#i’m so torn on if i want to like;;;; potentially post ff writing on a side blog or if i should just keep it all here in one place

[inkykeiji]

i wonder how long it’s gonna take for dabi to drag me out of my final fantasy hyperfixation by my hair this time (^q^)

TO BE FAIR i loved noctis several years before i even knew who dabi was sooo,,, i think he’s allowed some of my attention hehehe (*/ω＼*)

[sea-changed]

vermiculated replied to your post: vermiculated replied to your post...

I can't believe I missed this until now! wow! Here I am, here you are, there are books and words between us. wonderful. thank you.

<3 <3 <3

I have to tell you that I read Olivia Waite's new ff and it has exactly this problem. It is as though both heroines are mealy-mouthed and forgettable so that the reader won't be offended by reading a book about women. Their only flaws are caring too much, wanting appropriate twenty-first century style recognition (ahistoricism doesn't bother me but as I was reading it, I thought, @sea-changed​ is going to be livid) and accidentally misunderstanding one another...

also attempted financial abuse. which I mention separately because it added a note of the glass armonica to the music of the spheres. how is ff so inadequate to our desires?

Oh no, this is terribly disappointing to hear; I’d been holding out some amount of hope for this one, though that was probably folly on my part. Why, in a subgenre written by and wholly about women, can the seemingly fairly standard “women are people” concept continually fail to gain ground? I’ll still read this, as it’s waiting for me on my phone and the upcoming semester promises to require mindless stress-reading, but I’ll be extremely irate about it. (I always think I can be magnanimous about ahistoricism in romance novels, which is obviously a lie, but it is good to be known like this.)

re: re: 34, I love the sweeping romantic sentiment because they manage to meet in the middle only when they both understand themselves to be ludicrously devoted. It didn't quite feel like a romance novel, you are correct -- there's a bit of neither fish nor fowl here? I personally feel that the natural second-half plot ought to have been shoring up how Richard and David love one another despite their respective troubled backstories rather than ...

...advancing the political thriller from "A Seditious Affair" and developing a coherent moral world. Which is what novels are oriented toward: why do people do what they do, despite everything? In romance, they do it because they love one another (or they're supposed to) whereas I think more complicated motives such as you discuss are much rarer.

oh, novels!, I say, like I live inside Tony Trollope's vision. I think the book tries to have it both ways and ends up being slightly frustrating for all readers. just write two books, Kimberly! Kimberly is what I call her when I am trying to hector her from afar. dear Kimberly, please have Susan stab Templeton. xo.

“Just write two books” is honestly what it comes down to: it feels like two books, and while I get that the political thriller part allowed David to be David to to requisite degree, after how gracefully it was cleaved to the romance plot in Seditious Affair it felt a bit tacked-on here. And while I’m certainly not opposed to moral ambiguity in my ships, the genre formula seems to require that said ambiguity, if there is any to begin with, be neatly swept under the rug; it’s really the sweeping I have the problem with rather than the ambiguity itself. (Because like, should Richard be fucking his valet? No! That’s a pretty open-and-shut one. Which certainly doesn’t mean I’m opposed to watching it happen, but I’d like fewer bows on my endings, I guess. Did you know Gentleman’s Position was the first book of the series I read, because I thought it had the most interesting-sounding summary? In hindsight this amuses to no end.)

(The accusation that there are similar moral issues and rug-sweeping in Seditious Affair, and that I am simply too starry-eyed over it to complain about them, is potentially quite valid, though because of said stars in said eyes I’m not the one to judge.)

(dear Kimberly, please have Susan stab Templeton --The only way I can see this going down with zero hair torn out of my head, quite honestly.)

re: re: 39, @mysharkwillgoon​ made the unkind (but accurate) observation that this series is always available at our county library because no one likes it. I recognize that I am utterly alone in how much I enjoy this, and am really pleased that you picked it up and felt the requisite feelings. I know you're not a Victorianist by practice or nature, so it's impressive that you returned to this weird book.

HA, I’ve made this same observation (likely about the same library!), which I’ll admit is satisfying to the part of me that thinks everyone should have my taste, though dissatisfying to the equally clamorous part of me that wants to read Seditious Affair for the sixteenth time and has to wait for it on hold. Weird romance seems to be my favorite kind, so I too am glad I returned to it. Not a Victorianist by practice or nature may have to go on my office wall.

A general query: can literary fiction be experimental enough to reach the logical end-point of the genre or are we still pretending that felicity in art is enough? Why must there be meaning in the world? Perhaps I judge the Booker too harshly: it is only a literary competition, it is not an immurement by orange sticker -- yet every book I have wanted to love from the longlist has given me the same depth of emotion that I feel on regarding ...

...a tray of wrapped zucchini at the grocery store: why are we engaging in such resource-intensive craft! (this is not strictly true. I delighted in A Little Life, it was nothing like plastic on vegetables at all.) To continue, is the worst thing that happened to literary fiction the application of irony? I am no supporter of the genuine, the real, the unmanufactured, yet ironic distance can hardly support so much.

It's not a prerequisite. and it looks like smugness more often than it comes off as wit. I read someone recently saying that the problem in Jude the Obscure is "done because we are too menny" which struck me -- a biased Hardy fan -- as missing the point about art: the place where it happens is an artificial one, but it has greater force for that. it's not a bug, it's a feature!

"somewhat poisonous nostalgia" sick burn, I like it.

Speaking of sick burns, “the same depth of emotion that I feel on regarding a tray of wrapped zucchini at the grocery store” has the devastating combination of being both pithy and accurate. I do find myself regularly mystified about what criteria are used to long-list books in general (the Booker being, I think, a particularly frequent and egregious example): it leaves me to wonder whether a) people who judge these things find being left cold and unmoved a virtue in fiction or b) they are led to feel things about writing I find cold and unmoving. (I tend toward the first, though the fact that people have seemingly genuine emotions about Madeline Miller novels would argue strongly for the second.)

The pitting of irony and emotion against one another is, I agree, one of the central failings of the literary genre: Both! Both are good! As you say, being in a constructed hothouse universe is not to be derided (though certainly poked at), and it does not (or at least should not) lessen the emotional validity of the created world. Have faith in your own creations, you dimwits.

I have been thinking all morning about your observation that none of these books are experimental enough: I thought the French were meant to be good at this. Do you think it has to do with our late uneasiness around teenage sexuality, and that writing a sufficently-complicated teenager such that he is entitled to his own sexual preference means that authors no longer sound unique, ...

... but rather like a series of psychology textbooks. Which can be a pleasure (what's UP, Megan Abbott) yet tends to make these books extremely ... putdownable. Thank you for this, there's really nothing better than having a person with exquisite taste on whom one can rely to read books first.

