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#and yes jaune is still bitter
rwby-encrusted-blog · 2 months
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Jaune and the boys at 2AM looking for beans
Jaune: You got the Stuff?
Roman: Yeah I got the stuff, you got the Lien?
Jaune: Sun?
Sun: *Slides Suitcase to Roman* Right Here.
Roman: *Opens case, Nodding* Great. Neo, Take this back. If you gents don't mind I'll be joining you.
Jaune: Hmm. Okay. Come on then. Ren's Already got some of it going.
~~~~~
Blake: Darkside Reporting. Target spotted. Gold Bar and Solar Beam, have been joined by the Candle, Over.
Ruby: Copy that Darkside. Snowscreen, Wildfire, what's going on at your end? Over.
Yang: Wildfire Here. Frogger and Aerogel are making food at a campsite, two clicks south-by-southeast of Nathaniel's Stop-n-Shop convenience store, Over.
Weiss: We've got more incoming, get your head low!
Ozpin: Ah! This smells like the place to be!
Yang: Status Update! The Man in Green is there as well, joined by Sherry, Black-Jay, and ... I forget what we're calling Doctor Oobleck! Over!
Ruby: Copy that Wildfire, you and Snowscreen keep stay still and quiet, report in if anything new happens. We'll figure out what the guys have been up to. I still bet it's a werewolf cult. Over.
~~~~~
Jaune: Ren. Here's what you called for.
Ren: *inspecting product, tastes it* Hm! Perfect~ Menagerian Pure Cocoa Powder, freshly ground! Immensely bitter, with the barest of sweetness!
Neptune: Doctor Oobleck has brought the Mistrali Coffee, We've just started roasting it. You are using Milk for the Hot chocol-
Ren: Do I look like a damn fool, or someone with a dairy allergy Neptune? Have faith.
Jaune: Great! You've been stirring my chili, yes?
Neptune: I've kept on that! it smells great!
Jaune: Thanks! It my personal recipe. Been working on it for years.
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arc-misadventures · 10 months
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New Family Dynamics
Willow: Hmm, hmm, hmm~!
Winter: Hello, Mother.
Willow: Huw?! Oh, hello, Winter. You startled me.
Winter: My apologies…
Willow: …?
Willow: Is something wrong, dear?
Winter: Mother… How are you dealing with… all of this…?
Willow: This?
Winter: This new family dynamic?
Willow: Ahh… Well… for the most part I am happy. For the first time in years I can feel genuinely happy.
Winter: You feel happy?
Willow: Yes, inmeasurably so. No more hiding my feelings behind a bottle, being surrounded by those that care little for me, and having a husband that married me for my family’s company, a man who married me for money. You ran from the family, Winter, you managed to get out, and free yourself from our horrible family. I, and the rest of your siblings are still trapped there, in that house, trapped with that monster. Here I am free, here I am happy.
Winter: Do they really make you feel that happy, Mother?
Willow: Well, when it comes to the, Arc’s compared to, Jacques: Would your rather be embraced with a hug, or a slap?
Winter: What?! Has father slap you?!
Willow: Yes… Several times at that… I suppose that is another reason why I went to the bottle…
Winter: I-I didn’t know…
Willow: Well… I didn’t want you to know. You were only a child at the time. Perhaps if I let someone know…
Winter: I’m sorry that happened, I didn’t know this was happening…
Willow: You were already gone by the time he first hit me. You weren’t there on, Weiss’s tenth birthday where he told me he married me for our families legacy, he never loved me, he just wanted money, and power.
Winter: I… I didn’t know…
Willow: Of course not; I never told you any of this.
Winter: I just thought that you… that you didn’t love us. That you didn’t care about us anymore.
Willow: No! Nononono… It was never like that, Winter. I just… couldn’t do anything, and I had no idea how to handle it. I married a man that I thought who loved me, and he gave me two beautiful children. But, even that he seemingly stole from me…
Winter: Stole them? Jacques didn’t steal, Weiss, and Whitely from you.
Willow: Well, not, Weiss, I have more, or less pushed her away from me. Whitely however, I fear he is becoming a mini version of his father. So long as, Jacques is near him I fear I will lose him forever.
Winter: Do you… Do you have any ideas on how to get him back?
Willow: I have been thinking about that since I came here. I want the family life, Juniper, and Acheius have with their family: Being so open, and capable of expressing their love for one another. And, to do that, I have to remove, Jacques Gelé from the, SDC. Permanently.
Winter: Y-You’re not referring to… Killing him?
Willow: That would be the quick, and the efficient route to take. But, I wouldn’t do that… I want to crush him, to kick him out of the family, to leave him destitute, and penniless, to slowly die as the bitter worthless bastard that he is out in the cold of wastelands of, Mantle.
Winter: Oh… That is the better route to take.
Willow: It is; I have a few ideas on how to get the ball rolling, but his taint runs deep. It will not be an easy feat to accomplish. I have mentioned this to, Juniper before, and she been offering me a rather odd bit of advice. Care to hear it?
Winter: What is it?
Willow: Sic, Jaune after him.
Winter: Jaune? Why did they recommended that you should sic my little brother after him?
Willow: Little brother? D-Do you see, Jaune as your little brother?
Winter: D-Did I really just say that?
Willow: You did.
Winter: I just said it without even thinking… I guess I do see him as my little brother. Huw… Isn’t that something.
Willow: What about the girls; Do you see them as your sisters?
Winter: …
Winter: Yes… Yes I do.
Willow: That’s wonderful to hear, Winter. I’m glad you can see those kids, as your siblings. Now, as for, Jaune being sic on, Jacques. They only said this: ‘That smile hides a devious mind.’ I… I don’t understand what they mean by that.
Winter: Hmm… I’ve been sticking around the twins a lot since we got here. And, Jeanne challenged me to a game of chess, she is quite good at chess, we managed to settle for a nice win/loss ratio. 5/4, my favour. But, Jaune… Jaune beat me flawlessly for all nine rounds we played.
Willow: Little upset that your little brother showed you up?
Winter: No…
Willow: Oh really now?
Winter: Okay I am! I have never been so thoroughly beaten before in all my life! It’s so frustrating! And, he was playing blindfold chess on top of it?!
Willow: Blindfold chess? He can play chess like that?!
Winter: They both can! But, Jaune is so much more better at it! He beat me in seventeen moves, seventeen moves!
Willow: Well, It seems like your having fun bonding with your new siblings~!
Winter: The two are really sweet to be around. But, they are quite devious, especially, Jaune. Together they are a menace, on their own. Well, if you messed with, Jeanne, she would shove your head through a wall. If you messed with, Jaune though; Well he would spike your drink with laxatives, lock the door to the bathroom, and by the time you finally manage to get unlock the door, he smashed the toilet to bits.
Willow: R-Really?
Winter: Yes, Jaune is quite… Vindictive…
Willow: Well, if that’s how he fights, he might be able to deal with, Jacques quite swiftly… and, brutally…
Winter: Quite so. I can see why your so happy now, Mom… They make me feel quite happy to. Jeanne’s actually coming with us to, Atlas when we leave.
Willow: Really, why is she?
Winter: Well, Jaune is leaving soon to, Vale for an internship. So, Jeanne is coming with me to, Atlas where she will be my protégé for a few years. She will be training with me to become a, Huntress. I’m looking forward to it actually.
Willow: I’m happy to hear that. Coming here to be with the, Arc’s… Makes me wish I told them years ago I was pregnant with you. Acheius would have stolen me away, and brought me here, and made me his second wife. Where would have raised a large family together. I would be so happy together with them.
Winter: Yeah… Speaking of having a large family… You’re not… You’re not planning on giving me a little sibling any time soon, are you?
Willow: Oh, Winter. Nothing like that is happening. You don’t have to worry about that.
Winter: Mom… I know you’ve been sleeping with the, Juniper, and Dad.
Willow: …
Willow: Eh…?
Winter: We can all hear the three of you going at it.
Willow: Beg pardon…?
Winter: We’ve been camping in the woods because the three of you are so loud for the past week.
Willow: W-We’re that loud…?
Winter: So… Yeah. Are you really not planning on giving me a new sibling?
Willow: …
Willow: Well no… But, if another happy little accident happened; Would you be upset if that happened?
Winter: …
Winter: I wouldn’t be upset…
Willow: Oh… That’s great to hear!
Winter: I just hope I win the betting pool they set up though.
Willow: B-Betting pool? What betting pool?!
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ayoalex · 1 year
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Some people don't get.
It's not that the girls didn't notice, WBY notice Ruby wasn't ok, WB specifically knew she wasn't that good or there at all and Yang knew her sister was struggling.
The problem, as Ruby pointed out, something else was always first.
The few times we have seen Ruby cry because of sadness, etc etc, has been with Yang at her side, because her sister is her safe space, her comfort.
Yang noticed rapidly Ruby was NOT ok in V8 and TRIED to make her cry that out, to talk but they got interrupted, everytime Yang was asking Ruby how she felt or trying to shift the attention to RUBY, something would interrupt her.
Yes, Ruby would constantly pushed them out BUT not Yang, because she feels safe with Yang enough to be vulnerable (see V8 again and V3 ending).
Yes, Ruby entire leader system SUCKS, and she needs to change it. She is safe with Yang but still has hard time to open and she doesn't open up to Blake or, worse, her partner.
Jaune does NOT have that problem because he learned the hard way that it just doesn't work, his V6 arc helped him to grieve Pyrrha and to start relying more on his teammates, thus extending that to Ruby, he sees her as a co leader.
Jaune is struggling is with Penny's death, with the loneliness (hey~ Britney).
So Jaune breakdown are more loud cuz he learned to let it out to rely on others even if he tried to keep it up together, but we all know he has never being good at it.
While Ruby is more quiet cuz she's not used to ask for that type of help but she finally snaps and her anger and bitterness comes out, which totally get it, poor kid had a panic attack few moment before and got yelled cuz of it.
And yes, Ruby is bitter at the bees but more in the sense "why can't I be happy too?" Than being upset cuz Blake took her sister, and YES, Ruby feels left behind as well cuz she feels her sister isn't there for her.
And YES, Ruby will cry her eyes out when she realizes what she told to WBY, she just need an alone time (tho Little is with her and I think he can help more right now than WBY can, he will help her build that bridge to get her to help herself).
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howlingday · 3 months
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Searching for Fae
Ruby: JAUNE! We need to find a way to make people like us again!
Jaune: People don't like us? What about our fans?
Ruby: Some of them are old and decrepit and they've got gall bladders the size of your head from all your shitposts.
Jaune: Our shitposts.
Ruby: We need to adapt or die!
Jaune: Uh, okay... So what do people like?
Ruby: As much as I can tell, they like flashy sword fights, sexy 3D models, and finding cryptids, like fairies and trolls.
Jaune: But not catboys?
Ruby: Catboys? What?! No! I already told you to forget about including catboys in our posts! Why can't you understand this?! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!
Jaune: Calm down, Ruby. Alright, let's brainstorm here. 18 to 40 year old people; what makes them hard?
Ruby: Uh... I don't really know why you'd ask that, but I did see this question coming, so I brought some samples.
Jaune: (Looks at picture) Oh my god! Is this... Is this a man... turned into a walrus?! I can't do this, can I?!
Ruby: No, no, no. That isn't our demographic.
Jaune: (Flips) Oh, okay. So they like anthropomorphic animals, but not catboys. (Flips, Flips, Flips) Why are there so many of these?
Ruby: (Shrugs)
Jaune: (Flips, Flips, Flips, Flips) Forget it... What was that thing you said about cryptids?
Ruby: People today are crazy about found footage of cryptids and other fairy tale things.
Jaune: So if we could capture a cryptid on camera-
Qrow: Forget it, kid!
Jaune: Agh, Qrow! How long have you been sitting there?
Qrow: You kids are pathetic, clinging to your dwindling statistics and your poor perception of demographics. Unaware of the youth no longer caring for Out of Touch Thursdays and Fingers in his-
Ruby: Shut up, Uncle Qrow! We're doing our best! Anyway, do you know where we can find some cryptids?
Qrow: Cryptids? I've tasted the bitter tears of the dark and the unknown. I know about the world in-between where the beasties lie still!
Jaune: O...kay?
Ruby: Is that a yes?
Qrow: Follow me! (Leaves)
Ruby: ...Finally, he's gone! Now, about faking some footage, I've got a couple of ideas.
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zerm2v0hg · 10 months
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‘RWBY’ Volume 9 ending Rewrite (Ver 2, part 2/2)
Part 1 here.
Now onto changing the rest of Episode 10.
The opening flashback with Summer ends at her leaving Ruby and Yang’s room, and her “I love you just the way you are” line is changed to something along the lines of, “I love you. Whatever happens, however you grow, whoever you’ll be… I will always love you.”
The rest of the flashback with Taiyang and Raven will be moved to Volume 10 if it’s anywhere. We hear a ton of WBYJ’s and Cat!Neo’s dialogue at the Tree replaying (including Jaune working out the Cat’s plans for the Relics) – as the dialogue gets faster-paced and the lines start overlapping, almost shouting over each-other to be heard, WBYJ’s speeches to Ruby’s Tree-cocoon become more dominant… And we cut back to Ruby, hearing all of this.
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“Choose for yourself one who can leave your burdens behind or choose one who will be enough to bear them.” When Ruby is looking at the various weapons, she notices a red light, coming from a group of cases on one side of the circle of weapons, and she walks towards it. The weapons here aren’t like all the others: in one case is Crescent Rose, and in the adjacent glowing cases, she sees other versions of Crescent Rose that look slightly different. Different, naturally changed versions of the same weapon. Ruby remembers her team’s words to her cocoon, and her mother’s last words to her on the night she left, all calling out.
Meanwhile back outside the Tree’s spirit plane, we see WBYJ’s fight against the Furious Cat. Jaune is in the thick of it and has more of an advantage now that the Cat has lost Neo’s Semblance and fighting style, but the Cat is still overwhelming WBYJ with pure strength and speed, and WBY are heavily outmatched. The Cat probably gets one of WBY pinned down and readies a killing blow, which Jaune rushes to intercept…
Ruby smiles with newfound confidence, and she makes her choice. “I choose… the me who will be enough.”
On the battlefield, Jaune's blade stops the Cat's claw just short of skewering one of his friends.
Cue “Guide My Way/Red Like Roses, Pt. 3.”
