#something something the Xiao-Long-Rose family is fucked up

[tumblezwei]

I saw an interesting post on Twitter about how Yang and Ruby's perspectives on Summer have diverged over the years, and I kinda wanted to put my own soon on it.

Because like, Summer was this huge mythic hero for Ruby, and Yang was partially responsible for telling Ruby the stories about Summer's heroic feats, which were definitely exaggerated coming from the imagination of a child trying to cheer up and entertain her younger sister. But even though Yang was the one to tell these stories, she herself never held that same idolization of Summer that Ruby did.

And I think a big reason for that is that Yang was forced to take on a role that was incredibly similar to Summer's. She wasn't a huntress out to fight monsters and protect the weak, but she was someone who had to take on a great responsibility and act as an example for others to follow, that being Ruby. She likely did idolize Summer much like Ruby did, but I think having to take on that responsibility at such a young age allowed her to understand easier than Ruby that the idea of a "Super Mom" capable of doing anything and never failing was an illusion created to comfort those who needed her protection.

Even though she still held Summer in her mind as a great mom whom she knew would do anything for her and Ruby, I think she learned fairly quickly over the years that the role of provider and protector just wasn't that simple. But she loved her sister, and she greatly admired Ruby's determination and confidence in who she wanted to be, so of course she'd still encourage her to be like Summer. For as much as Ruby looked up to Yang, I think Yang also looked up to Ruby.

Ruby, on the other hand, didn't have this same experience growing up. Instead her coping mechanisms led her far into her fantasies, sectioning off her own grief and building up this figure of Summer as a way to memorialize a mother she never truly got to know and reassure herself that she could fix what was broken so that no other kids like her and Yang would have to go through that loss.

A common point in Ruby analysis that gets brought up is that she was never naive enough to believe that the world was perfect. She always knew it was broken, and what made her special was her determination to help the world in spite of it. And with the context of the most recent episode, we can see that that mindset was tainted very heavily by her perception of how fixable the world was and how much she could truly handle. Because Ruby Rose is exhausted I'm episode 4. Her past self mocks her ruthlessly with her own prior beliefs, torturing her with the knowledge that she is destined to struggle like this forever and ever until she dies like her mother.

And that's where the schism is. Yang knows her mother was human, can relate to her struggles in a way that Ruby could never understand. And that's why in volume 8 we have her trying to reassure Ruby by saying "mom took a risk the day she left, and I don't think it went the way she wanted it to, but she was still my hero." Yang loves her mother, and Yang idolizes her mother. But she's able to frame that in a context that understands that Summer Rose was human and that whatever she did she did for them. That she tried as much as she was able.

Ruby Rose loves her mother, and she idolizes her mother, but she only knows her in the context that she's created for herself. Summer Rose tried to fix the world and failed. She went up against this unkillable monster and failed. Super Mom Summer Rose always knew what to do, how to save the day, and she failed. So what hope did Ruby Rose have to try the same?

Ruby Rose will never be able to grow until she is able to acknowledge her mother as a person and not a hero. Because until she does that she'll continue to hold herself to the same impossible standard.

[tumblingxelian]

The Fraught Family Ties of the Rose-Xiao Long Household:

Sorry for the ramble, I wanted to share something born of a discussion I had with someone regarding the canonical relationship on the Rose-Xiao Long sisters & their father figures.

So, I often find Tai (& Qrow) propped up as good father figures who maybe just had some moments of weakness but either got better long before canon or during the show and who are super close with Ruby & Yang with very healthy relationships.

Given possibly my most popular post, (Yang & Ruby's childhood) I don't think this is a universal stance, certainly not these days, and I don't think its well supported in canon either.

This doesn't mean that love isn't there, but love and resentment can live in the same house and the Rose-Xiao Long household is far more complex than I think people give it credit for.

Now, some will probably highlight positive tones and references in the early volumes, but here's the thing. A child growing up around something can get used to a lot. Ruby & Yang are clearly very used to Qrow stumbling home utterly wasted, even carried by strangers and needing to take care of him. This is normal to them and neither show any resentment towards it until on their last nerve.

That is to say, Ruby and Yang are fine with Qrow's drinking and smile through it, riiiight up until they themselves are on the edge of snapping real hard over things such as in V6.

Neither of them express their trauma like say, Jaune does, who tends to be quite open with his resentment and prone to lashing out. The sisters smile through it, they may express frustration or anger at other things, but not their loved one's, which makes it easy to pretend everything is cool and normal.

Hell, keeping things light with humor is explicitly noted to be how Yang copes and Ruby is shown consistently beginning to show sadness before quickly bottling it up up. This is just how they handle negative emotions they cant comfortably express.

Thus, while Ruby expressing frustration at Yang giving Tai like advice in V1 doesn't indicate hostility, nor does her being all smiles around his presence in V3's opening indicate everything is super awesome.

After all, things are good at that moment, but let's take a look at the end of V3.

Tai is clearly worrying and trying to fuss over Ruby. But she is very neutral on the whole thing, mostly just trying to get intel on what the fuck happened from him and not being remotely upset when Qrow makes him leave. She show's a bit more vulnerability around Qrow, but is still very focused on the practical questions of what happened.

Its only when she's alone with Yang, that Ruby really becomes expressive with her emotions and more to the point, shows outright uncertainty in what to do. This leads her to being shocked when Yang is in no fit state t provide her with the guidance and support she clearly craves and expected.

Ruby also specifically addresses her letters to Yang and broadly speaking doesn't really seem to think about Tai all that much. Again I don't think she dislikes him, but given she openly acknowledges Yang as the one who raised her & Yang herself noted she had to keep the family together...

Well, I think that Ruby doesn't really perceive Tai as a parent, strictly speaking. In the sense that I don't believe she views Tai as someone to go to for comfort or advice or guidance.

He's her dad and she loves him, but he's less of an adult to her than Yang was. In that same vein Qrow is a Huntsmen, her mentor and uncle yes, but the former I think inform her behavior with him more than the latter.

Now, let's also compare Tai and Yang's relationship a little.

We know Tai taught her how to fight, but he doesn't show any real understanding of how her Semblance works or her fighting style given she has utilized plenty of blocks, dodges and clever strategies in the first three volumes. What's more him critiquing her for fighting that way and making it her fault when he taught her feels suspect to me.

(I would note it was Yang who realized Ruby needed CQC help before anyone else, so she clearly thought deeply on this stuff.)

But beyond that, we see Yang is heavily isolated, both from how the camera work frames her. But also because she us housed in a guest room and that Tai, while obviously unhappy about what happened overall seems far more focused on Ruby in terms of trying to provide some care. What's more, when she's clearly distressed he walks away and leaves her to stew.

Yang's shown still doing lots of work around the house, despite everything and his efforts to 'help' her are all about getting her back into the fight over worrying for her safety like he did Ruby.

This is a big thing for me, Tai was clearly deeply upset when Qrow wanted to speak to Ruby alone and terrified when she left.

Meanwhile when it comes to 'helping' Yang its all about getting back into the action and going after Ruby. He doesn't seem to mind the idea of sending her into danger.

Then there' show he hypocritically dismisses her trauma and depression while at the same time diminishing her maturity despite him having left her to raise Ruby and keep the family together.

He also makes his help for her conditional on her no longer "Moping" while its her teachers who barely know Yang that provide actually useful guidance on healing.

When alone he also frames 'caring for her' IE letting her live in the house and take care of herself, like its this heavy burden that is keeping him from Ruby.

This is despite the fact he ultimately does not go after Ruby.

You can claim its a budget thing the show we have is the show we have. Thus, he sends her off to parent Ruby instead of himself. Also Tai outright compares Yang to Raven despite them being radically different and honestly Ruby being a lot closer to even the positive traits he ascribed to Raven.

Thus I think there's an element of projection that leads to Ruby being preferences between the two but also Tai having come in too late to really be seen as the parent he wants to be perceived as.

Now, let's look at Qrow.

Both sisters are clearly used to him staggering or being carried home drunk and needing to take care of him, meaning they have been doing this since childhood.

This would have a hugely negative impact on their mental wellbeing and impact how they perceive him.

Beyond that, I am unsure how close he even is to Yang outside the superficial. Some of that may indeed be down to time, but there have been periods where they could have shown a deep bond and its not manifested.

When Yang is framed, her team, two of whom have only know her for a few months and have plenty of trauma that would make them rightly suspicious choose to believe her and sympathize with her.

Qrow meanwhile says she is either lying or crazy and does not express much in the way of real empathy or trust.

Rather than showing an interest in maybe trying to resolve the issue or help her through decides that maybe directing her to Raven might help. He obviously cares, but generally never shows much of the same concern or affection for Yang that he does for Ruby.

Granted even then Qrow requires caretaking from both his nieces.

What's more he often tethers Ruby to Summer. So while his mentorship of her does let her be a little more vulnerable with him than Tai its still an unbalanced relationship.

However outside of that, Qrow's generally fairly good with Ruby and her influence on him seemed to be the primary thing that stopped him drinking. He also shows a great deal of faith in her in general, though how much of that is projection likely varies.

But he mentored Ruby so its natural they are maybe a little closer.

Still, I think Ruby & Yang held Qrow in higher regard, at least as a Huntsmen than their father, there's a lot of baggage to the relationship at a minimum.

I also think Ruby & Yang's lack of communication seen in later volumes is sort of reflective of the families unhealthy dynamics evolving between them.

Yang being forced to raise a sister two years younger than her is already a heavy burden on both of them. Yang from having to step up and fill the roll of an adult as a child & Ruby because no matter how hard Yang tried it as never gonna be perfect but she couldn't exactly complain about it either.

So both just sort of smiled through the pain as they grew and came out fairly functional and happy if carrying a lot of baggage beneath the surface. This is why both respond to grief and trauma in a similar manner, pushing the issues down until they explode or collapse. It was how they got by.

They were also extremely close, for all that Yang talked of Ruby maybe trying to branch out onto other teams, she instantly tried to seek her out in the Emerald Forest, saved her a spot in the auditorium and generally tried to assist and advice her along with expressing great pride in her.

Ruby bore with with a mixed degree of playfulness and teen like annoyance, while still wanting to cling to Yang. She was also very comfortable early on with expressing her concerns around Yang, such as with Blake being so stressed and not knowing what to do about it & seemingly had total faith in Yang's ability to resolve things.

As previously outlined, when Ruby was seeking comfort and guidance after the Fall of Beacon she went to Yang and was shocked when Yang couldn't provide her what she needed and quickly began separating herself, clearly deeply impacted.

Yang remained the center of her homeward focus after that fact and when Yang returned she was able to express vulnerability with her.

Briefly.

However, Yang soon showed that her recovery was not as complete as she wanted to project and again Ruby was at a loss for what to do with a Yang who is upset.

Keep in mind she's entirely capable of comforting a drunk, hung over or otherwise very upset Qrow, but the prospect of comforting Yang leaves her shuffling nervously outside the door while Weiss helps her.

Ruby's perception of Yang seemed to have put her on something of a pedestal in the way a lot of children do their parents where its hard to start seeing them as a person.

& When Ruby did start seeing Yang as a person, her complexes regarding leadership caused her to see Yang as someone who needed protection.

This caused her to freeze Yang out of her issues, we see this with her rejecting Yang's efforts to comfort her in V8, responding instead with sullen silences or sharp emotional jabs to try and make Yang go away.

Yet at the same time, she didn't entirely try to keep the façade up, perhaps in part because she couldn't.

I also think there's a part of her that sort... Expected Yang to know what to do and to say for her even though Ruby has changed as a person and is no longer communicating clearly like she used to.

Which then causes her to resent Yang for not being able to say the right things and provide the right assistance like she did when they were kids. Even though Yang doesn't know how Ruby feels their relationship has changed and can't know with Ruby actively avoiding acting in a manner that would elicit her concern.

Basically, this is an extremely messy family.

It has four actual adults, the most competent of whom martyred herself. One of whom left because she couldn't handle it and two of whom failed when put to the test.

This left the role of grown up in the room to Yang who had to keep the family together and raise her sister. While Ruby had to basically become the least troubled child possible to make this easier on them all.

Raven cutting herself out of their lives and her ties to Yang, while Summer being a beloved martyr seems to have also rippled down to their kids.

With Yang almost being like the black sheep of the family. She's the one they expect to do something immoral or "crazy' and generally expected to take care of herself and Ruby without any kind of acknowledgement or significant assistance.

Meanwhile Ruby is regarded as a sort of proto Summer, this beacon of purity, which leaves Tai over protective but ultimately inactive leaving the task of helping her to Yang. With Qrow expecting the world from her which just applies more pressure.

I do think everyone of them love each other, but I also think there's also a lot of resentment, frustration and projection going on here, with many utter failures of parenting. These ultimately caused the families relationships to never developed into what they should be and are instead leaving them in an odd sort of limbo; with a lot left unsaid and unhealthy.

[bestworstcase]

It's going to be interesting to see how RWBY lands the messiness of Ruby and Yang's childhood and also the parents of the family.

Summer (aka "Evil Stepmother") I won't even try to guess how it lands. We just don't have enough information. But the getting across the information to the audience - Summer working with Salem out the "Evil" in there and the fact that Yang seemingly takes strongly from Summer in at least some aspects of her personality and her legitimately being an excellent mother to Yang gets across it's not that simple.

Her relationship with her daughters at the end of everything - very up in the air. But RWBY is a hopeful series, and acknowledgement of harm done, a true atonement in not doing it again... You can't change the past but a better tomorrow is possible. (See the Schnees as messy and scarred as that family is. And actually Yang and Ruby's conversation about Yang having messed up, resolving to do better in the future and the two moving on)

Raven- okay she's the one that I think I have the best read on. There's a lot of tension in Raven and her fear. Something that may have to be handled slightly carefully as separate from her issues with Oz as she was proven right about him lying and keeping secrets. And there's still the unfired untested "Only One Save" rule.

