#of course then. what is/was pyrrha?

[kinaesthetiqueer]

fascinating! nora and jaune both have six chapters, ren has seven. however, i know there's at least a couple of his that are pretty short. the real test would be to check the word counts which, unless i can do word count by heading, i am not doing.

[mayasaura]

I was thinking about how we don't actually know how Pyrrha died. Just that by her own telling, she "was killed," and that she was the first cavalier to die outside Cristabel and Alfred's suicide pact.

Before Nona came out, I suspected Gideon the First must have killed her, probably with her consent. That seems unlikely to me now, with everything we've learned about them in Nona.

Also before Nona came out, I came to the conclusion that the lyctors demanded John kill Alecto following a "great attack" on Canaan House and the revelation of what a Resurrection Beast is. Based on Mercymorn's assumption that Alecto was a freak who would attack her on sight, I also highly suspected that Alecto either participated in or perpetrated the attack on Canaan House, thus proving herself beyond a shadow of a doubt to be untamed and dangerous in a way that not even John could talk his way out of.

I just recently noticed a detail in Nona the Ninth that might slot all this together like puzzle pieces:

Pyrrha has seen something very like Nona's tantrums before, and that memory scares her. Enough that she avoids even thinking about it.

I think Alecto may have killed Pyrrha.

[idontknowwhattocallthisanymore]

i think the only thing that would actually get cardin to get along with pyrrha of his own free will would be losing jaune. both of them mourning this stupid blonde together. becoming maybe-sorta friends through shared grief

[dammit-tazmuir]

For all the things this fandom refuses to believe and chalks up to John's lies, the thing that baffles me to see so many believe without question is the idea of Perfect Lyctorhood.

Guys. Guys, there is no Perfect Lyctorhood.

Or at best, if there hypothetically could be, it's nothing we've ever seen. Paul is the closest thing and I know a lot of you would not consider Paul perfect. John did not achieve Perfect Lyctorhood, and it wasn't even his idea to claim he did. A quarter of NtN extensively details that he didn't.

The old Lyctors didn't know what Alecto was. John definitely told them more than he would have liked to, because of course she doesn't lie and is too obviously inhuman to hide it fully. But if they knew everything, Mercy wouldn't doubt that Alecto ever had a genetic code; she would know she didn't, or that any genes she might've had were made from John's own blood and bone.

Because they didn't know what she actually was or what actually happened (foreshadowed too by Mercy's "if you had lied about anything else" lines, when actually he did), they drew the wrong conclusion. They assumed something different in his process allowed Alecto to persist. But we now know the truth is that Alecto was simply too big to consume. She didn't die because she was already limitless. This will never apply to another human. But he lets them believe their conclusion because he thinks it's better and easier to talk his way out of than them figuring out the real truth.

It does remain possible that Anastasia and Samael were genuinely on the cusp of that breakthrough, but I honestly doubt it. That was another conclusion drawn by the Lyctors as a follow-up to the previous wrong one, and when John answers, he visibly hesitates. It feels like he's once again going, "....Sssure, yes, let's go with that." I don't know what Samael and Anastasia WERE on the verge of. Maybe they would have become gestalt like Paul, and the possibility of just one dying was why Pal begged Cam "don't look back", and John was afraid of the power they'd achieve (could Paul have greater thalergy than a normal Lyctor?) and/or of just the others seeing a different process and getting mad at him.

AND/OR, ACTUALLY? Especially if their attempt was one of the earlier ones (around the middle rather than the end), but even if it wasn't: I think a Paul situation has a STRONG possibility of being exactly what happened. John's most outright lies are usually the ones other people tell that he just nods along with. When it's from himself, if it's not feigned incompetence, he usually goes for half-truths and misleading truths. He says Anastasia panicked halfway through and if he hadn't stepped in they would have both died. I think it's very possible that John panicked halfway through as he realized what they were doing, and that it's genuinely true they would have both died— in the same way Camilla and Palamedes both died, to create someone new.

And we know how much John hates change. How desperately John needs to keep his specific people close. What are the odds he was so afraid of losing both of them and being left with a new person he didn't know, couldn't predict, and couldn't easily control with them having a whole Lyctor's power and maybe more? Especially if Cyth and Loveday, Cassy and Nigella, Cyrus and Valancy, Ulysses and Titania, maybe even G1deon and Pyrrha— if any others hadn't undergone the process yet, and there was a chance they'd see Samastastia and decide that was the path they wanted too. If he thought this meant he might lose all his friends instead of only the less favored half.

