Making the PV Canon-Compliant

Happy belated Thanksgiving to my American readers. 

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I hope everyone enjoyed themselves while still staying safe. Hubby and I decided to stay home this weekend instead of visiting my family as we normally do. In exchange, we had a game night with my sister-in-law yesterday, I'll have a Zoom meeting with my mom later today, and Hubby and I will be spending the weekend prepping for his birthday on Wednesday.

Full disclosure, as I mentioned in my previous blog post, I was running hella long and I still wanted to talk about my one plot bunny where I try to come up with a way to make the Miraculous Ladybug PV canon-compliant. I had decided to cut everything I had written up already - which is about half of what I wanted to talk about on this subject - and paste it into a draft for this week's blog. It would stop last week's blog from getting any longer, as well as kept me from spending another 3hrs or so writing it all up instead of doing ANYTHING ELSE on my day off. Plus, bonus, it gave me a major head start for this week's post. I was excited that I'd actually be able to post before noon on Friday, as I intended, because most of the post should have been written already. I could spend the rest of the week periodically working on the blog whenever I had downtime, possibly finish it Thanksgiving evening, then just polish it up Friday before publishing.

But this is 2020, so of course none of that actually happened.

Last Friday was the last day off I had prior to Thanksgiving. Post-work was spent doing Thanksgiving prep-work: cleaning the apartment, doing laundry, grocery shopping, finding the big serving/prep-work dishes, gathering recipes, etc. No big. I have 8 solid hours of work each day, and I'm sure I could at least work on my post over lunch breaks, if not longer given the feast-or-famine way we get customers lately. Well... Thanksgiving wasn't the only feast that happened all week long! We were actually fairly bombarded with customers, and we had to retag the store for Black Friday specials, and our tag-making program crashed on us... And we received a box of fabrics I needed to sort through to make sure our collection was up-to-date... That became a day-long project. It actually became rare that I even had time to just sit and eat my lunch this past week. My "lunch breaks" were usually me at my desk shoving a bologna sandwich down my throat at 3pm as I caught up on paperwork.

Needless to say, I didn't really have any time to even bring up this blog post to work on. Same with my annual tradition to come up with a new thing I am grateful for each day throughout the month of November; a way to really focus on the Thankfulness portion of Thanksgiving, and kinda-sorta repurpose a holiday that has some really sketchy origins, to say the least.

I did come up with things I was thankful for up until November 16th. Then I kind of fell off the wagon. I've been scrambling to get back onto it, but... well... there is no concept of time left in this age of 2020. Days just whoosh by me. I am determined to get this list done by Monday though, so I can have all 30 things listed and posted before November ends. I had started to post to Twitter as well as my personal Facebook page, but trying to get the whole tweet thread thing to work properly for me (I'm so illiterate when it comes to Twitter features), and how long the thread has become is already so overwhelming. So I won't be continuing that thread. I do want to post the whole thing up on Tumblr though. If I do so, I'll link to it in my next blog post.

So, yeah, yet ANOTHER week got away from me, and not much of anything really happened aside from work, chores, and playing more Animal Crossing. That does mean, however, that I can dedicate the rest of this post to that one plot bunny.

Last week I talked about my current list of WIPs and plot bunnies. Number 6 on that list was, as I mentioned above, turning the original anime-stylized concept for Miraculous Ladybug into something canon-compliant. 

So, to start, let's talk about what I even mean when I say Miraculous Ladybug PV or "original anime-stylized concept". In short, I mean this: 

This was a sort of test video that Toei Animation did for Zagtoon; the producers of the Miraculous Ladybug series. It was a way to get more backers; a proof of concept. It was uploaded to YouTube privately "for internal use only" originally, but was accidentally switched to Public in 2012. While the original video was switched back to private two days after the leak, the above video was one of many re-uploads under the title "Ladybug PV." PV being a standard video production abbreviation for Promotional Video.

The project was scrapped in favor of the CGI we now know and love for a couple of reasons.

1. The backers of the project felt the anime styling, even when done by a well-known anime studio, would be a hard sell for a French-created series.
2. While Toei was proud of the work they did, they also complained about how difficult it was to constantly animate the spots on Ladybug's costume, especially during fight scenes. Switching to a 3D model helped eliminate that concern and actually allowed MORE spots to be put on the costume.
3. The concept for the anime was supposed to be darker and aimed more towards teenagers, but production felt the show worked better with the lighter, more kid-friendly themes we now get with the canon show.
4. One of the elements of the darker concept was Felix, the original Chat Noir. He was supposed to be jaded and apathic; focusing more on the concept of yin and yang by having Chat Noir be nearly the polar opposite of Ladybug. Felix would also be both completely aware and actually quite annoyed by Marinette's fawning over him. Both the friction between the heroes and the rift between their civilian forms caused any and all romantic chemistry between the two feel entirely unrealistic. Not good when one of the core drives of the story was the romance between these two characters. On top of that, Astruc realized that Felix was becoming too much of an anime trope (which I'll get into). In the end, they realized Felix needed to go.
5. Felix was going to be like Adrien in five main ways: 1) he was going to be the son of a famous fashion designer, 2) he was going to be a renowned model due to his father's career, 3) he was going to be a rich teen both because of his father's success and his own earnings, 4) Marinette was going to be in love with him but completely inept in winning him over, and 5) he was going to be Chat Noir. However, with Felix, he was going to be snobbish because of his famous father, his wealth, and his own modeling success. He'd think himself above the likes of Marinette, and, as mentioned above, find her constant advancements annoying. Along with being snooty, he was apathetic towards the plight of the citizens of Paris. He was going to be a reluctant hero (again, I'll get into this more in a moment). He was originally going to be Ladybug's partner in saving Paris solely as a way to try to win her over. However, she would be wise to his insincere heroism, and be just as annoyed by his advancements as Felix was of Marinette's. Astruc felt Felix being "the cold and almost cruel rich boy who is a complete flirt and cuts loose while in disguise; along with a reluctant hero only in it to woo the girl" was a bit too much of an anime trope for male secondary protagonists. All reasons to scrap him and completely rework Chat Noir until we got our beloved Adrien.

Okay, now that most of the initial concept, and why it was scrapped for what we currently have, has been sorted out, there's still a couple more bits I need to further explain. Then I can FINALLY get to my plot bunny.

First is that, as part of the original "darker" concept of the show, Felix's ring would have been cursed. Plagg wouldn't be a trusted companion like he is for Adrien. Instead, he'd be a mass of chaos tasked to cause bad luck to follow whomever wore the Cat Ring; i.e. Felix. Felix would suffer through all of these bits of bad luck - such as the library books avalanching onto him in the PV - unless he was Chat Noir and Plagg was too preoccupied by powering up the ring. Felix also couldn't remove the ring ever. The only way to get the ring off his finger and end his curse would be to get a kiss from Ladybug. So he fights by her side and flirts with her to try to get her to kiss him and end his curse. However, Ladybug kinda can't stand the guy, and also realizes how valuable he is as a partner against Hawk Moth. Also, I believe the full Love Square would come into effect, and Chat Noir would fall for Ladybug. This, I think, was supposed to add to the drama because if Ladybug ever kissed Chat Noir it would end his curse, but he'd also lose his powers and could never fight beside her again. He then would be torn between ending the curse that plagued his civilian days with bad luck and keeping his powers so he could help protect his beloved.

Fun side note, I can't recall where I saw it since it's not in the PV, but there was either a shot or concept art of Felix touching an apple tree with the hand his ring is on, and an apple ends up falling on Marinette's head. This implies that he was going to find a way to semi-control his bad luck and use it as a means to distract or otherwise deter Marinette's advances. 

