#This is so close to being the plot of Atlas Shrugged

[matt0044]

What if I said Makorra was the reason Korrasami took off the way it did?

See... Korra and Mako definately were a couple who cared for and admired each other but weren't exactly equipped for a terribly healthy romance in the long run. Especially when it came to where their loyalties lay in handling the Water Tribe's civil war.

Of course, part of this was a lack of parental guidance over the matters of the heart. Korra being locked up in a compound and Mako looking after Bolin on the streets certainly didn't help.

Thus remaining just friends was the best they could go for.

This crash course in love, in my view, lead Korra to take things more slowly from here out and let the pot boil slowly but surely with whomever struck her fancy next. It helped that Asami's turbulence with Mako helped as she too took things more easy.

No doubt it'd be more explicit of a thing without Nick being obtuse about it (considering their neglect of the show, you'd think they'd shrug it off) but it weirdly uses that "don't show your hand" mandate to it's advantage.

See... I generally stan the romantic subplots of Books 1 and 2 insofar as they are organic to the characters themselves rather than a degree from the author in part of what mentioned above. However, I understand why they're not terribly popular.

Whether you like messy teenage romances or not, there is a sort of dissonance when it comes to marring them with the threat of Amon's Equalists and Unalaq's dealings with Vaatu. The messy matters of the heart don't feel nearly as worth investing interest in compared to, say, saving Republic City from civil unrest turned ugly or the greatest threat to the Avatar itself from centuries past.

It's sort of something that ATLA avoided with its episodic approach even when it got more plot heavy in Book 3's final half, sort of segmenting any interpersonal drama from major plot developments. Basically, for "Air and "Spirits," having both wasn't the "you got chocolate in my peanut butter" moment they were likely attempting.

So when it comes to Book 3 and 4 having Korrasami being a lowkey build-up, I can see why even the writers gravitated towards it in exploring the pair by letting it simmer as a friendship. They wouldn't try to get together but often find themselves grow close in the moments they shared.

Thus you had Book 4 when Korra writes to Asami mainly and then is the first to greet Ms. Sato. Absense makes the heart grow fonder after all.

It's a weird happy accident when by executive mandate, Korra and Asami's growing relationship was a subplot that was seeding into the narrative when opportunity arose rather than ever feeling like a rogue ingredient.

It's sort of why I don't agree fully with the notion of LoK not being "planned out" when sometimes, letting the chips fall where they may can make for little miracles like these.

[vorticceltalks]

random silly piece of atlas lore? :3

(I wrote this a few months ago. Sweet little story about Atlas coming out.)

Ten years before the plot of Ripple.

They were in the King’s study. Most days, King Duman preferred to do his work alone, but Atlas had insisted on spending time with his father, and, well, the man couldn’t resist. The boy was only twelve. With Anir in training and the twins doing lessons, he didn’t have anyone to talk to (he and Anir, of course, did lessons as well, but they were with a different teacher at a different time), so the King allowed his son to complete his work in his study with him.

The fire crackled in the fireplace, filling the room with soft warmth and golden light. Outside, rain pattered on the castle walls, and wind blew against the windows, trying to pry them open. One wall of the room was completely lined with bookshelves, though the entire wall was taken up with the King’s desk.

Atlas sat in an armchair by the window, reading a book, while King Duman was seated at his desk, diligently looking over a thick sheaf of papers, signing his name at the bottom of each one.

“What are you reading, Button?” Duman asked, looking up for a moment.

“History,” Atlas answered, “This passage is about how the land in Drepora was cursed.”

The corner of Duman’s mouth twitched in a slight smile while he continued to write. “You’ve always enjoyed that subject, haven’t you?”

Atlas simply hummed in agreement, and a comfortable silence fell between them. After a while, Duman signed on the last paper in his stack and pushed it away, stretching his arms out with a huff.

“Father,” Atlas called as he flipped a page, breaking the silence, “Must a man always marry a woman?”

Duman leaned back in his chair, his forehead creasing in mild surprise. “Well,” he said slowly, “I… suppose not.”

“Mm,” Atlas hummed, flipping another page, “Then… is it possible for a man to marry another man or a woman to marry another woman?”

“Of course it is,” The King answered, “I’m sure there are many such couples—maybe not here in Opia, but our Kingdom is still new.” He tilted his head to the side. “Why do you ask, Atlas?”

Atlas shrugged. “Just curious.”

Silence fell between them as the young Prince seemed to lose himself in thought. He glanced outside the window and watched the trees being whipped around by the wind. The rain fell harder, drumming in the background and making quiet pattering sounds against the panes of glass.

The King stared at his son for a moment before he stood from his desk and sighed, slowly approaching Atlas. “Button… you know you can talk to me.”

Atlas closed his book and set it in his lap, his fingers playing with the leather binding. “I saw a portrait of Princess Morana the other day,” he started, “She’s very pretty.”

“That she is,” Duman chuckled, sitting down on the arm of the chair and resting his arm on the backrest.

Atlas bit his lip, unsure whether to continue or not. “I also saw a portrait of Prince Kallias,” he said, “He’s very pretty, too.”

This time, Duman took a moment to respond, an expression of realisation crossing his face. “Well, I suppose…” He nodded his head, quietly considering what to say next. “Atlas, there's nothing wrong with that, you know.”

A soft smile crossed Atlas’ lips, and he picked his book up once again. “I know, Father.”

Duman smiled as well. He reached over and ruffled his son’s soft, brown curls, like he used to do when the boy was younger. He gave the boy’s hair one last pat and stood up, stretching with a grunt. Just before he could open his mouth, though, Atlas spoke. “Thank you, Father.”

“Of course, Button.”

[everafterfrisk]

Do you have any thought on how the show has handled its racism plot lines?

This is honestly a hard question to answer for me as I'm kinda not much of a political person in the long run

But If I can give a straight answer, i think it's decent enough

The biggest problem I've seen people throw at the topic is that the show also tells and not shows(Which I kinda partly disagree,

-Sun Wukong being chased by officers in his first appearance w/ Weiss throughout Vol 1-2 spitting insulting Comments at him and other Faunus in General(Due to her past experiences with them and her Family)

Weiss: (realization hitting) Wait a minute. (walks over to Penny and grabs her by the shoulders) If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed... rapscallion?

Penny: The who...?

Weiss: (holding up a poor drawing of the criminal-in-question) The filthy Faunus from the boat!

Blake: (off-screen) Why do you keep saying that?!

Weiss: (turning her attention from Penny to Blake) Huh?

Blake: (walking over to Weiss, angry) Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!

Weiss: Oh, I'm sorry. (releases Penny and motions to objects around her) Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?

Weiss: I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!

Blake: That is the problem!

Weiss: (getting up from her bed) You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!

Blake: (gets on her feet as well) There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!

Weiss: People like me?

Blake: You're discriminatory!

Weiss: I'm a victim! (as they stare each other down in silence, Weiss leans in close, leering as she speaks quietly) You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus? (leaning against the bookshelf by the window) It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood. (bangs her fist on the bookshelf)

Ruby: (going over to comfort her) Weiss, I-

Weiss: No! (turns away and walks back over to Blake) You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!

Blake: Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!

-There also many different places across the show to reveal the inequality of Faunus

-Cagged/Imprisoned

-Not allowed within Bars

-Higher Ups like Cordovin considers people like Blake as a "Questionable Character"

This is also increasingly shown in the Atlas Arc where the some of citizens send racist comments down Blake's way

Drunk Mann: (loudly) We try and help the other Kingdoms, and this is what happens? I say let 'em rot!

Blake: (disingenuous) I apologize. I didn't mean to insult you.

The drunk man spits on the ground, glaring at Blake.

Drunk Mann: Stupid Faunus like you wouldn't unders--

He looks down to unscrew his flask and pauses when he sees a black glyph beneath his feet. His glasses hover off his face as his eyes widen in surprise. The glyph flings him into the air, and he falls into a dumpster in the nearby alley, his glasses and flask accompanying him soon after. Yang, Nora, Blake and Ruby stare at the dumpster, then turn to see Weiss pointing Myrtenaster where the man had been standing.

Weiss: (with a shrug and a smile) It was worth it

While it is true that sometimes they might tell you instead of showing you(Vol 4-5), I think it's fine as long as it's progressing the plot line and we see the Aftermath of it all

-The Loss of ilia's Parents

-Adam's and Sienna's Forceful and self destructive approach towards other races(I.E they wanted to remove them out of power as well as kill them in order to keep the Faunus on top)

- Association with Criminal Organizations like the White Fang

And so on

And Honestly I think Blake said it best

"At first I thought Adam was "justice", then I thought he was "passion". But over time, I realized I was wrong. He wasn't any of those things. He was "spite". Not "hatred", not "rage", "spite". He won't accept equality, only suffering for what he feels the world did to him, and his way of thinking is dangerously contagious."

"Humans didn't do this. We did this. Faunus. We did this to ourselves. We're just as capable of hate and violence as the humans but I don't think any of us would jump at the chance to point that out. So why are we letting Adam do it for us? By doing nothing and staying silent, we let others speak and act in our place. And if we're not proud of the choices they make, then we have no one to blame but ourselves."

"This is the message Adam Taurus will bring to the world if no one stops him. But we can stop him! You have to understand that all of you are looking for simple answers to a very complicated problem, and I can't give that to you. I don't know how to make hate go away, I don't. But I know that this kind of violence is not the solution.

I understand that to ask you to leave your homes and protect Haven Academy is asking you to put your lives at risk, but that's what's at stake. So I'm going, and I'll stand by myself if I have to."

(I found these lines to be rather powerful cuz while people should definitely fight for their rights, it's a matter of how you do it that counts >Presenting a Comprise at the end of the day is much more beneficial than a road filled with inflicting Fear,Death and Discrimination on one another

•While this doesn't fix the situation instantaneously, it provides Room to grow as we walk towards a better tomorrow)

Again I may not be the best person to discuss such a Complex Topic so take what I say as a grain of salt

Hopefully this answers your question

[itsclydebitches]

"They got to that island because of a very long line of bad choices and the characters’ development doesn’t have anywhere to go if this entire, massive tragedy is shrugged away with, “Those dastardly villains, huh? Too bad they bested us. But at least we did everything we could and things would definitely be worse if we hadn’t made those exact choices.”" - Honestly? I’ve lost so much faith in RT I won’t believe it until it happens.

I do feel that, anon. truly. Honestly though, I think one of the reasons why I’m (maybe?) a little more optimistic about future content than some other critics is because RWBY keeps raising the stakes and the writer in me keeps going, “Okay this is a totally different situation now and simply must generate some actual reflection. That last mistake didn’t, but this new mistake is even worse, so surely it will succeed where the past plot failed.”

To better explain what I mean:

The group steals the Lamp and its password, draw their weapon on Qrow, then verbally and physically assault Ozpin with Oscar along for the ride. This behavior is nothing like what we’ve seen from them before, so surely we’re going to see them grappling with this.

Okay, I understand what the fandom is saying about them needing time and how being out in the snow or hunted by Apathy isn’t the time for self-reflection. I don’t like how long the reconciliation has been pushed, but I expect for this to go somewhere once they reach Argus.

Right. That... never happened. But now the group has stolen military property, tested Kingdom relations, and ignited a massive grimm attack against Argus. They weren’t willing to acknowledge their mistakes when they were purely personal and associated almost entirely with Ozpin, but now their mistakes have actively caused harm to hundreds of innocents. Here’s where the reflection has to start.

They’ve been arrested! Finally, here we go…

…ah.

Okay, so hurting Ozpin and Oscar didn’t resonate with them and neither did endangering a city, but now they’re literally in the same position Ozpin was, trying to decide whether they’ll put their faith in a flawed ally, or keep their secrets safe out of an abundance of caution. Ruby chooses the latter. She’s never so fully embodied the “villainous” position, as she seems to define it, with the plot forcing her to see things from Ozpin’s perspective. Until now, the group could twist facts and push justifications to paint themselves as unquestionably in the right, but these situations are just too similar for them to ignore. Look, Yang and Oscar are questioning this decision!

…why is Qrow telling Ruby she’s nothing like Ozpin?

Why are Jaune, Yang, and Nora ignoring Ren’s points to focus on how closed off he supposedly is?

Cool, cool that was all terribly written but now, now, the impact of those mistakes are off the charts. The group denounced one of their last allies to the entire world in a message that, by all accounts, should send Remnant into turmoil. Penny is dead partly due to the foolish wish they made. The Kingdom of Atlas is gone. All its surviving citizens are refugees and are currently being eaten by grimm. The entire team essentially died falling through that void. The personal, the professional, and history repeating itself… none of that clued the group into the mistakes they’ve made lately. But this? This is bigger than anything the show has ever done before. Unless they somehow doom all of Remnant in Volume 9, there’s no way for the stakes to get any higher or the consequences of their missteps to get any more deadly. If losing a fifth of the established world and dying on the job doesn’t clue them in that they maybe some bad choices were made, nothing will.

Which is what I keep saying each Volume lol. But it’s because the plot keeps getting more insane. Seriously though, this time we seem to have hit top tier consequences. This is the end of the line, so to speak. If RT can’t have the group properly reflect after this level of failure and tragedy, I don’t think the plot can raise the stakes any more to generate further, “Okay, but this time…” responses from me.

[azucanela]

so yk how sokka is always the one who is so forward? maybe a reader who just leaves sokka like 👁👄👁

BOLD | SOKKA 

ATLA / LOK MASTERLIST

SUMMARY: Y/N L/N does whatever she has to in order to earn money, that includes acting as a part time guide for the weird group of people from the Upper Ring she ran into about a month ago. At least the boy her age is kinda cute though.

WORD COUNT: 1.3k

WARNINGS: flirting, mild violence

A/N: lkashdkashdkja i feel like this is bad and didn’t really fit the request well because i got a lil too absorbed into the plot so IM SORRY THAT I WENT OFF ON A TANGENT REALLY IM SO VERY SORRY ASJHDJKASHDKJ but um yeah the ending i just found funny sakjhduashdjkgaskjd thats the only reason this happened for that ending

If Y/N was honest, she didn’t trust them at all. They were a group of strangers that randomly came to town and wore clothing she’d never seen before— and Y/N had done quite a bit of traveling in her time— and acted well, just as skeptical as she seemed to be. Of course, Y/N wasn’t anywhere near as obvious as the older boy was about his suspicions. 

That didn’t mean she couldn’t have fun with them though. The moment Sokka had seen her, he’d been a tad of a mess, it wasn’t difficult to pick up on. The youngest of the group, Toph, seemed to pick up on it as well, taking to teasing the boy. While Y/N had elected to flirt, excessively.

“Are you a Firebender—” 

“No.” The boy scrunched up his nose, “why? Did someone tell you that—”

“Would you let me finish?” Y/N asked, eyes narrowing at him as she lead the group through the streets of Ba Sing Se. Despite being from the Upper Ring— Y/N had a feeling they either had money or they were very important — they’d elected to hire a more local guide it appeared. Then again, Y/N had met the guides of the Upper Ring and they were certainly... disconcerting, so she couldn’t blame them. The boy simply nodded to her words, hollowing out his cheeks with a frown. “Are you a Firebender,” Y/N repeated, “because you are really hot.” She finished with a wink.

Though he had taken most of her advances literally thus far, it appeared Sokka had understood what she was trying to say this time around. Becoming flustered as he looked away from her and huffed, “do you actually know where you are going?”

Grinning, Y/N nodded, “sure do. Do you actually know what you’re looking for? Because nobody here has told me yet.” The group seemed to grow solemn at this comment, especially the smaller boy. 

“Yeah, his name is Appa.” His hand moves to the pouch beside him, causing Y/N to raise a brow as she discreetly brings her own hand to her side, where her knife laid if necessary.

Y/N hummed in reply, “so we’re looking for a person?” 

The girl, Katara, shook her head in reply, continuing to speak as Aang pulled out a poorly drawn image. “A Sky Bison.” 

Nodding, Y/N offered them a tight lipped smile, “last I checked they went extinct.” Tilting her head at the group, it started to come together rather quickly. The robes of the boy were similar to those of the Airbenders that once dominated the skies. “Of course, it only makes sense that the Avatar, the last of the Airbenders, would have a Sky Bison.” It was a guess, and educated guess. If Y/N was wrong, she’d probably seem pretty stupid, but hey— she would still get paid.

By the way the group seemed to tense though, Y/N had a feeling she was right. A grin spreading across her face, Sokka seemed to dislike this as he stepped forward, “what do you want?”

“Come on pretty boy, you seem smarter than that.” His mouth opens, closing momentarily afterwards as he struggles for words before a sound of frustration escapes him.

“Shut up.” Despite his words, Toph had been teasing him ever since they’d hired Y/N not too long ago, the way his heart rate picked up whenever she so much as spoke was quite the tell. 

His words don’t deter Y/N as she continues to speak. “If I wanted to sell you guys out for whatever bounty is on your head, would I have said anything about knowing your identities?” Y/N rolled her eyes, gesturing to the city around them, “and this is Ba Sing Se for crying out loud. How would I ever find someone to turn you guys over to? Unless you pissed off the Dai Li—”

The expressions seemed to change as these words, causing Y/N to pause as she watched them exchange look. Her mouth gaping open, “tell me you didn’t piss off the Dai Li.” Her eyes dart between the group, each one not offering her any words, simply shrugging in reply.

“It was an accident?” The youngest girl offered. Y/N had found that she’d been the most helpful of them all, and the most entertaining. Aside from Sokka, flustering him was a fun pastime. 

Inhaling deeply, Y/N brought her fingers to the bridge of her nose, “an accident?” She mumbled, “you’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Well—” 

Y/N placed a finger over Sokka’s lips, looking to him momentarily as she spoke, “not right now, handsome.” She offers him a sarcastic smile, and despite the problem at hand Y/N finds herself enjoying his flustered reaction as he leans backwards in an attempt to remove her finger from his lips, only to fall to the ground. Sighing, Y/N looks to the rest of the group, “this is a problem.

Katara sighs at her brothers antics and narrows her eyes at Y/N, “yeah. We know—”

“No, you don’t know.” Bringing her hands to her forehead, Y/N lets out a sound of frustration as she guides them into an alley for privacy. “The people they take? Don’t come back, and let’s just say I’ve had a few run ins with them and well...” A bitter laugh escaped her, “I’m a wanted woman.”

Katara scoffs, rolling her eyes as she stares at Sokka pointedly, “of course you pick the criminal.” 

Sokka blanches, scrambling to his feet to argue with his sister. Y/N finds herself blocking the pair out as she turns to Aang, who’d begun to speak, “so how have you evaded them then?”

“Talent.” Comes Y/N’s reply, eyes darting throughout the area. “If you’re the Avatar then someone probably trailed you.” Y/N curses, eyes narrowing as she turns to the arguing pair of siblings. “We need to leave.”

Katara and Sokka cease their arguing as Toph begins to speak as well, “she’s right. I can sense them coming.” 

If Y/N was honest, every man for themselves was looking very ideal right about now. But the group of people had piqued her interest, and well... she had unfinished business. Also, as a wanted woman herself, she had a feeling it would be better if she didn’t abandon the Avatar. For several reasons.

Which is why Y/N finds herself tackling Sokka out of the way of the Dai Li.

Katara is calling out for Sokka but Y/N has already pushed him around the corner to prevent him from getting caught, yelling out, “I’ll find you. Just get out of here!”

Aang and Toph are yelling for Katara, but Y/N doesn’t have time to listen as she lies on top of Sokka’s heaving chest, a sarcastic laugh escaping him as he looks up at her, “are you an Airbender? Because you take me breath away.” Because of course, Sokka of all people has time to flirt when he’s in the middle of a fight. Though the boy was ordinarily flustered in response to her words and actions, on occasion he would find it in himself to reply with the same energy.

Y/N laughs as she pushes herself up on his chest, causing him to grunt when she rolls off him and swirls around to attack the upcoming Dai Li member. 

And he’s propelled backwards by the force of the air she commands. 

“Actually,” Y/N mumbles, rising to a stand as she extends a hand for Sokka to take, his mouth gaping open in shock, as he takes it, allowing Y/N to pull him upwards and bringing them face to face with each other as she says, “I am. That’s sorta the problem.”

This was one of the reasons she couldn’t allow the Avatar and her friends to get captured. Not yet at least. 

A/N: honestly I really like this concept might make it a series because im a clown that likes to start a series and take forever to finish it ummmmm lmk if we’d be interested in that 

SOKKA: @lammello @nataliahaslosthershit

ATLA: @aangsupremacy @jada-cleo @Art-flirt @gogo-is-cooler-than-you @astroninaaa @samsmultifandomblogs @kohi-beans @bombardia @fandomarchiveilyd @a----rag @fantasticchaoticwho @i-love-superhero @euphoricmads @jaylarkson @oddment-niwit-blubber-tweak @the-deli-meat @Wemissyou3000 @ajediherowitchrunner @1-800-schmacked @maceyisntcool @the-firebender-girl @bucky-blogs @dekahg @shawkneecaps @faveshots

[randomideasmybrainhas]

New Year Lin

Rolling over and stifling a big yawn, I reached to the other side of the bed to feel for the warm body to bring closer, but found it bare and cold. Confusion running through my head, I slowly peaked open my eyes, and glanced at the clock. She would’ve woken me up if I was running late… I thought. Letting my blurry eyes adjust, the clock read 5:25am. Groaning, I plopped back down in bed and closed my eyes again. Lin didn’t have work until 6, whereas I didn’t start until 8. 

I heard the squeaky nozzle from the bathroom turn off, and listened closely for the dripping from the shower. I rolled over to stare at the door of the bathroom, waiting for her to come out. A few minutes later, the door opened with steam and light flooding the room. I groaned and buried my face into a pillow to block out the light. 

“Hmph, didn’t think the princess would be up this early. Whats the special occasion?” Lin mused as she reached down a quick kiss to (Y/N). 

(Y/N) groaned and reached up to grab her wife, and try to pull her back down for more cuddles, and possibly another 2 hours of sleep. 

