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Merging my previous drawings into one because both him, Human!Lord Monochromicorn, and Ice Marcy has rotted my brain.

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RWBY Recaps: The Greatest Kingdom

Hello, glorious RWBY fandom! It’s that time of the year again. No, not the holidays. Rather, it’s the roughly twelve weeks where my Saturdays are lost to the void of churning out 4,000+ words of typo-laden analysis for our favorite web-series. Does that sound like a good time? If so, stick around and keep reading.

Now, those of you who joined us last year will recall that I took issue with numerous aspects of Volume Six. Many of you are capable of summarizing these aspects in great detail considering that the conversation never stopped on my blog between January 26th and, well, today. But for those of you who don’t otherwise suffer my metas or who might be joining us for the first time, here’s a very short guide to the stuff we’ve been chatting about the last few months:

Holy shit they really went all in on dragging Ozpin, huh?

Is the group part of a collective consciousness now? What happened to diverse thinking?

Should un-licensed teenagers steal military property and start grimm-drawing battles with national allies? No or double no?

We hate adults? Is that really a thing?

When will Oscar’s on-screen development come back from the war?

There are numerous, numerous other connected topics, from Rooster Teeth’s handling of physical assault all the way to theories regarding the relic’s potential influence and Jinn’s motives, but that’s the basic gist. Oh, and we now have a subset of the fandom who got big mad over fans headcanoning trans!Nora based on her new color scheme. ... So that’s where we’re starting this volume off.

Just so we’re all on the same page:

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Anyhoo, with that bare-bones context out of the way, let’s dive in.

We begin, as usual, with a shot of the shattered moon. Except this is the first volume where we know precisely what happened to it and all it may mean for humanity. It lends a certain amount of gravitas to our start. Now, rather than the more generic, “Ah. Right. That motif. Still a mystery, huh?” shots of the moon function as a quick reminder of the group’s new stakes. 99% of the time the focus is on Salem and our heroes’ attempts to keep this genocidal dictator from destroying and/or enslaving the entire world, but “The Lost Fable” set up that the true, end-game antagonists have always been the gods. Even if Salem is destroyed, they still exist as a continued threat to humanity. If they wish to use the gods to help them in their quest against Salem, they likewise risk their judgment. Having introduced them, that’s a tricky problem the show is going to have to solve before its end.

For now though we pan down to the Atlas military, numerous ships and lots of chatter over the radio setting up precisely how massive, organized, and deadly this army is. I would like to remind everyone that this is what the group deliberately decided to piss off by not merely stealing an airship, but unnecessarily attacking the head special operative of the Argus base. The fact that the military has grown more “aggressive” in Weiss’ absence has no bearing on her original knowledge that stealing/attacking this group would be a horrendous idea. She knew it. Qrow knew it. Everyone ignored that in favor of Jaune’s idiotic plan. I bring this up not to rub more salt in a long open wound, but to re-establish how the group is, thus far, unable to think ahead and accurately weigh the consequences of their actions. More on that later.

Their ship, Manta 5-1, is welcomed home and instructed to land so that a security team can debrief them. Whoops. Jaune, again in his infinite wisdom, reminds everyone that they achieved their goal of getting to Atlas. So now they just need to find some answers, yeah? Not quite. Weiss immediately points out that landing with a stolen ship means that security won’t let them anywhere near Ironwood… which, again, is something that holds true regardless of whether the military got more aggressive and their leader more dictator-y. This is not new information. Oddly enough, a group of teenagers with only one licensed huntsmen among them (considering that Maria is presumably still keeping a low profile) flying a stolen airship doesn’t exactly breed the sort of confidence that lets anyone---paranoid or not---approach a leader. These were all issues from the start that the group didn’t bother to consider in their haste to finish this mission.

“They might even take me back to my father,” Weiss says. Another concern that they’re only realizing now, yet one that the fandom latched onto immediately. Though mostly in the wrong way. It’s because Jacques is a threat that they should have found a more covert way into Atlas, or waited to hear from Ironwood, or just send Weiss herself with Cordovin’s blessing… Yes, much of the fandom got quite defensive at that suggestion, claiming that sending Weiss “alone” (she never would have been alone. Bird uncle. Fits into a suitcase grandma) was tantamount to handing her to Jacques wrapped up in a bow. Except, as is made perfectly clear here, it’s their illegal activity that endangers them. Which is more likely to get you sent off to daddy? Acting like a child by stealing military property and then getting caught? Or entering Atlas as a huntress with a special operative’s blessing, carrying instructions that you are to meet with Ironwood as soon as possible? To say the team dropped the ball on this one is an understatement.

Those, however, are all past options now far out of reach. Weiss decides then that she’ll simply call Winter and I absolutely adore Kara’s voice acting here. She managed to imbue so much into a single name, conveying Weiss’ realization, hope, and love for her sister in just two quick syllables. I feel like I got more insight into Weiss through that moment alone then the entirety of Volume Six. Only problem? Blake notices another feed where a recording of Winter emphasizes that anyone found breaking Atlas law will face punishment---something our group will be quite familiar with by the end of the episode---and Qrow decides that they probably shouldn’t go charging into Winter and Ironwood’s hands until they know more about the situation.

Which is the smartest decision we’ve seen in a while, considering that Ironwood’s own feed leaves little to the imagination. He continues to sport that beard, giving him more of a disheveled appearance compared to Volumes 1-3. His voice is as authoritative as ever and he literally towers high above all the people he’s supposedly protecting, keeping his distance from both the city and the airships that ‘govern’ it. A few moments earlier we got to see the startling contrast between the military life and the civilians’. Warm reds and browns give (in this case a literal) down-to-Earth feel and the neon signs are easy markers of a low-class neighborhood. You know the stereotyped kind: cheap food and cheaper entertainment. Compared to the whites and blues of the Atlas clouds, paralleling their elite (and thereby expensive) technology, the city below feels like a slum in comparison, reinforced by the dirty, drunk, and at times violent background characters that populate it. 

As Maria says later, “A home in the clouds is as bright as it gets,” to which Nora responds, “Unless you’re the one having to look up at it,” something she’d be very familiar with as a child stealing bread in the otherwise plentiful looking Kuroyuri. There are contrasts in coloring, dialogue, as well as framing here. Compare Ironwood’s sky-high observation to Pietro’s existence as a black man, in a wheelchair, doing volunteer work in what’s established as a dump. He’s as “low” as he can possibly be and acknowledges that he prefers to actually be among the people, not standing literally or figuratively above them. Just in case the audience misses these cues, we get some rather ominous music on top of all that and fearful looks between Ruby and Yang.

Ironwood’s recording says that some people may view these as “uncertain times,” likewise contrasting Glynda’s recording in the very first episode, announcing that they live in an “extraordinary time of peace.” Whether there’s uncertainty or not, Ironwood promises that Atlas will remain “safe and strong,” even if the other Kingdoms have begun to falter. The speech has a very ‘Us vs. Them’ quality about it.

“He looks tired,” Ruby comments and I just need to chuck another fandom into the mix real quick because:

Under these circumstances, “tired” doesn’t just require the John Mulaney advice of, “Get some rest, tall child!” It’s a clear dig at the leader’s capabilities and even their mental faculties. “James… what have you been doing?” Qrow asks, thereby re-framing “tired” as the nice euphemism for “gone off the deep end.” It remains to be seen though precisely how much of Ironwood’s paranoia is literal paranoia in the sense that it’s illogical and undeserved, and how much of these changes are highly undesirable, but potentially justifiable decisions. After all, we as the audience know precisely how dangerous Salem and her crew are. We know why Beacon fell. We’re privy to the stakes in a way that the average, angry Atlas citizen is not. All Ironwood can do in the face of such odds is try to prepare for every eventuality… it just looks like he’s reached a point where those preparations have started infringing on basic human rights. It’s a very sad setup. A classic case of the wrong things done for the right reasons.

There’s a check-in from the radio tower, whoever’s in charge wondering why Manta 1-5 hasn’t gone towards their landing pad yet. Maria comments that the lady should take a hint and starts finding a different place to land. Which in hindsight is kind of funny because they obviously did take a hint… and then sent out a special team to deal with the implications of that hint.

As the group starts exploring we get a lovely shot demonstrating how much they stand out in this new environment.

Though there’s some color in the neon signs, the otherwise overwhelming brown/beige/black/red makes elements like Nora’s pink skirt and Weiss’ white hair stick out like sore thumbs. As we’ll see in a minute, there are obviously in-world difficulties with them passing as average citizens, but it’s also a signal to the audience that, for now at least, they’re really out of their depth. This is the “greatest kingdom” referenced in our title. 

Maria is leading them to a friend of hers when a bot takes an interest in these obvious outsiders. It approaches Yang at the back of the group, takes an unexpected picture, and she responds by kicking it into the street where it sparks with damage before getting hit by a truck.

(Flashback to Ruby and Penny, anyone?)

