#but I can be very afraid of them. least last two were huntsman — which I’m not that afraid of. I try and catch them and put them outside ^-^

[byakuyasdarling]

I think the Claude brainrot is too much. In the last two consecutive days, large spiders have crawled all over me because they clearly think I’m the funniest little thing of all time. Clearly, the spider demon wants me /j

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #827: Golfing (RWBY)

12:12 p.m. at Mistral's Country Club's Golf Course.......

Ruby: (Sitting on the Back of the Golf Cart While Looking Up at the Blue Skies in a Very Exhausted like Fashion) ('UGGGGGGHHHH') Why is it have to so freaking hot today? I feel I can die at any moment here!!

Oscar: (Starts Looking For his Ball He Just Hit While Holding his Golf Club Around) We'll get back to the cart as soon as I find where the ball is.... Couldn't be too far from here.

Ruby: (Turns to Oscar) How are you not as hot and exhausted as I am right now? (Starts Pouting at the Farm Boi While Pointing at Him) Did Ozpin taught you some kind of heat protection spell that I don't even know about?

Oscar: (Starts Rolling his Eyes a Bit Playfully) Trust me, Ruby. If I'd knew a spell like that would existence right now, I would've told you all about it a long time ago. But to answer to your first, real question, the heat doesn't really bother me as much as it used to. I guess being raised in a farm really does has it's quirks after all.

Ruby: I envy you and your farming life style sometimes....

Oscar: (Chuckles Lightly) I envy your lifestyle more. Enrolling to Becon to become a full fledged Huntsman like with you......It would've been nice.

Ruby: (Smiles Brightly) It would've been amazing!!~ We would've been best friends a lot earlier, do crazy missions together, I would've even taught you everything I know about the boring school life.

Oscar: (Smirks Playfully at Ruby) About how to be Chaotic Troublemaker like you were?

Ruby: (Glares at Oscar Again) Hey, I wasn't that terrible of a student!!!

Oscar: Then how come you started a Food War in the Cafeteria?

Ruby: I didn't start the whole thing! Nora did!.....Or was it Yang? I don't remember. The point is, I was a simple bystander defending my rights to eat peacefully.

Oscar: Uh-huh....

Ruby: You can "Uh-huh" me all you want, mister, but I know I'm speaking the truth! (Starts Sighing While Wiping the Sweat Off From Forehead) Anyways, can we pleeease do something else besides golf right now?

Oscar: (Turns to Ruby) You sure you wanna stop now? We only have like eight more holes to complete left.

Ruby: Yeah. I'm sure. (Slouches her Head Onto the Top of Both of her Palms) The heat is already killing me as we speak, Oscar.

Oscar: ('Sigh') Alright fine. We can always go back inside and hangout with Ms. Goodwitch the rest of the day.

Ruby: Nah. It would get boring in there real quick. And besides, I bet she's already having a lovely chat with her lady friends as we speak.

Oscar: (Place his Hand on his Chin) That is a possibility.....(Turns to Ruby) You have any ideas?

Ruby: Hmmmmm.....(Takes a Look at the Golf Kart She's Sitting on Right Now Before Smirking Mischievously) Wellllll~

A Couple of Minutes Later......

Ruby: (Excitedly Riding The Golf Kart Around the Course in Fast Speed With Oscar Sitting Next to Her) ('WOOOOOOOO!!')

Oscar: (Nervously Holding the Side Handle a BitTightly) Damnit, Ruby! Could you at least try and slowing down a little?

Ruby: No can do, Oscar!~ This is a perfect way to cool ourselves off! And don't you think it's a lot more fun to do this than playing golf under the sun all day?

Oscar: I'm more worry about the damages we'll cause than any of those things...Speaking of which...(Turns to Ruby) Do you even have driver's license?

Ruby: (Giggles Awkwardly) About that... I've..... never got the chance take the permit test....

Oscar: (Immediately Gives Ruby a Deadpinned Look on his Face) Seriously?

Ruby: Hey! Don't get moody at me, mister! I was too focused on being a Huntress at the time! And last I checked, YOU were the one who flew a Atlas Airship at Argus without flyer's permit!

Oscar: That because we were all in a do or die situation at the time. There wasn't anything else I could other than that.

Ruby: ('Sigh') Yeah. You do have point ther- (Suddenly Starts Gasping Loudly Before Putting the Golf to a Immediate Halt)

Oscar: (Confused by the Sudden Stop) What happened? Why did you stop?

Ruby: Oscar. Look...... (Points at a Small Hill in Front of Them) A-

Oscar: (Went Back to Having a Deadpinned Look) Don't tell me. You wanna try drive up to that hill with a maximum speed velocity....

Ruby: Yep.

Oscar: Knowing full well that there might be a 50/50 chance of not only getting ourselves hurt, but also getting the kart itself totaled.....

Ruby: Pretty much.

Oscar: Yet you still wanna give it a shot anyways because you're name is Ruby Rose.

Ruby: (Immediately Gives Oscar the Puppy Dog Eyes) Please?~ I promise to get the both of us out if there as soon as we start flying~

Oscar: (Stares at Ruby For a Brief Second or Two Take a Deep Breath) Bring it on.

Ruby: (Gasps Happily Before Turning Back at Front of the Grassy Road With a Determined Look on her Face) Yes sir!~

As the engine begins to roar loudly, Ruby starts driving the golf kart towards the hill quickly..... Except....the kart itself is suddenly not moving anywhere.

Ruby: What the- The engine's still on! Why are we not moving!?

Oscar: (Turns Around Only to Have his Eyes Widened a Second Later) Uhhhh, Ruby.....(Points at What is in Front of Him) I think we found our culprit.....

Ruby: (Turns Around) What is it, Osca- ('GASPS')

Much to the kids surprise, the culprit was none other than Glynda Goodwitch herself, using her wand to stop kart from moving any forward at ease.

Glynda: (Gives the Duo a Stern, Motherly Glare) Children.

Oscar: (Starting Chuckling a Bit Awkwardly While Slowly Waving at the Woman) H-Hey, Ms. Goodwitch.....

Few Minutes Later Inside the Country Club.......

Glynda: I cannot believe you two! Recklessly driving around the golf course with that kind of speed, without any supervision. What on Earth were you thinking?

Ruby: ('Sighs in Utter Defeat') We're sorry......We got so bored and hot outside that we-I mean...I thought about taking the kart for a ride.

Glynda: ('Sigh') Ruby, if that's really the case, then why didn't the both of you just come back in here and spend more time with me?

Oscar: You see, we thought about that. But.... We'd figured that you would be too busy spending time your friends some more. So we decided not to bother you at the time.

Glynda: ('Sighs Once More') I suppose I can understand where you're coming from of this....Our conversations have gotten quite longer as of late.... Regardless, I would rather have the both of you with me than seeing you two get yourselves hurt on a golf kart. I mean, seriously, do you have any idea how much that cost alone?

Ruby: Uhhhhh.....Three or....four hundred dollars?

Glynda: Thousands.

Ruby/Oscar: (Eyes Widened in Complete Shock) THOUSANDS!!!?

Ruby: For one stinking Golf Kart!?

Glynda: I'm afraid so. These karts are exclusively made in this Country Club for as long as I can remember. So it makes sense on why it would cost a high amount. You'd be surprise on much this membership actually cost by itself.

Oscar: You......want us to guess what the price of it too or.....

Glynda: No. That won't be necessary, Oscar. All I ask for the two of you right now is to stay here and not get into any more trouble. (Gives the Duo Another Motherly Glare) Unless you want me to inform Mr. Xiao Long and Ms. Valkyrie about the reckless actions you've made today.

Ruby: Nononononono! I-It's fine, Professor Goodwitch! You don't have tell them!

Oscar: Yeah! We'll stay out of trouble this time. Promise.

Glynda: (Stare at Oscar and Ruby For a Brief Second Before Sighing Once More) Very well. I suppose I'll take your word for it. In meantime.....(Gets Up From her Seat) Get us some refreshments. Anything you need specifically?

Ruby: Do they got anymore Chocolate Chip Cookies in this place?

Oscar: I'll just get water.

Glynda: (Simply Nodded) Done and done. I'll be right back. (Walks Away)

Ruby/Oscar: 'Kay!

Ruby: ('Sigh') Well....That was a day.

Oscar: Tell me about it.... I'm just glad we didn't any actual trouble from any from another else besides Ms. Goodwitch. Was she always this stress to you guys?

Ruby: Yeah. But we mostly asked for it. She was Ozpin right handed woman for a reason after all.

Oscar: (Chuckles Lightly) I can tell.....(Turns to Ruby) Sorry the day gotten boring for you?

Ruby: (Smiles Softly) Are you kidding? You don't need to be sorry for that. If anything, I should apologizing for dragging you into this mess in the first place.

Oscar: Don't be. I don't mind get dragging along with your antics every once and a while (Starts Blushing a Little) If anything....It made enjoy spending time with you a lot than before, you know?

Ruby: (Eyes Widened in Genuine Surprise) You really mean that?

Oscar: Of course I do. You mean a lot to me, Ruby and....I lov-(Eyes Immediately Starts Widened as His Blush Turns Bright Red) LIKE! Y-Y-Yeah! Yeah! That's what meant to say! Like! I like you, Ruby. Just....like.

Ruby: (Stares at Oscar For a Brief Second Before Giggling Softly) Oho Oscar~ (Pulls Oscar into a Loving Hug) I love you too, dumb-dumb~ Always.

Oscar: (Sighs Heavily Before Smiling Softly) Thanks.

@keyenuta

@caleb13frede

@ma-lemons

@albion-93

@roz-ani

@miki-13

@maripr

@oscarpineprotectionsquad

@neale-47-rwby

[the-melting-world]

The Empress | Side A: “Everything”

Art by @markmefistov

~ In which a cheerful mage seeks the counsel of a fluffy magician… 

The Trio Appearances: Kipling | Khleo | Ozy

Arcana LI appearances: Asra | Nadia | Muriel 

Track Origins: “Everything” by Ben Howard

Not sure if this is the right track? The full album can be found here: The Empress

cw: none

~  1.7k words

Ozy hoped that time spent with Nadia would clear his head, but even after they had dinner and later, their fill of each other, the grey mage still hadn’t been able to get his afternoon with Kipling out of his mind.

Ozy stared up at a ceiling quilted in sheer panels of fabric. The overlapping panels created a majestic framework, all shimmering in varying shades of fuchsia and indigo. Nadia drew the curtains closed on her circular bed before snuggling up next to Ozy.

As she settled against the pillow, the Countess noticed something somber in Ozy’s profile even in the dim light. 

“Oz? Is everything all right?”

He blinked once and turned his head, his expression growing concerned. “I was distant again, wasn’t I? During… when we were…”

Nadia leaned over and gave him a reassuring kiss. “I’m not reprimanding you. I know you enjoyed yourself.”

Ozy grinned rather bashfully. “I did. Thank you for making sure of that.”

Nadia chuckled in the back of her throat. She kissed him again. “You’re welcome…” Then she drew back and said, “But there is something hanging over your head that’s making me worry. Do you want to talk about it?”

Ozy knitted his eyebrows together before exhaling defeatedly. “I keep trying to convince myself that Kip is the one holding onto too much of the past and that’s what is keeping her from progressing, but Nadia, what if it’s me?”

The Countess reached over and moved some hair out of his eyes. “Oh, Oz... look at everything you and Kipling have accomplished in such a short period. What makes you think that you’re holding either of you back?”

Ozy turned toward the ceiling again and closed his eyes. “I figured out early on how to contact the Major Arcana. They tend to give pretty good advice and sometimes I just like to sit in their realms for a change of scenery. But…”

“But what?”

Ozy opened his eyes. “I haven’t been able to locate the Sun. I know that they’re my patron. I’ve tried so many times to find them.”

Nadia was silent for a moment. And then, “What does that have to do with Kipling and Khleo?”

Ozy’s hands came to life as he wondered aloud, “What if there’s information the Sun has that I’m supposed to know? What if I haven’t done my part in locating them and it’s affecting my ability to train Kip? What if–” 

Nadia gently pressed Ozy’s hands against his chest with her own. “I don’t think this is about you, Oz. At least not right now. I think it’s about Kipling.”

Ozy’s hands twitched slightly against Nadia’s. “I don’t know what to do or who to go to in order to ask for help.”

“Have you spoken to Asra?”

His hands stilled. Ozy chewed the corner of his lip. “No.”

Nadia patted his chest. “He’s very connected to the Arcana, especially his own, The Magician. Perhaps you should start with him.”

It wasn’t the answer to all of his questions, but Nadia’s suggestion made Ozy’s brain settle. The grey mage took that as a positive sign. He chose not to dwell on it anymore, lest his thoughts take him off into another cycling of what-ifs. 

He thanked Nadia and got more comfortable next to her. Then he closed his eyes and waited for sleep.

The next day when Oz’mandias showed up at Asra and Kipling’s shop, it almost seemed as if Asra had been expecting him this whole time. Ozy made sure to arrive when he knew Kip would be busy with making her deliveries around the city. 

After Asra let Ozy inside and the grey mage explained his concerns, the magician sighed and said, “I agree with you. The memory of Khleo is still holding Kip back. I think that Kip’s patron is the only one who can help her now.” 

Ozy nodded. “Something tells me that the journey will be rough, but we have to get there. I don’t think she can do it on her own.”

“Come with me.” Asra came out from behind the front desk and started closing down the shop. When he and Ozy were outside and he was locking the door, he said, “To be honest, Ozy, I’ve been trying to get Kip an audience with the Empress for a while, but even with the help of my own patron, nothing has come from it. However, Muriel might know where we should start looking. He was the last one to give Kipling a reading.” 

Asra and Ozy spent most of the walk to Muriel’s hut in silence. When they entered the woods and the sounds of the city were replaced by a deeper blanket of silence, Asra asked Ozy, “Can you tell me what Khleo was like?” 

Ozy didn’t expect the magician to ask that question, but he was happy to give a little insight. 

“They were quite friendly! But they would brood a lot. And from what I can tell, they haven’t changed much in that regard.”

Asra slowed down. “What do you mean, from what you can tell? You found them?”

“I did.” Ozy said with a smile.

Asra blinked. “Where? In another realm?”

Ozy shook his head, his beads chirping happily. “Nope. Khleo lives and works right here in Vesuvia. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she and Kipling crossed paths a few times before I showed up. Only, they didn’t know it thanks to their individual experiences with memory loss.”

Asra stopped walking altogether. “Have you told Kipling about this? I feel like she would want to know.”

Ozy stopped as well. He looked over his shoulder at the magician. “Of course she would want to know. And as soon as she learns of Khleo’s whereabouts, she wouldn’t hesitate to abandon her training and instead fixate on seeking them out. Think about what a disaster that would be. Khleo’s not ready for us to intervene on their life. Kipling’s not ready to step away from her training. There are Doors and Rooms that need Kip’s attention before she can go flouncing after Khleo.” 

“Ozy,” Asra sighed, “I see what you’re getting at, but I don’t know if that’s fair. Kip’s been hurting this whole time. She needs to reconnect with Khleo at some point.”