Either way, though, based on everything we know, there is no simple soul swap that results in dual immortality. Even John and Alecto involve a fusion of megasoul. "You and she are one." (This is also likely how a seemingly real facet of John could talk to Harrow in Alecto's dream.) And we've seen through NtN, the soul longs for the body. The body longs for the soul. A body housing a different soul doesn't last long, even when those souls ARE semi connected. A body even temporarily renting space to a foreign soul is a massive strain, like Cam carrying Pal.

Lyctorhood inherently involves death and consumption and acting against nature. It is the indelible sin. It's possible that Grand Lysis avoids that sin by making it about mutual death, about giving instead of taking, but it's still bittersweet at best. I highly doubt we're going to see a perfect solution that fixes everything, at least via more necromancy, because that's not the kind of series this is. It's messy, beautiful in its flaws, embracing the understanding that life is change and things can never be exactly as they were, and can rarely be exactly what you want, and letting go and moving on are necessary parts of life eventually.

Don't misunderstand! I do think Gideon will either be resurrected (perhaps the last true one ever) or there will be another way for her and Harrow to happily be together. In Gideon's case, there was nothing natural about her death, and the decision to say "no" is a rejection of the system that led to it.

I just also think the odds of rewriting the laws of life and death entirely are more likely than Lyctorhood But With No Consequences. It always has consequences. There is no Perfect Lyctorhood, but there's something good on the horizon, whatever form it takes. After all...

"There are more worlds than this. Come with us. We are the love that is perfected by death, but even death will be no more. Death can also die. There's still time, Ianthe. Time for you and for Naberius Tern."

[thanergetic-hyperlinks]

What does Alecto want?

This is something I thought about while I wrote that post about Gideon's immortality.

When people speak about Alecto the book and Alecto the character, there is often an assumption that Alecto wants revenge for John turning her into a Barbie, and that our main characters want to kill God.

I'm not going to get too much into what I think the endgame might be for Jod (I'll leave it for another day) but I have some observations about Alecto!

First, people think Alecto wants revenge for the initial act of ripping her soul out and stuffing it in a Barbie body. I'm honestly not so sure that's her main concern!

Initially, Alecto's main fear is dying:

This is presumably what frightened her when in pain as Gaia, and what frightened her here, starting her life with John at the end of the world.

Of course, in the middle, there's her actual murder, and how she felt about it:

This fragment is so interesting. Most of this chapter the dialogue is in quotation marks, indicating it's not the memory of John and Alecto but current dialogue between John and Harrowhark.

John tells Harrow what happened. He is the one who asks her if she remembers what Alecto said. She (Harrowhark) said “What else did I say?”. And when Harrow says “I still love you”, Jod remembers that Alecto was also willing to love him despite what he'd done.

But Harrow is left without the answer to one question. “Where did you put the people? Where did they go?”

After this paragraph, she will say there are things she doesn't understand:

Apparently Alecto's memory isn't fully accessible, or she can't know Alecto's thought process, or there's bits of her memory gone for other reasons, whether it's John's intervention (unlikely, given how much incriminating stuff Alecto does remember) or because that's what was most traumatic to her and—unlike John's tale of apocalypse—nobody later reminded her. (Diegetically, of course, Tamsyn is simply saving that reveal for Harrow's arc in Hell.)

In any case: after being told the entire story about being killed and turned into a Barbie, Harrowhark still says “I want to understand why she was angry”. And that's seemingly tied to why John was terrified.

And the text directly relates that to the missing population of the Earth.

There are three things that very nearly make Nona fully recover the memory of who she was. One is when Pyrrha very nearly says her name, and Nona doesn't want to hear it. Later she doesn't seem to be lucid enough to react to Ianthe saying it, but she does react to this final line: Ianthe yelling “John loves Alecto!”. In the meantime, however, there's one more thing that shakes Nona deeply enough she has an actual heart attack:

And it's the sight of the Tower that makes Nona lose the will to live:

She also gets a couple passages where the sight of devils touches some deep, frightening memory. And we are given one last clue:

The River is dead.

