Soulmate Survey is a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic written by gale-of-the-nomads on Tumblr.
A new app called "Soulmate Searcher" is launched on international servers. After some prodding from Alya and Nino, Marinette and Adrien both end up taking the questionaire and against all odds, score 100% compatibility with each other.
First part can be read here.
Also posted to Archiveofourown.
Soulmate Survey contains examples of:
- And Now You Must Marry Me: Fandoom kidnaps Adrien and plans to force him to marry not just her, but all his other fangirls, who she has brainwashed into a minion army, claiming that he, as an idol, belongs to all of them, not just one person.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Ladybug tries to get through to Fandoom, an akumatized Loony Fan of Adrien's, by asking "Do you know him?" - the idea is that Fandoom/Adrienne is merely Loving a Shadow. It almost works, until Hawk Moth butts in.
- Ass Shove: Chloé, after realizing that the app doesn't match her with Adrien, longs to shove the app up Max's ass so far that "he would be barfing pixels".
- Big Damn Heroes: Marinette is about to be captured by the Adri-knights when Chat Noir shows up.
- Birds of a Feather: Ostensibly, why the titular app paired Adrien and Marinette together.
- Blackmail: Lila, after acquiring Adrien's compatibility list, tries to force Marinette to fill out her Soulmate Searcher profile so she can also get a perfect match with Adrien. She threatens to leak the list to get Marinette to cave - while Marinette and Kagami can defend themselves, any other girls on Adrien's list may not be so lucky. Marinette, in turn, records Lila's blackmail attempt and sends it to Alya as backup.
- Blatant Lies: Lila, obviously, duh. A particularly egregious example is when she's confronted for tricking Nino so she could get Adrien's compatibility list.
- Break Them by Talking: Masquerade can take control of people and turn them into their akumas by doing this.
- Broke the Rating Scale: According to Max (who tested the Soulmate Searcher app with various bots), it's impossible to get a match with perfect 100% compatibility - the idea is that being too similar can be overly suffocating, and the class couples (Alya and Nino, Ivan and Mylene, and Rose and Juleka) have scores in the 80s, or high 70s. Leave it to Marinette and Adrien to prove him wrong (not that he actually knows about it yet).
- Burn the Witch!: Fandoom plans to burn Marinette at the stake for getting 100% with Adrien on Soulmate Searcher.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Chloe regularly offends so many people that she can’t keep track of who might have a recent grudge against her. So she makes Sabrina do it.Sabrina: You had that argument with Max about the app, insulted Myléne’s favorite charity and called the cause stupid, Told Rose that the reason Prince Ali hasn’t written back to her in the last few weeks was because he was sick of her, told Kim his swim cap makes him look like a bowling pin, mocked Nathanael and Alix’s art project collaboration, and… Oh! You also made fun of Marinette’s design sketches. I think that was it for last week. It was a light week.
- Caught on Tape:
- Marinette records Lila blackmailing her into filling out the Soulmate Searcher quiz, and even goads her into admitting to many of her lies on the recording. Lila succeeds in deleting the original recording, but by that point, Marinette has given Alya a backup copy, and Alya has in turn made her own backup.
- Alya looks at the school's security footage while gathering evidence for her master document on Lila's lies and finds footage of Lila willingly akumatizing herself — irrefutable proof of her alliance with Hawkmoth.
- Celebrity Crush: Vivienne is a serial version of this, "changing" her name to fit whichever celebrity she is most interested in. Her latest version is Adrienne, due to her interest in Adrien.
- Character Development: Alya's refusal to believe Marinette about Lila's lies is justified here with a Call-Back to her first akumatization as Lady Wifi, where she made a fool of herself by jumping to the conclusion that Chloe was Ladybug. After learning the truth, Alya admits that she tried to learn from that failure, but ultimately overcompensated by leaning too far in the other direction. She promises to learn from this mistake as well and be more supportive of her friends in the future. In addition, she makes very sure that she has reliable sources and indisputable proof of Lila's misdeeds before exposing her.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Lila and Adrienne.
