#because she expected yang would give her power over her and yang never did

[theerurishipper]

This is in response to some arguments in defense of the finale I've seen recently, and if you do believe these, then more power to you! But I disagree, and I'm gonna talk about why.

Rant under the cut. Fair warning, this gets pretty salty.

So I've seen a lot of arguments about how it just wouldn't be possible to have Adrien in the final battle, whether it be because it would be too traumatic for him and we can't explore that in the middle of a fight, or because it would take away focus from Marinette and she would be irrelevant ultimately. And I actually agree!

But what could possibly be done to resolve this? Oh, I know! Fucking write better.

If you were going to put Adrien in the position of being central to the story and write him out with the excuse that he can't live up to that role for various reasons, then why did you write him in that role? It's obvious to anyone that if Gabriel is Adrien's father, then the emotional weight of the conflict would be centered on him and not Marinette. Then why did you still write that into the show? If you wanted to focus on Marinette over Adrien anyway, then why did you make Gabriel be Hawkmoth? Let some other rando be Hawkmoth! And now there's no value to Gabriel being the villain beyond giving Marinette some material for her grand speech (which didn't do shit cause she still lost).

And if you were going to say that Adrien was too traumatized to be in the battle or that he wouldn't be able to deal with it well or that we couldn't see that... write around it? Have him deal with it before, or something, I don't know! Maybe give him that sweet sweet character development? Maybe let the friends who are supposed to support him actually do that? Idk man, this is all coming across as a bunch of excuses to me.

The thing is, this is a kids show. It's not real. The writers control everything that happens. It's not about "realism," it's about narrative payoff. It's about the most satisfying outcome. It's about character arcs. If Adrien was never supposed to face his father in a fight, then why make him a superhero? Could have just let him be Adrien the teen model love interest while Marinette is the superhero. Why give him powers which thematically represent him breaking free from his oppressive life and an enmity with his own father if it never mattered? If "it's us against the world, my lady," and "we'll get all the Miraculous back together," never mattered, then why include it? If two partners chosen to fight evil together and the yin-yang symbolism never mattered, why set it up?

If you set something up, you have a responsibility to deliver on it, and Miraculous failed. And yeah. I get that it's hard. I'm not saying writing is easy. But anything is better than this! Writing is your job, and I don't expect literal perfection, but I expect it to fulfill the basic expectations of writing. I expect it to at least be good. This is not good. They literally ignored their own story and themes and character arcs and narrative payoff because they wanted Marinette to get a swanky new outfit and a cool fight scene. It wasn't even for her character. It's just so that they can put give her a cool power-up and sell Bug Noire dolls. It's disrespectful to Adrien's character, and it's disrespectful to Marinette's character too.

The writers failed to make Marinette interesting in terms of the conflict with Gabriel. They gave all the set-up to Adrien and didn't want to write the payoff. There are no emotional stakes in the final battle. They literally only talk about Adrien, and he's not there for that. It's bad writing. And if they didn't let Adrien be a part of the arc with his father as the villain, what hope does he have in the arcs with Lila as the antagonist, since she is a Marinette-centric villain? TA has already said that Marinette is Barbie and Adrien is just Ken. The writers have said that Gabriel is considered a hero by the end of Season 5. The show bible says that Adrien will never find out that his father is Hawkmoth.

Let's face it, they aren't coming back to this. Gabriel's era is over. Miraculous is well known for setting up conflicts and dropping them like a hot potato. If we ever deal with this, it's gonna be half an episode of Adrien forgiving Marinette because "she did it out of love." None of this will matter come Season 6. The supposed conflict being set up now will matter to Season 6 as much as the Ladynoir set up in Strikeback with the "we'll take back all the Miraculous together, you and me," mattered to Season 5, which is to say not at all.

#Meta #My meta #S5 Finale #ML Salt #ML Writers Salt #ML Writing Salt #Marinette Salt #Not really but just to be safe #Ladybug Salt #If salt really ticks you off then please don't read this #I'm not here to change anyone's mind #I'm just ranting

[the-path-to-redemption]

Ruby's treatment of Penny in v8 was pretty disgusting and their reunion in v7 was nothing short of lackluster, but the fact that she actually grieved for her the whole volume 9, didn't immediately get over her death like the rest of them (with the exception of Weiss to an extent), and tried to preserve the last thing that remained of her, says that Ruby was only one who gave a shit about her. Penny's death hit so hard it finally forced Ruby to snap out of her I-will-save-everyone holier-than-thou hero complex.

Like recall Yang and Blake. Who the fuck would behave this way like an hour after learning of their friend's death? Can you imagine Yang acting the same way if it was Blake who'd died in her place? No cuz Yang cares about Blake. But it's not that uncommon for our paragons of virtue and glory to have little to no reaction when something horrible happens to their friends/allies, is it? Either Penny meant nothing to WBY or rt legit sucks at portraying relationships and human emotions.

Long Post Ahead

It's both.

RWBY does not give a fuck about Penny and RT being trash at portraying human anything are both accurate statements that has been coexisting for as long as the show has been running.

And honestly, I'm not even surprised that _WBY doesn't give a shit about Penny. Ever since she was introduced in V1, Penny was Ruby's friend and only her firend. She didn't interact with anyone else in Beacon, and we only got to see her teammate Ciel ONCE in the entire show, so I would be more surprised if the rest of RWBY even know something about Penny before she died. Yang did in V7, and I was a bit shocked because they have NEVER interacted once after their first meeting.

But back to the matter at hand, it's very clear that the writers brought back Penny because the fans expected them to (which is fair) but just stopped at that. Penny is back because it make sense and the fans like her, but why? Narratively, why is she back? Especially when Ruby was less than adequate in treating Penny's return or seeing her as a friend. Not only that, Penny was still stuck in the same predicament that troubled her in Beacon, that she doesn't have a choice or a say in how she want to live her life as her own person, but instead must put duty and her role in the grand scheme of things first, leaving her with no agency for herself.

Many people criticized Ironwood for this, but RUBY also took that choice from Penny in V8. She constantly wave off Penny's concern for the people now that they have created a civil discourse between them and Ironwood, and shut down any of Penny's attempt to properly deal with her regrets and choices.

And then Penny dies, and the Winter Maiden power went to who it was always meant to go to. Why was she brought back? Why put her through so much only to fucking kill her off again, and for her death to be for someone else's motivation, whether it be Ruby or Jaune?

Because Penny wasn't a character to RT. She's a plot device, and that's all she was. I don't doubt that Yang would care more if Blake dies or vice versa, or Weiss would care more if it was Winter. They don't have a reason to care about a plot device that doesn't directly affect them or their story. Only Ruby could because Penny was her friend, but even then I still could not look past how she treated the poor girl.

It's just a frustrating ordeal to look at, because you could've went literally any other route, and it would have meant something. Penny would have meant something. But it's too late now. They wrote themselves into this corner, and now they have watch their story crumble under the pressure.

#answered #anonymous #rwde #rwby critical #anti rooster teeth #ruby rose critical #yang xiao long critical #team rwby critical #penny polendina #penny deserved better

[bestworstcase]

it really is interesting just how much V4 shows of the grimm that blatantly contradicts what we’re told about them during the beacon arc. right out the gate, too, with bricks and complex improvisational teamwork and the beringel’s emotive reactions to its apparent victory and then realization that its opponent survived the fall through the roof all in the V4 short. everything we learn about the grimm in V1-3 comes filtered through huntsmen academy pedagogy and in the first two volumes every significant direct encounter occurs in proximity—whether diegetic or narrative—to a character who explains them authoritatively using the huntsmen model: pyrrha’s philosophical recitation on the nature of the soul and what makes grimm soulless gives context to the initiation, port describes the grimm as demonic monsters before setting one loose in class, oobleck helpfully provides dollops of exposition to fit the grimm of mountain glenn into the framework laid out in V1. by V3, we have a handle on what these creatures are and the onslaught against beacon plays out—almost—exactly as we would expect based on this understanding, with the singular exception that the grimm are clearly shown to be acting as allies to the non-grimm adversaries. (the white fang transports their own fighters and grimm side-by-side without coming to any harm, and cinder speaks to, makes eye contact with, and signals for an assist from the wyvern.) and the narrative reveals salem at the very, very end to imply an explanation for that singular anomaly.

but… beacon falls. in V4 the school environment is gone and we begin to encounter the grimm outside the controlled pedagogical environment of the huntsmen academy and like IMMEDIATELY the narrative starts throwing curveballs. a beowolf gets up on a roof to throw bricks at ruby. the beringel grabs a beowolf and they flawlessly execute a maneuver we’d call a team attack if a duo of huntsmen did it; later the beringel roars in satisfaction when it thinks ruby is beaten and then reacts with surprise and trepidation when it realizes she isn’t. the villagers in V4 shrug off weeks of provocations by a grimm four young huntresses and huntsmen struggled to defeat. jaune looks at the bodies strewn across the wreckage of shion and asks “who killed all these people,” indicating that “the grimm” is not a foregone conclusion—and the answer turns out to be not grimm but bandits. the sea feilong spends an entire day quietly circling beneath the boat, unnoticed, then reveals herself but doesn’t really do anything except roar and snap once at the huntress who shot her while looping over and around the boat itself—never making contact or actually attacking until after she has been fired on and hit repeatedly, and even then focusing her retaliation narrowly on the ship’s weaponry and the huntsmen attacking her. (the WOR ep notes that grimm are territorial; they don’t prey on animals but violent altercations over territory are not uncommon. what we see in 4.3 isn’t a grimm attack. it’s a territorial threat display that escalates because nobody on the boat can tell the difference between a grimm saying “LEAVE” vs one who wants to eat them.) and on the exact opposite end of the spectrum, the nuckelavee has a nest decorated with trophies it’s collected across a decade or more of haunting its neck of the woods: neither a mindless killer nor a powerful old giant with caution borne of self-preservation but an intelligent being who plagued this small region for years out of what seems to be active malice.

over and over and over again, V4 showcases grimm individuality and refutes the huntsmen academy understanding of what these creatures are and why they act as they do. and of course if you watch V1-3 again with the knowledge that the pedagogical lens is limited and inaccurate you’ll notice the small inconsistencies between what is said and what is shown: the ursai yang faces react to her rapid shift in mood with obvious confusion. the deathstalker dodges jaune’s attempts to grab its stinger several times before it either gets bored with the game or isn’t quick enough and rouses itself because it doesn’t like being grabbed. the grimm in mountain glenn know the kids are encamped in the ruin (ruby makes direct eye contact with one through her scope) but ignore their presence in favor of nosing around the ruins. none of the complexity that appears in V4 is really new: it’s just presented plainly, without commentary by an authority figure to elide everything that doesn’t fit inside the clear-cut, morally simplistic huntsmen academy stance that grimm are just an endless horde of soulless evil. and that transition occurs instantly, the minute the narrative leaves the confines of the academy setting.

it’s a neat storytelling choice. hello, welcome to the real world, the grimm are fundamentally just Creatures. they feel pain, and fear. they’re social beings. they’re smart. they aren’t all the same: some of them would prefer not to fight and need to be pushed really far before they’ll resort to violent retaliation and others hunt people for sport. and sometimes they’re not overwhelming existential threats; sometimes they’re just a chronic nuisance bad enough to make you wonder if moving is worth it.

#very emotional abt the sea feilong tonight #she gives multiple warnings #the roar the looping the beating her wings to blow a gust of air at them… #that’s a creature saying Back Off!!! #but everyone on the boat immediately goes into red alert #bc grimm are evil. everyone knows that #the possibility that she might be trying to communicate something just isn’t on anyone’s radar! how could it be! #and that misperception escalated a situation that probably didn’t need to be #hm. on theme #anyway chefs kiss for the lies to children worldbuilding approach

[terrence-silver]

ok the post the other day ab terry liking to be called mommy got me thinking about his actual mother and just

I feel like his dad was pretty similar to how people commonly interpret him: sleazy businesses man who expects too much out of son, cares more about money than people, and doesn't treat his wife too hot. he's manipulative, and for the longest time that's where terry thinks he gets it from

but his mother, on the other hand, anyone who saw her would assume that she was at silver sr.'s mercy. getting walked all over, pushed to the side, etc, etc. she has more than she needs, money wise, but from the outside she seems like a trophy wife to be pitied

but i like to think that mrs. silver used that to her advantage. she moved in the shadows, and had more influence on silver sr.'s business dealings than he ever realized. she always got what she wanted, and she wasn't starved for attention because she never needed it from him

and it takes terry decades to realize just how self-sufficient his mother was, just how much influence she had on every. single. aspect. of their lives. it takes him even longer to realize just how much he's learned from her, manipulation tactic-wise, things he previously would have attributed to his father, or even just his own cunning

idk just a personal headcanon bc i hate when ppl will write off a mother as a trophy wife and negate any real effects she had. none of this to say, of course, that his father did not have a major effect on his psyche still. and i like the idea of control freak terry slowly realizing things about his past where he didn't have as much control as he thought he did

I agree, because I think Terry Silver got everything he is from someone even before the trauma train in Vietnam hit him as badly as it did --- like, I don't think he was ever exactly a commonplace, ordinary kid. He even implied he had many teachers himself. And who else but his very own parents? Who else is every child's first teacher? A child's first set of Senseis? The family home the first ever dojo one steps foot in? The first ever dojo was one born to, in fact? Acquiring ruthless, old school business tenacity from one parent, and the ability to walk hidden in plain sight from another so one would never even outright know he's a ruthless businessman in the first place? It was nature as much as nurture. How do I know? Isn't it for everyone? Because even while he was Twig back in the war, he was already hidden in plain sight in certain ways; the scrawny, shy, clumsy kid being the undoubtedly richest one in the platoon who's capture is realistically, in a material sense, worth most back home, even though many of his team mates and Captain might disagree? Small wonder of profound irony.

