#weiss is baffled and impressed

[missnotstarry]

quack

[razorblade180]

Nora:*wearing a blue sundress* Who’s ready for the beach!

Ren and Jaune:….

Nora:What? Does it look weird?

Ren:No, it’s lovely. Just…

Jaune:I mean this in the most normal way possible. It’s kinda startling how big your boobs are. Like it’s both impressive and kinda intense.

Nora:That’s one of the best compliments I’ve ever heard.

Yang:Titties so big the boys aren’t even ogling, they’re just concerned about baffled.

Nora:I think you both aren’t used to seeing my shoulders.

Ren:That’s probably the case. Still, it’s odd to process? So to speak.

Nora:You see, you wouldn’t have this problem if you both didn’t turn around every time I walk out of the shower.

Ren and Jaune:I don’t think that’s the solution to this.

Nora:It is if you don’t think about it much.

Weiss:Nora, please let chivalry live.

Nora:All I’m saying is if those two wore speedos, I’d be prepared.

Weiss and Yang: *red* You can stop the conversation there.

Nora:Damn, I got everyone agreeing today.

[linneatanner]

R.w. Meek Sabrine The Dream Collector Book 1 Sabrine & Sigmund Freud #LiteraryFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @cathiedunn

FEATURED AUTHOR: R.w. Meek Welcome R.w. Meek as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held January 8th – 12th, 2024. He is the author of the Literary Historical Fiction, The Dream Collector (Book 1: Sabrine & Sigmund Freud), released by Historium Books on December 19th, 2023 (723 pages). Below are highlights of The Dream Collector (Book 1: Sabrine & Sigmund Freud), R.w. Meek’s author bio, and an excerpt from his book. Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2023/12/blog-tour-the-dream-collector-by-rw-meek.html HIGHLIGHTS: THE DREAM COLLECTOR   The Dream Collector  (Book 1: Sabrine & Sigmund Freud) By R.w. Meek Blurb: The Dream Collector immerses the reader into the exciting milieu of late 19th Century Paris when art and medicine were in the throes of revolution, art turning to Impressionism, medicine turning to psychology. In 1885, Julie Forette, a self-educated woman from Marseilles, finds employment at the infamous Salpêtrière, hospital and asylum to over five thousand disabled, demented and abandoned women, a walled city ruled by the famed neurologist and arrogant director, Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot.  Julie Forette forms a friendship with the young, visiting intern Sigmund Freud who introduces her to the altering-conscious power of cocaine. Together they pursue the hidden potential of hypnotism and dream interpretation. After Freud receives the baffling case of the star hysteric, Sabrine Weiss, he is encouraged by Julie to experiment with different modes of treatment, including “talking sessions.” Their urgent quest is to find a cure for Sabrine, Princess of the Hysterics, before Dr. Charcot resorts to the radical removal of her ovaries.  In Paris, Julie finds a passion for the new art emerging, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, and forms friendships with the major artists of the period, including Pissarro, Monet, and Degas. Julie becomes intimately involved with the reclusive Cezanne only to be seduced by the “Peruvian Savage” Paul Gauguin.  Julie is the eponymous ‘Dream Collector’ collecting the one unforgettable, soul-defining dream of the major historical figures of the period. Praise for The Dream Collector: "Meek never fails to stun and impress with his evocation of scenes and events, of sights and dialogue, and of peoples' reactions to them." ~ HFC Reviews "Tribute must be paid to the obvious and clear literary skills of the author R.w. Meek and to his ability to invoke historic personages and the Belle Époque he so evidently adores."~ Julian de la Motte, award-winning author of Senlac Buy Link: Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/4jE52j AUTHOR BIO: R.w. Meek   R.w. Meek has a Master’s degree in Art History from the American University in Washington, D.C., his areas of expertise are Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, with a particular interest in Vincent van Gogh.  He has interned and conducted tours at the National Museum of American and the National Gallery of Art. In 2022 and 2023 five of his chapter excerpts from his soon to be published novel, The Dream Collector, were either finalists or published in various literary journals. The author has also won the Palm Beach Book Festival Competition for “Best Writer in Palm Beach," his manuscript judged by a panel of NYT Best Selling authors. The Dream Collector also received gold and silver medals in the Historical Fiction Company literary contest and earned runner-up for the “Best Historical Fiction Novel’ of 2022. The author was born in Baltimore, adventured in Europe for many years, and recently moved from Delray Beach, Florida to Santa Clarita, California. His wife is a psychologist, sculptress, playwright, and stand-up storyteller. His daughter Nora is a storyboard artist in the animation world and resides in Hollywood, California. His favorite writers are Dostoevsky, John Fowles, and Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Author Links: Website: https://www.ronmeekauthor.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010220437381 EXCERPT: THE DREAM COLLECTOR     Book 1: Sabrine & Sigmund “Alone with Sabrine” “Do you have a special fear?” Sigmund decided to ask her.             “I have no fears, so it’s my duty to take them away from others.”             She stepped out of his rim of light, skipping away. He could not shake the thought that she was behaving like a mischievous schoolgirl. As best he could, he followed her with the one trembling, tallow candle.             “I want to dance!” she announced loudly.              And so she did, making gentle turns and playful leaps, delighting in being the center of attention. Sigmund had never found the temerity to engage in dancing, but he easily guessed its pleasure as he followed her with the candlelight. Keeping her mask in place, she performed pirouettes and self-assured spins before concluding with a charming bow.               She dropped the mask—Sabrine and no other! The candle’s flame flickered in the green of her eyes. “On special occasions the young doctors allow us to have costumed balls,” she said. “The hypnotized are not supposed to remember them, but we do.”              Pounding at the library door prompted her to quickly whisper: “Shall we meet again to share more secrets?”              The commotion outside grew louder: “Someone has locked it from the inside! Find another key, another key!”               As the door flew open, Sigmund eagerly conceded to her, “We can meet again, Mademoiselle, if you like.”   Instagram Handle: @thecoffeepotbookclub Bluesky Handle: @cathiedunn.bsky.social   Read the full article

[itsclydebitches]

It's honestly so baffling to me that in the same volume that Hazel (who killed Mistral huntsmen with Tyrian, staged a coup against Haven, brutalised Oscar - a literal child) gets a redemptive sacrifice and paternal relationship with Emerald, but Ironwood (with a similar dynamic with Winter) is left to die with Atlas because the writers wanted to make him a cartoon villain. It's just so why.

You know, if I thought RT was doing this deliberately--in the sense of carefully planning out their work to achieve a specific and subtle goal--I'd be impressed by how often characters' worst actions happen off screen, or are otherwise ignored by the story until they're (almost) forgotten.

So, Hazel. We know he killed all those huntsmen; countless murders that caused a ripple effect decimating an entire kingdom's defenses. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the casual RWBY fan went, "Huh?" if I brought up that point. Because Qrow searching desperately for his colleagues occurred three volumes ago, Hazel's actions were revealed in an incredibly short conversation, and absolutely nothing has ever come of this heinous crime. For us his guilt is a significant factor in judging how the narrative treats him because we discuss the show as a community and, in doing so, frequently highlight and analyze aspects of the story RWBY has left behind. But for other fans, Hazel is "just" the antagonist who fell for Salem's manipulation. RWBY emphasizes his anger towards Ozpin--an anger the story never explicitly says isn't justified--and in doing so sets up a sympathetic response to his brutalization of a child. Hazel never would have done that if Salem hadn't gotten to him! Or if Oscar wasn't conflated with evil Ozpin! So it's "fine" that Hazel did all this because he was just on his journey of redemption. Hmm? He also indiscriminately murdered countless innocents off screen? Oh yeah, I forgot that... eh, who cares. The story certainly doesn't.

Same with Emerald. Post-Volume 3 the focus is entirely on her emotional state, painting her as someone easy to sympathize with and, therefore, more of a victim than villain: her talk with Mercury, trailing after Cinder for attention, fiercely defending her, and eventually the horrible, 'Don't lose now that I'm a good guy' speech that, again, serves to make Emerald likable and downplay her actions in one fell swoop. Anyone who's defended their disappointment in her arc has likely had a, "You do remember that she decimated Beacon, orchestrated Penny's death, and was absolutely out to murder our heroes, right?" moment.

Now, compare all this to Ironwood whose villainy is emphasized over his humanity. We see clear as day his murder, his torture threats, his random and absurd bomb plan--nothing is shuffled off screen and the sympathetic aspects of his emotional state are severely downplayed, especially after Volume 7. In a reversal, RWDE fans are reminding others about the good stuff: him saving Weiss, leaning heavily against the wall, Yang's arm, turning his weapon away from Qrow, trusting the group immediately, basic consequences of PTSD, etc.--things that the narrative did not carry through his fall. We don't get any moments where the group remembers and fights for Ironwood's 6+ season humanity in the way that, say, Oscar vouches for Emerald's, backed up by Ren seeing her in a pretty color. Indeed, both these characters have moments with Ironwood too, but Oscar condemns an impossible choice as equal to Salem's villainy and Ren cares only for the presumed logic of Ironwood's plan, not the fact that he's an ally they're choosing to oppose rather than compromise. (I will maintain until the END OF TIME that they could have just let Atlas go and focused on fighting Salem/getting the rest out via another evacuation plan. Team RWBY slashed holes in the small number of life boats when they could have let them set sail and then turned their sights on building a raft/fixing the hole in the ship ANYWAY). No one is using a semblance on Ironwood to go, 'He does care! I can see it! We just need to find a way to nurture that' and, you know, trusting that there's an inherent Goodness there that's worth fighting for. That Goodness apparently exists in the villains who have been trying to kill them since day one, but not the established ally who is Absolutely Going Through It.

This 'I believe in him' role that should have gone to Winter if, again, the story didn't kick all those aspects under the curtain and pretend they never existed. His status as her instructor, potential father figure, the devotion, even her choice to take on the Maiden powers at his request, all of it is overshadowed by Weiss' nonsensical implications that Winter has been groomed and her eventual, inevitable turn back to the good side. Winter went from being devoted to Ironwood, to indifferently watching him kill a man, to screaming that everything bad that's happened is his fault and she's going to do her best to kill him now. Most fans tend to remember only what the show is currently highlighting and boy, does the show work hard to highlight only the actions that serve a character's final destination. Putting aside the fandom trend of rewriting good actions to fit our conclusion ('Well, since Ironwood was a bad guy he must have been manipulating Yang by sending her that arm') I don't think a good portion of the fandom remembers, or really thinks about the canonical scenes that RWBY later wants to pretend never happened. Things like Hazel's murders, Emerald's "It's almost sad," Winter starting an actual fight to defend Ironwood/Atlas' honor, and Ironwood dropping to his knees to welcome Ozpin are all treated as small potatoes compared to, well, where we've ended up with. And when the show works that hard to say, "Pay no attention to the war crimes behind the curtain. Behold! The Great and Powerful Redemption Arc!" it's no surprise that so many would nod along, reassured that this is the one, correct way of interpreting the show.

So... yeah. Same, anon. To me it's baffling that characters with these similarities would be treated so differently. Or, rather, that one character whose villainy lasted all of a couple hours would be treated as so undeserving of redemption compared to the years long villain who was never a hero in the first place. Either way, to me and to you it makes no sense, but I think that's in part because we're looking at the whole of RWBY and spotting those similarities in the first place. For so many others it's just random pieces that they think create a complete puzzle: 'You mean the DICTATOR and the guy who SACRIFICED himself?? Uh yeah, they're totally the same /s.' Sure, when put like that it sounds absurd, but that's because you're ignoring half the actual puzzle. You've jammed two pieces together that don't quite fit and proclaimed the end result is a flower. We're on the floor picking up the discarded pieces that have been gathering dust and going, "Huh, actually with these it look more like a very dense and complicated forest."

[citadelofmythoughts]

RWBY/MHA: Jaune is just going to be the bane of Mina, making her borderline want to rip her hair out.

Because he's like a combination of a potential harem guy (outwardly), mixed with a tragic lover who just keeps losing so many people he cares for, mixed with the single most oblivious and inept person when it comes to romance.

Mina is torn between amusement and not being impressed at Jaune's attempts to woo Weiss.

Mina in reaction to Pyrrha pre-death is just hoping he notices.

Then is just sadness at the tragedy of their circumstances if she dies.

Then is just amused and also baffled at Jaune attracting MILFs, but also having no idea what to do.

And then when she finds out about Lewis...

Mina: Wait, wait, so this Lewis kid wrote about his sister's trip through the Ever After while leaving himself out. Jaune: Yeah? Mina: And explicitly puts you as the heroic Rusted Knight. Jaune: Yeah, not really so great at the heroic part though. Mina: but but but, he put you in there. Jaune: Yeah...? Mina: and calls you handsome. Jaune: ...Ok? I don't really see where this is going? Mina: *internally* "HOW ARE YOU THIS BAD AT RECOGNIZING WHEN SOMEONE IS INTERESTED IN YOU!?"

Lol. I like this because in my own MHA fic Mina is the matchmaker. She (and Toru) pushed my OC and Tsu together.

So, yeah I totally believe she'd do this.

[schnees-and-schnugs]

Thinking of winter training whitley in fighting bc brainrot and I'm obsessed with the idea that whitley is like,,,,, the exact opposite student from weiss and it baffles and entertains winter to no end.

Whitley is a savant with glyphs from the beginning. Summoning comes easy to him and he actually loves the strategic thinking that comes with employing the right glyph at the exact right time, and he loves setting glyph traps and physically manipulating how his opponent moves with them. Winter is very impressed with how creative whitley gets with his glyphs everytime he learns a new one.

However,

Whitley is absolutely useless, physically. Whereas weiss is very nimble with her ballerina fighting style- he gets too nervous. His reaction times are slow, he's way too unbalanced. Winter has to chase him to get him to run a mile under 10 minutes. Swordsman ship doesn't come very easily at all to him.

Winter can't tell if whitley is just unable or simply scared of physicality, but lord help her she will make this boy a huntsman.

[godofsexdrugsandrocknroll]

Jaune’s Father: “You are what you eat”

Glynda: *Impatient* And where might Mr. Arc be then, students? Does he think he’s exempt from my classes?

Pyrrha: *Panicked* No!

Weiss: *Also panicked but mostly because she doesn’t want to be lumped in with Jaune* Of course not! That dunce is--

Nora: *Stands, slams her fists into her desk* Obviously he’s doing extra credit and wants to make sure it’s up to par!

Ren: *Squints at Nora from the corner of his eyes, very quietly* And where’s that kind of quick thinking when we were being run out of another village?

Glynda: *Unimpressed* Miss Valkyrie, I haven’t assigned any extra credit.

Nora: *Stubbornly* Then that’s on you!

Glynda: *From unimpressed to baffled in 0.3 seconds* Wha-- How!?

Nora: *Speaking as if explaining to a toddler* Obviously Jaune thought there was extra credit! If you were more clear and concise with your explanations we wouldn’t be having this problem!