- Clueless Chick-Magnet: Subverted, Adrien is very aware of how some of his fans would react to finding out he has a kinda-maybe girlfriend.
- Crush Blush: Marinette obviously. Adrien gets in on it too, once he sees who he's paired with.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Chloé believes that the app is broken because it didn't put Adrien on her list. The idea that she's not as compatible with Adrien as she thinks doesn't cross her mind - and indeed, Adrien notes his absence from Chloé's list as a point in the app's favor.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Adrien and Marinette both have this reaction to each other's outfits.
- Entitled to Have You: Adrienne and Lila towards Adrien.
- Adrienne actually thinks Adrien should belong to ALL his fans, not just her.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Lila is genuinely horrified by the thought of watching her mother's heart break as she learns of all the horrible things Lila has done.
- Evil Is Petty: Lila tops herself in this department in Chapter 9, when she's fixated on deleting the audio evidence of her blackmailing Marinette over the akuma attack that is happening that very second (which she caused, no less).
- Fighting from the Inside: While fighting the Adri-knights, Ladybug and Chat Noir run across a brainwashed Kagami and members of Kitty Section, respectively. In both cases, the heroes are able to give the Adri-knights pause by reminding them that the things they're doing under Fandoom's control are things they would never normally allow, causing them to hesitate as they struggle against Fandoom's directives. Later, Maggie breaks through Fandoom's control in a similar manner when her concern for her friend becomes stronger than the compulsion to follow orders.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: During Lila's attempt to blackmail Marinette, Max reveals that his various dummy profiles (used to test the system) got deleted after the app's most recent update, as he set them up to respond to questions in the exact same way (which exposed them as obvious bots). After a scene change, Marinette answering Lila's questions the exact same way she answered her own (at Lila's insistence) gets the liar's account mistaken for a bot and suspended.
- Hidden Depths: Who would have expected Kagami Tsurugi to be a Pungeon Master?
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: Lila's attempt to blackmail Marinette into giving her a perfect match with Adrien (by answering the questionnaire exactly as she did for her own profile) gets it flagged as a possible bot, leading to Lila's account being suspended. The best part? Marinette didn't even know that would happen - not that she isn't overjoyed to find out.
- Gabriel ends up being a victim of Masquerade, the akuma he made from Lila.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: The heroes break Luka and Kagami out of the Adri-knight armor in this manner, by stirring up their conflicted emotions enough that they can't resist having their crests broken (which releases them from Fandoom's control). This is also the key to stop Fandoom herself, with Adrienne's best friend convincing her to stand down and let Ladybug and Chat Noir de-akumatize her.
- I Made Copies:
- After tricking Adrien into sending her his compatibility list, Lila shows up the next day, apologizes, and deletes the pictures right in front of him. Naturally, Lila has already saved multiple backup copies and the "confession" was just a ploy to get back into Adrien's good graces.
- Marinette records Lila blackmailing her to take the Soulmate Searcher quiz for her. Since she knows Lila will pull out all the stops to get rid of it, Marinette immediately sends a backup copy to Alya for safekeeping. And after her curiosity gets the better of her, Alya makes her own backup copy.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: After Adrien and Marinette take their respective tests, Lila's luck starts to run out.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Luka (as Viperion) takes a hit from Dead Zone and loses all of his memories.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Lila gets a lot of this. One of the ship tags on AO3 is even "Lila Rossi/Karma".
- In Chapter 3, Lila uses Nino's phone to trick Adrien into sending her his list. Though she erases the evidence on Nino's end, Adrien compares notes with Nino the next day and the two quickly put together what happened. This blatant invasion of privacy convinces Nino and Alya to examine Lila's behavior more closely, and Adrien that he was wrong to suggest the "high road" approach that kept Marinette from being more proactive in exposing Lila.
