#More backstories to make you go Hmm. Wish I'd get less backstory

[luck-and-larceny]

Prompt 2: Aberrant

Malika had always thought that her first memory should have been of crying by the side of the road on a blisteringly cold day in the Shroud- the thin, worn dress she wore so threadbare that it was a wonder that it still functioned as a dress at all and her face so raw and cold that it was a wonder her ears and nose weren’t frostbitten. 

It didn’t surprise her that it wasn’t her first memory though or even that she didn’t remember it at all. The best she could do was conjure an image of it in her head that she sometimes thought was a memory, but it didn’t feel right. It didn’t stick. It felt like a story that she’d worked around over and over in her mind so frequently that she’d fabricated it into an illusion that almost felt real. As an accomplished weaver and even more accomplished liar: she had a certain affection for detailed fabrication.

But the details, small ones granted, always changed when someone told her the story and so she asked about it again and again-- as though eventually she’d either reach a version of the story that felt like the truth, that felt like hers, or that she’d reach a version she liked enough to claim as the truth and make it hers. Finally exasperated at her insistence on being told the story, one performer finally snapped:

“Why does it matter where you came from? Isn’t it enough that you are here now?”

Malika had left many parts of herself behind in that caravan when she ran away, shedding the parts of her personality that she thought no longer fit and would no longer protect her-- like a threadbare dress-- and had weaved for herself a new identity and a new outlook. But she hadn’t left that bit of advice behind. She carried, “Isn’t it enough that you are here now?” as an invisible shield in her off-hand. She carried, “Why does it matter where I came from? Or where I go?” as an invisible, sharp sword in her main hand. So long as she was armed with this mindset- she thought she could never be hurt again. In a society desperate to set rules and boundaries to keep the citizens ‘safe and protected’  and to convince its public that where one came from meant everything as far as where they’d go (nowhere if they were refugees; straight to the top if they were nobility), Malika was deviant in that she had spent exactly zero time believing any of that or even attempting to believe it.

That’s why it was so galling that she had never been great at swordplay. She fumbled physical swords and daggers every time she tried to use them. She fumbled her cherished invisible one now and then too. Despite her best attempts, despite being quite comfortable with where she was now (‘nowhere’ is where society might say that was) her mind kept taking her back to the caravan searching for answers to questions she hadn’t even fully formulated. She didn’t know what she was looking for when her thoughts skewed that way.

She hadn’t been the only kid in the caravan. There were two others, though neither were close to her age. There was a lalafell girl, Sasani, who was 6 years younger than Aerrie (Aerrie was the name the caravan had given young Malika). The entire caravan doted on Sasani because she was, admittedly, extraordinarily and excruciatingly adorable. She was the daughter of one of the musicians and one of the actors. Aerrie hated her, not because she had done anything particularly terrible herself, but because she could recall the girl getting presents. Aerrie had never been given a gift that she was allowed to keep. 

The other ‘kid’ was the son of the leaders of the caravan, a handsome midlander boy named Ozmund, or just Oz, who was 5 years older than Aerrie and that Aerrie had no choice but to have her first heartbreakingly painful crush on. He was a terrible choice for it. He was arrogant, cruel, selfish, he frequently lied, and he always caused problems that he’d take no responsibility for. In short: exactly the type she’d continue to have ill-fated crushes on for the rest of her life. She had, of course, asked him if he remembered when she’d joined the caravan and, of course, she was sure he’d lie in response. 

“Yeah,” he’d said while stealing one of the other actor’s lunches unapologetically, knowing that the actor would never say anything about it to him. “Sixth Astral Moon. Robbery gone wrong, you know?” She did not know. This was new information. “Parents were dead,” he made a motion with a finger across his neck to pantomime the slicing of throats and waited for Aerrie to react. She did only because he clearly wanted her to and she was very keen to impress him. Her eyes went wide and she brought her hands to her face in shock. She even made a small squeak of fear. All and all, a surprisingly impressive performance from the then 12 year old. 

