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harrowharkboygf · 3 years

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rating the locked tomb characters by how good their met gala outfits would be

gideon nav

we can surmise from the “rapier with skulls puking other skulls” quote that gideon’s personal style, if she wasn’t beholden to the ninth house dress code, would be Loud and Tacky and A Lot. therefore, i think she’ll go all out with the theme. her outfit might not look objectively good per se — it will probably be a little too excessive and not super classy — but she will absolutely fulfill the theme and she will have fun, and that’s the most important part! 9/10

harrowhark nonagesimus

oh harrow will go all in on this. she will definitely be of the opinion that all guests should have to submit an essay explaining exactly how their outfit fits the theme, and she absolutely will get annoyed at the people who just wore simple black tuxes and dresses. she‘ll start planning her outfit months in advance, and it’s going to be incredibly complicated and very symbolic. her outfit is probably be a lot creepier and more goth than the rest of the guests, but it’ll still go perfectly with the theme anyways. 10/10

ortus nigenad

how much effort ortus puts into his outfit will depend SOLELY on what the theme was. if he thinks it’s a stupid theme he’ll put in zero energy whatsoever, and if he thinks it’s a good theme he will put in the work and come out with an outfit that’s definitely creative, even if it doesn’t look super great and is a little bit of a stretch on the theme. 7/10

judith deuteros

judith definitely does not care. she does not care at all, and if you asked her what the theme was, she couldn’t even tell you. she wears a simple black tux or black dress every year, and yes she looks hot as fuck and very classy and all of the gay girls on twitter go wild over it, but it’s not particularly creative or befitting of the theme. 3/10

marta dyas

marta cares a lot more than judith does, but she still focuses more on the event itself than the outfit; she’s more excited to dance, talk with her friends and acquaintances, and see other people’s outfits. if the met gala didn’t have a theme, she’d still be happy, but since it does, she’ll try to fit the theme as best she can! she refuses to sacrifice her own comfort or ability to dance in favor of an outfit though, which is very fair of her. no matter what, though, she looks good! 6/10

coronabeth tridentarius

oh you KNOW corona is acing this. she starts planning for her outfit a year in advance, but unlike harrow, she’s way less pretentious about it and willing to do something that might make fun of herself a little or make others laugh. she makes sure to call everyone she knows who’s going to make sure that their outfits won’t be too similar. she also makes sure that ianthe and babs’ outfits go good with hers. it’s the bane of her existence that judith won’t go to the lengths that she does. she fits the theme perfectly, she’s creative about it, and she looks hot as fuck. 100/10

ianthe tridentarius

as mentioned above, ianthe’s outfit is always designed to fit with coronabeth’s. it’s always very similar — not quite the same, but very close. same idea, slightly different execution. it’s always fitting with the theme, and looks really good objectively, but there’s a lack of investment and heart that ruins it a bit, especially next to corona’s extravaganza. still, when she’s next to the other guests, she definitely wins. 8/10

naberius tern

babs cares WAY more about looking good than he does about fitting the theme. his outfit is always a lot less creative than and themed than ianthe’s and corona’s. he never sidesteps the theme entirely, but he often refuses to go all the way in favor of not looking too weird. this is kind of a moot point, since he always looks a little weird anyway. 5.5/10

isaac tettares & jeannemary chatur

the awful teens were coordinating outfits each year, and each year they desperately want to fit the theme and do something cool, but they’re a little TOO eager about it. there’s always either a little bit too much going on with their outfits for the message to be fully cohesive, OR they didn’t go all the way because they were too embarrassed to do so. however, they definitely try their best and that’s what matters! 7.5/10

abigail pent & magnus quinn

abigail and magnus treat the met gala like a halloween party. they’re committed to the theme, but not in the militant, obsessive way that harrow and coronabeth are — it’s more that they have fun planning their coordinating outfits because costumes are fun! often their take on the theme is very nerdy and sweet, but maybe not super well done. still, they compliment everyone on their outfits and are so genuine about it that they get points anyway. 7/10

palamedes sextus

pal could honestly care less about the met gala, but he attends anyway and spends the whole night deep in conversation with anyone who will talk science with him. as such, his outfit is. Very Lacking. cam usually designs it for him and it fits the theme pretty well and looks objectively good, but he gets points off for not coming up with it himself. 5/10

camilla hect

pal and cam don’t wear coordinated outfits, but they are still somewhat cohesive, as cam plans them both. camilla’s outfit is definitely much better than palamedes’ is — it fits the theme and is more creative and she just generally looks hotter. however, she’s not putting the same level of energy most of the people listed above. but it’s fun, it looks good, and she passes the test. 7/10

dulcinea septimus

dulcie’s attitude towards the met gala would be very similar to magnus and abigail’s in that she treats it like a fun opportunity rather than a life-or-death situation, but she definitely leans more “tasteful” over magnus and abigail’s typical style of “dorky”. she follows the theme closely and she looks good! 8/10

protesilaus ebdoma

pro always goes with dulcie, and he just dresses in an outfit that she’s planned to be coordinated with hers. he’s a little bemused at the intensity of some of the others, but he goes along with the whole thing because it makes dulcie happy. points off for not coming up with his own idea, points added for looking very dashing regardless. ortus is fuming at how well-put-together his outfit is. 5/10

silas octakiseron

silas shares the same all-or-nothing attitude that ortus has towards the theme, but when he approves of the theme, his execution comes very close to beating out harrow’s outfit in terms of Drama and Sophistication. his outfits are often a little impractical — they’re hard to walk in or require elaborate props to be transported alongside him — but they’re worth it. 9/10

colum asht

colum just wears a suit the same color as whatever silas’ outfit is that year. boring! 2/10

augustine the first

augustine tries his hardest, but he never quite nails the theme. somehow, it always goes straight over his head, so when he explains it to people, they’re always like “*confused head tilt* hmmm, okay now i think i get it! huh!” he looks,,, fine in it, and he tries. he tries! 4/10

mercymorn the first

mercy’s sense of style in general is very good, so she always comes in a dress that’s fashionable and well-designed. the problem is that she actively abhors the idea of a themed party; she actively campaigns to the organizers each year to not do a theme. she thinks that everyone who does the theme is ridiculous. as such, she ends up with a low 3/10

cytherea the first

cytherea has a good Idea for the met gala every year, but for some reason — she bites off more than she can chew or she fails to accurately articulate her vision or she procrastinates until the last minute — that idea never translates into an actual outfit, so she always falls back on a simple, soft clinging dress. fashionable, but unfortunately not very standout-ish. 3.5/10

gideon the first

gideon (original flavor) just wears a boring black suit every year. THE most boring black suit ever. 1/10

pyrrha dve

okay, admittedly we haven’t seen that much of pyrrha in canon, but from what we do know, she is smart and talented and funny and good at everything and has a dramatic streak and is incredibly hot. therefore, i think we can surmise that she’ll absolutely nail her met gala outfit. it’ll fit the theme, it’ll be very original and very well-done, and she’ll be sexy as fuck! good for her! 15/10

john gaius

he wears the exact same black tux every year. the same one. he pays no attention to the theme whatsoever. this is very confusing, since HE is the one who organizes the met gala and picks the theme! weirdo! even worse, john makes a point to give backhanded compliments to people he thinks don’t fit the theme or don’t look good. bitch! -10/10

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hamliet · 3 years

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So about your (very deep) RWBY analysis you said there were a few plausible ships in consequence, could you write on that too? I'm curious to see what those are if we follow that analysis

Sure! Firstly, thanks for reading that lol.

So I’ll just come out and say that I don’t fully trust the writers in this aspect, but the main ships that I see set up for in the alchemical sense are, of course, Yang/Blake and Ren/Nora, but also Ruby/Oscar and potentially Emerald/Mercury and Jaune/Weiss. (I will touch on Pyrrha/Jaune, but I don’t think Pyrrha is going to or should come back so... :( ) This all depends on how they stick to the alchemical structure, but just to reiterate: it’s extremely unlikely an alchemical story with a fairy tale basis is going to end with most characters single. It could and could do it well, but I’m skeptical lol.

Just to add a disclaimer: this is all theory and speculation; I honestly do not care about ships in this series besides Ren and Nora and hence am not emotionally invested. I could be wrong, and I’m fine with it. Please don’t come for me.

Let’s begin by going over what romance is in alchemy. I talked about this in my previous meta, but the key principles of an alchemical work are the solar king and lunar queen. So who are they? What is their role in alchemy?

Behold, the symbol for the philosopher’s stone:

Or more clearly:

The large circle is the macrocosm, or universe as a whole. The triangle is body, mind, and heart (originally it was body, soul, and spirit). The square is the four classical elements (fire, air, earth, water). The smaller circle is the microcosm, wherein the two people inside are the Solar King and Lunar Queen, opposites conjoined in harmony. Together two conjoined opposites (yes it’s related to yin/yang, but eastern alchemy focuses more on the Elixir of Life rather than the actual stone and there are five elements, not four) create the philosopher’s stone.

I talked about this in the past meta, but we know Ruby is a philosophical child because her father’s name literally means sun and her mother’s defining trait thus far is her silver eyes. She’s the stone itself, but also team RWBY is the stone, and other characters are on their own journeys to becoming philosopher’s stone. Things overlap.

I didn’t come up with those designations of silver=moon on my own, though. Generally the two principles that are combined in a philosopher’s stone are marked by one (or more) of the following:

Male: Sun, Sulphur, fire and air, hot and dry, Red, gold, heart.

Female: Moon, Mercury (or quicksilver), earth and water, cool and moist, White, silver, mind.

Don’t read too much into the genders, because that tends to matter the least and plays into antiquated views. Obviously. Characters rarely meet all the marks as well, but if marked with one should be paired with someone from the opposite marking.

Let’s talk the obvious ones first: Ren and Nora, Blake and Yang, and Jaune and Pyrrha.

Ren and Nora are pretty perfectly matched. Ren is mind, earth (“Lie” means “plum tree”) and water (“Ren” means “lotus,” a water-based flower). Nora is heart (her shirt, plus her brave qualities), fire (Thor and the association with electricity, plus “Nora” means “light”), and air (she flies, and a Valkyrie is a mythical flying creature in Norse mythology).

Yang and Blake are also a good match. Yang is sun, gold (her name), fire and air (”Xiao long” means dragon), and heart. Blake is moon (Belladonna is a nightshade), earth and water (think of where her home village is), and mind. Blake was also a match for Sun Wukong, however, and this is why I’m skeptical about the writing of ships in this series--because they teased Sun/Blake for little reason (and I remember being confused). However, they did know that Blake’s partner needed to be her opposite, so Yang or Sun could work, and I think it’s clear that Blake/Yang is endgame and I like it.

Pyrrha is red (her name), gold (her outfit), heart and mind, and her shield had a sun on it.

Jaune was white (the dress he wore to the dance), body (differing from the norm, but fit because Pyrrha was both heart and mind; a body character tends to be either lusty or cowardly, the latter of which was Jaune in the first season), and moon. Look at Jaune’s shield, which so happens to match the silver/moon symbol in alchemy:

However, Pyrrha has now died, and I’m still sad about it. However, also of note: fitting with the characters they are based off of, Team JNPR are have reversed gender dynamics from the alchemical norms. Again, I would bet that was done on purpose.

Onto my speculations:

For Ruby... well, I said she was the philosopher’s stone.

In some ways, Ruby and Weiss are the philosopher’s stone together, but I think this is more platonic than romantic (it’s a lovely ship though and I see why people ship it). The reason for this is because while Ruby is Red, air, and Heart, and Weiss is White, water, and mind, Ruby and Weiss are both silver. They don’t compliment each other in this, which is why I don’t see it as a likely endgame romantic ship (but, like Frodo and Samwise Gamgee, I do see them as alchemical partners who help stop Salem together).

But her romantic partner should be someone who is also both sun and moon, who is white where she is red, gold where she is silver, earth where she is air (she flies), mind where she is heart. Ideally they would also be a philosophical child. There’s one character I can think of who is marked as sun and moon, white, mind, and earth, and that’s Oscar Pine. See: Ozpin’s cane, which Oscar uses on his own quite a bit (that’s a sun and moon motif):

Additionally, in the scene where Ruby and Oscar meet for the first time, the paintings on the wall are a sun (fire) with distinctive air around it and a crescent moon over earth and water.

If Weiss ends up in any ship, it will be with a person marked as heart, red, fire, and gold to her mind, white, water (ice), and silver. Neptune is water too, so this one is unlikely. Sun seems like a possibility on paper, but they haven’t interacted significantly at all (maybe they will in Vacuo?) But the most likely option to me is actually Jaune Arc--but a lot depends on the coming arcs (heh).

Wait, you said he was white! Key word: was. Jaune was never mind and will never be mind, but he has become brave as opposed to his initial fear, and I’d go so far as to say he’s heart now thanks to Pyrrha’s influence. Since Pyrrha’s death as well, he’s started incorporating gold and red into his outfit in a likely homage to Pyrrha. (It is actually possible for someone to shift markings; Daenerys in A Game of Thrones is white and moon, but becomes red and fire and all that by the end of the novel).

Jaune’s arc of grief over Pyrrha is unlikely to end with him being forever alone, and while there are plenty of ways to show this that don’t involve him in a relationship with someone else, it’s the most obvious way to show this. It also fits from a narrative perspective that the only way Jaune could ever be with Weiss is through integrating with Pyrrha’s traits and qualities. We’ll see, though, because as of now he’s still marked as moon, and he’d need to become sun or fire. Cinder also directly compared Pyrrha and Weiss, and immediately after this Jaune unlocked part of his soul to heal Weiss, playing the role of the prince in Weiss’s fairy tale (Snow White). However, as Cinder’s own story shows us, not all princes in their retellings of these fairy tales are romantic. So this might not play out, but it has the set-up to do so.

Lastly, Emerald and Mercury I think are alchemical partners regardless of whether or not they end up together romantically. Mercury’s name says it all, and Emerald’s eyes mark her as red. He’s mind, she’s heart. I’m adding this to the questionably romantic ones because I’m curious about the fact that Emerald and Mercury are now separated in the current season, just like all four of the above ships I mentioned.

Also to keep in mind: sometimes writers say eff the tropes. See: Harry and Ginny, who are both red and air (but Ginny’s name also marks her as white, so).

#ask hamliet #rwby #rwby theory #rwby meta #alchemy #do these ships have names #help #yang x blake #nora x ren #ruby x oscar #weiss x jaune #emerald x mercury #Anonymous #bumblby #rosegarden #white knight

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kittyprincessofcats · 3 years

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RWBY Volume 8, Episode 14 - The Final Word

Thoughts on the final episode of RWBY Vol 8 under the cut.

Also, I will from now on reblog spoilers for Volume 8, which will be tagged with “RWBY v8 spoilers” if you want to blacklist them.

tw: Since the episode itself had the same content warning, I should mention that I will be discussing themes of suicide in this post.

