free time to take on some extra employment. Because you won’t be sitting around at home doing nothing or getting into more trouble while I’m not there. And you certainly won’t be going out with your friends—assuming you have any left after this mess.”

“But…where am I supposed to find employment?!”

Her mother looked through her tablet and pulled up a number of listings when she then handed to Damocles to print off. “There are always openings for extra hands. Odd jobs. A part time job. I don’t care if it’s something like washing dishes at a diner, you will be doing it. And whatever you earn is going to go to straight into the bank until you pay back every euro you took.”

Lila gasped. “I’m fourteen! That’s child labor!”

“That didn’t seem to be an issue when you were modeling for the Gabriel line without telling me.” Her mother countered, growing more furious.

Lila glared back, enraged and for once incapable of speech.

“Whatever you have to say, this is your own fault for stealing the money in the first place. And also using it when you knew it wasn’t yours!” The woman shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t even understand how you thought that was supposed to work.”

“We were supposed to be out of Paris already!” Lila muttered darkly.

Unfortunately for her, her mother heard her well enough. “Which I suspect was the real reason you suddenly wanted to leave, wasn’t it?”

Lila stayed silent. Merely sitting petulantly and scratching at her arm.

Her mother looked down at her daughter. She had never seen her like this before. And now that she knew what the girl had been up to, she wondered if she had been blind to the truth. And for how long.

She sighed.

“You dug yourself into this, Lila. And you won’t be running away from it. You are going to pay back what you took, no matter how long it takes. If this does end up going to court, you are going to agree to any deal they offer and you will make this right. And if you are very very lucky, they will accept your apology and your return of the money, and not pursue harsher charges. Because if they do, you will be accepting those charges and any consequences that come with them.”

Damocles coughed, daring to interrupt. “Am I to presume she will be losing her cellphone and laptop as well?”

“That would be a given.” Her mother replied. “Though at the rate this is going, I may very well sell those off as well to contribute to her debt.”

“What?!” Lila screeched. “But how am I supposed to do schoolwork then? Or keep in contact?”

“With pen and paper like everyone else. And you won’t need to worry about contacting anyone since you are going to be grounded for the foreseeable future.”

Lila groaned and sunk further into the office chair. She tried to keep her arms crossed, but couldn’t hold it for longer than a couple seconds before she felt the itchiness again and started scratching at her arms once more.

“And would you stop scratching yourself?”

“I can’t help it!” Lila cried, spilling real tears for once.

The lighting in the office was decent. Adequate to see by, but not quite enough to get a full detail of what they were looking at. In an attempt to help, Damocles turned on his desk lamp and moved it shine on Lila, putting her skin in much clearer display.

And particularly, the red and splotchy areas that were slowly spreading on her body.

“Good heavens!” Damocles shouted as he went to his phone to call the nurse. “That is an extensive rash, dear girl!”

Her mother grabbed her arm to look closer. “What did you do? Take a bath in the Seine?”

“I didn’t have a choice! I was being chased!” Lila exclaimed, attempting to pull her arm out of her mother’s hold so as to scratch more.

“That…would explain the smell.” Damocles noted before the receiver picked up and he quickly turned his attention to requesting the school nurse’s assistance.

“Did you at least wash it off? Didn’t you shower when you got home?” Her mother asked, exasperated as she had to keep hold of Lila’s arm to prevent her from scratching herself.

Lila hunched over. “No. I had to call you first.”

Her mother groaned in response, much to Lila’s irritation. She glared up at the woman who should be reassuring her own child in this hardship but instead was merely shaking her head at Lila like this was something she had simply brought upon herself!

How could she?! What sort of mother would be so cruel?

She barely paid any attention when the nurse entered the office with some ointment in hand. She only realized what they were doing when they started to slather the gel on her skin, which felt gross and humiliating. Made all the moreso with the way the nurse and her own mother couldn’t fight the looks of disgust at the smell that still covered her. Even Ladybug calling her out in front of Adrien hadn’t been so humiliating.

But it would get worse.

Damocles coughed. “We will resume this discussion another time. Madam, if you are willing, I can arrange a meeting with the students involved and allow you to discuss reparations in an informal…non-court setting.”

“If you please, that would be preferred. In the meantime, I will be taking Lila home so we can deal with all of…” She paused, waving her arms around and trying to think of the right words before simply shrugging with a sigh. “This.”

“Wait! I can’t go out there! Everyone will see me like this!”

It was perhaps out of some love as a mother, or just some small mercy that had Amara Rossi agree to take her daughter through a roundabout path out of the school. One that allowed Lila to take hallways that were less used and offered less visibility in and out of the classrooms.

And most importantly allowed her to avoid Bustier’s class.

After getting instructions from the school nurse regarding skin care to get rid of the rashes, Amara thanked both Damocles and the nurse before taking Lila outside. The two made it to the front of the school with few being there to witness Lila’s ‘walk of shame’ so to speak. It was probably more than Lila deserved, but her mother was hardly cruel. Tough when she had to be, certainly.

There was now just the final leg of the trip. Amara started down the steps of the school and made it to the bottom before she realized her daughter wasn’t following her.

“Lila!” She hissed. “Get down here!”

“But…” Lila hesitated, looking up and behind her to where Bustier’s class would have a perfect view of her exit.

“Now, Lila. Or do you still want to be out here when classes are over?”

Lila forced herself to move down the steps—both as quickly as possible to try and lessen the amount of time anyone had to see her and as carefully as possible to avoid anything touching the ointment on her skin.

“When we get home, the first thing you’ll be doing is taking a shower to clean yourself properly this time. We will be going through your room as well and taking back your laptop, your phone, and anything I even think you may have bought with that stolen money.”

Lila grumbled but didn’t argue.

“Yes, mother.”

At this point, she just prayed no one had seen her.

__________________

They saw her.

“Is that Lila?”

“It is! And her mom!”

“What’s that on Lila’s arms?”

“Oh. Wow.”

Bustier had stepped out of the room for what she said would be a minute while leaving the class with some assignment to do until she returned. Naturally, given the drama of the day, no one was really able to focus on the schoolwork. So instead, they took to quietly chatting with one another. Or in Alya’s case, nudging Marinette repeatedly as the girl tried to wrap her head around the prospect of having a date with Adrien.

No, THREE dates. Wait—were they dates? Like…date-dates?

Fortunately for her own peace of mind, her imagination was put on hold by the exclamations of those near the windows. Helpless to the draw of wanting to know what all the fuss is about, Marinette and the others on her side of the class joined those at the windows to see just what it was about Lila that had grabbed their attention.

And she had to say: Yikes.

“That has to be the worst rash I’ve ever seen.”

“Looks like that dip in the Seine did not agree with her.”

Marinette winced in sympathy.

As Ladybug, she had a few instances of having to make use of the Seine or the sewers as an exit, so she knew full well how nasty the water could be. The suit and resulting Cure would normally rid her of any of the water or contaminants or so Tikki said, but that didn’t stop Marinette from taking a good long shower afterwards. Or three. Just to feel clean afterwards, despite Tikki’s reassurance.

What happened this time?

She looked down to her purse, but the little clasp remained resolutely closed. Even when she tried to pull at it.

Tikki...what did you do?

“I feel kind of bad.” Rose murmured, resting a hand on the window. “She only jumped into the Seine because of me. Because I had everyone hunting her.”

“I don’t.” Alix replied. “You were only after her because of what she did.”

Nino nodded in agreement. “Yeah. And if the info on the Ladyblog regarding Lila’s crimes are any indication, she may have been doing it to help Hawk Moth.”

“We can’t prove that, though.” Ivan noted.

Rose hugged herself.

Marinette hugged her as well. “Whether or not Lila deserved it, it happened because of Hawk Moth. Not you. So please don’t blame yourself, Rose.”

