Master List of WIPs and Plot Bunnies (as of Jan 2022)
(roughly a 40min read)
As a means to try to get myself re-inspired to write, I've spent some time trying to collect all of my plot bunnies and WIPs in one place. Thus, I created a master-list.
Turns out, if you include things like my "365 anthology of daily writing prompts" that I’ve never completed, I have 22 WIPs (stories I have at least started, but haven't finished), and another 16 Miraculous Ladybug fanfic ideas (plot bunnies) that I haven't started yet.
Not to mention any Encanto plot bunnies that have been playing along the edges of my mind, but haven't quite formed enough yet for me to list them on the Plot Bunnies tally.
Speaking of, the current tally looks like this:
WIPs
- 4 ML fanfics started - 1 Hey Arnold fanfic I never meant to abandon - 5 X-Future (X-Men with OCs) stories - 1 D&D character study - 1 recounting of a World of Darkness (Vampire: The Masquerade) character (probably forever abandoned) - an attempt to novelize the Cirque du Soleil show Varekai - an on-going attempt to convert X-Future into an original series called Glitches - 5 stories within my original fantasy world of Gyateara - 3 writing anthologies built from writing prompts (at least one is probably permanently abandoned)
Plot Bunnies (in order of how far I’ve gotten with the plot build)
- The PV of ML (Felix as Chat Noir and Bridgette as Ladybug) co-exists with canon - Adrien is in need of a fake girlfriend, and decides on Marinette - Rewrite of canon so that Gabriel is actually a decent father who loves his son - Non-magic game streamer AU - 3 different continuations of my story Ladybug’s Simp Squad - Adrien tries out the concept that “if you want the truth, ask the same question 3x” on both LB and Marinette, to surprising results. - Another retelling of the 12th chapter of Remember That Time When.. by @mostlovedgirl-writes This time focusing more on Adrien’s isolation after Marinette literally locked herself away from him. - 2 stories involving the New York Special - Plagg’s POV of the episode “Puppeteer 2″ (a companion piece to my story Painfully Close) - Alya (as either herself or her superhero persona) pinning Adrien against the wall as she accuses him of hurting Marinette - Master Fu backstory filling in the time between the fall of the monastery and when we meet him in Origins. Mostly focusing on the 1940s and WWII. - Adrien discovers that Ladybug is Marinette, and tries to figure out who this boy is that she’s in love with - Adrien finds out HE’S the boy that Ladybug keeps turning Chat Noir down for. (may or may not end up part of the above plot bunny)
Now to get motivation to actually WRITE some of this stuff.... Maybe if people bully me???
Honestly, the following detailed list of all my WIPs and plot bunnies is mostly for my benefit. That way I have a reference online for times I don’t have my computer on-hand. But if you want to join me down the rabbit hole (and get more of a feel of what I have in the fire), I’ll gladly see you under the cut.
WIPs - Fanfics
Miraculous Ladybug:
One and the Same - The sequel to my story Peeping Tomcat. I’ve been struggling to get this story done since 2018. I have some great moments here and there, but the overall story just isn’t coming together. This time, instead of the story being exclusively Adrien’s 1st person POV, I am tag-teaming Adrien and Marinette as 1st person POV narrators. In this sequel, Adrien is trying desperately to get Marinette to fall in love with him, and she’s not sure how to handle this....
I Don't Care - I already have 2 chapters of this story posted because I wasn’t planning on it being a multi-chapter story, and yet, here I am. It’s my interpretation of Gabriel and Emilie’s romance: how they met, them dating, their marriage, and their years with Adrien before Emilie fell into her coma. The title is a nod to the inspiration of the second chapter: “I Don’t Care” by Ed Sheeran. Mostly because I see that as Gabriel’s attitude towards Emilie.
Seduce With Caution - A smut story I started writing the summer of 2020 that has become a slow-burn MariChat story. Chat Noir tries to show off his new flirting/seduction techniques on Marinette to prove that he can get Ladybug to fall for HIM. He accidentally hits the mark perfectly without realizing. Marinette fights against her newfound attraction for Chat Noir while Adrien tries to figure out why he keeps picturing an unmasked Ladybug as Marinette in his fantasies. Some extra awkward Adrienette moments as Adrien wonders if he can also get Marinette riled up as himself, and Marinette tries not to combust as Adrien flirts with her!