“Yes, Asra, I completely agree,” Ozy interjected. “All puzzles deserved to be unscrambled. All equations want to be solved.”

Asra’s eyes darkened. He said coldly, “Kipling is not some damn equation.”

“Timing!” Ozy barked. “It’s about the timing, Asra. That’s the puzzle here. Not my cousin.”

Asra sobered at the serious tone Ozy had taken with him.

After a moment, the grey mage offered a more gentle expression. “You’re going to have to trust me on this one. Bringing Khleo and Kipling face to face right now is not a good idea.”

Asra clenched his jaw, but decided to back off. He gestured ahead of them. “We’re here.”

As soon as Muriel opened the door for them and saw Ozy, he adopted a relatively polite, but a cautious demeanor. Asra honestly had no idea how Muriel would react to Ozy, who was naturally open and genuine, but perpetually excitable. 

Asra did his best to make it very clear to Muriel that not only was Ozy Kip’s dear friend, but Nadia considered him very trustworthy. This seemed to help Muriel relax a little more in Ozy’s presence.

After Asra quickly informed Muriel of why they had come to visit, the huntsman flicked his sharp green gaze back and forth between the two magicians before leaning back on his stool and huffing, “I don’t know if there’s much I can do to help. You already know everything about the reading I gave Kip.” Still, Muriel’s gaze became thoughtful as he probed his mind for things that might be useful to Asra and Ozy.

Finally, after several minutes of silence, he said, “I don’t know if this is something that could help, but ever since Kip’s nightmares have gotten worse, her plant magic has been acting on its own accord.”

Ozy leaned forward, his hazel irises sparking with interest. “Explain. What do you mean?”

Muriel bristled slightly at his directness, but after an encouraging nod from Asra, the green-eye mage elaborated. “Wherever Kip goes on this property, she leaves behind a trail of daisies. They usually don’t sprout until a few hours later. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but I couldn’t deny it when I noticed the pattern of the flowers blooming only in the places that Kipling had visited.”

Ozy gave Muriel a little space, his gaze wandering as he processed this new information. This wasn’t news to Asra, but he hadn’t been sure if it was important enough to share with Ozy earlier.

“The daisies. Are they still there, Muriel?”

This time Muriel was not caught off guard by the directness of Ozy’s question. 

He nodded. “They are.”

Once again, Ozy’s gaze locked onto his. “Show me, please.”

Soon Asra and Ozy were following Muriel out onto his garden and the forest that surrounded his hut. Ozy dropped into a crouch at the first cluster of daisies they came across.

Ozy grazed the petals with the tips of his fingers, picking up on the magical traces of permanence. The flowers were so white, they looked bleached even under the shade of the surrounding oaks. 

“These look just like the daisies that sprouted when Kipling took us to Strength’s realm,” Asra noted.

Ozy heard Asra’s comment, but he didn’t speak on it. He was busy arriving at his own conclusions.

Everything, it seemed, came back around to the same point. 

Khleo. 

All this time, Ozy had given Kipling space when it came to the subject of their long lost friend. He was afraid to push. Afraid to take it too far.

But what if I need to take it there? Ozy wondered as he continued to brush the surface of the daisies and feel Kip’s magic buzzing under his fingertips.

As a long time scholar of grey magic, Ozy had developed his own instinct when it came to the pursuit of certain pieces of knowledge. He could acknowledge that there was time to give himself space and learn something in natural degrees.

But there were times when the information he needed would not come quietly, and Ozy would have to really push himself in order to get results.

Kipling found and opened Strength’s Door on her own. Twice. 

Khleo had been the motivation behind both instances.

Based on this information, Ozy’s instincts told him that if he expected anything more from Kip going forward, he was going to have to push her in the right direction.

[naromoreau]

For Love I Come

A fic no one asked for jaksdh. Thank you so much to @outranks for giving me the idea and betaing and being and absolute sweetheart about it. Thank you so much!!!!! and also to @seedsplease and @bintangy for giving it a read. THANKS YOU GUYS!

Pairing: Female Deputy x Sharky Boshaw x Jacob Seed

Raiting: E __________________________________________________

At some point Rook's gonna have to choose. To actually speak loud and clear instead of going in roundabout ways whenever they poke and probe at her to figure out what's the deal.

There's no deal to be dealt with as far as Rook concerns. She's perfectly happy the way things are, foraying into the Vet's Center whenever she feels like it, to be completely wrecked by Jacob, in that weird and unusually comfortable dynamic of two people joined by the fray ends of their own needs. Inches away from warm intimacy.

And that makes the other end of her unsought arrangement, very complicated. Toeing the line of dangerous if she can judge by Jacob’s face every time she leaves him. But Sharky. Rook can say without the sliver of a doubt there’s something going on between them that surpasses the fucking. He gets her. And for what she knows, that’s something that’s always considerably underrated.

Damn choices. That’s always been the thorn on Rook's side. The reason why she ended up taking home Bugger and Whiskers when she finally decided she wanted a pet. A pet. But when the puppy had wiggle that little tail of his, she didn’t even think it twice.

And five years into the future, is the same thing all over again. Rook can’t keep waltzing around tacit and implied statements. Especially because now she has a pretty good idea of what she wants, an idea that had jackhammered its way into her brain since the last time she visited the Marina looking for Addie’s advice. But it seems ludicrous, because they both are as immiscible as water and oil.

“You leaving already?”

Jacob sits on the flat cot they spend their nights in whenever she decides she misses him. One rough hand sits at the small of her back and Rook can’t stop a broken sigh from escaping her. Those few steps to the door are always the hardest.

“Yeah, have to catch up on a lot of things.”

“Already late to burn down half the County huh?” He scoots closer, burying his face and what’s probably post-orgasm induced affection in the crook of her neck. Rook bites her lip trying to saddle her thumping heart, because it tastes too much like the real deal.

“I think John misses me already,” she says with a smirk, leaning to kiss him softly, catching a half-grunt from Jacob on her mouth. “Don’t want him to feel left out, you know how he’s like.”

She scrambles off the bed, picking up her discarded clothes, feeling his eyes taking in the tiniest detail of her. He’s counting her bruises and marks, she knows, trying to determine which are his and which are-- well, not. He’s too good of a huntsman to not read the signs.

Why hasn’t he snapped her neck until now? She has no clue. A lot of restraint perhaps. And a good amount of good ole feelings. She’s willing to jackknife into the belief he has them all.

“When are you coming back?”

There’s longing grating in the low pitch of his voice that makes Rook’s breath catch in her throat. Looking back at him is a mistake. She can’t fight those baby blues of his. They always manage to make her weak in the knees.

“I dunno. Two weeks?”

“That’s a long time, Rook," he says, as if he actually cares. Which Rook knows he does.

She clenches her jaw to avoid thinking in the annoying fluttering butterflies in her stomach. “Why? You need me for something?”

“Playing dumb is not your best trait, darling.”

“And speaking your mind, clearly isn’t yours, old man."

He rumbles with laughter, tilting his head back, baring his throat to her. All those powerful muscles tighten like chords, and she stares a bit at the long expanse of his neck wanting to dive back into bed and just hold him and be held by him. But Sharky is also waiting and she feels torn.

Rook sighs.

"Why are you doing this?" Jacob finally asks, glancing at her with a frown.

"Doing what?" She wants to sound nonchalant as she balances on one leg while putting on her jeans. Rook isn't sure she wants to see everything they have go southways. What is exactly gonna happen once the bubble of unsaid words ripple off her mouth.

"You know damn well what," Jacob pokes again.

"Scout’s word, I don't."

"Jesus fuck, Rook, you're infuriating."

Jacob snaps with the brewed frustration of weeks of unanswered silence but Rook refuses to bend her knee. She doesn't want to see her world shifting into something bleak if he's not around.

So she stalls. "And now you're starting to sound like John."

"Not funny,” he grouses.  

"Yeah, I don't know what's the thing going on between you and him, but you guys need to talk it out before Joseph forces you both to do it."

She sees a mash-up of emotions on his face, and a deadly stare, Jacob Seed's specialty. And she gives up.

Rook flops at his side, shoulders hunched. "Fine, fine! What do you wanna know?"

Jacob grabs her chin and tilts her head up until the only thing she sees is him. Which is always a sight. "Stop playing games and tell me why you keep coming back to me."

"I um, I just- I really like the cold," she babbles, "and the whole Jack London aesthetic you have going here, like I really dig that-"

"Rook."

"And you have cute dogs-"

"Rook."

She rolls her eyes at the whispered command to mow down her bullshit, but braces to spill the anxiety off her chest.

"Okay, fine. I like you, okay?" Rook sighs at her own confession, not wanting to stop, because if she does there's not a certified chance she'll finish. "You ain't as bad as you think you are, in fact, you're fucking amazing and every time I go I just wanna go back the moment I’m pass the fences but--”

“But what?”

“Do you really want me to say it?” She's in pain, absolutely fucking unnecessary pain.

“Yeah.”

“I can’t leave him.”

His fingers squeeze her arms, just so and his face goes dark. She sees the tense line of his jaw spasming under the pressure of gritted teeth. “What do you want me to do about it?”

“I don’t know Jacob, okay?" Rook's angry. Hurt and upset, and a million more things that spike up too fast and recede after, so she can't name them. "Look, I never lied to you, we never said this was an exclusive kinda thing, and honestly? If you want me to go and never come back, if you want to, I don’t know-- kick me out of your life, then you gotta say it, ‘cause otherwise--”

She stops because the thought is just venom. She can't live without him, not after everything she already gave up in her life. For once, just once she doesn't want to renounce something.

“What if I want this to be exclusive?” Jacob says, far more calmed than she expected. But it's just an act, 'cause his shoulders are slumped and there's a waver in his voice totally alien for him.

“And why would you want that?”

“I thought Deputies were smart, perhaps I was wrong," he quips, wrapping his hand around her neck and pulling her in, until her forehead rests against his.

“Cut the crap, Jacob," she hisses.

“I love you Rook.”

Her throat is dry, and the kiss that follows sweeps coherence and preformed ideas aside. It feels right. Like home. But the hollow that it's always there when she just has one and not both, weights more.

“I can’t do it, I--" she says, tongue tripping over her teeth and words that are not enough." I really like--, fuck, I really love you, but I can’t."

“You know I could just kill him right?”

Rook laughs to dissipate the terrifying image because he could. Probably very easily. “Yeah, but you won’t. You ain’t like that Jacob," she says to reassure herself, as he clutches to the sides of her flannel with a white-knuckle grip.

“Then what you want from me?” He says with a lilt that sounds heartbreakingly close to a plea.

A prickly wave of heat rushes up, settling on her cheeks, pushing the words out of her throat and into a sputtered mess. “A threesome." Jacob doesn't move or make any sign to acknowledge her statement. Rooks blinks in utter confusion until she sees a pale tint under the scarring and grooves of his face. “Just to see how it goes, how we work together-” She hurriedly adds.

“I think some beers over some grilled meat would work better for it, sweetheart-” Jacob says, and the fact that he's speaking and not throwing her out St. Francis is good enough of a sign. He cups her cheek and Rooks heaves a soft breath of relief.

“I know, I know, but hear me out okay?", she says, clasping her eyes shut, bringing his rough fingers to her lips, "I love you Jacob, but I’m tired to keep my life split, hiding things I shouldn't be hiding. I want you both and that’s non negotiable.”

Through the cracks of the old windows, the wind howls, batting the threadbare curtains, a perfect set up for the anticipation boiling in Rook’s blood.

“Shit, I must be outta my fucking mind,” he says.

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

“What we doing here, shorty?”

Convincing Sharky is surprisingly more difficult than convincing Jacob. He huffs and kicks at the base of his old couch, killing the old and probably moldy thing for good. It takes her at least two hours to drill the idea into his thick skull, just to realize that he’s just afraid. And the words pour out unbidden. She’ll leave him because, he ain’t worth the trouble. Which is silly, and she tells him so.

The pick up truck stops just outside the fences of St. Francis.

“Remember what we talked about?” She says, eyeing his hands clasping the buttstock of his shotgun as she struggles out the truck. Rook’s counting her breaths, trying to steady herself, and don’t let the spark of fear of the unknown tumble off the decision she just made.   

“Yeah, but-- Are we picking up a judge to go or what?”

“What?”

She makes her way into the old building followed by a Sharky-on-edge. At the entrance Rooks nods at a waving Peggie. “Hi, Miss Rook, brother Jacob is waiting for you in his office.” The man is all sunny smiles and bright nonchalance which is weird and just hammers Rook in the head at how off this is.

Sharky scoffs at her side. “Miss Rook? Dep, how often--”

He freezes mid step.

“C’mon, Shark.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” he almost yelps, “I thought--”

“Not here!”

She sees it in his face. He’s about to splutter his concocted half conclusions that will hold a good amount of info of what she does and how she fucks in her free time and that’s certainly something she doesn’t want the Peggies to find out. Not anyone for that matter.

Rook pulls him by the sleeve until they are in a secluded corridor, just around the corner of Jacob’s office that doubles as bedroom. “Now, spill it.”

Sharky’s eyes glint between confused blinks. “I thought-- Uh, I thought you meant John.”

“What? Why?” It comes off as squeak more suiting in a toddler’s toy than in a grown ass woman.

“I dunno, you've seen him,” Sharky shrugs, “he's fuckin loaded and suave and y’know, all those things chicks dig, and uh, you kept talking ‘bout a dude who tickled your fancy and I dunno Dep, I just-- I thought it was the psychotic fuckface."

She skips over, a little overeager. "Well, it's not, does that change anything?"

Sharky chuckles and leans, chasing her nearness. "Fuck, Dep, you sure know how to pick ‘em.”

Rook wraps her arms around him, pushing herself up on her toes to plant her lips on his. "I sure do." He rolls his hips grinding against her, always ready, and at half mast if the bulge rubbing on her thigh is what she thinks it is.

A door creaks nearby and common sense wedges in, so she pushes Sharky away, not too bluntly she hopes, because this is not how she wants Jacob to find out.

Just in time.

"I was wondering where you were," he says, voice sizzling with something Rook can't quite place. “My guards said you checked in the complex five minutes ago.” His gaze slides off Sharky and onto the wall as if he was nothing more than a blemish on the paint.

"Yeah, I uh-- got lost."

Jacob raises an eyebrow. "Come ere, sweetheart.”

They reach the door of his lair and Rook swallows an impatient huff.

“Get in and let's set this before I'll change my mind,” Jacob looks past her shoulder, “and send your Drubman lap dog packing, he can wait with my guards at the entrance.”

“Uh, I'm a Boshaw, not a Drubman, dude.”

‘Big difference.” Jacob folds his arms across his chest.  “Now kitten, send him off.”

“Yeah, uh, I--” Rook clears her throat, “I can't do that, Jake.”

She feels Sharky's arm slinging around her waist, and sees Jacob’s face distorting into the most absolutely perfect depiction of someone who’s about to have a stroke.

“You okay?”

His eyes narrow and for a moment Rook thinks he’s gonna pounce on Sharky like one of his judges.

