#also. mao isn't killing them of course

[fiblertsos]

Page 8... I was stoked to draw this one, the thumbnail came out rad and I think I made it justice

Mao is frustrated and True Adell is.... difficult

Read Our Broken Hearts chronologically [here]!

[alicent-vi-britannia]

Why was Lelouch's manipulation effective on Rolo?

One of this year's "resolutions" I set for my Code Geass page was that I was going to give more space to Rolo. Rolo is my favorite secondary character in Code Geass, even above Shirley and Euphemia, but I haven't talked about him much and I wanted to rectify that. This Monday I published a survey to my followers in which I invited them to vote for the analysis of Rolo that they were most interested in me doing. There were three options:

⭐Why was Lelouch's manipulation effective on Rolo? ⭐Why did Rolo kill Shirley? ⭐The parallels between V.V. and Rolo

There was a close competition between the second and the winner, which is what you can read in the title of the publication. Don't worry if you didn't win the analysis you wanted because those analyzes will come gradually. Furthermore, there is an important point in common that we must take into consideration in the two most requested analyzes: Rolo's background.

So who the fuck is Rolo? He is a trained assassin who works for the O.S.I. which, in turn, is in connection with the Geass Order and both organizations answer to the Emperor and V.V. (the devilish brothers). Episode 3 of R2 gives us an overview of him and how he normally acts if Lelouch is not with him (yes, being Lelouch's shy and devoted brother is Rolo's mask, but, as a professor told me in a class a while ago, masks are not necessarily fake and this mask is actually a side of him that not even Rolo himself knew). At the same time, episode 3 drops some seeds (problems) that will bloom over the course of the season:

His extreme loneliness: Rivalz casually comments that Rolo does not talk to anyone at school and, additionally, we see that it is difficult for him to work as a team (there is a scene with Villetta in which the members of the O.S.I. complain to her because Rolo has killed some of them for stupid reasons). All of this results in his poor social skills and him distrusting everyone (and himself). I won't use the enneagram right now, but Rolo is undoubtedly a 6w5 one-to-one subtype and with that information, a connoisseur of this tool can get a general idea of the motivations behind Rolo's strange behaviors.

His budding interest and need to understand the meanings of "having a family" and "birthdays," which tie into the heart-shaped locket that Lelouch gave him (and for which he killed a member of the O.S.I. just for touching it). It isn't until we reach episode 4 of R2 that we are introduced to Rolo's past that we understand this curiosity he has.

Rolo and Mao are similar in several ways. They are both orphans, given a Geass that was too powerful for them at a very young age, and are amoral as a result of their particular lives. Specifically, Rolo wasn't raised as a human, but rather he was trained from birth to be a killing machine. Therefore, he has no social skills or moral codes, he has no notion of what is right and wrong, he has never had a family, he doesn't know how to make friends and, of course, he has no idea what love is nor does he know how to love (this last part is important because that's what his narrative arc is about, by the way).

Rolo was taught to follow orders, solve problems and repress his social, emotional and affective needs. Rolo has convinced himself that it was okay for him to live as he has been because he has focused on the present by completing the missions assigned to him. It's Lelouch who motivates him to think about the future and find meaning in life: "Rolo, what is the future? The future is hope. Without hope, your life is empty. And you have no hope beyond your mission. Rolo, if you capture C.C., what kind of future will it open up for you? Things will remain as they are and nothing will change." It's more or less the same situation that Kallen goes through in the first season since she also has to define her objectives and motivations and, in fact, the mental breakdown that Rolo suffers is similar to the one that Kallen had on Kaminejima Island because both they see how the lie that they believed to be true crumbles before their eyes. In Rolo's case, after all, Lelouch does care more than the mission (or, in other words, that his emotional ties are real).

The difference between the two is that Rolo isn't mentally healthy and here we find other parallels with Mao. Both are, first and foremost, victims of child abuse by people who should have protected them, but decided to use them for their benefit (C.C. in the case of Mao and V.V. in the case of Rolo) and both are hungry for love for their loved ones (C.C. and Lelouch respectively). I would add that they are also children who didn't grow up well. That's why Rolo's locket is shaped like a heart: it symbolizes the love (of Lelouch) that Rolo desperately wants.

Even if Rolo sees himself as a weapon because he has been dehumanized by the Geass Order, he is human and, like every person, wants to be loved (C.C. literally wants to die because she believes there is no love in her life). This need combined with Lelouch's search for meaning based on his agenda (being his little brother) leads Rolo to turn such meaning into his reason for living. "I made you a promise. I promised you a new future. Your future is with me" (or, what is the same, "your future is me").

Of course, there is a difference between Mao and Rolo (which is the same difference between V.V. and him) that I won't reveal now. I will say that, although the relationship between Rolo and Lelouch will evolve into a dependency on the boy's part that will aggravate his mental state, it constitutes a turning point in his narrative arc since, in addition to giving him a goal and motivation, this is the first time that Rolo thinks about himself and what he wants for himself, which is good for Rolo since he begins to value his life and Lelouch won't face consequences for manipulating, lying and using an amoral young murderer with strong emotional deficiencies who has been indoctrinated by a malevolent organization, right? RIGHT?!

No, forget it. Shirley dies.

But I'll reserve that for the next analysis. Honestly, I'm glad this analysis came out first because when I release Shirley's I'll be more direct in touching on Rolo's background and focus on Rolo's fears and feelings and explaining something nonsense called "anxious attachment." React and share, if you want to see it soon, as well as other analyzes of Rolo (I need to analyze his death scene because it is heartbreakingly beautiful and meaningful, even more so with the music).

Thanks for reading me.

[bllsbailey]

We Can Never Know How Evil These People Were

As those whom the media have protected may finally be exposed for their actions, we might start to get a glimpse of how evil certain people have been both at home and abroad.