Love Square Fluff Week - Back before the pandemic truly hit, I was working on the 7-day Love Square Fluff Week writing prompts. I have the first 5 chapters up before I fell into my pandemic-induced writing funk. I just need to figure out those last 2!
“Hey, Arnold!”
What is Truly Meant to Be - Using the premise of the never-produced spin-off series “The Patakis” as a guide, Arnold had broken up with Helga when his parents moved away from Hillwood. He had assumed it was selfish of him to ask her to keep up a long-distance relationship. Now that they have both graduated high school, and nothing is keeping them apart, Arnold rushes back to Hillwood so he can tell Helga he’s still in love with her and ask her to be his girlfriend again. Unfortunately, Brainy has already helped Helga mend her broken heart, and she’s been dating him for the past two years (? it’s been a while since I went back to this story. I think it was 2 years). Now Helga has to decide between the sweet and supportive boyfriend she currently has and the boy she’s been in love with since she was 3. I got 8 chapters (and over 60k words) into this story before I unintentionally abandoned it in 2013. 😅 Each chapter was based on a song - which became that chapter’s title - which is why I subtitled it “A Hey Arnold Musical”.
X-Future (an X-Men RPG created by my husband)
Please, Let Me Explain - Originally a short story that my friend Ronoxym wrote, and I sort of unintentionally hijacked it. It’s SUPPOSED to be a collab between the two of us, but neither of us have touched it since 2016. In the roleplay, my character Willow thought Rono’s character Devon had betrayed the X-Men to an attack from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which resulted in the Xavier mansion blowing up and killing at least 3 students. PLME has Devon trying to explain the situation to Willow, and how he had no clue what happened with the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. If he had, he would have come home. Willow isn’t sure she can trust him, though. After a LOT of work, Devon finally convinces Willow to use her psychic abilities to delve into his mind to prove he’s telling the truth. That’s about where the story derailed and we haven’t been able to get it back on track yet. Still, I did post the first two chapters back in 2015. I do want to go back to this story eventually, and it does tend to invade my thoughts on occasion.
Some Like it Flame-Broiled - Another story that was originally written by Ronoxym. This was probably the first bit of smut I have ever written. Not sure if it will ever see the light of day, but I am still periodically tweaking it. I had written a solo scene on X-Future (a play-by-post RPG) where my tertiary character Trish masturbated to a gas tanker explosion (she’s a pyrophile). Now, the players were all over 20yo, and even so, the scene I wrote was more a simple T-rated “she masturbated”, as opposed to NC-17 explicit descriptions. Anyway, since Trish was originally created as a potential love interest for Devon when he joined the Brotherhood (she ended up being a rival bent on killing him.... whoops....), Rono wrote a smut AU where Devon truly did turn evil (instead of playing a double-agent) and Evil!Devon had a weird sexual relationship with Trish. I took Rono’s story and RAN with it. But, like I said, I still have some tweaks to do.
Untitled battle between Devon and Trish - A battle to the death between the canon versions of Trish and Devon. Trish and the Brotherhood were holding Devon’s girlfriend’s parents hostage. Devon went to save them, and ended up in a knife fight with Trish. This battle is canon to explain what happened to Devon during a time jump in-game, but the only bits that were canonically posted were the fact that there was a fight, and the result. I went ahead and wrote out the full battle, but I’m still learning fight choreography, so I want to go back and tweak it. Haven’t touched this story since 2017 or so, though. I also want Ronoxym’s input, since it does involve his character, even if we aren’t playing that RPG anymore.
X-Future: The Second Generation Begins - My attempt to adapt the roleplay into a more traditional narrative. Our method of tracking time - and what scenes happen when - was poor at best, however. So the conversion ended up a more intense undertaking than I originally thought. The RP went on for about 2 or 3 years, and I only covered the first 2 months or so (which was still over 67k words) before this project got shelved. Still want to finish it, though.
X-Future Snippets - As my way of doing character studies and sorting out what to do next with my characters in the official RP, I wrote a series of one-shots using my X-Future characters Lia, Willow, and Trish. I last updated this 15-chapter/35k+ word anthology of one-shots in 2016. I hope to get re-acquainted with my characters, and hopefully add more shorts to this collection.
D&D
Too Many Names, Even For A Gnome - A character study for my gnome Elymoxa. A way to learn who she is by figuring out what all of her names are, and how she earned them. As of right now, I only have three chapters up. I also haven’t played this D&D character since 2018, so I’m not sure when I’ll be going back to learning about this character.