But what surprised her most was that it was just that: a performance. She didn’t feel a thing when the boy she had a crush on told her that her real parents had been killed. She thought she probably should. Horror? Fear? Sorrow? Should she burst into tears and pound her fists into the ground? Should she scream at him that he was a liar?  She could do any of those things. But she didn’t feel like it. She didn’t feel anything at all. So instead she did what she thought was the bare minimum of how she should behave and, satisfied with the bare minimum and his stolen lunch, Oz continued.

“Yeah, so usually we’d just leave the kids there, you know? Some fur-ear tribe”, Malika thought that ‘fur-ear’ was a real low effort, stupid attempt at Miqo’te racism and felt just as much nothing at the term used as she felt at the possibility of her parents having been murdered. He had said it, of course, to get a reaction and tried to hide his irritation that this time she had not bothered to indulge him. With an annoyed, long breath out through his nose he continued, “They’d eventually come and take in the orphans.  Back then we had Asgrim with us. That guy was a monster. Like really.  A literal monster in a man’s body. He’d kill anybody! Just bam! You wanted someone dead? Asgrim didn’t even need to be asked. He knew and he just did it.”

Aerrie didn’t react to this either. She loved a good story. And she so far did not think this was a good story. This time when she saw it upset him that she hadn’t reacted, she tried to do better. “R-really? An -actual- monster?”

Oz nodded. “ Yeah! Elix said he was half archaeoaevis!”

“No way…” she replied in awe despite not knowing what in the seven hells an archaeoaevis was.

Aerrie was extremely eager to please. Malika mostly left that behind. Now, she was only eager to please if she could get something tangible out of putting in the effort or if it somehow entertained her. Presented with what she thought was a low-effort lie she’d be more likely to humiliate the storyteller than to play along. She knew her worth. She was worth much more elaborate and entertaining lies.

“I swear to the Twelve,” Oz said with his hand over his heart as he blasphemed. “Anyroad, Asgrim saw you and you were the only survivor so we figured we were just gonna go and let the Keepers take you.” He swallowed the last bite of his stolen meal and then poured himself a cup of wine that his parents had told him he wasn’t allowed to have.  “I wasn’t allowed to see what happened out there. Sounded bad though. Heard you though! You were crying and crying and crying.” He laughed like what he was saying was hilarious. “Like you didn’t even take a breath! Just non-stop crying!”

“So why didn’t you just leave me there then?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. It was Asgrim that brought you in even. Said you were going to be part of the caravan. That guy was fucking insane-- probably the archaeoaevis in him-- and no one argued with Asgrim when he said something so we took you in. He stayed a year on after that and didn’t want anything to do with you. Then he just left. Ghosted us. No warning. Like exact same moon and everything. Exactly one year later.”

He finished the glass of wine and then poured another. And then another. He slid the second to the 12 year old he was chatting up as if it were only natural to do so. 

She took and  drank it as if it were only natural to do so.

“Why?” she asked. He was a known pathological liar. But the story was now compelling… and where the overlap between Aerrie and Malika was was that both preferred compelling stories to boring truths.

“He didn’t say!” he insisted. “Also didn’t stop anyone in that year and kill em. He just refused to do it. All he said about you was that we had to take care of you now. He didn’t even seem like he wanted to. Like there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He was huge, Aerrie! Just massive! I once saw him fight an eikon the size of a mountain with one arm tied behind his back and he won.”

No, he didn’t. That was stupid.

“Woooow. That’s amazing!” she replied, sufficiently fake-impressed enough that the horrible teenager she had a misguided crush on felt pleased enough with his own ability to lie to 12 year olds that he rewarded her with more wine which she then drank.

“So all he said was that you all had to take care of me?” 

“Nah. He called you something too.”

“Aerrie?” she asked. “Did he name me?”

“No.”  He said, finishing his drink, cheeks rosy from the alcohol. “Aberrant.” And with that, he stood up and clumsily swayed before tripping his way back to his wagon and leaving her alone there to figure out the whats and whys.

