#for my sister that fandom was batman and let me just say her knowledge of batman is encyclopedic and uncanny

[songofsunset]

okay but re: previous post- transformers ate my entire brain for literally over a year, I kept track lmao I could barely think about any other fandoms, the amount of times I listened to this one specific remix of the movie intro theme was unreal

it was the first thing I got into after I graduated college and suddenly had all this free time and no goals and was dealing with life upheaval and boy did I imprint HARD

[bitch-i-migth-be]

Crash Course | Chapter 03: Ready?

Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman,  

Relationships: Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton,

Characters: Danny Fenton, Jazz Fenton, 

Words: 2′246

Tags: BAMF Danny, BAMF Jazz, Sibling bonding, Shenanigans, Swearing

Summary: He swore his sister was trying to make him go into cardiac arrest - considering his halfa status that was quite the accomplishment-

But there was no other explanation to his sister’s stubbornness, and if he knew her at all there was just no talking her down from interning at goddam Arkham.

A/N: I appreciate the comments, guys. :33  Let me know what u think.

CHAPTERS: 1, 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7

Danny might not be the smartest person out there but he sure was crafty as fuck.

He had needed to be even before the ghost entered the picture. Then, after the portal was up and running the habit of thinking on his feet and the fine art of rolling with the punches had been added to his skill set.

So, Danny knew from experience that no matter how good you could get at improvisation, it was always better to prepare beforehand if you had the opportunity. Because if you let something to chance, it would probably come back later to fuck you over. Or some annoying ghost would get in the way out of goddamn nowhere. He could deal with them, but it was just a waste of everyone’s time. Better get going before someone interrupted him.

Normally one small thing or another would backfire anyway because of his salted luck, but he preferred not to poke sleeping dragons when he could.  

Taking into account all of that, he had decided the first order of business in the Fenton Crash Curse for Suicide Missions: Start packing all the shit they would need to take with them.

Because It’s never too early to pack for the road to hell.

Especially if you are already in a hell all of your own.

-.-.-.-

“What do you mean you are coming with me?” Jazz murmured from the threshold of Danny’s room, eyes wide open, as she watched her little brother try to pack all types of random things into suitcases.

Since she had announced at the Fenton Family Dinner her plans of going to Gotham University and accepting an internship at Arkham, Danny had been behaving like he was possessed, which considering the portal in their basement was not that far fetched; he had started carrying around a book-like-journal and would not stop murmuring about survival-of-the-fittest. Jazz was not going to lie, she appreciated the concern but that part was a little bit concerning. Not the survival in general, they had been playing that game since forever in this house, but they had never really needed to write anything down.

Until now, apparently.

It was kind of weird witnessing all this. Weird as in she wasn’t used to him fusing so much over her. A normal amount, yes. But most of the time it was the other way around, she was the big sister after all. Also,  with the ghosts around and him going all hero on their behinds her brother was in dire need of all the support she could dispatch. So, yes, she wasn’t expecting this reaction at all, and she was even less prepared for her brother declaring his intentions of joining her in Gotham.

She hadn’t asked how he was planning on dealing with the ghost problem yet, but considering he was already packing when she, they now, weren’t leaving until the end of the summer Jazz thought her brother must have had something in mind already.

She didn’t even know how they could need some of the things he was putting in there but it appeared like Danny was on a roll and she wasn’t going to be the one stopping such, umh, productivity.

“I said what I said”

Jazz frowned lightly.

“Are mom and dad aware-?”

“I told them I was going to be your assistant with the research; mostly the field part because I don’t think they trust me with the equipment after what happened the last time,” Danny answered while still hunting down for more essential items to put in bags, those things were handy as fuck. “also, get a job or something”

“A job?” jazz raised an eyebrow and leaned against the doorframe.

“It’s on the list,” Danny waved his journal/diary/thing in the air. Huh, so they were survival tips. “considering you are the only one with a scholarship and I´m not going to school anyway it seemed appropriate.”

“excuse me? you are not going to what?”

“May as well-” Seeing his sister’s expression he quickly backtracked, “but I mean, if you are really that opposed there is always online classes”

Danny tried to smile in her sister’s direction, but his nervousness made it come out more like a grimace. He kept trying. Jazz kept staring at him. Danny kept grimacing back.