Weiss: *Moaning into her hands, seeing a mark on her permanent record*

Ruby: *Terrified of the outcome*

Yang: *Impressed*

Blake: *Looks to Ren who seems bored and a shocked Pyrrha*

Glynda: *Collects herself* Enough. If Jaune Arc isn’t here-- *Goes silent as the rest of the previously entranced class start giggling*

Jaune: Hey, sorry I’m late! *Weiss gasps*

Jaune: *Wearing a carbon copy of Glynda’s outfit*

Glynda: *Rapidly goes red* W-what in the world--

Jaune: *Nods resolutely* Pyrrha told me I should follow my Dad’s advice this morning with a problem I was having, but Dad also never gave me too much advice when it comes to girls! *Spreads arms* So I wore this to apologize about that whole thing the other night!

Glynda: *Red, horrified* Wha-no-ssshhh!! *Ignores murmuring* You-no-this isn’t... *Sees students staring, comes up with the perfect lie* What advice is that, Mr. Arc? What could t-this possibly do to make up for the fact that you broke the strap off my purse when serving detention?

Jaune: *Proudly* ‘You are what you eat!’ *Grins charmingly*

Pyrrha: *Broken inside and out* What.

*Weiss slumps into her seat in soul crushing defeat, Blake is blushing up a storm, Ruby’s thinking hard, Nora cackles and proceeds to thump her chest before giving Jaune a peace sign, Ren tries not to stare*

Yang: *Respectful awe* Holy shit vomit boy, nice!

Glynda: *Surrounded by purple aura, floor shatters as her semblance activates and she charges at Jaune, blushing and enraged*

Jaune: *Runs away screaming*

Jaune: *From down the hallway* How could you betray me like this, father!?

Ruby: *Realizes what Jaune meant, blushes and hides her face in her cloak* OH!

[doctor-plagueis]

RWBY Booty Tier List

Hi I said it would happen so now it's gonna happen, time to rate asses and explain why I gave them that rating...

(also they are in order from flattest to phattest)

[This took way too long (T-T) ]

Starting with D TIER Aka Flat as fuck

Raven: Ya go to the lowest tier in D tier ya all-tits-no-ass having ass, you deadbeat fucko (I really don't like parents who leave their children, how'd you guess?).

Weiss : Sorry girl but even with all your dance training, your Sperm donor's DNA is in you, if it was just your mom's DNA you'd rocket up to A TIER, still more ass than Raven tho, which says a lot about Raven since Weiss is as flat as a wooden plank (sorry @naughtyweiss your girl has no ass).

All of team NDGO: these bitches show up once or twice, and, in the novels they do something bad? I didn't read it, but they like sacrifice some people to the Grimm or something? Anyways they have almost no ass too little to actually matter.

C TIER Aka Too much muscle

Pyrrha : Sorry unbeatable girl your life style is just too healthy, with all her exercises and no fat foods she has no cushioning, I'm sorry Pyrrha you just have too much muscle.

Reese : With all her skating she must have some muscle in the back, like literally, her muscles are trained to keep her on the board during combat so her ass is super firm, but that's a bit of a downside since it's too firm, kinda hard actually like really hard.

Also she gives me party animal girl vibes, that doesn't affect anything just thought I'd mention it.

Elm: Have you seen how tall and beefy that girl is? Now does this affect her backside...mmm...kind of? Her ass is just and, I mean just muscle which is bad because no cushioning.

But her thighs tho mm~mm delicious.

Yang : Yang is all about her upper body, she's proud of her tits and her arms, she is Miss "punch first ask later" after all, so i can actually see her skipping some leg days, like Reese her booty is alot of muscle but not so much cushion, sorry Yang.

Arslan : Like Yang, Arslan is all about working out and honing her body to peak physical fighting ability, however, this girl has genetics on her side, her tits aren't as big as Yang’s however, she make up for having a tentsy little bit of cushion for the pushin' not really enough to be B TIER though.

B TIER Aka Now were gettin' good

Penny Ver.2 : Penny Version 1 was pure metal (at least in my headcanon) so she was all legs no butt, however, Penny Version 2 (again in my headcanon) had synthetic skin, now I'm not saying Pietro is some weird pervert giving his child a fat ass, but he was "generous" which was inaccurate as...

Penny (human) : Penny as a human never had the chance to exercise [fuck you RT (T-T)], so her booty was a little lacking but it was still bigger and rounder than her robot body.

Ruby: Now you and I both know that with all the sweets Ruby eats she isn't exactly thin, good thing though is all the fat goes to her ass, Ruby has that fatty y'all!

Neo : I'm sure people will question this one but, Neo's height is a detrement on her ass, since she's so short her ass has to be proportional to her actual height, so for women her height she has so much ass but compared to the others in this list it isn't as much.

Coco: Coco takes care of her fashion and her body. She does squats often and keeps a balance between fat and firmness. Unfortunately genetics gave her a cute face but not a phat ass, sorry queen.

Summer: Same as Ruby except she has that MILFY boost to her hips and booty (she also has bigger tits but, oh well this isn't the Titty Tier list so...).

Winter : Training for the military helped null the taint of Jacques DNA in her, so she took a bit more of her mother’s blessed genes, her ass isn't exactly impressive like the girls in A TIER but it's nothing to scoff at either, unlike her sister (sorry Weissey).

Miltiades "Miltia" : both sisters wear heels, however, Miltia has bigger boobs than her twin while Mel has a bigger booty, still wearing heels and being as acrobatic as they both are requires a lot of lower body training, and also since they work at a club as security they do know how to seduce people, and that did affected their rating.

A TIER Aka Nearly perfectly fuckable

Harriet : Now to be one hundred percent honest Harriet has more thighs than ass, however, with her focus on speed and the training she does, she must have a nice fuckable ass, not the biggest or roundest but really, really nice.

Melanie: Both sisters are guards for Junior's club, but, I like to think that Mel also works as a Stripper or Lap dancer (Hooker if you got enough to buy her services and have a dick big enough, she's a bit of a size queen), so she worked on making her already fat ass even better and also took the time to hone her sex appeal, those being her twerking and lapdancing.

Velvet : Bunny gal has some phat Bunny Buns if ya catch my meaning, like go back to volume 3 and get a good look at her costume, girl's got hips and ass like she was bred for it!

Willow: Have you seen her in the newest volumes?? She has a chance (admittedly small) against the legendary bellabooties Gahtdayum!

Too bad she wasted it with a nearly sterile fucking shit pile of a human like Jacques, ugh... (How he managed to have 3 children baffles me, must've taken half the world’s supply of Viagra)

[Side note our favorite Schnee femboy took after his mom, if he was on the list he'd be just below Harriet hehe].

A+ TIER Candidates for the Bubble Booty Brigade (BBB)

Glynda : Glynda is a professional huntress, she is a teacher and she's decked out in dominatrix gear, can I make it any clearer?

Salem : Salem is the original MILF, the thiccest witch of remnant , and also, she has magic and is technically a monster girl sooo... that gives her extra points (who would've guessed I like monster girls hehe).

The next entry might be blasphemous for some and for that I apologize but...

Blake and Kali : I'm sorry kitties, even though the belabooties are know world wide they are not yet in the BBB. Blake has the firmer booty because of her time in the Fang but Kali has the MILF bonus.

Because of their similarities and their diferences they tie for top of A+ tier.

S TIER The BUBBLE BOOTY BRIGADE

The three heavenly asses of remnant, only three girl stand a top the mountain of the perfect Bubble Booty and they are in order...

May Zedong : May has been depicted by the fandom as being really curvy, especially the cow udders she calls breasts, however she hides her curves under her clothes. The same applies to the fucking badonk she hides in her baggy pants, so much so in fact, that May should be number two of the BBB but because she's so shy about her body she's demoted to number three, still, being a member of the Brigade is a blesing of itself.

Emerald Sustrai : As stated in the previous entry Em should be number three, but because May is so shy and Emerald isn't they swaped places. Em is number two because of one singular thing, she knows her ass is her best atribute, and she fucking flaunts it, she knows she can make men and futas pitch tents, and make women stare like horndogs just by walking past them. Not only that, but she wear clothes that accentuate her ass from short shorts to miniskirts, she knows how to make anyone undeserving cream themselves just by swaying her hips a little and winking. Her seduction skills boosted her above everyone else except one.

NORA VALKYRIE THE ONE TRUE BUBBLE BOOTY OF REMNANT

Every single step a jiggle, every single jump or tiny hop and the world stops to stare, every time she passes by jaws hit the floor, every man woman and futa either wants Nora or wants to be Nora.

Nora's voluptuous cheeks are legendary and the worst part of it all is: She does know the effect she has on people, and she gives zero shits about it.

Because no one is worthy of her divine ass cheeks, except for two men: Jaune Arc and Lie Ren.

She's found her studs the ones who care for her, love her, give her the world AND the ones who have huge bitch breaking cocks to fuck her into the sheets like rutting animals.Every.Single.Night.

Every day of her life is one big teasing session for her studs, she purposefully wear skirts just short enough to see the glorious bounce, she always finds excuses to bend over, she sits on their laps as often as possible.

Just so she can have the mind blowing three ways she has every night.

All hail Booty Queen Nora Valkyrie.

Now everyone thank you for being patient this was something i spent a few days writing (like 3-4 days) and I only wrote this for that time so I hope y'all like it.

Some chacters are missing I know, but I really am comfortable with how it is now.

As always this SHOULD NOT AFFECT YOUR WRITING.

This was a thought experiment of mine, and like I always say in this sort of thing WRITE HOW YOU WANT TO WRITE I hope this was clear.

Thanks for reading and please if you so desire share it with friends.

But for now see ya!

[buffaloborgine]

Some thoughts about Deepground and the colored Tsviets in FFVIIR Intergrade (Part I?)

So yeah, hahahahahahaha, I’m really sorry to those that thought Nero and Weiss just exist in VR, I really do. :)  Anyway, that asides, I’m glad they give Deepground and the colored Tsviets the stage to shine.  See how SOLDIERs are a bunch of reckless mess with Roche as an example, or how the Security Infantry Units are just large in number but lack in skills? Deepground SOLDIERs prove themselves to be highly disciplined and skilled military units with just two scenes: the one where they fought and pushed Yuffie and Sonon into the Combat Simulation Room, and the one where they greeted Scarlet and Nero. Kudos to Kitase and Nomura on this.  Then, we need to talk about Weiss and Nero (since Rosso and Azul haven’t appeared with proper introduction yet so we will skip over them, for now).  What I feel baffled with the Deepground-Tsviets depiction in Intergrade is that there is no Restrictors. Yeah, those cloaked and no-name SOLDIERs that work as the ruler of Deepground before Weiss and the colored Tsviets took over the sovereignty in the place through a series of lengthy plots. 

We never know the exact time when the Tsviets managed to defeat the Restrictors, however, we can speculate the range of time in which it could happen through the fact that if Weiss killed all the Restrictors, the chip implanted in his brain will kill him within three days thus, Weiss has to use SND to find a cure, and after that Hojo managed to hi-jack Weiss’s body after the network was reconstructed by the WRO 3 years since the Meteor Fall.  The most plausible assumption is that Weiss managed to defeat the last Restrictor in about 3 or less days before Meteor Fall and projected his consciousness (along with the fatal chip) up the network through SND, then the network collapsed, Weiss’s consciousness got stuck in the fragmented network his body in a state of coma. However, 3 years later, when the WRO reconstructed the network, Hojo (whose consciousness was also fragmented around the network) has already aimed at Weiss’s body so he quickly hi-jacked the body for himself, but since he is not Weiss, he didn’t know that the chip is back into work as well, thus he only managed to trick Nero (or he thought so) to carry out the Omega constructing plan before the chip came into action and rendered both Hojo’s and Weiss’s into the oblivion dimension of the network.     So, if that’s what happened in OG timeline, then the Restrictors are still ruling Deepground until maximum 3 days before Meteor Fall, which happened in  [ ν ] - εγλ 0008. However, as in the Remake timeline, it’s still in  [ ν ] - εγλ 0007 and yet there is not single sign of Restrictors around, all we see is Weiss ruling over Deepground (as confirmed in the profile and by the way he spoke, sat and called Nero out of his sleeping pod) and Nero not even chained into the separated chamber. Problem is, the Restrictors are deployed as the rulers of Deepground and they vowed their loyalties to only President Shinra, therefore anything that is not direct order from President Shinra will be blocked. Yet, we see Scarlet actually ordered Nero to deal with Yuffie and Sonon in this Remake timeline, what surprised me more is that Scarlet is not even scared by Nero in the first place.  Then could it really be that the Restrictors don’t even exist in Remake timeline?   What more impressive is that Nero and Weiss act strangely docile around the scientists and Scarlet. You see, Weiss is not chained to the seat, it may not be his throne in Reactor 0 (because Nero asked “What are you doing in a place like this?”), but since he sat so comfortably on that chair, I doubt that he was restrained at all, same case to Nero because if the Restrictors are around then Nero would be stuck to a column. And then about their interaction to the scientists and Scarlet, while Weiss called the scientists as “idiots”, that’s all, he just insulted like that, and nothing else, and this is weird, because if it’s the Weiss we saw in DoC, without restrains, Weiss would have massacre them all. And Nero strangely doesn’t emit his darkness when Scarlet is around, if it’s the Nero we know from DoC, Scarlet would have the darkness swallow her in a radius of 20 meters, but here we see her daring to go very close to Nero, which means that she has no fear for Nero. Yet, what happened after Scarlet left is a different story.  Right after Scarlet left, Nero immediately emitted his darkness, which swallowed all the DG soldiers standing around him then he progressed to make an impressive stage for himself. Nero confronted Yuffie and Sonon, then after getting beaten by the two, he became unstable. The scientists that are on surveillance of Nero tried to lock him up, using the same technique that the Restrictors used in the OG timeline, although, it failed to lock Nero up. Then, it became a massacre, as we all witnessed how Nero sucked the scientists into the darkness, killed Sonon and obviously ran free in the Shinra HQ.  And to me it seems strangely like a plotted scheme crafted by Weiss and Nero. 

I think it’s quite long here so... maybe there will be another part though? Thanks for coming to my Ted-talk, if you have any ideas, just give me a comment, and we can work on it. 

[darksaiyangoku]

Devils of Remnant Chapter 1- Rebellion

Rain fell heavily around the ruins of what was left of Beacon. Facing each other were two girls, one with a black jacket and red hoodie, the other with a blue jacket and white dress. Blue eyes met silver and both gripped their weapons tight.

Weiss: So it's come to this.

Ruby: I guess so.

Thunder cracked the air.

Ruby: *draws her sword* It's over, Weiss. I will stop you... even if that means I have to kill you.

Weiss: *scoffs* If you really have the intent to kill me, you would've done it by now. *draws katana* Face it, Ruby, I'm always going to be one step ahead of you.

With great speed, the two charged at each other. This was it. Their final clash.

—2 Years Ago, Redgrave City—

The Black Bear Club of Redgrave City was notorious for being host to many of Vale's lowest of the low. Gangsters, drug dealers and, if rumours were to be believed, demons. Sitting at the bar was Ruby Rose, tapping her fingers to the beat of Red Like Roses. Hei Xiong, known as “Junior” to his friends, was on bartender duty tonight. Ruby smiled as soon as her drink was served.

