Alix the Dummy
is a completed Miraculous Ladybug fanfic by CartoonAddict564.
Alix Kubdel is content to identify as the class jock, someone who is really good at sports and a dummy when it comes to anything else. That's why she doesn't get involved when Lila begins spreading stories of Marinette bullying her; she figures it would be best to let one of the smarter people in class clear up the 'misunderstanding' rather than get involved herself. But then she learns that Ladybug has started stripping the temporary Miraculous wielders of their powers, and she begins to fear that she might be next. In order to save her future as a hero, not to mention her friends and classmates, the class dummy is going to have to think fast and find a way to deal with Lila once and for all.
Alix the Dummy contains examples of:
- Betrayal by Inaction: It's implied that Marinette thinks Alix is doing this, while in reality Alix isn't dealing with Lila's lies because she (Alix) doesn't think she's smart enough to be able to solve the class's conflicting dynamics.
- Book Dumb: Alix notes that a C+ on a history quiz actually improves her grade average. Later, Kim teases Alix for botching an easy history question asking when the War of 1812 happened (Alix thought it was a trick question).
- Chronic Self-Deprecation: Alix doesn't think she can do much of anything except for sports. Even her failure to support Marinette is due to Alix's deep belief that she can't possibly be smart enough to mend the rifts in the class, so she shouldn't try.
- Diplomatic Impunity: After Lila's crimes are exposed, she tries to invoke her diplomatic immunity so she can't be arrested or deported, but the Italian government is so revolted by Lila's actions that it withdraws her immunity.
- Dumb Jock: As a skilled athlete who isn't great at school, Alix identifies as one of these.
- Dysfunctional Family: Alix starts the story in one of these, with her brother obsessively researching ancient Egyptian magic to try to resurrect their mother (and disdaining Alix for not sharing his obsession), and her father having lost all trust in Alix after she lied to him about 'losing' an important family heirloom (it was really a disguised Miraculous, but Alix couldn't tell him that and so she made up a dumb lie which he saw through immediately.) As she tries to become a better person in order to prevent Ladybug from stripping her of her Miraculous, she works on addressing these problems and building better relationships with her family.
- Hidden Depths: Alix turns out to have a surprisingly sophisticated wine palette, thanks to her father having her attend countless parties at the Louvre where drinks were served. She's sampled so many different kinds of wines and spirits that she can tell them apart by taste, and—as Bob Roth finds out—she can also tell when someone is trying to pass cheap wine off as quality drinks.
- The Load: Alix thinks that Pierre, one of her soccer teammates, is this: Pierre can't be cut because his uncle owns the league, so he slacks off and doesn't really try during practices. Alix, who at the time is under the impression Ladybug cannot take away her Miraculous because that would cause a temporal paradox, then begins wondering if she also might be this to the Miraculous hero team.
- Morton's Fork: Lila's situation at the end boils down to choosing whether she'll be tried by the Italian or French justice systems. While the two outcomes aren't completely identical—France can charge her with all the crimes she committed helping Shadowmoth, while Italy can only go after her for the specific crimes she committed against Marinette (who has Italian citizenship)—both outcomes will result in Lila spending a long time in jail. She also thinks that if she stays in France she might be handed over to Morocco, which has threatened to execute her in recompense for her trying to use her akuma powers to kill Alix (who has Moroccan citizenship), but that's just a bluff by France to encourage Lila to 'voluntarily' return to Italy as soon as possible, thus getting her out of the country preventing Shadowmoth from akumatizing her.
- Persona Non Grata: Lila's diplomatic immunity is eventually revoked.
- Temporal Paradox: Alix thinks that she cannot be stripped of her Miraculous because doing so would create one of these; if she doesn't become a hero, then her future self couldn't help fight akumas such as Timetagger. Ladybug eventually explains that there are ways around the paradox (such as by sending back someone else using the Fox to simply look like Bunnyx).
- Tricked Out Time: After Alix expresses her worry that she might be a terrible hero whom Ladybug can't get rid of because doing so would cause time paradoxes, Ladybug explains a couple workarounds, such as using an illusion or a sentimonster to simply make it look like Bunnyx had come back and done all the stuff they saw Bunnyx do.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Lila claims Marinette treated her cruelly and insulted her, and while she asks the others not to judge Marinette over it, it's clear that's just a ruse and she's trying to wreck Marinette's friendships by exploiting the others' pity and compassion for her.
