#I'm so bad at writing Nora and Ren

[howlingday]

jaune is spiderman au) grandpa arc meets one of jaune's enemies, bullseye while on a date with grandma arc. grandpa arc: "what's with the get up pal? this a stick up or are ya just ugly?" grandpa arc: go ahead take my wallet chief ozpin hasn't paid me since my run in with mayor need, or as I like to call him..." granpa arc: **throws a rock at the villains head** "CHUCK!" **pulls out 500 magnum revolver** grandpa arc: "thanks for the cross hair looks both of us are getting blown tonight!" BLAM BLAM BLAM grandpa arc: "common dear I need a drink" **walks away with grandma arc** meanwhile with jaune jaune: "why the hell don't any of my villains stick around?"

Chapter 2 - Lethal Protection

Ren walked into the dorm to find newspapers spread all over the floor. Jaune lifted one, bringing it closer, before setting it down to write in his notebook nearby. He gave a hum before turning to another newspaper and repeating the process.

"I hope this isn't for an assignment."

"No, more of a... personal project." Jaune didn't look up, though his expression did show that Ren had broken his focus. "Snipe Hunt died this morning. Gunshot."

"Which one was he again?"

"Bullseye." Jaune answered quickly. "Was gonna assassinate the headmaster but I managed to stop him."

"By being late to Pyrrha's award ceremony."

"I sAID..." Jaune's voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "I said I was sorry, and she forgave me."

"She forgives everyone, Jaune." Ren shook his head. "But instead of giving you a lecture on being a good friend, I have to ask; why are you so interested in Bullseye's death if he was shot? Last I checked, he wasn't exactly the most popular guy in town."

"No, he wasn't." Jaune lifted another page. "But the fact that the news keeps calling it a murder makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Maybe we could call Lisa Lavender and ask her call it something else instead."

"I'm serious, Ren." Jaune set the pages down and gave his roommate a serious look. "Snipe was a killer. He was a bad guy, and that's something I've figured out BEFORE he tried to kill me. But if someone is going around, killing bad guys without the police or any huntsmen or huntresses involved, then it just means there's one more killer out there that I have to stop."

Ren was quiet for a moment. He'd been with Jaune in this vigilante business since catching him sneaking into the room late one night. Come next morning, he and Jaune agreed to keep quiet on both accounts, Ren about his criminal roommate and Jaune whenever he's sneaking back in for the night. Ever since, Ren had let Jaune go about his business as a crime-fighter. It was a very simple "quiet and neutral" agreement.

However, the way Jaune was speaking now was unlike anything Ren had seen before from him. Normally meek and mild, letting Cardin or Yang or even Nora pick on him while either sighing or laughing the issue off. You could step on his shoe and the worst he'd do is ask you to please get off. Here, though, Jaune had a look in his eyes that said, 'I'm doing this and you can't stop me'. Ren was actually impressed.

"Jaune?" The uncostumed hero looked to him. "What can I do to help?"

--------------------------------------------------

"Are you okay, honey?"

"Mm."

"I know you were only protecting Jaune. Your heart was in the right place."

"Mhm."

"Do you... Do you need anything?"

"...Need to talk to Jaune."

--------------------------------------------------

"So, what's the plan?" Nora chirped into Pyrrha's ear. "Break into the police station? Rough up some witnesses? Ooh~! Maybe send a message to all the goons to come forward~?"

Pyrrha tapped her earpiece. "I was thinking something less dramatic."

Jumping from the roof, she hopped from wall to windowsill to fire escape to dumpster until she landed on the ground. The same ground where the costumed criminal, "Bullseye," was murdered. Not two weeks ago, the Huntsman Spider had managed to thwart his attempt to murder her headmaster, and now he was dead by something so... simple. She scanned the crime-scene, noting where the police had left their markers for notable evidence locations.

She looked over to see Nora was still distracting the police officers by asking inane questions. Things of a range from 'How you become a police officer' to 'What if you break a law in another city and flee to Vale' nature. Pyrrha had to work fast if she wanted to avoid being caught, getting them both in trouble for different, yet connected reasons.

Pyrrha noted the chalk outline with the legs pointing to the entrance of the alley, meaning the assassin was either facing his opponent or was shot in the back while fleeing. The police reports on the news said that three gunshots were heard at the time of the murder. Loud gunshots, meaning it had to be a large gun. Closing her eyes, she twitched her fingers for her semblance to pick up anything.

Dumpsters. Fire escape. A few small things like paperclips and bolts, but nothing like a bullet. She frowned. Either the police already had the shells, which was possible, or whatever bullets were used didn't expel shells, which wouldn't make sense since only huntsmen were allowed to have weapons like that. This was a murder, though, so...

"Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Officers! I'll be sure to buy you a DONUT for your troubles~!" Pyrrha flinched. It was time to go. Carefully moving to the shadows where she could more easily escape, Pyrrha began her climb to the rooftops.

"So, how did it go?" Nora asked in Pyrrha's ear.

"Not good." Pyrrha replied. "Being a vigilante is a lot harder than it looks."

"Then maybe you should give up." Pyrrha whirled around and swung at the dark-cloaked figure behind her. Her attack was blocked, but that wouldn't stop her. She swung her other fist in, catching the thugs in their armored sided, making them grunt and let go. Pyrrha kept her fists up, only held back by the figure holding up their hand. "I'm not here to fight you."

"Pyrrha? Pyrrha, what's going on?"

Pyrrha thought for a moment about how best to respond. She could tell Nora that she was under attack right now, making the two jump into combative states and potentially make things worse. Otherwise...

"I tripped." Pyrrha said into her earpiece. The figure across from her rubbed their side where they were punched.

"Seriously?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'll meet you at rendezvous point."

"The what?"

"The place we're meeting up."

"Alright," Nora said, "I'm getting cocoa!"

"Thank you for not getting her involved." The figure said.

"I can easily change that with a phone call, now talk." Pyrrha glared through her goggles. Could she beat this opponent? The punch Pyrrha landed earlier told her yes, but she preferred to err on the side of caution when she could. "Who are you?"

"I'm... Black." The figure said. "I'm a vigilante."

"Why are you here?"

"To stop you from being one."

"What?"

"This isn't a game..." The air was left open as an introduction, which Pyrrha gladly gave with her fists to her hips.

"I'm the Red Huntress!"

"Right... The Red... Huntress..." It was clear Black didn't care for the simple name Pyrrha gave herself. "This isn't a game. People can get hurt out here. People DO get hurt out here."

"If it's so dangerous, then why are you doing it?" Pyrrha asked.

"Because I need to." Black said. "The White Fang are up to something in this city, and I need to be the one to stop it."

"Just you?" Pyrrha asked. "Seems a bit selfish, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you, and you are literally wearing just goggles and a cape." Black said with a groan. By contrast, the dark-cloaked figure was wearing bulletproof... everything over a black bodysuit. If Pyrrha didn't know any better, she'd assume Black was a special operations member separated from their team. They gave a sigh. "Look... What will it take for you to go home?"

Pyrrha thought for a moment. "What can you tell me about the murder that happened this morning?"

-------------------------------------------------

"Hey, Grandpa!"

"Hey, little hunter!" Jaune's grandfather chuckled. Since Jaune left for Beacon, this had become his go-to greeting for him. "How's the high life with your fancy edu-macation?"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Not bad." Jaune said. "How's the retired life?"

"Slow and boring." He groaned. "And, uh, what about..."

"I'm not alone, Grandpa, but..." Jaune didn't start this vigilante thing alone. He'd gotten the armor for the costume from his grandfather taking the old family shield and getting it cut down into smaller pieces to be sewn onto cloth. With it, Jaune looked like a superhero, someone who could do more good outside the law than he could do in. Grandpa, a retired huntsman and police officer, had friends on the force still who could help him out now and again with information. "I've got a friend wanting to help me."

"A friend, huh?"

"Hello, sir." Ren greeted. "My name is Lie Ren."

"Ren, huh?" Grandpa made a tapping sound on his end. "And how'd you get roped into this, Ren?"

"I caught Jaune when he was sneaking back into our dorm."

"Ugh... I shoulda known... Jaune was never good at keeping quiet."

"He can keep quiet," Ren defended, earning a grin from Jaune, "but only after you tell him to." Jaune's smile fell.

"Ha! That's true!" Jaune's smile fell harder.

"Anyways," Jaune tried to steer the conversation, "I was calling because I needed your help with something."

"Of course you do. It's never to check up on your grandma and me. You gotta need something!" Ren gave a worried look to Jaune.

"Because when I call you any other time you just go, 'uh-huh' and ''mhm'!"

"Mhm..." Grandpa replied, giving a chuckle. "So, what can I help ya with?"

"It's about a murder that happened." Jaune asked. "I was wondering if you could help me out?"

"What have ya got so far?"

"Just a victim and a CoD."

"Uh-huh? And those are?"