We knew as early as HtN that the River is broken in some way. Its waters are described as brackish, salty, dirty, full of ghosts represented as rotting corpses. It doesn't seem to flow anywhere as rivers should. House religion says the dead wait as mad ghosts until John conducts his Second Resurrection. John of course has planted House theology with his idea to conduct “a flood” at some point and start over (“empty is just another word for clean”, etc.), once his revenge is done. He needs souls to not move on, in order to do that. We know through Abigail and Dulcinea that there is another shore, a Beyond that they've managed to exceptionally reach.

Alecto seems upset, above all, by what happened to the River, and that it remains unfixed.

Alecto states that she no longer fears death. She has experienced it (“I died once… no, twice”, and that's before her brief tenure as Nona).

She might be ready to leave John behind and move on, but.

What if she can't move on?

By which I mean: what if she—a Resurrection Beast, intimately acquainted with the spiritual dimension that is the River—what if she knows that she could never cross it as it is now, if she were to die? What if she knows that she would be absorbed by the stoma in the River's current condition, or float around insane forever? What if the sum of all necromantic transgression is that Jod committed ecocide on the afterlife and true death is no longer possible?

What if she needs the River to be healed in order to die?

To conclude, two other tidbits:

1. When Nona, trying not to engage with her Alecto consciousness, briefly considers just giving up and dying, she says:

2. Palamedes speaks of the Beyond (after briefly witnessing Dulcinea as she is there in TUG) right before he describes Paul as an end and a beginning. I don't think this is accidental?

[arc-misadventures]

It's What He Likes

Pyrrha: O-Okay... Isn't this outfit a little... suggestive...?

Coco: That the whole point of it, Pyrrha! You asked me for an outfit that will drive, Jaune wild, and I gave you one.

Pyrrha: I know, but isn't this a little much?

Coco: You can either wear this outfit that's mostly covering you up, or you put on a swimsuit. What will it be?

Pyrrha: I-I'll stick with this one...

Coco: That a shame... He would have loved to see how your body would appear in a sports swimsuit. All those lustful curves, plump thighs of yours, and those luscious melons of yours.

Pyrrha: Coco?!

Coco: Hahaha~! Relax love.

Pyrrha: Haa... are you sure this will work.

Coco: Of course I am! My outfit accelerants those aspects of yours. Jaune will love them~! Afterall, that was his description of you, not mine.

Pyrrha: I-It's his...!?

Coco: Well, I best get going. Bunny Boy should be here any moment now. Have fun~!

Pyrrha: T-Thanks, Coco.

Coco: Oh! One more thing before I go...

Pyrrha: What is it?

Coco: I left a box of condoms on your bedside counter over there.

Pyrrha: C-Condoms?

Coco: Yeah, the ones you had were too small for, Jaune.

Pyrrha: T-Too small?!

Coco: Bye~!

Pyrrha: ...

Pyrrha: What size are these...?

Pyrrha: Oh...

Pyrrha: OH?!

Pyrrha: I-I didn't know they came in such a size...

Pyrrha: ...