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Ruby emerges from her Tree-cocoon, drawing everyone's gazes. Her Atlas-arc combat skirt has been replaced with a new combat skirt. She has an emblem that’s similar to the old one that was passed down by Summer and which she gave up at the Garden, but distinct. Crescent Rose is now slightly changed to reflect the new version that she chose (called Crescent Rose Mk. II here). Her cloak has changed to look more like a pelt made out of a wolf or Beowulf. Ruby’s teammates call out to her in shock, almost trepidly. Ruby flashes them a smile and makes it clear that, yes, she still remembers them, and she’s still Ruby Rose regardless of how she’s evolved.
The New and Improved Ruby joins her team in kicking the Furious Cat’s ass down, and we get a first look at her new post-rebirth fighting style.
When the Cat is lying defeated back in their original form, they rant about how their makers one day just up and left them without any explanation of WHY they were abandoning them. They scream about how they gave and gave and gave their heart freely to help other Afterans and got nothing in return while no-one ever fixed their heart, and when the Cat opened their heart to Alyx she just broke it even further. The Cat screams something along the lines of, “HAVE I NOT EARNED THE RIGHT TO BE SELFISH?!”
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Ruby admits she understands why the Cat is the way they are now, but she’s not going to let the Cat accompany RWBYJ through the door, because she knows what the Cat will do with the Relics if they ever reach Remnant… and she says it all with a stoic, stony face. Additionally, Ruby while saying this probably tosses her scroll on the ground in front of the Cat, a nonverbal gesture that the Cat can take her scroll and peruse the information on it to satisfy their curiosity for a while if they leave RWBYJ in peace right now.
The Cat, bitter and enraged, coils theirself to pounce as Ruby is turning away from them and walking back towards her team. Ruby, sensing it, tells the Cat over her shoulder like Obi-Wan told Anakin, “Don’t try it.”
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The Cat tries it.
EDIT: As the Cat pounces, Ruby swings Crescent Rose II around, and in one clean stroke, the Red Reaper’s scythe strikes the Cat and causes them to burst apart into pixels mid-lunge. The Cat's pixellated remains swirl in the air and coalesce, briefly forming a familiar image: a crown with three prongs and three jewels in its head, a crown we've we've seen before in Volume 6 and 'RWBY: Fairy Tales.' Then the image and the Cat disperse.
Once the Cat is gone, WBYJ approach Ruby, who greets them all warmly. Yang is the first one who moves to glomp Ruby the hardest, tearing up. Weiss, Blake, and finally Jaune all join in the hug, which Ruby warmly reciprocates. After a moment like this, WBYJ start commenting on Ruby’s new look.
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Neo, who’s recovered and is sadly watching their reunion, says goodbye to Illusion!Roman. With a final morose look at RWBYJ, who have now noticed her, Neo turns and starts walking away. A couple of the team including Yang are ready to go after Neo, but Ruby stays them, saying that they won’t see her again. Neo Marry Poppins-floats away into the Tree and ascends. RWBYJ walk away, towards the door.
When RWBYJ wonder if they made things worse in the Ever After, Ruby says she isn’t sure. WBYJ note that Neo killing the Jabberwalker that terrorised and erased the Afterans has got to count for something, but they also fear what’ll happen to the Afterans’ ecosystem now that the Curious Cat who mended Afterans’ hearts and guided them is gone. The sound of wood splintering draws RWBYJ’s attention to another of the Tree’s cocoons nearby, which hatches a giant, bipedal mouse.
Cue the reunion with Little as Somewhat. Somewhat doesn’t consciously remember RWBYJ (which Ruby finds very bittersweet rather than just sweet compared to the show’s version), but Somewhat does comment that they instinctively know they have a purpose. A sound of distress draws their attention, and Somewhat rushes over, to an Afteran – a mouse from Little’s original village no less – who has just arrived at the Tree (probably by teleportation the same way WBYJ were teleported). Somewhat comforts the new mouse with words, and the mouse calms. The mouse shares thanks and expressions of compassion with Somewhat, then ascends. RWBYJ realise aloud that Little as Somewhat has come back to fill the Curious Cat’s original role as the Afterans’ purpose-finding guide, but without the all-give-and-no-take drawbacks that made the Cat go insane.
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When RWBYJ are saying their goodbyes, I imagine there’s more tears and more of a heart-to-heart between Jaune and Juniper. Some of Ruby’s teammates have some encouraging words for Somewhat about helping the Afterans, how big of a difference they’ll make, how important they’ll always be, and how the people who really deserve Somewhat’s help will help Somewhat in turn – Ruby’s teammates as they’re saying that send Ruby a meaningful look, which prompts a smile from her.
EDIT: RWBYJ pass through the door, arriving in the Blacksmith’s workshop. The whole lengthy story about the Brother Gods’ origin is cut out, although their statuettes are still present. RWBYJ still bring up the Brothers, at which point the Blacksmith tells them something along the lines of, “Your world was not the first one where those brothers made remarkable achievements. Nor the last. You’ve already caught a glimpse of some of them. A desert. A field of flowers.” RWBYJ realise the Blacksmith is talking about the worlds they saw inside the opened Spring and Winter Maiden vaults which at first looked to be mere pocket dimensions. Ruby then brings up the crown she saw when the Curious Cat perished, and the Blacksmith confirms what she saw: the Relic of Choice, which the Curious Cat was and still is the chosen spirit of. The Blacksmith then opens a spacetime window showing RWBYJ the very same crown. In the window, we the viewer see a familiar pair of cyan eyes open in front of the Crown of Choice, the three jewels glow to reflect the diamond-shaped prism-patterns on the Curious Cat’s head, and we hear an echo of a familiar cackle. The window also shows RWBYJ where on Remnant the Crown currently is, with the Blacksmith saying they need to know it.
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The Blacksmith briefly narrates the remainder of Alyx and Lewis’ story about the Ever After’s connection to the Fall Maiden vault. Before Alyx and Lewis arrived, a “wizard” (Ozpin's King of Vale incarnation) opened up a gateway into the Ever After when he created the vault, and he placed the Crown of Choice inside. After Alyx and Lewis came, the wizard himself descended through the opened vault, but he never crossed paths with the missing students even when he waited at the Ever After’s exit door for them. He took the Crown of Choice and returned to Remnant with it to hide it elsewhere, and without the Crown’s presence, the opened Fall Maiden vault’s magic portal connection to the Ever After faded away.
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When Jaune asks the Blacksmith about Alyx’s knife, the Blacksmith’s answer heavily implies that the Blacksmith is what Alyx became after she ascended. Jaune smiles and tears up, and the Blacksmith smiles back at him. And no, Jaune does not get de-aged.
The Blacksmith opens a portal for RWBYJ to Vacuo, although I imagine that the image on the other side, instead of being an ideal image of the City of Vacuo with Atlesian airships in the air, is something a little more bittersweet to reflect the fallout of the exodus (either a moving camp of refugees in the desert, or a more overcrowded-looking City of Vacuo). Stepping into the portal, RWBYJ exchange glances with each-other, Ruby lifts Crescent Rose II, then the portal shuts behind them and the episode ends.
So, that’s my rewrite of Volume 9’s ending to fix some of the major problems I had with it.
From here, I imagine Volume 10 would be about further fleshing out the new Ruby, with her team and everyone adjusting to how her character has changed after ascending; and about the heroes helping Vacuo and the Atlas-Mantle refugees cope with the fallout from V8, Bumbleby tackling their relationship's first post-kiss “bump in the road” which this V9 ending has set up (Yang’s guilt and trauma over neglecting Ruby for Blake, and Ruby ascending). And eyes turn to retrieving the last two Relics now that the Blacksmith has told the heroes as a necessity where the Crown of Choice is hidden, and now that they’re right next to the last Relic in Shade Academy. And Salem is so going to join forces with the Curious Cat at some point to make up a witch-and-witch’s-cat duo, even if it’s only temporary. :3
If anyone’s wondering how the Curious Cat being the Crown of Choice’s spirit works, the details would be fully explained later. The idea is that the spirits attached to the Relics were chosen by the Brothers when the Relics were made - two uniform, orderly spirits for the God of Light-aligned Relics’ concepts (Knowledge and Creation), and two more random, chaotic and unpredictable spirits for the God of Darkness-aligned Relics’ concepts (Choice and Destruction). And that the Cat throughout V9 had no idea of their connection to the Crown until their "death" caused it to soul-jar them.
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palaceofpassion · 2 years
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Aura Is Friendship- Are you jealous of Rarity Weiss? Is it because she is sexier than you? Or is it because you wish you were as nice as her?
"I'm no such thing! I have no reason to be jealous of her, and that's an incredibly rude question!" Weiss huffed, but... she couldn't keep her eyes off of Rarity. It was true though... the woman was rather... appealing. She felt a fidget in her heart, her chest tightening, memories of Neptune's flirtations still boggling her mind.
Really though... what could she expect... the only person she was remotely comparable to with back home was Ruby, and the girl was only 15.
"I'm really not very pretty... am I."
"Of course you are."
She felt a stillness in her freeze her body as she slowly turned to see Jaune there. Her eyes narrowed at the boy... man? She wasn't sure, he was so different than she was used to. He had this level of bumbling to him that she remembered, but... he was calmer, more level headed, and in general he just seemed better. Not just from himself... but compared to her.
"How long were you there for?" She gave him an extra sharp stare.
"Uh well..." She noted that he tried to reach around to scratch the back of his head but then, he stopped. He simply stopped, like he was fighting back an old nervous tick. "For a while actually, I meant to come see how you were doing, then you started answering."
She wasn't sure what she was supposed to feel as he took a seat not too far from her, but she did flinch. She still remembered the Jaune from her time, and while... he only asked her out three times. She had made it clear she wasn't interested.
"What, are you still fawning over me?"
Truthfully she was trying to repair her ego.
"No? Not really, I uhm, hadn't had a lot of time to really sit down and think about that kind of stuff, we were almost always busy and well with the world ending, it was hard to settle down."
Ah yes, that, she wasn't sure how much she believed him... but he had answered things she didn't expect jaune to know, speaking of.
"How did you know those things about me? Like my favorite stuff toy... I would have never told you that."
"Oh! Uhm, well when we were all staying in the mansion, after things went wrong. You and I had a talk, to calm our nerves, since things were going wrong and we kind of discussed the little things, and the things we regretted with our families. So one thing lead to another and hahah yeah..."
It was an awkward tone that he took, but she couldn't tell if he was lying or not.
"I don't... I just can't see how my future self could trust you."
"I don't really blame you, I don't know how I could trust myself either..." There was that bitter tone in his voice, again, something had gone wrong. He'd told her quite a bit of things, but she knew he was hiding information.
"So you did give up on me right?"
"Oh! Yeah, right after the dance actually. I started realizing that my focus was wrong... just... I wish I had been given the time to process it."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Ah uhm, nothing, anyways, Weiss. You shouldn't compare yourself to other people." He took on a more serious tone, though she didn't liek the way he was avoiding the question. "You're you and Rarity is Rarity. I can vouch for you and say you're beautiful, and with time, you're going to be an even more amazing person. That's my honest opinion, no strings attached."
She opened her mouth and closed it, "How can you say that when I've been so mean to you?"
"To be fair! I was also kind of dense, or afraid, or both... I'll be honest, even now I still think you're gorgeous. But that's just it, I get to know who you become, and who you become is someone wonderful. Iknow that you're afraid, that right now you think no one will care for you. Especially with what you said Neptune did, but trust me, you're beautiful."
"What is-"
"Jaune! I need help!"
Spike's call for assistance cut her short.
"Oh sorry, I gotta go, anyways take care. If you need anything, feel free to talk to me. Or Pinkie, she's a little... strange but she can give advice."
Weiss was soon left alone with her thoughts, alone and muddled.
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rwdestuffs · 2 years
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I would have thought that Weiss would have put jaune in a diaper, or in little kids’ clothes, given her low opinion on him. Overall, the episode did a decent job of making sure that vomit boy wasn’t a spotlight hog, an ability that miles appears to be physically incapable of doing considering how much focus vomit boy got in Volume 1… And in Volume 2… And in Volume 4… And in- You get the joke, right?
Overall, despite my own gripes being that Weiss is the focus instead of Blake or Yang, I’m enjoying myself. The show could do with about 1000000% less jaune, but I guess it’s in the contract that they have to include miles’ little pet and give him some level of respect. Which sucks because every time I see jaune being in danger, I think “Maybe they’ll finally turn this useless isekai protagonist wannabe into a cadaver” and then get instantly disappointed when he survives. (Here’s hoping that jaune dies in the upcoming Volume 9!)
All in all, the show could do with some extra Pyrrha development, 1000000000000% less vomit boy, more time for Ren and Nora, more Yang time, more Blake time, more Ruby time, and maybe 10% less Weiss time. I get that it’s called Ice Queendom, but the show could stand to have more interactions between the characters. This Nightmare arc kinda feels a bit dragged out, and I’d be kinda bummed out if this took up the entire season. Admittedly, an entire season dedicated to Weiss at least makes billions of more sense than giving vomit boy a quarter of a volume before Blake or Yang got any development time to themselves, given that her initial is in the original’s title.
Yes. I’m still bitter about how Volume 1 gave jaune an arc before it gave Blake and/or Yang one.
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itsclydebitches · 3 years
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I’ve been seeing an uptick in “anti-RWDE” posts lately  — which is a phenomenon I’d like to comment on at a later date  — but for now one of them (quite unintentionally) made me realize something about the finale that I haven’t seen others discuss yet. 
So RWBYJNOR saves everyone, right? Let’s just put aside the animation for a moment  — which didn’t show any army members making it out  — as well as the forgotten side characters  — Maria, Pietro, Qrow’s group isn’t forgotten, but still left behind  — and take things on good faith here. We’ll read the finale through the thematic intention: RWBYJNOR saved “everyone” in the Kingdom of Atlas in Volume 8, deliberately contrasting them with Ironwood who was willing to sacrifice a chunk of the Kingdom in Volume 7. Forget all the messiness and just accept that regardless of the consequences  — like a destroyed Kingdom and a “dead” team  — the heroes are heroic because they didn’t give into a “lesser evil” thinking and managed to save everyone. 
Now, how was that possible? 
