Hello again, friends! So sorry it's taken this long. I've been busy! I'm working hard on my novel so I can enter Pitch Wars in a couple weeks, and I just started my Official Author Blog! The first post is an A:TLA critique, but I plan to cover ML. Check it out and let me know what you'd like to see? It's worldofdedanan dot wordpress dot com. I don't know if the link would make it, so I'm gonna stick to regular text. (I'm going by Tamara there, so please don't be surprised by that.)

Also, work is picking up for me! Good news, I'll finally have money again. Bad news, less free time, and with what I have I'll be prioritizing my novels and blog- but I've found that it's easier to work on this when I have something I want to tell you (I hope the quality does not suffer!), and I'm foreseeing a LOT of stuff I'll want to tell you! So maybe less free time will, paradoxically, be good for my updates?

clues

((((((((((sabrina))))))))))

Patrol. Again. I see why Ladybug doesn't like Chat's puns now. I used to like puns, but they're starting to get on my nerves, because Chat. Will. Not. Stop. Making. Cat. Puns. It's driving me insane!

"Me-owch!"

I ask you, who says me-owch when they stub their toe, instead of just ow?

Chat hops dramatically along the rooftop, somehow managing to not lose his balance. "OW OW OW. My TOES. OW."

I grit my teeth and smile. Coccinelle is new, Coccinelle can't afford to be impatient with or snap at Paris' beloved Chat Noir. "Poor dear. Do you need me to carry you home?"

Chat tucks his baton under his arm, using it as a crutch. "Nah, I think I'll be okay. Besides, how would Milady feel if I let you learn my identity before she does?"

I wish I could tell him that we both already know. See his face then. What would he think if he knew that shy Marinette is also confident Ladybug, and that she learned his identity over a week ago? That she knows he's been rejecting her for herself? That I know Ladybug's identity?

Ladybug will probably never let me tell anyone that I knew her identity before Chat, especially not Chat himself. He'd be devastated that some nobody girl, only the best friend of the school bully, knew his Lady's identity before he did.

But I deserved to know before he did. He didn't notice the fifth day in a row that Lila had driven Marinette to tears. He didn't notice when Chloe, only a few feet away, told me to go find out why Marinette was crying. I think Chloe wanted to use it against her– maybe against Lila. But Adrien, for all that he calls Marinette a friend, never realized she was lying when she told him I'm fine.

I was her enemy, or at least her enemy's minion, and I noticed.

I push that line of thought away. Am I really any better than Adrien/Chat? I knew she wasn't fine, and I didn't do anything until Mari nearly got akumatized. I'm no better than any of them, and I can't start thinking I am. Pride goeth before the fall, and I don't want to fall.

Particularly not from the rooftops, like Chat seems determined to do. He's milking that stubbed toe for all it's worth, and it's a wonder he hasn't woken anyone up.

"Chat, quit it," I snap finally. "It's getting on my last nerve."

He grins at me. "What'll you give me if I do? Maybe… a clue to Milady's identity?"

I toss my yoyo at him, hitting his stomach lightly. "No. Ladybug wanted you to find her. If you can't, then you're not really her soulmate, are you?"

His smile drops. "I am! The Black Cat and the Ladybug are always soulmates!"

"Yes, well, I'm the Ladybug now. Maybe you're my soulmate." He is not.

"I'm not! I'm Ladybug's."

"Unless," I offer, "her soulmate is the next Black Cat. Ladybug gave me her earrings of her own free will, but, Chat, you're acting awfully possessive of another human being. That doesn't seem like soulmate behavior to me. What if your ring is taken away and given to Ladybug's real soulmate?"

Not that that'll happen. Marinette is convinced she and Adrien are meant to be together. The way I see it, it won't hurt him to be a bit less possessive, whether or not they're MTB.

Chat freezes, as if that thought hadn't occurred to him. "What?"

[[[[[[[[[[adrien]]]]]]]]]]

Take away my ring!

