#Red's flame dies down in moments of extreme apathy or sadness

[pokemon-ash-aus]

I wish for adult Fauna (who can see and lost Flora) to meet Red and Ashy, while Fauna herself is holding her baby, Emerald. Could that happen?

You shouldnt try, he's in his peak grief abd he wont listen to anybody

[kingbennyboyyy]

benny's RWBY rewrite: the main 4

heya, i told y'all i'd be back on this pretty fast. truth be told, this is a rough transcription of my notes app from like 4am last night, because my brain wouldn't let me sleep until i wrote all of this down somewhere. just ADHD things, i guess.

anyway, let's get into the girls!

ruby rose:

- the youngest of the main 4, ruby is characterized by her naive nature contrasted with her combat prowess. i think that part of the allure the "red" trailer had was a new demographic being exposed to the idea of a little girl in a frilly skirt absolutely bodying a bunch of hell monsters. this contrast is one of the most striking elements of her character, at least in my opinion. i want to lean into this and have ruby be filled with conflict. she's described time and time again as a masterful wielder of an extremely dangerous weapon, and i think contrasting this solo power with an inability to make strategic and high-stakes decisions could be interesting. especially when forced into a leadership position, i'd love to see ruby grow into a child with a deadly weapon, to a leader with a deadly weapon.

- ruby's friendly and outgoing nature is one of her most defining traits, along with her optimism. she sees the good in everyone she comes across, and does her best to make sure that everyone is happy. nothing against her, but ruby isn't the most wise (using the D&D definition of the term). however, i think that she should be somewhat comparable to deku. she built her own weapon and taught herself how to use it, so i don't think it would be out of character for her to do something similar to velvet, taking notes of the interaction between people's semblances, weapons, and fighting styles. this plays into her strategic evolution- the more training she has in understanding how people fight, the better she can direct her allies and teammates.

- (for this section, i'm assigning names to the combo of ideas i describe) real roses rot: ruby is an idealist at heart. she wants to be a huntress because she wants to fight monsters and help people, and the simplicity of this desire speaks to her naivety as a character. she knows what she wants to be, but not yet what she has to be. as the series goes on, ruby should realize that life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, saving people and fighting monsters. sometimes, sacrifices have to be made, and sometimes the monsters look like friends. she has to learn that real roses rot eventually.

- silver eyes: i think that ruby's eyes have a lot of potential as a symbol. ignoring for the moment the fact that ruby's silver eyes literally mark her as a grim-killing machine, her eyes are a crucial part of her character. what she sees in people, the good that she's able to find in others, defines her. her inability to see the sacrifices that need to be made, and the evil in the people around her, should be something she overcomes.

weiss schnee:

- the resident ice queen, what struck me most about weiss at the beginning of the series was her awareness. ironically enough, the only other member of her team as aware of her place as she is is blake. she is extremely cognizant of the expectations placed upon her by her father, and by the SDC as a whole. thus, she is a perfectionist, but judges herself the most harshly. this perfection is evident in everything about her- her fighting style is precise, ballet-inspired, and clean. similarly to her struggle with her familial expectations, she struggles with the family semblance. i think that this struggle has the potential to symbolize a lot for weiss. exiting the bubble of high-class atlesian life presents a lot of struggles for weiss, some of which i'll get into later.

- weiss comes off as cold, and sometimes can be just plain mean, but this comes from a constant awareness of the fact that she is being watched. where her older sister, winter, is the paragon of atlas' military might, she is expected to be a similar paragon for the hunting capabilities of the schnees. for her, a favorable image cannot be cultivated without perfection and control. control is paramount in weiss' character: she often uses the same techniques that her father used on her to attempt to control others, but she should learn that it is impossible to control people through fear for long (perhaps by learning not to fear her own father). when not in control, she struggles to take direction for two distinct reasons: because she doesn't agree with the directions or director, or she doesn't believe she can perform to her director's standards.

- stained snow: something that bothered me about weiss' character was how quickly the racist history of her history was forgotten by the people around her. while potentially very uncomfortable, i think it's important to show how weiss' upbringing and surroundings have clouded her judgement. while canonically a member of her family was killed by the white fang, i think it would be much more compelling for her family to have pinned the murder on a faunus to save face. in reality, the murder was a power grab for her family. she has to realize the role the oppression and violence against people has in the maintenance of her privilege. in having to interact with the people wronged by the oppression that was supported her lifestyle, she will be confronted with a question: does she even want to represent the schnee family, or does she want to try to change the course of her family history?