World of Darkness
Lottie's story - This was my NaNoWriMo attempt back in 2014. I was playing the World of Darkness game Vampire: The Masquerade. Lottie was my Brujah vampire that was turned in the 1940s. I wanted to capture our gameplay. I failed to do so, as I only wrote 3000 words. I will probably never get back to this story, sadly. It was fun, though, to re-read that opening chapter. I instantly remembered who played which character based on how the characters interacted. Good times.
Varekai
Adaptation of the Cirque du Soleil show into a novel - Since the early 2000s, when I first saw the Cirque show Varekai, I fell in love with the story of Icarus falling into a mythical and magical forest instead of plummeting into the sea. For my birthday in 2017, I got a DVD of the show, and wanted to write a novelization of the story Cirque du Soleil told. I even watched it live that summer to help inspire me. It was also the year I fell in love with Miraculous Ladybug, though, and I ended up working on Peeping Tomcat that NaNoWriMo instead. So I have yet to write more than the opening chapter of this Varekai story.
WIPs - Original Works
Glitches
A rework of the X-Future world and original characters (the player characters) as an original story with no ties to X-Men or Marvel. I’ve done a lot of world-build thus far, and character reworks to turn Marvel-owned characters that are significant for the X-Future story into original versions. I’ve also written a couple of scenes. I’m still debating between trying to write this as a comic (which requires an illustrator) or a series of novels (but it feels like such a visual story). I just miss my X-Future characters and the other player characters they interacted with. I want to go back to writing them again in some shape or form.
Case and point - maybe rework the above X-Future stories so they are more original stories within the Glitches universe?
Gyateara
Lost Loves and Paramours - My 2016 NaNoWriMo story where I explored the backstory I gave my D&D character Jolene Crisslebalm. While I stuck to the backstory I gave her for the campaign, I also reworked a lot of it so it could be original. There’s still a few bits that were original world-builds of my DM that I have to edit out, and I might also rework some of the canon backstory. Either way, I did hit 50k+ words, making this my FIRST NaNo win! I’m not even half-way done with her backstory, though. So it definitely needs a lot of reworking, and I need to actually finish writing out her story. I do poke at this WIP periodically. Aug 2021 I created a Spotify playlist that tells Jolene’s story. Maybe someday I’ll post something publicly.
The Race for Destiny - My first-ever attempt at NaNoWriMo, way back in 2012. The story itself was first formed shortly after I played the Xbox game Fable back in 2004. This story (with its terrible working-title that desperately needs to be redone) originated as a Frankensteined cross-over fanfic between Fable, Inuyasha, Vision of Escaflowne, Legend of Zelda, and Fushigi Yuugi. The story was a classic isekai where Natalie is from a sleepy New England town, and stumbles upon a stone platform with strange runes etched into it. As she inspected the runes, she got teleported to Gyateara. There she was saved from monsters by hero-in-training Connor. The duo find out a Big-Bad is attempting to unlock a fabled artifact to rule the world, and only Natalie (who is assumed to be a messenger of a lost goddess) can stop the baddie with the aid of Connor. During their trials, Natalie and Connor fall in love, and Natalie becomes torn between staying with him and going home when Gyateara is saved. The story was so horribly cliche, but I had pumped so much into the world-build, I hope to one day find a way to salvage anything from this story and complete it.
The People of Gyateara - An anthology of the various cultures that makes up the world of Gyateara. As of this posting, though, I haven’t updated since 2016, and I only had 2 chapters written. Whoops. I should probably get back into this....
The Divine Legends - the various myths and legends that the people of Gyateara tell. I haven’t touched this poor anthology since 2014. I really should get back to this. I should also go back and edit the 3 legends I already have up, now that I have a better understanding of myth structures.
Amara's backstory (untitled) - My first-ever D&D character. Unfortunately, I only managed to play her for 2 sessions, despite her living rent-free in my brain since 2003/2004. Her backstory does keep changing as I grow and learn how problematic different bits truly are (I originally had her as a fantasy version of a g*psy). Amara is still evolving, and as she does, my need to work on this backstory continues.
