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goldenamaranthe-blog · 8 months

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The Battered Dragon

Buckle up, buttercups. This is a long one.

Jaune: Soooo... (continues looking around at the "forest" around him) where do you guys think we are?

Ruby: I don't know. I honestly didn't think I'd find anyone that quickly. Even if half of the group was tied up my a village of mice.

Weiss: (plucking a thorn out of her sleeve)They were... craftier than I would have thought.

Blake: (ears wilt) It makes me wonder where Yang is, or if she's okay.

Weiss: (places a hand on Blake's shoulder comfortingly) I'm sure we'll find Yang. You have to remember that this is Yang we're talking about. If anyone can manage surviving in an unknown world filled with random dangers, I'd place the charred remains of the Schnee fortune on it.

Blake: (ears perk up slightly) Yeah, you're right.

Weiss: (watches as Ruby and Jaune discuss what steps they should take next) You know. When we find her, it might be a good idea to have a bit of a heart-to-heart with Yang.

Blake: (ears spring skyward) I-I don't know what you're talking about.

Weiss: Blake, you almost jumped off the platform after Yang. I dragged you off the literal brink, and you immediately went feral on Neo afterwards.

Blake: I'm that obvious, huh?

Weiss: To everyone except Yang herself... (watches as Ruby trips over a random tree root and pulls Jaune down to the ground with her) And maybe those two.

Blake: (chuckles softly)

Jaune: Hey! Do you guys think we'll see the Lively Carpenter or the Battered Dragon???

Ruby: The Battered Dragon? I don't remember that character from the story.

Blake: The Battered Dragon was a strong warrior that fought back the night in a fiery blaze, but was always warm and kind towards the people in the book.

Weiss: We're not in a storybook. But! If we were, I wouldn't mind meeting the Lively Carpenter. They were so sweet in the story.

Jaune: I remember the Battered Dragon was like a barbarian of sorts. Super cool and strong who fought with her fists.

Ruby: I don't remember Yang ever reading that character. Actually, I don't remember her reading me that story at all.

Jaune: Huh... That's odd. I would have though- (draws sword) INCOMIIIIIING!!!

Jabberwalker: (bounds through the canopy into the clearing and slashes at Jaune)

Ruby: Jaune! (pulls Jaune out of the way)

Blake: Ruby! (throws Gambol Shroud, wraps the ribbon around Ruby, and yanks her back)

Weiss: (glyph attacks Jabberwalker and blasts it back)

Jabberwalker: Seeking - Searching - Contacting - DEVOURING!!! (leaps towards the group and slashes at the group wildly)

RWBJ: (get tossed to the ground)

Jabberwalker: (tail whips Blake to pin her down and leaps onto her)

Blake: (blocks claws with her sword and struggles to keep the claw from her face)

RWJ: Blake!

??? : I said I wasn't done with you yet!!!

-Burning fireball of stone barrels in and slams against the Jabberwalker's head, shattering into a million smoldering pieces as molten rock oozes over spiral horns-

??? : (rugged, dark brown leather adorned with intricate patterns and fur trims, well-worn trousers and boots, tanned leather tank top with tatters at the hem where the bottom has been torn off, revealing muscular abs and a few battle scars, and a blazing heart tattoo on a well-endowed chest. Scarred left arm is on display, muscles rippling as powerful hands grab the Jabberwalker's horns, while a paint chipped, slightly rusted metallic right arm glints dully in the sunshine. A purple bandana tied off where the metal meets flesh. Black and brown leather hand armor and pauldron adorn the left shoulder and hand with golden brown/grey whisps of fur protrude from under the plates. Burning golden hair burn out in a long trail behind a scorched, wooden dragon mask)

??? : Did you honestly think I'd let you hurt anyone here? (punches Jabberwalker a few times in the face) Then you're crazier than I thought! (throws Jabberwalker over to the next acre)

RWBJ: (stare in shock)

Jaune: (gasps like an excited child) Oh, my gosh! It's the Battered Dragon!!!

Blake: The Battered Dragon! In PERSON!

Weiss: We're actually in a fairytale....

Battered Dragon: (panting before squaring her shoulders and turning to RWBJ) Dammit! (takes off her mask, revealing one lilac and one crimson eye and three scars on her jaw) You guys weren't supposed to be here.

Jaune: Is that...?

Weiss: Yang?

Ruby: (walks up to the Battered Dragon) Yang?

Battered Dragon: (shakes her head, dislodging the tears in her eyes before nodding firmly) Yeah, Rubes. It's me. And you guys weren't supposed to-

Ruby: (grabs Yang's hand tightly) If you didn't think we'd come looking for you, then you must have forgotten who raised me.

Battered Dragon Yang: (sniffs and holds Ruby's hand) Right. I'm just... glad to see you guys again after all this ti- PUAH!!!

Blake: (tackles BDY to the ground and hugs her tight) Yang~

Battered Dragon Yang: (shocked eyes glance at Blake briefly before tears slip from her eyes, her nose wrinkles in an attempt to keep from crying, and she breaks. Arms wrap around Blake like a lifeline) It's actually you....

Weiss: (after a few minutes) Yang, what happened to you?

Battered Dragon Yang: It's... a long story...

#the rusted knight parody #the battered dragon #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #rwby #weiss schnee #ruby rose #rwby crack post #jaune arc #slightly angsty #there have been a few asks for rusted knight yang equivalent so here you are!#now I kind of want to make a fic about this #but I already have fics I havent touched in a long time #damn

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marcmarcmomarc · 25 days

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I told you I would bring up @pmpknsoup’s post more times.

Feel free to comment or reblog how you think this would have gone.

———————————————————————————-

(In Theodore’s office in Shade Academy at early evening, Team RWBY and Jaune Arc face the main members of the Remnant Alliance, consisting of Team JNPR plus Oscar Pine/Ozpin and Emerald Sustrai, Team STRQ, the Ace-Ops, the Happy Huntresses, Winter Schnee, Team SSSNN, Team CFVY, Whitley Schnee, Willow Schnee, Klein Sieben, Maria Calavera, Dr. Pietro Polendina, Ghira Belladonna, Kali Belladonna, Ilia Amitola, Bartholomew Oobleck, Peter Port, Glynda Goodwitch, Theodore, Xanthe Rumpole, and Zwei.)

RUBY: Listen. Thanks, everyone, for your patience.

RUBY: It took a while to figure out how to tell you, and I know being left in the dark about our whereabouts over the remainder of the winter, the whole spring, and the summer has left you anxious, but now, I’ve decided it’s time to reveal what’s been going on. Robyn, I’ll need your Semblance to prove all of this correct.

ROBYN: Uh, okay.

(Robyn steps away from the group, removes her glove, and joins hands with Ruby. Her Semblance turns on and glows green with every piece of information Ruby gives.)

ROBYN: So, you guys didn’t make it out of the pocket dimension before it collapsed. Where did you guys fall to?

RUBY: Well, after I fell, I regained consciousness on a beach surrounded by giant seashells. I tried to hone in on a giant tree, but just ended up looping in circles. Eventually, I had to stop, then found a mouse trying to pull a plant out of the ground. I pulled the plant, which turned out to be a cheese plant, out for the mouse, and fed it to them. After the mouse revealed that they could talk, I named them Little, and they decided to stay by my side as I tried to get home. Then we found Weiss and Blake captured in vines by a whole village of talking mice. It didn’t take much convincing to get them to let them go. Then we went to look for Yang and found a creepy Grimm-looking creature moving jerkily. And I mean very creepy. (IMITATING JABBERWALKER) “Stalking. Searching. Waiting. Listening.” (NORMAL VOICE) Then Yang came barreling out, already fighting the creature while missing her arm. Then Blake realized we were in our favorite childhood fairy tale, The Girl Who Fell Through the World.

(Confusion and wonder all around. “That fairy tale?” “The Ever After?” “It’s real?”)

OSCAR: That fairy tale actually happened? And the Ever After is real?

RUBY: Which means the creepy Grimm-like creature was the Jabberwalker from that story. Also, Weiss had a very hard time wrapping her head around the Ever After’s absurdities.

(Weiss blushes with embarrassment.)

WEISS: I did not.

RUBY: Our hands are glowing green, Weiss. Robyn’s Semblance never fails. Then we went to the village in the King’s Acre to barter with the Jinxy Peddler, who had stolen Yang’s arm. Well, they don’t “steal”, they just “take things others aren’t looking at”. Fair is fair, right, Little?

ROBYN: Sounds like a legitimate businessperson.

WEISS: Right?

EMERALD: So, what was the Jinxy Peddler like?

VELVET: Was he cute?