- In Chapter 5, Lila forces Marinette to fill out the Soulmate Searcher personality quiz for her, using the exact same answers Marinette herself used to ensure Lila also gets 100% compatibility with Adrien. Cut to Max complaining about how most of his dummy accounts were deleted because they gave identical answers to the personality quizzes. Cut back to Lila submitting her quiz and being greeted by a notice that her account has been flagged as a bot. And as the icing on the cake, Marinette then reveals she recorded Lila blackmailing her — a recording which later convinces Nino, Alya and the rest of the class of Lila's lies for good.
- Chapter 9 sees Lila deliberately upsetting an Adrien superfan into an akuma to create an opening so she can steal Marinette's phone and delete the earlier recording of her blackmail. However, she only gets rid of the original copy on Marinette's phone, leaving Marinette's backups untouched. Lila's efforts to twist the situation in her favor as things spiral out of control further alienate Adrien, Alya, and Nino, and earn the ire of both Luka and Kagami in the bargain when Vivienne's friend Maggie reveals the truth behind Fandoom to the heroes.
- In Chapter 17, Lila tries to double down on her lies to Carapace and Rena Rouge, blaming Marinette for locking her in a closet and claiming Luka and Kagami attacked her for no reason. The heroes, already well aware of her lies, recognize this as further confirmation of her manipulative nature and are quick to warn Ladybug to keep an eye on her. Lila's efforts to drape herself all over Carapace in front of his girlfriend do not help.
- After the disaster with Fandoom, Lila changes tacks, starting with visiting Gabriel and convincing him that the Soulmate Searcher app is dangerous and Adrien's friends, and Marinette in particular, are a bad influence. Much to her fury, Gabriel reveals he has done his own research and deemed the app harmless. Then, to rub salt in the wound, he declares his approval of both Marinette and Adrien's budding relationship with her.
- Chapter 26 sees Lila lap up the opportunity to give another interview for the Ladyblog, including talking about the experience of being Akumatized and confirming that people who are akumatized willingly retain their memories. In doing so, she confirms to Alya that she has been willingly akumatized before, since Alya is now well aware that Lila doesn't really know Ladybug. The evidence goes straight into a Ladyblog article that exposes Lila as a Hawkmoth sympathizer.
- Lila makes a massive effort to discredit Marinette and turn her friends against her once and for all. Sadly for Lila, Alya comes prepared with her own ammunition; a master document that debunks almost all of Lila's lies using reliable sources and evidence, which she sends to the entire student body and their parents for good measure. Once Lila's mother gets involved, it's all over for her.
- Loony Fan: "Adrienne". Look no further than her name.
- Love Epiphany: Adrien has one about his feelings for Marinette.
- Loving a Shadow: Adrienne/Fandoom loves her idealized image of Adrien without even knowing the real deal, which Ladybug attempts to exploit.
- Mook Maker: Fandoom. A staple of akuma really.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Fandoom wants to murder Marinette, due to the latter's 100% compatibility with Adrien (which she knows about due to Lila's machinations) making her the most obvious obstacle for the former.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- Lila manages to weasel her way back into Adrien, Alya, and Nino's good graces after she gets her hands on Adrien's compatibility list, going to far as to "confess" and delete a copy of the list from her phone while Adrien watches. However, she then tries to take advantage of her knowledge by forcing Marinette to take the personality quiz for her and provoking "Adrienne's" akumatization into Fandoom, which promptly ruins her credibility again.
- Hawk Moth spends several days subtly winding Lila up and waiting for her to boil over in order to create his most powerful akuma yet. However, the situation soon spirals out of his control when Masquerade seizes control of the school faster than he anticipated, trapping Nathalie inside before she can take Adrien to safety - and later causing him to fall victim to Masquerade's power.
- Simularé is Mayura's most complex and intelligent sentimonster yet. Being modeled off of Lila's personality, however, it quickly begins trying to manipulate the situation to its own gain, independently of its creator or its controller.
- Oh, Crap!: Lila's reaction to seeing Adrien and Marinette's 100% compatibility.
- Pair the Spares: After having struck out with Marinette and Adrien respectively, Luka and Kagami start having some Ship Tease.