I like to think Terry Silver's parents represent two sides of the same coin.

Two distinct aspects of power.

Yin and Yang.

One, direct, out in the open, undeniable, and another, behind the scenes, in the shadows, often pulling the strings. And guess what? Terry's a master of both, and the fact that he's gotten the more clever approach from his mother is a good point. He would've grown up somewhere in the 1950's, give or take, and women always needed to be smarter, one step ahead of the game, devising intelligent ways to conceal themselves in a society out to oppress them, earning them the title of traditional schemers. Not writing off Terry Silver as some sort of hidden feminist icon (goodness, no) but I do think that he learned his craft from wherever he could, and that he was always hyper-observant, absorbing everything he witnessed and utilizing it to his advantage. That he collected all knowledge and utilized it in his own life and circumstances and what better source to learn from than from mother? He's mother too. I mean, the pipeline between an antiquated, classical Stepford wife with a faux Stepford life and what Terry Silver had going on at the beginning of Season 4 is very, very small indeed.

#terry silver #kk3 #cobra kai #mommy #mother issues #family issues #terry silver's mother #silver family #character analysis #gender identity #terry silver's otherness

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Ranking the DCLA WLW ships

Many people prefer canon, and I get that. But there's one thing that non-canon ships give me and that is the comfort that they are exactly what they are. Especially the WLW ships. I never assume they will be canon, but I can love them all I want either way <3

I will not take every single dcla wlw ship, cause with all the girl characters there's so many combinations you can do. I will only take the ones I've seen, or recognized myself.

1. Franletta

Obviously. How can I not? I've not been crowned the biggest Franletta shipper in the fandom for nothing! They give me the softness no one else does. The way they always depend on each other, the way they care for each other SO MUCH <33 GAH they're adorable

2. Jam

I'm taking my two biggest from each show here. When I started watching SL, everyone expected me to just like the three biggest ships. NO ONE told me about Jim and Yam. HOW COULD YOU NOT tell me about Jim and Yam?! Smh you're sleeping on them (/hj, /lh)

But yeah, I think a part of what drove me with loving them so much was that no one else talked about them. Yes, people agreed they were girlfriends, but no one was as vocal. I am currently also the only one who even has written fics with them tagged romantically - something I did after I discovered after finishing season 1, I was really surprised how no one had written about them? So I took it in my own hands and wrote some.

Jam are my little chaos children, they're jin and yang and they're everything to me.

3. Luty

The year was 2021 and I had been starting to rewatch Violetta after getting D+. With my newly love for Franletta, I also thought about the others. I thought to myself "Hey! Maybe Naty stays with Ludmila, not because she's afraid to say no, but because she actually likes her? Maybe she even has a crush on her?"

Cut to when I rewatched S3, which had not been out until april of 2021 in the Nordic countries. I just. Fell for them. OH how I fell for them.

They make me insane honestly.

4. Natila

In season 3, something I really noticed was that the REAL love triangle was between Naty, Camila and Ludmila. And Naty and Camila DATED. They DATED in s3. OH MY GOD HOW THEY DATED. THEY FUCKING KISSED OFF SCREEN!!!!!!!!!! LIKE I AM STILL MIND BLOWN OVER THAT. WHEN I SAW IT I JUST WENT INSANE.

5. Ambilia

THE GOTH GIRLFRIENDS honestly they're everything. They're insane. It's them against the world. They'll go from the ashes and into the fire. They're a power couple.

6. Lumbar

"But but but but-" I hear you go. Yes, yes, yes, I know. These two gave a fucking crisis in s3. But I fell for them SO HARD in season 1 it was a wound that never got away. Season 1 FED me with them, S2 also fed me a lot, and then in season 3 I just went around with a "🥲". At least, they ended up being very close in one way <3

7. Cadmila

Love the enemies to lovers. I don't feel as strongly about them as the other two in the "unholy trinity", I sometimes feel like Cadmila is the female version of Dieleon (but not with everything). But it's also how Ludmila just plays with Cami's hair, always sits close to her and how Camila is like "get tf away from me" but highkey interested in what Ludmila is doing.

8. Mora/Ana

They moved in together?? This was a whole storyline and tbh I am fully convinced the writers actually wanted them to be a couple, it's not just my imagination.

9. Jadangie

Alright, you made me fall for them! Thanks, tumblr! <3 They're very cute.

10. Jackie/Angie

They would never date in canon but GOD are they exes. They're bickering exes, look at them. First episode of s2, you can't deny they've met before and something went down and now they pretend they don't know each other. The ANGST.

11. Celeste/Trish

When watching Bia, I was like "I really feel a straight vibe from every character" and all of you, and I mean ALL OF YOU, went "But what about Celeste?". I was confused because I was at the ep where Celeste told her therapist that she had a crush on a boy so I was like ???????????????????

But then the SECOND I saw s2, I had a 180 spin and went "OH OK SHE'S A LESBIAN" and her obsession with Trish was really like. !!!!!!! WOW. And when she met Trish irl and just scratched her neck I just. Yeah. Yeah I got it.

12. Lunina

Ok, I really do like them as just friends, but if they were more I also wouldn't complain. I just like to joke a little about them, but I am not as serious about it as I am with ships above on the list.

13. Jazmin/Delfi

Every now and then I think to myself "they should kiss" lmao.

14. Francesca/Ana

Most random thing. I got this because I felt like Ana legit tried to seduce Fran for a while. Like that Ser Mejor duet????? What

15. Violetta/Lara

I don't think they have a lot of chemistry, but I get it. Also Violetta totally got a bi awakening from seeing Lara sing like I-

16. Ludletta

I really get it. I really get after I myself fell for Lumbar. Like, you have 2 seasons of freedom. It's hard to just... stop?? After that? Also Si es por amor is the gayest music video in Violetta, it's just how it is. But I've personally never shipped them. I love their canon relationship.

I do get where you're coming from, though.

17. Jim/Luna

This is the one wlw ship where I don't really get it. But I've seen it around. And during my SL rewatch I've tried to see it, but I don't see much. I think it's whenever they're alone together they sort of have a matching vibe and that's what appeals to people? I don't know.

I know for a fact I've probably forgot someone, but that's how it always is. I actually almost forgot some here and had to re-rank my list. There's still plenty of wlw ships <3

#there's also wlw ships that I myself just never have thought of much #so I didn't include them #anyway! enjoy my ranking <3 #violetta #soy luna #disney bia #dcla #franletta #luty #ambilia #jim x yam #natila #cadmila #jadangie #lumbar #ludletta

[c-h-pictures]

Some of my favourite moments with the B5 characters

Deming, to 5! Samon, giving them a ‘belt’: You must learn to control your power output before you can use it to fight. Too much and it will break, too little and it will get in your way and you’ll struggle to walk.

Samon, looking at what appears like a tail: If I replaced myself with a monkey, would you realise?

Deming: Yes, it would be far more disciplined.

Samon: *sticks his tongue out*

-

Yuri Ali, seeing Samon and running after him: Monkey!

Samon:

Samon: You know what, I’m not about to break a little kid’s heart. Sure, I’m a monkey.

-

Aleksei, running up with Kenjiro and Nadira with him: Have you seen a kid running around?

Nadira: He’s probably the only 5 year-old here.

Kenjiro: Please don’t get mad at him for being out of cell, I’m technically taking Aleksei with me, even though I’m following him.

Kai: He’s been using the building’s courtyard as a climbing frame for the past hour. Samon’s with him.

-

Aleksei: I am so so sorry about our son.

Nadira: We didn’t expect him to run off.

Samon: This is the most stressful thing I have ever had to deal with, please take him back.

-

Damien: Style points will be awarded for each round, judged by yours truly.

Hikaru: Oh, sure that’s fair.

Jiemba: It’s not like you have a very strong bias to one of the supervisors.

Samon: *casually sipping his drink, gives Kai a questioning look because he’s never heard about this before*

Kai: They’re talking about you.

Samon, choking on his drink: WHAT? WHY?

Hikaru: Damien thinks you’re hot.

Damien: I DO N- okay, I do a little, but not enough to affect my scoring.

-

Damien: While most of the supervisors do the obstacle course each year, due to a series of unfortunate events - anyone get that? Anyone read the books? No? Okay - this is the first year Samon has participated in it. Will this hinder him as he doesn’t know exactly what’s coming up? We will find out!

Samon: *beats the speed and strength records previously held by his older brother*

Damien:

Damien: Oh.

-

Before the obstacle course round:

Jamie: With Felix on the obstacle course with me, we’ll get through the wall of lock picks first, which will give us a good advantage at the start.

During the obstacle course round:

Samon: *uses Jamie as a spring board to get over the 20 ft wall in about 5 seconds*

Felix: Did he just jump 14 feet off your shoulder?

Yichen: That’s higher th- that’s higher than the world record, right?

Jamie: He also left you behind.

Yichen: Only one of us needs to pass the finish line to win, so he said I could treat it like training and just try to catch up with him.

-

Damien, watching Samon jump over the wall:

-

Yichen: *gets 3rd in the obstacle course round*

Samon: Well done!

Yichen, crying: 謝謝

Samon: Are you okay?

Yichen: No one’s ever said that to me.

Samon, now severely worried for Yichen:

-

Hikaru: There’s someone called Yang Liling looking for someone from Building 5 called ‘Zhou Xuiying’, but we don’t have any records past or present of anyone called that.

Samon, interally: I never told her I changed my name.

-

Kai: She called you ‘xiǎo hóuzi’. What does that mean?

Samon, knowing exactly how everyone will react if he tells them it means ‘little monkey’:... It’s a term of enderment sort of like ‘honey’ or ‘dear’ but for people who aren’t related and feel like siblings to each other.

Jaili and Yichen: No it’s not.

#own characters

[alexkablob]

The thing is that, when she was a bereaved girl looking for an imagined perfect replacement for her dead mother, Yang’s quest was forever hopeless, but when she was a Huntress looking to make a deal with the dangerous leader of a bandit group, finding Raven Branwen was the easiest thing she’d ever done.

#rwby #yang xiao long #raven branwen #i'm on the yang & raven feels today #the thing hanging over their relationship is always that yang was only ever looking for summer and they both know it #and because yang accepted raven wasn't summer before she walked into that camp raven lost their confrontation before it started #because she expected yang would give her power over her and yang never did

[critical-thinking-is-mandatory]

Chats and Bags

Marinette and Adrien have been happily married since they left school and she finally feels ready to tell him the truth. She’s Ladybug and Guardian of the Paris Miraculouses. Unfortunately, maybe the cat should have stayed in the bag.

Marinette slumped back against the closed door with a tired, but satisfied groan. She toed off her heels and wriggled sore, sweaty, stockinged toes.

“Honey!” Marinette called into the apartment. The lights were on, casting her home with warm, soft light, and the tv hummed quietly from the loungeroom. She hung her coat on the hook by the door and stretched, padding into the kitchen. “Adrien, I’m home.”

“Princess!” Adrien hopped down from his perch on one of the kitchen’s bar stools and came bounding towards her, smiling brightly. He scooped her up into a hug and span them both around, giggling like a little girl. “How was work?” Adrien set her down with a kiss on the tip of her nose.

“Good, we finally got all the kinks worked out for the Winter bridal line but that’s not important right now. I’ve got something really important to talk to you about.” Marinette smiled and took Adrien’s hands in hers. “How about we talk over dinner?”

Adrien winced. “Oh. I already ate.” Ah. Marinette spied the emptied takeout containers sitting abandoned on the kitchen bench. One person’s serve. Adrien caught her and flashed a blinding smile. With the sparkle in his eye and Adrien’s perfect smile, Marinette couldn’t find it in herself to be annoyed despite the hunger gnawing at her belly. He bounced on his toes. “I can listen while you eat.” Marinette shook her head and smiled, ignoring the tightness of hunger in her belly.

“That’s okay, it can wait.” Marinette took a deep, steadying breath. “Just- just sit down, I need to go get something.” Adrien perched on a barstool, still smiling brightly. Marinette padded away down the hall to her workroom. Tikki floated out of her blazer pocket and smiled encouragingly when she was at eye-level.

“You can do this Marinette!” Tikki chirped. She flitted about, practically dancing in the air. “It’s Adrien! You two have been in love for years, telling him you’re Ladybug will just make your relationship stronger.”

Marinette steeled herself, confidence boosted. “You’re right Tikki. I can do this. I’m Marinette!” Marinette powered into her workroom and burrowed down to the bottom of her scrap fabric chest. She pulled out the wooden box at the bottom and Tikki phased into the lock and the box popped open on well-oiled springs. Inside, cushioned by stained scrap cloth, was the Miracle Box. It had changed as Marinette grew older and wiser in her role as Guardian, turning from the giant spotted egg, into a baby pink briefcase style sewing kit.

Marinette took one more deep breath to steady the shaking of her hands before reaching in, drawing out the case and standing in one movement.

“Okay.” She smiled nervously at Tikki. “Let’s do this.” Tikki gave Marinette one more bright smile before hiding away in Marinette’s blazer again. Tikki’s weight in a hidden inner pocket, nestled close against Marinette’s side, was soothing and familiar enough to spur Marinette on once more.

Marinette left the workroom behind her and with each step down the hall, towards Adrien, her dear, sweet, perfect Adrien, the box in her hands grew lighter. With every step Marinette took she got closer to finally, finally being able to share her burden. Closer to never having to keep another secret between them ever again. Marinette had everything else she’d ever wanted, and the only thing standing between Marinette and Adrien’s future (with three kids and a hamster) was one teensy, tiny, itty bitty little conversation.

“Phew!” Marinette said to break the quiet, too loud, and she winced when Adrien startled.