I do think that there is an essential trouble with alienation in YA novels: so many read as false and/or patronizing, because they’re being written to teenagers rather than about teenagers. (Sometimes this is rectified when adult lit writes about teenagers, but mostly it is not, and certainly not in this case. Here again is a case of irony vs. emotion; if you’re not going to give me emotion, you’ve got to be a whole lot better at irony--or in this case more specifically narrative commentary--than this.)

(On the subject of complicated teenagers having sex convincingly, I was recently a fan of Patrick Ness’s Release, which the author describes it as a cross between Mrs. Dalloway and Judy Blume’s Forever; a comment I’ll let stand on its own sizable feet.)

And there is truly nothing better than having someone to dump your own particular long-winded exegeses on, so thank you for that in return.

ps I read Astray and it was so frail! "disappointingly pedestrian" indeed. If I could write like Emma Donoghue, I guess I would labor under the curse that afflicts her plotting.

For being a book that contained so much that I love--an entire collection of extremely specific and well-researched historical settings!--it was so flat. I know Donoghue can write better sentences, I’m at a loss why she chose to not put any in this collection.

[toshiro-46]

Bumblebee: A Comprehensive Guide to Your Favorite Ship

Hey, I ended up finishing this about a week back and was going to post it then, but I noticed that Bmblb week was upcoming and thought this might be a nice way to start it off.

To be clear: the purpose of this post is to be comprehensive. Every small detail I’ve noticed will be here, so like if you see something and you think “that’s not necessarily indicative of anything romantic”, you might be right, but don’t let that small detail detract from the larger picture. Unfortunately, though I’d like it to be completely comprehensive, I’m only human and no doubt will have forgotten and/or missed some details.

Speaking of small details, in the past I’ve been told that this is all too subtle and RWBY doesn’t do subtlety. To answer that, I invite you to look at Qrow’s semblance, or Raven being the Spring Maiden, or Ilia’s feelings for Blake. I don’t think this is out of line with any of those, and if anything it (particularly Yang’s feelings) is considerably more blatant than Qrow’s semblance and Ilia’s feelings were prior to their reveals.

Finally, I want to defend myself and other bees like me for a second because I realize that taking several hours to research and write this to argue in favor of a fictional (potential) romance, a ship, can be seen as a tad weird… but that’s not really how I view what I’m doing. I think of it more along the lines of a theory, because it’s actually not really different at all: I’m using evidence from the show to support a conclusion. It’s exactly what I did when making basically every other analysis I’ve done on the show. It’s just what the subject of this theory/analysis is. Ok let’s go.

Supplementary reading because I’m not the only person who’s written essays about bumblebee and I’ve used the first two as reference points:

The classic Masterpost by Allisonbw. Unfortunately, it’s two volumes behind, which is a big reason why I’m doing this.

A relatively shorter post by y8ay8a talking about why she thinks it’ll happen. Again, it’s two volumes behind, but still a very good read. Also her art is top notch so check that out.

I’m not as familiar with them, but rwby-analysis has also done several posts about bumblebee.

chained-prometheus has several posts I’ll be referencing, but just the blog in general has many fantastic analyses on why it’s going to happen.

The tl;dr is obviously Yang is gay for Blake, which I’m 95% sure of, and Bumblebee has a pretty good chance of happening.

There’s 4 sections. Yang’s feelings, Blake’s feelings, Parallels, and Eclipse.

#1. Hints of Yang’s Feelings

Volume 1:

There’s not much to say here, really.

Lowkey joking, but like, the only time we see Yang express any interest in boys (even though it was in an overly comedic tone) is in V1C3, and that’s immediately prior to when she meets Blake. After that, she has nothing but disinterest towards boys, like tfw Yang meets Blake. I don’t mean to be offensive because this is actually a thing, adolescents not realizing how they feel until they meet someone that’s their… type I think would be the correct word. Hell, Monty says something about this later on, which I’ll get to. And I’ll expand more on this scene, in a more serious manner, at the end of this section.

It’s worth noting that Blake and Yang have absolutely no relationship issues once they become partners, which - alongside Renora - is an interesting contrast to Weiss/Ruby and Pyrrha/Jaune.

Yang’s concern for Blake during V1C16 is in stark contrast to Weiss, and even though she just heard that Blake was literally a terrorist who seemingly defended all the horrible things that happened to Weiss, she’s more concerned about her safety and finding her.

Really there was very little on Yang and Blake’s relationship in this volume, which is a shame, but what can you do? I’ll tell you what you can do, you can go to the Director’s Commentary and see what Miles has to say about it! Which is what I did. The context of this quote is that it’s talking about when Blake elbows Yang when they meet Penny in V1C15.

That, that is really what I do love about Team RWBY, is that, we have these two pairs of girls, each pair is completely contrasting characters. Ruby and Weiss that causes them to butt heads, Blake and Yang? They get along, flawlessly most of the time.

To put it in my friend’s words: “This is particularly important as there are people that like to say that Yang and Blake have horribly clashing personalities and get along like ‘gasoline and fire’. That they have no chemistry and are absolutely horrible for each other. The idea has been around for awhile, but here’s actual proof that it’s been wrong from the very beginning.”

I also think it’s important because it sets a precedent that even little things like this are being taken seriously by the writers. They didn’t get a lot of time to show off Blake and Yang’s friendship this volume, but what they did show has meaning.

Finally, I wanted to mention Wings. Wings is either sung from Yang to Blake, or from RWY to Blake. But Weiss as the singer (which, I believe, has been the traditional interpretation) doesn’t make any sense, she simply doesn’t fit the singer’s very understanding, nurturing attitude towards Blake. Yang, on the other hand, is definitely characterized as nurturing, such as in Gold. I could see it being all of RWY, but again it’s not Weiss’s style, nor is it Ruby’s when she’s two years younger and she herself gets Yang’s nurturing side. Oh, and an instrumental of it played when Yang and Blake saw each other again for the first time since V3. So yeah, it’s probably Yang to Blake. Also Stray sounded like Straight the first 20 times I listened to this

Volume 2:

So it begins.

V2C1: “Whatcha doin’?” This is noteworthy for two reasons: 1. Yang, Blake’s new partner and future lover (don’t @ me), is interrupting her rumination on her old partner and former lover. Out with the old, in with the new. 2. This phrase is classic flirting, most notably seen in literally every Phineas and Ferb episode.

V2C2: “Yes! I love it when you’re feisty!” More flirting, not much else to say.

I mean obviously, we have the V2C6 scene: most of it isn’t inherently romantic, just a friend comforting another, excepting the rather infamous, “If you feel like coming out tomorrow, I’ll save you a dance.” wink? I shouldn’t have to explain this, it’s pretty blatantly flirting and a double entendre.

V2C6: My friend: “This is the most vulnerable Yang has ever intentionally allowed anyone else to see her. With Ruby in V3 she was too hurt to really guard herself, and even then she tried to deny caring about Blake. The only time Yang has ever let anyone see herself as vulnerable as in Burning the Candle is during her talk with Weiss about Blake.” Because Blake gets to her like no one else. See later when Yang keeps it together with Raven until she makes a snide comment about Blake.

