#james ironwood is not impressed
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Deaged Oz AU - The aftermath of Jaques not running fast enough...
James Ironwood groaned to himself as he read the latest report. Jaques Schnee's body had finally turned up, after two weeks of no news whatsoever. Whoever had killed him had done a very good job of covering it up, though, the security cameras for the party where he'd vanished had been set to a continual loop and, beyond when he had been spotted in the ballroom, mingling with his guests, his presence had been unaccounted for. There had been whispers that his wife had asked him to check on something upstairs, but every room had been gone over and there was no proof that anything out of the ordinary had happened. Willow Schnee had been confirmed as being upstairs, halfway through a bottle of wine and James knew enough of her drinking habits to be very aware that she would have been of very little use to anyone without some heavy motivation. She hated her husband, of course, but so did everybody else who'd ever met the man, there was no lack of suspects in this case, that was for sure. Hell, even Oz hated him and Oz loved just about anyone unless they were either completely irredeemable, Salem or both.
Besides, he'd heard rumors of at least one semblance in the hands of the criminal element that could be used to disguise someone so they appeared to be someone else, it was far from impossible that they were there spreading chaos just as much as Tyrian Callows had been before his rather unfortunate... accident.
The body had been rather gruesome, he'd only really skimmed that part of the report and had no real wish to return to it. There had been fire and a brand involved, the body itself had been found dumped outside a local Faunus shelter, almost gift wrapped. Whoever had done it had even included a bow, but the shelter themselves was clean, nothing to tie them to the crime. Nothing, really, to tie anyone to it. That was the problem though, everything was just a little too neat, fractionally too polished to have been committed by civilians.
He was probably putting far too much thought into this, though. Jaques Schnee tended to collect enemies like other men did ties, it seemed to have finally caught up with him. Couldn't happen to a better... wait. He reread that last line in the report, eyes narrowing in contemplation. Willow Schnee had asked for people to respect her family as they grieved, which was all normal enough of course, but she'd referred to the death itself as an internal family matter. That wording was markedly less normal, and trained hunters would have easily been able to make a body disappear. He sighed in agitation. It seemed he had a few people he needed to have a little chat with. Dammit, Oz...
"Send Weiss Schnee, Winter Schnee and Wintertip Pine up to my office, please, soldier." He requested, sounding tired. "As soon as they can be located, it's important."
"Sir, yes sir!" The soldier on duty saluted and left to find them, though they were privately slightly curious as to what those three could possibly have done.
There was a knock at the door, swift and military. Oz, having heard the news about Jaques' body being found shared a slightly weary look with Weiss. Winter had already stood up, holding out a hand to her sister. Oz glanced at their clothing for a minute before sighing, shrugging out of his normal coat and redressing in the blue one. If they were going to get in trouble then at least they could present a united front to James. He was pretty much certain that there had been no evidence tying any of them to the murder, Weiss had not even been in the room. Hopefully this was merely to break the news that the body had been found, but knowing James he rather doubted that.
The door opened, revealing a soldier in a uniform the same color as Winter's own. They glanced around the room, nodded, then cleared their throat.
"Weiss Schnee? Specialist Winter Schnee? Wintertip Pine? The General would like to see you in his office at your earliest convenience."
Winter nodded. "Thank you! We'll be right there. Follow me, you two, we mustn't keep him waiting."
The others watched them leave, curious, though they too had heard the news about Jaques Schnee's body having finally been found. They'd been discussing it, actually, before the three had been summoned, giving their condolences. For all they knew Oz had hated the man, he was still Weiss and Winter's father, after all.
James said nothing as they entered his office. Even when the door had shut, he just glared at them for a few seconds before sighing.
"I will only ask this once, did you three kill Jaques Schnee."
"No." Oz replied, evenly. "We did not."
"Winter? Miss Schnee?"
"I did not murder my father." Winter said, her tone flat. Weiss blinked.
"I don't know what happened to him, I wasn't there when he died."
"Hmm." James said, not sounding entirely convinced. "I assume that, if I was to ask the same question with Robyn's help, I would get the same answers?"
"You would." Oz confirmed. James nodded, not so much at what they had said as at what they hadn't.
"To change the subject then, you three have my deepest condolences which I am sure you will take fully in the spirit meant. Oz, how goes the merge? Were you able to find any more information out?"
"Some. Speaking of, we found some proof of a certain theory that you'll need to take a look at. With the tragic death of Jaques Schnee, it is no longer as relevant, but... I was rather hoping that he might be found alive just so that things could be done properly." There was no hint of remorse in Oz's tone and James groaned. Qrow, Oz had spent far too long around Qrow.
"You had evidence you didn't bring to me, Oz?" James sounded vaguely disappointed now, but the smile he sent him was tinged with fondness nonetheless.
"I was not sure of the best time, since it is slightly sensitive. It appears that my late, unlamented brother in law kept highly meticulous record of every move he ever made, including the illegal ones. He was behind the riot that killed my brother, also the kidnapping. He paid them off to snatch me and a few others. He wanted me out of the way and the lure of Nicolas Schnee's company proved too great, I fear. James... one of the ones he paid them to snatch was Liliana Ironwood." Pain laced Oz's voice now, glancing at his friend in compassion. James' hands clenched around the arms of his chair and there was a sudden splintering sound as they broke. The entire room winced slightly at the loud crack, it had sounded disturbingly like a gunshot. James tossed away the fragments in his hand and held out one palm for Oz's scroll. He handed it over, still looking deeply apologetic. James nodded, seeming to rein in his temper.
"Oz? What he did was not your fault, do you hear me? My sister died... long ago. Her death might be Jaques Schnee's fault, but you are not to blame. Just... tell me he suffered?"
"He did. I still didn't kill him though."
"Pity, I think I would have helped. Could you three leave for a bit? I have some things to think about."
"Of course." All three left, looking as dazed as the General had. In his office, James proceeded to smash the poor chair to smithereens before going over the information Oz had found. There was a lot there and he'd been right, some of it was highly sensitive. It was the sort of information that needed to get out, though... Jaques Schnee had been a criminal of the worst kind and, though his death had come far too soon, maybe this would bring some closure to the victims.
He just wished there was something more he could do for Oz.
#deaged oz au#he smol#james ironwood is not impressed#james ironwood in dad mode#sort of#jaques schnee#is very very dead#not even sorry#he was a bad man#overprotective schnees#winter schnee#weiss schnee#ozpin#james ironwood
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Ruby: Jaune our characters are not that mixed up.
Jaune: Ruby are you freaking kidding me?
Ruby; Jaune you got admit we are complete opposite to one another.
Jaune: Yes but the presentation makes it worse.
Ruby: How so?
Jaune Ruby I killed Penny.
Ruby: So I killed people too.
Jaune: Name one.
Ruby: Roman.
Jaune: A grimm ate him.
Ruby: Umm….
Jaune: Pyrrha died fighting Cinder against Ozpin’s orders. Ozpin died fighting Cinder. Leon died somehow. Clover and Ironwood I don’t know. Penny died by my hands. So who did you kill with your weapon?
Ruby: Oscar.
Jaune: So a fake Oscar is worth crying over the real one huh?
Ruby: Your point.
Jaune: You didn’t kill anyone. So how are you struggling to kill no fight with your weapon if you never token a life with it. While I’m able to fight with mines despite it’s condition.
Ruby: Um.
Jaune: That can give someone the impression that Penny’s death met nothing to me.
Ruby: But Jaune you had years.
Jaune; PTSD. Survivors guilt. Any form of depression or disorder can last for years Ruby. And you say I had years but Penny was still on my mind during a Ponder Storm. And then I was trying to be hero to the paper pleasers, who mind you were trying to off themselves, because it seems I can not be a hero in Remnant.
Ruby: Oh.
Jaune: Now let’s go back to what you say about not being good enough. How so?
Ruby: Well I failed to save Penny and Pyrrha. I failed to save the people of Mantle and Atlas. I only made things worse.
Jaune: Okay look. There is no such thing as perfect plan. Things are bound to screw ups. It’s impossible to avoid. But again, Pyrrha chose to fight Cinder and died. Penny chose to die. In theory because she thought you died.
Ruby; Um.
Jaune: Next wasn’t Ironwood going to kill thousands.
Ruby: But our plan could get millions in danger.
Jaune: You right, but that forces Atlas and Mantle to get together and stop discriminating against each other to survive. Better that than having one half of the nation fend for itself while the other thrives.
Me; (Look I’m not trying villianize James but we have to admit his plan was darker than the kids.)
Ruby: Oh.