Chuckling, Lin moved out of the way of (Y/N)’s tentacle arms trying to drag her back into the warm inviting bed. As much of a softie Lin was for (Y/N), her only down fall would be that (Y/N) had quite the habit since they met at the market 6 years ago, that she loved to make Lin late for just about anything, just to get more cuddles and kisses from her. Though Lin didn’t protest too much, she did learn when was a quick cuddle session, and what would turn into something much longer than anticipated, and this was one of the moments being, where (Y/N) would bring her back into bed and fall asleep with Lin in a lock hold position where she can’t get out. 

“Meanie. You’re no fun.” Huffed (Y/N) as she missed Lin, and let her arms flop against the bed once again, growing a little frown on her face. 

“Ahh, as much as I’d love to spend a day in bed with you my love, I must get going to work, and in order to do that, I need to finish getting ready, and grab breakfast so you don’t disturb me like last time.” Lin huffed as she towel dried her hair and started putting her clothes on. 

Chuckling lowly you started thinking about last time, where you busted into the precinct with hell’s fury on your heels and a brown bag in hand, you went straight to her office, and busted it open and you’re not a shouter, or one to raise your voice when annoyed, but you did give her your piece of mind for a good 20 minutes with her entire force listening in about how if she ever skipped breakfast again, she’d pay for it. Since then, Lin always makes sure to eat a hefty breakfast for you to see or smell to ensure she was taking care of herself. 

Lin received grief from her officers for the next week about the incident and from time to time they still pick at her about it. 

“Ahh, you’re no fun. Well you’re going to be at the party later tonight right?” (Y/N) replied as she shuffled around the bed to watch her wife bend on her armor. Something she’d never get tired of seeing. She could watch her taking her armor on and off all day and be completely enthralled. 

“Must I?” Lin huffed out as she moved to the kitchen.

“HEY!” (Y/N) shouted, with a pout on her face. A second later, Lin walked back into the room and sat on the bed her back facing (Y/N). (Y/N) shuffled out of her sheets and wrapped her arms around Lin’s neck and wrapped her legs around Lin’s hips. Lin stood up and walked the both of them to the kitchen and set (Y/N) down at the counter while she went to cook up some scrambled eggs and toast. 

“Fine, I’ll go, but I do have to stay later. It’s new years my love, and that is the worst night for us. I’ll come but I’ll be an hour or so. Am I required to bring anything?” She asked as she poured orange juice for the both of them and started to brew up some tea.

“Nope, I’ll bring all the stuff, just show up. I’m guessing you’ll just show up in your uniform since it’ll be late. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll probably be leaving around here at 8:30.” (Y/N) replied as she watched her wife move around the kitchen and give out a content sigh, enjoying her time with Lin. 

Smiling, and letting a low blush on her ears turn a bit pink, she plated the eggs and toast and they sat together in silence eating their breakfast. Glancing at the clock, Lin gets up and starts to wash up, and grab her keys to leave for work. (Y/N) got up and wrapped her arms around Lin’s neck and gave her a long sweet kiss on the lips.

“Be safe out there, and let me know if you need anything. I love you.” “I love you too, and will do thanks.” Lin replied as she left. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Getting out of the Sato mobile, (Y/N) kept her trench coat close to her, given the sudden plummet of weather change and the rather large bottle of fire whiskey that she held close to her. 

“(Y/N)!! Its so good to see you! How’ve you been? Wheres Lin?” Asami smiled and hugged her friend and accepting the large bottle of fire whiskey and chuckling even more. 

“Hey Sami, I’ve been good, just trying to stay dry, and Lin will be a little later, its usually a crazy night for New Years for the precinct.” (Y/N) replied shrugged off her coat and giving it to the butler and taking the number from him. 

“Ahh yes, well welcome, and make yourself at home! There are confetti blasters by the punch bowl for the count down. Let me know if you need anything else!” Asami said as she left to greet others as they came in. 

Smiling and looking around, (Y/N) headed straight to the bar and order a drink. Once she arrived at the bar and ordered her drink, and noticed a familiar ponytail, and moved over to say hi to the young avatar. Who isn’t exactly young anymore, its been 2 years since Kuvira’s end of her reign of terror trying to unite the earth empire. 

“Hello miss avatar, and how’re you tonight?” (Y/N) smiled and took a sip of her drink as the avatar spun around and beamed at (Y/N). 

“(Y/N)!! Hey how’re you?! I’m good, just waiting for Asami to finish greeting everyone in Republic City to dance. Wheres the chief?” Korra replied as she took  a sip of whatever dark brown liquor she was drinking. 

“Always the friendly host of course, and Lin will be coming later. New Years is usually a busy time for the precinct. Also, if you want, we can get warmed up on the dance floor unit our dates show up.” (Y/N) proposed as she was used to waiting for Lin to arrive to these events, and loved to dance. 

“Sure! I’d love to!” Korra replied, as both the young avatar and (Y/N) slammed back their drinks and headed to the dance floor which was slowly filling up with others from around the city. Asami always did know how to throw these sort of events. 3 drinks later for the both of them, and a complete lost track of time, Korra and (Y/N) continued to dance the night away enjoying their time together and completely forgetting they were waiting for the busy dates to show up. Shortly after, Asami showed up with a drink in her hand and a water for Korra. She and Korra left to get some more water for Korra and dance on their own and get their confetti blasters ready, since in 30 minutes it would be the count down. Looking around, (Y/N) still didn’t see her beloved chief of police, and frowned slightly. 

“A beautiful young woman shouldn’t be holding such a frown on a night like this. Care to join me for a dance?” A man, close to her age, probably in his late twenties offered as he looked her up and down in her floor length emerald green sparkling dress with a low cut that showed off a certain amount of cleavage. 

“I’m good thank you.” (Y/N) replied while trying to pry away. 

“Ahh, what’s the rush love? A beautiful lady as yourself shouldn’t be alone.” The man flirted as he moved his hands to your waist. 

“She’s not alone. And I’d suggest you take your hands off my wife, before I arrest you.” A sharp voice behind you came. You smiled as you felt her presence behind you and roughly take his hands off your waist. 

“Hey babe! You made it!” (Y/N) smiled as she kissed Lin on the lips and wrapped her arms around Lin’s neck. Lin wrapped her arms around your waist and glared at the man until he left. 

“How long was he bugging you?” 

“Oh not long, I would’ve stopped him if you didn’t step in.” (Y/N) Smiled  as she rested her head on her wife’s shoulder as a slow song came on and they swayed to the music. 

“How was work love?” (Y/N) asked as she continued to sway, breathing in her wife’s comforting aroma.

“The usual, busted a few Triad heads and filled out their paperwork before coming here. Wasn’t too bad, we’ve had worse years.” Lin replied as she brushed her lips against your ear and felt you shiver and mold into her deeper. Lin chuckled and continued to sway until the song was over, then they made their way to get the confetti blasters to shoot off in just a few minutes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! HAPPY NEW YEARS!” Everyone shouted as they opened the confetti blasters and confetti shot up everywhere and everyone cheered, some blasting some Champagne around too, making the confetti stick to everything. 

“Happy New Years babe.” (Y/N) smiled as she gave Lin a big kiss.

“Happy New Years (Y/N).” Lin smiled as they pulled away. 

“Can we go home now? I can think of a better way than being covered in champagne and confetti.” Lin smirked at (Y/N) as she saw a glimmer of mischief in (Y/N)’s eyes. (Y/N) pulled Lin’s hand out the door and into their Sato mobile where they drove back home to celebrate the new year’s in a bit more of a private way. 

I don’t own anything but the plot, all characters are ATLA and LOK. I just wanted some cute fluff for the new year, and we all need some soft Lin. Enjoy!

[theclassycandy]

A Talk Amidst K-Dramas

Summary: Beckett and Anna’s date turns out unplanned and Beckett takes interest in her background. This is when he makes a surprising and exciting proposal. 

Ships: Beckett x Anna 

Rating: G

Word Count: 1116

A/N: Hi everyone! I haven’t done a fic in a long time but I really wanted to write even if it’s a little short. This fic is based on this request so please see the og ask! Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day and I hope you enjoy! 

Tags:  @itsjustwinter @bri1234 @orcsmoocher @zombipickachu @miss-smrxtiee @herarmoredheart @adam-dumortains  @mortemersgf @holystxne  @callmehopeless  @mm2305  @ilikeyellingatmyscreen

Beckett makes his way down the hallway to Anna's dorm to pick her up for a date. When the 2 of them were texting just a few minutes ago, she said "We'll just plan it as we go!" so for all he would know, the date would be a lot more casual. He knocks on the door to Anna and Shreya's student lounge. That's when Shreya opens the door for him.

"Oh hey Harrington! You here for your girlfriend?" says Shreya in her normal chirpy tone.

"Yes I'm here for Anna. She didn't tell you I’m picking her up for a date?” asks Beckett as he steps into the room

Shreya just shrugs. “Nope! Well you know where her room is you can go in!”

“Ah, okay” Beckett responds as walk he walks to the door.

“Hey Harrington! If you and Miss. Yoon are gonna do some... fun, exciting, satisfying activities, make sure to keep it down ok?” calls out Shreya right before Beckett enters Anna’s room.

“Thanks, Shreya. We’ll try.” Beckett says sarcastically, trying to hide his blushing.

As he does this, he sees Anna on her bed with her laptop on her lap as she laughs. He has to wave his hand in front of her face to get her attention.

“Oh hey!” Anna says in surprise as she reaches to hug him with her knees on her bed. This surprises Beckett, needing to wrap his arms around her to make sure Anna doesn’t tip over.

“So, are we going to plan a date or are you just going to continue squeezing me?” he asks as Anna let go of the hug.

“You know what? Let’s try something new, I’ll introduce you to kdramas!” explained Anna enthusiastically.

Beckett’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, really? That’s what we’re going to do for tonight?” he asked

“Yeah! It’ll be fun.” started Anna, “Wait, do you not want to do it?”

“Oh no! I think it’ll be very enjoyable. I just didn’t think I’d get into international television dramas for our date today. I thought we’d at least go outside. But I’m sure that I’ll really enjoy though!” Beckett blurts out, swiftly, trying not to sound rude about the date idea.

Anna giggles. She knows that Beckett is skeptical about her date planning but she knows that Beckett will actually enjoy the plot.

“All right, I have a drama I think you’ll appreciate. It’s called Crash Landing On You. And it’s really good and it’s my all-time favorite!” explains Anna as she moves down to make room for Beckett to sit down beside her on her bed. As she also searches Netflix for Crash Landing On You, Beckett wraps an arm around her, making the both of them smile.

4 hours and 4 episodes go by and Beckett is emotionally invested into the series.

“Wait, who plays the lead roles again?” he asks, his eyes not leaving the screen.

“Yoon Se-ri is played by Son Ye-Jin, Seo Dan is played by Seo Ji-hye, Ri Jeong-Hyeok is played by Hyun Bin and Gu Seung-Jung is played by Kim Jung-Hyun.” says Anna, being able to pronounce the names perfectly. “I’ve been a big fan, espescially Son Ye-Jin for a long time.”

They sit in silence again while watching the start of episode 5 just when Beckett pauses the episode again. When Anna turns her head to look at Beckett, he opens his mouth but doesn’t say anything for a second, as of he’s thinking of what to say.

“So you and Atlas were born in the Philippines but you were raised in Korea and Atlas in America?” Beckett asks.

Anna is slightly taken aback at Beckett’s sudden interest in her background. But she isn’t complaining; she loves telling Beckett stories about her past.

“Yeah Atlas and I were born in Quezon city, where my biological father was born but Atlas was taken to America and I was raised in Manila in the Philippines. But my foster parents and I would alternate between there and Seoul in Korea so I can speak Korean, Tagalog and some other sorts of Asian languages fluently.” explains Anna. 

Beckett nods thoughtfully, thinking of how he should go about what he’s about to suggest. 

“Yeah, really don’t know too much about your past or home countries.” He starts but as he looks over to Anna, she’s visibly upset at his comment and he quickly explains his point. 

“Not to say I’m not interested!- In fact I feel the very opposite! I’m saying that, I could learn more!” He takes a pause as he takes a deep breath a proceeds to put on a calm face as he continues. “I was saying, that in order to learn about your past, cultures and have a fun time together, why don’t we take each other there on our next breaks.” he suggests, heart beating awaiting her answer. 

Anna’s jaw drops. She did not expect for Beckett to suggest something so grand. There’s a small pause between the two before Anna starts.

“So it would our first trip together huh?” she nudges her shoulder with his, smiling at the thought of traveling with him. 

“Yeah,” Beckett begins sheepishly “Our junior year is coming to a close and our last vacations, I missed you like crazy. Also really want to see the countries where you grew up. I love learning things about you. Besides, I’ve never been to the Philippines or Korea before!” 

“Wow,” Anna pauses “You think the both of us are ready for that? Taking a trip together?” 

“Yeah, I really do think so! That is if you want to.” Beckett says, awaiting her answer. 

Anna keeps a neutral expression, thinking for a minute before she breaks put a huge smile across her face. That’s when she wraps her arms around Beckett, tackling him onto her bed. 

“Hey-” he starts but he begins to laugh softly when she places kisses all over his face and snuggles against his body. 

“Alright, let’s do this! I can’t wait to show you the Philippines’ island and oceans and South Korea’s bustling cities and shopping areas! I can show you where I grew up!” lists off Anna, getting more excited by the second.

Beckett smiles endearingly at the way Anna’s eyes sparkle when she talks, ecstatic to see the world with her. 

“Maybe we should start planning in the morning. I’m pretty interested in this drama series, though.” says Beckett. 

That’s when Anna stops and giggles at Beckett finding genuine interest in her favorite K-dramas. As the two lovers watched foreign dramas together, the both of them couldn’t help but think of what would happen during their trip abroad. 

[masterweaverx]

So anyway I think that the heroes are going to snatch control of Atlas right out from under Salem and Ironwood’s noses. It’ll take a few episodes, but it’ll happen by V8′s end. Here’s the probably inaccurate spiffy:

Ironwood and Salem are busily playing army and being absolutely ignorant to their own and each other’s underlings thinking maybe they’re in the wrong. So while they think they are controlling the Battle For Atlas (TM), everybody else is going to be trying to save people. Emerald’s going to get to the lamp first(ish).

Emerald: JINN! I must ask you something! Jinn: For reasons related to metaknowledge I like you a lot kid, so I’ll warn you to word your question very carefully. Emerald: Well... shit, give me a minute. Jinn: Time’s frozen, I’m magic like that. Take as long as you need.

Exactly what Emerald asks is up in the air, but it’s probably either ‘what is Salem hiding’ or ‘how can Cinder be freed from Salem’ and either way Jinn will make it clear Emerald needs to get to Ruby, so Emerald shrugs cause she was totally going to jump ship from Salem anyway (woman is dancing murder, literally) and so she waltzes out to pick up Oscar and then they run into JYR.

Yang: You framed me! Emerald: Yeah but I’m good now. See? Saving kids, got the relic-- Ren: I HATH SEEN HER VIBES, AND SHE DOTH BE GOOD NOW. Yang: Wait but how do you know it’s not an illusion? Ren: YOUR VIBES DOTH PROCLAIM AFFECTION FOR THINE PARTNER, OF DEEP AND INTENSE KIND, YET YOU DOUBT YOUR VALUE TO HER-- Yang: Okay okay I believe you! Oscar: Hey I’m kinda bleeding to death can we escape already?

And as they rush out of the whale, there is DRAMA in the Schnee mansion. Ruby’s panicking over Penny, and because Penny came in hot she can’t touch her with her bare hands so she’s getting Weiss to summon up some remote gloves for Emergency Robot Surgery and totally ignoring that pain in her heart. Meanwhile Klein’s patching up Nora--

Nora’s Past: Excuse me, sir, I need to reveal myself now. You don’t mind do you? Klein: This girl is pretty badly hurt, so I do rather mind-- Nora’s Past: Not to worry, I won’t interfere in your healing and you can have a conversation that sets up a future plot point.

And Blake and May are talking about how they robbed people to save people and Blake’s kinda trying to hint maybe that the situation’s pretty bad up here without offending May who is really just this close to exploding.

May: If you can’t give me one good reason to stay I’m taking the jet down to Mantle! Whitley: Jacques has a work computer in his office, maybe you can reactivate Mantle’s heat from there? May: ...fuck it get me some cocoa.

And indeedily, it turns out that there are programs to reactivate the heating grid! And switches to flip the direction of the Mantle/Atlas chute system! And a bunch of other stuff that’ll help Mantle, and May’s getting into it when she hits THE JACKPOT. You know how Jacques got elected a councilman? And how he got some key codes for that? Well, being the brilliant genius that he is, he put those key codes on his home computer and nobody’s thought to erase them since his arrest. Which means May can spoof Atlas systems to think ONE council member is doing things!

[Interlude with Cinder going aircar shopping, surprisingly easy when the city stores are abandoned. She has a run-in with the Glass Unicorn, which does not survive. We get a close-up of her face, and she’s frustrated that this isn’t satisfying her.]

But only having one councilmember’s codes isn’t enough to do more than move some people around the subways to safer places--great and all, but won’t solve the problem. If they had more control of Atlas’s automated systems, they could maybe do something, but the only way to do that is get more councilmember control codes. Like a majority. That’s two codes, and there’s no way to--

Blake: Wait doesn’t Ironwood have two seats? May: Yeah but he’s not going to work with us. Blake: We’re already spoofing Jacques’ codes, we can spoof Ironwood’s. May: We’d have to get to the terminal in the military compound! Blake: ...or the one in Atlas Academy. I need to make a call.

Cut to team FNKI, not at all chillin’ in their dorm. They’re ticked for so many reasons, they’re antsy, Neon gets a call from Blake and listens for a bit before saying ‘hey everyone wanna go infiltrate the Headmaster’s office and save Atlas?’ And Flynt’s like ‘You know what, sure.’ And four teenagers with attitude Power Ranger their way through some very confused soldiers and then Ivori puts on his hacker glasses and says--

Ivori: Oh crap guys. Ironwood only put the Headmaster codes on this terminal. Not the military council codes. Neon: Paranoid bitch. Ivori: Also he knows we’re here now.

Meanwhile JYR and their new pals (who may or may not include Hazel and Neo, depending on how effective Oscar is at handing out redemption arcs) have a bit of a tiff over the whole ‘recruiting bad guys’ thing and Emerald’s like ‘Guys fine arrest me but I literally have all the knowledge you need and for plot reasons we need to go to the Schnee mansion now’ so Winter’s like ‘Oh shit! I hate plot in my house!’ and she checks the clock and yeah, there’s PLENTY of time to hop over before the bomb arrives and, hey, probably fugitives, so dad Ironwood can’t yell at her for this!

[Interlude with Fiona and Joanna, who start characterizing each other and mention Important Plot Details that will probably come into play in the next volume but the fandom’s all going to speculate about how it’ll come into play this volume because we’re like that.]

So back with Ruby, she’s managed to juryrig Penny back to life and there’s this big emotional moment and Ruby has a breakdown and Weiss is all ‘I’m not equipped to handle this shit but I’ll try anyway’ and Penny has a breakdown and Weiss is like ‘yeah okay, cuddles and comfort time, come here you crazy girls’ and THEN Whitley bursts through the door and shouts ‘GUYS GUYS TEAM FNKI’S ON TV AND THEY’RE SAYING SWEAR WORDS!’

Neon: I’ve come to make an announcement: James Ironwood is a bitch-ass motherfu-- Ironwood: Okay this teenage rebellion is stupid. Luckily it’ll be easy to take back control of Atlas Academy because I am always right and never miss anything. Random Intern: But Sir! Aren’t You Worried They Will Hack Atlas’s Systems? Ironwood: Allow me to exposit on how impossible that is and how they would need three council codes to make a majority that could let that happen. Camilla, in her office: YO BITCH! REMEMBER ME?!

That’s right, Camilla’s noticed this TV broadcast, put together the pieces, and as scared as she is of Ironwood she’s noticing that he’s not really doing so hot fighting Salem so, what the heck, she’s going to tell everyone that Ironwood killed Sleet and he’s a treasonous traitor and soldiers should totally turn to Robyn Hill. Because she just sent her own council codes to ALL FOUR OF THE HAPPY HUNTRESSES. Also she says this is a pre-recorded message and she probably got killed by her doorguards.

[Meanwhile, the Hound gets a smoothie. It’s plot-detail flavored.]

Ironwood rages, but it’s okay! He’s got Robyn’s scroll! So he’s got the codes, he’s still in control aaaaaand Fiona’s already changed the password. But you know this plan is totally going to fall apart without Robyn, who’s trapped in her cell, so he marches down there to kill her before she can become a problem and comes face to face with Cinder God Damn Fall.

Ironwood: Get out of the way, I need to kill that woman. Cinder, flipping him off: Fuck you, Atlas scum, I do what I want! Hardlight generator: Hey why are you reaching for me scary lady OH GOD THE PAIN I AM DEAD THE PRISONERS ARE FREE BLEGH-- Watts: Let’s get out of here while they’re fighting each other! Cinder: ...yeah, that, that was totally my plan, yeah.

So Cinder and Watts skedaddle and the soldiers are like ‘uh should we catch them’ and Ironwood’s all ‘WE MUST KILL ROBYN’ and Robyn has no idea why but she’s not going down easy and Qrow’s screaming how Ironwood’s just the worst and Jacques is cowering in a corner because everybody has guns. Realistically a whole bunch of soldiers are able to easily subdue Qrow and Robyn and Ironwood gets ready to kill them when suddenly--

Raven: Looks like I need to save your weak ass, bro. Robyn: Who’s the hottie? Qrow: A fucking bitch. Raven: Yeah, okay, but I brought Tai along so... Taiyang: Anybody want a brownie? No? Fine. Sic’ em Zwei.

