#qrow said angst rights

[bonez-yard]

“I work alone... I always have..”

“I̷̢͑̇͠͝ ̵̳͒̑͐̈t̵̡̽͊̊̌̅h̵̹̤̣̏̌i̶̢͈̘̍̽͜ͅn̸̹̼̹̯̠̏k̵̠̞̘̰͎̎ ̷͍͚͎̼̝̽t̷̨̗̗̲̖̀̀̿̕h̷̘̒̕ă̸̻̅͊͝t̶̺̯̭̯̲̱́̈́̎’̸̭̯̜̆̐̍͝ͅṡ̵̮͛̈̏͋̅̕ ̷͙̙̞̜͒͑͑a̴̜̙͎͛͑͋̐ͅͅ ̷̧̙̤̿͐̾́͜s̶̯̖̲̈̉̒̾͠h̵͎͓̓̆ͅā̸͖̾̈́͂͆͑̀m̸̩̭̓̚è̷̡̘̖͕̦̐̽̒̚.”

“W̴̲̹̓̔h̴͖͋e̵͈̥̋̂r̸̜̺̓̇e̷̬̟̒̕’̷͕̠͋̋s̴̨͂̅ ̴̟͑̐t̵̰̣̿ĥ̸͈̂ȩ̸͕͘ ̸͎͌͜f̶́͗͜ů̴͚̻ṇ̶̿͌ ̵̤͎́̄ḯ̷̭̩n̷̘̈̕ ̵̢̍̍ẃ̴̡͜ō̶̰̑r̶͇̿k̴̳̖͛̃i̴͕̅n̶̪̈g̶͉̗̿ ̷̤͆̈́ä̸́ͅl̴͙̈̆ő̶̝̮n̷͔̓̚ě̷̛͍̘?̸̟͒ͅ”

A redraw of my sad boi and his former partners-

Crwby gave my angst rights

Please do not STEAL/COPY/REPOST my art!!!

#my post #my art #qrow branwen #clover ebi #summer rose #fair game #lucky charms #hummingbird #flown north #implied fair game #implied hummingbird #rwby qrow #rwby clover #rwby summer #platonic hummingbird #platonic fair game #whichever y’all prefer #anyways #qrow said angst rights #let the bird man be happy- #rwby

[nappybones5]

A Terminal Redditor’s Interpretation of Team STRQ

Got rambly on Reddit about my interpretation of Team STRQ and again, thinking it might be fun for people into them. First sentence of second para is rehashing some of what was said in my last post, but everything after is all original thinkin’ thoughts. Without further ado!

——-

Does it count as a rarepair if it already happened in canon, i.e, it sunk before it even sailed? Because it sure feels like it. Anywho, reading my fellow Phoenix fics on AO3, and even a few Rosebird ones when I’m feeling desperate, I get the impression that my interpretation of Team STRQ is an outlier.

I don’t like to imagine Summer as Ruby lite, so I’ve written her as a woman on a mission, desperate to kill Salem for making a sole survivor of her. I’m surprised no one’s ever thought of the idea that Ozpin might’ve raised Summer, and I’ve got a lot of headcanons bouncing about in my head about the kind of person she might’ve been, raised that way. A high tolerance for eccentricity, a penchant for overly formal speech (I have had for weeks the idea of her saying ‘dross’ in front of Team STRQ and them looking at her like she’s a fucking alien), and loyalty towards Ozpin to a dangerous fault. And her having an initial approach to Team STRQ like ‘great, more meat for the grinder’ before she genuinely starts to grow to care for them, and her relationship with Ozpin starts to sour-by the time of the volume nine flashback, it’s her inability to sacrifice (what’s left of) her team, as well as her lost faith in Ozpin over the years, that leads her to go rogue, bringing Raven along as the only person she is comfortable sacrificing in a possible suicide mission.

Tai, on the other hand, I often see getting depicted as a fuckboy, end sentence. I find it the least interesting way to characterise him, although I suppose I can’t blame people considering canon gives very little to work with (why is he just SITTING there?????). My take: a neurotic mess who signed up for the Huntsman/Huntress gig to…place himself in a four-man situation in which some form of relationship is inevitable. In other words, to make friends, something that Raven immediately recognises and disdains because-this is my favourite part-because they have more in common than they think, because they are both desperate and idiots and cringe, because the fundamental distinction between them is that despite everything Tai is still holding out hope, and Raven thinks he’s an idiot for it, but if he’s right? If victory is in a simple soul? The more I think about it the giddier I get. Especially all the angst and hurt/ironic-comfort potential aaaaa

My personal interpretation of Qrow isn’t too different from other STRQ fics, I don’t think. Probably the two significant differences are that (1) his relationship with Raven is far more abrasive, they are more often than not indulging in each other’s misery. The bandit life wasn’t great on their conduct or morals, why would they be picking each other up? And consequently (2) Qrow finds a lot of refuge in Summer as a partner, developing a sibling-like bond with her that drives Raven up a wall. Raven is terrified that Qrow’s getting roped into all this “magic-maiden-relics bullshit” (her words not mine) without hesitation. He’d do anything for a sister that cared.

No one is writing these characters quite the way I write them. Which sucks, it makes me feel like the weirdo reading too much into the cutouts, but it‘s kind of a relief too. No ‘competition’, no rush.

#summer rose #taiyang xiao long #raven branwen #qrow branwen #rwby #strq #rwby phoenix #fanfiction #headcanon

[howlingday]

Can you do some Moral Orel? Like season 3 or late season 2? Let’s angst this up

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

Jaune: Oscar, what makes you so happy?

Oscar: Oh, gee... I don't know. What makes someone not happy?

Jaune: Gee, I don't know, Oscar! How about life?

Oscar: Well, I do feel sad sometimes, but that's only when I'm not sure about something.

Jaune: Ever get lonely?

Oscar: Nope!

Jaune: Well, this is a pointless topic, then.

Oscar: Well, I can't be lonely. I have my friends, my family, my future consciousness. (Chuckles) Hey, those all start with F! I wonder what other words start with F that help you not be lonely.

Jaune: ...

Oscar: ...

Jaune: ...

Oscar: ...

Jaune: ...Think of anything?

Oscar: Hm... Nope!

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

Yang: Uncle Qrow? Do you... like my dad the way my mom likes my dad?

Qrow: ...Your mom likes your dad?

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

Jaune: Uh, Qrow? I think you might be... too drunk.

Qrow: ...Let me tell you something, JOHN! Drunk IS nature!

Jaune: ...I'm not really comfortable training with you right now.

Qrow: You're not comfortable training with ME?! (Laughs) Have you ever tried training with YOU?! (Pulls out his flask, Drinks what's left) Ah~! (Pulls out bottle, Chugs half of it down) Let me tell you something, Jaune. You are a pessimist. Your glass is always half empty. Now look at me. You should be like ol' Uncle Qrow and look on the blight side of life.

Jaune: ...Bright?

Qrow: I didn't say bright! I said blight. My life is sunny and blight. Bright means the opposite. Bright is sudden, withering death. And that's... not... (Cries) Oh, who am I kidding? My life is full of bright!

Jaune: You mean blight?

Qrow: (Huffs) I hate myself! (Looks at his bottle, Glares) ...Why don't you work on me anymore?! (Looks at Jaune) She's just like every other whore in my life! (Falsetto) "Qrowy, you drink too much!" "Qrow, you need help!" "Qrow, you shouldn't be training!" You just nag, and nag, and nag, and nag, and nag, and nag, and nag, and nag! They're all demons, kid! They'll take what they want from you, sink their claws in, and drag you down until there's nothing left of you but a husk, and then toss you to the side to rot! THEN YOU'RE REALLY IN THE SHIT WHEN THE GRIMM COME ALONG, AND THEY KILL THE ONLY EXCEPTION IN YOUR LIFE, LEAVING YOU SHATTERED AND ALONE WITH NOWHERE TO GO AND NOWHERE TO BE! (Screams)

Jaune: Qrow! (Punches Qrow, He falls backwards) Stop it!

Qrow: ...Jaune. (Climbs from his soaked and shattered bag) Jaune, Jaune, Jaune. You are the ONLY kid I know who can, with just one punch, ruin a bar's worth of booze!

Jaune: I-I'm sorry! It was an accident!

Qrow: THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS! Ever since I dropped off your little girlfriend's tiara, you have done NOTHING but PISS and MOAN about how shitty YOUR life is! And then you have the GALL to question MY coping system?!

Jaune: It's because alcohol isn't the answer!

Qrow: OF COURSE IT ISN'T! It's a solution, Jaune! It's the ONLY fucking solution! But if you want an answer, here's your answer! (Shoots Jaune in the hand)

Jaune: ARGH!

Qrow: (Drops Harbinger) Kid! What did you do?!

Jaune: MMH! I... You shot ME in the hand!

Qrow: Yeah, which means you should be more careful! Now we need some cloth to wrap it up. Ah, here we go!

Jaune: Th-That's Pyrrha's sash!

Qrow: Well, it's not like she's gonna need it, is she? (Wraps his hand) Now, how are we gonna disinfect it? Aura can only do so much.

Jaune: There's... rubbing alcohol in my first aid-

Qrow: Ah! Got it! Now, brace yourself. This might sting just a bit. (Chugs entire bottle) Ah~! All gone!

Jaune: ...I hate you.

