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spyridonya · 1 year

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Kadira and the Hand of the Inheritor! 👀 I know she views him as a mentor, I'm still very curious - or for that very reason.

Send me an OC + an alternate love interest for them and I’ll tell you what I think of the idea

This. This is my super indulgent OTP. I forced them to be mentor and mentee with a touch of 'Kadee sees him as a Friend :D' to keep me from thinking too much about it. But? Now I can.

I think a romance could be possible, but not within the game's framing. Kadira places the Hand on a high pedestal and doesn't feel worthy enough for anything like that until Act 4.

However, the Hand finds Kadira… far different from the champions and hosts he's allied himself with prior. The General of Vengeance is not a soft Lord, there's no compassion in his righteousness despite wanting the greater good. While Iomedae is far more gentle in comparison, she is a war goddess and one of valor and gives little compassion.

And then there's Kadira, who is infused with compassion. She's protective and 'passive' in her righteousness. It's fascinating. He doubts just a little because she's so fragile. Obviously, that's why he's there to help her! She goes to him often, talks to him often, and has so many questions. It never occurs to him to ask the tiny tiefling questions. She's sweet, lovely, and foolish in her own way in the Hand's eyes. He hates the idea this Crusade is thrust upon her, even if she does handle such a task marvelously. Kadira basks in his genuine admiration of her, not so much as minding his condensation as knowing he's an Outsider and she's... a little odd.

In Ac4 4, they're both knocked off her pedestal and the Hand is knocked off his. Kadira forgives him, far quicker than he forgives himself, but she doesn't seem the same way again. He's flawed, just like anyone else. He was never too good for her. Not that should matter! Not at all.

Goatboy kidnaps him and she holds her righteous fury in check. She knows exactly that Baphomet is smarter than he and will never come out to play again without casting powerful spells. And how will that help the Hand? Her fury comes later, after the game.

In canon, forgiving the Hand means he returns with an untroubled soul. In this self indulgence, the Hand is awed that Kadira has given him compassion and he questions on what it means to be good. He knows that Ragithel would have slaughtered him, he knows that Iomedae left him for the greater good. But Kadira did not, after all his doubts and frankly, his unspoken condensation.

He doesn't return as Iomedae's hand because he realizes he still needs to figure out the nature of good and his narrow views.

It's after the world wound is closed that a unarmored Hand visits Kadira as she tries to figure out what to do with the remains of Sarkoris, sincerely offering help, and she accepts his help. They're equals. They see each other as real and true and not the ideal.

But the affection they had for one another during the crusade makes remarkable seeds that grow strong and true. It takes a while for them to realize they're in love, but isn't love the most remarkable thing about goodness?

#answered ask #dmagedgoods #character: knight commander kadira #character: hand of the inheritor

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kibokurestu · 7 years

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the izuruki coffee shop au no one asked for

anyways this is my contribution to the digimon otp week – the incredibly self indulgent izuruki (izumi orimoto/ruki nonaka) coffee shop au no one asked for, particularly bc im probably the only person who ships this??? more under the cut

first of all its in bullet points bc i cant write for shit how ironic

izumi is the cute but also one of the youngest baristas that works in a coffee shop that is PRETTY MUCH a hipster’s wet dream.

she’s also hella gay, seventeen, and very much single.

let me tell u more about this coffee shop bc @varichina gave me a great idea. the rest of the staff consists of wallace, takeru, yamato, toma, and probably kiriha even if i dont rly know much about him. i think im gonna add juri and hikari to the staff too just to keep things under control.

naturally u guys see where this is going right. this coffee shop is a living shitpost. but its popular bc its mostly run by blondes.

also in this au takeru and hikari are dating?? hikari’s the owner/manager of the place and takeru is her boyfriend that works there too. they are Adults.

i get the feeling though that toma would be the one making the pastries in the back. he only talks to the regulars who sit in the back

anyways ruki, who’s eighteen and just moved to the neighborhood and doesn’t really know places yet, until one day on reading week, she finds a coffee shop that’s perfct for writing all three essays she has due the next week.

so the first time she goes is a sunday and is immediately taken aback by how by izumi’s beautiful smile, hair, eyes, height, everything.

so ruki keeps coming back on weekdays and befriends the entire barista staff (takeru and wallace get on her nerves with bad jokes and fuckboy-but-not-rly-a-fuckboy attitudes, but she’s thankful for hikari, who scolds them)

but she never sees izumi when she goes and shes a bit heartbroken because who was that beautiful girl???? she doesnt want to ask bc she doesnt want to embarrass herself

but then one day when she goes on a saturday morning she’s taken aback because??? there she is!!!! the beautiful barista from the other day!!!! holy shit ruki wasn’t even aware of how thirsty she is until izumi smiles when she sees her and says something like “its you again! from that one time! what can i get you?”

