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izvmimi · 2 months

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cw: streamer au! you and hawks have a popular channel and you have some special guests! fluff! reader and hawks are married. 'dove' as a nickname. written for @pastelle-rabbit.

“Did you finish setting up the microphones, dove?” Keigo asks, while you’re just about to adjust your PC setup. The stream begins in five minutes, and while it’s not the first time you’ve gone live with your love, it’s the first time that you’ve had guests on your streaming site, and this is highly anticipated enough that you expect a higher turnout for today, and commensurately likely more trolls. You’re used to Keigo’s trolls as a top-ranking hero, but Izuku’s trolls are a whole different beast.

“Yes!” you sing out to him. After the final adjustment, you shoot a glance to Izuku and his wife who are poised very politely on gaming chairs you got just for them; his hand is holding hers, the thumb caressing the back of her hand while she crosses her legs at the ankle. She looks distressed and you stifle a giggle. Horror and gore are the themes for your stream today and from what Izuku has told you, she’s a screamer, but so is Keigo, so the two will be squawking like birds for the remainder of the night.

You can’t wait.

“Are you guys comfortable?” you ask. The chair arrangement is a little more complex to make sure everyone stays huddled around your huge monitor, but you’ve figured it out.

She nods slowly, and Izuku grins. “We’re doing perfect!”

There are now two minutes until the stream starts, and Keigo slips into the chair right beside you and kisses your cheek, his other hand deep in a bag of chicken chips which he brings to your mouth.

You indulge him with a bite, and he grins, then whispers if you want him to be your chair this time, and while Izuku grins politely at the two of you, you can sense yourself warming in the face.

“We have guests,” you remind him. Keigo throws a glance at Izuku who immediately waves his hands.

“Pretend we’re not here.”

“What do you mean we’re not here, we were in-”

You start the stream and Izuku’s wife falls silent, immediately switching to camera ready mode. “Welcome guys and thanks for coming back to our channel! As promised, we have special guests today! -” Deku and his wife wave politely to the camera in million-watt smiles, “- and we’ll be continuing with our horror themed stream!”

Keigo chews loudly and waves at the camera. “I’ll be here!” he motions a salute to the screen. As expected, you can already see the influx of his fans filling the chat, painfully polite in their thirst since the last time he reminded them on screen he was happily married.

“Ooh can we have streamer nicknames?” Izuku’s wife asks.

“Sure, what would you like to be called?” you offer. She looks around, then up at the ceiling, then her eyes light up.

“Hm… BLOODCRUSH.” She says with dramatic glee. The rest of the three of you blink rapidly, but no one argues.

“Bloodcrush it is!” you announce as she kicks her feet. Izuku gives her a mildly concerned look, but then rubs her shoulder affectionately. The chat starts to rile up with comments in support of new nickname Bloodcrush (bloodcrush x deku otp, bloodcrush fighting!) to her delight while the less savory ones are promptly ignored.

“I think the rest of us will just go by our hero or streamer names, is that okay?” Keigo says, stretching out in his chair and resting his arm around the shoulder of your gaming chair, pose relaxed.

“So what game are we playing?” Deku starts per your loosely prepared script.

“RAID AND EXECUTION,” Hawks announces, excitedly. You laugh as the story intro video begins, and Hawks claps his hands dimming the lights while Bloodcrush looks stunned to her husband then to you.

“Raid and what?”

“Oh, that sounds awesome! I’ve heard of this one!” Deku chirps, and immediately his info-dumping begins. “So from what I’ve read, this game is set in the early 1400s in the Caribbean where a group of pirates are lost at sea and encounter a group of enchanted beings, most likely zombies, and you’re meant to survive as long as possible when they’re active at night, and raid the villagers during the daytime or else you’ll run out of resources and die, not to mention the game mechanics heavily rely on you using context clues of the environment in order to determine if a settlement is nearby and-”

Hawks and Bloodcrush both scream as the first zombie shows up on screen armed with a machete and cleanly slices the head off of your avatar.

‘Ooh, that was fast,” you say, frowning as the “Game Over” screen shows up on the monitor. The chat explodes with comments telling Deku to shut the hell up which makes him frown.

“Just trying to provide context,” he grumbles. You start up the game again and instead of jumping right off the ship and walking right onto the island, you pause and look for clues. Hawks encourages you to explore the bottom of the ruins first, which has you find a rusty machete of your own as well as some 14th century hardtack, and Bloodcrush leans in and asks you if there’s any way you can find a musket or other gun.

“Baby, I think muskets weren’t invented till the 15th century,” Deku says, and she pats his cheek gently, whispering only mildly threatening, “I didn’t ask you for historical accuracy, honey.”

“Here, I think we found one!” you exclaim and Hawks gives you a high five while Bloodcrush raises her eyebrow at him.

While you begin arranging your inventory, Hawks repeats some questions in the chat for their guests.

“So, herofootfetish69 has a question for you, Deku.”

Izuku pales while you and his wife unintentionally bursts out laughing from how nonchalantly Hawks reads the username, then your avatar inadvertently falls off a cliff and dies.

“Man!” you exclaim as you restart. Bloodcrush laughs even harder as she points to new resources that you can pick up while you’re repacking your knapsack.

“They ask, do you have time to play video games when you’re supposed to be protecting the city?” Hawks asks, then giggles.

“Why am I being heckled?” he frowns. “Yes, heroes have time off too.” He pauses. “Hawks is literally on this stream!”

“Hey, I think if you alternate the musket and the dagger, you might have a chance with those zombies,” Bloodcrush murmurs. Someone in the chat tells her that she has a better chance with the dagger alone. “Never mind, just do that.”

“Next question for LoveDove!” Keigo presses a kiss to your forehead, then reads off, “gains4fame asks, how long have you and Bloodcrush known each other?”

“Not long!” you say, “but I think we’ve become fast friends!”

Bloodcrush’s eyes light up and she playfully bops you on the shoulder. Hawks offers an affectionate awwww, and hugs you while Deku rubs his wife’s back.

In the process of your husband hugging you, you’re shot by an arrow.

“NO!” you and Bloodcrush scream in unison, then look at each other and giggle.

“Next question from chickenchipenthusiast-” Izuku pauses, then reaches for the extra bag Hawks has brought, “not sponsored by the way,” he reminds everyone, “for Hawks - how do you choose your guests on the show?”

Hawks shrugs. “When I called, you picked up.”

Izuku sighs in defeat.

“We’ll move on to the next question. For LoveDove again - do you think you’ll get better at these games?”

Hawks bristles but you laugh. “I’m having fun and so are you, aren’t you?”

chickenchipenthusiast writes: exactly!

You get your first kill of a zombie on the island and you and Bloodcrush share double high fives in delight.

The chat fills with overwhelming support and the stream continues late into the night, the chatter amongst you guys never ending and the subscribers ticking higher and higher all night.

#hawks x reader #keigo takami x reader #takami keigo x reader #keigo x reader #daydreams: bnha #mimi's notes #treasures: amira

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luceafarul-de-dimineata · 2 months

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a noble runs into MC and the nobody devil while they’re on a date and MC introduces them to each other when confronted…

didn’t mean to annoy you by being clumsy and sending 3 asks in a row. apologies🤦

It'a fine, pussy, my imbox is empty, so there's no tragedy in giving the same request multiple times. For my sake, I'll just name the demon Marian, but you can imagine anything else instead.

Whb nobles seeing MC with another devil

Zagan

He was just going on his morning jog when he spotted you and Marian

Everyone in Gehenna knows everyone else in Gehenna, so don't be surprised that they know eachother.

Zagan would be kind of shy when getting closer to you and nod at the two of you

"Oh, hi Zagan! This is Marian, my boyfriend."

