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confused-fuckperson · 9 months

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Rewriting a different version of MLB

Disclaimer: I'm not a writer, much less a screenwriter, I'm just someone who enjoys writing and analyzing cartoons.

Oh and sorry for my grammar, as English is not my first language.

My (and I think yours too) relationship with the series is ‘’particular’’.

I remember when I first saw this series when its first season aired and fell in love with it: although the plot was episodic, there were moments that gave the semblance of a plot that was hidden under our noses.

Season 2 arrived, and my interest increased, mostly because certain characters were starting to move in interesting directions (Gabriel and Nathalie with their secret plan to bring Emilie back to life, Chloé showing signs of changing and maturing, the appearance of the new heroes …).

And then the last three seasons came.

Well, I quit the show at the end of Season 3 as I felt the writers and Astruc didn’t value my intelligence and my time was being wasted, but still tended to keep up with the 'plot' via various social media posts.

With the end of the fifth season, I would like to try to rewrite the story with my ideas and with what I would have liked to see, and if so, it would be interesting to know your opinions and what you would have changed .

Let's begin.

-Worldbuilding:

We know that the Miraculouses are magical jewels that allow humans to use certain powers thanks to the Kwami.

In ‘’the Origins’’ they make us understand that almost no one knew of the Kwami and that such abilities were unknown.

Superheroes aren’t the norm.

Like, Majestia is presented not as a living, breathing person, but like a comic book.

…But in the New York special we are told that superheroes are a very common thing? And that you can give superpowers very easily? And Majestia exists? Then why be scared if you have these people in your daily life?

So what is so special about Miraculous? Can the abilities of those who are actually gods really be recreated by people in costumes?

In the first and second seasons they showed us a planet Earth from the year 2014, with all the technologies also present in our world. How the heck is it possible that in what would be 9 months in canon you had practically 9 years of technological development in real life? When I watch a show, I have to know right away what is considered 'normal' and what is 'special', because otherwise I don't distinguish what should scare me and what shouldn't.

Why rely on two teenagers in a suit to fight Hawkmoth when I can call America's heroes? Or use something high-tech that allows me to locate the bad guy in 5 minutes?

Establishing rules and limitations is essential in a magical system.

What would I have done?

Here, only the Miraculous should make you a superhero and, if you really want to insert sci-fi elements, make sure that only Gabriel is in possession of such technologies, and that this is not known to the public.

-The magic system:

Setting precise limits on the powers of heroes and villains ensures that when they have to get out of seemingly impossible situations, they appear brilliant.

And that's why, in my opinion, the series should have focused on the first seven Miraculous we've seen: the ladybug, the black cat, the butterfly, the peacock, the turtle, the bee and the fox.

If you add too many powers, the viewer’s attention gets scattered.

If you add too many superheroes, you have too many characters to handle.

The roles of the protagonists, co-protagonists and of the antagonists must be immediately clear enough so the viewer is not confused on who’s important and who’s not.

Among other things, every Miraculous must have precise and clear powers from the very beginning (I'm looking at you, Miraculous of the rooster).

How I would have handle them:

-Ladybug: Creation. It can purify the akumas but cannot destroy the akumatized item. It repairs everything that was destroyed by using the Lucky Charm (I honestly prefer how it was used in the movie).

-Black cat: Destruction. It can destroy the akumatized item using the cataclysm (so that both heroes are crucial in the battle and not just Ladybug).

-Butterfly: Transmission. It can give ordinary people superpowers, but not abilities of other Miraculous (For example, you cannot create another Chat Noir like in ''Copycat'' or give powers like those of Volpina, which faithfully copies the fox Miraculous, also because it would make her stronger than the Miraculous itself as she can use it infinitely.)

-Peacock. Here, technically the power is called 'Emotion', but on a practical level, it is a mix between Creation and Transmission. Either you totally change the power and make it something related to pure empathy, or you tie it to the creation of animate but non-sentient objects (so that it remains distinct from the Creation of Ladybug, and that it doesn't allow you to create ''human beings'' and not fall into all the unnecessary questions like ‘Are senti-beings humans?’’. Are you telling me that Gabriel and Nathelie actually killed a human on-screen when they made Senti-Ladybug disappear?)

Regarding this, if you really want to link Adrien's birth to the Miraculous of the Peacock and to Emilie's death, you can invent an excuse like that maybe (I’m inventing something) a newborn Adrien was dying and to save him Emilie used her own power too much, damaging the Miraculous and killing herself, thus making Adrien a semi "senti-being" without being mind-controlled by an Amok or by the holder of the Peacock Miraculous.

-Fox: Illusion. Maybe you can also tie it to the concept of deception and lies. Since Alya wants to be a reporter and she likes the world of journalism, it would be nice if she's the one who can find lies more easily.

-Turtle. Protection. It is also the Miraculous of longevity, so perhaps the wearer could be the one who takes the least damage when hit or they’re the one who has the most stamina. Or that the Miraculous guarantees you a longer life, as in the case of Master Fu.

-Bee: Action. In short, to paralyze someone. Honestly, I would also give it the power to force someone to perform a single action for you, If you want to joke about the fact that Chloè is a ''Queen Bee''.

Now, it's not that the other Miraculouses don't exist, they can be mentioned during the story, but since the two most important and the strongest ones are in Paris, Gabriel shouldn't be interested in others of lesser value.

In this version there would still be an order of the guardians, but I would make Fu a more responsible character and an actual mentor.

Let’s talk about:

-The Characters:

The protagonists are Marinette and Adrien, and they must be treated as equals.

You can focus the attention on Marinette, but that doesn't mean you have to treat your male protagonist like his personal doormat.

Let your protagonists have flaws that make them human!

I want a Marinette who is actually insecure, who has a real difficulty balancing her duties as the masked heroine with being a normal girl with a normal life.

Maybe that polka dot mask gives her the opportunity to experiment and find self-confidence that she doesn't have as a civilian (a bit like in the movie).

Let Adrien be a naive boy to the outside world without making him stupid. Naivety and stupidity are two different things.

If in the everyday life Adrien feels the pressure of having to be the perfect son of the great Gabriel Agreste, as a masked superhero he can be the imperfect prankster who wants to discover the world and himself.

I think the love square should remain almost unchanged, but the Marichat must certainly take on a more predominant role: Marinette must appreciate the mask, the part that Adrien never shows except when he is transformed, while Chat Noir must appreciate Marinette's insecurities and fragility , and advise her on how to act accordingly. Perhaps Chat Noir, noticing Marinette's fashion projects, could offer her some advices that he noticed from his father.

If the Marichat would develop in precise moments of the day (Maybe after an akuma attack, and as in those few times it was shown to us in the cartoon, during the evening), the Ladynoir and the Adrienette are those more ''daily'' relationships: Adrienette at school or when hanging out with their friend group, Ladynoir while they are at work.

Ladien would only develop as the reflection of the latter two.

The only thing I might have no idea how to manage are Luka and Kagami: at this point, they could be two characters that the two protagonists like, either because in a moment of crisis between these two, or because they offer the two protagonists different perspectives: Luka, with his calmness and kindness helps Marinette to deal with her anxiety (by the way, I would have loved to see Luka teach Marinette how to play the guitar, it's a very nice trope you know), while Kagami would have encouraged Adrien to break free from his father's control (like how she wants to become independent from Tomoe).

Honestly, I would also avoid Kagami (and Felix) having to deal with being senti-beings, there is no need to complicate things.

Moving on to the co-protagonists: Alya, Nino and Chloè.

While at the beginning Chloè will be as the one from the first season (a spoiled and unpleasant brat), Alya and Nino would be those friends who back up the protagonists and then become permanent heroes when they are given the Miraculous (for me, Marinette and Alya should know about each other being Ladybug and Rena Rouge, while Adrien and Nino know they are Chat Noir and Carapace).

Gradually a solid group of friends would be created and where they can count on each other, just like in the first and in the second season.

And Chloè? Well, since a 14-year-old can change (Right, Astruc?), her evolution would be gradual until she becomes a stable member of the friend group. She is Adrien's childhood friend, and he will be the one who will help her to become a better person. And her admiration for Ladybug will make her understand the importance of her responsibilities (Like at the end of the second season, before Astruc ruined her because for some reason he hates blondes.)

And even if she reveals that she is Queen Bee to prove her worth to her mother, she can always create a new identity for herself. Don't tell me he can't do it, Chat Noir does it in ''Cat-Walker'' and it worked.

The one who keeps the group together would be Nino, with his chill personality, but that still doesn't let himself be fooled by someone else: he would be the one who calms the situation in case Chloè, Marinette and Alya start arguing or if Adrien doesn’t have the courage to let his voice get heard.

Each character in the group will obviously have their own individual passions that could actually help them defeat Hawkmoth: for example, Alya could be the one who carries out the investigations to discover the identity of the villain.

In terms of passions, some are already more obvious: Marinette as a fashion designer, Alya as a journalist, Nino as a DJ (ok, but how cool would it have been to see Nino help Alya with the music and organization of her Ladyblog? It would have been adorable).

Chloe and Adrien? Well, I'm going to make something up here, still linking it to the main series.

Chloè at first wanted to become like her mother, a stylist, only to then realize that she was more cut in the leadership position (as a ''Queen Bee'').

A Chloè who aspires to become mayor of Paris (like her father, but less corrupt, or like in the fifth season), but competent and mature. Of course, she would be mayor as an adult (The writers of the series may not know that Parisians will burn your city down if they don't like you).

Also, come on, Chloè would totally have a secret cove built up, like Batman. She may have changed here, but she’s still a diva.

Adrien is more of a special case.

I'm going to pick up on the 'Wishmaker' concept where he doesn't know what he wants to be as an adult, and only wants to please his parents. This would mean that Adrien has not found an identity yet.

Perhaps, with his friends, he will find one that will detach him from Gabriel.

Side note, imagine if he became a pastry chef? Adrien joins Marinette's family, carrying on the family business, while Marinette enters the world of the Agreste family and Parisian high fashion world.

Master Fu will obviously be the guardian of the Miraculouses and the mentor of both Ladybug and Chat Noir. In this version of the series we will actually see lessons where Fu teaches the kids the history of the Miraculous, their powers, how to control their emotions and, above all, how to trust each other.

Seeing that he was like a teacher for the two protagonists, it would certainly make his departure more painful for both, and would alarm all the heroes towards the two main antagonists: Hawkmoth and Mayura.

Gabriel must actually be a sympathetic antagonist: in the series he almost seems to forget that he does everything for his son (Gorizzilla's Gabriel and Chat Blanc's Gabriel are completely different, let's be honest).

Gabriel obviously has to act in the shadows, but when he realizes that he can't do this alone, he will involve Nathalie more, until she becomes Mayura (even if, on this, Gabriel does not agree , as this would lead her to her death).

Nathalie, even if in love with Gabriel, would bring Emilie back to life just to see him happy, even if that would mean losing the only chance she has with Gabriel. But, since she will then realize that what they are doing is profoundly wrong towards Adrien (who in the meantime has moved on) and towards the whole world (the desire would destabilize the cosmic balance), first she try to make him change his mind and then to stop him with a fight which she would then lose as she was too weak due to the peacock Miraculous.

When Nathalie becomes too sick, We’ll see Lila (or whatever her name is) again, who will have distinguished herself as she seems to be more aware and more willing to be "manipulated". Lila, of course, would be ready to betray Gabriel at the right moment, as for her, being a narcissist and a pathological liar, she is only interested in power and adoration.

I know it's not perfect, but these are my thoughts on a possible rewriting of the series.

I would appreciate other advices and, above all, opinions and criticisms.

#miraculous ladybug #mlb #mlb spoilers #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous fanart #miraculous awakening #miraculous marinette #adrien agreste #miraculous adrien #adrienette #marichat #ladrien #ladynoir #chat noir #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #miraculous lb #miraculous fandom #miraculous fanfic #miraculous fanfiction

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wackus-bonkus-maximus · 1 year

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Hi!! I'm the pomme anon, just a little message today<3 (or maybe not too little). I don't have any songs now, but a lot of words.

Your fic literally saved me. I was in a very bad situation this year, and it was really hard to find something that worked as a distraction. I'm always on tumblr and reading mlb fanfiction, but I don't usually find one that really caught my attetion. I saw in various posts this one called One Does Not Love Breathing, but in my depressed state it was very difficult for me to take the initiative to start reading it. When I did it, I knew it was the right thing.

I just FELL IN LOVE. The characterization, the dynamics, the plot, the dialogue, everything. It was just so interesting! I didn't even realized and I was already thinking more about theories and predictions about the next chapter instead of negative and self destructive thoughts. Sharing a few songs was a way of participate in this, I wanted to do something and find a way of saying that I really cared about this!

And now is over. I saw that the chapters were already planned, and I was kinda sad knowing that it would end sooner or later. But today I readed it, and I knew what I would do next: read all of it again with everything I know now, and enjoy it ever more! It became my comfort fic, and I feel so so so safe in it's words 💖 and I feel better now, is new year, and if Adrien could get out of that hole, maybe I could too!

Thank you so much, Wackus. For sharing your idea and work, with so much love and dedication💖 I'm in tears now, happy tears! I can't believe there's such masterpiece in this fandom. Fics like this make me think that there are many good and beautiful things in this chaotic fandom after all 💖

Thanks again! So much love from Chile!

🐞🐈🦊🐢🐝🦋🦚🐉🐍🐁🐎🐒🐕🐅🐃🐖🐐🐇🐓

crying right now. pomme anon, thank you for sharing all this 💖 i feel like writing is my calling for this precise reason... "if i can stop one heart from breaking, i shall not live in vain" (dickinson). knowing that you liked my fic at all is already an overwhelming blessing, but to know that it was also a blessing to you too just makes me incomprehensibly happy.

i'm so happy it meant this much to you. when i put a piece of my writing out into the world, i can only hope it has 10% of the effect on someone that it seems to have had on you. thank you for the beautiful song recs, and thank you for sharing your story. i hope my fic will always be a spot of light and comfort for you, and i hope you know i will always send hugs and hope your way every time i hear a pomme song!

