#but I like the direction of ‘start with Adam and build up to Sienna’

[unofficialadamtaurus]

Au where Blake confronts Adam in volume 4/5 on Menagerie and Sienna during the finale of volume 5 (with an actual fight not smacking her on the back like in the canon)

That is certainly an AU

[bestworstcase]

So, I recently read your post regarding the Adam short, the WF and Remnants broad sweep of treating children more like tiny adults ETC and found a lot of it deeply insightful and interesting!

However, I feel its worth noting that even before killing that guy Adam was already building a splinter cell/personality cult in Ghira's White Fang with Sienna no where in sight. One rooted in making Faunus resemble monsters to create terror.

Also the comics definitely make it clear Adam was specifically targeting and grooming Blake from day one I feel. Kali & Blakes interactions on that front were really good as well.

i haven’t read the comics myself so i don’t have an opinion on how they handle the characters or the specific dynamic between adam and blake.

wrt to adam and the grimm masks, though: while adam was definitely the one who started it, it’s shown to be something that was not a secret (except for ghira and sienna, all the WF characters are masked in the next scene) and it’s also strategically a good idea to hide your face while engaging in direct action. & the reasoning blake recounts to sun in V2 (“humans wanted to make monsters of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters”) is an echo of what oobleck says of the WF in v1 (that bigotry and persecution is what pushes people subjected to it to resort to violence).

the point of the grimm masks isn’t to cause terror but rather to demand attention and make a statement without sacrificing the anonymity that keeps the members of the white fang safe: it’s “if fighting back makes us monsters, then monsters we will be.”

(there are also perhaps deeper underlying cultural narratives about grimm and faunus being tapped into—“among beasts and monsters” and all, the dehumanization of faunus is intertwined with the cultural belief that grimm prey upon humans specifically with faunus being at best caught in the crossfires; so i’d argue the grimm masks are motivated in part by reclaiming that narrative and turning it into a weapon for the faunus)

all of which is especially salient to adam because a human literally branded his face. his choice to cover the scar with a grimm-like mask carries a lot of emotional weight; he is taking what humans did to him and turning it into a symbol of the faunus cause that will make it impossible for humans to look the other way—as humans no doubt looked the other way when he was attacked.

that’s why i think narratively it’s important that adam came up with the grimm masks before the turning point that incited his gradual corruption into someone driven by spite and hatred; ghira accepted the adoption of grimm masks by rank-and-file members because because they served the narrative and the strategic ends his white fang was trying to advance. it’s only after ghira leaves and adam increasingly loses that strategic focus and becomes consumed by spiteful vengeance that the red detailing begins to appear on the masks as a visual symbol for the corruption of his original purpose. bc there’s a difference between saying “if you’re going to treat me like a monster for defending myself, i will proudly continue to defend myself because you are wrong” and “anything i do to you is justified by what i suffered.” and adam’s arc is about the slow corruption of the first thing into the second.

[razorblade180]

Father’s Day

[Lasting embers au]

Jael is sleeping soundly in her bed until she feels something putting pressure on her arm. Slowly she stirs awake to Adam by her bed in his typical disguise. His hair laid down and temporarily dyed black, tented shades for the scar, and more pedestrian clothing. Jael carefully rubbed her eyes. It was nighttime judging by the light in her room.

Jael:Dad? I didn’t know you were coming home so soon. How was the mission?

Adam:Nothing worth talking about. It’s passed midnight, happy Father’s Day.

Jael:...I think you have this backwards.

Adam:Hehe, little bit but for good reason. Get dressed we’re leaving Menagerie.

Jael:...WH-*mouth covered*

Adam:Ssshh, your mother doesn’t know; I’ll apologize later. I already visited Sienna at her boot camp so don’t worry about you hogging me for the day.

Jael:Where are we going? And how exactly does this count as me giving you a present?

Adam:I get to spend time with my fourteen year old daughter doing something new.

He could see the happiness in her eyes when he said those words. Jael really was simple girl. All she ever wanted was time with him and he felt the same. She hopped out of bed and gently floated down. Jael wasn’t sure what he had planned but getting to leave Menagerie was enough. Finally, a chance to see the outside world.

Several hours have passed since they snuck out. Jael dozed in and out of sleep while on the ride in the airship, barely remembering it. Only that leaning on her father was strangly comfortable and Neo was flying the airship.

Now she rested on his back while he and Neo jumped from rooftop to rooftop in what looked to be Vacou from what books told her about the place. Jael wanted to walk around but apparently Adam didn’t want her to see the chattering streets yet.

Jael:Still haven’t explained why we are here. Not that I’m complaining.

Neo:Patience, baby goat. The sun will rise any minute now. Also you have me to thank for telling your father about this event.

Jael:Event?

Adam:Father’s day falls on a special day this year for Vacou. When Neo told me about it I knew I had to bring you. This spot should do.

He bent down to let Jael get off then got behind her. She’d be lying if she said her curiosity was running rapid; he seemed proud of himself by the way he spoke. Slowly he adjusted her to a spot that overlooked everything but it was still a little too dark to see.

Then...sunrise hit. Light slowly grew over the land and what couldn’t be seen before quickly became visible, leaving Jael speechless. The buildings, the people, the very sand, it was all bathed in color. Multiple colors that belonged on a spectrum she had told him she was apart of a few months prior. Jael was looking at a huge Pride Parade.

Her gaze on it was finally broken when she felt weight of something draped over her. Jael could barely hold back her tears as she wrapped the flag around her tighter and turned around to see Adam smiling and Neo putting on face paint; the bisexual colors if Jael remembered correctly.

Jael:I...I don’t know what say right now.

Adam:A few months ago you came to me terrified, not sure what I would think if you told me you were lesbian. Remember what I said?

Jael:You were happy you didn’t have scare any boy?

Neo:Oh my god.

Adam:Okay, I did say that, but after I said...

Jael:*smiles* Your love for me as my father is on every spectrum.

Adam:No you know how serious those words are. I love you.

He opened his arms and Jael quickly ran to be embraced by them, happily shedding her tears of joy. Definitely not a conventional Father’s Day gift, but it’s the best one yet.

xxxx

Ren was having a calm morning. For the pass two weeks Nora and Tenzen had been gone on some camping trip so his days had been quiet. A little lonely but he could handle it. He knew today they’d be back. They didn’t say they would but if he knew his family...

Nora:*opens door* We’re home!

16 yo Tenzen:Yeah!!! Happy Father’s Day!

No way they would miss today. Both of them were dirty, unusually dirty. Specially their hands and knees seemed extra worn out.

Ren:You two okay? You both could’ve washed up before rushing back. Honestly it wouldn’t have bothered me if you came back halfway through the day.

Nora:Don’t worry about us. Nothing is too much when it comes to spoiling you.

Tenzen:She’s right, we’d move mountains for you. Or in this case...rubble.

Ren looked confused by Tenzen’s words. The boy reached into his bag and pulled out a wrapped present to hand to his father. It was small and rectangular; too thin to be a book Ren thought. He unwrapped it gently and gasped when the paper was finally removed. Tears instantly came from him.

Nora and a Tenzen took the opportunity to stand on each side of him and hug tightly. They smelled like the great outdoors but he didn’t care. Why would he when they had just given him a picture of his mother and father holding a infant version of himself. All that rubble that must’ve buried it, and it remained okay. He took ahold of their tired hands and held them close to his chest.

Ren:Thank you...

Tenzen:Like mom said...

Nora:Nothing will ever be too much.

xxxx

Jaune was having his own emotional moment. It wasn’t unlike Yujin to try and do something creative but this time, she went big.

Currently he stood on his porch and stared at the fifteen year old girl who wore her ‘Proof Jaune Arc Got Laid” t-shirt like she did every year, but that wasn’t the amazing part. What had him speechless was the dozens of family members that stood behind her. Yujin managed to get them all the way to patch.

Jaune:Wh..what’s all this about?

Yujin:I had them all show up so you couldn’t dispute what I’m about to say. Dad, Jaune Arc, I owe you so much. Yes it takes a villages to raise a kid and I know you had plenty of help but that doesn’t change that you were always in my corner. Me, the girl who refused to open up to you sometimes; who truly deserved strong lecturers for her attitude instead of the hugs you decided to give. Every single day you gave me so much love and affection above what I thought possible in order to make up for mom. All the kisses, hugs, late night talks, t-tears....

Her voice started choking up and her eyes began to water as she kept speaking.

Yujin:When I was at my lowest and filled with anger you never lost your patience with me. Instead you made sure I continued to eat and gave me space to go through it all. Then the moment I called for you, there you were, by my side ready to talk. Almost sixteen years of living in that house filled with love has gone by and I just need you to know that even as I get older, act like I might have everything figured out, and go off to Beacon soon thanks to your training. I’m always going to be your little girl and I love you from the very bottom of my heart. So can you please shut me up right now and hug me.

Jaune:*sniffling*You can run over here anytime.

Yujin ran up the porch steps and gave Jaune the biggest hug she’s ever given, crying ever so slightly as he rubbed the back of her head. He could hear the clapping and tears from his many family members, but noticed one thing. No Tai. He felt a sudden surge of warmth as he saw through his watery eyes the main in question through the trees, hugging his own daughters who should be hundreds of miles away.

As if by instinct, both girls looked in his direction, also emotional. He knew they couldn’t stay. That Raven most likely opened a portal so they can have a moment with Tai who would’ve been sad not seeing them. Yang looked at him lovingly as she watched him hold their daughter. “I love you” could be easily read from her lips and smile on her face as he mouthed it back. Then, they left. He thought it best not to tell Yujin. He knew Yang would eventually be able to come home, that Yujin would see her mother again. Until then, he’d continue giving his daughter enough love to make up the difference.

Jaune:Yujin, thank you for being my daughter. I know your mother would say the same.

[Twin Snowflakes au]

Valerie:Hey dad, I need your opinion on something. Can you come in the living room for a second?

Ren:Sure thing. What’s-

Right in in the middle of the room were two game pads and Valerie in baggy shorts and a green tank top. Ren looked at the tv flashing DDR in neon colors.

Valerie:So I was in town and found this game store selling this pretty old game. Apparently on two player it’s supposed to be really fun and competitive so I got to thinking.... I bet dad wouldn’t mind a few rounds.

Ren:Nora has been talking about the old days again?

Valerie:Perhaps, so, think you can show your daughter a thing or two? The apple might not far too fall from the tree. Happy Father’s Day.

Ren:*smiles* Don’t cry when I blow you out of the water. Loser pays for dinner.

Valerie:You’re on.

xxxx

Qrow quietly reads a book at the dining room table like usual during lunch time when suddenly, he feels eyes on him. He puts the book down to see Winter and Sparrow quietly sitting down at the table with their own books. The only difference is the fancy glasses have been placed by each of them, along with a bottle in Sparrows hand.

Qrow:Is that....?

Sparrow:A bottle of the most expensive rum, made only in Salem’s previous territory? Why yes it is.

Winter:The same rum that can only be acquired after slaying countless grimm. Now I know I typically discourage you from spirits and don’t drink myself, but Sparrow is twenty one and did all of this for you. I think that deserves a toast.

Sparrow:Happy Father’s Day pops. Cheers!

Qrow looked at two pour him a glass before raising there’s with excitement. Was getting to drink with him this exciting? He couldn’t help but feel flattered and raised his as well with renewed vigor. A drink with family, now that sounded pretty nice.

Qrow:Cheers!

xxxx

Breakfast was in the air at the Schnee Manor. It might’ve been his special day but that didn’t n make anybody suddenly a cooking genius so Jaune was flipping the pancakes like usual. Weiss and Summer were a little red with embarrassment as they shifted around in their Pumpkin Pete onesies he had gotten them years ago.

Jaune:You know you don’t have to wear those every year right?

Weiss:You can’t say that when you smile really big whenever you see us in it.

Summer:We’ll stop when you stop caring, so never.

Jaune:That’s a present all by itself.

Summer:Well prepare for two more. I got something for my number one fan and teacher.

Weiss went around the corner and pulled out a white and yellow electric guitar with his symbol on it. Jaune nearly flipped the pancake too high, he was actually shocked. If she bought that then it meant one thing...

Summer:Let’s go around performing for people and putting smiles on faces today. A father and daughter duet!

Jaune:If this is the first present then what could possibly be the second one?

Weiss:Months ago your kids helped raise some extra money for Argus and Vale. Now Remnant has two Pyrrha statues, both in beautiful condition.

Jaune could feel his heart swell up. Weiss walked over and turned off the burner while he processed that info. A smile came across his face as he hugged both of his lovely women tightly.

Summer:Happy Father’s Day. Nick-

Jaune:He told me earlier before he left. I’m proud of what he’s doing.

Weiss:Summer, why don’t you go wash up and get dressed so you’ll be ready to go after breakfast.