Junior: It's on the house, Rubes. *two-finger salute*

Ruby: Thanks, Junior. *drinks lemonade*

???: Is that lemonade on the rocks or neat?

Ruby turned her head to find a boy sitting next her. He had golden blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He wore casual clothing; a yellow hoodie with a black shirt underneath, blue jeans and white shoes.

Ruby: *deadpans* Very funny.

???: Okay, that was mean. Sorry. *chuckles*

Ruby: It’s okay. *chuckles back*

???: I’m Jaune. Jaune Arc. Short, sweet and rolls of the tongue.

Ruby: *smiles* I’m Ruby. Ruby Rose.

Jaune: *smiles back* That's a pretty nice name.

Ruby: *blushes* Um... well...

Jaune: *blinks* What? Did I say something wrong?

Ruby: N-No! No, it's just that... hehe, no one's really said that about my name before is all.

Jaune: Well I guess there's a first time for everything. *smiles*

Ruby: *giggles*

Jaune: So, Ruby, what’s a girl like you doing in a dingy place like this?

Junior: Hey!

Ruby: Long story short, I really needed to get out of the house. My sister and brother have been working me stiff all year. *groans*

Jaune: *low whistle* I guess training with Devil Hunters isn't as easy as everyone says.

The way Jaune said 'Devil Hunters' caused Ruby to nearly jump out of her seat.

Ruby: D-Devil Hunter? Whaaat? No. *nervous laughter* W-What makes you think I'm a Devil Hunter?

Jaune: Oh come on, I can tell by the type of guns you're carrying.

Ruby stared blankly. On her hips were two M1911 handguns, one black and one red. Her foot shook on the stool as she tried to think of a way to divert him.

Ruby: Well... lots of people carry guns here. That's not enough to prove that I'm a Devil Hunter.

Jaune: *nods* That's a good point. However, the same can't be said about the sword hanging from your waist.

Ruby: ...damn it.

Jaune: *snorting laughter* You know, if you're trying to hide that you're a Hunter, you're doing a very good job.

Ruby: *pouts* Hmph!!!

Just then, Ruby and Jaune’s chat was cut short by a group of four guys. One had long, blue hair and wore a grey suit, the other wore a green vest with a light green mohawk, the third wore a brown t-shirt and had brown hair and finally there was the burly lad, with ginger hair and wearing a grey shirt that the logo of a golden cardinal bird. Their names were Russel Thrush, Sky Lark, Dove Bronzewing and their leader, Cardin Winchester.

Cardin: Why hello there, hot stuff. *winks at Ruby*

Ruby: Um... can I help you?

Cardin: How about you and I head over to the dance floor?

Ruby: *ponders* Hmmm... a tempting offer but I think I’ll stick with Jaune over here.

Jaune: *waves* Hello.

Cardin: *sneers* Really? This guy? Come on, he’s a total dork. You need a real man, like me.

Ruby: I happen to like dorks, thank you very much.

Cardin: Ugh, quit playing hard to get! *grabs Ruby’s wrist*

Ruby: Agh! Let me go!

Jaune: Hey, get off of her!

Sky: *pushes Jaune*

Jaune: Agh!

Russel: What the boss says, goes. *kicks Jaune*

Jaune: *coughs in pain*

Ruby: Leave him alone!

Cardin: Oh we will, as soon as you give me my dance.

Ruby: *grunts* If you don’t let me go, you’re gonna be sorry!

Cardin: *grips tighter*

Ruby: *smirks* Okay… you asked for it.

Using her free hand, she reached to her hip and pulled out one of her handguns. Before Cardin could react, Ruby shot him in the shoulder. Black blood leaked from the wound. The blood of demons. The sound of gunfire caused the people at the club to panic and they scrambled towards the exit. Cardin’s eyes turned red and his teeth became fangs.

Ruby: If you’re gonna disguise yourself as a human, you gotta be a little more convincing than that.

Cardin: *snarls* You bitch! I’ll you apart!!!

Surrounded by black smoke, Cardin transformed into his true self; a lanky wolf-like demon with black fur, white fangs and a skull-like mask. His entourage followed suit, transforming into demons too. Baring their sharp claws, they lunged towards Ruby. However, she was far too quick and zipped away just in time. From the back of her waist, she pulled out her sword. It was a beautiful silver blade with skull crossguard.

Ruby: Time for some Rebellion!

Ruby charged forward and sliced Sky and Dove's arms clean off. They roared in pain. Russel, meanwhile, tried to attack from behind, only to have Rebellion pierce his chest. Reaching for her other gun, Ruby pointed them at Sky and Dove.

Ruby: Say cheese!

With two shots, they fell to the floor like ragdolls and crumbled to ash. Cardin looked in shock as his friends were slaughtered. Ruby aimed her guns at him and gave him a deadly smile before delivering the final shot to his head. Jaune stared at her, baffled and impressed at what happened.

Ruby: *scratches her head* Maybe I went a little overboard.

Jaune: Are you kidding? That was incredible!! I-I've heard about the work of Hunters but to actually see it? Wow!!!

Ruby: *blushes* Stop, it was nothing. *scroll beeps* Aw no! I’m late. S-Sorry Jaune, I gotta get going. I'll see you around.

Jaune: Actually, you won't. I'm only visiting Vale.

Ruby: *frowns* O-Oh.

Jaune: B-But if you want, I can give you my number.

Ruby: Oh yeah! Sure!

After exchanging numbers, both of them parted ways with big smiles on their faces. Meanwhile, watching from the sides, was a blonde girl, Yang Xiao Long. From her pocket, she pulled out a picture of a white, armoured figure carrying a blood red sword. She stared at it and gave a small smile.

Yang: Ruby.

* * *

Ruby ran through the streets until the reached Schnee Manor, her home. Standing in front of the door was her older sister, Weiss and she didn’t look happy.

Weiss: Where have you been?

Ruby: U-Um, nowhere? *innocent smile*

Weiss: Don’t try to act like the cute sister to fool me, I know you were out.

Ruby: W-Well so what if I was? There’s nothing wrong with having a bit of fun!

Weiss: Did you forget that you're training to be a Hunter? Beacon Academy isn’t your standard school, you’re fighting demons to protect the world! Start taking this seriously!

Ruby: I do take this seriously, Weiss. I've been taking it seriously for years!

Weiss: You’re certainly not acting like it. Your reckless actions are going to come back and bite you in the ass one day.

Ruby: *sigh* Fine. I’m going to bed. *walks inside*.

From the side was the family butler, Klein.

Klein: Weiss, don't you think you're being a bit too hard on her? She's only 16 after all.

Weiss: True, but she shouldn't be wasting her time on meaningless things like going out. She has great potential. Winter saw that the day we found her and we are this close to bringing it out.

Klein: I understand, but one day off can't hurt surely? You've witnessed her talents and she's maintained it consistently.

Weiss: *sighs* I suppose. I guess I'll talk to her tomorrow. Good night, Klein.

Klein: Goodnight, Weiss.

* * *

The next day, Ruby was woken up by the loud racket of the front door. Stumbling downstairs, she opened the door, only to find no one there. On the porch was a letter wrapped in an silver envelope with her name written on it. Confused, she opened it and read the contents. Her eyes grew wide and she let out a loud scream of joy, waking up her brother, Whitley.

Whitley: Jeez, do you have to be so loud in the...

Ruby: *beaming*

Whitley: ...morning? Why are you smiling like that?

Ruby: I'm going to Beacon!!!!!

[appleseverywhere]

Qrowin Weekend 2020 - Celebration & Denial

Cariñosa

There was always something beguiling about the eve of Fiestas.

Whether it was the music ringing across the ballroom, the bright candles and decor that brought life to their manor, or the aromatic scent of exquisite food wafting in the air, Winter didn't know. Whatever it might have been, it was the one thing that consistently managed to convince her attendance.

She was never particularly fond of the feast, nor did she like how the room grew crowded quickly as hundreds of guests piled inside. She especially disliked having to keep up with numerous nonsensical conversations that led nowhere near things she preferred to discuss. They reminded her too much of her father's own functions, ones that were focused on business, dedicated to selling herself and her sister off to eligible bachelors of the high-class.

Still, she supposed these were different.

Despite the multiple inconveniences, she preferred it over anything else. It was a day where her father could not pose anything on her or Weiss. Any form of business or political arrangements were prohibited and if there were to ensue would be declared null and void. The thought of it being a night free of the family name's shackles brought her a sense of relief.

Festivals have always been a part of Remnant's tradition; a time of celebration that each kingdom observed for centuries. Though they practiced it differently, borders remained open to visitors who would want to witness different customs first hand. As the most elite family in Atlas, the Schnee estate, with its impressive size and architecture, was often the venue for the final nights of the festivities.

Being a member of the host family was a nuisance to some extent, but she wouldn't allow it to ruin the festive mood. Her appearances had always been rare, save for year-ends, which led for many to attempt a little chat, much to her chagrin. That didn't mean she wouldn't try to slip away when the opportunity presented itself.

She would try to revel in the celebration at the very least, considering that she'd already gone through the unnecessary lengths to be there. It had baffled her that although she manifested great displeasure for gatherings, something compelled her to be present.

But perhaps tonight, she'd find out why.

"Quite a surprise to see you here, Señorita Schnee."

.....

Make sure to read the rest of the story in the links below! For FF.net For Ao3

Hope you all enjoy!! 

[moistmailman]

Gods and Godesses AU

*A fatigued Pyrrha is on the battle field, bleeding out and wheezing as she kneels out from exhaustion while a man with an axe is approaching her*

Bandit, raising his axe: So this is what the famous Knight Nikos is capable of? I must say, Im disappointed.

Pyrrha, internally: Damn it, is this how going to die? Being out sword by a group of bandits? I can't even see straight right now. My body is so weak, I can't move an inch. I can't believe I'm going to die here.

Bandit: *Starts to bring his axe down on Pyrrha*

Pyrrha: *Raises her sword and closes her eyes in anticipation, praying to God that she will be able to block this*

*5 seconds passes*

Pyrrha, slowly opening her eyes:......huh? What the?

Bandit: *Not moving a muscle*

Pyrrha: What the? What the heck is going on—

*Pyrrha looks around to notice that the entire bandit army wasnt moving a muscle, as if they were frozen*

Pyrrha, baffled: What the heck is goi—

*Suddenly a bright light appears before her, causing her to shield her eyes*

???: Knight Nikos! It is not your time to die today!

Pyrrha, opening her eyes: Whose there—.........o-oh my God.

*Standing before Pyrrha is a tall blonde man with blue eyes and blue armor, holding a battle flag in hand*

Pyrrha, stuttering: Y-youre....you're....oh my gods, you're the god of rejuvenation!

Jaune, smiling: That is correct. I've been watching you for a while, my brave Knight.

Pyrrha, still weak: You have?

Jaune, nodding: I have. But before we get into that, allow me to do something real quick.

*Jaune waves his hand at Pyrrha, causing her wounds to heal*

Pyrrha, gasping: Oh my gods. They're gone. I'm healed! You really are the god of rejuvenation!

Jaune: Yes I am. But this is nothing special. Any god can do that to a human, but they can't do anything close to what I can do. You haven't even seen my full potential yet. Now, I have a question to ask yo—

*Suddenly another bright light appears, causing Pyrrha to shield her eyes once more before seeing a short woman dressed in red with silver eyes appear before her*

Pyrrha, in shock: Oh my god.

???: Knight Nikos! It is not your time to die to— wait a minute! What are you doing here!?

Pyrrha:......what?

Jaune, annoyed at the short woman: What am I doing here!? What are YOU doing here!? Go away Ruby! This is my champion!

Pyrrha, choking: Ruby!? As in the goddess of speed Ruby! That Ruby!?

Ruby, smiling: Yes, that is me. And with my help you will be abl—

Jaune: NO! Stop it right now! I was here first, now butt out!

Pyrrha:....w-what's going on?

Ruby, cutely stomping her foot: No! That's not fair! You knew I had my eyes on Pyrrha for a while! She's going to be my champion, not yours!

Pyrrha, choking: Champion!? You two want me to be your—

Jaune: No she's not, Ruby!

Ruby: Is too!

Pyrrha, awkwardly: G-guys, can yo-

Jaune: IS NOT!

Ruby, sticking out her tongue: IS TOO!

Jaune: OH REAL MATURE! HOW OLD ARE YOU!?

Ruby: 2168!

Jaune: REALLY?! CAUSE YOU LOOK 10!

Ruby, blushing: S-SHUT UP! NO I DONT! I HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I LOOK LIKE A BEAUTIFUL 19 YEAR OLD WOMAN!

Jaune: Your height says 10.

Ruby, puffing out her cheeks: WHY OUGHTA! *Starts trying to hit Jaune, just for him to keep her at bay with his hand*

Pyrrha:....what......what is going on? Am I slowly dying and having a weird dream from my blood loss?

Jaune, chuckling: You can’t get to me because you’re so short! Ha!

Ruby, trying to. Real through: SHUT UP YOU BIG JER—

*Suddenly ANOTHER white light appears, this time a bulk blonde woman with purple eyes and revealing clothing to show off her muscles appears*

Jaune, groaning: OH WHAT NOW!?

???: Knight Nikos! It is not—

Ruby: OH NOT YOU TOO! GO AWAY YANG!

Yang: Wait, Ruby!? Is that you!?

Ruby: Yes, it is! And you are too late to make Pyrrha your champion, because she's mine!

Jaune: No she's not! She's my champion!

Pyrrha, wide eyed:......h-hold up, i-is this the goddess of strength!?

Yang, winking: It sure is. And I have had my eyes on you for a while now.

Pyrrha: Oh my gods. Is this a fever dream!? Is this really happening?! Am I really in the presence of two goddesses and a god?

Yang: You sure are, sweetheart. And let me tell you something. Your fighting skills are awesome. I'm really impressed. And don't even get me started on your muscles. Mwah. They are a beauty.

Pyrrha, blushing: O-oh uh...thank you.

Yang: Youre welcome, gorgeous. Now anyway, I have a question for yo—

Jaune: FOR GODS SAKE! THIS IS MY CHAMPION!

Yang: Oh blow it out your ass, Jaune!

Ruby: Yeah! Blow it out of your butt!

Jaune: I WAS HERE FIRST!

Yang: Nobody cares!

Pyrrha, awkwardly: H-hey guys, y-you really shouldn’t argu—

*Suddenly another bright light appears, before a short white hair woman appears in front of them*

???: Knight Nikos! It is not your time to—

Yang, groaning: Oh great. Miss no fun is here too. This is about to become unbearable!

???, repulsed: What the!? What are you guys doing here?!

Yang: Same thing as you, Weissy!

Weiss, angrily: Do not call me Weissy!

Pyrrha, head spinning: T-that’s the goddess of i-ice! That’s the goddess of ice! The goddess of ice is standing right in front of me!

Yang, rolling her eyes: Yeah, she sure is. And she’s a cold hearted bit—

Ruby: Language!

Yang, rolling her eyes: She’s a piece of work. There, happy Ruby?