WEISS: Cute? He was adorable!

RUBY: And, despite being older than he was in the book, his strategy was the same, selling treasures that are really other items in disguise. If my memory serves me right, he had a yellow scepter, a pink rabbit statue, and a marionette-like doll. Toy soldiers won the scepter, and we only got it back from them because Little tried stealing the marionette, exposing Jinxy’s treasures as fakes. The rabbit statue was another mouse, the scepter was Yang’s arm, and the marionette was one of Penny’s Floating Array swords. The soldiers followed us to arrest us for stealing Yang’s arm, or “royal property”, before I traded Penny’s sword, and told them she was the greatest warrior to ever live. “She was touched by magic, and she gave her life for thousands. She took a message of hope to the stars, and she saw the world through better eyes.”

(The gang gets emotional, especially Winter and Pietro, who are comforted by their loved ones.)

RUBY: The soldiers escorted us to the Crimson Castle for the birthday of who we thought was the Red King, but turned out to be the Red Prince, who was more of a spoiled brat than Weiss was at Beacon.

YANG: (nudging Weiss) Heh-heh.

RUBY: We challenged him to a game of chess, where he shrunk the girls to the size of chess pawns. Not that it hindered their performance against the Prince’s pawns. When we revealed that we’re humans and beat him, he threw a tantrum and wanted us beheaded, and the Curious Cat rescued us.

(More interested chatter. Nora Valkyrie gets giddy.)

NORA: The Curious Cat?!

REN: Were they as chatty as the book made them out to be?

RUBY: Mm-hm. Not to mention easily distracted. Anyway, they took us to look for ingredients for a Growgurt Parfait in the Garden’s Acre, and we told them our life story, but because we kept getting distracted with our internal conflicts, we kept losing them over and over again. After the third time, when they asked me how I’m supposed to save the world now that Salem has two out of four Relics and that Atlas is gone, we met an herbalist, a caterpillar named Herb. He seemed to be asking us questions to figure out what medicine he needed to make to help us. Looking back, he was being reasonable, as too little medicine is useless, but too much medicine is toxic. Eventually, Herb just decided to smoke a hookah for a bit and drugged us with leaves that made us see our past selves tempting us to “go back”. To be free. To be simple. To be whole. To be different. The other girls rejected and had already accepted their failures as something to learn from, but I almost gave in, before the Cat stopped me, then got Herb swallowed by a hole in the ground.

(The gang chatters in moods ranging from confusion to nervousness.)

TAI: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up. You guys did drugs?

QROW: Don’t let alcoholism be next, girls.

RUBY: Anyway, the Cat led us to a market to keep looking for the Parfait ingredients. Along the way, they told us about a process that occurs when an Afteran is no longer doing their assigned role, triggered by them losing their ways, wearing out, doubting themselves, or even just finishing their assigned tasks, upon which they are taken to the Great Tree and repurposed into someone or something else with a new identity, personality, and role. Their memories are erased in the process, but the heart very rarely forgets. They don’t die. They ascend.

(Such a concept catches the interest of the gang.)

REMNANT ALLIANCE: Ooh.

EMERALD: Talk about a potential existential crisis.

RUBY: Hence why there was no Red King when we got to the Castle. He lost his game and ascended into the brat we encountered. And the hole that swallowed Herb was him starting his own Ascension. Anyway, after we arrived at the market and got all of the Parfait ingredients, the market was attacked by Jabberwalkers using Neopolitan’s Semblance. Oh, yeah, Neopolitan fell with us, too.

(Nora, Ren, Oscar, and Emerald grow worried.)

REN: Uh-oh.

TAI: Neopolitan? Who’s that?

RUBY: Remember Roman Torchwick, the criminal from Vale? Neo was his partner. She held me responsible for his death at the Fall of Beacon and wanted me dead to avenge him. She expressed herself through gestures and facial expressions because she couldn’t talk.

RAVEN: Was she that chick I saved Yang from on the train on Mountain Glenn?

RUBY: Yep. Then I disposed of her by opening her umbrella on an Atlas airship in the sky during the Fall of Beacon. Apparently she survived that fall without any of those Grimm surrounding us eating her.

OSCAR: Team JNPR and I last fought her right after Ironwood declared us fugitives.

RUBY: Then she fought us in the pocket dimension between here and Solitas. Heck, she was the reason Yang, Blake, and I fell. Anyway, we made the Growgurt Parfait and the girls grew back to normal size just as we got assistance from the Rusted Knight riding his white rabbit.

WHITLEY: Did Weiss go goo-goo eyes the second she laid eyes on him? She had a crush on him when she was younger.

BLAKE: I think everyone had a crush on the Rusted Knight at some point.

RUBY: Well, things didn’t help when he turned out to be a grown-up Jaune with longer hair and a beard, who grabbed a fruit that sent him back in time twenty years right after he landed.

(The gang gasps at the new knowledge of the Rusted Knight being not only Jaune, of all people, but Jaune thrown backwards in time, grown older, and living without his friends for so long.)

NORA: Oh, my Gods!

REN: Jaune, that really happened to you?

JAUNE: I was stuck there isolated from other human contact, too.

YANG: Weiss certainly loved how mature he was.

RUBY: And the white rabbit was a jackalope Jaune named Juniper.

NORA: After his team? Aww!

RUBY: Then Jaune told us his perspective on the Tree, that he believed it was death, that Alyx backstabbed her brother Lewis, the author of the fairy tale, who wrote the story the way he wished it happened, and that the Cat couldn’t be trusted. Before long, we got caught in a “punderstorm”, which creates a physical manifestation of a mental or emotional problem. Jaune, Weiss, Juniper, and I were sent to metaphorical and literal crossroads, while Yang and Blake were sent to two broken, wooden, rickety bridges connected to a giant pillar that they could only make more planks to advance toward if they were honest about their feelings for each other. Yeah, Yang and Blake are girlfriends now.

(As Yang and Blake blush at each other, everyone’s hearts melt, all proud for the Bees.)

REMNANT ALLIANCE: Aww!

NORA: See, Ren? I told you there was more going on!

KALI: Our baby girl found love?

TAI: With my sunny little dragon?

RAVEN: Wow. She really is your daughter, Tai.

TAI: What’s that supposed to mean?

RAVEN: A tall overconfident blonde flinging dad jokes and puns and a brooding dark-haired beauty? A tale as old as time.

RUBY: Then the Cat bailed on us after mistaking us for selfishly using them to get home, and once the storm passed, Jaune let us spend the night in his house in the Origami Acre, then he introduced us the next morning to a village of paper stars called the Paper Pleasers. They seemed very dumb and clumsy at first, because of the daily disasters they were causing, but, at the end of the day, were very hospitable. He also named them after all of us. On his to-do list, I saw Ren, Ruby, Oscar, Nora, Neptune, and Pyrrha.

(Not a word is spoken as everyone exchanges concerned and uncomfortable looks with each other.)

JAUNE: That must have been our waiter, the Blake Paper Pleaser.

RUBY: Then Neo’s Jabberwalkers attacked, and while we were distracted, the Paper Pleasers finally managed to off themselves by destroying the koi pond dam and drowning in the flood, then when the girls asked me to help comfort Jaune, I blew up at them for caring more about everyone else’s feelings or getting home, taking my mental health for granted and ignoring my problems…

(Everyone leans in anxiously. Things are getting even more interesting, but not in a good way.)

(Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Jaune exchange looks of guilt.)

RUBY: …then I ran away, came across the Abandoned Acre, and entered a mansion, where Neo had made clone illusions of Roman Torchwick, Penny, Pyrrha, Professor Lionheart, Clover, Ozpin, and Ironwood, and used them to physically and psychologically abuse me, beating me up ruthlessly and blaming me for their deaths, and when the chaos was over, I felt no will to live or be myself anymore, not helped by Torchwick’s question: “Do you really think you can stand to watch more of your friends fall? Or are you ready to admit the truth, that the world would just be better off without you?”

(The gang regards Ruby with sorrow over her being trampled by her trauma. Ozpin can be heard sniffling.)

RUBY: Then Neo offered me tea made from leaves from the Tree intended to wipe me from existence. The Cat blasted her away, but then turned out to be evil and tried to possess me, while revealing that they had been trying to wear me down the whole time, then Neo fought them off and stomped Little to death, then I finally gave in, drank the tea, offing myself, and got swallowed by the Tree.

YANG: (tearing up) Oh, Rubes.

RUBY: Then I met a Blacksmith, who I also found at the market, or, rather, she found me, and then she presented me with a choice to either change my identity or be myself. I saw my mom’s weapon and was treated to a vision of the night she left with Raven on another one of Ozpin’s secret missions and never came back.