Joseph Stalin was a mass murderer. He was also, unfortunately for humanity, a fairly smart guy. He made many observations such as it does not matter who votes but rather who counts the ballots. Or when pressed to get the Pope to come out against the Nazis, he asked how many divisions the Pope had available to fight. One of Stalin’s more famous comments was “One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.” There is absolutely no way to know how many people Joe Stalin,  Adolph Hitler or Chairman Mao killed. If one searches for the number, he might find quite a broad range, plus or minus a couple million. There is no way to know how evil these people were. We may know a great deal but we will never have a final accounting.

During Stalin’s reign, much of the Western intellectual set and the press warbled on about the wonderful Workers Paradise that was the Soviet Union. They knew of Stalin’s brutal actions in Ukraine and the resulting famine, but they would not report it. It was not until Nikita Kruschev denounced his predecessor that a green light was given to the New York Times and other newsrooms to report about the gulags, starvation, show trials, and summary executions. The press was rooting for Stalin and the anti-Capitalistic system for as long as they could. When the jig was up, they decided to try something new: report the news.

As the Trump transition is only a few weeks away, will we have a similar national experience of finding out more about the damage that Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Tony Fauci, Bill Gates and others protected by the press did? There are many things we know, in part due to websites like this one and the newly freed X social media juggernaut. But still, there is a good deal that we don’t know—and may never know. I remember that when Obama ran for the presidency for the first time, the LA Times said that it had a video of a younger Obama speaking with a known Israel-hating professor. They said that they would never let the video see the light of day. But isn't it their job to report the news? Aren’t they supposed to help us better understand the world in which we live? No. Their sole job is to protect the system that they have bought into. And that system may be going under when Donald Trump raises his right hand and once again swears to uphold the Constitution.

Can we ever know how much money Hillary Clinton directed to the Clinton Foundation in return for favors from the sitting secretary of state? How about the Bidens? We have seen snippets of their corruption through former business partners and of course the Hunter laptop. Can we know how much money they received and from whom? Do we know everything they did for the advancement of their partners’ interests at the expense of American needs and advantage? We will never know all of the details, even if there is a special counsel. The same is true for Barack Obama. We know from a hot mic that he promised Vladimir Putin to be more “flexible” after the 2012 election. He sent pallets of money to the mullahs to help them continue their terror activities. But can we ever know how many individuals and companies suffered because of the actions of Obama and his coterie? How many companies fired employees as federal monies were directed to favored green losers? How much of our tax money was wasted on trash companies only because the owners or investors gave a lot of money to the Obama or Biden campaigns? Like with Covid, we will never have an accurate number of those damaged and how many trillions destroyed.

And as for Covid, will we ever have a complete report on the damage caused by Tony Fauci and his chums at the NIH and big pharma? How many young men have heart troubles because we were lied to about the safety of the mRNA vaccines? How many children today are way, way back in their education and development because for the 1% chance that they might get sick, they needed to stay home and lose their future? Can anyone say how many firms went out of business because of the fake six-foot rule? How many died because available treatments were swept away in order to make way for the mRNA vaccines and mammoth profits? I may not agree with Bobby Kennedy, Jr. on every subject, but one thing that I have found is that he always brings the receipts. He showed that Fauci and company had to get rid of any possible Covid treatment in order to allow for an emergency approval of the experimental treatments. Then, when the pandemic had passed, we started to see that some of those banned treatments actually worked, while the usefulness of the mRNA vaccines has a bigger and bigger question marker after it.

The Pentagon went all in on DEI, and how many soldiers died? How did the failures there lead to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza? How many promising officer candidates stayed out of the armed forces in order not to swear an oath to a guy wearing a dress? Can our fighting forces be brought back up to snuff quickly enough to meet the global challenges of China, Russia and a changing Middle East?

None of what the left did could have taken place without the specific aid of the bureaucracy and the media—including social media. The FBI went from the premier law enforcement agency to a Stasi-like enforcer. Talk about trans surgeries for minors on Facebook and win a visit from two plainclothes agents. The media also had to make Nancy Pelosi’s stock riches disappear, for risk that we might notice that she and many others in Congress were becoming fabulously wealthy with their exemption from insider trading laws. Who could forget Twitter closing the account of anyone who dared to share a completely accurate description of Hunter Biden’s laptop and its contents? We are currently experiencing the bureaucracy and the media working to convince us that millions of unvetted immigrants and strange drones in the skies are no big deals. Tony Blinken ran out and rented 51 former intelligence hotshots, who had sworn their allegiance to the United States. to lie and say that Hunter’s laptop was invented in Putin’s living room. They have not apologized for bamboozling the American people, and some of them are proud of what they did. Stalin would give them a kiss on the forehead: never apologize for your more unseemly actions.

The return of Donald Trump and the changing of the guard at the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Pentagon and elsewhere will hopefully have two positive effects. One is to get those bodies once again focused on serving the American people and advancing American (not Democratic) interests. And finally, maybe with new people in place who have the power of investigation and declassification, we will start to get a glimpse of how evil, narrow minded, selfish, and destructive the Obama-Pelosi-Biden-Donors mafia truly was.

There was a story in the early 1990’s of a young East German couple who protested against American nuclear weapons in Europe. When the USSR fell and people were allowed to see their state files, the woman was flummoxed to learn that her long-haired hippie husband was a Stasi informant on her. I would not be surprised if we learn of similar acts of betrayal by many of those who ran the country for the past sixteen years. 

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

I honestly think people are groomed into believing that hate is the proper approach. However, I also think that there is tons of propaganda out there made to make people take a certain notion as absolute fact and all other notions that go against that as absolute wrong or evil.

And this actually stems more from the death of critical. Which was a practice taught in schools for a long time until it stopped being taught in schools. And there might not be an agreement, but part of that stems from Marxism seeping into teaching institutions. Because if you need further proof of that look no further than the fact that people like Stalin and Mao are viewed as either not evil at all. Or not that bad. Despite the fact that the amount of people that they killed in comparison with Hitler almost isn't even comparable. Because both Mao and Stalin killed more people but Mao killed almost double what both of them killed. Yet only Hitler is the "be all, end all evil." This of course has trickled down to things like Pirates, Vikings, Pre colonial tribes and civilizations, etc. It's and extreme over correct.