The dance in V2C6-7. Out of our ten students (RWBYJNPRSN), 8 of them end up with someone here. The two who don’t? Ruby, who 1. is two years younger than everyone else 2. “is not really focused on romance” - Lindsay and 3. ends up with Cinder for most of the night and Yang. Yang, the one described as a “party girl” by the back of V1’s steelbook cover, doesn’t end up going with anyone to the dance. Take a second and think on how that’s pretty weird, especially when she says “I’ll be turning heads tomorrow night”. She does, however, dance with Blake, and then seemingly spends the rest of the night just chilling out and watching Blake be happy. To put it in Allison’s words, “Yang went and played wallflower for fuck’s sake.” Oh, and while doing that, Yang turns Blake’s head while she’s dancing with Sun. That shot is focused on ffs.

Something that should be noted: Yang is not a flirty person. She flirts with two sets of people: cute cat girl partners, and enemies. Or to put it another way, she flirts with Blake, and she flirts with enemies (Junior, Random WF Mook #294, Mercury sorta before their match I guess). So let’s not pretend that flirting with people is just a Yang thing.

Volume 3:

Let’s fast-forward to V3C8. Yang has to deal with being vilified in front of literally the entire world, thinking maybe she’s going crazy, getting her team kicked out of the tournament, and guilt over breaking Merc’s leg. What brings her to tears? Blake not believing her. Like this can’t be overstated. Yang is brought to tears like 6 times in series proper. 3 are due to Blake, 1 is her reunion with Ruby, and the other 2 are due to Raven. This relationship is just so important to her and her character, way beyond what you’d expect from a normal, platonic partnership (contrast it with Weiss and Ruby). And it’s not like they have a “sisterly relationship” (something I’ve heard too often) either, because again this is portrayed as different from Yang and Ruby.

Blake and Yang are always on the scroll together btw V3C10 proves this

In V3C11 she’s again brought to tears, and again it’s due to Blake. She’s more emotional in that moment than nearly at any other point in the series so far. And before that, she chooses to go after Blake over Ruby. This is Ruby, who has been missing for like an hour and who she called Blake about last episode because she was so concerned, as opposed to Blake, who was okay last Weiss saw her. And she goes after Blake.

In V3C12, Yang has to deal with everything she did before in V3C8 except now she’s short one arm, two people she knew are dead, her school is in ruins, Weiss is gone, her sister was in a coma for weeks, and you know what actually gets her to break and raise her voice at Ruby? Blake. Yang is more torn up about Blake leaving her than she is about any of the other shit, including her arm. She’s heartbroken.

There’s also a lot of shit about parallels here that I’ll get into later.

Volume 4:

Yang doesn’t mention Blake at all this Volume so we don’t exactly have a lot to work with.

There is, however, one useful quote from Sun in V4C11 that helps confirm what I said a little ways up: “That chameleon friend of yours got me pretty good, but I’d do it all again if it meant protecting you. And I can promise Yang would say the same… so stop pushing us out. It hurts more than anything the bad guys could ever do to us.” So in case you were doubting that Yang is indeed more hurt by Blake than by her arm, doubt no longer. Also parallels between Sun and Yang, which again we’ll get to later.

In Armed and Ready, Yang states she has nightmares every night about how she tries to save Blake (because “There’s nothing that I won’t do for her”). Not necessarily romantic, but telling.

Bmblb speaks for itself and deserves a mention here, regardless of everything that’s happened. I should also note that, in response to what Arryn said about songs not being in the show not being consulted over, Boop wasn’t in the show either until an instrumental or two in V4 and no one doubted its canonicity. And also this is important and relevant. I thought about expanding on this section more, but ultimately I don’t think it’s worth it.

Volume 5:

Not really a hint towards anything romantic but I thought this exchange in V5C6 was interesting: “Listen to your friend, Yang. Your teammates never let you down before.” - Raven, vaguely sarcastically. “You don’t know the first thing about my teammates! About me! You were never there! You left us! Why?” - Yang, her voice breaking by the end; Yang manages to keep it together until Raven makes a quip about Blake leaving her.

V5C8: Yang snaps at Ruby over Blake. Her scenes this episode portray actual heartbreak. I’m having trouble explaining it any other way, really. “What if I needed her here for me?” Like hello? + Yang/Ilia parallels which I will get to later. + This connecting it back with Sun and Blake’s talk in V4C11. Also this is a good time to mention Fre/ezerburn. People were/have been hyping it up, particularly because of this episode, but in my opinion, this episode does the opposite of supporting it. Yang and Weiss are given a private heart-to-heart together - pretty rare for RWBY characters… and they spend the entire time talking about Yang’s feelings about/for Blake. That’s not really what I’d expect from two characters interested in each other. Nothing against the ship itself, just doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen in canon.

V5C13: this is gay. No but seriously this girl gets paralyzed in the middle of a battle of life and death just from seeing Blake again. I have to emphasize again that this is so much more emotional and intense than how a normal friendship is and is portrayed in this show.

General stuff:

This is more about Yang’s sexuality than Blake specifically. When talking about it, people generally point to the scene in V1C3 where she… purrs I guess would be the sound at shirtless men as evidence that she likes men. Makes sense, but I don’t completely buy it. 1. It’s just a joke, both in a meta context and to Yang. She’s clearly just joking with Ruby and as soon as one of the guys (albeit Jaune in a onesie) takes notice of her, she gags. 2. She’s still a 17 year old fresh out of their equivalent of high school, it’s not uncommon for LGBT people to realize they’re LGBT around then. 3. This is still very early in the show and since that point (starting with V2 specifically) RT could’ve decided which way they wanted to go with the character. Ultimately it’s sort of irrelevant as it doesn’t matter much if she’s bi or lesbian, but I’ve always thought of her as a lesbian for reasons right below.

Historically Yang has not really liked men. Junior in the Yellow trailer, Jaune in V1C3, Port in V1C9, Neptune in V2C4, and Shay in V5C1. Unlike Ruby, she’s not a fan of Qrow’s story in V3C4. Unlike literally everyone else in RWBYJNPRSN, she doesn’t have any notable positive relationships with a member of the opposite sex, excepting those related to her.

Her reactions to Blake are far beyond what you’d consider normal for a friend, even a best friend. She gets angrier than we’ve ever seen her when Blake gets stabbed. She isn’t that angry when Ruby gets knocked out or when Weiss gets stabbed or anything, but she absolutely fucking loses it with Blake. And this is after going after Blake when as far as she knows she’s fine but Ruby’s been missing for a long time. Pyrrha and Penny died, Weiss left too, but what got Yang to crack and lose her temper with Ruby in the V3 finale is Blake. A reminder that Blake’s abandoning actually hurt her more than losing her arm did - Sun says as much in V4 and that again, she loses her temper at Ruby when Blake is brought up in V5C8. She actually goes still from shock when she sees Blake, p different from when she first sees Raven and Ruby, two people who she also reunited with this volume after being abandoned previously.    