(Tai turns accusingly at Raven.)

TAI: Raven?

YANG: She lied? She left with you?

RAVEN: Yeah… Hey, like I said to her, “First time for everything.”

(The gang gives her a look.)

RAVEN: Really? Sheesh. Tough crowd.

HARE: (to Ruby) Wait. What did you say your mother’s name was again?

RUBY: Summer.

HARE: (muttering) So, her uncle is Qrow, her father is Taiyang, and her sister’s mother is Raven. All are members of Team STRQ. Summer, Summer, Summer… (out loud) Summer Rose, the leader of Team STRQ, was your mother?

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Summer?…Summer Rose?…The previous silver-eyed Huntress?…That’s Summer Rose’s daughter?

RUBY: And then, I remembered my mom’s words, “I love you just the way you are,” chose to be myself, and came back to help the girls fight the Cat. And we won.

(Cheers and applause all around.)

RUBY: And then Neo killed the Cat by using the Jabberwalkers to eat them. By the way, Jabberwalkers are the only creatures to prevent Ascension if they eat Afterans.

BLAKE: On my count, there were a whopping five of them.

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Five?…Five of them?…Five Jabberwalkers?

SUN: Talk about overkill.

ELM: (after doing the multiplication math in her head) That’s gotta be over ninety teeth!

RUBY: And, according to the girls, Neo was possessed by the Cat, and she chose to accept Torchwick’s death and undergo her own Ascension. Oh, and Little ascended, too, into who we called Somewhat, and succeeded Jaune as the protector of the Ever After. By then, we had made it to the Tree by coming to terms with the truth, we’ll never be perfect, that even the most skilled Huntsmen and Huntresses have failed, and we walked through the door back home, landed inside the plane of the Tree, and met the Blacksmith again at her workshop. When we noticed two statues of the Brother Gods, she told us their backstory. That the Ever After was overfilled with plants and dangerous wildlife in its primordial years, but the Brothers were created to clear it out. Then they created the Afterans as well as the different acres for them to live in. They designed new creations that would replace them in maintaining the Ever After. This was how the Cat was created. They later created the Jabberwalker as a form of destruction. However, the two disagreed on whether it disrupted the balance or not and began to wage war.

OSCAR AND OZPIN: (both scoff) What else is new?

RUBY: The Blacksmith told us how balance isn’t supposed to be two opposing forces locked in battle; balance is an ecosystem, an organism, and a living thing, thus balance isn’t restored with force or manipulation, it’s restored naturally, requiring love and patience to see it through to the end. The Gods got to Remnant because the Ever After created a door to a “greater beyond” for them, so they can leave and experiment in creating new worlds as much as they like.

REN: Huh. So the Ever After existed before Remnant.

NORA: (snickering) So the Tree basically said, “You think you have life sorted out? Then get out of my house”?

RUBY: Pretty much.

(Everyone laughs at the Brother Gods basically being “kicked out of the house” by their “mom”. Some Gods they are.)

YANG: Oh, my Gods, that’s such a hilarious way of looking at it. Thanks, Nora.

RUBY: Anyway, the Blacksmith told us that we impacted the Ever After significantly, just like Somewhat, Alyx, and Lewis, and that the Cat caused a bad impact. Then she de-aged Jaune, but let him keep his memories, which explains the white streak in his hair, and made us a portal in the desert on the outskirts of the city, and now you’re all caught up.

(Ruby lets go of Robyn’s hand. The freedom fighter rejoins the rest of the Alliance.)

RUBY: So, I’m happy to announce that I’m not giving up the fight to save the world anytime soon! Between Academies and Kingdoms going down and our friends’ lives being forced to abruptly end, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs over the past two years, but we always pulled ourselves back together at the end of the day, and we won’t stop now! With global unity right at our fingertips and the ability to keep moving forward and accept our failures as things to learn from, things the villains would never even fathom, we can stand up to Salem and her forces! And no longer will we be putting the entire burden of the world’s safety on one individual! My name is Ruby Rose, and I am a Huntress!

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Yes!…Great!…Alright!…Thank goodness!…Welcome back, Ruby!…Good to have you back, kid!…Way to go, Ruby!…That’s my girl!

YANG: We’re so proud of you, Ruby.

RUBY: Thanks, guys. You and your support mean the world to me. And I’m just as proud to call you guys family. All of you.

(Everyone looks at Ruby with warmed hearts.)

———————————————————————————-

Starring the voices of:

Lindsay Jones as Ruby Rose

Cristina Vee as Robyn Hill

Aaron Dismuke as Oscar Pine

Kara Eberle as Weiss Schnee

Katie Newville as Emerald Sustrai

Caiti Ward as Velvet Scarlatina

Barbara Dunkelman as Yang Xiao Long

Samantha Ireland as Nora Valkyrie

Neath Oum as Lie Ren

Burnie Burns as Taiyang Xiao Long

Jason Liebrecht as Qrow Branwen

Anna Hullum as Raven Branwen

Howard Wang as Whitley Schnee

Arryn Zech as Blake Belladonna

Miles Luna as Jaune Arc

Tara Platt as Kali Belladonna

Anairis Quiñones as Harriet Bree

Michael Jones as Sun Wukong

Dawn M. Bennett as Elm Ederne

Shannon McCormick as Professor Ozpin

Additional Voices (no individual lines, but can be heard chattering, sobbing, gasping, cheering, laughing, and exclaiming, “Ooh,” and “Aww”):

Sena Bryer as May Marigold

Ashley Burns as Coco Adel

Tiana Camacho as Glynda Goodwitch

Cam Clarke as Bartholomew Oobleck

Michele Everheart as Fiona Thyme

Dave Fennoy as Dr. Pietro Polendina

Gavin Free as Scarlet David

Caitlin Glass as Willow Schnee

Mick Lauer as Marrow Amin

Cherami Leigh as Ilia Amitola

Marissa Lenti as Joanna Greenleaf

Joe MacDonald as Yatsuhashi Daichi

Aaron Marquis as Nolan Porfirio

Elizabeth Maxwell as Winter Schnee

Max Mittelman as Fox Alistair

Josh Ornelas as Sage Ayana

Anthony Sardinha as Peter Port

Kerry Shawcross as Neptune Vasilias

Keith Silverstein as Professor Theodore

Melissa Sternenberg as Maria Calavera

J. Michael Tatum as Klein Sieben

Kent Williams as Ghira Belladonna

Anne Yatco as Xanthe Rumpole

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professorspork · 2 years

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Okay so something's been bothering me. And maybe it's just a continuity error, but... I'm willing to bet not.

Last episode, when Neo's Jabberwalker copies came to the market and everyone scattered in terror, the Curious Cat said this was VERY BAD. To which Blake, jumping into action, asked:

Which is really weird!

Sure, Blake would have no reason to know the lore the Cat then drops-- that if the Jabberwalker eats you, you can't Ascend-- but she's supposed to have heard of them. She brought them up in episode 2! It was among the things she listed that Alyx did:

This stuck in my craw last week and I didn't know what to make of it. Is it just sloppy phrasing? We're supposed to think Blake didn't realize the thing they'd encountered WAS a Jabberwalker? Why would that matter, if it was being referred to by name?

But now we've met Jaune, and he's the Rusted Knight. And one of his greatest concerns is...

This volume is having a real ball with fiction, and narratives, and what it means to be in a story or live up to a legacy or like. Be a person.

Undoubtedly, the reality of what's happening in the Ever After (and what's happened before, and will happen again) has deviated wildly from the book The Girl Who Fell Through The World, and most of that is because of whoever wrote it.

But if Blake's losing knowledge she should already have, what if the story is somehow getting retconned in real time?

How can you escape a story if it keeps changing on you?

#rwby #rwby spoilers #blake belladonna #team rwby #jaune arc #leah watches rwby

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howlingday · 9 months

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Hey, buddy, it's been a long time since I sent an ask though i used a different name and you answered them, anyways, I have a good one, I think, ok, so have you heard of the gilded guy animations. If you did, how would team ruby react to this fairy tale in the ever after of this guy infamous for getting into random fights suddenly fighting jaune. I think yang would love the irony.

The Makings of a Hero

"Hey, Jaune?"

"Yeah, Ruby?"

"It's just... Back when you were fighting off those Jabberwalkers, your fighting style was kinda... different."

"I thought so, too." Weiss added. "In fact, it seems like your time here has changed you a lot more than any of us expected."

"Assuming any of us could have expected you'd be here with us." Blake amended.

"Or how some of us would think of you in a new way~." Yang teased.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Weiss replied, looking away from Yang.