Just bring back critical thinking. That would fix a lot of this.

there's been a lot of obnoxious pop history trends in the last few years but the bizarre total sanitization of vikings/pirates has to be one of the worst. like sorry to the queer neopagan anarchy symbol in bio twitter user community but like. are you aware both vikings and pirates enthusiastically traded slaves

[heavymetalchemist]

Jiang Cheng's arrogance and pride are actually really important for him to have as a leader. Arrogance has a negative connotation, but in the martial arts world of ancient fantasy China it's a show of strength that Jiang Cheng has to put up.

In MDZS the sects are family-based (thanks, Wen Mao!) and so their power is very much like noble families, where people are loyal to the main inner family because, well, they're the direct descendants of the founder. There isn't quite the same "divine right of kings" as you get in European countries, but there is the implication that by virtue of family/bloodline, they should be in charge. This tracks with principles of filial piety, too.

However, Jiang Cheng's entire family was murdered. He presumably still has relatives through his mother's side (MeishanYu) but Yu Ziyuan married out, so he doesn't have the same claim there that he would have with the paternal family. Since all the Jiangs would stay with the Jiang sect, they've all been killed, so he doesn't have support from paternal family, either. What this means is that all the people who naturally would have been his disciples, all those that would have been under his leadership just because of his birth, are gone. (Sure there might be a few still floating around, who hadn't been at Lotus Pier at the time of the massacre, but certainly not enough for a whole sect!)

So Jiang Cheng has to rebuild the Jiang sect based on merit. He has to convince rogue cultivators to come together under his banner, to follow him as their leader. He has to have that arrogance and pride, because if he is wishy-washy at all, who is going to follow him? He has to draw that around himself as armor, he has to be prickly, he can't show weakness - not if he is to rebuild his sect and get his revenge.

And he did that himself. He had already drawn people to his banner and was already calling himself the Jiang Sect Leader before they found WWX. Even if people then joined the Jiang sect due to WWX, WWX wasn't teaching them. WWX refused to teach anyone demonic cultivation, so who was the person actually teaching and leading these recruits? Jiang Cheng.

And WWX leaves the Jiang sect, and WWX dies, and Jiang Cheng continues to build the Jiang sect up. He's all alone, trying his best to maintain a connection with his last living family (Jin Ling), trying to keep the Jiang sect independent and strong. Of course he has that attitude, of course people say that you shouldn't offend the Jiang sect and especially not Jiang Cheng! He has had to defend himself and his position in a way that no other sect leader has, because it's not just "should you be the leader" it's "should this sect even exist at all?"

I do think the arrogance and competitiveness is a defense mechanism and I do think that these are flaws that can be leveraged to take advantage of JC, but I also think that flaws and strengths are two sides of the same coin. Without the arrogance to think that he could resurrect his sect and become a leader, would he have done it? Sometimes you have to fake it 'til you make it.

[maanae]

SAO x Miraculous x DC

Triple crossover, help

(aka Kirito and Asuna need hugs and I threw in Damian and Marinette to help them. They're the babysitters yeah. And moral support. (lmao Damian a moral support, he grown up so much)

Vocabulary I can think of now:

IRL is In Real Life

PK in Player Killer

Beta is a first limited release of the game and later is the nickname of the players who were in it.

Green player: a regular player

Orange player: a player who killed another one

Clearers: the players who are on the front line and battle with the Boss(es?) of each floor, it's thanks to them that they can keep going up the floors

Solo: someone who isn't in a guild

Guild: a official team of players

The context:

⇒ In 2022, a virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game (VRMMORPG) called Sword Art Online (SAO) is released. With the NerveGear, a helmet that stimulates the user's five senses via their brain, players can experience and control their in-game characters with their minds. Both the game and the NerveGear were created by Akihiko Kayaba. On November 6, 10,000 players log into SAO's mainframe cyberspace for the first time, only to discover that they are unable to log out. Kayaba appears and tells the players that they must beat all 100 floors of Aincrad, a steel castle which is the setting of SAO if they wish to be free. He also states that those who suffer in-game deaths or forcibly remove the NerveGear out-of-game will suffer real-life deaths. {thanks wikipedia summary}

⇒ Marinette, 20 ans, go to Japan with Adrien and they get a NerveGear. T'was not a good idea. (Adrien wanted to test it after her. Well, not anymore.)

⇒ Damien, 19 ans, is one of the 800 beta of the game because Wayne Entreprise is a sponsor of Kayaba Akihiko (they sponsor searches for a therapeutic use too), and of course he is one of the 10 000 players when the game is officially launch (because they'll make goddamm sure to monitor the thing!)

⇒ Canon compliant for the SAO characters.

The Story :

Marinette is Mao (cat in Chinese) because it's cute and a nod to Adrien. Quickly she becomes one of the best (because hey, she's a born gamer). And Mominette. The average is in the 20s but there are younger players, and Marinette is 20. So she takes care of the younger and protects when needed and she's building a nice reputation.

Damian is Taniyn (dragon in Arab) because fierce and all (and it's cool). And he becomes one of the best because he is The Heir and also because he already knows how to wield way too many weapons IRL and there's this thing with knowing weapons IRL who just gives an edge to the player. And he was one of the Beta because WaYnE and rObIn (listen, this technology is a first and extremely interesting for more reasons than one, of course Batman would have an eye on it). (Now, Tim would probably have killed to participate but he just doesn't have the time. He's co-CEO and vigilante and already sleep-deprived. Not. The. Time. Vigilantism aside, Damian is 'just' a student.)

They meet officially months after the Opening Event (aka the You All Are Trapped In The Game Mwahaha) on the 10th or 11th floor. Taniyn is already part of the clearers since the first floor (bc where else would he be than in the group with the best players) but Mao took her sweet time to build the best gear possible and taking care of the young players. Mominette we said. But! They meet at last!