#odnlb #one does not love breathing #pomme anon

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into-september · 1 year

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MAIN TAG: mlb meta

SHIP STUFF

Put your money on ladynoir, kids

On the merits of imperfection (why ladrien is my favourite side of the love square)

The innage tragedy of ladrien, and why I love it

So here’s the thing: (from the perspective of character growth, reversing the love square makes no sense)

To phrase this better than I did so late at night that it was technically morning: (lukanette is a masterclass in the crucial difference between showing and telling)

The NYC special might’ve sunk lukanette before it ever had the chance to happen

if we’re using “friendship is more important than a celebrity crush” to argue against the love square…

On shipping dynamics within the love square, mainly marichat vs. ladrien

ADRIEN AGRESTE MY BELOVED

Adrien Agreste and the limelight

Adrien Agreste and the question of unmasking

Some speculation about Gabriel’s possible ways out of being Hawkmoth and how they will affect Adrien

To cross your DNA with something reptile (on sentiadrien, because who needs narrative logic when you can have angst)

Being the topic du jour and all (the show has already shown that getting his amok can’t be a ~beautiful metaphor~ for sentiadrien’s freedom)

If sentiadrien is meant to be a commentary on child abuse then someone has no idea how stories work (spoiler: it’s not, because abuse is funny on this show)

SPOILER: I’M A CHLOÉ STAN I GUESS

Ending Chloé’s story as a villain would be a vaste of screentime and that’s why they shouldn’t

This be the verse (let’s just say I’m less than impressed with how early S4 handled the Bourgeois family drama)

Some more Zoé meta

Let’s talk narratological theory to explain why Chloé is an abused child in the text even if the creator insists she isn’t

WHY LUKA ISN’T MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER

Spoiler: Luka Isn’t A Great Character Yet (written in response to some people’s very low standards after “Truth” aired)

In fact he’s so poorly written that he’s pretty much an unintentional parody

Overthinking things (they don’t mean it like that but I saw some uncomfortable sexist themes to Luka’s akuma powers, both times)

Can we please stop blaming Marinette for Luka being a simp

MIXED BAG

Paper faces on parade (comparing and contrasting Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Gabriel Agreste)

On the feminist merits of MLB

The Scarf Came Back (on “Mr. Pigeon 72″ and the meaning of its many callbacks to early S1)

Related: S4 and “Gorizilla”

Jagged Stone is… (a spoiled manchild who’d be an awful parent if he’d stuck around and they were better off without him)

“Gang of Secrets” was underwhelming and that’s a problem

I finally realised where my entire problem with “Gang of Secrets” lies

Right now my main hope for S4 is that I’ll come out of it shipping alyanette like it’s going out of style (this show should’ve put more effort into Alya like three seasons ago)

MLB and the bad rich people

Some observations and a poor attempt at analysing the depiction of wealth in Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir

No, Marinette isn’t a Mary Sue (because I refuse to acknowledge linguistic drift and “Mary Sue” does not mean what you think it means)

Etymology ragepost, MLB edition

This show just can't up the stakes in battle

NOT REALLY META BUT STILL

Chloé should discover Cat Noir’s identity it’d be great

I also really want Felix to become a gentleman thief

What if all the heroes knew everyone’s identities except Cat Noir’s, wouldn’t that be super fun and not at all heartbreaking

My ideas for the Secret Sibling were way better than who it turned out to be tbh

Did you know that I have a tag devoted to Kagami being a fujoshi

Outline of the Hikaru no Go AU someone else should totally write

“Puppeteer 2″ was a microcosm of the Cat Noir-Ladybug-Nino-Alya mess of S4

Marinette is canonically bi in the Norwegian dub

GOING OFF ON OTHER PEOPLES’ POSTS

The Umbrella Scene Redux in the NYC special wasn’t about Adrien falling for Marinette but a foreshadowing of the importance of friendship going onward

Adrien’s pain lies not in unrequited love, but projecting his abandonement issues onto Ladybug

A small but heartfelt declaration to adrigami

When you have to make your characters repeatedly insist that someone is so totally in love, it’s not coming across as totally convincing to your audience

tl;dr I suspect that the reason marichat is so popular and ladrien is correspondingly disliked is about gender roles, actually

On marichat and ladrien and romance tropes

No really, ladrien is stupid and that’s why I love it

The Reveal is supremely unlikely to happen before the deciding battle against Gabriel and if it does, they won’t get together before it anyway

MLB’s got a bit of a genre problem and that’s why the plot cannot ever move

Chloé is the Loki of the MLB fandom and given how much attention the show proper gave her compared to the rest of the secondary cast, Thomas Astruc has no right to be surprised about it

Chloé can’t be Queen Bee again before she realises that she doesn’t need to be Queen Bee to do good things

More Chloé analysisin’: An irredeemable character wouldn’t need a three-episode storyline to explain her reluctant fall for the villain

Some people finding the sentiadrien narrative a healing parable about emotional abuse does not stop it from functionally annulling the actual emotional abuse the show depicted

#miraculous ladybug #for pinning purposes

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ms-starflower · 3 years

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Maribat Rare Pairs — Day 9 — Falling like the leaves

@maribat-october-rarepairs

Guys, guess what??? This is another angsty story!! BUT this one has a hopeful ending!!! And is not as sad as today's Spook-tober!! Yay!!

Also, if you saw my post yesterday, it’s the promised crack ship!

Well, it’s a crack ship for me, at least, mostly because of how super weird it was for me to write them. But, surprisingly, I was kinda super inspired?? This is the longest thing I wrote for maribat rare pairs month and spook-tober to date, with a little over 2k words??

But it is still a weird ship, and I’ve never seen it before, so... (Although, seriously, if someone knows of another story with this ship, please share with me, I would love to see what someone else would write for them.)

Anyway, end of the suspence, it’s *jazz hands*: Alfred x Marinette!

Contexte for the story here; It’s totally AU, forget almost everything you know about MLB canon guys. Here Marinette became Master Fu’s apprentice, after her parents death (she was like, idk, eight?? nine??). He took her in and trained her because she showed compatibility with the miraculouses.

I know there was something about how Master Fu became the last Guardian in Miraculous canon (???) but I don’t feel like looking it up, so, whatever. Also, for reference, there is like, around three years of difference between them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette was barely eighteen when she met Alfred for the first time.

He saved her from the people that killed her Master, letting her be the sole Guardian of the Miraculous, even though she never completed her training. He saved her without even knowing about the Miraculous, without ever asking for something in return.

She was lost, alone, and with a task bigger than her in her future. When he died, Fu left her the Miraculous to protect, but he also made her promise to correct his mistakes and found the lost Miraculouses.

She should have disappeared as soon as it was safe to do so, Master Fu had always said that the best way to protect the Miracle Box was to live in complete solitude, hiding from the world unless they had to show themselves. But it hadn’t worked, and now Fu was dead.

She didn’t know why Alfred asked her to come back to England with him, but she knew that she accepted because she didn’t want to be alone.

The trust between them had been nearly instantaneous. She couldn’t explain why, and the Kwamii refused to say anything about it when she asked them, even though they had looked at her with a knowing look.

When she was eighteen, and finally able to use the Miraculous at their fullest, the Kwamii all agreed that they needed to be used again, even if only discreetly. She knew what sort of work Alfred did for his country, it wasn’t hard to understand, and decided to help him.

She told him about the magic jewelry she was tasked to protect, and about the mission her Master left her. They both agreed to keep her help a secret from his superior, and she gave him the Black Cat, herself downing the Ladybug.

They made a formidable team, and Marinette hadn’t felt this useful for the world around her ever. She knew that his work wasn’t all pretty, of course. Alfred still kept her out of some of his missions, but she trusted him and never judged him for the decisions he had to make.

Falling for him hadn’t been instantaneous. It happened slowly, delicately, like leaves falling from trees in the chill breeze of autumn. And, one day, she touched down and realized that she fell and that there was no way up.

She kept silent, not even knowing if he would love her that way. But from the moment where she acknowledged her feelings, they only grew. Soon, she knew she would never love someone as much as she loved him.

She was twenty-three when she saw him for the last time.

The job started typically, for that sort of job. They were sent into enemy territory to evacuate an ally. Well, Alfred really, people didn’t know about her. At least they weren’t supposed to.

Somehow, they knew to expect them both and that they would have the Miraculous. Marinette would never know how it happened, just that it did. The only thing that saved them was the fact that they didn’t know about the Miraculouses’ power beyond the Black Cat’s and the Ladybug’s. They didn’t know to keep them separated, or even what was giving them their powers.

She used Kaalki’s Miraculous to teleport them out, directly to their appartement, and started to pack immediately.

“Marinette,” Alfred had said softly, and she turned toward him to see that he hadn’t moved but had dropped the transformation.

She did the same, dropping both Tikki’s and Kaalki’s. The three Kwamii looked between the two of them, a sad expression taking over Plagg’s face before they all floated in the next room to give them privacy.

“You’re not coming with me,” she said with a rueful smile.

“I want to,” he told her, stepping forward and putting his hand on her cheek. She closed her eyes, leaning into the contact. “But I can’t, not before completing this mission.”

“Why?” She asked him with a frown, opening her eyes back to look at him. “They sold us. Someone at your agency learnt about me and the Miraculous and betrayed us, betrayed you. Why would you finish this mission when it was so clearly designed as a trap?”

“Because,” he started slowly, leaning his forehead on hers. “The people that designed this mission obviously did so knowing it was one I couldn’t abandon.”

“What is so important in this mission,” she asked, swallowing back the ‘more important than me, us’, she wanted to ask. His features softened, his second hand coming up to her other cheek, and she knew he saw the question in her eyes.

“The man I was sent to save,” he started, his tone resigned.

“The American?” She asked, lifting her hands to cover his. He nodded slightly, careful to not disturb their position.

“He saved my life more times than I can count. More than that, he is a dear friend,” he told her, not moving his gaze from her eyes, before adding softly. “His wife is expecting, and I can’t sacrifice this family’s happiness for my own.”

“I—” She started, but there was nothing she could say, she wouldn’t either, if the roles were reversed. Alfred smiled softly at her, using his thumbs to wipe tears she hadn’t realized were falling. She closed her eyes, and left her despair talking for her. “I can save him with you. We can go back to save him together, and then we could leave together. Start a new life.”

“They will be waiting for that,” he told her, jerking his head back to shake it. “The only reason we could get out was because they didn’t know about Voyage, they would be prepared for it now. They will not expect me to come alone.”

“I can’t leave you, Alfred,” she said desperately, grabbing his jacket in her fists. “I love you.”

“I was hoping that it would happen in other circonstances,” he said softly, before leaning in to kiss her lips tenderly. It tasted bittersweet. “But I love you too. And that’s why I can’t ask you to come with me.”

“You’re not asking. I— I know I can help.”

“Your mission is more important, Marinette,” he said sadly, pushing back a strand of her hair. “This mission, your mission, it’s so important for you not because it was your Master’s, it’s so important because you love the kwamii like your family. You would give everything to protect them, I can’t put them in danger, and you know that you can’t either.”

She closed her eyes, letting her hands fall back at her side, knowing that he was right. Protecting the Kwamii that were with her and finding the lost ones were more important than her or her happiness.

“I can’t wait for you here, this place won’t be safe for much longer.”

“I know,” he said with a sorrowful expression.

“Maybe we— We can meet after—”

“No,” he interrupted her, his head shaking. “I can’t know where you will be, if I’m caught, I want to be sure you and the Kwamii will be safe. I couldn’t live with myself if I was the one to put you in danger.”

“What are you going to do, after? you’re not going back to work for them, right?”

“Don’t worry about me, I will find something,” he told her with a smile, and she couldn’t help but smile back.

“I wish we had more time,” she whispered to him, putting her hands in his hair.

“I wish I could tell you how much I love you,” he whispered back, putting his hand around her waist.

“Promise me to live,” she told him, looking him in the eyes. “Promise me to get out of there alive, and then, to live. To let yourself find happiness. I want you to let yourself be happy again, to let yourself live. Because when I find the Miraculous, and get Nooro and Duusu back, I will find you. No matter how long it takes me.”

“I don’t expect anything else from you, darling,” he told her softly, cupping her cheek.

“Promise,” she said again, she needed to hear him say it.

“I promise,” he whispered, eyes closed.

Opening a portal to let him go back there was the hardest thing Marinette ever did, knowing that there was a chance she was sending him to his death, no matter what he promised.

She was gone from the place they had shared for almost six years a couple of hours later, not letting a trace of her presence behind her.

Years passed too quickly and too slowly, after that. She dedicated the grand majority of her time to her mission, looking for Nooro and Duusu. She scoured the world, made contact in the magic community, and kept eyes on the black market.

Still, when she found a lead on Nooro, it was by accident. She was in Paris to talk with one of her contacts when the Kwamii told her they felt Nooro’s energy, and that it was corrupted.

The use of the Miraculous, for as long as she had used it in her youth, had slowed her aging considerably (and she often thought that it probably did the same to Alfred, if he survived). But even then, she wasn’t young anymore, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to be the Ladybug again.

She knew, from her old Master, that children were typically chosen to wield the Miraculous, but she refused to bring children into her war.

Still, finding people compatible with the Kwamii of Creation and Destruction wasn’t easy, and she could only find two promising young adults, Bridgette and Felix, both compatible with the Ladybug and the Black Cat respectively. They were still young, Bridgette was nineteen and into her first year of college while Felix was eighteen and finishing high school, but the only other options were a thirteen years old boy and a fifteen years old girl.

She gave them the choice to refuse, but wasn’t surprised when they accepted. Marinette did everything in her power to help them as much as she could; giving them training, a safe place to hide from the world when their emotions became too much, and a friend with whom to talk. And she used every last one of her contact, every favor anyone owed her, and every resource at her disposal to find Hawkmoth.

It took them three more years to defeat him, but when they did she could reclam back the Butterfly and the Peacock. And her mission was complete. Marinette felt so free, for a time she didn’t know what to do with herself.

She was lying. She had known what she was going to do the second the lost Miraculous were in the Miracle Box.

She left some time to Bridgette and Felix to say goodbye to Tikki and Plagg, promising them that the Miraculous would be there for them if they decided to go back to heroisme, when they finished college.

Then she packed her things and left for Gotham.

She didn’t know how she felt, when she rang Wayne Manor’s bell. Nervous wasn’t the right word, she had waited for this moment for too long to be nervous. It felt right. Freeing.

A young man opened the door, and Marinette recognized Tim Wayne-Drake. She smiled serenely at him, moving her braid back over her shoulder.

“Um, hello,” he started slowly, looking at her curiously. Probably wondering how she got here despite their security. He probably wasn't to guess that it was with Kaalki's help. “Can I help you?”

“Well, yes, I would like to talk with Alfred Pennyworth,” she told him with a smile, making him blink in surprise. “Could you be a dear and tell him that an old friend is here to see him?”

“An… old friend?”

“Yes,” she said matter-of-factly, before leaning forward and whispering conspirationaly, like she was sharing a secret. “The old cat also wants to see him, Stinky Sock doesn't say it, but he really missed Alfred.”

“The… old cat,” he repeated, blinking at her like her words weren’t registering. They probably weren’t, but before she could say anything, another voice cut in.

“Marinette,” Alfred said with a soft smile from behind Timothy. “I was waiting for you.”

“Alfred,” she said, her lips curling into a bright smile. “I told you I would find you.”

“Holy Batman, I feel so lost right now,” Timothy muttered under his breath, looking between the two of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know that the popular maribat headcanon for Alfred is to have been a Peacock holder, because it's Alfred, but people change when they grow older and I found it fun to have him be a Cat when he was still young and a little bit stupid (Not much it's still Alfred).

Also, the thirteen years old compatible is totally Adrien, and the fifteen years old is Aurore Beauréale, because I found her really Ladybugesque in the few memory I have of season 1 (I could totally be wrong tho, it was a while ago).

#MaribatOctRP21 #maribat #mlb x dc #Alfrinette #???#Alfredinette #??#Alfredinette is cute #Alfred x Marinette #Alfred Pennyworth x Marinette Dupain-Cheng

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stellarlex · 3 years

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Stop calling Alya salters clowns.