Adrien looked between Marinette and the case curiously, perfect golden brows furrowed in a mix of obvious confusion and curiosity. “Your sewing kit?” Marinette perched on a stool opposite Adrien, taking her time to straighten the kit on the island between them. She forced herself to meet Adrien’s eyes, suddenly trembling with nerves.

“Not just a sewing kit,” Marinette murmured. Just do it. Like ripping a band-aid off. She opened her blazer and Tikki floated out, giving Adrien a cheery little wave. “It’s the Miracle Box. I’m Ladybug, Adrien.” Tikki giggled and settled on Marinette’s shoulder.

For his part, Adrien seemed unphased. He smiled brightly with that little twinkle in his eye Marinette had always adored.

“Adrien?” Marinette gently pressed. She didn’t want to press him for a response but his silence was making her heart tremble. Adrien’s smile grew to a thousand-Watt beam and he seemed almost to vibrate in his seat.

“I’m so glad you finally told me,” Adrien chirped. He reached out and brought Marinette’s hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss to her knuckles and then another to her sparkling wedding ring. “Now we don’t need to keep secrets between us!” He pressed another kiss to her knuckles before grinning dashingly. “Plagg.”

“Plagg?” Marinette whispered. She felt cold and hot all at once. “So you’re-“

“Chat Noir, yes.” Adrien grinned in that smug, ‘cat that got the canary’ way Marinette had come to expect only from her partner. Seeing it on Adrien’s face made her stomach flip and decidedly not in the butterflies and curling toes and shivers down her spine way. “I’m so glad you finally told me M’Lady, it’s been agony not being able to call you My Lady every day.” Marinette’s blood froze.

“What did you say?” She whispered. Ice crept through her veins and closed her throat.

“I’ve wanted to call you My Lady for years, and now I finally can!” Adrien pressed yet another kiss to Marinette’s knuckles before ploughing on. “Well I’ve known for years M’Lady!” Adrien – Chat – Adrichat? practically purred. “Ever since I saw you leaving my room after gifting me my favourite beret.” He sighed dreamily, apparently totally ignorant of the ice in Marinette’s blood slowly creeping from her blood into her expression. “It was Fate, M’Lady, and look at us! Together forever because you finally saw that we were made for each other.”

That phrase was painfully, heartbreakingly familiar. “Adrien, I don’t understand. Are- what are you saying? Did you only marry me…because you knew I was Ladybug?” Marinette’s eyes burned with potential tears. “I thought you loved me.”

Adrien finally seemed to realise things weren’t completely fine and dandy because his expression fell into that kicked puppy look he was so good at. “Of course I love you Bugaboo! You’re the Ladybug to my Chat Noir, the yin to my yang, the creation to my destruction.” Marinette snatched her hand out of Adrien’s grasp and his expression crumpled like tissue paper.

Marinette stood, her stool scraping and Tikki dislodged from her shoulder. “My name is Marinette.” Her breath hitched and she snatched up the Miracle Box, clutching it to her chest. “You know I hate it when you call me Bugaboo. You know that.” She stumbled back when Adrien stood, still smiling that cat grin.

“There’s no need to play coy anymore, Princess,” Adrien purred. “We’ve been married since we were eighteen.” His stare grew hot, eyes darkening and he circled round the island. Marinette shifted towards the doorway. “You and I know each other intimately.” Adrien pressed closer still. “What are you so upset for? We’re happy together, aren’t we?”

“You lied to me!” Marinette shouted. Her outburst seemed to shock Adrien almost as much as it shocked Marinette herself. “Did you really only love me because you knew I was Ladybug? Would you have even considered dating me, marrying me, if you thought I was just plain old Marinette?”

“Well what was I supposed to do? You wouldn’t let me in as Chat, so when I knew for sure who you were behind the mask how was I supposed to resist?” Adrien demanded and if Marinette had any doubts he was Chat Noir they were thoroughly, utterly trashed on the floor. No one else could be so entitled, so, so pig-headed! That was the last straw. Marinette steeled herself.

“I’m going.” Adrien startled. “I…I need some – some time to myself. Don’t call me. I’ll-“ Marinette’s breath hitched and she forced herself to continue past the lump in her throat- “I’ll call you.” Marinette fled, barely remembering her coat and shoes as she bolted out the door.

“M’Lady!” Adrien called. “Princess!” His voiced cracked, clearly nearly in tears. Adrien’s heartbroken shouting cut off with the closing of the elevator doors. Marinette let out a sob, finally breaking in the relative comfort and safety of the elevator.

Tikki fluttered up to pat Marinette’s cheek sympathetically. “Oh Marinette. It’ll all be okay.” Marinette swiped roughly at her eyes, drawing away the tears that were starting to fall. Tikki gave her a soft, sad-eyed look. “You should call your parents, Marinette.”

“But it’s so late and they need to be awake early tomorrow to open the bakery and if I keep them up too late-“

“Marinette,” Tikki interrupted firmly. “Your parents love you, call them.” Marinette gave in, pulling out her phone just as the elevator doors opened. Tikki hid away in Marinette’s blazer. Marinette dialled her parents’ number, slipping her coat on one arm and her shoes back on as she listened to the dial tone.

“What if they don’t pick up?” Marinette worried. She didn’t have to.

“Marinette, honey?” Her maman answered. “Is everything okay, sweetie? You’re calling quite late.” Marinette sniffled.

“Maman can I- can I come stay tonight?” The doorman gave Marinette a nervous look as she passed and she realised she probably looked awful, with her tear-streaked makeup and her coat only half on. The thought only served to make Marinette feel worse and she gave a small wail that echoed in the empty street. A stray cat hissed and skittered out of her path.

“Oh sweetie, sh sh. Of course you’re welcome, Marinette. Do you want me to come pick you up?” Marinette wiped her nose on the back of her hand.

“No, that’s- that’s okay Maman.” Marinette sniffled again, listening to the click of her heels on the sidewalk as she collected herself. “I’ll be there soon,” Marinette assured her maman. She forced a wobbly smile even though Maman wouldn’t be able to see it. “I promise.” Marinette hung up and turned her face to the sky. The moon was washed out by the streetlights, and any light that may have made it past was smothered by city smog. Altogether a fittingly depressing picture.

In all of Marinette’s fussing, her planning, making contingency plans for her contingency plans, never had Marinette considered that Adrien already knew. Knew and never told her and and and- Marinette paused in the middle of the path and shrieked, stomping her feet and barely resisting the temptation to sit down in the grime of the sidewalk and cry like a little kid. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair at all.

#ml #sodium rich fanfic #marinette #adrien salt #psst. endgame lukanette

[femininetea]

"Always expecting betrayal... But never from you"

The general who became a father to his soldier (spoilers for rwby v8 ch13)

Personal impressions:

I was so mad last week, thinking IW would have been defeated already/too soon but they tricked us. And I'm so glad it's a Winter vs. Ironwood fight. And the emotions.... I can't.

He was her father figure and I'm sure it was viewed like that from both sides. We were clearly shown what IW would do if anyone was in his way. Even when she disobeyed he didn't shoot her. He trusted her until the last moment.... We saw him get mad, break down and hopeless. But never cry. It's not just any soldier he's fighting. He's fighting his right hand. Winter Schnee, someone who was like a daughter to him.

But let's get to their actual relationship.

An essay on Winter in RWBY is planned btw.

Winter seems to have the highest rank in the military next to Ironwood, which is impressive for her age and shows her determination but also how IW believes in her

In V4 Jacques claimed that IW "stole his daughter" and IW hinted at that they often had this conversation

In V7 Jacques asked IW if Winter knew that Weiss returned to Atlas

From the point of V2 and V3 it seems that Winter still had contact to Jacques but not as much anymore in V7, something happened and I think because of the dust embargo IW and Jacques had their confrontation and Winter obviously chose IW's side and detached from her father completely

(It was always hinted (and I think even stated in the remnant guide book) that Winter protected her siblings and had to take the most abuse. And you can clearly see that by her type of fight or flight trauma and how she's literally supposed to represent the ice queen with her hidden emotions and stuff

You see her in that state of shock, fear, panic, trauma etc. when she realizes that she failed Ironwood. He was proud of her for catching Yang, Ren and Jaune and put his hand on her since they would be useful. Harriet then told him and I think this represents how someone like IW would be able to hurt her that much emotionally since he is in the position of an authority and a father figure to her)

Also he was ready to shoot his people at any time like the council man or Marrow but he didn't shoot her and allowed her to stay by her side

That and how she defends IW most of the time show how she trusts her judgment, IW trusts her judgement as well as seen in V4 when he told Jacques that Winter told him that there was a threat in Mistral

In World of Remnant we see IW walking past soldiers and Winter standing out. It was about the technical grooming of atlas students to join the military but you can tell from what we know of Ironwood, that he has a good heart (eruption fang made a vid on that recently)

When Winter told Weiss that "the general would have a place for you" She said it with such happiness, atlas and the military was winter's new home and IW gave her the chance to repurpose her life

She even defended IW in front of Jacques, her biological father and she takes great personal offense when his judgement is mistreated. Even when Weiss talked about trust Winter said that he would never hide anything from her

The offer with the Winter Maiden... You could say that he did this to control her and I'd accept your opinion... But there's one thing that makes me think that he still obviously also cared for her. Over the years he knew how much the military meant to her. She even told Penny that her life doesnt matter and only her job does. It means everything to her and like Winter said herself, she saw the Maiden powers as a privilege and it makes me feel like Ironwood saw them as something that would make her unique and give her once again a purpose that is unique to her and not just her being one of many soldiers

He even apologized, knowing it wouldn't be easy for her (since he expected Winter and not Ozcar) and when he had his talk with RWBY he called Winter her/Weiss' sister instead of just her name and idk but that just made this even more special

In Volume 8 it is once again shown how Winter is basically the one who also trusted Ironwood until the end. And in ch 12 she didnt judge him... She expressed her worries for his behavior. She couldn't believe the man who made her feel like she was everything would ever become so cruel

They way their worry for each other looks so similar

And while I know that they have a theme for the Atlas military , I think it's obvious how Winter looked even more like IW in all her outfits compared to the rest of the military

Many people think Ironwood is dumb for over trusting Winter but I think it shows his flaw as a general. He let's his emotions get in the way since he cares about her and continues to trust her even though she disobeyed orders

His last words were "As my last order: step aside", he could've just shot her again as she layed defenseless on the ground but he didn't

Remember how in the first episode he said "Thank you Winter, I don't know what I would do without you"

Right before, she said that she'll be fine without him asking anything. It sounds a little more personal in my opinion. Why would you tell your boss that you'll be fine without him asking about your status? the conversation was literally about Qrow and Robyn before but he looked worried and wanted the room for themselves and she immediately said that.

Some people also talk about how they emphasized with Ironwood in volume 7 since wasn't shown to have family or a partner yet would do anything for Atlas. But again, he did care about Winter a lot and wanted her to be save.

Something I also noticed when writing this is that in volume 3 Ironwood called her Schnee yet in V7 he calls the Ace Ops and her via first name basis. Clover said that he trusts Ironwood with this life and I think that's how Winter and the Ace ops felt about him, the person who gave them hope. Especially Winter.

And now we're here. Seeing the man cry a tear. We know now, if Winter wins, she has to kill him. Imprisoning him wasn't enough. And I think that will be her final moment of her being a "Ice Queen", when she has to kill him, she will probably turn to her emotional side and grieve.

As mentioned, the military, her position, her rank and Ironwood meant everything to her. She talked so enthusiastically when she had her conversation with Weiss about moving in together without their father and how IW has a place for her younger sister. And now along with Ironwood, both are in a situation they never thought they'd be in.

That was it from me. In short form , I just wanted to share some ideas and things I've noticed about their relationship and dynamic. None of this is meant as a romantic way and you can of course disagree but please stay respectful. Thank you and we'll see each other next chapter<3

P. S. Winter please don't die

#rwby #rwby winter #winter schnee #rwby volume 7 #rwby volume 8 #rwby theory #rwby ironwood #james ironwood #rwby weiss #weiss schnee #rwby v8 #rwby v8 speculation #rwby spoilers #character study #rwby jacques #rwby manga #jacques schnee #rwby winter maiden #rwby analysis #character analysis #rwby v8 ch13 #winter soldier #rwby ace ops #ace operatives

[professorspork]

superhell fic prompt: RB+J reunite with Yang

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4]

Let no one ever doubt that Yang can be a champion whiner when she wants to be.

She was on her best behavior before, listening intently as Weiss caught her up on just how badly the fight with Cinder went, and brainstorming up next steps (get to the Tree; send up a flare with Ember Celica because if there were Grimm they needed to worry about, they would have run into some by now; wait). Only there wasn’t much to talk about after that that wasn’t wildly depressing, and they’d fallen into an uneasy silence-- Yang watching Weiss hunch tighter and tighter in on herself with every step.

So she’d filled the quiet: complaining about how they’d be there by now if only she still had Bumblebee; bitching about how unfair it is that they can’t seem to get their Semblances to work; grumbling over how she has no idea how long they’ve been walking because the light never seems to change here. And Weiss snaps back, of course, but Yang can tell the annoyance is feigned-- the more irritated Weiss’s answers are, the more relaxed her body language becomes. Normalcy’s thin on the ground, here; Yang will provide it anywhere she can.

Except-- 

-- except also something on the ground here, it seems-- 

-- is Gambol Shroud.

“Oh,” Yang breathes, in a tone of voice she’s not entirely sure she’s ever produced before. Weiss runs ahead and drops to her knees, but hesitates when she goes to scoop up the weapon-- her hand hovering over it, shaking.