Qrow: (Laughs) Hate away, June! Just hate a-fucking-way! (Passes out)

#submission #moral orel #oscar pine #jaune arc #yang xiao long #qrow branwen #rwby

[kob131]

Vexed is spouting his BS again. He uploaded a video called “We Have to Talk About This Scene”, where he complains about RWBY’s vision of her past self in chapter 4. Basically, he’s complaining about Ruby getting character development even though he wanted her to get it because it “wasn’t good enough”. Hey, Vexed, have you ever heard of the old adage “beggars can’t be choosers”? Because that’s exactly what you’re doing here. People are also complaining that Ruby’s description of her pendant holding a mother’s promise “came out of nowhere.” Ignoring the lyrics to Red Like Roses: Part 2 aside, you do remember the stories that Yang told Ruby about Summer? Or how Qrow described Summer as special in Volume 4? Maybe that led to Rube developing that opinion of her/the emblem? Talk about self-serving memory.

No, that's not what he said. Go back and rewatch the video, Anon.

Vex's point is that the other three are underwritten and that the writers could have done something 'interesting' here with the other three. He has nothing really to say about Ruby.

Mind you, I don't agree with Vex whatsoever here. The guy says he understands the point behind the part with Ruby but says that what the past version says doesn't matter.

Except it does.-

Past Ruby: That’s right! It’s up to you to make things better, isn’t it? Everything all depends on you! Your sister needs you, your friends need you, the whole world needs you to keep fighting, forever and ever, against an invincible monster that took your mother!

This specific paragraph and what is said is important to understand Ruby's situation and feelings. She feels alone and isolated because, as the 'hero', she must stand alone and strong for everyone else. This is why Ruby faints when she hears about Penny and Atlas. This is why Ruby doesn't follow the group immediately after they all run off after the auction. This is why Ruby isn't shrunk down like the other three were. This is why Ruby lacks Cresent Rose- it's all in service of separating Ruby from her team, to emphasize that feeling of isolation. And it's why you can't just give the others something to angst over- it runs counter to what the Volume is doing.

I also don't think his example with Blake works. Because it relies on you not remembering the whole scene.

"Ilia: I still don't feel like I deserve the freedom you and your family granted me."

"Blake: (smiling) Well, you're going to have to get over it, Ilia. Saving Haven had a huge impact on how Faunus are seen in Mistral. Now it's up to you all to take the progress and keep running with it."

Ilia: Right. The White Fang may have been a failure, but with your father starting up a new movement, I've got more faith than ever before. (runs up to Blake and gives her a big hug.) Thank you, Blake, for everything. (choking up) I wish you didn't have to go.

The two then part from the hug.

Blake: I know, but my team needs me. We're going to track down the people responsible for the attack on Haven and the fall of Beacon.

His point is that 'Blake give up Fanaus fight, why she consider it now?!' but that wasn't the point of the scene. It just makes him look either stupid for missing a blunt point or scummy for relying on misinformation.

And honestly- his line about 'Don't have Ruby's issues be solved with a hug' is really dumb. Ruby's whole deal is that she feels isolated and alone, stressed by the heavy burden she feels she's holding all on her own. That cliche that Vex is complaining about exists for precisely this kind of arc- to show that Ruby isn't alone in all this and that she's safe and sound with them. That's the purpose of a hug. Asking for the cliche to not be used when it's supposed to is like demanding a guy to not use a hammer to force down a nail.

But still- Vex never said Ruby's development 'wasn't good enough.' That's on you.

Also I can't decide if that moment was good or bad. Bad because we never directly learned where the emblem came from...but good because it's a logical thing to assume given the surname 'Rose' and its constant inclusion in Ruby's design.

[toooldforfandom-liveblogs]

RWBY V8E11 - Risk

My main question going into this episode is... why did Ironwood's Ultimatum ask the same thing of Penny as the hack (assuming the Vault is in Atlas Academy)? I mean, in-universe it makes sense, he doesn't know what's going on. But we know. I'm not sure what's the narrative purpose of duplicating Penny's orders. Is it to have both Penny and her hacked self agree in what they need to do? To make her "lose" to the virus only because she agrees, without compromising the possibility of her coming back? Hm.

Anyway, I have no idea what the episode's title could be about so let's do this!

I think not even Palpatine in Star Wars went this hard with the dramatic lighting after his mask came off.

I hadn't considered that the bomb would be the thing to push people to reconsider working under Ironwood but, well, of course. On the other hand these guys saw Ironwood murder a councilman in cold blood without it ever coming up again, so I feel I have a pretty good reason for not thinking "this, this is the thing that breaks their loyalty"

All the light is gone from Ironwood's eyes, I guess the bomb threat finally killed whatever was left of him.

I love how the Ace Ops went from being awesome during their introduction to the slow reveal of how much they actually suck.

Winter just saved Marrow's life and there's no way she didn't know what she's doing.

I'm laughing IRL at their expressions and the situation.

Oscar is reaaally sounding like Ozpin right now

And Ruby finally, finally, got to her breaking point.

There's never going to be enough time for the show to get really into whatever is going on with Nora and Ren but I love the potential.

This is the payoff I've been waiting for almost two volumes and I'm loving it. Give me all the drama.

Nora's VA is killing it. I think I've never heard that particular tone coming from Nora before.

Wait.

What?

Of all the things I expected this is not one of them.

I wish they showed what Ren is seeing with his semblance. But I guess he could always be not using it right now.

Oh no, Jaune made me laugh. I'm getting soft in my old age.

I can't tell if that was a good apology or not. He assumed responsibility for what he said, explained the reason and made it clear that he knows what he is apologizing for.

I wonder if Nora thinks Ren regrets the kiss, since he mentioned Robyn's rally and she very clearly reacted to it.

That tiny flinch from Nora is absolutely wonderful.

The one thing that is distracting me here is Ren's VA. But maybe it's the way Ren in general gets directed which usually works for his character but feels a teensy bit stilted here, in a "ah, an actor is reading these lines" versus "Ren is saying this" way.

Still loving this scene.

Nora backstory!

now I wonder if he can turn off his semblance

If I hadn't been pausing I'd be crying right now, but this definitely got me teary-eyed.

All aboard the murder ironwood train

The most subtle of weapons, a giant Final Fantasy sword.

With that camera angle, he's already gone.

Welp, never mind

On one hand this is a natural continuation of Qrow's character development. A small return into his bad habits before continuing to get better.

On the other hand, I'm just not invested in his storyline. It lost me when Clover got killed and now I just want the writers to speedrun this bit so Qrow can either return to the main group or go do something else away from the show.

Who could it be to cause that reaction? Maybe Winter and Marrow?

lol at Ruby's angst pose.

Oh. We're going right into this.

I 100% thought they had missed the silver eyes or maybe save it for the last episode or something.

Ruby's VA is making a herculean effort to make her sound gravely while still keeping her squeakiness. And it's working.

This is amazing. I never expected the show to acknowledge that Ruby is perfectly capable of doing the same speculation as the fandom once she had the info. And I love how she's speaking.

Also, I think I can hear the fandom's reductive perception of Ruby taking a big hit.

And now I can hear my heart breaking.

I hadn't realized how much I needed this scene. When was the last time they got to be sisters?

aaand, it's gone. It can only be Penny, right? The one remaining issue in the mansion.

aw, c'mon. I don't mind (I do) if she's fully hacked but the internal fighting is destroying me. Just get it over with.

Nuts and Dolts fans: "Not like this... not like this."

This is very tragic but I can't help but find her eyes funny.

Emerald is helping! She's helping!!

Big fan of Jaune's semblance interacting with others'

From an objective point of view, this tracks. She's making a choice while she still can.

From my point of view: AAAAA, why am I watching this.

I'm 99.9% sure that this is not going to happen just because a super powerful main character makes the story harder to write.

And, also, I'm not sure Ruby would be able to do it, even though earlier in the season they talked about how sometimes they have to make hard decisions that they don't necessarily like. They were just talking about being optimistic, there has to be reason for that.

Winter would kill Penny here but Ruby is not there yet, and I doubt she'll ever be. That's just not who she is. I feel she's going to take a risk (ohh, that's why) here but I'm not sure what the plan could be. They can't stop Penny forever.

This episode keeps surprising me with things that make sense and I hadn't even remotely considered before.

That was weirdly anti-climactic.

same Weiss, same

I think I love Emerald.

lol

Okay, now you're just overdoing it with the title drops.

I think this is my favorite episode of this season so far, I liked every single scene. Marrow finally got a spine, Winter is (or seems to be) finally doing something, Nora and Ren finally talked, Ruby finally got to open herself up and reconnect with her sister, Emerald finally acknowledged she's switching sides and Penny finally "dealt" with the virus. All those "finally" are payoffs from things that have been building up for whole seasons in some cases, and all of them worked (for me). If I had to choose, I think Nora and Ren are the highlight of the episode, with Ruby being a close second.

For the first time since Penny got hacked I feel hopeful that she's not going to straight up die or choose to die. I mean, I'm still leaning towards that being the case but the aura thing is making me reconsider my pessimism. It no longer feels inevitable. Which is probably for the worse, since now that there's hope it'll just crush me harder when the writers decide to go ahead with it anyway.

I think that's all for now so, until next time!

#rwby #rwby liveblog #rwby v8 #rwby v8e11

[lunatriense]

I’m sorry but Ozpin’s pressured her?

Need I remind you that Pyrrha literally jumped at the chance when Oz and co we’re done explaining??? Oz is the one who gives her that look when he heard those words come out of her mouth because those are the same words he said as Ozma to the God of Light and asks her to take time and think it through.

Yes it probably would have been better to talk to her about it more because she couldn't talk to her friends about it, but he literally stopped her from making an impulsive, ill-considered decision.

But if he really did pressure her then he wouldn’t have given her that look and told her to take some time. He would have just accepted it and placed her in the pod and have that be the end of it, but no he didn’t. Because he literally was trying not to pressure her because he’s been pressured throughout all these centuries. He told Pyrrha as much as he could trust her with and let her make the decision on her own.

