#wildly inappropriate ruby

[barbitone]

Ridiculous Berencel AU of the Day

Therapy AU

Hear me out-

To set the scene, Ancel and Laurent are roommates. They met in school at some point, and now they live together because Laurent covers rent and Ancel cooks and cleans, and reminds Laurent to eat and drink because he's in graduate school and terrible at taking care of himself.

Ancel is working some appropriately low-paying job. Stripping, maybe, but I always have him stripping so maybe this time he's... a dog groomer or something. Maybe he's had to do a lot of different jobs, because he has terrible taste in men and keeps hooking up with coworkers, and when things go south he bails.

And then there's another dramatic break up, another string of shady hookups, and Laurent has to pick up a drunk and crying Ancel at a bar and he's had ENOUGH.

He tells Ancel he has to go to therapy or he has to start paying rent. But it's ok, he knows A Guy. And he will pay for it too, and Ancel better get in line.

Enter Berenger. He is boring and stuffy and lame and wears ugly reading glasses. His receptionist (Parsins) is old and clearly Dissaproves of Ancel's outfits.

But free rent is on the line, so Ancel goes.

He absolutely does NOT engage in therapy (which is important because I know nothing about therapy and do NOT want to try to write it) he just uses it as an excuse to bitch and describe his sexual escapades in great detail to try to get Berenger to blush. Berenger tries to get him to open up for real, to no avail.

Featuring scenes such as:

Ancel runs into Berenger outside of therapy constantly. He runs into him in the grocery store. He runs into him at a bar, where he realizes that Berenger is hot, actually, when he's not wearing his ugly brown suit. He pretends he's Berenger's boyfriend in front of Berenger's friends (Vaskian ladies, for this one) and Berenger can't deny it because... therapy means he can't out Ancel as his client in front of people and he has to play along instead

Ancel doubles down on talking about sex, because now he wants to seduce Berenger for The Challenge

Berenger resists stoically, because this isn't how it's done!

Maybe Berenger accidentally brings his ridiculously anxious horse dog to the grooming place Ancel works without realizing it, and sees Ancel being sweet on her (Ruby?) and her being sweet on him, the way she NEVER is with strangers, and starts to fall a little in love

Ancel complains, petulantly and at length, that some ASSHOLE parked a motorcycle in his favorite spot and he accidentally backed into it and scratched his bumper, and he didn't leave a note and he hopes birds shit all over the bike now that it's lying on the grass under a tree. Berenger gets a pinched look and says "...you knocked over my bike?" It is awkward. They go look at the damage. Ancel offers to pay awkwardly but Berenger refuses. I cannot emphasize enough how AWKWARD it is. Modern AU Berenger is always motorcycle Berenger now, sorry not sorry

Laurent invites his brother and his brother's best friend to dinner. Auguste shows up with Berenger. Berenger is incredibly uncomfortable. Ancel is also uncomfortable. Laurent is a smug asshole. This is what he's wanted all along.

Laurent never thought Ancel needed therapy, he thought Ancel just needed a decent boyfriend, and he's tired of all of Auguste's stories about trying and failing to set Berenger up. Auguste has been trying to get him with someone Appropriate but clearly Berenger is a freak and needs someone wildly Inappropriate, like Ancel

Laurent has been pulling the strings all along, using Ancel and Berenger like action figures trying to get them to Kiss

At their next session, Berenger fires Ancel as a client because clearly this is just Not Appropriate

He asks him out for dinner afterwards

Happily Ever After

[ragecndybars]

Hi! Which RWBY characters would use their weapons/semblances for wildly inappropriate/just plain stupid things things, like using them to make breakfast or opening letters or quick midnight runs to taco bell, minus Yang for reasons that should be fairly self evident

the ones who literally do in canon: Ruby (uses Crescent Rose to hang curtains), Penny (uses the Floating Array to cut cake), probably more that I just can't think of

the ones who we haven't seen do it in canon, but definitely do: Blake (it's a matter of pragmatism, if nothing else; when you're on the lam, a knife is a knife, and you can use it to open letters or slice fruit if you damn well please), Jaune (a straight-edged sword is actually an extremely useful multitool if you aren't a little bitch about it, and his sword may be a family heirloom of sorts but that does not mean he holds too much Respect for it per se), Qrow (completely irreverent, he probably does it extra around Winter, Ironwood, and Ozpin knowing that it bugs them. He'll expend the extra effort to open his mail with a five foot tall scythe rather than miss out on a chance to be petty)

the ones who probably do, but not habitually: Nora (she would love to use Magnhild for various petty things, but unfortunately a giant war hammer is not very practical for everyday usage, especially when swung by her, so she doesn't get as many opportunities as she'd like), Yang (basically same logic, shotguns don't have much day-to-day utility unfortunately), Pyrrha (since she can literally control Milo and Akuou with her semblance, there is a TON of untapped utility there, but she's a little embarrassed to do it in front of people)

the ones who probably don't, but aren't opposed to it: Ren (he can see the practical applications, but he's seen Nora smash too many things with Magnhild and now considers weapons Off The Table whenever they're inside), Oscar (he would, because he knows it would irk Oz a little bit, but unfortunately Oscar also thinks its a little silly to do, and his pettiness does not drown out his own feelings on the matter)

the ones who DEFINITELY do not and scold the others for doing so: Weiss (she gets so fucking steamed about it. Myrtenaster is a carefully-crafted, finely-tuned, IRREPLACEABLE weapon of war, NOT a LETTER OPENER, RUBY!!!! (she's still salty about the curtains Ruby cut in half even though it was ONE TIME)), Winter (has the exact same conversations with Qrow that Weiss has with Ruby), the Ace Ops (they're straight-laced to the point of stupidity, no way)

[slashcrz]

Fingers tearing apart bread to dip into soup, Reuben glanced up from where he sat at the small table, her presence one he’d not expected. There was an art to know when most rooms were vacant, when it came to his family, and Ruby was usually better at guessing && anticipating their movements. Gizella, though… always the wildcard. He bristled still, feeling so stuck under her thumb, her pesky “rule” just another law for Ruby to skate past. In truth, he’d needed a small break from the Stuart’s, but did not want to tear away his future bride from her family, not NOW. A moment of peace, as hoped, seemed to be dashed in the sand, and Reuben rolled his eyes, speaking with his mouth full. “ You have only yourself to blame. “ He sniffed, returning attention to his midday meal. Lips twisted into a smile, swallowing his bite, and Reuben made a mental note to be sure to disgrace Gizella with a wildly inappropriate kiss of passion the day of- oh, and he’d grin right at her after, too. “ Does the idea I could be happy really bother you that badly? Interesting. “ He tilted his head, as if remembering something. “ Oh, since you are here… look at this. “ and with little grace about it, Reuben deposited from his pocket a brilliant ring, an oval moss agate set in a fine collection of gold && bronze leaves, each tiny and delicate. The sun caught the gemstone, and it flickered with light, a pure sparkle now set between them… and all along the hilt, it glimmered, the band fully awash in diamonds so no matter where you looked, it near took the breath away. “ It drained my entire account, but do you think she may like it? “ and for once, the gaze given to his sister-in-law was not one of no good- but of genuine curiosity, waiting for a response.

@classiqcals ( gizella & reuben )

What began as a righteous vindication was beginning to grow rather exhausting, seeing how Joanna and Reuben looked into each other's eyes at literally all hours of the day. Did they ever take a break to just separate for a while? Or was it that they would simply stop breathing if they were not constantly exchanging the same air. Meanwhile, Gizella's hand stayed there, fingers bare without the cheap decoration her husband had dared to call a wedding ring. Her rosy disposition had suddenly grown to a shade of disdain and pettiness, needing to feel right at every turn no matter who was unfortunate enough to cross her path. Lucky for her, Reuben just so happened to be in her way. "I see one but not the other?" a jesting eyebrow twitched upwards, "Did she tire of you or have you two finally learned to function without being within a centimeter of each other at all times?" She enjoyed this, the teasing, the I told you so moments where love had prevailed, just as she and Elias had predicted. "For future reference, though, the phrase at the alter is you may kiss the bride, not swallow her whole."

[shireness-says]

Scrooges and Setups

Summary:  Emma doesn't want to work Storybrooke's yearly winter carnival. She especially doesn't want to work the kissing booth. And she really really doesn't want Mary Margaret to turn this into a setup. ~5.5K. Also on AO3.

A/N: Another pre-tumblr one, transferred over for the Fandom Crescendo! This is another really fun one. I particularly enjoyed writing Wildly Inappropriate Ruby - hopefully I can revisit that soon... Still unbeta’d. Rated T because my basic vocabulary includes a lot of swear words. Enjoy, and let me know what you think! 

Emma’s neighbor, Mary Margaret, is a witch. Or a demon. A witch or a demon very focused on the holiday spirit and community service. She must be. It’s the only explanation for how Emma Swan – full time bartender, part-time hermit, and slight Scrooge – has been roped into volunteering at the Storybrooke Winter Carnival.

(Well, that and the fact that M’s said all the proceeds went to help out the local children’s home – a cause that could melt even Emma’s cold heart.

But still. Probably witchcraft too.)

Emma has volunteered – been volunteered? The technicalities are still a bit of a blur to her – but that doesn’t mean she has to be happy about it. She’ll be there, just not with rings on her fingers or bells on her toes, or whatever the kids say. She certainly won’t be wearing a Santa hat or a Christmas sweater or any of that nonsense. Mary Margaret will just have to deal.

It’s not that Emma hates Christmas, per se. She really has nothing against the holiday, it’s just not something she celebrates. Growing up in the system, she was lucky to get a new pair of shoes for Christmas. Maybe a dollar store craft set or some school supplies. As an adult, she’s never really had anyone to celebrate with. But she moved to Storybrooke back in March – just needed a change in pace, had sporadically kept in touch with Jeff after they both aged out of the system, and finally caved to his begging for her to move closer – and discovered very quickly that holidays here were a Very Big Deal. Especially when you lived next door to Mary Margaret Blanchard, local princess and holiday enthusiast.

Technically, she has the whole day off. When she asked Jeff for a few hours off from the Rabbit Hole, he had gotten very excited – “Of course Emma! It’s so great to see you getting involved! Grace and I will see you there!” – and given her much more time than she had requested. She could get to the town square early, like a respectful professional. But she doesn’t. Emma doesn’t want to go at all, so she shows up as late as she thinks she can get away with without being yelled at by the petite, pixie-d brunette.

Even Emma has to admit, the square looks great. Mary Margaret has clearly gone all out, stringing lights everywhere, all the booths decked out in candy stripes, garlands and snowflakes everything. Unfortunately, Emma barely has a moment to admire the scene before the woman herself comes rushing over. In an elf costume. Of course.

“You barely made it on time, Emma!” she scolds. Emma’s not entirely sure why – she was on time, right? As Emma contemplates this, Mary Margaret has clearly moved past her pseudo-disappointment, ushering Emma across the grass towards God-knows-where. “That’s alright, the person you’re working with is late too, it will be fine. You’ll be working right over here.”

And then M’s stops right in front of the kissing booth.

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

No, no, it’s not enough just to think that thought. “Mary Margaret, are you kidding me? What the hell?”

At least Mary Margaret has the grace to look chastened. “Well, you see, almost everyone else has a significant other… I just thought, you’re so pretty, you could pull a lot of traffic and make a lot of money for – “ and oh God, Emma does not want to hear about the kind of traffic she’ll pull.

“I need you to stop right there, Mary Margaret, before this sounds even more like you’re prostituting me out than it already feels.”

At least she has the decency to look slightly ashamed.

Looking around the room, Emma sees a crowd of people with better jobs than her. David is at the arcade games, taking tickets; Regina is manning the silent auction table; Robin is making a valiant effort at the cotton candy stand. Ruby and Belle even get to work together, selling pie – both the ones made by Granny and the more questionable products of Belle’s recent cookbook explorations. Meanwhile, she’s stuck here. At the kissing booth. Where she has to kiss people.

“It won’t be that bad,” Mary Margaret tries to reason. “You won’t even have to kiss everyone! We set it up on a wheel, and only half the options it lands on are for a kiss! The rest are for, like, Granny’s coupons and free arcade tickets. And there’s another person too! So, you know, that’s not so bad, right?”

Emma wants to scream, wants to cuss Mary Margaret out, but the fact of the matter is that she can’t say no to the sweet teacher’s cherub face. So she’s left weakly nodding, as Mary Margaret beams.

“Wonderful! Thank you so much for doing this, Emma, you won’t regret it! Now, you can take two 15 minute breaks as long as your booth partner is still here, it’s a dollar per spin, and doors open in fifteen minutes. Great? Great!”