Adrien came up next to them and rested a hand on Rose’s shoulder. “If we try to question who is truly at fault, we’ll be dragging this out forever. All we can do at this point is try to figure out where to go from here.”

“Hey, that’s right!” Mylene realized. “Rose, what are you going to do about the charity?”

Rose looked down. “I don’t know. It’s kind of pointless now since we don’t have the money anymore.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t try again.” Nino reassured her.

Adrien nodded in agreement. “Plus Alya and I were talking earlier. If you still have the ledger of the funds, you could try to bring up charges against Lila to get the money returned. My father has some attorneys our company frequently uses for any legal issues. I could see about getting one of them involved to find out how to proceed on this.”

“Dude, seriously? Is your dad cool with this?” Nino asked, completely taken aback that the man would do such a thing.

“It’s only the beginning of what he could do to make up for his part in this.” Adrien muttered.

Nino blinked at his friend and his…strangely dark expression. Then he grinned and slapped Adrien on the back. “Good for you, man!”

“But what about Lila though?” Ivan asked.

“Murder?” Juleka asked.

Which of course, none of them took seriously.

Right? Right.

“If Lila’s mom’s attitude is any indication, I don’t think Lila will be getting away with the theft.” Kim said, looking out the window in the direction the two ladies left. “She looked maaaaaaad.”

“She is angry from what I have heard.” Max said from his seat. He didn’t look up from his tablet and was the only one aside from Nathaniel to not move from his desk. “Apparently Lila had been lying to her mother and the school about why she’s been absent for months. And then with the theft on top of that, plus all of the other things revealed thanks to Witch Hunter, I believe there is a 97.3% chance that Lila will be grounded for the foreseeable future.”

“Wait. How do you know that?” Kim asked.

“Markov told me.”

“Oh.”

A pause.

“And…how does HE know tha—”

Max simply disregarded him and turned to Rose. “You should probably discuss the matter with Lila’s mother. It sounds like she is taking the issue seriously and would like to meet with you and work this out appropriately.”

“Oh. Okay. Thanks.” She said with a smile. Albeit a somewhat wary smile.

“So there may be a chance to get the money back then?” Ivan asked, hopefully.

“But wait—what about Prince Ali?” Alix realized.

This brought all eyes to Rose, who looked hurt at the reminder of her friend cutting off ties with her.

“Rose…” Marinette started.

She winced. “I…still have his email. I don’t know if he’ll talk to me, but…I can apologize. And I can try to make it right. I think…” She took a breath. “I think I understand now why he was so upset. He’s a Prince and must be used to a lot of people trying to use him.”

She hesitated, looking down.

“Lila was…probably that exact type of person. And she was able to use him through me—even if she didn’t know it.”

The others winced.

Yeah, it was probably a good thing they learned about Lila now before it got too serious. Who knows what would have happened if Lila had ever actually gotten to meet him? Or really any of the other celebrities they actually knew.

Rose bit her lip for a moment, then looked up. “I’ve been thinking…if I do get the money back…since the charity Lila had told us about doesn’t exist, we can’t donate the money as planned. I would like to give the funds to a charity with a similar purpose—I even found one that looks genuine and does a lot of good, but…” She frowned. “That’s still misleading to the people who originally donated.”

“So what will you do?”

“I have a log of everyone who donated since I had wanted everyone to get credit or some sort of ‘Thank You’ for helping. I can try to reach out to them and ask them what they want to do.” She brightened slightly. “Alya is also helping by putting a notice on the Ladyblog about what happened and what we’re doing so that anyone who did donate before can be alerted and know to contact me.“

Alya smiled. “It seems to be working so far. If anything, I’ve been more messages from people wanting to donate as well.

Mylene gasped in delight. “You may end up with even more funding for your charity, Rose.”

“Just as long as we make it clear it’s the real deal this time.” Alya agreed. “I posted the charity’s info on the website as well as some links to verification sites so people can check for themselves that it’s real. This way, we don’t run into the same problem we had with Lila or get accused of lying ourselves.”

Well, that was a relief. They had a plan and they were certainly taking this seriously.

“I’m glad for you, Rose.”

Rose smiled back. “Thank you. I know this doesn’t really fix everything, but it feels like the right thing to do.”

“Aww!”

The group hug that commenced was just what they all needed.

__________________

Tom and Sabine had quite the busy day. Especially with that girl who had come in earlier and snuck into Marinette’s room.

And the akuma. Though they were at least getting used to daily disruptions caused by those.

“I hope nothing came of it.” Sabine worried as she was finishing putting things away. “I’m sure she was doing something up in Marinette’s room.”

“I’m sure if anything happened, Marinette could handle it. And if she couldn’t, she would let us know.” Tom replied as he headed to the laundry room to put away their used aprons and towels.

There was silence for a bit.

Then…

“Honey?”

Sabine paused and turned towards her husband. “Yes, dear?”

“Did that girl ever come back with Marinette’s clothes?”

Confused, she started towards the laundry room where her husband was. “No, why?”

Tom turned to her, with some items in hand. “I think she left her things behind and the Miracle Ladybug Cure didn’t send them back.”

Sabine stared. “Oh my!” She reached forward. “These look practically brand new!”

“And expensive.” Tom added.

The two looked over the items before looking up at each other. With a nod, they seemed to come to the same conclusion.

“Early birthday gift for Mari!”

“We’ll take it to Roger.”

…not…so same conclusion, evidently.

Sabine gave Tom a flat look. Tom smiled embarrassedly and rubbed his head.

“Yes. We can take it to Rodger as part of the case.” He agreed, sheepishly.

Sabine sighed and shook her head.

“Though maybe we can discuss it with the school.” She mused. “Since that girl is a student there. And some of the things on the Ladyblog are a bit concerning…”

“Should we still press charges?” Tom asked, worried. “Let’s wait and speak with Roger tomorrow. And see what Marinette has to add.” Sabine said, taking the items from Tom and placing them in a safety box where they wouldn’t be mistaken as common items.

…or early birthday gifts.

__________________

Taking the Dragon Miraculous back to Fu was easy enough.

Apologizing for beaning him with a pot was less so.

“It is all right, Marinette. Really.” Fu assured her as he took the box back from her and restored the choker to it’s rightful place. “With the Miraculous Cure, I no longer have the injury.”

Marinette winced from her seat at the table. “Still, I feel really bad about it.”

He shook his head. “You did what you had to. The akuma’s influence was widespread by that point and the situation was dire.”

Especially since her kwami and the Guardian himself had both been affected as well.

He wouldn’t say he…approved with her methods. Or the headache it had caused him. But it had allowed her to defeat the akuma and restore things in the end. And truly, that was what mattered.

“It took a lot of strength from you today, Marinette. I am proud of what you accomplished.” He told her as he returned the Miracle Box to its hiding place.

“I just wish I could have helped Rose more.” She murmured.

“You did everything you could, Marinette!” Tikki insisted.

“It is difficult, but sometimes there is only so much that can be done, even with the aid of the Miraculous.” Fu returned to his seat at the table. “But I sense that is not the only thing on your mind today. Am I wrong?”

Marinette gasped. “Oh, Master! There’s something we’ve discovered today. Something really important!”

Tikki gasped. “That’s right!”

The two nodded to each other and spoke at the same time.

“Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth!”

“Adrien invited you to see a movie!”

Marinette froze, turning red at the reminder.

Tikki, for her part, blinked at Marinette in confusion.

“Wait…you mean what Lila said earlier?”

“That’s right.” Marinette said, turning her attention to Fu and away from any distractions of stupidly cute blond boys. “Earlier today, Lila tried to claim that Gabriel Agreste was Hawk Moth.”