Writing Prompts
365 Stories: 2017 - Back in 2017, I received a book that provided a new writing prompt every day for a full year. I tried to stick with the practice of doing a writing prompt a day, and create an anthology of these one-shots. Unfortunately, I ended up tapping out at only 26 prompts (27k+ words). It was a good start, but I want to give this challenge another try at some point.
Ronoxym's Flash-Fiction Challenge - Also back in 2017, I lamented to Ronoxym that I can’t seem to write short and succinct stories *side-eyes this whole post* Seems I still can’t. He challenged me to write stories that are under 1000 words. I only managed about 6 of them - which I collected in this anthology - before I waved my white flag. I feel like I should try to start up this challenge again, though.
Writing Prompts: An Anthology - Another anthology of one-shot short stories. This time, the collection comes from various writing prompts. Most of the prompts were given out at my local writing group, but some were from random friends, my husband, or interesting prompts I found online. I again only got 11 prompts in before abandoning the challenge. I really should get back into finding prompts....
ML Fanfic Plot Bunnies
1. Concept: The PV (where Felix is Chat Noir and Bridgette is Ladybug) co-exists with canon
This story is FAR from ready for ANY writing to be done as I still try to world-build, but my world-building does already fill 4 pages in OpenOffice Writer.
The main idea was based off of the Smile Fruit in One Piece. Namely, that the Miraculous that Felix and Bridgette get are artificial, which is why the jewelry itself looks different (especially the cat ring), why the “kwamis” are roughly triple the size of canon Tikki and Plagg, why the power sets are different, and why Felix is cursed (as well as the antagonistic dynamic Felix has with his “kwami”).
I talked about the idea in full detail in this blog post, but here’s a “quick” recap:
A prominent wealthy humanitarian and philanthropist in London is secretly a criminal mastermind a la Marvel’s Wilson Fisk, DC’s Lex Luthor, or Disney’s Gargoyles’ David Xanatos. This man is the PV version of Hawkmoth. Somehow, someway, there are artificial “Miraculous” made, but deemed failed experiments. By some weird circumstance, Felix - now aged about 15 or 16 - ends up with the cat ring and puts it on before discovering it’s cursed. He is now tormented by a magical black cat creature that can go invisible so Felix is the only one who sees it (maybe only those wearing that specific “Miraculous” can see the corresponding “kwami”???). The creature loves to cause bad luck around Felix, but Felix can’t remove the ring without first getting a kiss from the faux-Ladybug.
Coincidentally, Felix’s classmate Bridgette, who has been obsessively in love with him, ends up with the artificial Ladybug earrings. Her “kwami” is much kinder, and they become fast friends. London’s HM sends out his first minion (I might have to nix Mr. Pigeon and Mime since their gimmicks are such classic Parisian tropes, and are both reused in canon anyway). Bridgette is taught how to become Ladybug, and runs into the fray (she’s the impulsive fighter in this duo).
Discovering what his ring is, the curse, and how to remove the curse, Felix also learns how to become Chat Noir, and joins Ladybug in battle. His priority, however, is to get the kiss and end the curse. After being reamed out by Ladybug, Chat Noir focuses on the battle (he’s the calm and calculating one of this duo, but Ladybug is still the crucial one needed to execute Felix’s plans to save the day). Basically, I wanted to balance out their partnership a bit more: Felix’s Chat Noir can’t defeat the villain by himself, he needs faux-Ladybug’s powers (be it her own version of purifying the akuma or whatever). Meanwhile, while Bridgette has the powers needed to defeat the villain, she needs Felix’s tactical strategy to get even close to winning.
The story continues with the normal affair: Bridgette is in love with Felix, who is annoyed by her constant romantic advances. Meanwhile, Chat Noir is quickly falling for Ladybug, and his requests for kisses become less about ending the curse and more about genuine desire. Ladybug is as put off by his advances as Felix is of Bridgette’s; she accuses him of caring more about spending time with her than saving London... she’s not exactly wrong. Eventually, Felix and Bridgette start to become friends, and Ladybug starts to fall for Chat Noir. Problem now has become that if Chat Noir ever accepts a kiss from Ladybug, it will end his curse, but he can no longer be her superhero partner. Does he accept his lady’s love, and end his curse? Or does he suffer through the curse and reject his partner’s feelings so he can remain by her side as they battle London Hawk Moth? Also, does he (can he?) tell Ladybug about the curse???
This is clearly a MASSIVE undertaking, so who knows when I will have the time to start this project....