The tight line on his jaw snaps. “Fuck, I just lost a few hundred bucks,” he bristles, shattering the heavy silence.

He turns on his heels and steps off the way signaling them to get in. Rook is greeted by a newly bought, expensive-looking bed replacing his old one.

“I told John to buy it for me, and now I can’t make him pay for it.” Jacob answers to the nonexistent question, sitting at the edge of the bed. “Fuck, darling, I thought you were talking about John.”

“What?”

“See, Dep?--” Sharky chirps, turning to Jacob to pat him on the shoulder completely unaffected by the deadly stare, “you and I are in the same frequency, amigo.”

Rook chooses a spot just next to him to flop down, nudging him on the shoulder. “Yeah, well, I was not.”

“No kidding.” He doesn’t laugh but the smirk on his face breaks some of the tension lingering in the air.

Sharky takes it as a cue to collapse next to her. “Now, excuse me if I’m outta line--”

“You are,” Jacob says.

“-- but I ain’t waiting for you to figure out your brotherly issues standing up like some mouth-breathing peggie, no offense man, my legs are killin’ me and I-- uh, wow, this is soft,” he says bouncing a little, “like real quality you have here, Jacob, can I call you Jacob?”

“No.”

“Anyway, I was just sayin’ we need some booze.”

“I thought you were incapable of saying something smart, Boshaw, but you’re right.”

“No. We’re doing this sober or I’m done here.”

They both shrink at her sides.

“Doesn’t matter, it’s like-- like I’m wasted already,” Sharky gruffs.

“You got it right,” Jacob scoffs.

Rook can almost feel the silence, thick, sagging her shoulders and tries to think on how to actually turn words into action. Jacob's thigh presses against hers and Sharky's arm brushes her own. Up until now she'd never realized how fucking warm they both are, like human furnaces melting her little by little. Her jacket feels constricting.

She's definitely not ready for Sharky taking off his pants in one swift move and jumping on the bed. "'Aight, let's do this," he says with the violent twang of an 80's action movie which effectively kills the pretense they're not there to fuck.

Rook can't do another thing than grunt.

“How do you wanna do this, sweetheart?" Jacob sighs, while his hand brushes her thigh up and down.

"I just--" She swallows a hard gulp while a jolt careens down her spine. "I want you both-- In me." Rook shudders hearing her own shaky, definitely harsh demand. Sharky sits at her side again, taking her jacket off and tossing it over a nearby table.

Jacob kisses her then, tongue darting into her mouth until the whole awkward angle of the situation gets swiped by his closeness. It's soft, sensual, thick with want, and a hint of despair. She doesn't have time to worry about Sharky, because he's already tracing the line of her jaw with chapped lips. A hand skitters down her shirt, rolling a stiff nipple and the room echoes her keening mewl. They're testing her, vying for her responses, while she's falling apart.

Air gets puffed out of her lungs in moans and small whimpers that are certainly not dignified, as she flexes her arms to hold onto something. Jacob’s shoulders, Sharky’s chest, she's not sure. Her body is already responding to the unspoken ideas, soaking her underwear, enough to know she's dripping on whatever is beneath her, two sets of hands wandering, when she's used to one. It already feels like it's too much when is not near enough. And they grope, and fondle, while their mouths nip and lick until they leave her bare, pulsing and wanton. Her clothes are off in swift and hungry movements that have her heart hammering against her ribcage.

Sharky’s fingers prod at her entrance, while Jacob’s rough, big hands clasp her thighs pulling them apart. Rook fights to keep her eyes open, glazed with a fog of need, just to be met with pupils blown wide by lust.  

Sharky soon pushes two fingers inside her and she arches into Jacob's chest with a short gasp and a really tacky buck of her hips forward. So eager that’s just embarrassing.

"Easy, Boshaw," Jacob warns, voice edge sharper than the blade of his knife.

"Dude, I know what I'm doing."

And he does, damn if she knows. His fingers curl and his thrusts are slow, deliberately scissoring to prepare her for more. For which one of them, she still doesn't know nor cares.

Rook's head spins when Jacob's questioning fingers reach her slit, brushing where Sharky is sliding in and out until he adds one. Her breath comes out in stuttered gasps at the sensation of her walls struggling to accommodating them both.  

"I--I..." Words dissolve in a flow of saliva, body jerking under the uncoordinated assault.

"Yes?" Jacob says, licking her ear.

"I can't-- I just-- need--"

"We know, shorty, we're gonna take care of you."

Their fingers are gone in the blink of an eye, and Rook clenches painfully around thin air, biting her own lip.

"Come 'ere."

Is Jacob who pulls her over him, easily, so easily she whimpers a little at the manhandling. Her own slick drips down her thighs, sodding the fabric of his pants. Soon she's clambered over his lap, naked and flushed and sweating.

"Relax, doll," Sharky breathes against her neck, kneeled down behind her and very much naked for what Rook can feel against her ass.  

When did it happen?

Sharky ruts forward, cock nestling between her asscheeks, flaring goosebumps all over her. Rook feels the urge to palm at her clit to find some release but she falls forward, pressing palms flat over Jacob’s chest, thanking he still has his shirt on so she can clutch at it as if her life depended on it.

“Nice and easy, kitten,” he rasps pulling out his cock, already leaking and swollen and just perfect as she remembers. His jeans scrap at her inner thighs as she tries to balance to keep her legs apart, bracketing his hips. She doesn’t wanna know, doesn’t wanna think about what his brothers would do to Sharky and her if they find out. She doesn’t even know if she’s in the liberty to scream her lungs off, as she is positively sure she will in a few minutes.

Sharky places a wet kiss on the nape of her neck just then, making her shiver. “Just breath, babe.”

Jacob smirks underneath her, clasping her hips and eases her down on his lap until she’s fully seated on the cradle of his hips. She fights a moan at the hard stretch, rolling her hips to try to adjust at the intrusion.

“All good?” Jacob groans, running his palm up,cupping her breast, and she mumbles a ‘fuck, yes’, as if her breath wasn’t coming in hitching gusts or her thighs weren’t quivering at his sides. He feels so good inside her, and she rises to her knees just to flop back down, stealing a deep moan from him.

“You feel so good, sweetness, so damn good.”

Still, he doesn’t move and it’s driving her up the wall, even if right now she’s completely lost to the point she can’t count to ten.

“Are you ready for me, babe?” Sharky says to her temple.

Rook nods. It’s the only thing that she seems to be doing since this whole thing began. They’re gonna split her apart and fuck if she’s not eager to be used, and be full and fucking satisfied.

One moment later there’s a good amount of lube on Sharky’s fingers, as he slips them inside her ass. Jacob pushes upwards just when Sharky stretches her open, and it’s enough to drag whines from the back of her throat she’s completely unable to bridle in.

“Can I?” Sharky finally asks.

She chokes on a sob at the loss of his fingers. “Yeah, please-- just, please.”

The fact that Jacob has gone still, tells her they’re really trying to, despite whatever misplaced sense of possession they have about her.

The tip of Sharky’s cock press against her ass and she almost goes cross-eyed once he’s inside her to the hilt.

“Fuck.” She scratches at the broad expanse of Jacob’s chest, slamming her eyes shut. “Shitfuck-shit-”

The sensation almost makes her believe her spine will tear in half, but the dull pain of the first thrust is gone in seconds, replaced by a jolt of pleasure that jumbles her brains. They’d done this before, but never like this, when she’s sure the heavy press of their cocks inside is the perfect definition of stuffed.

“Keep forgetting how tight you are, shorty,” Sharky pants on her neck, one hand splayed on her lower back, the other just above one of Jacob’s, trying as he might to balance behind her. “All good?”

“Should we stop?” Jacob asks, and Rook can’t but be amazed at his restraint as she feels him throbbing inside her.

“No-- please, don’t. I want it, fuck--”

She rolls her hips with heightened senses, and just then they push inside her, completely out of sync, completely out of whatever shred of grounding reality they all were grasping until now. Is not something she was expecting, the perfect, astounding fullness that makes her want more, and move, buck up and down, and back again, hips out of her damn control.

“Slow down, babe, or this is gonna be a helluva short trip,” Sharky moans, gripping her chin and tilting her head to the side so he can kiss her. A kiss that soon becomes an exchange of broken gasps that she has too soon to let go to catch her breath.

The slick slide of their cocks along her walls is slowly propeling her to the edge, and she hears herself beg for more, faster, deeper with a stark voice of sheer need.

“So greedy, darling, you think you can take it all?”

She’d answer if she remembered how to speak so she grunts in acquiescing.

Jacob’s arms snuck around her waist, bringing her closer to catch her lips in a stifling kiss, all teeth and tongue and the sweet taste of what’s right. This right here.

The broken rhythm soon establishes as a constant wave, a heartbeat that guides every pounding and sink, and she manages to find some leverage to play her own tricks. And then it’s her the one fucking them deep, harsh and quickly, even if her knees ache and she’s not sure if she will be able to walk tomorrow. Or the day after. But their moans and whines are good enough of a fuel until her legs ache and she can’t take it anymore.

They’re all rough pants and moans, not letting her do what she wants, determined to make her come apart on their cocks, before they fill her up. She can’t keep track of every move and drag, vaguely registering how deep they’re sinking, Sharky yanking her back so he can lick and kiss every spot he can reach.

A hand sneaks down and presses a flat thumb to her clit, but she’s too far lost on the their cocks pushing hard and hitting every right spot inside her to even notice to whom it belongs to. The pleasure burns close to scorching her, so overwhelming she doesn’t realize she’s sobbing. Her arms now gripping Jacob’s biceps feel weak, just when the waves of her orgasm start crashing against her. She trips over the edge with a special hard press of Jacob’s dick, just when Sharky decides to give deep roll of his hips and every muscle tight and on fire, and everything around her peters out into sparks of white as she comes, harder than ever before.

“Oh shit,” Sharky moans in her hair, as his hips slap against her ass, speed faltering.

Jacob’s movements lose momentum for a second, as she feels his cock practically sodden with her release. “Fuck.”

They guide her through her peak and undoing, as she finally falls slack over Jacob’s shoulder, silently and thoroughly enjoying every pound and harsh thrust. She considers fighting back for a second, to move and buck against them but her legs are of no use, and she whines as they chase their own releases, making her body jerk as they use her for their own pleasure.

Jacob comes first with the familiar growl, amplified a hundred times over, stilling after a deep push and she knows, she positively feels her insides painted with his thick cum. His baby blues stand out against his reddened cheeks, lips parted to regain his breath and Rook kisses him again.

Sharky’s push, rough and off any rhythm, slams her down on Jacob’s chest until there’s a part sob-part grunt bouncing on the room before his hips go flush against her ass, until he finally slides out and she feels his come dripping out her rear.  

“Whoa.” It’s an exclamation that comes between ragged breaths from Sharky’s part and she sees it mirrored in Jacob’s eyes. She’s a mess. An utter, sweaty, satisfied mess and she loves it.

The bed is big enough they can all fit without smashing each other’s essential bits and once the heat has considerably tuned down, she pulls the covers over them.  

“You know Jacob? I was lying,” she says, as she turns on her side to face him, her hand drawing circles on Sharky’s hip, “I hate the cold.”

Jacob chuckles, staring at the ceiling and maneuvering beneath the covers to kick off his jeans. “Yeah well, I think we can make something to correct that, darling.”

Rook turns to kiss Sharky, just to turn to Jacob after it. “Thanks-- seriously, to both of you.”

“It was good.” Jacob grins. Not just at her. Looking behind her.

Rook is a hundred percent ecstatic.

“Yeah, within my top five-- no, top three experiences.”

They finally share a laugh that pulls at Rook’s heart, filling it with searing bliss as the two men she loves, share a bed, sandwiching her in the most perfect way.

“Hey, Jake-man, uh, y’know I’ve been thinking.” Sharky turns to look directly at Jacob, slinging an arm over Rook’s hip.

“About?”

“I think-- I think I know how to make John pay for the bed if you wanna--”

Jacob’s face shifts in a shit eating grin. “I’ll let you restock from my armory, if you can pull it off.”

“Deal.”

Rook feels herself growing tired, exhausted, every joint and muscle screaming and her brain slowly fading into sleep. “So-- can we do this again?”

She knows she has no right of asking more of them. Not when they’re just crossing the line of acquaintances to acquaintances that fuck the same woman, but she hopes.

“Sure, why not?” Sharky mumbles, already sprawled on his side of the bed.

Rook turns to Jacob, with what she thinks are her best pleading eyes.

He blows air hard, brows pulling closer in what seems a deep furrow and her stomach sinks.

“Maybe.” He smirks.

[chest-mimic]

Long text post about putting Neo back in RWBY for a story arc

Been thinking about RWBY recently because of BB:CTB, and just some ways I would write the series. One thought came into my head that I figured was unlikely enough to actually happen to be worth sharing.

What if Neo was Jaune's sister?

As best as I can remember, there's nothing on screen that happens to make it impossible. The only times they would have met (during the tournament), Neo is in disguise. We know for a fact Jaune has seven sisters, and Neo's last name is currently unknown. She doesn't come up in conversation much, and team JNPR isn't involved in the Roman/White Fang stuff. And it's not out there to think any time Ruby or Yang mentioned Neo, the connection just doesn't click. Maybe she's got hair dye or dresses unlike what Jaune would have known. Hell, maybe Jaune did know and kept his mouth shut. Point is, it's possible with a little effort. And if the series can muddy how aura works, some rando on the internet can work with a contrivance.

So, fun fan theory with circumstantial evidence. What could someone actually do with this detail? The first thought I had was it provides a possible way for Jaune to have gotten through the vetting system, AND gives us a reason for Ozpin to have missed it, all in one go. With Blake, it's implied Ozpin let her in because her background and credentials were enough that he could trust her, and at worst he'd keep his eye on a potential spy. Jaune doesn't have the kind of history that would appeal to Ozpin's weird brand of preparation. And as funny as that Dumb RWBY comic is (http://eunnieverse.tumblr.com/post/123075118473/i-dont-care-what-his-transcripts-say-that), it's more likely that Jaune would have needed the help of someone with a reputation.

We know Cinder has ties to Lionheart, one of Ozpin's most trusted allies, early enough to pass as one of his students. So Neo slipping in a nonverbal "hey give my bro a letter of recommendation" (or convincing Roman to ask for it) with some implied violence thrown in isn't out of the question. Had Cinder found out, just pretend Jaune is a potential pawn with delicious blackmail attached. Leo writes something convincing about how grades aren't everything, Jaune is in with the knowledge that his recommendation had a moral cost, Team Kill All Humans has a potential mole that they never end up needing to use, and Ozpin is none the wiser. The series wouldn't need this specific of an explanation for what amounts to a bureaucratic loophole, but who looks at Jaune in volume 1 pinned to a tree and goes "yup that's super hero potential right there".

Incidentally, it could also provide a reason Tyrian singles out Jaune as an interesting person. He can't be a maiden and he's not a wizard (at least we all hope), but family of an ex-coworker in his line of work is worth keeping tabs on.