Obviously the might of the War Corgi (and yeah, the Spring Maiden, sure) is enough to get Robyn and Qrow to safety, and they also snag Robyn’s scroll on the way out, and Robyn gets informed of basically everything in one long ‘thank god you’re back’ speech by May who is REALLY tired of wrangling all these teenagers and their drama, but she’s interrupted when the Ace Ops land at the Schnee mansion and bring in their drama and should they turn on Ironwood like Camilla says and Blake says some stuff about ‘did you promise the man he is or who he pretends to be’ and Penny also has lines and there’s so much yelling--

Watts: According to my notes, Penny’s at the Schnee mansion. Cinder: My orders are to deliver you to Salem. Watts: But Cinder, there’s a lot of plot at the Schnee mansion right now! I know you looove ploooooooot! Cinder: Are you trying to tempt me to do a dumb? Watts: What can I say, I’m mischievous. Cinder: ...okay, you can drive yourself right back to Salem--I mean it! Drive STRAIGHT BACK, don’t get yourself CAUGHT AGAIN, and you tell her that you ordered me out. Watts: You have my word! Watts tells Salem Cinder totally abandoned him of her own free will.

So Cinder Fall strides into the conflict and she’s all smug--right up until she sees EMERALD IS WITH RUBY and she just flips out like ‘what the shit! What the shit girl what are you doing?!’ And Emerald says ‘I’m doing this for you! Allow me to begin my melodramatic speech about--’ Cue the Hound smashing through the window with a horde of Grimm and suddenly everything is chaos nobody knows who’s on anybody’s side Penny’s being fought over by everyone and--

Penny, eyes red: THE VAULT--Aaaaargh! Ruby, watching her fly out: Oh yeah, she was hacked, right, forgot. Cinder: The Hound: The Ace Ops: JNOR: RWBY: TRQ: May: Robyn: Kids, go after her, we’ll clean up here.

Everyone RUNS OUT OF THE SCHNEE MANSION and it’s a race to get to the Vault using every method they can and Cinder’s melting the ground and getting into fights left and right and the Ace Ops are showing their true colors by getting random citizens out of the way and meanwhile the Happy Huntresses are coordinating everything in Atlas AND Mantle and it’s all chaos but it’s clear that Ironwood’s not in control and then--

in the vault--

there he is, holding Penny’s sword. And he’s picked her up and started literally banging her against the door because the vault won’t open--

Cinder: Yo, moron, you need to do it right. Cinder: *Whips out a frying pan and conks out Ruby* Cinder, sweetly: Penny, if you don’t open that door I’ll melt her booooones~!

Welp, there’s no way to solve that hostage situation, so Penny reluctantly opens the Vault of the Winter Maiden and it looks like, oh no, somebody bad is going to get the staff, when all of the sudden--

Nora: THIS is what I’m good for! Nora’s Past: Go get ‘em girl!

Nora just catapults herself into the vault, grabs the staff and--before anybody can react--gets it to land next to Mantle. And THEN the Ace Ops come in and say ‘yeah, uh, Ironwood, totally under arrest for being stupid’ and turn off the hackersword which lets Penny get Ruby away from Cinder. Cinder’s right ticked so she reaches for the staff with her Grimm hand but, in a fit of realization, Nora decides to use the staff to regenerate Cinder’s lost arm (which destroys the Grimm Arm entirely).

Cinder: Wait... what the fuck? Why’d you do THAT?! Nora: I have complicated in-character reasons but the truth is I’m setting up a plotline for you to doubt the path you’ve chosen so you’ll turn on Salem down the line. Cinder: Well now I’m feeling existential. I think I’ll go back to Salem and whine about this whole crazy day.

So anyway the volume ends with reinforcements arriving, Robyn the new leader of the Kingdom of Mantle, Ironwood locked up for being a moron, Salem just totally blindsided by the complete upset of the board, and Nora offering to regenerate Yang’s arm. Yang says no because she gave up her arm for something precious and her new arm was a gift plus it’s awesome plus her sister’s dating a robot so saying ‘I don’t like metal arms’ is kinda hypocritical.

....

And then in the stinger Cinder’s staring in a mirror and Pyrrha says ‘Hello again.’

[damianwaynerocks]

Zuko & the Waynes - Chapter 3

Batfam/ATLA au

Description:  Prince Zuko, pre-finding Aang, falls into Gotham City. After being adopted by Bruce Wayne, Zuko finds himself enjoying life in this strange world. Zuko Wayne has a family who loves him unconditionally. Zuko Wayne is a hero, saving the innocents of Gotham City every night. But Zuko soon finds himself at the center of a plot that threatens to destroy not only this new world he's come to love, but also the world he's trying to leave behind.

A/N: okay, so the members of the titans and young justice team are different in this au.

Young Justice: Tim Drake (Red Robin); Cassie Sandsmark (Wondergirl); Kon/Conner Kent (Superboy); Bart Allen (Impulse)

Titans: Dick Grayson (Nightwing); Koriand'r (Starfire); Garfield Logan (Beast Boy); Rachel Roth (Raven); Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle); M'Gann M'orris (Miss Martian)

Chapter 2 | Masterlist

Chapter 3:

"So, you remember the plan?"

"Yeah, we got it," said Cassie into her earpiece, having to raise her voice to be heard over the pouring rain outside. "Don't worry about us, we're fine."

"Good to know," Tim responded into the comlink.

It was the night of the auction. Zuko was wearing a black suit while Cassie was wearing a red dress. Both had their masks on. Kon, also known as Superboy, was sitting in the driver's seat. He was acting as their chauffeur, and was there as backup in case anything went wrong. Zuko rolled his eyes as he heard a slurping sound in his com link, presumably from Tim taking a sip of coffee.

 "That was gross," Kon sighed. "Don't do that." 

Tim ignored him. "Proud of you both. Remember, if the wrong person gets their hands on the magyntite, not even Superman will be able to stop them." He paused. "No pressure, though.”

"Wow, you're great at pep talks." Zuko adjusted the mask on his face, making sure it hid his scar. "You ready, Cassie?"

"I was born ready," Cassie responded with a grin. "Now, let's go, Henry."

"After you, Larissa." Zuko grabbed an umbrella and stepped out of the  self-driving black limousine they'd borrowed from Bruce. He went around to her side of the vehicle and opened her door for her. Cassie looped her arm through his, muttering a thank you as Zuko raised the umbrella above both of them. They walked into the casino.

 Just inside, a bouncer stepped in front of them. "How tall is the eagle's wingspan?"

"That means do magic," Tim said through the coms.

 "Uh," Zuko's mind raced as he tried to think of a spell on the spot. "Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" he finally said, and a ball of fire appeared over his closed fist. The bouncer nodded, and unhooked the red rope, allowing them to step inside.It was bright and loud and flashy, and Zuko had to stop for a moment to get his bearings.

 "You good?" Cassie whispered, placing a hand on his chest to steady him. "It's okay. Let's just go downstairs, follow me." She gently led him towards the back of this casino. Tim had told them that there was a staircase behind the bathrooms, and the basement was where the auction was taking place.They walked past the doors that said 'men' and 'woman' and opened the third door, revealing stairs going down to a concrete basement. "You okay now?" Cassie asked as they began to descend. 

 "Yeah," Zuko grunted. "I'm fine." They walked down a dark and damp hallway, a stark contrast to the bright lights and clean floors of the upper floor. The reached a huge room with a wrap around balcony overlooking the bottom floor. Many people, all wearing masks, were crowded together. 

"It's about to start, Mr. Henry," Cassie said. "Let's go sign in." The pair walked through the people until they reached the stairs leading to the bottom floor. Arms still linked, they walked down the stairs. 

"There's a ton of people here," Zuko mused. "I wonder what they all want to buy." 

Cassie shrugged. "Drugs. Artifacts. Who knows." 

They made their way to the middle of the throng of people and sat down in two of the chairs. The auction started soon after, and the words the auctioneer was saying sounded like white noise to Zuko. Finally, twenty minutes in, Tim's voice in his ear made Zuko flinch. "Magyntite is next," he said. "Be ready."

Sure enough, the man held up a silver briefcase. "Magyntite!" he yelled. "This drug is like Kobra Venom! Bulk up your muscles, lady and gentlemen. Do I hear... two million?" Zuko raised his hand and the same time another man did. The man glared at Zuko, who did the same.Back and forth this happened, Zuko and this man trying to get the magyntite. In the end, though, Zuko and Cassie got it for $45,000,000.

 "Holy crap," Cassie breathed as they walked back up the stairs. "That man wanted to kill you." 

Zuko hummed. "He isn't the only one." 

Cassie gave him an amused look."Is that so, Sir Henry?"

"Indeed it is, Lady Larissa."

Golden eyes gazed into blue for a second, both having small smiles on their faces.

  "Yo, you guys get it?"

"Uh, yeah," Cassie replied, breaking eye contact. "Yeah, we're heading back now." 

Zuko's face reddened. He hadn't felt any feeling similar to that since Mai, when he was thirteen. He shook his head to clear it. Don't be stupid, he told himself. Don't even go there. No chance of that happening.

"You good?" Cassie asked, raising an eyebrow under her mask. Zuko cleared his throat and nodded a little too quickly.

"Me? I'm great. Splendid. Never been better!" he babbled. "Oh Agni, I bet Kon is going crazy! Uh, let's go see him!" He linked his arm with Cassie's and half-led half-drug her through the club and out the door.

"And the lovely couple returns!" Kon cheered as Zuko opened the door for Cassie. "I missed you! Tim told me I couldn't listen to my podcast because I had to stay alert so I've been bored out of my mind."

"Oh, poor baby!" Cassie mocked. "Do you need a massage and a nice cup of tea?"

"I do, actually."

"Too bad, Superbrat."

 Zuko looked out the window. He missed his uncle's tea.

 Only 11 more months. 

___

The next morning, Zuko, Duke and Damian were at the table eating breakfast. Zuko was about to put a piece of bacon in his mouth when he felt eyes on him. Looking up, he frowned as he met Duke's eyes. "What?

Duke's eyebrows were furrowed in disbelief. "Dude, it's 7:00 in the morning. Why are you already dressed?" 

Zuko blinked. While the others were in their pajamas- Duke in an old t-shirt and shorts and Damian in his silk robe -Zuko was in jeans and a Ralph Lauren button-up, his hair in a topknot. He would've put shoes on, if it weren't for Alfred's no-shoes-in-the-house rule. "I'm used to getting up at dawn and getting ready. It's what I've done for three years."

Duke shook his head. "You're making me feel like a slob, Zu."

 "You will not feel that way for long," Damian spoke up. "For I hear Drake coming down the stairs." 

Sure enough, Tim walked around the corner, staggering to the table. He was in an over sized black Superman shirt and his boxers with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. His long hair was a mess, and the circles under his eyes made it look as though he had been punched in the face.  Alfred pulled out a chair beside Zuko, a cup of coffee already in his hand. Tim stumbled towards the chair, looking as though he was about to pass out. He sat down in the chair slowly, and Alfred immediately put the cup of coffee in front of him. Tim blinked slowly, before picking up the coffee and bringing it to his lips. 

"Well," Duke chuckled. "I no longer feel like a slob." 

Damian wrinkled his nose, scoffing at Tim. "You are a disgrace, Drake. Have some self respect." Tim stared at him owl-eyed in response.

 "Just give him like ten minutes," Duke said. "Anyways! So I heard you went on a mission last ni-"

"Master Duke!" Alfred interrupted him sharply. "Might I remind you the rules of breakfast?" 

Duke seemed to shrink into himself as he answered in a small voice, "No vigilante talk at the breakfast table." Alfred nodded in approval before going back into the kitchen. Duke turned back to Zuko. "Later."

Zuko hummed in response. 

--

As soon as breakfast was over, Duke ran to Zuko excitedly. "So!? How'd it go?"

"It went fine," Zuko replied. "I mean, we went in, got the stuff and got back in the car."

"That's it? No fights?"

"No fights."

"What about Cassie? Any emotions?" 

Zuko coughed, his eyes widening. "What!? No! Don't be stupid!"

Duke laughed. "Dude, you're gonna have to get better at lying if you want to join the business."

"Which could start right now, if you want." Zuko and Duke whirled around to see Bruce holding a cup of coffee. "You've been here for a month. You can fight and you're smart. You're welcome to start training today, if you want."

Zuko's jaw dropped. "Uh, yeah! That'd be great!" 

Bruce smiled."Fantastic. Go get changed into something comfortable and we'll start."

Zuko practically sprinted to his room, but before he could change, his phone chimed.

Cassie Sandsmark: good morning doofus

.Zuko grinned in spite of himself.

Zuko Wayne: good morning!

Cassie Sandsmark: how'd you sleep?

Zuko Wayne: great but i don't know if tim slept at all he's barely alive right now

Cassie Sandsmark: sounds like tim

Cassie Sandsmark: so when u joining the hero business

Zuko Wayne: right now,, I'm about to start training

Cassie Sandsmark: YAY TELL ME HOW IT GOES

Zuko Wayne: of course

__

Training, Zuko decided, was difficult. It'd been a month since he'd started, and while he was improving, he was sore and sick of computers. 

"If I have to break another one of Tim's codes, I'll kill myself," he groaned, flopping on to the couch beside Damian, who nodded. 

"Every time Drake speaks, I want to kill myself." Zuko eyed him wearily.

"That's harsh."

"Such is reality." Damian flipped to the next page of the book he was reading. "So, your first patrol is tomorrow?" 

Zuko grinned."Yeah. I'm so excited." He sat up, cracking his knuckles. "Gonna be a blast."

"Are you finally adequate at lying?" 

Zuko winced. "It took me a while but yeah, I got it."

 "Good. We cannot have you exposing our secret." He looked up from his book. "Christmas is next month. Pennyworth instructed me to inform you that he needs a list of what you wish."

Zuko groaned. "I have no idea what I want."

"Well, figure it out," Damian replied. "Because if you do not, I'll have to listen to the complaining."

__

It was the night of his first patrol. Zuko turned to the mirror. His suit was a black kevlar lined jumpsuit with an obsidian utility belt and combat boots of the same color. There was a blue bat symbol across the chest, and a demon-type stage mask of the same color on his face. He looked at the blue gauntlet on his wrist and flexed his arm.

Dick whistled lowly. "Lookin' sharp, Zu."

Zuko grunted in response, but he couldn't stop the corners of his lips from twitching upwards.

"Good to see you suited up," Bruce said as he saw his son. He turned to the Bat Computer and typed something in. "Alright. Nightwing and Robin, you take the east side. Red Hood and Black Bat, you take the west. Red Robin, you take south. Blue Spirit and I will take north."

"You got it, boss man," said Jason with a mock salute. At that, the vigilantes headed out.

"Remember," Bruce began as he and Zuko got into the Batmobile. "Code names in the field." Zuko nodded.

"I won't forget, Batman."

"Good to hear, Blue Spirit." 

After a few minutes if driving, Oracle spoke. "Croc is robbing a store on the corner of North and Order," she said. "Blue Spirit and Batman are closest."

"We're on it," Bruce said, and sped up. 

They reached the corner in five minutes, and jumped out of the car. "Croc!" Bruce yelled.

A huge reptilian humanoid turned toward the voice, and smiled. "Batman!" he chirped. "And who's this?"

"Blue Spirit," Zuko said stiffly. 

Killer Croc chuckled."New kid to destroy? I love that." 

Croc rushed him, snapping his jaws viciously. Zuko jumped into the air, doing a flip over the creature. Fire blasted out of his elbow and he punched Croc in the snout as he turned. 

Croc stumbled back. "Igniting your elbow to increase the force of your punch? Smart. Not smart enough." He ran towards Zuko again, claws outstretched, moving at inhuman speeds. Zuko ducked under his claws and gave an uppercut with the same advantage into his stomach. Croc was thrown into the air by the force. Before he could land, Zuko sent a blast of fire at him, engulfing him in flames. Croc screamed and fell to the ground, charred and smoking.

 "He's still alive," Bruce said gruffly. "Not bad. I'll call Gordon." Zuko's chest swelled with pride, but he simply nodded. 

"There's a robbery at the R&D center of Enterprises," Oracle said suddenly.

"Blue Spirit and I are going to check it out," Bruce answered.

"10-4," Dick replied. "Call if you need backup." Bruce grunted in response and, gesturing for Zuko to follow, jumped back into the Batmobile before speeding off.

"R&D?" Zuko echoed what Oracle had said earlier. "What's that?"

"It's the Research and Development Center," Bruce replied. "It's where we store Batman Inc. tech that's still in production."

"Oh."

“That's right. If anyone succeeds in getting their hands on what's in there-"

"-They'll get their hands on everything." Zuko bit the inside of his cheek. "It's fine. We can do this."

A hint of a smile ghosted across Bruce's lips, so small that Zuko wasn't sure if it'd even been there in the first place.

__

The Research and Development Center of Wayne Enterprises was primarily used to develop advancements in technology. These advancements ranged from more effective cancer treatments to new engines for vehicles.The blueprints listed the building as being eight stories. Unbeknownst to the majority of WE's employees, there was a basement. A basement hidden far below the actual building, so far below than an express elevator was needed. This basement was where the technology for Batman Inc. was developed.

Unlike the secret basement of Falcone's club, this basement was in pristine condition. It had a hospital feel to it, with white flooring, walls, and ceiling. 

Bruce and Zuko had just grappled down the elevator shaft was landed at the end of one of the basement's hallways."The only alarm that's been triggered was the entry alarm," said Bruce. "The rooms where the... merchandise are kept have separate alarm systems. Can you tell me what this means, Blue Spirit?"

"The intruder either doesn't know what exactly is down here, or they just haven't managed to get into the rooms yet." Zuko frowned. "Wait, if they figured out this place was here then that means they definitely know what's down here. So then they haven't found the location of the 'merchandise.'"

"And you believe that to be the most probable scenario?"

"Well... yeah. I mean, unless they managed to bypass the alarm system. But that's impossible, this place is un-hackable ever since that incident with Ra's al Ghul. The security system is invincible. Right?"

"Rule of thumb, Blue Spirit," Bruce grunted, raising his arm closer to his face to he could activate his gauntlet. "Nothing is invincible. Everything has a weakness. Some are harder to find than others, but the only thing that is truly invincible is God Himself. And I don't think He would have any reason to break into Wayne Enterprises."

"Okay, but they tripped the alarm when they came in," Zuko pointed out. "So they must not have been able to hack the system."

"Unless they want us here."

Zuko sucked in his teeth. "So that's what you think? This is a trap?"

"It isn't a trap if we know about it," Bruce countered. "Here, I'm pulling up the motion sensors." Sure enough, the holographic screen coming from the gauntlet showed motion in room 121.

"Is that one of the rooms?" Zuko asked. 

Bruce nodded."Yes." He and Zuko started to run in the direction of the before mentioned room. "There's very dangerous technology in there. We need to stop this intruder now." The two were sprinting, taking twists and turns through the winding hallways until Bruce stuck his arm out, signaling for Zuko to stop. In front of them was room 121, the door ajar.

"Holy crap," Zuko whispered. "They hacked us."

"They hacked us," Bruce echoed. "And now they're going to pay. Manuever 13. Be cautious." Bruce rolled a metal ball into the room, and it exploded into smoke Using the smoke as cover, Zuko and Bruce dashed into the room. 

Using the heat signatures to see through the smoke, Zuko jumped forward, swinging down his broadswords in arc. His eyes widened as they hit air; the person had disappeared."What-" he broke off as someone landed a hit to his spine. Zuko whirled around, kicking out at his attacker, yet his foot hit air as the assailant dodged again.

"A teleporter?" he muttered. A laugh hit his ears, and the assailant landed another hit to the back of his head. Zuko tried to return the hit with one of his own but, of course, he missed.So far, Zuko noticed, they were teleporting closely around him. They were staying in close proximity with him. It would be hard to deduce where exactly they would strike, unless he limited their options.

Zuko stomped on the ground, and a ring of fire flared up around him. The attacker led out a gut wrenching scream as they were caught in the flames.He caught a glimpse of a person in a black suit clutching their arm before they teleported above his head, aiming a dropkick above him.

 But Zuko had anticipated this. He grabbed their leg from above and slammed them on the ground. They landed with a crack and coughed.

"You just broke my spine, you asshole," the person wheezed. They were still now, and Zuko could see she was a girl with long brown hair in a wine-colored robe. 

Zuko gulped, forcing down the rising panic at the girl's words. "Maybe you shouldn't have tried to break my skull."

The girl shrugged. "Just following orders."

"Who are you!?" Zuko snarled. "Tell me! Who are you and what do you want with this technology!?"

"Well, if you must know," the girl said, pain evident in her voice despite her calm tone. "I am but a servant of The Lady of the Dual Skies."

"The Lady of the Dual Skies?" Zuko echoed. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing's taken," Bruce said as he crossed his arms from where he stood behind Zuko. "Nothing has even been tampered with. You clearly weren't looking for anything here. So what did you want?"

"The Lady does not permit me speaking with anybody but you." The girl was speaking directly to Zuko, not sparing Bruce a glance. "She has something she wishes you to know."

Zuko narrowed his eyes behind his mask. "And what would that be?"

The girl grinned wickedly. "She says she'll see you soon."

With that, a portal opened up under the girl and she disappeared in a flash of purple light.

[bssaz97]

RWBY Ancestries Chapter 8

I’m back! With a new chapter of RWBY Ancestries! Thank you all once again for supporting this AU and hope you all enjoy this one. I had one of my buddies @laserdog10 help me with the plot for this chapter so by all means go check him out! He does great posts and he’s a joy to have around. But without further wait let’s get back to it!

-Schnee Manor-

Whitley currently had a million thoughts that were running through his mind at this moment. For one, he was apparently running for his life from a group of people he did not know but the one Father had acquainted a few days prior. Secondly, these people seemed to have an objective of being here tonight, but what could that possibly be alluded him. Thirdly and most importantly, he needed to get somewhere safe. During all of this his mother had been leading him by the arm in their escape from their pursuers, who seemed to be catching up to them.

By some miracle they had it to the main stairway of the manor, from here it would be easy to make an escape to the outside where they could call the authorities to rescue them. Both mother and son both started descending the stairs at a quick pace, trying to get to the door before their pursuers could catch them. They were almost free from this nightmare, they only had to reach the door. However, when they both made near to the end of those steps Whitley stopped dead in his tracks. He could see and feel his mother trying to pull him along but his main focus was what laid down in front of them only a few feet away from the base of the stairway.

Whitley: “F-Father...”