Same as Summer - acknowledgement of harm done + sincere work into making amends and not repeating the same behavior can equal new starts in relationships and the narrative has already did Yang tearing into Raven. A bit more details into what happened with Summer but...

Look at least with Yang the problem with Raven appears to be primarily that she's an emotional coward. It gets complicated with the other stuff - but the setup is there for her to finally beat that. Whether Yang wants a new start would be in the air but Raven taking the plunge, that I'm confident in.

The audience is all onboard for Raven having messed up - getting across when she hasn't probably is a tougher sell.

Taiyang - Okay, he's the character that I personally think needs an obvious clue by four to the audience that he messed up because man, the information we're getting hasn't been cutting it. He's not a monster like Jaques but that makes it more difficult to get across it seems. And the character has to be aware of the problem to l fix it (Or refuse to fix it. Or refuse to acknowledge the problem but I don't think Tai is set up got either of those two)

If Summer is the one that is uncertain as whether she done sorry for the actions she took, or not sorry she took them but sorry that they harmed her girls, while Raven is the one most solidly in "Yeah I fucked up" at this point, Tai is the one that i don't know if he's realized he has. And I'm honestly curious as to how RWBY as a show would have that hit.

Though I am not discounting Summer versus Taiyang with a very messy divorce fight. (Look I really like the idea of Summer as Yang's mother being reminded like that because while the characters draw Raven -> Yang and Summer -> Ruby comparisons the show has displayed a pointedly strong resemblance between Summer and Yang.)

mmm. i think the Dead Mom / Neglectful Father / Evil Stepmother paradigm is an interesting angle to consider the possible outcomes for raven / tai / summer from because all of these archetypes have loose archetypal endings; the heroine prevails through the dead mom’s aid, the evil stepmother is often punished, the neglectful father is…there. 

rwby is pointedly not a punitive narrative, and it’s also pointedly not a narrative where male and female characters are handled any differently in terms of complexity/development/seriousness. but: the “dead” mom is in vacuo now, lending her aid to the desperate last stand.

with summer there’s the additional complication of her being the evil stepmother in the rose xiao long family narrative and also the good stepmother in cinder’s narrative, wherein the madame functions as a dead mom whose cruelty haunts cinder rather than helping her and rhodes as a neglectful father. whether rwby’s archetypal stepmother is “evil” or “good” is therefore a matter of perspective; unlike the fairytale stepmother she isn’t abusive, only on the opposite side of a war from her own children, and one of the clever ways rwby subverts the archetype is that the stepmother chooses the child who is not her own. i.e., cinder. 

thus the immediate narrative challenge posed to summer—and tai as well, if i’m on the mark about what he’s been up to—is that cinder killed yang and ruby, or at least claims she couldn’t stop neopolitan from doing so. 

and that’s interesting because summer has been with salem for fourteen years now and had all that time to really think about what she’s doing and why and what it may cost her; her part in RLR2 is so anguished precisely because she is self-aware that she has left her daughters behind to face the storm she and salem intend to unleash. she has known, for a long time, that they might be killed by this war—salem does what she can to spare them, but things happen. 

so summer made a conscious decision to accept that risk, out of strong moral conviction that the divine plan for the world must be ended and salem must be set free. but tai?

say tai discovered the truth about summer shortly before or very soon after the fall of beacon. he’s spent the last twelve or thirteen years grieving for her, and his natural inclination based on what he knows about salem from ozpin will be to assume that summer is badly misguided—that salem has deceived or threatened or otherwise done something to her to force her to obey. thus the idea of ‘saving’ her and his reason for keeping his mouth shut: he doesn’t dare breathe a word to anyone lest salem find out that summer has been compromised / decide she is no longer useful and dispense with her.

of course to summer whatever liaisons she may be having with tai are both a comfort—her only other social interaction during this time are periodic and perfunctory seer calls with salem—and an opportunity to gather information. the reality is that salem will be either indifferent or pleased depending upon how useful tai proves as an unwitting informant. 

but prior to salem+cinder’s arrival at beacon it would be easy for tai to construct this alternative story wherein summer is really a victim of salem’s machinations who must be protected until she can be rescued; she is, after all, not doing anything much but holding the fort at beacon whilst searching for the vault, and we have seen that summer can slip on masks to hide her true self when she needs to. she’s lied to him before for the sake of doing what she felt was right; she can do it again.

the intuitive breaking point here is for salem and cinder to deliver the news that yang and ruby are dead, or fallen out of remnant depending on how much more detail salem may have coaxed out of cinder in the interim; for summer to sit in her private grief for a moment and then choose, as she has chosen every day for the last fourteen years, to press on; and for tai to see that. to be confronted in some undeniable way with the reality that summer is here because she believes down to her soul that salem is right.

(coughs in fractal ozlem. summer is the ozma who—literally—chose to take salem’s hand; tai, the salem who refused to leave the tower.)

like—does he stay, even then? if his daughters are already gone when the truth clobbers him upside the head, then it’s too late to make things right by changing course; is tai the kind of person with the backbone to walk away from the love for whom he rationalized abandoning his kids after circumstances force him to see clearly the choice he made, or does he hold onto her all the harder for having nothing else left to lose. 

and how does summer feel about that? if the foundation of who she is is her ironclad conviction, and tai’s is that he would sacrifice anything to stay with her, how does she truly see him? 

this is really the fundamental contrast between ozlem and tai/summer and why i’m certain that ozlem are on a path toward romantic reconciliation but skeptical that the same is true for tai and summer: ozlem broke apart because both of them are driven by profound moral conviction and came to blows over an intractable ideological disagreement about what the right thing to do is. they are, in every respect, equals. whereas the fundamental conflict between tai and summer—presuming that i’m on the mark as to why she joined salem—is that she has all the conviction and he has none. 

if he does stay even through the razing of vale then he can no longer act under the illusion that he isn’taligning himself with salem’s side of this war, which is an interesting thing to put him through that must surely lead to some serious soul-searching; and then the next obvious point of inflection is learning that team rwby returned from the ever after and are alive and well in vacuo. what then?

altogether it does set up a number of interesting paths forward for tai by playing him off of summer and utilizing that relationship to surface the good-vs-right / wrong-vs-evil quandary that the two sides of this war represent. summer herself is also sort of an ideal character to take him to task for neglecting their daughters, because her choice to leave them behind was predicated on an assumption that tai would take good care of them.

(i have to assume that a woman willing to set the world on fire for the sake of wrestling the keys to eschaton away from the divine chosen one is also a mother willing to kidnap her own children if she knew their father was letting the five-year-old “pick up the pieces.” although the thought of what yang and ruby would be like if summer and salem had raised them is both hysterical and terrifying.)

i do think the endgame as far as the rose-xiao long-branwen family is everyone at least on cordial terms; the inevitable peace negotiation offers ample opportunity for smaller interpersonal reconciliations and reevaluation of individual relationships. the brokenness of this family cannot be extricated from the war that tore it apart. 

but reconciliation with tai and summer in particular may require a deliberate step away from parent-child toward building new relationships as allies or friends or family in the more metaphorical sense. that’s true to an extent for raven as well simply because yang is an adult, but with raven being the one who showed up in vacuo i think it will be easier for her and yang to build a parent-adult child relationship from scratch. if yang wants that, which i think she probably does, behind the fear of abandonment. 

[the-path-to-redemption]

Long Post Ahead

So, I just rewatched the first episode of Ice Queendom, and MY GOD, did it just pisses me off even more when I looked at the entire series as a whole.

It set up the characters, the dynamic, the pacing, and the motivation so fucking well that I'm more than just disappointed that the entire series derailed at the end. The first episode was amazing, and I think that's why many of us wanted to give the franchise another chance.

Already in the first 5 minutes of the episode, we were shown what we always wanted from canon RWBY: Yang's interaction with Summer's grave and how she felt about her mother. Hell, she even calls Summer "Mama", and gives her a wink as she embraces Ruby who just told Summer about her sister's admission to Beacon. It establishes their family dynamic, which only furthers when we see Tai interacting with his daughters.

He jokes with Yang and talks to her about their family having an outing, he goes with her to Vale to check on Ruby when she's late with the present, and they both wait for Ruby at the police station. He even sent them off on the airship. Where the fuck was this guy in the canon?? Ice Queendom actually managed to make him believable as a single father who's trying his best to support his girls, instead of someone sitting around in his house doing nothing.

The first episode also established the Schnee family so fucking well as a contrast to the Xiao Long-Roses, with Weiss already too familiar with her mother's day drinking habit and her tense relationship with Whitley, who was given a moment of complexity! What the fuck, they actually feel like siblings who never connected because their parents are never there for them without villainizing neither kids for feeling the way they do.

It even shows, in the end, how Weiss felt about her grandfather. Which had it been written by capable writers, we could've seen Nikolas Schnee from various perspectives. He could've simultaneously been a good family man, a great man whom Weiss idolizes, and a colonizing monster that he is to everyone else, especially to Vacuans whom he spearheaded their decline. There was something here, people, fucking do something about it.

And Blake... oh, baby girl I am fucking mad for you at the end of Ice Queendom. It sets her and Adam up so well, even with him clearly letting her go so that she, in his mind, can truly understand the cruelty of the world and how it treats Faunus. None of that bullshit "abusive relationship" shtick was shown, but rather what we expected of them: they have a fallout due to differing opinions but still aim for the same goal which is Faunus liberation.

But nope, her shadow self was villainized at the end for speaking the TRUTH. Weiss and her family did exploit the Faunus. Hell, Weiss herself in the nightmare clearly groups the exploitative, parasitic board members of her company in the same hostile environment as the people they abuse, the Faunus, who she portrays as monsters. In Weiss' mind, these two groups are the same, and that's fucking horrid. Weiss don't give a fuck about the truth at the end, she's just embarrassed that now everyone she knows sees how much of a fucking racist she is.

Ice Queendom disappointed me, and I hate it.

[frees-erotic-writings]

Corruption pt1.

TW Serious smut ahead.

Deep within Salem's castle there was a dungeon. Not a dungeon where she tortured and destroyed her enemies. No, this dungeon was for something far more sinister. The current prisoner of this dungeon, was Team RWBYs busty blonde brawler, Yang Xiao-Long.

Yang's hands were restrained behind her back, and her angered grunts and groans were echoing off the walls. The massive cock of an Alpha Beowulf was ramming into her. The poor girls stomach bulging out with the massive shape, each time the creatures hips came forwards.

The sound of a door creaking open caught their attention, and the Grimm began fucking Yang harder as Salem approached.

"This the best you got!?" Yang snarled as the Grimm queen strode up to her. She was determined to not break, despite how long it had been. "Have your Grimm continuously rape me until I break!?"

Salem chuckled and shook her head. Watching the Grimm fuck the mouthy blonde was entertaining. And the monster was making good progress. "Under normal circumstances, I would be doing just that~ But I've got something much better planned for you~"

"I won't go through with anything you have planned!" Yang bravely declared through gritted teeth. She was trying to act brave, as the rougher thrusts were really starting to get to her.

"Oh yes you will~" Salem's smirk widened, as Yang's screams mixed with the howl of the Beowulf as it came inside her. Salem's hands reached out, and roughly began squeezing Yang's tits to make her scream louder. "And do you want to know the best part?~ You'll be going along with it willingly."

"N-never!" Yang shouted out in defiance. She would never go along willingly with what this bitch had planned. She then landed in a heap at Salem's feet, as the Alpha Beowulf pulled out. The monsters cum leaking out of her abused pussy, not hearing another person enter.

Yang was now lying on her back. Vision hazy, but still glared in defiance at Salem. "I'll never go along with-mmph!" She was cut off, as another large cock was shoved in between her large breasts, and into her mouth.

"Mm~ Your tits feel good Yang~" Cooed a voice that Yang had not heard in years. Yang's violet eyes went wide, as Summer Rose came into focus above her. The silver-eyed Huntress smiled down at her adopted daughter, as she continued thrusting her hips. Pushing the two foot futa cock in between Yang's breasts, and into her mouth.

"Dear Summer here actually gets full credit~" Salem playfully ruffled Summer's hair, as she watched the lewd display before her. "This plan was her idea~ And I'm guessing that you're wondering why she's here?~"

"I just wanted to be reunited with my family~" Summer moaned, as her hips moved faster. "I told Salem I'd do anything~"

Yang's head was spinning! This wasn't happening! This couldn't be happening! No, this was just a side effect of all that Grimm cum. Summer Rose wasn't here. Salem hadn't turned her into a futa. And her tits and mouth weren't being fucked by this huge cock. It had to be a dream. Yeah, that was it. This was some crazy incest dream brought on by all the cum that Beowulf had pumped into her.

And if this was a dream...

Summer moaned as she felt Yang's tongue swirling about the head of her futa cock. "Thats it sweetheart~ Keep it up, and you'll make me cum very soon~"

Now believing this was a lust fueled wet dream, Yang swirled her tongue faster about Summer's futa cock. Moaning in an unashamed way, as Summer pushed it deeper down her throat. Very soon Yang felt the telltale throbbing which only meant one thing. And sure enough, with a loud moan, Summer came. There was so much, that it spilled out of her mouth, and when Summer pulled back, her cum splattered across Yang's face and hair. "So much...~"

"But I'm not done just yet~" Summer cooed, as she held Yang's legs apart. And in one motion of her hips, she had fully buried her two foot futa cock into Yang's cunt. Making the busty brawler scream and arch her back off the cold stone floor of the dungeon. The sensation of that having snapped Yang out of her haze, and back into reality.

