A Lady's Scout (and the Salt Within her Soul)
is a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic by SaltHaven.
After Marinette's friends shun her in favor of Lila, Marinette decides to fire them from their roles as temporary heroes and redistribute their kwamis to others. She also designs outfits that are themed around each of the failed hero identities and gives each outfit to the relevant former heroes just as that hero gets fired. It doesn't take the class long to notice that Marinette always gives out a relevant outfit just before a hero gets replaced, and they begin to think she's some kind of scout for Ladybug... exactly as Marinette had planned.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Accusation Fic: The whole story revolves around punishing the former temporary heroes for being Fair-Weather Friends, with Marinette ensuring that they're aware that they're lost Ladybug's trust by mistreating her.
- Always Need What You Gave Up: After shunning Marinette in favor of Lila, her classmates learn that their former friend might actually be working with Ladybug and helping determine who gets trusted with Miraculouses.
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Alya demands to know who Ladybug's stalker is, the superheroine's response causes both her and Lila to freeze:Alya: Multimouse told us that you have a stalker? Who is it?
Ladybug: (arching a brow) Wouldn't you know? You put her on your blog every single week. - Beat Them at Their Own Game: Lila constantly claims to have close ties with various celebrities, including Ladybug herself, in order to impress and curry favor with others. Marinette puts her own distinct spin on this by pretending to be working with her own alter ego.
- Blatant Lies: When asked directly, Ladybug confirms to the new heroes (and Chat Noir) that Marinette has been scouting around Francoise Dupont for her. Along with advancing her plans, this helps safeguard her secret identity.
- Celebrity Lie: Marinette takes advantage of Lila falsely claiming to be friends with her heroic alter ego by feeding her enough rope to hang herself.
- Crossing the Burnt Bridge: Downplayed, but many of the classmates who'd betrayed Marinette's trust by dumping her in favor of Lila attempt to rekindle their friendship once they suspect she's working with Ladybug.
- Death Glare:
- After Lila convinces Alya that Marinette's responsible for her "losing her Miraculous", Alya spends a full week glaring at her former friend whenever she sees her.
- Lila also hits Multimouse with one after Marinette "accidentally" reveals herself.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- After Fennec replaces Rena Rouge, Lila "comforts" Alya by declaring that she would have argued in her favor, if only she and Ladybug hadn't had a falling out... but that Marinette definitely would've encouraged Ladybug to fire her. While this drives a deeper wedge between the two, just like Lila wanted, it also fuels the rumors about Marinette working with the heroine. And since Lila herself claimed that she's on the outs with Ladybug, her friendship isn't as useful to anyone wanting to become a Miraculous hero anymore...
- Also applies to Alya, who is one of the few classmates who doesn't bother trying to regain any favor with Marinette after learning about her rumored connection with Ladybug... as she's too busy glaring at and blaming her for everything.
- Fair-Weather Foe: After Marinette arranges for people to think she's Ladybug's scout, the students who haven't had their Miraculouses replaced yet begin sucking up to her in the hopes that she'll tell Ladybug to let them stay on as heroes. Later, after Lila is outed, everyone tries to become her friend again in the hopes she'll tell Ladybug to give them their Miraculouses back. It doesn't work.
- Fair-Weather Friend:
- Alya, Nino, and pretty much everyone in their class (aside from Chloé and Sabrina) used to be friends with Marinette until they ditched her in favor of Lila. The majority dump Lila just as easily the moment they think they'll benefit more from cozying up to Marinette again.
- They also attempt to repair their relationships with her after Ladybug exposes Lila's true nature, only to be rejected.
- Friend of Masked Self: Marinette deliberately Invokes this as part of her plan to get revenge upon her fair-weather friends while also protecting her secret identity.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- Lila's love of Malicious Slander bites her on the backside when she successfully convinces Alya that Marinette was responsible for her getting fired... and in the process, convinces everyone that their best chance for being chosen by Ladybug is to suck back up to Marinette.
- Ladybug also exploits how Lila falsely claimed to be her friend by accusing her of being a Stalker without a Crush, listing off her numerous exploits as evidence of her obssessive behavior.
- Karmic Jackpot: The people who stayed loyal to Marinette, including Nathaniel, Kagami, and Luka, are rewarded with Miraculouses. (This story was written before any of them received Miraculouses in the canon show.)
- Liar Revealed: Lila is eventually outed by Ladybug as a liar.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: While giving Max a pair of sunglasses as his "parting gift", she assures him that "And don't worry, they'll protect your eyes from dangerous napkins," reminding him of how he'd believed that a wadded-up paper napkin was capable of gouging his eye out.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Lila convinces Alya that Marinette was responsible for her losing her position as the Fox Heroine, unaware that she's right on the money. Not because Marinette bent Ladybug's ear, but because Marinette IS Ladybug.
- Saying Too Much:
- Invoked; Marinette "accidentally" outs herself as Multimouse when she reflexively responds to Miss Bustier's rollcall while transformed. She then tells the class that she can't be a heroine anymore, "Especially when Ladybug's stalker—shit." This allows her to return as Ladybug and accuse Lila of stalking her to an audience that's already primed to believe her.
- Ladybug also prevents Alya from thoughtlessly blurting out Marinette's name while demanding to know who her stalker is.
- Second Super-Identity: To further allay suspicion of being Ladybug, Marinette allows herself to be caught out as Multimouse.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Played With in how Marinette convinces her classmates that she was secretly aware of their secret identities all along.
- Secret Test of Character: Ladybug invoke this after accusing Lila of stalking her:Ladybug: There is one good thing Lila Rossi has done. She has been a wonderful test for my previous temporaries in order to see where their loyalties are.
- Stalker without a Crush: Ladybug names Lila as one, spelling out all the ways she's acted as such when she tries to deny it:Ladybug: Lila Rossi has been claiming many things since she got to Paris. I've heard claims of her being Volpina, a superhero. I've heard her claim that she was a better hero than me, and that she and I are best friends. She's been Akumatized multiple times, and I'm not quite so sure whether or not it's just to get close to me. She has tormented my scout, ostracizing her and claiming that I would support her, that I would listen to her. Lila Rossi has created an illusion in her mind that I owe her my friendship, and that my scout has done her wrong, and I would never trust someone like her.
- Symbol Motif Clothing: Invoked by Marinette; all of the "parting gifts" she creates for the former temporary heroes are clearly inspired by their costumes. Such as a little fox embroidered on the shirt she makes for Alya, or the turtleshell pattern on Nino's new hoodie.
- Tricked Out Time: Marinette notes that Alix seems to think Ladybug has to let her keep the Rabbit Watch in order to avoid time paradoxes; she knows that her future self has the watch, so therefore she must get to keep it at least until that point in the future. This isn't the case; Marinette just retrieves the watch and leaves a replica that's identical in every way except for not being a Miraculous.