"Well, I didn't exactly travel alone." Jaune answered. "I've been here a long time. So long that I had no choice to keep growing and learning. I owe a lot of it to my mentor."

"Your mentor?" Yang asked. "You had a mentor down here?"

"Was he another fairy tale character?" Blake asked with almost too much excitement.

"WAS HE?!" Weiss added with way too much excitement.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Jaune held up his hands defensively. "In order; yes, I did; I think so, but I don't remember which one; and Weiss, you need to calm down." Almost everyone laughed at this interaction. The only ones who didn't were Weiss, face flushed with embarrassment, and Ruby, who'd been mostly quiet the whole time.

"What was your mentor like?" Ruby spoke up.

"He was... quiet." Jaune said. "He wore golden armor and wielded a sword and a sort of magic marker."

"A magic marker?" Yang asked.

"I don't remember him."

"I do." Weiss answered. "He's not very well known, and most fairy tales don't feature him because he doesn't really do much as far as fairy tale characters go. He just sort of... fights people and doesn't say a word."

"That makes sense why he isn't popular, then." Blake surmised. "A lot of what makes fairy tales so memorable is their dialogue, and if there's no dialogue, it won't have memorable moments for people to latch onto an learn lessons from."

"Did he talk to you?" Yang asked Jaune.

"No, he didn't." He said. "Most of what he did was making hand gestures... That and grabbing his sword when it was time to spar." He chuckled. "And we sparred a lot."

"Did you see his memories, and he yours?"

"Yeah." Jaune answered, a little unnerved. "Was that in the fairy tales?"

"It was." Weiss nodded. "It was my grandfather's favorite story, but I never understood why. I only saw it as a person with a kind heart in armor."

"My guess was that he was just a guy who believed actions spoke louder than words and took that to heart." Jaune said.

"Maybe he got tired of talking." Ruby said softly. If anyone heard her, they didn't show it.

"We should stop here for the night." Jaune pulled back on Juniper's fur. With a grunt, she stopped in her tracks. Jaune hopped down. "Alright, I'll get some wood for the fire."

"What should we do?"

"There's some tent supplies under Juniper's saddle." He explained. "It makes the riding easier for her and for me."

"Riding, huh?" Yang smirked. "Maybe you could give Ice Queen a few pointers~?"

"Shut. Up. Yang." Weiss hissed back.

#rwby #gilded guy #jaune arc #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #my answer #my answers #gilded rust au #juniper

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bestworstcase · 4 months

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Can I ask where you get your reading on Oz's curse? I'm just not sure where you got your interpretation(?) from

well, from the text…?

i don’t think it’s remotely unclear tbqh.

in the lost fable, light tells him “you will reincarnate, but in a manner that ensures you are never alone.” later in the same, we see that a reflection of the host remains and rebukes ozma when he begins to stray too far from the mandate (“what are we doing?” -> “this isn’t what he asked of me”).

after the cycle begins in earnest, jinn states that “no matter what, his mind would eventually turn back to the task he had been burdened with,” and when she adds that ozma learned the importance of living with his hosts, what we see is an identical reflection of his current self observing him while he serves dinner to his family.

we know—because it has been stated many, many times—that the outcome of the merge is two identical souls sharing one mind. “eventually, you won’t be able to tell who is who anymore,” ironwood tells oscar. that’s what “you will never be alone” means, that ozma very literally cannot ever be alone because he has his reflection watching him. all the time.

now, in 5.3, oz tells the kids this:

For thousands of years, I've walked the surface of Remnant, living, dying, and reincarnating in the body of a like-minded soul. The Professor Ozpin you all met was not my first form, and clearly wasn't my last. It's... an extraordinarily strenuous process on everyone involved.

from this, we can infer that he doesn’t consider himself to be ozpin anymore—to him, ozpin was just the most recent in a long series of like-minded souls whose bodies he inhabited. (this is why i call him ozma: he doesn’t say it in so many words, but the way he talks about ozpin in this episode makes it quite clear that ozpin is not his identity.)

he also says this:

With every rebirth, my soul is eventually merged with another and I am changed, but my memories stay with me.

note the use of passive voice. oz doesn’t say he changes; he says he is changed through the merger of his soul with countless others “who’ve spent their lives trying to protect the people of remnant,” but his memories stay with him once he leaves them. remember what jinn said? “some lives were spent in mourning, many were spent attempting to forget it all, but no matter what his mind would eventually return to the task he had been burdened with.”

his curse is—pretty explicitly—a corrupted version of ascension. when an afteran ascends, they choose what their next life will be—nothing can happen to them in the tree other than what they want—and the blacksmith helps them find their way back to themselves and they’re reborn into their new, chosen purpose. they leave their factual memories behind in the tree, but the heart remembers and the self remains. they change themselves.

ozma agreed to return so he could find salem. that’s what he wanted. his curse has changed him, over and over and over again, to fill the mold of “countless men who’ve spent their lives trying to protect remnant,” and no matter what he does, no matter how he tries to live, eventually he’s pulled back to “the task he had been burdened with.” he is not allowed to put it down. he’s not allowed to change his mind. the curse is specifically designed to prevent this. he doesn’t get to choose who or what he becomes. he doesn’t get to choose his own purpose; his purpose is a burden imposed on him by the god of light. it’s anti-ascension.

and… what happens when ozma decides to join oscar in fighting the curse, in the v9 epilogue? it hurts him. it inflicts pain on both of them while forcibly trying to push ozma forward. the instant he makes a serious effort to disobey, the curse becomes violent and punishes him.

also like. gestures at literally everything else the god of light does, to salem, to darkness, to the jabberwalker. light is terrified of change and obsessed with control; the idea that ozma’s curse is supposed to encourage him to change and grow by experiencing the world through the eyes of other people—other people whom the god of light explicitly disdains as “but a fraction of what they once were” without the brothers’ blessings!—is flatly nonsense. it’s antithetical to everything the god of light believes and values. lol

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strqyr · 5 months

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Sorry for bothering you but. Shoves my posts into your face. Oz parallels Darkness; he begs for humanity not to be punished for his actions like how Darkness didn't want the Jabberwalker punished for his. Destruction is not the enemy of Creation, destruction begets life (decay is an extent form of life), it's change. Oz embodies change to the highest degree and values it highly. He is demonized time and time again and he thinks he destroys everything he touches. He freely offers knowledge and especially choice. (<- this is all also why I think an allusion of his is Lucifer) Not only that, but he freely offers magic as well.

I just. Gestures wildly. Oz parallels Darkness so heavily that I'm so willing to bet that once Oz and Salem actually Talk, and Salem says something she believes about him, that he'll say "Is that truly what you think of me?" Or some form to parallel The Two Brothers. If he doesn't I'll fucking eat my hat and I don't even have one

yeah, oz definitely has more parallels with darkness than he does with light. like, while the gods don't embody only one specific gift, darkness is still associated more with destruction, and that is where oz's curse comes to play: he lives, he dies, and he reincarnates into a body of a like-minded soul, and with each life he's changed.

and i think what makes it even more poignant is that. . . it didn't necessarily have to be that way? if ozma's first reincarnation is anything to go by, he could have just taken over and remained unchanged, but he learned to live with each of his hosts, living their lives as much as they lived his.

in general i find oz's relationship with each gift quite fascinating. he uses the sword to end the bloodiest war in the history of remnant, and in the aftermath brings change. he uses the staff to raise atlas, making using it again quite a hurdle, highlighting the stagnancy of creation without destruction. he established the academies, institutions of knowledge and learning, but keeps the same secret close to his chest that brought him despair when he got his answer from jinn. he offers choice and encourages others to think it through instead of taking the first answer (as much as the circumstances were awful, at the time), but it is slightly undermined by the knowledge he keeps to himself that may or may not influence the choices others make.

and so much of it is informed by his own past, his own experiences, his own fear of what might happen that at times "slows" him down, where he doesn't quite follow the gifts as they should, while also following them in a different manner.

and, idk, it somehow makes me think of V9 and balance that isn't two forces locked in never-ending battle, but an ecosystem, an organism, a living breathing thing, that will find its own equilibrium, only requiring love and patience to see things through to the end.

and it's just. oz. that's oz, in a way. yes he's made mistakes and missteps along the way, but especially now that he's with oscar, he's closer than ever to finding the true balance, me thinks—and that's why it worries me that they were both fighting against the merge because that's. that's two (or more) forces locked in a battle of balance. "thus, balance cannot be restored with force or calculations" y'all i am concerned.