Ruby: Yep.

Weiss, sternly: Look, I don’t know who you guys think you are, but Pyrrha is going to be my champion! Got that!? I have had my—

Jaune: “Eyes on her for awhile.” Yeah, we all have! But I was the first God here, so all of you go away!

Weiss, grimacing: I don’t even consider you as a god, Jaune. So I don't even know why you are here.

Yang: Ooooooooh, damn.

Jaune: GODS DAMN IT! EVERYONE GET OUT OF HE—

*Yet ANOTHER bright light appears again*

Pyrrha: Oh my gods! How many are going to show up!?

???: Knight Nikos! It—

Yang, waving: Oh, hi Blakey!

Blake: Yang!? What in the world are yo— wait, Weiss, Ruby, Jaune!? What are you doing here!?

Ruby: Same thing as you! We all want Pyrrha to be our champion as well.

Blake: Are you kidding me!?

Jaune: Nope. We all want to bestow our powers on her.

Yang: And Honestly, why are you here anyway? You're the goddess of sneaking. What the hell can you do for her in this situation?

Pyrrha: *In the background trying to wrap her head around the fact that 4 goddesses and a god are with her* Uhhhhhhhhh

Blake, offended: What is that supposed to mean!? I can help her so much in this battle! I can help her sneak away from everyone unharmed.

Yang: So you will make her a coward, is what you're implying?

Blake, angrily: No! I will make her fight another day! That is what I can do! Fight smart, not stupid!

Yang, nodding: Hmm hmm, that's cool and all, but I will be able to make her kill every single one of these assholes with her barehands. So I'm pretty sure I'm the best choice for her here!

Ruby, crossing her arms: Nuh uh! I will be able make her zoom around everyone and take them all out under a second! So I'm obviously the best choice for her!

Weiss: That is prosperous! I will be able to make her freeze everyone here solid! And she will be able survive even the coldest depths of hell with my powers! I'm the best choice!

Pyrrha: Guys seriously, please stop—

Yang: Its summer, dipshit! It's like 80 degrees out!

Weiss: Why you littl—

Jaune: I can literally make her unkillable! She will not be able to die with my powers bestowed upon her!

Yang, sarcastically: Wow, that sounds so amazing! You hear that, Pyrrha. With Jauney's help you will be able to get tortured none stop without the relief of death. Doesn't that just sound amazing?

Weiss: Its honestly better than being a damn brute like you.

Jaune: Ha! Thanks Weiss.

Weiss: Shut up, I still don't respect you.

Jaune: OH COME ON! I WAS HERE FIRST!

Ruby: LOOK, SHES GOING TO BE MY CHAMPION AND THATS FINAL!

Yang: NO SHES NOT! SHES MINE!

Jaune: I WAS HERE FIRST! SO SHE'S MINE!

Weiss: NOBODY CARES, JAUNE! BESIDES, SHE WOULD MUCH RATHER HAVE ME INSTEAD! IM THE BEST CHOICE!

Blake: NO! I WOULD BE THE BEST CHOICE FOR HER!

Pyrrha, mumbling: Are they actually fighting over me. This reminds me of all the boys when I was a teenager.....*starts blushing from the thought*

RWBYJ: *RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE*

Pyrrha: G-guys.....

RWBYJ: *RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE*

Pyrrha: Guys.

RWBYJ: *RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE*

Pyrrha: GUYS!

RWBYJ: What!?

Pyrrha, awkwardly: Uh...well uhm.....do all of you guys really want me to be your champion? Like me?

RWBYJ: *nods*

Pyrrha, blushing: Oh my gods. I h-honestly can’t even.....comprehend any of this. This is all happening so fast. I don’t even know what to do.

Weiss: You can start by picking one of us.

Yang: Which obviously going to be me.

Ruby: Nuh uh! It’s going to be me!

Jaune: Are you guys forgetting that I’m the first one here?

Yang: I wAs ThE fIrSt OnE HeRe.

Jaune: My gods! You’re as mature as your sister!

Yang: YoU aRe As MaTuR—

Jaune: WILL YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!?

RWBYJ: *RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE*

Pyrrha: GUYS STOP ARGUING!

RWBYJ: Sorry....

Pyrrha, awkwardly: Okay look, I don’t really know how to choose. I-I mean, this is a lot to take in all of a sudden. I thought I was about to die not even 5 minutes ago....or at least, it would be five minutes ago if Jaune didn’t stop the time suddenly.

Jaune, smiling: I saved her by the way. Just saying.

Weiss: Shut up.

Pyrrha: So my mind is all....wacky right now, and I can’t decide. So could we maybe....I don’t know.....could I just be all of your guys’ champion? O-or is that against the rule of something?

RWBYJ:.........

Pyrrha, blushing: I-I sorry, I just really don't like arguments is all. Nobody usually wins with them, and they always leave people in a bad mood. A-and I will feel bad if I choose one and leave the others depressed and all. B-because you did come all the way out of your way to help me. S-so how about I just be all of your champion? S-so everyone will be happy?

RWBYJ:..........

Pyrrha: I-I just want to make everyone happy, and that’s it. I-I promise. I-I’m sorry if my suggestion offends any of you, because that’s not my intentions at all.

RWBYJ:........

Yang: Do we even have a rule book?

Weiss: No, we don’t.

Yang: Really? Hmm.........

*two minutes later time unfreezes and the bandit swings his axe down, just for it to hit the dirt*

Bandit: What the hell!? Where did she go!? It's like she just disappeared in a shado— GARK!

*Abruptly all of the bandits were quickly killed off by a red blur, some of them being frozen solid, some of them being thrown 30 feet in the air*

Pyrrha, appearing out of nowhere covered in blood: *Panting*

RWBYJ: *Appear out of nowhere*

Yang:......well, we just made an unstoppable killing machine.

Jaune: Yeah, we did.

Pyrrha: *passes out from exhaustion*

Yang: Dibs at carrying her~

RWBJ: Dib on— dang it!

Yang, picking Pyrrha up: Haha! Too slow!

[mmazzeroo]

"This is in stark contrast to the 32 Emmy nominations Game Of Thrones received in 2019. It won Outstanding Drama Series at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards in September and Peter Dinklage took home the Outstanding Supporting Actor Emmy. ... It didn’t deserve either of those awards, and Kit Harrington doesn’t deserve to win the Golden Globe. The truth of the matter is that while Season 8 had some good moments—great moments even—it was constantly undermined by terrible writing and baffling narrative choices."

"The season was rushed beyond all reason, in terms of both story and character arcs. Kit Harrington was a fine Jon Snow, but his character was badly neutered by the time the final season arrived. Peter Dinklage was the perfect Tyrion Lannister, but by the final season he was an almost pointless character."

"If anything, the show deserves praise only for its technical achievements in its final season. The special effects remained very impressive throughout, with some mighty fine looking dragons (pointlessly dying) and some huge, epic battle scenes (though one was quite dark). The music, also, remained truly breathtaking from start to finish, and remains some of the finest music written for TV ever. Ramin Djawadi deserves heaps of praise for his compositions."

"But the rest? It’s clear by now that showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss had no clue what they were doing, and once George R.R. Martin’s prose came to an end, instead of reaching out for help, or handing off the show to someone new so that it could be wrapped up in a reasonable number of episodes (several more seasons), they squandered everything they worked so hard to create and gave us pure, unadulterated garbage television. Expensive, sexy, big-budget trash TV. I have never been more horrified at the way a TV show has gone downhill, not because it was ever as bad as something like Fear The Walking Dead or The Walking Dead during the Negan wars, but because it fell from such a great height and it fell so hard."

"Game Of Thrones used to be the best show on TV, a cultural phenomenon that roped in viewers who had never even read a fantasy book before and thought dragons were for nerds. It ended as one of the greatest disappointments in television history. As far as I’m concerned, being snubbed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (the HFPA runs the Golden Globes) is just exactly what should happen when a show tries to wrap up too fast just so its creators can move on to other projects."

"I guess I’m still pretty bitter about all this. Deeply bitter. Honestly, I think I put too much faith in HBO finishing the story for us since I have so little faith (and much bitterness) that GRRM will finish the novels."

"I feel bad for the actors and other creative people who put their heart and soul into this. I really do. But as a fan, I simply cannot defend something that’s indefensible. Kit Harrington, Peter Dinklage, Maisie Williams and all the rest of the talented cast and crew deserved better. This show deserved to go down as one of the all-time greats, right up there with Breaking Bad. Instead, it’ll be that show you stop watching around Season 5 or 6 because the rest is just going to break your heart."

[jouretnuit-nightandday]

let me have a dance with her

Bumbleby Week Day 1 - Atlas Ball

They haven’t had much time to talk after getting to Atlas, though Yang wonders if they even need words at this point. They’ve both felt it, the shifting of their relationship, inevitable and immense like the shifting of continental plates. One minute they were still mending, dancing around each other, the tension palpable. The next, they’ve watched Adam fall to his death, blood staining his shirt, and Blake is crying on her knees, and Yang’s arms are around her, and everything’s changed.

Or: It’s the worst party ever, but Yang and Blake still find each other.

Yang usually loves parties, but this has got to be the worst she’s ever been to.

Everything about it feels stifling - the crowd of people dressed in their fanciest clothes, the chatter of conversation, incessant and grating, the air, heavy with perfume and incense and candles and the sour smell of sweat underneath it all.

She’s standing near a glass door that leads out to the garden, eyes scanning the crowd. She has no trouble finding Ruby and Jaune hovering not too far from Ironwood, who’s busy talking with a group of high-ranking Atlas military personnel. It takes her a little more time, but eventually she spots the rest of her friends, all engaged in conversation with various guests.

(Weiss is talking to Winter, hands crossed in front of her, and if Yang didn’t know her as well as she does, she wouldn’t notice the way her knuckles have turned white, the fragile tautness of her back, like a bowstring ready to snap. Yang’s heart aches for her, but she doesn’t move. She knows Weiss can handle whatever this is, and she also knows Weiss will call for help if she needs it.)

She sighs and takes a sip of her drink - some sort of creamy cocktail she hates - while she looks around for potential targets. It’s their goal after all, the whole point of going to this stupid, terrible party in Atlas: gathering information, making people talk, looking for any trace of Salem’s influence, any indication of where the war will hit next.

Yang hasn’t done much of that, so far. People here are just so fucking delicate, so poised and polished - they make her feel inadequate, awkward, too big and too loud and too much, a goliath in a dust shop. So she drinks, and flexes the fingers of her metal hand, and eyes the crowd, and reflects on the fact that this is the first party she’s ever hated so much.

She loves parties where people are happy, that’s the thing. There’s a way to loose yourself in a party, with the music and the lights and alcohol and bodies pressed close together and the sound of laughter. Yang grew up in a quiet house, after Summer died. A loving house, certainly, built by her father who, despite losing so much, still found the strength to give his children a home. But a quiet house nonetheless, so filled with absence and ghosts that even the babbling of her little sister couldn’t drown out the grief.

So Yang is drawn to the noise and the fun and the fleeting joy of parties. And this one has none of it.

She tries to smile at an older woman wearing an extravagant hat with silver feathers - the woman ignores her pointedly. Yang rolls her eyes, takes another sip. On the right side of the room, Blake is standing beside a marble column, talking with a man sporting the most ridiculous mustache Yang’s ever seen. He’s a little taller than her, and leans his head down to say something close to her ear. Yang catches Blake’s eyes, and winks. Blake rolls her eyes, clearly bored out of her mind. Yang hides a snort of laughter in her cocktail. The man smiles, Blake smiles too, and says something that makes him laugh. She’s good at this, Yang thinks, with pride. The daughter of a diplomat, through and through. She will be a great leader, someday, when the war is over and they have a future to think of.

A future. Yang can’t imagine a future without Blake, and now there’s something tightening inside her stomach, something pressing, urgent. She wishes she could just grab Blake’s hand and leave, and talk about their future, maybe. They haven’t had much time to talk after getting to Atlas, though Yang wonders if they even need words at this point. They’ve both felt it, the shifting of their relationship, inevitable and immense like the shifting of continental plates. One minute they were still mending, dancing around each other, the tension palpable. The next, they’ve watched Adam fall to his death, blood staining his shirt, and Blake is crying on her knees, and Yang’s arms are around her, and everything’s changed.

Blake brings her cup to her lips. The crystal lamps hanging low make her look ethereal, almost, in her black and purple dress, like a character out of a fairy tale, an enchantress, a queen. She’s wearing a bow, and Yang wants nothing more than to tug it out and free her ears, thread her fingers in the silklike softness of Blake’s dark hair.

Someone bumps into her, shaking her out of her reverie. “Yang, we’re supposed to be mingling”, Nora whispers way too loud. Inexplicably, she’s managed to get ahold of a full platter of dainty little fishcakes. There’s a waiter looking baffled and kind of scared on the other side of the room - Yang has no idea what went down, but she winces in sympathy nonetheless. “Stop staring at Blake and go talk to people!”

She stuffs an entire cake in her mouth - Yang can’t help but be impressed - and winks. “Or, you know, go talk to her, and ask her for a dance, lovergirl!”

Nora punches Yang’s shoulder, hard enough that if Yang were anyone else she’d be left with a bruise, and saunters over to where Ren is politely listening to a couple of old men wearing monocles and, absurdly, powdered wigs.

Yang turns her eyes back to Blake, but she’s disappeared in the ever-moving crowd. She sighs, takes one last look at her sad half-empty cup, and decides she’s had enough. She leaves the cup on a nearby table, and slips through the glass door, into the garden.

Outside the air is cold and sharp, refreshingly clear. It smells crisp, of fresh snow and something minty. Yang takes a breath, feels her lungs ache a little, pleasantly so, and rolls her shoulders. She’s in a paved alleyway, surrounded by marble sculptures and trees covered in a thin layer of ice. The music still comes through the opened window, and without the rest of the party, Yang can finally appreciate the lilting melody. The band is playing a classical piece, an atlesian waltz, both beautiful and melancholic. She closes her eyes, savoring the moment.

A sudden noise makes her jolt. A little further up the alley, in the semi-darkness, there’s something…someone? Yang takes a step forward, muscles tensing instinctively. “Is someone there?”

She hears shuffling, light footsteps, and then she blinks, taken aback. It’s a group of children, hiding in the garden, hesitantly walking toward her. Five of them, all dressed in warm and practical clothes, though not fancy enough to look like they belong in the party. Two of them are Faunus, siblings probably, with nearly identical dog ears amid dark curls of hair. The oldest looking one, who must be around ten, maybe twelve, pushes the other kids behind him, protectively. He’s glaring at Yang with outright suspicion. Yang relaxes her whole body, drops her shoulders, opens her hands, makes herself look as harmless as possible.

“Hello,” she says, with a smile. “I’m Yang.”

“Hi!” a little girl replies, cheerfully, before the older boy shushes her. “You from the party?” he asks, still frowning.

Yang nods. “Wasn’t much fun, so I decided to come out here. Lucky I did, cause clearly I found the real party!”