His face doesn't change much but you can tell that the realisation struck him

He shakes Marian's hand and leaves.

You should be thankful it was him that found you two and not someone more... aggressive

Astaroth

He's stuck

On one hand, this is such an amazing love story plot.

The child of Solomon, the human that could have them all settles with a nobody.

They are everything and he's just Marian

The drama, the romance, the tragedy that could spur out of something like this

He's all for it

But on the other hand, really?

You have all the kings drooling after you, all the nobles lining up to make a carpet out of their bodies so you won't have to step on dirt, and you choose... Marian?

Humans trully are fascinating creatures

He doesn't say anything when he sees the two of you, just hiding behind a corner and observing. He's really invested now, be ready to find his newly published novel about a queen falling for a layman on your nightstand

Bimet

He audibly gasps

He is revolted, he is insulted, he is disgusted

How fucking dare you

He doesn't know who that demon is, nor does he care

He would power walk between you two and look only into your eyes.

"MC, I didn't think I would find you! Who's the accessory you have with you? What's his purpose and when will he expire?"

"That's my boyfriend Marian."

"Hahaha, you're soooo funny! You're already dating Mammon. Do you really need something as... insignificant as this devil?"

You start arguing with Bimet until he just picks Marian up and takes you to the royal quert.

When Mammon gives the verdict that you can date anyone you want, Bimet's entire attitute changes.

He congratulates you for finding such a handsome devil and wishes you both ferwell.

Glasylabolas

Oh ho ho ho, now this, this is interesting

He's gonna have the time of his life with this one

First, he takes pictures of you two on the date, holding hands, hugging, any physical contact works

Then he makes his presence known

He's a lot more cheerful than usual and he eggs both of you on.

He acts like you two being together was his OTP all along, talking about how you two are just made for eachother

"Oh, but MC, why haven't you told his majesty Leviathan about your blooming relationship with this young fella? Should I do the honorifics myself?"

He doesn't wait for an answer, he just summons his coffin and teleports to Leviathan's throne room to tell him the gossip.

Seeing you and your boyfriend hanging put a smile on his face

Next time, try not to get caught

Stolas

He just shoots the guy

No warning, no anything

He doesn't want to hear your complaints

A vermin was touching the child of Solomon in a romantic manner

Avisos' one law is to not steal someone else's partner

And you're clearly dating Beelzebub, so Stolas was just enforcing the law

You had to rush your boyfriend to Paradise Lost to get treatment, but Stolas won't apologise

You have to explain to him step by step that 1. You're not dating Beelzebub and 2. You chose to date Marian because you genuinly love him

It takes him a while to process, and he still has doupts, but he'll pay for the treatment of your boyfriend

Ronové

You don't see or hear him coming, you just feel his arms snake around your neck

He congratules you for getting a boyfriend and shakes the devils hand.

He's actually very chill about the whole ordeal, but he seems weirdly fascinated about the other demon's sex life

He really doesn't want the child of Solomon to get sexually frustrated

He would offer to show him how its done, but you slapped Ronové before you could finish

He just chuckles and hands the devil a business card

Before he leaves, he whispers in your ear "if he doesn't treat you well, chop his dick off. Or better, ask me to do it."

Andrealphus

At least it's not an angel

When Andrealphus walk closer to the two of you, your date starts shaking in fear

Andrealphus just smiles and hugs you since he hasn't seen you in a while (insert blind joke here)

He smiles at your date, which doesn't help make him look less intimidating

As long as that devil doesn't pose a threat to you, he's fine with letting you date whoever you want

Your date might faint after Andrealphus leaves, but you both are glad that nobody got murdered.

Buer

He's confused and a bit offended

I mean, Lucifer is right there

It kind of reminds him of that story Lucifer once told him about his younger self. How he fell in love with a human princess but the princess chose some random dude instead of him and he got depressed.

He doesn't want that to happen again so he probably would move you and your new sweetheart to different sides of the hospital

If you try to comfront him about it he's just like "You are under my care and he's under Marbas' care, there's no reason for him to be in the same wing as you"

He wants to break you two off, but not directly. So he just hopes that the physical distance between you and your boyfriend would make the relationship deteriorate by itself.

Would probably stop only if Lucifer tells him to knock it off

#whb #what in hell is bad #whb x reader #whb zagan #whb astaroth #whb bimet #whb glasyalabolas #whb stolas #whb ronové #whb andrealphus #whb buer

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kitthepurplepotato · 1 year

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Summary:

5 years has passed since you lost touch with your explosive best friend.

After your failed love confession your life turned upside down and you ended up as an underground hero with no contact with your old friends. After 5 years (thanks to Kirishima’s eagerness to get a hold of you) you ended up in a bar with all your old classmates.

You really didn’t think you will end up talking to Bakugo about the worst day of your life, did you?

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Genre: Angst with a fluffy ending!

Warnings: Aged up characters, drinking, slightly drunk background characters, mentions of depression? + One sex joke and some swear words. Mentions of other ships (KiriMina, KamiJiro, TodoDeku)

Reader is gender neutral but there are mentions about them almost wearing a dress.

Warnings about the writer (lol): English is my second language so please don’t be rude if something sounds a bit off.

This is my first ever fic for the BNHA fandom and my first ever fic after not writing for 10 years.

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5 years.

5 whole years has passed since you graduated. While most people think back to their graduation with a smile on their faces, you dreaded to even think about the day; it was the day you lost your best friend and your first love at the same time.

You tried not to think about how much has changed in your life since, yet here you are sitting at a bar with all your old classmates, chatting around about your new lives, about all the changes you don’t even want to think about; and while they all make it sound like everything is different for them, seeing your old friends together like this only makes you realize how you are the only one who’s life has turned upside down after graduation.

Kirishima and Mina, UA’s favorite couple (everyone’s OTP, as you guys called it back then) are still walking hand in hand, Kaminari and Jiro are still secretly pining after each other (you honestly can’t believe that no one got fed up with them enough in the last 5 years to close them in a cupboard for an hour to sort their shit out.) and you are definitely not even going to try to decipher the longing looks coming from Deku and Todoroki. You had enough of their bullshit in high school.

As you are looking around the bar seeing all the smiley faces of the people you cherished so much back then, you can’t help but wonder about your best friend, who still hasn’t arrived.

Bakugo and you haven’t seen each other since you confessed your love to him after the closing ceremony. To be honest, you wouldn’t be surprised if he wouldn’t come at all. He might be the biggest grump of the class but he still managed to keep in touch with everyone, while you closed yourself off to the whole friend group and went all vigilante to rebel against everyone and everything until Aizawa smacked you in the head one day and got you a job as an underground hero.

“Get your shit together” he said (really not helpful, by the way) “You can’t throw your whole life away over a heartbreak.”

You clearly remember how you managed to make the perfect replica of Bakugo’s frown, but let the hero help you out of your misery anyway.

“Hey!”

…

“Earth to Y/N”

…

“Maybe Shinso did something to them?”

“Why would he do that?!”

…

“Wake up, shithead!”

Was that Bakugo’s voice?

“Kats?” You look up to see a blonde head looking down at you with worried eyes.

You really don’t know who this man is anymore.

The Katsuki you knew NEVER showed you a single emotion except anger and jealousy, (or at least you thought it was jealousy, until he rejected you on the spot without any hesitation.) yet here he was, the king of explosions, looking at you like you are something worth looking at, worried, soft and… not emotionally constipated - You can’t help but giggle at your own thought loudly, by accident.

“Good to know you still can’t help but laugh at your own inner joke, at least something haven’t changed.” He says while slowly sitting down next to you at the bar.