Now, I’m honestly on the fence about this moment. You could make the case that they’re all traumatized fighters and responding to that flash was a logical, instinctual response. You can even argue that, just hours after taking her first faunus life, Yang is more than a little on edge—even though the premier doesn’t reference this incredibly significant event at all, outside of Blake’s quick realization that her blade is still broken. Both are valid and easily supported readings. However, I’m still hyper aware that this is Yang. The character who, for two volumes now, has been characterized very strongly by her, “attack first, ask questions later” attitude. Out of all the characters we could have seen instinctively attacking something that hadn’t actually done her any harm, choosing Yang holds the most weight. The story also lightly acknowledges that this was an extreme response, what with the group staring at her and Yang’s sheepish expression.

Whether it’s specifically in the context of trauma over the fight with Adam, or more broadly acknowledging Yang’s tendency to both assume and act on the worst in people, I hope this volume helps her manage these instincts. One talk with Tai about not punching through problems isn’t going to cut it. Especially when her forceful attitude has caused much of the internal conflict recently. 

It’s after this that the group is accosted by a drunk man, functioning largely as exposition to explain what’s been going on in Atlas and why the people are so scared and angry about it. Pissed enough to get literally pissed, of the inebriated variety. Here then, we return to the “this group of teenagers is really bad at thinking ahead” issue that I mentioned earlier. Ruby is all ready to start a fight---referencing her newfound willingness to escalate situations that don’t necessitate escalation---and it’s Blake who holds her back, reminding Ruby that they can’t afford to cause a scene. Which is fantastic. Except they end up causing a scene anyway when the drunk calls Blake a “stupid faunus” and Weiss uses a glyph to chuck him into the trash.

Is seeing a racist asshole get his just desserts extremely satisfying? Absolutely and from a representation perspective I’m thrilled to see Rooster Teeth taking a hard stance in their story. From an in-world perspective though, that was an incredibly bad decision. We’ve been establishing since minute one of this premier that the group needs to be cautious. Blake herself, the victim here, just told Ruby not to endanger the whole group by defending her honor… and then Weiss swoops in to do it anyway. There are two priorities here, to your friends and to your mission, and the issue is that Team RWBY has a tendency to consistently prioritize the former, something that wouldn’t be an issue if this was still a low-key story about a group of students and not would-be, formal huntresses trying to save the world. The choice to attack rather than walking away---paralleling last volume’s final battle---speaks to their inability to think ahead and weigh their priorities. “It was worth it,” Weiss says, but is it? Now that you’ve caused the scene that you couldn’t afford? Now that this guy recognized your glyphs and you’ve blown your cover? I realize I’ll probably get heat for this, but there’s a difference between calling out micro-aggressions in everyday life and calling them out when you’re fugitives trying to keep an invaluable relic safe. It would have said more about the group’s maturity if Blake had succeeded in avoiding a scene and they expressed anger/sympathy among themselves that she had to put up with that shit. Throwing guys into dumpsters is satisfying as hell, but it’s not the action of a level-headed adult conducting a job.

Provided that the story actually acknowledges how young they are and that it’s expected they make such mistakes, we’re golden. As it is though, these issues are usually brushed aside. Later Maria says that Pietro “likes to keep a low profile. Something I’m coming to realize you know nothing about,” but it’s said in a joking, fond manner. This isn’t treated as an actual flaw and is therefore not set up as something for the team to work on. And that, right there, is the heart of the conflict between RWBYJNR and Ozpin. He’s a fine scalpel. They’re a sledgehammer. RWBY continually introduces threats that require a delicate touch---whether it’s the possibility of spies in your midst that force you to carefully monitor who has what information, or needing to move through a city without drawing attention to yourself---these battles require a certain level of strategy and without fail our heroes are characterized as people who can only solve their problems through direct, immediate violence. You don’t walk away from a fight. Ever. Be it Cordovin or a racist drunk. The more I see of their behavior, no matter the good intentions behind it, the more it makes sense to me that Ozpin lied and kept his secrets. Our heroes simply don’t have the patient, level-headed, forward-thinking personalities required to fight this kind of delicate war. Their talent lies in the hack-’em slash-’em situations. 

Anyway, I’m getting off topic. The group runs from the guards that show up after the drunk guy incident and they manage to make it to Pietro’s place. After some fun dialogue about whether he remembers Maria and the state of his shop, we get a potential explanation for Maria’s strange behavior on the train. Everyone remember this?

Obviously the camera focusing on Maria helps us, the audience, realize that she’s a character who will eventually become important to the story, but it’s also a bit coincidental that she’s hanging out near Team RWBY’s room. Especially when she inexplicably ends up on the back half of the train when everyone else was evacuated. It was clear at the time that she’d deliberately stayed back, but to what purpose no one was sure. Here, Maria gives a general answer about how she thought this group might have needed her guidance while fighting all those manticores… which is still an odd explanation to my mind. Because up until her confession leaving the farmhouse, Maria wants to keep that low-profile. She’s done with being the Grimm Reaper, so why get involved now? Especially when, with hired huntsmen to protect the train and a large group of teens with their own weapons, she probably would have assumed they were all in good hands? Even if it was just a fighter’s natural instinct to help, what would that guidance have looked like? Pretending to be a normal, formal huntress lending a hand where she can? Admitting she’s the Grimm Reaper? Is she still able to fight? There’s still the highly coincidental nature that Maria, the greatest huntress of a generation, just happened to be traveling the same route as and randomly became interested in the group involved with Salem, gods, and the relics.

To be clear, I’m not really arguing that there’s some big conspiracy surrounding Maria. Coincidences are common in all fiction because if things happened based on real-life probability, it would all be pretty boring. Rather, I’m simply pointing out that between losing her eyes as a young adult and coincidentally getting involved with Team RWBY now, we pretty much have no idea what Maria has been up to for most of her life. If the story wanted to establish some sort of betrayal/trickery/what-have-you, there’s room for it.

That would make me super sad though. I quite like Maria.

We learn more about Ironwood’s increasing paranoia, a hint that not everyone on the council is happy with his changes---that mysterious woman we keep seeing on the posters, perhaps?---and the acknowledgement that whoever helped bring down Atlas’ tech at Beacon has to be “Either a genius, or one of our own.” Probably both. Enter Watts, seen typing at a computer in our opening.

With all this info bearing down on them, a few characters like Jaune and Oscar start asking whether they can just leave and yes, please tackle that, because it’s a very important question. Right now the show has stalled the, “Will the group continue the fight against Salem and what’s their reasoning for doing so when they all think it’s pointless?” question by throwing up another roadblock with the relic. They got it to Atlas, but they’re not sure they can hand it off to Ironwood yet, which just leaves them twiddling their thumbs. That portion of the quest isn’t technically complete yet, putting off an answer as to whether and why they’ll go onto the next portion. We need to tackle the group’s new motivations though. Soon. I sincerely hope that when Ironwood announces he has a way of defeating Salem, we finally get the group challenging their own assertions that such attempts are fundamentally useless. We had a whole volume of, “Oh no. Oh god. Salem is immortal and all our work is for naught.” We need at least a little attention paid to the development of a new perspective to counteract that.

Before things can get too bleak though, Pietro recognizes Weiss as a Schnee. Yang, in a lovely moment of support, desperately tries to re-direct the conversation back to the council. Pietro then recognizes her arm, puts it all together to get Team RWBY, and drops the loaded comment, “My daughter has told me so much about you.”

Many fans saw it coming. Even more hoped for it. Honestly? I think that’s great. Too many shows nowadays rely on “twists” that don’t actually make sense, or even undermine the original setup. Those are frustrating beyond belief and feel like the authors are selling out good story for cheap, undesired shock value. The fandom saw Penny’s resurrection coming a mile away? Great! That just means Rooster Teeth did a good job of setting up that possibility and then following through on it.

I’ll talk more about Penny’s introduction in a moment, but first I just want to throw out that I legitimately enjoyed the fight scene. Good action and creative teamwork at times. I particularly liked Weiss and Ren working together to take down four grimm in as many seconds. Oscar likewise takes a grimm out with a very impressive strike… more impressive than I was expecting from him, honestly. Right now I suppose I’m just inclined to shrug that off with, “He and Ozpin are slowly merging, so he picks up stuff way faster than everyone else,” most notably Jaune. Also, I’ll be blunt. I wouldn’t touch canon-based rosegarden with a ten-foot pole. You know, because of all the issues like a massive age difference, two minor characters involved, questions of consent, the fact that Ruby was Ozpin’s student---pesky ethical concerns like that. AUs though? I think the ship is adorable. Provided that Oscar is fully his own person and there’s consent on both sides appropriate for whatever ages they currently are in your fic or fanart? Very nice. So, it’s for those fans that I point out an entirely coincidental parallel: Ruby saves Oscar from a grimm with a bullet in nearly the exact same manner that Blake saves Yang from a grimm with a bullet. Make of that what you will.