- Punny Name: Fandoom. Really, it'd be weird if the akuma didn't have one.
- Pride: Lila's character wouldn't be complete without a healthy dose of arrogance. But once she's akumatized into Masquerade, her delusions of grandeur expand dramatically. Perhaps most prominent is that she decides she is now far above Adrien, musing that she might be willing to let him wait on her hand and foot if he's willing to beg for mercy once her minions capture him.
- Pyromaniac: Fandoom and her minions.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When Lila is akumatized into Masquerade, she gives people this to bring out their worst fears and insecurities in order to get them upset enough to put them under her control.
- She tells Principal Damocles that he is deluding himself to be a hero, when really, he is too old to be a real hero like the ones he admires and is secretly jealous of Ladybug and Chat Noir for getting to live his dream.
- She tells Alya she puts her own opinions above everyone else’s because she hates how vulnerable she is when she’s wrong, not caring if they hurt others; that her confidence is to hide the baggage of her Middle Child Syndrome; and that she’s secretly worried that her relationship with Nino is him On the Rebound after he failed with Marinette in “Animan”.
- Alix is taunted with her insecurities about her height and her fear that everyone will forever see her as the sister of her Cloud Cuckoo Lander brother Jalil, scolded that despite her attitude, she really does care what others think of her.
- Rose is outed as a Stepford Smiler who lives in denial about the cruelties of the real world, preaching to others about pushing through while ignoring the seriousness of real world problems in the hope that they will go away if she doesn’t acknowledge them.
- Lila digs up Juleka’s fears of being invisible and forgotten, a bad clash with her social anxiety and cowardice to go after what she really wants.
- Ivan’s old insecurities about his size and fear that everyone will only see him as a big, tough monsters and never truly love him are brought up, and seeing him fall victim to Masquarade makes Mylene so upset, Lila doesn’t need to talk about her fears of the real world and losing her boyfriend.
- Max has a Inferiority Superiority Complex, having to be the smartest and the best at what he’s good at, like science and video-games, to hide his lack of personality.
- Kim is confident to hide his fear... that no one will think he’s smart. Considering he’s considered the Dumb Jock of the class, it’s pretty safe to say this fear is already true, but Kim seems to think his friends think otherwise. Lila is so over this she just slams the mask on him without waiting for him to get upset.
- Nathaniel is so scared of opening up, he didn’t download the app out of the fear that it would confirm him and Marc are not the perfect match, and even so, he believes that his lack of emotional availability will one day drive Marc away.
- Sabrina is told that the only reason she accepts her role as Chloe’s Beta Bitch is out her desperate desire to have a friend, even one as nasty as Chloé. Sabrina would rather be bullied and humiliated by Chloé on a regular basis than face being alone.
- Gabriel Agreste is confronted with his fears that everything he did as Hawk Moth may have been All for Nothing, because deep down he knows Emily will never come back from her coma.
- Nathalie is forced to acknowledge that her feelings for Gabriel will never be reciprocated, as Gabriel will never stop loving his wife and doesn't hold any romantic interest in her.
- Running Gag: Lila cannot enter a janitor's closet without sustaining some sort of Amusing Injury, be it tripping into a bucket of dirty mop water or knocking over a broom which hits her on the head.
- The Sociopath: Lila, even more than usual, as she deliberately sets up Adrienne to be akumatized, knowing that she's risking Marinette's life. Nino even outright calls Lila a sociopath upon finding out about her (comparatively) less evil blackmail attempt.
- Too Much Alike: According to Max, averting this is why Soulmate Searcher doesn't give 100% matches - the idea is that contrasting somewhat can prevent this trope from kicking in.
- Villainous Crush: Lila and Adrienne, the latter once she's akumatized into Fandoom.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Justified for the heroes as they're fighting a supervillain who wants to keep Adrien all for herself and do something unpleasant to Marinette.
- Yandere: Adrienne again. Made even worse after she's akumatized.
- Your Favorite: Played straight with Marinette and subverted with Fandoom.
