#either way jobs under Tyrians or working for them are hard to get and you need to be like best of the best in whatever you do

[clockworkreapers]

question! you mentioned that purplebloods can be assistants to tyrians and that’s is a fairly recent thing; would an indigo/purple cusp also be eligible or would they be considered too low on the spectrum?

I did? (if I did I can’t remember where tbh that sounds too specific to single out one blood color) sure purples can, so can violets or indigos or cerulians even as low as teal. Depends what type of assistant though and what the individual trolls actual job is.

Domestics are always given to trolls lower down the spectrum and might not actually do much in the sense of interacting with Tyrians other than being servants or hive keepers.

Little bit higher up you could be in security or organization or doing more hands on things for them like styling or scheduling events.

Then if you have the background and prior knowledge for it you could be an assistant like an advisor or one that helps handles the governmental and corporate side of things. Those are usually the highest bloods since that usually is their neich in the social structure and what jobs the majority of them are already set up to do.

Either way you need the right skills and background to be able to be in a Tyrians inner circle when it comes to an actual job position under imperial. That and well you need to be loyal and actually good at your job and even then you might not be interacting with them 95% of the time, only when they need you.

[rachetmath]

Jaune Vol 10 Character Analysis

You know what I planned to make this a few pages long, but screw it, let’s talk about it. In Volume 10, I want Jaune to have that same energy back in Volumes 9 and 6. I’m sorry, but after everything Jaune has been through should not go back to being a comic relief character. No, not a chance, considering they're in the kingdom of Vacuo.

Vacuo, the desert kingdom might as well be the crime invested, savage, and brutal nation in all of Remnant. And this was the best place to bring thousands of people to? Imagine the amount of stress Jaune will be under due to the amount of work needed just to have stability. And he just got back from the Ever After. Imagine how hard it will be for him to readjust to Remnant, especially if the people start losing faith in the hunters. Not only that despite being reverted to the age he left in, he still is mentally older than everyone else. 

Remember what Jaune’s mother told him, “A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet.” Well, that’s debatable now after being betrayed by so many people. So imagine Jaune thinking twice about trusting anyone, regardless of good intentions. Hell, have him question Emerald so she can prove herself or his allies for a change considering they barely do anything for him. Either way, Jaune… won’t be as trusting as before. 

Next, after failing his friends multiple times at least story-wise…Jaune might as well be more obsessed with getting stronger than ever before. Even though Weiss, Yang, and Blake slightly helped him, it’s not enough to help him move past the amount of pain he went through like isolation, paranoia, and self-doubt. These things can make Jaune question himself, and lead him to want to quit, leaving the hunter world for good. Or die. This isn’t a good idea, considering Jaune is needed and is a hero in other people's eyes. (Jaune has been doing a better job than most characters, despite being the weakest in the group.) 

Sadly, his friends may be unable to talk to him about it. I’m talking about Ren and Nora, mainly due to relating. But it's because they are both horrible teammates. 

Okay, I explain my beef with these two. Ren and Nora, I tolerated at the beginning volumes. However, after volumes four to eight, I got frustrated with them enough that I didn’t mind if either of them or both of them died. Jaune always has to be there for both of them but neither is there for him when he truly needs them. I get it he is their leader but still. And before you all say “Ren and Nora have moments with Jaune.” My counterpoint is that most of them are forgettable and were outweighed by their other actions. Don’t believe me? Then let us discuss the volumes.

In volume four, it’s crazy that Ruby knows what Jaune has been doing more than his team. Let’s not forget during a fight with a Nuckalavee they were conversing while Jaune and Ruby were fighting for their lives. Look I understand, the Nuckalavee killed Ren’s parents but still. And don’t get me started on how they were willing to stand aside in the fight with Tyrian. At least Jaune was trying to help in response to Ruby jumping in between Qrow and Tyrian’s fight by herself.

Volume five, not going to lie, Nora was worried about Jaune but that was in a trap set up by Cinder and Raven. And to make matters worse they fought one man together while Jaune faced a maiden alone. Then when Jaune was healing Weiss, not knowing how long it would take, the moment Ren got hurt, Nora rushed in to help him, knowing Jaune may need protection. (I know it was under Jaune’s orders but come on.)

Volume six…. No. Let us skip this because even though it was a bad time, at least Nora and Ren said the sweetest thing ever. It’s too bad I can’t say those same words held up for volume seven. Nora and Ren were barely with Jaune at all. Jaune is more with Oscar than they were combined. Then they were useless in the fight with Neo and argued half the volume onto volume eight.

In volume eight, I truly started hating these two even more. Nora seems to care more about Oscar, to the where she has hugged him more than once, while I don’t recall one time she ever hugs Jaune. So far, in many volumes, she was straight-up rude to him. And even when he and Ren return from almost certain death she never says “Hi” and after healing her, Nora and Ren start having their moment again. Nora never said “Thank you”.

Speaking of Ren, we can’t forget this man calling Jaune out like he did, over something they all agreed to do. Understand, the circumstances they were in. Oscar got kidnapped by an unknown enemy. They were in a snow field with no shelter insight and they could die. All while Oscar was in enemy clutches with no way to reach him. With the facts in mind, was addressing any of what Ren said, important? “No. Why?” because not only was it not of any importance, there were too many counterpoints to his statements.

And what makes this worse, is when the portal to Vacuo, appears before them, they immediately use Jaune as a test subject instead of Emerald. Nope, these two are unless to Jaune if he starts going on the deep end. Emerald and Oscar might be a better choice than either of them. Hell, I’ll take the red-haired woman over them. I want Raven to talk to him or at least Qrow. 

I want Raven to come back and talk to him, due to being one of the same. The only difference is Jaune’s actions were based on circumstances, while Raven’s were purely by choice. Imagine Raven telling Jaune every cruel thing she’s ever done. And how some of the decisions she’s made in her life, caused her more grief and hardship than good. She tells Jaune not to make the same mistakes she did. Telling him to press forward despite everything he has gone through. I wouldn’t mind if Raven bothers to train him if Jaune asks of her. And if that can't happen then give that role to Qrow. However, there is one person Jaune needs to stay away from and kill. Tyrian.  

Tyrian is one of those toxic individuals, who will use and manipulate people to do things recklessly. Like I said before, the people's faith in the hunters could be diminishing. People like Tyrian will take advantage of this by using violence and chaos as a solution. When it's simply him pushing his own agenda. Tyrian was already interested in Jaune, but he never expressed why. Tyrian, in theory was like Jaune but life changed him somehow to be a monster. Jaune who's already close to insanity might as well be another reason fueling Tyrian’s curiosity. Tyrian wants to see how long it will take to break the knight’s spirit until he becomes just like him. Or push him to become another ally for Salem. Basically, instead of like Marco where he just forgets and moves on with his life, Jaune, I agree, becomes more like Samurai Jack. Or in this case, Odysseus, who I probably talk about later.

Samurai Jack, as many know was a Samurai, sent to the future and out for revenge against a demon known as Aku. He has experienced multiple failures, especially trying to find a way home to the past. Soon, he lost all chances of getting home to his family. And to make matters worse, he loses his sword and his way. This led to Jack being on the run and hiding from Aku. Sending him into a downward spiral as he felt all hope was lost. It wasn't until he met Ashi and remembered the good he had done for the people is when he rose to fight again, overcoming his demons. Odysseus, on the other hand, learns a different lesson. Again later.

If that’s the direction Jaune’s character is taking, then these are the requirements. Jaune moves on and embraces the reality that he isn’t the same person he once was before the Ever After. And he needs to find his strength once again. Planning and making better choices than the supposed headmasters and rulers of the world. And the best way to do that is to work on himself while separating from the group. What I’m theorizing is, when Alyx said “You’re not meant to be the hero.”, what could she have meant by it? Probably because while being a hero is good, being a ruler and leader for the people is a lot better.

[kitkatopinions]

The only way I can see RWBY recovering in quality is if the island arc in volume 9 ends with seemingly days passing in the island world and a time skip in Remnant. The world of Remnant and their friends have moved on from the loss of RWBYJ in Atlas and have been dealing with Salem for 3 years or so. Gives the world time to heal from the damage RWBY+ caused in Atlas and with the broadcast and realize how much they fucked up following Ruby Rose blindly. Solves the age gap debates of Rosegarden if that's the ship they want to go with for Ruby and Oscar. Let's Sun move on from Blake organically and allows Blake to come to terms with any romantic feelings she had for him and how that chance is long gone. An opportunity for Salem to take control in a way that might not have been possible were it not for RWBY+'s actions in Atlas. Shows that the protagonists can fuck up and suffer consequences.

Ahhh, see, I specifically don't want a time skip because I think it likely will be a way to remove the affects of a bunch of the stuff that I want pay off for. You say that having the world have time to heal from RWBY + actions would be a good way to show the consequences, but I disagree with that. I think that'd actually be the quickest way to make Ruby's actions not matter and not seem important. Having her forced to see the full effects of her actions as the suffering is unfolding in front of her would be a way to get her to actually see for herself that maybe she's made some massive mistakes.

Can I paint a picture for you?

Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, and Jaune get back from the island quickly, only a day having gone by for the people in Remnant. The refugees have just arrived in Vacuo, they lost tons of people trying to get through the desert, everyone is staggering with exhaustion as they move through the Vacuo streets, parents carrying their sobbing children, there are people throwing rocks at Winter and people trying to beg her to save them because they saw her fly through the gates and guessed that she was magic, there's sirens over a comm system in the city, trying to alert everyone to remain calm that's been going on for the hours it's taken to try and get everyone in and calm-ish in the first place. On top of that, the gates are flooded with guards working around the clock to keep Grimm out of the city, some of the exhausted Atlas hunters have gone there as well, Ren and Fiona and Team SSSN are desperately defending the last few hundred stragglers as they arrive. Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Blake, and Jaune are shocked, dismayed, they manage to get to the Academy where Nora is there with Oscar and Theodore, Theodore trying to get in contact with the Vacuo council in clear distress. Oscar tells them that everything has gone wrong, that everyone is panicking, that Vacuo was already struggling with keeping the Grimm away from the city when Ruby's message came, and with the addition of the refugees, the Grimm are coming in by the hundreds - by the thousands - almost more than the Vacuo authorities can fight back. Ruby is so confused, she'd been trying to reunite the world! But she just brought panic instead, and she now has to contend with that while seeing the immediate aftermath. She knows Qrow is missing, she tries calling him on her scroll, hoping she just missed him among the refugees. She and Yang are going crazy with worry, they think he might've been stuck in Atlas, he might be hurt, he might be dead, he might get captured by Salem, and they both have to face that. Being assigned by Theodore to help get refugees to the homes they've been temporarily assigned to squeeze into, Ruby is confronted by grieving families who lost everything, parents who tell her their daughter was one of the Atlas soldiers who died fighting on the front lines at Atlas, a couple with four kids spit at her and refuse her help because to them, her broadcast felt like a death sentence for Atlas while she called for hope for the rest of the world like they didn't matter. As she's traveling, Ruby runs into Neon and Flynt. They're angry and bitter too, coldly telling her that Ivori and Kobalt died in the fight against Salem. Ruby leaves that encounter wiping away tears. She wants to break down, but then gets assigned her next family to move and has to push it down and get back to work trying to do her job. Meanwhile Weiss has to deal with a brother who still clearly needs someone to help and take care of him when their relationship is somewhat rocky. Nora and Ren have to have distance and sort through what they want in their relationship and we see that and the immediate affects of their breakup. Salem has two Relics and Ruby has to explain that to Ozpin and maybe admit some mistakes and apologize while it's still relevant enough to matter to him. Emerald sees the affects of a lot of what she's done and has to contend with the fact that Mercury will be in Vacuo and she has to choose whether to try and help him or fight him instead. Mercury and Tyrian have to react in real time to the fact that the Atlas plans went completely sideways and now there's tons of people from Atlas here ruining whatever plans they have for Vacuo. Team RWBY work with Team SSSN while his and Blake's relationship is still clearly going to matter to him and he wants to continue where they left things and she has to explain her shift in feelings. Oscar is still contending with the fact that he and Oz are going to merge someday, asking questions about that. Salem must regroup now with so few people, and Cinder is going to have to try and keep up her lies in real time. Neo (if she survived the

island) is going to actually have to either get scrapped as a character or grow beyond her motivation of just wanting revenge. Winter is dealing with powers that are still new (remember, Maidens being 'new' is supposed to mean something) and having her whole world crash around her, while also maybe finally interacting with the family members outside of Weiss who have just had their entire way of life gone and now must adjust to sudden poverty. Qrow, Robyn, and the Ace Ops might have a storyline where they deal with what just happened themselves, maybe launching rescue for some of the people who didn't make it through the portals (like Pietro and Maria.)

These are all really important things that we should be expecting pay off for that should get focus and development. Ren and Nora's relationship problems, Oscar dealing with merging with Oz, how Cinder is going to regroup now, what will happen with Mercury, what the Schnees will do now they've suddenly lost everything, how Emerald is going to go on from her 'side switching,' how Qrow and Robyn reacted and where they'll go from here, whether or not Vacuo can even take in refugees, what the people think of RWBY and what consequences they've had to go through, and especially RWBY seeing the aftermath of the things instead of being allowed to just move on to the next thing and write it off as a victory like they did with Haven... All of that is something that we're likely to miss if we have a big time skip.

What I really don't want is for everyone to get back to the world after three to five years have passed only to see that it's doing pretty okay right now. Vacuo thriving with the Grimm population under control, and everything a little crowded, but most of the Atlas population settled in their new homes at this point, many of the important relationships of the side cast have been solved off screen and Maria, Pietro, and Qrow are already in Vacuo and have already adjusted to their various losses (both real for Pietro and believed for Qrow,) while (like you suggested,) Sun has just moved on from his dead former love interest he never got closure with that he promised to see again, because it has been years, and BlackSun fans like me see him in some relationship with someone he's never had any growth at all with (or maybe Neptune, which is... the preferable option over someone Sun's never actually talked to before.) Now Ruby doesn't see that her choices have caused major problems, instead she sees a city doing fine and if anyone is angry at her for causing them problems three to five years ago, they're mean. She's been supposedly dead for years and that person is just fine now! How can they yell at her? Now she doesn't see people suffering and Grimm flooding, she sees that her plan worked out in the long run, everyone just needed to hold on and have faith. She doesn't see a giant economic crash and families uprooted and soldiers dead and Pietro's reaction to the death of his daughter and people panicking over Salem... Ruby sees people talking about Salem as common knowledge, amassing troops to go after her now that the 'hard times' have started to pass, and she's validated. She knew it would turn out, she knew if she just believed, things would start working out!

I don't think the writers could save this show with a time skip, I think they'd just use it as a way to jump past the immediate affects of Ruby and her group's actions and avoid organic growth and problem solving while 'not being unrealistic' about it. If they brought RWBYJ back to Remnant within days, weeks, or even months, people expect real repercussions for the things that happened in the previous couple of seasons. They won't be able to just pretend none of it happened - or they might, but then most people will (hopefully) realize that's stupid.

So their choices are 1. just waving everything away and pretending there aren't any consequences to actions, 2. bring RWBYJ back in days, weeks, or months and address and deal with problems in a way that feels natural, 3. have a time skip so they can bypass the affects and consequences and avoid giving pay off for much of the things that fans have been expecting and waiting around for.

[warsmith-38]

How I would do RWBY pt.9

Season nine

RWBY and JN(P)R and the jobbers are all prepping to take the fight to Salem.

Big military invasion is planned targeting the Grimmlands.

Atlas is used as staging ground.

Atlas military, Ilia’s White Fang, SDC militia, Raven’s bandits, Mistral defense force, Menagerie commandos, and more are there to help.

Everyone even vaguely connected to Ozpin’s Council sends aid.

Vacuo’s defenders will lightly pepper the southern coast to make it seem like they’re still planning on attacking from Vacuo.

Everyone has scenes together about emotions and fears and whatever.

Invasion begins.

Goes well. A beachhead is established, casualties are minimal, and grimm are curtailed rather easily.

Normandy was a success.

They have to do what they came to do as fast as possible before Salem’s grimm from the south cross the continent.

The distraction did its job, but now they’re on their way.

That’s when the offensive grinds to a halt because nothing is ever that fucking easy.

Skirmishes become common, but no greater progress is made.

Then the casualty reports keep coming in.

Everyone except Ozpin reads them.

Morale is lowering, which in turn makes the grimm stronger, which lowers morale further and so forth.

Ironwood says that they need a big symbolic victory to restore morale and get things back on track.

Idea is a blitz, push as hard and fast into the Grimmlands as possible, consolidating as much territory as possible along the way.

Myrmidon is the only real strategic obstacle in the way.

Time is of the essence so plan is a go.

Night before the blitz.

Ruby gives a speech to WBY and JN(P)R.

Says that they’re all the best friends she’s ever had and that, even with all the problems going on, the time they’ve spent together has been the best time of her life.

Everyone has a few more scenes together.

Tai has a moment with his girls.

Raven tries to further apologize to Yang in her own way.

Weiss and Winter have video call with Willow and jailtime Jacques.

Blake has a moment with her parents who came with the Menagerie Commandos.

JN(P)R vow to each other that they’re going to either get Pyrrha back or put her to permanent rest.

Qrow and Ruby have moment together.

Ruby says she’s both out of her mind terrified and incredibly excited to kick ass at the same time.

Qrow says that that’s about right for Summer’s daughter.

Day of the blitz.

Coalition forces charge forth with the fury of…an uninterrupted carpool. What the hell?

There’s no fucking grimm.

The entire army is advancing into hostile territory completely unopposed.

Jaune and Ironwood realize what’s happening at the same time.

Sometimes the best defense is an overwhelming fuck you of an offense.

Pyrrha had withdrawn as many grimm as she possibly could in the timeframe and condensed them into two massive combined hordes.

And she’s sending those two hordes, in a pincer maneuver, directly against the sides of the coalition blitz’ spearhead.

Swarms of grimm hit them like a tidal wave.

The offence halts right then and there.

Fighting is brutal and ground is taken and lost at an alarming rate.

RWBY is shining beacon of hope against the darkness.

Killing droves of grimm as fast as the laws of physics allow.

Pyrrha gets involved.

JN(P)R intercept her.

Fight goes similarly to the last two but with one major difference.

Jaune, in his desperation, takes a blade to the leg and wraps Pyrrha in a bear hug, flooding her with his healing aura just to see what happens.

He doesn’t know what the hell it’s going to do, if anything, but it’s all he has at this point.

Pyrrha tosses him off but is visibly stunned and starts convulsing.

Her human parts are being affected by Jaune’s healing.

This gives them enough time for Ruby to blast her with white fire.

Pyrrha gives Jaune a sad look of longing before she collapses into his arms, once again dead and fading away into the wind.

JNR is sad at seeing their friend die… again.

The grimm lose all cohesion and even begin infighting a little at the complete removal of coordination.

The blitz continues all the way to Salem’s Sanctum.

They encircle and lay siege.

Salem and Ozpin communicate.

It’s finally here, isn’t it? The moment they both’ve dreamed about.

Chaos or order. Which will win in the end?

The day of fate has fin’ly come.

The siege is going rather poorly after about a week or so.

No headway is being made on being able to directly assault the Sanctum.

Artillery has little to no effect due to a magic bubble shield.

Swarm of incredibly powerful grimm operate as a sort of moat preventing infantry incursions.

Flying grimm lead to similar results on aerial attacks.

RWBY and JN(P)R are involved in latest offensive.

It fails. Pretty hard too.

Every day that goes on the more people get killed by the grimm.

This lowers morale.

This causes more, stronger, grimm to show up.

Same problem as before the blitz but with even more stressed logistics.

Scouts report that the grimm horde from the south is going to show up in under a week.

The worst part is that it would take just over a week for coalition forces to pack up and retreat.

Goodie.

Cinder has a moment of actually having a conscious and says she has a solution.

She knows of a way past Salem’s defenses and directly into the Sanctum.

The Cavern of Remembrance. (Yes, I’m nabbing the name from KH2FM, roll with it)

Rumor has it is that it’s a tunnel full of vengeful spirits of the departed.

Many have gone mad attempting to go through it.

Tyrian was the last to make it through, probably because he was pretty crazy to begin with.

Salem does nothing with it because the vast majority of people that go through there don’t make it out and those that do are either easy enough to kill on the other side or are susceptible to recruitment.

Ozpin makes the plan to send a strike team through it.

Should they survive, Ozpin will have Raven open a portal to give them a clean shot at killing Salem.

Nobody really likes this plan but they have few alternatives.

Decide that RWBY, JN(P)R, and CEMN would be the best options for the strike team.

Most of them (particularly Ruby and Jaune) cringe at the idea of working side by side with Cinder but roll with it because Salem is a much higher priority.

The teams get ready to go off.

Tensions are high.

Cinder leads them to the entrance of the cavern.

Everyone takes a moment to steel themselves and enter.

The great majority of the walk through the cavern is just that, walking.

So far it’s just a fucking cave tunnel.

Ren and Nora disappear.

It’s a straight, almost featureless, tunnel so they have no idea what the hell just happened.

Emerald and Mercury disappear next. Then Weiss, then Jaune, then Blake, then Neo, then Penny.

Ruby, Cinder, and Yang are alone now.

Yang gets a little angry, thinking that Cinder set them up.

The argument stops when they see a completely out of place cottage door ahead of them.

They enter it and are shocked to see Summer Rose, happily sitting with a pot of tea ready to pour.

The cavern is a font of old magic. It allows those who enter it one chance to speak to the departed spirit of someone emotionally close to them. Not necessarily a loved one, but someone important, good or ill.

As it turns out this has the habit of often making people want to ‘reunite’ with their loved ones or get killed by the spirit of the one they hated.

Ren and Nora are talking to their respective parents. They tell them that they’ve made it after all.

Weiss is talking to her grandfather. Calls him an old fart that history will only remember as a huge cunt.

Blake is talking to Adam. Specifically, depressed Adam that has lost the psychopathic streak.

Penny is talking to herself, the version of her that Cinder killed. Very trippy and self-reflective.

Emerald is talking to her mother. The last genuinely good influence she’s ever had before going good.

Mercury is talking to (read: says three words to and then starts fighting) his father.

Neo is…okay not talking, but with Roman. He teases her for going legit.

Jaune is talking to Pyrrha. Big happy lovers’ reunion.

Conversations range from tear soaked reunions to vitriol filled shouting matches to straight up fights.

Important bits, aside from emotional closure are as follows:

Mercury doesn’t get his semblance back from papa but awakens what would have been a second one.

It’s Armstrong/Greed style body hardening.

Jaune and Pyrrha have a moment properly saying that they love each other but are cut off prematurely, showing that Salem has resurrected her again.

Jaune has a new plan.

Everyone either connects again with the deceased and gains new resolve, or get pumped by telling the dearly departed dickhead to fuck themselves.

Ruby and Yang get confused as to why Cinder is there with them.

Cinder mouths off like a rude fuck.

Summer scolds her and calls her ‘Cinder Rose’.

Do the plot-twist dance, c’mon. (This was the thing that the Mad Scientist tried to reveal to Ruby)

As it turns out, Cinder is Ruby’s long lost fraternal twin that was stolen by Salem and raised in a horrible orphanage until Salem could come and ‘save’ her.

It was almost a contest between Ozpin and Salem.

Ozpin’s kid living in a well-structured and sheltered place with Salem’s living in a shitty environment with constant hardship. The one who’s system made the better kid, wins.

C+R+Y mutual BSOD.

After a few good shouts and some crying Summer tells her girls that she’ll always love them and be proud of them.

Summer and the cottage fade away and C+R+Y are really unsure as to what to make of this revelation.

Cinder is in the worse emotional shape she’s been in in the series.

They all agree to keep it quiet and just get on with things.

Repress now, react later.

Eventually everyone gets through their meetings and meet up at the exit of the cavern.

They’re right at the base of the Sanctum with the entrance to it in front of them.

Ruby shares brief secret words with Neo, Blake, and Emerald as everyone else is distracted.

They send a radio signal, Raven opens a portal and she, TQ, Ironwood, Glynda, Winter, and Ozpin come through.

Everyone moves into the Sanctum.

They enter the main foyer and Salem is standing atop the stairs waiting for them all dramatic and shit.

Says thank you to Cinder for giving her the opportunity to kill Ozpin.

Cinder calls her a bitch.

Says that she’s going to kill her for her mother’s sake.

Salem says that that’s easier said than done.

Myrmidon attacks with a shitload of grimm, including very crude resurrections of Tyrian, Roman, Adam, and some other jobbers.

It’s almost insulting how poorly done they are compared to Myrmidon.

Salem put all her time and effort into Myrmidon.

Big battle royale extravaganza.

The various resurrected try and fuck with people psychologically. Roman saying he never loved Neo, Tyrian bragging about killing Summer, and such like that.

This works on no one and the resurrected get decked but at least they tried.

The Council, baring Ozpin, get tied up against grimm.

JN(P)R distract Myrmidon and get her away into a separate room.

RWBY and CEMN get at Salem directly.

Salem boss fight start.

JN(P)R manage to redo the plan to knock off Myrmidon’s helmet.

Myrmidon believes she knows what they’re planning to do.

JN(P)R know she knows this and have planned around that plan she planned against their plan.

It makes sense, shut up.

Jaune kisses her and floods her with as much healing semblance as he can.

She almost dies, y’know, again, but the grimm taint is healed away from both the healing semblance and Jaune’s aura jumpstarting her aura again with the power of love.