She winks at the kids, and they relax, all at once. She knows she’s won them over, so she crouches down to their level, and they come closer, curiously eyeing her metal arm, her wild hair, the shiny material of her ball dress. Yang pokes at the little girl, who giggles, delighted by the attention.

“What are you guys doing out here?” she asks. One little boy with dog ears and curly hair points at the door she just came through, rubs his neck. “Mama said we can’t go in, but we wanna listen to the pretty music. Are we in trouble?”

She shakes her head. “No, you’re not in trouble. It is very beautiful music.”

The older boy extends a hand. “I’m Max. Our parents are all working tonight, in the kitchen and stuff, so we’re waiting for them to go home. But we snuck outside to hear the music.”

Yang shakes his hand, gravely. “That was a smart move. I did the same thing.”

Max grins, looking down at their joined hands. “Do you know how to dance the atlesian waltz?” Yang nods, amused by his excitement, now that he’s no longer scared of her. “Would you, huh, teach me?” he asks, a little shy.

She laughs. “Sure thing.” She stands up, pulling him towards her. The other kids scatter in a half-circle, wide-eyed and fascinated. “Okay, so first you need to face me and put your other hand on my shoulder.��

It’s a little awkward - Yang is so much taller than him - but they manage a semi-correct position. Yang taps his feet with her own to widen his stance, then places her hand on his waist. “Okay, now listen to the rhythm of the music - one two three, one two three. We’re gonna follow the rhythm. Look at my feet.”

She leads him through the steps, and they start dancing clumsily. He’s clinging hard at her dress, a little unsure, and the line of his shoulders is too stiff - he almost trips a few times. Yang stays gentle, guiding him back to the rhythm again and again every time he falters. It reminds her, weirdly, of teaching Ruby how to swim - the patient repetition.

Max is not a bad dancer, and when he’s mastered the steps, Yang tries something a little more challenging. The other kids clap and cheer as Yang twists and turns the two of them around, her golden dress flowing in the cold air. She’s so focused on the dance - and on not stepping on poor Max’s feet - that she doesn’t notice when the other kids stop cheering, until there’s a hand on Max’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Blake says, to Max, with a kind smile. “Would you let me have a dance with her?”.

The boy glances at Yang, steps back, and suddenly his little hand on Yang’s shoulder is replaced by Blake’s, suddenly Blake is standing in front of her, face to face, her hair glowing under the moonlight, eyes brighter than any star above.

Yang feels warm all over. She rests a hand on Blake’s waist, almost shyly, and grabs her other hand. Blake’s skin is soft under her fingers, and familiar. They lock eyes, and start moving with the music, twirling on the icy paved alleyway, feet perfectly in synch. The children are standing on the side, watching them with awe and delight - the little girl’s mouth opens comically wide. Yang smiles, soft.

“What are you doing out here?” she asks Blake, low as a whisper, before spinning her around and back in her arms.

“I was looking for you,” Blake says, simply. She smiles too. The music slows, and she presses herself against Yang, until their bodies melt into one, cheek to cheek, heart to heart. “I couldn’t handle the party anymore, I just wanted to be with you,” she murmurs into Yang’s ear.

Yang trails her hand until it rests on the curve of Blake’s lower back, metal arm circling around her waist. “Me too.”

“Are you okay?” The words are soft, but sincere, and there’s genuine concern in Blake’s eyes. Maybe she’s wondering what drove Yang outside the ballroom. Yang’s chest fills with affection and gratitude.

She brings her other hand up to cup the back of Blake’s neck, and now the dance looks more like a swaying hug. “I’m great. Except…”

“Yes?” Blake breathes out. Her own arms are tight around Yang, fingers digging a little into the bare skin of her shoulder blades.

“Except I really want to kiss you right now,” Yang murmurs. She feels Blake shivering under her hands, feels the way her breath stutters out of her lungs, and she’s not nervous, not at all. It feels right, and the moment is perfect - the two of them in an iced garden under the moonlight, having just escaped the rigidity of atlesian etiquette.

Blake leans away a little, so she can look up and into Yang’s eyes. Yang reads wonder on her face, but also something else, something unwavering, the tranquil strength of absolute certainty. So she lets Blake tugs her head a little lower, until their noses are touching, until Blake’s lips meet hers.

It’s the gentlest kiss, the brush of butterflies wings against one another, yet it’s powerful enough to shake mountains inside Yang’s heart. Her cheeks burn, every inch of her skin is tingling, down to her fingertips. Blake kisses her again, a little rougher this time, capturing her lower lip between her teeth for the briefest instant. Yang feels on the verge of falling. Maybe she already did.

But she hears a small gasp, from behind her, then a giggle, and a couple shushing sounds.

Right. “We have an audience,” Yang murmurs against Blake’s mouth.

Blake chuckles and lets go of her, taking a step back. “Maybe we should go back to this later, in private.” Her expression shifts to something hesitant, and she blushes, pretty pink. “I mean. If you want to?”

“Yeah,” Yang says, catching Blake’s hand in her own, squeezing once. “I’d like that.”

The little girl comes up to Blake, and tugs at the side of her dress. “Excuse me,” she says, very solemn and obviously imitating Blake from a few minutes ago. “Can I have the next dance?”

Blake smiles, before schooling her expression into seriousness. “It would be my honor.”

She hoists the child on her hip, and starts spinning, and Yang watches her, her heart beating steadily in her chest, sure, like she’s never been before, of what she feels and what she wants.

Blake and Yang spend the rest of the evening laughing and dancing with children and looking at each other, thinking of their first kiss under the stars, and of many more to come, and when it’s time to leave, Yang sighs, happily.

See, now that’s the kind of parties she loves.

[rwbyremnants]

WARNINGS: Just a lot of drama.

Yikesss sorry about this one for those of you who were expecting a lot of smut. Next time will be more fun I swear!

=Chapter 9

That night, Ruby was barely able to sleep. Their session had been beyond fantastic as usual, which usually left her exhausted enough to start napping in the car on the journey home; but this had been completely different. There were a few flirtatious comments between them both on their journey, but nothing more. And even when laying by Penny's side, she couldn't sleep. She just kept thinking about what had happened.

Winter liked her. She must have liked her. All this time, it had been right under her nose, she was just too blind to see it! And what did she do? Nothing. She bottled things up as usual, too scared of her own feelings or a sense of judgement to confess how she really felt. There was a possible relationship right there that would make her feel complete, the perfect complement to her emotional closeness with Penny, and she was too scared to grasp it.

No more, she said to herself. She was tired of lying awake in fear; she had to do something. Whether it helps or not, I have to tell her.

And the next day, she did. After dropping off her father at Yang and Weiss's, the nervous little brunette drove straight to Winter's. No prearranged session, no word of warning. Just her dropping in out of the blue. It was completely different from any contact she had with Winter before. When she knocked at the door, she could already feel her heart pounding.

"Just a moment," she heard distantly. There was a long pause, some approaching steps. Then she heard a gasp. "Ruby?!"

An instant later, the door was being unlatched and jerked open. There stood Winter, dressed in her usual business best. It looked as if she were about to leave for some meeting or other, even though she had yet to slip her heels on over her nylon-covered feet. Makeup already impeccable, she blinked slowly, baffled and waiting for an explanation.

"I need to talk to you." The look on her face spoke volumes about her desperation. She looked as though she had already been worrying for days – because she had. "Is this a good time? Or should I…?"

"Well… I have about fifteen minutes, I was just going to head out a little early. Come in, come in."

To drive the point home, she stood back and opened the door a little wider. Doing as asked, Ruby paced inside immediately. If it was anything minor, she would have arranged to come back another day, especially with Winter seeming to have plans. But she was in need. Right away, she walked into the living room, standing rather than sitting just yet.

"Sorry to show up so out of the blue like this."

"My red rose out of the blue," Winter joked with a quiet smile, picking up her heels and sitting in the chair. "Go ahead. What's up?"

"W-well…" Before she entered the door, she had rehearsed this in her head. Exactly what she would say, possible responses and outcomes. Now…

Blank. Her mind was completely and utterly blank. Why did she even come here in the first place? She clearly wasn't ready, not for this.

No! she told herself, shaking her head again. You can NOT do this again, Ruby Rose! You have to say something now – or no more cookies for a week! Swallowing, she continued to stand by Winter's sofa, staring outward rather blankly. "I-I've… been thinking. About our arrangement, what it means to us both."

"Have you?" Winter asked mildly as she pulled one shoe on. Carefully, as if knowing that Ruby was having trouble and that the best thing she could do for her was to be indifferent; to not overreact.

"Y-yes." Nerves were getting to her again. Not even a few seconds into the confession and she was already beginning to feel that she couldn't continue. Powering through, however, she looked back toward Winter. "The way you treat me… i-it's different, from how other Doms treat their subs. I saw in the club, they treat them as their friends, or casual hookups. The nice ones still care, sure, but they don't seem to go… above and beyond. And like… the more sessions we do, the more I begin to realise… y-you treat me like Blake would treat Sun. Still as a Dom, but… more. There's more set up, more care. You go over the moon and back to impress me with everything, make sure I’m safe, a-and happy."

Slowly, as she had continued speaking, Winter's eyebrows drew together. She had picked up the other heel, but it simply lay in her hands as she processed Ruby's words. Finally, she shrugged and tried to respond as best she could.

"That's because you are more than that to me. You're a friend, and a family member. And… I care about you very much. You're right that if it was purely a Dom-sub arrangement with someone I only know from The Clamp, I wouldn't be quite as caring; professional, and considerate, yes. And I'd definitely stop them from winding up in Cinderella's clutches regardless," she added with a frown.

"It's not just about Cinderella," she pushed ahead, finally finding herself sitting on the arm of Winter's sofa. Looking down a moment, she seemed to think a little longer before speaking up again. "You bought so much for our scenes, spent so much on me, just for a little fun. You brought a chapter of a book and film I love to life, for God’s sake!"

Again, Winter had to blink, before laughing - it was the kind of unsure laughter of someone who doesn't know what to think about what they're hearing. "But… but that was what you wanted, wasn't it? Is that what this is about, worrying about the cost? I told you, that doesn't matter to me. Seeing you happy is worth it."

"N-no. That's just it!" Looking straight at her instead, it seemed she was finally coming to the conclusion of their small talk. "You do all this, just for me. You do everything to make me happy… and it does make me happy, happy someone cares about me so much. But I can't help but feel that…" Moment of truth. The first phase of her confession, finding out how Winter felt…

"That you care about me as more than a friend. More than a family-in-law member."

The elder of the Schnee sisters didn't respond at first. She simply stared at the coffee table between them, trying to process what she was being asked-but-not-asked. Or, perhaps more accurately, trying to find how she was going to respond to it.

"Well… I… don't know what's making you think that. Is there something wrong with me wanting to treat you well? To show that you're not just some sub? That may be true, but the way you're saying it… is it such a bad thing to care about you?"

"No, it's not at all!" It seemed not to have come out how she intended. Not only did Ruby gain no knowledge, she had potentially insulted her. That was the last thing she wanted. Now was her only chance. "What I'm getting at I-is… I-I care about you, too. A hell of a lot! And the more I've been thinking about it, the more I've been realising - I care about you more than I would an average friend, even best friend. You're… on the same level as Penny." Swallowing one last time, she finally managed to find the courage. "What I'm trying to say is that… That I-"

But there was a clear clattering of the lock again at the door, one loud enough to stop her in her tracks. The worst thing was the voice that accompanied the sound – one that seemed familiar.

"Snowbird, you in? I have had a real crappy day, I swear to God."

Eyes flying wide, she turned to Ruby and hissed in a low but urgent voice, "I need you to go hide immediately. I'm sorry, but if our arrangement really does mean anything to you… this is very important. Go!"

"B-but-!" Another shush from Winter stopped the thoughts in their tracks. Doing as asked, Ruby made a quick dash for the bathroom, slowly shutting it behind her so there wasn't too much noise. What was going on? Curiosity got the better of her; she she pressed her ear against the door to listen in.

"Customers, they are fuckin' jerks. Bar told me to go home early cause they could tell I was too pissed off not to take it out on some random sap."

"That's a shame," Winter was saying. Her voice was slightly more strained than usual, but not by much. "I know you like that job most days of the week. You… haven't been partaking of their stock again, have you?"

"Nah, we just got a bachelor party. Told them they had too much, they got pissy. Nearly picked a fight with me, I swear. But home now…"

By this point, Ruby knew she recognised that voice. There was no way it could be who she thought it was… could it? She needed to know. Gently easing the door further open, she slowly looked through the crack, revealing it to be…

Exactly who she dreaded it was. There stood a salt-and-pepper haired man, who had just wrapped his arms around Winter. The man who pulled her close to him and was smirking suggestively was one of the worst people she could ever see in this situation.

Her Uncle Qrow. Winter was living with her uncle.

“Now, now,” Winter cooed, her voice pitched so low that Ruby couldn’t have heard it if the door were closed. It wasn't quite affectionate in the way of a girlfriend, but more like… the term "fuckbuddy" that Yang liked to use seemed applicable. "You know I don't have time for this; I'm off to a meeting. I didn't think you'd be home now, anyway."

"Awwww, you sure they can't wait twenty minutes? You know it only takes me that long to make you scream." Smirking downward at her, he gave her a light grasp on the backside. "Especially if that bed frame of yours is involved, hmm?"

This was even worse for Ruby. Not only was she having to deal with the knowledge that one day, her uncle could walk in on them in any moment, but now… it seemed they were both sleeping with the same woman. While Winter had been her Dom, she had still been with her uncle! That crossed all kinds of awkward lines!

Winter's giggle and "Ooh" didn't help matters much. But then she did say, "Tonight. Just corral your horses for the time being, and we will revisit this when I'm back." Then, as an afterthought, she cleared her throat and said, "Why don't you take a little nap? Might help you relax after work… be ready for plenty of action later."

Qrow only seemed to chuckle, even if he was retracting from her grip. "You're telling me to be a lazy ass today? Wow, are you feeling okay?"

"Fine, fine. You've earned it for tonight." In return for him squeezing her behind, she delivered a quick swat to his. "Get in there and relax a bit. I have to be off, anyway."

"I’ll spare myself that kind of relaxing, if you wanna do a scene later. I know you’re happy when it's extra hard." Still, he obediently followed the request. He headed straight for the spare bedroom, thankfully not noticing the slightly ajar bathroom door and little Ruby's eye peeking through it, watching his every movement.

Her own uncle… Winter had been living with him for months. None of this was mentioned, and yet, it was still going on. This was madness! Sick!

The minute the bedroom door shut, Winter started pacing down the hall, as if to open the door. But when she saw it was already open and Ruby was peering through, she waved at her to come out - while her other hand raised a finger to her lips, cautioning her to be quiet.

She would have been, anyway. More from shock than anything else. She was still trying to take everything in that had just happened. Qrow, all this time she had no idea it was Qrow. Nor did she have any idea that they were doing scenes together, something she should have probably guessed when they were both in the same club! God, she felt stupid.

Once they were back in the living room, she pointed toward the bedroom, talking in a hushed voice, "Qrow?! My Uncle Qrow?!"