This was actually happening! Summer Rose, the woman she viewed as her real mother was indeed alive. And she was fucking her with more intensity than that Beowulf had.

"Ah, finally breaking I see...~" Salem stepped back into Yang's field of view. A smirk on her face when she saw Yang wrap her legs about Summer's waist, as the silver-eyed Huntress rammed her hips against those of the helpless blonde's.

Yang blushed furiously, and looked away. Only to arch up, moaning for the fist time as Salem grabbed her breasts again "Fuuuuuck!~ What do you want!?~"

"To see pretty girls like you succumb to the most degrading sexual situations~" Salem explained over Summer's moaning. The massive shaft bulging out Yang's stomach, as Summer's hips moved.

"Ngh!~ S-so you have your Grimm rape us?" Yang's hips were quickly rising and falling the faster and harder Summer fucked her. "Y-you know, some women are monster fuckers, and want the Grimm to fuck them as a deep dark kink~"

"And what's your deep dark kink Yang Xiao-Long?~" Salem asked as Yang began to squeal. She couldn't take it any longer. Summer fucking her was making her cum.

"Fuuuuuuck!~ Fuck!~ Ah!~ R-Ruby!~" Yang squealed out, as her back arched again. Summer had made her cum by fucking her with that futa cock. "Ah!~ I've wanted to fuck her for a long time!~"

"You mean, like what Summer's doing to you right now?~" Salem cooed, as Summer didn't stop fucking her adopted daughter. Fucking her right through her climax. This was getting very interesting! The Grimm queen's smirk then widened into a smile of triumph when Yang nodded. Perfect!

"I can make that happen~ I can make it, so you can live out your deepest darkest sexual desire~" Salem ran a hand over Yang's lower abdomen. "All you have to do is join me~" Salem began pumping her hand like she was stroking an invisible cock. Making Yang gasp as she could actually feel what Salem was doing.

"Fuck!~ Ah!~ Faster, please stroke faster!~" Yang moaned out, her hips bucking up faster in response to Salem's stroking. "Fuck!~ Fine, I'll do whatever you want!~"

"Good girl~" Salem cooed, as her magic finally materialized a futa cock on Yang that was just as big as Summer's. She then began slowly sucking on the head, making Yang scream again. Her violet eyes dulling as she finally lost to Salem.

[marahuyos]

anon asked: Hello! This is lowkey a comfort request for me djdnks but could I request how diluc, xiao, and childe would react to confessing to their crush but being turned down because their crush doesn’t think they’re worthy of them and they almost genuinely don’t believe the guys when they confess? Feel free to ignore if this request makes you uncomfortable in any way or anything!

*:･ﾟ✧ THIS WAS SITTING FOR SO LONG IN MY INBOX ANON IM SO SORRY HFDJKGHFKDGHFDKGDFGK

gn!reader

tw: swearing

✧ Diluc Ragnvindr

“I... you make me feel that there is something to look forward to in this bleak world. I hope that you will stay by my side forever. So... will you do me the honor of courting you?

• Diluc Ragnvindr is a classic man and he’s absolutely the type to listen to his father regale stories of how he courted his mother. His naivete and rose-tinted view of the world of love is something that Diluc internally cringes at whenever it passes in his mind. He never thought that he would ever go back to reciting corny declarations of love... that is until he met you.

• He wasn’t the type to beat around the bush. He tells you those words quoted above and his visage nearly rivals the color of his hair. He cringes at his own words but he feels like that he didn’t mess it up. In fact, he’s lowkey proud that he was able to fish out those words without making a complete fool of himself. Surely, that would be enough to show you how he truly feels--

• “Are you playing me for a fool, Diluc?”

• Or not.

• He stares back at you, mouth agape and eyes widened. Did he do something wrong? Did he perhaps catch you at a bad time? He was sure that the settings of his confession was perfect. If not that, then why would you think he was joking?

• When he hears that you think he’s ingenuine in his feelings, his heart breaks then those pieces turned into sparks of fire. Did something or someone happened to make you feel this way? How dare someone make you feel like you were undeserving of love? And who was the person to make you like this?

• His plans of vengeance will come later, right now, he needs to show you that he won’t break your heart. It’s a long process, but Diluc won’t give up so easily. It may take months, but he’s willing to become your dawn amidst your dreary days.

“I’m serious about what I said. I’ll wait for eternity until you say yes.”

✧ Xiao

“Mortal... I have-feelings-for you.”

• The one who struggled the most with his confession, yet the one who expects your response, even going so far as to relating to it. Xiao never had much of a proper conversation, much less a confession, to someone that wasn’t an adeptus. What more if it were a mortal who struggles with self-confidence?

• “Are you sure, Xiao? Or is this another thing that you’re confused about?”

• He’s not sure of it himself. He’s not sure of anything. But he’s sure of his feelings towards you. He’s afraid of the rejection but fuck, does it make his heart race every time he thinks about it. He’s willing to risk his dignity for you and it’s scary that an adeptus like he is willing to do this for you.

• But he sees where you were going with this. He had that moment in time where he thought he was as worthless as a dog-a lapdog serving his master and never even offered a bit of kibble. Xiao knows how you feel and he relates to you so hard. It’s almost ironic how both kindred spirits-two people who’ve been hurt and so distrusting of the world-joined hands together against all odds.

• Surprisingly, he’s the most relaxed out of everyone here. At least he doesn’t go in an immediate murderous rampage. Instead, he stands by you in silent relations. He’s not good with words but he’s felt your struggle. He stands by you and he hopes that you understand his feelings.

“I understand... completely how you feel. And I am here.”

✧ Childe

“I wish to go back home to Snezhnaya with you-to meet my family. And for them to see the apple of my eye.”

• He’s the type to have faux confidence. All his splendor in fighting and battles and yet he can’t muster the courage to come and confess to his crush. It’s laughable, really. So even in his confession, he seems insincere and it seems like he was just playing your feelings.

“That’s cute, Childe... What do you want?”

• I-he wants you. Was he not clear enough? He was sure he didn’t cause another city-wide disaster or he forgot anything important. He was sure that he laid out his confession as smoothly as possible, so why did you think that he was confessing for the sake of getting something in return?

• At first, he was angered by that. Did you think he was that shallow to toy around with your feelings? Did you think that he was a lowly mongrel who backs out the moment his enemy fights back? He becomes defensive immediately, admonishing you that he's already having a tough time trying to confess and you were here making things even more confusing.

• And, of course, you argued back. This argument went in a back and forth for a while until you explicitly say to him that someone before had made you feel this way. That your heart was toyed with and broken and they weren't there to pick up the pieces.

• All Childe could feel after that was pure rage. Rage unlike anything he's ever experienced. Out of everyone here, Childe has the most violent reaction, and you had to make a convincing argument for him to stay before he kills the person who broke your heart.

• After apologizing, Childe makes sure that you know that he's into you. It's awkward at first, probably laughable how a Harbinger is brought to his knees by you, but it's worth it when Childe hears those three words on your lips before kissing them.

[ayoalex]

The fucked up thing about Summer's death is not only everything we learned but what her kids have to experience since her death.

Listen, when Yang talks about Summer with Blake in V2 you can tell she was an amazing mom, that her relationship with Tai was full of love, so much that Yang mimics all this with Blake and Ruby.

The way we approach romantic relationship comes from watching our parents, Yang being able to have an healthy relationship with Blake even after everything just shows how of amazing parents both Summer and Tai were and how of a good relationship they had.

But then Summer died and Taiyang got depressed.

And it's so sad BUT so sad that little Yang has to watch a happy Taiyang to depressed Taiyang, her dad that would play with her to the one that doesn't even know how to talk with her anymore.

And then you have Ruby, people constantly telling her how she's just like her mom but she doesn't remember much of those times, she was so little. So now there's this pressure for this 17y old kid to be like her when she doesn't even remember her, she only idolize her, she only remember her face.

And you know what? The difference of treatment they get it's so sad as well.

Because Yang reminds Qrow and Taiyang of Raven then the way they treat her is different than Ruby, the one that reminds them of Summer.

And if you think Ruby and Yang would have never pick up all this you are wrong. Because kids know, they are smart and they know when something isn't ok.

Ruby coping mechanism is her picking up that something wasn't completely right with her family, so if she doesn't get sad, if she continues moving on and be positive then something is at least right, so her family doesn't have to worry about her.

And Yang... Oh Yang, I feel we all know about this already... Her feeling of being worthless? Yeah, talk about a severe childhood trauma.

Anyway, manifesting something good for the Xiao Long-Rose sisters cuz they need it asap

[drwcn]

《Without Envy》- concubine/sleeper agent!wwx & prince!lwj 

[story board 1] [story board 2]   [story board 3]  [story board 4] 

long post: story board 5 →

Lan Wangji, as it turned, was a true gentleman. This was problematic for Wei Wuxian, who was tasked with getting close to him, because Hanguang-wang’s upstanding morals being rather unimpeachable rendered Wei Wuxian’s initial seduction efforts entirely unsuccessful. 

 Lan Wangji straight up ignored him. Whenever he came to visit Jiang Yanli it was always to speak with her and not Wei Wuxian. It was like Wei Wuxian, or A-Xian as he was known, did not exist to the prince. Whenever Wei Wuxian tried to “get close” to him, aka, making himself available to serve tea, meals and such, Lan Wangji would always dismiss him, or tell him to wait outside so Lan Wangji and Jiang Yanli could dine together alone. Needless to say, Wei Wuxian was getting increasingly frustrated. Entirely unbeknownst to Wei Wuxian however was the fact that Lan Wangji had noticed him from the start and was just trying to stop himself from doing something inappropriate. Truth is, Lan Wangji first saw Wei Wuxian at Jiang-fu during one of Lan Wangji’s visits to finalize the marriage between himself and Jiang Yanli. 

It was the dogs’ barking that got Lan Wangji’s attention first. That, and a young man’s agitated cursing.

“Fuck - ow! Princess that was not nice! I’m going to turn you into barbeque if you don’t cut this shi - Ow! Jasmine, give it here!” 

Lan Wangji’s personal guards Guo Ai and Sun Ting made to investigate the source of the ruckus and to tell off whoever dared to be so impertinent and disrespectful in a marquis’s manor, but Lan Wangji stopped them with a subtle gesture.  

Slowly, he approached the round archway looking into the garden and saw by the shrubs a handsome young man cradling a fuzzy tiny thing while trying his darnedest to fend off two relentless hounds. “Shoo, shoo, go bother your master!”

But the dogs wanted to play. Their bushy tails wagged happily.  

Eventually, the young man tired of the over enthusiastic canines, picked up a stick off the ground, and tossed it far over the garden walls. The dogs took off running, and he and the little creature he protected were allowed a moment’s peace. 

“Little tutu, it’s okay, the mean dogs are gone now. Don’t be afraid.” 

It was only then that Lan Wangji saw that the furry round thing was a small bunny, probably driven from its burrow by the aforementioned hounds that belonged to Jiang-xiao-gongzi. He watched, slightly transfixed, as the young man lifted the bunny and gently booped its nose against his own, his comely face scrunching up adorably in the process. 

So when Wei Wuxian arrived at the prince’s estate with Jiang Yanli, Lan Wangji cursed his luck. He had no intentions of becoming attracted or attached to anyone in his harem. His marriages were political games. Everything he did in his harem was calculated. The last thing he needed was for the Jins to think they could sink their claws into him. So he kept company with all his concubines equally, just to maintain the balance. Lan Wangji did not want Jin Ziyan to be the only man in his harem, which was why when Qin Su offered him Mo Xuanyu, he did not refuse. It was fortunate that Mo Xuanyu himself seemed eager to serve too, so Lan Wangji did not have to grapple with ethics there.  He was doing this for his country; everyone knew this. As long as he kept to his duties and divided his attentions equally, there would be trouble in his harem. Except...Lan Wangji wanted to see ‘A-Xian’ again. The more he wanted, the more he made himself keep his distance. He recognized the power dynamic that existed between this servant and himself, and that if he were to ask, A-xian was not really in a position to refuse. Besides, Jiang Yanli made no indications that she wanted her A-Xian to serve Lan Wangji. In fact, she seemed quite protective of him, always looking out for him wherever she could. She practically treated him like a little brother than a servant. As such, Lan Wangji was happy with the way things were. He could live with never knowing A-Xian more intimately. In fact, he did not want A-Xian to be ordered to serve him, or find out that A-Xian was just like every other man and woman in his harem, there to curry favours with him. It would be a shame if he turned out to be just another flower in the garden, another player in this game they played.  

Of course Wei Wuxian read this whole situation as: that little bastard Lan Wangji doesn’t like me. Xue Yang was charged with being Wei Wuxian’s correspondence between Gusu and Qishan but ended up just being the guy Wei Wuxian complained to.  —“Is this Hanguang-wang truly a paragon of virtues???” Wei Wuxian raged. “Aren’t princes supposed to be lechers? Wen Chao certainly is a sleeze. Wen Xu could be too for all we know. I’m young, fit, attractive and available. I know he likes men so why not me? He sleeps with Mo Xuanyu all the time apparently …Is Mo Xuanyu more attractive than me?!” Xue Yang: >_> God I miss murders. 