Also, everything I’m about to say is *my* personal opinion. I’m not trying to tell anyone else that they’re supposed to feel the same way about anything in this episode. In turn, please don’t tell me how to feel about it either.

- I should start by bringing up what I said in my post about episode 13, because all of that is going to become relevant now:

So... that all aged... interestingly.

- Next, I should say that I actually did end up getting spoiled about Penny’s death. I was trying really hard and didn’t go into any tags, but literally one day before this episode was released to the public, Tumblr recommended me two blogs with the titles “Penny deserved better” and “Justice for Penny Polendina”… so I drew my conclusions from that. And while I think those blog titles are valid sentiments, I do wish people would wait a week before putting spoilers in a blog title. But then again, I was weirdly glad to get spoiled this time, because it meant I was more emotionally prepared.

- And now, on to my very controversial opinion about this finale: I… uhm… I actually liked it. There, I said it. I liked it. I’m seeing a lot of takes from people who hated it, and that’s totally fair, but personally, to my own surprise, I liked it. (It’s kind of interesting that last time I said it would be “awful writing” to kill Penny now, then it happened, now the whole fandom is complaining about it being awful writing… and I’m here going “actually… that wasn’t so bad”.) That’s not to say that I’m a fan of everything in this finale, especially re: Penny – but overall, the good outweighed the bad *for me*. (Stressing again that this is just how *I* feel.)

- I think the main reason I feel that way is because I honestly expected way worse. If you read that thing I wrote last week^, you see I expected multiple character deaths. I was incredibly nervous. And after I’d already spent a few minutes genuinely thinking Yang died (because of a badly worded episode 13 spoiler I accidently saw), I had to think about the kind of deaths that would be a dealbreaker for me and make me drop the show. (Let’s say it like this: If either of Bumbleby ever died for real, I would be done with this show immediately.) So, in short, I was terrified of the finale and expected it to be the kind of finale that ruins the show for me (which has happened in far too many fandoms so far) – and it wasn’t. I have mixed feelings about how they handled Penny’s story, too, but this finale didn’t ruin the show for me and I honestly felt way worse after the Volume 3 finale. Maybe that’s because I wasn’t prepared for it at the time, but this time I spent a whole week being super anxious, so when I’d actually finished the finale, I just felt overwhelming relief.

- Okay, so let’s talk Penny: Back in Episode 12, I already wasn’t a huge fan of the idea to make her human (if that even is what she was?), but I think I said I’d reserve judgment on it until we see where they go with it. Obviously, it feels unsatisfying to have the show just kill her off after everyone’s been trying to save her all volume. And of course, it’s never fun to see a favorite character of yours (and Penny is definitely a favorite of mine) get killed off. The way it happened (a character who’s been trying to sacrifice herself the whole volume finally doing so through assisted suicide, even though there could have been several potential ways to still save her) feels incredibly unsatisfying and depressing as well. The “heroic sacrifice” cliché isn’t new, but there’s still a difference between a sacrifice that feels necessary and like it really was the only way (Hazel, Vine) and one that feels more like a character being over-eager to sacrifice themselves even though there might have been alternatives (Penny). So really, I understand why people don’t like this, especially because the narrative, so far, seems to validate Penny’s choice by having her plan work. And that does send the opposite of the “fight for every life”, “no one is replaceable” message this volume had been going for until then.

- And this is why, I think Penny’s death is meant to be awful. Volume 9 might prove me wrong on this, but I think we haven’t seen the end of this storyline yet. For me personally, it’s too early to judge this plot-point by itself because it depends a lot on how they deal with it in the aftermath and how things go from here. (For instance: I hated Pyrrha’s death at first because going into a fight she knew she couldn’t win also felt like a needless heroic sacrifice to me. It was only how the aftermath of it was handled from there that made me be okay with it.) So basically, what I’m asking is: How will the other characters handle Penny’s death now? Will Ruby (or anyone else) get angry at Jaune for agreeing to kill her? How will Ruby grieve in general? And, most importantly: Will the narrative really treat Penny’s choice as the “right” one or will it challenge that view? (And was there maybe more going on that we know because I’ve been reading those “Penny is alive” theories and… oh boy.) So yeah – for me it depends on how it gets handled from here.

- Also, I just want to say that I really appreciate RT putting a suicide trigger warning in the beginning of the episode and I wish people wouldn’t twist that into a bad thing. (I’ve seen some takes along the lines of “If they had to put a warning, that means they were aware it’s a harmful message, so that makes it worse” and… please don’t do that. Content creators putting trigger warnings on things is a good thing. Also, this might be a controversial take, but I don’t think fiction always has to “send a good message and teach you a lesson.” The important thing is that RT were aware that this episode could be upsetting/distressing to people and that’s why they put a warning and the suicide hotline’s number in the description.)

- Anyway, I’ve been rambling for too long. My point is: I understand the criticisms and agree with some of them, but I hope the writers know what they’re doing here and I want to believe that they do. I also love all the theories about Penny coming back (in Winter’s mind, for example) and I think they’re not actually that unlikely. And if Penny doesn’t come back, then honestly, I’m okay with that, too. At the end of the day, she’s a fictional character. I can always go and read fanfictions where she’s alive and lives happily ever after with Ruby and nothing that happens in canon can ever take that away. Canon only has as much power as you want it to have. I can enjoy the canon show and the story they’re telling (even if Penny is dead for good this time), while still also enjoying my AUs where she’s fine. One doesn’t harm the other.

- (Also, let me take this moment to shamelessly promote my favorite cartoon show because I think this is relevant to the interests of anyone who hates the “person who’s been trying to sacrifice themselves the whole time ends up doing just that” story: The main character in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is self-sacrificial to the point of it being unhealthy, but the show explicitly doesn’t treat this as a good thing. When she tries to sacrifice herself for the greater good in the final arc and says it’s better that way, this is treated as a problem, and the lesson she ends up learning in the end is her life has value, too, and that she deserves to be happy. (The show’s also very gay.)

- I don’t know if brought any of this across properly. Basically… I’m not happy about where they went with Penny either, but I am okay with it. I still enjoyed the finale and will continue to enjoy the show. And I want to focus on the things that make me happy about RWBY and made me happy about the finale, so I’ll talk about the rest of the episode now (while rewatching it because I’ll forget stuff otherwise):

- Have I mentioned I really love the Volume 8 opening? Because I really do.

- That shot of the destroyed whale is still awesome.

- I love how the episode opens with all the fights we left off with (Winter vs. Ironwood, Penny vs. Cinder, Harriet vs. Qrow, Ruby vs. Neo) and cuts between them. Also, the music is amazing!

- Elm admitting that Harriet is their friend and that being what finally gets through to her was a nice conclusion to their little arc, I guess. Vine’s sacrifice and his admittance that they’re his friends and he’s doing this for them were touching. Honestly, Harriet is right to blame herself for his death. That said, while this volume made me strongly dislike her, I do hope she now gets an arc about actually dealing with her grief and changing. I think that would be way more interesting to see than still having her be bitter, especially after what happened in this episode.

- Qrow causing good luck to stop the bomb was a nice little moment and honestly makes sense. Good luck and bad luck are just a matter of perspective, after all. What’s bad luck for yourself will be good luck for your enemies and vice versa. So, maybe Qrow technically caused “bad luck” for the bomb? Either way, I like the idea of him realizing that his semblance is more than what he thought.

- Cinder breathing fire during the fight was awesome. I need GIFs of that.

- Blake was amazing in this episode! I love that she didn’t let her grief over Yang consume her, but got up and kept fighting, kicked Cinder in the face and told Weiss to get up. Good stuff!

- I wonder if Cinder’s “You should have never been born” line to Ruby was just a generic “I hate you” line or meant something more.

- Do people honestly think that Cinder betraying Neo was unexpected or like… super unreasonable for a villain? Neo did threaten her – most typical villains don’t react well to their underlings threatening them, so I really don’t see why some people are so shocked or downright offended about this (is it just because they like Neo?).

- Weiss being the last one standing and using Blake’s weapon in the fight was absolutely amazing.

- The tragedy of Jaune sending Nora to bring the Huntsmen and Huntresses back through the portal while not knowing the portal is a one-way deal…

- Cinder knowing that Salem is back because her Grimm arm started hurting was a super interesting moment. And Weiss’ shocked face in that moment was quite interesting, too.

- I wonder if Penny really meant dying when she said “Let me choose this one thing”. To me, it sounded more like she meant choosing the next Winter Maiden. Also, her “trust me” to Jaune is an interesting line. Between that and us not seeing how that conversation goes on, I wonder if there’s something we don’t know here. (*puts on my “Penny is alive” tinfoil hat*)

- I’m glad they at least didn’t graphically show Penny’s death – which is an interesting choice again, because this show doesn’t usually shy away from making deaths graphic and portraying them in all their brutality. So, the fact that we don’t see the act itself and then just cut to Penny’s conversation with Winter was interesting. (But I am glad about it because I didn’t want to see that.) It might honestly just be because of the nature of Penny’s death that they didn’t want to show it too much (and that’s fair).

- “You were my friend.” Gosh, this rewatch is making me cry now 😭. (I also think it’s interesting that Winter calls herself a machine and Penny is now the one who corrects her. It’s a nice callback to Ruby telling Penny she’s their friend and “not just a machine”.)

- I was also just reminded that Penny died thinking Ruby was dead… ouch. This possibly hurts me more than Penny’s death itself.

- People have also pointed out that when Penny transfers the powers to Winter, her aura looks yellow (like Jaune’s) with only some green sparks (like Penny’s). Hmm… I really wonder if there’s more going on here.

- “I won’t be gone. I’ll be part of you.” Who’s cutting onions in here?

- Honestly, the main reason I kind of forgave them for killing Penny was because THAT MOMENT of Winter opening her eyes with the powers while that epic music plays was just amazing to witness. And her fight with Cinder? EPIC. BREATHTAKING. BEAUTIFUL. I’m not even that into the idea of Winter as the Winter Maiden (I honestly thought Penny, the robot girl, becoming the Winter Maiden was a much more interesting plot), but the way it was done in this episode was great. I’m glad we’re finally getting that rivalry between Winter and Cinder, because their arcs parallel each other in so many ways. And I love the symbolism of Winter only getting the powers that Ironwood chose for her after she betrayed Ironwood. I like the idea that she only became worthy of them after turning on Ironwood (which does work well with her Volume 7 arc).

- Oh, by the way, I really hate the “Team RWBY will become the four maidens eventually” theory. Even if it didn’t require characters to die, I just think it would be cheap and way too obvious, and I think it’s boring to throw all the magic powers at the main characters. So, if they only made Winter the Winter Maiden so she can eventually die and pass it on to Weiss, I’ll be very annoyed. (But I hope that’s not where this is going.)

- I’m also just realizing that Cinder asking “How am I supposed to take her power if she’s dead?” about Penny a few episodes ago was foreshadowing… damn.

- Jaune’s sword breaking was a really cool and symbolic moment, too.

- Winter trying to save Weiss from falling and not reaching her in time really got to me. I’m mostly not that affected by any of Team RWBY falling into the void because… come on, we know they’ll be fine. But Winter thinking her little sister just died is… oof. Maybe it’s because I have two younger sisters, but stuff like that really gets to me.

- Also, Winter going through that portal and seeing her family after she just (as far as she knows) lost Weiss… ouch. They never got to all reunite with each other (yet).

- I absolutely LOVED that final scene between Salem and Cinder. They’re both such fascinating characters and I just live for their interactions. Cinder talking herself down (even though she got the relics, so she knows she succeeded at the most important part) was amazing on her part. She did learn from Salem! It’s also interesting that even though she got what Salem wanted, Cinder didn’t get what she herself wanted (the Maiden Powers). I feel like that’s eventually going to become important.

- I wonder if Salem believed Cinder’s lies or not. I’ve seen some interesting opinions in both directions here. (Also, again, I don’t get why some people are so shocked and offended about Cinder lying? I’ve seen so many “I hope she pays for her lies” takes and… really? That’s her biggest crime in your eyes? Lying to another villain?? I don’t think any of you villain-haters feel bad for Salem here, so why… oh. Oh, nevermind, I just understood. They’re not mad that Cinder lied, they’re mad because they wanted Salem to kill her. Gosh, that’s so dumb. Face it, people: That’s not going to happen because Salem still needs the Fall Maiden’s powers. She’s not going to kill Cinder anytime before Cinder opens the last vault.)

- Cinder killing Watts with the staff was kinda funny, tbh. Also Salem’s proud little smirk in that scene kills me.

- “And that’s checkmate.” THAT. Okay, THAT was the best line in the entire episode, I don’t make the rules. What an epic moment!! Gosh, have I mentioned I love Cinder to death? What a queen! This volume really completely changed my opinion on her. I’ve already said that she’s my standout character of the volume, and I stand by that. It was her volume in so many ways and it’s so fitting that she gets to say the last line. It’s also such an interesting line in so many ways: 1) Because this episode is called “The Final Word”, is the only episode in this volume that doesn’t have a one-word title, and the actual final word of the episode is “checkmate”, it implies that “Checkmate” is the real, hidden title of the episode. And that fits so well! They could have easily just named the episode “Checkmate”, but revealing it like this works even better. 2) I also love the chess symbolism in this volume in general. There was a really great analysis about it on here somewhere, but basically: Salem is the king, Cinder is the queen (the king can’t die and barely moves, the queen is out there getting rid of opposing player pieces). And the interesting thing about that here is that the king can’t actually checkmate anyone else, only other chess pieces can. So, it’s very fitting that Cinder is the one who says “checkmate”. Also, in a game of chess, you often have to sacrifice your own pieces to win, which is what Cinder did. 3) I also LOVE the realization on Ironwood’s face when he realizes that he’s been so paranoid about Salem, but he’s actually been playing Cinder all along. (Someone else on here pointed out that there’s something super poetic about Cinder, someone who was very much a victim of Atlas’ systemic problems, being the one to defeat Ironwood and destroy his kingdom. Ironwood was ready to sacrifice all the poor people from Mantle for his own goal, and a poor person who was hurt by people in Atlas is the one who destroyed him. Yeah, yeah, Cinder’s evil and all, but I love it! 4) It’s also really interesting to me that Salem said “This game is not yours to win, it’s mine” to Cinder in the first episode of this Volume, but in the end, Salem ended up being gone for the entire last part of the volume and Cinder is the one who got to say “checkmate.” IT’S JUST SO GOOD.

- And ngl, I’m super happy for Cinder. She really got it all. Yeah okay, she didn’t get the Maiden Powers (and I hope she never does, because one person being two maidens at once is lame), but she got the relics, got rid of her enemies and co-workers (or so she thinks), destroyed the kingdom that she was a slave to, got back into Salem’s good graces… good for her! And apparently one of the buildings that you see being flooded was the Glass Unicorn? Amazing. Love that.

