#there wasn't a perfect solution to blake and yang's struggles either

[misstrashchan]

Mmmmm been having some thoughts on Ruby and Weiss rn

Ruby is set up to be foiled to Alyx, both in the opening, trying to retrace her footsteps in her story in the first couple of episodes, picking up Alyx's knife at the blacksmith's:

And in the latest episode, her lashing out being met with her intepreted as being cruel and selfish:

"Like Alyx, she wasn’t just a little petulant or inconsiderate. She was selfish, cruel. Like this whole word was simply make-believe and the rules didn’t apply to her."

"What about you? It's *all* about you!"

JWBY all seem to have different ideas of who and what Alyx was. She exists to teach a moral lesson, she's just a girl trying to survive and find her way back home, she was a mean little girl, she was the villain who rewrote the story.

But then we also have this line from the book said by Oscar in V8:

"She brushed off her bumps and bruises, for nothing hurt worse than the loneliness in her chest."

And... I'm reminded of Ruby's own loneliness, how distant she feels from her own teamates and friends right now, from the pressure of expectations to always be the one with a plan, with a smile and something positive to say to inspire everyone to Keep Moving Forward, put on her by both herself and the people around her. How Weiss is mourning her kingdom, Yang and Blake get to sort their feelings out, Jaune gets to have his breakdown, to the point his own over shadows Ruby's and her feelings are dismissed. And how the way she lashes out at them was both understandable and a long time coming, but also terribly cruel and messy. And that no one can be blamed for not seeing or reaching out to Ruby more when she refuses to let others know how much she's hurting and ask for their help. Ruby is still entitled to her own feelings. So is Jaune and WBY.

Which brings to mind a certain quote shown at the beginning of a certain someone's trailer:

"Everyone is entitled to their own sorrow, for the heart has no metrics or forms of measure. And all of it... irreplaceable"

Weiss's arc involves her looking outside of herself and learning to see and understand those around her, their own sorrows and burdens they carry with them. And of course, loneliness is a big reoccurring theme in Weiss's arc. Meeting her teammates and supporting them is what leads to her understanding their struggles, hence why Weiss develops from wanting to be the leader to instead dedicating herself to being the most supportive member in team RWBY, and thrives the most when she's fighting with them, but also emotionally supports them through their own struggles.

She's the one who notices something's off with Blake first in V2, and gets her to open up to the rest of her team so they can all work it out together:

"So, Blake Belladonna, what is wrong!?"

She supports Yang when she's confronting Raven and dealing with her abandonment issues

"It's okay if... you're not okay."

Her own sense of self and relationship to loneliness is a healthy one at present, and is something she can use to relate to others.

She understands other people’s loneliness, that Blake in V5 needed space and in time she’d come back, and Weiss would be ready to be there for her when she did. And she also understands Yang’s loneliness in the same volume and that she needed someone there to support her.

“But you’re right. I don’t know loneliness like you do. I have my own version. And, I bet Blake has her own version too.” 

"When she's ready, I'll be there for her. And I know we're not as close, but... I'm here for you too."

Weiss understands that no one's version of loneliness is the same, and every individual needs something different to have their feelings respected and understood. And now in V9 Weiss has to reckon and come to understand Ruby's own version of loneliness after seeing Ruby snap and how much everything has been weighing down on her, and what she needs from her as a friend and teammate.

All the way back in V1, Weiss grew to accept Ruby as leader and promised to support her:

"Ruby... I think you have what it takes to be a good leader. Just know, that I am going to be the best teammate you will ever have."

And I believe she'll try to hold true to that as best she can for Ruby going forward.

#this isn't as coherent as I'd like but I wanted to post this before it left my head and the next episode happened #obviously there's no perfect solution to ruby's problems and ruby may be getting worse before she gets better but #there wasn't a perfect solution to blake and yang's struggles either #nor with weiss's own #that doesn't mean they can't be there for ruby and try to understand her own sorrow and loneliness #also I'd say weiss was starting to support jaune with his own loneliness #but of course this was it's own double edged sword when it came to ruby #but I think she'll help them both #I'm just more interested in ruby and weiss tbh but that's just a personal thing #rwby #ruby rose #rwby alyx #weiss schnee #rwby9 #rwby spoilers #rwby2 #rwby5 #rwby1