WIPs?

I have no actual quality content to post at the current moment because exams and memes are running me into the ground, but it'll all be over next Monday. And then I have an entire summer to get out all creative urges freely.

So for now, I'm just going to post a bunch of WIPs. Most of these are not going to be continued bc I want to focus most of my attention on The Wolves of Paris. Speaking of The Wolves of Paris, I have already begun drafting the second installment of it. I can hopefully get that out by next week or so.

The first two are art-based, the rest are all story drafts and concepts!! Happy reading.

WIP #1: Pharmachien

Pharmachien was an akuma idea I had when I first dived into the fandom. It was born of the French joke, "Comment s'appelle un chien qui vend des médicaments? Un pharmachien!" (What do you call a dog who sells medicine? A pharmachien! It's really only funny in French, because the word for pharmacist is pharmacien and dog is chien so you put them together..)

Basically the akuma targeted a pharmacist whose pet dog ed away because his child put some medicine where it could reach. And then his child tried to say it was the dog's fault it died because it couldn't speak the human languages in order to tell them it was sick. So the pharmacist became "Le Pharmachien", turning citizens of Paris into dogs to give them a feel of what it was like not being able to speak for themselves.

Aaand I drew Marinette as a Papillon dog (ironically):

This concept was dropped completely because of many things, but mainly because I didn't like how Marinette's design turned out. Bonus: if Adrien had gotten turned, he would have instead became a cat because Plagg wouldn't allow any chosen of his to become a slobbering mutt :^) classic Plagg amirite?

#2: Tigresse Téméraire (ft. Benjii)

In all seriousness I never imagined I'd be making a Miraculous OC, but I just love extinct animals so much and feel 100% like they need representation as Kwamis and heroes. I came up with the concept for Tigresse Téméraire based on the Tasmanian Tiger, or Thylacine. The last living Thylacine recorded was Benjamin, hence why I named the Thylacine Kwami Benjii :^)

I didn't get very far in the drawing board for Tigresse but I did note a lot about her Miraculous and Benjii. The one thing I do have finalized about Tigresse is that she has bold strips on the back of her suit that decrease in number by one stripe every year on her birthday, counting down from 21. For example, when she's eighteen, she'll only have 3 stripes left. This symbolizes the 21 stripes Thylacines have and how they fade as the Thylacine gets older.

Her Miraculous would take the appearance of a traditional Tasmanian wooden necklace with five 'blocks' of wood which would glow when she's transformed and stop glowing one by one to represent the counter. The Kwami, Benjii, is really grouchy. He always finds something to complain about and would rather do everything himself if it meant it gets done right. He eats fish, specifically salmon (though he would go for tuna or sardines if on a tight budget). And although he always acts irritable, he is very shy and caring.

#3: Ne Lâchez Pas

Summary: When Miraculous holders get targeted by an akuma, their body treats it like a foreign substance and tries to purge it from their system. This process is very painful and mostly fatal for the holders. Marinette is having a bad day when Hawkmoth decides to gallivant his akuma to her.

As you can see below, I didn't get very far. Let me know if you'd like to see this oneshot finished!

"For wielding the ladybug miraculous for as long as you have, your body has had to acclimatize. You see, everything living is made of energy. While a magical being such as myself could live symbiotically with another energy, the human body is not adapted to.

"Now that your body is used to solely the ladybug miraculous' energy, it has made way in its energy pathways for the miraculous' energy, or my energy. To introduce a new type of magic into your system - impossible. It would be like transferring a blood type that your own attacks. Your body would treat it as a foreign substance and focus most of your energy on immediately purging it from your system. You'd be lucky to survive the process."

Marinette ed her Kwami's words easily. It had been one of the first lessons drilled into her head upon devoting herself to protecting Paris, and surely, Chat Noir had been similarly warned. Clearly, he had, really, because the genius had never sprung the idea of swapping their miraculous- no doubt something the cat could think of.

So Marinette had been careful. Her classmates regarded her as always being cheerful, but she chalked it down to careful preparation with a little bit of lady luck mixed in that is keeping her from being akumatized. Truth be told, the ravenette was scared of ever finding out what would happen if Hawkmoth decided to target her. She had once hoped that her wielding the miraculous she did would be able to keep Hawkmoth's magic at bay, but when she asked Tikki, she was told no more and no less than the spiel about foreign magicks. While Tikki had never said that she specifically could get akumatized, she never denied it.

Marinette concluded that maybe Hawkmoth's akumas fell under the category of foreign magicks.