2. Concept: Adrien is in need of a fake girlfriend, and decides to ask Marinette
Another one where I have a lot of building to do before I’m ready to actually write the darn thing.
I go over the whole concept in this post, but, again, here’s a quick recap:
For ReasonsTM, Kagame suggests that Adrien gets a fake girlfriend. After going though a few options, Adrien realizes that Marinette would be perfect. It takes some convincing, but Marinette eventually agrees. The two go through a lot of the classic “fake dating” tropes, and Adrien is starting to realize his true feelings for Marinette.
HOWEVER, before fully realizing he’s fallen for her, he first discovers that Marinette has been in love with him more-or-less since they first met. He hates the idea that he’s been playing with her heart (even if it was unintentional), and instantly breaks things off.
Problem is that he breaks up with her by telling her he’s already in love with someone else.... using almost the exact same speech Ladybug gave Chat Noir at the end of “Glaciator”. Of COURSE Marinette recognizes her own speech, and now has to deal with the knowledge that Adrien is Chat Noir.
Honestly, I don’t know where to go from there... would Marinette battling with her half-reveal knowledge be its own sequel story? Or do I have that be part of the overall tale? What is the reason behind Adrien needing a fake girlfriend in the first place? What “fake dating” tropes should I indulge in? How does Adrien find out that Marinette isn’t faking, and has been in love with him all along? Just so many questions I still need to answer before I can start writing.
3. Concept: Rewriting of canon where only one thing is changed: Gabriel Agreste is actually a loving and attentive father. Potential Title: When Love Matters
The trickiest bits of this one includes figuring out what continuity order I should put the episodes in - production? air order? streaming-service order? Piece them together into my own order based on in-episode clues? - as well as how to rework episodes like “Chat Blanc” and “Ephemeral” without completely negating them (since most of the plot of those episodes revolve around Gabriel being a complete asshole of a human being).
I talk more about the project as an answer to this ask from good lord 2018
4. Concept: Non-Magic Game-Streamer AU.
This was another one that I need to iron out the world-build, but I’m already 2 pages deep into building it.
I posted the original concept back in May 2021, but here’s the “quick” recap:
Adrien is afraid his real-world celebrity will taint his success as a streamer (he wants to claw his way to the top like everyone else so he knows people like him for his streaming, not his celebrity). So he only ever goes by his handle “Chat Noir”, adjusts his voice via his mic somehow, and only ever streams off-camera with a catboy icon, or he’s a vtuber using a catboy avatar.
Marinette knows how much female gamers get harassed, and she’s afraid of getting doxxed. So she also hides behind a handle - “Ladybug” - adjusts her mic to hide her true voice, and streams off-camera. Despite getting a fairly large following as a gaming streamer, she purposefully keeps that life separate from her fashion designing.
Chat Noir and Ladybug meet in a game, and become fast-friends. Adrien actually gets quite enamored with Ladybug, and becomes one of her biggest fans. He tries to meet up with her IRL, or do a private face-reveal via DMs, but she refuses, too afraid to let anyone know who she truly is. Eventually, she also admits that, even if they did meet IRL, they could only be friends since she’s already in love with someone.
Of course, that someone is her good friend Adrien, who is oblivious to her feelings. He does suggest that she should start streaming since she’s such a great gamer, and she kind of awkwardly laughs and shrugs him off.
Hawk Moth is also a streamer, but one of those toxic ones who riles up his chat, isn’t much of a team player in MMORPG or MOBA parties/teams, and kill-steals or takes cheap shots whenever possible. Ladybug and Chat Noir are constantly butting heads with him to help protect the other gamers from his toxicity.
I haven’t decided yet if I need to change up everyone’s handles, since “chat noir”, “ladybug”, and “hawk moth” feel too generic to be available as-is. I’ll have to think more about their gaming handles. I also need to decide if I’m keeping Gabriel as Hawk Moth, or if I should hand the reins over to Felix instead.
Lots and lots of other questions need answers, but it’s a fun AU to tip my toes into now and again until I’m ready to write the dang thing.
5. Concept: Continuation of Ladybug's Simp Squad, but a bit angsty as it centers around Adrien and Plagg.
This plot bunny is courtesy of @BFG_blueapple303 on AO3. In the comments of my story Ladybug’s Simp Squad, they asked me why Adrien didn’t include his swan-dive off the Montparnasse Tower while battling for Simp Supremacy with Alya. (real answer: I forgot about that somehow)
This story would follow that train of thought: why didn’t Adrien mention that when he literally mentioned battling Gorizilla?