. . .where was i. i feel i got off the track lmao but yeah. yeah, i honestly think the like. biggest turn of events or something, words escape me, comes from salem because there's something she doesn't know about oz. it's the same as with everyone else—including ozma himself—learning about salem's immortality, just this time it's time for salem to learn something that changes her view of oz and that's where, yeah, something akin to "is that truly what you think of me?" might come out.

#rwby #ozma #nightmare-foundation #ask.strqyr #also it's no bother and sorry for taking a while to answer #my life has been taken over by hades 2 lol

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aspiringwarriorlibrarian · 5 months

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In response to this: https://www.tumblr.com/aspiringwarriorlibrarian/750201636272603136/hmmi-think-when-we-take-the-jabberwalker-into?source=share

We don't know Ozma got cut off from the afterlife. He was dead for awhile before Light even knew about Salem. As it is I tend to just assume all souls get put in storage. Stagnant & unaware.

Yeah. Unless the afterlife is vast and you have to search people out, so Ozpin assumed Salem was still alive and that's why she hadn't showed up. He only found out she was supposed to be dead once Light showed up. Although that would also make me wonder why he didn't learn about humanity getting bombed and revived from the souls that arrived since then. Like I said, I'd be very interested in the exact mechanics of Remnant's afterlife.

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bridgyrose · 8 months

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The more I think about ascension in vol 9, the less to me it means literal death, but means death as change. The Ever After clearly doesn't play on life and death in the way we know, but in the idea that life is creation while death/destruction is change. Ascension seems to only come to the Afterans that realize change is the only way forward, which for them means accepting the purpose they are instilled with is complete. But for humans, ascension seems more like an awakening and the start to healing versus change.

Take Ruby for example. Barring the Jabberwalker and Neo stepping on little, death doesn't seem to be a fundamental part of the Ever After. And unless you're killed by the Jabberwalker, accidents that end a current life or purpose still brings their souls back to the blacksmith to be reforged for a new purpose. For Ruby, a human, drinking the tea and essentially killing herself was more akin to killing who she is versus killing herself. She didn't want to be Ruby anymore, and the tree pulled her down to help her. The tea was more a symbolic death than actually killing herself, but gets across the same way.

And once she met the blacksmith fully, her healing process started. The first thing Ruby was given was a choice, that if she really wanted to, she could be anyone she wanted. Any hero, anyone that she could've deemed as enough to bear the weight that she was carrying. And ultimately, she chose herself in order to start to heal. She chose to take a glimpse into who Summer was, shattering her expectations from what she'd been told, and chose to be herself because if her mother wasn't perfect, then why does she have to try to be the perfect huntress or hero?

Ruby had to "die" in order to heal. She had to go through death as change in order to see that she was enough, and the change she needed to make was her perspective. That she wasn't alone, that her friends were there to help carry her burden, and that they could help carry her. Ascension is about making anew, being reborn in the ashes of who you were, and it was the wakeup call that Ruby needed in order to move forward.

#rwby #ruby rose #rwby ruby rose #ascension #just someone early morning thoughts #suicide implication #suicide mention

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itsclydebitches · 1 year

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Y'know, about Ascension: If you really think about it, the Red King turning into the Red Prince isn't coherent with the established rules at all. I've already wrote about this somewhere else, so let me just copy that over here:

Blake suspects, and the Curious Cat confirms, in episode 5 that the Red Prince is the Red King, who ascended after being unable to deal with the fact the he lost to Alyx in his game. But if that's true, it doesn't make sense at all for the rules the volume establishes for Ascension. "Ascension makes you a better version of yourself." Except when it doesn't. The Red Prince is worse than the Red King in every way, team RWBY even points it out during the conversation in episode 5. The Red King was kind, trusting and generous, the Red Prince is a mean, paranoid, spoiled brat. The Red King was skilled at his game, the Red Prince seemingly needs to give his opponents handicaps and intimidate their chesspieces to win. Even the toy soldiers seem to miss the Red King. One of them yells at team RWBY that if it wasn't for humans like them and Alyx, the Red King would still be with them before the others hurriedly shush him. This implies that none of them see the Red Prince as an improvement either.

"Ascension happens to you when you're at an emotional low-point, can't fulfill your purpose anymore or die." Except when it doesn't. According to the Curious Cat, the Red King was emotionally devastated after Alyx cheated and beat him, he was "a crying mess." Well, so is the Red Prince after Team RWBY defeats him. He's literally breaking apart, bawling his eyes out and he's still doing it when RWBY and the Cat flee. The Cat says the Red Prince's new purpose after ascending was to win at any cost. But he didn't win. Even when all the chesspieces turned against RWBY, they still managed to give him a decisive loss. And even though just crying was apparently the thing that made the Tree collect the Red King for Ascension, the Red Prince stays right where he is. The ground doesn't open up underneath him, nothing. You could argue that he was taken off-screen, but if so why is he the only Afteran whose new ascended form we don't get to see in the happy-go-lucky finale?

"Ascension happens when the Cat touches your heart and finds it 'too weak to listen'." Except when it doesn't. The Cat gives a piece of their heart to the Red Prince, just like they do with the Herbalist, but all it does is make the Red Prince stop for a second before he starts crying and throwing a tantrum again. And as previously stated, even said tantrum doesn't get him picked up by the Tree's roots. This inconsistency is even repeated in episode 5, where the Cat presumably gives a piece of their heart to the Hawk selling mudpies to give him the purpose of fighting the Jabberwalker, so team RWBY can get away. Because apparently the Cat can just change an Afteran's purpose. Easy-peasy. Who needs the Tree?

"Ascension rids you of your past memories and traumas so you can start new." Except. When. It doesn't. The Red Prince's whole character is based around retribution for his one loss as the Red King. He cheats and bullies the opponent's chesspieces into not trying, because Alyx won by cheating so he must fight fire with fire. He has an immense hatred for humans, because Alyx was the one who caused his Ascension as the Red King. The Cat glosses over this with one line of "The heart very rarely forgets" but... then what is the point??? And why is the Red Prince the only one this applies to? The Genial Gems don't remember Jaune, Somewhat doesn't remember Ruby or her friends and the Cat confirms that the Herbalist won't remember anything about his past life either. The Red Prince isn't free of the Red King's trauma, if anything it informs every single aspect of his character.

Just... everything about the Red Prince and the Red King flat-out contradicts the already messy set of rules we have for Ascension and it's just never really adressed?

Literally all of this. The Red Prince is one of the biggest red flags early in the Volume that Ascension is not the wonderful answer the Cat paints it as. But as you say, none of this is ever addressed, including all the inconsistencies. My reading at the time focused on the "fulfill your purpose" aspect because although that might sound great on the surface, the Red Prince is presented as a perfect example of how easily that kind of definition can get twisted. Oh, the Red King lost? We need to remake him in a way that ensures he never looses again, so we'll reinforce that loss as motivation (which, as said, goes against everyone else loosing their memories), we'll turn him into a child who is obsessed with games, and give him a moral code that embraces cheating, threats, and outright violence—win no matter the cost.

Thus, the general arc for Team RWBY should have gone:

"No one dies here and everyone knows exactly what they're doing with their life (a callback to our own insecurities about being Huntresses)? Wow, that sounds amazing!! Oh... the Caterpillar was taken pretty violently... against his will too... and we don't really understand what he did wrong when his smoke helped us come to terms with some things... but you obviously know Ascension best, Cat, and we trust you both as a new ally and as a character from our beloved fairy tale. Wait. How is the Red Prince better now? He's not! He's killing his subjects and trying to kill us! We get that we're the outsiders here, but it's looking more and more like Ascension isn't the perfect solution you presented it as. Ha... now here comes Jaune saying the Cat is evil, Ascension is evil, and he's spent years keeping his paper friends from killing themselves. Yeah, I think this is our literal and metaphorical antagonist for the season! Oh my god, Neo convinced Ruby to Ascend?? This is a horrible tragedy and is in no way something we'll smile about."

Ascension was bad. Full stop. The Caterpillar, the Red Prince, the Paper Pleasers, Neo's torture session, and this being the tool of the villainous Cat—everything screams, "This is a manipulative, cult-like magic forced on people against their will" so when the Volume instead swerves and doubles down on it being a beautiful cultural difference, moments like those with the Red Prince completely fall apart. The only way RWBY might have been able to reconcile this is if they'd leaned a lot harder into the untrustworthy nature of fairy tales, specifically Lewis' book. Meaning, if the girls came into the Ever After thinking that the Red King was this wonderful, mature ally—because that's what they read—only to learn that this was never the case, that would be a different situation entirely. He's always been a dangerous, tantruming child and Lewis just made up a new version of the character to better suit the tale, a lot like how Ozpin and Salem's tale has been sanitized over the years into something that ends at the height of their victory and romance. RWBY could have made this about fairy tales themselves, re-emphasizing our Volume 1 message that real life is never so simple and reassuring. We could have gotten a Volume where the girls simply wound up in a place from their childhood, assumed it would be as wonderful as their nostalgia recalls, are blindsided by how horrible things really are, but re-discover hope in the beauty the Ever After nevertheless possesses, the good people there whom the heroes actually help, and they leave the world acknowledging that it was never a true fairy tale, but it's better than when they first arrived... and that's worth far more than having visited a prefect world from the start.