Relevantly, in response to someone asking about LGBT characters, Monty said (and this is at the beginning of V2) “Sure, absolutely. The best part about that is maybe they are there now, because they’re kids and we’re on a path to help them discover themselves. I don’t think we even need to make that decision right away because we learn more about these characters as we write them. So we’re definitely not opposed to it, a lot of us are for it, I have some cast members and some crew members who are like “This would be really cool”. But the thing is we can’t just shove it out there, it has to be earned, which is the better way to do it. And a lot of these characters we try to look at outside of their gender so we just want to do what’s natural for them.” I think this is important because it’s pretty much what I think happened with them and Yang. At first, they didn’t think about it much and that’s why we didn’t get anything about it in Volume 1. But by the time Volume 2 starts, we get Yang flirting with Blake and all that. She may not have (in Monty’s words) discovered it herself then or even now, but we’re getting to that point.

#2. Hint’s of Blake’s feelings

There’s not nearly as much about Blake, but the moments she does have tend to be pretty significant.

Volume 1:

V1C6: Blake chooses Yang. She follows her in the Emerald Forest and deliberately makes eye contact with her. Obviously not specifically romantic, but the other two people who chose their partner had feelings for them.

gay

Volume 2: I personally can’t find anything that would indicate Blake has non-platonic feelings towards Yang. However note that she does tilt her head in a smile when Yang says “I love it when you’re feisty” in V2C2, so… it’s not just Sun whose flirting she responds to positively (V3C2 is what I’m referring to).

Volume 3:

In V3C8, Blake, unlike Ruby or Weiss, doesn’t immediately believe Yang. Why? Yang reminds her of Adam. Not in the sense that they have very similar personalities - they don’t, besides a few striking parallels - but in the sense that Blake thinks of them along very similar lines. She let love blind her once and doesn’t want that to happen again.

V3C11: A post on the Kuleshov Effect in use here by Chained Prometheus. In addition, Adam, who probably knows how to read Blake better than most, having known and/or dated her for 4+ years, can immediately tell she loves Yang just from a single look of hers. That’s something.

V3C12: Besides the obvious implication of this shot and what Sun is thinking about here (more on that here), what other relationship saw hand-holding in an intensely emotional scene this volume???

Volume 4:

In the opening, Blake glances away, leading into a scene with Yang, indicating that she’s thinking about her.

In V4C11, her voice breaks when she says Yang, a stark contrast to the other two she mentions. She also says, “I loved them like I never thought I could love anybody!” Wait… what? Was her friendship with Ilia - a 4+ year affair - somehow lesser than a friendship with them that lasted less than a year? That makes absolutely no sense! What about Sun, what about her parents?? Did she really love all of RWY differently and more intensely than everyone else she knows/knew? No. Just one of them.

Volume 5:

When she’s talking about her team in V5C5, her ears perk up and her tone changes when she talks about Yang. Again, it’s made exceedingly clear with small things like this that Blake and Yang care about each other differently than they care about the rest, and that this isn’t just a partner thing - once again look at Ruby and Weiss - it’s far more comparable to JNPR’s partner relationships than it is to WR (the difference btw between JP/RN and WR is that JNPR’s partner relationships are/were both romantic).

V5C13: “Yang?”<- her first thought when there’s a giant fucking ethereal lancer (huh wonder if the giant bee that’s there right as they see each other again means anything it probably doesn’t)(oh also that’s the whole reason she went in there in the first place bc Hazel got stabbed and she saw that and was checking it out, yet she still ignores it in favor of Yang) behind Weiss who has a peculiar stab hole in her shirt and also Mercury and Emerald are there for some reason fighting her team and somehow her team is back together and all this and yet her first reaction is “Yang?" Hammertime does a nice post on this.

Oh hey look it’s Hammertime again. Seriously, watch that, it’s only like 40 seconds long and relevant. Besides that V5C14 doesn’t have much beyond some smiles but those smiles are, in my completely objective opinion, pretty fucking gay.

#3. Parallels

The most important shit, in my opinion. Yang and being compared with Blake’s past and present love interests, name a more iconic duo.

Yang and Tai, Raven and Blake:

Raven and Blake: mysterious ninja (well Raven’s clothing is more samurai-esque I think, but I digress) girls with bloody pasts who use katana-esque swords and also incorporate their sheathes into their fighting, who have long black hair, and who have clear affinities to animals.

Tai and Yang: (I mean they’re father and daughter so the similarities/parallels should be obvious). Both obviously deal with some severe abandonment issues due to Raven and later Summer/Blake. Or how about this? Tai and Yang are both reminded of their former teammate/lover in a talk (Tai in V4C11 talking with Yang before she leaves, though this gif is from V4C12) and then go look at the photograph with them in it.

Raven/Blake leave their teammate/partner/person-who-is-in-love-with-them after a life changing event, which leaves Tai/Yang broken and shut down.- Raven and Blake are pretty clearly contrasted in their relationships to Yang. Raven leaves for (probably) selfish reasons, never bothers to give an explanation as to why (true for Blake atm, but Weiss at least explained it), and Yang is forced to find her. Blake leaves for selfless reasons and chooses to go back to and stay with Yang.

And, as per my friend​: 

Yang and Blake both seem to be succeeding where Tai and Raven failed. Tai suffered heartbreak and broke down. For a long time. He wasn’t a deadbeat who only just started working, because as Yang says to Weiss, Tai was always at work. But he threw himself into work instead of facing his issues. Yang had to deal with so much [ex: her arm and everything else I mentioned in the V3C12 blurb] on top of losing Blake. And yet, she still got back on her feet in under a year. And while she may not be better, she’s still moving to take care of those she loves. She’s working to heal.

As for Raven, she also had a problem with running away. While Blake just runs away, Raven runs and hides behind others. Which shows in her Semblance [A point I didn’t get, Blake and Raven even have sort of similar semblances], she can teleport to people she cares about. People who would protect her [And Blake ran away to protect Yang. Raven ran away to protect herself].

But where as Raven never overcame this, Blake decides to stop running and face her problem. Instead of getting revenge, she seeks to stop the source of the problems. And yeah, she didn’t go to Haven for Yang. But she decided to stay [And she willingly decided to face Yang in the first place]. Something Raven also didn’t do.

Yang and Adam:

I mean Blake herself compares them. This fact alone is huge: she’s directly comparing Yang to her former love-interest, she thinks of them in similar ways, even if she doesn’t realize it herself. Which is actually a thing people do.

Their semblances. Both are essentially absorbing and redirecting damage, and the writers themselves have said that’s a purposeful comparison, except Yang uses her pain to become stronger while Adam just bottles it up, not feeling it, before releasing it all in one hateful blow.