Wei Wuxian’s “opportunity” came when Jiang Yanli fell mysteriously ill about three months after she married Lan Wangji. When the physicians were left scratching their heads, Wei Wuxian quickly took the matter into his own hands. He needed Jiang Yanli alive; if she died before he made an impression on Lan Wangji, he could be sent away back to Jiang-fu and threaten his entire operation. What’s more, Jiang Yanli had been extremely kind to him in the last two years since he arrived at Gusu. She truly was the perfect lady; he would hate to see her suffer.  Through some crafty investigations, Wei Wuxian discovered that the cause of Jiang Yanli’s illness was a slow poison being laced into her food by Jin Ziyan’s orders. The motive of his actions were obvious enough; ever since Jiang Yanli married in, Lan Wangji seemed to be showing her extra favour, favours which he never distributed unevenly prior to her entering his household. Jin Ziyan did not want Jiang Yanli as a competition. She was a marquess’s dichu daughter, much higher in rank than either Qin Su or Luo Qingyang, and therefore posed serious threat to becoming Lan Wangji’s legal spouse. In a way, she was Jin Ziyan’s biggest competitor, and he couldn’t have that. What Jin Ziyan didn’t know was that Lan Wangji visited Jiang Yanli so much because he wanted to catch glimpses of Wei Wuxian, even though he dismissed Wei Wuxian from the room every time he saw him (the man was clearly a masochist). Wei Wuxian managed to sniff out the poison before it could cause lasting damages, but the effect of it was going on for long enough that Jiang Yanli still had an early term miscarriage before she even knew she was pregnant. Wei Wuxian, incensed by Jiang Yanli’s suffering, was ready to expose Jin Ziyan, but was ordered not to by Wen Zhuliu. ‘We still need Jin Ziyan’ was his reasoning. Still, Wei Wuxian managed to tip off the investigators such that they detected and put an end to the poisoning, but the culprit was ultimately never caught. As this played out, Wei Wuxian realized that now was his chance to get close to Lan Wangji. With Jiang Yanli recuperating...surely the Jiang family would want someone else of their clan to serve Lan Wangji in her place, someone who could keep Lan Wangji’s attention but would not replace Jiang Yanli’s place in the harem. It did not take much to lead Yu Ziyuan to the same conclusion. To ensure that he would have ample time with Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian secretly slipped a special sedative into Jiang Yanli’s food and drink to mimic the symptoms of a slow recovery. The sedative was one of Qishan’s secret formulations and could not be detected by Gusu’s finest doctors. But Jiang Yanli, bless her heart, did not want the boy who she’d come to see as a little brother to be used like an object. "A-niang, I don't want to force A-Xian to do things he doesn't want to. I will get better, dianxia will not abandon me." — Yu Ziyuan tsked, "Silly girl, serving Lan Wangji in your stead is his entire purpose for coming with you. Every family must plan for something like this; someone to hold onto Lan Wangji's interest while you're indisposed. Men are fickle, child. You need time to recover and someone will need to remind Hanguang-wang that you still matter when you’re ready again. We cannot let him forget you. Think of what this would mean for our clan." Much to Yu Ziyuan’s delight, Lan Wangji came to check on Jiang Yanli while she was visiting, and Madam Yu had no qualms making hints that it would be the Jiang family’s honour if Hanguang-wang allowed ‘A-Xian’ to serve him while Yanli recovered. Wei Wuxian did not protest. Why would he? This was his orchestration after all, but when he dared raise his gaze from the floor to look at Lan Wangji, he detected a hint of something in Lan Wangji’s face…something like disappointment. Wei Wuxian relayed this to Xue Yang and the other evil gremlin sucked on a candied apricot and said with a roll of his eyes： —“You’re so dense, shixiong, tsk. Men like Lan Wangji could have any man or woman he wants. If you go along with Madam Yu’s orders, you’ll just to be like everyone else, another ambitious servant trying to socially advance. He’ll fuck you and forget you within a blink of an eye.” — Wei Wuxian sipped his liquor and grimaced. “Fine, what do you suggest I do then? — Xue Yang smirked, “Oh, haven’t you heard? Men like roses with thorns. When you’re brought to him tonight, don’t play along. Don’t humour him. Refuse him.” — Wei Wuxian： >_> Is this how you got those Daoist priests in bed with you? — Xue Yang smirked shamelessly, “Worked, innit?”

Listen, Lan Wangji was fully prepared to have some emotionless sex with Wei Wuxian okay? Boy was prepared to just go through the motions. He was disappointed to know that A-Xian turned out to be no better than any other servant in his harem: eager to climb his bed.

Being a concubine was stupid work, Wei Wuxian realized belatedly. After dinner, Jiang Yanli bid him goodbye with worried eyes as the momos and gugus of Hanguang-fu dragged him away to be bathed and prepped for the prince’s enjoyment later that night. (gugu, momo - older female servants)

Wei Wuxian was not a dirty person - sure, he worked hard, but he bathed regularly - they did not have to scrub that roughly. As they practically scrapped off a layer of skin, the momos rattled on and on about how he should “conduct” himself in the presence of dianxia and how he should position himself to best please him. 

What the actual fuck. Wei Wuxian resisted the urge to pull a face. Did the ladies get the same banal talk? How fucking boring was the sex around here? Wei Wuxian wasn’t born yesterday alright? He knew how to fuck.  ...Well fine, he didn’t, but he and Xue Yang had sucked each other off once or twice, so that should count for something. 

Once the attendants were satisfied with the state of him - hair brushed, skin cleaned and lotioned, callouses removed - they rolled him in a large full-body sized blanket, placed him in a sedan and ordered the servants to carry him to Lan Wangji’s chamber. 

Wei Wuxian tried not to make an exasperated grimace when the servants literally picked him up like a log and deposited him on the prince’s large bed.

Fucking...seriously? 

He did not remember this bullshit when zhangjie married in...but then again Jiang Yanli did marry in. There was a ceremony and everything. Lan Wangji was very respectful that night, bowing to her before lifting her veil as a gentleman ought to. So what the fuck is this barbaric treatment? Just as he pondered on these questions, the tulle canopy parted, and Lan Wangji’s handsome face and broad chest came into view. Undressed to his inner most layer of robes and his ink black hair let loose, he looked very much like a man ready to ravish his new concubine, but somehow, Wei Wuxian could not detect a trace of interest on that jade-like face. 

Despite knowing this was all an act, just a means to an end, Wei Wuxian shivered when Lan Wangji reached for the edge of the blanket that encased him. 

He pulled the blankets closer, shrinking deeper inside. 

“Don’t be afraid,” said Lan Wangji. “I won’t hurt you.” 

Time to act, Wei Wuxian. Give it your best shot. 

“I’m not afraid.”  “Then why do you hide?”  Wei Wuxian waited a meaningful second before meeting Lan Wangji’s gaze dead on and said, “Because I don’t want to.”  Nonplussed, Lan Wangji raised an elegant eye brow in return. “Oh? Is that so? Or are those just words? Perhaps you've confused what kind of place a harem is. If you do not want to, why are you here?”

Is my act not convincing enough or is this stupid asshole so confident in his attractiveness that he thinks everyone must automatically want to fuck him? Slightly ticked off now, Wei Wuxian sat up, still holding the blanket to his chest and retorted hotly, “I am not confused, dianxia. Perhaps you are unable to comprehend the idea that someone as lowly as a servant would refuse when given the opportunity to ascend in rank, but nevertheless, that doesn’t change my position. I don't want to. I am here because Lianfang-jun appointed me; there was hardly any room in that decision for me to argue. If you are determined to have me, I will not resist, because I understand my place. But I am a person, not a thing or a broodmare for you breed. I have some dignity left, and at the very least, before you...before you hold me down and fuck me, I want you to know."

Wei Wuxian half wondered if his act had gone a little overboard. The expletives maybe were just a tad too dramatic, but then again...   ...seeing how Lan Wangji's entire stance shifted, maybe not. 

Lan Wangji withdrew his hand. He had mistaken Wei Wuxian’s initial unwillingness as coquettish posturing, but the heat in those dark, bright eyes could not be faked. 

“Those words could get you into a lot of trouble when spoken to the wrong person. Have the momos not taught you the rules?” 

Wei Wuxian squared his shoulders. “They have, but I place trust in Hanguang-wang’s reputation, that you are a true gentleman and would not force me against my will.” Then, just as he practiced, Wei Wuxian lowered his eyes. “I am a servant, your servant, and I know it is my duty to serve you in any way you command me, but I -...please find other use of me, dianxia, but not this.” 

 He startled a little when a warm hand found purchase under his chin and lifted up his face. Lan Wangji inspected him wordlessly with those cold, sharp eyes, searching for lies, for pretense. Wei Wuxian held his breath, praying he won’t be found out, but eventually, when the prince and his calculation deemed him good enough, he let go. 

“Very well.” 

Lan Wangji fetched a pair of clean inner robes and trousers from the wardrobe and handed them to Wei Wuxian. “Get dressed and move over.” Without waiting for Wei Wuxian to respond, he sat himself down on the edge of the bed and began to remove his socks and shoes. 

Wei Wuxian moved quickly, shrugging on the robes and tied it in place before shoving the trousers under the covers to try and pulling them up his legs. “You’re...you’re not leaving?” 

Lan Wangji glared at him over his shoulder. “This is my room, my bed. Why should I leave?” 

Right. Right.

“But you’re not...sending me away?” 

Lan Wangji frowned as though questioning his intelligence. “Would you like me to send you away? I should think that would reflect badly on you and your mistress.”   That did give Wei Wuxian pause. “Uh, well –”   “Your declining to be my bedfellow does not impede my fulfilling my side of the arrangement. You will leave in the morning, and the others will think that I found you pleasing enough to keep you the whole night. That should give Jiang-fu’ren and the Yunmeng Jiang clan sufficient face."   “I could sleep on the floor.” 

“Do you want to sleep on the floor?” Lan Wangji swung his legs onto the bed and arranged the blankets to his liking. “The doors are never locked. Servants and sentinels must be allowed in to check on me during the night for security purposes. It would not bode well if they found you lying on the floor.” 

Right, yeah that would defeat the whole purpose. 

“Oh.” 

Lan Wangji lay down and crossed his hands over his chest. “Lie down, sleep. I have morning court assembly, and I’m tired. If you’re going to stay, don’t be a disturbance.” 

Feeling like he’d lost all semblance of control in this situation, Wei Wuxian awkwardly laid himself down beside Lan Wangji. The bed was big enough for the two of them that there was space in between even when both of them lay flat on their backs. 

Lan Wangji lifted up just a second to blow out the bedside candle, and then there was total darkness.

Wasn’t I suppose to seduce him? What the fuck is this? Okay...maybe I have no idea how to seduce him...maybe I have no idea how to do anything that’s not straight up strangling him in his sleep. 

Wei Wuxian could feel his heart thudding in his chest, panic coiling tighter and tighter. He almost wished Lan Wangji had ignored his protest and took him, because then it’d be straight forward. As it were, he had no idea how to proceed now. 

Just as Wei Wuxian was being slowly consumed by his maelstrom of thoughts, Lan Wangi suddenly spoke into the dark. 

"I am not a heartless bastard, you should know."

Huh? 

"I never implied that."

“You did.” Lan Wangji gave a little shake of his head. “I do not want this anymore than the others in the harem. You said I treat my women like broodmares, but perhaps you have not considered that Gusu treats me like a stallion."   Wei Wuxian was momentarily speechless.    “Your mistress is very kind and gentle. I am sorry that the child in her belly was lost; I know she very much wanted to be a mother. I see that you are very protective of her, so you should know, I would never hurt her.  Even if she were to never recover her strength, I would not let harm come to her.”   Those words, softly spoken, tugged at Wei Wuxian’s conscience, if not his heartstrings. “Dianxia -”   “Sleep. Good night.”

The next morning Wei Wuxian woke up to knocking on the door. The sun was already high in the sky and the bed was empty of Lan Wangji’s presence.  A group of maids entered carrying a basin of water, towels and clean clothes. Wei Wuxian, dazed, asked, "Where's danxia?" One of the maid giggled. "Dianxia left at dawn to attend morning assembly at the palace. You must not know; he wakes up very early. He said not to wake you, and to let you sleep. He said," The others giggled with her. “He said that you've had a long night."

To the great surprise of everyone, Lan Wangji did not elevate Jiang Yanli’s servant A-Xian to concubine status after the ‘long night’ they had together. Instead he ordered A-Xian to be transferred to his court to be his close-quarter attendant, to serve him in his every day tasks.  Wei Wuxian did not exactly understand why Lan Wangji would make this particularly decision, but he did not complain. After all this was exactly what he wanted, to be close to Lan Wangji and earn his trust.  Lan Wangji, on the other hand, was content to have Wei Wuxian close by, secure in the knowledge ‘A-Xian’ did not wish to spread his legs to socially advance. Perhaps, if he dared to hope, he could finally have someone to speak to in this lonely manor full of people who only saw the crown hanging above his head.

Xue Yang was of the opinion that this was all going to end badly. He was right. 

[next]

[sssn-neptune-vasilias]

Talking about Tai, can you imagine what it must’ve been like for him to have to raise Ruby and Yang by himself though? Like, obviously he wasn’t entirely by himself, he had Qrow every once in a while- at least often enough to train Ruby. But for the most part, he was alone. He was a man who’d just lost not just one wife but two women he actually, truly, honest to god cared for. One of which abandoned him and their young daughter, and the other of which went MIA.

Imagine how fucking harrowing that must’ve been for Tai. First Raven leaves and of course he feels terrible. Maybe it’s something he did or said. Maybe if he apologizes she’ll come back. She has to come back soon, there’s no way she can avoid returning to see her own child for longer than a couple of days. Okay a a week. Two weeks. There’s no way six months can pass... When did Tai finally lose hope that Raven would return? How long before he started bargaining? “Hey look, she doesn’t have to come back for me but Yang needs a mother!” How long was it before he finally realized he’d lost her? How long was it before Yang’s eyes flashed red for the first time, and with all of her messy hair, Tai suddenly couldn’t not see the woman who’d abandoned them both in her?

