Login

Black Aeronaut · 07-12-2012, 05:34 AM

I'm working on a story with a friend and she wants to bring Lelouch to the party... Thing is... I'm pretty sure this will prove to be setting the cat amongst the canaries.
But I guess you folks need a few more details...
A while back I had the zany idea of a metric ass-load of anime characters winding up in the real world with an SI as their caretaker. The reason for it being that an experiment by Washu Hakubi went and screwed up the multiverse and landed them all in the guy's house... in a most destructive manner. (Put it this way - lucky no one was hurt.)
Anyhow, the story has gone through a couple of permutations, and one co-author who has up and vanished into the aether.
The story in its current incarnation is pretty much the same, with some notable differences.
The home is now an apartment complex in the LA area. The SI's are hired on to take a run-down complex with squatters and make it profitable. And then Washu shows up with Tenchi and everyone else. Skuld is the first Goddess on the scene and lays it all down. The entire multiverse is under lockdown until things get straightened out. Until then, the Tenchi Muyo gang are to suffer the hospitality of the two SIs. But, as more people keep showing up (with the next batch followed by key members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew) it is decided that the situation has dramatically escalated and Belldandy, Urd, and even Marler are called in. (Heaven and Hell are setting aside their differences in this time of crisis - it's that bad.)
And at this time, more details come out. For an instant, the entire multiverse was all one universe, and now they're busy trying to 'unstick' everything... but some universes are being very stubborn about this. Meanwhile, it seems that an indeterminate number of people are caught in flux within their local space-time. They are popping out at random times and places. Eventually, a detection system can be worked out... but it is a finicky thing in the making.
The worst part? Their universe is being the most stubborn and it seems that the best they may be able to do is 'copy' everyone and put them back into their proper place... which means that copies will be left behind. The only other option is to permit the realities that are trying to stick the most blend in with their own universe... but that could have disastrous consequences.
And somewhere in the middle of all this fracas, Lelouch shows up, along with an indeterminate number of cohorts and associations.
Lelouch would have no way of getting back to his home-universe. Even if it were possible, he could not suborn the Goddesses or Marler. His Geass is locked down and they're able to read his thoughts. Washu isn't an option, either, for various reasons (just pick your favorite and run with it). Therefore, his primary goal of destroying the Britanian Empire is no longer open to him.
Now, from what little I do know of Lelouch (I only watch the first season of Code Geass) he is incredibly ambitious and always looking for an angle on something. I know he likes being in control of the situation, so being told that this random joe and doe (just good friends, not a couple) are looking after him probably isn't gonna sit well with him. Even if Nunally is present and is given proper medical treatment by Washu.
So... I'm am trying to figure out exactly what he would do. I'm not at all a great strategist and I couldn't even begin to put together one of Lelouch's grand Magnificent Bastard plans... so... HELP!

nocarename · 07-12-2012, 06:04 AM

Step one is, of course, research. Knowledge isn't always strength, but ignorance is weakness.
What he'd do with full bore internet connection is a different problem.
What year is it 'now' anyway?

Black Aeronaut · 07-12-2012, 06:25 AM

Modern day, 2012.

Jorlem · 07-12-2012, 07:00 AM

Sounds sort of like an inverted version of Admiral Tigerclaw's Sleeping With the Girls fic.

For Lelouch, you need to keep in mind how central the whole Destroy Britannia thing is to him. That, along with discovering who is responsible for the death of his mother, has been his driving motivation since he was ten. Gaining the Geass just allowed him to step up his plans, he had those goals long before he knew that the power of Geass even existed. Just because he is stuck in some other universe isn't going to change that.

He appears to be a strategic genius, in pretty much any area you can imagine, combat, politics, socialization, you name it, and he is, to a degree. His greatest strength, however, is in his ability to read people, and predict their actions based on that understanding. He parleys that, along with a keen understanding of the options they have available, to achieve his goals. The most extreme example is in season 2, when Lelouch

Spoiler

Where he fails is improvisation, that thing that everyone needs to know how to do to deal with what happens when your plan and your enemies meet. He gets around this partially by trying to plan for every contingency, but when something comes completely out of left field, or he makes a mistake in his judgements, things fall apart fast.

I'd suggest avoiding or limiting the telepathy thing. If the gods are that worried about him, why not just toss him in suspended animation? They're all probably very busy working to restore the multiverse, so they have much more important things to do than babysit all the main characters. Keeping the divine level powers far away, or significantly weakened by the crisis, or both, only being able to devote very limited runtime to the characters once they are situated with the ST (who is completely irrelevant if there are multiple gods with full access to their powers, and are present all the time to stop things from going out of control.) Given the scale of what is going on elsewhere, it might be a good idea to have them glance at Lelouch on arrival, turn off the Geass, and think that he's defanged from then on.

