RWBY COMBAT ANALYSIS: THE RUSTED KNIGHT

“I’m sorry, I… I know I’m not okay. I- I’m not right, but… How am I supposed to be…? I’ve been alone… for SO… LONG! Here… On that bridge… I was the only one that could do it! I was the ONLY ONE! And I… And now I have to live with that forever… In here or back home…”

PHYSICAL

After falling into the Ever After during the Atlas exodus, Jaune Arc stumbled across a Clockwork Orange, an item that forcibly sent him back in time.  Unable to return to the present, Jaune was forced to spend the subsequent years braving the dangers of the Ever After as he awaited Team RWBY to finally join him, eventually taking up the alias of the Rusted Knight, a supposedly fantastical character of the fairy tale The Girl Who Fell Through the World.  By the time he finally reunited with his friends, Jaune had spent anywhere from ten to twenty years in the Ever After, placing him in his early-to-late thirties during the events of Volume 9.  While ostensibly still in his physical prime, Jaune’s aging was far from graceful, his blonde hair and beard streaked with gray and his weathered features betraying the trials of his tenure.  His mental strain was even more pronounced, his failure to revive Penny Polendina driving him into an obsessive preoccupation with protecting those around him, latching on to keeping the Paper Pleasers intact despite their frequent attempts at Ascension.

Despite his premature aging, Jaune still retained his athletic viability as the Rusted Knight, continuing to demonstrate his exceptional strength and agility.  His physical might was sufficient to overpower Jabberwalkers on a fairly regular basis and even stagger the Curious Cat with physical combat after the creature possessed the body of Neopolitan.  While still disinclined to employ acrobatics, Rusted Jaune was quick on his feet, covering ground with running charges and employing balanced footwork and evasions to keep his target in his crosshairs.  Furthermore, he grew into an exceptional equestrian and mounted warrior, expertly working alongside his jackalope mount Juniper on multiple occasions.  Though he failed to catch the Curious Cat before it could possess Neo’s body and was later overpowered by the Furious Cat, this is no sign of weakness in either area given the Afteran’s overwhelming physical might.  Where Jaune's athletic performance differed the most was in his dexterity and reflexes, something he was forced to develop in response to his damaged weapon and no doubt honed by his experience in the Ever After.  With a much shorter blade than he was used to, Jaune was forced to rely more on technique and precision when fighting than brute force, targeting the weakest link and striking accurately.

Regarding Jaune's physical tolerances, he remained an extremely capable endurance fighter, focusing through hits and continuing to fight afterwards.  During the battle with the Curious Cat, Jaune soaked up several major hits from the Cat and was later accidentally hurled from the arena by Weiss, yet he was only minorly disabled by this, regaining his feet and continuing to provide tactical support for Weiss, Blake and Yang.  It was only after the Cat transformed into the Furious Cat, it’s exceptionally more powerful form, and struck Jaune square in the chest that his Aura broke and he was out of the fight.  During his time as the Rusted Knight, he was noted for multiple harrowing adventures that tested his mettle, and he was even able to survive being poisoned by Alyx despite having little in the way of medical attention.  However, Jaune's stamina was surprisingly cut short in his elder state.  While he did not burn out immediately, he was still subdued at the Tree far quicker than his allies, his Aura breaking before any of theirs had even flickered.  Far more detrimental was Jaune’s mental fortitude.  While his will to persevere and fight remained indominable, his previous failures left him with an obsession with protecting his charges, leaving him anxious and prone to angered outbursts.  However, despite his limited composure, the Rusted Knight retained his dogged determination even when under duress, and pushing him to the point of no return would be an uphill battle for anyone.

Despite the severe state of disrepair it had fallen into, Jaune’s armor remained strong and effective, and had in fact been further supplemented with additional plating.  The cuirass was upgraded to provide greater coverage over his abdomen, while his pauldrons were replaced with a heavier set, though the gauntlets remained unchanged.  He added to this with a full helmet, greaves, tassets, and a codpiece, under which he wore a gambeson and beige trousers.

RANKING: Tier 2, Peak Human Fitness

Despite his less than graceful aging and deteriorating mental health, the Rusted Knight has not actually underperformed significantly in the realm of physical ability, and he still solidly qualifies for Peak Human Fitness.  He is a battle-hardened endurance fighter who leverages his strongest attributes for maximum effect, supplementing his grounded stalwart posture with solid mobility and top-notch equipment.  In fact, I'd argue that Jaune’s upgraded armor serves as a solid compromise for his undercut stamina and discipline by bolstering his native durability.  The Rusted Knight may be at greater risk of breaking than he once was, but the only way to put him down would be to shatter him completely.

MARTIAL

As the Rusted Knight, Jaune Arc continued to carry Crocea Mors as his primary weapon, but time and damage had taken a significant toll on it.  The blade of the sword was snapped in half as a result of his confrontation with Cinder Fall, reducing its length to barely over a foot.  Far more noticeable was the severe degree of rust and wear on the blade and shield, with numerous pits and scratches had made their way into the metal.  However, despite this long-term damage, the weapon set retained its combative reliability, as the sword remained sharp enough to dispatch Jaune’s opponents, while the mechanisms allowing the shield to convert into Jaune’s scabbard remained unaffected.  Overall, looks are deceiving, and Crocea Mors remains a lethal killing tool.

When analyzing the Rusted Knight’s capabilities as a martial artist, it is important to note both the substantial degree of development he attained and the significant trade off in his skill configuration.  Due to being thrust back in time, Jaune was forced to spend anywhere from ten to twenty years contending with the dangers of the Ever After, a grinding trial by fire that went a long way towards compensating for his most significant weakness prior to Volume 9, his inexperience and lack of development.  While the reliability and details of Lewis’s recounts of Jaune in The Girl Who Fell Through the World has not been established, even a conservative assessment would place the Rusted Knight as comparable to many of the most experienced and skilled Huntsmen on Remnant.  However, between his damaged weapon and limited resources, Jaune was forced to heavily reconfigure his fighting style to compensate, resulting in a similar but very different combatant compared to what he was beforehand.  Fortunately, the aforementioned decades of isolation gave Jaune plenty of time to refine his new style with his limitations in mind, and his developed skill upon reuniting with Team RWBY was, at bare minimum, comparable to theirs.  Despite the handicaps imposed on him by his weapon, Jaune’s technique remained similar in its core ingredients; a grounded defense-and-counter oriented fighter who leverages physical ability through simple and direct swordplay.  He retained a stalwart grounded posture in his footwork, eschewing acrobatics for sidesteps and evasions.  Where the differences presented itself were in the defense/offense balance.  Rusted Jaune displayed a much stronger offensive component in his style, alternating between shield blocks and sword strikes far more actively.  To compensate for his shorter blade, Jaune adjusted his swordplay to perform swifter and tighter slashes and stabs, getting in close before laying into the target.  The most significant additions to Jaune’s skill set were his expanded use of his weapons, his integration of hand-to-hand combat techniques, and his proficiency as a mounted warrior.  He swapped techniques for his sword and shield, warding parries for the former and shield bashes with the latter, using the weapon set to mor effectively maintain offensive pressure while maintaining defensive coverage.  Though still not a committed unarmed fighter, Jaune was more than willing to throw hands in battle, staggering the Curious Cat with sweeping kicks and headbutts.  His strong bond with Juniper allowed him to coordinate and utilize her for multiple combative purposes, from tackling targets to serving as a cushion to safeguard her master.

While Jaune’s deteriorating mental health made him an anxious wreck in the grand scheme of things, they did nothing to diminish his capabilities as a tactician and strategist.  He continued to demonstrate his strong aptitude for tactical analysis and coordinating with his allies, adjusting his approach to suit the opponent and exploit circumstantial factors.  When confronting the various Jabberwalkers summoned by Neopolitan, Jaune focused on repelling the creatures and warding off their advance before turning around to counter.  Against the Curious Cat at the Tree, Jaune quickly deduced the hallucinogenic effects of its leaves and ordered Weiss, Blake and Yang to set fire to them, forcibly expelling the Cat from Neo’s body.  In single combat, Jaune applied these same tactics to endure the opponent’s assault before retaliating, seizing the initiative rather than passively responding.  However, where Jaune previously relied on the integration of his Dust gadgets to break the opponent’s advance, he now opted for abrupt alternation between offensive and defensive movements, pressuring the opponent while still maintaining coverage.  He will break off to defend if need be, but he will not stop advancing.  What Vomit Boy achieved through leaning on alternative equipment, the Rusted Knight achieved through tested and developed technique.