Let’s go back to the beginning of the seventh episode of Volume 8, “War.” Salem’s grimm have just burrowed through Atlas’ defenses and taken them out. The shields are gone. She flies Monstra into the fields and releases an army of darkness that immediately heads for the city. What’s the very first thing Ironwood does? 
Soldier: Yes, sir?
Ironwood: I am evacuating all citizens to the subway. Prepare Manta Squad Omega, and dispatch to every part of Atlas.
Soldier: But sir-
Ironwood: Now!
He evacuates the people, with “the people” meaning all the Atlesians and however many Mantle folk got to the city prior to Salem’s arrival. When this episode aired I mentioned being confused as to why the soldier was so hesitant. Why wouldn’t you want the people to get to safety when a grimm army is heading their way? Fans against Ironwood took the soldier’s side, claiming that Mountain Glenn proved that any underground evacuation is a death sentence and thus he obviously doesn’t really care about the peoples’ safety. Fans in support of/neutral towards Ironwood pointed out that this is a pretty big leap, no one is coming up with a better idea for what he should do instead, and that within these circumstances it reads like the soldiers is illogically against this idea simply because everyone is against Ironwood now. The show wants characters criticizing his decisions and making him out to look like a crazed dictator... even during moments when it doesn’t make any sense to be upset with him. Shooting the councilman yes, trying to keep the people safe no. Basically, this small exchange was a mess, but the rest of the volume proved that this was a sound call. The subway never collapsed and no grimm ever made it to that enclosed space to pick the civilians off like fish in an underground barrel. 
So, why didn’t that happen? Well, one answer is because Oscar and Ozpin destroyed the whale. But how did they have time to do that? Without the people dying while they were being tortured, talking to Hazel, escaping with Emerald, fighting Salem, etc.? A lot happened between Salem starting her attack and Oscar ending it, so why wasn’t 2/3rds of the Kingdom’s population decimated during that time? 
Because Ironwood sent his army out to keep the grimm occupied. 
Outside of Ironwood’s cartoon villain actions  — random murders and bomb threats  — which get the most attention due to how deliberately, over-the-top horrific they are, these are the two actions that get the most negative attention from both the story and the fanbase. The soldier seems horrified by the order to evacuate. Marrow is devastated that young adults are fighting in this battle. The fandom is disgusted by both aspects of Ironwood’s character: giving orders that, as general, he expects to be obeyed and having an army that follows those orders. Putting side that cartoon villainy, this is what supposedly makes Ironwood the antagonist here. These are the qualities that have existed since Volume 2, resulting in a “he was always a bad guy” interpretation. These are the qualities that have resulted in anyone who likes his character being labeled as a “bootlicker.” We know these qualities make the fandom hate him because otherwise, more people would be confused as to why a presumably heroic character randomly shot Oscar. Orders, armies, and general military associations are at the heart of Ironwood’s presumed villainy. 
So let’s remove them. 
Ironwood has no evil army. Ironwood gives no evil orders. Power and control lies solely in the hands of our non-military heroes. Everything is better! 
...well, no. Because we saw in Volume 8 precisely the choices our heroes made when the attack started: half of them focused on saving a single individual (Oscar) and the other half kept to the sidelines. At no point did our RWB group act after sending the message and prior to securing the Staff. AKA, during the attack of Salem’s army. We got a very explicit moment in which Ruby looked out the window at the battle going on and turned away from it, continuing to discuss ethics instead of joining the fight. The people of Atlas (which, again, includes many Mantle citizens) had no one but Ironwood and his army because a third of the group was trying to rescue Oscar (they never even had a plan to blow up Monstra — that was also Ironwood), a third of the group was up in Amity, and a third was sitting in the mansion. They did nothing to help the people of Atlas being attacked by grimm. 
Thus, if you remove Ironwood’s actions, everything goes to hell. There is no longer an order to evacuate to the subway. Maybe some people go there anyway. Most probably don’t. They run in a panic wherever they can. Hide wherever they can. Go back home for some semblance of safety. 
There’s no longer an army. Either it doesn’t exist because we’ve determined it’s simplistically bad despite RWBY’s grimm-specific context, or Ironwood likewise never gives the order to protect Atlas’ border. Salem’s army moves unimpeded through the city, killing countless people as it goes. How do we know? Because they’re civilians who can’t defend themselves and there’s literally no one else to help. Remember: Ironwood is not giving orders, there is no army, RWB is in the mansion, YJOR is in the whale, Penny is out of commission, the Happy Huntresses are in Mantle. Those in Atlas are entirely alone. In time, Oscar destroys the whale, but by then it’s too late. There’s no concrete way to theorize how many have died, but it’s inevitably a lot. Everyone else is scatted across the city, trying to survive. 
So this scene 
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no longer exists. 
When the group gets the Staff and creates portals for “everyone” to escape through, Mantle is ready to go. They’ve gotten everyone into the crater and can funnel them straight to Vacuo. Atlas, however, is in chaos. When Jaune enters the subway there’s only a few people there, many of which may be wounded or dying. He’s right back where he started, in Mantle at the beginning of Volume 8: needing to go door-to-door to find where people have hidden themselves, trying to convince them all to follow him (remember Oscar commenting to Ozpin about how difficult that was?). Except now, he and Nora are the only ones trying to get people to safey, the city is filled with far more grimm, a significant amount of time has passed for people to be killed or injured (making evacuating them even harder, both due to injuries and an unwillingness to leave hurt/dead/missing loved ones behind), he’s trying to convince these panicking people to go through magic portals, not just walk to a crater, and he’s aware that there’s a very short time limit for this task. 
Jaune returns in a panic of his own, explaining how difficult it will be to get that 2/3rds of the Kingdom to Vacuo. How many are already dead. Barricaded. Missing. Closeup on Ruby looking horrified, but then she rallies. They can do it. Atlas is falling, but residual dust gives them just enough time to find, calm, and evacuate those people. They’re heroes after all. Beating the odds is what they do. 
Then Cinder attacks. 
Suddenly, the group can’t evacuate people because they’re trying to keep themselves safe from her. Maybe Cinder gets the powers because Jaune was off looking for civilians, leaving Penny without a mercy kill. Maybe Nora dies because she’s still trying to help people on the city that plows into the one below. Regardless of how details might change, they’re not getting a spread out, decimated population through those portals before Cinder changes the wish and makes them disappear.  
In this version, the story starts with Ironwood wanting to sacrifice 1/3rd of the population to save 2/3rds and the future of the war. It ends with 2/3rds of the population dying instead. 
This is what I mean when I say the majority of the fandom wants to view a very complex situation through a ridiculously simple lens. The fandom wants to denounce every bit of RWBY’s fictionalized military, the context issues of that aside. The story wants to paint RWBYJNOR as the only heroes, in part because they succeeded in saving everyone (“everyone”) in the Kingdom when Ironwood gave up. 
But they only managed to save everyone because of Ironwood. Because he kept fighting for his people to the bitter end. This is why, though his horrific actions obviously exist in the story, they make no sense (he’ll threaten to kill his people so he can... save his people?) and mess up what little is working in the finale. The story wants us to celebrate the group for evacuating Mantle and Atlas, but the Atlas evacuation would not have happened if not for Ironwood’s actions  — the actions that are ignored in favor of having Winter blame him for everything and then killing him off. The rescue of “everyone” was very much a joint effort. RWBYJNOR’s win is not actually a contrast to Ironwood’s intended sacrifice, for the simple reason that their win depended entirely on Ironwood’s actions. 
If we’re going to celebrate the group getting everyone to safety, we should probably also celebrate the guy who got them all to an easy evacuation point and ensured they weren’t eaten before then. Does that mean Ironwood never did anything wrong? Of course not. As established, the story went out of its way to make him into a villain. Rather, it means that other parts of the story failed to maintain that black and white view, complicating the heroism of RWBYJNOR in the process. If we want Ironwood to be incapable of heroic action, always the bad guy, nothing good to say about him whatsoever... then we likewise need to accept that the group is rather unheroic in many regards too. That, on their own, they would have failed to save everyone, just as Ironwood’s plan failed to save everyone at the end of Volume 7. Because they chose their friend over a kingdom. Because they sat around in a mansion. Because by the time they took action again and tried to escape, without Ironwood’s help they would have lost a larger majority than they originally insisted be saved. 
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onewomancitadel · 2 years
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In regards to Jaune, have you listened to Jordan Peterson's "Become a Peaceful Monster" speech? It perfectly describes what you're trying to do with Jaune in your story.
Omg anon I hold nothing against you, but this scholar is not well-liked on this end of the Internet. Obviously there's the transphobia, and like, whatever thing he's saying and then immediately recanting about women... seriously, say what you will about him, but one of the things I really can't stand is that he's so ambiguous. I feel like I barely know anything about him, because everything I read he immediately turns around and clarifies to mean something different. Women are chaos and chaos is bad but chaos is necessary. Idfk, man can't make up his mind.
Besides which, there was that scholarly debacle where he mischaracterised Kali, because Kali fundamentally breaks his own framework of feminine chaos, and I think that he's one of those people who doesn't know how to adjust his opinions when he's wrong.
I also think his self-help and mysticism intersect in ways Campbell would not be happy about, even if Campbell's work is about individual enlightenment. He flattens a lot of the world into violence and reactive violence. Also, I think he secretly wishes he were Campbell, and I feel kind of bad for him. Campbell, for being an old man born a long time ago, had a very positive attitude towards women - probably better than Peterson and Jung put together - maybe not perfect to all feminine palates today, but I find him exciting and influential still, even if he's not perfect. It's hard for me to sincerely take Peterson seriously, mostly because he does not take me, a poor female, particularly seriously (although I did watch his talk with Paglia, and Paglia ran circles around him, even if Paglia herself is um, very controversial, to put it kindly; please I do NOT want an argument on my blog, I just found that talk so funny) and also because I don't think his mysticism - reactive, defensive, violent - is my type.
But I think also the issue here is that Peterson is not fundamentally saying anything new, but for the audience being exposed to him (young men in particular), it's their first interaction with philosophy, mysticism, Jung... like, real mystical and self-reflection stuff, but served in a way that's accessible to the masculine appetite, which is not too much about feelings but objective ways of the world.
To understand a monster by being a monster, and to become protective through extreme violence? I mean, the integration of the Shadow is a step in Jung, so this matter of recognition is not new (and here you can really see his Jung background) and the presence of it here is concrete. But it sounds cool, I guess.
It would really hurt if like, a film like the Last Jedi used Jung in this exact fashion (textually - his works were explicitly consulted), and fans of Jordan Peterson broadly and devoutly hated this film:
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(You have that look in your eyes. From the forest. When you called me a monster.
You are a monster!
Yes, I am).
But that's a women's story, and a woman's gaze, and a woman's romance, I guess. I sound really bitter here, sorry. ANYWAY.
Also, Jaune's soulmate is a monster (in a way), so yes, recognition of his anima here is doing something too.
(Note that the Shadow and anima are distinct, but in a lot of texts can be conflated. In R/WBY, excitingly, they're not. Jaune is Oscar's Shadow, funnily enough - that's why he carries such conflict, and is an Ozma-coded character).
But that goes back to Jung, that's not Peterson, but that is where Peterson is drawing from. So, I prefer Jung, because I can get it from the source. I think it's a totally separate post to criticise Peterson, but in terms of what I'm referring to, and what the show is itself using, it's Jung by himself, not through repetition from Peterson. Again even note his emphasis of monstrousness and violence and the world constantly in violent flux; the Shadow is a moral confrontation, yes, and a confrontation to the self, but not all confrontation and conflict is so literal.
Also as a disclaimer to my post: I can read academics whom I disagree with just fine. I had a friend who was a big fan of Jordan Peterson (friend in classes) so I came to know a lot about him, and obviously because I'm a fan of Jung, Campbell, etc., given that he's one of the most infamous mystical scholars in popular consciousness I do need to understand where fans of him are coming from. Then again, I don't think ideas are dangerous; more reading is always good. In the case of Peterson, again, the reason I can criticise him on these topics - Jung, for instance - is because I have a familiarity with the source content. Idk, some people get the idea if you read something you're immediately going to become evil. I just understand why he's compelling to certain demographics, and I know why he isn't to me. I hope that's a satisfactory disclaimer. I'm not sure how else to insulate myself, lol. But I have to be aware of this too - modern fans of Jung might be coming via Peterson.
But yes, broadly speaking I don't think you're wrong in what I'm trying to achieve with Jaune in my fic (and what I think they're doing in the show itself with him): I think the ability to be capable of cruelty and not be cruel is meaningful.
There's also that step further, where his greatest pain is also his greatest joy, and it's the hardest task (coming to understand Cinder) which also comes with the greatest boon...
La la la, singing the Power of Myth in my sleep...
Once again, come on, say it with me:
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: What he was saying is that this love is bigger even than death, than pain, than anything. This is the affirmation of the pain of life in a big way.
BILL MOYERS: And I would choose this pain for love now, even though it might mean everlasting pain and damnation in hell.
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: That’s right.
[…]
BILL MOYERS: So there’s joy and pain in love.
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Yeah, there is. Love, you might say, is the burning point of life, and since all life is sorrowful, so is love. And the stronger the love, the more that pain, but love bears all things. Love itself is a pain, you might say, but is the pain of being truly alive.
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rohad93 · 3 years
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RWBY - Driftwood
~ ~ ~ 
Post Volume 8 finale
~ ~ ~ 
Her whole body hurt.
Not that Ruby expected much else when she and Blake fell from the golden bridge to the inky blackness below; their aura broken.
Actually, she really expected to not even be alive. Ambrosius’s warning not to fall had echoed in her head as the pathways grew more and more distant before all light vanished, swallowed up by the inky blackness.
She could hear Blake yelling and then nothing, like being smothered with a thick blanket. There was no sound, only a dull static buzzing in her ears along with the heavy thumping of her own heartbeat. The all-encompassing darkness had been suffocating. She couldn’t breathe, but she must have somehow.
She and Blake had separated at some point and the next thing she knew, she had hit the water with all the force of a rampaging Ursa, the back of her head slamming against the water and it may as well have been cement for all the force with which she landed. She thought that she may even have blacked out for a moment before the cold water and the need for air made her eyes pop back open. It took a long second for her to orient herself, swimming up toward the light.
The swelling ocean waves and an island laid out in front of her, a towering tree reaching up toward a ruddy pink sky. She didn’t spare it more than a glance before making her way to shore.