and ruki is dying on the inside because oh my god she remembers me

ruki gets her usual (which is a cortado and a lemon bar) and of COURSE introduces herself to izumi, so now they know each other’s names o yeah wiggles eyebrows

ruki keeps coming back especifically in the weekends to see the apple of her eye.

also note!!: ruki becomes a regular there and all the other baristas know her and her order.

izumi tho is such a ray of sunshine because she actually loves her job. she’s always smiling and asking the costumers or AT LEAST the other regulars about how they’re doing and saying that she’s glad to see them.

but whenever ruki comes over she immediately goes “i’m so happy to see you!” or if ruki speaks first and asks her how she’s doing, izumi will say something like “im so much better now that you’re here.”

and sometimes they start talking on the counter and have nice and sweet conversations before the manager (probably hikari tbh) reminds izumi that she has to continue taking orders.

hikari probably also winks at them because she knOWS that something is going on.

or when izumi is making coffees they usually have nice small talk.

or when izumi’s working but there aren’t a lot of costumers, ruki will seat at the bar and talk with izumi for hours. takeru sometimes joins the conversation and teases them.

there are days in which ruki goes there specifically to do work, even if she really wants to talk to izumi, but she swears she hears wallace say “izumi, do you need a cup of water?” (((listen if u didnt get this, the joke is that wallace caught izumi staring at ruki and he laughed and he told her to drink some water to quench her fucking thirst)

ON A FATEFUL DAY OF MAY izumi mentions that a few days ago was her birthday and ruki’s surprised because she didn’t know this.

however what she thinks about immediately is that izumi is a taurus. so she brings it up because tauruses are all amazing people and she thinks she likes izumi a little bit way more.

izumi confirms it but she asks why that’s relevant and ruki tells her that she’s always found tauruses to be incredible people and that she’s always seemed to get along with them.

and listen here, izumi looks at her straight in the eye, smile, and tells her that maybe they were meant to be

this immediately fries ruki’s brain and she starts stuttering and almost spills her coffee and holy shit was she flirting?? was she really gay??? holy shit holy shit.

hopefully takeru and hikari are there to save her. kind of. not really. takeru says something like “oh? soulmates? are you guys going out then?”

hikari slaps him playfully and tells him not to intrude, and that they probably have, then he apologizes for him.

but this actually helps because izumi ends up writing her number with a heart besides it on ruki’s to-go cup.

ruki notices after she’s home, when she’s about to throw away the cup holy shit that was a close one. she blushed SO HARD because it must be izumi’s number.

so she texts her immediately that night but she dOESNT KNOW HOW TO GO ABOUT IT BECAUSE SHE’S SO NEW TO DATING???? but somehow she ends up asking izumi out on a date.

ruki goes back to the coffee shop a few days later (when izumi’s not working) and everyone straight up congratulates her for asking izumi out.

then they go out and start dating thaT’S IT????

sorry the ending sucked guys but i really dont know what else to write this was kinda rushed?? this is also largely based on mY coffee shop au experience which sadly i never got to finish living out,, rip my ass

#digimon otp week #izuruki #izumi orimoto #ruki nonaka #coffee shop au #bask in my self indulgent otp #izuruki fandom: me #out of hats;

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aphcrunch · 3 years

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-breaks down ur door- what's your favorite headcanon of norfin?

hehe i had this one coming ahh??? and yet now i feel like i have 1000 to pick from and none at the same time lmaooo uhhh idk how Quality these gon be one thing i've always liked for them is just that, and i realize this aint exactly goals 😭, but they are just.... so beautifully shit at communication like the entire way through. like i feel like to some degree they're both just either too polite or too unbothered to bring up anything that they have an issue with and it'll just bubble up or remain quiet stigma between them Forever. sometimes fin tries to be subtle and make jokes about the things that he wants to mention but they swing swing RIGHT past nor he aint readin the lines for shit haha oops. maybe something a little cuter tho, because they are in fact my otp and i dont just enjoy thinking of their relationship flaws ❤️, i see them as such like... idk how to put this but like a retired couple? like they just vibe and do whatever makes them happy together, and they get up to a lot of weird hobbies. sometimes they just wanna sit in nature for 5 hours and Bask and that's just their daily deed, sometimes they're making bird houses (fin builds nor paints uwu), and sometimes they just wanna make cookies at 3 am okay. they don't need a lot of reason or excuse to just kill their time this way they truly give 0 fucks they are just pure self indulgence ynow. i like them as free spirits uwu