N(P)R’s aura’s flood into Pyrrha as well because friendship and jury rigging Penny’s artificial aura system.

Pyrrha is unconscious, scarred, and in very poor shape. But she’s alive again, truly.

Not that they’d try it, but attempting similar plans with the other resurrected would have just destroyed them due to their comparably shabby creation.

JNP(P)R’s story is now wrapped up.

Yay!

RWBY and CEMN vs. Salem is still going on.

Lots of fire of both orange and white.

Fuck it, black fire too from Salem.

Summons and hallucinations.

Rage mode and NANOMACHINES SON.

Clone decoys and illusions.

Salem is enraged that she’s losing, decides fuck it and starts just blowing shit up with magic.

Ozpin comes in with the assist when Salem has taken a few hits.

He wants to kill-steal like a noob.

Ruby smiles as her own plan has come together.

Fight goes on, big spectacle, you know the deal.

Big crazy god powers combating each other.

TL;DR Salem and Ozpin stab each other at the same time.

Ruby had Neo, Blake, and Emerald fuck with both of their perceptions with their semblances to as many degrees as they can, making mutually assured destruction… assured (shut up).

Ruby even brags to both of them about it.

“There is no need for gods that only take,” –Asura (A really angry dude)

Calls both Ozpin and Salem bitches.

Both are enraged but the prophesy is fulfilled. Only one can kill the other so both now die.

So die the two worst mass murderers in the history of the planet.

It’s a BIGASS explosion.

Ruby wakes up at home, hoping to unholy fucking hell that this whole thing was not just one long dream after the Fall of Beacon.

It wasn’t.

Everyone is there to see Ruby and tell her that, yes, Salem and Ozpin are super dead.

Everybody wins.

Everyone else lived (She’s especially happy to see Pyrrha) and even got her flowers.

The one that draws her eye is the one that people say is the newest, a black rose.

It has a note saying ‘Ruins of Beacon. One week. –C’.

One week passes.

Ruby goes to the ruins of Beacon, alone, armed as she usually is.

Cinder is waiting for her.

Ruby doesn’t really want to fight Cinder now. She’s even talked to whatever authorities remain about getting Cinder a level of amnesty for helping in the last couple seasons.

Cinder tries to bait her into getting angry and attacking her but Ruby calls her bluff and tells her to just be honest for once in her life.

Cinder says that due to her upbringing she needs to contextualize events in a specific way.

Ruby needs to beat her in a fight. Properly.

No berserk insanity, no grimm arm weaknesses, just the definitive one on one show of strength.

Only then can she accept the reality where it’s possible for her to be sister to such a good entity as Ruby.

Otherwise she’s just going to fuck off to parts unknown, content with her stupid worldview.

Ruby tells her to stop being such a chuunibyou, but admits that she still has some shit to work out herself and the best way she knows to do that is a fight.

Ruby vs. Cinder.

Vergil 3 motherfuckers.

The definitive, badass, rival match, season and series final boss fight.

The wheel of fate is turning, heaven or hell, let’s rock!

The fight goes through everything.

Going from shooting, to melee, to fire duel, back to melee, to hand-to-hand, ending in a MGS4 style exhausted slugfest, all interlaced with flashbacks and shit, culminating in a mutual cross-counter.

Final punch, both of them nail each other on the cheek.

They glare at each other for a second, each other’s fists in their faces.

Cinder falls (ha) over first.

Ruby declares victory before collapsing next to her.

They have an absolutely exhausted heart-to-heart.

They reflect on the events of the series and accept each other as sisters.

Cinder accepts the name, ‘Cinder Rose’.

Four months later.

World is recovering from the conflict well.

Grimm still exist.

As long as negative emotions exist, Salem’s grudge will also. But without centralized control, the grimm are just hyper-combative and aggressive animals that crop up now and again, but can be curtailed easily enough if direct threat is posed.

Hunters still need to exist, but grimm aren’t world ending level threat anymore.

RWBY has been enjoying a little time off together as they do minor logistical work.

JNP(P)R have been palling around doing the same as RWBY, very much enjoying having Pyrrha back.

Team CEMN is now official with its members working as a sort of penal squad to work off their respective sentences.

They’ve got house arrest in their downtime though.

Only exception is when they’re working or have supervision from someone trustworthy.

Better than prison or doing the hempen jig so... take what you can get.

Kingdoms use the framework of Ozpin’s surveillance system as a communication and connectivity network instead of a ‘big brother’ type system of control.

Big get together with everyone.

Beacon is about to reopen under Headmaster Qrow Branwen.

RWBY and JNP(P)R decide that getting the Hunter GED equivalent might be the best option for them, considering they’re infinitely more experienced than any first year has a right to be.

Agree to a grad-student type arrangement to still be involved, though.

Everyone’s having a good time. Everyone’s connecting and blowing off steam.

Ruby peaks out and goes off on her own for a particular reason.

Ruby has final moment of series, talking to Summer’s grave.

Turn around and sees all her friends, family, and teammates.

Says she loves them all, half talking to the audience as well.

Red Like Roses plays as it fades to statues of Team RWBY in a cathedral or altar type place.

Fin.

Season nine done.

War arc done.

Series done.

Boom-shakalaka.

 Season of mini-episodes mostly for the fluff, fun, and because I say so.

1. Cinder awkwardly bonding with her new family, despite her best efforts.

2. Raven having a moment with Tai and Qrow about Summer.

3. Pyrrha reuniting with her family post-resurrection and dealing with the fallout of Myrmidon.

4. Weiss and Blake visiting Jacques and Sienna in their respective prisons.

5. Ironwood, Glynda, and others talk about Ozpin, reflecting that he really was kind of an asshole.

6. Team CEMN on mission, very slowly becoming actual friends.

7. Team CFVY make plan to transfer back to Beacon during sparring match with SSSN.

8. Flashback episode for team RWBY when they were children and still had much to learn.

9. Ilia and Blake talking about the restructuring of the White Fang.

10. Un-incarcerated Schnees talking about the future of the company.

11. RWBY and CEMN little sparring fun for stress relief.

12. Flashback thing with team STRQ, going through their forming and breaking.

13. Cinder going on an apology tour. (Pyrrha still hates her guts but not enough to kill her).

14. Qrow and Raven have big over the top dork duel because they’re both dorks.

15. JNPR has moment of “Wow, we REALLY didn’t sign up for that but we made out fine enough,”

16. Team SSSN wondering just what the holy hell all that was about.

17. Ciel and Penny reaffirm their friendship with each other, even though their team is long gone.

18. Flashback to Salem and Ozpin’s original falling out, showing that they were assholes even back then.

19. RWBY are made official huntresses and start a proper career of grimm killing and peace keeping.

20. Flash forward a generation or three later and someone telling their kid/grandkid team RWBY’s story.

 I did this because I felt the need to and nobody could stop me. Too many aspects of the show pissed me off just a little too much and I know that all this amounts to is my insane ramblings, but I did it anyway. Will I ever be put in charge of an actual RWBY reboot or something of that measure? Fucking no. Will this change anyone’s minds? Probably not. Was this entertaining to read? I certainly hope so. But, in the end, I had a ton of fun doing this and have made the points I wanted to make. That’s just about all I care about in the end.

I regret nothing.

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 4 Review/Remix

A pretty good episode this time, and only 30% pain and despair so things are looking up! But when it goes mean it goes real strong with the mean. Lots to think about here, and boy oh boy do I wonder what we’ll see next week!

For a nice touch of levity, we open on Robyn telling a funny story about a time Joanna lost a fight to try and pass the time. Maybe she’s trying to cheer Qrow up too, but as someone who gets very bored at work pretty often I get the appeal of talking just to keep sane. She sees Qrow is too lost in his brooding about Clover’s pin to listen to the story, and Jacques is too busy fussing over a fly buzzing around his head (the Pence jokes write themselves). Tough crowd indeed, though her joke about Ironwood needing to pay for cell block entertainment does get a smile and a chuckle from the sad old bird. She takes this chance to apologize, possibly again and we’re just seeing this conversation now, for what happened with Clover. Many would argue it is really her fault for getting trigger happy back in the airship when Qrow was the one under arrest, but that’s an argument not worth having because the blame soup was being stirred by way too many cooks to make a clear verdict. Qrow, however, blames himself for deciding to team up with Tyrian, which was certainly a bad move. It was a heat of the moment thing, and he makes it clear he really would have preferred working with Clover to re-detain Tyrian again, but Clover just wouldn’t let up on his arrest orders. The real pain though, he admits, is that he had really started to let his guard down around this guy and thought her could actually make a partnership work again without his Semblance tossing 1,000 monkey wrenches into the mix. Feels like a fairy tale dream, vanishing like a rose petal on the wind, like every other friend. I of course added the part about rose petals, because you know he meant Summer and the unity of STRQ she probably represents in his mind. Robyn knows a thing or two about having a Semblance that impairs your relationships. Not many people like being around someone they can’t keep anything private from, and she can call out and mistruthing with a touch of the hand. Qrow has to admit he hadn’t considered someone else having that kind of personal trouble like he does, but their conversation is ended by Harriet coming in to toss Watts back in his cell. She’s pissy at Qrow and says he shouldn’t have Clover’s pin, but he retorts he has no reason not to have it since he’s not Clover’s killer. She still has a hard time believing that since Harbinger was the murder weapon, but Robyn finally raises a very good point. Miss Hill is a literal walking polygraph and all they would need to do to prove Qrow’s innocence is let her out of her cell and take her hand. But they won’t do that because they don’t want to prove what’s really true here, they want to cling to a convenient story so they don’t have to admit what really happened. Cuz if they put those glasses back on and face the facts, that means reevaluating what side their on if Clover died because he refused to help detain a serial killer before arresting a former colleague and that’s the real problem. Hare had already threatened that if she was gonna open the cell she wouldn’t use her hands for a friendly shake, and the dig at her allegiances and her ignorance towards Ironwood’s sins almost riles her up to the point of taking Robyn’s bait. But Marrow calls her back down to sensibility and she leaves in a huff. Robyn lays back and sighs at how there was almost something exciting happening.

Cutting to an actually exciting scene, Yang Jaune and Ren are outside the city chasing the Hound through a mountainous canyon on their bikes. It can fly while they have to navigate the rocks, and their bikes aren’t handling the cold terribly well. Yang laments that none of them can fly, but that inspires Jaune to pull out his shield and get closer to Ren. He’s gonna get his teammate up there, and Ren immediately understands how. Leaping off his bike and onto Jaune’s shield, he’s launched through the air by the burst of Gravity Dust in the crest and uses his grapple line blade to wrap around the Hound’s leg... and get dragged through the air like Curious George at the end of a bunch of balloons. Still, he’s weighing it down some and can climb up the line to get in close... when he’s not getting swung around against the cliffside. To further slow it down, he shoots his other line around a big rock that gets dragged behind them for about 5 seconds before the Hound flies higher up and the line comes loose. Ren gets knocked around even more while Yang finds an inclined path that gives her enough height to start shooting at the Grimm. It handles this fairly well, by dropping Oscar from its mouth into its hands and flying ahead of her with a loud roar. Apparently one of its Grimm for all Seasons abilities is to call for backup, because dozens of Centinels suddenly burrow up out of the rocks and ground around them and several Teryx swoop in above. Navigating becomes that much more difficult for the blondes, especially when one Centinel spits acid and hits the thruster of Jaune’s bike. He thinks fast and leaps off his bike to launch off another Grimm in front of him and flip onto a rocky overpass where he almost loses his balance and falls back down. Luckily Yang instead zooms by and pulls him onto her bike where they continue their pursuit. She does a great job of bobbing and weaving around the insects, but a Teryx lands in their path. Jaune tosses his shield grenade in front of a large rock and they drive onto it to tilt it into a ramp, launching over the avian foe into a spin between two more big bugs. They bump on a rock, but the Grimm cannot touch them with Yang’s driving. Unfortunately, they have a far more dangerous problem: They’re heading towards the edge of a massive cliff. Yang tries to make a quick turn but instead flips the bike over and launches both of them off to go tumbling off the precipice. Jaune tries to plant his sword in the ground as an anchor, but he doesn’t keep hold of it with their momentum and they both fall with a very believable scream. Big props to Miles and Barbara for this and the dramatic performances soon to come. Ren comes swooping in for a massive save and grapples Jaune’s sword with one weapon and the poor guy’s leg with the other. Jaune grabbed Yang by the hand so she’s fine too, but an incoming Teryx might soon negate it all. Luckily, Ren instead negates all their emotions with his Semblance and the Teryx passes them by. Less lucky, Ren being here means he’s not hanging from the Hound. He let it get away with Oscar to save his friends, and you know he’s kicking himself for it.

Shifting scenes from that tense gloom, we see Weiss decided the safest place to take Nora for the time being is her own damn mansion. Whitley answers the door and is about to try and berate Weiss for this but she is having none of it. She holds him at swordpoint and insists that they are coming inside. Whitley is very against the idea of harboring fugitives after the hit the Schnee family’s reputation has taken in the wake of its patriarch’s arrest for war crimes, and Blake is quite frustrated that this is what he chooses to complain about. The staff is all gone, Willow has retreated to her room and assumable to the bottle, you gotta admit Whitley probably feels more alone now than ever and is... coping in less than ideal ways. Weiss still seemingly carries a chip on her shoulder of wanting to prove that she is doing something actually important and she made the right move by leaving home to be a Huntress, so she insists that Whitley has no right to nag them because they are saving the Kingdom here. At least, that’s what my 2 semesters of psychology classes would tell me. Ruby plays intermediary between the Schneeblings and lays down their very minimal terms. Let them stay here a little while so Nora can rest and recover, and then they will leave him to his sulking and riches. Whitley begrudgingly accepts and asks what he has to do, and Weiss seems to relish this chance to tell him to go to his room. Finally flexing her big sister authority without Papa around to veto her in favor of his adoring son. But like Willow said last Volume, Whitley has been stuck in this house just like Weiss and Winter, and they could certainly try to treat him with a bit more fairness and sympathy. I’m sure it hurt him a little inside to have yet another authority figure bossing him around without a care for his desires. Still, he’s not giving much reason to make us sympathize so I say wait a little bit to see if he’s got any softer moments to come. Weiss directs May on where to carry Nora, and Blake checks on Ruby while they have this quieter moment. Possibly because she wants the chance to talk to her too, Blake suggests Ruby should try calling Yang to make sure things are okay, both between the sisters and in general. But that’s just it. She did it 35 minutes ago. Okay not really, but I wanted to toss a Watchmen joke in. Still, as much as Ruby worries how that half of the team is doing, she’s already trying to call them and it’s not going through.

We fade back to our three battered teens as Yang collects what scattered pieces she can from her bike, the only one they still have. But like I said, it crashed into a rock after they tumbled off and it’s in no condition to run anymore. So Jaune is trying to call for help and transport back to Mantle, but either Ironwood shut down all communication in the lower districts or they’re just so far out in the tundra that a signal just won’t reach. The latter would make sense, and explain why Ruby couldn’t reach Yang. Giving up on the call, the three instead trudge through the snow in the light of the setting sun back more or less the way they came. Jaune is dragging the bike along while Ren leads the way to an outpost he saw while getting dragged by the Hound. Yang notes how low their auras have been drained due to protecting them from the cold this long, and like a kid on a car trip asks how much longer it will be. Ren has no immediate answer so she asks again and he gives a snippy “I don’t know”. She can tell there’s something more bugging him and tries to coax it out of him after sensing the hostility in his explanation that he only got a glimpse of their intended destination before he had to abandon Oscar in favor of saving them. He refuses to discuss his deeper feelings because he thinks it’ll just waste time. This riles Yang up and she demands to know what his deal is, to which he insists she not worry about it. The argument keeps escalating from there. Things aren’t going smoothly enough for Ren? No, they’re not going smoothly at all, but boohoo Ren, that’s part of the job as a Huntsman. He doesn’t think it’s a job they should have at all, they weren’t ready for it or to make the incredibly damming decisions they’ve had to since taking that position. Sure, they had a few lucky breaks and near miss successes, but then they entered this losing streak that they can’t seem to recover from because the losses are too drastic and every choice they’ve made has been the wrong one. Yang refuses to accept such pessimism and insists that even if they haven’t done everything perfectly they still had to do something because inaction would have made things worse. But how could they be worse than they are now, Ren demands to know as they freeze to death out here. Salem has the Lamp and Oscar, and they have nothing but the cold winds. They may not have an army but they have the Maiden, Yang tries to counter, but because they haven’t let her to open the vault for Ironwood all of Atlas is just a buffet waiting to be chowed down on and it will all be their fault when that happens. Yang rightfully asks him if he seriously thinks letting Ironwood try and float Atlas away to safety will work out for him or for the people of Mantle he’s abandoning, but he argues that they shouldn’t even be the ones asked to make that call. He’s trying to spit the hard truths no one else wanted to face, but this is way too harsh and mean, especially for Ren. What are these hard truths, you ask? That Ruby is still too young to be a leader, that he himself is an orphan from a town that doesn’t exist anymore (which I guess shows how unimportant he is for someone thrust into this decision making role), and that Jaune, who by the way has been trying in vain to get the two to cut the shit and quiet down this whole time, cheated his way into Beacon. A damn low blow there, bro. Bringing back the deep wound from Volume 1. And you can tell he regrets it immediately, but to say that would mean backing down from his point. Jaune doesn’t even address the personal callout and just says alright, you don’t think we should have the job, good for you. I’m still gonna keep walking and get out of the cold because like it or not we were given a goddamn job to do. Maybe not in those words, but the meaning was there. Ren and Yang silently let him take the lead, probably feeling the hot wash of shame distracting them from the arctic chill. Yang still takes one last dig at Ren though by asking if it’s his goal to push everyone away, implying he’s being an asshole and not even Nora is sticking by him. Well... in so many words anyway.

We get another change of scenery with a dramatic violin stroke like something out of a murder mystery movie. Oscar is regaining consciousness, and he hears Ozpin try to reassure him to stay calm and that it’s gonna be okay. When he looks up, however, he sees Salem leaning in a shadowy doorframe staring at a smoky apparition in her hand and welcoming back her long lost Ozma. Judging by the childlike laughter and general shape of her smoke display, I think she was manifesting a memory of her and Oz’s dead daughters to try and reminisce about the days when they were still lovers. Oscar realizes he’s being held in the air from the Hound’s mouth and tries to struggle free as Salem notes how young and weak this new vessel is. She’s not even acknowledging Oscar, just talking through him to Ozma. It’s been what may have truly been centuries or even a millennium since they’ve last met, and dear Oz has nothing to say to his wife? Oscar does his best Ozpin impression to try and fake it till he makes it, but Salem knows her man better than anyone and sees through it to grab him by the face and call his bluff. But he really is still a separate person from Oz, so maybe he can be more cooperative to her requests than that old wizard. She still wants to know where the Relic of Choice is, since Oz clearly must have used an extra layer of deception to hide it opposed to the others, and she wants Oscar to reveal the trick. But that’s not a memory he has access to, and he tells her plainly that he doesn’t know. She believes him, knows Oz would hold that one close to the chest longest of all, so she asks an easier question. How does she go about asking the Lamp questions? She gets the standard coverup answer, the Lamp is out of questions so it’s futile to even try, but she refuses to believe that one. Instead she blasts the poor kid with an evil magic rainbow laser and lets him scream himself hoarse for a bit. His chest has scorch marks, or at least his clothes do, and he fearfully tries to pull away from her “loving” touch. Lying so easily about these things, he truly was reincarnated into a like-minded soul... but sooner or later one of the two in this battered body will break and Salem will learn what she wishes to know. He tries to insist he won’t tell her anything, but that’s why she has backup. Hazel comes in to literally gut punch this 14 year old until he coughs up his guts or the truth, whichever comes first. And he justifies it all by saying this is revenge for his defeat at Haven and from the still unforgiven death of his sister.

Salem doesn’t stay to watch the savage beating, instead walking the halls of Monstra with her lovely new pet. Cinder has been waiting in this hallway for a chance to speak with her Mistress, but is distracted by her immediate discomfort in the face of the Hound. Salem claims it is an experiment that she is quite happy with the results of thus far, and wants Cinder to get on with whatever point she had so she can get out of the way. Cinder wants to search for Penny, she thinks she can make up for the past blunder and claim the Winter powers for herself. But Salem just laughs at this. “She thinks, she wants!” It’s like hearing a cockroach tell you about its hopes and dreams. Mommy Salami does not give a fuck what Cinder wants to do, she has done nothing to earn Salem caring about that. Cinder, to her credit, does not take this dismissal lying down and tries to argue that they are doing nothing to further their plans when Cinder could be achieving a great victory for her Mistress by securing their way into the Atlas vault. Salem does not slow her pace, and says when it is time to act she will tell Miss Fall what she needs her to do. Cinder tries to argue, and is met by the snarling maw of the Hound turning on its heels to send her shrinking back. Salem has been pretty damn patient with this bratty girl, but she will not repeat herself again. You are not going the the ball, Cinderella, you are staying here and doing what your godmother tells you to because if you don’t you will learn just how easily you can be replaced and forgotten. Cinder gives up her case and assumes the position of submission, which is to say taking a knee and repeating her self-depreciating mantra that without Salem she is nothing. This satisfies Salem and she walks away with her dog in tow, leaving Neo to glare at Cinder as if wondering who is really the domesticated little pet in this place. 

Cut to Cinder immediately rebelling against her given orders and heading for the airship insisting she just wants to go check on something and then they’ll come right back before anyone knows they left. Neo just floats along behind her because like hell she’s staying in the Satan whale when it’s this bitch’s fault she’s here at all. We get the last unseen shot from the trailer as Cinder looks out over Atlas and rationalizes that Salem doesn’t know Team RWBY like she does, she wouldn’t understand how determined they would be to try and save the world, and so it falls to her to check out Amity Colosseum again and see if they’re up to something. Neo seems annoyed and disinterested at Cinder’s petty little scheme, but they’re both caught off guard by Emerald arriving behind them and offering to tag along to help. She’s been getting better with her Semblance and asserts that she would be very useful. Poor misguided lass, searching so desperately for acknowledgement and praise you’re never gonna get... Cinder seems pissed that she was eavesdropping, but she’s not gonna turn down the assist. Time for an evil girls’ night out~

Back on the ground, night has fallen as JRY have found the outpost at last. Jaune hits a heater to get it running and prevent their freezing to death as Ren broods out the window and Yang is outside working on her bike. The leader takes this time to address the tension with his teammate. Yes, he did make a bad decision and cheat his way into the Academy. But when he found himself in that bad situation he realized he needed help and he asked for it. He turned his situation around and got better, became the strong person he is now. Holding onto this ideal that being strong means doing everything on your own? That was literally the issue Jaune faced in his mini character arc back in Volume 1, and he came out of it humbled and ready to accept support from his team. From Pyrrha. But she’s not here anymore, and Jaune is. Nora is, team RWBY is here for Ren. So Ren needs to understand that he can let them in, because the more he hides from how he feels the worse it’s gonna feel and hurt him inside. Ren goes outside to sulk under a streetlight, but Yang has come inside now to say that she’s found the part she needs to fix the bike so with a little more tinkering they can get it working and ride back into the city once they’ve got some R&R. Yang does take the time to say she’s sorry Ren said what he did because of her argument with him, but Jaune dismisses it for the time being as all three of them being under a hellish amount of stress. He’s been where Ren was before, he knows how much it hurts. Yang turns back to the tool bench to work on the thruster, but she’s got some inner turmoil of her own to vent about. She wants to know if Jaune thinks “She” thinks less of Yang for making the choice she did and staying to help Mantle instead of going to help fix Amity. Playing the pronoun game like this can be tricky, and Jaune fairly assumes she means Ruby since the two of them did have the verbal disagreement before splitting off, and Yang did question her leader’s decision making and leadership. He assures Yang that her sister will always love and believe in her even if they have squabbles like this. But it would seem Vomit Boy lost the pronoun game, and Yang was not actually asking about Ruby. Judging by the purple cannister she’s wrenching into the battered thruster, she was asking if Blake would think less of her because of these recent actions. 

A lot of people seem rather torn about this choice in priorities for Yang, but allow me to explain why I think it’s not that bad of a writing decision. If there is one thing that has been consistent in this Volume it has been the confidence of other characters that Yang and Ruby will endure this clash of ideals and remain loving sisters. Usually these sentiments have been given by characters who are siblings themselves and know the strength of that bond, like Weiss and now Jaune. We’ve never actually heard either sister personally express any anguish or regrets over that argument, but we can assume they’re both still a little sour about it. But they have been there for each other to a depth that few siblings have, as evident by Yang’s story in Volume 2 about how she had to step up in raising Ruby in a lot of ways after Tai went into grieving for Summer. They’ve been each other’s best friend and closest confidant for so long, I truly believe their bond is clad in iron and they know it too. Meanwhile, a lot of Yang’s recovery arc in Volumes 4 and 5 was dealing with being abandoned by Blake in a time of need and it continued into 6 as learning to accept her back into her life and find a way to make their partnership work again. Shipping or not, they do have a strong bond that has been renewed by dealing with their combined trauma and killing Adam. And when that happened they both promised they would stick together and back each other up, but now Yang has been the one to decide she wants to split paths and do something else. She has good reason to worry this might have upset Blake, and we the audience know Blake is worried about how she’s doing. So, when faced with a color that reminds her of her partner, it makes some sense that Yang would try and get an outside perspective of if she’s fractured their bond. And if you ship them, that more magnifies the interpersonal concerns than really changes the problems.