Both are forced to deal with Blake leaving them unexpectedly, except Blake left Yang because she loved her, while she left Adam because she no longer could.

Both have anger issues that worry Blake at some point, but Blake chooses to believe in Yang, unlike what happened with Adam.

Yang and Ilia, Yang and Sun:

Look no further than Alone Together for Yang and Ilia. They’re paralleled in the episode pretty heavily, with both getting pinkish eyes over her, both showing how they’ve handled her abandoning them, and both getting extremely real with their confessions over how Blake makes/made them feel.

Sun himself talks about how they feel the same way in regards to protecting Blake. Sun - who we know 100% has romantic feelings for Blake - says this: "I’d do it all again if it meant protecting you. And I can promise Yang would say the same.” He knows they feel the same way about her. Besides that they’re both blonde brawlers who show some chest, have gloves/bracers/whatever, are/can be pretty laid back, and are associated with the sun. Again, similarities should be clear.

Bumblebee and Arkos:

Honestly, I had never seen this myself until it was pointed out to me, so it’s much more fitting that I just quote Allison.

From her post (I once again encourage you to read the whole thing, it’s very relevant):

You remember how I mentioned that Blake and Yang’s relationship is not like the other relationships in Team RWBY (Ruby and Weiss’s relationship included)? Because there’s another relationship in this show it’s a lot like. A relationship with confirmed romantic interest that gets a fair bit of on-screen development in the first three volumes, even. I’m going to show as much as possible as opposed to a bunch of telling, because this shit must be seen to be believed.

Going in chronological order, and also weaker to stronger, on dialogue parallels:

Bumbleby and then Arkos in the Emerald Forest.

Arkos, in a scene with an intimate setting with romantic lighting in which Jaune discloses a shameful personal secret to Pyrrha.

Bumbleby, in a scene with an intimate setting with romantic lighting in which Yang discloses a shameful personal secret to Blake.

Bumbleby, in a scene where Yang tries to reassure Blake.

Arkos, in a scene where Jaune tries to reassure Pyrrha.

And some parallels that aren’t dialogue per se: In what relationship in the V2 dance arc do we see a blond hunter having a heart-to-heart with their partner (one, two, one partner making a deniable expression of interest in going to the dance with the other (one, two), and then the blonde cheering up their partner by donning a white dress and dancing with her despite not officially being her date (one, two)?

Depicted: the answer. Both of them.

I also had a Blcksn shipper tell me once that Yang can’t be interested in Blake because she let Blcksn happen right in front of her at the dance (I like the way she stomps off in those heels). And I’m thinking, “You mean like how if Pyrrha were interested in Jaune, she totally wouldn’t have coached him on how to ask Weiss out?”

And then of course there’s this blatant juxtaposition in 3.11, which I dare you to unsee now.

Seriously though, the big moments for Arkos/Bees come at the same times. It starts with V2C6/C7, then the first half of V3C8, the end of V3C11, and the beginning of V3C12. Jaunedice is the only odd moment out here, otherwise it’s consistent. Pyrrha and Blake both deliberately hunt down and choose their partner in Volume 1, both believe they find the relic at the same time… etc. The similarities are hard to ignore.

Yang and Blake, Beauty and the Beast:

'Beauty’ and 'Beast’ can be used interchangeably with Blake and Yang. Blake has labels assigned to her from birth (her last name, Belladonna and the fact that she’s a faunus) while Yang has physical traits (she’s a beauty and referred to as such in RLR, and her semblance is essentially beast mode) that signify both of them as both characters. And Adam fits in neatly as Gaston.

Here’s a link to Chained Prometheus’s post on the matter. He’s legitimately very well-versed on Beauty and the Beast, his opinion here is very worthwhile.

From Allison: 

Yang, who’s loathed worldwide as of 3.6 and misshapen as of the end of this very scene and generally paid out the nose for her short temper this volume, introduces herself with a roar, attacks a white-fanged enemy in defence of Belle/Blake, gets her right arm fucked up, passes out from shock, and has to be rescued and hauled to safety by Belle/Blake at the end of the scene.

#4. Ecl/ipse

So I’ve gone back and forth on Ecl/ipse (which is Sun/Blake, to be clear, I just come from a part of the fndm where Ecl/ipse is the dominant name) a lot in the last two years. From “It’s definitely going to happen” to “It’s never going to happen” to somewhere in the middle, to where I am now (No hate btw, and I mean that seriously. This is just something I have to address, because for Bumblebee to happen, Ecl/ipse can’t).

Which is… it’s probably not going to happen. I think it’s pretty simple as to why:

If it were going to happen, it already would have. Blake and Sun had two volumes where they spent the majority of their time together; from a storytelling standpoint this is the ideal time to develop their dynamic into a relationship. There’s no better opportunity, really. Especially since Sun has always been a stand-in for her team, a way to push her back towards them, and he’s never been relevant when that’s not necessary. If you don’t believe me, look at how he’s first introduced when she runs away in V1 and how he’s barely a presence in V2 (excepting the one episode where she’s apart from her team, of course) or especially V3. In V6, she (and the show) most likely just doesn’t have time for him, the same way she (and the show) didn’t have time for him in V2/V3. She’s back with her team, what further purpose does he serve? The answer is no purpose, really, because it’s not like he’s going to Atlas (because why would he), so he’ll likely be out of the story for the next few years. Basically they had their chance to make it happen and they didn’t. They had their chance to set it up more explicitly in V5 and they instead focused primarily on Blake’s and Ilia’s relationship.

Look at V4 and V5. In V4 (specifically Chapter 3), Sun is obtrusive and flirty and Blake really doesn’t like it. She’s impatient with him, she even slaps him three times, and generally she’s just not having it. But he gets the hint, he actually backs off in V5. And their interactions are far more positive accordingly. I think Sun realizes by V5 that it’s not going to happen, so he doesn’t end up flirting - at all - in V5, which is unique when compared to literally every other volume. In fact, I think he realized it back in the V3 finale, he was just sort of in denial for most of V4 before coming to accept it in the latter half. And that’s why he pushed Blake towards Yang in the V5 finale. He knows (this is admittedly speculative, but yeah Sun is low-key a bee shipper imo).

y8ay8a also explains the actual faults of the ship pretty well.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is a lot of evidence towards Bumblebee. Even if you’re not looking for it, you’ll see signs of it. I did. Allison did, too. Both of us weren’t really into shipping in general or bees specifically until we saw Volume 3 Chapter 11. And once I started looking for it… there’s just much pointing to it. Which is why I wrote this post. As a guide for anyone who wants to know whether this ship is actually realistic.

[seriouslyhooked]

Capsize

Available on FF Here and AO3 Here.