Whitley looked on to see the still figure of his father, Jaqcues Schnee, laying in a puddle of his own blood. The man who had not a few hours ago smacked him across the face, who expected to be shown respect by him and others at all times and seemed untouchable was now laying on the floor dead. It was a surreal experience to take in and honestly disturbing, to have talked with the man one moment and then find them dead at your feet the next. He could still feel tugging on his arm and has seemed to harshly pull on it now. What was he doing again?

Willow: *Faint* “Whitley, we need to hurry! They’re coming!”

Whitley: “...mother...?”

The moment was broken when Whitley and Willow both are tackled to the ground by their pursuers. On his right he could see that the man in a ponytail had gotten his mother to lay down on the floor, pressing her face against the pristine flooring tile. On his end things were not that much better, he was pressed down in the same position but feels a pressing weight on his spine that does not feel like a human leg should feel like. He could also hear the sinister cackling of the man whispering about how ‘pretty’ his mother looked, and things he was most certain would not sound in any way flirtatious to a woman. As if to add insult to injury they were faced towards the main doors, just to remind them they were so close to escaping this nightmare, with Father’s corpse just lying there in front of them.

?????: “Hehehehehee! Oh how fun this is! Not only do I get to kill one Schnee today, but I can get a triple kill in the same day.~ I bet Ironwood would just eat that all up!”

?????: “Enough Tyrian!”

Whitley and his mother turned to the right as they heard the footsteps of the two other intruders join up with their pursuers. The man who he recognized as the mustached stranger along with a green haired girl. She had her pistols in hand and walked up to stand by his silvered haired captor. When the tall mustached man walked in front of them, then kneels down so that he is eye level with the two of them. He takes a look at him for a brief moment then dismissively turns away to look towards his mother, who he sees look at the man with look of shock, distress and ...familiarity.

Willow: “A-Arthur...you’re alive?”

Arthur: *smiles* “Hello dearest Willow, it has been quite sometime.”

Willow: “But...James told us that...you had died.”

Arthur: “A greatly exaggerated rumor. Then again I did want the rumor to be convincing. I’m sorry if these two caused you any serious pain, they’re not to most gentle of colleagues.”

Willow: “Arthur...why? Why did you do it?”

The lanky man, who Whitley now knows goes by “Arthur”, stared at his mother for a long pause without reply. He seemed to be thinking about what to say to her as if he cared about her opinion of him. This puzzled Whitley because normally his mother never seemed to look at someone with such familiarity and concern. Then again Whitley has never seem his mother sober long enough to really know who she knew personally or by acquaintance. Everything about today seemed to be turning inside out for him. Firstly his father was killed, secondly his home was invaded by intruders who seemed to do them harm, and lastly not only was his mother conscious of the whole situation but was also familiar with one of the intruders in their home.

Arthur turns his gaze over to him and the expression he got from the man was a cold, stone face that showed no emotion or remorse but seemed to be analyzing Whitley like a scientist would analyze a specimen. It gave Whitley chills down his spine from how such a man could look at him with such a lack of empathy. This brought back to his mind the first time he saw this man visit his home, he said ‘evening child’ then practically walked himself right in, like he was a family friend that didn’t require a invitation to enter his family’s home. He asked and later questioned Father about this man but he received none and was told to never mention that he was ever here. Now he was beginning to understand why.

Arthur: “I suppose this is your son? He looks a lot like you my dear. I bet this is quite confusing for you to understand any of what’s going on so I’ll be brief to the point. I require suitable means of transportation for myself as well as my colleagues here. I seem to remember Jaqcues owning quite a few of these ships in stock, but unfortunately we came to a...disagreement.” *he shrugs*

Willow: “So you killed him...” *she voice faint*

Arthur: “To be fair I asked nicely.”

Whitley: “You’re a murderer!”

Arthur: “That would be a word for it. But to be fair to my colleague here he did do most of the messy work.”

Whitley: “You won’t get away with this! We have a security detail and when they arrive-!”

Arthur: “Oh but of course! The security team, how can I forget about them. They were a wonderful bunch of fellows, a shame they won’t be coming anytime soon. You should really send some wine bottles and a gift basket for all their families and loved ones. Again, you can thank my two colleagues here for that.” *gestures to the two holding both of them down*

Willow: “Arthur how could you-?”

Arthur: “I do apologize but I’m sort of in a short pinch of time at the moment, so if you would please I really must need that ship right now.”

*Gurgle! Cough! Cough!*

A momentary pause spread over the group and the intruders and residents look ahead of them to see the presumed dead man Jaqcues Schnee heaving and choking on what was his own blood.

Arthur: “Jaqcues you’re still alive? Tyrian, I thought you killed him!”

Tyrian: “I did!” *hissed angrily but seemed also as confused*

Arthur: “Well it appears you did a very piss poor job of doing it.”

Tyrian: “Well he should’ve been dead by now! I injected him with enough poison to put down a man twice his size!”

Jaqcues: “*spits!* Do...you..really think...this is...the first time...a Faunus has tried to poison me...in my own home?”

Arthur: “‘sigh’ have to do everything yourself. Excuse me a moment dear, I just need to take care of a pest.”

Arthur gets up and walks towards the bleeding out Jaqcues, the weakened man trying to back away but the pain of his stab wound overpowered and is unable to flee from his imminent demise.

Jaqcues: “w-wait! Arthur...we can...be reasonable-Gah!” *clucking his lower abdomen, which was in a deep scarlet on his normally white suit*

Arthur: “The time for being reasonable is over Jaqcues, I gave ample opportunities to be reasonable but you seemed deadest on ending our arrangement. It’s a shame really, all the good we could have done for Atlas if you had just kept your nerves in check.” *Points his revolver towards Jaqcues face*

Jaqcues: “Wait! Please...I can still be...useful...You want a ship? Fine! It’s yours....just please don’t kill me!”

Arthur: “You know I would have considered that hadn’t been such an ass earlier. Besides, you know too much. You’ve seen mine and my colleagues faces, and I cannot afford to have James knowing about my involvement here.So...”

Jaqcues: “Wait! You...want my silence...you can have that too! I won’t say a word...to Ironwood...I never really liked him anyway! ‘Cough! Cough!’ In fact if you want...the scene to be convincing...I can just say some...White Fang thugs attacked us! He’ll...eat that up, you know how...paranoid he is! ‘Breathes’ If you want it to look convincing...you can have your people kill my wife and son there...make it look real!” *he explains while nervously laughing*

Willow/Whitley: “What?!!”

Mercury: “Shit. He’s giving my old man a run for his money.” *he whispers*

Willow: “Jaqcues you-you’re just going to have these people murder us!”

Jaqcues: “You...would only talk! Don’t think that...I don’t know about your little secret surveillance system all around the house woman!”

Arthur: “Did you say secret surveillance system?”

Jaqcues: “...Oh dear.”

Arthur: “Well I think that statement just cemented your family’s fates Jaqcues. Thank you for giving me an excuse.”

Jaqcues: “Wait! Please just spare me... they’re unimportant! I swear I won’t say a word!”

Willow: “Jaqcues! I can’t believe you! You-YOU!”

Whitley: “-motherfucker.” *shakes*

Willow and Arthur stared surprised at the boy’s voice cutting in, but none more so surprised than the bleeding man on the floor who Whitley directed his outburst towards.

Willow: “Whitley...”

Jaqcues: “B-Boy...what did you just-?”

Whitley: “You fucking piece of shit. After everything...after all these years of kissing up to you, I thought you would at least have some semblance...some, some form of love and affection for us. I thought you cared about us deep down! But now, now I can see that all of that was just the wishful thinking of an ignorant boy who thought that despite the beating, the manipulation, there was some care in your actions. There’s no love in your heart, maybe there never really was to begin with! Jaqcues Sc- no, calling you a Schnee would disgrace the name you claimed to gain. Jaqcues Geles, you sir are a motherfucking, child beating, clip on tie wearing piece of shit! And I hope. YOU. ROT!!!”

Whitley finishes his venting and starts breathing in and out. This was probably the first time he’s ever actually stood up to his father in...ever really. His only regret wasn’t doing so earlier. He felt...weightless.

Arthur: “Are you done? Good.”

*BANG!*

That weightlessness was then quickly replaced with the gravity of grim reality as he witnessed this man named ‘Arthur’ shooting his father in the head. Whitley begins to notice that a few drops of liquid make contact to his face. He does his best not to think about where it came from, even if he has a good idea. Willow on the other hand was speechless at what she had witnessed, Arthur had mercilessly killed a man. True she no longer held any love or sympathy for Jaqcues but to witness the man be killed in such a manner, in front of his child no less...it struck something in her.

Mercury: “The hell Doc! You couldn’t use a normal dust round?” *wiping specks of blood off his face*

Arthur: “Time is of the essence. Now, where were we?”

Whitley: “...you are really going to kill us.” *his voice so faint one could barely hear what he said*

Arthur: “‘sigh’...I don’t expect you to understand any of this boy, but her Grace is on a mission looking for someone in this kingdom tonight and I have no doubt in my mind that she will do her upmost to find them. Even if she must tear down or burn everything in Atlas and Mantle in order to do so. Honestly, killing you right here and now...is a mercy.”

Willow: “Arthur!” *she pleades once more*

Arthur: “Willow I take no enjoyment from this, I can only promise that it will be quick. I am sorry it’s come to this.” *he aims his revolver at her son*

Willow: “...I’m sorry too. Old friend.” *a glowing glyph appears under her hand*

Arthur: “..! What?!”

Before any of the intruders could react, a massive glyph appears under their feet and then suddenly a glowing white Nevermore appears and with its powerful wings flings their would be executioners off herself and her son. Arthur and those with him are flung across different sides of the room while he himself is hurled at the front door, nearly causing the frame to crack. The Nevermore* cries out, ready to defend its master having been dormant for so long. Arthur is surprised when Willow gets up, her eyes cold towards him. Then she turns to look upon her son.

Willow: “Whitley, I need you to get up my child.” *speaks in with a firm voice*

Whitley hesitates but ultimately does what his mother asks of him. He’s never seen her use a summoning before. In fact he never knew she even could! He always assumed she was like him and Father in not having her aura unlocked but what he was seeing definitely shows he was wrong. His mother had use her semblance, the Schnee family’s semblance, to save them both.

Willow: “Whitley I need you to listen to me, do you remember where the emergency scroll is in Jaqcues’ study?” *she asks*

Whitley: “Yes I do. But why-?” *confused*

Willow: “My child, I need you to go find it and call for General Ironwood. Ask him for help. Can you do that?”

Whitley: “What?! But-!”

Willow: “There’s no time Whitley! I need you to go find that scroll and call for help! I can occupy them but you need to go!”

*BANG! BANG!*

*Twing! Twing!*

The Nevermore summon blocks the shots that Arthur fired at them once he heard of their plans. Arthur curses this chain of events and continues waits for the opportune time to attack. He looks towards Tyrian, where the the Faunus assassin meets his eyes then he smiles wickedly, eager to even up his kill count.

Tyrian: “hehehehe~”

Whitley: “Mother I...I don’t think I can...” *he feels unable to move his legs from sheer terror*

Willow: “Whitley please.”

Whitley: “I’m afraid!”

Willow: “If you run you have a better chance at living, now go! I know you never had any reason to have to listen to me before but listen to me now!” *she turns to look at her son*

Thhat was a mistake. With her gaze momentarily on her son, Arthur was able to fire three shots that the Nevermore summon blocked but this also allowed Tyrian the chance to charge at them. He was able to slip under the Nevermore by sliding on the pristine tiled floor. Willow looks back and sees the crazed Tyrian close in on her, his smile wide and his eyes changing from golden color to a glowing purple, he draws his hand forward in a forward arc motion towards Willow. With short time to think she summons a Glyph in front of her. Upon making contact, she is shocked to see Tyrian as uses only his glowing purple hand to tear through the Glyph like it was merely cloth! Once the Glyph breaks apart, Tyrian continues his assault by hurling his left arm, his weapon deployed and ready to taste blood. Willow upon seeing the incoming strike she calls forth a second Glyph in place of the first and upon contacting with Tyrian’s weapon forces the assassin back as he is forcefully pushed back, the soles of his boots creating a screeching from the tiles of the floor. He looks to Willow with surprised but reverts back to his sadistic expression then proceeded to laugh disturbed gleeful way.

Tyrian: “My, My! Looks like you will be a lot more fun than your husband ever was! I wonder where all that fight was hiding before~ By all means...”

Tyrian deploys his second set of blades on his left arm before he bending his knees and then pounces into the air and closes in on Willow.

Tyrian: “-SHOW ME!!!”

Willow: “Whitley! RUN!”

Willow summons two more Glyphs, one to block Tyrian, stopping him once more and another under Whitley’s feet. Then suddenly Whitley feels a pushing force that sends him back towards the top stair case. He lands with his torso down before he follows over to look back in the direction of his mother, where he sees her doing her best to keep Tyrian occupied with the assistance of what he could only guess was a Grimm Knight? It looked awfully familiar to the statues that were placed at the bottom of the staircase. Were those based on Grimm?

Now wasn’t the time to think! This was his chance to escape and call for help! But Whitley looks back at his mother, his sole remaining parent, as she prevents anyone from getting past her. She was fighting...to protect him. His legs suddenly began to regain strength and with it he uses his arms to push himself back up and his legs to kick off the ground as he runs back up the remaining flights of stairs towards the left wing. Towards Father’s study!

Running with purpose, Whitley escapes out of the sight of Arthur and he starts losing his normal composure.

Arthur: “Damn it all! Sustrai! Black! I need you to-!”

Arthur turns to fing that both of them had left his side and after looking around he cannot see where they had gone. Did they runaway?! But after a second look, he looked past Willow where he sees both Emerald and Mercury had reappeared and started towards the direction of the boy. How did-? After a moment of thinking Arthur deduced that Emerald had used her semblance on both herself and Mercury to sneak past Willow while she was distracted by Tyrian.

Arthur: ‘Clever girl...’

Arthur returns his attention to the battle at hand, taking aim with his revolver towards the Nevermore summon and selects a Explosion Dust round.

*BANG!*

- To Be Continued -

A/N:

* Yes, Willow is able to summon a Nevermore, does this mean the DC Comics are canon to this AU...I don’t know but probably not.

1) I haven’t personally read any of the comics so I don’t really have an opinion on the story of them. If you like em that’s great but unless we something from the comics be mentioned back in the show it’s pretty much else world for me.......also talking bird form Raven. CA-CHAW!!!

2) I know I have hated on the art of the comics in the past (come on, they don’t even keep the way the characters are designed consistent) but I did like that Willow was able to use Glyphs and Summoning so I decided to include that. My AU fight me XD

Ok I would like to say before you all roast me on a pike for yet another cliffhanger after a such a long hiatus on the story, there’s a part 2 that I’m currently working on and will finish soon! (I promise I’m not gonna leave you guys hanging, especially you @thehtg-therealone) I really tried fitting everything into one chapter but I got very creative with the dialogue this one and couldn’t be satisfied with concluding the chapter here....... Except I am by ending the first part here instead of shorting the story or going to one of the other main characters perspectives. Where was I going with this?? Oh yeah, I appreciate all of you being so patient in waiting for me to update and after I complete the second part of chapter 8 we will return to the (J)NPR’s perspective. So there’s that to look forward to y’all! Again go support my buddy @laserdog10, he helped tremendously with this one and I owe a lot of the storyline to him so go ahead and give him some love. Take care you guys and be good people!

[archdukecaleb]

Freezerburn Week 2020 — Day 7: Free Day

Word Count: 1545

Yang Xiao Long was at the top of the food chain. She was the most popular girl in school, had tons of friends, and was the captain of the volleyball team. Everyone loved her because of her kind heart and willingness to help others. There was a running joke within the walls of Beacon High that compared her to being “the mom of the high school,” all because of how much she genuinely cared about everyone’s wellbeing.

She was superb at making new friends and being the light that brightened up everyone’s day. Her best friend, Blake, and her sister, Ruby, always said she could have whomever she wanted from the school if she would only show interest in them. Yang always thought they were exaggerating, greatly.

Regardless, Yang did not just want anyone from the school. She wanted the right person for herself. Someone special that was complex and interesting, who has more to them than can be seen initially. She believed she knew exactly who that person would be after first meeting her at the beginning of this year.

No one could say they were surprised that she managed to make nice with the infamous Ice Queen of Atlas. Yang always hated that nickname.

It was not the poor girl’s fault she was a little shy; aloof, even. Just because she never spoke to anyone and kept to herself, she had gained the reputation of being a cold loner. Rumor has it she curses everyone’s name behind their backs and has been plotting against them ever since she transferred from Atlas Academy for Girls.

Yang had debunked these rumors early on. She had never believed them to begin with. After talking to the girl for a few weeks, she had learned much about her. She learned she was not a hateful person with a personal vendetta against everyone, but a normal, teenage girl who was trying to find her place in the world like the rest of them. And her name was Weiss Schnee.

But, despite knowing more about Weiss, she still remained as mysterious as the origins of that scar over her left eye.

Yang could tell, ever since they started talking, that Weiss had a hard time growing up.

She would always try to change the subject when their conversations steered towards that time of her life, and she always became really uncomfortable when the topic of family was brought up.

It was after that when Yang decided to make it her personal mission to make Weiss laugh at least once a day. Many days, she was successful, but there were still days where she could only try her best. She was almost certain she was Weiss’ only friend, even after the several months they have been in school so far.

That broke her heart.

Such an amazingly complex person like Weiss deserved more compassion in her life, and Yang wanted to help as much as she could. As time went by, she found herself spending more time by Weiss’ side. She would feel happy when Weiss was happy and sad when she felt forlorn.

Soon, the signs showed themselves and Yang realized what was happening. She had developed a massive crush on Weiss.

Recently, Yang had become awkward around Weiss, which was completely foreign to her. She was always confident in everything she did, but this? The strange feeling in her stomach and sharp increase in her heartbeat were two things she was not used to.

She wanted so badly to delve deeper into Weiss’ story; to be there for her when no one else has, and she knew just the way to get started.

“I’m going to do it, Rubes,” Yang huffed as she walked down the hallway with her math textbook in hand, “I’m going to ask her out.”

Ruby grimaced, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not trying to burst your bubble or anything, but have you ever considered that maybe Weiss actually is as nasty as everyone says she is?”

“Have you actually talked to her?” asked Yang.

“No,” Ruby rolled her eyes, “But only because she refuses to speak to me. I’ve been her lab partner for this whole semester, and I still don’t know what her voice sounds like.”

Yang stopped and faced her younger sister, “That’s just because she’s… reserved.”

“Yang, you could’ve had literally anyone! Why did you have to choose her?”

“I just really like her, okay?” Yang pouted, “Can you just trust me on this one? Please?”

Ruby bit her cheek and sighed, “If you really think Weiss is a nice person… I’ll trust your judgment.”

Yang smiled and patted Ruby’s shoulder, “Thanks, Baby Sis,” she said as they resumed walking, “Now… What the heck do I do!?”

“Can’t you just, I don’t know… ask her out?” Ruby asked, “Just be straight up with her.”

“No way,” said Yang as she shook her head, “Weiss is classy. This needs to be something special, or it won’t work.”

“Um… Give her a flower, too?”

Yang sighed and dragged a hand over her face with a loud groan, “This isn’t going to work, Rubes.”

“Man, when you said Weiss was different, I should’ve believed you,” Ruby chuckled.

“This isn’t funny, Ruby. I want to be with her so bad, but I don’t know if she wants the same with me.”

Ruby pressed her lips into a thin line, “Yang, you are the strongest person I know. Whenever you set your mind on something, you can get it done. If what you said about Weiss is true, she’s just like any other person. For all you know, she could be building up the courage to ask you out too. You just have to shoot your shot, and take that leap of faith.”

Yang let her sister’s words sink in as a wide smile found its home on her face, “Wow, Ruby. That… actually made me feel better. When did you get so good with words?”

Ruby shrugged as Yang let out a chuckle.

“Okay! It’s settled then! I will ask her out!” said Yang, triumphantly as she spotted Weiss organizing things in her locker, “Tomorrow!”

Yang swiftly turned on her heel as the anxious tension in her chest began to expand exponentially.

“Yang,” called an angelic voice from behind her.

Ruby snapped Yang a swift salute and disappeared with the crowd.

Yang cringed and turned around with a toothy grin on her face, “Hiya, Weiss!”

Weiss closed her locker and smiled as she walked the short distance to Yang, “You didn’t come to my locker before first period today. Is everything alright?”

“Oh! Yeah, everything’s cool,” Yang chuckled nervously as her hand instinctively combed through her hair, “I just hit snooze on my alarm too many times.”

Weiss giggled as she reached into her bag, “My calc teacher gave us some candy today. I’m not really a fan of sweets, so I thought I’d take some for you.”

“Oh, cool! Thanks,” smiled Yang as she accepted the candy.

“No problem,” Weiss smiled back, “I have to head to chemistry. If I don’t see you later, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Wait!” Yang blurted, causing Weiss to turn back, “U-um… Before you go, I just wanted to ask you… something.”

Weiss looked up at Yang with a curious twinkle in her eye, “What is it, Yang?”

Yang chuckled nervously as she timidly placed her hand on the back of her head, “I was just wondering if… If you would— um… If you would maybe want to go with me… on a date… on Friday?”

Weiss’ mouth fell ajar as she scrambled for a response, “Oh! Um. Uh…”

“Y-you don’t have to say ‘yes.’ I completely understand if you don’t want to,” Yang added a little too quickly.

“No!” Weiss nearly shouted, “I mean yes! I do want to go on a date with you… But I can’t.”

The brief spark of joy in Yang’s heart was snuffed out.

“Oh… Okay,” she mumbled as she turned to leave.

“Wait!” Weiss called out this time, “Are you free on Saturday? Could we do it then instead?”

Yang’s eyes widened for a moment, “I think we could… Oh, wait. No, I promised Ruby I would watch her track meet on Saturday.”

Weiss looked at her shoes, “Oh…”

A thick fog of quiet formed around them as the rest of the students in the hall flooded into their classrooms.

“Well… Are you busy today after school?” Yang asked.

Weiss flinched, “Um… No, I’m free for the night.”