It was that last part that made Malika realize just what went into a good story. And what made a good scam. Some element of the feasible mixed in with the absurd that makes the listener question if the entire thing could be true. It was the last part that trapped and ensnared her and pulled her back into the past while outwardly proclaiming she didn’t care at all about it. Aberrant.

That wasn’t a word Oz would use. He wasn’t that knowledgeable or clever. His lies were almost always obvious and stupid. They were dramatic and easily disproved. He’d once claimed he’d won awards for his perfect memory and that script writers would consult him about history and how to spell words because they knew he’d know. He said this while Aerrie was holding a book in her hand. Looking at the word in the book she asked him how to spell “Popoto” and he said “Popatoe.” He then told her the book had spelled it wrong or that it was using “a more modern spelling of the word. I gave you the ancient spelling.”

He was a charismatic and handsome storyteller. And he was a godsdamned useless liar.

Aberrant. Someone must have called her that then. And if that part was true, were any of the other parts true? 

“Nah. None of that’s real,” Malika whispered as she stood at the counter, dressed as a retainer, about to walk away with a ridiculously expensive bracelet from a jeweler under the guise that she was picking it up for her employer (a wealthy asshole she was stealing it from). 

“Excuse me?” Behind the counter in an over-lit jewelry store in Limsa Lominsa stood a thin and wiry, infamously crooked, and just as notoriously violent (almost exclusively to what he called ‘wharf-rats’), fine jeweler named Alryk Asher. He had laid down his crafting tools on the table, interrupted by this retainer while he worked on another piece, and now he was fantasizing about laying that retainer out on the floor with a swift punch to the face.

“My employer knows good quality, Mr. Asher.”

The man stared at the woman, dumbfounded and irritated.

“In both jewelry and in personality. This sort of shoddy craftsmanship and, frankly, embarrassingly obvious attempt to swindle a man whose lineage can be traced back to Jean De Nevelle, a Lominsan hero!, is insulting at best and criminal at worst. I don’t need magnifiers to see the chip around the girdle of the third stone. SI2? Do you think my employer would send just anyone to pick up his -flawless- diamond bracelet? He’s had problems here before but I thought we’d have resolved those by now, Mr. Asher.”

“I...I…!” Face red with indignation, the jeweler tried to make his case. “I assure you it IS flawless!”

“Then it’d be fine if I took a look with magnifiers?”

“If Sir De Nevelle doesn’t want this bracelet, I assure you that someone else will!”

“Someone else that will pay you as much as he did? You and I both know what he’ll do to your reputation if you cancel his order without letting me first use the magnifiers.”

The jeweler sighed, defeated, and then angrily stormed to the back to get the magnifiers. The thief, victorious, yanked the small jeweler's hammer out of the bag of tools left behind on the counter, and dropped it in her pocket. Nearby, a small mirror sat on the counter for customers to look into to get a better look at the expensive jewelry they tried upon their necks. Around the neck of that mirror she tied a small, simple ribbon. 

Even as a thief, she didn’t behave by the rules. She couldn’t just take something and then just have it. She had to leave something behind. Some proof that she had been there. It was a fumble of the invisible shield. It wasn’t enough that she had been there and moved on. Something stayed behind. And it mattered to her.

He returned with the magnifiers and she put them on her face, her eyes becoming as big as an insect’s (or perhaps an archaeoaevis’-- whatever that was). “Oh…” she said, embarrassed.

“OH?” the infuriated jeweler demanded. “OH!? You come in here and insult my business, accuse me of being crooked and swindling you,”  (To be clear-- those in the know, which presumably included Mr. Asher, knew that Mr. Asher was, in fact, a crooked swindler), “and then OH is all I get!?”

“Mr. Asher, I am so sorry. I am so so so sorry.”

“I’ll never do business with your employer again!” he raged, spittle at the corners of his thin lips. “He can go somewhere else! You tell him I said he ought to hire a new retainer!”

“Oh, I’ll do that for sure,” Malika replied, trying hard to hide her smirk. “Next time I see him. Listen, why don’t you bill him an extra 5k for this? He can take it out of my payment. This is all my fault. This is, in fact, absolutely flawless. So beautiful. I’ve really never seen the like.”