Summer:Sweet! I can take this off. Love you dad! *runs off*

Jaune:Today is a good day.

Weiss:It gets better. You actually have three presents.

Her face turns a brighter red as she grabs ahold of his, making him tug on the zipper slightly. Jaune nearly chokes on his own breath as he discovers Weiss is only wearing the onesie. He regains composer and teasingly makes her yelp by slipping his hand though.

Weiss:*crimson* Happy...Daddy’s Day...

Jaune:....*puts her on the counter*

Weiss:Jaune there is food out!

Jaune:I’ll make more...

xxxx

At there other estate, Nick warmly embraces Whitley while clutching gifts he didn’t even get the chance to give yet. The older man can only hug him tighter and hold some tears.

Whitley:This means more than you can imagine.

Nick:As far as I’m concerned, you’ve always been a second dad instead of an uncle. Happy Father’s Day.

[Premonition]

Lucas sat silently on the the Belladonna steps watching the crescent moon. The cool air making its way from the sea brushed passed his face and put the boy at ease. Moment’s later he heard approaching footsteps get louder before stopping next to him, his caring father took a seat.

Jaune:Waiting for Blake to get back from her meeting?

Lucas:Nah, I needed fresh air. You always get antsy whenever I step aside.

Jaune:It’s a miracle every time I can get you off the couch and into town. Let me guess, you knew I’d come to you if you walked outside.

Lucas:Yep, all part of my master play.

Jaune:To what?

Lucas:Tell you Happy Father’s Day. You know I’m not really good at this sort thing but... here.

He lifted up a small bag by his feet and gave it Jaune. The knight grabbed the bag and instantly let out a chuckle the moment he felt the box. He wasted no time pulling out the cereal box that honestly surprised him on closer expectation. Jaune Arc....was on the box, he was on the box!

Lucas:I may have told mom how crazy it was that a hero like yourself wasn’t on his favorite cereal box and got a good petition going around. Pretty cool huh?

Jaune:You...I...what!? Hell yeah it’s cool! Honestly I thought the plan was stargazing and that would’ve been fine.

Lucas:So why not both? Cereal and stargazing.

Jaune:I say...I’ll go grab the milk.

Lucas:I’ll get two bowls.

Blake:Make it three!

The two gentlemen looked down to see Blake walking up the steps. Jaune quickly walked down and gave her a thank you kiss.

Blake:I wouldn’t mind eating the “breakfast of champions” right now. Especially with that hero on the box.

Jaune:Aww you spoil me.

Lucas:Hehe, three bowls it is.

[Rosebud]

Jaune: That was dangerous!

Carmine:I know.

Jaune:You could’ve been killed!

Carmine:But I wasn’t!

The two have been liked this for hours. They had gone on a mission together where the point was to evacuate a village under attack. All lives successfully saved fortunately, but it was a close call.

In a lapse of judgement, Carmine had abandoned the her responsibilities to help Jaune with a Goliath that gave him trouble and she had gotten work hurt in the process. If it weren’t for his semblance, she’s sure her ribs would be broken right now.

Ruby had managed to calm them both down and split them up, Carmine opting to go outside. This should be the last day to be arguing. Jaune sat quietly at the table and watched Ruby get closer to hold his hand.

Jaune:She could’ve been killed...

Ruby:Yeah but from the sound of it, losing you today was possible as well. In either scenario, I would’ve been devastated.

Jaune:What’s a greater loss?

Ruby:Don’t even try to put that on a set of scales. Everyday we look at her and worry but I’m not gonna pretend Carmine and I don’t hold our breath when we see you endanger as well; don’t act like you don’t do it for me.

Jaune:...

Ruby:Sometimes our nerves get the better of us. We know that all of us can handle things but yet we find ourselves calling out to each other while rushing in. I don’t she’ll ever say it but... I’m sure she’s scared sometimes. She’s sixteen after all.

Jaune:Yeah, sometimes I forget that. She used to fit in my hands for crying out loud. Taking her on missions is still a little unnerving.

Ruby:Give her time. I’m sure-

The door opened and caught their attention. They hadn’t realized Carmine took Garnet outside too. The adorable four year old excitedly pointed outside. Ruby rushing over before he tired himself out.

Suddenly she alone started pointing and looked amazed. Jaune was left no choice but to take a look, he glad he did. The front yard was filled with white and yellow roses shaped in the Arc crest. Carmine was kneeling in middle of her work tired and with her sword stabbed in the ground.

Carmine:Do you remember...when you I asked you how to be a knight all those years ago?

Jaune:I do. I said, I said I wasn’t sure. That I never really thought of myself as a good example of one.

Carmine:I’ve thought about that a lot recently. You gave me such an unexpected answer. How could you not know when I’ve seen you been so kind. The way you fight for us, your loyalty to your family, empathy, wisdom, courage; I saw it all. Then I realized, maybe I was really asking how I could be more like you?

Jaune:...

Carmine:We’re different. Our thought process, opinions, etc. I’m beginning to think maybe I can never hold those qualities like you. Which really...frustrates me. Because dad, you are my ideal knight! I know I messed up and-

He walked towards her, unsheathing his sword on the way. Jaune stared at his visibly tired daughter. How often did he see this strong and capable fighter express her woes so freely? Ruby was right, he must’ve really scared her. Jaune lifted his sword and tapped it on each of her shoulders.

Jaune:Carmine...were you scared today? Of losing me?

Carmine:What kind of question is that?

Tears ran down her face. Jaune knelt down and captured her in a hug.

Jaune:I’m sorry...

Carmine:I’m sorry too. Dad I...I love you okay? So please, don’t scare me like that and I won’t scare you. Deal?

Jaune:It’s a deal. And don’t worry about being like me. I do what can do, so you can be like yourself. I know it’ll be just as great.

Ruby held Garnet close and watched two of the most stubborn people on her life hug it out. As far as she was concerned, they were both perfect, as knights or otherwise. They cared about each other. What could be more perfect than that.

[megalony]

I see the light

This is a firefighter! Ben Hardy AU I came up with which I hope everyone is going to like, there is a second part to this.

Taglist: @lunaticspoem @butlegendsneverdie @langdonzvoid @jennyggggrrr @rogermeddow @radiob-l-a-hblah @rogertaylorsbitontheside @chlobo6 @rogertaylors-lipgloss @sj-thefan @omgitsearly @luckytrashgooprebel @scarsout @deaky-with-a-c @killer-queen-ofrhye @bluutac @vousmemanqueez @jonesyaddiction @rogahs-drowse @milanosaurus @httpfandxms @saint-hardy @7-seas-of-fat-bottomed-girls @mrsalwayswritex @rogerina-owns-me

Ben Hardy masterlist

Part 2

Summary: Ben is a firefighter and it is his last shift before he takes time off to be with (Y/n) when their baby is born. But his last shift doesn’t go to plan and an accident happens.

Enjoy.

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

"You said you'd finished now." (Y/n) cast her eyes across the room to look at her husband, watching his shoulders fall as they released some of the tension they always held. He had his back to her but upon hearing her words, he turned around so he could see her as he buckled up the black belt looped through his dark green trousers.

"And you said you'd take it easy." Ben responded, watching (Y/n)'s head tick to the side as she sighed, both of them knowing it wasn't the same nor was it that simple. Finishing with the belt around his hips, Ben walked over to where she was standing near their shared bed, reaching his hands out so he could gently cup her face in his hands. He saw the look in her eyes that showed she was trying to be angry at him but she couldn't quite manage it.

Ben brushed his thumb over the corner of her mouth before he leaned his head down to steal a kiss.

"That's not the same and you know it." A grin took over Ben's features when (Y/n) pouted, her expression showing she wasn't angry or that serious but he knew she was a bit upset. "Ben you promised-"

"I know, I know and I'm sorry. But I get paid forty quid this week for just being on call, that kinda means I have to go in if they ring me. It's just tonight, then Sammy goes on call and I'm off work I swear." Ben tilted (Y/n)'s head up a little so she was properly looking at him as he brushed his thumbs over her cheeks, waiting for her reaction.

He knew he had promised her that he would take more time off work now since they were due to have the baby any day now but this was an offer he couldn't refuse. As a back up at work in case someone called in sick or couldn't do their shift, they always put someone else on call and that meant Ben got forty pounds for that week he was on call simply for not having a drink and waiting around in case he was needed to cover a shift. Plus if he was needed, he got paid the usual rate for that shift so it was an extra forty pound and an extra days wages. He knew when the baby was born he wouldn't be going on-call or taking many extra shifts for a while so he thought he'd do it now because the money would come in handy down the line. 

"Just tonight?" (Y/n) looked slightly sceptical, like she was sure Ben had agreed to extra shifts behind her back. Ben didn't tell her he was on call because he knew she was anxious about having the baby and he didn't want to distress her if he didn't actually have to go to work. It was just one night shift and then he didn't have to go to work for another four weeks after the baby was born.

"Yep, just tonight. So don't go having this one tonight without me, okay?" Ben moved his hand down to rest against (Y/n)'s stomach as he tipped his forehead against her own. As long as she didn't go into labour tonight which they both knew was highly unlikely, then everything would be fine and go smoothly.

"Okay."

"That's my girl. I gotta go now but I'll be back first thing in the morning." All of Ben's shifts were twelve hours, sometimes a bit less if they finished a job early or sometimes a bit late depending on how quickly they got back to the station and cleaned up.

One shift.

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

Shutting the door with a bang, Ben turned his head to the left to look out of the window, a smirk on his lips as he watched Joe shake his head with pursed lips before he sighed and climbed into the back seat instead of the front. He had been so close to getting in the front seat before Ben appeared out of nowhere and practically jumped up into the seat.

Ben dragged his nails down the overalls he was wearing, trying to smooth out the creases but they were staying put. He hated the way they bunched up when he sat down or the cringy sound they made when he was jogging or running but they had to wear them for protection. If they were caught in a fire or near any hazardous substances, the uniform was easy to clean and harder for fires to eat away at. He could never wear the jacket when they were in the fire engine, Ben sat and squirmed when the seatbelt pressed against the jacket and made noises or made him feel constricted when he tried to move. The only part of the uniform Ben actually liked were the gloves they sometimes had to wear.

"Why the Hell are you here anyway, Jones, I thought you were on time off?" Joe stated playfully as he leaned forward and planted his hands down on Ben's shoulders. Joe had been a firefighter a lot longer than Ben but he had been the one to show Ben the ropes and really get to know him.

"Johnny's off sick, I'm on call 'til the morning." Ben turned his head to the side so he could see his friend who nodded, a teasing smile on his lips that let Ben know he was in for a good night shift. Whenever Joe was around there was always a joke to be made or something said to lighten the mood and he made the job better and much more bearable. Some of the things they saw and the places they had to go could make everything else seem unreal or suddenly grim or not worth it. A little humour was sometimes needed in this job.

"Didn't think you'd be in anymore, with your due date being round the corner mate." Adam, who was driving, chipped in with a smile that felt contagious to Ben.

"Only for tonight, then I'm off for when the baby comes." Ben couldn't help but grin to himself, his eyes rolling when he felt Adam lean over and nudge him playfully in the shoulder.

"How is the Mrs?" Joe prompted with a grin.

"She's great, we should be having the baby any day now." A glimpse of a bright smile pulled at his lips and as the thought started to run around his mind, the more his smile became wider. They needed to keep the atmosphere happy and light so when they went to whatever scene they were aiming for now, no one would have their mind wandering to the bad stuff.

If Ben or anyone else worried too much about what they were doing or if they could get everyone out safely then they could lose focus of the job and nobody wanted that.

"Alright boys, we all know what to do." Adam spoke up before all six of them hopped out of the engine, knowing another one was going to turn up too within the next ten minutes since this looked like a big scene to take care of.

Ben used to hate the jobs that got him covered in grime, smoke and dust because it was so hard to clean from his skin, even when he was wearing the protective gear that he didn't even have to wash himself. It turned his blond hair black, made his eyes irritable and made his lungs feel horrible until he was sure he was coughing up chunks of his lungs. He had to scrub his skin until it was red raw to get the dirt off and even then the smokey smell still clung to him like a bad penny following him around.

It was simply second nature now and not something that bothered him, but he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Ben did up the rather bulky protective jacket he had to wear that was florescent so if in a dark building, he could be spotted easily by anyone who needed help. He grabbed his helmet that always felt like it was welded to his head which made sure it stayed on, before he turned to look at Joe.

They had to know who was going to try and put out the fire and who was looking for casualties. Before Joe even had the chance to speak, all of them cowered and stooped over when they felt the ground shaking. Their heads turned in the direction of the burning building they had turned up to, their eyes focusing on the third floor which was clearly caving in.

"There are people in there and we need to get them out from the bottom and work our way up. Ben, Tyler, you're with me, we'll go round the back, you lot get the water ready." No sooner had the words passed through Joe's lips, all of them were moving in the directions they had been told.