Anyway, as I said, the concept was scrapped as being too hard to animate, too difficult to sell to networks, too dark and mature for the audience most likely to be interested in a ladybug-themed superheroine, too unbelievable of an overarching romance subplot, and too cliché of a male lead.

However, fans still fell in love with this PV and these characters. Mostly anime-lovers and adult fans really missed this scrapped concept and hoped for some sort of revival. The best we've gotten so far is:

• an announcement that Miraculous Ladybug has done so well financially that Toei is in talks about creating a 2D OVA - an Original Video Animation; basically a movie or mini-series that is either non-canonical or finds a way to bring everything back to the status quo by the end so it doesn't effect the overall continuity of the main series.
• the PV becoming a canonical movie about Ladybug and Chat Noir within the series universe
• a revival of Felix as Adrien's identical cousin.

Before Zagtoon and Astruc gave us fans any of that, however, the fandom came up with alternate realities for the anime versions of Chat Noir and Ladybug, or where Felix and Adrien could interact and were perhaps twins; which is most likely where the show's writers got the idea of Felix being an identical cousin. Fans didn't like the concept of Anime Ladybug also being Marinette, however, so they redubbed her Bridgette. The personality between the PV Marinette and the CGI one were different enough, and the costume design was also different enough that people accepted that they were two completely different characters; much like Felix and Adrien.

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Now that ALL of that fandom history is out of the way, what about my story concept? Well, I thought of following Felix back to London. He'd keep the prim and proper rich boy attitude shown in the PV and also showcased in the canonical episode "Felix." I might age him up a bit too in order to better fit the look of Felix in the PV. Make him about 16. He looks about 16 in the PV. 

The Miraculous and the superheroes of Ladybug and Chat Noir have been known world-wide for some time now. Felix has also been bothered by his overly enamored classmate Bridgette. The art styling for Bridgette compared to Marinette is different enough that they don't necessarily have to look identical, and therefore it wouldn't be as much of a stretch that Bridgette and Marinette co-exist within the same universe.

I might even have Felix make some sort of passing comment about the similarities. Especially when Bridgette is fawning for Felix, he could note the video of Marinette's love confession to Adrien.

I'll have to do some more research on how the fandom views Bridgette's and Felix's personalities, but I believe Bridgette is seen as more perky and outgoing than Marinette. Probably more akin to Rose within the canon show. Bridgette seems to wear her heart on her sleeves, as opposed to Marinette bashfully hiding hers, as poor of a job as she may do with that. I also don't know if - whether canonically or within the fandom - Bridgette also aspires to be a fashion designer, but if not, then all the better. It will make her more distinct from Marinette. Same with figuring out if Bridgette's parents are also bakers.

So, I'll need to do more research on Bridgette, but I think I can make her work. 

Another character I need to do fandom research on, or come up with something myself, is the main villain of the PV. He's still Hawk Moth, but he decidedly has more of a Mafioso-Crime-Boss feel than Gabriel Agreste.

TOP LEFT: Ladybug PV Hawk Moth; TOP RIGHT: CGI Hawk Moth
BOTTOM: Gabriel Agreste

PV Hawk Moth having a secret meeting with The Mime

He has an older look to him in the PV than in the CGI. He also has that more subtle Mob Boss like feel to him. He's more Marvel's Kingpin or DC's Lex Luthor, or Disney Gargoyles' Xanatos. The Hawk Moth we ended up with is more akin to a standard supervillain with an anime flare to it, like Queen Beryl from Sailor Moon or Rita Repulsa from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, or an 80s/90s American cartoony supervillain that threw a Villain-of-the-Week at the heroes, like Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget. 

This is clearly not the same man as the Gabriel Agreste/Hawk Moth we got in the canonical CGI series. I'd need to really research and/or ponder who this PV version of Hawky is though....

Now for one of the main sparks with regards to how I could make the PV version of Ladybug and Chat Noir somehow work within the same universe as the canon show: the kwamis.

Here are Plagg and Tikki in the PV versus the CGI show we ended up getting as canon.

L: "Plagg" mocking Felix after mischievously knocking library books onto him.
R: Plagg getting scratches from Adrien while discussing their close friendship.

L: "Tikki" getting a snuggle from Bridgette.
R: Tikki getting a cheek kiss from Marinette to reassure the kwami that trust was never lost.

While the size difference and overall character design is most prominent in the images of Tikki, you can still kind of see it in Plagg as well. The kwamis are clearly much bigger in the PV version, and Tikki's ladybug spots used to be a single 4-leaf clover birthmark on her forehead. Plagg also shrank in the CGI version, his tail became much shorter, and he lost the little hair antenna off the top of his head. 

Okay, so the kwamis also went through a character re-design, so what? Well, if Felix could become a separate character from Adrien, and the fandom made PV Marinette the separate character Bridgette, why couldn't the same treatment be given to the PV kwamis? 

Also, as I pointed out last week when I first brought up this plot bunny, I was partially inspired by the concept of Smile Fruit in the One Piece universe. 

This is going to need some explaining as well, especially if you don't know the manga/anime One Piece. So forgive me as I try to run through this quickly.

In the world of One Piece there are these things called Devil Fruits. They have a god-awful taste to them, dangerous to eat, deadly if someone eats two of them, and has the ill-effect of paralyzing and removing all natural buoyancy from anyone who ate a Devil Fruit when they come in contact with sea water. On the flipside though, these fruits grant insane powers to any who eat them. The main character Luffy is made entirely out of rubber after eating a Devil Fruit and can manipulate his body at will within the confines of the property of real-world rubber. His adoptive brother can control flame. His one crewmate is an anthropomorphic reindeer. Another can reproduce any of her body parts - usually her arms - as many times as she wants and just about anywhere she wants. Another is a living skeleton. There are people that can turn into and/or control different natural elements, others turn into a species of animal - the reindeer can become human, and others still can manipulate gravity or straight up matter. These powers are insane, but they are balanced out with those aforementioned ill-effects and danger. Plus, it's a trial just to get a devil fruit in the first place. They aren't grown; they're magically formed, but I won't get into that.

So, Smile Fruit. These are introduced fairly late into the series. They are artificially produced Devil Fruit: a way to mass-produce these Devil Fruit to eliminate the need to track them down. A way to also try to make them without the ill-effects kicking in. In the story these fruit are still largely experimental, but the fact that characters are trying to recreate and artificially make a magical item got me thinking about the PV versions of Plagg and Tikki.

It also made me think of the PV versions of the Miraculous.

TOP LEFT: Felix wearing the Cat Ring; TOP RIGHT: Adrien holding the disguised Cat Ring;
BOTTOM: Marinette holding the Cat Ring while it's in the default look.

TOP LEFT: Bridgette wearing Ladybug Earrings; TOP RIGHT: Marinette wearing disguised Ladybug Earrings; BOTTOM: Marinette wearing activated Ladybug Earrings (when they go to default)

The Ladybug earrings didn't change too much by way of activated design, but there IS still differences there. Obviously the Cat Ring got a major design overhaul. The big takeaway, however, is that the Miraculous in the CGI version - the canon version - all disguise themselves when inactive and possessed by a wielder. The Miraculous in the PV didn't change at all between everyday wear and when activated by a kwami. Kind of makes the whole "try to find the Miraculous" a bit easier in the PV version, but I'll think about that more later.

Okay, so the Miraculous act differently and look differently, the kwamis appear different, at least Plagg's personality and dynamic with his holder was different in the PV, and there's the whole idea of the Cat Ring being cursed in the PV. The earlier versions of Ladybug and Chat Noir also have a different set of potential powers. In a video showcasing early CGI character models of powers being used, Ladybug is seen using some sort of light bo staff created from her yoyo, and a shield created by magical ladybug wings flapping quickly.