Fu frowned. “Marinette, are you sure about this? Lila Rossi was Hawk Moth’s accomplice. As well as an unrepentant liar. This may be a lie as well.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Lila tells lies if she thinks they’ll benefit her, but she’ll tell the truth if she thinks it could serve her more.”

Yeah, she knew that much from Lila’s attempt to sneak into her room and get dirt on her.

But more than that, Hawk Moth had betrayed Lila. After working with him all this time, someone she had…at least trusted she could use if not actually trusted had turned on her. And was even outright going to let the akuma kill her.

If Lila could be so spiteful for this long over Ladybug simply telling someone she had lied about knowing her, she couldn’t put it past the girl to not hold some grudge against Hawk Moth as well. And if she thought she knew who he was…

Well, if all else had failed her, there was no reason at that point not to try to reveal it.

“It would explain her connection to Gabriel Agreste as well.” Marinette reasoned. “He was a known recluse for a year before Adrien started school. He would keep Adrien from any events. Refused to let his friends come to visit him or for him to visit them. And wouldn’t even let Adrien have a birthday part.” She frowned, tapping her chin.

“So why would a man like that who is so protective of his son trust some random teenage girl with Adrien’s well being? Especially one he has never met who lied to his staff, forced her way into his home, manipulated his son into a photo op,” Not that she was bitter of course, “…and snuck into his personal office?”

Fu frowned, considering her words. “That is strange.”

“Exactly!” Marinette said, pushing closer to the table in earnest. “Even if she didn’t know he was Hawk Moth at the start, she still tried to get to him because of his control over Adrien. It was a connection she knew she could use, so it would benefit her. Which is Lila’s MO.” She said with a roll of her eyes.

She shook her head. “But this would explain why he would seemingly trust her. If he was Hawk Moth, that means he akumatized her before. Three times, even!”

Fu nodded. “The powers of the Butterfly would have let him know what she was like. If she was a willing assistant as Witch Hunter’s scroll proclaimed, he would have known.”

Tikki gasped. “It could also explain the mass akumatization when you had gotten expelled!”

Marinette gripped the table in growing anger. “They must have planned it! How else would he have known to have it ready?”

“Calm yourself, Marinette.” Fu reached out to place a hand over her own. “This is a good theory, but you don’t want to open yourself to an akuma. Especially not after everything that has already happened today.”

She wilted at that. “You’re right, Master. I’m sorry.”

“That is all right.” He assured her with a kind smile. “It is healthy to feel emotions, but you cannot let them overcome you.”

“But…” She hesitated. “Do you think I’m wrong?”

He paused for a moment, thinking it over as he took a sip of tea. “I had suspected once before that whomever had the Grimoire likely had both the missing Miraculous as well. After Gabriel Agreste had been akuamtized, I had wondered as you did whether it was simply coincidence.”

“Because the Butterfly user can’t akumatize himself, can he?” She asked.

He gestured to the tablet containing the translated Grimoire. “Normally, I would say not. But as you have learned, there are ways around any barrier. And as coincidences increase, at some point, we must ask how many coincidences are necessary before something is proven true.”

He smiled. “One such coincidence may be that he had the lost Grimoire. But another may be how convenient it was that he should be akumatized immediately when anyone may be suspecting him after its loss.”

She frowned, uncertain.

“Let us think on it for now, Marinette. And it will be best if we keep an eye on both Gabriel Agreste and Lila Rossi in the meantime.”

“Yes! Thank you, Master Fu!” She nodded before getting up and heading to the door.

“Goodbye, Master! Goodbye, Wayzz!” Tikki chimed before she flew into Marinette’s purse.

As Marinette walked down the street towards home with Tikki in tow, she continued to think over things. What she had learned. What Master Fu had told her. What she had experienced throughout the day.

“Oh!” She gasped as she realized something.

“What is it, Marinette?” Tikki asked from within the opening of the purse. They were mostly alone for the moment, so they could afford to speak if they did so quietly.

“Something I’d been meaning to ask you.” Marinette told her. “What happened with Lila today? The Cure normally fixes things to how they were before the akuma, so why was Lila covered in a full body rash?”

“The Cure sometimes acts in mysterious ways.” Tikki replied.

Marinette frowned. The answer was obviously vague. And Tikki’s refusal to meet her gaze indicated she knew more than she was letting on.

“Tikki…”

“Oh, look at the time! You should be getting home, Marinette!”

“TIKKI!”

__________________

Rose looked over her draft for what had to be the thirtieth time.

Excessive, maybe. But she wanted to make sure she was doing it right.

Ali,

I do not know if you will read this letter, or if it has even been permitted to reach you. At the very least, I am hoping for a chance to tell you from the bottom of my heart:

I am sorry.

While I had never meant to harm you, it doesn’t change the fact that you were harmed. And this harm could have been prevented had I been more cautious.

I could come up with any number of reasons as to why I chose to put my trust in the wrong person. The girl I had thought was promoting this charity was my friend. I wanted to believe the best in my friend. But that is no excuse.

If I truly had respect for you as a friend and as your station of Prince, I should have done my due diligence in ensuring the honesty of anyone I trusted. Especially before I tried to encourage you to trust them as well.

You were right. It was foolish of me.

From your perspective, it must have seemed as a sign that I did not take your friendship seriously. And I am deeply ashamed that I ever allowed that impression to anyone, but to you most of all.

If you choose not to forgive me, I understand. But I at least want you to know that I am going to make this right.

I am pursuing legal options against the girl in question. I do not know how much we will be able to see returned, but I fully intent to refund the donations to you and everyone else who had trusted me to do the right thing.

This may not fix anything. And you do not owe me anything from it. But I hope I can at least try to make up for my mistake and be the person you believed me capable of instead of the fool she turned me into.

Thank you for everything,

Rose

She took a breath.

Okay.

This was it then.

Any last words? Any final changes? Any regrets?

…no.

She shut her eyes and clicked ‘send’.

And finally exhaled. With the air, she breathed out all of her anxieties, fears, and doubts.

She had done what she could.

She was doing what she can.

That was…that was all anyone could expect of her.

All that she could expect of herself.

…

…

…

That didn’t make it not ache though.

But there was nothing for it now, she realized as she turned away from her computer to go to bed.

She wanted to fix things. Desperately so. But she couldn’t force Ali to accept her apology and forgive her anymore than she could force Lila to be honest.

Rose curled up under her covers and hugged her pillow close.

It was a small comfort. But one she was going to allow herself.

She hoped for the best. She always did.

But even if he didn’t…she would move forward and continue doing good. Just as he inspired her to.

She just…

A couple tears fell.

She had just wished he would be around to see it.

It would take another hour before she would fall asleep.

…

…

…

It would be another three hours before an email alert came up on her computer.

__________________

Ugh.

Lila fell onto her bed, huffing angrily.

This whole day sucked.

She was attacked by an akuma. Everyone turned on her. Hawk Moth was going to let her die. And even when everything was saved, everything was ruined.

Thanks, Rose. Thanks, Hawk Moth. Thanks, Ladybug.

And now she was stuck here in Paris and couldn’t even get away from any of it!

She groaned into her pillow. She couldn’t be too loud, though, as her mother was being annoyingly alert and “keeping an eye on her” now. The last thing she needed was to give her reason to suspect something was up and cause her to come barging into her room.

There was no escape this time. Not now that everyone knew.

She’d still have to deal with her class. Even worse, she’d have to see Adrien and Marinette making eyes at each other.

She’d still have to deal with the school. And now that they knew what she did, she wouldn’t be getting away with anything again.

She’d still have to deal with Hawk Moth, and his akumas would still be a risk for her, as well. She wouldn’t put it past him to try to take her out. What little power and control she had was gone now.

And worst of all…

…Ladybug.