I know ya’ll love Pyrrha and naturally so because she’s a wonderful character but she made that choice in her own. Yes that choice was hastened due to the attack on Beacon but she still also made that choice of her own volition, and she also made the choice to fight Cinder all on her own even though she knew she’d lose, she still had to try. She could have run away with Jaune but she didn’t.

Her death is the result of Cinder and of Pyrrha’s own choice. Oz didn’t pressure her into doing anything he let her chose because he knows that choices are important even if they aren’t always easy to make.

I’m sorry but Oz isn’t the bad guy or manipulator ya’ll think he is. He’s a liar, he’s made mistakes but all that lying and mistakes means that he’s human because at his core he’s still a good person.

As Oscar said “oz really wants to help” He still loves humanity and genuinely wants to save them.

Explaining? They never explained. He told a girl he knew had a hero/martyr complex that she could save the world but it might cost her her life, of course she was going to say yes. And as far as hastening the choice because of the Beacon attack, he demanded an answer by the end of the tournament before that! He only ever was going to give her a few days, during which she was already under enormous stress.

'He told her as much as he could trust her with' my ass; he told her a tiny bit and left out the most important part, about how all of this is futile. The same part he left out with Ironwood, Qrow, everyone — the part that would lead good people who are willing to dedicated their lives to protecting the world not to do what he says. I wonder why that might be? When you lie to people with a specific goal of getting them to do something you want that, if they knew the truth, they likely wouldn't do? Oh, right, that's manipulation.

Did Pyrrha make the choice to fight Cinder on her own? Yes, despite it being entirely out of character for her given the fact that she'd always sought backup for very difficult opponents before. MKEK wanted Jaune angst so they decided to fridge her and had her do something monumentally stupid. Did she know she would lose and still had to try? As of v6 retconning the whole thing I guess, which is an absolutely disgusting twisting of things.

Look, I get it, you like Ozpin. Fine, cool, enjoy him. You think he's a good guy. Great! I have friends who do too; if you follow the rwde crowd around here, you've probably seen quite a few of their takes on him in fact. I don't, and the way he's manipulated Pyrrha is only a small part of why. I have many, many reasons to hate the bastard.

#rwde #anti ozpin #ozpin bashing #answers #anti mkek #anti crwby #crwby critical

[philcoulsonismyhero]

'Do it anyway / Be honest, anyway' or 'It Was Your Heart On The Line'? :D

Oh hey, you managed to get 'fics featuring Robyn where her name isn't in the placeholder title' bingo! :D I'm going to answer both, because they're both fun.

'Do it anyway / Be honest, anyway'

This one is a fic I've been poking at on and off for ages, and exists in a couple of different mutually exclusive partial drafts as well as one big main unfinished first draft, but the basic idea is that Robyn finds a way to get in touch with Ironwood after she learns the truth about Amity from Blake and Yang, and they end up in an 'enemy of my enemy' situation in order to deal with the whole 'Jacques Schnee is on the council, fucking hell' situation. It's fun, it's basically me taking the fact that Robyn was surprisingly willing to give James the benefit of the doubt and trust his good intentions during the dining room scene and going 'what if she'd reached out earlier when they had a chance to talk it out between just the two of them, and he'd pulled the stick out of his butt that he's got re: her for long enough to have a proper conversation?' And it's also got a little bit of riffing on my favourite headcanon re: those two, which is that James taught classes at the Academy while she was a student and remembers her as a mouthy pain in his ass and that's part of why he's so hostile towards her as an adult.

Here's a snippet:

Ironwood held out his hand.

“Take it,” he said. “Use your Semblance. You won’t believe me otherwise.” Robyn looked from his face to his white-gloved hand and back again, surprised and trying to read his expression. He looked and sounded exhausted, but his hand was steady and his face resolute. 

“We’re really going to do this?” she asked. “You’re going to answer my questions?”

“Yes,” said Ironwood. “It’s the only way you’ll understand.” He took a deep breath, and let it out in a short sigh. “You’re right, Miss Hill, I don’t like you very much. I don’t agree with your methods, and I think your priorities are short-sighted. But the only way you’ll learn about the larger picture is if I tell you what it is.”

“Wow,” said Robyn, raising her eyebrows. “I guess it is honesty hour. And I’m not even holding your hand yet.” She reached out, but before she took his hand she stopped and looked him right in the face. “In the interest of reciprocity, General, I could say the exact same things about you. But I’m willing to believe that you care about protecting the people of this kingdom as much as I do. This -” she indicated his outstretched hand - “this helps. But don’t think it’s going to be all it takes to get me on side.”

'It Was Your Heart On The Line'

This one is the second fic in a 'verse I've named 'Take My Hand', part one of which is the 'Penny and Winter go to the Vault together and manage to talk some sense into James' fic that I've published over on AO3 as 'Corner Me And Make Me Something'. This one moves away from Penny and Winter and on to Robyn and Qrow, as James has to deal with more of the fallout of the bad decisions he's made that night and is trying to walk back as much as he can.

It's also got another change, which is that Clover wasn't killed by Tyrian, just very badly injured and at this point in time is in surgery and no one knows if he's going to make it or not. (Spoiler: he does. I can milk all the angst I could want from the situation by putting him in critical condition for a while, but his actual death would just be pointless and cruel. This is a more hopeful AU than canon.)

I haven't actually written much of this one yet, it mainly exists in my head as a bunch of scene outlines, but the basic gist is this: James heads down to the stockade to talk to Qrow and Robyn, having gone via the med centre to drop Winter off with the doctors and check in on Clover's condition. It's still ambiguous whether Qrow is to blame for his injuries or not, they were still clearly inflicted by his weapon, so James is still angry and upset at him, and blaming Qrow to distract from the fact that it's also his fault. Robyn, fed up of James's bullshit, immediately starts tearing him a new one over the mess he's made and the fact that he did all this after she stood up in front of the whole kingdom and supported him, and then uses her Semblance to prove that Tyrian was the one that injured Clover. Then she stomps off in order to go help coordinate the rest of the evacuation of Mantle, which Penny talked James into continuing in the previous fic.

Cue James and Qrow left alone together, and Qrow demanding to know what happened with Ruby. (Who James has already talked to, also at Penny's insistence, a conversation revisited in flashback.) They're both mad at each other and worried about Clover on top of everything else, and it's a whole big fun mess of Disasters With Emotions. Probably with at least some acknowledgement of my headcanon that they have romantic history as well as their Weird, Complicated, Sometimes Vitriolic Friendship, because gotta have the Ironqrow Agenda, but things are too stressful and complicated for anything of that sort of happen between them at this point in this particular AU. This scene is the vaguest in my head, structure-wise, because I like to write these sorts of big argument-conversations by picking a place to start and then just letting the characters have a go at each other for as long as it takes to get everything out in the open.

I'm not sure yet where this one ends, but it probably leaves off with them having decided on some sort of plan of what they're doing next, and an acknowledgement that James really ought to be in the med centre as well, because what the hell did he do to his arm? (This being the first time Qrow has learned of that particular situation.)

Thanks for the ask!!

#personal stuff #a thing i wrote #writing tag #ah screw it why not #james ironwood #robyn hill #qrow branwen #rwby

[fenixjys]

Destiny AU Sketches

Fighting through figuring out the plot for the project I'm working on, note that it's White Rose heavy and it ended up needing more than Razia's Shadow music.

AU's started to pile up in my head before this AU was created,and I ended up connecting them together since they made sense. These ideas came up because I was desperate for um...crumbs...and then the whole plot happened till I ended up making a finale for the whole thing (even the Vacuo arc, yes I'm that advanced) instead of just focusing through season 3 (vol 7,8,9) and of course my ass had to put my ships in it.

It's definitely, like I said White Rose heavy...you know me,Bumbleby is here for the addition, and some minor ships like Rich Farmers and Rosebird, and if I ended up being spicy I'll add some Ciel x Penny? Is that a thing? because I love it. There are also other ships that I feel like are....too odd these days,so I'll just settle with telling you about the ones that ya'll like.

(I have fear)

Anyway, storyboards have been made, for a few songs, and I want ya'll to keep in mind that I'm a single donut in the box... and I'm just getting used to a tablet

anyway that's enough of me rambling, if CRWBY doesn't feed us then I'll make the bread, can't promise that it'll be good, I don't trust myself with this much potential, AAH–

and I really liked how the WR sketch turned out so...

sketchy with color, my mood.

To add to the addition here's the AU's that I compiled to make this possible, I'm just gonna make it obvious on what's it about.

-White Rose is happier Salem and Oz

•basically what happened with Salem and Oz happens in reverse between Weiss and Ruby

-Tragic Rose Bird

•Branwen Dad bad

-Mutant/Dust infused Yang

•Oh you know what mutated

•Scar? Well, dust grows from it

•Sad past Yang, childhood friend Sun

•It's a whole program Oz did with the council (Yang isn't the only one affected)

•She really loves Blake, gods

-Grimm Infection

•Ruby and Yang for angst

-Evil Oz (?)

•He lies...Even more.

•causes gingerbread angst

-CIEL IS HERE

•Penny needs a girlfriend

•Ironwood has another gun

-Whitley is here (?)

•He needs a boyfriend

•Thinking if he's semblanceless or not anyway, training with Oscar

-Qrow is...

•Eh I think it's a spoiler so no

Anyway, Ironically enough this is called Destiny AU, where they screw up destiny after what it did to um... my love Pyrrha...um...

Screw the gods am I right?

#long post #aaaaaa #rwby #white rose #whiterose #ruby rose #weiss schnee #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #oscar pine #yes ciel and penny #ciel soleil #alternate unieverse #*cries in clown #screw it if i wrote something wrong #destiny au

[starlightshadowsworld]

The Apology Scene redone (V8 C11) Part 1

(Finally reworking this WIP)

(*listens to Oz apologise and waits for RWBY+JNR to apologise back.... Waits*... You know what, fine I'll do if myself! Here's the apology...Orrrr everyone bonds, cries and Ozpin has another story to tell. 