I really just want to chuck the entirety of Ascension into the bin. RT didn't think it through—at all—and the result is not just a continuity nightmare, but at times produces extremely uncomfortable messages for the viewer. Without, you know, that being a deliberate choice on the writers' part in an effort to unpack those messages with respect and nuance.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas #long post

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rwby-encrusted-blog · 1 year

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Sewuel to ascended penny ask.

The jabberwalker attack the doll that was penny, does ruby snap out of it grab her weapon and save her?

If ruby dies save her does Penelope call ruby mom?

Yang and Blake were the first of the group out, ready to hop into the action. Weiss followed them, taking only a moment to watch Ruby and ... Penelope? before running after her teammates.

Ruby: Jaune ... killed you?

Penelope?: It ... It Hurts! To! THink about it!

Ruby: I - uh! - GGRRR! Little, Try and comfort her! I gotta - I gotta!

Jaune: (Outside) RUBY! Come HELP!

The reaper took off quickly, running outside leaving the the Doll and the Mouse alone.

Little: Wait! Ruby! Uh! Hello! P-penelope?

Penny?: I! DOn't KNow! It hurts!

Little: What hurts?!

Penelope?: It hurts to Remember!

~~~~~

Ruby: (Unholsters Crescent Rose) Okay ... Just ... Fight.

Grimm were overrunning Mantle, and she couldn't do anything

~~~~~

Little: Remember what?

(Ironwood): You are the Official Protector of Atlas. Congratulations Ms. Polendina.

Penny?: I - I have to help my Friends! I was made to protec-

(Jaune): P-Penny?

(Penelope): Close! I am Penelope! It is A pleasure to meet You! Thank you for Saving Me!

~~~~~

Ruby: C'mon Ruby Just ... Fight! (She Flinches as Crescent Rose unfurls)

~~~~~

Penelope?: Father Will Protect Me if I'm in trouble! I should stay here and let him fight!

(Pietro): You're a very special girl Penny. You've done well in training and The General has said you're readying to go to the Vytal Festival!

(Penny): Sensational! Do you think I can make Friends?

(Pietro): With a little bit of luck, yes. Anyone it'd be lucky to have you as a Friend!

~~~~~

(V1 Ruby): Keep Fighting! Forever and ever, against an Invincible Monster the Took. Your. Mother.

Ruby: (freezes as panic takes over)

JabberWalker: (Charges at Ruby)

~~~~~

(Who is She?):What ... Do ... I DO!

(Penny): I'm combat Ready!

(Jaune): Stay Behind Me! I'll protect you!

(Penelope): Thank you Mr. Knight!

~~~~~

JabberWalker: (Leaps Over Ruby, continuing toward the Cabin the Doll is in.)

Jaune: RUBY! GO PROTECT PENELOPE!

~~~~~

(Who Decides that?): What ... am I?

JabberWalker: (Breaks the door down)