Jaune: And then we have Ozpin. Or Ozma who’s first idea was to sleep with his first love.
Ruby: Um.
Jaune: Use every relic possible but still doesn’t know how to kill her. He single handily divided the world he was suppose to help fix.
Ruby: Mm
Jaune: Exactly.
Ruby: Your point?
Jaune: Ruby, you threw away a perfectly functioning weapon while I have a broken sword with a rusted shield. You killed an illusion. I killed an actual person. You say your not good enough well sweet heart at least you didn’t have to forge your identity off lies and fake transcripts. You had training. You had support. I had nothing like that. Not even from my family. Pyrrha showed me something like that but then she pushed into a locker. Your leadership always seems to go fine. Mines doesn’t.
Ruby: I mean it sometimes does.
Jaune: Yeah. (Until the writers fuck me over one way or the other.)
Ruby: I’m still not seeing your point. My friends helped you more than me.
Jaune: Because you didn’t say shit. My problems were completely visible and hard to hide. Yours were minor compared to mines.
Ruby: No they aren’t. I struggle with my identity. I was too weak. I wasn’t good enough.
Jaune: How?! Look your problem was simple. You had hard time processing change. As well as being overwhelmed by stress. And you know what that’s my bad. Because I couldn’t help you. Why? Because I was already going through of my own problems. I couldn’t make time for you. Your sister couldn’t make time for you because she was prioritizing her own happiness. Weiss couldn’t help you because she was trying to figure out what to do after her home got destroyed.
Ruby: Um-
Jaune: However here’s the thing. Yang was out right now. But wouldn’t me and Weiss neglect our problems to listen to you. Would we not give our time and our ears to you if you asked. Did you think about that?
Ruby: No.
Jaune: NO! You just ran off. Basically you questioned our loyalty to you. You questioned our friendship. You did exactly what Penny and Pyrrha are guilty of.
Ruby: And what’s that?
Jaune: You didn’t give me chance. You made a decision and you didn’t consider how it effected everyone around you. Including me.
Ruby. Oh.
Jaune: I think he can say the rest.
Ruby: *sees me and sigh* You do know a lot people will hate you right?
Me: I said before, I don’t control the show. I don’t control the fan base. I just leave my penny worth opinion down and move on. So let’s start. Ruby I didn’t feel bad for you at all.
Ruby: What?
Me: In fact, I enjoyed your suffering. Mainly when you got jumped.
Ruby: Really? You didn’t feel sorry for me at all.
Me: No. I would… but sweet heart you were a horrible person.
Ruby: That’s not true.
Me: You lied to someone who gave you their trust. That led to them to being more insecure and highly emotional to where they become reckless and foolish. And never took responsibility for that. Oscar did. Jaune did.
Ruby: Alright that just one thing.
Me: One thing? That one thing caused four hunters lives. That one thing caused millions of people’s livelihoods to be ruined. That one thing caused the relic.
Ruby: Okay but I suffered.
Me: Jaune suffered more than you. He went back in time. Had to be Alyx and Lewis Rusted Knight. Only to get poisoned by Alyx, the same girl who he come to find out was killed by the Curious Cat. He waited. He waited for you. Try to find a way home for you.
Ruby: So?
Me: Ruby your problem wasn’t even that bad. All you had to do was open up. Shit my bet is Jaune or Weiss would have listened. Basically your were acting like a child and I don’t care about you.
Ruby: UM.
Me: Shoot I don’t know why cat needed you to get to Remnant. He could’ve tried Jaune. Like bro imagine the reason Jaune and CC had beef because that cat was secretly torturing him. Like CC instead of helping you, was using you to get close to him. And Neo when she destroyed you that should sent him over the edge.
Ruby: …
Me: Basically y-y-you showed me how weak you really are. Like I don’t understand. I get your fifth teen in canon but still.
Ruby: But my friends-
Me: No-no-no. They should’ve token more responsibility too. Blake, Yang and especially Weiss need to start being more supportive to your health. Mainly, because Weiss barely did anything to help Atlas or you at all.
Jaune: What about me?
Me: Motherfucker you need to go home. You need a break. Gets some training. Get some bitches. Go get some pussy. I don’t know. Relax. Cause you earned it. Like I’m sorry but for the much “development” you’ve gotten, I’m surprise KnightFall shouldn’t be canon.
Jaune: …
Me: Bro you fit this post:
Me: Like you have gotten hoed so many times by not just your friends. But the fan base and the writers themselves. Look just take a load off okay? Get help! Jesus, you got to be Salem’s descendant cause life be bringing you pain.
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Good evening, everyone, and welcome to VNN SportsCenter! I'm your host, Waheela "Bubba" Whisperer, and tonight on Vale News Network's Fandom Friday, I'll be bringing you live coverage of the RWBY Hottest Character Poll, hosted by the lovely hadesisqueer. The initial round has drawn to a close and we've already seen some remarkable upsets, and analysts and bookmakers have begun recalculating odds and reevaluating the tournament favorites.
The initial top seed, ranked number one in both the Atlesian Press poll and BeaCon statistical rankings, Yang Xiao Long, has actually seen her odds decrease as she moves into the second round of her tournament. While she defeated her initial opponent in decisive fashion, she's actually 0-1 against the spread despite facing an opponent seeded in the middle of the pack by both human and computer polls. Still, she remains one of the tournament's top contenders, and it's not uncommon for top seeds to start off slow and then get hot (get it?) as they move into the later rounds.
Miss Xiao Long's girlfriend and fellow 1 seed, Blake Belladonna, saw her odds improve slightly as she defeated both her first opponent and the spread, though questions remain regarding how much of her victory was earned through her own performance and how much of it came from the fact that Ilia Amitola is a lesbian mess who actively encouraged voters to choose her opponent. As such, Miss Belladonna has yet to establish herself as the favorite to bring home the gold, though she'll certainly be bringing home a different type of gold(en sun dragon) regardless of the results.
The current favorite, Winter Schnee, advanced to the Round of 32 with a commanding victory over some angry twink with a mustache - specifically, the one she wasn't related to. She managed to just barely beat the spread, but the line was so damn high to begin with that natural poll variance alone made it nearly impossible to beat, especially by any decisive margin. She's still the darling of the computer polls in particular, many of which actually had her seeded over contestant Xiao Long, though she displays slightly less favorability with human pollsters than either of the other top seeds mentioned so far.
The first on our list of upsets is a matchup many pundits expected to be quite contentious - Deputy Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch vs. General James Ironwood. While Ironwood wasn't a heavy favorite, he was expected to escape the initial round and perhaps even make the Sweet Sixteen on the strength of his masculine appeal and iron wood if he managed to draw a favorable bracket. Unfortunately for the General, he landed an opponent ranked variably within the low-two and high-three seeds for his first matchup, and his virile facial hair and DILF-in-a-uniform appeal was insufficient to overcome his willingness to commit mass murder, much less the Deputy Headmistress's massive MILFpower. The bettors predicted a much closer spread, and Glynda's decisive victory has led analysts to start seriously considering the possibility that she might make a Final Four appearance so long as the whims of the bracket do not conspire to end her run early.
Another contestant who managed to elevate is Kali Belladonna, who was favored in her matchup and surprised the audience by crushing the spread, taking home over 75% of the vote against a MILF with an ass so fat it messed up the rigging of her model. When asked for comment, Mrs. Belladonna showed me a picture of her daughter as a toddler and then enthusiastically explained to me why she believed her husband should be the ultimate victor in the tournament. As her commentary is not suitable for an audience of all ages, her statement will not be broadcast.
Mr. Belladonna, on the other hand, despite his impressive victory against both the spread and fellow DILF Taiyang Xiao Long, has received rather less favorable treatment from the polls than he has from his wife, given the demographics of those voting in this contest. As a result, most analysts do not expect him to progress beyond the Sweet Sixteen, though SportsCenter has heard rumors that the bracket is being reseeded mid-tournament in order to help level the playing field for the male contestants. When SportsCenter asked host hadesisqueer to shed some light on these allegations, a representative of the Vale Sporting Commission informed us that she was not available to speak with the media at this time and refused to provide any further comment. According to our sources within the Sporting Commission, the host was last seen staring at pictures of Blake Belladonna and muttering frantically to herself in Spanish.
Duly elected Councilwoman Hill of Atlas, on the other hand, did make herself available for comment after her victory over Jacques Schnee, and used her newfound platform to loudly call her opponent "a punk-ass bitch" before disparaging General Ironwood's suitability for his job as the commander-in-chief of the Atlesian military and insisting that contestant Winter Schnee must have gotten her booty from her mother. The voters are in vocal agreement with all three statements, and Miss Hill's last assertion in particular has raised her stock with the voters enough to potentially propel her into the Elite Eight or possibly even the Final Four, though analysts still think she is unlikely to reach the finals without taking drastic measures.