In an artbook for the series, we were also shown concept art for the two powers Chat Noir started off with: Black Hole and Black Storm.

Black Storm seems to have received a canonical semi-revival in the episode "Chat Blanc" where the character could flick and throw his Cataclysm instead of needing to physically touch the target. Black Hole also unofficially got a revival by way of Chat Noir using Cataclysm on the ground below Gorizilla to make the villain fall through and get stuck.

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My point is that the Miraculous, the powers, the kwamis, and the dynamics between the kwamis and their bearers were all reworked so much that they became different enough to be able to coexist within the same universe. Even the villain appears different enough.

So now, finally, here's my concept:

Felix, probably through some shenanigans similar to what we saw him pull in the canon episode "Felix", ends up in possession of a black ring with an embellished black cat face on it.

He puts the ring on, and is greeted by a little magical being that resembles a black cat. This creature has the ability to hide from view so it is never discovered, and proceeds to follow Felix around EVERYWHERE, causing continuous havoc for the teen. The creature gets quite the amusement from this torment. Felix tries to get rid of the cursed creature by removing the ring, only to discover he can't. This is when the creature laughs that Felix put on a cursed ring and that the curse clearly has to be broken before the ring can be removed. The being will gladly keep Felix company in the meantime though, and proceeds to cause more bad luck for the teen.

Meanwhile, somehow Bridgette ends up with the Ladybug earrings. She meets a little red magical creature with a clover birthmark on its forehead, and the two quickly bond, after Bridgette is done freaking out about HOLY HECK, A MAGICAL CREATURE CAME OUT OF MY EARRINGS WHAT EVEN IS THIS!?

The butterfly-themed villain - whose villain name I'll have to either research or come up with, because there can't be two Hawk Moths in the world, can there? - sends out his first villain into the city of London. I'm not entirely sure yet what instigates the attack and if it is before or after the teens get their jewels, but I'll sort that out later. The red kwami instructs Bridgette how to activate her earrings to become a superhero herself. Her powers are quickly described, and she's told how to de-activate the transformation once done. Bridgette transforms and is surprised that she resembles the Parisian superhero Ladybug, whom she's seen news reports about. Specifically, her costume largely resembles that from the Ladybug and Chat Noir movie despite it not matching the real life Ladybug's. She goes out to battle the villain.

Going back to Felix, he's arguing with his kwami about the curse, researching everything he can to try to find out how to break the curse. He stumbles upon "Fake Miraculous." I haven't decided yet if it was ancients creating them to try to recreate the power of the Miraculous for themselves after failed attempts to literally steal them - ya know, because... magic - or if this is a modern thing in which the London Hawk Moth knows of the Miraculous via news reports and the Ladyblog posts, and tries to use SCIENCE! to recreate the magical jewels. This could also be why the costumes resemble that of the movie (aka the PV), because the creators used the movie for reference instead of the Miraculous forming a costume that the wielder envisions, as the real ones do. I'm leaning a bit more towards Modern Technology, but the fact that the ring is cursed also makes me think "flubbed magic" is the way to go? I'm still debating it.

Anyway, Felix discovers that he has a forgery of Chat Noir's ring and that the curse locks the ring onto his hand until he can convince the artificial Ladybug to fall in love with him and kiss him. He may even make a snide comment about how "storybook" the curse breaking is and asks how he's ever supposed to even find this supposed Ladybug. On cue, he sees Bridgette's Ladybug, either because she swings by, or busts through the room he's in during her fight, or because of a news alert. Either way, he realizes he has to find a way to win her affection and demands to know how to turn into Chat Noir. I'm not entirely sure if he chances into figuring it out, if it's listed in the research revealing the Miraculous forgeries, or if he manages to convince his kwami to tell him. Either way, he's Chat Noir now, and rushes to get to Ladybug.

She's a bit preoccupied with the whole FIGHTING A FLIPPIN' SUPERVILLAIN IN LONDON thing, and does NOT appreciate getting distracted by this random cat superhero. She was excited at first to see a Chat Noir, but quickly switches to demanding he help her. The battle awkwardly won - no akuma to be cleansed this go; it might be more akin to a Batman Rogue's Gallery or something to go with PV Hawky's mafioso look - Ladybug reams out her partner and races off. Felix realizes that he's actually quite smitten with this woman, and that he'll gladly accept a kiss from her; curse or no.

Shenanigans continue as presented in the concepts leaked about the PV, but with the caveat that the "Miraculous" in this story are actually forgeries of the ones Marinette and Adrien possess; artificial magical jewels to try to harness the power of superheroes and a means to control them. Kind of like the idea of the Super Soldier Serum and Captain America vs... well... a BUNCH of other superpowered characters in Marvel comics.

There is A LOT to try to figure out for this before I can even fathom starting writing it. I need to figure out who this supervillain is. Is he also Hawk Moth? Would a grown man within an hour train ride of a supervillain bother to pick up the same mantle? Bridgette could easily go with the UK term for the beetle and call herself Ladybird instead of Ladybug to differentiate from Marinette's superheroine, but what about Felix? Would he just go with Black Cat instead of Chat Noir? Would he do the Americanized thing and go with Cat Noir? What about simply The Cat? Are the artificial kwamis still Plagg and Tikki? Should I rename them? If so, any ideas on what good names for them should be? Canonically Felix's dad passed away, so the Big Bad in this story won't be Felix's father, but who should he be? I could lean hard into the whole Wilson Fisk/Lex Luthor/David Xanatos feel and make him a prominent wealthy figure within London; someone the media paints as a humanitarian and philanthropist. I also need to figure out who created these fake Miraculous, how, why, and why they look the way they do. Why don't they resemble the real ones more? Why don't they have the same powers? What was the point if they are so different compared to the real ones? Were they considered a failed experiment because of those vast differences? Are the teens still restricted to a 5-minute power-up after using one of their main powers? Are there other restrictions to make sure these powers aren't OP? Can this Ladybug restore damage caused by the supervillain like Marinette's powers can do? 

It's fair to assume Gabriel doesn't bother with the superheroes in London because he discovers the powers are artificial and knows he can't make the wish on those earrings and ring that he could on the ones Marinette and Adrien bear. Still, what stops him from reaching out to London Hawky, or try to find a way of still stealing the jewels from Bridgette and Felix in order to soup up his own lackies? Likewise, what stops London Baddie from trying to overreach and attack Paris? What is his endgame goal vs. Gabriel's?

Like I said, there's a LOT to still flesh out, but I still love the starting seeds of this concept.

What do you guys think? Any ideas on the world build here? Should I bother? Is there already a plethora of stories with a similar concept? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Before I head out, just an FYI that I'm still all sorts of screwy with the work schedule between me asking off for Hubby's birthday, and my manager trying to get through more of her vacation time before she loses it. I SHOULD be back to having Tuesdays off by the 15th, but I'm also continually getting Fridays off. For right now I'll keep my blog updates as close to Friday as possible, but keep an eye out for me switching back to Tuesdays. I'll be sure to give you a heads up when that happens.

Until next week!

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Plagg Appreciation Day (A Belated Post)

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So, uh, well then. I- uh- I had every intention of posting a blog update last Friday, exactly as I said I would in my previous blog update. I woke up the morning of the 13th with a timeline planned out for publishing my post. I had spent the better part of the week mentally plotting out what I wanted to say and everything. 

Then Friday got away from me. I'll get into why later. Bummed and not-so-lowkey mad at myself for missing my blog update when I had it actually planned out, I became determined to work on the post on Saturday instead. Then I felt under the weather and spent the day curled up in a ball on the couch. SUNDAY! SUNDAY I WOULD PUBLISH! Sundays are my short work days, so I had late afternoon and all evening to work on- Oh, I ended up passing out after work; still drained from Saturday.