“I-- sorry. It’s not my-- you should--”

“You should give it back to her,” Yang says, keeping her distance and a soft smile on her face.

Weiss looks up at her with wide eyes. “But you--” 

“--didn’t have to see her fall. You did. And you-- you did really good, Weiss. You should give it back to her.” It seems a small concession to make, in the grand scheme of things. She’s going to have plenty of Blake, and soon. She knows it-- she’s sure of that down to her bones, now. So what is there to be possessive of? She waits until Weiss nods, and slips the katana through one of her scabbard loops. It’s not exactly meant to be carried that way, but whatever. It looks pretty badass. “C’mon,” she says, helping Weiss to her feet. “We’re close. I can feel it.”

Weiss roasts her mercilessly when it’s a good age and a half of walking before they even hit the tree’s roots (“Oh, are we close, Yang? Can you feel it?”), but they don’t come across any other surprises. When the roots start to twist and rise above them, Yang clambers up to a decent plateau and sets off two charges-- shooting them high into the air and watching them explode like fireworks. Yang smirks, tucking her arms behind her head as she prepares to settle in and wait--

-- and promptly slips and falls out of the tree when a trio of familiar voices happily cry “Yang?!” only seconds after the flare’s report.

(It’s not her fault, okay? She wasn’t expecting them to be this close, or together; wasn’t expecting Jaune to be down here at all; it’s whatever--)

By the time she’s picked herself up and dusted herself off, Ruby, Jaune and Blake have come into view, just across the clearing. 

“Ruby!” Weiss cries, sprinting towards them, and that’s-- she’s Yang’s sister, she should get dibs on first hug, what gives, only then Weiss actually throws a thumbs up behind her as she runs and that’s just-- that’s just rude, honestly, as if--

“Yang,” Blake says, close enough to touch, and when did that happen?

“Blake, I--”

She has no idea how that sentence was supposed to end. Luckily, Blake relieves her of the burden, busying her mouth and bringing her thoughts to a grinding halt by pulling her into a swift, determined kiss. Yang’s struck so dumb by the shock of it that for a moment she forgets to kiss back-- hands hanging limply at her sides as she tries to process the intent pressure of Blake’s lips against hers; the swell of body heat where they’re pressed together, chest to chest; the tender way Blake cradles her jaw, all fingertips, the way you touch something precious and fragile. Every muscle in Yang’s body relaxes in an instant-- at last, finally, thank you-- and a needy, wanting noise tears itself from her throat, entirely without her volition.

It’s possible she goes a bit overboard when she finally gets control of her limbs again, wrapping her arms around Blake’s sides and dipping her into the kind of kiss she’s only seen on the covers of Blake’s novels, but it’s hard to care about how it looks-- not when Blake’s laughing into her mouth, and Ruby’s wolf-whistling (Yang releases her hold on Blake for that, briefly, only because she has to prioritize flipping Ruby the bird) and has she mentioned that she’s kissing Blake Belladonna? 

She’s kissing Blake Belladonna.

She might never stop kissing Blake Belladonna.

Or, okay, maybe she will; her back kind of hurts holding this weird position so long. But when she pulls Blake back to standing, she suddenly registers wetness on her own cheeks, and she wouldn’t be surprised she’s crying only she’s-- she’s really pretty sure she’s not, so that means--

“Don’t cry,” she whispers, reaching up to brush the tears from Blake’s lashes. “If you cry I’m gonna cry, and--”

“I love you,” Blake breathes, and the words lay Yang out faster than any punch, knocking the wind right out of her lungs. The look on Blake’s face is beatific-- elated and adoring and thrilled. Like she’s proud of herself for being brave enough to say it; like she wasn’t sure she was going to know how. Only then the tears well up again; her voice hitches as she stutters: “I promised; I couldn’t get to you in time, you can’t-- I’ll follow you anywhere, I promised, I swear it, but you have to let me, I thought I lost you--”

This time it’s Yang’s turn to quiet Blake with a kiss, and she lets herself savor it. She clocks every sensation, every touch, every sigh, every brush of their lips. This isn’t about utility, or merely silencing Blake’s fears. It’s reassurance, and devotion, and a promise all its own: we’re okay. We can have this, now.

When she pulls back, she takes a deep breath, determined to find words that will mean as much as Blake’s just did, to make it clear just how much she feels--

-- only it’s a little hard to concentrate over how loudly Weiss is crying, a few yards away where Ruby and Jaune have her sandwiched between them.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to-- I just-- you did promise, all of you, you said you’d never leave my side and I was-- I was alone, I was the only one left, and I--”

Yang takes Blake’s hand, gratified when she gets an understanding squeeze and a nod in return-- to be continued. Whatever confessions of love Yang’s got scratching at the walls of her insides, they can wait a little longer; right now, they need to be with their team.

Together, they join the group huddle, saying nothing as collectively they abandon any attempts at soothing words and instead finally let themselves fall apart. Ruby all but crawls into Yang’s lap, and a thread of tension deep within Yang finally, finally relaxes, knowing that her sister is safe. Jaune cries loudest and hardest of all, and Yang buries a hand in his hair, wishing she could make it better. She knows what it feels like, to stab down and feel the life leave someone’s body, but that was-- she’d hated Adam. To have to do it to an ally, a friend, to have that responsibility on you, for someone you love--

--kill me, and I can make sure the power goes to you--

-- she shakes off the stubborn image of Raven’s scarlet eyes filling her vision and focuses on the people in her arms.

“Not to be super morbid, but maybe...” She pauses and chews on her words, wanting to make sure she says what she means to. “We might be a little past promises, now. All of us. I don’t know where we go from here, and the choices are only going to get harder. But-- we’ve always found our way back to each other before. Even here, and-- and I don’t even really know where here is. So maybe we can just... trust that. See where it takes us.”

She doesn’t realize she’s closed her eyes in a wince, unsure of how she’ll be received, until she cautiously squints them open again and sees half her universe staring back at her with nothing but love.

“I think that sounds good,” Blake says, 

but her eyes say so much more. 

#rwby #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #blake and yang #bumbleby #weiss schnee #fic what i wrote #Anonymous

[ct-multifandom]

Wait, ct predicted something correctly on July 3rd, 2021? I was a little off, and it’s not actually the real Adrien, but still. I will count this as a success.

Canix (nickname I made up) has to be that blurry concept art guy from the Lindalee Rose video. I think we were thrown off by the discarded color schemes because why would a dog be yellow and green, but he looks pretty similar to Sabrina’s design.

Polymouse looks so swaggy in the Lucky Charm sunglasses. I’m obsessed.

Pegabun (nickname I made up) is so cute! I love how her bunny ears are made out of the horse’s little Hermes wings. Kinda bummed that this implies no Alix, but I’m curious what Maribun is gonna do. Go to the future for help and bring back the “new character from the future” who isn’t Alix? Who will it be?

I really wonder what will prompt Ladybug to give Alix the rabbit miraculous when it does happen, though. She’s the “last chance hero”, but if the entire city being on fire while the whole team is getting rocked isn’t enough to warrant her entry, what will? Either things are gonna get a million times worse in season 5, or she’ll get it during some completely normal episode with a villain who is close to her and/or has time powers.

Speaking of the team, will all the heroes show up like in the previous finales, or is this team here all we’re getting? I love the idea of Pigella’s gift exposing Hawkmoth’s long term plan, Luka knowing the identities just has to be relevant at some point, and I just think the finale having every current holder is kind of a climactic expectation at this point.

I finished my post about yin yang pairs days ago, but so much started happening that I didn’t post it because I didn’t want it to get drowned out. Is now a good time? We saw the last four powers, and we’re getting a rabbit/horse unification, which are relevant to my post.

I’m hoping Astruc will serve us his usual twitter posts about what these powers explicitly are, what concepts the miraculous embody, and what the powers’ original names are because sometimes details are missing or something gets lost in translation.

I think the ox and dog powers are pretty cool and useful. The ox would’ve been so helpful against Style Queen. Ever since they started spoiling these heroes, I’ve been trying to get a glimpse of Minotaurox’s tool, and he didn’t even pull it out. From the strike back trailer he looks like he might have a hammer? Maybe also a little anvil or something on his lower back? Idk. I understand nobody using their tools to fight in a soccer episode, but I’m curious to see how they do it.

The goat power is... interesting. Genesis is a cool as hell name, but making any object? Very similar to his akuma power and very similar to Lucky Charm. I’m curious to see what kind of use it’ll have in the future. It’d be useful to keep up the lie and pretend that it’s way more powerful than it actually is, but I don’t expect that kind of continuity, so where does it go from here? I wonder if all his objects have the same color and texture like how all the Lucky Charms do.

The rooster power is stupid busted, like wtf? His power is that he can do anything he wants? The other ridiculously powerful miraculous have some sort of big downside to them, so does he have a secret nerf or power cap? The rabbit is OP, but it’s super dangerous, and its holder has a great potential of messing up and screwing over entire timelines. The peacock is OP, but its power comes with messy moral complications. Is there a “but” with this one? Is there a valid explanation as to why Fu didn’t just pull it out from the jump as opposed to introducing it at the very end of s4?

Edit: I saw someone propose that he lied about his power like Caprikid did. I don’t think that’s likely because they never said he was lying or what his real power was otherwise, so it would confuse the kids at home (and us), but man it’d be hilarious if his actual power was just like. Telekinesis or something and they don’t explain that until a later episode.

I love how not-shocked the kids are at seeing kwamis for the first time. Mylene and Juleka were terrified, but zero damns given here. I’m dying to learn more about them like how we learned about Mullo, Daizzi, and Roarr. I guess we know a bit about Barrk, though, and Ziggy is a lot more talkative than many kwamis.

If these kids don’t have individual development episodes in s5+ I am getting on a plane to France and having a chat with the writers. Marc was actually not too bad. We learned a bit about him, and he’s actually had development since s2! I’m getting the vibe that Penalteam is only the start of Sabrina’s arc, not that she’s supposed to 180 in one ep, so I’ll excuse that for now, especially since the dog has a different holder in the next episodes. I s2g if we don’t get Ivan and Nath development though...

“Ivan is scared to hurt others because he’s so strong”. Guys. If he had his own ep is this what it’d be about? At least explicitly tie it back to Stoneheart. I could write a whole essay about him, his merits, and his potential to be interesting, but he’s constantly overshadowed in the show. I think he’s one of the characters who deserves a miraculous a lot, actually. He’s always ready to protect his friends, even sacrifice himself to save them, he loves and supports his girlfriend no matter what, he protests for the environment, he physically cannot tell a lie, and he does everything he can to make sure his friends feel happy and loved. Go deeper with it. Introduce his home life, bring back his poetry writing, if he’s the secret autistic character, strongly hint at that. Give him his Luisa Madrigal moment or something instead of making him an unoriginal gentle giant.

Nath has been oddly static for the entire show. It’s very interesting that his flaws are so similar to Chloe’s. They both have bad attitudes about things they don’t want to do, and they both hate being on teams. The difference is that Chloe makes it everyone else’s problem while Nath just ditches and gets Marc to lie about it. I could write an essay about them being foils after my hypothetical Ivan is Awesome essay.

I think he’s one of the most confusing characters honestly. Not that he’s inconsistent, but that I never know what he’s thinking or what he wants. He’s failing chemistry, he’s been skipping school since season one, and he’s asocial af. He’s not there in Pixelator when everyone’s working at the hotel, he doesn’t come out of his locker when everyone’s hiding in Zombizou, so he ends up being the only classmate who didn’t sacrifice himself to protect the rest/Ladybug. Even Chloe, who hated the idea, came around and sacrificed herself so Ladybug could win. He’s sleeping in origins. He probably wouldn’t have celebrated his birthday at all if he didn’t get akumatized, and I remember reading a post about how he never goes out unless Alix is there too, implying that she forces him. The only time with spoken lines when we see them being best friends is when Alix helps Nath clean up his biggest mess. He gasps like everyone else in the sneeze scene in Guiltrip, but proceeds to be the only one other than the mean girls to not do anything. He doesn’t trust people and gets paranoid that they’re his enemies.

Another thing is that being good at art is constantly used as his one single merit. What makes his villain form powerful? Good at art. What makes his hero form powerful? Good at art. Why does Marc start to like him in the first place? Good at art. What does he have in common with Marinette? Art. What does he do with Alix? Art. Is he caring, or trustworthy, or resourceful, or- Idk. But he can draw a picture real good.

I could keep going, but I think you guys get the point. I’ve already taken up too much space on this post about this. And this hasn’t changed too significantly over the course of the whole show. When are they going to address it? Is he okay? Is he just a massive doomer? Most characters with negative traits in s1 have had a lot of development since then like Kim’s bully arc or Mylene’s phobias, so I think it’s interesting that he’s still the same, especially since he’s self-aware. I’d love to see a @gentil-minou post about him.

Quilin had terrible animation but it was very nicely written. It was just a simple episode that had little to do with the main plot, but had an important message and some good character moments. We learned more about Sabine in Quilin than we learned about a lot of characters in their own development episodes. I’m glad we finally got the Adrien’s-Pajamas-level lore of what’s behind the door in Marinette’s kitchen/living room. Sabine is so good. I love how she knows exactly what Marinette is going to do at all times. It makes me surprised that she hasn’t figured out that her daughter is LB yet.

I hope Strike Back airs or gets leaked within the next two weeks. I also hope we start hearing info about the premiers of season 5. We know there are some completed dubs and supposedly the first five or six eps are finished in order, which is good. I don’t think the hiatus will be too long. I predict that it’ll probably be Gabriel Agreste -> Kuro Neko length if not shorter honestly. Cant wait!

