#he has a LOT of Gears. i like those. and an airship

[tomwaterbabies]

my friensd and i played the villainous board game (board game where u play as different disney villains) and i genuinely think because i played as Ratigan GreatMouseDetective it got me focused in on critterfolk stuff so when i came back home the first non-artfight related thing i drew was mouse varian........ i like him

[mangledscrimp]

HAIII,, Here is Desmond for dy au :3,, I redid her ref sheet and I think it looks so much better than the original sprite edit! (comparison)

(WILL HAVE AZRAN LEGACY SPOILERS.)

As a bit of a warning;; There will be nonsexual nudity in the post going over scars from surgeries and wounds (not very graphic)

As usual, going to go through each bullet.

•Pronouns

Desmond goes by He/She/They/Its. Everything pretty much goes for them. She’s genderfluid.

•AroAce

Desmond in this au is aroace. He still had that past partner like canon desmond does. But after she had disappeared, it helped him discover himself after being unable to be a suitable partner for anyone else due to stress and general complications with understanding people.

•Artistry

Desmond is still very much into art, but taxidermy is what she values higher than most. She thinks it’s a beautiful way to show the life an animal once lived or a creative way to express oneself through an animal.

•Airship or water ship?

Desmond in this au owns a mixture of both! She owns a cruise ship with an attached airship at the top (the Bostonius)! Making her able to leave the ship without having to turn the cruise around and an easier place to have the airship without having to put it into a hanger. Her crewmates often call her red or dessy, a fun little nickname!

•Glasses?

Surprisingly, her glasses are only for show. She’s got no lenses in those red rims and are merely an accessory.

•Profession

Desmond studied the arts of archeology and anthropology. He’s well versed in the two topics. Archeology is something that peaked his interest since it was a major thing in his childhood. Often times, his father would bring him to dig sites to see pottery from the past and how humans used to live. Unfortunately, his father was taken by a suspicious group of people, as well as his mother.

Anthropology also peaked Desmond’s interest as it went along with Archeology. Learning about how human being behaved throughout history over time is interesting to them.

This is more of a habit but, Desmond is also an interested hunter. While learning about different cultures and their practices, she learned more and more about different hunting strategies used by many cultures. These were inspirational, so it slowly became a hobby. Of course only in areas that allowed hunting. Nothing non-ethical for her!

———— AZRAN LEGACY SPOILS!!!

I feel like…you guys will hater me for what I did to descole for the au ok…Don’t get mad at me pleaseeeee!! :< She’s kinda cringe but I DON’T CAREEE MWAHAHA I AM FREE I CAN DO WHATEVER I WISH!!

Cannibalism and Hunting mention uwaaa

remember shit gets diabolical in this au, so don’t be surprised when the main villain is a cringe scary character that goes EEEVIL!!

ok yah this is..this is descole in this au.

Again, gonna do what I gotta do. A lot of what’s in here is related to lore stuff that some people may have or have not read..sooo tralala

This ref is general and not affected by gameplot!

•Similarities and differences

Desmond and Descole act VERY differently. Desmond is simply just an act for the public eye.

Also, not called “Jean Descole” in this au. She’d probably find it rather ugly to be called “Jean” and thinks that name is stupid. Her canon counterpart would definitely hate her.

Desmond and Descole both share the same pronouns, that part does not change. Same with their sexuality.

Desmond is more open and tries her best to communicate with people, while Descole acts more cold and serious. Descole also gets agitated more easily compared to Desmond.

•Outfit and design.

Descole’s outfit is made to hunt. It’s hunting gear. She has white hunting gloves and a purple hunting jacket.

The boa and cravat is for style, might as well look good when you’re hunting. (Not..very affective..but don’t tell her that..)

The cape is also for style but it’s also used to hide her belt and anything else she has concealed in her pockets. The pattern of the cape isn’t very consistent but it has the overall pattern of a leopard with a soft texture. Often times her chihuahua, treats, enjoys to lay in it. (Treats is the Keats dupe for this au! hehe). Can ditch the cape when she needs to run after prey and it’s slowing her down.

Her boots are lightweight so she can easily run after her prey if needed.

her hat is funny, that’s why I did it lols. She can’t own a cat, or else it would knock it off all the time haha!

Under everything, it’s just a plain cream shirt with her hunting pants.

The shadow is a design choice that I like hehe, it allows her to blend in with the darkness since she mostly hunts at night. Also makes her mysterious hehehe lalalal! Desmond can also have this shadow to show the cover being blown.

Mask to conceal her identity.

Wig is not connected to the hat, if she wants to take it off, she’ll take it off from the front, similarly to how the masked gentleman takes off the costume for the big reveal.

•Weaponry

Descole carries a belt on her waist that holds her smaller tools. For example, her cautery tool she stole from her adopted father (Raymond). Carrying it around incase she needs it for prey. (Of course, it’s only been used on one creature she’s hunted.)

Another weapon in her arsenal would be her handgun. It’s used near the ending of Randall’s game. She has larger ones but she carries a small one for quick trips and not for longer hunts.

Lastly, she owns a net guns. Made by herself. The case is a deep dark purple with a red “D” to label it as her own. It has foam to protect each netgun head and handle. The yellow button on the handle is to release her white web onto her prey. She mostly uses her net guns instead of killing what’s she’s hunting right away.

• Diet.

She’s a hunter that eats her prey. if her prey so happens to be Human, she won’t find a problem using every piece that she can.

With her normal hunting, she often uses every part of the animal. For example, if she were to hunt a deer, she’d use every piece.

Though, she has yet to eat a human being. She had plans to feast on a red headed woman after her plans had failed since she had no more use for her, but that sadly didn’t go through. Once you aren’t needed anymore in her eyes, she’ll find a way to satisfy her hunger.

Under the cut there is nudity!! NOT SEXUAL! Just to show Des’s body.

Warn for scarring and nonsexual nudity!! uwaa

This is how Des looks underneath everything!

•Under Both

During the Randall game, Des gets shot in her shoulder, leaving a scar after raymond tried to tend to its wound.

Des had gotten breast reduction surgery by raymond. Raymond has surgical experience, he’s a retired surgeon who decided to work in an orphanage where he met Des and her future crew.

Raymond is like a father to des and was happy to make her feel more confident in himself.

The wound on their right hand was caused by desperate measures going through the labyrinth in Randall’s game. She carved a pathway onto her hand so she wouldn’t get lost.

He’s got a symmetry line down its chest. Idk, just a neat body detail I wanted to add because I think it’s nice! hehe

• Under Descole

She wears a binder under her descole outfit to appear more flat chested. She doesn’t mind her breasts but she’d rather wear that when she’s hunting that a bra. Feels more contained.

OK LALALA THAT IT!!

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

So RWBY grimmverse style au, with a lot of the students being grimmified while hunting others to convert, so like, very high functioning zombies. Anyway so yeah Ruined city, numerous grimmified hunters-in-training scouring a city to find more to their numbers, before hearing a loud crash, heading over to find “patient zero” aka Grimm Pyrrha and she’s fighting or was fighting a Cyborg Jaune (Metal Gear Rising Revengeance style) and like they got a little excited and destroyed a lot of the building, so Grimmified hunters-in-training come in and see Grimm Pyrrha with her cloak off, which is not down often, and a Cyborg Jaune standing there in the ruins. So yeah Strongest grimmified hunter-in-training Pyrrha was equalled in power to Cyborg Jaune, with everyone surprised. 

Bonus: If Jaune explains how he became a Cyborg (Like survived an explosion and found a lab to survive in)

I don't know why I just got this sudden urge to ask this.

Thank you!

Pyrrha: Brothers! Sisters! Siblings of All Ages and ability! Our Goddess Has Given us a most Divine Mission!

The tension in the air was palpable, it landed somewhere between the moment before a bar-brawl and when Fans realize their team made the winning shot.

Pyrrha: Bring More Home~ Expand the Family! Unite all under her Glorious name!

Raccous cheering poured forth.

Pyrrha: But They Bring in Machines to stop us, Hurt us, capture and experiment Upon us! We all rememer when Our dearest Silver Angel was Stolen From us! The shame of failure to protect her was Too much for us to bear! We let loose our inhibitions and minds and fell to the like of the Beowolves and Beringel!

Shouts of Anger rung out, curses and swears unintelligible, but obvious.

Pyrrha: Luckily For us, those Machines need be told what to do, which means there is man behind the walls~ They've Backed themselves into corners all on their own~

Pyrrha: So if it's a game of Cat and Mouse, They are sorrowly mistaken about who is what.

Atlesian Airships landed in the distance, others dropping pods of Robots and Androids in the middle of the city.

Pyrrha: So without further ado, *Pyrrha pulled her hood over her head* Let the Hunt Begin~

Cheers of Violence and malevolence ring out from the Grimmified people, as they burst out from their hiding spots.

~Several Minutes Later~

Jaune: How are things looking out there Penny?

Penny: Not Well. We are losing Units at an astonishing Rate. Capturing the Rose family was very good for our understanding of what causes people to become 'Grimmified' and how too help them recover, but it seems that Ruby was very important to the others. They are attacking with more vigor and ferocity than ever.

Jaune: ... Somethings Wrong. Abort the Mission and Fall back.

General Ironwood: Arc, Stay there. I know You can handle whatever they may throw at you.

Jaune: Sir, Respectfully, You have put me in charge of this operation, and I am telling you to give the order to Fall Back. Somethings not Right, I can feel it.

Ironwood: Unless Something Catastrophic Happens, stand your ground. That is and Order.

Jaune: ... Sir, Direspectfully, Shove your Orders Up your Ass. *Shuts Off Communications Device* EVERYONE BEGIN TO RECALL WHATEVER UNITS YOU HAVE LEFT! WE ARE EVACUATING!

Penny: Jaune-

Jaune: Pen, I know what Ironwood Said, but He's not here, and I'll deal with Whatever corporal Punishment he thinks is neces- DUCK!

Jaune Pulls Penny low, a blood red Spear whizzing just above their Heads, Before retracting by Ebony Sinew and Tendons.

Pyrrha: Face the Divine Wrath of her CHOSEN Cowards!

Jaune: *Draws Aurum Exitium* Penny Get everyone out! I'll hold her Off!

Penny: I- Yes Jaune! Stay Safe!

Jaune: *Blocking another strike* I always make it back in the end! MOVE!

Pyrrha: The Fight's over here Huntsman!

Jaune: I know.

Jaune: *Tackles Pyrrha* But it's going this Way!

The two fall from the Atlesian's vantage point, tumbling down into the decrepit city.

Pyrrha: *Throws Jaune through a wall, causing part of a building to collapse* STAY DOWN DOGGY!

Jaune: *Breaking out of the Rubble* You'll have to do better than that!

Pyrrha Threw 'Akouo' at Jaune, who caught - and Pyrrha's heel in his face. He held tight to the Arm-Bound shield, slamming the redheaded monstrosity into the ground, dragging her face across the damaged pavement, before throwing her into the distance.

Jaune: I want to help you!

Pyrrha:*landing Deftly* You Kidnap Us! STEAL US From our home! We want to bring Enlightenment to you, and you meet us with Violence!

Pyrrha launched barbs that shattered against the bulkhead of a shield Jaune carried. He Retaliated with a strike from his longsword, the edge glowing blue with Hardlight Dust.

He whiffed the strike and the sword carved into the ground, Pyrrha Blasting him backwards with her semblance. Blisters formed across the pitch-black flesh, as her soul burning against it's monstrous bonds. She lunged at the stunned Jaune, aiming for the point between his eyes.

This dance of death, seemingly endless back and forth, A tactical mind meeting a being of pure skill, Remnants Greatest Mind's reconstruction of a Man holding against a near perfect amalgam of Man and it's Enemy, An Unstoppable Force fighting an Immovable Force.

Blow after blow, Aura ticking down, Grimm burning away. They stumbled into some old cathedral, standing a distance away from each other. Every breathe was heaved, exhaustion pulling at them. Even Jaune's aura had it's limits, and Pyrrha's arms were covered in open wounds, seeping Grimm-infused blood out of them.

Pyrrha struck first. Jaune Dodged and closed distance. Jaune fired a beam from Aurum Exitium. Pyrrha dodged and closed even more distance. They were in Melee with each other. Pyrrha Jabbed. The hit landed. Jaune attempted to Grapple. Pyrrha barely managed to avoid it.

Her cloak didn't.

Jaune finally saw his opponent's face and he was ... Entranced. Pyrrha, however, was Pissed.

Pyrrha: You ... Dare lay your FILTHY, UNDESERVING EYES UPON ME!

She through her spear once more, letting it truly free from her grasp. It flew through the air, Jaune barely avoiding it in his awe at her beauty. He flung the cloth wildly, the Spear piercing the hood and slamming into the great throne in the center of the building.

With all the rage of a disrespected Goddess, she dashed into Jaune, Stealing the techsword from his grip and pinning him against the chair, trying to press it's endlessly thin blade into Jaune's neck.

He Held against her pushing, forcing Aura into his arms as Darkness enveloped Pyrrha's forearms, more blisters forming on her arms.

Jaune felt his body lock up against her semblance, his own giving him the strength to resist her assault.

The held there for what felt like forever, long enough for swathes of Grimm-dark skin to fall from Pyrrha's arms, revealing the corded, red flesh beneath. Their hands shook. They both knew whoever gave out first would likely die.

Then a thin blade wrapped around Pyrrha's shoulder and pulled her away, Jaune's sword clattering to the ground.

Ren.

Jaune nearly fell to his knees, catching himself at the last moment and sprinting towards his brother- only to catch a glob of Acid in the face.

???: YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER!

Another Grimm girl, short, with and arm that looked like a cenitaur had been grafted on. She slammed the chittering apendage into Ren, throwing him towards Jaune.

Nora: It's been a long time since Cuddles had a playmate like you~

Pyrrha struggled to her feet, weariness obvious in those who were near.

Pyrrha: Stay, Nora. *She points at Ren and Jaune* You. Aren't. Going. Anywhere.

Black, staticy figures shuffled in, a Winged figure cascading from above with them.

Sun: Glad I wasn't late to the party. Let's help them join it, Eh Ladies?

Nora: *Glare*

Pyrrha: *Glare*

Sun: C'mon that's funny- Whatever. Bye-bye Huntsmen!

Surrounded and outnumbered, Jaune and Ren faced their fate with grim (heh) Determination. They always had a back-up, and she was arriving right now.

Brilliant green lasers blasted through the ceiling, a ladder falling through from a hovering bullhead. Penny was coming to her friend's rescue.

Penny: Stand down, and allow yourselves to be captured or face the consequences.

The trios stared each other down. A Leader. A friend. A savior in their time of need.

The whirring blades of Floating Array held charges, ready to decimate any attacker, while Sun's clones stood still and were prepared to strike.

The Jaune and Pyrrha started Backing away from each other, pulling their partners, back to their own escape routes. Once they got away from each other the released their bated breathes.

Nora: Pyrrha?

Pyrrha: That wasn't a fight we could win. We kept them out of the city. We've succeeded, even if we lost.

Sun: Man, I was itching for some action. But, we did do good, didn't we?

Pyrrha: That we did, Sun. That We did.

With her cloak in shambles, Pyrrha had no choice than to face the crowd openly. They hardly dared look at her. Sharp, bony spikes that stuck out from just behind her jawline and ears, her face pale with dark red veins running up her cheeks, and to her eyes. Eyes, that unlike every other Grimm-Fated student, were Green.

She was different than the others, And it was obvious. She relished in that fact often, it earned her praise and gifts from their God-Mother.

But in this moment it was nothing but another reminder that she wasn't like her siblings. She knew that man she fought was handsome.

~~~~~

Ren: General Ironwood Won't be happy about this.

Jaune: We failed, but we survived. It's a win in my book.

Penny: I am glad you are alright. Please don't do anything that irrational again.

Jaune: I can't promise you that Penny.

Penny: I- I-

Penny: ... I Know, Jaune. I don't wish to see my Brother be injured anymore than he already has been.

They all fell silent as they watched the city of Atlas come into view, Sat just behind Mantle, a mountain gazing over it's earth-toned buildings. It had been nearly two decades since the theft of the Relic of Creation, causing it to sink into it's crater.

~~~~~

Pyrrha: We kept the city, Mistress.

Salem: And what about recovering your siblings? Was the enemy annihilated as you guaranteed they would be?

Pyrrha: ... They were different this time. Far more of their machines than before, easy enough to take down, but there was ... Retreat before the final Charge was made. I separated myself from the horde to attack their post directly, and was stopped by ... Something between Man and Machine.

Salem: And just what did this 'In-Between' look like?

Pyrrha: He was covered in metal, though I could tell a fair amount was armor and plating on his outside - His legs and left arm were mechanical, with certain thing within him being something I couldn't control, but could feel. His face was mostly free, he had blue eyes and blonde hair tied back.

Pyrrha: He was brutal and savage, yet intelligent. He new how to use the terrain to his advantage, and how to avoid the majority of my strikes, and those he could not avoid he simply took and kept going.