And well, at first it's not a great "wow she's pretty/smart/idk" or "wow he's handsome/smart/idk" it's more "oh a newbie, i'll keep an eye on her" and "ah shit, he seems like an ass". But they're both great players and have a good head on their shoulders so they quickly have an "alliance" which pretty much is : we cooperate during hard times and ignoring each other otherwise. And fuss over Kirito and Asuna. Look, I know what you want to say "Damian doesn't fuss blablabla" but Kirito and Asuna are among the leaders of the clearing group and they're young. Less young that Tanyin and Mao when they had their responsibilities sure but Damian knows what it feels like to be view as an enemy and forced to defend himself because everyone wants your head and Marinette knows what it feels like to have too much responsabilities and prying eyes on you. So Mao makes sure they take naps and they have a safe place when they need a break and Taniyn makes sure they learn how to wield weapons without Sword Skills. It's a thing in SAO : when you know how to use a weapon IRL it's easier in the game. You can pull off things you can't with a Sword Skill and there's no cooldown. It gives you an edge. And Kirito needs all the edges he can have with him soloing the front lines and Asuna is young and a girl within a leader group, she wants all the advantages she can have too. (And there's the death game thing too. Nobody say no to new ways to survive.) So, they learn. And from time to time, Mao and Taniyn can be found in a screaming match of "they need REST" "no, they need to STAY ALIVE" and well... it's bonding time I guess?

On another hand, more and mode floors are cleared and soon enough the clearers reach the 25th floor. It's a massacre. They lose way too many players and, like a backlash, the hate toward the Betas increases. You know the whole "i need a scapegoat and here is an entire group of people I can hunt for no reason", yeah that. (we all hate it and it's somewhat not well thought because flemme but it serves the plot well.) Kirito took it upon him the last time, but here there isn't anything to do but hide.

Mominette is back! Well, no, just Mao in fact. She has a great deal of friends because she's badass and warm and gives favors like petits pains. So she calls to the friends she knows she can trust in her network and organises the Protection and Rescue Squad of the Betas (the known ones at least). Kirito disappears like he can do so well and Klein and Asuna curse him because "stupid solo, gonna tie him up!" and "ARG let us help!". Taniyn ignores all of it with his aloof arrogance and Mao took upon her to watch him, wary. Well, guess who is attacked by an orange guild because they were payed!? She knew it! They fight together and manage to escape and Mao all but imprisons him at home. Hers. Home, I mean. Oh look, they're roomates.

Eventually the need to make progress exceeds the crisis and the betas can come out of hiding. Kirito reappears and gets an earfull from a good deal of his friends (not that he imagines they think of themselves as his friends this sacrifiying little gremlin) and Taniyn returns in his home with great relief. Or so he thinks. (It's too dark and too silent and too lonely and wow he regrets a little Mao's sun now.) Hah.

Anyway, they live (truly live for the first time for way too many players) and they make progress etc, etc. On the 70th floor, the PK are pests who don't seems to want to disappear and they have officially killed more than Kayaba. All the players had lose at least one friend by the hands of the PK. And more likely by Laughing Coffin, the main PK guild. Then the location of their headquarters is leaked (or, well, the questers/scouts have done their jobs) and the clearers form a subjugation team in haste to put them down one and for all.

A majority is imprisonned. Some are killed, in both factions. Kirito, Asuna, Taniyn and Mao all killed. Taniyn and Asuna are orange-player now, and would be for a few days. Kirito and Mao didn't strike the first blow so they're still green players but it doesn't erase the deed. Kirito disappears but Asuna go with him this time, Heathcliff being gracious enough to allow her to take her time (and she would have tell him to go f himself if not). Taniyn and Mao both retreat in her home after having dealt with the aftermath - Klein and Agil all but chasing them off when the sun rose up.

They end up in the living room, silent and brooding. Damian has striked the first blow and killed, he can't be Robin anymore. Marinette has killed and they can't be revived, she killed for real this time. But it's the justice of SAO. They aren't vigilantes or heroes here. They are among the leaders and have made a decision for the sake of their people. They were indeed juge, jury and executioner. It was their duty, to strike before they could. They killed people nonetheless.

Mao and Taniyn stay in her home for a week. It's a tough week. But they come around and when they get out Taniyn is once again a green player and they're affectionate like they never really been before. Sure they're friends since a while now but it's different. They talk, they eat together, Mao makes him gloves and ornaments (at least one for his katana for Strength) and have a project for a cloak. Taniyn draws her and gift her drawings of their friends, of animals meet in mission, of monsters and landscape (never from the IRL, they're in Aincrad and they don't talk of the IRL). Somehow he's more at her place than his and suddenly the guest room is his and they're truly roomates and maybe a little more. Mao smiles more and Taniyn is serene in an extraordinary way for him. She gushes at the wedding of Kirito and Asuna and he rolls his eyes at her antics but congratulates them all the same, both happy for their friends.

Then it's the 75th floor. It's the 75th floor and suddenly it's hell. Way too many die before the Floor Boss explodes in pixels. Heathcliff is Kayaba. Heathcliff, the Head of the Knights of Blood Oath, one of the leaders of the Clearers, the mentor of Asuna, is Kayaba. Asuna the Lightning Flash and Kirito the Black Swordman fight him and they... die. The temporary effect which paralysed them vanish and suddenly they can move and it's hell again and Mao searches players around her for Taniyn and Klein and Agil and all her friends but can't see them and suddenly-

A coutdown.

They're free.

The Game is beaten.

How ?

What-

Darkness engulfs all.

.

They didn't expect it. They were only on the 75th floor, a quarter before the supposed end of the game! But Kirito and Asuna are cheatcodes all by themselves. (good for them anyway, with the carnage of the 75th? Reaching the 100th Floor would have been impossible.)

Now begins the aftermath (I'm a sucker for aftermath AU sorrynotsorry).