Regardless, Jaune realizes this is a problem he’s not quite equipped to deal with and decides he’s going to get some rest in one of the beds in the outpost. He gets the strong feeling he’s gonna need it cuz it feels like things will only get worse before they get any better. As we pan out past Ren, whom Yang promises she won’t let brood himself to death out in the snow, we see cracks start to form out on the ice. That can only bode poorly for these poor kids. Many folks think this is a frozen over lake with some scary aquatic Grimm waiting in the depths like a megalodon Grimm shark or the sulfur fish Grimm that apparently were the winners of a fan design contest this past year. Personally, I’m taking a note from the opening and saying it might be a cloister of Apathy since their gross grabby hands wrapped around Team RWBY when they fell through the ice at the end of the intro. But we will have to wait and see. Thanks for reading, hope to see you and your notes soon!~

Edit: this came out a week late and we did indeed see what it really was. Boy were we not ready for the truth...

[flightofaqrow]

informant

qrow + Victor Alabaster ( @casketdweller​ )

“I’ve already been requested to track down a specific Faunus who stings, if you catch my meaning, and a little bird had told me you knew him. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask more about him.”

“…alrigh’, fine. i’ll bite,” qrow relents with greater gravity than the other gives someone who really shouldn’t be underestimated, “but i’d like t’know who this client’a yours ’s first. ‘sides someone cruel enough t’send ya anywhere near tha’ crazy joker.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Is this even going anywhere, or are we done here?”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

clever fox must have thought a drunk man made for an easy target. or maybe he knows exactly who qrow branwen is, given the annoying air worn like a coat that he seems to know everything.

but not everything, or there’d be no reason for the subtle hounding. may not even know anything that really matters. qrow scoffs, slides his glass back and forth, slippery with condensation across the counter, and crimson eyes watch amber liquid wash around while ice cubes clink. there are things he knows, privy to only a carefully selected handful, and no amount of alcohol will have them slurring out.

truths too shady for even the slipperiest of scoundrels; better to cut things off at the head of what trail this conversation leads to. better to stay not knowing. go about petty little life as the other knows it, and leave qrow to live his. ( for whatever one could call wallowing in loss and misery and running from all his fears and own family to be living. )

different questions might produce different results, an exchange of different facts that don’t go down that rabbit hole, if still interested.

but qrow’s not the one to take first strike at this deal, and won’t be the one to carry it.

burns away bitter memories with a wash down of something even more bitter, then takes a breath.

“well,” he answers rough, and only spares a side glance to sharp corners of his eyes, “it cer’ainly seems like yer done, at any rate.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Easy target or maybe a potential client?

Victor hadn’t been entirely sure, but the fox Faunus had a delivery for him at either rate. But, given how their ‘transaction’ was going, he was getting less and less willing to pass it off. Especially given how the man dodged his inquiries and comments as if they didn’t exist. Hmph, humans.

Always thinking they were better or some such.

“I was feeling charitable.” He commented, picking up his own glass and studying how the leftover liquor left it with an amber colour. “I’ve already been requested to track down a specific Faunus who stings, if you catch my meaning, and a little bird had told me you knew him. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask more about him.” Shame, shame. Victor supposed he’d mention it off hand. “Said client even said they’d have information to pass along, but seeing as you’ve made it clear that you’re not interested; then I suppose after this drink I’ll carry on my way.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

charitable, he says. even as everything else talks about the job. but can’t say he doesn’t catch qrow’s full attention with that little tidbit. head turns in full to face him with opened eyes, pointed edges moving further out on the lines of his cheeks with far more seriousness.

“…alrigh’, fine. i’ll bite,” he relents with greater gravity than the other gives someone who really shouldn’t be underestimated.

finally gets to the point, but treats it like a game in patronizing words and tone, but maybe that’s just how this guy talks. though, the hurt’s already been done because qrow made that mistake once already; played around too much in their fight, not knowing just what that faunus and that stinger could do. a score to settle, but on another day - once he dared to show his cartoon face again, or once haven is officially safe.

this conversation would have been better to have earlier in the night, but ideal doesn’t exist in qrow’s world. another mouthful swallows and follows with sigh, “but i’d like t’know who this client’a yours ’s first. ‘sides someone cruel enough t’send ya anywhere near tha’ crazy joker.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Mm, wasn’t anyone cruel or anythin’. A friend of a friend requested a favour. I’m only doing this because it’s so hard to get anywhere for the moment.” Long nails clink against the glass as the fox Faunus rolled it against the counter. “Men of iron are hard to find, but so are the kind hearts of those in green. Don’t you agree?” Cryptic enough, though Victor figured that the other Huntsman was smart enough to pick up the cues.

“I’m only here for the night,” A burner Scroll was placed by Qrow’s elbow. “That the information I’m supposed to hand over. Didn’t peek, scout’s honour.” He wasn’t a scout, but it didn’t matter now did it?

“So how about you tell me a pretty story, and we can part ways as if nothing happened?”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

gods, it’s like trying to have a conversation with Raven, and if qrow’s addled brain is reading the situation right, that’s one of the few people in his life left unmentioned. no idea who this man is, and yet the fox knows an uncomfortable amount of intel on himself.

he orders another round for them both. a show of good faith, a sign to stick around. …and a way to cope with yet another example of how life never did like to let him have the upperhand.

otherwise silent aside from an exasperated breath, and only in sliding aside an empty glass does qrow snatch the scroll up and stick it in his pants pocket to look at later.

later, once the screen wouldn’t be spinning from swimming vision.

a lean in closer lets on to the trust bought less by the other’s word, and more by association. qrow doesn’t have to like the guy to work with him under Oz. temporary contract or no.

“…wel’then. i c’n tell you a lil’ somethin’ about a tail. what part y’need to know?”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

He watched the drunk, sorrow, Qrow snatch up the burner scroll and tuck it away in a pocket. Hm, not entirely wasted then. Fascinating. Victor had, of course, heard of the infamous Branwen twins - who hadn’t? - and of their exploits, but nothing too concise. He was glad, at least, to have tempered his expectations.

What a let down.

Victor’s own tail twitched at his question, humming in contemplation as he took hold of the glass. A study of it, partially out of caution, partially due to contemplation. “Something for the client, I s’pose. They’re curious if you’ve heard anything regarding one of those fables.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

qrow lets a lot of people down.

and that’s fine when he only has to answer to one. results matter more than other people’s opinions. the other man can give him piteous looks all night, and it’ll only make qrow like him less.

give him more of a reason to drink.

one less friend, and one more failure to forget. but the bartender trips on his way back and that next round ends up all over floor. the cost of qrow’s patronage might just outweigh the revenue.

he sighs, and sits back. still unsure of whether this guy talks in code because he doesn’t know what it really means, has to, or is just trying to be obnoxious. fable huh? there’s plenty of those, but qrow has a suspicion. and that at least takes them off the topic of Tyrian, “no’yet. bu’ we’re gettin’ close. tha’stinger set us back a’ways. …an’ another lil’bird iss’ill keepin’ ‘er secr’ts.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Chartreuse green eyes closed at Qrow’s words. So the assassin caused a set back, and one of the birds was keeping her secrets still. Well, in a way he didn’t have to really hunt her down, since the goal had been to find this one, not the other. However, Victor wondered if it’d be worth the detour…

                   … Maybe, not.

“I see. Well, in that case I’ve done all I can then.” The informant said, picking up the glass and taking the tiniest of sips from it. “I’ll be out of your feathers in a bit. I’d like to linger just a bit longer before I continue on. I’m sure you understand.” A smile was flashed to the Huntsman, and Victor turned his attention back to the drink.

“Unless you have anymore stories I might be interested in relaying…?”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

well, while they’re on the topic. while qrow’s already spilled.

fingerpads tap slow enough not to make any sound along the counter in the absence of a glass to hold, an emptiness within and without, and nothing delivered yet to continue to try filling it, and maybe qrow prattles in the space left. or because he’s not used to people lingering.

nor used to knowing his secrets before he says them. this clever fox really must have been trusted by Oz.

qrow doesn’t smile back, but he doesn’t glare anymore either.

he gruffs, “sure, wh’not. …think th’lion’s lost’is roar, an i’m startin’ t’think some pieces fr’m the board in this place’re missin’.”

he brings his other arm up, hands resting softly atop each other in front of him, while his gaze sinks to stare at them, “anyway, wha’s y’r name?”

hopefully that wasn’t a riddle or secret.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Noted, noted, noted. Missing people and a cowardly lion, sounded like it’d been plucked from a faerietale. Heh. “Name’s Victor. Alabaster. S’pose that’s a freebie I can give.” The fox Faunus didn’t see the harm in it, figuring they may be in steady-ish contact. Perhaps. Perhaps not. He didn’t seem the type to like people lingering, and Victor didn’t blame him.

Lingering people always were the ones to keep an eye on.

Glass sat down, drink barely three quarters full. He’d lost his taste, and the bartender was looking at him in a way that told Victor he’d best consider an alternative place to hover. He flashed a grin at Qrow, “Should you need to pass anything else along, I’ll be in the area for a couple of days.” Couldn’t promise to be easy to find, though.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“yeah, okay,” qrow mutters like it matters. he’ll remember the name like he remembers most of his confidants, but this one would eventually be gone, too, whether by choice because of his semblance, or by consequence of… his semblance. not worth making friends.

someone having the audacity to grin in the middle after exchanging such somber news makes him lift his glass for a good gulp while the other leaves his behind.

“nice t’meet’ya,” he says it with faded finality - more like a farewell than the opener of a relationship; doesn’t even look up until dull red eyes lift to watch the other leave.

Then goes right back to his drink.

[theonceoverthinker]

When Will My Life Begin? (Fair Game, 9/?)

“When Will My Life Begin?” 

Summary: Tangled AU. Clover Callows has been confined to a tower for all of his life, and given the threat that his Uncle Tyrian says his semblance poses to his safety, he accepts that fate. It’s the only life he’s ever known, after all. But when he’s offered the opportunity to fulfill his greatest dream after a chance encounter with a thief -- or bandit, as Qrow Branwen insists there’s a difference between the two -- both Clover and Qrow will discover joys that they never knew life could offer them before. AO3

Tumblr: (1) (2) (B1) (3) (4) (B2) (5) (6) (7) (8)

A/N: Hi! I don’t really have a lot to say about this chapter apart from it’s my first time making a chapter that wasn’t really a part of the movie, so that should be fun! Enjoy!

Also, I’m hosting an AMA on the Fair Game Effect Discord all day today as well as tonight (5/31/2020)! Hit me up with questions there! 

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Clover Callows had never felt breathless before.

He’d felt all the emotions that were often associated with breathlessness -- awestruckness, shock, anxiety, to name a few. Clover knew emotions could contribute to explaining the ‘why’ of the sensation of breathlessness, but the actual ‘what’ of the sensation beyond a pure biological one escaped him.

However, as Clover started untying his reluctant, but all the same willing guide, he started to feel it just a little. 

Breathlessness…

It took all Clover had in him to ignore soaking in and embracing what breathlessness really felt like in the same way he did with his blankets and pillows on a cold winter’s night.

Still he did ignore the temptation -- there were still things to do before leaving the tower -- but he was fine with that. After all, Clover knew there would be more to come of the feeling very soon, and he couldn’t wait to give it all the attention it deserved.

Clover had to hand it to himself -- his weapon-making skills weren’t pretty, but where they failed aesthetically, they more than made up for it in their top notch utility. He’d never had a real chance before to utilize Kingfisher’s line in such a way as it had over the past few hours, but when push came to shove, the fishing rod accomplished its many tasks marvelously, and given the way Qrow didn’t massage his wrist and ankles when he was finally freed of the line, it did its job while also making sure Qrow was never in pain while confined in its line. 

No matter what would come to pass on this journey, there had to be something to be said for that.

As Qrow stood up, now free of Kingfisher’s embrace, he stretched. 

“Never thought I’d be so happy to be standing,” he mumbled as he arched his back. 

Clover opened his mouth to chastise Qrow for mumbling, but closed it. 

Of all the family traits that he got from Uncle Tyrian, why was that the one that decided to show itself?

“The trek to the kingdom is about a day’s trip from here, maybe a little less if we’re lucky,” Qrow said. Clover gave Qrow a careful look, reminding himself that Qrow clearly had no idea about his semblance. 

It was going to be okay.

Qrow started at Clover’s hesitant look, obviously not understanding the reason for it. 

“What?” he asked, both defensively and exasperatedly, much in the same way Raven squawked when Clover suggested they do something silly or weird. 

If it weren’t for his most recent thoughts, Clover might have laughed at that.

“Good. That’s good to hear,” Clover said, ignoring Qrow’s question and focusing on maintaining a sense of seriousness once more. “You will indeed serve well as my guide.”

Qrow didn’t look fully convinced, but thankfully, he didn’t look fully unconvinced either. He just muttered something under his breath and continued stretching.

Suddenly though, he stopped. 

Something obviously caught his eye, and Clover knew exactly what it was.

“I’m gonna be needing that,” Qrow said, pointing to where he was looking at -- the other end of the tower where his scythe and its shielding sheath rested against the wall. Clover couldn’t help but narrow his eyes skeptically. “What?” Qrow continued, his tone strong and defensive. “I’ve got to be able to defend myself out there. I already told you I was being chased.”

Clover sighed, gesturing over to where Qrow’s weapon was, allowing Qrow to take it into his possession once more. 

If Clover was being honest with himself, he wasn’t excited at the prospect of giving a human a weapon. After all, as Uncle Tyrian had told him so many times before, half of a human’s strength came from their weapons. However, in addition to his confidence that Qrow didn’t know his semblance, eliminating many of Clover’s more prominent worries, Clover knew that if Qrow was going to take him to see the lights, he needed two things. 

First, as Qrow himself said, he needed a means of defending himself. If the world outside his tower was dangerous for him, it was no doubt dangerous for Qrow too. No matter what he thought of outsiders, he could never deny one protection. After all, he wasn’t about to leave Kingfisher, and he’d never ask Uncle Tyrian to leave the tower without his blades, and so he would allow Qrow the use of his weapon. 

Second, as anxious as it felt for Clover to do so, he needed to give Qrow at least some of his trust. Of course, he wasn’t going to divulge to Qrow just anything, especially the secret of his semblance -- he was lucky that Qrow didn’t already know it, and he wasn’t about to compromise that information any time soon -- but given the skills Clover had already displayed towards Qrow with Kingfisher as well as the leverage he held over Qrow, allowing Qrow the use of his weapon was a reasonable risk to take and bit of trust to give. Besides, Qrow had let him decide whether or not he’d get to use his weapon. That earned him a bit of the trust he knew he should return in kind.

Additionally, Clover had to admit that while he didn’t spare Qrow’s weapon as much thought as Qrow himself and his intentions for Qrow, he did find the weapon interesting all the same, and a chance to see it in action was a temptation hard to ignore.

A scythe...it was so strange…

He wanted to know, and maybe now was a good time to ask, given the small provision of trust he’d given Qrow.

Clover leaned back towards the nearest wall. He crossed one leg over the other while pretending to focus on his nails rather than Qrow, so as to appear as nonchalant as possible. “So why a scythe?” He asked, careful to keep a casual tone. “Weird choice of a weapon. Why not a sword, or a blade?” When he was finally done, he cautiously turned to look at Qrow.

Qrow gave him a look that screamed just how unimpressed and unfooled by Clover’s scheme he was. 

“Mr. Fishing Rod is telling me that my weapon choice is weird?” he snorted, slinging his scythe’s scabbard over his shoulder. 

Clover once more tried to feign a sense of casualness. “Just curious, you know?”

“Looks like it’s time for me to make a deal of my own. Give me my satchel back and I’ll tell you all about my scythe.”

Clover smirked at him, this time needing to fake nothing about his disposition. “Not a chance, Qrow.”

Qrow glared at him for half a beat before sighing, allowing it to dissolve into something more neutral, but still curious. “Okay, well then why don’t you tell me about that fishing rod of yours first?”

Clover smirked, proud that his weapon had managed to impress someone from the outside world as much as it impressed Qrow. 

“Kingfisher is unexpected,” Clover answered, unable to keep the boasting tone out of his voice. “Whenever I’ve been told or read about weapons, everyone always has swords, or knives, or arrows. But would anyone think of a fishing rod? I don’t think so. Gives me an edge in combat. Clearly worked on you.”

Qrow gave him a light sneer. “I was distracted, and you got lucky. I promise you, it won’t happen again.” He then scoffed, his vicious look once again disappearing. 

Gods, there was that word again. ‘Lucky.’

How did someone who knew nothing about his semblance keep stumbling right into it?

That just wasn’t fair.

Then again, that was Clover’s semblance for him -- it gave a little, and took a little.

Just his luck.

Clover coughed, careful as to not alert Qrow’s suspicions again. If Qrow thought anything strange of it, he didn’t say nor show it.

“Interesting,” Qrow said, nodding. “Well, it looks a little crude, but honestly, not bad.”

Clover smirked, proudly. He’d almost wanted to say thank you, but then remembered that he was owed a story, too.

“Your turn,” he said. 

Qrow took out Harbinger and signaled with his hand for Clover to take a step back, a suggestion Clover took with little prompting. Once he did, Qrow swung Harginbers blade, causing it to double in size. 

Blown away, Clover was pretty sure his jaw fell all the way to his knees.

Qrow looked so smug as he smirked in response to the awestruck expression. 

That did the job of taking Clover out of his trance to roll his eyes at him, though only for a moment as his focus quickly returned to Qrow’s weapon.

“This,” Qrow said, “is Harbinger, and it is so much better than any sword in the world. Scythes as a whole are more versatile and cover more ground than most swords, but Harbinger also folds in on itself, is good for climbing, and best of all, scares the shit out of anyone who messes with me.” In that moment, Qrow’s smirk turned just the slightest bit menacing. 

Clover had to admit that for a second, Harbinger’s latter purpose was definitely working on him. However, it was only a second all the same, and Clover was quick to brush it off.

“I know the difference between a threat and a bluff,” Clover shot back, “and that was most certainly a bluff.” Qrow’s sneer reformed. “But your weapon’s pretty nice. No match for Kingfisher, but nice all the same.” 

Qrow sighed, matching the eye roll Clover gave him earlier with one of his own as he folded up and sheathed Harbinger once more. He then looked intently at Clover, who immediately started feeling very uncomfortable.

“What?” Clover asked, unable to keep all of the hesitance in his voice at bay.

“You need an outfit change,” Qrow said.

There was a lot Clover figured Qrow might say after their little weapons showdown.

That wasn’t one of those.

“Excuse me?” Clover said slowly, looking over his clothes. 

Did they look bad?

Suddenly, Clover’s cheeks felt all too hot for his liking.

“You’re gonna stick out like a sore thumb in that getup. I don’t want that, and more importantly for you, something tells me you don’t want that, either.” Clover opened his mouth to feign a denial, but Qrow continued before he could say anything. “You’re not the only one who can spot some fishy business. Guy lives alone in a secret tower, or at least, almost all alone if your table’s any indication, and doesn’t know his way to the kingdom capital. There’s gotta be a reason for that.” Clover once more tried to give an explanation, but once more, Qrow beat him to the proverbial punch. “Don’t worry,” he continued, his hands up in a surrendering fashion, “I’m not gonna ask. You’ve got your business, and I’ve got mine. But still, if you’ve got something else, I’d recommend you change, if not today, then at least for when we get to the capital tomorrow. I think it’s safe to say that we could both do without the extra attention.” 

Clover took in Qrow’s words. 

He...wasn’t wrong...at all.

That somewhat disturbed him.

All the same though, Qrow was right -- he did need a change of clothes if he wanted to blend in once they got to town. While Clover was okay enough breaking his uncle’s greatest rule this one time in his life, he wasn’t about to take any extra risks to his safety if he could help it.

Clover nodded, more to himself than to Qrow, and then turned to Raven. 

“Watch him,” he ordered, much to Qrow’s clear dismay as conveyed by an overly loud groan from him.

He went to his closet and looked at another of his favorite outfits. The colors were more earthy. He’d probably fit in fine enough with them on, so he stuffed them into a bag and slung the bag over his shoulder to change into tomorrow. 

Clover wasn’t surprised when he turned back to see Qrow trying in vain to find his satchel and failing miserably while Raven mockingly squawked at him, as beside herself with laughter as a bird could possibly be. As Qrow turned to him, Clover smirked at his failed attempts at ending their deal prematurely.

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” Qrow said, shrugging.

“I can,” Clover said in a matter-of-fact fashion, “but you’ve caught me in a good mood, so I won’t.” Clover then pat the bag behind him. “All good to go,” he said to both of them, right before leaning down to pick up Raven and place her on his shoulder.

“Oh great,” Qrow muttered. “The bird is coming?”

Clover smiled, giving Raven an affectionate scratch on her neck. “Of course she’s coming. Raven’s my best friend.”

Qrow sighed tiredly, massaging the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “There is not a single thing about you that makes sense, muscles.”

Clover shot him a deadpan look at the reemergence of his nickname.

Was ‘Clover’ really that hard to use?

For Gods’ sake, it was the same amount of syllables as ‘muscles!’

He ignored it. Perhaps he’d just have to find a nickname for Qrow.

Yeah, that’s exactly what he’d do.

But right now, the nickname could wait.

“I’m heading down,” Qrow grumbled, taking his scythe out of its sheath and sitting on the window sill, seemingly planning his trip down the tower. 

Clover realized he had to do the same thing now.

This was so exciting!

Kingfisher’s presence as a key role in his descention was obvious. Even without the stone base, he could probably still configure the pulley to work for him by making it just act as a hook for Kingfisher. The more Clover worked out the plan, the more confident he became that it could be done. After all, while he was larger than his uncle, the stone base drastically cut down on the weight needed for him to be safely lowered, and Clover rose and lowered himself with just Kingfisher plenty of times before while playing and training. All he would have to do was put on his leather gloves to protect his hands as he fell -- easy enough.

It would work.

It would all work.

Qrow crossed over to the other side of the tower, and Clover instantly heard the now somewhat familiar sound of his scythe clanging against the structure. 

Clover went over to the windowsill and looked at Qrow, but Qrow didn’t return his gaze, clearly too focused on his climb down. He then looked to Raven, who did meet his gaze. They exchanged a smile. It was obvious that Raven was looking forward to this adventure just as much as Clover was.

Who could blame her?

“Hold onto my collar, nice and tight,” he said, nuzzling his head against hers. Once he was done, Raven looped her unmarred wing above and under Clover’s collar, giving him a squawk when she was done.

Clover took out Kingfisher and locked its hook into the pulley, staring at it in awe as he fully released its line and looped part of it around his waist. For once, the pulley was going to do its job, but only for him. 

It was unbelievable.

He looked towards the ground outside the tower. It was a long way down, but the terrain was one he knew well after cumulative days of looking down and across from his window and years of dreaming about what it would be like to experience the very thing he was just about to do.

“You coming, muscles?” Qrow called from below.

Oh, he was.

With a last deep breath of his home taken, Clover jumped off the windowsill and out of the tower.

Falling was a rush. The air slammed into his face, and the only way Clover could hope to describe it was like a noiseless version of Raven’s loudest squawks, but amplified to almost unreal proportions. It was cold, it was ceaseless, it was almost menacing in how the wind’s roar sounded vaguely menacing as Clover continued his descent. Clover loved every second of it. 

As he fell, he couldn’t help but release cries of joy as his laughter painted the skies with a beam that not even the sun could hope to match in power or size.

He could vaguely see and hear Qrow in the half of a second he passed him during his fall, but needless to say, Qrow seemed surprised by his choice of climbing strategies.

Well, as long as it didn’t mess with his navigation skills, it was certainly nice to leave his guide always guessing what new tricks he had up his sleeve.

As Clover fell from twenty feet from the tower’s base to ten, and from ten feet to five, he realized that it was time to execute his landing strategy.

He pulled himself up ever so slightly with an upward tug of Kingfisher’s line, allowing the impact of his fall to be absorbed before he ever risked feeling the pain of it.

The rest of the drop was only another couple of feet.

Clover could do it.

All at once, he fully let go of the line and fell the rest of the way.

The impact of the world at his feet was softer than Clover ever expected it to be.

Clover, speechless, allowed himself to just feel the sensation of it all.

Thin, tiny wisps of grass tickled his toes and the dew as well as the water from the nearby pond sank below the grass into the wetted dirt, covering the balls of Clover’s feet that sank into the earth below him.

Finally, his fall was done.

Finally, his feet were on the ground.

Finally, Clover was really, truly outside his tower.

Despite all the air that had flown in his face on the way down as well as the fresh air that now surrounded him, as those facts came to light, Clover, for the first time in his entire life, felt what it was like to be truly and fully breathless.

[im-the-king-of-the-ocean]

Rose Puppetry Ch2

Chapter 1.

Originally, I was just going to post Rose Puppetry chapters to AO3, but I realized, when I get to post one of the last 2 chapters, I’ll finally get to reveal the other ulterior motive behind the fic’s existence (other than, you know, really wanting to write something steampunk-y).  

(like, when I first thought of this fic, I had a very specific scene in mind (but we’re still not there bc I keep Going Off On Worldbuilding And It’s Fun).  Anyways, the reveal of what that is, I think, would work better on Tumblr.  So, for the sake of keeping everything together, I’ll post chapters here too.

.