Pyrrha: He was my equal until outsiders interrupted us. A lithe man that wore green, wielding machine pistol that had been locked in combat with Nora. I could not feel him, which means he was either truly at peace in his soul, or his semblance makes us blind to his soul.

Pyrrha: After their arrivals, Sun managed to surround them, but their Machine-Girl gave them the opportunity of escape. They ran like the cowards they are.

Salem: Do not lie to me Girl. You didn't strike at them as they ran, could you?

Pyrrha: I-I- I-

Pyrrha: I am Injured and Exhausted. I Was, and I could not fight anylonger. I ordered our retreat. I failed you. I am Sorry.

Salem: *Grabbing Pyrrha* Apologies are useless. You had your orders, and you Failed them. You are to see Tyrian for your punishment.

Pyrrha: Y-Yes ma'am.

Pyrrha hands Shook. From pain, from fear, from shame, and many delineations of those emotions. But still, she strode to her punishment with haste. Wasting time was worthy of further punishment. She barely managed a nod to Cinder as she passed.

Cinder: Hold it Nikos!

Pyrrha: Yes Ma'am?

Cinder: ... This'll sting, but it'll help.

Pyrrha: What are you-

Cinder: Open wounds will make you weaker in the future. I am disinfecting them, then you may be back on your way.

Pyrrha: The Goddess-

Cinder: What she doesn't know can't hurt us. Stay quiet.

Pyrrha hardly flinched when the Alcohol touched her wounds. She shouldn't have flinched at all, she was so worthless and stupid to think she could've done her assignment right. She was meant to be the best among her siblings, unstoppable and-

Cinder: *Hugging Pyrrha, shaking her from her thoughts* You will be fine. You will be fine. Run, now. I'm sorry I can't save you from him.

~~~~~

Jaune: Yang? How is Ruby doing?

Yang: JAUNE! *hugs Him* She's been improving! Her heart is beating on it's own, and she's been more responsive- I can't believe it. I- I have her back. Ruby's- Ruby's back. Almost. My family, whatever's left of it- we'll be together again!

Yang: But you need to see Ironwood! he's Pissed to the grimmlands and back over whatever you did.

Jaune: I told him "Disrespectfully, Shove your orders up your ass." then shut off my comms.

Yang: *chuckles* Really? Man you must have balls of steel!

Jaune: Nah, At least one of those is still mine.

Yang: Gross.

Yang: ... Still. You should go talk to him. He's not happy.

Jaune: I'll survive whatever he throws at me. Or throws me into.

Yang: Not getting that stuff removed.

Jaune: ... I'll be fine Yang.

And Jaune left the medbay.

~~~~~

If anyone seems out of Character, it's because, well, these aren't the same ones from Canon.

Pyrrha has been more Forcefully manipulated, and the stakes for her are far higher than falling off a pedestal - falling from it means death. She believes the words she says, and feels guilty when she questions it.

Jaune had *Something* happen that made him lose a fair bit of his body. Atlas put him back together at the expense of his freedom, à la Robocop. But he still cares about people and is willing to defy orders to protect them. It's a matter of how far he can bend the rules before he gets broken.

I'll explain more if people ask for it.

[jamlabs]

Ok because I'm brainrotted. More facts about the Guilty Gear Inside My Brain

- there is a universal translation spell. Since the GG stories have people speaking all one language, I assumed that there is a sort of translation effect going on: axl speaking 1990s English would not let him interact with literally anyone in the present considering peoples various nationalities. Also explains why ppl all speak a certain language for the viewer

- Illyria is a melting pot so language over there is fucked. It's a mix of a lot of western European languages bc countries and boundaries sort of got blown up during the crusades

- The Crusades were a lot worse in my head. Like they are kind of glossed over except for the whole "a lot of people died" but it was bad bad. An immortal enemy and her endlessly propagating soldiers makes morale both incredibly hard to keep up and incredibly important to maintain

- On that note rations during this time were super commonplace. A lot of time was spent making food and resources available for The Holy Order. Large scale farms were often the target of Justice's attacks so food in general was pretty scarce. Civilians had to ration distributed food and usually supplemented it with small farms and livestock if possible. A few squadrons of the Order started eating slain gears when it came down to it (based on animals, probably okay to cook and eat. Due to hyper-regeneration I don't think gears tasted good at all but a war is a war)

- Morale is part of why Ky was appointed as a Commander so young. Propaganda wise he is just picture perfect, the kid who beat the odds and always has Hope . Perfect for morale in the Order and for civvies

- Kliff did his best to keep him out of the propaganda side of things but he is sort of ruled by the UN and their funding so :(

- Back to point one, the first time Axl timeslipped he got really really sick because of all the new viruses/germs/health shit his body wasn't used to . Modern Magical Medicine mitigates the stuff axl brings forwards though :) (the worst of it is usually the sniffles)

- the Former United States got hit the worst with the gear attacks at the beginning and them having a centralized government is an extremely new thing. States as we know them no longer exist in anything but name as they are effectively large enough communities that live in a given area. The amount of territory controlled by the centralized government is actually pretty small

- Magic does not make it easier to continent hop. I don't care if everyone can teleport or some shit i studied way too many planes to make it that easy. Boats piloted by those with water magic or magic-powered airships are the primary forms of cross-continental transportation here. Its common knowledge that if you want to beef up your ship you'll use Black Tech from Zepp. They have quite literally perfected engines from sub to supersonic since the Dawn of Revival they know their fucking planes

- most civilians don't have a large scale form of transportation. Large scale settlements are connected by magi-rail, and bicycles are becoming more common. Those who do have cars either have a small, compact car, or one that's used for many people in a given location, depending on how many people live at that location

-Sol's bike is augmented with black tech because he doesn't give a shit.

- a lot of things are still being worked on: science took a massive hit with the destruction of knowledge in 99 and then another hit when the crusades started. Most innovation during that time went into how to kill more gears and let people survive so in peacetime more effort has gone towards uh. Other stuff.

- voyager 1 and 2 still operated and stopped transmitting data when their supply of plutonium was no longer able to power them. The Golden Record is still up and out there. :)

[themrsackerman]

Angel of Paradis

Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Reader

Warnings: Spoilers from Season 4. Mentions of gun violence, blood, death

A/N: Now I know EP8 is only the beginning of the end but goddamn it hurts!! I love potato girl and losing her just tore me to bits. So here, take this. Its my way of coping I guess..

Levi is pissed off. From the start, he disliked the plan but it wasn't like Eren gave you all much of a choice. So the moment the kid got on the airship, he was welcomed with one of the captain's infamous kicks. The cockpit wall quakes with the impact and Hange sighs, shooting you a look. "I think you need to get out there and make sure Levi doesn't kill Eren, Y/n." She says exasperatedly and you nod, rising from your seat next to Onyankopon.

"I'll be right back." You say and she flashes you a knowing grin, shaking her head slightly. Even the commander knows you're the only one who could reign in the Levi Ackerman.

You see Levi on the corner glaring at Eren as he was being tied up. You sigh heavily, seeing Eren steaming as he heals. Jaw probably unhinged from the captain's kick. You sat beside him on the bench and pulled out a handkerchief, wiping his face clean from dirt and blood.

"Y/n-san." He greets you monotonously and you gave him a kind smile. "Hey, kid." You greet back, tucking loose strands of his now long hair behind his ear.

Your heart aches at the sight. He used to have so much fire, had the same will to fight for humanity that you only ever saw in your mentor, Erwin. Now all you see is ember of pure hatred and cold blooded need for revenge. "I'm glad you're okay." You murmur. Eren's blank stare softens for a second and a small smile hints the corner of his mouth. "Glad to see you too, Lieutenant." He says quietly and out of the corner of your eyes, you see Levi roll his eyes and make a disgruntled sound as he turns around.

You walk up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Levi meets your gaze with his dull gray ones for a second and sighs, his expression softening too. At this you smile a little and say, "We still have a long battle to fight ahead of us, Captain. Things might not have gone smoothly, but we won today." You remind him and as if proving your point, right on the other side of the ship you hear the soldiers celebrate as they reunite.

"You're right." He agrees. Levi then takes a deep breath and grabs the hand you placed on his shoulder so he can bring it to his face. He turns his head and placed a chaste kiss on your palm. Your heart flutters at the gesture. It isn't grand but was still something you couldn't quite get used to. You two never declared your love for one another, never really had the luxury of time or chance to do so, but small acts like this was enough to let you know that your presence provided him the calm he sorely needs. And that was all you want. Be his peace in this war.

"I'm going to check if the rest of the squad made it back up." You tell him, grazing your thumb on his lower lip and he reluctantly lets you go. "Be back as soon as you can. Meeting will start as soon as this fucking monkey heals enough." He says, cold glare flashing at the other Jaeger who is a pile of steam still laying on the ground. "Okay, I'll just check on Lima's squad. They're the last ones to be picked up supposedly." Levi nods again and watches you leave before turning to talk to Yelena.

You smile past Floch and the other soldiers who are weeping, hugging and making their tributes for those whom had fallen in battle. You then saw three of the soldiers you've grown close with through the years. They were huddled in the corner, sharing a hug.

You hear Jean say in protest, "Dont hug people with that lump ass iron gear on.", while shrugging off Connie's arm. You chuckle at this and tackled him back to the embrace. "Shut the hell up, Jean. I would take Connie's armored hugs any day!" To which the trio whines out, " Lieutenant Y/l/n!!" when you squished them tight.

Although the new gear designed by Hange was in deed not made for hugging, you four relaxed in the uncomfortable embrace. Grounded by the fact that you all made it safe despite the battle you had just gone through. Connie and Sasha smile up at you while Jean tries to still look annoyed, although the softness in his eyes says otherwise.

The soldiers left below start coming in and the cheering just grows even louder. You didn't have the heart to stop them because you yourself are quite happy that today was a success despite some casualties. Now, you have the War Hammer titan as well and were able to destroy the fleet. Now, the Eldians' chance stands higher against this damn war.

"Did you hear that just now?"

Sasha asks out of the blue and you turn to her in wonder. Honestly you couldn't hear anything but the soldiers celebrating. But out of the lot of you, you know Sasha's sense of hearing is far superior than all of you combined. So you take a step back from the crowd and actually looked around.

"Hey, quiet down!!"Jean yells over the chanting but Floch shouts, "Make some noise! Victory!!!" And was echoed by the rest as they embraced and pumped their fists in the air.

"Hey!" Jean tries again only to be pulled by Connie to the side to ask, "Isn't Lobov-san still out there?"

"No, I think he came aboard." Jean says thoughtfully and this was when something didn't sit quite right with you. Commander Lobov is a man that is hard to miss. And with his dedication to this mission to make up for his years being a useless garrison, he would be amongst the soldiers cheering the loudest for the said victory.

Your instincts has never failed you before and its the very reason why you are so good at your job and able to survive this long. But sometimes, you wish that your instincts aren't always right because you always perceive danger. And right now, every fiber of your being is telling you something is fucking wrong.

That if you were to look out the airship right now, you'll probably see the commander lifeless.

Or worse, an enemy may have made its way up to the ship.

Your blood runs cold for a split second before you acted purely out of instinct. You shove Sasha to the side, dreading as you head for the airship's side door and at the exact moment.. someone aboards.

Your gaze met the kid's muddy brown ones. It was determined, filled with fury and you saw that there isn't any trace of hesitation as her finger pulls the trigger. You knew you didn't stand a chance judging by look on her face and her sure aim on your torso. The word of warning you want to let out was caught in your throat as she fires.

You remember seeing those crazed brown eyes and then the ceiling of the airship the next. The sensation of what can only be compared to fire piercing your skin spreads through your chest and insides like molten metal. You hear the indistinct noise of the soldiers' voices grow louder yet muffled at the same time around you.

From happy cheers to manic, hysterical screaming.

You couldn't catch your breath at first and you aren't sure from which. Was it from falling flat on your back? Or was it the searing pain that made tears leak from your eyes?

And then above the chaos, you hear your three closest comrades call your name in unison.

"Lieutenant Y/n, hey!!!" Connie's frantic voice shrill through the limited space of the ship. "Hang in there, hey!" You feel him rattle you, placing his rough calloused hand against your cheek. Jean's panic stricken face comes to your field of vision and you whimper,  "A kid." You gasp. "In the airship."

"Bandages! Now! We need to stop the bleeding!" Jean commands shakily and the rest of the soldiers that aren't capturing the two intruders scramble to get the med kit and the captain.

"Y/n-san, please hold on until we make it to the island!!" Connie pleads but hopelessness crawls his veins as he sees your blood flood the wooden floors.

"Keep him safe." You whisper out to nobody. The captain in mind. Your eye lids grow heavy but you didn't want to close them. No. You can't die. You promised him.

"Don't you dare die on me, Y/l/n." His voice echoes in your mind, compelling you to keep breathing despite how excruciating it feels.

Sasha who was frozen at first, snapped out of her shock as she hears Connie's voice call your name out of sheer panic when your eyes fall close. She then runs to meet the soldier carrying the bandages and was at your side in an instant. With trembling hands, Sasha tries with all her might to wrap you up and stop the bleeding.

"No, no, no, no!!" She starts sobbing while watching the bandage turn red, your gushing blood seeping through no matter how tight she puts the wrap around you. "Y/n-san, no, you can't leave us like this." Sasha hiccups, wiping her tears hastily before grabbing your now cold clammy hand and pressing it to her face. "Please!" She cries, eyes falling close.

If you hadn't pushed her, if you didn't step in her place, it would have been her that got shot. Guilt rakes through her as she watches you desperately fight for your life.

You can feel yourself drifting and you felt helpless. You then meet Sasha's, Jean's and then Connie's gaze, muttering with your remaining strength, "Protect him." And it was no request but an order.

Jean stumbles away, his hands going over his ears, unable to stand your labored breaths and Connie and Sasha's whimpering. Jean felt like hurling when Floch turned the kids to him. The other responsible for you being on the brink of death.

But to those two kids, they are the enemies who wreck havoc to their hometown. Floch wanted to kill them and throw them out but what good would that do? Would taking their lives save yours? And knowing you, who practically treat soldiers like them like your kids even though you were just a few years older than them, you would be disappointed in him at the mere thought of hurting these kids.

Jean can almost hear your angelic voice, "They're just children." You would say. So with a vexed expression and heavy turmoil growing within him, he ties them up and led them to where the captain and commander are.

Jean swallows hard when the captain's cold gaze met his and asks, "Who are these kids?"

By the looks of it, he still does not know.

"They killed Lobov-san and used his gear to come aboard." A lump forms in his throat, suddenly can no longer meet the captain's gaze. "A-and this one here, she.. shot Lieutenant Y/l/n."

Levi's eyes widen. Did he just hear Jean correctly? You? Shot? You were with him just minutes ago. No, how is that possible?-

"Captain, I-I don't think she'll make it." He continues, voice faltering. The grievance in Jean's face make Levi's blood run cold. He stumbles forward a bit as Armin and Mikasa run past him but he seemed frozen in his tracks.

No.

You got hurt but you'll pull through this. You always have. You promised him. And you are one of the toughest people he knows.

Levi tries to convince himself as he glared back at Zeke. He tries to distract himself from the cold fear of losing you with the blinding rage he feels for the Beast Titan wielder. But then, the door swings open again and Levi felt something terribly wrong right away.

And when Connie appears with tears sliding down his face and says,

"Y/n-san.. is dead."

Levi's entire world shifts.

Everyone was shellshocked for a moment. Because how could you be gone just like that? When you were just with them just minutes ago providing comfort to all of them? Passing by and giving them a wave of peace and calmness like the angel that you are.

Hange wobbles, her knees growing weak and its as if someone had punched her in the chest. The pain reminiscent as the day she watched Moblit vanish before her eyes. You were her right hand woman. Her confidant.

Eren's head hung in disbelief. His mind clouded by your kind smile just earlier and telling him you're actually glad to see him. Him. The monster who had just devastated a whole town and killed probably thousands of people. He thought that by now, he'd have gotten used to losing the people around him but losing you is gutting him. Its was like losing family. A sister.

"Connie.. did Y/n-san have any last words?" He asks mindlessly, wanting to know what your last thoughts were. Connie blinks through his tears and his eyes drifts to the captain, whose face was undreadable and knuckles threatening to split open at how tightly his balled fists are clenched.

"She said.. 'Protect him.'" Connie mutters and Levi's facade breaks.

The mob of weeping soldiers parted as the captain staggers to the back of the ship where you lay. Armin and Mikasa were still curled up beside you, their faces red and puffy from wailing. Both of them reluctantly stood up and stepped away as he walks closer. His gaze was still trained on the ground as he puts one foot in front of the other.

He shudders and stop midstep as his foot steps on the crimson stained wood. Before he knows it, he falls on his knees with a thud. Your pale hand comes into his field of vision and he takes a deep shakey breath as he reaches for it. His eyes darts everywhere but your face. The bandage on your middle, the boots on your feet that he had his fair share of shinning as his token of appreciation for you making his morning teas, the emblem of the Wings of Freedom embedded on your breast plate.