"Ah," Winter breathed. Her expression had already been strained from the near-miss… but now it fell entirely. "So… you recognised him."

"Of course I recognised him! The man more or less raised me with Dad for over ten years!" Now that Ruby was beginning to come to terms with it, she was becoming more angry than anything else. A mixture of angry and sad. Even if she was keeping her volume down, it was obvious. "Why didn't you tell me that he's living here?! That you and him are a thing, too?! That's kinda something you oughtta tell his niece before you start any hanky panky!"

"Let's discuss this on the way to my car," Winter whispered as she moved to pick up her briefcase again. Her actions were highly anxious, but she was trying her best to remain calm. "Otherwise, he may come out to see why I haven't left yet, and perhaps I'm wrong, but I think you'd rather not have this discussion with both of us."

While she wanted to continue ranting, that was a fair point on Winter's behalf. The last thing they needed was for Qrow to know this was happening, as well; that would be awkward for both of them to explain. Reluctantly agreeing, she walked ahead to the door, waiting outside of it for Winter to follow.

Once on the other side, Winter locked the door and began speaking the moment she turned away from it. "So you do have a fair point. I know that… because of the familial situation, maybe I should have told you. On the other hand, it wasn't really any of your business."

"Wasn't any of my- that's my UNCLE!" she repeated again, without holding herself back on volume this time. She remembered her apartment was soundproofed, so there was no chance of him hearing. But didn't exactly realise the rest of the building was not. "It may not be my business normally, but like, isn’t this kind of a different situation?! You just kept banging my uncle and tried to make sure I never noticed!"

Taking off at a fast clip, Winter led the two of them to the elevators as she hissed, "Exactly. Because my arrangement with him is no one's business whatsoever. Just like mine and yours isn't his business, either. That's how this is supposed to work, you know."

"Don't lecture me on how this is supposed to work!" she snapped back. Regardless of the fact she quite honestly wanted to get away from Winter right now, she entered the elevator, keeping right to one corner and out of the way. But from her scowl, she was still livid. "I thought 'None of your business' meant somebody like Sun or Blake! I didn't realise that meant 'Family members included'!"

"He is a friend. To me. Don't forget, he's your uncle, not mine." Sighing, she thumbed the button and they began to descend to the parking levels. "Look. I am sorry that you finding this out upset you, but I stand by what I said; you didn't have any more right to this knowledge than he does. Maybe I should have thought through the discomfort of the situation a little more and been more careful, but that's not the same as saying I was obligated to disclose."

"No, you're not. But like, maybe you should have considered how I'd feel about it before you started training me! Especially if… If you really…" She couldn't even finish that sentence anymore. Now that this information had come to light, she didn't know what to think. As much as she wanted to ignore it all, simply push it to the back of her mind and ignore it had all happened, she couldn't. This was far too big to sweep under the rug.

When Ruby didn't go on, she sighed. "What? So now you think I don't care about you just because I have arrangements with other people? It's not even as if you and Qrow are my only 'clients'; Glynda, for one, has asked me to put her through a few more sessions. And there are others I haven’t told you about, because it’s not pertinent to you and I. The whole point of this not being personal is that it's not supposed to be personal! And before you get any ideas, no, I didn't intend to ‘collect’ an uncle and a niece; it wasn't something that tickled my fancy, and I never thought of you while with him, or him while with you. And I am very serious about that."

"Well maybe I came today to make it a little more personal!"

In that moment, silence fell. All she could do was take a few deep breaths to calm down. While before she was filled with anger and sadness, now that they had come to this crossroads, she felt something else: fear. This definitely wasn't how she was supposed to confess her feelings…

"Yes, I remember," Winter breathed softly. "But… obviously I can't take that to heart yet. Now that this has changed the discussion." Regret was heavy in her features as the elevator doors slid open, and she began walking through the garage. Continuing to follow, Ruby made her way toward her little red car that looked inferior compared to the rest of the vehicles in the garage. How fitting with her current emotions.

Before she completely parted ways with Winter, however, she spoke up again. "So that's it? I just accept it and we don’t change anything, me and him hiding from each other and I have to deal?"

"Why not?!" Winter burst out, stopping in her tracks to glare at Ruby. "What's wrong with the way things have been until now? Everyone got what they wanted! I… may have wanted more, but I was satisfied, and so were you, and so was Qrow! What’s the harm?!"

Glaring right back at her, she was barely able to hold her tears back anymore, feeling the odd one or two falling down her cheek. "The harm is I thought you liked me! Liked me enough to let me know this was a thing, anyway! Of course I feel weird about it! You'd feel weird if I was sleeping with your dad, or with Weiss, wouldn't you?!"

"RIGHT!" Winter burst out, striding right up to Ruby, face livid. The mask of calm she always seemed to wear was now gone, and the sheer level of fury was all the more startling for it. "Because I have no idea what it's like to have family and sexual escapades get a little too close for comfort, DO I? You wouldn't do that to ME! Oh no, of COURSE not!"

"THAT ISN'T FAIR!" She yelled right back, hands curling into fists to try and hold in her anger. "You can't do that! It’s not my fault that you went through all that shit! Don't you throw that at me!!!"

"YOU FUCKED ME IN FRONT OF MY FATHER!" Her chest was heaving, eyes wild. Ruby took a step back when she realised what they were talking about: not some old issues about her prostituting herself to protect Weiss. No, not that; something much more recent. "I bet you haven't had a bad night's sleep about it since you did it! Have you?! Never once cared, never… didn't consider that maybe you shouldn't have done that, even though I was clearly aroused! Have you?!"

The younger girl’s lip wobbled for a second as she dealt with the storm of emotions threatening to make her burst into tears. "WRONG! I haven't slept, not one wink! And since that time, barely at all, because I thought that… thought that you loved me as much as I love you! You have no idea-"

"I DO, Goddamn you! Even after that, after y-you poisoned my dreams, I still…" Now Winter's tears were falling as well. "How am I supposed to be in the same room as him ever again?"

Stopping in her tracks, Ruby waited right by her car door. She hadn't unlocked it yet, and for good reason. Winter was really hurt, about that? She had assumed that was something that she had enjoyed, given her response to it in the midst of their play, but now upon realising it was damaging…

"Holy shiz, I… Winter, oh my God, I'm sorry," she said quietly. "You didn’t say- okay, I know that doesn’t mean you weren’t hurt. I'm sorry I fucked up, okay? But that doesn't… doesn't mean I'm not hurt still by this. I know I shouldn't… but I just feel… feel inferior."

"Well, you shouldn't." Winter pushed a hand into her face, letting out a laugh that was more like a sob. "Now I'm going to have to fix my makeup before the meeting." Waving away that observation, she stood straighter, looking down at Ruby with a wrung-out, haunted expression.

"You think if anyone else had done what you did to me while I was talking to him, I would have pushed through it? Would have continued play? I would have kicked them out of my life completely. Never to come back. It's just… maybe, if we had discussed it beforehand, it would be another story. But you made an assumption that because I was still turned on from our play before he came in, that you could just… start in on me. And I thought I could handle it, so I didn't really try to stop you, and then…" Her head hung. "And then I was too ashamed of enjoying it to ask. I didn't want to admit it was happening, or… I don't know."

Now sadness was starting to return with a vengeance. She didn't even want to look at Winter in that moment. Seeing the damage she had done would be far too much for her heart. She had come to settle things, to pursue an incredible relationship; this was the last thing she wanted. To not just have muddled things, but to have learned she had hurt her in their previous session. She couldn't take that.

"I really am sorry," she repeated, finally unlocking the door of her car. "I-I… I don't deserve you. I'm sorry I ruined everything."

And with that, she got in, belting up and starting it before she could even reply. She needed to get back home, somewhere she could deal with her feelings.

But Winter wasn't quite finished, it seemed. Through the pane of glass and over the roar of the engine, she could just barely hear, "Ruby? Ruby, I…" And then more words that weren't loud enough.

Not loud enough to stop her. As tempting as it was to turn back, Ruby stuck to her intent, driving past Winter and out to the main road. She wanted to look back, but knew the pain would only be too great if she did. Through tearful eyes, she made her way home.

----------------------------

Penny had just returned from a job interview herself. Everything had gone quite well; they really responded well to her attitude and politeness, and said they were excited to contact her soon! Her mood felt impenetrably positive. Maybe their lives were about to go smoothly, after all.

That was, until she heard the tires squealing and the car screeching to a halt in the driveway. Someone else was not having quite as good a day. Soon enough, the door swung open. Ruby was certainly glad that she had dropped her father off before all this began; she couldn't deal with him right now. All she wanted to do was lay down and cry.

And that's what she did. Assuming that her girlfriend was still out, she went straight to the living room, throwing herself across the sofa and snatching the nearest cushion, cuddling into it as closely as she could and began to let the tears flow. Finally she could sob as loudly as she wanted, out of view from anyone who would judge her too harshly.

At least she assumed so. It was several minutes before Penny approached from the kitchen, walking softly enough in her socks that she wasn't heard. But she finally whispered in a fearful tone, "Ruby?"

Ruby gasped. Sniffing and wiping away the few tears, she turned to face her, just managing to strain her voice. "H-hey. I didn't know you were back."

"You don't have to pretend you weren't crying for me," Penny told her very simply as she knelt by the couch. "What's the matter?"

Joining Penny was a small grey Corgi, tail wiggling away as he looked up at her. Seemed he too could sense something was wrong. Mostly in need of something to cuddle other than a cushion, she shifted over on the sofa to sit upright. After picking up Zwei to place him on her lap, she patted the space by her side, inviting Penny up.

"Things went… really wrong."

Penny did join her, sliding an arm around the small of her partner's back. "In what way?"

While her hands were occupied with Zwei, she leaned against Penny instead, nuzzling her head right into her neck as she sniffed again. She barely even knew where to start! "So many, Penny. I… I fucked up. Badly."

"Shhh, shhh," Penny soothed her, hand petting along her back. "You're okay. It's okay, I'm sure you didn't mean to do whatever you did. I know you better than that, Ruby."

"I did though…" Sniffing again, she tried to nuzzle even closer. "It was something I did… I pushed the limits, I went too far…"

And with that, she went on to explain everything. She explained the session, where she had managed to get Winter off with her father right there in the room. She then explained what happened when she went over to tell her how she felt, how it turned out Winter's roommate was Qrow all this time, and how he was also doing sessions with her. In the end, she ended up crying again, whimpering as she cuddled Zwei closer.

Penny let her weep for some time before she bothered to respond. Minutes had gone by with her doing no more than shushing her and petting along her back. When Ruby's voice finally got a little less distraught, her sobs quieter, she spoke up.

"So… I promise I will try to be impartial. You both have very good points."

"I completely screwed it up, Pen," she confessed, sniffing once more. "How could I be so selfish? I should have asked her before doing that. And with Qrow I… I don't even know."

"You should have asked, yes. Personally, I find the idea of doing that in front of anyone's relatives to be disgusting, but I understand it was the heat of the moment… and that for other people, it's not the same as for me." She was being completely matter-of-fact, never taking her hand away from Ruby's back as she explained her point of view.

"I know… I know I just… I wasn't thinking. I guess I…" Blinking again, she didn't know what to really say. There was no defence for her actions; she crossed the line, that was that. "I guess I was trying to prove that I'm brave, a-and sexy? Not some… some little girl who thinks she’s grown up just because I’m over twenty-one."

"I'm sure she doesn't see you as a little girl, Ruby." Kissing the top of her head, Penny went on, "As for Qrow, I can see both sides of the issue. I don't really think either one of you is 'wrong' in this situation. Even if Winter should have considered telling you to make sure no one was left feeling uncomfortable, it wasn't an obligation; from what I understand, most Dom-sub relationships have sort of an unwritten 'non-disclosure agreement', don't they?"

"But my uncle?!" Thankfully, Ruby had calmed down a little more. Being nuzzled up to her girlfriend while having a warm pooch on her lap was certainly helping. Idly petting through his soft fur, she sighed. "I know it's dumb. But it just makes me think dumb things. What if she was sleeping with my dad? With Yang? I thought… thought she would understand why I was flipping out."

"I'm guessing that she expected you would feel this way if you found out. So she didn't tell you." Shrugging, Penny also reached over to scratch Zwei's flank. "But I definitely understand your feelings. If I found out my partner was sleeping with anyone in my family, I… well, I honestly can't say how I would react. But I wouldn't be thrilled."

"It's not the whole idea of 'I've put my mouth where my uncle’s dick has been', like I think she thinks. Like, that’s definitely gross, but she can sleep with who she wants." There was no other way to put it, as much as she wanted to word it better for Penny. Sighing as she scratched behind the dog's ear, she looked at the ground blankly. "It's… different. I can't explain why, or how, but it's the feeling that I’m not good enough, or something, so she needs someone else. Is that weird to think?"

Frowning, Penny turned to her. "But didn't you say she told you that she cares for you, after all? I mean, I know it was in the middle of an argument, but it's still her feelings."

"I know… but why should she care now?" Able to feel the tears returning again, she moved one of her hands to Penny's shoulder, using it to hug her move closely. "She said she cared, I told her I want more, she wanted the same… but I more or less spat in her face and made it all about me. I don't deserve love after that."

"What are you saying? Of course you deserve love!" With a quiet sigh, she embraced Ruby back, nuzzling into her head. "Of course you were both upset about this happening, and an argument occurred. Maybe in a few days, when things have calmed down-"

"I don't think so, Penny," she whimpered. The hand on her shirt began to grip tightly as she took in a few more shaky breaths. "If she poured her heart out to me and I cared only about myself; then what good would I be to her? I'm surprised you put up with me sometimes…"

"Don't do that to yourself," Penny admonished gently. "You were very upset. I understand that, and Winter probably did, as well. But if you want to take some time away… I will understand that, too. This is a unique situation." Kissing her head again, she added in a soft whisper, "And I'm not going anywhere. Don't worry."

Another few shaky breaths, and Ruby found herself leaning against Penny fully. The grip on her shirt loosened again, now that she was positive Penny wouldn't be leaving any time soon. Still, she wasn't in the mood to make herself feel any better. "I seriously don't know why you put up with me… I vent to you about all this stuff that shouldn't matter, about other people, other sexual situations. God… I just feel so selfish."

"And I didn't want you to start dating Winter. That felt very selfish. Human beings are selfish creatures, Ruby. Being selfless isn't the goal; it's to acknowledge your selfish desires as what they are, and work past them. That's all we can hope to do."

"You… didn't?" Taken aback, Ruby backed away from her lover for a moment, looking her in the eyes. "Then… why did you let me? I asked you if you were okay with it, and you said ‘yes’. Are you… really not okay with it?"

Penny laughed at her confusion and fear, but it was a gentle laugh. "Yes, I am. Because I want you to be happy. But that's not the same as wanting you to date her. Like if you donate blood; you don't actually want someone to stab you with a needle and drain part of you away. But you do want the other person to have the blood they need. That's far more important than worrying about your own momentary discomfort." In an undertone, she added, "Which is why I try to get to the Red Cross a few times a year."

