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#Yang only sees her mother in her reflection when she is fighting for her life
lovingdabeessss · 3 months
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Yang xiao long has her mothers eyes when she is desperate and her lovers when she is kind welcome to my ted talk-
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littlestfallenangel · 11 months
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I saw your post about how it's implied Yang has never been in love before during the confession scene. You mentioned how there's a lot of subtext in that scene. Could you make a post explaining all the subtext in it? Or if there already is a post, could you give me the link, please?
Sure, though I suppose upon reflection I meant subtext more in the conversational sense than literary. There's just a lot you can read into what Blake and Yang say and do, most of which calls back to their respective character arcs.
Blake's "you do what you say" is a big one. It's not hard to connect that to Adam, who talked about liberation but his actions were all about lionizing himself.
Blake is also the first one to advance, which has big implications for a character whose main flaw was running away from her problems.
Then there's Yang. Her being more flustered than Blake implies a couple different things. For one, as I said before, it implies that she's probably less experienced with this sort of thing. Could be the first time she fell in love, could be the first time she felt this way about a girl.
Her abandonment issues are almost definitely a factor, but we've never really seen Yang express those issues this way. First, when she was a little girl, it manifested as an obsession. Then, as she got older, she got angrier. One of the first things we ever see her do was grab a guy by the balls for calling her "Blondie" of all things - which don't get me wrong, was kinda awesome, but clearly showed that she had a short temper and started a fight that she really didn't need to get into.
But in this scene, when she's talking about feeling like she's on a cliff, that's the closest we've seen her come out and say "these emotions make me feel vulnerable and that scares the shit out of me." Yang doesn't talk about her feelings a lot. Hell, when she found out her own mother might be a goddamned Grimm, she only let herself break down for a second because she had to be the strong big sister for Ruby. The one who birthed her left, her mother died, her father shut down, and her uncle was a shitty drunk. Yang isn't allowed to break, because who the fuck will take care of Ruby if she does?
But with Blake, Yang is finally allowed to say "my heart is fragile, pieced back together after every adult in my life broke it, and I'm scared it will slip through your fingers and fall." Even if she can't quite bring herself to be that explicit. And Blake's answer is "I'll fall with you."
Yang and Blake becoming lovers is the culmination of their respective arcs. Their unhealthy coping mechanisms triggered each other; Blake setting off Yang's abandonment issues, while Yang's anger posed a threat of potentially pushing Blake away. Blake and Yang had to confront their respective traumas and unhealthy coping mechanisms (Yang being unable to physically fight Raven and thus having to use her words, Blake being forced to finally stand her ground against Adam) to reach this point. So this scene, and the Bumbleby relationship in general, carries so much weight.
Not 100% sure if "subtext" was quite the right word for all that, but it's subtle storytelling bolstered by "the sky is a lesbian flag and there are lilies sprouting around them, in case it wasn't clear how gay this is."
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Is Yang a people pleaser?
I think it's bit more complicated than just that.
I think it's the only way she knows how to function.
Even going by just what has been said in the first three volumes (because everything after makes her VERY inconsistent and messy in terms of characterization), there are five things we know about Yang:
She lost her mother figure at a young age.
Her dad shut down in depression from what happened.
She was left with her little sister to essentially take care of themselves(and to be each other's emotional support) for indeterminate period of time.
At some point in time Yang found out that her mother figure is not her biological mother, which, for a child, threw lot of her life and interactions into question, shaking the foundations of who she saw herself as.
At some point her need to find her mother has put her sister in danger (the cabin incident), which essentially taught her to protect her sister, but also seems to have taught to put the needs of others above herself.
Yang puts the needs of those close to her above her own because she derives self-worth and value from that.
She grew up as her sister's protector, and Yang never stepped out of that role, even when it came to other people. She never really developed a goal for herself or any real reason for who she wanted to be. How Yang handles Oobleck's question shows that - her first answer is utilitarian, with her just restating the technical meaning of being a huntress, and her "real" answer is easily the most unclear and reliant on emotion and impulse - it's devoid of the ideological side of things. Unlike the three others, her reasoning lacks any ideological core - there's no future-tense "goal" there - she says she wants to do what she always did - and that's not a why. And even before that - you have Yang equating being a Huntress to fighting with how she's disappointed Oobleck is not doing "pro-huntsman things".
Yang is still running on auto-pilot, essentially taking damage for others so she can protect them and prove her own worth to herself that way - even her semblance, as it's described in the first three volumes, places her in front of any danger coming at people around her - she's there to get hit.
It's truly fascinating that the characters view her as "a party girl" - which speaks miles about how closed off Yang is. On one hand, she dedicates herself to others - on the other, she avoids her problems via a rush of adrenaline that chaotic situations cause her - the first time we see her in the Yellow trailer, she gets into a fight with an entire mafia nightclub.
Yang loves avoiding actual self-reflection or dealing with her issues. She keeps chasing her mother, but all she does is get into unrelated bar fights and the like (and she needs Qrow's confirmation that it's her mother once she actually encounters her meaning she could have passed her in the street and she would never know) and when Qrow offers her to help to meet her? Yang outright ignores that until she suffers something horrifying.
She likes the idea of finding her mother but not so much of acting upon it - she likes having a dream and having a goal, but when asked about it, she has no concrete thoughts on what those are - she likes the IDEA of a goal, but doesn't have one.
But she does open up a bit once team RWBY gets going - I genuinely feel that honest conversations like the one she had with Blake in V2 are too far and few in between.
It's no wonder failing Blake at end of Volume 3 should affect her a lot - ALL of those things come crashing down at her all at once.
She's unable to protect Blake at all and ends up being protected by her instead.
For once she can't just "crash" through her issues anymore.
She's unable to protect her sister from traumatic experiences.
The people she opened up to all "leave" her.
The entire world views her as some awful person who broke her opponent's leg.
Yang acts like a people pleaser because she doesn't know who she wants to be, and the only inherent value she could find for herself till now was in how others view her.
I think it's interesting to explore where she goes from there.
It's why it's so disappointing how the show treats her after V3 - the brash loudmouth whose issues and trauma are ignored (because, according to her VA, "it's boring"?), the relationship is not given a proper build-up and whose loudness is treated as development instead.
It's actually one of many reasons I started putting up the AU idea I am writing.
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agentbeeswrites · 1 year
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It's been quite a weekend, y'all. It kind of feels like pride in a big city where it's treated like a queer holiday. Happy Bees Kiss Weekend.
Now that I have a minute, I'd like to bring up my Ruby theory. It's a little long, and yes, it has pictures!
So back in episode 5, Ruby met the Blacksmith.
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They have this exchange:
Blacksmith: You seem to be carrying a rather large burden with you. Ruby: I'm fine. I can handle it. Blacksmith: If you change your mind, you may choose any one of these you like and set your burden down. Ruby: I already have a weapon. I did. Blacksmith: And yet, here you are: searching for something else that you do not even know.
I initially thought that Ruby's burden was the war with Salem to save the world, but it wasn't until something was referenced three times, over this and the 6th episode, that I changed my mind.
While talking with the Blacksmith, Ruby noticed a weapon. It drew her in. The design was similar to Crescent Rose, but with a much older sensibility - an old hunting rifle instead of a sniper rifle, and a large axe head instead of a scythe.
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Then she looks closer and sees Summer reflected in the blade.
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I immediately thought that was Summer Rose's weapon. Or is it? This looks like something a Woodsman would carry. There's a theory that Summer could be the Woodsman in the Ever After.
I find it more likely that weapon belonged to the Woodsman (whoever that is) than it being the one Summer had in Remanent because it bears too much resemblance to Qrow's weapon. I've never seen a squad from a huntsman school have two people with the same weapon type.
With only four episodes left, I'm not even sure that the Huntsman is going to be Summer.
But Summer is important.
Summer is the burden that Ruby must put down.
She comes up again when Ruby, desperate to get the last ingredient that will return her friends to normal, offers one of the last precious items she has left: the rose pin from Summer. "A mother's promise."
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The more she gives, the more she feels lost.
Summer comes up again in the next episode when they're caught at the crossroads.
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But Ruby doesn't even notice. She's carried the weight of Summer's legacy her entire life. She doesn't know what it would feel like to not have it.
As a child, she was raised on fairy tales, stories of adventures and heroes, and the story of Summer Rose. She was supermom: baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. The stories of her adventures turned into legends of their own. I'm sure that Tai told them often as a way to remember her and Yang reiterated them to Ruby.
Ruby is the only one to carry her name.
She made becoming a huntress her life's goal. Part of it was because she wanted to have an impact on people's lives and do good, but part of it was also to be a hero like in the legends she grew up with. Like the fairy tales. Like Summer Rose who gave her life to protect people.
Ruby obviously has a personality outside of being a huntress, so this isn't a case of it being her one defining characteristic. But a lot of her life has been shaped by Summer: her understanding that life can be short, that people die, that huntsman are the heroes who protect people and do the hard work that keep people safe. That there's a need for that work because the world can be violent and deadly.
That there was a woman who died doing that work and was revered like a saint by her family.
Ruby planned on applying to Beacon before Ozpin scooped her up for early admission. She probably wanted to lead a team just like her mom did in her Beacon years.
Who is Ruby going to be when she puts down the burden of her mother's legacy?
I think that Ruby is going to be given some choices. One will be to go home as she is, lost and broken. Another will be to stay in the Ever After and get wiped. Find a new purpose.
The Blacksmith has offered her the third option: put down her burden and choose a new weapon. A different way of fighting.
Reforge yourself into who you need to be, Ruby. It's the only path forward.
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kob131 · 2 years
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I couldn't take it, couldn't stand another minute
Couldn't bear another day without you in it
All of the joy that I had known for all my life
Was stripped away from me the minute that you died
To have you in my life was all I ever wanted
But now without you I'm a soul forever haunted
Can't help but feel that I had taken you for granted
No way in hell that I can ever comprehend this
These lyrics are about Salem, all the way back in Red like Roses, goddamn, sometimes RWBY is brilliant.
Sorry this took so long to answer-
I highly doubt that these lyrics are directly about Salem, since the rest of the song give it a tone of fresh, painful sorrow between a parent and child rather than the cold aching sorrow of a wife losing her husband.
What I do think is that RWBY has a strong sense of what it considers good and bad, at least from a narrative level. Dealing with the past and learning to move on is a huge theme in RWBY. Weiss does it with her family and her family image, learning to not let her abuse define her. Same with Blake, just centered around predjuice and a bitter break up of a former mentor and lover, learning to become a better person by overcoming her fear. Yang as well, dealing with her anger (a connection to her highly emotional mother) and her lost arm, adapting to it and surmounting the flaws that caused it. Hell, Jaune, Ren and Nora do it too.
And on the other side, you have Torchwick's obsession with survival consuming him to the point of killing him ironically. You have Emerald and Mercury, both trapped by their past lives and fighting against it as much as they can. You have Adam, who refused to move on from his scarring and the bile it caused until it killed him. You have Watts, a narcissistic genius who never got over how he was 'overlooked'. You have James, stuck in his tramua and need to be right even as letting go would make things better.
Even the more ambiguous characters have this. Qrow does his best but he lets his Semblance determine his worldview, a very self destructive worldview. Only getting better after he started to let go of that. Ozpin tried his best and is a genuinely good man, but he's still stuck in place after centuries of fighting with his issues eroding what good points he makes. Hazel was only ever a truly good character when he stopped shutting away his pain and finally decided to honor his sister's memory rather than grieving eternally,
And then we have Ruby and Salem. One who lost her mother before she even got to know her, constantly having to overcome stupidly difficult obstacles and god knows how much more loss but nevertheless perseveres to do the good she sees in the world. And one who lost her husband before she could live a life with him, went through great lengths to get him back...and caused unfathomable amounts of pain and suffering, still being as the girl stuck in the tower.
I think what you're seeing is the applicability between Ruby and Salem's lives. Because as most heroes and villains, they reflect each other and showcase what makes them different.
Ruby kept moving forward.
Salem stopped in place.
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wolfbetweenrivers · 1 year
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My thoughts on RWBY V9C5 (SPOILERS)
In the previous Chapter, the Curious Cat agreed to help Team RWBY get to the Tree at the center of the Ever After to get back to Remnant while finding a way to bring Weiss, Blake, and Yang back to normal size after they were shrunk by the Red Prince. But as they entered the Garden Acre, they lost track of the Cat and encountered the Herbalist, who took them to their home, seemingly helping creating a potion that could grow them back but then proceeded to drug them after they failed to answer Herb’s questions about who and what they are. The drug, caused them to be confronted with past versions of themselves, with Ruby being the only one who couldn’t fight them off and almost succumbed to the temptation to stop being herself and become something else before the Cat intervened. The Herbalist was then swallowed by a hole in the ground, to Team RWBY’s horror. 
