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cxffexngel · 3 years

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[ @aaetherius ]

Ever since learning of Valentine’s Day from Lyria curiously inquiring about whether or not he planned to make chocolates for someone special, Lucifer had spent nearly every hour researching and testing various molds and flavors in order to make the perfect sweets for someone who didn’t like them to begin with, but it was the thought that mattered - or so the girl in blue had assured him after his many failed batches. But the day to present his work to his special someone is finally here. Inhaling against the telltale scent of coffee and with something a little extra mixed in, he gingerly holds a neatly wrapped box in his hands. One covered in a shimmering, red paper with a beautiful auburn bow. Atop it sits a much smaller box in matching paper. The packaging alone was a direct result of him staying up far too late to ensure it was perfect. From what he's read and overheard, this holiday is dedicated to loved ones, and he wants to make certain it's special for Sandalphon.

So he slips inside the cafe of the ship - the early morning sun spilling in through the windows and scattering light upon the countertops and tables until they were sprinkled with tiny particles that resembled gold dust. It's still well before Sandalphon usually opens it to the public, and much of the crew is still asleep, but above the scent that wafts from the chocolates he's made he can pick up the distinctive smell of black coffee so he knows the other is already inside. Tucking the box behind his back, he uses his wings to completely shelter it beneath beaming, blush feathers as a gentle smile slips onto his rosy lips. "Good morning, my love," comes his soft voice that he hopes doesn't give away his budding excitement as he makes his way over to where the other stands, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek in greeting as large plumes shiver visibly in his joy and bright, blue eyes seem to shine in the sunlight - it's painfully evident he's up to something."Have you heard of Valentine's Day?" He wastes little time leaping into the subject, unable to contain the delight bubbling up in his core. "Lyria informed me it is a holiday in which one makes chocolates for those they love. Though I have never made sweets before, given the purpose of the holiday, I wished to make some for you this year. In all of the skies, Sandalphon, you are the one I have always loved most. So, I pray you will accept this gift. Happy Valentine's Day."

Wings part and he gingerly places the pair of boxes atop the counter, eagerly awaiting for the other to open them. Inside the larger of the packages is a box that contains the fruit of his labor - coffee flavored milk and white chocolates shaped in little wings. A few of them are stuffed with some highly questionable filling Lucifer would claim is cinnamon.They look good, but the taste is suspect if Lyria gagging as she gave him a thumbs up yesterday before dashing off was any indication. Inside the smaller is a delicate but simple white gold promise ring with a set of six wings painstakingly engraved inside the band. The meaning of such a gift had been unknown to him until recently when he had gone shopping for chocolate supplies and Siero had spotted him struggling. With her guidance, he had managed to get everything he needed, but not before she asked after whom he was making chocolates for and, with a knowing laugh, she introduced him to a jeweler who told him about them.

Morning breezes with it's own peaceful divinity when sunlight casts it's serene grace to the lone cafe whose only inhabitant, for the time being, was the crowned supreme primarch. Up at early hours as an usual occurrence - and also a curse considering it wasn't, most of the time, at his own accord but always somehow door busted at unholy hours of early morning by certain scavenger mortal whose questionable tendencies of dragging his body out the confines of soft mattress and a pile of blankets was deemed an extremely necessity. Sandalphon doesn't question it, not anymore and knows best than to struggle against the captain's wishes, knows best to step away given the past day's usual ruckus whenever yet another holiday was just at the horizon to come. And ah - even his own gift for Lucifer, one he had made with so much care and dedication sat atop shelves where, usually, bags of coffee beans would decorate in it's place. Right now they had been moved somewhere else, somehow, in they place what decorates the shelves are a set of truffles coated in various saucers each, various vanilla scented cookies in various shapes varying on tiny set of wings, with slits at the base perfect enough so they can fit atop the rim of a coffee cup, others shaped like hearts, and a cradle shaped one - the specifics of how was he able to find molds for each a mystery to never be found. Something unique and of valuable effort just for that certain someone he knew was going to, also, grace his presence at the built - sublime in all it's way for Sandalphon who awaits the one who he knows, might have in mind the holiday too. It had been a fleeting comment from the girl in blue, and it was only the obvious considering the Grandcypher in general would make each one and every celebration a big deal that the dawning realization could come from any corner of the airship itself, and... Sandalphon can't help the flutter inside his chest, The way his core all but rattles in anticipation considering Lucifer's been absolutely up to something, yet he had never the heart to blow those endearingly awful attempts at not letting such excitement and the glow on azure eyes blow away it. No. Not when, apparently, he had been just as painfully obvious, to some of the crewmembers.

Sole of shoes echo past the door that gives to the cafe's entrance, it doesn't even take a look to know whose presence had graced the always welcoming of worn wood, musk of freshly cleaned and moped floor by the archangel's very own hand. Another of those habits to keep his mind away from the bad things, to not overthink and instead, channel newfound energy into keeping his body moving, doing things, enjoying every second of it as cups, vases, each utensil and surface of tables, chairs and even the petite lamps adorning the room were clean and shining against sepia light that passes by the various windows which graced anyone's gaze with the mold of uneven clouds, winds that blew them away until their shapes all but morph into endless mysteries, and the expanse of the skies could be seen from most of what those frames and their curtains could offer.

Sandalphon was done with a set of two brews, one awaiting for the former supreme primarch as he senses the other approach and pace in a slow but steady pace, scarlet yes looking up as hands keep expectedly pouring the hot drink on the second up and blossoming a warm smile, licked in some exhaustion all too familiar for the archangel whose hours of sleep usually never went past eight to nine hours at best. " Ah, Lucifer! Good morning, I hope I didn't disrupt your needed rest while I had to leave the room too early. " But he knew the answer to his light anxieties. Knew that he'd not mind nonetheless considering yet Sandalphon never stops with those worries, it was an habit, one that never brought harm and somehow, had always made the other, even if he dismissed his claims over and over, smile in a way that made even the farthest flowers come anew with life. So he lets the last of drops plop with a gentle noise to put away the used pot now dried of anything left, pace from behind the counter to meet the other's terribly obvious delight that seeps from any crack his attempt at feigning calm could try to be. Ah, each day Sandalphon was terribly aware just how everything about Lucifer was enough to affect his core, mold in in ways that twisted his and then reshaped it anew without a crack yet still feeling light into the heavens airborne the puffs of clouds, and as if a blade had embraced it with it's edges, about to bleed out and scatter like mush — Yet, as always. Plays along, head tilting to the side once he's infront the other but letting his back rest his weight against the edge of the counter. Wonder plastered all over his calm exterior. " Valentine's day. I have an idea about it given... the crew had asked me for recipes these last days. While I like the idea of trying making my own for the rest as a pastime, if they want to truly envoy their feelings for those said gifts are aimed for, they should have the guts to try themselves... " There's disdain in his voice, comical exasperation that cannot replace the way his core beats in anticipation. Oh those wings are hiding something, isn't it? And whatever feigned calmness dies little by little into utter fondness that becomes unbearable, along the realization that he's overlooking the simplest, but most horrifying detail about it all.

" You... Did. Oh, Lucifer... " Oh he knew exactly the grave he's digging for himself. Knew exactly what await for him in the eternal life he was grated by where nothing could compare to the terrors those heavenly, delicate porcelains could conjure if he dared to try doing anything but coffee when calloused digits glide over the top of the larger box, and his curiosity is rewarded with the sight of handmade sweets. And yet, it's because Sandalphon couldn't, even if his very life depended on it, tell Lucifer about this meager detail that seemed everyone had overlooked, much as Katalina's own kitchen nightmares she had managed to produce whenever anyone had taken their eyes off her and allowed her to aid at the task. This does not defeat the archangel's resolve, but he does swallow dry, and brace himself when the other presents his heartfelt gifts, to receive them and ah - even if they looked edible, adorably crafted and everything, who knows what Lucifer had added on each one's mix. " You really shouldn't have to... Wait - is this a ring, too? " And his attention redirects from those absolutely not sweets to the glimmering ornament when he had gone and haphazardly also open the smaller looking box. " I... don't get it why would you give me this, but the shape... Are those yo- My inherited wings? " And just like that, whatever perfectly disguised grimace in the form of fondness now truly becomes into whatever he feels now. A mix of genuine curiosity, wonder, joy... A lot passes over the smaller archangel before it settles into a melancholic but tender expression as lips draw upward shyly, and lift the ring to let it slip on one of his ring finger. It fits perfectly, resting with it’s shine perfectly - and is enough to let him completely overlook the little bombs of poison that lies close to his free hand, aimlessly reaching for one to take a bit and,

" GhK — " It was terrible! Why in the skies had he put spicy powder on sweet chocolate and coffee!? Oh heavens, everything burned, yet somehow Sandalphon still could meet the strong, awful taste with an unflinching smile, and not breaking a single sweat despise the way every muscle wanted to scrunch into itself and let the void devour his existence. And he has to advert his gaze a bit before forcing the sweet inside and swallow it clean before it'd sap centuries off his eternity as he can still stand, and live like nothing had happened. " I-It's so good...! Haah — Oh Lucifer, you... really planed this, don't y-you...? " And he decides to focus, instead on guessing he's very much poisoned himself, on the ring, shaking off what best he could of the dread of whatever he had put into his mouth, brow arched a tad. " This ring... Lucifer. A promise ring, dare I ask, out of curiosity, why...? " And ah, even when he feels like he's dying all over again, the meaning about this other item had been something that flew over his head, from genuine ignorance considering rings and jewelry weren't things Sandalphon usually studied beyond their use cosmetically. Not beyond what they could mean in traditions the mortals partake, so it just felt right to ask, and delay the inevitable that is his share of gifts that await contemplatively at the coffee shelves, within their grasp but still not yet the time for them.

#Nostalgic Flavor; [ 1 ]#and our fleeting paradise collapses into a new garden; Lucifer || [ aaetherius ]#aaetherius #[ Sandalphon dies; the series #[ this time? death by absolutely not chocolates he's going to keep consuming and stomach each and every one of them because he #phisically cannot tell Lucifer's hand at cooking is terrible ]#[ this is so endearingly painFUL sFJDSÑFDF Oh sandy im so sorry..... wHEEZES

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shimanamii · 3 years

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schnee week (schneek!) day 3: weiss multiship

hey, everyone! so in between other fics, i’ve been chipping away at that HoM sequel — aka Schneekos Fic™ — and i’m superrr pumped to actually finish CH. 1 eventually and post it for real lmao, but for now!! please enjoy a preview :’))) <3

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PEARL OF ATLAS (Heart of Menagerie sequel) [preview]

ch. 1, “Thief from Thieves”

There were other, more pressing concerns, of course, but Weiss realized, collapsing into her seat and staring out at the crowded platform, that it was her first time on a train.

In Atlas, she’d always had her father’s airships to whisk her away from place to place. Well, granted she had the permission. Now, though, all of it, the etiquette, the approval (more often a lack thereof), that glittering birdcage of rules—it all seemed so unforgivably stupid. Like there’d never been a point to any of it. So, yes, it was her first time on a train. Her first time in Argus. Most surprising of all, her first time running away, though not, however, her first time telling a somewhat easy lie to her father’s face to do it.

She curled her hand around the cold, smooth object nestled deep in her coat pocket. It was her first official heist, too. And it wasn’t exactly petty theft.

Pyrrha’s long ponytail swung into view, and then the hint of a smile, quick and reassuring. “You should try to get some sleep on the way there,” she said, her knee softly knocking Weiss’s as she settled in the seat across from her. “Mistral is pretty far.”

Pyrrha was only looking out for her. She seemed to have taken up a bad habit of doing that. But Weiss couldn’t imagine being able to shut her eyes for a moment, not with something so precious—so dangerous—clinging to the palm of her hand. Not with the blur of unfamiliar faces around her.

Weiss sank into the oversized coat, the collar rising to her ears. “I’m not tired,” she mumbled, though admittedly, after the sleepless couple of days she’d had in Argus, she was starting to feel those first few tugs on her eyelids.

To be honest, Weiss still wasn’t quite sure what to make of her impromptu Mistralian guide. Slash bodyguard. Slash, she supposed, accomplice. Though they did make somewhat of a conspicuous pair—Pyrrha the hometown hero, Weiss the runaway heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. News like that traveled faster than smugglers’ airships, after all.

She counted herself lucky Pyrrha hadn’t dragged her off to the Atlesian base in Argus the moment she’d spied the Schnee family symbol on the inside of what Weiss had thought was her least eye-catching coat. The one she had on now was Pyrrha’s, almost comically too big on her. At least it was warm. It smelled like her, a firewood smell. It only made Weiss drowsier.

She tallied it silently, watching her companion out of the corner of her eye. That was five favors, more or less. A few days’ room and board, supplies, protection, an escort all the way to Mistral. And an ally—if that could really be counted on. All for next to nothing, or so Pyrrha claimed, that it was only her “duty as a huntress.” (Whatever that meant.) Weiss could pay her what was owed, but anyone else, huntress or not, would’ve seized on the opportunity right away to ship her back to Atlas, back to her father, for twenty times the reward.

So…Weiss thought she could be forgiven for her cynicism because, well, that wasn’t how the world worked, was it? Favors didn’t come freely. Everything had a price, even kindness. Or maybe it was especially kindness. But it wasn’t like she had a lot of options.

Soon, the glittering ocean and the city of Argus slipped completely behind them, and the cabin went dark as the train cut through the mountainside. Pyrrha’s eyes slid to hers in the dimness, the expression in them quietly curious, like she’d sensed she was being studied the entire time. For some reason, it made Weiss uneasy, being watched in return, being looked at in the closeness of the dark. She turned back to the window. The next moment, the mountain fell away, too, and only Anima’s steely winter landscape was left, stretching out toward the distant gray fringe of trees. Not exactly Mantle’s bitter tundra, but something about the scene reminded Weiss of it.

“I haven’t been home in a long time,” Pyrrha murmured, her voice almost startling in the quiet. “It feels…a little strange going back.”

Weiss chewed her lip. She wasn’t interested, exactly, but she felt the question leave her before she realized it was: “Why haven’t you?”

Pyrrha smiled. It wasn’t the open warmth Weiss had come to expect but something guarded, a little unreadable. Maybe Weiss was just slightly interested in that. “It’s so lonely in a big city like Mistral, don’t you think?” She leaned her chin into her hand. “Surrounded by people. Argus is quieter.”

Lonely… Weiss squeezed her rucksack to her chest. “I think I know what you mean.”

She thought about the view from the airship window when she was leaving Atlas, the Solitas Sea at night. Churning and endless, something completely unfathomable. The waves had gleamed under the moon like the shine of teeth from shadows.

She remembered looking out at that ocean and, despite all her best efforts, thinking about her father, his icebox of an office, the way he would tap his fingertips against his desk whenever he was annoyed. He used to sigh and lean back in his chair to look at her, used to rub his face with his hand like something pained him. You should be careful where you throw your sympathy, Weiss, he’d say. You know, the world just beneath you is crueler than you can imagine. Waiting to tear you apart. You understand? Here, he would lean forward again, stroke his pale mustache, his listless, beady eyes fixing to her. Like wolves.

Even someone like that, Weiss figured, her eyes returning to Pyrrha just for a moment before they slipped closed. Even someone who smiled gently at you could bare fangs when the time came. Weiss couldn’t quite remember the dream she had when she drifted off, but she recalled this, at least: her own ragged voice, the strange, wet pressure of teeth, powerful jaws closing shut around her throat. And then there was just silence.

By the time Weiss stirred awake again, the view outside the window was dark with dusk. “Sleep well?” Pyrrha folded her book over her thumb. “The train’s made a stop in Ajisai.”

Weiss lifted her head. She could feel the red mark the glass had left on her cheek. Actually, she could feel Pyrrha politely holding in a remark over it, as well. People pressed around each other down the aisle, milled around on the platform below.

“I slept fine. I guess.” She took a mug of something warm from Pyrrha—coffee, she realized, once she brought it to her nose. She pressed her palms around it. “Thanks. Um, and you? Did you sleep?”

Pyrrha set her book aside in the empty seat. Weiss was faintly surprised by its cover for a moment—fairytales. She had a vague memory of her mother reading stories like that to her once or twice as a child. That was a long time ago, of course, but the one she still remembered well was The Girl in the Tower. Which, admittedly, seemed a bit uninspired to her now.

“Hm…a little.”

“Is that the truth?”

Pyrrha paused and then chuckled, a little self-consciously. “Well, all things considered,”—she nodded her head to Weiss’s coat pocket, then up at the rifle hidden in the overhead—“I thought it best if there was someone to keep an eye out.”

Weiss frowned, dragging her knees up to her chest. She curled her hand around the vial in her pocket again. It’d become a small force of habit (or was it a nervous tick?) at some point without her realizing it. “That wasn’t necessary. You need your rest, too.”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry—”

“It’s not that I am,” she interrupted, drawing the heavy coat tighter around herself. “Worrying about you, I mean. You’re just no good to me exhausted.”

Pyrrha fell quiet, those shrewd eyes of hers, green as the jade you found all over Anima, softening for a reason Weiss couldn’t quite decipher. “Right,” she said. “I’ll try to get some hours in, then.”

Despite herself, Weiss squirmed slightly under that change in expression. “I can take care of myself just fine, you know.”

Well, in theory she could. Granted that fencing maneuvers were transferrable to, say, scrapes with Atlesian soldiers or Mistralian bounty hunters. Granted the gleaming rapier she’d stolen from her father’s study on her way out wasn’t just decoration, after all.

Pyrrha folded her arms, and for a moment, Weiss thought she’d make some remark, something doubtful—haven’t you lived your whole life being taken care of?

But then she nodded and murmured, “I can see that.”

#schnee week #schneek #rwby #schneekos #fic #pearl of atlas #PoA isn't as cool as HoM this is tragic 😭#day 3: weiss multiship #weiss schnee #pyrrha nikos #fic preview #snippet

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real-jaune-isms · 3 years

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RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 7 Review/Remix

Last episode before the holiday break. The long long long holiday break. And here I am only posting my review the night before we come back... I was having a lot of fun playing my new video games, okay? Let’s just get right into this with the joke everyone has already made. War: What is it good for? Actually a lot, if you can believe it. Only in this specific context though, because the warfare in the American streets these last few days is disgusting and emblematic of what has been wrong with the country for a while. A government leader sending his followers into the nation’s capital on a mission of rage and personal catharsis? Ick. At least in RWBY the tyrant isn’t attacking members of his own population... Oh wait, Mantle. :P

For a moment you might be fooled into thinking we’re starting back in the farmlands of Mistral, maybe getting another look at Oscar’s earlier life or seeing a little more of Nora’s mysteriously tragic past before she and Ren met. But no, these are the wheat farms on the outskirts of Atlas and Sabyrs are charging through like raptors through the tall grass in Lost World. A battalion of Atlesian soldiers, human soldiers I might add, stand armed to meet them. But even if they’re armed they are by no means ready. Monstra keeps coughing up a new wave of Grimm, and I do mean a wave, every minute or two and Atlas is pretty damn whelmed in the face of it. There are some big bots with guns standing in straight lines, but the majority of the defense put up by Remnant’s supreme authority on military power and strength is mortal men with fear in their hearts rather than expendable robot soldiers. And the big bots seem to be lined up in a way that the ones in the front block the ones in the back, so that’s just poor planning too. It’s just a concerning sight all together, and they are not efficiently handling the coming enemy. We cut up to Ironwood in his office, and it seems he is not dealing with this situation well at all. We know he’s under a lot of stress from all the recent events, but they are in fact mostly his own fault due to his poor decision making skills in times of crisis, and his single minded drive he calls a Semblance. Speaking of the eternally expanding list of Ironwood’s bad ideas, he decides to evacuate all the civilians into Atlas’ below ground subway tunnels. Fun fact: There were Apathy among the Grimm Monstra has been spitting out. Second Fun Fact: Apathy were last seen thriving and murdering in an abandoned underground tunnel system beneath a well. If one is familiar with fantasy television pop culture of the last decade, the Crypts of Winterfell might pop into your mind as a similarly poor place to hide all your unarmed women and children. Y’know, cuz in Game of Thrones they were facing a guy who could raise the dead as his minions and crypts are just tunnels full of corpses. Just saying, this could end up being a non-birthday massacre. Whatever captain of lieutenant Ironwood was talking to is hesitant to go along with this idea, but Ironwood puts his foot down by putting his fist down. And so his voice comes on over the city-wide PA system to tell everyone they need to get down into the subway for their own safety. Compared to the organized marching and relative calm of the poor folks down in Mantle, these rich fat cats practically trample each other to run and scream down the stairs. A father is concerned his daughter is going to get snatched up by a swarm of Lancers, but seems even more upset by the squad of airships swooping in to combat them.