Pyrrha: Wait, how do you know he's this big?!

~~~

Jaune: Hmm... Hey, Pyrrha can you explain to me why, Coco told me to go to my dormroom?

Pyrrha: She helped me coordinate an outfit.

Jaune: She coordinated an outfit for you? Well, that's a good thing, you aren't all that good when it comes to fashion.

Pyrrha: that's... That's true... So, Jaune w-what do you think of my outfit...?

Jaune: What do I think of your...

Jaune: Outfit...?

Jaune: ...

Pyrrha: Well... What do you think?

Jaune: One second...

(Ping-Ping-Ping~!)

: Hello, Fearless Leader! What can I do for you?

Jaune: Nora, I need you, and Ren to find another place to spend the night.

Nora: Why?

Jaune: Pyrrha is in a bunny suit.

Nora: Pyrrha's in a what...?!

Jaune: Goodbye, Nora. See you tomorrow.

Nora: No wait! I need photos! I need...!?

(Beep!)

Jaune: Now then, Pyrrha...

Pyrrha: Y-Yes...?

Jaune: You're dressed as a bunny. Care to see why my nickname, Bunny Boy isn't because of my, Pumpkin Pete's hoodie~?

Pyrrha: P-Please be gentle...?

Jaune: Mmmm... Nope~!

Pyrrha: Oh...

Pyrrha: Oh no...

[nonasbirthday]

Oooooobh LOVE all these points. Especially about G1deon's pity. I had not made the connection that when Mercy suggested dropping Harrow out the airlock, G1deon indicated he found the idea distasteful! One could argue that he maybe finds it distasteful because he's done it once before and felt badly about it after, but I agree it seems more likely that he just prefers a fair fight - seems consistent with what else we know about his personality. Huge point towards Pyrrha being the pusher.

I do feel like something is severely fucky with Pyrrha and we have not been given all the puzzle pieces to figure it out. Getting more info about Pyrrha is one of the things I'm looking forward to most about ATN, Muir willing 🙏

Do we think it was definitely G1deon who pushed Wake out of the airlock or do we think it could have been Pyrrha?

[katakaluptastrophy]

Periodically, I remember how absolutely fucked up the necromancers in TLT are meant to look. Like, necromancy does an absolute number on people physically.

Harrow is "rather small and feeble".

Necromantic Ianthe is "the starved shadow" of her non-necromantic twin.

Our first description of Palamedes is "a rangy, underfed young man" who is "gaunt".

Silas is "knife-faced...He had a necromancer build."

Ianthe parodies make-over scenes in House novels with "if the hero’s a necromancer it’ll be described like, ‘His frailty made his unearthly handsomeness all the more ephemeral'"

Jod acknowledges to Wake that even small children with aptitude would look odd to non-House eyes: "“I have access to any number of cute pictures of necromantic toddlers with their first bone. They don’t make for fat-cheeked roly-poly babies, but they’ve got a certain something."

In As Yet Unsent, Judith brags about her previous physical fitness: "I could run a kilometre in ten minutes, which was among the fastest for my adept group in the junior reserves." Which is about double the time you might expect for a physically fit woman her age.

In non-necromancer-friendly New Rho, Harrow's body is mistaken for a child's and has to be explained as a result of starvation and trauma to seem plausible: "Pyrrha explained without missing a beat that what with everything Nona had gone through she had been ill and still didn’t eat very much, which was why she was so knobbly and undergrown. The nice lady said that yes, many of the children had problems like that, but it was still hard to imagine Nona was anywhere over fourteen, wasn’t it?"

Tamsyn Muir's descriptions of the Canaan House gang on Tumblr back this up: "Judith is somewhat less completely scrawny than other necromancers on the cast, though she should be less built than Marta is", Palamedes is "seriously underfed" and "bony", Harrow is "scrawny".

And that's just what I can think of off the top of my head - I'm sure there's more.

Anyway, necromancers aren't slender in a conventionally attractive way, they're gaunt in a concerning way...and probably the only reason no one instantly clocked that Coronabeth wasn't a necromancer was because they all just thought it was par for the course that a Third House princess would have had a lot of plastic surgery flesh magic.

[summergoodwife]

I think there's a lot to dig into about how Nona's loving treatment by Camilla, Palamedes, and Pyrrha originally stemmed from them thinking she was someone else. They thought she was someone they knew and loved already, or in Pyrrha's case, someone she wanted to love so badly, and one of the constant motivators behind the way they care for her is the idea that, by caring, they might get one or both of those people back.

Of course, the three of them end up loving Nona. And they love her so much, regardless of who she is, was, and becomes—but it still began because they had someone else in mind. Contrast that with the original lyctors, who—because it's ambiguous how much memory they had from before the Resurrection—either didn't know Alecto any better than they knew anyone else, or actively knew everyone else but not her. I'm not making an argument about which side was justified or unjustified for what reasons, I'm just fascinated by the messy human motives that drive all this stuff.