Speaking of Schnees, another surprising matchup involving Miss Winter's younger sister has left some in the audience questioning the seeding process for the tournament. While Weiss Schnee was not expected to make a particularly deep run, very few anticipated her exit in the first round. Unfortunately, her first opponent was consensus 2-seed and Elite Eight contender Pyrrha Nikos. Miss Schnee acquitted herself well in this matchup, just barely failing to beat the spread against an opponent many feel is one of the best in the tournament, but I can't imagine she's happy to go out like this.
Finally, the Branwenbowl drew the highest ratings of the first round of the tournament as two top contenders slugged it out far earlier than either was expected to meet serious competition. Fists and feathers flew with abandon as the audience argued over whether Raven's Goth Dommy Mommy vibes outweighed Qrow's tragic backstory, status as a parental figure and mentor who genuinely cares for the children he has accepted responsibility for, and general soggy patheticness, but ultimately Raven Branwen claimed victory over her brother, whose Semblance struck once more and prevented him from taking advantage of a last-chance opportunity to replace a pair of underperforming contestants in a late matchup.
The matchups are only getting spicier from here, folks! We at VNN know you've got strong opinions on the outcomes, so if you'd like to place your money where your mouth is, you can place your bets with one of our official partners at www.XiongSportsBooks.com (no relation to the notorious Xiong crime family) or support your favorite contestant by buying the finest merchandise Atlesian sweatshops can coerce poverty-stricken Faunus into producing for far less than a decent living wage in the Merchandise tab of our website! Use the code ASHES for 20% off all Cinder Fall-, Pyrrha Nikos-, and Arthur Watts-themed merchandise and the code SDC for a 10% discount on a new pair of Schneezys (limit one per customer).
Thanks for watching, folks, and tune back in next time for live coverage of the Round of 32! Here at VNN SportsCenter, we're committed to bringing you top-notch coverage of all Valean sporting events. As always, let us know how you felt about this broadcast on Glitter using the hashtag #flexappeal, and check out behind-the-scenes footage and photos of our contestants at www.hunstagram.com/SportsCenter, and see you all next time on Waheela's Fandom Friday!
#I'm so sorry I packed this full of sportsball jokes#and I would delight in the opportunity to explain them#rwby hottest character poll#rwby#I'm not tagging all the damn characters lol
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Things Beacon Students are No Longer Allowed To Do: Rule 54
54. “Atlas” is not a slur. You don’t need to bleep out “Atlas” and “Atlesian” in your After Action Reports.
54 a. We understand that tensions between Atl*s and the Faunus community are high. We also understand that the Atl*s Military also doesn’t have a great relationship with us, but censoring Atl*s and Atl*sian doesn’t help. Please stop.
(… - Prof. Goodwitch)
54 b. Students are not allowed to hack Beacon systems to censor words.
(How do they even keep doing this? - Prof. Goodwitch) (It’s impressive, at your request the Atl*s military upgraded your systems just a month ago. - Specialist Schnee) (… - Prof. Goodwitch) (Hang on. How is it censoring me? I’m on a secure Atl*s server. - Specialist Schnee) (Oh no. - Prof. Goodwitch)
54 c. This should’ve gone without saying, because it’s already incredibly illegal, but students are NOT allowed to hack Atl*sian Military systems. Even for dumb pranks.
(Weiss I know you’re involved somehow, please just turn the Atl*s censor off. Half of the general staff are becoming paranoid about infiltrators and Ironwood is starting to mutter something about atmospheric bombardment. - Specialist Schnee) (I had nothing to do with this! I don’t even know anything about computers so I wouldn’t know how to help. Have you tried turning it off and back on again? - Weiss) (HA. Funny one Winter. Atl*s can’t bomb its way out of this problem, Jimmy. - Prof. Branwen)
54 d. Now that Ironwood’s flagship has successfully had its dust-core deactivated, and reactivated again, solving the issue, the General has requested an audience with the parties involved. 75-25 he shoots/hires you.
(Uh…I was joking? You’d have to fly the airship all the way back to Atlas, tear half the ship apart, then use a literal metric ton of Dust to restart the core??? All that just so you can say “Atlas” again?!?!? - Weiss) (Rooting out infiltrators is worth any expense. And it was less politically costly to Atlas than the alternative. Thank you for your advice Ms Schnee. - Gen. Ironwood) (You’re…welcome? Wait, what was the alternative? - Weiss) (… - Gen. Ironwood) (James? - Ozpin)
54 e. Beacon would like to clarify that in the event of an atmospheric bombardment for ANY reason, Beacon students ARE allowed to use whatever force they deem necessary to remove the threat.
(Wait, he was SERIOUS? James, what the fuck, just get an IT guy. - Prof. Branwen)
#rwby#rules of beacon#weiss schnee#james ironwood#qrow branwen#winter schnee#54#atlas being bad at IT#is hilarious to me#for some reason
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“You’re thinking like Ironwood”
for the life of me I can’t figure out why that was a bad thing cause it’s a true valid point. It doesn’t matter if Salem destroys the world. Especially with the girl’s “win” record.
they are own maiden (two I guess cause who knows wtf is going on with Raven ((I place money on her showing up to help dying and then ya he becoming a madden)))
two relics down
and they had a hand in a kingdom being destroyed. that last point can’t be ignored. They really don’t talk about how they destroyed people’s home and then dropped them into a really shorty situation
The narrative wants to act like it’s a bad thing because the narrative wants us to hate Ironwood now. However the narrative does nothing to establish him becoming a villain or why his way of thinking is so wrong. At the end of the day if Salem gets the relics, the world will be destroyed. Ironwood was right about that. They can’t ignore the danger Salem poses and how that threat has increased with her getting two relics. But the narrative repeatedly has them blow it off or insist they did good when really they just delayed the inevitable deaths of all the people they saved.
As you said the cost to save the people was an entire kingdom and thousands of lives that couldn’t escape in time. It cost them the worlds supply of dust because, even if the show didn't properly utilize this point properly, the worlds supply of dust is in Atlas thanks to the embargo and with its destruction is also the destruction of all the dust, the military that didn't escape, weapons and tech that was all in Atlas.
They have no plan to stop Salem who is over halfway to completing her goal. Sure, they have what remains of Remnants fighters apparently in Vacuo, which isn't that impressive given how all of Atlas and Haven's fighters are dead, people died at Beacon and some stayed behind at Beacon to deal with the grimm....I hope. But as James said, even with the robotic army, with all four schools students at Beacon it did nothing to help. Salem won, overwhelmingly. And that was without her their and her ability to make an endless Grimm army.
Things are bad and the show and mains trying to pretend otherwise is extremely annoying especially with it being used to further demonize James.
#rwde#james ironwood#ironwood protection squad#pro james ironwood#pro ironwood#general ironwood#general dadmiral#dadmiral ironwood
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Got any more Ironwood doing Hunter Gathers impressions?
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Winter: Are you Colonel Ironwood?
Ironwood: Hm? (Leaps over desk) OH NO YOU DON'T! (Pins her, Pokes gun to temple) What do you want from me? Who sent you, you pale-faced she-bitch?
Winter: P-Personnel! Specialist-in-Training Winter Schnee, reporting for duty! (Salutes)
Ironwood: (Pulls away gun) Don't you salute me, you bastard! (Shoots her hand)
Winter: AGH!
Ironwood: Leave that Goody-Two-Shoes bullshit at the Academy!
Winter: Yes, sir!
Ironwood: And don't call me "sir," damn you! This isn't Atlas Academy anymore! You're a Specialist! Act like it!
Winter: Okay... Colonel...?
Ironwood: (Stands up) Call me James. Now stand up so I can get a good look at you.
Winter: (Stands up)
Ironwood: BROTHERS, THEY'RE MAKING YOU BIG NOWADAYS! Is it Bergmann's Rule? I mean, look at the size of you!
Winter: Uh...
Ironwood: (Grabs file) Schnee, Winter, born December 29th in Atlas out of wedlock to parents who hate each other. Half-Atlas, Half-Mantle, Quarter-Waheela. You lost your virginity at fifteen, have one sister, one brother, and you can't stand the word moist. (Tosses files into a shredder) The Winter Schnee you've known your whole life is now dead. Happy birthday, Wolf-Girl! You're my baby now.
Ironwood: (Grabs her collar) Are you prepared for anything your kingdom asks of you?!