"Snipe Hunt, aka Bullseye, killed by a gunshot. He's the one I told you about before, remember?" The line went quiet. "Grandpa?"

"Mhm."

"Are you okay, Mr. Arc?" Ren asked.

"I'm fine." He yawned. "It's just getting late for me."

"Oh, well, I'll let you get your rest then, Grandpa."

"No, no, I can still talk. Or at least give you some advice."

"Okay..." Jaune could feel his legs twitch with excitement as he waited for the advice.

"Some cases need more time to be looked into. Eventually, everything will figure itself out. That's what I learned on the force."

"...That's it? Just sit around and wait?"

"I said I could give you some advice. Never said it was good advice. Maybe if you look for the good in the bad, you might learn something?"

"Good in the bad..." Ren cupped his chin. "You said you learned this lesson on the force, then maybe the police would know more."

"Huh... They would, wouldn't they?" Jaune gave a smirk. "And there's that police understudy program floating around, too. Maybe I could find my way into the police records and figure out from there!"

"Maybe." Jaune couldn't see, but he could tell when his grandpa was smiling. "It's getting late. I'll tell grandma you said hi."

"See ya, Grandpa!"

"Goodbye, Mr. Arc, sir. It was nice meeting you."

"G'night, boys."

--------------------------------------------------

Jack Arc hung up the phone. His smile fade and he let out a sigh. Looking by it, he saw the murder weapon seated on the other side. He shook his head, picking it up in his large, calloused hands. The cold metal helped him think.

"It's heavier today." His hand lowered. "So heavy."

[infoglitch]

i see you are whiteknight trash like i am. let me ask you this weiss is captured in atlass, the schnee family mansion. We must stage a tactical rescue. who does jaune bring as part of the mission to break her out and what is their role? starter lineup, nora? demolitions expert, ren? assasin. Oscar? union representative. Qrow? Wildcard. Whats jaunes plan? (dont think about it too hard, this is purely wish fufilment "fuck yeah" kinda fiction. dont even gotta write any thing in character or nathin)

Ah @philosophicalpug you've come to the right shop.

But I must warn you. For I am someone who goes overboard. You just allowed me to be fuckin GOOFY.

Let's get fucking ridiculous!

Breaking out the ice queen!

The night was cold as Weiss sat in her room, trapped in her own mansion. As some punks managed to jump her, demanding a ransom of 3,000,000 lien. However Weiss knew one thing.. one significant thing that anyone on this planet should fear her for.

She had the money to buy all the ingredients for Ren's pancake recipe. Meaning one person. Nora Valkyrie.

We cut to RBYJNRQO as Nora seemed to be preparing her weapon as she had a shadow over her face.

Ruby: alright everyone. Let's run over the plan again.

Jaune: ok, first Ruby, your our a way in and out.

Ruby: yang is our distraction.

Yang: I'll cause some noise so that way they don't notice you all bust in.

Jaune: blake-

Blake: I'm making sure yang has backup.

Jaune:.. I was gonna say you watch our backs but ok.

Oscar: I'll handle negotiations if you can't find her.

Ren: I'll take over Blake's position so that way you have someone watching out for you.

Ruby: thanks Ren.

Ren: Weiss is our friend.. we won't abandon her.

Nora: I'll break through the walls.. and any guards legs.

Everyone looked at Nora as Ren just sighed before hugging her.

Qrow: I guess that leaves me. I'll be around.. I wanna see if my semblance can be useful.

Ruby: you don't have to do that uncle qr-

Qrow: this is your friend, kiddo. For all I know if I join you on this breakout mission she could get seriously hurt.

Ruby:.. alright but if things go bad?

Qrow: I said I'd be around didn't I?

Qrow had a smirk as Ruby smiled at him. Jaune clapped his hands as he had a grin.

Jaune: alright we got everyone ready. Let's get to work!

Nora & Yang: YEAH!

We cut back to Weiss as she hummed softly. Her eyes looked at the window as she for a second saw a plume of red from beyond it. A smile crept up her face as the 25 minutes felt like 15 seconds as jaune, Ruby, Ren, and Nora came in.

Ruby's face quickly turned to a smile as she practically flung herself at the heiress.

Ruby: WEISS!

Weiss chuckled as Ruby hugged her.

Weiss: good to see you too Ruby.

Jaune: alright before we can be all cuddly and celebrate we gotta get you out.

Weiss: I expected so.. do you have Myrtenaster?

Jaune practically yoinked out Weiss's weapon as Weiss smiled. With said smile evoking a small blush on Jaune's face.

After a few minutes and an annoyed Nora having to cut Weiss's bindings despite her not being forced to. Weiss was free as she held Myrtenaster and inspected it. It seemed to still be in pristine condition.

Weiss: now let's get going.

Nora didn't even reply she just broke down the wall as Ruby quickly took Ren and Nora as she petal burst off.

Weiss: while we have this time.. Jaune?

Jaune looked at the heiress as the girl gave him a nod.

Weiss: thank you.

Jaune: shouldn't you be thanking Ruby?

Weiss: trust me I will.. but I wanted to personally thank you first.. you've become a lot better of a man.

Jaune: well.. I want to make sure I'm able to help my friends.. and that means being a lot less of an ass.

Weiss just smirked before Ruby arrived as she took Weiss and Jaune and they left in a burst of petals.

Mission: SUCCESS

[citadelofmythoughts]

the writers do the whole "reversal of the initial assumption of a character" for other characters as well like its a theme in rwby at this point. nora initially comes across as emotionally shallow physically strong and reliant on ren and then its slowly revealed she's probably one of the most emotionally developed and mature people who is her own person beyond the boy she loves. ren come across as a wise zen sage, when under that facade he is actually incredibly emotionally constipated because he has so many feelings he simply can't deal with them. this is an ongoing literary motif in this show but people only seem to complain and say its bad writing when it happens to certain characters. i wonder why.

What? You mean that some people wanted the girls to be easily digestible waifus and got mad when they actually turned out to be complex and complicated women?

I'm shocked I tell you, shocked!

Seriously though, anon. You're spot on. So much of RWBY's writing is about showing that assumptions you initially made about characters might not be the entire truth of them.

And I doubt we're done being surprised.

[alyssapoprocks]

On my rewatch of RWBY before V9 tomorrow, I still absolutely do not understand the argument of bad writing??? I genuinely cannot fathom what people are watching if they think RWBY has bad writing. RWBY has good characters making mistakes and getting consequences for it. RWBY has characters that aren't just good or bad. They have flaws, they make mistakes.

Like Ruby isn't a perfect leader, she's flawed and makes mistakes. Big ones. That's what makes her human though. That's what I love. Every single character is black and white. None of the main heroes are perfect. They're not exclusively good or bad. Even most of the villains aren't exclusively evil.

People argue is too dark... It's a show about war???? It's a show about someone literally trying to end the world??? Of course there's death and darkness, do you want a show about that to be all sunshine and rainbows?

RWBY has just got better and better with each volume. The characters feel so real. The way they make mistakes. The way they are just trying to do what's right but go about it in bad ways. It's almost like the majority of main characters are children that have been thrust into a war that wasn't their war. It's almost like they haven't had a chance to grow properly because for the past two years of their lives, they've been fighting to survive. It's almost like they haven't all got some deep seeded trauma to what's going on, that may cloud their judgement just a little.

I really don't see where the bad writing is.

And don't get me started on the people that are whining that two main characters may or may not be falling in love just because they're two girls. If you had no problem watching Ren and Nora's relationship blossom from friendship, why would you have an issue watching Blake and Yang? Screams homophobia to me. (I want to make it clear I'm not saying you're homophobic if you don't ship them, I'm saying you're homophobic if you think their growing relationship ruins the show. Two girls falling in love should not ruin a show for you if you aren't against gay people.)

[simplisticsp]

I watched the Rwby Volume 9 bonus ending animatic. I'm not sure if this really counts as a real episode, but unironically I think this is one of the best episodes of the series. While I very much enjoyed Volume 9, there was always a part of me that was disappointed that we had to stop the primary plot in order to do character development for our mains. But now I get what they where doing. Seeing the aftermath of team rwby's supposed death in volume 8 was heart breaking to say the least. Seeing Nora, Ren, Oscar, and Qrow's different copping, feelings, and views on this was so well done.

Qrow's reaction specifically gets to be, because unlike the rest of the main characters, he is optimistic and hopeful for the future. While things are bad, he sees the good Rwby's message brought to the world and everyone around him. I can't help but wonder if this is representative of the writers views when making this Volume. It was extremely likely that Rooster Teeth's future was up in the air while writing this, and with that the future of RWBY, the show. And while now, RWBY's fate is up in the air, its impact on its fans and community was ultimately the shows greatest achievement. And even if it never continues, the community will live forever.