(Does Anyone?): EEEEEHHH!!

~~~~~

Ruby: (Slashes the JabberWalker, making it Shatter)

Neo: (appears, Grabbing The Doll)

Jaune: PENELOPE!

Neo: (Dissappears, taking The Doll and Little with her.)

Ruby and Jaune: ...

Weiss: (from Outside) The Dam's Breaking! Get out of there!

#rwby #jaune arc #ruby rose #weiss schnee #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #penelope au #penny polendina #asks and answers #ftkicker98 #rwby au

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etinceelle · 1 year

Text

Penny Polendina’s theme in V8 and V9 (RWBY)

Heyo !! I wrote this long analysis about Penny on Twitter and thought I could share it here as well o/

So this is a little silly analysis of mine about my feeling about how Penny was depicted in V8 and V9 :]

NOTE : 1) Don't take all of that really seriously, this is simply a "fun" little analysis and my OWN view on the subject. This is just how I feel considering the infos we got on Penny during V9 !

2) This is also probably delusional AND I know it

3) So there's not need to come and tell me "shE Ain'T ComInG bAck >:[[[[[[", we can disagree but please give me your opinion and arguments if you'd like to discuss about it ♥

Anyway, for 2 years after V8 finale I felt probably like most people : "Penny is gone for good, she ain't coming back, this is gonna be a big deal for Ruby in V9 but I guess that's it". I knew that Penny's 2nd death was going to be a big thing for Ruby and I expected it like everyone.

I rewatched Penny's death at the end of V8 and it truly felt like a farewell, a goodbye forever, I mean she got stabby stab from Cinder and chose to ask Jaune to kill her to give the powers to Winter. To me there wasn't any going back after that :[

And even when I'm writing it rn I feel like this thread is probably useless as I can feel how much of a goodbye it felt, and even more with the song "Friend" adding more pain :]] Especially with these lines :

And with Penny's soul linked to the Winter Maiden powers, now linked to Winter's soul, I guess it felt like a point of no return. It *still* feels like it tbh.

But Volume 9 changed my view on all of that and that's not because I'm an Nuts and Dolts shipper aha. I'm truly trying to speak objectively and to take out my ship glasses-

I expected Penny's theme to be huge for Ruby, but I didn't expect it to be THAT huge and present throughout the entiere volume. Almost every chapter we got a reference, an allusion, an element linked to Penny, a vision, and finally an illusion made by Neo.

I'll try to list all of them :

Chapter 1 - It was pretty much expected, but Ruby learned Penny's 2nd death a this moment. The start of her true breakdown I guess-

Chapter 2 - Basically the 1st Nuts and Dolts chapter of this volume lmao One of the main key of this episode was Ruby finding Penny's sword, which added to her pain even if she tried to move on pretty fast after.

Chapter 3 - The guards tell about the swords, the Red Prince ditch the sword and Ruby's not okay with that-

No mention of her during Chapter 4, so Chapter 5 - Ruby finds Penny's sword at the Blacksmith, and there's this weird line and moment I'll talk about later

Chapter 6 - Penny's reflection in the water, related to Jaune's guilt and trauma over her fate

Chapter 7 - Ruby's PTSD striking while the Jabberwalker attacks her, and she sees a vision of Penny hacked at the Schnee manor, right before they helped her and executed their plan for her and Atlas (also, Jaune talked about his feelings about what happened with her)

Chapter 8 - Penny illusion made by Neo, attacking and talking to Ruby And no mention of her in Chapters 9 and 10. So except for Chapters 4, 9 and 10, Penny was mentioned EVERY chapter.

Now I know what some of you might think, this was mostly to set up Ruby's breakdown and make her spiralling because it's such a big deal for her, and you're totally right. Penny was used mostly to accentuate Ruby's pain.

And I know that I said (in another Twitter thread) that I wasn't fully satisfied with the finale because of that theme not being addressed after having her presence throughout the whole volume, I think I needed a reminder about production and budget. I think I'll feel satisfied with V9 finale if Penny's theme have some closure in V10 or V11 with Ruby, Pietro, Jaune and Winter in Vacuo. I imagine that with V9 finale this isn't just “everyone is so happy”, this is just the beginning of healing.

Anyway, if we don't have any closure in the next volumes THEN I'll say that I'm disappointed, but I doubt this wouldn't be addressed at all after such a volume and how much V8 finale was. But yeah, V9 finale had to focus on Ruby.

So, even if Penny's presence throughout V9 is mostly to add some layers on Ruby and Jaune's pain and trauma/breakown, I truly feel like the message from this volume is still in complete opposition with stuff we knew so far.

Tbh until V9 I really thought one of the main message of RWBY was that life AND death were important, and that death was inevitable and couldn't be avoided, like in our world. That death can be cruel and happen anytime to even the most precious souls. And it is in fact, keep moving forward aren't just some cute words, it's a true motto of the show. But the thing is that for Pyrrha, I never felt we had any hope or confirmation that she could come back, and we had a closure for her in Volume 6 with the scene at the statue. And by learning about the Gods in V6 as well, I thought that no one in this show was probably going to be back (except fo Ozma who reincarnates).

The thing with V9 is that we discover that the “Gods”, who set up their rules of life and death without any reincarnation and no dead can come back, aren't actually Gods but made by the REAL RWBY God, in a world where reincarnation is THE thing. 🫠

And again, I know that the theme of rebirth was focused on Ruby this volume, that she had to go through that journey to understand that she's human, she's not perfect, she's enough just as she is and can do her best.

But Penny's theme this volume still kinda unsettled me as I didn't expect it to be so present. Truly when you rewatch the Volume idk if it's because I'm biased or something but I see it everywhere. The thing again is that we didn't get any closure for her. We got so much references and scenes for her, and no closure (idk if it's because of budget or intentional tho).

There are a few moments that also seem pretty weird/confusing to me :

1) It was confirmed by the script that when Ruby wakes up on the Ever After, it was Penny's voices calling her 3 times. But those screams are different from the one when Penny and Blake see Ruby falling in V8 finale. I listened again and while one of them seems similar, the others are different. So are those screams we didn't hear as a viewer ? But it still feels weird to add them as if she remembered them when we never heard them. Maybe those screams were just Ruby waking up and her mind mixing everything, but it's still kinda odd to me.

2) Another weird scene and probably the one that interests me the most, is when Ruby meets the Blacksmith in Chapter 5. I still don't really know how to fully analyse or understand this scene tbh-

We know the Blacksmith is a "representation of the Tree", so why does she have Penny's sword ? How does she even have Summer's weapon ? Why does Penny's blade turn into Alyx' dagger ? Why does Penny's reflection seem real and Ruby actually sees it, meaning it's not just an effect to tell us that this sword reminds Ruby or her ? And most importantly, when Ruby asks her how she got Penny's blade, the Blacksmith answers :

Why does Penny's reflection seem real and Ruby actually sees it, meaning it's not just an effect to tell us that this sword reminds Ruby or her ? And most importantly, when Ruby asks her how she got Penny's blade, the Blacksmith answers : "nothing, no one, is ever truly lost". Truly as a viewer and even when trying not to be a Penny or NND stan, I can't help but think that this opens a lot of doors for interpretation. What does that mean exactly ?

Knowing the nature of the Ever After, does she mean that literally ? That Penny's not lost as we all thought in V8 finale ? Or is that metaphorical ? She then says "And you, are you lost ?" so it feels like the first answer wasn't supposed to be about Ruby but about Penny's sword. Before the Blacksmith asks Ruby if she's lost, Ruby looks at the sword in a pensive expression and she sees Penny's reflection. Almost as if she was thinking about what the Blacksmith just said.

But what is the use of these reflections ? If it's not just an effect for the viewer but also something Ruby can see, what does that mean ? There is obviously a link between weapons and identity/characters here

Another thing that confuses me too is the fact that Penny's sword is changed into Alyx' dagger. So were these weapons only illusions ? Does the Blacksmith really have Penny's sword, of even Summer's axe ?

3) Another thing more subtle that apparently not everyone catched, is the leitmotiv from Ruby's talk about Penny in Chapter 2 that comes back during the finale when Ruby choses herself. I edited the 2 scenes so people can hear it and compare, here’s the link to the video on Twitter :

https://twitter.com/EtincelleArt/status/1652360420462587905?s=20

Why this OST in particular ? We know that Penny is linked to the themes of hope but also choice/freedom. Maybe this is how it is supposed to be a parallel for Ruby choosing to keep her hope and to do her best. But I can't help but think that it is still a bit sus to hear this leitmotiv again in such a big moment during the finale. Especially when we got no mention or vision of her for the last two chapters.

We also had themes that are related to her a lot such a friendship and kindness with Little, souls moving on to their next life (Penny has a soul, "her soul is who she is").

I just have this feeling that so much is related to Penny this volume, it feels like it's on purpose so the viewer is grieving her as much as Ruby does :')) But nothing really felt "conclusive" in the end. Again maybe this conclusion will be for later, once Ruby is able to talk with Pietro, since we know he most likely got to Vacuo with Maria as Amity appeared to be fixed and floating in the sky at the end of V9.

But again it links with other thread I've done about Pietro (I’ll probably post it here too on Tumblr) : what about him ? Would he be able to grieve Penny a second time ? How would he handle the 2nd time losing Penny ?

I'm not necessarily saying that Penny will come back blablabla ‘(still praying and high on hope and copium tho), but it's STILL a feeling and I hope that I get after watching Volume 9 when I basically accepted the fact that she was dead in V8 :'))

After V8 I was (and I'm still in someway) part of those who thought that she shouldn't come back a 3rd time, her arc was completed, her death made sense, she made a choice. Truly I couldn't see how her being back would be a good thing. Most importantly, I was scared that her being back again would invalidate everything that happened during V8 and the fact that she chose for herself. It's still one of the reasons for why I'm conflicted about this whole thing :'))

Depending on how it's done with the writing, NOW that we know what we know about the RWBY lore, the origins, the Tree, the Ever After, the Blacksmith, Ascension, I *could* see it happen. Of course my fan side is like omg yes I'd like her back please please. My writer side before V9 was like "no I love her but it's a bad move". Now I'm more like depending on how it's executed, I might accept it.

I mean, her being back in V7 didn't erase all the pain, suffering and mourning we (as viewers) had to go through with Ruby and other characters. It worked and kept intact all the time we spent asking if she was going to be back or not.

Knowing how much the theme or reincarnation/rebirth is everywhere in the Ever After, it changes my view on the RWBY universe because life and death aren't just the only options there. There are different rules