Okay, enough retcon work on logistics. Where could the series actually go with this? First and foremost, Neo has to show up for it to mean anything. Last we saw Neo, she was "gently" floating down from the sky in the middle of a Grimm attack. But any genre savvy supervillain knows that not seeing the body means they may as well be perfectly fine. In addition, Ozpin's initiation for the first year students is to launch them off of a cliff into the forest. Weird as it is, if he's expecting total newbies to survive the fall, why can't Neo?

With Roman gone, there's not much reason for Neo to stick with Cinder's group. The White Fang stopped working with our big bad, Neo isn't a faunus and can't expect any protection under Adam the Edgehog. Plus, she has no reason to actually go after Ruby or Yang. It's not like they're hard to find, and even if they were, Ruby's going off to pick a fight with Salem, the lady who is so scary Raven is afraid to openly confront her. Considering Neo's reaction to even seeing Raven, we can get a sense of scale for how strong she thinks Salem is. If revenge was a motive, from Neo's perspective Ruby's pretty much doing it for her. So Neo, surviving a brush with death and having a hand in the potential end of mankind, goes home to take a nap.

Team Ruby's friends, following the road to plot, wind up getting near Jaune's hometown. Because it was so conveniently on the way. How convenient. The writers can play it off as wanting to show how a non-huntsman supported town thrives. And since this is RWBY, the answer is probably big guns taped to things that probably aren't guns, so yay more anime guns. But now in the hands of a population with no idea that Huntsmen can be made bullet proof (recall Jaune had to be told what Aura is and how it worked after initiation began). Yeah, World of Remnant covered that, but that's a conversation for another day. Point is, we the audience get to see it in action.

The team exploring town eventually would get to Ruby and Yang finding Neo. Or maybe the whole team. I'm trying to keep this from being straight up fanfiction, but since this is a post about justifying a bit of fanservice, let's just say a rematch occurs because they can't escape from crossing fate. Jaune steps in before a winner is confirmed to point out they're fighting his sister, to which Ruby or Yang rebuts with a reference to the attempted murder.

Now the meat of the potential conflict. Ruby and Jaune stand on opposite ends of a very serious accusation. Ruby has to deal with the fact that one of her friends is related to someone who tried to kill her and her family, Jaune has to accept that his sister is part of the reason Beacon fell, and neither one is going to turn on their family for no reason. Any of what happens next depends on what kind of person Neo is.

Yang already had her lesson in forgiveness in V5, but Ruby hasn't been in the same boat. Weiss's reason for leaving the team was very different than Blake's, and Ruby seemed initially more open to forgiving what Blake had done. Having Jaune defend her assailant would be a betrayal of Ruby's trust, but she's fully capable of understanding wanting to protect your sibling.

The group travelling all have different ideas about dealing with dangerous opponents, but have all been more or less following Ozpin. Yet the limits of Ozpin's knowledge are vague, and whether he's willing to take that chance on someone who is okay at best is unlikely after Lionheart. Neo being relateded to Jaune could give Ruby an important moment of leadership by deciding if the two can be trusted. This might even lead to usurping Ozpin and Qrow's choices as the de facto correct path, or casting out Jaune and Neo as potential threats they can't risk having around. Depending on how it's done, it can even tie back to how Jaune's forgery making or breaking the final decision.

There's more I could write on the topic, but it's already pretty long and I just want to get across a couple possible writing choices that could be made with one additional character background detail. There's flaws in my proposal, like why would Neo have aura unlocked and not Jaune, but a decent writer could fill those holes with good character defining or world building moments. I like RWBY, flaws and all, but I'd love to see more use of side characters instead of just making a new one every time the writers needed more conflict. Maybe I'm making assumptions about characters that I shouldn't be making for this proposal to even work. But if the alternative is getting more new characters established for two scenes then never seen again, then what's wrong with a little bit of fanservice.

Tl;dr give us more Neo.

[kzbrandt]

Mirror Mirror within the Walls

Staring at her own reflection, the Evil Queen seethed, emotionless and vile. The creator had no hand in this universe, for it was crafted by alien palms, kneaded by strange and darker fingertips.

“Snow White, how I yearn to filet her flesh and take a drink from within her moist, throbbing clavicle. Her bright light radiates and scorns me, her very existence bereaves me of any happiness!”

Naburu was a frozen realm harkened with cold days and colder nights, a bleak hollow emptiness stalked the land. The Nabu suffered under their ruler's heavy fists, there was barely enough room to breathe. Although, even swallowed by impervious tyranny they did not despair or abandon hope, they held true to their foretold princess who might one day fulfill the prophecy and summon the Golden one and finally overthrow the Evil Queen. Her reign was true and terrible, they were not even free of their matriarch in death, her cruelty pervaded within and without. Now let's see if I can find that dusty old scroll, ah here we are…

Sisters Thine: A Prophecy

Crafted from darkness and light they both scorn and delight

As one rises the other falls

Mirroring the Sisters of Father Time and the trumpets call

Day passes into night, through the spyglass of winter tide

A squall immortal will sucks in its breath, startled and struck down blind

The sun will shine as the Golden One approaches

Snow White and Krístarjsa will be reunited once more

Two doors swing open

Two destinies chaotically intertwined

Twice scarred, thrice denied

Only together can they heed the sign

They are the Sisters Thine

One black rose

One white

Only when The Lovers rise will they remember that which hides

Snow White was a renowned pillar of genuine beauty and innocence, she was everything the Evil Queen was not, but as each day dredged by, the trench within her aching heart grew deeper and harder to subdue. She didn’t deserve the Nabu’s love, she was an unworthy outlander who was right where she belonged. Still, with so much self doubt and self loathing at least the Ice-fauna hadn’t abandoned her, they hadn’t received the memo yet. They were all so beautiful, how would she survive such intrepid boredom without her frozen friends? Not even the debilitating cold could touch her fair blushed complexion, her flesh was always running unnaturally warm. She was as sightly as fresh snowy hills sparkling with permafrost abounding all around. With each night that came there were the dreams that followed, and they were always the same. A sister who is lost in the wind and finally makes her return. But there was something about it all that fell off, wrong even.

Will my dreams ever come to pass, or am I doomed to decompose in my hollowed, decayed abode? My days have always been numbered but soon my cord will be severed, what will I do then? How can I escape her villainous wrath?

A worry began to creep up a fragile web, each piece of silk more dangerous than the next, with nothing else to do but observe the gears spinning her darkest thoughts, anxiety prickled potent and consuming. A heavy whistling sang upon the air equally full of promise and despair. Darting to the barred window a hairless frosty bird could be found with news and a song.

“Oh, Hansel, how I’ve missed you! Where have you been all this time?”

“My sweet princess, it’s good to see those rosy cheeks. I’m afraid I am the bearer of the most terrible news.”

“What is it?”

“The Evil Queen has dispatched… The Huntsman.”

“Oh, I see.”

“How can you be so calm? Did you hear what I said?”

“Yes, Han, I did. Should I quiver, curl up and beg that bitch to spare poor innocent ol’ me? What has helplessness ever gotten me? I’d rather meet her eyes and haunt her black soul into extinction.”

    “No, this can't be the end!”

“Hansel, shush now, don’t fret. Hope isn’t gone until my blood has frozen with the rest of Naburu.”

“But, what are we going to do?”

“ I don’t know,” Snow shrugged a little defeatedly.

What can I do? I’m defenseless and locked away. She has me right where she wants me.

“Hold tight, I’ll be back in a jiffy.” Hansel’s ceruleans irises glowed with a deep blue ember, igniting his consciousness, a crazy gander burned within his unmoving feathers, resembling hardened frigorific stone.

Watching Hansel fly away, she wondered if he would even make it back in time. Just then, an iron-clad door that was frozen over with petals of snowflakes dancing along the edge creaked open moaning painfully. Most of the castle had an overbite cached in gloom and miasma.

“The Queen demands your presence, princess. This way. Straight ahead, my lady.”

Continuing on, Snow White walked with grace, eyes sparkling violet-grey, somber and spectacular.

If these truly are my last moments, I won’t spend them being pitiful. I am going to greet death with a smile. I only regret leaving Hansel without a proper goodbye.

The throne room was luxurious, lined in black and grey, diamonds and rubies were embedded everywhere, even the floor, it was quite uncomfortable to walk across. It would’ve done the Russian’s proud, rivaling the St. Petersburg Palace herself. The reflection of the Evil Queen was almost omnipresent, there was no escaping it. The devil herself sat regally in a chair of chairs, long silver hair was braided back falling well past her tightly trimmed figure. Physically she had the likeness of the Ancient Norsemen of old, riding water dragons falling prey to no man, raiding the very fabric of life and time.

Haunting the steps below her feet was Rasputin, same waxy black hair, same sinister smile, just playing the game with a different deck of cards. The false queen didn’t even raise her eyes to Snow White, but was conversing with her most coveted servant.

“Mirror, mirror within the walls who is the fairest of them all?”

Rasputin’s face had spiraled and caved inward transforming into a supernatural speculum tinged with energy only found in the outer realms, beyond the Vale and the Abyss.

“To my grievous displeasure, it can only be Snow White, your majesty. While she lives your reign will never be true, she is the true leader of Naburu, her lost princess. Snow White must be eliminated.”  Rasputin turned in her direction and howled something horribly inhuman. Soon cold, murderous eyes popped back into his face as it shifted back to its loosely natural features.

“You see what you do, your very presence defies me. You now bear witness to your crimes, what do you have to say?  How can Snow White justify this blasphemous treachery?!

What was it about her words that brought it all back? She had been here so many times only wearing different faces of the flesh. The tide had risen, washing away all the falsities of this life and illuminating the others so vibrantly it couldn’t be ignored.

My sister… Our home, Valhalla the mother of Taboo, the land of possibilities, The Ancients birthplace… I can remember all of it. Neferet dragged us from our home using dark magick, the home of the wand-wed, the vessels of Ancient Energy. And the worst part of it all...  She was our family, sister to our mother, she betrayed her own blood. A crime that would ban her eternally from ascension. The Evil Queen would never know peace. There is at least this one consolation this time around.

“I welcome death, you are not worthy of fear. I would stare into your soulless eyes as I slit your throat, you would only cower and stick me in the back, dishonorably. You are nothing but the scum off my shoe and I will be happy to never see your face again after this moment.”

“I will have The Huntsman eat your heart and defile your fresh corpse, you are a violation! Away with her!”

As the two soldiers of Naburu, slaves to the Wicked Witch took the princess away, such strong and virile men began to sob knowing what they must do...

[homogrimoire-archive]

The Remnant Branches

CH. 4 - There Isn't Anything Sweeter than Revenge, or Love

Part 6: End of an End, Beginning of a Beginning

Hazel and Qrow face off. After returning to Salem, he makes her very happy. Fast forward, Emerald and Mercury are left alone, and Hazel can't have that, not anymore.

AO3 Link

Hazel soon found himself at the edge of a city, a ways away from those twins and Beepy and Kalil. He didn’t want any tragedy to befall any of them. He never thought he'd be friends with a machine, nor feel concern for a pair of androids. Yet, that’s what happened. And he never imagined he’d form such a close connection in such a short time on this mission. Even though he wished it all could have lasted a bit longer, he was glad to have experienced it regardless.

“We’re all alone. You can come out now.” he said into the emptiness. From that emptiness emerged another man.

“So, those twins set you up to that huh?” he said.

“Afraid not. Was just helping a friend out.”

“Yeah, cause genocide is a thing friends do all the time.” he said as he unsheathed Harbinger.

“It was either the Replicants, or the Gestalts. You have your goals, and I have mine. Let’s quit talking, and get to the fighting, Qrow.”

Qrow was the first to make a move. It had been some time since their last encounter. Qrow was just as swift and hard hitting as last time. In their first fight, he underestimated Qrow’s strength, which had cost him the battle. However, Hazel knew better now, and knew he could outlast Qrow. While he was usually slower, his stamina was usually much greater than Qrow’s. It depended on the dust he used, if any. While he was also stronger, Qrow admittedly had great tenacity.

“Can’t say I took you for a kid person.” Qrow said as he effortlessly slashed away.

“Could say the same for you.” Hazel retorted. He grabbed one of his arms and tossed him to the side of a building, the concrete cracking at the impact.

“I’m,” Qrow said, taking a breath before finishing, “not.”

“It’s probably best that way, isn’t it?” Hazel jabbed.

He knew he hit a soft spot there. The more clouded his opponent’s thoughts were, the better of a chance he would win. Qrow shifted his weapon to his scythe. While lacking any ranged firepower, it had greater reach and dexterity in that form.

However, it was playing into a fighting style Hazel would sometimes utilize: get in close, and disarm the opponent. It was a style he devised since joining Salem. His primary targets were huntsmen, many of whom relied on their weapon. Against these weapon dependent opponents, he would get in close and steal their weapon for his own use. And since he didn’t have a weapon, there wasn’t anything his opponent could take in exchange. It was a style that had certainly proved itself quite a few times.

All there was to do now was to wait for the perfect opportunity to steal the Harbinger. This proved to be particularly troublesome, however. That was thanks to a series of misfortunes: a small crack causing him to lose balance for a moment, Qrow’s cape being caught in a bush to leave him out of reach when expecting otherwise, and a building a few blocks away collapsing to blanket the area in dust, causing poor visibility.

In the dust, Hazel lost sight of Qrow. He knew the Brawnwen’s aura was low, and his own would be low soon enough. But with how hard Qrow hit, it could only take one one good slash. And that’s what happened. From behind, the scythe hit straight down his back, shattering the last of his aura. However, this was the time he successfully stole Harbinger. With a twist of his wrist, and pivoting on his heel, he brought the scythe back up to uppercut Qrow. He could just make out the shattering of aura in the thick dust.

But, there was no chance to follow up and deliver the finishing blow. Black feathers swayed gently to the ground where the man once was. Hazel knew he would be back. A huntsman almost never leaves their weapon behind. He held the weapon in a fighting stance and readied himself for an attack. He would have used the gravity dust he had left, but it wouldn’t be enough to without the piece given to Kalil.

“What’s the matter? Too afraid to have a weapon of your own?” said a voice somewhere in the dust. He turned to face it, but saw nothing.

“Or too weak? Does it hurt to have one? Remind you of pain?”

“You shut your mouth!” Hazel shouted.

“You can’t match anymore, huh? One half of a now incomplete whole. Isn’t that special?”

“Come here so I can fucking murder you!” All Hazel knew was that Qrow would soon be a dead man, well, at least experience death very soon.

“Only pain now.” he chuckled. “No more laughter. No more joy. No more Gretchen.” That was the final fucking straw. Qrow was going to suffer now.

Hazel threw the scythe in the direction of the voice, and dashed after the voice. He could see that Qrow caught it, but was not prepared for Hazel to be rushing towards him. He grabbed Qrow by the face and slammed him into a wall with a scream. He let go, and let Qrow fall to the floor unconscious, Harbinger clattering as it hit the concrete. He bent down to pick Harbinger up. He noticed that he had been crying, and wiped the evidence of his pain away.

-

When he arrived back to Salem, he was surprised to see that Tyian was not there. And based on how Salem was looking at him, he imagined it did not end well for him, whatever he went through.