“Great,” Yang chirped, “So… I’ll pick you up at seven?”

A wide smile slowly formed on Weiss’ face, “That works for me.”

“Awesome,” Yang grinned, “It’s a date!”

The two girls laughed together as the bell indicating classes have started rang loudly.

“Uh oh. I should probably get to class now. I’m already late,” Yang chuckled.

“Yeah, me too,” said Weiss as she tucked a lock of her white hair behind her ear.

“Okay! I’ll see you later!”

“Bye…”

As Yang turned to walk away, she made sure to wait a few moments before leaping in joy.

“She said yes!”

Little did she know, her date had heard her cry, and could not contain the smile that it enkindled.

[kob131]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7txJGzFpifw

30 seconds. That’s how long it took for me to get mad at this review.

“We start the episode post-argument where it’s explained Atlas’ borders are closed. Then the military guards suddenly change their minds and decide the group can speak to their commanding officer, Caroline Cordovon.”

The very first thing about the episode and we already have a problem. 

The guard’s change wasn’t sudden- They changed when they saw Weiss.

Qrow: Hey, if you don't wanna believe that I'm friends with Ironwood--

Both Nubuck Guards: General Ironwood!

Qrow: Yeah, General Ironwood, then fine. But look, we have Weiss Schnee with us and we're trying to get her home safely.

Weiss looks down with reluctance upon hearing Qrow say that. The two guards look to each other before turning their attention back to the group.

Both Nubuck Guards: Approach!

Weiss shares a look with Blake Belladonna, who just shrugs. Weiss then walks up to the gate and the two guards step up and bend down to inspect her. After a moment, both guards stand straight back up.

Both Nubuck Guards: Very well!

Guard Nubuck 2: You may speak with our commanding officer!

Guard Nubuck 1: We will fetch her at once!

Considering her tone and the video title- I expect to at least go a minute without an issue.

“We then spend about two minutes and a half doing nothing as Cordo just says random shit as opposed to saying why the kids aren’t allowed in.”

A. We already know why they aren’t allowed in- They want into Atlas, Ironwood says no. This stated BEFOREHAND. The reason why Cordovon came out was to see Weiss.

Something you’d know if you paid attention before.

B. Cordovon isn’t saying random shit- it’s demonstrating her character which is important since this is the ONLY time we see her before she busts out the mech so we need to know why the character would do it NOW.

Seriously, this is pretty god damn important. Well at least it can’t get wor-

“Then Cordovon drops some odd racism-”

...

All that bitching about the Fanaus not being discriminated against...and how Atlas wasn’t built up enough...this line does BOTH...and gets bitched at.

Are you starting to see why I’m surprised RWBY improves at all?

“Ruby wanders outside to find Maria, who tells her to sit down and tell her about her eyes a bit. Maria spends most of her speech telling us about her backstory and barely touches on the eyes.”

A. Again, character building. Even worse here since the character building is about her father (the previous eye warrior), emphasises that her training and Semblance are more important and explains why the Silver eyed warriors aren’t so well known.

B. She also scolds Ruby for beating herself up over Jaune and Oscar (I skipped over her explaining that because it was worth less than what she says the episode is) which is pretty important to a character like Ruby.

C. About half the talk is about the eyes, she doesn’t just ‘barely touch on it’ since it sets the rules for the eyes (Ruby needs to think about what she wants to protect, only works in presence of Grimm). This isn’t nearly as worthless as you treat it.

“Why start the episode at the conclusion of an argument then just pick it back up immediately? Yang’s line at the beginning must be very accurate because it looks like they saw the kids walking up and closed the gates. It’s just a very clunky way to start the episode.”

... When was it said or shown that the argument had ended? Yang’s line ( Come on! You didn't even hear us out!) can be applied in both situations. While the guards line imply they know why they’re there, thus there must have been a talk,... Team JNPR is there, they can infer why they are there.

“This entire scene with Cordovon is trying so hard to be funny and fails every time. The jokes land about as well as Jaune does-”

Okay, you really shouldn’t make a bad joke when in the middle of complaining about bad jokes unless it’s an intentional example. I know it’s not because you never use it as an example. In fact, I find your joke worse because you do the cringey ‘GET IT?!’ punchline with a weird metal rift in the back so it just...fails at the punchline even though just playing Jaune’s audio in that scene would have actually worked.

“And the pauses for laughter are just filled with utter silence.”

... Did it never occur to you the punchline is the silence? As if everyone is so flabbergasted at Cordovon’s actions no one knows how to act? You really should show a joke instead of talking over it.

“I spend half my time in this scene screaming ‘just fucking go already!’“

That explains your utter failure regarding this scene.

“How did the guards not notice Weiss? Why did they need her to come closer to know it’s her?”

They’re trying to get inside and Weiss never spoke while an angry blonde is yelling at them. People don’t act like computers.

“How does Maria know it’s Cordo who runs this place?”

Maria: Oh, yes. I come through here about once every ten years to get my eyes checked up in Atlas. You bring outside cashews on one flight, and suddenly you're placed on the additional screening list for life!

Where you screaming over this line too?

“Why did she not inform everyone she was utter rivals with the commander they’re trying to work with?”

Ruby: (mouth stuffed) Well... (takes a gulp) We're trying to make our way to Atlas. We'll probably start with the military base.

She wasn’t expecting to deal with her.

“And it takes so long-”

11 seconds. From Maria talking Ruby down (being generous since she bitches about the group guessing what they are) to Maria confirming they’re enemies.

11 seconds. Standard joke procedure too.

This just makes you look impatient.

“Dragging it’s feet as it pretends having Maria yell is the same as having a joke-”

She says as the animation with Maria shows comical facial expressions and the audio implies a random incident with cashews, common joke technique.

This reminds me of something I learned about media and the relationship between creators and audience: it’s a lot like bartering. The creators offer you something you want and the audience pays with suspension of disbelief and patience. Some creators ask too much, we’re well aware of them (like M. Night.)

However, the audience or members of it can also demand too much. Like refusing to accept anything except for a certain thing done a specific way at a specific time or demand stuff not what the creator intends to sell. Criticism videos believe it or not have something similar, offering insight and more for good faith.

Twiinks sounds like she’s being pissy about what she is given in an unfair fashion and because of a lack of insight, I am not willing to give any good faith in turn.

“The only saving grace in this mind numbing mess is the one tiny joke that actually lands.”

... But it’s effectively the same joke as the one you chewed out. In fact, it had more dead air in it than the others. Also since you just showed you have the audio it REALLY doesn’t excuse your lack of examples so far.

“DO SOMETHING!”

They did, right before. You cut out the audio. And this is the same dead air you praised before. 

Do you just not understand how to dissect jokes?

“Why is Maria arguing with Cordovon?-”

They JUST said they hate each other and Cordovon just insulted her. No, I don’t care you said they need to work with each other- You’re demanding they sacrifice character for plot as everyone bitches they do too much plot.

“How does Cordo know they’re connecting to RNJR? She hadn’t seen them in the distance before-”

Dunno, they asked the same thing while acting like they tried to get in before?

“Presenting the only other good joke of the episode-”

THE SAME TYPE OF JOKE YOU CHEWED OUT BEFORE. LITERALLY THE SAME. SAME SETUP, SAME EXECUTION, SAME PUNCHLINE.

“Honestly based on this one joke, it’d be funner to see RNJR interact with Cordo instead of this slog-”

And based on the video so far, it wouldn’t do a damn thing to fix things.

“I just showed you one of the stupidest moments in RWBY history. Let’s break it down.’

Oh this should be rich.

“If this base and that relay tower are so important, why aren’t we looking at them?”

Because the actual focus is on Cordovon’s massive sense of patriotism and ego. In fact, when you look at what she said again-

You civilians are clearly incapable of comprehending the importance of our mission here in Argus. So allow me to say this slowly, with smaller words: This base, that relay tower, the very safety of Argus are all gifts from the glorious Kingdom of Atlas! (a backdrop showing the Atlesian flag waves behind her) And it is my duty to uphold them, as only I have the wit and tenacity for such a task.

The focus is all on Atlas and herself. The relay tower and base are her justifications.

Which is important as these drive her actions later on as she feels slighted by the team and insulted, leading her to act irrationally.

“We’re stuck watching Cordo because...no good reason.”

*taps the section above this*

We’re not even a third of the way into the video BTW.

“Second: this has nothing to do with anything in the conversation at hand.”

You know, other than the good guys questioning her and pressing her to relent when her ego says otherwise.

“Ruby asks Cordo to listen to their request, she says she already heard it, says she’ll explain herself then...just tells us her job.”

And it is my duty to uphold them, as only I have the wit and tenacity for such a task.

This is her explanation. Do they have to have her say “Because I know better than you!” in order for you to understand.

P.S. “Cordo says ‘I’m a General!” That’s IRONWOOD’S rank. Did you do so little research and/or cared so little that it never once occurred to you that made no sense and she was referred to as ‘Special Operative’?

“Protecting Argus isn’t brought up and has nothing to do with getting to Atlas!”

*holds up a piece of paper saying ‘EGO!’ in big bold letters.*

“And this tendency to have Cordo sputter out random bullshit to force unnecessary events persists throughout the conversation.”

And you completely missing the point to obnoxious and I dare say intentional degrees persists throughout everything I’ve seen. And unlike the show, where this all feeds into Cordovon’s character and shows human flaws, you just show immense ineptitude. 

You bitch that this scene took forever but I’ve seen time pass faster watching paint dry than this shit.

“Almost nothing she says can be interpreted as a valid response to what the characters say.”

That. Is. The. Point.

If it’s not well executed- TALK about it’s execution. You’ve gone on for five minutes and yet cutting it would in fact make your video more tolerable.

*shows an example.*

“Cutting out the filler lines about Ironwood being scared prompting her rant shows how none of what she says has anything to do with what the characters say to her.”

... 

The thing that triggered her rant... you cut out. All while trying to prove that Cordovon isn’t listening to them...when the point of the scene is to show she won’t listen to reason...

... You know what? I’m done here. This is so blatantly missing the point that you’re effectively useless.

Twiinks, actually PAY ATTENTION to the show. Your flaw here is that you don’t pay attention (a critic’s JOB) and you keep missing such details (and outright the PURPOSE OF A SCENE) that there’s no reason to listen to you.  You can’t offer insight because you fail to see anything beyond the surface and applying your criticisms would lead to the creators insulting their audience’s intelligence.

Give people like FMF and Vexed Viewer credit- They can at least understand the PURPOSE of a scene. 

You know, the same guys I preach as biased incompetent idiots.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “The Final Word”

Well, we made it to the finale, everyone, and if you're reading this it seems you've survived the watching of it too. Barely. To say that some questionable choices were made across these 20 minutes is... an understatement.

But before we delve into the episode, I want you to cast your mind back to November 7th, 2020. A horrible year that heralded a horrible RWBY volume. There, coming off the shaky writing of Volume 7, I posed a number of questions and concerns that the show needed to tackle, with the promise that we would return to these expectations in four months time. Now, here we are! Let's refresh everyone's memory, yeah?

Taken directly from that recap, what RWBY promised us, through various teasers and Q&As, included:

Emphasis on Ruby’s leadership and how Summer’s death has impacted her

Insight into Ren and Nora’s flaws

May Merigold will supposedly have a larger part

More information about The Long Memory (Ozpin’s cane)

Theme of the volume is that you can respect someone but that doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with them

Very short timeline (supposedly just two days)

Yang in particular is very suspicious and distrustful

And you know what? They did all this. In the spirit of being fair and honest to this show, RWBY succeeded in delivering on everything they promised... it was just our foolishness that expected that these ideas would be delivered well. Ruby's leadership took center stage in the form of her hiding for multiple episodes and then others telling her she's still The Best before the plot dropped a solution into her lap... one she could have used at any point prior to this. Summer's death certainly has an impact, though it's an impact born of a crazy reveal that Summer likely isn't dead, but turned into a horrifying grimm monster. Ren and Nora both delve into their flaws, but heaven forbid either grow from that reflection. Ren learns that if he pushes past his primary flaw of keeping his emotions buried and actually expresses his doubts for once, he'll be yelled at and ignored until he admits how wrong he was. The "real" flaw is being a bad friend, with "bad friend" equaling "Not agreeing with Ruby 100%." Meanwhile, Nora considers that maybe she shouldn't rush in recklessly and hit things with her hammer... which is why she rushes in recklessly, hits something with her hammer, gets grievously injured, and is told that this is just who she truly is. No growth there, not unless we count her sudden desire to figure out who she is without Ren... but that exploration hasn't started yet. Too bad she wasn't the teammate separated at the end of the volume!

Meanwhile, May did indeed have a larger role to play, one I quite liked, it's just that this role — like all the others — inevitably circled back to realizing how wonderful Ruby is. May challenges Ruby to make a decision, but instead of being the catalyst for Ruby's growth, May becomes another forgotten side character who does a sudden about-turn regarding her perspective, leaving the group with the contradictory message that Ruby is actually doing her best, she's just a kid, no need to try any harder... everyone who claimed otherwise up until now was mistaken. May is another Cordovin. She's another Qrow. She's another Maria.

Fun fact: we don't even know if Maria is alive right now. That's how little she means to the show!

Actually, wait... anyone remember this nonsense from Volume 7? 

I was too lazy to change the date.

Moving on, Ozpin's cane turned out to be a stakes obliterating bomb that came out of nowhere, makes no sense logistically — how do battles store energy that only hurts grimm? — yet nevertheless seems to have killed Hazel? It's a disaster of unanswered questions. Similar to the disaster of our two day timeline when, I'm fairly sure, we've had an unnatural number of sunrises and sunsets. I'll have to take a look back at the volume as a whole now that it's complete to be sure of that though. As for our themes... did we really explore the idea of respecting someone even if you disagree with them? Because Ironwood wasn't shown any respect. Ren wasn't shown respect. I think the closest we got was Oscar calmly validating Yang's worry about getting buddy-buddy with Emerald, but the whole point there was that Yang was wrong. She wasn't wrong, but that's what the text would have you believe. She is indeed "very suspicious and distrustful," but that's hardly unjustified in these circumstances. I'm still boggling at the fact that it took the group three volumes for forgive Ozpin, even while he was actively working to assist them, yet I-helped-destroy-Beacon-and-tried-to-kill-everyone-you-love Emerald is the group's new BFF after she... ran away with Oscar? She didn't save him, she just went along for the ride. At the very least we might have gotten a scene where Penny was like, "Hey, why are you all laughing with the woman who just tried to kill my dad?"

But oh yeah, the story doesn't remember Pietro exists either. His daughter is DEAD and he hasn't been on screen since Episode Five, let alone there when she passes.

I had my own list going in, including such expectations as "Ozpin bb you got done dirty please acknowledge this" and "Queer baiting, queer baiting… you’re on thin ice at this point, RWBY. Just skate on over to the queer snack bar before you fall straight into the lake." Obviously these needs were not met.

So what, given this mess of expectations, did we end up with?

Our finale — for some reason — breaks the one word title trend with "The Final Word." It's an expression that refers to the final word in an argument or a discussion, the idea of winning by making a last, devastating point. It can also refer to making the final decision on something, which is the best way I'm able to apply the title to this episode (outside of any “final” comparisons). Penny's death is certainly all about choice and making some kind of decision... but on the whole, this title doesn't feel like it fits well. Not like "Worthy" or "Creation" or "Risk." The two latter titles had obvious connections to the episode in question through dialogue and plot, while the former was a deliberate callback to Watts' speech. "The Final Word" feels... less obvious in what it’s trying to say.

That's a minor nitpick though. Let's get into the meat of the episode.

We open on the grimm whale still disappearing, which is weird. I get that it's massively bigger than any other grimm we've seen, but they all turned to dust near instantaneously and it's been, what? At least an hour since Oscar blew it up? Likely longer when we factor in their walk back to the manor, the fight with Ironwood, fixing Penny, and this entire evacuation. It certainly makes for a nice visual, but like so many details in RWBY, it raises unnecessary questions along the way.

The important bit though is that amidst the whale carcass a blob of evil is swirling about. Salem, obviously. 

She’s not reforming in time to actually do anything though, don't worry.

Instead, we cut to the Ironwood vs. Winter fight and there's at least some dialogue this time. Ironwood yells that he's sacrificed everything to keep Remnant safe. Winter yells back that he actually sacrificed everyone else. Obviously, Ironwood should be called out for things like, you know, his unprompted murders, but instead they have Winter listing stuff that she was never shown to have a problem with before. The embargo? "Squeezed Mantle until it broke?" She, as Ironwood's second hand, understood and supported both the decision to close the border and the need to collect resources for a plan designed to take out Salem. I hate that no only did she turn without an ounce of hesitation or grief, but now they're having her act as if Ironwood forced these decisions on everyone, rather than everyone supporting him through them. We all remember Volume 7 when Ruby pressured him to finish Amity, right? And in trust RWBY fashion, most of these words are meaningless. Mantle "broke"? What does that mean? The class disparity did not come about through Ironwood: that's been in the works for generations. The lack of resources made things harder, yes, but when they were reclaimed by Robyn nothing improved. Watts is the one who turned off the heat and Salem attacked Atlas, leaving Mantle alone. Now, all the citizens have escaped through magical portals. So how is Mantle "broken" exactly? More importantly, why is Winter upset over this vague, nonsensical dilemma when she could be yelling about Ironwood wanting to bomb Mantle?

Again: this woman watched Ironwood shoot the councilman, shrugged, and continued to believe in him up until she realized his bomb threat was real. That was one of the main reasons why I thought the councilman might be alive, with Ironwood only shooting a warning shot past him. Because this is how you react to a good person unexpectedly killing someone else

whereas this is what we got from Winter and Harriet.

Hell, Weiss has more of a reaction to Yang telling Ruby things aren't super great right now.

So either Ironwood didn't do something that bad, thereby justifying these tame reactions (unlikely, given where his character ended up), or we should believe based on the animation that everyone was super chill with him killing an unarmed civilian. Which is then directly contradicted when they're like, "You're going to shoot Marrow? Bomb a city?? How could you do such horrible things??? 😲" Friends, buddies, fictional pals... you already watched him murder a dude.

The point is, there's a lot for Winter to be upset about, but she's not upset about that. There's a lot that Winter herself believed in, but the writing has forgotten that. This entire arc went off the rails a volume ago.

Also, why is Ironwood fighting with that giant gun? This is his final battle, presumably ever, and he's wielding this awkward, sluggish weapon we saw him randomly pick up two episodes ago? Let him use his regular guns! Give us a fantastic battle like he had with Watts! Instead, RWBY's final showdown consists of him using this no-name weapon as a unwieldy club in some of the most boring choreography we've seen to date. It doesn't help that this fight needs to share time with three others. Instead of an epic showdown, we're given glimpses of the battle before continually cutting away from it. 

During that first cut we return to the Team RWBY battle where Penny, doing her best to stay out of Cinder's reach, is whisked away on Weiss' wasp.

Too bad she didn't do that for Yang...

Jaune and Nora watch this horror unfold until Jaune says, "Priority one!" and they split. Except... what is priority one exactly? Helping the civilians? I guess, because they don't enter the fight until the very end of it, when everyone else seems to have made it to Vacuo. And you know what, I like that. For once it feels like the group — or at least the B Team — is acting like huntsmen, putting the needs of the people over their own, personal desires. I'm sure Nora wants to help the group after Yang's (presumed) demise and that Jaune would like nothing more than to get his hands on Cinder, but they put those grievances aside to do the work they signed up for. Good job!

My only real gripe is that we don't really see this struggling in the animation, I'm just assuming it's there. In particular, there's a moment when Jaune sends Nora through the portal for reinforcements — not knowing they can't return — and they seem a little too jovial when, by this point, three friends have died.

There's letting your cast be supportive, and then there's having them ignore that three teammates have perished in an abyss. It really doesn't help to sell the idea that Yang, Ruby, and Blake are in any danger here.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Penny tells Weiss that since Cinder is really just after the Maiden powers, she can buy the rest of the group time to escape. Weiss, obviously, isn't fond of this idea... and then the both of them are blasted off the wasp by Cinder's fire. Which they deserve, frankly. They're just having this casual conversation about sacrifice while in the middle of a battle. Did they somehow forget that Cinder can fly too?

Note that multiple attacks from Cinder, another blast, and a hard landing on the pathway gives their auras a knock, but doesn't break them. The primary defense for Yang's aura shattering in a single, simple hit was that everyone is exhausted and running on little to no power... yet here the rest of the cast is, tanking multiple hits as we've come to expect. There is no explanation for Yang's defeat except that the writers chose to ignore the rules of their world for a dramatic death scene... even though that drama was erased a week later as half our team falls into the void too.

We'll get to that though. For now, Cinder corrects Penny's belief with "I want it all" and proceeds to try to finish them off, only for Blake to arrive, having made her choice from last episode about who to help. It's a legitimately nice attack, but I happened to pause at the bEST MOMENT

Anyway.

We leave that fight to return to Qrow and Harriet who have, off screen, started an entirely different battle. What I mean is, last we saw Qrow had broken through the windshield of the airship, roughly pinned Harriet, and was taunting her about getting the fight she wanted. Now, suddenly, he's going “You’re making a mistake, Harriet, what happened to Clover—” as if he's been trying to talk her down this whole time. It's jarring, especially when we consider that Qrow had a volume long "kill Ironwood" arc that was dropped because... Robyn reminded him that murder is bad? RWBY feels like a storytelling pinball machine. Characters bounce from one personality to the next, one perspective and another, round and round until you don't know where they'll end up.

Harriet screams for Qrow to just shut up already and honestly? Same. I love Qrow, he's one of my favorites, but I can't deny that he's been done dirty like so many others since Volume 6. I love who Qrow was, not the mess RWBY has created the last few years.

Time to delve back into fic after recapping!

Sadly though, this strange dialogue wasn't the only "wtf" moment. Harriet is still trying to drop the bomb — which is its own mess of confusing motivations — when Vine and Elm show up on Harriet's ship. Elm begs Harriet not to do this "because you’re our friend!”