I hope it gets its finality, for it's community's, its writers', its casts', and most of all, for Monty's sake

[silvermags]

RWBY Reaction Part 1

So! Storytime: When the RT shutdown was announced, I was of course very sad, but I also got anxious, because a very dear friend of mine, @ajelementus had previously expressed the desire to watch RWBY with me, and at the announcement I was worried that we would not be able to, since at the time we didn't know if RWBY would be coming back. So, we found a time, and we marathoned all the way through RWBY over the course of about four days, finishing just ahead of the website deletion. I spent the whole time writing down our reactions, and now, in honor of RWBY being so back (!) I'm releasing them. This will be part 1, covering volumes 1-6. I'll do a second post later with V7-Beyond, and maybe I'll even release the RWBYxJustice League reactions too!

Actual reactions under the cut. Important note, I had already watched RWBY before, but AJ never had. My reactions will be black, AJ's green, quotes from the show in bolded red, and any other notes in purple italics. With that, let's get to it!

-AJ twigged to Ruby's reference fast.

-I forgot how much of a piece of work Weiss is.

-“No one will know we're working together” “Sweetheart, everyone knows you're working together.”

-“I drink milk” “There we go.”

-”I'm pretty sure they'd actually intervene.”   “Let's hope.”

-”YoU wiLL bE fAlLiNg”

-AJ’s current favorites:  Ruby and Jaune, but "Ren and Nora's dynamic is fun."

-About Pyrrha:  “Good shot.”

-Ruby Weiss partnership “Mwahaha.”  “Seems fitting.”

-“Attacked out of turn”  I forgot about that.  Man Weiss was sheltered.

-Yang watching Ruby “You and I know what that was.”  “My baby sister’s doing it!”

-”Why would you ask if they’ve been discriminated against?  It's like asking if anyone's experienced racism!”

-This is pretty humiliating for Cardin, Jaune's not even trained and he's holding his own better than him.

-I love Penny 

-”Wait, you weren't supposed to know she's a faunus yet.” “I'm not?  But her last name, it makes sense she's part beast.”

-”I like Blake's music.”

-Before docks fight “I can't wait to see what Penny does because I know she's gonna be OP.” 

-After: “I was right.”

-”Is she an android?” “You keep figuring things out way faster than you should.”

-“There's plenty of fish in the sea.” In unison: “Hint.  Hint.”  “He'll get a clue eventually.”

-“I've made friends that will last a lifetime.” Me internally:  aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

-AJ’s favorites as of the dance:  Blake and Pyrrha.

-”She's gonna lose because of the shoes, isn't she?”

-About the white fang “They are very bad shots.” “Although I suppose if they did hit we might not notice because of aura.”  “True.”

-“this doesn't make sense.”  Three seconds later “this doesn't make sense!”

-Blake kicks Torchwick’s head.  “Good shot.”  “He deserves that.”

-During the V2 finale “I don't trust them [Atlas] one bit.  They're gonna be the enemy, mark my words.”

-”I feel like there's something about the Grimm we're missing.”

-”I don't trust him.”  Ironwood “You have to trust me.” “I don't!”

-”The Amity colosseum flies.”  “Until it falls.  That's how it usually goes.”

-“I don't know who to trust.  These people are either evil or really bad at not being ominous.”

-”Silver, why are they being so stupid.”  

-”I don't want her to change. They're cute.  Don't ruin it.  Aaaaa!”

-“Wait, is this a show where people die?” (I laughed so hard at this.)

-We had to skip over Penny's death.  I told her what happened, but it was too much.

-“Grimm attack incoming” “Oh good, everyone's feeling super emotionally stable right now.”

-”They do not have enough airships for the evacuation.” 

-How did they get the Grimm on the airships?

-”Roman is way too casual to be participating in total civilizational collapse.”  “I get the feeling he doesn't know the big picture.  Then again, he's participating.”

-”Aha, they [the robots] ARE the problem.  Just not the way I thought.  Go Ruby go!”

-When the dragon emerged “That's great.”  (The most sarcastic I have ever heard her.)

-AJ’s least favorite character as of v3e11: Mercury.

-“Lie, steal, cheat, and survi-” “Well that was unexpected.  It was so random!”

-about Adam: “creep”

-”Well we're just dropping like flies.”

-AJ is doubtful that Oz is dead.

-In the tiniest voice I've ever heard from her:  “Pyrrha.”

-Wow that animation jump is bigger than I remembered.

-”I'm glad Ruby teamed up with Team Juniper.”

-Ooh boy, here she comes.

-I don't know what's wrong with Tyrian,  but it is not a small thing.

-Seriously, what is Oscar doing?  And why? 

-“I don't think that's gonna work.”  “big mistake.”

-“Right, then I will” Run for it.

-I forgot how great this music is.

-Me @ Jacques Schnee:  Blech.

-AJ about ironwood:  “I like him now, I was wrong, but I was right about the robots!”

-I reiterate:  whatever is wrong with Tyrian is not a small thing.

-Jacques is a terrible person.

-”Weiss needs to go to Ironwood.”

-As of now, Jacques is riding in AJ’s least favorite list, along with Tyrian.  Favorites are Jaune and Ruby again.

-”Qrow and Tyrian fight is cool.”

-”It's the shire moment.  [For Oscar]”

-Baby Ren is adorable and this episode tears my heartstrings.

-AJ doesn't think that the flashback in Kuroyuri has the characters' accents matching Ren.

-Poor baby Nora

-“You didn't drag us along, you gave us the courage to follow you.” “I knew I'd like this guy.”

-I'm literally crying, I forgot how much Ren losing his parents hurt.

-I hate the nuckelavee so, so much.  It makes the WORST sounds.

-“Go Nora!  Only close one of your boyfriend's hands around his ancestral weapon so he doesn't cut himself!”

-Weiss escapes:  “finally!”

-Watts really did just put his feet on the table, didn't he.

-AJ thinks Shay’s name is great.  I think he's a sleazeball.

-You startled my dog, Mr. Pilot man.

-Oscar's switch is creepy.

-AJ agrees with Nora.  

-I think Weiss would literally rather die than go back to Jacques, which is fair and valid.

-Oscar has jumped to AJ’s favorite.

-I love the old West music they keep giving Yang.  On a related note, AJ burst out laughing when Shay said he's dead.

-“I've known that Vernal is spring since the first time we saw her.”  (Me internally:  are you sure?)

-Qrow's list.  “That's not a good sign.”

-Raven’s voice is really nasal.

-I cannot believe a nomadic bandit tribe is hauling around all this crap.

-“Raven is a nosey spy.”

-“There's revelations left and right.”

-It's strange and amazing seeing Weiss defend Blake.

-“Someone didn't have her aura up and got the wind knocked out of her when she got divebombed.”

-“Oh look, he took off his armor.” “What was he saying about…”

-Watching this knowing all the songs is so cool, I'm catching way more details than the first time.

-“The return of the gun-chucks!”

-“Fennick is not so bright.”

-I love that Blake's crisscross straps are a Menagerie style.

-“[Cinder] needs to go down.”

-There's something wrong with Hazel too.

-AJ has called the healing semblance nearly ten minutes early.  Best guesser I've ever met.

-“That's a perfect semblance for Jaune.”

-After the raven reveal, “Should have gone with my original instinct.  We didn't know about the maidens then, but there was something.”

-Forever Fall playing when Jaune says he still believes Pyrrha!

-“I love how [Jaune's] semblance is what Pyrrha did for him.”

-“Why would you pose on something that's actively falling?”  “She can fly.”

-“It's interesting how there's layers of villains.  We don't like Raven, but we really don't like Cinder.”

-”What the heck is up with Emerald’s understanding of bones?”

-I forgot about Dee and Dudley.

-I didn't realize how early the diagonal checkerboard pattern showed up.  I think I saw it clear back at initiation.  Something to keep in mind for v9

-Cinder appears alive “Awwww”.

-“I was wondering what was up with the lady in the last season.”

-I never noticed that og Ozma sounds just like Oscar 

-Me and AJ @ the brother of light:  “what the heck?”

-Oh goodness, the unison guards.

-Ruby's theme in the background of the silver eye conversation, followed by “This'll Be the Day.”  So cool!

-“Emerald needs to put on a freaking shirt.”

-“They were all searching the city for him, and he literally just went shopping and came back to cook dinner.”

-Watching Lost was emotional for us.

-As of v6e9 AJ's favorite character would be Pyrrha if she was alive but is currently Oscar.

-We decided it would be easier and include less ads if we just found supercuts on youtube for the Adam vs. Blake and Yang and Cordovan fights, so some stuff here may be out of order.

-“Man Adam is a creep.”

-Me @ Adam every time he opens his mouth:  gagging noises.

-“Well, I think he's dead.”

-“An impressive mech.”

-“What is even the point of this [for cordovan]?” "Ego?”

-I feel like if you hadn't brought the giant robot out to try and beat up a bunch of teenagers, it would still be operational to fight the giant monster.

-“Oh boy, this one has a breath weapon.”   “That's no fair.”