"But… me having feelings for her…" Shuffling a little more was enough to prompt Zwei to finally hop off her, scampering straight into the kitchen afterwards. Ruby continued to look at Penny, still checking. "You know that means I'd be treating her the same as you, right? As in, romantically? That's what… what I meant when I asked."

"I see." Debating inwardly for a moment, she said, "Would you treat me as lesser than Winter? As inferior to her?"

"No way!" she reassured, finding herself gripping her shoulder again. "Absolutely not. You'd both be the same. Sure, I'd see you more, because I want to live with you; but neither of you will be inferior, I could never do that to you."

"Then why would I have a problem with that? You're happy, and you care about me the way I care about you. That's fine with me. Even if you end up dating three other women, as long as I don't get forgotten, I see no reason to be upset."

Continuing to stare a moment, Ruby was close enough to tears again. She really did have the perfect girlfriend, even if she didn't have Winter in the end. Perhaps there was still a chance, but perhaps not. Either way, Penny would be by her side. She leaned forward, kissing her lips firmly. Penny didn't hesitate in the slightest to return the kiss, pulling Ruby in as close as was possible. Grateful to have her home, and to have helped console her at least somewhat. Her hands drifted up and down her back, then settled into squeeze her even tighter.

When they broke apart, Penny whispered, "Listen. Whether or not anything was anyone's fault, you've obviously had an upsetting day. Why don't you sit back and let me make you some chicken soup and a grilled cheese sandwich? I won't even make you eat Daiya this time!"

"When you cook it, Daiya tastes fine! It's just when I try it… Well, the bathroom got a few visits from me." She hesitantly began to let her go, but before Penny could leave the room, she asked, "Maybe we could put on a movie too? I think Frozen is on Netflix…"

The ginger shook her head as she stood up, smiling. "You always reach for Disney when you're down. Set it up while I get cooking." Once reaching the door to the kitchen, she looked back. "And Ruby?"

Just as she fetched the remote and sat back down, she looked back toward her girlfriend. "Yeah?"

In her usual, oddly formal singing voice, she started singing, "I love you more today, than yesterday…" Even once she had backed into the kitchen, she kept going: "But not as much as tomorrow…"

Her girlfriend belting out oldies was all it took for Ruby to finally smile again. And she did as she nuzzled back down in the sofa, setting up Netflix. At least now Ruby was in lighter spirits, she could focus on what they were to do in the future; what she should do in regards to Winter. That was, if she even wanted to pursue her after this.

But at least Penny was still with her, and didn’t even hate her for figuring out she might be polyamorous. That would see her through anything to come.

----------------------------

Winter was exhausted down to the bone by the time she returned from her meeting. Everything had gone quite swimmingly; a new and promising young singer looked to be interested in signing to their label. That was good for business.

And so what if she had lost Ruby? It had never been a truly permanent arrangement. The whole idea was only to train her to be a better sub and then hand her off to another, trustworthy Dom. There was no sense in getting upset about it.

Except there is, an inner voice kept whispering. You liked her. You both liked each other a great deal…

Shaking her head, she stepped off the elevator and strode purposefully to her apartment door. Working herself up about it again would solve nothing. It didn't before the meeting, when she bawled in the car and made herself even later by having to touch up her makeup again, and there was no evidence that it would now.

Sat on the sofa by the time she got back was her roommate. As usual, with a bottle of non-alcoholic beer in his hand, and watching an old sitcom on TV. Nothing there had changed, at least. No doubt, however, she would have wished he was in bed, rather than sat there to remind her of the offer she had given before she left.

But that reminder never came. Instead, he watched as she entered the room and kicked her shoes off, barely saying a word. Other than, "Good meeting?"

"Fine." The answer was curt and simple. Turning toward the kitchen, she asked, "Are there any more of those in the refrigerator?"

"I think there's a couple in there. None of the real stuff, though." Unusual. Winter never particularly enjoyed beer. That was one sure sign that something was wrong. But rather than pry for now, he shuffled to one side of the sofa, giving plenty of room for her to sit when she returned. "What's the occasion, Snowbird? Run outta wine?"

"Need something stronger, and I don't want to uncork a bottle, and deal with the cork potentially breaking or… or whatever." Plopping down next to him, she took a healthy swig. "Ohhh, what a day."

"Thought you said the meeting went well?" Right away, he put his arm down across the back of the sofa behind her. Although he made no attempt to pull her in just yet, he was clearly showing he was there for her somehow. "Wanna tell a dusty old Qrow about it?"

Though it was only scarcely bemused, she did snort at his remark. "Not particularly. I… think this is something I'll have to handle alone."

She had been raising her bottle again, but after speaking the last word, she hesitated. Froze in place. Looking toward her rather than the TV, he seemed to question things in his own head for a moment. That was until eventually, after another swig, he tilted his head.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with your little 'friend' in the bathroom earlier, would it?"

Slowly, her head swung around to point at him. "My… what?" Gulping, she looked away again. "What did you see?"

More than anything, Qrow was amused. That much was shown by the small smirk on his face. "I saw a beady little silver eye spying on me when I went back to my room. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't know too many people with silver eyes. Do you?"

Immediately, she lowered her head to look into the mouth of her bottle, trembling with the effort of keeping her reactions calm. "I see. So… you know. What's been going on."

For a moment, he tried to distract himself by swirling the bottle a few times. It wasn't a situation he cared to talk about too much, but now that it was in the open, there was no choice. It would do no good reacting the same way Ruby did. Instead, he let out the breath he was holding. "If it helps, I've known way longer than she has."

"What? You… how could you have? We were both very careful! What did we mess up? How did you know?"

Putting the bottle down on the coffee table rather than distracting himself any further, he shifted his position more to face her. "You were careful, but you forget I'm a veteran. I can't exactly shut off noticing the small things. Like a couple of missed calls and texts coming through while your phone's been on the table." Lowering his head slightly, he added, "Or seeing her in the parking lot a couple of times just before I headed to Tai's."

Her mouth flattened into a thin line for a moment. Then she whispered, "I might be angry with you for lingering to see who I was with… if I weren't clearly the villain of this story."

"I never lingered. I noticed," he corrected. Although as he shifted back into a comfortable position again, he confessed, "Only time it counts as snooping was when I listened after I saw that beady eye. Didn’t hear much, but I get the picture; you like her."

"Oh, did you follow us down to the garage?" Winter demanded. "That would be the only way you could have heard that part. We didn't discuss much in the apartment today."

"Winter, I'm not attacking you here," he reassured her, leaving a moment for her to calm down before he spoke again. "I heard how she was talking, then how you responded; it made sense. If you didn't like her that way, you'd just kick her out when she got pissy. Over and done with."

Looking down again, she contemplated his words. Took another swig to give herself more time. Then she whispered, "If you knew… then why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you confront me, tell me to stop? I'm… you should have heard her screaming at me. She hates me now."

It was a fair point. Why didn't he? All this time, he knew his niece was getting involved with his standing fuckbuddy, but never said a word. In fact, he left more often, made it easier for Ruby to come over – for them to have sessions.

"It's not my place to tell you what, or who, you do," he started, picking his own drink back up. "I figured she must be giving you something you need, considering you've been in much better moods for a while. You're doing it when I'm out and I’ve never had to even see you guys hug, let alone anything worse, so I see no problem here. It’s… a little weird, yeah, but could be worse."

"It doesn't matter now. But… I appreciate your discretion." The tears were falling, even though she had been clamping down on her emotions, straining to keep herself from letting anything through. "Sh-she's gone now, and… and you don't have to worry… because she hates m-me, and… it doesn't m-matter anymo- anym-mo-"

"Hey, hey, hey." Almost as soon as he had picked the drink up again he found himself having to put it back down to wrap his arms around her, pulling her into his welcoming grasp. No moment was spared before he ended up stroking her hair, remembering that was one of the few ways to calm her down completely. But from the shaking of her voice, he could tell she would need more than a simple hug.

"What's wrong with me?" she growled into his shoulder finally, at least two minutes later. "Why am I s-so… insane?! I hate myself, I can't even h-handle the only th-thing… I work, and I take care of her, and y-you take care of me, and I was happy, and n-now it's all wrong!"

"Nothing is wrong with you, ya hear me?" He continued to pet her hair, scratching gently at her scalp to help speed up the soothing process. "She'll get over it. Ruby doesn't hold grudges. She's just… she'll just be a li’l squirmy because she found out her uncle is still getting frisky in the sheets, that's all."

"I'm disgusting!" she half-screamed into his shirt. It seemed that now that she had let loose her emotions, they would keep coming relentlessly. "Y-you're family, I should never have let this happen! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, I don't know what I thought, I just liked the way everything was! You're both so important to m-me!"

"Stop that." He couldn't bear to hear her talk about herself that way when she was already dealing with so much. Holding her head delicately, he pressed his lips against her forehead, leaving a gentle kiss there. "And you're important to both of us, even if she's a little upset. You're not disgusting. You're human, and so is she. You both make mistakes."

Shaking her head, she whispered, "I shouldn't have told her. I was never going to tell her how I felt, I… had to be ready to let her go when she w-wanted to move on. But I failed, she… she dragged it out of me." Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she pulled back a little to whisper, "I thought I learned my lesson after… after Yang… but I'm still trying to control everything…"

"Hey come on, this is hardly comparable to… that. She may be Yang's sister, but I very much doubt that kind of thing would happen again." After a while, he started to relax his hold on her, just enough to give her the freedom of laying however she wanted against him. "I know Rubes. She'll be fine after a while. Right now, she's in shock, but then she'll be all over you like white on rice once she realises she was an dope for reacting how she did. Give it a few days."

"Is she, though?" The corner of her mouth twitched up hopefully. Fearfully. "I… know it can't be the best news you've ever found out, that I'm sleeping with both of you. But you really didn't hate me for it?"

"I'm not exactly pleased, put it that way. But I'm not going to scream at you for it. Like I said, it's not my choice who you do." Though his own mouth began to twitch into a smile. "So long as it's not while I'm here, of course."

"It never has been," she swore to him, face completely serious. "It wasn't today, either; she… she came here unannounced. I didn't…" Her face fell again, but she didn't fall to crying again. Not quite. "It might be my own wishful thinking, but I'm almost positive she came purely to confess her feelings."

"Ah… well, that makes things a little more awkward," he admitted, scratching the back of his head as he thought. Although he and Winter were on closer terms than most Dom-sub relationships, it wasn't more than that. He could tell it wasn't on Ruby's level. "Well… what did you tell her?"

Pursing her lips, she sighed and said, "You came home before I got the chance to answer her properly. But… I think I let it slip when we were arguing." She looked away. "Not that it matters. I don't know anything about… those kind of feelings, anyway."

Tilting his head, Qrow went to swirl his own bottle of beer once more to check if there was enough in there to make it worth drinking. "The way you try to clean up my sorry ass all the time says otherwise. And I'm… well, me." He shrugged his shoulders, giving her a light smile. "Just because you've never had this sorta thing before doesn't mean you can’t. Or shouldn’t try."

Winter thought upon that while he drank, head down and expression strained. Turning to the side, she whispered, "I am… too broken to be that person for anyone. Even a second person for Ruby. You and I work because we don't expect those feelings from each other; friendship and blowing off steam, we can handle. I can handle." Her eyes began to stream, despite that she wasn't truly crying. "And it's selfish for me to want to be with someone who I can't give my heart to… since I don't have one."

Rather than reply with words, he instead looked straight at her. Then after a moment, he placed his free hand against her neck, caressing it gently. Checking something surreptitiously. "You got a pretty quick pulse right now for someone with no heart, then, you know that?"

"Don't make light of me!" she breathed, but there was no real power in her words. "I'm… rotted fruit, damaged goods! I know I'm not technically dead, but… but what's the point in trying to sell someone defective merchandise?!"

"You need to stop doing that to yourself, Snowbird." Seeing that wasn't working, he finished the last of his beer and set it down before wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close so he could cuddle and kiss her forehead again. "You went through a lot of shit; I know that, she knows that. But you’re blaming the wrong person; those guys are the broken assholes. You’re not ‘damaged goods’, you're a person; a person who made a mistake. A human."

Winter couldn't deny that his words made sense, even if they felt wrong in her heart. So she spent a few minutes simply crying up against his chest, drinking in the comfort he offered.

"She has Penny," was the simple statement she offered when she could. "I… don't know why she would want me, too. But… thank you for s-saying what you said."

"You really gotta stop putting yourself down," he repeated, still gently stroking her back and leaving the occasional kiss in her hair. "I mean it. You always talk about yourself in such a bad light… but there's a lot of good in you, Winter. Just wish you could see it."

"All that good is me trying to make up for all the bad." Taking a deep breath, she ran a hand through her hair. "And unless you really want to thrash me with the whip tonight, I… don't know if I'm up for anything. Sorry."

Another smile pulled at his lips as he pulled her in closer a moment, speaking sarcastically. "Oh no, we don't get to bang it out tonight because you're too upset. Oh woe is me, I'll have to get myself off before I go to sleep. What a cruel world."

Laughing against her own desire to do so, she said, "I'd help, but… for some reason, I don't think I should tonight. For her." Then she sighed, rubbing at his broad back through his shirt. "But you don't have to leave the room for it, if that'll help."

"Hey, you need a good cuddling before I need to strangle the snake. So that's what you're gonna get. Priorities." This time when he reached over, it was for the TV remote, which he held out to Winter. "So choose what we're watching, and we'll just lay here and let the rest of the planet worry about itself for a while, alright?"

Even as she was still settling in against him, she asked, "You really want to hang out with somebody this mopey?" When she got no answer, she went for a different question. "Are… you okay with Harry Potter?"

[dahkani]

RWBY IN RETROSPECT - THE TRAILERS AND CHARACTERS

Hi! My name’s Dahki. I’ve wanted to write out my thoughts, criticisms, and praise of RWBY for a while now and offer my two cents into the vast void of discussion. I started watching during the Volume 3 hiatus at the wish of one of my friends, and kept watching ever since, save for a small hiatus during Volume 5. Now, I want to take a look back at the show I enjoyed so much and talk about what it did right, what it did wrong, and - spoiler alert - tackle many, many criticisms made of the show - and some praise - and expose it as it is: simply... false. Now that I hopefully have your attention with such a bold claim, why not dive right in?

This post will cover the trailers and how they serve as introductions to the characters, along with the first chapter discussing a common criticism of the show I felt best to put here - namely, what the show actually revolves around. (Spoilers: RWBY is not predominantly plot-driven show, or a fight-driven show, or even themes!)

NOTE: My analysis comes from the content I’ve consumed - the show itself, and some pieces I can remember from the World of Remnant, which I believe is a positive as I can more critically examine the show how it actually is presented, rather than creators telling me how things were meant to be.

CHAPTER 1:  Of Monsters And Men

yes, i’m titling my segments vaguely and dramaticly, no you can’t stop me.

An important part of any piece of content is the expectations you build and what you promise, and I wanted to designate a chapter of this post to talking about that. I’d also like to take this chapter to immediately dispel a longheld criticism/observation of the show that, quite frankly, is complete and utter bullshit.