She coughed as she crawled onto the beach, sand squelching under her fingers and knees.
The sun was warm on her back but she was numb to it as she stared blankly down at the sand, watching the rivulets of water drip from her hair and face, leaving dark splotches in the granules.
Her head pounded in time with her heavy heart and her lungs burned with fire as she gasped for air. Her limbs weighed down every movement and all Ruby wanted to do was collapse on the dark sand and never move again. The dull throb piercing every inch of her body pulled her deeper into the miasma of despair.
She forced her head up and looked around at the expanse of beach that seemed to stretch to the horizon on either side of her, blank and unchanging.
With a pained grunt, she pushed herself up off her knees, stumbling a little as she climbed to her feet.
Where even was... this?  
The trees stretching out in front of her were like nothing she had ever seen before, twisted and bent in looping knots toward the ground before their leafy tops stretched back up toward the sky.
She pushed her soaking wet hair out of her face and took a tentative step toward the trees. She was bone-weary but she forced her aching body to move just the same.
When the spirit of the staff had warned them not to fall, she had expected something else.
A bottomless abyss…
Death…
Not a tropical island.
She moved, without purpose or sense of direction through the jungle landscape. The sounds of birds cawing echoed off the trees. The foliage was thick and wild and the air was heavy and humid.
She was slowly coming back to herself the longer she moved. Feeling returned to her limbs and the haziness in her head parted some. The oppressive heat and humidity was starting to get to her and she stopped long enough to pull off the insulated shirt, letting the air finally get to her skin. Her aura was broken, so she had no way to regulate her body temperature until it regenerated. While the fall didn’t kill her, she may very well sweat to death in the thickly insulated gear now that she had left behind the bitter cold of Solitas. She threw it down in the dirt and left it there as she moved.
The water beading up on her skin was as much sweat now as it was seawater.
If she had survived the fall, then surely Yang and Blake had to be here somewhere too.
Unless…
She stopped and turned to look back in the direction of the ocean that she could no longer see through the trees and the weight of everything began to settle on her.
What if they had drowned? What if instead of landing in the water they had hit the ground?
What about Weiss? Her aura had been broken when she shoved her out of the way of Cinder’s attack. Had she fallen? Had she gotten through to Vacuo?
Or had Cinder...
Water began to gather in the corners of her eyes and her fists clenched, the leather of her gloves squeaking in her grip as a sob ripped out of her throat.
Her partner, her sister, her closest friend… was her whole team just gone… was she the only one left? What about Jaune and Penny? Were they still fighting or had they fallen too?
She choked on another sob and sank to her knees in the dirt as her sorrow wracked her body.
All she had wanted to do her entire life was help people, keep them safe from the monsters that surrounded them. Make life better, like her mother…
Her mother, who had probably been turned into a creature of grimm by Salem for her eyes. Taken every good intention and warped it into something black, ugly, and malicious.
How had everything crumbled to ruin around them, again!?
Cinder.
It was always Cinder. Ruby clenched her teeth as her body trembled.
She understood now, why her eyes reacted to the woman. Her grimm arm stuck out in Ruby’s mind.
She was a monster, in every sense of the word.
“Argh!” Ruby slammed her fist into the dirt, over and over until it throbbed and she’d spent what little energy she had left pounding a divot into the ground. Something dark and ugly had pooled in her stomach, spreading through her veins like wildfire.
Hate
Hatred so bright and hot it set her aflame from the inside out.  
Salem might have been behind it all but it was Cinder who had continued to take and destroy everything she had ever fought for, ever cared about.
The fall of Beacon, Pyrrha, Haven, her sister, her teammates!
She tasted salt as tears dripped down her face, splattering in little dark spots on the ground.
Why… Why did she keep trying?
Now they had lost two relics and everything in between.
Maybe Ironwood had been wrong but how had her plan turned out any better? What good did saving the people of Mantle and Atlas do if Salem got the relics anyway and destroyed all of Remnant?
She sat there and cried. The burning hatred ebbing away to make way for something else.
Despair
The searing hatred bubbling beneath her skin fizzled out and bitter despair took its place.
Acrid and raw, burning up the back of her throat with a fresh wave of tears.
She wasn’t sure how long she sat there in the dirt, lost to the world around her as despair reigned supreme and she didn’t know how long she might have, if a distant sound hadn’t finally broken through the haze of anguish.
Ruby looked up, sniffling as she strained her ears to listen for the far-off sound that didn’t fit the noises of the jungle.
A voice.
One she would know in her sleep.
“Ruby… Blake…. Yang!”
Was that…?
She scrambled to her feet and took off running in the direction of the voice calling her name as it grew louder and loud.
“Ruby!”
Ruby panted as she ripped through the thick jungle undergrowth, never slowing even as branches and plants whipped at her face. She was unconscious to it all; nothing penetrated except the sound of the voice growing ever closer and the furious pounding in her ears as she tore through the trees.
She burst through the tree line and skid to a stop the moment her eyes landed on the bright spot of blue and white in front of her that stood out like a beowulf at a dinner party among the dark greens of the jungle.
Weiss whipped around at the commotion she’d made and her eyes widened as they landed on her partner.
“Ruby!” She all but screamed before dashing forward and Ruby’s feet were moving without her even realizing until she crashed painfully into Weiss, arms wrapping around her in a near stranglehold. Ruby would take any pain in the world if it meant seeing her face again.
“Ruby... You’re okay…” She heard Weiss’s strained and desperate words against her ear and she squeezed her all the tighter as tears again started to gather in her eyes.
“Weiss…,” she choked, burying her face in the other woman’s neck. Her grip on Weiss remained air-tight but her knees were folding beneath her and the next thing she knew they were kneeling in the dirt, clinging desperately to each other. She could feel the cool drops of water dripping onto her shoulder where Weiss’s head was pressed against hers. They squeezed each other for a long, handful of minutes, relief washing over them.  
Eventually, they pulled back but didn’t go far, still clinging tightly to each other.
“Are you okay?” Ruby asked, silver eyes darting across Weiss’s tear-stained face as she stared back at her, nodding.
“Yes… I…” She sniffled. “I was afraid that you…,” she trailed off and if possible, Ruby’s hold tightened.
Her mind was still foggy with everything that had happened but the sheer relief she felt now that Weiss was here, in front of her, was like a ray of sunlight piercing the dark clouds of her misery.
“I’m not hurt…,” she assured, pulling back to grip Weiss’s shoulders, her thumbs running soothingly back and forth over her shoulders. She couldn’t say she was okay. Okay was the last thing she was right now. She was alive, and for now, that would have to be enough.
“Have you seen Yang or Blake?” Weiss asked, releasing her hold on her partner and Ruby shook her head.
“What happened after I fell, Weiss?” she asked and Weiss’s lips pursed, tears continuing their slow trek down her cheeks.
“Cinder took the relic…,” Weiss said quietly and Ruby’s jaw tightened, teeth clicking together.
“Did Penny at least get to Vacuo?” she asked and Weiss froze, eyes flickering to her lap and fingers curling into tight fists against the top of her thighs.
If she closed her eyes, she could still see it.
Penny’s body, an hour into becoming a living girl of flesh and bone, lying lifeless on the ground and Jaune’s sword, stained with dark, crimson blood.
She looked up at Ruby’s questioning face and swallowed thickly. How badly she didn’t want to say the words sitting like rocks in her mouth; but she had to.
“Penny…” Her tongue darted out to wet her suddenly dry lips. “Penny was injured… and we didn't have the time to heal her. She… asked Jaune to kill her, so Cinder wouldn’t get the maiden powers…,” she trailed off, voice growing lower with the words. She could feel Ruby’s grip on her shoulders tighten into a white-knuckle grip and winced at the nails biting into her skin.
“He did…,” she mumbled and Ruby’s grip on her tightened for a brief second before she ripped her hands away and shot to her feet, turning on her heel and walking a few feet away before she stopped as Weiss scrambled up to follow her.
The air around them was tense and quiet, the chirping of the birds and rustling of the trees in the breeze were the only sounds between them.
Weiss didn’t know what to say as she stared at her leader’s back, watching the growing trembling in her frame.
Ruby hunkered forward, body shaking, then suddenly, jerked back, headshot back as a scream filled the air.
Cold chills ran up Weiss’s spine as she watched, wide-eyed and lips parted in silent shock as Ruby wailed up at the coral-colored sky.
The howl faded, turning into choked sobs and that knocked Weiss’s feet loose as she rushed to close the distance between them.
“Ruby…” She lifted a hand but stopped short.
“Why… Why Penny… why again!?” Ruby choked on her choppy breaths in between sobs. Weiss frowned, stepping closer.
“She wanted to keep the power safe from Cinder at all costs… to do the right thing. What she thought was right, like you would have…” She jerked back, eyes wide as Ruby whipped around.
“When have I ever done the right thing!?” Ruby screamed, slapping a hand to her chest. “Everything I’ve done, every decision I’ve made has only made everything worse!” she choked as tears dripped down her cheeks. “We lost the lamp, we lost the staff, we lost Penny…. again! All I am is a failure!” she screamed before sobs rocked her body and she crumpled to the ground in a heap, hands pressed to her face.
Weiss quickly crossed the remaining distance between them to kneel in front of the sobbing young woman. Her body shook and her head hung, refusing to meet Weiss’s eyes.
“Ruby, no… You’re not a failure…,” she said quietly but there was steel in her voice. “You are the bravest and kindest person I’ve ever known, Ruby. You always try to do the right thing and you’ve made some mistakes, we all have! You can’t know everything… you can’t be perfect!”
“I can’t do anything right, why do I keep trying? Everything just blows up in my face!” Ruby finally looked up at her, eyes rimmed with red and lips pulled back over her teeth. The fury and desolation flickering in her eyes struck at Weiss’s very core.
It broke Weiss’s heart to watch Ruby crack and fracture under all the pressure that had been building for months. She’d always been amazed at how strong Ruby had remained through everything but even her fearless and intrepid partner had finally reached her breaking point. The weight of their world having finally settled on her young shoulders.
Weiss bit her lip, feeling helpless just sitting there as Ruby continued to cry.
“You try… because that’s who you are, Ruby,” she said quietly. Reaching out to lay a gentle hand on Ruby’s forearm. “You want to make things better, you want everyone to be better and you actually work toward it, every day. You don’t just say it, you do.” Weiss squeezed. “Yang and Blake… you’ve helped them so much… you’ve helped me, more than I know how to say,” she mumbled. “You help everyone.”
Ruby’s cries quieted but they didn’t stop.
“I haven’t helped anyone lately… every decision I made was wrong,” was the gravelly answer and Weiss frowned, tears pricking her eyes as she watched her partner unravel before her eyes.
“I know that things have gone wrong… but you can’t do everything, you can’t fix it all. All we can do is try and you do. More than anyone I've ever known.” Weiss gave another squeeze as Ruby sniffled. “You’re…”
She hesitated, words stalled on her tongue. Words that had been sitting in her mouth, unsaid for some months now but there had just never been a good or right time for them to be said. Weiss was starting to think that maybe there never would be a good time.
“You’re amazing, Ruby. You make me want to do better and be better and that’s… that’s one of the things I… I love about you…,” she murmured, eyes trained on the ground between them. Ruby looked up at her, silver eyes glossy and red as tears continued their trek down her flushed cheeks.
“There’s no one else like you in all of Remnant and I don’t know what I would do without you to lead us, to remind us why we're doing this, why we have to do this. You inspire us… you inspire me .” She finally looked up and blue met silver for a long, silent moment. The buzz of cicadas and murmur of the birds in the distance being the only sounds between them for a long few moments.  
Ruby leaned forward and buried her face into Weiss’s shoulder and continued to cry. Not the earth-shaking sobs from before, just quiet, grieving tears.
Weiss wrapped her arms around her as tears fell from her own eyes, quietly carding a hand through the black and red strands of hair.
They sat there a long while, long enough that the sun had started to dip below the horizon, casting warm rays of orange light and the long, twisted shadows of the trees overhead.
Finally, Ruby pulled back and scrubbed at her raw cheeks with the back of her gloved hands.
“I don’t know what to do…,” she admitted sullenly.
“We’ll figure it out… like we always do,” Weiss said, giving another assuring squeeze and Ruby nodded. “It’s going to be dark soon, we should find some shelter,” She glanced at the sun sitting just over the horizon.
“Right…” Ruby climbed up on her numb legs, Weiss helping her as she pulled her to stand.
She went to pull her hand away but Ruby’s fingers wrapped around hers only tightened and Weiss looked at her, curiously.
Silver eyes were gazing back at her with an unreadable expression.
“Weiss…” She seemed to hesitate. “When... when you said you… loved me…,” her voice petered out and Weiss felt the embarrassment crawling up her throat. “Did… how did you… mean that?” she asked at last.
Weiss’s first instinct was to lie. To save face and not admit to this thing that had kept her up at night for a while now, right along with thoughts of Salem.
She wasn’t sure which she preferred to be the thing keeping her up at night.
Something about the barely held together look in her partner’s face though brushed away that instinct.
“I meant… I love you, Ruby. I’m… in love with you,” she finally said and watched the expression on Ruby’s face shift to total shock as her own face warmed.
“You… I…,” Ruby stuttered, unsure what to say.
“We don’t need to talk about this right now, Ruby…” Weiss cut her off before she could say anything else and Ruby’s jaw snapped shut from where it had been hanging open. They stared at each other for a long moment before she nodded.
“Right… later,” It was a promise.
Weiss nodded but felt Ruby give her hand another squeeze before finally letting it go. “We need to find shelter and we can look for Blake and Yang in the morning… there should be more people than just us that fell from the pathways,” she said and moved toward the trees with Weiss in tow. She was relieved to see a little life breathed back into her leader, even if she still looked broken.
That was okay. One step at a time and even if Ruby fell apart, Weiss would be there, to help her pick up the pieces.
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rwbyvein · 3 years
Text
Firen Lhain: Chapter 804: Phoenix:  Part II / III
Cinder developed a light red glow to keep herself warm. Ruby Petal Burst over beside Jaune. "So, what's the secret?"
"Oh?" Cinder asked, "Nothing much, just that Salem is planning to undermine faith in the good General."
Weiss then stepped up, causing her sister on the wall to look on curiously. "But, the kingdoms are technocracies?" Weiss asked.