MONDAY! I actually did write a large portion of this blog update on Monday, but the day got away from me again and I wasn't able to finish in time to actually publish on Monday. Okay, it's mostly done anyway, and Tuesdays ARE my normal update day; I could publish then. Nope. Yet another day that got away from me. Stupid, slippery time.

Wednesday was just too packed of a day to even bother trying to finish this post, so that was when I just waved the white flag. I would end up missing a week again and just post what I had written thus far today.

Which really bums me out because I actually had some exciting news last Friday! I really didn't want to wait a week to tell you guys - most of you probably already know by now anyway - but, I guess wait-a-week is what I had to do in the long run. Either way, for those of you that might not know...

I WROTE SOMETHING! LIKE, SIGNIFICANT SOMETHING!

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Aside from this blog, I haven't written anything significant since March! This is probably one of my longest writing dry spells since I started recreationally writing again in 2010! A decade! I've written SOMETHING with more consistency than this year for a decade! No wonder I've been in such a funk all year.

Screw 2020 already!

Let's get back to happy thoughts though: I wrote something! Last Friday was the 13th, which, most of you should know by now, is also a little fandom holiday I am championing: Plagg Appreciation Day. See, despite Plagg being Chat Noir's kwami - the main companion to the deuteragonist Chat Noir/Adrien Agreste - he actually gets surprisingly little screen time. Also, in fanfiction, neither kwami truly gets showcased all that often, but when they do, it's usually the relationship between Marinette and Tikki. Not that they don't deserve to be showcased or their bond get the love they've been shown, but where's the love for Plagg?

Since Plagg is probably one of my favorite characters, I wanted to champion for a time where we just focus on this little black cat being of bad luck and destruction. What better day to celebrate a black cat and a being of bad luck than on the superstitiously unluckiest day? Thus Friday the 13th being Plagg Appreciation Day was born. As its main (and probably only) promoter, I felt silly if I, of all people, missed it. Especially when the last Plagg-centric story I wrote - which also happened to be the last thing I wrote, period - concluded with me telling everyone "Catch you guys in November for the next Friday 13th!"

Maybe I cursed myself to not write anything in the interim by wording it like that.... Either way, I do find it amusingly appropriate that my writing dry spell was bookended by Plagg-centric stories. 

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I spent this whole year with "Plagg Appreciation Day is coming up in November" bouncing around in the back of my mind. I spent the greater part of October trying to brainstorm ANYTHING for it. I'm just having a harder and harder time coming up with Plagg-centric plots. I should probably start brainstorming again now for the next Plagg Appreciation Day. I only have until August to figure out my next story.

As for this story? Well, my biggest issue was that the stories I came up with all started off as Plagg-centric, but always ended up evolving to be more about Love Square character and relationship growth. Even the concept I ended up going with became more Love Square focused in my initial plotting, and I had to really rein it in. I'll get into that more in a moment.

Before I do, I want to acknowledge that there was an unexpected bonus to, well... everything with regards to last Friday. For one, the date being Friday the 13th unofficially forced me to "just suck it up and write already," to make sure I had SOMETHING posted on the date. No more hiding in the corner and sobbing about my inability to write anything. I "had" to write something for this date. I had promised my readers that I would, and I couldn't disappoint you fine folks. 

I know, I know. I should write for ME; not YOU. My mindset of writing for YOU is what gets me into my depressive spells when my stories don't get the recognition as other fanfics out there. However, if I'm only going to be disappointing myself if I don't write a story, I can live with that. Not wanting to disappoint you beautiful people by not writing is what truly motivates me. It's what keeps me wrestling with One and the Same instead of just junking the whole thing and leaving Peeping Tomcat as a solo project. Yes, I know that if the story just isn't working I SHOULD junk the whole thing, but parts ARE working and I'm DETERMINED to wrestle this thing into submission. For you, dear readers.

So, when it comes to WHAT I write; I write for myself, as many writers advise. However, when it comes to WHY I write; that's a nice 60/40 split between "to not disappoint my readers" and "because I'm not myself if I'm not writing". You guys take the 60%, just FYI. Which leads me to this super huge thank you for supporting me, loving what I do, and motivating me to keep going.

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The other benefit of unofficial Plagg Appreciation Day pushing me to write, and, oddly enough, my inability to actually FOCUS on Plagg as the star of my story ideas? Well, I had to just keep brainstorming, now didn't I? It'd be one thing if I realized I had to write a Plagg-centric story, and instantly thought of a plot that would work. I'd be less stressed, sure, but I also wouldn't have any motivation to KEEP coming up with ideas. I already found one.

Plagg constantly drifting into the background of stories that were supposed to showcase him forced me to keep trying. In the meantime, I ended up finding quite a few new plot bunnies. I have myself a happy little fluffy farm again. Which means my list of Miraculous Ladybug WIPs and plot bunnies has now increased into:

1. One and the Same - Yes, as I mentioned, I am still periodically working on this oh-so-stubborn sequel to Peeping Tomcat. I am DETERMINED to get this sequel out for my amazing readers. If nothing else, I have three or four really great bits that I'm desperate to share, and they need the context of the whole story for them to be as impactful as I hope they are.
2. I Don't Care - My vision of what the Gabriel Agreste and Emilie Graham de Vanily romance was like leading up to Emilie's "disappearance" just before the show's start. It's a story I'm not actively working on, but I'm happily adding to it whenever I'm inspired. For a couple of months now - thanks to listening to both "Say You Won't Let Go" by James Arthur and "2AM" by MK, featuring Carla Monroe - I've been mentally working on a chapter based on the first time Emilie asked Gabriel to spend the night. I feel I really need to figure out their first official date before I get to a potential "sleep over" chapter, though. So I'm sticking a pin in that. I'd also gladly welcome first date ideas if any of you have suggestions.
3. See Through My Eyes - Similar to my story Prescription for Love being my way of filling in the "off-screen" scenes in the episode "Backwarder," I want to write a companion for the New York special. The aim would be to show "missing" scenes (scenes that would help with character growth, but wouldn't necessarily help with plot progression, which is probably why they weren't written into the special), as well as scenes from other character POVs to better showcase what I interpreted as unspoken subtext in the special. A way to kind of explain it better to those who were a bit salty about how some characters/scenes were written. (Also, this is just a working title, so it might change)
4. When Love Matters - A rewriting of the entire series where but one thing is changed: Gabriel Agreste is actually a loving and attentive father. There are still some episodes where the inciting incident is hard to rework using this premise - ones like "Chat Blanc" for instance - so this project is way on the back burner, but I've been periodically playing with it in the back of my mind since 2018.
5. Untitled AU ending for the New York Special - This is kinda-sorta the story I ended up writing for the 13th, but here I'm talking about the initial version that evolved to be more about Adrien and Marinette than about Plagg. I'll go into more detail below, I promise.
6. Untitled story making the original anime-stylized concept of Miraculous Ladybug canon compliant - it's a bit involved, so I'll go into more detail next week, but the long and short is that the reason "Plagg" and "Tikki" look different in the anime concept art is because they are actually "clones" of the real kwamis Adrien and Marinette are partnered with. I got the idea when watching One Piece and was told about the existence of Smile Fruit. This would be a bit of a long project as well.
7. Untitled potential collab with Taurus Pixie inspired by the episode "Backwarder" - Specifically, we had talked way back in early 2019 about how cool it would be to delve further into Fu's and Marianne's relationship, and what Fu did between the disappearance of the monastery and WWII. Mainly, why is it the Nazis are implied to have known about Fu, the Miracle Box, and the Miraculous?