Marinette wakes up with a hand in hers and for a wild moment she thought it's Taniyn. But she has like the worst headache ever, she's thirsty, hungry and frankly weak. She feels a little like she's dying and her limbs are way to heavy. Only the IRL can make you feel like dying in such a sweet way (that's sarcastic). So she's back. Hooray? She doesn't really know how to feel to be honest. Adrien cries when he sees her without the NerveGear. She cries with him.

Damian wakes up alone and experiment the worst headrush ever by trying to move. (why do you do this to yourself seriously?) He's stubborn so he somehow gets up and leave the room. (His room in the Japanese house of his father, he recognises it vaguely from two years ago. Or well, what could be his room or a hospital room with very very expensive furniture. Either can work.) It's in fact his room because he ends up in the living room, shocking the hell out of Raven and Garfield (they're the babysitters of the week).

Needless to say, Tom and Sabine and Bruce come back to Japan very quickly. (listen, one is Batman so he can't be absent a long time from Gotham whatever the reason (death is another thing), and Tom and Sabine have a business they need to tend to.)

Each of them has to relearn how to live in a physical world, a very breakable world in fact. Crazy how things seems fragile when you haven't got any "immortal object" thing going on. It's a hurtful learning for Marinette and a very frustrating one for Damian. (Look, one is notoriously clumsy and has the permanent power of somewhat gods on her side and the other is way too prone to anger for the good of his environment.) Plus the whole "two years in a coma-like situation" and they need to rebuild their muscles in addition to their mental state. So. They struggle. Enjoy.

But! They don't do just that (struggling with the physical world I mean). They search for each other and their friends too. Damian finds Marinette one month after their return and Marinette is already in contact with Argo to reconnect the survivors.

Their reunion is Marinette who hugs him and Damian who held her close and the shock of their mutual entourage. (and a very sweet moment that I won't write because english and the flow of the story, but maybe in a bonus one day.) There was then a long explana- pff, who I'm kidding? Adrien (honorary Dupain-Cheng's son) might be able of supplying some kind of explanation (because in one month Marinette would absolutely tell him all about SAO and her friends and the maybe-more with Taniyn) but the two don't give a care about what their entourage think. And after the sweet moment and introductions, they would absolutely scheme. They have friends to find okay?

Here comes the absolute trio of Argo - Mao - Taniyn.

Between the network of Argo and Mao and the hacking skills of Argo and Taniyn, they're a sight to behold. The Deep Web becomes the headquarter for the players with high levels or interesting things to say and the civilians can meet and post testimonies on an official site monitored by the government. The former know what's happening before it goes mainstream.

Three hundred players are still imprisonned.

And Kirito and Asuna are way too quiet for their liking.

.

Kirito calls during dinner. Marinette has all but move in the Wayne's appartment (the heroes thing was an interesting conversation) and she seeks Damian's hand when she hears the weak voice in the phone. He's not crying but it's a near thing and Mominette is instantly summoned. When he says that Asuna is among the three hundred players, she bites back her tears and says all she could to comfort him without lying. They defeated one game, they can beat another. They just need to find her. She gives the phone to Damian when he asks for it and instantly contacts Argo.

When Damian hangs up, he has an adress and she has a lead.

Long story short, they found her three weeks later. The thing with IRL prisoners in a game is that they're not discreet. The servers have been opened with the fall of Aincrad. And the Kayaba-wannabe couldn't hold a candle to the man. So Argo pursues the hunt of the bastard who took hold of their friends with the help of Red Robin - sent by Batman because the Justice League keeps a close eye on the situation - and Damian and Kirito dive in ALO to save Asuna from the inside. Marinette can't, because she has magical responsabilities she can't risk and because she has to take over if they're trapped. To say all of them are relieved when they log out is an understatement.

They save Asuna and the other players just before Red Robin and Argo send an email with all the evidence to the SAO Rescue Force. They're safe.

Asuna calls Marinette and they cry but it's okay (and it's okay too if she and Damian jump in the car to go to the hospital in the second). There's a lot of tears of joy and of anguish and a lot healing to do but they're gonna be okay. (And Damian congratulates Kirito for his job in the parking. He learned well.)

(Tanyin didn't get to be here at the final duel in the game, it was just Sugou, Asuna and Kirito. But when all is dealt with, Kirito bows to Tanyin with bleak eyes and Damian sighs before pulling Kazuto in a hug. The influence of Marinette, he swears. But also because there was torture in there and Asuna refuses to be touched by anyone for way too long and he's not the only one wishing he could kill Sugou. Just a little.)

They're really free of their nightmare now.

.

Damian asks Marinette to be his girlfriend the day after and she accepts as red as ever (Adrien and Argo are snickering in the background because they very much look like middle school sweethearts). It doesn't change much to their dynamic but Damian can at least shut his brothers up so it's good. And they go to dates. That's a change. It's good too.

Then they need to go back to their respective countries and sure they'll have the AmuSphere (who is a really good thing for long-distance relationships) but it's just not the same. When they part, they have their next encounter wholly planned. (Marinette's going to Gotham since she's the first one to have holidays then it'll be him in Paris.)

.

The End I guess ?