Back to Penny though. Overall, am I thrilled that she’s back? Absolutely. I actually spoke about this recently while answering an ask, expressing how much I’d enjoy this very scenario: having her consciousness saved and thus allowing for her resurrection. Do I think her new look is adorable? Yes, yes I do. “And yet,” you say, “It sounds like there’s a ‘but’ somewhere in there, Clyde.” Yeah. Sadly there is. Because although I’m happy to have Penny, I wasn’t particularly taken with how they re-introduced her.

Simply put, there was far too much humor for what should have been a touching, emotional scene. With the exception of one moment where Ruby tries to voice the word “killed,” everyone treats Penny’s resurrection as a surprising, but not terribly notable event. Yang, Weiss, and Blake express a sort of long-suffering fondness as they comment on how wholesome this is. Pietro laughs at any shock over her “death” and shrugs about how yeah, it technically was. Whatever. Qrow takes the time to nonchalantly say that things are going better than he expected. Ruby is holding it all together with barely a blink. Penny herself is nothing but exuberance and funny dialogue. Maria cracks a joke about how she has no idea who this child is. Jaune goes, “Well, that was unexpected” as if Penny had showed up in Atlas when they all thought she was in Vacuo. That sort of surprise. The whole thing is treated flippantly with, “Never a dull moment.” Summarized, all this really isn’t the appropriate reaction to realizing a friend is no longer dead.

Yes, Ruby was the closest to Penny by far---we can’t expect everyone to get misty-eyed---but does everyone remember what her death was like? It was the turning point of the entire series, not just for the audience, but the characters as well. Penny was the first casualty of the Fall of Beacon and her death was appropriately gut wrenching. It was then shown across every TV turned to the Vytal Festival, the moment where the whole world watched their golden girl, Pyrrha, unintentionally murder a newcomer who turned out to be a robot. Moments later grimm start attacking and the safest place on Remnant is destroyed. Penny’s death heralded all that. The one time we see Ruby tackling the trauma of it all is when she speaks with Oscar and, notably, crumbles a bit when she instinctively uses Penny’s catch phrase.

What I had hoped for was the group grappling with the sudden, completely unexpected shock of getting one of two losses back; working through the knowledge that their lives have been defined by two friends’ death and now one of those has been retroactively erased. Perhaps we’ll see that in future episodes, but right now it feels like a disservice to the impact Penny’s death had on the characters and the story to treat this as such a comic, light-hearted moment. Let Penny tackle-hug Ruby and then let Ruby give her a much more sincere embrace. Let her cry. Have Yang put a hand on Ruby’s shoulder, giving her a look that expresses how she understands what this means to her. Have Jaune looking away, devastated that Ruby miraculously got her friend back, but such an event is impossible for Pyrrha. Let him or Oscar or Ren or anyone seriously acknowledge that, holy shit, this is a joyous occasion we never expected to experience. We’ve spent months dealing with trauma and pessimism, now here’s Penny, reminding us that there’s still so much good in the world. Have someone acknowledge that sometimes the impossible happens (cough-defeatingSalem-cough). You can allow the moment to function as the momentous occasion it is and then lighten the mood by having Maria announce that she has no idea what’s going on.

This isn’t the first time Rooster Teeth has implemented comedy when they were better off sticking with drama. See: the choice to animate punching Ozpin last volume in an absurd, cartoon style. So yeah. Happy to have Penny back, but that first moment felt underwhelming, to say the least.

We then have an admittedly very cool shot—

— (semblance? Just awesome drama?) right before the group is taken out in seconds by Atlas’ elite. They’re… I don’t know how to spell their name yet. Is it something like Ace-Ops for elite special operations? Or Aesop like Aesop’s fables? Potentially both? Idk. The fandom will figure that out in the next day or so, if they haven’t already. What’s important though is that this group charges our team with stealing an airship, illegally entering the city with it, and starting an unauthorized fight in the streets. If I could just take one second to…

Ahem. I’m good. Seriously though, if I’m at all optimistic for Volume Seven it’s because the story is finally acknowledging that the group made some pretty massive mistakes last volume. Not that it looks like there will be much punishment attached to that. Between them meeting with Ironwood in the trailer and the Blah-Blah-Ops’ clear status as heroes this volume (they’re in the opening a bunch and seem to be working with RWBYJNR), I’m not yet convinced that this arrest will lead to anything other than getting precisely what they want: seeing Ironwood. To be clear, it’s not like I want the group languishing in jail for twelve episodes. That would be one hell of a boring volume. But rather, I’m interested in whether the story will continue to imply that Atlas is in the right for arresting them, or whether Episode Two will quickly turn that on its head and forcefully announce, as they did in Volume Six, that these actions are an egregious insult because we’re the protagonists. How dare you not let us do whatever we want?

Because the group was in the wrong here. It can be easy to miss considering that the rules they’re refusing to obey are tied up in a dictator-like society---aren’t we the heroes for ignoring and circumventing evil Ironwood’s laws?---but what they actually choose to do has far more of an impact on innocent civilians than it does on The Man. Like endangering all of Argus with your needless battle. Or, to a much smaller extent here, jumping into a fight when you’re not authorized to do that. Now, I actually don’t blame RWBYJNR for that one. They are huntsmen and it’s their job to protect the people. Going out to defeat grimm is 100% their thing. Rather, I’m talking about stuff like their commentary on Atlas’ defenses. When the fight starts we get, “I guess the city’s defenses aren’t doing much” and “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” It’s more of that, “Us huntsmen are the only true defenders of the world. Your attempts with robots would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous” attitude. It’s a certain level of arrogance. As we see just a minute later though, Ironwood’s setup works. Because the civilians all know to get indoors. Because he has Penny. The robots hold off the grimm until she arrives, defeating the rest with a speed and an ease that frankly doesn’t compare to what we saw the group accomplishing. She does from above what it took nine of them to manage, often (as we saw with Oscar and Yang) with great danger to them in the process. When they’re bound and accused of unauthorized fighting, it’s clear that they were, in fact, shouldering their way into a situation where they weren’t needed---and potentially causing trouble in the process. Rules exist for a reason. Are they always perfect? Far from it, but in the characterization folding over from Volume Six, the group has forgotten that most of the time rules are there for others’ safety. They have been thought out. This particular situation is easily defendable (of course they’re going to go fight grimm) and there were no consequences to the group jumping in when they weren’t allowed (like property damage or injured civilians), but this moment does function as a good representation of the overall problem. Just because there weren’t consequences for saying, “Screw your laws” this time doesn’t mean there won’t be in the future. Or that there hasn’t been in the past.

It likewise stands out to me that Qrow consistently tires to use his “I’m a licensed huntsmen” as a justification. He flashes it at the two goons on the train to get them to back off. He tires to use it to get past Cordovin. He now tells his captors that he has every right to fight and protect the people because of this card he carries. Qrow is well aware of how important the status of a huntsmen is in this world… yet he’s running around with eight fighters who don’t have that legal backing. I don’t think the show would ever go for my suggestion of another school arc so they could finish their training, but at the very least we should provide some sort of loop-hole for these characters. Have Ironwood provide special licenses based on their heroics at the Fall of Beacon and their work since. Because right now we have a world that’s continually emphasizing being a huntsmen as a job, something you earn the right to call yourself, yet 95% of our group doesn’t have that right in the eyes of their society. We know they’ve done great, secret work to protect the people. But the people only know that these are a bunch of teens with one year of formal training. So you really can’t blame any officials for going, “Sorry. We’re not in the habit of letting random people with weapons cross our borders. Or fight in our streets.” It’s like if a bunch of 14-18yos arrived at a crime scene with guns and demanded that they be let in on a case. No, we never graduated from an academy, but you should adhere to our demands anyway. The good intentions are there, but you need to iron out the formalities first. 

Really, RWBY should just fix the whole license thing with a throw-away plot point if they’re not going to tackle it seriously, just so this isn’t an ethical issue anymore. I’d rather smooth it over soon since the story doesn’t seem interested in tackling whether a group with one year of formal training should be allowed that status. So just give it to them and let’s move on. They might still run into issues with Atlas, but at least the rest of the world won’t be expected to trust them purely on faith. Not everyone belongs to a small town terrorized by a geist, with four random teens as your only option for safety.

Which finally, as the doors close on our group with heavy heads, brings us to the opening. Some things to pay attention to:

1. We get a glimpse of that mysterious woman shown in numerous posters across the city. 

(I’m likewise interested in the very long shot we got on this “show your teeth” graffiti.) 

2. Watts and Tyrian are presented as primary antagonists. Interesting that Neo and Cinder aren’t there (not that I caught anyway), especially since we know they were heading to Atlas last volume as well. It makes me think that they’ll be the true threat at the end of the volume. Keeping things quiet, even in the intro, so we have no chance of guessing their plan.

3. The main conflict seems to be between Weiss and Winter, as opposed to Weiss and Jacques as many originally assumed. Those expressions don’t bode well.

4. We still see an image of Ironwood briefly flickering to Jacques though as an angry citizen throws a rock at it. Implying Jacques is secretly pulling the strings? James has simply become too much like him? We’ll have to see.