The Path to You

The pilot expertly navigates the drop ship around Prime’s Flight Engines.  The sharp breeze created by the churn of the engines’ massive propellers whips Penny’s hair around her head.  One error here on part of the pilot and they’ll all be dead.  Their ship ripped to shreds by the blades and those of them lucky enough to survive that left to plunge back down to Mantle.

With the exception, of course, of Penny, who has flight capabilities of her own.  

So far, she’s been lucky enough not to be the sole survivor of an operation.  Penny dearly hopes that day will never come, although she’s constantly aware of the possibility that it might.

Thankfully, they make it around the Flight Engines in one piece and steer up towards one of the unauthorized entrances to Atlas’s Prime’s notorious Underbelly.

To build their city, Atlas’s founders ripped a great mass of earth from the ground and launched it into the sky.  In the gaping hole it left in its wake, Crater Town, the poorest of Mantle’s slums quickly grew.  Populated by desperate people displaced when the very earth beneath their homes was yanked away and lifted to where they could not hope to reach, it remains a harsh and bitter place to live.  Though most of Crater Town’s inhabitants are honest folk just trying to eke out a decent enough life, the crime lords have long since settled in and taken control.

Up above, in Atlas, Crater Town’s twin quickly formed.  Sure, on the surface, Atlas may be an elegant, gleaming, polished city, but it still needs workers to constantly make it so.  When they realized this problem (and that absolutely no one amongst themselves was going to just volunteer for the unsavory, menial jobs), the highest ranking of Atlas society started offering employment to Mantle’s working class.  In return for their hard labor, those Atlas’s creation displaced could come up and live out their very own Atlesian Dream.

Given the alternative was staying somewhere where, if the various gangs’ enforcers didn’t kill you for not paying your debts on time first, lung sickness or another disease quickly would, almost all the offers were quickly snapped up.  However, instead of being embraced into Atlesian society, Crater Town folk soon found themselves shunted off into an out-of-sight, out-of-mind underground city carved out of the very soil stolen from them.  The Underbelly.

Life in Mantle may not have been good, but the Underbelly’s inhabitants consider their lot worse.  Their hopes had been raised on the prospect of achieving a better life for themselves and their children.  Instead they were told to rot in a dark, twisting, labyrinthine city directly beneath the Atlesian streets they keep shining clean day in and day out.

The drop ship reaches its destination.  No one who isn’t looking specifically for discrepancies would be able to recognize the section of Atlas’s underside as fake.  The false cover slides out of place to reveal a gaping tunnel entrance into the rock.  One by one, Penny and her team climb up out of their ship and into it.  They don’t stop moving until they reach a small chamber some distance inside the tunnel.  

A couple members of the Rebellion’s Atlas cell are there to meet them when they arrive.  They hand off the fake uniforms Penny and her team will need silently, and then depart for their own assignments.  Atlas surveillance tech shouldn’t work this deep in the Underbelly, but the city prides itself on its innovations.  Their mission is too important to jeopardize by saying the exact wrong thing and this being the one time the drones successfully made it this deep.

As she changes into the maintenance worker clothes, Penny lets her mind briefly wander to happier times.  Sunlit days in Vale.

Her friendship with Ruby had started out as just another part of her mission.  What better way to learn about Vale was there than getting to know one of the locals, after all?

Penny can’t say she knows the exact moment when things changed.  She’s tried time and time again to pin it down exactly.  Was it their visit to the fair?  The movie theater?  The way Ruby laughed or the way her eyes sparkled?  What was it about her that made Penny feel like she never had before?  That made her want to never return to Atlas.  That made her stop sending her reports back because she was far happier in Vale.

With Atlas so far away, Penny had thought, they wouldn’t be able to reach her.  Her greatest mistake will now forever remain underestimating the reach of the General King.

For all she can’t remember the precise moment she fell in love with Ruby, Penny does certainly remember the night—the last one she ever had in the cute, little apartment she and Ruby called home—that they came for her.  She remembers the melody of the song she and Ruby were listening to on the radio.  It had been a slow, sweet, song.  Penny can’t remember the words.  They’d been too busy dancing, getting lost in each other’s embrace, to listen closely.

There’d been a knock at the door; the briefest of warnings.  A canister shattered the window as it flew in, popped open, and let out a cloud of knockout gas to invade their home.

Penny had been restrained before she could make the first move to fighting back.  The knockout gas didn’t—couldn’t—work on her, but she’d watched in horror as Ruby inhaled it, her eyelids fluttered, and she crumpled to the ground.

That was the last Penny ever saw Ruby before a black hood was pulled over her head and she was forcibly shut off.

Penny came to in Atlas, in the throne room specifically.  Ironwood lauded her for her ploy.  For gaining the trust of a Vale huntress.  For knowing the General King would send the AceOps, his right hand, for her when she severed contact.  For rightly assuming they’d capture the huntress they found with her.  For delivering what they needed to win the war once and for all.

She would be a hero for her actions, he said.

Penny fled the first chance she got.

Finding where Ruby was imprisoned was much more difficult than she thought it would be.  Penny’s love wasn’t in any of the usual prisons, or even the handful of secret ones Penny knew of.  Eventually, she caught wind of the rumor that Ironwood had given Ruby to his top scientist, Dr. Watts, for reasons no one seemed to know.  Not that they really needed to.

Everyone knows the name Arthur Watts.  The boogeyman in almost bedtime story told to overly rambunctious children.  He may not be a threatening figure when he makes the rare public appearance, but he’s responsible, parents will warn their offspring in hushed tones, for the monsters who they never, ever want to cross.

Hazel, the Law Enforcer who no longer seems able to feel pain after an extended stay in Watts’s lab.  A giant of a man with the ability to inject Dust directly into his body.  He’ll offer candy to children and speak to them in a kind-sounding voice to get them to let him in their homes.  Then, once he’s inside, he’ll lay waste to their families.  Just look at what happened to the Pines after the Enforcers were tipped off that they were spies leaking intel to King Ozpin in Vale.

No one speaks the name of Tyrian Callows in fear simply saying it will summon him to their location.  Technically a wanted criminal, but one who’s never been arrested.  At least not for very long.  Sometimes either a green or overly cocky detective will try to bring him in.  Some even have managed to get him into a prison cell.  The next morning will see them (and anyone in the general vicinity of the jail, if Tyrian’s in the mood, which he always seems to be) dead, poisoned wounds scarring their chests.

A couple years back a homegrown protest movement against Ironwood started in Mantle.  In the first week or two, almost every leadership figure within it was dead, marked by those same slash marks.  Sure, there’s no hard evidence that Tyrian did it under orders from Atlas, but when one takes into account the law’s ineffectiveness against him and his shiny, expensive-looking, Atlesian-made, prosthetic scorpion tail, they figure they have enough of the picture to come to the right conclusion.

Then there’s Cinder Fall.  The less said about her the better.  Some say she’s the creation of a much darker, much more sinister force than Arthur Watts.  No one ever wants to imagine what that is.  So they say, her dark arm, whatever disturbing substance its made out of, originated in Watts’s lab.  Sure, it’s still a nightmare, but a lesser one.

And those are just the recent ones.  The most well-known ones.  People disappear off the streets sometimes and then something similar to them will appear out of Watts’s lab.

He’s not someone Penny can take on.  At least not on her own.

Penny was recognized immediately by the Rebellion’s leader, Robyn Hill (one of the few survivors of Tyrian’s protester massacre), when she found them.  Not many knew of Penny’s existence or what her face looked like, but Robyn is sharp, clever.  She hadn’t survived this far by not knowing this things.  There wasn’t trust between them, not in the beginning.  But Penny was honest about her motives, what she wanted out of all this.

Penny hadn’t been sure what was best for everyone when she stood on the Rebellion’s doorstep.  She was still struggling with separating her own sense of self from what Atlas intended for her.  She could not say she was joining the Rebellion because she truly aligned with their values (at least, not then, that would come later).  But, if they would help her save Ruby, she would swear her life to fight for them.

And so, she had.  Until this day, when they finally have their opportunity to raid Watts’s lab and rescue Ruby.

Penny and her team make their way through the Underbelly until they come to one of the service entrances leading into Atlas itself.  They pause, each making peace with their lives, before exiting into one of the most beautiful cities to ever exist.

[mattzerella-sticks]

Lucky You, Huh? (Clover Ebi/Qrow Branwen, set at the end of s7)

After all that happened, it's time for the dust to settle. Choices were made. Now, the consequences for certain actions need to be carried out.

Even though he fought alongside her to save Mantle, Robyn Hill couldn't help save Clover from the whims of the Council. Without a job or home, Clover needs to find a way to carry on.

If anyone understands what that feels like, it's Qrow. Never being one who can communicate his feelings well, would he be the best to comfort the other man. When he's the only one who can, what does that mean for Clover?

            Qrow watches him from afar. Leaning against the wall of Atlas Academy, a small bag sat between his legs while he stared into his scroll.

            He looked different, out of uniform. Dark jacket with sleeves hiding golden skin, a green shirt with a white four-leaf logo underneath. Kingfisher nestled cozy on the studded belt. And his face… lined in ways Qrow never saw before. Sadness as bold an accessory like the horseshoe pinned to his lapel.

            “Where do you think he’ll go?”

            Startled, Qrow barely showed it. He glances to his left where Ruby and Yang stand together. Yang bundled tight with her arms crossed over chest while his younger niece rocks on her heels.

            Ruby blinks up at him, asking again, “Uncle Qrow, where do you think Clover will go?”

            Qrow sighs, scratching his chin. “…I don’t know.”

            “Where can he go?” Yang says, “Ace-Ops seemed to be his life.”

            “It’s not fair!” Ruby stomps, “After everything he did to help us… and this is the thanks he gets? It’s… it’s – it’s ugh!”

            An understatement. He nods, turning to observe the other man again. Somehow unaware of the little party gathered yards away. Or, he was. Given the tightness in his jaw and how deep his eyebrows furrowed since last he saw. Like if he lost focus from the scroll Clover wouldn’t know what to do.

            Which, he doesn’t.

            “You’re right,” he says, “But what he did made Clover a traitor… and there’s no place for people like that in Atlas.”

            People who disobey direct orders to, instead, fight for the rights of the those who would’ve died if Ironwood’s plan went unchecked. Who helped him and Robyn sneak in under the cover of a ruse so they could surprise his former teammates and rescue the others. Who took the harsh lashing from Ironwood’s crazed rants without flinching. Who, even after being praised by the Council for his courage and conviction, was forced from his position because of his liability status.

            “I’m really sorry about this,” Robyn said, catching him after the Council finished their meeting. “I tried my hardest but… with how Ironwood went rogue, and everything that happened because of Salem, they… we thought our military needed a rebranding. So the people can trust us again. Because Ace-Ops were so closely tied to the General…”

            “I… I understand, really,” Clover nodded, “And I’m not mad at you, Robyn. But… there’s nothing I can do? They won’t let me teach, either?”

            She sighed, squeezing his shoulder. Whatever Robyn told him Qrow couldn’t hear from his position. Hidden behind a turn, waiting for when the meeting ended. To see Clover. Except when most of the members left with strident purpose, his reason for being there walked through the doors with a slump to his spine. Distressed, Qrow’s heart beat in double time. He readied to call his name when Robyn beat him to it.

            When they hugged, Qrow sped away. Unwilling to be third party to an intimate moment. There were more important things he needed to focus on, that he put off because of his worry for Clover.

            Now that Qrow had nothing left to do in Atlas, his feelings resurfaced.

            “He wasn’t the traitor,” Yang huffs, “General Ironwood was. He nearly killed all of Mantle out of fear.”

            “That doesn’t make James a traitor, Yang,” he says, defending his old friend. Hard to do given how far he fell from grace, but it’s second nature. The image of a younger James always came to mind whenever he thought of the man. Before responsibility and war weighed on their shoulders. They walked unburdened while the world placed stone after stone on their backs. Qrow struggled from time to time, but he never faltered. Sometimes relying on an extra hand to help steady himself. James moved with tireless grace until, suddenly, he buckled and broke, lying flat on the floor. Unwilling to accept the offered hand.

            “What is he, then?”

            “…Stupid. Incredibly, unbelievably… stupid.”

            She scoffs. “You have to be stupid to think that plan of his was going to work. Like a little distance would matter to Salem…”

            Warmth leaks through his arm through a gentle touch. Ruby, at his side, says, “You should go talk to him.”

            Qrow won’t face her. “He’s clearly busy.”

            “He’s clearly hurting,” she says, “And you’re his friend. Clover did all of this… for us.”

            “She’s right Uncle Qrow,” Yang adds, “it’s… the least you can do.”

            It’s hard to decide which he’s angrier at, his nieces ganging up on him or that they’re right. Qrow chooses neither and both. “Fine,” he growls, “I’ll do it…” He stalks away, adopting a casual gait the closer he moves towards Clover. Stumbling only when seafoam eyes break from the screen and lock onto his.

            He stops, cheeks burning and fingers twisting the lining of his pockets. “So,” Qrow starts, tongue awkward behind his teeth, “how’re you holding up?”

            Clover attempts a smile but can’t show more than a broad stroke of a line. Completely level. “I’m… barely. Barely.”

            Qrow nods, mirroring his stance. Shoulders brushing up against each other slightly. “It’s rough, isn’t it?”

            “No,” Clover says, pocketing his scroll in a way that makes more of their bodies touch. “Actually, I couldn’t believe how easy it was. Cleaning up my quarters took… less than an hour. Everything I own is in this… this bag.” He kicks it, knocking it over. “And besides Winter and Robin… there wasn’t anyone I needed to say goodbye to. I tried thinking of people, but…” His eyes flit to him for a brief second. “But that was all.”

            “Really?” Qrow asks, “No one else?”

            “Ace-Ops wasn’t about making friends,” Clover shrugs, “Any free time meant optimizing our skills, abilities, and strategies to better protect the city of Atlas and of – of Mantle. Maybe I could have checked on my teammates but I… don’t think they’d want to see me.”

            Qrow agrees, silently. Remembers how each member of Ace-Ops reacted in shock when Kingfisher’s hook caught Elm’s Timber on an upswing. Pulled it from her hands so she couldn’t slam it on a newly freed Weiss.

            “Stand down,” he said, “As your leader, I’m ordering you to –“

            “You’re siding with them Clover?” Harriet asked, fury crackling to life in her gaze. “Is that it? Them over Ironwood? Over us?” He didn’t answer her. “Well,” she continued, “I guess that doesn’t make you our leader anymore. Just another criminal.”

            That hurt. No matter how many times they gave their speech, Qrow never bought it. Working alongside people changes you. An exposure effect. Might not be friends but definitely more than strangers. He knows from first-hand experience. So, when Harriet said what she did, Clover’s heartbroken expression made sense.

            “If it’s all so easy,” Qrow says, drawing them both from their thoughts, “why are you still here?”

            Clover chuckled, wiping at his cheek. No fights or danger to force him to hide the broken edges of his spirit. “Because this is the hard part.”

            Qrow understands. Even though it wasn’t much of one, Atlas was Clover’s home. And being forced out – after everything he did for it – was the worst form of gratitude. Reminds him of a younger self staring across from his sister, her blade between them. “Branwen might be your last name,” she said, “but we’re no longer your family. Leave.” Under the scrutiny of his entire village, Qrow fled. Drowned his abandonment with ten bottles of the cheapest liquor he could afford.

            A thought of Clover, drunk, passed out at the bar crosses his imagination and curdles his stomach.

            “I’m sorry,” Qrow says, rushed, “I’m sorry this happened to you. You should… they shouldn’t have taken your job from you.”

            “They had to. For peace to remain in the kingdom, Ace-Ops couldn’t exist anymore. The people’s trust in us was broken.”

            “But to toss you aside like that…” Qrow scowls, borrowing his niece’s words. “It wasn’t fair.”

            Clover shifts so their elbows knock together. “All choices have consequences.”

            “You didn’t have much of a choice though,” he argues, “Do the wrong thing but obey orders, wind up in prison. Do the right thing but think for yourself, end up without a job. It… it makes no sense!”

            “I know. Still… I made it. You were there.”

            Tyrian watched with glee as they stood in the cramped quarters of the transport. Giddy, unable to speak from the excitement over such strange twists. Robyn waited with tensed muscles, hands twitching in case her crossbow were needed. Qrow didn’t think of his weapon. Hoped they could avoid drawing them forth.

            He took one step forward. “Clover,” Qrow said, “Clover… what are you going to do?”

            Conflict played obviously on the other man’s face. Wrapping his head around Ruby’s message, trying to make a decision. He glanced at where his weapon rested, binding their prisoner, then to Robyn and finally Qrow. “I’m going to do what’s right.”

            “I’ve heard that before,” Robyn huffed, reflexively unfurling her crossbow’s wings, “it’s never been any good. So, Clover, what is right?”

            Right has no set definition. Ask anyone to do so and the answer is subjective. Always changing like the hands of a ticking clock.

            Qrow believes he knows what right is, especially in that situation. Trusted Clover felt the same too, even though the shadowed voices in his head whispered doubt. More hurtful than ever because they’ve been left unchecked. Booze no longer impeding their mission to drive him crazy.

            Clover said, “Ironwood’s going too far. He needs to be stopped.”

            His chest tightened in a frightful mess. Relieved to hear him agree but also doubtful he actually said what Qrow wanted.

            Robyn felt similarly. “Funny how this is the line you’re not willing to cross.”

            “You don’t believe me?”

            “Call it suspicious caution,” she said, holding her hand to him, “C’mon… you know what to do.”

            Qrow raised a brow at the gesture, unsure of what to do. Clover studied the hand intensely, frozen like a statue. Seconds ticked by deliriously, until he firmly grasped her in a stiff handshake. Suddenly a white glow shone over their joined hands, shifting like clear waves of a lake.

            “Everything I’ve done is because, at the end of the day, I thought it was best for my kingdom,” Clover told them, facing Robin with steely determination. “We make the difficult choices so that people can live safer lives. Sometimes the lines blur, because things that can help in the long run don’t look like it immediately. But we do it. What Ironwood plans though… abandoning innocent civilians – members of the kingdom he swore to protect – goes against everything I stand for. There’s no way the ends can justify his means.”

            Clover moved from Robyn, looking at Qrow. “I’m loyal to the people who need protection, those above and below. I want to fight alongside you.”

            Overwhelmed, Qrow turned around. Listened while Robyn cast off any doubt clinging to Clover. Nodding when appropriate as they went over their plans in the brief window of opportunity until the transport landed at Atlas. Only speaking to wish Clover luck while he tied the bolos around his wrists.

            He smirked, squeezing Qrow’s hands between his own. “You know me, I always have it.”

            The same thundering emotions shake through him now, tremors echoing across his body. Causes him to chuckle, strange given the current atmosphere. So thick and nauseating, Qrow tries to dispel it with a quick joke. “Funny,’ he says, “how with your semblance everything usually… usually ends up okay for you. And yet, here you are… that doesn’t seem a lot like good luck. It’s bad luck. And I know what that sounds like because of my… my semblance…” Qrow trails off, sneaking a peek at Clover when it feels like his emotions are better under control.

            Seeing how his expression darkened further only sent his heart into a tailspin. “But it’s you,” Qrow continues, “maybe this is a blessing in disguise and-and your semblance will find you something even better. There’s… no reason to regret what you did –“

            “Qrow,” Clover stops him, “I don’t regret it. I’d never do that.”

            “Huh?”

            “Even knowing what happens to me, it doesn’t change things. If the Gods of Light & Darkness appeared and told me that by choosing Ironwood’s side meant I could continue serving like I did before, be the leader of the Ace Operatives I… I would choose you. I’d choose you any day.”

            Once, when fighting off a Horse Grimm, it bucked Qrow into a stack of barrels that shattered on impact. Tai and Raven kept fighting, ultimately defeating the monster and stopping its rampage. Summer rushed over to him. Shook him until he woke in a daze. Qrow couldn’t hear her over the annoying ringing clogging his ears.

            It’s almost like that now. Except Qrow can hear Clover over the tolls.

            “The title never mattered to me, much,” he continues “promotions only came because I was so good at what I do… because it’s all I want to do. Helping. I… I want to help. And how the world is, the best way I can help is by fighting. Except I can’t do that here… and I can’t do it alone. I don’t want to be alone. I’m… tired of being alone. Of shutting off my emotions for the job. I shouldn’t have to. Because when we do, we end up being no better than the monsters we’re facing! And I…” Clover’s chin hits his chest. “I spent so long shoving my feelings down that I’ve run out of space. So I’m here, unable to move, because I’m absolutely terrified of what’s going to happen next. Unsure if I can make it in the real world anymore.”

            Then, Clover’s lip trembles. His teeth bite down hard, but Qrow catches the action. Blames it for what he does next. “Come with us.”

            Startled, he whips around to face Qrow. Gaze wet and shiny, eyes wide. “What?”

            “You should… come with us,” Qrow says, cheeks burning hotter with each word. “We need to keep moving, find the last maiden. Save the last relic. Along the way we get into some… dangerous adventures. Save people from terrifying Grimm. Our team would probably benefit from having a seasoned professional with us… with your semblance, and… I – uh, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have another adult around. One man can only deal with teenagers for so long…”

            “Qrow,” Clover sighs, fiddling with Kingfisher, “I… appreciate the offer. But if this pity – “

            “It’s not!” he says. “It’s not… I…” A trove of secrets sits buried in his mind, and he breaks his promise of never touching them. Digs and dusts off the chest they’re placed in, choosing his words carefully. To not give too much away. “I always thought I had to fight alone, because of who I am. What my semblance was. Bad luck didn’t just trip up my enemies, it also hurt my allies. In battle… and off it. My team fell apart and I knew it was my fault. Raven left because I couldn’t convince her to stay. Summer died because I couldn’t protect her. If it was only me, then the bad luck wouldn’t spread and hurt anyone else. Anyone who didn’t deserve it – “

            “Qrow – “

            “But then I met you and-and you changed me!” he huffs, “Day after day, partnered with you, I… I looked forward to missions again. I was having fun. I started taking pride in my victories and recognizing my accomplishments. With you my powers didn’t feel like a burden. Like they were bad, how I always thought they were. How I thought I was. They’re a part of me and that’s okay. Having bad luck doesn’t mean I’m a bad person. I believe that now… thanks to you.”

            His senses slowly return to him. Qrow hears his ragged panting and feels the sweat trailing from his temple. Tastes the salt from where they snuck in from the corner of his lips. Sees Clover completely flipped around, grinning madly. Like somehow Qrow strung together enough rope to catch the plummeting hunter before he slammed into the ground.

            “Well?” he asks, unease crawling underneath his skin, “are you in?”

            Clover rubs his neck, chuckling. “With a sell like that… how could I not?”

            “Good… Good.”

            “Y’know,” he slides closer to Qrow. Bodies practically plastered to each other. “You were right. I guess my semblance led me to exactly where I needed to be.”

            “Yeah?” Qrow says, staring straight ahead. Determined not to melt under the intoxicating pressure. “Lucky you, then.” Mustering all the strength he has, Qrow pushes off the wall. He stomps forward, “We’ll be leaving in the hour, so don’t be late or we’ll get on without you.”

            “I doubt you’d let them!”

            Qrow doesn’t answer, because than Clover would know he’s right. Instead he avoids his nieces, standing where he last left them, and hurries to where he can find the closest substitute for alcohol and forget the insane amount of vulnerability he displayed moments ago.

            “His good luck,” he scoffs under breath, “Or was it more of my bad luck…”

            Ruby looks to Yang, smile wider than Crescent Rose. “Do we have another Uncle?”

            Yang shakes her head, gently mussing up the brunette locks of her sister. “Not quite… but I’m sure we will one day. Soon by the looks of it.”

[blackcatmanor]

RWBY V7 Episode 12 Photo Review (Spoilers)

..................WUT

I mean….I can’t really process what happened

 So let’s get this part out of the way:

The Good: 

Penny and Winter are the true BFFs

Penny becoming more human is endearing to see, and it’s been interesting to see her struggle with understanding emotions against Winter, who also struggles to understand them, in a way. Penny challenging Winter but never abandoning her to join RWBY is nice, and their light conflict is very well done because it shows Penny’s growing humanity struggle against Winter’s much chillier perspective.  I really like the dynamic between these two and hope they continue on in the next volume (If Winter dies too this volume I’ll ragequit RWBY), and to be honest it’s become more of a cute bond than Ruby and Penny this volume. Don’t @ me 

The fights

Although a lot of the “fights” in this volume were done off screen, when there is fighting this volume it has been extremely good. The camera moves around a lot less so we get a better sense of what is going on, and the moves feel more deliberate to whoever is doing the fighting, such as Ruby and Harriet who dart around a lot, delivering only occasional blows (and Ruby taking more of the blows because she’s not as good as Harriet in hand-to-hand), while Yang and Elm go all-out lady brawl (and it’s nice to see Yang’s semblance again)

Exception: Weiss. 

Weiss’ over-reliance on Summoning is making her boring to watch in fights. Seeing the 300 different ways the animators show her spinning around and waving her sword like a magic wand is getting OLD. If you’re going to have her summon all the time, fine, but stop focusing the camera on her. Just show her very distantly in the background waving her sword/wand and focus on how people fight whatever she summons.

 The meh:

RWBY vs Ace Ops- welp… I didn’t think the Ace Ops were gonna lose, I thought RWBY would flee and barely get away because the Ace Ops were supposed to be the best of the best. I guess I’m glad they didn’t just go down like total chumps (except Vine- sorry dude), but apparently if you train with the Ace Ops for 6 weeks, you’re as good as them. *Shrug* Who knew? It’s like Fitness Bootcamp- Train with a soldier on an obstacle course once and you’re basically ready to become a member of Seal Team 6, right?