- (Yes, I’m team “redemption for Cinder please”, but come on… it was never going to happen this volume. And if it never happens, that’s okay, too – I’m loving her as a villain as well!)

- Also, I hope that all the people who were specifically criticizing Cinder for not being a competent enough villain are very happy now. Because there you have the competent villain you said you wanted! I mean, I’m saying this as someone who used to criticize Cinder’s character for not being interesting/deep enough. I used to say that I’d like a backstory or something that makes her more interesting/compelling to me. But as soon as we got that backstory, I happily switched sides to team “I like Cinder now”. So, I better not hear any complaining from the “I just want her to be a more competent villain” faction now!

- Yeah, I admit I’m getting annoyed with the Cinder hate. Everyone has a right to their opinions, but it gets frustrating when you’re going through the tag of a character you like and half of the tag are people talking about how badly they want that character to die. (Maybe use a seperate tag for it?)

- (I’m just realizing that I said “Well, at least it was only one character death” earlier, but people like Ironwood and Watts actually did die… I just didn’t count those because I don’t care. Sorry not sorry.)

- We decimated Salem’s faction quite a bit this volume, didn’t we? There’s only Cinder, Tyrian, and Mercury left. I wonder if Salem will get some new people on her side.

- Overall, while I did like this episode, I feel like Volume 8 got weaker towards the end. Most Volumes were at their best towards the end, but I feel like episodes 8-11 were the strongest parts of Volume 8, while episodes 12-14 were still good, but not as good.

- My prediction is that Volume 9 will (of course) be Tearm RWBY’s way out of the void (or whatever that place where they ended up is called) – And I quite like the theory that we won’t see the other characters at all and it’ll be focused only on what’s happening in the void.

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astoria00 · 5 years

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Salem and Cinder's connection is deeper than we think

So, in another post I talked about the possibility of Salem having shared some of her magic with Cinder to keep her alive. Now, I don't want to entirely debunk my other theory, but maybe what Salem shared with Cinder wasn't so much her magic, but a part of her aura/soul. And having a part of someone who is literally immortal attached to them...tends to keep one alive as well.

The show even offers us possible facts that could strengthen this theory. So for the sake of this argument I will go through them chronologically, starting by vol 3 episode 7, our very first Cinder flashback episode.

Besides Cinder's semblance (yes, I still attribute those explosions to her semblance), which resembles Salem's own signil eerily enough on certain occasions and which she could use way before obtaining the Fall Maiden's power, there is a short little dialogue I want to point out:

“The huntsman severed the connection before it was complete.

Yes...it's an emptiness. It burns...like hunger... I like it.

Yes...I will claim what is ours.

Thank you.“

That whole scene was, of course, a black screen scene and for a while I had just assumed Cinder would talk to Salem via a scroll or this seer grimm, but let's be real. Salem doesn't strike me as someone who owns a scroll and Cinder was definitely not talking to Watts or Tyrian here. A seer grimm might be possible, but...it depends on where Cinder was staying at that time and how many of these type of grimm Salem even has. So yes, it's still possible for this to be a one-sided phone call of sorts, but it could also be our first clue for Cinder's and Salem's connection. This whole conversation could have been telepathic...in a sense.

But let's look at another scene. In vol 3 episode 10, we see Emerald, Mercury and Cinder on the rooftop with the latter telling Mercury to focus on the Atleasian knights. When he states he will, Cinder adds this little tidbit.

“Good, continue the broadcast until the end.

(Ground/rooftop shaking)

And do not miss what happens next.“

This is of course referring to the giant grimm dragon breaking from the mountain. Now, Salem could have told Cinder about it and how to get it to emerge, but this shaking could have been anything really. Maybe one of the elephant grimm trampled over a house and it crashed into another, or an explosion caused a little quake in its aftermath. So Cinder knowing exactly what the shaking meant was pretty...specific and well timed.

But it gets even more interesting in vol 3 episode 12 when the grimm dragon first lands on Beacon tower:

“Shh...this is your home now.“

Now, first of all, the dragon seems to know exactly where it has to go. It could be beacuse Salem ordered it to...but why would it look so grimmly at Cinder then, when he first spots her? Why would Cinder need to calm it down? And more importantly, Cinder CAN calm it down! Sure, she could have just said it because she felt like it, or she thought it could help, but the dragon literally reacted to her words, its growl even softened somewhat. And who else have we seen talking to grimm like this? Salem!

So what does all of this have to do with Cinder and Salem's soulbound connection? Well...let's first try to find out HOW they talk to grimm.

In all honesty, I haven't seen other people in Remnant who attempted to talk to grimm, nor were they mentioned (well maybe Merlot did, but we're not counting him XD). And how would they even understand one? They are soulless creatures, but...they are drawn to negative emotions. Which means they have a 'higher' empathic sense of sorts. We also know they are somewhat intelligent. So maybe Salem is able to communicate with them via that sense. Yes, we have seen her directly talk to some of them, but talking helps us visualize or feel certain things, so this might have been for her own or Cinder's benefit. And we should also keep in mind that the seer grimm gave his report...via his clicking noises...so...the trick behind that 'language' could be interpreting certain feelings and pictures that are send via that sense.

We haven't seen Ozpin being able to do the same, so it could be an ability Salem aquired after jumping into the fountain of the god of darkness.

Now, if Cinder is being able to communicate with grimm as well and Salem is the only other being in Remnant who is known to have this ability, it certainly could allude that it got shared when Salem attached a part of her soul to Cinder.

Also, if we look further at her fight with Pyrrha, the grimm dragon tries to help her somewhat and not once did Cinder look surprised by that. Not when it suddwnly flew away, nor when it changed its course to speed up back at them to crash into the dome of the tower.

So why did I talk about how communication with a grimm might work? Because I believe Cinder and Salem to be able to communicate on the same level, via that empathic sense.

But let's take a look at vol 4 where we actually see both of them interacting.

We have vol 4 episode 3 where Salem gives Cinder a 'control your new arm' lesson. What exactly is she saying there again?

“Do you feel it?

Don't fight it, girl.

It can sense your trepidation.

You must make it dread you!“

Trepidation...alright... How do you know that, Salem? Cinder doesn't look frightened at that scene at all, a bit uncomfortable and probably in pain, but I wouldn't have said she was afraid. So not only 'it' was able to sense Cinder's trepidation, Salem could as well it seemed. And if we watch a bit longer we get the whole :

“Did you kill Ozpin?“

A question Cinder has to answer all by herself, even though she clearly can't really talk at the moment. And why was that important for Salem? Because Cinder literally wouldn't be able to lie to Salem's face if they're in fact connected like this and it would also explain why Salem looked so pleased after she gets her answer. She doesn't question it, she simply believes her when she says yes. Furthermore, there is this moment where Salem raises her voice and slams her hands on the table...but Cinder doesn't even flinch, as if she already felt something like this would happen.

Speaking about lies. In vol 4 episode 11 we have another instance of...interesting phrasing from Salem:

“Enough!

I thought you were the girl that wanted power.

Did you lie to me?

Then stop holding back!“

Stop holding back? Well, to me it certainly looked like Cinder gave it her all, no holding back, just being tired because she clearly pushed herself very hard, so I ask again...how did Salem know that? She would only be able to make that point if she either already witnessed Cinder handling her powers and knows she can do better, which didn't seem to be the case with how frustrated Cinder got at the end, or like with her trepidation in ep 3, Salem was just able to feel it. Something else that stood out to me in that scene was Cinder's reaction to Salem's: Did you lie to me? She flinches. Not when Salem says it's 'Enough', not when she throws Cinder's desire for power back at her, no, she flinches when she is accused of lying. And if we go with their connection theory...she literally wouldn't be able to pull that off, because Salem would know it immediately...somewhat like a lie detector. So Salem asking her this, was kinda a dig at her that she couldn't.

If we keep focusing on Cinder here when Tyrian comes back and begs for forgiveness, she only looks at him for maybe a split second, before her attention is solely on Salem again. And Cinder seems to look almost uneasy....lost of sorts? But why would she? Tyrian is the one getting focused on by Salem for now. He is the one in trouble. So could it be, that Cinder actually picks up on Salem's 'emotions' again, as she may have in ep 3? If they do have this bond, then it probably goes both ways. So Cinder might get some puzzling or worrisome readings from Salem in that scene, and we know from vol 6 just how much Salem can repress her anger...well until she doesn't, but still XD

Another scene that might strengthen this theory happens in vol 5 episode 2, when Lionheart tells his report to Salem. After she gives her orders to all of them and ends the 'call' she immediately looks over to Cinder, as if she knows right away that something is troubling her.

“You are free to speak your mind.“

She even sounds somewhat amused and as we have already seen, this isn't the first time Salem is awefully intuned to Cinder's feelings.

There are a few other small things that I have found throughout the series, but these are the most interesting ones I think, so let me talk about how I even got this idea in the first place and let's jump straight into vol 6 now.

After we got our first episode with Cinder it was clear that she had woken up a month after the attack at Haven. And she immediately seemed to know what to do. Sure, a lot of people were saying she couldn't very well go back to Salem empty handed, and although I'm not really agreeing with that, even if that is the truth, what stops Cinder to contact Hazel and get where Ruby and co. are from him? Or Emerald and Mercury? What stops her from reaching out to them? Her scroll seems to work just fine. Is she aware of Salem wanting her to “toil in her isolation“?

When we got episode 4, Salem is indeed aware of Cinder being alive. A lot of people seem to believe the reason for that is Cinder's grimm arm. Personally I don't agree with that. Yes, Salem is the master of all grimm and can control them, but firstly, we don't know how much at once and at what length she can do that. Secondly, she probably is not able to connect to a soulless creature, not even mentioning having the ability to keep tabs on them. 'Talking' and controlling them? Sure. But being outright able to feel when one of them evaporates? That would mean she would be able to keep tabs on all the grimm over the world...and I don't think that's the case.

So Salem attaching a part of her own aura/soul to the girl she definitely needs to survive against all odds and keep somewhat control over her, does sound plausible to me. It would certainly explain her leniency towards the Fall Maiden and why she is not even questioning her loyalty once. It is hard to betray someone who you're directly tied to after all.

But then again, that's just me theorizing again. I could be proven wrong next episode, but hey, analyzing these things is fun XD

#cinder fall #rwby spoilers #rwby theories #salem rwby #rwby volume 6 spoilers #just my theories #i need a new au for this #salem's one scary mom xd #that's some way to monitor your fire daughter xd #team firefly

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littlemisssquiggles · 6 years

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RWBY Musings #28: A Squiggle Meister’s Views on Midnight Dragon (Tai Yang + Raven) and Albino Dragon (Tai Yang and Summer)

After Miles debunked the whole Qrow is Ruby’s real father theory, he confirmed once and for all that Tai Yang is indeed the biological father of both Yang and Ruby. However, despite this, there have been comments buzzing around the FNDM still bringing this into question.

Believe it or not, there are fans that are still raising the probability of this being factual by now questioning how Tai was able to get over his love for Raven in order to fall in love with Summer and then birth a child with her, just after two years since his first born child and previous relationship.

As always, the squiggle meister is here to toss her full $2.50 into this discussion pot and weigh in my thoughts and theories on this ongoing topic.

Disclaimer: In doing my research, I learnt that the FNDM has christened these two Tai Yang ships as Midnight Sun (for Raven) and Summer Loving (for Summer). And while those ship names are fine, truth be told, I wasn’t much in favour of them or any of the other alternatives that I saw. So I went with my own idea for the ship names. Also, sorry folks but this is gonna be another long post. Not as long as the last long musing I made but still long enough to warrant a warning. Just wanted to mention this beforehand. That being said, let us begin:

The Raven, the Sun Dragon and the White Rose.

So Tai Yang takes 2 years to get over Raven and romance Summer enough to give him another kid? When you say it like that, it makes it sound even more ludicrously impossible, am I right?

Well truth be told, sometimes in the real world, there are actually relationships that start off in only a matter of weeks and there are even cases of folks getting married in less than six months or even a month after just dating. I mean I’m no relationship guru myself but it is plausible.

The point I’m trying to make here is following that reveal by the show writers, there are still those one or two fans gently sailing down that pleasant river I’d like to call Denial. Those who imply that two years is far too short of a timeframe for someone to recover from a past relationship. While I get the argument those fans are making, I must courteously disagree.

2 years is actually not too little time.

Again, there are examples of folks who fall off the couple wagon and get right back up in shorter time; sometimes starting a new relationship in only a few short weeks after ending their last one. I don’t know people like that personally but I do know people who know other people that treat their relationships like a claw machine game.

When they lose one relationship, they just immediately go back in and try for another one.

So I know of the type and I wouldn’t be too surprised if some of you readers also might know someone who shares that trait in their love lives.

So when you look at it from that perspective, 2 years really does seem like nothing compared to some exemplars from the real world.

Besides it’s not like Tai and Summer were complete strangers. They were teammates. Friends and to some extent, family even before the kids. Tai and Summer knew each other since they were huntsman attending Beacon Academy.

Since they were teenagers at the tender age of 17; the standard age for all students. The only exception was Ruby Rose who started Beacon when she was only 15.

Makes me wonder now if it was a similar feat for Summer Rose.

What if...

Ozpin allowed her to attend his school despite being two years junior to the average student age. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. With the casual manner Ozpin just invited Ruby to join Beacon back in V1; it’s almost like he’s done that before. But that’s just a hunch.

If I had to take a wild guess at how old Tai Yang is in the series, he’s probably in his early forties; perhaps 42-43 years of age. He’s too young to be in his fifties yet a bit too old to be in his thirties. The youngest age I can see Tai Yang being is 39 but my money is on him being in his early forties. If Tai Yang is in his forties, then that means he could’ve started a family back in his early twenties.

Since Yang, Tai’s eldest child, is 18 currently, my hunch is that Tai Yang and Raven probably had Yang when they were both between 24-25 years old age which surprisingly isn’t an uncommon age for folks to settle down and have a family.

My point here is that the members of Team STQR have all known each other since they were teens. They shared a strong friendship and camaraderie together, one that transcended time. Two of the members even got hitched and ultimately had a child together. Not sure if it was ever indicated that Tai and Raven actually were married.

I think marriage is something that most fans assumed but now that I think about, did the series or the CRWBY ever truly confirmed that Tai Yang was legally married to both Raven and Summer at some point. Were Yang and Ruby born out of wedlock? Are they both bastards?

Not that there’s anything wrong with being a bastard. Heck, the only show I know where being a bastard child is a big deal to the story lore is Game of Thrones (and I don’t even watch GOT). It’s just something I’m now wondering about.

Anyways if Tai and Summer were to get together within the span of two years or more specifically, 24 months (depending on what period you decide to count from) it wouldn’t be much of a problem because they already shared a history together.