Am I glad that they finally acknowledged that the Ace Ops have always been friends? Sure, but why did we spend two volumes claiming otherwise? They were friends, a fantastic team, then Harriet announces that's a lie and we get a bunch of "Team RWBY is superior because they're actually friends" messages. Except this entire time we're still watching the Ace Ops be kind and playful with one another. But they're not friends, the story says. Not friends as they fight these battles. Not friends as they grieve for Clover. Definitely not friends as they react in horror at Ironwood nearly shooting Marrow. No, there's nothing there... until Elm claims there is! Then Harriet reacts in shock. I have friends?

Except Elm was labeled the one "just following orders" by Yang. Elm is the one who shook off Vine after the whale exploded. This isn't the story of one character, Harriet, thinking she was alone and then realizing that people do care for her, this is a story that, seemingly at random, had this group being BFFs or acting like they hated each other — and at each point the visuals are contradicted by the story's message. When they act like friends, we're told they're not friends. When they don't act like friends, we're told they really have been this whole time. I mean, do any of them even care that Marrow teamed up with Qrow and Robyn to take them out five minutes ago? All three were going along with Ironwood's scheme until they were physically stopped, but now Elm is convinced this is a bad decision she needs to talk Harriet down from with the power of friendship?

None of these characters are characters, they're just slapped together reactions based on whatever the plot needs. Who is Elm? I've got no clue. Her personality changes every episode.

Also, love that Qrow moves to stop the bomb from dropping and Harriet screams at him to "Get out of the way!" rather than just... attacking him? She even throws her hands out like she's having a temper tantrum. This feels like schoolyard bickering, not a life or death struggle.

Even though, you know, the audience is aware that the people of Mantle have already been evacuated and Qrow's group is aware that Atlas is falling on top of Mantle as they speak, so... why does the bomb matter? It's going to, what? Destroy the city thirty seconds before Atlas does? Oh no, the horror.

Things then, if you can believe it, get even worse. The bomb is still about to drop, so instead of doing anything to stop it — I mean seriously, we know it takes four people to shoulder the bomb's weight, but you're telling me Qrow and a reformed Harriet can't snag it in a pinch? — Qrow sits there, looks at Clover's pin... and the bomb careens towards the side of the airship instead, stopping.

Because I guess Qrow has good luck now? Or always did and somehow never noticed it? Or his semblance evolved?? Again, we don't know, but it's a bad moment any way you slice it, imo. Qrow has always been defined as the guy with a bad luck semblance and, much like Penny's android struggles, the allure was in watching him overcome those challenges, not having the show erase the challenge entirely. Especially when we don't even understand how it was erased. Qrow just... stops drinking, stops caring for Ironwood, stops wanting to kill Ironwood, stops causing bad luck, I guess. RWBY takes major character traits and flips them off like a light switch, leaving the audience with no emotional tether. We didn't watch Qrow overcome his drinking, or realize he can't bear to kill Ironwood, or discover a way to live life with the horrible hand he was dealt, he just blinks one day and those things are gone. Why? No one is sure. Not even the writers, I'd wager, because otherwise they would have written explanations into the text.

Many in the fandom insist that any basic information provided by the story amounts to "hand holding" when in fact there is a massive difference between the sort of unnecessary exposition that bogs down a tale, and having facts enough for the audience in its entirety to be on the same page about what is actually happening. For example, recently someone argued strongly that the "Penny is human" take is incorrect because Penny isn't human, she has an inhuman body made entirely of aura... yet where in the world does this exist in the story? Ambrosius may have been unsure about what Penny would be prior to removing her robotic parts, but that ambiguity is gone once her body forms, the equivalent of worrying about that gun only for a flag with 'BANG' to appear instead of a bullet. Worrying about something doesn't mean that something actually occurred. Penny appears human, expresses human sentiments, and then, this episode, dies as a human. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck and succumbs to the mortal peril that all ducks face... it's probably a duck. As I said in a recent ask, I implore the fandom to stop writing RWBY's scripts for them. Or rather, do so in some amazing fanfics. Don't do it on critical posts as a means of insisting that your revision is canon.

So Qrow has good luck now, maybe, but this character change doesn't amount to anything because Watts remotely starts the bomb's countdown.

At least he’s entertaining and competent. We had that for a time. 

Back to the main battle, Neo is kicking Ruby's ass. Why? Because there's no consistency in power levels in this show. The ancient woman who hasn't fought in decades dances circles around Neo, highlighting how weak she supposedly is, yet now Neo dances circles around our main character. None of us should expect fights to follow the logic of the world, only what drama the plot wants to stir up. Ruby is eventually knocked down from a hard hit — yet her aura's intact! — and is saved at the last second by Weiss tossing Neo into one of the portals. 

Far more of a problem than the power leveling is that Ruby gives no indication here that Neo just murdered her sister. Again, that's what the characters are meant to believe, yet Ruby is as stoic as she would be fighting a bunch of White Fang grunts. If you showed this scene to a RWBY fan on its own and asked, "What do you think happened prior to this?" the answer would be, "Uh... nothing? Ruby is just fighting Neo like she did on the airship in Volume 3." Nothing about this scene — from dialogue to animation — sells the idea that Ruby just lost the person most important to her in the world.

When we do finally mention Yang, it's Weiss who goes, “Come on, we have to do this for Yang” and the delivery is... meh. Honestly, I normally don't pay much attention to the voice acting, but I had a problem with most of Weiss' lines this episode. The "Leave her alone!" during this fight and later a "Get back!" as she attacks Cinder both fell really flat for me. Given the devastation and charged emotion that's supposed to be here, we can't give her anything better than generic cries that, again, she’d throw at any grunt? In that later scene the animation absolutely helps sell Weiss' distress, but the dialogue is common and the delivery has no emotional punch, leaving it feeling like Yang is just hanging out in Vacuo and they promised they'd beat the baddies before catching up with her. No one but Blake is acting like Yang died.

In fact, we see more emotion from Ruby when Weiss shoves her back, taking the brunt of Cinder's blast.

Weiss' aura breaks, not that that's a danger or anything. Everyone falls before they're injured, Winter gets the Maiden powers, Ren barely has to fight. Losing aura in this show used to be a moment of peril, where just last volume Winter was bruised, bleeding, and now needs an assistive device because she had to continue a battle with no aura. Now it's a joke. Aura breaks left and right across the volume with no repercussions attached to that.

We see a bit of the Blake and Penny vs. Cinder fight where Cinder blasts Blake off the edge. Penny rushes after her because at least one character remembered that they can fly.

Ruby, meanwhile, remembers that she can fly when it benefits her. After getting hit down onto a lower level and watching Crescent Rose plummet, she taunts Neo into an attack with a move that's actually quite good. I like the confidence with which Ruby riles her up and I like the strategy of darting behind Neo to knock her off the path instead. “Whatever you wanted, I hope it was worth it."

The only thing I don't like is that this speed and ingenuity had to disappear to justify Yang falling.

Cinder breaks Ruby's aura from behind though, sending her over too and grabbing onto Neo's leg. In an obvious moment born of the trope, it looks as if Cinder is reaching to help Neo, only for her to snag the Relic instead. “You should have never threatened me," she tells Neo and to Ruby: "you should have never been born.” 

Love that they erased all that cool growth from last episode! And by "love" I mean "hate." As I said last recap, I'm not going to pretend that Cinder's character isn't riddled with problems, but realizing she was stronger by teaming up with Neo and Watts was one of the best things they've ever done for her. It made Cinder dangerous again and showed Watts' speech having a clear impact. It also made her more entertaining, creating a new dynamic among the three villains. Now though, Cinder is just... Cinder. The same boring, stupid Cinder we've had since Volume 4. She betrays Neo and then later betrays Watts.

So Cinder kicks Neo and Ruby both over the edge because why would we want to make her interesting? Neo falls, but Ruby has friends there to catch her! Unlike Yang. Jk. Weiss’ aura is gone and Blake actually tried both times, so major kudos for her. Using momentum supplied by Penny, she snags Ruby and hooks her weapon into one of the pathways... only for Cinder to cut the ribbon. Both plummet and once again Penny has a more believable reaction to all this, just like she did last week

Speaking of reactions, does anyone else find it weird that Cinder finally succeeded in killing Ruby and... doesn’t seem to care? 

No? Just me? 

At least we get that good animation with Weiss I was talking about before, even if the dialogue is lacking. I love that she snagged Blake's weapon and uses it to try and take out Cinder, shaking the whole time. Those are some great details. 

Back to the bomb, Qrow is trying to escape, but Harriet says there isn't enough time to get out of the blast range. "I've killed us all." Vine has the solution though, using his semblance to wrap up the airship, thus containing the blast when it goes off. His final words are to reassure Elm that he can give his life, "if it means saving all of my friends." Just in case you missed the part about the Ace Ops being super close this whole time. Even though they also weren’t. Trying to eat your cake too, RWBY? 

Frankly, I didn't feel much of anything during this scene, not when Vine made the sacrifice, nor when Elm and Harriet look on sadly while Robyn pilots them away (that's her contribution this episode). 

All I can say is, good on RWBY for not killing one of the three dark skinned characters, or just murdering the Ace Ops as a whole. What the story is going to do with them though, who knows.

Jaune and Nora have that ‘You can do it!’ moment after three of their friends have presumably been killed. I swear, about 80% of Jaune's scenes do not work tonally and oh boy, things only get worse from here.

First though, I like his entrance. He slams into the fight against Cinder and lines up with Penny and Weiss, who is still dual-wielding her and Blake's weapons. That's an epic shot.  

It looks as if they stand a decent chance against Cinder — Weiss' lost aura notwithstanding — except then Cinder's arm starts going crazy and she gleefully announces that Salem has returned.

Working on a time limit now, Cinder unleashes a volley of attacks that Penny steps in to protect the other two from. It's here that Cinder grabs hold with her grimm arm.

It's here that Penny dies. Again.

For the third time.

Friends, I am tired. This moment honestly deserves the most epic of rants, but that, in turn, requires energy. Energy? In this economy? Ha! That's hilarious. Taking this seriously though, the problem here can — as usual — be boiled down to a single question: What was the point?

Penny died in a horrible attack that shook the cast and audience both to their core.

That emotional impact was erased through her resurrection.

The resurrection did not create a new emotional impact for our heroes to grapple with.

Penny is given the Maiden powers, solidifying the fact that she's always been a "real girl."

That lesson was erased when the story decided to make her human for unexplained reasons (because no, she never needed to be human to survive the virus).

Penny then dies, passing the power to Winter... who was set to get the power in the first place.

We have, once again, come full circle. You can take Penny out of the story and nothing changes. Does Ruby lose any lessons or emotional growth? No. Does anyone survive who would have otherwise died? No. Does her getting the powers lead to someone unexpected snagging them upon her death? No. Penny's existence was filler. She was put in the story to take up time and, that done, was removed from the story once again. It's a choice that wouldn't be half as horrible if that filler hadn't done so much damage along the way.

First is the obvious: that Penny didn't deserve this. As a character, she didn't deserve to be brought back just to be killed off again, seemingly without narrative purpose, serving only to draw in viewers who RT knew loved the character. Second, keeping her in the story led to her entire arc unraveling. Initially, Penny died as an android in the world's eyes, but those who actually knew her — Ruby and Pietro — mourned the girl she really was. Now we have this horrible message that being a machine isn't real enough, so she has to die as a human being. It's a disservice to her character and, as an allegory for many minorities, downright insulting to the audience. Third, this offensive 'better to die as a human than live as a robot' message is wrapped up in the claim that Penny finally gets to choose something — “Let me choose this one thing. Trust me” — but she already did that when she chose to take the Maiden powers. We already had the better written version of this last volume!

And the fourth issue...well.  

Fourth and fifth are the real kickers. Fourth is that Penny's death was an assisted suicide. She explicitly asks Jaune to kill her so she can ensure she's thinking of the right person when she passes (never mind that her thoughts would probably be on Jaune while this is happening) and that's... pretty horrible. Look, I'm no purist. I like a great deal of dark, gritty stories whose plot exists to make us uncomfortable. That's a valuable emotion that fiction can generate. The problem is not that RWBY is tackling a sensitive topic, but that they aren’t tackling it well. Yes, they put in a content warning and (from what I've heard) a suicide helpline as well, but providing the already necessary resources is not the same thing as writing that kind of scene with respect and care. All of the above tells us that, no matter what RT may have intended, that respect and care weren't communicated to the audience. Like Yang, they didn't even bother to keep Penny's death within the rules of their world. Jaune is right there ready to heal her and Penny says no, there's supposedly not time.

Um... since when?

Jaune's aura boost is instantaneous. The second he amplifies aura is the same second the healing starts and their talk could have been spent saving Penny. There was certainly time to save Weiss in Volume 5. To have a character go, 'Nah, it's too late' when the solution is right there is the ultimate cop-out. Suddenly announcing that the solution will no longer work For Reasons is not a legitimate limitation and it's made doubly insulting that RT didn't simply use the limitations already available to them. Jaune has been running low on aura since the whale. He then expended a great deal of aura boosting Penny to keep the virus in check. Every other ally has had their aura broken in this fight so, there. That's your solution. Have Jaune take a few hard hits from Cinder, his aura breaks, and then when Penny is mortally wounded he no longer has a semblance to heal her. It's that easy! Yet instead they had Penny reject help so that she could ask to die. That's what's offensive here.

Finally, reason number five... why is this moment given to Jaune? That's another easy solution: Jaune has gone through the portal and can't get back to heal Penny. There. Done. But logistics aside, this scene should have gone to any other character. Who is Jaune to Penny? Or Penny to Jaune? No one! They don't have a relationship. I get that the writers didn't want any of the girls at her side because then it would be hard to justify Penny not passing the power to them (which I get: making one team member a Maiden changes the show drastically), but you know who should be there instead of Jaune?

Pietro.

Pietro, who built Penny as a weapon and who was never given the chance to apologize for that. Pietro, who told Ruby he could only rebuild her once more, setting up an expectation that he'd sacrifice himself for his daughter (despite the complicated racial issues that would bring up). Pietro, who watched Penny plummet and has no idea what happened to her, let alone that she's been made into a human girl. Pietro should have been at her side, saying goodbye to his child and helping her complete her last wish.

And it would be so very easy to pull off. All it takes is a single line where Penny remembers that her father exists, asking Ruby to ensure a portal opens up in Amity. There's a quick reunion along the pathways before Cinder attacks. We hear a cry of despair as Penny falls and she looks, seeing her father racing towards her, though she thought he'd already made it out. There, you’re done. We open ourselves up to a lot of attacks whenever we say, "Why didn't RWBY just do ____?" because those who vehemently defend the writing like to go, "Oh, you think you could write RWBY better?" and no, I don't. I struggle with long-form storytelling and massive casts. I don't think I could do justice to the sort of show RWBY wants to be, but I do think I'm a decent enough writer to spot when there are major problems like this. The question of "Why doesn't Penny remember that her beloved dad exists?" and "Why, out of that massive cast, is Jaune the one to do this deed?" are both things that a newbie writer can spot, and a sometimes okay writer can figure out how to fix them both simultaneously. A good writer will start thinking about themes — what might it mean for Pietro to kill the creation he made? — and a great writer will find a way to pull that off without having that insulting, discomforting feeling pop up. At this point, our RWBY crew feels less like new writers making mistakes (because they're not new, not at all), but rather just writers who haven't bothered to learn from their mistakes after eight years. That's a lot harder to watch.

Because putting Jaune here doesn't just mess with RWBY's internal rules (not using his semblance) and it's not just useless in terms of Penny's development (she doesn't know him outside of "dude who boosted my aura for an hour"), but it also falls back into a pattern I thought RWBY had finally broken from: making Jaune the story's emotional center. This is not the JAUNE show. It's the RWBY show. Yet here, once again, we have Jaune in the spotlight. Why, after a whole volume of Ruby avoiding making decisions, does Jaune finally make the hard call? Why, after a scene where Penny asked Ruby to kill her, does Jaune do that deed? Why, after a divisive arc where all the grief for Pyrrha went to Jaune, is Jaune now set to shoulder the grief of Penny? At least Jaune had a relationship with Pyrrha, even if Nora and Ren did too. Yet with Penny he seems to be there solely because the writers can't bear to keep him out of that center spot for long. All of Team JNOR make it through to Vacuo... except Jaune. Jaune falls into the abyss too because, if the show goes this route, we apparently can’t have a volume just about Team RWBY, the main characters. The main characters are separated from the rest of the team and it's Jaune, not Oscar and Ozpin with a connection to the lore, not Nora or Ren whose development now hinges on them learning who they are without the other, it's Jaune who follows the title characters into a new dimension. 

The issue is not whether Jaune deserves to grieve over the truly traumatic thing he just did now that he’s done it. He obviously does. The issue is the writers setting up a scenario where Jaune is situated to do that emotional work in the first place. 

I like Jaune as a character. I don't like how the writing uses him as a character. RWBY is built on the idea that these four girls are the heroes of this tale, not the expected blond, blue-eyed, sword wielding guy we’ve seen in so many other stories. So why does that guy get the most important scene of the finale? Yes, Jaune had much less screen time this volume than he did in the past, that’s a good thing given the number of important characters RWBY has to balance, but that hasn't erased the problem of him being given significant moments that should be going to title characters. Does Ruby’s team rescue Oscar and take on Salem? No, Jaune's team does. Does Ruby's team save Penny? No, Jaune's semblance keeps her grounded and then holds the virus off. Not everything is a problem — we've also got good choices like having Ruby defeat the Hound and Ruby's team take on Cinder for the majority of the fight — but that doesn't erase that Penny’s death wasn’t something Jaune should have been a part of. Not unless he was going to heal her. Doing better than they have in the past doesn't mean that RT isn't still slipping when it comes to giving him undeserved focus.

They took one of the most controversial characters, controversial because of how much emotional focus he's gotten in the past, and had him help a fan favorite commit suicide while he cried about it, showing more emotion for a near stranger than our title character showed for her sister. This is a character who, up until two or three episodes ago, had no connection to the victim and still has no reason to thematically be the one committing this act. That is why the fandom goes, “The crew loves Jaune and does everything they can to put him in the center of the action.” Ruby, as main character and Penny’s first friend, is the obvious choice here. Pietro, as Penny's father, would be a good choice too. Hell, Nora is a better option given their moment in the Schnee manor this volume. Or Winter given their moments in Volume 7! Have her escape Ironwood, find Penny, receive the powers, and then finish him off. Literally anyone would be better than Jaune, not because Jaune is a bad character, but because Jaune has no emotional stakes here and putting him in a position where he could heal Penny but doesn’t is massively stupid. No one should be surprised that a lot of the fandom is upset about this. It was one hell of a reach to give him this moment and, since Jaune's problem has always been getting too much screen time and emotional nuance compared to our main cast, it's no wonder this act brought up a lot of bad memories. RT fell back into an old pattern after two volumes of improvement and they did so at the worst possible time. 

The tl;dr is that Penny's third death is a writing travesty, just like her second. I shouldn't be surprised, given that this is the same volume that tortured a kid and the only thing they did with it was have him blindly trust his torturer... yet I find myself surprised nonetheless. Because Penny had such potential as an android Maiden and, as much as I personally hated it, potential as a former android learning to be human too. But why explore any of that when you can kill her off instead? Again.

As a final, far smaller note about this scene, we have the continuing problem of what purpose Cinder's arm is serving. If everyone recalls, its threat comes primarily from the fact that she can "siphon off" power from other Maidens.

She did it to Penny during the Amity battle and now she does it again, a great deal of green energy absorbed into Cinder. So what's left to give to Winter? Why doesn't Cinder become noticeably stronger with each successful theft? Like so much else in RWBY, we're told it exists without actually seeing the impact of that. Winter isn't a weaker Maiden for having lost power and Cinder isn't a stronger Maiden for having snagged it. It's just.. there, hanging out and looking vaguely menacing, I guess.

Outside of this unnatural not-transfer, we get to see how the power normally passes as Penny meets with Winter in some in-between place. It's a soft, heartfelt scene... with the exception that Winter says, “You were always the real Maiden at heart. I was just the machine. Just following orders."

I don't know how any viewer can doubt that RT now believes machinery = evil. Penny's machine body is magicked away so she can be a real-real girl. Yang announces that the arm she worked hard to make a part of herself is just "extra." The man with half a metal body is made this volume's villain and losing his second arm is, by the authors' own admission, a symbol of his lost humanity. Mercury with two metal legs remains a bad guy while Emerald and Hazel are hastily redeemed. Tyrian with his cybernetic tail is the most devoted crazy of the bunch. Maria, blind and in need of assistive lenses, is so forgotten by the story she was left in the tundra nine episode ago and won't be mentioned again until next volume (if then). Pietro, the guy in the wheelchair, is forgotten too, despite it being his daughter who dies on screen.

Now Winter, also bearing an assistive device, says that she's the real "machine" here and tells Penny, now human, that she was always the "real Maiden." I don't know what happened to make RT do a 180 lately, but the disability rep is no longer what it was.

Penny reassures Winter that she'll always be a part of her and then passes on, for good this time.

The rest of the episode feels lackluster, if I'm being honest. Images of Cinder beating Weiss are intercut with Ironwood beating Winter, getting her to a point where her aura breaks. 

But then the powers appear and, as we'd expect, she easily turns the tide. 

Gorgeous animation there. 

But RT once again rewrites earlier scenes by having Ironwood claim that the "destiny" he chose for Winter has finally arrived — isn't that Cinder's MO? — and Winter shoots back that he chose nothing, this was a "gift." Except, it was never about destiny or orders? This was why Weiss' anger in Volume 7 was ridiculous. She acted like Ironwood forced Winter to accept the powers and Winter told her point blank she chose this. Ironwood didn't decide anything, he offered and Winter chose... kind of like how Penny is choosing now. I hate how nearly all of Ironwood's character has been ignored or, during times like this, outright lied about to make him seem super duper evil. He tried to bomb a city! You don't need to make him seem evil anymore, that job is done! Like their sudden change regarding disability, RT now seems to be allergic to nuance. Heaven forbid Ironwood be allowed to have valid points like he did in Volume 3. No, if you've got an antagonist every single thing they've ever said must be twisted into a display of their evilness.