 I wish they would have explained this a little more- maybe looping back to the discussion they had in Episode 4 about being friends vs teammates. Maybe RWBY’s personal bond gives them more incentive to win, while the Ace Ops are just going through the motions because it’s just a job to them. Plus I think Elm and Marrow’s inner conflict also maybe helped tipped the sales towards RWBY, perhaps they weren’t trying their hardest, but I wish this was a little more clear

 JNPR vs Neo

It’s kind of weird that Neo didn’t incapacitate Oscar, if she was planning to try trapping JNR as well… Or maybe Oscar barely managed to get away? Regardless, Neo had the lamp, so why stick around and wait for more people to show up? The plan was for her to get the lamp FROM Oscar, not necessarily grab Oscar as well. Maybe Neo has her own agenda, which would be cool, but from this episode it looks like she completed her objective but then waited around to fight some more. Maybe getting the lamp was too easy and she likes a challenge...? Who knows (I am saying that a lot for this episode, huh?)

 Cinder vs Winter and Penny

This is obviously meh because not much happened, and it’s just set up for the big final fight. With the Ace Ops incap’ed, hopefully RWBY can come in as well to finally fight Cinder directly after dancing around her in V5. I think most of this will go down probably in the Relic room because a grand fight in a cramped hospital room is hard, so I think Cinder will be able to Grimm-snatch the Winter Maiden powers and go down to the relic room, or she will incapacitate whoever does get the powers and drag them there, only to be stopped by RWBY for a big battle. However I don’t think it’ll be Winter Schnee getting the powers since it’ll take too long for the transfer device and they are out of time. I KINDA think now it might be Penny- a girl with an aura/soul- somehow she’ll receive them and it’ll be part of her becoming a real girl (like Pinocchio).  Who knows? At this point who gets them is totally up in the air.

  The Ugly:

 I guess I was right about Tyrian escaping custody again, but it wasn’t because of Salem intervening with Grimm like I thought. It was because Robyn is a terrible person!

Robyn- Please kindly f- off:

 I officially HATE Robyn the most. After teetering on a “meh-leaning-towards-general-dislike” feeling, I loathe her now and I hope she gets killed off quickly. She’s a one-dimensional generic hothead character with no personality that is purposely stuck in to create conflict. She is the good guy’s Tyrian- but Tyrian has a reason to be chaotic: He’s an insane zealot. Robyn is just a poorly written idiot. 

Robyn just does stupid things that get in everyone’s way all of the time, and actively works to undermine the hero’s at each turn. She prevented the launch of Amity by stealing all the supplies, and now she is going to try and fight in the middle of a cramped ship, risking Tyrian’s escape rather than waiting 5 minutes to duke it out with Clover once Tyrian is safely in jail. The entire time they were squaring off on the ship I kept thinking “Uhm Tyrian’s right there….Tyrian is RIGHT THERE! He’s gonna get out!” Robyn is a liar. She doesn’t care about the people of Mantle, because she’s doing things that could (and did) lead to a serial killer who killed Mantle Citizens escaping.

Not to mention she could have taken Qrow’s advice and talk to Ironwood first! Literally 2 episodes ago you were saying the General had your support and now you’re like “I’LL FIGHT ANYONE, ANYWHERE. Forget talking to people to get the full details and actually following through upon that trust I claimed I had in Ironwood two episodes ago, I’m gonna risk everyone’s lives to fight this out RIGHT here!” She’s the worst! 

  Confrontation with Qrow and Clover- 

This falls under the Ugly because, despite some good dialogue between Clover and Qrow, with Qrow expressing that he feels manipulated while Clover tries to explain his own point of view, every decision made from here on Qrow’s part is inexcusable and totally irrational. 

Tyrian joins the fray and inexplicably Qrow agrees to team up with him to take down Clover because THAT can’t possibly fail spectacularly. 

Tyrian suggests “putting the kid to bed” but the entire time I knew Tyrian would betray Qrow and go too far with attacking Clover because OF COURSE HE WOULD. But I thought he would sting Clover as a chance to get away, because Qrow would have to focus on getting Clover help. However, what we got was…much, much worse. 

Qrow’s questionable decision making

Hey DUMMY- Why not team up with Clover first to neutralize Tyrian again, and then you and Clover can duke it out. Or you and Clover can go talk to James like you wanted to 10 minutes ago!

Oh right…because “You got a score to settle” with Tyrian because this is now a cheesy western where your ego is more important than logic.

I think his bad luck semblance is really just an idiot semblance- like occasionally his semblance makes him do stupid things, leading to horrible outcomes but he mistakenly chalks it up to “bad luck.” It’s also frustrating because this volume they were setting Qrow up to grow into a good character- someone with a lot of anger from the past who learns to cope with it, and learns to accept friendship from others. I guess that’s all over. 

So, sadly, Tyrian then murders Clover. It was shocking I will say that...I actually GASPED, and it led to this really cool shot: 

But the shock was partly for the wrong reason. Like I said before, I thought Qrow being a dumb-dumb would lead to Clover being injured, sure, but KILLED? Yikes! Qrow’s idiocy leading to Clover being injured would be frustrating, but not unforgivable narratively and he could learn from it. He would learn to not treat his friends as transactional, and automatically write them off when one hint of struggle happens. Qrow’s idiocy in teaming up with a serial killer and getting Clover killed kinda makes Qrow unforgivable in my book. Does CRWBY want me to hate Qrow? I guess so, especially because Clover’s dying scene didn’t exactly stick the landing and alleviate my anger towards Qrow either.... 

So poor dying Clover is lying there, and a visibly shaken Qrow kneels next to him. So the thought is Qrow is going to realize his horrible mistake, and dive down a pool of self-loathing: tearfully blaming himself, blaming his bad luck,  APOLOGIZING, upset about how it’s all his fault, etc. Instead, he delivers (with a straight face) the weirdest line ever about James taking the fall. UHHH- WUT? You teaming up with Tyrian led to this. WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

  This sucks. On several levels. Clover’s death was just plain poorly done and a good character was wasted. I really liked Clover. I thought Qrow was going to actually get a break from being shit on this entire series and finally get, at a minimum, a friend that would continue to help him grow and develop as a character, pushing Qrow to see the best in himself and stop continually hating himself. With that cut short, I of course felt super sad and emotional about Clover’s death, even to the point of almost crying.

However, I can’t pretend like a significant part of that isn’t pure frustration anger about how this episode played out. Not only did Clover’s death came about in the dumbest way, but his final words with Qrow were wasted by the weird “James will take the fall” bit. 

Qrow should have blamed himself and his semblance (I mean...it actually kinda is his fault, not gonna lie), and Clover could have maybe been the ultimate friend to him, telling Qrow that it happened because Qrow was fighting for what he thought was right, and even though the outcome was horrible he shouldn’t stop fighting for what he believes in…? I dunno….ANYTHING other than “GRRR James will pay”

 I can’t help but remember a mere few minutes ago.....

This episode.....woof. 

 In a long series, you want your hero’s to sometimes lose just to keep it interesting, and to give them something to have to crawl back from. However, what’s interesting is seeing the characters try their best, make reasonable and decent decisions and still suffer a loss, because it makes us want to continue to cheer them on and watch as they make a triumphant comeback. Seeing hero’s simply choke and fail because they make the dumbest, irrational decisions with no logical reason is just frustrating and excruciating to watch, and seeing those moments lead to other characters suffering makes your “hero’s” unlikable. 

This argument was made for the V6 climax- that RWBY made a dumb decision and others suffered the consequences, making them “evil” to some hateboner watchers, but I thought this assessment was over dramatic. You have to take things in context, and literally nothing came of RWBY’s decision to steal an airship: the universe was the same as it was before with some filler in the middle. No one was injured or killed, and even the damage to the city was minimal (one roof). Clover, though, is full-on dead and that is entirely Qrow’s fault. I just can’t believe the writers put this down on paper, re-read it, and though- “yea....Someone who totally make the decision to team up with a murderer to subdue their good friend....this is gonna be GREAT.”

But who cares about the story- NEW MERCH DROPPING SOON AMIRITE?! 

Ok that was a low blow, but the writing and characters inexplicably took a logical nose dive this episode, after having a lot of thought put into last episode. The characters (especially Qrow, but also Robyn and to a lesser extent Clover) could have made some reasonable and logical decisions and Clover still could have died, which would have had way more impact and made the situation seem way more hopeless. Instead we got Robyn kicking off the shitshow by being just the worst, and Qrow taking the shitshow torch and cranking it up to 11, effectively un-doing all of the development we’ve seen from him this season. 

Lastly, even if you are going to have the characters completely fail at making decisions and it leads to a horrible outcome, at least stick the landing and don’t have them go off on some odd tangent about how this is someone else’s fault. *facepalm* 

Overall I’d give this episode a very generous 2/10.

The 2 points is because of the decent fight animation and occasionally decent dialogue.

I’m tired... 

[fairy-writes]

So I binged RWBY season 7 today and made notes. Here are said notes and thoughts on the episodes!

So my notes will probably not be in any particular order because my brain hops from point to point and forward one and back three so sorry if it’s confusing!

Ep 1: 

Qrow’s voice actor gave me a heart attack, I forgot they changed his voice actor. I honestly thought I was watching Darker than Black or My Hero Academia with his voice.But I like it! Jason Liebrecht is one of my favorite voice actors!

James Ironwood makes me so sad because I love him and he’s trying his best.

I had a problem initially with the animation of the fight scenes, I think they just seemed too… smeared? I can’t quite place it but I had a hard time keeping up with what moves the characters were performing.

I wish I could have seen the tuning of Maria’s eyes! I was getting serious FMA vibes with automail and whatnot but I didn’t get to see the procedures Doctor Pietro performed!!

Oscar getting to fight was probably one of my favorite scenes, I love my farm boy and I’m hoping Ozpin comes back at some point!

I’m… conflicted on Penny returning… I mean, it makes sense that she would be rebuilt, but as something that had an impact on Ruby in the past with her being destroyed… they kind of just… brushed it off…

Ace Ops! I like them already! I got a request for someone from Ace Ops and I’m excited to get to know them all!

Also, I would have preferred it if RWBY went with security in the beginning (IT PROBABLY WOULD HAVE BEEN A LOT EASIER), but they have to be rats and not do that so meh.

Also, Weiss is worried about being sent back to her dad. Call me dumb, but isn’t she a legal adult and doesn’t have to live with him if she doesn’t want to? Like? Legally she has a say?

Ep 2:

I have a feeling the Ace Ops are treated like pit bulls, have a bad rap and people either hate them or are terrified. But they are intensely loyal and are actually good people.

Ok ok ok, they want to see Ironwood, illegally mind you. By breaking in and sneaking in to see him. But the second they get caught (RIGHTFULLY SO, YOU ARE SNEAKING INTO A KINGDOM) and are taken to see him legally… they get all mopey and sad. JUST OBEY THE LAW PEOPLE

I don’t know why I’m so focused on the detail in everyone’s shoes. But I am.

Winter is in the right for being upset at Weiss. I WOULD BE TOO.

I AM SUPPORTING AND TRUSTING IRONWOOD, JUST SAYING THAT NOW

Ironwood’s plan makes sense, I do believe the people should know about Salem.

Also, why is Qrow all buddy buddy with Ozpin again? He was talking about him like he missed him, but I was under the impression that he hated Ozpin after learning his background.

WHY ARE YOU LYING TO IRONWOOD RUBY?! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU DIDN’T WANT WITH OZ. I can tell Ironwood knows something is off but he can’t tell what.

Not sure when to put this, but i hope they bring up everything with Adam, like I hope it is part of Blake’s and Yang’s character development.

Qrow getting a hug from Ironwood makes me happy, he needs some happiness and friends in his life!!

I like the Ace Ops, the guy with the wolf tail is going to be one of my favorites I can tell But I’m biased and like anything to do with dogs.

Ep 3:

UPGRADES TO THE WEAPONS YES

This leader of the Ace Ops is really cool, I like him but I can’t really get the image out of my mind that he probably plays soccer or something. Like a soccer dad or something.

The initial designs or Team RWBY looked cool in theory, but I don’t think they translate to the animation style very well. I’d have to say Ruby’s is probably my favorite, except for her hair. She looks like a duck. It looks like they were almost going for an Edward Elric or Meliodas style cowlick but it didn’t work out too well.

Again, wolf faunus guy is going to be my favorite.

The zippers of Blake’s costume is bugging me, just a note.

And Oscar bringing up the lying is great and I love it.

Not going to lie, Blake getting attacked by the Haunter looking grimm or whatever it was, gave me a big jump scare.

Centipede grimm… what’s 1000-7 anyone? No? Okay I’ll shut up.

I want Qrow and the leader of the Ace Ops to be friends, Qrow needs friends.

I LOVE THE ACE OPS ITS OFFICIAL

ALL OF THEM ARE MY CHILDREN

Also it’s really nice to see graduated huntsmen in action, working as a team and all. We really only have seen Qrow by himself but it’s cool to see a team in action!

Another speed semblance is awesome and I love it!!

Clover has a good luck semblance? Why is that so funny to me?

Also watching Marrow parade Ruby around is the epitome of cute.

DAMN IT TYRIAN DON’T SCARE ME LIKE THAT

Also, did they ever explain why his eyes turn purple?

Ep 4:

I like that the Ace Ops are civilized with each other but don’t act like best buddies. It’s a really cool change from the buddy buddy attitude of RWBY and JNR.

I’m still hating Jaune’s hair cut.

Yaaaaaaaaaaay murder!

I’m also not sure how I feel about Qrow’s outfit, it almost makes him look like a toy soldier.

And yaaaassss Ironwood bashing Jaques is one of the best things ever.

Also I think they’re forgetting the fact that Weiss is a legal adult?

And Papa Schnee is gaslighting Weiss, I hope people call that out.

He’s also threatening military personnel and Ironwood at that. You know that talk about the noose and stuff… Isn’t that illegal?

I can tell Penny is going to bug me, I really believe that she could’ve been written out.

Really dumb, but can Yang feel pain if she disconnects her arm? How does she move it? Is it like Fullmetal Alchemist’s automail?

I think Ozpin does trust others with the whole truth, not just himself. I think Qrow is lying to himself to make himself feel better.

I 100% believe Summer would have trusted in Oz and pressed on with what he had planned. But hey, that’s just me.

It still throws me off when Watts talks because he’s also All Might and those are two very different people.

I feel like they are trying to build tension by ending every episode with the villains, but that’s starting to get old and I’m only on episode 4

Ep 5: 

Ruby is a morning person and it’s already wearing me out.

This almost slice of life scene is really nice!

I like that it shows that team RWBY and JNR are really adept at fighting and all, but it also shows that Ace Ops are superior.

Nora riding her hammer like a Mario Kart is awesome

YAY NEON’S BACK

Also Neon, Oscar is like 14, back off

Ren is being sad boy and it makes me sad too.

Qrow and Clover having a minute to be friends is nice!

And how easily did Qrow give up drinking? That’s not really something you just… give up?

Robyn (Robin?) makes a good point, Mantle does need help and they aren’t getting it. But she’s going about it the wrong way.

Pipsqueak and 5 o’clock shadow are excellent nicknames.

Training between Winter and Weiss is really cool! I like the little sisterly bonding scenes are really sweet!

Weiss makes a good point, everyone is doing what they think is right, even if it doesn’t look like it.

I don’t like that they are keeping the Winter Maiden almost as a prisoner, but I can also see why he’s doing it the way he is. And the fact that Winter is accepting it the way she is is such a breath of fresh air from a classic hero’s arc she could’ve been put down.

I still trust Ironwood! That’s all I’m saying!

I also believe that Yang and Blake should branch out and work with others, not just each other. It isn’t healthy. Especially if the writers aren’t TALKING ABOUT ADAM.

PLEASE TALK ABOUT ADAM, THAT’S A HUGE TRAUMATIZING EXPERIENCE THAT THEY AREN’T TALKING ABOUT

Ep 6: 

Nora’s bringing up a point that is really important!! Maybe Ozpin couldn’t beat Salem but maybe someone else can! Maybe Ruby can once she gets a hold on her silver eyes!

Marrow is still my favorite, I love him so much.

The little sheep faunus that follows Robyn around is so cute. Her weapon is not so cute. But I love her anyway. I LOVE FAUNUS OKAY

I feel like Rooster Teeth is trying to push the subtle message of getting registered to vote and I’m lowkey cackling.

Okay, serious thing here. I love that Renora is a ship that sailed. Really I do, it’s probably my favorite RWBY ship. (though I like to think it sailed a while ago) But I feel like we didn’t really earn that kiss? Like I feel like it would have been better if they hadn’t argued and like it was a last ditch effort to stop said argument. I don’t know, I have a lot of feelings about it.

Watching Tyrian in action is super cool! The way he was animated is so fluid and mesmerizing and I really love it! Great job Rooster Teeth!!

Also Watts almost looked like a conductor and if that’s what Rooster Teeth is going for I applaud them. But also, on the funny side, it looks like he’s waving his arms around like a maniac.

Penny being framed is really neat, but why do I feel like it’s going to be brushed off?

Marrow telling everyone to stay is hilarious to me and I love it.

Papa Schnee pledging to serve while Grimm are attacking is a really cool parallel.

According to the end credits, I’m taller than Ruby… For once I’m taller than an anime character other than Edward Elric!

Ep 7:

Penny’s head pat is so cute.

I understand why Ironwood put the ban on assembly and the curfew up. It makes sense while they’re trying to catch Tyrian.

Also the semblance that gives someone the ability to turn things invisible?! Dude that’s so cool!!

Everything Ironwood and Ace Ops are saying makes sense. I can see how his mind is working and I can tell he’s just trying to keep everyone safe.

Also, where has Maria been? What has she been doing?

“Why can’t people do what they used to and fight to the death?” Maria I love you.

Blake being Batman over here, my goodness.

Blake using Dust with her semblance again! Finally!

Hahaha cutting off swearing is probably one of my favorite tropes.

James wanting to ask and talking to Ozpin hurts my heart. I just want Ozpin back!!

Seeing someone still messed up by the Fall of Beacon is really nice, everyone else seems to brush it off.

Ep 8:

I hate dinner parties… I have a feeling this won’t go well…

“Sir, with all due respect, you’d have to pay me.” OMG Winter I’m dead XD

I hope Weiss has a song in this like “This Life is Mine” I really really hope she does.

Also THIS IS THE PERFECT CHANCE TO HAVE FORMAL WEAR

I WANT TO SEE THEM IN FORMAL WEAR

Awww I liked Klein :(

Qrow and Clover’s friendship is so nice, I like it :)

Part of me wishes Whitley had a wardrobe upgrade. It would have been a nice change of color!

Oscar eating in the background is me in any social situation.

Why does every rich businessman have a long ass dining table? Seriously? Why?

Ren looks so proud of himself, also seeing Whitley doused in wine is hilarious. Also, purple really is his color!

Guys? Please let Ironwood talk? You want to know why but you keep interrupting him before he can get a word out.

YAS WINTER GO OFF ON HIM

It’s also a nice touch that all the people on Papa Schnee’s side has wine while everyone else has water, I don’t know if it was intentional but I noticed it and thought it was cool!

Weiss’s mom is very pretty! I’m also really glad to see Weiss actually talking to her mom. And seeing her mom trying to talk some sense into Weiss is really cool too. 

Ep 9: 

Ok ok, PLEASE STOP INTERRUPTING IRONWOOD! DIDN’T ANYONE TEACH YOU BETTER?!

Question about Robyn’s semblance, would it work with Ironwood’s prosthetic side?

“You are under arrest! Can I do that?” One of my favorite quotes in this show.

Please Winter, just sock Papa Schnee in the face.

Yes James, Robyn knows. Because people who CAN’T KEEP A SECRET TOLD HER

I forgot how much I love the designs of the bigger grimm, I mean. The other ones are fine. But the giant ones? Masterpieces

I’m starting to ship Robyn and Ironwood, they have the potential for ‘enemies to lovers’ kind of fanfictions.

“You aren’t alone.” OKAY RUBY HOW ABOUT YOU TELL HIM YOUR SECRETS?!

Stupid question I started thinking of, how much do Huntsmen get paid?

“Ugh kids” I feel you Marrow, I feel you

Please give Ironwood a break, he needs a vacation. Petition to give Ironwood a vacation!

The music, I keep forgetting how much I love the instrumental music in RWBY.

Aaaaaaaaand Neo and Cinder are back… no one saw this coming… BECAUSE IT WASN’T SET UP BEFORE

Writers of RWBY… please set up things like that little by little! Even if it was just something small, like a glimpse or something! Not just throwing them back in the story because of the potential conflict it would cause!

Ep 10: 

Yesssssss big strong queen on the Ace Ops!

The slow piano during Ironwood’s speech is really pretty. It’s giving me goosebumps!

Ironwood’s speeches are some of the best anime speeches I’ve ever heard, the music choice really helps make it so much more impactful.

“Our tin soldier’s heart has lost his mind.” Nice tin man reference!

“The timeline has changed.” Cinder are you a time traveler now?

HELL YEAH I’VE ALWAYS WANTED SOMEONE TO HAVE A BAZOOKA

Also, I think people forget just how terrifying elephants can be until they are RUNNING RIGHT AT YOU

Ruby this would be really nice if you would use your silver eyes right about now

Penny looked legit like someone out of Dragon Ball Z and it’s making me cackle.

The whole thing with Robyn, Qrow, and Clover vs Tyrian is something I’ve heard very vague things about and I’m not looking forward to it.

SUPERHERO LANDING BITCH

All Might vs Ironwood… I’M READY!!!

Ep 11: 

FINALLY AN IRONWOOD SONG

I’ll have to look at the lyrics after, but it’s really cool to see Ironwood in action!!

I mean we saw him in action back at the Fall of Beacon, but this is against another human being!

A detail I wish was added was Ironwood’s punches landing differently with half of his body being metal and the other half being flesh.

Also Ironwood… Please be okay, please don’t lose an arm…

The fight between Tyrian and the three was very short but very clean and nice!

Ironwood falling into paranoia is out of character in my opinion. But you know, just my opinion, the writers don’t seem to care about him much.

OH SHIT SALEM

“Set the stage for me.” You and what army?

RIGHT THE FLYING MONKEY ARMY I FORGOT

Summer Rose and the screaming is messing with my head.

Apparently it’s messing with Ruby’s too…

I don’t know why they’re so worried about Ironwood doing what he’s doing. It does make sense. And team RWBY’s choices are finally coming to bite them in the ass, it makes me happy!

Except for leaving Mantle to die, I think that’s the only thing I don’t like. But casualties are always a part of war.

Okay RWBY… you guys are a bunch of kids, and what’s your plan? You don’t have one! Ironwood came up with a plan against Salem! It does mean people are going to die and yes it’s sad, but people die a lot and more are going to be killed if you try and do something stupid and reckless.

But I’m anticipating that RWBY and Co. are going to win because of their protagonist powers.

Ep 12: 

Children children don’t fight. Though Tyrian is making me laugh.

I wish they all talked about it like civil adults, but I suppose Robyn is a bit too childish.

I want Ace Ops to win, but they won’t because protagonist powers and it kind of pisses me off.

You know, all Marrow has to do is use his semblance right?

As gross as it is, it’s kinda cool seeing how Tyrian got out of his restraints.

OK WHY IS HE TEAMING UP WITH TYRIAN?! It makes no sense? It would’ve made more sense if they both teamed up on Tyrian and then fought after, maybe they wouldn’t have had to fight because Qrow genuinely found a friend in Clover so he’d give up so he can also get to Ruby.

Also Blake and Yang probably broke her back.

Seeing Ruby go toe to toe with someone and only won because Weiss intervened was cool.

Aaaaaaaaand Ace Ops is down and I’m pissed.

AND NOW CLOVER IS DEAD?! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING ASSHOLE!!

TEAMING UP WITH A SERIAL KILLER AND EXPECTING HIM TO NOT KILL HIM IS LIKE EXPECTING SOMEONE NOT TO BREATHE.

Clover just wanted to trust Qrow. THAT’S ALL HE WANTED.

But not gonna lie, seeing Qrow cry still makes me upset. 

It seems like the writers are taking away anyone who either gets shipped with Qrow, or whoever he has a relationship with that isn’t RWBY. Ozpin? Gone. Ironwood? Pretty much estranged and not seeing eye to eye anymore. Tai? Who knows what’s happening with him.

Ep 13 (Finale): 

I’m not excited for the finale.

I’m really not.

But starting it off with a fight with Neo is a cool idea.

Seeing her fight using her umbrella is always one of my favorite things about her character.

And now a fight with Cinder vs Winter and Penny.

“It just makes us hungrier and I refuse to starve.” Really cool quote! Even though Cinder is probably one of my least favorite characters.

Winter using her summoning thing to make a manticore was super cool too!

Penny saving Winter, please tell me they become friends after this.

“My life doesn’t matter!” “I disagree!” Okay okay Penny gains one point in my character list for this quote.

Seeing Neo as Nora was cool, though I don’t understand why Ren was hesitating to attack her. They’ve surely spared before right? Like he shouldn’t hesitate that much? 

But him crying is really really sad.

YAS BOSS ASS BITCH WINTER MAIDEN OLD LADY

I really wish we could’ve seen her personality more, she seems really nice.

