#despite yang loving ruby with her whole heart shes still human

[pnchy]

i need more yang and ruby interactions that isnt just surface level "were sisters and we have each others back" bc as someone whos been raised by my siblings like ruby, i swear theres more to it than that

[rwby-imagines-and-headcanons]

RWBY Love Languages (Part 1)

Ruby Rose - Physical Touch

Ruby has multiple ways of showing affection, but her favorite is definitely touch. Pouncing on you is her go to, unfortunately leading to you both falling. When you're together she is always touching you in some way. Although she can be hyper, after a long day, nothing feels better than gently melting into your arms (Also she is not adverse to PDA, so expect tons of hand holding and public kisses)

Weiss Schnee - Quality Time

It is well known that Weiss' family is not the most healthy, and it shows in her. As much as she is initially adverse to (but truly desires) affection in any way, quality time is the most important thing to her. The simple fact of you willingly choosing to spend time with her and stay by her side, despite everything, makes her emotional. Going on dates is her favorite thing in the world. Whether it's a candlelit dinner, balcony seats at an opera, or just a walk in the park, if it's with you she will do anything

Blake Belladonna - Quality Time

Blake has a lot of trust issues due to constant hurt and betrayal, so it will take a LOT for her to open up to you. But the way into her heart is just to stick it out and never give up. Eventually Blake will understand your intentions and let you in. Although it seems like you're always the one to initiate, secretly Blake always finds a way to "coincidentally" end up at the same place at the same time as you. Kinda like how cats pretend to not care but always follow you around

Yang Xiao Long - Quality Time

Yang has been abandoned multiple times, and it has taken a toll on her mentally. She is constantly worrying about when her loved ones will leave her, and that includes you. Spending time with her as much as possible will both quell her anxiety and make her heart race. As someone who knows how it feels to be abandoned, Yang wants to make sure you never feel that pain. She will never leave without letting you know, always promises to come back

Oscar Pine - Words of Affirmation

Due to his situation with Ozpin, Oscar has a lot of self doubt issues and problems with identity. His mind is always racing and it's never good thoughts. So having a partner that reassures him and comforts him is key. He appreciates every word you tell him, and sometimes writes them down in a notebook for when he gets really down

Penny Polendina - Physical Touch

Penny is still getting used to human interactions and relationships, so things may get a bit awkward. But although she struggles with most aspects, she excels in physical touch. Penny loves to feel your skin no matter the texture. It feels so unique to her! When she can't properly express herself or is lost for words, Penny will just quietly hold your hands and stare into your eyes

Jaune Arc - Words of Affirmation/Acts of Service

Jaune has been through a lot of pain the past few years, and needs a lot of healing mentally. Telling him you love him or complimenting him matter a whole lot to him. It boosts his self-esteem and makes him feel wanted and special. While he also returns the sentiment, Jaune prefers to do acts of service for his partner. He will happily give you a massage or do your laundry without prompt. And when it comes to defending you, Jaune is always on the front lines ready to die for you

Nora Valkyrie - Physical Touch

Nora is like Ruby, but amplified by x1000. She loves to cling to you like a koala and tease you. Although she has appreciation for chests, Nora is a butt fiend. She does not hesitate to slip in a slap or squeeze whenever she can, giving you a shit eating grin when you react. Nora also enjoys hugs a lot, and basically every hug she gives is a bone crushing bear hug (so get used to back pains). Sometimes though, when it's late and night and you both are tired, Nora will happily lean on your shoulder and fall asleep. A further way to make her melt is to gently trace your fingers along her Lichtenberg scars

Pyrrha Nikos - Words of Affirmation

Being such a well known figure, Pyrrha has problems making real connections with people. She always feels like people are trying to take advantage of her, but doesn't have the heart to object. But when it comes to you, whenever you compliment her or reassure her feelings, she knows it's genuine. Every word you speak fills her with warmth. And Pyrrha is always making sure to return the love and always talk to you and listen intently. This often leads to you two getting into compliment battles that always end in a stalemate

Lie Ren - Acts of Service

Being more introverted, Ren is kinda hot and cold with affection. He loves you with all his heart, but sometimes he just needs time alone, and you're happy to oblige! But when he's fully charged, Ren loves to do things for you. This mainly pertains to domestic skills like cooking and cleaning. He always makes sure to make you a delicious breakfast everyday with your favorite foods. And he does this with no expectation of reciprocation. He does this with all his loved ones, it's how he shows he cares. A lot of times he does it behind the scenes. Sometimes you'll come home to the trash taken out, your bed made, or a hole in your shirt sewn up in a heart shape (his favorite thing to do is leave cute love notes in your lunch bag)

Sun Wukong - Acts of Service

Sun is a himbo through and through, we all know this. He is incredibly open about his feelings and isn't afraid to show you how much he loves you. Doing things for you is his favorite thing to do to show his appreciation. No matter what it is, if you are looking for something Sun already has it. Car keys? Phone charger? Hot pocket? This man is READY. He tries to do other things like cook and clean for you, but uh... he ain't that good at it. He has definitely broken some lamps and started a couple kitchen fires. But Sun always means well and will happily do whatever he can to make you smile

Neptune Vasilias - Physical Touch

Although Neptune is known as a smooth talker, that's mainly for show with girls he meets for the first time. After actually getting into a relationship Neptune's true love language comes out. He really thrives on physical contact. It's great in general, but whenever he is anxious or scared it's even better. Neptune will instantly cling onto you and feel much better. But he is also known for being a bit possessive. Neptune is known for holding you by the hip when you walk, and proudly drapes his arm around your shoulders. He bagged a total masterpiece of a human, of course he's gonna show you off! PDA is a must and he always gives you little kisses throughout the day

Coco Adel - Gift Giving

As your local fashionista, Coco adores the finer things in life. And she feels like you deserve it all! She loves to gift you designer clothes, authentic jewelry, $1000 lobster dishes, fuck she once tried to buy you a puppy! It's gotten to the point where you have a whole room dedicated to her gifts. If you tell her to cool down a little she will, but will eventually get back into it. She doesn't understand why materialism is so looked down upon. Why shouldn't she and her partner enjoy expensive things?

Fox Alistair - Physical Touch

Despite his serious appearance, Fox is naturally very talkative (just ask his team) and always likes to joke and tease. And it's the same deal with his partner. Sometimes he kinda can't shut up. And although he tells you how much he a loves you a lot, the real way to show how he feels is touch. Fox is blind, and although he has an ADA device, he doesn't know how you look 100%. So he likes to just touch you all over, enjoying feeling your curves and edges and rolls. He likes it so much sometimes he will hold your face in his hands and just caress your cheeks for like 10 minutes

Velvet Scarlatina - Gift Giving

Velvet is naturally a bit more shy than the rest of her team, so when it comes to showing affection she gets very flustered. She isn't good with PDA and sometimes finds it hard to say what she feels. But Velvet is well versed in gift giving. She always pays attention to everything her partner says and makes note of all the things they desire. Pretty much all her gifts are perfectly tailored to you. She adores holidays and milestones, and always makes those days a whole ordeal with presents and date plans

Yatsuhashi Daichi - Acts of Service

Yatsuhashi is a very reserved person, and is not talkative, even with his loved ones. It's a mix of holding in his emotions and having self doubt about himself. So instead of saying what he feels, he prefers to use his actions instead. Yatsuhashi is very protective of his partner and does everything in his power to make them feel secure. He sees you as precious and never wants anything to happen to you. So he gladly does anything he deems too dangerous for you. Reaching things from high shelves, walking you across the street, this man would fight a damn bear for you. He isn't above just carrying you around either. You will always be safe and secure around Yatsuhashi

Neon Katt - Words of Affirmation

Jesus fucking CHRIST can she talk. You will never have a moment of peace while dating Neon, that's the unfortunate truth. But hey, that's what you signed up for. And it has it's perks! Neon never hesitates to gush about you and make you feel appreciated. She has definitely bragged about you in public, much to your embarrassment. She's just loves everything about you! (especially how hot you are) But don't be mistaken, everything you do is met with pure joy and admiration

Flynt Coal - Gift Giving

Flynt is a simple, suave man who knows he's smooth. He knows his voice makes you melt. But what he loves to do is give presents, especially unconventional ones. There are the standard flowers and chocolates, but Flynt really loves writing songs for you. Being able to express himself through music makes him feel whole. He puts all of his emotions into the sheet music, and every song is dedicated to you

----------

Ozpin - Quality Time

As the headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin doesn't have a lot of spare time. He's often busy and tied up in work. But also, his past as Ozma has made him live hundreds of years, and he's lost a lot of loved ones. He treasures time spent and wants to spend as much time as possible with the ones he loves. Whenever he is able, Ozpin will be with you as much as possible. Even if you are just existing in the same room, it's perfect for him

Glynda Goodwitch - Acts of Service

Glynda can be pretty abrasive, and a bit of a hard ass. But it really is from the toll of years at an academy of psychotic students. So honestly? Getting her a hot cup of tea or her favorite book when she comes home from work is one of life's greatest joys. Always being expected to fix any damage caused by her students, it's nice to have someone return the favor and give her a break. She'll always encourage you to sit down and join her, but definitely isn't complaining. To show appreciation she doesn't mind fixing stuff around the house in return, as it isn't expected of her. Now she can do it of her own will because she wants to. Keep pampering her and you will never have to call a handyman ever again

Bartholomew Oobleck - Words of Affirmation

You know how I said Neon can't stop talking? Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Oobleck is amazing, but he won't stop talking no matter what. Info dumping is one of his favorite things to do with you, especially if it has to do with interesting facts. He may be a motor mouth, but when he isn't spouting information, he is talking about you. Oobleck may seemed a bit scatterbrained, but he notices everything about you. He compliments you on the smallest things, often things you never notice. Oobleck likes everything about you and isn't afraid to let you know. He doesn't really have a filter when it comes to your relationship, so expect a lot of out of left field compliments

Peter Port - Acts of Service

This man is a MANLY MAN, and you will NOT FORGET THAT! He wants to prove to you that he is capable and worthy of your love, and he does that by doing things for you (whether you ask for it or not). He especially loves doing heavy work for you like moving furniture, chopping wood, and hauling away any Grimm that interupt your dates. Don't get it twisted though, it isn't that he thinks you are unable to take care of yourself or weak. He just naturally likes to show off and prove himself. And with you? Bruh he is always flexing to get your attention and make you blush (frankly though you tend to make him blush way more)

James Ironwood - Quality Time

Similar to Ozpin, Ironwood doesn't get a lot of free time to himself. Being a major general is hard work and tends to leave him drained. He knows he isn't around often and feels bad. So to make up for it, when you do have time together, he is 100% focused on you and you only. Ironwood wants you to know that he never forgets you when he's working. You're always in his mind 24/7. Sometimes when he has to stay super late, you like to surprise him by showing up at his office. His heart instantly starts beating faster, and he will wave you over for a long hug (and sit you on his lap if he's feeling super affectionate)

Winter Schnee - Acts of Service

As with Weiss, Winter has been severely damaged by her family. And her time in the military has only made more walls around her heart. Hell, it took forever for her to come to terms with her feelings for you. Winter is not good at expressing herself directly, so she likes to indirectly show her love by doing things for you. Anything you ask of her she will do with no hesitation. It's kind of her military training kicking in, it's pretty much ingrained into her. But it definitely isn't cause she feels obligated to, Winter cares about you and wants you to follow your "orders". She often denies it whenever you offer to do things for her. But if you do it anyways, she'll scold you... before giving you an awkward kiss and hug

Summer Rose - Quality Time

Summer is known to go off on her own quite a bit. She doesn't often explain why, but always makes sure to let you know she is coming back. And when she comes back she is spending the rest of the day with you. She loves to just sit around with you and talk about anything and everything. When she isn't going on missions, Summer tends to follow you around happily

Taiyang Xiao Long - Words of Affirmation

Taiyang has been through some heartbreak, so some uplifting words mean a lot to him. No matter what issues he is faced with, a good conversation with you will always lift his spirits. And this applies to even just casual small talk. He just likes talking to you, I mean it's as simple as that! And he always knows how to repay your kindness by being your number one fan. No matter what you're doing, Yaiyang is cheering you on from the sidelines!

Raven Branwen - Acts of Service

Raven is kinda... yeah. There are a lot of words to describe her, and most are negative. But one thing she excels at is using her actions. She may seem to not be around often, but usually she is behind the scenes doing small things for you. Raven uses her portals to keep an eye on you wherever you go, and makes sure you are safe and healthy. She keeps away any shady people, leaves you your favorite foods on your nightstand, kills any threatening Grimm, even adjusts your blanket while you sleep. It may seem like she doesn't care much for you, but whenever you notice your weapon polished, you know she does

Qrow Branwen - Physical Touch

Qrow is starved for attention in multiple ways, but mostly in physical touch. He was originally very flirtatious, but after all the shit he's gone through, he is definitely more subdued and anxious. While dating him, you can often find him questioning if he deserves you, and whether you will get hurt by his semblance. Words have a hard time getting to him, so the best way to calm him is to just... touch him. Hold him, stroke his face, play with his hair, cuddle him, anything. All of his worries wash away as he melts into your touch, and he becomes the most vulnerable man in the world. And whenever you seem down or upset, he instantly pulls you into a hug and rubs your back. Just... just hold this man okay? He deserves the world and all the kisses

----------

Well hello, here is my first post on this blog! I thought a good place to start would be Love Languages. A part 2 is coming out featuring allies (like the ace ops) and antagonists!

[sonofthetrigod]

We’re fine.

When the gods depart for the last time, and Salem finally dies, the world breathes a quiet sigh of relief. We’re fine, echoes in the minds of people all over the world. In the minds of humans and faunus. Children and the elderly. Warriors and civilians. Villains and heroes. It’s over. We’re safe. We’re fine.

When the war ends, Nora is tired. So, so tired. Sure, the war is over. People all over think they’ve won. But they’ve still lost so much. She’s lost so much. Pyrrha. Beacon. Still, Ren’s hand holds hers tightly. So, even though it’s hard some days, and some nights she wakes choking on the smell of fire and blood, when she looks at her family she thinks she’s fine. Some day it will be the truth.

When the war ends, Ren is... confused. He didn’t expect to make it this far. He wasn’t a hero, like Jaune. He wasn’t strong, like Nora. He wasn’t powerful, like Pyrrha had been. He’d been resigned to the fact he’d have to trade his life helping set the world right. He hadn’t liked it. He’d dreaded it, but he’d walked into hell with his friends accepting he wouldn’t walk out the other side. But he has, and now he has his whole life ahead of him. The Grimm are gone, and he no longer has to keep running. When people ask, he says he’s fine. He doesn’t really know what that means, but Nora is with him and the world is healing. So Ren says he’s fine.

When the war ends, Jaune is a hero, just like he always wanted to be. People cheer his name and he’s celebrated in the streets along with his friends. He smiles and waves for the crowd where he can, but it all feels fake. In private Jaune looks over the scars that mar his body, and takes in the white streak in his otherwise blonde hair. Reminders of times he wasn’t enough. Crocea Mors is broken once more, but he doesn’t feel right replacing it. It wasn’t enough, just like he wasn’t. Still, Weiss is there with him through it all. Maybe he won’t fail her, unlike Pyrrha. Unlike Louis. Unlike Alyx. He’s a young man with his whole life ahead of him, but his heart still feels rusted over. But Weiss believes in him. So when she asks, he smiles and says he’s fine. He hopes that it will be true someday. He’ll keep trying to be.

When the war ends, Weiss feels like she can finally breathe. Despite everything her families made it through. Even Winter despite everything Cinder tried has made it out the other side. With RWBY and JNPR by her side, the Schnee family at her back, and Jaune’s hand in hers, she’s finally able to start rebuilding. It’s a lot, but she knew that before her journey began. Before the war began. So when people ask, she says she’s fine. It’s the first time in years that it isn’t a lie.

When the war ends, Yang finally feels complete. Loss is nothing new to her, so she accepts the losses that came with their victory. They still hurt, and that may never go away, but she can live with them. The long messy chapter of her life that was their adolescence is behind her, and her past no longer matters. She’s focusing on the future now, and no one’s past will ruin it for her. So when people ask, she says she’s fine. And when Blake smiles at her, she knows it’s the truth.

After the war, Blake feels like she’s gotten a fairytale ending. She’s a hero! She’s in love! Her family survived! There are costs in any war, but for Blake herself almost everyone she loves has made it across the other side. It seems like humans and faunus are getting closer and closer in equality. Things aren’t perfect, but they’re still like a fairytale. The world is healing. Her loved ones are healing. So when she smiles at Yang, Blake knows to the core of her heart that she’s fine.

After the war, Ruby feels hazy. She’s happy they’ve won, make no mistake. But with three maiden powers crammed haphazardly into her soul, passed on by someone who despised her, she sometimes trembles in the quieter moments. But Ruby is their leader. Their champion. Their hero. So she smiles for the cameras and says she’s fine. When Oscar asks, in private, she admits she doesn’t know who she is anymore. But in the dark of their room in their apartment, Ruby feels like herself again. So when she leans to kiss him, she insists that she’s fine.

After the war, Oscar finally feels free. Free of Salem. Free from Oz. Free from the gods. Free to do whatever he wants. Whatever Ruby wants. He’ll never be able to repay her for telling off the gods and convincing them to depart for good. So when she asks, her voice impossibly soft, if he’s okay, Oscar tells her he’s fine. He knows she isn’t, not yet. But he’ll stay by her side until she is. He promises.

[cassidyawesome]

@ohnoitstbskyen’s “Nine Essays About Characters That Matter” video literally struck me through the heart with a dagger. The way it’s presented as stories told by people of their blorbos with mister the big skyen commenting in between is perfect. So perfect i’ve been inspired to write a small essay about my Characters That Matter, if this is just rambling into the wind or not, i just want to express my thought in this form.

It’s Yang, it’s Yang, of course it’s Yang how could it not be Yang Xiao Long. Yang as a character - and rwby as a whole literally flashbanged my entire humanity in june of 2022.

Lots of people love Yang, how couldn’t you. Maybe you relate with her backstory in relation to Ruby, how she was forced to grow up and play parent for Ruby because both their mom’s fumbled the bag. Maybe you’re someone who’s lost a limb or otherwise disabled and find triumph in how she fights on despite her disability. For me, it’s neither - what gets me going about her is her personality, particularly in early volumes. She’s this larger than life, fun loving person who’s the embodiment of warm fire who brings you in and is your friend. Which is exactly the kind of standard i try to live up to. Another aspect of this side of her i love is the protector aspect she inhabits, she was Ruby’s protector, as a huntress she’s everyone’s protector. I want to be her in every way imaginable.

The “Rule of Cool” in character designs, which is that if something is cool enough it deserves to exist is so very alive to me, and gosh is Yang cool. she’s cocky, her personality and silhouette is so big and massive and imposing. “let’s kiss and make up then you’ll learn” is such a good lyric for her from the song about her “i burn”. These attributes of her and the rule of cool are all things that i identify with myself. I’m also massive and cocky and i think i’m awesome but i am literally Ivern in red flannel. Yang does the whole damn thing, looks the part, saves the day sometimes, has an emotional background and gets bitches all while being so so human.

To continue on with Yang’s cool factor i want to touch on her design as a whole. It’s perfect, that’s just a fact. My favorite part about her is her hair. Big wavy hair that gives her a massive anchor in her design as well as giving her a unique silhouette compared to other characters in the show. Secondly her outfits she wears in different volumes are always the best. Her outfits are practical, and look like they totally belong to a biker girl who beats the shit out of you. Even down to her more finite details, like the purple bandana around her knee which relates to her relationship with Blake.

A tertiary point about yang that’s fundamental in *why* i like her so much is how she is this strong, imposing and daunting character, but she’s still presented as feminine. The way that rwby as a show presents Yang as a whole and tows a line between allowing Yang to be a masculine aligned berserker while not falling on “butch” tropes is so important to me. Yang is almost an entire new breed of femininity, one that i align with a lot.

Yang is so very much a part of me, But so is this fucking asshole.

POWER SWEEEEEEEEP i love Power for so many reasons that are so painfully simple.

Her backstory or storyline isn’t a tragedy like Yang or even Denji. Her backstory is just she was a lonely freak and found a cat. It’s so simple, yet i relate to it in my own way. And it’s so important to me to relate to a character in my own way. Never in my life have i found a character i related to, not once. And power gets me somewhat close to that feeling we all deserve.

Power borrows from the “Rule of Cool” less than yang, but is still great from a design wise on her own. When i first saw her in the intro i figured she was going to be a typical boring shonen-girl-type, but i was immediately proved wrong. Her human form design is so simple but portrays so much about her. The devil horns constantly present in her design are testament to her troublemaker attitude, which are contrasted by the business shirt and tie that she shares with her peers in public safety. **Spoilers for the ending of CSM part 1** When she assumes her devil form upon coming back from getting bang’d she’s a crazy looking monster, similar to kindred (who i also love dearly). This monstrous form she assumes for only a few pages are easily my favorite moment in chainsaw man as a whole. There’s just something right about this asshole getting to be a monster for like 10 min and giving up her life to save her state appointed brother

Power is, for all intensive purpose, a comedic relief character - in a show about horrible miserable topics with a messed up sense of humor, which is another trait i find relatable, i’m also the comedic relief girl.

Thankfully Power isn’t *just* her awful traits that make her hilarious and ridiculous. She’s a dutiful protector, of Meowy and of Denji in later chapters. She’s shown to have deep seeded fears in her character, her submission to makima, her impairing fear of the dark after darkness devil. These additions into her silly persona make her a well rounded, entertaining and fun character.

These two characters aren’t related at all, besides both being from shonens. As personality’s, their both big, loud and powerful which is the key element that makes me so attuned to them. The shows i watched in 2022, and subsequently become obsessed and consumed by shaped me as a person completely. And having characters for the first time in my life i saw myself in has been a liberating experience. I truly understand what TB Skyen meant when he said: “sometimes characters are important”.