Appeased by Malika’s people pleasing skills, Mr. Asher relented and let her have the bracelet. Pleased that her efforts had left her with a tangible reward, Malika smiled at him and began to leave.

“Wait!” the jeweler insisted, “You need to sign that you took the bracelet. Policies.”

She nodded and turned back to leave her signature before stepping out into the cool breeze of the ocean city. She strolled along the cobblestones, hair blowing back behind her, daydreaming of where she had once been and where she might now be going and perfectly happy to be exactly where she was. The ‘wharf-rat’ that ran up to ask her for a bit of change was likely happy with where he was too… as she didn’t hand him money. She smiled, looked down, and put a flawless diamond bracelet in his hand. “Don’t be seen with that. Don’t wear that,” she warned him. “Give it the fence. Get money from it.” She had no doubt he knew what she meant. And he proved it by thanking her and immediately running off.

Inside the jewelry store, Mr. Asher was less pleased with where he was. Where he was was staring down at a sign out sheet that said that his (mostly) flawless diamond bracelet had not gone to a retainer of Sir De Nevelle, but instead to a grifter named “Aberrantia Popatoe.”

[airtosted]

Just out of curiosity because your art is one of the most popular in the bitty tag-- what is the appeal of an "Edgy"? I only ever see them being mean and hurting people, it seems like they're sort of abusive. You seem to like them so I thought I'd ask.

First of all, thank you for asking nicely. Honestly, I got this question before and the persons asking weren’t very nice during the conversation, so it’s refreshing to see there’s still some civil and mature people out there. So yeah, thank you~

Secondly, I like Edgy because I find his character very intriguing and complex. I’ve seen around people posting their opinions or commenting on other people’s posts saying how they strongly dislike the Edgy bitty before, going as far as saying that they should be killed or burned because they’re nothing but abusive trash that only bites. Looking at it from those people’s perspective it does seem like the Edgy bitty is abusive and mean and uncapable of learning to behave good or having some manners and nothing more than just some wild animal or something.

But the thing is, that’s not how I see them. I see a creature, a small few inches skeletal creature, that has his own thoughts and feelings and wants to be loved and accepted, kind of like humans in a way. Lot of people see Bitties(and I don’t mean just Edgy, but all the other types as well) as a less intelligent creature or a “pet” cause of their size and their need to depend on humans for survival. They see a pet who they want to order around or control. Or as something they can use to earn money thru entertainment. But I see there’s more depth to them than that. Looking at all the things the bitties are capable of you can see that they’re capable of understanding and sympathizing with humans. I see them as creatures who are smarter(I’d go as far to say even ‘more human’) than any animal/pet. When I see Bitties I honestly think of a very little person who I could befriend if they were real and not just fictional characters. It’s just some would be easier to get closer to/along with than others.

To make it easier to understand what I’m trying to say I’ll compare them to a cat; some cats are more friendly in nature and don’t mind you getting close to it and touching/petting it, no matter if you own i or not, while others are more prone to bite you or scratch you if you try to approach them or pet them, but not to be mean, but because they feel scared, trapped or don’t trust people anymore due to past bad experiences.The first kind of cat reminds me of baby Blues. The last makes me think of Edgys which I’ll talk more below since your ask was about them not bitties in general.

Now that I covered my basic opinion of bitties, let’s talk about Edgys. You say edgy is mean and you know what there’s some truth there, he can be mean sometimes. But when he does that stop and think why he’s saying that. Usually people’s first thought is that he’s not trained good and needs to have that kind of talk/behavior punished(or worse, beaten) out of him. He’ll say you’re stupid or that he’ll kill you, but IMO he’s not saying that just for the lolz or because he’s stupid and doesn’t know such behavior isn’t socially acceptable, no, he's saying it because he’s scared. He’s trying to act tough to push people away in fear of being hurt or killed. So he insults and threatens you because he knows people don’t like that and there’s a big chance you’ll give up on your attempts and walk away. Sure he could teleport away, but bitties can’t use a lot of magic because it tires them out. The more magic they use and more often tires them out faster. And if they don’t have anything to eat to fill up those reserves back they’ll be weak. And a weak bitty could potentially be a dead bitty, as how Edgy would probably see it having his soul originate from his larger counterpart that lived in a kill or be killed kind of world. So teleporting away is out of the question or it wouldn’t help him much, and he can’t fight back(I like/support the headcanon(last paragraph of the backstory)) made by Poetax where she said that the bitties have some restrains regarding their magic), so what can he do? He curses up a storm and yells at you to back off, hoping his plan A works.