She might come back, she might not come back, I just wanted to express how this volume made me feel about this specific theme. It gives us such a different message compared to Penny's death in V8 :']]

I mean of course this volume is brighter than V8 but after a volume where a character just can't escape death even after fighting for SO LONG, we finally have some light and hope about a possibility of MAYBE her being alive could happen.

(Just my own feelings again) From the start during her Atlas arc, Penny :

- got framed

- was forced to take the Winter Maiden powers she didn't want

- was attacked by Cinder

- was forced to leave her friends to do things she didn't want to

- was hacked by Watts

- was killed again

Her ENTIERE ARC was tragic and even if Penny's character is optimistic, joyful, friendly, she's a fighter and she has hope, she sees beauty in a lot of things, she *still* never got the chance to truly live the life she wanted to live. So with what we got from V9, I see only two options :

- she's revived SOMEHOW and finally get the chance to live as it was kinda implied in V9

- she stays dead and her character stays so tragic and painful aaaah-

As for *how* she could come back at some point, I have my few ideas but I don't really want to get into that rn, it was mostly about how everything about her felt odd in V9 compared to V8 truly.

To finish on a hopeful and delusional word : "things always come in threes" :p

#rwby #rwby theory #rwby analysis #analysis #penny #penny polendina #ruby #ruby rose #rwby volume 8 #rwby v8 #rwby volume 7 #rwby v7 #rwby volume 9 #rwby v9 #spoilers rwby volume 9 #nuts and dolts #thread

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marcmarcmomarc · 3 months

Text

If there’s one thing I don’t like about RWBY: Beyond, it was the choice to make it fully voice-acted. While I do absolutely love what we were given, it’s really obvious that CRWBY was working with whatever resources they had left, and were unable to get many of the show’s voice actors back before Rooster Teeth shut down, so they couldn’t make many stories for the miniseries.

So, what I think would have made for a good RWBY: Beyond episode is @pmpknsoup’s post featuring Ruby and Robyn that I’ve brought up too many times on this blog.

This will be the third time I touch on that post, but I can’t promise that it will be the last.

Feel free to comment or reblog how you think this would have gone.

———————————————————————————-

RUBY: Listen. Thanks, everyone, for your patience.

ROBYN: Uh, okay.

(Robyn steps away from the group, removes her glove, and joins hands with Ruby. Her Semblance turns on and glows green with every piece of information Ruby gives.)

ROBYN: So, you guys didn’t make it out of the pocket dimension before it collapsed. Where did you guys fall to?

(Confusion and wonder all around. “That fairy tale?” “The Ever After?” “It’s real?”)

OSCAR: That fairy tale actually happened? And the Ever After is real?

RUBY: Which meant the creepy Grimm-like creature was the Jabberwalker from that story. Also, Weiss had a very hard time wrapping her head around the Ever After’s absurdities.

(Weiss blushes with embarrassment.)

WEISS: I did not.

ROBYN: Sounds like a legitimate businessperson.

WEISS: Right?

EMERALD: Wait, you guys met the Jinxy Peddler?

VELVET: Was he cute?

WEISS: Cute? He was adorable!

(The gang gets emotional, especially Winter and Pietro, who are comforted by their loved ones.)

RUBY: The soldiers escorted us to the Crimson Castle for the birthday of who we thought was the Red King, but turned out to be the Red Prince, who was more of a spoiled brat than Weiss was at Beacon.

YANG: (nudging Weiss) Heh-heh.

(More interested chatter. Nora Valkyrie gets giddy.)

NORA: The Curious Cat?!

REN: Were they as chatty as the book made them out to be?

RUBY: Mm-hm. Not to mention easily distracted. Anyway, they took us to look for ingredients for a Growgurt Parfait in the Garden’s Acre, and we told them our life story, but because we kept getting distracted with our internal conflicts, we kept losing them over and over again. After the third time, when they asked me how I’m supposed to save the world now that Salem has two out of four Relics and that Atlas is gone, we met an herbalist, a caterpillar named Herb who seemed to be asking us questions to figure out what medicine he needed to make to help us. Looking back, he was being reasonable, as too little medicine is useless, but too much medicine is toxic. Eventually, Herb just decided to smoke a hookah for a bit and drugged us with leaves that made us see our past selves tempting us to “go back”. To be free. To be simple. To be whole. To be different. The other girls rejected and had already accepted their failures as something to learn from, but I almost gave in, before the Cat stopped me, then got Herb swallowed by a hole in the ground.

(The gang chatters in moods ranging from confusion to nervousness.)

TAI: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up. You guys did drugs?

QROW: Don’t let alcoholism be next, girls.

(Such a concept catches the interest of the gang.)

REMNANT ALLIANCE: Ooh.

EMERALD: Talk about a potential existential crisis.

(Nora, Ren, Oscar, and Emerald grow worried.)

REN: Uh-oh.

TAI: Neopolitan? Who’s that?

RAVEN: Was she that chick I saved Yang from on the train on Mountain Glenn?

OSCAR: Team JNPR and I last fought her right after Ironwood declared us fugitives.

WHITLEY: Did Weiss go goo-goo eyes the second she laid eyes on him? She had a crush on him when she was younger.

BLAKE: I think everyone had a crush on the Rusted Knight at some point.

RUBY: Well, things didn’t help when he turned out to be a grown-up Jaune with longer hair and a beard, who grabbed a fruit that sent him back in time twenty years right after he landed.

(The gang gasps at the new knowledge of the Rusted Knight being not only Jaune, of all people, but Jaune thrown backwards in time, grown older, and living without his friends for so long.)

NORA: Oh, my Gods! Jaune!

JAUNE: I was stuck there isolated from other human contact, too.

YANG: Weiss certainly loved how mature he was.

RUBY: And the white rabbit was a jackalope Jaune named Juniper.

NORA: After his team? Aww!

(As Yang and Blake blush at each other, everyone’s hearts melt, all proud for the Bees.)

REMNANT ALLIANCE: Aww!

NORA: See, Ren? I told you there was more going on!

KALI: Our baby girl found love?

TAI: With my sunny little dragon?

RAVEN: Wow. She really is your daughter, Tai.

TAI: What’s that supposed to mean?

RAVEN: A tall, muscular, boisterous blonde who tells bad jokes pining after a brooding dark-haired beauty? A tale as old as time.

RUBY: Then the Cat bailed on us after mistaking us for selfishly using them to get home, and once the storm passed, Jaune let us spend the night in his house in the Origami Acre, then he introduced us the next morning to a village of paper stars called the Paper Pleasers. They seemed very dumb and clumsy at first, because of the daily disasters they were causing, but, at the end of the day, were very hospitable. He also named them after all of us. On Jaune’s to-do list, I saw Ren, Ruby, Oscar, Nora, Neptune, and Pyrrha.

(Not a word is spoken as everyone exchanges concerned and uncomfortable looks with each other.)

RUBY: Anyway, a Paper Pleaser told us they kept causing disasters because they wanted to ascend, because their purpose was long since finished, but Jaune was stopping them because of his belief that the tree was death. They told us that the Tree isn’t death, but resurrection, rebuilding, and rebirth. Then Neo’s Jabberwalkers attacked, and while we were distracted, the Paper Pleasers finally managed to off themselves by destroying the koi pond dam and drowning in the flood, then when the girls asked me to help comfort Jaune, I blew up at them for caring more about everyone else’s feelings or getting home, taking my mental health for granted and ignoring my problems…

(Everyone leans in anxiously. Things are getting even more interesting, but not in a good way.)

(Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Jaune exchange looks of guilt.)

(The gang regards Ruby with sorrow over her being trampled by her trauma. Ozpin can be heard sniffling.)

YANG: (tearing up) Oh, Rubes.

(Tai turns accusingly at Raven.)

TAI: Raven?

YANG: She lied? She left with you?

RAVEN: Yeah… Hey, like I said to her, “First time for everything.”

(The gang gives her a look.)

RAVEN: Really? Sheesh. Tough crowd.

HARE: (to Ruby) Wait. What did you say your mother’s name was again?

RUBY: Summer.

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Summer?…Summer Rose?…The previous silver-eyed Huntress?…That’s Summer Rose’s daughter?

RUBY: Yeah. And then, I finally remembered my mom’s words, “I love you just the way you are,” chose to be myself, and came back to help the girls fight the Cat. And we won.

(Cheers and applause all around.)

RUBY: And then Neo killed the Cat by using the Jabberwalkers to eat them. By the way, Jabberwalkers are the only creatures to prevent Ascension if they eat Afterans.

BLAKE: On my count, there were a whopping five of them.

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Five?…Five of them?…Five Jabberwalkers?

SUN: Talk about overkill.

ELM: (after doing the multiplication math in her head) That’s gotta be over ninety teeth!

OSCAR AND OZPIN: (both scoff) What else is new?

NORA: (snickering) So the Tree basically said, “You think you have life sorted out? Then get out of my house”?

RUBY: Pretty much.

(Everyone laughs at the Brother Gods basically being “kicked out of the house” by their “mom”. Some Gods they are.)

YANG: Oh, my Gods, that’s such a hilarious way of looking at it. Thanks, Nora.

(Ruby lets go of Robyn’s hand. The freedom fighter rejoins the rest of the Alliance.)

RUBY: So, I’m happy to announce that I’m not giving up the fight to save the world anytime soon. No longer will we be putting the entire burden of the world’s safety on one individual, for we are Team Remnant, led by us, Team RWBY!

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Yes!…Great!…Alright!…Thank goodness!…Welcome back, Ruby!…Good to have you back, kid!…Way to go, Ruby!…That’s my girl!

YANG: We’re so proud of you, Ruby.

RUBY: Thanks, guys. You and your support mean the world to me. And I’m just as proud to call you guys family. All of you.

(Everyone looks at Ruby with warmed hearts.)

———————————————————————————-

Starring the voices of:

Lindsay Jones as Ruby Rose

Cristina Vee as Robyn Hill

Aaron Dismuke as Oscar Pine

Kara Eberle as Weiss Schnee

Katie Newville as Emerald Sustrai

Caiti Ward as Velvet Scarlatina

Barbara Dunkelman as Yang Xiao Long

Samantha Ireland as Nora Valkyrie

Neath Oum as Lie Ren

Burnie Burns as Taiyang Xiao Long

Jason Liebrecht as Qrow Branwen

Anna Hullum as Raven Branwen

Howard Wang as Whitley Schnee

Arryn Zech as Blake Belladonna

Miles Luna as Jaune Arc

Tara Platt as Kali Belladonna

Anairis Quiñones as Harriet Bree

Michael Jones as Sun Wukong

Dawn M. Bennett as Elm Ederne

Shannon McCormick as Professor Ozpin

Additional Voices:

Sena Bryer as May Marigold

Ashley Burns as Coco Adel

Tiana Camacho as Glynda Goodwitch

Cam Clarke as Bartholomew Oobleck

Michele Everheart as Fiona Thyme

Dave Fennoy as Dr. Pietro Polendina

Gavin Free as Scarlet David

Caitlin Glass as Willow Schnee

Mick Lauer as Marrow Amin

Cherami Leigh as Ilia Amitola

Marissa Lenti as Joanna Greenleaf

Joe MacDonald as Yatsuhashi Daichi

Aaron Marquis as Nolan Porfirio

Elizabeth Maxwell as Winter Schnee

Max Mittelman as Fox Alistair

Josh Ornelas as Sage Ayana

Anthony Sardinha as Peter Port

Kerry Shawcross as Neptune Vasilias

Keith Silverstein as Professor Theodore

Melissa Sternenberg as Maria Calavera

J. Michael Tatum as Klein Sieben

Kent Williams as Ghira Belladonna

Anne Yatco as Xanthe Rumpole

“One Day More” section here.

Moodboard index here.

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