Not only were they teammates who fought alongside each other during their years as young huntsmen in training but also long after it. Judging from how recent the photo of Team STQR looked, these guys have been together for years. Heck, I would even go so far to say that Tai and Summer probably knew each other before attending Beacon.

What if

...Tai and Summer were like Ren and Nora ?

School Days with Team STQR

Imagine if...

Tai and Summer were close friends who’ve been together since childhood. Perhaps they both hailed from the same hometown in Vale and knew each other from around the neighbourhood.

I quite like the idea of Tai and Summer knowing each other before Beacon. Just picture Tai Yang Xiao Long being the hyperactive, brash type in his youth with a rather impulsive knack for getting himself into trouble all the time whereas Summer Rose, his neighbour and childhood friend, was the more level-headed and nurturing one always having to take care of him and bail him out of dire situations.

Picture teenage Tai and Summer as a watered down version of Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman without the revenge and occasional homicidal tendencies. I can definitely see Summer and Tai sharing a sibling-like dynamic in their friendship seeing as the other half of their original team were already related and well attuned to one another.

I can picture Summer developing a crush on Tai during the latter half of their school years at Beacon.

However, when it came time to profess her romantic interest in Tai, Summer instead chose to nobly not tell him her true feelings. She made this mature choice after discovering that Raven was also secretly in love with Tai (and was too much of a mega tsundere to admit her feelings unless pushed) and that Tai himself felt the same way for Raven since he confided this news to Summer, his closest friend at the time who he trusted the most with this information.

I figured telling Qrow that he wants to hook up with his sister would’ve been an awkward thing for Tai to do. So it’d make more sense to me if Tai either told Summer that he was in love with Raven or...she figured it out on her own because Tai’s feelings were obvious to everyone on their team except Raven.

And being the best friend that she was, Summer placed the feelings of her friends before her own and encourages Tai to profess his love to Raven.

Imagine a similar scenario like the episode from V2 when Pyrrha gave Jaune the pep talk that finally convinced him to tell Weiss how he truly felt about her.

Just replace Jaune with Tai Yang, Pyrrha with Summer and Weiss with Raven.

Now that I think about, Team STRQ is literally the ole school equivalent of Team JNPR, being another unisex team in a lead role.

I can even see Qrow, who probably knew of Summer’s true feelings for Tai, making the same comment that Nora made in that scene.

Practice what you preach.

.Raven described Ruby as being just like her mother. So if Summer shares some characteristics with her daughter, then selflessly backing off of a love interest to allow a friend the opportunity to fairly pursue said similar love interest seems like the kind of nice thing Ruby would do. Y’know if she was ever placed in that kind of position.

Hummingbird Chirps

But I’m actually for Qrow having a previous small crush on Summer when they were younger. I can definitely picture teenage Qrow Branwen garnering an instant attraction towards young Summer after they first met. Although my theory is that the crush didn’t last long, for the obvious reason of it being one-sided. Nonetheless it’s still something that I believe definitely happened in the past and was probably what jumpstarted Qrow learning to respect Summer as both a friend and warrior and was what made her such a significant figure in his life.

This actually makes me think of something funny. Back in V3 after he made his official appearance, Qrow was telling Ruby and Yang the story about the innkeeper who quote unquote ‘defeated him with her skirt length’.

If Qrow has a thing for girls in short pleated skirts then him being attracted to Summer would make sense. Judging from the old photo of Team STQR, Summer used to sport a pleated skirt underneath her flowing white cape. So...wouldn’t it be funny if the first thing that sparked love at first sight for Qrow with Summer was indeed her skirt length. She would be his type.

As luck would have it, Raven also wears a short pleated skirt with her outfit. Now I’m picturing Qrow teasing his older twin sister about skirts looking better on other girls as opposed to her. Y’know typical anime sibling banter which in the case of the Branwens, would result in comical moments of the twins breaking into mini sword fights all because Qrow was ballsy enough to provoke his sister.

Also imagine Qrow and Tai bonding over skirt lengths while thinking about their respective crushes. I’m just saying.

Black With Envy

In continuing my point about the old school adventures of Team STQR, here’s a theory about Raven and Summer’s previous relationship.

Though I figured that Tai and Qrow probably got along pretty decently as the boys of the group, I can picture Raven and Summer being public enemies 101 when the team was first formed. Because Summer was such a gifted young huntress (even before unlocking her silver eyed powers); this made her even stronger than Raven and that angered the Branwen girl.

After all, Summer’s name is the first letter in Team STQR which means that she was their leader; appointed by Ozpin himself. I could definitely see it being very difficult for Raven and Summer to work together in the beginning since Raven was always resentful and jealous towards Summer at first even though Summer was always nice to Raven and did her best to befriend her.

I can picture Raven arrogantly believing herself to be the more worthy leader of their team (similar to Weiss’s initial feelings towards Ruby back in V1 after Team RWBY was formed) and it was actually Ozpin who talked to her and convinced her to give Summer a chance as leader (just as how Professor Port spoke to Weiss and convinced her to give Ruby a chance).

There are quite a few opportunities for Team STQR to parallel Team RWBY and this is one of them.

Dat Good Summer Loving

I’ve been musing a lot of about how Summer fell for Tai. Now it’s time to do the opposite. This is how I believe Tai eventually fell for Summer.

My hunch is Tai fell in love with Summer for her kind maternal nature. I picture that Summer has always been the type to take care of those she cared about. Underneath the face of a huntress gifted with an ancient power beyond her wildest imagination, was a compassionate woman with a genuine heart of gold and the cooking skills to match.

After seeing what an excellent surrogate mother she was to Yang, despite her not being her biological child, it was Summer’s benevolence and warmth towards others that made Tai fall for her, in my belief. Yang did point out that Summer loved her as if she were her own. According to Yang, Summer Rose was described as a super mom. Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters.

Yang loved Summer and still referred to her as her mother when talking about her to Blake, despite having zero blood ties to her. I’m guessing that Yang probably believed that Summer was her mother for most of her upbringing up until the point when she disappeared. Yang probably didn’t learn the truth about Summer and the identity of her real mother until after Summer had died.

While just a theory, it doesn’t excuse the fact that for most of Yang’s life, Summer was her only mother figure and never gave her any reason to believe that she wasn’t, even after she had long passed away.

What if...something happened to Yang when she was a little girl and it was Summer who saved her.

And following that incident, Tai realized his own growing feelings for Summer and over time, the two bonded further over raising Yang together. Returning to my earlier statement, contrary to what folks may believe, two years or even a year and a half is a lot of time to pass. We’re talking eighteen to twenty-four months here people and a lot can happen within that time span including change.

Lovers could suddenly abandon you for reasons unspoken; leaving you to take care of a young innocent newborn you had initially planned to raise together.

Hearts can be broken rendering you a husk of your former self. Friendships can be tested as loyal allies arrive to help you pick up the pieces to repair your broken self. Struggles can occur tested further by time.

But within those troubling times can surface memories.

Memories, both happy and sad can be made and from those experiences can blossom new feelings.

Some of bewilderment due to the complexity of these sudden sentiments. Some of uncertainty on whether acting out on such emotions would be in good judgement.

But mostly it was love; an emotion that hasn’t been felt in years and was probably never expected to be felt again.

Tai loved Raven. Wouldn’t surprise me if she was his first everything.

First crush. First lover (in the sexual sense) and the first woman he ever truly loved. As a matter of fact, no need for surprise because this was pretty much proven canon by Yang herself back in V2. During her conversation with Blake, Yang told her that Raven was Tai Yang’s first love while Summer was his second.

Tai Yang seems to be the kind of guy that when he falls for someone, he doesn’t just fall for them on a whim. As I shall repeat firmly yet again, two years is a lot of time to pass and many changes can occur within that period. It took Tai a whole two years to get over losing Raven because Ruby was born the following October.

Let’s do some math here. Ruby is approximately two years younger than Yang. That’s their thing. At the series start, Yang is 17 while Ruby is 15 highlighting their two year age difference. Even though we don’t know the exact date Yang was born, the fact is that Ruby was born a whole two years (or approximately twenty four whole months) after Yang.

Now that I think about, the CRWBY never really give us birth years. Any information regarding the characters’ respective ages is presented in the form of their exact ages and their birth dates. That being said, since she’s the only show runner whose birthday has been confirmed, Ruby Rose has always been the margin for me to measure everyone else’s ages by because it doesn’t matter how old other characters are, they will always be whatever age gap they corresponded to Ruby.

So if Ruby aged up by one year, it is safe to assume that everyone else aged up by one year too (which is why I don’t understand why the RWBY Wiki page keeps saying that all other characters are the same age they were at the start of the series and not currently while Ruby is the only one to have been confirmed to have aged up. I don’t get that. If Ruby is 16 now then everyone else should be 18, at least that’s my logic).

Using the above 3-year calendar to help illustrate my hunch, let’s say: Yang’s official birthday is in June, more specifically June 1st. I say this date because it was the day when the RWBY V1 Yellow Trailer first premiered to audiences at A-Kon Dallas back in 2013. You can technically consider that to be a sort of birthday for Yang because it was the first time fans were introduced to her character and got a taste of her in action. Plus Yang being born on the first day of the month (doesn’t necessarily have to be June) can work because it corresponds with how her younger sister was born on the last day of the month. It could work. Not saying that all the RWBY girls’ birthdays correspond with their original character trailers but, like I said it’s just a hunch to help with my explanation.

Ruby’s birthday is October 31st. Since Ruby was born at the end of the tenth month in the year, one can speculate that Ruby must’ve been conceived in the February of her birth year following Yang’s 2nd birthday. To keep things simple, let’s just say that Tai had some pretty good swimmers when he impregnated Summer and she herself was able to have a full healthy labour; not factoring in any circumstantial issues like premature labour or any initial prostate problems during the time of conception.

Now I know what you must be thinking now.

Squiggles, why the fudge are you going through such trouble to justify all this nonsensical information? To further prove my point, of course. The yellow areas in the calendar indicate the total length of time Tai and Summer spent together after Raven’s departure. Look at all that time spent before Yang’s supposed second birthday.

2 years. 24 months. 96 weeks. 730 days. 17,520 hours. 1,051,200 minutes. 63,072,000 seconds.

That is almost three solid years that Tai and Summer spent together after Raven’s departure and that’s without even including that they’ve known each other on an intimate level for much longer.

It took Tai Yang two whole years to get over Raven. Can’t remember if this was confirmed or not but Raven left shortly after Yang was born. After Raven left, Summer stepped up.

As I will mention again, Summer was not a stranger to Tai. The two have known each other since their teens. They were already close to begin with because of their longstanding friendship and camaraderie from Beacon days which lasted even into their adult years working as established huntsman.

Tai is not a two-timer. He didn’t cheat on Raven with Summer or anything ludicrous like that. After 24 months of emotional healing and after being in the presence of a woman who was not only his good friend and teammate, but had also more than proven to be a great companion and even good mother figure to his firstborn child (better than her real mother for sure), Tai did what any person in his position once heartbroken by previous ties would do.

He moved on!

Once Tai realized that there was no way Raven would ever come back to him or Yang, he moved on.

Instead of continuing to wallow in the loss of losing Raven, he picked himself back up. He returned to resume his role as a good father to the then toddler Yang. He found love again in Summer Rose. I’d imagine that Summer might’ve shown a little bit of contempt at first at the probability of her and Tai being together in that way. However, in the long run, she came around and found true love in Tai, reciprocating his feelings. And from their requited love, they settled down to become a family. Not the most conventional family but still one built on the love of two people who loved the child they were raising together and each other.

This is like the perfect plot synopsis for a Hallmark Channel romance flick.

Man loses his first wife after she mysteriously disappears, abandoning him and their newborn child. Man’s best friend and close colleague from work shows up to help him through his loss and steps up as surrogate mother. Shenanigans ensue but in the end, man is able to break out of his slump to be a better father to his child thanks to friend. Man and Friend continue to raise man’s child becoming a little family. During this time, the child grows up and starts calling man’s friend her mother.

This brings the future of man and friend’s relationship into question. After that the man and friend start to notice things about each other they never noticed before; like how much they enjoyed each other’s company and how well they looked together as a family. Cut briefly to one antagonistic friend who shows up to remind man about his wife.

Long story short, man and friend fall in love, come to realize their feelings and then confess those feelings. Man and Friend then get married with the man’s toddler as the flower girl in the wedding; practicing all that good Lifetime Movie shizz. Fast forward some time later when man’s friend who is now his new wife is recalling all the events after their wedding.

She is doing so while coddling her new baby; the newborn child of her and man just as Man enters the room with his toddler daughter who is now your average two-year-old toddler; talking and walking. The toddler daughter runs up to her new mommy and baby sister. Man and Friend who is now his wife then share a kiss as their toddler daughter plays with her new baby sister. The end. Roll credits.

Now gimme my cheque Hallmark cause that is the perfect plot for your next big hit. Then again, there must be at least three Lifetime Channel Original movies with this kind of plot already in existence. Jokes aside, you guys get my drift, right?

Shipping Don’ts for the Dragon Ships

I sincerely hope Tai’s relationship with any of the girls on his team wasn’t like how they butchered the Makorrasami love triangle in the Legend of Korra animated series.

Not to throw any sort of shade but I really pray that it was not a case where Tai was once romantically involved with Summer while at the same time harbouring a conflicting attraction to Raven (who he probably didn’t get along with so there was always this unspoken sexual tension between them).

Like what if...Tai and Summer were once ‘high school sweethearts’ who shared the same passion to become huntsman. So they were already a couple when they joined Beacon and ironically wound up on the same team together with the Branwen Twins.

However Tai’s budding interest in Raven starts to interfere with his commitment to Summer especially when Raven starts flirting with him a bit and obnoxiously accusing him of having feelings for her despite knowing that he already had a girlfriend who was their teammate and team leader.

And of course, Summer is all oblivious to Raven’s advances on Tai, naively glossing it over as them learning to finally get along. Eventually that attraction surfaces and Tai and Raven end up sharing a passionate moment together which causes a temporary rift in Team STQR when Summer discovers that Tai had cheated on her.

But being the good person that she is, Summer decides to forgive both Tai and Raven for their infidelity. Tai and Raven then become a couple. Fast forward years down the line when they are married and already had Yang. Raven then suddenly leaves, dumping Tai. Summer shows up to help and in the midst of everything, she and Tai rekindle their past love for each other and hook up again.

As temptingly juicy as that may sound on paper, I would like none of that nonsense to touch RWBY please. Love triangles in shows can be an engrossing ride if handled well and I put major emphasis on ‘when handled well’. When love triangles or any kind of pairing shape are handled incorrectly with horrible writing, it can mostly lead to one big fat mess and of course, the dissatisfaction of the fans and show viewers.