-“Better go, before [Cordovan] changes her mind again.”  

-“All these floating things make me nervous.”

-I forgot they put the northern lights behind Atlas.  So pretty!

-“Oh boy, now she has flying monkeys!”   “I love all the things they throw in, they're fun.  Bad, but fun.”

[kinaesthetiqueer]

For the writers truth or dare :)

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

gonna give slightly different/expanded answers for these than earlier!

🍓

> i was always taught to imagine myself in the books i read as a kid.

> i have a very overactive and cinematic imagination.

> eventually i got tired of restarting daydreams in my head and wrote them down.

🍄

> i was focused on beacon era/ssavau earlier so let's go with post v9 nordic winter!

> let's see how much i can say without rewriting three separate wips lol

> nora hugs everyone individually when they get back. only person she hugs longer than weiss is jaune

> nora shares her sunscreen with weiss- the stuff that's formulated specifically for scars

> once she catches wind that nora isn't taking care of herself, weiss makes it her mission to hunt her down

> weiss makes nora slow down, forces her to stop running herself ragged, by asking for her help with little things

> when she's trying to give the bees their space, weiss seeks out nora in her room and just quietly enjoys her company

> weiss sometimes tries to make up for silence between them, because nora isn't quite as bubbly these days, but more often than not, they just kind of sit in silence

> weiss falls asleep on nora's floor. wakes up some hours later with a blanket draped over her and nora curled up next to her back to back. she didn't want to wake weiss but she felt bad sleeping on the bed

> they Do Not Talk About This

> this probably keeps happening until nora drags weiss into bed before she falls asleep one night. then it escalates to weiss just sleeping in nora's bed when she's lonely or exhausted. then one morning, weiss kisses nora on the forehead before getting out of bed.

> (nora *has* a roommate by the way. it's neon. neon is simply taking bets.)

> weiss doesn't even realize what she's done for the longest time. nora thinks she dreamed it.

> coco catches wind of the betting pool and shuts it down, approaches weiss to make sure she's aware of what she's doing

> weiss is not aware.

> oh no.

> this leads to some confusion and self discovery, mostly on weiss' part. nora is a bit bemused because she's acting sort of weird now.

> i don't know what you call aurora borealis when it's nora/ren + nora/weiss + ren&weiss.

> long story short, nora has two hands.

> good news everyone! i did not rewrite three existing wips! i just accidentally plotted out their finale. task failed successfully.

🔪

> me personally and recently because i can never remember anything ever(as opposed to asking friends for help): yesterday i was researching average speeds of passenger trains. now that i'm thinking about it, i probably should have specifically looked up what type of train the argus limited was based on. fuck. welp gonna go do that now

thanks for the ask!!

[truth or dare questions here]

[itsclydebitches]

it genuinely surprises me that CRWBY wants to push this idea that the bees have been planned for ten years (idk if you're on twitter but yang's VA responded to someone who said 'wow this was planned for the past two years?' and she said '2? try 10' and an animator said something similar in another thread), because at least if they owned up about how they hadn't actually decided to do anything with the bees officially until fairly late in the game, they wouldn't basically be saying 'yeah we had this planned, we just never bothered to write anything confirming or alleging it for years because reasons'

it's just infuriating bc like you said, the straight relationships are not treated this way. pyrrha's crush on jaune, jaune's crush on weiss, and weiss' crush on neptune in the early volumes are all entirely unambiguous, despite none of them looking at the camera and spelling it out in dialogue. nora and ren's relationship is likewise unambiguous, or at the very least nora's interest in ren (leaving ren's feelings to take longer in the story to really be given form).

and EVEN IF we accept that they didn't want blake and yang to be aware of their own feelings for whatever reason (even if that's shoddily hamfisted in the narrative--they don't have any of the conversations they should have had post volume 6 to work through their feelings, leaving the confession in this limbo where it's simultaneously forced by the narrative and yet also like 'uh, duh? why are they so worried about confessing? what obstacles remain in their path that weren't clearly deemed unimportant by the fact that the story never cared to linger there?') there's zero excuse for the story not choosing to unambiguously confirm their sexualities.

blake could have had a conversation with ilia where she made it clear that she didn't return her feelings because her own lay elsewhere, not because she doesn't like girls (which would go a ways to alleviate some of the uncomfortable framing of ilia being the psychotic lesbian in love with her straight best friend and trying to kill her about it). yang could have had a brief crush on a girl in their beacon days, or talked about past relationships, etc. there's no reason for blake to be the first and only person yang ever shows true interest in, especially since blake has an unambiguous romantic history (with adam and also with sun).

especially since this is a world where, ostensibly, homophobia doesn't exist. (at least according to word of god) it's also not like this was a network television cartoon where they had to worry about BS&P or sneaking things past the censors! there were no censors to worry about! so if this was being planned for an entire decade, why doesn't it show?

I'm not on twitter, but I did see those tweets when they made their way over here. For the record, I personally don't believe it. I hate saying that because I'm not someone who enjoys accusing someone else of lying, but as you've established above, there is nothing in the story to imply that this was a decade long endeavor. I mean that quite literally. Yang eyeing the shirtless guys, Blake's entire romance-coded arc with Sun, the rejection of Ilia, Adam framed as a potential ex, Yang never once showing an interest in other girls, the lack of explanation for why they won't confess (AKA an established, long-term arc about one or both of them discovering their sexuality, coming out, overcoming homophobia, working through another relationship first, etc.)... The Blake/Yang subtext began late post-reunion - which isn't a bad thing! But why in the world would you pretend that it was in the works 5-6 years earlier?

I mean, we know one potential reason why. Right now, there's a lot of uncharitable conversation surrounding how the romance is being used to prop up a struggling show. So if you're hoping to draw in more viewers through your work's queer rep, it helps to present that rep as a celebratory achievement after a decade of work. It makes RT appear to have always been progressive and worthy of your time/money. There never was a fear of queerbaiting because this was planned from the get-go. There are no problems with the romance's writing because we knew this was the end goal from day one. No, no, pay no attention to how our queer employees are treated. Why would you doubt our allyship when we strove for a decade to bring you a queer main couple? Noooo, also please ignore that nothing was stopping us from giving you that in Volume One. Good romance has to be earned, remember.

My tone in the last paragraph heavily implies that I've made up my mind regarding why we'd get this narrative of the bee's development, but the reality is that I just don't know. Obviously. I'm not in the writer's room, I'm not in their heads, I will never be able to provide irrefutable proof either for or against that interpretation. But given how RWBY was written and given what RT has to gain from acting like this was always the end game (which is a lot), I think the most charitable reading (if not necessarily the most likely one) is that RT is subconsciously stretching the definition of "planned." Do I believe that they sat down at the start of Volume One, decided that Blake and Yang would be a couple, and then somehow spectacularly failed to write that story for the better part of a decade? No. Do I think it's possible that, given the nature of fandom, RT immediately picked up on the fact that people instantly shipped Blake and Yang (because they were partners, complimentary, if you've been in fandom for longer than five minutes you know that splitting the RW and the BY is easy picking), maybe joked about them and WhiteRose being a thing, spent a couple of years writing safe het romances while testing the waters, realized after 6-ish years that providing serious queer rep would prove more helpful than harmful to the show, stayed in the ambiguous 'Are they friends or something more?' stage to further cover their bases, and then at a time when the company was at its most vulnerable, give the fans exactly what they wanted, capitalizing on the gratitude by thinking back to those initial days of joke-y what-ifs and going, "Yeah! This has been in the works since the very start! That'll help get us renewed, right? ;)"?

...Yeah.

Honestly, a part of me doesn't care. Queer rep is queer rep, regardless of how it came about, and a few years from now the drama of it all will have begun to fad. From here on out, newcomers to RWBY will never have to deal with that potential queerbaiting. They'll start and end the show knowing that the rep exists and, likely, won't give a damn how it came about. But for those who do want to unpack that motivation, I'm personally of the belief that RT is stretching (at best) the definition of "planning" in an effort to make the company look as good as possible during this time. People are welcome to call me pessimistic and overly critical if they'd like, but I think it's important to keep in mind that RT is a company. They're not a bunch of home-bound fans writing simply for the joy of it. They're also not an individual, safely established author who can push the boundaries of their craft without fear of (much) repercussion. They're a company. Their job is to make money and though that doesn't preclude them from creating amazing art and taking great pride in their work, at the end of the day 99% of the writing decisions are based around what will bring in more viewers. I'd caution anyone to think critically about a saluting emoji and a very simplistic summary of - what we know having lived through it - was a very complicated situation.

[kitkatopinions]

Opinions on blake In general?