Your hand felt cold and stiff against his. A stark contast of the warmth it exuded on his cheek just moments ago.

"Y/n?" He croaks.

Suddenly his breathing shallows as the deafening silence stretches on. He can still smell you but can no longer feel you although you're right fucking there. Levi wanted this to some fucked up nightmare. But then, as he steels his nerves and finally looked at your face, his heart shatters.

Your hair is uncharacteristically dishevelled, e/c eyes lifeless, pupils middilated and your mouth parted ever so slightly.

Levi pulls you in his arms frantically, plethora of would have been and should have been anchoring his heart into a sea of regret.

He should have never let you out the damn door.

He should have held you tighter.

He should have you talked to you longer.

He should have told you.. he loves you.

He never even got to tell you.

Levi's face crumples, face reddening before a resentful yell erupts from him. The soldiers wince at the sound. It was pure agony and it pierces through each and everyone of them, bringing the lot of them back to tears if they ever stopped in the first place.

The entire flight back to Paradis, Levi held you the way he wished he did while you were still with him.

[ererokii]

hello babesss

soo um porco x warrior reader?

like porco is kinda simping on her and the reader isn't oblivious and likes him too? <3

Hey babes! This was so cute and with our boy Porco🥺 he deserves a lot of love, I hope you enjoy! Unedited

Porco can’t help but let out a noise, displeased by your expressions. A bouquet of flowers were left on your table in the room where a meeting was held for the warriors.

You only told Porco your favorite flowers before, having been brought up in conversation. So why the hell were you acting like that?

You smell the flowers, the sweet scent causing happiness to stir within you as you tell Pieck about it, oblivious who bought them for you.

He can hear the excitement in your voice when you gush about them, placing them in a vase that sat neatly on your table.

“I wonder who got them for me, that person must be really nice!”

“Yeah..I wonder who,” Pieck yawns, immediately sitting down on the rickety chair, a wave of relief washing through her once she was off her legs. “The person must be really nice.”

“Pieck? Do you know who?”

The black haired woman shakes her head, tilting her head back to stare at the ceiling. “No, sorry I don’t.”

Porco wants to bang his head on the wall. He left a small card with his initial on it. How hard was it to take P.G and understand it was him?

You must have thrown it out or something because it was right at the top.

Before he can open his mouth, Commander Maggath walks in, Reiner trailing right behind him.

Please let this go well, he rolls his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest as he listens.

The commander’s voice booms through the room, pointing at maps, words that Porco knows by heart, rolling off of Maggath’s tongue.

The same old thing they’ve been telling them when they were younger.

The enemies are always outside, everyone’s mission was to take back the founding, as it always has been— even if they failed years ago with the three, and only one returning.

Porco can’t help but lose focus as his eyes wander, landing on the fresh flowers by you, a small smile growing at the corner of his lips as he watches you mess with the leaves sprouting from the stem.

How could someone as innocent looking as yourself, be apart of something so deadly?

As the meeting goes on, Porco could feel his attention slowly slip away as he lets his eyes flutter, body relaxing as he breathes out through his nose. The scent of the flowers is strong enough to reach him.

His mind is in a swirl, unable to get his thoughts straight as he pictures you sitting with him on the outside, watching the airships fly. The sun hitting your skin just right, giving you a glow, an ethereal aura around you.

He doesn’t even realize that the meeting ended a long time ago. The scrapping of the chairs against the wooden floor don’t make the gears turn in his head.

“Pock,” Pieck suddenly speaks beside him, watching his body jolt as his eyes snap open, staring at her with wide eyes. “The meeting is done. Why are you standing there?”

“The meeting is done?” he asks breathlessly, noticing it was only you, Pieck and him in the room. “Since when?”

“Since a while ago. Were you even paying attention?”

She shakes her head before he could answer, using her crutch to assist her in walking. “Nevermind that. You look like you’ll end up passing out soon. You should get to your room. Commander wants us back here early in the morning again.”

His honey orbs watch as she leaves, leaving you and him in the room.

He clears his throat, pushing himself off of the wall. The room suddenly became extremely quiet, possible to hear a pin dropping on the floor.

All he wants is to make his way out of the room, not one to have conversation with you; it felt too awkward to him, and Porco didn’t like that one bit.

He quickly but quietly takes a step forward, cursing under his breath when the wood creaks under his shoe.

“Aren’t these flowers pretty, Porco?”

Shit.

“Yeah those are pretty. I saw them when I entered the room.”

“Yeah they are huh..I wonder who sent them..I wish I could thank them myself.”

His face heats up, feeling the faintest of sweat on his forehead. He’s not sure why, but he feels nervous, for no reason.

Hey, it was me who got those flowers for you. Do you want to go out for dinner maybe sometime? I really like you.

That’s what he would have said if he didn’t panic at the last second. Instead he took it upon himself to sign a card and call it a day.

“Yeah I wonder who,” his voice is shaky, a hint of uncertainty evident in his tone. “Anyway, I’m gonna get going, Y/N. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You know, Porco,” you begin, turning around in your chair as you lift your hand up. His eyes gaze on your hand, lips parting as he notices the familiar card in between your fingers.

“If you wanted to be a secret admirer, I don’t think putting your initials is the way to go.”

His ears perk when he catches your laughter, shocked by your sudden reaction. “Y-You aren’t upset?”

“Why would I?” You hum, placing the card on the table as you stand up, walking over to him. “I enjoy the effort you put, even if you outed yourself, Porco.”

He watches as you get closer to him, grabbing ahold of his hand. “And to be frank,” you whisper, looking up at him.

“I like you too.”

[needlekind]

Tell us about your OCs!! Namely whoever has your fixation right now or maybe someone from ArtFight. Wha their name, what's their setting like, what do they do with their day?

this was in response to this reblog i presume and i was too busy yesterday to get to it but i am touched!! TOUCHED!!!! THAT YOU WOULD ROLL UP AND REQUEST THAT I TELL YOU ABOUT MY OC

the oc i am currently fixating on who was also on artfight is MY GAL LAVANA, please behold her (art by motherlusa and then by rubindraws; the second (which features her friend valryn and also her many cats) is a better indicator of her body type but the first is just one of my faves)

i'm playing her in a d&d 5e campaign based in the world of granblue fantasy!!! basically all you need to understand if you don't know shit about gbf is that it takes place in a steampunk kind of world full of floating islands that people called skyfarers travel between using magical airships

so lavana is 23, a draph (a fantasy race where basically the women are shortstacks and the men are huge and beefy; such is the tragic nature of gacha games (there is a trans draph though in canon her name is ladiva and i love her so much)), 4'3", and a fortuneteller on the island of golonzo, a bustling port island with all the sky's best mechanics; if you have an airship, you're going to end up at golonzo for repairs at some point. raised by her older sister after her parents' deaths when she was young, she's got an anxiety disorder and a lot of weird little hangups regarding it. one of them is that every morning she does a tarot reading for her sister's safety—and, like, keep in mind, this is a world where Real magic exists, including Real fortunetelling magic. tarot cards are just cards. but lavana believes in them wholeheartedly!!! she took them up when she was young because she was so scared of her sister leaving and never coming back like her parents, and having a way to "predict the future" and assure herself that her sister would be okay brought her a lot of comfort

so one day she does her morning reading and predicts disaster. lavana absolutely freaks out and runs off to the docks where her sister works as a mechanic. her sister, who doesn't believe in any of lavana's nonsense to the point of being kind of annoyed but being in a place of like "this has gone too far for me to do anything about it at this point," tries to chase her out of the shop. on the way out, lavana notices a cat taking a nap in the exposed gears of a ship that's being worked on, and yoinks him out just before those gears start turning, saving his life. satisfied that this was the potential disaster she was being warned about, lavana leaves and lets the stray cat go on his way

surprise! this cat is actually an important figure in magical cat society. his name is cronus (the black cat standing on her leg), and he's the Royal Cat Archbishop, and he returns the next day to offer his thanks in the form of magic powers. now lavana can talk to cats and do a variety of little party tricks—she's a warlock now with a homebrew patron: cats. she's a nekomancer! lavana also gets to meet and befriend cronus's attendants, the other seven cats shown in the art

so a little while goes by with lavana living her life telling fortunes for a living just featuring some cats now, until cronus requests a favor of lavana that requires her to travel. only, she doesn't have an airship. around the same time, she tells a fortune for valryn, who's stopping by with his crew (he's like...the fuckin janitor and no one likes or respects him that much; he's an overeager oblivious idiot). she predicts a grand adventure in his future, and he latches onto this with such excitement; convinced herself by the cards, lavana convinces him to let her join him. great! they're friends now! but now they need a ship. what ends up happening is, with the help of one of the cats—rhea (the white cat just behind her arm)—lavana wins a ship in a game of cards with a shitty rich kid. the thing about golonzo is that it's looked over by a primal beast/minor deity, mithra, who magically ensures that all promises made on the island are kept to the letter, so when this idiot bets the ship, he can't back out. that ship is lavana's now! and so the Terranavis, manned by lavana, valryn, and eight cats with cronus as the ship's captain, sets out. along the way they acquire phanuel and aya, a minor primal beast searching the skies for his lost boyfriend, and his best friend and number one hype woman

lavana is The Mom Friend but like—the thing you need to understand is that, except for the cat who is the captain (who only lavana can talk to and understand) (and also norle, the npc quartermaster we picked up along the way), everyone on this ship is an idiot. lavana included. lavana has 8 wisdom. she is the mom friend by sheer force of anxiety. she's the only person with any self-preservation instinct and also everyone-else-preservation-instinct. she is so afraid of anything happening to anyone all the time. she also does genuinely have a fair amount of emotional intelligence! she's just also incredibly oblivious. as a rule, lavana believes in the best of people, and assumes that people have good intentions and are honest until proven otherwise

lavana is also super emotional, just in general. it does not take a lot to get her panicky or crying, especially the latter, which she has been doing a lot these past few sessions!!! but despite the fact that her general disposition is very soft and quiet and friendly and nervous, she's actually got a really strong moral core and a ferocity deep within her. she's only really shown it twice: once when a group of skyfarers that indirectly tried to kill her friends tried to get in on the treasure that her friends found, and once when an angry mob formed during a zombie apocalypse tried to sacrifice a small child to the zombies thinking it'd stop them?? and lavana just went off. got so angry and fierce and just verbally eviscerated these guys until they felt so ashamed of themselves they dispersed. she's good with words! good with people! it just takes a lot for her to reach a breaking point that she can push through her own fears and anxiety

one of the things that hurts her most is people disbelieving in her fortunetelling, because it means so much to her—her sister's doubt especially has hurt her, because even though it isn't a conversation that happens often, like, she knows. getting comments offhandedly from tourists or whatever isn't a big deal on its own but it adds up! and when people she cares about talk shit, even idly, she's really hurt by it. fortunately (heh) no one on the ship has brought anything like that up, and valryn believes in her completely; he's her ultimate hype man, he thinks she's so smart and strong and incapable of being wrong, it's so cute?? so recently when an actual prophet character (lmao) said something real rude about her cards and told everyone some very frightening prophecies, valryn was immediately like "okay well lavana's fortunes are always correct so i'm not worried about that" and so lavana was like, comforted enough that she didn't take the rude shit so personally (also they had bigger things to deal with at the time). they're besties!! i love them!!!!

in general lavana just like...she wants so badly to be helpful and she'll always work hard to do so. she's very brave but she'd never consider herself such because she's always scared, but when the chips are down she's one of the first to push through it and get shit done and take care of people

this campaign has been REALLY INTENSE lately so i've been very Head Empty Thoughts Lavana Only Hours... i love her so much; she was a character i was really uncertain of when i first created her, but i've learned a lot about her along the way and i'm really excited to see where she goes from here!!!

[a-crash-in-time-collection]

Chapter 1: The Crash

She was floating in space. Only it didn't seem like normal space, which she knew all about. It seemed to shine with different colors. She couldn't move much, it was almost as if she was forced into her current position. Voices of old filled her head. Voices she wanted to remember. Voices she never wants to forget. But at the same time, the voices brought back memories of a different time. A different time...

"Us kids should stick together, not stalk one another. I mean, Mafia Town can be a really dangerous place" "If you want it, we'll have to settle it in true Mafia style!" "You Moon Penguins are just gonna write some loud, noisy drivel!" "This last time piece is all for me, darling." "Your contract has expired, sleep now in the fire!" "And do it quickly pup."

Her face formed a smile, before tears started to fall. Wait... why was she...

"Don't leave us!" "Hey kiddo, let's make another contract!" "Don't you dare leave, lass!" "Let's watch our movie, darling!"

That's why... she couldn't have just stayed. She at least needed to try and get home. And her kind weren't keen on creatures from other planets... who knows what would have happened to them? But with the end result, did it even matter-

A large ringing brought her out of the space-like place, finding herself sitting on the soft surface of her bed. Glancing around as she stopped the ringing of the clock, everything was in place. Her relics on their podiums, toys she made based on her time on that planet on the shelves in her room. Most of her badges she bought from the strange badge guy on a pin board beside her bed. Her umbrella was next to her dresser with the mirror.

A glance out the nearby window showed the mostly green and blue planet. It reminded her a lot of the planet that she could now only visit in her dreams. Unlike that planet, there was little if any magic. Talking animal creatures were only heard of in movies. Ghosts were just tall tales. So similar, yet different at the same time...

She got up, yawning as she stretched and walked over to her closet. Opening it, she grabbed a purple blazer and yellow scarf. She paused, looking at them both slightly. The blazer was taller than she used to be, when she first found herself crashed on the planet...

She remembered checking the vault as she passed by, only one time piece was left. She knew that wouldn't be enough to make it home, and she didn't know if she would pass another planet she could survive on in between them. So she grabbed it, and braced for impact. The ship crashed on 'Earth' in the middle of the night, and looking back on it now, she was lucky no big place caught sight of her. She remembered bleeding, maybe having a broken or fractured bone with the sharp pain coming from the left side of her body. She found herself being too hurt to move on her own right away... it was possible that she would have died...

But then two people entered her vision as she picked herself up. Both wore hats like she did, one of them actually had two. Apparently the two hat man, Reginald, had seen the ship pass in front of his airship while it fell from the sky. The two were naturally confused on why she was there, and concerned if she was alright. She remembered them offering to take her to the airship's medbay, but she was more worried about her relics, which were not the only things she had of her time with her old friends. The one with his orange hair in a ponytail that hung over his shoulder, who called himself 'Right Hand Man', offered to do it for her. However, she took liberty and carried them all herself to the airship. Needless to say, the two were surprised by the child's strength.

She now called these two 'Dad' and 'Papa', and they called her their daughter.

She allowed herself to exit her thoughts as she pulled her brown shoes over her purple socks and pants, standing up and walking over to the door of her room. It was a new day.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up." An energetic voice spoke as soon as she opened the door. She was met with a more-humanoid Topbot, with a face that smiled at her, and silver hair that helped make them seem more like a teenager. He wore a blue and orange jacket, with the faintest hint of a green shirt being seen, and dark dull indigo pants that ended in his metal shoes that were literally his feet.

A few years ago, Hat Girl had found herself more lonely. Her dads, while they made time for her, were often busy at work. Most of the younger kids aboard the airship didn't let her play too often, and the teenagers were often on training missions or just plain avoided her. In an attempt to give her someone to hang out with, Reginald took aside a random Topbot, redesign and reprogrammed it to act as a brother to Hat Girl. He spent so long and hard on it that it felt like part of his soul belong to the machine in the end. Which could possibly explained how Platinum wasn't just following an interactive script, but was fully self aware and alive. He did have a small panic attack at first due to the sudden self awareness, but soon after he was able to cause trouble with Hat Kid.

"You ready for today, brother of mine?" Hat Girl asked, a smile forming on her face.

"Uhh, yeah." He said, a smirk forming on his face as well.

"Good, we can get started on our prank plans after breakfast." She stated, passing him and walking down the hall, humming a slight tune as she glanced out at the seemingly-night sky.

"Aww, come on!" Platinum said, racing next to her quickly, rolling his bright orange eyes. "You always have to eat before we can have fun. I don't see what the big deal is."

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Brother." She said, sticking her tongue out playfully. She never fully grew out of her childish phase. "I pity you sometimes, food is great and you're unable to experience it."

"Please. I got my Tanks and Family, that's all I need." Platinum replied, rolling his eyes as the two walked into the cafeteria area, which was currently a bit busy as you would expect from it early in the morning. "I honestly don't see why your body decides you need food. Just seems inconvenient in my option."

Hat Girl shook her head slightly with a chuckle as she walked over to the sideboard, where Burt and Fredrick were talking.

"I'm starting to get concerned over your coffee obsession, Burt." The Cheese wearing Toppat said, arms crossed as he glared at the man in front of him. The man always sounded like his throat was sore, at least to Hat Girl it did. She remembered questioning if he was alright when they first met.

"Coffee is nice, Fredrick." Burt said, the dyed orange part of his black hair covering one of his eyes, as per the usual. He always seemed to act like he had no emotions, and spent most of his days in his office or grabbing himself the drink that was currently the topic of their talk. "The fact that you never tried coffee worries me."