Because I wanted this scene to be so much more than it was and hey its Oz and if the OPPS sever has taught me anything... There can always be more angst with Oz. I did try to make this as in character as I could.)

Ruby rose her head from Yang’s shoulder as the group walked in. Weiss and Blake sat beside the sisters, silently comforting the two making them smile a little. Ruby faced Oscar who was hanging back beside Jaune and Emerald, steadying herself. “Hey Oscar, is it okay if we speak to him?” Oscar blinked in surprise, pausing for a few seconds with concern flashing on his face before nodding slowly. Ruby frowned, she was tempted to ask what Ozpin has said but knew it was best not to ask. 

Something she wished hadn’t taken her so long to learn.

Oscar met Ruby’s gaze, he tried for a smile but it didn’t reach his eyes. How could he, not when Oscar could feel him. The fear that pulsed within him like a second heart, the only upside was it was no longer shut behind a door leaving him empty. ‘Oz...you don’t have to do this. I can just tell them what you want to say.” Reaching out for the others presence and being unable to stop the wave of relief when Ozpin reached back. ‘I appreciate the thought Oscar, but I cannot hide forever. This is something we must face together, that’s what you taught me.’ Oscar grumbled about annoying old wizards using his words against him and felt the others amusement run through him. 

Even if both were tense. 

“Hey guys...please don’t start fighting. Not just because I’m healing just...talk, okay.” Oscar did feel bad when he saw everyone’s mood dip, but not enough that make him apologise. They had deeply hurt Ozpin, done what thousands of years under Salem’s abuse had failed to do. He had grown incredibly fond of Ozpin’s company, and feeling him shut off from the world had left him pained. That did not erase the guilt Oscar himself had felt for giving them the tools to do it, only serving as further determination to help him heal. 

Yang nodded seriously “"no ones going to fight” she agreed. Oscar nodded, taking a deep breathe and gave the group one more look, a silent beg to please don’t mess this up before getting up. He walked to the chair Jaune had bought in, taking a seat as his eyes shone gold.

There was a silence, as they all looked for the right words to say before Ruby simply addressed him, “Hi, Professor Ozpin” she said. Just saying his name was enough to bring everyone back to the present, she hadn’t intended to call him professor. It wasn’t something she had done since he left...but it felt right. 

Ozpin met her gaze, if he was surprised to hear that title he didn’t say it. A smile, ever so small it was almost shy bloomed on his face “Hello, Miss Rose.” He turned his head, meeting team RWBY’s gaze in turn. “Miss Schnee, Miss Belladonna, Miss Xiao Long.” Weiss smiled softly, her hands clasped together “professor Ozpin” she echoed Ruby’s words finding that they came to her easily. Blake did the same, one of her ears twitched as she greeted him. Yang found that she couldn’t meet his gaze, nor speak but nodded in acknowledgement.

“Mr Arc, Miss Valkyrie, Mr Ren.” Greeted Ozpin, turning his gaze from Yang to JNR who were sat nearby. Jaune, much like Yang struggled to meet Ozpin’s gaze but managed a quiet “hey, Professor Ozpin”, Nora smiled and waved while Ren gave a distracted wave.

He’d seen purple petals floating around Emerald, her guilt for her previous actions, around Ozpin was a storm. That combined with the swirl of amber, fear around him gave Ren a sinking feeling. 

None of the others could see the petals of course, and Ozpin’s voice gave nothing away. But while he looked up to address them he was hunched over with his ever-present cane in his hands and not on his belt. And unlike the feather light touch he’d previously wielded it with, now it was held it in a vice grip. It was almost as if...

'Does he... Think we're going to attack?' Wondered Ruby, guilt blooming in her heart. She wanted to believe otherwise, but there last meeting had ended so terribly that she shouldn’t have been surprised. Ozpin, oblivious to the groups collective guilt greeted Emerald who nodded politely and Penny who shyly waved and was overjoyed when Ozpin smiled softly and waved back at her. 

Those two were completely at ease, Yang envied them a little. 

"I was recently reminded of an old fairy tale” said Ozpin, lowering his head as he did so. And even just hearing that familiar phrase, made everyone feel a certain warmth. That despite it all, this was still Ozpin “A young girl flees the consequences of a choice to a magical place... But having never learned from her initial failure, she only succeeds in spreading it..." No one needed to ask who that girl was. "I failed you all.” The words echoed throughout the manor, resigned and raw. “I hid, I lied.  I left you to deal with everything you weren’t ready for when you were scared and confused... And so much more."

There had always been a weight to Ozpin’s words, they group realised that from the moment they’d met him. Everything was said with an underlying meaning or message. But here...they knew at once that these words weren’t meant for just them. Yang thought of a photograph, of anger and feathers flying into the breeze. 

“It’s not your fault” began Ruby, pausing at his disbelieving gaze and instead followed with “we failed you too. We kept telling you to trust us, kept pushing you around and than...I’m sorry.”  The wizard before her shook his head, “you have nothing to be sorry about Miss Rose, you were all confused and afraid. You were left to navigate this war, a war I drew you into...you wanted answers I would not give, you did the right thing.” Said Ozpin, Ruby shook her head ready to continue... but someone beat her to the punch. 

“We did the right thing....” Said Yang, her voice barely above a whisper but the rage was almost tangible. Although she did try to keep herself calm, her eyes remaining there bright lavender. “I won’t say you didn’t lie to us...but exposing someone's trauma and kicking an already downed man after saying you wouldn’t...threating you and Uncle Qrow for the truth...none of that is right.”

That was not what Ozpin had been expecting. Especially not from her, she who he had expected anger, red eyes that reminded him tearfully of others and words to cut his heart the way so many had. It took him completely by surprise, Yang ignored the sinking feeling as she caught on. 

“You were angry, confused what other choice did you have? I would not have divulged such information so easily and how were you to know that’s what Jinn would show you?” Said Ozpin, he truly did not understand this. “That doesn’t make how we treated you afterwards any better, I mean seriously, what’s the difference between us and her.” 

That made Ozpin stop, wide eyed that they would even compare themselves to Salem. His demeanour hardened “You acted out of fear, not out of outright malice or hatred. Nothing was said that wasn’t correct, and if I know Qrow he’s already forgiven you all.” There was a finality in his tone, that that was the end of all this. He turned to Ruby “we have far more important matters to discuss.”

Yang was about to say otherwise but stopped, this was what caused there fight in the first place. They would drop it for now, but this conversation was far from over.  Ruby shifted uncomfortably, she wasn’t sure she wished to know.

“Right...Professor Ozpin have you ever seen a grimm like the hound before?”

#rwby #rwby rewrite #Volume 8 chapter 11 #The Apology scene redone #Ozpin #Oscar pine #JNR

[unofficialadamtaurus]

Thoughts on Raven Branwen? How she was done and ways she could’ve been done? Do you like her inclusion or would you change it up entirely?

Fair warning: this is more ramble than structured analysis.

When she first rescued Yang on the train car I thought she was going to be the coolest fucking character. (Granted, I thought similarly for Ruby, then Adam, then Qrow…I have a bad track record). That first introduction was so well done in terms of setting up her mystery and her relative skill and/or reputation (enough that Neo, who was playing with our team powerhouse Yang, backed off in fear). Who was this woman? Why did she have a Grimm mask different than the White Fang’s? Why was Neo afraid of her? What was her connection to Yang?

(And no, I didn’t know there was a post credits scene with her and Yang. Considering it was retconned, I don’t think I missed much.)

So then V5 happened. This cool, mysterious woman with an intimidation factor on par with or greater than Adam’s turns out to be…a bit of a whiny, self-centered, and hypocritical survivalist. On the surface, she still could be compelling; selfish survival is a perfectly reasonable motivation. Until she becomes a maiden and allies with Salem’s faction…? What was the motivation there? How does that help her or her tribe? Like so many characters in RWBY, she suffers from inconsistent motivation. There’s no through-line in her character. What drives her in one scene could be completely at odds with what drives her in the next without any explanation as to why one of her core motivations just changed. As I’ve said or at least implied before, changing a core motivation for any character should be a big fucking deal - but not for Raven. Her being so hard to pin down in the motivation department, not for a lack of potential motivation but for an over abundance of conflicting ones, doesn’t make her cool and mysterious the way her initial scene did. It just makes her a poorly written character.

Speaking of her tribe, my god do they drag her down. Raven I can still buy as competent and intimidating in a fight because her character design does a lot of heavy lifting, but it’s a harder pill to swallow after we see the losers she commands - especially the guy that hits on Yang (who is still a teenager) at that roadside store. Giving the whole tribe an aesthetic better aligned with Raven’s - the vaguely Japanese armor, the mask, the color scheme - and making them a more intimidating threat worthy of a solid fight scene would’ve gone a long way to making them feel like a cohesive whole rather than a bunch of schmucks in the woods.

Basically: I don’t mind that she was written as an absentee mother who bailed on her friends and family to avoid a fight she couldn’t win and go back to the first family she had. That is angst right there. I do mind how canon executed it.

If I were to take a crack at the concept, I’d keep her rescuing Yang in the train car and add an explicit caveat to her semblance that she can feel the pain + emotional state of whomever she is connected to at all times. A price for the portals, and a good reason for her to be very selective about who gets them.

I’d make the aforementioned changes to her tribe. Most of all, I would not have Raven be a maiden since it’s so explicitly against her core motivation of staying out of the Salem conflict. The maiden could still be in her tribe hiding out, but Raven only conceals her under the condition that she use her powers for the tribe and that, if the maiden is discovered by Salem’s faction, then she’s on her own.