"Oh?" Cinder asked, "How cute. They aren't talking about elections, they are talking about REVOLUTIONS! The General has done more than enough to infuriate the masses, as it is."
"But he opened the borders, didn't he?" Ruby asked.
"Oh?" Cinder asked, with a vicious smile, "Did he?"
"He gave the order to..." Weiss tried to say.
"Oh, did he?" Cinder asked.
"He did say..." Weiss continued.
"Do you have any proof?" Cinder asked. "Where is the written order."
"I'm sure it's..." Weiss stated.
"Are you saying he lied to us?" Ruby asked.
"I am saying that IF his orders existed, they do not anymore."
"You destroyed them?!" Weiss asked.
"Me?" Cinder asked, "No. Salem, yes. Having two seats on the council leaves little room for others."
"Who does she have?" Weiss asked.
"Oh, a number of them. The highest one is a Lieutenant General looking to slide into his seat."
"And his other seat?" Weiss asked.
"Oh, you know the candidate." Cinder stated.
"I do?" Weiss asked.
"Quite well, in-fact."
"Quit dancing around." Jaune nearly shouted at her.
"Jacques Schnee." Cinder with a wicked grin.
"He would not..." Weiss tried to say.
"Oh, he doesn't know who he's working for." Cinder said, and brushed the hair away from her false eye. "He just had a bit of a vedetta with the General stealing his prized daughters."
"WE ARE NOT HIS!" Weiss screamed.
"Sorry, snow queen, but he doesn't agree." Cinder said to her, "He doesn't know who he's working for, but he's just his corrupt, corporate self. His being in charge of Atlas Academy would be disastrous for the world. But, you're not going to be able to prove it. He genuinely doesn't even know he's working for someone. He just thinks he's being given opportunities, a favour for a favour."
"The currency of the elite." Blake stated, appearing beside her friends. "At least from what Aurora says."
"Even if it's distasteful." Cinder stated, "Even if it's incredibly immoral, it's not illegal. As far as he knows, all he's fighting against are the General's ruinous restrictions. He's a proud and noble scion of one of Atlas' great houses, removing the Fascist control of a dictatorial general."
"He is none of those." Weiss huffed.
"But he thinks he is." Cinder stated, her dull glow turning brighter. Those close to her could feel the warmth. "That makes him easy to manipulate."
Jaune looked over to Neo, everyone else following his gaze. "Is she telling the truth?" he asked, and Neo simply glared at Cinder. "Now's the time to make your choice, you can be bitter and alone, or you can help us, and try to do something that matters."
Neo pouted for a moment and then pointed, first at Cinder, and then at Ruby.
"Why did Ruby fight Roman?" Jaune asked, and she glared at him, she then vigourously and angrily pointed at Cinder. "No." Jaune said, and she looked at him like he wasas dumb as a sack of hammers. "Salem." he said. Neo glared at him, "No, I don't think we can beat her." he said, and Neo crossed her arms. "She's actually kind of immortal." Neo once again gave him the look where she questioned his intelligence. "She's cursed to live forever until she learns the value of life and death." Neo still glared at him. "Okay, we can't kill her, but we can stop her. How?" he asked her, and she nodded, "Because the world is still here. Salem has been doing this for hundreds of years, and the world is still here. If she loses, we win."
Neo crossed her arms and pouted.
Ruby Petal Burst next to Neo. "We can do it!"
Neo first instincts were just to stab Ruby. The first problem is she didn't have Hush, the second was that now was maybe not the best time to be stabbing. She crossed her arms and turned away from Ruby.
"I kind of have to ask," Blake stated, "why we are so interested in getting her to join us. I mean, with Cinder if she leaves Salem, Salem loses something she absolutely needs. But, with Neo?.."
"She's hurting." Jaune said to her, and a look of clarity appeared on her face. Neo looked at him wistfully before looking away. Neo appered to stand still until her illusion shattered.
* * *
Neo sat in her cell, back turned to where the bars had been torn off. A nude Ilia removed her camouflage as she walked up behind her. Neo huffed but did not turn around. "You'd rather stay in your cell?" Neo did not reply. "I know what Jaune is asking seems like it's impossible, but if you give into it, you will be happier." Neo huffed again, back still towards the hole in the cell. She huffed again and slowly turned around, eyes focusing on Ilia breasts and then cleft of venus. She managed to draw her eyes away and then looked into her eyes, giving her a questioning gaze. Ilia then shifted to make it appear as if she were wearing lingerie. Neo's eyes shot to Ilia's breasts and cleft before glaring back into her eyes. "Sorry," Ilia said to her, "it's the best I can do." Neo wiggled her nose and Ilia suddenly appaeered to be wearing Neo's clothes. "I suppose you like pink?" Ilia asked. Neo glared at her a moment before lightly nodding. "I'm not used to standing out this much." Ilia shyly said. Neo rolled her eyes and Ilia's dress adopted a much more drab red. Ilia looked back at Neo, "I didn't say I didn't like it." She then looked down as the dress returnd to it's former, brightly-coloured glory. Ilia then kneeled down. "Tell me, if you don't join us, what is your plan?"
Neo glared her her and crossed her arms. "Is your plan to just die?" Ilia asked, and Neo looked at her for a few moments before nodding. "Jaune was right? You lost someone?" Once again Neo glared at her with crossed arms before huffing and then finally nodding. "Someone you cared about?" Once again Neo glared at her before nodding. "Someone you cared about dearly, more than life itself?" she asked, and Neo pointed at her, emphatically nodding. "Would this person want you to die?" Neo glared at her before shaking her head. "He'd want you to live?" Ilia asked, and Neo proudly stood up to her just under 5-foot height. She then looked down, dejectedly. "He was your king, and you were his queen?" Ilia asked, and Neo nodded. "I feel the same way about Blake." Ilia stated, "Though, in my case she loves another."
Neo looked at questioningly. "Why am I here?" Ilia asked, and Neo nodded. "It's actually quite simple. She's right, and I'm wrong. I thought what I was doing was right, but it turned out it's wrong. Have you ever worried about that?" Neo shook her head. "I suppose it would be lot easier if you don't worry about right and wrong. I know. What happened?" she asked, and Neo glared at her. "You were doing so well, he was so brilliant and powerful?" she asked, and Neo nodded, "And then what?" Neo looked at her questioningly. "And then he bit off more than he chew?" Ilia asked. Neo sadly looked at her before slowly nodding. "So, even from your own point of view, what you were doing was wrong." Neo simply glared at her. "What do you want to do?"
Neo pantomimed stabbing with her umbrella. "Other than that?" Ilia asked, and Neo looked like she had never been asked that question. In truth, there's only one person who had ever asked her it before. "If he was your king, and you were his queen, you probably want a mansion! Be the queen of whatever city you end up in!" Neo paused for a moment before nodding. "So, tell me, does he think revenge is more important than his own life?" she asked, and Neo nodded. "What about yours?" she asked. Neo developed a completly blank look.
"Looks like our streaker finally put something on." Yang said as she walked down the stairs, Blake just behind her.
"You look good." Blake said with a smile.
"It's... actually not real." Ilia voiced, "How did you know?.."
"Jaune." Yang said, "His apparent Aura Radar or whatever it is. Figured you would be cold, what with all the nekkid and everything."
"He sent us down to keep an eye on our prisoner." Blake stated. Neo turned to glare at her.
"You are the one who returned to your cell." Yang said. "You want to act like a prisoner, we'll treat you like a prisoner. Though, if Jaune wasn't here we'd probably just turn you over to General Clank and be done with it. Make no mistake, you're here because he wants you to be. I can say, as a broken girl he's saved, that it might just be worth it to trust him. But that's just me. Rainbow Girl, same rules, you can use our bath if you want."
"And we would appreciate if you didn't use any illusions." Blake added. Ilia's clothes shattered.
"We did kind of ask for that." Yang said, having trouble taking her eyes off of Ilia.
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rwby-encrusted-blog · 4 months
Text
Bandit A: HAH! All tied up, and there's nothing you can do about it!
Jaune: Man, I really didn't think we'd get captured.
Nora: Sorry! I took melatonin and fell asleep During my watch!
Bandit B: Y'all ain't seemin' all dat concerned 'bout being Roped up.
Frog Faunus!Ren: You touched me without gloves; We aren't concerned about anything other than tracking down your dead bodies.
Bandit A: What's that supposed to mean?
Jaune: Well he's a frog faunus?
Bandit B: What? Some Warts gonna take us out?
Ren: No, the Poison will.
Bandit A: P-Poison?
Bandit B: Oi, keep yer head on. Blondie and Shorty 'ave been touchin him the whole time.
Nora: Oh! We've built up a resistance!
Bandit A: Poison?
Ren: Yes, I am specifically a Poison Dart Frog Faunus. It's why I am very averse to crowds. You are likely beginning to feel the numbness.
Bandit A: IS THAT WHAT THAT IS!
Bandit B: HEY! Keep calm, ye dunce!
Ren: Yes, breathe while you still can before the toxins halt your diaphragm.
Bandit A: SHITSHITSHIT! Is there an antidote!?!?!
Ren: There's a local herb that can save your life. It is a White Flower with Red thorns, and boiling it into a tea, then rubbing it into the afflicted area, as well as drinking it, will prevent the poison from killing you. You only have until Day breaks, So I would get a move on.
Bandit A: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
Jaune: You don't seem all that concerned.
Bandit B: I'm NOT! I'm Pissed now tho-
Ren: *Spits in Bandit's mouth*
Bandit B: GEH! *Hack! COugh!* Ah- Eh Why's it so Bitter!
JNR: Toxins.
Ren: You should join your friend You have far less time than him though.
Bandit B: I-eeeeh- cah- cah! MAH TUNG! THIt! *Sprinting away* MAW-ER PHUGGER!
Ren: Huh. Must've been allergic to my tea.
Ruby: Hey guys! I'm ba- Why are you tied up?
Jaune: Just Bandits. Nice Bluff Ren!
Ren: Thank you.
Fun Fact! Poison Dart Frogs don't produce their own toxins, rather they eat toxic Insects (Such as Centipedes) and secrete it through their skin. If you keep a true poison dart frog and restrict its diet from having toxic bugs, it will be safe to handle.
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tigereyes45 · 3 years
Note
Rwby request: equal parts fluff and angst, a Dragonslayer kid shows their parents a photo album with a picture from the dance and asks why Dad’s wearing a dress and who the lady with red hair is.
This ended up being really long so most of it is under the cut!
Jaune and Yang’s daughter find an old treasure when searching for her birthday gifts.
AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30125046
Huáng has always been curious. Her mother often states just how similar she was to her aunt in that regard. They both had questions, and would often voice them even when they're afraid. It was a point of pride for the young Xiao Long. In fact it was wanting to be more like her wonderful aunt that led her to digging through her parent's closest. It was originally to find her birthday gifts. She's only going to turn ten once, and who would it hurt to take a quick peak? No one, she decided before rummaging through their old clothes in the deepest parts of her parent's closest. With several face fulls of cobwebs, several plugged sneezes caused by the dusty corners, and many piles of forgotten clothes she was left with the bitter taste of failure in her mouth.
There was no presents anywhere. She could search the closest for the rest of her life and in the end she'd still not find them. Bitterly Huáng admits her defeat, but now her curiosity was left unsated. She hadn't found what she set out to discover, but that didn't mean her adventure was a waste! Filled with a sense of what her dad calls gung-ho. Huáng dives back into the closest. She'd either find something worthwhile, or her parents will find her there. A short time out, with maybe a few rounds of training after, and she'd be back in here. Still searching for something worthwhile. An answer to a question she doesn't even have yet. There was always something interesting buried in their closets. Anything her parents didn't have a place for was always abandoned it their furthest corners. Waiting patiently to be found by her and remembered. Even if they weren't her birthday presents.
It takes a long while before the young nine year old finally finds something other then clothes or shoes. What was buried beneath three coats was a shoe box. A shoe box older then the other pairs of her father's. It has a picture of yellow combat boots on the side. So it must've belonged to her mom. With the lid already cracked her dark blue eyes are drawn to this mystery box. Quickly she looks over her shoulders. No one had come to search for her yet. Tying her bright, blonde hair back into a ponytail, Huáng takes a deep breath. This could be a hidden treasure! Why else would it be tucked away so deep in this mess. Tucking the shoe box under her arm, Huáng shoves her way past the hanging clothes, and out of the closest.
Now safely positioned on her bed with it's green sheets and complimentary red pillows, Huáng pushes her best friend, an old beowulf stuff toy aside. Henrietta was in the way. No one smart got in her way when she was solving a mystery. Just like no grimm can stand in the way of her aunt when she's out on a mission. Carefully she sets the lid aside, as if mistreating it could leave permanent evidence of her escapade. Inside the shoe box was a book. Neatly printed in the leather cover were the words, 'Forever Memories'. She takes the book out of the box. With a quick wipe the dust is gone and the brown leather looks almost new. As if the book had barely been touched for however many years it was in there.
So of course the next logical step is to open it. The first picture was tucked inside a large plastic slot on the other side of the cover. There was a picture of herself as a baby. Her father, Jaune holding her as Yang smiles proudly while winking at the camera. Standing behind the two of them was Ruby, barely taller then her parents in the photo with one arm wrapped around each of their shoulders'. Standing next to Yang was the rest of team RWBY. Weiss and Blake smile awkwardly at the camera as they put just a small amount of space between themselves and her family. On the other side of her father was his team. Nora made no such effort to put space between Huáng's family and herself. She's got one arm looped around Uncle Ren's and her other hand tucked politely in the crook of Jaune's. Just enough to hold the two of them close to her without dropping little Huáng. Oscar stands with an embarrassed smile on the other side of a proud smiling Ren. Even Oscar was unable to escape the close knit group as he was leaning against Ren's side. Held there by Ren's free hand around his shoulders.
She's so enraptured by the faces of the dead it takes a long time for her to look throughout the rest of the book. Nora had been dead for the last four years. She couldn't even recall what shade her hair had been. Let alone what her voice used to sound like. Her father had such trouble talking about her and Uncle Ren. He'd choke up anytime he ever even thought of the two of them, and yet there was a book right here. A book that could show her the adopted aunt and uncle that died when she was little. Her memories hold a little of Ren. Specifically whenever she thinks back to her sixth birthday, it was the sad look in his eyes. He was thinner at her party then he was in the photo. In fact this was the only picture she has ever seen where he was happily smiling. Maybe he was always such a sad man.