You knew he wasn’t the same person after he became a full time hero; you do own a TV and you never miss the hero news on social media.

While the first few months of his hero work were kind of how everyone expected them to go; more bleeps than actual words coming from the hero’s mouth when asked about his latest rescue; but after a while he became softer, he became the hero he always wanted to be.

You thought he just got used to being on the screen or maybe his agency gave him a talk about proper behavior, but seeing him now, seeing the softness under his (still) rough demeanor makes you wonder what made him change so much. Did he fall in love with someone? Did he lose someone which made him rethink his actions?

When did you become the grumpy, distant one in the group? Where did your “ray of sunshine” behavior go?

“It’s not about what happened to me, but about what happened to you, Nerd.” The blonde sighs next to you, glaring a hole into your skull with his eyes.

“Glad to see you can still read my fucking mind, Bakugou.” You say grumpily, but giving him a tiny smile anyway.

You can’t help it.

You might be in the middle of a meltdown, but seeing your best friend looking at you like he actually cares still makes your naive heart melt. You would think 5 years is enough for a heart to mend, but you are absolutely aware of the fact that you are still not completely over him.

His name is carved into your heart, bleeding over your mind and body, like a bad curse.

“First you call me Kats, but now I’m Bakugou? Talk about mixed signals…”

“Okay, guys, let’s keep this friendly!” Kirishima calls out to the group and the conversation goes back to normal; you end up learning about all your friends a bit more, Kirishima tells you about the child he saved the other day, Jiro tells you about her new band she managed to find time for.

Bakugo tells everyone about his 2 years long mission in America and about how much of a pain the groupies are and you can’t help but make a snarky comment about him wanting to be Number One just to have free sex. The blonde just rolls his eyes as he always does and kindly asks you to keep your horny thoughts to your bedroom and his comment makes the whole group laugh and the night goes on like it’s the most normal thing in the world to sit beside your ex-best friend and laugh at stupid jokes like he didn’t ruin your whole life 5 years ago.

You even end up talking about yourself a bit, showing off the new tattoo you got on your arm to cover a nasty scar from one of your missions. If Bakugo sees the little explosions around the main design, he doesn’t comment on it.

As the sun sets outside and half of the group gets drunk enough to talk nothing but nonsense, Bakugo leaves your side and goes out to the back yard for “some fresh air”. You stay a little bit longer just to take some funny videos of your old hero friends being absolutely pathetic, but after a while you feel the need to go out a bit yourself - Todoroki and Deku are still sober enough to take care of the group if needed.

As you walk out the back door you end up in a little Japanese garden with a small pond in the middle. You don’t really understand why would anyone put a pond at the back of a bar; it seems like a really bad idea with all these drunk idiots around, what if they fall into the water?

“This bar works as a cafe in the mornings and afternoons, hence why it has a back garden. They usually close the back door after 6, but we rented the whole place out and asked them to keep it open for all the sober people needing some solitude. And yes, I’m sure my quirk is not mind reading.” Says the grumpy blonde sitting on the massive stones near the pond.

You jump from the surprise; you genuinely did not see him sitting there as you were deep in your thoughts again. You might be a great hero, but you’ve always been prone to zoning out when not in danger.

Instead of replying, you thank God for deciding to dress casual instead of going for a fancy dress as you sit down next to BAKUGO with a dramatic sigh. You brush through your messy hair with your fingers to calm yourself down.

“Still not a fan of big groups?” He laughs as he slowly comes closer to your side. This was something you guys did all the time; every time you felt overwhelmed, Bakugo and you went on a stroll nearby and quietly talked about random things until you calmed down. When you told your friends about it, no one believed you that Bakugo is able to speak quietly for more than 5 seconds.

“It’s just a lot, you know. And you left the group first, by the way.” You remind him, ready for him to start a fight with you, but instead he looks away in the other direction, with a hint of red on his cheeks.

“I hoped you’ll come after me this time.” Bakugo says while staring into the distance with the saddest look in his eyes.

What does he mean by “this time”? You never ran away. You stayed next to him even when he tried his best to push you away. You stood your ground and never left his side, even though he made you cry so many times with his rude attitude.

He degraded you so much when you two started to spend more time together just so you give up on him, but you could always see through his facade. You knew he’s only doing these things to you because he hates HIMSELF and he doesn’t want you to go down with him. He might speak ill of you to your face but deep inside, he just wants you to find a better person to be with, because he’s stupid like that.

He would break his own heart just to save you from disappointment.

…

Wait a minute.

“You know I was in love with you too, right?” He says while staring into the distance with a love sick look on his face, reminiscing about the old memories.

… and now, after 5 years of hating yourself over how stupid you were, it all makes fucking sense.

You were stupid indeed. So incredibly stupid you let the love of your life deceive you with his rude words and ignored the tears falling down his cheeks right after you turned around and left him on his own.

“You told me to fuck myself and my stupid feelings, Kats. And I fucking believed it.” You look at him with a disbelieving look, and finally, he looks back at you.

And laughs.

It isn’t his usual ugly laugh, it’s more like a giggle. The self deprecating giggle he learned from you back then.

“Fuck!” You squeak into your arms, hiding your face away, as all the feelings you tried to push away wash over you all at once.

“I was furious. Having a relationship with someone is one thing, but starting a relationship with someone you would die for? I was ready to give up on being a hero just so I can be with you. That scared me. You were my greatest enemy - you were someone who had so much power over me that my dreams meant nothing to me anymore. I had to get rid of you. Or at least I thought I had to. I was stupid.”

“Kats…” you try to say something but the words are stuck in your throat. You feel like throwing up. There is a terrible ache in your heart; you hated him so much for living his best life while yours was in pieces, but in reality, he was living in agony himself.

“I said all those things to you to push you away, but I knew I made a mistake right after the words left my mouth. I knew there is no way back from it. So I held my ground and I let you go.”

You can’t believe how strong he is. The old Katsuki would never admit his mistakes. Yet here he is now, dealing with his own shit from 5 years ago.

You are about to respond but he beat you to it.

“But now that I’m sitting here with you, I feel like you’ve never really left.”

… and that’s it. You can’t stop your tears for falling anymore. With a quick, stealthy move you tackle your son of a bitch best friend to the ground and hide your face in his chest and cry like a baby until his not too steady heartbeat calms you down enough to make a proper (?) response.

“I absolutely despise you right now, Kats, I hope you know that.” you laugh and cry at the same time, looking up to see his face, and to your surprise, his face looks a bit more shiny than it was a few minutes ago.

“Fuck, I love you too” he laughs at your confused face and you both start laughing like the two idiots you are.

If the whole situation wasn’t comedic enough, Kirishima decides to come out and check up on you right in the middle of your laughing fit, holding each other for dear life snuggled up on the massive stones like two love sick teenagers.

Kirishima gives you two the biggest grin you’ve ever seen in your life and walks back silently to the bar without saying anything. After a few moments, you can hear him screaming inside.

“YOU OWE ME A LOT OF MONEY, DENKI!”

“GODDAMIT, BAKUBRO.”

Bakugo and you start giggling as well, and you can’t stop yourself from cradling the blonde’s face.

“Hey, Kats…”

“Hm?” You know he’s not actually listening anymore. His eyes are glued to your lips, and you can’t stop yourself either from giving him the tiniest peck, just barely there.

You don’t want to rush this and neither does he.

It has been 5 years since you last saw each other and there is so much to talk about.

“We are going on a date tomorrow.” You declare, leaving no space for arguing. He lowers his head and puts it on your shoulder so he can look at you from a safe but close distance.

“You know I’m not leaving your side tonight, right?” He argues anyway. Of course he does.