Winter: Yes.
Ironwood: Can you keep your damn head on right when you'recovered in the blood and gore of enemy and comrade alike acting as a quadruple agent and facing batshit craziness at every turn?!
Winter: Yes.
Ironwood: (Steps away) Are you ready for anything?
Winter: Yes.
Ironwood: ...Are you still ready for anything?
Winter: Ye-
Ironwood: (Grabs chest and throws to a wall) WRONG!
Winter: (Holds chest) AGH! ARGH! MOTHERFUCKER!
Ironwood: Lesson number one: never trust anyone! The minute the Third Brother came along, a conspiracy was hatched against one of them! GET UP, DAMN YOU!
Winter: (Winces, Climbs to her feet)
Ironwood: Here!
Winter: (Catches jet pack)
Ironwood: Strap in, Lupa, because your training starts now! When I'm done with you, you'll be the deadliest thing on this planet since the Second Color War!
Ironwood: The transparent one...
Ironwood: (Flips painting, Smashes button, Hatch opens, Office supplies sucked out) WELCOME TO THE ATLAS SPECIALISTS, SCHNEE! (Zooms off in a jetpack)
#rwby#james ironwood#my submissions#venture brothers#the venture brothers#venture bros#the venture bros#winter schnee
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RWBY COMBAT ANALYSIS: CLOVER EBI
It's a good thing they had someone to look up to and get them through it. Not everyone is so lucky.[…] What good is saving the world without another generation waiting in the wings? Hopefully they'll leave Remnant better than we left it for them.”
PHYSICAL
While his exact age has never been stated, Clover Ebi was a contemporary of the likes of Qrow Branwen and Robyn Hill, so he was likely in his late 30s to earth 40s at the time of his death two years after the Fall of Beacon. A human male, Clover was an esteemed graduate of Atlas Huntsman Academy, enlisting in the military’s Special Operatives division and eventually taking leadership of the elite Ace Operatives unit. Easily one of the most capable soldiers produced by the program, he quickly caught the attention of commander-in-chief James Ironwood, and the unit was brought into the fold of the eternal war with Salem. As a power player in Ironwood’s inner circle, Clover came to report directly to the general and spearheaded the field operations for the Amity Communications Tower project, setting the stage for an eventual offensive on the witch. Sadly, Clover’s duties also required him to enforce Ironwood’s increasingly tight rule on the kingdom, generating a decidedly unpopular view of his team among the citizens of Mantle. While he held pronounced status and autonomy in the Atlas military on paper, Clover and his unit, in practice, gradually amounted to little more or less than, as the Mantle activist Forest so eloquently put it, “Ironwood’s Personal Attack Dogs”. The Ace-Ops were status symbols first and foremost; a team of charismatic and badass Huntsmen designed to impress potential recruits, and living weapons authorized to silence any and all dissidents. While by no means a fanatical sycophant like Caroline Cordovin, Clover’s total loyalty to Ironwood did ultimately make him a mere extension of the general’s will. His personal pride and morals had no bearing on his decisions. All that mattered were Ironwood’s orders, even as they became more draconic by the day.
An exceptional though otherwise typical human specimen, Clover stood at 6’3”, his brown hair, teal eyes, and handsome features serving him well as the face of the Ace-Ops, while his athletic muscular build highlighted his ability to shoulder the physical demands of his profession. A solid general-purpose operator, Clover built up and maintained an exceptional blend of athletic attributes, configuring power, speed and reflex to best suit the situation in question. His dexterity and reflexes were arguably his most developed traits, masterfully wielding his weapon’s functions to ensnare and subvert opponents both in close quarters and at range. He has latched a Geist’s mask with his grappling line, entangled Tyrian Callows in a full-body tether, caught speeding objects out of the air with casual ease, and fenced evenly with both Callows and Qrow Branwen at the same time, no small feat given both men’s skill. His ability to fight evenly with the pair, both also known for their exceptional speed, served as a testament to Ebi’s own polished agility, expressed through his use of upright acrobatics to cover ground on the battlefield and balanced footwork and nimble evasions when dueling. Even when denied adequate room to maneuver, Clover was able to keep pace with the contorting Tyrian and defend himself from both Qrow and Robyn Hill while confined into an airship, while still remaining quite mobile when fighting on open ground. While not an offensive heavyweight, Clover’s physical strength was nothing to scoff at. He has manhandled a hulking Petra Gigas after hooking its mask before proceeding to rip the Geist from its body, and during his final battle, threw Qrow several yards and slamming him into the ground after catching him with his hook. While these feats could be chalked up more to Clover riding momentum than his own might, they do speak well to the kind of power the Ace-Op’s muscles can generate.
While Clover’s lucky Semblance meant that he could typically breeze by obstacles without being tagged, he always responded well to the hits he did take. During his confrontations with Tyrian Callows, Clover soaked up multiple physical strikes and continued to fight without any real strain, maintaining his composure even in the face of the Faunus’s sadomasochistic intensity. When the airship crashed in the tundra, Clover bailed ship to avoid injury, but still endured the landing and engaged Qrow immediately afterwards despite having spent the better part of the night in the field. In his final battle, Clover had to be brought down through attrition, the combined blows he took from Qrow and Tyrian ultimately wearing him down to the point where Qrow broke his Aura with a well-placed punch. Though clearly worn out, Clover still regained his feet quickly, and while he had no chance of surviving Tyrian’s fatal backstab, he was able to hold a brief conversation and died relatively calm. This indicates that the Ace-Op, while still as vulnerable as any mortal man, still possessed a powerful ability to deal with physical pain. However, the circumstances of his death also highlighted Clover’s limitations. His stamina was not unlimited, and if placed under enough pressure, he will eventually fold. He won’t burn out immediately, but neither is he truly capable of weathering the storm. Furthermore, while his military discipline allowed him to keep his cool in the heat of battle, his cocky attitude and total obedience to Ironwood has led to lapses in judgement that can put him between a rock and a hard place if he’s not careful. Clover’s tragic death had just as much to do with him biting off more than he could chew as it did his inability to see the big picture beyond what James Ironwood told him to do.
As a high-ranking member of the Atlas Armed Forces, Clover was garbed in the uniform of his army, though his, like the other Ace-Ops, was a heavily tailored variant that highlighted his status. His personal uniform consisted of a gray tank top over which he wore a sleeveless double-breasted white jacket with red and blue lapels, epaulets, and coattails. The rest of the outfit consisted of white trousers, calf-high steel-toed boots, and fingerless gloves. He further accessorized with a collection of personal ornaments, most notably his trademark four leaf clover pin inherited by Qrow Branwen upon his death. While unarmored, Clover’s clothes were still practical and unrestrictive in the field, maintaining military reliability despite the decorative aesthetic.
RANKING: Tier 2, Peak Human Fitness
While not an overwhelming juggernaut of athletic performance, Clover Ebi still serves as a strong representation of the human Huntsman physical apex. He is an experienced field operative who has taken great pains to stay on top of his training and exercise, boasting a balanced application of strength, agility and dexterity that affords him an impressive level of performance in all areas. While he can’t be expected to dominate any adversary on the back of any specific physical attribute, he is not lacking in any areas either, while his physical hardiness and disciplined confidence allows him to work through hits and persevere under fire. Clover’s final fate proves that he does have a limit to how much pressure he can take, but given the force he was up against, pushing him to that upper limit is no easy feat.
MARTIAL
Clover Ebi’s weapon of choice was a high-grade collapsible hooked fishing rod known as the Kingfisher. The main iron shaft of the rod was of variable length, though Clover typically kept the weapon at approximately three to four feet, providing a moderate reach advantage when on open ground. The sharpened hook on the tip was connected to a cable housed in the shaft and feed by a beveled reel that doubled as the hilt guard. The reel itself had a powerful propulsion system that allowed the weapon to be utilized as a grappling hook, this method being one of Clover’s favorite methods of traversing his surroundings. The simple black handgrip was fitted with a spike on the pommel and featured a manual adjuster that allowed the user to adjust the shaft’s length with the flick of a switch. Aside from Kingfisher, one of Clover’s lucky charms was an iron horseshoe, perfectly willing to use it as a makeshift knuckle duster and thrown projectile, and he was also known to regularly carry at least one gravity Dust bola for use as handcuffs or as an additional snare in combat.