#miraculous ladybug #ml #ml spoilers #ml season 4 #miraculous season 4 #miraculous spoilers #strike back #penalteam #quilin #should I tag characters? eh nah #if some of this sounds salty that’s not my intention

[set-wingedwarrior]

Request: Bumbleby, the Stress Test/Heart Attack prompt from Yang's POV

So, that's been sitting in my ask box for a while, I can't even remember when I got it! Well, better late then never, right? I wasn't sure if you meant first person or not, but I hope you'll like it!

Enjoy!

(Here's the link to the original if you're interested by the way.)

AO3

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

“No!”

“Blake, please-”

“No Yang, I won’t let you do this!”

Yang sighed.

She knew Blake wouldn’t have liked this, but she didn’t expect such a strong reaction (and extended fight). Maybe she should have; she did just offer to risk her life.

“You heard them, they need a powerful aura and semblance to have a chance for it to work.”

Mantle was freezing, and if the only chance to put the heaters back on was to use her semblance to kickstart them, how could she in all conscience back out?

“Then why don’t we send Nora? Who better than someone with an electricity-based semblance to reactivate a system!?!” Yang could see the shame and regret the moment these words got out of Blake’s mouth. She didn’t take them back though; she just moved her eyes away.

“Because they need heat, not electricity.” Yang calmly explained. She understood Blake’s feelings, she would’ve acted the same way in her place, so she didn’t hold her offering of Nora against her “Plus, Nora conducts electricity, she doesn’t produce it like I do with my fire.”

“I still don’t want you to do this.”

I wouldn’t want you to do it either.

But Yang couldn’t admit that, fully knowing that it would just give Blake more ammo to hit her resolve. Besides, she was fairly sure Blake already knew.

Still, the city needed Yang’s semblance and, fair or not, she wasn’t going to just ignore them. “Blake.” Yang carefully approached her, gently taking her hands in hers “I don’t know what else to say. But it might save hundreds of lives: I have to do this.”

Blake stubbornly kept not looking at her, as if she hoped that avoiding eye-contact would have stopped her.

It almost did.

“I’ll be fine.” Yang added, hoping to soothe at least some of her fears. She knew she was in no position to make any promises, but it killed her seeing Blake like this.

Blake carelessly dropped her hands, breaking Yang’s heart for an instant. But all worries faded when Blake settled her arms around Yang’s waist in a crushing hug “You better be.” She said-no, demanded, as she squeezed her tighter.

How could she deny her?

Yang hugged her back, holding her around her shoulders and close to her chest, and leaning her chin right in between her cat ears. Such a simple gesture and yet so filled with intimacy and love, seemed to soothe both hers and Blake’s nerves.

Yang held tight, feeling stronger each second that passed, and more confident.

I’ll come back to you.

They stayed like that until later, when the scientists came to retrieve her, informing her that the device was ready. Blake followed them without a word, sticking by Yang’s side and filling her with even more purpose.

I promise.

***

“Are you ready?” Piero asked.

Yang positioned herself on the treadmill, before giving him a thumbs-up and grinning at Blake. Then she started running.

They explained to her that they needed to trigger her semblance in a slower way, and that was apparently having her running with multiple cables attached to her. She tried to explain that’s not how her semblance worked, but being brutalized, aside from being really uncomfortable, would have also been too much and make it all fail.

Yang still wasn’t sure that it would have worked this way if she had to be honest, but trying didn’t cost nothing, and in the best case scenario she would have even discovered a new way to deal with her semblance! So that’s cool, right?

Blake, worryingly watching over her from aside with her ears pinned down, didn’t appear to agree.

Still, Yang focused on her breathing and kept a steady pace, and decided to give this experiment her all. After ten minutes of running, she started to see some lights turning on.

Grinning in delight at the sight she pushed over the fatigue, decided to give these people the heat back as soon as possible.

Yang was panting and sweating, the effort to control her semblance to such a gradual buildup being harder than anticipated, but it didn’t matter because it was working!

She kept running, everything going well as the energy slowly stored back in the generators. She could see them charging, and the moment they’d max out the heat would be back! She was so close… she only had to resist a little while longer.

She kept running and running, the fire of her semblance reduced to a candlelight but just as burning as always shining all around her.

I can do this I can do this I can do this

…until she couldn’t.

Yang felt her heart start beating like crazy against her chest, its irregularity feeling weird and worrying at the same time. Her body didn’t take long to react to the anomaly, and all of a sudden she was about to pass out.

But she couldn’t stop now, she was so close!

So, ignoring her body’s needs, she grabbed on her chest to try and slow her heart down (she knew that’s not how it works, but you try to be rational when you’re about to drop on a treadmill that’s supposed to save a whole city), and pushed on.

Distantly she could hear Blake call her name, begging her to stop. Yang wasn’t sure if she had to be honest but, imagined it or not, she did stop.

Everything went black as she fell to the ground.

***

The first thing Yang felt before she was even able to open her eyes, was Blake’s lips on her own and salt on her cheeks. Then, a weight over her hips and pressure on her chest.

Yang abruptly opened her eyes with a choked gasp. She coughed and gasped, trying to get as much air in her lungs as she could. Blake stepped beside her, gently moving a hand on her back.

Yang took one last deep breath, when she felt Blake pulling her close in a hug.

“…Blake?” Yang asked, a little more aware now.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again! You heard me?” Blake cried in her hair, holding her closer. Yang nodded and hugged her back, her head resting on Blake’s chest.

She didn’t want to think about what must have almost happened to freak Blake out like that. The only thing she knew was that she didn’t want to hear her voice filled with so much fear because of her ever again.

So she focused on the rhythmic beating of Blake’s heart instead, and how comforting it was.

Exhausted from everything that happened, and now safe in Blake’s hold, Yang fell asleep in her arms.

#bumbleby #bumbleby fic #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #rwby #rwby fic #my fic #ask #anon #request

[alyssadeliv]

The Forgotten One

First      Previous

Chapter 8

Just seeing that dagger, even after years, brought memories that made his heart ache. He remembered giving it to her… It was her 12th birthday, and even being only six at the time he remembered feeling so proud of himself when her entire face lit up at the sight of his present. The yin and the yang always represented their relationship so well. She was the light inside his darkness, and he was the darkness to her light. He still had the other part of the set, from the last time he had ever seen her, it was his most prized possession. It was inevitable that every time he looked at it he remembered her, so he mostly kept the weapon in the back of his closet, carefully protected inside a wooden box, because it was too painful to look at every day.

Now that he was older he wondered if his first actions after discovering his other siblings had anything to do with her death. Something inside him told him he needed to secure a position for himself before his Father decided he wasn't needed anymore. Because that was the norm in the League. You had to fight for your position. The only person he could let his guard down was his sister. He didn’t need to prove himself for her. She looked at him as if the world started and ended at him, and he always had looked at her the same. 

He took her death hard, but he never truly got to mourn her properly. Being tossed aside by his mother to live with the father he had never met, after the most tragic event of his life, was enough to damage lesser children, but he was the Heir of the League. He needed to be strong. So that's what he did, first, he tried to eliminate his competition. But to his surprise, he was berated by not only his Father but his other siblings. 

Being only ten at the time he didn’t know a life without violence. And he had to relearn how to behave in this new world he was left on. Without his sister by his side, he felt incomplete. Being neglected by the Father he looked up to for so long wasn’t easy either. He never once told anyone about her. He didn't see the point. She was dead, and Al Ghuls never dwell on the past. But as a Wayne, he often found himself opening the wooden box and remembering all the happy moments of his life by his sister's side.

That’s why this copycat made him so angry. He recognized the uniform and the weapons being used. The fighting style and the evasion techniques he recognized from his training in the League. Whomever this person was, it had ties to his grandfather's organization. Living almost three years away from the League lifestyle was enough for him to decide to never return. But he couldn’t for the life of him understand why his mother sent someone to taunt him with his dead sister's doppelganger. That was cold even for her, and he knew that Talia would never cross that line because she loved Marianne too. 

It took him almost one week to try to come clean with his family. He needed time to process. In that period of time, their mysterious assassin completed their mission. Damian knew that because a high fashion designer was found dead by the docks a couple of days after their last encounter with the BatFam. There were signs of torture, but the most peculiar thing was that the designer was wearing a tailored suit with the Order of the Miraculi symbol on the back. Gotham police simply linked his death to a Chinese gang, but Damian knew better. He just wasn’t sure what exactly happened. 

He had a theory that after his sister's death, Wang Fu eventually got a new apprentice, and that person now was impersonating his deceased sister to obtain power. Before her death, Marianne was widely known as The Lily of the Desert. Her reputation was incredible. And her Modus Operandi, amazing.

In his sister's memory, he needed to put a stop to this impostor.

“I have not been completely honest with you Father” They were all at the cave, getting ready for patrol. Grayson and Todd immediately stopped whatever they were doing and stared at him as if he had grown another head. Drake nursing a hot cup of coffee didn't seem to have listened to what he said. 

“And what exactly have you been hiding?” Father asks folding his arms in front of him. These last couple of days had been hard on him. Catching the assassin had been his number one priority. 

“I believe that I have information pertained to Gotham's new visitor…” His Father's face darkens. He wore the Batman suit sans the cowl, but he still looked very much intimidating. 

“And why have I not been informed of this sooner?” He asks with a stern tone. Seeing his Father, with arms crossed, made Damian remember the series of long berations he received in his first months living at Gotham. And for some reason, he felt small.

Seeing his youngest reaction, of flinching, he softened his tone. 

“What I mean is… Why not come to us in the first place, surely we could have helped, and-” He was interrupted, a loud signal echoing through the cave signaling that there was a disturbance. Oracle immediately gets to work. 

“There’s a disturbance in Wayne Botanic Garden… The alarm indicated someone broke in. There is no response from the security team there.” The redhead explains the situation. “I don't think it is Ivy. There have been no sightings of her in weeks… She and Harley have been keeping a very low profile.”

“Suit up everyone! We will finish this later Damian. You and Hood are in charge of discovering where this intruder entered the building. Tim, Alfred benched you, stay here with Oracle and go through the security video, find out where this person is staying. Nightwing you are in charge of finding the security team. I’ll deal with whoever it is inside.”

And with that, they were gone.

When they got to the Botanical Gardens it was too silent. The alarm that alerted them wasn’t on anymore. And if they didn't know better it would have seemed a false alarm. 

“New plan, Nightwing and I will enter the building. Robin and Hood are to keep guard on the roof. If you see anything exiting the building notify us immediately.” And he was gone.

Damian got angry, knowing that his Father was punishing him for lying.

“Well, it looks like it’s just you and me baby bird” Todd says with a cheeky smirk. Even with his laid-back attitude, Damian could still tell that he had his guard up. “You stay here, and I’ll take the other side of the building. Call me if you need backup!” Of all of his brothers, Jason Todd was the one he least interacted with. He mostly lived in his apartment, and aside from patrol, he was never home. He liked to think that at some level the oldest understood him. He too was trained by the League for years, and he always wondered what it would have been like to meet him before coming to Gotham. 

Todd didn’t like to talk about the time after his death and Damian respected that. Because he too had difficulty talking about his childhood. Grayson was the one that always pushed them to try and talk about their feelings, and that was one of the reasons he did like his older brother, it kind of reminded him of Marianne.

Even if he did miss his life in the League, life with his Father was without a doubt, better. He was allowed to have pets, something he always wanted. And he wasn’t expected to train until he bled. He was obligated to attend school, and that he didn't like, but in general, he couldn’t complain. 

Suddenly he got movement from his perimetrical vision, and if it wasn’t for his training he might have missed it. Whomever it was, was taking advantage that the roof from the building across from the Gardens didn’t have lighting. 

Throwing caution out of the window Damian went into action. He didn’t need backup. If it was someone from the League, he could take care of it. When he got to the other roof he was immediately attacked. His opponent wasn’t using the weapons Damian knew she had in her possession. At their last encounter, he hadn’t been able to catch a glimpse of who had attacked Drake, but now he could tell it was someone older than him, and she definitely had previous training. He blocked her first punch but wasn’t able to escape the second one. He momentarily lost his air but didn’t let his guard go down. He responded in kind and suddenly they were in heated combat.

On his intercom, he could hear his Father and siblings asking what was happening, but he didn’t have the time to respond. For some reason, their fight suddenly felt like a dance. They were in synchrony with each other and he felt as if he was missing something. The girl was wearing the traditional League attire, with a small symbol of the Order of the Miraculous on her left breast. It was identical to the one his sister would use, and that only helped to fuel his anger. By now the other would be getting there in a matter of minutes, so he had to act fast. Fastly grabbing a Batarang he threw it with all his force. Not expecting it, she couldn’t get out of the way fast enough, and the weapon lodged itself to her right side. Blood immediately started coming out of the wound. He lunged at her. Using her wound as an advantage. But to his surprise, she didn’t seem affected. And was able to block his attacks with ease. He heard some bodies landing on the roof, his family had reached them. But that still didn’t deter him. Punch after punch he started to gain some ground over his opponent. Landing one powerful land on her jaw she falls to the ground defenseless, and her mask dislodged from her face, and now Damian was finally able to see the face of his opponent. He froze. 

Somewhere behind him he hears his Father asking her questions, but it is all muted. A million thoughts pass through his mind, but there are so many that he can’t form a coherent thought. 

“Ashataqat lak ya 'akhy" Comes from her mouth.

He throws himself towards her. He hears Grayson shouting for him to stop, but he can't, it's like his body is moving at its own accord.

Jason sees everything happening in slow motion. From the second they hear fighting sounds from the Demon Spawn’s intercom to when they reach the rooftop where the fighting is taking place. He sees the brutal moves, Robin, lands on his opponent. And if she wasn't an assassin he would feel bad for her. 

She’s injured but that doesn't stop Damian. Dick tries to interfere, but for some reason Bruce stops him. Something he regrets when she’s finally overpowered and is on the ground because even after Dick screams Damian to stop he still goes after the girl. 