"I'm more of a Hot chocolate person, and besides, the smell alone is enough to turn me off." Fredrick stated, grabbing the lake of floating marshmallows in a cup along with the plate of 'Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Breakfast Bombs' he liked. "But I know all that coffee isn't healthy for you, I swear you drink more coffee then you eat actual food."

Burt rolled his eyes at the statement, before glancing around the area as he grabbed his coffee and toast. "Fine. I'll eat a little more today." With that, temporarily balancing his plate on his other arm, he grabbed one of the muffin-like items off Fredrick's plate and walked away.

Fredrick was frozen in shock for a few seconds, before huffing and glancing to the side. It was only then he realized the children of the leaders. "Oh, sorry you two, I didn't see you there. Off going to cause some trouble later I assume?"

"Possibly, possibly not." Platinum shrugged as Hat Girl chuckled, before giving her breakfast request to the cook-toppat that came by.

"I'll be taking that as a yes." Fredrick said, shaking his head. "Just uhh, do me a favor and don't go on a spree of spray-painting the inside of the vents, again. Took me and Sammy nearly the whole day to clean it last time."

"Alright, no spray paint in vents..." Platinum said, raising his arms in front of him slightly in defeat. He watched as Frederick left, before turning to his sister. "Want to finally see how many people we can surprise with airhorns tape to their chairs and doors?"

"Oh heck yeah!" Hat Girl said, giving her brother a thumbs up. And the Toppats that heard her shout began to feel a faint feeling of fear among them. They knew then that chaos caused by those two would come later that day.

-------

What they didn't know was on earth, a conversation was happening. About the true chaos.

"You sure this is... safe?" One government person asked another as they glanced at the cannon. Although cannon felt like an understatement. The place where the 'cannonball' would come out of look like it itself was 27 miles long. "For Earth I mean."

"Should be." The other replied, hoping away from the gears they were adjusting. "The material should begin to burn up after it makes contact with the toppat orbital station. The worst we should have to deal with are burning pieces of metal and stuff falling down to earth in the size of normal meteoroids."

"Am I the only one who feels this is a bit... extreme?" The first asked as they hop into the tunnel to the underground control system of the cannon. "I understand they've been a pain to deal with since they got up, but can't we just set up traps for them on earth."

"It's not just about the Toppats alone." The second stated as they followed the first, wanting to be as far away from the cannon before it blew its canon ball. "If other criminal organizations see what the clan has done, they'll likely follow in suit. Soon all crime might be unstoppable because those who caused it are up in space. Is that the world you want to live in?"

"No."

"Then we need to make a statement. And this is the only way. Now let's get to the control room, and get this party started..."

-------

Hat Girl had found herself staring out the cafeteria window as she finished her plate of breakfast, slightly blocking out what Platinum was talking about as he sat in front of her. This was a bit normal for the two, half the time they were inseparable during the day. Especially since the incident where Dad was captured, and Papa had to be turned into a cyborg to live. It was a bit of a struggle for the clan then, and even with Dad back it was a lot of work to make up all the money that had been stolen the night before they were meant to launch their station-

Her train of thought stopped as she faintly spotted something outside the window. She got off her seat and walked over to the window, placing her hand on it faintly as she glanced down at the planet they raided. There was some sort of... gray and slightly green ball thing. At first it was just a speck of dust, but it was getting bigger.. and bigger... it was coming to them, faster and faster.

"Hattie?" Platinum questioned, walking up next to his sister in confusion. "What's going on, you don't just leave a plate of food alone suddenly like that." She was a bit wordless at first, but managed to point to the strange thing. Platinum had to squint his eyes to see it. "That's... just a space rock."

"Coming FROM Earth?" Hat Girl asked, looking at her brother. "As a former space traveler, I have NEVER seen that happen, and I know that's not a normal occurrence for this planet. And not to mention it's perfectly... in the path of.. hitting... Get Dad and Papa and warn them, NOW!"

"Time to act serious for once then." The topbot said, quickly racing away from his sister and the group of toppats.

She glanced at the ball again, seeing it was getting closer and larger with each passing second. She found herself frozen like the poor souls in Vanessa's Manor, or the times she used her ice hat years ago. What was she going to do?

"Dad, Pops!" Platinum called as he reached the Cockpit of the rocket, taking an unneeded breath as he reached the door.

"Platinum?" Reginald asked, turning away from his cyborg husband as he glanced at his Robotic son. "What's going-"

"We need to move, or use Supreme Dominance." Platinum cut him off, with worry in fear shining in his orange eyes. "Now-"

At the very seconds, the 'cannonball' of metal and small bits of trash collided with the orbital station, hitting the middle of the rocket.

Hat Girl fell to her feet as the station twisted and chaos fell around her. Everything outside the window became a blur, as Toppats screamed in panic. She suddenly found her grip from the wall she'd grabbed onto slip, and she was slammed against another wall. Everything went black to her after that.

-------

It took a bit for her mind to process things as she awake, her body aching in places like she had a faint sunburn. She slowly opened her eyes with a groan, scanning the mix of dark and light. She appeared to be where the window of the cafeteria once was. Keyword there being once was because now it was a pile of glass on the grass below her. Some of the glass were close to her arms, and likely was responsible for the small cuts she saw on them. She glanced around as much as she could without getting up.

Chaos was the best word that could describe the current state of the station. Well, other then 'destroyed'. Parts of the orbital station the Toppats called home where broken and scattered across what she could only assume was a forest clearing. The earth was dragged up from a few parts finding themselves lodge into it. She was able to see a few Toppat members getting up or helping others up, while trying to take in what had just happened. Not like she could blame them, she knew exactly what happened, but was still trying to process it herself.

Their home was attacked, and was sent far from earth. Yet, judging by the fact none of them were suffocating, it meant this planet had oxygen or some other air humans could breathe in. Which made sense, they did land in a forest. But that meant they were out of the solar system...

Her train of thought was cut off by a sliver of a blur that entered her field of vision. At first she was a bit spooked out, until her vision adjusted, and she saw the familiar metal hand, only with a few faints scratches. She took the cold hand, although by now she was used to the chill, as Platinum helped her to her feet. "You ok, sis?"

"Y-Yeah." She said, letting go of his hand as she rubbed her arms slightly. She picked up her nearby fallen top hat, and made sure to check the side. She sighed in relief as her hand made badge, one that had the hats of her fathers on it, was still there, and placed that hat back on her head. "Some shards of glass cut me a bit when the window broke."

"Well... considering what just happened, it could have been a lot worse." Platinum looked around. "This is all so unreal..."

"Yeah..." She slowly walked past her brother as she glanced up at the sky, then around at all the greenery around them. Why... was she feeling like she had been here before? Her mind told her it was simply because it looked like earth, but her heart was insisting it was something more.

"Oi. Are ya ok, Reg?" Right Hand Man asked, as he helped the Chief onto his feet, worry in his human and robotic eyes.

"I'm fine. But... the others..." Reginald coughed slightly, before looking around the crash site, as much as he could without moving from his spot anyway.

As the leader of the Toppats, one skill he gained over the years was being somewhat-able to get a rough estimation of how many clan members were in his sight. And after seeing at least 100 Toppats in his vision, he knew others were likely on the other side of the rocket. Assuming at least 88 toppats were on that other side, it meant that a few were still stuck inside, likely injured or, worryingly, dead. Not to mention the children...

"Right Hand Man! Check the rumble for any trapped members!" He ordered, his voice and tone clear that there was no time to waste. He was still not fully used to his lover's cybernetics, watching his legs turn into a booster as he flew into one of the openings near the top. But he loved him all the same. He glanced at a nearby group of Toppats. "See if you can find anything from Medbay, and get it setup for any injured members!" The toppats seemed to be slightly surprised by his tone, but they quickly got to work, scanning the nearby areas.

"Sir." A voice appeared behind him. He turned around to see a man in a black jacket with his white shirt visible. "I know you likely don't want anyone else going into the wreckage, but-"

"Yes Quincy, go find the kids. Just be careful." Reginald answered, the fellow father wasting no time to do so in response, likely worried for his own daughter. The kids were in a pod similar to the leader's pod, it was one of the first things Reginald planned out when he made the blueprints. They would spend most of their days in there, it was the safest for them, especially if the place was to below up, they would already be in a pod and on their way to earth.

Hat Girl found herself walking near the nearby Woodline. That's when she noticed the traces of purple deeper down, and found herself frozen in realization.

Reginald noticed his daughter near the Woodline, and walked up to her. "Are you alright, Hattie?"

"I recognized this place." She said, looking at him. "I been here before."

Reginald's brown and blue eyes showed sudden confusion, tilting his head to the side ever so slightly. "You... what?"

"This was the planet I was on before I crashed onto earth." She responded. She then pointed out where the green of life and calmness turned into the creepy purple and black of dread and the unknown to all but her. "That ghost who's song Papa sings lives there."

"Really, the one with that Mafia, one of which went into space to try and get a toll from you?" Reginald question. He never thought his daughter was lying about the planet, but he figured he never find himself on said planet so he mostly just consider it stories.

"Yeah!" She exclaimed, childlike joy in her voice. She never really outgrew her childish side.

"Well... I suppose that means there's a town nearby, at least We should be able to get resources there." Reginald sighed, turning over his shoulder as Right Hand Man landed behind him. A look over the cyborg's shoulder showed some toppats in a little medbay-like area, some medically skilled Toppats using their skills to help the more injured Toppats, the 3rd in command Sven among them. He looked back at his partner in crime. "Was that everyone... alive in the rumble."

"Got everyone t'at was in t'e rubble." Right Hand Man stated. "Surprisingly, everyone lived."

Reginald was a bit surprised at this, but a smile formed on his face. "That's very relieving."

"So... what's the plan Dad?" Platinum asked, glancing at the Toppat leader slightly. "We can't just stay here with no place to rest, or prepare food." He paused for a second. "Well, you guys can't, at least."

Reginald brought his hand to his chin in thought, before dropping it and walking up a nearby rock. He cleared his throat, before calling out. "Can I have everyone's attention!?"

The clan members stopped whatever they were doing, except the few tending to the hurt Toppats, but he knew they were listening as well.

He took a breath before speaking. "As your Leader, I would be lying to you all if I were to claim I knew how to fix this, or the exact steps we should take next. We are the first of our kind to find ourselves stranded on a planet that can maintain life. But we cannot let this disturb us. It may be a long while, but I promise you, we will find our way home. But for now, survival is our goal, to watch after one-another, as clan and family." He paused briefly as he glanced at them all, lost souls unsure of what to do, before resuming. "Those of you who are well enough, see if you can move the walls detached from the station in order to make a temporary form of shelter. We do not know when a storm will come by, if this planet has storms at all. Look for supplies that fallen outside of the ship, only go in to retrieve items that are necessary for our survival. Go along the Woodline and look for wood for a fire. And trust in one another." With that, he backed up from his position on the rock.

Platinum watched as the clan members took a few seconds to process the orders, and the fact they were on another planet, before most started to look around. He spotted Burt and Fredrick walking up to a broken piece of wall, and seemed to start debating where the best place would go to serve as shelter. He saw Calla Fox, the one who stole the Ruby alongside Sven, slowly walk away from the Swedish man to help others look for supplies. He found himself glancing to where the purple part of the woods were hidden, his curiosity growing.

Reginald began to walk over to the wreckage that a few hours ago was the base of operations for the Toppat clan. "Hopefully we stolen enough we can sell in order to pay for what we need to fix the station..." He placed his head in his hands. "It's going to be so expensive..." He let out a muffle shout, not wishing to distract his clan members.

"Still t'ink ya s'ould 'ave let me 'unt after t'at pink-'aired government-kissin' t'ief." Right Hand Man grumbled, glancing at him. "Especially since we lost two members t'anks ta 'im."

Hat Girl watched her dads walked closer to the broken station, and went to follow them to help, before feeling a chilly hand grabbed her hand. "You said one of your friends lived in the creepy woods, right?"

She turned to look behind her, taking a second to glance at where the woods were before returning to her brother. "Yeah."

"And the creepy woods is in the direction of that purple stuff, riiiight?" Platinum voice showed intent, and seems to show he already knew the answer.

"Yea, The forest is kinda pretty in it's own way though, if memory serves me right-" She suddenly looked at him, processing the grin that appeared on his face. In response, she gave her own smart smirk. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"We sneak away from the clan while they take care of the crash rocket mess and chill with your old pals?"

"YES!" She said, high fiving her brother as she bounced in the air slightly. "I been wanting to see them all again, but never thought I actually could until now! I just... hope they aren't still mad at me for sweeping them off of my spaceship."

"Come on, with your cute face as a child, and you still a bit childish face now?" Platinum asked, warping an arm around her shoulder. "They'll forgive you in a heartbeat."

She nodded, a smile on her face as removed her brother's arm around her shoulder. "Catch me if you can then, brother." She said, sticking out her tongue with a 'bleeh" and raced into the woods. She heard a shout from her brother, something about 'cheating' by 'not telling him' and heard his metal feet click ageist the ground to catch up to her. She let out a giggle before shouting once they were a safe distance away from the clan. "Snatcher, here we come!"

[guyinlovewitheremika]

The new key visual looks awesome!! Finally getting more Final Season artwork is so satisfying and this is pretty great! The marley arc is probably my favorite in the manga and getting even more promotional art for it is really cool : D Since we’re still 3 months from the airdate I hope we’ll get another Warrior-centric one, with the new and old crew, but rn, especially with manga context, I love this, and I need to ramble about it.

First of all, Mikasa!!! Mikasa front and center!!! lets gooooo ahh I’m so happy about this! I don’t think she’s ever been this focused on in any of the promotional key visuals and it’s been about time! She looks gorgeous and absolutely ruthless, I’m here for it. It’s also relieving to see that the scarf did in fact stay red which wasn’t totally certain in the pv. I also think it’s interesting that both that shot of her in the pv, as well as her in this visual both kind of highlight her more badass/ruthless side--I’m all here for it cause like, look at her!!! But she also spends a good amount of time in marley being sad and distressed which I hope they’ll do justice to. Either way, she looks amazing and I can’t wait to see her finally in motion.

Levi I’m a little less sure on--his face looks a little odd? Maybe it’s the nose? I’m not really sure. To be fair, his design has probably been the least consistent across the whole anime, and he’s certainly looked worse! But yeah, I’m not 100% sold on his look yet. Also just as it was in the first key visual, his cape is green? Even tho its specifically dyed black in the manga? I’m sure why and I’m kinda sad about that cause I would’ve loved to see that all black look on him, it’s an odd change.

Connie, Jean and Sasha all look good to me (I’m glad we’re getting Sasha artwork before, you know), but Armin gets pushed to the side pretty hard kind of? Given his rather small role this arc, I think it makes sense, tho hopefully key visuals for the later arcs will improve on that. Also sidenote, his pose reminded me a lot of Jean in the S2 Group visual lol

Hange being a bit smaller, but also being centered and depicted as the leader fits well here, especially with her being closest to the airship since she never leaves it. It reminds me of Erwin in a few other posters, kind of continuing the commander position, in a way

That’s some solid continuity!!! (also, Hange :/)

One thing I also dig about this visual is the look of certain textures, specifically metallic objects, like the blades, thunderspears, even the airship. 

It has this like..shiny glow? I can’t really express what I mean with it, but all these objects feel very tangible, very three dimensional, which is cool!

Unfortunately I don’t really feel the same way about all the textures present in this visual. See, non metallic textures, like clothing, skin, and the characters outlines in general have this kind of rough, or gritty look to them. The lines are clear and straight like they used to be, but it’s a little messier? The first key visual did the same thing, let me show you.

Compare it to something like this, where (even tho the resolution is a bit botched on tumblr) everything looks much smoother, cleaner, softer. Maybe it’s because I’m so used to Kyoji Asano’s style of drawing these key visuals for 6 years, but I think I prefer it over the approach of Tomohiro Kishi’s style. But this only is the start of seeing new artwork, maybe I’ll get used to it. It’s a bit odd as Wit’s animation style in the show was known for generally having thicker lines, and even tho they cut back on that in later seasons, it’s still not as thin as in the final season pv, yet its artwork has lines that feel thicker. It’s an odd back and forth.

My honestly biggest gripe with this key visual is it’s actual get up--having characters kind of float around in nothingness isn’t something I really love. I much prefer most of the older group visuals (like the recap movies or the S2 one) where characters at least seemed to stand on surfaces and physical space, and those who weren’t were either shown to be mid air, or obscured enough so you couldn’t see them stand in nothing. As a result, this reminds me a lot of the 3rd S3 visual

I wasn’t a huge fan of that one as it just reused and rearranged the Vol13 poses without really any effort. Like it just plants everyone there and I don’t think the result is really all that impressive. This one does this a lot better, as it has a bit more synergy going for it, there’s a bit of motion (the soldiers flying next to the ship looking like speedlines is a cool touch), and it just looks more interesting in my opinion. I also think it does the manga-ripoff better, as it clearly is meant to resemble vol 26 with the airship and the squad, but it doesnt just reuse the poses--they’re new here, and the overall positioning of everyone reminds me more of the Vol 25 alt cover, or the new 32 one. It feels true to the spirit of the manga without outright copying! I still don’t like the mid air floating, but other than that it’s a solid grouping!

One additional neat thing is that the new gear is drawn with so much detail! Just as in the PV. Which is awesome! Sometimes its a bit though to get a good look at all the specifics in the manga, but here it’s just---exciting. I never even realized that Mikasa has to swap to an entirely different set of 3DMG handle/trigger/grapple that’s attached to her gear as well--everyone else has only one set for either the gun+thunderspear combo or the swords, but Mikasa has both sets on her since she does switch to swords on 103. And its just fucking crazy just how much gear this girl has on her lmao (did you know a single thunder spear weighs 5kg? thats 20 on each hand! plus all the heavy gear that comes with it! she is too strong lmao)

Ultimately, I like this visual a lot. It’s not perfect and some things are gonna take a while to get used to, but overall, I’m so excited to see everyone’s different looks highlighted as the season goes on. And getting so much Marley arc promo atm is very much appreciated! Hopefully we get another one focused on the warriors soon, and, man, even tho it’s a spoiler, I would kill for one visual dedicated to Marley Eren specifically...like...please. 

Bring on the Final Season!!

[gear-project]

Would it be okay to get a brief description of the new stages in Strive (what they are, where they are, what they mean, that kind of stuff)? Outside of the obvious ones like the Jellyfish Pirate Fleet and what seems to be some kind of door-portal nexus for Faust's portals.

First, a disclaimer:... a lot of information that we've obtained so far about GGStrive stages does not mesh with previous games, so even if there are a few factors that connect with past GG history, the world GGStrive makes up is a tad different from previous games, both in terms of continuity and in terms of geography, so you'll have to endure that for the time being.

It's my understanding that Team Red wasn't really thinking in precise terms when they made these stages or locations in relation to previous games.

Secondly, I'm going to be borrowing heavily from what @nincopyjasb has discovered over on his Twitter from touring the innermost details of each stage, so if you want a closer look, go visit him there.

Lars Canyon:

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1408831052467118085

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1410822710909935616

[Based on what we've learned so far, this place is located in America and appears to be a sealing ground/burial spot for massive Gears that were killed during the Crusades. The swords that impale the Gear Cores here have a Statue of Liberty marking on them, though it's hard to make out what the sword lettering says. And apparently Gear Cores turn in to transparent crystals over a period of time.]

L'oro Di Illyria

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1408941163369926656

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1410830064778895361

[Besides being a major Tourist spot, this place appears to be based on a certain location in Italy. There's a lot of boats and side shops to visit, and you might recognize a few paintings here as well, one of them appeared in Revelator's After Story!]

Original Times Square

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1408789040078413824

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1410812095067824128

[New York, Neo New York! Not only is there a lot of cool signage and a nice coffee shop, but apparently Illyria's Newspaper featuring Dizzy is being circulated, along with the book Black Sunrise (about the Japanese during the Crusades)!

A bit of history but New York was a pile of rubble as of 2180, but they fully rebuilt as of 2187.]

Castle of the Silver Feet

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1409208927590436873

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1411165032155684864

[At first glance, this place is a war memorial and garden with massive walkways for people to explore, but taking a higher view will reveal that this place is actually a Water Dam for a massive lake basin in Illyria!]

Jellyfish Skyarium

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1408793096805040130

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1411164705327136769

[What we've learned so far, at least about the Jellyfish crew themselves, is that they are a kind organization. And apparently one of their major ways of doing business is doing the Laundry. So much so, that they are literally using giant Laundry Machine-shaped airships! Technology is truly amazing. It's also understood that Johnny is considered an International Hero after the incident with Ariels, so he got a lot of extra connections after meeting with President Vernon after those events!]

Ajatar Hunting Ground

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1409346099408773120

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1411164495540588547

[This appears to be a Magic Training ground and bears statues that reflect the study of natural-based growth magic. While it doesn't have an official location, more than likely it is part of Illyria's isolated zones and nature preserves.]

A Happy Family

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1408936735791271945

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1411047860041252864

[I would compare this place to several locations within the Backyard, but that's only for starters. This entire location is inspired by the surrealist artist René Magritte! In addition there's an easter egg in here of a certain painting that also appears in L'oro di Illyria, and just so happens to be the same painting the artist woman is working on there!]

12-Dimensional Flux Observatory

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1408835132757352450

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1411047467160854529

[Again, the exact location is not known, but apparently it is perpetually winter here, and so Zepp has dedicated themselves to observing the weather patterns of this particular location for any anomalies. The "giant mechanical spiders" are actually the Observatory Towers themselves! There's also quite a few Zepp aircraft stationed at the base here.]

Seventh Heaven District

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1408833478498607111

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1411046694175842312

[From what is understood, this location is a massive city dedicated to the practice of Buddhism and Shinto religious traditions. The giant Buddha ships are likely built for the purpose of achieving the "experience" of enlightenment, albeit temporarily...]

Council of Three

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1408938209871028228

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1410819102277505025

[While the location isn't fully disclosed, this place probably lies on the border between this world and the Backyard much like other interstices that we've discovered in previous games. Likely this place has a deep past history and connection with the Conclave and the Sanctus Populi, given their Magic history. What is currently understood however, is that this place is in a state of decay and is crumbling apart. The cause for this is not known either!]

Heaven's Edge

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1411512334342754306

[Apparently Heaven's Edge is somehow a tourist spot near Illyria's lake borders!]

Area 42

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1411513745067712512

[Area 42 can be spotted in the story as well!]

Bad Geography

https://twitter.com/Nincopyjasb/status/1411512782718181376

[Again, just a reminder that they weren't thinking deeply about where everything is located in relation to previous games.]

I should also mention that as of THIS WRITING, we haven't included the 2 *new* stages that are expected to be added in future DLC... so look forwards to that in later posts in the GG+Stages tag!

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 12 Review/Remix: Creation

For only having a couple major set pieces, this was one of the most plot dense chapters we’ve ever seen from this show. Some of those were a lot time coming and satisfying as hell, and some came right out of nowhere to massive speculation and theorizing to follow. But goddamn if I didn’t love every minute of it, so let’s mosey on through to see just why that is.

We open, as many of these chapters have been want to do, with shots of the Grimm causing chaos and destruction, in this case Teryx attacking airships. JNR fly by in a ship of their own, and looking rather concerned as they approach Atlas Academy. Why the shot was framed quite like this I’m not totally sure, because it looks like they’re approaching the city itself from quite far away when really they should have been approaching from the outskirts and flying over the city itself, considering where the Schnee estate is located. Ironwood is waiting for Penny at the landing site at the entrance to the Academy, just as he and Ruby had agreed on, and he’s got a new toy. Both pistols of Due Process have been slotted into the back sides of a larger firearm, a veritable hand cannon that needs both grips just to keep steadily aimed. I think it’s safe to call this the Gun-gun we had been joking would be coming eventually since the early Volumes. The Ace Ops are backing him up, and we see a few Atlesian Knight robots loading the bomb onto an airship so he can nuke Mantle at a moment’s notice just as he warned. The citizens of Mantle are out of the mines and looking very apprehensive about the whole thing, and we are right there with them. Just as the bots have finished loading the bomb and are about to leave they start getting shot down. Ironwood warns the Ace Ops to be ready for any altered state Penny might be in and any trouble her friends might try to cause. Harriet is all to ready to follow through on the general’s terms and put down any brat who tries to interfere, and this whole thing seems to finally give Vine pause. He’s not stopping now, how can he, but he’s reflecting on the path to get here and only now has some amount of remorse about it. Elm winces at the mention of that too, while my MCU fan mind had to stop and chuckle at a pale bald man with energy powers musing on philosophy and ethics so close after the end of WandaVision. Not intentional, obviously, but a great coincidence. Ironwood gets a ping that there are intruders in the hangar, and they all surmise that’s Robyn and Qrow trying to interfere with the bombing. Harriet is ready as hell for a chance to beat them bloody after all this time STILL believing they’re Clover’s killers, but Elm makes a good point that they can’t just leave to do that because Ironwood will need backup here. Lucky for all of them, Winter is here to provide the general just that, so the other three are free to deal with their fugitive problem. With a quiet moment between them, Winter tries to see if Ironwood can be talked down one last time. He doesn’t want to hear it, and she admits she knows it would be impossible to try.

Penny soars in and lands in front of them, surrendering herself to a pair of cuffs and surprising Ironwood a bit in actually coming alone. She says she’s obeying his order because above all she wants to stop further death and she must open the Vault. The virus coming back a little to compel her to this end, or just frequently repeated phrase for the sake of simplicity? Unclear. Ironwood finally lowers the gun-gun he was pointing at her and puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder to tell her she’s done the right thing. In a cadence very much not her own, she agrees she has, and all illusions are dropped. It Was Emerald All Along!~ And JNR as well as Oscar are standing a few yards behind her along with the airship she must have been masking the approach of with the sound of “Penny” flying in. As shocked realization dawns on his face, James is kicked in the chin by a backflipping Emerald. His gun flies out of his grasp and she catches it with a grin before disappearing. Damn she really has been getting good with her Semblance! Down in the hangar, the Ace Ops arrive to see the jailbirds slicing and blasting a ton of robot soldiers. Just as they’re about to join the fray Marrow is heard giving a command and his former teammates are left frozen under the power of a Semblance they never seemed to give its due diligence. The assembled Huntsmen and Huntresses start attacking Ironwood and he counters the first few attacks rather well. I’m sure he must be pretty damn shocked to see Oscar still alive after shooting him into a pit, and for that matter probably Jaune and Ren too with what Harriet told him about their mission into Monstra. That and how little sleep he’s probably gotten recently make it very likely willpower and his Semblance are the only things keeping him going at this point, so who are we to be shocked if he starts losing to their superior numbers? And start losing he does, because Winter is on their side and helps Nora bash him upside the head. Winter and Oscar charge at James on the back of a summoned Manticore, but he grabs it by the horns and stops it dead in its tracks. So they leap off and Winter hits him in the back with some ice while he’s busy destroying the summon. With another glyph she springboards Oscar back at James and he gives him the old rapidfire cane jab. It knocks his Aura pretty low by the looks of the flickers, but he still recovers and stops Oscar on the next swing. Before he can punch the poor boy any more than Hazel already has in the last 12 hours, Winter does the most anime move these series has yet to offer us and darts past her old boss to slice him at lightning fast speed. It’s a badass sight that I cannot describe with enough words so please just watch for yourself. With that, Ironwood’s Aura is broken and he passes out then and there. Qrow and Robyn apologize for freezing the Ace Ops like this, but these times call for hard choices. Emerald reappears to get uncuffed and Winter tells the five of them to move on to Phase 2.

We flash back to the end of the last episode where Ruby decides taking Penny to the Vault might be a risk worth taking, and we see Jaune and Ozcar immediately pick up on what she’s thinking. Why not try and use the Staff of Creation and hope it can work a twofold miracle of saving Penny and all the people of these two cities? Just then Weiss gets a text from Winter, and the gears start turning in our minds how this whole plan came together. We see Winter shoving Marrow into an elevator and looking very grumpy about the whole experience. He correctly guesses she’s not arresting him, but damn if he doesn’t get why she had to punch him to get him outta here. She rightfully tells him it was to make it look believable and she just saved his life thank you very much. He notices she’s texting someone and asks whom, and she says getting in touch with Weiss for some help is something she should have done a long time ago. Just then the elevator doors open and we get the payoff to who Robyn and Qrow were so surprised to see last episode: These two. Winter quickly sees this as a chance for even more help, and I think it is the happiest she’s ever been to see Qrow. Shifting back to Schnee manor, Weiss is going over the risks of this plan of theirs to the other 10 teens. Oscar pipes up with another danger, Atlas falling as soon as the Staff is used for anything new. The cover story about Gravity Dust keeping the kingdom afloat was only half wrong, there really is a large amount at the base of the landmass that will slow the descent a bit, but it will still be a cataclysmic landing. Jaune suggests using the Staff to get everyone in the danger areas to somewhere safe, possibly even another Kingdom, but Oscar says it doesn’t just work that easily. Especially not with HIM involved. The Staff has a sentient presence you have to deal with to make anything happen, but he’s a real card this one. He gives you what you ask for and only what you ask for, so you have to be specific and provide details or even blueprints for how to make what you’re asking for. Lucky for them Whitley has access to the layouts of Atlas and Mantle due to preparing for their earlier evacuation plan, so they’re off to a very good start. Oz still worries about Ironwood and the bomb at this point, but Weiss assures him they have a good plan for that. And we just saw what that was and how well it worked.

So now we get to see what Team RWBY is doing while ORNJ is handling Ironwood and whatever else Winter is having them do, flying an airship up to the hole Oscar left in the bottom of the Vault and having Ruby use her new Semblance skill to carry the rest of her team and Penny up through that and into the Vault itself. Klein and the other Schnees are also aboard the airship cuz someone needed to fly it and they weren’t gonna stick around in the mansion after the Kingdom starts falling. Ruby can basically fly now, no big deal it’s totally fine this doesn’t make her OP as hell, WHAT???? Okay I’m done. They get to the Vault door and with a shoulder to lean on and a few supportive words Penny opens it no problem. In the split second before Penny starts self-terminating now that this objective is completed, RWBY zooms into the grassy meadow inside this cold winter Kingdom’s vault on another Rose Express and Ruby grabs the Staff. Time stops as we see Winter escorting James to a cell in the brig right next to her other manipulative father figure Jacques, OJNRE are in front of some sort of computer monitor, and various other shots of what people are up to at this second are shown. In a cloud of blue mist emerges a man every bit as big blue and naked as Jinn was, but while she was thicc he is jacked. I don’t know how to describe his light blue hair but it’s got a ponytail so that’s fun. He seems charismatic af with a voice many assumed was Matt Mercer but is not, and seems he’s still a little steamed over how boring a request making Atlas float was. Ruby gets his attention and we learn his name is Ambrosius. When faced with a request to stop Penny from dying, Ambros informs them a limitation of his powers is resurrecting the dead. So everyone theorizing the Staff could bring back Pyrrha, or Clover, or any other beloved character were disappointed to be proven wrong. But bringing back the dead isn’t what Ruby is after, and once Ambrosius sees for himself just how atypical of a girl Penny is he understands their intention clearly. He lets them know of his rules, he is essentially a monkey’s paw and what you get may be exactly what you asked for but not what you hoped to get. They knew about this technicality problem too, so they brought Penny’s blueprints and ask him word for word to “Make a new version of her using her exact same robotic parts”. The robot parts are what have the virus, and once they use the Staff to make something new that infected robot Penny will cease to exist. But if he only removes the robot parts that will leave behind the life and soul that truly makes her Penny. It’s also not within his power to directly destroy, apparently, but it wouldn’t be killing her because it’s leaving her existing with just her soul. Yang flexes her prosthetic arm to illustrate their point that the mechanical parts are just extra. Ambrosius is enthusiastic to give this a try, but he has no idea what the finished product would be, so Ruby encourages him to get a little creative with it. He’s eager to give it a try but does warn them he can’t guarantee what the results will be, but they insist they have no other options and he does a sort of dance in the air like a full body orchestra conduction. Penny starts floating in swirls of blue mist, and in a flash of white light one becomes two. With his job done, Ambros fades away with a wink.

All of Atlas starts shaking, and ORNJE take that as their cue to start their next task: broadcasting to all of Atlas and Mantle a warning that Atlas is falling. Jaune is the one to deliver the message after some troubles figuring out how to get it working, but before he can offer any reassurance that a plan is in motion to save the masses... the broadcast is cut short along with all communications in the Kingdom. My money is on Watts being responsible, but maybe it was Atlas command on a hunch of what Ironwood would want them to do. James himself didn’t tell them to cut it off, cuz he’s still unconscious in a jail cell. Speaking of those cells, Jacques demands answers on what the hell is going on from his eldest daughter. She asserts that they will be getting everyone to safety and leaving the falling rubble to Salem for all the good it’ll do her, but Jacques is still worried he won’t be among those saved. Winter hesitates but tells him that yes he will be evacuated too. He thanks her profusely but she refuses to accept that credit. If he wants to be grateful he has to thank Weiss for deciding to free him, and that news shuts him up right quick. Weiss has been his least favorite child, yet she’s still the one to show him mercy and kindness because that’s the sort of woman she’s always been and he tried to stamp that humanity out of her. What an ass he must feel like.

Back down in the Vault, two Penny’s stand before RWBY. One looks like we’ve always known her, but starts moving and jerking around robotically with red eyes and sparks flying out of it as it collapses to the ground. The other has bare human legs, no gloves, no power sign on her neck ribbon, a natural fabric bow in her hair, and aside from that is every bit the sweet and good girl we’ve come to know. Some people say this was a mistake or a bad move to take away what made her such a unique character but... they really didn’t. She was able to grow outside of the limitations of the body she came into existence with and now lives purely as who she has always felt herself being inside. And that’s pretty cool. She’s naturally very disturbed to see another version of herself collapsing and dying right in front of her, but feels a lot better getting to hug Ruby. Penny never knew a hug could make you feel this warm inside, and gives hugs to the rest of Team RWBY. It’s very very cute and we’re all glad to see she’s doing so well now. 

With this taken care of it’s time to summon Ambrosius for the evacuation creation. He seems to have no concept of time because he doesn’t realize how little time has passed and is surprised to see they’re the ones who summoned him again. And considering how thorough they were with the last request he’s probably bummed he won’t get to pull a fast one on with a request this time either. They try and ask him to make doorways all over Atlas and Mantle that will all become a single doorway in Vacuo, but he requires too much complex metaphysics and space time bending to make that happen so they alter course. Make a central location all the doorways in Atlas and Mantle will open into, and then have a single door in that big new place that will open in Vacuo. He wants to know just what kind of central location they would have in mind, and Yang says he should make one that exists outside of Remnant’s reality just like the Vaults seem to. He commends them for being so smart about it, but acknowledges that could end up being foolishness instead. As a point of reference for the doorway system, or perhaps just for where in Atlas and Mantle they should be opening, Weiss shows him a series of blueprints for the layout of the Snowshoe shipping hub and how it connects to Atlas. Using that basis he makes dozens if not a hundred or two doorways all over the two cities. They’re big gold ovals with pale blue centers, and on the other side is a big empty black void with a series of narrow walkways without and sort of railings connecting all the portals to a single large one at the end of all the converging paths. Very dangerous if anyone ends up tripping or knocking anyone else over. People are very confused to see these things suddenly pop up, but we see Joanna hesitantly step through one and see just what the deal is. Realizing it’s their way out she seems to go back and tell the others. I gotta admit, the look of this large doorway in the midst of a barren rocky place like this gave me serious ending of Kingdom Hearts 1 vibes, and I half expected Mickey Mouse to be on the other side talking about the Door to Darkness. But that’s just me. Satisfied that the job is done, they thank Ambros who tells them they were indeed disappointingly thorough and they can go now. As they head out the broken robo Penny fades away to blue dust and real Penny is rather shaken to bear witness to that. Before he disappears into the Staff for who knows how long now, Ambrosius delivers one last warning about the world of doors and paths they just created. Do Not Fall. With that ominous warning ringing in their minds the five young women head into the doorway before them with the intent to go to Vacuo with everyone else and the hope in their hearts that they’re not forgetting anything important. We see Cinder wearing a hooded cloak in the midst of a crowd about to head into one of these portals, and it becomes very clear what important thing they may not have taken into account.

Time to wait 7 days to see what could possibly go wrong now!

[allycryz]

Nerys Eluned: Canon Jobs

Background

Nerys spent her childhood with a community of Duskwight in the South Shroud until she was twelve. Her parents moved first to the Central Shroud, later to the East. Prior to ARR, she had never left the Shroud.

Her father handled her academic education with a bent towards reading and history. Her mother took on the more practical subjects: how to hunt, forage, stay out of trouble; where the Duskwight could move freely and where they should avoid. 

There were always chores and odd jobs for children, especially needed when they left the relative safety net of The Cavern in the South. By her fifteenth nameday, this turned into steady work. She excelled in mostly physical jobs for merchants, farms, and outposts.

Nerys off-and-on entertained the idea of becoming a soldier, but never felt called enough to take steps. Once she reached her 20s, she had two main goals: make enough gil to live and to have fun when she wasn’t working. Nerys broke up her share of bar fights and dealt with fending bandits off merchant caravans, so again the idea of being a soldier or Adventurer came up.

The catalyst is a rough break-up that also ends a lot of her friendships. It is not that becoming an adventurer is a solution to any of the problems she faced. But in the wake of this big change, she took a long look at everything and decided she wanted something new. That leads her to Gridania and the Lancer’s Guild.

Disciple of War and Magic

Lancer/Dragoon

Meta Note

FFXIV is my first MMORPG. Prior, I have always been primarily a “solo play on my own at my own pace” kinda gal. But my friend said it was really fun and I love the FF franchise, so there I went. I wasn’t sure what class to do, was thinking Fighter until I learned it was a tank class. 

My only other major online game experience was Overwatch where I was a Lucio main. That was a rarity for me: I tend to have a tougher time with caster/support classes and prefer playing as a rogue or sniper in most games. As rogue wasn’t an option, I asked my friend what she thought and she suggested Dragoon.

There were three options in Gridania: Conjurer, Archer, Lancer. Although Nerys later tried her hand at the other two, Lancer appealed her as someone who wasn’t afraid to get into the thick of things. 

She ended up taking well to it and her fellow guild members. The guild was very much “here are a few techniques, go out there and figure it out” which matched up with her way of doing things.

Nerys is still processing everything that happened with Foulques of the Mist; angry with his choices while also understanding what he went through as a fellow Duskwight. It is a bit of a relief when Alberic becomes her new mentor and she can get away from everything. Not to mention: Coerthas is a place she has always wanted to go to. Her father’s lessons included their sweeping history as well as their poetry and stories. 

Of course, things go sideways almost immediately. The Eye chooses her as the second Azure Dragoon and her first encounter with Estinien is anything but friendly. Things settle on that front for awhile and her primary concerns become the Primals and Garlemald. And having a small foothold in Coerthas is a boon when she, Cid, and Alphinaud travel there in search of the airship.

When Estinien suggest they partner together, she is hesitant given their previous encounters but feels drawn to help him. She agrees. That all comes crashing down after Nidhogg reveals to Estinien how Alberic’s actions lead to the loss of his family. Nerys has to step in to fend him off. The next time she sees him is in the Intercessory with Aymeric. Though he assures her he is not there to fight, she is on her guard.

She never expects that Ishgard will become the place she calls home. Nor that she and Estinien will become friends and then something more, eventually becoming lovers after he rescues her from Elidibus-Zenos. But it does and they do, and even when they both give up the title of Azure Dragoon, she feels called to protect and serve her adopted homeland. For the sake of the Fortemps and Aymeric and Lucia and Hilda and Ysayle, but also for people like Alberic, Estinien, and Heustienne who made her the warrior she is today.

Note About Armor: Nerys has her preferred aesthetics and the traditional Dragoon armor doesn’t quite fit. She prefers her own style and her concession is armor that pays tribute to the heritage of the position without being an exact copy (pictured, not her only armor set in canon or meta-wise).

That said, she is aware of when statements need to be made. Nerys isn’t a political creature in the way Aymeric and Alphinaud are but she understands that politics are a part of everything. 

For certain missions and meetings she garbs herself in the traditional manner: needing to remind the Alliance of her strong ties to Ishgard, making the Heaven’s Ward realise how badly they erred in imprisoning Aymeric when both Azure Dragoons show up.

Meta Note: 

Once I got to Level 15, I joined...all the Guilds in Gridania. And for a while worked on leveling Archer, Conjurer, and Rogue while also making progress with Lancer/Dragoon and MSQ. Eventually I switched gears because I wasn’t progressing fast enough in the story and focused almost exclusively on Dragoon. 

For story purposes, Rogue doesn’t quite fit into Nerys’ story though I think Thancred has definitely introduced her to that crew.

Archer

Archer never quite suited Nerys, as someone who prefers to get close to the action. She does have a great deal of respect for her fellow guild members and Lewin; and she remembers what she learned when ranged combat is needed.

Conjurer

Nerys’ aether control as a Dragoon is excellent. But for whatever reason, she could not quite translate those skills to conjury.

She kept on for some time because in her mind, a good warrior would have healing skills at her disposal. Eventually, a conversation with E-Sumi-Yan brought her to accept that she might better serve others in a different way.

What she did gain was an affinity for the element of air, likely tied to her role as a Lancer/Dragoon. This becomes vital when she saves Haurchefant at The Vault, although it does not go as well as she would have liked.

(She also had a foray with the Arcanist’s Guild that was about as long as Tataru’s.)

Meta Note: 

Disciple of Hand/Land: I have levels unlocked in all the DoH/DoL, the following four make the most canon sense and are the ones I have progressed in the most. 

That said, canonically she dabbles in everything because she is naturally curious and wants to be self-sufficient in all things. Most of the guilds know her. The following four know her the best and it’s where most of her focus has gone.

Disciple of the Land

Botanist

Nerys was drawn to the Botanists’ Guild because of her upbringing. She knew much of the Shroud and its treasures already. What she found–as she became an adventurer–was that these skills help immensely on the road.

It’s also a centering profession. Nerys needs activity to bring her out of her own mind, especially as responsibilities and dangers pile on. She can go lose herself in nature, either for her own needs or on commission (and often both).

Having grown up foraging ingredients to cook with, her Botanist career also ties into Culinarian role.

Disciple of the Hand

Culnarian

Nerys grew up cooking alongside her mother, so she had a base of knowledge going into the guild. Still, through Lyngsath and the rest she discovers a whole world of new ingredients, recipes, and techniques.

As a hunter and a Botanist, there is no end to the new ingredients she find to experiment with.

Leatherworker

Nerys fell into leatherworking when she was scoping out all the guilds in Gridania (around the time she took up with the Archers and Conjurers).  

It stuck for a few reasons: the resources were fairly easy to come by from her hunts; it is another centering activity; and she is a bit of a clotheshorse. If she has to wear specific gear as a Dragoon, she can add her own pretty details to the leather pieces.

Weaver

This is a culmination of the other jobs: uses resources from other things she does (botany, hunting, and leatherworking), a craft that pulls all her focus into one thing, and satisfies her clotheshorse desires. She knows she can put pretty details into her everyday armor/gear and make more formal clothes that make her feel good.

(Whenever she is dealing with A Thing, she will get her hair done. Of course she needs clothes that work with the new look, even if it’s a temporary updo.)

When it comes to leatherworking and weaving, there a plus to taking guild commissions: it has to be perfect and meticulous and good quality but it is not on the level of say...if you fail this task, a primal will temper all these innocents. Nerys is drawn to help people but it's nice to do that for something that is not saving the world. (Of course when she makes any type of armor or working clothes, she is sure to make them well so they protect the wearer.)

She is not advanced enough to make her own gowns for formal events held by the city-states or the Ishgardian High Houses. One day she would like to be able to do so. Until then, Eorzea has plenty of dressmakers ready to help.

Outfit Note: I ended up choosing a mix of the Scion and Best Man’s clothing, thinking of how you can never go wrong with a suit. It’s crisp, always in style, and she looks great in it! 

[itsclydebitches]

I too would love to see data on RWBY fandom ages/fave characters. At 31–I connect with Ozpin, Qrow, and Ironwood. I cried during the Fable. “Do you really think Leo was the first?”—gut punch. When Ironwood learns an army is outside the city gates, so to speak—I could almost see him weighing casualties and cost. I can see their sacrifice and appreciate the suffering it brings. The kids take this as seriously as a fairy tale or video game—they aren’t shown to understand really the stakes/cost.

At this point I don’t think it’s even that they don’t take things seriously at all (though the tone is definitely off for a lot of scenes. See: Weiss arresting her father) but rather that Ruby’s status as leader has come to override all that seriousness. It’s not that they treat every situation superficially, but that the concerns they hit on when they treat things seriously are brushed aside the moment Ruby says, “We can do it.” 

The “We don’t need adults” conversation is a perfect example of this. Take a look at how it’s constructed. After Jaune presents his idea to steal an airship Weiss raises the concern that this is far bigger than just breaking an average law. 

Yang raises a practical concern. How would we even pull this off? 

Jaune is then shown to have no answers. 

So that’s three negatives right off the bat. This plan is foolhardy, this plan isn’t easily pulled off, and we as of yet have no way to solve either of these two points. Qrow then adds the third concern: 

There are politics here. This isn’t a grimm that you can just kill to move it out of your way. If you fail - and based on what we’ve heard so far you will fail. Indeed, they did fail - the consequences will be huge. 

This is an argument. Not in the sense that the group is mad at one another (even though they are) but in the “Jaune is presenting an idea that he needs to be able to persuasively support” way. Which the writing straight up doesn’t do. We’re only given reasons for why this plan is a) stupid and b) difficult. Jaune has failed to persuade anyone - including the audience - that this is a viable idea because the only point in his plan’s favor is, “We need to get to Atlas somehow” but that’s easily solved by, you know, coming up with a different plan. In order to convince one another and the viewer that this is the best option, the writing needed to provide compelling reasons for why the payoff is worth the risks, or why the risks are absolutely necessary, and how they’ll manage it at all. 

Problem is, Ruby comes along. 

She completely derails the argument. Note the work done here to make the plan seem better than it actually is. Ruby implies that there’s more to come - “I want to hear him out!” - that there are arguments Jaune hasn’t made yet that would make this plan look excellent if Qrow would just cease interrupting... but Jaune’s got nothing else here. He tells Weiss and Yang he doesn’t know how to circumvent these problems. He had the idea to steal an airship and that’s all he’s come up with, yet Ruby’s speech is designed to pull attention away from the lack of positives here and instead put it on an action Qrow didn’t actually do: You’re keeping Jaune from providing us with all the information. But that’s simply not true. 

From there the conversation simply drops any weighing of pros and cons altogether. Ruby changes gears again, instead making this about Qrow’s supposed lack of faith. “You’re afraid we can’t do this.” That’s not the issue?? Qrow’s argument is not that Ruby and her friends aren’t talented enough/smart enough/driven enough/whatever enough to pull off a difficult task. He’s arguing that the task itself is dangerously stupid. Yet Ruby makes it about their worth instead, painting Qrow as the bad guy here for not believing in them, something the audience is primed to get riled up over because we love the main group and don’t like anyone (supposedly) doubting them. This work is then exacerbated when she brings his drinking into the mix: “but right now, I don’t really care what you think!” Again, that an easy shot at him but one that has nothing to do with the current debate. Ruby’s speech doesn’t actually tackle any of the concerns here. She just talks around them and successfully manages to trick the audience into thinking this plan is better than it is (I want to hear him out) and that the issue is Qrow’s lack of faith in them (you’re afraid we can’t do it) rather than the very objective concern that they not be arrested at best and potentially start a war between kingdoms at worst. 

If we simplify this conversation: 

Jaune: Let’s steal a fighter jet!

Weiss: That’s... super illegal? 

Yang: And kind of impossible to do

Jaune: Yeah... it is both of those things... 

Qrow: Also if you get caught you’ll be in/cause so much trouble?? Do not do this

Ruby: Hey! I want to hear what else Jaune has to say

Jaune: Um... I’ve got nothing else to say, but-- 

Ruby: What? You think we can’t steal a fighter jet? We’ve accomplished things before and never needed an adult’s help to do it. So we don’t need yours either. We’ll do it our way

And everyone smiles, backing her up. 

See how there’s a complete disconnect between the concerns raised and what Ruby decides to talk about? See how the end result of everyone supporting this plan rests entirely on Ruby's unfounded confidence rather than any persuasive logic? The group did treat the situation seriously. Weiss, Yang and Qrow were all very serious in their responses. It was a serious conversation with teens and an adult both coming at this from a mature perspective... until Ruby’s status as motivational speaker obliterated that. 

Ruby just says things now and the group believes her. She says stupid, illogical, false, hypocritical things and the others are written to nod along, encouraging the audience to do the same. We can steal an airship. We’ve never needed adults. What we’re doing to Ironwood isn’t anything like what Ozpin did to us. We can face down Salem. The writing hasn’t challenged Ruby in at least three volumes and acting like your protagonist is always right leads to these kinds of disjointed arguments. Ruby can’t actually defend this plan, or explain how she’s different from Ozpin, or justify attacking Salem... and the writing doesn’t force her to. 

So we’ve got characters who do treat (at times) these situations seriously. They’re often thinking things through like the adults are. Problem is, we’ve got a leader who currently isn’t that mature and a story that insists on prioritizing her perspective over everyone else’s. When Ruby says, “We can do it!” Weiss isn’t given the opportunity to push back with, “It doesn’t matter if we can. We shouldn’t.” She, along with everyone else, instinctively agrees, erasing that serious treatment in the process. 

Then you cut to absurd shenanigans like using the baby to distract Cordovin and yeah, what little seriousness there was is completely erased :/ 

[sonicringbond]

Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey - Scene 47

Well, I’m going to keep this intro short today. There isn’t really a lot of ways I can set up leading into today’s scene. So, please jump straight into...

    “Hee-hee! It’s really you!” Rosy giggled and could not keep herself still. She fidgeted all about and her tail was wagging with more energy than usual. Then, in an explosion of joy she flung herself at who she was speaking with. “TAILS!”

    “Ha-ha!” Tails laughed and struggled to keep himself balanced as Rosy embraced him in a huge diving hug. “It’s good to see you too Rosy! Woah!”

    Spun about by the force of Rosy’s embrace, Tails put his namesake twin tails to use and flew up with Rosy joyously hanging on to him. The sight was almost too much for Draw and Blister.

    “My, he’s an interesting one, isn’t he?”