Though I gotta say, her exploding with power was really epic.

Ren please don’t scream, it hurts my heart.

Please don’t make Penny the winter maiden. If she becomes the maiden then I’m going to riot.

DAMN IT SHE’S THE MAIDEN

That pose Oscar, you’re becoming Ozpin. And I miss my wizard. I want him to come back.

Him using the cane as an actual cane because he’s injured is really cool. Plus the fact that he draws so much comfort from Ozpin’s cane is so sweet.

Ironwood is going down a dark path because the writers want him to and it’s pissing me off to no end.

SHOOTING OSCAR ISN’T IN CHARACTER FOR IRONWOOD OKAY?!

Winter cutting off Cinder’s arm is one of the best things in this episode

OZPIN IS BACK AND THAT’S ALL I CARE ABOUT

Now Ruby decides to use her silver eyes?

OZPIN IS BACK BITCHES

Literally all I care about is Ozpin coming back, though the song is pretty I guess. 

Part of me is happy Qrow is arrested.

Winter forcing Weiss and Co to run is really sweet and touching in her own way. She just wants her sister to be safe.

Cinder ticks me off, she’s very childish and if that’s supposed to be the point it’s working. She’s not really all that intimidating

Now Salem has a flying whale? Is this a reference to the whale that swallowed Pinocchio? 

OSCAR HAS MAGIC

OZPIN IS BACK

I WILL NOT STOP FREAKING OUT ABOUT THIS

That’s all my thoughts on this season of RWBY! Thanks for reading if you got this far! And my requests are OPEN for male rwby character x reader requests!

fairytailwzard over and out!~

[zaheela]

......WHY DID I THINK WINGS WERE A GOOD THING?!?!? SO MUCH WORK Anyways, This ideas been floating in my head for a while. Not sure how it’d work out, but let me have my little bouts of insanity.

“Ha, so now what. Isn’t it your duty to save the helpless, Red?” Mercury taunts, praying she falls for it. His leg crushed, wings always in poor shape. With the room collapsing, he has no way to escape and he’d be damned if he just died quietly. He recalls the early days, with her too wide eyes and ill-placed second guesses, though it also comes to mind what happened in Mistral, her own words declaring her intent to shut him up. It makes him wary, but she is his way out of a no win situation. “What?” She asks, as if offended. He laughs and motions to his leg. “You’re some hero right, well I’m not going to be able to get out of here on my own…’ His throat closes as she stands up straight and stares at him, lips pressed tight. He recalls Emerald’s illusions for Cinder, the weak pitiful, mewling thing, and he can’t help but think it is the furthest thing from the truth right before him. No, now he can see the strong leader, soul forged in fire, adventure, and agony, a woman whose seen too much and would be very willing to leave him here to die like a dog. Chills creep down his spine, because he can tell that mere words like innocent and delusional cannot be used with her anymore. She towers above him a look of pity on her face, before kneeling down and lifting one arm over her head and pulling him up. She doesn’t look back at him, too insignificant to be more then a foot note. “…Even though it is the right thing to do, don’t assume anything… Too many important, precious moments and people drive me forward. No matter how sad they make me feel, they’re a part of me now, and you don’t deserve to be on the same pedestal as them. You aren’t going to haunt my dreams. So get up, we’’re getting out of here, I have other things to do.” She shifted his weight a little, before taking a calming breath. “Don’t hold your breath and don’t bite you tongue.” Staring up at the patch of sky above, she crouched, and kept her hands steady.

Ruby’s Semblance encompassed all she touched. From an absurdly over-designed war scythe to the living muscle that was Nora, so long as she allowed herself to hold on, then it would be possible to carry them both out of the tower. Part of her wanted to leave him, it would not be the first death nor the last. She knew that she had killed others, inadvertently at least. She wasn’t as naive enough to think that the faunus in the tunnels had all survived back at Mountain Glenn. There was blood on her hands of strangers whom she didn't even know the faces of, but she knew his face, his voice, his sarcastic tone. It would linger in the back of her mind, like a buzzing fly; Yes there was always a chance this would backfire, but the risks were outweighed by the peace of mind. With only a second thought, she let her aura pass through and wrap up his cold void. Slowly, Ruby exhaled as she could feel her aura bubble up in her chest, and with a powerful flap of her wings, the world’s colors became dull.

Mercury couldn’t help but marvel as the world seemed to slow and the light fade as she leapt up the tall shaft, petals drifting around them lazily as if escorting her. Up, down, left, right, the direction didn’t matter anymore as she twisted and turned through the debris, sometimes moving so fast the pillars of wood seemed to curl around them instead of the logical other way around. Those small wings twitched and the one on his side pressed him closer as the once distant sky grew closer, and he could feel her aura grow thicker as she pushed her semblance further. The feeling of it dancing on his skin was both surprising and instinctively comforting. He would of honestly assumed it to be either too hot or cold, but it was warm. Like the sun on a perfect spring day, warming him to his core. Stomach turned, he grit his teeth as the sensation of life and comfort continued its embraced, until she broke through and reclaimed the sky, great wings snapping wide and they floated in the air. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced down at where the airship he and the rest of his villainous band had arrived in was, only to find it missing. He shouldn’t of been too surprised, Tyrian would of naturally assumed him dead, dragging a weakly protesting Emerald away. It was more then he could expect; Salem’s will had done a fine job of corroding her will until she had been cowed into following orders when pressured, and Tyrian was a sadistic bastard. His own wings ached to glide on the breeze, but then the warmth shattered, ripped away as she landed. Dropping him, she moved away, placing several steps between him. Her back was turned, wings tucked against her back, and he could feel his rage simmer at her indifference. The scythe unfolded as she found what she was looking for and chopped a thick, sturdy birch branch from a tree. She tossed it at him, his own reflexes kicking in to catch it. “That should be good enough to make a peg leg. Do you carry a knife with you?” She asked, leaning against her weapon as if relaxed, but he could tell by her shoulders she was ready for him to make one wrong move. “Why would I need one of those?” He asked spitefully, though it occurred to him after the words left his mouth that any good survivalist would carry one. She gave him an oddly Schnee like roll of her eyes, huffing in annoyance as she reached under her skirt, the leather sheathe briefly flashing against a pale thigh, before she threw the small pocket knife at him. It was too small to do any noteworthy damage against any aura owner, but it was well cared for and sharp enough for him to hack away at the wood. Occasionally she twitched, lips pressing tight as if smothering a comment or suggestion, but remained quiet, thankfully. Rough substitute hacked out, he gave her a annoyed look, to which she motioned to him to throw the knife back. Once the tiny thing had been exchanged, she lifted her skirt, pulling the leather belt off her leg and pulling the case off its harness before tossing the sturdy leather his way. With a grunt, He tested the stability of the temporary limb. Not the sturdiest thing, but it’d do; A better alternative then hopping through a forest on one foot. Now the problem was the forest and whatever god forsaken creatures dwelled in it. Once they went their separate ways, he could hopefully use his scroll to notify the others of his survival or find a town to hide out in, but what if he was attacked before he…

The floor shook as if to flip him the bird. Ruby jumped as well and launched herself into the tree line, hugging the treetops as she scouted for the source of the noise. When she landed hard next to him, he could tell whatever she had seen was close and well aware of their presence. She said nothing for a moment, hand gripped tight on Crescent Rose, before taking a deep breath and moving forward, placing herself between him and whatever was moving towards them.

“If you are going to run, then do it when I attack. It’ll buy you time.” Her words were uncharacteristically uncaring and every warning bell in his head was screaming that it was a trap. She had no reason to think letting him go would be better then protecting him right? Besides, he wasn’t some helpless sap, he was a trained killer. Granted hobbled, but it wasn’t in him to go down quietly anyways. “Bullshit.” He grunted, leaning against a tree. Again, he was thrown for a loop because this time she turned her head, her expression one of pure dumbfounded confusion. She had clearly expected him to bolt, not stand his ground.

“Can you still fight?” She asked, biting a lip. Mercury could almost see the hamster wheel in her head kick into overdrive as the tree line started to him and the bellowing grunts of a giant Grimm grew closer. “Tch, not on this leg.” He snapped, dread twisting in his guts. Ruby shook her head as the red eyes peered through the trees. “Could you fight if I kept you in the air?” She clarified, taking a step back as the final few trees splintered, the gaping maw of what could only be a mutated turtle crossed with something else opened. The beast lumbered forward, screeching in pain. “What? …Well yeah, but My wings aren’t exactly flight worthy.” “Hrmph, It’s obvious you need to someone to teach you proper wing preening and maintenance, but I think I can handle all the hard work. Just keep gliding and looking pretty and I’ll deal with the hard parts. Just so you know, we’re not aiming to kill it, just outrun it. Unless my friends arrive, we can’t take it down.” There was something in her tone that made him think that she was hiding something else, but now wasn’t the time to question it and focus on not getting eaten, crushed, or any other horrific death, “Awww, someone things I’m Pretty do they?” “… That’s not exactly a compliment for a guy you know….” “Whatever, let’s just get this over with and go back to passive aggressively insulting each other.” “Heh, well then, Mercury, shall we dance?” She gave him a strained smile before shifting her grip on Crescent Rose and held out one hand in invitation.

[littlemisssquiggles]

RWBY Musings #49: The Bandit and the Assassin. A Squiggle Meister’s Views on Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black for the Future of RWBY.

@mojo72400​ asked “…Any emecury/jaded theories for vol. 6?” Anon-ninja asked “…Question: Thoughts on Merc and Emerald in the upcoming volume(s)? I just have this feeling that while they may get redeemed, it'd be at the cost of getting horribly injured/used by Salem in the process? I mean, with Cinder gone, Emerald is the Only maiden candidate team WTCH has. I imagine the walls are gonna start closing in on these two FAST. :/”

Squiggles Answers:

‘Sup up you two? It took me a while but at long last I’ve arrived at your respective musing. At first I had planned on keeping this nice and short (well...short for yours truly) because to be honest I didn’t have much theories on Merc and Emerald for the next season. However, in true squiggly fashion, as I started jotting down my points, it basically ended up delving deeper than expected.

Anyways I’ve kept you both waiting long enough. Y'know the drill, click forward and let's get into this, shall we?

An Unlikely Trio

I want Emerald and Mercury to stay with Hazel because I think together on their own without the influence of Salem, the three can form a strong family type of bond where they each will be able to compensate for relationships lost or never experienced in their respective pasts. For Mercury, he can possibly find a father figure in Hazel to make up for the lack of compassion and proper paternal guidance he never got from his own abusive drunk of a dad.

For Emerald, she can find compassion in others and learn to feel loved or cared for by another beyond Cinder Fall whose own influence on her was twisted. Emerald only turned to the dark side because of Cinder and was willing to do anything so long as Cinder approved.

According to RWBY Chibi, Emerald idealized Cinder as a proxy maternal figure. I guess to make up for an absence of a real family of her own since she has been surviving alone, starved on the streets of Mistral for many years using only her semblance as a means of perseverance until Cinder took her under her wing.

But I believe that Emerald will soon learn that she can find that kind of solace in Mercury; who will respect her as a close companion, possibly even a potential love interest later down the line if a romance is meant to spark between the two; and Hazel, as a big brother figure. I like the idea of Hazel coming to treat Emerald in the same nurturing and overprotective manner as he did for his deceased sister Gretchen. 

Perhaps Hazel will even begin to see a lot of his sister in Emerald or something along those lines. Speaking of Hazel and his eventual development. For the price of one, I think the Rainart man can gain two young adults that he can learn to treat as surrogate younger siblings for his sister.

A Squiggly Hunch about Hazel Rainart

I like the idea of Hazel eventually coming to his senses about his anger over Ozpin. If I’m being completely honest here, like a number of things about V5, I never quite bought Hazel’s whole revenge story about blaming Ozpin for what became of Gretchen.

Yes, Ozpin was the Headmaster at the time Gretchen was enrolled at Beacon however as Oscar rightfully justified, becoming a huntress was Gretchen’s choice. While it was unfortunate that she died on the battlefield, it doesn’t exclude the fact that it was a path she chose of her own accord and did it in spite of her brother’s disapproval.

This is why I’m hoping for a possible rematch between Oscar and Hazel in which Oscar performs some unexpected feat that reveals the truth to Hazel about the night Gretchen was killed. Either it’s a semblance unlock for Oscar where he gains the ability to probe Hazel’s mind and mentally share with him the memories of the night Ozpin spoke to Gretchen before her mission or perhaps something to do with the Oz-cane. Who knows?

All in all, I want the truth to soon come out to Hazel and once it’s done, I think he will switch sides or…y’know, be brutally killed off for his treason when Salem realizes that Hazel is no longer of use to her, like Lionheart. Though unlike Lionheart, Hazel would go down with a proper fight; dying strong with his corpse being donated for Watts to experiment on for Grimm-hybrid or Grimmoire research. Getting ahead of myself here but you get the idea.

For me, the satire with Hazel’s character is that he’s inspired by Hansel from Hansel and Gretel. As the fairy tale goes, Hansel and Gretel were a sibling pair who got lost in the woods and wandered into a gingerbread house owned by a wicked witch who tried fattening them up to eat them. But as we know, the siblings escape after tricking the witch and trapping her inside the very oven she’d planned to cook them in.

I find it ironic that Hazel is working with Salem, whose been classified as a wicked witch while his fairy-tale counterpart killed the evil witch in his story. Perhaps this is a sign to foreshadow Hazel’s redemption in a way.

Do you actually know what would make an interesting twist? What if… Salem had planned on recruiting Hazel from the start and had actually arranged for his sister’s death as a means of getting him to her side.

Suppose...Salem had sent a younger Tyrian Callows to recruit Hazel with the offer of granting him a much better lifestyle for him and his sister in exchange for his loyalty. Like let’s say, Hazel came from a poor family that had fallen on worse times. After his parents passed away, Hazel was made sole caretaker of his baby sister.

Despite the enticing proposal, Hazel refused since he couldn’t wholeheartedly trust the word of a stranger he had just met especially when he had more pressing matters to deal with, like his sister’ wellbeing.

Imagine…if it was revealed that Tyrian had murdered Gretchen at Salem’s behest. What if…during her training mission from Beacon Academy, Tyrian lured the naïve Gretchen into a trap where he murdered her like an animal cornered by its prey after separating her from her team.

The impression I got from Hazel’s side of the story was that he shared a deeper past with Ozpin. After all, Ozpin did comment to Oscar that he knew Hazel highlighting a history that possibly stemmed even before Gretchen’s involvement. I doubt Hazel’s sister becoming a student at Beacon and dying under Ozpin’s watch was the whole debacle.

Nah. Can’t be. Do you know what I think? What if…in his past, Hazel was a former professor at Beacon under Ozpin. It would make sense if that was the case, right? 

I think before Gretchen decided to become a huntsman, Hazel was a Beacon professor like Professor Port and Dr. Oobleck. He was probably given the position courtesy of Ozpin who decided to take a chance on him giving his harsh past and his strong ambition to care for his family.

Imagine…Hazel formally harbouring a strong respect and devotion to Ozpin, owing the old wizard a lot for helping him turn his life around. Perhaps, in their early years of Beacon Academy, Hazel and Ozpin were actually good friends and Hazel probably confided many secrets about his past in Ozpin because back then, Hazel trusted Ozpin like so many others. Ozpin was Hazel’s friend.

This would make Ozpin allowing Gretchen to attend Beacon while he was headmaster such a huge slap to the face for Hazel and would help clarify why he’d hold him fully responsible for her death.

Think about it. Picture yourself in Hazel’s shoes for a second. Imagine becoming a proxy parent at a tender age as you’re left to care for your baby sister, the only family left in your life after a period of hard times and it’s your responsibility to ensure her safety.

Picture struggling for many years to make a comfortable life for your sister to live in. Imagine meeting a man who literally changed your future---like a beacon shining a path towards a better tomorrow when you’ve been lost to the darkness for so long.

Because of this man, you were able to turn a new leaf. With a new job working under this man, you are provided with the resources to shape your life in a better direction and because of this change, suddenly things improved. You now have a better home. More food and your sister is able to grow up beautifully and safe.

Life is the brightest it’s ever been for you and your family and you owe it all to the man you met. A man named Ozpin. Ozpin had been your beacon in the night.

Imagine having great respect for Ozpin. Imagine even regarding him as an important friend because of his help and your comradery with him. As Hazel, you trust Oz.

Now imagine how you would feel if that same man you trusted so much then allowed your little sister---the same little sister you were trying to protect to enter a school that bred its students for a dangerous profession where she could likely die. Especially if you told said man time and time again that this is not the kind of lifestyle you envisioned for your sister to have.

Let’s say…Ruby Rose was not the first underage huntress Ozpin had allowed to attend Beacon ahead of time. Perhaps it was the same for Gretchen Rainart who probably met Oz when she was, I dunno, fourteen years old or something like that. Due to the strong potential she displayed when they first met, Oz asked Gretchen if she wanted to come to his school and of course, just like Ruby, she agreed. I think there is room for a potential parallel between Ruby Rose and Gretchen Rainart. 

But… here’s the thing too. Another hunch I have is that when Ozpin first met Gretchen, he had no clue that she was Hazel’s sister. Gretchen probably knew fully well who Ozpin was thanks to Hazel but Oz had never met Gretchen in the flesh before. My guess is that he had only seen her in an old photograph of her as a little girl with her family that Hazel would always keep with him. By the time Oz would finally encounter ‘Little Gretchen Rainart’, she would’ve grown into a rather rebellious but strong-willing teenager as opposed to the helpless child her older brother often proclaimed her to be.

It’d be interesting if Gretchen was like Jaune in the sense. While she didn’t fake her transcripts, she did however lie about her last name; going under a pseudo-surname because she didn’t want her brother knowing that she had enrolled at Beacon without his consent.

So I’m picturing a very awkward enrolment ceremony where Glynda Goodwitch is giving all the new first years a tour of the school grounds, introducing them to Professor Ozpin and all the other teachers.

This moment is then cut short when Hazel suddenly recognizes Gretchen in the crowd of students, expressing his disdain and shock at seeing his sister at Beacon in a booming roar that literally shook the compound while simultaneously scaring all the new students who were already intimidated on their first day to begin with.

While I’m not certain how old Gretchen Rainart was when she started Beacon, a part of me would like to believe that she started school around the time Team STQR was still present at the school just to keep things connected within the same timelines.

Perhaps Team STRQ were third years like Team CFVY were when Gretchen joined the school. But that’s just another hunch.

I’d imagine that Hazel furiously confronted Ozpin after embarrassing his sister in front of her fellow first years the way he did. However Ozpin is innocent in the matter because up until the first day of the Academy he didn’t know that the Gretchen he accepted into his school was the same little sister Gretchen related to Hazel. The same Gretchen Hazel had told him wanted to become a huntress but he strongly disapproved.

I’m picturing Hazel confronting Professor Ozpin and demanding that he expelled his sister from Beacon immediately. Ozpin, of course, would counter that while Gretchen did lie about her identity, it was only her last name and based on her brother’s reaction, the headmaster morally understood the girl’s decision to take action the way she did. Since her brother was behaving like a deranged lunatic, not that Oz would dare say that to Hazel’s face.

To make matters short, let’s say, Ozpin eventually convinced Hazel to give his blessing on allowing Gretchen to continue on as a student at Beacon. It was a difficult argument as Hazel was a stubborn mule of a man but Ozpin got him to turn around under the grounds that while Gretchen is at the school, Hazel could keep a watchful eye on her and Ozpin himself promised to ensure her utmost safety as he did with all the students in his care. This is a promise that Hazel took to heart as he told Ozpin, in a very grim tone that if anything were to happen to Gretchen under his leadership, he would hold him most responsible.

And…well…we all know how that turned out, right? I really feel like there is a deeper story involving Ozpin’s history with the Rainart Siblings. One that connects Hazel back to Beacon itself as one of its former professors. I mean it is plausible, at least in my opinion.

 Another theory I have, which is a big stretch is that Tyrian Callows also played a part in Gretchen’s death that Hazel wasn’t aware of. 

Here me out. Let’s say…when Ozpin permitted Hazel to watch over his sister at Beacon, the older Rainart took it to the extreme. Hazel would constantly intervene in Gretchen’s school affairs, from her education to her relationship with other students. This made Gretchen’s experience at Beacon very uncomfortable to say the least. As a result of her brother’s looming presence and him incessantly badgering Ozpin with his overprotectiveness, Gretchen didn’t have many friends. Either folks were too daunted by her relation to the fearsome Professor Rainart or were jealous of the occasional favouritism she received from the headmaster at her brother’s request.  Even her teammates didn’t like her which made cooperating with them very difficult on the training field.

All in all, Gretchen Rainart was alone---her dream of becoming a huntress at Beacon Academy to fight for her Kingdom of Vale being squandered away by her own blood and the very headmaster who claimed he chose her for her potential.

I’d like to think that the only friends Gretchen had at Beacon were third years at the school---Team STQR (mainly Tai and Summer) who were also favourites of Ozpin and another mysterious friend that Gretchen wouldn’t tell anyone about.

This mystery friend that Gretchen was associated with would then be a younger Tyrian Callows, who taking advantage of Gretchen’s loneliness, would become the instigator that would lead her to her eventual demise at his hands.

I really dig the idea of Tyrian being tied to Hazel’s sister because I dig the twist of Tyrian being the one who recruited Hazel to Salem’s side both before and after Gretchen’s death. I like that just as much as I like the twist of Hazel eventually learning that the very man he’d been fighting alongside all this time was his sister’s true killer. Just as much as I love the twist that Tyrian had only pursued Gretchen under his ‘goddess’ command meaning that Salem was also responsible for killing Gretchen.

I mean I had a feeling that Salem had something to do with Gretchen’s death already since my first assumption was that Gretchen got killed by a Grimm and the Grimm are connected to Salem. But as I pondered further, I came up with this better assumption of Salem moulding Hazel into the man he is now and that everything that has happened to him from the time of his sister’s death was all her doing.

She made Tyrian seduce his sister. She order Tyrian to murder his sister and she did it all to make him turn on Ozpin because Salem knew Hazel trusted Ozpin once before.

And as we know, Salem has a habit of making Ozpin’s former allies turn on him so…why not the same for Hazel too. This is only a theory but I quite like it because it gives a much broader correlation to Hazel’s backstory with Ozpin.  It’s what I think could make his eventual turn on Salem far greater than him just coming to terms with becoming a huntsmen being Gretchen’s choice and that no one was to blame for the outcome of said choice. Not even Ozpin.

So yeah, I think at some point Hazel will turn on Salem and when he does, Mercury might wish to join him too. Emerald on the other hand, may be conflicted in the matter.

As I mentioned earlier, I like the idea of Hazel learning to love Emerald the same way he did for Gretchen long ago, even calling her ‘little sister’. I think Emerald can find the family and loved ones she’s desired for so long in Mercury and Hazel. But what could thwart that is her reliance, somewhat Stockholm syndrome-like dependency of Cinder.

Some theorists have speculated Emerald becoming psychotic after the ‘loss’ of Cinder. I, on the other hand, don’t think it’d be that extreme. I think Emerald would become a more withdrawn person instead. I can just see Emerald being completely broken over Cinder to the point that she just turns into a vegetable---an empty shell of herself unable to comprehend what she was going to do with her life now that Cinder wasn’t there to guide her.

This is the reason why I would love to see Mercury step up and become a crutch for Emerald to lean on. For the life of me, I can’t gauge a plausible explanation as to why Mercury would want to follow Cinder. The closest excuse I could come up with is the possibility of Mercury previously having romantic feelings for Cinder in the past.

Sleeping with the Devil

 I mean, RWBY Chibi did hint at that last season. Weird. 

Perhaps once upon a time, Mercury was attracted to Cinder and his feelings for her were what motivated him to work for her. He was attracted to the way she would encourage him to be better and stronger and would stroke his ego if he was successful. But eventually Mercury fell out of love with Cinder when he found a quality in another woman he realized he liked even more than Cinder kissing his ass. When we first met Mercury, he wasn’t the character we now know him to be now. He was so much more serious---angrier.

Current Mercury actually cracks a smile and is prone to sarcastic jabs, mostly at Emerald. He also seems more carefree. I mean, he’s still got his wicked streak which has only been moulded by Cinder and the villain’s influence. However the part of Mercury’s personality that got my attention was his compassion towards Emerald. This was evidenced last volume in the finale episode.

Mercury could’ve easily left Emerald to be captured by the authorities. Not to sound heartless but he had every reason to since she was compromising his and Hazel’s escape after their mission during the Haven Battle was a failure.

If Mercury so desired, he and Hazel could have abandoned Emerald. But he didn’t. Instead Mercury spent a chunk of precious time urging Emerald for them to escape together. She was even the first person Mercury reached out to when captivity was imminent.

If Mercury was the type to truly value strength over signs of weakness then he could have abandoned Emerald to the mercy of the heroes. Instead he kept egging at her for them to go. Even when she fell unconscious he probably made sure that Hazel grabbed her before all three escaped. I think Emerald Sustrai is honestly the only character I’ve ever seen Mercury Black care about. I don’t even think he cares about Cinder that much. When the group learnt that Cinder was defeated, the only person who appeared affected by it the most was Emerald; naturally.

But Merc, he didn’t even bat an eyelash. He didn’t even accost the heroes, proclaiming revenge for taking down Cinder. Nope. Instead he looked to Emerald. His attention went straight to Emerald. His concern went straight to Emerald.