Speaking of airships, we cut to the one Marrow and Harriet are flying. The Ace Ops have arrested YRJ, because of course they did, and they all hear radio chatter as pilots are reporting in about how Monstra is too tough for them to pierce from the outside with any of the weapons available to them. Winter checks in over comms to report her team’s limited successes, and Ironwood tells her to stay on jailor duty for a bit. Yang snarks at Winter for continuing to follow orders despite the circumstances, but conversation is stifled by Monstra coming into view for the group. Jaune laments that the beast now serving as Oscar’s confinement is larger than they had imagined from a distance, and Vine continues to be rigid in his assertions as to just what Grimm can and cannot do. “Grimm don’t take prisoners” he says, as if that’s an irrefutable fact. It’s not like any Grimm have done anything new or unheard of recently, like talk or grow wings or exist within a river of evil sludge or shoot up miles into the air as a geyser or have gravity Dust crystals in their underbelly to fly, or as you are witnessing right now belch out ponds worth of sludge from with waves of Grimm are emerging to fight your ground troops. Yep, we definitely know every single thing a Grimm does, especially one brought here by the mistress of the entire Grimm collective who is commanding most of them here. You sure are smart, Vine... Yang continues to be riled up and ask they be let go to help, but Elm and Vine hold her in her seat. Ironwood is heard giving the Manta jets new orders and reveals Command is working on a solution for Monstra. Winter, naturally wanting to be kept in the loop, asks what that might be. He reveals the science team is putting together a bomb that might be able to take the whale out if detonated inside it. That means Winter and the Ace Ops will be delivering it into the literal belly of the beast. I don’t know if he intends for it to be a suicide mission with the bomb going off as soon as they’ve got it inside, or if it’s just incredibly risky to try and get inside Monstra at all, but Winter pales at this news and her eyes go wide before sadly drooping closed again. She composes herself and grows determined again as she accepts the new marching orders. Jaune and Yang are again audibly against these plans due to the risk to Oscar’s safety, but they are subdued as needed, though we see Winter’s act isn’t absolute and her hands are shaking.

Meanwhile, Salem is having the time of her life doing her best Mickey Mouse impression. Classical music plays as she conducts the waves of Grimm sludge out of Monstra’s mouth like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice playing conductor to the stars themselves. Emerald watched from a distance, and seems less than thrilled about the whole thing. She heads down the halls and has to use her Semblance to keep a Seer from noticing her and potentially reporting her going where she doesn’t need to be to Salem. And where she’s going is the door outside Oscar’s torture room. He’s coughing up blood, and Hazel is still insisting he start telling the truth before Salem loses her patience and just kills him despite how futile it’d be. Instead Oz starts asking some questions of his own: Does Hazel know why Salem sought to recruit him in particular? It turns out she approached him with the promise of making a new world order where there won’t be any kingdoms or Huntsman Academies. Oz just has to laugh at that naiveté. When Salem gets the 4 Relics, there won’t be a world at all. She’s been around for so goddamn long, all she wants is for it to end, and she thinks taking the whole world down is the only way to get it anymore. This just frustrates Hazel, and we learn why. He’s pretty damn sure Salem can’t die at all, because when she first approached him about working together he spent the better part of a day killing her over and over and over again. This man, whom we know from the Battle of Haven to have massive reserves of Aura and strength to endure and keep fighting, kept fighting until he was too worn down and exhausted to lift his fists again. And in that time of weakness and awe at her power, Salem made her sales pitch that even if he couldn’t kill the one leading the Grimm he could at least have vengeance on the establishment sending young people to their deaths against her. Oz points out that that’s exactly why she went to him, because she could make him believe this was the right way, that it would bring him closure. It’s what Ozpin deserves, Hazel argues, and Oz does not disagree. But does Oscar deserve it? Do the innocent people who haven’t been affected by Salem or Ozpin yet? No, this isn’t for justice, this is personal. Because Salem said it would help Hazel. Has it?

We don’t get an answer to that, instead going back up to Weiss’ room in Schnee Manor where she’s reapplying Nora’s bandages. Still mostly unconscious, Nora mutters “Now what... am I good for?” I can think of a great many things Nora is useful for outside of her great strength and straightforward approach to combat, but its a damn shame no one has actually bothered to tell her that before now. Before Weiss has a chance to offer any, Blake and Ruby enter the room with cups of tea. I’m not ashamed to admit I initially thought they were hot chocolate cuz I’m not used to tea being that sort of amber color. Weiss admits that she’s done the most her limited medical knowledge can offer, and Nora needs more than that. Blake expresses her concern for the other half of their group, but almost slips up and says... well we’re just not sure, but we like to assume she was gonna say she’s especially worried for someone in particular. The shippers can fill that in how they like. Their moping is interrupted by May entering the room with some less than stellar news from Fiona and the others down in Mantle. They haven’t seen Yang’s team in a while, and with everything going to hell like this a search party is at the bottom of the priority list. She’s about ready to get back on the airship and head back down to Mantle, but Weiss protests and this sparks a debate. May points out that Mantle doesn’t have the luxury of the Atlas military protecting them so Ruby’s group and the Happy Huntresses are the only thing keeping the people safe from the chaos of the invasion, but Weiss argues that there are still people suffering up her and I have to agree. Just because a police force is around doesn’t automatically mean they’re doing the best job of keeping everyone safe. But Weiss pushes the wrong button by asking about May’s family. The Marigold’s were ashamed of the way their “son” acted, wanting to help the suffering down in Mantle. And so May would no longer let herself be called that, she became a woman proudly working as part of the Happy Huntresses for the service of the people. She kicked her Marigold name and reputation to the curb and her cousin Henry stepped up as the socialite snob instead.

This cannot have been an easy scene for Kdin to record, but we all need to give a standing ovation for her performance in it. Powerful words that likely hit very close to home. What a queen.

May is sure Weiss gets where she’s coming from with their families casting them aside in favor of a more obedient heir, her being replaced by Whitley after her outburst at the charity concert. Weiss wants to voice her disagreement, but May questions whose side she’s on in all this. Blake doesn’t like that, they’ve heard this talk about taking sides before and judging by her tone she’s none too happy to be hearing it now. May is about to give her a strongly worded piece of her mind too but Ruby stands between them to remind everyone there are no sides. All of humanity needs to be united, and Salem is the one creating the tension that’s dividing them so their real enemy is her. The only question now is how do they get out of this problem? The solution might be hiding just around the corner, literally. Whitley has been listening from behind the door, and he seems a little inspired.

Meanwhile Oz seems to have just finished telling Salem’s dark cursed backstory to Hazel, and it seems her final plan really is to have the world so divided and ruined that when the gods are brought back to judge it they will deem Remnant a failure and destroy it and hopefully her with it. Hazel seems less than inclined to believe this story though, he still holds a damn hard grudge over his sister. Oz is getting nowhere so Oscar asks to be put back in the lead, and so he is just as Hazel is about to wallop them again. Oz is willing to trust him so he can earn Hazel’s trust in return. So he goes right ahead and tells the big guy Jinn’s name and that it’s how you summon her for one last question. Hazel seems mad that Oscar gave up the info so effortlessly after all that, but Oscar asserts that he’s not telling Salem. He’s telling Hazel, and letting him decide what to do with the knowledge and the chance to gain deeper knowledge still. Pretty rad strategy. Wouldn’t you know it though, Emerald is still listening outside the door and heard everything. She goes to tell Mercury, but he’s busy packing a duffel bag for a trip to Vacuo. Guess Salem doesn’t need him here right now so we’ll get to see him again in Volume 9 or 10. He’s less than convinced that they should try and use this behind the scenes knowledge to go against Salem, cuz if Hazel couldn’t do it then why would he change his tune now? And why would they risk their necks too? It’s not like Oz was telling the truth, right? Salem isn’t really gonna destroy the world! But the teens get another surprise lecture from Uncle Tyrian: Of course Salem plans to destroy Remnant!! You couldn’t tell from the start? Everything about her screams end of the world, and it is beautiful! And if you thought she’d do anything different then you must really be crazy... Bold worlds from a psychotic serial killer, but we already know he’s unhinged. Mercury doesn’t much like getting this rude awakening though, especially since Tyrian will be the one going with him to Vacuo. Merc and Em share one last sad look, but he’s made his bed and now he’s resigned to lie in it. Bye bye Mercury, see you after Emerald has probably switched sides and will have to face you as an enemy...

Speaking of ships soaring through the air, we go back to the Ace Ops and YJR heading for Monstra. Yang is protesting the bombing plan since Oscar is still inside, but Vine insists they can’t afford to wait and risk further death and destruction. Jaune offers a side plan, send the three inside Monstra ahead of the bombing squad to scope things out for them and try to rescue Oscar while they’re doing recon. Marrow is shocked that they’d be willing to go into the literal belly of the beast alone, but Yang asserts he’d do the same for one of his teammates if they were in this position, right? He doesn’t have an answer for that. Elm argues that trading their lives just for one other person is stupid, but amazingly it is Ren who objects. Oscar is their friend, and they will do whatever it takes for someone they care about like that. A real turnaround from his attitude of closing himself off emotionally, but I guess he’s realizing how ridiculous it sounds coming from other people? Harriet gets out of her seat to do what she does best and start talking down to someone as naïve and wrong. Feelings are stupid, the job is what matters. When you lose someone you just replace them and forget about them. We find out that Winter is indeed meant to be the new leader instead of Clover, and before Marrow there was apparently a member of the team named Tortuga, but Ren is not about to let anyone tell him that someone is replaceable. You don’t say that to Team JNPR, and we definitely don’t say that about Ren... Not now. In his outrage, Ren suddenly finds... clarity. He starts seeing the world a little differently. In less cryptic terms, his Semblance seems to have evolved and he now sees people’s emotions swirling around them as colorful bursts of flower petals. Harriet is actually furious about losing Clover, she’s lying to herself and trying to suppress her feelings. She does not like being called out like that, but the rest of the squad needs to be put on blast. As opposed to Hare’s red petals Marrow is surrounded by blue that I guess would mean sadness or depression, Elm has orange and some red, and Vine is clouded with green. The meanings of the last two are a little less clear, but they’re all definitely feeling some strong things that they’re trying to hide under a calm façade. This is the reason the Ace Ops lost to RWBY, they’re all held back by trying not to connect with each other so unity and team bonds never formed. Elm does not like being told she’s a loser because she won’t make friends, but at least it’s a a reaction, which means he’s absolutely right. She’s about to deck Ren in the face but Winter steps in to get everyone calmed down. She looks these three “fugitives” over, and makes a decision. She’s going to trust her sister’s friends. They will get the teens in close and give them a small window of time to try and get in and out before the Ace Ops need to bring in the payload and blow it all away. Harriet is pissed Winter is giving these “traitors” a chance, and questions her decision thusly. But you’re outranked, you boob, and you can’t do a damn thing to stop her from showing human decency. They have a very tight schedule to attempt this rescue, and Jaune accepts that fully. The three get uncuffed and are given their weapons back as the ship lands at the front lines. Ren tries to appeal to the doubt and regret he can see in Marrow to get him to switch sides while the getting’s good. Marrow wants to, but he sticks to the job for now. Yang and Jaune head out first, while Ren lingers to tell Winter he knows she doesn’t want to be a part of all this anymore either, and we see a rainbow of many emotional petals around her head. Either she has a balance of many emotions in check and is the most levelheaded of the Ace Ops, or she has the most emotions repressed and her mind is a tempest of feelings that aren’t being addressed and may spell her end... take your pick.

As this militant Schnee considers her options, we go homeward to see Weiss and the others heading for the front door. May isn’t keen to stay her any longer than needed, and the kids need to make a choice about where she’s dropping them off. Either they go to the front lines here in Atlas or back down to Mantle to help with the chaos there. No other options, and especially no breaking their jailbirds out for an assist. May doesn’t have the optimism and heroic hope that Ruby still holds dear, she won’t entertain the idea that this can become a complete victory all around. This isn’t that kind of world. Either they help one place, or they help another. And even then, that’s no guarantee wherever they go will be successful at stopping the invasion. It’s very depressing, and it’s on these kids to accept the facts and make the hard decisions. If you take a look at the last few Volumes, Ruby does seem to have a bit of a habit of ignoring the dreadful possibilities/facts in favor of pursuing a hopeful and bold plan that could fix everything immediately so she doesn’t have to cope with reality and actually grieve her mistakes and losses... I’m not saying it makes her a bad character or that she’s wholly wrong for trying to see a bright side whenever possible, just that this is an unhealthy strategy for a leader with so much on her shoulders. But before anyone has time to make a decision right now, there’s a hard knock on the front door. Everyone draws their weapons and approaches slowly, before Weiss cautiously opens the door. In a most definitely welcome surprise, she is greeted by Klein!!! She missed him dearly, and apologizes for whatever fault she had in his being fired, but while cycling through personalities he assures her she has nothing to be sorry for since it’s all Jacques’ fault, the bastard. Turns out, Klein is here to use his medical knowledge to treat Nora. What, didn’t you know all butlers to heroic millionaires have field medic training? Alfred Pennyworth set the gold standard, I dare say~ But of course, Weiss didn’t call him and none of her friends know his number so who told him to come?... Would you believe it, Whitley is responsible and we could not be more proud of him! Weiss certainly is, and she gives him what might be his first genuinely loving hug in years. Klein heads upstairs to begin treatment, while the rest of the group share a hopeful moment. But this silence too comes to a crashing halt as there is further ruckus outside. This time Ruby answers the door, to see a smoking crater in the front driveway. RWB rush outside and kneel at the edge of the crater as the smoke clears. Penny has crash landed, and lies there in a pool of what we can only presume to be her green synthetic blood. All she has the strength left to do is apologize before she passes out and the screen darkens with her. There lies the end for the next 6 weeks, and we were left to panic and speculate all the while. Too bad I’m a lazy bugger who only got this review out now and there’s no tension left before the thrilling continuation comes tomorrow morning. So lets all get one last panicked sleep in before the living nightmares come for our girls! Penny is totally gonna be under Watt’s control, the Hound is coming, it’s all gonna be a huge damn mess... Can’t wait, can you?~

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askrighthandrecollections · 3 years

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Prologue: Revelations of the Heart

The drone of the airship engines was a familiar thing to the Right Hand Man as he lay awake in bed, his wide-brimmed top hat hanging off the bedpost. The lateness of the hour did nothing to ease the man into the land of dreams, indeed, he was still far too alert, his thoughts too noisy for sleep to claim him. For once, it wasn’t his years of training as a Toppat Enforcer that kept him awake.

He was plagued with worry.

It gnawed at him, strengthened by memories of things that had yet to come to pass. Of things that could still happen, death in multiple ways and on repeat. His own death never phased him, he knew he would die as he lived, protecting the clan until his last breath. It was the death of one man in particular that ate away at him. Numerous deaths he knew had happened, even after Right himself had met his end.

He knew and he hated it.

He heaved himself upright with a sigh, half expecting to see the gleam of metal in the corner of his eyes and reminding himself that he was hale, hearty, and whole. No cybernetics.

Yet.

Reaching out towards the wall, he fumbled for the light switch, and momentarily blinded himself as the overhead light blinked to life.

He groaned as he waited for his eyes to adjust. Clearing the spots from his vision, he got up and padded over to the small desk in the corner of the room.

His quarters were simple. A bed to sleep in, a wardrobe to store his clothes, a desk so he could work in peace, and a bookshelf he used to store the small amount of knickknacks and treasures he’d accumulated during his time in the clan.

Sliding into the rickety old desk chair, he grabbed the notebook sitting near the top corner of the desk and a pen from the “Big Banana” coffee mug he used as a pen holder. Opening the book to the most recent page, he checked over his notes.

I forgot how much of a bastard Terrence is. Just seeing his ugly mug makes me want to punch his lights out, but I can’t risk Reg not becoming the leader. It is tempting though.

Got “upgraded” again, that’s the fifth time I’ve gone through this.

Dunno if Henry’s an idiot or genius, half the time he kills himself and the other half he kills everyone else.

Really starting to hate those CCC blokes. Bit too trigger happy.

I do not get paid enough to deal with this crap. But I put up with it, for the Toppats, for Reg. Seriously, who just goes and steals an entire rocket?

One good thing about being in prison is that I get to sit back and watch the show, Reg and I even share a cell.

He added a new entry.

Having Henry be a competent leader would’ve been nice. Might’ve even respected him a bit, you know, if he hadn’t killed me, my boss, and the rest of the clan multiple times in a dozen different ways.

Right set the pen down, staring at the page. It seemed that this cycle of repetition was endless. Wake up with Terrence as Chief and the clan being run into the ground, die several years down the line, or live just long to see the clan off in safe hands.

And it all revolved Henry.

The thought made his blood boil and he exhaled sharply as he pushed the indignation and fury aside in an effort to focus. Here he was, years, lifetimes of experiences under his belt but he couldn’t act on it. Not when he had a duty to the clan.

He’d sooner jump off the airship than leave Reginald by himself. Right steadfastly ignored the other feelings wrapped up in that thought, it wasn’t his place. Reginald was destined to become Chief, to lead the clan into a new golden age. It was his duty as an Enforcer to protect the high-ranking members of the clan, and he had been made Reginald’s Right Hand minutes after denouncing Terrence.

He ran a hand through his hair, idly wondering if he should grow it out this time or keep it cut short. Staring at his notes didn’t provide any further insight to his situation, nor magically offer a solution.

Be a hell of a lot simpler if I could talk to Reg about it. He thought and blinked.

What was stopping him? What was stopping him from doing anything? Even if Reg didn’t believe him, he’d certainly play along and humour Right. Even passing off the situation as a side affect of his Sands of Time was believable enough since Right had no idea what was causing this in the first place.

For all he knew, it could be his Spirit reacting to something, he wouldn’t know. Hadn’t used the thing in years because no one else had one and it would be dishonourable to use it otherwise.

He glanced up at the clock mounted on the wall by the door and grimaced at the early hour it displayed. It would be some time before anyone was awake, let alone an early bird like Reginald.

With another sigh, Right put his pen and book back where he found them and stood up to head back to bed.

The door to his quarters opened with a hiss and he turned around, wide-eyed as a bleary-eyed Reginald walked in, still in his sleepwear.

“Uh, somethin’ wrong Reg?” Right asked.

“I was about to ask you the same question,” Reginald replied, groggy. “It’s 3am, what are you still doing up?”

“Can’t sleep.” He replied honestly with a shrug.

Reginald peered at him for a moment.

“If something’s bothering you, you can always tell me.”

“I know Reg, not now though, go back to bed,” Right waved him off. “I’ll tell you in the morning over breakfast.”

“Hm… I’ll hold you to that.” Reginald looked at him sceptically before leaving the room to return to his own quarters.

Right stumbled back and sat on his bed, sagging as he rested his head in his hands.

What was he going to tell him? How was he going to tell him? He spared a glance over at the notebook.

“Screw it.” He muttered.

Reginald had unknowingly forced his hand and backed him into a corner. He almost preferred this, having the decision to share his concerns be out of his hands was like ripping off a band-aid, quick and to the point.

He spent the rest of the early hours of the morning both dreading and anticipating the conversation.

Right felt far more alert than he should be as he shambled into the airship kitchen several hours later. He’d chucked on his usual dress shirt, pants, and boots before heading out the door, dropping his hat on his head on the way out. He felt perfectly fine and like absolute garbage at the same time but that was more due to the lack of sleep if anything.

He saw Reginald in the middle of cooking some scrambled eggs on the oven grill.

“Mornin’” he grunted, attempting to walk past him to fix up his own food only for Reginald to hold out an arm to stop him.

Right raised a brow at him.

“You go take seat, I’m making breakfast for you today,” Reginald stated firmly, pointing the spatula he held at Right threateningly. “You look exhausted Right.”

Reginald was in one of those moods. The kind where he got into a snit over Right not taking of himself (like he could talk, Reginald’s workaholic tendencies frankly scared Right some days) and fussed over him until he was satisfied Right wasn’t going to keel over. Right preferred to do things himself, at least when it came to the little things, but he understood where Reginald was coming from.

He’d done the exact same thing for him after all.

He sighed and smiled slightly. “Alright, thanks Reg.”

He didn’t have to wait long, Reginald brought him a plate of scrambled eggs on toast and sat beside him at an empty table at the back of the cafeteria moments later.

“So, what had you up so late last night?” Reginald asked as he nursed a cup of coffee, picking at his own plate of toast. “Did you even get any sleep?”

“It’s complicated…” Right began. “And no, didn’t get a wink of sleep, not that it matters. I’ve worked under worse conditions.”

“How complicated? Is it something to do with the clan?”

Here goes. Right thought, mentally preparing himself for the worst. “It’s complicated ‘cause been I’ve been stuck reliving the past decade or so over an’ over. I’ve died an’ woke up back when Terrence was still chief with the memories of what happened as well as what happened after I croaked.”

Reginald was staring at him, expression unreadable yet Right could practically see the gears turning in his head. He took it as a good sign and pressed forward.

“You’ve died, the clan’s gone up in smoke, or we’ve had our stuff stolen and rarely do things ever go our way,” Right stated. “Seems like the universe likes taking the mick out of us. We’re usually brought down by one bloke.”

“I’m sorry? A single person destroys the Toppat Clan?” Reginald asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, guy by the name of Henry Stickmin…” Right growled, glaring at his breakfast. “Can’t tip Terrence off when I get sent back, but after that…. I’m your Right Hand Reg, that’s my job. Not this time travelling bullcrap…”

“I’m sick an’ tired of it.” Right admitted, sighing.

Reginald made a noise in sympathy. Silence fell between them as Right ate his breakfast and Reginald was staring into his morning coffee, thinking.

“You know…” Reginald said after a while and Right looked over at him, fork sticking out of his mouth. “why not make it your job?”

Right set his utensils down on his plate, looking curious. “How so?”

“If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t give a damn about remaining consistent, I’d do whatever it takes to change the future for the benefit of the clan.”

“Even if it meant you’d never become chief?” Right asked.

Reginald nodded sagely. “Even then, you know how important the clan is to me. And truth be told, I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like for you, to bear the burden on not only your own demise but those of your allies as well. If it were me in your situation… I don’t believe I’d be nearly as calm…”

“You bein’ here helps with that,” Right said. “Knowing that you’re alive here an’ now, that it all wasn’t for nothin’… That keeps me going even in the worst of it.”

“In that case, we need to devise a way for you to inform me about this repeating life of yours every time you’re sent back,” Reginald decided. “It would certainly set my mind at ease knowing you won’t be dealing with this alone.”

“I have a book I keep notes in, more like a journal of sorts,” Right said. ��Found it on my desk the first time I got sent back.”

“Anything else?”

“No, just the book. No idea where it came from.”

“Do you mind if I borrowed it?” Reginald asked.

Right shrugged as he shoved another mouthful of eggs and toast into his maw. “Go ‘head.”

The government attack on the airship happened like clockwork. Henry came crashing through the windshield in a big plastic ball. This time, they were prepared with the clan on alert and weapons at the ready. Reginald had cleared the bridge ahead of time and holed himself up in his quarters. Right refused to back down and had waited to see where Henry would appear. He smirked and stood tall.

“Why don’ you ditch your little hamster ball an’ face me yourself?” He drawled, weapon at the ready.

Across from him, Henry Stickmin pressed a button on the controller he held, and Right blinked as a large tube appeared on the front of the ball and dived out of the way of the green laser that fired from it.

He glanced over to see Henry was gone and sighed in exasperation.

“Bloody idiot…” he grumbled and grabbed the communicator clipped to his pants. “The Intruder’s been dealt with Reg. The bridge has sustained heavy damage though.”

Reginald replied moments later. “Round up a repair crew and I’ll see to getting the ship to one of our hangars.”

“Got it.” Right replied and left the bridge in search of Slice, knowing he would have the right people and resources ready to begin the repairs as soon as they landed.

It was as if his talk with Reginald had opened his eyes to the possibilities he now had. In the timelines that followed, Reginald had read his notes and the letter the chief had left for himself and worked with Right to use the information to the clan’s advantage. The schemes the man would concoct were a highlight of Right’s week.

Some things couldn’t be completely altered, as evident by Right’s cybernetic enhancements once more being the only thing that kept him alive after he’d tried to track Henry down and lost in the ensuing fight (again, he was really starting to hate the absurd amount of luck Stickmin had), and Reginald missing a hat.

Right remembered the events that followed all too well and upon hearing Reginald give the order to mobilise in preparation for an attack on The Wall, Right unplugged himself from the charging station installed by his bed and got up to retrieve a long, dark red coat from his wardrobe. It was something he’d started wearing whenever he got “upgraded”, the coat was from his old days before he’d even been assigned to the airship division, before he known as Right Hand Man.

He donned it now because his cybernetics were still new and fresh, still somewhat sensitive to the chill in the night air permeating the airship and his new internal heating systems hadn’t quite adjusted yet. The coat also came in handy as place to store all the little tools and gadgets he or Reginald often needed when out on the mission. He checked the pockets on the inside of the coat and felt a sliver of nervousness and a hint of confidence at the two small boxes tucked away within the confines of his coat.

If things were going to go the way he thought, he wanted something good to come of this. Even if that good was only temporary. He huffed as the left side of his vision was consumed by a blinking notification that he hadn’t finished charging and dismissed it with a roll of his eyes.

He could worry about that later, for now he had to stop Reginald from making a poor decision and dooming them all.

So Right headed towards the bridge.

The bridge was empty save for Reginald at the ship’s controls, everyone else having left to follow orders. Reginald turned around in the pilot’s seat as he heard him approach. “You should be resting Right. I can handle this little rescue operation.”

“I just need to know what you’re planning,” Right said, coming up to stand beside Reginald and resting a hand on the back of the chair. “You read the notes, I don’t want a repeat of that incident.”

“We can just take more precautions, with the information we have, taking out Henry won’t be an issue-”

Right was struck by a bolt of fear at the idea. It was rare that he was genuinely afraid, even rarer since his life had been put on repeat for several decades now, but there were some things that stuck with him. Things like the sight of Reginald pinned to the wall of the bridge, dead in the wreckage of his life’s work. Right had died that time somehow just knowing it was the end of the Toppats and embracing death with the knowledge he’d be sent back.

The knowledge of what happened after he perished had haunted him for days afterwards. It compounded on his bruised ego, the sensation that he was nothing more than a joke, a punching bag for the universe's twisted sense of humour, and he bought Reginald and the rest of the Toppats down with him.

Never again.

“Please Reg, don’t, don’t make me go through that again…” Right cut in. He kept his voice firm and looked away, pulling his hat down to hide his face further. “…I know you don’t like him, but I’m not havin’ that happen twice! ‘Specially since you know it’ll happen if you throw him overboard.”

He heard the squeak of leather as Reginald got up, the quiet sound of his shoes on the carpet as he walked around the chair to face the enforcer. A gloved hand rested comfortingly on his shoulder.

Right stared at the floor. It was cowardly of him yes, but it was better for to him hide when his mask of professionalism was so close to breaking. As good as his poker face was, Reginald would see through it.

Reginald would always be the chief to him, Right was his Enforcer, his Right Hand Man, and that was the be all, end all of it.

“Right,” Reginald said, the former leader’s concern making Right sigh in exasperation and embarrassment. “I assure you I won’t let anything like that happen.”

“Then don’ let your bitterness towards Henry influence your decisions.” Right grumbled. “If I can manage that, then so can you.”

Reginald stepped back. “Yes, I… I suppose I’ve been a bit single minded as of late haven’t I?”

Right sighed and finally looked up to see Reginald was worried, wringing his hands together, and seeing just how much of a toll this had on Right.

He sighed and removed his hat, holding it to his chest with one hand while the other reached into his coat to pull out one of the two boxes. “Look, I may not be the best at getting’ the point across, but I worry about you a lot Reg, I care about you. More than I rightly should given our respective jobs…” he hastily shoved the box into Reginald’s hands. “Ah to hell with it. Here, open it. You’ll see what I mean…”

Reginald quirked an eyebrow in curiosity as he opened the box. The former leader blinked in stunned silence at the light pink felt rose that lay inside.

“I know you like all those traditions the clan had throughout history, so I uh… made this for you… ‘cause I like you,” Right explained as Reginald gingerly picked up the fake rose and turned it over, revealing it was glued to a little gold pin. “It was tradition, back in the renaissance era or somethin’, to give someone in the clan a rose they could pin to their hat if you were interested in ‘em, romantically I mean. Pink ones were for confessin’ that you were interested.”

Right continued, looking off to the side, rambling. “S’lright if you don’t feel the same, don’t even know if you like blokes, it’s jus’ that when I heard the announcement that we were headin’ to The Wall, I knew I had to talk you down from chuckin’ Henry off the ship…” he rubbed the back of his neck as he put his hat back on. “An’ failin’ that, thought I might try my luck with… somethin’ else.”

“Right.” Reginald commanded and Right turned his head to look at him. Reginald’s featured softened into something gentle, and Right was taken aback when the taller man pulled him into a hug.

“You never have to worry about professionalism or where we stand in the clan. Do you hear me?” Reginald’s voice was thick with barely restrained emotion. “I adore you, you absolute fool…”

“Oh…” was all Right could say and timidly reached his arms around to hug Reginald back. This was new, and exhilarating, and terrifying all at once.

Eventually, Reginald pulled away and Right was left a quiet, elated mess of a man as Reginald cleared his throat to get his attention.

“Do you have one of these for yourself?” he quietly asked, holding up the rose and Right sheepishly pulled out the other box from his coat pocket.

“The one I gave you was the second attempt of makin’ one, kinda botched up the first one.” he admitted, opening the box to reveal a felt rose that had several crooked or off-centre petals.

Reginald cracked a smile, almost giggling as he swiped the crooked rose and pinned it to his hat.

“Oi!”

Reginald only laughed. “Hold still and let me pin the other one on you.”

Right huffed but let him pin the decent looking rose to the side of his hat. Reginald admired his handiwork with a satisfied grin.

“Hm yes, quite dashing if I do say so,” he said as he reached up to adjust his own pin with a fond smile. “…I never thought you were interested. I was certain I was giving off the right signals…”

“I’m a bit dense when it comes to this sort of stuff Reg.” the cyborg muttered and straightened up. “We can talk about this later, we got an idiot to rescue…”

“Ah yes, The Wall,” Reginald remembered and headed back to the airship controls. “I promise I won’t throw Henry overboard, go rest, please?”

Right cracked a warm smile, emotions practically bubbling to the surface. “Alright I’m goin’.”

Right Hand Man walked back to his room feeling lighter than he had in years, a giddy veil mixed with relief and belonging had settled around him and he welcomed it.

#henry stickmim collection #right hand man #reginald copperbottom #ask blog #I had to learn how to do line breaks in html #fanfic

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shianhygge-imagines · 4 years

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Middlemarch: Alternate Universe [Ravus/Reader] Finale

AN: This final chapter of Middlemarch was a long time coming. I’m so sorry for how long it took!

There are purposely some stuff left unanswered and open ended, though if asked, I will elaborate on it :3

|Masterlist Link|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the Trial of the Archean

It was immensely awkward, you decided in that moment. Why? Because after that moment of affection and intimacy from the High Commander, it seemed as if the both of you had taken five enormous steps backwards in terms of your relationship. Despite your past together as playmates, and despite the fact that he had saved you, Ravus still seemed to resent you immensely. The morning after you recovered your memories of your connection to Ravus, you’d been greeted with the old stoic and borderline antagonistic attitude you’d seen briefly. When confronted, Ravus had simply huffed, stated that nothing good could come of any relationship with a Lucian, he’d taken his paperwork and all but stomped out of the room. Occasionally, you’d see Ravus come check on your recovery progress, but it had been the last that you had personally spoken with him.

His eyes are not the same. You observed during one of his visits to check on your health. A metal arm, and a different colored eye. Probably from the aftermath of trying to wear the Ring of the Lucii. There were so many questions that you wanted to ask him. Why did you stop writing to me?

Had I done something wrong?

Why are you so cold to me now?

It’s been three days since you’d last spoken with the broody man, and the bitterness was starting to build up again. Just like it did when Noctis abandoned you in favor of his love, Lunafreya, you felt the loneliness build. Except, unlike the last times, where you had Ravus and then Cor, this time you had no one. With Ravus seemingly abandoning you as well, you’d been left as prey for the one person you knew who liked to mess with people the most.

Yes, as of right now, you were being dragged around from location to location by the Chancellor of Niflheim himself, Ardyn Izunia. You’d protested heavily when the auburn headed man practically stormed your room and swept you off your feet, carrying you like a sack of potatoes as he seemed to teleport in the same manner of those blessed by the Crystal.

Once Ardyn seemed to touch back down onto solid ground, he let you squirm out of his hold, aiming a rather mischievous look at you. “So? How was my driving?”

What in the- Driving? You groaned as your stomach turned unpleasantly, “I think I’m gonna puke.” You’d used the King’s power to phase and teleport before, but never through such a long distance. At least, you gathered this from the sudden fact that you were outside the airship, in a military base. Though appreciating the fact that Ardyn had given you some time to regain your footing, you still gave him a stern glare. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Aww. You don’t want to see your beloved friends? I thought I told you that your beloved Prince was waiting.” Ardyn pouted heavily, and while you admitted that the look worked for him, it still didn’t seem right that a man his age would pout.

The twitching in your cheek came out of nowhere as you opened your mouth to shoot out a snarky reply. You were interrupted by a loud thud when you tried to snark back, bringing a halt to your statement as Ardyn tsked, waving his hand for you to follow. “Come hither. Wouldn’t want anyone getting killed now.”

Ardyn walked off before you could answer, leaving you following behind at a slow pace. What the hell is wrong with this guy?

“I’d say that’s far enough.” you suddenly heard Ardyn chide, like an adult scolding children, though you snickered at the irony. “A hand, Highness?” Your eyes narrowed, Highness?

“Not from you.”

“Oh, but I’m here to help.”

“And how is that?”

The familiar voices had you sprinting at full speed, catching Ravus’s eye as you practically slid around the corner to see your friends.

“By first bringing back something you lost.” you heard Ardyn answer.

“What do you mean by-”

“NOCT!” You practically screeched, sprinting past Ravus and Ardyn to glomp your friend.

All around you, there were gasps of surprise. The man in your arms froze, unable to move in his disbelief, afraid that everything was a dream. That you weren’t really in his arms. “Y-Y/N?”

“I’m so glad you’re all okay!” You cried in relief at seeing your childhood friends and brother.

“We thought you died!” Gladio looked on the verge of tears as he ran to engulf you and Noctis in a great hug. Prompto and Ignis followed soon after, and you allowed yourself to grin in happiness at being reunited with those you had considered your family.

“Y/N… You shouldn’t be running around so soon.” Ravus protested, extending a hand, something resembling worry passing over his face for just the briefest of moments. When you only ignored the older man, his face hardened, schooled into another stoic mask as he turned his attention to Ardyn. “I told you not to bother them.”

“I could let dear Y/N die of boredom, now could I?” Ardyn argued with a tone that suggested a lack of seriousness. “To torture your Little Light by abandoning them in that cold metal prison… how cruel.” The Chancellor tsked, a knowing glint to his eyes as he started to walk away. “Come now, Commander. Make haste.” His sly gaze spoke volumes as he stared at Noctis, “When next we meet, it’ll be across the seas. Just so happens we have business of our own with the tutelary deity, don’t we?”

Ravus refused to acknowledge Ardyn, his gaze set upon your form, still surrounded by your friends. There was an almost pleading sadness to his eyes when he stared after you, but you stubbornly refused to acknowledge him in return. Something about Ardyn was hauntingly familiar as he bid the group farewell and walked away with Ravus. You shook your head in confusion, forcing your mind away from the matter, simply happy to have been reunited with Noctis and Gladio.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During the Trial of Leviathan

You missed being able to throw your weapon and teleport, especially now that the entirety of Altissia was under siege by the Hydraean and Niflheim forces. Noctis, Gladio, Prompto, and Ignis had all begged for you to stay with the evacuated civilians, but you couldn’t sit back and let your friends do all the fighting. The minute that the Hydraean appeared to answer Noctis’ call, you’d sprinted back into the city just before the waves rose to form a barrier. When the Niflheim airships encroached upon the city, seeming to head towards the Alter of the Tidemother, you sprinted faster, slipping the communications earpiece that Ignis had given you into your left ear. The floor rumbled as the waves shook the water bound city, and still you didn’t stumble. “Ignis? What’s going on?” “Y/N! Whatever you do, stay far away from the city!” It’s your brother’s voice that advises you from the earpiece, sounding like he was running somewhere.

“Uh…” You paused your sprint to look around for a higher vantage point, “Maybe too late for that.” There’s an exasperated groan from the other end of the comm link from your older brother. “Fine… just… play it safe, okay? I can’t lose you.”

You’re about to respond when an angry roar shakes the area. Stand on top of a building after having scaled the walkways and side tiles, you could see the Hydraean screech in anger from afar before attacking a flying speck… who you assumed to be Noctis. Remembering that you should have responded to Gladio, you spoke in a winded voice. “I’ll stay away from anything overwhelming, but it’s still my job to protect Noctis.” The tired sigh from Gladiolus brings a regretful frown to your face, knowing that your big brother only wanted you to be safe from harm. “I guess that’s all I can really ask for, huh… Love you, sis.” “Love you, too, big bro.” Was the response you gave before jumping towards another rooftop, making your way towards the Altar of the Tidemother.

You’re just about halfway to the altar when a bright beam lights up the sky, the ground shaking violently following. The Archenn rises from the water to challenge the Hydraean, and your comms piece crackles to life, Ignis’ voice filtering through. “Noct! Do you read me?” You could hear Ignis call over the comms unit before Titan slammed a fist into the water, creating a shockwave that knocked the approaching airships out of the sky and into the city.

Too focused on keeping your balance on top of one of the Altissian buildings, you failed to notice that one of the airships had crashed into a towering piece of architecture, sending debris plummeting down around you.

“Ah! Damn!” You cursed, eyes darting around for a building that was still stable. When you didn’t see any to climb up towards, you sprinted over to the edge of the building, deciding that down into the water was better than getting crushed by pieces of building. “Let’s hope the water isn’t too turbulent.” You muttered before jumping off in a pencil dive.

Not even 15 minutes later

You coughed and sputtered as you tread water, once more having been knocked under the Altissian waters from the violent waves that crashed around the once beautiful city. The communication device fizzled in your ear, emitting only a few words from your brother, Prompto, and Ignis before dying from all the water damage.

“Great. Just great.” You muttered as you swam towards the closest ledge and pulled yourself out of the tepid water. Yanking the device out of your ear before it shocked you, you took a minute to rest your muscles, sea water dripping off your body as an exhausted groan left your lips. “Okay… Altar… that’s where I need to go.”

Climbing to your feet, you glanced around the street for any sign of enemies before allowing your gaze to drift upwards, wanting to get on top of another rooftop. Even among the rubble that littered the street, there wasn’t any easy way to climb up to the rooftops. “Okay then… I guess we’re doing this the old fashion way.” The sigh that escaped your lips was cut short by the distinct sound of a screeching Magitek soldier. “Astrals preserve me.” You cursed with a roll of your eyes, turning in place to summon your greatsword in a flash of crystalline light just as a large group of Niflheim puppet soldiers rounded the corner of the building towards you, surrounding you on all sides.

You’d seen the inhuman soldiers fight before, but had never personally fought one until now. As such, you remained a cautious distance away from the Niflheim puppets as they attacked with random patterns and seemingly zero team coordination. There was no technique for you to be weary of, no pattern for you to exploit. Just the overwhelming number of them. They were just mindless toys of the Niflheim Empire, but that was fine. You’d faced greater odds before. It took a little bit of time on your part, as well as the use of some thunder elemancy, but all the Magitek soldiers eventually fell at your feet.

“Waste of my time!” You growled, moving to scale the nearest wall in order to get a better vantage point of the city. Explosions and gunfire could be heard all around you, though you barely paid attention to anything besides the beam of light from the Altar. “Gotta get to Noct and Luna.” You muttered before sprint forward once more, doing your best to dodge the magitek armors that patrolled the ruins near the Altar.

The closer you came to the Altar, you began to notice the skies darken, rain falling as the Archaean and Hydraean departed. The beam of bright light that was once your waypoint dimmed and disappeared just as you rounded the corner and onto the path towards the altar. “No, no, no, no!” You pleaded under your breath, “Please don’t be too late to save them.”

For all the resentment you held towards Lunafreya, you didn’t hate the older woman. She had supported and protected Noctis during the darkest times of his childhood, and you swore to protect those that your King cared for.

But now, as your eyes took in the scene before you… of two tall familiar figures standing over the fallen lovers, you realized that you’d failed. The radiant glow from Lady Lunafreya dimmed until it was extinguished, though you still forced your tired feet to stumble forward, stopping to stand beside Ravus and Ignis, an expression of horror on your face.

“No…” the grief in Ravus’ voice gave you pause as he stumbled disbelieving towards Luna’s body. You could understand part of the grief, having lost your father only days before, but you couldn’t imagine losing your entire family.

“Ravus…” you lifted a hand to reach out to him, but the Prince of Tenebrae continued forward, a growl to his tone.

“First, the Lucians stole from me my mother…” Your breathing paused as you scrambled through your memory for what little you remembered of the old reports on the attack. We didn’t… But we weren’t the ones that killed the Queen. Eyes darting to rest on Ravus’ back, your body tensed as he continued to speak, drawing his sword to strike down the unconscious Noctis. “And now they make a sacrifice of my sister!”

Ignis reacts just a split second faster than you do, stopping Ravus’ downward strike. Bewildered and still shocked from the lack of life in both Lunafreya and Noctis, you missed the two protectors’ exchange until Ignis roughly shoved Ravus back, taking the enraged and grief-stricken Prince on and pleading for him to return to his senses.

Trusting Ignis to handle calming Ravus down, you dashed forward and fell to your knees, checking both Oracle and King for heartbeats. “If I can do one thing right this day, please let it be to save them.” You pray, utilizing what little first aid you learned. As was expected of a King’s Sworn Shield, you confirmed that Noctis was okay first before moving onto Lady Lunafreya. The rain had long since washed away most of the evidence, but from the trail of blood from the altar proper to where the two lovers lay, you knew that Luna had lost too much blood for your meager first aid to be able to do anything about. Still, you worked to staunch the bleeding, using as much Curative Magic as your body could produce, hoping that you could at least prolong her life enough for proper aid to arrive.

Don’t die, You begged, pulling at all your magical reserves as you forced yourself to use the unnatural magic. Don’t die, Lunafreya. Don’t leave Noctis. Don’t leave Ravus. Please! Healing magic was never supposed to be used by a Lucian, only the Oracles of Tenebrae, and despite using everything you had in your body, the spell did nothing. Exhausted and without energy, you slouched forward with a miserable sob. “No! What good am I if I can’t even save one life?”

Before you knew it, a body sank heavily to the floor beside you, reaching out towards Luna’s body. “But… part of me always hoped… that I might see you happy one day. Your burdens lifted, free to live and love as you please.” Your eyes darted away from such a private moment between brother and sister, though it didn’t stop you from hearing, “You would have made a beautiful bride.”

Your eyes darted to stare at Noctis, silently agreeing that Luna would indeed have made a beautiful bride for Noctis. The Fates are cruel. You lamented as the darkness was briefly illuminated by Luna’s passing, her spirit appearing above the water… beautiful, benevolent, and lively as she smiled towards her brother, who begged for her not to go. And as you watched Ravus sob, something within you mourned with him.

Once upon a time, Ravus had been the light to coax you away from the darkness. As you shifted weakly to sit beside him, you knew that it was time you acted as his light.

Hesitantly, you extended a trembling hand to rest on his Magitek arm, drawing mournful heterochromatic eyes to your own. Nothing was said between the two of you, though Ravus raised his right hand to grasp your own.

Please stay with me. His eyes plead, tears trailing downwards with the rain.

A squeeze of your hand was all the answer that the Prince needed, I won’t leave you.

After a small lot of time, the group of you could hear thudding footsteps approach. “Gladio!” You raised your head from where it rested on Ravus’ shoulder to stare at your older brother, only to furrow when he ignored Ignis’ follow up questions in favor of staring at the man beside you.

“Well, well.” Your brother muttered a little too elegantly as he approached. “What have we here?”

You rose, your greatsword summoned with the intention to block your brother’s attack upon Ravus, but even summoning your weapon proved too exhausting, and you slipped, slumping into Ravus’ firm back, which remained steady even as he blocked Gladio’s strike, “You… “ Ravus growled, staring up at your brother’s towering form. “Ardyn.”

“Ardyn?” Blinking in confusion, you watched in horror as the illusion dropped, and Ardyn Izunia stood before the lot of you, Niflheim soldiers surging forward to detain all of you.

Watching as they manhandled Ignis and Ravus ignited a fury within you. And despite how exhausted you already were, you called upon the power bestowed to you by the late King Regis. A powerful surge of electricity discharged from your body, shocking the troops around you and Ravus enough for the Prince to distract Ardyn. Weakened from reaching far over your limit, you reacted too late to block the descent of Ardyn’s arm to your neck, hearing only the cry of your name from Ignis and Ravus before your vision went black and you slumped forward into the Chancellor.

The next you woke, Noctis had sealed himself into the Crystal and eternal night had fallen over the world.

Y/N

I know if you were awake, you would have yelled at me for doing this. But I have a destiny to fulfill. I wanted to be there for you when you woke up, but the world couldn’t wait. While I take care of what I need to, I’m leaving everything to you, Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto. And do me a favor? Live for yourself. I know you spent your entire life training to protect me, but I don’t want your life to go to waste. Ravus promised me that you’d be safe in Tenebrae, and I hope that when I do return, you’ll have your own story to tell me.

With Love,

Noctis

You sighed as you read the letter in your hand for probably the fiftieth time since you woke up. The pristine room seemed to taunt you as you sat in the soft bed, mulling over Noctis’ request. “Live for myself, huh?” An anxious laugh escaped your lips, “How to even begin…”

“You could start by trying to leave the bed.” A voice suggested dryly from the room entrance.

The smile that rose to your lips didn’t go unnoticed as Ravus stepped further into the room, closing the door behind him as he balanced a tray of food you. “Good morning, Ravus.” You greeted your host… though caretaker seemed a more appropriate title for the Prince of Tenebrae at that point.

Setting the tray of food down onto the small tea table, Ravus strolled forward to extend a hand, urging you to your feet gently as he stood by you for support. “It is actually closer to the afternoon, but that is of no consequence.” With one arm supporting your waist, the ex-Commander extended his left arm to pull out a plush chair before guiding you to the seat. “You should eat to recover your strength.” The last of the Nox Fleurets suggested, buttering a slice of bread for you before handing it over.

Muttering a soft ‘thank you,’ you took the buttered croissant, noting with affection that Ravus had remembered your love of spreading a copious amount of butter onto your bread. “You remembered how I like my butter.”

The ex-High Commander allowed his lips to curl at the edges, “I don’t think I could ever forget your bad habits.”

“Hmph.” You stuck your nose up and pouted haughtily as you bit into the bread, chewing and swallowing before answering Ravus. “Butter makes everything better, Rae.” Ravus merely continued to smile, his only answer being a soft chuckle as he set about fixing you a cup of tea.

Now that he wasn’t looking at you so closely, you could see the well hidden exhaustion on the twenty-eight year old. Having been trained to read people, you could tell that recent events had truly taken a toll on your childhood friend. “I can practically feel your stare burning a hole into me, Y/N.” Ravus’ blue and purple eyes suddenly meet yours, “I suspect you have some questions.” Unfortunately, you were never that subtle with your observations…

Licking your lips to get rid of the butter and crumbs, but also as a nervous habit, you set the croissant down. “I understand all that Ignis told me… about the Starscourge… about Ardyn’s true identity… and about Noctis’ role in all this. But what I don’t understand is why I’m here in Tenebrae. I appreciate what you’ve done for my friends and I… and I’m more grateful that you’ve allowed me to stay here but… Surely your contempt of Lucians has not magically disappeared.”

“You needed a safe place to rest and recover.”

“I could have done that in Lucis. My brother and sister would have looked after me.” You quickly refuted Ravus’ reasoning. “Ravus… I know you promised to protect me when we were children… but… in light of what happened… I don’t think you should feel obligated to protect me.”

Blue and purple eyes gazed upon you with hurt and outrage, “You think that I allowed your stay here out of some misplaced sense of obligation?”

Not letting his tone affect you, you merely stared back at the Tenebraen Prince calmly, “Ravus… What else am I supposed to think of this situation? You cut off all connection with me for over ten years, and when I see you again, you make it no mystery that you abhor Lucians. And now, for whatever reason, you’ve suddenly taken an interest in my well-being.” Ravus almost looked ashamed for a moment, “So, I’m asking you now, Ravus. Why am I here?”

The silence that descended upon the room was tense and awkward. And when Ravus wouldn’t meet your eyes, you just wanted to kick yourself. And why can’t I keep my fat mouth shut. He was being nice, Y/N. Nice after ten years of ignoring your existence. And now he’s lost his little sister, and you’re being ungrateful. Sighing heavily, you took a breath before speaking, an apology on the tip of your tongue.

“Ravus, I-”

“... Is it too much to not wish to be alone?”

The heartbroken and stressed edge to Ravus’ voice brought a wince to your face. And there you go, Y/N. Congratulations on being the most insensitive a-hole on this side of the planet. “Rae…”

“My sister is dead, Y/N. The last of my family has been taken from me and I…” His voice caught as his head turned to look in your direction, tearful eyes meeting yours. “She was all I had left. And now I have nothing.” You weren’t entirely sure if Ravus had even allowed himself to mourn. “Would you fault me for wanting a friend?”

You were on your feet before your brain had time to think about it. It’s not too much to ask. You want to say, but what leaves your lips is, “I’m here.” Your legs fail the moment that you put weight on them, and while you don’t scream or emote, you cry on the inside when Ravus catches you. WHAT IS THIS HORRIBLE CLICHE.

Hoping that the moment hadn’t been ruined as you’re gently guided to the floor, you continue to speak, sinking to your knees alongside Ravus. “I’ll be here for you, Ravus. Until you no longer need me.”

Something in Ravus’ expression cracks and he pulls you close, embracing you as his body trembles, “Oh, Little Light. I don’t think there will be a time where I won’t need you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#shian's middlemarch #x reader #ffxv imagines #final fantasy xv imagines #ravus x reader #ravus nox fleuret #noctis lucis caelum #alternate universe #ardyn izunia #ardyn lucis caelum #gladiolus amicitia #prompto argentum #ignis scentia

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dancingkirby · 4 years

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Azula III

I’m working on the final chapter of this story (not counting the epilogue), and I can’t believe I’m actually almost done with this story that started as one of my Youtube Music Binge Ideas. So here is the third and final Azula PoV chapter in the story.

WARNING: Incest, just as in the previous chapters.

PAST

Everything was going Azula’s way. She’d had her big spa trip just yesterday, so her skin was moisturized, her nails perfectly manicured, and her muscles limber from massage. The war meeting today, and her idea, had been a resounding success (although it had been a little awkward going back to talking about the boring old Earthbender rebels after all that excitement). Zuzu had been pretty quiet during the meeting, so the spotlight had been on her, just as it should be. Now, it was the night before the big day, and she and Father were peering down at a scale model of the bunker, going over the plan one more time.

“So I will be in the large central room,” Azula was saying, tapping the corresponding room of the model with a pointer. “And you and your guards will be in this room, way over to the left. Then there’s Naoko to your right; one hopes that she knows there’s no bar in the bunker. Shiza’s across the hall from her, and then my, um, half-siblings will take up most of the back wall. Then Zuzu’s on the far right.”

That was the only area of uncertainty in Azula’s otherwise perfect life: what exactly her brother was up to. Since they got back from Ember Island, Zuko had been spending much of his time skulking around the Catacombs, asking Azula weird questions, and passing entire days at Mai’s house. (But never the nights; no, his honor wouldn’t allow him to impugn Mai’s virtue like that, although she was in a good enough mood that Azula thought it likely that they were doing something).

Father was speaking now, though, so Azula turned her attention back on him and away from the fascinating question of whether or not Zuzu had a chronic case of blue balls.

“And you know what you’re going to say?” he asked. Azula nodded.

“Every word,” she assured him.

“Excellent,” he replied. “You and your brother are both doing very well.” Azula had to force herself not to pout. This was her time; why did he insist on dragging Zuko into it? However, her disappointment was all bit forgotten with Father’s next words.

“Believe it or not, I may remarry soon,” he said as his hand “accidentally” brushed against hers. That was her cue.

“Dare I wonder who the lucky lady might be?” Azula inquired in a sing-song tone as she slowly slid her mantle off her shoulders, letting it land in a pile on the floor. Daddy tsked at her.

“Don’t be greedy, now,” he admonished. “That would ruin the surprise.” Apparently getting impatient with her teasing, he made a fire dagger and slashed through the rest of her clothing. That was the third set this month. Oh well.

“No, we wouldn’t want that,” she agreed. She walked backward until her calves hit the bed. Briefly, she considered showing off her recent practice in acrobatics by doing a handspring onto the mattress, but Daddy pushed her backwards before that plan could come to fruition. Instead of lying on her back as she usually did, she flipped over on her stomach and knelt with her face in the mattress to present herself.

“You want it from behind tonight, hm?” Daddy asked as he mounted her. Azula gave a murmur of assent.

“I wanted to try something different,” she explained. He seemed to have no problems with that, and Azula hoped that he wouldn’t catch on that the real reason she wanted to do this was so that he couldn’t see that she wasn’t giving him her full attention. As he started to move inside her, Azula made noises where appropriate, but her mind continued to plot and plan.

He had to be considering marrying her. Otherwise, why would be mention it like that? She’d been wondering when he’d get around to it, and was more than ready to be his Fire Lady. That way, there would be no more of this sneaking around, and she could finally bear his children like all his other ladies did. Once she gave him more legitimate heirs, Zhilan and Zoren and Eri and all the rest would simply be superfluous. She smiled into the bedding as she pictured the look of impotent fury that would be on Naoko’s face as she was forced to watch Azula standing with Father in front of the Fire Sage.

Of course, this meant that she would have to be even more careful not to mess things up tomorrow.

PRESENT

She hadn’t messed up. Or at least, she thought she hadn’t. She had very briefly considered chasing the sky bison further, but quickly determined that this would almost certainly be a waste of resourced. The important thing was, she’d tailed them long enough to see that they were heading due north. Coincidentally, the Boiling Rock lay in that direction, and this was certainly where Father would put any prisoners of war. Azula wasn’t sure whether or not the Avatar and his friends actually knew this.

When the airship returned to the launchpad, Azula ran down the boarding ramp and straight to the palanquin that awaited her. A grin of triumph nearly split her face in two as she pondered what accolades may be awaiting her back at the palace. Would Father be waiting outside the main entrance to give her a hero’s welcome? Or would he prefer a reception in the throne room? Surely, there would be a banquet; if not tonight, then within the next few days.

When she reached the palace, she was dismayed to find that what was actually waiting for her was utter chaos. When her palanquin entered the caldera, she had mistaken the shouts coming from the area as ones of celebration. It was only when she disembarked that she saw people running all over the place like panicked komodo chickens. All the excitement within her deflated instantly. She stood in the front hall for several minutes, waiting for someone to notice her, but none of them did. Not even any of the bastards looked at her as they filed in; the younger ones stared blankly into space while the older ones were trying to comfort Anshi. Her oldest half-sibling had collapsed as soon as they got into the front hall, clinging onto a pillar while weeping silently.

It took so long for anyone to react to Azula’s presence that she started to wonder if she had, in fact, died in the battle against the Avatar’s group and simply hadn’t realized it. But then, finally, War Minister Qin ran up to her.

“My Princess!” he said as he kowtowed at her feet. “This humble, miserable worm of a servant has failed you. Please accept this servant’s apologies for his utter incompetence. This servant will gratefully accept any punishment.”

He was using the old humble dialect; that had been relatively common during Sozin’s rule, but these days was only utilized in times of utmost catastrophe. Honestly, Azula had little patience for it, because she just wanted people to get to the point; they would have plenty of time to beg for their lives afterward.

“What incompetence?” Azula asked him, making sure that her voice had as deadly an edge as any sword. She felt the need to clarify with, “Aside from your usual?”

War Minister Qin rose up onto his knees.

“P…Prince Zuko turned traitor and escaped,” he all but whispered. “The Fire Lord heroically tried to apprehend him, but was injured in the process.”

A stab of shock ran through Azula’s chest, knocking the wind out of her.

“What sort of injury?” she inquired. If he’d been mortally wounded, or even simply incapacitated for a long time, the burden of ruling would go to her. She felt relieved when Qin hurriedly assured her it was nothing life-threatening, but now she could focus fully on the first part of the sentence.

She should have known; should have warned Father! She was fully aware of how weird Zuko had been acting, and now he’d gotten away right under their noses. She’d gotten him set up with Mai; lied for him so Father would welcome him home, and this was how he repaid her?! As far as she was concerned, Zuko was no longer her brother.

It took much interrogation, but she ultimately dragged the whole story out of Qin. How for some unfathomable reason, no one had thought to escort Zuko to the bunker, or had taken the time to confirm that he’d made it to his room. How for the entire time Azula had been holding off the Avatar, Zuko had been in Father’s room insulting him. When it came to exactly what Zuko had said, or the precise mechanism of Father’s injury, there were no satisfactory answers just yet.

“Send reinforcements to the prison,” she ordered. “Doubtlessly, he will want to rescue our good-for-nothing uncle.”

“We already have,” Qin confirmed. “Zuko was seen at the prison, but Prince Iroh escaped on his own before he even got there.”

Azula ground her teeth together. “Do you have any leads on where either of them went after that?”

“None, Princess. Except that there is a war balloon missing from our arsenal.” Well, that didn’t narrow it down much. Those war balloons had been designed to be able to travel long distances before needing to be refueled. Those two traitors could be anywhere…and that was assuming they were together. If they weren’t, the logistics of tracking them both down could prove nightmarish.

However, she soon realized it was futile to chase after them today. It would be dark soon, and the guards were exhausted from pursuing the fugitives all afternoon. What was more, it would be prudent to wait until Father had recovered enough for her to consult with him.

Qin was still waiting for her reply, so she said, “Very well. We shall formulate a plan to locate these traitors first thing tomorrow morning. At the moment, however, I must refresh myself and then pay a visit to the Fire Lord. Have you any idea of the whereabouts of my maid Shiza?”

Qin squirmed.

“Um, yes. About that…” he said.

WHAT?!

Later, she sat fuming in her bath, which she’d heated to the point of being borderline intolerable even for a firebender. As she had listened to what the war minister had to say, her rage rose to ever higher levels. Qin had also brought in the gatehouse guard who had been the last Fire Nation citizen to see Shiza. Hobbling on a bandaged leg, the guard had explained that he’d not had the backup he was supposed to have, and that Shiza had pulled a knife on him out of nowhere. It transpired that the other guard had been ill, but had never bothered to call in so he could be replaced. Azula had ordered that the sick guard be thrown into prison. The injured guard had gotten off more lightly, only losing his job.

As soon as Azula had reached her bedroom, she had gone to her vanity table. She opened the makeup knife case to find it empty.

So Shiza had not only left her, but had stolen from her as well. How had she missed that?! One more person had taken her favor and thrown it back in her face. Had that woman even realized that she would have never have risen as far as she did without Azula’s tacit support? The position of favored body servant to a princess was one of great prestige, and one that Azula had deliberately not granted to Naoko. She had been careful to make scathing comments about the Keohso bitch to Father as often as she could get away with it, yet almost never made any such remarks about Shiza.

In the end, it had all led to nothing. She wished that Mai and Ty Lee were with her right now, particularly the latter. They would never abandon her.

She sulked in the tub until her skin grew wrinkly and she got tired of having to constantly reheat the water. A less skilled maid was there to wrap her in a robe and comb out her hair. As Azula sat at her table, resolutely not wincing as this imbecile attempted to work through the knots, a messenger came to deliver the news she’d been waiting for: Father had woken.

She had the servant redress her (the armor wasn’t secured on quite as snugly as she preferred, but that couldn’t be helped right now), and set off for her father’s rooms. However, an unpleasant surprise awaited her in front of the grand double doors. In addition to the usual guards, an all-too familiar third person was sitting there.

“Princess Azula. Took you long enough,” Naoko said as she staggered to her feet. Her lipstick was smeared, but whether that was due to her wrapping her lips around a bottle or around…something else, Azula couldn’t be certain.

“Go be drunk somewhere else,” she snapped. “I need to talk with my father.” Naoko let out a shriek of laughter that Azula was halfway convinced had ruptured her eardrums.

“The Fire Lord has no time for lying little girls, honey,” she drawled.

“Remember your place,” Azula growled. Lying? What could she mean by…

Zuko had told Father about the Avatar.

It appeared that she was in deep trouble. Naoko smirked as she watched Azula put the pieces together.

“Oh, I remember my place,” she slurred. “My place is by the Fire Lord’s side, since I didn’t lie to him. He specifically ordered me not to let you in. You can go ahead and try if you don’t believe me, but I…”–she covered her mouth with her hand as she belched–“…guarantee you it won’t work.”

All right, this was getting ridiculous. Squaring her shoulders and holding her head up high, Azula strode to the doors and briskly rapped on one.

“Father? It is me,” she announced. “I am here to inquire after your health.”

No answer. Perhaps he had fallen back to sleep and couldn’t hear her.

“Father?” she tried again, knocking as loudly as she could. Still nothing. “Father, allow me to explain!” She tested the doorknob, and found it to be locked.

Up until now, the guards hadn’t left their positions, probably because they hadn’t wanted to cross her. But finally, one of them spoke.

“Um, Princess, the Lady Naoko is correct,” one of them said. “The Fire Lord expressly stated that he was not to be disturbed.” He tactfully left off the obvious last two words: by you.

Azula was perfectly capable of taking both guards on at once; she knew that. And she knew how to pick a lock from her days of sneaking various disgusting creatures into Zuzu’s room when they were children. But this wasn’t poor, hapless Zuko. If she defied Father’s orders, the thought of what he might do to her was not something she wanted to consider. So she turned and walked away, Naoko’s triumphant laughter ringing in her ears.

That bitch thought she’d won. But as always, she refused to see what was right in front of her eyes. Naoko thought she was so clever, plotting everything out with her father, but she lacked one important thing: common sense. Father had not given her the room next to his because he loved her; it was simply a matter of insurance. The fact of the matter was that no matter how carefully they planned, they would have no way of knowing the enemy’s exact strategy. Thus, Father had planted decoys at every possible entrance to serve as meat shields if need be. Certainly it would have been unfortunate if any of them were to die, particularly the bastards; Father had invested much time and money into their training, so them all perishing would have been a massive waste of resources. But when it came down to their lives versus Father’s, the choice was clear. Anshi was smarter, and she had seen what Naoko could not. She’d known all along that she was potentially leading children to their death.

But Azula was the one who mattered; the one who had been given the active role in thwarting the Avatar. And she knew that Father knew that. His current favoring of Naoko was not meant to be a reward for the older woman, but rather a punishment for Azula. She would be patient, and would wait a day or a week or even a month; however long it took for Father to get tired of Naoko again. Naoko could be pretty and witty and sharp-tongued all she wanted, but no one out-Azula’ed Azula. And Azula was the one who had time on her side. Naoko would be turning twenty-one soon–practically ancient by Father’s standards–and her heavy drinking wasn’t going to help her get any younger.

Father needed her help during Sozin’s Comet. He’d come back to her eventually, and she’d welcome him with open arms when he did.

#azula #fanfic

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pilferingapples · 4 years

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tagged by the excellent @everyonewasabird! I think I’ve done some variant on this before but it’s been a while?

name: ...Pilfering Apples does just fine, no gettin’ ensorcelled by a True Name for this nerd thank you very much:P

nickname(s): Pilf or Apples mostly?

Zodiac: Leo, I say, with gritted teeth and deepest resentment

Height: 5′10″ to 6′ even , depending on how straight my spine is at the time

Languages spoken: Just English.

Nationality: American, specifically the Texas part of America

Favourite flower: purple pansies, and also pansies in general, For Personal Reasons. Texas Mountain Laurel second!!

Favourite scent: Texas Mountain Laurel flowers! and jasmine! and bayberry!

Favourite color: Green, and I mean green , not teal or khaki or aqua or turquoise or frigging. Electric Yellow , or any of the other Not-Greens that designers seem to have decided are really totally a green, khaki is not green, catalogue search engine. But pretty much any actual green I love !

Favourite fictional characters: Les Amis , the crew of the Enterprise (TOS) , the Gokaiger crew, the Crystal Gems generally though I suppose it depends on how one sorts that, Holmes and Watson specifically as a Team... I like Ensembles and Teams more than individual characters pretty much?

Coffee, tea, or hot cocoa: oof, I love them all, but I definitely drink more tea than...nearly anything (iced, unsweet, with mint when possible which lbr it usually is because of how Mint works)

Average hours I sleep: oh hey! good question! I have absolutely no reliable answer!

Dog or cat: Absolutely a Cat Person, they are Perfect Animals even in their annoyances and attempts to eat tape don’t eat tape what is wrong with you, cat

Number of blankets you sleep with: either one floofy light comforter or one floofy light comforter + this amazing dense blanket @robertawickham gave me

Dream trip: I mean my actual Dream Trip involves trains full of ever-changing fascinating strangers while we make our way around a landscape of towns with wildly varying anachronistic tech and like Windwagons and ostriches and whimsically-decorated airships as Transport Options and MAYBE we fight an Unjust Legal Entity with, possibly, Magic and the Power of Frienship and also I am not in constant pain and exhausted all the time so I can enjoy all this

slightly more immediate: EVERMORE PARK I NEED TO GO *___*

Blog established: ..the Before Times. Long Ago. like...two years before the movie musical came out? Three? IDK , I’m not sure how to check..? but it didn’t really have any established form until 2013, so I’d say that

Random fact: big cat legs should not work like small cat legs but they do and science is currently unsure how

I’m supposed to tag people but IDK who’s done this already? @apaladinagain, @fixaidea, @adrenaline-revolver, @aflamethatneverdies? if you want!

#natter #dash games

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itsclydebitches · 4 years

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RWBY Recaps: “Spark”

What’s the current mood? I would sell all future RWBY seasons for one episode of The Mandalorian.

Okay, I exaggerate. Overall this episode had some really great moments, just (per usual) tied up in a lot of awful implications. Which frankly is a step up from last week’s more overt nonsense, so I’ll take it. I’ve just got Space Dad Fever like the rest of the internet so whenever RWBY does something stupid my brain goes, “Why can’t you be more like Baby Yoda? With non-forced cuteness and consistent writing?”

Okay, okay I’m focused on the correct fandom. I swear.

This episode opens with Penny waking the group up extra early. Yang wants to know what time it is. “Time to be huntresses, of course!” Really, the contrast between, ‘I love my job’ and ‘But my job makes me get up at an ungodly hour’ is easily the most relatable thing RWBY has done this season. I was also just greatly amused by the animation choices with in-world implications. Like that Weiss sleeps with her giant braid in. Or that the group owns nothing except for the new clothes on their backs. I wondered after the Volume Six’s train scene if most of their luggage had been up front with JNR, or if they’d lost it all during the crash itself. We only see three bags as they make their way to the farm.

Did Oscar re-pack everything before they had to hightail it out of that burning, grimm-infested place? I don’t remember and I’m way too lazy to go check. Yang then loses her motorcycle. Who knows, if they did have stuff, whether it got onto the stolen airship. Doubtful. I mean, Weiss showed up with a massive amount of luggage, but that’s for hiding grandmas. Basically, what I’m saying is that I think the group showed up in Atlas, exhausted, and had to tell Penny they don’t have PJs anymore. Cue standard issue t-shirts and strange thermal-ish pants.

We then begin a montage of their different work. It starts out not with the missions they signed up for last episode but anything and everything connected to Amity Arena. Keep clearing out the mines. Protect resource transports. Fill in for the missing soldiers in Mantle, etc. On the whole I legitimately loved these moments showing the various relationships and life as a huntress in Atlas, with the exception of two scenes. The first is during the section where we see Blake and Yang working with Marrow, who makes the mistake of saying a) that they should consider partnering with other people sometime and b) pointing out that he’s not sure their styles are complimentary.

Look, I get it. A few hours after the episode dropped and tumblr is already exploding with GIF-sets of this scene, celebrating how Blake and Yang are so in love they can’t even stand Marrow suggesting that they might spend some time apart. From a shipping perspective it looks like gold and as someone who also ships them I’d normally be inclined to celebrate too. Except that this is a really unhealthy pattern of behavior. Marrow is right. The group should practice partnering with other people for the simple reason that this is a job and they may not always get to decide who they’re going to work with. It’s a job with endless risks and they may not always be able to control who they end up fighting beside, because when was the last time a plan actually worked right? The advice of ‘Hey. Don’t stagnant by only fighting with the same person 24/7’ is sound, especially in an episode already focused on training and progress. As is the innocent observation that their styles don’t seem to compliment each other. Marrow isn’t being cruel here. He’s not trying to insist he knows better and separate them based on that. He’s just making casual conversation---and gets this in response.

This scene would read completely differently if Blake and Yang were playfully smug after that attack combo. Then it becomes a moment of bonding where they’re correcting Marrow through a bit of teasing. Instead they’re legitimately mad. Mad enough that Yang’s semblance briefly activates. I’ve mentioned before that Yang has a tendency to think the worst of people and act violently towards them on instinct (Ozpin, bot in the street) and that Blake has a tendency to go wherever she leads, even when that makes no sense for her own characterization (siding with Yang’s anger over her own experiences as an abuse survivor). This is another example of that. Marrow gives them good advice and makes a casual comment? Immediate fury from Yang. Yang’s pissed off? Well I’m gonna be pissed off too. I try not to bring shipping too much into these recaps, but I do think it’s worth mentioning here. Big Blake/Yang fans have a tendency to paint everything they do as the most Romantic Thing Ever ™; anti-Blake/Yang fans have a tendency to make blanket statements about how their relationship is inherently unhealthy. But as usual the truth lies somewhere in between. They’re fantastic together, I think Rooster Teeth is setting up a relationship, and there are also aspects that are unhealthy. Not because it’s queer (which is the basis for most antis’ anger), but because the writing has them enabling their flaws in the name of “support.” Sorry, but if you can’t deal with someone making a comment as innocent as Marrow’s without beating up a grimm in fury about it... then you either need to work out that relationship insecurity or work on general anger management. Because Marrow didn’t deserve those cold looks and these two weren’t justified in receiving his panicked backpedaling. It’s one of those little things that presumably means nothing on its own, but combined with Blake and Yang’s entire development speaks volumes. Let them talk through Adam. Let someone call Yang out on her judgments. It’s ‘fine’ in situations like this; not fine in situations like Volumes 5-6.

The other part of the montage that didn’t sit well was another ‘joke.’ Just like I’m not inclined to view Yang and Blake’s anger as cutesy romance stuff here, I’m not comfortable brushing off Jaune’s interaction with the kids’ moms as a bit of humor. Yeah, maybe I’m “sensitive,” but was no one else creeped out by that? Jaune might technically be an adult, but he’s, what? Nineteen? So a junior in college. Maybe a sophomore. A young adult is what I’m saying. Is it possible all these women are also eighteen to early twenties (it’s so hard to tell ages with RWBY) and they just had their kids early? Sure. It is possible that these women all decided to become single moms, or divorced their partners, or are open to polyamory? Also sure. But let’s be real here, that’s not the joke. The joke is that a group of older, presumably married women are thirsting over the young, hot huntsmen. People would be more willing to admit that it’s not a great humor choice if RWBY had done that to one of the girls, but when a guy is the target it’s seen as a funny victory. Look at Jaune getting all that older, adulterous attention! As Nora herself says, “It’s totally the haircut.” (Even though that haircut remains atrocious, sorry.) The message is basically that if a guy is hot enough it doesn’t matter that he’s just trying to do his job, that he’s probably far younger than you, that you’re probably married... go gawk at him and give him gifts that clearly make him uncomfortable.

Again, I realize I’m being “sensitive.” It’s just a web series, just a stupid scene meant to generate a laugh, etc. But I’ve reached a point in my life where I simply don’t find that sort of stuff humorous. As a woman who has had much older men hit on me while I’m trying to do my job, I look at the same thing happening to Jaune and ask, “Why was this supposed to be funny again?”

But anyway, enough about all that. Other moments in the montage include Ruby and Yang fighting grimm together (presumably in their downtime. Nerds), Winter pretending to be unimpressed with Weiss’ summoning, and Ironwood telling Oscar that maybe they can “jog [Ozpin] loose” with a bit of training.

Yeah, remember how excited we all were that, based on the Volume’s opening, we would at least see Oscar training with Ironwood? Remember how we all thought that this would provide him with some much needed character development? That maybe this would be the moment when he struggled with and potentially decided to come clean about their lies? Or he tries to talk to Ozpin while sparing with an incredibly difficult opponent? You know, since Ironwood himself brought up jogging Ozpin loose, we might actually get some interaction with Ozpin?

Boy were we optimistic! What we actually get is them charging each other for one hit before we cut back to others training. Namely Jaune. And this right here is the problem with this entire episode: for however cute and wonderful these moments might seem, they’re all flat out ignoring the primary conflicts of the show. The ones the writing keeps refusing to grapple with. Who knows how much time this montage is supposed to cover, but it’s substantial. We get multiple flashes of different days, see the group working on different missions, a couple different moments taking place in the early morning, so I’d wager at least another week has passed. Combine that with however long it took Pietro to make their weapons and you’ve got the group fully entrenched in their lies. No one is questioning Ruby. Ruby isn’t making headway towards trusting Ironwood. Everyone is just kicking their heels, happy with the status quo until something forces them to finally make a decision. They now, officially, have no right to judge Ozpin for the time he took to trust people. We see them doing the exact same thing here and they’re all happy about it. With the exception of those two quick flashbacks in “Ace Operatives,” we’ve seen no evidence that the rest of the group is struggling with their own hypocrisy. I---like many---had hoped that Oscar’s training session would finally acknowledge and expand on the rest of the team’s initial hesitation. But no.

(In which Jaune’s expression is me.)

Jumping ahead just a bit, we see this same issue when Ruby, Penny, Qrow, and Ironwood are out driving the supplies. Ruby and Penny finally have some time to themselves! Will they discuss her murder and resurrection? Nope. Ruby vaguely references it with, “You know...” but there’s no actual depth to their conversation (and if you can’t even say ‘When you died’ that implies that maybe there are some lingering feelings about all this). Instead Ruby is interested in whether Penny has made new friends and she says that Ironwood claims she has no time for friends. Slot that in next to the Ace Ops’ ridiculous, “We’re not friends.”

Second, we have this moment between Qrow and Clover where they reiterate the huge gap between age and experience here. Clover is hoping that “another generation” will do right by Remnant after we’re gone. Namely Ruby and the others. Continuing with that age theme, he reassures Qrow that “those kids wouldn’t be where they are without you” which is all well and good, but is anyone going to tell THEM that? The adults don’t need to know that they’re doing good work---even if it is nice for Qrow to get some validation for once---rather, the whole “we don’t need adults” fiasco came about because the teens refused to acknowledge that work. We don’t need someone telling Qrow that he’s helped keep them safe. Overlooking some insecurities (which RWBY isn’t tackling anyway), he knows that. We as the audience don’t need to hear it because we saw it all happen on screen. Rather, Clover should be put into a position where he reminds Ruby of all that her uncle has done for her. Just like Qrow talking to Ruby about her motivations for moving forward against Salem doesn’t accomplish anything, Clover telling Qrow, as one adult to another, that they’re worth something doesn’t accomplish anything either. These parties know all this already.

As a side note, this is why you should mix things up. Not just so that Blake and Yang can practice fighting beside other people, but so that people who don’t already agree can be challenged for once. Put Yang with Qrow and have him comment on her anger, continuing Tai’s work. Put Ruby with Clover and let him talk to her about what adults have done to get her here. All these moments of potential development are lost by maintaining the expectation that the original partners have to be the priority. Rooster Teeth had an easy way of throwing new people together by assigning them various missions and they didn’t take it. Yang is still with Blake. Ren is still with Nora. Of course Qrow is with the one other guy his age who we have to pair him with. Reinforcing these relationships is great, but so is pausing them too.

And then there’s the drinking.

Hold up one second. I need to grab a bit of writing from my Volume 6 finale recap. Think back to Qrow and Ruby’s interaction in the airship:

And then Qrow lowers his bottle which… what? Alcoholism doesn’t work like that. Much more importantly, no one has tackled his drinking this season. Or the reasons he was drinking in the first place. Literally, Qrow’s semblance, his place in the war, Ozpin’s secret, none of it has been addressed. He has no reason to suddenly put aside his flask like he’s actually learned something. Does RT think we’re going to just imagine scenes that never actually happened?

After I posted this a couple of people pointed out that it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. We’ve seen other times where Qrow goes to take a drink and then thinks better of it, so it’s a reach to assume he’s magically given up drinking now. Which, fair. Now though it looks like that’s precisely what we got. Sometime between being found passed out on the front steps of the Argus house and reaching Atlas, Qrow just decided he was done with drinking and thus far we’ve seen no evidence that he’s struggling with that. Meaning, it’s not a conflict he’s working through. That doesn’t seem to be his arc this volume.

Yet he’s an alcoholic. Qrow’s drinking may have functioned as a joke for most of Volumes 1-3, but Volume 6 made it abundantly clear that this problem is incapacitating for him, especially after learning about Ozpin and Salem. So what happened? What changed? Even if I choose to overlook Qrow just deciding not to engage with his addiction anymore without help or backslides that we know of (doesn’t work like that...), I can’t ignore the fact that there was no catalyst for this. If the show wanted us to work under the assumption that Qrow stopped drinking because it endangered his family then they should have had him stop after the farm. You know, when he was almost killed by Apathy and had to be dragged out by his nieces. As it is, his drinking continues on throughout their whole time at Argus. He’s not picking up his scroll. He’s passed out on the steps. He’s brushing past Ruby to go get a drink instead of helping them figure out a way past Cordovin. Then a day later they make it to Atlas. So what precisely in that 24 hour period happened to change one of Qrow’s defining characteristics? Or, if this is supposed to be an arc wherein Qrow attempts to get sober and struggles with it, why haven’t we seen that? Again, they’ve been in Atlas for weeks now. This isn’t a one day sober Qrow with a naively optimistic outlook. He’s apparently been managing this for a while now with no downsides, no difficulties, no regrets.

Blake and Yang getting mad at Marrow instead of acknowledging their trauma. Oscar taking one hit at Ironwood instead of grappling with their secrets. Ruby talking about new friends instead of the relationship she already has with Penny. Clover telling Qrow adults are important instead of anyone telling the teens that. Qrow revealing that he’s just not drinking anymore. For reasons. It’s amazing just how much space this episode provides for the characters to start working through their conflicts and we bypass every opportunity. This is RWBY’s primary problem. Beyond the pro-protagonist perspective is the issue that, especially since Volume 5, the show has made a habit of introducing intriguing problems and then either twisting them so they have simplistic ‘solutions’ (we don’t need to tackle Ruby’s hypocrisy. She’s just “different” from Ozpin) or ignores them completely. We don’t need a new friendship vs. professional relationship conflict. We don’t need a new luck vs. bad luck semblance conflict. Not yet anyway. Not until we work through the conflicts that have already been introduced. Let Ruby talk to Penny about their own relationship. Let Clover help Qrow get sober. RWBY is like me when I’m writing fic. Why would I finish the thing I started when there’s this shiny new idea over here? Except I’m engaging in a low-key hobby whereas they’re writing for their livelihood. For the love of everything, please solve the problems we already have before chucking in new ones. You can give us all the same moments and relationships, just tailor them so they acknowledge the things the viewers have been waiting for you to tackle. I don’t need to know why Ruby and her team are Super Special because they’re BFFs when everyone else in Atlas apparently rejects friendship like the plague. I do need to know why a guy who was introduced downing a glass of whiskey apparently got over his alcoholism off screen.

Ugh. You know what we need? Penguins. Everyone look at the penguins for at least five seconds and allow them to cleanse your soul.

Heading backwards, before the transport scene we get a training fight between JNR + Oscar and Neon’s group. I honestly wonder how a team like theirs feels about them getting their licenses. After all, they fought at the Battle of Beacon too. The only reason why RWBYJNR got into extra, life-threatening situations is because they stupidly went off on their own. I realize that duh, as a story we can’t just have our protagonists twiddling their thumbs, but from an in-world perspective Ruby snuck out of the house to hunt down a woman who would absolutely have killed her and 100% would have been kidnapped if Qrow hadn’t followed to keep her safe. Everything else stems out of that. So not exactly a classically heroic basis for special treatment. All of which Neon and Flynt presumably don’t even know about because it touches on all those secrets. I suppose they just heard something along the lines of, “I, Ironwood, am giving two Beacon teams early licenses because they survived a horrendous battle. You, my actual students, don’t get them even though you did the same work.” It could have been really interesting to have some tension over this and for the group to see another complication of their secret keeping. Here they have to keep Cinder, the Maidens, the Relic, etc. quiet... but because of that it leads to some pretty awful miscommunication between friends. There are repercussions to your secrets and not all of them are things you can plan for or fix.

We don’t have anything like that though. Obviously. Instead we just get a generic fight with a side of weird Nora/Ren stuff. Meaning, Neon calls him Nora’s boyfriend and asks, “Where’s that energy when he’s around you?” Later Nora asks if they’ll still get sandwiches before work and Ren heaves out an annoyed sigh.

That moment struck me simply because it doesn’t come across like one of his normal, happily indulgent sighs. Ren seemed legitimately annoyed. Which is even stranger when we consider that Nora isn’t being over the top here. Sure, she pops up behind him in a sort of silly manner, but really all she’s doing is expressing that she’s hungry after an intense battle. Can we please make sure we grab something before heading off to work? That’s a more than reasonable request.

Ren shutting her down over his hair. Seeming to ignore her when she fiddles with it while on patrol. Neon’s comment about his lack of energy around her. Nora getting mad enough about it to give her a black eye (RWBY so rarely shows injuries). Ren seemingly put out by her theatrics. They’re all little things that only seem to paint a picture when put together, but of what exactly? It’s like I said last time, if the show wants to introduce some sort of arc for Nora and Ren this volume it had better do it soon. Really soon. Details that may or may not be setup can only take you so far.

During this battle Ironwood smiles down at all their progress, which could be endearing or creepy, depending on whether you think he’s hiding something (more on that in a bit). Neon actually acknowledges Oscar’s existence and draws a blush out of him, so thank you for that, Neon.

I thought for just a moment that Jaune might compliment Oscar too, but he just compliments the other team instead. At least they’re letting him train with him. After last week’s episode I’ll take this small step forward.

Back past the talk between Qrow and Clover, we finally get to meet the infamous Robyn Hill. She blocks the road to Amity Arena with one of her Happy Huntresses, the same faunus who was spying on the project last episode. And who I forgot to mention in my recap. Whoops. I love Hill already though precisely because she’s able to do what our protagonists couldn’t last Volume: stand down when a plan fails.

Hill takes her shot by putting up the roadblock and asking Clover to be straight with her, but when that doesn’t work and it looks like they’re about to come to blows, she admits defeat and lets them through. That’s how you handle a tenuous ally. Keep the peace and regroup with a different idea. Show them basic respect so that they might help you in the future. Clover’s “good luck” regarding the election speaks volumes about how everyone does want to help each other, they just need to figure out a way to do it. Hill could have attacked the group and stood her ground purely because she believes she’s right---just as Ruby did with Cordovin---but she demonstrates her maturity instead. She didn’t risk lives for the sake of getting what she wanted right here, right now. Despite the fact that what she wants likewise involves the safety of the people. Take note, Ruby.

Speaking of, everyone catch that guilty look when Ruby learns that Ironwood’s project is taking resources directly from the city that most needs it? Yeah, what did you think was going to happen? At the very least the group saw that they were taking manpower away. Ironwood needs them to help protect Mantle because most of his men are off in the middle of nowhere, so the group is well aware that their actions are causing a negative impact. I highly doubt that the eight of them (including Qrow) can make up for however many people Ironwood is pulling out, to say nothing of the fact that many of them (like Ruby here) are also on Amity duty. They’re allowing Ironwood to put people, money, supplies, and time towards an endeavor that they know is bound to fail. Sure, it would be nice to have communication across Remnant without fear of losing that to the grimm again, but we all know Ironwood is primarily doing this because of the Salem situation. If he knew about her immortality he’d probably go, “Hmm. Well, the first part of the idea is still nice, but I probably shouldn’t pour this much into just a regular communications tower. Defeating Salem potentially justifies me hurting the people to get this done. But not anything else.” I’ll say it again: Ozpin’s secrets didn’t endanger anyone. Everyone from Pyrrha to Yang agreed to put their lives on the line for reasons entirely separate from Salem. Their lives were in danger from the start and, given their choices, always would be in danger. Ruby is the one whose secret is not just threatening all of Remnant in the future, but actively hurting people now too. She has the ability to stop this and she chooses not to.

Or rather, she chooses to keep putting off the decision. We’ll tell Ironwood when we’re ready. Yeah right. I still want someone to challenge Ruby on what this magical ‘He’s trustworthy!’ moment looks like. They’ve spent weeks with this man, fighting for him, training with him, accepting gifts in the form of weaponry, armor, facilities... so what exactly is it going to take, Ruby? I’m not saying Ironwood is trustworthy, I’m saying you can never know until the day they betray you. If that day comes. So when is Ruby going to acknowledge that? That she will never get that magical moment and that she’s just like Ozpin, putting off telling someone because the information weighs so heavily and there’s just too much to risk?

Hill thematically acknowledges the last two Volumes with, “It doesn’t have to be difficult. Just tell me,” while we all know it’s not that simple. Even if people would like it to be. Clover refuses, Penny spots two invisible huntresses closing in (nice), and as said, Robyn backs down.

We then end this episode with a long bonding session between Winter and Weiss. We see them fighting with their summonings and Winter comments about how, “You’ve grown up a bit, haven’t you?” We get it. You’re not subtle. Weiss has grown up. “Make no mistake. School is over.” They’re adults now! If only we saw that more than we heard it. Weiss at least is a character who has had legitimate, excellent development over the last couple of volumes. I’m admittedly a bit confused though regarding how that development aligns with the old Weiss. Meaning, we learned early on that she wanted to become a huntress to redeem the Schnee name. Now Winter is talking about how separating herself from the Schnees was the best thing to happen to her and Weiss seems to agree. So is that it now? Is Weiss just concerned with being her own person, or is she still invested in being a Schnee? Just a Schnee who embodies what her family used to stand for? It’s unclear based on the conversation.

Then. Ugh. They discuss Ironwood’s choices and Weiss snidely comments that, “Everyone thinks what they’re doing is right, but really they’re just looking out for themselves... and their secrets.” Yeah, Weiss. INCLUDING YOU. Are they really so dense that they don’t see how lying about how Ozpin disappeared was looking out for themselves, namely by making sure that Ironwood continued to embrace them with open arms instead of getting pissed? After all, it’s less likely that the group would have gotten a nice place to live, awesome weaponry, high-tech places to train, and early licenses if they’d admitted to their sins last volume. They’re also protecting their own secrets by spending these weeks nice and quiet, just ignoring the Ironwood problem completely. Weiss is protecting their secrets right now by encouraging Winter to question Ironwood’s intentions---subtly casting him and Ozpin in a bad light---while she herself is keeping secrets from Winter. I mentioned before that Ironwood’s smile could potentially be a bad omen if we follow the writing rule of, “If a character insists someone isn’t keeping anything from them... they’re definitely keeping something from them.” Winter’s belief that Ironwood doesn’t keep secrets from her sets up the expectation for the audience that he probably is. But we don’t actually know that yet. Weiss thinks Ironwood might be keeping secrets. Weiss knows for sure she and the rest of her friends are keeping secrets. Only one party is definitively guilty here, so I’m not sure why she feels entitled to act like she still has the high ground.

With Ironwood’s honor in question, Winter takes Weiss to see the Winter Maiden. We really don’t get to learn much about her except that she still looks young-ish (again: RWBY ages are hard) and seems to like to paint.

No one else can visit her---and thus we don’t hear the conversation---because Ironwood wants Winter to inherit the power. Okay. So that leaves us with a couple options now:

Older woman can inherit and Ozpin made a very iffy call in trying to foster that responsibility off on a First Year. Which is probably down to more writing concerns than Ozpin’s characterization. Meaning, you want to keep the conflict among the main cast, not bring in a random new character to do the volume’s Important Thing. So you set up Pyrrha as the Fall Maiden, even though in-world that looks like a sketchy decision. To say nothing of the fact that Rooster Teeth isn’t very good at setting down hard rules. What functioned as a limitation during Volume 3 can easily be wiped away in Volume 7. In the same way that we went from Qrow’s semblance being totally passive and range-based to “sometimes I can’t control it.”

Ironwood and Winter are assuming that Winter can inherit, but she’s actually too old now. They’ll be blindsided by this when the power unexpectedly goes to someone else.

Ironwood has convinced Winter that she can inherit but actually has some sort of other plan up his sleeve.

Really, my biggest takeaway is Winter’s speech about how she is choosing this. Regardless of whether fate forced her into a situation with only bad options. Regardless of whether others also want her to make this decision. It’s still her choice. 95% of the fandom needs to listen to that speech and then chuck Pyrrha into Winter’s place. Having only tough choices isn’t the same thing as having no choice. The fact that your choice coincides with what others want doesn’t lessen it. They both chose to take on this power and it’s wrong for others to trivialize that by claiming that the men in their life---Ozpin and Ironwood---manipulated them. It’s implying that they can’t make their own decisions. That making this terribly difficult choice doesn’t come down to their own strength. They know it’s dangerous, regardless of whether they understand every detail of that danger, and actively choose to take on that responsibility anyway. Because they want to do some good in the world. The fandom has worked its butt off to take that away from Pyrrha and I really hope they don’t do the same to Winter.

Although... the death flags. Yeesh but Winter looks like a particularly enticing target for the end of this Volume. What with talk of destiny and all... I really hope the series doesn’t go the route of giving every Team RWBY member one of the Maiden powers, what with Winter in a position to think about Weiss if she dies with the power, Raven in a position to think about Yang, and Cinder obsessed with Ruby literally all the time... yeah. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m personally more invested in ‘normal’ people managing the impossible through hard work, belief in themselves and each other, all that jazz. Not already overpowered people (at least in Ruby’s case) getting literal magic to solve their problems with. There’s so much more you can do with that.

Finally, Jacques comes online to spew a bunch of BS about how everything ever is Ironwood’s fault and he’s totally suffering just like everyone in Mantle.

Right.

As Winter says though, the lies are just enough of a “spark” to ignite an already pissed off populace. We close on an angry mob beginning to tear the streets apart. Guess we’ll find out next week how the group tackles that nasty problem.

Until then! 💜

Minor Things of Note

What was that sandwich gag? RWBY is really pushing the humor in iffy directions this volume.

I enjoyed Qrow and Clover playing cards though. What a mess with their semblances.

Also, I made us a poster:

#rwby #rwby volume 7 #rwby volume 7 spoilers #mymetas #rwby recaps

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marithlizard · 4 years

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Thoughts on RWBY v7c2

I know everyone’s already squeeing about episode 3, but I’m just happy being able to see what all the fuss for the last week has been about.

- Nora trying to bite through the cuffs is adorably in character.

-Exposition Activist Weeb isn't actually as clunky as I feared. "Happy Huntresses" is, though. I wonder if he's going to report back to Robyn about the strange people who got taken in chains to see the General.

- Wow, the flyover of Atlas does not disappoint. Look at all those skyscrapers - it must be the largest city on the planet by FAR.

- Wait, Ironwood wasn't expecting them, and Winter didn't know Weiss was with them? They thought an unknown bunch of people showed up on a stolen airship with the Relic of Knowledge? Then why were they at a council meeting instead of pacing around waiting to interrogate these incredibly important and dangerous prisoners? Who, uh, they hadn't identified already from their omnipresent surveillance dronecams? This doesn't add up. Maybe this reception *is* staged...but if it was, Winter wasn't in on it, her surprise was genuine.

- Ruby, you’re announcing "we should be careful with what we say" next to two soldiers who are obviously listening. In all that time at Haven, Oz and Qrow couldn't have taught the kids some basic common sense and discretion?

- Winter threatening her own soldiers is not a good look. Although it is probably Schnee-standard.

- Qrow getting unfairly blamed by Winter and not really trying to defend himself. He knows it's not the time.

- Winter is not wrong - they could have simply been shot down on approach. In all the Airship Heist Discourse, I didn't think of that possibility.

- Penny and Winter being in-your-face smug about knowing the Big Secrets.

- Everyone's faces when Ironwood says they have to destroy Salem.

- Oh yeah, the Winter Maiden's an old lady, not Willow. As cool as that would have been.

- OUCH. The conversation is making it crystal clear that Ironwood thinks of Atlas as "his people" who need to be secured, and not Mantle. He doesn't care about the people there at all. And Blake, Yang and Nora are not amused.

- The Amity satellite is actually a pretty good idea, even if on a meta level I can see it's the equivalent of a chandelier in an opera house. That thing's gonna fall, probably on Mantle, and our heroes will have to stop it.

- The tell-the-world plan doesn't sound any less awful now I'm hearing the full version, though. But it's a very plausible kind of awful, the kind of thing that, well, my country would come up with. 1. Drop this horrible truthbomb on every nation at once. 2. Use the army to protect Atlas while the Grimm overrun the rest of the world. 3. Once Vale, Mistral and Vacuo's capital are defenseless and faltering under the onslaught, send in troops and take them over for their own good. 4. Ignore the carnage everywhere outside the capital cities. Even Atlas' military can't be everywhere at once, they'll prioritize. We were shown in v4 how precarious life in those between-kingdom villages is already. Those people are going to be massacred.

I want to believe that Ironwood is a good person doing the wrong thing. But what I'm hearing in this episode is straight-up evil.

- But he *is* happy to think Oz is back. That's not faked, either.

- Oh, that's interesting. I saw the screenshots of Ironwood kneeling, and the analysis of him reassuring an intimidated Oscar. But at that moment in time, he's talking to Oz. He's kneeling to Oz - not in fealty, I don't think, but wanting to be eye-to-eye with him.

- Ruby is not a great liar. I don't know if Ironwood believes her. And he definitely knows Oz lied about the questions - "Right, right...Ozpin told us that too. Once upon a time." Once upon a time, back when he believed the fairy tales. But...how and when did he find out it was a lie? Most interesting.

- Ooh, he's going to try and coax Ozpin out. And I don't think it's going to work, because Oz is probably listening to all this and being appalled and very, very wary. Especially after he was just betrayed by Leo. (Which Ironwood still doesn't know about. That's not going to be a fun conversation.)

- Moreover, I don't think Ozpin is going to resent Ruby for lying to Ironwood, hypocrisy or not. I think he'll be glad she's learning caution.

- Giving the lamp back is a masterful PR stroke but I don't think it's smart security. At least put it in a pocket or a bag or something, people.

- A bit mean to sneer at Blake's broken weapon like that.

- "Questions are for the weak", eh? My sympathy for Exposition Weeb is increasing.

- Enh.....enh. Clover. I know I said I just want Qrow to be happy, and I meant it, but so far I don't like him. Not my type physically, leads a strike force with questionable ethics, goes sleeveless in the coldest nation in the world to show off his mighty thews. And I doubt he's any older than Winter, though somehow I think the objectors to the Snowbird age gap will be mysteriously silent on the subject of Fair Game.

- THE HUG. Ozqrow/Cloqwork is still my ship of choice but Ironqrow is now solidly in second. My take: they’ve never hugged like that before. Qrow looks shocked and uncomfortable. How long has it been since anyone held him?

- It really has been an incredibly long day for our heroes, hasn't it. Yeah, I shouldn't give them too hard a time for any decisions made in this episode, they're exhausted.

- Penny sincerely trying to sell four-to-a-room housing as some kind of wonderful Atlas perk. It must be great PR to have a cute robot girl who believes all your propaganda.

- Ironwood and WInter's ceaseless broadcast speeches are exactly like the TSA security blurbs you hear once a minute in U.S. airports. And just as mind-numbing and non-reassuring.

- Nice imagery of Watts stepping on Ironwood's face, there.

- Tyrian actually sounds nervous about something other than Salem's disapproval. How interesting. I like him better when he's not laughing.

-I am simultaneously going BWHAHAHA at Watts casually strolling through traffic and controlling all devices as he goes, and headdesking at the confirmed lack of security in Mantle. This city really is being written off as a loss. Ironwood, you deserve to get hacked again, because you did not learn from the first time.

Overall, a great episode! I honestly don't know which direction the plot's going to jump in, and it's tense waiting to find out.

#rwby #rwby v7 spoilers

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tristis-333 · 4 years

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RWBY VOL7 Chap 12 rewrite. Because why not?

I want to preface this by saying I have seen the comments made by Eddy Rivas that were shared by fairgame-is-canon. I plan to make another post talking about my reaction to what Eddy said because I do have mixed feelings. Some sympathetic, some a lot less so.

But for now I thought I’d throw my hat in the rewrite ring. In the midst of all this I’ve seen a lot of people posting rewrites, and AUs and I’ve been loving it. I love to see creators taking initiative and putting their own spin on things. And you know, we’re pirates here. When the canon screws us over we just steal the ship.

My take is not really to do a full reconstruction of what happens through out chapter 12. Because I actually was enjoying the chapter until the very last scene. A lot of people don’t like that Clover doesn’t even seem to question Ironwoods orders but I actually think the choice is the more interesting one and has a lot of potential for more characterization for Clover. It’s just potential CRWBY will never capitalize on now.

But we are going to be positive for a change and actually try to see where this story thread could go, at least a little. So the scenario plays out a lot of the same way it does in the original chapter. Clover gets his orders and, albeit reluctantly, goes to arrest Qrow and Robyn. Tyrion crashes the ship, Qrow and Clover start fighting, and Tyrion does his creepy thumb thing.

But the first big change is that when THE DERANGE SERIAL KILLER joins the fight the two professional huntsmen know where their priorities are and don’t actively help the serial killer attack each other. But, that being said, they still aren’t working together. Its less their actively going after each other and more like they don’t care if the other gets caught up in their attacks. And Tyrion see this and takes advantage of it. We see how clever Tyrion can be in a fight now, tripping up his assailants and throwing them into each other.

And because his emotions are running so high Qrow’s semblance is going crazy. And not just his, but Clovers as well. Clover has shown having more direct control of his semblance than Qrow but because his adrenaline and thoughts are racing so much his semblance keep acting out now as well, visualized by his charm continuing to twinkle like a blinker. So the fight keeps swing in and out of each combatants favor. They keep tripping, landing hits they shouldn’t have, and a lot of other crazy fun the animators could have.

This part of the fight ends with Qrow slicing off Tyrion’s tail again, (seriously why did they let him keep that thing?) and ,seemingly, knocking the gremlin man out. With the bigger threat down Qrow thinks might be the chance to defuse tension and bring everything back down to earth. He turns to try to talk to Clover but Clover is still on the attack and here is where we get a proper Qrow vs Clover fight scene. Because, and I say this with love, RWBY has always, and always will be about cool fight scenes at its foundation. And seeing two professional fighter going at each other is too good an opportunity to pass.

So we get an amazing fight scene and it ends very much the same as in the original chapter. Qrow goes in and looks like he’s about to cut through Clover with Harbinger but than he makes the choice to instead clock Clover in the jaw and breaks his aura and we get an extended version of the original scene.

“Why couldn’t you just do the right thing, instead of just doing what your told?!” Clover screams out.

“Sometimes,” Clover struggles to stand. “The right choice is the hardest to make. I trust James with my life!” Clover turns to Qrow and lifts up his weapon ready to keep fighting. “I wanted to trust you to.”

Qrow is out of breath. He can’t keep going like this. This has to end.

“You can.” Qrow takes his Harbinger and plants it in the ground and starts walking towards Clover with his arms up.

“Don’t Qrow!” Clover warns taking a step closer himself.

“Just think about this Cloves! Does any of this feel right to you?”

“I’m a soldier Qrow. I have my orders. What I feel doesn’t matter…”

“BULLSHIT!” Qrow cuts Clover off. He’s close enough now where Clover could easily strike at him. “You can trust me Cloves. What does your heart say?”

Clover arm shakes as he tightens his grip on his weapon. He struggles with the decision, gritting his teeth, and yelling as he lifts his weapon up and plans in the ground beside him. His breathing heavily, emotionally and physically exhausted. Qrow is hesitant to make another move, but slowly lets his arms down.

“Meeting you was either the best luck of my life, or the worse.” Clover says rubbing his brow.

“I get that a lot.” Qrow tries to smile to ease the tension still in the air and actually manages to get a smirk out of Clover. The fight is over at last. Or so it seems, until a hail of arrows fly past Qrow and barely miss Clover. The two turn to see Robyn awake with her weapon raise, ready to fire again.

“Robyn wait! Everything’s okay now!” Qrow raises his arms and tries to get her to stop, but Robyn is furious.

“Do you honestly expect me to believe that. This tin soldier just got our plane crashed, and us nearly killed! He’s lucky he’s not a pin cushion right now.”

“Robyn please, the fighting it’s over we’re all on the same side again. Always have been.” Qrow keeps trying to calm Robyn but she’s reluctant to put her weapon down but eventually lower her arm.

“Can we decide who’s on whose side and stick with it for more than a day?” Robyn asks with a glare on her face. The other two huntsmen sigh with relief and Qrow turns back towards Clover whose keeping his eyes to the ground. His usual confidence is crushed. “We should…” Qrow starts to speak up to get things back on track, “find Callows and get him back to Atlas before finding out what’s going on with James.” Clover flinches at Ironwoods name, but eventually lifts his head.

“Yeah we should,” Clover turns to where Tyrion fell, but now he’s gone, and his tail with him. Tracks and blood can be seen trailing off into the distance. In the midst of Qrow and Clover’s fight he slinked away. Robyn, infuriated, marches to Clover and clocks him in the jaw and starts screaming.

“You idiot! This is all your fault!”

“Robyn, I told you now’s not the time!” Qrow gets in between her and Clover.

“Oh, don’t give me that crap! If it weren’t for your boyfriend here, Callows would be behind bars in Atlas by now!”

“Robyn, right now we need to,” Qrow tries to calm her down but is cut off by Clover.

“No, she’s right. Everything here is my fault.” Qrow can hardly believes what he’s hearing. Clover just looks so broken and shattered. He looks like how Qrow used to.

“You shouldn’t do that, you know.” Qrow says. Clover lift his gaze to look at Qrow with a confused look on his face. “This is James’ fault not yours. He’ll take the fall for this.” Clover doesn’t know what to make of this. But he takes a breath a recollects himself enough to stand tall again.

“Boys,” Robyn calls out, “I’d tell you to get a room, but we’ve got company.” The two men look up to see two Atlas airships heading towards them.

“Great more trouble.” Qrow groans.

“Quick,” Clover speaks up. “Put your hands behind your back.” Robyn and Qrow turn to Clover with wide eyes.

“Are you kidding me?” Qrow asks bewildered.

“See! I told you we couldn’t trust him!” Robyn lifts her weapon back up and takes aim.

“Look,” Clover raise his head to stop her, “unless you want to fight every last Atlesian officer and droid between here and Atlas, I need you do what I say.”

“Cloves please don’t do this.” Qrow pleads. Clover turns his gaze to Qrow to look him in the eyes.

“You said I could trust you, I need you to trust me.” They hold each other’s gaze for a moment but Qrow eventually yields.

“Do as he says Robyn.”

“Have you lost your mind?!”

“DO IT!” Qrow snaps back. Robyn is taken aback but slowly lowers her arms and places them behind her back. We than cut to Clover escorting Qrow, in cuffs, towards the ship.

“Don’t make me regret this.” Qrow whispers to Clover.

“Trust me, this is the last thing I wanted when I thought about tying you up again.” Clover smirks. Qrow turns to him a little wide eyed.

“Did you just?” Qrow starts to form a question but his brain is a little fried but what Clover just said.

“Well according to Robyn I’m your boyfriend so…” Clover turns to look at Qrow and gives a wink. Qrow noticeably blushes and turns his head away to hide it.

“She was just angry.”

“So you don’t want me to be your boyfriend?” Clover asks teasingly

“I didn’t… I was just, look now is not the time for this talk Cloves.” Qrow stammers over his words.

“So, you’re saying that there will be a time to have this talk.”

Qrow doesn’t respond right away but gives his own smirk as they reach the ship. Before Qrow is led onto the ship but the newly arrived Atlas soldiers Clover whispers in his ear.

“Good luck.” And Qrow has a moment to turn back a see Clover’s face once more time before the doors of the ship close. Clover starts to make his way towards the other ship where the Atlas soldiers are standing in salute.

“What are your orders sir?” They ask Clover. Clover thinks for a second.

“We’re heading back to Atlas. I need to have a word with the General.”

The last thing we see is Clover sitting on the ship. He holds his charm in his hand running his thumb along it. And he looks up with a conflicted look as the ship takes off towards Atlas.

So that took longer to write than I thought. And if you’ve made it this far, I do appreciate it. I wanted to still leave the scene on a uncertain note, like in the original, so we have more stuff to play with in Vol8. I tried to mostly introduce more internal conflict for Clover, as it’s still kind of ambiguous as to whose side he’s going to be on. That of the man he trust, or the man he’s come to care about?

And also EXPLICIT FLIRTING. That’s right folks we’re actually saying the dreaded “B” word. What a crazy notion right. Hope you’ve enjoyed this and I’ll be working on my response to the Eddy Rivas thread soon.

#rwby #rwby volume 7 #qrow x clover #clover ebi #clover deserved better #qrow branwen #fair game #fairgame #lgbt representation matters #I didn't have anyone read through this first #so don't mess with me #I will cry

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team-crtq · 5 years

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Who is really at fault for what happened at Argus?

Needless to say, the debate about whether Team RWBY and Co were right or whether Cordovin was right has caused a bit of a debate.

However, I find that looking at it that way as one side having to shoulder all of the blame vs the other correct side removes a lot of nuance and the thoughts behind each action. Each side had their own reasons for making the choices that they did and those choices may not have been entirely correct with different consequences to each.

So, with this, let’s look at the choices from both sides that lead up to this point. Also known as another episode of Regalia rambling.

"Couldn’t they have come up with a better plan than stealing a military ship?”

Arguably, yes, they could have come up with a better plan, this is what happens when you leave a group of teenagers and an old lady in charge of a dire and dangerous situation. Sometimes in a desperate situation, the dumb and crazy idea is all you have.

They tried asking Cordovin if they could get to Atlas, which, to any situation or plea, Cordovin said “No”. Understandable, their ports are closed and yes, she could have just left it at, “No we cannot help you, our ports are closed, no one is going out under any circumstance.”

and the only circumstance Cordovin would allow is Weiss returning to Atlas on her own... Which, given that Weiss had to smuggle herself out of Atlas, it’s understandable that she nor the group want to go back alone. Because once Weiss is gone, they will have no way of reaching or contacting her, she will be alone on a military ship with a lamp that attracts Grimm, and chances are, Jacques wouldn’t allow her to speak with Ironwood at all and would have her put right back under lock and key.

If the team went with that plan and Weiss found herself in danger, it would be SOL for everyone, especially given they would have no idea what even happened to Weiss because she wouldn’t be able to reach them. It’s understandable neither team RBY and Co or Weiss herself wants to go through with that plan because there is no way back out for Weiss and we know what Jacques could do to her.

Given the stress and direness of the situation, it’s only natural they eventually ended up going with stealing the ship... But it wasn’t their first choice. Before making that decision... Let’s go over the things that happened leading up to it.

They find out Ozpin is hiding a very dangerous secret about Salem’s presumed immortality and naturally, in their anger, tear him a new one and he retreats back into Oscar’s mind.

They find a house and Qrow grabs himself a drink and ends up oversleeping and not waking the group up on time.

In his frustration of dealing with the tire, he goes and gets himself another drink.

Team RWBY and Maria end up fighting for their lives against the Apathy while Qrow was busy being drunk. If not for Maria, team RWBY would have died right under his nose... almost literally.

He had to be dragged away from the bar and it was only while the house was going up in flames that he realized the kind of danger they had been in while he was drunk.

Rather than deciding to drop the drink, he gets another one when they arrive in Argus.

Oscar vanishes and it sends the group into a panic, while they are out looking for him Qrow is passed out drunk... on the stairs... in public.

Needless to say, Qrow has caused more issues and grief for the group more than Maria or Ozpin. Ozpin’s worst crime is holding a secret and Qrow has been a hindrance to the group’s efforts and an unnecessary source of stress.

When Jaune brought up stealing a military airship everyone looked at him like he had straight lost his mind. Even they thought it was a dumb idea... but no one had anything else.

Sometimes when you have nothing else, the dumb idea is what you have to go with.

But what does Qrow do? He immediately shoots down the idea as worthless and something they wouldn’t be able to pull off. Which, in hindsight, he was right... They didn’t really pull it off and it went just about as well as he expected.

However, rather than assuming the reasonable adult position and sitting down with the team and saying “Let’s come up with a better plan.” what does he do?

He’s about to march right back to his room after shooting down the only other idea they had for getting to Atlas after the ones they had tried were exhausted either to mope around, sleep off his hangover, or get drunk some more.

In either case, even though he is technically correct... He’s been more of a hindrance to the group than even Ozpin whose worst offense was keeping a secret and retreating into the back of Oscar’s mind. Someone who doesn’t help but neither actively hinders the group is better than the person who is an actual hindrance.

So naturally, Ruby (and I assume the others as well, but the focus is on Ruby) is fed up with this and wants to hear Jaune out. Whether it is just pure defiance and teenage rebellion or desperation and stress of the situation they’ve been put in is a different analysis altogether, especially given Rubys mentions of not needing adults. Be on the lookout for that episode.

At the end of the day, they ended up stealing the ship and given that they had Saphron and Terra’s help, they likely discussed the plan in further detail so they weren’t running entirely blind into the situation.

Were they right to steal the ship in the first place? No. But they exhausted the other options they had seen because the only way to Atlas, is by an airship.

Naturally, upon finding out the ship has been hijacked, Cordovin goes to stop them.

Is she right to do so? Absolutely.

But her methods were incorrect.

You see, you can be correct in what you are doing or what you intend to do, but go about it in the wrong way.

Cordovin went about it in the wrong way. Just like the question about whether or not team RWBY and Co could have come up with a better plan... Could Cordovin have come up with a better plan for stopping them?

Yes.

With the reveal of this episode especially, it showed that they had more airships... Several more airships.

She could have easily sent more airships out after them and given that the people of Argus live near a military base, it likely wouldn’t have caused any measure of panic or concern. They probably see ships flying in and out daily, what’s seeing two or three more fly after another ship? They’ll probably just assume they’re doing a drill or carrying cargo or something or maybe there was a Grimm spotted and they sent out ships to assess and take care of the situation.

No big deal.

But what does she do instead? Break out this huge mecha that undoubtedly caused the people of Argus to panic.

The panic wasn’t caused by team RWBY and Co stealing the airship... but the huge mecha coming out of the ground after all of the shit Atlas got from what happened at Beacon.

The people of Argus aren’t paying attention to the airship... but they are paying attention to that huge mecha that was likely not public knowledge and not to mention, absolutely hidden from public view. They do not see that thing all the time.

Where Cordovin is wrong isn’t in trying to stop them from stealing the ship, but rather the methods that she takes to do so... Because needless to say, that mecha isn’t for handling stolen ships.

She brought it out not because she thought a group of teenagers, a drunk, and an old lady were a genuine threat to Argus safety... but because she felt like they had tricked them and her pride got in the way of her thinking clearly and felt that they needed to be shown Atlas’s might so they would never underestimate Atlas again.

Her thought process and actions have little to do with protecting the people of Argus and trying to retrieve a stolen ship... but wanting the group to surrender and recognize how great Atlas is.

While you can say that it is team RWBY’s fault that Cordovin broke out a huge mech... It really isn’t considering Cordovin had other options to choose from before getting to the mecha... The huge mech, intended for taking down huge Grimm like the Leviathan and not chasing after a group of teenagers and two adults.

It was disproportionate to the situation. It’s like responding to some kids breaking your window by burning down the entire block.

Should you stop them from breaking your window? Yes. Are you right to have them pay for fixing the window? Yes. Are you right by burning down the entire block in response to them having broken the window? No.

While Cordovin was right to try to stop them and right to try to arrest the group, the way she did about it is arguably the worst way possible.

Team RWBY and Co should be blamed for stealing the ship, yes, but they shouldn’t be blamed for Cordovin’s disproportionate reaction to the situation and the resulting damage.

Even though it was Ruby who broke the mecha, Cordovin was arguably willing to kill them by using a huge mecha because they stole the airship. She was going to use a cannon to kill a group of teenagers, an old lady, and a drunk who were of no immediate threat to the people of Argus... The people she was sworn to protect.

The result is that the mecha got damaged and she was stuck in the water when the Leviathan surfaced along with the horde of Grimm that her military base had been fighting off while she was busying flaunting her power around.

Cordovin’s actions caused more damage and panic than what Team RWBY and co did. So while Cordovin was right to stop them yes, Team RWBY isn’t responsible for the fact that Cordovin’s actions ended up causing more damage and panic than they did.

It’s like blaming the kids who broke your window for you burning down the block because burning down the block was in response to the actions of the kids.

Just because your actions and choices are in response to someone else’s, doesn’t mean that the actions and choices you made were correct... Even if your intentions were correct. Cordovin had the right intention on stopping them... Just not the correct method in stopping them.

And it was her choice that ended up putting the people of Argus in more danger and causing the destruction and rise of the Leviathan. Team RWBY’s choice of stealing the airship didn’t cause immediate danger or panic for the people of Argus. It was Cordovin bringing out a huge mech to deal with the choice team RWBY made.

But naturally, RWBY and Co feel terrible about this. They feel bad that they broke the only thing that could fight off that Leviathan... So naturally, they do what they can to make it right but putting themselves in danger and risking their plan of not going to Atlas falling apart. Even though they could have easily made it to Atlas in all of the chaos, they didn’t want to leave helpless people in danger and that shows even though they stole an airship, they didn’t actually want people in danger.

So they did the right thing and helped them fight back even though they were considered hostile... and Cordovin came to her senses about what she was sworn to do rather than her pride in the atlas military. Cordovin’s change of heart is a bit of an analysis in its own right. So I’ll save that for another time. Be on the lookout for that episode as well.

But to keep it brief, Team RWBY and Co didn’t point fingers or blame people for their actions whereas Cordovin did.

At the end of the day... Team RWBY is at fault for stealing the ship... However, Cordovin is at fault for the resulting damage and panic at Argus. Either side is truly blameless for the situation, but one Cordovin’s actions caused more damage than the others... even if those actions were in response to some teenagers stealing a ship.

Both sides had the right intentions, Team RWBY and Co were trying to fulfill their mission of getting the lamp somewhere safe and Cordovin in her attempts to stop them because they did commit an illegal act. But, they were wrong in their methods... Which naturally, both realized as well.

#rwby #rwby volume 6 #rwby rose #qrow branwen #RWBY Ozpin #Ozpin #RWBY Meta #RWBY Analysis #crtq #character analysis #rwby character analysis #mod regalia

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littlemisssquiggles · 5 years

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you know what would be a cool parallel? something similar to v6x2 when oz runs at ruby to try and stop her after she asks her question, and then it cuts to the in between realm with ruby. this time, it's oscar trying to save ruby from a grimm, and he runs at her and it cuts to the in between realm with oscar instead (after he presumably got knocked out by the grimm). and this is where he has to convince oz to come back.

Ifthe V6 finale is expected to be the biggest ending in RWBY history then I can only assume that it’sgoing to be longestseason finale in the entirety of theseries. Let’s not forget that V6 already gave us a long episode in its third episodealone with ‘TheLost Fable’ bringing in a run timeof 26 mins.

Ican only expect the C13 finale episode to top that runtime.A part of me is wishing that the finale episode will give us a possible runtimeof 30 minutes to…oh I dunno…a full 45 minutes to an hour long special event.

If C13 comes and the runtime is just the traditional 24-28 min runtimethat we always get for the finale then not only would that be a major bummerbut in the words of Mercury Black, it’d be ‘false advertising’ on the part of VRV for hyping up this season finaleonly for it to be the same ole vanilla finales we’ve always received forRWBY---at least in terms of the run time.

Imagine …having a RWBY finale that isover 30 mins long. Imagine… RWBY V6 giving us one of the longest seasonfinales in RWBY history! That would be amazing and a huge first forthe show. I would love it if we got a 1 hour long special as part of the seasonfinale for RWBY V6. But…this is just me wishing and hoping here.

Thisfinale has to be big because not only does it have to cover the heroesdefending the city but part of it may also be dedicated to Oscar finally getting in contact with Ozpinwithin his mind.My only curious question is how that’s going to be done. Your hunch is a good possibilityanon-chan.Oscar getting knocked out during a Grimm attack while trying to protect Ruby orperhaps another character, like Jaune is a chance.

Oncemore, as much as I would love to see Oscar fight alongside Ruby for this finalefight, I’m more leaning towards Oscar going with Jaune. Purely for the reason ofTeam JNPR Revival with Oscar joining up with JNR. Picture this:

Imagine…the heroes pair offinto teams of two to help eradicate the city infested with Grimm while helpingthe Atlesian Military who are trying to evacuate as much Argus civilians aspossible.

Picture…Oscar and Jaune pairing off so that Jaune can vacatehis family. Whatif…in C13,a pack of Manticores and one Sphinx corner the Cotta-Arc family in theirown home with the only safe room being a single bedroom near the balcony in thehouse.

Picture… Oscar being unceremoniously knocked unconsciouswhile protecting Jaune. Imagine Oscar pushing Jaune out the way of a Manticore thatblindsided the Arc boy while he rushed to help his sister. So Oscar is pawedstraight into a wall before slumping to the floor, lifeless. Jaune immediatelyrushes to Oscar’s side, fending off the Manticores before they can make an easymeal of the farm boy’s comatose body.

Picture…Jaune carrying anunconscious Oscar in his arms, handing him over to Saphron and Terra Cotta tolook after for him. What if…Jaune basically pulling a Pyrhha with his family.

Withthe Manticores and Sphinx already infesting thewhole house with more coming; picture Jaune askingSaphron to take Terra, Adrian and Oscar and stay locked quietly in the roomwhile Jaune stands on the other side of the door to protect them all; warningthem to not leave the room. Since Terra had already alerted the military, theplan was for Jaune to fend off as much Manticores as he could until the AtlasMilitary arrived to take the Cotta-Arcs to the safe zone.

Saphrondoesn’t like this plan at all, worried for her brother’s safety at fighting theGrimm alone. But Jaune pulls a Pyrhha where he’s willing to do everything inhis power to protect his family. Even if it means dying for it. When Saphron keepsacting resistant against this action, Jaune pulls his big sister into a bigbear hug, telling her that he’s sorry before shoving her into the room withTerra, Adrian and Oscar, locking it from the outside. From there, Jaune braceshimself---his sword raised high as he rears himself up for the battle of hislife as another wave of Manticores and Sphinx arrive to tear him to shreds. ButJaune is determined to not let the beasts get anywhere near his family as hesquares off against the Grimm.

WhileOscar is unconscious, he ends up meeting Ozpin inside his mind and begs Ozpinto help him fight. If Ozpin is to return for the finale, I don’t want him to return to fight for Oscar.I don’t want Ozpin to take over Oscar’s body and fight for him in the finale.That’s exactly what happened for the V5 finale and I’d like to think we’vegrown past that.

I’msorry to the Ozpinheads who want this but this squiggly Pinehead doesn’t. You guys realize for the majority of thisseason, Ozpinhas not fought on Oscar’s behalf not once at all, right? Sure he’s taken over but…Ozpin has NOT fought forOscar at all.

Sincethe first Manticore and Sphinx fight in the first episode, Oscar was the one incontrol fighting on his own. This entire season has shown Oscar finding his ownfooting without Ozpin. Oscar has done a lot on his own without much of Ozpin’sinterference and aid.

Whilehe didn’t receive the full character arc that Pineheads likeme were anticipating, I’ll admit that Oscar has matured morethis season. He’s definitely not the same as he was between V4 and V5 andthat’s good. If Ozpin returns and fights for Oscar in the V6 finale, the same way he did in the V5 finale, then myimmediate disappointed reaction to that would be:

“What was thepoint of this entire season in regards to Oscar’s side of the story?”

What was the point oftaking Ozpin out of the picture to spend the next couple of episodes building upon Oscar as his own character, watching him stand on his own without Ozpin, build his own relationship with the team outside of Ozpin and thus create his own space among the team if it was all just for Ozpin to randomly swoop in at the literal last minute and save the day for Oscar in the finale?

Thatwouldn’t sound like a fair idea now would it?

WhatI would actually love to see is Ozpin lending Oscar his power so the two souls can fight asone. So it’s Oscar in control but he’s empoweredwith Ozpin’s magic and the knowledge of the Oz-cane soeven if Oscar is the one fighting, he knows how to utilize the full power ofthe Oz-cane through Ozpin’s help.

Picture our Man with Two Souls fighting as one mind butOscar is still the dominating personality as opposed to Ozpin taking overcompletely.

Imagine Jaune looking at Oscar and mimickingLionheart in V5 wherehe’s looking at Oscar, thinking it’s Ozpin in control only for Oscar to smileand reveal that it’s still him in control. Picture it like:

Justas an exhausted Jaune is about to be completely overpowered by a Sphinx thathad him pinned to the ground, suddenly the door to the bedroom burst open andoutsteps a determined Oscar Pine---all great and powerful ashe suddenly unlocks the Oz-cane and unleashes a burst of magical energy thatsends the Sphinx Grimm flying straight off of Jaune.

Picture… Oscar fending off a horde of Manticores on hisown while protecting Jaune. The entire time Jaune is observingOscar’s solo battle, he’s awestruck. He couldn’t believe how much stronger andmore confidant a fighter Oscar had become. It was almost too surprising tobelieve and for a moment, Jaune’s heart sinks a bit as he considers that theperson fighting might not be Oscar.

At some point, Oscar turns to Jaune and helps him get back up to his feet.

Oscar: You okay?Jaune: …Yeah but…

Jaunelooks Oscar straight in the face.

Jaune:…Ozpin? You’re…Ozpin,aren’t you?

Atfirst, Oscar just stares back at Jaune all serious only for his expression tomelt into a smile more befitting of the adolescent farm boy Jaune knew him tobe.

Oscar: Not quite.

ToJaune’s relief, it is Oscar andJaune beams as he and Oscar share a brief bro hug or bro handshake.

Jaune: …But how? Just now, youfought likeOzpin? If you’re still you then---

Oscar: *cutting Jaune off* I’ll explain later. Right now, we gotta get yourfamily to safety.

Jaune: Right.

Jauneand Oscar then work together to get Saphron, Terra and Adrian to nearestAtlesian Military airship to evacuate them to the nearest safety point. Thoughthe girls and baby Adrian are safe, Jaune and Oscar of course stay behind tofight. So as the Cotta-Arcs fly off with the Atlas Guards, Oscar and Jaune headoff in the opposite direction to continue clearing out the city of Grimm. Who knows? Perhaps alongthe way they can reunite with Ren and Nora and we could get that JNR tag team withOscar that I’ve been itching for.

Following that, wecan possibly have this parallel to V3.My theory for the finale is that at some point, the Atlas Military might haveno choice but to evacuate the whole city of Argus oncethe Leviathan makes it way to land and crosses over into the city. Even ifCaroline Cordovin miraculously manages to get the mechazord back up andrunning, I doubt the mechazord will be a match for the Leviathan.

Whatcould be interesting is if the mechazord is about to be completely destroyed bythe Leviathan and while Cordo is fully prepared to die like the solider she is,she ends up being rescued by Maria Calaverawho comes in with her airship to distract the Leviathan long enough tosave Cordo. I think that could be pretty cool if Maria ends up saving Cordo with thetwo old tarts finally burying the hatchet with their age old rivalry.

Returning to mytheory; remember how back in V3, we had all the huntsmen rendezvous at theairship docks to be taken to safety away from Vale?

That’s when Ruby and Weiss arrive to discover that their teammates hadbeen seriously hurt with Yang losing her arm. From there, Ruby is informed byRen and Nora that Jaune and Pyrhha are still at Beacon even with the GrimmDragon circling the school grounds. So Ruby and Weiss go off to get them.

The lasttime, when Jaune was in danger, Ruby and Weiss both went to find him and Pyrhha.What if …we get a parallel tothat moment where the heroes rendezvous to evacuate like everyone else sincethe Leviathan had made it all the way to the city. However Ruby and Weiss arestill separated. At the sound of Ruby not being back yet, Oscar immediately jumps at theopportunity to go find her only for Jaune to volunteer to accompany Oscar.

So both Oscarand Jaune go back to go find their girls.

When Oscar and Jaunefind Ruby and Weiss, that’s when it can lead into Ruby trying to stop theLeviathan only to fail and then we can have Oscar get his chance to protect herwith the Oz-cane barrier.

Bingo Bongo!How’s that for an Oscar-worthy finale?

I’d love it if the finale events can go something like this. This is thefinal episode thus the season’s last chance to give us Pineheads onefinal Oscar-worthyperformance from our favouritefreckled farm boy turned barn prince. I know these are all just hunches but Ireally hope the CRWBY deliver on a good finale where Oscar ends up contributinga lot to the final fight.

No more standingon the side-lines. No more joining Maria inthe airship.Let my boy fight! Let Qrow swap places with Oscar and accompany Maria on theairship. Speaking of which, who else wants to see Qrowteam up with Maria? Thissquiggle meister surely does! Let’s go Team Grave Bird!

Comeon! Qrow literally said that Maria is his idol back in C7. Plus I’d like to think that Maria’sstill got it. Sure she hasn’t fought in years but I’m sure push comes to shove,give the ole gal her cane and she’ll come in swinging like Yoda from Star Wars.

Thereis Grimm infesting the city! This is an all hands on deck kindof moment. Maria included. Oscar definitely included! Plus I really want to seeQrow and Maria team up together. I got my three episodes full of Maria andOscar teaming up. Now it’s Qrow’s turn to team up with his idol and Oscar to team upwith Jaune. Please CRWBY! But thisis just me wishing and hoping again.

Here’sto a potentially Oscar-worthyseason finale. I know Ruby is expected to be the one to save the daybut I still want my freckled farm son to shine brighter than a supernova likethe true golden boy he is.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#squiggles answers: rwby #oscar pine #ruby rose #jaune arc #weiss schnee #rwby theories #rwby volume 6 theories #rwby volume 6 spoilers #Anonymous

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mikotyzini · 6 years

Text

Unscripted

Pairing: White Rose Words: 2573

Another Patreon reward, which I adored writing. These two just won’t stop being cute!

Opening the top drawer of her dresser, Weiss pulled out a small jewelry box and set it on top of Ruby’s stack of weapon books. Flipping open the lid, she moved one finger above the selection of necklaces before making a decision - the clear winner for tonight’s outing being a simple crystal pendant hanging on a silver chain. Separating the necklace from the others, she undid the clasp and moved her ponytail to the side in order to fasten it around her neck.

“What are your plans tonight?” Blake asked while Weiss moved her hair back into place and returned the jewelry box to the drawer.

“First, we’re going to dinner,” she answered, picking up her clutch and making sure various methods of payment were inside.

“Where at?”

After confirming that her credit cards were in her bag (for the third time), she zipped it closed and set it on top of the drawers. Only then did she turn her attention to Blake - who’d been studying her preparation process for the past hour.

“That restaurant she really likes - the one downtown that makes everything in front of you with fire?”

Making a hand motion for fire, Weiss didn’t pause when Blake nodded.

“Then we’ll go to the ice cream parlor so she can get that ice cream monstrosity she loves so much. After that, I reserved a carriage to drive us around downtown to see the lights now that they’re up - we’ll stop at Schnee tower, which was just decorated in red and white - her favorite colors. That’s where I arranged for us to meet that weaponsmith she adores - he’ll give us a personal training session.”

Taking a deep breath, Weiss glanced Blake’s way and saw a shocked expression, so tried to wrap up the exhaustive list as quickly as possible.

“I thought it’d be nice to take a personal airship home, but I called in advance and got the pilot’s agreement to let her fly for a bit. Then we’ll come back to the room.”

At the end of her plans for the evening, Weiss shrugged - hoping that the Yang-esque gesture dulled some of Blake’s surprise.

“Wow. Weiss - just...wow. That’s…”

“Well-planned?” Weiss offered, hoping that’s what Blake was going for.

“That. Or...just...a very intense first date.”

‘Intense’ was a word Weiss got often. The way she studied, the way she trained, the way she approached life, in general, was viewed as ‘intense’ by most people. By now, she’d accepted that side of herself, but when it came to planning this evening...her innate ‘intenseness’ spiraled out of control.

“I just...wanted everything to be perfect,” she confessed, feeling relieved when Blake nodded and gave a kind smile.

“Are you excited?”

For a few moments, Weiss thought about the question carefully - experiencing a rush of new emotions she hadn’t yet developed a process to deal with.

“I’m excited, but also...a little nervous,” she admitted, watching Blake’s ears twitch at the honest reply. “Because I’m hoping that…”

Pausing for a second, Weiss blushed when the next thought popped into her mind - but she already knew she was going to say it aloud. For as rocky as the beginning of their friendship might have been, she now counted Blake as one of her closest friends - which meant she’d willingly share information, even if it made her feel...exposed.

“I’m hoping that…” she tried again, clasping and unclasping her hands in front of her. “If tonight goes well enough, it can...lead to something?”

When Blake smiled and sat a little straighter, Weiss rushed forward.

“Nothing serious - or, you know, scandalous. More like something that confirms that...this is real? That it’s not just me with all these crazy feelings.”

“It’s not just you,” Blake answered, the certainty in her tone doing wonders to ease some of Weiss’ nerves. “I’m sure she’ll have a blast, and something could happen - if you both want it to.”

Weiss smiled at the subtle encouragement, which was exactly what she’d come to expect from Blake. While Yang had a much more vocal ‘rah, rah’ style, Blake had a type of quiet strength that worked just as well - if not better - in certain instances. No matter the circumstances, Weiss found herself wanting to believe that what Blake said was true - because she’d know more about this particular subject than Weiss did.

“How did it first happen -” she began to ask, feeling her embarrassment mount while attempting to gather more information. “For you two?” she specified. “You know, your first one?”

The moment Blake smiled, Weiss’ embarrassment faded away.

“Well, it was nothing as elaborate as that,” Blake replied with a shake of her head. “It wasn’t even an official date, I don’t think. We had some free time so went for a walk at the edge of the forest, talking about anything and everything. Then she told me I was beautiful, and it...it was just natural for it to happen at that moment.”

When Blake’s gaze drifted to the door, her smile grew fonder in memory. For Weiss, it was the type of story that normally made her say ‘aww’ out loud. Instead, her nerves returned while she tried to imagine her own magic moment happening that way.

“I hope it will be that easy,” she said. “But, well...you know how she is.”

Chuckling at the thought, Blake grabbed a book from the dresser and sat back against the wall by her bed. “It’s almost guaranteed to be awkward,” she replied before flipping open the book, ready to lose herself in another world.

Weiss sighed at the accurate response but waited on pins and needles anyway. It wouldn’t be long - actually, they should leave any minute now. She was ready - so ready for them to move forward - but also incredibly nervous about taking this step with someone.

As soon as she heard the door handle turn, she spun towards the hall and watched the door swing open. The next second, Yang walked inside and kicked the door shut behind her. The action wasn’t uncommon, but -

“Coming through,” Yang huffed while walking over to the beds. “One nearly-unconscious Ruby Rose here.”

Spotting the state of her partner - currently nursing a noticeable bump on her forehead while slumped over Yang’s shoulder, Weiss hurried over.

“Ruby, what happened??” she asked, her concern rising while Yang carefully deposited Ruby on Weiss’ bed.

“Was trying a new move...” Ruby mumbled, reaching up and wincing when her hand grazed her forehead. “Wanted to call it ‘The Rocket.’”

“Yeah, and you rocketed yourself straight into that wall,” Yang replied with a shake of her head. “There’s probably gonna be a Ruby-sized imprint there for a long time.”

When Ruby’s only response was to groan and sink into Weiss’ covers, Weiss sat down by Ruby’s side and examined the extent of the impending bruise. From initial glance, it looked like Ruby managed to hit her head fairly hard. Thankfully, she wouldn’t have a black eye like last time, but it would still be worthy of several stories when classes resumed on Monday.

Gently brushing several stray strands of hair from Ruby’s eyes - careful not to touch the sore spot on her head - Weiss felt a twinge of disappointment as she sighed at the current predicament. But, disappointment or not, she knew what needed to happen now.

“You shouldn’t go out like this.”

“What??” Ruby yelped. She immediately tried to sit up, but Weiss pressed her down by the shoulder. “But I want to go!” she whined regardless. “I can still go! It’s just a big bruise and kind of a headache - I’ve survived worse!”

For a long time, Weiss examined Ruby and weighed their options. Truthfully, she still wanted to go, too. After putting so much time and effort into planning the night, and looking forward to their moment for so long, she didn’t want it delayed any longer. But some things were more important than what Weiss wanted - and Ruby’s health was one of them.

“We’ll go some other time,” Weiss decided, touching Ruby’s shoulder and smiling. “I’d rather stay here.”

“But -”

“Really,” she added before Ruby could argue, knowing that Ruby’s argument might sway her in the opposite direction.

This time, it was Ruby who studied Weiss while trying to figure out just how ok she was with the situation. After several seconds of this, Ruby finally relaxed - looking somewhat relieved as she did so.

“Ok…I’d probably scare people like this anyway...”

“That’s the spirit,” Weiss replied with a smile that the two of them briefly shared. “Now stay here and I’ll get you some ice.”

After standing up, Weiss decided there was something else she needed to do first. Grabbing her clutch - which would go unused tonight - she pulled out one of her credit cards and offered it to Blake, who took it with a great deal of curiosity in her eyes.

“The reservation is at seven,” Weiss explained, watching Blake’s ears twist in surprise. “I’ll text you the rest of the details.”

“Weiss -”

“I hope you two have fun,” she said, smiling at Blake and Yang before heading to the small refrigerator/freezer tucked in the corner of their room. Due to the nature of their schooling, several ice packs were stacked in the freezer at all times, making it quick and easy to pull one out when needed.

After grabbing the first one her hand landed upon, Weiss wrapped it in a towel (a trick she learned from Ruby just recently) before heading back to the bed. She barely glanced over when Blake and Yang left the room - the two girls embarking on the date Weiss had planned for Ruby. She knew the two of them would have a good time, which - remarkably - made her feel better about missing out on the night.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, retaking her place by Ruby’s side and handing over the ice pack. “Can I get you anything else?”

“I feel ok. I’m just...maybe a little thirsty…”

Without a second thought, Weiss retrieved a bottle of water from the case under the bed and opened the cap before handing it to Ruby - who propped herself up on Weiss’ pillows to drain half the bottle in several gulps.

“What were you trying to do?” Weiss asked while Ruby closed the bottle and set it to the side.

“I was using my semblance to burst in a really sharp turn close to the wall, and I stopped too late, I guess. I thought I had enough time but...apparently not.”

“Ah…”

While Ruby gently pressed the ice pack to her head, Weiss considered the logistics of that move.

Because Ruby was still learning the depths of her semblance, moments like these were bound to happen every so often. This was why they trained so hard - so the timing was straightened out before they found themselves in a life or death situation. The last thing they needed was for Ruby to knock herself out on a tree while being chased by Beowolves. Although, the forest was much more different than Beacon’s practice rooms -

“Did you consider the flooring?” Weiss asked when the thought occurred to her.

“What do you mean?”

“The practice rooms have slick floors - that’s not what you’d find in the forest.”

At first, Ruby stared. Then her eyes - or the one not blocked by the pack of ice - widened in realization.

“Holy crap! You’re totally right!!”

“So maybe your timing was right -”

“Maybe it was!” Ruby quickly agreed, latching onto the idea that she hadn’t blasted into a wall for no good reason. “On a different surface, I wouldn’t have slid so far, so I would’ve had enough time to make the turn - you’re so smart, Weiss!!”

Again, the compliment was given so openly and so freely, Weiss didn’t know what to do with it. This happened often with Ruby, and it was part of the reason Weiss’ feelings around her partner had been shooting through the moon as of late.

“So,” she said, trying to change the subject and fight the blush off her cheeks. “Since we’re staying in, would you like to watch a movie? How about that documentary you like so much - How to Make a Sun?”

“That sounds like fun!”

“Great.” Smiling at Ruby’s enthusiasm, Weiss stood up and gestured for Ruby to stay put. “Let me find the movie then -”

“Uh, wait - Weiss?”

When Weiss turned back to the bed, she watched in confusion as Ruby set down the ice pack and stood up.

“Yes?”

“I’m...uh, I’m really sorry we couldn’t go out tonight,” Ruby said, frowning down at her hands. “I hope you don’t think I didn’t want to go or anything, because I really did.”

By now, Weiss knew Ruby - and she knew Ruby would never intentionally try to get out of their first date. It was just...an accident.

“I know, Ruby,” she replied with a reassuring smile.

The words worked wonders in putting a smile back on Ruby’s face, which was all Weiss ever wanted to see, anyway. Wasn’t that the point of the entire evening she’d planned - to make Ruby happy?

“Good,” Ruby said with a nod, her smile turning into that quirky grin Weiss adored so much. “Because I really wanted to go. I still do - want to...go out with you, you know - like that.”

Smiling at the near-perfect replay of Ruby’s first agreement for a date, Weiss was about to respond when Ruby abruptly leaned forward and kissed her - nothing more than a peck on the lips that lasted under a second before it ended.

“Promise to make it up to you,” Ruby quickly said before hopping back into bed and covering her red cheeks with the ice pack.

Weiss, meanwhile, stared for a good few moments before Ruby peeked past the ice and then immediately hid her eyes again. Taking that as her cue to do something, Weiss turned and nearly levitated to the other side of the room. It took her a while to remember what she’d been doing, but she eventually made it to their stack of movies and took her time searching - using the time to straighten out her flustered thoughts.

In a single action, Ruby more than made up for missing their evening plans.

Grabbing the movie and heading back to the bed, Weiss first sent a quick message to Blake with some necessary details, then set up her scroll to play the film and sat next to Ruby. As usual, Ruby leaned into her side and made her feel...incredibly flustered and excited at the same time.

“I hope that was ok…” Ruby whispered, sounding apologetic for making Weiss’ entire year better.

“More than ok,” she replied, taking Ruby’s hand and giving it a quick squeeze before holding onto it for the beginning of the movie.

Of course, now she couldn’t pay attention to what was happening on the screen. Instead, her mind ran through that moment over and over again - rejoicing in the sensation, in Ruby returning those feelings, and already looking forward to their next kiss.

The more she thought about it, the sillier she felt for going through so much trouble to begin with. Because Blake was right - there was absolutely no way Weiss could’ve planned or influenced that moment. As usual, progress in their relationship happened in the most Ruby-way possible - out-of-the-blue, spontaneous, and unscripted.

#rwby #white rose #weiss schnee #ruby rose #oneshot

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