Lelouch is just as capable without the Geass as with it, but take away his ability to plan, and, well, yeah. Surrounded by a bunch of naive harem comedy protagonists, and he will soon have them preparing to take the fight to the Brittainian Empire once the crisis is over, using whatever means of interdimensional they have back in their original universes.

For writing his plans, first pick the final goal. This will be likely be one of his two motivations. Then decide what is needed for that to come to pass. (Information on what is going on is likely going to be very high up on this list.) Then break those down into sub-stages, and figure out what needs tp be done for those. Decide who has acess to what he needs, and what might need to happen for Lelouch to succeed. Then figure out what could go wrong, which falls under three categories: planned for, possible contingencies (aka enemy action), completely random (unconsidered, complete surprise, no contingencies. Sudden psychic vision in the middle of battle, for example). From Lelouch's point of view, he reads his opponent and is able to figure out what he will do, and makes his plan based on that, so he doesn't plan out the whole contingency tree, since he knows what moves will never be made, by knowing what his opponent is willing to do. For writing it though, it might be useful to plan backward, but write it going forward, so you have things coming in from left field that he didn't see coming, and him having to try to adapt the pans to that. Just an idea though. Other people probably have better ones, and will have posted them while I typed this monster post up.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

07-12-2012, 07:16 AM

You cannot forget how central protecting Nunnaly is to Lelouchs motivation, since one of the reasons he wants to destroy britania is because of what they did to nunnaly. And yes Lelouch's geass isn't his most dangerous weapon, his mind is.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Jorlem · 07-12-2012, 07:36 AM

I wasn't forgetting that, it was just that BA said that she would be healed by Washu. Though, now that it occurs to me, how would Lelouch know that he could trust these people? Depending on when in the series he is taken from, he might even think that this is all a Geass based illusion/hypnosis effect. And even if Nunnaly is treated, would she remain treated when they are sent back to their own universe?
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

Bluemage · 07-12-2012, 08:05 AM

Yes to all of that. For Lelouch, it all boils down to protecting Nunnally, and destroying Britannia. If he's ever considered a happy ending for himself, I'd be shocked. On the other hand, it could be argued that the simplest way to achieve both his goals is to do what he was already planning to do back home- gather power. I'll get to why in a bit, specifically after I explain how.
When in the series are you pulling him from? This matters, since there are good, long periods of time when poor Lulu is either having a RRoD, or gone off the deep end.
Assuming a relatively stable Lelouch, the first step is always research. Learn the field, learn about the pieces, and learn who's on the other side of the board. Once he has that down, the next step is to get a stake together. Again, lots of ways to do this, depending on who comes along with him. If Lulu gets a bunch of Black Knights, I'd figure he'd go straight to shaking down gangs, busting drug dealers, and the like, since it'd gather a lot of money in a hurry, the cash would either be small bills or pre-laundered, and he'd be able to stop criminals at the same time. If it's just him, I'd expect to see him learning more games of chance and skill, and making some very judicious bets. I could even see him going through his belongings, figuring out what technology he had on him that didn't exist here (his cellphone would be the big one- have you noticed how small that thing is?), and offering it up to a tech company for funding.
The next step would be to parlay that cash into real power. Like Jorlem said- anything involving reading people, Lelouch excels at. I could see him going into politics, taking some local office for himself, and using the publicity to spread his message, form a party, and push for federal power. Or he could reform the Black Knights (either expanding on the cadre that came over with him, or starting fresh) as a vigilante group, fighting to clean up the inner city and save Americans from themselves. Or maybe he could go into business, do his own lobbying, and make multi-millions by exploiting the legal system for his own gain.
(Am I the only one who thinks he'd find our current system quaint, and oh, SO very easy to abuse?)
Figure that the end goals are to protect Nunnally, and get back to destroying Britannia. Gathering wealth and power here solves both of them. The first is simple- more money = more security = safer sister. That goes doubly so if the people guarding her are loyal to Lelouch and/or his organization, and not merely their paychecks. The second is a bit more complex. I could very well see Lulu doubting the PTBs when they tell him that he can't get home- paranoia is a survival skill, and one he's learned well. Given that, there are two options available to him- find another way home, or force the ones he knows to send him back.
Becoming rich and powerful makes it far easier to search the world for alternate means of transportation, so that part is simple enough. But as for the second, wouldn't it be so very like Lelouch to spread his influence far and wide, only to threaten Belldandy/Washu/et al with strife on a global scale if they don't send him home? I could see him having his 'heroes of justice' assassinate local politicians, start riots, or simply leave bombs in the right places as they do their 'noble' work. Holding the world hostage in the middle of an Infinite Crisis would be his style.