Unless you're Hazel, who Oscar trusts for #reasons. Unless you're Emerald, who the group immediately embraces. Unless you're Cinder, who gets to cry on a rooftop and secures the trust of her allies long enough to betray them again.

But Ironwood? Nah, screw that guy.

Salt aside, the fight is pretty boring. Winter literally just throws up a wall of ice and Ironwood's blast rebounds, taking him out.

Winter flies through the portal and we return to Jaune. His sword is broken by Cinder, so weapons should be quite the problem in Volume 9. 

There's a bit of sword vs. sword Maiden battling — this episode really pulled heavily from both Volume 3 and 5's finales — before Cinder gets smart again and attacks Weiss, currently trying to escape with Jaune. Weiss goes right off the edge and Winter isn't able to reach her in time. That's the entirety of Team RWBY, lost to the magical void.

Kudos to Winter's VA and the writing here though. This feels like an appropriate reaction to losing a sister. Screaming, sobbing, falling to her knees and beating the floor... Ruby, take notes.

A roar sounds through all the portals though, the sort of roar a pissed off witch might give. Jaune convinces Winter they need to leave Cinder behind, but before they can escape Cinder... makes a new wish?

Look, it works on all the major fronts. Cinder has the staff, check. We've basically established that Ambrosius can make an unlimited number of things per era, check. We know the previous thing disappears when a new wish is made, check. My only question is the timing. In all honesty, I'll have to re-watch the scene to be sure, but at the time it felt like the portals began disappearing almost the second Cinder left. Did she really have time to summon Ambrosius, deal with his explanatory nonsense, and get him to make a new wish without any fiddly concerns? Sure, fire is just fire, but it still felt like way too much happening too fast off screen.

Either way, the portals are gone and Winter makes it through in time, but Jaune does not. He falls through the void along with Team RWBY. And Neo.

Neo is the only addition I'm looking forward to here.

We get a few shots of our other characters as Winter arrives, saving the day by taking her grief out on the grimm. So glad something came of Ren breaking his aura again! Maybe they'll be more fighting at the beginning of Volume 9? If we see any of this group outside of 9's finale. My worst fear right now is that we'll spend an entire season away from the main action — remember how I said it would be stupid for Team RWBY to go on a side adventure while Salem is attacking the world? — and when they return there will have been some major time skip. Salem has destroyed most of Remnant, only pockets of survivors remain, it's all dark and dystopian... and oh look, every bit of character development happened off screen. How did Nora discover who she is without Ren? She did it while Team RWBY was gone. That merge we've been teasing for five years? That happened while you were gone too and, btw, Ozpin has ceased to exist. So sad, right? Not that anyone will actually mourn. Just take comfort in the fact that his last line was an "Oh no" about Ambrosius and his last major scene was apologizing for how the group treated him. Emerald's redemption? Off screen. Winter's grief? Off screen. Any and every one of these challenging beats to tackle can be waved away with, "We went through that arc while you were lost in the magical realm. Just get to know our new, improved selves now!"

Please, oh writing gods, don't let that happen.

Though I do worry because my last prediction came true.

But we all knew we’d end up here. My current theory? The portal should still be open at the vault. Winter will fight Ironwood, escape through it, and it will close right before he escapes too. He’ll fall with Atlas and everyone will act as if it’s some beautiful, poetic justice for him to perish with the city. 

Ironwood didn't make a break for the portal — too busy being unconscious — but we got everything else. Winter left him, he falls with Atlas, and this is some poetic justice, I guess. Really, it's just an undignified death. I'd hoped for a sympathetic kill, something that showed the characters still cared about him even if they knew Ironwood had to be stopped. Baring that, I'd hoped for an epic battle that took him out with style. Instead, no one even bothers to kill him. Ironwood is now beneath the entire cast, not even worth finishing off. Winter casually tosses his blast back at him and leaves. Cinder throws out a "that's checkmate" and leaves. I don't think Salem even looks at him. Ironwood (presumably) dies with no one and nothing, just a casualty of the city Team RWBY made fall. And I say "presumably" because the audience isn't even given the satisfaction of being sure he's passed on. Like Hazel, Ironwood's death is this weird, ambiguous moment that, based on the other character reactions, isn’t meant to be ambiguous. Is he dead? Most likely. Is it possible, based on what we've seen, that he'll pop up two volumes later like

Yes and, memes aside, that sucks. I don't want to be wondering for the next couple years if Ironwood survived and if they'll bring him back just to drag his character through the mud again. Move on.

But no, we don't even get that.

I've spoken at great deal about Ironwood both in these recaps and on my blog more generally. Last week, I said I'd covered it all and there was no need to rehash it all again. I stand by that, so let me just conclude this travesty with a final note: if your bad guy's final moment is using the last of his strength to point a gun at the actual villain of this story, and you don't realize the problem of how this image contrasts everything else the story has insisted about his character? … I just don't know what to do with that.

Oh, actually, final-final note: Ironwood’s semblance is officially a Schrodinger's semblance. It is both canonical and noncanonical simultaneously. Wooo. 

Cinder tells Salem she used her wish to "add more flames to the first of Atlas" and we cut to Watts, trapped in a roaring fire, unsuccessfully trying to break his way out. Wow, I hate that too! Next to Tyrian, Watts was our last remaining, entertaining villain. He carried a lot of the last two volumes and, I had hoped, was going to add some bright spots to the coming volumes as well. Apparently not.

Just another waste.

In addition to this casual, second murder of her ally, Cinder successfully convinces Salem that Neo killed Ruby and Ruby used the Lamp's last question, but she's back in her good graces since she snagged the Relics anyway. “You’ve done well, Cinder. Our work here is done" and they leave, blasting off like a less cool Team Rocket as Atlas plummets into Mantle.

Let's spend a second to tally things up then, shall we? What happens if Ruby, instead of throwing a moral fit, says, "You're right and we never should have lied to you, or betrayed you. But we want to help now. You get the Relics and the Maiden to safety in Atlas, if you can, we'll defend the people of Mantle"?

Well, they can still tell the world about Salem and call for help, much more easily now since Ironwood would likely just give them the code rather than them needing to spend an episode stealing it.

The Staff at least may not have ended up in Salem's hands and the group could have actually focused on getting the Lamp back (also solved if they'd been smart and just put it in the vault to begin with).

Mantle would still have been safe because Salem was never interested in Mantle to begin with.

Atlas wouldn't have fallen.

Ironwood wouldn't have died.

Penny wouldn't have died.

Even Vine wouldn't have died!

Our heroes unambiguously made the situation worse. Rather than banding together with their allies to fight the real enemy, Salem, they pushed until they made enemies of Ironwood and the Ace Ops both. Then they asked for help — which a pinch of logic said would never arrive — and twiddled their thumbs waiting for it. When it was clear none would come they...did nothing. They sat around, upset that the people were in danger, but not willing to do anything about it. It's only when one of their own, Penny, is threatened that they kick into high gear, hitting on a solution that they could have posed to Ironwood from the very start if no one liked the fly away plan. Yet instead of taking a few minutes to brainstorm other ideas — doing anything other than denouncing Ironwood to the rest of the group and attacking the Ace Ops — they spent two days sitting around, fixing minor messes they’d helped to create, then rushed through the portal plan, messing up the wish and stranding an entire kingdom in a sandstorm, with only Winter now to protect them from grimm.

Fantastically done, team. 

The villains won, yes, but not because the villains were smart and compelling. Watts' hack on Penny and the heat petered out to nothing and Salem... well, she sat around for the whole volume, expending energy only to torture Oscar and try to (unsuccessfully) stop some escapees. Neo and, miraculously, Cinder did the most damage, but only in the final hour, with this "damage" being that our characters fall into a void that we now know looks remarkably like a paradise! Everything bad that happened was a result of our heroes being stupid and stubborn. That's a compelling story to tell... but RT isn't trying to tell it. Our heroes caused so much damage, yet that damage goes unacknowledged — or worse, ignored into silence like with Ren — and everything else is waved away with the magic wand the series claims isn't there. The cold doesn't kill anyone. Oscar has no problems walking off the torture. Nora hops back out of bed. Ruby one-shots the Hound. The civilians lost to the void must have survived too. The entire kingdom successfully makes it to Vacuo... unless you count the massive army we never saw making use of the portals, but who cares about them, right?

The villains won, there was indeed something resembling consequences, but none of it was emotionally satisfying. Not even when the series tries so hard to insist that emotion is there.

Qrow watches Atlas fall, mouthing Ruby and Yang's names, but it's too little, too late. Where was this care for his nieces when he was obsessed with killing Ironwood? When did they care about him? Was it when Ruby shrugged at his arrest, when neither cared that he was missing, or when they were designing an escape plan that didn't include putting a portal where Qrow could reach? RWBY markets itself around the found family-ness of its cast, but they're done a poor job in recent volumes (not others) of convincing me that most of these characters care for one another. We went from Ruby denouncing all adults, to Ruby pulling an Ozpin with Ironwood, to Ruby watching blandly as her sister falls to her presumed death. This is my hero? This is the simple soul we're supposed to rally behind? Ruby doesn't feel like a character who cares about other people anymore and, given that she leads the charge, neither do most of her friends. Or, when that emotion appears, it's jarring and undeserved. Jaune cries over Penny's death? That's tonally and characteristically backwards.

This volume was the culmination of so many mistakes over the past two years. No, Covid couldn't have made things any easier for the crew — the fact that they got a volume out at all is amazing — but the pandemic isn't to blame for the problems in the story. These seeds have existed since Volume 5, with some (like Jaune) going back even farther. I don't think we're ever going to get that flawed, but emotionally fulfilling RWBY back. The show has dug too deep and unless it somehow manages to create a clean slate — those time travel ideas get more and more alluring! — there's nothing they can do but keep on digging. At this point, I can only hope that the series does wrap up within the next two volumes, rather than dragging RWBY to a Supernatural-esque length.

Our final shot of the episode proper feels fitting for what this volume has been. Atlas and Mantle flood rather than exploding, something that makes a certain amount of sense, sure, but definitely wasn't what I was expecting. And after all these shocking images — Penny dying, the grimm attacking, our main characters disappearing in a puff of gold dust — we end it all with bits of random debris. It's strange and underwhelming. Out of everything you could have done with the options you had, you choose to do this?

Of course, RWBY always has an after-credits scene (RIP Raven's, still amounting to nothing). Here, the sounds of water return to show us a beach. Crescent Rose imbedded in the sand, mirroring its classic pose in the snow.  

There's a tree. It's a very different kind of tree from what we saw in Volume 6, but the height and shape is nevertheless reminiscent of Light's domain.

A tree of life, anyone? After all, the group has fallen into a dimension created by a Relic, the gift of Light himself. It certainly seems as if RWBY is heading towards another encounter with the Gods, though what that will look like and how narratively satisfying it will be remains to be seen.

As for our bingo board, RWBY certainly pulled its weight! Only three squares got gold stars: Watts and Jacques didn't manage another team up because both are dead, Oscar didn't apologize for getting shot because he was too busy being tortured, and Qrow didn't drink likely because he didn't have access to any alcohol across the whole volume. Can't say that's a stellar result. The final image is something to behold though lol.

What a mess.

And on that less than exciting note... we’re done. This has been the volume of desertion, with a large number of fans telling me that they will no longer watch RWBY, but baring something entirely unexpected in my future, I'll be back next volume, for whatever that's worth. It never ceases to amaze me that even one person would give these nonsense recaps the time of day, so in all seriousness: thank you for reading. You rock.

Now go forth and fill the hiatus with great RWBY content!

✌️

[elizabethemerald]

Dreams of Drowning: Chap 10

Before they can rescue Claire Jim and his friends need more information. Jim is sent back into 49-B for reconnaissance. He and Claire are desperate to be with the person they love. And the Lake house will receive an unwelcome guest. 

AO3

Please Reblog if you like! Please, please, please!

Jim couldn't help his annoyance as he walked back into his work. He would love nothing more than to never see this building again till they broke in to free Claire. Strickler however had stressed that they couldn't let anyone know that they were plotting something. 

"If you don't show up," Jim could clearly remember his voice. "They will know we know. And the last thing we want is them knowing we know they know."

That had brought nothing but confused murmurs from everyone else. When Nomura had clarified that they didn't want to tip their hands too soon they had finally nodded their understanding. 

Strickler had continued, "You two will be our men on the inside. Gather as much Intel as you can, but keep these with you." He had handed out a bracelet to both Jim and Toby. Hidden on the side of each was a small button. "If you get found out, this will signal the rest of us. We'll do everything we can to get you out of there."

Jim had communicated the plan so far to Claire that night while he dreamed. Then reluctantly returned to work the next day. 

He made sure to document everything he could, taking picture after picture of security cameras, the security guards and anything else he could think of. The one place they had almost no information on was the basement levels, the very levels where Claire was being held. If their plan was going to succeed they needed to know what was down there. 

Toby had volunteered to get "lost" and find his way down there, but Jim felt he had too much to risk. So when he got into work he prepared Claire's food and took it to the elevator himself. 

It was a simple affair to step onto the elevator along with one of the researchers who worked below. They recognized the tray of food going to what they had dubbed "the entity." 

Jim wanted to scream at them. He wanted to don his armor and force them to release her. Claire is a person, he wanted to shout. Not some lifeless thing to be studied! They've been willingly hurting her and he wanted to take revenge on every single one of them. 

With more restraint than he would have thought himself capable of, he did not attack them. Instead he followed them out of the elevator. He pushed the tray down the hall carefully angling the hidden camera to capture everything. 

There were even more security guards down here. Multiple cameras catching every angle. Even the doors down here were heavy metal, with only small portholes. But Jim couldn't risk getting caught looking through them. 

He followed the researcher in front of him to a pair of massive doors. He passed the tray of food off to the security guard at the door. He turned away with more restraint than he would have thought possible. He tried not to let his rage show on his face as he walked back to the elevator. 

Behind Jim, the door that he knew lead to Claire’s tank opened and an amazing melody filled his mind. He recognized it as one of the songs that had been playing on the radio when he had driven Claire to the party. 

As the music overwhelmed his senses he couldn’t resist the urge to start to dance along with the music. Right there in the hallway Jim danced. He was surrounded by staring researchers and concerned guards and still he danced. 

When he turned around he found himself face to face with Dr. Morgan. Her eyes were wide as she watched him dance in place. Even with her right in front of him, the woman who had been hurting Claire so badly and so often he couldn’t resist continuing to dance. 

“I-I-I’m so sorry Dr. Le Fay.” Jim struggled to say. Even as he addressed her he spun in place.  She stared at him for a moment longer than seemed to shake herself. 

"That's quite alright Jim. Step this way, you can dance to your heart's content in this room."

She lead him to one of the rooms with a small porthole window. She held the door open while Jim tried to reign in his dancing. There was a look of wonder on her face as she shut the door behind him. 

 When Jim was by himself he reached out with his mind to Claire. As soon as his magic touched her the music overwhelmed him and he began to dance again. 

"Claire! What are you doing?" Jim called to her. 

"We didn't get a chance to dance at the party and I know you wanted to." Came her reply. Jim couldn't even pretend like he hadn't badly wanted to dance with the woman he loved. "Who knows when we can next dance together. I just want to dance with you."

Jim let the music flow through him, he shut out the room he was in, and in his mind's eye, he could see her there. He danced with her waving back and forth, spinning this way and that. He could feel cerulean flames pouring down his arms as he danced with her. Their magic flowed together just like it did when they awakened his mother's magic. He could feel, as their magic sang through his blood, an answering song. He could feel Barbara's magic join them in their dance, Toby and Darci he could feel distantly as well. 

The two of them danced together as the music flowed and their magic flowed with it. Claire danced in her tank, twirling as much as the chains on her arms allowed, while Jim danced in the room. Even though they weren’t in the same room their dance was perfectly in sync like they were in each other’s arms. 

Eventually Jim stepped back laughing. He could feel Claire’s laugh in his head as well. The music faded from his mind. 

“I love you, Claire.” Jim thought. 

“I love you too, Jim.”

More than the thought, Jim’s mind was filled with the overwhelming feeling of Claire’s love. He matched the feeling, pouring his own love for her into the air. He bowed low to the empty room and felt her bow in return. 

"I'll get you out of here, whatever it takes." Jim whispered. 

He sheepishly stepped out of the room he had been dancing in. However neither the guards nor researchers approached him. A few threw him odd looks but no one said anything. And Dr. Le Fay had disappeared from the hallway. 

Jim hurried to the elevator and ascended to the kitchen level. The rest of the day passed by in a blur, his joy made him feel like he was flying. 

* * *

Jim walked into his mother's house and all eyes immediately flew to him. He paused his hand still on the door knob. Strickler, Nomura, Toby and his mom all stared at him. 

"Wha-?" 

"Jimbo, are you the reason I've had Eres Tú stuck in my head all day?" Toby asked, cutting him off. 

"Or are you perhaps the reason my wife felt the overwhelming need to dance with me to music only she could hear?" Zelda asked. 

Jim blushed up to his ears. "Ah, well that was partially my fault and partially Claire's."

"Young Atlas, I thought I had stressed the importance of remaining unnoticed if we weren't to show our hands too soon."

“I’m sorry-Actually no I’m not.” Jim set his shoulders back. He stared at all of them, but he could feel himself looking through them, looking at the woman in the tank. “I love her. I’m going to do whatever it takes to free her, but if there’s anything I can do to make her imprisonment less awful I will.”

“Jim-” Strickler started but Toby interrupted. 

“Actually that makes a lot of sense.” Toby said. “I felt how much they loved each other during the dinner. If anything like this was happening to Darci I would probably do the same.”

“I-” Walter tried to start again. 

“I agree.” Barbara said, she put her hand on Zelda’s cheek. Dark blue light shone in her eyes and at her fingertips. “I could feel their emotions during the dance. Any small thing we can do to reduce her suffering. I would do the same for you.”

She said the last directly to her wife. Strickler looked between them all then shrugged his shoulders magnanimously. 

“It is clear I am the odd man out. Not just on this matter either. Still we need to begin our discussions about what to do. If we want to be able to free her this year.”

Jim sat on the couch as Strickler pulled up the pictures he had taken. They were so close to a good plan, but it would take time to perfect. But how much time? In many ways he worried about how much time Claire actually had. 

Before Stickler could start his little presentation he got a phone call. He stepped aside to answer it. Barbara dimmed the light of her magic, and Toby sat forward to look through some of the pictures. 

“You found him? Where is he?” Strickler’s sudden shout brought everyone’s heads whipping around to face him. Strickler looked at them, his eyes wide. He hung up the phone. “Bular has been sighted! Heading this way.”

A crash from outside the front of the house brought them all to their feet. Jim had his amulet in his hand, he quickly ran to the front window and looked out, Toby over his shoulder. As they watched Toby’s truck was tipped over on its side. 

“Awe, not my truck!”

Jim pushed past him, throwing open the front door. From the other side of the tipped truck came a familiar figure. Bular still wore his black leather jacket, though he had forsaken his helmet. 

“You’ve gotten strong, but I’m stronger too!” Jim said, holding out his amulet. 

“I’ll carve your spine out! Your mother and her wife too!” Bular roared. 

“I’ll kill you before I let you hurt her again!” Jim held up the amulet, pale blue fires racing down his arms. “Daylight is mine to comma-”

Before he could finish the incantation Bular charged with a roar. Jim didn’t have time to avoid the attack. He took the hit just as his armor finished appearing around his body and was knocked flying backwards. He crashed through the front wall, shattering windows and throwing furniture flying as he slid to a halt in the living room. 

Everything hurt. Jim groaned and felt blood trickle from his mouth. Even with the protection of his armor he could feel multiple broken ribs, and his arm sat at a wrong angle. Each breath wheezed out, and blood foamed at the corners of his mouth when it did. 

“Jim!” Barbara fell to her knees at his side. Blue light flared from her hands and shone from her eyes. “Oh my god Jim!”

Even as he struggled to maintain consciousness, the question whirled around his head. How could Bular be that strong? No human was that strong. Unless… Unless he had taken some of Claire’s magic. 

He could feel his mom’s magic flowing through his body, knitting the wounds back together, fixing his ribs and his arm, pulling the blood out of his lungs. But it wasn’t fast enough. He could hear the crunching of glass as Bular walked into the hole in the wall he had created. He knew he wouldn’t be healed fast enough to protect his mom. 

Through blurry eyes he saw the massive tank of a man step up to her. Barbara stood, light shining at her fists as a shadow extended out from Bular’s body. He reached out a hand toward her throat. 

“Get away from my wife!” Zelda screamed. Then there was a crack and a flash. Bular stumbled to the side. Barbara immediately turned back to Jim and he felt even more of her magic flow into him. He could finally see clearly enough and the ringing in his head faded. 

Zelda Lake-Nomura walked down the stairs with a combat shotgun in her hands. She fired again driving Bular back and away from the woman and step-son she loved. She moved forward pushing Bular out of the house with another blast from the shotgun. 

“Arm yourself old man!” Zelda said, than tossed an assault rifle to Strickler. He caught the rifle out of the air and began firing at Bular as well. Zelda glanced to Barbara. “I told you I would protect you if he ever came back to the house. Now get Little Gynt back in the fight. I think we are going to need him.”

Jim stood up shakily as Zelda and Walter forced Bular back and back again. Barbara helped him to rise, magic still pouring from her hands. He took a deep breath and didn’t feel any more pain from that. He flexed his armored hands, and allowed Daylight to appear in his hand. 

“Where’s Toby?” Jim asked. 

“Right here dude.” Toby pushed aside some of the rubble to get to his friend’s side. “Not to put more pressure on you Jimbo, but Darci is definitely going to kill us both if this bastard kills us.” Toby glanced out the hole as Bular roared. “And bullets don’t seem to be doing much.”

“Well let’s see what magic can do!” Jim stood up and shook out his shoulders, then marched through the hole. 

He appeared just in time to see Nomura roll to the side as Bular charged past her. He slammed his hand into the ground, tearing up chunks of the street to stop his charge. He roared again as he turned to face her, while Jim walked up beside her, Daylight in his hand. 