[anthurak]

The Disappearance of Raven SadEdgyBirdMom

So after talking with a number of people on the matter, I feel like there is this general perception among much of the RWBY fandom that Raven leaving Team STRQ and rejoining her tribe was a very quick and clean affair. Like just the day after Yang was born, Raven was gone with a trace, then immediately went back to her tribe to become the ruthless bandit queen we see in the show and never looked back. 

And I can’t help but feel like all that is a fairly big misconception of Raven’s backstory. Like that scenario feels all too neat, tidy, well-planned and thought out. And I think it’s pretty clear from what we’ve seen that Raven is NOT one for any of those things.

For one, that take on Raven suddenly vanishing into the night, never to be seen again? We got that take from Yang, who is far from a reliable source on the matter. Especially when we remember that Qrow, Tai and even Summer kept both Yang and Ruby in the dark about a LOT of shit. They didn’t even tell Yang that Raven was her birth-mother until AFTER Summer disappeared. Qrow flat out admits in Volume 3 that he’s been in contact with Raven from time to time and even knows pretty much exactly where she is. And then there’s the fact that we KNOW that Raven has been keeping an eye on Yang just from seeing that mysterious raven fluttering around the background numerous times in the Beacon Arc.

My point is that this idea that Raven just one day cut all ties with her team and never looked back is just flat out NOT what happened. The whole deal with Raven is that she acts like she’s some stoic, edgy, loner badass who doesn’t need weaknesses like ‘love’ and ‘family’ and ‘emotions’ weighing her down, when in reality she is very much the opposite. So I just don’t buy the idea that Raven’s departure from her team was so quick and ‘clean’.

So here is my alternative take:

Raven leaving wasn’t some big, all-at-once affair. She may have ‘left’ soon after Yang was born, but she wasn’t totally ‘gone without a trace’ either, nor did she immediately go back to her tribe. Instead there is this stretch of time over the next few years where Raven isn’t ‘around’ but not totally ‘gone’ either. She certainly isn’t around the house on Patch, at least not in human form, for Yang or Ruby to see or meet, but she’s also not totally out of contact with her teammates either. Despite whatever her reasons for leaving might have been, it’s clear that Raven cares FAR more for her real family then she wants to admit. So it doesn’t really make sense that she’d just cut and run out of nowhere.

During this time, I think Raven was still in contact with her teammates. In particular, I get the feeling that Summer and Qrow were trying ‘coax’ her into returning. They may have even been making progress after a while…

But then Summer went on that fateful last mission of hers.

I feel that losing Summer makes much more sense as a ‘breaking point’ that caused Raven to truly cut ties with her team. The thing that caused her to just give up on whatever ideals she might have believed in before and return to her tribe to become the ‘bandit queen’ we see in the show. For one, it reinforces the idea that Summer was the anchor holding Team STRQ together and losing her was the thing that completely broke the team. It parallels how Ruby is likewise the heart of Team RWBY, and how even briefly losing Ruby via a short coma caused her team to fall apart at the end of Volume 3.

We’ve gotten a few hints that it was actually Summer whom Raven was the closest to on Team STRQ. Namely that over the course of Volumes 4 and 5, Raven is quick to smacktalk the likes of Ozpin, Qrow, Tai and even Yang, yet curiously she NEVER has anything bad to say about Summer.

In short, while there may have been things that pushed Raven away from her team after Yang was born, such as her growing distrust for Ozpin, I feel it makes more sense that losing Summer was the true breaking point that turned Raven into the woman we see in the show.

And speaking of Ozpin, I feel like people put way too much stock in Raven’s ‘I left because I couldn’t trust Ozpin’ reasoning. I think we need to remember that Raven’s character at her core, at least in Volume 5, is a scathing rebuke and takedown of the ‘Disappeared Dad’. A systematic deconstruction and de-romanticizing of the whole ‘tragic nobility’ of the missing parent and the ‘Daddy had a good reason for abandoning you’ trope.

Yang pretty succinctly lays this out at the end of the Volume when her response is basically ‘Bullshit! You DID NOT have a good reason for abandoning me!’ and verbally tears into her mother. Raven is not a character who has ‘good’ reasons for the bad things she does. The show has made it pretty clear that those ‘good reasons’ are nothing more than self-serving justifications that Raven comes up with to avoid owning up and taking responsibility for the things she’s done.

So I think it doesn’t really make sense for the show to give Raven an actual ‘good reason’ for walking out on her team and staying out of her daughters’ lives. Now that’s not to say that Raven’s suspicions of Ozpin weren’t valid. Volume 6 made it clear that Raven’s distrust of Ozpin was ENTIRELY justified. But I don’t think it was the only reason, or even the main reason. Raven’s mistrust of Ozpin feels like something she’d use as a justification to hide her real reasons for leaving.

Now, what those real reasons might be are pretty hard to say at this point. But knowing this show, I think it’s a pretty safe bet that they’re quite personal. In particular, I have a feeling that Yang was Raven’s reason for leaving. More specifically, something about having Yang scared or unsettled Raven enough that she dropped out of her daughter’s life. With the timeline we’ve been given, that Raven left very soon after giving birth to Yang, it’s kind of the best we’ve got right now.

It could be that after having Yang, Raven had a startling realization that she was actually happy with this family she was building with her team. And for a woman who grew up believing that the world is an inherently cruel, meaningless place, the thought that maybe she was wrong and that she could actually be happy absolutely TERRIFIED Raven. Enough for her to cut and run the first chance she got.

Or alternatively what if Yang was actually an unplanned pregnancy? The product of what should have been some one-night-stand between Raven and Tai. Maybe this was the entire basis for Raven and Tai getting together? Something Raven may have tried to convince herself she wanted but after having Yang, she realized she couldn’t fake it anymore. And instead of talking this all out with Tai and the rest of her team like the mature, rational adult that she clearly is not, Raven simply ran away.

The point being; given the work that CRWBY has already put into deconstructing the whole ‘Disappeared Dad’ trope with Raven, her reasons for leaving almost certainly weren’t the usual big, dramatic or good reasons that we so often see in fantasy stories with missing parents. Rather, Raven’s reasons are much more likely to be much more ugly, uncomfortable, petty and/or just plain messy. You know, the kind of reasons so often seen in real life when parents just walk out on their kids’ lives.

[sparklingchan]

Ruby Eyes|| Seo Changbin (Stray Kids)

Pairing : Reader(fem.) X Changbin

Word count : 7.3k+ 

Warnings : Mention of an accident, cuss words, divorce, a single kiss.

Genre : Romance, Soulmate AU, fluff, angst, best friends to lovers.

Description: Seo Changbin has done everything in his capacity to remove and replace you, yet fate seems to have different plans for the both of you.

A/N : Hello everyone ahhh I know it’s been so long y’all. So many things have been going on including exams and internships and I just didn’t have the patience to write :(( This one shot was written as a part of a collab event by wonderful, dear Ro! 

I hope y’all like it!

"So, how's it being back, y/n?"

Your dad looks older now than he did the last time you saw him - probably two years ago, when you were leaving the country.

You missed him, really. You missed his warmth and his wisdom and how he was a sharp contrast to your mother, more calm and composed. Sometimes you wonder how your mother had even managed to get your custody after their divorce.

"Okay, I guess." You lie.

You didn't want your father to know how your feelings are all over the place, ranging from sadness to anger and longingness.

It's a weird thing to be experiencing such a cocktail of emotions when you'd convinced yourself these feelings had disappeared the day you left the old neighborhood, seven years ago. You had not felt any attachment towards the new neighborhood that you and your mother then went on to live for the next two years before you moved abroad for your studies. Yet you feel nostalgic now, as your father drives you through your old old neighborhood.

"How's mom?" He asks, taking a left to a road all too familiar to you, "Is she still going to therapy?"

You nod, "She's getting better, I think. The new country seems to have changed her. The therapy is helping too. She has many friends there now. "

At first when you were offered a job at one of the biggest publishing companies in the world, you were ecstatic. But everything soon died down when you found out you were posted at a branch in the country you'd left behind. It was your mother who'd convinced you to take it.

"I know you don't like being back, y/n." Your dad smiles sadly when he pulls over infront of your old house.The house that contains years of secrets, tears, lies and whispered confessions in front of the mirror stands in front of you, as grand and pretty as ever. It looks different but similar enough to make you tear up a tad bit.

"But I'm glad you're here. I really am." He says, "I renovated the house a little when you told me you were moving back. I hope it's okay."

You smile at the old man, wrapping your arms around him, "Thanks, dad. I missed you. I'm glad you're here, too."

He pecks your forehead, "I missed you, too, love."

Moving in doesn't take a lot of time since your dad had already set up everything. You just had to get some of your stuff and you were ready to kick start your stay.

That evening, your father leaves after making you promise to call him if anything happens at all and when the front door closes, you find yourself in the company of your old room.

You lie on your bed, eyes fixed on the ceiling as you hum an old tune to yourself. And without meaning to, you find yourself thinking about him; The man you hadn't seen or talked to for a whole seven years. The man who'd tried his best to stay in touch with you yet gave up when you didn't reciprocate the same.

A horrific realization then dawns on you,

He'd obviously replaced you now.

The familiar clouds of grief loom over you, threatening to engulf you any moment now.

No. Not now, please.

Getting up from your bed immediately, you shake your head as you make your way to the mirror- the mirror that had encountered more honest tears and smiles and words than any human ever had. You stare at your reflection as tears escapes your eyes, the bright red iris of your right eye staring back at you when you rub your tears off.

You shiver.

"Shit, I forgot to wear the contacts."

Quickly grabbing your lenses from your bag, you put them on, concealing the scary blood red color of your right eye. You take two long strides across the room and pulling your favorite black hoodie over your head, you walk out of the door.

By the time you manage to leave the house, it's already 10:30 in the evening. A quiet calmness has fallen over the town, as the shops and restaurants near the market square slowly start closing up. Your feet are as if on autopilot, taking you to that one place you know would still be open; Yang's Café.

And rightly so, the smell of freshly brewed coffee reaches your nostrils when you walk through their main door, past the group of chatty teenagers waiting outside. This place hasn't changed much, you realize, the brown and golden hues of the place and the vintage coffee cups collection in the far corner of the Cafe are still the same. The only difference is that you're no longer here with your best friend right after school, you are here all alone on an evening too quiet for your liking.

"Y/n? Is that you?"

When you turn around to face the owner of the voice, you are stunned.

"Jeongin?"

Jeongin's family has owned this Cafe for three generations now, from his great-grandparents, his grandparents, his parents and soon enough it'll pass down to him. As a kid, you remember often playing with Jeongin at the park and teaming up with him during quiz competition. He was always sweet and always smiley.

But the handsome young man that stands in front of you doesn't resemble the Jeongin you once used to know, not even a little bit.

"What..what happened to you!" You exclaim, taking his face in your hands, "Where are the braces! And the specs and wow, would you look at the blue hair!"

Jeongin can only let out a few giggles as you continue squishing his face and complaining how big he's grown in only over seven years.

The customers give you weird stares but only the heavens above know how genuinely happy you are to see Jeongin, albeit the fact you almost couldn't recognize him there for a second.

"What have you done to my child?" You mutter when you've finally calmed down and Jeongin takes you to your seat.

"I have a mother, y/n, thank you very much," he laughs, taking a seat opposite to yours, loosening the Barista apron around his torso, "And I missed you too."

You attempt to pinch his cheeks but he is quick to dodge.

"So how have you been?" He asks through giggly breaths.

You sigh, "I'm good... I feel weird being back here, honestly but I think I'll get used to it soon. What about you?"

"I've been good. Graduated a few months back, now I'm working here full time." He ushers over a waiter, "What would you like, y/n?"

You don't even think for a second while responding, "An iced Americano, please."

The waiter notes your order and walks away before Jeongin pinches your arm teasingly.

"Ouch. What?"

"Old habits die hard, huh? You always used to drink an iced coffee whenever we hung out here. I am glad to see nothing much has changed," Jeongin laughs, "You and Changbin, too!"

That one name sends your entire mind into a frenzy. Changbin. Seo Changbin. The love of your life. The man who you wouldn't even go to school without, the man who had saved you from a terrible accident, also the man who probably no longer even remembers you.

And you realise, despite everything, your heart yearns for him, still- for you wouldn't be in so much pain at the mention of his name otherwise.

Jeongin seems to have noticed your discomfort because he immediately changes the topic, "Anyway, you have to try our new chocolate cake. It's heavenly, I'm telling you."

Your reason to leave the neighborhood wasn't a secret, really. It was public knowledge that your mother had blamed Changbin for the fatal accident you almost had.

You're grateful for what Jeongin does, and try your best to engage in conversations about the neighborhood and old gossip you'd missed out on. Yet all you want to do is drive out of the damn Cafe and find changbin.

"Y/n?"

Or maybe, Changbin will find you.

Behind Jeongin, you see the blurry image of a man that had once caused you great misery yet you had never felt as happy as when you were with him.

"Hi..hi, Changbin." You stammer as you see the said man walk towards your table.

The seven years have as if done some magic on him, because the Changbin that walks towards you in no way resembles your high school best friend.

With thick buff arms, new ear piercings and silver jewelry gracing his wrists and fingers, you have a hard time actually accepting the fact that Seo Changbin is really there, in front of you.

"Been long, huh?" He grins, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes and somewhere in the depths of your conscience, you realize it might have been your fault. You'd done everything in your capacity to break apart from this friendship, ignoring his calls, changing your number, even going as far as blocking him on all social media.

So, did you really expect him to welcome you back with open arms when you had caused him so much pain?

Jeongin brings an extra chair for Changbin to sit on and soon, the three of you are talking, maybe not like the old, happy days but it's still better than nothing. Changbin looks at you everytime you throw your head back and laugh, your eyes squeezing shut as his heart clenches in his chest.

You are really back home.

"So what have you been doing? I told you guys about me." Jeongin says, stealing a bite off of Changbin's cheesecake.

"Oh..you know," Changbin giggles, the tip of his ears turning a light pink shade.

You raise your eye brows in confusion.

"Been busy with the wedding and all."

Your heart drops. "Wedding? W-whose wedding?" You try to laugh it off but it's very evident from the way you're gripping your glass of iced Americano that it has affected you. A lot more than you actually thought.

"I'm getting married, y/n," Changbin smiles, "I'm so glad you could be around for the wedding."

*

Your grief stricken self has not gotten up from the bed since last night and you're thankful to Jeongin for finally checking up on you or else you would have gone deeper into the spiral hole of despair.

"Are you really going to be like this, y/n?"

You hate being miserable on the very second day of your stay. You hate depending on Jeongin. But you can barely move without bursting out into tears,so it seems as though there's no better idea than have someone take care of you at the moment.

"I'm sorry, Jeongin. " You manage to speak when he places a bag full of snacks and drinks on the dining table, "And thanks."

Jeongin chuckles, "Don't thank me, just yet. Guess who wants to meet up with you?"

Your eyes widen for a split second as you sit up on the couch, "Who?!"

No, he wouldn't, would he?

"It's not the person you think, y/n. Calm down." He laughs, "It's Bang Chan. Your senior, you remember?"

Oh, yes, the infamous Bang Chan. Shy smiles, dimples, curly hair, angelic eyes. Yeah, you remember the school's heartthrob. Very clearly.

"I was talking to him this morning and he said he'd be very glad to catch up with you again." Jeongin settles beside you, "It's not a date, y/n. He's an old friend. It wouldn't hurt, would it? You can't possibly sit here all day long crying about him."

You open your mouth to argue, but only air slips out and you realise you don't have anything to defend your miserable state with. You knew this was coming; when you cut off all ties with Seo Changbin, you knew this was coming.

Jeongin is right; you need to go out and meet new people.

You roll your eyes before pinching Jeongin's cheeks, "Fine. Give him my number."

He responds by pulling your cheeks as well.

*

The first day of work is weirdly gut wrenching.

You hadn't expected yourself to be this nervous but here you are, muttering under your breath as you make way towards the office.

"You'll be okay, y/n," you breathe in, "You've worked hard for this." And breathe out.

A few more minutes of self pep talking and you see all your hard work and expectations go down the drain as you feel a few droplets of rain fall onto your head. You look up and the dark, heavy clouds greet you.

Bloody brilliant.

You see the office goers around you jog quickly to the nearest shelter but you're short on luck today as your gaze falls on your watch and you realize you don't have enough time to wait for the rain to pass.

So you grab your office bag, cover your head with that and make a run for it.

The sole of your high heel shoes dig into your feet and a throbbing pain shoots through your body, as you wince. Note to yourself - never wear heels to office again.

You also secretly pray to the gods that your contact lens don't get washed off. Turning up at your new office on the first day with a blood red iris doesn't feel too fun, really.

"Do you need a lift?"

You had been so busy running to your office that you don't notice when a black car drives toward you and the driver rolls down the window, offering you a smile.

Seo Changbin.

Your heart skips a few beats.

"Y/n, do you need a lift?"

You blink back to reality when he clicks his fingers in front of you, "I-I mean if that's okay with you."

Changbin smiles, pointing to the passenger's seat, "Come on in."

When you're comfortably seated in his car, using his spare towel to wipe off the water from your face and hair, his questions start-

"So.." He steps on the break when the traffic light turns red, "How have you been?"

You look at the digital clock displayed on the cars' LED, and sigh. You're late to work and you're stuck in traffic with the one man you'd rather not be stuck in traffic with. Brilliant.

"Good." Your eyes are focused on the cars outside the window, "You?"

There's a moment of silence before he speaks again, "Fine."

Fine? Just Fine? Shouldn't he be over the clouds, now that the wedding is finally around the corner?

"Okay.."

"Actually, I meant to ask you earlier, y/n." He turns to you, a gentle smile playing at his lips, "I am throwing a party this weekend. I'd love it if you could come by. And I could introduce you to her."

You sink back into your seat, biting your lip, wondering if you want to ever know who her is. Your peace of mind is more important than meeting your ex crush's fiance, right? And if you do end up going to the party, whom would you hang out with? It's not like you know any of his rich friends and cousins and there's no way you'd hang out with Changbin and the said fiance.

You are about to respectfully reject the invitation when a sudden, seemingly good idea pops into your head.

Bang Chan.

You nod, shrugging, "Okay. I'll be there."

You clasp your hands together as he continues driving and you look out the window, unable to suppress the bubbling excitement.

"Great, then." He replies, suspiciously.

*

The evening of the party finally arrives, much to your dismay, you find yourself seated next to Chan. He's just the same as the guy in your memory; a gentleman.

"You look pretty, y/n." He had greeted you as he held the car door open for you, "I'm glad we could meet up."

His words turn your cheeks into a darker shade of red but your heart doesn't beat quite as furiously as you'd expect it to.

Muttering a small thank you, you seat comfortably in the car while Chan drives towards Changbin's family's old Farmhouse on the outskirts of the city. You've been there before - during summer holidays, he would take you there with his family. That place was only filled with happy memories of sunshine, swimming pools, watermelon juice and bonfires.

You swallow the grief that comes along with these memories.

"Are we here already?" Chan pulls over in a familiar driveway not even ten minutes later, jogging up to your door and clicking it open, like the gentleman he is.

"Yeah, we're here." Chan smiles, "Very less traffic tonight."

You guys walk through the huge metallic gate, making your way through the main door of the house.

"Uh..." People are crowded mostly around the front door and in the front yard, so you and Chan have to push and squeeze your way into the Farmhouse. You hate the feeling of sweaty bodies pressing against you (or holding Chan's hand for stability) but desperate situations call for desperate measures.

"I hate it here." You mutter when you later find yourself by the pool side, swirling the drink that you don't even plan on drinking and looking at all the flushed faces having the time of their lives.

Thankfully, Chan happens to be on the same boat as you.

"I'm sorry I dragged you here, Chan. We could have just gone for a movie."

Chan giggles, "Hey, it's alright. I don't mind, I'm glad I could spend some time with you after so many years."

His eyes shine and dimples deepen.

You whisper, "Yeah, me too."

Chan is a handsome man, good at all kinds of sport, good at arts, very smart and intelligent yet there's a part of you that knows you'd never be able to reciprocate his flirtatious words. It's sad, really, but that's just how life is.

"Wow, those two seem to be having the time of their lives." Chan chuckles, pointing at someone behind you.

It's quite dark outside, the only source of light being a few decorative fairylights hung at random places haphazardly.

Hiding behind a huge, tall bush, you see a couple, kissing each other like it were the last day on the planet.

The guy's hands roam all over the woman's body and the woman is so loud that even you could hear her sighs and moans. When she pulls away to catch her breath for a second, Chan asks you, "You know her?"

"Nope. I don't know either of them."

You look away; what kind of creep looks at a happy couple like that? (Not a creep, just a lonely and touch starved person)

"Should we check out the dinner table?" Chan suggests and you agree with a nod, "I hope there's no crowd there."

As expected, there actually isn't a crowd there - there's only Changbin, sitting and nibbling on a pizza slice while scrolling through the phone.

The moment your eyes land on him, your feet as if stop on their own and your heart bangs furiously against your chest.

He's breathtakingly gorgeous.

By the time you debate in your head whether or not you want to sit there and fill your stomach, Chan has already made his way to Changbin.

"Hey, Bin!" He greets him with a smile.

Changbin looks at Chan with an unamused smile, the same one from your high school days, when these two were named the biggest rivals on campus. You wonder if somewhere deep in his heart, Changbin had still not let go of that rivalry.

"Hey, Changbin." You manage to whisper before sitting beside Chan.

He looks almost angry.

"You should have the pizza. It's good." He mutters, turning to pass you a slice of pizza on a plate, "Help yourself, Chan."

Yup, there it is. The Seo Changbin that would kill to be on top. You feel worse about dragging Chan here now when neither of you were having a good time.