I think that's all of them. Most of those plunnies are going to be large, multichapter projects, so.... yeah, it will be some time before I get any/all cranked out. The farm is getting pretty full though, and I guess that's a good thing.

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Circling back to the story I DID write though. Based on what I noted above for Plot Bunny #5, you can probably guess that it will contain spoilers for the Miraculous World: New York, United Heroez special, aka the ML NY special. So....

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For those who don't know the special, but don't care about spoilers, or for those that might need a refresher, here's the basic synopsis.

New York City is hosting a French-American friendship week in honor of Washington's friendship with Lafayette, and Marinette's class is invited to join in on the celebration. One of the museum exhibitions showcased during the celebration is a collection of Washington and Lafayette artifacts, which unknowningly includes a Miraculous. Discovering this potential Miraculous in NYC, Gabriel Agreste decides to go as Hawk Moth to steal it. Initially, Adrien wasn't going to be allowed to go to NYC. However, after Marinette asked Gabriel to let Adrien go, and the man realized it's a golden opportunity to sneak to NYC without his son noticing his disappearance, Adrien was told he's going on the trip. Problem there, though, was that Ladybug had already informed Chat Noir that she'd be leaving Paris for a few days, and entrusted the city's protection to him. Adrien tries to let Ladybug know that he suddenly won't be in town either, but Plagg convinces him that it would only cause her to needlessly worry. Adrien can check the akuma alerts on his phone to see if Paris is in danger, and if there is an attack he can fly back to Paris using a new power upgrade.

On the way into the NYC airport the plane is attacked by supervillain Techno-Pirate (who later becomes akumatized by Hawk Moth into Techlonizer). The plane and passengers are saved by the American superhero team of Majestia (a combo of Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and Carol Danvers' Captain Marvel), her android daughter Uncanny Valley, and the duo of Knight Owl and Sparrow (homage to Batman and Robin). After safely landing and their class meeting up with the American students, Marinette and Adrien befriend Jess and Aeon. The next day, while the classes are visiting the museum, Techlonizer attacks. Aeon and Jess secretly transform into Uncanny Valley and Sparrow, but they are no match for the added magical power upgrades of an akuma, forcing Adrien and Marinette to transform for the assist. Chat Noir and Ladybug are both surprised to see the other in NYC; causing a rift between them as Ladybug worries about Paris, which is under attack by a Sentimonster while the duo is battling Techlonizer. With the teen superheroes occupied with Techlonizer, Hawk Moth manages to steal the Eagle Miraculous from the museum exhibit.

During the battle, Chat Noir powers up his Cataclysm to attack Techlonizer, but can't find a clear shot as he's focused on protecting Sparrow from the villain's attacks. Meanwhile, Ladybug is protecting Uncanny Valley and trying to figure out her Lucky Charm. LadyNoir have their normal back and forth about Ladybug coming up with a plan, and she makes a snide comment about not trusting Chat Noir anymore since he broke his promise to stay and protect Paris. Startled by Ladybug's words, Chat Noir drops his guard and is instantly thrown by Techlonizer; aimed straight for Ladybug, Cataclysm first. Uncanny Valley steps in the way and is destroyed by Chat Noir's power instead. Majestia, sensing her daughter's demise (or something like that?), rushes to the scene and pummels Techlonizer. As Majestia mourns, Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm to restore the city and Uncanny Valley. While no permanent harm was done, Chat Noir is still stricken with guilt, and Knight Owl demands the Parisian superheroes relinquish their powers while in the US. Ladybug refuses, and she and Chat Noir run from Knight Owl.

Safely hidden, LadyNoir discover the Sentimonster vanished from Paris, meaning any and all destruction to their home city is now permanent; Ladybug can no longer repair it with a Lucky Charm. Feeling even more guilt, Adrien, out of sight from Marinette, renounces Plagg and his possession of the Cat Ring. He then sprints off before Ladybug can stop him. 

Both Marinette and Adrien then separately wander the rainy and empty streets of New York; the city is on lockdown since Techlonizer was still at large. As the teens return to the hotel their class is staying at, Gabriel sends a car to pick up Adrien, declaring the trip too dangerous and demanding he takes a private jet home ASAP. Adrien turns to Marinette in hopes she'll convince him and his father that Adrien should stay, but she's too distraught over Chat Noir and remains silent. After Adrien drives off Alya yells at Marinette for not saying anything in Adrien's time of need, and Marinette runs after the car. She can't catch up, however, and, even more defeated, continues to wander the city alone.

Meanwhile, Techlonizer - now Miraclonizer after Hawk Moth gave him the Eagle Miraculous - uses his Miraculous power to remove the moral inhibitions of the adult superheroes, causing them to run amok within the city. This gives Miraclonizer and Hawk Moth free rein to hold the whole world hostage as there are no superheroes left to stop them, and Miraclonizer gained control over American missiles; readying them to launch. The city's - and world's - only hope is Uncanny Valley, Sparrow, Ladybug, and Chat Noir. Uncanny confesses that her robotic brain was able to see through the magic that normally conceals Ladybug's and Chat Noir's identities, so she knows exactly who to look for, and flies off in search of Marinette. Meanwhile, Sparrow tries to negate as much damage caused by the superheroes as possible. 

Uncanny Valley finds Marinette alone, lets her know that she knows Marinette is Ladybug, and asks for her assistance. Marinette laments the loss of her partner and admits she doesn't think she can be Ladybug without him. Uncanny offers to return Chat Noir's ring to him. She then flies off and breaks into the private jet flying Adrien home. She offers the Cat Ring back to him, but he refuses to accept it, stating that there was no way Ladybug could forgive him. Uncanny plays an audio recording of Marinette stating she couldn't imagine being Ladybug without her Chat Noir; convincing Adrien to take on the mantle again. Uncanny and Chat Noir then meet up with Sparrow and Ladybug.

Ladybug comes up with a plan to get the Miraculous away from Miraclonizer, return the adult superheroes to their senses, and then collectively take down Techlonizer so she can cleanse the akuma. The plan goes off without a hitch, and in the process Ladybug gives control of the Eagle Miraculous to Sparrow. After defeating Techlonizer, and restoring both the superheroes and New York City, Majestia and Knight Owl apologize for being so harsh with Ladybug and Chat Noir earlier. Ladybug then leaves the Eagle Miraculous with Sparrow as its holder.

The Parisian superheroes promise to meet up again in Paris, and then Uncanny Valley and Chat Noir fly back to the plane so Adrien's absence isn't noticed. Marinette and her class close out the evening holding up a sign saying hi to Adrien during a news feed about Ladybug and Chat Noir saving New York; explaining why the superhero duo wasn't around to protect Paris. It's implied the Parisians don't mind the heavy cleanup to repair their city since they understand LadyNoir saving NYC instead.

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Okay, that was a lot, but it was also an hour-long special, so I feel I was able to condense that down fairly succinctly. Everything I included is fairly crucial for understanding both Plot Bunny #5 and what I actually wrote last Friday.

The main concept was birthed upon my sixth-or-so rewatch of the special. Uncanny Valley confesses to Marinette, "Your suit's quantum-masking is meant to confuse human minds, Ladybug. I am not human." This canonically explains why Uncanny could figure out Ladybug's and Chat Noir's identities (there are fans who have pointed out that this means Max's AI friend Markov must therefore also know who the superheroes truly are). This is all well and good, however, earlier in the special, when Techno-Pirate first shows up in his akumatized form Techlonizer, Aeon tries to scan him to better understand his new superpowers. Confused, she tells Jess that she can't get a proper read, "...as if magic were interfering with my scanning tools." 