Then she smiled back. A proper, full toothed smile. Oh fuuck

“I think I can do you one better” And with that, she turned on her heel and left.

Danny blinked two times. one after the other.  

“D-Do me one bet-? Jazz, wait!”

But it was already too late, his sister had another ball to start rolling.

-.-.-.-

Her brother was not stupid.

If her brother choice to appease her by taking online classes had been born merely of a strategic need, and hence the best course of action to take, Jazz wouldn’t have rebuked at all, there were, after all, some pretty good online options that her brother could take. But alas, that was not the real motive of his decision.  

It pained her and enraged her to see people belittle her little brother without even knowing him. See them think they had any right to decide whether he was worth something.

And it nagged at her than even knowing the basics of what was wrong with her brother’s low grades, she couldn’t help him more than she currently did. Not really. Unless she wanted him to end up in the hands of the G.I.W.

Fat chance of that.

But if there was a thing a Fenton was not it was a settler. And like hell she was going to let these people bring her brother down.

The first order of business would be to scout out the G.S.U. properly, some phone calls could prove useful, after all those who search shall find. 

-.-.-.-

When Jazz had retreated to her quarters earlier Dany had been left on his own with an uneasy feeling nagging at his gut. It felt a bit like foreboding.  

Like most things in life that inconvenienced him when it came to family issues he decided to ignore it until it came back to bite him, so he continued with his preparations and eventually took a seat among all the clutter that had become his room. After that, he didn’t have to wait long.

His sister had come back strolling decisively into the room, only pausing briefly to warily give the evil eye to the sheer number of things spread all over the room that appeared to have multiplied since she left the place.

She stopped right in front of her brother’s seated form and trusted her phone into the smallest Fenton’s unsuspecting hands.

“Look! There is still time to apply to a full-ride scholarship at Gotham Academy” Danny blinked up at her without a word, and at his sister’s insistence looked down at the phone to start reading, then he did a double-take and started re-reading.

Jazz had got to be kidding him.

“You want me to apply to some posh elite school?” He looked up incredulously at the redhead “Elite, Jazz? Me? With my grades and the amount of time I would get to study for an entrance exam I would be failing this just by applying.” grumbled the boy.

“That’s the best part.” Said the girl smiling like the Cheshire cat. “This particular exam is practical in engineering”

Danny froze. His eyes shot back to the phone.

“Practical you say?”

“Yes, lately there have been more scholarships granted for demonstrating a great gasp in the practical portions. Gotham is a little, umh, hard to handle, I suppose, and there have been situations in which people with the knowledge to accomplish great things have been turned down because of a lack of proper school background or support. So they decided to start implementing this.” She explained while her little brother continued scanning the document up and down.

Eventually, Danny shook himself back together.

“Ok, look, let’s say I had a shot at this.”

“Which you do-”

“Which I might.” The younger interrupted her, “This still requires to prepare at least three proposals for the faculty’s designated table of judges to evaluate and grade to get the green card, and this is like two weeks -two weeks!- from now, it doesn’t even specify what they are gonna have the applicants doing for the final test. How the fuck am I-?!”

The redhead decided to cut in before he could drive himself into a frenzy.

“Well if you are that sure about joining me then you won’t have a problem acing this, will you?” she smirked, then it softened into something more fond. “I know you can do this Danny, and so do you. And if you are that worried about the time, I can help you, we can start tag teaming together for ways to deal with the ghost from the get-go. It may not be permanent, but it will have to do.”

Her brother started biting his own lower lip and still looked somewhat unsure, so she decided to use the final big gun.

“Did I mention that Gotham Academy is right across the road from Arkham?”

Danny’s shoulder slumped.

“Ughh, fine!”

Jazz beamed down at him.

“I will leave you to it then!”

-.-.-.-

“Also, those things are not going to fit anywhere if you don’t organize them”

“Oh, ye of little faith.”

-.-.-.-

So. Jazz did have a good reason to believe her brother could get the G.A. scholarship.

The Fenton thermos technology was not only useful for capturing ghosts but could also store other things. That’s to say, more tangible things.

And her brother was the one who made it happen.

Danny has been tinkering with his parent’s things a lot more than some people would be comfortable with. The truth is, some of the things Jack and Maddie have invented could be fucking useful for everyday life if you took out most of the ghost shit or rearranged them a bit, it could have gained them a pretty penny, but like we all know the Fentons are not interested in anything if it’s not ectoplasmic.

Danny, on the other hand?

As much as he ends up believing all the bullshit others say about his sister being the only genius child of the family, he had never been afraid of dismantling and mounting up again some of his parents’ equipment. For him, it was not a question of whether or not he was qualified to do so, after growing up watching his parents tinker random machines all over the house he had inevitably started to pick up their ways almost as if via osmosis.

His parents, of course, had never fully noticed the fluffy-sweater clad toddler waddling after them from time to time watching them work, at first this happened when Jazz was otherwise occupied in extracurricular activities and couldn’t keep the boy successfully distracted somewhere else.

If at the time, Jazz had realized what was going on, she may have panicked and stopped her sweetly feral summer child of a brother from getting anywhere near their parents in the middle of a craze. As it was, she had not noticed in those first years, and by the time it had come to her attention even she had to concede that if her little brother had managed his recon missions without no one the wiser - Her brother was sneaky like that -, then he deserved the benefit of the doubt.

And, had that not been enough to convince the big sister, that had been the moment the sudden realization than her brother, unlike her, was more of a hands-on learner hit her full force, which would have been enough to make her relent. Learning was always good in her books.

Later, Danny would find most of the classes being imparted in Casper high boring as fuck. Not necessarily for the subject, but the way they were imparted. The youngest Fenton needed a good explanation along with a hands-on approach applied to something he found interesting to fully commit to something. At school, the most he could get were the theory and the occasional practical classes.

If the classes had been related to something interesting, say, rockets, stars, maybe NASA, it would have been easy to pay his full, unconditional attention to the teachers. But not one of the teachers had bothered to try and link the lessons to the interest of the alumni, not surprising, considering public school stuck to basics and had a timeline to complete and the classroom never seemed to learn things at the same rhythm so concessions had to be met.

It was still boring as fuck. But if he wanted to someday make it into NASA he would have to suck it up and force himself to survive with relatively good notes this torment.

Then the ghost fights had entered the picture and his motive to keep up the grades had all but vanished, and the little time left behind to work with was not enough to make, at least, an average grade. He didn’t have enough reasons to strive for more.

For this though? A new chance far from the ghost and he could keep protecting her sister?

He had the brains. He had the passion. And a good damn motive to drive him forward.

Once he was done, the luggage - and Loony town - wouldn’t even know what hit it.

-.-.-.-

NOTES:

 Also, the thing about Jack & Maddie not trusting Danny with the equipment was one of Danno’s secret tries at messing around with the things. Needless to say, that one time didn’t stay a secret.

Oh well, it was not like he asked for permission in the first place.

-.-.-.-

“fluffy-sweater clad toddler”

Not gonna lie, I made myself crave some cuddles from toddler danno, so. fucking. cute.

There he goeees just waddling like a little duckling asdfghjkl

-.-.-.-

If someone here is a fan of the Gotham Academy Comic I greatly regret -not really- to inform you I’m only taking hostage the place for my evil fanfic purposes. I don’t know if there is going to be references but that particular comic is not the focus of this story, SO. You have been forewarned.

[outside-the-mailstrom]

GENERAL BACKGROUND

I've always been a fan of Marvel comics (or, Marvel Comics' properties, at least) I've fragmentary early memories of Batman The Animated Series, and some associated Batman and Superman comics (aimed at younger readers, in a 'Timmverse' style of the TV shows then airing - gorgeous, simple, iconic Art Deco inspired designs), but for the most part my early conception of superheroes came from what was called "Marvel Hour", a Saturday morning television timeslot ft. back-to-back episodes of cartoons from between the 60s and 90s, starring basically the big names you'd expect. I was quite wee, and don't rightly remember who did and didn't have their own show; obviously the big titles are easy enough for you to guess but I also feel (nebulously) that Iron Man, Hulk, Daredevil, and even the Silver Surfer had their own programs; the line-up jostled, there wasn't an Avengers or Defenders team-up show as there would be these days. There was always Spiderman, of course, and there were generally The X-Men.

X-Men The Animated Series, which was written and produced around the same era as Batman The Animated Series, does not (it has been noted) hold up near so well as its famed compatriot; it has its charms, and is a fascinating window into history, but it's not... strong on revisits. It's a little hard to say how much all this galvanized my interest in the subject matter, and how much it merely looks like it as an artefact of looking back through years of other things layering up (notably the early 00's onward movies, the X-Men Evolution tie-in cartoon [of which I was still, as a viewer, at quite a formative young age], a steadily developing interest in the concept of transition and transformation in all things, and ways that my own self-reinforcing creative projects drew from my standing experience of X-Men as a source material in ways that deepened my interest in, and sympathy for, it as a set of signifiers). Substantial engagement with actual X-Comics, however, comes later; primarily as a fan of the podcast Jay & Miles X-Plane The X-Men (which is pretty much as it sounds; a two-hander deep-dive through X-History & continuity, which settles early in its own run into a charisma and humour driven analytical recap of the major story arcs of the history of the franchise, starting at the Bronze Age [70s onward] and working forward practically issue by issue), aboard which bandwagon I found myself early in its days as a snowballing project (less than a dozen episodes as I recall? Certainly some time before it began to resemble a leading voice in intersectional leftist queer focal fandom, although it was always stridently those things, as well as advocating for a pro-soap opera, pro-minor characters, pro-Cyclops revision to popular understanding of what makes X-Men great).

Of course, if you sit two X-Fans down to talk comics for an hour a week for any length of time, really, under no x-ternal supervision or hard guideline parameters for what subjects are, and are not, on topic (amongst many other things more broad ranging and personal) they're going to get to discussing contemporary releases as well as ancient history. So, at the same time as learning, by glitzy guided tour, the history of The Hellfire Club, how the Phoenix Force actually works, why Scott Summers is autistic and Kitty Pryde is queer, I also got the nod-here-reference-there back ally tour of the contemporary X-Line, as it was shaping up; the early days of the Brian Michael Bendis run, the stuff that came out of Schism and Battle Of The Atom.

Consequently this particular period has always seemed, to me, beguiling.

I spent a period intrigued by it (not least because it’s intriguing, and this is a creative, perhaps even visionary author with strong, distinctive, and original ideas for stories that could be done with this premise and set of characters, and [by the accounts that I was receiving] was executing said ideas, if not flawlessly, at least with panaché). The podcast soon became somewhat of a bonding point between myself and my sister, who (being close in age to me) has always been very immediate in my life, but in such a way as can mean a lot of treading on one another's toes (less risk of that now). Like me she was a long time X-Fan, like me mostly from growing up on related media and finding them abstractly cool (we both had tween crushes on Evolution Nightcrawler - I remember printing out pictures of him from the school library, she now has a tattoo). My sister's completionist tendencies led her to track alongside the podcast, reading originally trade paperbacks and eventually Marvel Unlimited (with a cursory reading of revisionist takes on the Silver Age [60s] - X-Men Season One by Dennis Hopeless and Jamie Mckelvie, then hard-in with the real Bronze Age [70s onward], starting at All New Giant Size X-Men #1, and just working forward). I don't know quite where she's up to now.

I gave this a go, I certainly appreciated things about it, but in general it didn't grab me as my starting point - and while there are many other jumping on points between 1975 and 2013 (already three years in the rear-view by the time I decided to get around to this) the more-or-less present day just seemed the more-or-less obvious point to jump on, so I jumped.

Actually I read the first volume of G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel, up to the 2015/2016 Secret Wars event, then I backed up and read Bendis' entire runs on Uncanny and All New X-Men (which notably, themselves, conclude at the start of Secret Wars), I also read, to my knowledge, all accompanying X-Titles coming out concurrently with the Bendis run, comprising what I'll generally refer to as the wider Bendis Era; Storm by Greg Pak, Cyclops by Greg Rucka, Magneto by Cullen Bunn, X-Force by Si Spurrier (all of which were really quite good, to my mind), and All New X-Factor by Peter David (which wasn't really for me - by which I seem to imply that it's probably for someone... in practice I think perhaps it is simply not really that good). I then read all of the X-Related crossover material that tied in to the aforementioned Secret Wars event (as well as a few non-X-related Secret Wars titles on general recommendation from Jay & Miles' Patreon stretch-goal video reviews of contemporary [primarily X] comic publications). My general process was to read an issue or two at a time then cross-reference with video reviews, as a lot of my engagement with media involves parsing it through the lens of critical voices who represent known quantities relative to my tastes (although it would be erroneous to suggest that by this point I'm not in some way attached to somewhat of a cult of personality around the public personas of the hosts, albeit what seems quite a calm and good natured one).

After finishing the Secret Wars titles I faced a relaunch of the line, and, eager as I was to find out what this experience (and the itemized content within) was like, I'd been a diehard Bendis fan through the process so far and wanted to let my recent reading mellow somewhat; to ruminate, and take a beat to work on other projects - breathe, mourn, let my first formative era of fandom settle before steam-rolling on with a new age.

It’s been… a few years, and while I really do have plenty else I ought be on with I've decided to throw myself back in and read some damn X-Men.

As follows are broadly my thoughts on what I will, somewhat snarkily be calling the 'Ordinary Era' (that is, post Secret Wars, through to the end of Jeff Lemire's Extraordinary X-Men, concluding with the Inhumans vs X-Men event), and beyond.

[littlemisssquiggles]

RWBY Musings #16: In honour of the next episode of RWBY Volume 5 taking us back to Raven and the Branwen Tribe, I leave the fandom with this curious question to ponder on.

Do you think it’s possible for the Maiden powers to ever reject a host?

This is something that I’ve been curious about in regards to the Maiden powers. So far, this question has been proven false considering that Cinder did successfully manage to acquire the Fall Maiden powers despite taking it by force from its past user after killing her.

Nevertheless, since not a lot is known about how the succession of the Maiden powers work, this leaves a lot of leeway and opportunities left for speculation. Personally, I wonder if there is a specific trait or rule to one gaining the Maiden powers. I know there’s the one where the power can be passed on to a person who the past Maiden was close to or at least was in their thoughts last before passing on. But is there more to it than that? I ask this cause up until this point, this particular knowledge of the Maiden powers succession has been working in the villain’s favour so far.

The evil baddies want the Magic of the Maidens to attain the relics. Fine. Just hunt them all down one by one, kill them and just make sure that one of your female lackeys are standing ripped and ready to take it. 

I found it interesting the way how Cinder used a particular kind of Grimm (one that resembled a spider if my memory serves correctly) to steal the Fall Maiden, Amber’s power or at least some of it. It makes me wonder if it wasn’t for the fact that Cinder had successfully retrieved a portion of Amber’s power forcing the rest of it to go to her, would it have been possible for the power to reject her.

Is it possible for the Maiden’s magic to reject its user, thus destroying or at least physically impairing the unworthy ones in the process? 

I ask this because I’m curious to see just how Salem and her forces plan on taking the remaining Maiden powers; not just to see their methods but mostly to see who is going to be the vessel to harbour such a high potency of magic. As shown in the World of Remnant tale about the Old Hermit Wizard and the First Four Maidens, it is possible for one person to harbour all the powers of the maidens or at least it seems like it.

Before blessing the powers to the first maiden candidates, Ozpin hosted most of the magic in his own body. That means it should be possible for one person to carry the Maiden powers, right?

So, is Salem planning on turning Cinder into this Avatar version of the Four Maidens where instead of separate Maidens, it just all of their magic within one body with the individual being the master of them all? If Salem’s ultimate objective is to turn Cinder into the; I’m just gonna refer to it as the Avatar Maiden, Master of all Four Seasons so that she can have someone who can access the power of the relics under her control then that’d actually be a fascinating addition to the story and would certainly add more intimidation to Cinder’s character and role in the series.

However, herein lies one potential underlying flaw. Cinder herself. This is why I ask the question of if the Maiden magic can reject a user. What if...Cinder and the gang attempt to take the Spring Maiden’s power by force, the same way they did with Fall. The interesting countering twist this time is that the power ends up full on rejecting whoever is forced to be its next successor. Amongst the villain ranks, this could be either Emerald or Cinder.

Either way, what if...Team CMEW attempt the steal the Spring Maiden’s power and it fails completely. In order for the Spring Maiden power to be obtained, this would disappointingly mean losing Vernal. 

This is sad for me because I quite like Vernal. Don’t know much more about her character as yet but I’d like to. I certainly like her character design and the interest to learn of her story and see her fleshed out is there.

She’d have to get in line behind Oscar Pine but I genuinely want to know more about Vernal beyond her Maiden title. I’m praying this time around viewers do get to actually know the current Spring Maiden before her so-called inevitable fate to die for her powers. I’m definitely hoping it’s not gonna be a running gag where the Maidens are only there to be axed off immediately and since we never got to learn about Amber beyond the fact that Lionheart said she was inexperienced as a Maiden, I hope that we do get to learn a bit more about Vernal.

If she is to survive, let her last for at least another season and even be instrumental in the potential Victory for Haven.

I’d like to see Vernal and Yang somehow bond like sisters too or at least have a friendship or respectful comradery. They both share close relations with Raven that could be presumed as mother-daughter. As I made mention in my ♦last musing, I pegged Vernal to have a somewhat child-parent relationship with Raven.

The concept of her also having a romantic bond to Raven is still on the table though. After all, we don’t know how old Vernal was when she became a Maiden nor how much time she’s been in the Branwen Tribe since she was taken in.

We don’t even know how old Vernal is now. Since the RWBY models for female characters are ambiguous when it comes to guessing a characters true age, I’m going to assume that Vernal could possibly be in her early twenties (19-22).

She definitely strikes me as being over or at least the age of eighteen. Either way, she’s legal...I guess. So if the CRWBY did go in that direction for their relationship, I guess I can see it happening, perhaps.

Y’know like Slade/Deathstroke and Terra from DC Teen Titans: The Judas Contract only less...fucked up messy.  Or a better example Batman and Batgirl in some versions of the story where they were actual a couple despite the age difference and the fact that some fans have always mostly viewed Batman as a mentor character to Batgirl (I’m looking at you The Killing Joke).

I’m neither saying that this is true nor am I saying that I ship it (I more favour the mother-daughter relationship for Vernal and Raven better). I’m just saying it’s possible  Ruling out all the cards here guys.

There is no doubt in my mind that of all the bandits in the Branwen Tribe, Vernal is closest to Raven. She seems to be one of her most trusted allies. Maybe even her second in command. She certainly has the authority as evidenced in Chapter 3 of Volume 5.

But if Vernal is sadly to be taken down, I hope her sacrifice would not be in vain. As a matter of fact, if the CRWBY writers do intend on not allowing Vernal to last another season, I’d like to see two things happen.

Firstly, let her go out like a badass. If a full-on brawl between Maidens is to occur in the next episode or at any point in the future, I can definitely see Vernal having the upper hand, not just because she has Raven and the entire Branwen Tribe on her side but mostly because she has had way more time and experience mastering the use of her powers than Cinder (which I imagine would be a pleasant shocker to our one-eyed Fall Maiden).

But if for some reason, Cinder does overpower Vernal or use some sneaky underhanded tactic to force her to submit to her powers being stolen, this brings me to my second want.

In a surprising twist of events, let the Spring Maiden power go to Raven. I can see this being a huge possibility because of what Qrow informed Team RNJR back in Volume 4. According to Qrow, the Maiden power will go to whoever was closest to a Maiden or was in their thoughts last upon their deaths. If Raven and Vernal are indeed close, it would make sense that her powers would go to her.

I would very much love to see this happen because not only would it be a great way to integrate Raven into the main cast with the chance to develop her side of the story beyond the title that she’s the proclaimed bad mother to Yang, but it would be a huge metaphorical middle finger to Salem and her forces.

You thought you could just saunter into the Branwen Tribe, kick everyone’s asses, disrespect their leader and steal the Spring Maiden’s power? Well jokes on you. Spring chose a bird to be the next Maiden.

Spring would chose Raven and I would not be shocked if this is something Raven has prepared for beforehand. Unless it’s a twist within a twist that Raven wasn’t expecting for Vernal to die nor for her to become so attached to the young girl.

Making Raven the new Spring Maiden succeeding Vernal would be great because it would mean she’ll have to be protected by the main team. She’ll probably wish to run away but I can imagine Qrow convincing her to stay where she can be protected which would add for some glorious Branwen Siblings conflict and resolution.

It would give Raven and opportunity to grow close to Yang since she’ll have to protect her now; healing that wound with time.

It would also mean a very awkward reunion with Ozpin, finally cracking open that delightful can of worms that is their past history together.

It can also open the door for an example where a Maiden successor did not want her power and responsibility. Yes Vernal ran away but initially she did accept her role as the Spring Maiden.

If Raven is forced to be the new Spring Maiden without knowing that Vernal had already chosen her a long time ago, it would be funny because then Raven would be like Ozpin. Cursed with powers and responsibilities that she was forced to receive (the Spring Maiden powers) because she failed to stop something in the past (the Death of Vernal) and now she’ll have no choice but to live with that curse; the only freedom being in death.

And even then, she can’t bring herself to accept death because if she died, how else was she going to get vengeance and justice for her fallen comrade.  

But that’s just a hunch. Who knows what’s to come for the remainder of this volume, much less the rest of RWBY.

I’m not even sure how tomorrow’s episode will play off.

Beyond my continuing aspiration and episodic campaign for Oscar to get more screen-time and development as HIMSELF AND NOT OZCAR (seriously it’s been THREE BLOODY episodes now. COME ON CRWBY! GIVE BEST FARM BOI SOME DEVELOPMENT WHILE THE SEASON IS STILL YOUNG) I don’t know what to expect from Chapter 9 other than it focusing on Raven’s group for most of it. However, I still stand by my hunch from last time that I want Raven to be captured by Cinder and her posse and used as leverage to lure out, not just the Spring Maiden but also the Mistral Team.

I also still stand by my previous hunch that in the event of Raven being abducted, she’d make sure to send Vernal safely to Mistrel into the arms of Qrow. I want a rescue mission to save Raven because this would prompt Yang having to save her mother which would be a lovely parallel to what Raven told Qrow in Volume 4.

Raven told Qrow that her promise was to save and/or protect Yang once. That was her deal. She’d continue to watch over her from afar but would only intervene to protect her life once which she already did way back in Volume 3 against Neo. If Raven needs to be saved, I can definitely see Yang dealing her mother the same hand. She saved her once and now it’s Yang’s turn to save her once, that way they’d be even.  

Yang would probably save Raven and then totally revert back to hating or at least not liking her guts afterwards but at least Raven would be safe and might even be proud of and respect her daughter and her strength afterwards.

It’s funny though. Yang probably figures she needed her mom in her life to make her strong, failing to realize the true meaning behind why her mother left. I wonder what kind of person Yang would’ve been if Raven was more present in her life.

I’d imagine it would’ve gone like that one alternate reality episode of Grey’s Anatomy where Meredith dreamt how her life would’ve gone if her mother had been happy and it turned out to be not as great as she expected.

Maybe Yang would’ve been a power-hungry huntress obsessed more with strength than compassion if she was raised by Raven. Tai Yang did say that Yang possessed some of her mother’s qualities so if Raven had decided to take Yang and raise her in the Branwen Tribe rather than leave her behind with her father, not only would Yang have possibly turned out more like Raven but she would’ve never had her close relationship with her sister Ruby.

We’ve seen how great of an influence Yang is on Ruby’s life and how deep their sisterly/family bond goes. We’ve seen how devoted Yang is to her family, particularly her little sister. If Raven had raised her, Yang might not have been who she is now. Maybe it’s for that very reason Raven why left her behind.

She didn’t want to raise another version of herself, thriving on the same things that drove her down a rather grim path. Raven didn’t want Yang to become more susceptible to making the same mistakes Raven made and are still paying the price for.

While Episode 6 of Volume 5 made it seem as if Raven thinks very little of Tai Yang, that doesn’t change the fact that once upon a time, she did believe he possessed certain good qualities.

Good qualities that she not only fell in love with him for but also wished for him to instil in their daughter.

Sure Raven left for her own reasons but, why would she leave Yang with Tai if she didn’t think she would be better off with him? Yes, Yang eventually had to take the reins and help raise Ruby after Summer left and Tai became somewhat distant with work but before all that happened, Yang was admittedly in better hands. She was in a family among people who loved her and cared for her and valued things like trust, empathy and compassion with strength being secondary; values I don’t think are a core aspect of the culture in the Branwen Tribe. Doesn’t seem that way to me. Call her a bad mom as much as you want but, Raven doesn’t strike me as the type to just abandon Yang with her father if she didn’t think he was good enough or trustworthy. 

After all, if that’s the case then why is he still one of her very few close bonds even after all these years of separation?

Maybe that was Raven’s intention all along.

But, what do I know? I’m just a fan with some musings. Dunno what’s to come in the story tomorrow but like always, I’m uber excited.

That being said, see you all in RWBY Volume 5: Chapter 9!

~LittleMissSquiggles (2017)