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

**robkelk** · 07-12-2012, 01:44 PM

Following up on nocarename's point about research: Will Lelouche have access to the Code Geass stories?

If "yes," then he has access to a lot of data that will be very useful back home, and he'll have time to plan something else instead while he's in this story...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

07-13-2012, 01:02 AM

Jorlem Wrote:I wasn't forgetting that, it was just that BA said that she would be healed by Washu. Though, now that it occurs to me, how would Lelouch know that he could trust these people? Depending on when in the series he is taken from, he might even think that this is all a Geass based illusion/hypnosis effect. And even if Nunnaly is treated, would she remain treated when they are sent back to their own universe?

How and why does he trust Washu? (He might not be given a choice, but still)

Lelouch would crawl over a mile of broken glass if it would heal Nunnaly, so there is much there that can be used. Nunnalies safety is more important to him than destroying Britannia, which you need to keep in mind.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Black Aeronaut · 07-13-2012, 02:02 AM

Okay, so far so good. This is very helpful and I'm now getting a much clearer idea of what will happen.

The group will consist of Lelouch, Suzaku, C.C., Kallen, and Nunally. Lelouch, Suzaku, and Kallen. All pilots will have their Knightmare Frames. Time frame for their removal from their home setting will be a few days before Euphemia dies. Lelouch should be fairly stable at this time, if more than a little tense. Although the sudden change in venue probably won't do him any favors. The fact that Suzaku would be there as well...

His first aim will be information. He's going to want to know what the hell is going on. Things that will throw him right away is the fact that everything is in English... but not one bit of it smacks of British culture... And everyone's accents border on being abhorrent. Imagine how he'll react when he learns about the USA and is the holder of the Big Stick in the global community, as it were. And that the British Royal Family have, in essence, been reduced to figure heads. He'll probably be caught somewhere between lolwut and horrified fascination because of how the USA pretty much curbstomps just about every challenger in most wars (Notable exceptions being the Cold War Proxy Wars and the War on Terror)... and because he discovers that in this world, they are fiction.

That part is gonna freak him out pretty badly, especially with none of the SIs or Goddess/Demons to help mitigate things. Once he calms down enough to think things through clearly, he's gonna figure out that the people of this world have no way back into their home... and with that the means to accomplish his goals of destroying the Britanian Empire is moot. (And the UK certainly is not the BE - in fact he might even feel a slight pang of pity for them once he discovers how the US prevented them from going to war in the Suez.)

Lelouch, due to Nunally's presence, will be cagey in the extreme if he deals with the local gangs at first. He's gonna be taking extreme precautions. The Knightmare Frames will figure into this... but only as much as absolutely needed. They'll need to be kept under wraps because Lelouch learns about the military of the USA... while he's confident in their abilities, he knows that they can't fight off the entire military. Instead, heavy use of his Geass will be involved.

The SI's job will be to find them and try to bring them in. Unfortunately, with them keeping the Frames under wraps that makes it pretty tricky to track them down. Once they do get to him... Pretty sure the Lelouch will get a pretty good read on the SIs as being genuinely concerned for their wellbeing. That will help smooth things over quite a bit, though he won't be happy in the slightest when Belldandy puts the kibosh on his Geass. (I can only imagine what she would say about something that lays such a powerful compulsion on people.)

To get Lelouch to play along in the spirit of things, the SIs make a deal with him. They despise the Holy Britanian Empire with the fury of a thousand burning suns. So, they'll go ahead and help break up the HBE, but on one condition: no Zero Requiem. We don't pull that kind of shit here, folks. Of course, a suitable alternative has to be hatched...

Thoughts?
BTW: Lelouch's trust issues? Yeah, he probably won't at first, but he'd go along with things just because it gets Nunally 1) into a much safer setting and 2) medical care that borders on being magical. Once he sees everything is on the level, though... he'll probably hold onto his contingency plans, but he'll eventually come to trust them do try their best to do right by him and his.
Fun background material. Once Nunally is up and about, I can see her learning to cook with Sasami and Belldandy. Lelouch would probably get a bit grumpy about the idea of his sister cooking for others, even if the people teaching her how is 1) a princess herself and 2) both are Goddesses.
Also, this line... "I may have my eyes back, but my ears are as sharp as ever."