Mary Margaret is officially a whirlwind of enthusiasm and Emma has no idea how she’s gotten pulled in. Again, probably witchcraft. She thinks the worst is over, she hears M’s pipe up one more time.

“Oh! Here’s your booth partner now! Killian, over here!”

And when Emma thought things couldn’t get worse, she was wrong, because M’s looks far too innocent and yet, at the same time, smug, to not be up to something.

A man – Killian, must be – veers in their direction, and Emma realizes in a horrible moment of clarity that today isn’t just forced merriment and community service, isn’t just being roped into working a kissing booth. No. This is a damned setup.

Emma could kill her neighbor. She really could.

“Killian, it’s so good to see you! This is Emma, she’ll tell you all about how this works. I think David needs something, I’ll see you both later!”

And then she bolts. The witch.

To his credit, this Killian does look a little confused. Emma almost feels bad for him. “I take it she didn’t tell you where you’d be working, either?”

He scratches behind his ear – somewhat adorably, at that.

(No, not adorably. She resents Mary Margaret’s efforts to meddle. She will not be charmed by this man who’s been shoved in her direction.)

“Er… not as much, no. I actually figured I’d be working with my brother.”

She’s not particularly interested, but this whole situation is bad enough as it is. There’s no need to add an awkward silence to make things worse. So instead, she asks the obvious question. “Your brother?”

He practically beams, and Emma hopes she hasn’t encouraged him too much. “Yeah, my brother, Liam. He and his fiancé are over working the snow cone station.”

Sure enough, glancing over, she sees a tall, curly-headed man with Killian’s eyes handling the cash box as a slender blonde works the ice shaver with gusto. As she turns a skeptical eye back to Killian, he shrugs.

“I know, it looks awfully unchivalrous, but would you believe me if I said she insisted? Says it’s a good place to work out her stress. Elsa’s actually got arms of steel under that fleece.”

Emma can only hum in return. She’s fine, now to let things fall into silence, but her new booth partner jumps back in. “I’m Killian Jones, by the way. Work down at the docks. And you are…?”

“Emma. Swan. Bartender.” She quickly remembers the instructions M’s tasked her with. “I guess it’s a buck to spin the wheel, and we get two fifteen minute breaks, whenever you want, as long as I’m here to be in charge.”

He nods. “Simple enough.” But suddenly – maybe it’s because she put him at ease, letting talk about his brother – she can just see him put on an attitude. “What do you say, love? Want to practice kissing before the crowds get here?”

And ugh, she remembers why she doesn’t do set ups.

This is going to suck.

------

It becomes quickly obvious that Emma and Jones have very different strategies for the day.

Emma’s plan was to sit slouched in one of the provided chairs, generally looking unenthusiastic and discouraging any traffic. Killian, on the other hand, has taken up the role of a carnival barker, bringing in a steady stream of traffic.

“Having fun yet, Swan?” he offers after the first half hour. Emma can only glare.

------

She was right. This fucking sucks.

Ok, not all of it is bad. A troop of Mary Margaret’s second graders came through, and it was very cute how the little boys blushed when she planted one on their cheeks. And it was hilarious seeing one particularly bold little girl pull Killian down to plant one on him, instead of the other way around.

However, with the good, comes the bad. The very, very bad, in the form of Leroy.

Emma doesn’t normally have issues with Leroy – he’s a bit cantankerous, sure, but so is Emma, and he tips decently whenever he’s at the Rabbit Hole. Which is often.

But today, he seems bound and determined to test Emma’s patience. In the two and a half hours the carnival’s been running, he’s come by the booth three times, and is now approaching for a fourth. And, of course, he’s landed the wheel on a kiss every time. Bastard. If he lands on kiss a fourth time, he’s not getting a smooch – he’s getting a knee to the balls.

The universe truly must have it out for her today, because he does land on a kiss again. Of fucking course. She watches, practically in slow motion, as Leroy leans in, and with a feeling of dread, Emma just knows that he’s going for the lips this time. She braces herself, ready to punch him or knee him or something else violent… when Killian swoops in and pecks him on the cheek.

“There you go, Leroy, a nice smooch. You enjoy the rest of your afternoon!”

Leroy sputters, but stalks off as Emma just looks at Killian with confusion – and wonder.

“Uh… thanks. I think. I could have taken care of that, but thanks.”

He chuckles. “Oh, I’m perfectly aware of that, darling, I just thought I’d spare you the trouble and scraped knuckles. Let’s just hope that nuisance doesn’t come back.”

(And when Leroy does start making his way over, another fifteen minutes later, Emma happily takes Killian up on his suggestion that she take advantage of one of her breaks.)

------

Emma takes the opportunity during her break to go talk to Ruby and Belle. Not only can Ruby catch her up on any gossip there might be about Jones (because mark her words, that man is a mystery), but she can probably weasel some pie out of them to boot. She needs food, after all.

As she approaches the ladies, it’s a struggle not to laugh at Belle’s forlorn look – seemingly over her poor culinary attempts.

“Of course they taste fine, babe!” she overhears Ruby placate as she approaches. “They just… well, they’re not the prettiest. But so tasty, and isn’t that what matters?”

Emma has to admit, Belle’s pies do look a little bit of a mess next to Granny’s masterpieces, what with their deflating meringues and messy, torn up crusts and lattices. Emma takes pity on the poor woman and orders a hefty piece of the Boston crème pie. (It is actually pretty good, looks aside.)

Newly distracted by Emma’s presence, Ruby turns to her with a wolfish grin and a waggle of the eyebrows. “So, I see Mary Margaret walked you right into a set up again. At least he’s good looking.”

Belle has a more concerned look on her face. Really, some days it’s a wonder how her and Ruby’s relationship works so well. “You be nice to him, Emma. He’s a lovely man, more sensitive than he lets on.”

That perks Emma’s attention. “You know him, then? What can you tell me?”

Ruby smirks. “Oh, we know him alright. Comes into the diner for coffee every weekday morning, volunteers at the library Saturday afternoons. He’s the harbormaster, I think, whatever the hell that means.”

It’s nice to hear the information that Ruby has, but these kinds of details are a little useless to Emma. She could follow him around for week if she wanted his schedule. “C’mon, Ruby, what’s the gossip? What’s he like? I can’t get a proper read on this guy. “

Ruby pauses to think for a moment before delivering her information with almost business-like efficiency. “He’s… careful, I guess. Does everything with purpose, like he’s thought it through. Likes to fancy himself a gentleman, even when he’s playing up that cocky flirty thing, and for the most part it’s true. Positively devoted to his brother, nearly to the point of hero worship. Rumor is he was engaged a few years back, before he and his brother showed up in Storybrooke, but it’s anyone’s guess what happened there.”

Belle takes the opportunity to cut in. “I mean it, Emma, be careful with him. He’s a really good guy, and even if he doesn’t want to admit it, he deserves a lot more than your usual one and done.”

It’s a lot to process. But her break is almost over, her pie is long since gone, and Emma has to work her way back to her own personal hell – the damned kissing booth.

------

Jones looks disturbingly smug as she walks back over, making Emma more nervous than she’d like to admit. “What are you smirking at?” she grumbles, sliding back into her seat.

If anything, that only makes the smirk grow. “Oh, nothing. Just observing you ladies talking about me.”

It’s infuriating, really, how he’s able to read her like that. All the same, she has a near compulsive need to not let on how right he is. “How do you know that’s what we were talking about? For all you know, we were talking about pie. Some of Belle’s efforts are real shockers.”

He scoffs. “Please, I saw all the glances cast my way. It’s quite alright, darling, I don’t mind. Though it would have been much simpler just to ask me your questions. So, what did they tell you?”

She should just keep her mouth shut, but Emma is fully entrenched in her defensive stance. “Who says I learned anything?”

“Please, Swan, don’t insult my intelligence. Anyways, don’t I have the right to know?”

She sighs. Jeez, the man can wear her down. “You know, just the basic. You volunteer at the library, love your brother, have some fancy job at the docks. That kind of thing. Don’t get your knickers in a twist.”

“Ah, the basics,” he replies in a mock-serious tone with a lift of his eyebrows. “And did you get all the answers you wanted?”

Emma shrugs, for lack of a better answer. Unfortunately, Jones seems to take that as encouragement.

“Well, as I’m sure you’ve learned, I hold the very official-sounding job of harbormaster, which usually means I’d be in charge of monitoring incoming shipments, but since this is Storybrooke, it mostly means I collect the monthly docking fees and try to pay attention to whether everyone makes it back safely at night. I do have a brother, who is an absolutely insufferable git but who I love anyways, and who I have a minor hero complex towards. I’m working on it. I am also working on various insecurity and self-confidence issues, as well as a former over-dependence on alcohol to ignore my problems. In my spare time, I read far too many murder mysteries, dream about purchasing my own ship, and am desperately trying to keep a houseplant alive long enough to be comfortable adopting a dog. Does that about cover things?”

She nods mutely. Really, it’s the most thorough introduction she could have hoped for.

“Excellent.”

They work in silence for a few more minutes, collecting a few more dollars and distributing a few more kisses, before Emma interrupts their pattern.

“Ruby said you used to be engaged?”

It’s like a sudden, icy wall crashes down over his expression. “Yes. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think it’s time I took one of my breaks.”

And he stalks off in the direction of the snow cone stand, leaving Emma wondering just what the hell she’s done.

------

It’s a little fascinating, watching the brothers Jones interact. There’s so clearly an older sibling/younger sibling dynamic between the two, the way Liam puts on a look of patient exasperation while Killian rants, and then Killian looks chastened while Liam calmly replies. Eventually, the younger just slumps and collapses in on himself as the elder rubs his back comfortingly. Emma doesn’t have a sibling – the closest thing she has is Jeff, thanks to three years of being in the same group home and then the same school, where he looked after her in his own eccentric way. It’s truly interesting to her, watching the way these two interact, seeing what a sibling relationship can be like and should be like. It’s almost enough to ignore the frequent glances thrown in her direction.

Inevitably, she gets distracted by the carnival-goers, and by the time she can turn her attention elsewhere again, Jones is wandering back to the booth, visibly less tense. Whatever Liam had to say must have been damn effective. As he approaches, his hand raises to scratch behind his ear, like some kind of nervous habit.

“I trust that Leroy didn’t bother you in my absence?”

Emma shrugs in return. “Nah, he stayed away. Think he discovered Sister Astrid at the hand-dipped candle booth, poor thing.”

“Good, good.” He shifts on his feet, looking uncomfortable, like he’s trying to find some difficult words. “Look, I’m sorry I reacted the way I did, and then ran off and left you to the wolves. Bad form, that. It’s just… I don’t talk about Milah particularly often. It’s difficult, and I’m not particularly keen on it.”

Immediately, Emma understands where she went wrong, and feels distinctly uncomfortable. God, she really stuck her foot in her mouth this time, didn’t she? “You don’t have to if you don’t want to – forget I asked.”

“No, no, as Liam reminded me, you didn’t mean badly. And since you’ve rather been forced into this set up – “

“I swear, M’s must have pulled this from a damned Hallmark movie – “

“ – forced into this setup, it’s only right that you know who you’ve been shoved into company with.” He takes a deep breath, like he’s steeling himself for what he’s about to say, and God, Emma feels like the shittiest human alive. “I was engaged. To the most wonderful woman. But then she died, right in my arms – an undiagnosed heart condition, they said. And I haven’t really put myself out there since. Something Liam likes to remind me, actually. Milah was just… she was my entire life. My world centered on making her happy. It’s hard to bounce back from that. That was one of the reason I moved here, actually –I needed to escape all the memories in Boston, and Liam already lived here. It was a natural choice. But I don’t talk about my Milah very often, because it makes me upset, and I desperately need to move on with my life. So I’m sorry that I stormed off on you earlier, Swan. It truly wasn’t something personal. I’m just… out of practice, talking about this.”

There’s probably a lot of things she should say, try to comfort him and whatnot. Any number of things would have been appropriate. But Emma’s not good with feelings – her own or others’. So instead, she blurts out a “How do you know Mary Margaret?” It’s a non sequitur, sure, but it’s the best she can do. Show that she doesn’t care or that his outburst doesn’t change anything or that she’s not judging him or… whatever.

He blinks a few times, clearly thrown, before grinning. Lucky for her, he apparently understands Emma’s sloppy attempts at connecting. “It’s a little bit of a stretch actually. Liam is a deputy at the police station with David, Mary Margaret’s husband. And I’m sure you know how she tries to take care of everyone. You’re the neighbor, right?”

“For better or worse. Today, it’s worse, I think.”

Jones – Killian laughs. He’s got a nice laugh, really. “I take it, based on the grumbling, this is one of the ‘worse’ days?”

