In her effort to familiarize herself with the miraculouses, Marinette was going to spend time with one kwami each night. It would be good for them to get out of the Miracle Box and see the modern world, and they could tell her about their powers. Tonight, she decided she would wear the Ox Miraculous. As she adorned the nose ring, a sparkling blue light appeared and transformed into the bull-like kwami Stompp.
"Oh, Marinette! It's a pleasure to see you. Am I needed?"
"Not tonight, at least not for a transformation. I did want to ask you about the powers of your miraculous, though. What exactly does it mean to be the kwami of action?"
"What it means… well, think about the semantics of the word 'act'. Acting in a role is performing the responsibilities of it. A force acts upon an object. You act upon an impulse."
"Hey, no need to get personal…" Marinette joked, at least partially.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. Another appropriate word is 'work'. One's work is their job, what they do to make a living. Work is the physics term for applying energy to an object through motion. You work towards a goal. All of these definitions encompass the reality that there must be physical effort in order to make change. You can plan and think and feel all you want, but it amounts to nothing without action. That is what I am."
"Hmm… that's an interesting way to describe the world…" the girl pondered, thinking deeply about it.
"What do you mean?" the kwami asked, his tone one of inquisition.
"Well, in civic education, we learned that laws exist to protect people's rights. In theory, breaking the law means you've violated someone's rights, and that results in some kind of punishment as a way to bring justice. The only thing that matters, in this case, is that your actions broke the law. It doesn't matter if you had good intentions, or if the actions actually created a good outcome in the end. It sounds similar to what you described, but I don't know if I like that or not."
"Why is that? It's a reasonable connection to make."
Marinette grew a determined look on her face. "Because I believe in the goodness in people's hearts. I think that good intentions should matter, because what we plan and think and feel make up who we are, and that matters more to me than what we do. I mean, bad people can do good things, but that doesn't make them good, does it?"
"Think of the meaning of the word 'matters'. Matter is the physical substance that makes up our universe. Effectively, it defines what is: that is, what does and does not exist as an entity in reality. When something matters, you can think of it as being physical; it has a real effect on the physical space in which we all live. So, to play devil's advocate, why shouldn't it make them good? Their good deeds have a positive effect on society, contributing to it rather than taking away, regardless of whether they want them to or enjoy when they do. We cannot even know for certain whether those bad thoughts reflect who they truly are, even if they claim that they do, because the only person who can truly know someone's inner desires is their own self. But now we're encroaching on Roaar's territory, and I believe she has already spoken to you on this subject.
"Something that you probably already know is that the Miraculouses don't change who one is, they change what one can do. The beauty of them is that having these powers, in turn, often catalyzes the personal change, as the wielder comes to understand the philosophy and responsibility that their miraculous is formed around. Where my miraculous comes into play is for those who do not know how to distinguish between 'is' and 'does', even within themselves."
"I see. That makes it harder to figure out who would benefit the most from it." The heroine thought for a moment. "I think, if I were to give it to someone, I would want the kind of person who is kind and thoughtful, but has trouble expressing their motives outwardly. The Ox Miraculous would empower them to transform their good intentions into action.
"The issue is identifying those intentions when they're not being expressed correctly, because the opposite could be true… The last thing I'd want is for one of those bad people who do good things to decide to use the miraculous to enact their selfish thoughts."
Stompp nodded in agreement. "Very perceptive, Guardian. The Ox is one of the least used miraculouses for this reason. It is very simple to do wrong with it, and unlike the Black Cat, there is no Ladybug to balance it out. The opposite of action is inaction, and nothing results from inaction."
"Right. 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.' That's important to me as a Ladybug, and I'm certainly not going to discount any possibility when it comes to fighting Hawk Moth. For that, I need to know how to use your miraculous."
"That is simple. To activate the transformation, say the words, 'Stompp, charge forward.' To de-transform, say 'Hold back.' While transformed, you are granted a miraculous gauntlet that grants strength, durability, and size to one of your fists."
"Size? So it's like a giant boxing glove? That sounds so cool!"
"It's better than a glove, because you still retain use of all of your fingers. Additionally, the gauntlet is how your channel the miraculous's power. Say the word, 'Labor', and you shall be able to lift anything you want. Anything. The Eiffel Tower? Not a problem. A full-length train? Can do. The pure strength of action is at your command."
"Wow, that's impressive. Hawk Moth's akumas typically have the power advantage over us, but this miraculous could balance the scales."
"Indeed. I look forward to working with whomever has been chosen."
"Anyway, that was all I wanted to talk about tonight. Maybe in the future, we could go for a walk, if I can figure out a safe way to do it."
"That sounds like it would be excellent. Until then, adieu, Marinette."
With that, she removed the miraculous and returned it to the Miracle Box, before storing it away in its secret hiding place at the bottom of her chest.