I would have Yang spend much more time tracking Raven because the bandits shouldn’t be that easy to find good lord. A lot of this could happen offscreen or in a montage. Yang wants to get to her sister, yes, but now that Beacon has fallen she has the hazy memory of Raven on the train rattling around in her head that she’s more and more certain actually happened especially after talking to Tai about it. She wants to know why Raven did nothing for her or anyone (Pyrrha, for example) at Beacon, and after Tai implied that Raven knew more about the faction behind the Beacon attack, Yang also wants answers so she can go to Ruby with all the info she needs to sway her sister away from danger. If Yang can lose an arm then who knows what could happen to her only sister.

Raven is surprised when Yang eventually barges into her camp but that’s about it. Yang wants answers but Raven refuses because Yang isn’t one of the tribe (“I’m your daughter.” “By blood, not bond.”). In the ensuing silence Yang hears Weiss calling out from a nearby tent. She demands Raven release her; Raven refuses her again. Yang pushes her and eventually they settle on the tribe ritual of combat (to first blood, in this case). If Yang wins, she gets Weiss and answers. If Raven wins, Yang leaves with neither.

They fight. Raven stomps Yang after mockingly not activating her aura beyond its passive levels. She wants to show Yang just how outclassed she is so Yang won’t try anything else stupid after the fight, but - key here - Yang’s outfit covers her mechanical arm and hand. In this rewrite, Raven didn’t check up on her after Beacon in bird form; her portal connection was enough to know Yang was alive. Depressed and wounded, but alive.

So Raven breaks Yang’s aura and orders her at sword point to yield. Instead Yang catches her off-guard by attacking again. Raven swings on reflex, but Yang uses her prosthetic to deflect that sword strike and land a single, extremely solid punch to Raven’s face. Passive aura isn’t enough to shield Raven from a hit that strong, so she staggers back with a hand to her face and blood dripping through her fingers.

First blood. Yang’s victory. Raven isn’t sure whether to be shocked, angry, or impressed at Yang’s recklessness. Putting herself on the line like that isn’t something Raven would do, never mind the sobering fact that she didn’t realize Yang had lost an arm at some point. I could see her saying something like, “I guess you really are Tai’s daughter,” through her new broken nose.

So a bloodied and irritated Raven gives Yang and a newly freed Weiss a very antagonistic bullet points summary of the stuff she said in canon. As for why she did nothing when Yang was critically wounded at Beacon, she and her tribe were in the middle of raiding another tribe when Beacon fell; Raven chose her tribe over Yang in that moment. She tries to play it off as not wanting Yang to become reliant on Raven, but Yang hears the silent part loud and clear.

She is then about to send Yang away when Salem’s faction shows up in some capacity saying they know the maiden is there. Probably after a bunch of Grimm attack and we get to see Raven and her tribe absolutely wrecking shop (and a number of them getting wrecked in return).

Then the envoy (Cinder, Tyrian, Watts, whoever) shows up, marking this as something more than a standard Grimm attack. Raven orders Yang and Weiss to stay hidden. They get to watch while Raven initially lies to the envoy and then shortly after turns on the maiden and hands her over, deaf to her pleas. It’s that moment when Yang processes the full truth of her biological mother and breaks the part of her that naively hoped Raven was secretly a little bit like Summer and walked out on Yang for some kind of “good” reason.

After the Salem envoy leaves, Raven would ignore Yang’s biting questions about how she could sell someone out like that when Yang knows Raven and her people were strong enough to send the envoy packing. Raven would instead portal her and Weiss to Qrow without justifying any of her actions to them.

What comes next would be a rewrite of V5 onwards. I’ll leave that to the imagination.

#anon #unofficial adam answers #raven branwen #rwde

[solardragun]

clover salt? <3

truthfully, he did deserve better. i'll agree with the fg shippers on that.

clover was... incredibly one-dimensional. all he was, was just "good looks and good luck" and like. that's cool on the surface but i wanted to know more about him: his motivations, why he joined the military, why he trusted james so much with his life. that line will forever drive me crazy because it feels so important and then. we never learn more before he's killed. it just... crwby has a bad habit of giving important details to their characters at the last minute.

we got this line twice in the volume and not once was it expanded upon. i personally would've loved to see why clover said it so desperately to qrow in the tundra. why does he owe his life to james? why does he trust him so much? you tell me because crwby sure won't.

anyway, next point. the fact that the characters talked so badly about him in v8 felt like a massive slap to the face, especially to the clover fans. it felt like crwby was upset about the rightful backlash they faced for their blatant queerbaiting of fairgame that they threw a tantrum and decided "nah fuck you, clover was a piece of shit" and it's so petty and immature.

I'm gonna swerve to fairgame for a minute, so bear with me. crwby queerbaited fairgame, plain and simple. many shippers, mlm and even non-shippers/mlm agree on this. it was queerbaited. mlm had EVERY right to be upset. you can't just tease a mlm ship all volume, kill off one half of the ship (which falls into BYG) and not expect mlm and most of your audience to get upset. it was cruel. it was horrible. if crwby didn't want such a huge justified uproar, they shouldn't have played with their mlm fans like they did. the animators knew, the voice actors knew, the writers knew, they all knew clover would die, and yet, they still teased the ship, on twitter and in the show.

you can't tweet about it, animate them blatantly flirting (and they were. the wink, the soft gazes (you know, like the ones bumbleby have, which if that can be considered canon, so can fairgame's)), and then backtrack and GASLIGHT YOUR FANS by telling them: nah clover isn't mlm, you guys are just reading into it, you're seeing things, clover is clearly straight, it's not our fault you assumed he was mlm. LIKE, that is insulting, insensitive. it IS your (crwby's) fault. you baited your mlm viewers, made them believe this ship would be canon and we'd have our first mlm couple in the show, and then you tore them down, spit in their face and then poured salt in the wound by having your characters talk about what a righteous asshole clover was and that he would've happily agreed with ironwood's plan to bomb mantle.

all of this because crwby was too scared to face the music they deserved. fairgame was baited, and i stand by it. many other fans will disagree and insist and even gaslight the ones upset. they will try to push that fairgame was never gonna be canon, that clover wasn't gay, that mlm were reading too deep. and it's just so funny to me because, these are the same people who take any crumb they can for bumbleby or white rose, and it's like. why is the coding only canon for bb / wr but not fg? what's the difference? clover winked at qrow, just like yang did to blake in v2. why is yang's version clear evidence of bumbleby, but clover isn't proof of fairgame? clover and qrow shared soft looks in the manor, just like blake and yang do every volume. why are the looks for the girls canon, but not qrow and clover? ask yourself that. why do wlw shippers insist mlm ships aren't canon? when their ships share coding with each other? interesting, isn't it?

moving on back to clover himself. i think his treatment in the show is a bunch of shit (I really tried to not cuss here but I'm angry again so I apologize).

i feel he deserved to be a well-rounded character.

also, if crwby really wanted to hurt the characters and "subvert expectations", they should've gone for traitor!clover. I think that would've done wonders for angst and hurt everyone, including qrow. PLUS, the symbolism of it: the heroes have someone with bad luck, the villains have someone with good luck. salem agent!clover would've been sexy. the fight with tyrian could've been them against qrow, evil smirking.

anyway, clover deserved better.

#ironpines #asks. #aphs. #rwde #rwby #clover ebi #fairgame

[secret-engima]

Team Gremlin verse: The Reunion

(So this is ... a very rough draft so to speak of what I wanna do for the reunion scene with Oscar and Ozpin. I’m not dubbing it ‘canon’ yet because I’d have to wait for the actual fic to catch up and then tweak accordingly but so far- this is what is in my head and I figured I should let others enjoy the angst :D)

...

     Ozpin slipped away from the crowd exiting the tent with a pounding heart. He could feel his fingers shake on the hilt of Long Memory as he managed to duck into the shadows outside the large emerald and gold tent. He had found him. All this time searching, all this time praying and hoping and looking only to be too late and he had found him. He had sat in the stands and seen the boy in action, heard the music and seen the magic both fake and real, and felt the sheer energy and joy the little Ringmaster felt in his performance like lightning in Ozpin’s own bones. And then- the song. The final song. Because Oscar always rounded off with a song, ones not meant for spectacle, but instead for the heart. A sincere wish and message for those fortunate to sit beneath the ceiling of the Emerald City for the night.

     The song alone could have brought him to tears. But to hear it sung by the little boy in the ring, the impossible, wonderful, miracle child who had every right to lash out at the world in hate, yet instead chose to fill it with wonders … it had been all he could do to keep from crying with there in the stands. To not try to climb down the makeshift seating and into the ring because all he’d wanted was to hold him.

     His son. The son he had never seen outside of grainy photos and shaky recordings, who he had tried desperately to find the more he learned what the child had lived through. And now Ozpin had found him. Now Ozpin had a chance to meet him. He just had to get backstage.

     It wasn’t hard to escape the eyes of the crowd, and it wasn’t much more difficult to slip through the shadows to the little ring of emerald tents set up behind the big top, the tents where the various performers of the rare and popular Emerald City act stayed. He hesitated on the boundary, trying to pick out which one of the colorful, green-themed tents belonged to the Ringmaster —his son, his child that he had never gotten to meet, would never have known about save a series of accidents—. He heard laughter and activity behind him, the performers returning to their temporary homes, and he ducked forward into the shadows of a tent at random. They would run him off if they found him, he was certain of that. He was a stranger to them at best, or worse, a known player in the war that had created the boy he hoped to meet, that had no doubt hurt many of those who followed him —such as Hazel, and how the man had ever been swayed from Salem’s promise of revenge, Ozpin could not fathom but did not want to test—.