If they got people out from the top of the building first then the people at the bottom levels were at risk of getting crushed or trapped if the building collapsed onto them. Everyone at the top had a better chance because if their floor collapsed, they weren't going to be stuck at the very bottom underneath the rubble.

Turning around a corner on the second floor, Ben tried his best to see properly but all he could make out was the vibrant colours of burnt orange, sienna and a dark yellow. All of it reminded him of a darkened version of the sun that was being shrouded by black like some kind of premonition. The smoke was thick in front of his eyes but the helmet stopped it from irritating his eyes.

He had to keep a mental map of the building so he knew his way back out again once he got this floor cleared. Once in a while Ben would pass by a window and feel the sprays of water from his team trying their best to get rid of the flames trying to eat away at the building and its occupants.

Just as he was about to call it in that this floor was clear, his head snapped to the right when he heard someone coughing. He held his hands out in front of him so he didn't bash into anything. He curled his hand around a doorframe and lowered himself down so he was crouching as his eyes found those of a woman who couldn't have been more than twenty-three or twenty-four.

Reaching his hand into his pocket, Ben grabbed a small cloth and held it out to her before motioning to his mouth.

"Breathe through this, it'll help with the smoke." She seemed hesitant for a moment or two but when Ben's hand didn't move or waver, she reached out and gratefully took the cloth. She pressed it tightly to her lips and nose before placing her free hand in his when his arm didn't retract. "Anyone else here?" He scanned his eyes around but he took her word for it when she shook her head.

Ben wrapped one arm around her shoulders, keeping her tucked into his side as he slowly started to guide the pair of them back out of the room. When he felt the floorboards beneath them beginning to shake and rumble like the stomach of a hungry beast, Ben pulled the woman down to kneel on the floor like they were praying. He could feel his heartbeat in his ears and the blood furiously pulsing through his veins which was something he had never gotten used to in this job.

When it felt safe enough to move, Ben gently tugged on the woman's arms to signal that they needed to go. He held her upright when she stumbled and guided her through the next doorway until they reached the fire escape he had jogged up to get here.

"Go down to the ground floor, there'll be medics waiting down there I promise." Ben urged her to go down the stairs, watching until she was safely on the first floor before he strode up the fire escape to the third floor, taking two steps at a time. "Second floor's cleared, heading up to meet Tyler on third." Ben spoke into the radio before clipping it back to his waist as he barged in through the door, trying to breathe properly but there was a lot more smoke and fire up here than down below.

Ben hadn't long gotten through the door when he saw the reflective jacket that matched his own as Tyler came into view with a child in one arm and a woman clinging to his other arm.

"There's a kid in the back room, better hurry, the fire started on this floor i the next apartment." Tyler nodded his head to the left in the direction Ben needed to go to and he nodded, moving his elbow to rest in front of his mouth before he started walking, trying to be quick but careful at the same time.

Ben had to crouch down and curl up when what he could only guess was a door or a plank of wood crashed down somewhere and it sparked flickers of broken wood and flames to circle through the air. If the scene was recorded and played in slow motion it would have nothing on how Ben was seeing the apartment. Through all of the smoke and the debris around him, those few flickers of light that were aiming for the sky looked so beautiful compared to the havoc the fire was creating.

Ben jumped from left to right to avoid the small spits of fire licking at the floor before he reached what he guessed was the back room. He didn't need to call out to find the child that Tyler had been talking about. Ben heard the screams that were cut off by chokes of smoke and gasps for clean air that wasn't available in here.

The blond grabbed a cloth from his pocket ready for the child he was trying to reach. He followed the cries until he realised the child must be cowering behind the mattress that was pushed upright leaning against the wall. Ben crouched down at the side of the mattress and found a young boy of around five, maybe, curled up with his knees held to his chest. Ben didn't need to say anything before the boy flung himself at Ben's chest, not caring about anything other than getting out.

Not bothering to give the cloth to the boy who had already gotten his face tucked into Ben's neck, he simply got to his feet and turned around to backtrack and get out.

"I gotcha, mister. It's okay."

Taking a deep breath, Ben tried to head back but he only got through one doorway and into what he guessed was the kitchen before a flickering sound caught his attention. He turned his head to the left before glancing to the right, narrowing his eyes to try and see through the fog of smoke that was like a black glittery mist that wasn't disappearing even when he waved his hand through the air.

Holding the boy to his chest with one arm, Ben fumbled around his belt for the radio strapped there as he slowly started to back away from the right side of the room.

"Guys, t-there's a gas leak on floor three."

"Get out now." Was Joe's bitten back response and Ben could hear Tyler yelling in the distance but he couldn't make out what he was saying.

Listening to Joe's advice, Ben started trying to head out of the room again but he had to stop just short of the doorway when the fire started to spread from the door along the floor in front of the doorway. Ben quickly set the young boy down in front of him before he shrugged off his jacket and dumped it on the flames that were blocking the exit. He stomped his boot against the jacket to put out the fire before urging the boy to carry on. When the young boy didn't move an inch, paralysed with fear, Ben grabbed him under the arms and started to run, trying to dodge the weaker floorboards or the pits of fire to get back to the fire escape.

Just as the fire escape was coming into view, Ben reached down and pressed the button on his radio when a muffled sound came through.

"Chemicals!"

That was the one word that flooded through the radio louder than any of the sounds surrounding Ben before all he could hear was a high pitched whining sound drilling in his ears like a constant alarm.

He didn't know what had happened, he was no longer stood on his feet or leaning to the right trying to run. He could feel his right arm pressing into the floor that was melting against his skin and he could feel his body weighted down onto the floor. He knew his arms were still wrapped around the young boy, but he couldn't open his eyes, he couldn't hear anything above the ringing alarm in his ears. And when he opened his mouth to scream, he felt his vocal cords shaking from the force of the air leaving his lungs, but his voice made no sound in his ears.

The moment a hand rested on his arm Ben let out another scream that barely managed to burst through his eardrum but it sounded like a faraway scream rather than one from his own lips.

"Ben...Ben it's Joe, buddy we need to get you up and out." Joe started to rub his hand up and down Ben's arm to try and get him to listen because they needed to get him out of here before the whole place went up in smoke or another explosion rocked the floor.

"Mate, let him go I got him I swear." Tyler patted Ben's blistered hands to try and make him loosen his grip around the young boy he was still latched onto, his mind still so sure that he had to protect the boy who had clung to him. Ben finally relented his grip on the boy as his hearing started to come back better and proper. He felt the boy being shuffled from his grip but Ben soon found his arms shaking but he couldn't feel any pain anywhere on his body.

Looking over at Tyler, Joe nodded his head towards the boy to see how he was but the grave shake of Tyler's head told him too much.

The boy wasn't alive.

"Ben, I need you to sit up because we gotta go." Slowly moving Ben's left arm, Joe tried to ease his friend up and he slipped his arm around his neck but when he was about to get Ben stood up, the blond shook his head.

"I can't see."

Peering closer at Ben, Joe realised that Ben's eyes were, in fact, open now when they had been snapped shut just moments ago. All of Ben's face was covered in black soot and grime and it was clear there were blisters beginning to form around his eyes and nose. But his eyes were darting side to side beneath his half-lidded eyes but they weren't seeing anything but darkness.

"It's the dirt, keep your eyes tightly closed until we get you out and we'll clean them but we really have to go." They could clean Ben's eyes but they couldn't do that here, they didn't have the time to wait here for a moment longer and Ben knew it.

He let Joe heave him to his feet and drag him out of the building in a heap. The blond latched his hand onto the metal handrail of the stairwell, slumping as his feet kept bashing against the steps as he was dragging his legs instead of lifting them up. His head hung forward as his breathing started to turn rapid as the adrenaline was coursing through his veins but it was allowing some of the pain to run through his body. Ben could feel the burns on the right side of his body, especially on his arm and his hands, he could feel the smoke circulating through his lungs making him cough and gag, spewing spit and blood onto the stairwell at his feet.

But what really burned was his eyes.

It was worse than any other accident he had had before because it was like someone was scratching at his retinas with sharp claws that were cutting through tissue. He could feel his eyelids pushing together to stop the pain but it wasn't working, they felt like they were swelling up like balloons. His nose was beginning to itch and burn but his eyes were on fire. Ben had looked into the sun and it was scolding him.

A shiver ran down Joe's spine as he cringed at the sudden scream that tore loudly from Ben's lips. The moment Ben felt his feet scuffing against the concrete floor he let his weight flop down so he was no longer leaning on Joe. He fell down to his knees and immediately rubbed the palm of his hands up against his eyes that were sizzling like they were frying in a pot of oil.

"It fucking burns!" Ben sobbed through the three little words that made Joe choke on air, feeling tears in his own eyes at the sheer agony in Ben's words. He was on fire in almost every part of his body and it was torture.

"Adam, grab me some clean water and a cloth!" Joe yelled before he slipped his hands under Ben's arms and dragged him a few metres away from the building just to be on the safe side. He didn't want any of his team being too close in case another explosion rattled through and injured anyone else or made Ben's injuries more severe.

Collapsing down to his knees, Joe kneeled behind Ben and reached his arms around, gently pulling Ben to lean back against his chest. The moment Adam ran over with a thermos of water and a clean cloth, Joe grabbed them and poured the water onto the rag.

"Alright mate, tilt your head back for me and open your eyes as wide as you can." Joe eased Ben's head back onto his shoulder before he placed the rag over Ben's eyes and pressed it down onto his eyes like he was making a mould of them. A guttural moan left Ben's mouth at the feeling of the lukewarm water simmering into his eyes so much so that he thought it would have evaporated and created a puff of smoke into the air.

Joe shakily removed the cloth, added some more water and then placed it back again to try and clean any dirt, chemicals or just smoke dust from Ben's eyes before they did any lasting damage. He kept his arms tight around Ben's frame who dug his nails into Joe's arms when a loud explosion sounded and Ben didn't need his sight to know the building was crumbling.

"Eyes wide open for me." Joe spoke calmly and soothingly as he removed the cloth, setting it down on his lap before he poured the water over Ben's eyes. He winced as Ben started to jolt and writhe as he screamed like he was being tortured as the water entered his eye sockets and ran down his features. Joe dabbed at Ben's eyes with the cloth to clear the water before he started doing the same to Ben's right arm that was rather badly burned to the point the bone could almost be seen.

"Ben, we've got an ambulance here ready to take you mate." Adam's voice shook as he tried to stay calm but he had never seen Ben in such a state before.

"I can't see." Ben almost whimpered the words as he tried to blink the water out of his eyes but it wasn't helping his damaged vision. He could see nothing but black and specks of orange like the flickers of the flame he had noticed in the flat. What if he was destined to see sparks of the fire that could have blinded him forever? What would he do if his every waking moment was going to be spent watching sparks fly like a tormentor never leaving him alone?

What if he never got to see (Y/n) again? She hadn't had the baby yet, what if Ben wasn't going to be able to see how his baby looked or see them grow up and see which parent they turned out to look like?

Ben couldn't be blind, he had to see his baby.

"Shh, it's alright-"

"I can't fucking see!"

[polandspringz]

RWBY Actually Has Good Writing: A Thematic Analysis

I may be a stickler for desiring more Ozpin content, and occasionally I do feed into RWDE posting when I get caught up in some of the more negative opinions, but RWBY’s writing really isn’t as atrocious as people are making it out to be, and after Ozpin’s speech this volume, I thought about highlighting why. One of the key points in this is Ironwood’s character, as many people who defend him have said his character has been destroyed by the writing and people against his actions have said the opposite, that he’s always been an irredeemable dictator. This split also applies to those who side with Ozpin or Team RWBY, in the now overdone debates about whether Ozpin was justified in lying and so forth. Something that has really frustrated me is the ignorance people seem to be showing in regards to how characters are supposed to be characters, and are supposed to do bad things or make mistakes for the sake of the narrative. We all knew Ironwood was going to turn for the worse this volume, although we were happy to see him resist it for the majority of it. However, while he may be making horrible decisions that are jeopardizing the safety of the kingdom, does that make him inherently an evil character?

“But fear itself isn’t worthy of concern. Its is who we become while in its clutches. Will you be proud of that person? Will you forgive them? Will you understand why they felt the need to do the things they did? Will you even recognize them? Or will the person staring back at you be the very thing you should have feared from the start? I suppose we all find out, sooner or later.”

There is a difference between an antagonist and a villain. Ironwood is definitely not a villain, and the same goes for Ozpin. They don’t have evil motivations, they are not trying to completely destroy the world like Salem is. They have caused problems for the protagonists, yes, but they are not the villain of the series. Ironwood has only been the antagonist for this Atlas arc, like how Roman was for the first three volumes. The reason they have transformed into these roadblocks though, in the words of Ozpin, is because of fear, and this is something that RWBY has never failed to deliver on, and in fact has been building up this theme beautifully since its world-building in the first volume, because...