In this Chapter, the Curious Cat explains what exactly happened to the Herbalist. This explanation serves as a continuation of the exposition from C4 about every inhabitant having a purpose they must fulfill. In this Chapter, it is revealed that when someone in the Ever After breaks, or fulfills their purpose with nothing left to do, they are returned to the Ever After, remade into a new version of themselves, and then ascend, returning to life. This also explains how the Red King became the Red Prince, as the King was unable to cope with his defeat at the hands of Alyx cheating, and so was remade as the Prince, willing to cheat in order to when, and mean to humans because of what happened. The group reaches a market place where they can gather the ingredients to make the potion that will get Ruby’s teammates back to normal. They split up, with the shrunken teammates going with the Cat, while Ruby and Little go together. As Ruby is searching the area though, the entire place around her blacks out and she finds herself in a blacksmith’s workshop. There, she finds Penny’s sword. When she tilts it, she is shocked to see Penny’s face reflected on it. The Blacksmith questions Ruby on what she is doing, and then somehow notices the emotional pain Ruby is suffering from. She offers Ruby a chance to have a new weapon in exchange for setting aside her burden. She finds a knife with Alyx’s reflection on it. But then she finds an axe with the reflection of Summer Rose before she snaps out of it and finds herself back at the market. The others have gathered most of the ingredients, with one remaining. They find it at the stall of a teapot lady. Just when they’re about to take it, fireworks go off, acting as a danger signal. The danger turns out to be the Jabberwalker, whom the Cat explains is feared because if it eats someone in the Ever After, they can’t ascend. The teapot lady packs everything away to escape, but Ruby convinces her to give her the final ingredient in exchange for her emblem badge, saying it carries a mother’s promise. They scramble to make the potion but are cornered by the Jabberwalker. At that moment, a knight in rusted armor comes in on the back of a large jackelope and attacks the Jabberwalker. It’s the Rusted Knight. While the Knight fights the Jabberwalker, Weiss, Blake, and Yang drink the potion and are back to normal size, fighting the Jabberwalker. But when they defeat it, it shatters into pieces of pink glass, turning out to be one of Neo’s illusions. Suddenly several more Jabberwalkers appear. The Knight helps them escape while the Cat holds the Jabberwalkers off by somehow mind controlling one of the market vendors to fight it, though as they escape, the vendor gets eaten by the Jabberwalkers. They are led to a safe area by the Knight, who takes off his helmet, revealing himself to be Jaune, but appearing 20 years older. Apparently he was waiting for Team RWBY. The Chapter ends.
There was a lot in this episode. But we finally got a full explanation of how the cycle of life works here in the Ever After which explains the Red Prince and the Herbalist. But there is a catch, which is that the Jabberwalker can eat people and prevent them from ascending. This raises the question of what exactly its purpose is and why it is bent on preventing others from pursuing theirs. It also begs the question of what it is it wanted to fix in C3 and why and how. 
On that topic, it also raises a big question of what exactly Neo did to it. Where is the real Jabberwalker among all these copies? The fact that Neo is now able to make copies that are capable of making sound, and also being affected by the growth potion has drastically increased her threat level in this Volume.
I have a theory on who that Blacksmith is. I think she is the one who rebuilds Afterans who break before they ascend. The reason I think that is because first of all, she is seen working on a butterfly wing. The most recent Afteran who was recalled was the Herbalist, who had a small pair of wings. I believe the Blacksmith was remaking Herb by working on their butterfly wings. Another reason I think this is because it is well known that Alyx came out of the Ever After as a different person. What if that was because she ascended? After all, we did see her knife in the Blacksmith’s workshop. But then this raises the question of what Penny’s sword was doing there. Penny’s body fell along with everyone else. Did the Ever After see her body as something that needed to be fixed and therefore swallowed her? Did Penny ascend? If so, where is she now? If not, why and how does the Blacksmith have her sword? Considering everything that’s been mentioned, why and how was Summer’s axe there to begin with? If this is were people are rebuilt to ascend, then I think the reason why only Ruby was targeted was because she was the most broken of her team, emotionally. I think the Ever After was trying to swallow her, but she’s not quite at that point yet, but almost there. It doesn’t quite explain why Little could perceive the place as well though. 
This brings me to Jaune. As many of us thought, he was the Rusted Knight after all. But he’s a lot older here. A lot of people are saying that he actually aged and spent a long time in the Ever After because of weird time dilation stuff? I don’t think so. I personally think that when Jaune fell, he was so consumed by the guilt of killing Penny that he was swallowed, rebuilt, and ascended as the Rusted Knight. It makes the most sense after all. The entire episode was dedicated to explaining ascension, so it feels like it was building up specifically for this reveal of Jaune as the Rusted Knight. Although it does raise the question of how and why he still remembers Team RWBY perfectly, though my current theory is that it’s to do with his new purpose which, given his association with the white rabbit, could have something to do with never being too late to save his friends. But another question it raises is what happened to the Rusted Knight before Jaune fell. But if my theory is true, then I believe by the end of the Volume, he will be back to normal. He needs to properly confront and process his guilt and be honest with Ruby about what happened, instead of simply setting his guilt aside in order to become the person he wanted to be. 
We are halfway through the Volume now. We now know the status of all the 6 main characters who fell into this world, but there are still more questions, despite my theories. What did Neo do to the Jabberwalker? Who exactly was that Blacksmith and why did she have Penny’s sword and Summer’s axe? How did Jaune become the Rusted Knight? Will Jaune tell Ruby about Penny? How will Ruby react? Is the Curious Cat okay?
Now that things have been laid out, with room for more questions, I am really looked forward to seeing how things play out from here.
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theotterpenguin · 3 years
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hi ⭐️
i read your tags and i do agree that characters don’t have to fit yin/yang exactly to be a “good ship” because it does seem that everyone wants their ship to do so, but it’s perfectly fine if not
the thing with zk is that they match it i think because they are (their interactions and arc) written for the overall story and themes of avatar, which additionally is why so many people like them despite not being the official? canon ship (think bonus points)
point is, i liked your comment and tags!
Hello!
they are (their interactions and arc) written for the overall story and themes of avatar
Yes, exactly!! You’ve hit the nail on the head with why Zutara is such a popular ship - their relationship arc is not only very well written, but also ties in with the core themes of ATLA. It does justice to Zuko and Katara's individual character journeys and has elemental symbolism that connects to the existing mythology of the world and carries narrative significance. It really has everything you could look for in a ship.
Guru Pathik: The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same. Aang: Like the four nations. Guru Pathik: Yes. We are all one people, but we live as if divided.
I think this quote from The Guru explains the appeal of Zutara best.
They have everything against them - growing up on opposing sides of the war, both being children of royalty of the enemy nation, mastering opposing elements, consistently being paired up against each other in fights, and their conflicting roles of protecting the avatar vs. capturing the avatar.
And yet, we see from the beginning of the show that they are fundamentally similar people, bound together by their hope in the avatar returning. They are both passionate about standing up against injustice (Zuko arguing against sacrificing a division of soldiers and choosing to side against the Fire Nation’s imperialism by the end of the show, Katara inspiring an uprising of earthbenders in prison and helping a Fire Nation village as the Painted Lady). They both have similar moral belief systems - they choose to spare the lives of the men who took their mothers away, but refuse to forgive. They both connect over losing their mothers to the war. They both have similar arcs involving understanding the realities of war and the "good and bad" on both sides. They are the first to bond over their similarities and the first to mutually trust each other.
ATLA focuses a lot on breaking apart the simplistic idea of good vs. evil and instead, shows morally grey areas on all sides of the war. Coinciding with this theme, the show also emphasizes learning from those who are different from you - there is no one philosophy that is right above all others. Rather, it examines the importance of understanding different elements/philosophies (to improve your own bending and, by extension, expand your own worldview). Ultimately, all of this is necessary for achieving balance, peace, and harmony.
And these ideas parallel perfectly with Zuko and Katara's arc - two enemies from opposing nations at war that come together and realize their similarities, rather than only being "the face of the enemy." Zuko and Katara master opposite elements (something highlighted as especially important to learn from) which is reflected in how they adapt their fighting styles over time to incorporate waterbending or firebending movements, culminating in Zuko using lightning redirection - a technique learned from waterbenders - to save Katara's life. Katara is the one with Zuko at some of the most pivotal moments in his character arc - his betrayal in the catacombs, then his final battle with his sister. Similarly, Zuko is the one with Katara when she faces Yon Rha, her most important journey that has been building up for three seasons. They are even tied together by the mythos of the world through Oma and Shu and the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady. And as you pointed out, the fact that they also are representative of yin and yang is just the cherry on top. Their push and pull relationship ties everything together - they balance each other, something that carries weight in the avatar universe. Simply put, if you erased Zuko and Katara's relationship arc it wouldn't be the same show.
Of course, even their platonic relationship alone includes all of these important elements. But if romance has to be included in the show, it's no wonder that people would rather focus on the potential of a romance between two characters that have an existing relationship that is already interwoven with the main themes of the show rather than two characters that don't have this and never actually resolve the problems driving a wedge between them. What better way to signify the end of an era of division and the beginning of an era of peace and love than the future marriage of the daughter of the chief of the Water Tribe and the prince of the Fire Nation?
I'm glad you enjoyed my comment, thank you for the ask :) I always love the chance to ramble about my favorite ships!
#zutara#zutara analysis#my meta#asks#my post#i’m sorry anon that this answer is so late but i hope you see this!#i feel like i just strung a lot of random thoughts together so i hope this makes sense!!#the only other atla ships i can think of that could compare to zk in terms of thematic signifance/symbolism/complementary arcs#would be taang and zukaang#atla was - and still is - such an amazing show with so many complex themes explored#and i’m still dumbfounded that they squandered the potential of a romance that has so much thematic cohesion#instead for a poorly written relationship which has its main conflict based on “will they or won’t they get together”#which isn’t necessarily a bad trope (just poorly written in atla) but so simplistic compared to everything else the show has pulled off#and what’s even worse is that they brought up some interesting issues in k/ataang’s relationship!#like the fact that he can’t reconcile his idealized image of her with who she truly is#and how she has the same issue (though it’s resolved better in the show) with placing all of her hope and expectations on him as the avatar#and how they have huge disagreements over their moral beliefs - whether forgiveness is always needed and if ozai should be killed#but instead of actually exploring these issues and finding a way to resolve them that results in a deeper understanding between katara/aang#they chose to brush them under the rug and focus on the drama of nonconsensual kisses and ‘will she like me back’#ultimately hurting both aang and katara’s character development#i think i would always find zutara a more compelling relationship because of all of their elemental symbolism along with everything else#but k/ataang could have been written in a way that ties in with the themes of atla#even if it would involve rewriting a lot of their b2 and b3 interactions it would benefit both of their character growth - esp aang’s#(m/aiko is probably a lost cause though - you would have to alter who mai and zuko fundamentally are for it to work)#anti kataang
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itsclydebitches · 2 years
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With Ruby and abandoment problems (**non canon, mostly theoretical talk**): it's fairly common for children to develop unhealthy attachment issues when they're cared for by mostly an older sibling, combined with loss of a parent. Like Ruby being overly attached to her weapon, not being willing to let Yang be on her own during the first volume, and a desire to follow on the footsteps of the rest of the family (to become a Huntress - help others just like her parents taught her).
Yup! Even talking about what is in the canon (meaning, what we see on screen even if it's not really acknowledged by the story proper), we've got a lot of implications attached to Ruby's major character beats:
A dead mother who she remembers enough to picture, but didn't fully understand the loss when it happened (according to Yang)
Not yet given any closer about how she died or, at this point, even if she died
May have received a lot of parental-like support from her sister while their father recovered from his wife's "death"
That bond led to moments like trusting Yang to take her out into the woods — to find her absent mother — and nearly getting killed by grimm
Is let into a combat school two years early and is framed as so socially awkward she'd rather look at everyone's weapons than make friends
By the next day she's made leader of her team, shouldering responsibility for three older fighters, including her sister
Witnessed Yang (supposedly) break a peer's leg after he'd bowed out of the fight
Arrived just in time to find the dismembered body of her friend Penny
Participated in a horrific fight they ultimately lost, leading to the destruction of their school
Witnessed her friend Pyrrha turn into a cloud of gold dust as she's murdered
Wakes up an undetermined amount of time later, realizes Beacon is lost realizes the rest of her team is gone, realizes Yang lacks an arm, is told she has a super special magical eye power
Runs off to hunt down the woman who succeeded in killing a (frankly) more skilled fighter, leaving her PTSD-riddled sister in the process, something she'll later break down in tears over
Is unable to protect herself from a kidnapping attempt and her uncle nearly dies from poison while saving her
Learns that said beloved uncle has kept his semblance hidden her whole life and also, FYI, there's an evil grimm queen trying to kill everyone
Happily gives herself over to Ozpin's leadership until she decides to steal his entire backstory, learning Salem is immortal in the process
Proceeds to nearly die while facing the Apathy
Unanimously rejects all help from adults up until now, only accepting future help if she remains in control
Starts a needless fight with a military official to get to Atlas
Staunchly ignores everything war related while spending time there
Insists she's nothing like Ozpin despite repeating his exact choices
Flinches from the idea that her team is like the Ace Ops in embracing some level of professionalism
(Ruby is simmering in denial this arc)
Turns on her allies when no good option is available
Positions herself to the whole world as the leader they should believe in and look up to
Proceeds to hide out for the rest of the fight
Hits on a last minute attempt at escape that very much reflects the idea she originally condemned (use the Staff, not everyone gets to make it out, etc.)
Watches her sister die
Dies herself
Ruby is a mess. In the sense that this girl has been through trauma after trauma that yeah, could (arguably should) result in someone with abandonment issues and a warped ability to handle making mistakes because she's The Leader and would likely think she isn't allowed. The last couple of years I've been watching this character and wincing at how far she's spiraling. Ruby is starting needless fights. She's anxious over her team wanting time to themselves and outright panicking over the idea of separating for a short-term mission. She (and everyone else) treats a simple criticism as a slap to the face and leans heavily into any reassurance that she's actually doing things perfectly. She's making grand statements about saving everyone, as The Leader must, but then hiding away because she doesn't actually know how to solve any of these problems. Ruby will confidently condemn Ironwood, confidently take out the Ace Ops, confidently tell the world to turn to her... and then sit with tea, commenting on how sad it is that everyone else is dying because when push comes to shove, when she actually has to fix things after making those promises and condemning other options, she freezes.