[nonas-third-tantrum]

so, I’ve been thinking about pyrrha helping to paint a nursery on the ninth. something about it has always seemed off to me and I finally figured it out: by the time this happens, the lyctors have all ascended, except anastasia, of course. nobody knows pyrrha is still around.

my question is: did anastasia know? who else was at this little painting party? just g1deon? did he even know he was there? or did he like, black out and wake up with paint on his clothes? it seems odd to me that only one of them would have been there, but it’s also possible that anastasia had been a bit ostracized due to, well, everything. maybe cassiopeia was there? you know mercy wouldn’t be caught dead painting a nursery.

and let’s say that it was just pyrrha and anastasia. what did they talk about? what did anastasia tell her about the tomb? the ward? her failed lyctorhood?

PYRRHA DVE WHAT DO YOU KNOW

[anthurak]

So latest in the long line of ways that Jaune represents a massive, brutal and scathing subversion of so many typical shounen/fantasy-hero protagonist tropes that a sizable chunk of the fandom seems to have ENTIRELY missed the memo on, let’s talk about his time at Beacon.

Specifically, how we see Jaune struggle so much in classes and seemingly has to put in much more work and training than his peers.

Now this is a pretty standard ‘main character’ trope in so many fantasy adventure school stories. The idea that the hero works so much harder than all of his peers because they’re all elitists who were ‘handed’ everything while our plucky underdog hero has to get by on gumption and good work ethic (and also plot armor, higher-power favoritism and narrative cheat codes but they don’t like it when you say that out loud). And on the surface, like so many other things in RWBY, it might seem at first like Jaune’s story is playing that trope straight.

But of course if we actually THINK about Jaune’s situation for a second, it becomes clear that the context of his situation actually represents a pretty scathing takedown of this trope.

The reason why Jaune seemingly has to work so much harder than all his peers in the present is because all those peers ALREADY DID all that hard work and training before they even came to Beacon. The same hard work and training that Jaune DIDN’T do because he thought he could proverbially ‘skip the line’ and CHEAT his way into Beacon.

Ruby, Yang, Blake, even resident rich-kid Weiss, they ALL put in YEARS of work and training to become huntresses. EVERYONE at Beacon did.

Everyone except Jaune.

He seems to have never even so much as attended a combat school, and NOTHING we’ve seen or heard indicates that he otherwise wanted to and was prevented by his family or some other factor. Instead, he clearly seems to have thought that he could just skip all of that and just cheat his way into Beacon.

Really, the fact that Jaune got as far as he did thanks just as much if not more so to having friends who would help and cover for him, as well as him lucking out and having a particularly naturally large aura reserves, rather than any kind of hard work he put in. And with ALL of that, he’s still only has basic ability as a fighter and is FAR more effective at simply supporting his friends and allies.

If anything, it does in fact show that Jaune had some pretty impressive potential.

Potential that he completely SQUANDERED.

Imagine if Jaune HAD actually attended a combat school. Actually put in all the same years of work, training and effort that all his peers did. Learned how to be a fighter, trained his aura and unlocked his semblance. Think about where he would have been at the start of the series when arriving at Beacon.

Jaune would almost certainly be on the same level as Ruby, Weiss and the rest. Hell, he might even have been on a similar level to Pyrrha, albeit most likely with very different strengths. Given his semblance, Jaune was always going to be a support-focused fighter. Still, he would still have been one of THE most capable support huntsmen of his year.

But Jaune DIDN’T do any of that. Instead he was forced to effectively burn through all of his potential just playing catchup to all his peers. Having to cram years’ worth of training into a scant few months. Which in turn has left his abilities invariably stunted and lagging behind everyone else.

All of this through no one’s fault but his own.

Unlike what I imagine is literally EVERY OTHER ‘underdog’ at a fantasy adventure school, Jaune being this ‘underdog’ who has to play catchup to all his peers is one hundred percent HIS OWN DAMN FAULT.

Which of course all makes Jaune a FAR more complex and interesting character than 99.999% of the typical fantasy-protag characters who play this trope ‘straight’.

[theoppositeofprofound]