Hence, my example of the Legend of Korra. It has been a universal statement of the LOK fandom that the romance in the series was just a mess. And while it took me years after the show long concluded to see the true validity of this point, I too can now say that I agree with this remark.

So far, RWBY has done a pretty exceptional job with the way they’ve handled all their romance. When I say this, I’m speaking mostly about in the show itself. I’m not making any reference to the infamous RWBY shipping wars. That’s all external conflict in the FNDM, not the show.

Despite one or two conflicts here or there mostly involving love shapes (y’know triangles, diamonds, hexagons, trapeziums etc, etc) in the earlier seasons, the ships in RWBY never got to a point where it became cringe-y for me to watch.

Even though I made not ship some of them personally, I respect all the canonical pairings that have appeared thus far in the series.

Even the ones that should make me cringe, like in the case of Tauradonna and Blake’s past with the villainous Adam Taurus, are well-justified.

What that means is when I cringe at a ship in RWBY, it’s because that’s the expected reaction I’m supposed to get as a fan after learning the nature of the relationship based on how it’s written.

I’m supposed to dislike Tauradonna because, it’s written as an unlikeable, unhealthy, abusive pairing according to the show canon.

The only time shipping in a show becomes cringe-worthy is when the characters in question aren’t bad but their romance is handled so terribly in the canon of the show that I can’t bring myself to be fully onboard with it, even if I happened to like said characters.

It’s especially worse when I like a ship but their whole relationship custom is written so horribly and irrelevant to the story plot that it just makes me question my own loyalty to said ship.

Thankfully so far, canon RWBY hasn’t gotten to that point with me and hopefully it stays well on the path to creating well-written ships. I’m especially invested to learn more of the Dragon ships according to the show canon.

Some STRQ-y Predictions for RWBY V6

For what it’s worth, I’m hoping the series will take some time to shed light on both the Midnight Dragon and Albino Dragon pairings. Given the teaser clip from the V5 finale, it would be relevant for us to learn the truth of Tai’s past with both of his former lovers: Raven as well as Summer.

The CRWBY writers certainly seem to be setting something like that up for V6. I’ve talked about this in a past musing that V6 will be more about the ‘Journey to Atlas’. That way it can tie up all the loose ends to come from the aftermath of the Haven Battle.

But since they brought up Tai Yang with a hint of Raven, it looks like their story is one of the loose ends that the show plans on defining for V6 or at least I hope so. I want a Team STQR flashback. I want to see what Raven and Tai were like, both during Beacon and after.

I wanna know the whole truth behind why Raven left. We still haven’t gotten a properly defined reason for this yet. While I’m fully aware the show has implied that she did all that she did out of fear of Salem and lack of being able to convince anyone else to distrust Ozpin. Nonetheless that’s still not a full, clear definition.

The CRWBY writers keep tossing us fans breadcrumbs but at this point, I’ve grown tiresome of these tiny morsels of data and desire the whole loaf.

We still need to fully understand why and how Raven came to lose fate in Ozpin in spite of trusting him enough to grant her magical abilities.

Speaking of which, Raven made Ozpin turning her into a bird sound so grim when she first told Yang and Weiss about it. But later Qrow debunked this by mentioning that it was a choice that both twins wanted. The hell?

I want to know more about what Summer Rose was like. I want to know what her rapport with her team was like, both during and following Beacon.

I want to learn more about Ozpin’s interest in Team STQR and foremost, I want all of this plot exposition to lead into a proper account of how Summer died. And if the show can tie that reveal into Ruby Rose learning more about her legacy as a Silver Eyed Warrior and what that actually means for her future and fate then that would be awesome.

There is a silver chance that RWBY V6 will be more Ruby-centric. After all, the past two volumes of the Haven Arc have deviated attention from her as a means of further developing her teammates with their respective character arcs. V4 mostly highlighted Weiss’s story arc whereas V5 helped bring some closure to both Blake and Yang’s side of development.

The time has come to shift direction back to Ruby and I feel like V6 can be her season to literally shine as there’s a strong chance she could finally learn more about the Silver Eyes. They’ve been sitting on this plot device for two seasons now. It’s about time they get on with it.

And if Ruby is going to learn more about the Silver Eyed Warriors, then she can’t do so without bringing up her mother.

And I think hinting at both Tai and Raven’s involvement in the next season is a good sign that we can also get some insight into Summer Rose since they were the ones who knew her best along with Qrow. I wonder if the V5 ending was hinting at Raven possibly visiting Tai to talk and take him to Haven where everybody is.

Maybe my earlier hunch will come true. Perhaps Tai will play a role in the gang travelling to Atlas which means V6 could possibly give us a season where for the first time in RWBY history, Papa Xiao Long joins the party. So it won’t just be Qrow as the adult in charge. He’s gonna need a new protégé in guiding these kids towards Atlas especially if Ozpin is out of commission.

We can finally see Tai in action outside of the Patch and it’d be a terrific way to learn more about his character and his abilities (like his semblance).

Plus Bird Dad and Dragon Dad tag-teaming to babysit all the kids on the journey to Atlas.

Who wouldn’t wanna see a season with that in the plot? I’ll dive further into this for another future musing but think about it guys.

Papa Dragon for V6! Hey CRWBY, c’mon!

So in conclusion:

After Raven left, Summer was there, not only for Tai but also for tot Yang.

Qrow was probably around too but maybe not as much as he wanted to because of one, his semblance and two, his search for his sister.

I wouldn’t be too surprised if part of Qrow’s time away from the Patch was dedicated to him being the first one to go looking for Raven (and their tribe) after her sudden departure.

The lead that Yang found when she was a little girl that led her to go searching for her mom the first time; that was probably given to Tai by Qrow in his search. Or at least that’s my hunch.

Can’t recall if the show confirmed any stuff like this though. Don’t think so. Correct me if I’m wrong here, guys.

Anyways, I know I addressed several points and jumped through a number of personal fan theories and hunches.

Even so, I hope this helps best give you guys the gist of my thoughts on this topic in the FNDM.

To say it one last time: No. I don’t think it was totally impossible for Tai to move on from Raven in the span of two years.

From what we know so far about Tai and can understand about his connections, Tai loved both Raven and Summer when they were his wives.

As the show canon has made mention of, when Raven left, Tai was devastated. Same for Summer.

After five seasons, we still don’t know that much about Tai. However from what I gathered so far, he seems like a genuinely cool and nice guy. The kind of genuinely cool and nice guy with a wicked sense of humour to prank teen Qrow into wearing a skirt in their younger years but...a genuinely cool and nice guy nonetheless.

It is unfortunately tragic that this one man managed to lose both of his lovers one after the other.

They were his former teammates. His best friends and the loves of his life. He cared about them both and also respected them both during and after their time as his significant others.

In spite of her absence, Tai still cherished enough from his past relationship with Raven because unlike some bitter single parents who choose to spend their time painting an ugly picture of their previous spouses to their children, Tai still loved and respected Raven enough to leave a good impression of her on Yang.

I think we can all safely agree that no matter the length of time he took to recover from one relationship, Tai loved and respected both of his leading ladies unconditionally till the bittersweet end and it’s that’s same kind of reverence he gives and teaches to the two badass angels that his world was blessed with because of those two leading ladies.

Not certain if we might see Tai rekindling his romance with Raven anytime soon for V6 or any other future chapters.

I dunno, that one particular Tai Yang skit from RWBY Chibi S3 has got me thinking thangs.

But, I guess we’ll know in due time.

That being said, I think I’m officially done with this musing. As always I hope everyone who took the time to read it through enjoyed it.

♦ More RWBY Musings by Squiggles ~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)

#rwby #rwby volume 6 predictions #team strq #tai yang xiao long #raven branwen #summer rose #tai yang and raven #tai yang and summer #raven and summer #qrow and summer #rwby musings

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duskfloret · 6 years

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Freedom to love should never be questioned.

↳ The Blythe Saga, part 4 / ?

Blythe spent a good hour complaining about how Theon never told her he had such a cute little sister. Theon listened as he ate breakfast the Monday after they spent the weekend at his house. He couldn’t say there was a definite reason aside from maybe the fact that she’d never asked about his family aside from questions about his mom. Instead of explaining, he just nodded along and he agreed that any good older brother would brag about having such a cute little sister.

“If you want to see her again,” he interjected after awhile, “you can come over this weekend.”

“Oh.” Blythe shifted in her seat and looked down at her empty plate, fiddling with her spoon. “I’d love to, but I have plans. Can I take a rain check?”

He nodded. “Of course. Just let me know.”

Theon didn’t understand Jackson. They’d developed a sort of friendship after failing to cook dinner one night--though he still shuddered at the memory of inhaling smoke--and talked to each other on a fairly regular basis, but when Jackson asked about Blythe, Theon failed to see the point he was trying to make.

“I’m tutoring her in math,” he explained for what was surely the fifth time. He failed to mention that she was tutoring him too, simply because he didn’t want to explain why. “It’s not that interesting.”

“For just tutoring her, you guys spend a lot of time together.”

He shrugged. “Well, we’re friends, too. Why?”

Jackson shrugged too, and then they passed by his door and parted ways, and Theon wondered if maybe his and Blythe’s mutual friends were reading too far into their relationship.

Busy with papers and studying, he and Blythe didn’t see each other much for the rest of the week. The weekend passed, as uneventful as a couple days spent with his cousin could possibly be, and they saw each other for breakfast again on Monday. While she presented the cafeteria staff with a warm smile, it seemed hollower when they sat down to each.

“Are you okay?” he asked. He’d expected to hear about her weekend, as she always informed him of anything she did, but she had yet to mention it despite saying earlier that she’d had plans.

She looked up, blinked. “Oh, yeah, fine. Sorry, I’m just a little distracted. You were saying?”

At the apology, he raised an eyebrow. Now that was unlike her. “It’s fine.” He opened his mouth to continue but hesitated for a moment before deciding to go for it. “I don’t want to pry, but if something’s bothering you and you want to talk about it, I don’t mind listening.”

“You’re sweet.” Blythe smiled at him, and though small, he could tell it was genuine. “It’s... nothing worth making a big deal about. But I appreciate the offer, Theon. Thank you.”

Theon knew that was a lie: if it wasn’t a big deal, she wouldn’t be upset about it. If she didn’t feel comfortable talking to her about it, however, he wouldn’t press the issue. Instead, he changed the subject to how Pyrrha dragged him around for hours looking for stray cats to pet, and he hoped that the distraction helped her feel better.

Blythe had, for once, been indulging her negative impulses by lying on her bed and staring up at the ceiling with eyes full of existential dread when she heard a knock at her door. With a shout of, “Coming!” she sat up, stretched, and stood to go answer the door. Though she hadn’t expected company to begin with, she certainly didn’t expect to see Theon. “Oh--hey. What’s up?”

He held out a bag to her, and when she raised an eyebrow, he explained, “It’s butter pecan.”

That was all he had to say for her to snatch the bag from him and look inside to see a small tub of ice cream and a plastic fork. Without thinking, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his shirt. He stiffened, then relaxed and returned the hug.

“You should eat that before it melts,” he said after a minute. She pulled back with a sheepish smile before she blinked in surprise as he lifted a hand and brushed a finger across her cheekbone, just below her eye. Her face heated up, first at the unexpected contact and then out of embarrassment when she realised that her eyes were watering. Mumbling something incoherent, she dried them with her sleeve. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Blythe busied herself with taking out the ice cream, opening the tub, and scooping out a spoonful. “Yeah,” she mumbled right before taking a bite of the dessert. She held up the tub and nodded towards it. “This is the solution to all my problems, and you’re absolutely my saviour. I feel better already.”

Theon smiled. “I’m glad.” She debated inviting him in, but it was late and he probably needed to get some sleep. Before she could come to a decision, he asked, “Are you free this weekend?”

Swallowing another spoonful of ice cream, she hummed, feigning contemplation. “Well, I could be. It all depends. Are you free this weekend?”

He snorted and leaned against her door frame--a sign of weariness, she’d observed. “Well, no. I have my hands full with a kid who likes to drag me around and disappear if I don’t keep a close eye on her.”

“Sounds like you could use an extra set of eyes.”

“It sure does.”

She saluted him. “I’ll be packed and ready to go at eight o’clock sharp.”

“You still have a few days to get ready.” He rolled his eyes. “I’ll leave you to your ice cream in the meantime.”

“I’ll most certainly be enjoying my soulmate.”

Theon gave her an odd look but otherwise didn’t question her statement.

“Truth or dare.”

Theon glanced up from the notes he’d been reading over, then looked at the math book Blythe shoved aside. “Are you finished already?” They’d fallen into the routine of studying together at least once a week--outside of their normal tutoring sessions, of course.

While she enjoyed the quiet time together, she, in a word, was bored of math. “Not yet, but it’s easy to burn out if you study nonstop all day. A break won’t hurt.” She smiled. “So, truth or dare.”

“Truth,” he decided after a moment, and he bookmarked his page before closing his notebook.

There were plenty of things she wanted to know about Theon Marlowe, from his likes and dislikes to his favourite memories to his romantic inclinations. The latter would be an inappropriate place to start, so she settled for something simple. “Cats or dogs?”

He leaned back, ran a hand through his hair in a way that obscured his glasses (she’d cheered internally upon seeing him wear them again) before he readjusted them. “I don’t really have a preference. Maybe cats, if I have to pick? Bo likes them a lot, and I like seeing her excited about them.”

How sentimental. She expected nothing less. When he said nothing else, she prompted, “Your turn.”

“Oh. Truth or dare?”

“Truth.” There weren’t many dares they could do in a library, after all. Maybe she should have just suggested a game of twenty questions? Ah, but that had a limit, and she wanted to know as much as possible.

“What did rocky road ever do to you?”

Taken aback by the question, she snorted out a laugh. Who could say he didn’t have a sense of humour? “Rocky road owes me five dollars. Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

Albeit tempted to return the question by asking him what he had against butter pecan, she settled for something a little more serious. “When you get a fancy job or own a company or whatever, what’s the main thing you want to do with your money?” It didn’t have the same weight as his opinion on butter pecan, but it was an important question nonetheless.

Tilting his head, he tapped his pencil against his notebook, and after a moment of contemplation, he said, “I want to take a proper bath.” He sighed, subtly dramatic. “I can’t fit into a standard-sized bathtub, but it seems like it’d be relaxing. Also, I’d remodel the counters in my house to be a few inches higher so I won’t have to bend over as much throughout the day.”

You dork. Her stomach turned, but in a pleasant way she’d never experienced before. Great. “I’m glad you have your priorities in order.” She couldn’t say she understood his tall people problems, though she did support him being happy.

“I’ve learned what’s important. Truth or dare.”

“Truth.”

“What do you plan on doing once you graduate?”

She’d half-expected another silly question. In fact, she would have preferred one over what he did ask. “My family owns a manufacturing company. I’m majoring in business, and then I’ll work for them and inherit the company in the future.” Fortunately, she’d long since gotten used to hiding her displeasure about that fact.

