Nix Lapin

my mom is in fact aware that dandelions exist. she temporarily forgot the name and there was some miscommunication.

the truth is actually weirder

she’s aware dandelions look like this

she is familiar with this flower. she knows the name of this flower. she declines to believe, however, that these are also dandelions

she does not believe these are the same plant. I tried to explain, and she thought I was either misinformed or lying. so I asked her what exactly did she think the yellow ones were called?

gosh I enjoy this website

There are many ways you could fix the Lila plot and I don't have a true favorite. Which one I'd pick really depends on things like the overall story I want to tell and how much time I have to dedicate to the lie plot. I'll give you three pitches to show the variety of options that are out there. Note that all of these require some level of serialization because of course they do! If your story doesn't allow for serialization, then don't include plots about large scale deception. Those need time to cook!

Option One: Alya Gets an Arc

Season one established Alya as someone who wanted to be a serious journalist, but wasn't there yet which made sense. She was more a hero fan turned journalist than a journalist who got into heroes. This fangirl background meant that she was quick to get caught up in the hype of a good story and slow to stop to think if the story made sense. That's why we have an episode where Alya thinks Chloe is Ladybug, leading to an embarrassingly bad investigation that gets Alya akumatized. This means that season one wasn't a good setup for Alya to become a hero, but it was a good setup for Alya to believe Lila if you tone Lila's lies down a bit which is what we're going to do in this pitch.

New girl Lila comes to town and Alya is immediately enchanted. Lila no longer claims to be Ladybug's bff, but she does start claiming that she's been caught up in akuma attacks left and right. Whenever this happens, she's happy to give Alya an interview. Alya is thrilled because she often struggles to get interviews after an attack and there are tons of attacks she misses that Lila is "luckily" able to catch.

None of Lila's lies are glaring, but there's enough there that Alya should be asking questions and she isn't. She's too caught up in the excitement of having a Jr. Reporter who cares about the blog as much as she does. Lila is also telling more mundane lies at school to make herself seem cool and well connected. Marinette has picked up on all of this and gotten herself on Lila's bad side. Marinette has also warned Alya that Lila is a liar, but Alya just thinks that Marinette is jealous of how cool Lila is because Marinette has no proof that Lila is lying and Alya is too new to reporting to really understand the nuances of questioning sources.

Then Sapotis happens. Alya gets to be a hero for a night and is so happy about it! The only downside is that she doesn't have any footage. There's not even footage online since the attack happened at night. She's lamenting about this at school when Lila speaks up and says that she saw the attack first hand! Alya is thrilled until Lila starts talking. The story she tells isn't remotely accurate to what actually happened.

Alya is shaken. She goes home and, for the first time, she starts actually researching Lila's statements by watching Lila's old interviews and comparing them to other accounts of the akuma attacks. Alya immediately finds discrepancies. By the end of the evening, she's realized that Marinette was right and Lila is a liar. Lila gets outed and the arc ends. Since Alya has done so much research to take Lila down, she ends up making a bunch of blog posts summarizing her findings for the attacks that Lila lied about as a way to replace Lila's lie-ridden interviews. The summaries end up being massively popular and Alya gets praised for how well researched her work was.

This experience changes Alya. She no longer wants to just throw random stories onto her blog. She wants to give accurate accounts of what happened. She also starts to question what should and shouldn't be shared. Finding out Ladybug's identity was always a big goal for Alya, but now she's realizing just how dangerous that would be. Her and Marinette get to have talks about all of this since the Lila fallout should matter to their friendship! Marinette is impressed by how professionally Alya handled the situation and even more impressed by how Alya handles herself now. There's no more talk of outing Ladybug. Instead, Alya is focused on the thing that's less fun, but that really matters: outing Hawkmoth the same way she outed Lila. It's this change that convinces Marinette that Alya should be more than a one-time hero leading Alya to get the fox for good as I think that should have been a thing in the show. No mass recruitment. Everyone has to earn their assignment or be nothing more than the occasional tag in.

Option Two: Alya Is Already Perfect

In this version of the plot, we remove every episode that made Alya a bad reporter. No more wanting to out Ladybug. No more thinking Chloe is Ladybug. No more posting about things Ladybug drops. Just good, solid reporting right from day one.

When Lila shows up and starts telling her lies - which will still be toned down - Alya immediately picks up on the fact that something seems off while Marinette is oblivious. As a good reporter, Alya doesn't share her suspicions because she has nothing to back them up. She keeps quiet and gathers information. Once she has enough proof, she outs Lila. Marinette is shocked, but grateful. She also realizes just how good of a reporter Alya is. This leads to Marinette giving Alya the fox miraculous because the team needs someone like this to help them take down Hawkmoth!