And damn if that's not a really compelling story. Ruby is fascinating in her current status as a teenager who, to be blunt, is trying to run a war she's not in ANY way ready for. It's interesting to see a story that (quite unintentionally) goes, "What happens if you put a thoroughly traumatized 17yo in charge of saving the world? Things go very badly." The only problem is that RT doesn't realize that's the premise they've given us, so 99% of Ruby's compelling characterization is ignored. Her social anxiety was quickly dropped. No time is given to her working through Pyrrha and Penny's death, not even when Penny was resurrected. Ruby's relationship with Summer was ignored for most of the series until the 'She's a grimm' reveal was suddenly dropped into the mix. And worse, the numerous mistakes Ruby has made lately — made out of grief and panic and optimistic stubbornness — aren't acknowledged as mistakes. She's not allowed to grow from them. Ruby continues to simmer in all the unacknowledged consequences of these experiences while the rest of the cast informs her (informs the audience) that there's nothing to unpack here. Because Ruby is different from Ozpin. May is wrong to have challenged her. Ren is wrong about the entirety of the group's choices lately. Blake is in awe of Ruby despite barely speaking with her for five Volumes. Yang doesn't even remember she fought with her sister, that's how unimportant the idea of Ruby making a mistake is — now she's worried about Blake. Ruby has a WEALTH of experiences to draw from in order to develop her character, but at ever turn the story insists that no development is needed because look, she's always right. There's no trauma, denial, abandonment, unhealthy attachment, or fear at work that might push Ruby towards questionable choices. There's nothing to explore here.
Which is why so many fans are worried about Volume 9 because the Volume 8 finale dumped a ton of new experiences on top of what we still have going all the way back to Summer's "death." Ruby watched Yang die. She basically died herself. Two Relics are lost. Jaune killed Penny. They'll eventually find out that all the evacuees are lost in a grimm-infested desert. If we can trust our visuals, they failed to evacuate everyone else, including Maria and Pietro. I want Ruby to break. Not out of some desire for angst porn or whatever, but because she's been through so much that the show has continually glossed over, reiterating that these experiences have had no impact on Ruby's ability to make perfect leadership decisions, regarding a war she only just learned about, no less. If RWBY were still a silly action show I wouldn't care at all about the glossing (that's normal in a ton of other stories), but post-Volume 3 RWBY has gone hard on that impact for other characters. It's going to be more than a little jarring if Ruby just picks herself up after everything and the show continues to insist that she's just fine, making fine decisions, everything is fine here. In the show that now gives whole arcs to trauma recovery for some characters and uses trauma as the catch-all reason for why others made their horrific decisions for, why would we ever think that Ruby might be negatively influenced by everything she's gone through since stepping on screen? I'd love to see how socially anxious, lost-at-least-three-loved-ones-to-murder Ruby intersects with world leader Ruby, both in terms of how she overcomes her previous limitations and the (acknowledged) mistakes she makes as an inevitable byproduct of growing up.
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taeyohonic · 3 years
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stolen dances | chap. 8
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summary: sometimes supporting the person you love is the hardest challenge you’ll ever face.
pairing: jeon jungkook x fem!reader
rating: m
warning: swearing
additional tags: f2l, ceo!jungkook, bestfriend!jungkook, shrink!yoongi, my best friend’s wedding meets 27 dresses (if the boss/secretary couple had happened), angst-y
words: 2200
links: prev. | next  [masterlist]
note: lower case letters intended
chapter summary: maybe there are too many red flags to ingore.
“what do you mean the menu changed?”, you hiss into the receiver, not caring how your colleague aches an eyebrow at your harsh tone.
“mr. jeon’s assistant called yesterday and demanded the gluten free pasta to be added instead of the duchess potatoes.” your caterer sounds as lost as you feel.
“but… the duchess is gluten free – now there’ll be a double pasta dish for entrée and sides”, you explain to the person who professionally cooks. never would you have imagined you’d be this upset about a vegetable.
“i’m doing what mr. jeon wants, ms. _____. my apologies.” yeah well, jungkook doesn’t know what he wants. his cold shoulder equals an iced crystal – your best friend has been mute even after getting back from his business trip. all the information you need as his unofficial wedding planner are thrown at you from different partners – like the caterer today or the florist last monday.
it’s seems like jungkook really wants to sabotage his own wedding to win this fight between the two of you. until now you’ve let him throw his childish temper tantrum, passively accommodating his changed decisions. but you’re drawing the line at the duchess potato.
“very well”, you say to the caterer. “i know you’re just doing your job – sorry for being rude. i can’t wait to taste… the gluten free pasta.”
the chef on the other end chuckles at your faked enthusiasm and you soon join.
“will you be there for the cocktail testing?”, he asks and you rummage through your desk, finding your planner in milliseconds.
“of course, it’s still on saturday?”, you ask, not trusting jungkook to change dates just to mess with your schedule.
after confirming the date, the two of you hang up and you start to pack up for the day. you’ll do the log entries for your students from home.
“everything okay, ___?”, your coworker jisoo questions, seeing you leave earlier than normal.
“yeah, don’t worry. i just… forgot an appointment. see you tomorrow”, you answer absently taking your prepacked lunch from the community fridge to eat later.
after taking two different trains and one bus, your self-made hummus is looking more like vomit than food as you stand in front of jungkook’s office building. but with your stomach in knots, you lose all appetite.
“miss ______, what a lovely surprise!”, the doorman greets you with an honest smile on his face. normally jungkook would send one of his town cars to collect you for your weekly lunch. to see you getting out of a bus worries the employee.
“how is the family, hanseo?”, you ask and answer his smile with one of your own.
“all well and healthy, miss! mr. jeon just got back from his meeting”, he informs you warmly and you bow in thanks.
with swift steps you move to the elevator, ready to make jungkook listen. arriving at the final floor, you greet his secretary with a short hug, your eyes already set on his closed door.
“may i go in?”, you ask mrs. yang – not really up to date on jungkook’s schedule. her knowing eyes stare right through your question.
“he’s all yours for the next hour; i’ll hold all phone calls.” you nod silently grateful for her discretion.
two loud knocks are the only forewarning jungkook gets before you barge into his office. your best friend sits at his desk, the top buttons of his shirt undone. his neatly styled hair and the reading glasses tell you that the last few hours were full of business decisions and negotiations.
his tired eyes look at you in surprise, before they cloud over with indifference.
“_____”
no ‘hey, how’ve you been the last week?’, no ‘did you manage to grab the credit card i forgot at the restaurant i stormed out of?’, no ‘i’m sorry, i canceled your favorite potato dish’.
“jungkook”, you greet him and hate yourself for how soft your voice sounds. your feet won’t allow you to move further into the room as your body stands still right next to the closing door.
a hefty silence sets around you, while the two of you muster the other. you notice the bags under his eyes – even with the expensive concealer covering the dark rings.
“_____”, your best friend says again, uncomfortable with the tension in his office.
“jungkook”, you answer, mimicking his tactic.
two estranged friends smile timidly at each other, before the CEO gets up from his seat and closes the distance. in front of you, he hesitates for a breath, but then you are in his arms. your winter coat and heavy bag create a barrier which jungkook crushes easily. he presses your body close to his chest, the suit jacket tightening around his shoulder blades.
you embrace him back, just as fiercely, and inhale his musky scent. he smells like love and you feel your eyes water.
“you’re a jerk”, you whisper against his neck, not ready to let go, but willing to work through your anger. the former idol huffs and buries his nose deeper in your hair. you can feel his breathe against your scalp and thank the lord with a silent prayer for taking a shower this morning.
“i know”, jungkook admits as he manages to squeeze you tighter at the same time.
“you’re a child”, you continue while drawing soft patterns across his shoulder blades with your fingertips.
“i know”
another silence follow – but it’s one without anger. it feels like going on vacation. nevertheless, problems need to be face, you’ve learned that from your shrink. so, with a heavy heart, you lose your embrace and try to step away from your best friend. after reluctantly holding on to you, he huffs and lets you go.
“have you eaten?”
“jungkook, we need to talk about this”, you tell him while the both of you sit on the leather couch. you have to suppress the impulse to take off your shoes, an old habit after the long nights spent in his office.
“when did you eat lunch, ____?”, he asks again and loses his suit jacket. the white button up shirt underneath looks a size too small, which troubles your heart greatly. jungkook doesn’t seem to notice, his focus remains on your eating habits.
“jungkook, i’ll eat later, promise”, you deflect and pat your bag with the hummus vegetable stew in it. your best friend doesn’t seem impressed.
“you’re upset because i haven’t told you about a close friend of mine”, you start, only to see him grimace at your wording.
“for five months”, he specifies.
“it never came up in conversation, jungkook. you… you don’t know all details of my life”, you justify yourself while mentally bowing at your backbone.
“yesterday, your mother invited me to their vow renewal, i can open a whole art gallery with your food pictures and i helped you plan a funeral for your living room plant last month”, jungkook replies astonished. “i even held the eulogy.”
yeah, fair, you’ll never forget seokjin’s oscar worthy crying scene in front of the calathea. even jimin was impressed.
“but you can’t introduce me to the guy accompanying you to my wedding?” there is a thick, and reasonable, accusation behind his words. you feel your hands sweat as you look at the tired eyes of your best friend.
“i’m afraid you won’t like him”, you offer. it’s the most logical explanation you could come up with after your phone call with taehyung. when truthfully, you are more afraid of the person yoongi will see in you face-to-face with jungkook.
but your best friend seems to buy your white lie. his face softens as he rests one hand on your knee.
“_____”, jungkook starts, “every friend of yours is a friend of mine.” you snort right into his words, not believing him for a second.
“you put my last boyfriend into jail.” the answering chuckle from him does not sound one bit apologetic.
“he was trash.” you know he’s right, still, his distrust was there before it turned out that your ex-boyfriend committed tax fraud.
“what about jisoo?”, you ask. “you’ve never warmed up to her.”
jungkook looks like he just swallowed something bitter at the name of your coworker.
“she hit on me.” his reveal shocks you.
“but she has a fiancé!”, you exclaim, only to see him roll his eyes.
“she hit on me”, he repeats unforgiving.
just… great.
“yoongi is different”, you say softly, not ready to reflect on jisoo’s audacity. it’s quite common for others to hit on jeon jungkook – he’s famous after all. but your own friend?
“let me be the judge”, jungkook demands equally soft and squeezes your knee.
“i’m not asking for your judgement, kookie”, you huff. you don’t need his approval. and yoongi sure as hell doesn’t want it.
“but”, you start again, “i think it’ll be best if you got to know him before the wedding.” you’ve thought about this a lot. it seems like the best course of action. even if you can’t picture yoongi and jungkook in the same room.
“he isn’t invited to the wedding”, your best friend scowls like a child. now you push his hand from your knee, irritated by his actions.
“he is”, you press, not willing to back down. jungkook’s eyes flash in anger.
“you can go with taehyung. he still has to make amends for fucking the DJs”, the CEO offers businesslike and moves up from the couch, like he just singlehandedly solved the problem.
“i don’t need a pity partner, jeon. i – there is a person who actually wants to go with me to your wedding”, you bite back. sure, you had to beg yoongi, but you won’t disclose that now. you’ve seen his gummy smile last week as he tried on expensive suits. he looked way too happy and handsome.
your best friend pushes some documents around his desk, deep in thoughts.
“as my best man you won’t have much time to be with him during the wedding. he will be alone in the midst of strangers. it’ll make him uncomfortable”, he tries to reason. you can’t help but roll your eyes – yoongi’s whole job description is to talk to strangers and make them feel safe. but wait…
“i’m not your best man, jungkook.” you’ve scheduled the event. seokjin’s best man speech comes right before the main course. you even sent the man some keynotes, with topics not to add to his roast.
“you got upgraded”, jungkook states with a shrug. no, no, no, no, no.
“you’ll have to rearrange the seating chart – the place next to my parents’ is now yours.”
“jungkook”, you breathe, astonished by his thoughts, “i’m not your best man.”
he tenses at your refusal, but won’t admit defeat too soon.
“you’re my best friend, so you should be my best man as well”, he says like it’s the simplest thing in the world.
“she was against it at first – some bullshit about gender norms and how the photos will look. but, ____, not talking to you for this long made me realize, that you are way more important than seokjin.”
you can see the red flags wave behind jungkook as you feel your heart quicken at his words.
“jungkook” no longer is your voice angry. the sadness in your tone makes jungkook flinch while looking at you from across the room.
“we’ve both created very – very idolized versions of one another”, you start to explain. “maybe you think of me as important – but jungkook, there is so much we haven’t shared with each other.”
he shakes his head, willing to interrupt, but you hold your hands up in warning.
“jungkook, i lo- i like being with you a lot these last few years. but there are parts of you i’ve never met. i never shared your trainee days with you, the hardship, the success. i was only an unknown fan cheering your band on from afar.”
you take a deep breath. “but even now, you still surprise me with new sides of yourself. leaving me on an island? disinviting my plus one? that’s not the jungkook i know. and that’s sure as hell not someone i want to toast to.”
your best friend looks like you’ve just broken something dear to him and you can feel the defeat in your bones.
“seokjin is your best man, jungkook”, you end and smile at the CEO who won’t look at you anymore. before you can move closer to him, the door opens.
“mr. jeon, your next appointment is waiting.” mrs. yang sounds apologetic and looks uncomfortable between the two of you – so far apart.
jungkook nods at his secretary and she closes the door, leaving you to finish the train wreck of a conversation.
“are we no longer best friends, ____?”, he whispers as he logs into his computer. his posture screams dismissal, but you can see how tensed his shoulders are and how hard is mind is working.
you have to suppress the coo on the tip of your tongue.
“jungkook – you are my best friend. you are a person of the utmost importance to me.”
“you still like me?” i love you, you fool.
“i still like you way too much for my own good.”
he nods silently and you can see the tiniest smile spreading across his lips.
you leave without goodbye, only to feel your phone vibrating in your pocket while the elevator rushes to the lobby.
bring your plus one to this week’s movie night.
before you can send a smiley face in responds, an email form the caterer pops up.
subject: duchess potatoes are back.