The Grimm are attracted to fear.  Plain and simple, that is one of the first concepts we are introduced to. The heroes fear failing in their respective paths, although that’s a constant fear in any story set in an action-adventure like this. Ironwood fears Salem like everyone else, but his fear also stems from more than just being annihilated or killed. His fear stems from a lack of power. We know this because of his speech to Oscar in the vault earlier in volume 7, how he felt small and powerless when Salem took control at the Vytal Festival, when the Queen piece was placed on his desk again, he snapped because he feared that he had already been usurped and lost the upper hand. He lost his leverage and power over Salem’s forces. Now, RWBY may be in a fantasy world, but because of its trope heavy nature, it is not a stretch to say that Ironwood’s fear of Salem having power over him could also be gender motivated.

I first thought about this in regards to Ernest Hemingway’s works. The Sun Also Rises, in particular, but any of his works have a similar theme of war and masculinity. In The Sun Also Rises, the main character is made impotent because of an injury in war, and the long and short of that is whole theme coming to fruition is that war is emasculating because there was no story-book manly victory in war. War is fearful and terrifying. Additionally, the main female character in the book is shaped by her masculine appearance (due to the trends at the time of the 20s) and her personality and lack of stereotypical femininity leaves no place for the men to need to behave stereotypically masculine, but with those two forces emasculating them, what are they left with to be men with?

It’s not nice to think that sexism exists in a fantasy world, but because RWBY by nature has always has such an emphasis on girlhood and women, from the main characters being a group of girls to the villain being a woman, it is very interesting to have a theme of sexism be so subtle. Because RWBY isn’t about sexism, if anything, it’s about women being able to carry on where men couldn’t, being able to move forward and be stronger then men in all different ways. If we look at Ironwood in this case, he is a man of war and military, but he is already in a way emasculated by his previous injuries, (although he may have the same strength with the robotic prosthetics, that did not happen overnight, that was still likely a shocking injury), and now with the other destroyed arm, he is weaker once more, at the most crucial time too. His allusion to the tinman though, of not having a heart and being stone cold, that removes typical features of femininity in an effort to be more mature and masculine. When Salem comes and he devolves into fear, he reverts to that coldness for more than the sake of allusion. He is doing it to find strength in the fear, but it is making him fall. But besides all of this, at his core, Ironwood is a military man, and stereotypically, men are in control in the military and government, women are not.

But what about Winter? Well, very simply, she is a subordinate to Ironwood. She doesn’t have power over him. What about Cordovin? She’s not a member of the military, but Ironwood still is of higher rank than her and she’s not a part of his arc. What I’m really getting at here is that there is an indication that part of Ironwood’s fear and desperation to fight Salem might be motivated by sexism and this fear of emasculation. His main motivation might be to stop her out of fear that she will destroy humanity, but subconsciously, there is more bothering him about that Queen symbol that the show doesn’t need to explore because it is crafted in there so perfectly that it doesn’t need an obvious scene of characters explicitly telling us this. The only person who was ever above Ironwood was Ozpin, another man, and while Ozpin can be said to have more feminine traits in his softer and more compassionate approach in volumes 1-3, he was still a man, so for Ironwood, it’s excusable.

So where does this leave us? Well, this sort of theme about gender in the show isn’t likely going away, as it is probably going to be how the Atlas arc closes. Ironwood is going to fail, and Team RWBY is going to have to pick up the pieces. We’ve seen this before in almost every dynamic between a female or a male character in the show. It happens even when Ozpin is exposed for lying. He is revealed to have messed up, he fails and hides away. Team RWBY keeps moving on though, they push on to Atlas with the relic despite Ozpin’s failure. Qrow keeps stumbling through life, falling back into depression and alcoholism, but Ruby and Yang just push past it and keep going, they do not let it drag them down. When Raven left, Taiyang was hurt, but Summer entered the picture and helped him, and then when Summer left, Taiyang was so broken, and it was up to Yang to pick up the pieces and raise Ruby. This isn’t to say the girls in this show are fixing the men, but rather they are stronger and more able to fix what the men could not.

There are some interesting cases though where we see more of this divide between the men and the women in terms of their power and ability to control the situation though. With Adam especially, he was unable to move on from Blake and chased after her. Blake was able to move on for a while, but Adam was the one dragging her down (with fear). She was able to free herself with the help of the other female characters in the show. The White Fang had good leadership under Sienna, but when Adam killed her and took over, he failed and the organization continued to collapse, now Blake and Illia are picking up the pieces and pushing forward. Even with Salem, Ozma’s failure was dying to a simple illness. She perhaps could have learned to move on if the Gods hadn’t granted her immortality and cursed her. She had no power over them even when she tried to attack them with her magic the first time. They made the decision to punish her in that way, to knock her down because she tried to hold power over them, but that caused her to move forward in a different direction (maybe not necessarily towards the light/good, but she kept moving forward while the Gods abandoned the planet).

To finish up though, I wanted to touch upon Oscar, Ren, and Jaune because now we have the question- well why haven’t they failed? Well, they have, and the women of the show have moved past their failures too, but they are characters with more feminine traits, which is what gives them power over the men in the show like Ironwood and Qrow who continue to stumble and fall. Jaune and Pyrrha- Jaune’s failures are the entirety of the Beacon arc, his semblance issues, his lack of combat training, Pyrrha does try and help him, and their bond in a way does contribute to Pyrrha’s death in the narrative, plus it leaves an impact on Jaune as one of his failures. However, he’s managed to get stronger since then, but he’s not the main character, Ruby is. And as such, during much of Volume 4 Ruby was the real leader of the group and Jaune did not mind it. Ren’s closed off nature is being more explored currently and will continue to be explored in the coming volume it seems, but we’ve seen how he’s damaged his bonds with Nora because he’s trying not to fall. He is viewing his closeness to Nora and sensitivity as a weakness, which is why he falls when he bottles it up and cries when Neo disguises herself as Nora. He needs to learn to accept that part of himself to stop himself from falling. And in Oscar’s case, he is tied to Ozpin, so starting with what happened with Jinn and everyone turning their back on him is a part o Ozpin’s failure, not really his.  However, there were a few posts discussing how Ruby was somewhat of Oscar’s mentor in Ozpin’s absence, and that has had an effect on Oscar character too. But, even if Oscar learns how to not fail and not give in to fear, he is not the main character, so he will likely still stumble and will not be the one to get the final hit in, because Ruby is the protagonist. That isn’t to say his character won’t be reconciled, it will be. His arc will be completed and he won’t stumble when the time comes to defeat Salem, but he won’t be able to do it alone, because the show’s themes and its direction hinges on having our hero be the one to do that. And the hero is Ruby and she’s a girl with the most iconic, simplest depictions of femininity in her willingness to embrace her emotions and her strength to keep moving forward where the men fall to their knees. 

[sir-adamus]

Yang foils to a lot of characters

okay so i said earlier/yesterday/a time in the past that is before now that i was gonna do an updated thing on the villains/other antagonists that Yang foils/parallels/plays counterpart to (here’s the old one)

i decided to expand it past villains to other parts of the cast because there’s some interesting stuff there, anyway, below the cut:

Adam

okay so, obvious one out of the way first, yes, Adam is one of Yang’s foils (this should be obvious by now). both play significant (romantic) roles in Blake’s past and present respectively, but where Adam is an abusive dillweed and a coward (and paedophile) who responded to trauma by becoming the bigger asshole, never accepting responsibility and jealously obsessing over what he believed to be his, but he never cared about her as a person, only controlling and possessing her; Yang is kindhearted, compassionate and truly strong, who responded to her trauma in a more healthy way by talking it out with someone who could understand (Blake) and not taking it out on the world. she also shows an actual understanding of Blake and their relationship is healthy and balanced

they both have themes with anger, but where Yang’s anger is shown to be controlled and she doesn’t lash out at people, and her anger has never gotten her into trouble on its own (the one time she’s gotten into trouble over it, her anger wasn’t actually to blame, as she can’t be faulted for trying to defend herself over an attack that no one else saw), Adam explodes in a temper tantrum when he doesn’t get his way, and ends up making costly mistakes as a result

additionally their semblances are opposites - Yang takes damage and turns it into strength that she gets to keep until either she releases it or her Aura breaks. Adam can only absorb impacts through a proxy (his sword, that he hides behind) and can only dish back out what he has absorbed, at which point he has to build it up again. courage versus cowardice

Cinder

i’m pretty sure most would be expecting me to cover Mercury or Hazel here, but i feel like this is a significant one that gets overlooked - i have already made a post covering this in detail so i’ll just link that here and move on

Hazel

so there are a lot. both Yang and Hazel melee based fighters who supplement their martial combat techniques with weapons/Dust, instead of basing their fighting styles around weapons. both have siblings that mean a lot to them; but Hazel lost his twin sister Gretchen and the rage and grief against Ozpin has aligned him with Salem. Yang likewise dislikes and distrusts Ozpin, but she isn’t fueled by that and isn’t ruthless when it comes to approaching her goals

they’re both shown to be even-tempered outside of combat and both ideally won’t escalate a situation into a fight if they don’t have to - best comparison of this is, funnily enough, in their responses to Adam’s bullshit. Hazel doesn’t want to resort to violence or bloodshed when talking to Sienna and expresses disgust when Adam kills her because “no one needed to die today”. Yang, when encountering Adam in volume 6, approaches the situation with the same mentality, just telling him to leave her and Blake alone - no one needed to die in that situation, and the only person who did was Adam, who once again disagreed. the difference mainly is that Yang is very open and friendly and actually sticks to that resolve while Hazel is aloof and closed off and while he can stick to that gun most of the time, when Ozpin is involved all bets are off and he doesn’t care who he hurts, putting the fault for his actions on Ozpin

their semblances are also opposites, just in a different way to how Adam and Yang’s are; Yang’s semblance is about taking damage, absorbing pain, and rolling with it - she feels all that pain. her anger comes about as a result of it but it’s always controlled, directed. Hazel’s semblance blocks out pain, he is as powerful as he is because he’s not feeling any of the damage he’s taking, and it comes out with that uncontrollable rage, not caring who gets caught in the crossfire. controlled anger vs blind rage

Emerald

not much, but there are comparisons and contrasts to be drawn

both have issues with maternal figures; Yang lost her step-mother at an early age and her birth mother is not a great person. Yang however is under no illusions regarding Raven and has accepted that sad truth and doesn’t let it impact her decisions or sense of right and wrong

contrast Emerald, who is implied to see Cinder as a surrogate maternal figure and is deluding herself into thinking Cinder cares about her, to the point that she seems to be ignoring her own doubt over what she’s doing out of some misguided sense of obligation to someone who ultimately only keeps her around while she’s useful

Salem

well to start with “loneliness” is a motif that applies to both of them (Salem kinda foils to all the girls in some way or another, but you can get a lot with just Yang), a significant visual parallel between the scene Salem and Ozma (in unnamed meatbag #1) reunite to the scene where Blake and Yang see each other again for the first time since Beacon in volume 5, with Ozma paralleling Blake as the one entering the situation while Yang parallels Salem in seeing someone she thought she’d never see again (though things are gonna end much more healthily for Blake and Yang)

Yang as a character is interesting because almost everything that goes wrong in her life (her birth mother leaving, her step-mother dying, her father shutting down and forcing her to raise herself and Ruby, her uncle never being around, everything at Beacon and what has followed) can all be rooted back at least partially to decisions Oz has made and lies he’s told (and she’s understandably angry at him just for the recent stuff). and knowing Salem’s backstory, a lot of the crap that’s happened to her is a result of Oz’s bad decisions and lies - their responses are different, obviously, Yang doesn’t react to nearly the extremes Salem does, but then Yang isn’t several thousands of years old and hasn’t had all her hope snatched away yet (though Oz definitely gave it the old college try by building people up on false hope and thinking that somehow wouldn’t bite him in the ass) while Salem only started getting as bad as she did after Oz took the hope that he gave her by coming back into her life away again (instead of talking things out with her like an adult over what was like, one relatively mild outburst at least partially influenced by Grimm corruption which isn’t something she could really help, because she believed it would kill her, and was keeping relatively under control otherwise - avoiding the problem and not talking to people is a terrible habit of his)

Yang and Salem also have associations with the God of Darkness’s creations; Yang is heavily and frequently associated with fire, while Salem is tied to the Grimm thanks to the Brothers Grimm pools she tried to use to finally die

stubbornness is a theme as well - Yang has a backstory where stubbornness nearly got her killed and so she’s more careful about it in the present, it’s not an issue for her, while Salem’s (as a result of a combination of loneliness, unhealthy dependence on the one good thing in her life and having absolutely zero healthy ways of coping with grief due to her shitty upbringing that the gods just didn’t bother helping her with in the slightest and only exacerbated) is a big factor in the situation the world is at right now. neither Yang nor Salem give up, ever, but, as Yang says, she doesn’t let that control her