    “Is he… I mean… how exactly…,” Draw stammered in comparison to Blister’s smooth handling of her surprise. Though that could have been partly due to her being a pirate and a merchant, or just the deliberate and sleepy sounding way she spoke.

    To calm Draw down, Sonic gently rapped his knuckles against his head. Clutching his head, the koala angrily turned onto Sonic. “What was that for!”

    “Just lending a hand,” Sonic laughed as he really did mean Draw no harm. As Draw was blunter than Blister and was not familiar with Tails like Mighty and Gill, Sonic did have to take a moment to be a little more serious. “And you can help him out by not making a fuss about them. Until you’re used to them enough to consider them normal, and by then you shouldn’t have a reason to.”

    “I get it, just don’t hit me!” Draw complained, even though he knew Sonic meant him no harm. Still, he had to get the last word in. And Sonic let him, though his smug smile told Draw it was not his victory. There was no time to keep at it though as everyone fully disembarked from Blister’s airship and moved to greet Tails.

    ~I’m so happy to have caught up with Tails, and of course he’s being as amazing as ever!

    ~Picking up his Ring Radio was a total surprise as Blister was simply trying to make sure hers was properly integrated with her ship. It’s something we can ask Tails to double check on later, but he’s been pretty busy. Being amazing of course~♥

    ~The last we knew, Tails was looking for another pit of radio signal boosting crystals like the ones at Radio Point. What he found instead was a whole medieval castle town, and not a normal one! This one was built entirely upside down on the underside of a giant land bridge. Maybe…~

    “It’s pretty wild Sonic,” Tails happily explained to Sonic as he gave the whole group a tour of where he had been researching. Despite having been separated for so long, it was impossible to tell with how naturally he talked about his findings. “It looks like the city was built upside down, but what purpose would that serve. If my research is right, then it was actually put here by a Ring Shift.”

    “So, what about the people who lived here?”

    Looking around as Tails led the group across the underside of a bridge, Sonic was not wrong to ask. The castle town itself looked like it could have easily supported quite a large population, however, there was no sign of anyone. Tails was more than glad to share his latest hypothesis though.

    “That’s the thing Sonic, there’s no way they should have tried living here, but it looks like they did and probably moved out on their own when it got to be too much.”

    “How is that possible Tails?” Rosy asked, genuinely curious.

    “You want to find out?”

    “Yeah!”

    “You two aren’t about to cause us a lot of trouble, are you?” Sonic asked, scratching inside his ear.

    “It’ll be fun, I’m sure!” Rosy threw all her faith into Tails. “Tails wouldn’t tease it if it wasn’t.”

    “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Draw asked and received a comforting hand on his shoulder from Mighty.

    “I would say it’s because it’s what those two do. Keeping them out of trouble is as hard as keeping the wind out of a storm.”

    “That’s impossible,” Draw stared at Mighty disbelieving as he replied.

    Mighty’s smile and lone bead of sweat down his cheek did nothing to alleviate his concern, and Gill spoke up to make matters worse.

    “That should give you an idea lad. Last time I accompanied them things just kept getting worse. And I still don’t see how they’ve gotten better.”

    “If you’re so worried about being in danger, you could always leave,” Blister suggested and earned a scowl from Gill.

    Rosy was too distracted to keep the mouse and frog off each other as she took Tails’ offered hand as the fox took off. Flying up towards the deserted city street above, Rosy suddenly felt gravity shift and would have fallen into Tails if he were unprepared.

    “W-O-W~!” Rosy squealed with delight. “This is amazing Tails! But what’s going on?”

    Looking up past the now gravitationally righted Tails, Rosy saw Sonic and the other’s standing on the underside of the bridge above her, and the cloudy sky beyond.

    “It’s some type of anomalous gravity field,” Tails explained. “But it doesn’t affect the entire city equally. And you can tell people tried living here for a while after the shift due to the various twisting roads and bridges throughout the city.”

    “If they were building things–”

    “Then they must have lived here for a while,” Tails finished Rosy’s thought. “But that isn’t the only thing that could have driven them out. Do you remember where the others are standing?”

    “Yeah,” Rosy answered confused and looked back towards Sonic and the others. She missed Tails’ smile and thus was shocked when she turned back forward to see Tails flying straight for a brick wall. “Kya~! Tails watch out! We’re going to crash!”

    ~The crash never came. Ooh~! I’m so mad at Tails for giving me such a scare, even if it turned out to be fun as we flew at the wall but almost crashed into Sonic and the others.

    ~According to Tails, the whole city is full of these weird little ‘dimensional disturbances’. He figures its part of what has been interfering with Ring Radio signals in the lands under Yolk since they transmit across dimensions. It isn’t what he was looking for when he headed out from Radio Point, but it was a great find for him.

    ~I’m so happy for Tails, and I know that he could study this stuff forever, but now that we’ve met back up… Well, it means we have to find Zooey and Fang and get back to working on going home. Though we may need to figure out the Gear Star Ring in my eye first. Hee-hee! It hasn’t replaced my left iris at all since finding Tails, so I nearly forgot about it. Really, seeing Tails again after so long, I nearly forgot about everything.

    ~Reality is such a bully though!~

    “So, that’s your ship Ms. Blister?” Tails asked as they made their way back around the undersides of bridges and roof eaves to where the half avocado shaped airship was effectively moored.

    “It is,” Blister nodded proudly. “It’s my pride and joy! The Avocado Green I call it!”

    “That name is certainly… flavorful,” Tails nervously attempted to be kind about the strange name. Not having the courage to look the mouse who captained it in the eye, Tails looked at the ship and found a topic of conversation to switch to.

    “And it looks like you have quite the crew. I can hardly believe your ship can hold them all.”

    “What are you talking about?” Blister asked and turned her eyes onto her ship. “Oh dear, it looks like I’m being raided actually.”

    “Raided!”

    Tails shout drew everyone’s attention and in no time, they were all aware of the variety of autogolems crawling all over Blister’s vessel.

   It was not Draw’s first time seeing autogolems that looked like they were crafted to resemble the armor of medieval knights, and he knew there was troubling waiting for them and reached for his bow. “Those aren’t yours, right?”

    “No, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t wreck my ship. Ms. Rosy has told me about your penchant for explosives.”

    “I guess that’s your cue, Sonic,” Mighty offered Sonic a smile and received a confident smirk in return.

    “Why not. Bashing bots is kind of my thing.”

    “Can I join you!” Rosy clasped her hands together and asked with excited eyes and wagging trail.

    “Sorry kid,” Sonic denied her request and ruffled her bangs. “In this terrain we can only risk Tails having to catch one of us.”

    “Ooh~! Well, you better put on a show then!”

    “Heh,” Sonic laughed and pointed a thumb at himself. “You know you don’t have to worry about that. Just who do you think I am?”

    “Sonic the Hedgehog of course!” Rosy cheered and thrust her balled up hands into the air. Opening her eyes and bringing her arms down, she cheered Sonic on. “Go get them!”

    “No problem!”

    With an instinct that bordered on supernatural, Sonic took off for the airship at a pace none could match. And not because they didn’t have his speed, but no one could use it like Sonic. Surely the auto golems would soon be helpless scrap before the coming streak of blue. Except…

    “Ho!”

    It was the first time any of them were seeing Claymore the Purple in person, and the towering purple autogolem at his full three meters did not disappoint as he stopped Sonic in mid-air.

    “What in the–?” Sonic questioned as a force pressed him tighter into his curled form and kept him rotating.

    “Impressive to see a Ring Mage choose to enter a melee,” Claymore remarked, as his outstretched hand kept Sonic held in a slowly shrinking ring of purple light. “But no matter. I’ve come for the medium. Well, having interrupted your Ring Radio transmission. Ho! How fortuitous I am this day!”

    With a flick of his wrist, Claymore launched Sonic deep into the castle town and turned his glowing purple eyes on Rosy.

    “Ho! Forgive my rudeness Lady Medium. I am Claymore the Purple, Knight of the Order of the Swords. Now be so kind as to come along peacefully.”

Scene 47 · CLEARED Reunion Knight, to be continued

----

I find myself wanting to laugh just like Rosy did at the start of this. Obviously by the end it wasn’t too cheerful anymore, not with Sonic being yeeted off to who knows where. But, Tails is finally here again. It’s actually kind of wild writing with him involved as he really feels like the glue of the AU. His smarts and enthusiasm for his research; it’s just amazing to write really. Hopefully in the future it will be just as easy and he’ll help tie everything together nicely with that Sonic feel I sometimes feel like I’m missing.

Thank for reading everyone! I hope you’ll be back for the next scene!

-----

Special Thanks to Cutegirlmayra Story by @JoshTarwater/SonicFanJ Inspiring Song – Blue Skies – Tsutomu Narita – Granblue Fantasy Story Music Tracks

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic the Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement. The Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

*Sonic Ring Bond logo created by DEE Art – twitter.com/daryliscute.

Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein considered for all legal purposes the property of the Sonic the Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS. All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

[toysoldiers-rwby]

Deleted Scene. SYT Ch10.2

Show Your Teeth

Characters: Fiona, Winter, May, Robyn, Joanna Rating: Explicit (tagged as thoorist) Tags: slice of life, sexual tension Word Count: almost 6k

Second Draft of ch 10. I tossed out almost 20k words to find an ending that was the right amount of tension and bittersweet. I think this one was too angsty. honestly i don't remember

Read Show Your Teeth on on Ao3

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Dr. Pietro was too valuable to be in the middle of Grimm infested fields, thousands of miles away from the Kingdom. He was constantly wrangling in both the Watts and a few other scientist for his current project. It would explain Author Watts’ sour mood, his eagerness to experiment on Glade.  

But Glade was Glade, May realized with a smile. The stray that manipulated the military, the stray that outsmarted two fucking kingdoms! Being able to improvise and make the best out of being an illegal experiment…  

Glade did a double take, those glowing white pupils dilating like a cat. Ears flicking in confused circles as plume of fire they were blowing onto the metal faded to the embers died on their lips. Fire Dust glowed across their skin, high-lighting the fullness of their cheeks and hard planes of muscles beautifully.  

May only understood a few signs but she knew the sign “What?”  

She continued staring and grinning. “Nothing.”  

Glade crosses their arms and leans against the workbench. They’re posturing. With the military feeding them, they didn’t even need to flex to show off their muscles. That calm and confident grin echoing Joanna and Robyn’s. There isn’t enough raw arrogance to compete with Winter, maybe in a few years after the tuffs of curls grow out. But right now they look too adorable.  

Silvio looks up from his Scroll. His face starts at confused, slides down to contempt then utter disgusted as he looks between Glade and May. He takes a deep breath and Glade is already rolling those glowing blue eyes, “Gaaay! Oh wait…” He stares at Glade. There’s an analytically rude way his silver eyes flick up and down their body.  

They’re not in uniform. Too much grease, too much molten metal, Dust, and various other things that would permanently damage the thick fabric. Instead it’s a simple broiler suit, arms tied at the waste because fuck safety and stand in the raw Solitas air in their binder.  

“Would that still be considered Gay? How would that work with… y’know?”  

“That’s a stupid question for a genius,” May scoffs with a small smirk.  

“If I wasn’t freezing my balls off I’d pelt you snow,” Silvio glowers. He pouts, turning his chair and continues playing with Marrow’s weapon schematics. May’s Scroll pings.  

G.O.A.T: Fi and Win stares a lot too G.O.A.T: yall can admit im hot  

If they weren’t working on Winter’s weapon she’d throw her Scroll at that smug face. “Literally hot. I think I can see you steaming,” May says with a small frown. It doesn’t stay though. She’s far too happy.  

Things were getting better.  

It took till fucking mid-terms but it was fucking getting better. Glade sticks out their tongue, the Dust infused tongue piercing glowing brightly. Then they blow a kiss with embers and a wink- and the warm stutters her heartbeat. Glade chuckles silently and goes back to work. She can’t help but continue watching.  

Blacksmiths had all but died in Atlas. They have machines and factories and there was something captivating about watching the kiln from the fire and Dust dance against their skin. Something about watching someone’s passion in action.  

And yes. May wouldn’t feed that ego but Glade was hot.  

And criminal or not, they were a genius. They pulled the saber out of the kiln, setting it against the anvil and hammering it into shape. Glade may have been a pacifist but they were a fighter. There was no one else more qualified to make weapons than Aurora Glade-  

“They’re a good kisser you know.”  

May screamed turned around. They saw white wiggling ears and looked down to see Fiona smiling. She’d be laughing if she wasn’t breathing so hard. Face flushed adorably, even tinting her ears lightly- Gloveless fingers engulfed her vision.  

“Cold!” Fi’s hands cups her cheeks. May sends them tumbling backwards trying to escape but Fiona laughs and follows. She tries to find footing but its all snow out in the tundra and they fall deep into it.  

“Gay!” Silvio’s yell is swallowed by the emptiness and snow.  

Fiona manages a laugh and needs to gasp for breath again. May hisses, body shivering as snow melts against her thick Atlesian clothes. Then she’s too hot, Fi’s breath warm against her lips. Still too far.  

“I wish I could kiss you…” Fiona whispers.  

May was about to pull her into one but Marrow and Harriet shouting stops them. Thousands of miles away from the Kingdom and it’s eyes and ears still follows. Fiona sighs, ears flicking in frustration. The Junior Ops were rather far for safety reasons, testing out upgrades and smoothing out kinks as the geniuses upgrade them. There were some pros to being in this ‘Accelerated Program.’  

But stealing small moments right in under Atlas of them gives a certain thrill. May’s hands manages to slide into Fiona’s and she brings it to their lips. Fi sputters, that blush running deeper, lower down that lovely neck.  

“Nice to see you two being productive.” The drawl is both familiar and unfamiliar. Fiona gasp out another bubble of giggles and May laughs. The Glyph is actually warmer than the snow as it pulses under them. It gently pulses and lifts May and Fiona off the ground.  

The pair is meet with more than Winter’s eyes. Robyn and Joanna are grinning down at them, far to amused to play stoic like the Specialist. All three of them are flushed and panting slightly. But… for some reason no matter how deep Winter’s breath were, it wasn’t fulfilling. She was fighting in a binder again-  

“May isn’t your partner anymore,” Fiona teases with a grin. May ignores the small sting in her chest. “Your not allowed to be jealous if I top her-”  

“I don’t need to hear this!” Silvio yells a little more aggressively. He stands up, hugging his thick coat tight to his body. The civilian snow gear almost makes him penguin walk to the Junior Ops. “Marrow! Give me your gun!”  

“I thought you said-”  

“Give it!” Marrow yips and immediately surrenders his weapons. Silvio then retreats deep into the airship. Leaving Marrow confused, unarmed and pouting.  

Glade gives RMJT (Ramjet) and their supervising officer a side-ways glance and a smirk but continues to work on Winter’s weapon. With some steam and wind Dust, they cool it down sharpen the blade in long arching fluid motion. The muscle on their arms on full display and almost as nice as Joanna’s. May would need to feel them to get a fair evaluation though-  

"Kitten."  

“Stop calling me that!” May swats Joanna’s handsome face on reflex. Joanna laughs and gently pushes her hands off.  

“But you even paw,” Joanna hums low and playfully. She worse than Fiona when she feels like it and judging from the light in her eyes, she felt like it. “We still have a bet. If I win you finally start using my crossbow staff.”  

“We never decided on what I’ll get if I win,” May argues. There were so many ideas she had. A date night with just Joanna was always fun and calm. She did promise to take her around to show off the glowing street art in Mantle.  

“Why bother? That’s never going to happen,” Joanna winks and is already walking a little ways from the airship. May finds herself following, staring at that broad back and the muscles testing the fabric of her coat. She huffs in frustration but reaches for her staff and extends it. A quick double to confirm that all the Dust chambers are full.  

May nods.  

Joanna doesn’t fire her crossbow bolts. She splits that staff into two axes and charges. May’s mind fire scenario after scenario, the smile still on her face. Joanna is stronger and has a longer reach. She doesn’t need a two handed weapon to over power her and her long arms is enough for the axes.  

May smirks. Two weapons makes it harder for May to block so she’ll just dodge- Joanna fires a bolt at her feet. It glows purple and the pull of gravity nearly drops May to her knees. Instead she tucks and rolls left, then scrambles back to avoid the an axe head. The other end is loaded and May barely hits it away to avoid it. Only this time the bolt explodes far to close behind her and topples the two.  

The Marigold scowls. She vaguely remembers that Joanna was a cop, one of the best in Mantle. She’s older, has more experience fighting people than Grimm. She also has stronger Aura and more reserves. That explosions does nothing to her while May’s ears are ringing and the snow crunches unevenly under her feet.  

Joanna lets her blink the world back to focus. She’s grinning, tapping an axe bladed crossbow on her shoulder. "Gonna call it kitten?" Her partner taunts playfully. If this was last semester May might have thrown her staff or go invisible. Then throw her staff.  

She only grins. “Not even in your dreams.” May does go invisible. Joanna immediately couches down, grabbing a handful of snow and flies it into the air. May grins. Smart, resourceful. Gullible. Chambering fire dust, she melts the snow. Solitas is cold enough that water instantly freezes again, leaving a mist that blankets the field. May throws the gravity bolt back with enough Aura to pull Joanna to the ground.  