_____
happy new year! i hope you all have a healthy and kind 2021! let’s make life better by wearing our masks, helping others in need and supporting those who experienced hardship during this tiering time!
i know i promised yoongi/jungkook cat fight – but the chapter got so ugly that i squeezed in this scene of reader und kookie talking about this mess. so that yoongs won’t bleed during game night.
i’d love to hear from you all, it’s been really silent in my virtual life…
all the best and the warmest of hugs from, dana
taglist: @livewittykid  @thequeen-kat @kagami-s-void @goldenclosethobi @youwannabelostandnotbefound @jinsalpaca @bishuthot @laabellaavitaa21 @baekstans @jalexad​ @kimluvwoo​  @jinsearthh​
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STRQ Contrasts in V8
So, maybe I’m just letting my hopeless STRQ fan show, but I really hope that they’ll be using the Ruby/Yang disagreement/split/eventual resolution as a contrast to the one between Raven and Summer. Like, we haven’t gotten much confirmation on what split Team STRQ, but judging from the nuggets we’ve gotten (Raven’s “you sound just like your mother”, scraps of dialogue) I suspect it has something to do with the ideological differences between those two.
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On the one hand you have Raven who (despite her lovely lectures) is very focused on the small scale. She left her family to go fight Salem in her own way, stealing Maiden powers and maybe trying to get a relic in some weird scheme to succeed where Ozpin failed. So long as she could argue she was making the “hard choices” to keep her family safe, she could rationalize just about anything (like abandoning them. Or killing a young woman for glowy eye magic). Heck, her entire semblance (Kindred Link) revolves entirely around letting her teleport directly to the people she loves to keep an eye on them. She doesn’t let go of people easily.
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Summer, on the other hand, did about the exact opposite. We’re just now getting to see more of Summer, but from what we’ve been told (namely in the moments Ruby is compared to her), she was something of an idealist. She never gave up hope on defeating Salem no matter what it cost at a personal level. As she says to Ruby in “Red Like Roses Part II” as much as she loved her family they “[weren’t] the only one[s] who needed [her]”. No matter how much she cared for them, they were part of a much larger group of people that were counting on her to defeat Salem. So, in the end, she made the choice to confront Salem on her own, knowing full well it might hurt the people closest to her, because she felt it was necessary for the greater good.
Both Summer’s and Raven’s stories ended/devolved into tragedies because they both took their approach so far that they failed to see the importance of the other. Raven became so focused on immediate goals she failed to see how she was playing into Salem’s hands and Summer was so intent on the greater good that she failed to live her own life. Both stand as stark reminders that, in order to help people, you have to find a balance of both the immediate and long term goals. Going too far either way only serves to divide.
I don’t doubt that Team RWBY will get through this by the end of the Atlas arc, but with how Ruby and Yang are going right now, I think this might help them to process some of the unresolved pain around their mothers. Not to go “ah, I understand you and forgive you, you were totally justified”, but to personally experience what they were going through. To feel how tempting it is to pull apart under pressure and how difficult it is to trust when everything is falling apart and empathize with their decisions. Reach a point where they can go “you messed me up, I have anger, but I realize now that your decisions reflected your issues, not mine” and get the closure they need to do what their parents couldn’t: find balance and forge on. 
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chalabrun · 3 years
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why your op sakura au’s are valid (imo)
One of the best and most creative things I’ve seen come from the Sakura fandom are the power up/background exploration AU’s that take Sakura--the heroine who was woefully underdeveloped compared to Sasuke and Naruto--and give her the limelight that Sasuke and Naruto’s locus took from her extremely early on. Two of the best (and likely, the most popular) AU’s I’ve seen are the Slug Sage and Mokuton AU’s, oftentimes blended together. As for background, sometimes people popularly make her a secret Senju, or a distantly related Uzumaki. Or, she’s given other things altogether.
Frankly speaking, whatever twist she’s given, it’s awesome to see. I love seeing what people come up with, no matter the ship or not, time period--you name it.
Thing is, these AU’s cause a lot of mixed opinions. The stans often say she deserved better, that she was too underdeveloped. Anti’s say that people who do are self-inserting and want to make her into a Mary Sue. 
Here’s my controversial opinion: have you considered the possibility that there’s actually a canon precedent to it? Yes, I have the balls to say this.
Read on and I’ll show you what I mean.
Inheriting the strength of a Sannin, as part of the Neo-Sannin
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One motif that many people can agree with is the fact that, very early on, the notion of Team 7 being the next Sannin after the originals were foreshadowed for years. That they were would not only inherit their abilities, but surpass them.
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Volume 66, cover
By the war itself, we see this realized when Hiruzen--the Sannin’s original team captain and teacher--affirmed that Team 7 had indeed fulfilled this expectation and became the next generation of Sannin, sometimes known as the Neo-Sannin by the fandom.
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Something constantly affirmed by canon in regards to Sakura specifically (as emphasized in this wonderful meta by @midgetmeredith​) is the fact that she did indeed come to surpass Tsunade in both strength and medical ability, something constantly reinforced by those who both admire, knew, and were even contested against Konoha’s Slug Princess and also by Tsunade herself. 
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Chapter 246, as said by Kakashi.
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Chapter 279, by Chiyo, Tsunade’s rival during the Second Shinobi World War; Tsunade was the only person who could foil Chiyo’s poisoning prowess.
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Chapter 632, emphasizing Sakura surpassing and inheriting Tsunade’s power.
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Chapter 634, by Shizune, Tsunade’s apprentice who personally learned from Tsunade just as Sakura had.
My point being, canon absolutely solidifies the fact of Sakura surpassing and inheriting Tsunade’s power, although this a dead horse that has been beaten and reaffirmed and not the point of this meta.
What does it mean to be a Sannin?
(Below scan originally from Narutoversity.)
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As stated in the Second Databook, to be a Sannin means that each individual Sannin are of equal ability and might to each other.
“Explosive spirit and unique power!
Jiraya’s manly fighting valor, Orochimaru’s individual talents, Tsunade’s monster power and supreme knowledge of medical jutsus. During fights, their skills would increase thrice fold and create stories of great battlefield deeds. Especially, places of battle where the three fought together were their own stage. Stories of their battlefield deeds have evolved into legends. As there will no longer be days when the three will fight alongside each other, the flower of their legend is the more dazzling.
Jiraiya: Serious but deadly eyes! Are the only ones who can fight against the Sannin the Sannin themselves?
Tsunade: Her power is like that of a god of war.
Orochimaru: Like a reflection of his way of life, his fighting skills are cruel to the extreme.”
- Second Databook, translation from Narutoversity.
As stated here, to be a Sannin means to be equal in power, that no individual Sannin is more powerful than each other. More than that, only a Sannin can hope to take down a Sannin.
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As stated by Ebisu shortly after Jiraiya’s return in the aftermath of the Konoha Crush.
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As said by Jiraiya during the Three-Way Deadlock in part 1.
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“A lonely blossom that flowered in Konoha! Tsunade is the strongest Kunoichi in Konoha history, every bit a match for Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Her whereabouts – indeed, her survival – are currently a mystery, but her name blossoms in the noble inclusion of the shinobi.” 
- The Naruto Secret: Scroll of Soldiers Official Fanbook by Masashi Kishimoto (Original scan & translation is from amitDS.)
When the Neo-Sannin stopped being equal
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Volume 70, cover
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Chapter 670
In the interlude between their deaths and revival, Naruto and Sasuke learn that they’re something known as “transmigrants” from Hagoromo, specifically of his sons...
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Chapter 670
...Asura and Indra Otsutsuki.
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Chapter 671
And as we continue to learn, not only are they the reincarnations of Asura and Indra, but they inherited their immense chakra as well.
Now, let’s recap what makes Naruto and Sasuke so special in the first place, up to this point:
Naruto: The son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, sealed with the Kyuubi, not only did he inherit unique and potent chakra from his mother--who’d been originally brought to Konoha because of it and her life force--but was also the jinchuuriki before him of Kurama, the most powerful bijuu, the Kyuubi. Minato was known as the “Yellow Flash” as the previous Hokage was the prodigiously known for his terrifying ability on the battlefield. Also Jiraiya’s student who surpassed him. Naruto is also Asura’s reincarnation, and as we see above, inherited his massive chakra and life force. And, he possesses the Six Paths Yang Power, as well as 3 different sage modes (Toad, Tailed Beast, and Six Paths).
Sasuke: The son of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, the then clan head of the Uchiha, Sasuke is often likened to Madara himself, and confirmed as such by Tobirama and Kurama, the latter stating that Sasuke’s chakra feels identical to Madara. Inheritor of Orochimaru’s power and Indra’s chakra, possessor of the Sharingan, Eternal Mengekyou Sharingan, Rinnegan and all the powers associated with it. He also was the recipient of the Six Paths Yin Pwer.
Really, this list could go on with how many powers Naruto and Sasuke gain outside of what they inherit from the Sannin. Sakura? Yeah, not so much.
Essentially, we go from this...
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Chapter 631
...to this.
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Ch. 670
To clarify, Sasuke and Naruto being the focus of the story isn’t a bad thing. Their bond is integral to the story; however, we were promised the Neo-Sannin.  Who, as I stated before, were supposed to be equal in strength and might like their predecessors whose motif was integral to the story long before the struggle between reincarnated brothers was even an unwritten idea in Kishimoto’s mind. 
Basically? If you’re going to promise us this...
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...don’t reduce it to this and keep it that way. 
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Give us the Neo-Sannin we were promised that could stand on equal ground together, no matter how much time had passed or how far apart fate and other circumstances drove them apart.
Closing Thoughts
Basically, the entire point I’m trying to prove here is that we were promised the Neo-Sannin, but were denied it in the same, final arc. While Sasuke and Naruto got godly power ups, and continue to get (anyone catch Naruto’s new Baryon Mode in the Boruto manga that’s even more powerful than what he’s gotten from Hagoromo?), Sakura stays much the same. And while she’s comfortably at the top of her game by Boruto, as the world’s strongest med-nin and Tsunade’s successor, she’s greatly outclassed by Sasuke and Naruto. Anti and stan alike agree with this, so yeah.
This why Sakura deserves AU’s where she becomes as powerful as Naruto and Sasuke. Slug Sage, Mokuton, secret Senju--you name it. 
Canon promised us the Neo-Sannin, which we didn’t get. So, why can’t we have it in fanon at the very least?
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willownoir1112 · 3 years
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Hello beautiful people of Tumblr! Wyn here with day one of White Rose Week 2021 to break my silence! I hope everyone enjoys, and I'll see you tomorrow with day 2!
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Love Bites
Summer Rose vanished, and Ruby suffered.
All her life, all Ruby has ever wanted was to belong. She tries so hard to fit in, first with her older sister's friends. But, they all told her to go away. That she's a baby compared to them. "Why would I want to bring you too?" Yang would always declare. "You're still just a baby!" Her friends would laugh with her, call her names as well, and leave her behind just like Yang did.
Her sister's words hurt her, and destroyed any chance of them having a sisterly relationship.
She tried so hard to be a good daughter. But, her father spent more of his time worrying about his troops, his responsibilities, his duties to Goddess and Country. "One day you will understand, Ruby." He would always tell her. "One day, you'll have to make the same sacrifices for a family of your own." His words never changed, nor his actions. He would be gone constantly, leaving her and Yang alone for weeks or even months at a time, meaning she had to grow up far too quickly.
Her father's priorities hurt her and robbed her of her childhood.
She tried so hard to be a good student. But, subjects like english, history, anything really to do with reading simply didn't make sense to her. She could stare at the page of a book for hours and all she could see is a jumble of letters. Everyone called her simple, stupid, a waste of time. "Oh look, it's little Stupid Ruby!" Cardin Winchester would declare every day at school. He and his cronies would torment and belittle her, and once even cut her long hair off. She suffered in silence, her arms the only evidence of her inner pain. Arms she always kept covered even in the worst heat of summer.
Her peers hurt her with their words, with their actions, and made her withdraw further into herself.
She finally stopped being a good sibling. She shut her sister out of her life first, Yang never noticing that Ruby stayed closeted in her room constantly. She was the bright shiny sun of everyone else's lives, with her outgoing and boisterous personality. Everyone's but Ruby's. If Yang is the bright sun, then Ruby has become the darkest moon of the family, and she likes it that way now.
She finally stopped being a good daughter. She did her chores without complaint and without needing to be told, save late at night when her father would already be in bed or Yang too preoccupied with her latest significant other. He never noticed that his younger daughter dresses in nothing but blacks and reds, or that she never let her hair grow back longer than above her shoulders. The career he chose to continue to support his family had a long ago casualty, and Ruby keeps it that way.
She finally stopped being a good student. She kept going to school, despite all but failing in everything. She went through the motions, ignored everyone when they called her things like Queen of Darkness or Salem's heir, or even worse. She ignored the shoves, the bullying, everything done to her until they all finally grew bored of it and her. She was finally left alone to sit in the deepest corner of all her classes, doodling to pass the time until she could return to her room and her solitude.
But then Ms. Peach, the choir director, invited the secretly shy and lonely girl to her class one day and encouraged her to sing. From the moment she heard the piano play, her soul became exultant, and her voice rose in response. Even Principle Ozpin, who was walking by at that moment stopped and listened as the shy, moody, rather dark girl who kept to herself was in possession of a voice that could bring even him to tears. Peach was enthusiastic in teaching her how to read music, how to project her voice, how to truly appreciate her hidden talent for music.
But, Taiyang finally noticed when he was forced to retire. He noticed the true state of his family, and decided to take firm control. He destroyed her growing dreams when he declared she and Yang both were to join Beacon Military Academy to finish school. That they needed discipline and not freedom to thrive like he once did. That neither of his children will follow in his long disappeared wife's footsteps, and lack the discipline needed to succeed where she obviously failed.