"Thanks, mate. " Chan replies.

Your ears ring with the sound of approaching footsteps, and when a pretty girl comes walking in and takes Changbin in her arms, your heart stings. Like a fresh wound.

"Y/n.." Chan whispers to you as you watch the two collide in a loving embrace, Changbin smiling at her and running his fingers through her hair.

Your heart hurts at how happy and content he looks.

You could have had that, a part of you thinks, if you weren't such a coward, it would have been you instead of her.

"Y/n," Chan calls you again.

"What?" Your tone is harsher than you intended, "What happened?"

You think Chan is about to give you the whole it-is-time-to-move-on talk but he doesn't, instead he points at the girl and whispers,

"It's her. The girl we saw earlier."

The rest of the night is blurry to you, all conversations, all gazes, all thoughts just feel ....like an awkward dream.

"We have to tell Changbin."

You're sitting at Yang's Cafe at 1 am the same night, watching Jeongin's brother guide his staff to clean the place up.

"I agree." Chan says, biting the inside of his cheeks.

While you, on the other hand, are completely zoned out, staring at the glass of water placed in front of you and watching the droplets on its surface race each other.

"Y/n, what do you think?" Jeongin asks when you don't take part in their discussions.

You sigh, "I don't know. I really don't. As much as it troubles me that Changbin is being cheated on, I don't want to get involved in their personal relationship. "

"Let's not tell anyone for now, then. But someday in the future, before that goddamn wedding, we have to tell him. He deserves to know." Chan agrees.

You purse your lips and close your eyes.

Chan is right.

Changbin deserves to know the truth.

*

"So, how's it being back in town, y/n?"

"It feels good. Weird, but good." You smile at your old teacher, "How have you been, Miss Oh?"

Your teacher adds sugar to the cup of tea in her hands and then looks at you, smiling - the same old smile, except with more wrinkles now, "I've been good. I'm retiring next year so I'm glad I could see you before that, huh?"

You nod your head, "I'm glad too. The school hasn't changed much, unlike what I had expected."

Other than the addition of some new labs and libraries, and the change in color of the walls, everything was still the same. No place in this old school building feels foreign to you.

"Ugh, these administration people I tell you, y/n, they're cheap idiots. They won't spend a single penny on infrastructure unless it's absolutely necessary." She complains as you giggle in response,

"They've always been like that."

Miss Oh gulps some tea from her cup, "Anyway, y/n, I have a class now. I would have loved to stay and chat, really, but I'm afraid that might get me in to trouble."

"No issues, Miss Oh. Go ahead. I'll just roam around the school a little more though, if that's okay."

After Miss Oh leaves, you step out of her cabin and walk the familiar corridors, reminiscent of the memories you have here. Studying a few minutes before tests, bunking classes, running to class when you're late, hanging out with your friends- these corridors have seen you grow in love, in friendship, in life. There's absolutely nothing that could ever replace these memories.

Mindlessly, you wander around the third floor, walking toward the end of the corridor before stopping in front of an old door, way too familiar to not try and push open.

While a part of you tells you it might not be a good idea to go into that room again, there's also a part of you that thinks it's a bloody brilliant idea.

Pushing the door open, you walk into the old dusty room, sighing in relief when you see a particular set of letters still carved on the wall.

CB and YN were here.

You finally let your tears run free, as you crouch down to touch the letters.

Your heart aches at how much you miss Changbin being an important part of your life and how much you miss being his top priority. And your heart aches for Changbin, who is so in love with his fiancé and has no idea he's being cheated on.

You almost want to leave this town and go back to your mother, away from this terrible mess. Yet you don't find it in yourself to act on those thoughts.

Maybe, it is your fear of abandoning him once again that stops you. Or, maybe it is simply the unconditional love you harbor for him.

* Surprisingly, Yang's Cafe is near empty that afternoon.

"Did something happen, y/n? You look really worried." Changbin has his arms crossed over his chest, looking at you with a tense frown.

"Um..it's kind of complicated." You sigh. For a second, you see the genuine concern and innocence on his face, and you wonder if it is worth telling him the truth at all because it would kill you to see him lose his smile but then, his engagement band shines on his ring finger and your stomach turns unpleasantly.

He has to know. From you. In person.

"Changbin, that day at your party...I saw something. " You whisper, "Something I shouldn't have. I should have turned a blind eye really but I can't. My conscience won't allow it. I'm sorry, Bin."

"Y/n, it's okay, just tell me," he reaches over and wraps his fingers around yours, soft and gentle, "You're scaring me."

"Changbin, your fiance is cheating on you. I-I saw her kissing another man that night. Chan saw it too." You feel sick even having to say this to him, "I think you should confront her."

He sucks in a deep breathe, his face completely void of any emotions as he extracts his hands from yours.

"I know." Is all he says.

His eyes drill into yours, as if accusing you of a crime. He looks angry. Just how he looked the day you brought Chan to his party.

"Why are you still marrying her then?" You question.

He sits up straight, "Y/n, I wish I could explain. But I can't. I'm sorry. And please, stay out of this, okay?"

"Why? Why should I stay out of it?" Your voice threatens to break, "I cannot watch my best friend marry a woman who's not loyal. You deserve better than this, Bin."

A sarcastic chuckle leaves Changbin's lips as he taps his foot against the floor, "Let me correct you, y/n. You were my best friend. Seven years ago. You're not anymore."

Your heart shatters.

A part of you knows you deserve this after ghosting him for seven long years. You were the center of each other's world at one point of time.How could you have been so selfish to ever think that your absence and lack of communication wouldn't hurt him?

"Changbin, I'm sorry for everything I did okay. B-but I never stopped thinking or worrying about you. Even for one second. And I still do."

Changbin pushes his chair back and stands up while you stay frozen in your seat.

"It doesn't seem like that though. "

"What do you even mean!"

"Chan. I mean Chan, y/n." He grabs his phone and purse, "Goodbye, y/n. I hope Chan turns out to be a better friend than I ever did." With that, the love of your life walks out of Yang's Cafe.

And for once, he doesn't even look back.

* "Y/n, don't let go of my hand!"

Changbin is panting heavily, his voice shaking with fear as he desperately tries to hold onto you.

He should have known it would be a bad idea to play badminton near the infamous cliff in your town yet when you had showed him your innocent smile and pleading eyes that day, he just couldn't say no.

Your sweaty hands clutch his, legs dangling over the edge of the cliff. Your free hand grabs the rough surface of the rocky cliff to keep yourself from falling.

You want to cry; but you're too traumatized to even let out more than a few terrified grunts. "Y/n," he yells, "I'm going to try and pull you up one more time, okay?."

You don't even remember how you had ended up in this situation; one second you were happily giggling, playing badminton with Changbin and in the next second, you found yourself hanging by the cliff, praying for your dear life.

With all the energy he has left, he tries to pull you up onto the surface.

"Y/n, you have to free the other hand. Let go of that rock." He pants.

You shake your head vigorously, you know you would not survive if you let go of the rock, you'd fall thousands of feet below into absolute nothingness.

"Y/n, please listen to me." Changbin pleads, now crying, "Please. I'll catch you, I promise. I'll not let you die. Just..please."

Changbin sounds like he's about to give up and in all honesty, you couldn't blame him really. Everytime your eyes fall on what's beneath you, a part of you loses hope.

"Please, come on, y/n," he's still pulling at your free hand, while his right hand awaits desperately to grab the other hand. A mixture or sweat and tears grace his face, making him shine under the bright afternoon sun. Your heart aches at the mere thought of never seeing him again- your friend, your childhood crush, your partner in everything.

Well, here goes nothing then.

You suck in a deep breath and let go the Rock, immediately reaching for Changbin. He is quick to grab both of your arms and in one swift movement, he pulls you up onto the surface.

You fall onto his chest, "Y-you saved me."

Changbin let's out a sob mixed with a relieved giggle, pulling you into his arms.

Your eyes feel heavy, as darkness slowly begins to engulf your vision.

"Oh God, I am so sorry this happened, y/n. It's all my fault." He cries, rubbing your back softly, "I'm so sorry. I thought I was going to lose you, oh God. Fuck!"

You want to tell him that it was never his fault, and that you wouldn't even be alive if not for him but your body betrays you and your body goes limp against his.

*

"I'm not leaving this neighborhood."

Your hands rest angrily on your waist as your mom frantically walks from your closet to where the suitcase is spread open on your bed, shifting all your clothes. She dumps them inside the suitcase, not bothering to fold them even.

"You will do as I say! That Seo Changbin tried to push you off of a cliff and heaven knows what he might do next!" Your mom yells back.

You sit at the edge of your bed, trying to keep yourself calm, "Mom, I told you it was an accident. I fell because I was going after the shuttlecock and didn't notice the cliff. Moreover, why would my best friend want try to kill me!"

Your mom let's out a sarcastic laugh, closing the suitcase roughly. She looks at you with eyes full of contempt and a part of you knows that there's no point in trying to convince her. Her mind is already made. Yet you refuse to go down without a fight.

"You're just sixteen, sweetie. You don't know anything about the cruel world, " your mother sighs, "Rich people are not friends with anyone. Changbin may be nice to you but he only sees you as a pathetic poor girl."

"Mom, we're not even poor!"

"Yes, I know. But those filthy rich businessmen consider everyone below their economic status poor. His family probably doesn't like him being friends with you which is why they asked him to get rid of you."

You think of Mrs. Seo's face in your head, always smiling and always welcoming. You remember Changbin's sister and how she'd promised to let you borrow her dress for this year's winter prom. And you think about Changbin- his face, his smile, his passion for music and his protectiveness towards you. Why would these people ever want to hurt you?

"Mom, you're being ridiculous right now! Do you even hear yourself!" You stand up from the bed, now beyond frustrated.

She walks upto you and grabs your arm tightly, nails digging into your skin as you whimper slightly. "You will listen to me. I am your mother and you will listen to me. " she growls, "Pack the rest of your stuff. We're leaving tomorrow."

When she finally walks out your bedroom, your first instinct is to dress yourself in your black hoodie and track pants, and quietly slip out of the back window of your room.

The cold air nips at your skin, goosebumps slowly appearing on your arms and legs but you're too preoccupied to pay too much heed to it.

You reach Changbin's house and like always, walk up to the backyard and climb upto his room through the emergency staircase.

When Changbin hears knocks on his window, he quickly removes his headphones, "y/n?"

He walks upto the window and let's you in, his heart more at peace now than it's ever been the entire day. The guilt from the accident you had earlier was clawing at his conscience.

His room is mostly dark except for his table lamp. You notice the lyrics notebook lying on the table, open with some scribbles and random phrases on the pages.

"How are you feeling?"

You sit at the edge of his bed, cross legged while he kneels on the floor to get to your level. His hands find yours naturally.

"Fine," you swallow the tears that have been accumulating since you left the house, "Changbin, I- we're leaving tomorrow."

Changbin is taken aback; his heart shattering into billions of pieces at your words.

"Leaving? What do you mean Leaving?" his voice trembles.

You lick your dry lips and tell him everything your mom had told you earlier. When his face twists bitterly, a part of you wishes you'd held your tongue yet a bigger part of you wants Changbin to know the truth now; you didn't want him sending you off with lies in his mind and the fear of him finding out some years later just killed you inside.

"I'm so sorry, Changbin. Mom's just not been okay after the divorce." Your voice breaks when Changbin refuses to look at you, "I know she's speaking bullshit. But there's absolutely nothing I can do to change her mind, I've tried I swear. I'm sorry, Changbin."

When Changbin finally does look at you, even in the dim lit room, you see the tears glistening on his face, mirroring the ones that roll down your cheeks. "Why are you sorry, y/n? I don't blame your mom." He mutters, "It was partly my fault. I should have taken more care, I-"

You cup his cheek, "Shh. Bin, are we really going to spend my last night here crying and blaming ourselves? We might never see each other again."

The words sink deep into his soul, and he nods. He wills his tears back in as he grabs your hand tighter.

"Okay. What do you wanna do?"

You smile a little, "You're not gonna like it though. "

"Stargazing it is then." He giggles a little as the both of you make your way to balcony attached to his room.

It is quiet outside, unlike the noise in your head and you feel the calmness spreading to you when you look up at the stars.

Changbin brings a picnic mat from inside and spreads it out on the floor, along with two pillows and a blanket.

"We'll stay in touch, yeah? If you ever need anything, I'll be right here." He reassures you, lying beside you, hands behind his head.

You smile yet you cannot bring yourself to promise him the same because you know your mother would do everything in her power to push the two of you apart, even to the point of physically hurting Changbin. You would never want that so you'd rather distance yourself and let Changbin forget about you. And maybe, just maybe fate would be a little nicer to you and decide to bring you into his life again. Many years later.

He presses a soft kiss to your head, "You'll always be my best friend, y/n. I don't care how far we are."

It takes everything in your being to not repeat the words.

*

"Changbin, come on we're getting you to the hospital this instant, okay?" Mrs. Seo is furious next morning, running from room to room, looking through the list of doctors she'd saved just in case of emergency.

When she looks at her son, sitting on the sofa with one of his eye irises turning a glowing red, she is reassured that this is an emergency.

"How did this even happen, mom? I swear I didn't try to do anything funny with my eye." He murmurs, scared, "It feels so itchy, gosh!"

Mrs.Seo looks at him with concern just when the doctor picks the call, "Oh, hello Dr.Lee! Thank god you picked up!"

After his mom walks out of his room, Changbin quickly types you a text,

Binnie: Hey. Did you leave already?

Y/nnie: No not yet. We've stopped at the doctor's.

Changbin's eyes widen in alarm.

Binnie: What why?

You look at your face in the decorative mirror at the doctor's waiting room, one of your irises burning into a bright shade of ruby.

Y/nnie: Mom's running a cold.

You close the messenger app before he even replies, deciding to change your number and deleting all your old contacts as soon as you move into your new house. And as much as it hurt you, this one text turned out to be the last time Changbin and you ever talked.

*

It has been raining all day, which means you were stuck in your goddamn house with nothing to do but cry about Changbin and your lost friendship and your broken heart.

After you manage to get some food into your body during dinner time, you crawl back to your room and look into the mirror as you comb your hair and moisturize your skin.

(Self care is important, y'all)

Your red iris stares back at you, taunting your mistakes and calling you a coward.

If only you had still tried to keep in touch with him, if only that stupid accident wouldn't have happened in the first place, if only.

Suddenly, a knock on your balcony door makes you jump in your place.

Shit. Is it a burglar?

You grab the closest thing that could be classified as a weapon - which happens to be an umbrella.

The knocking continues.

"Y/n, it's Changbin." He yells, "Can I please talk to you?"

You freeze in your spot.

Why in the world is he here? Does he have anything worse to say? Is he here to invite you to his wedding? But why would he sneak in through the balcony when he can easily ring the main door bell.

"Y/n, are you in there?"

You quickly walk upto the door and slide it open, revealing Changbin, completely drenched in the rain. His wet hair stuck to his face and "Shit. What the- God, come inside!"

He obeys and tiptoes inside your room, a guilty expression plastered on his face.

You guide him directly to the bathroom and offer him a towel.

"What are you even doing here, Bin?" You lean against the door frame, hands crossed over your chest.

He is drying his hair with the towel when he looks up at you as if to answer your question but he stops. His mouth hangs open as his eyes remain glued to your face.

And that's when you realize why he looks so surprised.

"Shit- fuck." You turn around immediately, "my lenses," you mutter to yourself.

But before you can even walk upto your dressing table, Changbin has caught your wrist and spun you around, pulling you closer to his body.

"Your eye." He let's out a shaky breath.

"Yes, I know. Please don't freak out. It's always been like this after -"

"After the accident." He finishes your sentence, "I know."

Your mouth runs dry as his face draws in closer, "What do you mean you know? What do you know?"

He let's go of your wrist and takes a step back, turning around so that his back faces you.

And when he turns to look at you again, you swear you could have passed out there and then.

"Y-you have it too." You whisper, weak in the knees, "You have a red iris too."

Changbin gives you a small smile, "Yes, y/n."

"But why? What does this mean?" You say, "Is it a symptom of some chronic illness?"

"It's a soul mark."

"What's a soul mark?"

"It's a mark that exists on the bodies of soulmates."

You feel a pang in your chest; like someone was squeezing your heart out of your chest.

"Right," You fall back onto the bed, dazed with the sudden piece of information, "And how do you know all this?"

Changbin kneels down in front of you, hands finding yours. He looks more relaxed than he did since the first day you come back to town.

It almost feels like you had been given back your old friend.

"I've been doing my research, y/n. After you left, this is all I've been doing." He says, "This is also the reason why I had gotten engaged. By that time, I had given up on finding a soulmate. So I just settled for whatever I got. I didn't even feel bad when I found out my fiance was not in love with me. For the world, we might look like a happy couple, but truly, it was just a marriage of convenience for our parents' business."

You bite your lips wondering how to respond to these words. He'd laid bare his heart in front of you, something you never thought he'd do ever again.

"What now?" You say, tired.

He intertwines your fingers, "Also, I'm sorry for yesterday. I shouldn't have said all that."

You nod, "It's alright. I know you didn't mean it. And for the record, I and Chan have nothing going on."

"And for the record, I also broke off my engagement."

Your eyes widen as a gasp leaves your lips, "What? Why?"

"Because when I told my parents that I do not love my fiancé, and that I have only ever loved you, they said my happiness was more important than their business."

When you don't reply to his words, he looks worried, "Hey, you don't have to feel burdened to like me back and all okay? Literally, if you want me to leave you alone, I will. I understand-"

You pull him by the nape and place the softest, gentlest, most sincere kiss on his lips.

"I feel the same way, dumbass." You sigh as you pull him into your arms.

He muzzles his face in the crook of your neck, playing with your hair from behind, "So what now?"

"Let's start with a date." You say, "Let's take it slow."

Changbin wraps his arms tighter around you, kissing your cheek, "As you wish, my love. "

[theseerasures]

Ruby and Yang’s conversation in the last episode is making me think back on the Silver-Eyed Warriors, and in particular Ruby taking down the Leviathan--still the most straightforward articulation of how these powers work imo. we first see Ruby try to follow Maria’s advice, and cycle through a sequence of images that only upset her; then she course corrects and thinks of different images, but roughly the same people, and then the powers work. the cursory (and valid) explanation for why would probably be something like: the images the second time are nicer, so what Ruby did was compartmentalize the bad parts of “life” away, and focused on the good bits instead of what makes her more stressed out.

what i’m stuck on with this explanation, though, is that the images from Ruby’s second go-round are still mostly of the PAST, and one that she no longer has access to. with the exceptions of the Oscar and Maria flashes, everything else is from Beacon, and we end on Penny and Summer--both of whom were dead at the time. why are even these happy images tinged with loss? well, i’ve always read this scene as not “unhappy vs happy” or “anxious vs determined,” but the show’s core argument on the passage from trauma into grief. Ruby’s first images go from the idyllic into moments of profound trauma--not just for her, but for all of her friends. pivoting from that isn’t just about repression (tho it probably is a little, it’s Ruby), but an acknowledgement that...sometimes you have to look at it slant. there is something indissoluble about trauma, but through shared grief and memory, you can cope with it, move forward, and live.

and living is the whole point. Maria tells Ruby that life must be protected, and the way this show defines what is alive--what makes life meaningful--is often inextricable from what can be mourned. Pyrrha is an excellent example of this, because on paper her death was ENTIRELY meaningless: she failed to stop Cinder, she failed to stop the CCT Tower’s fall, and she died knowing very little of what she was actually fighting for. it would be so easy to say that she died for nothing, and the entire trajectory of her life just led to this great big nothing. it’s telling that Jaune falls into this line of thinking just a few episodes out from the Leviathan fight, but it’s even more telling how the show resolves it, both in-universe and metatextually. Pyrrha’s life mattered because she’s important to people; she’s still important to JNR, she’s still important to us, the audience, and she’s still important to the show, because three years after her death we got a new song about her. what makes life beautiful and precious is the people, and even after they’ve been snuffed out, you carry them with you.

we go from that triumphant moment to Atlas, the Kingdom of Creation, which has accordingly pushed the boundaries of life in amazing and horrifying ways. in the former category we have Penny, who not only came back to life but became an ecstatic expansion of what it means to BE alive, despite not existing comfortably within the boundaries of the human; in the latter category we have...the Hound.

the Hound is a violation of life in a variety of different ways. on the most explicit level he is a violence of the flesh, or more accurately: a violence INTO flesh, whereby discrete bodies are forcibly made fungible, then combined, so that he becomes “an experiment.” a living Petri dish. his mind is robbed in the process, and he is unrecognizable, both in the sense that he’s a horrible monster and in the sense that no one knows who he is. his identity is indeterminate; we don’t know his name, in a universe where even weapons have names--only two letters, the way you’d catalogue something for which uniqueness does not matter. the Hound, then, exists in a state that is not life, but undeath, or will-not-let-die; he is only sustained by Salem’s intent and her continued mangling of his flesh. and in the end he is disposed of, but. Ruby recognizes him, in a way: she looks at him, and says not that was a monster, or even that was a Silver-Eyed Warrior, but that was a person.

and that...has implications, because this isn’t the first time we’ve had this kind of conundrum in this show. Salem herself exists in a state of will-not-let-die; she first received the curse because she refused to let her trauma pass into grief, and the gods made it so that her own life would literally never be mourned. jumping into the Grimm pool compounded the paradox instead of resolving it--now she would live forever, be bent towards destruction, and yet remain inescapably herself. what does it mean for creation to reside within destruction? well, we don’t even have to look at Salem for that, because that’s what ALL Grimm are supposed to be. and the Silver-Eyed Warriors destroy them, because Maria says that preservation is the enemy of destruction...but they don’t. Ruby only encased the Leviathan in stone. the wyvern is still immobile at Beacon. something always remains.

these contradictions point to some fundamental fissures about the gods, and their denied interdependency, that i suspect will end up remaking the world. at the heart of it, though, it is (as it always is with this show) personal. that’s what happened to mom. we don’t know if she was a prototype for the experiment that was the Hound, or his improvement, but it now seems certain that Summer Rose was not killed but unmade, and perverted to Salem’s will. how do you turn back the hands of time on grief, when the person you grieve for isn’t alive again (as with Penny), merely not-yet-dead? when you come face to face with that person again, will you recognize her in time? what will you do with the painful paradox of her existence? do you try to resolve it by cutting away the parts of her that aren’t her (as if that’s an easy thing to calculate, when she now relies on some of those parts to remain), or do you just try to cope with it, recognize her personhood in spite of all, love her, and try to live with this unliving reminder of a grief that has been overwritten back into trauma?

and at what point can you mourn again?

did you ever stop?