The point about the permeability of the soul is at least in part that we cannot separate love and consumption. You almost always can’t say ‘this is because of the soul juices mingling’ vs ‘this is one of the horrors of love’ and that’s the point.

Is Naberius haunting Ianthe because they grew up together, because they were trained to be two halves of the same whole, because she knew him inside out and there’s a love in that, however violent? Or is it because she’s been using him like a battery and a hand-puppet and a computer program and now he’s threaded up through her. She can’t know! She doesn’t want to know, she refuses to look.

Did Gideon v1 become more militaristic after Pyrhha’s death through osmosis? Or was it because he loved her and trusted her and his first thought in a crisis was What Would Pyrrha Do. Did he love Wake because their programming got jumbled or was it because he met a awful redhead and thought oh, my best friend would have been so stupid for you, she would have been such a wreck…

Did John make the earth angry or did the earth fill John with anger or was it both? Did the love come first or the fury? Does Mercy love her god because Cristabel did or does she do it for the sake of Cristabel? The lyctors all view themselves as living memorials to the dead, of course they’d voice the dead’s thoughts, act out their habits and carry on their infuriating quirks. How else do you remember? You can’t peel apart the analogy and make it all magic or all mundane because soul-permeability coexists with the everyday manacles of affection.

[juanarc-thethird]

Santa DOES exist.

Yang: Nora, at what age did you find out that Santa doesn't exist?

Nora: *Sock* Santa doesn't exist?

Yang: Um-Well...

Moments later.

Pyrrha: *Trying to comfort Nora* Now Nora, of course Santa exists.

Nora: *crying* You are lying!

Jaune: Of course Santa exist, Yang was just joking.

Yang: *To ren* Im really sorry. I didn't mean to, I swear.

Ren: Don't talk to Nora or my team ever again.

[superiorsturgeon]

Jamie/Jessie: (Arkos kiddos, age 8) *run into the room* Dad! Dad…! 😭

Jaune: *kneels down and gathers his kids in a hug* Hey! Hey…! What’s wrong?

Jamie: A kid at school was teasing us, and he said we’re adopted! 😭

Jessie: We’re not, are we?! 😭

Jaune: *hugs his children* Of course not…!

Jessie: Y-you promise…? 🥺

Jaune: *thinks back to the night after Pyrrha’s championship victory over her biggest rival in the combat circuit*

Jaune: *remembers Pyrrha throwing him on the bed, yanking down his pants, riding him like a stolen motorcycle, and crushing his pelvis without protection as a celebration of her victory*

Jaune: …

Jamie: Dad…? 🥺

Jaune: *squeezes his blonde and green-eyed children tight* …of course I’m sure! 😅

[howi99]

The "King" of Teachers 1

(a crack fic)

Yang: I heard we are getting a new Prof for Grimm studies.

Ruby: *curious* What happened to professor Port?

Yang: *shrug* Maybe he took his retreat?

_ meanwhile _

Port: *beating up a bunch of grimm with his fist, reaping and tearing until it's done* AHAHAHAH!! I FEEL ALIVE!!!

_ _ _

Weiss: *pensive* He was kinda old...

Jaune: *sweating profusely* Please be my dad, please be my dad-

Pyrrha: *worried* Jaune? What's wrong?

Jaune: *panicking* The new professor is one of my parents and i don't know which- *feeling a sense of dread overwhelming him* ... *Gulp* H-hi mom...

Everyone: *look at the woman who "appeared" next to Jaune* !?!

Mama Arc: *sigh* I see, this is how low this school has fallen. *Looking down at her son* Not even noticing my presence until you pointed it out. *Shake her head, a look of contempt adorning her face* Truly, how deplorable.

Weiss: *frown* Now lis- *register who is in front of her* -ten... *Blink, look at Jaune then at the woman then back at Jaune* D-did you say mom?

Jaune: *slowly nodding his head, trying to make himself as small as possible* Y-yes?

Weiss: *blink again* But that's-

Mama Arc: *glaring at Weiss* Have i given you the permission to talk?

Weiss: *sitting back down, looking straight towards the blackboard* S-sorry!

Mama Arc: ... Good.

*pick up Jaune in her arm*

*walk towards the blackboard, Jaune still in her arms*

*sit on her chair, Jaune now sitting on her lap*

Artoria: *in a booming voice* I AM THE KING OF STORMS, LEADER OF THE KNIGHT OF THE ROUND TABLE. MY NAME IS ARTORIA PENDRAGON AND HE *hug Jaune with a gentle smile* Is my pride and joy~!

Jaune: *Hiding his face in pure embarrassment* This is the end, my punishment...!

Yang: ... *Whispering to Weiss* She's kinda intense.... *Frown, looking at Blake* Blak-

Blake: *Blushing madly* Sh-she's so h-hot~

Ruby: Knight of the round table? Who's that?

Weiss: *nervously* They are Vale's best huntsmen and huntresses.

Artoria: *glaring towards team RWBY's group* I don't remember giving you the permission to talk, did i?

Team RWBY: *stop talking, all scared for their-*

Jaune: *stammering his words* M-mom, S-stop being mean to m-my friends!