Coccinelle's words don't leave my head for the rest of patrol, and when I finally get home, I release my transformation and almost collapse.

"Plagg," I say, "what Coccinelle said… would Master Fu really take away my ring?"

Plagg shrugs and shoves a hunk of cheese into his mouth. " 'Unno. Mmfbre."

"Has it ever happened before?"

Plagg licks cheese crumbs off his whiskers. "Of course it has. Some people just aren't good Cats."

No. Master Fu can't take away Plagg and Chat Noir. He can't!

I need to find Ladybug before he tries.

"Plagg–"

"No," Plagg interrupts.

"What?" I demand. "No?"

"You heard Coccinelle. If you can't find Ladybug on your own, you're not her soulmate." Plagg rubs a slice of Camembert against his cheek and purrs. "Ah, my lovely Camembert. Do you, Camembert, take me, Plagg, to be your cheesefully wedded cat? You do? Purrfect." He tosses the cheese in the bottomless pit he calls a mouth.

"Can you give me any hints?" I beg.

"Pay attention," Plagg begins, then stops.

"Pay attention to what?" I ask eagerly.

"Pay attention."

Why is Plagg always so unhelpful?

{{{{{{{{{{marinette}}}}}}}}}}

"Did everything go well?" I ask Coccinelle.

She sighs. "He. Is. Clueless. One hundred per cent. Tikki followed him home, and confirmed that he did not listen to Plagg's incredibly obvious hint."

"What was it?" I laugh.

" 'Pay attention.' " She shakes her head. "Plagg as good as told him you're right in front of him every day!"

"Marinette!" Maman calls from downstairs. "Marinette, you're going to be late for school!"

"Coming, Maman!" I glance back at Coccinelle. "See you at school!"

She waves, casts her yoyo, and vanishes.

[[[[[[[[[[adrien]]]]]]]]]]

Pay attention… pay attention… what am I paying attention to?

Maybe… see if I can spot anyone who looks like Ladybug? This is my school, though; I'm here every day. If Ladybug went to my school, I think I'd have noticed by now. She's kind, and beautiful, and confident, and strong. If she went to my school, everyone who's into girls would have asked her out by now, and I'm pretty sure I'd have noticed if there was one girl who everyone had a crush on.

I tried asking Plagg about this in the bathroom ten minutes ago, and ever since he's been mumbling, "Nino, Kim, Nathaniel, Luka. Juleka, Rose, Alya, Mylene, Ivan, Marc, Chloe, Sabrina, Mirielle, Manon, Nadja…"

How does he even know these names? He calls Marinette 'Pigtails' still, and I talk about her more than some of those people!

Hey…

I try to remember if he's said Marinette's name once in his ranting. I don't think he has, but I can't be sure.

Has Plagg ever said Marinette's name?

Marinette enters, passing me on the way to her seat. "H-hi, Adrien."

I turn to smile at her. "Good morning, Marinette."

She pinks and looks away.

Marinette has black pigtails like Ladybug, she's kind like Ladybug, helpful like Ladybug, pretty like Ladybug… but she's not confident. She's not Ladybug.

Nino is confident and helpful, I realize when he comes in, but he's not beautiful, he doesn't have black hair, and he's not a girl.

Could the Miraculous make a boy look like a girl? Could I have had a crush on a boy this whole time?

Would that be a bad thing?

Alya? Would she have started a blog based around speculation about her own identity? Maybe. She's kind, pretty, confident. Her hair's not black, and she has a different body type, but… how much can the Miraculous change someone? My eyes change completely, but that's about it. I don't know the extent of the change.

If the Miraculous could change a boy into a girl, then of course it could change hair color and body type, which narrows it down to… everyone in Paris.

...I'm going to assume that the Miraculous can not change body type or gender.

Are there any girls in my class who have Ladybug's body type?

*sigh* Even when he's close, Adrien's still clueless...

OH! Last thing. There's a Ladybug's Joke shipping poll on my profile. Check it out and vote please! Thanks, and don't forget the blog!