Inspiration From Everywhere!

Hey, peeps. Sorry about missing last week again. I ended up working and didn't do proper prep-work to get my post pre-written to make up for it. 

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My manager's daughter - after SIX MONTHS of BS red tape - managed to close on her first home, and my manager wanted to be there to help her daughter and son-in-law move into their new house. The closing was Monday, and my manager had Wednesday and Sunday off, so she asked if we could trade her Sunday for my Tuesday. That way she had two days in a row to help them set up.

I could have - and possibly should have - worked on my blog post last Sunday so it was ready for Tuesday. Instead, I was working on - GASP - fiction writing!

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In my promotion for my March 2nd blog post over on Tumblr, I had tagged carpisuns and linked to her fanart. I had talked briefly in that Tumblr promo how her artwork birthed a few plot bunnies that I was trying to wrangle. Upon reading that, she reblogged my promo for this blog, and added that she would love to read the story if I ever do get around to writing it.

Well, now I was extra motivated! I spent pretty much the rest of the week slowly grinding out the story. It took on many forms and went through many revisions. It also became a much larger story than I intended, clocking in just over 4200 words. Then again, it IS me, so I probably should have expected at least that much....

I had decided to tell the story through Marinette's point of view in a sort of Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby style of narration. She's not the main focus even though she's who we see the story through, but she also kinda-sorta becomes the main focus??? It's weird. But I think it works.

Mostly, I think it works because Marinette keeps walking into Adrien and Alya's heated debates about who is the bigger Ladybug simp as these debates are already going. This way I didn't have to worry about how any of them start up in the first place, which was one of my big struggles. Also, this way we can get a better sense of Marinette's reaction to people battling over which one is her biggest simp. Something I couldn't really show from someone else's POV because Marinette is (mostly) careful to hide any reaction regarding Ladybug when she's Marinette. On the flipside, since Marinette - as Ladybug - knows that Adrien was Aspik, she can pick up on subtle hints of Adrien nearly revealing his superhero identity. She'd just misinterpret it as his time as Aspik instead of what he truly was going to reveal: he's Chat Noir. Finally, it was fun to have Marinette think and say things with regards to everything Adrien (as a citizen) has done for Ladybug, as well as the effort he put into Aspik, but also have what she said/thought relate to Chat Noir without her necessarily understanding that added level.

It was fun. I did get a BIT angsty with the Aspik bit - because apparently I have to sneak angst in SOMEHOW - but it's mostly fluff.

Ladybug's Simp Squad

Summary: Marinette walks into a heated debate between Adrien and Alya: which one of them is Ladybug's #1 simp.

Rating: General Audiences

Word Count: 4244

• On FanFiction           • On ArchiveOfOurOwn

                     • On DeviantArt           • On Tumblr

Much like my last story, this one just blew up the first day it was posted. It has since partially died off, only to get another small boost late Friday/early Saturday when carpisuns reblogged the story on Tumblr. After that brief weekend spike, it has again gone down. In the meantime, I think I picked up a few more readers, so that's nice.

My (roughly) 24hr stats:

FFN: ~165 views, 6 faves, 2 followers, and 3 reviews
AO3: Forgot to Note, 45 kudos, 5 bookmarks, and 4 comments
DA: Forgot to Note, no faves and no comments

Total Results: At least 210 views, 51 faves, 7 followers, and 7 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 4 notes; 1 like and 3 reblogs

Reviews:
  1. A moderately lengthy review from Wildfire's Flame
  2. I love Plage finding the heart, awesome! - Guest
  3. Hi love the story can't wait for more ! Have a great day ! - Retrowolf
  4. A moderately lengthy review from BFG_blueapple303
  5. This is so good!! - ktreereads
  6. This was hella cute! / You broke me a bit when Adrien had to catch himself from throwing down his ace :( my sad boi / But it's okay cuz they're all cute and happy in the end! - Cyhyr
  7. I love the idea of Plagg in a soft pocket. It’s like a purring hamster in a hoodie. - Maggi8noodlesalfredo2lasagne
  8. #this is so good holy shit #thank you so much - miraculousmolls

Okay, so a few disclaimers here. I forgot to note my stats when I hit that 24hr mark. I was going to, but I was at work at the time, and had things to do post-work, and Thursday got away from me. Whoops. Fanfiction.net does have a traffic graph, so I was able to see that I had 165 views on the 10th when I posted. However, I did post after 5pm, so I could have included any views from the 11th prior to then. Problem there is I have no way of knowing how many of my 113 views on the 11th were before 5pm and how many were after. So I'm assuming I actually had more than 165 views within the first 24hrs of posting, but I have no way of knowing for sure. 