5. We get a shot of Oscar and Ironwood… training? Fighting? I’m inclined to say fighting based on his and Ozpin’s past difficulties, but that’s also up in the air.

6. The image of our staff…

…and 7. an absolutely massive cast this volume. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m concerned with RWBY’s insistence on continually introducing so many new characters, particularly characters who are important enough to warrant decent development. There simply isn’t time for them all.

(Although, is Maria in that shot? Wonder if she’ll leave the group now that she’s done her duty of helping Ruby out with her eyes.) 

Which brings us to the end of the premier! Finally, I’d like to end with a personal note. As is quite obvious, I’m still watching and recapping RWBY, but I feel like I should be upfront about my overall lack of investment in the series right now. Chock it up to getting burned last volume, fading interest in a long-running show, just growing up and changing… I don’t claim to know precisely why I’m no longer jazzed about a new volume like I once was. But, if I perhaps appear overly critical of what I generally thought was a good—and honestly better than expected—premier? That’s probably why. The details just don’t cut it for me anymore. All caps, screaming excitement over Penny’s return or Qrow’s new outfit just doesn’t resonate much, which leaves me with a more critical perspective on the show overall. So if that’s something you’re interested in, stick around because, baring unforeseen circumstances, there will be more metas over the next three or so months. More invested in a flailing celebration of RWBY as a whole? You’re better off hitting up another blog.  

Basically, you know that shot in Pietro’s?

Note the “Days since our last nonsense” sign combined with the defeated expressions. That’s what RWBY feels like to me these days. A lot of nonsense and limited enjoyment. Ah well. Maybe Volume Seven will prove me wrong and I’ll be re-invigorated by the end of the season!

Until then, ❤️️

Minor Things of Note

Maria refers to the group as “kids” in the airship and Penny as a “child.” Acknowledging last year’s debate, I stand by the argument that just because many (but not all) of the group have reached the age of maturity in our world doesn’t mean they’re on par with the adults they were so recently rejecting. There’s a reason why the very old Maria naturally uses “kid” and “child” and it doesn’t come off as weird.

I really like the design of Pietro’s chair. Giving him something that walks on four legs is both different and a nice nod to nature among all the tech. Also, kudos to the Pinocchio reference on his bookshelf in the form of a whale.

Nora remains as adorable as ever. I particularly liked her energy in Pietro’s and her high-key annoyance at Ren getting a jump on the fight. I’m interested in what we’ll be learning about her this volume. 

Not sure I’m a fan of Rooster Teeth using these squeaky toy noises whenever the group is comically surprised by something. Comedy is great, we need it in this story, but sound effects like that are remnants (ha) of a tone we haven’t really seen since Volume 1. I think the show can still get away with exaggerated facial expressions---Nora in her excitement, Ruby laughing at Jaune’s Pumpkin Pete’s sweatshirt---but this feels a bit out of place now.

“Maybe Atlas isn’t as safe as we thought” and yet, astoundingly, no one is inclined to ask Ozpin to weigh in on this. Even now that they know he’s listening. I think I’ll start a tally. See how many episodes it takes to actually acknowledge, let alone act on, the primary conflict of Volume 6.

Image Credit

Personal screenshots from RWBY 

Transflag: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transgender_Pride_flag.svg

Doctor Who GIF: https://tenor.com/view/doctor-who-tired-harriet-jones-gif-5627138

How I Met Your Mother GIF: https://giphy.com/gifs/celebrate-2o5Ypf4fP6ahq

[fantasies-become-your-legacy]

Still taking prompts? Stuckony with established stucky trying to woo Tony who is almost willfully oblivious to their attempts, firmly believing that they could never want him when they have each other

YESSSsssssssssssSSSSSSSSSSsssss. Man, I love this type of shit.

It sort of got away from me BUT THE GIST OF YOUR PROMPT IS THERE I SWEAR~~~~~~~~~~

In nearly every room Tony walked into, he was the smartest person. He was used to that from a young age, it was almost commonplace. When he started meeting members of the Avengers and their associates, however, that certainty became challenged. To be frank, a challenge he revelled in. But, not by a long way, was Tony Stark ever considered to be the most foolish in a room.

Not unless he wanted to be.

Tony was observant, almost to a strange degree. After a brief amount of time with someone, he could remember nearly every tick of the other person. He knew Clint had a favouring to his left side, so always stood on it to speak with him. He knew Natasha had different teas for different mood, and which to keep stocked at what time. He knew when Thor was getting to locked in his own head and to ask him to help him test the suit in a spar to break the big guy out of his slumps. He knew a lot of minor details about everyone, nothing, not a lean or shuffle went unnoticed by Tony. So, yes, he was more than aware the super soldier duo were flirting with him. He just knew it was a lost cause to begin with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve and Bucky had been together on and off for as long as either of them could remember. Moving in together when they were younger was one of the happiness decisions of their lives, and the fact they could do the same now but didn’t have to hide their relationship was truly amazing. Bucky’s health had been steadily improving while living in the compound, so much so he has officially signed on as an Avenger. With the approval and recommendation of one Tony Stark. After all that had happened between them in Siberia, Bucky had assumed the worst. Stark wanted leverage over him. But when he went to visit Stark to see his demands, he walked away with an appointment to get his arm updated. The next visit saw a fully functioning arm, the next saw combat upgrades, the next an invitation to spar with the team (not just Steve and Natasha as he had been doing up to this point). It seemed Tony Stark didn’t want to hurt him, rather to help him. Bucky vowed to find out what his motives were right away.

Visiting the workshop was an accident at first. He was looking for the garage to take Steve’s bike out for a ride but found the workshop instead.

“You going to hover in the doorway all day or you coming in? I could actually use your help with something if you have a sec?” Tony asked, perched on a table to get a better angle at the suit hanging in front of him. Bucky silently came over, standing awkwardly, as if awaiting instructions. “Chill, blue steel, I just need you to try and rip the reactor out of this suit.”

“You need me to what?” Bucky squawked, looking down unconsciously at the reactor in Stark’s own chest.

“I took some severe damage to my suit when you tried it in Siberia. Now, that’s fine for me, I don’t need it to live anymore, rather it’s a precaution. But if this baby goes down in Rhodey’s suit, he’s trapped in a metal cage that he can’t get out of to run away from. That can’t happen. So, please, try to wreck this suit.”

It became commonplace after that. Tony would use Bucky as a durability tester on all his upgrades for the team. It actually helped him work out several bugs that he wouldn’t have noticed until a field test, by which it was too late by Tony’s opinion.

“You need to eat.” Tony stated abruptly one day, dropping a plate of sandwiches on Bucky’s lap. “Pastrami on rye, I know you can’t pass those bad boys up.” He knew for a fact they were the other man’s favourite.

“What?”

“We’ve been working for six hours straight, and you hadn’t eaten before you came down. Eat. I don’t want you passing out on me.”

“Careful, Shellhead, it sounds like you care.” Bucky teased.

“Of course, I care. Steve won’t try and break my stuff, you’re the only test dummy I have.” He winked before returning to the bow in front of him.

It was then he went from ‘Stark’ to ‘Tony’ in Bucky’s mind.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Realising he was in love with Tony took a little longer.

Bucky had taken to hanging out in the workshop when he wasn’t working with Tony. Something he knew Steve used to do before everything that happened, happened. He’d sit in the corner of the room on the couch on his laptop, catching up on things he’d missed, or just reading. It was peaceful.

“I really like having you down here.” Tony said out of the blue. “It’s nice not being alone down here again, sort of feels like we’re all coming back together again.”

“Do you want us all to be together?” Bucky asked carefully, knowing the accords and what went down was a lot of mental pain for the genius.

“I want my family back.”

Somehow, after that, Steve came to the workshop again.

The three of them were tense at first, unsure how Steve would fit in this new dynamic, but for no reason. Within the week Steve’s painting supplies retook their old home in the corner, Bucky and Tony started taking regular breaks so they all could eat together, Tony didn’t flinch when Steve touched him. Things were becoming a new normal that suited them all.

Until Bucky screwed it up.

Well, he thought he had. Or rather, he was going to.

There had been a gala, a black-tie event hosted by the Maria Stark foundation to raise money for city repairs after the last attack on New York. Tony had organised the most lavish event and ensured the Avengers were all in attendance. All was going well, he was drinking, dancing with Steve, all in all having the best night he’d had in a while. Then something strange happened.

Rather, then Strange happened.

Some surgeon, (established, rich, asshole surgeon), had been by Tony’s side for far too long. Bucky felt jealously burn in his chest when he saw that prick making Tony laugh or touching his arm or standing entirely too close for people who had just met. It was enough to make Bucky’s blood boil.

Few things in life are certain: the grass is green, the sky is blue, Steve Roger’s is a terrible liar, and you can tell exactly what Bucky Barnes is thinking by the look on his face. This particular fact was know very well by Steve Rogers, who caught the look and was by Bucky’s side again in a flash.

“You too, huh?” Steve sighed, glaring over at Tony and the surgeon.

“Me what too?” Bucky snapped his head to Steve in confusion.