Television and visual storytelling is a medium where you can’t rely on beautiful prose to carry you. No matter how pretty your show is or how good it may be to look at, it doesn’t matter. You will never keep an audience based solely on things looking pretty. This may seem obvious or like I’m preaching to the choir, but stay with me.

There is a common criticism about RWBY being a show that exists only to indulge in the spectacle of its big fights and nothing more. While I’m not here to say it’s wrong to only watch RWBY for the fight scenes - do as you wish - to actually say this as some kind of real criticism is so baffling and ill-founded it can be dismissed almost instantly. The fights in RWBY are one of its main selling points, but as I said earlier, no amount of visual eye candy will ever carry a show to anyone who actually cares what they’re watching. So lets get this out of the way.

RWBY is not a show about fights. RWBY is barely even a show about plot or story elements or themes. RWBY is not a show teaching lessons or tackling hard topics. What RWBY is actually about - while it INCLUDES other elements as all shows do - is what it TELLS YOU it is about the instant you read the title.

Its characters.

If RWBY were truly about a plot, we wouldn’t have spent three volumes completely in the dark about what the plot actually is. If RWBY were about Ozma vs Salem’s eternal struggling conflict, or even RWBY defeating Salem, we would know about it sooner than Volume 6 came about. But the hard truth is that while RWBY as a show includes these elements in their story, that story came secondary to the characters. RWBYs three priorities are, in order, its characters, then its plot, then its fight scenes.

The first two volumes of RWBY amount to nothing. You could remove them completely, hamfist a few missing details from them into volume three, and you could go from there if you wanted to tell a grimdark story from the word go. 

The decision to start RWBY the way they did, with interpersonal conflicts that don’t matter in the long run, proves my point. Does anyone care about Jaune forging his way into Beacon? No. That was a plot point from V1 to create conflict and get us attached to the characters and build on them. RWBY started out with a soft and simple premise with darker undertones for two reasons: to create the show-stopping volume three finale which completely switched the show around and to force us to care about these characters; to give us reasons to root for them. RWBY started slow because you always start a character driven show slowly, or else they’re going to be perpetually outshined and outpaced by the everlooming need to combat some greater evil. Weiss warming up to Ruby and growing to respect her as a leader naturally, or her making up with Blake at the end of Volume 1, says a lot more about her character than if she were forced to stand by them because if she doesn’t she will literally die.

What brought everyone into RWBY at the beginning may have been the fights, sure. But what kept us around was the characters. Not the plot - because there wasn’t any. Not the fights - because they’d eventually get stale.

And the kicker is that this is all great. This is all fine. There isn’t anything wrong with this. Interpersonal character conflicts can be just as interesting as world-ending stakes; far more people remember Blake and Yang vs Adam than they do the fight against Cordovin, because while Cordovin’s fight is more important to the plot by ensuring they get a way to Atlas, Blake and Yang’s fight vs Adam was the culmination of their entire arcs thus far and practically defined their growth as characters. If Blake and Yang had lost their fight and had to retreat, it would have no impact on the plot, just the characters involved.

So why did more people care about that fight? Why do we remember it more? Why is it a highlight of the show?

You already know why because I’ve spelled it out. It’s a character-focused conflict versus a plot-focused conflict.

CHAPTER 2: RUBY “RED” ROSE                                                              

In these chapters, I want to touch on how the trailers act as a little more than simply performative set pieces - as a good trailer should!

...Unfortunately, the Red trailer offers pretty much nothing into Ruby as a character no matter how many times you watch it.

The first thing we see of our main character is her standing at what we now know is Summer Rose’s grave. The face hidden, weak pose, and even the petals scattering in the wind accompanied by the acoustic guitar all give vibes of a soft sadness. She’s hiding her face as if in mourning, wields no visible weapon, and if Ruby is represented by a rose, petals breaking away from her almost give the impression she’s falling apart.

This continues with a different shot as we get the vocals to Red Like Roses beginning - yes, I’ll be analysing song lyrics since I’m analysing character and these are basically theme songs.

...But there’s nothing to analyse like with most of this trailer, which is understandable. As always in this series of posts I’m not going to shy away from criticism though. This trailer was stated to be more of a “weapon demonstration” by Monty, which is easy to see - especially when contrasted with the other trailers practically dripping with character. All we truly see of Ruby is her kicking ass of Beowolves, and the whole “moving about with recoil” that she and Yang both use - but Ruby moreso as time goes by.

CHAPTER 3: WEISS “WHITE” SCHNEE

As I said earlier, though, the other trailers are dripping with so much personality to unpack I would hardly believe them to be related. Unlike Ruby’s impassive face tearing up hordes of Grimm, Weiss’ trailer shows a side of her that - with how she’s presented in Volume 1 especially - is practically required to prevent us from hating her from the word go.

The White trailer opens us up with a quote that defines how we’re supposed to interpret Weiss. Instantly you’re told it plain and simple: the character you are about to meet is sad, and no “perfect” life will fix that sadness. From this quote alone, when we meet Weiss in the show, we know that behind her cold exterior, she’s hurting badly - and this trailer shows us a few reasons why.

This transition is interesting. We’re moving downwards, to the opposite “reflection”, and seeing what’s going on underneath the surface of Weiss. It’s a clever piece of visual storytelling to convey that this is a side of Weiss others don’t see - such as the crowd she’s singing to.

One of the best parts about Weiss’ trailer is how it conveys the greatest defining trait of her character with no words and no context. Her defiance.

Weiss’ trailer is a complete difference to Ruby’s casual badassery, Blake’s inner turmoil about Adam (oh boy I can’t WAIT to get to that--), Yang’s casual and fun atmosphere - and the fact that all three of them kick major ass in their trailers.

Weiss? Weiss gets her ass handed to her and a nasty scar until she narrowly etches out a win. Weiss’ attacks do nothing to this random suit of armour, and yet she doesn’t stop trying, and through creative use of her Semblance and Dust, wins. Weiss was never gifted a Semblance like Yang’s to simply obliterate anything in her path. Weiss has to carefully use her tools to win; something we see all the time in the actual show.

Weiss is not a natural born fighter in the sense of actual physical combat. Weiss loses many fights in the show, her wins are rarely clean, and in the trailers she’s portrayed as practically the weakest based on this alone - we don’t see her shine with no conflict. We see her struggle and overcome it. Alone.

Just look at the sadness on her face when she’s beaten down again and gets her scar; I remember this tugging at my hearstrings when I saw it.

But for how frail she may look, and all the illusions to ice, snowflakes, and snow; she always stands up again. If you critically watch this trailer, you see her sadness, her determination, and her eventual triumph; you can see so much of her character in it already. The fights in this show are so good for many reasons; one of the most compelling is the justice they do to their characters and the ways they advance them.

True to her song, we never see Weiss with another character in her trailer.

CHAPTER 4: BLAKE “BLACK” BELLADONNA

Again, we open with a quote! This quote immediately centralizes Blake’s primary conflict in the beginning of the show: Adam and Faunus rights. The liberation they seek is liberation from their discrimination and freedom; ‘my own’ is important because the liberation Adam is shown to seek is different to what Blake wants, reinforced by this. This entire quote seeks to convey how Blake and Adam were once on the same page, but have begun to disagree and drift, and now Blake seeks escape. As we learn in the show, this is no ordinary disagreement, but a product of Adam’s extremism. Adam’s dreams of overthrowing humans “burden” Blake, and so she does what she does best: leaves.

Good choice, though, considering how fucking creepy Adam is.

The very first thing we see of Blake is a shot that can only be described as melancholic. The combination of soft vocalisations, her pose, the scenery, the piano, her sitting alone; it all works off each other to convey a sense of melancholy and... loss. With how important colours are in RWBY, I find it might be worth mentioning the amount of red on the screen and how that could tie to Adam, but I can’t find the words right now.

Regardless, you immediately get a grip of Blake’s character from this introduction. While it may be hard to vocalize, a character you introduce like this is not going to be screaming and shouting and yelling unless you’re seeking to subvert expectations for humour. With how serious this introduction is (for an example of a less serious introduction, Cordovin!) we know that won’t be the case.

Showing off these characters ambushing a train is an immediate way to set off alarm bells in someone’s head in regards to “am I supposed to root for these guys?”. The trailer does a good job of showcasing Blake’s compliance, but lack of any real drive to do harm. Adam is the one to instigate the conflict and tells her it’s time to attack the train. It isn’t until the end we see her leave, painting clear as day Blake’s discomfort with his practices and giving us an easier reason to like her. She takes a stand against a character we aren’t supposed to like, because generally speaking, good people don’t randomly attack trains, and a trailer isn’t the place for Robin Hood dynamics to be fully explored.

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

I don’t have anything to add to this beyond... Blake’s dry wit and sarcasm being shown as early as her trailer, and that it’s one of my favourite Blake quips of all time.

Throughout the trailer, while Blake kicks ass, she’s also shown to be weaker than Adam. Adam is the one to defeat the SpiderDroid for instance, She’s also clearly following his orders, suggesting he’s her superior (toxic relationship dynamics amirite?).

The lyrics in “From Shadows” make it very clear these two are mad about something, which we later learn to be Faunus subjugation. Her trailer featuring Adam and From Shadows being a duet makes it rather clear Adam is a large and central part to her character, like how Weiss being alone conveys her isolation. It has vigilante feels and themes of justice, but it being a duet and Blake leaving at the end leaves you wondering who you’re supposed to side with. Spoiler, it’s Blake, because of what’s coming up.

Any part where you’re supposed to side with Adam is instantly gone at this second and it’s made clear which member of the duo has lost their fucking mind. Blake’s obvious discomfort and asking - without prompt -  about the crew members present on the ship and how Adam callously plans to have them end up as collateral damage shows where the “burdens” earlier come from. Adam relishes in pain that doesn’t need to be dealt to feel a sense of justice against a world that has wronged them, whereas Blake routinely voices discomfort against it because she hasn’t been blinded by spite. Even the fact Adam is wearing a mask, showing how he’s lost his humanity, feeds into this.

This single scene and everything I outlined here is exactly why “Adam had potential” or “They changed/killed/neutered Adam’s character” arguments are simply wrong. We know Adam is obsessive, we know Adam is vindictive, and as we see in his trailer, we know he’s emotionally abusive and manipulative towards Blake. He even shows it here - asking “what about them?” as if Blake is being ridiculous to care for them.

But I’ll get on to that in time as the show deals with Adam more and more.

Blake chooses to save the lives of the crew members and distance herself completely from the man who only seeks harm rather than change. This is her defining trailer moment; she does what’s right even if it’s hard for her. Cutting herself off from Adam exposes her to his wrath, to life without the White Fang, to life alone. But it’s the right thing to do, and so she does it.

CHAPTER 5: YANG “YELLOW” XIAO LONG

Yang’s trailer (my favourite one!) opens with a lengthy, wordy, and clumsy quote that makes little sense for her character until we get to volume 4 onwards. Something about strength, willpower, or determination would probably make a bit more sense than heavy handed foreshadowing.

She literally rides in with a motorcycle as her introduction and is on her way to kick major ass.

Yang’s introduction is simple and effective; she’s cool, you’re not, get over it.

Everything about her conveys confidence. The swagger in her strut, the comparison to a rising sun (while all other characters are framed against a moon, mind you), even the easy smile she’s got on this entire time. You already know she’s going to be bright, confident, probably carefree and all kinds of reckless fun to offset the other members of RWBY.

“Aren’t you a little old to have a name like Junior?”

Yang has an advantage in her trailer to the other characters in that she openly interacts with someone for more than two seconds. All her interactions with Junior make it clear she has very little respect for those with “power” over her; she waltzes right into his club and demands things from him and he’s (creepily) smitten with her the entire time; and she just uses that to bait him into a punch for being a creep.

Yang’s search for Raven being in her trailer helps it not feel out of place when you look back, but does keep me wondering how Yang didn’t recognize her by the armour and sword she uses.

Top ten pictures taken moments before disaster. It’s what he deserves! Yang’s trailer just exudes fun, confidence, and doesn’t sacrifice her strength to get either. She knows what she wants, and she also doesn’t take kindly to creepy men flirting with her. (Remember when she punches Shay D Mann in Volume 4? Yes I name dropped him specifically so more people would see his name.)

Regardless, this is definitely her defining moment! Yang is quicker than she looks, and she doesn’t appreciate getting creeped on, and she’s gonna teach him a lesson for it. Ever wondered why she walked into a random club and started beating people up?

A basic interpretation of her character would say its because she never got what she wanted; answers on Raven. Anyone with two braincells to rub together can tell you she only starts kicking ass when Junior calls someone underage “sweetheart”, and then actually takes her offer to kiss and make up seriously despite her whole... being underage. Yang takes shit from nobody.

Frankly, it does keep me wondering why Yang always looks so passive when Blake gets insulted in later volumes, but we’ll get to those when we get to them.

Oh, look, a RWBY character framed against the “moon” in their trailer!

The rest of the trailer is just Yang kicking ass in typical Yang fashion, with the added quirk of her anger when you touch her hair. Cute tertiary traits like that can be cute on characters provided.

Pretty shot! Also the reveal of them being sisters. Not much else, though; most of Yang’s character is shown by her reckless approach, carefree attitude, and her strength that doesn’t come at the cost of her being edgy and brooding. My favourite trailer to watch, to be honest.

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION

The trailers for RWBY work so well because they took the opportunity to show off each character individually. The show didn’t promise exciting stories of Salem and Ozpin. The show never promised an exciting world brimming with spinoffs, fanfiction material, and original character fuel.

The show took its trailers and designated them to the CHARACTERS. Because RWBY wants you to look at its characters first and everything else can wait. The reason the Red trailer is my least favourite isn’t because I hate Ruby (I love Ruby!); it’s because it’s Ruby impassively beating up Grimm after visiting her dead mum. Cool premise, but it offers nothing to her character before telling you she has a dead mum. Blake and Weiss’ trailers show us important events in their lives; Weiss’ trial to go to Beacon, and Blake’s decision to leave Adam and the White Fang; her decision to trade comfort for what was right. Yang’s trailer is just dripping with character and is fun! I’ll go ahead and tell you I think the best trailers are, in order, Weiss > Blake > Yang > Ruby.

So if anyone ever tells you the show only cares about its fights, they’re not watching what you’re watching. And if you think the plot matters more than the characters themselves, well... I think CRWBY might disagree. But who’s to say that for certain except them?

Either way, I hope you enjoyed the read. I’ve wanted to do RWBY analysis for so long - the actual kind rather than any analysis that pretends Adam was ever anything but a device for Blake and Yang or acts like that’s somehow bad, or the FORCED PANDERING.

The next time you hopefully see me, I’ll be talking all about Volume 1 in a post probably just as big as this one. Volume 1 is a wonderful start to the series, endearing in its trial by fire, and I hope to see you then. For the record, it’ll be much less of a screencap -> analysis format as I won’t be going episode by episode, instead talking about the volume as a whole along with standout episodes, moments, characters, and things that didn’t sit right with me. That was just for the trailers! Liveblogger I am not.