“Okay. Go grab your stuff from your place and we can come to mine. I have a spare couch.”

The look he gives you is worth a billion dollars.

Absolute disgust.

The audacity.

“I’m not a dog.”

“You are clearly not a dog, my dog sleeps with me on the bed.” You wink at him and just like that you two continued your silly little game of being two best friends absolutely in love with each other, but this time, neither of you ran away.

THE END (?)

Bonus chapter ->

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P.S. Anyone interested to see their first date? Because I AM!

Sorry for not giving them an actual kiss scene in this one, trust me, I had a really hard time writing the end scene, but I don’t feel like there was a proper time for an actual kiss, hence why I want this one shot to have a second part :D

#bakugou x reader #katsuki x reader #bakugo katsuki x reader #soft katsuki #boku no hero academia #bnha #mha x reader #bakugo x you #bakugo x self insert #bnha x reader #5YearsbyPurplePotato

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friends-to-lovers-tournament · 10 months

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Friends to Lovers Tournament: Round 3, Side B, Match 8

propaganda under the cut!

Percabeth:

Submission 1

they are the cutest thing ever with 5 books of slow burn

Submission 2

HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THEM?? THEY ARE THE BEST OTP! THEY START OFF WITH UNCERTAINTIES BUT ANNABETH CHOOSES TO BE HIS FRIEND, HER FIRST INDEPENDENT STEP TO NOT CONSIDER THE OLYMPIAN'S WISHES WHEN MAKING CHOICES. SHE IGNORED HER MOM'S OPINION GUYS, THAT IS BIG! AND HE DOESNT REALLY HAVE FRIENDS UNTIL THE SUMMER HE TURNS 13 AND SHE IS ONE OF THEM. SHE AND HIM ARE ALWAYS BY EACHOTHER'S SIDES (METAPHORICALLY AT LEAST). THEY WORK TOGETHER ON QUESTS SOO WELL BECAUSE THEY KNOW EACH OTHER THAT WELL. AND SHE KISSED THEM DURING THE LABYRINTH QUEST AND HE KINDA IGNORED IT FOR LIKE A YEAR. AND SHE WAS HIS ANCHOR TO THE MORTAL WORLD. AND HE TOLD HER ABOUT HIS ACHILLES HEEL. AND SHE BACKS HIM UP ALL THE TIME. AND IT WAS THE GREATEST UNDERWATER KISS OF ALL TIME. AND WHEN HE WENT MISSING SHE DID NOT SLEEP. AND SHE WAS ALL HE REMEMBERED WHEN HERA TRIED HER SHENANIGANS. AND THEY FELL TOGETHER. AND THEY ARE EACH OTHERS BEST FRIENDS (sorry grover, but you get it) AND I LOVE THEM TOGETHER SO MUCH. THEY EMAILED EACH OTHER AT 13 BECAUSE CELL PHONES WERE A BIG N O! AND HE KEPT A PICTURE OF HER IN HIS BINDER. AND SHE WANTS TO BUILD SOMETHING PERMANENT WITH HIM.

Kirk/Spock:

Submission 1

They're the ogs. They're in every tumblr ship poll. They spend five years making love eyes at each other, have a massive messy breakup, get back together after 2.8 years and get married. They're idiots and I love them. They invented every trope. I've written so much propaganda for these guys I've lost all ability to be coherent. Just trust me on this and put them in, they'll get far

Submission 2

They are so gentle and teasing with each other. They work side by side and then when their shifts are over they still hang out together and play chess and such. They respect the hell out of one another and trust each other completely. They're literal soul mates. T'hy'la forever :) <3

#friends to lovers tournament #riordanverse #star trek #percabeth #kirk/spock #percy jackson #annabeth chase #jim kirk #spock #tournament polls #polls

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suemooon · 7 months

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Origins of the Oncest ship: the history

Travelling in The Once-ler's fandom history | by suemooon

Welcome Oncelings!

to one of my most serious researchers I have ever done before, now, here’s a little explanation:

I wanted to make a fandom analysis using old posts, the way back machine, and other stuff to try to compare the once-ler fandom in its golden age and now, trying to suppose how it was and trying to see what happened there, but it would be later. Because I got a really interesting capture that I got while I was checking the Oncest tag in the wayback machine, and I got this:

IT QUICKLY GOT MY ATTENTION

Someone saying that they were the first ones to show the Oncest ship term.

I wanted to see if it was real and not a joke or something like that, so I copied the url of the tumblr and desired that the blog is still up, and I got it!!!

I explored their tumblr for a little while, and I noticed another thing, there’s a bunch of photos of the once-ler BEFORE the movie of the Lorax came out, this of course means that ye, there was some people who found the once-ler attractive and begun to share his pictures in tumblr (without any tag, if it wasn’t the help of this blog and some other ones, I probably couldn’t got them).

This makes a lot more sense than saying that the once-ler fandom was born after the came out of the movie I can say.

Those pictures belongs to all the Lorax trailers, in which ONLY appears the gray once-ler, not greedler. So we can say that the people who find him attractive in the beginning, the greedler was like a kind of “plot twist”

But the topic of the whole fandom will be for my another analysis, now let’s try to focus on Oncest.

2. Possible date of apparition

In my research, it seems that Oncest was born between 19th March, 2012, but where did I took this supposition?

Checking the dates between their first Oncest mentions (and also checking other old inactive once-ler’s blogs), there’s some important dates to make a highlight.

link to post: https://theambernerd.tumblr.com/post/19771248254/thank-you-all-you-lovely-people-for-following-me

In this screenshot, someone responds that this pairing has a name, this is from March 22, 2012, so the ship already existed and had a name too, so let’s check out the other blogs and their archives.

temporarilycheating

squidmama

Suddenly we see Oncest fanart.

The dates are between 19th and later, is this the origin of the ship?

Of course this is just a supposition, I had to see it at that time to prove it, but it’s not the case. All I can do is make suppositions.

You can take it as something true or fake, that’s your opinion.

3. Who was the original person who brought up with the Oncest idea?

This one was one of the most complicated things that you can try to research, we are talking about something that is 11 years old, so some pretty amount of information got lost with the time.

In words of temporarilycheating.

IT’S CALLED ONCEST BECAUSE I SAID SO! Lol but really…actually, I’m kinda the one who came up with the name in the first place… The pairing existed, but I think it was originally called twincest or something… But anyhow, in month one of the fandom, back when Sirsteeve made some of the first oncest fanart the fandom went CRAZY over the idea…and so did i. So I was sitting in my living room having a feels moment over this new OTP…but since the fandom didn’t really have a name for it, it made me think… It came to my mind that the fandom was somewhat dividing the once-ler into two seperate people of the same relation-oncie and greed-ler. To me, it sounded like incest. So I played around with that idea a bit in my head. And after saying incest repeatedly in my head I noticed the ‘ce’ in the word. I came to the conclusion to 'once’ in addition to the 'est’. thus 'oncest’. I had a fangasm and posted my idea to tumblr ASAP. Apparantly, it caught on cuz it’s still called oncest today and is widely known C: That has to be one of my greatest achievements in this fandom.

link to post: https://temporarilycheating.tumblr.com/post/25857778616/why-is-it-called-oncest

There's a small mention to someone named "Sirsteeve" who explains that were one of the firsts ones to draw Oncest.

I searched and their oldest Oncest post I found is this one.

Date: March 19th, 2012 by: sirsteeve ( hour - 5:22 PM )

So we have in our eyes one of the first Oncest post ever.

Is that the original Oncest post? I don’t know, it only says that is ONE of the first persons in the fandom who brought up the idea. Is it made by one person or a group of people? I don’t know.