But let’s say the human isn’t listening and still tries to touch him or capture him. Proceeding like so he might go for plan B and now you’re entering the biting zone. Is biting someone considered nice behavior or fun? No. If you don’t listen to Edgy’s warning then there is a 100% chance he’s going to try to bite you. His bites the way I see it are a reaction to being small and being treated as someone small. He is anxious about being small and being controlled by those larger than him. Let’s be honest nobody would like that. Having someone huge like a giant compared to small you, with the possibility they might treat you like a marionette and/or hurt you just cause you are small and can’t fight back.... yeah, I don’t know about you but that’d make me very anxious and scared. So I see Edgy usually biting for two main reasons;

1) As a way to gain control of the situation he’s in. If people aren’t respecting his physical boundaries(which he let you know previously) then he’s going to bite you.

2) He bites as a source of his only power and influence. Because again he be a smol bean and yelling sometimes doesn’t work. But listen, I believe if Edgy feels comfortable and that he is in a place where he is respected/safe and doesn’t need to keep his guard up all the time around the person, he will respect the other person in return. Living with Edgy doesn’t have to be painful or full of constant biting, it just takes time and patience to earn his trust and show him you’re not going to hurt him. Basically if you guys are cool his biting will drop to 0, or at least will go from being painful and bloody to playful nipping.

But you also mentioned that you see him as abusive?? First I want to say I don’t support abusive behavior or abusive manipulating people. I know sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference, believe me, it took ME almost 13 years to learn it. But an abusive person and hmm let’s say a person with anger or anxiety issues(mixed with lack of trust in people) are two different things. An abusive/manipulating person will appear nice in public to trick others into believing they are this person they appear to be, and they are controlling their emotions and/or situation while doing so. They’re master actors to put it simply. Since Edgy is based of his larger counterpart his anger issues are mellowed down a bit(at least how I see him) so he is more grumpy than angry IMO, but his larger counterpart(who is actually Poe’s UF Sans named Red from her story The Skeleton Games) WOULD fall into the category of someone with anger and anxiety issues. His bouts of rage and yelling are at the moment when they happen uncontrolled and results of his emotions taking over. He doesn’t know how to control his emotions or how to express them in a more easier less vocal way, but that’s not something he couldn’t learn(with a little bit of help from a professional ofc) over time. Red doesn’t pretend to be someone he isn’t, he has a basically ‘what you see is what you get buddy’ kind of attitude about himself. He is not trying to control anyone, he is just scared about dying or worse losing his bro, anxious when he’s around humans he doesn’t trust, angry at the world and humans cause they trapped his species under a mountain and all in all in general just a big huge depressed self hating mess. But he just needs someone to help him out. He needs someone to help him work out his anger issues and to let things go. He needs someone to help him get his HoPe back.....

And Edgy taking after him has similar like issues. He is scared of being hurt, anxious around humans who he doesn’t trust cause of many encounters with bad people in the past, angry at the world and humans cause they made him so small so they can boss him around and control him. In short, the way how I see him is that he is just a big tsundere character who’s been hurt, and wishes to be accepted and loved like the other bitties by a owner, who instead of judging him based on their first meeting will try to understand him and break down his walls. He needs a owner who can withstand the storm long enough to see his mask crack and they’ll see there is some goodness in his soul. Despite him being classified as a monster, Edgy isn’t a monster. That’s how I see him and that’s why I like him. To me he is more than just some abusive, mean bitty who likes to bite people all around. There, you have my answer...