07-13-2012, 03:33 AM

Note that if you want to really make things odd, you can probably pull in the Lelouch from SRW Z2.

Jorlem · 07-13-2012, 07:22 AM

How much do you know about season 2? Things like some of the mechanics of Geass, the origin of Nunnally's blindness, and so on?

There is also the question of the usefulness of the Knightmare Frames. Kallen might know how to perform the necessary maintenance on hers, but the Lancelot is a prototype that uses a power source that is unique to their original world, and none of them have the technical know how to adapt it to run on materials found in our universe.

I'm not really sure how Lelouch would run into the military, especially if he does the expedient thing, and puts Kallen's Kightmare Frame in a warehouse somewhere, and geasses the owner not to ask questions. As far as he would be able to tell, this world he is now in is nominally at peace, compared to the MASSIVE wars that are happening just offscreen during most of Code Geass. So, no need to start up a new vigilante organization to overthrow governments. He'd probably be able to easily suborn a few gangs of criminals, and use that to establish himself and those with him, as they wouldn't have any papers or IDs starting out. Plus, with that group, he might decide to reveal to Kallen that he is Zero, to gain her loyalty as Lelouch, since he's not going to be using the costume much in this world. She sees Lelouch as just an annoying Brittainian, after she was led to believe that he is not Zero, but if she learns that he was doing the same thing she was, she'll be far more willing to follow his directions.

IIRC, at this point Lelouch had recently considered asking Suzaku to guard Nunnally, but dismissed the idea when he discovered that Suzaku was the pilot of the Lancelot. Given that they are now stranded in this strange other world, I could see Lelouch reconsidering, and asking him to guard Nunnaly. Aside from gaining Nunnally the protection of one of the most skilled combatants he knows, it would also put Suzaku in a position where it would be far more difficult for him to discover that Lelouch has the Geass, thus linking him to Zero.

If Suzaku finds out about the Geass, Lelouch might try to pass it off as a power possessed by the Brittainian royal family, that Nunnally was too young to know about, and could never have gained due to her blindness, or because it is a male only thing. (Suzaku knew Lelouch when they were kids, from when Lelouch and Nunnally were political hostages, so he would know who they really are.)

This all goes out the window if/when they find a copy of the show, though. Before Euphemia's death, Zero hadn't done anything that Suzaku would consider truly unforgivable, and when that point of the show is reached, the show makes it very clear that Lelouch was not truly at fault for what happened. Especially since, as far as they know, time has continued progressing in their home universe, and Euphemia's Special Administrative Zone plan would actually have gone through, without Lelouch there to accidentally screw everything up. That calm will last until partway through season 2, when they learn what Emperor Charles di Britannia is planning. If you aren't aware, think

Spoiler

Also, looking back at your original post, I think I misinterpreted some of the stuff regarding the gods. I had originally thought you meant that the gods were going to be keeping an eye on things with the SI, but I now notice that you meant that more and more gods will be getting involved in trying to fix the multidimensional crash.

As for Belldandy not liking that sort of compulsion, I admit that it seems the kind of thing she would be against. However, in the most recent chapters, it is revealed that

Spoiler

It isn't quite the same thing, but Belldandy might not consider herself as having the moral high ground in this area. If you are looking for a way to keep Lelouch from zapping all the other characters into compliance, you might instead have it so that those with nonhuman ancestry are immune, as they are not linked collective unconscious of humanity, the god of his world. Though, given that they are not in their own world C.C. might not have access to the materials needed to make the blocking eye contacts, and Lelouch's Geass is about to evolve and go out of control. In that case, he might negotiate with Belldandy to instead temporarily seal his Geass, so he can talk to people safely. Personally, I think that might be a better idea, especially as this world is about to be thrown into chaos, as characters from all sorts of fiction will be dropped into it, and not all of them will have motivations centered around protecting someone.

I think I'm starting to babble, and I've kinda lost track of where I was going with this, as I got distracted partway through, and reread a bunch of chapters of A!MG, so I'm going to just post this now.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

Jinx999 · 07-13-2012, 07:27 AM

From what I know of the series, from that time frame, Lelouch's geas is about to become uncontrollable.

Black Aeronaut · 07-14-2012, 01:35 AM

Jorlem: not a problem at all. I really do appreciate all the input.

Unfortunately, I haven't done too much research into it because what I understand of CG post Season 1 it starts getting into the Darker and Edgier territory. And after what I saw happen to poor Euphemia at the end of Season 1, I was like, "... Nope." I will say that I have seen all of Season 1, but it was a while ago so I recall only the broad strokes.