Other very first posts about Oncest:

Date: March 19th, 2012 by: cartoonjunkie ( hour - 10:39 PM, 5 hours later after sirsteeve )

Date: March 20th, 2012 by: owlapin

Date: March 21st, 2012 by: rutella

4. Who gave the name of "Oncest"?

GUYS!!!! I KNOW WHAT TO CALL THE PAIRING!!!!! Y'know, once-ler/green suit once-ler!???? IT SHOULD BE CALLED ONCEST!!!! GET IT!? Its like incest, but with himself! :D WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK!? If you like the idea, reblog this to spread the word! :D

Date: March 20th, 2012

It seems it’s true, temporarilycheating was the one who created the Oncest term, we should give her more recognition for it!

link to post: https://www.tumblr.com/temporarilycheating/19650360910/guys

Conclusion

Second part? who knows. But the only thing I can say is… this one was one of my most complicated things to find, but now I got some important information. I'm here for you to share my knowledge!

I must say, I’m very proud of me for this, you guys have no idea how excited I got when I found these photos and data, maybe is not too much but I think they’re really important yet; this information forms part of our fandom history, and I think we should keep that information up and don’t lose it.

As a reminder too, as I already said once…

Oncest is like an icon for our dear Once-ler Fandom, whether we like it or not.

We can’t deny its existence, we can’t blame it, we can’t try to delete it, it always will exist as always the fandom will exist and some people like it.

And… My opinion about Oncest?

Well, I don’t hate it, I don’t love it thou, but I can like some posts about it, I can appreciate art from this ship, and it’s idea too.

Any reblog, like, and comment it's appreciated!

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revedetendresse · 1 year

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Lyatt + the term of endearment they gave one another

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dangermousie · 6 months

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Finished.

God, what a glorious, glorious, glorious ride, a truly solid epic drama in a way I haven't seen in a very long time - there were two other flawless cdramas for me this year - Lost You Forever 1 and The Ingenuous One - but TIO was a smaller scale story and LYF ended in medias res. AJTL was the only complete, epic cdrama this year for me, but oh boy, was it beyond.

First, my two tiny niggles - this is a drama where the 40 episode limit fit badly, like tightly pinching shoes. You can tell how they had to speed and cram to get in the resolutions of dynastic struggles in An and Wu and the war with Beipan. This drama really needed to have been 50 eps. (The cramming also resulted in the sole plot arc that made me go huh - LTG random decision to try to marry Ruyi before he rides off to what he thinks is his last battle and his just as random decision to go "oh well" and agree to release NYZ and then when NYZ shows up before he can be released because he broke out and wreaks havoc, let them walk out. Maybe if they had more time, it would have made more sense, otherwise it felt like an aberration in a character arc that before and after was consistent and made sense.) Second niggle is not really one because it's clearly due to censorship - the last minute redemption of the Wu emperor etc - the writer made is as believable as she could but you could feel the censorship sticky hands all over it.

But those are minor complaints. Overall this was solid from beginning to end, very adult and with secondary characters who all felt real and complex and interesting. A few thoughts:

Our main OTP was incredible. So adult, so competent, so badass but still feeling human. I bought that those two were larger than life legends AND flesh and blood people. And that chemistry!

I loved that this drama allowed relationships to be messy. Yes, we have our epic main couple but I especially loved what happened with Chu Yue and Shisan and LTG and Ying. I loved that neither was an epic romance. With CY and Shisan, I loved that they didn't make him realize he loves her forever blah blah - he was an incredibly consistent character - charming, loyal and utterly clear he's incapable of permanent commitment to a single woman and she never could change that. And yet he died in large part to protect her, and it's in keeping with his character and it makes sense that this solidified her remembering him forever - he's not just the one who got away, but he DIED for her. It's very clear if they both lived, this would have gone nowhere and ended with him wandering off or her moving on wanting commitment from someone who is capable of it, but as it is, it froze the possibility of love in ember.

And I loved the narrative of LTG and Ying. They both come into marriage in love with someone they can never have (Ruyi and YL), they both have similar backgrounds (royals but neglected and looked down upon), they both share the same goals (power but to take care of people) and they really are friends. I love that when we last see them, they have what is a great period marriage - no love but respect and common goals. And she still mourns YL and he probably still thinks of Ruyi but the thing is, I love that the narrative leaves the possibility of them eventually falling in love with each other (or other people) because as she tells him - you think you will always love a particular person but life is long. (And it's so true - she will remember YL until she's old, once again in part because of the unfulfilled possibility of it - but it doesn't mean she won't be able to open her heart to someone again.) It's a surprisingly hopeful ending for them and I love it. I'd totally watch a show where they discover love with each other tbh.

I did love that no character (except possibly Prince Danyang) got everything they wanted even if they emerged alive. They got some and had to give up some.

I loved what it had to say about having to be worthy of your power and position - you are not owed fealty by birth but you have to earn it. It was a surprisingly anti-imperial show for a recent cdrama.

All the deaths of our faves gutted me, none as much as Yuan Lu's. Oooof.

As to the ending, I can tell people are gonna have fits but I like it. I love many an ending legendarily reviled in cdrama fandom (Princess Agents and Novoland Eagle Flag have perfect endings in my opinion; I realize that opinion, especially about PA is enough to get me throttled in certain quarters but it is what it is) and I came to cdramas back when pretty much every costume cdrama ended horrifically tragically - think of the endings of the Chinese Paladins, The Myth (for a long time my n1 drama even though it made me cry so hard I threw up, ending-wise), The Young Warriors, Little Fairy, even Lan Ling Wang, Glory of the Tang Dynasty and Bu Bu Jing Xin if we are going somewhat later. I mean, one of my favorite dramas ever is Royal Nirvana and that ending is like drinking a thermos full of depression. This is nothing.

Honestly, I would have been fine if the ending for our OTP really was them dying pretty much together, in their different battles. That hint that they are alive and living with their kids is lovely and welcome, but I'd have been fine without it and it raises a lot of questions (though if anyone could fake their deaths and survive that sort of thing, it would have been them so fair enough.)

Anyway, this is basically my love letter to this drama. It was amazing and I am so glad I watched it.

#cdrama #a journey to love #liu shi shi #liu yuning #alen fang #fang yilun

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 1 year

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IOTA Reviews: Transmission and Deflagration (The Kwamis' Choice)

Well, it only took until almost halfway through the fifth season, but we're finally getting a two-part episode that isn't a season finale. There have been a few episodes I think could have benefited from having an extra part, like “Cat Blanc”. So obviously, after all this time, there has to be a reason for putting a two-parter here. The story told here has to be big. It has to be huge. It has to be something that will alter the very way we see the plot and these characters, and—it's more Love Square stuff. God dammit...

Let's get into the tenth and eleventh episodes of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Transmission and Deflagration

“Transmission” starts with Marinette having another depressive episode, which seems to be worse than usual, with her offering her Miraculous to Tikki so she can choose someone else. While Tikki tries to remind her of all the good she's done as Ladybug as footage from earlier episodes plays, Marinette points out how she's a terrible Ladybug, once again referencing how she lost the Miraculous because of her feelings for Adrien.

Tikki: You’re overreacting, Marinette!

Marinette: Really? Then, how come I lost the Miraculous I was entrusted with all because of love? Love only ever causes problems. I’ll never fall in love again! Love is weak! And I can’t be sad about it; otherwise, I might get akumatized!