Now that Jim could see him clearly he could see there was something very wrong about the other man. His eyes glowed red, and black energy swirled around his body. Dark patches, like scales appeared on the visible skin. He was massive before, now he was enormous. He towered over Jim and looked like he could toss cars aside. A smirk filled the man’s face as he watched Jim step forward, blue fire roaring down his arms and across his torso. 

“I see you’ve come into your own magic!” Bular laughed and pulled something from his pocket. “But your puny armor is nothing before my strength!”

Jim recognized the black stone Bular pulled from his pocket. Corrupted Heartstone!

“Everyone get back!” He shouted. 

Bular cracked the stone in his hand like it was a walnut. A dark cloud blasted out of the cracked crystal. Jim materialized the shield on his arm to cover his face as the shockwave nearly took him off his feet. When he looked again his mouth opened in horror. Bular was changing in front of his eyes. Becoming something else, something monstrous. 

Massive horns burst from Bular’s head. They curled forward and back framing his face. His body grew even larger, bursting through his clothes. Black stone, just like the Corrupted Heartstone covered and replaced his skin. The red of his eyes blazed, almost burning into Jim from where he was standing. 

Jim allowed his helmet to form around his head, the faceplate dropping into place. If Bular killed him here, he would kill his moms next, then Toby and Strickler. Claire would never be free. There was no turning back now. He gripped Daylight tighter and charged. 

Bular raised his arms to protect himself from the first few slashes. When he swung back Jim cartwheeled back out of reach. In the small breath of space Bular put out his hands and two wicked looking swords materialized in them. 

Jim took a deep breath and braced himself to charge in again when Bular howled in pain. The monster spun reaching towards his back. As he turned Jim saw a pickaxe sticking out of his back. 

Toby didn't wait for Bular to turn all the way around, instead he swung with a sledge hammer at the side of his knee. Bular dropped to one knee with a roar of pain and rage. 

Jim ran forward to slash at Bular's side while Toby pulled the pickaxe from his back and swung it again, embedding it this time into Bular's arm. 

The wooden handle of the tool shattered as Bular wrenched his arms back then slammed them into the ground. A black shock wave of energy shot out of him knocking both Jim and Toby into the air. 

Jim arched up, flipping in the air to land on his feet a few yards away, Daylight still in his hand. Toby would have flown forty feet had his Nana's car not been parked twenty feet away. 

"Tobes!" Jim screamed. Toby's body was crumpled against the car. Jim pulled back his arm, allowing Daylight to vanish, the flames at his hand glowed white hot. Bular charged him and just before he was hit he unleashed his magic. 

The beam of blazing light slammed into Bular. The beast he had become was tossed backward by the blast. He was sent flying clear out of the cul-de-sac and into the green belt. Jim didn’t wait for Bular to land, instead he was rushing to Toby’s side blue flames pouring down his arms. Before he reached Toby a wave of navy light flashed over him. 

“Jim don’t touch him!” Barbara ran in front of him, her eyes blazing with her light. “I’ll heal Toby, you protect us from that!”

Jim turned back to the greenbelt and could hear the distant sound of snapping branches as Bular pushed his way back toward them. He materialized his shield on one arm and Daylight in his other hand. Strickler and Nomura moved to the car, bracing themselves on the other side of it, their guns aimed over it. Barbara carefully cast her healing light over Toby’s body, while Jim braced himself. 

With a crash Bular knocked down the last tree in his way and charged. Jim knew he couldn’t dodge or get out of the way. If he did Bular would kill Toby, and his mom, before she could finish healing his best friend. He set his foot back and braced himself for the impact as Bular sprinted toward them, his head low and his swords held wide. Just before Bular hit him, time seemed to stand still. 

Jim could feel his fires burning in waves down his arms. His mom’s light was shining from her eyes. At the moment of impact he saw another wave of magic roll over him, emanating from behind him. Orange flames rolled past and around him. 

He could see through his own eyes. Bular charging forward, hate and rage burning from his eyes. He could see through his mom’s eyes. Her navy light shining down on Toby’s body, trying to heal the damage the impact had caused. He saw through Toby’s eyes. Looking up at Barbara and feeling a sudden surge of power flow through his body. And he saw through Claire’s eyes. He saw Morgan and Gunmar dragging a massive Corrupted Heartstone into the chamber that held her tank while she strained against her taut chains. 

Time suddenly returned to its regular speed. A shockwave blasted around them all throwing Bular down the street again. The orange flames burned around them mixing joyfully with Jim’s blue flames. He felt his feet start to leave the ground and turned around with difficulty. 

Barbara was floating in the air as well, the light had faded from her hands, but blazed even brighter from her eyes. Walter, Zelda and the car they were sheltering behind all were slowly floating, wreathed in orange flames. Toby was bathed in fire. It poured from his eyes and flared at his fists. 

“Tobes! You’re ok!” Jim said as he started to turn upside down as he floated. 

“Yeah I am. I feel great!” Toby said. “And look I have magic!”

He pulled his fists into the air and everything that was floating rose even higher. 

“Well your power is amazing, Mr Domzalski, but perhaps you can return us to the ground and we can focus on our current problem?”

Strickler gestured toward Bular pulling himself up a few yards away. 

“Gladly.” Toby said. 

The flames retreated back into his body and they were all lowered gently to the ground. He stuck out his hand his sledgehammer flew to him. As he held it, it changed. The hammer blazed with fire, slowly changing shape until it looked closer to a warhammer. Then he stepped up beside Jim. Barbara stood next to them her own magic almost blindingly bright. Walter and Zelda flanked them reloading their guns. 

“This ends now Bular!” Jim shouted. “Leave now and never return.”

“Never! I will make a river of your blood!” Bular roared, then charged. 

Jim and his friends braced themselves together. Blue flames flowing down Jim’s arms. Light flaring from Barbara’s eyes. Orange flames roared around Toby’s body as he hovered in the air. This was his family. The only person missing was the woman he loved. But he would face down Bular, then Gunmar and Morgan as well. Jim would do whatever it took to free Claire. Whatever it took. 

[ptw30]

So since the romance in Voltron and how badly-written it was is part of what made it such a shit show with the other part being character arcs that went nowhere, if you keep the pre-s8 (since s8 had so many last-minute changes) narrative, what is a way this could have been remedied?

Oh, wow. Um. Well - if I had to keep Season 7, I think I would treat Season 8 like a one-shot in a comic book. 

You pull out all the stops. 

Launch Day - Shiro admits to Allura and the team he can’t hear the White Lion. Since we didn’t know the White Lion wasn’t in Atlas at the beginning of Season 8, it might as well be. Keith admits he can’t hear Black, Lance can’t hear Red, and Allura talks to the lions, realizing she broke Shiro’s bond with Black. She ties them together once again. Keith goes back into Red, Lance apologies to Blue, and Allura speaks to the White Lion through her crystal. She takes it back, apologies to Shiro, who gets a new arm - the Black Bayard. Shiro tells Allura she needs to become the commander of the Atlas. 

Shadows - I don’t remember much of this episode. One and done - but I would have revealed Lotor to be alive and trying to communicate with Allura. 

Prisoner’s Dilemma - Same deal but with Shiro in Black, Allura in Atlas. Take out Cosmo, put in Shiro and Keith going around the facility. At the end of the episode, have Keith call Allura - they need her and they shouldn’t have split up the group. Allura has her first vision of Honerva. 

Battle Scars - I would have split this a bit - have Pidge seeing Olkarion and having Allura see more visions of Honerva. Eventually, Atlas helps to slow the weblum, and I’d put a comedy into it. 

“We have the greatest weapon in the entire universe, and we can’t defeat a worm?”

“In our defense - it’s like a really big worm!”

“Isn’t that snake?”

“Paladins, focus!”

The Grudge - I would have mixed this up a bit. Have the paladins stranded but work out some issues. Let’s put Shiro and Lance together, have Lance explain how he feels about Allura and have Shiro support him. Keith and Pidge where Pidge says she’s glad Keith is back, Hunk and Allura, where Allura tells Hunk about her visions. The Atlas Crew saves them - Iverson, Veronica, and Coran to the rescue! 

Genesis - Honerva doesn’t kill the White Lion, but she does drain it from Atlas in order to fuel her mission to bring back Lotor. She succeeds but instead of Lotor being dead, he’s alive. Voltron is able to grab him but not his mecha, and they flee. 

Day Forty- Seven - I enjoyed most of this episode, but since Lotor’s back and we have to deal with his issues -  we need this episode back for plotting purposes, thanks. Plus, now that Ezor, Zethrid, and Axca are on board, the generals and Lotor work out their problems. Lotor admits Narti was controlled by Honerva and says he aimed to free her, not kill. Keith comes and admits Narti is alive, working with the Blades. An uncover agent saved her after she was injured.  

Clear Day - Fine. Let’s keep it, but Lotor volunteers to go to his mother and try to get back Sincline. Allura says they don’t know where Honerva is anyway. Lance and Allura have a conversation - he supports her and wishes her the best. Allura kisses him on the cheek and wishes him well.

Knights of Lights Part 1 and 2 - same deal but have Shiro working through his issues. Allura is there, too, and she and Shiro are trapped away from the paladins. Shiro can’t feel Black and Allura can’t feel any of the lions (since, you know, she’s tied to them all). At the end, we see all the flashbacks from og!paladins but the new!paladins recognize Shiro’s pain, too. And we see some of Shiro’s history - his family, his time in the arena. Group hug. Then we have Zarkon help Shiro and address Shiro as the Black Paladin at the end. Paladins escape, knowing Honerva is heading to traverse the realities. 

Uncharted Regions - Allura is awake at the beginning of this but saddened to have lost her father and family again. Lotor consoles her and says he won’t sit back any longer. Honerva almost killed Allura in the Void. 

Lotor starts to leave on a rebel ship to get Sincline, but before he leaves, Allura and Lotor kiss again. Lotor ends up getting captured by Honerva’s mecha. They have some time to talk it out. Voltron and Atlas question whether they have the power to defeat Honerva but decide to try anyway. (Yes, we get a Shiro and Keith hug here before the final battle; Pidge and Lance have a moment, where Pidge says she hopes Lance doesn’t die; Lance comes and draws everyone into another group hug.)

The Zenith - Same as the original, though Lotor attempts to plea with his mother not to destroy the universe. Honerva says Lotor doesn’t understand but he will eventually. Sincline and Honerva’s mecha merge. Instead of needing a “convuldrum” of Balmeras, Allura merges Atlas and Voltron. They go after Honerva. Instead of Honerva trying to kill little!Lotor - we find out Honerva is going after the rift entities. They infected her, and though she used them to control the Alteans, she’s going to take revenge and stop it from happening to anyone else. She finds the rift entities in several realities and goes through each one, killing the realities to kill the rift entities. 

Yes - that means “our” reality has to go, too. 

Unfortunately, Honerva realizes the rift entities are jumping to new realities, too fast to catch them, and realizes all realities must go. 

The End is the Beginning - Lotor eventually fights Honerva to control of the mecha  - he’s been trying but it’s hard - and Honerva ejects him. Voltron/Atlas scoops Lotor up, and he’s able to reach out to Sincline. As Honerva and Voltron/Atlas fight, Honerva enters into the place where all of reality begins, and Lotor attempts to rip Sincline from Honerva’s mecha. Voltron/Atlas tap into their power at the same time - and all the lions, including the White Lion, roar. 

Sincline, too - a purple lion - joins them. 

In that white infinity space, Allura says there has to be a better way, and Honerva says Allura, Lotor, and she are connected through Oriande. Allura says they can use Sincline/Honerva’s mecha and Atlas/Voltron and with the power of the lions, reverse what Honerva has done. She’s wiped out all the rift creatures. It’s safe now to rebirth the realities. 

Of course, being the conduits for all the lions’ power, the three Alteans will be wiped out. 

The paladins refuse for them to do it alone. 

“Stronger together.”

“But you will be destroyed as well.”

“Maybe, maybe not. We’re bonded to the lions. If nothing else, we’ll all spend eternity in the Void together.”

Shiro shrugs a shoulder. “I’ll enjoy the company this time around.”

Each paladin says good-bye to his/her lion, thanking each lion for choosing him/her. One last time, the paladins form Voltron, this time with Atlas, Honerva’s mecha, and Sincline, and they rebirth the realities. 

When it is over, Honerva is gone from her mecha. She took the majority of the power within herself. The lions have no power; the team’s bond is gone. Altea and Daibazaal are back. 

Lance, Hunk, and Pidge go back to Earth with Shay and Matt; Allura and Lotor split their time between their home worlds. Shiro and Keith go off with the Blades, but every year, the entire team meets on Arus. 

The King of the Arusians calls Allura the lion goddess again. She corrects him, saying the paladins lost the lions. 

“You lost the lions? Then you must find them!”

“I do not believe it is that easy. See, they call to the paladins, and - ”

Lance, “Maybe we need to call them.”

They go back to the rift, which is now shut. They close their eyes, Allura and Lotor use their power, and as the paladins glow, they open their eyes. 

A roar sounds on the screen. 

Fade to Black

Post-Credit picture - Each lion greets their paladin. Now Sincline and Atlas are both lions, purple and white respectively. 

Tweeted Scene - Honerva’s soul is in a mecha; it seeks its first paladin - Olia, who is surrounded by her children.  

[forlornmelody]

A Quick and Dirty Surprise

Rating: Explicit (absolutely no plot whatsoever)

Ship: Femshep x Kaidan Alenko

AO3 Link: Here

Summary:   Kaidan has a special surprise planned for his girlfriend, Commander Shepard. But it's really hard to surprise someone when work gets in the way, so he gets creative.

Note: Been a while since I wrote fshenko, but I heard @spectrekaidanalenko was hosting the last Shenko Smut Thursday this week, so I had to get some words in. Enjoy!

“Coming in to pick you up.”

The smell of Atlas barbeque still singed in Shepard’s ears as she checked her armor for any damage. She had a burn mark from when a missile exploded just a little too close to her shields, but other than that. “Copy.”

“How long do you think it’ll take him?” Kaidan eyed the building behind them. Why he’d still be interested in the bases’s broken defenses, she had no idea.

Shepard shrugged, cleaning her gun and slinging it back into her holster. “He shouldn’t be too far out of range. He probably used the building for cover.” She itched to get her armor off. Maybe put on some sweats and appropriate James's workout station.

“Shit.” James said from behind them.

“Cerberus?” Shepard asked without thinking.

“Huh? No. Storm’s coming in.” James pointed behind them. “Fast.”

So much for getting her armor off. Shepard pressed on her comm. “Cortez? Head back to the Normandy. We’ll catch up when the storm passes.”

“You sure, Shepard?” Kaidan looked like she just stole his dessert.

“Can’t be helped. Everyone inside!” Hopefully they hadn’t shot out all the windows already.

Between the three of them, they managed to shut the doors. “Vega--get the heat back on.”

“Sure thing, Lola.”

Shepard settled on a stool, swinging it back and forth. Her veins still rattled with battle adrenaline--and right now it had nowhere to go. Kaidan looked equally tense, though currently he was using an undamaged terminal to look at the weather. He swore under his breath. “Guess we could always do a push up contest.”

“Without me?” James called out from the control room. A second later the furnace kicked on, and they all sighed with relief.

“Ha.” Kaidan narrowed his eyes at the screen. “Actually. I need to debrief with the Commander. He pointed at the terminal. “Lieutenant?”

“Seriously?”

“Alenko’s right. Keep an eye on the radar--for the storm, and for any goons we might’ve missed.” Shepard followed Kaidan to a side room--armory by the look of things--wondering what this was all about. Field debriefs weren’t really Kaidan’s style. At least she wouldn’t be coming out empty-handed “Something on your mind, Kaidan?” She stuck the pistol upgrade in her utility belt.

Kaidan closed the door behind them and locked it. Okay. This definitely wasn’t his style. He stared out the window, peering out over the sill. James stood far below at the terminal--his attention still glued to the screen, though the young lieutenant still bounced on his feet. “This storm has really bad timing.”

Shepard slid beside him, daring to lean her head on his shoulder. “Could be worse. At least we’re not being shot at.”

“Good point. But the day’s almost over.” He pulled up his omni-tool to show her the time.

“You had something in mind?” They had been planning to get together after the mission for a... more personal debrief in her cabin. But that could always wait til after their sleep cycle, right?

“This isn’t the kind of day you want to spend in a shot-up base, you know?”

“Something special going on today?” She reached over, wrapping her fingers in his, squeezing gently. Unprofessional, yes. But ever since they reconciled after the Coup, Shepard wasn’t going to waste any moment not touching him.

“Shepard.” Kaidan looked at her in exasperation. “Don’t tell me you forgot.”

Her eyes widened as she stepped back to look at him. “Shit. It’s not our anniversary, is it?” How did they even mark such things, anyway? The day she came back? Their first hook up before Illos? Their first date on the Citadel was only a couple weeks ago--she thought. Time moved kind of funny in wartime.

“You have got to be kidding.” Kaidan guffawed, taking both her hands in his. “How are we supposed to celebrate if you don’t even remember?”

“You aren’t going to tell me?” Jane almost pleaded, and Kaidan shook his head, laughing harder. She let him pull her close, flush against his chest--their armor bouncing with a soft clang.

“Maybe I want to surprise you.” He ducked his face close to hers, letting his breath, and his biotics stir with hers. A shiver swept down her spine.

“Kaidan.” Shepard blushed. They didn’t usually get this informal with their armor on. “We’re still on the clock.”

Kaidan’s finger and thumb rested on the release button for her armor seals. “Door’s locked. And James is busy standing watch.” He brushed his lips against hers. “And that storm isn’t stopping anytime soon.”

“In here?” There wasn’t even a bed in here. Not that such conditions had ever stopped them before. The Spectre Office on the Citadel. The elevator in the Normandy. Her shower.

“You can top if you’re that worried about the floor.” Kaidan laughed, but he didn’t press the button until Shepard nodded. Her boyfriend always left a way out. Her chest plate fell forward, away from her neck brace, and she pried it off her head. Together they removed the rest of her armor and set it aside. Shepard moved to remove the top of her undersuit, but Kaidan stopped her hand. “Leave it.”

“Worried about the time?” Shepard twisted her wrist around his, grabbing his hand so she could remove his gloves.

“It’s sticking to you. How the hell are we going to get it back on if you take it off?”

“Point,” Shepard undoes the seals on his neck brace, pulling off his armor until he’s as partially naked as she is, “taken.” She pauses to look him over. Anyone looking in would think them quite silly--good thing no one could see them up here.

“Like what you see?” Kaidan smiles at her, running hand up and down her side. He really wasn’t kidding about how sweaty her undersuit had become.

“Yeah. But not what I smell.” 

“You stink too, you know.” He pulls her into a kiss as they tumble to the floor.

Usually, after a battle, sex is the last thing on Shepard’s mind. There’re reports to file, armor to clean, naps to be had. But Cerberus didn’t put up enough of a fight this time--counting too much on a single Atlas mech to take them down as a last resort. Clearly they underestimated this west-coast Terran trio. Shepard still feels like she could run five miles, and she directs all that energy, all that adrenaline into the man beside her.  Their kisses are rough on each other’s skin, leaving their lips bruised and their skin marked. Her fingers creep up his undershirt, scratching down his chest until he groans and holds grips her elbows. His teeth sink into her neck through her shirt, and she muffles her cry into his hair.

“Too much?” Kaidan gasps into her ear as her hands wind their way into his underpants.

“Never,” she sputters in reply, tugging on his ear lobe with her teeth.

Kaidan is less direct with his touch, opting instead to trace circles through the sweat-wicking fabric. Somehow it feels even more wonderful, feeling the soft satin of it rubbing against her clit. He teases and circles her with his fingers until she’s clinging to his shoulders, begging for him to take her right then and there. “Not yet.” He breathes into her skin, kissing down her neck to her chest, and between her legs.

“Kaidan,” she protests feebly, only to grabs the curls of his hair as he gives her one, nice, long lick from her bottom to her clit.

“Shh,” he whispers against her lower lips, “he might hear you.”

“Not. Fair,” she wheezes as she squeezes his scalp.

“I can gag you if you’d like.” He chuckles, pausing to look up at her, just as she’s near her peak.

His chuckle erupts into a full guffaw at the look on her face. “If I wear a gag, will you stop teasing me?”

“No promises.” Kaidan’s grin is sinful. Cheeky bastard. And she loves him even more for--wait. Is it love?

Shepard pushes the thought aside. She can deal with her feelings later. Right now, she just wants to feel him. All of him. Instead of ripping her sleeve, she bites her hand, and Kaidan swallows under her hungry gaze. He leans down, feeding her appetite with his own, tasting her wetness through her underclothes, edging the tip of his finger inside her. It’s when she’s nearly screaming that he edges her pants down.

Sweat drips down Kaidan’s face as he looks down at her. “Ready, Shepard?” His erection strains against his pants.

Eyeing the bite marks on her hand a moment, Shepard manages, “I was ready a century ago.” She maneuvers his bottoms past his straining erection. Kaidan’s snort is lost in a hiss as his length pops free. Spreading the precum across his tip, she crawls over him, and slides him inside.

Kaidan pulls her close, muffling his moans against her lips as she grinds up against him. He reaches down, playing with her clit with one hand, and holding her hips with the other. “Fuck, you feel so good.”

“So do you,” she breathes into his mouth, gasping as she finds a particularly good spot. Her teeth graze his neck as she hits it again, and again, and--

“That’s it.” Kaidan gasps. “Almost there.” His fingers dig into her skin. A guttural Asound escapes his throat.

Shepard bites Kaidan’s lip and he pulses inside her. Pulling out, he fingers her until she’s shuddering on his lap--lost in his mouth, the slick of his skin, and his breath heavy in her ears. “Mm.” She gives him a parting kiss, still tasting herself on his lips.

Kaidan smiles sheepishly as she reaches for her armor. “Happy birthday, Shepard.”

“Wait.” Her hand pauses on her breastplate, and she stares up at him. “How’d you know it was my birthday?”

“Personnel records. You should try reading them sometime.”

“Ass.” Kaidan laughs louder, loud enough for James to hear them.

“What the hell are you two doing up there? Taxidermy?”