- golden voice: in her promo (as far as i recall), we hear singing in front of guests at a party we can assume her family has thrown. i think that her voice has a lot of symbolic potential: despite presumably having been forced to bend to the whims of her father, weiss is not afraid to speak her mind. i think that her struggles with her semblance should be overcome through the use of her voice. this serves a dual purpose- for one, it shows that she can use her powerful voice to affect positive change instead of negative. secondly, it shows that she doesn't need to abide by her family's standards in order to succeed.

blake belladonna:

- mysterious and aloof, blake is the member of the team with the most things to hide. the estranged ex of the leader of a violent sect of the white fang (not the whole thing, good christ), a faunus-in-hiding, and closeted trashy romance connoisseur, blake is somewhat defined by her secrets. despite her young age, her life has been marred by conflict, and rather than face these challenges head-on, she would much rather turn tail and run. she's been forced to give up pieces of herself to help others, and in spite of her proclivity to flee and her outward apathetic appearance, she is a deeply sensitive character, and cares deeply for the suffering of others.

- read by others as aloof and disinterested, this impression couldn't be further from the truth. blake is considerate, insightful, and kind, but builds up a wall around herself as a result of being burned and used too many times. it's exhausting to care as much as blake does, and it's easier to pretend that she just doesn't. this facade can't last forever, though. i don't think blake should lash out in anger or violence. i think she should try to run, and if she can't, she should crumble rather than explode.

- the burden of fixing things: as a means of protecting herself, blake has taken to masking her emotions and avoiding conflict at all costs. she ran away from adam and his sect of the white fang, runs away from her identity as a faunus, and hides behind a wall to protect herself. afraid to be consumed by emotion and emulate the monsters she fights against, she has to learn that apathy is more dangerous than emotion. she has to choose whether she wants to risk being hurt to help people, or risk being useless to keep herself out of harm's way.

- shadowed footprints: blake's fighting style is one of my favorites just because of how dynamic it is. however, i think that leaning into her use of kicks would allow for a powerful piece of symbolism. she literally leaves shadows behind as a part of her semblance, and she runs away from her problems a lot. but she has the potentially to do a lot of good when she decides to stand her ground. letting people in will make this task less frightening, but not any easier. in addition, i think this evolution should be accented with mixing her shadows with dust: launching frozen statues of herself at people as projectiles, running at people with flaming clones, things like that.

yang xiao long:

- ruby's older sister and the resident tank of the group, i kind of see yang like a much more concentrated version of ruby. as the older sister of a family marked by the absence of parents, she's gone through a lot. she had to step up when raven left and when summer died, and when tai was grieving. yang is kind of like katara, but instead of embracing the stricter part of maternal responsibility, she'd much rather pretend everything's fine to protect her sister from the sadness she was subjected to. yang surrounds herself with people because she's petrified of being abandoned again. she likes when people are close, and doesn't want them to leave.

- i'd call yang a herbo. not a bimbo, because she doesn't ooze traditional femininity, but a herbo because of her hard-headed and combative nature. she is hot-tempered and brash, prone to not thinking things through all the way, and being motivated by emotion rather than logic. her semblance is literally her being empowered by her anger. despite her caring nature, she tends to not think through what being ruled by emotion does to the people around her. she's more concerned with end results than the steps taken to reach them. she can push herself and others too far, and not know what she did wrong.

- controlled burn: as previously stated, yang is ruled by emotions- she fights when she's angry, cries when she's sad, and radiates joy when she's happy. however, she is often so blinded by her overwhelming emotions that she fails to consider the consequences of her actions. yang should have trouble controlling her semblance, specifically when it activates, and should burn hot and fast. combat-wise, she should ironically have the least stamina of all of her teammates, opting to take people down as quickly as possible to combat this. however, as she learns to be more considerate and thoughtful, she should be able to control her semblance. she gains the ability to burn slower, storing energy until the perfect moment to strike.

- open palms: yang punches people a lot. a lot. i think it'd be fun if she leaned into giving people slugs in the shoulder as a sign of affection. she uses her hands in combat to keep enemies away from the people she cares about. she should also use these hands to keep the people close to her nearby. grabbing people's clothing to stop them from leaving, shaking hands with friends, maybe even kissing the hand of her love interest. yang should use the same hands she clenches into fiery fists to embrace the friends and family she has.

hopefully this didn't run too long! i had a lot to say, and i hoped to articulate it in a way that made sense. if you've come this far, thank you, and feel free to send me any questions you have! i'll be covering team JNPR at some point soon, and talking about how i think the team can function as an interesting foil to team RWBY. until then, thank you again!