Huáng doesn't know how he died. Her parent refused to let anyone talk about it when in the home. There was always this painful look form her father, and a steady steel-eyed gaze to whoever came close to bringing him up. All she knows is that he was sad about Nora. He missed her, and so Ren threw himself into work. He went on mission after mission alone, only ever taking a break when there was something happening with her. Still her father reminds her how much her passed on aunt and uncle loved her. He had several stories about the way her uncle would only smile when she was around. How far he would go to finish a mission just to be there for her birthdays.
But if he cared so much, why is he gone? Should she even call them family? They've been gone for so long.
No longer enjoying the questions the image stirs up Huáng moves on. The first few pages were of moments with her and her family. Her first steps chasing after her Aunt Ruby. That time her semblance activated as she watched her parents train. Her parents before and after photos when they had her. Her first day of school. These photos were placed erratically and no where near in chronological order. Almost as if someone had printed them all off together and randomly placed them into these pages. She flips through the pages, pushing past all the photos of her and the adults until gradually things did begin to have an order.
The organized photos start with a picture of her parents playfighting. Her mother holds Jaune in a headlock as he smiles up at her. Gradually they appear younger. More of their friends show up in the photos. The story they tell become less about the two of them and more about their teams. With every flip of a page the photos reflect moments that aren't even told in stories to her. Teams RWBY, and JNOR standing in front of a statue of a young women in a snow covered city. To a photo of her mother sleeping on her bike outside of a bus station. There's even a photo of her dad with a huge cut going up his arm. It must've healed well because she doesn't remember seeing any scars on his arms. At least, none that large.
Eventually she finds the pages of their time at beacon. Nearly none of their photos were of the two of them together here. In fact almost all of them were just of their teams. Her mother and Aunt Ruby chasing each other around a pond. Her mother's yellow metal arm now one of muscle and skin. There were a dozen more of team RWBY lazing around the school. Even more of pranks being done. One where Weiss woke up with a whip cream mustache. Another where Blake was drenched in water with a bucket of fish on the other side of the door. Half of them were just of her mom and Aunt Ruby.
The ones with her father were few and far between. There was Nora and Ren, but no Oscar in these photos. Instead someone with long red hair and a gold circlet was in them. She had pretty green eyes and a soft smile. In all these photos of Beacon Nora and Ren were always together. They appear even closer in these older photos. Yet her eyes keep drifting towards the red head. No one had ever mentioned her. In all these stories they have of their past nothing. All the fun adventures her parents love to share. She's never mentioned in one of them.
Carefully she slips the largest photo from it's socket. One with her father's original team standing side by side. An emotion she isn't quite sure how to describe fills her chest as she looks at the picture. Her heart beats faster, but her stomach twists something terrible. The same way it does when she eats too many of Aunt Ruby's cookies. Even her nose starts to itch like it tends to when she rolls down the hills nearby. It's impossible for her to know what the emotion is, but she knows what's causing it.
Everyone in that photo, they were all gone now. Everyone except her father. Her father who's still a hunter. Just like her mom. Huáng knows that hunting isn't perfect. It's not safe. People don't return all the time, but her parents always do. Aunt Ruby always has. Why didn't the rest of his team?
"Huáng?" She shoves the picture into the book before slamming it shut. Yes she had expected to be caught but not right now. Not when her stomach hurt.
"What'cha got there, kiddo?" Vainly Huáng pushes the book under the cover. Pale purple eyes follow it as if they were glued. With a smirk she leans against the doorframe. Muscly arms crossed she stretches her feet out to the opposite corner. Yang's body fills the doorway. There would be no escape.
The whole room slows down as Huáng tries to find a way out. There has to be. Her mother can't find out that she had been searching for her birthday gifts. She could just claim she was looking for some of her mother's clothes. Maybe she was curious about how they would look on her. Aunt Ruby had done that several times when they were kids. She told her so! Any excuse would work. As long as her mother didn't think about it for too long and realize the truth. It was just a book. There's no way she would be in as much trouble over some old photos as she would be for searching for her birthday presents.
"Uh," the creaking up the stairs fills the silence quickly. Giving her plenty of reason to stop talking. Dad was near.
"Hey," She sees his long blonde bangs before his face. They were messy with dirt and even a broken twig sticking out. He gives Yang a quick peck on her cheek.
"Your daughter is hiding something." Her tone's playful. That's a good side. Smiling her best, most innocent smile Huáng places her hands in her lap.
Jaune laughs nervously. "Oh no."
"Oh yes."
"You only call her my daughter when she does something that you did as a kid. Did she find her presents early again?" He slips a hand around Yang's waist. Burying his chin in her shoulder Jaune smiles sympathetically at his daughter. Silently he mouths the word, run.
Brushing her long ponytail back Yang throws her blonde locks right into his face. "You're not helping her out of this one."
Jaune coughs. He buries his face into her shoulder using her shirt to brush her hair from his eyes. "What?" Voice breaking at an absurdly high pitch he cries, "Help her! Y-yang come on. I just wanted to cuddle with my adorable, lovely," With a soft jab in his side, Jaune relents. Folding his hands over his sides he looks apologetically at Huáng.
All the while her parents were having their own little show Yang never looked away from Huáng. It gave her absolutely no chance to move. Why was her mother always so focus? Maybe Aunt Ruby would know how to sneak more stuff past her. Though that trick with the cookie jar she taught her hadn't worked either. If only she had a semblance like Ruby's. She could use it to dart down the stairs, straight out the front door! The birds were so quiet now. Did they know?
"Huáng what did you try to hide when your mama walked in?"
"It was just a book!" Which was true. It's just a book. A book she didn't find at all while searching for her gifts. Nah. Just an old book with a bunch of old photos.
"What book?" Jaune asks. Almost tripping, he squeezes his way past Yang into the room. He looks back at her and laughs. Yang juts her head back towards Huáng.
"This one daddy." With a sickeningly sweet voice Huáng uncovers the book. All the color in her father's face disappears.
"Oh." That was the softest she's ever heard his voice. Racking her brain for another example, Huáng's mind goes blank. His blue eyes cling to the book's cover. That recognition was so quick. The realization that this book was actually really important grips her tightly. Huáng freezes in place. Soft fingers, dig into the leather. It's course unlike before. Had she just not noticed, or did the cover change when she wasn't looking? Does knowing that this book actually matters, that it can actually terrify her father? She's seen him fight. He has never balked at anyone. Not even her mother. Never a whimper, no matter the scar. Yet he shakes at the mere sight of this book. Desperately Huáng looks to the only other person she can. Yang.
The bright sunny dragon of Vale. The fiercest warrior to ever grace the land. Her mother. Yang crosses the room with a speed Huáng doesn't even get to see when she watches the two of them train. She didn't even have time to blink and there was her mother. Gently holding Jaune in her arms. Her eyes pierce through Huáng. Had she done something wrong?
"I'm sorry." She starts to hide the book again but her father stops her. He pulls it out from under the covers carefully, as if their blankets could cut the book in half. He moves easily out of Yang's grasp and sits on the edge of the bed. His eyes were distant as they stare at the cover.
"What's wrong with the book mom."
"It's an old photo album."
"What's wrong with a photo album?"
"Nothing's wrong with it. It just holds some, precious memories." Her mother sits on the edge of the bed next to him. Her warm purple eyes still looking on at him.
"Why haven't I seen most of these photos?"
"They're old," As an after thought she adds, "hard to look at."
"Why?" Uncle Ren and Nora she new about. They weren't around anymore and that made dad sad. The photo album was filled with pictures of them, but her parents had never tried to hide the two of them from her before. In fact the only person that was in some of the photos she didn't recognize was the red-haired woman.
Letting out a sigh her mother bites her lip. She squeezes her eyes shut the way she always does when trying to answer Huáng's questions. "Because they're-"
"Is it because of the red haired lady?"
Yang looks to Jaune. She's nervous, hesitate, but he's smiling now. As if the bad cloud had finally moved from above his head.
"Her name was Pyrrha. She was an old friend. My first partner ever when I arrived at Beacon."
"I thought Ren and Nora were your first partners." If she was before them then why didn't her father ever talk about her?
He laughs. That was when Huáng knew the storm had passed completely. Her father was sad but it wasn't the bad kind of sad. Not the sort of sad Uncle Ren had been in her brief memories. Jaune closes the book and places it on the night stand next to the bed. He falls back onto the bed with a little oomf. Short strands of his yellow hair brushes against Huáng's pants. It tickles her legs just enough to make her laugh. Yang picks Huáng up. Her mother's arms were as strong as always. Being lifted felt like she was becoming weightless, even as it ends with a snug hug.
They fall back onto the bed next to her father. Poking her nose he smiles sadly before continuing. "We had teams of four. There were partners, like your aunts Ruby and Weiss, and your aunty Nora and uncle Ren." He stretches his hands up towards the ceiling. He holds up two fingers on either hand. "Two partners find each other and then they find another team of two. Then boom," he taps his hands against one another. He closes one hand and holds up four fingers on the other. "a whole team of four."
"Does that make sense my little phoenix?" Yang gives her cheeks a little pinch.
"Yeah."
"Great. Now next time you want to look through this book you have to ask first." Jaune pushes himself back up off of the bed.
"And we moved your presents out of the closest." Yang adds as she follows suit.
"Unfair!" Huáng crosses her arms and pouts. As her parents start to leave she realizes there was one more question she had. "So I get who the red haired lady was, but why was dad wearing a dress?"
Jaune's face turns tomato red. "Wait what?" Yang couldn't stop laughing to answer. "That photo is in there?"
Her mother holds her stomach as she struggles to speak. "It was a wonderful night. Would've bene a shamed if the best moment hadn't been preserved."
"I can't believe you didn't tell me you still had a copy of it."
"Oh don't feel too bad. My dad has some pictures of Uncle Qrow in a skirt from back in school."
"So where's the photo of you in your prom dress?" Her father was moving his arms around quickly. Yet despite all of his energetic talking Yang merely stood still and watched him with a pleasant smile.
"Destroyed. It was a boring dress anyways."
"Plain white dresses did seem like the theme that year."
Yang clicks her tongue and points her finger guns at him. "Exactly." They were lost in their own world. Huáng wasn't sure if that was entirely normal because she never saw anyone else get like that besides them, but her parents were always smiling during these little sessions of theirs. It wasn't like they were arguing, not really. It was surprising to hear that either let alone both of her parents had worn dresses at some point. Huáng had never seen either of them get dressed up in those kinds of clothes before. The photo may have been old but what would her father look like in one now?
She slides off the bed. Skipping across the room towards her parents who were now right outside the room in the hallway she smiles. Huáng raises her voice just enough so she would absolutely be heard. "So can we all wear dresses to my school meeting next week?"
Jaune and Yang look at their daughter surprised. Her mother smiles nervously at her dad. His own smile was much larger. "Of course sweetie."
With a sigh her mom rolls her eyes. "Guess we have to go dress shopping again."
"It'll be fun. Just the three of us! We'll get matching outfits!" He picks Huáng up and sets her on his shoulders. "How does that sound?"
"Perfect! I want a green one!"
"Green's not as boring as white."
Yang rolls her eyes and laughs. She was definitely looking forward to the shopping trip too. Her mom may never go out of her way to look pretty, but she always was. Maybe one day she'll be as tall and beautiful as her. Huáng hopes she will be.
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gorillageek27 · 3 years
Note
5 people of your choice watch Jaune and May act like a bitter old married couple.
may: how many times do i have to tell you!? keep your sword off the table!
jaune: well keep your dirty laundry in the hamper!
weiss:...
blake: how are they still married?
fiona: they're so in love.
ruby: oh no. theyx're fighting!
yang: *yes family drama!
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real-jaune-isms · 3 years
Text
RWBY Volume 8 Finale Review/Remix: The Final Word
The finale is here, and oh sweet fucking hell we were not ready for all that it brought us. These are the notes the series is leaving us on for the next 6 months, and the majority of them are not good feelings to dwell on for half a year. Let’s try and dissect them a little bit and hope the pain is a little less painful, okay?
Before even addressing the episode content I want to talk about the disclaimer and the episode description. Mental health is incredibly important, and if you are having issues or highly stressful or dangerous thoughts, there is no shame in seeking professional help or confiding in your loved ones so they know what you’re dealing with. The content presented within this chapter can be highly upsetting to some people, and it addresses themes of suicide and death worse than we have seen thus far. If you or a loved one are having suicidal thoughts, Rooster Teeth provides a number you can call for helpful resources and people. The episode description also features a line lifted straight from this Volume’s intro song “sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall”. Wouldn’t you know it, that’s the part of the theme that plays when Team RWBY falls through the ice and into the ominous underwater clutches of Grimm arms. With Yang being the one who falls first and farthest. How symbolic. 
We start off strong and stressful, fading in on the still dissolving Monstra to see Salem is still reforming herself. She’s not done yet, but it looks like it’s getting close... Going to a different powerhouse with white hair, Winter is fighting hard against Ironwood but not really gaining any ground. He keeps blocking her attacks with his cannon, and worse still he keeps trying to explain why he’s right. He shouldn’t be blamed for any of this because he’s been sacrificing so much for the mission. Except, as she points out, he hasn’t. He’s sacrificed a lot of other people or made them sacrifice everything for him and on his orders. He hasn’t actually sacrificed anything himself, because his ego won’t allow it. He thinks he’s too important to actually give up his own life even if it means saving anyone else. Cuz that’s not what this is about. He says he’s doing what’s best for Remnant but it’s really what’s best for him and his image and his confidence, such as shutting down major commerce routes and destroying half of the Kingdom just because it was lower income neighborhoods full of commoners. But might makes right in this fight, and Ironwood is currently smacking Winter around with his might so it’s an uphill battle for justice.