Artoria: ... *Beaming hugging her son even more* Of course darling~! But i still need them to listen if they don't want to end up *censored for brutal depictions of death* or *censored for even worse depiction of death* during missions!

Everyone: *completely horrified*

Cardin: *vomiting in the trash can*

Weiss: *consoling a crying Ruby* There there...

Nora: *confused by everyone's reaction* ... I mean, that's pretty standard stuff on the field, right Ren?

Ren: *also not understanding everyone's shock* That's not even as bad as what we lived through.

Nora: Right? *Turning to Pyrrha* What about- *sees the invincible girl on the ground, having lost consciousness* ... oh.

[sandyca5tle]

Was having a semi-serious conversation with some friends, and accidentally found myself quoting RWBY in a way that actually helped the discussion at hand, which got me thinking, there's a good few lines in RWBY that are just generally good things for life, so i decided to write a post about it 'cause fuck it. Some'll have commentary some are self explanitary enough. "I'm not any one thing, I'm somewhat of a lot of things" - this was the one that actually sparked this, was talking about identity with a friend, and found this quote very applicable - you don't always have to neatly fit in a box, you can be somewhat several things at once, if that's what fits for you. "Well that embaressment, that desire to go back and tell yourself not to be so stupid, that just proves you're not the same person you used to be. And you're not done growing yet" "You don't have to look cool all the time"

"Of course you are [a real girl]. You think just because you've got nuts and bots instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?" - This is less a general life lesson, but more of a 'just because someone is different to you, doesn't make them/their experiences any less real'. And obviously there's the trans angle on this, not being a 'real girl' is an anxiety many trans girls have struggled with, or is something people throw at us to put us down. But just 'cause we're built a little different than cis girls, doesn't make us any less girls "Pyrrha thought that, if there was even the smallest chance of helping someone, that it was a chance worth taking" "I'd be lying if I said that it didn't hurt, that I didn't think about them everyday since I lost them. That I didn't wish I had spent more time with them. If it had been me instead, I know they would have kept fighting too, no matter how dangerous it was, so that's what I choose to do. To keep moving forwards." - Mostly putting this here 'cause it's always nice to have a talk like this regarding grief/loss, and yeah, i just think this is nice and fairly honestly reflection of how a lotta people feel when they lose someone, coupled with the adivce to keep moving forwards. "I'm not asking you to stop. Just please, get some rest, not just for you, but for the people you care about," - I like this one 'cause a) self care is important bitches! Burning yourself out isn't gonna help whatever you're trying to do and b) hurting yourself like that is also gonna hurt those who care for you, 'cause no one wants to see those they care for suffer. So remember to take a break from time to time. "You think you're being selfless, but you're not. Yeah that chameleon friend of yours got me pretty good, but I'd do it all again if it meant protecting you... and I promise Yang would say the same. You can make your own choices sure, but you don't get to make ours. When your friends fight for you, it's because we want to, so stop pushing us out. That hurts more than anything the bad guys could ever do to us," - Obviously the parts about fighting can be taken a little more metaphorically for everyday life, but I like this quote 'cause yeah, the people who are there for you *want* to be there for you, so deciding that you're a burden on them and hiding away/pushing them away is gonna hurt them because they *want to be there for you* - don't decide something for other people. "My losses, my failures, those, more than anything, are what have shaped me into who I am; showed me how I need to grow. If there's something I'm missing it's not because I've lost it, it's 'cause I haven't found it yet" - I just think this is a beautiful line. We've all wished at moments to undo the mistakes we've made, however those mistakes made us the people we are now. And yeah, I love the idea that something you're missing is not because you lost it, it's because you haven't found it yet. "One small kindness, in one small moment, lead to such a marvelous transformation, just like one act of dishonesty caused an unfortunate change" - Reminder that even small actions can mean a lot to others "What happens if I chose me?" "Then maybe, that girl is enough,"

But yeah, all of this to say I love RWBY, it has so many amazing and emotional moments and yeah, if you haven't given it a watch I would highly reccommend (and if you've heard bad things, i'd maybe give it a watch yourself first, a lotta people like to hate on the show in bad faith). But yeah, love RWBY and love all the wonderful moments and messages within it