A/N: Hey everyone! I know it has been a long time since I published a oneshot, but with my other two stories happening at the same time, I’ve been a little all over the place. This chapter is based on a number of prompts for more stories with Killian in the military, but there was one of you who was pretty specific. I have decided to run with that request. In this fic Killian was in the navy and he met Emma in a bar on his last night of leave. They fell in love at first sight but he had to ship back overseas the next day. Months later when he’s finally been discharged he comes back for her, and, low and behold, she has a surprise for him. I am sure you can all guess what that surprise might be. The song I am pairing with this is ‘Capsize’ by Frenship and Emily Warren. Hope you all enjoy and thanks so much for reading!

Standing at the processing bay at the naval base in Washington, Killian Jones had never felt more on edge.

He was a SEAL, a fighter through and through, and a sailor with the self-composure to go into enemy territory without blinking an eye. Killian had seen war up close and personal for the past ten years, and his life had been dangerously close to ending more times than he could count, but none of it compared to this moment. Waiting for the bloody paperwork to go through so he could get on to his forever was like diving into bitter cold ocean water only to learn your air tank was running low. It was maddening and overwhelming. The time seemed endless, and it honestly felt like some kind of torture.

It shouldn’t be this difficult to get them checked out of the damn service. He’d filled out all the forms and David had too, but this woman – Captain Regina Mills – was taking her sweet time processing their request. This should be more straight forward: their tours were done, they should get to go home, but until that final stamp of approval was granted, he was still a SEAL and still beholden to rules. Until he received this confirmation he still belonged in many ways to the United States of America, and for what he had planned he needed freedom, and he needed it now.

“Well, Lieutenant Jones, Lieutenant Nolan, it seems everything is in order,” Captain Mills said, barely smiling. She was so severe and serious, but then again so were many of the other captains they’d served along the way. Killian didn’t know how they did it. He’d hate to be so rigid and conforming. It had always been the hardest part of his life as a SEAL.

“So we’re good to go then?” David asked, putting into words Killian’s own hopes while already forsaking the formality of military life. Captain Mills looked amused at the lapse, but Killian didn’t know if it was genuine or not.

“You are. You have both officially been honorably discharged from the United States Navy. We appreciate your service.”

“Thank you, Ma’am,” they said in complete synchronization, saluting the captain, even if their time was done, before turning and walking out back into the balmy summer day.  

“I can’t believe we finally did it, man – it’s all over,” David exclaimed, his grin as happy as Killian had ever seen it. “Sure you don’t want to go back for another round?”

The question from David was clearly a joke. The only reason David had even served another tour at all was because he needed a bit more money for the ‘castle’ he was aiming to buy his high school sweetheart, Mary Margaret. The two of them were already married, and at their last check in back on the ship Mary Margaret had given David some news that couldn’t wait – she was pregnant. It had happened during their leave three months ago and David was the happiest man in the whole damn world.

“No. I would never do that now. I can’t,” Killian said, his tone harsher than David deserved, but his friend took it like a champ.

“Ah right. Because you have to get the girl. Mr. ‘Marriage-Is-A-Construct’ finally found his one. God it almost brings a tear to my eyes.”

“You want to make it back to your wife in one piece, mate? Because I can arrange an alternative,” Killian said, glaring at David with his best ‘do not fuck with me’ face, which irritatingly only made David smile more.

“All right, all right I surrender. No more jokes,” David promised as he swung his duffle into the back of the truck with Killian and then got in the driver’s seat to start them on their journey home. It was too much, however, to expect silence from his friend for a whole ten hours. After all, David and Mary Margaret were a perfect couple. They were both good, and loyal, and kind, but they were also nosey and opinionated, and they never could seem to drop a topic of intrigue when they thought they were helping a friend.

“I know Emma’s different,” David said, talking over the radio Killian had tried to put on for distraction’s sake. Killian’s jaw ticked and his arms crossed over his chest, but David was undeterred. “Even if it was only one night, I know you love her.”

Killian didn’t know if it was the mention of his love that caused the slam in his chest or if it was just her name. Truth be told, the mere thought of Emma had the possibility to light up any kind of darkness. She was this impossibly remarkable thing in a world that had so little beauty or hope. She’d been a life raft for Killian when he didn’t even realize he was drowning, and an anchor when his ship was lost at sea. It defied explanation. A complete stranger that he met in a bar shouldn’t be able to affect him like that, but one smile from Emma – along with one silken, throaty chuckle when she found his ‘charm’ to be over the top – had trapped him. He was hers from the very start, and leaving her the next day had been the worst damn pain he’d ever known.

“If you know then why do you keep going on about it?”

“Because I want you to admit it,” David said with a laugh. “And because I’m damn well entitled. You gave me hell when I found Mary Margaret. HELL. It’s my turn to do the same.”

“I don’t care what you do to me, David. I only care that I find her.”

This announcement prompted a bellowing laugh from David, an honest to goodness laugh that shook his friend so much Killian almost wondered if he’d pull over the car to keep from crashing. It was so loud that it startled Killian, and he watched as tears streamed down his friend’s face and he wiped them away, still laughing. Finally David got himself together enough to motion to the glove compartment. Killian assumed he wanted tissues or a Xanax or something, since he was clearly unhinged, but instead there was a file with a name – Emma Swan.

“You didn’t really think I’d let us retire without already having found her for you did you?” David asked, laughter still teasing at the corner of his eyes as he shook his head at the very idea.

“But how did you – when did you -,”

“I borrowed a computer while you were in your one-on-one,” David said with a shrug. “Then I paid a new recruit to drop what I found off in the truck once it all printed.

“You borrowed it?” Killian echoed. “Or you commandeered it?”

“Eh, same thing. It took a minute, but I found her. Hell I got everything about her that I could, including the fact that she’s still there. She never left Boston.”

“She didn’t?” Killian said, shocked to find that out. During their night together, Emma had confessed that she was a runner. She preferred a life of constant moving, and she’d already been in the city for a few months. She was planning to leave within the week, now he had to wonder what had changed her mind?

“Nope. She moved to a new apartment though. Probably for the best you didn’t mail those letters. She didn’t list a forwarding address with the post office.”

The mention of the letters that Killian had written every day for the past few months was slightly embarrassing. He had thought he was discrete enough to not have drawn anyone’s attention, but when he considered it, it made sense that David would put the pieces together. There was no one in Killian’s life from outside of the military, so there was no real reason for him to be writing anyone. A few times they’d been out on mission, with barely any time for sleep and Killian had tried to write a few lines in secret, but he supposed that would be the kind of thing David would hone in on. Especially since he was so fixated on Killian’s potential future.

“You realize you’re going to have to stop digging like this now that we’re out in the real world again, right?”

“Hmm,” David said, in what Killian had come to learn was a far from affirmative answer. “So you gonna read it, or just stare at it a while?”

“I don’t know,” Killian answered honestly.