Tyrian

this is another short one, Tyrian lost a large amount of his tail to Ruby (a red and black-themed fighter with a rose motif), much like Yang lost her arm to Adam, and both have cybernetic prosthesis to replace the lost parts (Atlesian in origin, as well)

both have colour-change eyes when they use their abilities, Yang’s eyes go from lilac to red, Tyrian’s go from gold to purple, and both fight with weapons attached to their arms - but Yang’s Ember Celica is meant to supplement her punch-based fighting style with gun fire with some ranged ability, Tyrian’s The Queen’s Servants are primarily for slashing attacks and separate gun barrels for ranged attacks

Maria

we’re off the villains for a while, and this one is notable for the comparisons and parallels being drawn in the show itself

both Maria and Yang are noted to be incredibly strong fighters, Maria to near mythic levels (and both have jumped on a Nevermore mid-flight), both received injuries that took them out of the game and acquired prosthetics to help them following that, but Maria herself notes that she didn’t have the strength of will to keep fighting after her injury, while Yang did (and we know Yang kept going because she felt obligated to take care of Ruby, so the contrast seems to be Maria didn’t have others to fight for like Yang does)

both are also snarky and good-humoured, and play guiding roles for Ruby (we’re even given scenes where both try to teach Ruby how to fight using abilities outside of her weapon and Semblance - Yang trying to teach Ruby how to handle herself in hand-to-hand combat, and ultimately getting nowhere because she didn’t get to address the problem due to other things coming up, while Maria guides Ruby on how to use her Silver Eyes, to better results)

Pyrrha

especially notable in volume 3 but there are elements throughout

Yang and Pyrrha are pretty much the Strongest in terms of physical ability of the main 8 for the first three volumes, though with very different approaches, a fact which ties into Salem’s speech at the beginning of volume 1 (which is concluded in her speech at the end of volume 3), “there is no victory in strength”. at the end of volume 3, the strongest players among the heroes are out of play, critically injured and depressed in Yang’s case, and dead in Pyrrha’s

there’s some shared theming with “gold” and “fire” again, kinda similar to Cinder - Pyrrha means “flame-haired”, and she wears gold armour; Yang we know has a big fire motif and is highly associated with gold

both are confident in different ways while hiding their isolation and insecurities beneath the surface; Yang is very outgoing and boisterous and strong-willed, while Pyrrha is more reserved and less outspoken, but quite weak-willed, never really standing up for herself and doing whatever is asked of her

Nora

another short one, loud, boisterous members of their respective teams, with similar charge-based semblances and a significant relationship with their quieter, ninja-themed partner

the difference is Nora is more extremely loud and boisterous, where Yang has her quieter, more introspective moments (tying into her yin-yang dynamic with Blake, where they have elements of aspects commonly associated with the other)

Raven

there isn’t actually much for this one because the majority of the foiling for Raven is with Blake (much like Adam foils to Yang, but has some elements with Blake too), but their semblances and the mechanics/origins behind them are very telling

Yang’s semblance, turning the damage, the pain she takes into strength, is rooted in her backstory of having to roll with the pain and devastation of losing Summer, finding out she was abandoned by Raven and Tai not taking care of them, and having to find the strength to keep things together for Ruby’s sake. Yang is primarily (almost unhealthily) motivated for the sake of those she is close to; i mentioned it back in Maria’s section, Yang is almost always fighting for the people she loves

Raven, by contrast, has a semblance that connects her to those she is close to, she can travel vast distances to them instantaneously - but she almost exclusively fights for herself, and only uses her semblance to run away (and the irony is her semblance is built so she can run to people, to seek solace and support from them - Yang used Raven’s semblance to get to Ruby in the way Raven really should be using it)

Honourable Mention - Roman and Neo

see here

Oh yeah Mercury i guess

- martial arts based fighting style, hands vs feet

- named after celestial bodies (Yang - the sun, Mercury - Mercury)

- weapons enhance fighting style

- shit dads tell them not to use/take away semblances with shitty reasoning (”its a good fallback but you can’t rely on” except by definition a fallback is something you rely on, so which is it? also calling her semblance - the literal manifestation of her soul, a temper tantrum. solid parenting A+, totally doesnt remind me of: “this is a crutch, this makes you weak” yes, saying that the sum of someones character is a weakness isn’t horrifyingly disgusting at all, thanks Marcus, A+ parenting you drunk fuckbag)

- difference is Yang is strong and a good person and Mercury chose to be a fuckboi shitbag

[tonotbelionized]

Character Allusions

The world of RWBY has many influences from our world in its world building, culture and story, and the main influence in the show is the allusion that every character has to a tale. Whether this is a fairy tale, a legend, or mythology, there’s hints to what each character represents not only in their name, but also their outfits and stories.

RWBY has many characters that you are able to figure out, even if it takes some time, and can even have a secondary allusion in regards to other characters. Volume 1 is the easiest to decide in the show, with all the characters having clear influence from their fairy tales so that the audience are able to decide; Ruby Rose is clearly Little Red Riding hood not only from her name and English inspired outfit, but her trademark red hood and the hints given in show, noticeable Roman’s nickname of her being “Little Red”. 

The other characters are the same. We can see Snow White with Weiss or Joan of Arc with Jaune, but it seems that as we go further into the show, a once key aspect of the story telling has now fallen behind.

Characters With Hardly Any Allusions

Carrying on after Volume 1, we still have characters that we can determine their allusion easily enough; Neptune is clearly the Roman God of the Sea, and has a interesting secondary allusion in Zhu Bajie, the pig companion with a shared habit of hitting on every woman he saw, connecting Neptune to Sun’s primary allusion of Sun Wukong. The same can be said about Mercury with his allusion connected to the Roman God Mercury.

However, there are characters that really don’t seem to have an allusion, or at least one that can be determined. Neo’s outfit is based of a gender bent Roman cosplayer, but there’s nothing to suggest what her allusion actually is, with some thinking that she could be Mary Poppins because of her umbrella, or even Tinkerbell. The problem is that more casual viewers who don’t know about this cosplayer, would not know what Neo’s outfit means and the allusion is lost.

Another example is Maria, with her outfit and character taking heavy influence from the Mexican holiday Dias de Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. It’s especially seen in her heavy skull usage in her outfit, and the sugar skull mask that she wore in her younger days. However no other character has been based on an actual holiday, so actually determining if this is Maria’s allusion or not can get a bit muddled.

The most noticeable one out of the people in both Kali and Taiyang. Taiyang’s team are all based on poems; Summer Rose from Last Rose of Summer by Thomas Moore, Qrow and Raven are meant to be Muninn and Huginn from the poem Grímnismál, but Taiyang doesn’t have a clear poem that he’s based off. There’s nothing about him besides his obviously Chinese name that would give us a hint on where to start. We can’t even go off Yang’s Goldilocks allusion to decide because Goldilocks didn’t have a father in the tale, nor does Tai fit any of the bears.

And Kali doesn’t even have the same allusion to the Jungle Book as Ghira. Her outfit has nothing unique that could point us in the direction to figure it out, and in all honesty she just looks like an older Blake. This isn’t necessarily the problem given that Summer looks like an older Ruby, but at least Summer had the name to connect her to the poem, and the fact that the last words on her grave is directly connected to the line of the poem. There’s nothing about Kali Belladonna that could point her to be an allusion for the Hindu Goddess Kali.

She has no blue on her outfit at all, her outfit is Japanese influenced rather than Indian with her hakama pants and kimono, and nothing in her story points to the Goddess of Death and Destruction apart from the fact that Kali is also seen as a symbol for motherly love, and RWBY Kali is one of the best mothers in the cast. 

This isn’t the only thing about RWBY’s allusions, as the writers have even gone the other way and made it that the allusion is all that the character is without anything new about it.

Too On the Nose Allusions

The main culprit of this problem is Leo Lionheart. It makes sense for him to be the Cowardly Lion, he’s one of the headmasters and part of Ozpin’s Inner Circle, where everyone else has an allusion that connects to Ozpin’s Wizard of Oz theme. However, the others have their allusions in subtle ways and have more to their characters than just being that allusion.

Leonardo doesn’t. He’s a turncoat yes, but we spend all of his scenes being told that he’s doing this because he’s afraid of Salem, that he feels like he can’t fight against her, that he’s a coward. I don’t hate his character, but there has to be more to Leo than just being a coward and a turncoat, the problem is that the show never show us more to him. The very first thing that is established in Volume 5 is Leonardo getting shocked by Team RNJR and Qrow, and faints in fright.

After that, he seemed to be a reasonable leader that’s doing the best he can given that Ozpin is dead and everyone is at each other’s throats, especially with James’ downward spiral mentally and Glynda being kept at Vale to help with the situation. He’s a perfect counterpart to Qrow’s impatient personality and seemed someone that the group needs to calm them all down, and then every scene afterwards throws it out of the window.

We could’ve learned exactly how Leonardo decided it was futile to fight against Salem. Did he learn by the lamp given it only had two wishes when the heroes grabbed it? Did he see what Salem could do? Does he know about Ozpin’s past if he did use the wish? Not only that, but he’s the only Faunus headmaster of the four and lives in a country that has less than favorable views on the Faunus. How did he rise so far in rank despite the disadvantages set against him? Did Ozpin help him with that? What was their relationship even like?

There’s nothing to his character, so much so that no one even cared about his death at the end of Volume 5, and it wasn’t even a fitting way for him to go. He was caught by the Seer and stabbed to death while pitifully begging for his life. All while Salem coldly calls him a coward. We know. He’s a coward, it’s all that’s ever said about Leonardo, and I wish that they had given him something more than that.

Characters Allusions to Each Other

One thing that RWBY can do well is the characters not only having allusions to themselves, but also being able to connect with other characters too. From Yang’s trailer, we have Junior who serves as an allusion to little bear from the Goldilocks fairy tale, this connects him to Yang and her character. Not only that,  he also serves as the Bear Prince to Melanie and Militia Malachite’s Snow White and Rose Red. This level of detail is very well done and makes the characters feel more connected to each other, rather than just being random fairy tale characters thrown into a world with guns. 

Junior isn’t even a main example, Qrow Branwen is another well done example. While his allusion to the scarecrow mostly on the surface given that he is fairly smart, compared to James’ more obvious character being a man with trust issues having to learn to let people in his heart, there’s still enough to connect him to Ozpin’s Wizard of Oz motif. On top of that, both he and Raven are connected to Ozpin as Odin’s crow and raven; Muninn and Huginn. They were given powers to turn to birds so that they could spy for Ozpin, further leading to this allusion.

However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t moments were the show trips up. the Belladonna family is the most awkward one that comes to mind, especially when remembering that Blake’s main allusion is Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Ghira is obviously Bagheera from the Jungle Book, but that only means he’s connected to Sienna’s Shere Khan, as there’s nothing to point to Belle and Bagheera.

The exact same thing can be said for Kali. As mentioned before, we don’t even know her allusion, and if it is Kali the Hindu Goddess, then there’s nothing connecting the two. It goes even further that nothing connects Kali’s allusion to Blake’s despite being her mother. Neither of her parents share a connection to Blake, and it seems that the writers forgot this as the only person who fits into this story is Adam.

He’s the Beast who never got over his Beauty leaving and as a result was never redeemed, and he’s also the Gaston in the story with Blake and Yang. While Adam can be seen as other legends, such as the Demon Bull King in connection to Sun, his main allusion was made so that he fits in with Blake and the two feel connected. Her parents don’t have that.

This further continues on the last point.

Cultural Inspiration to the Character’s Allusion

With a character that is an allusion to a tale or a legend, the show takes care to physically connect their appearance and name to the origin of the fairy tale. Weiss Schnee is German for White Snow, as the original Snow White tale is German, and this goes further into her family as they all have a snow and a northern European theme. 

Winter Schnee is based off the Snow Queen, a fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen and is Danish. Jacques Schnee - Gele is based of Jack Frost, a French name with a fairy tale that is thought to come from Anglo-Saxon and Norse origins. Even Klein the butler is given a Germanic name and is based off the Seven Dwarves, connecting him directly to Weiss’ Snow White theme. 

The same can be said for Ruby and her mother, with both their allusions being English and Irish in origin. While Yang’s allusion to Goldilocks is different with her Chinese influence, it also adds to another allusion for her being Fenghuang, a Chinese legend of birds coming from the union of a dragon and a raven, heavily playing into Yang’s parents being Taiyang and Raven. This means her Chinese influence makes sense, it also ties her to her parents more.