(maybe one day I'll do one or two scenes) (maybe) (but go ahead if you want)

[liquid-luck-00]

Finding Home 3

Part 3

@maribatmarch-2k21 Day 15: New Start

Ao3 *** Part 1 *** Part 2 *** Here *** Part 4 *** Finale

~~~~~~~~~~

Jason loved his new family. Marinette pushed him and also knew where his limits were. This was a fresh start for him, yet though Marinette's intervention, he wanted to know how Bruce and Dick were.

"Hey M?" the started.

"What is it Jay?" she answered from the table.

"I was thinking..."

"You want to go back to Gotham."

"How did you?"

"Jay of the four years I have known you, you have always spoken of Gotham as home, like you do of Paris." she stood in front of him. "Go my little hóng hú. Maybe Mao and I will follow."

"But Gotham is."

"No better than Paris. Besides home isn't a place."

"So, I can go."

"Of course, let's find you an apartment." she smiled. "Oh, just two things," he groaned. "one you keep modeling when you can."

"Do-able."

"Two, stake out a place for a boutique."

"That can be done."

---

Two months later he was fully moved in. He waited three months to go out as Red Hood. Trixx adored the mischief they got into as Hood. (Mari made him a replica of his suit, but he still transformed with Trixx more often than not. He wore the replica under.)

Within a month his territory rivaled that of some of the older rogues. In fact, since he protected and cared for street kids, he and Penguin formed a pact, to keep out of each other’s way.

A month later he noticed a new bird lurking around his operations base. The third time he decided to finally meet him. "Hey there little bird," he spoke calmly, leaning against the wall.

"What the!" The new Robin

"Relax. I'm not here to hurt you Robin." he held his hands up in surrender.

Before he could say anything else, Robin groaned at what he heard on his comm, he assumed and guessed what had been said.

"Come on let's get you something to eat, then back to the bat."

"What's your motive?"

"Do I need one?"

"This is Gotham, of course you have one."

"Exactly this is Gotham, the most crime ridden city on the planet. I came to do a bit of good."

"Gotham's no place for heroes."

"Good thing I'm not a hero," Robin tensed. "I'm a vigilante. Now what do you want, my treat." Jason grabbed a backpack he brought with him in case this happened. "Hey when was the last time the Bat was surprised?"

"Why?" He smirked, but Robin, didn't know that. "You're going to get me killed."

"Nah, Bats has his whole no killing rule, so where to little bird?"

The two got burgers and milkshakes, Jason used that time to de transform and stayed in his second suit, Trixx hidden in his jacket nibbling on a cookie. He placed the food in the backpack and put it on Robin.

"What are you?" Robin began to protest.

"Like I said we are going to surprise a bat."

A short while later they rode into the Bat-cave and to say that Bats was amused would be a stretch.

"Who are you?" Batman demanded.

Instead of answering he turned to Robin. "Go and eat, just share the cookies with Alfred and give him the thermos. Okay Timmothy." He had figured the new Robin was Bruce's new ward, it didn’t take a genius to figure it out, after all he should know better than most. Everyone was frozen from his words, so he decided to bite the bullet and removed his mask. "It's been a while hasn't it Bruce?"

"Jason?" Bruce answered. "How are you alive?"

"It's a long story B." They talked and at some point, gravitated towards Tim and Alfred. Tim ended up constantly dozing off on Jason, after he had finished and was listening to them.

"Master Jason where did you get these recipes?" Alfred asked about the cookies and the tea.

"Those are M's recipes." He smiled, "I'll ask if she'll part with them."

"Who is M?" Bruce asked.

"I may have been adopted again." Bruce was going to say something, but Tim shifted against him again. "Come on little bird it's a school night and you need at least a few hours of sleep." he scooped up the younger boy. "Alfred where's his room?" Alfred gave him the directions and went to deposit his newly found brother.

"So, who is M, Jason." Bruce asked him again when he returned, not in the living room.

"M is the person who adopted me in Paris and is practically my mom. She took us in after fleeing the League."

"How do you know she is safe?"

Pfft. "She is the safest person in the world where the league is involved. I would say she is just as good a person to be with as you so don’t worry."

"When you say us…"

"I may have picked up or as you might as well call it stole a little brother from the league’s clutches."

"So, I have another one to adopt."

"You’ll have to fight M and him for that, and you’ll lose to M on your own B."

Bruce chuckled at that and then the three fell into somewhat easy conversation the rest of the night.

---

The four of them settled into an easy rhythm for patrols and Jason's resurrection to Gotham's society. Apparently, the reason Marinette got Jason's documents in order quickly was because Bruce never declared him dead but missing. Thank kwamii for that.

But suffice to say he was glad to be back. He found a store for M to set up 'Miraculous Red' and was able to oversee it for her. They said they'd be moving after the new year, so he just had to wait and see.

In less than a week Dick had found out and all but tackled him to the ground. He had a newly acquired respect for Dick dealing with his younger self thanks to watching both Damian and now Tim. But this is the family he chose to be with. He just wishes the other half was here with him too. He just had to wait a few months and they would be.

Next

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[antianakin]

My best advice is to perhaps look to OTHER CHARACTERS whose redemption stories you DID like, and try to pull from that. What did you like about them? What made the switch from a bad mindset to a good one seem believable to you? Note that the EXACT SCENARIOS used in that story will likely not work for Dooku, but the structure of what they did could be helpful. How did they show you that this person had good ideas but bad methods, or that they started with good intentions but got misled by someone they should've trusted, or that they have some deep trauma forcing them to keep making bad choices until somehow they're able to face that trauma head-on and actually overcome it?

The Kenobi show did this relatively well, showing how Obi-Wan's fear and guilt had degraded him to kind-of clinging to this idea of Luke to the point that he's willing to keep abandoning everyone else, abandoning what it means to be a Jedi, speaking very negatively about how they lost and so nothing truly matters anymore, but also showing those hints of who he used to be when he steals the meat each day for his eopie and his wry quip to the jawa who stole his part, and then drop-kicks him into a situation where he can more gradually be reminded of who he is and forced to face his demons and come out the other side.