That measly little bug and her damn threat against her. To follow her. To keep an eye on her. To be her…special friend.

Like she would really do that.

Lila turned over in her sheets, settling into her bed and getting comfortable.

Or trying, at least.

Something felt off. She just didn’t know what.

She glanced around her room. It was much more barren now since her mother had cleared out a lot of her belongings. Her laptop and cellphone were gone, as was the limited light they provided in the dark.

She huffed and turned over to face away from the door.

Half asleep, she glanced out the window.

Two glowing blue orbs were staring back.

She screamed.

__________________

A creak of a window opening and closing.

A giggle.

“Huh? Tikki? Zzat you?”

“I’m fine, Marinette. I was just checking on something.”

A yawn.

“What was it?”

Another giggle.

“Nothing important.”

Two blue eyes sent a glare out into the city.

“Nothing at all...”

#BURN THE WITCH! #witch hunter #ml fic #marinette dupain cheng #tikki #adrien agreste #rose lavillant #lila sucks

[mask-of-prime]

TLK: Rulers of Pride Rock

So for the longest time I've been thinking about making a line of succession list of the Pridelands' monarchs because I was inspired by looking through some royal family trees. Also, I wanted to make some siblings for the past Lion Guard leaders I introduced a few months ago. So as a 27 Year Anniversary thing for the first movie's release, I finally got this done (took days to think of designs and repeatedly lose/regain motivation and reason to make this lol). I tried modeling a few of them after the way some civilians and monarchs dressed in old times, such as Early Middle Ages (Watoto), Late Middle ages (Akili) Elizabethan (Kusita), and kind of a pirate vibe (Nahodha).

Massive character breakdown below:

Mfalme (”king”, “royal”) was the 1st Ruler of the Pridelands. Husband to Malkia and father of Warithi and Askari, as well as other older half-sisters with other lionesses before betrothal was established. Mfalme was only the king of his pride during his reign, first establishing a sovereign title of monarch to solidify his leadership. He also established the tradition of betrothal to keep the royal line linear and therefore pure, as well as carefully chosen by destiny. He is also the only king before Pride Rock was formed and before the Pridelands territory had been expanded and bordered. Mfalme died of old age.

Warithi (”heirs”) was the 2nd Ruler of the Pridelands. Son of Mfalme, brother of Askari, and father of Watoto and Wajibu. Before the firstborn inheritance of the throne had been established, Warithi defeated his brother Askari in a spar to determine who would succeed their father. Warithi was caught in a takeover of the Pridelands when a pride of evil lions invaded the land. The evil lions stripped him of his power until Askari returned with the newly-discovered Roar, ultimately defeating the evil lions and returning Warithi to power. He is the first king to have a Lion Guard and was the first to rule Pride Rock after Askari created it with his Roar. Warithi died from an unspecified illness as he neared old age.

Watoto (”cubs”) was the 3rd Ruler of the Pridelands. Son of Warithi, brother to Wajibu, and father of Akili, Mkali, and many other children. Watoto was a rather jolly and jovial king in contrast to his stern and stoic younger brother Wajibu. Coincidentally with the meaning of his name, Watoto had the most cubs of all the monarchs aside from Mfalme (who had many mates before betrothal while Watoto was fully monogamous), having six sons and one daughter. All of his sons from second to last born became members of Mkali’s Guard. Watoto was accidentally killed in the middle of a Lion Guard mission when unexpected enemies ambushed them.

Akili (”mind”, “intellect”) was the 4th Ruler of the Pridelands. Son of Watoto, brother to Mkali and many other siblings, and father of Kusita and Taka. Akili was a brave warrior who had defended his kingdom from various sieges and battled many wars. Akili seemed indestructible given his great size and valor, until he met his downfall with a swift bite on the heel from a rogue lion. (Akili... heel.... see what I did there lol)

Kusita (”hesitant”, “reluctant”) was the 5th Ruler of the Pridelands. Son of Akili, brother of Taka, and father of Nahodha, Nkosi (sons), and Nzima (daughter). Kusita was a patient listener to all perspectives, but not a great immediate decision-maker. His way of ruling was often split between his brother’s conservative ways and his youngest son’s progressive ways. He only wanted what was best for his family and feared upsetting his peers. He would let his pride debate until he would make a final, balanced ruling that would satisfy all parties. He died from complications of an unspecified, degenerative disease that he was predisposed to as he was born rather meek.

Nahodha (”captain”) was the 6th Ruler of the Pridelands. Son of Kusita, brother of Nkosi and Nzima, and father of Kivuli and Kijani. Nahodha was hasty and hotheaded, catching himself in a territorial dispute over the Pridelands’ borders due to his competitive nature. When a troop of baboons grew in numbers, their king tried to claim much of the Pridelands as his. Nahodha not only won back the territory, but was overcome by greed, insisting he took more than his share of land. His younger brother Nkosi persuaded him that he was way over his head and was making poor decisions out of anger, and Nahodha drew back on his land siege after powering through his stubbornness. Though the Pridelands had expanded and herd landmarks remain part of it to this day, the royal pride no longer oversees these lands and lets the herds live naturally on their own with their own leaders. Nahodha died trying to protect Nkosi after the baboons tried to get revenge, ending his strained relationship with his younger brother.

Kivuli (”shadow”) was the 7th Ruler of the Pridelands. Son of Nahodha, brother to Kijani, and father to Mohatu as well as three other children. Kivuli was a strong, stern, and feared king. Though the firstborn, he was known to be even fiercer than that of his meek, flighty brother Kivuli, who’d led the Lion Guard during his reign, which made Pridelanders question of the Great Kings even knew what they were doing in making Kivuli King and Kijani Guard Leader. He met his end when there had been an outbreak of a rabies-like disease. In a fit of maddened distemper, he had killed all of his cubs except Mohatu before succumbing to a final seizure.

Mohatu (”was loved”) was the 8th Ruler of the Pridelands. Son of Kivuli. husband of Almasi, and father of Uru and Moyo. Plagued with loneliness all his life due to his father’s early passing, untimely demise of his siblings as a cub, and disease outbreak taking away half of his pride growing up, Mohatu was an excellent speaker and negotiator despite it all, even getting the Pridelanders of all kinds to work together to find a water source during one of the Pridelands’ worst droughts. Mohatu did not have a Lion Guard until his secondborn son, Moyo, came of age. Mohatu died from complications of pneumonia and old age. He is said to have become the Brightest Star in the Sky.

Uru (”diamond”) was the 9th Ruler of the Pridelands and was the Pridelands’ first Queen. She was the daughter of Mohatu, sister of Moyo, wife of Ahadi, and mother to Mufasa and Scar (formerly known as Askari II). She took her duties very seriously as she had a graceful, levelheaded demeanor that would silence any Pridelander. Shenzi’s Clan was first banished during her reign, after her husband Ahadi had caught them hunting the herds for sport. During that time, she was away looking for a water source for the Pridelanders, as her father once did. Uru had been the more serious and confident parent of her two boys, always getting them to stop bickering when Ahadi couldn’t. Uru was very intelligent, which meant it took a lot of manipulation from her youngest son to get his way. The spoiling of her youngest son combined with Ahadi’s passive parenting/discipline indirectly caused him to follow an entitled path that had steadily worsened over time. Uru died from the same illness that took her father.

Mufasa (”king”) was the 10th Ruler of the Pridelands. Son of Uru, brother of Scar, and father to Simba. Mufasa wasn’t always the big, brave lion he is known for nowadays, he once started off skittish and shy. When he grew older, he compensated for his former cowardice with a harsh temper and brute strength. As an older sibling of an entitled younger brother who would use his temperamental reputation as an advantage to get him in trouble, he’d often get the brunt of blame and responsibility and was unfairly admonished by his mother at times. This strained relationship between him and his mother/brother led him to be closer to his father Ahadi. Mufasa found balance within himself, toning his aggressive nature down after marrying Sarabi and having Simba. He was overthrown by being mercilessly killed in a stampede by Scar once his jealously and psychopathy was at its peak.