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Worthy”

Happy Saturday, everyone! I mean that seriously for once. Regardless of what I have to say about this episode — and as always, there's a lot — I want it on the record that "Worthy" was leagues ahead of... pretty much everything else we've gotten lately. For all of RWBY's continuing problems, there's a level of effort here that I really do appreciate. Especially for the penultimate episode.

Our title, "Worthy," immediately conjures thoughts of Watts' speech about Cinder needing to be "worthy" of the power she craves and, what do you know, our villains work hard to prove their worth this episode. Hallelujah! We start with the heroes though and do you recall how last week I said that our opening may as well be a summary of the whole series since Volume 6, what with the grimm conveniently avoiding the team's airship and them just looking vaguely sad that the people around them are perishing? Well, same here. Or rather, same problems, different flavor. Oscar opens with the question, "What do we do now?" and no sooner has he asked that then the magic portal appears to give him the answer. Useful!

More seriously though, I've been intensely side-eyeing the group's wish since last week. Not (just) because of the awful decision to turn Penny human, but simply because the story emphasized how "smart" the group was, heavily insisting that their portal plan is a masterpiece of well thought out strategy... and I really don't think it is. There was a lot of confusion last episode about how exactly the group was using the vault, with my own interpretation — that they were funneling everyone to Vacuo's vault — proven wrong today, but one of the problems brought up was how Ambrosius could possibly create portals across a kingdom precisely where the group needs them. Yang asks him,

"Can you make a bunch of doorways in Atlas that open at a single spot in Vacuo?"

To which, simply, Ambrosius says no. He'd need, among other things, "coordinates and specs for each door" and "an explanation for bending space and time."

This is why, prior to the very end of "Creation" where we saw portals appearing everywhere, I thought using both vaults was the solution. Ambrosius knows (or can easily receive) the coordinates for his own vault and the one in Vacuo. As weird, alternate dimensions, they're potentially capable of bending space and time as necessary. If you put the portal in Atlas' vault and open it up in Vacuo's vault, you're golden. The only challenge now is getting everyone in the kingdom to the Winter Maiden's vault.

But then... that didn't happen. Apparently the vault just becomes the in-between place for everyone to pass through and the portals appear all over the kingdom, even though the group didn't provide those "coordinates and specs." What they did was show Ambrosius a schematic of the cities. That's not the same thing as telling him precisely where each portal needs to appear — which is what he asked for. I bring this long-winded explanation up not merely to emphasize "RWBY's wish isn't as smart as the story wants you to believe it is" but because this wreaks havoc on who is getting a portal. How did the group tell Ambrosius precisely where to put a portal for Jaune's group? Why didn't they try to make one appear for Qrow and Robyn? Or Winter? Or Pietro and Maria? They had to have been somewhat specific in terms of saying where these portals appeared because if they just wished for everyone to get one, Jacques and Ironwood would have gotten one too. Basically, the portals do appear for characters whose “Worthy” plot now takes place in this in-between space and the portals do not appear for those whose plot is still taking place in Atlas. That's a mess. To say nothing of how it implies that our heroes just don't give a damn about all their other allies — including an uncle (Ruby, Yang) and a father (Penny) — and that, ultimately, Ambrosius did the very thing he initially said wouldn't work. He put a bunch of doors around Atlas that opened on a single point in Vacuo without making the group meet these requirements first. The rest is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo to distract the viewer from the fact that none of this actually makes sense.

But that's a tangent. To get back on track, Jaune's group decides to "spread the word on foot" since they can't contact anyone via their scrolls anymore. What this translates to is Jaune going to one spot and Nora doing the rest of the work because she can suddenly ride her hammer like a broomstick. 

You know what? I'm fine with it. Have we ever seen Nora do this before? Not that I recall. Is it a cute image that feeds my witch-loving brain? Yeeeeeaah.

They're not sure if the portals are safe though and everyone turns to Jaune as the joke test subject. Except everyone else is right behind him when the go through? Even the jokes in this show aren't consistent.

What I do like though is that we get another interesting team split: Oscar, Emerald, and Ren heading to Vacuo while Jaune and Nora help with the evacuation — even though Nora and Jaune aren't actually doing anything together. Still, I can see that (for this volume at least) RT has taken the duo criticisms to heart. It would have been incredibly easy to attach Nora and Ren at the hip again, despite her desire for space, so I'm glad that they're still striving to mix things up a bit.

Nora says that Shade is "armed to the teeth with huntsmen and huntresses." It is? I mean sure, it has its school, but so did Vale. So did Atlas. In fact, we've spent the last two volumes emphasizing that Atlas is really the only armed kingdom remaining. Remember the plan for them to protect the world after knowledge of Salem's existence threw everything into disarray? Well, the people know about Salem now. And Salem herself is attacking. And they're about to slam an entire kingdom into another one. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Nora ends her observations with the assertation that Vacuo will need as much help as they can get, but that worry feels far, far too late. Where were these concerns when Ruby made her announcement to the world in the first place? The fact that the group never went, "Hey, is it really worth telling people about Salem now when we can no longer provide the protection against the grimm that this announcement will necessitate? Yeah, we need backup, but can they even get here in time? I don't think so. Maybe we should hold off and try to find a way to solve this ourselves. Or, at the very least, just tell them Atlas is facing a massive grimm attack. That won't create quite the same panic as 'Magic immortal lady eager to kill you all' will."

Our heroes only acknowledge these problems when they're already neck deep in them. Forethought is not their strong suit.

For our obligatory humor, the people of Atlas are hiding behind the staircase after the evil portal appeared (weren't there, like, twenty of them in the last episode?) and a brave dude trying to toss a rock through accidentally hits Jaune. He — I kid you not — uses the Atlas huntsmen license gifted to him by Ironwood to gain authority over the group.

Talk about the story being tone deaf.

We segue to a shot of Penny who flies herself through the portal using the Maiden powers, precisely as she would have with her boots. Okay, I try not to pull many "I told you so"s because that's rude, petty, and all around just shit behavior... but boy is it tempting at times. Because RWBY's fandom is so staunchly against criticism that even the most polite pushbacks boil down to an equally rude "Just wait" mentality. Readers of these recaps know we were told to "just wait" for the group to talk to Ozpin. Or "just wait" for them to be punished for their crimes. "Just wait" for the complex forgiveness arc the group is sure to undergo with Emerald. "Just wait" is the go-to response when someone doesn't entirely disagree with our problems with the show, but still believes we're not giving RT enough credit. Most recently, I was told to "just wait" in regards to Penny. We don't actually know that her body is human. We don't actually know that her Maiden powers will still be the same. We don't actually know that this won't be the start of a long journey wherein she has to figure out how to use this new body, both on the battlefield and off. And the issue of RWBY failing to answer any of these questions isn’t valid criticism either because the only point being made here is that we’re not patient and supportive enough. Just wait. RT will prove you wrong. 

Well... Penny's body still appears entirely human, her Maiden powers still work just fine, and now they've given her the ability to create all her old weapons out of aura, meaning she fights exactly the same as she did before.

The only thing making Penny human did was force her to fight barefoot. Oh, and erase her journey of accepting herself as an android. 

Again, I don't want to be that asshole, especially when so many people want the show to be better — just like I do. By all means, hold out hope with me. But before slamming into someone's inbox to explain why they're being too negative because things are bound to be taken seriously down the road, keep in mind the staggering number of times we've decided to "just wait" and nothing ever came of it. Keep in mind that RWBY should be tackling these questions and expectations from the start. Now here we are, disappointed again. We're not pessimistic because we want to be, we're pessimistic because there's a clearly established pattern at play.

So Penny's change is, at this point, meaningless for her development and, at this point, we've lost the chance to introduce challenges later. If RT does, we're forever going to wonder why Penny didn't express any doubts upon waking up in a human body, or why she didn't face any problems while fighting another Maiden. Like Emerald getting the group to laugh and immediately being trusted with important duties, it's too late to suddenly backtrack and insist that there's still work to be done here. RT missed their chance.

That fight is a few minutes off though. For now, Oscar and the others arrive in Vacuo to discover that there's a sandstorm going on. Who could have ever expected that?

Seriously though, this is just one of the many reasons why our heroes come across as stupid. They deliberately chose to send everyone "outside the city limits of Vacuo," in a desert kingdom, after Ruby got the entire world panicked about Salem, and they somehow didn't think that a) weather might be a problem or b) grimm were going to show up? These characters have been though enough shit that they should be planning for the worst and hoping for the best, not planning for the best and assuming the worst just won't happen to them. Why wouldn't they have everyone appear inside the kingdom if they (against Ambrosius' rules) got to choose where everyone ended up? Why in the world would they rely on communications being up when CCT has been spotty since Volume 3 and Watts just took out Atlas’ entire system? Our characters don't think anything through — despite Ambrosius’ claims otherwise — and it makes for some pretty awful characterization. Because RWBY isn't trying to be a story about teenagers seriously messing up their attempts at heroics, it's trying to be a story about True Heroes... and we're just supposed to ignore the endless number of times the group doesn't think the most basic problems through. So now, Oscar and the other stand there doing nothing for the rest of the episode because a sandstorm in the desert threw a wrench in their plans. 

The only reason I didn’t bring this up last week is because I had no idea they had chosen to dump everyone outside of the city. I thought they were going to the vault, or at the very least appearing inside the border. Why wouldn’t you send everyone to the city??

It’s so stupid, but then Cinder arrives and blows a whole bunch of people off the edge of the pathways. HELL YEAH.

I mean, obviously not hell yeah for the poor civilians who just took a tumble, but yay the villain causing some damage. It's small potatoes compared to what we were promised at the end of last volume — Salem decimating a whole kingdom in The Fall of Atlas — but at least it's more than we were getting last week.

So Cinder is having her evil fun when the entire group leaves Penny to go after her. Again, stupid. You're going to leave the girl who (at this point) may not have been in a position to fight with her new body and stands vulnerable with a Relic? Not a single member stays behind to guard her? It would have served Team RWBY right if Neo had shown up and just clocked Penny, taking a second Relic for herself.

Cinder taunts the group with information she shouldn't have: “Your little friend Oscar was right, but the easy part ends here" then mimics them with the question "How’d you know about that?” at their shocked looks. This starts a flashback where we return to Cinder, Neo, and Watts in the alleyway. 

Again Cinder is given more development than a supposed hero like Emerald, apologizing to Neo for not upholding her end of their bargain. In fact, Cinder displays more growth here than our entire title characters combined, it's just that her growth turns her into a better villain. She apologizes to Neo, compliments Watts as a means of acknowledging the work he's accomplished — “You tore this kingdom apart with nothing but your intellect. How about we finish what you started?” — and tells the heroes that she did learn something from them: “Sometimes, if you want to win, you simply can’t do it alone.” 

I quite like all of this. Again, not that Cinder should be our biggest threat with Salem on the scene, but if you remove that context this is a great moment for her. She's actually learned something, but instead of following in the rather abrupt and, in Hazel's case, nonsensical footsteps of her peers, what she's learned has made her more dangerous, not a sudden, convenient ally. Since Volume 7 RWBY has hammered home the idea that only friends can truly be a good team and now, well, Cinder is kind of making friends. She's apologizing to Neo. She seems glad that Watts is happy. RWBY took the concept of working together and applied it to our villains with devastating effect. Team RWBY has been skating by on the idea that power comes from friendship, so what happens if your enemies become weird friends too?

To be clear, this doesn't erase the staggering number of other problems with Cinder's character, or the villains as a unit, or the volume as a whole... but it is an interesting step in the right direction. Props for that.

Granted, outside of the fight itself, the villains don't really win because they're smart, the heroes are just — again — staggeringly stupid. Cinder promises to get Ruby for Neo if she can ask Jinn a question... which she does! 

This moment could have been avoided if our heroes had just put the Lamp in the vault. Or not had Oscar carrying it around. Or used up the wish after they'd already summoned Jinn. Cinder's victory here rests entirely on her own enemies' ineptitude. At least she has the smarts to exploit it. She asks Jinn what the group's plan is and our three villains are shown the revelation outside after saving Penny and the discussions that took place in the dining room. They learn everything they need to inflict maximum chaos.

And it’s great. 

Three other details of note:

Cinder spots Emerald with the heroes during Jinn's vision, but doesn't have much of a reaction beyond her expression tightening.

Jinn looks sad when she reveals the group's plan, reinforcing the idea that she's biased towards our heroes. I'd be more on board with that characterization if a) she weren't created by Light whose own Good Guy persona is dubious at best, and b) she wasn't so cruel towards Ozpin. Again, it's just this strange insistence that everyone adore Ruby Rose.

Neo reveals the Relic by pulling it out of Roman's hat. Uh... is that how hats work? They contain objects twice their height? While resting on someone's head? This wasn't one of Neo's illusions, she literally just pulled it out like a real world magician. That's weird. Showy, but weird.

Anyway, the flashback continues as the villains infiltration the Atlas military headquarters. I really enjoyed the music and cinematography here. It's a strangely uplifting tune — rather Cinderella-esque — which doesn't appear to work until you remember that these moments are through Cinder's perspective. Of course this is a Happy Ending for her — even if it's not for the audience. The quick cut between her summoning some fire and the whole room alight, bodies everywhere, was an excellent touch.

The happiness of this moment is then emphasized by Neo skipping as she beats people and Watts admitting that this is "everything I’ve ever wanted." I'm really digging the contrast between this scene's celebratory nature and the knowledge that the story is celebrating the wrong characters. It creates an enjoyably uncomfortable feeling for us and helps flesh out the villains more. From their perspective, life is good.

There's even a shot of that #1 Dad mug. Sometimes, RWBY gets it right.

Watts in particular is enjoying himself. He snags a discarded apple — no fairy tale symbolism there, I'm sure — and casually rubs the blood off it before taking a bite. This guy has style! 

Watts watches Jaune try to send out his message to the kingdom and cuts communication at the worst possible moment. But then, we knew that already.

Elsewhere in the facility, Robyn and Qrow are trying to round up the Ace Ops. They all feel Atlas shake, realizing that the group has used the Relic, and Elm is appropriately horrified. "They'll destroy the kingdom!" Robyn says some self-righteous words about how a kingdom is made up of its people, not the land it exists on, which, while ignoring the importance of land to so many cultures, completely ignores that right now the majority of people are still on Atlas, or below it, including them. "They set the house alight!" someone cries. "Who cares about a stupid house," Robyn says, uncaring that the entire family still resides inside and she's starting to inhale smoke.

As Robyn tries to paint herself as a hero, Watts hacks one of the droids and sets it to self-destruct, telling it to run full-tilt at the group. Their weapons don't stop it and at the last second Marrow throws himself in front to take the blast, shattering his aura. Uh... after everything we've seen in this show, a single, small explosion wipes out his aura? I don't care about that so much here, but I absolutely care about it for an upcoming scene. Keep this in mind.

Also, I'm not going to get into the potential problems of trying to execute Marrow, beating up Marrow, and then blowing up Marrow. Others can tackle that leviathan of a subject.

At least he survived? But only RT knows if Robyn and Qrow bothered to put him on their ship.

Because as Atlas begins to fall Harriet, free of Marrow's semblance, races for an airship going off the edge of the open parking garage. Idk what else to call that space. I'm sure there's something appropriately military-esque, but we're going with parking garage for now lol. This is the one — one — moment where I felt like the Ace Ops were actually written like they weren't friends, what with Harriet's willingness to race off and leave them behind. Again though, it's too late and there are, frankly, other aspects to consider. Like the fact that Marrow just betrayed her. I don't think she's in the right mind for trusting the rest of her team, especially when there are only seconds to save herself.

Vine uses his stretchy arms to grab hold of her ship though and heaves himself on board.

Cutting to the jail, Ironwood wakes up and is greeted with a despondent Jacques. As Ironwood realizes that the group has the Staff, Jacques goes, "That's right, you lose! … we both lose." Before there can be any interesting discussion though, Ironwood's cell... goes out???

I suppose the explanation for this is things falling apart as Atlas descends, but man is that another moment of head-scratching convenience. What's even worse is that Winter apparently just left his weapons beside the cell. "Hey, what should we do with Ironwood's giant gun?" "Idk, leave it for him on the off chance us removing the city's power source wreaks havoc with the electrical bars?" I mean seriously. At least Qrow had to go find his weapon in a locker.

For a second Jacques is thrilled, sure that Ironwood will open his cell too... right?

He does open the cell, by blasting the whole thing to smithereens, Jacques included.

You all know I'm horribly disappointed with how they've written Ironwood, but I can't bring myself to dredge up any fury over this murder. It's Jacques. You know, the abuser and slave owner who has never shown a single shred of decency? Can't say I'm sorry to see him gone, especially since one of the Schnee girls were never going to kill him. The only other thing they could have done was have Jacques die an accidental death.

So villain!Ironwood can have another murder, as a treat.

Meme jokes aside, it's interesting that Ironwood's never-seen-before-last-episode gun produces a green blast and fire. It looks incredibly similar to what Penny created as an android and the fire around her Maiden eyes. Unlike Watts' apple though, I don't think this is a parallel RT intentionally included. Not unless we want to dig deep for more “Metal bodies = evil” symbolism, but there’s already plenty more persuasive examples of that. 

Returning to Team RWBY, we finally come to the highlight of the episode: Yang falling off the edge.

Okay, I want to praise RWBY for having the guts to kill off a main character... but we all know they haven't killed off a named character. If next episode — or perhaps even next volume — it's revealed that Yang is really dead, I'll happily eat these words. For now though, this is not the consequence that RWBY critics have asked for. This is, in fact, quite a mess.

Let's count up all the ways this scene has failed spectacularly.

No one believes that Yang is actually dead. Not just because she's a title character, not just because Ambrosius never confirmed that the void was deadly or even dangerous — "Don't fall," however ominous, doesn't actually tell us what happens to someone who falls — but also because we have been here before. Three volumes ago. Remember how it looked like Weiss would die only for Jaune to unlock his semblance and save her? Yeah. The audience is both genre and RWBY savey. This cliffhanger feels cheap because absolutely no one is fooled.

Feel familiar? 

Worse, Yang falls because of another round of stupidity. Nothing about this moment is convincing.

First, she notices Neo sneaking up on Ruby. What's her reaction? To flare her semblance, charge her in fury, and be horribly injured. Oh wow, where have we seen this before?

This is the exact same series of events from Volume 3. A loved one of Yang's is about to be harmed, she gets mad, charges without thinking, and takes the brunt of the attack herself, resulting in a far more serious injury than likely would have otherwise occurred. Emotionally understandable, but stupid. More importantly, it's the exact thing Tai tried to warn her about. The fandom praised Yang's arc because she got a moment of calm with Mercury, but since then we’ve ignored that development, reverting Yang to the same, impulsive fighter as before. Volume 6 showed us this problem in a non-combat setting and this moment solidifies it. Yang has learned absolutely nothing since Beacon. She's the same protective, reckless fighter she was back then, getting herself grievously injured because she can't think before she acts. What was the point of sending her on that journey if she was never going to improve? 

Neo cuts through Yang's aura in a single hit. A single hit. These characters have long, drawn out fights filled with crazy attacks and you're telling me a single slice of Neo's weapon is enough to shatter Yang's aura? Really, aura has been an absurd plot device for a while, but this volume has been particularly bad. Ren's aura breaks so the group is spotted by Salem's grimm, but then is back just a few minutes later so he can see purple petals around Emerald. Jaune's aura is said to be running just as low, but then is totally fine to boost Penny for the next hour until she reaches the vault. Now, Yang has had just as much time to rest as they do, but she’s instantly taken out?

This is a problem not because the loss of aura itself sends her over, but because the hit was apparently so powerful Yang passes out. She's groggy at least, blearily looking at everyone as she falls, but not reacting to them and, importantly, not trying to save herself. 

Yang could have reached for Blake's throw. She has a landing strategy. She could have blasted herself up, or towards any of the three paths she falls past. Instead she just... plummets. In a show where our characters are introduced through their ability to survive being launched off a cliff. Neo's attack needs to be miraculously incapacitating to justify — "justify" — Yang doing nothing to get out of this situation, in an episode where, minutes later, Ren's aura will also go out (again) but he's standing up and ready to fight a horde of grimm. But losing her aura through one hit somehow incapacities Yang?  

Also, to ward off the expected claims: she didn't hit her head. Yang's back hit the path and her eyes were closed before she ever made contact. Neo's hit just... knocked her out.

That's absurd.

Worse than her not helping herself, no one else on her team helps either. Except Blake. Ruby, who this volume has learned that she is basically able to teleport and negate the mass of carrying someone else, doesn't fly towards her sister. Weiss, who can summon flying grimm and create platforms for someone to land on, just reaches out a hand. They all had time to do something, Blake's action is proof of that, but neither of them did. Why? Because the show wants this to be a bees moment. I say that not as someone who hates the ship, but as someone who loves it. Or at least, I've always loved its potential, but if you need to prove their devotion by erasing the devotion of others... that's incredibly bad writing. And that's what this is. The choice to have Blake the only one capable of acting sends the message that she loves Yang enough to overcome the shock of her falling. That love powers her to act. But Yang is Weiss’ teammates too! Yang is Ruby's sister.