You can also look at Reva who got further into darkness, and more violent about it, and the ways she chose to justify her descent, her choices, and the ways she's forced to face the consequences of her actions and how that impacted her, how Obi-Wan was able to reach her by understanding what motivated her and speaking to her with that in mind.

Some examples of recent shows that have done redemption arcs that are pretty well-known and popular would be things like Schitt's Creek, The Good Place, The Bear, or Leverage: Redemption, all of which utilize a lot of comedy. It's a LOT harder in a drama because generally the selfishness lands the character in much more serious situations that would require a lot more work to realistically come back from. The best example I can give you of a relatively well-known show that did this in a way I liked was Clarissa Mao on The Expanse, but that redemption arc quite literally spans most of the show's entire run, so that's a lot of homework to do for a somewhat minor character if you haven't already seen it. (There is of course also always the ever popular Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I was trying to reach for different examples since he's ALWAYS used and brought up in these conversations, and it's also children's media which is going to handle some of this differently than you might.)

If you wanted more specific help with DOOKU, I might be the wrong person. I don't truly give much of a shit about Dooku, like I get why people find him fascinating and all that, but he just doesn't appeal to me all that much. But my two cents are that it seems to be canonically VERY VERY HARD to reach a point where Dooku would genuinely decide enough is enough and turn back. The closest he ever gets in canon is when his hands are chopped off and Palpatine gives Anakin the order to kill him and he seems pretty shocked about it in the moment. But whether this would've been enough for him to truly turn away from darkness if he'd somehow survived that is incredibly questionable. AT BEST, he might've been willing to turn on Palpatine and expose what he knew of the Sith plan out of pure revenge, but this isn't all that much LESS dark. It MIGHT be the beginning of a path back just by virtue of removing Palpatine in general, but it also could easily not be the beginning of anything and he just sort-of simmers in darkness afterward because he's convinced himself he can never truly go back from what he's done.

Qui-Gon is an obvious weak spot for him to some degree, but he also uses Qui-Gon's memory to encourage him towards ever more darkness, too. It's POSSIBLE you could try to utilize Qui-Gon's Force Ghost abilities to help Dooku, sort-of like a Scrooge style epiphany kind of thing, but whether it would truly force him to realize he needed to change is still questionable. You could attempt to put the guy on Mortis, have him go through something like what Anakin did, but for one, there doesn't seem to be much of a way to intentionally send someone there, and for two, it didn't work for Anakin so it's just as likely not to work for Dooku.

Much like with Anakin, the deciding factor is primarily exposure to Palpatine and his manipulations. Depending on how far back in Dooku's history you're going, just removing Palpatine should be very helpful in putting Dooku in a situation where he's a lot less likely to go full Sith. He might still leave the Jedi (or refuse to come back if he's already left), but he won't become a Sith or even necessarily go dark. Without Palpatine's encouragement and temptations, I think it's very easy to just assume Dooku's path would've looked a lot different than it does in canon.

So, yeah, tl;dr if he needs redemption, look to your favorite stories that have already done this well and see if there's anything there you can apply to Dooku. If he doesn't really need redemption in the first place and just needs to not go dark, the answer is almost always "find a way to eliminate Palpatine from his life somehow" and they generally can just fix themselves from that point.

Writing Dooku pre-Sith Lord but after he already left the Order is so hard because like...he's got the right idea on some things but he's also very juvenile in how he wants to fix them, he still thinks of the Jedi as his family but he also thinks they're doing things wrong and that he "knows better" than them, he's fond of his master but he also kinda hates him because he views him as representative of "everything wrong with the Order" like...

BFRUDHJZLHFBHJLSAJHFDBASHLFS

HE'S SUCH A FUCKING HYPOCRITE

I love his character and I want to try and give him a "good" ending- (one where his plans all fail, he faces consequences, and then Mace drop kicks him into being a better person) -but HOLY SHIT IS IT HARD SETTING THIS ALL UP

Writing for him is like constantly being like- "...okay, so I know he's a hypocrite, but is this so hypocritical that he'd probably notice he's being a hypocrite??? and see that he's in the wrong???" -while also knowing that hypocrites usually just ignore the obvious signs of their hypocrisy, but also IS HE AT THAT POINT YET??? IDK??? I DONT HAVE A LOT OF MATERIAL TO WORK WITH FOR MY BASE, I DONT READ THE SW BOOKS AND I MOSTLY IGNORE LEGENDS OR CONSUME IT THROUGH FANDOM OSMOSIS

(so basically, help)

[killerandhealerqueen]

**Headcanon ask**

Yuezhi Wuxia Au 💖

(I mean why tf Mao Zijun & Ian yi don't do a wuxia together? 😭)

Tysm for ur yuezhi headcanons. They make me smile. Hope u're having a nice day

Anon, I'd fucking combust if Ian and Mao did a wuxia together. I fucking want it too. I want it so bad.

Anyways, onto the headcanon (please note, I don't really watch a lot of wuxias so I'm going to base this off of what I have seen)

Jiang Yuelou would be like a detective of some sort. He'd also definitely carry a sword, just because I like the idea of Jiang Yuelou carrying a sword

Chen Yuzhi would obviously be a healer, probably one of the best in the lands. He'd be like a Wen Qing, I suppose. His weapons of choice would be acupuncture needles or a fan. You know, like a japanese war fan? Yeah, he'd use one of those. Or the type of fan that Wen Kexing uses, the one that has like a thin blade on the edge? He can also use a sword, but needles and fans are more discrete and he's a doctor/healer for gods sake, it would be a little intimidating to see a doctor carrying around this huge ass sword

Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi meet kind of by accident, sort of like in the drama, Chen Yuzhi is healing someone, a raid or an attack happens on the village he's working in, Jiang Yuelou shows up with his gang (song rong and sun yongren of course) and basically arrests anyone that looks suspicious to him and Chen Yuzhi looks hella suspicious

They get into a fight, like a shouting match of sorts, and Jiang Yuelou decides to throw Chen Yuzhi in jail and confiscate his medical kit you know, to check to make sure that there's nothing in there that's dangerous or whatever and he just finds that its full of medicine and he realizes that Chen Yuzhi really is a doctor