I was able to figure out FFN and AO3 24-hr-mark faves/kudos/follows/bookmarks/comments via the timestamp on either the email notifications, or on the bookmarks/comments themselves. However, one of the AO3 bookmarks simply has it listed as March 11th with no time, so I may have actually had 6 bookmarks within that first 24hrs. Also, 17 of the kudos I got were listed as "guest" so, either people from Tumblr that don't have an AO3 account or people who didn't want to log in for whatever reason. I think it would be really neat if I brought in a bunch of non-AO3 readers from Tumblr.

As for those semi-lengthy reviews:

  Wildfire's Flame: Giggles. So cute!,I,loved it. I love Marinette making sweaters. I love the reasoning for Alya not to post any pictures. I love Adriens expression blanching. Very nicely done. The stitched heart... Warm puddles. Such a Marinette thing. I love that place loves it too...

  BFG_blueapple303: hmmmm....honestly why didn't t he bring up that he LITERALLY jumped off a building for ladybug? chatnoir is one thing butthat is REALLY a ace in the hole that alya doesn't have. he did that as a civilian...untransformed and getting no gain from recording. he'll have to be happy knowing he's the REAL ladybug simp.....though.....Ikindof wish he brought up chat noir so even if adrien was considered 3rd after alya then at least everyone could agree that chat is number 1

I feel so silly that I referenced the episode "Gorizilla" in my story AND YET SOMEHOW MISSED THE PART OF THE EPISODE WHERE ADRIEN GLEEFULLY SWAN DIVES OFF THE MONTPARNASSE TOWER, COMPLETELY TRUSTING LADYBUG WILL FIND A WAY TO SAVE HIM BEFORE BECOMING SIDEWALK PIZZA!

Like.... HOOOOOOOOOW!? How did I forget THAT!?

In truth, I'm not entirely sure how Alya was supposed to beat THAT example of simping, and, based on carpisuns' fanart and background to it, Alya did indeed win out because Adrien couldn't top "I run the Ladyblog" without revealing his secret identity. So, maybe it's a good idea I forgot it? Maybe Adrien didn't say anything because he didn't want to worry his friends with the knowledge (or reminder) that he yeeted himself off a building simply because Ladybug told him it would be alright..... The story would have taken a DRASTIC turn towards angst there with everyone calling a time-out to instead address Adrien's concerning self-destructive actions.....

ANYWAY! Yeah! As for my current (roughly) week-long stats:

FFN: 377 views, 19 faves, 9 followers, and 3 reviews
AO3: 412 hits, 83 kudos, 11 bookmarks, and 8 comments
DA: 276 views, but no faves or comments

Total Results: 1065 views, 102 faves, 20 followers, and 11 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 28 notes; 17 likes and 11 reblogs

New Reviews:
  1. That was a very cute story! Ha, little did Marinette know that a kwami would be taking up residence in that very pocket and discover her secret heart ❤️! Great job! - pkk
  2. A moderately lengthy review from carpisuns
  3. I adore this. So frikkin cute Ohmygosh - Bjurnberg
  4. This is absolutely adorable!! I love the idea of Alya and Adrien trying to out-simp each other over Ladybug! I do believe they each have a case (and a hidden trump card, or two)... / Poor Nino needs a hoodie now. Maybe #1 Rena Rouge simp? - MalcolmReynolds
  5. Asdfghjkl this was amazing!! - jennagrinsoverml
  6. #ml #fic #art #I LOVE THIS - maribat-shenanigans

Six of the Tumblr reblogs had some sort of commentary. Either added comments in the reblog, such as what jennagrinsoverml did, or commentary in the tags section, such as what maribat-shenanigans or miraculousmolls did.