If you were to make the argument with me that Mercury only half cared about Cinder then I would’ve probably agreed with you on that matter especially following V5. I think the only thing that motivated Mercury towards Cinder was what she said to him in their backstory episode. In V3, C7, Cinder asked Mercury if he was anything like his father who was her original target in her recruiting strategy.

I think that’s the line that probably triggered Mercury to follow Cinder in her endeavours. I think all of his life, Mercury was trained to become the best assassin---pushed to be the strongest killer and brutally punished if he failed. The irony is I think Mercury did become the best assassin in the sense that he dethroned his own father by murdering him in cold blood. I think it was Cinder who pushed Mercury in the same manner that his dad did and it was for that reason why he followed her and was probably even interested in her at some point. They say that children who come from homes with ‘tough parents’ eventually pursue people who possess the same qualities that their parents did or something like that.

What if…Mercury did have the hots for Cinder and she used that to her advantage to get the young boy to dance to her whims; all the while using what little knowledge she knew of Mercury’s former relationship with his dad to motivate and even criticise him if he failed.

I mean Cinder once slapped Emerald when she became defiant, imagine how she punished Mercury when he joined the team.

 I know the prospect of sex is an adult theme that isn’t traditionally mentioned in RWBY. I mean I don’t expect RWBY to pull a Game of Thrones and suddenly start introducing characters doing the ole meet and greet between the sheets; even as the show’s cast and story matures with time. However…that being said, with Cinder being an attractive older woman whose been praised for her looks before and Mercury being a naïve teenage boy; lacking any affection from his past life---I’m just saying, I wouldn’t be surprised if Cinder ever used that as a ploy to manipulate Mercury in a sense.

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if at some point in their relationship, Cinder would at times seduce Mercury to do her bidding by promising him sexual favours. That’s a more mature outlook on Mercury’s alliance to Cinder. The child-friendly version would be to say that Mercury was once in love with Cinder whereas the Rated R version would’ve been Mercury being involved in former sexual relationship with Cinder or…at least one where he would blindly follow the older woman for the promise of them being together romantically. 

Y’know like how Deathstroke manipulated the adolescent Terra using her love for him as a means of keeping her in line in Teen Titans Judas Contrast.

It could explain Emerald’s bit of highlighted jealously towards Mercury in previous seasons. Perhaps, there was a time when Emerald and Mercury would compete with each other for Cinder’s affections. I keep saying ‘at some point’ because we’ve never honestly gotten much signs of a rivalry between Mercury and Emerald over Cinder before.

It’s why I’m so confused on what his motivations for following her are. It’s why love is the one answer I can think of that made sense to me. I like it because it might sound ludicrous especially for a guy like Mercury but coincidentally it’s what fits given Mercury’s history especially with his dad. The impression I got from Mercury’s past is that his father was an abusive drunk who never cared about anyone, not even his own child so from the time he was born, Mercury was probably starved of any kind of emotional affection. And the lack of his mother not being in the picture either shows that he’s never had someone to care for him.

I wonder what happened to Mama Black anyways. Perhaps she died during childbirth which could justify Marcus Black’s abusive nature towards his son. Or… maybe Mama Black was previously Marcus’ original stepping stool and he would abuse her just as much as Mercury until one day she succumbed from her injuries and died.

Or perhaps Mama Black took off long after Mercury was born and didn’t even bother taking him with her. Those are three possibilities but my money’s on Mama Black being deceased with Marcus to blame for her death.

For all we know, Cinder Fall was probably the first woman to take an interest in Mercury and, it’s an interest he greatly appreciated and longed for. So I think Mercury could’ve been in love with Cinder. As I said, Chibi did hint at it.

I know the rule of thumb is to not associate things done in Chibi-verse with the canon. However…in regards to Mercury and Cinder, I actually found it kind of weird that Burning Steel (sorry, not sure what the name of the Mercury and Cinder ship is called) suddenly became Mercury’s gag for the latest season.

It came as a real surprise. Up until this point, in the main canon, it has never really been implied that Mercury shared feelings for Cinder. It was never even teased in the earlier seasons of Chibi. Yet, there it was in S3. Hmmm...

.Still, that’s one thing in Chibi I wouldn’t be surprised became canon next season. Perhaps Mercury was in love with Cinder at some point because firstly she gave him the feminine attention he never got as a boy raised by a single father. 

Secondly she encouraged him a way that was like his father while at the same time appealing to a side of him that desired to be better than his father.  Thirdly, she made Mercury feel powerful while his father probably made him feel powerless---powerless to stop his father’s drinking problems. 

Powerless to stop his father from forcing him into rigorous training regiments that stressed and destroyed his body. 

Powerless to stop his father when he would beat and punish him---sometimes for failing his training, other times just because he just wanted to use him as his personal punching bag to vent his anger on.I have this inkling of a hunch where Papa Black is the one responsible for Mercury losing his legs. Some fans have said Papa Black gave Mercury his trademark prosthetic legs. My hunch is the sadistic version of the story where Papa Black deliberately broke his son’s original legs to prove a point.

For the DC fans in the FNDM community, y’know how in the MCU, Thanos ‘experimented’ on Nebula every time she failed. Let’s say Mercury tried to run away from home once in his youth in the hopes of finding a better life somewhere but his ambitions were thwarted when his experienced assassin of a father tracked him down. 

And when he found him, Marcus Black basically broke both of Mercury’s legs so the poor kid couldn’t use them to escape a second time. I used to think that the prosthetic legs were a gift from Cinder or Salem to Merc as part of their alliance. Perhaps they still are in the case that they’re a better, more upgraded version of the legs (probably crafted by Watts). 

Now I’m thinking that Papa Black probably ‘operated’ on Mercury---taking away his real legs and replacing them with shitty prosthetics that he couldn’t use properly in the beginning as a clear sign of what he was willing to do to him if he dared defy him again.  

According to RWBY Wiki, it was mentioned by CRWBY Writer: Kerry Shawcross that Mercury has one of the darkest backstories in the series that has yet to be explored. So who knows, maybe I am right on the whole Papa Black hacking off his own child’s legs so he can’t escape his abuse. But…I’m probably getting ahead of myself I think right now Mercury is probably attracted to Emerald. 

Maybe…at some point previously she too showed him a kinder side to herself that made him actually like her a little bit more.  I think the reason why Mercury sticks close to Emerald other than the fact that they were assigned to be each other’s partners is because, in his own weird way, he likes her. 

Though Mercury’s presence has been show to annoy Emerald, I like the idea of Mercury preferring Emerald’s company over anyone else’s (including Cinder’s) because she made him feel, I dunno, like he wasn’t a heartless killing machine (literally). With Emerald in his life, I think she showed him that he was capable of caring for someone besides himself. 

Green Fall

I’m hoping that V6 will touch a bit on the aftermath of what happened to Emerald, Mercury and Hazel following the Triumph of Haven Academy. I still stand by my theory where I don’t think the three will return to Salem after their colossal failure. I think a reason why Mercury and Hazel might be unwilling to report back to Salem is due to Emerald. There is no way in shit Emerald is going to want to go back to Salem.

That hallucination from the V5 finale was Emerald’s perception of Salem. Emerald is frightened by Salem but what has kept her fears at bay and has prevented her from hightailing it out of there is her loyalty to Cinder and her cause. But with Cinder gone, I don’t believe Emerald will want to go back.

Even if Hazel were to sling her over his shoulder and try to force her to go back, kicking and screaming, I think Mercury would intervene on behalf of his partner. Though I don’t think Hazel is the type to force anyone to do anything they’re not comfortable with. Hazel’s wrath is solely directed at Ozpin and no one else.

Hazel has not dared to kill anyone else besides Ozpin and anyone associated with him who dared to get in his way. Take that away and what you have is a man with only one main motive driving him---Revenge against one man.

I think if Emerald told Hazel she didn’t want to go back, he’d willingly comply. He’d gruffly roll his eyes but he’d comply. Hazel is an odd character to me but at least I can fully understand his motives and hatred towards Ozpin as opposed to another character like…let’s say, Raven Branwen.

I hope we get episodes where we get to see Emerald, Mercury travelling together with Hazel or at least keeping a low profile to avoid being detected by the authorities because I’m sure following what happened in Haven, the police will be out looking for them.

A part of me thinks that there could even be a potential revenge plot to come with Emerald where she may desire to kill Yang. After all, Yang was the only one to return from the vault with the Relic in hand. As far as Emerald is concerned, Yang might’ve been the one who struck Cinder down.

Mercury might want to support Emerald in this just to be helpful while Hazel wouldn’t mind it either because it’d provide another opportunity for him to enact his vengeance on Ozpin and acquire the Relic of Knowledge.

So we could see Emerald, Mercury and Hazel laying low (for Emerald’s sake) until they get the bright idea to go after the travelling heroes by Emerald who is out for blood. It’s a side of Emerald we, as the audience, have never seen before so it’d be interesting to see done in the canon.

That being said, I’d also find it cool if Emerald was revealed as the new Fall Maiden. I want Emerald to become a Maiden, especially Fall because I think it could be an excellent learning experience for her to fully realize Cinder’s intentions.

It’d be seen almost as a rite of passage between our three main female villains. Salem was Cinder’s mentor as Cinder was Emerald’s.

“…I wish to take on an apprentice. Follow me and you’ll never be hungry again…” Cinder Fall to Emerald (RWBY Volume 3, Chapter 7)

I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the same line Salem used on Cinder to influence her into becoming her apprentice only appealing to her desires to become powerful.

“…I want to be strong. I want to be feared. I want to be powerful…”  Cinder Fall (RWBY Volume 3, Chapter 7)

It’d be interesting if in V6, Cinder returns as a Grimmoire---a half Grimm, half human hybrid resembling Salem. Apprentices eventually become masters themselves, correct? So if Cinder becomes more like her master, shouldn’t it be the same for Emerald if she inadvertently inherited the Fall Maiden power after Cinder technically died in the Vault of the Spring Maiden.

Despite taking her under her wing in the past, at the end of the day, Cinder is just a power-hungry woman who is willing to hurt anything and anyone to gain more power. Even when she already possessed the powers of a Maiden, her taste of the Maiden powers was so insatiable that she even went after the Spring Maiden’s power. This in hindsight seems like a rather nonsensical move on Cinder’s part since it has been indicated that there is no distinct differentiation in the Maiden abilities.

However this move does make sense given the kind of person Cinder is. She’s a  megalomaniac. Her lust for power is what drives her. It’s what drove her to become Salem’s apprentice. It’s what drove her to kill the previous Fall Maiden and confront Raven for her power.

I’m probably going out on a limb here but it seems to me that it doesn’t matter how powerful Cinder becomes, she will always want more. I’m just waiting for the moment when Cinder becomes so obsessed by her power that she even dares to think she can dethrone Salem.

Y’know live the part of the fairy-tale princess long enough til you rise to become the evil Queen. In the fairy tale of Cinderella, our main girl was formerly a peasant, treated poorly like a slave by her own family, until she eventually became a princess when she married the prince of the kingdom. Wouldn’t be surprised if Cinder came from a peasantry upbringing too, treated like dirt and told she was nothing and would probably never amount to anything.

In an odd way, Salem is almost like the Fairy Godmother in Cinder’s story. Just like in Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother gave Cinderella the means to attend the ball where she eventually met the man of her dreams. In Cinder’s case, Salem provided her with the means so that she could pursue what she desired most---power to become someone to not be underestimated.

In an odd way, Salem even sort of resembles the Fairy God Mother in her design but that’s mostly due them sharing similarities in the shape of their attire as well as their relationship to their respective Cinderella characters. But that’s just me.

Where’s that Cinder Fall backstory that’s going to humanize her as a person and make me feel totally conflicted about  disliking her as a villain based on her past actions?

Returning to Emerald, if Cinder becomes like Salem then it would make sense for Emerald to become the next Fall Maiden. When Cinder returns, I doubt she’ll be human anymore. As a matter of fact, I think a part of Cinder did die in the Vault---the part of her that was human and connected to the Fall Maiden powers.

Here me out again on this one. So…let’s say, technically Cinder did die but what returned is a being consisting of the Geist Grimm that took full control of Cinder’s original body. This is where Salem’s training sessions with Cinder back in V4 come into play. Throughout V4, Salem groomed Cinder to seize control of the Grimm attached to her body.

You can almost say that Cinder was almost fully fused with the Geist Grimm arm by the time she fought Raven in V5. But when Raven defeated her and sent her plummeting to her doom, I think what little bit of humanity she had left in her perished and what returned was Grimm. So basically, Cinder died a human but was reborn a Grimm possessing her human form yet still retaining Cinder’s old consciousness…like Salem?

Makes sense that the Geist would fully take over Cinder’s body in the end since its power is possession. Just as much as it makes sense that Cinder would ultimately fuse completely with the Geist Grimm since that was part of her training since V4. Learning to dominate this creature and become one with it.

So I’m banking on Cinder being another Grimm-hybrid or Grimmoire or whatever they’re canonically called exactly like her mentor before her---exactly like Salem.

After all, if you eyeball the V6 official volume poster and squint at the silhouette of Cinder, you can almost see an inkling of a white hand---not as veiny as Salem’s but close enough.

What I’ve also just noticed that’s interesting is that Cinder’s silhouette is opposite from Yang on the poster. This detail intrigues me since Raven Branwen, Yang’s mother was the one who technically killed Cinder. Not to mention that Ruby Rose, Yang’s sister, is the one whose power took Cinder’s eye and was the primary cause of her turmoil following V3.

Another coincidence is that Yang and Cinder were the two characters with amputated arms that had to learn to adapt to their new limbs during the course of V4. Hmmm…I’m starting to see a parallel here.

I guess the point I’m trying to imply here is that Raven and Ruby are two characters responsible for Cinder’s downfall so for all we know, this might inspire the Fallen Maiden to suddenly change tactics and possibly target someone close to both Ruby and Raven.

And who do we is someone clearly connected to both Ruby and Raven? From watching this poster alone, my first choice would obviously be Yang. She is the closest martyr with Ruby at the moment. However, I have a second choice that could make a more impactful victim. What if… Cinder targets Tai Yang. I know this may seem impossible now since Cinder has never met Tai and is unaware of his existence as well as his ties to Ruby and Raven. But while it may seem like a long reach right now, something about the V5 Finale After Credit teaser featuring Tai just gave me a strong vibe that he could show up in V6. My hunch was that Raven teleported him to rendezvous with the heroes using her connection to Yang (or Qrow).

Not sure if he’ll just be in one scene unrelated to the overarching plot for the next season or…perhaps Tai Yang might actually show up to help the heroes towards Argus and Atlas.

Who knows? While it’d be pretty great to finally see Papa Dragon join the long journey, reuniting with both his girls and fighting alongside Qrow again just like the old days of Team STRQ. However, at the same time, putting Tai in the mix also puts him on the radar for villains like Cinder to take advantage of his association to her main adversaries as part of her revenge scheme 101.

Speaking of Cinder scoping out Tai Yang, I just remembered another coincidence. Last season, RWBY Chibi hinted at Tai and Cinder meeting each other. Yes; I know it was part of a silly skit about online dating. Yet still; as I’m making my theory, I’m starting to wonder if this was another subtle sign of things to come in the main RWBY series as told by Chibi that you wouldn’t really consider important unless you really overthink it like…well, yours truly.

…Anyways, despite this being mostly just speculation, either way…I guess what I’m mostly trying to say is that both Xiao Long Dragons better watch their backs for Cinder Fall next volume.

As for what I was saying earlier about Emerald---I actually once made a theory way back in V3 about Emerald becoming the next Fall Maiden.

Ever since the time she first fought Amber, I felt like Emerald was destined to become a Fall Maiden. Plus, it would fit into the Aladdin character that I heard Emerald is influenced by. In Aladdin, he was a street rat who survived on petty thievery until one day; he was tricked into an opportunity that allowed him to acquire a magic lamp with a genie that granted him three wishes of anything he desired.

Emerald being a nobody coming from nothing to rise to become a Maiden---with power and a purpose sounds like something I can see the CRWBY Writers doing for her. Besides, like I said. I think Emerald unintentionally becoming a Maiden would be what makes her realize that Cinder is not the woman she thought she was.

Picture this…Cinder losing hold of her Maiden powers after being defeated by Raven. Those powers then go to Emerald. Despite being overwhelmed by her newfound powers, Emerald sees this as a sign of her being important to Cinder since Maiden powers only get passed on to the next female who was in the previous Maiden’s thoughts last. Emerald will foolishly see this as a testament that Cinder loved her; like a lonely child yearning for compassion and approval from a wayward parent.

However, the crushing reality is that Cinder, obviously, did not want to give away her Maiden powers. On the contrary, the only reason she thought of Emerald in her final thoughts was because she was screaming on the inside of how much she didn’t want to lose her Maiden power, especially not to a weakling, incompetent street rat like Emerald.

To Emerald’s horror, Grimmoire Cinder will then attempt to kill her so that the Fall Maiden powers may return to her. Mercury will intervene to stop Cinder from killing Emerald only to be struck down (not killed) in the process. It is in this moment where Cinder reveals her true colours---literally taking on the same, pale, red-eyed monstrous appearance that caused Emerald to fear Salem.

Now Cinder and Salem were one and the same with all semblance of the once human Cinder Fall gone.

Witnessing the sight of the woman she once saw as family turned monster as she harmed the one other person who cared about her enough to protect her from said woman is enough to finally snap Emerald to her senses.

Emerald will realize the truth and then turn on Cinder using the very powers she stole from the former Maiden against her.

Emerald becoming a Maiden would be a fine shift in her story arc because it gives her her own purpose outside being Cinder’s pawn. Emerald was never meant to be Cinder’s disciple. But perhaps a Maiden she can be.

It makes me wonder how much different the story would’ve been if Emerald was actually discovered and made an apprentice of Amber instead of Cinder. I mean, Amber was such a kind-hearted soul that she was willing to tend to a crying child on an empty path, providing her with food as a form of comfort through her pain.

I think with a little more development and some soul searching, Emerald could become a great Fall Maiden. May even be redeemed a little. But that’s only if that’s in the cards for her side of the story.

A Friend In Me

If there is one thing I want for V6 is for Emerald and Mercury to realize that their lives can go beyond Cinder and Salem. It doesn’t matter what horrid backgrounds they came from, they can write their own future and they can do it together if they wished it.

Do you know what would be really cute? If as a parallel to Aladdin, Mercury offers Emerald three favours that he would grant her without question. So she can bug him for three things and he’ll willingly do it with zero complaints. It’s a ploy mostly done as Mercury’s way to cheer Emerald up and for the most part it works.

I like the idea of Emerald coming down to her final favour and she asks Mercury to stay by her side and never betray her and it’s a promise he’s more than willing to oblige.

I like the idea of Emerald going at Yang for revenge for Cinder but when Cinder returns and betrays her, it becomes the final straw that finally causes her to seek her own redemption.

If I’m being completely honest, I don’t see Emerald and Mercury going forward for the Atlas Arc. Since RWBY V6 will be 14 episodes long with the primary focus on our heroes reaching Argus before Atlas, I’m not sure how much we’ll see of Emerald and Mercury. I wouldn’t be surprised if these two along with Hazel are missing in action for most of V6.

My stronger hunch is that Emerald and Mercury will disappear with Hazel for V6 and that the three will be missing until a later volume or arc where their roles as villains and stories can be properly dealt with. I’d rather Mercury and Emerald fall into obscurity until the Writers are ready to give them the spotlight for development rather than rush to tell their stories for V6.

With the fact that Adam Taurus has been set up as a returning big bad with a vendetta against the Faunus who betrayed him, including Blake, I don’t expect to see much of our Jaded Duo. V6 already feels like it has its plate full with a lot of other important plot points to cover that I’m not sure how our Jaded duo will fit.

Nevertheless, the return of Cinder does have me pondering if this spells Mercury and Emerald reuniting with her or…perhaps Cinder might just pair up with someone else. Someone who shares her lust for power and revenge. Y’know…someone who had his own character short recently.

For the sake of this musing, let’s toy with the idea that Mercury and Emerald do have a set story for next season. Personally I think the Mistral Arc would’ve been a perfect place to conclude Emerald and Mercury’s stories respectively since the two were originally discovered in that particular part of Remnant, right? Correct me if I’m wrong. The same could be said for Hazel unless he’s actually from Sanus near Vale since Gretchen went to Beacon; tying into my previously mentioned theory on him.

Though I love the idea of Papa Bear Hazel becoming Emerald and Mercury’s parental guardian and he and Mercury tag teaming to protect Emerald; truth is this squiggle meister is not quite sure about Hazel’s fate. I do, however, think that his problems can be easily resolved in like one season if given proper focus.

I don’t expect three more seasons of Hazel returning…at least, not as a villain under Salem anyways. I feel as if one rematch with Oscar where the truth is realized is enough to show Hazel the error of his ways.

And even if he does still harbour some resentment towards Ozpin, by that time he would’ve gained a newer purpose which would be to aid and protect the adolescent Emerald and Mercury in the next chapter of their dual development.

If the Jaded Duo are to appear for V6, then I think this season could spell the last time we see of Mercury and Emerald (and Hazel) for a while. If there is a story for them in V6 then I hope it’s one where the two make a decision to reassess their paths and change--- something that was actually hinted at during the start of V4 when we were introduced to the volume by their shared horrified expressions at the sight of the Grimm pools in Salem’s Domain.

I don’t think Emerald and Mercury will join the good guys either. At least; not yet.

Again, if they do have a story for V6 then my theory is that once it’s wrapped up, Emerald and Mercury might drop out of the story for a while and the next time we’ll learn of their return is probably when the gang head off for Vacuo or Vale.

After all, if Emerald does become the new Fall Maiden, the group will need her on their side to open the Vault, right? So once the Atlas and Vacuo Arcs are completed, the heroes will need to find Emerald since, as the new the Fall Maiden, they will need her help.

Oh! Do you know what would be a neat idea? What if…Emerald and Mercury drop out of the main series yet, their story gets continued in book format. Y’know how we’re getting that young adult novel RWBY series featuring Team CVFY following the Fall of Beacon, right?

Picture this. What if…we got another RWBY YA that deals with the adventures of Emerald and Mercury with Hazel following the aftermath of the Triumph of Haven and their story ultimately leads them to Vacuo where they cross paths with Team CFVY.

I love this idea since the last time CFVY saw Emerald and Mercury was when their leader Cinder implemented the attack during the Vytal Festival. 

Not to mention that Yatsuhashi and Coco may share some bad blood between Emerald and Mercury from their fight during the Vytal Festival. So it’d be awesome to have CFVY reunite with Emerald, Mercury and Hazel in Vacuo in the YA novel series. Wouldn’t that be cool?

I really dig the concept of Emerald and Mercury along with Hazel spending some time away from everything---starting life anew. Out in the deserts of Vacuo, I bet finding people won’t be easy, right? So I think at the end of V6 (or whenever the CRWBY Writers decide to tackle their stories), Mercury and Emerald may chose to venture towards the desert sands of Vacuo with Hazel accompanying them.

After all, according to World of Remnant, the law of Vacuo is that if you’re able to survive the harsh conditions of the kingdom then you’re more than welcome to live amongst its people regardless of your background.

So basically, Vacuo sounds like the perfect place for a fresh start, especially for a former street rat and thief turned Maiden, the son of an ex-assassin and an ex-avenger freed from his rage. Am I right? I want this because it’s a compelling way to redeem all three of these characters while giving them a bigger purpose that will make even greater sense in the long run when the heroes head off to Vacuo. But then again, this is only my hunch.

Jaded Thoughts

I’ll be real. This squiggle meister definitely ships Mercury and Emerald or Jaded as you guys call them. I’ve shipped them ever since their debut back in V2. But between Emerald’s devotion to Cinder and her moments of annoyance at Mercury’s childishness, I was never quite certain if making them a couple would be a direction the writers saw them going in, y’know?

I wouldn’t mind a romance forming between them though. But I’d imagine that Jaded is something that’ll move like a slow building fire. I think at the moment a little romance is the last thing on either teenager’s minds. But take away the tension and push these two in a scenario where they’re able to learn more about one another and understand the other, I think something beyond just their usual partnership due to circumstance can form.

I can see Emerald learning to trust in Mercury as someone she can rely on besides Cinder and Mercury can have someone to care about besides himself and show that he’s capable of something his father wasn’t---basic human compassion. I really hope they touch base on Mercury’s backstory for the next part of his growth. Now would be the right moment for the show to do it as the story is still in Mistral and Emerald and Mercury seem to be residents of the area.

Perhaps they’ll even revisit Mercury’s old home in the mountains. Perhaps we’ll get to hear more about Emerald’s background before she met Cinder. Same with Hazel. I wanna know more about his ties to Ozpin and their whole history involving Gretchen.

Anima is a big place. It’s a chance to learn more about each of these three villains. Giving us a nice little villain’s journey if they will. So I sincerely hope the writers did take a chance with this for Emerald and Mercury’s stories. If not for V6 then perchance later when the timing is right.  

Emerald and Mercury already work seamlessly together in combat. Now what needs to be taken care of is all the mushy stuff like sharing feelings and whatnot. Similar to my other RWOTP RoseGarden, I think Jaded could work if left to properly build up and grow into something meaningful to both partners in the pairing.

Fortunately Jaded already had a head start from V2 and as V3 implied, Emerald and Mercury have been together for some good time. So I’m hoping V6 or another volume will eventually bring it all home with both teens realizing that the one person they have left in the world now is each other (with Papa Bear Hazel to protect them too of course).