Plagg would ask Adrien about that omission, mostly because, after knowing everything Adrien actually does for Ladybug, Plagg is a bit offended that Adrien walked away with the #2 Simp spot.
Adrien reflects, but I think he’ll eventually land on 3 things: 1) he didn’t want to stress out his friends by letting them know/reminding them that he leapt off one of the tallest buildings in Paris simply at Ladybug’s say-so. 2) he knows in his heart who he is, so it doesn’t bother him that everyone thinks he’s #2. In fact, it may be better to cover his identity as Chat Noir. Finally, 3) Alya probably won’t be able to be Rena Rouge anymore (the story takes place between seasons 3 and 4), and Adrien felt she needed a win to prove that she’s still able to assist Ladybug, even if she isn’t a superhero anymore.
BFG_blueapple303‘s original idea had this conversation between Adrien and Nino instead of Adrien and Plagg. I think I prefer it with Plagg because Adrien could be more open about more things only Chat Noir would know, but I do also love the original idea with Nino. Plus, we don’t get enough Adrien and Nino just being buddies content. So I might go back to that convo instead.
Either way, I have most of the components all sorted out for this story. I just need the motivation to write it. (and figure out who Adrien is having this conversation with)
6. Concept: Continuation of Ladybug's Simp Squad where Marinette makes Nino a “#1 Rena Rouge Simp” sweatshirt.
This plot bunny is courtesy of @livrever over on AO3 when she mentioned Nino needing a sweatshirt as well.
Again, the story I originally wrote - Ladybug’s Simp Squad - is supposed to take place between seasons 3 and 4. So, as far as Marinette and Adrien are concerned, Alya’s and Nino’s identities as Rena Rouge and Carapace have been compromised, but those two were mind-controlled at the time, and probably don’t realize it.
So Nino asks for a #1 Rena Rouge Simp sweatshirt. He thinks he’s being clever, not realizing Marinette knows EXACTLY why he’d want that shirt. He also thinks it would be a great surprise for his girlfriend.
Poor Marinette is torn, because it almost feels cruel to make Nino a “#1 Rena Rouge Simp” sweatshirt when Alya may never again get to BE Rena Rouge.
Eventually, she caves, and it does make DJWIFI super happy.
I just need to figure out all the middle bits of this story.
7. Concept: Cuddly Ladrien fluff continuation of Ladybug's Simp Squad.
This one is just straight out of the story Ladybug’s Simp Squad when Marinette cuddles with the sweatshirt she made Adrien. However, I did have a couple of comments on the story of people wanting to see Ladybug actually snuggling Adrien in his Simp shirt. And how can I deny the people? (especially when I’m one of them)
Ladybug, now knowing how large of a "fan" Adrien is, visits him. They start pseudo-dating and ALLLLLL the fluff.
Alternatively, I could go with ALLLLL THE ANGST (MWAHAHAHAHAHA!).
A little while back, I read Comfort from Each-Other by ScarletRedFox. The basic concept is that Ladybug was concerned for Adrien’s safety if they were to date, so she breaks things off. Soooooo, what if Ladybug at FIRST goes to have sweet Ladrien cuddles with her #2 Simp, but then realizes how much danger she could be putting Adrien in, so she breaks things off????
I’m still pondering the potential of Super Fluff Story vs Super Angst Story....
8. Concept: Adrien tries out the concept that “if you want the truth, ask the same question 3x” on both LB and Marinette, to surprising results. Potential Title: “The Rule of Three”
Adrien found out about a conversational tactic called “the Rule of 3”: whenever asking someone an important question, the first response is the knee-jerk, socialized response they have on standby; the second response is the calculated, defensive response; the third is the fully honest answer.
He tries the tactic on Ladybug to figure out if there is ANY hope of her loving him back. She admits she's torn, and that - maybe - if there was no chance with this other boy, then she could consider it. Chat Noir can't use the Rule of 3 to convince Ladybug to admit who she's pining for, but he does find out that she's never officially told him her feelings because she believes he's in love with someone else anyway. (She’s just hoping he moves on as much as Chat Noir is hoping the same thing of her)
Unsure where that leaves him with Ladybug, he turns to Marinette. She's always felt like more than a friend to him. She always seems so unsure around him though, sending mixed signals like avoiding him but also fighting for him to join them in New York. He decides to use the Rule of 3 to figure out where he stands with her.