“I expect that you came back with some results?” It was more of a demand than a question.

“Of course. I stopped Qrow just before returning. Sent him back to Ozpin. ”

“Well, you’re starting off better than Tyrian. What else? What did you learn about shades and magic?”

“I learned some things about magic. But, you’ll be glad to know I learned a lot about shades. I was fused with one for most of my time there.” That very obviously piqued her interest. She straightened up in her chair and focused on him intently.

“Start from the beginning.” she ordered. She kept her gaze locked on him as he explained the details of the story and the experience of shade possession, omitting the parts she would find irrelevant.

-

After a day of conversing with Salem and a quick checkup with their good doctor, Hazel was able to finally rest. With a groan, he fell onto his very comfortable bed. She had spared no expense in making sure her circle was well provided for, not that money was ever of her concern. Her influence could be found anywhere if one knew what to look for. But of course, many didn’t. That was the nice thing about siding with Salem, it was easy to be alone.

The room was filled with very few personal possessions: some clothes, a torn picture, an old dust crystal, some miscellaneous keepsakes, and now, a letter from a friend. The envelope itself was plain, save for the wax seal that closed it. The design was a circle with a trifecta of eyes. It was creepy, so he didn’t feel all that bad bad cutting across it to open the envelope, though it felt much thicker than wax. The paper the letter was printed on was a pristine white, contrasting with the sleek black lettering. It seemed like it could have come from Remnant, and not another world.

To Hazel

Sorry I couldn’t see you, Kalil, and Beepy off in person. I was dragged to my Replicant back on the mainland. My replicant was a filthy murderer, of not only Gestalts, but other Replicants. You’ll be happy to know I took care of her swiftly. When we reunite, there can be a fight of wills. Whoever’s will is stronger, is the one who wins the body. Though, this is just my hypothesis. It hardly matters though. What’s done is done, and all we can do is move on.

And I hope you can move on too someday. I know your revenge is your ultimate goal. I respect that, understand it more than anyone. And I know that one way or another, you will get it. I can’t be there to help you as you helped me, but I made sure I can help a little. The envelope’s seal is made of pure maso. It’s not a lot, but a little bit goes a long way. Seriously. That’s enough to keep a person alive for millennia, among other things. But there is something more important I want to give you: my words.

Revenge is sweet. Very sweet. I know that someday, you will see how sweet it is. But love is sweet too. We must remember that. I know it is not my place to ask anything of you, but as someone who cares about you, please find love again. I don’t care if it’s a year from now, or ten. Please don’t just hold onto your revenge and hate. If there’s anything your sister wants for you more than anything, it is to love again someday. But until then, fight, fight on knowing you have someone who believes in you.

Thank you,

Gretel.

-

The first time he meets the two kids is when they are introduced briefly before the mission at Haven. They are underlings of Cinder first and foremost, they believe. The one with green hair especially believes this. If they had any sense of the scale of what they were doing, they would know they served Salem above all else. But, they are only children, strong children. But children nonetheless. However, they are also children with some serious issues. They reminded him of Cinder when she first showed up.

The difference was that Cinder was weak at first. Hazel vividly remembers objecting to her inclusion into their circle, but she told him to shut up. She told him how it was her destiny to be there, and become strong, the likes of which the world had never seen. There was such ferocity, such acceptance, in her eyes. This was a child who would be strong, because she knew she would be. He objected no further. That day, he lost some respect for Salem.

These kids, unlike their leader, were already strong, well beyond capable of standing toe to toe with seasoned huntsmen. But also unlike their leader, they were so unsure of themselves. They were dependent on Cinder, even if the boy showed it less.

In the beginning, he was so sure the mission would be a success. Cinder had the full power of a maiden now, and thanks to some of the maso, a powerful grimm arm she could control. Her underlings were valuable assets to the mission, Leo had betrayed Oz, and Cinder would have the upper hand on Vernal and Raven. While the White Fang situation could be better, it was what all it needed to be.

And then Ozpin shows up, reincarnated into the kid he helped earlier no less. It feels like a slap in the face, on top of all the other grief and rage Ozpin has caused him. He wanted to end this kid’s suffering before it became too much, before he lost his innocence, but he also wanted to kill Ozpin for using another child’s life.

Ozpin and his allies gain the upper hand. Cinder had lost, and the situation with the White Fang was no longer in their favor. He didn’t think it would come to this, but it does. So when the girl breaks down and gives them the perfect opportunity to escape, he takes it. He runs, carrying her over the shoulder as the kid in gray follows behind. He knows that they will have to face Salem, and they will have to do it without Cinder, so he knows that he has to protect them.

-

Hazel makes it a priority to be by their side as much as possible, which is easy since the two are inseparable. They both complain at first, stating they don't need him to babysit and the like. He would like to give them the space they wanted, but not so long as they were in Salem’s castle. Watts detested children, and would be rid of the two in a heartbeat if he so found the proper opportunity. Tyrian, was Tyrian. Being near him too long wasn’t good for anyone in any capacity. But, Salem hardly seemed to acknowledge them. He didn’t know if that was good or bad.

But eventually, they warm up to him, as much as two very traumatized teens can. One day, Emerald thanks him for looking out for them. Mercury just says, “What she said.” It’s not much, but it’s better than the “piss off” he would always get from him. It’s the first thing to make him genuinely happy in a while. But this marked when he just began to see just how hurt these kids were.

Emerald was more dependent on Cinder than imagined. She was well on the path to becoming someone like Tyrian, and Cinder would be her Salem. But, her break from Cinder seemed to help keep her normal, if depressed and unsure of herself. Why she was so dedicated to the power-hungry woman was unknown to him, but Hazel wasn’t going to pry.

And then Mercury. He seemed to have a distaste for nearly everything by default, Cinder and Emerald being the exceptions, and just maybe Hazel, just maybe. Unlike his close friend, he held no sadness, only anger. Hazel assumed the only reason he stood around since Cinder had lost was so he wouldn’t be alone, and so Emerald wouldn’t be alone either. But, this didn’t mean he was nicer than he let on. Hatred flowed in him through and through.

Eventually, he realized that they were just kids who wanted to be safe and happy, something they probably never had all their life. It was then he felt sad for them, and himself. Was what he was doing making him happy? It surely wasn’t safe. He wasn’t even sure if it was something he wanted anymore. He had been doing this for years now, and was tired of it. His revenge was starting to seem more and more like a fool’s wish. Would his sister want this of him? Would this make her proud? Would she have done all that he had?

“You look like you’re thinking hard about something. Be careful, that might not be good for someone like you.” Mercury jabbed. It was the latest in a long line of jokes about him having a small brain.

“Let me know when you start seeing smoke then.” It made the two teens laugh. Looking at them, something in his head just clicked. “You kids wanna leave?” They both looked at him, and laughed harder. “I’m serious.” They stopped their laughing to look at him, then each other, then him again.

“You are serious...” Emerald just barely whispered. “But we can’t just leave. I mean do you know where we are? And, I- I-” she began to choke up. She couldn’t leave Cinder.

“This life isn’t for any of us. I made a promise to a friend a long time ago to be safe and happy. Being here isn’t helping me, or either of you, with that. I want to leave, but not without both of you with me.”

“And you think we can just trust you like that?! For all we know this is some test set up by Salem to test our loyalty, and you’re trying to trick us and get rid of us like everybody else wants!” Mercury shouted.

“I’ll be honest, you have every reason to not trust me. This could be a set up, and I could be lying to you. But I can hope you trust me. I’m not lying to you two when I say that I want us to leave. I do want you two to be safe and happy. I hate it here now, and I know you two hate it too. I just want to live a good life, and help you two live one. I promise”

“I’ll- I’ll go with you.” Emerald stuttered.

“Em!?!”

“I’m tired Mercury. I just want to be happy for once! I don’t care if Cinder’s here or not! You were right. It’s not like she ever really cared about us...” she finally admitted to herself. “And if we’re gonna escape, now’s the best time anyway.” Everyone else was in Atlas getting ready to dunk on Ironwood.

“Tch. Fine. Whatever.” Mercury let out a sigh. “You better deliver, old timer.” he said, pointing a finger at Hazel.

“I know this place like the back of my hand. And I know a few places we can crash while we lay low. If worst comes to worst, I have some distant relatives in the boonies.”

“You’re not making this sound very enticing.” Mercury told him as they followed Hazel.

“Well, you’re not saying it’s bad.” Hazel pointed out. He considered that a good sign.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re excited.” Emerald said, slyly slinging her arm around  his shoulder.

“Hmph. Hardly.” he lied as he crossed his arms. “So how are we getting out of this hellhole anyways?”

“Same way we got on. Boat.” Hazel said. Magic made it so that grimm did not attack it. It was a very... odd boat. The magic had the side effect of making it just unexplainably weird somehow.

“Great.” he deadpanned. Having metal legs did not make deep bodies of water very fun.

Regardless of that, he was not a fan of the boat. He looked upon it with detest as they arrived at it. They gathered the last of their belongings and chucked them on board, where the supplies they looted also awaited.

“Any last words before we head off, anyone? If you wanna get something off your chest, now’s not a bad time.”

“I have some.” Emerald said. Mercury rolled his eyes. It was probably some sort of good bye and thanks to Cinder. To his surprise, she grabbed his hands. “Mercury, I love you!” He saw that she was blushing. He could feel the heat rising to his face. He didn’t know how to act or what to say. But he felt how he should act, and let that take control. He leaned down and brought her close, and kissed her. When their mouths finally parted, he looked into her eyes, unsure if he could say what he wanted to say.

“It’s ok kid, you can say it.” Hazel said from above. Young love was certainly a miracle, especially in a place where grimm are born.

“I love you too.” A smile spread across her face. It made him happier than he had ever felt, and they began to laugh, and then cry. Hazel went down and pulled them in for a hug. Neither of them pulled away.

“You’re both gonna be alright now.” he assured them as he held onto them tightly. He wished that just for a moment, he could enter the safety of the shadows for them. The shadows there were anything but. Soon, they stopped their sobbing.

“Thanks for that.” Emerald said, wiping the last of her tears.

“Yeah.” Mercury thanked, wiping away the last of his tears as well.

“We all need a good cry once and a while. No need to thank me.”

“Well we’re thanking you anyways old timer.” he said with his usual aggressiveness. Strange to hear the tone with those words, but it was welcomed all the same.

“I guess I should thank you two then. I wouldn’t be leaving for a better life if it weren’t for you two.”

“How do you know it will be better?” Emerald asked.

“Call it a hunch, kid.” This seemed like a good enough answer for the both of them. He was glad. As he looked at the two of them board the boat, they messed around with each other in their usual manner, the only difference being that they were holding hands. It made him happy to know they were moving onto a better future. He wondered if that was what being a parent felt like. He assumed it was close enough.

Yes, this was the kind of thing Gretel was talking about, a love worth living for. This was the kind of life Gretchen would have wanted for him, a life worth loving. In a world where his revenge was a fool’s wish, he boarded the boat at last, knowing he was going to live a life safe and happy. He had no doubt this new life would be better. Love is much sweeter than revenge after all.

[team-crtq]

Volume 5 Episode 1 Review

Helllllo, RWBY Fandom! I’m Mod Quartz of the CRTQ Blog! The blog dedicated to actually critiquing RWBY!

For Volume 5 we’ll be reviewing each episode. And no, I won’t be the only one reviewing. My fellow Mods Cobalt, Regalia and Tangerine will also be reviewing alongside me. We each take an episode from the first twelve episodes and divide them between us! As for thirteen and fourteen: Well, Good ol’ Quartz managed to snatch them up so you’ll be getting a special helping of mineral this year!

But enough chit-chat: Let’s go!

First up we have the introduction to the Volume 5 which also serves as the establishing shot of Mistral. The build up with the ominous underground hallway was rather good, the detail on the bricks was pretty good, the lighting has improved immensely since before and considering all the crap that people have gone through with Volume 4: the light hearted banter before we see Mistral was relaxing. However, I do think that Ruby should have been called out for almost dying since she almost got caught by Tyrian and Jaune of all people shouldn’t be joking about death. 

Then was have the heroes (and Jaune. No offense to Jauen fans, I just love making jokes about him.) actually seeing Mistral for the first time. The actual shot we get at first really captures a look of “ancient but noble Eastern city” with the beautiful but worn building sprouting out of gorgeous mountains with winding path ways and even more mountains in the background. However, I do have a small issue with the waterfall in this shot because, judging by how the water is flowing and falling, it can look like it is falling onto the walkway below and even so, I must criticize that said water would be splashing in the faces of people walking down it I know this seems nitpicky but tiny details like that can throw people off (plus I can’t spend this whole review praising RT.)

Next is the views of the city through 2-D shots. I’m pretty neutral on the whole 2-D aspect as while it’s jarring what with the establishing shot of Menagrie was in 3-D: We seem to be having longer episodes as well as two extra so this is certainly not jarring enough that I would demand resources to be moved. As for the shots themselves: They are well made still shots with plenty of detail and stuff going in the background to entrance the audience and make Mistral feel alive. I am getting a distinct The Last Airbender vibe from these shots which I must commend RT for being able to at least be reminiscent of such a beautiful show without insulting it. The character designs all follow RWBY’s rule of at least trying to make people seem distinct and unique, with hairstyles or facial features only being repeated a handful of times (one time I believe to denote familial ties) and for 53 people: that’s pretty good. 

(PS: Huh. Two guys with one holding bamboo heart. ... Neat. They look nice enough together that I’ll ignore the cartoonishness of the bamboo heart.)

The dialogue in this scene mostly consists of Team RNJR making comments about Mistral while Qrow pulls a WOR and describes Mistral to them. Considering the fact that I love WOR, this works very well for me and I think Qrow did a good job of giving an overview of Mistral’s culture and functions. Of course, this isn’t enough for Mistral as a whole so I do hope we get more.

The next scene is introduced with a rather nice transition by Nora. Not too much to say about this one due to the fact that it takes place mostly inside a single room inside of a ship. It’s nice to see Weiss again and in a nice contrast to her Volume 1 self, she tries to apologize in case she’s been trouble to the pilot which is a great show of humility on her part. To also show off her development from being the selfish brat she was: Weiss hears a distress signal and asks to help them. This would normally be the part where the pilot heroically goes off to help Weiss save these people in some awesome action scene but I have to commend RWBY for doing the opposite and having him try to avoid the ship in order to just get home. I know this seems cowardly to us but that’s actually how a normal person would react to deadly monsters nearby, showcasing the difference in mindset between a Huntsman and a normal person.

The next scene focuses on introducing Lionheart. First we had a bit of build up with an empty looking Haven as the heroes relaxing as they finally make it to their destination. However, Qrow does point out latter that there is a disturbing lack of students and teachers which causes everyone to go on edge. So everyone rushes to the Headmaster’s room, with all of them preparing for battle in a pretty cool sequence of everyone drawing their weapons. Then Qrow kicks down the door and reveals...Leonard Lionheart, startled as hell. The reactions from RNJR were honestly pretty funny due to the unison scream but Qrow’s reaction was...too Looney Tunes for me. I dunno, probably just me.