“Oh.” Theon blinked. “I’d assumed you wanted to be a chef.”

Shifting her weight, she fiddled with her sleeve and stared down at her hands. “That’s... more of a hobby.” She cursed herself for hesitating. Maybe she could play it off as embarrassment? “Just something to enjoy in the meantime, you know.” He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. “Anyway, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Have you ever...” She wanted to ask if he liked anyone; however, that was too direct for her taste. If she asked, the reason behind the question might be obvious. Jackson insisted that Theon was dense when it came to that topic, though that explanation didn’t seem quite right. Asking about some personal history would be better, she decided. “Have you ever been in a relationship?”

Despite the fact that Jackson’s comments made it seem like she would’ve needed to elaborate, Theon wasted no time in responding, “No.”

Blythe sat up straighter. “Any reason?”

He snorted. “Your turn. Truth or dare.”

“Truth.” Her shoulders slumped. Only one question per turn, huh? Fair enough.

“Have you ever been in a relationship?”

Oh. So they were returning questions now. “I’ve been on dates, but nothing I would call being in a relationship.” Namely because her parents pressured her into seeing the people they were with--sons of their rich business associates. For the most part, they were nice enough, but the principal of being forced into a relationship turned her off. “Now, truth or dare, and you already know my question.”

Theon took a deep breath and leaned back. From what she could tell, he didn’t seem too keen on answering. Maybe he thought she’d judge him for it--maybe because he was used to being judged for it? The thought bothered her. “I’ve never been interested in anyone,” he explained.

She cursed the way her stomach sank, but at least her smile didn’t waver. “Oh. That makes sense, then.”

“It does?” His eyebrows raised.

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “If you’re not interested in that sort of thing, then you shouldn’t force yourself to be. There’s nothing wrong with being comfortable.”

A smile tugged at his lips. “Thank you for that.” She nodded, and a moment of silence lapse between them before he spoke again. “So, truth or dare?”

Not wanting to risk being asked any romantic questions, she leaned forward and answered, “Dare.”

“Finish your math homework.”

On Saturday, Blythe found herself herself sitting on a park bench next to Theon as they watched Pyrrha play with a cat she’d found--an outdoor cat, given the collar, and a friendly one. To the child, at least, though he’d hissed at Theon, which Blythe found amusing. As such, he’d resigned himself to sitting a safe distance away, and after a couple minutes of petting the cat, she decided to keep him company.

They sat in silence for a minute before she asked, “What was that thing you said before about her name? I meant to ask earlier, but I forgot until now.”

“Her name is Pyrrha, and if you want her to like you, call her that.” He smiled, and his gaze never strayed from his cousin crouched on the ground next to the cat and seemingly having a conversation with the animal. “My aunt and I call her Bo because that’s how she referred to herself when she couldn’t speak well enough to pronounce her actual name, but she doesn’t like the nickname.”

“I bet she’ll like me no matter what I call her.” She perked up. “I’m a very likable person, in case you weren’t aware.”

That comment elicited a snort. “If you insist.”

She pouted. How dare he! But her expression softened as she turned her attention back to Pyrrha and watched the child giggle as the cat licked her nose. “She has to be the cutest kid I’ve ever seen,” she commented, and Theon hummed in agreement. Glancing back at him, she shifted her weight. “So... let me know if you don’t want to talk about it, but I’m a little curious. You said you’ve never been interested in a relationship, right? Is that because you’ve never liked anyone, or some other reason maybe...?”

He looked at her for a moment before returning his gaze back to watch his cousin. “I don’t mind. Well, not for the most part, at least. Some people aren’t very pleasant about it, but...” He made a face, then sighed. “It’s mostly that I’ve never liked anyone, and I’ve never felt the need to pretend I’m interested in that sort of thing when I’m not. I also wouldn’t want to be in a relationship before graduating from school anyway.”

Ah, well, maybe it’d be a good time to get over her crush, then, if there wasn’t a chance of having her feelings reciprocated. “I see.” She nodded slowly. “Why not before you graduate?” It seemed like an oddly specific rule, especially for someone who wasn’t interested in relationships to begin with.

A squirrel ran by, catching the cat’s attention before he took off to chase it. Pyrrha stared after them for a moment, then slumped her shoulders, trudged back to the bench, and climbed up to sit on Theon’s lap. He shifted a bit to accommodate her, and when he didn’t say anything, she prompted, “You guys can keep talking.”

Blythe laughed a bit. “Sad that your friend ran away?”

The child perked up at that, her legs swinging. “Nope! He’s having fun, so I’m happy! Just sad that I can’t pet him anymore, but I’ll see him again. He’s a good kitty. I’ve met his owners before too, ‘cause the first time we saw him, we were worried that he’d just escaped his house and they’d be looking for him, so we scooped him up and took him to the address on his tag, and they reassured us that he runs around outside all the time. Brings them presents, too! Cats do that ‘cause they think their humans can’t hunt for themselves, y’know. They’re just looking out for us.”

“Do they? I didn’t know that. That’s great!” Blythe beamed as she reached out to ruffle the kid’s hair, though she received some protest to the action. Idly, she wondered if Theon would be comfortable continuing the conversation in front of Pyrrha, but she didn’t want to seem too desperate either.

Apparently, she didn’t need to ask, since once the kid quieted down again, he explained, “My mom dropped out of college because she got pregnant with me. I guess that’s partly why I don’t see the appeal of dating during college. The other part, well, I already mentioned.”

“Theon’s a pill baby,” Pyrrha piped up. While he spoke, she’d curled up against his chest, humming softly to herself. “His dad’s super rich and lives in Italy. He bought me cake once too.”

Pill baby? Given the context, Blythe supposed that must’ve meant that his mother had been on birth control at the time she got pregnant, right? She’d heard the term before, and if she remembered correctly, that was what it meant. “Did his dad--” pay for his college? Fortunately, she managed to stop herself just in time. She shouldn’t have had any way of knowing about Theon’s financial situation, but Pyrrha’s comment did explain why he suddenly didn’t need the scholarship. Theon’s brow furrowed at the way she cut herself off, and she rushed to continue before he could ask. “Uh. Did his dad move to Italy after graduating?” Nice save.

“No,” Theon answered, “he’s from Italy, but he decided to go to college here as a foreign exchange student. He and my mom had a short relationship, and after graduation, he moved back home.”

Blythe nodded. Well, that mystery was solved. She wondered if she’d ever meet his father; she seemed to be curious about all things Theon Marlowe recently. And as Pyrrha tugged at his shirt and requested that they go eat lunch, she didn’t see anything wrong with that.

#☌「 theon ; ic 」chief executive ❞#♡「 pyrrha ; ic 」written in stars ❞#ღ「 npc ; blythe 」i’m just the words / you are the sound ❞#♔「 ooc ; drabble 」we burned a lot of matches trying to make flames ❞

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thrushed · 6 years

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survivor’s guilt is how his ptsd manifests itself the most. sleep disturbance and nightmares, social withdrawal, mood swings and irritability are big with him because of it. when the trauma felt too close he used to self-medicate by drinking. alcohol was the easiest thing for him to access even when he was underage. but robin has never had a high alcohol tolerance or a healthy sense of pacing (he would binge drink once or twice a week). this only lasted for about two years tops but it always made him sick, feel worse while recovering, impaired his daily life enough that it dashed some education and career prospects. now he drinks socially but only in good company. no straight hard liquor. fine with wine, beer, nursing one glass or bottle for a very long time, maybe a mixed drink but hes careful of those since they can be deceptively easy to drink while getting you fucked up. this relates to the lag in formal education. for a while he was in a shit place at an age when a lot of kids went to combat school or thought about huntsman academies. going to school was the furthest thing from his mind when he just wanted to get by each day, make lien, try to be happy.

the mentor who taught robin archery in the first place was a hometown hero success story, a huntress, and part of the guild that robin was a member of for most of his youth - more of a ‘young mens association’ or a futuwwa that wasn’t restricted to men.

^^^ = a conception of moral behavior around which myriad institutions of medieval confraternity developed. with characteristics similar to chivalry and virtue, these communal associations gain significant influence as stable social units that exerted religious, military, and political influence.

the guild gave itself a protector type role over the community. their town was poorer, vulnerable, far from the capital that can’t keeping up everything happening in periphery regions. these associations helped maintain peace. or they made youths into rapscallions. depends who you asked.

robin and this huntress became really close. talking about their full relationship i won’t do here because it’s long and important. robins combat style and all of its unconventional-ness mirrors hers. she was without a doubt one of the most important people in his life. she started robin on a path that could have become a local success story too. something similar to pyrrha’s fame via tournament competitive success. robin came to love participating in archery tournaments moving into combat tournaments on a small scale. but he fell off the wagon fucking hard, and he never had much funds or chances to leave his small hometown as a kid anyway, so any brilliant word like prodigy is long dead and gone. robin is fine with this.

robin feels like he could have prevented his parents deaths if only he made different decisions. maybe if he didn’t steal. maybe if stayed home more and helped around the house by getting a normal job in town. maybe even if he wasnt a part of the guild at all even though it was his life. he failed his do-goodery in the worst possible way. he has days where he feels wrong for being the one to survive. wrong being alive period. he has never sought vengeance against whoever actually did the deeds. he has complicated feelings towards the word victim, if he even is one, etc.

now robin is extremely estranged from his hometown, his community, and the only remaining immediate family member he has, his younger sister wren to the point that he is not sure if she is still alive or not. they’ve completely lost track of each other for three years now and barely communicated before that, maybe once or twice a year not always directly (eg. robin being informed of wren’s whereabouts via someone else. robin sending her lien). but robin is sure she would want nothing to do with him anyway because she believes robin is to blame for the death of their parents. wren has never been responsive. never once accepted a transfer of money from him. supposedly called it blood money. maybe she thought robin still lived a certain lifestyle. maybe she knows he still has a bounty on him. there’s not much he can do or feels he has the right to do about salvaging their relationship when she doesn’t want him and is probably better off without him.

he doesn’t use his real last name mostly for this. his sister wants nothing to do with him. their shared surname gained some notoriety due to the ordeal that got their parents killed and robin’s involvement in the association (like disney’s robin hood he had become a key part of a merry band and was a bit of a poster child). robin hopes wren can live with and recover from everything faster by completely disassociating his place within the branches of their family tree. it was something he thought about a lot especially as they grew more estranged. at the same time it was part of the withdrawal and distancing that survivor’s guilt gave him. it’s not perfect logic. the decision might be saving himself more than his sister, who’s now bearing the family name without a chance for a reinvention as thorough as robin’s, who has moved away, lived alone for a few years, gone to school better late than never, and become a huntsman-in-training able to re-join and contribute to society in good ways unless someone discovers and cares about that bounty enough to try and claim it. robin isn’t very concerned about that though.

after a long process he legally changed his last name to dogwood on his 18th birthday. dogwood is a flowering tree that symbolizes renewal and beginnings.

someone using his real last name feels like deadnaming. it hasn’t happened in years. he enrolled into haven as robin dogwood. no one knows it’s not his ‘real’ surname, not his teammates, not anyone new he meets.

evie (evelyn) is the G in RGNT and a partner that robin relies on. they’re basically co-leader. they know sign too and this is very helpful when robin goes nonverbal. robin will defer to anyone on his team if they’ll do the thing better than he can. his guild experience and long apprenticeship under a huntress helps his leadership. he has more actual experience than a lot of students. he’s fine with taking orders and knows how to assign roles and when roles don’t mean shit as long as they can get through an encounter. his personality isn’t as free and lively as it was in the past although he has flickers of humor and wildness that still come out. his teammates don’t hate him probably.

robin did not go to a combat school. he enrolled as a first year student of haven academy a couple years older than the age of most first year students who enroll at 17. imo this kind of thing doesnt feel like it would be exceptional considering how dangerous remnant is and how peoples lives can get fucked and disrupted by everything from grimm to local crime and violence. imo invitations like rubys or exceptions like blake or tricks like jaunes probably aren’t rare as long as they talk to the headmaster about it first or find a loophole. we’ve seen with blake how the student doesn’t even have to divulge every single detail or rationalization on why they want to enroll as long as they test well and are skilled. robin tested very well in combat. he took placement tests for whatever subjects was needed since he had no transcript. and he became acquainted with lionheart’s office once or twice before being accepted to haven for interviews and things.

#ooc ╯#headcanon ╯#honey tells me to repost some hcs i obey #ptsd ment #alcohol ment

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purelymaturelyfiction-blog · 6 years

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The Dragons Flower

Rating: 18+

Universe: RWBY

Character: Yin (Male Yang) | Rin (Female Ren)

Yin was engrossed in a conversation, or debate, with his twin. “I’m telling you.. I could punch a Death Stalker so hard that it’s stinger would burst right off it’s tail.”

But Yang was having none of it. “Bull shit, there’s no way in hell you could gather enough power to do something like that.” And so it went on, all in fun though, as the pair were actually very close and got along on everything.

They just debated these things for the hell of it. So when Rin walked up behind Yin and lightly tugged on his sleeve, the blonde male turned around to see the quiet girl standing behind him.

Waving bye to Yang, he smiled at the dark haired girl. “Hey, cutie. Something I can help you with?”

Yin liked to flirt with her and she reciprocated. “Well, this skirt for one thing.” Of course, she was only partially joking. The piece of clothing did feel kind of tight today.

Most likely because she’d accidentally grabbed Joane’s instead of her own. Rin could blame Nore for that one.

Of course Yin knew she was joking. He’d never known Rin to be so forward with her advances. But he still wished it was more than just harmless flirting, and so did Rin.

“Well, play your cards right and I can make that happen.” He teased, winking at her. “How about we get going? Classes are about to start and I’d hate to ruin your attendance record.”

Rin giggled as the two headed off towards class, seeing Pyrrha and Joane ahead, the four went together arriving a few minutes late they took their seats.

Pyrrha sitting off to the side with Yang. Joane joining her brother closer to the front, while Yin and Rin sat together closer to the back. Despite her rather attentive attitude to learning, when Rin was with Yin, she tended to let out her more open and fun side.

Talking between themselves, half paying attention, Rin occasionally putting her hand over her mouth to muffle some giggles. “And when Cardin tried to take a swing, the weight of his weapon took him right into the wall.”

“And then what happened?” Rin replied, a big smile on her face.

“Well.. He got back up and the proceeded to fall backwards. Knocked himself out.” With the story finished, the pair actually went about paying attention to their lesson.

Taking notes, answering questions as best they could before class finally came to an end.

“We don’t have classes the rest of the day. Professor Port apparently had some problems rounding up something for his next lesson.. So, I was wondering if you had anything going on?” Yin asked the dark haired girl.