I also got two very lovely comments from carpisuns. The aforementioned moderately lengthy review on my AO3 post, but also when she reblogged my story on Tumblr.

  carpisuns on AO3: hahahaha this was such a fun read!! thanks so much for writing this! it made me laugh out loud a few times :D and omgsh i wasn't expecting to be hit by desperada angst :O there was so much cute stuff in there aaaaa i, like marinette, very much enjoy the idea of ladybug and adrien cuddling while he wears a laddybug simp sweatshirt 😌 i also really enjoyed her acknowledgment that chat noir is the real #1 simp hahaha
and plagg at the end hehe so cute! love the fic <3

  carpisuns on Tumblr: ljkasdflkjsf omgsh i cant believe someone wrote something based on my art aaaa this is great, thank you so much!! Very cute and funny! :D

#fics #<3 #nice things

EEEEE, it is so awesome that she liked my story this much! I am always dumbfounded in the best way when people gush like this. I mean, it was THEIR work that inspired ME. *I* was the one who is but a humble servant as I briefly whisk their Muse away for a one night tryst. This is true for carpisuns, as it was with Taurus Pixie and even my Wonder Twin Ronoxym, let alone my own IRL Muse: my husband.

You all crawled so that I might run. Thank you!

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Anyway, it may or may not be related to all of the love from piggybacking off carpisuns' art, but I did get another follower over on Tumblr. I've also had three new people favorite me - as in, the author - over on FanFiction.net, and two of those three also started following me. 

So, uh, yeah, that's super exciting! Also, to keep up with my muse-abductions that seem to be working for me, I've swiped some new plot bunnies up from the comments on my story. For instance, I'm debating if I want to do a more angsty companion story where Plagg asks Adrien why he didn't bring up the impromptu base jumping in his battles with Alya. For Plagg, it's almost an insult that Adrien isn't the "#1 Ladybug Simp" ESPECIALLY since Plagg knows everything Adrien does as Chat Noir, and got a feeling of everything the kid did as Aspik (I'm assuming, since he said the same thing to Adrien over and over again, that Plagg isn't part of the time loop and therefore won't remember anything that happened while Adrien was the snake superhero). I could even finish it off with how Adrien truly doesn't care. He just had fun debating with his friend and remembering all the interactions his civilian self had with Ladybug. Also, he knows that Alya can't be Rena Rouge anymore, so he probably figures Alya needed this win. To prove that she's still helpful to Ladybug even if she can't be a superheroine.

There's also another plot bunny of Marinette making Nino a "#1 Rena Rouge Simp" sweatshirt so he wouldn't feel left out. Neither Nino nor Alya would know that Marinette knows who Rena is, so the two of them might find it a nice in-joke between the two of them and Ladybug. It could also be a real sweet surprise to Alya about how devoted to her Nino is. It could also have its own sprinkle of angst as Marinette feels guilt over making this sweatshirt for Nino knowing full well that Alya could never be Rena Rouge again for her own safety. (Then again, even with everyone - including Hawk Moth - knowing who Queen Bee was, Chloe still got her Miraculous back a couple of times; so it's not entirely hopeless for Alya)

A third companion story/continuation could be a cuddly Ladrien story where Ladybug, now knowing how large of a "fan" Adrien is, visits him. They could start pseudo-dating and ALLLLLL the fluff.

OOOOOOR, I could go the opposite direction. Based on a short story I read the other day - Comfort from Each-Other by ScarletRedfox - I could have the Love Square completely crumble in on itself with ALLLLLLL the angst! The concept of ScarletRedfox's story is that Ladybug, for fear of Adrien getting hurt if the world found out they were together, as well as feeling it unfair that he date Ladybug when he doesn't know she's Marinette, rejects Adrien's love confession. It wasn't safe or right for them to be together that way - a superheroine and a civilian - and it shattered Marinette's heart to reject Adrien as much as it broke Adrien to have Ladybug turn even his civilian half away. Chat Noir then goes to Marinette for comfort, and they both talk about how their hearts were broken that day.

Anyway, much like with Ronoxym's Devon and Willow story all those many many MANY years ago (dear lord... like... SEVEN YEARS!?), I adored Comfort from Each-Other but still felt that a simple tweak of one element of the story would take it on a new road, and I kind of want to explore that. It could be hurt/comfort all on its own, or I could build off that Ladrien idea of Ladybug snuggling with Adrien post unofficial Ladybug Simp contest, only to break the relationship off knowing it's "not right."