As a student of Atlas Huntsman Academy and a member of the Special Operatives unit, Clover Ebi received a rich pedigree of combat training, preparing for both military operations and fighting the creatures of Grimm. Distinguishing himself as an experienced field operative, Clover rose through the ranks to eventually become the commander of the elite Ace-Operatives, priding himself on his success on the back of his own merit rather than privilege. That being said, the post-Fall of Beacon world changed Clover’s duties considerably, his team being dispatched to clear the construction sites for the Amity Tower project while also being constantly sent into Mantle to enforce Ironwood’s civil mandates. While these measures made the Ace-Ops increasingly unpopular with the Mantle populace, Clover himself having a tense relationship with local political leader Robyn Hill, this regular field experience still helped keep Clover’s skills polished on top of his regular training and exercise, setting himself apart as one of the most skilled Huntsmen of his day. Regarding Clover’s personal means of battle, his technique was very defense-oriented, employing tight one-handed blocking sequences and deflection parries to intercept both melee strikes and projectiles, while adopting a two-handed grip to use the elongated shaft as more of a polearm or quarterstaff. For offense, he favored sweeping slashes and body shots delivered via flourishing spins, either to get around the opponent’s defenses or to confuse them with the twirls. With the hook, Clover made avid use of blade manipulation techniques, often catching his opponent’s weapon and forcing it out of line, opening them up for a counterattack. However, easily Clover’s most unorthodox technique was his use of his weapon as a combat lasso, grappling hook, and flail, frequently entrapping his targets in the cable to non-lethally disable them or swinging the hook from the cable to strike his targets at range. Taking full advantage of the variable length of Kingfisher’s pole, Ebi often shortened it to accommodate tighter environments or to draw in the target after snaring them and lengthened it to improve his reach advantage. This defensive fighting style was reinforced by his dynamic physical component and alternative equipment, enhancing his parries with nimble evasions and improving his tethers by manually threading his hook around his opponent’s limbs, while staggering his targets by throwing his horseshoe or tripping them up with his bola. As far as alternative combat skills went, Clover Ebi was a highly skilled hand-to-hand fighter, freely incorporating punches and kicks into his style, and his military training virtually guaranteed training in the use of firearms, at minimum on how to engage enemy gunmen.
Clover Ebi’s tactics and conduct reflected his personal background as well as the realities of his service. As the leader of a special operations unit, Clover was all about the coordination of small groups of operatives to achieve larger strategic objectives, assessing the situation and directing his followers to exploit it. As the Ace-Ops were pieced together from operatives with complimentary skills and powers, Clover was almost always in his comfort zone, as he and his teammates could always take advantage of their individual strengths while covering for each other’s weaknesses, working together as a well-oiled, cohesive combat machine. When facing the Petra Gigas in SDC Mine #2, Clover dispatched Vine Zeki and Elm Ederne to restrain the legs while Marrow Amin disabled its arms and Harriet Bree and himself covered their flanks by catching the loosed Dust crystals. They followed this up with a hit-and-run badgering sequence while Clover himself leapt in, snagged the Geist’s mask with his hook, and forcibly pulled it out of the stones, giving Bree a chance to kill it. A similar collaboration was seen when confronting Tyrian Callows during the Battle of Mantle, this time playing defensive interference to subvert and ensnare the Faunus while Qrow Branwen attacked him directly and Robyn Hill chipped away at a distance. These encounters perfectly show Ebi in his element, coordinating multiple Huntsmen to cleanly and efficiently disable a threat with minimal collateral damage. As far as his own tactics went, Clover was just as subversive but also more freeform. With his Semblance enabling him to avoid missteps and find the most advantageous hit spots, he often went with the flow and adjusted as he went along, tailoring his approach to suit the situation. He would open defensively to gauge the threat and work to undermine it, whether by trapping their weapon and leaving them open to a punch to the face or by taking advantage of their overcommitment to tangle them in his line. He was at his best when exploiting the element of surprise, catching both Qrow and Robyn off guard by trapping their weapons. While his methods had a steep risk-reward, as tangling somebody in a fishing line is nowhere near an easy feat, Clover was able to make these radical techniques workable thanks to his Semblance; he was supernaturally lucky enough that his moves were successful, and he avoided the stumbling blocks along the way. He was a weaponized freerunner who achieved victory on the back of clever subversion and a mastery of the most unorthodox methods.
However, for all of Clover’s skill, his style and tactics still held major logistical problems. Despite the versatile nature of the Kingfisher, none of its functions were reliably lethal, meaning that, while appropriate for law enforcement duties, he had very little in the means of decisively ending the conflict. Instead of winning by overcoming his opponent, Clover won by manipulating and trapping them, meaning that his success was reliant on perfect technique. While his unconventional techniques were effective in his hands, this was chiefly due to his Semblance making even the most ridiculous method workable rather than being a developed and practical combat skill. Despite tethering Tyrian Callows several ties in Mantle, Callows was able to break free thanks to his own vicious movement, and he folded primarily due to offensive pressure from Qrow and Robyn’s opportunistic shots. Clover was able to compensate for this lack of lethality through his teammates, tools he lacked access to when operating alone. Furthermore, Clover’s loyalty to Ironwood came before all else, following his orders to the letter even if they conflicted with his own morals or even on-the-ground facts, leading to disastrous lapses in judgement. This came to a head during his final battle with Qrow and Tyrian in the tundra. When Ironwood ordered Ruby Rose and her allies’ arrests and declared martial law in Mantle, Clover immediately moved to arrest Qrow despite the latter and Robyn’s protests, the situation escalating into a full fight that allowed Tyrian to kill their pilot and crash the airship. Clover escaped and acknowledged Robyn’s injuries, but rather than offer truce for her sake, Clover insisted on Qrow’s surrender with a transparent appeal to their friendship. Not fooled, Qrow drew his weapon and the two fought evenly until Tyrian interfered. Despite his awareness of Tyrian’s danger and Qrow’s good intentions, Clover attempted to battle both of them rather than collaborate, directly interfering with Qrow’s attempts to attack Tyrian in order to subdue him. This proved to be Clover’s undoing, as Tyrian was able to manipulate his opponents to continue bashing each other rather than focus on him. To his credit, Clover was able to acquit himself extremely well, briefly overcoming Qrow and managing to defend against Tyrian’s savage onslaught before trapping him in his line. However, Clover’s lack of offensive power meant that he could not reliably defeat his opponents, and mounting pressure from two fronts was ultimately too much for him to handle. Qrow eventually broke his Aura with a heavy punch, giving Tyrian a chance to impale him with a surprise backstab, using Qrow’s own weapon to frame him for his former friend’s death.
RANKING: Tier 2, Advanced Mastery
With the various options of his weapon and his underhanded tactics, Clover Ebi has a very diverse and versatile skill set that has been honed through well over a decade of training and battlefield experience. His subversive and defensive fighting style allows him to undermine and undercut his adversaries with radical tricks and maneuvers that most aren’t prepared to engage, and his developed skill allows him to stand equal to many of the greatest martial artists in his setting. At the same time, while a competent and charismatic battlefield leader skilled at managing and directing his assets, Clover’s tactics in single combat are far less effective due to his reliance on his chosen techniques rather than practical ones. His weapon and style trade lethality for options, resulting in a thinly spread skill set, while his stubborn persistence has led to him making bad calls, sometimes fatal ones. Clover is cautious enough not to overextend, but he doesn’t always look at the big picture, leading him to bite off more than he can chew.
SPECIAL
Clover Ebi possessed the ability to passively affect probability, manipulating the world around him to act to his advantage in whatever endeavor he was participating in. As this power allowed him to come ahead in just about everything, even in the most unlikely situations, Clover came to identify his Semblance simply as Good Fortune. Upon their first meeting, the parallels between this ability and Qrow Branwen’s Misfortune were obvious and apparent, as both powers were constantly active, interfering with the lives of their bearers. However, where Qrow’s Semblance affected his surroundings and people in his vicinity, Clover’s Semblance only affected himself and his personal actions. While the circumstances by which Clover discovered his abilities are unconfirmed, he obviously unlocked them early on, aiding in his meteoric rise in prominence among the Atlas elite forces. This ability manifested in various subtle ways, usually as a utility safeguard and tactical aide. Lucky observations enabled him to locate entrances into blocked off locations and advantageous terrain positions, while conveniently improving his footing and balance to avoid falls and injuries. Clover’s abilities even allowed him success in mundane activities such as card games, indicating a powerful degree of influence even outside the rigors of combat. Clover was talented at supporting his Semblance’s influence with his own charisma and strategic observations, granting good fortune to larger objectives by turning them into HIS objectives. This was part of the reason why he was such an effective team leader, as he was able to keep his subordinates unified in the field while enabling them to perform their jobs successfully. On their own, the Ace-Ops could be prone to interference, yet when Clover was in the picture, they were a virtually unassailable unit. This trait was not limited to his direct subordinates either; Clover was a good leader for everyone. When confronting Tyrian Callows in Mantle, Clover, Qrow and Robyn had never fought alongside each other before, Qrow in particular barely being Hill’s acquaintance, yet the three of them were able to function extremely well together to meticulously bring the Faunus assassin to his knees.