Askari II (”soldier”, “warrior”), mostly known as Scar, was the 11th Ruler of the Pridelands by coup d'état and being next in line after Mufasa and Simba. Son of Uru, brother of Mufasa, and uncle of Simba. Askari II grew up spoiled as he would get away with things due to his intellect and manipulation abilities. Prideful of his intelligence, Askari II wanted everything his older brother Mufasa had as he thought he would be better because he was smart, so much so that he thought leading the Guard wasn’t good enough. After being bitten over the eye by a cobra and earning the nickname “Scar” by Mufasa, his envy of Mufasa accelerated so greatly that he’d risked his position as Leader of the Guard trying to get his Guard to overthrow his brother, formed an alliance with the banished hyenas, and ultimately killed his brother in a stampede. Scar would then let the Pridelands into ruin when Shenzi’s Clan still practiced overhunting. Scar stewed in envy of Mufasa’s position of king so much and claiming that he would be better and smarter than him that he didn’t even bother trying to properly rule, as he’d always been a lousy leader and refused to let his predecessors teach him; he ignored pleas and suggestions from his subjects, started conspiracies with loyal followers of his, and succumbed to madness and paranoia brought on by a twinge of worsening guilt of killing Mufasa. Scar met his end when he was mauled alive by the hyenas after he threw them under the bus trying to save his own skin from Simba. Scar’s legacy is survived by an orphaned protégée who he’d left in the care of his most loyal follower and somewhat de facto queen, Zira.

Simba (”lion”) is the 12th and current Ruler of the Pridelands. Son of Mufasa, nephew of Scar, and father to Kiara and Kion. Growing up mischievous, impatient, and a tad bit spoiled as a cub, Simba’s carefree innocence was taken from him as he watched his father Mufasa fall to his death, had Scar tell him lies that would live with him for the rest of his life (Scar thought what he said wouldn’t matter because Simba would just die anyway), and was threatened with death from the hyenas all in one day, causing him to develop PTSD that would carry on for life, no matter how carefree his outcast friends Timon and Pumbaa taught him to be. Simba believed in Scar’s lies all the years he was exiled, believing Mufasa’s death was his fault and that everyone would be mad at him if they saw his face again, even if it was all an accident. Simba came home not only to learn that no one would’ve been mad at him as he’d only been a cub when Mufasa’s death happened, but he’d also learned that Scar had truly done it, and on purpose, and Simba, along with everyone else, had been furious with him instead. After defeating Scar, Simba was a nervous and cautious ruler, much different to the way he’d expected to rule as a cub. He would ironically go on to face many threats and disputes during his rule, and as numb as he seemed to it, it was not good for his mental health, and his selflessness due to his warped perception of self-worth would leave him to often run himself ragged. Kiara ("light") will be the 13th Ruler of the Pridelands in the future. Daughter of Simba and sister of Kion. A curious, adventurous, and rather spunky cub, Simba saw himself in his eldest cub Kiara, and did not want her to go through the same things he did growing up. He would not let her depart without an escort like his friends, Kion and his Guard, Nala, or himself. Because of this, Kiara felt sheltered and unconfident in her abilities. Kiara struggles with a bit of Impostor Syndrome as she feels her accomplishments and differing facades she uses for differing peers are disconnected from her true being, and fears she won't live up to everyone's expectations despite not wanting anything expected of her. Kiara's poor perception of her position as future queen is stemmed from her very opposite experience in royal lessons from her father's; Simba was once excited to be king when he saw how cool and easy Mufasa made it look, but Kiara witnessed a traumatized father who made being a monarch look like a lonely burden because of how much he saddened himself uttering words to her that his father once told him. Kiara went through phases growing up; Uncertain as a child, accepting and enthusiastic as a preteen, and back to uncertain as an adult, but with an added hunger for justice and peace. Kiara's awareness and observation of her parents' mental health and past allowed her to grow mentally strong and open-minded, aware that all individuals are complex and are not at all black-and-white. This openmindedness allowed Kiara, along with Kovu, to call for peace between the Pridelanders and Outsiders. Though she's open and sweet most of the time; she will not hesitate to fight back if someone actively harms her or her loved ones after refusing to accept the idea of peace. Her strong mind and empathy will likely make her a kind and just queen.

#The Lion King #TLK #Mohatu #Uru #Mufasa #Scar #Simba #Kiara #My Art

[sneakingpasta]

Quirkless Deku with a Gun

- So basically, when Deku applies to U.A. he applies for both the Hero course AND the support course - Obviously, he gets zero points in the practical exam, so he enters the support course

- At first he’s shy to show his inventions and ideas with the others, but Mei helps him out of his shell - Those two bond over their notes and excitable natures, and over time they become the most chaotic crackheads in the entire school

- “MIDORIYA! CHECK OUT THIS NEW DESIGN! IF YOU WEAR IT LONG ENOUGH, IT TURNS SWEAT INTO A HIGHLY ACIDIC LIQUID!”

- “AWESOME! WE COULD ALSO ADD A WAY FOR THE ACID TO TRAVEL THROUGHOUT THE SUIT SO THE SUIT CAN SHOOT IT OUT AT ALL ANGLES-”

- Poor Power Loaded can’t keep up with the mad children 

- As Izuku works, he mutters like an absolute maniac

- Everyone else ignores him, but Mei listens intently, because Midoriya’s mumblings are filled with good ideas and facts

- As Midoriya continues to work, he realizes he has a knack for making guns

- Like, REALLY good at making guns

- At first Power Loader completely banned Midoriya from making them (WHO WOULD WANT TO GIVE ONE OF THE MOST CRAZY STUDENTS THE ABILITY TO MAKE GUNS) but as time went on, he began to appreciate Midoriya’s unique ability

- “Midoriya, why don’t you explain why I found ANOTHER gun in the trash?”

- “Power Loader! I’M SO SORRY! I KNOW YOU TOLD ME-”

- “Okay, hold up kid. I need to know what type of material this is. This piece of work is astounding.”

- “Oh-! Thank you. Hatsume and I made a reinforced metal we like to call “Might Metal.”

- Eventually, Power Loader lets Midoriya embrace his new hobby (under very strict regulations)

- Each of Midoriya’s guns never fails to surprise him

- Whenever one of the Hero students go to get a support item, they just a mound of guns surrounding Deku

- If they ask about their uses, Midoriya becomes too nervous to say much, so Mei explains everything 

- Student: Oooh, what does that one do?

- Midoriya: U-um, well, it- um, it con-con-

- Mei: That one is designed to shoot Magma bullets out of it! The magma solidifies in this chamber, but when shot, it’s instantaneously back to it’s liquid state! He almost burned the entire lab trying to get it just right! And then this one-

- Eventually the Sports Festival rolls around

- Mei is so excited about it 

Mei: Think about it! It’s the perfect commercial! We can finally show off our babies!

Midoriya: I don’t know... I doubt a bullet could do much damage against actual quirks. Especially Kacchan’s...

Mei: Bomb guy? 

Midoriya: Yeah, his quirk allows hims him to use nitroglycerin sweat to creatE explosions-

Mei: He uses his sweat?