I have to say that I am less than impressed with a specific part of the MLB fandom right now. Especially the people who are really popular and/or have big platforms who call Alya salters clowns. That’s fucking insulting and honestly I expected better of you. Especially because whenever someone writes a fic or does something for Alya sugar, Alya salters in my experience actually celebrate her being a good friend.

But when this episode came out, the anti Alya salters really showed their whole asses. I saw a recent post from buggachat and it shows a pic of Alya and Marinette and a crowd making fun of Alya salters. I go in the comments and I see angelofthequeers posting a comment with the clown emoji asking how Alya salters are feeling right now and I’m just...

Fucking APPALLED.

And that’s right, I said names.

It’s a kid’s show. You have the right to respectfully criticize someone’s view on things but you don’t have the right to insult people for their views. I promptly unfollowed both of them and there are others I’m eyeing to unfollow. It’s disgusting how anti Alya salters are acting right now. Especially when Alya salters actually prefer content when Alya is being a good friend. A lot of the salt written is for catharsis from Thomas’s ASS writing. I myself have written a fic were there was Alya salt, but she changed into the friend Marinette deserves. Because like I said, THATS WHAT MOST ALYA SALTERS PREFER!

And guess what, everyone is allowed to criticize Alya. Everyone. Whether it’s good or bad criticism. As long as the criticism is based on true facts and not some made up headcanon, it’s valid. And I’m not gonna lie, some salters do twist characters too far for my liking. But like I said, it’s a catharsis from the writing. For the writer and people who like that content. Most of it is not harmful. You don’t have to like it or read it but you don’t have the right to insult people for their salt preferences. Sorry but you don’t. Y’all should be ashamed of yourselves. It’s not a war, it’s not two sides competing against each other. It’s not Houses in fucking Hogwarts.

If the amount of salt isn’t to your taste, don’t consume it. Easy. If you prefer sweet rather than salty, cool. And you can tastefully criticize both, but calling names and insulting people ain’t cool. I said names because both of them and whoever else does this deserve to be criticized for it. I don’t care about the size of their platforms or follower base. I said what I said. What they did was wrong and I’m not gonna be scared to criticize them and anyone else for it.

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legends-live-in-memories · 3 years

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I Have Too Many Opinions. ep. 1

lmao. i got encouragement to post my opinions on fandom things and now i want to make a miniseries doing just that. so here i am. doing just that.

im putting it under the cut cuz this was 4 whole pages including the disclaimer. yes i put a disclaimer and i explain why.

Anyways, here is the first piece in what inevitably will become fandom info dump, this time on thomas astruc’s writing on miraculous ladybug. but only some of my opinions cuz we would be here all day otherwise.

So… a disclaimer before I begin…

I do not hate Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir (yes i'm using their government name). I am quite a fan of the show actually despite its faults. I am also older than the intended audience but was obviously younger when the show first aired which is how my interest was piqued (the fact that its been 6 years and only 3 seasons says more about the show than me being a fan for that amount of time but also i never want to rush content creators cuz they're doing their best) and due to my age, there will be inherent bias in my approach of what i'm about to say as there is in EVERY opinion. The fact that it is an opinion should imply the presence of bias but most people tend to lack the critical thinking skills required to draw that conclusion ANYWAYS…

If I did hate the show I would not have this blog nor would I be even writing this because i tend to not give more than 2 seconds of thought to things i actively dislike (some of yall should give this a try) and i'm allowed to like things that are designed for an audience that i was originally a part of but grew out of. (I don't suddenly stop liking things because I'm older despite what many younger fans seem to believe about older audiences. I also don't need to be ‘allowed’ to do anything cuz i wasn't asking for permission anyways.)

This will not be character bashing, astruc bashing nor fandom bashing cuz, again, that would imply i hate any of those elements and if i did, i would not dedicate brainpower to them. Analyses and criticisms of media are fun and engaging and required if you wish to produce good enjoyable content. Now most of this should be already assumed and self-explanatory but people on the internet like to play morality roulette roll dice on purity culture and I rather have documentation that I am in fact not bullying fictional 14 year olds or a grown man. But alas, people get trigger happy whenever someone has less than 1000000% positive opinions on something they like and will throw out words they can't define (gaslight, baiting, toxic, problematic, gatekeep etc) in an attempt to defend their blind devotion,

which is not needed, if you like something you never have to defend it, even if i don't like it. If you respond to anything I post saying you disagree with me, I will not argue with you. I won't debate back and forth and try to convince you that the things you like are wrong. Unless you are being absolutely tone deaf to what i'm saying, you wont get a negative reaction from me. So don't try to fish for a fight. Please. I got metaphorical hands for days and I'm mean, you don't want me hurting your feelings on the internet. Do yourself the favour. Difference of opinion is how we get diversification in media and is inherently a good thing. Now that that's out of the way, please don't ever let me have to say that again. I beg.

Now onto the fun stuff

I didn't know what I wanted as a first topic so my trusty internet friend @moonlitceleste suggested astruc’s writing…

AND BOI do i got some opinions on ole tommy boi. Again I don't hate the dude. In fact, he has worked on a few shows that had defined my childhood, including but not limited to W.I.T.C.H. (all eps available on youtube for those interested, 2 seasons, general fun time all around).

So I don't think he’s scum of the earth but I do think his approach to writing mlb specifically has more misses than hits.

The first big miss is that he has no idea how to write 14 year old girls. At all. Almost every girl he has ever written feels like some terrible archetype built entirely for marketability and childish projection and pubescent self-insert (kind of). He has never been a 14 year old girl. I have. In fact when the show first aired, I WAS around the (assumed) age of the mlb characters. The behaviour he passes off as quirky or awkward or just the character’s genuine personality tend to perpetuate harmful stereotypes of teen girls found in the media and are never actually addressed as harmful. they just get swept under the rug. Marinette’s exuberant collage of teen heart throb model boi Adrien Agreste and her very painful almost fan worship she has of him (which flip flops like a paper sandal in the rain) being portrayed as a cute school girl crush uwu, Chloe being the y7 Regina George, Alya being the token best friend of colour with her ‘sassy’ personality (i want y'all to imagine me eyerolling so hard i bust a vessel in my eye), Kagami being the very damaging Perfect Asian Child stereotype. And before y'all get on your dusty soap box and defend going on about “BUT IT'S FOR CHILDREN”,,,, know this.

i don’t give a solid fuck.

Not one.

Children arent stupid. Children are always going to remember the richy bitchy blonde who bullies the art kid, and the big kid, and the shy kid, and the non white kids, and was only nice to her equally rich white friend who she probably had a crush on or was only ever civil to her equally white lapdog. They're going to remember the half asian girl who was never allowed to actually be asian or the only black girl who existed solely as a soundboard for enabling bad habits or chastising the main character for the same habits she enables in the first place (boi aint THAT a topic for later). Like do i really need to explain that alya chastising marinette for taking max’s spot in gamer just to play with adrien rings absolutely hollow when she actively encourages her to sabotage the contest she’s in just so Kagami doesn't win?? Like I don't have to explain that right?? Again kids arent stupid and its quite something that Mari gets chastised for proving herself the best video game player regardless of her intentions just cuz it comes at the expense of max’s feelings/ego but is actively encouraged to sabotage not only kagami but herself by extension cuz kagami is ‘competition.’ Adrien is not a trophy to be won. And no I don't expect 14 yrs old to be perfect and to always make good decisions but these decisions are never addressed as being bad decisions. they get swept under the rug cuz those decisions were necessary for the ‘plot’ but astruc can barely keep characterization consistent and his characters suffer for it and it's the same children you preach are watching it that suffer as well. Cuz guess what? I KNOW 14 yr olds aren't like that cuz i've been there done that (this is the last time i'm saying that i promise) so I know astruc is just metaphorically throwing darts to figure out who says and does what without consideration for pre established personalities to drive the stalemate plot along. The same kids you say are watching this don't know that that's not how preteens work and will absorb and internalize those dynamics like baking soda and vinegar. Cata-fucking-strophically.

And I haven't even gotten to the boys yet. Which honestly doesn't require much explanation anyways cuz they suffer the same fate as the girls. Tired archetypes with nothing to give them life. Nino falls into Adrien’s person of colour token best friend who dates the female lead’s person of colour token best friend so they can have cute double dates uwu. Except the plot goes nowhere and we have no inclination of romantic development beyond moments that only act to actively convince me to anti ship the lovesquare (i don't want to do that so i self indulge in fanon that actually cares about the characters and plot. may i interest you in True Sight on AO3?). Max is the residential nerd but it doesn't matter (cuz he and everyone are dumbed down for the sake of ‘plot’), kim is the sports jock (which interestingly subverts the asian comedic relief stereotype but only barely) and luka is cute older guy ™ that wears black nail polish and is in a band. The point of all this is to say there is no depth in the characters. It's especially blatantly obvious with the characters astruc doesn't like (chloe). Again, it being a show for kids is not an excuse to be absolved of putting effort into the characters you make.

This is one of the biggest misses astruc has. I haven't even gone into all the nuances of this particular miss. And i havent gone into how that works against him in the plot either. Mostly because the plot itself hasn't gone anywhere and partially because I wanted to go into the plot (or lack thereof) separately as its own miss.

AND BOI is it a miss.

SO home boy astruc wanted to reap the benefits of a serial show with ‘engaging’ plot without putting in any of the work to make a linear storyline and relying on the episodic format for, again, marketability. You can't have the best of both worlds, you are not Avatar: The Last Airbender. Which btw has a lot less episodes and a desired end goal that didn't involve top dollar. Legend of Korra did but that's not the point and it had its failings with that too. I challenge you, tell me how many episodes actually contribute towards a plot point or introduce new thematic elements to the show? Can you name them? I can and I'm going to include the plot points that moved the story in some direction if only temporarily. Yes only temporarily for some of these and i will explain later. (if you're in the server you already saw this list *wink*)

25/26. Origins- self explanatory, the beginning of the story,

24. Volpina- introduction of the grimoire and Master Fu (kind of) and no, Lila is not a plot point,

28. The Collector- proper introduction of Master Fu,

37. Sapotis- introduction of Rena Rouge,

41. Syren- introduction of new aquatic power ups,

44. Anansi- introduction of Carapace,

47. Frozer- introduction of new ice power ups,

48/49. Style Queen- introduction of Queen Bee,

51/52. Heroes’ Day- introduction of Mayura and mass akumatization,

66. Startrain- introduction of Pegasus,

67. Kwami Buster- Marinette wears multiple miraculouses,

68. Feast- backstory as to how the miraculouses were lost,

69. Ikari Gozen- introduction of Ryuko,

70. Timetagger- introduction of Bunnyx,

71. Party Crasher- introduction of Roi Singe and Viperion,

73. Chat Blanc- alternate timeline that essentially means nothing but got a reaction out of fans anyways (myself included)

77/78. Love Eater/Battle of Miraculous- Marinette becomes guardian and other heroes lose their miraculous,

New York Special- other heroes exist and there is an American miraculous box,

That's 21 episodes. 21 out of a heaping 78 plus 2 specials. Everything else was just your typical akuma of the day episode and everything that happened outside that had no lasting consequences on the plot thanks to the miraculous status quo. Was it entertaining to watch Lila stir the plot of the class dynamic? Hell yeah. Too bad it meant nothing by the end of the episode cuz we were struck with miraculous status quo. She literally doesn't appear again until Heroes Day. that is from episodes 25 all the way to 51, she means nothing and yet she is treated with the severity of a b-villain/rival thing. She means nothing by the end of Volpina if I'm being honest. She is only relevant for 20 mins of episode time she’s in then it's back to magic status quo that undoes any shift in dynamics and relationships. It's like Spongebob who can't get his driver’s license. The worst part is I actually like Lila and I wish the story treated her with the seriousness we as an audience are expected to treat her with. Despite being painfully inconsequential by the end of each of the 3?? 4?? episodes she’s in, it's entertaining to watch a character create drama just because.

Too bad it means nothing.

Astruc is constantly building up suspense to something ‘important’ only for it to not deliver and fans are constantly having the rug pulled out from under us. Oblivio teased us with a reveal only that gets undone cuz memory akuma. Chat Blanc teased us with romantic development but that gets undone cuz time travel bullshit. Feast introduced more miraculous lore and the history of the guardians but that means nothing by the next episode or ever (i'm not including any reference to the season 4 trailer cuz i've been around the block a few times and im familiar with this lil dancy dance). Heroes Day teased us with a possible future team of heroes but that gets undone in Battle of Miraculous cuz ????? why?? (here's why; astruc was having a jolly ole time letting us know how irredeemable Chloe is at the expense of shooting his own stagnant plot in the foot. Again, discussion for later.)

Too bad anything that slightly swerves off course from the akuma of the day gets undone or ignored. Too bad nothing has any lasting consequence. I mean, if anything did, the episodes would have had a consistent order and release schedule so im not scrambling to watch the leaked ep in Portuguese or something while the french dub is two episodes behind while the english version hasnt even been dubbed. I really wonder how he plans to conclude the show when he’s so afraid to step out of the corner he painted himself in.

Again, not going into nuances. If you want you can ask for more specifics (i doubt anyone would) but this is really just a slightly detailed general overview of my opinions on astruc’s writing.

I was going to include another miss in his approach to this show but imma save that for another time.

How’s that for a ‘first’ post?

#mlb #opinions my guy opinions #i dont wanna tag this as salt #but mlb criticisms and analyses #IHTMO #the hashtag for this series #thomas astruc #miraculous fandom #miraculous ladybug #miraculous: tales of ladybug and cat noir #yes the government name again #come get yall juice #miraculous

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sd1970x · 4 years

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My Miraculous Ladybug coming out story

CW: Transphobia.

[TL;DR - I've written an MLB fanfic. That fanfic allowed my trans subconscious to express itself and eventually I took note and came out of the closet.

I have also suffered abuse in the fandom. This abuse managed to make a presumably safe-space entirely unsafe, just when I needed it the most. This is not a payback post and no names will be mentioned. I am writing this post as a plea for increased diversity and kindness in the fandom]

Hi again.

So, some of you may remember me as taking an active part in the fandom and the subreddits around 2 years ago or so. My attraction to magical girl shows was very much established years ago, but when I first caught a glimpse of my daughter watching MLB, I was hooked. I also saw a wonderful bonding opportunity which indeed lived up to its part. But there was more to come. As season 2 went into hiatus, I filled the void by starting to read fics to my daughter. Then I wrote a few shorts. Then I started writing what would later become a work that changed my life.

The original inspiration for this work was (*drumroll*) an old genderbending anime, now about a decade old. During the course of writing it, I was starting to get feedback about how 'trans' this feels and how it's rife with gender themes, which helped me reach a conclusion: "I ought to get someone to do sensitivity reading for me, lest I end up hurting someone!"

But eventually, one fateful day I admitted to myself that I'm writing something deeper and that my OC must be some form of self-insert whether I like it or not.

No more than a week after that insight, I was out of the closet.

This, in turn, ravaged my life, as it has for many trans people. I'm up on my feet again now, but it's been a rocky ride - including a divorce, social transitioning with COVID-19 at the background.