Anyway, Qrow and Lionheart recover and banter a bit and afterward Team RNJR introduces themselves and I gotta say, RWBY has done a great job at body language. Lionheart gives an air of constant fear in his body language due to him being tense all the time and his actions constantly tells me “I’m afraid!” which suits his design as the cowardly lion. Meanwhile, Qrow gives off an air of easily created anger with his slouching back, fisted hands and slight leaning. And with RNJR you could get their base personalities just from hwo they move when introduced: Ruby being happy but slightly professional showing her idealistic view on being a Huntress, Jaune not moving much showing his status as the normal guy, Nora being very cheery showing her to be the energetic one and Ren putting his arms behind his back and bowing his head showing him to be the calm, collected one. Very rare you get that level of communication in simple actions.

The final part of this scene consists of Lionherat trying to shoo Qrow and RNR away by informing them that his staff is gone, Qrow getting up in his face while we have another example of good body language (IE the sudden widening of eyes the instant Qrow yells) and Qrow revealing that he filled RNJR in on the relics and maidens, which seems to disturb Lionheart. A nice little exchange to show the dubiousness of Lionheart.

The next scene is introduced with a few shots of the outside of the Belladonna household which...confuse me. they don’t really do much for the scene and the build up they offer is minimal at best. They should have cut the shots and saved the time and money.

Anyway: the true scene begins with Ghira and Sun bursting into the house yelling about how despicable and deplorable someone is. Kali makes a small comment about how they are finally agreeing on something, which causes Sun to get embarrassed and Ghira to, I’m assuming, snapping Sun in two to avoid the embarrassment when Blake comes in and tells them that everything will be alright. Between her soft but firm force, the dramatic lighting and her confident and assured stance it does give off a feeling that Blake would be a good leader so if this is build up for her taking control of the White Fang-Kudos.

Then we have Blake walking onto a balcony and dismissing a guard from her duty. ... Why we didn’t see any guards before is beyond me: this is just a mistake from the CRWBY. Then we have Illa appearing and attempting to talk with Blake. We get a bit of exposition as to what had happened before hand as Balke and her family went to try and arrest the twins from EPisode 5 but they managed to pin everything onto Illa and escape scott-free Interesting to note that Illa turns her head away when Blake mentions her taking the fall, as if she was ashamed for it. Then Illa tells Blake that she doesn’t have anyway of proving anything was true and Blake retorts by planning on showing the information to the fanaus of Menagrie to sway them against the White fang.

What comes next is a very moving scene where Illa removes her mask as she warns Blake that her plan will fail and then begging her to leave before it’s too late. This works on three levels: the first one being the most basic, the eye to eye contact in order to convey the message she is trying to get across not just to Blake but to the audience as well. It helps her face express even more than before and it touches people more easily. The second is symbolic: The White Fang were the masks because they are acting like the Grimm as they commit crimes in order to force equality. With Illa removing the mask but not tossing it away as she pleads with Blake, it enforces that behind her actions and behind her allegiance: there is a person who truly wants to help Blake while also showing her loyalty still to the White Fang. And third: it’s easy for people like us to hate the White Fang because most of them don’t really have faces. Just as we feel no empathy for the Grimm because of their disconnect from humanity, we feel less inclined to side with the White fang because without a face, we see them similar to the Grimm. By removing her mask, Illa and the writers force us to acknowledge that she is a person, just like we are ad her reasoning behind her actions is just as complex as ours are.

Sadly, Blake refusing by stating that illa will have to make her, which causes a great amount of sadness in Illa as she says “I know” before leaving: Again, enforcing she is a person. Then we end with a shot of Blake looking angry before her expression breaks and she just looks worn, showing that she can’t stay mad at Illa.

The upcoming scene is an exposition based scene with Lionheart and Qrow tading information. Usually I don’t like exposition scenes because it’s mainly just two characters talking plainly to each other (Hence why I enjoy the history lesson style of WOR) but there is enough personality in this scene to keep me interested. Lionheart goes on about the troubles that Mistral ahd to face due to the Fall Of Beacon (with a nod to Penny in there), the people they’ve lost and the difficulties they are facing now with the Grimm and the Kingdom of Atlas due to Ironwood’s actions from before and finally the issue with the Spring Maiden. Qrow retaliates and probably tried starting a fight but then Ruby comes in and shuts them down before they can fight and reassures them. Again, showing that she is deserving of the title of leader.

We then get something that many people were hoping for: An explanation on the connection to the Maidens and Relics. Apparently the relics are sealed away onside certain chambers and only a specific Seaosnal Madien can unlock it and get the relics. Now I might have been upset about such a blatant grap to connect the two but A.) This is the norm for gods, they pull this shit all the time and B.) This explains why the Maidens are so important, why Ozpin and Co. needed to protect them, why Salem is so focused on them and why Cinder is needed. SO yeah, I understand. 

We also get some info on the Spring Maiden: Apparently she ran off ten years ago due to the stress of her powers and the weight they carry and seeing as she is a living key for a godly power: Yeah, that’d happen. Lionheart claims that he doesn’t even know where she is and Qrow reveals that he knows. And the news isn’t good: She’s with Raven.

(PS: Okay, what is with high tech wooden desk? there was no foreshadowing for that and Qrow just flings his scroll onto the desk as if the desk knows what is going on. Seriously man, cut out the Belladonna house shots and have Qrow type some stuff into the desk.)

Also, apparently RNJR knows who Raven exactly is as Yang’s mom. I’m guessing Ruby told them but how did Ruby know? Did Taiyang tell her when he told Yang? Did Qrow blurt it out while drunk? Did Raven try kidnapping yang when she was a child and Ruby saw it? I really hope this gets answered.

Anyway, Qrow tries to convince Lionheart to go get the Maiden from Raven but eh refuses on two fronts. One is that the Council of Mistral won’t devote resources to fighting bandits (and the whole Maiden-Relic business is very hush hush) and considering the strength of Raven and the Spring Maiden alone: Qrow can’t just rush in by himself and RNJR. He emphasizes the importance that they wait for the right time. He and Qrow trade a few verbal blows before the subject changes to that of info about Cinder and her little group which Lionheart tells that they can’t find anything valuable, just fakes and forgeries. The group of five leaves and Dr.Watts informs Lionheart that he needs to work on lying. That brings everything the Headmaster said into question as he could be a liar and trying to stall for time but due to Lionheart’s resigned expression, I also question if he’s on either side really. All in all: This keeps the audience on it’s toes.

The scene shifts to a remake of the final scene from Volume 4 so I’ll just skip that. All I have to say is; Oscar looks better this time around.

The next scene takes place somewhere else in Mistral where yang is getting a glass of water and taking a break before continuing her journey. While this happens, some really skeezy looking guy starts hitting on her, apparently missing the definition of “personal space”, “tact” and “no.” We get a nice little Goldilocks reference before he tries touching her hair and he promptly gets smack out the rest stop. The act of Yang smacking a gross perv out was damn awesome but the guy pinballing around was just terrible. It could have just been the guy landing right outside and it would have worked so much better. The owner thanks her and hands her a drink. Yang reaches out and her hand, the one that punched the guy, starts shaking and freezing up so she has to stop it. While I think this is a hint that her PTSD isn’t away yet: I can’t say for certain. But I am thankful if it is a hint that she’ll be dealing with it.

So we get a little talk from the owner about how far out from the Kingdom they are and how the only person he really sees is Yang’s mom, to which Yang replies that she knows. The owner warns her that bandits are dangerous, Yang brushes him and prepares to leave when the guy from before stops her and talks about how he heard she was looking for someone. How the guy heard her is a little dubious considering eh only just then recovered but I’m more concerned with the implication that Yang is looking for Raven than Ruby, which is what we’ve been lead to think. Yes, RT could have been misleading people but it just kind of invalidates her build up. However it can be forgiven if this road yields results.

The final scene shows us with Ren, Nora and Jaune all looking exhausted as someone knocks on the door. The three person team exchanges looks before Jaune walks up to the door and slowly turns the knob to open, building up the tension due to the rising foreboding music and the slow movement, to reveal the newest member of the cast Oscar standing there, looking rather nervous. He asks for Ruby, which makes Ren and Nora suspicious as Nora asks him why he wants to see her. Oscar stays silent for a bit until Drunkle Qrow, blitzed harder than Poland in 1939, stumbles in, mumbling about how “he found him” until he slips onto the couch while Oscar tells them that he might need some help.

Ruby storms out, apparently reading comics as she sees her uncle drunker than the country of Ireland as she facepalms and asks if he got drunk again, showing us that this is apparently a common occurrence. Oscar jumps in and seems surprised as he says that she has silver eyes, a call back to what Ozpin said when they met face to face. Ruby asks who he is and Oscar nervously explains who he is but who they probably know him as while Qrow makes drunk commentary in the background. The episode ends with Qrow triumphantly yelling “I did it!” before passing out on the floor while Nora winces. Honestly, the only way this could have gone better is if things cut to Patch with Taiyang saying “Qrow just passed out again, didn’t he?”

All in all, this was a very good beginning. There were a few missteps here and there but overall I think it was an amazing start to Volume 5!

Now I’ll see you all in Episode 5!

[fairytail-whathesays]

What happened with RWBY?

It’s time. Time to have address that which I have long avoided. Here’s a rough cut image from my blog (because it’s too long for copy-paste and I don’t want to give links to my personal): 

But if you want to get a fresh, full rant, click the read-more below. Fair warning, it’s a rollercoaster, but I’ve gotta air my problems. It revolves mostly around certain characters until that one nasty bit at the end. You’ve got to see the steady downhill feeling.

I fell in love with Sun Wukong’s character right after his debut. I liked his personality, I liked his character design, and holy shit did I love watching him fend off Torchwick with those gunchucks. 

And liking him wasn’t easy, early on. Because from the moment of his appearance, the fandom hated him. Despised him. Most of this being because Sun was quite clearly an imminent threat to the fandom’s very popular BumbleBY (Blake/Yang) ship. They would go on to claim that Sun was the epitome of homophobic and heteronormative writing, that he didn’t respect Blake. Most glaringly, they’d accuse the Black Sun (Sun/Blake) ship of having no development at all, which they really didn’t have any room to talk since Blake and Yang had barely glanced at each other the entire Volume 1 and only got one bit of good interaction in Volume 2 or 3, and had known each other a lot longer. I shipped Black Sun and believe me, I loved it despite everything they said. 

But have you ever gotten the distinct feeling that writers don’t like a character? That they go out of their way to either lock out or punish a character? Because that’s the feeling you’d get from watching Volumes 2 or 3. From there on out, Sun and his newly-introduced team were phased out with startling speed. Which seemed really odd, because from his part in the Volume 1 finale, you’d think he was a character the writers were excited for. After Volume 2 was done, I got the feeling there was some meddling from the interfering businessmen happening. Because here’s how Volume 2 went:

The trailer and opening to Volume 2 not only included Sun, but actually gave him and his team a slot of their own, which was notable because Sun was previously a standalone character. Scarlet and Sage didn’t actually appear at all in the entire volume–you only see them for one scene very far in the background and you could easily not notice them–which in fact is what happened. Many people didn’t even realize they were there until they were pointed out. Sun and Neptune fared slightly better. Slightly. Neptune got formally introduced and they got….some involvement in the first half of the volume. A little. It starts off with Sun accidentally letting slip to Neptune (while gushing about how cool Blake is) that she’s a Faunus, which is kind of important to him. That’s supposed to be a secret–although just the next episode, we’re shown that Blake gave Weiss permission to tell the rest of RWBY and JNPR, mitigating Blake’s irritation somewhat when Jaune nearly spills that secret to a library in a loud voice.

From the fandom’s reaction, you’d think Sun was a terrible person who had a history of spilling secrets and not being able to keep his mouth shut, and owed Blake an apology on his knees. Yes, it was supposed to be a secret, but I repeat: not that serious. Especially since Torchwick knew by then, and Torchwick was a real threat.

Then came the little mini-arc about trying to investigate Torchwick, which led to Sun and Neptune tagging along for the ride. Sun got a little bit of interaction with Blake where he got to feel just how brutal the White Fang group had had it and how grimdarkevil they were now. Neptune basically didn’t do anything. In the climactic chase scene and big fight against Torchwood’s mech later, Sun and Neptune get the chance to show off Neptune’s weapon (which are really cool in this series) and Sun’s Semblance (personal power)…..both of which accomplish absolutely nothing before Torchwick literally tosses them out of the scene, so RWBY can do their thing without Sun and Neptune being involved. That’s not a joke–they’re ejected from the scene, and it’s very transparent.

This trend continues. In the Volume 2 finale, where all the different teams and factions are fighting off the Grimm invasion to protect the city, Sun and Neptune are shown arriving on the scene….and are immediately skipped. No seriously, we finish up JNPR fighting, we cut to them arriving….then it cuts to the Atlas army doing their thing and Sun and Neptune aren’t seen doing anything at all except bumping their fists together at the end. This was the finale! The climax of the arc! If there was ever a time to show them doing something, it was now! If they weren’t going to be involved or seen doing something, why bother showing them being there in the first place?! Sun and Neptune were in ten of the twelve episodes in the Volume, and accomplished nothing! Sun got more done in five minutes of the Volume 1 finale than he got done in the entire second volume!

The trend continued, and worsened, in Volume 3. In the Volume 3 trailer and opening, not only did Sun and his team get a presence, they got a big presence. In the whole teams lineup at the start, SSSN (Sun’s team) appear before JNPR–that is, before the dueteragonists/secondary protagonists. I admit I got excited. It looked like SSSN were finally going to get the screentime and importance they were owed. Of course, I was wrong. Shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.

Not only did Volume 3 continue the trend of shunning Sun and his team out of every scene they were in, it started the trend of making them incompetent laughing stocks. In their first battle of the Vytal Tournament (the four-versus-four team matches, in which RWBY and JNPR both dominated), Sun and his team do pathetically. Sage (green-haired dude) lets loose one sword strike which doesn’t even land before sitting there like a moron while an opposing team member takes him out of the field. Scarlet does better–he actually holds his own against the opposing team’s leader in one-on-one combat, but then Sun fucks up and accidentally gets him taken out. And that’s still Sun being the only really impressive member–he DID land the only real hits, and utterly smashed the one chick he fought with in the span of literally five seconds (I would say ten seconds, but five of those ten were him twirling his weapon). Neptune? Oh yeah, this is the part where they introduce the fact that Neptune is afraid of water. Cripplingly afraid of water. For this reason, he’s ineffectual for the entire fight until the end, where he tip-toes over to the water to electrocute the enemies in it. Yeah, this was an affliction given to him for comedy purposes, and to give slightly more credence to the villain’s plan of removing male combatants (no, seriously, that’s what she was doing) by manipulating the match settings.

Yeah, time out.