#ask meme #took an hour for me to answer and resulted in word vomit oh well u know me #norfin

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rwbyconversations · 6 years

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The Princess and her Pauper- A Weiss/Emerald Character Contrast

One of the greatest weapons in the arsenal of a creator is the art of contrast. In storytelling, characters that contrast, often referred to as foils, can serve to highlight particular qualities of each other. How one acts to a situation and the other reacts. It’s why rivalries form the backbone of many a great story with conflict in its theme- why the most memorable moments in action titles like Devil May Cry 3 and Metal Gear Rising are when two rivals who serve as foils for each other come to blows in a winner-take-all clash of wills. Not all foils need be rivals, however- George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men are built as foils, with George being wire-thin and razor-sharp mentally while Lennie is a lumbering giant of a man with the intellect of a child.

Rooster Teeth’s RWBY is a series that loves to set up connections between its central heroes of Team RWBY and the villainous factions under Salem. Although the connections between current villains Team WTCH and RWBY have not yet been solidified (Watts screentime when), RWBY’s initial foes in Team CRME (Cinder, Roman, Mercury and Emerald) all complimented aspects of RWBY’s personalities. Ruby and Cinder were both leaders, Ruby through example and optimism and Cinder through manipulation and fear, Blake dual-contrasted with Adam and Roman, Yang with Mercury and (regardless of what TVTropes tells you), Weiss contrasts with the sharp-tongued, fast-fingered gem thief Emerald Sustrai.

Despite having not technically met in canon*, with their appearances relegated to sharing fights in the Volumes 2 and 3 OP, with their dialogue being two lines in a Chibi episode, Weiss and Emerald are almost perfect narrative foils for each other. I am convinced that they were purposefully written to contrast each other, and if/when Emerald has a redemption arc, you can be sure that this material will be used to show how similar Weiss and Emerald can be... not that either of them would admit it. And for the record? This is my OTP and Weiss and Emerald rank in my five favorite characters each, so this is going to be a self-indulgent mess. Consider it my two and three hundred follower specials wrapped into a neat little bow.

In this post, I am going to show the narrative, backstory and character contrasts between Weiss Schnee and Emerald Sustrai, and why I think they could have one of the best-written rivalries/friendships/bond in the entire show if Miles and Kerry play their cards right in the coming Volumes. As usual, the post is under the Read More for the sake of users on their phones.

(Art source: @nibbles-scribbles)

* (In before “Didn’t Weiss fight Em at Haven during the Checkmate scene?” offscreen doesn’t count and Let’s Not Talk About Haven This Is A Happy Post)

Part 1- Lonely eyes, well, it sure looks like you just might be looking for something

Weiss and Emerald’s backstories on paper couldn’t be any different- which, again, is one of the purposes of narrative contrasts, connecting the impossible. Weiss lived in the lap of luxury her entire life, part of a family that probably had the combined net worth of half of the Fortune 500. The Schnee Dust Company was such a profitable venture that it bought out rival families and took them out of business. Weiss’s every need was catered for, she had a loyal servant in Klein, and became a popular attraction at parties thanks to her singing voice.

And she couldn’t have been more soul-crushingly alone.

A young Weiss sits at a piano, basking in the praise of the adults around her

Weiss, narration: Words of praise were often overflowing around me. Whatever I did, with a little effort, I did better than average. I expected the praise as a matter of course and believed I deserved it all. As the daughter of the Schnee house, I would be the best. Nothing else would do.

Weiss reaches out to her father who is walking away from her. The door shuts in her face. Weiss’s face comes into the panel. The smile is gone.

Weiss, narration: My father felt the same way. So his indifference... was expected. - RWBY Manga,Shirow Miwa

Weiss was little more than a toy when she was a child, something Jacques brought out for the guests to coo at, but they never cared for Weiss herself:

Everyone only cared that I was part of the Schnee family, not that I was me. They were honoring the Schnee name. I thought all that praise was for me. It wasn’t. It messed with my head when I figured that out.

Weiss’s Volume 5 focus song, and the first chronological song about her, The Path to Isolation (AKA Mirror Mirror 0.5), is about when Weiss realizes how alone she is in Atlas with the realization that people only care about her for her money and surname, and not for Weiss as a person. We see this in person with her interactions with Henry Marigold in Volume 4 and Jacques spells it out later:

I don’t give a damn what you want! This isn’t about you!