The work went into hiatus as my life changed irrevocably, but it is now finally finished.

But that's not all I wanted to talk with you about today. My perception of reality is different to the cishet one and my thinking alien to it. The MLB fandom is decidedly cishet and is driven by a cishet lovesquare. Expressions to the contrary are generally unwanted and undesired by readership, as are takes that stem from such a point of view. Narratives that espouse a straight, easy-to-digest trans narrative might be supported on the basis of that trait but eventually this is all too restrictive to the cis perception of what trans is.

A point to mull over is that perspectives of transness (in particular ones that don't align with the cis perspective) are bound to be either expressed by self-inserts and/or significant derailment of main characters, both of these expressions highly policed and denigrated in the fandom.

But that's just how life is for someone who's LGBT and trans, one cannot and should not simply fault cishet people for being what they are and liking what they like and being unable to truly connect with the trans experience.

Up until when it comes to abuse. Literal abuse which was designed to rob me of my participation in an MLB LGBT forum and has successfully achieved that goal. I have screencapped evidence of such but it will be kept private for obvious reasons.

It's all too much to be a mere coincidence. As if just being what I am has inevitably brought this about. Since coming out I have encountered a good amount of transphobia and I'm now more empowered to deal with it than the shell-shocked response I originally had when it was but a few days after coming out.

The fandom hasn't felt safe for me since and probably never will, but here's my plea to you:

Consider that your own insular cishet view might be stopping you from seeing things the way other people see them. Consider that actually supporting diversity and LGBT/trans creators might force you to adopt a thinking which isn't 'natural' for you.

Consider that any act of bullying, even if aimed at a supposedly-acceptable target, might have a lot more ramifications than you planned for.

Be extra kind, more kind than you think is appropriate. People might need it.

And last but not least, say a loud NO to bullying of any form.

#miraculous #miraculous fandom #miraculous lb #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfic #trans #coming out

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purpleflower04 · 3 years

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Fanfiction Year in Review - 2020 by Purpleflower04

Yes, this’ll be fun! Thanks for the tag, @sing-in-me-oh-muse!

1 List of fics completed this year in the order they were finished:

I think it’ll take forever to link everything, even with only 22 works (ok, 21 of them are Miraculous Ladybug and the last is a Christmas Jelsa fic)

You can find them all here!

I suppose I could list out statistics.

As of January 2nd, 2021, I have:

22 total fics - 3 longer fics, and 19 one shots (one of them being Jelsa; same one as before)

3 longer fics - Broken Keys, Mended Strings (a collab I’m doing with @torilovesmiraculous, As It Should Be, and MLB: Uncertainty

9 Lovesquare, 2 lukanette, 1 (platonic) Adrichat, and 10 general ones (I didn’t count background ships)

2 Number of words written:

68231!

3 Your most popular fic:

No doubt, it’s definitely Almost Disaster! It’s about Marinette handling Hawkmoth like a boss when the akuma gets into her purse, but can’t convince her to turn evil. Her classmates look at her in shock and fear as she makes remarks back to Hawkwkmoth. I think people like seeing akumanette/close akumanette out of curiosity for how she’d handle it.

4 Your personal fav:

Wow, that’s difficult… have to say Kwami Freedom. The focus was on the Kwamis getting out of the miracle box without any productive reason, other than to be free and do whatever they wanted. They got to explore just about wherever and whenever they wanted to visit. Giving the kwamis freedom made me also feel free, and I enjoyed it most, even if the fic didn’t want to finish itself. It was still a fun journey!

5 Your fav scene:

Oh, how can I just pick one?? I don’t remember my fics to that amount of detail. It’s probably writing the encouragement in Almost Disaster. I never thought I could write savage Marinette, but I proved myself wrong. After that, I saw if I put my mind to it, I could write whatever I wanted to, without any real limits, only myself if I let it.

6 A fic or scene that challenged you:

It has to be Exposed, which was my first fic exchange (and the only one I did as of now), and I got a challenging prompt where Alya figures out that Marinette is Ladybug, so she gives Alya something special to keep it a secret. At first I had to think about what this special thing is, but then I’m like, “oh yeah, she’s Rena Rouge, I’ll just permanently give her a miraculous,” especially since I like finding ways to give people miraculous permanently, so this was something we’d both like, which was a bonus!

7 A line of writing you’re proud of:

This is from Unknowing Love, and it was specifically when Chat Noir pretends to be Adrien, then detransforms. When he does, Plagg says something unusually deep, but funny (imo).

Anyway, here it is!:

“You know, take in my purrsonality and yours to make the charming, daring, hero of Paris, full of puns!”

8 A comment that touched you:

I’ve gotten so many comments that made me want to happily cry and just celebrate! It’s so hard to pick just one! This comment from Side Effect is just PERFECT, because I didn’t know I could make people feel this way from just a transformation:

“Okay, this was short and cute! And idk why, but the moment they transformed, I felt a shiver run through my body. Guess I felt the power of transformation too!”

9 Something that inspired your writing:

To keep going, it was the people in Miraculous Fanworks Discord server that helped me out! If I had writer’s block, I would go to the sprint channel and just write. It worked so well, I also use it for writing school assignments (but that’s a little off topic). If I had a specific question about how I should continue my fics, I’d go to the writing channel. There was NO EXCUSE for writer’s block, and now I barely know her, fanfic or not, haha!

To start or continue? What inspired me to start was really just being bored and telling someone I wanted to write MLB fanfic, so they directed me to Miraculous Fanworks Discord server. I then asked for advice, and one of the people there was like “get a beta get a beta get a beta,” and so I did after finishing my first fic.

10 Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc):

Finishing Kwami Freedom for sure! It took forever for the fic to finish itself. I felt like I was so close, but then also the same amount away from finishing at the same time. It took weeks because I would only write around 100 words at a time.

11. Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

Yes! It would be to make a fic for someone who gave me so much advice and a heads up for difficult topics if I was taking one of the same classes as them. I’m using the one prompt they posted on the server previously mentioned and using a ship they like, so hopefully they’ll enjoy reading once I get to it! I am also aiming to finish Broken Keys, Mended Strings, make a soulmate AU for February, a songfic, and a Choose Your Own Adventure fic.

I’m surprised someone wants me to share my answers, but typing all this was fun, and I hope more authors do this!

I’ll tag: @enonimouse @dot-dotdots @ladycat1 (If I didn’t tag you, I either don’t know you, or I think you’ve already been tagged for this).

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alexannah · 4 years

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MLB: Character Theory

***season three spoilers***

I’m no psychologist, but I’ve had some thoughts about Chloé Bourgeois that have made me look at her in an entirely new light …

First of all, let me say that this is entirely speculation. I’m not saying this is definitely canonical. But it’s a thought that occurred to me when I started exploring a plot idea last night, and it’s certainly an interesting way to consider Chloé’s character. (But the more I think about it, the more I believe it.) (Also after writing all of this, it occurred to me to do a Tumblr search to see if someone had got there before me. Although some of this has definitely been touched on, I haven’t found anything which puts it all together.)

Chloé became added to my list of favourite characters very recently (a couple of weeks ago), despite what happened in Miracle Queen. Actually if it hadn’t been for that episode, she might not have done; which sounds weird, but although I warmed up to her a lot in season 2 and loved the development of her character we saw in that, I wouldn’t have called her one of my favourites until the urge to write her a redemption arc struck. (And I am. Several. But, not the point of this post …)

Anyway, so this theory is about why she is the way she is. And I know we already have plenty of canonical evidence for that, but I’m going to dig a bit deeper …

To recap the obvious:

André Bourgeois. He’s spoiled Chloé rotten by giving her anything she wants, and has no backbone whatsoever, so the few times he’s not sure about giving into her demands, he usually does anyway. The only time I can think of when he does say ‘no’ is when she demands he close down the school, and then right afterwards when she and Audrey decide to move to New York. Giving your child whatever they want is terrible parenting enough on its own, but since he’s the mayor, she ends up getting whatever she wants from other people as well just by threatening to call “my daddy”. Case in point: Despair Bear, when everyone’s punished except her, the actual culprit. He abuses his own power for her, as evidenced in Rogercop; and yet I headcanon that the reason he said no in Malediktator was because he knew that closing a school down just because his daughter told him to would cause an uproar, and he was too afraid of losing his position. Also why he didn’t want to go to New York, because he loves his power too much.

Now Audrey Bourgeois. She comes on the scene not long after the first sign of Chloé character development we get, which I bet is no accident. She’s also a power abuser, firing people without a second thought for minor or even non-existent crimes, including people she has no actual power to fire. She has a huge ego, demands the best, and basically is a total bitch. If it wasn’t obvious enough from all of that that Chloé mimics her, the fact that they have the same catchphrase basically seals it.

(Now I’ve added that picture, and look: she is literally mimicking her mother.)

So on one hand we have a parent who panders to Chloé’s every whim, and on the other we have one who sets a terrible example of how to treat other people.

But I’m beginning to think there is more to Chloé’s bad behaviour than that.

We know that, at some point before the show began, Audrey took off for New York. We don’t know when exactly that was, but I’m going to go out on a limb and guess it was several years ago. Chloé herself says that she “felt so sad”, which is completely understandable, even if they didn’t have the most loving relationship. (Which they obviously didn’t.) We can only guess whether or not they had any contact while Audrey was away, but if they did, I doubt it was very much. Even when Audrey comes back, at least at first, she’s dismissive of Chloé, ‘firing’ her for something as trivial as her choice of gift wrap, getting her name wrong repeatedly (which I’ll come back to in a moment), and she clearly struggles to say the words “I love you”.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that’s pretty neglectful behaviour. And Chloé’s response is pretty heartbreaking. Despite her mother having left her and ignored her for goodness knows how long, she still gets her a gift (this being a girl who doesn’t even get gifts for Adrien herself—it’s possible she had Sabrina get this one too, but I don’t think so), and tries to impress her. When Audrey eventually does accept her, it’s only because she realises Chloé is “just like” her. That’s not unconditional love.

(On a side note, I think it was pretty sweet of Marinette to do that, though in the end I don’t think it was particularly good for Chloé’s character development. But that’s not the point of this post.)

It makes sense for a child who’s been abandoned by a parent to have some abandonment issues, and this is where I finally get to the point! See, I think there’s more to Chloé’s bad treatment of other people than simply mimicking her mother, or because she holds herself above them, or just doesn’t think of other people’s feelings. I think those things are all true, but I also think there is another reason, and that is a fear of getting close to people. A subconscious one, most likely, but one that results in her intentionally keeping people at an emotional distance.

There is one particular reason I think this, and that is Butler Jean. One of his lines from Despair Bear: “I’m sure mademoiselle can remember when she was a little girl; when Mr Cuddly was always nice to mademoiselle when she was sad.”

I draw two things from that. One, that Jean has been in that job at least since Chloé was little, if not before. And two, that when she was little, he used to make Mr Cuddly ‘be nice to her’, showing that Jean used to comfort her when she was upset. He’s one of the very few characters who show Chloé genuine affection, so you would think that Chloé would appreciate that. Yet she treats him as badly as she treats everyone else, going as far to call him the wrong name, a different wrong name, every time she addresses him.

Audrey does the exact same thing with Chloé; calling her a different wrong name; though in Audrey’s case she does actually correct herself, at least when we see her do it in Queen’s Battle. Whether Audrey does it on purpose or is really that forgetful of her own daughter’s name, I don’t know. But in Chloé’s case, I think she must know Jean’s real name. If he’s been waiting on her for most of her life, paying her more sincere affection than either of her parents, I just do not buy her really not knowing it at all. Either she pretends not to know it, or she’s repressed it. But if she actually tried, I’m sure she could recall it.

Now to the three people other than Audrey that Chloé does not treat like dirt:

First, Miss Bustier. Chloé is more respectful to her than she is to other adults, and clearly likes her (as evidenced in Zombiezou when she wanted to give her a present); but I think the fact that she’s her teacher and therefore is expected to keep a certain professional distance is enough to keep her from wanting to push her away, if that makes sense.

Next, Adrien. We know that the two of them have been friends since they were toddlers. We also know that Adrien had a lonely, isolated childhood. And that, I think, is the crucial reason why Chloé is never mean to him. Nowadays, I’m sure her crush on him comes into it, especially since he has other friends now. But when they were younger, she knew he was as reliant on her friendship as she was on his. And therefore he was the one person she could be certain would never leave her.

Now to Ladybug. As we all know, prior to season three, Ladybug was Chloé’s idol. The reasons for this are never explicitly stated, but I reckon it’s because Ladybug is universally adored and admired, and Chloé knows full well that she’s hated: “I have no reason to be here. Nobody likes me; I have no friends; I’m useless.” She clearly didn’t want to become a superhero in order to do the right thing, or otherwise she wouldn’t have deliberately jeopardised the Metro train; instead she craves the admiration, and we know she became Queen Bee in response to Audrey dismissing her and offering Marinette the chance of a lifetime. (Only now noticed she actually has tears in her eyes in this moment; see the picture below.) The fact she wanted to be Queen Bee for the wrong reasons is greatly criticised by the people who don’t like her, but it just makes me feel more sorry for her.

(With regard to the ‘I have no friends’ thing, I always thought of that as an odd thing for her to say, because of Adrien and Sabrina. I’m still not one hundred percent certain on why she says this, but I don’t think it’s because she’s trying to get Ladybug to feel sorry for her. At least in that moment, she clearly believes it.)

Becoming a superhero was a dream come true for her, so when she started to realise that Ladybug was neglecting her in favour of other superheroes, it’s no wonder she was hurt. As usual with Chloé, it showed itself in anger. When Ladybug actually explains to her that she can’t give her the bee Miraculous back, and why, I now think Chloé reacted the way she did because she felt like, once again, she was being abandoned. This time by her idol.

I’m not saying this excuses her eventually accepting Hawk Moth’s offer, but I do think it explains it better than Chloé just having a tantrum over not being a superhero anymore. When Hawk Moth (very manipulatively) says “You’re Ladybug’s biggest fan. You’ve helped her. You’ve trusted her. And what has she done for you in return?” Chloé responds, “Nothing! She couldn’t care less about me!” Which is not true, and Chloé should have known this, because Ladybug specifically told her that not giving the Miraculous back was “for your own safety”. But Chloé’s response says, to me, that she felt betrayed. Feelings of abandonment are not necessarily rational. Back in Miraculer, when she said “I understand,” I think she was trying really hard to accept Ladybug’s explanation. I do. But she clearly was hurt, as evidenced by ripping up the photo of her and Ladybug and saying she didn’t want to pretend to be her anymore when playing with Sabrina. Then time went on, and then Ladybug chose Ryuko when it was Chloé’s own parents that had been akumatized, and that was just the last straw. She forgot what Ladybug had said, and she forgot all the times before that when Ladybug had helped her, out of feeling personally rejected.

When I’d written all of this out and went back to the episodes to check the accuracy of my quotes, I was much closer to crying than I had ever been watching those moments.

If this is canon, then it gives me hope, because I don’t see how the writers can not give her the redemption she needs. If her abandonment issues are addressed/dealt with, if she finds people who accept and care about her no matter what she’s done (I’m looking at Jean and Miss Bustier here—possibly Adrien, but I think it might take him a while to forgive her considering he and Ladybug were personally hurt by her actions), I think she could actually change for the better on a more permanent basis.