Looking thoughtful as they headed down the halls towards the outside world, Rin finally had a response. “Well, I think Joane, Nore and Pyrrhus are off studying in the library.. So we could always go hang out in our dorm room?” Her tone was one of uncertainty, as if the idea of being alone with him wasn’t something he wanted.

Quite the opposite.

“Yeah, sure, I wouldn’t mind. We do always have the most fun when we’re together.” The words having an underlying meaning that Yin didn’t notice but Rin did. Which caused the girl to blush a little bit.

“Y-You’re right, we always do.” Latching onto his arm, clinging tightly they both walked back across the Academy courtyard towards the dorms.

“So, any idea on what we can do? If I recall, the last time I was there.. Aside from Nore’s part of the room being a total mess, it was a rather desolate place. Just four beds and a few extra pieces of furniture.”

Rin wouldn’t deny her teams room didn’t have much going for it, but with all the space.. It would give her and Yin for room to- No.. Don’t think like that Rin... It’ll only set you up for heart break if he doesn’t feel the same way. “You’ll think of something, Yinny, you always do.” She replied.

Yinny? That was a new one. “No fair, I can’t come up with a cute name for you.. Well, seeing as your name is already cute as it is.”

That comment made her blush even brighter. “W-Well.. I’m sure you could come up with something..”

Yin honestly couldn’t try as he might. But the moment to passed as the pair reached her dorm room and, upon entering, Yin wasn’t surprised to see that almost everything was the same. Only difference was Nore’s mess was all cleaned up. “I see Nore cleaned up a bit.” He commented.

Rin, breaking off from him, commented in reply. “Well.. It was mostly Joane and I who did the cleaning.. Nore was too busy doing some after class work with Miss Oobleck.”

Yin walked about for a moment, standing between Pyrrhus and Joane’s bed looking out the window. Not really at anything in particular, just staring.

This was Rin’s chance... If she wanted him to know how she felt, the best way was to show him. Moving slowly up behind Yin, she tugged on his sleeve once more. Swallowing her fear, she braced herself.

Turning around, Yin was about to ask her something when he was cut off.

Rin had leaped up, so to speak since their height difference, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing his lips to hers. Heart pounding in her chest. Partly because of the excitement she felt and partly because she was afraid he’d reject her.

But he didn’t. Instead, Yin wrapped his arms around her waist and hoisted her up. The woman wrapping her legs around his waist to help hold her up.

Pulling away from the kiss, Rin caught her breath. Licking her lips for a moment before looking at Yin. “I... I’m sorry.. I just-“ Her words cut off as the blondes lips pressed against hers once more.

Seems like Rin was the one who’d figured out what they could do. Slipping from his grip, she pushed him back on the bed before grabbing one of Nore’s socks, quickly rushing to the door. She tied the piece of clothing around the outside door handle. Locking the door. “Now no one will disturbed us.” She smiled rather sweetly, though beneath that innocent smile was a rather perverse young girl with plenty of ideas going through her head.

Walking back to Yin, hips swaying back and forth, she climbed over top of him, straddling the male beneath her. “So... Where would you like this to go... Yinny?” She teased, running her hands over his chest.

“With you? We could take this anywhere.” And with his words, Rika knew she could do anything with him.

“Will you be rough? Make me moan, scream even, for more and not stop?” Was this the real Rin? Was the quiet girl just a front for a more... Sexually hungry woman beneath? Yin would have to see for himself.

Yin simply nodded, though Rin might not have seen it as she lowered her head and lightly dotted his neck with kisses. Sucking at each spot she kissed, leaving a red mark.

He tried to use his hands, but every time Yin went to touch her, she’d lock her hands with his and hold them down against the bed. This went on for a bit until not a single part of his neck was untouched.

Pushing herself back up, still straddling him, she worked her top off and tossed it off. “Do you like what you see?” She asked, reaching down she began undoing his top before pushing it open. How she wondered what Yin looked like under his clothes.. And now she’d get to see. Every inch of his naked body. Running her hands along his bare chest, she lightly dragged her nails along the perfect looking skin, leaving red marks in their wake.

“Hmm... So... Still need me to help you out of that skirt?” He asked, teasing at her comment from earlier in the day which made Rin giggle.

“That depends... What will you do once you’ve gotten in off?” Rin replied.

Yin could tell her, but that would ruin the fun. So instead, with his own strength, he pushed her off of him and onto the bed before climbing over top of her. “Well.. First I’m going to do this,” A hand sliding along her soft skin until they hit the fabric of her skirt, to which he took a hold of them and, with the help of Rin lifting her hips, wiggled them off leaving her in her bra and panties. Though not for long.

Standing up, Yin didn’t feel it was quite right letting Rin be the only one in her underwear. So he quickly removed the belt from his pants letting them drop before kicking them off. Kneeling down, Rin watched him over her stomach. “And secondly...” His faced neared her womanhood. Biting at the lip of her panties, he slowly worked them off with his mouth until her silver laced panties were clear of her body.

Rin’s heart pounded in her chest. Back arching as she took ragged breaths of pleasure, imagining in her mind all the things Yin would do to her.

Bend her over on the bed. Fuck her from behind. Spank her. Bite her. Eat her out. Screw her brains out on every surface and against every wall of this room.

And right then, Yin would do one of those things. Licking up along her legs. Dotting kisses along the saliva trail, spreading them apart with his hands, the blonde continued further and further until his tongue grazed her womanhood, sending a wave of pleasure through her body. “Y-Yin..” She softly moaned.

Looking up at her, their eyes meeting, Yin didn’t stop his treatment. Tip of his tongue lightly grazing her entrance. Rin bit her bottom lip to stifle another moan.. Which was made harder as Yin pushed a bit of his tongue through the slit, lapping up her arousal. Yin pulled his hands away to take his underwear off. Rin took this chance to wrap her legs around his head, not wanting the pleasure to stop.

Fine with Yin. “Rin... You might want to hold on tight.” But before she could respond with a question or comment, Yin took her weight.. Which wasn’t much for his strong build and lifts up the lighter girl.

Grasping off for dear life, her thighs holding his head and legs draped down over his shoulders. Yin carried her to the nearest wall for support as the blonde continued to eat her out. Tongue worming around inside her, the tip flicking against her clit causing an outburst of pleasure from her mouth and legs squeezing a little tighter. She ran her hands through her hair. Groping her chest. Trying to find some ways to keep her hands occupied. “Y-Yess.. Mmm...” She moaned.

Her slender figure pressed up against the wall for the duration of this rather pleasurable treatment, Rin tapped the top of Yin’s head. “Y-Yin... S-Stop.. P-Please...” She panted, to which Yin obliged her before helping her down of his shoulders. “How... Did I taste?”

Yin didn’t know how to reply to that. How to describe it. “Why don’t you kiss me and find out?”

Rin immediately latched onto him. Lips pressed hungrily up against Yin’s. Her tongue grazing his lips, begging for entrance.

Lips parted, Yin’s own tongue met hers and the pair wrestled for dominance.

Yin’s hands explored her soft and slender figure while Rin’s own hands had a specific goal. Her left hand reaching around to grope his firm behind while her right one reached between his legs, taking a firm hold of the thick member that stood erect between them and began stroking it rapidly. Twisting her wrist, moving her hand in circles, Rin worked his member with ease, causing Yin to let out a moan into the kiss.

When she felt he was properly prepared, she pushed him away and shook her index finger. “Before we get started...” Walking pasted him, Yin watched as she walked over to her bed and bent over, exposing her behind while she looked through her bedside dresser before returning to Yin with something in hand. “Put this on.. Just in case.” She smiled. A condom held between her index and middle finger.

Had Rin been planning this? Why did she have that so readily available? Didn’t matter one way or another as she was down on her knees, slipping the lubricated sleeve over his shaft. Looking up at him the whole time. Yin didn’t know why, but the eye contact... Made the whole thing a whole lot hotter. “Mm.. Perfect. Now we’re ready to fuck.” She spoke very blunt and matter of fact. Getting back up, she grabbed hold of Yin’s hand and dragged him over to the bed. Which bed? Yin couldn’t remember as Rin shoved him back onto the bed before climbing into his lap and began grinding up against his member. “You’re so big...” She whispered to his ear, arms wrapped around his neck and breasts pressed against his chest as she rotated her hips in a perfect rhythm.

The motions were driving Yin crazy. Grabbing hold of her hips, the blonde arched his hips back just enough to position himself properly before thrusting up as hard as he could into Rin.

Her eyes went wide. Mouth hung open. And arms tightening around his neck as the blonde took extra pleasure in the way she clenched around his shaft. “Y-Y-Yes.. Yes yes yesssss...” Her moaned turned to a hiss of pleasure as she rode him, riding the motion of his thrusts.

Panting, she swung herself over, holding onto him still, bringing the male down on top of her. Perfect for him as this now gave him access to more of her.

Legs still wrapped around his waist, she squeeze his sides as tight as she could. “F-Fuuuck!” She screamed out.

Tilting his head to the side, Yin bit down on her shoulder. The bite hard enough to leave visible teeth marks.. But that didn’t matter to Rin as the act turned her on beyond belief. “Mm! Do it again!” She demanded, bucking her hips up into Yin, meeting his thrusts.

Tilting his head to the other side, Yin did the same thing to her other shoulder. Biting down, leaving a matching set of teeth marks. Her hands moving up under his arms, clawing at his back. Her nails sharp, cutting into his skin drawing small trickled of blood.

The pain of it didn’t bother Yin. It actually edged him on to go harder.

Several harsh thrusts and claw marks later and the two were in a different position. Rin on her side with one leg lifted up over Yin’s shoulder as she pounded into her. By now, Rin had removed the constricting bra from her chest tossing to some corner of the room. Her breasts bouncing with every motion of Yin’s thrusts.

“Yin! W-Why did I w-wait so... Fuck... So long?” Rin had wanted more from Yin. Wanted more than just friendship. Though.. She didn’t want a relationship with him.. They were better as friends. But... Fuck, after this how could she ever go back?

Arm wrapped around her leg, Yin dotted it with kisses and bites. Though this position only had so much going for it before Rin pushed Yin back with her feet onto the bed. The blonde comfortably landing on his ass before a new treatment started. One Yin had never experienced and that Rin had only tried now.

Feet crossed over his shaft, she started stroking it up and down. But.. Like the previous position, only had so much going for it. But that was definitely something he’d like to try again another time.

“Y-Yin... I... I don’t know how much more I can take...” Her words coming out in between breaths.

But Rin wasn’t done yet. She still wanted to take Yin from behind.

Getting off the bed, she walked around to the foot as Yin’s gazed followed her. “Yinny... Be a dear and come stand behind me, pretty please?”

Why would Yin even consider not doing as she asked. Rolling off the bed, the blonde stood up and stretched his body out, which Rin had to admit, his side profile was perfect.

Walking over to Rin, she backed up into him, grinding her bottom against his member. Rubbing it up and down, pressing herself back until he settled between her cheeks. She reached up and gently brushed her hand against his cheek, pulling him down for another kiss. This time it was softer, more passionate than the ones they had earlier.

Rin didn’t know how she felt about this, but she wanted to experience everything. “Yin...” She whispered, reaching up to his ear, “please be gentle when you enter me...” Nipping at his earlobe before bending over at the foot of the bed. Gripping the sheets tightly in her hands as she prepared her body for Yin.

Standing behind her, the blonde rubbed the tip of his shaft against the hole, using her juices as a natural lubrication. Hands holding tightly onto her hips, digging into her soft skin.. Both beings took a deep breath.

Rin as she prepared herself for the hardest fuck of the night. Yin because he was about to work himself into overtime, pushing his body to the limit while testing hers.

Without warning. Without preparation Yin thrust forward, slamming himself up into her. The resulting force of his thrust cause Rin to let out the loudest scream of their time together. Her mouth wide open with her tongue hanging out a Yin pulled back and began the real punishment. Thrust after thrust was sent into the small female.

Bed rocking. Body shaking,.. Rin didn’t know if she’d be able to last much longer. Yin had pushed every button. Hit every nerve. And fulfilled every sexual desire she had.. At least for now.

“I-I... I’m s-so c-close...” She moaned, the panting increasing as her heat rose. Her body hot and coated in sweat very much like Yin was as well.

Yin was glad, because he was just barely able to keep his legs from buckling beneath him. Chest rising and falling. Lungs burning. The urge to cum having hit him sooner than it had her.. But he kept it back. Waiting for Rin to finish first.

Body bouncing off of his, her nails had torn the sheets and dug into the mattress beneath. “Y-Yiiiiiiin!” She screamed out as her body gave way, releasing the hours of pent up sexual pleasure in one explosive finish. Her climax practically spraying against the bed and floor.

Yin let out a sigh of relief as he was finally able to release. Though it wasn’t as harsh as Rin’s, it was enough that he felt weight at the end of the condom as he pulled himself from her.

Both tired bodies crawling into bed, hearts slowly calming down as their breathing began to return to normal.

Yin was the first to speak. “So.. Who’s bed was this anyway?”

The question got a small laughed from Rin, “I think.. It was Pyrrhus’... But... I think... It’ll be mine now...”

The pair laughed for a few minutes before eventually calming down.

Rin curling up against Yin. Legs tangled with his, she gently kissed his chest.

“Yin... I... This. What we did here.. I loved it, but.. I don’t want to change our friendship...” She worried that Yin might think that just because they fucked like they did, that they were together.

“Don’t worry.. I understand and agree.”

It was a silent understanding, but the two would get together whenever they could from that day on.

#yang xiao long #lie ren #rwby #genderbent #+18 #mature

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itsclydebitches · 5 years

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RWBY Recaps: Vol. 5 “Welcome to Haven”

This is a re-posting from Oct. 14th, 2017 in an effort to get all my recaps fully on tumblr. Thanks!

The day has arrived! After nearly eight months we finally have a new RWBY episode and I am fully prepared to dive into reviewing it (alongside my recaps of the earlier material). Obvious spoilers ahead for those behind on the series or who don't have a Rooster Teeth account for first access.

To start, I should mention that we also have a Yang short that aired pretty much alongside the new episode, in which Yang is helping Ruby to train in hand-to-hand before she leaves for Beacon. I've heard a lot of complaints about this short already--that Rooster Teeth waited too long to post it, that by focusing on a flashback they're ignoring present!Yang's disability and PTSD--but for all that the short still provides an excellent little glimpse into the sisters' pre-Beacon lives, along with the expected, kick-ass fight scene. This short does raise a number of questions though, or plot holes if we're being uncharitable. Chronologically we know that Ruby is already incredibly strong at this point and has excellent control over her semblance, yet a simple tumble into the grass knocks her out for a number of minutes? I also find it highly suspect that Ruby is that dependent on Crescent Rose to fight--she says herself she's useless against the Grimm without it--yet over the course of the following years she does nothing to better herself in hand-to-hand. Seeing Yang in the jaws of a Grimm should have been a wake up call...but it wasn't. I honestly hope this comes back to haunt Ruby at some point. That she'll get a "You can't rely on Crescent Rose" talking to in the same way Yang got a "You can't rely on your semblance" talk from Tai. Otherwise this short does little to further either sisters' characterization.