Okay, this is just getting ridiculous. We're ten episodes into the season, and whenever Marinette brings up her failure at the end of the last season, it's the same song and dance: She feels guilty about it, she needs someone to try and make her feel better, and she doesn't change anything about the way she and Cat Noir operate. If it isn't that, it's a complete strawman or character who we know already hates Ladybug like Chloe or Lila calling out Marinette for her failure specifically so any negative feedback she gets can be easily brushed aside. The whole point of a hero having to comprehend a major failure is to see how they deal with the consequences to their actions and find a way to improve to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. If Marinette came up with new ways to strategize with Cat Noir, or seriously reevaluate the way she sees Adrien that isn't just brushed aside, I'd get it. Instead, all she does is whine about how much her life sucks over and over, which is the same problem I've had with Adrien for the past few seasons.

And once again, for a show with the lyrics “The power of love always so strong” in its opening, it seems like the writers want to make a bigger point in favor of showing how love can only ruin things. Yes, getting emotional can cause someone to make more impulsive decisions, but at the same time, feelings of love and kindness can get good results, like Ellen Ripley's maternal instincts motivating her to save Newt in Aliens. The problem is that we never get a lot of arguments as to how love can benefit the heroes, not only when we see how much it screws up Ladybug and Cat Noir's partnership, but once again, how Marinette's romantic feelings for someone led to her greatest failure. The closest we get to an argument in favor of love is whenever Marinette and Adrien's friends try to make their OTP come together without considering if it would actually make things better or not.

Speaking of which, after the episode's obligatory pointless Chloe line that's only there so Selah Victor can pay her rent that week, Ms. Bustier asks Alya to deliver Marinette's homework to her, only for Nino to convince her to have Adrien do it instead. Somehow, she thinks this minor favor will help Marinette and Adrien realize their true feelings for each other. Because it's not like Alya learned that she shouldn't choose who she thinks Marinette would be best with last episode, right?

Marinette and Adrien talk and it seems like they're starting to grow a little closer, but Tikki and Plagg panic, trying to intervene so they don't know each other's identities. The attempt fails, but Marinette kicks Adrien out anyway. It's a pretty somber scene, so let's cut to something stupid instead, like Marinette and Adrien's classmates throwing a party under the assumption that Adrien simply delivering something to Marinette means they'll get together now.

All of you are really gunning for the Biggest Idiot Award today, aren't you?

Of course, even though she went along with one of these weird “force Marinette to do something she doesn't want to” schemes before in “Crocoduel”, Zoe seems to be the only one with a smidgen of common sense.

Zoe: Alya, did you hear Marinette’s voicemail message?

Alya: Yeah, but that was before, Zoe.

Zoe: “Before”? Before what?

Alya: Before when Marinette was a complete wreck.

Nino: But Alya sends her the perfect mechanic.

Alya: Adrien!

Nino: He’s fixing her up as we speak.

Rose: Wow! When they come back to school, they’ll finally be an item!

Marc: A perfect plan!

Zoe: But... you guys don’t actually know for sure.

Alya: Trust me. This is it this time!

I'm starting to think that maybe Marinette should reconsider who she chooses to be temp heroes once she gets the Miraculous back.

Adrien starts crying as he leaves Marinette's place, which attracts the attention of Monarch... who then immediately backs out as soon as he senses him, transforming back into Gabriel. Meanwhile, Tikki and Plagg discuss Marinette and Adrien's situation.

Plagg: Sugarcube! Having to force them to choose between love and their mission is just awful! Maybe Master Fu was wrong to choose them.

Tikki: No, they’re made for each other. Love is what gives them their strength.

Plagg: But the impossible part of that love is destroying them, and I know a thing or two about destruction.

Tikki: (sighs heavily) What can we do?

Plagg: We must free them of that impossible choice. We must... free them of us.

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Yep. This is the titular Kwamis' choice. They seriously think that Marinette and Adrien's romantic problems are more important than them being superheroes, so their best option is to just take away their Miraculous even though Monarch still has fifteen more of them. I'd be more forgiving if this was towards the beginning of Marinette and Adrien's superhero careers, but this is Season 5, where the stakes have never been higher thanks to Monarch's arsenal. Oh yeah, I also forgot to mention that MARINETTE IS STILL THE FUCKING GUARDIAN, AND TAKING AWAY HER MIRACULOUS DOESN'T CHANGE A THING! IT'S NEVER EVEN MENTIONED IN EITHER EPISODE, SO HOW THE HELL DO YOU FORGET SOMETING THAT IMPORTANT?!?!

It doesn't even make sense that only now are Tikki and Plagg against Marinette and Adrien actually getting together when they were never shown to have any problems with it in earlier seasons, and just last episode, Plagg encouraged Adrien to go after Marinette after doing so as Cat Noir didn't work out. It comes across as the writers struggling to come up with new ways to have opposition to the Love Square, even if this idea somehow leads to a minuscule amount of progress in that department. Yeah, you figure that out...

Also, it's pretty weird how after four and a half seasons of Marinette suffering from the burden of being Ladybug, only now does Tikki decide to relieve her of that responsibility, but only because of how it affects her love life.

We get another scene showing how stupid Marinette and Adrien's friends are as they talk about how happy Marinette and Adrien must be now, interspersed with scenes of Marinette and Adrien crying their eyes out. Just like that one scene in “Evolution”, I don't get the setup. Is this meant to be a joke, or a serious moment? After Nathalie takes a call for Adrien telling Nino that he can't be bothered at the moment, Gabriel comes into the room to comfort him, giving him an Alliance ring in the process.

Tikki and Plagg talk to their respective holders and tell them how they feel that the burden of being heroes is crushing them. Marinette and Adrien obviously bring up the situation with Monarch, but as soon as their Kwamis mention that not being superheroes means that they can pursue their love lives with no stress, they immediately take off their Miraculous and give them back. After five seasons that this episode confirmed happened just under a year, and this is what causes them to give up their Miraculous: a bad case of heartache. We're supposed to see this as the breaking point that causes the two to not want to be superheroes ever again? They don't consider the innocent lives that could be in danger, or the fact that this heavy burden will most likely be forced on two new and inexperienced schmucks who will struggle even more than they did thanks to Monarch possessing powers of the other fifteen Miraculous.

I'm sorry, but I don't see this as an emotional scene. All I see is what I saw with Adrien in “Kuro Neko”: these characters simply giving up because of how much they're prioritizing their personal feelings over the lives of others. If this was something Marinette and Adrien came up with and made an agreement to quit at the same time (even choosing their own replacements), I'd sort of get it, as they'd at least be on the same terms, but neither of them ever learn the other quit until later on in the episode.

After Adrien breaks down even more, we learn that the whole reason Gabriel hesitated to akumatize Adrien the last time was because he didn't have an Alliance ring on, so now that he does, he's taking a mulligan. However, the Akuma is stopped at the last minute when Adrien sees the homework he was supposed to give Marinette, so he runs off as his negative emotions fade. Instead, Monarch chooses to akumatize someone else with five different Alliance rings.

Monarch: Rejoice, dear Kwamis! Five Alliances enables as many Miraculous powers to transfer at the same time! This villain promises to be exceptional! (laughs manically)

Pretty sure you hyped up Style Queen the same way three seasons ago, yet you still didn't get the Miraculous then, so I wouldn't gloat too soon.

The next scene with Marinette and Adrien is actually a really nice one. Marinette starts stuttering as usual when she tries to talk, but Adrien comes up with another idea: He'll ask a series of yes or no questions, and Marinette can raise her right or left hand to answer them. Adrien asks Marinette about her feelings for him, and Marinette accidentally answers no before changing her mind. Before Adrien leaves, he asks Marinette if she wants to spend more time with him in the future, to which she accepts. This scene was handled really well, and nothing really felt forced here.

Back with Alya, she and the others are once again coming up with a plan to get Marinette and Adrien together (because none of them have lives outside of the Love Square, I guess), when Nora suddenly calls.