You’re telling me neither of them had the drive to push past shock and save her? 

I find it particularly insulting that Weiss comforts Blake rather than crumbling in grief herself. I find it doubly insulting that Blake cries and screams, but Ruby stoically continues her fight with Neo. In trying to show Blake's love for Yang — and hers in turn — the show has unintentionally pulled back on the love everyone else has, even between siblings. This is a far more harmful repetition of Yang's moment in the outpost: she cares more about the imagined disagreement with Blake than she does the actual fight she had with Ruby. Blake shows more emotion for Yang's assumed death than her sister has. You can't prove love by diminishing it elsewhere. The scene 100% needed all three girls doing everything in their power to save Yang, failing, and then continuing the fight while expressing the appropriate emotion for such a massive loss. Ruby can fly towards Yang and be pinned by Cinder. Weiss can start to summon and have an attack disrupts it. Ruby can scream and cry while she fights Neo. Again: that's her sister.

There's nothing about this scene that works for me and honestly? After Yang returns they better kiss. Or there better be an "I love you." Something canonical. There will never be a better, more obvious time for a confession than after Blake thinks she's lost Yang for good and if we don't get one... the ship has well and truly sunk. We're living in a post-Supernatural finale world. You can no longer take your one, implied to be queer main couple, toss one into this fantasy's version of super hell, give them a second chance together... and then leave things dangling. RWBY has to make them canon when Yang returns if they have any hope of maintaining a large portion of their queer fanbase.

As a final note on this scene, I don't like what it implies about both Blake and our lost civilians. Like Yang, (and like Penny last episode) this attack undermines the growth our characters have undergone. Yang learns not to attack out of emotion with her semblance... and then does just that. Penny learns that she's a person with an android body... and then gets a human body to make her perfect. Blake realizes that she isn't willing to kill people in this war anymore... and then goes after Neo with an intensity that implies she's ready to kill her. It's a detail that might have been meaningful if Blake's struggle had existed in more than a single line in a single scene. As it is, it just feels like they've forgotten — or are ignoring — another character beat they introduced. 

As for our civilians, will the show bring them back too? Look, I'm pleased Cinder blew them off the edge. I'm glad there were finally consequences for the kingdom-wide attack, even if none of have to come about from our main antagonist. But that impact was erased the second they threw Yang off the edge too. If they bring only her back, Team RWBY look like assholes who only care about their friends, not all the people they were charged with protecting (a recurring theme in this series). If they do bring the civilians back, we've lost that consequence. RWBY never should have tossed a title character into that void especially when, as said, everyone watching knows it's not a real consequence of this fight.

This was a terribly crafted scene, imo. If the only purpose here is to push the bees to confess, we could have gotten that after the whale. Yang was captured by Salem. That's more than enough danger to justify coming clean about feelings and the volume could have easily been reworked to make Blake aware of that danger, forcing her to stew in it until Yang returned, unharmed.

Instead we get this.

Also, I don't even want to get into the implications of having Yang disappear in a cloud of glittering gold dust like Pyrrha did. That's a world building rabbit hole RWBY really doesn't need.

So Yang is gone but obviously not gone. Blake is the only one impacted by this enough to react emotionally. Penny hears her scream and comes running, showing the viewer that absolutely nothing had changed despite getting an entirely new body. 

Cinder weirdly throws her voice — has she done that before? — to distract Penny and the fight continues, with Neo going after Ruby and Blake going after Neo. There's a moment where Blake realizes that Weiss is in trouble too, looking between her two teammates, unsure of who to help. 

I'm calling it now: Blake will be the third semblance upgrade, splitting herself into multiple fighters capable of functioning independently, rather than just shadow clones to take hits.

It would make as much sense as anything else.

Cinder at least is fighting smart, attacking the civilians rather than Weiss directly, then blowing her glass up in Weiss' face. She then manages to catch herself in the air, but, you know, couldn't do the same for Yang.

At the very least don't have Weiss using these abilities seconds later, c'mon.

We thankfully leave this nonsense for, well... more nonsense. Vine and Harriet get into a fight about what Clover would have wanted, which means nothing to the viewer because we didn't know Clover long enough to develop that sense for ourselves. I'm sorry, but following an order to peacefully bring Qrow in for questioning is not proof that he would have seen things through in the sense of blowing up Mantle, yet that's what we're supposed to believe based on Harriet's assertions and Vine's take that "perhaps Clover was wrong." I really hate that RWBY has taken to bashing the guy before he had the chance to actually do anything. Everyone is criticizing Clover based on lies or assumptions about what he might have done if, you know, he hadn't been murdered. Qrow blames Clover for defending himself, not his own choice to team up with Tyrian. Robyn asserts that Qrow is a better huntsmen than Clover, even though the one scene they had together was Robyn deciding to attack Clover because she didn't like him doing his job. Now Vine is like, "Yeah, Clover might have tried to blow up a kingdom needlessly, but maybe he was wrong and a bad person, you know?" I don't even like Clover that much, but the story has really gone out of its way to criticize him when he's obviously not around to prove, disprove, or otherwise defend himself. That’s messed up. 

The one good part about this scene is Harriet losing it, all her firm beliefs crumbling to reveal just an aching grief for losing Clover. Hark, is this humanity for the other Ace Ops I see? Some development and characterization? Vine reaching out sympathetically to comfort her because they've always been a team, no matter what Ruby might say about it?

Oh wait, no. They're interrupted by Robyn screaming as she slams her ship into theirs.

I think Robyn is, officially, my least favorite character in the series. Which isn't to say there aren't objectively worse characters than her — we saw one get blown up this episode — but no one has this particular combination of horrible acts, self-righteous attitude, and an absolute dearth of other positive qualities to distract from that. Robyn has brought nothing to the last two volumes except frustration and I can only hope she goes off to do her own thing when our finale is done.

Qrow goes feral, turning into a bird and changing at the last second to slam through Harriet's window. He taunts her about getting the fight she wanted and we see Watts hacking her ship while they're distracted.

Watts, I'm really loving the evil schemes, but don't you want to, uh... leave? Atlas is falling and you're one of maybe three people left on it. Best get a move on, chop, chop.

Those other two people are Winter and Ironwood, both of whom have come to the vault looking for Team RWBY. Ironwood lands a hit with his new gun, giving a short speech about how though he was always on the lookout for betrayal, he never expected it from her. He tells Winter to stand aside as his final order, to which she replies, “I’ve never wavered in fighting the enemies of this kingdom," preparing to fight.

I've explained the problems with Ironwood's downfall ad nauseam. I don't think that's needed again here. However, there are two final points I'd like to make.

Winter's characterization took a hit along with Ironwood's. Why didn't he think she'd ever betray him? Because they clearly cared for one another. The fact that Winter so quickly and easily gave up on Ironwood is a disservice to both of them. Even in the throes of being an emotionless killer, we still understand Ironwood's devastation at this betrayal: his shock when Winter attacked, his request that she step aside now, the single tear. 

There's nothing like that on her end. No denial that the man she faithfully followed would do this. No insistence that the man who helped her escape her abusive upbringing be reasoned with. Nothing. Winter dismisses Ironwood with the same callousness the narrative has.

Which brings me to my second point: this isn't hopeful. I know the Emerald lovers don't want me making comparisons, but the story has already done that for us. You can't give us an all out villain — someone responsible for countless deaths across the series, attacks on kingdoms, lying to our heroes, willingly working for the enemy  — and say that it's good to forgive her instantly, but it's not acceptable to even consider forgiving the man who has also killed, also threatened to attack a kingdom, was honest with our heroes, and always fought against the enemy. You can't give us an entire story about hope and forgiveness — Ruby reaching out to Raven, Weiss wanting to rescue Jacques, Oscar putting all his trust in Hazel — while saying that this character isn't worth compromising with. This character needs to be denounced to the whole world so there's no possibility of forgiveness. This character will commit horrific acts and his allies will immediately jump ship, but others? Their horrific acts are forgiven the moment you give them a way out. I'm supposed to believe that Yang, who knew Emerald only as the woman who attacked her school and has helped make their lives a living hell since then, will laugh with her within an hour, but Qrow, after years of being an ally and friend to Ironwood, is suddenly ready to murder him over an arrest he had no context for? That Ruby will try to make peace with every enemy she comes across, but not the guy who was the ally she betrayed? That Winter would extend more compassion to her abusive father than the man who helped her escape that? Ironwood's downfall isn't just horribly written, it messes with RWBY's core themes. Everyone deserves a second chance, is worth crying over, is worth reaching out to no matter how many horrible things they've done... except this guy here.

And when that guy is the PTSD riddled military vet who crumpled in large part because the heroes continually lied to, betrayed, and took extreme action rather than working to find a compromise... that's a really bad take. That shows a lot of bias on the part of RT. They're trying to write a story about the evils of the institution, but think they can reduce that to the evils of a single man driven to the brink. That doesn't send a teachable message to the audience and it certainly doesn't send a hopeful one. All it does is reiterate that if you rip away someone's support network when they're already falling they will, shockingly, fall harder.

Which brings us back to characters like Emerald. Because no, no one has to help Ironwood. When someone is hurting you and committing the crimes he has this volume, no one is required to extend a hand at their own, personal peril. But when the narrative is so heavily pushing forgiveness for other mass-murderers? When child torturers are extended a hand during the torture? That reframes everyone abandoning Ironwood into something unpalatable. Having Ironwood’s allies, friends, and really, family, so quickly toss him aside while other, equally bad people are welcomed in says that everyone struggling like him isn’t worth the effort. From a genre perspective, this isn’t a tragedy because the characters don’t care. No one is striving to bring Ironwood back from the brink. No one is crying over the man they lost. Hazel gets a moment of silence as Emerald kneels, stricken in the aftermath of his death, but one of the heroes since Volume 2 gets nothing but hateful looks from his second. 

But we all knew we'd end up here. My current theory? The portal should still be open at the vault. Winter will fight Ironwood, escape through it, and it will close right before he escapes too. He'll fall with Atlas and everyone will act as if it's some beautiful, poetic justice for him to perish with the city. 

Here’s hoping I’m very wrong! 

Finishing with Oscar's group, Ren's aura breaks after trying to mask everyone coming through the portal. Oscar realizes that Penny should have come through by now and runs back to find her, only to discover that the portal is closed on this side. Why? Because Weiss wished for a "one way trip to Vacuo." Not only is this another example of our heroes being stupid — they come up with this complicated wish that doesn't actually makes sense, but don't bother to be careful with their words like Ruby was when helping Penny? — but it also just... doesn't add up? How does Oscar know what Weiss wished for? How does Ozpin? (His one line in the episode.) They recall this together, the flashback acting like a memory, but neither of them were there. Neither was Ren. Neither was Emerald. They haven't spoken to the Relic group since separating.

It looks like RT still needs to edit their scripts.

As Oscar realizes they're trapped, the emotions of the group summons a huge number of grimm to the area. At this point, my only thought was why none of them had used the time Ren was buying them to try and find Vacuo. I mean, they're not the only fighters with semblances here. They have the Happy Huntresses too and, I would think, the Atlas students (unless the army was abandoned like Pietro and Maria were. Where are Neon and Flynt?) There's no one in this huge crowed with an ability that might make scouting ahead a little safer? No one is even going to try and figure some plan out? Everyone on these teams is too passive. They encounter a problem — where's the city? — and instead of trying to solve it while they can, while they’re in a good position to, they wait around until the situation becomes unimaginably worse and they have to figure something out or risk dying. Now, the people are being carried off by grimm, they know something has gone wrong on the pathways, and Ren is about to enter another fight without his aura. Let's hope he doesn't take a hit like Yang.

Summary of "Worthy"? Excellent villains, terrible heroes. It's better than what we've gotten in a while, but choices like Yang's fall ensures it's still not good. Given the trajectory of the volume, it was inevitable that we would end up here: moments that look significant at first glance, but are (quite likely) no more than window dressing in the long run.

Finally, bingo is rather boring this week. Unsurprising, considering we're almost out of space. I'm keeping our "Army of grimm conveniently doesn't kill any civilians" square checked because the point there was for Salem to kill people, not for the group to lead the refuges into a grimm infested desert. We'll have to see how many people they lose though and whether Atlas "somehow survives." Here, like Robyn, I'm talking about the citizens, not the now clearly doomed hunk of land. At this point, Oscar doesn’t seem to at all care about his near death experience, but I'll hold off on that square until we're truly done, and there's still a near certain possibility that Ironwood will die, with a likely possibility that Qrow grabs a bottle when first given the chance. What RWBY has avoided though is a Jacques-Watts team up 2.0. Considering, you know, Jacques is dead.

Gold star for not doing the expected, iffy thing, RWBY.

That's the square I would have least minded seeing though 😬

Anyway, finale next Saturday, folks! What insanity will the end bring? Only time will tell. But I can't wait to see what state the fandom will be left in for hiatus!

Until then 💜

[kitkatopinions]

Words cannot express how much I like the idea of Winter, Weiss, or Whitley being the character inspired by the ‘Beast’ instead of Adam.

I mean, the Beast was born into privilege and wealth, was spoiled, selfish, and arrogant. He was ‘cursed’ into becoming a monster by an outside force, is isolated except for his servants, and also proved to be petty (requiring a life because one of his rose’s were plucked.) The Beast finds some companionship and someone he cares about in Beauty, only to be left alone again, and nearly dies of heartbreak in the absence of being with her (I know, the level of co-dependence.) But Beauty’s love (and guilt at leaving him) brings him back to life and transforms him back to a human, his beastliness falling away. In the Disney version, he’s more sympathetic, he has a magic mirror, has a lot of clear insecurities and self deprecating tendencies, it’s implied that he was turned into a beast when he was a pre-teen, he also is able to let Belle go, and he’s even kind and gentle when he stops being in his own head and taking out his problems on other people, but his early crime that got him turned into a beast was actually cruelty towards a lowly beggar who was seeking shelter from a storm, who he dismissed for being haggard and ugly and sneered at the simple offering of a rose. (And I’m not super fond of the live action Disney Beauty and the Beast, but it’s worth noting that having an abusive father was an addition there.)

I know, I know, RWBY was trying to do their edgy subversions.

But what I don’t like is them choosing to make their ‘Beast’ character a needy oppressed former child slave that got branded like cattle and was unfairly treated like an animal and like he wasn’t even human. And then due to his trauma and desperation to be free and equal, he ‘turned into the monster everyone thought he’d been all along.’ And to quote Adam’s RWBY: Amity Arena card...  "The final traces of love, the beauty he let go, never returns, and as the last petal falls, Adam is cursed to forever remain a beast. Because, in this tale as old as time, there is no happy ending. In this story... HE is the monster." Yeah, sorry, I hate it. Part of the Beast’s whole thing is his wealth and the power he wields over people like the Merchant/Belle’s father and Belle herself. I’m not even going to get into how awful the allegory is in light of their racism/people of color/faunus allegory that they never should’ve even included and how it makes this allegory problematic. But what I am going to say is how much I hate these ‘dark, gritty’ subversions that rarely ever even work well imo. “The Beast, except he’s actually bad,” is like, the coldest take, and anyway, what’s with all the hopeless versions of fairy tales in a show where hope and goodness is supposed to be major themes? Also they’ve now done this with way too many characters. “Cinderella, but she becomes an abuser too.” “Watson, but if he was a criminal.” “The Tin Woodman except if he lost his heart.” “Pinocchio, but if the puppet died the moment it became a human.” I don’t know, I’m sure there’s more. My point is, I don’t like it. XD

Any of the Schnees would be much better as a ‘Beast’ inspiration.

Winter - Born into wealth and privilege, has some level of arrogance and lots of cold behavior, Winter was raised in an abusive household. And I might hate this as a James fan, but the show itself already twisted her time as his right hand into something that made her less than human (eyeroll.) Either Penny or Weiss could be fitted to be a platonic Beauty/Belle role, prodding Winter towards her redemption (and in the case of Winter and Penny even helping to trigger a magical transformation.) Winter then becomes everything she should’ve been and proves there’s more to her than the ice queen exterior and ‘beastliness’ people perceived partially due to her own actions (at least, that’s what the writers were clearly trying to get across.)

Whitley - Born into wealth and privilege, has arrogance, cold behavior and some level of pettiness and selfish behavior. He was raised in an abusive household with some clear neglect, isolated apart from his servants. And he was heavily influenced by his father to be much worse and let his bad traits take over. Whitley had some companionship in Weiss, but she left even before the show started - or alternatively, Weiss’s return home signifies the early stages before Belle/Beauty started seeing past the ‘beastliness’ to the good qualities he has, and Weiss leaves too early, leaving her still considering Whitley nothing more than bad and leaving their resolution open ended. Until season eight when Whitley proves there’s more to him and that he’s more kind and selfless than Weiss had thought.

Weiss - The best option here in my opinion. She had the same sort of privileged and spoiled upbringing as Whitley, manifesting in some similar shared traits like their arrogance, pettiness, selfishness, cold behavior, etc. She as well was severely impacted by the abuse of her father and neglect from both him and her mother. But unlike Whitley, she’s got the mirror motif and is connected to someone who is literally named ‘Ruby Rose.’ On top of that, Weiss is discriminatory and judges by appearances when we first meet her, is dependent on her wealth and status, and yet is often judged by others quickly too (”All my life, boys have only cared about the benefits of my last name,”) some with merit like Blake - the literal Beauty lol. Weiss has to learn to love and let go of not only her father’s way of thinking, but of her own way of thinking to start growing into a truly good, self-possessed person (although sadly we don’t see that growth truly emphasized as Weiss never even apologizes for her treatment of the Faunus.) And that growth doesn’t really even take full effect until she’s separated from the people that she had grown to care about (including rose themed Ruby who fought to see past her prickly and downright awful behavior, full on Belle/Beauty allegory Blake who gave her a second chance and treated her better than she deserved, and described ‘Yellow Beauty’ Yang who seemed to see more in Weiss and enjoy time spent with her despite their huge differences from the start.) Once Weiss rejoins the group, she’s softer, kinder, seems more tolerant (though I know there’s still plenty to complain about in how MKEK continue to write for the faunus plots,) and is overall a much better person. Also, side note, but like the Beast, Weiss does get real close to death, causing a tearful former ‘love interest’ to cry over her unconscious form and trigger what’s essentially magic to heal her and bring her back. 

So... Yeah. I think the ‘Beast’ allusion works much better for the characters of any of the Schnee siblings than it did for Adam.

[nextwarden]

It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.

Not for the first time in her life Weiss Schnee was about to do something dangerous and brave. For once, however, it had the potential to also probably be very, very stupid. She had, of course, always danced with danger. Being the esteemed daughter of one of the most powerful men in the world came with its fair share of risk. Whether it be from the outside world or from within… She had long learned that lesson, one that trailed before her in every second of her life. But she had, to the appalled surprise of her father and perhaps even to her own, also learned to do what was right. It hadn't been easy, it had taken years and many a tentative step, a handful of eye-opening moments to see the truth veiled behind layers and layers of lies and deception, and a push from unlikely comrades to finally make herself into the huntress she had destined herself to be. For others but not at their bidding, for herself yet as selfless as could be. Not that anyone would outright accuse her of such a quality - to the outside world, she was still the cold, icy soul that refused to back down for anything below perfect, whatever the cost. Truthfully, however, she had felt that thick wall begin to thaw and crumble for some time now. One that she had spent years carefully erecting in order to protect herself from the world and its dangers, from her father and his control, from her life and its lonely emptiness… That had all changed after she had arrived at Vale. Granted it had taken some time, but the strange yet powerful strength which had been imposed upon her by the three young women that made up her team - her family, if she was to be honest - had shifted from unbearably suffocating to gratefully welcomed. It had not killed or ruined her, as she had often been promised such things would. Quite on the contrary, team RWBY had been the best thing that had happened to her. She had found an unlikely yet precious kinship in the form of Blake Belladonna, the aloof and mysterious faunus. Somehow, although she could not quite explain it, a frustrating yet immensely motivating support in Yang Xiao Long, the hot shot, empty-headed pillar of the team and Ruby's elder sister. And then there had been Ruby Rose. An incorrigibly clumsy dolt of a girl, too immature and too trusting to amount to anything, she had assessed within the first seconds of their meeting. Somehow, however, the red-clad typhoon, despite her childish manners, her constant nagging, and her inability to stop putting others' needs before her own, had wormed her way into her heart. Earning not only respect but also admiration and loyalty. Earning so much more than that too...

That was precisely why she was standing on the beach that day. The adoltable girl must have somehow rubbed off one her as she was sure she was about to make the biggest mistake of her life following one of the stupidest decisions she had ever convinced herself to make in the entirety of her life. And there weren't many, she was not Weiss Schnee for nothing - although there seemed to be far more in the recent months than before. She had no true statistics to back that sentiment up yet she knew it to be true, or at least she felt it to be true - perhaps she'd run some numbers to verify it- Focus! Now was not the time. She had a very very bad, no good, horrible decision to follow up with and all her brain power was needed in order to convince herself that she could not back down now. Or to find a way to in the span of the half second she had left before the silence became too uncomfortable between the two of them. She could already feel the frown grow between those adorable brows of hers- No, focus!

"Weiss?", she heard Ruby's voice prompt her, uncertain.

Time had ticked, she had to speak or forever be silent. Oh how silence seemed appealing to her now… But she had resolved, she had to. They had walked along the beach for long enough, coming to the shore on her behest after a long day of working on their shared essay and a growing headache in the hope of enjoying some fresh air and clearing her mind. Maybe, just maybe, to also try to confess her feelings to the girl that had enraptured her heart for a while now. Never had she thought of ending up in such a situation before, in love and so completely lost as to how she was ever going to find the courage to do what she wished to do. Her, the self-assured Weiss Schnee, victim of weak knees. What a joke!