As I’ve written this post, I’ve come to believe more and more in my conclusion. Really, now I think about Chloé in this light, I don’t blame the writers for what they did. As destructive to Chloé’s development as it seems, it was a logical and in-character plot direction. Hawk Moth had already taken advantage of knowing Queen Bee’s identity to distract her during Heroes’ Day; there was no way he would pass up on using it against her again. He knows Chloé personally and was able to press all the right buttons to tap into her unresolved issues. What happened wasn’t just foreshadowed in Miraculer; it was probably inevitable. But that doesn’t mean Chloé can’t come back from it.

I’ve also said before and I’ll say it again; Chloé was fated to be Queen Bee, and I don’t believe that was because her destiny was to betray Ladybug and Cat Noir. I’m starting to think that she’ll be the key to the heroes’ eventual victory. Perhaps because Hawk Moth now sees her as an ally (or at the very least a pawn he can manipulate), she’ll be able to use that against him in the end. So Miracle Queen had to happen in order for them to win.

I hope this proves hopeful to everyone else who felt let down by the season three finale.

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maxdark158 · 5 years

Text

PART TWO OF BEING INSPIRED AND WRITING ANYWAY

PLEASE check out the amazing @ozmav my friend!! AMAZING!!

Characters are probably OOC because MLB is a kids show and you guys liked stressed and cursing Damian so I kept that going even though it’s probably OOC

Angel in Gotham: Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4 ~ Part 5 ~ Part 6 ~ Ao3

Demon in Gotham: Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4 ~ Ao3

Fanart for AiG: Riddler ~ Joker thank you @thegreysman

Please tag me in any fanart you draw for this guys ^^

oooOOOooo

Damian tried to ignore his phone after checking it for the thirteenth time. But who was counting?

He was, actually. Because it seems the stupid worry feeling will never fucking go away! It took root, and it’s only growing. Damian wondered if drinking weedkiller works on emotions. The bitches.

He wasn’t even that worried initially! Sure, he wanted his An- Marinette to text him when she got to the hotel, but that was just… a friend thing. It’s what friends ask! And they were friends.

Damian wasn’t worried on the car ride to the manor, he had only checked his phone once then. When his father questioned him about The Riddler incident, he was thoroughly distracted and didn’t check at all. After he left the room he checked twice in one minute just to make sure he didn’t miss anything in the first check.

He checked sparsely while training briefly, adding up to eight… okay, maybe not so sparsely. But at this point the awful god damn plant had grown a mouth and it was gnawing on his sanity, bugging him every moment of peace he had.

Damian was getting really fucking sick of this whole worry business. It was awful! Why did Grayson partake in it for so many years? Why did anyone?

He was beginning to understand his classmates’ sense of humor now. But “I want to ka-shoot myself,” was not as funny as they thought it was.

Damian was so busy thinking about worrying and getting more worried – the fucking circle of life – that when he checked his phone for the fourteenth time, he realized he missed a message from Marinette.

Angel: I’m at the hotel now.

Thank fuck. Damian banished all the worry from his mind – leave, motherfucker – and typed out a response.

Damian: That’s good

Damian: Did you get in trouble?

Wait fuck the worry wasn’t gone. He wanted to smack the phone against his head. Or break his thumbs for typing that without his permission.

Angel: Professor Mendeleiev must’ve been tired or something.

Angel: She didn’t leacture

Damian bit his lip. Marinette needed to work on her English.

Angel: Lecture?

Damian: *lecture

Angel: Quiet, English is hard

He could fucking understand that! It may have been long ago but Damian had to learn once too, ya know.

Damian: Understandable.

Damian: In my original question I meant any of your classmates btw

Holy fucking shit his thumbs would be cut off by sunlight he swears to all the justice league members-

Angel: btw?

Angel: Oh by the way

Damian: yeah

Angel: I’m good at text slang in French, okay

Damian: I don’t doubt you

He really didn’t. Marinette seemed intelligent if The Riddler incident had anything to say about it.

Angel: Anyway Alya tried to bother me but I’m good now

He frowned. Alya? She hadn't told him about her.

Angel: Professor Mendeleiev told her off for bothering me after my ‘traumatic’ encounter with a Gotham villain

Damian: Speaking of, are you SURE you’re alright Angel

Damian sighed, letting his head drop. Okay, fucking fine he was still fucking worried and he hated it. His thumbs weren’t to blame, his fucking emotions were.

He pulled up Google to look up liquid weedkiller when his Ang- Marinette texted back.

Angel: I’m fine

Angel: I’ve survived akuma for three years, I’m not about to let some riddle fanatic with terrible clothing choices ruin my day

Damian: His clothes are that bad?

Good, subject change. Maybe he can stop fucking worrying.

Angel: Too much green, for one

Angel: Green shouldn’t be used in large portions when it’s that bright of a shade

Angel: Also the cloth itself was cheap, but the kind of cheap meant to look expensive if you don’t know cloth good

Damian frowned. That was so fucking obvious. Surely she didn’t actually make that mistake…

Damian: *well

Angel: Whatever

Angel: Also his hat didn’t match the type of suit he was wearing

Angel: If he wants to go old fashioned he should at least match the time period

Angel: Longer coat, more layers

Angel: He is an atrocity

Her comments were appreciable though. He could see where she came from.

Damian: he is

Angel: If I had time to cry then my tears would had been blood

Damian: *have

Damian grinned. If Marinette didn’t want her fucking grammar fixed she should learn how to spell in English.

A different motherfucking bitch of an emotion appeared at that thought. He didn’t like that one either. It made him feel bad for being mean.

Angel: istg

Damian: It appears you’re learning

Angel: Yepp

Damian: Also the Gotham news posted an article online about you

Might as well bite the bullet, right?

Damian: “Unnamed Teenager From France Holds off The Riddler Until Batman Arrives!”

Angel: Wait what?

Angel: But we both held him off?

Damian: I was kind of useless, you did most of the work

God damn it! Damian thought he told that emotion to get the fuck out! He was fucking Robin he isn’t useless, he just happened to not be needed at that exact moment.

Damian: I left shortly after you solved his riddle because the Robins had arrived

He grumbled to himself. He hated emotions. It wasn’t like he hadn’t ever felt them before, but they were easier to ignore. This girl made them hard to ignore, and Damian wasn’t sure why.

He did know that he fucking hated it.

After a moment, he realized h- Marinette hadn’t replied for a few minutes.

Damian: You there?

Angel: Yeah. I was just reading the article

Good. He didn’t want anything to happen- motherfucking dammit.

Angel: The Riddler was bad at hand to hand combat. It was easy to take him down with the practice I have from Paris

Damian: I bet.

He saw the time on his phone. Marinette had more field trip stuff tomorrow morning, right? Shouldn’t she get to bed?

Damian: It’s getting late, Angel. We should go to bed.

Damian: Goodnight

Angel: Goodnight

Angel: Also I’ll find a chat name for you soon, promise

Damian’s smile felt weird on his face but unlike the god damn worry and fucking other emotions, he didn’t hate the feeling of it.

After replying, he prepared to get dressed for his patrol as Robin.

oooOOOooo

“Sooo, Robin,” Drake dropped down next to him. “Want to share why you were at that ice cream parlor with that pigtailed French girl?”

“Fuck off,” is Damian’s extremely eloquent response. He can say it in many different languages.

“Wait, Demon Spawn has a girlfriend?” fucking Todd over the fucking comms in his fucking awful Red Hood suit. At least his current helmet didn’t have the fucking lips.

“No, I don’t-“

“I’m trying to figure that out, Red Hood, so would you kindly butt out of the conversation.”

“Of course Red Robin, good luck getting anything out of him though.”

“I don’t have a fucking girlfriend you numbskulls,” Damian hissed through the comms.

“Wait what’s this about a girlfriend, Robin?” Grayson’s overexcited cheerleader voice screamed. Damian wanted to rip out his eardrums.

“Red Robin, I thought I instructed you to leave him alone about this,” finally, his father, for once being a fucking voice of reason, speaks on the comms.

“Bruce you said I should wait until he admits to having a girlfriend,” Drake sounded too smug, Damian wanted to cut it off his masked face. “We know that isn’t going to happen.”

“I hate this fucking family,” Damian hissed.

oooOOOooo

Marinette hadn’t missed her field trip this time. Or had she? Maybe she slept in really fucking late. Damian didn’t know. He didn’t know what her sleeping schedule was like.

She could have also been captured or killed. Those were not fun thoughts. The fucking worry was back, like a virus. Damian anxiously awaited his weedkiller.

She likely wasn’t kidnapped or dead. His father would have known by now and would have told him. He hopes. If his father didn’t tell him he’s a fucking asshole.

“Master Damian.”

“Yes?” he turned around to face Alfred, grateful to be away from the god damn brain-eating plant in his head.

“I simply wanted to prevent you from walking into that wall,” Alfred gestured behind Damian.

He glanced and – yep. Fucking hell. He almost walked into a wall because of the god damn weed of an emotion forcibly taking his mind hostage.

He was having a grand ol’ time.

“Perhaps you would like to go for a drive?” Alfred asked, a single brow raised.

Damian hesitated. “Alright. Where do you want to go?”

“We can figure it out in the car, Master Damian.” Alfred went to grab the keys and his shoes. Damian checked on when his weedkiller would arrive.

A week.

Fucking fuck fuck.

He should have paid for one-hour shipping.

“Are you ready to go, Master Damian?”

“Yes.”

Alfred didn’t try to talk to him during the drive, for which Damian was grateful though. He hated this emotion thing, and people forcing him to talk made it so much worse.

His phone buzzed. Damian pulled it out and checked it.

Angel: Kill me now

His eyes widened. What happened? Is she okay? Did someone- god fucking motherfucking dammit bitch.

Damian: What’s wrong?

Stupid god damn worry.

Angel: We have to all get lunch as a class before I’m free

Angel: I’m in the group with Liar Rossi

Damian raised a brow. Marinette hadn’t told him much about this girl in her class, but he knew she lied and nobody but Marinette knew she lied.

He didn’t like her.

Angel: Death would be sweatier

Damian: *sweeter

Angel: Rude

Damian: Anyway

Damian: You can’t die yet

Damian: We still technically didn’t get ice cream

Absolutely wonderful excuse you fucking asswhipe. Damian should be a politician with that reasoning.

He looked around, recognizing the streets. They were a bit weird from the actual street instead of the rooftops, but-

Damian: Also you’re at the Gotham City Heroes and Villains Museum right?

Angel: Yes I am

Damian fought to keep the smi- self-satisfied smirk off his face. Bingo.

Damian: I’m nearby

Damian: I can pick you up for lunch

Angel: OMG really? Please do I’d really really like that

Damian: omw

“Alfred,” Damian leaned up toward the front seat. “Head to the Gotham City Heroes and Villains Museum? I’d like to pick someone up.”

“Of course Master Damian,” Alfred’s tone didn’t betray anything about his thoughts, but for some reason that was calming to him.

The car drive to the museum was fairly short, if Damian was honest. They were only a few minutes away to begin with anyway.

When they arrived, Damian saw a redhaired girl with glasses yelling at his An- Marinette. At Marinette. He couldn’t hear what Marinette had said, but it must have been good. The red-haired girl’s jaw fucking dropped. The people behind her looked fucking dead.

Priceless.

Marinette saw him and he waved. Alfred unlocked the door, and Marinette got in. She didn’t look back at her classmates' faces as Alfred drove away.

Shit. Something must have happened. He wasn’t good with emotions though, after all he ordered weedkiller to see if he could get rid of fucking worry.

So, Damian Wayne did what any Wayne would do when faced with emotions.

Ignore them.

“Where would you like to eat, Angel?” Damian asked.

Shit, fuck, too insensitive.

Marinette shrugged. “I’m not sure, I don’t know what’s here.”

She sounded so goddamn miserable-

Damian frowned. “Angel, you okay?”

Fucking shit, stupid mouth. Learn the fucking rules. He should be banned from fucking talking.

“I’m okay,” she mumbled. “I’ve got a lot on my mind right now.”

Damian wanted to press the issue but decided against it. If he was happy when Alfred didn’t make him talk feelings, maybe Marinette would be too.

He was a friend first – wait first before what, exactly?

“Alfred, can you take us to the nearest,” he glanced at Marinette. “four-star restaurant?”

“As you wish Master Damian.”

He hoped Marinette didn’t feel out of place, but he wanted to lift her spirits. She deserved to smile – that was a weird fucking sentence what the fuck?

Damian is pretty sure he’s losing his marbles.

“I know,” Marinette suddenly blurted out. “I know you’re Damian Wayne.”

Fucking fuck fuck.

Shit. She’s probably pissed he didn’t tell her-

“I just want you to know that doesn’t change anything. You’re still my friend, and I don’t care who your dad is and who you are.”

Damian gaped at her for a moment before shaking his head. He should have fucking told her, he’s an ass. “I’m sorry you had to find out on your own. I should have told you-”

Marinette interrupted, “you didn’t have to. You don’t owe me that.”

He was confused. What?

She didn’t want to know who he was right off the bat? She was okay with that secret?

“As a stranger or even a friend, you don’t owe me any details about who you are. Ever,” Marinette told him. “You’re allowed to keep secrets and not tell me things you aren’t comfortable sharing. It isn’t fair of me to demand you tell me everything.”

Holy fucking shit.

This… this woman…

“Thank you,” he said earnestly. “I… nobody’s ever said secrets are okay…”

Marinette shrugged. “I can’t help if I feel left out, but forcing you to tell me everything isn’t how friendship is supposed to work. If you don’t want to tell me, it’s okay.”

Damian’s smile was small, and it felt a bit out of place on his face. He couldn’t find it within himself to care.

“Perhaps instead of a restaurant, I can take you both to the mansion for your lunch?” Alfred, the god damn traitor, suggested.

He wanted to say ‘have you lost your god damn marbles, Alfred?’ but he didn’t.

Instead, he said, “You sure Alfred?” like a fucking loser.

Marinette glanced at him. “You don’t have to if you aren’t comforta-”

“No, it’s not that,” he assured. Why would she think he was uncomfortable? His brothers were menaces, but he was used to them! Marinette, however... “My brothers can be… rambunctious.”

Drake and Todd were going to have a fucking field day, especially after what they pulled last night over the comms. He was lucky Grayson was working today. But those two motherfuckers…

Marinette smiled. “I can handle them if that’s the only reason you’re nervous.”

Damian thought for a moment.

Fucking fuck fuck.

He hoped she could. Because if they caused her any unnecessary harm or discomfort he would murder their asses.

With pleasure too.

But one look told Damian that he wouldn’t need to. This girl was going to be the death of him. He hoped the weedkiller was miraculously early.

He sighed. “Alfred, please talk us to the mansion.”

“My pleasure, Master Damian.”

Fucking fuck fuck.