“You’re jealous—”

“I just think Tony shouldn’t be wasting his time with some—”

“—because you like him too.” That gave Bucky a moment for pause.

“Of course I like him, he’s my closest friend after you.”

“No, Buck, you have feelings for Tony.”“What?” He laughed, shaking his head in disbelief, before looking over at Tony and seeing that stupid crinkle his eyes do when he laughs, which was too adorable to be fair really and—“Oh my god I like Tony.”

“Welcome to the club, pal.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For Steve, it had been a long time coming.

Falling in love with Tony just came so naturally to him that it wasn’t a shock when he realised it. More of an Oh, of course it’s you. It’s been you all along.

They’d all been in the workshop, Tony under the bottom of some old car while Bucky was under the hood. The two of them were set on making this old Corvette pristine again, Tony even built a new smart engine for her. Steve watched on affectionately as Tony rolled out from underneath, looked up at Bucky and smiled. One of those big smiles that reached his eyes and makes them crinkle in a way that’s all too adorable to be fair. Then he turned that damned look to Steve and everything clicked.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as they realised their joint affections, and that both of them wanted to bring Tony into the relationship, the super soldier duo set to romancing the genius.

Flowers were sent to the workshop with the note To brighten your day as much as you brighten ours. Tony had laughed and attributed it to a prank from Clint.

Bucky had the genius idea of breaking a part off of his arm, so Tony had to repair it, but that only got him a long, angry lecture and an “I told you so” from Steve.

Steve tried chocolate covered strawberries which Tony immediately threw out as Pepper was coming over that day.

The pair were becoming exhausted trying to think of new methods to woo Tony. The rest of the Avengers caught on when they made sure Tony had to sit between them at movie night, Tony just thought sitting next to the ‘two space heaters’ was a solution to his always being cold.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You need a hand with this, doll?” Bucky smiled easily as he took a stack of papers out of Tony’s arms.

“Yeah actually, can you get Bruce to help me categorise these mission reports?”

“I can help.”

“You hate paperwork.” Tony pointed out warily.

“So do you, so let me help and it will be over quicker.” Bucky continued, heading for the office with the now dumbfounded Tony looking on behind.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh! I got it!” Steve rushed out to grab the door ahead of Tony, who only looked up at him in confusion.

“I have hands?”

“Yeah, no, I know. I just, I didn’t want you spilling your coffee, and I was here so I thought I’d just get it.”

“Right…thank you, I guess.” Tony said warily, walking through and shaking Steve’s weird behaviour off.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It’s your favourite flower, right?” Steve smiled, rocking back on the balls of his feet as he waited for Tony’s reaction to his painting.

“They are. Steve, its beautiful but you didn’t have to paint me anything. Let me pay you at least, this is far too much effort for me.”

“Tones no, it’s a gift. Buck was saying you wanted to keep flowers, but you suck at keeping plants alive. Can’t kill a painting.” He beamed, proud of his logic. Tony actually laughed at that.

“That’s fair. Huh…I didn’t think he was listening to me ramble. Good to know. Thank you, Steve, I mean it.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony Stark was observant, almost to a strange degree. After a brief amount of time with someone, he could remember nearly every tick of the other person. He knew Steve hated the cold more than he did, so made sure Friday kept the heat at an even temperature in every room he was in. He knew that Bucky hated confined spaces, so made sure always to hold training in a room with windows so he never felt trapped. He knew they were both trying to woo him.

Tony Stark was never considered to be the most foolish in a room.

Not unless he wanted to be.

He knew all too well the soldiers cared for him. Cared for…wrong wording. Were interested in Tony. Crushes and infatuations happened all the time, he was no stranger to it. The soldiers wanted to try something new in their relationship, then Tony would be cast aside when the next new thing came along. He was a fad, a fun idea, nothing more. And nothing would happen. His heart wouldn’t take it if it did.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was when Peter came to the compound for training and Steve and Bucky both immediately jumped on him, offering to help him with his homework or sparring, Tony finally blew up.

“What is your problem?” Tony growled, pulling them into a meeting room while Happy quizzed peter on his various web functions.

“What are you talking about! We just wanted to help out with the kid.” Bucky smiled innocently.

“You hate kids.” Tony shot back.

“Yeah, under the age of five. This one’s cool.”  Tony rolled his eyes and ignored that, turning on Steve.

“You! You can’t lie for shit, what are you two up to?”

“Nothing! We’re just trying to help you out!”

“Because I’m so useless right?” Tony laughed, leaving the other two confused.

“I’m sorry what?”

“Doll, what’re you talking about?”

“I know exactly what you two have been doing. Holding doors, helping with paperwork, making sure I eat, you make me take breaks from my work because you think I can’t do anything by myself! You treat me like a damn child!”“We were trying to be sweet!” Bucky defended.

“By treating me like some helpless damsel who can’t walk two feet without a big strong man there to protect her? Look, I understand what you two have been trying to do, and I’m not interested.” Steve and Bucky’s hearts immediately sank.

“You aren’t?”

“Look, Steve, ten years ago I’d have jumped at the chance of a threesome with you too but that isn’t me anymore. I can’t do flings. My last relationship was a five-year thing, I’m a relationship guy now I don’t sleep around. Not even for you two. I’m sorry.”

“Wait,” Steve grabbed Tony’s wrist as he tried to leave. “We don’t want to just sleep with you, we want to be with you. Together, all of us.”

“It would never work.” Tony said immediately pulling away. “You’d get bored, you’d get jealous—”

“We both want you, doll, it won’t be like that, we just wanted to ask you to try—” Bucky began before he was cut off.

“We can’t! It wouldn’t work! Don’t think I didn’t notice how jealous you got at the gala when I was only with Stephen.” That was the last straw for Bucky, who let of an exasperated laugh.

“Oh, he’s Stephen now! Please, Tony, tell me you wouldn’t be jealous if you saw someone flirting with the man you loved!”

“Flirting! He’s an old friend, who is happily engaged. How dare you even—wait. Loved?” Tony shook his head, his mouth trying to form words he couldn’t think of.

“Yes. Love.” Steve smiled a little. “You thought this was just some game to us?”

“You guys are so perfect together I just…I can’t see—I can’t see why you’d still want me too.” Bucky caught Tony’s chin and tilted his head up to look at them. “Because you’re everything we’ve been missing and more. You’re our missing piece. It feels like we’ve been waiting our whole lives for you. And I refuse to lose you because you’re scared. I love you.”

“I love you.” Steve echoed.

In nearly every room Tony walked into, he was the smartest person. You didn’t need to be a genius, however, to know what he was feeling. Few things in life are certain: the grass is green, the sky is blue, Steve Roger’s is a terrible liar, you can tell exactly what Bucky Barnes is thinking by the look on his face, and Tony Stark wears his heart on his sleeve.

“I love you both too.”

[blueares]

Ruination Rewrite: Piltover/Zaun

Piltover/Zaun Part I

The day after your training, you and the other Sentinels arrive in the city of Piltover. It comes as no surprise to see that the Black Mist has already descended onto the city, though what does surprise you is that, for once, the Sentinel outpost isn’t abandoned.

Ada: “Dess, on your left!”

Dess: “Thanks, Ada!”

“Holy crap! Living Sentinels!”

“So I guess not every outpost is abandoned, after-all.”

Senna: “No time to stop and stare, Rookie! Let’s lend them a hand!”

You and the other Sentinels charge into the fray, following Senna’s directions. The two Piltovan Sentinels stop and stare at you all in surprise.

Ada: “Woah! Where did you guys come from?”

Lucian: “Long story! For now, just keep your focus on these damn wraiths!”

Dess: “I guess there ARE still some Sentinel outposts left standing. Well then, time to turn the tables!”

As the other Sentinels fan out and try to clear away the wraiths assaulting the outpost, you are left to guard the entrance, alone. You think back to your training, recalling Senna’s instructions.

Senna: “Listen, Rookie: I know you’re not much a fighter, but we need everyone pulling their weight out there. It’s not enough to just bring us in and out with that Wayfinder of yours, and you also can’t expect us to bail you out of trouble every time. That’s why I’m giving you this. If you’re ever in a bind, use it.”

Dess: “Hey, look out!”

You snap back to the present to see multi-headed wraith rush toward you, its mouths open as though ready to devour you whole. You reach into your pocket and pull out the shard of Relicstone that Senna gave you, holding it aloft. The wraith stumbles back as the light of Relicstone pulses around you before going dim.

Senna: “Good job, Rookie!”

Senna blasts the possessed wraith apart with a single shot. Soon, the fighting around you subsides and the wraiths are driven back, for the time-being.

“Is it over?”

“Looks like I saved the day.”

Riven response 1: “Yeah, looks like it. For now, anyway.”

Riven response 2: “Uh, yeah… I guess.”

Gwen: “My, you two have such an interesting choice of fashion! Did you design your wardrobes yourselves?”

Dess: “Uh, thank you?”

Ada: “Hey, what with your weapons? That doesn’t look like Relicstone.”