"Weiss?", she heard the girl call again, softer this time.

Her leader was looking at her, her eyes full of the love she knew the ravenette had for her friends and companions. Soft and patient silver expectantly waiting. Ruby clearly had no idea of the power she held, Weiss thought. It had not always been the case, but she had grown and matured from a loud and obnoxiously cheerful girl into almost a grown woman, taller, fuller - in hair, curves, muscles, and inner depth - and, well, as plainly as it was possible to say, irresistible, she had found. Everyday Weiss was assaulted a little more by her kindness, her softness, her care. Not that it was disagreeable, on the contrary. That was the problem, it felt so good she wanted to lose herself in it for hours at a time, both in the attention and in the physical proximity. It was something she had lacked as a child in that huge, cold mansion her father had made into an even colder and harsher place, she knew it, yet this was not only her trying to recapture that, it was more. She wanted Ruby by her side and she wanted to be by Ruby's side, good times or bad, and that want grew a bit more every day. It had been growing for a while now, so much so that she had had to accept it as something that was there and she would eventually have to act upon - whether to crush or to encourage. She had mulled it over, weighing for and against, carefully, as carefully as she took every other decision in her life, letting herself realize that she wanted something out of it. Carefully drafting a plan to eventually do act upon it. And, finally, actually acting upon it. That was where she was left now, after a long day of studying, a trip to the cold, windy beach, and a few hours of walking and talking as her nerves grew ever more taut. A moment of blissful silence had passed between the two, a rare occurrence only happening after long discussions when even Ruby found herself not pouring out words but appreciating the quiet for a while. Weiss had taken the ravenette's hand, gently stopping them in their tracks, before announcing she had an announcement to make, something she wanted to tell Ruby, something important but not quite easy to say. Ruby had been patient, had waited in silence, gently encouraging her with those beautiful silver orbs of hers. Weiss had opened her mouth repeatedly yet no sound had come out, she'd breathed in and out yet her nerves had not died down, and now she'd waited too long to speak and too long to back out of it. Ruby knew something was up and she was worried, preventing Weiss from simply brushing it aside as she usually did when it came down to it. No, now she had to actually carry on with it. And she would. She deserved that, Ruby deserved that, she deserved the truth, even if the truth scared Weiss, especially letting it out. Nodding and with a press of her hand, she took a deep breath.

"Sorry, I-...", she began, hesitating again. "Sorry. It's not easy to say. I'm a bit scared, to be honest."

Ruby frowned at that, she opened her mouth to reassure her, surely, but Weiss motionned her to stay silent.

"Please, let me say what I have to say first."

Ruby simply nodded at that.

And Weiss did. It came out slowly, with great difficulty. Stuttering at first, in jumbled pieces despite all her plans and coordination, despite the whole speech she had prepared during the many sleepless nights leading up to that day. And Ruby listened. She listened as Weiss spoke of herself, her life before Beacon, their meeting, the horrible impression she'd made on her during their first meeting, how that impression had changed, her doubts (about herself, about others, about everything), and slowly but surely, almost despite herself, she found a rhythm and the words, the ones she wanted to say along many others she had never expected until that point yet which felt right and true and deserved, poured out of her as steady as a stream, more confident as Ruby tentatively nodded her attention. Weiss felt like she was not simply admitting her feelings aloud, but like she was telling herself to Ruby.

It wasn't the first time, over the months they'd shared in each other's company they'd become very close, closer than she'd even have imagined before. Ruby had almost instantly opened herself to her (from the moment the first impression from their first meeting had faded enough for Weiss to interact with her like a normal human being and not her archenemy set on burning her career to the ground, at least). Weiss, on the other hand, had needed more time to do so, it had taken many a nice gesture from Ruby, many a kind word, and many - too many - moments of reproach from Weiss (not always deserved, she had to admit) before she'd eventually begun opening. Without even realizing it at first. A small admission here, another there, and much like today, she had unravelled her life for the one she had come to consider her best friend, her first true friend.

Opening herself had not only given her the opportunity to have somebody else know her better, but also to know another soul almost as she did her own. Sharing had revealed itself not to be a weakness, as Jacques had often professed, praying to his capitalistic gods, but a path to find strength in more forms than she had known until then. Sharing opened oneself to be cared for by others and showed that one cared about others to allow them to do it. It had helped her learn to relate to her peers, and then, slowly, to those different from her. She'd even become one of those who were different, if she could say so herself. How good it had felt to let herself free from the shackles that her family had long imposed on her, even if that was only in the confines of her academic life and tentative step after tentative step. And all of that she owed to her friends, and amongst all of her friends, to Ruby. Not simply for being there and listening, but for being the reason that had made her want to actually change.

That is what she finally confessed. How her life had begun revolving around Ruby without her even noticing, how she'd wanted to share that with her for some time now, and how it had made her simultaneously a better, stronger and happier person than she'd ever have hoped, yet also such a coward she hadn't been able to string two coherent sentences until then, and simply tell her that she, the loveable raven-haired dolt, was actually very much loved.

As she spoke, she saw the silver eyes grow. And as she finished and let the weight of her words settle on the humid sand, they'd widened to an extent she had previously only seen on rare occasions when cookies were involved or she extended an equally rare demonstration of affection, and then even wider than that. Oh no. That wasn't a good sign, was it? So, about those backup plans? Perhaps 'H' would do? She heard the gasp and saw the array of emotions brew into the storm that were Ruby's eyes. How she wished she could take back her words now…

When Ruby finally spoke, it was just as deconstructed as when she herself had begun speaking.

"Weiss, I-... I-..."

Clearly the girl was at a loss for word, overwhelmed by what she'd just been told.

Weiss felt the retreat a second before it came, in the tensing muscles and the rapid glance the girl shot behind her. Curses...!

"Ruby, wait-!", was all she managed to get out before she smelled the semblance activate.

A scent of roses, much stronger than usual, assaulted her nose and her mind - oh how unjust it was to be left with the lingering perfume of what she had now come to associate with her wildly beating heart. Damned be her superior genes!

The silhouette stormed in the distance of the beach and she let out a groan. How was she going to deal with this? What was she to do? Should she even try to deal with it? A return to cold Atlas was the last thing she desired but it would at least have the benefit of putting her in a remote enough place that she would not have to face the shameful consequences of her own stupidity… Her paternal would see to it even if she didn't, keeping the 'questionable' influences at large. Did she want that, however? If the choice had been quite obvious one way up until then, it was on the verge of being drastically altered in that precise moment. Despite all she had learned over the past years, she could feel the desire to turn away and

remove herself rather than feeling the humiliating pain of having to face Ruby and her friends after this...

Before her numb body had time to truly catch up with her frantic mind, which itself had not quite registered the reality of her crumbling heart, however, she heard a sound in the distance. Sand grating sand. Followed by a frustrated grunt and the faint splash of water as a stone ricocheted over the waves. And as her eyes lifted back up, the small silhouette of her team leader, now standing motionless near the water, imprinted itself in her eyes. That was the only reason she knew it had been there and it had been real, for as soon as her gaze settled on Ruby, the brunette had disappeared in another flurry of petals. Once again she was left to her own, lost and abandoned. It wasn't the first time, and surely it would not be the last. Each time the pain promised to lessen only to hit her full speed when she least expected it. What good was time and experience if it did nothing to soothe or prevent bruising? Still, she had picked herself up more than once and she would again. She was a Schnee and Schnees did not stay down. She would- A sound cut through her thoughts.

She heard the frenzied steps crunch the delicate silica grains, each louder than the previous one. She recognised the voice an instant too late, registering what was going to happen a moment even later as a huge weight tackled her and sent her crashing into the sand with so much force she almost passed out. Had she not let her powers flow out she probably would have, but even when her mind was too slow, her nerves and muscles reacted on instinct.

"Weiss!" she now realized Ruby had been yelling, her voice desperate and shrill, as she barrelled into her at full semblance speed.

When the world finally came back to her in an orderly fashion she was on her back, humid sand holding her steady, as Ruby was on top of her, her wide silver eyes looking at her, watching, apologetic yet seemingly searching deep into her blue ones for something. Instants passed, quiet and still, almost as if everything else had frozen - she couldn't hear the waves anymore so maybe the world had actually frozen. Perhaps even was it her doing. She did tend to… lose control more often than not when in the presence of the brunette, such an outburst would not even surprise her at this point. Then, before she had the time to utter the words she had uttered so often in loving frustration at her partner, before she even had time to finish thinking about doing so, her vision went dark and she felt something soft on her lips. It took her another few seconds of wild heart and crazed thoughts to comprehend what was happening. Ruby had leaned down, her hair falling over Weiss's eyes, and she was now kissing her, ever so gently, as if she was a precious - not fragile, she knew the girl knew by now - piece of… something, something worth being ever so careful not to break or damage - as if she could easily be anyway… The interaction was pleasant however, more than pleasant even, and welcome, very oh so very welcome. So much so that nothing could make her bitch about what had led to it, as her partner's sister loved to word. Not now, in any case. For the first time since she had learned the power that contact with Ruby held upon her, she let herself relax and melt into it. Her high end dress and her carefully crafted updo be damned, she took that moment for everything it had to offer. Even returning some of it herself as she cupped the soft cheek above her with a hand and leaned into the kiss.

There were no fireworks, there was no orchestral music either, although she felt that the moment would have deserved everything the best of romantic scenes could throw at it, not even taking into account the fact that she was a Schnee and that Schnees deserved only the best. This was the best, not by name or by wealth, but by pure and simple meritocracy. None of that happened, yet the world as she knew it did tilt on its axis. She was kissing Ruby, Ruby was kissing her. The object of so much of her yearning for so long, something she had never dreamed of truly having the right to deserve, was acting exactly as she desired. And she was flying. Even the realization that she was having the gall to question whether this was the kind of gesture she was hoping for and not simply an affectionately friendly way of assuring her of Ruby's desire to remain close despite Weiss's admission did nothing to ground her. Not to Earth, at least. If time had stopped or the world had frozen for real this time she couldn't say for all had simply vanished and only the feeling of Ruby upon her remained. Her weight, her softness, her heat, her smell, the small sounds that escaped from her throat - or perhaps both their throats - as they delved into the moment. She was tethered to her raven-haired partner, and only they were left. Weiss caught in her bright orbit, never to be let go. Oh. That was a scary thought. Welcomed yet hair-raising. She'd have to ponder upon that later, preferably together with the one currently showering her in affection, right now she had other preoccupations.

…

They must have stayed in that position for a long time, Weiss realized when the first wave came to lap against her arm and drenched her back in cold, salty water. To her credit, she did not yelp. She had learned to show restraint in her reactions via closely monitored teasing from her roommates over the past years, after all. And the fact that her supply of air was dangerously low did not help, nor did her obstructed mouth and already humming throat. Still, she motioned to the taller girl to catch her attention. When Ruby did not react and kept on making her focus lose itself she tried again. To no avail. Feeling a third wave coming, the second one had already drenched the second third of her back which had remained untouched, she managed to invoke enough willpower to shove them both around. Ruby yelped at the unexpected movement and, in the process, Weiss found herself atop her partner. The other girl let out a second yelp, surprised as she felt the degree of humidity of her back skyrocket. Weiss saw the frown of outrage almost knit the two brows together on Ruby's flush face as her team captain finally realised what had happened and, despite her best efforts, couldn't help the fit of giggles that soon turned into a full laugh. It rippled through her body, sending her crashing into Ruby's neck where she remained for a while, revelling in the sweet scent as her shoulders kept shaking.

When Weiss rose again, one hand still cupping Ruby's cheek and the other fisted into the neck of her top, she saw the ravenette was smiling too. One of those tender, ever-loving - and ever-loveable - smiles. She couldn't help the wave of heat that burned her already rosy cheeks, instantly vanishing the cold from her face.

"That was not very nice", she heard as much as she saw the smile in her partner's voice.

"You weren't listening," Weiss shrugged in response. "As often is the case, I'll have you know," she added almost mischievously.

Ruby huffed but did not move as another wave came softly crashing upon her side. She simply wrapped her arms - as deadly as her guns, Weiss had found out during their first spring at Beacon - around the petite yet fierce woman on top of her. Her silver eyes suddenly became more serious, yet losing none of the affection they beamed at her.

"I'm…," she seemed to search for her words for a moment. "I'm sorry, Weiss.", she settled on in the end.

The even more serious, if that was possible.

"I do too."

Weiss may have smiled, she may have not. Nothing else than the swell of her heart and the heat of their second kiss registered in her mind as she closed her eyes and leaned into Ruby once again. She did too. They both did. Wonderful.

…

So, when Blake and Yang, Blake "Eternal Unfazed" Belladonna, and Yang "Top of the World" Xiao Long, walked back into the party, each so far removed from their own title that even Jaune quirked an eyebrow, Weiss knew exactly what had transpired elsewhere and what would transpire in the times to come. She gently nudged Ruby and pointed to the duo. The ravenette looked from behind her shoulder, shifting slightly yet not breaking the embrace she had Weiss trapped in. The leader studied her teammates' gaits; Weiss saw her silver eyes trail from the faint smirks on each face down to their intertwined fingers, and felt light pour into the room as she beamed at the sight. Of course she would be happy for them, she deserved to be after all the work she had put into making an opportunity for realization on both their part. Also perhaps because that now levelled the playing field slightly, giving them the opportunity to return the teasing. Unless it had the opposite effect and instead magnified the bumbling bi's ability to mouth words by backing them up with snarky smirks. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought. She let herself smile as she felt Ruby's heat expand around her in an effort to warm her up, effort at which she would have rolled her eyes and huffed before, yet which she had learned to accept and appreciate over time. The girl truly had rubbed off on her, it was undeniable now. Still she retained most of her wit and snip, no amount of warm and tender ravenette would ever manage that feat (at least not while they were around others). She made it known to the two girls as they slowly made their way through the crowd by a cool, level gaze and a raised eyebrow. Blake simply raised one in return and Yang rubbed the back of her neck and offered a sheepish smile as they came to stand in front of Ruby and her, hands still clasped onto each other and their closeness now reduced to nothing.

"Good?", Weiss asked, feeling Ruby's broad smile more than she saw it.

"Good," Yang replied after exchanging a look with Blake.

The tenderness in the gesture did not escape her notice, neither did it Ruby's as she felt the smile broaden even more against the back of her head. Still Weiss huffed. She had to, at least at something during her day, the world demanded it.

"Good", she replied with a curt nod.

This time it was her turn to smile. It was definitely not as broad as Ruby's or Yang's, but it held just as much emotion, only part of it being the other duo's doing. Sharing could be easy when one cared.

-----

I want you to date me. (College AU - Part I)

Sunset (College AU - Part III)

Sun-kissed

[starlightshadowsworld]

Give me.... (Ozpin Edition)

Give me Ozpin who wakes up not knowing exactly who he is. He's lived countless lives for who knows his long, it's hard to know exactly what's going on... The worst is when he wakes up thinking he's Ozma with a loving wife... And finding out the opposite.

Give me Ozpin, who deeply cares for all his incarnations and nothing wrecks or guilt him more than when he ends up with Oscar... This youngest of them all.

Give me Ozpin who despite being betrayed countless times has so much faith and love for humanity and his inner circle. Its only with tears of experience and fear that the truth can stay hidden.

Give me Ozpin who's died countless times, in countless different ways. Who wakes up in a cold sweat at night reliving burning alive, being buried alive, poisoned the list is endless. And it's all in vivid detail because the gods would never grant him such a mercy as forgetting his failures.

Give me Ozpin who while trying to be professional and a mentor ends up caring deeply for RWBY, STRQ And JNPR. Who mentored them, taught them and wanted nothing more for them to live their lives in ignorant bliss.

Give me Ozpin who forces himself to look Pyrrah in the eye and ask her multiple times. Away from the rest he explains the whole truth, they already know of course... He couldn't bring himself to keep them in the dark. And yet he's surprised when she is the one offering him comfort. He smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes, promising himself he will watch over her.

Give me Ozpin who died burning alive by Cinder, who's last thoughts were Jaune and Pyrrah were safe. And for the first in a long time he's at peace... But it doesn't last, it never has.

Give me Ozpin who guides Oscar, who beats himself up for reincarnating into a child and having said child leave home. He's kind, caring and more open than he is with anyone else...because he's forced him into a fate like this the least he can do is show him the way (he never stops to think he 2 was forced into this in a way)

Give me Ozpin who sits on the train and answers Oscar's questions, how much he laughs and rolls his eyes fondly to see Qrow again. The long memory feels light in his hands as it always has.

Give me Ozpin when the group reunite, he sits down and explains what happened. The anger aimed at him from Jaune confuses him and he asks.... His head bows and a mix of a scream and a whimper leaves his lips. They find him kneeling in prayer, because if those beings still exist, than surely they'll grant he everlasting peace... To her and to all his fallen students.

Give me Ozpin who mentors the group yet again, he points out their weaknesses with kind words and teaches them how to grow. Everyone laughs when Ozpin turns his cane at a laughing Qrow and goes through his rap sheet like he's a student all over again. The laughter only gets louder when Qrow sheepishly runs off saying "yes sir"

Give me Ozpin who never sees Yang as her mother. He accepts her criticisms of him and does his best to honour his promise, besides with the lamp they'll find out either way... He tells them she's immortal, it's what Qrow and the rest of his group knew but it instills them with hope. Hope that there is a way, and that they have done so much for the world by fighting grimm.

Give me Ozpin who is baffled how no one knew Qrow and Raven could turn into birds, he'd said to not make it public of course but... Seeing everyone's surprised looks and a sheepish Qrow wasn't what he expected. What was expected is Nora being asked to turn into a Ursa.

Give me Ozpin when he realises Leo betrayed him, how he shuts down because much like his deaths it never stops hurting. He makes sure Leo is remembered as wise man... A friend... A Faunus that the public can't use as another excuse for war. Tears run down his cheeks, he'd lost one more. Blake sits by his side, they domt say much but at the end she thanks him for it.

Give me Ozpin who's been a Faunus in the past, who uses that experience to teach understanding. It gives Blake someone to confide in, "how can they not understand why what Professor Lion heart did needs to stay hidden..." He explains best he can, drawing on his own experiences until understanding is met.

Give me Ozpin who keeps his past hidden out of shame and fear especially when he wakes up screaming in the night. He never wants to seem weak especially infront of his students but somehow they've worm their way into his heart... And it both terrifies and warms his soul.

Give me Ozpin who keeps the relic on hand, out of fear. He can't let it get away not when there's 2 wishes left....and when it's used against him because curiousity killed the cat... He doesn't move. He sinks to his knees infront of them all as his sins crawl on his back, tears roll down from his cheeks and he's silent... Until he sees his children die as well as he, than a scream with such heartbreak echoes through the forest.

Give me Ozpin who's afraid, who doesn't wait for a reaction he locks himself in Oscar's mind without even thinking it through. Pain coils through him and he's heavy with guilt and shame. "when you seek comfort you will only find pain"

Give me Ozpin who despite this is always there when Oscar needs to him, though he's jumpy and scared. There's a rift in the group, because Ozpin had tried his best and many knew that and displaying his pain like a show was a step to far. Not that Ozpin knows, he thinks it's deserved.

Give me Ozpin who's coaxed out by Yang of all people, because she wants to make amends... They all do. And their all lost and confused heading to Atlas and they need guidance more than ever... And Ozpin was always a teacher first and foremost. So he returns, shaky and jumpy but with a confidence he doesn't possess....

Give me Ozpin who's met with comfort with comfort... With guilt and shame not directed at him. And it breaks him, he sobs openly and unapologetically all the while comforting those that wronged him. There's hot chocolate pressed in their hands, somehow even being a apart of Oscar doesn't destroy his "teacher look" because no Mr Arc we are not resorting to theft.

Give me Ozpin who sets up their plan for Atlas with Jaune's aide, slowly realising he doesn't have to do everything alone. Who apologises to Ruby while she talks to Maria because he wasn't sure how to approach her about her eyes. Admitting that makes him feel foolish and yet ever so human.

Give me Ozpin who enters Atlas and knows something is wrong. Who takes Oscar's council and words to heart while Ironwood does not. There both afraid but it is Ozpin who learns he's not alone, that won't let fear consume him while openly admitting he's afraid.

Give me Ozpin who is calm until Ironwood insinuates that Oscar is just another reincarnation... And it takes a lot of people to hold Ozpin back. Its the first in a long time ever seen him mad... And that's when he knows James is truly gone... Because Ozpin cherished each life that he was bought into while James saw them as something indisposable...and that cuts him to his core.

Give me Ozpin who isn't fast enough to stop the bullet but braces them for the fall, who cries tears of pain at his friends betrayal but also pride in seeing Oscar use magic. He sees Salem's fleet and yet there's hope in his heart.

Give me Ozpin who made mistakes and tries to fix them. Who cares for the group, for Oscar as much as he did his own children. Who's fears of the past won't cloud his future.

This is our Ozpin.

[littlemisssquiggles]

I have had a fear ever since Salem’s first meeting with Cinder and crew in Volume 4, given what Ruby’s silver eye power did to Cinder and Tyrian sadistically mentioning “eye for an eye” that Ruby might lose an eye, have half her face horribly scarred, lose an arm...considering Cinder’s grudge and the dramatic irony that the two would “match” if that would happen and would be “even”. And considering the show pulls no punches at times...it’s just a fear I’ve had ever since Volume 4 and especially since things are getting much darker. I just want both halves of the RoseGarden team to be okay! Poor babies 😔

Hey there Sweet. To tell you the honest truth fam, I’m not a fan of the whole “Ruby losing an eye” theory that’s become increasingly popular with the FNDM as of this volume. 