You're probably thinking that this pitch is less interesting than the first one so why would I ever pick this one? The answer is that it's a better fit for canon's episodic structure. You'd pick a season, introduce Lila, and then have this be a running thing in the background leading to a Lila takedown at the end of the season. Alya would only get a minute or two at the end of each - or at least most - episodes to move the plot forward. It lets you establish her skillset and gets you hyped for her to help take down Hawkmoth without it needing to eat up a ton of screen time. Maybe have the big, season finale drama be that Marinette is going to give Lila a miraculous and Alya outs Lila just in the nick of time, leading Alya to get the miraculous instead.

Option Three: Something to do with Whatever the Lila Plot is Supposed to Be

The biggest problem with fixing the Lila-the-liar plot is that most of the obvious fixes involve Lila being a less-than-stellar liar. While the lies canon had her tell back that up, the way canon plays the lies doesn't. Canon Lila is supposed to be a master manipulator whose lies are impossible to see through. I'd like to pitch ways to fix that, but canon makes it tricky because a proper fix requires understanding Lila's character and that's an impossible ask. We're almost to the end of season six and we still have no clue who she is or what her goals are. The only thing we know is that she's a master manipulator who is somehow connected to Tomoe. My best guess as to where that's going is that Tomoe sent Lila to Paris to get the miraculous, but that's just a guess. Still, it's the best I've got so let's just assume that's what happened to show why it's such an issue.

I've always liked the idea that Lila came to Paris on a mission, but I liked it as an alternative way to write canon. I never expected it to be canon. If this is where the story is going, then the first five seasons are an even bigger writing failure than I thought. The writers didn't just give Lila lies that felt too obvious. They had her lie in ways that completely undermined her supposed goal!

In the first five seasons, Lila is written like a compulsive liar who just wants attention. She's not written like someone who is lying to support a mission. For example, why would she lie about being Ladybug's best friend? What does that get her? Attention, Ladybug's ire, and nothing else so it's a terrible lie for a spy who wants to get close to Ladybug! Similarly, why would Lila tell Ladybug that they're enemies, instantly putting Ladybug on guard any time Lila is around? That's the last thing she should do if she wants to steal Ladybug's miraculous!

If Lila's goal is to get the miraculous and her lies are all supposed to support that goal, then I'd rewrite things so that Lila no longer cares about being loved by everyone. Instead, she just wants to get close to Alya because the Ladyblog has made Lila suspect that Ladybug and Alya have a special connection. Why else would Ladybug give Alya that special private interview from the end of The Mime? In this new version of canon, Lila barely ever lies because she's not a compulsive liar. She's a woman on a mission who only lies when the lies serve the mission.

Where the story goes from there depends on a ton of factors. I could see a version of the story where Alya and Marinette are oblivious that Lila is a liar until Lila pulls off some crazy move like stealing the fox. I could also see a version where Marinette and Alya are oblivious to the lies, but Marinette doesn't trust Lila because she's a stranger who is obsessed with Ladybug and it's natural that Ladybug would not be okay with that. Once Alya becomes a hero, Alya would share that fear and naturally grow apart from Lila without needing a Lila reveal.

First of all, Lila has referred to Kagami as her “sister” multiple times throughout Seasons 5 and 6, and she directly calls Tomoe her “mother” in Season 6. That strongly suggests that Lila is either part of the Tsurugi family or at least deeply connected to it.

Cerise: (suddenly appears, snapping Tomoe out of the flashback) Hello, mother. Forgive my intrusion, but I sensed your disappointment, so I thought I’d pay you a little visit. Nooroo, dark wings rise.

We also know that Tomoe, in her own words, has “been disappointed by men her entire life,” which implies she holds a deep resentment toward them for reasons we still don’t know.

Tomoe: I’ve been disappointed by men my entire life. I want Kagami to grow up to have a Prince Charming as perfect as she is: smart, strong, handsome, and obedient.

This is just a theory, but honestly, I think it lines up pretty well with what canon is trying to imply.

I think Lila is probably Tomoe’s first daughter, the child she had with the man who hurt her so badly that made her hate them all.

We don’t know exactly what that man did to her, but whatever happened may also explain why Tomoe doesn’t see Lila as a worthy successor to her empire.

That could be what eventually led Tomoe to use the Peacock Miraculous to create her “perfect” daughter, Kagami.

Also, the show has repeatedly reinforced the idea that Kagami is the “favorite daughter,” while Lila is treated as the rejected one.

In Emotion, Kagami openly tells Lila that she isn’t a diamond, she's just a rock.

Kagami: It's where the most powerful families introduce their greatest treasures, their heirs, and heiresses. Adrien, Chloe, me — our families see us as Diamonds.

Lila: And I wasn’t invited?