How long before he finally let Summer into his life? She was their leader and his friend, of course she was worried and tried to help out when she could. “Hey Tai, you’re wiping her wrong, you’re changing her diaper wrong. Here, let me teach you.” How long was it before Tai realized he’d been developing feelings for the only person who’d tried to help him when he was at his lowest point? How long before Summer realized she was developing feelings for her own teammate’s ex? Were these feelings okay?! Should they act on them? It’s been a year since Raven left, surely she couldn’t be upset if we...

How long before Summer started showing? “Oh god, what are we gonna tell Qrow?!” How long before Summer decided “yeah, sorry buddy, this kid is going to be named Rose, not Xiao Long, sorry tiger.” How long before Tai realized he’d had a family again?! With a wife who loves him and two young daughters who he’d end the world for in a heartbeat?

How long was it after Summer left did Tai finally realize she was gone? Did he go off looking for her after a couple of weeks? Did he spend months in Grimm infested forests searching for a lead only to find cold trails or nothing at all? When did Tai finally give up? When did Tai finally realize she was gone? Was it after Ruby was old enough to ask where her mom had gone? Was it when Yang woke him up in the middle of the night one day, gently tugging on his sleeve with a brush in her hand and ask him who was gonna brush her hair? Was it when he ruined a batch of cookies after following Summer’s recipe as well as he could and had to tell his daughters there wouldn’t be any snacks? Was it the first time he found Ruby trying on one of Summer’s old cloaks pretending to be a superhero?

When did Taiyang reach the end of his rope and, realizing that he could never what his daughters deserved, fall into depression?

[blake-belladonna-defence-force]

Hey, Character first impresion about Yang ?

* First impression: Ah Gods... don’t kill me but I didn’t particularly like Yang at first due to the fact that a lot of the media I consumed growing left me pretty jaded to the “Stereotypical blond” trope.

* Impression now: She’s my second favourite character and can someone give this girl a goddamn break? And let’s give her a hug while we’re at it too!

* Favorite moment: ohhh... let’s see... gotta go with the moment she’s reunited with Blake in volume 8 and she just... finally gets it. She understands that Blake feels all of the exact same fear and anxiety that she has. So she reassured them both in one move and holds her jaw so tenderly in her hand and lets Blake press their foreheads together.

* Idea for a story: Hmm... how about a domestic au where Yang brings home a dog and Blake plays the role of “Dad that doesn’t want the goddamn dog but totally ends up being the dog’s best friend”?

* Unpopular opinion: Yang’s a demi-lesbian who never really got into the dating scene because she just didn’t really feel the same obsession/attraction that all of her friends at Signal felt. Then she meets and gets to know Blake, forming this powerful bond with her, and one day (probably as she watching Blake do something incredibly mundane like brushing her hair or tying her ribbon or reading a book) it hits her like a goddamn truck; “Oh fuck... I think I get it now.”

* Favorite relationship: Neptune/Yang, as evidenced from my numerous fics about them— kidding. It’s Bumbleby. I mean... just look at my ao3 😂

* Favorite headcanon: Touching her hair is a huge sign of trust for Yang. Like... Yang letting somebody touch her hair is pretty much the biggest deal in the Xiao Long-Rose-Branwen family and the moment Ruby discovers that Yang lets Blake play with her hair like it’s nothing, she sets up a betting pool with her uncle and father for how long it takes Yang to admit she’s in love with Blake. Qrow wins simply because he had to deal with Tai’s oblivious ass so he has prior experience in dense dumbasses falling for their teammates. Ruby’s a close second and Tai was way off base because he was convinced that “Yang clearly got her flirting skills from her old man. This’ll be a piece of cake for her.”

Spoiler alert: It was not a piece of cake and Tai was this close to grabbing Blake by the shoulders and shoving into Yang’s arms every time he had to watch the two nerds flounder around one another. Ruby and Qrow just stared at him like “Welcome to our world, you utter idiot.”

[ajaxwrites]

Genshin Impact Fanfic Rec List

(because this is my most current obsession~~)

The Narwhal of Dihua Marsh by GreyLiliy

Childe hears of a strong Adeptus living at the Wangshu Inn. Despite warnings from Zhongli that fighting Xiao would be a deathly mistake, Childe seeks out the Adeptus living in the Dihua Marsh eager for a proper fight.

However, Childe severely underestimates his opponent, and the consequences of his actions may keep him from returning home to Snezhnaya.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: This fic is interesting primarily because it's not necessarily what you would call an easy story to read. The content can surprisingly get quite heavy as the relationship between Childe and Zhongli isn't healthy and it becomes increasingly obvious as the story progresses. You swing between wanting to separate the two and also desperately wishing that they'll work out because there is something there. The story snowballs from what seems like an innocuous, if stupid and rash, decision on Childe's part to a complicated mess that you can’t help but be enthralled in. I went in expecting your typical romance and ended up in something that was more complex than I expected but also beautifully thought provoking.

Entirely Out of Spite by Bgtea

"Welcome to a new user experience! You have triggered this interface with the keywords, ‘Stupid game! Stupid devs! I want my f*****g money back!’ You are now bound to the character Tartaglia, the Eleventh Harbinger of the Fatui, codename: Childe! We hope you have an enjoyable user experience and we welcome you once again to Genshin Impact 2.0!”

Those are some of the first words Ajax, starving college student extraordinaire, has the misfortune of hearing upon waking up in a brave new world from what he's fairly sure is a very, very fatal accident involving water and a shit ton of electricity.

Okay, so he's not dead. That's good. But what's this about him being stuck playing the character Tartaglia? Tartaglia, as in the shitty, one-dimensional, cartoonish villain who met his untimely, gruesome death in the first act of the original game?

Fuck that noise. Like hell Ajax is going to share that fate.

And so begins one man's journey to unfuck himself.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Whenever this updates, I squeal. If you’re a fan of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System or just transmigration/reincarnation plots in general, you’re going to love it. Bgtea does a beautiful job in balancing humor with the trauma that comes with the whole reincarnation plotline. The whole of it is beautiful written and watching Childe/Ajax interact with the other characters (and the perspective of those characters) is a delight! 

the sister by glassdrachma

The tragic and unexpected death of Zhongli-xiansheng of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor occurred to the sorrow of many and the deep skepticism of a few.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: glassdrachma has a gift for humor and romance. In short, Zhongli fakes his death for plot reasons and comes back as Jianlao, the bereaved twin sister. Shenanigans ensue, featuring overprotective Liyue-ians (?), chaotic gremlin Venti, and Kexing. Very light hearted, good for the soul.

The White Cicada Society by clementinesgulag

After his little brother is bundled back to Snezhnaya, Childe makes good on his promise to the traveller and takes the first boat out of Liyue Harbor. Any sense of homecoming lasts about as long as an uncooked steak in front of Xiangling, however, when his boat sinks, grounding him back in the mainland.

It's just as well, because the next morning, a body is found in the Northland Bank. A visit from a fellow Harbinger reveals a far more insidious plot than anything Childe could concoct with a god of the vortex and twenty minutes without supervision. The murders aren’t limited to the one Bank. They’ve been trailing down the Liyue border, getting closer and closer to the city. The Tsaritsa has a new mission for him: to figure out who, or what is targeting Fatui forces.

Against his best wishes, Childe is forced to see Zhongli again at the morgue. It becomes clear that he’s going to need a guide, and Childe resolves to quash his pride, and their differences to request his help to navigate Liyue and solve the case.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: A diamond in the rough that I slept on and then stumbled back to by accident. I had it marked for later on AO3 and forgot about it for like a good week to my utter self-disgust. It. Is. So. Damn. Good! The mystery is intriguing but I live for the realistic portrayal of the aftermath of the whole gnosis plotline. The betrayal, the bitterness, but ah, the sexual tension. The harbinger interactions in this fic make it gold though.

Lungs full of Roses by SecretlyACatLady

Childe had always assumed that he would die young. He had accepted that a long time ago, ever since he accepted the mantle of a Fatui Harbinger. However, he always thought that he would die in a glorious fight, his body broken but spirit relishing the strong opponent that had bested him. He was okay with that type of death.

Unfortunately, it seemed like Fate had decided to add one last insult to injury, because, here Childe was, dying because he had fallen in love with the ex-Geo Archon. The same Archon who seemed to have discarded him like an old toy ever since the Osial Incident. --- In which divine beings are cruel and a cursed Childe starts preparing for his inevitable death because no Archon could ever love a mortal.

…Right?

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: The fic that started it all for me, the one that sucked me into the fandom. This fic is heartbreaking. We always do love a hanahaki plotline but something about the way it frames the disease and the shame that comes with it...I highly recommend giving it a read. The angst is real I tell you.

The Bride of The Golden Dragon by Erika_Bee

“You’re to be sent on a special mission, Tartaglia.”

The young man’s eyes gleamed in interest. “How special?” He asked as he wiped the blood off his daggers.

His superior grinned. “Special enough to put your name in Snezhnaya’s history books.”

—

In which the Archon War ravaged the land of Liyue and to ensure the people’s survival, the God of Geo established the Harvester Contract: One bride per village, every year, in exchange for protection and a good harvest.

Or: Childe is sent on an undercover mission to kill the Geo Archon, but things don’t go as planned.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Don’t let the title scare you off--this isn’t one of those fics where they feminize one of the male characters and reduce their personality to a mindless submissive bobblehead to the point that I want to throw my laptop out of the window. Not that there’s anything wrong if you like that kind of thing, just not my cup of tea. This fic though---READ IT! There’s just something refreshing about the writing and the plot, the way that Childe’s character reads off the page. I live for the interactions between the characters and how the author has mapped the relationships. Warning that recent chapters have swerved decided into NSFW territory though.

the brothers grim by izabellwit

Left in an unfamiliar land with a mission he never wanted, a young Kaeya lies, survives, and somehow finds a family in the process.

Or: How Kaeya came to Dawn Winery, and why he left it. Includes lore, sibling bickering, found family struggles, and a more in-depth look at the years between Kaeya’s arrival and Crepus’s death.

Ships: N/A

Notes: Ahh, little Kaeya. Cheeky ass little shit that’s too angsty and adorable for his own good. I don’t have words for this fic. It makes my heart warm but also makes me want to weep because god, this fic covers exactly how traumatic Kaeya’s situation is and why child soldiers/spies just shouldn’t be. And the dynamic he has with Diluc and Crepus--do me a favor and read it. Screams found family.

the wind through the mountain tops by glassdrachma

Boredom brings Barbatos of Mondstadt to bother a certain ex-Archon of the Earth.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: A light-hearted, humorous and fluffy as hell piece. Short word is that Venti comes to Liyue for some fun, causes chaos, accidentally plays matchmaker, and steals some vegetables. A get-together fic for Childe and Zhongli that includes a surprisingly self-aware (if blunt and snarky) Zhongli and jealous Childe that gets increasingly flustered.

melt (speak or forever hold your peace) by anatakana

Falling into bed with Diluc was an unbelievably bad idea given their tumultuous shared history, but Kaeya’s impulsive urge to amuse himself knew no bounds.

It’s all fun and games until emotions got involved.

Ships: Diluc/Kaeya

Notes: THIS IS NSFW. With plot though? This is THE FIC that got me shipping the two (though the game did a good job on its own). The angst is real here and we love the sheer gal of both of these two stupid men.

Cascading (In a good way) by Hubbleablubble

Kaeya is a fascinating annoyance.

(Or: A series of events in which Albedo gets to know Kaeya, and they slowly go from strangers to acquaintances to something more.)

Ships: Albedo/Kaeya

Notes: Sweet fic. Not my typical ship pairing. Loved the Khaenri’ah mentions. Kaeya is Trans FTM here though it’s only briefly mentioned. There is also an incomplete sequel (as of May 2021) featuring an Overprotective Big Brother Diluc on a warpath giving shovel talks to everyone except apparently Albedo that’s also worth reading.

The Language of Flowers by Jules (Penwyn)

Kaeya Alberich has made a habit of lying—after all, the only truths he’s ever spoken cost him everything—but there are only so many lies a man can tell before the truth comes spilling out.

Ships: Diluc/Kaeya

Notes: Hanahaki! Except not! Basically, Kaeya pukes up flowers that say the truth whenever he lies. Cue, angst! Lovely and quick read--love Kaeya’s voice here.

i know i'm where i'm meant to go by paperclips (pastel_paperclips)

"Childe," Zhongli says suddenly. "I am enjoying myself greatly."

Childe’s face breaks into a grin. "Then-"

Zhongli gasps, grabbing his wrist and tugging him over to an unsuspecting peddler with a cart full of rocks. "Is that an intrusive igneous pegmatite formed in the Inazuma regions?"

Childe’s grin smooths into a small, adoring smile. He has all the time in the world to figure the other man out.

OR: Finding the Geo Archon is on Childe's to-do list but hanging out with Zhongli is significantly more fun.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Childe, you idiot. Humorous and funny, very light hearted. Makes you wonder if Childe has an IQ. He’s too busy pining/lovesick to realize that he told his target that he’s going to kill him for his gnosis. Zhongli and Liyue remain confused on how Childe still DOES NOT get it but half-ass hiding his Archon status anyway.

the bird without wings by Anonymous

"Kaeya!" someone yells. Small arms wrap around his waist tightly, red hair spilling out of the ponytail, and Kaeya's heart almost stops.

He's talked his way out of all types of situations. From placating international disputes to buttering up his informants, he's always had a quick response to everything.