As for the Goddesses... the Tenchi-verse ones are there just because they were... well, involved to varying degrees. Washu directly, Tsunami because Sasami got sucked into it. Tokimi is something of an exception. She was able to keep herself out of it, so she actually has been helping the AMG-verse people get things sorted out. Expect her to pop up intermittently.

The AMG-verse people... they were the ones with the most capability to put a stop to this, having a set of reality-molding computers and all. Because of this, their reality was the first to get sorted. Now they're just getting all the other ones squared away by using Yggdrasil in conjunction with Nidhogg.

Also, I don't see maintenance being an issue. Remember, we have Skuld and Washu on hand, and while Washu's lab is 'locked down', that just means she can't relocate it anywhere else. She still has full access to it and the facilities inside it.

(Just a fun little aside: popular new pastime amongst the refuges? Real Life Portal... suitably nerfed so it's not fatal, but it's scary that she actually made a GLaDOS to go with it... Or maybe we can just throw Aperture Labs in the hills somewhere, just as Chell was about to get away once and for all. Does anyone else here think that GLaDOS and Washu would get along like a house on fire?)

And we're not just dealing with one KF... it'll be three. Suzaku's, Kalen's, and Zero's. Which will make it awfully tough for Lelouch to keep his secret from Suzaku any longer. On the other hand, it shouldn't be too tough to get him to look after Nunally, even after the big reveal.

Also, I don't see Suzaku getting -too- upset once they discover their 'Source Material'... as long as Suzaku sees it in context, he'll know that it was an accident. Oh, he'll freak out alright, but now that they know, they can prevent that from happening. Or, at least that's how they'll view it for the time being.

Aaaaannnnd, I just read a bit about the second season where Nunally tries to do what Euphemia did... and Lelouch gets so depressed that he nearly starts taking Refrain. Yeah. This'll be a fun aspect of his character to deal with. :p

Hrm... toying with the idea of Nanoha and Company being there, too. It'd be funny to see Lelouch vs. Nanoha in simulations, despite my SI's warning that he does not want to go up against someone who's known for pulling Mo Dakka out of her ass as her tactical recourse.

Really, a lot of this is going to be all this crazy-fun filler and character development while in the background the real plot will start to build. Basically, we'll have an opposing faction of refugees that are pretty much of the mindset that they like that they've wound up on this nice fat and juicy target of a universe and they'd like to take it for everything its worth.

**robkelk** · 07-14-2012, 01:54 AM

blackaeronaut Wrote:... Does anyone else here think that GLaDOS and Washu would get along like a house on fire?) ...

Only in the sense that somebody would need to call the insurance company the next morning.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

***Bob Schroeck*** · 07-15-2012, 03:18 AM

..lots of people running around and screaming, walls collapsing, roofs caving in...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

07-15-2012, 05:12 AM

I have the impression that Lelouch's drive is caused by his perceptions about what is needed to justly order his world. Therefore, a key part of deciding his agenda in another world would depend on what he thinks of the status quo.

The just ordering of the world is a key political question. Thus, how the writer evaluates things can bring in RL politics, which may be more of a mess than you want to deal with.

One option, which might easily get too political, would be openly cooperating with one of the world powers, in exchange for help training and equipping his forces.

Another, less political, would be if he decides that because he plans to leave, he doesn't want to start any messes that he won't be around to manage later. Focus on the limited time, and whether it is worth causing destruction if one won't be around long enough to get it to pay off. (It's still potentially political, because there are folks who would be offended if he decides that a power, like say the United States, isn't as evil as Britannia and doesn't has as urgent a need for destruction. Even if he goes after, say, Mara Salvatrucha, it is still possible to tick people off.)

Lastly, training and education. There is a lot of things that can be learned in the one world that would transfer to the other. Then there is the luxury of time to study without being hunted, or having to be operational. So, professional development, languages, if those transfer. The ideal situation would be if the visitors learn, but don't age, and if time is stopped back home. There is never enough time for everything in military education and training, so 'bonus' time would be priceless, and whatever they have should not be wasted.

Then there are the opportunities that California provides that they might not have access to in their world. Yes, they probably don't have the documentation for passing background checks, but there is a lot that can be done without that. I dunno if they could pull off something with the California State Defense Force, but I imagine they would have a harder time with the California National Guard. Still, there is a lot of opportunity. Even and maybe especially without leaving the country to find terrorist training camps.

Login
Username:
Password:	Lost Password?
	Remember me