Speaking of uphill battles, we go back through the portals to see the continuation of Maiden Bowl 2021 as Cinder keeps blasting Penny around before Weiss comes in on a Lancer summon to save her friend and fellow Atlesian. In a very brief shift from the action Jaune reminds Nora their top priority is evacuating the civilians, so that’s our clue that they probably won’t be jumping into the fight any time soon. Back on the Lancer, Penny tells Weiss that since Cinder wants the Maiden power she can act as bait and lure the Fall Maiden away so the others can safely get away. Weiss doesn’t like that idea, but before they can think of an alternative the summon is shot down and they land hard on the main crossroads of the paths before the gate into Vacuo. Neither of their Aura’s are broken, but they do need a moment to get back on their feet as Cinder lands between them and their escape. Penny is the first back up, and stands between her foe and her friend pleading for the madwoman’s undivided attention so the Staff doesn’t get snatched and Weiss isn’t killed in this moment of recovery. But Cinder’s eyes are bigger than her stomach and she wants every bit of power and importance before her. Before she can swoop in to destroy all she sees and claim all she wants... Cinder gets double boot kicked in the face by Blake. The interruption gives Cinder momentary pause and in that time the Faunus pleadingly kicks her silver haired teammate back into high gear. That’s a whole lot of flowery language when I could just say “After she swoops in and kicks Cinder in the face, Blake tells Weiss to get up”, but this is my last review for months and I wanna give you your money’s worth. Weiss runs off to go help elsewhere, while Blake and Penny engage with Cinder.
But we don’t have time to see how that fight goes right now, because we have to turn our attention to the sky. Even though he was the one to crash through the windshield and attack her, Qrow wants to talk Harriet down and not fight. He tries to explain and apologize for his culpability in Clover’s death, but she really doesn’t want to hear that name right now. She actually gets so mad that he’s trying to talk her down that she cuts the ropes holding down the bomb and slams her fists on the floor of the ship so it’ll tilt back and the bomb will fall out onto the city below. Qrow leaps into the path of the sliding bomb and tries to stop it, which just infuriates Harriet more cuz he just keeps interfering. But the interference doesn’t stop there, because Vine grabs the back of the airship and we see he’s being held sturdily to the roof of Robyn’s airship by Elm. We can assume Marrow is inside recovering from tanking an explosion, but Hare’s fellow Ace Ops have fully changed their tune and don’t want her to finish this mission. She screams at them for making this all the more difficult for her, but they’re doing this out of kindness. As possibly the smartest yet most obvious thing she’s said all Volume, Elm admits that YES, the Ace Ops are friends and care about each other outside of the professional sense. And as a friend, Elm doesn’t want her to risk her life for a dumb act of cruelty from a bitter man. Before Hare can fully process this news and express her regrets, the bomb slips further towards the open door and Qrow gets pushed aside with a dismayed cry. In a last act of desperation that I had a hard time understanding at first, he pulls out Clover’s lucky pin and seems to pray to it. I thought he was about to throw it in the path of the bomb so it would get wedged and damage the pin beyond repair for the sake of stopping its momentum. But no, he was just hoping for a little of Clover’s good luck to have rubbed off on the pin. And as if from beyond the grave, some luck does come to them. The bomb stops moving just as it’s teetering towards the edge, and they all breath a sigh of relief... before Watts remotely activates the countdown anyway because he’s a bastard.
Back in the in-between dimension, Ruby is still trying to subdue Neo and is being flawlessly countered at every turn. Neo practically looks bored by all this, just waiting for Ruby to get tired out so she can kill her. Ruby gets knocked down but before Neo can cut through the last of her Aura for the kill Weiss skates in on her glyphs and delivers a proverbial one-two punch of attacking with Myrtenaster and the Staff of Creation. Neo blocks the first but the second knocks her backwards into a portal. Seeing this from a distance frustrates Cinder as she continues to rather easily hold off Penny and Blake, so easily in fact that she knocks Blake off the ledge with a single blast and Penny has to fly off and save her. Weiss helps Ruby back to her feet and encourages her to keep fighting for the sake of avenging Yang/ surviving so her loss wasn’t in vain. The two of them being in close proximity is just what Cinder was hoping for though, and she creates a hot spot beneath them set to explode and send them flying. I’m really not sure what else to call it, but she does it fairly frequently so you know what I’m referring to. Looks like a glyph but it’s just fire. Weiss notices the danger first, and shoves Ruby out of the way while handing her the Staff in the same motion. By the time Ruby realizes she’s being saved, Weiss has already been knocked into the air... and falls back down on the same platform. Thank goodness for small miracles, though it does take out all of Weiss’ Aura so she won’t be able to save herself with glyphs if anything else happens. Ruby doesn’t have time to help her partner because Neo comes charging back in and reengages her attack, and now it’s harder to defend because she can only handle Crescent Rose with one hand now that she’s carrying the Staff with the other. Ruby is sent flying onto a pathway while losing the Staff to Neo, and Crescent Rose fully falls over the edge and leaves her disarmed.
From one speedster panicking in the face of danger to another, we go back to the airships and you better get a tissue ready. Qrow has discovered the autopilot is forcibly engaged and they can’t undo that, so he says their safest bet is abandoning ship and trying to get out of the blast radius. Harriet has gone full depressive breakdown and says the countdown is too far along for them to flee in time, so they’re all doomed and it’s her own damn fault. I would certainly agree, but it’s hard to try and hold that against her right now. Elm and Vine share a look before Vine leaps aboard and carefully lifts Harriet off the ship and into Elm’s arms. He looks at the bomb, then he looks at his own hands, and we realizes what he’s planning at the same time Elm does. Well, maybe she realized it when they shared that look, but it certainly sinks in now. He insists that he can and will because it’ll mean his dear friends will be safe. Harriet breaks down in tearful screams and has to be dragged inside, while Qrow shares a look with Vine and jumps out to fly away. Maybe he was trying to say “We appreciate this sacrifice, thank you for choosing the right side, Clover would be proud of you for looking out for the team like this”, who’s to say? I’d certainly like to think so because that would be a very meaningful goodbye. Vine spreads his arms and brings his palms back together in front of him in a very zen pose, presumably as he gathers and focuses his Aura. Then he sends out eight energy tendrils that spread out and become an Aura bubble around the airship, and we see it keep flying for a few more seconds while we pan back to get the view from the rest of the Ace Ops and the birds. BOOM, the bubble is stretched in several places by the force of the explosion, then it dissolves and releases heavy smoke. The bomb has gone off, the ship is gone, and Vine has died. But no one down in Mantle was affected, and the other 3 Ace Ops are okay if not heavily depressed by this new loss. He was a hero.
Speaking of heroes doing bold things, Neo came down onto the path Ruby is on and the young huntresses has been pushed back to the edge trying to get some distance from her. She tells the little psycho “I hope it was worth it”, and raises her arms as if surrendering to her fate. When Neo takes the bait and lunges at her, Ruby falls backwards over the edge and swoops back around with her semblance to shove her foe over the edge, though Neo does manage to hold onto the edge and avoid plummeting to her presumed death. Before Ruby can catch the Staff Neo threw in the air, Cinder blasts her in the back with fire and wipes out her Aura. The force of the attack also knocks her over the edge as well, where she is able to grab onto Neo’s legs. Cinder kicks the Staff into the air and catches it, then looks over the edge at the two hanging on for dear life. You’d be forgiven for assuming she’ll reach down and save Neo since she just apologized to her last episode, but instead she stretches her arm further down and takes the Lamp from her. Cinder is unmatched in her ability to hold a grudge, and Neo threatened to leave her to face Salem’s wrath over the loss of the Lamp over text two episodes back. She makes the backstabbing official by kicking Hush (Neo’s parasol in case you forgot the name they’ve never actually said in canon) over the edge and telling her now ex-partner “You never should have threatened me”. Ruby seems to be charging her silver eyes, but before she can do anything Cinder tells her she should have never been born and bashes Neo’s gripping fingers with the blunt end of the Staff. Both young women fall helplessly, but Cinder’s attention is drawn by Penny flying in carrying Blake since the two of them yell their friend’s name in dismay. Cinder sends a fireball at them but Blake gets thrown ahead while Penny takes the hit. Blake grabs Ruby out of the air and throws Gambol Shroud up to anchor into a path and let them swing to safety, but Neo is not saved and disappears into the void offscreen. The save works and it seems like they’ll be safe... but Cinder shoots a fireball that cuts the ribbon. Both Blake and Ruby fall into the the void and disappear, leaving a very upset Penny. If anyone is more anguished than her it’s Weiss, who grabs Gambol Shroud and shoots Cinder, her hands trembling and eyes welling with tears. The bullets do very little damage but it gets Cinder’s attention. 
Jaune and Nora meet up in front of the gate into Vacuo, and he instructs her to go through and get them backup for this fight. They part with determined smiles, but our hearts sink with the knowledge that the Vacuo portal is one way so Nora won’t be able to accomplish this last mission for him. Her self doubts are gonna take a real serious plummet from this. Stupid well played dramatic irony... Cinder is knocking Weiss around and mocks her for being the last one standing by implying she let the others die to save herself because she’s a selfish Schnee only looking out for herself. We know damn well that’s the farthest thing from the truth and Cinder has never cared enough to understand the bonds of Weiss’ friendships. As many have pointed out, this is a tragic departure from the promise Ruby made at the start of Volume 6 that Team RWBY wouldn’t leave Weiss side for even a second while they were in Atlas. But she’s still not alone because Penny blocks a beam of fire heading for Weiss and Jaune glides in to slam Cinder with his shield and use the gravity Dust to knock her back even more. As Penny points out, Cinder knows nothing of friends and we can clearly see Weiss still has some to stand with her. And stand they do, Weiss now dual wielding her own sword as well as Blake’s. Before Cinder can try to triumph in the face of these seemingly stacked odds, her Grimm arm starts convulsing and she screams with pain. The heroes share a confused look, but Cinder soon settles down and smirks with the realization of what this means. Salem has fully reformed, which gives Cinder new confidence that she puts to good use with a shockwave of fire to knock the good guys back a few paces. She tosses fiery glass swords at Jaune and Wiess but Penny deflects both of them and flies right at Cinder, who counters with a fiery kick to the ground. Whether Penny diverts the row of fire in front of her to spread to her sides instead or Cinder intentionally made the V shape to make dividers between the three heroes is unknown, but before anyone can react to this new obstacle Penny is stabbed in the chest by Cinder’s Grimm claws. The poor girl really has been made flesh and blood, because her wounds are bleeding while Cinder starts draining the Maiden power from her. Between the Amity fight and this encounter, I have to wonder what percentage of the powers have gone to Cinder by this point vs how much Penny still has... As her vision starts to blur and she falls onto her back, Penny sees Weiss charge in to attack Cinder and stop her from continuing to absorb Penny’s power and then Jaune come kneel over her and start healing her. He saved Weiss from a similar wound and this time he’s starting the process far more promptly, there are very good odds he could save Penny. But the problem here is time, Cinder isn’t going to let him complete the job and Weiss is sorely outmatched. She does see an alternative, but it’s heart shattering to hear from her. Jaune can kill her here and now and let her decide who will be in her final thoughts. They can’t risk Cinder stealing the Winter Maiden powers as well as having both relics, so ending Penny’s life quickly is unfortunately necessary. Penny begs him to trust her on this and let her choose how she dies since she didn’t get the opportunity to choose many things about how she lived. She obeyed her father’s wishes, followed Ironwood’s orders, went along with her friends’ plans, etc. Some of those times were good and she was glad she did what she did. But choice is the attribute of one of the relics for a reason, it’s a key part of humanity, and with her last moments she wants to express hers.
We cut back for brief moments a couple times during this very tense moment to see Winter’s fight with Ironwood juxtaposed with her sister’s losing struggle with Cinder, and the audience is meant to wonder which of the Schnee sisters Penny might be about to bestow the upper hand to in the form of Maiden power. Or she could think of Ruby and the power would go to her as proof she and the others didn’t die, or it could go to Nora because of the moments they shared discussing finding your whole self? We literally won’t know until she’s dead, and I’m not rushing to get to that point. Jaune looks at his own hesitant reflection in his sword, and for the first time it really seems to sink in that this is a sharpened steel weapon with lethal capabilities. It always seemed like the least impressive weapon in a world of giant scythes and wrist mounted shotguns, but we fear its blade more than anything in this moment. Weiss seems about to be killed, having had Gambol Shroud knocked from her hand into the abyss, when Cinder is distracted by Jaune screaming and weeping as we see both tear drops and blood drops fall to the floor by Penny’s lifeless body. The argument has been made that this was a bad move from a narrative standpoint, that he was only the one to get the kill or Penny only died so Jaune could get more angst and importance in the story, and various other points that add up to a lot of dislike for the character. I can’t even accurately articulate the argument because I give so little credit to its accuracy or plausibility. I even want to say, though there’s no way to back it up and its just me giving a little benefit of the doubt to theatrics, that he only made such a ruckus after the kill because he knew it would spare Weiss for a few moments longer. Cinder is going to see Penny dead and know the powers are not hers so she’ll go ballistic on Jaune for taking that away from her, and the heat will be off Weiss. Speaking of bad beatings, Winter gets pistol whipped and is about to lose too. But with the dripping of the blood soaked sword, the screen goes white and we see Penny hopping on the balls on her feet waiting for someone to arrive in this empty white void. They do, and she greets them with one last “SALUTATIONS!~” that made me cry even remembering. The one she has chosen to inherit her power is Winter, and when she finds out she’s here because she was the one in Penny’s last thoughts it seems to break her heart. But Penny would have it no other way, it was supposed to go to Winter anyway, she was the one who intervened and made things complicated. Winter disagrees with that though, Penny has proven far more worthy of these powers than an blindly obedient soldier like her. Penny was always more human where it counted and Winter was the machine, but Penny takes her hands and assures her she was plenty human enough by being a good friend. The powers start to go from one woman to the other and Winter tries to say that she’ll always remember Penny after she’s gone, or at least I assume that’s the heartfelt sentiment she’s going for, but our sweet redhead reminds her of her own words when Fria died. She won’t be gone, she’ll be a part of Winter now. That makes Winter feel a little better, and Penny gives her a smile as she fades away. Penny Polendina was a very cheerful girl, and she died happy in the knowledge she helped so many who will call her friend.