Put to one side Sage and Sun being varying levels of incompetent for now. Afraid of water? I’m sorry, but that’s just too much. Neptune is supposed to be a Huntsman, one of the immensely powerful and dangerous super-police of this setting who can slay vicious evil monsters by the dozen and hold his own against other Huntsman–that’s their job. Forgive me if I have difficulty in believing that a Huntsman could function well while being that terrified of water. And no, they did not actually explore this–it’s just there to make Neptune a laughing stock and unable to fight. Ha ha! Hey everyone, this kid called Neptune is afraid of water! Isn’t that funny!

It gets worse. Not only are SSSN still shoved out of the spotlight (we don’t even see Scarlet or Sage get any lines at all for the entire volume minus Scarlet’s one line as an audience member, and neither of them meets the main characters). But wait!

At the middle of the arc, guess who made it to the final round of the Vytal Tournament? The final round, consisting of eight combatants cut from several hundreds of losing combatants? Many of them with three to four years more experience than his one year? That’s right baby, Sun Wukong! Not that he gets a chance to actually fight his match or win, because all hell breaks loose before that can happen, but still! That’s got to count for something, right? Offscreen badassery, in spite of the chessmaster villainess actively trying to make sure he doesn’t make it to the finals?

Yeah, that wasn’t supposed to happen. You heard me right, that wasn’t in the setup. At least not the way the animators had it. According to the original scene, Sun and Neptune fought Pyrrha and Nora (two of the four dueteragonists) and got their asses soundly kicked, in part because Neptune’s fear of water was abused again–oh joy, more of that. Oh, nevermind that Sun at least is probably a capable match for Nora or Pyrrha, but you won’t believe what they had in mind for this scene. Floaties. Fucking floaties. Neptune was going to wear goddamn motherfucking kid’s floaties to survive water-setting combat. Ha ha ha! Look at Neptune, everyone!

Fuck that noise. Wanna know why this scene was cut? Irrelevance to the overall plot. So Sun only made it to the finals and got his offscreen badass title by default. And they were proud of this scene, too! They had most of it animated, and were going to show it if it got enough attention. This is the point where it genuinely became a humiliating thing to be a SSSN fan.

We’re not done. It’s time to talk about the last three episodes of Volume 3, where the finale disaster happens, a worse crisis than ever, and literally their last chance to show SSSN doing something or being effective. So guess what? They’re skipped again! Yep, they’re shown in the whole heroic badass teams lineup (Sun even seems excited to fight Grimm hordes bare-handed), and then they literally run offscreen and aren’t seen again, except for one small throwaway scene in which Sage and Scarlet helplessly cling to the back of an Ursa, such a minor threat it isn’t taken seriously by anyone around it. Well, what about when the teams work together to take out a Giant Nevermore? Sage cut off its head! Oh, well, he did it together with Yatsuhuashi....on an opponent that was pinned down and couldn’t move....yeah, such skill. Oh, well, Sun does make another appearance, after Yang gets her arm cut off and Blake gets stabbed! To, uh, say something? One line? Okay, I get it.

Guess what happened in May, by the way? Remember me saying I was a Black Sun shipper? Well, in May, the Volume 3 soundtrack came out–and in it was “Not Fall In Love With You”, a song from Sun’s point of view–about Blake. The first Sun-related piece of music in this show’s three years, and it’s about how much he loves another character. Not only that, but this came after Volume 3–the volume in which Sun and Blake didn’t interact at all except for one wink and a blush in one scene. Remember how I said the BumbleBY shippers loved to claim that Sun and Blake had no development whatsoever? Well, now I had to sit and stew after that slap in the face of a song and realize that they were right. They’d been vindicated. Sun really was just a boy-toy hetero love interest for Blake with no development. Man, that hurt.

And this is just the problems with SSSN. This was my biggest problem, but by now I had also already experienced Emerald and Mercury being overpowered, an insane BumbleBY fandom, the entire fandom having their heads up Roman Torchwick’s ass, everybody shitting on Weiss for being a racist even though she’d gotten over that two volumes (two real-life years) ago, constant streams of hate for anyone who got in the way of the ships, minor characters like Junior or Tukson being the butts of jokes and otherwise ignored, everybody insisting Adam wasn’t really a nutcase and that his sadistic monster-ness at the end of Volume 3 was “wildly out of character” (even though the only thing they’d ever seen of him was him wanting to murder bystanders on a train), accusations of animators whitewashing Blake despite Blake being white to begin with, and personal abuse of myself and my friends by assholes. But this was the final straw. I was through. What had happened for the last two years I’d invested in RWBY had seemed so different from Volume 1, where Sun had been one of the biggest badasses in the crew and been an involved character. What I loved about the show had been shit on and I was way too angry with how things had been handled to continue watching. I was done, and that was that.

After the Volume 3 finale, I quit RWBY a few weeks later, I was so angry. I had already quit. I’d gone from loving this series to hating it. Oh, but guess what happened the very next day?

Shane’s letter came out. Shane’s sad, angry, 36-page open letter to anyone who’d listen about how he, Monty’s friends, and Monty’s memory had been treated by the staff since he’d died in February and even before then. It was very in-detail and it was heartbreaking. The mistreatment and shunning of both himself and Sheena Duquette (Monty’s wife), the shameless and heavy altering of RWBY despite them saying in no uncertain terms to the fans after his death that RWBY would continue along the plans Monty had laid out. Everything in that letter just confirmed my fears about the handling of Volumes 2 and 3 and compounded my hatred for Rooster Teeth instead of just RWBY. 

To my knowledge and count at the time, around six thousand people were pretty pissed at this and swore off RWBY. Oh, Rooster Teeth was pissed off, too. They did their best to handle it without getting in an online shouting match with Shane, saying exactly what you’d think would be said–that he wasn’t the only one who loved Monty, that it was only his side of the story, and that he was biased.

I don’t believe he was biased. To my fury, RWBY survived that disaster that was the Open Letter. People blew Shane off as merely an aggravated ex-employee and immature. And I might actually be open to that idea, were it not for the sheer length and detail in that letter. I don’t believe the people who said that read it in full–or even looked at it. The fact of the matter is that no “bitter ex-employee” writes a 36-page exposee decrying his former companies’ deplorable practices and treatment of the memory of the one who started, wrote, and directed RWBY almost a full year after he’d already been fired. Thirty-six pages. I read every single one of them, and I believe what Shane wrote was from the heart and 100% true.

I despise Rooster Teeth for what they did and there’s no excuse for it. They’ve permanently lost me in their viewership, and I just wish that Shane’s letter had had more of an impact. Millions of people watched RWBY, and millions of people will continue to do so whether Rooster Teeth deserves them or not. I hope they crash and burn and that RWBY tanks–that might be especially bitter of me, but I wouldn’t give them another cent after seeing that disaster if they were broke and dying in the streets. 

[badassbellarke]

The End Of The Line

Part one of two.

In this theory I’m going to try and unravel the notorious Mary Drake and her family. Since she has been a very big part of 7A and is likely to remain relative to our endgame, I wanted to try and dig deeper. 

Who is Mary Drake, who are her children, who is Bethany Young, and who is A.D.?

THE DRAKE FAMILY.

Mary Drake had at least three or four children while she was in Radley and they were all adopted through closed adoptions conducted by Steven Kahn and Jessica DiLaurentis, Mary’s twin sister and POA. 

Charles Drake

Melissa Hastings 

Bethany Young (?)

Spencer Hastings

(In part two I will discuss further why I put these names on the list)

Since Dr. Cochran says, “I dealt with two of her babies” instead of “I delivered her two babies” I’m lead to believe that Mary had more than those two, possibly three or four in total if she had a set of twins. Especially since in the files that the Liars discovered they found the birth information of the second born child, and on that file it states “no complications due to prior birth”. But Dr. Cochran tells Spencer and Aria that the second child he delivered was a fighter, implying that the birth may have been difficult. This means that the second baby born and the second baby he delivered are two different babies.

Spencer is the youngest. 

7x08 vs. 7x07

The Drake family is the family from the Dollhouse. 

Mary Drake, unknown Mr. Drake (looks like Peter Hastings, no?), Charles, Melissa and baby-in-the-womb Spencer. (Notice the hand on the mothers stomach, like she is pregnant)

BETHANY YOUNG is “CECE DRAKE”. 

Bethany Young stole her childhood best friends story - Charles Drake / DiLaurentis. She didn’t want to get caught by the Liars so she created the perfect web of lies that would be nearly impossible to dissect.

Bethany suffered from Intermittent Explosive Disorder and with that she also created many different personalities, one of them being “Cece Drake”. Cece and Bethany Young had the same diagnosis, and that is mighty convenient, eh? Dr. Jekyll and Hyde?

Intermittent Explosive Disorder:  “A behavioral disorder characterized by explosive outbursts of anger and violence, often to the point of rage, that are disproportionate to the situation at hand.”

“The discovery of Bethany Young’s body brings up more questions than it answers. While details are scarce on Bethany Young, we know that she was a highly troubled teenager who likely suffered from severe behavioral episodes that may have been violent.”

Bethany Young = Cece Drake.

Bethany met Charles when they were kids in Radley Sanitarium and they became quick friends, allies. Together they wanted to create an escape from Radley and start new lives, all with the perfect plan and story.Charles was going to help Bethany fake her death using Alison’s body and together they were going to run away and start over. Be new people.  

This is where I believe they came up with the idea to switch places. To literally assume one another identities to confuse the doctors and everyone they know, as some type of game. 

(Like Bethany literally switched lives with Charles and became Cece Drake, which is why Charles was thought to have been transgender. And Charles switched with Bethany and became whom I would call ‘A.D’)

Bethany liked to “switch places” or adopt the personalities of multiple people, in fact. First Charles and then Alison. A pattern. 

Remember when Bethany as Cece Drake and Ali switched places, and she went back to Radley disguised as Alison DiLaurentis just to scare Jessica? We hear about this in 4x11 in a flashback.

Then Jessica tells Spencer and Hanna about Cece Drake pretending to be Alison at Radley once, where she met Dr. Palmer who was a psychiatrist there.

This makes a connection between Cece and Dr. Palmer. And Dr. Palmer told Toby Cavanaugh to be careful of the toxic blonde girl, which was declared as Bethany Young.  

- The 4x11 flashback -

(Notice how Mrs. DiLaurentis says that Cece Drake is not her daughter. Because Cece Drake is Bethany not Charles, and Bethany is not Jessica’s daughter, but more than likely her niece since “Auntie Jessie”) 

I feel as if Jessica would have said something different if Cece was the little girl she was buying yellow dresses for all along. Jessica saw Charles as her own child, and she even says this to her sister Mary Drake in a flashback scene in 7x07 that was set back in season four.

Jessica: “Come on Mary, pull yourself together.”

Mary: “How could you be so cruel? I just found out that my child is dead. I left him in your care.”

Jessica: “And I gave Charles the best life that I could, Mary. I loved him with all of my heart.”

Mary: “How did it happen? I need to know. I need answers. Please, tell me.”

Jessica: “It wasn’t my fault. I gave him everything that I could.” 

And then she says, “You are not the victim here. You gave birth, but he was my son. Don’t ever forget that.”

CHARLES DRAKE = A.D?

Charles Drake DiLaurentis is A.D. Whomever they are, they are without a doubt in my mind our big bad. The ultimate play-caller. In my opinion the identity of Charles remains a mystery and will more than likely be the final twist coming in 7B. Charles is a man - and is not Cece Drake. 

Troian Bellisario who plays Spencer is 5′7″ and Vanessa Ray who played Cece Drake is only 5′4″ so this cannot be her as Charles. 

(Julian Morris who plays Wren is 5′11″ and so is Ian Harding who plays Ezra.  I understand that this could be literally any actor or staff member in this costume acting as ‘A’ but... I felt the significance and the familiarity that Spencer did in this scene, too. This was Charles.)

Now, given what I said earlier about how it is possible that Bethany and Charles switched lives when they were children.... 

Did Bethany somehow weasel her way out of Radley by pretending to be Charles? According to the Radley files Charles was taken out of Radley when he was sixteen, but was that actually Bethany? Did she “transform” into Cece Drake and go back to High School?

Is that why Charles was seeking revenge? And is that why he kidnapped the Liars and threw the dungeon prom, which was recreating the prom he would have had? Was he somehow connected to the N.A.T videos or did he just watch them all of the time, leaving him to feel like he knew the Liars?  (Just like us? Just like EzrA?)

Could Ezra be Charles?

What do we really know about Ezra Fitz, other than the fact that he comes from a rich family named the Fitzgerald’s? 

Is it possible that he was at some point adopted again by them? Is he Charles? 

Hint #1 : The Painting 

3x18 vs.5x03

Lyle and Frances Springer - Alison and Charles’ grandparents? (Plot hole?)

Hint #2 : Mrs. Grumwald

This is right before we learn that Ezra was the “Board Shorts” Alison wrote about in her diary, and that he is the one who she was dating the summer. We know Ezra is Board Shorts because Ali describes him in her story and states that he is eating boysenberry pie and “Board Shorts Ale” beer. 

In 4x18 Spencer goes to the bar she thinks Alison is talking about in that same story which is called The Hart and the Huntsman. To her surprise, she finds Ezra sitting there eating a piece of boysenberry pie.

Was Ezra also the same boy Ali was afraid of, the one that would kill her if he knew she were possibly pregnant?

Hint #3 : Aria Montgomery

5x03 vs. 7x07

In the “A” closer we see A.D. save Aria’s file, and burn Noel’s....

I’m not saying Ezra is 100% Charles or A.D., I’m just saying that he is still a very strong candidate. 

The writers can go two directions in my eyes - EzrA or Doctor Wren and Melissa. One of them HAS to be A.D. or working for/with them. 

There we have it. Part one of my last Pretty Little Liars theory ever. 

7 years and 4 “A” suspects later..... who is it going to be?

Stay tuned for part two! xx

[diddykongfan]

Forever AU, part 4 (1, 2, 3, plus). This verse still needs a name, and the Forever characters (several of whom cameo in the second section of this!) still need curse names. And I’m still open to suggestions on those things. Picks up exactly where 3 left off. (”Nightmare” takes place after this, chronologically.) Graham POV/Omniscient POV/Emma POV format.

"I didn't have a name before. Was just... They called me Huntsman."

He tells her what is easiest first; an abandoned boy taken in by an unconventional family, who learned at a young age to fight to defend himself and that humans were not to be trusted; they would kill senselessly - even their own kind - and take more from the forest than it had to give, if they had the chance.

(Not that any of his past is easy, by any means. But Emma knows abandonment, knows fighting for a place, knows not belonging- he learned that of her early. And these things which identify between them is certainly a safer place to start than his being hired to kill her mother, his believing he could go through with it because Snow was human and he had named his price as protection for the wolves, until the moment Snow was willing to let him kill her just so Regina would be good to the kingdom and he'd seen honor in her kindness, the likes of which he'd thought people incapable for a long while, since the deaths of the only humans who had cared for him before. Eventually, when the chance to execute Regina was not taken and he was still her prisoner, he'd grown cynical of Snow's unwavering forgiveness, even towards crimes that affected others than herself, and the only human whose honor he believed in any more was Belle, trapped in the tower, as much a prisoner as himself and able to see that he was as caged as she, even in his position as a guard. Kind to him despite his infamy, the only one he ever called a friend.)