#daminette #Marinette #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #marinette x damian #damian wayne #damian wayne au #marinette dupain cheng #maridami #damimari #maribat #fic #fanfic #fanfiction #batman #batman fic #miraculous ladybug fanfiction

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highbuttonsports · 5 years

Text

Nova Scotia: A Lacrosse Powerhouse?! A blogging attempt

What’s up everyone? Millsy here. I always knew the day would come when I would stop doubting myself and actually give this writing thing a try. I’ve always loved to do it.. and while I don’t usually share my writing with others, I have been complimented on the work I have shared. I have always found it to come naturally to me. I’ve told my wife in the past that I’m going to make a living off of writing… “that requires you to start writing something” was her last response. Touché.

So here I am, shooting my shot. No experience, not a clue at all. I’m just hoping I spell everything correctly and use some decent size words. But before I do dive into this and without sounding too much like a life coach. Please don’t doubt yourself! If you’re reading this and you want to pursue something, please pursue it. It’s what I’m doing right now! You can be your own worst enemy if you let yourself. Regret is an ugly thing and I hope that this helps someone else…So if you’re still reading this, thank you! I hope you enjoy it. Let’s give this a friggin whirl wha?

I reached out to Justin at The High Button about maybe doing some blogging for the brand, after seeing a post that they were looking for people to do that type of content. I am looking to cover sports locally, at the amateur level and professional leagues as well. I love all sports and I thought I could tie my passion for writing into that. Hopefully I can post more of me rambling on so I can give some MLB picks and NHL as well. I’m completely obsessed with golf but don’t like to bet it for the most part. Tiger for the next two majors though..cash it in! Big cat baby let’s go!!

I’ve known Justin for some time now through Lacrosse. We both played locally in the minor leagues here in the Halifax region, myself for Dartmouth and Justin with Halifax Northwest. We played against each other all the way through the Metro Minor Lacrosse League and eventually in the Junior A league here locally, the East Coast Junior Lacrosse League (ECJLL). Growing up, I always knew who Justin was.. this kid Belly has some sick mittens with a lacrosse stick let me tell ya. Absolute sniper.

I definitely have been fortunate to see lacrosse from all angles. From playing the game until 21, then transitioning into coaching at the Junior A level. Most recently though I have been spending the last several years refereeing the game at the Junior and Senior level, along with all minor lacrosse. This game has exploded in this province and I thought I could shed some light on that growth. I’ve seen a lot over the past 20+ years of being involved with this great game. Going to try string a couple paragraphs together here about that journey.

I was first shown lacrosse by my father Kevan Mills. Big Millsy. What a legend. He showed me the game at a young age and I was obsessed right away. However back then in 1997-98 it wasn’t really a sport that any kid was pursuing as their main sport. Even in early teen years, it was always just the summer sport to hockey. A lot of the guys just picked up their sticks and went to the rink. I however could never get enough of it. My dad would take me when he was refereeing and I would always have my stick for in between periods to throw the ball around. This was when we had a six team senior league in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I would go to the games for those ten minute intermissions so I could get a free floor to myself, I loved it.

That Senior league (MSMLL Maritime Senior Men’s Lacrosse League) was my first taste of high end lacrosse in the area. At single digit years old it was obviously the lacrosse I wanted to play when I got to be that age. What I failed to realize at that age is that the minor leagues were just not growing at the grass roots level. This makes it hard to maintain any sort of high caliber leagues. Eventually the MSMLL folded, and sometimes Junior A benches had no more than 10 runners on them. The bantam and midget leagues were scary. Dark times for high end lacrosse in Nova Scotia.

Guys like Steve Brown, Sean Harrison, Wayne Finck and Bruce Hamilton and many, many others deserve a lot of credit for keeping lacrosse on life support during those dark times. Those names were a huge part of my young lacrosse life and also a big part of why lacrosse has seen the growth it has here. If you would have told me when I was 15 or 16 that in 15 years Nova Scotia would have players playing for NCAA titles, top Canadian universities or in the top Junior leagues in Ontario, or that we would send teams to national competition and compete with Lacrosse juggernauts. Abso-fucking-lutley not! But here we are.

Year after year there are more players I am hearing about who are pursing lacrosse collegiately. Whether in Canada or in the United States. Either that or they exploring their options for better box lacrosse in Canada. Or both. This is ultimately putting Scotia on the map. In addition to the individual success, Team Nova Scotia is also always well represented at the national level. From Peewee all the way up to the Presidents cup (the Canadian national Senior B championship) along with sending multiple talented teams to the Founders cup in recent years (the Canadian national Junior B championship) having great success there, hosting the tournament in 2014.

With so many options available to these Nova Scotian players now; I’d like to highlight some of the local players who have taken their lacrosse skills on to get an education and play at the highest level they can.

Brian Huyghue:

Brian is product of the Halifax Hurricanes Lacrosse association. As an ECJLL alum, he plays his college Lacrosse as a senior attackman for the Divison II powerhouse Limestone College Saints in South Carolina. The Saints are 5 time DII champions most recently in 2017 in Brian’s sophomore season. In 2019 they came up short on a sixth title, losing to Merrimack in the national championship game. Brian tallied 28 goals and 24 assists in 21 contests this season at Limestone. Brian has an phenomenal outside shot, great stick skills and is very quick and deceptive in the way he beats defenders.

Jordan McKenna

Jordan played all his minor lacrosse for the Dartmouth Bandits. He was granted exceptional status to play in the ECJLL in 2016 as a midget putting up 34 points in 13 games. His true rookie season in 2017, Jordan spilt time between the Junior B and Junior A Northmen in Orangeville, Ontario. 2018 saw McKenna return to the ECJLL for 6 games notching a very impressive 40 points. The Junior A Northmen are lucky to have Jordan for the 2019 box lacrosse season. Jordan has finished his high school lacrosse this season at Westminister in Connecticut. He has committed to Bryant university; a D1 program in Rhode Island for the 2020-21 season. The Halifax Mooseheads also drafted him in the 2016 QMJHL draft. His lacrosse IQ and his vision on the floor make Jordan very lethal offensively.

Zac Carrigan

Zac played his minor lacrosse for the Sackville Wolves and is currently a member of the Sackville Sportswheels Junior A Wolves of the ECJLL. During the school year Zac plays his college ball as a midfielder for the Mars Hill University Lions. A Divison II program in North Carolina. During Zac’s sophomore season this year at Mars Hill, he was named an All South Atlantic Conference honorable mention. Carrigan tucked a team high 34 goals, adding 14 assists. His 48 points was second on his team in scoring. Zac is an excellent outside shooter and his offensive upside makes him a threat to score or create a scoring chance every shift.

This a just a small sample size of the lacrosse talent in this province. It’s insane. I referee all three of those players and the difference in their games since going away is amazing. American coaches have embraced the fact that Canadian players have a certain skill set that can be very helpful to the outdoor game. The three players above are prime examples of that.

I am not even mentioning the many players who currently; or have played at the university/college level outside of Atlantic Canada throughout North America. We also have some local players trying out…and making some of the best box lacrosse teams in Ontario at the Junior level. It’s been pretty cool to see our talent stack up with the rest of Canada, and now with American schools as well.

It’s been a hell of a ride watching this sport grow to where it is now. I’ve seen it go from not even knowing if we would have teams to fill certain divisions. Eventually it moved into having some select leagues and tryouts. More kids started playing the game, opportunities were capitalized on and so much hard work went into it. Currently our Junior A league now has six teams with one in New Brunswick, one in Truro and 4 locally in HRM. We have a four team Senior league again, the NSSLL. Which by the way is no joke. The word senior is misleading eh, these boys can BALL. I see you boys. Some of the best lacrosse you can enjoy for free. I will post more about this league but Tuesday’s and Thursday’s at the RBC centre in Dartmouth is serious lacrosse. The best players around over 21.

Some of the senior guys around here, and the odd junior player have even competed internationally in Prague, Czech Republic. The Nova Scotia Privateers are a travel team, that have been attending the Aleš Hřebeský Memorial Lacrosse tournament in Prague for over 10 years. This team has enjoyed great success placing second in 2018. Nova Scotia native Mitch Hannigan was named top goalie of the tournament in 2018 along with Matt Dunbar being named a defensive all star. Taking home a defensive all star in 2019 was former Halifax Northwest Rebel Jasper Goodwin. Local guy Luke Parker, and Coach Rod Humphreys deserve a little butt tap as well. Parker is a staple on the Privateers roster and a dominant senior player. Check out episode 197 of The High Button for his story. Humphreys deserves tremendous credit for his work with senior lacrosse, and making the Privateers competitive every year. So yeah, we’re competing globally now. I think that’s decent?

Also a huge shout out to the female lacrosse in Nova Scotia which is kicking butt at all levels! Way to go ladies. The peewee, bantam, midget and junior girls divisions have gotten extremely competitive. Female players from the area are now also exploring their options to play and continue their education. We are also competing nationally with Team Nova Scotia at most age groups for female. My oldest daughter is excited to get started! So awesome to see.

As if the growth of the game in this province wasn’t awesome enough, come December this whole damn city will be playing catch on their lunch breaks. December 2019 marks the inaugural season of the Halifax Thunderbirds. The National flipping Lacrosse League is here boys and girls! It was confirmed in February that Halifax is set to receive the NLL franchise which will be relocating from Rochester, New York. The Knighthawks have been very successful in Rochester winning three consecutive Champions Cups (2012, 13 and 14). The Thunderbirds are set to begin play in December at the Scotiabank Centre, where they will have 9 home games. With 9 games played on the road as well. This is monumental for the game of lacrosse in Nova Scotia. With all the success the province has had; I can only imagine what adding a professional team in our backyard will do for new registration. The Thunderbirds are pouring gas on an already fired up lacrosse community. I encourage all lacrosse fans new and old to get tickets and check it out. The atmosphere is amazing, they play music the whole game and of course serve booze. I promise you will love lacrosse when you watch it at this level and in this environment. Fun for the whole family!

So I guess if you asked me to describe the evolution of lacrosse over the last 20 years in Nova Scotia: I could have just told you it’s been incredible. But then I wouldn’t have gotten to write all this and embarrass myself. The state of the game is in a good place here, and I’m in a good place with how I’m involved with it. Officiating has given me a better outlook on the game. It puts a little money in my pocket but more importantly it keeps involved with a game that I love and has given me so much. Most of the coaches in the ECJLL I have either played with or against. Most of the players in the NSSLL I have either played with or against, and I love seeing the new faces come into Junior every year. I think most of the guys will tell ya that when I’m reffing the communications lines are open. Im going to always let you play lacrosse and deal with everyone the same. So yeah, I love how I’m involved, hope the boys love seeing me!

So there ya have it. My first attempt at any sort of writing for an audience. Hopefully that audience isn’t all related to me. There’s way more where that came from though. I’m hoping to turn this into maybe a weekly thing; to give you guys all that’s going on in local and professional sports. Feedback is much appreciated!

For now I’m signing off, thanks for scrolling.

Millsy

Jun 7th, 2019

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pheacas · 5 years

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hello! i saw the post about your thoughts on all the Zoe Murphys and a while back I wrote a long ass post about Zoe being adopted and how that would change the narrative. With Olivia Puckett and now the addition of even less ethnically ambiguous Zoe's on tour as standby's I was wondering what you thought? i always wanted a chinese adoptee zoe murphy (which fits with they timeline of those kinds of adoptions) but i always thought it would be an interesting change.

I think the concept of Zoe being adopted is a very great idea in concept! I feel that a large theme in Zoe’s narrative in the beginning is how disconnected she is from her family. Within the show, though, I don’t feel that it would really work in the way you seem to intend it to (also; I didn’t mean for this to sound rude in the slightest! I just got really intrigued by this (I honestly spent over an hour on just reading through everything and writing my little thing so if that doesn’t show my interest I don’t know what does)).

I did read through some of your posts on the topic, and I feel that it isn’t something that has to be directly addressed whenever Olivia or anyone else who isn’t of Caucasian descent goes on. In the original Arena Stage version, it was certainly something that would have made sense to address since the attention was more on the Murphy family, but as the productions moved to put much more focus on Evan and shroud the Murphy family (particularly Connor) in mystery it would just feel a bit forced to bring it up. The Murphys are supposed to be somewhat off-putting in my opinion; no matter how much time we spent with them, we honestly don’t know much about them and instead just assume most of it ourselves. Revealing that Zoe was adopted I feel like would bring a little less of the mystery away from them as a whole, but would also take a bit more of the focus off of Evan when he really is supposed to be central focus of the musical.

I feel like actively changing things to make comments about race when mention of race isn’t at all put into the script is a bit awkward. It would almost be like Sky’s Jared being like “Hey my parents haven’t used the liquor cabinet since they adopted me” (even though we don’t see Jared’s parents ever but you get the idea). And the POC Zoe’s being directed to do the same things I feel would severely suppress their own interpretations (like, even though Olivia is the only woman of color to go on as of now, I can tell you for a fact her Zoe is probably much different than Maria’s, Diamond’s, or Ciara’s will be). Every actor behaves extremely differently when they take on the role. It’s one of the really nice things about Dear Evan Hansen; the actors get so much freedom to make the characters their own.

Also Jared making race jokes… Really doesn’t age well as an idea seeing how Sky Lakota-Lynch is mixed race (½ Native American, ¼ African American, ¼ Caucasian) and his immediate understudy is Roman Banks, an African American male.

The understudies for Zoe, unless they’re vacation understudies, are always going to stay women of color, mostly leaning towards African American, due to the fact that they’re all Zolana understudies, and they would never put on someone of Caucasian descent on for Alana. It’s the same reason they casted Roman soon after Sky (who, may I add, both completely deserve their roles—Sky is tied for my favorite Jared and Roman is clearly incredible, even if he hasn’t had his debut yet (although I’ll also say I get the vibe Roman would be a better Evan than Jared but I’ll never know until Sky or MLB take a day off which I’m really hoping for because I need Roman in my life)). I would absolutely love to see some other ethnicity understudies or even principles (which we've seen can happen with Sky)! I’m always a huge advocate for Hispanics to get more into musical theatre, and I would absolutely love to see a Latina on for Zoe or Alana!

A concept to throw at you with Roman Banks; what if Zoe and Connor were both adopted, or there were more comments about race with Roman!Evan?

#dear evan hansen #deh #zoe murphy

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jimintomystery · 6 years

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Your tv experience is not universal

So I got this ask, like, two months ago. And it took me a few minutes to figure out what they were talking about, since they provided absolutely no context. But luckily the post they were responding to was recent enough that I managed to guess correctly. I then decided to wait a while to respond, in order to make it harder to guess, in order to demonstrate the folly of providing so little context in a rather snippy Tumblr ask. See, because this anon is basically depending on me to make their random-ass comment look like it makes sense, but they aren’t exactly getting on my good side by copping an attitude.

Anyway, rhetorical masochist that I am, I wanted to write a legitimate response. All will be explained under the cut, but basically: My TV experience is representative, which is sufficient to make my point, buddy.

All right, in June I commented on some Star Trek screencaps, saying that the show’s prediction that television will “not last much beyond 2040” is on track to be eerily accurate. In support of that point, I described how preposterous I found the prediction back when I first saw this episode, and how drastically my television consumption has already changed since then.