Lucian: “Scissors is special, but we can fill you in on that later. For now, we need to speak to your commanding officer.”

Ada: “Yeah, about that…”

Dess: “They’re dead. We’ve been running things here in Piltover for a while now.”

Ada: “The names Ada, by the way.”

Dess: “And I’m Dess.”

Ada & Dess: “Welcome to Piltover.”

Piltover/Zaun Part II

You reconvene back inside the outpost to exchange information with Ada and Dess, explaining the situation and your plan to stop the Ruined King.

Ada: “So this Viego guy is destroying the world because he wants to find the pieces of dead wife? Ew.”

Dess: “And you’re telling me that one of those pieces might be here in Piltover?”

“That’s the gist of it.”

“If the Mist is here, odds are that a fetter is, too.”

Shen: “I have been to Piltover before, though I sensed nothing of the sort in my travels…”

Riven: “Well, we just have to follow the Mist, right? Where it goes, that’s probably where we’ll find the fetter.”

Senna: “Right. But the longer we spend talking here, the more likely Viego or one of his cronies is to find the fetter. Ada, Dess, you two have been handling the situation so far. Have you noticed any peculiar behavior in the Mist’s movement?”

Ada: “Now that you mention it…”

Dess: “A lot of it seems to be flowing down into Zaun. I feel bad for the people of the undercity. They don’t have state-of-the-art evac shelters to flee to, unlike the people of Piltover.”

Diana: “And how do we reach this Zaun?”

Ada: “Well, most of the lifts and stairways have been blocked off by chembarons, but there are a few secret passages here and there if you know where to look.”

Lucian: “And I’m guessin’ you know where to look, am I wrong?”

Dess: “Follow us, we’ll lead you to one that’s close by.”

You follow Ada and Dess through the Mist-filled streets of Piltover. Many buildings seem to be in a state of disrepair, their windows smashed in and their doors broken down. The screams of wraiths can be heard all around you, as can the sound of gunfire.

“Are those gunshots? Does that mean someone else is fighting back against the Mist?”

“I thought you two were the only Sentinels left in Piltover, or do the wraiths have guns now?”

Ada: “Oh that? That would be Piltover’s famous law enforcement at work. Of course, most of the actual enforcers don’t stand much of a chance against a Harrowing, so they’ve sent robots to do the job for them.”

As if on cue, you round a corner to see several hextech machines unloading their weapons against swarms of the undead. Though this seems mildly effective at first, the Mist starts to creep its way into the machines’ metal frames, taking full control.

Ruined Sentry: “…”

Lucian: “Oh, you gotta be kidding me! We’re dealing robot ghosts now!?”

The possessed machines all turn their attention toward the Sentinels, raising their weapons in preparation to fight. As your allies ready to defend themselves, though, you hear a voice call out from up ahead.

???: “Energize!”

Suddenly, the Ruined sentries are all blown apart by an explosion of energy.

Olaf: “What in the Volibear’s name was that!”

???: “Are you folks OK? You should probably get to a shelter. It’s not safe out here.”

Piltover/Zaun Part III

The figure before you smiles confidently as the weapon in his hands suddenly transforms from cannon to hammer.

???: “I’m guessing you must have missed the evac order.”

“Who are you? One of the enforcers?”

“Woah, nice hammer! Gun? Hammer-gun?”

Dess: “His name’s Jayce. He’s sort of a… Local hero around these parts. Not one of the enforcers, though.”

Jayce: “Oh, Ada. Dess. I didn’t see you there. If you’re here, this I guess these strangers must be Sentinels too, huh? Good. By my calculations, clearing these specters out of Piltover will be a lot faster with your help.”

Gwen: “Oh, actually, we need to reach a place called Zaun! We were just on our way there now, in fact.”

Jayce: “You’re going down to Zaun? Why?”

Ada: “Long story short, if we can get to the undercity, we can drive the Mist out of both Zaun and Piltover in one fell swoop.”

Jayce: “Is that so? But most of the pathways have been blocked off.”

Vayne: “Don’t worry about that. We’ll find our own way down. More importantly, we’ve spent enough time standing around talking. We need to get moving before we lose another fetter.”

Jayce: “Hmm… I can’t say I understand your logic, but you seem to know what you’re doing. Alright, if you really think this method of yours will work, then I suppose I can accompany you all until you reach the undercity.”

With that, Jayce casually integrates himself into your party, not seeming to care if anyone objects. You continue to follow Ada and Dess as they guide you through a secret passageway in a nearby alley, descending further and further until you reach Zaun at last. All around you, the screams of wraith and people alike echo throughout the undercity, mixed in with the sounds of rogue machinery possessed by the Mist.

Dess: “Damn. It seems like the situation here is worse than we thought.”

Riven: “Ngh… I really hoped I’d never need to see Zaunite chemical weapons again…”

Jayce: “I had no idea the situation was so bad down here… Damn it…”

Senna: “Everyone, focus! We need to figure out where the Mist is going and get to the fetter as soon as possible! That’s the only way to help these people!”

Your eyes scan the chaos carefully, and you soon noticed that the Black Mist seems to have heavily concentrated on large structure further below you.

“Hey guys, down there!”

“I think it’s going for that factory, or maybe it’s a lab?”

The others follow your gaze, but as Jayce lays eyes on the building in question, his face pales a little in shock.

Jayce: “No… What have you done this time?”

Suddenly, Jayce rushes off in a hurry, forcing his way through the chaos with his hammer.

Gwen: “Oh dear! Whatever was that all about?”

Lucian: “Don’t know, but it seems like he’s headin’ to the same place we are. I say we follow him.”

Ada: “You guys go on ahead! Dess and I need to try and get the situation down here under control!”

Dess: “Don’t worry, we’ll catch up with you later!”

Senna: “Are you sure?”

Ada: “Don’t worry, this is what we trained for!”

Diana: “May the moon light both your paths.”

You watch as Dess and Ada rush into the chaos, their Relictsone weapons blazing as they try to fend off the hoard of corrupted machines.

“Do you think they’ll be OK?”

“They can handle themselves, right?”

Lucian: “Have a little faith in them, Rookie. They know these streets better than us. Now, let’s get after Mr. Hero and find that fetter!”

Senna: “You heard him, Sentinels! Move out!”

Piltover/Zaun Part IV

You and the other Sentinels follow Jayce through the chaos, fending off wraiths and wraith-infested machines all-the-while. Once you reach the building, however, you notice that the undead seem unable to get inside. A peculiar current around the structure seems to be keeping them at bay.

Vayne: “Seems like whoever’s inside has figured out how to keep these monsters at bay.”

Jayce: “It won’t be enough to keep me out! Everyone, stand back!”

Jayce smashes through the entrance with his hammer and forges ahead, leading you and the other Sentinels through a series of rooms and corridors filled with unusual machinery.

Jayce: “Huh. I’m surprised he doesn’t have more defensive measures in place. He must be allocating all his resources to one point in-particular.”

Riven: “And just who is ‘he,’ exactly?”

Jayce: “You’ll meet him soon enough!”

Eventually, Jayce leads you to a larger door deeper into the facility. He throws a peculiar orb onto the ground, which splits apart to create a single current between the two halves. Jayce’s hammer transforms again as he fires another energy blast through the current, blowing the door open.

Jayce: “Alright, Viktor. You’ve got some explaining to do.”

You step inside the room to see a man clutching a mechanical cane, a third hand extending from his shoulder. He stands before intricate machine with a parasol suspended within, protected by a glass casing.

Viktor: “…Jayce. Why must you always interfere?”

As you step closer, you notice the parasol resonating with Gwen and Senna.

“It’s the fetter!”

“Viktor? As in Viktor, the Machine Herald?”

“Uh, that guy has three arms. Is that normal?”

Lucian response 1: “Yeah, but what’s he doing with it?”

Lucian response 2: “Doesn’t matter who he is. He’s got the fetter!”

Lucian response 3: “I don’t care how many arms he has! If he doesn’t hand over that fetter, I’m shootin’ all of them off!”

Viktor: “Such simple minds… But that can be changed. This… ‘Fetter,’ as you call it, may well be the key to humanity’s progress.”

Riven: “What is he talking about?”

Jayce: “I don’t know what you’re planning, Viktor, but it’s over. I didn’t come alone.”

The Sentinels all ready their weapons, but Viktor seems unimpressed.

Viktor: “You never did understand my ambitions, Jayce, but at last I have the means to show you. A world without needless suffering. A future with no war, no disease, no pain or fear of death! By my calculations, it would have taken centuries to achieve with my previous methods, but if I can unearth the secrets of this peculiar energy source, it will advance my cause significantly!”

Suddenly, Viktor you hear footsteps coming from behind you. You turn and see several armed security golems advancing behind you, and the realization dawns: you’ve fallen into an ambush.

Senna: “Alright, that’s enough! If you won’t hand the fetter over, then we’ll have to take it by force! Olaf, Diana, flank him! Gwen, help Rookie get the fetter! Everyone else, guard the door!”

