This thread has degenerated to silly levels of near flamedom.
Moving to a new topic, namely this weeks episode, I found some interesting things that I think should be brought up.
- C.C. knows of the Tomb of the Chinese Emperors.
- C.C.'s reaction to Lelouch's action of saving Kallen.
- C.C.'s subsequent reaction to him following through the idea.
- Geass talk.
The first item on the list concerns the tomb and C.C. rather soft-spoken tone when mentioning her knowledge of it. I'm curious if this is a tie back to Mao or, if not, to other Geass users in the past. I think more the later since she found Mao on the streets. This development, however, does continue to the motif of the users being those of royal blood. Which could mean, very much so, that Mao was/is related to the current Empress. Her ambiable tone is also interesting, as it shows some sort of bond towards the people who were enshrined there.
Next point, and probably last for now, as I have lasers to be fixing, is C.C.'s reaction towards Lelouch action to save Kallen. Going by what she said in Ep.7, its an unusual series of reactions because, quite frankly, he's putting his life on the line. If she wants him alive, her reaction didn't follow that train of thought. She looked glad that Lelouch kept true to his plan to save Kallen. Now this doesn't imply anything, but the situation is an inversion of the Shirley debacle in S1. This time, Lelouch is doing it flatout for himself, where as the Shirley incident was plagued with reasons of guilt, Mao problems, and the overall secret of his identity being in the hands of someone who may exploit it. We have Lelouch chasing Kallen, not Lelouch chasing his secret and ending up at Shirley and Mao.
This may not mean much, but it seems that C.C. is glad that he's staying human. The old Zero/Lelouch would have abandoned Kallen, probably, if it meant his rebellion would win. Now he's risking everything for someone, very stupid but very human.