But for once, Kaeya is speechless. He stares down at the boy with puffy cheeks, slightly crooked teeth and sparkling bright eyes.

Eight year old Diluc beams back.

Ships: Diluc/Kaeya

Notes: Diluc gets de-aged and Kaeya gets angsty. The interactions between the two are heartwarming and will induce tears. Childe makes a brief appearence that *chef’s kiss*

call me "lover boy" by Anonymous

Zhongli turns back, eyes bright with amusement, a stray lilypad still stuck in his hair, and Childe thinks, wow. I want to kiss him stupid.

Childe's not into the whole "swooning maiden patiently waiting for his beloved to swoop down and smooch the daylights out of him" thing. Nah, that's not his style. He's Tartaglia, eleventh of the Fatui harbingers, and he's going to kiss Zhongli right now.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: FUNNY AS HELL. Childe is straight up just trying to plant one on Zhongli but fate and people just keep interfering. It’s a weird trope aversion where the character is actively trying to confess rather than avoiding it but life gets in the way. 

springtime in snezh-nya-ya by miaomaomei

Tartaglia’s body moves before he can even think about it. He arches his back and flattens his ears against his head, baring his teeth in a hiss. Considering he barely even reaches Scaramouche's knees — Scaramouche, of all people! The guy is practically the size of a fourteen-year-old — he doubts that he is cutting as imposing a figure as he hopes.

It isn't a surprise, though. No one could become a Fatui Harbinger if they were scared of a little cat.

OR

Tartaglia is turned into a cat and he goes to Zhongli for help. It goes about as well as expected.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: TOO ADORABLE FOR WORDS. This is just pure fluff I swear. Love how Childe is written and the interactions between the two are just ahhhh. A balm on the soul.

Melt by tanktrilby

“My name is Diluc,” he says. A scowl naturally furrows his brow, and Kaeya looks like he wants to laugh.

He’s looking at him through his lashes again, blue eyes teasing and warm. “Diluc,” he says. “A knight in overalls isn’t quite where I thought my preferences would lie, but here we are.”

(or: Kaeya loses his memories and makes some assumptions. Diluc can't honestly tell him that he's wrong.)

Ships: Diluc/Kaeya

Notes: As the summary says, Kaeya loses his memories. Diluc plays babysitter for plot reasons. Meanwhile, Kaeya freaks out and has an essential crisis because his instincts freak him out which = angst. Simultaneously, sort of love confessions? 

you are cordially invited by ktenologious

When the Traveler receives a mysterious invitation from a Snezhnayan businessman, they seek out help from the only Snezhnayan they are on good terms with. They decide it is a wonderful idea to go to this business party in the middle of the ocean because, well, what could be better entertainment than watching a Fatui Harbinger at work? It is too bad Childe couldn't come with them...

Meanwhile, the Tsaritsa needs someone to track down the source of a brand new drug at a party on a cruise; it just so happens that she has two Harbingers who specialize in causing chaos and sinking ships. Scaramouche is a sadist and loves this, and Tartaglia... Well, Tartaglia just wants to know why is he the one in the dress again.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe, sort of Diluc/Kaeya & Scaramouche/Childe

Notes: Features a crossdressing Childe and Kaeya for plot reasons. Funny as hell. Love Fatui dynamics/interactions. Highly recommend. Go read it. I’m serious. It’s so beautiful, I can’t. Also Zhongli is so love-sick and jealous, it’s hilarious.

The Road to Snezhnaya by paranoid_fridge

Everything's done and over. Now, Zhongli only needs to adjust to living like an ordinary mortal. Or that is what he thinks until a familiar face shows up in Liyue. Teucer comes looking for his brother who failed to return to Snezhnaya on the Fatui ships. And as Childe's declared "friend", Zhongli must help Teucer find him.

Or: Teucer drags Zhongli on a cross-country goose chase looking for Childe. Zhongli just happens to find a bit more along the way.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: I have no words for this fic outside of the fact that it is clear that Teucer has the only functioning brain and should be Best Man because he obviously did all the work here. Features an oblivious Childe and overprotective Zhongli, plus bystander Kaeya that is getting allll of the gossip. And also the most destructive group of children ever.

basket of knives by oronine

“I just want to be loved,” Childe says to himself, to whoever is listening. “Is that too much to ask?”

They are on the roof once more, this time Childe’s foot touches the edge of the building as he daydreams of something that cannot be. The sky is blank and cloudy and perhaps Lumine fears it’ll all end when he takes a step.

“Not at all,” she says. It’s still the truth.

Contrary to popular belief, Childe hates his family but loves them all the same.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: TW for suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, self-harm, depression, etc. Not a light read by any definition. Set in a modern AU, not in the genshin impact universe. Features a Childe that is Not Okay, good friend but also probably traumatized friend Lumine (and her brother Aether), and Zhongli. Family dynamic is messed up as hell and explores mental health quite well in my opinion. I’m not sure how healthy necessarily Childe’s relationships are but I think that’s a given considering the context and how derailed his mental health is in this fic. Definitely angst as heavy, made me tear up quite a bit. Read, but pay attention to the content/trigger warnings as it does get quite explicit.

Bane of All Evil by tzitzimeme

When Chongyun unintentionally offends Liyue's second most powerful adepti, he vows to mend the thorny relationship between Adeptus Xiao and human exorcists-- even though no one has succeeded in currying Xiao's favor for over a thousand years.

His best friend Xingqiu offers to come alone, mainly because he's worried about what kind of trouble Chongyun will run into. Along the way, they receive help from others: Xiangling packs them meals for their journeys, while Zhongli gives them advice on what demons to track.

Childe is just there because he thinks the whole thing is hilarious.

Ships: Chongyun/Xinqiu

Notes: JFKLFJS I LOVE THIS. I love Chongyun’s characterization and the interaction between all the characters. The dynamic between Chongyun, Xingqiu, and Xiangling are to die for. Also, this line: “Stuck-up Persnickety Bastard.” Random note but Xiao throws Chongyun off a balcony yet is also 100% a softie.

Talks about Nothing by tzitzimeme

In which Zhongli unlocks the Memory of Dust, only to find out:

1. Guizhong is 100% alive (just disembodied) within it, 2. Guizhong has been watching over him this whole time, and 3. Guizhong is very excited by the prospect of Zhongli getting a cute Snezhnayan boyfriend.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe, Venti/Xiao

Notes: The pure judgment that Guizhong unleashes on Zhongli (as well as her sass in general) is pure comedic gold. The dynamic between Xiao and Venti are also adorable. Meanwhile, Childe misunderstands and also just wants to know what the fuck is going on.

xi wangmu by tzitzimeme

Xiangling scales entire mountains to satisfy the palettes of her two pickiest customers.

(Or, two men who are emotionally stunted by their own immortality inadvertantly turn an overly enthusiastic chef into their messenger pigeon.)

Ships: Zhongli/Xiao (?)

Notes: Not sure if it reads romantic exactly, can definitely be read as platonic. The fic boils down to Xiangling trying to expose Xiao to variety because just eating plain almond tofu is a no no. Zhongli gives advice/uses Xiangling as a messenger pigeon. Backstory is explored!

Falling (Fallen) by asinglecrow

It’s only when Childe finds himself in front of Zhongli, a spear protruding from his stomach, that he thinks oh I might have fucked up.

Or: The worst (best) day of Childe's life.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Funny and lighthearted! Gets sort of NSFW with passing mention of mpreg but otherwise, it’s just pure humor/fluff. Get-together fic featuring deadpan dragon Zhongli and Childe that is just done with everything. 

the louvre by morisuke

Here in Liyue, the air is filled with the ocean, and the sun shines through the mountains like it’s flowing through a crack in the sky. Here in Liyue, there is a man with no wallet at a vending machine that is going to waste the rest of his day showing a stranger around their school campus for a pocket sized can of iced coffee.

It’s interesting here in Liyue, Childe thinks.

or

Where Childe flirts with a stranger at a campus vending machine.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Set in a modern/college AU. This is a relatively quiet, soft kind of story. Childe comes to Liyue because reasons and falls in love quietly. It’s more of a snippet of life type of fic that’s sweet and peaceful. Love the change that comes over Childe as he finds a home.

[wesimpforxiao]

A spur-of-the-moment One-shot?

Be warned, heavy angst XD DISCLAIMER: DOES NOT PERTAIN TO SAY MY NAME AND I’LL BE THERE(and no I’m not killing anyone off in that story you guys can relax cuz it’s a promise!  I’d recite Teucer’s pinkie promise lines but I can’t remember them at the moment haha)  

....

What was it that you cared most about?  Was it the village you risked your life to protect?  The safety of your friends and family?  Him?  Or your own life?

You didn’t really have time to think of an answer when yet another blow crashed into you and sent you flying into the field.  The sickening crunch of bone as you hit the ground was probably heard by your offender.  One last shot.  One last shot.  You grit your teeth through the pain and sat up, shoulder slack from the impact of their last attack.

“DIE HERE!”  A mix of ice and flame torched your attacker, their screams echoing in the dead of night until they disintegrated into ash.  But just as you thought the torment was over, your gaze fell to the ever-widening gash at your side.  “Ah.”  It appears my delusion and vision outperformed this time.  A wry chuckle left your lips, and you sank back into the dewy grass that willingly soaked the blood up like it was an offering to the soil.

What did it all mean, in the end?

Hi, Xiao.  Your whispers of a greeting reached the ears of the yaksha, who was somewhere south of here.  I know it’s late, but I just wanted to say hello.  What good would it do to call your dear friend here?  You couldn’t feel your toes anymore; the tips of your fingers were becoming numb and the palms of your hands tingled.  I hope your day went well.  Have some almond tofu for me, would ya?

The arrogation of mankind won out yet again; this was a fitting end to your self-proclamation of godhood.  That yaksha of yours would probably remind you of it if he were here right now.  Truth be told, it’d be nice to have some company in your final moments, but it wouldn’t be right to have him witness the fall of another one of his companions.

Yet he knelt beside you anyway.

“Y-You shouldn’t be here,” a miniscule smile rose upon your bloody lips.  “My village isn’t too far.  Could you be a peach and make sure everyone is alright for me?”

Xiao’s fingers trailed to your side and peeled the fabric away from your skin, his face twisting into a scowl when he caught the glint of the delusion in your hand.  “You shouldn’t have tha--”

“Come on, you know I can’t...I can’t help myself.”  Your laugh turned into a coughing fit, and he retracted his hand.  He didn’t seem at all surprised to find you at death’s door; that’s how reckless of a human you were.

“The wound is too deep.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“It will be slow.”

“I know.”

“Are you in pain?”  How is she even conscious?

“I feel warm and fuzzy, nothing else.”  The yaksha observed your labored breathing for a moment, the sound of the crickets filling the gaps of silence.  “You should go.  I’d like...to die in peace.  Please.”

“Fool,” he growled.  “I will not.”  For he knew you well enough to know you wanted him, needed him here even though you said the exact opposite.  Just like him.  It was the main connection the two of you had; your minds both focused on protecting others by pushing them away.

“I’d rather not have someone,” a deep, slow breath, “watch me pass.”  He was getting a bit blurry.  “It’s creepy, you know.”  So sleepy...

“Rest here,” he encouraged with a hand warming your forehead.  He ignored the slight lump that had formed in his throat.  The death of a companion was never easy, but he’d have to bear it.  He will join his friends one day...but until then, this wouldn’t get to him.  It couldn’t.  He forced himself to hold your unsteady gaze and swallowed the hurt that began to constrict his chest.  You will not see me break in your final moment.  “Rest here, and die knowing I stayed with you to the end, friend.”

What a soft voice, a soft expression from your dear companion.  “...yes...”  You were determined to hold his gaze as long as your eyes allowed you to, and your hand met his warm one at your forehead.  “Th-Thank you, Xiao.”

The lone yaksha let out a long, heavy sigh after you took your last breath.

......

ALTERNATE ENDING (Cursing warning.  Also, this one is worse ;-;)

“Sh-Shit,” a half-hearted laugh left your lips when your hand retracted from your side to reveal a lot of blood.  “A-haha, X-Xiao’s gonna make a fuss about this.”  You forced yourself to lie down in the dewy grass, biting the inside of your cheek to refrain from yelping when your broken shoulder touched the ground.

Hey, Xiao.  You blinked the tears of both fear and pain away as you stared up at the night sky.  ‘Just breathe,’ you thought.  ‘No need to panic.’ But the searing pain within your stomach told you there was a need to freak out a bit.  You could only imagine how badly your organs were damaged...How was your day?  Sorry if my prayers are a bit repetitive.  It’s just nice to talk sometimes.

“Tch.”  Another wince of pain and suddenly Xiao was standing above you.  “Ah...you shouldn’t be here.  M-My village is...”

“Do not speak.”  The adeptus knelt beside you and peeled the fabric away from your stomach.  “Your village is fine.”

“Promise?”  Screw holding the facade, this hurt like hell.  You squirmed when his fingertips grazed you.  “Ngh! Stop!”

“The wound is too deep.”

“I know!”  Reality finally set in, and your breathing quickened in a panic.  At least the adrenaline numbed a little bit of the pain, but it paled in comparison to whatever damage was done to your stomach.  “F-fuck, get away from me.”  Your growl didn’t faze him, but something flickered across his face when you began to cough up an unruly amount of blood.

“It will be slow.”  His gaze caught yours. “Painful.”

“I-I know,” tears stung the corners of your eyes.  The pain was only getting worse.  “Please leave me to die here.  Go on, now.  You don’t have to be here.  Shoo.”

“Fool,” he sneered.  “Of course I have to.”  