On the one hand he wanted to know every last detail of Emma’s life, but on the other hand it felt wrong to learn it this way. What he wanted most of all was time with her, because time would allow them the chance to grow the connection that had formed in an instant months before. Reading this would take away some of that magic, and Killian was torn about what he should do. Should he give in to his craving to know her? Or should he wait and hope that she’d let him in enough to see all that lay beneath the surface?

“Just open it.”

Killian complied with David’s request and he found two things at the top of the pile: a recent picture of Emma and her new address. Perfect.

“I figured you might not actually want the other stuff, so I condensed what was needed right on top.”

“And the rest of this is just what? Blank pages?”

“Nope,” David said before chuckling to himself as he continued to watch the road. “Those are Mary Margaret’s contribution.”

Curiosity got the better of Killian and he flipped through to see that David’s wife had, quite literally, gone off the deep end with this compilation. Page after page was filled with ideas and requests and hopes for Killian and Emma. There were recommendations for the perfect first date, anniversary ideas, potential wedding venues, and even a list of the top 100 most underrated baby names. There was enough here to map out an entire life for Killian and Emma, or at least the next fifty or so years.

“I’m sorry, are these retirement villages?” Killian asked, his shock and dismay no doubt evident from his tone.

“Yeah I told her that might be a bit much,” David replied. Killian turned to his friend and arched a brow as if to silently say that every damn part of this was ‘a bit much.’ “But it made her happy, and with the baby coming, I couldn’t very well say no, could I?”

“You two are unbelievable,” Killian said, shaking his head even as laughter built in his chest. He supposed it could be worse after all: his friends could be trying to stop him from pursuing this. They could judge him for caring as much about Emma as he did so swiftly. But no, David and Mary Margaret were completely on board with all of his plans, and they clearly had ideas of their own that they were only too glad to offer.

“It was going to be thicker, but then I told her you already had a ring and so she cut back.”

The mention of the ring he had in his pocket prompted Killian to pull it out. There was no point hiding it, not when David already knew all about it, and he wanted to see it again. It was his grandmother’s ring once upon a time, passed down to his mother and then to him. The center stone was an opulent sapphire, and the surrounding diamonds sparkled in the sunlight. It was elegant and classic, a cut above what the average SEAL could afford, but where Killian knew it was objectively beautiful, he doubted any ring could be worthy of Emma.

“So when do you think you’ll ask her?” David questioned, breaking Killian’s trance.

“When she’s ready,” Killian responded resolutely.

“Can you wait that long?” Good question.

“I can damn well try.”

For the rest of the long hours up the coast, Killian continued to think on what exactly the future might look like with Emma, especially when they were first reunited. In his heart, he knew that the connection they shared had to mean something. It was too sure and too strong, even if it was only one night, for this to be some fleeting, one time thing. In fact, Killian couldn’t conceive of it as anything but a life-long love, but getting Emma to see that may very well be a battle. He’d been gone for months and they’d left things hanging in that time.

They hadn’t spoken since the morning that he headed back to the ship, much to Killian’s dismay, and he didn’t know if Emma would be open to him now even though his heart had always been wherever she was. He might have to prove himself to her, but though it would be hard, Killian was ready. Whatever it took to have Emma in his life, he would do. If there were trials that needed facing or paces he was put through to show how serious he was, he was fine with that. The only thing he wouldn’t negotiate on was when to find her again. He had to see her as soon as he could, and he was so desperate to lay eyes on her again that he asked David to drop him off at Emma’s place instead of his own.

“I already had it in the GPS,” David said gleefully. “And don’t worry. Mary Margaret and I will hold onto your stuff until you’re ready.”

Killian thanked David and soon after that they pulled up before her apartment. But it wasn’t until he was out of the car and David’s red truck was heading down the street that Killian considered how big a step this was. Showing up at her door out of the blue was a risk to be sure. Would it scare her away? Was he making a mistake? Killian didn’t know, but he couldn’t keep himself from trying all the same. He made his way to her door, glad that a neighbor was heading out at the same time that he was trying to get inside. He moved up the stairs to the floor where Emma’s address claimed she’d be, and then he was there, standing at her front door, and at the precipice of the rest of his life. He hesitated only a moment before knocking soundly.

Though it only took a few more seconds for the door to swing open, it felt damn near a lifetime to Killian. Waiting even a little bit felt like more than he could bear after countless nights spent wishing he was with her again. But in the moment when he saw Emma, standing there before him looking just as beautiful as in his dreams, he finally felt like he was home again. Nothing had been right or made sense without her, and it didn’t matter to Killian that that feeling was crazy. He didn’t need time to know what was right for him, and Emma Swan was everything that could possibly be right in the world.

“Killian, when did you… I mean how did you…” her words trailed off as her eyes filled with tears as her hands reached out for him. “You came back.”

It seemed that she couldn’t believe her eyes in this moment, and like her relief was overwhelming her. His heart clutched tightly in his chest at the sight of her tears. God he wished he’d found a way to know where she was all this time. He never dreamed that she’d be worried for him or missing him as badly as he missed her, but her expression was undeniable. As deep as he was in his love for her, Emma was feeling just as much, and she’d faced his months away with probably just as much pain and sorrow as he had.

“Aye, love, I did. I’m home now - home for good – and I’m not going anywhere.”

Not without you. He left those words unsaid, but no sooner had he made his promise to stay than she was leaping into his arms, hugging him in a way that lacked reserve or any kind of hiding. The feel of her in his arms was all too much and yet not enough, and so he pulled back only to kiss her and revel in the feeling of tasting the woman he loved again. It had been touch and go before, but he’d made it, and he’d be a damn fool if he let another second go by without showing her how much she meant to him.

“I can’t lie, Swan, it makes me damn glad that you’re not pushing me away right now,” he said when they came back up for air and Emma pulled him inside her apartment, keeping hold of him as she shut the door and then led him inside.

“I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again,” Emma confessed, her eyes casting downwards. A heartbreaking sadness returned to her features and it struck Killian so forcefully that he would give anything to ease her suffering. Killian brought his hand to cup her cheek, and she looked back up at him before continuing on. “I was so scared for you. I know we only had one night together, but -,”

“But it was a hell of a night,” he whispered causing Emma to smile and shake her head even though he knew that she agreed. She’d told him at their first meeting that he was cocky and that she wasn’t into guys with huge egos, but soon enough she’d realized that for Killian it was all in jest. He might play the suave, collected type, but underneath he was just a man, a man who loved her more than anything. “Look, Emma, I promised you when we met that I’d be honest and so I think there’s something I should tell you.”

“I have something to tell you too,” Emma said, sounding a bit panicked, but Killian only shook his head and brought her hands up to kiss one by one.

“Let me say this first love, before I lose my nerve. I know to everyone else it probably seems like we barely know each other. They’ll say that there’s no way to be certain, or that one night is too soon to fall this hard and this surely, but I know differently. I know that you’re the best woman I’ve ever met, that you’re brilliant, and beautiful, and perfect,  and I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know every other part of what makes you you.”