He was furious when Glynda Goodwitch admitted her as Ruby, allowing her to keep that one small bit of freedom.
She suffered like never before at Beacon. She was admitted two years early as a favor to her father, and she hated it. Her hate translated itself into her becoming a powerful fighter with her chosen weapon, a red and black fifty caliber sniper scythe she named Crescent Rose, and soon where she was once either dereided or ignored, she was now feared. Even her own sister fears her now, and that makes her happy.
She is the Darkest Reaper of Vale, and she hates them all.
But one person did not fear her. One person saw past her pain, her grief for her denied life. Weiss was from Atlas, a mysterious, inclusive land far to the north, where they say even the Grimm do not tread. A land of dark magic, of creatures even fouler than the enemy of the world. A land even the demiurge Salem has forsaken. Weiss did not fear the Darkest Reaper, and took an odd delight in hearing the whispers about her, about them both.
She has her own secrets, secrets Ruby will know all too soon.
She cannot help but to feel an attraction to the white haired girl from the north. Her porcelain skin is always smooth and cool to the touch. Her brilliant blue eyes are like the clear blue skies she would once sit under with her long departed mother while they laugh and imagine whimsical beasts and imaginary places. Her long white hair moves like the finest of silk curtains as she walks from class to class, her nose turned up to their peers as if they are all beneath her. All except for her. She treats the Reaper with respect, with courtesy, and after a time, holds out a hand of friendship to her, one she takes willingly.
She finally has a friend, a real friend. Someone who cares for her, Ruby Rose.
But certain things stand out to her as well. The way she barely eats anything but meat, and even then almost bloody and nearly raw. The way she approaches every mock battle with the cunning of a predator on the hunt. The skill with which she wields her rapier, a dust revolver styled weapon she has named Myrtenaster, with near lethal intent even during the simplest of spars against anyone willing to challenge her. She is the only one who can stand against her, her own formidable rage and loathing a match for the heiress's feral cunning and ferocity.
But one late night, during a restless night they both secretly shared, a truth is told, and their lives are changed forever.
She herself couldn't sleep. It was the one thing she could always count on being able to do. It was her refuge from the reality of her world, and she retreated to it every chance she could. But tonight, she tosses and turns, she begs and pleads with the treacherous brain that won't stop thinking, and finally surrenders and gets dressed. Taking up her scythe, she easily steals away into the Emerald Forest, the guards ignoring her out of fear. She runs deeply into the darkened woods, no fear for the Grimm that hide in the shadows as well as whatever other creatures may dwell within.
She never realizes that a pair of blue eyes follow her, belonging to the single person who doesn't fear her. The only person who is beginning to secretly adore her.
She finally stops near the old temple to the Brother of Light, which has been long abandoned when he left Remnant to it's fate. Sitting down, she begins to cry deep tears of pain and sorrow. She hates her life now, she hates being taught to kill, to end the lives of others. She despises the fact that she is good at it. She never wanted this. All she ever wanted was to be a good sibling, a good daughter, a good student. All she ever wanted was to belong, to love a certain white haired girl and be loved in return.
She almost screams in terror when the great white furred head lays in her lap, with sad blue eyes that reflect her pain.
She stares at the great beast, marveling at the fact that a wolf has appeared here. One of the few things she has managed to remember from her poor studies is that the Grimm killed all the wolves when they first came to Vale. None were spared, and somehow she knows this one knows that. To her surprise, she begins to pet the wild creature, smiling softly at the way it's tail begins to wag as it whines. And then she begins to talk to it. She talks about her mother, her father, her sister, her life. She is soon sobbing in grief at the sadness of her life thus far, and is surprised to see tears in the white wolf's eyes as well.
But she forgot that sorrow is a feast for the Grimm, and they soon gather around her and the white wolf both.
She makes her decision. She throws her scythe to the ground and gives in completely to her sorrow. She is so tired. She is so tired of being turned into someone she wants nothing to do with. She's so tired of hoping people will finally love her instead of hate her or fear her. She is so tired of dreaming of a pair of blue eyes that will never look lovingly at her. She is ready, and the Grimm will feed well on her. But she doesn't expect the snarling, the sudden sounds of battle. Opening her silver eyes, they widen as she sees the once four legged wolf has vanished, a naked Weiss snarling in her rage as she wields Myrtenaster against the foul creatures.
"YOU KILLED THEM ALL!"
She stares at the rage filled young woman. She's never seen her fight with this much savagery, this much hate. Even in battles in which she is outclassed or outnumbered, she is still controlled. She uses superior tactics, the icy calm she is infamous for, and her obviously hidden rage to still rip victory from the jaws of defeat.
"ALL THE PACKS OF VALE ARE DEAD!"
She picks Crescent Rose back up. The white haired girl is beginning to frighten her, and she does not frighten easily. She watches in growing terror as an Alpha Beowolf appears, howling in challenge, Weiss's answering howl frightening her to her very soul. She watches as the white haired woman tosses her sword to the side and begins to growl as she grows. She listens to the popping of bone and sinew as fur begins to spring from her bare skin. She stares on in horror as the one friend she has ever made turns into…
A werewolf. A creature from Remnant's darkest stories has come to life before her, and is defending her while taking vengeance for the long dead wolves of Vale.
"You will not hurt my Ruby…"
She screams as Weiss leaps towards the Alpha, her fangs bared and her still hand shaped front paws slashing at the creature of darkness. The Alpha charges her as well, it's own jaws wide open to bite and tear at the white werewolf, it's own claws slashing at her unarmored and exposed flanks. She hears her friend's scream of pain as the Alpha strikes harder than she can, and causes more damage than she can possibly manage in return, and she finally leaps into action. Weiss is the first person to be her friend. She is the first person to treat her like a person. She is the first person she's allowed herself to start having feelings for in her short life.
She may be ready to die, but she will not let Weiss die for her own selfish desires.
Crescent Rose strikes the Beowolf quickly, breaking the Alpha and the werewolf apart as the Grimm leaps back to avoid the deathblow Ruby aims at it. But Ruby is enraged now. She sees the bright red blood upon the moonlit ground, and it adds to her fury. She hears the whimpers of the injured wolf, and it increases her rage. She roars in her righteous anger as her scythe becomes a blur, the Alpha soon howling in pain before Ruby's final blow comes in her scythe hooking around its neck before she pulls the trigger, decapitating the beast with one final roar of triumph. It takes her a moment to calm herself, a long moment in which she has forgotten her anger, her sorrow, her self loathing. And then she finally remembers Weiss. In a panic, she begins to look for her friend, desperate to ensure that she is safe.
It doesn't take her long to find her, and her scream of anguish can be heard back at Beacon.
Weiss has managed to get back to a small cave, her clothes as well as some supplies stacked neatly in the back. She herself is panting heavily as blood flows steadily from her injuries. But her tail thumps on the ground weakly as Ruby slides to the ground in front of her. She doesn't hesitate, but begins to treat the slashing wounds, bandaging them carefully while doing her best to ignore the pain filled shrieks from the badly injured werewolf.
"Oh Goddesses, I'm so sorry, Weiss. I'm so so sorry!" Is her litany as she keeps at her work, until the blood finally stops. Until the white wolf goes silent save for her panting.
The sun rises, then sets once more, but Ruby has yet to leave the white werewolf's side. Weiss has slept the entire time, but she has stayed awake. She is too scared to close her eyes, terrified that if she relaxes her vigil for even a moment, she will lose the most important person in her life. But her body's needs will not be denied, and she finally falls asleep, the large canine head still in her lap and her grip firm on Crescent Rose's handle.
She dreams of white fur and sky blue eyes. Of days spent watching the skies and laughing. Of feeling loved once more, and being confident in being able to return that love.
She moans as she feels the urgency of the lips on her own. Of the feeling of cold skin upon her own now bare skin. Of cold hands exploring her body and her own hands wandering across smooth, uninjured skin in return. She moans in longing as lips caress her skin with feather light kisses. As her own fingers discover places on the other willing body that bring moans of pleasure from a voice she has come to adore since beginning at Beacon.
But she moans loudly as teeth sink into her collarbone, a tender, almost loving bite from the woman she knows she loves deeply.
"Ruby…" Her voice is husky as she releases the love bite, full of longing and need. She can feel a certain heat against her leg that is foreign to the cold that the rest of her skin belies. She herself feels so hot, so needed. She has never felt like this before, and she wants more. She needs more. But her eyes widen as she catches her lover's hands as they grab at the hem of her panties, her face full of fear once more.
"Weiss… I…"
"I know, Ruby." Weiss smiles softly at the Reaper. "I know what you are. But I have wanted you for months now. Since I saw your strength for myself. Since I got to know the real you, and not your mask of anger and self loathing that you hide behind."
"Weiss…"
"Ruby, I am the last of my pack." The werewolf informs her sadly. "I came to Vale seeking the packs that once roamed here, hoping to join them and be safe." She sighs sadly, her blue eyes dimming. "I am beginning to fear I am the last of my kind."
She sits up and pulls the werewolf into her arms. She knows all the signs of sorrow, being well acquainted with them herself. "I… Weiss I'm damaged. Why would you want someone like me?"
Their eyes meet, quicksilver staring into sky blue. "Because I have been alone since I was a child. But you make me feel like I am home now." She cuddles deeper into the Reaper's arms. "I feel safe with you, and I know I can trust you with my secret."
Ruby takes a moment to think, to gather her thoughts while considering everything she has been told. But her thoughts always return to a pair of sky blue eyes she loves to look into. Coming to a decision, she lifts the werewolf's face by her chin with a single finger and kisses her deeply, while her free hand pulls her even closer.
This may be a mistake, but it is going to be the best one she ever makes.
The cavern is soon filled with their moans, their cries of pleasure, their whispered words of love, their need for one another. Their lovemaking is tender at times, frenzied at others, and intense throughout. Morning found them once again asleep, this time in each other's arms and in a tangle of limbs, a part of Ruby still inside the white werewolf, who smiles as she sleeps deeply. They wake upon that glorious morning and decide that Beacon has nothing left for them, and decide to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Someplace where no one knows either of them.
Someplace where their future children can grow up safely…
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Weiss declares her love for her, and for the werewolf, she will throw everything away for a future with her...
Ruby opens one silver eye, smiling at the blue eyed pup staring back at her eagerly as she whines. Sitting up, she yawns as she stretches, her mouth opening wide as her fangs gleam in the light of the morning sunlight. Bowing her head down low, she nuzzles the white haired silver eyed pup tenderly before the two of them leave the comforts of the small, modest home she and Weiss have built together. It has been a decade since she and the white werewolf left Vale far behind and traveled to Mistral. To their surprise, as they explored the deepest parts of the wilds of Anima, they encountered a village full of others like Weiss, led by a lioness named Pyrrha Nikos and her own mate, a human woman named Nora.
She had heard of Pyrrha, who had been reported killed in a massive battle at Haven Academy. A report fabricated by the woman herself so she too could escape with her own mate and their hard won freedom...
They had met so many others, who had fled the destruction of their own packs and prides, their own groups and hutches. They met Velvet, who was a kind and gentle soul of a wererabbit and her mate Coco, who was the heiress of Mistral's largest corporation and their secret benefactor. They met Blake, a panther who loves to read, and her chameleon mate Ilia. There had even been a tearful reunion between Weiss and her older sister Winter, who had also barely survived the destruction of their pack and had also fled. They even met a pair of birds who squabbled constantly, an overly violent Raven and her dusty, drunken Qrow of a brother.
But the biggest shock comes when they reach one small cabin in particular, where a lonely woman lives. A lonely woman long thought vanished by the young woman, but who in truth had been forced to leave by the man she thought loved her.
Ruby sobs as she rushes into her mother's arms, Summer Rose holding her tightly as she too weeps in joy. A mother and her daughter are reunited to their eternal joy, and Weiss cheers in her happiness for them both.
They talked late into the night, the white werewolf asleep in her mate's lap as mother and daughter catch themselves up on years of their lives. Summer is livid at how Ruby has been treated, how she has suffered for so long because of her absence. Ruby had been furious to discover that her mother had been driven off due to a twist of fate, as she had been bitten by another werewolf during a mission. She had been bitten to save her life, and had been punished for it.
Ruby made her own decision that same night, and smiled as her beloved sank her fangs into her skin in a love bite that would change her forever. She turned willingly, determined that Weiss, her sister, and her own mother will not be the last of their kind.
She quietly cheered her mother onward as she found the courage to move on with Raven, who adored her and treated her with kindness, respect, and love. She had happily held her baby sister when she was born two years later, Weiss still at her side and a smile on her own face to match the look of peace in her eyes. She and Weiss had themselves celebrated the birth of their twin pups a year later, naming them after both their mothers.
But the biggest surprise is still to come.
She still checks her scroll from time to time, she and Pyrrha both agreeing that they cannot remain ignorant of the outside world. There is still danger out there, both from the humans and faunus as well as the Grimm, and all while quietly offering safe haven to others like them, as well as their families. They as well as Raven and Nora are the defenders and leaders of their small community, and they take their responsibilities seriously. But Ruby had been surprised to find an email waiting for her one day, when she had travelled far to the south before turning it on, a feat she can accomplish with ease thanks to her semblance and now enhanced senses and superior stamina.
She never expected to hear from her sister ever again.
Downloading it, she returns to the village and her mate, asking her to read it for her. Weiss of course does so, having been the one who finally helped the Reaper figure out that she was not stupid like everyone in her life claimed, but struggled with severe dyslexia. She and Summer have been helping her learn to finally read and write, but it is a slow process, one she still finds herself getting frustrated with as well as embarrassed. Opening it, she soon stops to summon Summer, the two of them sobbing at the state of the brawler's life since they fled. Tai has placed his blame on his eldest for her disappearance, and she has suffered greatly for it. Her life is a disaster now, and she has already been in a failed marriage. She begs Ruby to at least reassure her that she is alive, that she is at least doing well, that her suffering is worth it if it means that the sister she long ignored is finally happy.