“It’s creepy to watch me like this,” you forced a laugh, but more blood came up instead.  “Ugh...haah, it hurts too much.”  The yaksha stroked your hair somewhat awkwardly in an attempt to soothe you.  “X-Xiao...I...please end it.”

Xiao watched you carefully, his hand stilling.  “You want me to end your suffering?”

“Y-yes, please!”  Every breath invited a pain equivalent to being burned, every movement invited what felt like knives into your organs.  “P-Please.  I know...I know it’s a lot to ask.  But I’d rather it be by your hand.”

It wouldn’t be the first time he’s had to do this, but a pain still shot through him at the thought of your death.  He was looking forward to your endless bickering for the next several years, looking forward to savoring this last banter with you, but if you were in that much pain, so be it.  He summoned his polearm, and caught the brief panic in your eyes when you realized the blade was much bigger than you remembered.  “You’re certain?”

“Just...Just make it quick, please?”

He lifted you enough so he could envelop you in his embrace.  “Rest now, my companion.”

A sharp yelp echoed through the field as his blade pierced the center of your chest until it had pierced through the other side.  Your grip on his arm tightened for a few long seconds as you drew your last breaths.  “..th...thank you...”  His stiff stroking of your hair soothed your anxiety of letting go, but the stiffness wasn’t attributed to awkwardness of human contact--instead, it was grief.  Shock.  Sadness.  Whatever humans attributed this god-awful feeling to.

Yet another voice to haunt him.

So be it.

[hopeaterart]

RWBY HPTR AU: Timeline

More of my embarrassingly self-indulgent AU. It tackles the timeline of events happening before the show starts. For those for who it's the first time here: most of the antagonists in the show are students at Beacon here, hence why the 63 A.G.W. point is probably a bit confusing, as well as the presence of many, many OCs. Warning: Very Ozpin-centric, especially at the beginning, because I'm insane and constructed a whole backstory for this man. If you want me to add something to the timeline, or have questions about the AU, just ask. ^^

(REFERENCE: A.G.W. stands for After Great War.)

34 A.G.W.: Ozborn Pinhead is born to con-artists living in the mountains of Vale.

45 A.G.W.: King Ozymandias Valenoa dies. On a side-note, Aura Lycoris is born.

46 A.G.W.: Ozymandias/Ozma reincarnates into Ozborn the moment he hits puberty. A few months later, Ozborn runs away from home to join a Collibet Monastery.

(REFERENCE: Collibet is branch of religion in the world of Remnant. It's followers' main belief is that life is to be enjoyed to it's fullest, and they have to help people enjoy it. Their worship is mainly centered on the God of Light.)

51 A.G.W.: Ozborn decides to enroll in Beacon for multiple reasons. He's placed in Team DSOO with Cadmium Duat, Zephyr Olympia, and Jade Sheng. He will become very close to Jade, almost like siblings. She's the one who coins the Ozpin nickname.

52 A.G.W.: Vytal festival happens in Haven. Ozborn ends up being finalist instead of his teammate through circumstances that went against his will, and ends up befriending fellow finalist from Shade Theodore Yellowstone, as well as a Faunus competitor from Haven called Leonardo Lionheart. Theodore is the winner.

53 A.G.W.: During a training mission that brought them to Solitas, Team DSOO ends up working with James Ironwood. Even if difficult to work with, Ozborn forms a tentative friendship with him, which they'll maintain through CCT communications. Ozborn also accidently ends up mentoring a first year named Glynda Goodwitch.

54 A.G.W.: Team STRQ enrolls in Beacon. Ozborn ends up being their mentor (intentionally this time) through a mentorship program at Beacon. Summer Rose is the winner of the Vytal Festival, having beaten Ironwood. After warning them that the truth isn't pretty, Ozborn comes clean about his cycle of reincarnation to Jade, STRQ, Glynda, Theodore, Lionheart and Ironwood, as well as Salem and her immortality. The only one unwilling to get involved is Taiyang Xiao Long, who can see that Ozborn absolutely does not want to be in this situation, thinks he's in way over his head and probably needs to take some distance from Huntsman business. Qrow and Raven are given their bird powers.

55 A.G.W.: Having taken Taiyang's opinion on the situation to heart, Ozborn decides to take a step back and go back in the Monastery he grew up in in order to become a Priest. Jade joins him in a show of support.

57 A.G.W.: Ozborn gets ordained, and he and Jade promptly go on a pilgrimage together with one very clear objective in mind: fuck Salem over. They find her at the end of the year, successfully lie to Salem about Ozborn's identity and fool her into thinking they want to join her side. On a side note, Gretchen Reinhart, Hazel Reinhart and Winter Schnee are all born.

58 A.G.W.: After getting out of Salem the secret to her immortality and the location of the God of Light's pool/former residence, Ozborn and Jade run away in the night in order for Ozborn to get similar immortality. Salem finds out about the betrayal, successfully kills Jade before Ozborn can go in the pool, and permanently cripples him with a magical attack that destroys his leg in a way that the pool's magic isn't able to completely fix. Ozborn still obtains immortality, permanently changing the game. He also sheds away the identity of Ozborn Pinhead, and renames himself after Jade's nickname for him.

59 A.G.W.: Ozpin comes back, and marries Taiyang, Raven Branwen and Summer Rose together. He also enrolls in Beacon as the Myth & Religion teacher.

60 A.G.W.: Desperate to get back at Ozpin after such an humiliating defeat, Salem takes a teenage Aura Lycoris under her wing.

62 A.G.W.: Aura starts the deep-undercover operation of gaining Ozpin's trust, starting by enrolling into Beacon.

63 A.G.W.: Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladona, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Arthur Watts, Tyrian Callows, Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, Roman Brunswick, Trivia Vanille, Ochre Wedjat, Raoul Arsenic, Wilhemia Key and Lys Rosenbed are all born. On a side-note, Ozpin and Qrow start a tentative romantic relationship at the end of the year.

65 A.G.W.: Ruby Rose is born.

66 A.G.W.: Aura graduates, and goes on a small pause in her mission in order to clean up some loose ends on Salem's part.

67 A.G.W.: Summer dies on a mission gone wrong (Unless/until we get something specific, Aura's partially responsible in my AU). Overwhelmed and disillusioned by the demise of the woman she loved, Raven abandons the rest of her family and goes back to the Branwen tribe. Both Taiyang and Qrow are left broken by this series of events, and Qrow ends up falling to alcoholism, leaving Ozpin to pick up the broken pieces of the inner circle. On a side note, both Oscar Pine and Whitley Schnee are born.

68 A.G.W.: Following a convoluted series of events that leaves Oscar orphaned for a total of maybe an hour before Ozpin adopts him, the wizard finally starts getting his shit back together, and starts formulating a plan to get back on his feet properly. On a side-note, Marcus Black steals his son's- Mercury- Semblance.

69 A.G.W.: Ozpin successfully becomes Beacon's headmaster, and promptly pulls strings to put Theodore, Lionheart and Ironwood in the same positions in their respective kingdoms. He also makes Glynda into his successor to the position. Meanwhile, Aura joins his staff as the Study Hall teacher/supervisor. Kuroyuri is destroyed by the Nuckelavee, orphaning Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie.

72 A.G.W.: Mountain Glenn is destroyed. Ozpin is able to save a few people at the last minute, including the Reinhart twins, thus inspiring Gretchen to become a Huntress. On a side note, James Ironwood becomes General, and thus Atlas' Chief of Armies, and gains a second seat on the Atlesian Council. The rest of the inner circle has mixed feelings about this, mostly negative.

73 A.G.W.: After a very long time of frustration at the Atlesian Council, Hagatha Greene snaps after a combination of her project being denied in favor of Pietro's, and being forced to work with an actual child (10 years old Arthur Watts). She's approached by Salem via Aura, and fakes her death. On a side note, the Brunswick farm is invaded by Apathy, forcing Roman to run away. He'll later stow himself away to Vale and rename himself Torchwick in order to cut ties with his past.

74 A.G.W.: Lionheart is forced to inform the Spring Maiden about what Salem can do. Overwhelmed, she runs away to the Branwen tribe. Lionheart himself latter approached by Greene, who more-or-less blackmails him into joining Salem. He calls Ozpin to know what he's supposed to do, and ends up becoming a double-agent. On a side-note, Gretchen signs up for Beacon, and Winter for Atlas in her first step to distance herself from her family.

76 A.G.W.: Gretchen is severely wounded on a training mission. Since her body was never found, it was assumed she died. Despite knowing that he'd probably be attacked on sight- and he was- Ozpin is able to provide Hazel with a bit of peace concerning the demise of his sister. Unknown to the both of them, Gretchen was actually found by Salem's circle and brought to her in order to get a new underling. On a side-note, the Spring Maiden dies and passes the power to Raven.

77 A.G.W.: Cinder and Arthur meet off-handedly while running away from Atlas for different reasons (Cinder is running from the Madame, Arthur from the military) due to sneaking on the same cargo ship. They separate after. Cinder ends up staying in Mistral, while Arthur wanders around Anima and ends up meeting Tyrian, who's part of a circus. Tyrian ends up following Arthur, who intends on getting to Vale as fast as possible. The two end up becoming fast friends after some initial frostiness. Trivia also runs away from home and meets Roman, and renames herself Neopolitan after the imaginary friend she had in her childhood.

78 A.G.W.: Cinder meets Emerald in the streets of Mistral, and the two bond over their dreams of becoming Huntresses. After Cinders remembers something Arthur told her about Beacon having a program for students like them, the two girls set off for Beacon.

79 A.G.W.: Marcus is hired to assassinate Ozpin, and fails in this task. Some time after, Cinder and Emerald, who recently got to Vale, cross path with Mercury, who's running away from his abusive father after a savage fight with him due to the man cutting off his legs. Marcus joins Salem after.

(AMBIGUOUS TIME PERIOD: Somewhere in the 70s, Aura found and started forming all the members of Team ORKL. I don't have a precise time period, but for those curious, the order she found them in was: Raoul, Lys, Ochre and Whilemia.)

80 A.G.W.: The story starts.

[queen-ofsunflowers]

If the roles were reversed

So, a while ago I got an ask asking me what would happen if BNHA!Ruby from my RWBY in My Hero AU met her canon counterpart. And that got me thinking about what in RWBY would be different in the AU was reversed -- if the My Hero characters were the ones in the RWBYverse rather than the vice versa.

So, here are a few of the small ideas that I came up with for that out of “why not?”

Tsuyu and Tokoyami are both Faunus. They live on Menagerie.

The “gang back at Signal” Ruby was referring to in V1 are actually Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki. They all grew up on Patch together. (And yes, they all call Bakugo “Kacchan”.)

It should be obvious that Midoriya and Bakugo are childhood friends with Ruby and Yang since they grow up on Patch together. Todoroki does too, but it’s only him. He was born in Mistral and ran away shortly after his brother Touya’s “death” and receiving his scar. He managed to sneak aboard a ship and made his way to Vale, where he was found and taken in by Qrow. (Even if he has his own issues, Qrow is a way better parent than Endeavor could hope to be.)

Todoroki’s semblance is different from his Quirk. His semblance only lets him alter temperature rather than generate ice and fire. His weapon (much like Ruby’s, something that is inspiried by his adoptive father) are a pair of kama with a shotgun feature. One uses fire dust and the other ice. They don’t have names yet.

Bakugo’s weapons are mostly his grenade guantlets. How that’s going to work is something that’s up in the air right now. His semblance is also altered from his Quirk. Rather than sweat being the source of his explosions, Bakugo is able to supercharge his Aura on a part of his body to make it explode. He usually does this on the palms of his hands.

Midoriya’s weapon... I want it to reflect his fighting style and analytical prowess. I’ve been thinking of something that’s most likely a mix of the guantlets from Assassin’s Creed and something similar to Mercuyr’s boots. Whether he just hasn’t unlocked his semblance or flat out doesn’t have one is unknown.

Because of age, there are only two teams that have been made in this AU so far, both from Beacon: Team TAYN (Mirio Togata, Tamaki Amajiki, Yuyu Haya, Nejire Hadou) and Team SHOT (Shouta Aizawa, Hizashi Yamada, Oboro Shirakumo, Tensei Iida).

That being said, Mirio gets heavily injured during the Fall of Beacon. He lives, but he’s one of the students who took the heaviest hits. Tamaki is the second most injuried on the team (not as bad as Mirio), and Yuyu and Nejire are primarily fine at the end of it all, with Nejire only having a few bruises.

Shirakumo, unlike his My Hero counterpart, actually survives the building falling on him due to his Aura, even though it breaks when it happens. His weapon so far is a staff.

Aizawa’s weapon is going to have something to do with his capture weapon. His semblance is mostly the same as his Quirk.

Team SHOT is a usual sight around the Xiao Long-Rose home. Aizawa and Qrow's relationship never took a nose dive in this universe (at least not as bad or as long as it is in the My Hero-verse), so Ruby grew up with those four as honorary uncles, too.

When it comes to V4 and V5, the remaining members of JNPR are replaced by Bakugo, Midoriya and Todoroki. They go to Mistral with Ruby rather than Jaune, Nora and Ren. They stay behind with Yang and show up with her and Weiss later on in V5.

Because of the above change, RNJR becomes RISK (though Bakugo insists it he should be the leader, leading to Izuku and Shouto teasing him over possible team names such as KISR). There's also team YARN (yang, jaune, ren and nora). ...I suck at team names, give me a break--

All for One dies decades ago, which results in a lot of relationships being different. Older brother Tenko Shimura is one thing (adopted by Inko after finding him on the streets). All Might's injury is caused by Salem rather than AfO.