Killian watched as his words washed over Emma, and the restlessness that she’d exhibited moments ago melted away. She looked desperate to hear everything and the more he said the happier she became. She was holding back still, not letting herself totally cave to hope quite yet, but he was certain that despite everything, she was ready to hear all that he felt.

“I love you, Emma. I think it started the very moment I saw you, but in one night you ran away with my heart completely. Leaving you…” his voice broke from the emotion and only Emma’s hands running over him in silent pleading could keep him on the track of his confession. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and all I could think while I was gone was that I had to get back to you. Truth be told, you saved me out there, Emma, more times than I care to admit. Knowing you were here, knowing our story had only just begun, it was enough to get me through. And I know you probably don’t feel the same quite yet. I know it’s crazy, and maybe you need time but -,”

“I don’t,” Emma said, interrupting his nervous babbling. “I don’t need time. I feel the same way.”

“You do?” Killian asked, elated as his arms tightened around her and Emma nodded, happy tears forming as she smiled up at him. Still he needed to hear it. He was desperate for those three little words, and she must have known it because she offered them up so beautifully.

“I love you, Killian. And I’m really, really glad you love me too, because that night brought us more than just each other.”

“I know, Swan. It brought a beginning, a happy beginning that we’re starting right now. I want all of it with you Emma. Dating, living together, marriage, the works. I want to start a family together, Swan, the kind neither of us ever had,” her eyes grew wide at how quickly he was going, and he laughed, knowing she wasn’t going to run even if he had stunned her. “But more than anything I want a life – our life together. I just want what you want, whatever that might be.”

“Well about that… there’s some parts of your dream that have kind of already started,” Emma said, bringing his hand over her stomach where he noticed a small bump that hadn’t been there before. It took a moment, but when he realized what she was saying his throat closed up and his own eyes grew misty. Could this really be his life? Could he really be this lucky?

“You’re pregnant?” Killian whispered in awe and Emma nodded, prompting him to pull her in for another kiss.

The celebration in this embrace was tangible as their hands roamed and the two of them arched for closeness. His need for Emma gripped at him like a fever, and he couldn’t wrap his head around just how wonderful this news was. Whatever came next, he would thank God every day of his life that he had the chance at all of this with Emma. He would never deserve her, but he would work day in and day out to be better for her and for their family. Somehow he’d be enough for her and for them, but first there was something he needed her to know.

“We’re getting married,” Killian proclaimed as they broke apart from the kiss.

“We are?” Emma asked, looking amused through the lust and love that colored her green eyes.

“Yes. You can have whatever you want for a wedding, Swan. I’ll make you’re every dream come true, but you will marry me.”

“You’re not even going to ask?” Emma said with a laugh and Killian shook his head.

“Can’t risk you saying no,” he said, as if that were explanation enough, but then he pulled the ring he’d been carrying with him from his back pocket and he slipped it on her finger.

“Well you may not be asking, but my answer is the same,” Emma said, grinning wildly as she looked from her new ring back up to him. “Yes, Killian Jones, I will marry you.”

And with that promise, the two of them started their wonderful new life together, knowing that while their story might be unusual, it was as beautiful and unique as their love was for each other.

………………

Up at night I'm awake cause it haunts me That I never got to say what I wanted Oh my God, oh my God I’m not the same as I was with you I would jump out my skin just to get you Oh my God, oh my God How could you have ever known If I never let it show, now I just wanna know are you?

I'm fine Drop tears in the morning Give in to the lonely Here it comes with no warning I capsize, I'm first in the water Too close to the bottom I'm right back where I started Said I'm fine

Your silhouette is burned in my memory Rubble left from the moment that you left me Oh my God, oh my God And three words have never come easy Cause you're more than they ever could be Oh my God, oh my God How could you have ever known If I never let it show, now I just wanna know are you?

I'm fine Drop tears in the morning Give in to the lonely Here it comes with no warning I capsize, I'm first in the water Too close to the bottom I'm right back where I started Said I'm fine

I'm swimming up against the tide Oh my god I'm swimming but I'm getting tired Oh my god I'm swimming up against the tide Oh my god I'm swimming but I'm getting tired Oh my god

I'm fine Drop tears in the morning Give in to the lonely Here it comes with no warning I capsize, I'm first in the water Too close to the bottom I'm right back where I started Said I'm fine

I think about you, love you, and I'm filled with pride

Post-Note: So after so much time away from the mixtape I am really glad to get to put this out there. I had all of these lofty goals of trying to get through all of my prompts during my summer vacation… oh how naïve I have been. Between two other multi-chapters, my summer research, and the fact that my awesome readers sent me another ten prompts since summer started, I haven’t made the actual progress that I wanted. That being said, more will be coming (it will take a while again, sorry guys) and I want to thank you all for reading and I hope that you enjoyed!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9,Part 10,Part 11, Part 12,Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24,Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31,Part 32, Part 33, Part 34, Part 35, Part 36, Part 37, Part 38,Part 39,Part 40, Part 41, Part 42, Part 43, Part 44, Part 45,Part 46,Part 47, Part 48, Part 49, Part 50, Part 51, Part 52, Part 53,Part 54,Part 55, Part 56, Part 57, Part 58, Part 59, Part 60,Part 61,Part 62, Part 63, Part 64, Part 65, Part 66, Part 67, Part 68,Part 69,Part 70, Part 71, Part 72, Part 73, Part 74, Part 75,Part 76,Part 77, Part 78, Part 79, Part 80, Part 81, Part 82, Part 83,Part 84,Part 85, Part 86, Part 87, Part 88, Part 89, Part 90,Part 91,Part 92, Part 93, Part 94, Part 95, Part 96, Part 97, Part 98,Part 99,Part 100, Part 101, Part 102, Part 103,Part 104, Part 105,Part 106, Part 107,Part 108, Part 109, Part 110,Part 111, Part 112,Part 113, Part 114, Part 115,Part 116, Part 117, Part 118,Part 119,Part 120, Part 121, Part 122, Part 123,Part 124, Part 125,Part 126, Part 127, Part 128,Part 129,Part 130, Part 131,Part 132,Part 133, Part 134, Part 135, Part 136, Part 137, Part 138,Part 139,Part 140, Part 141, Part 142, Part 143, Part 144, Part 145,Part 146, Part 147, Part 148,Part 149, Part 150, Part 151,Part 152, Part 153, Part 154, Part 155, Part 156, Part 157, Part 158,Part 159, Part 160, Part 161, Part 162, Part 163, Part 164,Part 165, Part 166, Part 167, Part 168, Part 169, Part 170,Part 171,Part 172, Part 173, Part 174, Part 175, Part 176,Part 177, Part 178, Part 179 , Part 180, Part 181