In my opinion, the CRWBY Writers haven’t done a good job at progressing Ruby’s development as a Silver Eyed Warrior in a manner that feels consistent and feels like it has actually impacted her as a character. 

Over the course of the last couple of seasons, I’ve seen these writers introduce the Silver Eyes in the finale of V3 then drop it for two whole volumes without depicting Ruby showing any kind of onscreen interest in knowing that side of herself despite the connection it has to her mother.

They then brought it back in V6 with the inkling that the audience could essentially start to see Ruby begin to focus on training to fully control her unique abilities. They even introduced a mentor character for Ruby to have in the form of Maria Calavera (in place of Ozpin who was actually the one who told Qrow first about the Silver Eyed Warriors buuuut...I digress). 

However even that was squandered since in the end, we neither received any further information on the Silver Eyed Warriors (outside of the brief titbit on their ties to the God of Light) nor have we seen any further moments of Ruby actually training to use her powers. Instead what we got was a rushed moment of triumph of Ruby using her powers against the Leviathan. 

And despite showing that Ruby’s powers didn’t 100% work against the Kaijuu Grimm---proving that Ruby still needs more training, what happens after V6 going into V7? Ruby’s training to become a full-fledged Silver Eyes get dropped yet again and what’s worse is that her so-called mentor character---Maria gets side-lined and relegated to the team Granny Uber Driver despite showing much more promise than that.

At this point, if the showrunners were to have Ruby lose an eye then I honestly would hate it. And this is coming from someone who considers Ruby as one of her favourite characters in the show and was more than excited to see her grow into a Silver Eyed Warrior. 

What good would Ruby losing an eye do for her development NOW if the show hasn’t been steady with that aspect of her story up until this point? 

To me, it’ll just feel like something that was done for pure “shock value” without much thought as to how it can and will continue to develop the character in the long run and I’m not going to like it for that reason. Ruby losing her silver eyes or an eye---what will the showrunners do with that, huh? Have Ruby suddenly decide to take urgency to her training to use her Silver Eyes seriously after not showing an interest in continuing her training since her arrival in Atlas? 

What good would that be now if they haven’t been consistent with this at all for Ruby’s side of the story? But then again, these are just my thoughts and opinions on that matter. Pardon my saltiness on the subject. I just personally don’t like how Ruby’s Silver Eyed Warrior story is being handled at all. While I do  like some elements to it (like the introduction of Maria and how the power connects Ruby to her mother and feelings over her death), it’s doesn’t change the fact that the inconsistency in how it was told is really bugging me. 

And the popularity of  “Ruby losing an eye” doesn’t change my stance on it. However, since this theory is popular with the FNDM. I’m going to humour it for a bit here.

Hypothetically, if something horrendously bad were to befall Ruby and her eyes then I personally would rather it be a case in which Ruby’s eyes become severely damaged during an altercation with Salem. 

Let’s say…Salem used the same black magic she used on Oscar last episode to burn Ruby’s eyes. Not enough for her to lose vision entirely like Maria but enough that it becomes a huge impairment to her abilities as both a Silver Eyed Warrior and a huntress as a whole.

Imagine a scenario where…Salem damages Ruby’s eyes to a point where the little rose can’t use her silver eye powers without the risk of losing her vision completely. So basically this is an ultimatum that Ruby has to live with for the rest of her life.

What would she do if she had to sacrifice a part of herself and the very lifestyle she dreamed of becoming to save the world?

 Imagine if…Ruby is placed in a predicament where in order to defeat Salem and save Remnant, she needed to use her Silver Eyes. However due to her injury, she can’t use her Silver Eyes without losing her ability to see entirely. And if Ruby loses her sight then how was she going to be a huntress?

In previous seasons, Ruby had proclaimed that she always wanted to be like the heroes in the fairy tales she loved as a child. And according to Yang back in V2, Ruby has always wanted to become a huntress. She’s no different from Pyrhha Nikkos in that regard.

But what good would Ruby be as a huntress if she lost her eyes. How would she be able to help protect the world if she becomes blind to it? 

Would Ruby be willing to make that sacrifice if that was what it took to help humanity? Would she trade her eyes for the world? 

Would she give up being a huntresses and subject herself to being a blind woman for the rest of her life if it mean humanity could live another day without the tyranny of Salem or her forces? Would Ruby do that?

If something were to happen to Ruby’s eyes then I rather it’d be something like THAT. I think an arc like that could be very compelling for Ruby’s story.

Let’s say, at some point for V8, Salem deploys George---her Hound to go capture Ruby Rose this time. Since Oscar was resilient in withholding the truth about the Relics from Salem despite how many times she and her associates dared to break him---Salem decides to try a different approach.

Let’s say…after peaking into his mind, Salem learns that Ruby Rose is someone important to Oscar. Thus Salem has Ruby captured while using Oscar as bait. Like imagine if…Salem gets Ruby to willingly surrender herself over to the Hound to be taken away under the premise that no further harm will come to Oscar should Ruby give herself up.

Imagine a scene in which…Salem once again has a weakened Oscar Pine restrained by the Hound as he is forced to watch helplessly as the Wicked Witch brandished his beloved rose before him; proceeding to cause Ruby immense physical pain by torturing her with black magic all the while a poor tear-stricken Oscar is screaming for her to stop harming Ruby.

Like I’m picturing a moment where after Salem tortured Ruby with dark magic, she then used the same power to cause harm to Ruby’s eyes. 

Like imagine…Salem holding Ruby by the throat, threatening to strangle her to death or snap her neck with one hand while the other covered her eyes as the Wicked Witch slowly burned Ruby’s eyes with her black magic while she cried out in sheer agony. And it is in this moment where Oscar finally yields; telling Salem about Jinn while practically grovelling to her on his knees to stop her from harming Ruby further. 

Imagine if…a scene like that were to happen in the canon?

I’m not a fan of physical torture of characters. Scenes like that tend to make me feel very uncomfortable after a while of watching, particularly if it involves my favourite character or characters. But given the tone of this volume and what was seen from last episode, it wouldn’t surprise me if something like I just described were to happen.

If breaking Oscar physically and mentally isn’t enough for Salem to get what she desired out of him then the next alternative is to toy with his heart. It wouldn’t surprise me if Salem perceives the faith and compassion that her Ozma (cringe)---and by extension his successors---harbour for humanity as his greatest weakness. One that she is more than willing to exploit, especially when fuelled by petty (ass) revenge.

All in all, I want our two, smaller more honest souls to walk out of this volume unscathed as well, fam. However, again, given the tone of the last episode and this season thus far…I’m not so sure anymore. But we’ll see how the episodes go moving forward.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[ezroar]

Can we get the meeting of rosegarden in baby overlords au?

Unfortunately, I am busy with irl and art stuff atm. Also, I draw for others only on commission. Fortunately, for me, I have the ability to write. 

T/W: Character death, a very dark scenario for a child to be in, implied crippling depression

Ruby stared out at the cliff, seeing the ocean waves beyond lap out peacefully on the sandy shores. The golden light washing over her and the dream-like clouds were a sharp contrast to the last time Ruby was here, dark and overcast, promising nothing good. And it delivered. 

Ruby’s very mother died on this spot, trying to stop an evil all on her own. No back-up, no blessings from comrades, nothing to help but her weapon and her God-given eyes. All to protect humanity. It was … It was a good goal. One Ruby aspired to, like the heroes in her books. But … was it worth the way Summer died? Painfully and by herself? Well, almost.

Ruby had been there. 

Ruby held her hand as she died. Ruby just wanted to be with mommy and she watched mommy faced off against the Dark Man. Ruby shuddered to think of the Dark Man. A dark silhouette with spidery black veins sticking out against bone white skin. He made Ruby think of the night terrors that hid in the shadows, the terror that would actually creep out and eat you whole. 

The dark clouds, the red of her mother’s blood spilling on the ground and the Dark Man towering over her was all Ruby could remember. She was still a child, ten years old now, but more of a child then. Only five, Yang had said. 

And if Summer dying was like a bullet to the heart, then what happened afterwards was like slow poison. Her bright father losing his light, the constant check-ups from Raven growing longer and longer in between, and then … Then it was just Yang and Ruby all alone in Patch. Ruby loved her father, but his sadness just robbed him of any will he had. And Yang and Ruby had to carry on, having to survive in that house surrounded by trees and grimm, all by themselves, with nobody to help them. 

Nobody should have to be alone like Ruby and Yang were. Nobody should be struck with sorrow like her father. And nobody should die like her mother did. 

Pain and suffering were nothing but unsightly stains in this beautiful world. It deserved better than that.

Steps. Ruby turned around quickly, ready to run. The woods were no place for little girls, Ruby knew that well from wandering off the path for travellers. But this wasn’t the season for grimm to be roaming around. So what–

What?

A boy.

The boy stood timid and unsure, nervously darting his hands. Alarm bells went off in Ruby’s head. Something wasn’t right with this boy. But he looked so scared … Ignoring her instinctual apprehension, Ruby slowly approached the boy. 

Features became more apparent as Ruby neared. Her initial alarm turned to discomfort as she saw more and more of the boy. Under his aged and worn shirt, bandages covered his hands and neck, even one eye. The dark colour of his hair almost seemed to be fading away,leaving it unevenly black and white. The boy’s uneasiness grew with each step Ruby took, rubbing his bandaged hands togetherly and mumbling under his breath.  

“A-Are you …” Ruby stammered. “Are you okay? Are you lost?”

The boy murmured something, too low for Ruby to hear. 

“W-What? Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Could you–”

“I said have you seen a cane?!” The boy snapped. Ruby flinched, not expecting such a loud tone to come from someone so small. The boy cringed. “I–I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’msorryi’msorryi’msorry. He’s gonna be mad if I don’t find it. I–” A tear bubbled up in the boy’s one eye, but instead of it being clear and translucent, it was inky and black. Ruby took a careful step back. 

The boy shook violently and he rubbed his face harshly with his hands. “I’m trying! Stop yelling at me!”

“I’m not yelling at you,” Ruby said softly. She didn’t know what to do. She looked around nervously, vaguely hoping Yang was here. The boy scared Ruby. He made her feel so small and uncertain despite being worse off than Ruby was. The boy was crying now, little sobs and hiccups spilling out of him. 

When someone is upset,  Ruby’s mother had said. You should try and help them. It means more than you think.

Ruby fumbled around, getting her work rag out from where she stuffed it into the hem of her shorts and held it hesitantly out towards the boy. “H-Here.”

The boy dragged his hands from his eyes and stared at the rag uncertainty. “T-Thank you.” The boy accepted it, bringing it to his face in slow movements. Ruby tried to ignore the black splotches staining the cloth when the boy was done. 

“I-If you want,” Ruby tried to sound comforting, “I can help you find your cane. I know the woods.”

“You’d do that?” The small hope in his voice broke Ruby’s tiny heart. 

Ruby nodded, shyly. 

And then …

And then the boy smiled, cracked lips timidly spreading out. Ruby’s heart soared, being able to fade away at least some of the darkness plaguing the boy. She’d do more. She’d made the boy happy. The happiest boy in the world if she could. And she could start by helping him find his cane. 

[silveranjyil]

It’s not about Right or Wrong

The biggest raging debate in the RWBY community is: who is right?  The lines are clearly split between team RWBY and co, and Ironwood, with many feeling that RWBY is being wrong and hypocritical. It is amazing to see that people are missing the point.

 Neither are wrong or right.  They are both being human—and actually, team RWBY is being more human that Ironwood right now.  This is on par with Magneto and Professor X from X-men.  Their goals are the same, but they are following vastly different paths towards that goal and their ideals are completely different based on their own experiences.

 I have done a whole expo on Ironwood and I don’t think I need to add to that.  But I do want to look at RWBY’s perspective in this.

 One thing that has been established is that team RWBY and the others are in the same boat as Ozpin: they want to protect the PEOPLE, and not just a few.  They have come to view life as precious and are not willing to throw it aside as the only way.  A lot of people cite the Apathy messing with their reaction to Jinn’s reveal of the truth, but they were too far from the farm town for that to happen just yet.  Their reactions were genuine—and human, but they did not let their emotions completely destroy their belief in saving people.  That was why they all signed up to be hunters and huntress: to make the world better.

 All of them have had their trust shattered and faced betrayal by people very dear to them, or by people whom they never would have expected.  Ruby saw a supposed huntress-in-training destroy her home, unleash Grimm all over Beacon, and kill one of her friends in cold blood.  Yang’s mother abandoned her, and later sided with the bad guys to get the relic, and Blake did abandon her at one point (seems like they are still working through that).  Poor Blake has been betrayed by her lover and her best friend. Qrow’s experiences are probably uncountable, but his sister was probably a big one.  The biggest one we have for team JNPR is Pyrrha’s death, caused by same reasons and Ozpin.  So to call them children, or naïve, is a disservice to what they have already endured up to this point.  They are still learning, bu they are no longer children, nor are they naïve.

 The headmaster at Haven was the final straw to break any illusions in that.  They trusted him, as did Qrow, up until things started falling into place.  By the time they get to Atlas, face off with a pompous official, and nearly die a few times, they get it.  The world is not perfect, it isn’t a fairy tail, and they can not trust everyone. But they want to.  They really want to trust Ironwood, to have someone with experience in being an authority take the reigns and let them have a break.

 When the team arrive in Atlas, they discover that there is a military-enforced curfew.  People are afraid, hungry, miserable, and restless.  That would be my FIRST red flag that something is not right with the person in charge.  If you want to know what kind of person you are dealing with, look at the people around them and the consequence of their actions.  Ironwood said he wanted to help protect the people, but how was he SHOWING that?

 What makes things even more conflicting is that Ruby and Yang remember the General as someone who supported them and encouraged them: he praised Ruby during Dance Dance, somewhat tried to listen to Yang after her encounter in V3 and even sent her a new arm.  But the town was not how it should be, even Weiss commented on how this “wasn’t right.” In other words, it had never been like this before.  The people had freedom to move around and no curfew, no binge drinking in the streets, etc. How is this protecting the people?

Ironwood greets them as a host—but it seems off.  Him hugging Qrow, for one.  Qrow and he were always at each other’s throats for differences of opinions.  I admit, he probably was glad to see a familiar face, but…

 In any case, Ironwood gave them a LOT of things.  Made them official hunters and huntresses, top of the line training grounds, returning the lamp to them.  He assigns them to his Right-hand Yes-men, not to earn trust, but to sway them.  The Ace-Corps is always talking about how they need to follow orders, that emotional connections and such are unnecessary, etc.  Did you see the reaction from RWBY and team?  Winter is also in on this as well, but we see this mostly with Penny.  Weiss has already heard all this before during her training to control her semblance, after all.  Ironwood was a wonderful host who was trying to lure them into his side with “gifts of gold and jewels”. But he would never listen to them.  He would not consider their ideas, opinions or fears, and the people were still suffering.  And THEN they meet Robin, who gives them a little bit more of the picture.  Why isn’t the wall being repaired to protect the people? Why all the secrecy?  They kind of understand, but things are not adding up.

 You see, a long time ago, in Volume 3, Ironwood gave them a choice.  Fight to protect your school, or protect yourselves. The teams are starting to see that Ironwood is leaning more to the latter, and it bothers them.  We are seeing a dynamic clash of perspectives here, and Ren acts as the gateway to show how both sides could be right.

 But here is the thing.  Here is where we talk about why it isn’t about right or wrong, but about being human. In Volume 3, Ozpin shows both remorse and apprehension about utilizing Pyrrha as a guinea pig to possibly save the powers of the Maiden from the corrupt hands of Cinder.  He weighs everything meticulously, admits to his faults, and you can see the burden of time on him.

 Ruby and her teammates also show this same heavy burden.  They are conflicted about the hard choices they have to make, talking to each other and trying to figure it out.  They don’t try to justify it, either.  They WANT to trust and tell him, but experience has been a cruel teacher to them.  Weiss and Penny show true human feelings about what the plan is for the Winter Maiden, especially Penny.  They have always recognized and felt that just because it was logical did not make it the best path, or even the right path.  They questioned it, but they were always shut down.

 Ironwood has no qualms about this.  He does not show remorse, he does not show apprehension.  He had walled up his heart a long time ago.  He says do it and he expects his soldiers to comply.  And none of them can speak up against him, despite their feelings.  They try to crush their own emotions as well.  1 death?  1000 deaths? The general ordered it, so be it. They have fallen to the mantra of “the greater good”.  What is really interesting is, in a real world sense, there have been some studies that suggest that emotions are CRITICAL in making logical decisions.  Too much logic and reason without the support of emotion tends to make things worse, actually.  Spock was proven wrong many times in Star Trek, despite his “logic”, and this was also explored in that movie “I Robot” where the Robot logically chose Smith over the little girl, even though emotionally and species-wise, the little girl would have been the more appropriate choice to save.  I love how in this volume, they really outline how useless logic is without emotion, and they use Penny as a pillar for that exploration.  Anyway...

 People will say that Ruby should have told him earlier, before things got out of hand. Based on previous evidence in an earlier post, I can guarantee the result would not have been any different. He had already written off half the world.  And the funny thing is, the only result would have been a brief window of safety for himself and maybe those closest to him.  None of his actions would have saved the world or many people, only a select few.

 As team RWBY began to understand this, see it play out, it was too late.  He had already cut off most of Mantle and was preparing to sacrifice them.  For the “greater good” of course.  The fact that Ironwood had NO intention of talking to Robin in any way showed more of how untrustworthy he was.  Robin was fighting for the people with the knowledge she had.  She would have been an invaluable ally to them and would have been able to help in managing the people and the resources.  But Ironwood knew that he would never be able to control her.  She would question his authority.  He can not have that.  That is why Yang and Blake disobeyed him.  They had presented this possibility, and he had shot them down like a bullet train.  He was keeping his secrets until HE was ready to release them.  Any loss of control was unacceptable to him.

 If it hadn’t been for Penny, Winter or Cinder would have gotten the powers. Winter would have been nothing but a puppet for Ironwood and would eventually be responsible for more deaths under his watch.  We already know what Cinder would do.

 I will be honest.  Had I been in Team RWBY’s shoes, I would have done the same thing.  I wouldn’t have told him until he proved that he was trustworthy.  Kicking the people down like he had been doing since before we came would make me less likely to trust him.  The fact that he could have had a very good ally, but he wouldn’t accept it at all would also make me hesitate.  Anyone giving me all this good stuff--upgrades, licenses, etc—for almost no reason would make me question their motives.

 But RWBY not telling Ironwood is no worse than him not telling him many things.  He did not share all of his plans, only the highlights.  Enough to keep them content.  We all have to be mindful of the words we say and to whom we tell them to.  And RWBY technically did not lie to Ironwood.  It was a small scene, but the point where Nora and Ruby were discussing the possibility that she might be killable in another sense from Ozpin’s question means that they haven’t lost hope yet. They believe that they will find a way, somehow, but they do not know where to start.  There is also the fact that they know Ozpin has been fighting this for a long time, and somewhere in his past he might have tried some of these things.  If he isn’t doing that now, it was probably for a reason.  Team RWBY are not as dumb as people would like them to be, and they are being cautious, which is a necessity in these situations.

 If they had come out and said that they would do everything they could to kill Salem, etc—THAT might be lying, but they didn’t.  They just asked how they could help him.

 Fear is a cruel master.  Team RWBY have worked through some of their fears, and part of that was probably thanks to the Apathy that magnified their emotions and doubts.  Ironwood has allowed his fears to consume him.

 And by the way, Ironwood did mention how sometimes certain things still held you from long ago during his pep-talk with Yang after she was framed for busting Mercury’s legs.  Something tells me that was a precursor for this as well.

 Anyway, those are my thoughts on that.

[rainbowwritesthings]

Love Like You

Qrow tensed at the sudden realness of the situation before he relaxed and gave Clover a smile. “Yeah, should probably start on that. Think any of the kids have some baby names?” AO3

It was a rare treat for the group to find a town so soon after they had left the previous one, only having to sleep in the desert for two nights in between the towns.

Qrow knew the larger settlements of Vacuo well, the ones that could take an occasional Grimm beating thus allowing them to stay in the same place for years at a time.

Smaller ones like they one they were at now, the ones that could be packed up and moved within a few days when needed, tended to slip under Qrow’s map.

Not that Qrow or any of the others were complaining about the stroke of good luck, the sentiment had Qrow rolling his eyes.

Vacuo was hard to navigate, and you couldn’t let your guard down while out in the open day or night.

Add to that the crucialness of rationing supplies and constantly repairing weapons and it was no wonder Nora shouts for joy whenever they come into view of a new settlement.

While Qrow was long accustomed to nomadic traveling in hostile areas, he couldn’t deny the breath of relief he let out every time he had an actual bed to sleep on.

Though he had a feeling that relief was fueled primarily by his “condition”.

Red eyes glanced down to his protruding stomach and as if on cue he could feel one of them start to move. Knowing that with one of them moving around the other would join in, Qrow figured he had rested long enough.

With a small grunt he pushed himself up and immediately his hand was resting on the bump, Qrow knew that simple actions like that would be harder as time grew on.

Even though he hadn’t even hit the sixth month mark most everyone could tell he was pregnant with a quick glance.

He had become a liability to the whole group once more, but now he couldn’t even blame it on drinking to much. At least when he was drunk, he could still fight.

The lamp closest to him flickered once before the bulb exploded and Qrow scrubbed his face.

Going through with the pregnancy while the fate of humanity was in question might truly be the stupidest thing he has ever done.

 Stupid.

Raven may prove to be right in her judgment, if it was just him that was one thing but those kids where reckless enough to stick by him. Clover was worse, at this point the alpha had made it clear that he was with Qrow until the end.

  Selfish.

Qrow swung his legs over the side of the bed and froze when he heard movement from outside the room, the others must have come back and he had slept through the noise.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t sleep like a log through the night, gone were his honed instincts that he had spent years training.