Blake.... Is a complicated one. XD

I love V1-5 Blake, I love her passion and her messiness and the fact that she's an abuse victim, but not a perfect uwu sad eyed one that's always sympathetic. I love that she stands up for herself and others, I love that she struggles to get close to people but is so actually caring and is just misguided due to her self-worth issues and that she learns and grows in volumes four and five and stops trying to push people away. I love that even though I wish it was explored more, we see Blake start opening up more to her team and trying to trust them before the Fall of Beacon throws things off for her again, I love that we see the actual effects of what Adam put her through, but that they never defined her and she always was strong and she always was ready to tell people when she thought they were wrong. And I even like things like her moral code which I thought made her a more interesting character, and I know it isn't popular in my circle of rwde but I even like the 'secret nearly princess' angle. Although I hate how her parents were done, Blake actually being this important person who didn't take the chance of a somewhat leisurely life and instead chose to spend her time freedom fighting for years as a homeless teenager? To me that's a good idea with bad execution. Blake being an imperfect character with so much good to her made her so interesting!

V1-5 Blake (V4-5 mostly) suffered from the writers' completely not caring about physical aggression between allies/friends/romantic prospects (like Nora hitting Ren and Qrow hitting Oz and Yang hitting Blake,) and primarily from the writers complete refusal to write the anti-faunus/racism angle well. While I don't agree with the people who say Blake's life was super great and easy and she never fought Grimm and never faced anti-faunus discrimination I do think that if they were going to portray Blake as more privileged than most of her fellow Faunus we see (having her parents safe, having a home to go back to, her parents being wealthier than most Faunus we've seen, having her able to hide her Faunus traits) then they should've addressed that. And the writers making Blake yell at her fellow Faunus that they're actually hurting themselves and that they need to help the humans who oppress them and prove that they're nice enough to not be a threat to the white people I mean the humans... It's so messed up. I get why a lot of people can't see past that. But like with Sun dismissing the White Fang as horrible jerks despite it being prior to their acts of terrorism, I try to chalk it up to 'how the writers use POC coded characters to verbalize their own horrible problematic viewpoints' and try to enjoy the characters past it.

However, Blake's next biggest problem is Blek. Around volume six, the writers drained Blake of pretty much every character trait she had. Her feisty behavior, stubbornness, protectiveness, the fact that she was a hard worker, the fact that she was active, the fact that she was more cynical, the fact that she called people out, her former relationships, her temper, her quiet humor, her more serious nature, her passion, her compassion, her justice driven nature, all of that was gone. All of what made Blake who she was as a character was stripped away, and instead there was this meek sweetheart sad eyed girl ducking her head when anyone got angry and waiting on her friends to tell her what to do and making jokes about how Weiss's family is just oh so rich and blowing off the political rally against Jacques Schnee to go out dancing. Seriously, every line out of Blake's mouth since boarding the train to Argus sounds like it was written for Velvet, not Blake. She's an entirely different person now, and although I may have liked the imposter if she was her own person, the fact that I'm meant to think it's Blake just makes me so frustrated that I can't enjoy it. I think volume 6-9 Blake actually would be really cute paired up with volume 6-9 Weiss, but then I think 'that's not Blake' and I just get mad. I catch myself thinking about directions I would take the character of volumes 6-9 Blake in, like learning how to stand up for herself, and then I just think 'Blake already STOOD UP FOR HERSELF.' I'll think something Blek does is kind of cute actually, and then it'll occur to me just how better the show would be if Blake was actually still in it.

So yeah. Volume 1-5 Blake? Has some severe writing flaws but is imo an otherwise great character with tons of potential and I love her. Volume 6-9 Blake? Blek, an imposter, Velvet in disguise or something, and I cannot enjoy anything she does because I just miss Blake!

[the-path-to-redemption]

hiiii i'm here with my last anon message (❀´ ˘ `❀)

i don't think i'll finish RWBY for the time being... i'm halfway through volume 9 and my head is spinning ( ꩜ ᯅ ꩜;) this is just like An Oriental Odyssey, but from the USA!

both:

* have pretty solid writing for the first half and clear expectations, then goes crazy

* develop ok ship only to tear it apart

* main antagonist is bad because their lover died

* many plot twists without any foreshadowing/contradictory foreshadowing

* purest character dies twice and comes back from the dead

* starts as magical realism but SUDDENLY MAGIC!! WOWIES MAGIC DOES EXIST??

* love triangles

* canon ships are bad and the notion of love is twisted and abusive

* fans of the work treat you like an idiot because you don't understand the brilliance of the work

* no subtlety at all

* characters not growing and falling into the same pitfalls

i was halfway season 5 when i realized (˃̣̣̥ᯅ˂̣̣̥) i was cheated!! but i immediately thought, "well, the writers must be young too" then i checked and they were way older than me!! .·°՞(˃ ᗝ ˂)՞°·. double cheated!!

what can you expect from beginner writers... but the designs... _(:‚‹」∠)_

i guess Adam's death didn't shock me (i saw spoilers...) as much as how bad the pairings are!! when Renora started showing signs i had to take a break by reading two whole mangas before going back to it. i thought we finally had good girl/boy friendship!!（ꐦ𝅒_𝅒）what do you mean Ren raised her and they're both in love but Ren doesn't speak his feelings for some reason so Nora had to force a kiss on him?! everything was too creepy!! ‎

(ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━┻ didn't we have enough with Jaune and Pyrrha?! and suddenly Blake starts slapping Sun around... Bumbleby is ok but i thought this was a sapphic show!! where are my sapphics?! (╯'□')╯︵ ┻━┻

i could rant about many things but the general vibe i got was "ah, everything feels very creepy and cruel somehow" since season 4. i don't know how to explain it... i felt like i was seeing hell for the characters besides the actual problems (•﹏•;) it might be my trauma from An Oriental Odyssey but who knows...

either way this will be my last anon message ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪ i need a break from RWBY... i want to do fanarts, but i'm still too shocked (￣◇￣;) thank you for reading my messages and accompanying me through this odyssey journey!! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡₊˚⊹♡ if i come back, i'll definitely come back with a blog!! ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧ stay strong friend!! wishing you good health and lots of money and love!! (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

Hello again!! It's so nice to see you, anon! Please take your time if you're coming back with a blog, and take care!

Long Post Ahead

I have not seen An Oriental Odyssey, but I might actually check it out now just to see because I enjoy xianxia/wuxia lol. But from what you said, I will be keeping a low expectation for the series if it shares that much similarities with RWBY.

I will also say that I'm personally fine with darker topics being explored in fictional work; my only requirements are that they're portrayed with proper research and with content warnings so that I know what will be included in the narrative (Banana Fish and Scum Villain's Self Saving System are two of my favorite series, with both containing very dark topics). In the case of RWBY, dark topics such as abusive relationships and cruelty in dynamics were not only very sloppily written, the writers refuse to even acknowledge how bad it is along with the FNDM (eg. Blacksun and Renora).

There's a lack of accountability when it comes to how they portray such topics, and even expecting us to think of it as a good thing without even giving us a choice to decide that ourselves. The writers blamed their animation team for the slap when criticism of it arise, and continues to not take abuse very seriously outside of the caricature portrayal of such things with Adam.

And yes, the writers are old enough to know better. They've been writing this series for more than ten years, which should have given them enough time to grow as both creatives and people, but I've also learned that age does not always equal maturity. M*les himself has once said a racial slur against African Americans when he was 26, and called the character Tifa Lockhart from the FF7 Remake game a prostitute for the way she looks and dressed, even though everyone knows that she is the primary inspiration for Yang. With such a person on the writing team, let alone leading it, it's no wonder a lot of RWBY's morals feels extremely juvenile and lackluster.

The matter of age when it comes to creating things aren't always attached to age, it's about how dedicated the creators are to their projects, which RWBY has not been for quite a while now.

Moving onto the matters of ships and their dynamic, yes I was disappointed with Renora as well. Just a correction though, Ren didn't really raised Nora; it's more like they took care of each other when they lost their families, with Ren taking more responsibility for them while Nora supports him emotionally. However, the relationship starts to sour (for me at least) was when Nora lost her emotional maturity and intelligence to basically invalidates Ren's turmoils. Forcing him to talk when he's not having a good time, forcing a kiss on him, then proceed to blame Ren for the relationship falling apart even though he tried to be rational in a crisis. She became extremely nasty as a person that I don't want to see her near Ren anymore for his own well-being!

This isn't uncommon in RWBY... every relationship (romantic or otherwise) are very shallow and disappointing. It's even worse when it comes to LGBT+ romance, because RWBY did not start or continued as a sapphic-friendly show. Blacksun was baited for years, until the writers saw that Bumbleby brings them more traction despite having very little believable hints that these two would ever be in a relationship with each other, even if you don't look at the very problematic elements of it (again, I don't mind such ships, I just dislike how these two are heralded as "cute and good" when the foundation of their romance is so toxic and they're stripped of their other personality traits).