Chaos ensues when he does get the truth from her, especially when she acknowledges that she knows he’s in love with someone else and that she has no chance of them being together, despite her hoping he’d pick her instead.
I’m.... not quite sure where to go with this story, but it does feel fun to explore....
9. Concept: Another retelling of the 12th chapter of Remember That Time When.. by @mostlovedgirl-writes
This time, I want to go back to Adrien's POV. While that’s the POV MLG originally wrote the chapter in, she also kind of breezed past that awkward night that Adrien and Marinette packed for the NYC trip: They packed, Marinette hid in the bathroom while Adrien watched anime, Marinette changed for bed and promptly locked herself in her studio, and cut to the next morning.
I want to delve in again and focus on how Adrien tried to handle the isolation of Marinette literally locking herself away from him. What was it like to be in that big bed and empty bedroom by himself after waking up with Marinette in his arms?
Darn. Guess I’ll just have to reread RTTW again so I can get back into that mindset. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
10. Concept: A companion story for the New York special. Potential Title: See Through My Eyes
I’m a bit less compelled to write this one anymore now that it’s been over a year since the NY special aired, and the salt has died off. However, this was largely inspired by the fact that there was a lot of unspoken subtext that I felt a lot of the fandom was missing.
I wanted to show the "missing" scenes of the special (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 that 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.
Knowing that Adrien going to NYC would leave Paris without Ladybug OR Chat Noir, why didn’t Tikki try to talk Marinette out of confronting Gabriel? Why did Plagg suggest not telling Ladybug about Adrien being forced to go to NYC with his class? Why did Adrien agree? How did Adrien react to Marinette switching seats with Ms. Mendeleiev on the plane? Why did Alya keep pushing for Marinette and Adrien to get together despite Marinette claiming she was getting over Adrien? Why was Adrien so excited to hear that slow song, and want to dance with Marinette again? Why was Ladybug so mad with Chat Noir, and how did that anger seem to ease with a quick cry? Where were Marinette and Adrien as they wandered NYC in the rain? How did Adrien react after Marinette refused to ask him to stay in NYC? Why wasn’t Nino’s plea enough? Why did Alya send Marinette after Adrien alone while the city was in a lock-down? Did Alya feel guilty afterwards? Why did Alya’s attitude towards Marinette confessing change? (I feel like there were more questions I wanted to answer, but those were the ones I can recall off the top of my head almost exactly 16 months later)
11. Concept: AU ending to the NY Special
Uncanny Valley actually couldn't figure out who Ladybug or Chat Noir were under their masks, and so she couldn't return Chat Noir's ring to him.
I used this concept for my last “Plagg Appreciation Story” I Need Him Back. Basically, the premise is that the magic actually blocks Uncanny’s scans, as opposed to her being able to see through them. So she still sees the mask and suit, she just doesn’t have the extra glamour to prevent her from piecing 2 and 2 together. Given a bit more time, I’m sure it would be easy to figure out that the French superheroes that just so happened to be in NYC were one of the French students that were visiting (or chaperones), but for the purposes of this story, she couldn’t figure it out before the end of the battle.
ANYWAY, the story more-or-less picks up the same way I Need Him Back does, where Marinette is lamenting that she lost HER Chat Noir. Due to the magic, neither Plagg nor Tikki - the only ones left who knew who Chat Noir was - can tell Marinette who her Chat Noir was. So they devise a plan to convince Marinette to give Adrien the ring as a “replacement” Chat Noir.
She’s hesitant after the problems Adrien had as Aspik, but Tikki offers that perhaps that was because Luka was meant to be the snake wielder, and Adrien DID try nearly 26k times to save her as Aspik. He’s determined. Plagg adds in how brave Adrien was to be bait for Gorizilla until Chat Noir showed up.
Since Plagg has to pretend he doesn’t know Adrien, he only chimes in for times that “Chat Noir” and “Adrien” could have met up, and Tikki largely leads the charge for making Adrien the “replacement” Chat Noir.
Lots of angst as Plagg misses his boy, but can’t say anything to anyone but Tikki. And Marinette mourning the loss of “Her” Chat Noir as she struggles to either a) find a way to circumvent the magic preventing the kwamis from telling her or b) cave in and just choose someone new.