At Senna’s command, you all leap into action. You and Gwen rush the machine containing the fetter while Diana and Olaf aim to keep the Machine Herald distracted. Viktor throws a peculiar device onto the ground and fires a beam from his third hand to keep his assailants at bay. Diana surrounds herself in a barrier of light and leaps in front of Olaf to shield him from the beam.

Diana: “We won’t be stopped so easily!”

Jayce: “Wait! It’s a trap!”

Jayce’s warning comes too late. The device that Viktor threw to the ground unfolds and creates a massive dome of energy around Diana and Olaf. The two Sentinels and suddenly forced to their knees by the energy inside. By this point, however, you and Gwen have reached the machine behind Viktor.

Gwen: “Goodness, what is this contraption? How are we to detach the fetter?”

“I say we just smash and grab.”

“Maybe I can figure out how to operate this thing?”

You work with Gwen to find a means of releasing the fetter, but neither of you knows how to operate the machine, and faint barrier around the glass prevents you from breaking it.

Viktor: “Your efforts are futile. You cannot fathom the genius of my designs!”

Jayce: “No, but I can!”

Suddenly, Jayce propels himself into the air in a burst of electricity and brings his hammer down on a control panel at the front of the machine.

Jayce: “POWER SLAM!”

Viktor: “NO!”

Viktor attempts to stop you, only for Jayce to bar his path.

Senna: “Now, Rookie! Grab the fetter!”

Senna blasts the machine holding Diana and Olaf hostage, setting them free.

Olaf: “Aha! Now you face the Might of Lokfar, metal man!”

Diana, Olaf, Lucian and Senna all strike at Viktor’s barrier until, finally, their attacks break through and place Viktor at their mercy. Jayce focuses his attention on fending off the other cyborgs, generating a current of electricity around him. Amid the chaos, you yank the fetter from Viktor’s machine and feel a familiar sensation coursing through you.

“This strange feeling…”

“It’s happening again…”

Viktor: “You fool! The energy core has been compromised! Without it-”

WARNING: ENERGY CORE COMPROMISED. PLOWER FLOW UNSTABLE. REACTOR SELF-DESCTRUCT IMMINENT.

Lucian: “Uh oh. That can’t be good.”

Senna: “Everyone form up on Rookie! We need to get out of here!”

All around you, the room begins to tremble as Viktor’s reactor becomes unstable. You grasp the Wayfinder, prepared to beat a hasty retreat, but Viktor hurls a disc-like object to knock the relic from your grasp.

Viktor: “You will not escape!”

Suddenly, an explosion rocks the entire facility. You dive for the Wayfinder as the ceiling caves in on top of you. Then, there is nothing but darkness…

Piltover/Zaun Part V

You feel a familiar sense of weightlessness as odd shapes and colors fill your vision. You recognize this sensation, but something is different now. You feel as though someone or something is calling out to you, trying to get your attention. Before you can discern who, however, the world around you changes once again, and the odd voice subsides.

You find yourself once again standing on the streets of Zaun. Viktor’s lab, or what remains of it, stands before you engulfed in flame and Black Mist.

“Nice save, Shen.”

“What happened to Viktor?”

Shen response 1: “It pleases me to see everyone unharmed. Venturing through the spirit realm can be precarious, especially now of all times.”

Shen response 2: “Though I have brought us all to safety, Viktor and his acolytes remain trapped within the building.”

Jayce: “...”

Senna: “More importantly… Rookie, do you have it?”

As you come back to your senses, your memories of the last few moments return as well. You look down to find yourself holding both your Relic and the parasol.

“Good news: I have the fetter!”

“Good news: I have the Wayfinder!”

Lucian: “Good job, Rook. Now let’s get back to base before- Ugh!”

Lucian is cut off abruptly as a beam of energy strikes him in the back. You all turn to see a figure emerging from the rubble, surrounded by a thick cloud of Black Mist.

Viktor: “Yes… Yes, I see now. Removal of unnecessary emotions. Freedom from the frailty of flesh. Ruination… Evolution… ARE ONE AND THE SAME!”

You watch as Viktor transforms before your very eyes, succumbing to the Ruined King’s influence. Another beam shoots forth from his third hand, now empowered by the Black Mist. You and the Sentinels narrowly avoid the beam, but seconds later, the ground it struck explodes.

Jayce: “Viktor? What have you done, man?”

Viktor: “I have been upgraded! Come, Jayce! Relinquish your flesh! Join me!”

Jayce: “That’s not happening!”

Jayce fires a bolt from his cannon, but Viktor hardly seems to flinch from the attack. He retaliates launching a blast of concentrated Black Mist from his staff, knocking Jayce back onto the ground by your feet.

Viktor: “Inferior construct! Rise, Metal Brethren!”

All around Viktor, more figures begin to emerge from the rubble: cyborgs corrupted by the Black Mist. Viktor and his twisted army steadily approach as the Sentinels scramble to their feet, only to be cut off by a sudden hail of Relicstone light.

Ada: “Do you guys miss us!?”

Dess: “We’ll take things from here! Get the fetter back to HQ!”

“You should come with us!”

“Roger that!”

Ada response 1: “Don’t worry about us, newbie! This is our turf! We trained for this!”

Ade response 2: “You’ll make a great Sentinel someday, newbie! Now get out of here!”

Ada and Dess storm ahead to confront Viktor and his Ruined cyborgs, moving in perfect synchronicity with each other.

Senna: “You heard them, Sentinels! Form up on Rookie!”

The Sentinels quickly converge on you while Jayce climbs to his feet.

“Hey Jayce, wanna come with us?”

“Jayce, you should lend Ada and Dess a hand!”

Jayce response 1: “…I don’t like it, but it looks like I’m gonna need a little ‘upgrade’ of my own to help my city.”

Jayce response 2: “My last shot barely phased him. I hate to admit it, but I’m gonna need some new gear to take on Viktor as he is now.”

As the light of the Wayfinder engulfs you and your Sentinel allies, Jayce joins you in the transition. The chaotic streets of Zaun are replaced by the familiar walls of Sentinel Headquarters.

Lucian: “Glad to be out of there.”

Riven: “Not as glad as I am…”

Jayce: “Huh… Instantaneous long-distance travel. Your Sentinel tech seems archaic, but it operates on some pretty advanced principals. I’m gonna need to borrow some of your weapons for study.”

Senna: “I don’t think so! Relicstone’s not for your weird science experiments, and neither is THAT.”

Senna points to the fetter in your hand. The parasol continues to glow faintly in your hand, now seeming slightly brighter than before.

Vayne: “So, we’ve finally scored a fetter. I guess that teamwork training actually paid off… A little.”

Lucian: “I’ll take that, Rook. Oughta put this in the vault, where it’ll be safe.”

Senna: “And as for you, Mister Hero-”

Jayce: “Hang on. You said that getting this fetter would help drive the Harrowing out of Piltover. Isn’t that right?”

“Well, kind of…”

“It’s a little more complicated than that…”

You proceed to tell Jayce about Viego, his queen, and his mission to recollect her soul.

Jayce: “So a ghost king is scouring the world for his missing bride… I won’t lie, kid, that all sounds like some crazy fairytale.”

Shen: “We assure you: everything about it is true.”

Jayce: “Well… If that IS the case, then I guess that means Piltover won’t be safe until this Ruined King is taken down a few notches. Stripping people of their free will, their humanity… That’s not something I can abide.”

“I think I know where this is going.”

“Nice! We got a fetter AND a new recruit!”

Gwen: “Oh, joy! Do come along, Mr. Hero! I’ll have you fitted for your new attire and see if I can sculpt a weapon to your liking.”

Jayce: “I don’t mind a change in wardrobe, but don’t worry about the weapon. A few modifications to the Mercury Hammer are all I need.”

Lucian: “Hmph… We sure about this one, Senna? I don’t know if letting him play around in our vaults is a good idea.”

Shen: “I sense that his hammer is no ordinary machine… It is as though… A ancient voice sings amidst the wires and coils.”

Olaf: “I told you: a true warrior can hear their weapon’s voice!”

Senna: “Leave him be, Lucian. For now… I say we all take some time to rest and recover. Today was a victory, but we don’t have time to sit around and celebrate. The Ruined King’s gonna keep moving, and so should we.”

*Sentinel Jayce joined the party*

[dailyaudiobible]

07/03/2019 DAB Transcript

2 Kings 22:3-23:30, Acts 21:37-22:16, Psalms 1:1-6, Proverbs 18:11-12

Today is the 3rd day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am, of course, Brian like every day. It’s great to be here with you, yeah, fully getting ourselves immersed into this seventh month of the year. Tomorrow's a big holiday, the 4th of July, at least for those of us who live in the United States. It's Independence Day for us. It’s Jill's birthday as well. So, we’re looking forward to that, but let's not get out of ourselves. That's tomorrow and today is happening right now. And, so, we’ll take the next step forward in our journey through the book of second Kings. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Second Kings chapter 22 verse 3 through 23 verse 30.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we’ve been through some pretty evil kings in the book of second Kings in succession. Some even were sacrificing their children, like human sacrifice in Hinnom Valley which is which is in Jerusalem, but that we encountered the reformer, a king like no other named Josiah in second Kings today. So, he was repairing the temple when they found, the priest Hilkiah found an ancient scroll, which was the covenant between God and Israel. And, so, this was read to the king and once the king heard these words, he understood that they had strayed far from God then he was relentless in his pursuit of cleansing, like, restoring the land. So, he doesn't take up a lot of space in the Scriptures, but the Scriptures do indicate that there was no king like him.