Of course, you don’t have to agree with me on this. :) You are allowed to have your own opinion or to disagree with me. I just hope that reading this might help you see things from my perspective and help you understand my adoration for the little nibbler. Or just make you stop and think a bit more about the character and see that he could be a good companion/friend(see how I didn’t use the term pet, Edgy isn’t found of being called or considered that) if you give him a chance.

💀❤ If you have patience and a lot of understanding you might make a good friend for life who will be loyal to you as long as you never betray or abandon him. 

💀❤ He will protect/guard you from dangers, despite his small size. He will protect you because you are important to him.

💀❤ You’re his owner, the only owner who he trusts and loves(though he’ll never say it out loud) and he feels safe around you.

💀❤  He feels happy around you... He feels finally like he found his home...

💀❤  He feels finally like he is worth more than his EXP now that he has you...

[alansparkshark]

Alright, this hit me like a Boarbatusk. Or a truck. Same thing.

So, here I am, happily making some RWBY OCs. I get to their Semblances and think: "What can I give them that's useful and connected to their character?" Cuz, you know,

I don't quite get it from that explanation though, so my next thought is: "Well, let's look at the original cast, see what they got and how it pertains to their characters."

And yet the more I looked, the more a thought grew in me.

"There's aren't so much decided by their personalities as they are by their wishes."

Now, hear me out here. For most Semblances we've seen yet and have heard/seen the unlocking of, they seem to have appeared in a moment of need, a moment of physical or emotional stress.

And it always seems to pertain to certain desires the user has.

Alright, let's just start from somewhere. Let me explain my thought process.

I take a character who's Semblance we know of, then check their backstory and personality. Then I check if said backstory/personality could lead to a desire in said character. And finally, I try to see if that desire connects directly to the Semblance of the character in question.

Let's start with someone who's Semblance we not only know, but saw the moment they found it.

Lie Ren.

First off, we check their personality/backstory. Ren is a quiet, less emotionally expressive character. He seems to stay calm in every moment. As the story progresses, he grows more expressive - in current-day Kuroyuri, he is shown in a rage.

So far, it seems fitting that such a character gets a Semblance such as "Calmness", as I'll dub it.

But it's the moment that he unlocks it that makes it interesting.

Up until that point, we've seen Ren as an excitable little boy. He went from store to store, trying to find something to buy his father for his return. He shows a lot of emotions at that point. When the Nuckelavee attacks and his parents perish, he is panicked beyond belief and is hiding under an archway. He notices Nora a little ways away, in a similar state. He wants to help her. He wants to take action, but he's too panicked to move. He wants to calm down , he tries and tries and- his Semblance activates. His desire to calm down activated his unique ability - to instill calmness despite negative emotions. His wish was to do as his father and mother did - be brave and inspire others to feel the same.

In other words, his Semblance was unlocked by his desire to be calm so he could be reliable to those he cares about.

Alright, next big example - Jaune.

His Semblance was first hinted at in "Forever Fall, pt.2" as Cardin attempted to give Jaune the good ol' knuckle sandwich, only hurt his hand after a bright flash of light (This'll be of importance later). The next time we see it is alllll the way in "Vault of The Spring Maiden", and this time it was fully unlocked. His Semblance of Aura Amplification is one that I personally feel really fits his character - he doesn't want to protect his friends. He wants to do as Pyrrha did for him at Beacon - bring them up, assist them in achieving new heights but not doing it instead of them. Notice how I again used "wants". His desire to do as a good leader should, bring up his teammates, is the basis of his Semblance. It's the same with when he blocked Cardin's punch - he wanted to bring himself up from the pitiful state he was in at the time, not just protect himself from the pain but have the strength to overcome it.

Alright, next up on the list... is Raven, surprisingly.

She was one of the easiest to piece to this logic, as she and Qrow have an irony with their Semblances. But back to Raven.