Sapphic ships in RWBY (or just LGBT+ representations in general) are either for marketing purposes or shoddy afterthoughts. The writers were never going to treat such representations seriously because they themselves do not treat real life LGBT+ individuals with respect. If you go into the research of how Rooster Teeth's queer employees are treated, you will find the account of Kdin Jenzen being abused, hate crimed for being trans and fired by the company without aid. You're better off watching The Owl House, or even any queer manga out there.

Thank you again for the ask and reading my ramblings haha. Whatever it is you do going forward, I hope you have fun and stay safe! If we do meet again, I look forward to seeing your art! It was fun, and I wish you an abundance of wealth and love as well! Bye bye, anon! <3

[sytokun]

Introducing my super cool RWBY rewrite that is definitely better than literally anything

Hey guys, this is my RWBY fanfiction universe. All ideas are mine, I just think... I dunno, RWBY kinda sucks so I'm making my own, better version. I'll call it... RWBY: Rescued or some other vaguely pretentious title, idk. Hey, John and Jane RWBYson! Thanks for subscribing to my project! Or anonymously stalking it? It's hard to tell sometimes.

Now I know I already introduced Team RWBY, and everyone loves them, I'm happy! I'm just gonna add a little dude here, no it's fine! He's like a side character, nothing more. Like an ally, Ruby's first friend, he leads the other team, it'll be really cool I promise. His name is Jaune btw, no, NO big deal. Just trust me on this. I'm the superior writer, remember?

...

Um... sorry guys. Over the weekend I just got a really big spark of inspiration, like... the Muses struck me from the heavens above. So I'm sorry, but... I'm going to make a quarter of the first Volume entirely focused on Jaune, the Volume that is crucially formative to the cast and entire series, which will cause a ripple effect so bad that a consistently large number of fans dislike him in my series 10 years later, but also find it hard to imagine the story without him at this point, like a lukewarm relationship you don't know how to feel about.

But it's fine! The show is still called RWBY and I plan to deliver on that, not like those hacks at Rooster Teeth stepping on Monty's vision. That's the rhetoric I'm supposed to use, right? To make you hate me? To make me into an easy strawman to hate and dismiss? GOT IT, just making sure, lol

I'm going to voice act as him too, btw. No big deal, I'm sure this won't affect my treatment of him whatsoever. Oh, but here's Neptune. He's voiced by the other dude writing this, and we're gonna write a love triangle between the characters we voice and Weiss, one of the main leads. That counts as a character arc for her, right? Right, glad you understand. Oh, Neptune? You actually liked him and wanted him around? What are you, fucking sexist? God. Make sure to tell your friends how cool my story is

Next, I'm going to have Pyrrha's entire screentime devoted around Jaune, and even after she dies, only Jaune is allowed to process his emotions regarding her death while Ren, an Asian dude, and Nora, another girl, prop him up. I'm also going to bring her death up every two years like 2-3 times to really milk that man pain. What does Ruby the main character feel about this? Oh don't worry, she'll talk about it with another character I'll add in. I'll even have her say Keep Moving Forward™ to really sell the audience's Ruby's pain and really stoke and stir your anguish. Her anguish. Moving on.

Eh, something feels off, there's not enough conflict... Let's have Cinder run Weiss through with a spear, for funsies ig, because I have this post-it note on my monitor saying Jaune's Semblance and this is the perfect moment. I'm also gonna give Jaune this whole ass emotional outburst, 1-on-1 fight and confrontation with Cinder since she killed Pyrrha and awakened all his angst.

Ruby? Uh... yeah, she can stand there I guess. I need to remind the goddamn audience that YES, I still remember silver eyes exist, gawd. I have to do it every few Volumes or I can sometimes forget the protagonist in my female-led story exists - man what a pain, I bet I'm gonna be pressured into creating an old lady to teach her or some shit in the Volume right after this one. Whatever, I'll have her disappear in 2 years, they'll never know she left. Anyway OOPS Emerald knocked Ruby out, thank god she's out of the way so I can squeeze in a shot of Cinder stepping on Jaune and really rub that pain in. God, Jaune really needed this, so glad I did that

Fuck it, Jaune kills Penny too. I dunno, it just feels right, y'know? Nah... I don't think Ruby or anyone is the right person for this, and I don't think we've really, one hundred percent explored just how deeply Jaune can angst over dead women; women who could have grown into full, complex people with rich arcs and relationships using all the screentime I parasitically extracted from them via sudden, unwarranted death. Penny, like, she really needs to fuckin' die for this. Her death is worth having to retread this same tired fucking emotional arc if it's for my boy, know what I'm sayin'? Good, glad you understand

Alright, it's the Volume finale. Team RWBY and Neo are falling into the next story arc. Great, people really wanted this - an entire Volume just focused on the title characters together. The fans have been on my ass asking for this since Volume fucking Four. It's alright, I GOT THIS. I FUCKING GOT THIS! It's simple! This is perfect. But... I mean, I shouldn't... but I really... SDGDSGDED FUCK IT, fuck you, Jaune falls in with them too

John and Jane RWBYson: "God, this is why I hate rewriters who think they can write a good story with RWBY. They love making white men the focus of their self insert fantasies while shoving female characters into the fridge and off to the side, all while using Monty's name to rile people into brainlessly supporting it. I hope they fucking disappear"

Wait. John. Jane. Did I say my RWBY fanfiction universe?

Oh. Oh god.

[howlingday]

Embezzled

Jaune: Okay. Is everyone here? ...Good. It's time we talk about the elephant in the room.

Ruby: ...E-Elephant?

Jaune: Blake? Could you tell everyone what's going on?

Blake: Thank you, Jaune. It has come to our attention that one of us is committing larceny.

Nora: (Gasps) LARCENY?! OH NO! NOT LARCENY!

Nora: ...What's larceny?

Blake: ...It means someone has been stealing all of our money. It's gotten so bad, we can afford to match Ren's dialogue to ours.

REN: GUYS. PLEASE HELP ME. WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DIALOGUE.

Ruby: O-Oh my god...

Yang: Alright. So we're broke. Now there's only one question we have left.

Yang: (Smashes fist on table) WHO THE HELL IS TAKING ALL OF OUR MONEY?!

Weiss: ...W-Why is everyone looking at me?! I'm a victim in this, too!

Pyrrha: Well, yes, but you're also the only one of us who has more lien than all of us combined.

Oscar: H-Hang on, let's not jump to conclusions. I mean, who's to say that Weiss still has her money after cutting ties with her family.

Weiss: Yeah! What the peasant said!

Oscar: Yeah, what the- ...Oh, you son of a-

Ruby: (Holding Oscar's mouth shut)

Jaune: Well, if it wasn't Weiss, then who else would be irresponsible enough to spend that amount of cash?

Nora: ...W-Why are you looking at me?!

Blake: In your defense, Nora, we're not assuming you'd use our money maliciously, or even on purpose. We'd understand since you're not exactly the brightest here.

Nora: (Gasps) Oh, you wanna talk about bright?! Okay, then how about how ironic that you say that when you spend all your time inside and spending all your lien on gacha games! Maybe you should take that lien and buy some mouthwash, Mist Cat-Breath!

Blake: ...It's Miss, not Mist, actually. Besides, at least I have screen time. Nobody even likes you!

Nora: What?! What does that mean?!

Ruby: Guys, don't fight! And besides, don't act so high and mighty, Nora! Most of your fans either write you as an actual cat, or as a covert racist who's into raceplay!

Blake: Oh, fuck off!

Jaune: Alright, alright. Enough about who's the worst girl of both teams. Can we get back to the fact that we have no money?

Yang: Yeah, sure. Let's how about we just make the money back by working some extra jobs between missions? Weiss getting some amount of lien from her folks and me winning games at the bar, it just isn't enough to support all of us.

Weiss: What about Pyrrha? I'm sure you have some model contracts left in you.

Pyrrha: I could, but modeling always felt so... off with the people who work there?

Nora: Then just go private, like those girls on OnlyHunters.

Pyrrha: NORA?! WHAT THE HELL?! DISGUSTING!

Nora: What?

Jaune: Nora, do you know what OnlyHunters does?

Nora: I... know that most models end up doing it.

Weiss: You're... not completely wrong. But I think it would be better for you to look it up instead of us telling you.

Nora: I mean, I don't know what was wrong with what I suggested, but okay.

Yang: Oof... I do not envy you.

Nora: ...OH MY GOD! (Runs to bathroom)

Jaune: And we lost her.

Ruby: Okay! It's time for me to step up as a leader! Blake, go work at the video game store.

Blake: Aren't video games a dying industry?

Ruby: ...Be that as it may, they work in cash and people barely go in these days, so it's a win-win for you! And... maybe you could take Nora's advice and buy some mouthwash?

Blake: ...Really? You're really commenting on my lack of hygiene and abusing my introversion? You really are the best leader, Ruby. ...But if it means bringing in lien, then I don't have much choice, do I?

Ruby: Okay! Yang, Jaune, and Oscar, you three go find a farm and work together on it for a while! With our two strongest members and someone with the expertise of working on a farm, I'm sure we'll get more lien than we know what to do with!