One headache now had him passed out for over an hour, in a deep enough sleep to miss a gaggle of teenagers coming back from hunting Grimm. Frustration boiled over as the thoughts swirled.

 You’ve always been soft.

Going with the theme of being unobservant he almost missed the door clicking open, of course he and Clover got the best room, and a freshly washed Clover walked in.

Forcing the darker thoughts down he swiped at his face and turned to face his alpha. A quick glance showed that the mission had gone well, and Clovers relaxed demeanor promised that the kids were all alright.

Despite himself the omega couldn’t help but return the smile given to him. Clover strode over and practically beamed as he fixed a flyaway black lock, leaning down Qrow wasted no time in meeting him for a needed kiss.

When they parted Clover was gazing at him with hooded eyes, which only went to show that the alpha’s mind was clouded when it came to Qrow.

“How are you feeling?”

Penny must have told him that Qrow had retreated to bed, new frustration sprung forth at the thought.

Penny had more important things to think about, it wasn’t fair that she had to play babysitter on top that.

The pause had Clover looking at him with concern and Qrow had to switch gears.

“Brats were kicking up a storm.”

Clover chuckled and placed a hand over Qrow’s stomach, after a moment a firm nudge met his palm.

Without a word Qrow guided the alpha’s other hand to a different spot and Clover blinked when a firm jab met his palm there as well.

Teal eyes met red ones and Qrow raised his eyebrows pointedly.

“Told you so.”

Despite the words there was only warmth in the tone and Clover captured his lips once again, when they withdrew the alpha crouched down.

“You two need to settle down in there, your papa was trying to rest and it’s rude to wake him up.”

It should be illegal how soft his voice got and Qrow gently brushed through brown hair.

Clover looked up from where he was kneeling, his hand still splayed out over the omega’s stomach.

His grin grew when he saw the faintest blush gracing Qrow’s cheeks, light enough for the omega to use the heat as an excuse.

The blush grew just a shade deeper with the gaze, “Brothers, you’re hopeless.”

Clover hummed contently and gave a soft kiss to the protruding bump, an act that had Qrow rolling his eyes. In these kinds of moments Qrow could ignore the doubts and fear, he could focus on the hope for the future that Clover seemed to have.

Clovers face was suddenly much closer than it had been a moment ago, Qrow hadn’t even noticed the other man getting back up.

“What’s wrong?”

A calloused hand cupped Qrow’s cheek and the gentleness still had the omega’s heart pounding, he was hardly some love struck teen but this casual intimacy was still something that had the huntsman’s pulse quicken.

When Clover’s smile faded more, Qrow realized that he had spaced out again.

“Just thinking about some things. It’s nothing bad.”

Green eyes searched his face for a moment band as per usual Qrow felt completely exposed under those eyes.

“Well, I’ve been thinking as well. I think we should start talking about names, nothing concrete but maybe get some ideas.”

Qrow tensed at the sudden realness of the situation before he relaxed and gave Clover a smile.

“Yeah, should probably start on that. Think any of the kids have some names?”

“Well I know Nora probably has at least five locked and loaded, Weiss as well. Yang and Ruby might have some good ones.”

Qrow had expected Ruby and Nora, they were the loudest about their excitement anything twin related.

Yang joined in at times, mostly to further tease her uncle, but to hear Clover mention Weiss so casually caught Qrow off guard.

The young alpha had certainly warmed up to him over time, but the huntsman doubted that Weiss spent her free time thinking of baby names for a washed-up old crow like him.

Clover, as per usual, seemed to be able to know exactly what Qrow was thinking and raised an eyebrow.

“You mean a lot to them, all of them and they’re all excited about the babies. Of course, some of them are louder sharing that excitement than others.”

Qrow should be used to those casual remarks about what he meant to others, especially when they came from Clover, but it still squeezed his heart and made him shift in spot.

He hummed noncommittally and let Clover help him up before leading the way to the quaint dining room/kitchen.

A few of the kids were lounging about, tired from both the heat and the Grimm hunting, a movie was playing on the small television but only Oscar seemed to be interested in what was playing.

Penny noticed them first and gave the pair a bright smile before bounding over, “I’m glad to see you are feeling better, Qrow.”

It had been an uphill battle trying to convince Penny to call him by his first name and he could still see the girl catch herself every so often.

The omega smiled reassuringly and ruffled her hair, “I am, thanks carrot top.”

Qrow didn’t deserve the beaming smile he received before she turned and went back to the small table to repair a broken sword.

The other kids glanced up at him, as if checking to make sure he wouldn’t keel over from the brief walk over.

Blake smiled at him softly and moved just a smidge closer to Yang, creating a clear opening for Qrow on the couch next to her.

The older omega smiled back at the cat faunas and slowly sank down next to her on the couch, he tried to write off the way she relaxed just slightly into him as just fellow omega tendencies.

Clover perched on the arm rest and Qrow decidedly did not glance at the alpha, he could already guess the smirk the other wore.

Weiss strode towards him, presenting a glass of a water that he took with a smile.

One that she returned in a much smaller manner before taking a sip from her own glass.

Clover made a soft noise before straightening up, “Qrow and I were talking about baby names. Do any of you have some ideas?”

Yang leaned forward at the question and the devious smirk she wore had the hairs of Qrow’s neck raise, he had seen that same look enough times to know things were about to get hectic.

Yang leaned away from her girlfriend and twisted around to face the rest of the rooms, “Ruby or Nora, grab the book!”

To the alpha’s credit, she was hardly yelling, but her order did cause a new ruckus.

Qrow could hear the tell tale stomping of feet and a brief yell from what sounded like Nora before a flurry of petals landed next to Weiss.

Ruby had obviously just woken up from a nap if her mused up hair was any indication, but she looked wide awake and was clutching a journal proudly to her chest.

The rest of the horde began filling into the common room after that, led by a slightly dripping Nora who was scowling at Ruby. “You play dirty, Rose.”

Jaune was rubbing his eyes lightly and Ren’s hair was completely loose, whatever was in the book had enough power to call everyone to arms and the T.V. was turned off.

Weiss retrieved the journal from Ruby and for a moment her proud posture faltered just a bit, Qrow knew the alpha well enough to know that whatever was going on was her idea and she was nervous about the reaction.

“Watcha got there, princess?”

The hesitation disappeared and Weiss held out the worn brown journal expectantly. Qrow snuck a glance around to find that all the kids were watching with rapt attention, though some more so than others, and Clover looked just as confused about this as he was.

The journal itself was uninteresting, no lavish embroidery or bright colors. The moment he opened it that changed and bright colors flooded his vision.

Upon inspection he saw what was written, names.

There were names in different colors in rows, from the handwriting alone he could guess who wrote what, but the colors were a nice touch.

As he thrummed through the pages Qrow was stunned to see that all the kids had put down multiple names.

Clover shifted above him to get a better look and was the first to speak of the pair.

“That’s a pretty impressive list. Or lists, I should say.”

Now that it was brought up Qrow could see were one list ended and another began.

Weiss had gone suspiciously silent and Oscar spoke up, “oh yeah, we um, put them in categories. The one you’re on is names to do with luck, or fortune.”

Qrow couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped as he read through the first few, they were creative to say the least.

Clover gently turned the page and this category was more apparent.

“Names based off plants, might have to cross some off though. I knew some people with some of these names before.”

Spurred on Weiss found her voice again, “this is still the second draft, we’re going to revise the list again soon.”

The fact that this was the second draft had warmth blooming through Qrow, Nora leaned in and turned a few pages before unsubtly pointing to a name written in pink.

“This list is bird names, it’s shorter than the rest but has real gems.”

And quite a few names written in the same shade of pink, when Qrow looked up at her with a raised eyebrow the young alpha winked.

Surprisingly Blake was the next one to flip the pages, “these names are color related, or just colors for some of them. It’s the longest and honestly, has some of the weirdest ones.”

Coming from her that was saying a lot and Qrow was becoming more curious about what had been cut from the first list.

Penny had at some point stood behind him and leaned over the man to rifle through, “this is miscellaneous. They couldn’t be made to fit into any of the other lists, but they are to nice to just disregard.”

She withdrew her hand but made no other move to lean away from above him.

Looking down at the names Qrow felt a rush of affection for the teens that had written them with so much thought behind it.

Clover was right, they were excited for the twins because their odd pack to gain two tiny members.

Qrow could blame hormones for the sudden tightness in his throat and he looked at the kids, “you guys did good, Branwen’s aren’t really known for their naming skills. Thanks.”

It should be criminal how pleased each of them looked, they didn’t have nearly enough opportunities to just be teens.

Clover rested his hand on Qrows shoulder, something in him relented and he would talk with Clover about his fears later.

Ruby caved first and rushed in for a hug, she was soon joined by the usual hug suspects before the others caved in as well.

Qrow tried to encompass as many as he could, he may not feel like he deserved it, but this was his flock.

[calliecat93]

Top 5 Things I Liked About RWBY Volume 2

(Top 5 Dislikes)

I’m gonna be honest, I think that V2 is a pretty good volume. Sure, it doesn’t have much in terms of story and that’s its biggest weakness as well as having no true accomplishments. But what it makes up for is it’s character writing and development. V1 was our intro, and V2 begins to flesh out many of them. If someone like say… Weiss didn’t appeal to you in V1 cause of her being mean, this one puts her in a much more positive light, for example. I was worried that I would dislike the volume more upon rewatch… but my opinion is pretty much the same as when I watched it in 2014: I really enjoy it.

I had to stretch hard for the Dislikes post. I did not, however, have to stretch at all for this post. So let’s waste no time and go over the Top 5 Things I Liked About RWBY Volume 2~

#5. Improved Pacing/Runtime

One of the biggest problems with V1 was it’s pacing. It could feel all over the place, and the reason why was due to chapter runtimes. With a few exceptions, the majority were under ten minutes. This could cause storylines that in the current standard could have been done in one or two episodes, like Jaune’s Arc. But since it got stretched out for four weeks with short runtimes… yeah, it annoyed people, to say the least. CRWBY got the hint since I remember before the volume began, they mentioned how the extended the runtimes. It came at the cost of fewer episodes, but honestly? That was for the best?

Volume 2’s runtimes range from 12-15 minutes on average, with the longest being 17 minutes. This has essentially been the standard ever since for the most part, and it was a very good change. It also helps that instead of going for a more episodic approach as they did in V1, they told one continuous story. It can be divided into three sections with the first four episodes, the Dance Arc covering 5-7, and Mountain Glenn covering 8-12. But they all connect with each other and flow together much more naturally. As such since unlike V1 I watched V2 episode by episode, I never felt like it dragged or anything overstayed it’s welcome. It’s one of the best-paced volumes, to be honest. 

I’m pleasantly surprised that it flowed so well. Pacing in recent volumes have been an issue, mainly with 4 and 5, but that’s due to the split storylines. Something that I think that Miles and Kerry have learned was maybe a little too ambitious afterward and have gone back to this kind of formula. They pretty much use this three-act structure in V6, and it worked amazingly there. T seems to be what works best for RWBY, and this volume is what kicked it off. So yeah, good work CRWBY~

#4. Jaune and Pyrrha Relationship

I love these two. They have always been my favorite ship in RWBY, and still is despite… certain events. While I was kinda harsh on Jaune in the last post due to how cringey he was regarding Weiss, his relationship with Pyrrha is what saved him. He’s gotten a lot of flack in the past for not noticing Pyrrha’s feelings, but… I don’t really blame him. Pyrrha never tried to tell him herself or really let on that she had romantic feelings for him. Jaune isn’t a mind-reader, he can’t just magically know if Pyrrha won’t say anything. Nora practically points it out when Pyrrha advises Jaune to just go and ask Weiss out without any stupid gimmicks and just speak from the heart. “Practice what you preach.” indeed. That’s not to be harsh on Pyrrha because it’s clear why she doesn’t. She knows that Jaune likes Weiss and wants him to be happy, so she tries to be content with just supporting him with his pursuits and his training. She’s just that nice of a person.

It’s not like Jaune is careless regarding Pyrrha either. We see in Chapter 5 that he appreciates Pyrrha helping him train and in Chapter 7, he is shocked that no one asked her out. I mean, is everyone blind? Pyrrha is an amazing person? How could no one ask her out? Well… it’s because she’s Pyrrha. She’s a world-class fighter. Too many, she’s out of their league. Remember in Chapter 5 when Mercury calls off the fight, saying that Pyrrha’s out of his league? We all know that was a lie, it was because he got the info that he wanted about her Semblance, but you can see how much that hurt her. It reminded her how she can’t really be normal or form real relationships because of her fame and status. The only person to treat her like a real person? Jaune. He didn’t even know her name when they first met. And it’s after that when Jaune pretty much throws his own needs out the window, puts on that dress with no shame, and dances the night away with Pyrrha.

These two have such a beautiful relationship. Pyrrha helped Jaune find value in himself and grow not just as a fighter, but as this volume shows as a person. Pyrrha got to find happiness and a sense of normalcy through Jaune, which let her form friendships and find love. Even if she still can’t say it out loud, she got to be with Jaune, and that was enough for her even right to the end. Jaune still doesn’t know that Pyrrha has feelings for him and IDT he fully realized his own feelings, but he was still willing to be humiliated just to give that girl a good time at the dance. Because she earned it more than anyone else in that moment. It makes their relationship that much greater, and their ultimate end that much more tragic. But this volume really demonstrates them at their best. It shows Jaune mature and recognizes his friend’s feelings, hence why I can forgive his cringe. It’s painful to see, but he got over it. I just love it so much, and it’s still a bright spot of this volume.

#3. Blake Development

I love Blake. She’s gotten so much hate in recent years because of utterly stupid reasons. While I had issues with her in V4, I’ve always loved her and her story. V1 got me interested in her story after the final two episodes, and this one made me love her even more. You can tell that the White Fang is getting to her, and it makes sense why. We don’t know the whole story, but we do know that the WF was a peaceful group when she was younger, and when it became a terrorist group she broke away. So seeing them act with a human, something that she knows that they would never due, would understandably catch her attention and make her obsess over it as well as reawaken any negative feelings.

In V1 while she was reserved, she clearly was capable of opening up and clearly did want to be friends with these three girls. Some say that she was OOC in The Badge and the Burden, but I disagree. She was trying to form a new life and tried to adjust to her new teammates, so yeah her being a little light-hearted and silly makes sense to me. But with the WF back in her life, it puts her back in a bad place. It makes her obsess over what they’re panning because it can’t be anything good. She tries to close herself off until Weiss reminds her that she promised to open up to them. She does, and her friends are on board with her pursuits.

Then we get the Dance Arc, where the WF obsession is actually affecting her health and performance. Her grades are slipping. Her attitude is at it’s lowest. She doesn’t care about the dance because she’s worried about the WF doing who knows what with them all utterly unprepared. Her harsh dismissal of Sun and her rejecting her team’s help despite them assuring her that they’re going to make sure that everything is fine demonstrates this. Blake feels guilty for her involvement int he WF and doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. To her, she feels like she has to stop them and like it’s her weight to bear. And this is before we know anything about Adam, which she starts to open up about him as well as why she left the WF to her team in Mountian Glenn. But we’ll get to that later.

It’s why Yang’s interference is so important. Yang understands that Blake is getting obsessed to an unhealthy point because she went down the same road. She and RUby almost got killed because she made a dumb decision and went out on her own when she found out about Raven. When talking to her one-on-one doesn’t work, she makes Blake realize that her unhealthy state means that she can’t fight before finally hugging her and essnetially asking her to stop and to trust her and the others. It’s a really beautiful scene that really does make Blake see reason. While I myself don’t see anything romantic in this scene, at least no more than Blake and Sun’s scenes in this arc, there’s a reason why so many care about the Bumblebee ship. Yang genuinely tried to reach out to Blake because she understood where she was coming from, and wanted to help her when no one else could. She didn’t have to, but she did because he wanted to. They’re teammates. Partners. That’s what they’re supposed to do.

This was when Blake truly began to trust Yang. To trust her team. She goes to the dance and has a fun time. It makes you wonder how long it had been since Blak ever relaxed. How long it had been since she laughed. She got to have one night where she could just have fun,  makes  By the end of the volume, she’s in a better place and is clearly happy with her friends. Even though they don’t stop the WF or uncover their overall plans, she’s okay with what they did manage to do and isn’t obsessing or driving herself to exhaustion anymore. Without that progress, then who knows if she’d have been able to bounce back after what happened in V3. Blake here is great, and I loved seeing it again… despite how much it hurt due to what happened next. But that’s a tale for another day.

#2. Mountain Glenn Arc

This arc was fantastic. By far, the best part of Volume 2. First, it has Doctor Oobleck. We saw him once in V1, but all we learned is that he talks and moves fast. This volume gives him much more character. She’s certainly quirky and not the image of a badass Huntsman, but he’s freakin’ great. One, he’s funny and really adds to the RWBY dynamic to the arc. He’s intelligent and knowledgable on history and tracking. But most of all, he’s insightful. He’s clearly a good teacher as he subtly gives guidance to these girls and gets them to question their motivation and dedication to the paths that they’re on. He may not be teaching them cool fighting skills, but he is teaching them about life essentially and prepping them for the harsh life of being Huntresses. With what happens later down the road, that was a good thing. He’s just great. Also his coffee urn weapon? Best.

But speaking of motivations and dedication, that is what makes this arc so great. It answers an important question and was one that I was surprised by when this arc started, why did the RWBY girls decide to be Huntresses? And we find out here. Yang did it for the thrill, Weiss did it as she felt it was her duty, Blake did it to do good in the world, and Ruby… well… she actually doesn’t get questioned. Why? I’ll go into that in a bit. But having their motivations questioned really shakes up WBY quite a bit, making them reflect on their reasonings on choosing the paths that they took. Which is good, because it allows us to learn more about them and their characters.

We see WBY talk about their motivations deeper. Weiss chose to be a Huntress because she recognizes how much her father has ruined her family name and the company and she wanted to change things, but not in Atlas. She decided to do it as a Huntress. Blake opens up about Adam and how she felt that the WF fell, so she became a Huntress to do good. But she hadn’t thought past that and is afraid of not being able to make up for her mistakes and end up running away again. Yang doesn’t really have anything driving her, she just wanted to have the adventurous lifestyle that being a Huntress would give her and didn’t really think anything else of it. Safe to say, none of them I think really expected Huntress life to be the way that they experienced it here.

But where does Ruby factor into this? Well as I said, Oobleck never questions her motives. We do hear about his though. He became a Huntsman because when he looked at history, he saw lives that could have been saved. He wants to pass that history and knowledge onto his students so that more lives can be saved and not end the way that Mountian Glenn did. As for Ruby herself, she’s always wanted to be a Huntress, Even as a child, this was what she wanted. She didn’t do it for thrills. She didn’t do it to redeem her family name. She didn’t do it to make up for any past sins. She did it for one simple reason: to make the world a better place. Her dedication has always been clear and later volumes have shown this. Even after V3, she got up and pushed on anyway. During V6, even after all the secrets and The Apathy messing with her mind, she remained dedicated to the cause. Why? Because her dedication has never wavered. He chose that life, the other three needed to understand what they had chosen as well.

The arc offers really good character insights and makes the girls more three-dimensional. It is what made me love all four of them. It showed that they were just more than their anime stereotype. They felt like real people who were trying to figure their lives out and what it is that they truly wanted. Ruby may have known what she wanted, but the other three weren’t 100% sure. This is when they began to understand. V6 would more solidly solidify it when it became even more than anyone bargained for, but this was still a very good step. It was such a joy to rewatch, and it is still a highlight for me.

There were me other great things too. First, Zwei! Zwei is best~! We got some good info on the Grimm and how they aren’t just brainless monsters. The Goliaths especially are fascinating with how Oobleck describes them, but also terrifying because the waiting just for the right moment to strike. We get word building in how Mountain Glenn was a disaster but shows how people tried to make lives within the world of Remnant and deal with Grimm. There were fantastic fight scenes and the train battle was especially super fun. Especially with how we got our first taste fo Raven in it. The finale is... well, not the best-received thing in the world, but was still fun to watch. Just an overall super enjoyable arc with plenty of comedy, badassery, and most of all heart.

But speaking of Team RWBY!

#1. Team RWBY Becoming a Team

V1 is when Team RWBY formed, but it’s V2 is when they actually felt like a team. It might be because while half the volume was on the forming the team and the other half on school hijinks, this one keeps the four center stage. There’s a real sense of friendship and sisterhood that comes off them in this volume, and I love it. There’s the food fight, the card game in CHapter 2, them all devoting themselves to investigating the White Fang, them trying to get Blake help, the Mountain Glennmision, a lot of things. Even just their interactions show off their comradery so well. They all play off each other very well and are honestly at their best when together.

It was just so much fun to see the girls working together, laughing together, supporting each other, etc. From the team attack names to just silly banter, you get the feeling that these girls are friends. That they’re a team. After how long they were separated in recent volumes until V6, it was so much fun to focus on just them. As I said, this volume is what got me to love these four as their own characters. It’s also true int hat it got me to love them as a team. After how much RUby and Weiss bickered in V1, they feel like genuine friends here. Weiss kept her word about improving herself as a teammate and not caring about Blake’s Faunus status. Blake started to open up more and trust int hem. Yang acted motherly and comforting to everyone. Ruby pretty much acted like the little sister of the group, but also acted as the leader when it was necessary like coordinating the previously mentioned team attacks.

It just works so well. The chemistry between the four is fantastic. I think it really was something that we missed in V4 and 5, and I’m so glad that we got it back in V. I expect that V7 won’t be lacking in that area either. Seeing Team RWBY again during the simpler times was really nostalgic and got me to appreciate them so much. For that, this will always be my favorite thing about V2~!

Okay, so… I’m supposed to do Likes/Dislikes for V3 next. But… well… check back tomorrow cause lets just say that it’s gonna be slightly different with that one.