Dumping everything on her at once seems like a bad idea, because, well, too much might send her running, but he doesn't want to be anything but honest with her - not anymore, not ever again, now that he has a choice in the matter - so he presses on. At least, as much as he can, considering that they do have to go to work and not just sit and talk about this all day.

(Of course, he doesn't mind putting off going in. Right now, Regina will think she's won, that his heart is crushed and he is gone. He doesn't want to know what will happen when she finds out she failed, that he is alive. Even if he did, technically, die. Whatever happens, it won't be pretty. At least here, in this moment, there is shelter, safety.)

He stops only when her phone rings; Mary Margaret, Snow, concerned that she didn't come back home last night, if he had to guess, though she takes it in the other room. What she must be going through, to realize that Mary Margaret, her friend, is her mother, the one she thought abandoned her, he knows he cannot fathom. Their stories are similar but in this they are different; his parents truly left him in the woods to die, while hers were protecting her from a curse, from death at the hands of the Evil Queen if she could manage it before the Dark Curse took them all. Knowing that must certainly shift perspective.

(Does she believe, yet? He does not know. But she has not shut him out or scoffed or otherwise given evidence that she's only listening to humor him, thus far. He imagines it is only because he vanished that she keeps any sort of open mind towards this, because he died but then- wasn't dead. If he didn't remember, such a thing would force him to seriously consider things that sound implausible as well. Things that sound impossible.)

...

Across town, for most, life goes on as normal; nothing life-changing happened last night, after all, did it?

(Well, the Sheriff was seen skinny-dipping out at the harbor, causing a great deal of confusion, but he'd been acting strangely all day; everyone had noticed, as his own deputy told him before they went to a mausoleum looking for a heart. And that's not really a life-changing event for most, in perspective. No one died, did they?)

In terrible apartments near the Rabbit Hole, a pair of lonely thieves count what they pocketed for the night off the drunks, their alliance not a friendship, but a convenience built on the art of distraction and sleight of hand - more take for them both. In an apartment that isn't so lonely anymore - most of the time - a schoolteacher turned friend calls her roommate to make sure she's okay, since she never came home. In a small, lonely home near the graveyard, full of antiques but no real warmth, the caretaker puts fixing the lock on the Mills Mausoleum on his list of things to do - were things different, digging a grave would also be on the list, but, as has been said before, no one in Storybrooke died last night, and there is no call for it. At the inn, a young woman all in red argues with her grandmother. At the hospital, the intern on morgue duty overnight is yelled at for falling asleep at his post again. And such normalcy is the way, all over town.

(Except, of course, for one who knows what she did, who waits for a call that never comes that says the Sheriff is dead, so she can act surprised and act like she mourns him, when in reality any tears she sheds will be for herself, to have to lose such a valuable tool, her pet. She had warned him what would happen if he ever defied her. It isn't her fault she had to follow through, as far as she's concerned.)

(And one other knows things are different. He watches the town from his house on the hill, never venturing outside, but he pays attention to the sparkling blonde woman who brought change to Storybrooke. Watched her enter the station with the Sheriff, leave without him, and... End up at his apartment, with him? The Sheriff never left the station, he knows, and that means something is off, somehow. Maybe he'll get to see his daughter soon. Grace. Paige here, but Grace.)

...

When Mary Margaret calls her, she doesn't know what to say. She's still not sure she believes in the curse, because... That is a lot to try and accept this quickly.

But everything Graham has told her so far feels like truth, and she did see- Did feel-

"Graham was sick," she settles for, "I stayed at his place to make sure he was okay." Neither truth nor lie, but something- Possibly the wrong thing, given the fact that Mary Margaret squees. In her ear.

She is never going to hear the end of this, probably. After all, literally yesterday her friend was telling her to let him in while she herself was angrily set against it.

(She can't think about what the curse being real, possibly, means about her relationship with Mary Margaret yet. She has held on to so much anger for so long, towards the very concept of her parents. It won't, can't just go away - emotion does not work the way rationality does.)

Fortunately, Mary Margaret does not press her for details, and lets her go quickly, so she heads back into the kitchen where she left him.

"I want to hear more," she's cautious as she speaks, because whatever it is that's happening feels fragile as a dream, and she doesn't want to wake up to a different reality, not now, "But I think it's time we face the world, for the day."

He nods slowly, and she almost wonders if he's dreading it.

(It's not every day someone comes back from the dead, after all, even if it was only a matter of minutes.)

They head to Mary Margaret's before the station, so she can change, and her roommate is already gone for the morning - and Emma is grateful for that. She's not ready to actually see the other woman, to probably get interrogated about what happened between her and Graham, maybe even suffer through a few smug looks over the conversation they had before.

(Obvious to everyone, except apparently you. That you have feelings for Graham.)

Once she’s done, they head to the station.

She recognizes the car normally parked at the Mayoral Mansion immediately.  So does he, if the way that he tenses next to her is any indication.

“She must be looking for my body,” he murmurs, and she is so incensed by the thought.

(Even if she doesn't know if she believes in the curse, she's fairly certain that someone who comes back from the dead can't have died of natural causes. It doesn't sit right, the heart attack. Nothing makes sense, anyway, but she can put two and two together from what he got through of his story and the fact that, yesterday, he was looking for his heart in Regina's "vault," the mausoleum.)

How dare she?  How dare she kill him and then attempt to------  Whatever it is she’s trying to accomplish here?  What kind of twisted satisfaction did she hope to derive?

Her hands ball into fists, and she's almost ready to storm in there and give that witch a piece of her mind when she feels his hand on her arm to steady her.

“We can’t confront her now.  You’re not ready, Emma, and if she knows that we know the truth we lose that advantage.”

“And we can’t just let her get away with killing you."

(There are so many other things, too, the treatment of Henry, the iron grip on the town so afraid of her, quite possibly a curse and Emma growing up alone - assuming that it's all true. But she felt him die, last night, and so it's on the forefront of her mind. The injustice of it weighs so heavily on her.  And right now-  Who else can really do something about it?  Henry is a child, and Graham…  She won’t let him fight alone.  Can’t.)

"But if we act like nothing happened, not the death and not the memories- She’ll be enraged that I lived, hostile to us both…  But, hopefully, distracted.  Trying to figure out how I survived, despite her.”

And what she won’t know is that I didn’t.  He had left the words unspoken, but Emma hears them anyway.  They hang heavy in the air between them.  He hadn’t survived.  There had been a murder the night before, his murder, committed with no regard to anything except what-  Petty jealousy?  The idea that in choosing to do what was best for himself, he was choosing her?

(It’s still a foreign thought, someone choosing her.)

She takes a few breaths, forcing herself to calm down.  There is still a huge part of her that doubts she can be the one to save these people, and that's probably what stops her from fully being sure that she believes, yet. But if it is all true- She still has no idea how to break the curse, if there is one. Time to figure that out is something they need. If this is the best way to get it- And she cannot think of another- Then this is how it will have to be.

[thelittlemelancholyrose-blog]

About the Muse (super edited)

(It’s long but it’s just so you guys know as much as you guys can about her. Sidenote anything edited has a *.)

Name: *Aspen Rose

Age: Late 20s - Early 30s ish

Gender: Female(She/Her)

Profession: *Smuggler

Shipping: Open to anyone over 18 (Mun and Muse wise. Read the rules for more depth.) OC or canon.

Semblance: Aura Absorption, though it has limitations:

-Can not take away aura with more than 50% of her own aura is present.

+Can drain aura from victim as long as at least 1% is present in the victim.

-Can only take Aura from someone by skin to skin contact, no other way.

+She can control this if she is has more than 10% aura. So skin to skin contact is not harmful when she’s peaceful.

-If she has less than 10% she will voluntarily take aura from anyone who touches her as a defence mechanism.(This is subject to change if your character/the mun has issues with this or wants to add to it. I’m not that picky about this part.)

-No powers are absorbed through the Aura, but a faint connection can be formed with the victim and herself. This means they can sense each other for a few hours afterwards(Emotions or just a general awareness). This could either be good or bad. (This is subject to change if your character/the mun has issues with this or wants to add to it. I’m not that picky about this part.)

+/- If the victim has no aura left she can not kill them or take their ‘life’ away. It only extends to aura. She could harm them afterward but her semblance alone cannot kill anyone.

+She can take aura from any living thing with a semblance but the amount gained from different things varies. For example a tree or small animal will only give her around 3-5% of aura.  (This is subject to change if your character/the mun has issues with this or wants to add to it. I’m not that picky about this part.)

+She can pass either stolen aura or her own on to others, as long as they are less than 100 %, but it will, even if stolen, cost her some of her own aura in return. If only to act as a catalyst.

-If her aura is at zero she cannot take aura or pass it on at all. Her aura is gone, therefore so is her semblance. *However she does regenerate just a bit faster than most.*

Weapon: Vitam et Mortem, a staff that can fire dust, be extended into a double edged staff which can then be broken into two swords. (This is really just reference I can’t draw haha)

Personality*****

Aspen tries to be optimistic and outwardly does act cheery and hopeful however has a hard time truly believing that things will be okay. But she is willing to help and tries to keep a positive mindset even if it is only for the benefit of the people around her.

Despite caring for her crew Aspen is not a hero like Ruby or an ‘anti-hero’ like Qrow. She really there to help the greater good or strangers. She focuses on the few she cares for and does not believe in Ozpin’s cause or fear for Salem’s plan. She does her own thing and doesn’t belong to a team or a cause other than helping those she cares about.

Aspen is someone who tries very hard to be positive but is constantly fighting her own doubt and trying to get over her own demons from the past. Because of this she isn’t a very trusting character when it comes to her own emotions and is prone to avoid certain topics that will agitate her. This sometimes causes her to shut down and avoid others for a bit. She is the embodiment of the ‘this is fine’ meme, basically.

Her humor is based more off sarcasm and teasing. But will laugh at the occasional pun. Self deprecating jokes are also the norm.

Her view on life can be described as ‘I know we are all going to die and I can’t wait for death but I will try to make the most of my life till then.’

Backstory**:

(Note: This is the default backstory if you want to change it for rp purposes let me know. But for asks this is what I’m following unless stated otherwise)

Being the younger sister of Summer Rose she certainly had a good mentor to look up to. Her sister was pretty much her rock growing up and a constant source of safety. For a while Aspen was aiming to follow in her sister’s footsteps of being a huntress. But after times get tough and the world starts becoming chaotic her views began to change. Especially when she learned about the ‘Silver Eyed Warriors’ story. The idea of her sister eventually having to choose the good of others over her own didn’t sit well with Aspen and she soon began to reject the idea of becoming a hero. When Summer went to a Combat School the rift between them grew. While Summer went there Aspen abandoned the idea of being a huntsmen and focused on finding a more suitable  career instead, training with other fighters, retired huntsmen or hitmen-resulting in a different fighting style and view of the world. Eventually she would fall into more shadier professions and become a smuggler. Neither approved of each other’s lifestyle and eventually they reached a breaking point. After that the two had split up and never talked to each other until much later.

The last time Aspen ever saw Summer was a few weeks after Ruby was born. Despite their fighting Summer had sent her a letter and told her about Ruby. The meeting was brief and a bit awkward but Summer had asked Aspen that, if anything ever happened to her, for her to be there for Ruby and her teammates. Not taking it that seriously, she gave Summer her word without much thought. However when she died a few years later Aspen ended up breaking down now that her only support was gone. She ended up avoiding them and her promise out of grief. But, now that things were getting serious, she decides to step in. Even if they fought she loves her sister a lot and acknowledges that the fight had caused them to waste time apart. So she won’t break her word and now she is shadowing her niece and friends while they make their way to Mistral.

The rest picks up around Season 4.

Character Relations:

(BIG NOTE: This is based off MY default AU/Headcanons. Depending on who’s asking I CAN adjust (like characters that are off-canon characters, OCs, AUs, etc.) if asked. Especially if I’m responding first or rping(especially during rping). But for Asks, especially anon, I will stick to my default unless specified.)

-Summer: Has a deep love and respect for Summer in present time. In the past though she is very bitter and condescending of her, though she will thaw out a bit if given reason and time to settle. During childhood she loved Summer and would often tag along or cling to her.

-Taiyang: Actually likes him. Sees him as someone who is responsible and caring since he is taking care of his children despite being left alone by both his wives. Also likes how he isn’t really on anyone’s side and is just focusing on his family. She won’t be mean to him and will be more civil. Though she doesn’t believe he really loved Summer. It’s just something she doesn’t think is true. But she admires how he is managing his emotions and wishes she could do the same.

-Raven: Is torn. On one hand, she knows Raven left out of a sense of duty. But on the other her bandit team is annoying and she sees them as a bunch of mindless criminals who are mostly just flexing power. So she is cautious around Raven but will certainly be quick to anger.

-Qrow: Aspen doesn’t like him. She doesn’t blame him for Summer. But she hates how he is so loyal to Ozpin. She thinks he’s a fool for following a cause that got her sister killed. Therefore she isn’t really nice to him but she can be civil enough to talk for a bit. However she does relate with his struggle.

-Ruby: This kid is going down the same path as Summer and she hates it. She hates it with all her heart. If she could she would try and convince Ruby how not worth it is to become a hero. BUT she promised Summer she’d watch over her and, therefore, she won’t argue unless given a reason to. She does find it a bit funny how much she and Summer are alike.

-Yang: Doesn’t have much of an opinion but she thinks she’s a strong individual. When she lost her arm she was impressed that she managed to pull herself out of the depression she was in. She’s curious to see how she turns out.

-Ruby’s friends(like everyone): Again, all trying to be a hero. But they’re kids and she is only there to watch them so she doesn’t care much.

-Ozpin: Hates him. Hates how he rallies people for his cause and she thinks he doesn’t do much. Most of this hate, though, comes from Summer’s death and her own regret for not being able to spend more time with Summer or for never saying sorry. She could mellow out around him but it would take a lot of effort. Otherwise she’ll be salty and cold.

-Oscar: Feels bad he is roped into this and will actually be nice to him. Wouldn’t mind helping him either. Though she’ll still hate Ozpin. Probably even more.

-Salem & Squad: Hates them but only because of the trouble they’re causing. Also, if she wasn’t being such a villain, Summer might still be alive and she wouldn’t have to watch Ruby because Ruby would have a mom.

-Ironwood: Feh, he could be worse. Atlas people never sit well with her. Besides she is usually smuggling things in and out of Mantle so she doesn’t like the army.

-Jacque: Asshole, coward and a gold digger. She liked the old CEO better. This guy is nothing but a loser and she can’t be bothered. Knows because she’s been hired by him before.

-If I forgot someone it’s either because  a) I forgot. b) There hasn’t been an interaction between them/wouldn’t be and c)don’t really know.

General Relation Notes (For OCs or characters that haven’t had enough to develop a solid personality yet (like Ren’s parents.):

That should be all for now? I’ll add on depending on how she grows but this should be it for a general idea of how she is. Again, I apologize for this being long but I want to be thorough since this is an OC. Any questions or if I forgot anything, let me know!

Check out these pages as well!

Rules

About the Mun