Nora: Geez, sis! You never pick up the phone when I like, actually need your advice!

Alya: I couldn’t pick up. I’m at school!

Nora: Yeah, right. So, you see, I had no choice but to deal with it myself.

Alya: Oh, no... Nora. I told you before, you gotta talk before you act!

Nora: Yeah, but I did talk, like, I said stuff in front of Kouki's bros.

Alya: Nora! Not “talk” like that!

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Yeah, outside of a few references to Nora trying to call Alya earlier in the episode, I didn't skip anything here. We're just thrown into this plot with little to no explanation as to what's going. What Nora and this Kouki guy were arguing about, much less what Nora said to his friends is never explained. I don't even known if they're supposed to be in a relationship or not. It's not like in “Sandboy” or “Oblivio” where the motivation for how the person got akumatized was only explained near the end of the episode. The episode acts like we're supposed to know who Kouki is and why he and Nora are fighting when this is the first time Kouki has ever appeared on this show.

As the conversation goes on, Tikki chooses Alya to be the new wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous and Plagg chooses Zoe to be the new wielder of the Cat Miraculous. Okay, outside of Zoe being the only one in this episode who isn't a complete idiot, I can see why Plagg would choose her, since she has experience as a superhero, and her identity wasn't exposed. As for Tikki choosing Alya? Yeah, Alya did a good job as Scarabella in “Hack-San”, but she doesn't mention that A) She and Cat Noir still needed Marinette's help to stop Robustus, and B) Alya's already had her identity exposed twice, to the point where she was the one to suggest she not be trusted with one before Marinette lost the other fifteen Miraculous at the end of the last season. Alya's not a bad hero, but these factors don't exactly make her an ideal successor to Ladybug. Also, it's pretty dumb how the whole reason Marinette and Adrien quit was for romantic reasons, yet the whole reason Alya blew her cover last season was for romantic reasons (Rocketear).

Back with Adrien and Marinette, the former plans to leave, but is interrupted by the akumatized form of Kouki, named Kikou.

Kikou's design is... I mean, it's not terrible, I guess? Putting aside the fact that this is the second Akuma in the series to go with the “black boxer” stereotype (who is also a dumb brute like Anansi was), the gold jewelry is a decent touch, and it makes sense that he has the five Alliance rings to show off his wealth. As for his powers, because he has five rings, he has five different powers, the Tiger Miraculous' Clout to power his Gum-Gum Pistol-esque punches, the Turtle Miraculous' Shelter to protect his head where the Akuma is obviously hiding, the Horse Miraculous' Voyage to move around quickly and make up for his size hindering his speed, the Ox Miraculous' Resistance to protect the aforementioned Shelter, and the Mouse Miraculous' Multitude to clone himself with. This is the Akuma that really made me realize that the gimmick of every Akuma this season having the powers of whatever Miraculous Monarch gives them is just an excuse to half-ass writing any new Akuma powers in favor of the same fifteen abilities the other Miraculous have.

Kikou attacks the city, but Alya transforms into Scarabella, soon being joined by Zoe, AKA, Kitty Noire.

Kitty Noire's design is... pretty weird, all things considered. The green lipsick just doesn't look that good, I don't get the green hair extensions, and why are they eyes like that when even Lady Noire's eyes stayed green? At the very least, the hair looks marginally better than Catwalker's, and I like the detailing on the suit itself.

While Scarabella and Kitty Noire quickly get to know each other, Marinette and Adrien get used to being civilians again pretty quickly as they watch them fight off Kikou, the two new heroes struggling to keep up with Kikou's five Miraculous powers. Of course, Marinette and Adrien only look mildly concerned, not even regretting their choices in the slightest.

Our heroes, ladies and gentlemen.

Scarabella uses her Lucky Charm, getting a parachute, which is totally different from the kind used in the final episode of the first episode. Scarabella and Kitty Noire taunt Kikou, Scarabella drawing Kikou's fire while Kitty Noire recruits a bunch of firefighters, who then get some paint from the art store Socqueline runs. The firefighters then load the paint into their truck's hose, which is then used to fill up the parachute. Kitty Noire cuts the rope, and the paint blinds Kikou, and as soon as he deactivates his shield, Scarabella breaks his headgear, freeing the Akuma.

Scarabella de-evilizes the Akuma, sort of helps Kouki and Nora make up, uses Miraculous Scarabella to fix all the damage, while Marinette and Adrien compliment the new heroes from afar before promising to meet up at school tomorrow.

The first episode ends with Gabriel's Alliance recording the unusual data in two Alliances, meaning that Scarabella and Kitty Noire's identities have already been exposed... even though Tikki should have known this since “Jubiliation”. Yeah, you all know where this is going.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... TIKKI

While the competition was tough, Tikki was able to get the win for going along with this asinine plan in the first place that prioritized the personal feelings of two people over the fact that Monarch was at his most dangerous. Not only that, she forgot Marinette was still the Guardian, she forgot that Alya's identity was already exposed twice, and that even if she didn't know the Alliance rings were a front for Monarch's plan, forgot that these hi-tech rings track the everyday movements of its users, not even telling Plagg this before he chose Zoe.

The second part, “Deflagration”, immediately starts off with Kitty Noire saying that Ladybug and Cat Noir have nothing to feel guilty about even though they essentially abandoned Paris when Ladybug was shown to be getting backlash for her failure, but of course, that isn't mentioned here.

Kitty Noire: We’ll accomplish our mission just like they did, because the goal we all share is to defeat Monarch, isn't it?

News Reporter: Or perhaps Ladybug and Cat Noir renounced their mission so they could finally live their love story?

Scarabella: They were never in love or in a relationship, and neither are we.

Kitty Noire: (in a flirtatious tone) So far anyway!

I'd make a “The Ambiguously Gay Duo” joke here, but we all know Alya is already in a relationship.

Alya and Marinette meet up, the former congratulating her successor on another great job. The two talk about Adrien, and Alya once again encourages Marinette to focus more on pursuing a relationship with him, no doubt planning another stupid party in her mind.

We then get a scene that actually reminds the audience that Chloe and Zoe are supposed to be sisters. I understand if you might have forgotten, but don't worry. I'm pretty sure the writers did too. Of course, I think the writers might be running out of new ways to make Chloe mean to someone, because this time, she just yells at Zoe for being near her and not being in the “half-of-a-sister zone”. In order to appease her sister and make sure she doesn't call their mom, Zoe offers to wash all of Chloe's shoes. Plagg talks to Zoe about possibly standing up to her sister.

Plagg: How about I Catacylsm that sister of yours instead?

Zoe: It’s pointless, Plagg.

Plagg: Zoe, you can't let them treat you that way; no one speaks to me like that! Just ask the T-rexes... That is, if you can find one! Because they're not so smug anymore now, are they?

Zoe: It’s best to stay out of trouble in this family if I'm going to protect my secret identity.

Plagg: You start by giving up cheese, and then you end up giving up on dignity, freedom, and justice!

Zoe: I feel like you like to blow things out of proportion, don't you?

Plagg: Yes... especially when I’m starving.

Talking about standing up to your mean sister, contemplating murder while casually discussing genocide. Same thing, right?

We cut to Gabriel, who's over the moon about the recent revelation regarding Scarabella and Kitty Noire, even dancing a little. He tells Nathalie and heads to his lair to plan his next scheme, but not before chatting with Emilie's body once again. Gabriel transforms into Monarch and gives himself the powers of the Bee, Mouse, Rooster, Ox, and Horse Miraculous, traveling to the school himself.

