@ether-solrac here with another sort of semi-joke/semi-serious AU idea. An AU were Lila becomes the Ladybug weilder and Chloé is the Cat.
Ok so it begins with Fu actually taking a step back and letting Tikki and Plagg go out and choose weilders of their own. The thing is they both prefer weilders that they can guide and redeem rather than the "best fit." Tikki sees Lila in desperate need of compassion and order in a life that never let her settle down, while Plagg sees Chloé who's seen nothing but strict rules and toxic images and is in desperate need a of a new chaotic and free point of view.
For Lila she kind of calms down in her civilian life and most of her desire for attention and reputation just kind of sticks to the hero side, creating a sort of overly charismatic and showy hero. Shed never admit it but she draws a lot of inspiration from the overly campy 80s style of superhero where it's like all flashing white teeth and bravado. Think Metro Man from Megamind.
Meanwhile the whole performance and responsibilities as a hero just kind of leaves her more tired and quiet as a civilian, she's subconsciously given up on making a big deal about herself and just wants to get through the day until she's a hero again. This has the unintended effect of catching Marinettes attention who tends to have a big heart when it comes to the class. She sees what looks like a tired deperesed girl her age and makes it her mission to cheer her up, often bringing pastries and coffee from her parent's bakery.
This pretty much leaves Lila a confused blushing mess becuase "what the hell? I barely even introduced myself and this girl is already super nice to me?" She kind of finds herself again through Marinette's kind prodding and kind of forces herself to figure just who she is a as a person.
Also a funny side thing, Marinette can't stand the ladybug hero. Since she's not a hero in this AU (at least not at the start) she helps Alya with her blog and as such she's gotten to meet the heroes quite a few times. Oddly enough she's friends with the chat hero but she can't stand the ego of the ladybug hero and finds her to be really fake and obnoxious. It isn't until Lila starts getting closer to Marinette that she starts to dial it back a bit and finds confidence in her real self since thats the personality that made a genuine friend (and what she hopes could possibly be more).
Meanwhile with Chloé, Plagg is just the worst best influence on Chloé. Their entire dynamic is just "aren't you tired of being nice, don't you just want to go ape shit?" and then she does. Cat chloe gives zero fucks and is probably one of the most feral cats so far. She has awakened her inner Yang and she very much wants to punch stuff. Instead of her mentality being about using her hero persona to impress her mother, her thoughts are basically that if no one knows she's Chloé, then she can act anyway she wants.
As much as I love Chlolix, I think it'd be interesting if Chloé goes for Alya and uses her hero persona as her gay outlet (maybe her mother is homophobic or her father can't support her becuase of politics etc) so when she sees Alya becoming a textbook Louis Lane she absolutely goes for it. She kind of takes on this sort of Shego like confidence and swagger where she knows what she wants and that's this cute redhead. this kind of leaves Alya more focused on the cat hero.
As for Chloé's civilian life it's a slow battle overcoming her mother's image if perfection and becoming the person she wants to be. Little by little she kind of transitions into more of a Ryka/ Chloé Couffaine personality. She doesn't stop being "mean" as Chloé but it's kind of gone from bully to aggressive protector. Kind of just sticking up for the members of the class that are a little too nice and would probably get taken advantage of.
Ok that's all I got. Kind of basic but I felt like sharing.
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OH DAMN