Kagami: Of course not. You’re not a precious stone, you’re just a stone.

Then, in Yaksi Gozen, Lila refers to herself as the “least preferred daughter.”

Chrysalis: Kagami was so perfect. It must be painful to watch your favorite daughter escape from your grasp... Luckily, I am here.

And in The Dirtyfiers, she tells Etta and Ella that she knows what it feels like to have a mother who doesn’t love you.

What we still don’t know are Lila’s true motivations. Maybe she wants Tomoe’s approval. Maybe she wants revenge against her. Or maybe she just wants whatever the writers decide to pull from their asses next.

If this is where canon is going, then it raises a whole new slew of concerns. Like how old is Lila supposed to be? Tomoe didn't give birth to twins and Kagami has no knowledge of her sister, so Lila has to be the older child and be at least nine months older. If she's significantly older than Kagami, then how does Lila look so young and why did the writers have an adult character be so sexually aggressive with their 14-year-old male lead? Lila's manipulation of her classmates would also be reconextualized to something far more creepy. You'd think this would have me rooting for Lila to be only a few months older, but that comes with its own set of issues.

If Lila is only a year or so older than Kagami, then wtf did Tomoe do to her kid? Why is Lila so messed up? Who raised her? Where is her father? How does Lila know she's Tomoe's kid? Did Tomoe occasionally visit to make sure Lila knew she was a disappointment or something equally cruel? Are the writers seriously setting Lila up to be another Chloe where we get a big reveal that she's just a young woman desperately seeking her abusive mother's approval so the audience feels bad for her while the writers bitch and moan that she's not an abuse victim? Only time will tell but this is all really weird.

Check it out!

Finally got around to drawing her - Purrge has a sick design

Marinette Tries to Tell The Truth. The wish then Explictly sabotages all attempts to reveal information. (Lvl of sabotage varies). [at least when we want to use this plot for formula]

I thought it was a darkly amusing twist on how S1-S4 had her fail to confess her crush because the universe wont let her. And pure horror.

The big plan at the end was for the twist to breaking it be Adrien figuring out on his own. And while the wish erased all the clues Marientte tried to give. It didn't erase the evidence of the evidence being erased which left enough clues for him to piece it together himself [becasue the show supposed to use power of love].

I had some ideas for big scenes in the au and stuff that i like to share. Would you be interested in it.

I've always liked the idea of the wish being why Marinette is lying. I even wonder if the writers are going to pull a twist like that out of their asses to absolve her of the lies. Adrien getting to put it all together is a new idea, though, and I'm a big fan! Excellent addition! That would be a great way to do the true love wins concept. He's spent years learning Marinette's mind as Chat Noir, let that training shine and prove that they're truly meant to be! I don't think it would save canon for a myriad of reasons, but in an AU where it can be properly set up? Love it!

As far as more ideas go: people occasionally send me ideas like this to see what I think and I've always been open to it, but I don't want the blog to become me posting about a single person's AU so I do ask that you limit it to an occasional thing. Also know that I treat these asks as critiques where I give honest feedback so don't send ideas if you're not in a headspace to hear me say something bad about them. If I really hate an idea and it comes from a named blog, I'll message them privately and not answer the ask. If it's on anon and I hate it, I'll answer it honestly publicly with a warning at the top so that the anon gets my feedback, but knows they might not want to read it since there's no other way to let them know that I got the ask.

theres no puns, theres no cat like manorisms like chat noir has, the silliness is completely stripped from him, and on top of it, since his hair is pulled back, his human ears are showing. while yes chat noir has his human ears they are hidden beneath his hair, so his "real ears" are mainly associated with his cat ears instead

But since I’ve gotten too disabled to fight anymore, I… find myself coming back to that maiden in a tower. It’s that funny thing, where subverting femininity is powerful for the people who have always been forced into it… but for the people who have always been excluded, the powerful thing can be embracing it.

As I’m disabled, as I say to groups of friends, “I can’t walk that far,” as I’m in too much pain to keep partying, I find myself worrying: I’m boring, too quiet, too stationary, irrelevant. The message sent to the disabled is: You’re out of the narrative, you’re secondary, you’re a burden.

The remarkable thing about the maiden in her tower is not her immobility; it’s common for disabled people to be abandoned, set adrift, waiting at bus stops or watching out the windows, forgotten in institutions or stranded in our houses. The remarkable thing is that she’s like a beacon, turning her tower into a lighthouse; people want to come to her, she’s important, she inspires through her appearance and words and craftwork.  In medieval romances she gives gifts, write letters, sends messengers, and summons lovers; she plays chess, commissions ballads, composes music, commands knights. She is her household’s moral centre in a castle under siege. She is a castle unto herself, and the integrity of her body matters.