Midoriya: Yeah? Why-? Oh. Ohhhhhh

Mei: Get your notepad Midoriya. We need all the notes we can get on these heroes

- Midoriya’s notes on the students quirks give them a HUGE advantage

- The two little shits make a gun that shoots a bullet faster than the speed of light

- After a long talk with Power Loader, they decide to use fake bullets. Midoriya never planned to use the real thing, so he was completely fine with it

- He makes fake bullets that he’d use against each student

- He makes a liquid that completely stops sweat from flowing through a persons body once the bullet makes contact (guess who that’s for)

- He doesn’t have enough time to make a specific bullet for each student, so he  makes a gun that shoots out an energy absorber, which leaves his opponent completely exhausted 

- However, then comes the issue of actually SHOOTING 

- Midoriya knows how to shoot, but shooting a moving target? Forget it 

- He needed a teacher, someone who get help him aim 

- Cue Midoriya tracking Snipe down and begging him to train him

- Snipe has seen the kid’s work and was impressed. He agrees  - They practice shooting for three months. By the end of their training, Snipe has turned Midoriya into a pro sniper. The kid can shoot a bee’s stinger off a mile away. Snipe was taken aback by how much the kid had improved. There is no doubt in his mind that this was the kid’s calling

- Snipe becomes a father figure to Midoriya

- When the day of the Sports Festival arrives, the four most nervous people on campus were Midoriya, Power Loader, Snipe, and Mei (worried for Midoriya)  - Power Loader and Snipe talk to Midoriya before the Festival

Power Loader: Okay, remember to stay calm and do not, under any circumstance go for the eyes, mouth, nose, or ears-

Snipe: MAKE ME PROUD, SON! YOU GOT THIS-

- (both of Midoriya’s teacher dads were shaking from head to toe) - Because Midoriya was too busy making bullets and the gun, he couldn’t use any support gear

- So the first two matches go down basically like they did in canon 

- Now, it’s finally time for Midoriya’d first match against Shinso

- They both enter the arena and everyone starts whispering 

- “The green haired kid is quirkless right?” “Yeah, he’s a support course student” “He didn’t bring any gear!”

- Shinso thinks he’s won. This little green bean child doesn’t look very strong, he could definitely take him on a fight-

- Then, this motherfucker pulls a fucking GUN out of nowhere

- Shinso is shocked, everyone is shocked, ALL MIGHT is shocked. Midnight has to explain that the gun is allowed because of blah blah blah

- Midoriya aims and shoots. Shinso is faster than he’d imagined, so the bullet flies past his ear

Shinso: Did you make that yourself? What do you think that’s gonna do against all of these heroes-in-training?

Midoriya: Take this seriously- Shinso: Walk over the edge - Midoriya starts walking, realizes his will, blah blah blah and breaks out of the trance

- He was one step away from losing, but once he breaks out of it, he turns his head to look at Shinso

- He aims and shoots

- The bullet hits Shinso dead center in his chest

- His energy depleted, he is forced to give up

- Midoriya’s victory is greeted with confusion and outrage

- “HE’S TOO STRONG!” “Yeah, a gun? That’s so uncool.”

- Meanwhile, Bakugou is watching this runt with a confused gaze

- “That shitty Deku! What the fuck is he doing?”

- Then the match with Todoroki comes along and Midoriya loses. I mean- a GUN against a GLACIER? But Midoriya is still able to display his skill before his loss

- He’s scouted by the Hero course. Quirks are important to become a hero, sure, but it’s true skill that turns a person into a hero

- He immediately accepts 

- It’s a bittersweet goodbye.

Mei: GO FOR IT! You and I can both make outfits for your hero costume, and we definitely have to add a jetpack and-

Power Loader: Don’t cause any trouble and do your best. You’re always welcome in the lab-

Snipe: HELL YEAH KID! 

- Midoriya is crying

- A kid in 1A was kicked out, so Midoriya takes his place

- Class 1A can’t believe they got the Gun Kid

- ESPECIALLY BAKUGOU

- Midoriya trains physically and keeps up with everyone

- Literally everyone is impressed with his aim

- He eventually becomes the Quirkless Number 1 Hero with a Gun 

#mha #bnha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #izuku midoriya #quirkless izuku #gun #quirkless au #mei hatsume #support course #power loader #snipe #Power Loader: What do you have? #Deku: A GUN #Power Loader: NO! #headcanons

[lemon-and-lead]

hey, quick art tip! if you want to solidify your character designs, I'd recomend doing this!

I did a quick, rough version of four of my characters in a lineup, no sketch, just laying down colours. I now have a solid colour pallet for each, that both look distinctive and work cohesively with each other. then I used a pixelate filter to make them into game sprites!

if you have trouble keeping characters consistent, drawing them with simplefied shapes and flat colours can help you find something you like enough to keep. plus, it looks cute!

#concept art #original art #digital art #artists on tumblr #doodles #art tips #art advice #oc tag #oc artwork #ocs

[nona-piccolo]

Princes of Hell AU

Princes of Hell AU

Warnings: none, unless the mention of “hell” and demons bothers you

This is my own little AU where Obey Me brothers are genuinely princes of hell, and each of them occupy a Circle of Hell where the damned come to be eternally punished; there is no school, there is no RAD, and there is no funny banter 😈 When I had first played Obey Me, I always imagined a more darker story to the brothers, ones that involve fighting and action, and less of the romance aspect, especially since they are in fact demons, and each of them possess the burden of a sin. I always just thought it would be interesting to view them in a reign of power for a territory of their own. I also really really wanted to speak about the boys’ abilities and powers, so their strengths and combat is also talked about.

Please enjoy my little indulgence!

Okay so hear me out, there are seven rings of hell that occupy the space of the underworld. The worse of a person you had been on earth, the further into the ring you get placed in--- this also deals with the punishment that is endured. To put it simply, the rings are formed from 1 to 7: 1 being the least terrifying, while being placed in ring 7 is reserved for the worst and scummiest human beings. Taking off from there then, that leads us to the very first prince and owner of the 1st circle of hell:

Leviathan - 1st Circle of Hell:

They call this place Sheol. One thing that greatly differs Leviathan’s circle compared to the others is that fact that his circle is not a physical layer. There is no land. In fact, Leviathan's layer is almost sea-like, with spirits floating through the sky and composed of a sea of high whines of envy. The misty green layer is also the largest part of hell, considering it is the outer-most layer of the circle and takes up the most surface area. Leviathan is comfortable in his true form here (a giant beastly Leviathan) with eyes filled with envy to roam his territory. Leviathan is a powerful being, able to summon and control hideous demonic ocean creatures to do his bidding. His brothers are cautious if ever caught in a fight with him; Leviathan’s control can absolutely crush and overflood the other circles of hell. Many are terrified of him, and rumors had gone around saying he has the potential to become 2nd, maybe even 1st strongest of the Devildom, but his downfall and probably biggest weakness, is the time he spends moping about the things he doesn't have. The feeling of envy has crippled him to a pathetic and whiny ruler. Still, he appears to be one of the best of his brothers, as he doesn’t need to do much to care for the crying souls that wander around lifeless.

Asmodeus - 2nd Circle of Hell:

They call the 2nd Circle of Hell Dis--- the most laid back circle of all of them. Yes, even more so than Leviathan’s. Now you may think it would be odd, especially for Asmodeus’s circle to be placed where it is. But the people bound here for all eternity have the guilty pleasure of what Asmodeus finds entertaining. All demons and humans there are not tortured, with no laws, and given the ability to do whatever it is they desire. He likes to be surrounded by succubi and incubbi almost constantly. Asmo hates humans the least, and feels no need to want revenge. Being in hell and stripped of everything is punishment enough for him. Talking about abilities, Asmodeus himself would say that he isn’t fit for physical combat. Instead, he was given the ability to charm any creature or non creature he sees fit. With just a look in his eyes, he commands every bone in their bodies. Very few people are immune to this charm, but every once in a millennia he will meet someone who doesn't fall to his charm. This bothers him immensely.