Yang: Makes sense to me!

Jaune: That sounds like a good idea.

Oscar: Okay, but I'll need to get some stuff from around here first. You two go on ahead.

Ruby: That's fine. Nora!

Nora: (Groans)

Ruby: Uh... When you're done in there, why don't you help Oscar, Yang, and Jaune.

Nora: ...Okay.

Ruby: ...Okay then. Everyone else, let's get out there and get some jobs! TEAM RWBY AND JNPOR!

WBYP: (Leave)

Jaune: (Walking out) You know, I can't help but feel like we forgot about the reason for why we're getting these jobs. (Leaves)

Oscar: ...You are such a bitch for not telling them how you basically embezzled them all out of their money.

Ruby: Sh-Shut up! It was for a good cause!

Oscar: Buying Overlook 2 skins is not a "good cause".

REN: YOU WHAT.

Ruby: R-Ren! You're still here?!

REN: YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT THE REASON MY DIALOGUE IS GONE AND I CAN'T TALK NORMAL ANYMORE IS BECAUSE YOU BOUGHT VIDEO GAME SKINS.

Ruby: N-Now Ren... Let's not do anything rash here...

REN: TOO LATE. THEY ALREADY KNOW.

Ruby: ...Fuck.

[infoglitch]

Heart on fire: spark.

Yang woke up as stretched before hoping out of bed and noticed... Her teams form was empty. Guess she probably overslept. She soon got dressed and made her way down to the mess hall as she saw something not surprising. Jaune frozen in a block of ice as a very frustrated Weiss was eating her eggs.

Yang: what VB do this time?

Thats when yang noticed a box of chocolates that ruby was devouring. With Weiss glaring at the red reaper.

Weiss: you have no idea if bad timing do you dolt?

Ruby: what? Jaune spent L50 on this for you. And I don't feel like having good things go to waste. You want some pyrrha?

Pyrrha: o-oh thank you ruby but I'll have to decline and also Weiss I wanna ask you something.

Weiss raised an eyebrow as pyrrha whispered into her ear before Weiss went red in the face.

Weiss: t-thats very bold of you pyrrha. Let's discuss this in my teams dorm.

Weiss got up as her pyrrha left with yang just sitting at the table.

Yang: Blake how much you wanna bet-

Blake: oh their already doing it.

Yang: oh right you can hear em.

yang then stared at the still frozen jaune as she sighed.

Yang: VB probably is gonna have the shock of his life

Ren: he's still conscious. So he just saw everything.

Nora: yep. Atleast now he's not gonna be frozen in ice anymore... Hopefully.

Yang: well look on the bright side next time he'll keep his c-

Blake: yang. Don't even finish that joke.

Yang: oh come on it's funny.

Ruby: yang. No offense sis but I think you can hold off on the jokes for today

Yang: you sure? Alright then. and tell vb good luck with the reveal

Yang got up and began walking as Blake perked up and looked at her questioningly

Blake: and what leads you to say that?

Yang just shrugged as she continued walking

Soon the lewd moaning of Weiss was heard and gauging from the height the sound was coming from. They were doing it on Ruby's bed... Lovely.

To describe how jaune felt could be summed up In one word... Humiliated. he felt so stupid for all the attempts he made for Weiss. Jaune wanted to just bury his face in the dirt as he groaned into his hands. That's before a knock was heard on his teams door as he got up and opened it and was immediately met with a bag being handed to him... Well more of.. thrown at him.

As he caught it he saw one familiar yang xiao long.

Jaune: oh hey yang. Uh what do you need? And why did you throw a bag-

Yang: we're training lady killer. So pack a towel and extra clothes because I'm gonna make you sweat.

Jaune went wide eyed as yang had a grin on her face before jaune responded with a smile on his face as he nodded.

(feel free to continue this if you want everyone.)

(and sorry my writing is probably shit, really tired at the moment)

[citadelofmythoughts]

Here’s a tough question. Top 3 favorite and least favorite things about each RWBY volume?

Sorry for the delay, this is something I've had to really think about.

V1 Faves

The initiation/Nevermore fight. Let's be honest this is where these legends started.

Blake & Yang meeting for the first time

Weiss and Blake coming to terms with each other

V`1 least faves

The animation. I know it was Poser, they had no budget, etc. That doesn't make it any easier to watch

That one line from Yang about boys that has haunted the discourse for nearly a decade.

TBH barely anyone had a character any deeper than surface level

V2 Faves

Yang talking to Blake in Burning The Candle. This is where their relationship became more than partners, deeper than just friendship

The talk between Weiss, Blake and Yang at Mountain Glenn. Something that would be directly referenced much later in V9

"Best Day Ever" - the food fight between RWBY and JNPR is just big dumb fun

V2 least faves

Jaune and his pursuit of Weiss. Obnoxious to the extreme.

Sun - that's it

"Breach" in general was kind of a mess and really was there to have a giant fight scene.

V3 Faves

"Heroes And Monsters" - It feels weird listing something so horrible and tragic as a favorite thing but what happened between Yang, Blake and Adam in this chapter would define these characters going forward all the way until almost the end of V6 and was a significant point in Blake & Yang's relationship

Also from "Heroes And Monsters" - Velvet unleashing Anesidora with "I May Fall" blasting is still so amazing to this day.

Yang being framed for injuring Mercury and Blake deciding to trust in her.

(I really could go on about V3 with many more positives.)

V3 least faves

SSSN vs NDGO - I DON'T CARE

Might be controversial but Pyrrha's death. I understood the narrative need for it but it doesn't mean I liked it

Same for Penny

V4 Faves

Meeting Blake's parents. Ghira and Kali are treasures.

The fight with Tyrian

Yang getting her new arm and starting her healing process

(Honorable mention to Blake, with Sun's help, starting to understand that sometimes you have to let people in and it's THEIR choice to want to be in your life. Also honorable mention to Ruby's letter in "No Safe Haven")

V4 least faves

Tai's "advice" both in "Family" and "One Step Forward..."

Sun. (I didn't start to be able to tolerate him unti V5)

Not nearly enough Yang

V5 Faves

Yang and Ruby reuniting - I always cry

Weiss' talk with Yang in "Alone Together" (which is also when I'm convinced she realized that Yang loved Blake)

"Yang...?" *Dumbfounded stare from Yang

(Honorable mention to Yang reading Raven for filth)

V5 least faves

The pacing wasn't great and yeah the big fight was lackluster

While the animation was fine the colors always felt very muted to me

Lionheart (not that I resented his use in the story, I just hate the dude)

V6 faves:

The Bees Vs Adam (was I gonna say anything else?)

The Brunswick Arc (why is CRWBY so good at horror?)

The fight with the Leviathan.

V6 least faves:

These are mostly really minor complaints

Dee and Dudley - annoying

The big lore dump, while not BAD was a LOT

Oscar vanishing and getting a new set of clothes off camera not that I care that much but I think it could have been handled better

V7 Faves

The makeovers, with the possible exception of Wess I thought everyone looked great and TBH Yang never looked better

The Bees getting ready to go on a date

Nora spilling the tea ABOUT the Bees

(Honorable mention to RBY standing by Weiss when she confronted Jacqass. Also honorable mention to Yang/Blake VS Elm/Vine)

V7 least faves (not writing critical just characters getting on my nerves)

Harriet is annoying

The AceOps being Ironwood's unthinking lapdogs

Ironwood coming out as a complete dumbass.

V8 Faves

Beeunion 2.0

Yang, Jaune and Ren infiltrating Salem's HQ and the fight that ensues. Especially Yang getting to talk smack to Salem and blowing her tits off.

Penny frying Cinder

(Honorable mention to Maria kicking Neo's ass)

V8 least faves

Ironwood continues to be a complete and total dumbass

Ren being a jerk. Thankfully he gets over it

Yang's fall. (not bad on a value level but it HURT)

V9 Faves:

The Bees confession - absolutely perfect. Could not be improved on

The fight scene in Rude, Red and Royal

Ruby getting her groove back and showing CC just how powerful she really is.

V9 least faves: (and I'm allowing for what I know was a difficult production)

We could have used at least another two chapters because some scenes and transitions were way too brief and as a result didn't have the emotional impact they should have

We didn't get the prologue that was shown at RTX

Minor complaint but in Chapter 1 I wish Blake had been shown as being a bit more worried about Yang since she saw her "die"

Wow, this was a LOT!

[earth-unicorn]

Interview

The camera shook as Nora worked it onto her shoulder.

Nora: Stupid thing!

Ren: Nora be careful! those cameras are expensive.

Nora: How do I turn it on!?!?

Ren: Nora give me the camera.

The camera shakes as Nora passes it over to Ren.

Ren: It's already on.

Nora: Stupid camera!

Ren: Let's just get this over with.

Nora steps in front of the camera holding a microphone.