That they have traded places, and that her sister is finally whole in spirit and at peace.
Pyrrha does not hesitate to give her permission to bring Yang back. To allow them to reunite, so that she can see for herself that her wishes are indeed true, and that Ruby is happy and thriving. She goes and meets Yang at Mistral's airship port, where the two of them meet in a long overdue hug between sisters, and not the strangers they have been all their lives. They return together, where Yang is also overjoyed to be reunited with her own mother, Raven. Ruby herself nods in satisfaction that her sister is on her way to a peace of mind she now enjoys, and is grateful that she too settles into life in their village, calling it home as well.
Only she and Weiss bear witness to Winter sinking her fangs into Yang's flesh, the two of them falling in love in this place they too call home.
Summer and Luna play happily with the other children, who include their cousins and their aunt. They are gentle with their younger brother, and fiercely protective of their newborn sister. Ruby and Weiss have slowly become the leaders of their still growing safe haven, and lead both by excellent example as well as with hard learned wisdom and knowledge. They share a deep, beautiful commitment to one another that many envy, one forged in mutual understanding and undying love.
Weiss Schnee came into Ruby's life, and she has prospered...
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Remembrance of Things Past - Eps 1-10 Impression/Rant
Not really a first impressions post since there are only 2 episodes left, but as I’m waiting on the last few episodes, I thought I’d rant a bit about the drama here. 
First of all, I agree with everything that AvenueX said in her review of the first 6 episodes. Her review is what prompted me to start the drama. I needed a realistic slice of life drama to balance out the idol drama that is You Are My Glory (which I’m also waiting on for new episodes), and ROTP seemed to fit bill. ROTP is just so good.
I binged ROTP in 3 days. It could have been 2 days, but I started it at 2am on a Wednesday night, so I didn’t get very far the first night. Each episode is about 75 minutes long, so almost the equivalent of 2 regular lengthed episodes, but not quite. 
I cried during the first two episodes. The character development is just phenomenal. You really feel for Jing Jing’s character even though you’ve only seen her character for an hour. There are little moments throughout the drama that made me tear up too, like when the girls were celebrating Nan Jia jie’s 36th birthday and I got emotional over how close their bond is, or moments when the girls reflected on their aging parents and how we often take our parents for granted. 
Plot pacing and structure
The plot is tight and well-paced, and each girl’s storyline is interwoven well. Sometimes they’d cut between simultaneous scenes between the girls to compare and contrast what they’re each going through. For instance, when Xu Yan is having an argument with her boyfriend, the drama will also cut and flip back and forth to Qiao Xi Chen going through problems at her workplace. When Xu Yan makes up with her boyfriend, the drama cuts to QXC and Nan Jia being romantically pursued by Jian Yi Fan and Ou Yang. It’s interesting to see how their lives mirror and differ from each other. 
Because the storylines between the girls are so interwoven and keep flipping back and forth between each other, it makes it hard to skip scenes because you can’t just skip an entire segment or else you’ll miss something important in all 3 storylines. I can see that this might be a little annoying if you have a preference for one of the girls and want to skip someone else’s storyline. But I actually like seeing all 3 of their stories play out, so I’m not bothered by it. 
Another aspect about the plot’s structure that I appreciate is how they use the mystery behind Jing Jing’s suicide as a throughline for the drama. Up until episode 8ish(?), each episode ends with a question about Jing Jing’s life prior to her suicide and the next episode opens with the girls trying to find an answer or a clue to it. The girls and we the audience learn more and more about Jing Jing with each episode. However, episodes 9 and 10 deviate from the structure a bit and so the drama has recently been less and less focused on Jing Jing’s story, especially after they found out that she had depression. The drama seems to imply that her depression due to the stress of living in Beijing was the main factor that led to her suicide, while the successive unfortunate events that happened on her birthday was the trigger. 
Characters
I like all the main characters in the drama, albeit some a little more than others, which I’ll explain. I think the 3 male love interests are a little too perfect though, and so I guess this slice of life drama is actually a little idealistic after all. 
Xu Yan - My least favourite of the four girls. She’s materialistic, but not as spoiled as I though she would be. But it does annoy me how she keeps picking fights with Shen Zi Chang, when he’s just trying his best. He’s so tolerant and patient with her. He apologizes, they make up, and then the cycle repeats. It’s just a very unhealthy relationship, and I’m tried of seeing them fight and make up. 
EDIT: So, I started writing this review when I had only watched up until episode 9, but now that I’ve finished episode 10, um, wtf?? Xu Yan made a bad choice and got scammed of all her money, her friends try to comfort her, loan her money, and tell her not to repress her emotions like Jing Jing. And then she just lashes out at them saying they have no right to comfort her because they were the ones who caused Jing Jing’s death. Xu Yan starts off blaming QXC for not knowing that Jing Jing had a crush on her boyfriend, and then she blames Nan Jia for being a bad older cousin. She blames both of them for being ignorant of Jing Jing’s depression and only caring about themselves. QXC (rightfully) retorts back than Xu Yan knew all along that Jing Jing had a crush on her boyfriend, and yet Xu Yan never told anyone, so she’s just as guilty as all of them. Honestly, I was sympathetic towards Xu Yan before, but she was just so ungrateful and entitled in that scene. What right does she have pointing fingers and assigning guilt to people? And to weaponize Jing Jing’s death against them? That’s just cruel. The argument between them in that scene at the end of episode 10 just felt so random and out of place. All of a sudden, Xu Yan points out all of these problems she has with QXC and Nan Jia, when all they’ve ever done is pamper her. Also, you can’t blame QXC for dating Lin Rui even if Jing Jing liked him first, and not to mention that QXC wasn’t even aware. QXC might not have even chosen to date Lin Rui if she had known. But it happens all the time between friends where your friend might date someone you like. All’s fair in love and war, and there’s no first come first serve rule when it comes to dating.
Jing Jing - She becomes more complex as you learn more about her. She puts her friends first and is fiercely supportive and protective of them. We get a glimpse of how far she’s willing to go for them she pulls a butcher knife from the kitchen and points it at QXC’s debt collectors in the first episode. Her friends see her as being really open, expressive, and bubbly. She’s the first one they each go to whenever they need help with a problem or want to show off an achievement. But in reality, she’s really secretive. She hides her feelings to keep her friends happy, and when they slowly uncover her secrets, she becomes less and less recognizable to them, as though she’s been living a double life all along. 
At the end of episode 10, Jing Jing is described as the “hole in the tree” that everyone goes to to share their secrets, but they forget that she’s also a person with her own secrets to share, and she’s not just a tree hole to serve others. Can we blame the friends for not paying enough attention to Jing Jing and only using her for emotional support? Yes and no. It’s complicated. We should always do more to try to care for others and to be more attentive to them, but at the same time, it’s impossible to completely know a person. I purposely hide parts of my life from my friends because I don’t want them worrying or judging or commenting. So I would never expect them to be able to figure it out, and neither do I want them to figure it out. I think it’s interesting that the drama is exploring the friends’ self-imposed guilt, but I don’t agree that Xu Yan should be the one to point it out them and to be Jing Jing’s spokesperson. Xu Yan positions herself as Jing Jing’s heroic and righteous advocator, when really Xu Yan is the most problematic person out of the three remaining friends. 
Also, after seeing how the friends interact, they don’t feel narcissistic. Yes, they each readily vent about their problems to each other, but they also ask about the other person. It’s not one-sided. Xu Yan talks about her problems with her boyfriend, but she also asks and cares about what’s happening in QXC’s life and vice versa. Nan Jia is more mature and is busy with her business, but she always takes the time and effort to help her friends. All of their conversations are reciprocal and they are genuinely interested in each other’s lives. So, I don’t think they have a major communication problem or that they don’t care or that they’re ignorant. Which again, makes Xu Yan’s accusations in episode 10 feel even more unfair. 
Ji Nan Jia - Jing Jing’s cousin and also the oldest of the three girls (about a decade older). Sassy, witty, unapologetic, confident. She’s who you’d think of when you imagine a successful, independent, career-driven woman. She’s extremely annoyed by her mother’s nagging to get married. But she herself is trying to figure out whether she actually wants to find someone to settle down with or if she just wants to beat her biological clock and have children while she still can. She’s pursued by Ou Yang, ten years her junior, and he’s absolutely enamoured with her. He seems to be unconditionally in love with her, which is what I meant when I said that the male leads in this drama seem too perfect and idealistic. But I like Ou Yang though. He’s adorable. 
Qiao Xi Chen - The main character of the four main characters. Like Nan Jia, she’s also quite sassy. In some ways, she’s like a younger version of Nan Jia. QXC is also very career driven and competitive. She’s confident and believes in her abilities, but she also gets easily overwhelmed and emotional (like when her stress and nervousness prevented her from being able to give her proposal presentation and she ran out of the room. I’ve definitely felt that way before my committee meetings). QXC is a character you can self-insert as because she represents the everyday employee who struggles with the long commute to work and tries to stand out and make a name for herself in the company. QXC is also extremely paranoid, which is understandable when you’re a woman living alone in the city. I know what it’s like to have to briskly walk home late at night and constantly having to look over your shoulder to make sure no one’s following you, or having to check your hotel room before you change, or having to make it seem like you’re not the only one living in your apartment. QXC is smart, logical, helps people when she can, but is also reasonably selfish when she needs to protect herself, like when her co-workers try to take advantage of her or throw her under the bus. She’s a character everyone can relate to.
She and Jian Yi Fan also make such a cute pairing. I love all their interactions. I love how Jian Yi Fan can’t help but smile when he’s with her, but he tries hard to clamp it down. I love how QXC is aware of her own attraction and easily admits to to Xu Yan that she does have feelings for him instead of beating around the bush. And I especially love the awkward but adorable confession scene in episode 8. Such great banter and play on words (”你是什麼意思” “沒意思” “你對我是不是有意思?”). The drama did a great job of depicting the frustration of trying to guess whether someone likes you when they seem to be sending mixed signals. A lot of dramas that don’t focus on romance seem to do a better job of showing romance than idol dramas that focus on nothing but romance. I grew up with TVB dramas, and in most of them, romance is usually secondary to the main plot, but I always loved the romances in those dramas.
Like Ou Yang, JYF is such an idealistic love interest. He’s so supportive of and attentive to QXC. I haven’t watched too many slice of life dramas, but To Dear Myself and My Best Friend’s Story both had flawed (and sometimes even irredeemable) male love interests. This drama’s rose-coloured glasses definitely reduces the amount of performative angst, but it also makes the drama a little less realistic. The men in Jing Jing’s life aren’t villainized either even when you expected them to be sinister. I think the most antagonistic character is Lin Rui, but even he’s made to be sympathetic. In fact, nearly all the characters in the drama are sympathetic characters because many of the choices they made were forced because of the situation they found themselves in, and what they did was an act of self-preservation. And so, you can’t hate them or blame them. 
Acting and Dialogue
I mean, what’s there to say? The acting and dialogue just sucks you right in. I love it so much. The characters are so animated and charming because of how well the actors delivered their lines. I’m not a mandarin speaker (I’m a cantonese speaker but learned mandarin afterwards), but even I was able to notice the colloquialism and slangs and idiosyncratic ticks in speech that made the dialogue feel so real and alive. The actors had great comedic timing, and when they cried, you could feel how vulnerable they are. 
Lastly, I also like the little “life lessons” they include at the end of the drama where there’d be a voiceover by one of the actresses and they’d muse about life. One of my favourite musings when when they talked about what it means to have a sense of security. For some people, having a sense of security is about having a certain amount of money in your bank account, or having someone waiting for you to come home, but a sense of security isn’t something tangible or physical that you can achieve or possess. It’s a belief. It’s a belief that you’re able to face any problem and that life will go on. It’s a belief that the one that you love will be faithful and supportive. It’s a type of belief that allows you to be confident to face uncertainty. And thus, a sense of security is something that only you can give yourself. I really like that little food for thought because it’s a great reminder to be self-dependent and to not rely on external gratification. Que sera sera. What will be will be. Don’t get too hung over on failure and don’t let stress dominate your life. 
Note: Watching this at the same time as You Are My Glory is extremely humbling. YAMG is an idol drama, and so they make the romance look so easy. Heck, idol dramas make being a protagonist easy. The protagonist is destined to stand out from the crowd. It’s easy to be noticed. It’s easy to cause a change in the status quo. But ROTP is a reminder that we’re all practically nobodies in the big city. It feels impossible to make an impression when there are millions of other people living almost the same life as you are. There’s nothing special about you, and it’s hard to find meaning and purpose. Obviously, the drama shows that even when it feels like you’re trying to swim upstream in a big city, we each have a life worth living. We may feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but to our friends and family, we’re their world and they’re ours. I think it was Camus who said that we should find meaning in the face of absurdity. Live in spite of how absurd and meaningless things feels. Anyway, this drama gives you a lot to think about, even though I don’t really like the melodrama they’ve recently added to drag the plot (*cough cough* that explosive argument scene at the end of episode 10 that I keep ranting about). You’d think that a 12-episode drama wouldn’t have filler, and yet here we are. 
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ecofinisher · 3 years
Text
Stuff I noticed at Snow Queen Fire & Ice and Miraculous Ladybug 😀
I just had to. Even if it is a waste of time. 😅I've done one a long while ago between Miraculous and Monster Buster Club. This one had to be done as well, all just because of those small, little spirits 🥺😥
To be clear, I’m not comparing it to what is better and whatnot. I’m comparing the similarities between the two. The spirits there made me think of the kwamis? Funny I didn't pay attention to it at first xD But then the fun part came......Three times I have watched the movie and I suddenly began to think......Hmm Gerda has the creation powers like Ladybug and Rollan destruction......Holy brick! They could be the lovesquare as well if they had added more romance into it 😂 How did I not see? (It's because you saw Kristanna mixed with Hansanna you nut)
So where do I start? Well just to summarize the shows for those who don’t know one/both of them:
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Short info about both, if unfamiliar:
Miraculous Ladybug is a French animated TV show, that debuted in 2015 and is set in the modern metropole Paris and is focused on the lives of the clumsy Marinette Dupain-Cheng and the famous teeny-model Adrien Agreste. Both wield special magical jewelry, which is called a “Miraculous” which they use to transform into the superheroes “Ladybug and Cat Noir”  The two don’t know each other’s identity, but funnily Adrien has a huge crush on Ladybug and in the civilian life he sees her as just a friend, while Marinette is obsessed with Adrien and sees Cat Noir only as his trustful crime-fight partner. Both students are around 14 years old in the show.
As superheroes they fight villains, that were akumatized by Hawk Moth. (He owns the butterfly miraculous, with which he can create supervillains by sending an akuma (Butterfly jinxed by Hawk Moth’s magic) and Hawk Moth’s miraculous sends people’s negative feelings such as anger, sadness and disappointment and uses his akumas to follow them and akumatize them and they’re transformed by Hawk Moth into a specific-themed supervillain.
Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice (Release year: 2016)
Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice is the third installment of the Russian franchise "The Snow Queen" It consisted currently out of 4 movies, an upcoming 5th installment, and a pre-school TV show. The first movie came out in 2012 and was also the studio's very first movie.
Resume from the first two movies is the young girl Gerda, which lost her parents to the Snow Queen makes her way through the entire snow lands to find her younger brother Kai, which was kidnapped y the north wind. With help of Orm, Snow Queen's servant she makes her way up to the Palast and defeats her, saving her brother and waking up Orm's eyes to a "better world" The sequel is focused on Orm's continuation, which makes a promise to never lie again and this promise made a reflection of himself come to life and appear near him, when he had no idea, what to do with life issues. The more he began to create white lies and bigger lies, the more life his reflection gained until he was able to get out to the real world. The reflection, which calls itself "The Snow King" tricks Orm and leads a fight against Troll warriors by sending his ice-made minions. Gerda was the last warrior to enter and make it to the main hall of the palace to miss Orm, which was fading away due to Snow King's existence and he pretends to be an injured Orm, which is warmly embraced by the girl, but then gets frozen by him, not realizing she had fallen into a trap. When things were over for everyone and the bad guys had won, Orm figured out how he would make everything okay by confessing his mistakes, which erased Snow King from existence and unfroze all warriors and friends again, which were angered at the naive troll.
This is lowkey spoiler-free. I didn't want to go into much detail here, but I would suggest you watch these movies, mostly no. 2 and 3, which are really worth seeing. As well you can see the first and see how much the studio had improved since the first up to the 2 and 3 one.
The Fire and Ice one, I'm supposed to be talking about happens a few years later, Gerda and Kai left the orphanage to go live on their own and make money to be able to at least be able to eat. Their last visit didn't make any profit and they took a ride with an old friend of theirs Alfida (The Robber girl) to pass the night by Orm, their troll friend, which had matured and was responsible to babysit the triplets of his cousin. On said night, a Spanish boy named Rollan shows up by his doorstep and is introduced to the visitors as a friend he met shortly. After the dinner ended in a disaster Kai and Gerda split and Rollan followed Gerda to give her rights, then bonded with her from being looking for his mother as well and introduces her to a map with an artifact called "The Wishing Stone" which grants any wish. Gerda agrees in tagging along and together they make it to survive the dangerous tomb encountering the wishing stone. Fact is the wishing stone was something else and this is where the powers of the Snow Queen and the Fire Demon were kept and due to Gerda and Rollan's touch on the stone, it had awakened the spirits, getting the two infected with the powers of said villains. Soon as they find out with Orm what happened, they need to get back to the tomb to retrieve the powers before the north star rises and makes their transformation complete, which means both would lose their soul/bodies to the villain. .
Random info:
1. The most popular franchise of the studio aka knowns for:
Miraculous is mostly know to be addressed as a ZAG animation product, but other known studios have worked on it as well such as SAMG Animation, TOEI and Method Animation.
Currently, the most popular series produced in France.
The Snow Queen 3 is the overall fifth movie released by Wizart Animation and was on its release the studio's best-grossing movie so far. Currently, the studio's filmography contains about 8 released movies (Counting with Secret Magic Control Agency in 2021), Two televisions shows and at the moment three movies are announced to be released.
Currently, the franchise is the most popular one in Russia, which is also where it was produced.
The similarities I noticed:
The spirits
Coal (Up) and Snowflake (Down) (Left Side)
Plagg (Up) and Tikki (Down)(Right Side)
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Tikki and Snowflake have female pronouns. Both are shown to be "feminine", kind, lovable, and correct. They're a spirit of creation.
Plagg and Coal have male pronouns. Both are shown to be "male". cunning and curious. They're a spirit of destruction.
All four are able to use their powers on their own. They don't need to be with their holder to be capable of.
Differences:
- Plagg and Tikki are able to communicate verbally with each other and with humans.
-Coal and Snowflake can't speak, they usually use body language and mimic. Also, they do noises like laughing, groaning, speaking, and such.
- According to Tikki, her species (Kwami) don't fall in love/can't fall in love.
- Snowflake and Coal are shown to be romantically interested in each other. They're shown flirting and having little date-like moments, as they're away from their "owners"
- Coal is able to multiplicate. It's unknown if he's able to do it in command or only if he falls or is hit.
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The "Alter egos"
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Marinette is the face behind Ladybug and Adrien wears the mask of Cat Noir.
Gerda is possessed with the ice-powers of the Snow Queen and Rollan wields the fire-power of the Fire Demon.
Gerda and Marinette share the creation ability, while Adrien and Rollan are responsible for the destruction. They're each other's opposites.
Differences: Gerda and Rollan are aware of each other's identity and recognize each other's faces, despite small differences. Adrien and Marinette don't know each other's hero identity and weirdly have minor differences in their looks.
Marinette and Adrien's personality as heroes is quite different from their civilian ones, while Gerda and Rollan's don't seem any different.
It's unknown if, during the time Rollan and Gerda are under possession, their personalities are slightly altered by the villains or not. Rollan is shown to get quickly tempered with Gerda's friend, when it comes to their mishap, which usually turns into arguments.
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The Yin-Yang effect
Power of creation and destruction
Marinette = Ladybug miraculous, the red earrings / Power of Luck (Creation)
Adrien = Black Cat Miraculous, the black ring / Power of Misfortune (Destruction)
Gerda = Ice (Creation) (The ice-blue shape on the crystal)
Rollan = Fire (Destruction) (The red shape on the crystal)
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Character A bickers often with character B.
Ladybug with Cat Noir. Most of the moments Ladybug feels annoyed at Cat Noir's puns and flirt attempts during their missions. She had her rude moments, but deep inside her, she adores him. With Adrien's she's currently befriended, but has a huge crush, nearly an obsession with the blonde, which sometimes makes her double life harder and under pressure, she has taken choices, which led to ungood consequences.
Gerda with Rollan. Rollan's seems more relaxed with pressuring into retrieving the powers back, unlike Gerda. Rollan's easy tempter with Orm, when he's blamed for his issues annoys her as well. Gerda has shown interest in Rollan since the night she has met him and they bonded over the night when heading to the forbidden Tomb. Rollan has shown interest in her as well, but not as much as her.
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"Buttmonkey Sidekick"
Cat Noir and Rollan.
Cat Noir - Thrown around by villains at billboards, yeeted by his own dad at the fricking Eiffel tower, sometimes risked his life to protect Ladybug and get wrapped up into odd situations.
Rollan suffered a few nutshots (One by himself as well), survived a very dangerous tomb, had his head frozen by Gerda accidentally, managed to step-dance in the middle of a shoot-out without getting hit by a bullet, accidentally (Or not) uses firepower with help of his butt. (Sounds ridiculous? There' the picture 😂) Press R for respect.
Naturally handsome boys.
Cat Noir and Rollan.
With and without "masks".
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Don't think before acting
Cat Noir and Rollan.
Characters look the same
Gerda and Ladybug
Gerda has additional makeup on her face.
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Characters look differently with their alter egos
Cat Noir and Rollan
Cat Noir has a wilder hairstyle and has cat-like eyes.
Rollan has a different skin tone, a fire-like shaped hairstyle, which he can put on fire and his eyes are slightly red-brownish.
The brains
Ladybug and Gerda.
The muscle
Cat Noir and Rollan.
Falling into the darkness
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Cat Noir and Rollan
Cat Noir lets an akuma take over him and turn him into Chat Blanc, which destroys the entire world in an alternate universe.
Rollan lets the Fire Demon take over his body at the retrieval of the power and nearly commits genocide of entire kingdom.
Tall boy, smoll girl
Cat Noir to Ladybug
Rollan to Gerda
"Lovesquare"
Cat Noir has a crush on Ladybug. Ladybug doesn't. She has a crush on Adrien, which is Cat Noir's alter ego, which she's not aware of. Adrien sees Marinette as a friend only and has no idea, she and Ladybug are the same person although they look the same.
Gerda is attracted to Rollan since the first time she saw him. Rollan begins to feel attracted to Gerda with the time she's around him.
Rollan and Gerda are aware of each other because they were given the powers in the same place.
Marinette and Adrien were confirmed to be canon and should end up in the 5th season, eventually.
Rollan and Gerda should be considered canon at the end of the 4th part, due to the ending credits showing them share a kiss.
Power font:
Ladybug & Cat Noir: "Magic jewelry" (Miraculouses)
Rollan & Gerda: The wishing stone
Difference:
The wishing stone takes away after 24 hours of control over the power wielders and turns them into the slave of Snow Queen and the Fire Demon. The characters' real person is gone for good.
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texanredrose · 3 years
Text
Okay, to put some limitations on this, I’m only including the WIPs that I’ve done more than a synopsis for... that I can remember... that’s on Google Drive... that I actually think I might post one day... but haven’t posted yet because my posted WIPs are fairly easy to identify... okay... I got tagged by @unsteadyshade and I’m tagging @faunusrights and @alexlayer69
1) Across Time - Inuyasha AU where Weiss gets thrown back in time to the ancient past, where she meets two demons (Yang and Blake) warring against each other over a misunderstanding.
2) Alpha’s Devotion - Omega’s Strength, but from Winter’s POV.
3) Bears, Oh My - An exhausted Winter, lost on a hike, comes across a cabin where Yang lives with her three pet bears.
4) Brave New World - Continuation of the Dishonored AU where Ruby and Winter reflect on the new Mantle.
5) Bruised - Third installment to the ace!Yang AU. 
6) Coming Home - Based on Dash’s Tiny Knight AU, Princess Blake is betrayed and stranded far from home and must rely on a reticent knight named Weiss to return to her kingdom.
7) Complications Always Arise - Papa Schnee is demanding Weiss marry before he’ll allow her to take his place as head of the SDC, so Yang volunteers to pretend to be Weiss’ beloved. No one else knows the relationship is fake, least of all Blake and Winter, and it’s just a bunch of pain.
8) Divided - Continuation of the By Moonlight AU where Whitley returns to the castle and Winter’s not upset by that- and Winter’s upset by the fact she’s not upset and has to figure out why her inner wolf is cool with this when she should, by all rights, be furious.
9) Dragonsbane - Mage Knight Winter hears tale of a dragon in the countryside that the local villages wish to see vanquished. Winter, however, has other plans.
10) Eye of the Beholder - Blinded and near death after a battle, Winter is rescued by the mysterious Yang and is nursed back to health despite her protests otherwise. (It’s a Medusa!AU.)
11) Fabled - Fable 3 AU where Princess Ruby and Princess Yang are forced to confront the fact that Queen Raven has lost her fucking mind, only to discover that fear drove the woman insane- a fear they must confront themselves.
12) Fields of Love - Farmer Yang offers a job and housing to apparent single mother Winter and her young daughter Penny. What starts as a kind gesture grows into something so much more.
13) Full Circle - Van Helsing (2004) AU, Winter and Weiss, amnesiacs employed by the church to handle all manner of unholy problems, are sent to discover what happened to King Taiyang. Along the way, they become wrapped up in a centuries spanning prophecy and a bloodline hanging in the balance.
14) High Bar, Low Blow - Yang owns a bar where the gimmick is that everyone’s an out of work actor and the staff is staging an ongoing drama on par with a soap opera to keep their customers coming back. Winter joins the staff and then things get a bit real.
15) Hoodlums and Hijinks - Robin Hood AU where Princess Winter and Princess Weiss are just as in favor for overthrowing the king as the group of bandits run by Ruby, Yang, and Blake. 
16) Last One 2: Electric Boogaloo (title subject to change) - a sequel to Last One where the haunt continues.
17) Lexical Access - Sequel to Tip of the Tongue, where Yang gives her girlfriend a bit of roleplaying payback.
18) Little Red - Carmen Sandiego AU where Ruby was kidnapped adopted by a group of thieves and raised to become the world’s greatest thief, but a chance meeting with Penny via a stolen phone opens her eyes to the wider world, and she meets the rebellious heiress Weiss, street smart Blake, and brawler Yang, creating a team that works to foil Ruby’s former friends while eluding capture by mysterious operatives with a somewhat familiar white color scheme...
19) Long Term Investment - Yang, a fae who lives in the woods, makes a deal with Princess Winter to save the Queen. The price? Winter’s firstborn. Winter misunderstands how she’s expected to get pregnant and Yang’s never actually intended to collect. Next thing Yang knows, Winter’s moving into the clearing beside her tree home.
20) Miscalculation - Another Omegaverse AU where Weiss is an omega and Blake and Yang are alphas, except Weiss lied and said she was an alpha when enrolling in Beacon and now she’s locked in a room with Blake and Yang on the verge of starting her heat. Sharing is caring.
21) More Than Words Can Say - Winter, rendered mute by a military accident early in her career, is honestly the best girlfriend Yang’s ever had. However, tonight’s the night they’ve decided to get intimate, and that includes showing some scars that they don’t show often. It’s less about sex and more about trust and intimacy.
22) Music of the Night - Phantom of the Opera AU where the mysterious, disfigured shade of the opera house, Weiss, finds herself at odds with the rich, jovial Yang in a competition for Blake’s heart. Then there’s Adam being a dick, too, and the opera house has never seen so much drama.
23) My Heart Will Go On - It’s the Titanic, but double the rich, unwilling-to-marry ladies and triple the won-a-ticket-to-a-ship ruffians. Penny’s there too; she, like Ruby, just really likes ships.
24) One Fucking Favor - Winter’s due for a long assignment and wants to make a sex tape for stress relief purposes. Yang doesn’t ask questions; she’s just the one with the camera. But then, Winter’s partner for the vid doesn’t show up. What’s Yang going to do about it?
25) Prophecy - Star Wars AU where Ruby, Yang, and Blake are trained as Jedi, Winter and Weiss are part of the clone army, and Ruby’s the chosen one. That’s a lot of pressure to put on someone, but Senator Salem is there to lend a helping hand...
26) Propositioned - Faunus experience bouts of heat; sometimes, they can safely ignore it and go about their lives, but every now and again, they really can’t. Concerned for Blake’s health as she’s skipped too many heats to be healthy, Yang sets up a partner for Blake’s heat. Blake’s not a fan but she does like the idea of banging Weiss Schnee.
27) Proven - ARK: Survival Evolved AU where Winter, after being ‘won’ by Yang, is taken into the bowels of the earth to learn how the underground tribes who inhabit the area survive in such an unforgiving environment. As she acclimates to the tribe’s ways, she finds herself carving out her own path, culminating in facing off against the Queen and proving herself worthy.
28) Reaping What You Sow - When Winter escaped to the countryside with Penny to start a farm, she knew she had her work cut out for her. In need of help and facing a harsh cold season, she hires Yang, a one armed drifter, to help her. The two end up needing the other more than they could’ve imagined.
29) Tear My Heart Open - Blake thought she understood how the world worked. As a member of the White Fang Gang, all she needed to do was keep everyone motivated to continue their ongoing street war against the police and authorities bent on keeping them down. But while running from the cops, she’s offered sanctuary in the home of one Weiss Schnee and her girlfriend, Yang. From there, her perception of the world is completely upended.
30) The Duel - After her father offered her hand in marriage to the winner of a tournament, Winter opted to assume a disguise and fight for the prize herself. In the final match, she faces Yang Xiao Long, a competitor she’s come to know quite well, and she finds her conviction to win wavering slightly. Is it enough to lose her the fight?
31) The Lies We Tell Ourselves - Weiss has made it; she’s opened her tattoo shop in Vale, well away from her father, and aside from a bad first impression with the florists across the parking lot, everything’s looking up for her- until her father finds her. Luckily, Blake’s been through some shit and doesn’t mind helping Weiss drive daddy dearest up the wall, even if it means letting her own parents think she’s dating Weiss. It’s not like either of them is going to catch feelings... unless...
32) The Princess’ Bride - After losing her fiancée to the dreaded White Fang Pirates, Yang vows to take to the sea herself and exact her revenge. Princess Weiss finds herself falling madly in love with Yang, who still loves Blake, and all this is thrown into even more chaos when Yang gets kidnapped and Blake comes back from the dead! 
33) Two for One - Yes, another Omegaverse AU. Five years after the fall of Beacon, Yang and Blake cross paths, each believing the other has spent the time keeping their mutual mate, Weiss, safe. When they realize Weiss is with neither of them, old wounds are torn open, but before they can resolve their dispute, Winter captures the both of them and hauls them to a remote part of Atlas where an SDC facility has been turned into a fortress. There, they find a mortally wounded Weiss clinging to life and raising twins daughters; she gives her mates until her death to endear themselves to their children, else the twins might opt to stay with Winter and be kept from Blake and Yang for good. Between learning about their kids, Blake and Yang navigate their complicated feelings and try to reconnect with Weiss, all while a sinister force gathers to destroy the fortress and steal the prize within.
34) Weaknesses - Loosely set in the Glamour AU, Yang is being forced to assume her mother’s position as leader of their vampire coven. Her fellow vamps disapprove of Yang’s werewolf girlfriend. Winter, of course, doesn’t care.
I got lazy and cut a bunch out. No, fuck you, I don’t have too many AUs, I will add more if I want. Also, some of these, the first chapter is posted on my Patreon. Don’t ask me which ones; I genuinely have no idea. I’m bad at this, y’all.
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kingangelrose · 3 years
Text
RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 6 Recap
“Midnight”
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Reflecting back to her past, Cinder sees visions of her scrubbing the floorboards of an old worn out barn, being bullied by two boys, too weak to fight back strongly and being alone while other children play. 
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Cinder also remembers applying for a job as a waitress at a fancy mansion, where she met the lady in charge as well as two other women there. The lady in charges says to a young Cinder that she is to fold the laundry, clean the dishes and wax the floors enough for them to be eaten off of, as the lady leaving, Cinder weakly asked her for food, which the two women laughed at, the lady turned around and threw a bread roll to the floor at Cinder, then telling her to get started with the chores, when she turned around to leave, Cinder quickly ate the bread roll from off the dirty floor, as the two women laughed at her and left as well.
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Throughout her life in the mansion, Cinder served food to the patrons there, even preparing food for them, she tries to sneak on strawberry from the cake she prepared, but one of the twins slapped Cinder’s hand before she could and took the cake away from her, then the other twin ate the strawberry off the cake. Cinder was left with little bread crust scraps and unfinished drinks after patrons finished the dishes. Cinder had many things to do at the mansion, dusting statues, unclogging toilets, and folding toilets, carrying them, even dropping plates, breaking them, with no assistance to speak of. 
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While Cinder was scrubbing the floors of a hallway, she noticed a huntsman in the lobby, holding a sword, which peaked her interested, but then she heard a squishing sound, and the twins tracked and stomped mud on the floor that Cinder was scrubbing, one of them says that she missed a spot and they both started laughing at her, it only made Cinder mad as she grips the brushed with a heated up hand and threw at the twins, causing a dust cloud to appear, this caught the lady’s attention and afterwards, she punished Cinder by shocking her by the neck wearing a necklace using a device, saying that she needs to learn her place, forcing Cinder to say without her, she is nothing.
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Later that night, through the vents to the basement, Cinder stole the huntsman’s sword from before, while Cinder unwrapped the cloth, holding the sword, the huntsman found Cinder, saying that the sword wasn’t hers, Cinder then threw sword at him, but he deflected it with two steel weapons, causing the sword to stick to the wall, the huntsman then said that he wasn’t going to hurt Cinder, and then he rolls one of the steel weapons on the floor for Cinder to take, as Cinder charges at him with it, but the huntsman grabbed the weapon by hand and says to her that he has seen her around, saying that she’s hasn’t been given any fair treatment, but hurting those women wouldn’t make her life any better, saying that she can either run for the rest of her life or she could find another way to handle it, Cinder then says to him that he can do and go wherever he wants to, the huntsman asks her if she wants to be like him, if she wants to be a huntress, and Cinder shakes her head yes, he asked how old she was, Cinder says that she was 10, the huntsman then took the sword out of the wall and threw it to Cinder to catch and says that they have seven years to prepare her for the huntsman exam.
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Since then, Cinder had the motivation to keep on going throughout the chores and abuse, as the huntsman would trained her every day in secret, as time passed on, the huntsman gave Cinder her very own sword like his and tells her in a few years, she’ll be free, which made Cinder very happy, 
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However, that happiness didn’t last long.  The twins told their mother, who was the lady in charge, that they found Cinder’s weapon, which the lady was ready to take. When the huntsman arrived, no one was at the front desk, but then he heard a loud noise from the basement, he ran then saw the twins laid out and Cinder choking the lady, telling her that without her, she is nothing, but because of her, she is everything, the lady shocked her with all the power in the device, but she was choked out by Cinder so much that it made her dropped the device, the huntsman called out her name, and when Cinder saw him, she said that she won’t have to run anymore, but the huntsman with a sad expression then says that running is all she will do now, Cinder’s happy expression turned to anger as she was now in combat with her former mentor, as both their auras were depleted, the huntsman walked towards Cinder, but out of nowhere, Cinder used her swords to stab him through the abdomen, with one final head pat, the huntsman had died, and Cinder could only look to the broken moon with a tear in eye.
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Now in the present, Cinder awakens with Emerald, bedside. Emerald then says that she was very worried about her, when she asked Cinder if she was okay, Cinder says that they failed, Emerald tells Cinder that she was hurt and that she was just trying to help. Mercury then arrives in the room and says to Emerald that Cinder has had enough help, saying that she went against Salem’s orders, Emerald then says that Cinder’s hunch was right, but Mercury cuts her off and tells her to stop protecting Cinder, saying that she doesn’t care about her, Cinder, with flare in the eye told both of them to leave and she’ll let her know when they are needed next, but Mercury says that he doesn’t have to listen to her anymore because Salem has a new role for him, and Salem wants them to the bridge where something big is about to happen, with that, Emerald follows Mercury to go where Salem needs them, while Cinder sat alone for a while.
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Meanwhile, Oscar, was a bruised and battered listened to Opzin in his head, saying that it wasn’t Oscar burden for what happened to Hazel’s sister, it was his alone and Hazel’s grudge is with him alone, Oscar then says that it’d be worse if Ozpin took control and he can tell he’s holding back with him, Ozpin then says that Oscar has done so much already, and the least he can do is give him a break and get them out of there, Oscar then tells Ozpin that Salem knows she can’t take on the world all at once, so she has her followers work their way in to do it, sabotaging the heroes from the inside out, and that maybe they should do the same, Ozpin had the same idea, saying that Oscar is getting more like him and maybe they have been granted an opportunity. 
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Just then, Hazel arrives and grabs Oscar, pinning him against the wall, telling him that he doesn’t have the fight this war and if he tells him what he needs to know, he will be done, but suddenly, Oscar says hello to Hazel, not as himself, but as Ozpin, Hazel gets angry and calls him a coward, saying that all that time it could’ve been him that Hazel was torturing, but Ozpin let him suffer, Hazel throws Ozpin across the room and demands him to tell him how to activate the lamp, Ozpin then asks Hazel why he follows Salem all while Hazel kicks him down, Ozpins says that he knows how Hazel sees him as, but he knows what Salem has done, asking how she is the answer and why not stop her, Hazel then says that Salem cannot be stopped, saying that she is a force of nature, he has seen it first hand, Hazel then breaks off a piece of the Grimm Whale’s tooth and tells Ozpin that he sends children to their death for a cause that has no victory nor end, Ozpins then says to him that someone has to try, saying Salem is not a force of nature and that she can be fought, but before he could say anymore, Salem herself appeared, saying that Ozpin’s timing is wonderful and the “show” was about to begin.
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While sitting on her throne, Salem looks upon her follows, who all bow to her, including Ozpin, who was being forced to by Hazel, Salem stands and walks across to Tyrian telling her followers that Tyrian had came in contact with Watts, saying that he has worked with Ironwood to control Penny, calling her a puppet masquerading as the winter maiden. Salem then looks at Cinder, and using her power to control the Grimm to torture Cinder’s Grimm arm, the pain and the shock reminded her about the pain she went through back then, Salem goes on to say that she chose to disobey her just to fail again, but she realizes that it was her own fault, Salem says that Cinder has fought her whole life to achieve her goal and she is holding her back instead of lifting her up, Salem extends her hand to Cinder, only for Cinder to weakly reach her Grimm hand to her, accepting her grasp, saying that she deserves so much more than she has given her.
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Salem gives Cinder a mission to go to Atlas and break Watts out, she says that he can lead Cinder to Penny so she can get the maidens power and the staff relic, Ozpin then yells and says to Cinder that she’ll alone help Salem bring about the end for all of them, Hazel slams him down to the ground and lifts him up to Salem’s eye sight, only for Salem to tell Ozpin that he is already too late.
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Meanwhile, Winter and Ace Ops, who were in an airship in search for Penny, get a transmission from Jaune, warning them about the massive horde of Grimm headed for Mantle, Marrow lands the airship to where Team Yang is, on the hoverbike, Jaune then asks Harriett and Winter did they get the message about the Grimm, but Harriett answered his question with a question, asking where Penny is, Jaune then says there are people in danger, and Harriett replies by saying it’s because Team Yang was selfish. Suddenly, there was a huge earthquake under Mantle and before anyone knew it there was a geyser of Grimm goo, attacking Atlas from above, the goo helped the Grimm inside of it crawl on the outer walls, and worse yet, the Grimm crawled from under Atlas and cut off the power supply to the shields, leaving Atlas vulnerable and leaving the heroes, including Ironwood shocked. Salem, with a devious smile on her face says.... “It’s time....” - Salem. The Grimm Whale then landed onto Atlas, and opened it’s mouth, letting out tons of Grimm goo, releasing all kinds of different Grimm about to reek havoc onto Atlas.
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What will Cinder do? What will Hazel do? Will Ozpin’s words help either one of them have a change of heart? Will Winter and Ace Ops put aside orders to help the heroes stop this crisis? Where is Penny? Will the world of Remnant come to aid Atlas before it’s too late?
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