If a deep romance forged from a comforting and reliant relationship between two former villains is destined for the long haul of RWBY then that’s a love story that this squiggle meister is more than game for that. Bring it.

 So to conclude…

And…that’s all folks!

Nothing much left to be said beyond that. I believe I’ve more or less covered every theory I had on the Jaded Duo. Even tossed in a few bonus hunches on Cinder Fall and Hazel Rainart for you too.

Overall, I hope this helps answer your questions Mojo and anon-chan. Again, apologies that this took so long. But for the most part, I hope you both enjoyed the theories and points I shared in this musing. Let me know what you guys think.

That being said, this is the last of my backlog of musings from months ago. Thank you guys so much for your patience. Next up is my 50th musing post. Jeez, can you believe I made fifty of these already? Well…technically fifty; not counting the ones I made on Chibi, my remarks and quotes XD

Anywhozzits, @parrot-with-a-mohawk, the musing post with my response to your musing post is up next. So stay tune for that fam! See you guys in the next post.

More Squiggles’ RWBY Content

~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)

[knightofbalance-13]

Welcome to Reality

http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/165307951521/is-remnant-stupid

How many times are we gonna go over this?

First, let’s do the big stuff.

Almost all of which will bite you in the ass.

All abusers should not exist. They shouldn’t exist in the real world, but the reason they shouldn’t exist in Remnant is because abuse breeds resentment, fear, sadness, and hurt. Emotions that we are told would attract grimm. Why would an abuser do this if the risk of a giant murder bird coming in to eat you is likely?

Because Grimm would hunt down the people being abused and the abusers are psychopaths so they aren’t a target. Likewise, why should they abuse someone when they could get killed in their sleep? because human beings and our reality isn’t rational so why should Remannt be any more rational than our world?

Racism shouldn’t exist. Much like abusers, it really shouldn’t exist in the real world, but in this world, racism would breed resentment, fear, sadness, envy, and hatred. Why do that if doing that to an entire minority race would cause a giant armored gorilla to come by and rip you in half Mortal Kombat style?

Why would you devalue someone because of their skin color in real life? Because you’re irrational and things like that don’t apply to irrational people.

Shrinks should be more valued than Hunters. I mean, it would be better to PREVENT the grimm from coming in the first place with some good psychology rather than having a bunch of glorified exterminators kill them off? What, do these guys not understand what attracts grimm? I’d rather have my emotional issues be solved rather than have it build up so that a two-headed snake can try to digest me.

Because Grimm are only ATTRACTED to negative emotions and they’ll still attack people. Not to mention Shrinks don’t always work and people won’t always admit to having problems or needing a shrink despite the emotional problems this will cause because PEOPLE ARE NOT RATIONAL, especially the people you are explaining.

Now for the little stuff.

Which will bit you the ass even moreso. Yes, it is possible.

Cardin would have been morally right if he had just outed Jaune from the beginning. Jaune’s lack of experience and competence is not only putting himself in danger, but his whole team as well. I don’t give a shit if he’s a “Good Tactician™” or whatever, but Jaune’s lack of combat abilities would get him and his team killed sooner rather than later. Instead, Cardin bullies Jaune, which leads me back to my rant on how this would breed resentment yadda yadda yadda You know the drill by now

Of course: Everyone not Jaune right, Jaune wrong. Excluding the fact that the same can be said for Ruby and her reckelssness and her immaturity and her lack of experience and amplified by her sister Yang being around as well as her uncle and especially her father constantly worrying about them being killed like SUmmer but I don’t hear you saying that at any point.

Jaune is in the wrong for melting that stuff down to upgrade himself. Instead of going to my usual tirade though, I have a screenshot of how I perceived Jaune’s actions that’s from another post of mine here.

I also have a post I cvan reference (http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/163800343229/i-hate-jaune) proving any opinion you have on Jaune is disbarred due to bias against him personally and any opinion on any male characters disbarred due to sexism.

Follow-up Question: Why does nobody think about Pyrrha’s parents?

Because if they are so stupid to have lost all of their daughter’s stuff while she was gone, so selfish they sold it or so blind they didn’t think to keep anything then they don’t really deserve it.

Qrow calls his own niece either “a Liar, Crazy, or both” when she was tricked into kneecapping Mercury. Real Uncle of the year material there, Qrow. What’s next? - You use your other niece as bait for a deadly agent of Salem - Oh wait that actually happened. Why are the adults all assholes in this world?

A. He was stating teh proof that was there and there is no otehr rational explanation.

AndB. He clearly didn’t know about Tyrian. Although has a dick so it should be obvious you would try to portray as bad.

Ironwood doesn’t take Weiss into child custody. He’s seen what pressure Weiss is under in her own home. Winter has surely told him about what Jacques does to them to keep the family under his thumb. Why doesn’t he take action? - He has two seats on the council, it shouldn’t take that long, and considering that child abuse might breed negative emotions… Well, you saw my comments about abuse earlier in this post.

Except Jacques is the richest man in Mistral and there is nothing saying that Ironwood has authority over child services and if he failed, Weiss’ abuse gets worse. Also, how does Ironwood know? He has never been in the same room as when Weiss and Jacques talk, Jacques is subtly abusive in public and people don’t exactly talk upfront about this.

Ozluminati sends the drunkard whose semblance is BAD LUCK to guard a person of importance. Was Ozpin TRYING to get Amber killed? I mean, you can’t have a person with super speed to guard Amber so that if she gets in trouble, the guard can rush in to save them? You can’t have a sniper keep watch from a distance, and pick off opponents who would kill her? Why the drunkard whose semblance is the causation of bad luck to those around him?

A. Because Glynda is teaching in one of the most, Ozpin is running a school, Ironwood is running a school AND a miltary and Leo is runn9ing a school. Qrow literally has the most time.

B. Who is this person with super speed? Can they be trusted? Are they stronger than Qrow? Can a sniper be trusted and would a sniper be effective due to Aura? See, you don’t answer YOUR questions.

C. Wow Dudeblade, I thought you were critical bt you’ll take Qrow haing bad luck at face value when any evidence for this is cirtcumstantial at best? ALmost like you only do it to bitch about it.

Winter should have taken Weiss away from Jacques. Winter knows full well what her father can and will do to Weiss. Why doesn’t SHE take Weiss away from Jacques? She’s got the power to do so! She’s a legal adult, she has a high rank in the military, she can afford Weiss’ living expenses! Why can’t Winter help out her sister? Is she selfish or something?

Because Jacques is richer, more powerful in a legal systemn, could manipulate Winter since he also abused her and Winter has nio proof. You know, like how child abuse works in real life.

Why didn’t Ilia just pass “Color Change” as her semblance? - It probably wouldn’t have been that hard,and she could have offhandedly mentioned that maybe, a faunus once saved her life once when she was younger so that she could have an excuse to sympathize with them? - This makes no sense at all as to why she couldn’t have kept her cover better. For a chameleon, she does an awful job of blending in.

No, you just don’t pay attention: You cannot accidentally activate a Semblence and Illa’s color change is inherent in CHAMELOENS as a sign of EMOTION: This shit isn’t a Quirk, stop acting like it is.

Why do Raven and Qrow play the Pronoun Game? All Qrow had to say was either “Yes” or “No” to Raven’s question,and she would have answered his. But no. Mr. “I’m using my niece as bait” has to try to take the moral high ground over Raven and lecture her about ‘family’ and crap. While, y’know, USING RUBY AS BAIT!

A. You’re lying and trying to paint a MASS MURDERER as a good guy.

B. Raven was also dancing around teh subject and used her own daughter as leverage and unlike you, I can provide proof in the fact that Raven never visits Yang, outright spat in her face and only pressed Yang when she could be used to control Qrow.

C. So...why aren’t you criticizing Raven for mass murdering people and abusing her daughter? Let me guess: She has a vagina and thus your sexist ass ignores her.

RNJR doesn’t take any kind of transport to Mistral because of reasons. Despite the fact that they’re trying to get to Mistral ASAP to warn them. And since Ren and Nora decided to NOT say something like “Hey, this place is dangerous, we should find a different way around or get through as quick as we can.” Then they waste a bunch of minutes against the Nucklevee. With his stupid noodle arms, and ability to make buildings and other structures relocate themselves. Maybe that’s how it killed other, more experienced hunters. Whenever one of them found cover, Nucky would use it’s structure relocation powers and make that cover disappear.

A. https://youtu.be/IZKpkzPIRlw?t=16m42s

B. Trama nor is it shown that the Nucklevee was near by until it was heading towards Kuroyuri and they were informed about the Nucklevee.

C. ANy proof it can do that? Becuase not only is this a baseless accusation, this has no point in what you are saying. Of course, peopel could give you teh benefit of the doubt...but between your apparent sexism and you’re lying: It’s safe to assume you said this because the writer’s are male and you wanna put in Ad Hominin.

Salem only sends one goon after the dreaded “Silver-Eyed Warrior.” She has a guy who gave her a tough time when all he was doing was stalling, a person who can alter one’s perception, a bunch of other fighters, and an army of grimm at her beck and call. Goddamn villain stupidity.

A. Gee, not like they killed those so called “dreaded” warriors before...

https://youtu.be/IZKpkzPIRlw?t=3m45s

Huh, almost like you ignore facts to suit your narrative.

B.  What other fighters? Mercury and Emerald would be fucked against RNJR due to their new abilities, everyone else is doing their own work: What “fighters” are you referring to? And the Grimm? Why not wlak up to Ozpin and his allies and say “HERE”S THE TRHEAT I’M TRYING TO ELIMINATE”?

C. Yeah...this is just like getting a hold of the world’s most powerful warrior, having her in the palm of your hand and the  not doing anything Oh wait, Korra did that. ALl the fucking time. And I do believe that in Storm Hawks, Piper has let t5he main villianess go due to their bonds before.Yeah, almost like youy are setting an unaturally high bar for RWBY.

Darwin. Award.

Every single person in Remnant is gunning for a Darwin Award. Like, only our ‘main’ protagonists are somewhat smart, and even then, Blake thinks that just putting on a disguise is going to distract from the fact that she shares the same last name as a previous WF leader.

Everyone on Remnant is an idiot.

Just like our world where the examples you pull exist here. And whil;e you can point at Grimm, I can point at Dust and Aura and the three would counterbalance each other. So Remnant is no more unrealistic than our world with the same flaws and the same actions. ALmost like humans can’t remove themselves from their own experiences and being is the ENTIRE POINT OF A SHOW.

God, no wonder you suck at writing: You’re too obsessed with faulty logic.

Either that, or the writers are making this up as they go along. But that would be insulting the original writers. And we can’t be critical of people who are ‘trying.’

Yeah, lying and being sexist and being bias and setting unnatural high standards and ignoring facts is not being critical. My proof: This entire post.

[arse-blathanna]

What are your predictions on the plot of RWBY Volume 5 and the characters status on what they'll be doing? Do you think they'll unite in Mistral this volume?

oooh, very good question. I’m just going to start with this little preface just because I think it’s probably going to ultimately ring true: For series like RWBY where it’s often producing episodes as they come out, your trailer will probably be heavily weighted towards the first part of the season. Got that out of the way. 

So here goes nothing, I guess. I’ll try to blow through this in the most logical way possible, but no promises on anything. So.... ignore my shit attempts at organization. 

Also, this is long and under a cut for a reason. Also volume 4 and volume 5 trailer spoilers

For starters, yeah, I do think that we’ll be seeing them reuniting in Mistral because all paths lead there. At the end of Volume 4, 3/4 members of RWBY were actively either in Mistral or on their way there, with the outlier being Blake. Yang is likely to be making a beeline for her sister, while Weiss is doing the same but looking for Winter instead (which I’ll get into in a hot minute.) Blake is doing things with the White Fang but if the trailer is any indicator she will be told that the best way to deal with things is to get out of Menagerie. So... organizing this shit. Let’s go.

Ruby, JN_R, Qrow, and Ozcar

Are already in Mistral. I expect that these plots will separate a little bit as we go. We’ve got Qrow hunting the Spring maiden, which probably brings us to Raven (assuming no red herring.) Ozpin and Oscar have to continue to get used to sharing a headspace, and Oscar’s going to need to learn a thing or two if he’s going to be saving any worlds, in any form. Like how to fight. Or about the Ozluminati (convenient we’ll have two, technically 3 in one place again). Combat school locations make that easier. 

JN_R are going to somehow end up working with Oscar, whether its as temp roommates or future teammates. If teammates, I’m predicting Team ORNJ. With Salty Jaune. Ever think about how Oscar doesn’t know about Pyrrha? Ever think about how Jaune will probably flip shit if he finds out about Ozpin’s voice living in Oscar’s head? No? Well, you are now. 

As for Ruby, she’s going to be along for the ride for a little bit until she finds herself with her team again. The question of whether someone is still going after her fancy eyes is something to consider (I’m guessing Watts, but there are reasons for that.) If Ruby reunites with her teammates, they’ll be able to really start doing their thing again. 

Weiss, Winter, and Politics

Weiss will be on of our big windows into the politics of the whole situation that they’ve found themselves in, mostly through her connection to Ironwood. As of Volume 4, Winter was investigating certain irregularities in Mistral and reporting back to Ironwood. Weiss heads off on her own to find her sister, which will likely drop her in the city of Mistral itself if there will be any direct contact with Leo for Winter’s work. There, she’s likely to find Ruby, and they’ll reunite and things will be peachy keen. 

In the trailer and some promo stuff we see signs that Weiss has gotten into fights with something. There was an image going around that looked like she was firing out of the back of the airship she was taking, so that’s something to expect. We see a full summoned knight in action, so she’s definitely improving her summoning.

Winter and Weiss reuniting puts them at least close to Mistral, so it’s not hard to imagine them running into each other. Especially if Winter and Qrow fight again for whatever reason (and honestly, they probably will: I’d guess that the Great Atlesian Isolation will be a catalyst of sorts), we’ll definitely see Weiss joining up with Ruby. If Winter sees Qrow’s there, she might end up calling on Ironwood. 

Hard to say, but this is one of the plots I’m more interested in. Especially since Weiss was just outside the door when Ironwood made the big decision to cut off Atlas. She’s the only one that was really there, and that has the potential to be a whole thing. 

Blake, Sun, Ilia, and the White Fang’s Tiger Mom: 

When we last saw Blake was the Character short about her, and we saw her dicking around Menagerie beating up street kids with Sun. They haven’t left Menagerie yet and as of right now, I don’t think it’s even on their minds. It seems like Ilia’s going to pass on the information to make them go to find Sienna Khan. If (though I prefer when in this case), that happens, expect for Ghira and Kali to stay behind. 

If Ilia leaves Menagerie, don’t necessarily expect it to be for good reasons. She’s a spy, and while she and Blake have some sort of truce, that probably won’t be enough to stop her from doing her job entirely. It’s hard to say, but I doubt this is the last we’ll see of her if we don’t see her once Blake and Sun leave. 

And if they leave Menagerie, they’re going after Sienna Khan.

Here’s what we know about Sienna Khan: She is the leader of the White Fang, and has apparently been running the operation out of Mistral. Adam mentioned having to go back to Mistral for something in Volume 3′s flashback episode. If Blake is going to fight Sienna or the Fang, this is a logical place to go. Adam’s also known to be there, and that’s another piece of the puzzle. As of the end of Volume 4, Hazel Rainart was supposed to have a meeting with Sienna but we don’t know if it’s happened yet or will be handled onscreen. It’s kind of a thing. 

Blake and Sun’s path for the White Fang brings them to Mistral, and I don’t know the specifics, but it would put them close to the others so there’s a strong possibility for a run in. Amplify that when you remember that Sun is a student of Haven, where RNJR is currently hanging out. SSSN might get a reunion while RWBY also gets to work on theirs. 

Yang, Motorcycles, and Raven

My first prediction is that we’re going to kiss Yang’s bike goodbye because it has the potential to be a massive pain in the ass if they ever get back into road trip mode. That’s not a big one, but I don’t expect much from it. 

Word of God statements say that everyone isn’t quite recovered yet, and I think they’re very much referring to Yang in that point. She’s got a new metal arm, but we’ve never seen her in a real fight with it, and definitely not one where it’s not friendly turf. That’s probably going to come up eventually, but I’m not really sure I want to speculate on it too much. 

The big thing here is that when she left home, we knew that she was heading for Mistral. Whether she was going for Ruby or for Raven was left ambiguous, but ultimately it won’t actually matter. If she goes to Ruby, she meets up with her sister again. If she goes to Raven, she meets up with Ruby anyways because Ruby is with Qrow who is after Raven. Got it? Good. 

This is going to be the season where the Raven Subplot really gets underway. Expect the explosions from that mess finally coming into contact with one another. 

Some Other Cool Dudes (aka: Team WTCH):

As of the end of Volume 4, we have some new nuggets about WTCH and I want to just tear through them one by one since they matter a little bit just a smidge sorta kinda. 

Arthur Watts is now confirmably the Blackmailer in Chief to Leo Lionheart. He’s a bastard who will put his feet up on all of the tables if he gets the chance. If this holds true,  then I won’t be surprised to see him infiltrating Ozluminati further through Leo, but because he’s an adult and not a student, he may be able to get much farther than Cinder would have. I expect to see more of him, to say the least. Also, he may end up being the one hunting Ruby this season specifically since the two of them are already in the same place. 

Tyrian Callows left off at the end of Volume 4 as a very happy man that definitely hasn’t been recently injured or anything. The question with regards to him is whether Salem sends him back into the field (likely, by my guess,) and whether he will be sent after Ruby is up in the air. The bigger question, to me, is whether or not he goes after the Spring Maiden. Because if he does.... Raven vs Tyrian, anyone? And if he’s successful? A golden stinger for a golden boy? Who knows, the sky’s the limit.  

Cinder Fall is in the hospital from hell, still doing recovery stuff with Salem. Emerald and Mercury are still hanging around for the time being. When we last saw Cinder, she was trying to get stronger and was literally fueling the hate fires that are going to (eventually) bring her back after Ruby. She may spend another season at a desk, or she might get a new chance. Hard to say right now since she’s the only one Salem can talk to at the moment. 

Hazel Rainart was last seen in Mistral destroying ticket machines for small children. We don’t know if his beginning of volume 4 assignment to meet with Sienna Khan of the White Fang has been fulfilled. If it has, this guy has a lot of question marks attached to him. If it hasn’t (which I consider likely,) then we’re likely to see that meeting in person somehow. Especially now that Sienna has a model. Whatever comes out of that will bleed into the WF plots. 

Other Other Cool Dudes, or just the randos I feel like mentioning:

Team SSSN are students at Haven and Sun coming back with Blake would also reunite that team, for what it’s worth. 

Glynda will continue not to matter that much. If we see her, she either dies or gets recast. 

Klein, Jacques and Whitley are probably going to remain in Atlas. If we see them, it’ll be through Ironwood. The mother will continue to be offscreen. 

Taiyang’s dog still loves him. We won’t see it, but he’s getting together with Oobleck and Port to drink still since he’s a lonely boy again. If we see him, it’ll be Raven-related. Maybe a STRQ reunion? Of sorts?

We won’t see Neo

CFVY is possible but very very unlikely, by my guess. 

We may see some of the Volume 3 tournament characters back, but only in background. I wouldn’t personally count on it. 

not actually characters, but buckle up for the queerbaiting to go up to 11

[theonceoverthinker]

My way-too-cocky attempt to predict the rest of Volume 7

This got long, so I hope you’ll join this admittedly probably far too extensive theory I have put together under the cut.

Tldr: Our characters might not end up so emotionally divided at the end of the Volume after all, even if they end up being physically so.

Say Ironwood does lose his seat on the council next week. 

What would happen next in the story?

Well, I have some thoughts, and they may very well paint the picture of the rest of this volume’s progression.

So let’s say Ironwood is unsuccessful defending his council seat and Jacques Schnee usurps him.

Jacques kicks Ironwood out of his office FAST. Like, maybe he gets half a day before he’s escorted off the premises. He has no time to leave any final orders for what should be done with Atlas’ resources. He barely has time to get a change of clothing. And it’s not just him who is dismissed but also the Ace Ops (If there is a traitor in the pack -- I’m personally hoping there isn’t though, especially Clover -- it would make sense to reveal them now), Winter, and Penny, too. After all, it won’t help Jacques to have those still loyal to Ironwood, even if they’re at his command, and he’d LOVE to get revenge on Winter for firing her from the job she left their family for. 

Lost and forlorn, Ironwood absentmindedly passes by our mains who ask him what his next plan is just as casually as if they were a part of the air itself.

After all, without his power and resources, what’s the point of having a plan now?

So he  instead walks into Mantle -- it’s the only place he can go now.

But the people of Mantle are not so welcoming to him. They scowl at him as he roams the street, shouting at him about how he ruined their lives. But many are scared, too -- this may be the first time they’ve ever known Atlas without Ironwood at the helm, and Jacques is...he’s Jacques. Or at the very least, Ironwood’s dread is enough to drag out some really dark and ugly emotions -- emotions like fear and panic.

So like whenever fear and panic show themselves, a Grimm appears.

Ironwood can't fight it off, and just as it seems like he’s about to lose, Robyn comes to his aid, slicing the beast to shreds. She says that even if he’s given her no reason to trust him, she won’t let someone die to a Grimm if she has the power to stop it.

But Ironwood is a little hurt, physically speaking, so Robyn takes him somewhere safe to heal up. They end up somewhere that shows Ironwood what Mantle’s had to deal with under his rule. Mantle is torn, and at the mercy of the elements and Grimm. Ironwood realizes just how poorly he treated the people of Mantle, and apologizes, lamenting his terrible decisions. 

The mains and Ironwood’s allies then walk in. They see he feels well enough to talk now.

So they go over just how bad everything is -- because it is bad!

Jacques -- and by extension, Tyrian, Watts, and Salem -- now have unlimited access to Atlas Academy’s resources, the Winter Maiden, and the relic (Possibly both if Ruby or Oscar weren’t able to save it). If the relic is removed, Atlas is going to fall out of the sky, and that means death and a LOT of it. Not to mention, the Winter Maiden is going to die any day now, and they have access to the machine that will transfer those powers to whoever they wish (If there is a traitor in the Ace Ops and that member is a female, then they will likely choose her to get the powers because someone is ending up with maiden powers by the end of this volume). 

Either way, we have a LOT of ticking time bombs going off here.

Ironwood laments on his failure, but Ruby tells him while yeah, he gummed up, it’s not too late. They talk about how while things were complicated, their individual bits of dishonesty never should’ve gotten to this point. Now, if they want to make things right, it’s time they make their front a united one. Now, with no power but the ones on their backs to speak of, EVERYONE bands together. Robyn’s Happy Huntresses and Ironwood’s forces join up together alongside our mains for a unified take back of Atlas Academy.

So, what else would we having going on?

Penny.

As we saw in this episode, Penny was created in part by Watts. Watts likely has access to some of her programming, and he uses this as a means to spy on the group. If there’s no traitor in the Ace Ops, then this is how he’s been able to spy on the group, and this will fill him in on the fact that they’re planning a counterattack. I feel like this will provide the best setup for the Robyn and Qrow fight against Tyrian, since Watts will send him out to halt the extended team.

We also have Neo and Cinder coming up at some point, but they can just settle into somewhere in that battle smoothly enough.

How will the tone of the season end? I think it will be bittersweet, but like I’ll discuss soon, not unsalvageable. I can see Ironwood and Robyn (And possibly Ruby) saying something along the lines of “things got really bad -- thankfully, at least we could get in before they could get past the point of no return.” 

So why do I like this idea so much (Like, enough to write the bulk of this in less than an hour)?

I have a few reasons.

1. For as much as the narrative is showing that Ironwood is messing up and messing up badly at that, the narrative also doesn’t want us to hate him, nor wish him dead. They wouldn’t have given him that soft moment with Oscar if they did. And the line in the intro that matches up wit Ironwood, “you don’t have to dream, your life’s a masterpiece” shows nothing if not the fact that there’s still potential in Ironwood. Perhaps that will come through redemption, or a heroic sacrifice, or just letting Robyn take care of Atlas once everything’s done.

2. Volume 7 is...tough to get a read on, and I mean that as a positive. The theme song is a total bop, and as the theme songs usually do, they reflect the grander theme of the volume. BUT this season’s is clearly aiming to be darker. This idea might be a good marriage of the two ideas. We get the threat of true danger to Atlas’ wellbeing (And even the means to give Salem’s forces a partial win), but we get to act on the overall theme of unity and trust that the volume is also setting up.

3. Obviously, the team isn’t going to stay in Atlas, and if they leave, there needs to be a sense of closure for Atlas. Just leaving it in shambles doesn’t seem like something the team would do. Like, even under the darkest of circumstances, the CRWBY is not gonna kill a whole continent. Beacon got torn apart by the Grimm, but since it’s on land, it can come back together. A sky bound region like Atlas really can’t if it’s yeeted out of the sky, and I don’t think they’re going to leave Atlas in an unrepairable state -- an unstable one, sure, but not one that can’t be salvaged with a lot of hard work.

4. It just kind of works, doesn’t it? It has all the promise of a thrilling climax, a clean way to bring all of the season’s conflicts to a head by uniting them all, a neat bow to tie up all of the popular dynamics and ships under, and no matter the outcome, there’s some foundation for Atlas to exist on after the volume ends. 

...Wow, that was a LOT of feelings! Anyway, have a good day, and let’s get through the rest of this volume together!