Blake’s influences are all over the place. Her fairy tale is French, and her Volume 1 - 3 outfit reflects the French aspect, with her coat tails and frills on her shirt. She loses that French aspect in her later outfits. Her pyjamas and weapon are clearly Japanese inspired, she has a katana that can turn into a kusarigama with the help of her ribbon. While this isn’t as bad before Volume 4, the inclusion of her family further muddles it. Ghira and Kali’s allusions are Indian fairy tales, but Kali’s outfit is once again Japanese inspired while Ghira’s has no cultural inspiration that I can figure out.

Then there’s the fact that Menagerie is heavily inspired by not only Australia for its deadly wildlife and past connections of criminals and undesirables being sent there, but also Pacific Countries like Hawaii because of the name of the towns and it’s plant life, like the coconut and palm trees there. However, someone did point out that the houses and architecture of Menagerie are once again Japanese inspired. 

Even Blake’s name further muddles things because Blake is Old English, it’s not even French like Belle’s name, and her surname is Italian. All the other main characters have names that flow with the same language. Weiss Schnee is German, Yang Xiao Long is Chinese, Ruby Rose is English, even Team JNPR follows this, but Blake doesn’t.

Unlike the rest of the girls, this mess of different cultures being mashed together leaves the Belladonna’s lacking that same cohesion that the rest of the families have. It has the knock on effect that people who want to give face claims to Blake simply don’t know what ethnicity she would be. It’s easy to cast Yang as Chinese and White because of Raven and Taiyang, same goes for Ruby, and Weiss is clearly white, but Blake’s is just confusing and can lead to infighting in the fandom. 

I feel like this could’ve been avoided if Ghira and Kali shared at least one of Blake’s inspiration, either the French or the Japanese side, and if Blake followed the same line of thought that her friends do. Give her a French name to connect her to Belle, rather than mixing it all together.

That’s all that I have to say about the show’s handlement of allusions. In all honesty, with the show carrying on, it’s not that big of a deal as it was at the beginning, but I wish that it was still given the same amount of thought because when RT gets it right, they get it really right. We see it in the latest volume with Tock, we know what she’s meant to be, her design is cool and it all connects to the crocodile from Peter Pan. 

Thanks for reading guys!

[arse-blathanna]

Evening Report - 22/30

Chapter 22: familiar spaces

[Ao3] [FFN] [Fic Tag]

Fic Summary: Blake Belladonna has one job in her life, and its to provide accurate information in a timely manner. A relatively mundane story is all that it takes to throw her into direct contact with Weiss Schnee, whose family secrets could make or break Blake’s career as a journalist.

Word Count: 4290

Chapter Summary: Blake goes somewhere familiar. Jacques Schnee is awake.

Author’s Notes: Thank you for reading!

Blake wasn’t exactly sure what it was that told her that goin in to the main office for The Fang was a good idea. It was a place that she’d rarely needed to visit in the past, to the point where her own “office” was merely a cleared off piece of desk in the corner.

The prospect of spending just about any amount of time at The Fang’s main offices wasn’t something that Blake exactly relished- there was a reason that she tended to stay away. More than one reason, really. The reality of most of her work being put online meant that she only came in when she was given a specific assignment or was called up to speak to a superior. The amount of freedom that she was given in her position was remarkable, Blake knew. But that had everything to do with how The Fang was structured.

[Read it on Ao3] [Read it on FFN]

In truth, The Fang didn’t actually have that many employees to its name. She and Adam were among four or five reporters total. Ilia acted as one of 2 editors, the Albain twins, Corsac and Fennec took care of day to day business at the offices, while Sienna Khan acted as editor in chief and oversaw everything else.

If they needed outside help, just about everyone that worked in that building had someone that they could have reached out to. Sienna had her people, just the same as Blake had her own.

Almost as soon as she arrived, she was immediately reminded how quiet The Fang’s offices tended to be on the average day. One of the twins greeted her at the door (she didn’t take the moment to check which) and Blake simply informed him that she was in for work. With that done, she made a beeline for her office- pitiful as it was.

The twin shrugs her off and goes to sit down at his desk, which has his nameplate on the front. Corsac. He bends back over whatever he’s doing, and pays her no mind after that. His twin does the same, clearly much more involved in website layouts than people.  

Getting into the room where her office was would only take a moment. She just needed to be able to unlock the door, and then she’d be able to get to work. In the middle of her fiddling with her keys, there was a voice behind her. The voice of someone that she’d known would be there, and had been preparing for all morning.

“Hello, Blake.” Adam greeted her, his voice slipping out of his throat like poison and him sounding ready to make some sort of mose. “I see you came in today.”

“Hello, Adam.” Blake returned before shooting him a look back over her shoulder. At the same time, she finally got the door open and pushed it open before stepping inside.

“Are you ready to get to work?” Adam asked, shouldering his laptop bag. “Or should I expect to wait on you?”

“I’m going to need a few minutes.” Blake responded coldly. “If you could give me the space-”

Adam seemed like he wanted to back off from her for just a moment, but he didn’t. He just stood up straight and took a half-step back, just enough so that he could  give Blake her space. Blake felt the spike of resentment over the action, but she got the door open and slipped into her own office anyways.

It’s almost as clean as it had been when she was there last. There was no computer at the desk, since Blake chose to carry her own laptop to work instead. The stacks of notebooks were there, all labelled and most of them untouched since the stories they were used for were finished. Blake made her way to the desk, which was pushed up against the wall and sat down at it before removing her laptop from her bag.

Adam dropped into a spare seat on the other side of the room, just like he used to.

Blake rolled her eyes and prepared her workspace to be used, regardless of whether or not Adam was there.

She took her sweet time arranging her desk, and was almost surprised that Adam had decided to sit there the entire time. Blake had been sure that he would have had better things to do with his time, but instead he was just there bothering her.

“So,” Adam said, starting off the conversation. He let one of his legs stretch out in front of him. Like he was claiming space. “You and I are going to go to this Schnee thing, huh?”

“We are.” Blake responded, going straight to her media feed. A release by SchneeCorp had gone up early that morning to announce that Jacques Schnee was recovering, but it didn’t say much else other than that the family was requesting their privacy for the time being. It’s good for Blake, because she can at least trust that she won’t let something slip that didn’t matter. “But I guess that the conditions around that are going to be changing with their leader conscious again.”

“Guess so.” Adam muttered. “You know that we aren’t going to be getting in normally though.”

“I figured as much.” Blake grumbled back, already annoyed. She knew for a fact that she could dress well enough that she’d be able to blend in with the crowd. If she got her hair done well enough and wore a nice enough dress, she could get into close to anything. Blake was more than sure of that. Knowing that Weiss would be there and she’d see her is a nice enough indicator on its own. A useful one. “So what is your plan for getting into the benefit anyways?”

“Well,” Adam said with a shrug. “I guess that you and I could start by talking about what you even know about it.”

Blake blinked and sighed, crossing one leg over the other. “I know that it’s going to be held at SchneeCorp’s world headquarters.” She began, staring Adam down from across the room. “And that anyone going in through the front is going to need to be on some sort of list to even get through the door. I’m going to guess that it is going to be comprised of donors or something similar.”

“But you said that you might be able to get the two of us in.”

“I did.” Blake sighed, thinking back to the night before. Had it not been for the circumstances of why Weiss had called her, she would have talked to Weiss about entry. She was going to need to call Weiss, or at the very least she needed to talk to Klein. Between the two of them, one of them was going to be able to protect the things that Adam was concerned with. “I have a contact that is close to the Schnee Family which may be able to slip our names onto the lists.” Blake explained as calmly as she could manage. “I haven’t been able to make contact with them just yet, though.”

“Really now?” Adam leaned in, resting his elbows on his bent knees as he sat. “And where did you get such great contacts, Blake?”

“I talked to the right people at the right time.” Blake responded, wanting to bristle and become defensive, but she didn’t allow for herself to do so. Adam was trying to get under her skin and fishing for answers in the same way that he always would. “That’s all.”

“And you are confident that they can get the two of us into the benefit?” Adam asked, staring her down. He picked his hand up to rub at his eyes, and it made him come off as more than exhausted. Blake noticed for the first time that there are bruises under his eyes and can’t help but wonder what she was actually seeing. “Because we are going to need that.”

Blake cocked her head to the side a little bit, just enough of an angle that it made her hair fall down into her face. “What was your plan for getting in if you weren’t on a guest list?”

“Sienna has friends in high places.” Adam said, grinning widely. “I would have just had to ask to borrow a name for a little while and I could have gotten in.”

Blake rolled her eyes. “Then why don’t you do that?”

“Because I don’t think that Sienna’s associate will appreciate it-” He began, his eyes flickering away from Blake’s face for a moment. “And also because this will just be easier. If you’re telling the truth, that is.”

Blake didn’t even begin to pretend as though she really knew what she wanted to say to Adam over that. It feels too convoluted, too messy for her to be able to just ignore it.

But that wasn’t what was important, so Blake just sighed . “I will make the call and ask for a way in. I might ask for a fake name or two to go on the list for the sake of everyone involved-”

“Good.” Adam grumbled. “You know that the Schnee board will probably recognize our faces.”

Blake rolled her eyes. “You say that like you and I have never worked to blend into a crowd before.”

“This isn’t like a factory job though, Blake.” Adam responded, twirling a pen that he’d had in his pocket between his fingers. “This is something much more important. And much classier besides.”

“Which is why you’re planning to make it about infiltrating an office?”

“I’m just looking to tell a good story.” Adam laughed, still leaning back in the chair that he had taken like he owns the entire room. “You know how that is.”

Blake could only wish that was something that she could actually deny.

It wasn’t.

Klein had been the first one that Weiss had seen that morning, and she had spent all of her time with him that day. He’d gotten a call from Blake asking help with regards to the fundraiser, and had been sure to pass the information on to her about what was going on. Weiss appreciated it, even if she was very worried about what it was all going to mean for Blake later down the line.

Weiss had spent the earlier hours of her morning preparing for what the day ahead of her would look like. The prospect was there of what going to the hospital would end up being like. Her father was recovered to the point where he could have visitors, but the day before had been… wrong. And Weiss wasn’t sure what she was actually supposed to think of any of it.

The plan as of her waking up and talking to Klein had been that she would be going to the hospital to check in on her father. He was going to see her, and Weiss was going to try and be there for him. She didn’t know what she expected from it, just that she was likely to need to run off on her own later on.

Coco and Neptune were still in the city, and if Weiss really needed it she could go to Blake, or Yang, or maybe even Ruby.

The question was how her father was going to react to her being at the hospital alone.

An interruption came just as Weiss climbed into the car to make her departure from the manor.

It came in the sound of her phone ringing, too loudly and too obviously. Weiss winced and sighed as she fished it out of her pocket and looked down at the caller ID.

She had been expecting that she would hear from Blake about work, or something similar. She’d been expecting to her from one of her friends, or from Whitley.

She hadn’t been expecting to hear from her sister.

Weiss steeled herself because she didn’t know what this was going to turn out like. She picked up the phone and held it to her ear while she made herself comfortable in the back of the car. “Hello.” Weiss greeted her sister.

“Hello, Weiss.” Winter replied, her voice calm. “I figured that I should see how things were doing there in Atlas. I heard the news, but I wasn’t sure if it was real.”

Weiss blinked and looked out the window, feeling too far away for the conversation that was at hand. “I was meaning to call you.” She began, because that was the bona fide truth. The problem was that some of the things that she needed to talk to Winter about were difficult, or otherwise hard to discuss. “I’m sorry.”

“Did something change?” Winter asked, keeping her voice even and calm.

“The news is true. Father woke up yesterday.” Weiss said, keeping her voice down. She looked back down to her free hand where it was resting in her lap. Idly, she began to stroke the fabric on her skirt as though it would leave her feeling more calm. “I should have called you sooner.”

“It’s alright.” Winter said, and she sounded quiet, upset even. “I don’t think that I would have been able to take any personal calls yesterday anyhow.”

“He… isn’t quite himself right now.” Weiss admitted. “Whitley and I are both worried, but for pretty… different reasons. I’m sure you can understand.”

“I’ve been reading the news out of Atlas, Weiss.” Winter said, her voice piping up. “And I know that SchneeCorp has put out a statement. What is actually going on out there with you and Whitley?”

Weiss swallowed and she took a breath, looking for an answer to a question that there was truly no easy answer to. She could feel the slight tremble of her hand as she held her phone by her ear, and could only think about how Winter was there, on the other end of the line, waiting for her to say something.

Well, honestly was always the best policy.

“Whitley will be inheriting SchneeCorp from our father.” Weiss said, sitting up straight and putting as much of the evenness into her voice as she possibly could. “This was a decision that was made behind my back. Now that father is waking up, it seems that he will have some more time before anything can happen. But-”

Winter was quiet, but the phone betrayed the sound of her inhale. “I’m sorry.” She said after a second of waiting. “I know that you spent most of your life preparing to lead SchneeCorp.”