Given how heavily Atlas Academy emphasized their students to develop the combative applications of their Semblances, it should come as no surprise that Clover took full advantage of his supernatural good luck in combat. His ability to narrowly avoid hits and obstacles was the crux of his defensive component in battle, calmly responding to any attack made against him by getting to the right place in just the right amount of time. Grazing strikes were basically a non-issue for him simply because he was lucky enough for them to miss him by inches, which in turn made traps and subtler probing attacks effectively useless. This fed directly into his landing strategies, calmly jumping from extreme heights and managing to catch the landing every time, this talent saving him from a Teryx that latched itself onto his airship and enabling his escape from the crashing Manta in the tundra. It even reinforced his in-combat evasions and martial defense, seen when he casually deflected Robyn Hill’s bolt at near point-blank range and latter avoided Tyrian Callows’ Aura Disruption strikes by the skin of his teeth. Clover’s most pronounced use of his Semblance in battle was his use of it to enable his unorthodox fighting style. As visually cool and clever as Clover’s technique is, the fact remains that it is very lacking in terms of substance. It’s a very showy and impractical method that would require perfect technique every single time to be workable. Luckily for Clover, his Semblance meant that he could perform perfect technique almost every single time. Where a normal person would be hard-pressed to snag an evasive opponent like Tyrian in a full body tether or catch a hole in Qrow’s sword at just the right point to rip it from his grasp, Clover was able to perform these moves on command and extremely frequently. Clover’s Semblance was, in essence, the ultimate cheat code. Regardless of the risk of the situation he was in or how improbable or crazy the fighting maneuver he was trying to pull off was, he was able to make it work by effectively hacking reality to shift things in his favor.
The problem with this sort of power was that there are certain situations one cannot simply leave up to fate to decide. As previously mentioned, the main difference between Misfortune and Good Fortune was that Qrow’s Semblance affected the world around him, interfering with what other people were trying to do, while Clover’s Semblance only affected him and his own objectives. While both developed a good deal of skill with their powers, Qrow was skilled at catching on to what his Semblance was causing, adjusting his tactics to take advantage of what his opponent was going to trip over. By contrast, Clover’s Semblance covered for what should have been a risky move or a misstep to the point where he never truly struggled. Good Fortune merely handed Clover one victory after another, to the point where he became reliant on his powers in combat. This motivated Clover to develop the most hair-brained and head-scratching tactics in battle simply because he had never failed at making them work. As a result, Clover was never exposed to his own limits and had no way of gauging situations where no amount of luck could help him. Despite executing his usual high performance in his final battle, subverting Qrow and evading Tyrian, his greatest pitfalls happened when he was simply being overwhelmed directly, forced to give ground against his opponents and being worn down by their combined pressure. Unlike Qrow, whose self-imposed isolation allowed him to develop his own talents in response to his limitations, Clover was constantly working with a team that Ironwood specifically built to cover each other’s’ bases as pieces of a puzzle. That’s not to say that Clover was weak individually, but the circumstances of his career blinded to his own shortcomings. Not only was he denied a chance to figure out what they were in the first place, but his blind loyalty ensured that he never felt the need to question Ironwood’s decision and find out what they were. When he was isolated from his allies and tried to fight Qrow and Tyrian on his own, Clover lacked any of their strengths that could potentially shift things in his favor, and his luck eventually wore out.
RANKING: Tier 3, Specialized Combat
Clover Ebi’s Semblance was the centerpiece of his combative viability, allowing him to avoid the subtle mistakes by the skin of his teeth while also bringing consistency to what should have been risky maneuvers in combat. His success at expanding his objectives made him invaluable as a military unit commander while also turning him into a devastating martial combatant, twisting probability to make his desired outcome a reality regardless of how unlikely it seemed. However, Clover’s Semblance was extremely singular and inwardly focused, lacking any ability to actively influence the flow of the engagement, while his seeming inability to falter had a major negative effect on his battlefield conduct. Clover’s Good Fortune allowed him to breeze by just about any obstacle, but this lack of failure also meant that major holes in his approach were never addressed because he was so overpowered that they almost never came up. Still, having literal luck on your side is not small thing, and anyone who challenges Clover is going to need every Ace they can fit.
OVERALL RANKING: TIER 2, MASTER HUNTSMAN
Clover Ebi is ranked primarily on account of his martial skills, his performances in other areas adding layers to his versatile and high-performance fighting method. For all his shortcomings, Clover’s position as the leader of Atlas’s best Huntsmen was well-earned, perfectly embodying everything James Ironwood expected out of his premier fighting unit. An incredibly well-rounded athlete who could handle hard combat smoothly and calmly, Clover’s attributes made him perfectly optimized for the various combat situations he was guaranteed to find himself in, situations his fighting style was perfectly designed to engage. He made use of an unconventional weapon that enabled a martial technique based around subversion, deception, and tricky maneuvers designed to subdue his opponent in ways they couldn’t possibly expect based on how unusual they were. All of this was enabled by a Semblance that was quite simply a hack, twisting situations in ways that allowed his attempted techniques to work the way he wanted, even if they seemed like they were too tricky to be consistently reliable. However, Clover’s weaknesses cannot be ignored, as everything just described was only consistent when Clover was operating as a unit where he could call upon the strengths of others. When deprived of this support, Clover’s fighting style was all the more flashy and ridiculous while also lacking in ways to decisively end the battle, while his Semblance could not protect him from the power of direct assaults. Clover’s attributes, rather than being based around practical techniques honed by experience, were based around making cute tricks into weapons by just being lucky enough for them to work in live combat. And because Clover never truly deviated from this pattern, this saddles him with a circumstantial ranking of Tier 3 if confronted with someone he simply can’t subvert quickly.
Clover Ebi may be one of the best warriors of his day, legitimately comparable to Qrow Branwen in terms of developed skill, but his overspecialization with his Semblance has reduced him to a one-trick-pony. Where his contemporaries had the benefit of being forced into situations where their weaknesses were exploited, motivating them to learn from experience and tweak things accordingly, Clover never did this, not because he was too arrogant to learn, but because he wasn’t allowed to. Ironwood placed Clover in charge of the Ace-Ops in recognition of his skill, but the nature of the team meant that they were constantly covering for each other while having no real expectation of having top operate independently. As a result, despite being the best Atlas had to offer, the Ace-Ops viability in single combat is shockingly limited, their leader especially. The greatest irony about Clover was that his Semblance allowed him to practically coast by any pitfall and win no matter what, yet he was ultimately reliant on the support of his allies to fill in the gaps in his skill set and function as a Huntsman. Simply put, his potential, both as a fighter and as a man, were stifled by James Ironwood who only wanted one thing out of him. This isn’t to say that Clover was a victim or a mindless drone, as his loyalty to Atlas, James, and his mission were genuine convictions and he was complicit in this overspecialization. Much like his commander, Clover Ebi started off with good intentions. Sadly, this loyalty was taken advantage of by one unworthy of it, and Clover Ebi ultimately lived and died as just another weapon pointed at the enemy so someone else could claim a victory.
*originally posted on RoosterTeeth Community page on 05-21-22*
* images taken from RWBY Wiki and @rwbyweap*
RWBY Combat Analysis
#rwby#rwby combat analysis#clover ebi#rwby clover#atlas military#ace ops#peak human fitness#advanced mastery#specialized combat
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Ultimately what I would have found interesting is to take the Atlas and Tinman allegories much further.
Atlas is broken. The military system in place is clearly bad, okay, let's push more into James being a broken hero, then. Lean more into his song. He is under the impression that "one good man" at the top of a bad system can fix it.
He is wrong. He refuses to see he is wrong. Mettle helps with that.
He wears himself down further and further, refusing to ask for help, because all the stories talk about one hero saving everyone. One person breaking free to fix the system. And so he suffers under this enormous weight alone, even though he doesn't have to.
And it breaks him. He becomes so focused on trying to fix the system that he refuses to see that dismantling it is a better option. He becomes so focused on maintaining his power so he can fix the system that he doesn't recognize that he has to dismantle his own position early on to make any of this have a point.
He refuses to see that he can't do it all, alone, and with all the power he wants. His Ace Ops become enamoured with James' vision of a better Atlas and follow him forward, blinded to the bad parts of Atlas because of it. Their tunnel vision widens to see the destruction they're causing.
And James is held accountable, but he's also treated for what he is - a human being with a lot of trauma who took on far too much. And it's up to individuals if they want to forgive him, yeah, but he has to live with the consequences of his actions.
He doesn't gun down civilians or make massive bombs. He just keeps trying to fix things no matter how much of himself he has to cut off to do it. And yes he hurts people, a lot of people, but he doesn't go full nuclear option on a city.
Because there's nuance in stories. And they didn't have to make James go full fascist maniac in order to do it. And if they wanted to drop Atlas, I think it would have meant far more for a bunch of Atlesians, probably soldiers, to willingly sacrifice Atlas and put it in the ocean to draw the Grimm and give the Mantle people more time to flee, because the Atlesians are out of time. I think it'd be painful to have Team RWBY running through the streets, split between two cities, desperate to evacuate them all, and James has blue-screened and he's lost everything. All his power. All his status. All his tools. He has nothing.
And maybe we don't see him again for a while. Maybe he gets up and helps someone. I don't know.
But it's a story. Not real life. And I think it could have been interesting to force James and Clover to live with their bad decisions, to have them work toward redemption, and I think it would have fit better for James' original "misguided but trying" approach. Would have been a cooler spiral imo. Atlas is falling under the weight of the world, but only because he refuses everyone who wants to help.
Give the people of Atlas and Mantle more agency in their story. Pull a Thor: Ragnarok and let the people sacrifice their home to save themselves. Have the catalyst of James realizing he's not alone be someone crashing the Watts vs Ironwood fight to help him.
I'm not saying Atlas didn't need to change. It did. I'm not saying one good person in a bad system can save it - the opposite. A bad system will break good people trapped inside it. But I still don't think that's an excuse to be boring about it and do the most black and white story you can manage.
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Different anon, but the follow-up question has to be; how many shots of tequila does it take for Ironwood to get slutty? 👀
5+ bottles which is impressive because everyone else is black out drunk by that point. james got drunk slutty with no one to fuck 😔
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If RWBY had Pokémon - Teachers
When choosing Pokemon I’ve gone off aesthetics, personality, lore, but most importantly: vibes.
James Ironwood
I went with mainly steel type Pokémon, due to him being the tin man it felt appropriate, as well as the fact the Atlas army invests highly in technology with the sentinels.
Bronzong - big metal man int he?
Steelix - looks menacing and impressive. It just has the General's vibes
Growlithe - gotta get the police pooch in there. I do love this puppy but also ACAB
Onix - Ironwood isn't just metal so I wanted a rock Pokémon to represent that and I think having an Onix and Steelix side by side would be like him showing off his human and metal side.
Skarmory - aesthetically perfect. Typing perfect. I just thinks it's perfect for him
Aggron - I reckon this would be his ace Pokémon with Aron having been his starter. Big, can take hits, awesome, menacing...
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Deaged Oz AU - Before The Beginning
Prism Arc grinned at the others, looking like he was holding the greatest secret in the world. In some ways, he was. His parents had finally given him the go ahead to share the fact that the wizard existed and he couldn't wait to blow their minds.
He glanced at the younger four, briefly concerned. It was meant to be just James Ironwood, Lark Winchester and Nicky Schnee, but their collective younger siblings had tagged along. He wasn't even certain why his own little brother was even there, since Reuben had known about the wizard... and their family's promise... for years now.
At least the kids made a good impression of being cute, all wide eyed, waiting. He sighed as Winter's cane fell over and automatically went to retrieve it, just as Wren did the same thing. Everybody was used to helping the sickly youngest Schnee boy by now. Winter scowled slightly, but didn't say anything, he was used to the way the others hovered, too and knew he couldn't change it...
"Well, kids? I have a tale for you tonight. Full of magic and mystery and the best thing of all, it's even true! You all know the story of the Infinite Man, correct?"
There were nods from the listeners, and Prism grinned. "What if I told you that they were real?" He continued to spin the tale, revelling in the shock on the faces of those around him. Even James looked poleaxed and that wasn't an expression he was even certain his friend possessed! Whether they believed him, eh, that was another issue...
By the end of it, the kids were shaking. He hadn't told them everything, just the bare bones of the secret war his great grandfather, king Ozymandias had waged against the witch. He wanted to, but there was information there that his family could use to identify the next one when... if... he ever emerged. It had been almost forty years, after all. He tamped down on the fear that they just never would re-emerge... that somehow the witch had actually managed to kill them.
If the wizard was dead, they'd all lost already.
Shaking his head, he snapped back to the room, glancing at the others who looked shocked for the most part. Little Winter was shaking slightly, but he often did so Prism didn't really pay any mind to it. Wren stared at him with wide, green eyes.
"Prism? The stories are real, then?"
He shot a venomous look towards Reuben, who just shrugged, looking confused. So maybe not him, then. Ah well, maybe she'd spent one too many nights sitting around the Schnee family fire with Winter while his father read them fairy tales?
Later, once their questions had run out, he stretched. It was time for the kids to be in bed, after all...
Winter hesitated at the door, amber eyes wide, something strange lurking underneath that Prism couldn't quite recognise before biting his lip, shrugging and heading to bed with the others. Ah well, he thought, listening to the tapping of the boy's wooden cane, if it was truly important, Winny would tell him one day.
The children were snatched a few months later, Prism left to wonder, as Nicky died in a riot on Atlas' streets, whether that one late night tale had somehow caused all this. Whatever it was Winter had wanted to tell him probably died with the crippled ten year old...
He would believe that for the next twenty seven years.
#deaged oz au#prequel#rwby fanfiction#professor ozpin#glynda goodwitch#james ironwood#secrets#trust issues#assumptions#ozymandias#do not read this first#it requires context
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My question for the AU: how involved will ironwood, winter, team fnki, penny etc towards CRDL.
How will the relationship between between the groups: will it be one sided (at first) then later CRDL calling out the others being no better?
So, when Team CRDL first arrive at Atlas Academy, they are in for a ride awakening. This isn't the more laid-back and academic focus of Beacon Academy, this is a military school. They were only able to apply, because Sky Lark's father is a captain of an Atlesian battleship, and he helped get them a slot. So when they start trying to go back to bullying (for them, a way to try and go back to simpler times before the traumatic events at Beacon), it gets on the nerves of most of these characters.
At first, General James Ironwood holds a somewhat negative view of Team CRDL, and especially of Cardin. Sure, they are impressive fighters, and some of them are good in their classes, but their behavior is undisciplined and often selfish. But James Ironwood begins to understand them when he has a heart to heart with Cardin in the headmaster's office. For all the posturing, and bullying, Cardin and the rest of his team are lost, each with their own home difficulties even before coming to Beacon, and after the Fall of Beacon, they were left with far deeper scars. ((Ironwood knows a thing or two about deep scars. He's had to wrestle with PTSD of his own, both from when he lost half of his body, and from the Fall of Beacon.)) After this, Ironwood begins to take CRDL, and specifically Cardin under his wing, teaching them responsibility, courage, empathy, and how to be a good leader, and a good person.
Winter Schnee will look down on them, seeing them as simply troublemakers. After all, they are just a bunch of bullies. However, she'll slowly warm up to them because of Dove. In this AU, Dove is kinda the younger brother of the group. Sure, he went along with what the other guys were doing, but really he did that so he could fit in. Winter, training late one night, found Dove doing the same. His natural ability with Hallshott impressed her, and she began giving him one on one lessons in swordfighting and dueling, while also teaching him how to be strong of character and of mind.
Penny will be dealing with some difficulty after being rebuilt. Death terrifies her, and she can't remember what happened after her systems shut down at Amity. She often wonders if she truly is the same Penny she was before, or if she's just been programmed with the old Penny's memories. At this time in the story, Penny is being rebuilt and upgraded. Russel Thrush, who lost his leg to a Ursa during the FoB, will have to visit Pietro for maintenance and repair on his new leg, and something about him will be different. Russel doesn't stare at her, like some of the other patrons of her dad's shop. He acts tough, and even a bit mean, yet he has a surprisingly gentle side, as she sees him interact with some of the kids from Mantle. Slowly, the two of them bond over things like Dust and Grimm knowledge. Slowly, her kindness and innocence chips away at Russel's cynicism and anger.
At first, Team FNKI will hate CRDL, and the feeling will be mutual. Both teams are competitive, stubborn, and tightknit. Combine that with some rude comments about Neon Katt's heritage from Cardin, and they teams will be at each other's throats in almost any competition, sparring match, training exercise, and even when they pass each other in the hallway. But when both teams are assigned to do a patrol with the Ace Ops, things change. They open up a bit more, and some of the growth that CRDL has already experienced will begin to show. They'll bond, especially when they find themselves fighting an unexpected Grimm horde, back to back. Their rivalry will still be there, just now based on mutual respect, and a tone of friendliness. And also Cardin will date Neon at some point but that's a different story entirely, lol.
There are others, like Lark getting some therapy for the nightmares he gets from having to shoot someone, and learning under Vine. But I've rambled a lot, lol.
#rwby#team crdl#james ironwood#team fnki#winter schnee#penny polendina#au: reforming bullies#cardin winchester#russel thrush#dove bronzewing#sky lark
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Still on RWBY catchup. S7E2
an episode Crunchy sumarises as “Arresting people isn’t exactly the best way to make a first impression. However, once the initial shock has worn off, Ruby and her friends learn there’s a lot more to these Ace Ops - and even General Ironwood - than first meets the eye.”
More then meets the eye indeed. but not in the way they hope to paint it. Instead of the “petty small-minded despot with big-brotherscreens all over the lower city” he’s instead revealed to be intending to cause a global catastrophy that’ll let atlas conquer the world from a position of relative strength. As it alone flies safe above the ashes.
not that i expected much better from the guy who brought an invading army to a celebration of international peace and unity.
I cant believe this is the guy that has a significant percentage of the FNDM claim “He was right all along”. I cant wait to see how RT screwed this premise up enough to make people actually believe he’s the “real hero of the story”.
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(i took a break mid writing this to continue watching the episode. Ruby just repeated Ozpins lie about them being out of questions.
I see now that this is probably going to be the reason why the FNDM elements think James is the “real hero”isnt it, because they misinterpret “keeping an actual panopticon out of hands of a self-admitted wannabe global dictator” to be the same as Ozpins refusal to trust even those who have earned his trust while denying them mission-critical information such as the relic’s ability to attract Grimm.
I stand by ruby’s decision to lie to Ironwood, same as I stand in horror at how horribly OOC I just know the entire cast is going to be forced to become as the production inevitably forces them support “operation eradicate 90% of the human population” for the sake of the plot.
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Ah, Ironwood returning the Panopticon to Ruby as a “show of trust”, an act that i can just tell will be used by bad faith elements to prove that James was an honourable man compared to Ruby’s deceptions, an act i also 100% dont believe he would’ve done if he’d known there were questions left to ask.
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one last talk by Mr Stache and Scorpio about how the lower city is getting neglected before the episode ends leaves me fearfull that the crew that has openly acknowledged they couldnt handle the sensitive topic of race relations, is now trying to tackle class/income inequality on top of Fascism and Authoritarianism.
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So hereby take at the end of the Atlas Arc Introduction:
RT, Please stop grappling with difficult subject matters in this show. You know from experience you dont have the skills to do it respectfully.
I cant believe such a likeable cast of characters can exist in a series this terribly written, but i am getting closer and closer to the seemingly inevitable conclusion that S9 will lead me to permanently abandon this series because it cant stop tackling difficult topics wihtout the skills or respect needed of the task.
Im even starting to struggle to believe that RT could possibly be as incompetent as it claims to be, as the sheer consistency of its mistakes leads me to suspect them of actual willfull malice.
Obviously there are 2 seasons of missed content left, and it could be feasible that the series succeeds in at least making the arc convincing, but i somehow highly doubt it. (but then again, im admittedly a massive pesimist)
but then the RWBY Die-hards will inevitably claim “you cant judge a series until its complete”, and they’ll keep claiming that until the series is complete. Not until a chapter or season is complete, as long as there is space left to make another chapter they’ll claim no one is allowed to critique anything.
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Ironwood fans that point to Ironwood being a General as evidence that he’s some kind of amazing fighter, kind of baffle me because historically most Generals can’t do a sit-up. It’s not a role that oft requires prodigious physical feats. Yeah, obviously Ironwood can fight, but in pretty much every category other than physical strength, he’s below most of the main cast based on displays in the show. And even regarding strength, plenty of other characters have similar or more impressive feats.
Yes, the guy that’s basically never on the front-lines, and whose job is to sit back and give orders. He’s obviously an incredibly skilled hand-to-hand combatant. Neglecting that basically nobody in history got the rank of General by being the best fighter among their peers.
Also the Atlas military being the “most powerful military on the planet,”(which I might point out is a label they get by default, not merit, due to having no competition) doesn’t translate to Ironwood’s individual prowess as a fighter.
Like we know Lionheart, who was also not particularly impressive combat-wise, was appointed his position due to Oz’s influence for political reasons/Ozluminati reasons. So it’s pretty likely James was put into his position, possible even both, via strings pulled by Ozpin.
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one thing that kills me is just... imagining a scene where Ruby and Weiss go to the prison to get Jacques (because Winter specifically said Weiss didn't want to leave Jacques to die in the fall?? iirc??) and like. Ironwood is specifically ignoring it because he thinks they Are leaving Him to die, but then Ruby enters his cell and offers her hand to him??
like yeah that wouldn't retroactively change everything leading up to it, but i think it'd be such a strong moment to show one of our heroes reaching out and being a kind person
because also theyve known ironwood for years and he's only been their "enemy" for two days and the idea they would have just let him die is just So Fucked Up
idk this is just something bouncing around in my head
It kills me that James gets no reassurances as to what is happening or that he won't be left to die. I mean not even the audience is certain if he would be evacuated or not which is....not great. The audience knowing something James did not could at least be some dramatic irony but we don't even get that. Winter is pretty specific that Jacques is the only one who would have been evacuated leaving the impression that James was going to be left behind to die which is really not a good look for the mains. They are supposed to be the ones to unite all of Remnant, leaving a man suffering severely from PTSD to die leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially when they're (sort of) shown themselves to be willing to try and save people who have done some horrible things. Though I personally would not want Winter as the new leader of Atlas as the show seems to hint she will be because she made it clear she would leave him to die and I would not want a ruler who just lets people they don't like fucking die. As a ruler you don't get to be picky about who is saved and protected, but Winter would have left Jacques to die if not for Weiss and did leave James to die and did nothing to try and reason with him. She immediately went for the fight option and just left him their.
But back to your idea, holy shit that would have been pretty amazing honestly. Have Ruby set aside her negative feelings towards him, have her really focus on what he was feeling and how Salem broke him and have her show him compassion and kindness. Have him wonder why she isn't just leaving him to die and her say she said she was going to save everyone and that includes him.
Most of volume 8 still would have been a trainwreck but that scene would have done wonders towards actually making Ruby likeable again which is a huge issue with the volume.
To really made it good, have Ruby admit and apologize for her mistakes which opens James up and he admits to his failures and mistakes, have them both realize this is what Salem wanted and they both let it happen and failed. Have them work together to move forward and repair the damage done. Just something because currently James was turned into a villain through extremely ableist story lines and Ruby is a selfish brat.
#RWDE#Rwby bashing#rwby critical#james ironwood#ironwood protection squad#pro james ironwood#pro ironwood#general ironwood#general dadmiral#dadmiral ironwood
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Kiss roulette / Accepting
@eiiskonigin asked: 🎲 (jacques because I want to see him struggle to show his firstborn child some fucking affection gdi)
RESULT: 27. A kiss in greeting
Winter was scheduled to return home from Atlas Academy for the holidays, which Jacques had insisted upon this year. They were going to have a family portrait painted, and she needed to be here for that. Plus, it was likely that James Ironwood was going to be coming to dinner, and having the whole family together, would make a much better impression than if his eldest child had chosen to spend her holidays at school when she had a perfectly good family home to return to.
"Sir, Miss Winter is about to arrive," Klein announced, making sure that Jacques could head to the foyer of the mansion to greet Winter as she came through the doors.
Jacques waved the butler off and headed out of his office, coming down the grand staircase just as the doors opened to allow entrance to the eldest child of Jacques and Willow Schnee.
"Ah, Winter," he greeted her. "So good to have you back for the holidays." His voice was light and cheerful, and to anyone who didn't know him, he would truly sound pleased that Winter had come back. He put his hands on her shoulders, pressing a swift kiss to her cheek before releasing her, very subtly wiping his hands on his jacket.
"Klein made sure your room would be ready for your arrival."
#eiiskonigin#★ jacques schnee || winter / eiiskonign ★ if at first you don't succeed there's always the next child#★ jacques schnee || answered ★ making sure he's got the best damn pr team in the world#★ jacques schnee || ic ★ revenge is a dish best served when it is cold#[what a bastard]
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