Add in that Plagg reminds Adrien that kwamis can't be registered by technology when Uncanny Valley can't see or hear Plagg. Finally, sprinkle in Ladybug's comments to Lady Wifi from season 1 about the masks and costumes being magical. Tie them all together, and what if the magic that created the suits caused enough interference with Uncanny's scanning that she couldn't see who is hidden under the costumes after all? What if Uncanny Valley didn't know Marinette was Ladybug, and couldn't return the ring to Adrien because she also didn't know who Chat Noir was?

That was the initial jumping point for the Plagg Appreciation Day story. From there I wondered, "Plagg is the only one who knows that Adrien was Chat Noir, so what if it's actually Plagg who gets the ring back to the kid?" In the end, I more-or-less went with that concept for the story I posted on Friday. However, before I whittled back down to that idea, the plot ballooned. Plagg couldn't tell Marinette the name of his holder, and I'm not sure if the magic also restricts him from pointing to Adrien to mime to Marinette who Chat Noir was, so he couldn't get the ring back to Adrien that way. Instead, I had this whole plotline planned out where Tikki and Plagg work together to convince Marinette that Adrien would be a good "replacement" Chat Noir. In the end, Marinette agrees, Ladybug offers the ring to Adrien, he accepts, and the duo tearfully re-unite with Ladybug now knowing the identity of her partner. In return, she de-transforms so he knows who she is too. They no longer have any secrets between the two of them. Yay, happy ending!

Except, this is HEAVILY focused on Love Square and their dynamic instead of Plagg. It's also such an involved story that there was no way I would be able to write it in the one day I had left.

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OKAY! SPOILERS OVER NOW! YOU CAN START READING AGAIN IF YOU SKIPPED THE LAST PART!

For those who skipped that huge section up there, first of all, sorry to force you to scroll past a heavy portion of this post. The special is an hour long, so I had quite a bit to recap to make sure my story made sense for everyone interested in reading it. Secondly, the spoiler-free version of the above is that the story I posted on Friday is an alternate telling of the NY special's ending so that Plagg has more agency.

For those of you who don't care about spoilers, or who have seen the special already, you can find my story in my normal four haunts.

"I Need Him Back"

On FanFiction       On ArchiveOfOurOwn       On DeviantArt      On Tumblr

Word Count: 5,683
Rating: General Audiences

Since it's been up for a week now, might as well get into the stats of the thing.

FFN: 114 views, 7 favorites, 5 followers, and 4 reviews
AO3: 281 hits, 32 kudos, 2 bookmarks, and 3 comments
DA: 34 views and 4 favorites; no comments though

Total Results: 429 views, 43 faves, 7 followers, and 7 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 13 total - 11 likes and 2 reblogs

Reviews:
  1. *cries and applauds at the same time* beautiful. This broke my heart then repaired it again. This was amazing. I love it (from TLOS21)
  2. Love the bromance Plagg/Adrien. Beautiful story (from Kapel85)
  3. (one of Taurus Pixie's semi-lengthy reviews; please see below)
  4. Oh I love this! Especially with how it puts more of a spotlight on how Plagg could have had a bigger role in the resolution of the NY special. Because yeah, [REDACTED DUE TO SPOILERS INCLUDED IN THE REVIEW], and I just love him and Adrien loving and appreciating each other! Also Plagg confessing that he was the one who pushed Chat into not telling Ladybug he was leaving; that IS something he bears some responsibility for. (from Keyseeker)
  5. I absolutely squealed when I saw a story from you in my inbox. This made my month. Plagg is absolutely one of my favourite characters, and I think you did a grest job keeping him at the forefront of this story. (from MalcolmReynolds)

You may notice that my reviews count doesn't match with the number of reviews I actually shared here. Unfortunately, the first review I got on this story was just someone dumping salt all over Marinette and Tikki, and really had no relation to my story whatsoever. I wasn't about ready to perpetuate it by posting it here. The second missing review wasn't actually a review per se. I had replied to Keyseeker's review that, even with my rewrite of the special's ending, I still appreciated the ending we got and the thought the writers must have put into it. Someone else responded to that reply, and that is the 2nd missing "review."

As for Taurus Pixie's review:

 Taurus Pixie: Dude, I don't think you could ever come across as 'rusty'. You always write with the talent of a professional, so don't sweat it. Your work is always very clean, polished and awesome to read! I certainly squealed when I saw that you had published this fic! I can't believe you managed to write this high quality piece in such a short span of time! Rock on!

This was such a good idea! I knew it would turn out amazing since the moment you told me about it! You always manage to keep everyone so in character that it feels like I've slipped into a parallel universe where all of this was what really happened and that you're actually one of the show writers lol. It's always super interesting to see things from a kwami's point of view and you nailed it like always. It was super emotional, especially with the way that Adrien viewed himself. I also loved the call back to the Banananoir costume! Genius! Adrien has so kept that thing, there is no doubt in my mind!

Perfect work as always! I hereby proclaim you the parallel universe queen! Can't wait to see what more you have in store for the future (providing that 2020 finally decides to give us all a break at long last!). Take your time with everything and good luck!

Maki Natsuo from the anime Love Lab
created by Ruri Miyahara

Marinette from Miraculous Ladybug
created by Thomas Astruc

Oh, geez, you guys! You are all way too sweet. I- I can't-

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You are all far too kind to me. Also, two of you "squealed" when you saw that I posted? I mean, I know both of you are strong cheerleaders of mine, and I appreciate that about both of you so very very much, but... squealed!? You're amazing and I love you beyond words for that!

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Also, thank you, Pixie, for this one line in your review: "I can't believe you managed to write this high quality piece in such a short span of time!" I'm beginning to think that maybe writing nearly 6000 words, polishing it, and formatting it for 4 different website uploads within the span of about 12 hours is.... fast?? Not the normal pacing for most amateur writers?

And here I thought I was both going painfully slow and wasting my entire day off last week.

See, the reason last Friday "got away from me", as I mentioned at the top of this post, was because I did not intend for this story to take me the whole day to write. I started it at about 7:30 or 8 in the morning, or something like that. I had intended to have it written and published by about noon; maybe 1pm. It was a rare day that both Hubby and I had off together, so I had every intention of getting the story done, write the blog post promoting the story, get some grocery shopping and laundry done, maybe work on some much needed joint chores around the house - such as rotating our mattress and cleaning the windows - and then spend the evening snuggling and just enjoying having some time together.

Instead, it turned into leaving our bed early while he slept in. Writing until he brought me breakfast. Taking a quick break to share the meal with him, then back to writing. Another break for the two of us to watch the latest Oxventure live; something we rarely get to do because, being from the UK, their live streams tend to be late-morning/early-afternoon our time, and we're usually at work. The 2hr break was quickly followed by lunch and more writing. This time I hid in our bedroom so he could be in the living room and I wouldn't get distracted. I came back out of the bedroom as my laptop battery was about to die, so I guess I was in there for about 2 more hours. It felt like 45 minutes, honestly, and I was super grumpy about how bad my laptop battery is. I mean, 2hrs is still a sucky amount of time "in this day and age" but the laptop is also a few years old, so I'll give Grandpa here a break. Headphones in, music blasting (a bit too loud to properly concentrate, but it needed to be to drown out the TV...), I finished my story. Just in time to sprint to the laundromat before it would close, but also too late in the day for a standard weekly grocery shopping trip. Instead, I spent the time at the laundromat editing the story I spent the past 10 hours or so writing - minus the 2hr break to watch a session of D&D - and fighting with the new format over on DeviantArt. I probably should have poked my head onto that site at some point this year so I could have gotten used to the new format, but... meh? After fighting with DA for the 20-some minutes my laundry was in the wash, I threw my hands up and switched over to FFN instead. I mean, who reads my stuff over on DA anyway, right?