So, then in the in the book of Acts we’re in the same city, we’re in Jerusalem, we’re just there centuries later and we are seeing come to fruition all that Paul's friends had been telling him all along his journey back to Jerusalem. He’s caused a riot, people are trying to kill him, Roman soldiers have swept in and rescued him from death, and he wants to talk to them. And, so, we began that today.

And we also started…started our second trip to the Psalms this year, which we do every year. It’s interesting how we get to this point in the year and as we hear the words of the Psalms, they have different…like…we’re used to their cadence and rhythm and what they're telling us. So, as we go through the second time, so rich, so meaningful, and we’re reminded that if we will actually take the time to meditate on God's word and His ways in our lives we’ll be like trees planted next to a river bank, we won't wither, we’ll be fruitful and prosperous and strong, which is what we want. So, the instruction there is to meditate upon God's word, allowing it to instruct our ways.

And then from Proverbs we got some practical wisdom that we have to hold onto, “pride goes before destruction, humility precedes honor”. So, what we’re basically talking about here is arrogance, right? Arrogance that lifts us above, elevates us above another person. Haughtiness can be seen in the way that we demand somebody's esteem by dominating them. So, like we’ve said so many times, if we could begin to observe, if we could watch, if we could catch ourselves doing these things we’ll see all kinds of weeds that are growing in our lives, but there supposed to be identified, like they're not supposed to be ignored. They’re supposed to be seen and identified and pulled because they’re leading us on a path that results in destruction. On the other hand, the proverb tells us that being humble before our brothers and sisters, right, the opposite of the arrogance and contempt and haughtiness. It's our humility that actually elevates us to the place of respect and honor that we keep demanding. So, in other words, if you want to be respected and be respectable and respect-full. So, demanding respect is only gonna make enemies and is only gonna destroy us in the end.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for the many things that You have shared with us through Your word today as we continue to move in and through the second half of the year. Show us how to be humble. Show us how to stop dominating people. Show us how to be comfortable in who You've created us to be. I pray this in the name of Jesus our savior. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it's where you find out what's going on around here.

Coming up pretty immediately on the calendar is the seventh day of July, just a few days from now on Sunday, this is the Daily Audio Bible long walk, a day that it is our own internal, our own community holiday and a beautiful one it is because it's a day that we set aside to go for a long walk with God, to actually have a day where all of the obligations and responsibilities, all of the chaos, all of the anxiety, all of the things that bring on the depression, like all of this stuff that plagues us, we just make a decision and say, I’m taking a day off from that and I am running to my Father because none of that is gonna make any sense any other way and I'm not living the second half of the year like that. So, we go for a long walk with the one who loves us more than anyone ever will, with the one who laid his life down on our behalf. Yeah. We go somewhere beautiful, somewhere beautiful in nature, the creation of our God and we be still and know that He is God and we be still and listen for the still small voice and we go for a long walk and we share everything that's in our hearts. Like, we just never have the time and we never will if we don't make the time, which is the point of the Daily Audio Bible long walk. We’re just making the time to go pour our hearts out and to listen as God speaks His heart to us about what the second half of the year is supposed to look like. So, make plans for that. That's on Sunday. You may be like, “well…make plans…like how do…like how do you do it?” Basically, you walk out your front door and you either get in your car or you walk from there to somewhere beautiful, whether that's a park…I mean it doesn’t matter whether you're five minutes away from where you want to be, or whether you're five hours away from where you want to be, just go somewhere that compels you, somewhere that’s beautiful and go for a long walk. So, that's very individual, but it's communal when you know that all over the world your brothers and sisters are doing this. And then we just ask, hey wherever it is that you are, you’re probably gonna have your phone, so take a picture. Like, you probably have your phone and you probably should but you probably should stay off of it, right? You can go to a park somewhere in nature and blow the entire day on social media…like say nothing to God and that’s probably not gonna be as beneficial though. But anyway wherever you go, take a picture or shoot a little video. Post it back to the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page, facebook.com/dailyaudiobible. And we’ll get those and we’ll post them up and we’ll have a little mosaic. All kinds of windows begin to open up into each other's lives, and we just get to see the beauty of the world in one day. So, it's…it's amazing, I'm looking forward to it, I need it very badly. Actually I’m very much looking forward to it. So, make plans for that this Sunday.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link, it lives on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253, is the number to dial.

And that is it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi, this is Jesse from Washington. I called in a couple a years ago and a bunch of people prayed for me. I was going through…I hadn’t even gone through a divorce with my wife. Lisa the Encourager prayed for me, a few other people. There was a bunch of stuff going on with my employees, my workplace, my family. My wife and I ended up getting a divorce, but I just wanted to call in. I’m like two months behind and I heard people keep talking about the Daily Prayer and how important it is. And I just want this to be a testimony, my testimony. It changed my life. Every day putting on the armor changed my life. Like, you have to do it or at least try it and then see what happens when you don’t put on your armor every day. It’s just…it’s a life-changing thing. It’s restored my marriage, it’s restored my family, it’s restored my business. Like, my wife and I work together in our own business that we built from nothing with no experience. And part of that stress caused us to get divorced and the Daily Audio Bible brought us back together, like finding a church home, daily prayer, Brian. Like all of this stuff, it’s taken a couple of years, but now we have another baby and another baby on the way. It’s…the best thing you could possibly do besides listening to this is to put on your armor every day. And the restoration…I don’t know what else to say other than thank you all. As pastor Genne would say, “my beautiful family.” Thank you all. I love you all. It changed my life, it’s changed the people around me’s life and we’re…my wife and I are going to be better people for our kids because of this. So, I should have written something down but I think that was the gist of it. Love you all. Thank you all. Pray for you all.

Hi DAB family, this is Scott from Tennessee. I have been putting off calling for a while, but I need prayer. There are a couple things I wanted to ask for. More immediate and pressing, I wanted to ask for prayer for my mental and physical health. I have been experiencing really intense depression and anxiety recently as well as confusion and difficulty focusing. I don’t fully understand what it’s from but I’m trying to stay grounded and I’m looking for help. And then, I’ve had food related issues that I’ve been struggling with for a while, which I think may tie in somehow to the mental stuff. And then I’ve also been struggling financially, working but having difficulty making ends meet. Seems like there’s been things just kind of cropping up all over the place that have made it difficult. Anyways, thank you all for your prayers and I enjoy listening every day. Take care. Bye.

Hey this is Jerry calling from Duluth Minnesota. And now this is the Jesus carrier from my familiar bus stop that I carried newspapers for many years listening to the DAB. Calling about three different things here. Don’t know if I’ll get all of the time in __. First of all, God has really impressed upon me how important it is to support that which is feeding me, that which is life to me and that’s the DAB family. You all have been such an incredible blessing and Brian, your faithfulness day by day step-by-step. And, so, God has impressed me to give on a monthly basis and it’s so easy to do. Set it up one time and it’s done. And I pray God would…how much do you want to give? What do you want me to give? And to be honest with you, I have nothing to give right now. My revenue is down $3000 a month from what it was a year and a half ago and it’s as a self-employed social media marketer. But God impressed me that He wanted me to $73 a month, seven is the number of perfection, seven is the years that He sustained me through my self-employment, that journey, and three for the number of the Trinity - the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit __ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the three people, the three leaders of Israel in David’s kingdom there. So, $73. Don’t have it but I’m gonna trust God for it. I’m not giving to get. I’m giving because that’s what God wants me to do. So, please, pray that what does God want you to do to support this spiritual nurturing. God has been so good to us…

Good morning Daily Audio Bible, Loralee in Boynton. Let’s pray. Giver of all, another day has started, and we take our place beneath our great Redeemer’s cross. Lord, healing streams continually flow where balm is poured into every wound, where we’re washed in the all cleansing blood confident that You see us in Christ. Help us to pick up the loins of our minds, to quicken our steps, to speed as if each moment where our last, that our life be joy, our death glory. We thank You for the temporary blessings of this world - the fresh air, the sunlight, the food that renews our strength, the garments that clothe us, the sleep that gives rest, the canopy of the stars at night, the summer breeze, the flowing streams, the relationships of family and friends. Our cup runs over. Help us appreciate these daily mercies. Your hand gives blessings, Your power turns away evil. We bring our tribute of thanks for Your graces, the full warmth of faith, the presence of Your spirit, the strength of Your restraining will. Blessed be our Father and Lord. Thank you for Daily Audio Bible family, Lord. Brian, Jill God bless you. God bless everyone. I love you. Have a great day.