Belphegor - 3rd Circle of Hell: 

Gehhena. That is the name of his circle. Opposite to his twin brother Beelzebub, Belphegor has a barren land of almost nothingness... Everything is shrouded with sloth, to the point where not even the air moves. Too lazy to make changes to his kingdom, there is a constant stagnation within his circle. His followers are left sitting there with nothing except constant loneliness and nothing to ease their boredom. Belphegor, the ruler that he is, sleeps on his throne any moment he can, and the crazed state he left his followers in have caused them to struggle with each other on who will get the throne. They feel they will go crazy if no one takes up Belphegor’s place. And so they plan to take his throne. Acting like he doesn't know about the plan to overthrow him, Belphie is pleased to spend all of eternity with the entertainment of watching his underlings argue to no end on who should sit on his throne. Belph doesn't seem like the brightest, especially due to his dozing and sleeping, but perhaps that's where he and Mammon are able to catch opponents off guard. Being underestimated is what Belph depends on, and frankly he seems to enjoy it just as much. He is the youngest of his brothers, and therefore the weakest physically, but his ability can be powerful in controlling what happens in other's dreams. This demon does his dirty work in the dream realm, having full and complete capabilities to cause disaster in his enemies through during their most vulnerable moments--- sleep. His constant state of sleep can ease others into a sleeping death, where the dream realm becomes Belphegor's greatest strength. He feels no need to try and climb the ranks higher. He is content where he is.

Mammon - 4th Circle of Hell:

Pandaemonium is the name of Mammon’s circle. Perhaps the greatest designed circle of hell, Mammon's image of what he wanted hell to look like is what came true on his land. He has complete control of what he wishes his kingdom will look like. As a great architect, he believes that hell could be just as great as heaven, and tried to prove it to Lucifer by designing Lucifer's very castle. Mammon’s land is filled with enormous landmarks and sky scrapers that appear to touch the stars. His circle of hell has the most impressive buildings and works of art, truly impressive to look at, but... as a ruler, Mammon isn't too good. There are still so many unfinished buildings and projects that he has abandoned in order for his subjects to mine and work in labor for eternity, finding the greatest diamonds and jewels within the ground to bring back to Mammon's castle. They needed to keep their master rich somehow. The work loads for his followers keeps increasing with every little thing Mammon craves for. More and more buildings, more and more diamonds, he can never get enough of it. Although rarely any violence ensures, his underlings constantly screw each other over in order to survive. And like his followers, Mammon is not particularly violent. In fact he shows more of a masochistic side, letting other people take out their frustration on him. This is ironic, due to Mammon's main ability being his luck. Among other demons and humans, his sheer luck and ability to gamble come in handy for him; getting him out of situation after situation. In the battlefield, he is often used as a decoy, his luck coming in handy to miss fatal wounds and strikes. It is also said Mammon's speed can rival Beelzebub's, yet he seems to run even faster if it's to get away from trouble. 

Beelzebub - 5th Circle of Hell:

Beelzebub’s circle was named Tantarus, or better yet the Tantarus Pit. It is a massive swamp, and with basically an "eat or be eaten" policy. His people are desperate in getting whatever they can in their search for sustainability. Although not particularly strict, Beel's attitude of eating whatever he wants can become a scary factor. He has many good cooks enslaved, whom make meals for him almost constantly. Much like Mammon, the people in the 4th circle of hell are forced into an everlasting workload. Yet unlike Mammon, Beelzebub has been known to get impatient, sometimes swallowing up the nearest thing he can find--- whether it’s a person, or the dinner table. He does not purposefully seek out trouble though, and prefers to keep to himself--- or with Belphegor. His circle is too far from Belphie, much to Beelzebub’s dismay, but Lucifer had simply brushed it off and told him he needed to deal with it. With super strength and speed, Beel is by far the physically strongest of his brothers. His frightening stature, height, and gluttony puts him at the very top of the list for being intimidating. Along with the constant intake of food, he makes sure to exercise and keep the bounds of muscles he has solidified on his body.

Satan - 6th Circle of Hell:

Satan owns the circle of Malebolge. There are two sides in Malebolge, and both sides are at constant war with each other. The pain and horror of war is everlasting and perpetual. Satan trains his people for the day they get a chance to attack the Celestial Realm. It is by far the most violent and frightening circle of hell. Satan is a monster fuming with hatred and insults. His control over his wrath had been let go a long time ago; he had let it overwhelm him and take control. To the point where Satan’s very presence on the battle field freezes opponents up in their tracks. Continuing to fight Satan for more than a few minutes will trigger his ability. He had all of eternity to practice thinking clearly through his anger and wrath--- it is no longer a roadblock to him. But he uses this as his greatest weapon. Fighting Satan for longer than a few minutes will provoke a growing rage inside of you; like the pressure of a dam against the heavy weight of water. His opponent will begin to think unclearly--- they will feel frustration and rage, giving Satan a chance to strike them down. Skilled and precise, he taught himself to suppress anything other than the rage he feels in order to kill more efficiently. Unlike his brothers, Satan prefers to use a sword in battle, and he can do so both methodically and elegantly (particularly Archangel Michael's sword that had fallen into Heaven with his other brothers).

Lucifer - 7th Circle of Hell:

Of course, the last and most dreadful circle of hell is reserved for Lucifer himself. Cocytus is what he had called it. This circle occupies the smallest space, taking the very center of the ring he and his brothers had formed. In the very middle lies Lucifer’s giant castle he had built just for himself. Lucifer's castle Helviti is where he stays, and where his most valuable followers and favorites live. The castle is all Lucifer really needs to be content. There are dreadful winds here, the cold and winter storms are drastically below freezing temperatures, keeping and reminding him that he could never ascend to the warmth of the Celestial Realm. So he is glad to have a warm place to stay in order to keep out the numbing weather. His people however... are left in a biting state of paralysis from the freezing cold; left out of the castle to rot. The most powerful of his brothers, Lucifer's cunning behavior and strict attitude are just added weapons alongside his ability of energy manipulation. Two of his six wings were disintegrated from his fall from Heaven to hell, and turned from a pure white to a rich black. He is also the only one who can control Cerberus, an enormous three-headed dog he keeps right by his side.

#obey me #obey me AU #obey me headcanons

[mayorofcattown]

I figured it was about time I actually solidified the designs for these two OCs (aka the wolf and deer boy I’ve mentioned once or twice) and was going to put it on the backburner until I realised ‘red themed deer boy’ was very seasonally appropriate, so of course I had to finish it

anyway I’ll go more in depth under the read more so as to not make this post super long, but the basic jist of their story is they’re from a universe with element magic, but where the magic manifests as physical features related to that element, and each element has light/dark alignments. Raleigh is a deer boy with plant powers and Valko is a wolf boy with well. werewolf powers what did you expect. Their story is loosely based on little red riding hood, hence well basically their entire design

I have also just uploaded the timelapse of this to my patreon if anyone is interested, link in bio cause tumblr is a butt

Going more into detail here, the magic system explanation is pretty much what I said above, with the light/dark alignments being specifically called sun/moon magic. Both of these two are nature element, with Raleigh being a sun mage and Valko being a moon mage. The sun/moon thing mostly just determines the kind of magic they have, it’s basically just sun= warm/defensive and moon=cold/offensive, it’s meant to be kind of arbitrary tho. The other elements are water, wind and earth (fire and ice are part of the sun moon alignment instead of being their own thing).

For their backstories, some of this may change cause it’s still early days, but essentially Raleigh is the bastard son of the king of one of the larger nature kingdoms, and doesn’t really fit in given his less ‘flashy’ magic and dubious heritage, especially when compared to his half brother the first prince, who is a literal unicorn boy.