     He heard no activity from the tent he was hiding behind, and while the air whispered with hints of magic, it wasn’t coming from this tent, so he moved on to another. This time, he dared peak into the tent flap, but saw nothing but the vague shadows of personal belongings. No sign of the little Ringmaster —his son, his child—.

     Ozpin backed away from that tent, heart drumming anxiously in his chest. Then he turned and froze.

     The massive Grimm, the strange one that Qrow called Hound. The monster that for some reason Ozpin never wanted to contemplate —but had spent many hours doing just that— followed his son everywhere. Behaved like it was tame and natural rather than a creature of Darkness that longed only for destruction. It stood just a few feet away, so large it’s head was even with Ozpin’s chin as it watched him with flat, glowing red lights for eyes.

     His fingers tightened on the hilt of Long Memory, lifetimes of instinct screaming to raise his weapon and attack first before it could kill him or anyone else here. But he had seen recordings of this same Grimm, dressed up in ridiculous costumes to hide its true nature from unpracticed eyes, parading around in the circus ring like a big dog. He had seen his son ride on its back and balance on its head and Qrow had recounted more than one instance of Oscar and the other children escaping on its back. It hadn’t been present for this particular show, but he had seen multiple recordings of previous ones where it entered the ring and no one had been harmed. Of course, Ozpin’s son —Salem’s son, for all the second half of that coin tore at his guts— had been close by all those times, but here there was no one in sight but the two of them.

     The Grimm tilted its head slowly to one side, a ragged ear pricking like an actual dog’s. It wasn’t attacking. Even though Ozpin knew he must stink of so many different types of fear he could attract an entire pack of Beowolves all on his own. It just … studied him.

     Slowly, it’s jaws opened, and Ozpin prepared to dodge some attack. Instead, the large, blood red tongue slid out from between massive teeth and lolled there, a slow, thoughtful trio of pants before it licked its teeth and shut its jaws again. Without any further reaction, it lowered its head and turned away, walking slow and ponderously toward one of the tents that had light peaking through the bottom. Ozpin watched it leave with a blank, confused mind, then startled when it stopped and twisted around to look over its shoulder at him.

     It looked like it was waiting.

     It looked like it wanted him to follow.

     Inhaling raggedly —this was the stupidest thing he had done in lifetimes he was sure—, Ozpin started following in the Grimm’s footsteps.

     It led him to the tent farthest from the bigtop, nudged open the flap with something like practiced ease, and shouldered its way in. Ozpin lingered outside, suddenly too afraid to go a step further. There was a Grimm in there, but somehow, the realization that his son might be in there was even more terrifying than that. If he stood out here too long, he would be caught, he knew that, and yet…

     “Hey, Sondor,” murmured a voice through the tent fabric and Ozpin’s world crystalized, “Everything alright? You left in a bit of a hurry.” A deep rumble, inhuman and bass and … oddly content sounding. The voice —a child’s voice, a gentle voice, a voice he’d just heard laughing and waxing dramatic for a show of fake magic and real mysteries— laughed faintly, “Checking on someone then? You know everyone has to stay up late on performance nights.”

     If he held on any tighter to his cane, he thought it might shatter, but the feel of it grounded him like it always had, and with the last bit of courage he possessed in this lifetime, he pushed the tent flap open and slipped inside as the voice —his son— finished saying, “We’ll be sure to take long naps in the morning.”

     Ozpin was here. He was standing in the same space as his child, without a crowd to be wary of or a performance to keep them apart. He was standing in some kind of makeshift workshop, with a cot on the floor on the far side and the vast majority of space taken up by a battered, foldable metal table that seemed to be a desk and all the tools of a magician’s trade. Cards and wands and hats, gloves and fanciful outfits and a hundred thousand other things that didn’t matter, because amid all the mess, with his back mostly to the entrance and a massive Grimm lying contentedly next to his feet, was the Ringmaster.

     His child.

     The Grimm raised its head again to stare at him, a low noise he’d never heard the monsters make before rumbling from its chest, and the boy tilted his head toward the tent entrance absently, still not looking away from the Dust gem he was setting in his elaborate cane, “Hey Neo, you’re back early. I thought you were still scoping … out…” he finished setting the Dust in his cane, looked up and saw Ozpin standing there. Neither of them moved. Green-gold eyes in a young face —he looked ten had Qrow really been correct on estimating his age closer to twelve or thirteen?— went wide, and the magic passively swirling through the tent shrunk in on itself until he couldn’t feel it.

     It occurred belatedly to Ozpin that while he had essentially been stalking his son for the last few years in an attempt to meet him and make sure he was okay, the boy wouldn’t know him at all. Or worse, had only heard of him from people who hated him —from Salem herself even—. And now Ozpin had just shown up in the boy’s living space without warning or invitation.

     Terror and nerves tangled up all the words he wanted to say, all the ones he’d longed to say, and instead he found himself folding both of his shaking hands on the pommel of his cane and bleating out the first, most habitual line currently living in his brain, “Hello, I’m Professor Ozpin-.”

     A shout, loud and gutted, and all his words died in his throat again as the boy threw himself off his little camp chair and at Ozpin. Long Memory clattered to the ground unnoticed as Ozpin instinctively raised his hands to wrap around the little body that collided with his waist, slender arms tightening like a vise around him and Ozpin couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe-.

     Had he really said-?

     A hiccuping sob from the child in his arms, a fully body thing that shook him from his tousled black hair to his shoes while that word spun endlessly in Ozpin’s mind, haunting him and confusing him because he couldn’t have heard that right. He couldn’t have heard…

     “Dad.”

     The word echoed between them again, muffled by a young face buried in his suit jacket, and Ozpin felt his own breath start to stammer as he clung tighter to the boy in his arms, sinking down to his knees despite the screaming in his leg and burying his face in flyaway black hair, “I’m here.” He choked out, “I’m right here. I’ve got you. You’re alright. I’m right … I’m right here.”

     Magic pressed against his skin, burrowed into his soul, needy and desperate and fearful in a way his daughters’ had never been until the very end —until the moment his shield broke and he could no longer protect them—. It begged him and Ozpin forgot about everything else, forgot every other concern or person in the world as he let his own magic unspool and twine with the younger, needy magic begging him for comfort. Behind his closed eyelids he could see it, the colors spinning and twisting in the space between their souls. His ever-dwindling green wrapping around a younger, deeper, stronger wellspring of emerald laced with snapping red, whispering black and dancing flickers of purple, gold, blue, and white.

     The younger magic coiled tightly in his, desperate and pained, crying in relief and fear just as loudly as the sobs that shook his son’s body. It was open to him, painfully open and raw, trusting despite how this boy had every reason to fear another’s magic. In the breath between crying and comforting and accepting, Ozpin’s magic brushed up against what could only be called a crack in his child’s soul. A jagged old wound that had never properly healed. Glass sharp and weeping and-.

     Pain-pain-pain-fear-fear-please-pleasedon’tleavedon’tleaveme-.

     Magic, green and old, bodiless and desperate and half-mad with agony sinking inside and locking in place in a message that screamed all the way down to bone marrow and soul fiber.

    Mine-my-child-I-love-you-I-loveyoumychildmy-

     “Oscar.” Ozpin choked out, struggling to shake off the remnants of memory hidden in soul shards and old wounds. Realization reeled, pulled at the fabric of reality beneath his feet. “Oscar,” he repeated, rolling the name of his son over his tongue and wondering at the sensation of right, of familiarity even though he had never met this child before. He had, of course, known his name. The boy made a little joke of it at the beginning of all his performances, but now the name had weight. Had an echo of knowledge to it that he couldn’t quite grasp.

     Even though, somehow, his son knew him. And perhaps that should terrify him. Because his son was a child still, yet somewhere in the spaces between incarnations, or in the moments between life and death and dreams, his child remembered him and clung to a message of love even though it had been tangled up in so much pain.

     “I tried,” Oscar sobbed into his chest, “I tried, I’m- I’m so sorry-.”

     Ozpin hushed him, ran shaking fingers through his son’s hair and ignored the way his glasses had completely blurred over from the tears they caught, “I know. It’s alright. You’re alright. You’re alive, Oscar.” He guided his son’s face to his scarf and pressed his cheek against the top of Oscar’s head, “You’re alive. That’s all that matters to me.” He inhaled raggedly and set aside the spinning theories trying to take root, the odd mix of age-youth-age and time-turned-back in Oscar’s magic that made him wonder. He had long assumed that Oscar’s aging was … strange, a byproduct of being the child of two immortals. Yet feeling Oscar’s magic, the soft echo of bells and clockwork gears hidden inside it, he couldn’t help but remember that gravity and its magic was an aspect of space and space was a partner of time. There had been spells that toyed with time long ago that left impressions on the souls that used them, though never on such a large scale as what Ozpin was contemplating.

     But if anyone could reinvent a way to turn back the hands of the world’s clock, it would be the child of Ozma and Salem, surely —had his son known a previous incarnation, or had his son met Ozpin himself in the future, had he lived a prisoner of Salem until he was a teen or even an adult, only meeting his father to see him die in agony at his mother’s hands, had a single dying message of love amid a lifetime of darkness truly been enough to make him fight time itself to make things right—.

     But that didn’t matter right now.

     He was here. Oscar was here. They were both alive and safe and his little boy was tucked trustingly in his arms, and that was what mattered right now. It mattered more than anything else in the world.

     “I love you, Oscar,” he whispered into his son’s hair as he rocked them back and forth, uncaring of his jacket and scarf becoming soaked with tears, or the way Oscar’s magic coiled around his soul so tightly it was almost burning, “I love you. I’m here.”

     “I missed you,” Oscar choked out between sobs, another piece to Ozpin’s puzzle set aside for later times, “I love y-you t-too.” A hiccup, loud and ugly, a shiver in Ozpin’s arms, “Don’t go.”

     “I won’t,” Ozpin promised, hand cradling the back of Oscar’s head, trying to shield him from the nightmares he could sense lurking within, “I won’t go. I’m right here.” He exhaled wetly, “I’m right here.”

#Secret Engima Rambles #Melodies and Manuscripts #Team Gremlin verse #the song oscar sung in the circus this time #was Home by Jeff Williams #in case ya'll wanna break your feels

[nappybones5]

What are your favorite things about Raven x Taiyang ship? Outside of their whole relationship not getting showed in the show, is there something you don't like about the ship?

What songs remind you of them?

Thanks for the ask, first off, and sorry I’ve taken a little to get back to you. This took me a bit to type up and I did it instead of working on more Phoenix stories lmao. I did end up getting a bit grouchy about Tai as a character, so fair warning, there’s a bit of critical content here; you can of course scroll right past it to get to the good stuff.

Probably my favourite thing about Raven x Taiyang is the fanfiction; it’s as you say, their relationship is never actually shown in the show, a ship that sunk well before it even sailed-which, fair. It’s not their show. But it still irritates me, because Raven was a character who immediately caught my interest on Youtube because she was hot, and then I watched those videos and I thought “oh wow this lady’s got some serious baggage”. That scene in V5, where Raven’s gaze drops from Yang to the ground and she breathes Tai’s name piqued my interest in that man a thousandfold, and then it turns out he’s…there. He’s been sitting on his ass at home, gardening and gawking the telly while his children fight in the forever war that he must have some idea of, if his glare to Qrow at the end of V3 meant anything. It’s been said before by others: Tai being the stay-at-home parent in an empty house makes no sense. It’s authorial intervention to make sure the protagonists didn’t curbstomp their way through the events of V4-5 with two veteran Huntsmen (sidenote, how cool would it have been if instead of doing nothing and getting left behind by the story, Tai had accompanied Yang to Raven? I mean, shit, if Raven had an out-of-body moment at the mere mention of her ex-husband what would his presence in those scenes have done? The angst! The drama! I AM LITERALLY PICTURING A SCENE IN WHICH Raven ushers them into the tent without a fight, she’s twiddling her thumbs like “aha well, you see…fuck” while Vernal is like “why…is she…OH YOU MUST BE TAI” and then Weiss breaks out of the cage and she’s wiping the floor with those tribal jobbers-and Raven turns to Tai and Yang while they have no idea what's going on, Yang’s instinctively stood up before Tai’s like “nah this sounds like a her problem” and Yang goes “oh yeahhhhh! Good luck bitch lmao”).

You ask what I don’t like about the ship. I’d argue there’s nothing to dislike, because there is practically nothing there, beyond the maddening tease of a handful of scenes that never amount to anything. What I do dislike are the characters as they are written in canon-Raven is hilariously incoherent (“Salem only uses people until they are no longer useful” “…Are you having a stroke” “Yes. Vernal get help”) and Tai is boringly incoherent. They make no sense and they reek of wasted potential.

But the fanfiction. The shit that fan writers get up to when they’re not being hemmed in by canon. <> I originally had a little list of recommendations written up, but on second thought I am unsure how comfortable those writers would be with getting mentioned in a post that is probably going to be tagged RWDE. So…rest assured, there’s some good shit out there, you just have to look. But my favourite one is a genfic that isn’t tagged Raven Branwen/Taiyang Xiao Long. So I’m sorry. <>

Aside from the fanfiction that started all this, I guess I’m also very fond of my own interpretation of Phoenix; think black cat golden retriever, except that the cat is a desperate thing and the dog is mangy as all hell, because I’ve said it before, I don’t like fanon STRQ-era fuckboy Tai. It’s nothing personal, I just don’t care for writing that kind of archetype. Canon Tai isn’t particularly interesting to me either. I consider him a narrative deadweight EXCEPT in the matter of how he relates to Raven, who is far and away the more compelling character to me (hopefully it doesn’t show in my writing, considering what I’m about to get into).

Writing Tai for me personally has been like constantly asking myself the question: Who did Raven Branwen fall in love with? My answer, and I guess parcelled with it the answer to your first question, about what I actually like about Phoenix, is that Raven fell in love with someone who was so unexpectedly like her-with all her rage and doubt and hurt-someone who has suffered, if not measure for measure, a life not unlike hers, and who yet despite it all is still holding out hope-is still fundamentally a good person. Life in the tribe broke that scared little girl-it made her solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Tai, on the other hand, drank his milk. With Tai, she doesn’t get the excuse of ‘life was shitty to me so I’m dealing it back’; he sees her, and Raven likewise, because to their mutual shock and rage, they’re looking into a mirror.

I know opposites attract is and probably always will be in romantic vogue, but I like to think that that trope is only the superficial appearance of Phoenix. I imagine them initially enraged by each other, barely able to breathe in the same room without scoffing or making some biting joke (more often than not Raven instigating, Tai retaliating). As the seasons change, rage cools to resignation, and a kind of morbid curiosity sets in. From Raven’s perspective: Why are you like this? Where do you find the will to care? I need to know. From Tai’s: Why are you like this? Can I help you? I want to help. Them working their way from a tentative ceasefire to a comfortable peace; days and days gone without a backbiting that feels so petty and pointless to them now-or if it persists, everyone can feel that there’s no more heat to it. They’re together more often than they’re not-they’re the only people that can pull each other back from the brink, that can realise that the ever-mediative Tai or the taciturn Raven was even there. One blazing day in spring, the sun is on her skin and his hands are in her hair and her mind can only stutter out a double ‘Oh’ before their lips brush and it occurs to her that even if she runs now, she’ll stay. So for a brief and blessed time, she stays, whole, taking an anxious, guilty pleasure in this life that she hates she doesn’t hate. Even after everything she’s done, maybe she has a right to life too. Coming home every day to a home she’s never known-he smells like timber and stock, roses and earth. He’s warm when she’s cold, he’s kind to her when she’s cruel to herself-he holds her as the setting sun washes them in rosegold and she hopes.

And then Yang is born. It’s hardly her fault-for the first week or so, Raven loves her. But the creep of post-partum depression exacerbates all that old rage and doubt and hurt. She’s angrier than usual and she doesn’t know why. Why is she here? She’s killed dozens of men like Tai before-good men, fathers. She’s killed the occasional scrawny kid who fought back, who decided their mementos were worth more to them than their shitty lives. And she gets to be a mother? One day she looks at Yang and she’s just. Disgusted. She’s disgusted by her, and suddenly she’s terrified by herself. She’s going to get someone killed. Well, she can do that somewhere else.

Tai left to father Yang, alone. Raven in the thick of her PPD, making a name for herself across Anima. Nodding until her head hurts when she’s sober and her mind is drawn home. Yes, she made the right choice.

And then the lift of that awful fog. Just as she’s earned the title of ‘Bandit Queen’ it feels worse than meaningless. What the fuck is she doing? Where’s Tai, where’s Yang? Stumbling through that portal. She left them without a damn thing, what was she expecting? They look happy together. She won’t ruin that for them, not again. She staggers back through the portal, heart still rotting in that old home.

Years and years and years passing, letting this new wound scab and scar but it still stings, the worst mistake she’ll ever pay for. Every night, tired eyes to the tent roof, wondering what the look on Tai’s face would be if she cut a path to him right now. She twists, he turns, they grasp at nothing and laugh at jokes half-remembered in the dark. He misses the person he used to be. She doesn’t. She wishes she’d been better.

My favourite thing about Raven x Taiyang is all the shit I made up about them. As for the music!

Going in chronological order of the progression of the relationship, I love to imagine Perfect Pair as a mood for Raven and Tai in their prime. A love unconditional, trusting the other to hold their heart in their hands without breaking it. This followed by the super-sentimental Herz über Kopf (Heart over Head), Raven fighting all the torturous insecurities she has about her right to this life. Two optimistic songs, followed by the steel chair of Tek It to the face, Tai trying to shrug off the betrayal, Raven more than faintly ashamed. This to be emphasised by Out of My League, as a song from her perspective after it finally, really hits her what she’s done. And conclude with Show Me How, a song I reckon perfectly encapsulates the sense of lost love that is radiated by these absolutely miserable, mourning, yearning people. 😊

#rwby #raven branwen #taiyang xiao long #rwby phoenix #rwde

[starryemeralds]

**angst warning: major character death mentions**

I cant stop thinking about RNBW’s reaction to learning about Ironwood’s plan of bombing Salem’s whale. Like think about it: they all have people to lose from this and have unfinished business between them.

Yang is Ruby’s sister. They’ve been through hell and back together; but imagine Ruby’s guilt from thinking that the last conversation she has with her was an argument in which Yang questioned her leadership. I have a gut feeling that Ruby is not going to take Penny’s hacking well, especially considering she was the one who told her that she’d be safer with Petro. If she finds herself in a similar situation with her sister.... just, poor Ruby :(

While the Bees have been flirty in the last couple of volumes, it still seems like the two have things that are yet to be said. We know that Blake is worried about Yang, so imagine her reaction to finding out Ironwood’s plan and how Yang might die without knowing Blake’s true feelings. For extra angst, it is also possible that Blake could recall her promise to Yang. She promised her that she would never leave her, but in the short time that they are apart, Yang comes so close to dying and Blake wasn’t there to fight with her. (let’s not forget that Arryn has tweeted about doing a lot of screaming and crying in the booth,,, oh god)

Similar situation with Ren and Nora. They’re in a confusing spot in their relationship right now and still need to talk (and Ren’s semblance upgrade would be great with this). But even not even looking at them from a romantic perspective, these two have been inseparable for almost all of their lives. They have faced so many battles together and hardships... I couldn’t begin to imagine Nora’s fear when imagining a life without her best friend.

