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me trying to juggle all images of timeskip phoenix and merge them into one cohesive + realistic character
YES he still cares deeply about the law, to the point of dedicating years to develop and implement legal reform to ensure fairness in trials. YES he is sharper and more calculating than ever before (eg. the bloody ace). trilogy phoenix values and aa4 phoenix methods coexist !!
wait hold on. my timeline
years 1-2: devastated phoenix, at his lowest point. his fighting hope in unearthing evidence to regain his badge fades into a sense of purposelessness. very depressed :( goes through 6/7 stages of grief. trucy is the only thing holding him together
years 1-2: devastated phoenix, at his lowest point. his fighting hope in unearthing evidence to regain his badge fades into a sense of purposelessness. very depressed :( goes through 6/7 stages of grief. trucy is the only thing holding him together
year 3: stage 7, acceptance! begins to fit more comfortably into his new life, esp with the dawn of the dark age of the law. not quite content, but fine with the prospect of never regaining his badge. that was then, and this is now. this is when he stops declining miles's +
invitations to investigate in europe, and one of these culminates in the realization that the la legal system is fundamentally broken, beyond their own experiences, and phoenix can't in good conscience watch corruption run rampant as the myth of a "fair trial" ceases to exist.
as he does, he turns his thinking around: if justice is impossible within the system, the system needs to be razed and rebuilt from the ground up.
year 4-7: rise from the ashes! he spends this period working on legal reform, initially hashing out ideas and plans with miles, and +
year 4-7: rise from the ashes! he spends this period working on legal reform, initially hashing out ideas and plans with miles, and +
later on beginning to seriously pursue them. he begins reasserting his presence in the legal field outside of the courtroom, and miles eventually gains enough sway to organize a committee that phoenix chairs dedicated to the jurist system.
i think a lot about this phoenix line in a fic (forgetting the title): "i never fell out of love with the law, i just grew angry with it" (i'm def misquoting that but you get the sentiment). he never stops caring about defending people! he just goes about it a different way!