She sighed as she halphazardly tossed her necessities into her bag, trusting Tikki to dodge the items. Again, she had woken up late to Tikki's frantic nudges and her parents yelling wake-up calls from the bakery, to which she had attempted to roll over and ignore it- which would have worked wonderfully had she not glimpsed at the clock and realized just how late she was. And though a large part of her brain was yelling at her to speed up getting ready, the smaller part reasoned that, with how late she was, she might as well take her time.

It was quite astonishing, really, to live across the street from the school and yet still have the worst attendance of all of her classmates. She never used to botch up her days with tardies or absences, but it seemingly came with the package of being a superhero.

When she finally skidded into the classroom an hour late, a loose paper caught her foot and she ended up careening into the door she'd just opened, slamming it shut and alerting the entire class to her arrival. She straightened her back slowly, giving a nervous smile to Mme Bustier as she began the walk of shame to her desk.

"Marinette," Mme Bustier interrupted, her eyes trailing the form of the candid superhero. "Please do make an effort to make it to class on time.. Come up here and grab a packet from my desk."

Marinette slumped her shoulders slightly as she spun on her heel, marching back down the few steps. Mme Bustier extended a hand to her, a thick packet held in her hand. Marinette gulped. She dearly hoped it wasn't all due by the end of the class.

"It was initially intended to be groupwork," Mme Bustier clarified, seeing the look on her face, "but it would be unfair to any group to allow you to copy what they've worked on."

The ravenette's eyes widened and she threw a startled glance at her classmates, realizing that, indeed, they were grouped up into unusual seating arrangements. Alya, Nino, and Adrien offered a sympathetic smile as she raked her gaze over their chaotic circle of papers. There was a shine in Alya's eye that let Marinette know that she'd help her catch up after class.

"Thanks, Mme Bustier.." Marinette mumbled as she took the packet. "When.. when would this be due?"

Mme Bustier's eyes softened at the resigned tone. "The end of class. But.. since you came in late, I suppose I'll allow you to work on it through lunch."

A few mutters traveled around the classroom, expressing her classmates' disdain at the extension of her time, but nobody actually voiced a loud complaint.

Marinette weighed her options. She could stay in for lunch and work on the assignment- she'd done it before- but that unfortunately meant she'd miss out on eating lunch. Or, she could instead try and finish the lengthy assignment within the next thirty minutes, and surely cost her a good grade.

"I'll stay during lunch." She acknowledged and proceeded to find an empty desk opposite in the room to her usual seat. Her bag was gently pressed to the floor and she slapped the assignment in front of her, pulling out her trusty pen and immediately getting to work. Dipping her head, she mumbled, "So much for helping me catch up, Alya."

#4: Dog-shifter AU

"You did what?!" A short, lithe man with untamed black hair exclaimed. His almost unnaturally bright green eyes flashed dangerously in the dimly lit apartment as he tossed the papers he had just been handed by the blond opposing him down onto a nearby counter. The papers slid across the slightly-cluttered but nonetheless smooth marble.

The blonde offered him a none-too-apologetic look, shifting his feet slightly. "I know very well you can read those papers, Plagg," he snapped, "you taught me to read, for god's sake!"

"Oh, I can read the darn papers Adrien!" He hissed, balling his fists at his sides. The tidy black vest he was wearing folded as he hunched over the pushthrough, turning away from Adrien. "I meant, what in the name of God persuaded you that- that g up for the dog show was a good idea?!"

"Because I have spent my entire life cooped up in your apartment, training as both a canine and myself and I don't even know what for! The least I could do is share my talent with the world, even if it is in the form of a goshdarn dog!" He was yelling at this point, but neither man cared: they knew the walls were too thick and the space between houses was grand enough that they would not be overheard.

Plagg slammed a fist down on the pushthrough countertop. "That's how they find you, boy! That's how they find every potential hound!" His body was visibly trembling, but whether it be fear or anger, his companion couldn't feasably tell. "Lord, your mother did not have me rescue you just for you to turn yourself in! Literally right into their hands!"

"Don't bring my mother into this!" Adrien howled, moving forward to grip his guardian by the shoulder. He turned him to see face to face and gripped his vest tightly with another fist. "She has nothing to do with this!"

"But she does, Adrien! You're just too thick to see it!"

"And you're too secretive!" Adrien's retort was fiery and quick. He shoved Plagg back against the counter. "Maybe I wouldn't be so thick and stupid if you'd just tell me what the heck was going on!"

Plagg looked like he was going to respond for a good second, but he seemed to think better of it as he snapped his mouth shut. The flame that had lit in his eyes simmered out and he swatted Adrien's hand off of his vest.

"Please." Adrien released him and took a step back, running a hand through his messy locks. "You're always talking about a 'them' and I don't know who 'they' are. Just.. tell me. Please."

That's all for now!