Meanwhile, we cut to the Resistance, where we see Max has set up a system where, through the use of the Alliance rings and their phones, the members can alert the school to whenever there's an active Akuma... even though one of the features included in the Alliance includes an Akuma alert (Multiplication), and there's also been an Akuma alarm since Season 2 (Riposte). So once again, this brave and totally important Resistance has contributed absolutely nothing. Okay, there are some other parts, like some of the members planning to fight off the Akuma with paintball guns if there's no other option. You know, this is proof that this show takes place in France, because if this was America, they would most likely have actual guns.

At lunch, Marinette and Adrien get closer, to which Lila uses as an opportunity to manipulate Chloe into trying to break up the moment, but not before we get a joke where Chloe needs Alliance to define the word “generous”. Okay, I'm not sure if the joke was that Chloe is so selfish, she doesn't know the meaning of the word, or if the writers are now resorting to using “dumb blonde” jokes for Chloe now, which totally isn't a cliche that was overused twenty years ago to the point where there was an entire movie starring Reese Witherspoon made to subvert it. Either way, NOT FUNNY, DIDN'T LAUGH.

Chloe tries to ruin the moment by telling Adrien Marinette is in love with him, but he's not having any of that. She tries telling jokes that are supposed to be unfunny, they're funny, but it lacks the charm of something like Hank Hill attempting to tell “yo mama” jokes. Zoe stands up to Chloe, which pisses her off so much, she willingly accepts an Akuma from Monarch (currently invisible thanks to the Rooster Miraculous), turning into Sole Destroyer.

Sole Destroyer is... wow... Just... WOW... they didn't even try with this one. At least Miracle Queen made sense as an upgrade to Queen Wasp, but this? They literally just took Sole Crusher, whose design resembling Chloe made sense thematically in that episode, gave her a new pair of sunglasses, some more gemstones and spikes, and made her eyes glow as if she was a character in an episode of The Nostalgia Critic. Why go to this effort to make a new Akuma when so little is done with the new design? Wouldn't it make sense to bring back Antibug, given Chloe has been against Ladybug since the end of Season 3? As for Sole Destroyer's powers, it's just Sole Crusher's magic kicks, only instead of growing bigger in size after absorbing each victim and making her more of a threat, they transform into singing shoes. You know, guys, it just dawned on me how... how weird this show is. Kinda goofy...

Alya and Zoe attempt to transform, but Monarch, using a combination of the Mouse, Bee, and Rooster Miraculous' powers, stuns the two and steals the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous from them. Plagg attempts to Cataclysm Monarch, but Monarch uses Resistance to block it, immediately going to unify. Before the process can be completed, both Tikki and Plagg use Lucky Charm and Cataclysm respectively, Tikki summoning a trash can with the side effect of creating a new Eiffel Tower, and Plagg destroying the Cat Miraculous. Doing so ends up creating an endless cycle of things being created and destroyed, and unlike in “Dearest Family”, they don't reuse footage from “Style Queen”.

Marinette gets the trash can, and realizes what's happening, and while Adrien and Nino plan to have the Resistance try and stop Sole Destroyer, Marinette works on making her own Ladybug costume. Monarch orders Tikki to tell him what the hell's going on, Tikki explains that since Plagg destroyed the Cat Miraculous, he lost his only method of communicating with the physical plane, and all Monarch needs to do to get what he needs is to take back the Lucky Charm Tikki created. Just then, Marinette arrives, dressed up as Ladybug, and seemingly having the Lucky Charm in her hands, only for Monarch to steal it, unifying into Monarbug.

Given how stupid he looked as Shadow Noir last season, it's not exactly surprising to learn that Gabriel looks just as stupid unified with the Ladybug. The red and black polka dots just don't go with the black and purple. The one thing I'll give them credit for is that the eyes look kind of cool.

The Lucky Charm turns out to be a fake, and Nino jumps in to save Marinette from being hit with Venom. The rest of the Resistance also arrives, somehow having beaten up Sole Destroyer off-screen and turning her into a battering ram. Monarbug undoes the Akumatization, but Rose, Ivan, and Kim dogpile Monarbug, leaving Adrien to steal back the Ladybug Miraculous for Marinette.

Marinette transforms back into Ladybug, and uses Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage and fix the Cat Miraculous. While Ladybug fights Monarch, she learns that he reforged the Miraculous before Monarch uses Multitude and Voyage to make his escape, swearing that he'll beat Ladybug someday, “We'll meet again, Spider-Man”, yadda yadda yadda.

Tikki and Marinette talk about finding new holders, only for Marinette to choose to take back the Miraculous, figuring that since Monarch doesn't know their identities (once again forgetting what the Alliance rings can do), that's the best option. Plagg takes back the Cat Miraculous and goes to say goodbye to Zoe, reassuring her that she was still brave enough to stand up to Chloe, because I guess to hell with the people who somehow managed to restrain Chloe while she was Sole Destroyer. And so this episode, and by extension, this two-parter, ends with Ladybug and Cat Noir talking about how their Kwamis saved the day... even though they were the reason Monarch almost won in the first place.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... CHLOE

In addition to somehow not knowing the definition of the word “generous”, she failed to come up with a good comeback against Marinette, chose to get akumatized to get revenge, failed at that, betrayed Sabrina and Lila, her only allies, for no good reason, and somehow got defeated off-screen by a bunch of civilians with no superpowers, not even getting to fight either of the new heroes, including her sister.

But yeah, in case you can't tell, these episodes were pretty bad. The entire premise of Tikki and Plagg deciding that Marinette and Adrien's love lives were more important than stopping Monarch was a hard pill to swallow, especially since their replacements didn't get to do anything outside of a single Akuma fight. You'd think that with the buildup Zoe got standing up to Chloe, she'd at least play a role in stopping Sole Destroyer, but instead, she and Alya are benched for almost the entirety of “Deflagration”. It's also really dumb that the ending tried to make them out to be the MVP's of the fight, when their idea was what caused Monarch to almost get the Miraculous.

Even Marinette and Adrien didn't really make a lot of progress here. All they did was talk a little, but even after “Deflagration”, not much else happened. Yeah, Adrien stood up for Marinette, but they still haven't officially started dating yet, even when they had every reason to after giving up their Miraculous. It's still better than nothing, but after four and a half seasons, I think we're allowed to want a little more development with the Love Square Wouldn't it have been interesting to see Marinette and Adrien try to start a relationship during their brief retirement, only to struggle to maintain it after becoming superheroes again? We're almost halfway through the season, and the Love Square is still progressing at a snail's pace. Then again, I guess it's better than nothing at this point.

“Transmission” was pretty boring, all things considered. Other than the first act, nothing really happened. The Akuma fight was like the others, just with two new heroes, and Marinette and Adrien got to bond for a few minutes. Nora and Kouki's drama wasn't interesting, and it wasn't even properly explained like the motivations of other Akumas.

I will say that “Deflagration” was the better of the two, if only because Marinette, Adrien, and Gabriel made some smart choices here. Unlike in “Evolution” and “Destruction”, there's no gloating or wasting time. Monarch cuts straight to the chase, and Marinette comes up with a quick plan to trick him with. Also, while I still don't really care about the Resistance, I like the idea of the civilians standing up to Monarch, and think it was executed better than it was in “Heroes' Day”. Even Sole Destroyer got a few reactions out of me for how exaggerated her facial expressions were. I don't know why they decided to give her One Piece levels of weird faces, but kudos to the animators on that front. Of course, Sole Destroyer was still one of the most pointless Akumas in the show's history, as you could take her out of the episode and nothing would have changed.

Overall, while I appreciate the effort to try and tell bigger stories, this was a really weird choice of an episode to make a two-parter.

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