Regardless, onto the episode itself. I watched it in my local Starbucks (too impatient to wait until I got home) and just five minutes in a stranger interrupted, apologizing, but asking if this was the new Volume because he was so excited for its premiere. Shockingly, I didn't entirely share his enthusiasm, if only because ever since Volume Three I've feared that RWBY will become too dark for my taste, losing that adorable, humorous spark that initially drew me to it.

I shouldn't have doubted Rooster Teeth. Just as Volume Four opens with happy bickering among the new team RNJR (or is it JNRR?), Volume Five opens with Ruby, Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Qrow making light of their dangerous trip to Haven. "We were fine," Ruby insists, "Only one of us almost died"--with a sly look at Qrow. For me these moments are crucial to the series, as they not only read as authentic (humor is a powerful tool in the face of trauma), but they keep the series from becoming overburdened with angst.

The team's walk through the "scenic route" gives everyone time to recap the basic plot of Volume 4 and then Qrow heaves open doors to reveal our first good look at Haven.

It certainly seems to live up to its name. Interestingly (or simply due to financial/time constraints) Rooster Teeth opted to paint still images of the city's inhabitants with the 'camera' moving across them, rather than actually animating everyone. It works though, giving viewers the feeling that we're looking upon an intricate painting.

Ruby exclaims that "This is amazing!," drools over the weaponry--alright, so not everything has changed--and says that they'll be going "up," literally to Professor Lionheart's office and metaphorically in luck. The narrative uses that moment though to pull up until we reach Weiss' airship, still in the process of escaping her father. Though Weiss isn't given much time in the premiere, this short scene showcases her rapid character development. Where once she might have snubbed her nose at being stuck with an 'underling,' now Weiss speaks openly and respectfully to her pilot, admitting that she doesn't want to be a burden to anyone.

It's during this admission that they pick up a distress signal from another ship, one being attacked by Grimm. Weiss of course wants to stop and help, but the pilot reminds her that they're trying to keep a low profile and if they picked up the call, someone else will have too. They keep going and I'm left a little on the fence about this decision. The pilot's logic is sound, but there's also the issue of the bystander effect--we don't actually know if Weiss left those people to die or not. It's a moment that emphasizes that there are no good choices in war.

Then again, for all we know Episode Two might pick up on the airship, with Weiss demanding that they turn back. We'll have to see.

Back in Haven, Ruby wipes a tear away upon reaching their destination. Jokes aside, they've been through so much to get there and it's nice to see some genuine emotion. There's then a rapid change of mood as the group notices just how empty the school is and, with weapons drawn, they kick in Professor Lionheart's door expecting the worst.

...instead all they do is give poor Lionheart a heart attack. He just lost track of time and forgot to meet them out front. Whoops.

Qrow still calls him out on the lack of security and though Lionheart explains it away with a lot of discussion regarding James, the council, and the distribution of Huntsmen/Huntresses in a time of war, his excuses ring a little false. Indeed, by the end of the scene we'll see him speaking to a holographic 'W' on his desk, presumably Arthur Watts, who was briefly in contact with Lionheart in "No Safe Haven." Looks like he's gone full dark side, or at the very least is being blackmailed.

Before that though we learn a LOT about these relics we keep hearing about. Apparently the chamber each relic resides in can only be accessed by their corresponding Maiden--which seems to put a damper on the "Ozpin's cane is a relic" theory. Why have this security measure and then not make use of it? Did Ozpin (as the presumed Wizard) simply think that he was powerful enough to protect it on his own? Despite losing to Cinder? I'm inclined to think not, especially given the cavalier way the cane is handled between Qrow and Oscar. There's no doubt importance to Ozpin's weapon, but I'm no longer 100% convinced that it's a relic. (Even if I’m still headcanoning as such.)

We also learn each of the Maiden's... themes? Powers? For lack of a better word. Winter is the Maiden of creation, Summer the Maiden of destruction (an uncommon reversal there), Spring is knowledge, and Fall is choice. This puts a whole new dimension on Pyrrha's almost ascension as the Fall Maiden, given the complicated choices involved. Though Ozpin told her firmly not to fight and offered as much free will as a rock and a hard place would allow, a background as both a celebrity and a Huntress ensured that Pyrrha experienced the most pressure to conform and do what's (supposedly) best for others--even at the expense of herself.

Cinder is our latest Fall Maiden. Winter and Summer are still unknown, but Spring apparently skipped out on her duties a decade past...and is now in Raven's hands. What does a bunch of bandits want with a Maiden? We're not sure yet, but Qrow is eager to mount a full attack to get her back. Only Lionheart's (evil and biased) logic keeps him from rushing off. No doubt our team will take things into their own hands once they realize whose thumb Lionheart is under. The essence behind "Damn the council, we'll do it ourselves!" is common in most fantasy/action series. From Harry Potter to Korra we always have that moment when the rag-tag team has to step outside of the bureaucracy and actually get shit done. The trick is continually making sure that the council--or whatever else we’re dealing with--is actually corrupt/in the wrong.

Elsewhere Blake is dealing with the fallout of her own character short. Things are kept a little murky: Who exactly are these people beyond White Fang members? Who's side is Ilia on? It doesn't seem to matter much. The important bit is that Ilia tells Blake to leave now and she responds with a curt, "You're going to have to make me." So unless Ilia succeeds, it sounds like Blake won't be catching up with the rest of the team anytime soon. A pity.

Yang is also off on her own. I must admit that Rooster Teeth had me fooled. Based on last Volume's conversation with Tai and the fact that Yang's short focuses on how she'll "Always have [Ruby's] back," cutting to her determined expression as she continues driving her motorcycle in the present day, I fully expected Yang to be meeting up with Team RNJR. Instead she's looking for her mom. No doubt though everyone will come together if Qrow and the kids go after Raven themselves. Until then Yang is poised to get info from a sleazy asshole who likes to hit on underage girls.

The episode's climax though is in Oscar's return. We jump "back" to a scene we got at the end of Volume 4, wherein the chronology smooths out to show us when exactly Oscar found Qrow in that bar. "It's good to see you again, Oz" was appropriately heartfelt--and raises more questions about why Qrow of all the inner circle knows so much about Ozpin's power. (A shipper heart can't get too hopeful, can it?) After a cut Oscar shows up on the kids' doorstep, asking for Ruby Rose... and we get more emotional whiplash as that line is reframed not as an, "I know everything" moment but an, "I brought your drunk as a skunk uncle back" moment. Qrow is adorable in this scene, happily wasted as he mutters about how he finally found Ozpin. Ruby's anger that her comic reading time was interrupted dissipates as Oscar freely admits, "You know me as Professor Ozpin."

I'm very glad he came right out and said it. I wasn't looking forward to a whole Volume of wondering when the gang will find out the truth. Perhaps the most fascinating moment though is when Oscar, seemingly instinctually, says to Ruby,

"You have silver eyes."

There are three ways of explaining this line, far as I can tell:

Ozpin tells Oscar to say that. Unlikely. We don't see Oscar pausing or talking to himself, and why be cryptic when they're going to admit who they are two seconds later?

Oscar himself recognizes silver eyes. Possible, even if he is just a farm boy. Perhaps he's heard stories?

Ozpin's knowledge/personality is beginning to become accessible to Oscar. This has been my theory from the start. As I'll discuss more in-depth in my Volume 4 recaps, Ozpin as an entity still exists and presumably this isn't the first time he's changed bodies, implying that the headmaster we know has survived for who knows how many decades. The implication of this is he either somewhat merges with or entirely overwrites the personality of his host. I’m not hoping for the latter--a rather dark side to his semblance--but if so it might already be starting. Oscar's "You have silver eyes" might be a bit of Ozpin creeping into his reactions.

We'll have to wait to find out. This premiere was, for the most part, surprisingly joyful, but we can't expect that to last for long. Our new intro says it straight out: "Things looking bleak and they're bound to get worse."

Best to fasten your seat belts.

Other Details of Note

The pilot's "Sorry, kid" to Weiss. Yes, please remind the audience that these are still children. People tend to forget that.

Qrow's constantly hunched back. I don't recall this from previous Volumes. This might be something Rooster Teeth is only now capable of with the new animation style, but regardless it's a wonderful little detail.

"That poor girl ripped to pieces" and Ruby's tiny gasp. Glad to see everyone hasn't completely forgotten about Penny. I'm also interested in whether the rest of the world didn't notice that Penny was a robot or if they're just that accepting of machines with souls as "real girls."

Qrow--"I quit teaching for a reason." Did a good job training Ruby though!

Using the Maidens' titles in place of their names is both good for the show's mystery and appropriately dehumanizing.

I'm surprised that no one responded to Ren's hope that they can reclaim the Spring Maiden in a more peaceful manner. In fact, he's not in the rest of that scene's shots, to the extent that I wondered if he was using his semblance for some reason. I hope that they'll return to this. We've had very little exploration of fighting-obsessed Huntsmen/Huntresses finding non-violent solutions to their problems and it might add some actual conflict to the group. They get along incredibly well for four teenagers traveling the world together.

Qrow tells Lionheart to keep in touch, as if we all don't know how terrible he is at contacting the rest of his super-secret team. Way to be a hypocrite, Qrow.

Sun and Blake's dad can finally agree on something! Drinks all around.

Yang's hand briefly shaking after her first "fight" since she lost her arm as well as the call-back joke to her times in Junior's bar. Most characters had little call-back moments and it was wonderful to see in a premiere.

#rwby #mymetas #RWBY Recaps

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thrushed · 6 years

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uhh hi i have Questions regarding those hcs: 1) [nsfw] i didn't know getting fucked on all fours was roro's LEAST fav position because that's what love did FIRST?? he's sorry. unless robin liked it. smiles. 2) survivor's guilt pls expand, what happened? why doesn't he use his real last name? 3) do you have any team hcs! 4) lag in formal education? 5) i love u

we wanted to reveal backstory stuff ic only because robins v private with an intense early life but whatever lets do this shitstorm.

1. gross. answered the nsfw privately to you.

2. survivor's guilt pls expand, what happened? why doesn't he use his real last name?

survivor’s guilt is how his ptsd manifests itself the most. sleep disturbance and nightmares, social withdrawal, mood swings and irritability are big with him. when the trauma felt too close he used to self-medicate by drinking. alcohol was the easiest thing for him to access even when he was underage. but robin has never had a high alcohol tolerance or a healthy sense of pacing (he would binge drink once or twice a week). it always made him sick, feel worse while recovering, impaired his daily life enough that it dashed some education and career prospects. this relates to the lag in formal education. for a while he was in a shit place at an age when a lot of kids went to combat school. going to school was the furthest thing from his mind when he just wanted to get by each day, make lien, try to be happy. the mentor who taught robin archery in the first place was a hometown hero success story, a huntress, and part of the guild that robin was a member of for most of his youth- more of a ‘young mens association’ or a futuwwa that wasn’t restricted to men.

Futuwwa (Arabic: فتوة, "young-manliness" or "chivalry") was a conception of moral behavior around which myriad institutions of Medieval confraternity developed. With characteristics similar to chivalry and virtue, these communal associations of Arab men gained significant influence as stable social units that exerted religious, military, and political influence in much of the Islamic world.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futuwwa

robin and this huntress became really close. talking about their full relationship i won’t do here because it’s long and important. robins combat style and all of its unconventional-ness mirrors hers. she was without a doubt one of the most important people in his life. she started robin on a path that could have become a local success story too; something similar to pyrrha’s fame via tournament competitive success, which robin came to love participating in starting with archery tournaments moving into combat tournaments. but robin fell off the wagon fucking hard and any brilliant word like prodigy that used to be attached to him is long dead and gone. robin is fine with this.

he has largely kicked binge drinking. he drinks socially but only in good company. no straight hard liquor. fine with wine, beer, nursing one glass or bottle for a very long time, maybe a mixed drink but hes careful of those since they can be deceptively easy to drink while getting you fucked up.

what happened? i won’t say exactly what happened but robin didn’t have to personally dirty his hands to know that it was his own blindness and selfish selflessness (i.e. robin hooding, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, adventuring, other philanthropic-questionable ventures that his association did) that put his family at risk in the first place. he was orphaned and feels guilt over being left alive. his parents died unfairly and violently by people who robin knew and associated with. the guild gave itself a protector type role over the community. their town was poorer, vulnerable, far from the capital that can’t keeping up everything happening in periphery regions. these associations helped maintain peace. or they made youths into rapscallions. depends who you asked.

now robin is extremely estranged from his hometown, his community, and the only remaining immediate family member he has, his younger sister wren (winny), to the point that he is not sure if she is still alive or not. they’ve completely lost track of each other for three years now and barely communicated before that, maybe once or twice a year not always directly (eg. robin being informed of wren’s whereabouts via someone else. robin sending her lien). but robin is sure she would want nothing to do with him anyway because she believes robin is to blame for the death of their parents. wren has never been responsive. never once accepted a transfer of money from him. supposedly called it blood money. maybe she thought robin still lived a certain lifestyle. maybe she knows he still has a bounty on him. there’s not much he can do or feels he has the right to do about salvaging their relationship when she doesn’t want him and is probably better off without him.

after a long process he legally changed his last name to dogwood on his 18th birthday. dogwood is a flowering tree that symbolizes renewal and beginnings.

3) do you have any team hcs!

evie (evelyn) is the G in RGNT and a partner that robin relies on. she’s basically co-leader. robin will defer to anyone on his team if they’ll do the thing better than he can. his guild experience and long apprenticeship under a huntress helps his leadership. he’s fine with taking orders and knows how to assign roles and when roles don’t mean shit as long as they can get through a mission. his personality isn’t as free and lively as it was in the past although he has flickers of slyness and wildness that still come out. his teammates don’t hate him probably.

4) lag in formal education?

answered in 2. robin did not go to a combat school. he enrolled as a first year student of haven academy a couple years older than the age of most first year students who enroll at 17. he’s a first year student who’s 20 or 21 verse dependent. imo this kind of thing doesnt feel like it would be exceptional considering how dangerous remnant is and how peoples lives can get fucked and disrupted by everything from grimm to local crime and violence. imo invitations like rubys or exceptions like blake or tricks like jaune’s probably happen a lot as long as they talk to the headmaster about it first or find a loophole. we’ve seen with blake how the student doesn’t even have to divulge every single detail or rationalization on why they want to enroll as long as they test well and are skilled. robin tested very well in combat. he took placement tests for whatever subjects was needed since he had no transcript. and he became acquainted with lionheart’s office once or twice before being accepted to haven.

5) i love u

ilu

#ill update his bio with specifics sometime #tw alcohol #tw death #gracedly #Anonymous

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