Well... apparently a surprisingly larger number than I give credit. Also, only a month-or-so ago I had someone comment on a story I wrote back in 2017 for my never-played Numenera character Jynna. A story I even forgot I wrote, and they said such sweet things about it: "Awesome story! I would love to see more. Your descriptions put me right in the setting, and I like the voice." So... that's cool.

Anyway, back to last Friday. Between formatting my story for FFN, AO3, and Tumblr - which in and of itself was a pain - gathering up my laundry, and then sprinting over to the grocery store before it closed for the bare essentials to tide us over...

I was not a happy camper by the time I got home at about 9:30 at night. Especially since I zipped out of the house the moment I was done writing my story, instead of, ya know, eating dinner first. Hubby fed me and hung up the clothes that need to be line-dried. Meanwhile, I tried to calm myself with some Animal Crossing to get my dailies in, and then I continued battling with Tumblr and DA. By the time I was finished publishing my story in my normal 4 spots, it was past midnight, and I was exhausted, and frustrated that I "wasted" the day instead of spending a rare joint-day-off with my husband, and mad that I didn't get the story up soon enough for people to actually read it on the 13th, and mad that I didn't get to my blog post when I had it all planned.

It was not a good day for time management, and I was already hormonal, so.... it was just not a good day.

Thank God for my husband, who was nothing but understanding and supportive and a wonderful caretaker last weekend.

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I don't think that image properly conveys my love for this man, but I think you guys get the idea.

Soooo, uh... yeah. So sorry I missed last week, but I do appreciate the love I've been showered with all week. I truly do.

I can't wait to chat with you guys again next week. I already have a head start talking about that 6th plot bunny, the one where the anime version of Miraculous Ladybug - aka Ladybug PV - becomes canon compliant. I'm actually late with publishing this post because I spent the last two hours working on my write up of that plot bunny before I realized this post is beyond epic as it is. So that got bumped.

Something to look forward to for next Friday, though, right?

In the meantime, for all of my American readers. I want to wish you an early Happy Thanksgiving. I know it's rough trying to decide how to celebrate and whether or not to be with your family. I simply wish you a healthy, safe, and loving holiday. I also wish for you to find the time to count all of your blessings. I know it's tough to find them with this year, but I promise you it does help to remember the good still left around you.

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Seriously. Go Vote.

 

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Oh, hey, Americans! Guess what day it is. If you said "Election Day," you are correct, to the extent that today is therefore the FINAL day to vote if you haven't done so already. It doesn't matter if you think your candidate will win. Go vote. Hillary Clinton supporters back in 2016 assumed she was going to win and didn't vote, and we ended up with Donald Trump. So. Go. Vote.

Do you have a sense of doom because you suspect your area is largely voting for the other guy anyway, so why bother? STOP THAT! GO VOTE! Who knows? Texas was trending purple last week! TEXAS! The most Republican state known to this country! Go. Out. And. Vote. Do not assume you know how your fellow citizens are voting and do not assume your vote doesn't count. The fact that so many politicians are trying to suppress votes PROVES how important every single one is!

Besides, there is more to today's vote than just the presidency. Remember that the biggest changes come from LOCAL government, so be sure to go out and vote, and vote fully down ticket!

Are you concerned about potential COVID contamination? Good. Smart of you. Still go out and vote if you haven't already! Wear your mask. Put on gloves that you instantly remove once you're done. Bring hand sanitizer and/or wipes (although polling places should have those). Make sure to not touch your face until you can properly wash up. Bring your absentee ballot with you and hand deliver it. Ask for a paper ballot to fill out there with your own pen that you've brought with. Do what you need to in order to stay safe, BUT FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, GO VOTE!

Also also also, DO NOT LET ANYONE PREVENT YOU FROM VOTING! 

For more information, go to the website.

Here's a few more infographics I found over on Tumblr.

And one more from Facebook this time.

I double checked with Snopes.com, and this is completely true. So DO NOT let anyone take away your vote! The above image about the provisional ballot was accompanied with the below text. I was not able to verify this portion, and I do not know if it's only valid in New York state. On the chance that it is valid, I did want to pass the information along.

"If your name is not in the poll book, there might be a problem with your registration. Election inspectors in New York state are supposed to give voters two options:

1. Get a court order.

There are judges standing by on Election Day to hear cases like this immediately. If you present compelling evidence that you live where you live and ought to be able to vote on a machine, the court will order it so. Bring the paper copy of the court order which is signed by the judge into the polling site, an election inspector will give you a ballot as though your name were in the poll book. (I don't know any more details about this, so people should do their own research.)

2. Complete an affidavit ballot.

It's a ballot that looks just like the one you would put into a machine but instead of putting it into the machine, you put it into a special envelope. You have to fill out the envelope with all your personal information. (It's imperative that you sign the envelope!!) It will go down to the board of elections with all other vital election documents at the end of the day. The board of elections will then check all of your personal information, and if it is verified that you are who you say you are and you live where you live and you should have been able to cast your ballot, they will open the envelope and count your vote. If they cannot verify that information, your vote won't count. You will get a letter within three weeks (That timing might be different this year) saying whether or not your vote counted and, if not, why."

Information from a friend of a friend.

Also, remember that your job was supposed to give you ample time to go to the polls today when they scheduled you. If you do not have time allotted for voting, you have the right to leave work - make sure you inform your supervisor/boss what you're doing - to go vote. You are allotted x-hours of PAID time off work to vote. In my state it's 2hrs. Please check to see the regulations for your state. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE IN ORDER TO KEEP YOUR JOB OR AVOID LOSING PAID HOURS AT WORK.

If you are lacking transportation to your polling place, remember that Uber and Lyft are giving significant discounts for rides to and from the polls. Also, give a quick search to see if there's any free or low-cost public transportation you can use.

• Uber - Our 2020 Get Out The Vote Effort
• Lyft - Your Ride to Vote
• Rideshare2Vote.com

If nothing else, see if your friends and/or family can give you a ride.

Now, if you mailed in your vote, you should get a digital notification (via email or text) or a physical one via snail-mail to let you know your vote is counted. Please check, if you haven't done so already, if there is a way to track your ballot and confirm it is counted. If it is not, for any reason, you should get a notification alerting you of that as well, along with the reason your vote wasn't counted. PLEASE CHECK IN ON YOUR BALLOTS!

Along those lines, please remember that most of Biden's supporters seem to have voted early/mailed in their ballots as an attempt to mitigate the potential for COVID-19 contamination. Meanwhile, most of Trump's supporters seem to believe his rhetoric that mail-ins are rigged, and so they opted to wait to vote in person at the polls today. Because of this discrepancy in how the two sides decided to vote, the results we get tonight may not actually be the official, final votes. Assuming we get any sort of decision at all tonight. Please keep in mind that it may be a week or two before all the mail-in ballots are counted. The road ahead of us is going to be long and rough and November is NOT going to be a fun month. Please be patient, be understanding, and try to focus on your mental health and what you need to do for that.

I saw a post earlier today that suggested taking the evening to just cook. Prepare a big pot of soup or a casserole or something. Anything that will take some time, take your mind off of the election for a bit, and provide you with meals for the rest of the week so you don't have to focus on that.

Also, because I understand how stressful this time has been and will be, I want to remind everyone that there are helplines to call if you are struggling with your mental health and/or suicidal thoughts. Please try to reach out for help. Likewise, remember to reach out to your friends and family to check in on them. They might not have the strength to let you know they're struggling. We can get through this together if we look out for one another and know it's safe to lean on each other.

I'm sure there's a lot more I should let everyone know, but I'm a bit burnt out. Sorry, folks. Also, if you're not an American citizen, sorry you had to wade through all of that simply because, dear lord, our voting here is such a mess!