Miwa’s manga alongside Path To Isolation makes it clear that Weiss lived in the lap of luxury, but it was a cold, sterile lap where she never felt loved even with Klein’s presence and Winter’s distant love, thanks to Jacques’ distance driving Weiss further into her personal hell. Weiss lived a tragically lonely life in her childhood and its effects are still seen on her even in the present day. For a long time, all she was was an accessory to Jacques who got pushed into his obedient shadow.

Emerald’s backstory is less concrete than Weiss, but from what we do know it’s no less painful. She lived alone on the city streets with no parents (dead or neglectful we don’t know) or friends to look out for her, and every day was a struggle to survive. By the time we see Emerald in Volume 3′s flashback, she’s barely holding it together and is stick-thin.

Her clothes are frayed in various places, held together with belts and straps, and Emerald is nearly emaciated. She’s jumpy, paranoid and resorts to blatant daytime robbery of a jewel store just to cover the costs to get some food for a night. When Cinder finds Emerald, she finds a cornered street-rat barely staying alive.

If Jacques manipulated Weiss through inaction, Cinder in turn twisted Emerald through action, providing the young thief everything she ever wanted. Cinder gave her a warm bed, food whenever she wanted it and possibly even the love of the mother that Emerald might not have had. Chibi Season 3 in fact had a skit where Emerald (within a dream) jokingly notes that Cinder really is “The mother figure I may- or may not- have never had.” Regardless, Cinder learned from Salem the best way to get people to follow you is to give them exactly what they want. She gave Roman some Dust and a chance to commit crimes, she gave Mercury a target and people to hurt, and she gave Emerald a sick, twisted lie. She made Emerald fall in love with her.

I don’t care about Salem! But I owe Cinder everything.

Cinder twists Emerald around her finger and makes her almost entirely dependent on Cinder’s approval and love. And make no mistake, this is (at least from Emerald’s warped perspective, the poor girl) love.

This is not the face of a heterosexual woman upon seeing Cinder Fall.

Em sadly closing her eyes behind Cinder just... gets me, man. I care for that mint-ice-cream too much Jesus Christ.

Cinder, of course, doesn’t love her back. I don’t think Cinder knows what it means to love beyond that she can use other people’s love in her pursuit of power. She manipulated and tricked Emerald, making the thief fall for her in a worthless attempt to impress her. And every time Emerald stepped remotely out of line, even if by complete unintentional accident, Cinder harshly made her judgement clear and forced Emerald back into her obedient shadow. Cinder definitely didn’t love Emerald. But damn if she didn’t know how to abuse her.

Emerald: We don’t need him (Mercury), everything was going fine- A slap is heard. Emerald shouts in pain. Cinder: Do not mistake your place.

As pointed out expertly by @alexkablob, Emerald’s body language when Cinder gets angry in this scene is very telling- she almost shrinks and hides herself, trying very hard to avoid Cinder’s wrath in that immediate moment. The mere threat of reprisal has Emerald assuming a more subservient position

Here’s what connects Weiss and Emerald from their backstories. Both had terribly lonely childhoods, with Weiss lonely in a crowd as she realized people only loved her for her money and name, and Emerald forced to live alone as a street rat with no one to rely on. Jacques manipulated Weiss through making her seek his approval which manifested as physical abuse, and Cinder as well manipulated and abused Emerald into falling in love with Cinder or seeing her as a replacement mother figure. Both were lonely children, abused and scorned by everyone around them, especially those who had the most direct power over them. Both of them, tragically, are victims of those above them who see them as tools and not even as people. Ones who occasionally fall out of line and need... percussive maintenance to fix. Weiss and Emerald have some of the darkest backstories in RWBY and in their tragedy, they compliment each other beautifully.

(Source: @nibbles-scribbles, who gave me permission to use her art)

Part 2: Sight Unseen

Now that we’ve covered their backstories, let’s actually contrast Emerald and Weiss on a fighting and character level.

Weiss and Emerald fight each other in the OPs for Volumes 2 and 3. They are so far on the very small list of fights in the OPs that have never occurred and are in fact the only notable fight to not happen ever four years since it was first teased, especially since it happened in two sequences.

Both characters use revolver mechanisms in their weapons- Weiss for her Dust and Emerald for a ranged component. Both are agile fighters who dart around the battlefield and can be very damaging in the right circumstances and are the most fragile member of their respective teams (Weiss having the worst solo win/loss record of anyone on RWBY and Emerald being a stealth fighter who dropped very quickly when Amber focused fire on her being my evidence).