But to their surprise, he doesn’t attack her. He throws himself into her arms. She hugs him back, not even caring that her side it’s badly bleeding. She holds him as if her life depended on it. And Damian is no different. Even being at a considerable distance they can see Robin’s shoulders shaking. He's crying, something no one ever saw him doing before.

That sight stunned him. And he can see he is not the only one. Bruce doesn’t seem to know what to do, and Dick looks like someone just kicked his puppy. 

Oh, how Bruce wishes he had heard what Damian had to say earlier.

So last chapter didn’t get a lot of notes... Is the story getting boring? Honest aswers please! I’m posting this chapter today as a birthday present for myself! (My birthday is in 2 days! So exited!) 

Please tell me your thought!

Next

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#maribat #bio dad bruce wayne #older sibling #mari al ghul #Child Assassin #the forgotten one #Damian Wayne #Marianne Al Ghul #batman #miraculous ladybug #mlb x dc #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous au #Damian al Ghul #mari wayne #League of Assassins #assassin Marinette #Talia al Ghul #Ra's al Ghul

[aspoonofsugar]

Ironwood and Cinder: The Final Word

Cinder: And that’s… checkmate.

The Final Word of the volume is Cinder’s and it is meaningful she says it to Ironwood.

As a matter of fact Ironwood and Cinder are two sides of the same coin on many levels. This is conveyed also structurally.

Volume 7 is mostly about Ironwood’s tragic spiral. We are shown him struggle with his flaw throughout the whole volume, but in the end he loses to it and becomes just as dangerous as Salem:

Oscar: Then you're as dangerous as she is, James.

Not only does volume 8 close with Cinder instead, but it also opens with her:

And it even gives us her backstory:

Why does it happen? And why is Cinder’s final line so important when it comes to her foiling with Ironwood?

GRAVITY

It is not by chance that Watts calls both Ironwood and Cinder out before the climax of respectively volume 7 (Ironwood) and volume 8 (Cinder). This is because, as stated above, volume 7 is Ironwood’s volume, while volume 8 is Cinder’s. So they both are confronted with a truth about themselves and their reaction to it influences their stories in the Atlas arc.

In a sense, even if Watts is the one dangerously hanging over an abyss... it is actually Ironwood and Cinder who are on the brink. They are deciding Watts’s survival, but they are also deciding their own destiny.

They are choosing if to fall because of gravity or if to fly in the sky victorious.

At the same time, the two scenes with Watts show how Cinder and Ironwood are both similar and opposites.

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

Ironwood and Cinder are nothing, but two products of Atlas’s society.

Ironwood was born at the very top:

Watts: You just stood atop it and called yourself a giant!

Cinder existed at the very bottom:

Watts: You think you're entitled to everything just because you've suffered, but suffering isn't enough! You can't just be strong, you have to be smart! You can't just be deserving, you have to be worthy! But all you have ever been, is a BLOODY MIGRAINE!

Watts is in the middle and he represents the worst traits of both.

He wants everything, just like Cinder:

Ironwood: I gave you everything you could have wanted!

But differently from Cinder it was no true he had nothing. He was successful, had food, clothes and respect. Still, he was never satisfied and ended up disgracing himself in the search of something more.

He also disregards feelings in favor of rationality, just like Ironwood:

Watts: Our tin soldier’s heart has cost him his mind.

And he sees people under him as inherently inferior:

Watts: Yes, yes, please keep your posse in check.

This is why his death is fitting:

Cinder: I merely added more flames to the fires of Atlas.

He burns with Atlas aka the city he wants to destroy, but also a symbol of who he is deep down.

What is more, his death happens specifically because he blindly follows his wishes:

Watts: Oh, believe me, this is everything I've ever wanted.

And because he is outsmarted and manipulated by Cinder:

Cinder: You deserve this, Arthur. We'll be back.

He is proud of his genius and rationality, but in the end he dies because of his feelings of pettiness.

In short, Watts, Cinder and Ironwood represent three social classes of Atlas and how the system corrupts people at every level. In general, all three want to be at the very top, but disreguard and mistreat the ones below.

-This is why Ironwood seeks control even in situations where he is not in charge, like the Vytal Festival. He also challenges Ozpin’s authority and leadership because he is not used not to be the one deciding. At the same time, he is shown ready to discard Mantle in multiple occasions.

-This is why Watts can call out Ironwood’s arrogance without seeing he is exactly the same as him.

-Finally, this is why Cinder lashes out at people she sees as Atlas elites (the Schnees, Ironwood, Watts), but treats those below her just like she was treated:

Emerald: We don't need him! Everything was going fine! (a slap is heard, and she cries out in pain)

Cinder: Do not mistake your place.

Mercury: Oh yeah? Tell that to--

Cinder: Quiet.

THE ENEMIES OF TRUST

Both Ironwood and Cinder’s left arms are artificial. Ironwood’s is mechanical, while Cinder’s is Grimm.

Their respective arms convey opposite approaches to things.

On a more general level, they are respectively linked to Creation (Ironwood’s mechanical arm) and to Destruction (Cinder’s Grimm arm). As a matter of fact a robotic arm is a human creation, while Grimms are nothing, but the symbol of destruction.

On a personal level, their arms hint at the two characters’ opposite personalities.

Ironwood’s arm can’t feel pain.

Cinder’s is instead linked to pain and feelings in different ways:

Raven: Aura can't protect your arm, it's Grimm.

Salem: You chose to disobey my specific instructions just to fail again.

Cinder: She’s back…

Cinder feels great pain whenever her Shadow Hand is cut because she can’t protect it with aura. At the same time, it is used by Salem to torture her. Finally, it links her to Salem to the point that she knows when her Master is back.

In other words, Cinder’s arm lets her feel more, while Ironwood’s lets him feel less.

This difference is mirrored by both the ways Ironwood and Cinder respectively attack Watts and by their semblances:

Ironwood’s Mettle lets Ironwood suppress his own feelings, so that he can pursue any objective, no matter how cruel or immoral it is. It makes him “superhuman”, but in a very negative sense.

Cinder’s Scorching Caress represents Cinder’s explosive emotions. It is a form of self-expression, which is both destructive and self-destructive.

Ironwood’s semblance is about repression, while Cinder’s is about lashing out.

Similarly, Ironwood goes after Watts at the cost of his arm and he ignores the pain he feels:

Watts: I wouldn't do that if I were you. I mean, unless you're hoping to add more metal to that body of yours.

Cinder instead goes after Watts to vent her anger:

Cinder: What do you mean, she'll destroy herself? How am I supposed to take her power if she's dead?!

Both are extremes and both are wrong, as Winter explains:

Winter: But yes Penny, we must still acknowledge our personal feelings, wrestle with them. It ensures us that we’re on the right path. It’s what makes us human.

Ironwood and Cinder should aknowledge their own feelings not to be consumed by them.  It is also the only way for them to truly be humans, not machines or monsters, but simply people.

Both characters almost succeed just before the climax of their respective volumes.

Ironwood tries to open up to others:

And Cinder shows vulnerability:

However, none of them is able to capitalize on this chance for development. This is ironically because of each other:

Cinder messes with Ironwood’s insecurities, while Ironwood’s ultimatum gives Cinder the perfect chance to ignore hers.

The result is that Ironwood goes back to control, while Cinder goes back to manipulation. Both do so because they are unable to trust.

Interestingly, they take after their respective mentors in this.

Ironwood takes after Ozpin:

Ironwood: Did you really think you were the only one who got to work on a new plan after Beacon? WIth Ozpin gone, I needed my own team of people I could trust.

Oscar: General? Earlier, you asked for my advice.

Ironwood: I wanted Ozpin's advice.

Oscar: And his advice probably would've been to keep your secrets.

Cinder takes after Salem:

Salem: When I chose you as my vessel for the Maidens, I put my trust in you. So, I trust that you wouldn’t possibly return to me empty-handed.

Ironwood’s whole struggle in volume 7 is his search for a “new approach”. He wants to be like Ozpin, but better. This is why he founds his own group, but wants to trust the world with the truth about Salem. However, he confuses trust with control.

Cinder instead wants to become just like Salem and suffers when she sees she is not. This is why she collects assets, just like her master. This is also why she does not trust anyone, but manipulates others.

That said, what is the difference between Ironwood’s control and Cinder’s manipulation? It has once again to do with feelings.

Ironwood’s attempt to manipulate others is about suppressing feelings. He uses Atlas’s military hierarchy and social structures to ask for his subordinates’ blind loyalty.

Cinder’s method to control people lies instead in making use of others’ feelings. She uses both wishes and fears to her advantage.

In short, control and manipulation are nothing, but the same inability to trust declined in opposite ways. They are both “enemies of trust”.

This is why both Ironwood and Cinder find a strong enemy and a foil in the character, who embodies friendship in these volumes:

Deep down, Ironwood and Cinder not trusting others is because they fear betrayal:

Cinder: I won’t have to run now.

Rhodes: That’s all you’ll ever do.

Ironwood: I've chased a lot of shadows over the years, always expecting betrayal. But never once did I think it would ever come from you.

However, Penny too is betrayed and mistreated by others:

Penny: I do not like it when friends fight.

Ruby: I know. Yang and I may not agree on how best to save Mantle but-

Penny: No. I mean Winter. The general. They were our friends. But then the Ace Ops attacked you. And the general, he said people were going to die, because of me.

 However, she does not give up on the ideal of a genuine bond:

Attached but not By strings

Still, if Penny is a positive foil to both Ironwood and Cinder, why does she die?

RISK

Weiss: Trust is a risk.  

Yang: Ruby, they’re not called sure things, they’re called risks.

These two lines taken together are why at the end of volume 8 Penny dies, our heroes fall and the manipulative Cinder wins.

It happens to show the main theme of the two Atlas volumes. Trust is not a “sure thing”. It is a risk and it does not always work. Still, it is necessary to trust as it is necessary to take risks:

Yang: You were being optimistic. Look, blind optimism isn’t great, but no optimism means we already lost. We need hope. We need to take risks.

Giving up on trust and risks means giving up on hope. It means to give in to fear.

Still, this does not mean your trust will always be paid back. And it does not mean that the risks you take will always work, even if you come up with a wonderful plan:

Cinder: I knew your plan would be bold, but I never could have predicted all of this...

Sometimes people will betray you:

Sometimes your risk will end up in a fall:

However, it is still worth to trust, even when you have no guarantee it will work:

And sometimes It is even worth to risk the fall because it may lead to people being saved:

This same idea is conveyed also through Penny’s final choice:

Penny: Trust me.

Winter: Thank you for trusting me with this.

Penny dies tragically, but she still manages to pass the Maiden’s power to a person she trusts.

This is especially meaningful because the Winter Maiden power, just like Penny herself, has been subjected to both control and manipulation.

Ironwood does all he can to make sure the power ends up to Winter. At the same time, he is the one most responsible for Penny feeling as nothing, but a robot:

Ironwood: As the official report stated, that footage was doctored. Penny is completely under my control.

Cinder tries to steal the power three times. She also manipulates Penny’s feelings towards her friends:

Cinder: I was hoping your friends would be here. But it looks like they left you to do all the work. You’re just a tool to be used!

In the end, Ironwood treating Penny as a machine (control) and Cinder using Penny’s love for her friends against her (manipulation) are among the psychological factors that lead Penny to be mortally wounded by Cinder.

Still, while dying Penny negates both Ironwood and Cinder and frees the power and herself from both control and manipulation.

The fact she chooses Winter works well to illustrate this.

Winter is the person Ironwood wants as the next Maiden. However, Winter becomes a Maiden not because of Ironwood’s control, but because of Penny’s trust:

Ironwood: So… the destiny I chose for you has arrived.

Winter: You chose nothing. This...was a gift.

Winter is a Schnee, so she represents both what Cinder hates and what she herself wants to be:

Cinder to Winter: You Atlas elites are all the same! You think hoarding power means you’ll have it forever, but it just makes the rest of us hungrier.

Winter is a symbol of Atlas and so she is a reminder to Cinder that Atlas is not really destroyed:

Robyn: What do you think a kingdom is? The people, or just the chunk of land they live on?

Just like Cinder’s past isn’t.

WORTHY

Cinder wants to be worthy. Ironwood wants to be a hero.

Deep down, Ironwood and Cinder want the same thing. They want to be above others. They want to be more than humans.

However, they go at it in opposite ways:

Ironwood: I have sacrificed everything!

Cinder: I want it all...

Ironwood thinks that victory lies in sacrificing everything, while Cinder sees it as taking it all.

These opposite viewpoints mirror their respective social stances.

Ironwood can say he wants to sacrifice everything because he has everything.

Cinder thinks happiness lies in everything because she has nothing:

Cinder: You’re right. Without you I am nothing. But because of you, I am everything.

In the end, Ironwood and Cinder are each other’s true enemies, but they fail to see it and lash out against the wrong people:

Ironwood and Cinder’s respective fight against Winter and Weiss is exactly this.

Ironwood fights a Maiden he sees as an enemy of Atlas, while another Maiden is attacking the people he swore to protect.

Cinder lashes out at Weiss because of her origins, while Weiss has decided to leave her status and money behind to make the right thing.

Still, Ironwood and Cinder are too hypocritical to see the truth. This is why they attack people, who could have helped them, if they were given the chance.

This is also why they receive a warning:

Winter: No, you have sacrificed everyone else!

Winter: You… are going to pay… for everything you’ve done!

Ironwood claims he is ready to sacrifice everything. However, he never sacrifices himself:

In the end, he is unable to sacrifice his life to fight Salem.