“I did.” Weiss confirmed. “I haven’t figured out how I feel about everything just yet. I know that Whitley is upset, but for now-” She shrugged, even though her sister wasn’t going to be able to do it. “For now I will play along with the company and go to their fundraisers and events for the sake of the company and for father. I can deal with everything else that I’m feeling and thinking about after.”

“Just remember to take care of yourself.” Winter said to her. Weiss wished that her sister was actually there with her, and that the two of them could have a conversation in a way that would feel so much more real or tangible. “I’ll call you again tonight.”

“Thank you.” Weiss said, forcing on a slight smile that wasn’t going to be enough to reach her voice and she knew that perfectly well. “Take care, Winter.”

“I could say the same to you, Weiss.” Winter said her goodbyes, and then the line disconnected. Weiss let her hand fall with her phone still in her grasp. It landed almost limply, and Weiss felt something terrible rising in her. There was a prickle of heat at her eyes, and Weiss took a deep shuddering breath.

Not enough.

She still had to go and see her father, but now she was already upset.

This wasn’t going to go well- that was something that Weiss could be sure of.

Klein sat in the front of the car now. Weiss hadn’t even noticed that he’d gotten in. He just looked back at her with a sadness in his eyes. “Would you like to leave for the hospital now, Miss Schnee?”

“If we could take a detour, that would be nice.” Weiss answered, wrapping her arms around herself and wanting to hide from something that wasn’t really there. “I think that I may need a bit of time.”

Klein nodded, and reached over to turn the keys. The car’s engine came to life with a purr of sorts, and before Weiss or him could say anything else they were on the way off of of the Schnee Grounds, passing by the gate and driving back out towards the city.

The silence rested between the two of them, but Klein spoke up once he decided that he had something that he wanted to be said out loud to her. “You do not have to put yourself through these things.” Klein said, keeping his voice down. “I understand that what is going on with your father is complicated.”

“It is.” Weiss mumbled. “But if he is awake, I think that I’ll just be staying in Atlas long enough to go to the fundraiser and see that through, and then-”

“And then you will be going back to Vale?” Klein asked. “Is that what you truly want to do?”

Weiss shook her head because she really didn’t know what she wanted to do. “I wish that I had an answer for you, Klein. I just… don’t like being here.”

“I guessed as much.” Klein said, his voice quiet. “You never seem happy here.”

“You know that there’s a reason for that.” Weiss mumbled, entirely resigned because this was something that she knew that Klein had figured out. After all, he had been there since the day that she had been born and had played more of a role as a parent to her than either of her actual parents ever hard.

“I am well aware, Miss Schnee.” Klein said as he turned them off and onto a more public road. A detour that would be more than good enough for them to follow through on.

After that, the car went nearly silent and Weiss did her best to soak it in and calm down. Bit by tiny bit, Weiss could feel herself beginning to calm. Klein did the rounds around the city until she gave him a simple signal to tell him that she felt okay enough to go to the hospital.

Klein parked behind the hospital in a spot where few were likely to notice a Schnee Car, and then escorted Weiss in. The two of them walked through the hospital, stopping only to check in before heading to her father’s room.

Weiss stopped just outside of the door, her hand hovering away from the door. She took a deep breath, but it wasn’t going to be enough. For just a second, she allowed her eyes to slip shut before she knocked on the door, too quietly.

On the other side of the door, there was the quiet wheeze of her father’s breath, and the beeping of machinery at his bedside. It was nearly silent, but there was the clear sound of someone walking around in there.

The door was opened by a worried looking Whitley.

“Sister.” He greeted her, sounding somewhere between panicked and relieved. “You’re here.”

“I wanted to see father.” Weiss said, craning her neck just slightly to try and get a view of the man. Her brother was too tall, and she wasn’t able to get a good look into the room. “Is that alright?”

“It is.” Whitley said, but there was something in his eyes that she couldn’t make sense of. He took a step aside, walking back over towards one of the comfortable chairs that had been placed by their father’s bed.

Weiss stepped inside and closed the door behind her, leaving Klein to quietly watch the door behind her.

The thing that Weiss had probably learned the most since her arrival back in Atlas was that she hated hospitals. She had never spent much time in them before since she had always been perfectly healthy and had never been in poor enough health to require anything past a family doctor.

Her father was lying in his bed, tubing feeding into his body. Weiss approached the bed and took a seat at her brother’s side.

“Hello, father.” Weiss greeted him, bowing her head obediently the same way that she always had to when she met with him.

He looked over at her, expression bored and his eyes as cold as they always were. His eyes were narrowed, and there was an obvious frown on his face despite the fact that it stayed hidden behind a mustache. There was unshaved stubble on his cheeks, and he looked more frail than Weiss had ever been able to imagine him.

“Weiss.” He said her name in a way that made it sound like he was trying to scold her, just like he always had. Weiss tried not to focus on it, because she was there to look after her father. His obvious disdain towards her, her sister, and their mother was not of consequence. “I see you have decided to come.”

“Klein and I hit traffic on the way.” Weiss said, knowing that the explanation wasn’t going to be enough for what he needed. He was trying to talk about her being in Atlas in the first place. “I wanted to be here sooner.”

“I’m sure.” He responded.

Jacques looked at her and then her brother before his eyes drifted to the door and his voice raised in volume as much as he could manage it. “Klein!”

The door opened immediately, in the practiced way that Klein had of doing things and the butler stepped into the room, all but wordless. He gave a slight bow at the door before moving in to stand beside it.

Jacques seemed to relax a little bit, if the way that his expression softened slightly was any indicator. “Klein.” He said, like he had just returned to his old ways overnight. That alone sent a chill down Weiss’ spine, because the day before when he"d woken up he’d been quiet and almost kind.

Now that he was apparently feeling a little more like himself, Weiss’ hope that he had somehow come out of things a little bit nicer had been dashed.

“Sir.” Klein responded to Jacques, once again giving a polite bow in greeting. “I am glad to see you doing well.”

“Yes.” Jacques muttered. “How has the household been in my absence?”

Weiss felt herself all but sink. She glanced back over at Whitley, and saw that he was frowning and had hung his head a little bit in the same way as she had. He looked back at her, his eyes sad but him clearly doing what he could to hold himself together. His posture was still straight and correct, and Weiss reminded to hold herself the same way.

When it came to their father, things were all about appearances. That was something that the both of them knew fully well.

“The household has been quite well.” Klein said, taking the first steps so that he could stand a little closer to Jacques’ bedside. He wasn’t going to get as directly close as Weiss or Whitley would, Weiss knew, but he would stand closer at the very least. “There has been nothing of any importance to report. Everything has been running smoothly and in top shape.”

Jacques nodded, like that was all that he had cared about. “And my wife?”

“Absent, sir.”

“And my children?”

“Have both been well.” Klein said, and it was the best possible reminder that Weiss could have gotten to tell her that she and Whitley were mere accessories to their father. “If you don’t mind my saying.”

“Good.” Jacques said. He leaned back into his bed and Weiss watched her father’s eyes slip close and tried not to get frustrated over just how severe his expression was. “I have heard from my board and shareholders that the company suffered a dip in stocks lately.”

“Father,” Whitley spoke up, and Weiss watched the way that his expression hardened in the same way that their mother’s would when she was required to speak to Jacques. “Most companies see a fall in stocks following a potential change in ownership or power. It was-”

“Expected?” Jacques snarled back, while Whitley’s mouth closed with a click of his jaw. “Faith in SchneeCorp must stand strong, regardless of who will be inheriting it. Keep in mind that this is unacceptable, Whitley.”

“Yes, Father.” Whitley said quietly, his eyes flicking down. “I understand.”

“Good.” Jacques muttered. “I will not have you two and your sister making a mockery of my legacy. Do you understand?”

Weiss and Whitley’s eyes met for just a millisecond. Their expressions broth dropped and their heads bowed slightly in a way that was little more than just obedient. In unison, they both gave their answer of “Yes, father.”

That almost seemed to appease Jacques, and before either Weiss or Whitley could say something, their father had already turned his attention back to Klein. The two of them were likely to converse for some time.

Weiss didn’t know whether or not she was glad that she wasn’t being paid attention to as though she was the focus of her father’s world. Having a separation away from him was always comforting, especially when she always left meetings with him feeling terrible.

She understood better and better why Winter left every time.

[feylinara-blog]

Blake/Weiss Thoughts

Got out of the exam early, so here’s that Blake/Weiss post I was thinking about writing up. Also, I’m white, so there’s probably still issues with the WF subplot in here. Let me know how it could be better.

How Blake/Weiss should be handled

Vol 1

Weiss is established right away as liking girls by hitting on Pyrrah who politely turns her down. Once she is grouped up with the rest of team RWBY, she develops a crush on (beautiful, competent, and mysterious) Blake. Blake however is uncomfortable with being on a team with Weiss and approaches Oz about it. Being the Dumbledore of RWBY, he tells her he’s not going to change the teams.

Blake and Weiss are both shown bonding well with Ruby and Yang and the racsim of Remnant is established and developed. Ruby is the “I don’t see faunus or human” person, Yang is your garden variety human ally (who tries to gently steer Ruby in the right direction), Blake is outspoken about Faunus rights issues with R&Y and eventually discloses her dislike of the Schnee dust company to the whole team. Weiss is sympathetic to the awful working conditions her father employs, but still falls into a decent number of veiled racist beliefs.

Blake is still revealed to be a faunus, but the script of the fight is different, focusing on the Schnee dust company rather than Weiss straight up calling all faunus villains. When Blake returns to the team, she and Weiss still have a lot of tension and their issue is far from resolved

Vol 2

Team RWBY is chosen as the host team for team SSSN and JNPR is chosen as the host team for Cinder/Emerald/Mercury (seriously, why were host teams not a thing?) Tension between Blake and Weiss is still strong and Yang has a talk with Weiss about it. Weiss confesses her strained relationship with her family and her hatred of being judged for their actions. Yang points out that Weiss is doing the same thing to the faunus. Blake starts burning at both ends and has her tal with Yang where she confesses that she hates herself for always running away and needs to make up for it.

During the team’s mission with Oobleck, Weiss finally apologizes to Blake and acknowledges that she was in the wrong. She talks about how she thought it was enough to want to change the working conditions in her family’s dust mines which is why she got so defensive. Blake accepts the apology and reveals that her parents were killed in a Schnee dust mine when she was young and her percieved failures as a WF member. Basically more depth building off of their talks with Yang.

Vol 3

Weiss becomes more active in undoing her learned racism and encourages Blake to start a White Fang chapter at Beacon. Blake starts to come into her own as a leader for justice and starts letting herself rely on others instead of trying to shoulder everything herself. Velvet and Sun help her recruit.

Fall of Beacon happens and Blake’s new WF chapter is targeted by Adam’s splinter group. Blake flees with Sun and Velvelt while Yang holds off Adam.

Vol 4

Weiss gets disowned after pushing for reform in the Schnee company and going behind her father’s back to instigate change. This comes to a head at the after party for Weiss’s when someone comments that a positive outcome of the attack was that the new WF group on campus was put down by the event and that a bunch of other WF member’s were arrested.

Blake seeks out Sienna Khan in Menagerie for guidance and she, Velvet, and Sun tell her of the attack on Beacon and that Adam has created a splinter group that is pursuing his own ends.

Vol 5

With the help of Sienna Khan, Blake and Co root out Adam’s corruption in Menagerie and move to intercept him at Haven.

Wiess and Blake reunite and Weiss tells her about what went down with her family. There is now a decent WF coalition to face Salem and Weiss is committed to both facing Salem and to fighting faunus subjugation.

Vol 6

Weiss and Blake start getting flirty and are a couple by the end of the vol.

TL;DR

Suuuper slow burn friendship and Weiss goes from racist to anti-racism ally before they even start getting flirty. Also Sienna doesn’t die and Blake is actually an orphan.

[kalico-to-the-letter]

REVIEW: RWBY – Vol. 5, Ch. 2: “DREAD IN THE AIR”

People taking L’s left, right, and centre. Even when they think they’re taking W’s. Good Lord.

Welcome to my review of the 2nd Chapter of the 5th Volume, entitled, “Dread in the Air”.

This week gave us: a long-silent character finally speaking, a video game, a douchebag, and a couple of Oh Dears.

Spoilers lurking below!

In “Dread in the Air”, RWBY does its best to flex its dramatic muscle – elevate the stakes, pay off choices with serious consequences, and draw its audience back to focusing on the plot. Which is welcome – just last week I wrote that the somewhat shallow plot machinations of the premiere were brushed over by strong character work. Here, we have very much the opposite situation, where we’re being told that we’ve gotta pay some attention to all this overarching stuff. No, you can’t just spend the entire episode shipping the scene partners in your head.

Rather than a repeat of last week’s chessboard movements, here we have one of the most wholly significant episodes in quite a while. Think about it: due to the direction of Volume 4, no single episode in that run was this determined to shake up the box, so this is perhaps the most eventful and game-changing episode since the Volume 3 finale.