Anyway, I think that's all the major house cleaning I needed to do here. So, to reiterate to make sure everyone hears me:

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Hoooo-boy, that was a lot, wasn't it? Sadly, that's what's going to be taking up the majority of this blog post. Sorry again to any who have already voted, knew all of the above already, or isn't an American citizen. I'm sure this was a fun little read for you.

To be honest, not much else has gone on this week. I just wasn't feeling Halloween this year, which is SUUUCH a bummer, but, well, welcome to 2020, I guess. We didn't decorate our place. We didn't really watch any spooky or Halloween-themed movies. Most of the ones we usually watch as staples - Sweeney Todd, Little Shop of Horror, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Young Frankenstein, Blood & Chocolate, Rocky Horror Picture Show - we didn't even bother finding. We did get in Hocus Pocus though. Seemed appropriate, ya know, with the full moon on Halloween and all.

We did also start up the latest season of Lucifer on Netflix... does that count? I also watched I, Frankenstein. It's not the greatest movie, but it is a fun action flick, and the transition of the gargoyles between their human and stone forms is beautifully done. 

Didn't even watch really any of the spooky streams posted by OutsideXbox or Outside Xtra, so those are all still sitting in my YouTube notifications.... We DID, however, make sure to watch the Oxventures and the Among Us streams.

Speaking of, that's probably the closest to a "Halloween party" that we got. On Friday, during another of Ronoxym's Twitch streams, we played a few hours of Among Us once again. This time, Hubby and I convinced everyone to try out the Hide-and-Seek rules we learned.

For those who don't know this mod, I believe these are all of the rules we had enacted:

1. There is only 1 impostor, who announces themselves to the other players so the crewmates know who to avoid. (Not that it mattered for me. A lot of my deaths were because I forgot who said they were the impostor and I ran right up to them...)
2. The impostor can vent, but they cannot cause sabotages.
3. No one reports bodies or calls for an emergency meeting. The crewmates simply attempt to avoid the imposter as they race to get their tasks done.
4. The impostor's cone of vision is drastically diminished to hinder their ability to find the crewmates and kill them. The crewmates are also encouraged to announce where the impostor is as a means to warn the surviving crewmates.
5. The dead crewmates are allowed to continue talking, but they CANNOT announce or otherwise warn where the impostor is. 

These modified rules to the game turns a social deduction game about finding a traitor into something more akin to an asymmetrical survivor-slasher-horror game such as Friday the 13th: The Game. I am WORLDS better at this version of the game. I don't have to worry about deducing anything or being deceptive. I just need to figure out routes to keep myself safe, strategize which tasks to do when to try to stay alive, or strategize the best way to sneak up on people (usually while they're doing long tasks or ones that take up their full screen) for the most effective killing spree. Plus, as the killer, I get to be SUUUUPER creepy in voice chat.

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A bit bummed that I only got to be the impostor 2x this go, and they were back-to-back on top of that. Oh well. Can't wait to see how much fun we manage this week; assuming we play again Friday night, which seems to be A Thing now....

So, that was Friday. On Saturday, we got a nice amount of trick-or-treaters at my work. It was great to see kids still enjoying the holiday and being properly careful. For the most part, we only got trick-or-treaters one family at a time, or friends who were clearly walking around together anyway. There were two or three times where it was clear the kids were strangers, and I was a bit concerned with them clumping together to wait for candy, but, again, for the most part, they all seemed to be following proper guidelines. I particularly appreciate that parents made sure that even the kids already wearing full Halloween face masks wore their typical cloth face coverings underneath.

I even saw a little Ladybug cosplayer! She was about 5, I think. She also seemed 100% done with trick-or-treating already, which is kind of sad since I saw her around 4pm, I think. She looked tired, Mom was carrying her, she was fussing with her costume's gloves, which were too big, and her blonde hair was hung loose. I joked a little with her as she took her piece of candy: "What happened to your pigtails? Did you lose them?" The mom told me her daughter had the pigtails, but took them out pretty quickly. Then there was a second of recognition before the mom excitedly told her daughter, "See? She knew who Ladybug was!" So, I'm thinking the poor girl had a lot of people not knowing what her costume was supposed to be? I hope the rest of her Trick-or-Treating experience perked up.

Once home, Hubby and I made our traditional Haunted Meatloaf. As in, "haunted" with ghost pepper chili.

This isn't even all of the meatloaf he made. There was at least one more batch this size.

Hubby was kind. He started with a batch that barely had any flakes in it so he didn't kill me (I can barely handle spice). These are marked as the "mild" meatloaves. Then he made the main batch with about half-dozen mini-pockets filled with the crushed pepper before mixing it all together. These are marked as "spicy" and make up the majority of the loaves in my fridge right now. Finally, he set aside about six where he half-filled the pan with that spicy meat mixture, then LINED the top with a layer of crushed ghost peppers, and filled the pan the rest of the way with that spicy meat mixture. These are the "super hot" ones that I will avoid at all costs. 

I prefer my "hauntings" to be closer to Casper than The Exorcist, thank you.

Dinner made and in the process of being eaten, Hubby and I spent the remainder of our evening on our Animal Crossing islands, celebrating Halloween there without any need for social distancing or masks, and we could both trick-or-treat and have trick-or-treaters to our heart's content. Especially since we didn't have any kids come to our place IRL. 

I ended up taking about 300 screen shots and videos throughout the night! Here's some of the highlights.

Some shots from my island; some from Hubby's

Mostly my island, but the shots with Stitches the cub are from Hubby's.

So many pictures of me just trying to compose a spooky feel.
Most of these are on my island, but the first 3,
and the theatrical one by the graveyard are all on Hubby's island.
Hubby went from his Adrien Agreste cosplay to full on Chat Noir.

I had way too much fun trick-or-treating my villagers at home, giving my wandering villagers candy as they sprint up to me yelling "Trick or Treat!", purposefully not giving my villagers candy to see the prank they'd pull - resulting in having the scarecrow, mummy, zombie, and joker (jester?) face paint patterns throughout the night; wish you could save them to use later - and scaring my villagers by dressing up as Jack. Plus you have the villagers using the Haunt and Scare reactions, which is just adorable. Also, now we have a whole 2nd page available for more reactions. Maybe we'll finally get a blowing a kiss or air hug reaction or something? I NEED TO GLOMP SOME OF THESE VILLAGERS AND SOME OF MY FRIENDS WHEN THEY VISIT!. Back on topic though, both Hubby's and my islands were all spooky and Halloween-y with the nighttime Jack visit and overcast sky. It was lovely. I needed a whole month of that.

Speaking of, I still have the decorations up, because it seemed a shame to get the final Halloween crafts and the Halloween themed wallpaper, flooring, and rug at the end of the day. At least I'll have them for next year, but... I'm going to enjoy them for about a week before I start thinking about the next holiday.

.... [Unintended Intermission] ....

Okay. Life has gotten crazy again. It is now after 3pm, so I hope all of my above advice about voting is still helpful to people.

In the meantime, and one of the reasons this has taken so long to post, I went to the polls myself (along with Hubby, of course). So, please remember to go vote! 

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Finally, this is my only Tuesday off this month. I do have nearly every Friday off, however, so I may be moving my blog updates to Fridays for the foreseeable future. I'll let you know if/when I switch back to Tuesdays. I'm also not officially signed up for NaNo this year, so I probably won't have any sort of word-count updates like I normally do in November. I AM planning on writing something Plagg-centric for Friday the 13th though. Can't flake out on Plagg Appreciation Day after all, right? Besides, it does feel a bit fitting that my first published work during this whole pandemic would be something dedicated to Plagg.

Okay, I got to go or this post will never make it to the public before the polls close! So, one last time: