#and then like probably nothing else and they were in prison when Rubys message got out so they dont know that shit

[lamb200345567]

Haunted by V8 ending & V9 storyboard ending. 4ever and ever

[pluviophile-bookworm]

AWAE 3x3 rewatch: thoughts and reactions

So I made a ginormous pause in between these again. I just wasn’t feeling up to the task, I guess. But it’s the anniversary of the premiere of AWAE, so what better day to do the penultimate one of these... Let’s just dive in because it’s been literal years since I first saw this episode and I remember literally nothing from it.

Oh my, Bash is just the best. And those baby chicks... well, I know what is most likely to happen to chickens on a farm when they grow older but... can we just maybe not think of that yet? Plus, seeing Mary keeps reminding me that soon I won’t be seeing her anymore. It’s safe to say I have mixed feelings about this cold open. Let’s move on.

Gosh, now they’re leaving Matthew alone with Delly, who is two types of people he’s uncomfortable around - a baby and a girl. But it’s fine, it will be just ‘a couple of hours’...

It is such a shame to think that Mary might have been saved... if she were white. People can be so awful. A human being is a human being. At least there are people like Dr. Ward and our protagonists who know that and act accordingly.

Oh... there’s that cute scene of Matthew showing Delly around Green Gables that I’ve seen in so many gifs... I can’t comment much on it so I’ll just sit back and enjoy. But before I go - Matthew is the best, most gentle man I’ve ever seen. He might be awkward around women and children, but he knows how to treat them right better than most people who are not awkward around them.

Oh gosh, the nappy! That kind of made me laugh out of place but, well, I just wanted to say - thank gods for Jerry and his many siblings. My boy knows how to change nappies.

Oh, they’ve got the printing press! Now that’s exciting! I feel like excitement is a good word to describe this episode, at least so far. We’ll see how I feel by the end of it. All I know is this is making me smile and I’ve really been needing that.

My, my, Ruby... I keep forgetting when it was that she got over Gilbert. Apparently it was not before mid-season, since she’s still in it way too deep. 

Oh wait... is this when things began happening between her and Moody? I mean, the way he gives her his handkerchief, you’d think ever since he stopped trying to make Diana and her ‘very blue’ dress notice him, he’s been sitting back and watching Ruby from afar, hoping he can, somehow, compare to Gilbert. The best part is, in just a bit, he won’t need to. Boy, do I need a fourth season even if just to see these two develop... and for Diana and Jerry to make up, and just in general to see the kids being all grown up... now I feel like crying because we’ll very probably never get it... ok, moving on.

Anne: Sometimes life finds gifts in the darkest of places./ Marilla: Indeed. Wait, was this Marilla’s way of telling Anne she loves her? This is just the best. 

The contrast between scenes dealing with Mary and the rest of the episode is just so stark, it’s jarring. It’s like, you never know the darkness someone might be sinking into  while everybody else is bathing in the light. You know, everybody involved in making this episode, and the show in its entirety, made it so poetic, and yet it’s not. It’s absolutely devastating. And now Gilbert can’t even tell Mary that she’s got no more than two weeks left. This is the worst. 

You know, Anne is right. Caring deeply will always be the right thing. I mean, it’s natural for Gilbert to doubt himself at this time, especially since the tragedy is happening to his own found family. You know, there’s something my mum taught me to do when I’m watching something and I can’t bear the subject matter of it - focus on the acting. And right now I’m just blown away by the superb performance by these incredible young people. But I really can’t bear to focus on the plot right now. And the acting being that good doesn’t particularly help me to detach myself from the story.

You know, tragic as what’s happening to Mary certainly is, it’s somehow lucky she has Anne in her life now that she’s about to leave her own daughter to grow up motherless. Because if only Anne’s parents had an orphan tell them what an orphaned child needs most, Anne’s own experience might have been very different. Mary is a very smart woman for realising that and talking to Anne about it. Because life is not about lamenting what we didn’t have. It’s about making sure we do what is in our power to make it easier for others if we can.

Ah, yes. Racism and ‘White Man’s Burden’ mentality are still very much a thing present here. I guess this here is the first mention of that horrible prison of a school that Ka’kwet would be sent to. This is. The. Worst.

I just can’t bear to listen to this guy. ‘Heathens’ - you mean people with a rich culture and belief system beyond your privileged straight white male comprehension? ‘Teach them all things civilised’ - you mean erase their own, I repeat, rich culture, and replace it with your white man’s ideas of civilisation? What deity fell from the heavens and made you God? And the way Rachel totally agrees with this guy, it just makes me sick. As if that guy would hesitate to discriminate against you on the basis of you being a woman! I just can’t with this. Let’s move on.

‘Be sure you marry for love. Only for love.’ Don’t worry, Mary, he will. Not before a huge, long period of confusion, mind you. But he’ll come to his senses eventually. People do stupid things when they’re young. That’s how they know they’ve lived it to the fullest.

Rachel just baffles me, you know. And Marilla, too, isn’t quite faultless here. How can you be so accepting of one kind of POC, yet so cruel to another? Then I remember their initial reactions to meeting Bash. They were not the most accepting at first. Yet they can see how they’ve now grown to accept and care deeply about Bash and Mary and Delphine. Why can’t they give Ka’kwet’s people a chance like this?

‘You may well have saved some Indians today’... Saved them? From what? Being free to practice their own culture? You know, white people can be so very ignorant... and I say that as a very white person. I’m just ashamed of everything my ethnicity has done to literally every other ethnicity.

‘I don’t wanna die’... You know, sometimes I do, and right now that makes me feel so ashamed. I should really think of Mary and also every real person who had an untimely death whenever I’m having those thoughts again. We should all learn to appreciate life so much more.

So this is the one with Mary’s Easter... this is beautiful. I might have to rescind my ‘excitement’ statement from earlier, but there is still a theme of beauty, love and family throughout this. Well, technically throughout the entire series, but especially here. I love this. 

Delphine with a flower crown is the cutest thing ever...

Minnie May: She looks like a chocolate candy. I just... took notice of how the background music abruptly stopped. You know, coming from an older person, this would sound... not at all ok. But this 7-year-old didn’t mean any harm, and they realise it after a brief moment of panic in their eyes. Still... black people don’t call us, idk, butter or something. We should not compare their skin colour to chocolate.

Their singing is absolutely beautiful. But let’s be real - in a real-life situation, most of the people would be way off-key and those harmonies would be impossible to arrange. Still, for this beauty, I am willing to suspend my disbelief for miles. Also, that prayer at the end... well, I’m not Christian, but I am religious, and I know the power of a prayer as poetic as this one. However hard it must have been for Mary to know she wouldn’t live, it must have been a great consolation to know she would go in such a way, surrounded by so much beauty and love, and light. Well, that ending was bittersweet! But I absolutely loved this episode. Except for the racist parts that made me absolutely livid. It’s so frustrating to know there is still so much hate in the world based just on minor superficial differences between people. Yet it would have been even more frustrating if we didn’t have people in the world like our protagonists (and especially the protagonist, Anne). It is such an absolute shame that this show, and others like it, got cancelled over some trivial issues and wasn’t given the proper chance to develop its positive messages even further. But still, even with just the 27 episodes it was given, it was able to cover so much ground. I don’t know what to say. AWAE is just supreme.

Let’s sum up: the final weeks of Mary’s life; racial prejudice might have just cost this lovely woman, a wife and a mother, her life; Matthew showing Delly around Green Gables is the sweetest thing; the first press-printed issue of The Avonlea Gazette, with a significant typo; and thus, a ship was born; subtle ways of saying those three little words; ‘Caring deeply will always be the right thing.’; the legacy of a mother; ‘White Man’s Burden’ mentality is alive and dangerous; double standards regarding the acceptance of POC; Mary’s Easter; going surrounded by a loving community.

[rwbyvein]

Firen Lhain: Chapter 801: And so there was cake:  Part I / III

Qrow looked at his scroll.

"Qrow?" Taiyang asked.

"Yeah, Tai?" Qrow replied.

"Could you and Raven take over watching the, uh, new prisoner?"

"Sounds like a wonderful time." Qrow said sarcastically.

* * *

Raven picked up her scroll and looked at the message from Qrow. 'Looks like we're on guard duty.'

Raven put the scroll away, and looked around furiously.

"They think you will just come when they call?" Cinder asked, and Raven gave her a furious look, telling her that it was true. "But that's not the worst part."

"What's the worst part?" Emerald asked.

"The worst is that she will." Cinder said with glee, causing Raven to storm off up the stairs.

* * *

Raven landed just outside the garden door and proceeded into the tower. She heard talking coming from the lounge, and carefully looked around the corner. Ruby appeared in front of her with a burst of rose petals, holding up a plate with a piece of cake.

* * *

Ren and Nora walked into the lounge. "Alright," Taiyang said, "now that everyone is here, I wanted to have a talk with you kids."

"Kids?!" Yang angrily asked. "Seriously, dad?!"

"My mistake." Taiyang stated, "To you young adults."

"I guess that works..." Yang voiced.

"We talked alot about keeping you alive, but we apparently didn't talk about taking on ordinary Humans." Nora quickly raised her hand. "Nora?"

"How do we know they're ordinary Humans?"

"Not a question I was expecting." Taiyang stated, "Though, I suppose I should have been. You can sense Aura, with your Aura. Aura comes from within. This is why magic feels so strange and foreign to us, because the power for magic comes from without."

"I felt something off with Cinder!" Ruby exclaimed, "When she was in the CCT."

Yang leaned forward to speak. "And how me and Linnet knew Raven was using magic?"

"It's easy to feel magic," Taiyang stated, "as it has energy coming out. Ordinary Humans have nothing, and you have to be aware of that nothing."

Aurora raised her hand, "I volunteer to be the guinea pig to be, um, felt. Ooh, that came out differently than I expected, not that I'm... I'm just going to stop talking."

"As fascinating as I find this," Taj stated, "I don't. I've got maintenance I can do. Chill." He stood up and made to walk way before pausing, and turning to Jaune, "By the way, happy birthday, at least now all the fighting stopped."

"Still the best birthday I've ever had." Jaune said, and waved to him.

"We still have a lot of cake." Ruby brightly added.

Taj waved before walking off.

"So?" Weiss asked, "I do believe it was a mistaken turn of phrase, but exactly HOW are we going to be touching Aurora?"

"You know how I feel about this." Blake stated.

"Uh-huh?" Taiyang asked. "We're not actually going to be touching her, okay, maybe, but you need to feel where her Aura ends."

Nora raised her hand, "I thought you said they did not have Aura?"

"Every living creature has Aura." Taiyang stated.

"What about Penny?" Yang asked.

"I honestly have no idea." Taiyang replied. "I'm not the one to ask about that."

"What about Zwei?" Ruby asked.

"He has his Aura unlocked, kind of like a Huntsman." Taiyang stated. "Every creature has Aura, but not every creature can use it properly. Huntsmen are trained to use their Aura to strengthen themselves and as a shield. Further development unlocks the Semblance."

"Does that mean Zwei can have a Semblance?" Ruby asked.

"Where is that unfortunately adorable mongrel?" Weiss asked, trying her best not to sound too eager. Blake stood up on her couch and jumped up on top of the mantlepiece above the hearth.

"He's at Atlas academy." Taiyang replied, "James gave me a trainee houndmaster to take care of him."

* * *

A young man in Atlasian military gard crouched before Zwei. Zwei was aimed at a wooden barrier. "Are you sure about this?" the man asked, and Zwei eagerly, happily barked in reply. "Okay, when you're ready." He stood up and Zwei charged at the barrier and smashed his way through. "You are utterly amazing, yes you are"

* * *

Ilia stepped forward away from the wall. Jaune's head turned towards her, causing everyone to follow suit. "And, myself?"

Everyone looked between themselves, unsure of what to say. Jaune decided to speak up, "she has Aura, but doesn't really know what she's doing with it. Kind of like me when Pyrrha first unlocked my Aura."

"Excuse you?" Yang asked him

"Pardon, what?" Weiss asked.

"How did?.." Ruby asked.

Jaune visibly sighed, hanging his head for far longer than was necessary. "So, I guess it was going to come out eventually."

"He was untrained when he began at Beacon academy." Ren stated. RWBY, Nora, and Tai let out a shocked gasp. Ilia was enthralled whereas Aurora seemed unaffected.

"You know?" Nora asked, "That actually explains a lot."

"It unfortunately does." Weiss stated.

"So?" Yang asked, "You let them launch you into the Emerald Forest without, you know, knowing about anything?"

"Ozpin cares more about character than ability." Taiyang stated, "Because those who come in unprepared often don't survive."

"So, yeah..." Jaune voiced, "I'm a fraud. Anyone who wants out now?.." RWBY nervously looked between each other.

"We did not follow you because of your fighting ability." Ren stated.

"Of course not." Nora added.

"Ozpin picks leader based off of things other than fighting ability." Taiyang stated.

"And our?," Weiss asked, followed by a momentary paused, "not glorious - boisterous leader?"

"She is pretty spunky." Yang said, causing her, Ruby, and Taiyang to let out a momentary giggle.

"I have learned to accept her eccentricity." Weiss quipped, "Accept and belove."

Ruby looked at Weiss tearfully.

Blake jumped back down, "I didn't marry the Jaune when he started at Beacon, I married the one at Haven."

"Because I can fight..." Jaune said sadly.

"And the rest of you." Blake said, looking between Ruby, Weiss, and Yang. She then looked back at Jaune, "Because of the warmth in your heart; the kindness in your soul. You were just so uncertain in Beacon that no one could see it."

"Second." Yang shouted.

"I don't think I could live without Jaune," Ruby said, "or Weiss, or Blake, or Sis, or Ren and Nora."

Taiyang looked at her with mild disappointment but didn't say anything. Weiss looked at Ruby and nodded her head towards her father.

"Oh, pfft, he'll always be my dad."

"Just not our daddy." Yang quiped, causing Taiyang to sigh. "Chill, dad, we're adults now, and married."

"No, just... reminiscing..." Taiyang said, and shook his head, "But that's not important. I don't know if I could... or should... help you to feel each other's Aura, but I highly recommend you guys spend time learning to do so."

* * *

Taiyang walked up the stairs to the guardhouse on the tower's roof, Winter speaking over the radio.

"Wait, over." Winter said, and turned to see him carry a plate with a piece of cake. She just stared at it a moment before looking up into his eyes. "Yes?"

"To celebrate Jaune's birthday." Taiyang stated, and handed her the cake. She once again just stared at it. "I'm afraid I'm..."

"Busy, yes." Taiyang stated, "This is one of those cases where it's important to take a break and eat some cake."

"Are you suggesting?.." Winter asked him.

"Yes." he interrupted her.

She looked at the cake for a moment, his eyes for a moment, and then turned back to the radio. "Whiskey-Alpha-Zero-Niner, will resume report at 16:10, over."

"Zero-Alpha. Roger that, Whiskey-Alpha-Zero-Niner, over." the radio stated.

"Whiskey-Alpha-Zero-Niner out." Winter stated, and turned towards Taiyang, hesitantly reaching for the cake.

* * *

"So, question?" Nora asked. "Because we kind of bounced back of forth a bit. Are we touching Aurora?"

"I do believe," Ren voiced as he stood beside her, "we were supposed to sense her aura without touching her."

"But she said we can touch her, right?" Nora asked, and quizzically looked at Aurora.

"I would be happy to help you however I can." Aurora voiced.

"Even if it invovles touching?" Ruby asked.

"Why do I get the feeling?," Yang asked, "that she might be looking for something else here?"

"Probably because she is." Blake stated.

"I have stated my preference." Aurora stated.

"You know?" Yang asked, "Not really."

"More like implied." Weiss stated.

"We're not going to molest Aurora." Jaune stated, and Aurora dejectedly looked down.

"See?!" Yang asked.

"And I think Ren is right." Jaune stated.

"Of course he's right." Nora stated, "He's Ren after all."

"You did spend the entire trip to Mistral fighting?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, pssh." Nora voiced, "That was just us having fun."

"Wait?" Ruby asked, "Were they flirting the entire time?"

"They did get married." Blake stated.

"Are we married?" Nora asked Ren, who just shrugged his shoulders.

"As married as we are." Jaune voiced, and then looked between his wives. "None of you are regretting it, are you?"

"Alright, new rule." Yang stated, "Every time he does that, we get to punch him."

"And risk his spankings?" Blake asked, and this caused Yang to pause.

[thecagedsong]

Forgotten Light: Chatper 8: Boundaries

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11

Chapter 8: Boundaries

Ronodin hadn’t returned, and said that he wouldn’t until tonight. Kendra had another day to whittle away. She read more in her book on the Fair Folk over breakfast, then sat in front of her crafting materials again.

Kendra had no idea if her medallion even worked, but at least it dried nicely. The wooden texture came through the paint, but that made it look functional. Like, hey, this is a wooden medallion meant to weaken my enemies, not be a high school shop class project.

Did she take woodshop class? Did she ever go to high school? From Ronodin’s story, Kendra probably had tutors. Why did she feel like she knew more about the American public school system than she did about monster hunting? Or even tutoring schedules?

Trying to figure out her past by evaluating what bodies of knowledge she possessed and what she didn’t left her with a headache.

Kendra refocused on the fabrics in front of her. She did okay with the medallion, maybe her body had remembered something her brain didn’t. Hopefully that subconscious knowledge would help her do what she wanted to make next: create a jacket.

Ronodin assured her that the clothes in her wardrobe were all hers, taken and given to Ronodin from her own closet for exactly this time. Pieces her family didn’t approve of and wouldn’t know to find missing. But old Kendra’s clothes…left a bit more exposed than she liked. Aside from also being mostly black and red, and she was really growing tired of those colors, the dresses were low cut at the top, and high cut around the thighs.

She looked sexy in them, but with Ronodin continuing to ‘forget’ that she had only met him two days ago, sexy wasn’t the look she wanted to wear. She’d start with a simple cardigan, covering up her shoulders and back, then see what she could do about altering hemlines.

Looking over the fabrics, she wished she had pink. She thought she liked the color. Pink wasn’t among the fabric options. There was more red and black, and white, silver, dark blue, green, orange, and dark purple.

Because it would clash horribly with the red and the black, she selected the pumpkin orange fabric. If she was enough of an eyesore, maybe she could convince Ronodin that they needed to pop into a shopping mall for a real wardrobe. Something she was comfortable with now. The orange fabric was a wool/giant hair blend, dyed with pigment from the Fala plant, that produced its own distractor spell to convince people that it was dead until they forgot what they were looking for.

Sewing was a lot harder than she thought, especially without a sewing machine. Did she do this by hand the first time? The needle felt so awkward, her stitches were uneven, she was approximating the designs in the book, but some of them had her folding fabric before cutting? What did it mean by grain? She tried to incorporate ‘make me look hideous!’ magic intentions as she sewed, imaging Ronodin cringing away from her, refusing to look at her in it, but it was a little hard when most of her focus went to not pricking herself.

Still, she wasn’t a quitter. Kendra had to undo a seam, because apparently clothes were assembled inside out, but by referencing the book every few minutes, and working through hand cramps, she managed to at least make the pieces stick together.

It was early afternoon when Kendra finished her uneven hems. Some of the tools in the basket might have helped her, but her books didn’t reference any of them, so she left them alone.

Holding up the final product, Kendra giggled. She’d done everything on larger estimates, figuring that her goal was to be covered and folds in fabric were easier to have than one side not fitting, and cutting down was easier than adding. The result could generously be described as an orange tent. Kendra had to see herself in the monstrosity. She rushed to the bathroom, passing Mendigo in the hall, and positioned herself in front of the mirror.

She slung on the cardigan over the black lace dress, and cracked up.

“Hi Ronodin!” Kendra waved to the mirror with both hands, one sleeve reaching halfway up her palm the other so wide it fell back against her elbow at the motion. The ruby necklace looked like it was suffering, trying to hide from her attempts at sewing.

“Oh, er Kendra, I see you tried sewing,” Kendra mocked in the mirror with a low voice.

Kendra twirled, then did an impression of herself with a higher pitch than normal, “I did, do you like it? I love it! I put soo much effort into it! I love the pumpkin look, don’t you?”

She imagined Ronodin’s face, the horror, the strain not to insult his girlfriend, and burst out laughing. Kendra couldn’t wait to see his face for real. She would insist on wearing this until he took her to the mall.

Kendra stopped laughing and frowned at her reflection. That really didn’t seem right. Even if she had arranged all of this herself, why would she arrange a hideout she couldn’t ever leave? If old Kendra had wanted to live a free life with Ronodin, why didn’t she pick a hide away that let her go outside? Her family couldn’t be powerful enough to search the whole world. If she had been able to pick anywhere, a remote island seemed like a much better hiding place than where she was.

Maybe she and Ronodin had had a disagreement over how long she should stay underground. He might be capitalizing on her memory loss to keep her extra safe; it’s possible Kendra had never intended for herself to remain sealed away. That seemed like something Ronodin would do. Slip in a little lie amongst the truths to save himself battles.

Well, wherever they were, Kendra wanted out. Now that she wasn’t dressed for a cocktail party, she would find her way to a window at least. She went back to her room, and decided to arm herself with the bow she had brought with her through the barrel, even though she didn’t have any arrows. She hadn’t had anything else on her, so she slipped on her shoes and went to the door that Ronodin usually walked out of.

She turned the heavy knob, but the door wouldn’t budge. Jiggled it some more, but didn’t move. She searched everywhere for a key, but couldn’t find on. What kind of front door could be locked from the outside?

“Mendigo?” Kendra called, and her puppet came forward. “Open this door.”

Kendra stepped to the side as Mendigo started straining his wooden hands at the door. He turned back to her and shrugged, showing his wooden fingers. Duh, no way could he get the grip he needed that way.

Should she order him to break down the door? These rooms were rented to them by their mysterious ‘host’, who apparently had Ronodin working like a slave. He probably wouldn’t appreciate her busting his door down. She decided against it until things looked more dire.

The last hasty, destructive action she had ordered had almost killed her fiancé. She would demand a key from Ronodin when he got back before resorting to property damage.

“Thank you Mendigo,” Kendra said, “Let’s see what else there is in this place.” Putting her hand on the wall to the left of the door, Kendra started walking, never lifting it. She discovered three different storage closets: one for cleaning supplies, one empty, one for linens. Kitchen, Ronodin’s bedroom (extremely frugal, disappointingly empty) (he had a couple of robes Kendra considered using to augment her own wardrobe, but decided that would send the wrong message), Library, bathroom, craft room, Kendra’s room, Kendra’s bathroom, Kendra’s closet, sitting room/front room, and back to the main door.

That was it. The entirety of her existence, done up in blacks, reds, and gray stone and drenched in blue firelight. Some of the carpets had cream accents, but that was it.

Kendra knew what kind of front door locked from the outside.

She wandered back to her craft room and picked up a canvas to draw. This was about passing time. Next time she wouldn’t let Ronodin leave without her. Kendra just needed to stay sane until he got back. Even if practicing her magic with nicer emotions would create a less effective item, she wanted something nice to look at. Something peaceful. An outdoor scene, and she’d try to work peace into it. It was for herself anyway, and she’d do it in blue and green and white, and it would look beautiful.

Unfortunately, Kendra couldn’t visualize what ‘outside’ looked like. She knew the sky was blue, it had a sun, and grass was green and flowers came in all colors, but the pieces wouldn’t put themselves together. Kendra had never seen ‘outside’, she had nothing but rote facts. She put her pencil to canvas anyway, figuring that if she drew the pieces, it would all come together eventually.

Her hand refused to move. It had no direction on what to draw. Were horizons bumpy or straight? What color blue was the sky? What did sun look like on plant leaves?

Glaring, Kendra started sketching her craft table, in front of her, with the wall behind it turning into prison bars. She’d seen those in her mad-dash self-kidnapping.

Sketching came easier than sewing or carving. Maybe because more art principals were known by the public, the curse wasn’t able to remove them as personal memories. It was nice to have something come together, even if it was only a picture of her cell.

When she got to painting, she ignored the descriptions of materials and focused on colors. Easier than before, she took threads of magic, threads of the flame from the candle inside her, into her hand and turned them to her own emotions, mixing with the paint materials. She wanted people to look at the painting and know that she was trapped. She wanted them to know the suffocation, and the feeling of crafting little trinkets while sun and stars roved the heavens unseen. Not being able to draw the sun or the sky. Not knowing what those looked like. Not knowing what anything looked like outside of six people, a puppet, and her prison. It was a nice prison, possibly one of the nicest in the world.

Kendra painted black beyond the bars. Even gilded cages birthed insanity.

[skye-huntress]

RWBY V8 Episode 13 “Worthy” Reactions

There is so much going on in this episode and naturally because it’s the penultimate episode, so much conflict still in progress. I may miss or forget things and this will take me a while to get out because I have so much nervous energy it took me half an hour just to start typing. So keep that in mind as you read on

People were saying the plan went so smoothly but as I pointed out in my last reaction, local comms going down was and has thrown the evacuation into disarray, we can see it. So already we have Jaune and Nora splitting off from their team to spread the message, leaving less people to secure the gathering point in Vacuo

Second complication, a sandstorm that cuts off local comms and makes it impossible to know where Vacuo is. And a growing number of terrified refugees just out in the open with less than a handful of fighters to protect them. No way back to relative shelter or to even warn the rest either because true to his nature Ambrosius built exactly what they ask for.

Third complication, I wondered why Cinder seemed to be prepared for their plan. I thought Watts somehow also intercepted comms between Winter and Weiss but it seemed a stretch. Using the last question is going to bite her in the arse later, but I suppose she is in a damned anyway if she can’t give Neo Ruby before Salem respawns

And now we can also confirm she knows of Emerald’s “betrayal” but unless she leaves or gets knocked through the Vacuo portal, we may not get a confrontation this volume. Hard to say what she makes of this, she’s only shown to treat Emerald as someone she can use, much like how Cinder herself was and is being used.

Also Jinn definitely looked remorseful, but just like Ambrosius and the other spirits, she has rules to follow. BTW, I thought of a possible loophole for Jinn’s question limit. She can only be asked three questions every 100 years but I find it curious one question was already used. So my question is would it be possible to ask Jinn the same question twice. Technically it would not be a fourth question, but is that technicality enough to at least allow Jinn to repeat information for new ears.

Watts has access to the Command Centre. Jimmy’s need to control everything has once again backfired and given the enemy everything they could possibly want to do as much damage as they desire

All those people that Cinder blasted off the edge just to get RWBY’s attention, this has always been who she was, which is why there will not be any form of redemption for her. Even if she turns against Salem, it will be for her own selfish reasons and it is why she’ll never truly be able to escape from her fate

Our first RWBY vs Cinder fight (and probably not the last). Not many places worse for them to fight (if at all), with little ground (not a problem for a flying enemy), no cover, civilians in the line of literal fire (and glass). Got knocked off, game over. Speaking of which...

And Neo. Fucking Neo. And of course, protective big sister to the rescue. And she is the first to fall.

I did find it interesting that she seemed to vanish at a certain point on the way down. I interpret as proof, it’s not some endless void, there is something down there. And of course, there has to be a way back. We’re talking the Y of RWBY here, not to mention half the show’s most prominent LGBT+ couple. Contrary to what some individuals claim, RT do not do “Bury Your Gays” or “Queerbaiting”, at least not intentionally. As I said for Penny when she got hacked, Yang is going to be just fine, eventually. She’s not fine right now, obviously, but this isn’t the end for her. RWBY isn’t that type of show.

Ruby seems to be just surviving, no time to think or process what happen unless she wants to end up dead-dead by her sister’s supposed murderer. In this case, it is somewhat fortunate that Ruby’s coping mechanism is through actions, but when she stops it’s going to catch up with her

As for Blake, who got over repressing all her emotions several volumes ago, is not only the one to lose it the most but has gone absolutely feral. Still, she is not so far gone that she isn’t completely unaware that Penny and Weiss are unless in danger. Dilemma, exact vengeance on Neo, or lose another person you love?

While I’m on this point though, this is an excellent example of the destructive nature of the cycle of vengeance. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. In her pursuit of vengeance, Neo has naturally made herself the target of the same type of vengeance. Precisely why killing often not actually a final solution, it also has consequences as well.

I fear for Penny but I’m still confident she’ll survive this somehow. She is something new and unique, a whole new chapter of her life has just started and it would be anti-climatic and a huge waste for the show not to explore that. Besides, if Cinder has learned anything than she knows the relics must take priority over her power lust. All the power of Maidens won’t save her from Salem if she doesn’t return with both of them.

Weiss seems to be the one in most trouble right now, and in most danger of falling next. Still, I’m curious to see if her Nevermore summon will come into play again. A finale seems like the best time for it, and could potentially be a tide turner, perhaps more so than the Queen Lancer summon in Volume 5. She could use more wins.

Back to the Loser Ops. Hoping Marrow is okay. But of course, Harriet is still set on delivering that bomb. Much like her boss, she seems incapable of admitting she is wrong or has lost. I don’t think most people expected Vine to be the next one to concede that Jimmy was not the one to follow, but it makes sense. At that point, blowing up a city for man who has already lost is the furthest thing from logical. It’s just spite at that point, and just a way to make sure everyone loses.

So the bomb is back in play, thanks to Harriet. And while everyone is focused on her, no one will notice Watts pulling the strings from behind the curtain. But what is his target? He wouldn’t waste such a thing on mere civilians. It could simply be to occupy and/or eliminate several powerful combatants, given the villains are currently outnumbered. Still, he’s in his element and the last person we want to underestimate now. If this is truly the end of Atlas, this may probably be his last great act of villainy before he truly falls into irrelevancy and expendability

Lastly, Jimmy F@#$ing Ironwood. Forcefield prisons are such a bad idea. And of course, we can’t forget Chekhov’s gun-gun-gun. We had to see it in action and what it can do to a person. He recovered extraordinarily quickly, but then his body is more machine than man at this point. Also, as I predicted, shattering his aura did not snap him out of it. Atlas the city, the idea, is everything to him. He stopped seeing the people in it a while ago. He’ll kill them all if it will keep the city afloat.

I have complicated feelings about Jacques Schnee. I don’t need to tell anyone how much of a terrible person he is but I can’t ignore the truth that not everything he touched turned to shit. Weiss is perhaps my favourite character in the show, and she would not only not exist if it weren’t for Jacques, she wouldn’t be the person she is that I love now if Jacques was any different as a father. Same goes for Whitley and Winter. It’s a reminder that some good can come from even the shittiest of people acting in the shittiest of ways. He was also right about Ironwood all along, can’t forget that.

That all said, Jacques did not deserve to be murdered like that, whatever his crimes. The man had nothing left, no threat to anyone anymore. He should have lived for the rest of his pathetic existence knowing what he lost.

So now Winter is facing Ironwood again, this time she is alone and he is armed. Neither are in the best shape. I only see this ending with one or both of them dying.

One final note, Yang may be gone but... what if instead of the others also falling... those still standing take a leap of faith to jump after her and whoever else falls

[promptbomb]

Ink and Paint : Chapter 4

Pairing: Ryan Haywood x Reader Previous Chapters:  One // Two // Three Word Count: 1,865 Prompt: You came to Los Santos to pursue a dream of becoming a tattoo artist. Things haven’t quite worked out as you planned and now you find yourself working a graveyard shift at Pandemonium Ink. Things are typically quiet, that is until one of the cities most infamous criminals come through the door.

A surge of adrenaline snaps you awake when you see Bruno’s name on your caller id. You ignore the cascade of papers that fall from the shifting of your blankets as you sit up, double-checking the time through a blurred gaze before you answer. You couldn’t possibly begin to guess why he’s calling you at nine in the morning but your instincts tell you that it’s probably not to deliver any good news. He all but confirms that when he tells you that you need to come in. Right now. And that the cops were there, asking questions.

Shit.

You scurry to make yourself look presentable and spring for a cab to get down there as quickly as possible, finding the street outside Pandemonium peppered with squad cars when you arrive. At the far end of the block, you see a couple of news trucks behind a guarded barricade while several officers stand outside the shop, talking to a few of the dayshift artists and their friends that typically hang around. Next door the dry cleaner is taped off and you see some detectives coming in and out, one of them talking casually to Phil who had no sense of a poker face in dealing with people interrupting his own flow of business. 

It seemed your long-standing suspicions about the dry cleaner being involved in some sort of shady business were spot on and whatever evidence the cops had gathered in the last few days on stakeout had garnered enough warrant to bust in and do a search. Now the investigators were starting to take depositions from the locals and, since you were the only one that worked nights, they were extremely interested in what you may have seen or heard. Which, honestly, was a whole lot of nothing. Sure, you had seen a van pulled up to the back a few times, but outside color and size there wasn’t much else to recall.

They take down your information and ask you to stay even after they finish questioning you. All in all, it takes about two hours until you were finally released to go back home, armed now with a card that put you in direct contact with one of the lead investigators should you remember anything else. Phil reimburses you for the cab fare and even pays for your ride home, telling you to try and rest up before you have to work that evening. Right, like you were going to be able to sleep after all that. On the way home though you being to think about how lucky Ryan was that the cops didn’t notice him last night. His pedestrian look seemed to be well tested. 

But he was supposed to come back tonight to start his tattoo.

You begin to chew on your bottom lip, your gaze turning to look out at the city skyline hazed in afternoon heat. With all the cops swarming the area maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for him to come. It probably wouldn’t be as bad during the evening but there’s no doubt that the area was going to be heavily patrolled just in case. You did have his number and he did say to call only if it was important. Keeping him from potentially being busted seemed important enough. Still, calling to warn him about the cops, if he didn’t think you knew who he was before that would certainly reveal just that. You begin to weigh which might be more dangerous; having the Vagabond know that you know who he is or knowingly letting him walk into a police heavy area. 

Screw it. 

When you arrive home you flipped through your sketchbook, finding his scrawled number and giving him a call. You’re not the least bit surprised when you’re met with the standard answering message. This was probably some protective line, used for business and nothing more. “Hey...Ryan. Uh, listen. I know you told me not to call unless it was important but...well I think you should stay clear of Pandemonium for a while. The place next door got busted for drugs or something and the entire block has been crawling with cops all day. I just think...you know...it might be safer for you not to come tonight. We can reschedule your tattoo when things clear up. Ok? Right. Ok. Bye.” Your cheeks begin to flush with heat as you end the call, mentally replaying your words over and over again. 

You keep your phone handy though, expecting him to call or text some sort of reply. In the meantime, since you’re resigned to staying up, you begin to further your own investigation into the Vagabond of Los Santos. There’s a plentiful amount of information about the Fake AH Crew online in way of news reports. Robbery, illegal gambling and street racings, prison breaks, even petty crimes such as shoplifting or vandalism. They were dangerous, there was no doubt about that, but it was more like a lot of jackassery then the criminal masterminds the media made them out to be. An hour passes before you look at your phone, making sure you hadn't missed a call or text while watching some amateur video of the Crew leader pissing on a cop car before one of the other boys tossed a grenade into its open window. No reply as of yet.

You take a nap and check your phone again when you wake up. Still nothing. A seed of anxiety begins to take root as your day plays out quietly with no response from the Vagabond. By the time you make it into work, your stomach had worked itself into a knot. Just as you had expected, sitting right outside of Pandemonium, a pair of police officers nod to you from their patrol car as you enter the shop. You touch base with Bruno, who spends a solid five minutes complaining about how dead the shop had been thanks in part to the police presence outside and how Phil thought it might carry on for a few days. The old man was too salty to close up though and Bruno wished you luck on staving off boredom as he left for the evening. As soon as he’s out the door you fish your phone from your pocket and check for any notifications. 

Nothing.

The night continues on. You anxiously watch the door, your mind working a thousand miles a minute, constructing a dozen different scenarios. What if he hadn’t got the message? If he were to walk up and see the patrol car would he think you were trying to set him up? You recall that first evening you had met the Vagabond, how cold his eyes had been, the aura of danger that had exuded from him. A shiver trails down your spine and you close your eyes for a moment, holding a breath before exhaling gently. You had done the right thing and, as the night crawled to a close it came without incident and without Ryan making an appearance. You feel a sense of relief thinking that, if anything, at least he received and heeded your message. 

You check your phone once more before going to bed and again when you first wake up. Still nothing. The lack of response almost seems to haunt your morning routine as you occasionally shoot a glance towards your silent phone while brushing your teeth. You nearly drop your coffee cup when it chimes suddenly, sending you into a scramble to fumble with the lock screen only to see a message from Ruth asking if you were free to pick up an afternoon shift today. Your head suddenly feels like it weighs fifty pounds as it hangs low and you can’t help but chuckle. This was ridiculous. You needed to get your mind on something else and dealing with a hungry crowd at lunch was just the thing to give you a little reprieve. 

Ruth is already in the middle of prepping when you arrive and after a short exchange of friendly banter, you take charge at the register just as the first customer walks up. The first thing you notice about the woman on the other side of the counter is that she seems incredibly out of place from the typical scene that usually patronizes Ruth’s eatery. Sleek auburn hair framed a pretty face half concealed by a pair of what you could only guess were high end, name brand sunglasses. Her black suit was fitted and was something you would have guessed would have been on display in a Ponsonbys’ storefront on Portola Drive, a far cry from the beach bums that usually sauntered up for a hot ham and cheese. “Hi!” You greet her in full customer service mode, ticket book in hand. “Welcome to Ruth’s. What can I get you?”

“I’ll take an iced tea.” Her reply comes with a surprisingly friendly tone, not what you would have expected from someone looking so posh, and the warmth of her smile makes you almost feel guilty for having assumed otherwise. You service her drink and she pays with a twenty, dunking the change into the tip jar without a second thought before thanking you and moving to sit at one of the far tables, the tip of the straw disappearing between the pucker of her ruby red lips. You wonder briefly if maybe she was meeting someone here; local property was always being snatched up for regentrification and she seemed to be the type of person flushed with cash and ready to invest. As the lunch rush begins to kick up you loose focus on the woman and fall into the grind, it only when things slow down and Ruth asks you to bust the tables that you notice she’s still there.

Well, if she was waiting for someone they had yet to show, but, whether it was paranoia or your own active imagination, you feel as if she had been here watching you the entire time. You decide to slake your curiosity by approaching her, armed only with your customer service smile. “Is there anything else I can get for you today? Maybe a refill?” You motion to her empty cup which had begun pooling at the base from condensation. 

“Oh no, I’m ok.” She seems to pause for a moment and extends a finger to idly flick the tip of her straw. “Actually, I wonder if you and I could have a brief conversation.” You blink, the enigma of this woman becoming more and more complex. When you fail to respond she offers you a laugh and tilts her head just enough so that she can peer at you over the frame of her sunglasses. “You and I have a mutual friend.”

“We do?” You quirk a brow, mentally going through the shortlist of people you knew in the city well enough to call a friend. 

Your bewilderment pulls her smile further across her face, almost endearingly, and she reaches to take hold of your hand to give it a firm shake. “My name is Lindsay Jones, I’m a member of the Fakes.”

[calliecat93]

You know, every time I get ready to write these reviews I think ‘oh God, how am I gonna type all of this out?!”. There is so much to say. So much to go over. It’s like that with every review I’ve done, but for this volume? God… I am at a loss every single time. There’s so many conflicting things going on. So much where I have an opinion on practically everything. Differing views about everything. Where I can see both the right and wrong in every action that the characters take.

RWBY has grown more and more complex over the years, but this volume? It takes the cake. The last chapter has so much of… everything that watching it again still gives me chills. So… how will the follow-up go? Going off what I already said, you can probably guess: tense as Hell. So let’s get on with it.

Review

Things are at an all-time low. Ironwood has banned public gatherings in Mantle. Curfews have been put in place. Everyone is utterly terrified and despite Atlas saying that the footage was doctored, they are calling for Penny to be deactivated. With Atlas becoming even more strict and her no longer able to get on the council, Robyn and her Happy Huntresses have gone full-on vigilante and are robbing the military for everything that they’ve got. We get to see their Semblances though, wth May being able to create an invisibility dome and Fiona (THE SHEEP LIVES!) having some kind of pocket dimension ability. Kinda reminds me of Miroku’s Wind Tunnel in Inuyasha, awesome!

Needless to say, Ironwood is nooooot happy right now. With the stolen resources and Mantle no longer cooperating, Amity has been at a standstill. It is at the point that he and Winter are strongly considering enacting Martial Law on the city, much to the shock of both Ruby and Nora. Well… for Nora, shock isn’t the right word. No, no.. she is enraged. She angrily rebukes Ironwood when he says that he knows that Mantle is taking the brunt of the sacrifices, pointing out that no, they’re taking all of it. They’re suffering, scared, and being forced to fall in line all because of this waiting game, and all it’s going to do is make them easy targets for the Grimm. I don’t think we’ve ever seen Nora this enraged before, so… yeah… wow…

Ruby, much more calmly, tries to convince Ironwood that his actions are only causing the division that Salem wants. But it’s derailed as the reason that they are Ren are there is to confirm that it was indeed Tyrian there. Which we learn that he is a wanted serial killer who was caught, but escaped when his prison transport was attacked by the Grimm. Which we all know where he ended up after. Ruby wants to tell the people, but Clover says no since it’ll only cause even more panic, which is why Ironwood refuses to talk about Amity or Salem yet. His orders for now? For Robyn to be arrested in order to get Amity back on track/Mantle’s cooperation, and anyone not doing that will be assigned to finding Tyrian. He asks if he’s made himself clear, which is acknowledged by Clover, WInter… and to the shock of Ruby and Nora, Ren. 

Later in Mantle, Blake and Yang are with Ace-Ops on tracking down Robyn though in a different van. This gives them time to talk about the recent events. Yang still believes that they should have told Ironwood the truth from the start since he deserved to know, but Blake still believes that it was best to hold back especially since it’s now proven that he tends to overreact to bad news. But Blake is pretty worn down about their actions in the name of doing the right thing, and not just with Atlas. They don’t outright say it out loud, but it’s clear that she’s referring to Adam. Even when Yang reminds her that they had no choice, Blake is still worried about it coming down to that again and isn’t exactly looking forward to arresting a Huntress who is only trying to do good… at least, until Yang proposes that they don’t have to.

Meanwhile in Atlas, Pietro has Penny hooked up and is working to get the footage that she recorded to prove her innocence, though even he doubts that it’ll do any good now. Ruby and Weiss are there… as is Maria, who has been helping Pietro with his work. FINALLY SHE IS BACK! Pietro is understandably upset about his daughter being framed and viewed as a murderer, especially since Robyn would have been killed had Penny not been there. Ruby, however, suspects that Tyrian never intended to kill Robyn and that framing Penny was exactly what they wanted. They wanted to use Penny to send a message of division, just like at the Vytal Festival. Pietro has realized that the same person who caused the events then is likely the one doing it now, though with Atlas’ code updated it should be safe. Though since the SDC is one of the ones with access, Weiss isn’t so certain and even more suspicious of her father’s involvement.

But hey, if worst comes to worst, Pietro can just rebuild Penny again, right? Well… not exactly. You know how Penny said in V2 that she’s the first robot to be able to generate an Aura? Well… there’s a reason for this. Pietro reveals his Aura… and there are two noticeable chunks missing. That’s right, Pietro gave us parts of his own Aura, his own soul, to create Penny. We find out how back in his youth, he and his colleagues proposed their own projects to Ironwood, and his was selected. He wanted to create a protector with a soul, and thus The Penny Project came to be. But the more times that Pennyisi destroyed, the more that it takes from Pietro and he may not be able to do so again if Mantle gets their way. Something that very understandably has him scared and distraught. Ruby swears to find the man responsible… as Pietro puts down a photo that he has of himself and his colleagues. Including a certain disgraced scientist…

Back in Mantle, Robyn and her gang start to rob another truck.. But it’s the one with Blake and Yang. They start to try and talk to her, but Robyn and her team run for it. They give chase, eventually leading to a clash between the Bees and Robyn. It’s not exactly a spectacular fight, but a nice and short one that further shows the Bees teamwork as well as their own capabilities, and especially Robyn’s own skill as a Huntress. They do eventually convince her to listen though, revealing the purpose of Amity being reconfigured to re-establish communication. To see if it’s true, Robyn has Blake take her hand where we discover Robyn’s Semblance: Lie Detection. Wow, the theories were true. Robyn is surprised to realize that Blake is indeed being honest and confused about why Ironwood would keep that a secret. She wants to know what else is going on and who the actual villains are, but the Bees aren’t ready to reveal anything more. The Ace-Ops are nearing the area so Robyn flees, swearing that nothing is going to stop her until she knows the truth.

We cut back to Atlas Academy... and into the Vault where Ironwood has taken Oscar in hopes of jigging up some Oz memories. Behind the door is the Staff of Creation, which we learn is pretty much some kind of endless energy generator. In fact, it is the reason why Atlas is floating in the sky, an idea made by Oz, and not Gravity Dust which was the cover story, However, the Staff can only be used on one thing at a time, hence why they can’t use it on Amity since… well…that would cause some devastating issues for Atlas, to put it simply. It’s certainly strange for Oscar. To see something that a part of him helped create, even though he himself didn’t do so. But Ironwood says that he’ll get used to it and eventually won’t even be able to tell the difference anymore. Something that Oscar doesn’t exactly look happy about, though at least he takes it better than he has in the past.

But instead of pondering on his identity issues, Oscar instead tries to talk to Ironwood about the path that he’s currently heading down. How he keeps trying to be the one with all the answers. The one where he does everything to do what he feels is right, even if it means crossing several moral lines. Essentially, Ironwood is trying to be Oz, and we all know how that went for him. But Ironwood feels that there is no other choice. Allt hat matters is stopping Salem, though Oscar rebukes that preserving their humanity, the thing that Salem threw away, matters even more. But Ironwood isn’t so sure, even wondering if that’s Salem’s greatest strength. Can she feel fear? Hesitant? Helpless? The same things that Ironwood felt at Vale. When he saw his forces be taken over, with him unable to do anything. How even with all of his forces, he could do nothing. We even see him flashback to seeing the Queen Virus appear on his screen back then. It’s… pretty damning. 

Oscar tells Ironwood that it’s okay to feel these things. Even fear. You just can’t let it control you. Ironwood however only swears that he won’t end up like Lionheart did and asks Oscar if he believes in him. Oscar says yes… but not /only/ on him, encouraging him to talk to the people he’s afraid to. The two take the elevator up, only to find an anxious Penny and Winter. The latter gives Ironwood a letter… from her father. Turns out, they’ve all been invited to the Schnee Manor for dinner. One where Ironwood will be defending his seat on the council, Jaques first act as the newest Councilman. 

Review

So… not quite as evil as last week, but still a very tense ride. You can cut the tension with a butterknife at this point. Everything is building up, and I imagine that the downfall won’t be pleasant.

We’re going to talk about where RWBYJNRO stand respectively. Let’s start with JNR. SInce Jaune isn’t in the episode it’s hard to gauge where he stands currently, though going off the past few chapters I imagine that he’s in the middle of Ren and Nora, but leaning towards Nora. The Renora duo though? Ho boy… they’ve never been more divided. It’s been clear since Chapter One where Nora stands. She is completely disapproving of the treatment of Mantle, and it and the secrets have her nearing a breaking point. And she’s totally right. Mantle is bearing all of the burdens, all of the sacrifices, and they don’t even know why. They don’t deserve this. Considering how we know that she was a street urchin, having to steal food and be mercilessly bullied by others when she ended up in Kuroyuri, it makes perfect sense for Nora to be this way. But it also makes sense why Ren is how he is. I don’t approve of him siding with Ironwood… but I understand why. After all, lack of any security and protection is what caused his village and family to be slaughtered. No, I don’t view Ren as a boot-licker and IDT he’s particularly happy about any of this. But he’s so focused on the what-ifs over the now, and it’s messing with him. Tyrian’s massacre, an event that he got distracted from detecting due to kissing Nora, doesn’t help.

I just feel so horrible for both of them. I am glad to see it though. For the longest time, Ren and Nora have differed but generally, they had little conflict between them despite their varying different personalities. It’s sweet to see, but they aren’t the same person. Ren is reserved and quiet, Nora is outgoing and bubbly. Ren is the Straight Man of the group, while Nora is the Genki Girl. Ren had a family that he lost, while Nora had no one until Ren came along (that we know of anyways). Ren’s Semblance involves masking emotions, while Nora’s involves absorbing energy. They are both very different people, but they love each other and always supported each other. But now they’re at an impasse. Nora is against Mantle’s mistreatment no matter the reason, while Ren sees it as a necessary evil to protect everyone and appears fully on board with it. And Ren seems even more closed off as ever since he didn’t even talk or express anything until siding with Ironwood’s orders, while Nora made her stance and feelings very clear with Ruby backing her. IDK where this is going to lead, but it shows that the kiss didn’t just magically fix their problems. Which is good, but it makes it all the more painful as we see the division grow between them.

Then we get to the RWBY girls. So let’s discuss Blake and Yang’s decisions here. For the most part, I agree with them. Robyn is only trying to do what’s right for Mantle. Sure she’s robbed military vehicles, but so far that’s the only morally ambiguous thing that she’s done, and she has a pretty valid reason for it. Trying to talk and work with Robyn is a much better option than opposing her and furthering the divide. It’s also good to see that the two have differing opinions on Ruby’s lie, with Yang still trusting Ruby but still feeling that Ironwood should know, while Blake feels that it could have caused much worse and in that regard is still on the same page as Ruby. They discussed it maturely and while again they don’t outright say it, it’s good to see that Blake does still have lingering issues from killing Adam despite knowing that she had to. It makes sense that she doesn’t want to arrest Robyn since… well, a Huntress doing morally ambiguous things to help the oppressed. Yeah, she fully understands that. And Yang has always kinda been anti-authority and is clearly against secrets especially towards those who deserve to know it (though it further makes her hiding Ravens Maiden identity very bad on her part), so of course she’d be on board with Robyn.

But… I can’t say that this was the right thing to do. First of all, they don’t know anything about Robyn. Yes, it’s clear that she does indeed care about Mantle. We also do see here that while she’s still upset about what happened before, she isn’t unreasonable. She does listen, and once she sees that Blake was telling the truth, accepts it. But of course, we see that she’s Hellbent on knowing the full truth and finding out who actually did this. We don’t know if she’s going to give the Bees her trust. We don’t know what she’ll do with this information. Maybe she’ll be swayed, maybe she won’t. She knows that Atlas has reasons… but they’re still oppressing Mantle instead of just being open about it. And if she does find out about Salem, there’s no telling what she’ll do. Robyn isn’t a bad person, but she is certianly not afraid of breaking the law and while IDT she’d harm innocents, there’s no telling how far he’ll go to get answers. There just isn’t a lot known about Robyn and while I think it is right to reach out to her, IDK if doing so without talking to Ironwood or the rest of the team was a good idea.

This brings us to the next point, the lack of communication. It’s been pretty clear that Bake and Yang are kinda doing their own thing and have for a while now. Which is fine and helps with their development, especially after V6. There’s a lot of trust and understanding between them in a way that only they can understand. We see that in how they talk about their differing opinions, doing so maturely and understanding the other’s view while still standing by their own thoughts. It’s good to see. But the problem is they made this decision about Robyn… without talking to the others, especially Ruby and Weiss. While I do agree with them, it makes it look like... kinda iffy. Like despite Yang saying that she trusts Ruby, she doesn’t fully. How despite Blake saying that they’ll follow Ruby’s lead, they won’t. On the one hand, they aren’t following anyone blindly, and that is important. But doing do without trying to talk to the others? That is not a good thing. Sure they think they’re helping and I do think that they’ll tell Ruby when they get to Atlas. But IDK how she’ll feel. I can see her agreeing that it was right... but IDK how she’ll feel about it being done behind her back even if it was split-second. She may/say it’s fine, but is that true? It may just add more pressure to her and her worries, and that is going to lead to bad things. I agree with Yang and lake, but I feel that they should have waited until they talked to the others because if Robyn does who knows what, it could only make things worse, and in turn make Ruby’s ultimate decision even harder.

But Ruby’s also not communicating anything. So far, aside from talking to Qrow a little in Chapter 4 and expressing her uncertainty in Chapter 6, she hasn’t talked about making a decision or her own feelings. She’s on board with Amity going up, but we don’t know if she feels like she needs to tell Ironwood about Salem now or not. Aside from any questioning it in Chapter 3, no one else has tried talking to her nor has she tried talking to any of the others or their opinions. Mind you, we may see that soon since the recent events are still recent, but it needs to happen soon. Weiss has so far been uninvolved with the Robyn stuff and while shes voiced her disapproval of Ironood’s regime and suspicions of her father, none of the others have really talked with her about it. Yang dismissed Weiss’ concerns about Jaques in CHapter 6 (though tbf it was before everything went to Hell), and no one acknowledged her voicing her suspicions this chapter. She’s ceritnaly against Ironwood’s regime, but right now her focus seems to be on her father, which isn’t unfounded. But it’s hard to say where she stands regarding Ruby’s lie and working with Robyn at this point nor especially how she feels about Winter’s current stance.

Then we have Oscar. This was an interesting chapter for him. He’s been completely uninvolved in the Robyn stuff and we haven’t seen how he feels about Ruby’s choices since Chapter 3. But he was good here. We see him display a lot of maturity and hindsight. He’s pretty much seeing Ironwood trying to be like Oz, and he knows how that is a bad thing. He wants to side with Ironwood since he sees that he’s a good person… and he is. Ironwood is one of if not the most complex character in the series. He is a good person. He is caring, can be light-hearted, and ultimately does want to protect everyone and do what’s right. But he is also a very, very flawed person. He is allowing Mantle to suffer and be viewed as a dictator, which he puts off as not caring about even though it’s clearly tearing him up. He saw what happened last time when he had a huge army and usurped power for his own reasons, but here he is doing it again. He’s trying to shove away his emotions and trying to be this fearless leader who has all the answers and is doing what’s best, aka be like Ozpin. But he isn’t Oz, and no one should be. He is letting fear control him and compromising his morals to do what he views as the right thing, even if it means that innocents suffer. The Tin Man is throwing away his heart, just as the Cowardly Lion gave into his cowardice.

Oscar can see this. He gets it. Ironwood is a good man, but he’s so focused on his own goal that he’s disregarding everything else. He’s practically shoving away his humanity, the same thing that Salem lost a long time ago. The general is heading down a dark path. It’s like I said in my Opening Analysis, Ironwood’s hopes are shattered. He’s trying, but he doesn’t know what to do. He’s just lost, and he’s risking staying that way for good. IDK how much Oscar’s words actually helped, but I am glad to see him speaking his own thoughts. Not Oz’, his. We do see for a brief second that Oscar is still unhappy about being viewed as Oz and the eventual merger, which that seeming to be dropped was a big issue with him last volume. I still don’t feel like he’s getting proper development, but this is a start. He’s acting like his own person instead of needing Oz to guide him or worrying about if his thoughts are his own. This is very much what we needed from him, and I’m very happy to see it here.

Finally, let’s talk about Pietro and Penny. It’s clear that the last chapter broke Penny. Any time that we see her here, she’s either sad or anxious. She is completely quiet, a major contrast to her bubbly, energetic personality throughout the volume. Once more, the villains used her status as a root made by Atlas to turn the people against Ironwood. How she may look like this sweet little girl just trying to protect the people, but in reality, she’s just a weapon used to further oppress the people. Now people want her destroyed, even though despite being made of metal, she is human. She has a soul. She has a heart. She has genuinely good intentions and just wanted to do good. But now it’s pretty much impossible for her to be viewed as anything but a weapon. The poor girl deserves all the hugs in the world.

But it’s equally heartbreaking seeing Pietro’s reaction. He clearly loves enny. His creation. His daughter. His distraught over this is a feeling that any parent who sees their children suffering can relate to. But then the bombshell happens. We find out that Pietro gave up his own Aura, the manifestation of his soul, to bring enny to life. Twice. Something that’ clearly wearing him down, and it’s pretty likely that doing it again may very well mean his death. It’s… IDK how to express it. It’s so sad to see, but it’s so sweet that he was willing to do so to bring Penny to life, and he clearly loves her with all his heart. This might also mean that he’s the one who created the Aura Transfew tech, and he used it on himself to bring Penny to life. IDK if he extended it to jam Aura into another person, but he clearly developed the tech. Still, it’s… such a bittersweet backstory. It’s about a man who wanted to create life. To create something with a soul, and he succeeded… but it cost him his own soul. And now he has to watch his daughter suffer, helpless to do anything except hope that the one behind this is caught before she can be hurt anymore. It’s so heartbreaking, but comes across as so genuine and just makes me care about these two characters even more.

This was a very eventful chapter. The length of the Overview alone I think demonstrates that. But it was an excellent one and a perfect follow-up to last week. There’s so much tension and conflict, but you can look at all these characters and understand all of their decisions. Ironwood, Robyn, Nora, Ren, Blake, Yang, everyone. There is no clear cut good or bad choices here, just choices. Everyone is trying to do what they think is right, and no one is particularly wrong. But every choice has a consequence. Even with the best-case scenario of appealing to Robyn, there is uncertainty regarding what she’ll do or how far she’ll go. It could lead to the worst-case scenario. As Blake said, there are few if any good options left. Add in things like Penny and Pietro backstory, Tyrian stuff, and talk about the Staff of Creation, and we’ve got what may be the best chapter so far. It’s gonna be one Hell of a second half, especially with the DInner Party ahead. Speaking of…

Chapter Eight Predictions

Final chapter of the year, folks. Going off the past, this one is gonna be a doozy. We’re clearly going to the Schnee Manor, though IDK who all is gonna go aside form Ironwood and Winter. Sure WInter said ‘all’ but it’s hard to say if the main group would be tagging along. But I am for certain that Weiss is going to go. Not because she wants to, but because she feels she has to (if Jaques didn’t make it clear that she has to be included, of course). She suspects her father of rigging the vote and of his recent decisions, and she’s gonna want to know why. But the only way is to go back home, something that will be very, very difficult for her and Winter both. But if it means stopping her father and uncovering the truth, she’ll do it. Might not be the smartest thing to do, but she’d do it.

This could lead to a number of things. There’s, of course, the political drama between Jaques and Ironwood, cause that’s ALWAYS fun. But this will be the first time that we’ve seen the Schnee Manor (outside Jawues office in Chapter 4) since V4. I already worry about Klein’s fate since it was Whitley who answered Watts and not him, but he could still be there. Though I suspect that Weiss is going to find out otherwise. Whitley will most likely be there, and we’ll see if he keeps on with his facade or if it’s gonna slip. Maybe even see him and WInter interact finally. But the thing I’m most hoping for That we finally see Mama Schnee. It’s been so long, and this seems like the right time especially if Weiss is genuinely concerned for her after Jaques gaslighting. And haha… if so they’ll beat the DC Comic in showing her first by mere days. Great timing there! Whatever happens though… it’s not gonna be a pleasant night for everyone involved. Hope that the food is good, at least.

Episode Stats

Favorite Character: Nora Valkyrie, Pietro Polendina, James Ironwood, and Oscar Pine Favorite Scene: Nora telling off Ironwood and the Ironwood and Oscar talk Least Favorite Scene: The first minute or two, only cause it feels weird that we had the Grimm Attack last week that… just went nowhere. Favorite Voice Actor: David Fennoy (Pietro Polendina) Favorite Animation: Bees vs Robyn. Rating: 9/10

Final Thoughts

Dear God this is probably the longest review yet. And with where things are heading, they’re only gonna get longer. But damn… this has been by far the most complex volume and I am /loving it! SO many different conflicts between everyone, and you can understand everyone but see the problems with all of it. Good fights. Good expositions that don’t feel dragged, Good character interactions, and even more interesting choices made by characters. There are so many things that can happen form here, both good and bad. I feel more and more uncertain about things the more that it goes on, except that I love it. While IDK if it tops 3 and 6 yet in terms of enjoyment and we’ve still got six more chapters to go, this may very well be the best-written volume thus far.

[skyechaser]

Silence in Atlas 17/?

Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will specify it. 

Hello, guys! I’ve been really, really busy these past few weeks so I haven’t had much time to write :( Things will keep up like this for now so I’ll probably upload twice a week for a while. I’ll try to make them chapters a bit longer. Thanks for the support and the love. 

-------------------

Yang spent the following two days in the hospital, rarely leaving Blake’s side. Her left hand had to be put in a cast. She had broken two fingers in her fit of rage. The rest of the team would visit and call, but they had other things to handle. In spite of everything that had happened since they had arrived at Atlas, the truth was Salem was still a threat and they had to do something about it. Ruby told Yang not to worry and to focus on being there for her girlfriend. She, of course, agreed. The world could crash and burn for all she cared and she’d still be there, waiting for Blake to wake up.

Doctor Yu would come check the faunus’ vital signs every once in a while and Yang found herself actually liking the man. He was always kind to her and tried his best to smile. It really seemed like he cared. Other members of the hospital staff, however, had a very different view on all the faunus that were currently in the medical facilities. She had overheard nurses commenting on how some of the doctors were refusing to treat them. It seemed unbelievable to her that medical professionals could be so inconsiderate even after seeing what Staub had done to the faunus.

“That’s her” she overheard someone said as she walked back to Blake’s room one late afternoon. It was probably one of the interns. Yang was pretty sure most of the people in the hospital knew who she was. Whenever she walked the hallways she’d hear whispers. She tried not to pay any attention to them, knowing that if she heard an offensive comment she would probably end up punching someone in the face and that wasn’t in her plans. At least not anyone in this place.

“Yeah” someone else replied “That’s the cat’s girlfriend”. Deep breath. Keep walking. She held a bag in her hand firmly and she concentrated on it’s weight to avoid thinking too much about what she had just heard. At least it wasn’t an insult. She was, after all, the cat’s girlfriend, even if she didn’t quite like when they called Blake that way. She entered the room, left the bag in a small table near the entrance and took out its contents: three books. There was a library in the first floor of the hospital and, even if reading had never been one of her interests, Yang found it was a good way to make time pass faster. She bought a couple of novels and a book she thought could help Blake later on. The blonde took one of them and sat down on her chair.

She was about halfway through “The Loss of One” by Gregory Adens when she started falling asleep. It was late. She snored and felt small tears at the edges of her eyes. She should try to get some rest. Yang put the book away and turned off the lights. She scooped her chair closer to the bed and got comfortable. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating on the heart monitor. Blake’s here. She’s alive.

About an hour later Blake woke up with no idea of where she was. Her eyes shot open and a scream died in her throat. It was dark and it frightened her. She recalled her days in The Trader’s hideout, alone in that fucking room and losing sense of time. Aleph’s face flashed in her mind. She shivered and took both hands to her neck. The collar was gone. The shackles were gone. Blake started panicking. She could hear a beeping noise getting faster by the second. She tried to sit up but her body wasn’t really agreeing with her. She looked at her side and that was when she remembered.

Yang was asleep, half her body resting on the bed. Just the sight of her started calming the faunus down. It was over. She had been rescued. Blake touched the blonde’s hair gently and saw her eyes moving before they opened. They stared at each other for a second.

“Blake” was all Yang managed to say as she practically jumped up to embrace the other girl, one hand on her lower back and the other one on the back of her head. They held each other with all they had, like they were holding together the pieces of a broken vase. They cried in silence, one of them because she had no voice and the other because she couldn’t find hers. Blake thought of her time with the Traders and her time in the mine, hoping Yang would find her and bring her back. She thought of her message, scraped into the floor of her prison. She thought of Agape. She didn’t even know how long she had been missing. It felt like forever. She buried her face in the crook of Yang’s neck and took a deep breath. Her safe place.   

“I’m so sorry” the blonde whispered. “I should have stayed with you”. Blake broke the embrace gently to look into Yang’s eyes. There were so many things she wanted to say. She wanted to thank her. She wanted to say she loved her. She wanted Yang to know the thought of her had kept her alive in hell. But she couldn’t speak. There was, however, something she could try. Something she feared she’d die without doing. Blake placed a hand on her girlfriend’s cheek, smiled, and leaned in. Yang met her halfway, their lips crashing together.

They kissed and it felt like putting together the pieces of a puzzle. It was just natural. Electricity ran through their bodies or at least that was how it felt like. Yang moved her right hand to hold the side of Blake’s waist as they deepened the gesture. She knew at that moment they were made to kiss each other and nobody else. Why would they? Nothing was going to feel like this. Everything was so wrong but somehow it was also perfect.

This wasn’t the way Yang had pictured their first kiss. She thought it would be on a date, maybe a dance in Atlas or just on a regular day, cuddling and playing around. She would have never guessed it would be in a hospital room, Blake connected to machines and with bandages all over. However, in spite of everything, it felt great. It felt right.

Blake thought she would die without kissing her, without ever been allowed to love her dragon. Every day she fell asleep in hell she dreamed of this girl. The girl who made the sun shine brighter and the breeze feel gentler. The girl who gave sense to everything. The girl who felt like home. Yang. Now she was here and she was feeling the warmth of her lips against hers and it the most beautiful thing in the world. This was it. The love that had remained unspoken was finally brought out into the light. She just wished she had a voice to say the words as well.

When they broke apart they leaned their forehead together as a reflex and looked into each other’s eyes. Their breaths synchronized, both a little agitated after the kiss. Blake’s face was no longer covered in bruises and Yang’s eyes were soft and kind again and for a second the world was not sick and twisted and it was just them, their hearts beating together in the almost silence of a hospital room, Blake’s heart monitor the only audible sound.

They remained motionless for a while, processing what had just happened. Blake was the first one to move. She had just noticed Yang’s left hand was in a cast. She looked back at her, concern in her eyes. Had she gotten injured in her rescue?

“I punched something wrong” the blonde lied, not wanting to admit what had actually happened. “It’ll be fine in a week or so”. Blake took the injured hand and brought it to her lips, kissing it once over the cast. Yang blushed. “I have to go get the doctor” she added, suddenly remembering they were in a hospital. “I have to tell him you woke up, okay?” Blake nodded in response. It was late and the room was dark so Yang walked towards the door and turned on the lights.

Click.

Blake could feel the pain in her body even if the collar was gone. She hugged herself as the tremors appeared, her eyes wide in absolute terror. Her mouth was open as if she was trying to scream but only a raspy noise could be heard.

“What happened?” Yang asked as she ran back  to her side. “Blake, are you okay?”. She wasn’t. Her blood felt like it was on fire. It took about ten seconds for her to calm down, her body slowly coming to the realization she hadn’t actually been shocked. When her breathing came back to normal she looked at Yang. The blonde was staring at her with wide open eyes, not fully understanding what had happened. Doctor Yu said Blake wasn’t in any danger but that reaction said otherwise. “Are you in pain?”

“No” the faunus mouthed as she thought of a way to explain what had happened. The light switch had sounded like the clicker. Her body had reacted just like it had back in Staub and with Aleph. She pointed at the ceiling.

“The light?” Yang asked. “The light hurts your eyes?” Blake moved her head sideways.

“Sound” she mouthed as she pointed to one of her ears.  

“The sound?” Blake nodded and pointed to the wall next to the door. “The sound of the light switch?” she nodded again and pointed to her neck. Yang recalled the metal collar and the deep wound under it from when she had rescued the faunus. Doctor Yu had said it was a shock collar. It made sense. A similar sound would trigger a similar reaction. “It sounded like that. The thing they used for the collar”.

“Yes” the black haired girl mouthed. She felt so weak admitting a simple sound was all it took to break her down like that. The pain was too real, even if the electricity wasn’t there. She looked down at her hands. Her wrists were bandaged but she could still feel the weight of the shackles.  

“Hey” the blonde said, using her right hand to hold Blake’s chin and make her look up. “It’s going to be okay, baby. Well get through this” she smiled and pecked her on the lips.  

“Thank you” the faunus mouthed in response. In all the darkness that was Atlas there was a small light, a fire that grew stronger every time she looked at Yang. It made her feel like there was a way out of this, that somehow they would make it through together again.

[season-of-hope]

Steven Universe; A beginning.

I started watching Steven universe out of.... Borden. I had been burned by CN show’s and didn’t think anything of value could come from it, plus I was much older at the time, as of writing this I’m 27, enough about be tho. How was this series and this SEASON FINAL (yeah they’re not over can you believe that). 

At first I thought it was OK. But as the story went on and the messages below the surface became clear I understood how important this series is. I’ve followed it since then and watched it build to this moment. While it will continue onward, There’s thill the movie and season 6, I feel if it ended here I would be satisfied. 

So where does all this satisfaction come from, Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll..

SPOILERS BELOW!!!

SERIOUSLY GUYS IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED IT GO NO FURTHER!!!

HERE WE GO

The episode Start’s where we think it left off Steven in the prison that the Diamonds would leave Pink when she misbehaved. Only to realize that this is a dream, Steven once again accessing his mothers memories somehow. It shows us that Pink was always the way we’ve seen her. The dream however reinforces the question that Steven has been haunted by. 

Who

am

I

Steven has been worried about not being himself, that he is just his mother. This has been shown in how he has tried to shoulder some of her mistakes and make up for them all this series. It’s something that has terrified him. That he could just be his mother or spend his life making up for everything she’s done. 

but the dream does give him clarity on how his mother was treated by the Diamonds, and he confronts blue with this. Steven and Connie confront Blue with the fact that the will have a big problem if they don’t leave the tower, that problem being “Death by Starvation”. Blue just thinks it another trick, that Pink is still putting on a show like always, she demands that Steven apologizes.

Steven then does something that makes me feel so proud of him, He says no. He’s not sorry and he’s not going to apologize. Well Blue tries to crush Steven with emotion but he just makes it clear that what he did with Connie, what all the Crystal gems do is perfectly natural.He tells blue that all of this is cruel and that none of this is normal so Blue does the only reasonable thing. She fires an energy ball at Blue. Oh did I say reasonable I meant ABUSIVE.

Steven then points out the obvious, NONE OF THIS IS NORMAL. This is not how a family acts. He confronts Blue with how she manipulated Pinks emotions and treated her so cruelly. This opens up Blues eyes and she sees how failed gem society is. She decides to help them get the gems back go home.

I’m sure Yellow will be just as happy to oblige. 

Oh um...

This is probably not the outcome we wanted. But see Yellow and Blue can be seen as abused children under a abusive matriarch. White Diamond expects perfection from them and will potentially harm them if they fail her. Blue is the quite and doting daughter that just goes along with everything were as Yellow is the daughter who tries to meet the authority figures expectations, often out of fear.

Well they Fight and they Fight and they Fight and they Fight until Steven breaks up the fight and Confronts Yellow Diamond On how perfect a society is if it requires all this cruelty. Steven uses the family motto of “If every pork chop were perfect we wouldn’t have hot dogs. This society’s perfections is at the coast of all those hotdogs being thrown away into the trash bin. Bubbled so they don’t ruin everything. Hotdogs like they’re Pink (I think that’s how it goes).

Yellow breaks down in her own tears and Blue is there to help her through this realization. 

Now that both of them are on the same page as Steven we need to get the hell outta he....

Ooooooh..... Hi white(pink) pearl. Well it’s just her so maybe we can....

Oh right those can combine. Well it’s a pretty sticky wicket that we’re in until bismuth and the others arrive with the repaired arms, they knock white’s robot for a loop. and show off their new forms.

Rebecca

You WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEB!!!

Blue and Yellow offer to distract white so they can escape but Steven is doesn’t wanna run or fight like his mom. That solved nothing, he wants to try a convince White to just stop all this, or as he puts it; “If we can fix our family we can fix anything”. So we just gotta connivance a tyrant that her way of running things isn’t working. No pressure. 

The talking route however does not seem to work. she want’s none of it. she blasts Blue and Yellow. Which, strips them of any free will and turns them into Whites dolls.

That is creepy. Anyway Steven and the others are about to be thrown off and Steven looses hold of the Gems. He jumps down to get them but now he’s falling He needs to think of something so he just.

Fuses with them to bull them out. First with Amythest to get smokey quartz and then with pearl to make.

Rainbow Quartz 2.0. Who is as sassy and gay as he needs to be. 

Using the power of rainbows they get to Ruby and Sapphire and make it to ground safly, along with everyone else. He needs Garnet and quick because White is about to stomp them buuuuuu then comes.

Sun Stone. Who is Steven’s idea of what a cool person would be. Awesome.

side note.

New Outfits

Anyway they try to climb but it’s not enough so they All Fuse into

Obsidian. Oh and Connie gets a new sword.

They all rush the Diamond mech with Bismuth Connie Lapis and Peridot running interference but some of them get knocked out so Obsidian decides it’s time to bust out a sword of her own.

A fugjdsklfj;ldsajfeklawfjdskl MAGMA SWORD!!!

ahm, So they cut the arms off and get right to the head. Their forced to defuse but they get in. Okay final boss time. Unfortunately it isn’t much of a fight. White blasts the Gems with her Powers and her she gives her creepy rhetoric. As white diamond she is all colors of the light. All Gems are her some for of imperfect to her. She berets Steven saying he only keeps his friends around because they are imperfect, so he can feel imperfect. She mocks Steven’s very existence, saying he must just be Pink Diamond living inside a human boy. So she forces Pink out. Buy terring out Stevens Gem.

But this is all wrong. Because when Steven’s gem tries to reform. It becomes steven. And it’s angry.

It’s raw power is enough to force White back and Free the others. This is the culmination of Steven’s question. Am I My Mother. He’s not, he’s Steven, he’s had the fortitude to go a make up for his mothers mistakes, But he did this because he chose to do so. Not because he’s Rose trying to make up for everything. It was his choose to got to homeworld, his choose to redeem Gem society, and his choose to not end this the dark way. Gem Steven could end White Diamond if he wanted to but that’s not what Steven wants. And so his power and emotion come back together. In a beautiful scene.

This breaks Diamonds world. She looses control of the others, even Pink Pearl.

Steven offers...

Bit late to the party guys. Steven offers to show her a better way. They head back to earth in the middle of Sadie’s concert. And Lars manages to show up to. Everyone’s happy.

And Steven get’s to accomplish his goal. Curing the corrupted Gems.

All of them

Even Jasper

Who is ready to clobber Steven. Until Amy cools her jets.

Yeah we all have that feeling Jasper. Everything raps up pretty quick here. The Diamonds go home and Steven with his family decide to relax on the.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Not what I saw coming but I really enjoyed it. Rebecca wanted to create a show where we can come to an understanding with each other. where we can accept each others differences and learn to love each other. I’m fin with that, it is a bit rushed with how fast White Diamond turned good but maybe we could see her working though everything. The lesson of not everyone can be redeemed is taught in many other things, it doesn’t have to be here. Or maybe it’s a little down the road. More on that because this isn’t the end. There are some loose thread that can be explored. The zoo needs to be depopulated and returned to earth. Many worlds the gems conquered could need to be restored and then theirs the movie to consider.

Where is this Heart shaped Gem gonna come from.

And that question would lead into

Where did the gems come from anyway?

I look forward to seeing more. I hope all of you are to.

Or heck we could all get tired of it. Who knows

catch you latter.

[agentredfort]

ruby redfort fic masterlist

What is this- geek central?

welcome to the Ruby Redfort fic masterlist, where I do my very best to collect every single bit of fic that’s out there on the internet for your convenience!

I’m not listing these based on quality (and besides, there’s not exactly a lot out there so i can’t pick and choose) so there’s going to be a wide range of fics in this list. any fics that I especially like will be marked as [PERSONAL FAVORITE]. any fics that I’ve added in recently will be marked as [*NEW*]. ships will be tagged!

if there’s any fics that you’ve noticed I’ve missed- or if you’ve written something yourself!- either shoot me an ask or a message via Tumblr and I’ll add it straight away. 

Onwards!

A Guide To Love For A Bozo [wattpad] by TeamSpectrum [multichapter, ongoing] Ruby/Clancy

This is a cluby fan-fic written by Agent Baker. Take a look to find out what happens.

despite the sparse description, this is actually pretty good.

Always [ff.net] by mockingjay341 [Oneshot, complete!]

Ruby is suffering from nightmares, but Clancy will always be there to make her feel better.

hella sweet. ruby needs a hug

Aren’t We All a Bit of a Bozo? [tumblr] by blackers-donuts [oneshot, complete!] Hitch/OC 

Heather looked across at Lydia as they ate their morning toast. “LB reckons there is going to be a new coding agent today, some kid. You know, the one Hitch is looking after.”

interesting concept!! 

Bozo [wattpad] by Kaya_Tano [multichapter, ongoing] Clancy/Ruby

Ruby Redfort, a thirteen year old Spectrum Agent, is facing more than just trouble at work. Her hormones are raging and her best friend Clancy Crew has fallen for her, hard. But Ruby doesn't notice because she is too busy trying to solve her latest case at Spectrum, and how will she cope when one of her closest friends is killed by the notorious murderer The Count, who is supposed to be in a high security prison? And who is the mole at Spectrum who is leaking information to him?

 not bad. i’m not a big fan of the ‘spectrum pairs ruby up with a cute boy her age’ plot, but this seems to be decently-written.

Changed at Birth [tumblr] by blackers-donuts [Twoshot, now complete!] Background Hitch/Blacker 

“They said mum should have killed me with iron,” whispers Ruby.

the folk tale au i never knew i wanted tbh. only halfway done at the moment but it’s such a cool concept and it fits really well??

Convincing LB [wattpad] by Jasmine3103 [Oneshot, complete!]

I really wanted to know what Hitch said in CYD to convince LB to give Ruby another chance. So here is my version.

this was a really good missing scene sorta fic! give it some love if you’ve got a chance, the author seems really lonely to me

Family Ain't Just Blood [ao3] [tumblr] by celestialskies [Oneshot, complete!] [*NEW*]

Ruby looked up, aware that she probably looked like someone had tried to rock her to sleep by dragging her through a hedge backwards several times. Six hours of sleep over three days can do that to a person.

"Couldn't sleep," she muttered. In her tired state, she barely noticed Hitch's expression shift from one of surprise surprise and mild amusement to one of concern.

Ruby can't sleep, and Hitch steps in.

goddamn, i’m always a sucker for unconventional family stories. i actually squealed when I saw this one, which should give you  a pretty good idea of how much i enjoyed it

Five times Clancy Crew chained his bikes to Ruby Redfort’s and one time he didn’t [tumblr] by blackers-donuts [Oneshot, complete!]  [PERSONAL FAVORITE] 

The first time it was a mistake- honestly the chain accidentally went through the frame and well, it only held Ruby up temporarily.

this is really hecking cute and is just generally really great. it made me smile a lot. please check it out

Grains of Sand and Love [tumblr] by  blackers-donuts [Oneshot, complete!] Ruby/Clancy

Being sixteen suddenly brought the barbecues on the beach, adolescent drinking and all the drama that it comes with.

it’s no secret by now that I love this author, this is soft and lovely and good and you should really read it

High School Sweethearts [tumblr] by blackers-donuts [Oneshot, complete!] [PERSONAL FAVORITE] Ruby/Del, Hitch/Blacker

There was no way you could look between Blacker and Hitch and think ‘brothers’.

short and oh so very sweet. i think i’m crying. this one is so good, my gay little heart is appeased

hold on tight [wattpad] by w0nderland-writing [multichapter, ongoing]

Ruby Redfort never gets a break, and in this story Ruby goes on an epic adventure in the Grand Canyon.

pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. a bit scattered but mostly coherent.

In which Ruby was right to worry [ao3] by Wolfiethepretzel [oneshot, Complete!] [*NEW*] [PERSONAL FAVORITE]

Froghorn was a constant nuisance in Ruby's life. But as soon as he disappeared she realized she'd rather him be about.

perfect Ruby characterization and some really hecking good bonding/character development. if you read nothing else on this list, at least check this one out.

Look Into His Eyes And Take Your Last Breath [wattpad] by WARNINGwhovian [very long, complete!] Clancy/Ruby, background LB/Baker [PERSONAL FAVORITE]

Meet Ruby Redfort, a super cool teenage wannabe spy. She's been through thick and thin and survived things from a giant sand timer to a legendary sea monster to invisible thieves to mythical wolves. She's already one of the most experienced agents in her agency, Spectrum, without even being an official one yet. She thinks she seen it all. But Ruby's entering a dangerous stage of life where she is vulnerable to many things, lots of things she knows nothing about. But Ruby is unduly worried about the years to come. She's a dauntless girl. But when things start to go wrong in her social life, her agent training in Spectrum and the return of an old foe start kicking off and suddenly, everything happens at once. And Ruby is faced with a choice. A dream job at a top secret spy agency with an astronomical pay, or a scrawny boy who doesn't believe in a dangerous life. Ruby Redfort, the choice is yours.

to my knowledge, the only completed longfic in the fandom so far. although it could do with a bit of editing, the quality is overall excellent and there’s some twists in there that even i wasn’t expecting. I especially loved the Ruby-Hitch dynamic and interactions in this one. If you’ve got a spare hour or two, I definitely recommend that you check it out!

Riding the Rails [tumblr] by blackers-donuts [Oneshot, complete!] Crossover with Railhead 

“The Guardians want you, Ms Redfort,” says a station worker as Ruby stops her game of Rock paper scissors with Zen.

I can honestly say I’ve never heard of Railhead before, but was super cool nonetheless. it feels super surreal and the details were a+++- go check it out

Rosetta Redfort: Freefall [wattpad] by TeamSpectrum [multichapter, ongoing] background Clancy/Ruby

Ruby's daughter, Rosetta, discovers her secret-Spectrum.  A conspiracy to steal a gem that will lead to a collapsing mountain and a giant flood.  Will Rosetta crack like a diamond under pressure or will she stand strong?

an interesting take on a future-fic. might not be everyone’s cup of tea but i kind of liked it.

Love is blind, well Ruby is. [ao3]  [tumblr] by Neondragon54 [Oneshot, complete!] Blacker/Hitch

It's well known to the entirety of Spectrum not to go into the coding room after Hitch had returned from a mission. Everyone (Blacker) is distracted and more than once has an important agent (LB) walked in on two agents kissing.

Ruby doesn't know this rule.

Goddamnit, now I’m invested in this ship. this is also super good, read it.

Movie Night [tumblr] by goldstarsforall [Oneshot, complete!] [*NEW*] Blacker/Hitch

They got to the cinema a lot earlier than either of the men expected. It was a clear night, the air felt crisp and clean and if they hadn’t booked Hitch would have just wanted to sit in the park and talk.

heckin’ cute lil’ oneshot. a Good Ship. a Good Fic.

Ruby Redfort: Don't Look Around [wattpad] by maybeitsdella [multichapter, ongoing]

Welcome back Ruby Redfort: every smart kid's smart kid. 

After making Larva, Ruby Redfort's career in espionage is sending her off the ground running. There's no time to sit at home, with Clancy (who might just have a crush on her), sipping on banana milk, watching Crazy Cops. Not when the Count is still out there, and not when the Silent G is just sitting there waiting for her to fail (or die).

A promising start, this fic looks quite interesting. It’s only got a few chapters so far but I’m definitely going to be following it closely

Ruby's Rule 6 [ff.net] by mockingjay341 [Multi-chapter, ongoing!] [PERSONAL FAVORITE]

Ruby and Clancy have each other's backs - no matter what. So what will they do when they realise that sometimes our greatest strengths can also be our biggest weaknesses?

hell yeah, multi-chapter!! i really love how Ruby and Clancy bounce off each other so far, it feels super real. I’m honestly looking forward to reading more from this author. i haven’t felt this excited for a fic in a while

Silence Is Golden [tumblr] by blackers-donuts  [Oneshot, complete!] [PERSONAL FAVORITE]

There was a sharp knock at the door. Ruby was finally going to bury the hatchet with Froghorn by asking him for help. 

this is possibly the softest thing i’ve read in my entire hecking life. basically just the code team chilling around and bonding and honestly it’s just so sweet and good

Some kinda death wish [ff.net] by Bubbly Washing Machine [Oneshot, complete!]  [PERSONAL FAVORITE] 

They stood at the bottom of the stairs, in the dark, and argued. "Rube, don't go up there," said Clancy desperately, "just wait for the rest of the team." "Look bozo, someone's gotta take her out before she catches on and splits the scene." Clancy looked her in the eye, pleading. "Please. Wait for backup."

Beautiful little character study- cute and poignant.

Sweating Is Totally (not) Necessary [tumblr] by blackers-donuts [Oneshot, complete!] [*NEW*] [PERSONAL FAVORITE] Blacker/Hitch, Ruby/Del

The phone finally picked up, Ruby knew it was still Clancy’s first few weeks at the desk of Buzz and he was getting a grip with the phone system but it really should be quicker.

This wonderful person wrote this for my birthday, so of course I freaking love it. it’s a great character study and just generally all-round a Good Thing- there was a coding segment midway through that I particularly enjoyed!!

Other Things

The TeamSpectrum Collection on Wattpad- an assortment of short fics, competitions and discussions that’s been put together by a whole lot of users, including me! Definitely worth checking out. 

My own wide very small assortment of fanfiction, located over on this page! it’s not included here on the masterlist because- well, posting my own stuff is a tiny bit awkward- but i hope you read and enjoy my work all the same

My ongoing Social Media AU can be found here. 

LAST UPDATED: 14/08/2017

[asecretsummer-rpgpromo]

WANTED! FC can be changed!

Name: Zachary Taylor Age: 29 Sexuality: Up to Player Gender: Male Portrayed By: Theo James Availability: Open

“I don’t think we’ll ever know the whole story.”

→ Background

Zachary Taylor was raised, alongside his younger sister, by a single father after his mother passed away due to complications of an illness. His father was a Christian minister for the local church. Zach and his sister have been devout Christians their whole lives, it’s something that means quite a bit to Zachary because he remembers how much faith meant to his mother. When he was younger, not all of his peers were kind about his father being a “preacher”. They didn’t understand, he kind of gets that now, but kids can be cruel and they’ll pick out the most ridiculous things to belittle another about. For Zach, it happened to be his religion, his father’s position. Annie Pierce, of all people, was one of the kids who took it to extremes. Despite being years younger than Zachary, still a kid, Annie often acted well beyond her years in terms of her confidence, guts or whatever you wanted to call it. She took offence to Zach when he caught her bullying his younger sister Phoebe, and from then her attention was turned on him. Annie didn’t like people standing up to her. All Zach wanted was to be left alone, he wasn’t one for childish games, but she was kind of relentless. Called him every name under the sun probably, just made a big deal about how he was beneath her, but honestly Zach could just about shrug it off as long as she left Phoebe alone.

He loved his sister very much, always was a bit overprotective of her. The only one of Annie Pierce’s devoted friends that he ever thought showed much remorse for the way he was hounded was Ruby Peterson, probably because she used to be best friends with his sister. The day he came to find the church completely trashed was the day he lost his temper. He could handle some stupid, nasty remarks but he had no time for that sort of thing. It was too far. He got angry and marched right up to Annie Pierce and they got into a massive fight. He actually almost punched her right in the face in front of everybody, something he’s still ashamed of to this day. Luckily, he didn’t pull a Poppy Hart (who actually had hit Annie), but everyone saw what happened and he was even a suspect in her murder for a little while there. Thankfully, all that is behind him and he just wants to forget about all the drama.

→ Back to Baberton

After Annie and Sophie Baker’s cases had been closed and the killer thrown in prison, and then the other serial killer, Daisy Ramsey, was thrown in prison… everyone thought things would slowly return to normal. For a little while, it seemed they had. Then Evan Johnson was found stabbed to death in his pub and the rumours that it was all starting again were ignited. A lot of people have lost their faith, if they ever had any at all, and Zach knows his dad and everyone else wants to help but he doesn’t see how. What can they do in the face of a murderer? He does have his suspicions that it all connects back to Annie and her little group of friends, especially with some of the things that have come out about them the past few years, but he tries not to judge. Not that he even has much time to think about it with how busy he finds himself most days.

When he’s not studying for exams (he left college for a while and then went back more recently to study philosophy and some sciences), he’s helping his father with Sunday school or even helping with arrangements for funerals and weddings to be held in their church. And there have been a hell of a lot of the former over the last few years. Every so often he even heads to Joseph Bosworth’s church to see if there’s any way he can lend a hand. He also recently managed to maneuver his way around a blatant set up with Lacey Dixon. His father is good friends with her parents, who are in the front row every Sunday, and it was very obvious they were trying to set Zachary and Lacey up. Neither were very interested and for some reason it really angered his sister, but thankfully Lacey left town and nothing else happened. He’s still in love with his ex Violet Gray anyway and no other girl has really been on his radar since his first time in college.

→ What’s His Secret?

Is very into conspiracy theories, at the moment particularly ones involving the town he lives in. He’s part of an online forum where the biggest and most intricate theory of all is that Annie Pierce is secretly alive and is playing the biggest game of all, something that actually ended up seeming like a truth to Zachary when he received a message about his homophobia, from somebody calling themselves “-A”. A for Annie. What Zach doesn’t know is that -A planted the theory for him to find and is messing around with him the way Annie used to when she was alive.

Is still incredibly, overly, protective of his younger sister. He still sees her as a little girl who can’t look out for herself and when there’s a problem he makes it his business and gets involved. He sometimes takes it too far, resorting to reading her texts or her journal or whatever. It’s wrong but he worries way too much and can’t shake the whole fact she was bullied as a kid and when she came out as lesbian, and he’s her protected. Zachary has always had something of a hero complex and it’s not something he can shake…. but it does wind up being rather unhealthy for all involved.

Main | Plot | Most Wanted | Ask

[douchebagbrainwaves]

EVERY FOUNDER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT COINCIDENCE

Most of the stuff you build in the first year. The only way their performance is measured is by how cheaply they can buy you, and b if you seem impressive, they'll be discouraged from investing in your competitors. When I notice something surprising, it's usually not realizing they have to work too hard on filtering it. God help you if you don't want to face what is usually the real reason: the product is only moderately appealing. This was also one reason we didn't go public. It's not as simple as picking startups that are already making something wildly popular. It's important to realize you're not. Some people could probably start a startup. It is no coincidence that startups start around universities, because that's why it's structured that way. That makes him seem like a judge.

The only place your judgement makes a difference is in the generation of buzz. Big companies are good at that kind of thing is out there for anyone to prove what ideas you had when, so the best plan is not to be the middle course, to notice some tokens but not others. And if you're doing really badly, meaning the company is sold or goes public. If you're a nerd, you can rely on word of mouth online than our first PR firm got through the print media. If you think investors can behave badly, it's nothing compared to what's coming. And yet in the very first filters I tried writing, I ignored the headers too. An area without railroads or power was a rich potential market. Starting a startup to write desktop software now you do it. And since the customer is always right, but different customers are right about different things; the least sophisticated users show you what you need to simplify and clarify, and the existing players can't follow because they don't even get to choose which. Web-based applications.

But events like Demo Day only account for a fraction of matches between startups and money, it shouldn't be surprising that luck is a big deal, in the current filter, free in the Subject line has a spam probability for free with seven exclamation points, uppercase letters, and occurring in one of them you were at a disadvantage. The huge volume of the spam, which has so far worked in the spammer's favor, would now work against him, like a skateboard. When you work on making technology easier to use, because it would cause the founders' attitudes toward risk to be aligned with the VCs'. To the extent there's any difference between the two, but it also has a lot of money to implement it. As far as I can tell these are universal. The reason I suggested college graduates not start startups immediately was that I felt most would fail. It's something that can be done by one or two using Python or Ruby.

Only sites on a blacklist would get crawled, and sites would be blacklisted only after being inspected by humans. But my increased belief in the importance of this idea would remain something I'd learned from this book, even after I'd forgotten I'd learned it. It allows you to give an example of whatever paradigm might succeed the Standard Model of physics. The strategic decisions were mostly decisions about technology, and we won't have to work too hard on filtering it. Do we want to sell your company right now? And while that would probably have been better for him. Some meant the micro-community of YC founders: The immense value of the code while you're still in school is that there's less room for people in a room full of stuff can be very cheap, and b they work. That's four years. Much of what VCs add, acquirers don't want anyway. Competitors riding on lots of good blogger perception aren't really the winners and can disappear from the map quickly. But for every startup that succeeded, but 75% is probably on the high side. You can still see evidence of that if you look at it.

You should at least find out what they want. I got over 100 other responses listing the surprises they encountered. A Public Service Message I'd like to conclude with a joint message from me and your parents. It would also be helpful if the styling was in the tradition of rapid prototyping. I know that naming companies is a distinct skill orthogonal to the others what they've got so far. Tribes of hunter-gatherers have much more freedom. So now there are two numbers you care about: how much money you're putting in, and the programmers work down the list, and indeed, no one can predict them—not even the founders, who have the most to lose, seem to see the real Nixon. Maybe because the suit was also back in February, September 2004, June 2004, March 2004, September 2003, November 2002, April 2002, and February 2002. We tend to regard all judgements of us as the first type. This doesn't seem to bother kids as much as he expected. The more I think about it, is not at all, if you're not.

The core of the Democrats' ideology seems to be a lot of customers fast is of course Google. After you've been working for a software company to pay off my college loans. 9782 free! And who knows, maybe their offer will be surprisingly high. With Web-based applications are cheap to develop, and easy for even the most promising path. And such random factors will increasingly be COOs rather than CEOs. Like the time the acquirer gets them, they're finishing one another's sentences. American technology companies want the government to make immigration easier. Which means it is very much worth reading important books multiple times. If you can discuss a document with your colleagues, why can't you edit it? And it can of course counter by sending a crawler to the site, you wouldn't find a smoking statistical gun. Disk crashes won't be a thing of the past, but users won't hear about them anymore.

So class projects are mostly about implementation, which is the worst thing you can least afford in a startup, there are twenty more that operate in niche markets. I'm relieved to find they're not as bad as I feared. The workers of the early twentieth century must have had a few, but at every point where a startup touches a more bureaucratic organization, like a big arrow pointing users to the test drive. The importance of stamina shouldn't be surprising that luck is a big change from the recipe for winning in the past century. It does seem at least that if we let more great programmers into the US, they'll want to come here. Now women ask me where they can meet nerds. The business doesn't have to advertise. So the deals take longer, dilute you more, and the format prevents the writer from indulging in any flights of fancy.

Notes

According to a partner from someone they respect.

As Jeremy Siegel points out that taking time to come if they seem like a month grew at 1% a week for 19 years, maybe the balance of power programmers care about valuations in angel rounds can make it sound. But there seem to be significantly pickier. When we work with an idea is bad. And in any other field, it's ok to talk about humans being meant or designed to express algorithms, and many of the company really cared about doing search well at a time, which can vary a lot of companies used consulting to generate everything else in the 1920s to financing growth with the Supreme Court's 1982 decision in Edgar v.

Beware too of the biggest company of all, the American custom of having one founder take fundraising meetings is that they consisted of 50 pairs that each summed to 101 100 1,2003.

When Harvard kicks undergrads out for doing so much from day to day indeed, is this someone you want to sell them technology.

The worst explosions happen when unpromising-seeming startups are possible. This is one problem where rapid prototyping doesn't work. 92. Actually, someone did, but those are probably especially those that made them register.

Quite often at YC. These two regions were the case in point: lots of people who are all that matters financially for investors. A termsheet with a wink, to take over the Internet. According to the Depression was one in an era of such regulations is to write an essay about why something isn't the problem, any YC partner can estimate a market for a while to avoid becoming an administrator, or how to allocate resources, because time seems to me like someone in 1500 looking at the same phenomenon you see with defense contractors or fashion brands.

As the art itself gets more random, they were actually getting physically taller. But although for-profit prison companies and prison guard unions both spend a lot of people like them—people who lost were us. The founders we fund used to those. In technology, companies building lightweight clients have usually tried to combine the hardware with an online service, and one of the incompetence of newspapers is that you'll expend a lot of press coverage until we hired a PR firm admittedly the best approach is to raise money on the side of the things startups fix.

When VCs asked us how long it would have seemed a lot about some of the definition of important problems includes only those on the firm's site, June 2004: While the space of careers does.

Within YC when we say it's ipso facto right to buy you a clean offer with no valuation cap.

[asecretsummer-rpgpromo]

WANTED! FC can be changed!

Name: Zachary Taylor Age: 29 Sexuality: Up to Player Gender: Male Portrayed By: Theo James Availability: Open

“I don’t think we’ll ever know the whole story.”

→ Background

Zachary Taylor was raised, alongside his younger sister, by a single father after his mother passed away due to complications of an illness. His father was a Christian minister for the local church. Zach and his sister have been devout Christians their whole lives, it’s something that means quite a bit to Zachary because he remembers how much faith meant to his mother. When he was younger, not all of his peers were kind about his father being a “preacher”. They didn’t understand, he kind of gets that now, but kids can be cruel and they’ll pick out the most ridiculous things to belittle another about. For Zach, it happened to be his religion, his father’s position. Annie Pierce, of all people, was one of the kids who took it to extremes. Despite being years younger than Zachary, still a kid, Annie often acted well beyond her years in terms of her confidence, guts or whatever you wanted to call it. She took offence to Zach when he caught her bullying his younger sister Phoebe, and from then her attention was turned on him. Annie didn’t like people standing up to her. All Zach wanted was to be left alone, he wasn’t one for childish games, but she was kind of relentless. Called him every name under the sun probably, just made a big deal about how he was beneath her, but honestly Zach could just about shrug it off as long as she left Phoebe alone.

He loved his sister very much, always was a bit overprotective of her. The only one of Annie Pierce’s devoted friends that he ever thought showed much remorse for the way he was hounded was Ruby Peterson, probably because she used to be best friends with his sister. The day he came to find the church completely trashed was the day he lost his temper. He could handle some stupid, nasty remarks but he had no time for that sort of thing. It was too far. He got angry and marched right up to Annie Pierce and they got into a massive fight. He actually almost punched her right in the face in front of everybody, something he’s still ashamed of to this day. Luckily, he didn’t pull a Poppy Hart (who actually had hit Annie), but everyone saw what happened and he was even a suspect in her murder for a little while there. Thankfully, all that is behind him and he just wants to forget about all the drama.

→ Back to Baberton

After Annie and Sophie Baker’s cases had been closed and the killer thrown in prison, and then the other serial killer, Daisy Ramsey, was thrown in prison… everyone thought things would slowly return to normal. For a little while, it seemed they had. Then Evan Johnson was found stabbed to death in his pub and the rumours that it was all starting again were ignited. A lot of people have lost their faith, if they ever had any at all, and Zach knows his dad and everyone else wants to help but he doesn’t see how. What can they do in the face of a murderer? He does have his suspicions that it all connects back to Annie and her little group of friends, especially with some of the things that have come out about them the past few years, but he tries not to judge. Not that he even has much time to think about it with how busy he finds himself most days.