Because JNR is not going with Ruby to Mistral, V4 is changed the most. Yang has her friends added to her support system (and vice versa, Ren still goes through his issues, just in another way that I have yet to figure out). And the nuckelavee fight never happens. Well... sort of. The nuckelavee does confront RISK but is killed by another Huntsman -- that one being Endeavor, who recognizes Shouto. This leads to the fight not being against the Grimm but against Endeavor as the others try to keep him from taking Shouto away from them and back somewhere where he was miserable and in danger. (And Shouto going off on Endeavor in the best way possible).

It ends when the airships arrive, as they do in canon, and see a huntsman fighting a bunch of kids. In the end, Endeavor gets arrested for assaulting minors, RISK gets a ride to Mistral and Qrow gets some help.

Thanks to Tensei, Tenya and Ruby are pen pals growing up. They lose touch with each other after the Fall of Beacon, however, due to the tower falling and Ruby being on her mission to Mistral. They only really meet face-to-face during Volume 7.

Ochako is also from Atlas, or rather she’s from Mantle and is a Happy Huntress-in-training (at least until shit hits the fan at the end of V7 and becomes official). Haven’t figured out a weapon for her, but her semblance lets her transfer a bit of her Aura into something/someone to temporarily make it float. The more Aura, the higher it can go.

The Iida family are major benefactors in Mantle. They care about the place and want to see it flourish like Atlas (especially since Mantle is where their family got their start). After the election, Tensei openly admits he wants to punch Jacques Schnee in the face.

Midoriya gets shot off of Atlas with Oscar (went with him for backup). If given the opportunity, Toshinori (who has trained Midoriya prior to him fucking off to Mistral) will punch Ironwood in the face.

And that’s all I really got for this so far. I���m not sure if it will go any further than this, since this was just a random “what if I went the other way” with the RWBY in My Hero AU.

[nitw]

I know you mentioned on twitter something about bumbleby and the magnus archives for the apocalypse prompt (i'm assuming this has smth to do w season 5 of tma) anyways i just want to here more of your thoughts if you got any ?

BUMBLEBY TMA AU LETS GOOOOOOOO

QUICK NOTE: eveyrone in this au are gonna be aged up a bit so their jobs make more sense lmao. ALSO....semblances n grimm aren’t really a thing here, it’s set in remnant but with tma’s rules in terms of magic and monsters!

yang xiao long, local paranormal enthusiast who’s secretly also a huge book nerd, is suddenly promoted to head archivist of the emerald institute, vale (I’LL GET TO THAT) after the assumed death of the previous archivist; glynda goodwitch, because she’s smart and and organized and totally not for any evil reasons!!!! YAY

her 3 assistants at the archives include:

ruby rose, former researcher. got a job at the institute a couple of years after her sister to follow in her footsteps, and also as an excuse to read up on fun ghost business, but eventually learned to like her job. DEFINITELY lied on her resume (what a twist!), surprisingly still really good at her job because of how quickly she can adapt to any situation that’s thrown at her. though she wasn’t too excited when she got moved to an archival assistant job with her older sister bossing her around. no one else actually knows the two of them are related.

weiss schnee, former researcher specializing in artefacts. longtime friend of ruby but with little interest in getting to know her other coworkers (at least in the beginning). joined the institute for Big Deal Rich Family Reasons TM but has a genuine interest in the paranormal, especially when dealing with artefacts. she took a lot of pride in her old position, and kinda really dislikes working at the archives.

blake belladonna, former librarian. the soft-spoken, tea-loving, cute hobbyist writer mostly tends to herself, but her new job down at the archives suddenly made everything a lot more interesting - specifically her boss.

ozpin [LASTNAMEWIP], head of the institute. POSSIBLY THE SOUL OF THE ORIGINAL FOUNDER, OZMA EMERALD (its a wiz of oz reference dont kill me)??? WHO KNOWS. listen. LISTEN. there’s not enough aus where ozpin is just fucked up and evil. it’s so fitting and so funny. if YOU were a gay loser who succeeded in gaining immortality and swapped bodies throughout hundreds of years, YOU’D BE FUCKED UP AND EVIL TOO!!!

blake’s crush is as big as martin’s and yang’s just as oblivious as jon. only difference is that they get along fine enough at first. though yang does find blake PRETTY AWKWARD, she quickly learns to appreciate her, AND THEN SOME!

wuh oh someone has to die :/

ruby, i’d like to introduce you to NOT!ruby

weiss found dead in pile of clown parts fucked up if true!!! THE STRANGER TOOK HER BROTHER YO

*weiss voice* im gonna go down swingin *clutches literal sword*

IT’S REMARKABLY EASY TO BUY A SWORD IN CENTRAL VALE

WUH OH YANG IS IN A COMA! who’s gonna be blake’s impulse control now??? KNOCK KNOCK IT’S ADAM FT. THE LONELY (I AM ACTUALLY SO SORRY BUT......HE’S GONNA DIE ANYWAY IT’S COOL)

“it’s just better for some people to be alone...” “I NEED YOU HERE FOR ME.”

yadda yadda yadda safehouse gay tranquility DING DONG IT’S THE EYEPOCALYPSE

listen i just really want yang as the s5 archivist ok. COOL EYE POWERS but like even MORE extreme

for the rest of the characters..? go nuts. i’m not smart enough for this. do what you want.

[disregardcanon]

rwby julie and the phantoms au featuring dead girl band rwby and jaune as the conduit. but like, jaune who just half-way cheated his way into music school

the year is 1995 and the girl band RWBY is a rising power in the indie music world. composed of four talented, each with a rich and interesting backstory for the public to latch onto, they’re well on their way to becoming LGBT icons- if not actual stars. weiss, blake, and yang are twenty and ruby is eighteen.

weiss schnee is the daughter of silicone valley tycoon jacques schnee, who made headlines when she cut off all her hair and ran away from home to join a queer girl band. she’s the second schnee daughter to leave home, winter having joined the military back in 1992. she’s the band’s lead vocalist, though she occasionally plays violin in tracks that they write it into.

blake belladonna is already a famous singer. she sprung onto the scene in 1992 in a duo known as “bellataurus”. acting as the full sonny and cher package, adam taurus served as both older boyfriend and older manager until blake broke from him and helped to form RWBY in 1994. she took her vocals, her piano skills, GUITAR skills, and her songwriting skills with her.

yang xiao long and ruby rose are legacies of the highest order. summer, raven, qrow, and tai formed a band when they were kids and they became some of the biggest rockstars of the seventies and eighties- and later some of the biggest scandals. raven and tai’s messy, public breakup after the birth of their daughter signaled the band’s death- but then the birth of tai and SUMMER’S child signaled an even bigger scandal. the tabloids had an absolute field day over the new baby.

yang learned lots of instruments, but mainly took up the drums from her dad. the same went for ruby, but she mainly stole qrow’s guitar and made him teach her to shred.

unfortunately, the media never stopped following the two kids around, even through ruby’s transition. in a mixed bag for the remnants of STRQ and their children, the media circus that followed ruby rose coming out as a girl in NINETEEN NINETY TWO. the remaining members of STRQ still had a lot of clout and fully put their support behind her, but transmisognyny’s a bitch and it still followed them everywhere. yang coming out publicly as a lesbian neither helped nor hindered the situation, but it did make ruby feel a bit less alone.

the girls formed their band about a year before their- uh, UNTIMELY deaths in 1995. this came 3 days after a confrontation between blake and adam, where she promised that she would never, EVER date him again. she wouldn’t even work with him again. she and her band were going to become stars and actually help make social changes, instead of them just bullying her into going along with whatever THEY want from her and keeping her mouth shut because politics kills careers. 

they’re playing the ORPHEUM! the theater where so many bands have gotten their big break! she doesn’t need him now and she didn’t need him then.

eating bad street hot dogs after the warm up for a performance that blake promised adam 3 days ago would be the best that she ever gave- well. that’s just a weird coincidence, right?

cue 2020.

jaune arc has recently gotten into his first semester at a prestigious music college in the LA area, close to his family’s home where he still lives. the garage/studio out back remains largely untouched. half of that’s because cleaning the place out would be a lot of work, but half of it’s because his parents feel bad about the idea of cleaning out all of STRQ’s old recording equipment that both summer and tai promised they “didn’t want anymore” while selling the house in the wake of their daughters’ deaths. 

it’s not like the area is really suitable as a garage, and the arcs can spare a little room just in case those people ever change their minds.. even though they haven’t in twenty five years.

jaune’s house isn’t completely empty because he still has one of his older sisters going to college in LA at the same time, but it’s preeetttyy empty. his parents are hands off at this point and don’t even wonder how their baby who never even took any music lessons has gotten into a school like this.

it’s not like he doesn’t sing and sing pretty well, but they’re not even certain he can read music. spoiler alert: he can’t.

jaune is actually VERY good at working by ear and performing, but his music education growing up was lacking. on all levels. his parents encouraged him to do sports as his primary activity and he had no time for anything else and his public school music ed did not get him what he needed to go to music school.

frankly, he doesn’t even know what a treble clef is called. so. he’s a bit behind when going into his college classes. he was only able to fake the paperwork to get into music theory II, but considering that he’s. uh, completely unaware of what those notes mean he’s a bit fucked.

he’s always just been able to pull the song out of his ass because he listened to enough music to learn stuff by ear, but now he’s supposed to work through all this stuff with notation and he MIGHT BE DYING

he’s assigned to a group project with ren and nora and pyrrha and, well, thank god pyrrha notices and is kind enough to try to fill in the cracks.

but there’s a lot of cracks, you know? he’s barely pulling the grades that he needs to not get kicked out of the program at the moment, and he’s not entirely sure how to go about getting an accompanist for his end of semester showcase and ren and nora are already working together (they both play guitar and sing together) and pyrrha’s a soloist and -

oh god, he’s going to get kicked out of this program, isn’t he?

pyrrha keeps talking him down out of the anxiety because she is very kind and has a very big crush because jaune still has noticed that she’s a pop star that wanted to (but is failing to) have a normal college experience.

she lets him borrow her copy of RWBY’s first and only album and lets him take it home to listen to it. he decides to listen to it in the studio because he knows that’s where music, at one point, happened.

and it of course summons the souls of all four girls. they have ghostly mischief as they try to figure out how to make things work, and realize that while people who aren’t jaune can’t see them- people can HEAR THEM. and then when they play along with jaune for his end of semester show case- they realize that people can SEE THEM when they play with him.

pyrrha is confused about why jaune’s hologram band looks so much like RWBY, and she’s a little jealous and hurt that he’s been keeping this from her while letting HER bear the brunt of helping him with his struggles. jaune doesn’t know how to say that yeah, those are the actual ghosts of RWBY.

petty drama, petty drama, the girls are feeling suffocated by the fact that they’re actually dead and can’t interact with anyone who’s alive. ruby decides to go clear her head and meets another, very sweet and enthusiastic ghost named penny who likes to skateboard. 

penny is very sweet and ruby has what is known in show biz as a CRUSH. ruby learns a bit about how this ghost stuff works from her (some powers, about the unfinished business being what’s tying them to the land of the living, that she is VERY GAY) and she comes back to her friends to say hello yes i know things now and am also gay. wasn’t positive about that before but it’s a fact now

here’s where i lose my thread and am too tired to find it again but other things

1. ironwood is the villain of this. if you’re familiar with jatp, he serves the same function as caleb covington if not the exact same motives. he seals souls to him by a contract but with the express purpose of building a safe afterlife for ghosts... by making sure that all of them are under his control. winter, who died in one of the united state’s middle eastern campaigns is his right hand ghost. 

weiss is majorly conflicted by this because. it’s winter, you know? it’s winter. and it seems like this guy is trying to make things better for ghosts, right? he’s got a homebase and he can make them visible sometimes and make it so they can eat food and lots of stuff. but it comes with a heavy level of control. 

he doesn’t go after the girls until later because he thinks that they’ll come back, but when he DOES... the fact that he owns penny’s soul and doesn’t see her or any of the souls under his control as full people comes up in an ugly way.

2. adam taurus is the trevor wilson of this, but waaaayyy worse. he did in fact kill the girls and pillaged what he could of blake’s songs to record and put out under his own name. he‘s a big star, but a fading one, and he has a few vengeful ghost coming for him.

3. winter is a ghost, but whitley is a ghost of himself. at this point he’s forty and still doesn’t even know what he wants because he’s molded himself into what his dad wants so thoroughly. getting him to realize that he wants more and wants things for himself definitely comes up. winter also helps take down ironwood and free the souls. eventually

4. jaune IS a necromancer. he’s going to be able to see penny and others and eventually can give ghosts the power they need to be seen whenever they want. RWBYJNPR eventually becomes a big band that plays together sometimes

5. raven only came back for a few days for yang and ruby’s funeral before disappearing. qrow fell from grace quite dramatically when he accused adam taurus of murder with no evidence and became the laughing stock of america. he kept trying to find something that would fill the holes in his life, but he hasn’t lucked out with that yet... except the alcoholism, maybe.

tai and summer are still together, but they’re pretty miserable and they moved far away from LA to get out of the spotlight.

RWBY gets summer, tai, and qrow back together on purpose... and raven shows up when she sees her dead daughter singing on national television. the STRQ reunion is awkward and stilted, but things get better from there.

strq instruments

summer: vocalist with some piano

raven and qrow: bass and standard guitar respectively with some vocals

tai: drummer with some vocals

6. pyrrha and jaune eventually actually become the great duo that adam tried to market himself and blake as. sorry not sorry

7. not sure how they do it but they DO prove that adam murdered them and all of them including qrow get Vindication TM

8. the bumbleby isn’t a big plot point but they were dancing around getting together when they died and it happens slowly once they’re back <3