Let’s highlight he has nothing to lose by this point. He is falling with Atlas anyway. In his final moments, he is given the chance to prove true to his words:

I would die Without regret, I’d offer up my life With zero reservations I would fly Into the sun If that would keep our dream alive

Instead, he gives up. He has been shooting his allies until the very end, but freezes in front of his enemy.

Cinder thinks she is closer to her final victory, but in the end she has accomplished nothing of what she truly wants.

She wants to kill RWBY, but they are alive. She wants the Maiden powers, but she fails.

At the same time, Cinder is still far away from what she truly needs:

Cinder: You have everything you need?

Watts: Oh, believe me, this is everything I've ever wanted.

She is given a perfect mirror of herself in Watts. Still, instead of seeing it, Cinder uses his flaw, which is her same flaw, to kill him. Watts’ wants lead to his death and the same thing might happen to Cinder if she does not stop herself in time.

Finally, there is this:

Salem: This game is not yours to win, Cinder, it’s mine. Just because you’re more valuable to me than a pawn, does not make you a player. Everything is already in motion. All you need concern yourself with is your ability to act when I tell you to.

Ironwood and Cinder share a chess motif.

Ironwood thinks of himself as a player and specifically as Salem’s opponent.

Cinder is instead told she is no player.

However, in the end, Ironwood becomes a mere pawn to the point that all Watts has to do is to open his cell to be sure he is going to unwillingly aid in Cinder’s plan.

What is more, he is so fixated on Salem that he fails to aknowledge the people below him. This is why his true opponent is a slave that Atlas exploited.

Cinder frames herself as a player instead. She is the one who truly makes the first move against Ironwood and ultimately she is the one who defeats both him and our protagonists. Finally, she is the one who calls checkmate.

Still, is she really playing her own game?

In the end, the one who gets what she wants is not Cinder, but Salem:

And all she has to do to obtain it is one small move:

Salem: And I’ve realized, it’s all my fault. You’ve fought your whole life unwaveringly for what you want and here I am holding you back instead of lifting you up.

While Cinder is once again letting her talent be exploited by those above her. She is choosing to be Salem’s Queen instead than a player of her own life.

She is the Black Queen defeating the White King, but nothing more.

#rwby #rwby meta #rwby vol8 #rwby vol7 #cinder fall #james ironwood #my meta

[theseerasures]

RWBY V08C14 reaction post

haven’t done something like this for this fandom yet, but the finale was so much all at once that i could not muster any level of critical thinking the first go-around. my thoughts have...settled somewhat with a second rewatch. still nothing conclusive (obviously), but at least coherent enough to be written down.

in rough chronological order:

i am very into it, of course, but i’m still not quite sure what to make of the fact that this finale very explicitly pivots around Winter Schnee, to the extent that the episode (sans prologue and coda) are bookended by her. she begins the episode charging into a fight, and ends it the same way. even putting aside that her in-universe presence has increased by magnitudes, that we end a season where she has mostly been a sparse supporting player with THIS has implications i can’t suss out for her narrative role going forward.

going into the finale i thought that Ironwood vs. Winter would turn out to be another RWBY Flagship Fight (ie long and flashy and indulgent in the best ways), but i pretty much knew that wouldn’t be the case once the fight began in earnest and they immediately started talking to each other.

for what we did get i’m happy to say that the Core Dynamic of the fight was exactly what i predicted: Winter rushing in to melee and not giving Ironwood enough time to fire, Ironwood trying to make room by shoving her away and using his cannon as a makeshift club--even down to breaking the cannon formation BACK to dual wielding to give himself an edge.

i will say that for Winter to have blocked him head-on--this is James Ironwood, who once stopped an Alpha Beowolf cold with one bionic hand, and now he’s got TWO--with her broken noodle arms is...incredibly cool. stupid! but cool.

Ironwood doing the double pistol whip while screaming about how no one is grateful has i wouldn’t have to be doing this if you just behaved all over it.

in retrospect i’m not sure why i expected a RWBY Flagship Fight when just about every fight this season has been extremely different. the camera work is always fucking frantic, we’re often cross-cutting between different simultaneous fights, and there are far fewer shots where both combatants are clearly shown and evenly matched. about the only fight we’ve had resembling that is AceOps vs Penny waaaaaaay back in Strings--even the low-stakes triumphant JNPER + Winter vs. Ironwood fight in Creation was extremely short and crosscut with BRA vs. AceOps.

case in point: the showdown in Grand Central takes up pretty much the entire episode, but combatants are continuously entering and exiting, the setting’s physical dimensions feel wonky and surreal, and the fact that half of the people fighting have flight capabilities means we’re relying on wide shots and oners to figure out what the fuck is going on. it’s a war now, and even though we follow only a handful of characters in it the fights carry that grander and more desperate tone.

Cinder relies twice this episode on just fucking nova-ing herself to overwhelm her Maiden opponents. it’s different from how she usually fights, which is still fireballs and conjured swords/projectiles--she’s learning to use her Maiden powers to wreak havoc on a larger scale, which a) reinforces what we already know of Cinder, but b) complements her recent relearning of subtlety and manipulation. still a tenuous balance of extremes that can and will shatter, though.

Weiss got to save everyone during the fight, and none of it mattered in the end.

the thing about priority one is that they all planned for this. they all went in planning for the contingency where they don’t make it out, where they have to watch others not make it out.

Weiss plucking Penny out of the air and Penny pleading to make the sacrifice play is an EXACT recreation of what happened in Enemy of Trust, down to the saved looking up at the savior while the savior is looking onward. she’s just swapped places with the Schnee in question, and...they are the priority targets this time, unfortunately.

Cinder smugly flipping her hair out of...her eyepatch...she really is living her best life and she knows it

Blake made the right choice, and it didn’t matter at all.

Qrow ending the last episode with a berserker charge at Harriet and then immediately pulling back here and trying to talk her down really got to me, as did him trying to block the bomb with his body. the man is so desperately trying to be better than he was, and it doesn’t take a lot anymore for him to realize the right path.

Elm and Vine--

the thing about Elm and Vine is that both their powers boil down to getting attached. so watching Elm hold Vine in place while Vine holds the two airships together, everyone in this little world, it’s...everything i could ever want, out of how the story of the AceOps would end.

Anairis Quinones for dark horse MVP. why can’t you just let me do my job, delivered in the way that it was, is the perfect encapsulation of Harriet Bree desperately trying to outrun her personal feelings and the grief it has given her.

Elm tells Harriet that she’s their friend, to stop her from killing a part of herself as she tries to kill others. it’s the first time this happens in the episode, but not the only time.

Penny saved Blake so they could save Ruby together, and it didn’t matter at all.

our heroes have GOT to stop falling for the “watch the thing flying in the air! OH WAIT I STILL HAVE A WEAPON IN MY HAND WALLOP WALLOP” trick. it happens multiple times in this one episode.

Harriet, who has the fastest Speed Semblance known, says there’s no time to make it out of the blast range. she doesn’t try to outrun it. she just...stays put, and admits that she brought them all here, to this. i’m sorry.

here’s the thing: they’re soldiers. they were prepared for this eventuality, where they don’t make it out. that’s why Elm let Vine go grab Harriet; because she thought they were all going to die, and if that happened she wanted Harriet close enough to reach.

but--just like with Team Hero--some of them do make it out. they just have to watch.

Vine and Hazel sacrificed themselves in the same way in the end: pulling their loved ones close wasn’t working, so they threw themselves around the thing trying to kill them instead.

Ruby was clever, and pragmatic, and brave. it didn’t matter in the end.

Cinder letting Neo fall as soon as she gets a chance proves that she still lacks patience, and that’s going to bite her in the ass.

the Penny-Blake fastball special and the fall; Penny crying tears for the first time, but not moving immediately to rage, as she had last episode, when Yang fell.

Weiss’ shaking hands around Gambol Shroud, crying berserker tears as she tries, desperately, to pull off another miracle. it’s another role reversal in a way: her sister’s the Riza Hawkeye, but she’s the one emptying useless clip after useless clip into an enemy she can’t kill, because her heart has been ripped in two.

the last time Nora Valkyrie saw Jaune Arc, they clasped hands, and their eyes met with determination, and hope.

it figures that a Schnee would be the last one standing, letting all her friends die first. she was right, but again: wrong Schnee.

Weiss diving past Cinder’s blind spot to slice the Grimm Arm, to save Penny--the same script, but the wrong player. and too late.

at Haven, Jaune went from trying to do harm to unlocking his Semblance, and realizing that he was meant to heal. here, he goes from trying to do what he is meant to do, what he has made peace with, to...

it will take a long time, i think, for him to learn to live with himself, even with Penny reassuring him that this is what she wants. to go from wanting to harm to being the one who does no harm, to being forced to acknowledge a person’s right to die, and carry out the deed himself. it’s a new variation on what he’s always had to wrestle with since Pyrrha’s sacrifice.

Weiss managed to outlast Cinder Fall without an Aura WITHOUT getting her entire body broken, Winter

the boundary between material worlds is made of darkness. the boundary between souls is made of light, and there is no danger of falling.

where...what is this? of course Winter doesn’t know. she never would have, even if she had gotten the powers, because she would have used the Transfer machine.

i thought of you, and here we are. that was all it took. the last time Penny saw Winter, Winter was still loyal to Ironwood. she’s only known abstractly, secondhand from Weiss, that Winter was on their side again and trying to help save Mantle, for about an hour. and yet: i thought of you.

and in the face of this thought that is love, Winter averts her eyes. tries in vain to hide her face, because she knows she is unworthy. she doesn’t deserve this.

but here’s the thing: no one deserves this. Penny. are you...the one? even Penny herself wasn’t sure.

you were my friend. the second time it happens this episode. friends save friends from themselves. friends transform what would have been murder into sacrifice.

remember what Penny said to Cinder, shortly before Cinder killed her? you wouldn’t know anything about friends. she’s right. it wasn’t Cinder’s choice, but she’s right. and now Cinder has learned how to use that.

i’ll be part of you. it is, of course, something that’s been brought up repeatedly this whole season. but it’s also what Winter said to Penny after Fria died: she’s a part of you now.

and i do love this yoking together of arc words. Winter is of course the firstborn Schnee, but Winter is, more broadly, The Firstborn in this new generation. so here we have something similar to the chain that begins with Winter letting her sisters go, through Penny letting Emerald go, through Emerald helping Oscar escape, to Atlas’ however ephemeral victory over Salem. what Winter begins--haltingly and with resentment--becomes transformed into radiant grace in the hands of her younger siblings. and she gets to be the direct benefactor this time. the prodigal daughter returns to her family.

during Enemy of Trust we watched from the outside as Oscar fell and Penny rose, as one set of eyes closed as another opened. during The Final Word, we watch from the inside: one set of eyes close. another opens.

Winter’s leitmotif plays on the piano for the first time since the previous season as she comes back to the world. it makes sense. the piano version is for her sisters, and she just left one of them.

here is the apotheosis of Winter Schnee: she gets back up. she falters and sways but she gets back up, and then she, the person who once managed to convince herself that so long as she could make peace with someone else’s choice it meant she too was choosing, tells the man who has been choosing for her for years: you chose nothing. and she rises.

in the end James Ironwood was finished by his petard thrice over. Atlas had defected against him. his greatest creation had become the Maiden and unshackled herself from him. and there is of course, the cannon: a literal petard, in the other words, which he fires at Winter, and Winter reflects back upon him.

Jaune Arc used the heirloom that his family has held for generations to kill a defenseless girl. he took the blade and sunk it in deep, because Penny trusted him and he had to be sure.

and then it shattered in his hands.

there’s something here in the second fight between Maidens, about Cinder having a named weapon and forsaking it for what she can make on the fly, and Winter insistent on using a weapon with no name at all, but i still can’t put my finger on it.

Winter never got to see Weiss try to Summon her Nevermore.

the thing that gets me about how it turns out is: Winter was winning. she’d managed to get her hands on the Staff, and even with Cinder’s immediate counterattack she managed to get the Staff away from Cinder. but then Cinder saw Jaune and Weiss, and she remembered a few days ago, when Penny saved Winter instead of going after Cinder, when Winter attacked Cinder to save Penny.

so Cinder attacks Weiss and Jaune instead of racing for the Staff. and Winter--

this is Winter Schnee. she saves people despite herself. she runs toward them, despite herself. and it has always, always been what saves her.

not anymore.

last time it had been Winter who was in mortal danger, and Weiss who, with Ruby’s help, drove Cinder off. same script, wrong player. and too late.

Weiss falls and for a moment, the camera makes it seem like Winter is falling too.

she wants to. no one deserves this.

the thing you have to ask when characters leap for the exit and fall just short is: is it about faith, or friendship? in Jaune’s case it’s both. his faith broke with Crocea Mors. and the portal is one-way, so he had no friends to grab him from the other side.

but Nora was still trying. they clasped hands. she promised.

the first time Winter sees her family--really sees them, after years of separation--she averts her eyes. she hides her face from them, because how can she tell them that Weiss is gone? how can she tell Penny’s friends that Penny is a part of her now, when Penny is just a part, now?

there are people all around her looking to her. there are voices within her. she has never been more alone.

(Winter Schnee has never met Pyrrha Nikos, and Pyrrha Nikos never became Maiden. because Pyrrha Nikos never became Maiden. Cinder Fall did that, too.)

this is what Winter Schnee thinks, as she screams and charges, as she kills Grimm faster than they are drawn in by her despair: in the fairy tales, eldest siblings never win.

i failed you again, master. master, but not queen.