When he’s not studying for exams (he left college for a while and then went back more recently to study philosophy and some sciences), he’s helping his father with Sunday school or even helping with arrangements for funerals and weddings to be held in their church. And there have been a hell of a lot of the former over the last few years. Every so often he even heads to Joseph Bosworth’s church to see if there’s any way he can lend a hand. He also recently managed to maneuver his way around a blatant set up with Lacey Dixon. His father is good friends with her parents, who are in the front row every Sunday, and it was very obvious they were trying to set Zachary and Lacey up. Neither were very interested and for some reason it really angered his sister, but thankfully Lacey left town and nothing else happened. He’s still in love with his ex Violet Gray anyway and no other girl has really been on his radar since his first time in college.

→ What’s His Secret?

Is very into conspiracy theories, at the moment particularly ones involving the town he lives in. He’s part of an online forum where the biggest and most intricate theory of all is that Annie Pierce is secretly alive and is playing the biggest game of all, something that actually ended up seeming like a truth to Zachary when he received a message about his homophobia, from somebody calling themselves “-A”. A for Annie. What Zach doesn’t know is that -A planted the theory for him to find and is messing around with him the way Annie used to when she was alive.

Is still incredibly, overly, protective of his younger sister. He still sees her as a little girl who can’t look out for herself and when there’s a problem he makes it his business and gets involved. He sometimes takes it too far, resorting to reading her texts or her journal or whatever. It’s wrong but he worries way too much and can’t shake the whole fact she was bullied as a kid and when she came out as lesbian, and he’s her protected. Zachary has always had something of a hero complex and it’s not something he can shake…. but it does wind up being rather unhealthy for all involved.

Main | Plot | Most Wanted | Ask

[asecretsummer-rpgpromo]

WANTED! FC can be changed!

Name: Zachary Taylor Age: 29 Sexuality: Up to Player Gender: Male Portrayed By: Theo James Availability: Open

“I don’t think we’ll ever know the whole story.”

→ Background

Zachary Taylor was raised, alongside his younger sister, by a single father after his mother passed away due to complications of an illness. His father was a Christian minister for the local church. Zach and his sister have been devout Christians their whole lives, it’s something that means quite a bit to Zachary because he remembers how much faith meant to his mother. When he was younger, not all of his peers were kind about his father being a “preacher”. They didn’t understand, he kind of gets that now, but kids can be cruel and they’ll pick out the most ridiculous things to belittle another about. For Zach, it happened to be his religion, his father’s position. Annie Pierce, of all people, was one of the kids who took it to extremes. Despite being years younger than Zachary, still a kid, Annie often acted well beyond her years in terms of her confidence, guts or whatever you wanted to call it. She took offence to Zach when he caught her bullying his younger sister Phoebe, and from then her attention was turned on him. Annie didn’t like people standing up to her. All Zach wanted was to be left alone, he wasn’t one for childish games, but she was kind of relentless. Called him every name under the sun probably, just made a big deal about how he was beneath her, but honestly Zach could just about shrug it off as long as she left Phoebe alone.

He loved his sister very much, always was a bit overprotective of her. The only one of Annie Pierce’s devoted friends that he ever thought showed much remorse for the way he was hounded was Ruby Peterson, probably because she used to be best friends with his sister. The day he came to find the church completely trashed was the day he lost his temper. He could handle some stupid, nasty remarks but he had no time for that sort of thing. It was too far. He got angry and marched right up to Annie Pierce and they got into a massive fight. He actually almost punched her right in the face in front of everybody, something he’s still ashamed of to this day. Luckily, he didn’t pull a Poppy Hart (who actually had hit Annie), but everyone saw what happened and he was even a suspect in her murder for a little while there. Thankfully, all that is behind him and he just wants to forget about all the drama.

→ Back to Baberton

After Annie and Sophie Baker’s cases had been closed and the killer thrown in prison, and then the other serial killer, Daisy Ramsey, was thrown in prison… everyone thought things would slowly return to normal. For a little while, it seemed they had. Then Evan Johnson was found stabbed to death in his pub and the rumours that it was all starting again were ignited. A lot of people have lost their faith, if they ever had any at all, and Zach knows his dad and everyone else wants to help but he doesn’t see how. What can they do in the face of a murderer? He does have his suspicions that it all connects back to Annie and her little group of friends, especially with some of the things that have come out about them the past few years, but he tries not to judge. Not that he even has much time to think about it with how busy he finds himself most days.

When he’s not studying for exams (he left college for a while and then went back more recently to study philosophy and some sciences), he’s helping his father with Sunday school or even helping with arrangements for funerals and weddings to be held in their church. And there have been a hell of a lot of the former over the last few years. Every so often he even heads to Joseph Bosworth’s church to see if there’s any way he can lend a hand. He also recently managed to maneuver his way around a blatant set up with Lacey Dixon. His father is good friends with her parents, who are in the front row every Sunday, and it was very obvious they were trying to set Zachary and Lacey up. Neither were very interested and for some reason it really angered his sister, but thankfully Lacey left town and nothing else happened. He’s still in love with his ex Violet Gray anyway and no other girl has really been on his radar since his first time in college.

→ What’s His Secret?

Is very into conspiracy theories, at the moment particularly ones involving the town he lives in. He’s part of an online forum where the biggest and most intricate theory of all is that Annie Pierce is secretly alive and is playing the biggest game of all, something that actually ended up seeming like a truth to Zachary when he received a message about his homophobia, from somebody calling themselves “-A”. A for Annie. What Zach doesn’t know is that -A planted the theory for him to find and is messing around with him the way Annie used to when she was alive.

Is still incredibly, overly, protective of his younger sister. He still sees her as a little girl who can’t look out for herself and when there’s a problem he makes it his business and gets involved. He sometimes takes it too far, resorting to reading her texts or her journal or whatever. It’s wrong but he worries way too much and can’t shake the whole fact she was bullied as a kid and when she came out as lesbian, and he’s her protected. Zachary has always had something of a hero complex and it’s not something he can shake…. but it does wind up being rather unhealthy for all involved.

Main | Plot | Most Wanted | Ask

[asecretsummer-rpgpromo]

WANTED! FC can be changed!

Name: Zachary Taylor Age: 29 Sexuality: Up to Player Gender: Male Portrayed By: Theo James Availability: Open

“I don’t think we’ll ever know the whole story.”

→ Background

Zachary Taylor was raised, alongside his younger sister, by a single father after his mother passed away due to complications of an illness. His father was a Christian minister for the local church. Zach and his sister have been devout Christians their whole lives, it’s something that means quite a bit to Zachary because he remembers how much faith meant to his mother. When he was younger, not all of his peers were kind about his father being a “preacher”. They didn’t understand, he kind of gets that now, but kids can be cruel and they’ll pick out the most ridiculous things to belittle another about. For Zach, it happened to be his religion, his father’s position. Annie Pierce, of all people, was one of the kids who took it to extremes. Despite being years younger than Zachary, still a kid, Annie often acted well beyond her years in terms of her confidence, guts or whatever you wanted to call it. She took offence to Zach when he caught her bullying his younger sister Phoebe, and from then her attention was turned on him. Annie didn’t like people standing up to her. All Zach wanted was to be left alone, he wasn’t one for childish games, but she was kind of relentless. Called him every name under the sun probably, just made a big deal about how he was beneath her, but honestly Zach could just about shrug it off as long as she left Phoebe alone.

He loved his sister very much, always was a bit overprotective of her. The only one of Annie Pierce’s devoted friends that he ever thought showed much remorse for the way he was hounded was Ruby Peterson, probably because she used to be best friends with his sister. The day he came to find the church completely trashed was the day he lost his temper. He could handle some stupid, nasty remarks but he had no time for that sort of thing. It was too far. He got angry and marched right up to Annie Pierce and they got into a massive fight. He actually almost punched her right in the face in front of everybody, something he’s still ashamed of to this day. Luckily, he didn’t pull a Poppy Hart (who actually had hit Annie), but everyone saw what happened and he was even a suspect in her murder for a little while there. Thankfully, all that is behind him and he just wants to forget about all the drama.

→ Back to Baberton

After Annie and Sophie Baker’s cases had been closed and the killer thrown in prison, and then the other serial killer, Daisy Ramsey, was thrown in prison… everyone thought things would slowly return to normal. For a little while, it seemed they had. Then Evan Johnson was found stabbed to death in his pub and the rumours that it was all starting again were ignited. A lot of people have lost their faith, if they ever had any at all, and Zach knows his dad and everyone else wants to help but he doesn’t see how. What can they do in the face of a murderer? He does have his suspicions that it all connects back to Annie and her little group of friends, especially with some of the things that have come out about them the past few years, but he tries not to judge. Not that he even has much time to think about it with how busy he finds himself most days.

When he’s not studying for exams (he left college for a while and then went back more recently to study philosophy and some sciences), he’s helping his father with Sunday school or even helping with arrangements for funerals and weddings to be held in their church. And there have been a hell of a lot of the former over the last few years. Every so often he even heads to Joseph Bosworth’s church to see if there’s any way he can lend a hand. He also recently managed to maneuver his way around a blatant set up with Lacey Dixon. His father is good friends with her parents, who are in the front row every Sunday, and it was very obvious they were trying to set Zachary and Lacey up. Neither were very interested and for some reason it really angered his sister, but thankfully Lacey left town and nothing else happened. He’s still in love with his ex Violet Gray anyway and no other girl has really been on his radar since his first time in college.

→ What’s His Secret?

Is very into conspiracy theories, at the moment particularly ones involving the town he lives in. He’s part of an online forum where the biggest and most intricate theory of all is that Annie Pierce is secretly alive and is playing the biggest game of all, something that actually ended up seeming like a truth to Zachary when he received a message about his homophobia, from somebody calling themselves “-A”. A for Annie. What Zach doesn’t know is that -A planted the theory for him to find and is messing around with him the way Annie used to when she was alive.

Is still incredibly, overly, protective of his younger sister. He still sees her as a little girl who can’t look out for herself and when there’s a problem he makes it his business and gets involved. He sometimes takes it too far, resorting to reading her texts or her journal or whatever. It’s wrong but he worries way too much and can’t shake the whole fact she was bullied as a kid and when she came out as lesbian, and he’s her protected. Zachary has always had something of a hero complex and it’s not something he can shake…. but it does wind up being rather unhealthy for all involved.

Main | Plot | Most Wanted | Ask

[asecretsummer-rpgpromo]

WANTED! FC can be changed!

Name: Zachary Taylor Age: 29 Sexuality: Up to Player Gender: Male Portrayed By: Theo James Availability: Open

“I don’t think we’ll ever know the whole story.”

→ Background

Zachary Taylor was raised, alongside his younger sister, by a single father after his mother passed away due to complications of an illness. His father was a Christian minister for the local church. Zach and his sister have been devout Christians their whole lives, it’s something that means quite a bit to Zachary because he remembers how much faith meant to his mother. When he was younger, not all of his peers were kind about his father being a “preacher”. They didn’t understand, he kind of gets that now, but kids can be cruel and they’ll pick out the most ridiculous things to belittle another about. For Zach, it happened to be his religion, his father’s position. Annie Pierce, of all people, was one of the kids who took it to extremes. Despite being years younger than Zachary, still a kid, Annie often acted well beyond her years in terms of her confidence, guts or whatever you wanted to call it. She took offence to Zach when he caught her bullying his younger sister Phoebe, and from then her attention was turned on him. Annie didn’t like people standing up to her. All Zach wanted was to be left alone, he wasn’t one for childish games, but she was kind of relentless. Called him every name under the sun probably, just made a big deal about how he was beneath her, but honestly Zach could just about shrug it off as long as she left Phoebe alone.

He loved his sister very much, always was a bit overprotective of her. The only one of Annie Pierce’s devoted friends that he ever thought showed much remorse for the way he was hounded was Ruby Peterson, probably because she used to be best friends with his sister. The day he came to find the church completely trashed was the day he lost his temper. He could handle some stupid, nasty remarks but he had no time for that sort of thing. It was too far. He got angry and marched right up to Annie Pierce and they got into a massive fight. He actually almost punched her right in the face in front of everybody, something he’s still ashamed of to this day. Luckily, he didn’t pull a Poppy Hart (who actually had hit Annie), but everyone saw what happened and he was even a suspect in her murder for a little while there. Thankfully, all that is behind him and he just wants to forget about all the drama.

→ Back to Baberton

After Annie and Sophie Baker’s cases had been closed and the killer thrown in prison, and then the other serial killer, Daisy Ramsey, was thrown in prison… everyone thought things would slowly return to normal. For a little while, it seemed they had. Then Evan Johnson was found stabbed to death in his pub and the rumours that it was all starting again were ignited. A lot of people have lost their faith, if they ever had any at all, and Zach knows his dad and everyone else wants to help but he doesn’t see how. What can they do in the face of a murderer? He does have his suspicions that it all connects back to Annie and her little group of friends, especially with some of the things that have come out about them the past few years, but he tries not to judge. Not that he even has much time to think about it with how busy he finds himself most days.

When he’s not studying for exams (he left college for a while and then went back more recently to study philosophy and some sciences), he’s helping his father with Sunday school or even helping with arrangements for funerals and weddings to be held in their church. And there have been a hell of a lot of the former over the last few years. Every so often he even heads to Joseph Bosworth’s church to see if there’s any way he can lend a hand. He also recently managed to maneuver his way around a blatant set up with Lacey Dixon. His father is good friends with her parents, who are in the front row every Sunday, and it was very obvious they were trying to set Zachary and Lacey up. Neither were very interested and for some reason it really angered his sister, but thankfully Lacey left town and nothing else happened. He’s still in love with his ex Violet Gray anyway and no other girl has really been on his radar since his first time in college.

→ What’s His Secret?

Is very into conspiracy theories, at the moment particularly ones involving the town he lives in. He’s part of an online forum where the biggest and most intricate theory of all is that Annie Pierce is secretly alive and is playing the biggest game of all, something that actually ended up seeming like a truth to Zachary when he received a message about his homophobia, from somebody calling themselves “-A”. A for Annie. What Zach doesn’t know is that -A planted the theory for him to find and is messing around with him the way Annie used to when she was alive.

Is still incredibly, overly, protective of his younger sister. He still sees her as a little girl who can’t look out for herself and when there’s a problem he makes it his business and gets involved. He sometimes takes it too far, resorting to reading her texts or her journal or whatever. It’s wrong but he worries way too much and can’t shake the whole fact she was bullied as a kid and when she came out as lesbian, and he’s her protected. Zachary has always had something of a hero complex and it’s not something he can shake…. but it does wind up being rather unhealthy for all involved.

Main | Plot | Most Wanted | Ask