Winter reawakens on the floor of the Vault with Ironwood saying she’s finally reached the destiny he chose for her, as if this will suddenly make him a good person or convince her to change her allegiances back to him. She staggers to her feet and rises in a whirlwind of blue snow, Jimmy realizing all too late he might actually have miscalculated and be in danger now. I really love her defiant response to him, but I feel like it could have been a little more powerful with a small addition. Observe. “You chose nothing. This was a gift... from my best friend.” Either way, he realizes he now has an even stronger Winter Maiden as his enemy and tries to take her down with his greek fire cannon, but she creates a shield of ice that reflects the blast back at him. From the horrified expression he makes and the power we saw this weapon have against mortal man, I fully expected this to be Ironwood’s death. Hoisted by his own petard, no one to blame but himself for this fate. He could have not attacked her and he’d be fine, he could have decided to stop anywhere along this path and been spared. Defeated by someone literally made stronger with the power of friendship and trust, while he has been paranoid and severing bonds all this time. But no... he lives cuz it was a weakened blast after the redirect, or he still had his Aura to protect him, or whatever logic you want to use. Regardless, he’s down for the count right now and Winter flies away to deal with more important problems. He’s been removed from power and is only a major threat in his own mind, she doesn’t care anymore. As could have been expected, Cinder is outraged over what Jaune has done and attacks him rather than finishing off Weiss. He knocks her flying tackle back with his shield but she rebounds with a sword swipe he meets in kind. Blood stained steel meets tempered glass, and the steel loses. Jaune’s sword, a family heirloom from the Great War that he reforged after losing Pyrrha, is broken in half by Cinder’s attack and he is left at her mercy. The mad Fall Maiden demands to know who and where the power of Winter has gone to, and receives her answer in the worst way she could have hoped for: an icy blue blast to the head. Whether that was ice or specially colored fire or lightning is unknown, but it gets Cinder’s anger and attention. She was probably really hoping the strongest and smartest of Ironwood’s elite wouldn’t get the power to match her on a magical level, but she’s too determined and cocksure to stop her assault now and the two do battle in the air. Winter uses both magic and summons to deal with Cinder, but while the latter ends up dropping the Staff in the scuffle it still seems like an even match for the moment. Cinder sees Weiss and Jaune staggering towards the exit and decides to choose some easier targets for extra emotional damage. By the time Winter can realize the danger her sister is in, it’s too late and the two sword wielders are blasted by another of Cinder’s eruption blasts. Jaune skids across the path and loses his Aura, but Weiss is tossed over the side entirely and Winter isn’t fast enough. Weiss falls into the void, the last of Team RWBY dead and gone for all we know. 
I want to deeply praise Elizabeth Maxwell for her performance as Winter, both in the series as a whole and for this episode especially. She shows so many emotions so strongly and believably, and you can tell she’s putting heart and soul into it. Nowhere do I feel that more clearly than in this moment where Winter cries out for Weiss with so much despair and regret. She flies back up and collapses onto the path in tears, her reaction speaking volumes to Jaune. Cinder retrieves the Staff and Winter is ready to raise hell in revenge, but before anyone can attack Salem’s scream can be heard echoing through every portal in the place. Cinder realizes she needs to return to her mistress’s side so she can’t try and finish the job, while Jaune has to tell Winter repeatedly that they need to get to safety now so she just swears recompense later down the line. Winter flies to Vacuo while Fall goes back into the falling Atlas, and once she’s through all the portals and pathways start disappearing. Jaune tries his best to make it to the Vacuo gate in time, but he’s been cursed by the animators with a slow run cycle. Or he’s just really exhausted and weighed down by armor and weapons, who’s to say? Winter realizes she’s taken the lead too late and disappears into Vacuo just as she tries to turn around and reach out for Jaune. He dives the last couple feet to get through as the ground dissolves below his feet, but the last way out evaporates between his fingertips. Jaune Arc is the last one in the central location, and the last to fall into the void. On the other side Nora is futilely pounding on the portal trying to go back through and save her leader, while Em Ren and Oscar are putting up a valiant but outclassed fight against the Ravagers (the bat Grimm) and the small scorpion-like Sulfur Fish. Fun fact, those ones were the winning design submission from a contest last year. Before the teens and the crowd they’re protecting can get overwhelmed, a gale force wind blows the Grimm back. All eyes turn to see Winter float above the crowd as the magic door disappears behind her, including the eyes of her surviving family members. Thank goodness there was a portal available for Willow Whitley and Klein, though the look they all share makes it clear they realize Weiss did not make it. Rather than break down, Winter turns her sadness to rage and charges at the returning Grimm swarm.
We cut back to Atlas where much to my annoyance Ironwood has regained consciousness to see Cinder descending the Vault stairs with the relics in tow. But she won’t be winning the award for dramatic entrances, because Salem flies down the elevator shaft as a cloud of black smoke like a scene out of Harry Potter. She swirls around Cinder once or twice before reforming before her. And Cinder starts doing what she does best, lies out her ass to save her own skin. She claims Team RWBY used the last question for Jinn and then Neo killed Ruby while thousands were able to survive the fall of Atlas and make it to Vacuo, and that she had to make the conscious choice to let the Winter Maiden escape at the cost of all their allies so she could secure the relics for her mistress. Let me remind you what really happened. CINDER used the last question, CINDER killed Ruby and Neo out of petty revenge, CINDER killed the last Winter Maiden but couldn’t get the powers out of her or stop the stronger new one, and CINDER let thousands escape into Vacuo because she was too busy going for Penny and the relics. Oh, and Team RWBY and Neo aren’t actually dead, spoilers. So if any of those lies are revealed CINDER is going to pay a hefty price for her selfish deception. But for the moment Salem seems to believe her or at least lets it slide because she does have two relics now, and Cinder had the humility to say she was sorry. I like that Ironwood also hears the tale of Team RWBY heroically sacrificing themselves to stop the villains and actually having the nerve to give their own lives rather than the lives of others, unlike him. And, they saved so so so many more people than he did, and he was trying to arrest and foil them all this time. Perhaps now he’s a little humbled and realizes he’s not the hero of Atlas anymore. There will be no more Atlas and RWBY are the saviors of its survivors. As the two wicked women depart the Vault, Salem asks her acolyte what she made to replace what Team RWBY had created. Through another half truth Cinder reveals to us she locked Watts in the Atlas central command room and created a large fire. He roasted her savagely on an emotional level, so she literally roasted him alive with the biggest flames magic could afford. Cinder, Tyrian, and Mercury are now the only members of Salem’s inner circle. Wonder if she’ll recruit more in Vacuo to compensate? Ironwood grabs his pistol and is about to shoot at Cinder, but she turns and tells him this is checkmate and he’s too scared to pull the trigger. He knows he’d lose and even now he doesn’t want that disgrace. So instead he’ll lie here as Atlas crashes into Mantle and becomes flooded by a sudden influx of sea water. Cinder and Salem observe from the air as Atlas becomes Atlantis, while Qrow tries to get in contact with either of his nieces over comms aboard the ship with Robyn and the surviving Ace Ops... and comes up empty. Cinder’s declaration that this is Checkmate for the villains is actually the last audible dialogue, anything Qrow tried to say being silent with only music playing. It’s a depressing and somber note, and that’s where our Volume ends.
But there is more to say, of course. First of all, let me wipe away these tears and try to articulate how good the song for the end credits is.... It’s called Friend, and for the first time it is a song sung from Penny’s perspective. It sounds absolutely sweet and magical, like you’re peacefully flying through a cloudless starry sky, and she sings about how glad she was to have true friends like Team RWBY, especially one like Ruby. Even if her life was difficult sometimes, she’s very happy because it was as wonderful as a wish upon a star come true. I cannot lie, I start crying every five seconds as I try to write this. It’s probably going to be my favorite track on the soundtrack this summer. With the conclusion of the Volume I want to say how much I appreciate every bit of work every member of the RWBY cast and crew put into this season and this show. I cannot wait to see what wonderful things they do next.
Hark! There is one final scene! A mysterious tropical island with a massive tree in the center and strange hexagonal shapes in the sand, and just beyond the reach of the tide lies wedged in that sand... Crescent Rose. Team RWBY and the others are alive, but we’ll have to wait 5 months to find out where they have found themselves. My money is on a magical godly realm where we might learn more about the creation of Remnant. Until then, enjoy the last of my memes and any other shitposts!
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katquasar · 3 years
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Valkos Week Day 2: Coffee
AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29302278/chapters/72002670
Fic behind a cut:
Beacon University had a small coffee shop on campus that allowed students to work part-time (as long as they met a certain GPA) and was fairly popular with students and faculty alike. Pyrrha had never been too much of a coffee drinker before, disliking the bitter black liquid her mother would drink during her junior track & field competitions (she snuck a sip when she was 13 and instantly hated it). But she’d heard the place had a variety of really nice things besides coffee and after a few months on campus she couldn’t resist her curiosity about the place anymore.
It was a Saturday, and Pyrrha had no class that day and her track practice had already ended. The cafeteria had been bombarded since there was some sort of club event going on there. Pyrrha was never overly fond of crowds anyway, so it was the perfect opportunity to walk across campus and finally check out the little coffee shop. There were thankfully less people there that morning, just a small group of girls at one table going over a group project; there was a white haired girl and a girl whose hair was black with a red ombre arguing quietly over something while a blonde laughed and another girl with black hair (was she wearing cat ears? cute) was trying to get them to focus.
“Hello! I haven’t seen you around before!” A chipper voice suddenly grabbed Pyrrha’s attention, turning her towards the counter. There was a shorter girl with red hair (more orange shade than Pyrrha’s own) and a wide grin, a glint of something in blue eyes. 
“Oh, um. Hello. I haven’t been here before. But I’ve heard really good things.” Pyrrha stammered, taken aback a bit, face flushing slightly. 
“Well, that’s okay. New faces are always welcome around here. Go ‘head and look at the menu or ask questions if you’re not sure of anything.” The barista said, bouncing in place a bit. 
“Nora, you didn’t sneak a cup of non-decaf again, did you?” Another voice said, a guy with long black hair who was brewing some tea.
“No Ren, I’m just excited. You know me.” The small girl said, going over and playfully batting the boy’s arm. Pyrrha glanced over at the clear teapot; she’d never seen a tea be such a bright shade of pink before. 
“You have tea here as well?” Pyrrha asked softly. She had truthfully never been to a coffee shop that wasn’t a Starbucks.
“Oh yeah, and we make iced and frozen drinks too, and some smoothies. As well as some baked stuff--Ren’s really good at making those. Do you have an idea of what you want?” Nora replied, looking up at Pyrrha with a bit of pink to her cheeks.
“Not at all. What do you recommend to someone who has only had coffee once by stealing a sip from her mom and hated it?” Pyrrha said with a giggle. Nora giggled along and nodded.
“What didn’t you like about it?” Nora asked.
“It was...really bitter.” Pyrrha replied, grimacing slightly.
“Oh, it must have been black. Do you know if your mom ever added anything to it?” Nora continued to question.
“...no, come to think of it she would just drink it as it was poured from the coffee machine.” 
“Yep. Some people like coffee like that. When you don’t add sugar or cream or milk with it it’s called Black coffee.” Nora explained. “Me, I add a lot of cream and sugar to mine. And I like iced coffee more than hot.”
“Wait, you can drink it iced?” Pyrrha mused, blinking. Nora nodded.
“You sure can. And there’s all kinds of blends; he got the house blend, vanilla, hazelnut,” Nora went on for a minute or two just listing off all kinds of coffee flavors, most of which Pyrrha didn’t even know existed. “And most also come in decaf, which means there’s less caffeine than regular coffee. I have to drink that kind, regular coffee makes me shaky as heck.”
“Not to mention you can lose several days of sleep if you drink too much,” Ren added in playful banter.
“Hush, tea drinker.” Nora spat back half-heartedly, sticking her tongue out at her friend. She turned back to Pyrrha. “Don’t mind us, we’ve been besties since we were kids.”
“I see.” Pyrrha giggled. “I’m still not sure what I want, though. There’s so much to choose from.”
“I gotcha. How about I make you something I think you’ll like? How sweet do you like your drinks?” Nora offered, beaming a bit. Pyrrha had a feeling she should indulge the other girl. Plus it was rather hard to say no to someone so cute.
“Fairly, but not overly so.” Pyrrha answered.
“Caffeine okay?” 
“I can handle a bit, yes.”
“And hot or cold?”
“Hot, please.” It was the middle of autumn, so Pyrrha wanted something that would help fight the cold breeze.
“Okie dokie. Any particular flavors you like?”
“Something...seasonal.”
“...got it. Gimme a bit.” Nora said before she retreated from the counter. Pyrrha looked around the cafe some more. She looked back over to the four girls, not realizing until then they’d grown silent and were all looking at her. She waved, a nervous smile creeping on her face. They waved back then returned to their work.
“Okay, ready. I made you a Pumpkin Spice latte!” Nora said, placing the insulated cup on the counter. Pyrrha picked it up and took a careful sip. It tasted almost like a slice of pumpkin pie, with a hint of something familiar but much more pleasant than she remembered.
“Mm, that’s...wonderful, Nora.” Pyrrha complimented, smiling at her. “How much do I owe you?”
“It’s only $3.25, but...I’ve got this one. If you’ll come back more often.” Nora said, biting her lips slightly. Pyrrha’s face grew warm again.
“Of course,” Pyrrha said. “Even if just to see you more.” Both the redheads blushed where they stood, and the table in the corner was suddenly all giggles and some shushing.
“By the way, what was your name?” Nora asked.
“Pyrrha.”
“You can’t buy drinks for every girl who comes in here just because you think they’re cute.” Ren later teased Nora. She elbowed him in the side.
“First of all, I don’t do it that often. Maybe once or twice.” Nora replied huffily.
“You’ve bought drinks for all four girls at that table.” Ren pointed out.
“Well, Ruby, Yang, Blake and Weiss are all really cute, okay? So sue me.” Nora rolled her eyes, “Plus you did it for that one guy. What was his name? John?”
“Jaune, his name is Jaune.” Ren said, blushing slightly. “And come to think of it he should be getting out of class any moment now.”
“Right.” Nora said, giggling. “Do you think Pyrrha will come back?”
“I think you made a good first impression, certainly.” Ren mused sipping some water from a clear plastic cup. “I don’t think I’ve seen you make someone blush like that in quite a while, actually.”
“You think?” Nora said, bouncing on her feet again. Ren nodded, chuckling.
“I think so.”
And sure enough, the next day, Pyrrha came back, and would again every day that month. At some point, Nora wrote her cell number on the cup she prepared the Pumpkin Spice latte in. She got a text later that day, and from there, the two would spend a lot more time together, and not just in the campus coffee shop. A visit of curiosity got Pyrrha much more than a taste for flavored coffee lattes. Who knew going to a coffee shop would get you a cute girlfriend?
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