What makes the movements of this episode work is the clarity being brought to the antagonist storylines. For the most part, dealings with the antagonists have mostly involved a lot of smoke and mirrors, and then some action scenes. Or a lot of heavy, heavy exposition which, I’ll be honest, goes over my head more often than not. Very few occasions have given us reason to be totally invested in following these characters, because how can you be made to care when information crucial to understanding them is being withheld for so long?

I guess the answer is to either state your goals and plans clearly so that the audience can make a connection between them and the protagonists, or kill some important people. Hell, why not both?

Salem wants Raven’s clan to understand the benefits of cooperation as far as the Spring Maiden is concerned, so she tasks her cronies with going to find Raven. Cinder wants revenge on Ruby. Adam wants total control of White Fang operations, so he stages an obvious but still brutal and swift coup against Sienna Khan. Salem also wants Adam under her wing, so Hazel is parlaying with him. Raven just wants to do bandit shit, so of course she kidnaps Weiss.

See? Clear storylines for our antagonists, not weighed down by mystical exposition or geopolitical meanderings.

Because we’re spending a lot of time with the antagonists in this episode, the tone is made clear from. We’re not supposed to daintily observe from afar and expect a light gag at the end of each scene – here, we’re supposed to furrow our collective brow and curse at the dastardly plans of the villains, and this tone is consistent throughout the episode – with a particular exception, but we’ll get to that.

And if we come away from this episode wanting to see the antagonists take an L of their own, then the storytelling has done its job, and this did the job for me. I want to see Adam and his smug face get served, just like I did at the end of Volume 3. I want to see Salem and her smug face get served, even though I know there’s a longer game going on with her story.

And just like last season, I’m still intrigued to see follow Cinder’s story. I won’t deny that she is the most interesting antagonist in the show, and has become so ever since her presence was scaled back, and she was relegated to recovering from what Ruby did to her. There are myriad directions for her now, which is fantastic rehabilitation for a character I called one of the worst parts of Volume 2. If they can see fit to build the same foundations for another antagonist or two, that would be good planning for the future of the show – the more you do for any character, the more room you create for their future stories. Antagonists can become protagonists, and vice versa, and provide all sorts of wonderful grey shades, all on the back of creating the wildcard element that I feel exists with Cinder these days.

No such thing can be done for Adam – not anytime soon, certainly. And we must preface by saying that Sienna Khan was certainly not a preacher of peace, but she was willing to be pragmatic, and I very much respected what I learned of her beliefs during her brief appearance. It was enough for me to write “Oh dear, please don’t kill her” in my notes when Adam’s coup became apparent. Very quickly and efficiently, they built the stakes, and made me invested in a character I’d known for all of three minutes. That investment is helped when Adam’s the one to give her the ultimate L, but still, that’s damn good work, right there. And seeing Adam’s smug posture on the throne makes you fear the ramifications of such a big power play. There may even be a direct consequence for Blake next week – we’ll see.

But speaking of consequences, one must wonder what might have happened, had Weiss and Pilot Dude answered that mayday last week. Sliding doors, I guess. And the end result from what actually happened is more interesting anyway.

Weiss gets a lot of time this week, and presents, in essence, a thoroughly exciting story, executed with cool factor in mind. Seeing Weiss standing in the cargo bay of the ship, sending Dust attacks and summonings at a horde of giant Grimm wasps, is genuinely cool. It plays like a video game, too. Everything about this scene would have looked at home in Gravity Rush or Nier (and if you haven’t played those games, I will pray for your heretic souls), from the action itself, to the dialogue, to the music and the filming.

And she gets the W by being a boss and using her boss abilities, but even then, it’s not a perfect ending, because one crash landing later, and everything is messed up. suddenly Raven Branwen is stomping on your head.

Hey, we can see where the first climax of the season is coming – there’s gonna be a big party at Yang’s mom’s place, and a bunch of interesting people are going to be there. Let’s see, there’s Weiss. There’s Yang’s mom, of course. Cinder doesn’t do RSVPs, but we’re thinking she’ll be there too. Maybe Ruby’s crew as well, once they get the hint that the cool kids were lying about when the party was going to happen. And maybe even Yang, if she continues on her inexplicable journey to find her mom.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Just when you think you’re saved, here comes Yang’s mom, stomping on your head and looking to end your whole career.

Additional observations:

- Cinder’s first line since the Volume 3 finale: “Shut. Up.” Brilliant.

- First L of the episode goes to Lionheart, speaking out of turn to Salem. Oh, you silly man.

- Pilot Dude takes a massive L for ignoring the mayday in last week’s episode. Has it cost him his life? We’ll have to wait and see (not that it’s the most crucial question to emerge from Weiss’s story this week – though it certainly results in a L for Weiss, too, after she’d put in so much of that work).

- For all we’ve seen of Raven and have heard of her, she’s still an unknown quantity. All we really know is that she’s unpleasant, but I’m curious to learn more about her.

- I used to worry whether or not bleak episodes like this would turn casual watchers off. I’ve come to stop caring about that. I think the show has too, for a long time now, and it’s been better off for it. It’s telling stories without compromising for unnecessary laughs.

- For now, it seems we’re returning to the Game of Thrones pacing approach from Volume 4, picking and choosing the individual stories shown weekly. But already, the difference in how eventful those stories are is apparent.

GRADE: A-

Final thoughts: “Dread in the Air” does a fine job of making the viewer care about the storylines and ambitions of RWBY’s oft-neglected antagonists, whilst enacting a significant and game-changing move sure to cause mayhem. It will take more work than this to prove that the show can be trusted with its antagonists and the delivery of necessary exposition, but this is a strong start to establishing that. Weiss’s story goes a long way to setting up future developments, whilst providing a solid 10 on the cool scale. – Kallie

[kaiyeti]

Ghira: Alright, now listen. Sienna Khan is a strong terrifying leader. She will only show respect when given it so be on your best behavior. That means no rude comments and Speak. Only. When. Spoken. To. Is that understood? *Ghira said as He, Blake, and Sun are lead down an old street to a large abandon building.*

Sun: Why do I feel like that was only directed at me? *Sun whispered to Blake.*

Blake: It was. *Blake informed him.*

Sun: Well, that is just rude. *He frowned while Blake looked at him with a raised eyebrow.* ... Fair enough.

Blake: Look don't take it personally. Sienna Khan is the reason why the White Fang became violate in the first place. She is a firm believer in the only the strongest survive and is the one that started the grim mask.

Sun: Wait. Seriously? I thought is was, uh, you know who.

Blake: *Blake frown knowing who Sun was talking about as her cat ears drooped down.* It's true Adam was the one that made all of the white fang under him start wearing the mask but it was originally to show that he was her pupil.

Sun: So then that means...

Blake: Sienna Khan trained Adam to be the killer he is today. *Blake sadly admitted then felt Sun place a comforting hand on her shoulder.*

Sun: It's not your fault. That dumbass made his own choice and now he is going to be in for a big surprise when we are here to kick his ass.

Blake: If he tries to attack Sienna Khan directly.

Ghira: Which I doubt young Adam is that foolish. Sienna Khan is a fierce warrior and won't hesitate to kill anyone who challenges her. Even I had few... close calls with her. *Ghira frowns rubbing his side.*

Sun: Yeah but you still won right?

Ghira: Of course.

Blake: Weren't you in the hospital for three days after your last fight with her?

Ghira: It was a luck shoot!

Sun: Soooo, not to change topics about the possile butt whoopings you may or may not have gotten. *Sun slowly started as Ghira glared at his.* But What kind of Faunus is she? Is she a tiger? A lizard?

Blake: I'm... not really sure to be honest with you. *Blake muttered.*

Sun: What?! How could you not know what kind of Faunus she is after working for her for so long? *Sun asked with surprise.*

Blake: I rarely meet her and every time I did she always wore her grim mask hiding her face. Sienna khan isn't even her real name.

Sun: And THAT didn't immediately set off a few red flags when you let her take over. *At this Blake and Ghira both stop to Glare at Sun who held his ground as he crossed his arms.*

Blake: ... Point taken.

Ghira: Fair enough. *He and Blake admitted as they entered the building the leader of the White Fang has made her base.* However to be fair she only started to wear it when I and Kali had decided to take of as leader of Menagerie.

Rhino Faunus: Ahem. Excuse me for interrupting. *The rhino faunus cleared his throat, getting the attention of the Belladonnas and Sun.* Please wait here. I shall inform Sienna Khan that you have arrived.

Ghira: Very well. Thank you.

Rhino Faunus: My pleasure. It is the least I can do for you and your daughter. *The Rhino faunus bowed and walked off.*

Sun: ... He seems nice.

Blake: He is. He was my babysitter when little.

Sun: He was!?

Ghira: He was. Blake used to use his horn as a scratching post.

Blake: Dad!

Sun: That poor man.

Blake: Sun!

Ghira: Anyway, as for Sienna Khan's Faunus heritage, she is from an old bloodline of Faunus. One which allows them to either shows fully what they are or hides it completely.

Sun: What's that mean?

Blake: *Blake shrugs* It's only a myth. A clan of Faunus that-

Rhino Faunus: Sienna Khan will see you now. *The Faunus interrupted as he reemerged from the room which he enter before stepping aside to hold the door for them.*

Ghira: *Ghira nodded and looked back at Blake and Sun.* Are you both ready? *The two nodded and followed Ghira as they made their way into Sienna Khan's room lit by candles and a fire place. Once inside Blake and Sun quickly noticed dozens of maps of different kingdoms, Schnee dust minds and factories, leaders of anti-faunus groups with some that are crossed out, even photos of other white fang members, and what catch Blake's attention a small framed picture of half a picture.*

Blake: That's Photo. *Blake thought to herself.* They look almost like...

Sienna Khan: It's been a long time hasn't it, Ghira? *Sienna Khun spoke causing Ghira, Blake, and Sun to quickly turned to the fire place. There two chairs, open empty and the other that's back faced them where taken that shows a red armored gauntlet rest upon the arm rest, sat in front of the fire with a small table in between them where a large Grimm mask laid next to a small glass.* What bring you back? If its about what happened at Beacon, It's being taken care of if you haven't already received the plans on dealing with my pupil.

Ghira: Actually, this visit is to warn you about your pupil Sienna Khan. *The former leader of the white fang started taking a step towards it new leader.* Aside from leading that attack on Beacon, twisting what the White Fang stands for, and even sending his followers to track down and on my daughter. He plans on attempting to over throw you and taking over the White Fang.

Sienna Khan: Yes. I am aware of this. *She told them, reaching for the glass of liquor.* As well as the order that Adam has told his followers to track and find your daughter.

Ghira: You are aware of this? *Ghira questioned in a low almost threatening tone.* You were aware of the spies in Menagerie? You were aware that one of them attacked my daughter and nearly killed her friend?! You were aware that my daughter was endanger and you didn't think of warning me!?

Sienna Khan: *The leader of the white fang pauses while lifting her glass, Blake's ears picking up the sound of her turning her head towards her father.* The Towers are down Ghira. By the time I learned about Adam's obsession with your daughter, Whom I remind you betrayed him and broke his heart, *Ghira and Blake both notice a hint of frustration in her tone.* I received your message of wanting to speak with me. Which is why I will deal with it.

Ghira: Which is why I will be PERSONALLY be assisting you and the white fang hunt him and his follower down. *Ghira told her crossing his arms before Sienna Khan slammed her glass on the table hard startling Blake and Sun.*

Sienna Khan: You seemed to misunderstood me, Ghira. You may help our people find his followers to restore our tribes good name. But I will be dealing with MY pupil. Personally. *She told them, in a very threatening manner. However, to Ghira and Sun's surprise, cause Blake to step forward.*

Blake: Then I am going with you.

Sun: Wait What!?

Ghira: Blake. No.

Sienna Khan: Blake?

Blake: Adam was my partner. He was a friend... I have to take responsibility and stop him. *Blake begins.* It's my fault he is like how he is. It's my fault that he has become the monster he is now. It's my fault that now everyone I care about is in danger. It's my fault that the one I... The one I love lost so much... I need to make things right. *There was a moment of silence Sun and Ghira seeing the determination is the young huntress's eyes. Then to all of their surprise Sienna Khan rose from her chair as she spoke.*

Sienna Khan: Sure.

Ghira: Sienna Khan! *snapped as his successor as she reach for her dust blades sword.*

Sienna Khan: You can drop the title Ghira. I won't be doing this hunt with you daughter as Sienna Khan. Beside, *Sienna Khan said, turning to face Blake and Sun watching as an expression shock washes over their faces and stared right into Blake's eyes with her red.*

Sun: No way...

Blake: I don't believe it... You're... You're...

Raven Branwen: We have a lot to talk about.