Obviously one cannot determine what all television viewers will do based on what I do. However, the changes in my TV behavior are of a kind with anecdotal accounts of cord-cutters, of declining ratings, of the TV industry’s fixation on live sports for stemming their losses, of kids growing up more interested in YouTube than the “boob tube.” It still baffles me that I have to spell this out, which I didn’t want to do in a brief comment on a reblog, but here’s a nice shiny tl;dr essay for those who get off on me doing it the long way.

I suppose someone might want to get super-pedantic and devastatingly point out that I’m basing my claim here on anecdotal evidence without any hard statistics or citations to back it up. Firstly, no shit, I was making a funny little comment, not testifying in court. Secondly, if you’re gonna go there, you therefore set yourself up to do the legwork you’re suggesting I should have done. If that’s what you want to do, you’ll need a lot better than implying I don’t resemble most TV viewers by trivially “proving” I can’t resemble all of them.

This is a lot of time to waste going after a six-word ask I received two months ago, but honestly I find the topic interesting enough to invite even this meager prompt for further examination. How do we define “television” well enough to agree on the conditions for its extinction? Why does it seem unremarkable to assert that TV has died out by 2384 (nobody on Star Trek watches it) but questionable to predict its demise as soon as 2040?

So, let’s provide a little context for “The Neutral Zone,” the Trek episode in question. The Enterprise picks up some people who were cryogenically frozen in 1994. One of them, Sonny, wants to “see if the Braves are on” and nobody understands his request. I think this context provides a good sense of what “television” meant to people in the 20th century--the notion of turning on a screen to receive a video feed and watching whatever programs happen to be on the air. Sonny is explicitly looking for a baseball game, not a “TV show,” so we’re talking about the medium, not genres developed for that medium.

It is implicitly understood that things like theatrical films, home video releases, and the Internet are not “television” because you don’t use a “television set” to consume them. It is also implicit that services like Netflix and MLB Network are not “television” because they compete with traditional “television networks.” We collectively describe all this stuff as providing “video” but not “television.” Colloquially, “television” is understood to be limited to the video signal that can be provided by a TV station over a TV channel to a TV set, without the Internet. Replacing any or all of those qualifications results in a thing that is treated as an alternative to television.

With all that in mind, “television” is going away because we are moving away from TV stations to internet services, from TV channels to on-demand archives, and from dedicated TV sets to video devices that do not exclusively support television signals. The TV show is not going anywhere anytime soon, but the “TV” part of that term is becoming a holdover from a bygone era, in the same way “radio” now means “program with no video” and “phone” means “handheld computer,” irrespective of the technology that inspired the terminology.

Now, it’s still absurd for Star Trek to predict that humans will one day stop killing time by passively watching video of a baseball game for three hours. I can’t take that seriously. But the idea that we’ll channel surf the boob tube because we don’t have anything else to do? That’s already on its way out.

#Anonymous

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zerotosiki · 5 years

Text

Bonus Stories of A Little Too Much Part 1

Honestly, I’m planning to post all of the bonuses when I finish it but sadly it takes more time than I’m planned to :(. I don’t want to make you guys waiting, so I’m posting half of the bonuses right now. There are still 3 or 2 more bonuses that I still writing at the moment.

Main Story || Bonus 1 (You’re here) || Bonus 2

Pairing(s): Damian Wayne (DC) x Marinette Dupain-Cheng (MLB)

Description: Lila being threatened by a random girl, even though she is the one who threatens that girl. Alya being salty because she has been left out by Marinette. And Damian being the over-protective boyfriend in front of Agreste.

Word Count: Roughly around 3557 words?

Warnings: I’m putting my OC into this just for the sake of launching “Exposing Lila’s lies” plan. I’m really sorry if you didn’t like it :(

Just to let you guys know, in this version, Adrien is just a little innocent bean who tried his best on doing whatever he is doing now since this is his first public school. So Adrien is kind indeed (He is the one who makes ---or force--- Lila convince the school to prevent Marinette from being expelled, after all. Just like in the canon).

But he is too soft so whenever he reprimanding his friends whenever they tried to bully Marinette. They just replied, "Oh you're too kind, Adrien. Marinette doesn't deserve you," which got Adrien confused and disappointed, not towards Marinette, but towards himself and his classmate. To him because he cannot be more firm to his friends, and his classmate because.. they choose to believe Lila over Marinette, the girl who always helps them, the girl who used to be called 'our everyday ladybug'.

And the last thing, here's a shortlist to clarify somethings:

Damian, Jason, and Tim were the only ones who already met the French class. Although the French class didn't know Tim since he's just observing them from afar.

Damian never introduce his last name to the French class, because why would he? Although you can see whenever they travel around WE, the employees there always greet him and Jason. Does the French class notice this? Nope. They're too busy with praising Lila's lies. The only one who notices this are Marinette, Adrien, and Chloe.

Unlike Damian, Jason introduces his last name too. It such a shame the French class never took a short lesson from the internet before they went to Gotham, though. Because if they are, they're going to found out Lila's lies about her knowing Wayne's family since her childhood. The only one who recognizes his last name is, again, it's the same people, Marinette, Adrien, and Chloe.

Dick never met the French class because he'd been busy ---going for a trip--- with his girlfriend.

While the French class is indeed leaving Gotham, Marinette stays in the Gotham for a few weeks more, much to Damian's delight. She stays because she was offered to enter the fashion contest held by a famous designer in Gotham. From then on, she stays in Wayne's place and her very existence made the atmosphere in the mansion look brighter than ever.

Maribat inspired by @ozmav and the songfic “A Little Too Much” inspired by @officiallyathiana.

Bonus Story 1. "She's a bully? That's so bullshit. Just look at her eyes. It's a deep pure love."

Did you guys really think Lila will just stay quiet when Marinette takes that boy's hand with a happy look while the inhumanly handsome boy is singing to her? Oho, of course not.

Lila is happy when she saw the same-sad-lonely look on Marinette's face this morning. But that look instantly vanish when these strangers but very handsome boys start playing the guitar while the center one is singing an English song? Oh, well, whatever. She doesn't really care anyway.

"Oh, what is this? who're these boys?" the crowd started to gather and of course, her classmates are curious as to what is happening.

"Oh! Aren't they're the employee in WE when we went to Gotham's city on the last trip?" said one of her classmates.

This is a perfect chance! thinks Lila. She said to the people around her, "Ohh... these must be the people who sent by my damiboo! He's such a romantic person after all."

Yes, she started to lie that she's been dating Damian Wayne ever since she went to Wayne Enterprise in the last class trip. But why, from all of the people, she chooses Damian Wayne? Isn't that stupid to lie that you've been dating the son of WE's CEO when you were in the building itself? Because there's a high chance that someone will find out your lies...?

Well, it's simple. First, it's because he's hella rich. Secondly, it's because his father is one of the most influential people in the world. Thirdly, she's pretty sure her classmates were stupid enough to believe this lie. And the result? It's very satisfying. Her classmates are very impressed with her. See? her classmates indeed believe her! And no one clarifies her at the end of the trip so she's safe. ...Right?

Of course who the first person who will fall to her lie? Yup, it's her best friend, Alya Césaire. "Wow, girl! So this is a romance song?! That's so sweet! You're indeed an awesome girl! I'm so lucky to be your best friend."

Lila is bashfully laughing, "Oh Alya, you flatter me! I'm not that awesome... Because if I am indeed awesome, there are still people who think otherwise... Like Marinette..." Yes, she's trying to provoke them by telling bad about Marinette without them noticing.

Alya sighing, visibly looks tired with Marinette-Lila's problem, and then she gives her encouraging smile, "Don't take Marinette's words to your heart, Lila. I don't know since when she changes into a bad person... She was very kind after all... Right now, she's still clouded with her jealous. Give her time and I am sure she'll eventually warm up to you just like she usually did to us."

Lila just gives her a tiny fake smile. Not really feeling satisfied because Marinette didn't respond at all. She still staring at the boys with wide eyes, clearly looked shocked because of something.

But much to her surprise, one of the boys who sit at the center, the one who's singing, suddenly stop playing the guitar and stood up. He sauntered to... here??

Lila thought the boy sauntered to her because he was captivated by her beauty. And Alya being Alya just shaking with excitement and whisper shouting to her, "Oh girl! He's coming here!!".

Lila then replied with full confidence and smug face, "He probably was captivated with me... Although he's indeed handsome sadly I already dating Damiboo, remember? He will be really sad if I leave him...".

And when the boy was near them, Lila goes saying, "I'm sorry, I know you were--" only to see the boy pass her and Alya. At first, they were confused as hell, but when the boy stops, directly, in front of her, Marinette. The confused look on Lila's face instantly changes into a raged look. How dare she. Plus there was a cough sound beside her, that sound similar to when they were trying to hide their laughter. She was about to stride to that boy and Marinette, ready to destroy their happiness until---

"At least you don't have to be worried about breaking up with your boyfriend," someone said suddenly, making her stop. The sound oddly came from the same direction as before. The one who was coughing.

"Excuse me?" ask Lila with a hint of anger, she turns to that person, only to find a girl who wearing... swirling glasses? who the fu** wore that on this era??

The girl just smiled "Oh I'm sorry, I just heard your talk with your friend because I've been standing next to you. And I thought at that time you were worried because you thought that handsome boy would confess to you when you already have your damiboo, which I thought, he is your boyfriend".

Lila notices her french accent is a bit weird, like there's a hint of foreign accent. ...And did she just hears the sarcasm in her tone?

"Who are you and did... you just sarcasm me?" Lila asked with a fake smile on her face, she tries to maintain her image. Although on the inside, all she felt is just pure rage. Towards Marinette... and this random girl.

Alya when realized what Lila means, turns around to face that random girl, ready to shout at her for being rude to Lila, only to cut off by that same girl before she can say anything.

"I am really sorry if I offend you in any way... Because it's really my pure intention to cheer you up since you look so worried.." the girl looks really sad with head turns down. "...And to tell you the truth, I am still new in here... so maybe my French isn't that good and causing this misunderstanding..." She then proceeds to cry little.

This girl. This girl reminds her of someone. Oh right... Isn't that someone is herself when she still new at school? When the class still close to Marinette?

Alya being the nice person she is, quickly turns panic while trying to console that random girl, "Oh don't be sad, girl..! Lila probably just a bit tired with Marinette's behavior and misheard your words!".

The girl then looks at them with a surprised look, her tears have long gone, "Your name is Lila too?!".

"...Yes, Is there something wrong?" Lila is suspicious of her. Because... how do you compete with your same kind? Wait.. don't tell her, even their name---

"No no no! I'm just surprised because my name is Lila too! Well, actually my name is Kamelia but everyone usually calls me Lila!" she said excitedly while beaming... a pure smile...

How the hell she did that? When she, Lila, clearly can tell that her smile is a fake one but at the same time, it looks so real. She's a good actor, she realized.

Alya then beaming too, happy to meet a friendly person. She then introduces her name too and suddenly they talked and talked as if they had been friends for a long time. Which is odd, Lila thinks. She has to do something, quickly, before this girl ruining her kingdom.

"So.. I heard you mention this Marinette a lot... If I may know, who she is? Is she troubling you guys..?" asked Kamelia, with the way her eyebrow scrunching, it's screaming 'I am worried about you guys' look.

Alya is the one who quick to reply, "Oh well, Marinette... was my best friend... She was my first friend when I moved here... She was kind, really kind... She always helps her friend whenever they're needed help... She always gave free macaroons to her friends every morning..." Alya's eyes oddly look blank for a glance, but when Lila blinks, her eyes look normal again. Weird... This is the second time she felt it... This odd feeling...

"..And then?" Kamelia looks at Alya with an encouraging smile, but Lila decided to reply to her instead of Alya. She's planning to manipulate this new girl and she's actually worried because she thinks this girl... is more dangerous than she looks.

"All people always said that Marinette is a kind person. She was their everyday ladybug after all. But after I moved here, I tried to befriend everyone which includes her. But maybe because I'm so close with the boy who she has a crush on, she decides to hate me and bully me..." Lila explained with a really sad face. And you can even hear the trembling of fear in her voice. Wow, Lila's really proud of her own skill.

"...Oh really?" that's just her reply. When Lila starts explaining, she can feel that Kamelia girl's attention turns to her and somehow her stare is... unnerving. But Lila ignored it and continue with her act. But when she replied, suddenly Lila felt shiver with how cold her voice sounds. Did she already figure out my act? My act should look perfectly fine!

Alya somehow didn't notice the suddenly changed atmosphere and solemnly continue, "Yeah it's sadly true... Although I still believe one day Marinette will change and apologize to Lila..." at this remark, that Kamelia girl just oddly stays silent, Lila can see the way her mouth and brows are scrunching in displeasure. "...And we all can be friends like old times!". Oh yeah, keep dreaming on, Alya.

"Is Marinette is the girl that the boy was singing to?"

"Yeah! Although I'm confused. She was supposed to have a crush on this boy but somehow she and this other boy get close...? I can't believe she's such a cheater! Marinette is really changed... I don't even know her anymore...".

Lila then proceeds to console Alya, "Oh, Don't be sad, Alya. People can change after all. I am sure Marinette will be aware of her mistakes! Karma is always there, after all!".

"Yes, Alya. Don't worry because I believe too, that, Karma is always there." that Kamelia girl assured Alya, although Lila felt her words are more toward herself. But that's just her imagination, right?

"Well, I love talking with you guys. But sadly I have to go right now. My boyfriend probably will panic when he notices I'm gone for a long time!".

"Yeah, we're happy to meet you too, Kamelia! Probably I will just call you that from now on if that's okay for you since I don't want to confuse you with Lila, my friend."

"Oh, I don't mind!" said her with a beaming smile. That Kamelia girl then goes hugging Alya and Lila. But when this girl hugging Lila, oh she's surprised alright. Although she knows this Kamelia girl isn't an ordinary person who she can lie to, but to hear the tone Kamelia used changes drastically still manages to surprise her, "...She's a bully? That's so bullshit. Just look at her eyes. It's a deep pure love. While your eyes, it's a deep pure rage."

What? Right now, Lila is clearly furious with this girl, her hand is trembling and her face is redder than tomato. This Kamelia girl is clearly looking for a fight with her. First, she was mocking her with her sarcasm although she won't admit it. And then, her stare! It's was like judging her and Lila can tell that this girl won't believe her lies.

So she grabs the girl's wrist, hard, and suggesting to Alya that she will escort Kamelia back, afraid that she will be lost because Kamelia is still new in Paris before they take a quick exit.

When they pass a block building and Lila takes the girl straight into a nearby alley. Then, she releases her grip and glowers at her, "You...! I don't care who you are but now then you have already upset me, you will face the consequences too."

Not to her surprise, she just blinks and spoke with a bored tone, "What? Just like you did to Marinette?"

Lila ignores her sarcasm and continues her threat, "Not really, but maybe I will. I will find your friends, your family and then turn them against you, just like what I did to Marinette."

"Aah! So my hunch was true. You're the real bully here, Lila. Not Marinette," Kamelia gloats to herself while bobbing her head occasionally.