Nora: Fuck yeah! Volume 9 has finally started filming! We're going....Hey!

Pyrrha steps into frame pushing Nora out of the way.

Pyrrha: Sorry she's kinda excited. Anyways as you can tell volume 9 has begun filming so we're going to be interviewing the cast.

Pyrrha walks off, being followed by the camera man(Ren). The first person they find is Weiss sitting in an office chair reading the script.

Weiss: Mature? The hell is that supposed to mean?

Pyrrha: Hello Weiss.

Weiss: Hey Pyrrha. What are you guys doing?

Pyrrha: We thought we'd do a little interview with the cast of Volume 9. Do you mind if you ask you some questions?

Weiss: I don't mind at all.

Pyrrha: Ok Weiss how do you think volume is going so far?

Weiss: Not too bad actually. There are a few questionable writing decisions but I'm willing to go along with it.

Pyrrha: Interesting. Any word on what volume 10 will like?

Weiss: I.. I don't know. They haven't told us anything yet.

Weiss's scroll rings.

Weiss: Ruby this better be good. You did what! *Sigh* Ok I'm on my way. Sorry guys but I have to go.

Weiss stands and walks off backstage, muttering under her breath.

Pyrrha: Ok on to the next person.

This one is based on the idea of the RWBY characters simply being actors that are making a show.

[onewomancitadel]

If they do canonize Jaune/Weiss, would you still stick with the series until it's conclusion?

I think the ordinary assumption is that it would be the product of a ship tantrum if I didn't, but because there's so much tied up in Jaune/Cinder and so much that Jaune/Weiss doesn't work with, it's not really just a ship tantrum. I won't deny that wouldn't be part of it, but the general assumption is that shipping is unserious and probably indicates, on some level, one being in a position of textual ignorance. I think that broadly speaking this can be true (I've spectated my fair share of fandom, and I have grown up in fandom myself) but equally it can also be levied as an insult, because romance is silly.

But equally so if I did quit the show in such a circumstance, I'm not working with a level of entitlement here. I wouldn't be mad at it in the sense of them owing me something; I would just have to acknowledge I was either wrong in assigning meaning where there wasn't, or there simply wasn't the thematic consistency there.

I think it's very likely that Ozlem does motivate all of the romances, it's just a matter of to what degree. It's very easy to write Ruby/Oscar, Ren/Nora, Blake/Yang, and then give Jaune a joke romance which kind of happens offscreen/all of a sudden. Just because you have x consistency here doesn't mean it's everywhere else because storytelling is organic and elastic, and sometimes, as an analyst, you can actually put together implicit parallels better than the author(s). Or as I've discussed previously before with Reverse Ozlem, you need to make a positive case for why Jaune/Cinder would be a positive resolution (and not a cautionary or altogether unromantic one).

It's worth mentioning that I have literally quit the show once before! I was inoculated in the shitty end of the fandom during V5 and when everybody was busy mocking the end of the volume (because Haven was admittedly messy) and then celebrating Cinder's death - and her apparent permadeath - I just shrugged and quit because I feared they were right and it was all over. This probably explains some of my antipathy towards fandom and fanon at large because it genuinely ruined my experience of the show and made me doubt my intuition. Does that mean fandom/fandon is bad for everyone? No, I needed to grow a spine, but I take issue with fanon at large anyway.

What accompanies Jaune/Cinder isn't just the romantic pairing but the way it realises Cinder's redemption arc and what I think the pairing represents for the major resolution of Ozlem. It might not be obvious, but I am really invested in the bad wizards who were once in love and made it everybody else's problem, and I want to see them be together again even if that reunion means they shortly pass after. The cosmic wound of Ozlem is one of my favourite things in the show (reincarnated lovers and ceaseless conflict... yummy yummy) and is genuinely what holds the story together thematically and foundationally. It's a huge deal. So the things that interest me about R/WBY are all tied up in Jaune/Cinder. Everything I really love about the show (its unique but totally flagged narrative direction) is there, and is part of what I think motivates the argumentation of the ship!

This isn't something contrary to R/WBY's storytelling! Tonal dissonance is a common issue I see in shipping fandoms. But there's nothing about Jaune/Cinder that refutes R/WBY; it's actually the opposite. It's very playful conceptually. Built right into it is this sense of dramatic and cosmic irony with a very fun remix on knight and maiden which is painful but also very beautiful. Jaune is literally no Prince Charming, and Cinder is a villainess (who is very sad).

So I guess if the stuff I love about R/WBY isn't there, what's the point? Lol. You could try to argue that redeemed Ozlem is still possible without Jaune/Cinder, but I don't think it would be nearly as impactful without it, and like - separately - for Jaune and Cinder's characters, if he's paired with Weiss then they just don't get him the way I do and the way I thought they did, and if Cinder's alone I'll cry forever. The truth is that nobody's ever loved you. I genuinely do not know whom else you could pair her with, and it's very likely in this scenario there would be no one. Even if she got a redemption arc (which again, would be fumbled without the romance and not nearly as impactful. Jaune/Cinder is so unlikely when Cinder's redemption is similarly so 'unlikely').

I get it. This is a long way to cry and stomp my feet and say, "I'll quit if they don't make my dollies kiss!" and it probably comes off pretty poorly. But honestly, R/WBY won me over with Ozlem and it won me over with its story and its spirit. I find Jaune/Weiss insipid irrespective of whether I shipped Jaune/Cinder (long before I got into the ship I never liked it). It compromises both Jaune and Weiss' characters and I can't parse how it's supposed to work and it would just suggest laziness. It breaks a lot of modes of my analysis (e.g. Jung). I like Jaune/Cinder because it augments their characters, not weakens them. It actually gives Jaune something unique to do in the story that isn't stand there and look tall and actually explains why he's in this fucking story to begin with and why they'd spend so much development on him. I don't like that Jaune/Weiss turns Weiss into a passive recipient who's finally noticed the nice patient guy and now he gets the girl as a reward. It would speak to some serious storytelling stupidity.

I've quit once and I'll do it again. Lol. Maybe I would wait for the show to be finished to analyse the fallout a few years later. I take a while to get around to things anyway. But also like, my trust in storytelling is completely dead, and it's actually an extremely emotionally difficult position to be arguing for Jaune/Cinder and extremely uncharacteristic of me. So as much as people probably don't want me here, I kind of don't want to be here either. But I like the ship that much. Very sad.

On the other hand... let's define 'canonise'. I think that at this point, Salem/Ozma, Ren/Nora, and Blake/Yang are undeniably canon. Ozlem since V6 (but they broke up), RN since... I want to say they're canon in the sense they both have romantic feelings for each other and we've always known this to some degree (some childhood friend tropes in anime lead to them never admitting feelings? And the RN spin on it seems to be that they've acknowledged how they feel and will 'grow up' but likely end up back together), and BB, well I personally would've said it was canon back in V6, but most of fandom would definitely agree V9. Ruby/Oscar by contrast is a little more controversial, but I would say that it's canon if you're paying attention. The only reason to write Oscar in the way they did would be as a super special love interest looool. But say, Blake/Sun isn't 'canon' in the traditional sense of being endgame, Blake/Ilia isn't 'canon' in the traditional sense either, etc., and there are times the fandom has celebrated things being canon when they're not (reminder: the whole 'Cinder is definitely dead' thing, and largely I would say a lot of the discussion surrounding Blake/Sun at the time of V4/5 treated it like it was a foregone conclusion. Plus most of the bad fanon).

So I think a lot of people might think Jaune/Weiss is now canon after V9 - and I'm willing to allow that this is what the writers believe to be appropriate development because they abandoned that thread for so many volumes and never even had small interactions like Ruby/Oscar or fucking anything, and as such it effectively amounts to either an about-turn or lazy storytelling - I'm in the position where I'm willing to question it. Between now and V10, my only intention is to complete my fanfic, that is, my works-in-progress currently posted, and then assess how much I am able to write and complete in the interim. I just want to make the most of the time I've got. As I remarked in a V9 reflection post, there is actually... not a lot refuted about anything I speculated in the post-V8 period surrounding Knightfall and Cinder's redemption, if not it has been lent more foreshadowing. So I'm not needing to fashion a new position yet.

There are certain things I'm looking for with R/WBY canonshipping, and things like close and intimate hugs (Ruby-Penny) do not constitute that, and they do like engaging in shipbaiting, to my eternal consternation. But what I like about the R/WBY canon ships are the actual emotional stakes, not the superficial fluffy shit. So if I have some hope they are capable of that...

If Jaune/Weiss met my standard for analysing other definitely canon R/WBY ships (independent of Jaune/Cinder) I would give up the ghost and admit defeat with shipping Jaune/Cinder and then yes, I'd quit the show. I don't care if that sounds petty. Jaune/Cinder isn't just a ship to me. I only started shipping it because these are the things I like about R/WBY, not the other way around.

Thanks for your ask anon. It's a good one.