Cinder won this. the heroes tried and tried and tried and none of it mattered, and she won this. but here’s the thing: Cinder won because she was LUCKY, and because she made her own luck. that she was able to pin things on Neo and Team Hero depended on things going exactly as planned, and some things going better than planned. and the reason she’d even made it that far was because she cheated, with the last use of a divine relic. it doesn’t take away her from her victory, but what i do know is this: this is her finest moment. she will never win as completely ever again, and she will fall farther than she has ever feared. (and that will save her, in the end.)

and that’s checkmate. i said that i wanted Atlas to fall the same way that Amity rose, but of course they did it like this. of course it would horrific yet unspectacular, with its General slumped in defeat, unable to fire a single shot from his gun. with the city in the sky falling onto Mantle, in Mantle’s palette. from the Dust from which it arose into Dust again.

as below, so above.

#rwby #helen writes meta

[undercover-trio]

De request

First "I love you" with Team RWBY? The more tooth rottingly fluffy, the better. They/Them pronouns? Thanks, I love your works.

~~~~~~

Aw shucks, thanks Anon, I’m glad my works are to your liking

✨✨（*´▽｀*）✨✨

I’ll make this as sweet as I can, so sweet even I feel the sweetness radiating from my phone.

o(-`д´- 。)

-Mod Pengie

Art is by mistEcru

(。･ω･｡)ﾉ♡

——————————

Ruby

You twiddled with the music box in your hand, it was fairly small yet still quite beautiful. The rose design it had along with wines tracing along its silver surface, much alike the quality of those in stores.

Yet you made it, you created the music sheets after sleepless days, trying to translate Ruby’s favorite song into a music sheet. You studied the parts of music boxes through your scroll, you nicked your fingers many times as you shaped the metal for the box.

You worked hours on end to purchase the materials, sure it cost more to build a music box than buy one but you wouldn’t let yourself. Ruby had helped and supported you through so much, you wanted her to feel even a drop of the appreciation you felt towards her.

You did have many busts when it came to making them but you felt so proud the moment when you could make a successful one. Your head remembered the sound of her favorite song by memory given how much you played it on the music box to get it right.

As you walked towards Ruby’s dorm you felt nervous, not by the chance you’d be caught by the night guard, he already gave you permission to go.

You really hoped Ruby liked the gift, you put your all into it, it was in a cute red box with a f/c(favorite color) ribbon tying it.

The moment you knocked on her dorm door you felt all your worries wash away, you weren’t the type to have doubts. You knew Ruby, she was a precious and sweet girl who deserved the world.

You smiled at Yang as she opened the door, you looked slightly nervous and a bit tired with light bags under your eyes. It didn’t stop the genuine love she could feel coming from you, she opened the door wider to let you in as she smiled at the gift.

Ruby had her nose in a textbook, looking cutely focused as you chuckled, that caught her attention. She noticed her other three teammates walked out the dorm, leaving you and her.

“Y/N? What’s up!” She greeted cheerfully, you took off your shoes and stepped on Weiss’ bed. Ruby focused on how the candle light enhanced your features.

She looked curious as you handed her a box, you smiled and nodded at her to open it.

And she did, her eyes glossed up at the beautiful music box in front of her. She observed every detail, her being more flattered as she saw every thought you put into it.

“Play it.” You encouraged, your voice mellow from your tiredness, it was due to the hour and how much work you put into her gift.

She twisted the knob and listened to the song with you, while it wasn’t as professionally done as the ones she’d see in shops it was still welcoming.

She came to the realization you made this as her keen eyes observed the craftsmanship and details, it wasn’t impossible given you two first met in a workshop.

As the song ended her eyes were watery, this song was her favorite, it was her and her mother's song.

Red like Roses..

“I love you Ruby..I was just too nervous to say it till now, I wanted to make it special as well.

Her heart melted at your mannerism, your gift, your love, just everything in this moment.

She quickly jumped down from her bunk and tackled you into a heartfelt hug, you were a blushing and stuttering mess but she couldn’t help it.

She loved you so much in this moment.

She’s loved you for a long time.

“I love it- I love you- I just-“ Ruby was fumbling over her sentence, her feelings were overflowing.

You sat up and hugged her back, she tucked her head into your neck as she kept repeating how much she loved you.

You loved her too, and you felt fulfilled knowing that she knew.

——————————

Weiss

-Before Weiss heads to Beacon cause I wanna be unique

Weiss… was perfect in aristocratic standards, she behaved impeccably, was talented and had the charisma.

Her silvery hair never failed to perk your interest, the way all her moves were calculated and graceful. Her eyes were a beautiful sky blue, they were probably what drew you in the most.

They were free, they were bright and daring, you weren’t sure when exactly you realized your fondness of her, it just happened.

While you weren’t the most poor aristocrat you certainly weren’t the most rich. It kept you grounded, you had always been level headed yet when it came to her.. you felt all sensible thinking fade.

Perhaps that was what made you follow her to the balcony that night, you remember how you froze when you watched her beautiful features be illuminated by the shattered moon.

Her expression made you pause for a second, with a defeated smile you could help but think she didn’t belong here. An angel can’t be kept in a cage after all.

“Why the long look?” You asked, your behavior genteel as always. Sky blue met e/c, your heart beat fast at the eye contact.

To think you were only 12 at the time.

You and Weiss became acquainted, slowly it turned into friendship, you couldn’t help but admire her.

She really was a beauty among thieves, you loved it when she laughed and joked. Your heart broke when she looked defeated or down, you always strived to be there for her as she did you.

Yet.. secrets can’t always be kept forever, white lies are soon seen through, you weren’t an opaque wall rather than a tinted glass.

“I’m leaving.”

Such a simple sentence from her managed to change your mood tremendously, yet even then as you turned to meet her precious blue eyes..

You couldn’t bring yourself to stop her, she deserved to be free.

“I see.” You couldn’t bring yourself to say more without your voice breaking. She raised her eyebrow at your seemingly relaxed response, yet Weiss was perceptive.

“I’m sorry Y/N.. I just can’t keep being grouped with my family anymore.” Her voice cracked with guilt and pent up aggression, you could feel her emotions about to overflow.

Two warm hands were placed on her cheeks, Weiss couldn’t help but lean into their comfort, you gently brushed away her tears.

“Weiss, look at me.” She hesitantly looked at your face, she didn’t say a word of how it made her heart skip a beat.

“I’ve known..for a long time you don’t belong here.” You started, Weiss could only listen to the cadence of your voice as she put her hands on both your wrists.

“You were made for adventure, a thrilling life with people who care about you.” The more you spoke the less coordinated your words became, she knew you cared about her. You wished for her to get the affection she truly deserved, with the amount of people she should.

It shouldn’t just be you.

“Weiss, when I look into your eyes I see the sky.. I see freedom.. I see many beautiful things.” Her cheeks tinted at the words, you noticed, she always got like that when praised.

“And freedom isn’t caged, it's the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.” She smiled wryly as she knew you quoted the dictionary, you always did when it came to words that struck you.

“Therefore.. I support you, I’ll even aid you if need be.” Her heart warmed at your words, you were always there for her, speaking and looking at her as if she were the most precious thing.

She couldn’t help her next action.

Her arms wrapped around your shoulders as her lips made contact with yours, they were soft. Her lips were pushed against yours as she tried to convey how she felt to you, smiling slightly when you wrapped your arms around her waist.

When you two separated you met her eyes, they looked back at you lovingly, the way you would always look at her.

“I love you Y/N/N.” She admitted with a smile, you were surprised and delighted. You couldn’t help the way your face melted into a sweet grin.

“And I you, Weiss.”

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

You met with an Angel at twelve

And with your affections you delve

The closest of friends at fifteen

Something you’d never foreseen

A kiss goodbye at seventeen

As you watched her break from her routine

——————————

Blake

Blake was scared of your affection sometimes, not that she was scared of you as a person.

It’s just that she was hurt and emotionally scarred so many times and it was hard to heal. Her emotional state was equivalent to a paper that had been crumpled then straightened out.

The marks were still there.

She wasn’t sure she could recover if you turned out the same way Adam did, yet every time you looked at her with love in your eyes she just couldn’t help but stick with you.

She felt ashamed she would always lose her voice when she would try and say she loved you, it made her think of Adam.

You noticed this of course, and every time without fail you would give her a smile and tell her it’s fine. Sure it hurt a bit but you loved Blake, you knew of her past, her emotions and traumas.

You loved every bit of her.

She had come into your dorm late one night, she was busy at the library due to the Torchwick situations. Yet she felt her heart rate increase at your sleeping face, you always were the most beautiful person to her.

Then she heard it.

“...love you..Blake.”

You had murmured it in your sleep, she knew that you loved her, she knew that you refrained from telling her that because you loved her.

Her reaction wasn’t what she expected though, instead of the dreaded fear she thought she would have she instead had a feeling of comfort, ecstasy even.

Her emotions had already come to accept that you loved her, that you weren’t Adam.

She teared up a bit of the realization, they weren’t sad tears but ones of pure and genuine delight.

While she was on her high she sat next to your body and shook you awake, you drowsily looked at her. With a sleepy smile you lift up your hoodie a bit and let her sneak underneath it.

You called it ‘Hoodie Time’, Blake found it as a good way to calm down and relax if she listened to your heartbeat.

And the added bonus she liked being in small spaces.

She felt you stroke her hair as she listened to the cadence of your heart, it was slightly fast and it only flattered her.

“Want to talk Kitten?” You asked, Blake usually did this when she was stressed. You didn’t mind though, you thought it was quite cute.

She shook her head no as she kept her right human and cat ear on your chest.

“I just wanted to say” she started as you rubbed circles on her back to keep her calm. She felt slightly nervous but your action did help.

“I love you.” She got it all out in one breath, she grew slightly worried as she noticed you stopped rubbing her back. She shook her head, you weren’t Adam and you’d never be, you were Y/N.

Her worries ended when she saw how happy your face was, you looked as though you struck gold.

You looked at her as if she just gave you the world, you didn’t want her to worry, you quickly pecked her forehead since it was fairly close to your lips.

“I love you too Blake.” You began, then you started tearing up. “I’m glad you trust me enough to say this.”

She was flabbergasted at how genuinely loving your reaction was, it made her all the more warm inside, she loved your way of love.

She loved you.

She always would.

——————————

Yang

You smiled as you felt the wind brush against your hair, the city lights always looked perfect in the night. Unfortunately the police sirens weren’t that pleasant, then again, your favorite blonde is the one who is driving right now.

She took a sharp right as you grasped onto her stomach tighter, her muscles tensed at the feeling. The feeling of your fingers brushing against her stomach caused her to lose focus for a minor second.

At least until you snapped her out of it.

“Yang!! Bascule bridge is splitting right now!!” You alerted her, her lilac eyes noticed the ship trying to pass, she immediately increased the motorcycle speed.

Unlike with Ruby, Blake and dear oum.. Weiss, you wouldn’t get scared or mad when she invited you on a thrill ride. You enjoyed it and participated, it surprised her at first given you were a pretty mellow and sweet individual.

She smiled as she heard you gasp in excitement as you two were on the motorcycle mid air, the gradient of the bridge was more than enough to lose the cops and make it to the other side.

You treasured how her hair seemed to fly in slow motion, the moon illuminating the whole scene.

The landing was a bit rough, but thanks to your semblance, aerokinesis, you guys didn’t crash into oblivion. It did slightly exhaust you to slow the velocity you guys were falling at however the adrenaline sure helped.

Luckily there were only minor scratches to bumblebee, unfortunately you both just realized that the way back to Beacon was on the other side of the bridge.

“So Yang.. how would you feel sleeping on a random roof?”

Yang merely laughed at the question and slapped your back, she was on board with it.

That question eventually led to the two of you being on a flat roof, Bumblebee was hidden in a bush right below you guys. You could use your semblance to bring you and Yang up but the bike was a bit too much for you right now.

“Best Joy ride ever!” Yang laughed out with a huge grin on her face, you chuckled at her antics and gave her a fist bump. You guys relaxed for a bit, nearing sleep before Yang turned to you, her eyes looked determined.

“Serious though, I’m glad I have you Y/N/N, I’m not able to do these things with anyone else without being called brash and dumb.” You frowned at the last words, without speaking you merely grabbed her hand as you looked at the star signs.

Ursa Major, quite ironic given you have an overprotective bear hugging friend next to you at the moment.

“Yang.. before I met you I wasn’t able to be myself, while I’m not necessarily as… extroverted as you.. my parents didn’t like my need for thrill.” You told her as you grasped her hand tighter, she too frowned at your words.

“But then I met you… this amazing, lively person, the day you first invited me to a ride like this.. I felt happy.” She blushed at your description of her yet you kept going.

“You’re not dumb, maybe a little brash but you’re still a ray of sunlight that came into my life..and I love you for it.” Your face turned crimson as you admitted those last words, she paused as she came to terms with what you said.

The two of you were still lying down as she raised her arm, you closed your eyes as she patted your soft hair.

“Gee.. you could’ve just told me you loved me..then again you wouldn’t be my Y/N if you didn’t speak a lot to get a point across.” She laughed as you started snickering at her words too, her eyes caught sight of yours as they held contact.

“I love you too Y/N.” She smiled brightly as she brought you in for a kiss, you couldn’t help but beam with happiness as well.

You loved Yang a lot, you loved her thrilling, welcoming self. And she loved you as well.

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Heyo! It’s me Pengie, sorry for the late upload of this, school kept me busy, luckily Fine Line by Harry Styles came in my life(slowed down cause I’m like that) added to the angst but nyeh

Anyways I hope your teeth rotted lol, I love you simps and have a good day!

#mod pengie #rwby #rwby x reader #tagging still sucks #ruby rose x reader #ruby rose #rwby ruby #weiss schnee x reader #weiss schnee #rwby weiss #yang xiao long x reader #rwby yang #yang xiao long #blake belladonna x reader #rwby blake #blake belladonna #gender nuetral reader #fluff