He ends up getting sent on a vague errand to the small town out near the mountains where Valko lives, and Valko ends up deciding to tag along with him to keep him out of trouble. Valko works as a lumberjack, and doesn’t really say much else about his personal life, other than that he seems reluctant to use his powers for anything, relying only on his own brute strength instead, despite seeming to be quite powerful magically speaking.

I’m still figuring out what to actually Do with this story, tho it’ll likely be a game of some sort, just cause their designs are way too detailed to work for a comic even if I DID have the patience for comics lol... I’m thinking a visual novel, with different routes for each element, each containing its own smaller self contained story. These guys would obviously be the nature story, and I have a solid idea for the wind one too, tho I’m still figuring out the other two. It’d take a while to make, but releasing a bunch of smaller games is a lot more manageable than One Big Fantasy Epic Spanning Four Continents is. Still need to figure out what the actual Gameplay would be tho..... Either way I’m planning to finish OS:TRI (my sci fi vn first), just cause that one is Much Shorter, and its just further along story/design wise. So it’ll probably be Years before I can even do anything with these guys.

#I keep saying 'boy' they're all like. 20 somethings I just don't know a better way of conveying that the belong to the Cat Boy Family #original art #oc #original character #fantasy character #art

[punkbirb]

my thoughts on shining pearl

no worries, theres no spoilers

wow. ive never been driven to write anything about pokemon before. i’ve been playing my whole life, and I’ve played every mainline game, including remakes- except for black and white 2.

shining pearl has made pokemon FUN again. it has stayed so true to the original, and I so deeply appreciate that. all the small quirks of the game that I remember so fondly have made me fall in love all over again- to the point im willing to go through the trouble of getting the pokemon ive had since i was 8 off of the old ds games and onto my switch. I love the fact that this game doesnt hold your hand. It took over a year after the release of sword and shield for me to give it a try. Sword and shield- while cool in concept- were so heavily disappointing for me. the wild area was a really neat thing that I enjoyed, but it made it....too easy. it was too overwhelmingly big and just gave you any and every pokemon for no work at all. there was no reward in running up to a glaceon just standing there, waiting to be caught. I found it needless to do anything in that game because if I wanted a dusknoir all I had to do was find it roaming around the same spot it always is. forget trading and special items for evolution! it defeated the purpose for me. and items....my goodness the fact that game just gives you infinite gold nuggets and evolution stones and other items made the careful selection of focusing on developing a handful of pokemon redundant. it’s as if the focus was mostly on giving you free money for the overly expensive clothing choices rather than making it a special feature that you had to make careful decisions for. i feel like sw/sh had a lot of potential, but just lost focus on what the game was supposed to be about.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact nintendo brought over the ability for your pokemon to follow behind you from heart gold/soul silver. I think i’ve been quietly begging for years to see this. I’d always adored that feature and wondered why it wasn’t more common. All the small details, like the polishing of the badges and playing music notes on them, contests, to the stickers on the ball capsules, berry planting, to the mining and secret bases, to the poffin making- even the fact that the pokemart isn’t crammed into the pokecenter all struck high chords for me. call it nostalgia, but the way it’s kept true to the original form with a few little new tweaks here and there (like the underground caverns that minimize the concept of the wild area from Sword/Shield, and the minimal focus on the wardrobe changes) is exciting. What would really solidify the deal for me is if they brought back the little item in ss/hg that turned the music into the original 8bit tracks (I know that pearl/diamond wasn’t 8bit, but hearing the original tracks would be so cool). 

I do appreciate the fairly new-ish-but-not-really concept of the visual aids and battle mechanics of friendship with your pokemon carrying over into s.pearl. it’s been over a decade since i’ve played the original D/P (wow, makes me feel old), so I don’t quite remember what generation this became a mechanic. however, I feel like somehow this game kept specifically all the things I like about pokemon just for me. while i do remember using maybe 2 or 3 specific pokeapps on the watch feature, i’d forgotten how convenient it could be. I’m excited to see if any new ones have been added. Speaking of, the addition of the HM one (which I dont recall, forgive me if it isn’t new)- I so greatly appreciate that A) gym badges are required to use certain ones and B) I don’t have to waste a move slot or use a HM-designated pokemon to use HMs. I feel like requiring badges to progress with HM usage keeps true to the original pokemon journey- which is what I look for in these games. I appreciate the small backtracking aspect here and there after an HM is obtained. It urges deeper exploration and reminds you that you might not be able to progress in one particular area just yet- but don’t forget about it and some nifty rewards will be found if you come back. certain points in the game- like how to obtain a spiritomb from a certain ruin (I think)- i’m fondly remembering that “hey eventually I’ll get this pokemon here” but I don’t exactly remember how- so it’s a nice challenge that brings back that journey aspect. maybe it’s an unfair edge in terms of experience since i already know where to go and mostly what to do- but slowly recalling little bits of forgotten information are, again, making it fun, and making me really love the work that went into remastering this game. the little hint box on the menu is a nice touch for someone who is forgetful like me. Nice to open up the game after I’d been away and not have to think about “wait, what am I doing here again?” It isn’t so direct that it’s just a statement telling you specifically what to do- but rather “explore X city!” 

sometimes it takes me awhile to warm up to new mechanics, such as dynamax or the mega evolutions in x and y. while I understand there needs to be some way to keep pokemon fresh and exciting- it can be a bit much sometimes. it’s honestly a nice change of pace to nix that in s.pearl (at least, so far- im only just leaving veilstone city). It’s a lot less to keep up with, and honestly they never really did much for me to start with. maybe I’m just too stuck on older gameplay. I do think they’re very neat mechanics, and have made stories interesting (since they’re usually used as plot devices). while I always thought it should’ve been an option to turn off the “super effective/not very effective/etc” tags under the moves, I suppose I wasn’t surprised to see it in s.pearl. When that mechanic was first introduced I thought it kinda took away the point of learning move types- but this isn’t really a gripe. It can definitely be a lot to keep track of- and I still even forget the whole ghost-dark-psychic type efficiency wheel. I think a lot of trainers (especially those who are new to pokemon) appreciate it.

even the battle initiations are a nice little nod to the original games. it was cool to recognize the static image of a trainer in their original battle pose for them to then burst into the 3d movement we’ve come to appreciate. the backgrounds are beautiful and feel more realistic (not literally of course) to the area you’re battling in. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the big-headed chibi overworld view, but seeing the fully rendered battle animations made me think that it’s a sort of modern take on the old, original style of the pixel sprites. definitely warmed me up to the cutesy-ness of it all.

I feel there is a huge swarm of trainers everywhere- which has been kinda annoying, but then again I probably got used to the lack of them in shield. I’d forgotten about the VS Seeker- which is definitely a nice item for when I need to grind later. I’ll admit, Roark defeated me twice before I could beat him. I honestly liked the challenge of it. It was nice knowing that i’d have to either train, train, train, or go catch a machop to use against him rather than just being handed a badge for defeating his team in 3 moves. I’d chosen chimchar, and with his lack of defense, one little fighting-type move alone wasn’t enough to defeat a team of 3 rock-types. It was wonderful to see such an early-on test of type and team efficiency!

being gifted a jirachi from a random NPC early on in the game was a nice shock to me. Not sure if that was part of the pre-order gift yet, but it was definitely a hook!

overall so far this game is not just nostalgic, but somehow very refreshing. I’m definitely looking forward to Arceus in January, and s.pearl has given me revived hope for the series. I enjoy the challenge of the game again- and I love that everything just isn’t thrown at you all at once. You have to explore and you have to work for most rewards. The selection of pokemon in grass isn’t overwhelming- it’s nicely paced, making you take on that original style of hand-picking a team that’ll best suit your needs for the moment rather than just having a plethora of variety at any given time that don’t really give you much challenge for facing the next gym.

I love this game!

#pokemon #shining pearl #brilliant diamond #j