I always thought this was Toga (disguised as Camie) simply talking about her ‘disappearing’ technique, but I realize - this could be applied to her life pre-crime.
Hiding herself - her true self - from everyone. Stop thinking for herself, think of nothing at all, just move on automatic, obeying without thought. The whole “not thinking” is the hard part - we have brains for a reason. We have a mind and heart unique to ourselves, thinking our private thoughts - but now you need to shut that away.
When people stop breathing, they die. If Toga ‘stops breathing’, she dies. Toga Himiko dies, then there’s no longer a ‘Toga Himiko’, no longer a self.
Be empty and dead inside, and you can blend in with the crowd. Have no sense of self, and you can be whoever people want you to be. Had Toga stop being herself, then her parents will stop yelling at her, people will accept her.
She can live a ‘normal’ life, but only if she’s a hollow shell.
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(bit of a dark meta post here but)
if i had to pick a single song to represent ruby rose as a character, it would be My R (specifically the version by annapantsu)
like... it's a song about a girl, who goes up to a rooftop with the intent of jumping off. When she's up there, she finds another girl preparing to do the same, and after hearing her out, actually manages to talk her out of it, while internally wondering why this girl could possibly think her reasons are better for this than her own. they both come down from the roof.
she goes up again another day, and the same scenario happens, and she feels the same about it again. but they both come down together.
this happens again and again, time after time, with so many people, and every single time she talks them out of it, coming down with them, then returning another day to find someone else. and every time there's a nagging feeling of, "would anyone do this for me if I got here first?"
until one day... there is no one else up there. she's up there, on her own, with nothing to stop her, and she immediately starts wrestling with her feelings, wondering if she actually wants to go through with it, and then deciding, Yes, she wants to.
now the ending of the song can be interpreted multiple ways, some less hopeful than others, but I think the one that applies best to ruby is that the girl suddenly sees herself in all of the people she's stopped before, suddenly essentially thinks "there doesn't need to be anyone to do this for me, I can do it myself, for myself" and.. turns around at the last second, leaving her plans to jump behind, and moving forward.
and on top of all of that, the song is extremely upbeat, and sounds very cheerful if you don't listen to the lyrics. Much like ruby, hiding her own fears behind a wall of optimism and hope that she shows to others, that makes her into such a beacon of light to everyone around her. To everyone but herself.
In the beginning of the series, she's a limitless source of hope and determination, fuelling herself and everyone around her onwards and upwards. Until volume 4. She desperately tried to never let on to anyone else, but the fall of beacon deeply affected her. When penny died, so did so much of ruby's trust in herself to be the hero. She still had her hope, and she still had her attitude of "let's do the best we can", but that very slowly started to be for everyone else's benefit, and that difference became more and more apparent as the show went on.
Volume 8 was the tipping point for her, and all of her hope and trust in herself was hinging on - A, protecting the relics. B, saving atlas. C, saving penny. and D, warning remnant enough to prepare them.
And then... they fell. And in the ever after, she had no way of knowing what was going on in their own world anymore, except what RWBYJ collectively knew already. And what did the group know as a whole? They had no idea whether B or D had succeeded, but they knew for a fact that A and C had failed. And so, with penny dying Again, so too did the rest of ruby's hope.
Volume 9 is her, up on the rooftop, with no one to stop her.
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You know what's juicy? A yandere forcing you to do the whole 'meet your parents' thing. How would they keep you in line? Or are you broken in already? Any well-known pro hero would just have to work their charm a little to convince them they're the right fit for you - like Hawks. Or Mirko. Any top 10 hero will probably meet little resistance on their part. (Because even if your spouse croaks - you’ll probably be set up for life.)
Lower ranked pros might not hog the front pages every day but they can still work the public - and to a certain extent, your parents. Who could say no to someone as caring and sweet as Fatgum? They just know he’s going to make you so happy. And someone like Nighteye? Good for you, he seems respectable enough and it looks like you’re finally taking your life a little more seriously.
Most villains don’t even think of meeting your parents - but Overhaul would. He can’t help himself, he needs to do it the old-fashioned way (not to mention that it’s quite the twisted power play on his part). And that man can be quite the charmer when he wants to be - even if he sits on your parents’ couch, stiff as a board and just a tad pale because it is a little dusty. You won’t recognize him.
I think Compress would be quite similar.
What if you do try to tell your parents that something is very, very wrong - what if you try to escape - how will they handle it? Are they able to play it off, talk themselves out of it or do your parents simply not buy it? It’s a ridiculous notion, right?
And probably the most important question of them all: Why? What‘s their motivation?
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I can never resist spoilers for media (usually in the form of fanfiction or the like, but sometimes in the form of "I'm sure nothing bad will happen if I just take a look at what's under this TvTropes spoiler bar") but boy do I hate being spoiled
And sometimes it's for the silliest reasons. I wasn't all that annoyed about knowing every plot point in Bleach ahead of time, but I definitely was ticked off because I knew all the characters' names before their first appearances and didn't get to go through that dance of tossing nicknames at a wall and seeing what sticks for the later arcs, because I'm terrible with names in any form of media that doesn't remind you of them every time a character shows up (i.e. not written media) and Bleach throws a lot of characters at you very quickly every time. There could have been fun nicknames.
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