Her Semblance is "Connection", as I'll call it. It's premise is relatively simple - she can create a portal to those she has a strong emotional connection to. The list so far includes Qrow (brother & teammate), Taiyang (lover & teammate), Yang (daughter) and Vernal (right-hand woman until her untimely demise). We know about Vernal due to process of elimination - unless you wanna imply she actually had a connection to Cinder or her companions. And yet, her whole story is how she abandoned her daughter and her husband. She told Qrow "they owed everything to the Branwen tribe", strongly implying, if not confirming she feels a sense of thankfulness to the people who raised her when she needed it. She admonished Qrow for deserting the clan. She feels a sense of duty towards them. And yet, her Semblance is based entirely on emotional connection - something I doubt is of great importance in a bandit clan composed of "killers and thieves", in Qrow's words. I'd hazard to guess that a childhood in a bandit clan would easily stir a desire to form lasting bonds - something easily achievable when you can make portals. Despite her sense of duty, she still desires a strong emotional bond, devoid of power dynamics and a sense of "we may die any day". Something she had with Taiyang and Yang. Something she had with Qrow and Vernal, despite the circumstances. Really adds a layer to her character if you put it like that.

Alright, who's next... hm, let's put Qrow on the dissection table now.

His Semblance of "Misfortune" seems awfully contradictory to his character, that of a caring man who can barely stand to hurt those close to him, even if they're not family and friends. Why would that be his Semblance?

Well, he obviously didn't have a great opinion of the Branwen tribe. Who knows, maybe what Raven saw as being saved, Qrow saw as being used. Maybe he wished that they'd be caught by bad luck, that the tribe would just collapse and disappear. But that spite evolved into his current Semblance - everyone around him suffers while he's only really left with emotional scars.

Welp. That was depressing. Who's up for getting at Nora next.

Now, this is gonna be pretty short this time. There's not a lot to talk about. She sees Ren as her emotional anchor, her savior. She wants to give back for what he does. She sees he's struggling on the physical side (he's pretty low on the endurance, as evident multiple times throughout the show), so she desires to be strength he's lacking in. And look where that got her - her Semblance, "Charging" makes her grow exponentially stronger the more electricity she absorbs. She can even channel it into objects, like Magnhild or an Ursa. I'd say mission successful, you funky little Thor ginger.

Let's finish up JNPR with their resident apology machine - Pyrrha.

So, we know she'd been in many tournaments. She's the Invincible Girl. The three-time Mistral regional battle tournament winner. She's honestly a gladiator. And what does a gladiator crave? Victory. That's where her overpowered (in comparison to others) Semblance appeared from. She simply wanted to beat her opponents more easily. Well, until she didn't want all the fame that came along with her power.

Alright, who do we mentally lay bare... Hm, Velvet seems simple enough.

What's there to say - a shy, bullied bunny. She's a second year in the first year's history class. I'd say that would do some things to your confidence. And what's her Semblance? Well it just so happens to be "Movement Copying". She can copy a person's physical movements, even if she has not seen them, as shown in "Heroes and Monsters". Makes sense - her desire to be as strong as those around her shows both in her Semblance and her weapon (which is basically a weapon-copying camera). She doesn't have confidence that she's strong, so she (quite literally) does as those around her.

Hm, who next... oooh, how about Yang?

"...basically a temper tantrum", I'd call it "Rise Up". This also can connect to a desire. Yang, being repeatedly battered by one damaging event after the other - her mother abandoning her, her stepmother dying, likely a depression in her father and mothering Ruby. The girl has likely been brought down more than once. But she desires to get stronger from it, so much so that the desire has become a characteristic. She shows so when she decides to find Ruby, when she decides to start training again. She has done it again and again and she'll continue doing it - her desire is now another part of her personality that won't break.

Alright, we put Yang here, how about we make a Bumbleby combo and go for Blake next.

