The Kwamis! Some of these came easier than others, but since Angelic Layer has no magic involved, all the kwamis became human~ They won't be very prevalent, they're mostly here to fill in background character roles - shop clerks, MCs Tournament Directors, fans - so they won't have a whole lot of speaking roles (aside from, you know, the MCs who're there to commentate on the fights lol). But I thought I'd give them all a nice nod in the story somewhere.
As expected, Tikki and Plagg are the main MCs. Marinette and Adrien's fights will be going on concurrently so Tikki will be commentating Marinette's fights while Plagg commentates on Adrien's. They'll have the most dialogue of the kwamis, so I do want them to have unique ways of discussing what they're seeing.
Pollen will be working directly for the Bourgeois'. As a VIP with a direct relationship with the international director of Angelic Layer, Chloe has her own private practice layer in her home and Pollen is in charge of it's upkeep and maintenance. She matches Armand the Bulter's levels of competence.
Trixx is a Rena Rouge mega fan. They've been following Alya's blog for as long as they can remember and are mega stoked that Alya moved to their city. When Alya starts to doubt herself, it's Trixx's voice that can be heard cheering her on to not give up.
Nooroo and Duusu are servants in the Agreste Estate. Unknown to Adrien, they are fully aware of his sneaking around to play and the two do what they can to make excuses and deflect Nathalie when Adrien isn't where he's supposed to be. They're rooting him on from the shadows!
Wayzz is the adult son of Marianne and Fu. He brings them to Angelic Layer fights against his will because the two really enjoy them. The two seem to be really invested in Ladybug and Chat Noir's career (and the behind the scenes shenanigans that they secretly spy on).
Longg is Kagami's bodyguard. Like Nooroo and Duusu, they are fully aware of what Kagami is doing behind her mother's back and feigns ignorance when Kagami pulls something..."sneaky" to get to a fight secretly.
Here's where we get into some existing jobs from the show:
Orikko and Kaalki are the "Layer Hot Girls (and boy)". lol I just thought it was funny that Angelic Layer even has them.
Mullo is the sales clerk at the Princess Piffle store (the store where you can buy your Angel and all the accessories). All of them lol. Mullo and her many many sisters who look just like her.
Barkk and Fluff take similar but still different roles (the uniforms are ALMOST the same but there are some tiny differences). So Barkk is the receptionist at the Practice Ring (literally you pay to reserve a mini-layer to practice on) while Fluff is the waitress/cashier at the cafeteria at the Tournament Center.
(and back to making shit up lol)
Daizzi is a nurse where Rose goes to the hospital and she has segmental localized vitiligo. Rose is particularly close to Daizzi since she helps Rose make her donations to the hospital.
Sass is the backstage directory, aka, the guy who makes things run. He has an earpiece that has the same diamond pattern as his pants on it! The anime does show one person who helps backstage, but I wanted to have a little fun with Sass's look and tie in to him being "in charge" of the kwamis.
Ziggy works at Socqueline's family art supply shop, which is frequented by Angelic Layer players who are on a bit of a budget. They love talking with the customers about their angels, though mostly the design part.
Stompp is Ivan's foster mother and Roarr his foster sister (Stompp's bio-daughter). I actually didn't think of what kind of job this outfit would be good for, but I think she'd make a good security guard - usually working at rock concerts, which she bonds with Ivan over, but she's also been hired for Angelic Layer tournaments. Sometimes sore losers get a little...violent.
Roarr falls in love with Juleka's Angel Purple Tigress immediately thanks to her pre-existing love of tigers in general. She's even bold enough to proclaim her love to Juleka herself!
Xuppu is Ondine's sibling and a fan of King Monkey, though they'll go out of their way to make fun of Kim himself. Secretly, they're very invested in Kim's career and get very upset on his behalf when he loses.
The Order of the Guardians grew very corrupted overtime— and the abuse shows with these kwamis.
Wayzz is based off of the Cosmic Turtle, Ao (鰲). The goddess Nüwa had chopped off Ao’s legs to support the heavens. So the limbs float, detached, from Wayzz’s body— and I wanted the clouds to resemble sea foam.
The design’s based on the Heavenly Dog, Tiangou (天狗). Which— if you’re not familiar; is a black dog that eats the Sun (or moon) to cause eclipses. I feared that the black might overlap too much with Plagg, so only the scorch marks around the face and throat are black (or brownish?). Eating the sun isn’t good for the vocal cords, so Barkk can’t bark in this AU.
ML x Smiling Critters Au - in Search of the missing Ladybug!
Yeah that's gonna be the Au title ig *awkward coughing*
Have a crappy sketch I drew for sh*ts and giggles
Dennis about to meet past holders
He does not take it well lol
More thoughts of this under the cut
I imagine that Barkk's chances of getting a morally good/bad user is more neutral compared to the popular ones like Ladybug or Butterfly's. In the Au, at least, she had experienced 50/50. (This is part of my personal hc that alternate timelines affect who become holders of a miraculous. It's kind of like a "time traveller drops a coin" thing. Ex. the holders who used the Ladybug miraculous will be different from the holders that are present when Marinette is Ladybug)
The holders that appear when the kagatama is activated are holders that were personally memorable to Barkk and have long passed. There's a chance she had more, but her memories with them had fallen back into her subconsciousness hence why they might not be visible to the current holder (honestly just my explanation to deal with one-day holders present in the show)
I feel Barkk would have mixed feelings with her holders. On one hand, she'd feel some kind of attachment with them. On the other hand... she keeps her distance. Granted, she may have different thoughts with each of her holder (some less liked than others). But she was there in their highest high and lowest low. That time spent together can't be erased. So regardless if she liked her holder or not, she cares for them. Wants best for them. But having to witness each of her holder's brutal ends, it messes with her emotionally and existentially. The holder before Dennis especially affected her so much, it pushed her to become more serious, strict, and even ready to bluntly scold Dennis whenever he was being a bit brash with trust or his decision.
Extra note on this, Barkk will deny on having a favorite, when she does. She absolutely does. (It's the holder before Dennis)
Any knowledge or power learned/earned of a user is automatically transferred to its Kwami. However, while innate and passed down, the predecessor/receiver will have to work for it to unlock it.
Kwamis ultimately have a say as to how far they can receive those earned knowledge/power, which many be unlocked through the gift of kwatagama. (This might be why Hawkmoth’s skills are stale or stuck with the basics. Just my theory and logic for this AU, idk.)
Barkk would probably give Dennis a kwatagama after a very tough akuma battle, a fight that left Dennis upset. Barkk comforted him as usual, but this time Dennis was so down about it. The kwatagama was a sign of thanks to him for his resilience and choice as a hero.
Oh and btw - the person Dennis was talking to is based on another fictional dog character I've grown attached to. There's also another fictional dog character I used who in this AU, is Barkk's holder literally before being found by Dennis. If you know who either of them are then (> u >) we vibin!
There's also some based on real life figures but we ain't talkin about them lol