However, while Jaune’s new approach was more developed overall, it also came at the expense of the versatility he displayed in his youth.  With his damaged weapon and limited-to-unapplicable alternative tools, Jaune’s style and tactics were ultimately centered around leveraging his core technique for maximum effect.  Jaune’s style may have been flexible, but it was also very singular and direct; what you see is what you get.  Additionally, Jaune’s emotional instability manifested itself most profoundly in a resurgence of his youthful recklessness.  Disturbed by his failure to save Penny during the exodus, Jaune became obsessed with protecting his chosen charges from everything around them, including themselves.  Aside from patronizing the Paper Pleasers, this mentality led to Jaune overexerting himself and biting off more than he could chew, his refusal to stop advancing stemming from a pathological unwillingness to give up.  Where Jaune’s Beacon humbling motivated him to pace himself and fight smart, his Atlas failures compelled him to run himself ragged in a misguided effort to keep fighting.  As seen in the Cat’s Penny and Pyrrha illusions, this failure to take a more measured approach fed into a weakness to more subversive tricks and distractions, ironically making him vulnerable to the very tactics he once employed himself.

RANKING: Tier 3: Standard Mastery

While Jaune’s failures as the Rusted Knight seem to point to a middling level of effectiveness, his improvements and experience still more than qualify him for a Tier 3 ranking.  He is a gritty, battle-hardened warrior whose style had been developed and honed into a far more complete package than he once employed, and he remains a highly capable tactical thinker when he puts his mind to it.  Jaune’s problem, like many Standard Masters, is that he has fallen into the trap of going through the motions, basically doing the same thing again and again in every battle when dropped in cold.  To be fair to Jaune, this is more the result of a limited arsenal and lack of comparable enemies rather than damaging oversights.  The baseline reliability of his style and approach cannot be denied; he simply hasn’t meshed it with the versatility he used to have.  Regardless, the fact that he came closer to killing the Curious Cat than anyone else tells me that his fabled reputation is very well-earned.

SPECIAL

And now for the part of this analysis that I’ve been dreading, that being the assessment of the Rusted Knight’s special abilities and powers.  This is the area where Jaune’s development is most unclear simply because, aside from a few uses of his gravity Dust, we never really saw him do anything in Volume 9.  He never explicitly used Aura Amp on screen, and the times he used his Dust could be counted on the fingers of one hand.  This is especially odd given Jaune’s ready use of his abilities prior to falling into the Ever After, especially in conjunction with his martial skills.  However, I do believe that both discrepancies can be reasonably inferred given context.  Firstly, it must be remembered that Jaune’s last recorded attempt to use his Semblance was on Penny Polendina, whose injuries he was utterly incapable of healing.  Given his failure to save Penny was arguably the single strongest contributor to his psychological breakdown in his isolation, it follows that his confidence in his abilities was shattered, and he unconsciously avoided using his powers due to the weight of that failure.  While I don’t believe Jaune’s proficiency with his Semblance truly atrophied, I also don’t believe he developed his powers beyond what he could do in the Atlas saga.  As far as his Dust is concerned, I see his limited use being identical to the limitations of his sword, that being logistical shortages.  There is no evidence that Dust exists in the Ever After, much less the incredibly rare synthetic hard-light variety that powered his shield panels.  With nothing to replenish his stores should his shield get damaged, it’s plausible that Jaune refrained from using his Dust unless he absolutely had to, conserving a non-renewable resource and otherwise relying on physical combat.

However, this isn’t to say that Rusted Knight Jaune has no ethereal talents to speak of.  He did in fact continue to utilize his gravity Dust repulsor in combat, and like his martial skills, his fluidity with it had clearly improved with practice.  Previously, Jaune would simply use the pressure wave from a static position, allowing the shield to do most of the heavy lifting.  Now, Jaune demonstrated a far more active defense, combining the gravity waves with sweeping shield bashes.  Though never outright stated, I believe this technique allowed Jaune to slightly enhance the overall power of the repulsor’s push, getting more bang for his buck.  Additionally, Jaune continued to demonstrate his talent for combining his powers and skills together with one another.  Aside from the basic offensive applications, Jaune also showcased an ability to use his Dust to drive his other weapons, seen when he bounced his sword off the shield to turn it into a projectile against Neo’s clone Jabberwalkers.  These new applications further showcased Jaune compensating for his limited arsenal with greater skill and refinement, sacrificing output in favor of control.

Now, normally I like to stay with concrete information rather than headcanons, but I do believe there may be evidence that Jaune did in fact use his Semblance at specific points in Volume 9, and both of my theoretical examples do speak to him still displaying great skill and power.  Hear me out;

During his early travels with Alyx, Lewis and the Curious Cat, the Cat poisoned Jaune in order to get him off his back and sow distrust between him and the children.  While Jaune’s physical fortitude certainly played a role in his survival, the Curious Cat is not a figure that comes across as leaving a job half-finished.  Given that Aura Amp’s most obvious application was accelerating Aura’s healing properties, it is entirely possible that Jaune’s survival owed itself in part to using his Semblance to help purge the toxin from his body.  Later, during the battle at the Tree, Jaune was confronted with a vision of Alyx after being blasted from the arena.  While this episode was mostly a mental battle forcing Jaune to confront his demons, the flash of light that immediately preceded Jaune breaking out of the vision could have very well been Jaune using Aura Amp to dispel the effects of the smoke.  Assuming I’m right, then this could arguably make Jaune’s use of his Semblance even more potent than before, as dispelling drugs and poisons is easily an incredibly useful talent to have that goes well beyond fixing broken bones.

RANKING: Tier 3: Specialized Combat

Even if my supposition is 100% on the money, it does not significantly change the Rusted Knight’s standing as an ethereal fighter, given his hypothetical applications are so few, far between, and limited to utility.  That said, Jaune’s use of his gravity Dust more than makes up for it.  His applications are not only just as calculated and powerful as they used to be, they are also far more technically sophisticated and pair up much better with his fighting skills.  His only real limitation, as in other areas, is that he lacks versatility, and his more skillful use of his power still mostly amounts to a directly offensive ability that can only do so much.  Jaune may lack the variety he used to have, but the far greater skill he has with the powers he still has firmly establishes him as a force to be reckoned with.

OVERALL RANKING: TIER 3, ADVANCED HUNTSMAN

As in his youth, Rusted Knight Jaune Arc’s overall ranking is determined by his martial skills and special abilities, showcasing both his high improvement and the limitations he still suffers from.  In all areas, Jaune is performing on a very high level, but his methodology is centered on direct application rather than the balanced versatility he used to showcase.  In many ways, I consider Jaune’s most direct analogue in this state to be James Ironwood.  Both are aging heavyweights who leverage their strength and fortitude for maximum effect, both are grounded heavy-handed fighters who focus on maintaining a heavy stalwart advance, and both leverage their special abilities and powers as direct supplements to their offensive advance.  They are powerful battlefield operatives who make full use of all the tools in their arsenals, but their approach is based on the direct application of power, not tactical considerations.  By operating as a one-man crusader in the Ever After, Jaune got so good at what he was doing that he simply couldn’t loose, leaving holes in his skill set and tactics unaddressed because they simply never came up.

Jaune’s greatest strength and weakness as the Rusted Knight is that his previously broad skill set has been significantly reduced, forcing him to throw all of his eggs into one basket to compensate.  The result is a tradeoff.  On the one hand, his fighting method is blessed with a substantially greater degree of developed skill by way of his combat experience, and he effectively blends them together into a singular, high-performance technique.  But on the other hand, this also means that he no longer has the versatility he used to have, relying on a singular method rather than balancing out between his options.  He is skilled and powerful enough to capably overcome the vast majority of challengers, but it also means he could get into trouble very quickly if confronted by someone his style is poorly suited to engage. 

As with most things, this ties directly into Jaune’s mental state as the Rusted Knight.  Between his traumatic experiences, forced isolation, and fixation on preventing the same failure all over again, Jaune simply fell into the motions and got into the habit of doing the same thing over and over again.  This may have been an okay coping mechanism at first, but there is a stark difference between dedication and obsession.  He never really diversified because, not only did he never really need to, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so since he was convinced that he was doing the only right thing he could.  Fortunately, unlike Ironwood, Jaune’s self-destructive stubbornness was the result of improper healing rather than arrogance, and he was the first to admit that he wasn’t in the right headspace to be the hero he was trying to be.  As with the rest of his life, Jaune’s friends were there to pick him up, setting him on the path to properly heal.  Whatever Jaune’s status as a warrior may be upon his return to Remnant, he will at the very least be on the fast track to achieving a healthier self-actualization, and finally move on from his trauma.  The Rusted Knight may not have been the hero, but Jaune Arc still may be.

* images taken from RWBY Wiki and @talia-pumpkinwand*

Sometimes I think about how Wendy is both kinder and crueler than she would be otherwise due to the way her background radiation of despair flattens everything

girls who were already neglecting their diluc when they get ayaka and suddenly that man’s (unleveled) artifacts are being used for blizzard strayer boxes and his weapon is being given away. erm. Sorry King I Love You I Really Do

Became a c1 Dehya and Yae Miko haver in my break😎😎😎

Bro: If money were no object, how many Mareep would you have?

Me: Life-sized plushies, right? (He nods) Hm, while the flock IS a tempting option, if money’s no object then I can get whatever life-sized plushes I want. I can have Furret. I can have Spheal.

Bro: Do they actually make -

Me: Yeah there’s a whole line of them, one of them is Furret, he is a LOOOONG boy. Maybe not taller than I am, I know Clodsire is because I looked it up last night. Saw a really cute piece of fanart and thought about making a plush and was like ‘okay sure 5’11” is taller than you are -‘

Bro: That’s taller than me.

Dad: That’s taller than anyone in this house. (Note: Bro is tallest at about 5’10”, so: yeah.)

Me: Yeah, but it could serve as a body pillow or I could make a smaller pillow-sized one and it wouldn’t cost $500 and I was like ‘get in line, there.’ (Everyone nods sympathetically. Mom is also a crocheter and everyone else has at least one creative type.) I’ve already resigned myself to the fact that I’m going to eventually do ten or eleven TWEWY dolls, it’s just a question of which versions. Minamimoto’s going to be almost as bad as Rindo, he’s ALL black on black details. (Bro nods sympathetically and also ‘yeah no obviously this is a reasonable desire’. Hell I wouldn’t be shocked if he’d want his own Neku, his battle portrait’s still his Steam avatar.)

Dad: That’ll be your master works?

Me: Eh, no, that’ll be a project I work on and do others in between, that’ll be about two or three… or five years probably. Eleven dolls. Or more. (I have not… ruled out doing other Reapers. It would be a massive addition to an already massive project. But I have not ruled it out.) *Beat* Actually Rindo’s coat MIGHT be, I’d sooner learn to WEAVE for that one, that thing’s evil. But anyway, Bro, that means the Wayfinders are back on the table.

Bro: *In a tone of voice saying ‘Obviously and I’m glad you’ve accepted this in your heart because it should always have been in your plans’* Correct.

Me: *Resignedly* I’ve actually got a few ideas about Aqua’s spikes. But yeah, if I’m going to do something as bad as Rindo’s coat I can’t justify NOT doing Ven. He’s not AS bad as that.

Later I realized, going back to the original question, that if money is no object then neither is space. So then, Mareep flock AND other life-sized plushies.

Dad: Is that an airplane hangar? No, that’s the Pokemon extension.

Me: Exactly. There’s the ball pit full of plush toys, dive right in.

Bro: A Scrooge McDuck thing but with Pokemon.

Me: You get it.

Do You Know Any of These Toxic Individuals? | moral predators, Steve Eck...

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Dungeon meshi and body proportions

Ok, i'm feeling the rush i got from binging the manga this last week is starting to fade away, i'll be back to being a normal person soon i think. at least, that is before i find a new something for me to dive into uhuh.

Before that happens, i want to praise Ryoko Kui for one last think. The design of the characters!

For years i've expressed (maybe not so much online) my hate towards the "anime style", this homogenization of traits and beauty standards to an artificial degree, and the mass spread and consumption of it. yes, trends exist for a reason, this is not the first nor the last art current to be popular and i'm not the first detractor of one in history. I do think there is something uniquely harmful in this one though, and that is why i'm able to find the energy to be such a pretentious dipshit about it. That is a discussion for another day though.

All this to say that going through Dungeon Meshi and seiing these characters, plus (and in a way because of it) all the additional sketches of the daydream hour bonus sections, was such a breath of fresh air! (at least for what concerns japanese exported stories)

All i could say and praise in regard to character designs in general is perfectly expressed in this video, which i recommend you to watch if you want to hear my opinions (and the video author's too, uhuh):

I want to leave you though with at least one specific praise for me: Falin.

i've seen countless time people (online) just not understanding how people's body work, how much differences there can be and how proportions do distribute and affect the body. in anime I see a lot of short and tall people (mostly women girls) that share the same proportions despite their actual height, and that often leads to think "yeah, she is short" and than she's tall when around someone, or (most often) the contrary. same lenght of limbs, same head to body proportions, and little details like this.

Falin you can tell at a glance she is a tall woman before she's around anyone, even when she is standing near her brother who is taller than her.

Kui did her homework in studying bodies and variations, and, whether consciously or not, she differentiated her in body in subtle but fundamental ways: her head being slightly smaller than her body, the neck being fairly long, and her having somewhat broader shoulders.

I accept that there might be an element of suggestion at play here, considering also how she is dressed most of the time, but I really do think there is a direct effort at differentiation here.

This is the first time in a long time (in a series like this at least) where i've seen a woman carrying herself around others and the space around here kind of like a person like me, tall, would; at first i didn't think much of it, but then i saw her near other characters and....i don't know, i felt a warm, joyful feeling, seeing that i was right in recognizing that trait and being right.

I was especially happy in seeing her next to marcille. not so much for the height difference, but for how different they were in proportions and mannerism. A lesser manga i fear would have used marcille's body type and way of moving and interacting as the default for most other girls, but here she was uniquely herself!

Now, i could've used more extreme exemples to show how this author rocks in body types representations (while aknowledging there could've been even more diversification still), given there are far larger, taller and stranger women, but to me, nailing the little, most subtle details in such a chirurgical manner shows a greater level of mastery and comprehension. As such, Falin left me with a deeper fascination than most other characters.

Sorry for this wall of text, but i needed to let my happy thoughts go, so that i could be free again uhuh.

Feel free to tell me that i'm wrong, or that i should just accept anime media as is. i'm just really happy Dungeon meshi exists as is and i want Ryoko Kui to keep refining her craft, and drawing beautiful women and dwarves.

Plus, this was very much a stream of consciousness, i didn't go into technical details about what i think conveyed what i described, but if someone is interested, or does not get what i'm saying (while expressing it in a curious and gentle way, i won't respond to spiteful assholes), i'll be happy to make a follow up post in which i try to dissect this! For example, i didn't reread the whole manga to find examples of her, i just went to the wiki uhuh. in a follow up post maybe i'll try to go through chapters and pick more specific examples of her.

Anyway, have a good day!

Story to be told

When Halsin asks you to tell him something about yourself, the answers will be different depending on who you play as.

Tav / Dark Urge: I live in mortal fear of krakens, though I've never actually seen one. Halsin: Well they are fierce creatures from what I understand... but as long as you avoid the high seas, I think you can consider yourself safe.

Astarion: Maybe I have a sweet tooth too. Halsin: Is that so? Would you seek to drizzle honey on a neck before indulging?

Shadowheart: Well, I have something of a soft spot for animals... though I've never had a pet, that I'm aware of. Halsin: Ha! Pet ownership is an illusion - nature's creatures choose their own companions. No one has true mastery over them in the end. As it should be. But it heartens me to learn you and I share the same admiration.

Karlach: When I first got to the Hells, I was so scared and lonely I adopted a pet rock. Named it Crag. Halsin: Ah, but there are no pets in nature - only companions. Though I'll admit Crag likely made for a rather stoic confidante...

Gale: I cast my first spell whilst still a babe. My mother took an awful fright when I conjured up a score of rabbits in the pantry. Halsin: Ha! Talented from the beginning, then? Almost a surprise you didn't cast magic in the womb.

Wyll: I've always wanted a child of my own. Perhaps one day, when peace visits the Coast. Halsin: I think I know how you feel... duty, eh? I hope your wish comes true. We'll need new life once all this is over.

Lae'zel: I despise sunsets, slow wits - and small talk. Halsin: Luckily there's nothing small about getting to know someone like you. There's little occasion for frivolity in nature - I can appreciate your stance... even if others do not.

Githyanki Player: I once stitched shut a wound using twine made from the entrails of an enemy. Halsin: You are... nothing if not inventive. I can only hope the foe had already expired before you began your work.

Dark Urge: I really don't know very much about myself to tell. Dark Urge: Nothing half as charming as that... it's all crimson and rot. Standard option: I don't think there's anything worth sharing. Halsin: Oh. Well, your choice, of course.

Hubba bubba😔🤌🥀✨

And so the plot thickens:

I have a plot idea where Pentious writes steamy selfshipping romance books involving his self insert and The Radio Demon as a hobby. Somehow he gained popularity and money out of it. He goes by a feminine pseudonym to hide his identity. Quite popular among the female audience, he just has a way with satisfying the female gaze through words.

Most of his works always follow psychological horror ,mystery, crime, and maybe gothic romance tropes lol. His mastery is comparable to Anne Rice with a mix of Dostoevsky. I mean what do you even expect from a Victorian man in writing fanfiction?😂

***************

(To our standards his works are a literary masterpiece but tbh he aint even trying , probably just his silly fantasies and took inspiration from his fave reading material. To Victorian standards his work would be considered frivolous and mediocre even scandalous. I mean he lived a life where he has the privilege to interact with artistic geniuses, discuss politics/social/philosophical ideologies among the elite in parlors.

And most likely really influential since he was an inventor who was involved in creating the new fangled steam powered machines.)

*****************

Praising his achievements and background aside let me get back to continuing my plot😂I just love him sm

Alastor knows about the book series but doesnt know the author's identity, he has no interest in dwelling on their existence any further. He already used to this side of his fanbase and only wishes to be left alone by them, at least they got an outlet already.

When Pentious started staying at the hotel he had to be extra careful not to let anyone know of his hobby while at the same time trying to continue it. But one day he got sloppy, Niffty figured him out for a few days. Either noticing weird behavioral patterns.

Once she purposefully tripped him so the suspicious manuscripts he was carrying were dropped so she can"help" him collect them but he reacted paranoidly to her on coming close.

She caught a glimpse anyway but not enough to satisfy her curiosity. And then her suspicions were solidified when she sneaked inside Pentious's lair/suite for cleaning duty and came across his typewriter.

After discovering Pentious was the author whom she was a huge fan of (yes she has a copy of his works) she set out on a mission to befriend the snake so she can have premium access to his drafts😂

RWBY COMBAT ANALYSIS: NEOPOLITAN

"Your boss won't stay dead… but you will without this ;) If you want her name, you know what you owe me."

*Just as a disclaimer, a good deal of this profile will reference events from the novel Roman Holiday by E. C. Meyers. However, I do not own a copy of the book myself, so the information here is from second-hand sources, specifically the plot summary presented on the RWBY wiki. If anything I present here is inaccurate, please feel free to correct me, as there is always the risk of someone editing a Wiki page in order to dupe people into buying into fan-made trivia. With all of that out of the way, let's begin*

PHYSICAL

Neopolitan, born Trivia Vanille, was a human female hailing from Vale, approximately twenty-five years of age during the Atlas Crisis, two years after the Fall of Beacon.  The only child of the Vale city manager Jimmy and his wife Carmel, her muteness led to an incredibly tense relationship with her parents, ranging from neglectful to abusive.  Her only solace was in the form of her imaginary friend Neopolitan, whose influence led to increasingly prominent episodes of rebellious criminal behavior before she was forcibly enrolled in Lady Browning’s Preparatory Academy For Girls.  Conscripted as an agent by headmistress Beatrix Browning to subdue Roman Torchwick, she instead joined forces with the young criminal and aided in dismantling the academy, her parents, and Hei Xiong’s shared criminal enterprises.  Taking the name of her imaginary friend as her own, Neo served as Torchwick’s right-hand woman for 3-5 years, making names for themselves in the criminal underworld before being press-ganged into Cinder Fall’s operations.  Content with her place in life and her relationship with her employer, Neo’s world was thrown upside down during the Fall of Beacon, suffering a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the aspiring Huntress Ruby Rose, followed shortly by Torchwick’s death at the hands of a rogue Griffon.  Hardened and embittered further by this loss, she initially hunted down Cinder for revenge, but was convinced by the Fall Maiden to switch her ire to their shared enemy, Ruby.

Youthful yet hardened, Neo stood at a rather diminutive 4’10” but was primarily distinguished by her waist-length pink and brown hair, heterochromatic eyes, and muteness.  Possessing a petite physique, Neopolitan was nonetheless athletic and vital, proving her mettle on multiple occasions as a formidable physical combatant.  Her primary attributes were agility and dexterity, leveraged through precision attacks and nimble acrobatics.  Neo’s highly developed reflexes were her bread and butter, preforming subtle evasions to avoid attacks even at close quarters, avoiding everything from gunfire to blades to unarmed strikes, while intentionally aggravating her opponents.  She has definitively outpaced Yang Xiao Long, outmaneuvered Ruby Rose on multiple occasions, and was able to keep Cinder Fall in her crosshairs during their brawl in Miss Malachite’s tavern.  When confronted by multiple adversaries, Neo relied on more active gymnastics to spring around her environment, managing to outmaneuver the combined work of Team JNR and Oscar Pine in Atlas.  While her most impressive falls were only survived thanks to using Hush as a parachute, I won’t deny her talent at acrobatic recoveries to regain her footing.  The only time Neo’s agility failed her was during her confrontation with Maria Calavera at Amity Colosseum, and even this was only due to the elder woman’s precognitive Semblance.  Neo’s dexterity was best expressed through her dynamic and precise fighting technique, wielding her parasol as fluidly as a master duelist would wield a sword.  She has easily slipped in counters against even the most domineering adversaries, batting around Yang and Ruby without strain, was able to acquit herself well against Cinder’s dual blades, and has shown particular skill with snagging techniques, catching and manipulating Lie Ren and Maria Calavera’s weapons during their duels.

However, while she possessed respectable levels of stamina and discipline, holding down several intense long-term battles while maintaining her composure under fire, Neo’s strength and endurance were middling.  She obviously understood how to respond to injury, her acrobatic recoveries demonstrating her ability to bounce back from disruptions, and her emphasis on psychological warfare proves that she’s aware enough to keep her own cool even against aggressive dervishes.  However, while Neo could certainly take a hit, she couldn’t take a beating.  Cinder was able to bully through her interference with raw hand to hand combat in Miss Malachite’s bar, and a single punch from Oscar Pine was enough to completely stun her, giving NJR time to take up positions.  Even Yang Xiao Long, an opponent that Neo dominated, was able to manhandle her and throw her off balance, prompting her to stop toying with her and simply end the fight.  Given her ability to stagger Ruby and Yang with unarmed combat, Neo could certainly hit with great force, but she really couldn’t jockey for dominance in a direct contest of strength.  Though she was only subdued at Amity by Penny Polendina’s energy blast, the series of strikes she took from Maria Calavera beforehand were still enough to seriously disrupt her momentum and frustrate her.  At the Evacuation Central Location, Neo held down the bulk of the battle without tiring, but a single strike from Weiss Schnee, armed with the Staff of Creation, was enough to stagger her, and she was rendered helpless when Ruby tackled her from behind.  While by no means weak or fragile, Neo cannot handle a slugging match, simply because she can’t hold her ground.

Neo’s approach to battle was best supplemented by light, practical clothing that left her unencumbered, as her fighting style relied heavily on her acrobatics and balletic poise. In Atlas, she wore fitted white pants and ankle boots, a pink and white halter top with an attached brown jacket, and elbow length brown and white gloves. This outfit was topped off with a gray scarf and Roman Torchwick’s signature bowler hat, final lasting reminders of her late Dum-Dum.

RANKING: Tier 3, Advanced Human Fitness

Neopolitan is a high-level athlete who can easily outpace and outmaneuver just about anybody in the setting, to the point where the best most of her adversaries can hope for is to simply contend. However, her limitations also mean that that’s all she can do. All she’s bringing to a fight is agility and dexterity, with her strength and durability are average at best, making her a glass cannon physical combatant. To be fair, Neo is clearly aware of her shortcomings and has built her fighting style around avoiding the slugging matches she knows she can’t win.  Neopolitan’s success is ultimately determined by her ability to keep her foes at bay and off balance, avoiding her weak spots by preventing the opponent from bringing their full might to bear.

MARTIAL

Neopolitan wielded a parasol with a pair of concealed blades as her primary weapon, an instrument that she named “Hush”.  Gifted to her by Roman Torchwick, the umbrella appeared to be about three feet long with the blade in the tip retracted, growing another foot in length with the blade extended.  The hooked handle of Hush served as the hilt for the secondary foot-long misericord, housed in the hollowed-out shaft of the parasol. Despite its lacy appearance, the panels were extremely durable, capable of withstanding direct hits from Yang Xiao Long’s Ember Celica and Nora Valkyrie’s grenades and serving as an effective shield in close quarters combat.  Furthermore, Hush was strong enough to serve as an effective glider in case of emergency, this trait going so far as to save Neo’s life during the Fall of Beacon.  Elegant, cute, yet deadly, this weapon was as much a reflection of its owner as it was a killing tool.

While giving the outward appearance of a simple reform school for upper-class girls, Lady Browning’s Preparatory Academy For Girls was in truth a training ground for elite underworld spies and assassins for the Spider criminal cartel, their motto being to “be seen, not heard”.  Select students, of which both Neopolitan and her mother were counted, would be offered advanced training in martial arts, escape artistry, fencing, and espionage to aid in their missions, training under headmistress Beatrix Browning and the corrupt Huntress Manda Rin.  Though ultimately responsible for dismantling the program, Neo served as a testament to the institution’s teaching capabilities, standing as one of the most dangerous combatants of her day.  Prior to the fall of Beacon, Neopolitan had spent three years as Roman Torchwick’s primary aide and enforcer, making a name for herself as an escape artist, infiltrator, and assassin in the criminal underworld.  Though denied the meatgrinder of hard combat that her more respectable contemporaries possessed, she was still a highly talented and vicious fighter, having completely mastered the various functions of her weapon.  Befitting Rin’s training, her primary fighting style was a slippery and subversive mixture of classical fencing, cane fighting, and hand-to-hand combat, using every trick in her arsenal to disrupt and dissect her opponents.  With just her parasol, she favored swift batting strikes and probing stabs to whittle away at the opponent’s blind spots, either to wear them down or aggravate them into overextending. When defending, as she almost always was, she combined fencing style parries with solid two-handed blocking sequences, as well as suddenly opening up the umbrella to break her opponent’s momentum and even using the hook of the handle to trap and manipulate the opponent’s weapon.  While perfectly willing to use her concealed blades in live combat, notably shooting the tip out at Cinder Fall and Ruby Rose face during their duels, she typically reserved them as assassination tools to execute a helpless opponent, such as when she prepared to execute an unconscious Yang, or to keep them at relative gunpoint, using the blade to hold Ruby at bay on the air carrier.  Her unarmed skills she used far more heavily, regularly employing sudden heavy kicks to strike out at her opponent’s blind spots and joints.  Rather than overtax her lack of muscle mass by trying to punch above her level, she took the path of least resistance and hit where it was most effective.  This deceptive defensive fighting style was reinforced with the heavy integration of her Semblance, using her solid illusions to trick her target and leave them open to a retaliatory attack.

I would describe the mindset of Neopolitan’s tactics and conduct as “Provoke and Erode”.  She was a showboating troll, perfectly happy to toy with and annoy her foes by canceling out their offensives.  As Neo’s light build left her poorly suited for slugging it out, she focused on evasion and retaliation, slipping in light counters to wear her opponent down while using silent psychological warfare to goad them into overcommitting.  In single combat, Neo would open defensively, baiting her opponent into making the first move and giving way before their assaults, often making them think they were gaining ground before abruptly turning around and catching them off guard.  despite her cheery demeanor, Neo was shockingly ruthless, perfectly willing to execute helpless opponents and taking backstabs whenever possible.  In this manner she casually subdued Yang Xiao Long on the Mountain Glenn train and fended off Ruby Rose’s heavy scythe offensive during the Fall of Beacon, taking advantage of the Patch sisters’ frustration to keep them fruitlessly wailing on her while she danced around their assault.  After Torchwick’s death at the Fall of Beacon, Neo blamed Cinder Fall, training and improving her style in preparation before tracking her down to Lil' Miss Malachite’s tavern in Haven.  Ambushing the Fall Maiden, Neo managed to fight evenly with Cinder, forcing her to unleash her magical powers to force a draw.  As a larger strategic operative, Neo was an expert spy and infiltrator, at her best by sneaking past enemy lines to silently undermine the defenses.  During the Fall of Beacon, she successfully snuck aboard the Atlas flagship and butchered the bridge before freeing Roman, and in Atlas, she infiltrated the academy dorms to steal the Relic of Knowledge from Oscar Pine.  When confronted by the combined efforts of Pine, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, Neo managed to outmaneuver and subvert all of them to facilitate her retreat.  Later, after stealing the Lamp as a bargaining chip, Neo broke into the Atlas military compound to get Arthur Watts into position, massacring the support staff with Cinder before hiding among the evacuating civilians to attack Team RWBY.  The only reason Neo’s attempt to murder Ruby failed was because of Yang, who saw her coming and took the hit for her sister, falling into the void.  Neo’s success in battle was heavily tied to the logistics at play.  As most Huntsmen and Huntresses are offensive heavyweights, they were extremely vulnerable to Neo, as her slippery defensive fighting style enabled her to dance around their attacks, get inside their guard, and slip in devastating counters all while deliberately aggravating them.

However, while this made Neo a serious threat to just about anybody, it was also based on her own inability to handle a head-to-head engagement.  Because of Neo’s lack of offensive might, she relied on the path of least resistance to get the most bang for her buck, and her greatest challenges have been when the enemy fails to give her the openings she needs.  Raven Branwen’s mere appearance was enough to frighten Neo into a retreat, and Cinder Fall was able to disrupt Neo’s momentum by leaning on focus and intensity to bully through her interference.  In Atlas, Jaune Arc momentarily got the better of Neo by intercepting her assault on Oscar and activating the gravity Dust repulsor in his shield, sending her flying down the hall.  Though Neo recovered quickly from the latter, it demonstrates that she wouldn’t be able to make much headway against a more capable defensive fighter, while also ironically being vulnerable to the very counters she herself employed.  This was all brought to a head in her duel with Maria Calavera at Amity Colosseum.  When confronted by Neo, Maria was decades over the hill physically and was obviously out of practice as a fighter, yet her own defensive technique allowed her to fend off Neo’s assault without serious difficulty.  Furthermore, as Neo’s entire approach is to catch her enemies off guard, Maria’s precognitive Semblance allowed her to intercept Neo’s attacks before they were even executed, effectively making her Neo’s nightmare opponent.  Additionally, Neo’s pride and vindictiveness had a tendency to undercut her otherwise capable tactical prowess.  She sometimes went too far with her smug posturing to the point of outright gloating, while her narrow focus on her personal vendettas led to tunnel vision, giving many of her opponents the chance to fight back and blindside her in turn.  These weaknesses, along with her great strengths, came about in the battle at the Evacuation Central Location, during which she fought a vicious duel with Ruby Rose.  She successfully ambushed Ruby at several points, even disarming her of her weapon while taking advantage of her emotional distress, but Ruby successfully goaded Neo into rushing in and attacking her, leading to an overextension that gave Ruby the chance to use her Semblance to run up behind her and tackle her off the bridge.  Neo was betrayed by Cinder Fall immediately afterwards, kicked into the void with the rest of RWBY.  Even with all this, Neo obstinately continued her grudge, spending her fall into nothingness trying to pointlessly kill Ruby.

RANKING: Tier 3, Standard Mastery

Neo is easily one of the most dangerous opponents active in the show right now, especially given how unorthodox her defense-oriented fighting style is.  She is patient, devious, and shockingly ruthless, perfectly willing to drag her opponents through a war of attrition to induce them into making a fatal oversight.  However, Neo’s technique is still fairly singular, and she is held back by certain practical limitations that limit her overall combative viability and can allow lesser fighters like Jaune and Maria to get the better of her.  Her tactics are brilliantly constructed and point to a highly developed game plan, but her narrow ego has led to her making costly oversights. Neo’s a subversive fighter, not an overwhelming one, and while this makes her tricky to engage, it also means she can and will crumble when put between a rock and a hard place.  That said, these weaknesses are tied to logistics rather than oversights, and Neo has specifically built her tactics to compensate for these shortcomings.  Neo is a living example of Roman’s philosophy of “lie, steal, cheat and survive.”  While no coward, she's perfectly willing to fight dirty, and if she can’t win, she prefers to cut her losses and flee.

SPECIAL

Neopolitan’s Semblance is called Overactive Imagination, the ability to create realistic illusions with physical properties to them.  By enacting a field of energy around her body or outside objects, she can alter its appearance and disguise it to the point where it even has the outward mass to resemble it.  Neo’s powers manifested during her isolated childhood, the lonely Trivia unconsciously projecting her imaginary friend to become a semi-tangible playmate.  After Trivia’s mother broke her Aura, Neopolitan never manifested again, with Trivia understanding that her playmate was in fact a piece of herself repressed by her parents’ influence.  Taking the name Neopolitan for herself, she cast aside her old life, embracing her full self along with her power.  As a criminal agent, Neo developed her Semblance to an extremely high level to aid in her and Roman Torchwick’s schemes.  Easily the most prominent demonstrations of Neo applying her powers was her ability to take on the appearance of other individuals as a form of disguise, allowing her unparalleled skill as an infiltrator.  She successfully took on the form of a paramedic during the Vytal Festival to spirit the supposedly crippled Mercury Black away, an Atlas military officer when she rescued Torchwick from Ironwood’s battleship, and later as a waitress at Jacques Schnee’s party, gaining intelligence on Ironwood’s plans and the status of Team RWBY.  In addition to simply disguising herself, Neo was also capable of projecting illusions upon inanimate objects to alter their appearance, arguably her greatest display of power in this regard being her transformation of a Mistrali airship into an Atlas Manta ship.  Even more impressive was how she could maintain the illusion long enough to slip through the Atlas blockade with no-one the wiser with no evidence of a toll on her stamina. The only serious limitation to these illusions were their brittleness, shattering with even minor amounts of blunt force trauma, and the fact that they could not mimic sound, making Neo’s muteness all the more palpable.  Alternatively, Neo appeared to have some ability to render herself invisible, disappearing from Raven Branwen and blending into the walls of the Monstra.

While Neo’s Semblance possessed extremely potent uses as an infiltration tool, it was not simply a utility power, and has been leveraged as a weapon to great effect.  In battle, Neo has used Overactive Imagination as a form of active defense, creating realistic illusions to draw her opponent’s attention and either open them up to a deadly ambush or facilitate her own retreat.  Her typical tactic was to form a realistic copy of herself and leave it standing while she ran away, tricking the opponent into attacking the dummy while leaving her free to blindside them.  In Vale, Neo successfully enabled her and Roman’s escape by tricking Yang Xiao Long into attacking her afterimage instead, giving the duo time to reach their bullhead, and during her duel with Ruby Rose, she drew Ruby’s attention with a double that left her exposed to Roman’s follow up strike.  During her time on her own, Neo learned to refine her body doubles as an active weapon in battle, using one as a feint against Cinder Fall at the start of their battle and later to slip away when they took the fight outside, though Cinder sussed it out and halted her with a fireball.  In the Evacuation Central Location, Neo disguised herself as a civilian in order to sneak up on Ruby, very nearly stabbing her in the back.  Far more insidious were her uses of her disguise illusions as a form of psychological warfare, taking the form of people her opponent had deep connections with to make them drop their guard.  During her theft of the Relic of Knowledge and subsequent battle with Team JNR, she tricked Oscar Pine into handing over the Relic and caught both him and Lie Ren off guard by transforming into Nora Valkyrie.  Exploiting Ren’s relationship with her, Neo managed to break his composure just as he was about to deliver a critical blow, enabling her escape. When falling into the Evacuation Central Location void, Neo spent the bulk of their weightless fist fight transforming into Ruby’s close friends and family, deliberately attempting to get under her skin by having her loved ones attempt to strangle her.

Neo’s use of her Semblance in battle served as a direct supplement to her fighting style, undermining and tricking her opponents into making mistakes by attacking something that isn’t there.  Her psychological warfare tactics demonstrated her ability to apply her subversive means of battle to both physical and ethereal combat to great effect, while her variety of applications allowed her to adjust her approach to suit the situation and opponent.  However, Overactive Imagination was not an unbeatable power, as its effectiveness is predicated on Neo’s ability to deceive and surprise her opponent.  Oscar caught her off guard when she tried to pass herself off as him and took a punch to the face for her trouble, tipping her hand and forcing her to confront JNR directly.  To be fair, Oscar had previously been tricked by Neo and knew she was a fraud, making his ability to expose her circumstantial.  Regardless, her inability to speak still limited her ability to impersonate people, making her pressed for time to accomplish her goal before the gig was up.  She may have fooled Nora at first, but I have no doubt that she, Ren and Jaune would have been able to sus her out eventually had she failed to slip away.  Furthermore, much like her theatrical posturing in her martial arts, Neo could sometimes go too far with the silent taunts, simply annoying the opponent rather than actually undermining them.  At Amity, Neo took on the appearance of Ruby Rose to screw around with Maria Calavera, but instead of intimidating her, this only made the ex-Huntress more determined to fight her off.  Furthermore, like any psychological warrior, Neo’s barbs are most successful when she has a strong familiarity with her target. If dropped in cold, she has nothing to work with.

RANKING: Tier 2, Flexible Combat

Neo’s special abilities are among the most versatile and dangerous in the setting despite having no direct offensive advantages, which she compensates for with an unprecedented degree of skill.  Her powers can be used for a variety of purposes for both basic utility and active combat, and she can and has leveraged the full range of her Semblance to great effect.  While a relatively simple power at first glance, Overactive Imagination is in fact incredibly multifaceted, and her use of it is extremely inventive, allowing her to exploit circumstantial factors and control the flow of the fight.  While Neo’s Semblance is not without limitations, her encounters with JNR and Maria proving that its effectiveness can be overruled or negated with enough force or a focused enough mind to not be subverted, Neo makes sure those limitations rarely come up through quick thinking, treacherous subversion, and shocking ruthlessness.  And I freely concede that the number of potential adversaries who could reliably see through Neo’s tricks is pathetically small.

OVERALL RANKING: TIER 3, ADVANCED HUNTRESS

Neopolitan’s overall ranking is determined from the average set by her physical abilities and martial skills.  While her flexible and powerful Semblance is easily a support factor on par with the likes of Qrow Branwen or Winter Schnee, she is held back by her status as a relative lightweight in all other areas.  Neo’s speed and agility makes her an extremely dangerous physical threat, and her fighting style is a deceptively powerful method that can threaten just about anyone, but she is at a severe disadvantage against more physically powerful or stronger defensive opponents.  Because of her lack of power, Neo is forced to adopt a defensive and underhanded strategic outlook to avoid the head-to-head engagements she is guaranteed to lose.  While her use of her Semblance elevates her fighting method to something greater than the sum of its parts, her uses are more the result of necessity rather than chosen support tools.  Neo can’t take a beating, so she built her skill set around making sure she never had to take one.  She is analogous to Oberyn Martell from Game of Thrones, as both are glass cannons who compensate for their lack of power with clever tricks and underhanded tactics to bypass stronger opponents.  In many ways, I consider Neo to be a Tier 2 in the making like Pyrrha Nikos, though the thing holding her back is holes in her skill set that can be exploited by lesser opponents rather than a lack of development.

Despite all her limitations, Neo’s threat level is not to be discounted, especially given how alien her approach to combat is among the RWBY battle arena.  Almost every other combatant in the setting operates on heavy offense and meeting their foes in direct combat, and almost nobody willingly gives ground and baits them.  What makes Neo so dangerous is that she effectively works at cross purposes with the common trends of her day, and her specific strengths and weaknesses come into play against pretty much everyone.  The only reliable way to combat Neopolitan is to use her own tactics against her, with Maria Calavera and Jaune Arc making more headway against her than pretty much anyone had beforehand.  And given her talent for goading her opponents into making the first move, her smug cheerfulness a sharp contrast to the cold killer she is, finding someone to fight her that way is like finding a needle in a haystack.  Neopolitan is one of those really infuriating fighters where you think you’re on top of her, that you just need to hit a little harder or move a little faster, and all the while she’s hitting you with sucker punches until you fall to the ground in a heap.  Essentially, the most dangerous troll in the world, dragging you along with a shit-eating grin as she prepares to gut you.  If she opens up that umbrella, watch the hell out.

*originally posted on RoosterTeeth community page on 1-9-21*

*all images taken from the RWBY wiki*

RWBY Combat Analysis

I am utterly fascinated by how much cool stuff you do and am incredibly curious at how you have time to do it all. Did you just get really lucky with whatever job you have that allows you the free time and energy outside of it to do all you do? Do you simply have a mastery over this aspect of adulthood? Is it witchcraft?

I went to law school to be an artist. Which is to say--I specifically picked a field of work that I found interesting, and engaging, and which paid decently (and I say decently because by lawyer standards my salary is a joke, but it comes with a pretty excellent work-life balance and work that I truly do like) and which uses basically zero creativity. I don't tap into Art Brain for my job at all. I do my 8-5 every day and I have art stewing in the back of my head the whole time, and when I clock out I tap into a whole different aspect of self to work on projects.

I don't have an exceptional amount of free time--I do work full time--but I also don't sleep a lot? so maybe I get a couple extra hours a week that way. And I have ADHD, so when the hyperfocus hits I am going, regardless of whether or not I should actually be doing something else.

Part of it is just the fact that I'm only going to do what I want to. With the exception of the three commissioned paintings I'm working on, and a couple holiday gifts, I'm doing all of this because I just really want to do it. I don't have to force myself to do this because my bills depend on it. If it's not something I'm genuinely excited about, it's probably not going to get made. And sometimes I'm just tired out, and I do nothing. I got in a couple hours of painting after work today, but that was it; I made dinner and I've been vegging since then. It's fine.

But mostly this stuff is passion projects. I do it because I love to do it and it's easy to chose to do what makes me happy.

Maybe it's a little witchcraft.

I think what particularly annoys me with the "zelda was always gameplay before story" is that... it's not true? At least I don't think it's true in the way people mean it.

Zelda games were always kind of integrating story based on the standards of the time. When game stories were in game pamphlets, Zelda's stories was in the pamphlets. ALTTP tried to tell a pretty complicated stories with the limitations of the time. OoT was actively trying to tell an epic, cinematic tale packed with ambiance and expand what 3D could offer that 2D games struggled with. Majora's Mask is deeply character-driven in many, many ways. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are both pretty concerned about their stories, down to the point that some people were bored by TP's cutscenes in particular. Skyward Sword, from what little I have played it, is very very invested in its characters and their journey (and 2D Zeldas have Link's Awakening, Minish Cap... None of them are visual novels, but they are concerned with emotional journeys, character arcs, mysteries about their own world...)

What is true is that the narrative wraps around the mechanics, and not the other way around. The mechanics drive themes, aesthetics, emotional beats and character journeys; and that's great. The world is a puzzle, and the world is delightfully absurd when it needs to be, full of heart when it calls for it, dark and oppressive when it suits the player experience.

That does not mean the games aren't invested in their stories. Even BotW has a pretty complicated story to tell about an entire world rather than one specific tale or legend --all of it at the service of the gameplay, which is exploration and mastery of your environment.

So. Yes, none of the Zelda games are million-words long visual novels that care deeply about consistency and nuance; but stories don't need consistency or deep lore to be meaningful and serve an emotional journey. Again: gameplay is story. The two cannot be so easily parsed from each other.

And Zelda as a franchise obviously care deeply about story, characters and setting (and still does right now --otherwise there wouldn't be a movie), even if it doesn't try to imitate prestige narrative-driven games, which is great and part of why I love this series so much. Doesn't mean it couldn't have done better in the past, it obviously could have, but I feel like pretending that nobody ever cared about story or character is just... false? It's a huge disservice to the devs too. Some of them obviously cared immensely.

The "gameplay above story", at least in the extent to which it is paraded today to defend TotK, mostly, is a really recent development. And I think it's one that deserves to receive some pushback.

Gojo Satoru X Reader (pt. 2/final part)

CW: teacher-student relationship, cunnilingus, creampie, unprotected sex, begging, age gap, character death, angst, angst, angst

pt. 1

a/n: yup

In the days that followed, their interactions took on a new intensity.

The air between them crackled with unspoken desire, a palpable tension that threatened to ignite at the slightest touch. During their training sessions, Gojo's gaze lingered on her form, his eyes burning with a hunger that mirrored the one she had glimpsed that fateful night.

Despite the unacknowledged shift in their dynamic, they fell into a new rhythm, a sensual dance that blurred the lines between mentor and student, between restraint and abandon.

She'd never experienced such an overwhelming sensory assault. Even during her most intense training sessions with Gojo, when the very ground beneath her feet would rupture and quake, the earth threatening to swallow her whole, there was always some measure of control.

Now, as he stalked toward her like a panther closing in on its prey, his eyes devoured every inch of her exposed flesh. His hands, rough from years of wielding cursed energy, skimmed along her curves, leaving trails of goosebumps in their wake. His mouth, hot and demanding, claimed hers with a fervor that stole the breath from her lungs.

Gojo Satoru was an unparalleled prodigy. And he would have his way with her.

She could not deny him, nor herself.

And so, the cycle would continue.

Each night, she would emerge from the shower, a vision of damp hair and milky skin, wearing nothing but his stolen shirts. The fabric, still warm from his body, would cling to her curves, the hem barely grazing her thighs. He would gather her into his lap, strong arms encircling her waist, as he nuzzled into the crook of her neck. His breath, hot against her skin, would send shivers down her spine as he inhaled the intoxicating scent of her shampoo, a heady mix of vanilla and jasmine.

His fingertips, calloused yet gentle, would tease her inner thighs, tracing patterns on the sensitive skin, inching ever closer to where she craved his touch the most. She would squirm in his embrace, a silent plea for more, as the heat between them built to a fever pitch.

Then, the nightly ritual would begin - a sensual dance that would end the same, regardless of whose bed they were in.

They were well past the point of no return.

Each night, the clothes would come off, and the lessons would begin.

She'd always been an adept student, and Gojo a relentless teacher, demanding complete mastery of her technique. And he would not stop until she had met his exacting standards.

Her training was intense, even brutal at times. He would push her to the brink, testing her limits, both physically and emotionally. But the rewards were more than worth the risk.

For each flawless execution, she would earn a tender kiss, his lips brushing against hers with a gentleness that belied the passion simmering beneath the surface. For each mistake, a playful smack, his hand connecting with her skin, sending jolts of pleasure-pain through her body.

And for her best performances, he'd reward her with a delicious lick, his tongue tracing the contours of her body, tasting the salt on her skin, leaving her trembling and aching for more.

"Good girl," he'd purr, his hot breath ghosting across her bare pussy, his large hands holding her thighs apart. "Such a perfect little cunt."

His fingers would slide inside her, teasing, coaxing her to the precipice. "Tell me what you want, sweetheart," he'd murmur. "Tell me how much you want my cock."

"I need it," she'd plead, grinding against his hand. "Please, Gojo-sensei..."

And then he would stop, leaving her panting and unsatisfied.

"Not good enough, little one," he'd whisper, his teeth grazing her earlobe. "Beg for me. Tell me how bad you want me to fuck you."

And the words would tumble from her lips. "Please, Gojo-sensei. Please fuck me. I need your cock. I need you to make me come."

And then, she'd get exactly what she wanted.

"That's it, baby girl," he'd coo as he unbuckled his belt and pulled his pants down. He’d waste no time before he sank into her tight heat with a low, guttural moan. "That's my good girl. You feel so fucking good. Such a perfect little cunt. You were made for me, weren't you, baby?"

He'd fuck her with slow, deliberate strokes, drawing out her pleasure until she was screaming his name. He’d take his time to explore which parts of her made her tighten around him and which parts of her made her squeal.

"That's it, sweetheart. Let me hear you. Let me hear how good my cock makes you feel." She'd lose count of her orgasms, her body trembling from the exertion. But he'd never stop. He'd keep going until she was a quivering mess, her voice hoarse from screaming his name. She was practically folded in half, the bed creaking beneath them as Gojo held her thighs in a bruising grip, fucking her into the mattress.

Then, when she was utterly spent, he'd finally allow himself release, filling her with his seed. She’d berated him the first time he didn’t pull out, and he was only able to console her with the promise of fulfilling her wish next time. It was during the second time that she realized that it was practically impossible to make this man cum anywhere else other than in her pussy.

"That's my good girl," he'd murmur as he held her close, peppering her face with kisses. "My perfect little slut."

In the afterglow, they would lie tangled together, limbs intertwined, hearts racing in unison. His fingers would card through her hair, soothing her as she drifted off to sleep, secure in the knowledge that tomorrow would bring new challenges and new rewards.

She would never forget the nights they shared, moments stolen away from the world where she belonged to him completely. In the sanctuary of his embrace, she found a love that consumed her, a connection so profound that it seemed to transcend the very fabric of reality.

Their nights together were a symphony of passion, a dance of tender touches and whispered promises. He worshipped her body with a reverence that left her breathless, his fingertips tracing every curve and contour as if committing her to memory. In those moments, she felt cherished, adored, and utterly alive.

He had a way of looking at her that made her feel like the most beautiful creature in the world, his eyes filled with a depth of emotion that took her breath away. When he held her close, his strong arms wrapped around her, she felt safe, protected, and utterly content.

They would lay together for hours, talking about everything and nothing, sharing their hopes, dreams, and fears. He listened to her with rapt attention, his gaze never wavering, making her feel like the center of his universe. In those quiet moments, she found a connection that went beyond the physical, a meeting of minds and hearts that left her feeling understood and valued in a way she had never experienced before.

Sometimes, they would simply bask in each other's presence, their bodies intertwined as they drifted off to sleep. She loved the way he would pull her closer in his slumber, his breath warm against her neck, a subconscious reminder of his need for her even in his dreams.

In the mornings, he would wake her with soft kisses, his lips trailing along her skin in a gentle caress. They would make love languidly, savoring every touch and sensation, losing themselves in the pleasure of their union. Afterward, they would lay tangled together, his fingers idly playing with her hair as they talked and laughed, relishing the simple joy of being in each other's company.

Those nights were a precious gift, a time when the world outside ceased to exist, and they could simply be two people in love. She cherished every moment, every touch, every whispered endearment. In his arms, she found a happiness she had never known, a sense of belonging that filled her heart to bursting.

She knew that what they had was special, a once-in-a-lifetime connection that defied explanation. With him, she felt complete, whole in a way she had never thought possible. He was her soulmate, her other half, the missing piece that made her feel like she could conquer the world.

Those nights, filled with love, passion, and tender moments, were the ones she would always hold closest to her heart. They were a testament to the depth of their bond, a love that burned bright and fierce, a love that she knew would last a lifetime.

As she lay in his arms, listening to the steady beat of his heart, she knew that no matter what the future held, those nights would always be theirs. A secret world, a cherished memory, a love that would endure, even in the face of the challenges that lay ahead.

On the night before her graduation, she found herself consumed by anxiety. The impending trials weighed heavily on her mind, the culmination of weeks spent pushing herself to the limit. Failure was not an option; her future as a sorcerer depended on her success.

Gojo's absence throughout the day had been a constant distraction, his presence sorely missed as she struggled to focus on her own preparations. When she finally returned to her room that evening, she found him waiting for her.

"You look like hell," he remarked, pulling her into a tight embrace.

She leaned into him, finding solace in his warmth. "You're one to talk. I thought you'd forgotten about me."

"Never," he assured her, his hand gently stroking her back. "How are you feeling about tomorrow?"

"Nervous, but determined," she replied, her voice muffled against his chest. "I've worked too hard to let it all go to waste."

Gojo tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze. "You're a force to be reckoned with. Your power, your dedication—it's unmatched. You've got this, and I'll be right there, waiting to celebrate your victory."

A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "Thank you, Gojo-sensei. I won't let you down."

Their lips met in a searing kiss, a wordless exchange of passion and reassurance. As they tumbled onto the bed, hands roaming and breath mingling, she allowed herself to be lost in the moment, pushing aside all thoughts of the challenges that lay ahead.

She never got to graduate.

In the dead of night, a call shattered the stillness, summoning Gojo to the school with urgent haste. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that greeted him upon his arrival. There, on a cold metal stretcher, lay the lifeless body of his beloved student and lover. The only way he could identify her was by the single white and blue acrylic nail that remained intact, a cruel reminder of the design he had encouraged her to get, so that she would carry a piece of him with her during her trials.

Questions swirled in his mind, tormenting him with possibilities. Did she think of him in her final moments? Did she wait for him to come to her rescue, only to be met with the crushing realization that he would never arrive? Or did she accept her fate, resigned to the knowledge that even he, with all his power, could not save her?

Time seemed to lose all meaning as he stood there, frozen in place, unable to tear his eyes away from her lifeless form. Emotions eluded him, leaving him hollow and numb. He couldn't even muster the strength to cry, his voice reduced to a feeble whisper of her name.

Yaga's condolences fell on deaf ears as he led Gojo out of the blood-scented room. The weight of his loss consumed him, draining him of any desire to linger. He made his way home, seeking solace in the familiarity of his bed, desperate to escape the suffocating reality that threatened to shatter his already fragile heart.

Sleep evaded him, and in the depths of his despair, he longed to reach out to her, knowing that her voice, her touch, could have soothed his aching soul. But she was gone, forever beyond his reach, leaving him with nothing but the agonizing realization that he had failed to protect the one person who mattered most.

In the silence of his room, his gaze fell upon the nightstand drawer, where a velvet box lay hidden, cradling a silver ring that would never find its intended recipient. A symbol of a future stolen, a love left unfulfilled.

And so, he sat there, alone in the darkness, the emptiness consuming him, as the weight of his loss threatened to crush his very existence.

💙 Caught in 4k by KizuKatana

🔒💙 Caught in 4k

by KizuKatana (@kizukatana)

E, Series, WIP, 184k, Wangxian

Summary: A night-hunt goes wrong, and Wei Wuxian is scapegoated for the death of the Jiang Sect Leader and the destroyed core of the Jiang Sect Heir. As punishment, his core is taken and given to Jiang Cheng, and he is stripped of his cultivation credentials and expelled from the sect. What everyone forgot was that Wei Wuxian was wearing the standard issue body camera that each cultivator wore on training missions and high-risk night-hunts. Struggling to make ends meet, Wei Wuxian finds his way to Caiyi Town with the doctor who performed the surgery, a partial core still secretly in place. His application to work at Cloud Recesses is summarily rejected by the hard-edged Second Jade of Lan after an unfortunate initial encounter. But things change when someone hacks into the Jiang systems and releases the footage of what happened. Kay's comments: The series is still a WIP, but the main story is complete! I am so weak for Kizu's modern AUs with cultivation, they are great. Especially the world building and how the cultivation society might function in a modern AU shines in this story. Definitely not a story for fans of the Jiang family, but a story for everyone who wants to see some retribution for the things Wei Wuxian went through. Here, Jiang Fengmian dies during a night-hunt accident where Jiang Cheng's golden core gets destroyed and Madam Yu makes Wei Wuxian give his golden core to him, unfortunately for her, his body-cam is still filming everything. Wei Wuxian finds himself taken in by Wen Qing and her family and we get the sweetest found family and Dadxian vibes here and then meets Lan Wangji as well, who's highly judgemental at first but soon finds himself drawn to Wei Wuxian as well. This story really got it all, the drama, the horny, the softness, the restitution & humor. Excerpt: Still Wei Wuxian forced himself to at least try one last time. “You could also interview me. Have me talk to your best talisman experts,” Wei Wuxian said, forcing himself to keep the desperation out of his voice. “Interviews are scheduled based on receipt of proper credentials and references.” “I don’t have any, at least not right now. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be a great teacher.” “No references, no interview.” “Come on. Look, ask me anything about talismans. You’re an experienced cultivator, right? So you must know enough to at least interview me to see if I know what I’m talking about.” “Simply ‘knowing about something’ is not sufficient. Our lecturers are renown cultivators, and masters in their fields. No references, no interview.” Wei Wuxian felt frustration well up in him, especially at the reminder that Lan Wangji didn’t see him as a cultivator. No one would, in his current condition. Why would they? He didn’t have a functional core, which was the main scale against which all cultivation efforts were measured. He thought he had done a good job of not getting his hopes up about the teaching position, but the suffocating feeling constricting his chest was calling him out for being a liar. He should have known better. Why did he never learn? Some people had luck on their said, but Wei Wuxian had never been one of them. “Right. Of course. Because it would be impossible for someone who wasn’t born to the fucking clan nobility to ever actually be good at something, and the cost of taking the mastery test makes sure that other people can’t do it!” Lan Wangji’s lips parted slightly, like he might say something, but his expression was as opaque and emotionless as before. Wei Wuxian didn’t need to sit around and listen to him defend the clan system. “Good to know that the Lan are just the same as all the other sects,” Wei Wuxian continued, his lips twisting into a sarcastic smile. “Thanks for making that clear.”

pov alternating, modern setting, modern with magic, yu ziyuan being an asshole, dysfunctional jiang family, jiang family bashing, canon divergence, golden core reveal, burial mounds ensemble as family, golden core transfer, golden core transfer fix-it, top lan wangji/bottom wei wuxian, dual cultivation, strangers to lovers, misunderstandings, meet ugly, families of choice, hurt/comfort, emotional hurt/comfort

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