Lila scoffs, "Whatever you say, no one will believe you anyway. Because I already turn them all against Marinette. Although I don't feel satisfied because Marinette still looks brave even if she was being bullied by her own friends". Lila then distances herself, "You should remember this, Kamelia. You better not crossing your line or I will make sure, that threats will come true. And maybe I will get to turns your lovely boyfriend against you too."

And then she went, leaving Kamelia alone in the dark alley and missing her smirk, "I'd like to see you try... after you survive, that is."

Bonus Story 2. "Why they're here, Marinette?!"

"Hold it!"

The second they heard this, Marinette froze while Damian becomes rigid. They turn around to face the Class. Damian's mood abruptly turns into sour and he knows Marinette isn't happy with the way she tense and her grip on his hand are tighter (Although he doesn't mind that). His brothers aren't that far too, Tim just staring at the group with a bored look, Jason wholly glaring, and Dick just look confused, although he didn't appreciate the way the group's look at Marinette.

Marinette, yes, she was happy when she met Damian and she honestly thinks that they can go back to their place in peace. Not like this. Confronted by her Classmates. Although she can see there's no Lila in the group, which is strange but eh, that's very good for her. She doesn't want to face her lies again. She's tired okay?

"What is it, Alya?" asked Marinette, she tried to be kind, as kind as she can be. But let's see how far her friends will test her patience.

"Why they're here, Marinette?! Aren't they supposed to be in Gotham?"

"They're here because of me, Alya. And they can be wherever they want to,"

"Because of you? Oh Marinette, so you were in Gotham after we all left because you were seeking attention to them since your methods aren't work here," suddenly came a sickly sweet voice that makes Marinette shudder and she tried to swallow the nervous feeling that threatening to comes out.

There she stood, Lila, with her usual sickly fake smile.

"And you seducing the poor guy here, not knowing that he falls into your sweet trap all along," Lila then turns around to face Damian, and proceed to say solemnly with her broken English, "I know this is hard to believe, Mr. Damian. But Marinette here is not sweet as you think she is. She has been manipulating you all along, like what she did to all of us,"

She glances at Marinette before she takes a step forward to Damian, in which Marinette can feel Damian become tense and she tried to soothe his rage by rubbing gently his trembling hands. At this point, Marinette worried about Lila's safety if she keeps up with her lies in front of The Wayne Brothers, especially Damian. She knows Damian has been keeping his rage with her Class since they're taking a trip to WE back then. Heck, even she knows Damian has been secretly listing on how to get rid Lila on his "101 ways to get rid Marinette's bully", which she hopes it won't really happen.

"...In fact, she's been bullying me, Mr. Damian! And now as a victim, I'm worried about your safety too. You should leave her immediately..."

Damian scoff while he side-hug Marinette, ignoring the blush on Marinette's face, he mocks Lila in perfect french, "You're talking nonsense. As a matter of fact, that lines should turn towards you, Ms. Liela. Beside, Marinette is my girlfriend for 3 years and I already know her more than you know, Ms. Liela,"

"What?! Girlfriend?! No way! You're lying!"

"No, he's not lying, Alya. Damian is my boyfriend and that's why he comes here, to visit me."

"But.. but..."

Bonus Story 3. "But you have a massive crush with Adrien!"

The first time Alya know Damian is Marinette's boyfriend, she can't believe it! She shoots her past-best friend disbelieving looks while saying, "But you have a massive crush with Adrien!" which got a response from both boys.

"Keyword, had," Damian remarked,

"What?! ...She has a crush on me?" Adrien exclaimed with a surprised tone, his eyes visibly turns bigger.

"Again, keyword, it's had. So it's already in the past. There's no point in discussing it anymore. And you Agreste," Damian said while pointing to Adrien, Marinette tried to stop him but he still continues, "You better not try anything funny to Marinette because right now she's my girlfriend. Which is, Marinette is mine. And just to let you know that I don't like sharing." At this point, Marinette's face is red like a strawberry, and she tried miserably to conceal it.

"But she likes me... And I don't realize it until now.." Adrien shooting her 'I am so sorry' looks because at that time he really doesn't know that Marinette has a crush on him until now, and he keeps telling her about Kagami. Not to mention, he invited her, just to see him and Kagami being lovey-dovey! Although at that time, he thought Marinette and Luka are dating since she brought him too. It's must be hard to pretend to be okay when your crush telling you about their lovely date over and over again. It's like rubbing salt on your wound over and over again.

Marinette elbow Damian, hard, for being such an ass to Adrien. She already told him that Adrien is innocent. But maybe Damian is still jealous over her past-crush on Adrien or maybe he is a little upset because Adrien cannot keeps her classmate from bashing her which is not his fault okay? It's their classmate's fault.

"I admit I used to have a crush on you, Adrien. But, that crush merely turns into a platonic one after I got to know more with you. And you don't have to be sorry because it's no one fault. Now you're happy with Kagami and I am happy with Damian."

Adrien still seems unsure with this, he bit his lips and asked with a timid voice, "...So are we still friends..?".

Marinette then smiled at her best friend, because Adrien always homeschooled in the past, he rarely got a chance for socializing with people, even more with people who same age as him, so sometimes he feels insecure with himself, like right now. "I thought we are best friends?" she asked back.

His face then visibly turns brighter, "..oh. Oh! Yes! Of course! Yes, we are best friends."

"What about us, Marinette??" ask Jason and Dirk with a fake pout which got Damian to groan in disgust, ashamed to have such kind of brothers. Although Tim is just nodding, agreeing with his brothers.

Marinette is giggling, sometimes The Wayne brothers may act like a child but they still care for each other, which includes her too, and that's why she loves them too. "Actually I already thought of you guys as my brothers that I never have," said her while scratching her cheeks, a pink color tinted, a bit embarrassed to admit. Not realizing, her behavior made several people turn into a blushing mess (yeah I'm talking about you, Damian), while there are people who felt more unhappy (And we can ignore that).

"Oh my bats, Marinette, why you are so cute and adorable!!!" cue their group hugs, minus Damian because he doesn't want to get involved with his brothers' group hug. No way.

"Damian! You have to marry Marinette asap! Because if you don't, Marinette will get taken away by other people, and we don't want Marinette to leave us!"

"Don't worry Todd. We'll get married when we're both in legal age for marriage," Damian said calmly, maybe he already planned it or maybe not. Nobody knows.

"Damian!!" she whined while she still being hugged.

"Uh, that is if you want to, Habibti..." Damian worried if he said wrong things because marriage is what a couple dream on, right? He pretty damn sure that marriage between him and Marinette is his happiest dream, and he will make sure that dream comes true. But only when Marinette wants it too, of course!

Marinette then let go of the group hug and frantically tried to explain, "O-of course I want to... But please don't talk about that here...", which gives Damian a chance to tease her.

"Ooh... so it's okay if we talk about it in more 'private' place?"

"Damian!!" Marinette whined for a second time, although this time, she hides her red face with her hand.

Damian just laughs, which made his brothers send him strange looks, they would never get used to this cheerful-Damian. "I'm just kidding, Habibti," he then proceeds to hug Marinette, trying to help her hide her embarrassment, although that's just his excuse. He just wants to be close to his girlfriend. And Marinette visibly looks content whenever he hugs her so that's a big win for him. His big ego, you mean.

TBC to Bonus 2.

Main Story || Bonus 1 (You’re here) || Bonus 2

Taglist:

@persephonebutkore @bungou-stray-alies-tales-of-aly (uhhh, why I can’t tag you..?) @northernbluetongue

I think that’s all? I’m sorry if I miss someone but please tell me if I really miss someone who wants to be tagged!

#my attempt writing #songfic: a little too much #daminette #damian x marinette #marinette x damian #maridami #damimari

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brianna-lei · 7 years

Text

Anonymous Butterfly Soup asks, batch 6

IT’S RIGHT NEXT TO THE BIG TOBLERONE I’M ALIVE

Being covered by a big gaming news site was one of my fantasies, so I’m elated this happened. The article is here, for anyone curious!

More asks under the cut!!

A note before I start -- if you submitted a bug, I saw it!! Thank you for reporting them!

Yes, she did! Her Facebook profile pic is her posing in front of a store at the mall, and you can see Jun’s reflection taking the pic in the store window

Akarsha didn’t realize, but Noelle totally heard it. Noelle kind of had a sense of what was up already, but actually hearing it worried her. She was debating whether or not to intervene when Min showed up.

On a small note, Min trying to cheer Akarsha up slightly improved Noelle’s opinion of Min (even though Min and Akarsha almost end up fist fighting again afterward).

Min plays video games too, imagine them playing Team Fortress 2 and later Overwatch together... Diya, Min, and Noelle have all seen some basic anime like Pokemon, Digimon, and Yugioh, but Akarsha’s the only real hardcore anime fan. I’m glad she met “Sakura”, “Yuki”, and Ester through the baseball club, because now she has weeb friends to talk about that stuff too.

(Ester is less obvious about liking anime than “Sakura” and “Yuki”, but you can still tell by her outfit’s style. Lowkey but not lowkey enough)

I can totally relate to all of them, but I’d say Diya!

Yes, they grow close over the course of the year and Noelle has to try really hard not to cry LMAO They still keep in touch afterward.

Yep, they both feel this huge gulf between themselves and their parents due to cultural differences. Many Asian immigrant parents are extremely conservative so it feels like they’re on a completely different wavelength from you, and at the same time they have complete power over you. It’s kind of a bad feeling.

...Also, shadowing their faces saved me the work of drawing their different facial expressions.

Min was actually out of town when the fire happened, so Diya had to call her and tell her what happened :( Diya (and eventually Min) sleeps on Noelle’s couch for a bit. Noelle and Akarsha aren’t living together at the time and Noelle has the nicer/cleaner apartment

It sounds really miserable, but they’re ok in the end

Noelle's passion is math and science, so she definitely ends up doing something in STEM that she likes, just not what her parents were expecting. Akarsha is similar and becomes a software engineer -- They’re actually both naturally interested in those subjects, which says a lot about how bad the parental pressure really is.

I like to think Diya and Min actually manage to break into minor league baseball and eventually MLB

Most of my outfit inspiration comes from my tumblr/twitter feeds. I wish I could recommend you fashion blogs, but I’m not following any?! They’re all just fandom mutuals who randomly reblog cool clothes sometimes.

I used to have trouble deciding what clothes characters should wear, so every time I see an image of a cool outfit I save it for reference. After doing this since high school I now have...uh...

And those are just the unorganized ones, the ones i have in folders are like...

Now if I’m stumped for what a character should wear, I just browse these massive folders for inspiration. I can actually pinpoint the omocat jacket that gave me the idea for Min’s:

I thought, “it should be a warning: high voltage sign on the back!”, and then I just went on Google images and looked them up.

Sorry if this isn’t helpful!

I don’t think Min really minds, but The Squad is even better! Deke squad

Yeah, Akarsha’s parents wouldn’t approve either. Out of the main four, Diya is actually the only one whose parents are fine with it

Ooh thank you this is an awesome compliment to receive!!

I REALLY want to make merch some day! I’ve never made physical merch before and I’m a bit intimidated not knowing where to start/how to handle shipping, so it may take a while, though :(

I didn’t give anyone last names and I doubt I ever will, sorry! Feel free to give them your own if you want

This was intentional, but at the same time I can’t believe everyone IMMEDIATELY noticed. You guys are so in tune with 4/20

Diya and Akarsha are Indian, Min-seo is Korean, Noelle is Taiwanese, Chryssa is black, Liz is…mostly Irish, I think? “Sakura” is Pakistani, “Yuki” is Filipino. I’ve heard a lot of guesses for Ester, but she’s half black and half Chinese!

i got u son!!

Thank you, I really love hearing this because the feeling that this narrative was missing was what made me want to make this game in the first place!

you might feel a bit more sympathetic to min when you reach her part of the story! Your mileage may vary, though

If you want to make a game like Butterfly Soup, try the program Renpy! It doesn’t require programming experience to use and there’s a lot of guides online on how to use it. My NUMBER ONE BIG ADVICE IS MAKE A REALLY, REALLY SMALL GAME FIRST. My first game, Pom Gets Wi-Fi, was only 30-45 minutes long. If you make it any bigger than that, you almost guaranteed will never finish it. The dream game that you want to make is probably longer than that, so don’t make your dream game first! That’s kind of why I was so alarmed when Pom Gets Wi-Fi took off -- I’m very proud of that game and still love it, but it was like my test for the games I dreamed of making like Butterfly Soup. (Also, 17 is a great age to start making games, good for you!) Other stuff I’ve learned: Programming: I mostly learned super specific things that can’t be easily applied to other situations. If you want to know how I did a specific thing in Renpy, message me!

Writing: If you’re struggling to write something, it might be for a good reason. Maybe the scene is unnecessary or boring, your mental image of the scene doesn’t translate well to the format of your work, or the character motivations aren’t convincing enough. Deleting a scene altogether isn’t defeat, sometimes it’s the best path forward! Give up more!

Artwise: Drawing for non-pixel art games takes FOREVER. The sheer amount of time it’d take to draw all the characters and backgrounds was so demoralizing that I found myself procrastinating because I didn’t want to tackle it. Not only did I have a large cast of characters (9 in the baseball club alone), but because of flashbacks, I had to draw half of them again as kids!

To anyone thinking about making a game by themselves, SERIOUSLY consider making it a pixel art game. If you’re that set on making a non-pixel art game, SEVERELY limit the number of characters and backgrounds you have to draw!! I’m begging u...learn from my mistakes...

You’re welcome!!! :>

I loved USC! The Interactive Media major was cool and fun -- I met a lot of good friends through the program! It was probably the best few years of my life.

Unfortunately...I felt like it did nothing to prepare me for finding a job. There are very few classes for aspiring game artists and game writers. There wasn’t a single professor who worked as an artist at a triple A studio while I was there, and only one who was a major writer. I get that you gotta be self motivated, but I wish I had someone in the faculty I felt comfortable discussing my career path with. Some of the professors had clear favorite students and if you weren’t one of them, they’d make very little effort to reach out to you or interact with you. I know I'm introverted, but I never got this feeling with my general elective classes -- I had plenty of chances to talk to my writing professor, architecture lab professor, art teacher, etc., yet I came out of a lot of my Interactive Media classes wondering if my professors even remembered me.

If you want to be a game designer or maybe a writer, and are really focused/outgoing with your professors, it could be the major for you, but if you want to be a game artist I’m not sure it’s the best place to be.

I was actually crazy stressed out when it came out, so nope! It’s happening this weekend

I was super nervous right after it came out because I was worried people wouldn’t like it! I put a lot into it, and actually teared up writing parts of it, so it was a ridiculous relief to see that people were touched by it. I’m really happy now and really want to make a sequel. Also, I’m beyond grateful to my friends/mutuals/fans spreading the word and tweeting/posting about the game and making fancontent ;~; I really owe everything to them! A few people wondered about how I was holding up attention-wise, and actually...as a fanartist I sort of thrive on this, haha. Also, this is much less intense than when I released Pom Gets Wi-Fi. For perspective, it took Butterfly Soup a week to reach the number of downloads Pom got in one day.

Good!!! You’re welcome!

you’re welcome!!!

#Butterfly Soup #briANSWER #ask #my post

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