He releases Chen Yuzhi, who throws him a dirty look before exiting the jail and Jiang Yuelou smirks because most people would be cowed by him but not Chen Yuzhi and that intrigues him

Zhan Junbai isn't an asshole in this au and is like a prince. His weapon of choice definitely is a sword, he's as good with a sword as Jiang Yuelou is. He helps out Jiang Yuelou with his investigations and is able to get him into places that he can't go because he doesn't have clearance or whatever

Yu Tangchun is a opera singer who is secretly an assassin sent to kill Zhan Junbai. Weapon of choice? Daggers hidden in his sleeve. Or a fan, like Chen Yuzhi. Of course, instead of killing Zhan Junbai Yu Tangchun ends of saving him and it'll play out sort of like the drama, where Yu Tangchun is taken care of by Zhan Junbai and he's mad about it because he's not this tyrant like he was made out to be

Song Rong and Sun Yongren are there as well. Song Rong's weapon of choice? Iron gauntlets. Sun Yongren's weapon of choice? Surprisingly archery

Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi team up to take down these corrupt leaders and bring peace to the land

Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi also definitely get surrounded by assassins sent by the corrupt officials to stop them (it's not a wuxia if the MCs aren't surrounded by assassins at some point) and Chen Yuzhi and Jiang Yuelou are pressed back to back before they glance at each other and subtly nod before going to work

Jiang Yuelou hacks and slashes at the assassins while Chen Yuzhi gracefully dances around the assassins before slicing throats with his fan or stabbing people in the neck with his acupuncture needles

When the assassins are dead, Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi look at each other and laugh softly before Chen Yuzhi notices that Jiang Yuelou is injured. Cue freak out and then the intimate bandaging/cleaning wound montage while Jiang Yuelou is staring at Chen Yuzhi with fucking heart eyes and Chen Yuzhi is doing his best not to notice it

If there's also not a point where Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi are forced to hide in an alley or between houses as they're running from corrupt guards/assassins and Jiang Yuelou has his hand over Chen Yuzhi's mouth while pressing him up against a wall, then what's the fucking point?

Honestly, you could take the Killer and Healer drama, turn it into a wuxia, and it'd still fucking work

[leefi]

for the hc meme, michiru and/or tamao?

anon omg i never published this either

omg my #girls ❤️

Sexuality hcs:

Michiru: lesbianism. i think she practices it <3

Mao mao mao mao mao mao mao: very bisexual. She had an empassioned kindergarten romance and her rivalry with Kaoruko eventually scared him off . . I wonder why

Gender headcanon:

#girls I haven't felt either of them have any Gender going on but I don't think there isn't anything there I'm probably just cis and boring. Or Yachiyo and Akira just siphoned all of Siegfeld's gender for themselves (give it Back)

honestly gnc tamao though..........

A ship I have with said character:

Michiru - when yuub akimichiruru. Then you will all see. Also any iteration of that (I am the sole occupant & Captain of the michiruru rowboat). Akimichi is of course one of my favorite starira pairings. I'm a huge karehika enjoyer and the iterative imbalanced/imperfect childhood promise is so good of them. I really do believe that they are perfect complements and are made for one another and even if their careers go in separate paths I want them to be wives forever. I'm neutral on polyfeld but in LOVE with divorced michiakifumi. Ohhh my god so good. Michifumi in particular is just *fighter jet takes off right behind me*

Tamtamtamtamtamtamtam - so many good Tamao ships. Tamaruko. Tamatabaruko (listen this is primarily for the drama potential here which could be so fucking crazy but I also love the idea of Kaoruko being inexplicably chill about Futaba and Tamao hanging out for reasons I'll let you conclude). I am soooooo fucking big on TamaIchi I love them a lot and I think it's really underrated, TamaFumi was my First RMK ship and I was lowkey really big on it....and of course Tamaichifumi...i have discussed it....i have gone crazy about it...it's so good ..the promise the three of them made to each other (goes insane). Polymeikan is also amazing I'm just not as into it as the polymeikan truthers and don't mind seeing them split between seniority (re: senpai ot3 and kouhai otp - I think Tamao reciprocates Rui's feelings but doesn't feel it appropriate to drag her into her drama (even though Rui is willing), and I do absolutely see potential for TamaYukko as well. The love triangle potential here is so freaking good. Anyway I love the angst of requited but unwilling TamaRui and yearning TamaYukko- but angst can always have a happy ending!

A BROTP I have with said character:

Michiru: Mei Fan and Junna!! I think Junna is AkiMichi's favorite Seisho. and I think that Michiru disliked Mei Fan for a while after she joined the Edels then one day a switch flipped and she totally pivoted to "actually I wanna take you under my wing".

Tamao- TamaKareRuru. please don't ask me to elaborate

A NOTP I have with said character:

I'm not big on Shiori with either of the older Siegfeld girls? To be clear I don't think it's a moral issue or anything I just don't really vibe with it, though if you put them in an ot3 or polyfeld I don't mind it. major points for rose poems akishio though, so so so cute...(I started talking about akishio here then deleted it all because this post is about michiru LMFAO) for brot3s though I absolutely adore how they co-opted Fumi's sister though like that dynamic alone is fucking hysterical

Tamao - none literally put her with anyone and I will enjoy it. interestingly enough I would be very intrigued by a TamaShio premise, though less as a ship and more one of them is trying to kill the other. always fun.

A random headcanon:

Michiru would excel at tackle football. like against the giant 6'0+ men.

ebony raven darkness dementia way isn't much of a foodie, despite her family owning a restaurant. she's one of those people that sees food as more of a necessity than something to indulge in so she knew from a young age she wouldn't be interested in solely maintaining the family business as her career.

General Opinion over said character:

Michiru is criminally underrated by starira fandom and I will never forgive them for that. Want need desire etc. Siegfeld anime season solely for her. She is easily in my top 5 favorite characters and I love her so so much, but I do find her difficult to talk about. Like I can't pin down why it is I love her so. I need to sit down one day and read all content involving her (I'd take the opportunity to do it now but I need to be at the airport at 6 tmrw morning)

I ADOREEEE Tamao. Anon I love that you gave me these two because they are my favorites of Siegfeld and Rinmeikan respectively! I loved her pre-AA and I love her even more now. Nice girls with depth! Nice girls with depth!!! She isn't YSA kin but they do share this and I always always love seeing that in fiction!