What’s interesting in contrasting the two is their Semblances. Emerald creates vivid hallucinations for a single target that effects all five of their senses but ultimately is a purely mental effect on the subject’s reality. Her Semblance can’t create physical matter. However, Weiss’s Semblance is a purely physical one that lets her influence and change reality on a primal, physical level- be it for Glyphs, time dilation or using Summoning to create physical constructs to fight for her. Depending on if Weiss’s Summons can be affected by Emerald’s hallucinations (or if Weiss being hit with Em’s Semblance has consequences for her Summons), the two could serve as hard counters in the event of a fight.

Long story short a fight between these two would be really cool.

Character wise, one of the more interesting bits of contrast between Weiss and Emerald is how they approach friendship. Both are equally sardonic and have razor-sharp wits on anyone who irks them, but while Weiss is cold at first and softens as she gets to know and trust people, Emerald throws up a facade of being chummy with people, a facade she hates. If her friendship with Mercury is anything to go by, Emerald can make some very biting remarks at the expense of those she’s close to. If her love for Cinder is anything to go by however, Emerald is very tender and affectionate when it comes to the people she loves. She rushes to give Cinder a hug in Volume 2 and in Volume 4, acts as Cinder’s translator, being almost sickeningly tender and rushing to come to Cinder’s side when she asks.

And while Emerald’s a villain, it would be a shame to waste a rivalry between her and Weiss. Both are passionately devoted to their leaders and are willing to cross the world for them and fight in this endless war for them (note how Weiss volunteers for the war while Emerald is drafted). Emerald hates Ruby because she maimed Cinder at Beacon, while Weiss hates Cinder because... bitch shoved a spear in her. It’s more than enough conflict to kickstart a rivalry and as proven despite their lack of screentime, the contrasts between them write themselves.

Part 3) Dry your eyes now, baby, broken wings can’t hold you down

In the event (by which I mean when) Emerald undergoes a redemption arc and leaves Cinder, Weiss will definitely play a significant role in facilitating her joining the heroes, much like Blake did with Ilia. Weiss is honestly the only RWBY member who really can facilitate this redemption in the coming Volumes- Ruby will likely never forgive Emerald for her role in Penny’s death, Blake has basically done this arc already for Ilia, and Yang will be too caught up in her Raven/Blake issues. I have no doubt that Blake’s own abusive past can be used as a bonding point as well with Emerald (a common vector used for fans of the rare ship Cat Burglar), but Weiss perhaps more than anyone else shares a fundamental understanding of Emerald’s “love.” The love of someone determined to win any shred of approval that they can from the monster that haunts their nightmares every night.

Given how Emerald has allusions to Aladdin and Weiss is Snow White, their relationship also works in referencing their fairytale sources- Aladdin saves Jasmine in his story, after all. Rags to ritches is also one of the most prolific tales out there, especially ones where a person destined for greatness falls in love with a member of high society and rises through the ranks. Weiss is a princess after all, and every princess does need her pauper so that she may find true love. Weiss has already tried her hand as the upper echelons of society romantically (Henry and Neptune) and they were found lacking.

(Source. Art by @nibbles-scribbles)

In some cases, literally.

Does this need to mean a romantic connection, especially when Emerald will be coming off her last lover being abusive? Perhaps not, but a close bond between them would be impossible to avoid. However, a romantic attachment between Emerald and Weiss would be a beautiful thing to see develop. Two women, nearly broken down by their oppressive abusers, coming together and helping each other heal from their past traumas? I don’t know about you but that sounds like it could be a great story to me. Emerald already wears a lot of white too, so their color schemes unite smoothly.

To conclude this extended love letter, Emerald and Weiss are two sides of the same coin. Young women beaten down and abused by those with power over them who had desperately lonely childhoods. Women who developed into strong and capable warriors with Semblances that altar different facets of reality, who could have a natural rivalry that leads into a smooth friendship and maybe even more beyond, all of which could be backed by organic references to both of their fairytale sources and allow for a wonderful string of character development for Weiss and Emerald as they heal from their past traumas. This may be a rare ship, one that may have gotten all the references it ever will when Emerald complimented Weiss’s dress.

But damnit. It’s my rare ship and I’ll go down with it, I’ve made too many great friends thanks to it. If you’d like to see more EmWeiss content, check out my great friends @goldibox, @dabby-the-house-elf (the main for @nibbles-scribbles whose seminal art I’ve used throughout this piece), SassyUnicorn7′s A Fight To Remember (one of the best fanfics for both EmWeiss and Yang/Merc, and Sassy herself is a delight to know who lights up my day when I get to talk to her).

(Thanks to @weisscoldglare for this)

Thanks again for reading.

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