Also, if Jaune and Ren were to die, that would man that Nora is the only member left of JNPR. It hasn’t been too long since Pyrrha’s death, but to lose the rest of her team memebers in that short time frame is a pain I couldn’t ever imagine.

Winter and the Ace Ops have been ordered to deliver the bomb by foot, and judging by Winter’s expression to the order, she sees it as a suicide mission. Weiss has had a complicated relationship with her family, but Winter was someone she always admired. I also am suspecting that with (a hacked) Penny landing in front of the Schnee Mansion, the family is going to suffer from a lot of loss; Winter’s death would just add more pain, especially since she is the one Schnee that Weiss relied on most.

BONUS: while he isn’t with RNBW, Qrow is already out for Ironwood for the death of Clover. Imagine how furious he’ll be to find out that he also is so close to blowing up his niece.

I’m sure that there are more that can be said but it’s past 1:30 am and I’m a little tired; I’m sorry if none of my thoughts are coherent. If you want to add more, please feel to do so and rip my heart out. I probably deserve it. But with this being said, I sincerely apologize for putting angst on your timelines.

#this is 100% inspired by all the fan art of blake screaming yang’s name #but i’m such a sucker for angst... i just had to get to thinking #i can definitely see crewby pulling like a fake out death scenario here #but hopefully no major deaths #i love them all so much... #rwby #rwby v8 #rwby v8 spoilers #major character death mention #angst #bumbleby #renora #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #nora valkyrie #lie ren #jaune arc #qrow branwen #james ironwood

[sapphic-yang]

RWBY Volume 8 - Chapter 4: Fault

Thoughts & Theories

1. Really reinforcing that Qrow has struggled to form connections his whole life. We still don’t know a lot of his backstory, his upbringing with Raven.

And everyone who he did manage to build something with has left him, one way or another. (I’m not crying, you’re crying!)

2. I hadn’t thought about this possibility since Robyn can turn her Semblance on and off, but the moment where she asked Harriet to hold her hand was telling. Even though she could shut it off, it’s the ax hanging over every relationship she has ever had. With just a touch, she can spoil it, lay bare all the lies. It’s not the same as what Qrow goes through, but the anxious temptation is always there. She must trust Joanna, May, and Fiona A LOT.

3. Interesting that Watts seems to be done with his work for Ironwood for the time being, and even more interesting that he seems to have a few of his rings back.

4. Yang worrying over what Blake thinks about her is heartbreaking, especially since we’ve seen no evidence Blake is upset, except maybe that Yang didn’t talk to her! Don’t be like Ren, talk about your feelings!!!!

I also notice parallels with Ruby and Penny’s conversation in Chapter 2 and Nora, Weiss and Blake’s in Chapter. There, Ruby assumed Penny was worried about her fight with Yang, and Nora and Blake were concerned about the sisters fighting. I love how everyone assumes that’s the ‘big deal’ of what’s going on when it’s actually all these other subtler issues.

Also, the bike part being violet and that triggering her to start Blake-angsting is just... so god damn gay.

5. UNCALLED FOR!!! Ren is really losing it.

He’s going against everything his father taught him about inaction.

6. I hope Weiss has a talk with her mother next episode! Give me the post-arrest Jacques emotions! I would also love for May to persuade Weiss to talk to Whitley, considering how similar her own cousin is to Whitley.

7. So if Salem can just... THIS, how is anyone supposed to fight her? If magic was a gift from the God of Darkness, than maybe Silver Eyes can counter this? Can Ruby laser beam Salem’s laser beams?

8. An experiment on... what? I can’t believe it took her this long to try this with just a Grimm, there has to be more to this.

9. Cinder has said this a couple times now, it’s like her Mantra. What was Cinder like before Salem beat her down so much that her ego is entirely based on Salem’s approval? Give us the flashback!!!

10. Wow, this plot point hasn’t been mentioned since... Volume 4? I hope we at least get a hint this Volume. I also love how in this scene Salem is offering Oscar the out he’s wanted, by offering him mercy in exchange for turning on Oz. Also, Salem playing good cop to Hazel’s bad cop is wonderful.

11. Do these look vaguely like people to anyone? I can’t it out but it sounds like whispering/laughter right here. I Salem remembering her daughters?

12. So it’s a Cinder-Neo-Emerald adventure. Please give Neo character development by having her wake Emerald up to who Cinder truly is. I want a scene that’s just Emerald arguing the point while Neo just stares her down, and then gives her a hug when she inevitably breaks down.

13. Yeah, I think this is actually his goal. Push everyone away, and then when everything falls apart, you won’t have anyone to lose... I also find it interesting that Ren refers to himself as being ‘an orphan from the middle of nowhere’ during this scene. Mentally he’s regressed to that part of his life. He’s not partner of Nora, member of Team JNPR, or RNJR, or ORNJ, he’s just a scared kid.

Stop brooding!

14. Uh-oh

#rwby #rwby volume 8 #rwby 8 #rwby v8 #rwby spoilers #rwby 8 spoilers #rwby 8x04 #rwby analysis #rwby thoughts & theories #bumblebee #bumbleby

[rwby-necro-au-archive]

For fics? Either more father son bonding (going out together, hanging out together, Mandy comforting Ozzy about something, etc). Or the ever classic ANGST. Maybe more about how Ozzy treated Mandy poorly as a kid?

Absolutely!

Bitterness.

Description:

Ozymandias always had known that Ozpin was going to be a bitter child. You couldn’t blame him, the poor boy had been through hell and back several times in the 17 years of his existence. The world seemed to want nothing more than to be rid of the boy since the day he arrived into the world.

But he was going to tough out that bitterness whether anyone thought the boy deserved it, or not. It wasn’t anyone else’s choice to make except Mandias’s.

But whats to come when that bitterness towards the king treads the line of viciousness?

He had thought things were going ok with the boy.

Once they all had arrived in Vale, he simply wandered off, found a room, and passed out. It took Mandias a bit to realize that he was asleep. He checked in on him, making sure he was alright.

He couldn’t help but be worried. Walking in, throwing yourself on a bed, and passing out almost instantly was not a normal thing.

“…Y’know, he never really slept well…” a quiet voice was heard behind him.

The voice belonged to a blonde haired girl, green eyes, or, well, eye. The other eye was covered by her hair. Mandias brushed it off as a style choice.

This blonde girl, whom he had come to know as “Glynda” was a sweet one. She was just as worried, if not more, about him than Mandias was.

Mandias’s face morphed into worry “What do you mean?”

“Well, we lived on the streets before we were put in prison. He never really slept. Always kept watch out while Qrow and I slept so that if trouble came, he’d be able to wake us up to move somewhere else…” she explained, looking over at the sleeping figure.

“I see…..”

How awful. How truly treacherous. These children had been living on the streets and for how long? Only to be thrown into a prison and be treated even worse.

Why would anyone in their right mind do something like that?

Mandias sighed and got up, tomorrow is another day.

It had been 3 days since he’d passed out. And he still hadn’t woken up. It was starting to become alarming to Mandias. He’d never seen even his own soldiers sleep like this. He wondered if the boy was even sleeping to begin with.

Creak.

A door opening, Mandias looked up from the couch he had been sitting on to see the boy he had just been thinking about. He rubbed his eyes a bit and mumbled something to himself (Mandias couldn’t hear what) before turning to the green specter.

“How many days was I passed out?” He asked bluntly.

“About 3 days, boy.”

“3 days?! Why didn’t you wake me up?!” He exclaimed, almost panicked.

Panicked. He was panicked. He was panicked because he thought he could’ve been in danger. Sleep wasn’t a good thing to this child, it was a danger, a vulnerability.

How terrible.

“I didn’t wake you because I knew you wouldn’t get hurt if I let you.” Mandias explained.

“…..Glynda and Qrow can’t keep watch. That’s not their job.”

“I’m not talking about them.”

He gave a strange and confused look at Mandias, not understanding what the man meant.

Mandias gestured to himself before speaking “Boy, I am a ghost, therefore I do not need to sleep. I was king in my previous life, I led an army, I think I’m perfectly capable of keeping you safe.”

He glared at the former king before mumbling a “we’ll see about that.” Under his breath.

As he rounded the corner he hit his arm on a particularly sharp corner of a table, it was enough to cut and bleed slightly.

“Ow! Shit…” he sucked air through his teeth in pain.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, fuck off. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” He said harshly.

Mandias sinked back slightly in response to his tone, he had only meant to help him. Not upset him. He walked into the bathroom where he patched himself up.

Mandias sighed, tomorrow is another day.

“…..I’m—“

“DON’T. Even go there.”

“. . .”

“You fucking promised.”

Mandias looked down. He was sitting outside of a closet door right now. Inside was the boy he was trying to hard to get to like him. And you know what? He was right. He did break a promise.

He had been out and about after school when a pursuer decided to attack him. He apparently yelled out for Mandias only for Mandias to never come. He had to fight his way out.

He was right to be upset. Mandias promised to keep them all safe. And the one time he thought it was ok to let them go off without keeping careful eye, someone got hurt.

“It’s why I’m such a fucking dick to you.”

This caught Mandias’s attention instantly.

“What?”

“I’m a dick to you because I can’t trust you. I’ve never trusted any adult because all they’ve ever done in the past is be selfish and only care about themselves. You are just like all the other fucking adults I’ve tried to trust. Build up my hopes only to pull a stunt like this.”

This wasn’t the first time. That’s what he was saying, this had happened before. Just how many people did he trust that ended up stabbing him in the back?

Then it dawned on him.

“…Ozpin, is that how you and the others ended up in the prison in the first place?”

#ozzy (young ozpin) #necromancer mandias #headmaster ozpin #ozpin #professor ozpin #king of vale