“You bet your ass it is,” she mutters as another townsperson walks over. Thankfully, they just win a Granny’s coupon – no kiss – and actually seem to be pretty happy about that. “Mary Margaret has been great to me, but she’s just… so much. I’m not really big on Christmas, and definitely not big on setups.”

Interestingly, he focuses on her first point rather than her second. Emma is choosing to believe that means he agrees with her on the matchmaking front. “You’re not big on Christmas, Swan? Don’t tell me you’re some kind of Grinch.”

Emma rolls her eyes. “I don’t actively hate it, like a Grinch, I just… never really had a reason to go all out celebrating.” She pauses. After his deep, heartfelt story of lost love, she feels like he might deserve a little glimpse of herself. Quid pro quo or whatnot. “Growing up in the system, very few families actually made a big deal about the holiday for the kids in their care. Those few who did, I always kinda felt like an outsider, like the holiday wasn’t for me, somehow. Then ever since I aged out, it’s just been me, by myself. Hard to make a big deal of the holiday for yourself.”

Killian looks vaguely scandalized. Appalled, even. “Well, that simply won’t stand! You have to come to Liam and I’s yearly bash next week.”

“I don’t know…” she tries to start, but he’s butting back in.

“Ruby and Belle will be there, and so will Mary Margaret and David  – not to mention, my handsome self – so you can’t say you won’t know anyone. Plus…” He goes for the ear scratch again. God, that really is a nervous habit with him, isn’t it? “Plus, our first annual party was right after I moved to town, so I could meet everyone. Seems only right to pass it on.”

Emma has to admit, it is oddly poetic. She finds herself nodding an affirmative, almost without conscious thought. It’s worth it though, to see the way his face lights up when he realizes she’s accepted his invite.

“Excellent! I promise, Swan, you’ll have a hell of a time. Now, if I can recommend getting really back to work and attracting more people? I know our cash pull has been impressive, but I think we can rustle up even more. I must say, we make quite the team.”

She groans, dreading more kissing wheel contestants, but he does have a point – when it comes to this awful holiday tradition, at least, they make quite the team.

------

The rest of the afternoon goes a lot more smoothly. After all their talk of the personal, conversation comes a lot easier between the two, and she actually finds herself enjoying his company. Beneath that cocky exterior really is a sweet man, she’s shocked and relieved to learn.

Most of their time is spent betting on who each approaching townsperson is looking to buy a kiss from. He’s pretty good at it, actually – guessing who is motivated by a crush, who is motivated by getting a laugh, and who just wants to pick whoever seems less scary (those always go his way – somehow, they prefer his charming smile to her scowl). The one exception to this is when Jefferson and Gracie swing by. Killian had seen the excitable seven-year-old and had automatically assumed his good looks would be more of a draw to a young girl. It’s gratifying, in some sort of hilarious way, to see the confusion on his face when Emma gives the little girl an enthusiastic smooch, and receives one in return. As the two stand together, cackling at Killian’s confused face, it finally dawns on him that he’s been had.

“Oh, that’s cheating, Swan, not telling me you knew the lass. Bad form, that.”

He is, however, able to overlook that small deception when he takes his second break (and is it really a deception, if he just made assumptions without full information that she didn’t bother to correct?) and brings her back a hot dog and onion rings from Granny’s booth when he returns, on the logic that “the lines are bloody awful, love, I’m just saving you the hassle.”

It’s weird. She didn’t want to like Killian, when Mary Margaret so clumsily threw him into her path, but she does. He’s got a good sense of humor and a competitive streak that rivals her own and fancies himself a gentleman, like he’s straight out of some ridiculous Regency romance or something.

Emma could overanalyze that, if she wanted to. Probably will when she gets home. But for now, she gratefully accepts the snack and moves to enjoy her own break.

------

“So, when you gonna jump that hot piece of ass?”

Ruby, ever the picture of subtlety.

Belle, at least, has the decency to look shocked by her girlfriend’s actions. “Ruby!”

Unfortunately, Ruby will not be contained. “I’m, just saying, they’re getting pretty cozy now that they’re over whatever that spat was earlier. She could do a lot worse, you know.”

They both focus their attention on Emma at that moment, almost like they’ve been cued. “Well?” Ruby asks impatiently.

“He’s… not what I expected.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” God, somebody really needs to sign Ruby up for etiquette lessons.

Emma narrowly avoids rolling her eyes. “I don’t know, he’s just… he likes to act like he’s so cocky, you know? And he really isn’t. I totally thought he was going to be a dick, but…”

“But now you might get the dick?”

“Ruby!” Belle hisses, clearly mortified, even if her partner isn’t. Turning to Emma in a clear attempt to move on from Ruby’s antics, she asks “So do you think you’ll go out with him sometime? Oh, Emma, I think you two could have such a lovely time together.” She quickly holds up a stern finger at the sight of Ruby’s smirk. “Do not say ‘in bed’ or so help me God.”

Emma just shrugs. “I don’t know. I might go to his Christmas party, see what happens from there.”

And true, she still has a few more minutes and doesn’t strictly have to leave right that second, but Emma still chooses to make her excuses and head back to her own booth. There’s only so many quips she can take from Ruby before she snaps.

------

Before she knows it, the day is over, and she and Killian are gathering their things to leave. She’s almost sad – Emma may have been dreading this day for weeks, but Killian really made it almost bearable.

For some inconceivable reason, he almost looks nervous, scratching behind his ear yet again. “So… I know I mentioned our little holiday party earlier, but do you think you would like to come? I mean, you don’t have to but it’s a good time and there will be drinks if nothing else and –“

Emma quickly nods before his sentence can ramble any further.

His face lights up for a moment, before he devolves back into stuttering. “Ok! Yes. Good. Ok. Ok, well, I guess I’ll have Liam give an invite to David to give to you?”

“Yeah, that’ll work.”

There’s an awkward silence, their first in long while. Emma feels like they should be marking the end of this day somehow special, but she’s coming up with nothing. “So…” she finally breaks in. “I’ll see you around, then?”

He looks a little disappointed, but nods all the same. “Of course, Swan.” And then, the bastard, he lifts her hand to press a kiss to its back. “It’s been a pleasure, Emma.”

She barely manages to nod dumbly and mumble out a “You too” before she turns and leaves. Well, flees more like. But for once, it’s not out of some great fear of commitment or being left behind and disappointed. This time, it’s purely so she doesn’t say anything else that would make her look like a damn fool.

Her reaction probably isn’t ideal, but she’s standing behind it.

------

She tries to focus all week. She really does. But the bar is shockingly slow for this time of year (hey, if she had a family, she’d probably be trying to escape them at the bar too) and TV is all reruns and Emma just can’t stop thinking about blue eyes and a kiss to the hand and the way that she really, really wants to see him again.

She’ll never admit it out loud, of course. When Ruby or Mary Margaret mention the party, she grumbles like always (not looking forward to the party is accurate, at least – she’d rather be with him in her own empty apartment for more private celebrations, seasonal or otherwise, than at some ridiculous themed party). But she really wants to see him again. Which is weird, because Emma hates setups on principle. And the idea of Mary Margaret being all smug about the whole thing… ugh. So when she finally gives into the inevitability of thinking about Killian, she uses the time to prepare herself emotionally for the God awful sappy, smug, or downright inappropriate reactions she’s sure she’ll receive from everyone in her life.

------

Saturday comes sooner than expected, despite the fact that the rest of the week seems to drag, and Emma finds herself prepping for a party. If Ruby was here, Emma is sure she would have been squeezed into some kind of skin-tight dress and stilettos, but Emma’s been left to her own sartorial devices, so a white sweater with boots it is. Hey, she’s going to wear her red leather jacket, that’s Christmasy enough.

For all of her confidence during the week, her determination to actually make a damn move, she can feel her boldness draining away the closer her Bug gets to Liam and Elsa’s little seaside cottage. By the time she reaches their door, holding a bottle of whiskey like some kind of armor (and let’s face it, she’ll probably need drinks to get through this night), Emma is about ready to turn tail and run. Before she can talk herself out of it, she rings the doorbell, hoping someone hears her over the din she can already hear through the door.

And of course, all her fears are put to rest the moment the door opens, because Killian looks positively thrilled to see her.

“Swan! You made it!”

“Yep, I’m here. Grinch spirit and all.” Before she can well and truly lose her nerve, she jerks a thumb back into the darkness. “Hey, can I talk to you for a moment?”

Killian looks a little confused, but apparently is willing anyways. “Sure, I suppose I can step away for a moment.”

They find a spot around the side of the house where it’s finally quiet enough for her to talk freely.

“Is anything the matter, love? I know you’re not big on Christmas but I promise there’s no more than two stupid games in there and there’s a few people you know and I really think –“

“Did you have fun the other day? At the booth? With me?” And oh, that’s certainly smooth, well done Emma.

“Well, yes, surprisingly, I had a lovely time with you. Ridiculous games aside.”

“Do you want to have fun again?”

“Do I want to have fun again?”

“Yes. Fun. With me. In a setting that doesn’t involve a kissing wheel.”

His grin starts slow, but grows to stretch from ear to ear. “Emma, are you trying to ask me on a date?”

Part of Emma wants to protest, because she typically Does Not Do Dating. But she sucks it up, raises her chin, and answers a definitive “Yes. If you want.”

He scoffs. “If I want? Emma, I would have suggested our own version of the kissing wheel at the carnival if I didn’t think it would end poorly. I’d love to go on a date with you.”

Finally, the universe is working in her favor, because after a moment smiling goofily at one another, they move together simultaneously to share a kiss. A good kiss. A really, really great kiss that she’d be up for repeating every day of the week and extra on Sundays.

As they finally break apart to walk back inside the house hand and hand, Emma suddenly has perhaps the weirdest, craziest thought yet.

Maybe she could get into this Christmas thing after all.

[utilitycaster]

not to be all “only i like my blorbo correctly”, but i’m fully convinced that certain people would hate Imogen as a character if they actually engaged with her outside of “conventionally attractive sadgirl that’s one half of an aesthetically pleasing queer ship”. fully believe that if she looked like Chetney or Ashton or even Fearne, and didn’t come with a prepackaged ship, people would be forced to look at her as the complex, unique loose cannon that she is

Hey anon, I agree with much of this and I hope you don't mind if I go on what might be one of my weirder tangents/theories but this has been percolating for a few weeks and I think I've cracked the secret to one of the more toxic segments of the fandom.

I definitely think that if Imogen were not a woman, a lot of people would hate her (granted, a different group of people who hate her now would probably like her more if she were a man, because misogyny is extremely extant outside of the bubble, and even a little bit within the bubble, that is Tumblr). However, they'd be fine if she looked like Fearne...but many wouldn't be fine if she were also played by Ashley. Or yeah, if she weren't easily shipped with Marisha's character.

Here's the deal. When I and a number of other people were like "oh hey! Imogen is not really taking other people's feelings into consideration and is being rather insensitive about the Ruby Vanguard, given that they've killed half the party, particularly since she's literally known Laudna like 10 times longer than she's know her mother was alive" the attitude was "wow, you hate Imogen, you hate women, you're so unfair" and yet now, at a table that is half women (and a group of characters that literally has only one man) everyone who thought I hate Imogen and how if she were a man everyone would care is now literally just mostly ignoring her (and honestly like, everything) and instead constantly whining about how they miss Laudna. Which is frankly weak as hell, like, anyone who's loved Pike or Yasha is like "oh you must be new here", and at least people talking about Travis being missing during the gap between Bertrand's death and Chetney's arrival were making good memes. But I digress.

My theory, which I do admit is the most tin-foil hat I think I've gone, comes from some polls I've seen circulating complaining about queerbaiting in past shows, and also my recent interest in Glee as ground zero of really horrible fandom behaviors (thanks to people who have provided insight into that!) Anyway. I recently learned that apparently Quinn and Rachel was a really popular ship, for reasons I cannot, for the sake of what little decorum and kindness I am maintaining here, speculate on. Setting aside that this is not queerbaiting and it's wildly inappropriate and damaging to say it was, given that this show was full of queer characters and Quinn was shown hooking up with a woman, this has in fact clicked into place for me why people constantly ship Marisha and Laura's characters despite chemistry that is inconsistent at best and tepid on average. It's not terribly hard to draw lines from Quinn to Vex and Rachel to Keyleth, especially if you consider how fanon tends to handle these archetypes. Then they transferred this to just Laura and Marisha's characters in general, and here we are, and man if it hasn't gotten even more flavorless with every transfer.

So anyway yeah a lot of people really don't like Imogen much as a character unless they can project onto her, but because she's half of The Ship, they also will not tolerate any exploration of her flaws that could threaten The Ship and so they need to remove her agency and blame it on various rocks instead of Imogen being cranky and impatient as a person (like, again, if you want to interpret her powers as chronic pain, why are you not allowed to grant her the same complexity as Ashton, who is also cranky and impulsive?) But really the kicker is that if Marisha isn't physically onscreen, they start acting like a cat you locked out of the bathroom and simultaneously forget they're supposed to care about or enjoy Imogen as an individual.

[shallitickleyournerdbutton]

After the heartache of the Volume 8 finale, I would like to return to a happier point in the show and suggest some memes/jokes that I like to think the students at Beacon would have had. More closely inline with the RWBY Chibi-verse, than the actual show - where Nothing Bad Ever Happened.

"Who's child is this?" being used to refer to Ruby - the youngest student at Beacon - when she's left unsupervised and/or doing something odd.

"I'd let Glynda punish/whip me for one corn chip."

Every now and again "Missing - Have you seen this person?" posters for Professor Peach will pop up around campus. No one knows who it is that keeps making them.

Vomit Boy candids being taken and shared any time Jaune is Suffering™️ on some form of transport.

The Great One plush of Pyrrha exists in-universe... and becomes the go-to prize for any stupid competition between the students. There's at least a dozen of these dolls on campus now, owned by various people and won as "spoils of war."

There's a dedicated chalkboard in the combat room for tallying how many times Nora has launched someone into the stratosphere. Notable mentions are listed on the board alongside her of other people who have achieved this feat - including Yang, Yatsuhashi, and Glynda.

(She launched both Port and Oobleck one day when they kept annoying her. Sometimes, their screams can still be heard if you listen closely enough.)

"There's that old guy again..." "Oh, shopkeep? Yea, he's everywhere. Don't think too much about it."

This leads to "Don't think too much about it." becoming something of a slogan for every time anything unusual happens.

"Candy canes, kids! One for Sun Wukong, one for Yang Xiao-Long, ooh four for Coco Adel, you go Coco!"

"I--"

"Andnoneforweissschneebye~"

Team STRQ having something akin to legend status at Beacon, whispered in hushed voices for fear and reverence of their names. There's a war between the students regarding team JNPR as their successors vs. the students who insist JNPR are not anywhere near worthy of such a title.

"How many team CRDLs does it take to beat Pyrrha?"

Blurry fancam-style videos of the Qrow vs. Winter fight out in the courtyard being traded around like baseball cards with other students. Some try and manufacture a "rematch" of this with the materials they've got - trying to get Ruby and Weiss to fight each other. 

That weird sing-song "HellOooOo~" that Yang sometimes does being mimicked by everyone. And I mean everyone.

Any time there's a significant lull in conversations or classes, someone often asks "Why are we here?" which never fails to make everyone in the vicinity groan.

"Ozpin is compensating for something" jokes about his office chair - including at least one popular response being "it's the war crimes", without them knowing just how accurate they actually are.

"On a scale of Ren-Nora, how excited do you want me to be?"

"Ladies Love Lavender" referring to Lisa Lavender having her own in-universe fandom mostly comprised of women. (Lavender being associated with lesbians irl, and I just think this would be funny.)

The sight of Ren just picking up and carrying Nora away from something is so commonplace that other people start doing it to their friends when they Need To Stop.

"Why is Blake's bow so big?" "Because it's full of secrets."

Blake being a closet faunus being such a poorly hidden secret that by the time she finally takes off the bow no one actually even notices. 

The betting pool surrounding exactly what it is in Ozpin's cup - coffee being one of the least popular options, and souls being the top choice.

Using Yatsuhasi as a unit of measurement. 

Photoshopping adorable images of Velvet onto various "cute" animal memes.

Everyone wanting to be spanked by Coco Adel. 

"I'd let Fox blow me up too."

"Why is Weiss' hair so long?" "To reflect the length of her father's crimes."

Everyone mimicking Pyrrha's memetic "I'm sorry!" anytime they apologise for anything. Even going as far to do it while apologising to things that don't require apologies - like inanimate objects.

"Are Port and Oobleck, you know... 💅?"

In fact, just that 💅 being used to refer to a large number of people at Beacon. Actual LGBT students picking this up and using it towards grimm when they're attacked to question the sexuality/homophobia of the grimm targeting them over their peers.

Threatening Neptune with water anytime he flirts with a girl who is clearly Not Interested in him.

No one knowing who, exactly, the other two members of team SSSN are - with wild theories abounding about who they may be. Popular choices include Shopkeep, Zwei, and Professor Peach.

This persists even after their tournament fights where they're shown. Scarlet and Sage are perfectly content with this, and participate.

"Arslan's/Pyrrha's back must be aching from constantly carrying her entire team."

And the respective responses of, "Reese/Nora are alright."

Similar jokes about Glynda also carrying the entire faculty/academy on her back.

"Salutations!"

The war between the "Irondaddy" fanbase, and his haters - who refer to him with various derogatory versions of his name. "Metalpenis", "Coppercock", "Chromeshaft", etc.

Anytime someone is doing something ~questionable~ donning a pair of glasses and/or imitating Oz or Oobleck pushing them back up their nose with accompanying menacing body language. (Kubrick Stare optional.)

Mercury having a foot fetish, courtesy of the people who caught him sniffing shoes at the festival.

"Did <character> just die?" "You know, it was really unclear." any time someone takes some insane damage in a fight and isn't seen for some time afterwards.

Everyone trying to locate and get a pic of the ~mysterious~ fourth member of team CMSN, who has only ever been spotted once - her tournament fight in the first round. Beacon's version of "Where's Wally?"

The Sympathy Fund for Emerald and her one-sided crush on Cinder. "She could honestly do so much better."

People offering themselves up as tribute to spar with Pyrrha/Yang/Coco/Sun just so they can be beaten up by the hottest people on campus.

"I drink milk!" being used as a defensive argument in wildly inappropriate contexts.

Naming grimm really boring names and attempting to keep them as pets. 

The innumerous times Port has allowed a "zoo-break" to happen under his watch and everyone having to assist in recovering his prized subjects.

"Where the fuck are all the fourth years?" "Ozpin's soul collection."

Candid shots of Glynda Suffering™️ being shared similarly to the ones of Vomit Boy.

Ranking people based on their Patience Levels - Pyrrha, Ren, Glynda, Emerald, and Fox being frequent top markers based on the bullshit they put up with from their respective teams.

"Saint Pyrrha" being a common nickname for her, and her neverending niceness towards people who absolutely do not not deserve it.

Weiss' "Hey!" being replicated amongst the student body and slowly growing more and more high-pitched in its replication until it eventually just becomes a shrill noise. Even so, everyone still knows what it means - and Weiss is absolutely unamused by all of this.

In fact, a lot of early!Weiss' comments being mercilessly mocked by everyone - "I'm a victim!" being one of them.

Renowned fear permitting amongst the student body regarding Yang's red eyes meaning Serious Business. Morphs into references of "going full Yang" to mean having rage-fuelled temper tantrums.

"Never miss a beat, never miss a beat" becoming a mantra for focusing on a task. This inspires several remixes of Neon saying it, and again with no one knowing who it is making them.

By all means, feel free to add any more that you all think of! I could use a laugh!

Also, check the notes for additions!

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

Oh, by the way, they revealed in the V8 commentary (CRWBY really gotta stop admitting their writing fumbles so causally) that they had NO IDEA HOW RWBY+ WOULD SAVE THE DAY! Forget Ruby having no plan, the damn writers didn’t have a plan!

Wow just.....wow. I mean I'm not really all that surprised but just wow. How can you have the mains take such a hard and unwavering moral stance that "This plan isn't good enough" without even you yourself having even an inkling of an idea of what plan IS in fact "good enough". I keep being reminded over and over again how badly CRWBY set themselves up for failure and I get very frustrated by it and it all goes back to their consistent lying at this point about "It was planned from the beginning". How can anyone actually believe that when we heard from the horses mouth itself that their where major and critical plot points that where not planned out and they came up with it on the fly while writing volume 8?

I just do not understand how someone could walk into a volume where the major conflict is 100% caused by being unhappy with the current leaderships plan on how to handle something to the point the mains are willing to commit treason over it and not even have an inkling of an idea of a better plan. It is just mind boggling. It is one thing for the mains to ask and try and find a different plan and to struggle and to not like the idea of leaving people behind and desperately wanting to save everyone. That would have been so interesting to see what happened if Atlas was allowed to leave but they chose to stay behind to try and do something to help everyone. But it is another to commit treason because "That plan isn't good enough" then run off crying when they realize how hard it is but still continuing to commit treason because that for some reason isn't a good enough reason for why said leader was trying to do what he was trying to do.

You don't have to have a better plan to realize the current plan isn't a great or perfect one. But in a situation where you have a time limit to come up with an execute a plan, treason and refusing to go along with the only plan someone has is just a wildly inappropriate response to the situation. The mains knew they where running against a clock that they could not see. They had no idea how long they had, so screaming and throwing a fit over a plan they didn't like just...doesn't make sense. Salem is immortal and has an unknown ability to control and create Grimm and is currently on her way to Atlas. Wasting time trying to come up with the perfect plan to save everyone just results in a lot of people needlessly dying as we saw on screen.

The writers had options on how to handle this whole mess but they chose absolutely none of them because they decided they didn't like James anymore and wanted him to be an evil monster and we're just supposed to be happy with that.

[thestraggletag]

Silver Tongue, a Rumbelle fic

Summary: Based on this prompt. Royce Gold is determined to confess his secret feelings towards the librarian. Unable to do it in person he sits down to write a letter but a combination of liquid courage and a determination to truly unburden himself made him perhaps a bit too ardently honest. And a bit careless.

This might have a sequel.

Rating: NC-17 

It had taken a long time to arrive at this point, but now that he’d made the decision Royce Gold was oddly calm, as if having made the decision had magically ended the slow-burning agony he’d been in since the library had opened three years ago. He hadn’t much thought he would be affected by the event, and had privately thought it wouldn’t last. He could not see there being any need for a library in Storybrooke, a town where most people had last held a book in high school, if even then. He had thought it would not last long, one of Regina’s many pet projects that was abandoned when it did not justify its constant spending of town funds.

He had been wrong, in the end, because he hadn’t factored in the librarian. Belle French swept into town with her high-end, short-skirted fashion and noticeable Australian accent and he thought the moment he saw her that she wouldn’t last. Too foreign for a small town like Storybrooke. He had been wrong, though. She had soon made friends with the miners, and Granny and Ruby, and even a few of the teachers from the local school. She also made sure to make the library indispensable, organising book clubs and other after-school activities for the children, offering computer literacy courses for adults and a place for the knitting club to meet, as well as regular table-game nights that surprisingly became wildly popular with certain crowds. And had made Granny an unbearably-cocky backgammon champion, two years running.

So she had stayed, and soon he had begun to notice the danger in it. The way he could not stop staring at her in the diner, or as she walked down the street. They way he got tongue-tied when in her presence, and turned softer, kinder. The way his smirks turned to smiles around her, and he laughed easier. She was smart, and learned, and had a delightful sense of humor. Dark, like his. And yet she was a being of light. Kind, always ready to help, and willing to see beyond the surface. Beyond the drunken escapades of Leroy, or the scandal surrounding Miss Blanchard and Mr Nolan, or his own sordid reputation. And it was that thing that made her so dangerous, how unafraid she was of him, and how determined she seemed to be in getting to know him.

He had been half in love with her before he realised it. The attraction he could deal with- after all, she was a gorgeous woman, and he a man with eyes- but the feelings scared the fuck out of him. It was too late to stop himself, however, so he resigned himself to being a besotted fool… from a safe distance. Only the more they interacted the less he seemed reconciled with the idea until it felt like he was choking on his unexpressed feelings. 

That’s why he had decided, in a fit of uncharacteristic emotional bravery, to unburden himself. Confess his feelings, likely be politely refused, and put an end to the madness. Or perhaps, if fate smiled upon him, be rewarded with a tentative acceptance to a dinner date, and perhaps more. It was always a possibility, albeit a small one, but enough to give him the push he needed.

He had decided it would be best to write her a letter. He got stupidly tongue-tied in her presence, after all, and there was something whimsically old-fashioned about a written letter, which he was sure she would appreciate. So on Friday night, after dinner, he locked himself in his study, fished out his Waldmann Tango and his best stationary, and…

Drew a resounding blank.

It was difficult to start writing with a blank page, he reasoned, so he tried at first simply to write the opening line, immediately falling into a ten-minute debate on whether to address the letter to “Miss French” or “Belle” and what to put in front of it “Dear Miss French”, on one end of the spectrum, seemed too dry and cold, and “Dearest Belle” on the other, too forward and presumptuous.

In the end he decided on “My dear Belle”. There was no point in writing a letter declaring his feelings if he could not even bring himself to call her by her given name and the slightly possessive edge to his greeting might come off as ardent rather than off-putting.

The opening paragraph seemed easy at first: “I am writing to you in order to express certain feelings I am sure have gone unnoticed so far, given the pains I’ve taken to ensure they remained hidden, in part due to our mutual circumstances and standing in town…” yet after a few times reading and re-reading it he had the odd, sinking feeling he might be writing the slightly-more-modern version of Mr Darcy’s ‘In vain I have struggled’ speech and that hadn’t gone over well the first time around. Luckily for him, at least, Belle had no sister he could insult while he was at it. So he scraped it and tried again, but soon felt everything he wrote sounded too formal, stilted and lacking in emotion. He was laying it all down like it was a contract to seal one of his deals, and it was hardly conducive to romance, or reflective of his true feelings.

He stood up, going for the wet bar he kept in the corner of the office. He selected a half-full bottle of Lagavulin and poured himself a generous three fingers into his favourite tumbler, deciding to forgo ice altogether. He needed to loosen up and good Scotch always helped in that. He sat down again, downed the drink in one go, and took another shot at it. He wanted to sound… Passionate, he supposed. It was the whole point of the letter, after all, to confess his true feelings. And his feelings were… ardent. Powerful. All-consuming, at times. Like a small, flickering flame that had slowly built into a veritable inferno. Though he did not wish to frighten her, he did wish to unburden himself and leave her with no doubt regarding his feelings.

“There hasn’t been a day since you arrived in Storybrooke that I haven’t felt your presence in some small way. You’ve taken a permanent residence in my mind and my heart, and there are days when I can scarcely think of anything else. All it takes is a small conversation or even a passing smile and I’m rendered useless.”

He fetched the Scotch from the bar and poured himself another drink, deciding it would be best to leave the bottle nearby. He felt he was finally getting into the groove of things, building up to something that sounded less like a legal clause. He downed his second Scotch, feeling the pleasant burn as it travelled down his throat, and took his pen again.

“You need not be concerned if you do not share my feelings. I will respect whatever decision you make. I simply wanted to tell you of the warmth you inspire in me, the way you’ve torn through all the walls I’ve built between myself and the rest of the world. And yet I know you to be, above all things, kind. More beautiful on the inside that you are on the outside, if that’s at all possible. I know that I am safe in your hands, whether you choose to give me a chance or not. Thank you for treating an old beast with kindness and humanity and know that, no matter what the outcome is, you have a friend and an ally across the street from the library, if there is ever anything you need.”

He signed it simply “Yours” because it felt apt. He certainly felt hers, in any case. Below he signed his name, trying to make his signature a bit more whimsical, give it a tad more flourish. Afterwards he stretched, poured himself another drink, and read it. It was… Good. Not too dry, not too passionate. Solid. Respectful but a good representation of his feelings at the same time.

Well… to an extent. He gulped down his third glass of Scotch and poured himself another, ruefully acknowledging that the letter was not quite honest. It was a bit restrained. Or a lot restrained. It felt like the gentlemanly thing to do, to tone down some of the more unbecoming feelings, keep those more intimate urges locked up for the time being. But perhaps, he mused, he could let loose a bit, to try and see if a more emotionally-honest letter would actually be preferable.

He could tell her, perhaps, a bit more about how it was hard for him to keep his eyes off her when they were in the same room. How utterly beautiful she was, small enough to make him wanna crowd her in, whisk her away somewhere and lean over her, feeling her breath on his neck. How he adored her high heels and flirty skirts and wished nothing more than to-

He removed his tie, and scratched out that last sentence, automatically fishing for his drink to try and cool himself down. He was beginning to get inappropriate and, anyway, he did not wish to come across as if he was solely enamoured with her physical appearance. Though he very much was enraptured by it, it was her personality that had made him fall for her. Things like her kindness, her understanding, her insatiable curiosity. He wished to share everything with her. Wanted to teach her all the secrets of his trade, have deep discussions on books they mutually liked, bare his soul to her inquisitive eyes.

“In my dreams, over and over, I am a willing slave to your curiosity, your insatiable need to explore and experience. When I close my eyes I see us in every way two people can be together, entwined till it’s impossible to decipher where I end and you begin. You let me press my mouth against every inch of you, drink from your cunt till I’m satiated, but it’s never enough. I wish to vainly attempt to quench your curiosity anywhere and everywhere you’ll let me, at any time of day. Over and over till neither of us can walk and I cannot remove your scent from my fingers, my mouth, my cock.”

He stared at the paragraph, head tilted to the side. The paper looked a bit blurry, so he checked to make sure he was wearing his glasses. He was. Odd. He reached out for his glass of Scotch, surprised that it was empty. He refilled it, noticing the bottle felt surprisingly light. He re-read the paragraph, trying to figure out if it was a bit too risqué. But, he reasoned, Belle was risqué, in her attire, in her reading choices. Sure she would appreciate him being the same, going out of his comfort sort in order to convey the depth of his affection.

“I dream of fucking you for hours on end. Slowly, with the care and thoroughness you deserve, till we’re both numb and spent. I want to make you ache in places where the pain bleeds into pleasure, and convince you that only I am worthy of making you come. That none of the boys you might have had between your lovely legs were worth a second look. I want to become your favourite toy, there for whenever you might need me, eager to please, to make you sigh and moan and keen till you are hoarse.”

He was hard, he noticed, but it was hardly a surprise, though he thought he might have drunk a bit too much for his body to rise to the occasion. He thought about touching himself for the briefest second, but quickly dismissed the idea. He was on a writing roll, it wouldn’t do to jeopardise that. Instead he poured himself another glass of Scotch, surprised when he had to tip the bottle all the way. He didn’t remember drinking enough to empty it, but he must have. Shrugging, he turned his attention back to the letter.

“I want to take you against the stacks of the library, amidst the books you love so much. I want to fuck you in the backroom of my shop so your smell lingers there. I want to go down on you in my bed for ours, till the silk sheets are ruined beyond repair. I want to consume you anywhere, everywhere, knowing that I will never be truly satiated, that it will never be enough. Have you splayed across my dining room table so I could eat you out as many times as I wanted, as much as you needed. I want to do everything to you, and have you do everything to me, till I can’t scrub you from my skin, the same way I cannot seem to be able to erase you from my heart and my mind.”

It was a bit of a sappy ending, but he supposed it balanced the more physical emotions out. He signed his name at the bottom with a flourish, smiled in satisfaction and staggered to his feet, determined to make it to his bedroom. He would get a good night’s sleep, wake up refreshed, and deliver the letter personally first thing in the morning.

In the morning, once he was done throwing up and had managed to shower, he shook his head at the idea he could’ve ever thought he would wake up anything other than terribly hungover. He popped a couple of aspirin, forced himself to swallow a few bites of dry toast, and dressed himself for the day. Before going out the door he remembered the letter, wincing when he recalled specifically the second draft he had made, clearly in a state of drunken foolishness. He picked up the sheets of paper, thinking for a second about ripping them up. He stopped himself at the last minute, though. The letter might not be fit to ever be seen by Belle, but he fancied the idea of rereading it later. He folded it neatly into an envelope and fetched a second one for the original, much more suitable letter. He would slip that one underneath the library’s door on his way to the shop. 

He was startled by his home phone ringing, picking up to see it was the tip on the estate sale he had been waiting for. He jotted down the necessary information, went back to his desk to retrieve the letter and was out the door a few seconds later. He hurried to the library and, before he could convince himself otherwise, slipped the envelope with the letter underneath the doors, feeling a mixture of relief and anxiety afterwards. He had done it, and though he felt unbearably nervous about the whole thing, he was proud of himself for following through.

Or he was, until he opened what he thought was the unsuitable letter and realised it was the original first draft. He had switched them up by mistake. Ice flooded his veins, and he felt like someone had punched him in the gut, leaving him gasping for breath. This couldn’t be happening. Not to him, not with Belle. The more he thought about it the more his mind recalled fragments of the letter, lingering in its uncouth language and vivid imagery. He was fucked, totally and completely.

Unless…

Maybe she hadn’t opened the letter yet. Or she had, but hadn’t gotten around to read it all. The first page or so was quite reserved. Perhaps he could sneak into the library and retrieve the rest, or swap it for the correct letter. He had the keys to the library, as it was his property, rented by the town. It would feel and likely be a terrible violation of the librarian’s private space, even though he did not intend to go beyond the library, but it would be worse to allow her to be submitted to such basic thoughts as the ones he had written down the other night. 

With that in mind he took the library keys from his safe and went out into the night. Storybrooke, being a small town, was deserted at that time, which was a blessing. Less people to see him slip inside the library using the back door, or hear him as he rummaged around inside, trying to be quiet and not use his phone flashlight, lest that alert Belle upstairs in her apartment somehow. Tentatively he made his way to her office, sure she would have surely put the letter, hopefully unsealed. But when he got close he noticed light coming through the windows of the office, where the blinds were partially-lowered. It seemed that, given his fucking luck, Miss French was still diligently toiling away doing something or the other for the library. Nevermind. He would take a discrete peek, to see if he at least spotted his letter atop her desk, and if he did he would hide in some shadowy corner of the library and wait her out. If he didn’t he would cut his losses and go back home, to try and figure out how he was ever going to face Belle again. 

He approached silently, drawing one of the slats down to peer inside. He spotted Belle right away, leaning back on her office chair with an ottoman propping her feet up. She was reading something and for a moment he appreciated her face, eyes focused on the page, cheeks slightly flushed and lips parted. Then he registered the rest, the shirt tossed above the desk along with her bra, the black silk camisole making her hardened nipples visible and her left hand, which disappeared somewhere beneath her rucked-up skirt. She sighed, head rolling back as she whispered something.

He didn’t know what registered first, whether it was the fact that she was saying his name or that it was his letter she was reading, clutched tightly to her right hand. There was no doubt as to what she was doing, and yet he could hardly believe that Belle fucking French was bringing herself to orgasm in her office while reading his letter. He pinched himself, unwilling to believe he was seeing what he was seeing, but the sting felt all too real. It wasn’t a dream, it was, somehow, reality. Sweet, sweet reality.

He needed to get out. As much as he burned to just burst into the office and let his mouth do what Belle’s fingers were attempting, it wouldn’t do. By some miracle she was not offended or otherwise put off by his risqué letter, but she sure would be by him breaking into the library. Offended and perhaps scared, unsafe, which was the last thing he wanted her to feel, especially in his presence. He would sneak out, quietly, and swing by the library tomorrow afternoon, right after closing time. As much as it would embarrass him to bring up his letter he would know she reciprocated his feelings, or that at least she was open to them, and that would give him the courage needed to ask her out. 

It was a solid plan, a great plan. And it would’ve worked, he was sure, if he hadn’t knocked over a banker lamp as he backed away from her office. The  antique bronze made a horrible noise as it collided with the floor, and the green shade shattered upon impact, making a mess.

“Who’s there?”

Fuck.

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

Why are people so quick to defend adult men making inappropriate comments about young girls? Just say that yeah these cishet dudes made some gross comments. Their first major webseries was full of homophobia, sexism, racism, ableism, and transphobia. They were two edgy dudes making edgy jokes and saying edgy things BUT people can grow and learn from mistakes and they and the company are trying to change as can be seen from them removing tasteless content.

That’s pretty much what I said, and it’s the biggest problem with the review in general. It only reviews the first two seasons of a seven (now eight) season show and then asks you to take his word for it that the other seasons were bad, while most of the problems he gives are either wildly out of context or were fixed by later seasons. That and the idea that Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross are to blame for everything wrong with RWBY even though Monty Oum was a creator and co-writer during these seasons, in order to further his auteur vs evil company thesis and continue to use the name of a dead man as social capital.

Also of course RT aren’t gonna respond to individual criticism. This isn’t Anne Rice. You don’t respond to individual critics because that puts a target on those critics from a vast and often overzealous fanbase. They take general and repeated criticisms more seriously (ie the house in volume 5, revamping their animation department to avoid crunch, giving Ruby a more prominent storyline in volume 6, being more conscientious of how they deal with shipping after what happened with Qrow and Clover), but they aren’t gonna address individual critics directly because of that phenomenon and the idea that they are wrong for doing so is absurd. 

[ellamoid]

Ozpin: So, Ms Rose, we'll see you soon.

Ruby: you know where to find me, sir

Glynda: That is wildly inappropriate Ms Rose

Ruby: Me flirting with the man I was promised to at birth?

Summer just wanted her daughter to be protected no matter what and wanted her best friend who happened to be the headmaster of Beacon Academy to find love. The age would be difficult but she knew that they'd be the best for each other. That was why the marriage contract existed letting them be together no matter outside forces

[riosnecktattoo]

Six in, six out 👀

😊😊

Rio as a Yoga Instructor!!

One-on-one Yoga classes gifted to Beth from Ruby & Annie post-divorce cause she's been so stressed.

Rio will be her teacher.

There will be hot yoga.

There will be massage.

There will be weird poses/positions.

It will be cute and sexy but also like, he will genuinely help her through some shit (I'm thinking she cries during a heart opener cause she's bottled so much up and he's there to listen)

'Six In, Six Out' will be used when he's helping her moderate her breathing. Him counting for her, watching her breathe slowly in and out? Her watching him? Sexy meditation where Beth cannot relax cause his voice? I'm in to it.

And of course it will get wildly inappropriate after their classes 👍🏼

[letterstothemidnightsociety]

Previously On Supernatural Season 3, we had a really rock solid trio of episodes to kick us off right, so what does SPN do next? It’s gonna lay the groundwork for some spicy character development that may or may not pay off by the end of the season. Let's find out!

To be honest, I felt the next three episodes just sort of plateau? There’s enough nuggets in these three eps - “Sin City”, “Bedtime Stories”, and “Red Sky at Morning” - that it does feel like they’re setting up for something big but it’s taking too much time. If the season had been longer, I don’t know that I’d be complaining, because there’s SO much potential introduced with these character developments, but I know it’s gonna get cut off at the knees in the very near future. 2021 Me has been trained on what to expect from a short season, so half of my brain wants to give the show slack for Unexpected Circumstances, but the other half of my brain is shouting YOUR NOT DRIVING THE BUS FAST ENOUGH, YOU’LL NEVER MAKE IT TO THE END OF THE LINE IN TIME!!!

And that’s maybe unfair because there really are some great nuggets in here. We’ve got “Sin City”, which is Dean’s episode. I mean, they’re ALL Dean’s episode, but this one more so than the other two in this post. Dean gets trapped with a demon who turns out to be...kinda...nice? In kind of a Stockholm Syndromey way I guess? She let’s Dean in on the fate that awaits him when his year long contract is up and it is NOT great. This isn’t the first time we see that there’s more to the demons than SPN has shown us in the past (hello, Ruby), but it is the first time Dean chills out enough to actually have a conversation with one. Dean doesn’t really get it, like he’s still not interested in getting out of his deal, but the fear gets planted, it just needs some time to grow. Oh, also, the Colt Ex Machina is back in action, so that's important.

This dumb bitch thinks he can fool us with that devil-may-care side glance but he caaaan't

But then we get “Bedtime Stories”, the Sam episode, where Sam learns...to let go? That’s the point of this episode right? It’s about letting go of someone before that person becomes too toxic and dangerous? At least, that’s the lesson that Dean wants Sam to take away from this case. But Sam will NOT learn this lesson, so instead he tries to cancel Dean’s deal by killing the crossroads demon who wrote it. Spoiler Alert: it doesn't work.

And then we get “Red Sky At Morning”, which opens and closes with some heavy emotional baggage, but then is stuffed full of fun. Like, this episode ricochets wildly in terms of Feelings, but then that’s probably what we should expect from SPN. I mean, what show have I been watching for 3 seasons now?

Fun Facts guys: I’m a tired Millenial, and swapping DVD discs was too much work so I switched over to watching this season on Netflix and GUESS WHAT???? THESE EPISODES COME WITH A SUICIDE WARNING!?!?!

They're not wrong.

And like, if that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about this season I don’t know WHAT will. Cuz Dean is absolutely suicidal and I am surprised (??) I guess (???) by how much the show acknowledges that. Or I guess, surprised by how much Netflix acknowledges that. It’s something that I did not...pick up on the first go around on season 3, possibly because I was 19 and I was an idiot and found this sort of emotional vulnerability to be endearing. Listen, I know there’s a lot to be said about the producers of the show making...umm…poor decisions in regards to character developments? But if the target demographic of this show was anything like me - and I suspect they were - then the viewers were also...probably...responding inappropriately to some of those character developments. And here’s the thing - I’m looking at this from 12 years in the future, with 12 years worth of real life drama that makes the heavy handed melodrama of television feel...well, heavy handed. Maybe irresponsible? Certainly a little uncomfortable. Big Me is having A Time confronting Little Me’s taste in TV Characters. It’s one thing to have a kink, Little Me, it’s another thing to romanticize suicidal depression.

And hey, I can’t deny that the character development for Dean makes sense. I actually appreciate that the show is thinking through the world and the relationship dynamics that they’ve built and the toll that these misadventures are having on their main characters. These episodes all get bookended by Impala Fights where Sam keeps pushing Dean to give a shit about his own life and Dean responds with an inability to care. That’s just where he is right now, and I get that. We’re early in the season still. But how will the rest of the season handle this? I honestly can’t remember but I also don’t want this to be a throw-away issue that they use to remind us that Dean’s supposed to die at the end of the season. I’m prob gonna come back to this throughout the season because I ~just~want~this~show~to be~repsonsiblllllleeeeeeeeeeee.

Lol, I know, that’s a lot to ask from the CW.

ON TO MORE FUN THINGS!!

Sam is gettin’ reeeeeallll bitchy in these episodes and #1, I love it, Bitchy Sam 5Ever, but also #2, was this supposed to be the sign that Sam was going darkside? Like, he’s snarky, he’s angry, he’s not pulling any punches and that could just be him reacting to his brother’s situation but it could also be….you know...him...becoming slightly...evil? For instance in “Sin City”, he kills the two demons who kidnapped Dean without even thinking. On the one hand, this is the Winchester MO, they kill demons, that’s their job, but on the other hand, Dean is actively telling Sam to stop. Same deal in “Bed Time Stories” - Sam kills the crossroads demon in cold blood (or maybe viscera). Again, we could blame this on instinct - the Winchesters were brought up to do exactly this - but 1) Dean keeps telling Sam not to and 2) that’s not Sam. This show spent 2 seasons telling us that Sam is the Good Brother, the White Hat, the Touchy-Feely One. This is not the Touchy Feely Sam who reasons with ghosts and falls in love with werewolves. Like, everyone else sees it too, right? Also, he is usually very nice to everyone but he is a REAL BITCH to Gertrude in “Red Sky at Morning.” Like, come on, Sam, she just wants to have a nice time. She is OLD. You really think she’s got what it takes to climb that tree?

Honestly, how tall are this lady's heels?

I know that there was a plan for Sam to start Turning in this season before the show’s episode order got slashed due to the Writer’s Strike. And man, I really would have liked to have seen this play out. Like, first season Sam is the Innocent, right? He’s our stand in for the viewer in those first few episodes and then he’s revealed to be kind of the only thing that went right in the lives of both John and Dean, so Baby Must Be Protected at All Costs. The fact that John ultimately lets Sam go off to college and doesn’t contact him for the next four years says to me that on some level, John felt the need to preserve that innocence, that kind of untouched quality Sam has. Dean is very similar - whenever Sam gets too into the job, Dean calls him out on it. So in the second season when we find out that Sam might be evil, it’s a real punch in the gut, for Dean most of all. But then the show admittedly got bored with that storyline and it didn’t really go anywhere. So whereas Dean has personality in SPADES that fluctuates and changes and develops/maybe just gets more intense as the show goes on, Sam remains that kind of blank slate that the viewer can put their face on. Except now we’re in season three, and if you’ve bought into this show, then you’ve bought into it, so the audience doesn’t need a Blank Slate Sam anymore. And if you start with Sam the Innocent and then introduce the idea of Dark!Sam and then just leave that concept hanging, then isn’t this sort of like Checkov’s Evil Sam? If you introduce Evil Sam in the first act you really ought to deliver on Evil Sam by act three, right? Wouldn’t that have been A+ and Wild? Wouldn’t that have made Sam’s arc and emotional struggles over the previous seasons have more weight?

Will this be resolved in later seasons? Maybe. I’m gonna be honest, this is the last season I watched all the way through and seasons 4 through...like, 8 were real touch and go for me. I know that Sam ultimately is revealed to be a vessel for??? The devil??? And Dean is ultimately revealed to be a vessel for??? Michael??? And then the two of them???? Fight to the death???? Point is, season 5 got weird guys and I’m not there yet.

Back to more fun things! You know what guys?? I think I ship Dean and Bela. I’m...almost ashamed to admit it? Like, I remember Little Me watching this season and just dumping on Bela, I HATED her, but this time? I am 1,000% On Board This Ship. Like, there is an alternate universe somewhere where these two got a spinoff show that ran for 6 seasons and I watched EVERY episode. And then, like, 5 years after it ended, they rebooted it with Dean and Bela’s grown up daughter as the lead and the whole OG cast makes cameos over the three seasons it stays on the air and it’s amazing. I’d own both shows on DVD.

What I like about Bela this time around (and again, I am WILDLY surprised about this development), is that she can dish it just as hard as the Winchesters can. Like, every line Dean throws at her she holds up a mirror to say, “Oh yes, I know the Kettle is black, but what color are you, Pot?” and I’m just continually thrilled. She is also just as damaged as Dean is but somehow channeling it into a healthier way? Like, she’s true Chaotic Neutral, which is not necessarily healthy, it’s just healthier than Dean. Or maybe it’s just that she’s better at managing it. In either case, they are HOT MESSES and I love it. I just love it. I know I complained about shoehorned romances but Ackles and Lauren Cohan just totally crush it in every scene and when Dean walks down the stairs all She’s All That in “Red Sky at Morning”, I yelled at the screen OMG just BONE already!!!!! And then like, 5 seconds later, Bela literally says “We should really have angry sex,” and it was probably the most vindicating moment I’ve had on this ride so far.

I just think they're neat!

WHY did we cancel her? WHY?? I don’t want to believe it was the Wincest again, so I’m gonna pretend that it wasn’t, but it was definitely fans. According to Kripke, Bela gets the axe at the end of this season because of the fan hatred of her. Now, I’ve already admitted that I personally held a grudge, but good Lord, what was wrong with us, as a Fandom? To be fair to me (and all of us), would we have felt differently if we had not been introduced to Jo a mere season earlier?? I'm gonna say yes. Although I had misgivings about Jo the first episode we meet her, by the end of season 2 I was certainly on her side. Working through season 3, I am remembering that, when we were introduced to Bela, I was immediately FURIOUS because WTF, WHERE’S JO? SPN just introduced to her. They just settled on a love interest for Dean and the writer’s just got me on board with that. Now they’ve completely done away with both that character AND that dynamic and you want me to get on board this NEW thing? And be excited about it??? So I'm gonna blame the love-interest-whiplash, combined with the fact that Little Me related my own personal self more to Jo than to Bela, that made me hate Bela in the first place. When you look at how quickly the show abandoned one character to introduce another character, it makes sense why fans got mad, but I’m also mad that we continued to hate Bela when she turned out to be such an A+ Frenemy. It makes me want to shout at the writers through the time void COMMIT TO A FEMALE CHARACTER YOU JAGWEEDS.

What’s wild watching this show now is just how Male it was, especially considering its audience was already skewed heavily female by this point in the series. If you made this show today, I don’t know that you could do that. Today, there’s a real push for balanced, diverse casts in programming, especially in sci-fi/fantasy and young adult. I think if SPN had started in 2021, they would have introduced the Harvell’s or Bela up in season 1, and that introduction would have been much more intentional. The benefit of having a shorter episode count as the standard is that there’s less of the “throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks” approach. Looking at it from 2021, reading snippets of interviews from Kripke, that’s definitely what they’re doing with the side characters in these seasons and you can feel that in Jo and Bela. A shorter season means that the storytelling has to be tighter, it can’t wander, so every decision has to be a load-bearing decision. On the other hand, one of the down sides of having a shorter episode count is the exact same thing - less room to throw stuff, less room to experiment. Heck, Bobby was technically a character they threw at the wall and he didn’t just stick, he became a tentpole character of the series. The only side character that actually made it into the series finale even!

So how much room should we be giving our television programs? I think it depends on the show, honestly. I think you have to decide up front if you want space to experiment, or if you have one, tight, compact story line that’s gonna drive viewers from episode 1 right through the finale without giving them the chance to catch their breath. You have to make the decision, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop making one style of show in favor of the other. Just because we’re in the Age of Streaming doesn’t mean there isn’t room enough for both.

[overgosh]

So it’s after BlizzCon.

Some thoughts, because there are some posts that have popped up on my dash that make my blood boil:

On the Hearthstone Tournament Situation:

For its treatment of Blitzchung and the twitch casters, Activision Blizzard was completely in the wrong.

It was inappropriate for Blitzchung and the twitch casters to use the platform that way, as it would be if any other political statement was announced (whether divisive or not). It is completely reasonable for a penalty to be given, but not in the manner that it was.

Activision Blizzard’s corporate executives royally fucked up, and will continue to not serve the best interest of its userbase when it comes to making money and continuing to be a behemoth corporation. All statements have been strictly based on PR and have not been suitable apologies or plans of action for improvement.

On Fake Diversity Which Has Somehow Become The New “Forced Diversity”:

While it is great for marketing and for shitty apologies to fall back on their ideals using Overwatch’s diversity and Blizzard’s tenets, AND that certainly is a selling point that they will, of course, use to sell their game to people:

The idea that Activision Blizzard’s corporate executives are trying to bait LGBT people and POC into forgetting their misdeeds by adding LGBT people and POC into the game is totally bizarre... For so many reasons. For so long there hasn’t been representation because it “doesn’t sell” or “appeal to the masses”, especially for the types of games that Blizzard produces. The implication that Tracer having a picture of Emily on the dashboard and Sojourn arriving were solely added to soothe the controversy are so wildly absurd in terms of the timeline of reality itself and straight up common sense. 

Overwatch specifically has admirable goals of diversity. Sometimes the team does a damn good job, and sometimes (often) they mess up. If there’s an actual solid foundation and evidence about how the exec’s insidious use of “diversity points” are being used to manipulate the public while not contributing anything meaningful to the landscape of video games, I’d love to hear it. There is a LOT to unpack here, but that’s my brief point on it.

Oh also, for fuck’s sake - of course China has censored the LGBT content in Overwatch. That’s not an Evil Blizzard Machination -- China pushes through censorship for all kinds of media content that’s not considered “decent”, which as you may remember as an example included the LGBT relationships in Steven Universe (namely, Ruby and Sapphire). Using the same logic, that would imply that Steven Universe’s LGBT themes were included for diversity points. It’s.... There’s lots of problems with Blizzard, y’all, that one doesn’t quite hold up.

On “People Are So Quick To Forgive Blizzard”:

Some people are, yes. There are folks who fully believe J Allen Brack’s statement(s) in their entirety.

Other people didn’t really care either way in the first place, and just want content.

Some have decided that based the actions after the initial incident (the penalty reduction, as well as not stifling or turning away hosts that spoke out against the incident, and also not interfering or silencing the protests at BlizzCon) that they are taking a stance anywhere in the middle of this situation. They may be excited for game content created by incredible people, including diversity that they have been asking for for literal years.

People are not so simple as to be put into one bucket. This is a huge leap of logic I keep seeing pop up on social media. Being excited about a revelation from Blizzcon doesn’t equate to forgiving the company.

On “How can people support an evil company?”:

We have to deal with late stage capitalism, so unfortunately we can’t avoid supporting corporations while living in society. This one sucks ass, guys. We live in a time where global superpowers are so interconnected that foreign influence affects everything we do, and the simple act of impulse buying a candy bar from the grocery store check-out may have just been a teeny contribution to slave labor (hi, Nestle). It’s positively overwhelming. On that note:

Other behemoth companies such as Apple and Google are also causing significant damage to the same freedoms, many related to the same Hong Kong issues and much more. SO:

Use your voice to do good, and use this revelation about the actions of a small group of people at the very top of this video game company to make a difference. Screaming at tumblr users for being “sheeple” for being enthusiastic about dark-skinned and lesbian heroes as though shutting that down will solve the problem is a really horrendous missing of the point. There is still good that can (and does!!) come out of Blizzard, like the realization of the success of a diverse cast of human characters. As we all say time and time again: representation is important. We fight for the message that Blizzard champions to not ring hollow, so use your voice. The employees at Blizzard sure did. And speaking of:

The devs and artists working at Blizzard are not Activision Blizzard’s corporate executives. In an industry as unforgiving and volatile as games (Remember when Activision laid off 800 people after a record-breaking, successful financial year?), they’ve worked their asses off for years for this. They’re regular-ass working people who actually have a say in the story and how the game is developed. You can love the story. You can love the characters, love the games, and STILL hate the corporation. You are a complex individual, just like this world we live in. You are welcome to find where the scale for you tips. If it’s not worth it for you to support Activision Blizzard, then that’s a battle that you are fighting. If you choose to be an activist like many hosts, casters and content creators who speak up while still covering Blizzard content, great. If you choose to boycott, great. If you choose to share information to others about the issues, great. The world is far too complicated to judge on a “GOOD” and “BAD” polarity, unlike the method of thought this site (and yes, others as well) tends to proliferate. So if anyone tries to put you into a black and white box, know that there is no such thing.

Finally:

On “I feel so helpless about Hong Kong. How can I help?”

https://www.reddit.com/r/HongKong/comments/cv0ws4/how_can_you_help_hong_kong_protests_from_abroad/

This Reddit user has compiled a list of Hong Kong protest resources. This includes a Blacklist and Whitelist if you are someone who is interested in cutting ties or supporting companies based on their reaction to the HK protests.

[pluviophile-bookworm]

AWAE 1x3 rewatch: thoughts and reactions

I took a completely unannounced break from posting my reactions to AWAE. How rude of me. But I hope whoever reads these can forgive me, as I’m sure you’d understand that university is no joke. I’m not going to be posting for a while because I simply haven’t got the time to rewatch and write a reaction post, but I’ll be back as soon as I can. For now, I’m leaving you with my thoughts on 1x3 in celebration of the Netflix release of season 3. 

I’m actually really excited to be rewatching this episode since I’ve forgotten quite a bit of its plot details. I do remember it marks the first appearance of Gilbert, all the kids, and the school setting. I’ve told myself many times before that if this show was just Anne and her friends going about their day-to-day life, I’d still watch it and love it. So let’s dive right in.

I’m so happy to actually see Anne smile from ear to ear while getting ready for her first day of school. She’s nervous, but excited, and she deserves something positive after being denied so many joys for so many years. True, it will not be easy at first, but I can’t help admiring her positive disposition even though she is several years behind and is still not exactly accepted into the society of Avonlea with open arms. 

Anne dropping and breaking that cup reminds me of myself on my first day of middle school - even up to the hope that it’s not a sign of how the rest of the day is going to go. However, unlike me, Anne keeps up the positive attitude and, as I already said, I admire her for it. 

As much as I understand why Anne feels the way she does about her looks (she’s only 13 and she’s probably spent all her life being told she was ugly because of her red hair and freckles, and she never found beautiful heroines in the books she read that had those features), I agree with Marilla on this - Anne should find a worthier overriding concern, or indeed feel lucky she doesn’t have to worry about anything bigger than that anymore. 

Matthew and Marilla have only had Anne for what, a couple of weeks? But they already look like typical parents sending their only child off to school. I love them so much as parents. I just love them in general, too. Now that was a beautiful cold open, of the type I call “gold open”.

Talking to the trees as if they were fine ladies and decorating her hat with flowers is such an Anne thing to do... society may find it odd, but I love her for it. What can I say, I love this girl and that’s that. 

As much as Diana wouldn’t admit it because she was raised by her mother, I believe she loved the way Anne looked with the flowers on her hat. I also believe that she would have very much wants to do the same, but would never be allowed to. Just saying that makes me go back to her awesome development throughout the majority of season 3... Anne has been a big influence on her, obviously. 

“It won’t be long until my parents accept you” - well, they did, but they were still very disapproving of Jerry and his family just because they’re poor - which is probably not their fault. And I know it took saving Minnie May’s life for them to accept Anne, while Jerry never did that... but didn’t his family take Diana in when she was (supposedly) so badly injured she couldn’t walk? Isn’t that a good thing? and instead of accepting the Baynards, the Barries were even more terrible to them afterwards. Double standards much? Ok, I got sidetracked. Let’s go back to 1x3. 

The whole scene of Anne meeting Moody and Charlie has me laughing out loud, from the “I’m Moody” - “I’m sorry” exchange, which makes me think that Moody’s name is dad joke material, to Diana’s “Don’t talk to the boys. They’re ridiculous.” And then she mentions Gilbert Blythe in a way that makes me think - am I correct in assuming she had some sort of feelings for him, too? Did every girl have a crush on him but repress it in favour of Ruby? What would Ruby say about that?

These girls have me in stitches, a much needed change from the tragedy and drama of the first two episodes. And then... there were many “started from the bottom” moments in this season, naturally, but I think Jane is an exception to the rule. She actually started out pretty well, standing up to her brother for a social outcast she just met, and then in season three she almost supports him in something much more terrible. She had potential. That’s such a glow-down. But hey, not everybody can be Prissy.

“Never let them know when you like them, either” Is that what you do with Gilbert, dear? Because I don’t think you’re very good at it. But it seems that Anne took that advice a bit too literally. That would explain a lot of her actions throughout the series. 

Wait, Mrs. Andrews was one of the ladies who invited Marilla into the Progressive Mothers? Seems like Prissy turned out to be more her mother’s daughter than her father’s, then. But it’s a bit of a mystery to me how a progressive woman married a man who takes his son’s side when he assaults a girl... Seriously, the whole Andrews family is a mystery to me. First we have Prissy and Billy, who grow up to be like their mother and their father respectively - while being raised by both parents; and then there’s Jane whose character development is in the wrong direction if it’s there at all. I can’t figure them out at all. 

Anne and Diana’s polar opposite reactions to long division is a perfect illustration of their vastly different backgrounds. While privileged Diana is long done with long division, Anne just realises how far behind she is because she’s spent her young life working in abusive households instead of getting the least bit of proper education. It just makes you wonder how she managed to become such an avid reader when she never seemed to have any proper formal education. But there is the case of Matilda Wormwood who taught herself to read even in the worst possible environment, so why not?

I’m glad the age difference between Mr. Phillips and Prissy is at least acknowledged by someone... while I wouldn’t quite describe him as “old”, he’s more than old enough to make a relationship with 16-year-old Prissy wildly inappropriate and an outright crime by today’s standards. I’m so glad things turned out the way they did for Prissy in the end. 

Wait, so people back then used to think that a simple touch between a male and a female meant intimate relations? No wonder the girls reacted the way they did when the time came to dance with boys in season 3. This, along with the entirety of 3x5, is solid proof how badly these young people need proper sex ed... unfortunately, they won’t be getting it. They’re pretty much on their own when it comes to that. 

I have no idea how i’m going to endure seeing Mr. Phillips for the rest of the season. And half of the second one.  He’s one of those people that just make you wonder how on earth they ever became teachers. Like, even if he was somehow convinced he wanted to become one when he was young, how did people responsible for his higher education let him proceed to that profession with a character like his? Internalised homophobia or whatever Freudian excuse people may think of for him is certainly no excuse for the way he’s treating Anne in this scene. But can I take a moment to share a weird observation I just made - it just so happens that Anne starts her acquaintance with both her teachers in the series by spreading rumours - although accidentally.

“Are they in love?” - “When it comes to intimate relations, I’m not sure it matters.” Anne just spoke a dark truth without realising it. Although her knowledge is vague and filled with unusual euphemisms, she seems to have realised something important - love and physical intimacy aren’t mutually required in a relationship - unfortunately. I don’t even want to talk about it. Maybe I’m just not the right person to discuss such matters. 

Talk about abusive household... even Anne, a very young girl with no sex ed, realised Mr. Hammond habitually raped his wife when he would get drunk... imagine the horrors the poor girl has endured in that family - and the horrors the members of the family themselves have had to go through on a daily basis... and now the girls are isolating Anne because of what she’s experienced... let’s skip ahead. 

“Feminism... what exactly does it mean”? Well, ask Anne Shirley- Cuthbert - I’m sure she can explain it to you. Because you ladies insist on calling yourselves progressive, but some of you seem to not understand that true feminism is about treating all, and that means absolutely all women as equal to each other and to men. 

“Especially for those who are unlikely to marry” - what exactly do you mean by that? Is a girl who doesn’t get married before 17 somehow less worthy of respect in your opinion? I don’t know exactly who that woman thinks she is, but I didn’t like the suggestion in her tone...

I’m just glad Anne plucked away the flowers from her hat before Marilla could see them... of course, she should be free to wear as many flowers on her hat and in her hair as her heart desires, but such is the situation that she can’t afford to do it right now. 

Is this the same Rachel Lynde who represented women in a council made up entirely of men? The one who insisted on adding three more women to it? The one who offered Marilla as one of those women? Well, of course you could argue she is not the same Rachel - she was later changed by Anne, like pretty much everyone else in Avonlea. And I’m glad that such a change took place. Because imagine where Avonlea, nay, where the world would be without Anne Shirley- Cuthbert. How dare whoever is responsible for the cancellation take her away from us?

“I reckon every new idea was modern once - until it wasn’t.” Matthew is just about the best man of them all since day one. In Matthew we trust. 

“You know, there’s a difference between having an opinion about something and pronouncing judgement” - Marilla just put Rachel in her place by pointing out the fine line between voicing your opinion and acting like your opinion is the only valid one. Good on you, Marilla!

Anne is so dedicated to catching up and advancing further in her education... no wonder she ended up tying with Gilbert for first place at the Queens exams. Speaking of Gilbert, I just can’t wait to see him for the first time again. Is that coming soon?

I just can’t help admiring Anne more and more with every scene... she’s so optimistic about each new day that it just gives me hope that the sun will, indeed, come out tomorrow. Oops, wrong optimistic red-headed orphan... anyways, if the sun doesn’t come out, there’s still Jerry’s refreshing sarcasm and snarky one-liners.

Billy has some nerve calling Anne out for saying “nasty stuff” about his sister - sure, what she said wasn’t the most innocent of things, but she certainly didn’t mean it that way. Besides, Billy himself will go on to do way nastier stuff to another poor girl - and never realise the dramatic irony. Because he’s the classic straight white entitled man, one of those people you just can’t like. No matter what they do. 

There he is... couldn’t arrive at a better time, could you, Gil? This is one of my top 5 favourite moments of his throughout the entire series. It’s literally the equivalent of seeing a girl being attacked by a guy and talking to him as if he’s a civilised person instead of taking up his own aggressive tone, and I love that they chose to introduce Gilbert in such a context of all possibilities. “Any dragons around here need slaying?” Gilbert Blythe is a true knight in shining armour and he knows it. 

“Miss? What’s your name? Miss?” And thus begins the story of the two most confused teenagers in Canada, the slowest of all slow burns, the love story to end them all. A shaky start, sure, but it’s a start. 

“You can’t talk to Gilbert Blythe. You can’t even look at him.” Can you believe they’ve come from here to the point where they unanimously decided Anne was the only one who could ask Gilbert how babies are made... isn’t it ironic? But, I mean, from this episode all the way to the end, she did a very good job of convincing every one of them, including herself, that she didn’t care a single bit about Gilbert.

I just can’t get over Anne’s reciting... she’s certainly managed to get all eyes on her - but mostly Gilbert’s, with the most expressive pair of eyebrows above them... once again, Anne has made a strong impression... one that some liked and some will surely condemn - but it’s their loss. 

There goes that scene... the notorious apple from the notorious Blythe orchard we never got to see Shirbert in. And I have to say, Anne might have made a good ventriloquist. Too bad she’s not supposed to talk to Gilbert because... girl code is a thing. They won’t accept her as one of their own, yet she must play by their rules. It just seems unfair. 

Do the people of Avonlea have no sense of relativity and context? A bad rumour shouldn’t be taken so dramatically when it is a prepubescent girl who’s spreading it. She should be forgiven on account that she just didn’t know better. Instead, the very same story was repeated years later with Josie, where, again, nobody cared to gauge the circumstances - Anne only intended to defend Josie, not tarnish her reputation. It’s just the skewed priorities of the time that caused things to turn out the way they did. 

And this is the little moment that most likely started the spark in Jerry’s mind about wanting an education - just a simple remark from Anne that happened to contain a word he didn’t understand. They do say that it takes just one spark to start a fire. This little boy of mine is going far. Not without Anne, though. The two of them took their time to warm up to each other, but who could stop them when they finally did?

Gilbert is positively going to waste all of his chalk if throwing it at Anne is how he intends to get her attention. I have to say pulling on her braid was a bit too childish for him based on how he was established, but hey, we all have our moments, and for Gilbert, this is one of the most iconic ones in the source material, so why would anyone change it? Anne’s story wouldn’t be authentic if she didn’t crack her slate over Gilbert’s head. This immortal Anne of Green Gables scene was impeccably delivered by the infinitely talented cast of AWAE. 

Taking away the E and the Cuthbert from Anne’s name was a cruel thing to do. I can’t tell you how I trembled when I read this scene in the book years ago, just because of the E and how it felt like salt in the cuts left by what had just transpired, but now, the Cuthbert, too - the one thing that is solid proof to Anne that she belongs there - that she belongs to someone who finally accepts, maybe even loves her as she is - that, I have to say, is an awfully terrible thing to do to a young orphan if we look at it through Anne’s eyes. And let’s admit it, we all did in that moment if not in any other. 

Storming off is what any sensitive young girl with a strong sense of justice like Anne would do in her place, and, to her credit, she did walk out in dignity at least up to the schoolhouse’s door. I have to say she handled the situation way, way better than I ever could have. 

I mean, I would have reacted the same way as Anne when she said she was never going back to school, but let’s think for a second. There’s a little boy in the barn who would gladly take her place. Because going to school, however challenging at times, is a privilege. She should take a moment to catch her breath and realise that. 

To sum up, in this episode we saw: Anne’s shaky first day of school; the introduction of all of Anne’s schoolmates; the accidental scandal concerning a supposed scandalous accident; the Andrews family never ceases to puzzle me; “progressive mothers” being not so progressive; Marilla and Anne face similar bad treatment from their respective peers; a shaky start to the slowest of slow burns; a spark is ignited in Jerry; a broken slate and more than one broken heart.

[mylordshesacactus]

Some additional random RWBY daemon thoughts:

Your daemon settles when you unlock your semblance, though not vice versa.

Everyone’s daemon settles, but canonically many people in Remnant never unlock a semblance or even have their aura activated, and that’s fine.

No, Faunus daemons do NOT necessarily settle to match the faunus’ animal traits. It’s statistically very likely, but a daemon is a part of your soul, and faunus traits are just genetic.

In many cultures on Remnant, it’s considered admirable to have a daemon settle unusually late.

Firstly, an unsettled daemon is very simply a profoundly sacred form of personal expression. It’s very literally making your soul visible to the outside world, and the degree of flexibility is considered lowkey kind of a shame to lose.

And secondly, it’s seen as “taking your time” in discovering who you are. Freedom of expression, again; there’s no rush, and you should have as much time as you need to find the person you want to be.

There are like seven GAJILLION daemon-form superstitions on Remnant, like, even more than in canon, every single culture has at least two directly contradicting beliefs about every single form known to man.

When these intersect with existing beliefs about aura color, eye color, etc, shit gets WILD

Ruby settled at the age of, like, twelve. This girl knows exactly who she is, and always has.

While it’s not required, it is highly recommended for Huntsmen and Huntresses to undergo a separation ritual, and each academy has an intensive semester-long program for graduating fourth-year students to prepare them for it.

That being said, if you drop the course without going through with it, no one will judge you. It’s Remnant. You can always choose a different path.

Maidens may very well inherit the long range automatically. Their magic, after all, is from...uh, Round One, before “aura” was a thing. In modern Remnant, I’ll bet you cash money that there’s a known reason for the daemon range limitation, and it’s that aura has a limited range; your daemon is bound to your aura, and therefore simply can’t extend all that far from your physical body. Maiden magic has nothing to do with aura, and may very well free your daemon from that restriction.

Due to the importance of self-expression, it’s understood that the name given a daemon at a child’s birth is temporary, and that they will likely adopt a new name later in life (generally after settling, but again, it’s a very personal choice; it’s not uncommon to keep the birth name), when they and their person are able to come up with one that better defines them

Birth names generally follow the color rule; one tradition is to simply name the daemon after the child’s eye color, ie, “Copper” or “Hazel” or “Azure”, unless you’re giving the kid that name, in which case you might pull out a thesaurus or choose a different tradition.

“Adult” names can be anything under the sun, if that’s what you choose. It is wildly inappropriate for parents to try to interfere in this process without being asked, yes, even if your kid is six and he and his daemon are both convinced that her name should be “Shredzilla” now.

The gods straight up murdered Salem’s daemon in front of her.

[iamconstantine]

RWBY EPISODE 11: I MADE A COMMITMENT AND I’M SORRY FOR THE WAIT

* Okay right off the bat Blake yelling “Fight well!” while waving a little RWBY flag gave me an overdose of serotonin I thought this girl was going to be a broody loner heck no she’s not * I appreciate that the others are cheering Weiss on. They’re a team, even if they’re not besties yet * “Let the act of releasing a dangerous creature out in a classroom full of young children in a wildly inappropriate teaching method...BEGIN!” * “Wasn’t expecting THAT, were you?” It’s a pig. It’s just a pig. Did this guy not see these chicks taking down the giant raven or...? * The pig Grimm have names too, right? * I almost typed in “Heartless” before I remembered they were called Grimm * There seems to be some kind of “scaling” problem going on with the animation. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it kind of looks like Weiss and the pig (hog? warthog?) are overlayed on the classroom instead of being there. * I know there’s a “rule of drama” envoked here but come on Weiss. Babygirl. You can do better. * “NOW what will you do without your WEAPON?” I think this guy is one of those physical teachers that kind of wants a student to get hurt so they can make a point about something * I honestly don’t know who I’m siding with here. Like on the one hand Ruby really is just trying to be helpful and offer encouragement, but Weiss does need to focus * I keep forgetting how awesome the propelling move Weiss can do is * “I’m afraid that’s all the time we have for today” Boy what?  * Not gonna lie Jaune is looking pretty good in that uniform * Why isn’t Weiss in her uniform?? Wasn’t she in it last episode? * Okay Weiss is being a total snob here like this is typical “rich girl better than everyone else behavior” but I do see a liiiiiitle biiiiit of where she’s coming from. Just barely...but only in that it can be frustrating that the skipped-grades-to-be-here student with nothing but at-home training gets to be leader. That said, Ruby clearly proved her potential with the plan to kill the Grimm two episodes ago and Weiss is intentionally ignoring that so she can be snooty * Ruby has puppy dog eyes this ep and I don’t like it. * “That remains to be seen” Ozpin is a cold mistress straight iced the girl * I swear he said “Miss SHA-NEE” * For as annoyed I am at Weiss she clearly wants to be a good Huntress. She’s a rich girl who probably lived a life of luxury back home but she still wants to commit her life to fighting monsters to protect people * Can this professor kindly chill but also stay just as he is * “That’s preposterous!” STRAIGHT ICED THE GIRL * On the flipside Ozpin does have a point. Ruby clearly has a lot of skill, and her plan to defeat the Nevermore(?) was really good, but there’s really no way of knowing if she’ll be a good leader after just one day. This isn’t one of those “I BELIEVE in you more than ANYONE I’ve EVER met!” things, he has to be encouraging but honest * “Your exceptional level on the battlefield is only matched by your poor attitude.” ST RA IGHT  I CED T HE G  IRL * Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm both of them have pointssssssss ‘cause Ruby has very little experience but proved she’s pretty capable, while Weiss has much more experience but only takes what’s best. * See THIS is how I wish people would talk to the Snobby Rich Girl characters. Like it doesn’t matter if that other girl got what you wanted, or if you think you’re better, your attitude is abysmal and that alone is reason enough not to favor you. You got to settle for what you got and make the best of it otherwise you’re going to ruin everything else you’ve got going for you * For some reason I am not at all surprised that Weiss can just will coffee into existence * There you go, Weiss. Good attitude. * “I always wanted bunk beds as a kid” I don’t know why, but that line is so adorable to me. Weiss might be stuck up but she’s still a young girl. * But also Weiss where are you going get in your pajamas and go to bed it’s late you got school tomorrow. * Right when the episode started, I was worried that it would be a rehash of the conversation Ruby and Weiss already had. That they forgot their “We don’t like it each other but we have to cooperate” conversation and went right back to square one * Thankfully this episode made it a different matter. It’s one thing to be teammates, it’s another to be a leader and a teammate. Ruby technically has more authority over Weiss now and that’s way more to bite off than just working together. Clearly Weiss is very assured that she knows what she needs to do, and having someone else tell me how to do it would be aggravating. * I’ll say again that so far Weiss is being handled fairly well for the sympathetic but snotty character. The show acknowledges that she has a poor attitude and is self-entitled, but is also a hard worker who wants to be the best that she can be. Plus her plan is NOT to sabotage Ruby. She’s not THAT cold. (ba dum tish) * Why did it literally take me this long to realize Weiss is cold because she’s based off of Snow White. * As I said before my expectations were subverted with Ozpin’s talk with Ruby. Usually when there’s a character in her position (highly skilled despite not training for as long as other characters, given a special grant by a higher-up, given a level of leadership right at the start), once they start to doubt themselves, the wise leader talks about how much they BELIEVE in them because they’re ONE IN A MILLION and they’re AMAZING etc. The episode just straight-up says just because Ruby is leader, doesn’t automatically mean she’s a good one. * I imagine this isn’t the end of Ruby and Weiss’s feud but it’s nice to see them kind of getting along.