In a sort of adjacent vein, I had a godawful day Friday after an EXHAUSTING battle with my internet provider for the better part of a month. This terrible day was followed up on Saturday by me tripping when my right foot hooked the cuff of my left pant leg. Not only did I trip, I tripped in front of my customer and her son. Not only THAT, but I happened to trip on the TOP STAIR OF AN 18-STEP STAIRCASE!

Skullington
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by Jared Nickerson

Thankfully, much like Marinette, I've always been gracefully clumsy. I tripped off the landing, missed the next step, caught my foot on the 2nd step long enough to adjust my weight, hopped down the next two steps, and caught myself about five or six steps down from the landing. Heart pounding in my ears, but otherwise fine.

My point being, I've had one heck of a weekend where virtually everything I did had SOMETHING go wrong. I know that "nothing can just be simple and/or go right for me" days are some of my most frustrating and exhausting. The days that break me the most.

Yet this doesn't seem to be the basis of akumas in Miraculous Ladybug, at least, not yet.

GUYS! MY CRAPPY WEEKEND INSPIRED ME FOR AN AKUMA! I haven't figured all the details out yet, but the character would basically be Jinx from DC comics. There have been tons of other superheroes/villains in the show inspired by DC and Marvel comics, so it can't hurt to do the same thing again, right? I will probably have to think of a name other than "Jinx" for her, but otherwise the build is more-or-less set. She was frustrated that nothing seemed to go right for her that day, so Hawk Moth akumatized her with the power to mess up everyone else's day. She then goes around causing mischief, similar to Troublemaker, but it's more bad luck curses than pranks.

I'm still trying to figure out where the akuma would be hiding, what her outfit would look like, whether or not it hits our superheroes, and both the Lucky Charm Ladybug would get as well as how she'd use it. There's still a lot of planning to do, but still. I have a baby idea I could nurture into an actual akuma to use in a story! Look at me go!

I still have so many fanfics to read on my list. I can't wait to see what stories those could ignite in me.

Stepping away from the Miraculous Ladybug fandom for a beat, though. Last week Hubby and I finally got around to watching the cooking action anime (yeah, you read correctly) Food Wars! It's... it's a bit much to get into, but you get hooked pretty quickly.

Anyway, about half way through the first season - maybe a little sooner - we're introduced to the character Alice. This is Alice in seasons 3 and 4, but her hair was more-or-less the same (just a touch shorter) in seasons 1 and 2.

Alice created by Yūto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki

Between the hair style, the white hair, and her overall personality of flipping from playful and childish to dead serious and brilliant; all of it just reminded me of my OC Willow. In fact, flip the image and add the aquamarine eyes and she's a good reference picture for Willow.

Maybe I should have darkened her skin
a touch. Willow's not quite THIS pale....

Also officially introduced in season 3 of this series, was the top student of the entire culinary school the show takes place at: Eishi Tsukasa. And holy heckens, this character is pretty much EXACTLY how I have always imagined Shawn to look. This shot specifically made me think of Willow's brother.

Tsukasa created by Yūto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki

Tsukasa's normally this fairly chill guy who has seemingly random anxiety attacks and OCD. On the occasions when he gets serious, however, he gets a bit scary.

This still isn't perfect because Shawn goes full-blown homicidal maniac, but this is probably the closest I could find "in the wild", as it were. Once again, all I really need to do is switch out Tsukasa's eye color and you have my mental image of Shawn.

(Fun factoid: Food Wars! was first printed in Japan November 2012, I was playing around with what Willow's brother would look like around September or October of 2012. So both the manga's creators and I just happened to luck into the same character design for one of our side characters.)

To compare, here's my first attempt to create visuals of Willow and Shawn from when I was using the ChaZie online doll makers way back in 2012. (Shawn had more emo hair here, but the above shag of Tsukasa's hair is more of what I had pictured)

Naturally, having characters in an anime I'm watching reminding me of some of my OCs has got me thinking about X-Future and Glitches again. So..... ALL THE BRAINSTORMING! It didn't result in any fiction writing THIS week, but who knows where The Muses will take me?

I'm excited to see what this week brings, how about you fine folks? I guess we'll have to wait until next Tuesday to see. Until then, take care, friends!