In the end, she decides to give Adrien the Miraculous, and he tearfully transforms back into Chat Noir. Upon realizing Adrien was HER kitty all along, Ladybug drops her transformation, completing the reveals.
There is SO MUCH to sort out with this story before it’s ready for me to officially work on, but it’s a fun one to think about.
**UPDATE: Soooooo not even 2 hrs after I published this list “Kuro Neko” airs.... >3> Nooooot sure what to do with this story now....
12. Concept: Plagg's view of “Puppeteer 2”
Oddly enough, this dreaded “cringe episode” is my guilty pleasure. Feed me that sweet, sweet second-hand embarrassment.
I’ve already written a companion story for this episode, where Tikki narrates the events of “Puppeteer 2″. I am curious about Plagg’s take, though. Especially that painful drive home when Adrien tells Marinette “the girl I’m in love with doesn’t like [jokes] either.”
13. Concept: Alya (as either herself or her superhero persona) pinning Adrien against the wall as she accuses him of hurting Marinette
I posted the original seed of inspiration - the scene where Alya (in some form) rage-pins Adrien in defense of Marinette - here on Tumblr back in Oct 2021.
Honestly, nothing new has come to me since, so who knows when I’ll actually do anything with this scene?
14. Concept: Potential collab with Taurus Pixie telling the love story of Fu and Marianne leading up to their departure during WWII.
This was a project that @thetauruspixie and I tossed around briefly after the episode “Backwarder” hit Netflix. That was back in summer of 2019, and we haven’t really come back to this idea yet. But it is still brewing all the way in the back of my mind. Maybe one day....
What did Fu do after fleeing the monastery? When did he stop aging normally? When did he decide to become the official turtle Miraculous bearer? How often did he protect people as Jade Turtle? How public was he? How did he meet Marianne? How did their romance go? How long were they together before we saw them part ways? How does Marianne know so much about the Miraculous? Was she a wielder? Which one did she use? Were there other bearers while Fu had possession of the Miracle Box? How did the Nazis find out about Fu, the Miraculous, and the Miracle Box? Where did Fu go to hide from them? When did he return to Paris? Why didn’t he reach out to Marianne? Why didn’t he feel safe after WWII ended? Was he ever planning on returning to Marianne, and if so, when would he have felt safe to do so? So many more questions to ask and answer. This would definitely be a major project.
15. Concept: Adrien discovers that Ladybug is Marinette, and tries to figure out who this boy is that she’s in love with
Adrien finds out that Marinette is Ladybug, but doesn't confess his love (as he did in Chat Blanc) because he still believes Ladybug/Marinette is in love with someone else (Luka????). So he tires to figure out who this other boy is, in part to make sure this other boy is good enough for his lady, but also in part to see if Adrien has a chance of wooing her away from him.
At some point in the story, he finds a way to reveal himself to her as well (maybe he feels guilty about the half-reveal, or it’s a situation like in “Chat Blanc” where the reveal happens while he tries to save her).
Marinette then laments how often she turned him down for... him! She confesses this, and Adrien is blown away that the man she was in love with was himself! Likewise, Marinette is baffled that the woman he was in love with the whole time was Ladybug!
Yeah... I have no clue where I’m going with this. Parts of this concept come up in various parts of One and the Same, so this just kind of grew out of the scraps from that WIP. Maybe I’ll do something with it eventually....
16. Concept: Adrien's shock that the boy Ladybug has been rejecting him for is.... himself! (may or may not end up part of the above plot bunny)
As mentioned, this plot bunny may or may not get rolled into the above one. It could also easily work as a jumping point for a Ladrien story as Ladybug finally confesses to Chat Noir that she loves Adrien. Not sure where I want to go with it, but it’s still hopping around up there in my brain, waiting to mature.
Aaaaaaaand there you have it! All 38 works of fiction currently battling for attention... and here I am with no energy to really work on any of them (although, I have been periodically poking at Seduce With Caution lately).
Feel free to ask me questions about any of the above. Poke me. Bully me. Get me talking about these projects. Maybe that will finally get me re-motivated to write. Because I miss it so much, but my brain just blue screens whenever I attempt to write any sort of fiction.
Also, if you are reading this, thank you for taking this trip into Wonderland with me.