"Shadows", now that's a name I can get behind. She "leaves an empty shell, a shadow to take the hit while she runs". It's, all things considered, a kind of cowardly Semblance. It's basically "here, beat on this while I dodge away and escape the attack". And with the recent events, we've seen she doesn't wanna run anymore - yet she retains her Semblance unchanged? Makes no sense if it's connected to a personality trait. But if it's connected to a desire, then it would make perfect sense. Firstly, she's a Faunus. We know for a fact that there's Faunus discrimination (seriously, if the Adam short and Adam's scar aren't enough proof for you...) and that she was fighting against it in protests. And if our world is anything to go by... yeah, it's easy to see how peaceful any counter-protests would be. Not to mention Adam himself. From all those factors collected, well, the thought process behind the desire her Semblance is founded on becomes obvious - she realised the racists only saw an animal, nothing of importance where Blake stood. So she gave them just that - an empty sandbag to hit while she runs. I'm not gonna get into Adam, as I'm simply sick of the topic.

Hmm, who's left... Well, Weiss has a familial Semblances. The Schnee Glyphs aren't so much unique as the summons included. Really, the only thing unique about her Semblance is who she summons, as we've seen a Queen Lancer, a Boarbatusk and the Arma Gigas, unlike Winter, who we've seen with a flock of tiny Nevermores and a Beowolf. The show says the Schnee family Semblance is a very rare thing, a passed-down-by-blood power. So it's an understandable outlier.

Let's look at Ruby next... Well, she seems to be a very big outlier to this theory of mine. Her silver eyes have more to do with her desires than her Speed. Maybe she has a desire we have yet to see? Anyways, I don't quite have an explanation for Ruby, so I'll leave her aside.

Let's clean our palates with Sun, then.

His Semblance, "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu" (I know it's called "Via Sun", but I wanted to make an unoriginal joke), actually seems to fit my theory. We don't have much, if any, backstory, but in this case we need none. His desire, as we've seen many times throughout the series and which was twisted in Volume 4 & 5, is to help people. He wants to be there for those he cares about, like Blake and his team, but he realises he can't do it alone. So his desire turned into his Semblance, "One Monkey Army" - a way for him to help even if he's alone to do so. You can't tell me he hasn't used his Semblance to fetch something for someone at least once.

Hm, few people left. Let's go with Emerald.

Her "Hallucinations" are a nod to her growing up on the streets. A place you'd be begging people not to pay attention to you. Her Semblance, then, is born from the obvious desire to fool prey and predators alike.

Neo... We don't know much about her. No backstory, some personality, but honestly? The only idea I have at this moment is more of a headcannon. But I CAN connect her Semblance's evolution. So, before V6, her Semblance is simply making physical illusions. It's honestly similar to Blake's "Shadows", in some uses, but it's definitely a lot more of a multi-use tool. It can be used to make her look different, if not outright invisible. But it always shatters upon being hit. Fast forward to V6 and her fight against Cinder, and suddenly she can use the illusions as straight up puppets to fight for her. Her Semblance grew, to put it bluntly. But why in such a manner? Her illusions were fragile and immobile before, now they're tougher and mobile to the point of being straight up weapons. But why in that direction? Well, they can move and touch things without them breaking now. Guess who's started to get more headpats from her partner.

Alright, Hazel is up for the mental strip.

Honestly, despite our lack of major backstory here, his Semblance is pretty easy to trace back. Nobody likes pain, outside of masochists, so it's easy to understandable he'd have a Semblance that removes the feeling of pain.

Adam. Adam Adam Adam. He's surprisingly more similar to Hazel than Yang in terms of Semblance. Yeah, you heard that right. "He gets to dish out damage and not feel it". His Semblance is basically a self-loading gun - he can use the power of strikes to charge it, only to the unleash various empowered slashes. He refuses to feel pain, just like Hazel, but unlike him, he also desired to return what was meant for him straight back at his attackers. Hazel is relatively peaceful when the situation doesn't include Ozpin, but Adam? He's aggressive, always bloodthirsty. His desire was simple - feed his thirst for vengeance. A perfect Semblance for that wish, no?

Hm, well we only have Glynda left. I got nothing. I don't see how I'd understand her desire to have telekinesis without a backstory I doubt we'll get.

Well, that's it for that! I feel like I'm onto something.