She was going to follow up with lightning but May always underestimates how strong Joanna is. The gravity bolt doesn’t pin her, barely hinders her as she charges towards May again. For a moment they were in the Field.  

For a moment, Joanna doesn’t attack and just presses her lips to May’s. She surrenders into it almost instantly. Joanna’s kiss was always slow burning. There’s a lingering sense of power and control. Like a beast in hibernation. It’s one of those things that is given to you.  

That moment passes as Joanna continues to shove May out. Their lips part far to soon. It’s worth being pinned into the snow by her girlfriend though. Hidden in the snow, Joanna breaths hot against the back of her neck.  

“I win.”  

“I don’t exactly call this a lose…” May mumbled. Joanna easily lifts them both up and May’s blushing to hard and staring at the ground. Heart beating too fast for something so simple. Maybe she did like being handled… Her teammates laugh. The Ice Queen can’t. Winter does relax, the barest hint of a smile on her face.  

Then she’s looking at Glade. The saber is finished and sings as it cuts through the air. With a press of a button the secondary splits from the handle and drops into their free hand. They test the pair out, feeling the balance, checking the sharpness. After a little more teasing and a small impatient frown from Winter, the weaponsmith finally surrenders it.  

“An adequate display,” Winter hums, keeping her expression and voice void of the pride in the eyes. Glade was amazing and they knew it. They frowned deeply at the insult and May laughed with Fiona. They were adorable. Even with the eerie glowing eyes. “Would you like to prove me wrong? I believe Watts is still trying to get combative readings from your neural augments.”  

There was an interruption from the Junior Ops. Of course it was Harriet who scoffs, “Stop playing with your pet,” Harriet said. "We’re here on business, Specialist Schnee."  

… Pet. May grits her teeth. She takes a deep breath trying to let the comment wash off. Winter’s constant reminder floats through her head. The need to play nice and play up Robyn’s image.  

It was Robyn’s fame that saved Fiona’s scholarships when the public learned Winter was promoted. It was Winter’s image that lets her be around Glade so much that their sign language was second nature in just a few months.  

Atlesian 101. Public opinion is everything. At the end of the day, they were all social creatures. All victims to a mindless and easily fooled community.  

But Robyn was a Mantle Rat. She doesn’t see the manipulative threads. She heard a bitch insult a friend who’s been stripped of everything and leaps into action.  

“What did you call Glade?” Robyn hisses. Fiona is standing by their leaders side. It wasn’t that Fiona was sweet and kind and without spite. It was that she didn’t have the protection May had, couldn’t act on her anger without a family name and money.  

So Fiona practically snarl and bare her fangs stuns May for a moment. The pair make the face of RMJT. They’re charming and cute smiles were plastered all over the net and zines. If a photo of them got leaked right now, Fi would lose her scholarships. They both looked ready to throttle the hare.  

“Get over yourself, Hill,” Harriet sneered in that Atlesian tone. May scowls. She’s faster than Robyn so she’ll be second in line to beat the asshole up. "Maybe if you were a real Atlasian Huntress you’d realize Glade is just a toy." May’s heart is in her ears. Roaring. Angry. Two years till freedom. May desperately reminds herself. Two years till they can finally bring Atlas down-  

Fiona moves first so Robyn follows her partner. Joanna’s long arms catch Fiona in a bear hug while May struggles with Robyn.  

"You called them Winter’s pet!" Fiona angrily yelled, thrashing in Joanna’s arms. Somehow May managed to shove Robyn her way. Joanna’s strong arms easily pinned the two in a bear hug. Fiona looked at the only other Faunus. Marrow had wandered over, no doubt to stop all the yelling. “Marrow! You can’t be okay with that!”  

“I- I’m not!” the underclassmen stuttered, tail low between his legs.  

"Then fucking do something!"  

“Assault isn’t the answer, Ms. Thyme,” That cool commanding voice. May sighs. That mask slips on too easily sometimes. May can’t blame her… She’s a Schnee she was literally born into it. Everyone calms a little. Winter isn’t even looking at RMJT but the airship side door. //Focus in use  

The workbench and kiln are abandoned… Winter clears her throat. Glade pokes their head out.  

Brows knitted up in fear above those glowing blue eyes, their ears a timid low. They looked at Robyn and Harriet, both their shoulders tense and absolutely pissed. Then they looked back at Winter and vigorously shake their head no, trying to hide away again.  

From the corner of her eyes, May saw Marrow bit his lip, tail twitching as he tried not to giggle. May was eager to latch to the lighter mood. Her anger doesn’t melt so easily. But… but Glade was scared. So she takes a deep breath and smiles softly. Not enough to be friendly because Glade was a solo vigilante.  

If they had to keep their relationship a secret they definitely had to keep their history with Glade buried.  

Still Her chest was bubbling at how cute timid Glade was. Marrow cracked laughing softly and May couldn’t help but to snort. Winter gave a sigh, frustration genuine on her face. For a moment even May thought she was irritated at the ‘criminal’ but the twitch in her arms told a different story. Winter fought against her true nature, pushed aside all the comforting gestures she’d learned for Weiss and gave Glade a wary thin look.  

“I assure you, you’re safe… Unless you doubt my ability to beat everyone here?” Winter asked slowly, toeing the line of intimidating and teasing. Glade made more adorable Faunus noises.  

May couldn’t help but to smile. Everyone else, save for Harriet, thought it was adorable so she was allowed to too. Before Winter could try coax them in, someone kicked Glade out of the airship. Silvio scowls glaring hard at the students.  

“Aren’t you fucking assholes suppose to be smart?” He ask. “Do you know how much Grimm you just brought in?! Two hordes of Megoliaths!”  

Winter sighs. She’s had a lot of practice so it comes out natural. It almost convinces May. “Harriet, take the fighter and the others. I need a word with RMJT.” Winter said, glaring hard at Robyn.  

During the short time it takes to load up the workstations and for the Junior Ops to leave, May realizes that Winter might actually be made. As soon as they were gone, Winter tapped a few buttons on her Scroll. May could feel the guarded edge on the back of her mind and in her Aura fade off as the hidden cameras in the room shut down.  

//HH & Winter Rift. White knights flaw. PICKUP HERE Immediately the Schnee exploded, that cool demeanor all fire and frustration.  

“What the fuck were you two thinking?!” Winter yells at Robyn and Fi. Again. At least it was almost two weeks. Still May sighs and tries to find a way to de-escalade the situation. It’s hard when she sides with Fi and Robyn. Fiona’s hackles practically raise, fist balled up tight as she glared at her former leader. Robyn looked ready to throw another punch.  

Before either of them could get a word in, Joanna’s massive figure stepped between them. She only crossed her arms, staring down at all three women. The interruption was enough for them to catch their breath. Mostly Winter who leaned against the table, almost struggling to breath as she rubbing her temples.  

“Fi… you should know you need to pick your battles. There are still people trying to get you expelled and I’m not there to-”  

“We don’t need your protection,” Fiona hissed, ears twitching low. "Focus on Glade, Silvio, Weiss and Whitley." That hit May and cracked Winter. So many emotions she needed to keep under control flashed across her face. May pressed her side into their girlfriend’s, hoping to ground her. Eventually the pain and fear faded to… guilt.  

Then Winter shook it off.  

It was replaced by fustration. “Point is there is a lot of people that don’t want to see you four graduate,” Winter said. RMJT rolled their eyes. They were the under-dogs. An estrange elite, two nontraditional Mantle Rats who said fuck the law and a Faunus that was better than a Schnee in both academic and fighting- Winter was still talking. “They have a lot of power if you give them any kind of leverage you’ll never graduate.”  

“We’ll be fine.” Robyn huffed.  

“No you wont,” Winter hissed at Robyn. She stood up, back straight and shoulders tense. Brittle. May gently put her hand on Win’s shoulder, only to have… her former partner shake it off. Winter soldiers on, “You have no idea, what Atlesians are capable of. You need to do better!”  

“I know!” Robyn yelled back. They were within each other’s melee range now. “I have people swarming me every day reminding me I’m the Hero of Mantle. I know!”  

“You wanted follow my grandfather. Step up and lead by example, Hill.”  

The importance of image finally clicks for Robyn. Realization settles in as her shoulders relax for a moment. Robyn tries to smooth out those hard edges but pitty and fustratin shines through. “So do you,” Robyn nearly hisses. “You’re the only one keeping them prisoner.”  

That makes Winter pause. She looks at Robyn and something filters across her face.  

Pity or envy?  

Before RMJT can say anything the bay doors open and Glade was the first one to jump out. Winter actual held them back. May remembered something Winter said at the beginning of summer. That Glade’s Dust was potent enough to level an entire block. They saw that masterful application during their work and now…  

And now Glade is finally away from civilians.  

Even from the possible safety of the Bullhead, high in the air, May could feel the heat piercing the Solitas cold. A blaze of fire rolled through the snow and ice, leaving the dead rocky ground bare. The weaker Megoliaths burned in the fire.  

The Dust in their boildersuit fade from red to dark orange. The herd was culled again, this time impaled by earthen spikes. A quarter of the herd was cut down in seconds. The Alpha Megoliaths roared, legs shattering the earth spikes under its feet. They could see the ground shaking from the sky. If Glade’s Aura and Dust doesn’t attract the second horde, the small earthquakes would have.  

Glade was skilled enough to avoid capture by Vale’s Glynda Goodwitch. Skilled enough to wrangle Grimm, skilled enough to have the entire Kingdom of Mistral after her and elude them for a year. Skilled enough that violence was a choice for them. And even stripped of everything they bite back in a differnt way.  

Winter crosses her arms. The movement pulls May to the argument that the two leaders could never really settle. What to do with Glade? "Their semblance is similar to General Ironwood’s Mettle." Winter explains. May hates their semblance even more. “Glade can Focus on an aspect, personality, emotions, senses, a task, Dust, lying… acting.” Winter said. There was something at the end of it. It dipped and strained… like she was stabbing her own heart. “Atlesian 102.”  

And suddenly May’s freeze and burns.  

“Give them what they think they want.” May mumbles. Focus on a lie or an act, May grits her teeth. Pretend like nothing is wrong for the sake of your friends or play up the torutred experiment to gain sympathy.  

“Everyone loves to see their hero and knight save someone. And the Faunus experiment is the perfect damsal.” Winter practically growls under her breath. May watches her. Anger deep in her eyes. Winter didn’t ask for the image, for the fame. It followed her from her family now in the military it has grown like steel wires.  

She waits a few moments. When RMJT responds with silence she finally leaps from the aircraft. She landed gracefully next to Glade. She let some of her Ice Queen image chip and crack to give Glade a pat on their head. The Specialist didn’t draw her new saber, fresh from the kiln and anvil. Instead she stepped back and let Glade fight.  

Glade never needed their help.  

Not with the Geist.  

Not after their surrender.  

May and Robyn looked at each other, conflicted and a little confused. How much was an act from their semblance? Robyn groaned into her palm. The look of regreat solid on her face before she leaped out.  

“Sometimes I think she forgets she’s dating Winter,” Joanna whispered to May. It felt like that most days… May blames the distance. The physical one, between Atlas and Mantle. “Come on. Killing Grimm will calm us down and we can’t get showed up by a civilian.”  

"How does adrenaline and hot sweaty women equal calming?" Fiona muttered. It was a half hearted joke. A little real but overall a bad deflect. May takes a breath.  

Glade is okay. Just a manipulative bitch. Hopefully. And if they’ll still be there tomorrow. Things will get better. Hopefully.  

May follows the rest of RMJT out of the airship.  

Joanna was right. Fighting Grimm burnt the argument and fight out of them. Despite all the show, Glade gased out far to quickly to be effective Hunter. They did kill a lot of the first herd and the second was no match for eight nearly qualified Hunters.  

Snow was starting to return to the area where Glade orignally landed. There was a small tent picked up with a few chairs. Fiona waving at them while Joanna gave a broad grin and blowing a kiss. Robyn plays along, a hand over her heart and swooning into May’s arms. Until the estranged Marigold snorts and drops her.  

But just because Joanna was right doesn’t mean Fiona was wrong.  

May stands above Robyn for a second. Admiring the messy plantium locks and the flushed tanned face- Robyn winks. “Ugh-” Instead of sinking down into the snow and kissing her girlfriend she kicks the snow into her face. Joanna and Fiona laugh, loud and joyful. They were all too tired to be guarded. It feels less like a fight, less like a mission watching a ‘criminal.’ Their stupid smiles always made it feel like a date.  

As soon as May took a seat in on the chairs she didn’t want to move. She hiss curses under her breath feeling her body throb. A Sabyr kicked her jaw, a Sulfur Fish stung her calf… but the thob was in her gut and growing lower and lower as she watches her partner.  

Joanna pushed Elm out of the way earlier, taking a hit from a Megoliath. It must have fucked with her shoulder because she’s rolling it, stretching her coat tight against her back muscles. May feels that solid heat ghost under her fingers. She doesn’t have the same hair routine but giving Joanna massages was good in its own way.  

She wasn’t strong enough for a deep massage but that just means May kept on trying. Enjoying warm skin under her hands, the hard shift from muscle to muscle. Every twitch was like Joanna was flexing.  

May feels Marrow’s tail thawt against her leg in a lazy motion. It sped up a little as Joanna slips a sleeve off, brunching up her shirt to push a the knot directly and showing an unfair amount of muscles.  

She wants to kiss her. Fuck public image. Fuck all the pretending, the cold attitutdes. May was tired of all the Atlesian bullshit. She killed dozens of Grimm and at least deserves to kiss her fucking girlfriends. Joanna was barely out of breath and May wanted her gasping.  

“Hey, Robyn,” Marrow called out, breaking her out of her daydream. “You can’t arrest people, can you?”  

“I quit so I could attend Atlas Academy, wags.”  

“Huh… Well that,” He gestured to Joanna. Robyn walked over, quietly observing as Elm walked up and tried to massage the kink gone. Both their muscles flexing and tested Atlesian thick clothing. "That should be illegal."  

“You know what is illegal?” Robyn asked. May could hear that stupid smile in her voice and she was groaning loudly to drown out Robyn but it didn’t work, “Not kissing my girlfriend- Damn it! Look alive, May!"  

May snapped to attention just as a Megoliath roared into view. Everyone switches back into fighting mode. May ran after her leader, twisting the chamber in her staff. It clicks empty, empty, then she felt electricity hum as lightning Dust chambers in.  

“Joanna!”  

“For the record I hate it when any of you do this!” Joanna yells. She still held her out her hands for May to vault off of and May only grins. Blame it on all the times Winter carries her around or all the rush from the Glyphs, or maybe she just likes being handled by Joanna. Her partner only frowns as hearing her thoughts. She still throws May high into the air and barely has time to dodge the Grimm herself.  

Elm jumps in, holding onto the trunk with Roots further anchoring her to the ground. May yells a warning, plunging the staff deep into the Grimm’s eye. It doesn’t bleed, doesn’t smoke, it just… sinks in with a bone shuddering wet noise. The lightning Dust pours into the Megoliath. Joanna helps Elm clear the twitching tunk and stomping legs.  

An explosion throw’s May’s off.  

It wasn’t silent like the crossbow bolts so it had to be something Fiona stole. May’s limbs burns like she’s been fighting for an hour. She sinks deep into the snow and it doesn’t help. It does the opposite. All the blood is pooling between her legs, all the running and fighting had everything rubbing just right. May tries not to think about the last time she had sex. About how the snow feels like Winter’s cool hands crawling into her neck.  

With a shuttering breath she stares up at the bright sky. Focuses on how warm the rare Solitas sun is on her skin because they were in public. Fiona eclipses the sun for a moment. Then a moment longer as her body falls-  

“Fi!” May screams, trying to scrample away. The snow gives and gives under her hands and Fiona finally craches into her. Even the sharp headbutt does nothing for the low arosual in her gut. If anything it just gives her shaft a reason to thob harder. It has everything to do with Fi’s groan and not how her brain was mixing pleasure and pain. With Fiona’s hands firm on her chest. Sweet laughter against her neck.  

May drops her Aura for a few seconds. The idea was that the snow would chill her blood. But so many hours, wrapped around Winter’s fingers… May groaned slamming her Aura back on. She wanted those cool hands on her thighs. Clawing. She wanted Fiona seated higher on her chest.  

Who’s idea was it not fuck? Winter? It has to be Winter’s.  

Fiona’s laugh draws May out of her pout. “Woops,” Fiona mumbled unapologetically. There was something in her voice. The faux innocent tone and sinfully slow drawls. “It’s a good thing Joanna won, you really need something for distance.”  

“Shut up,” May growled. As revenge she hangs limp. Fiona is strong enough to carry her but she just… so tiny. And tired. The snow makes things harder than it should be and they fall back into it. Out of stupid habits May holds Fiona tight, as if they were falling out of another crashing airship. As if Fiona wasn’t already laughing on the way down.  

“This is your fault y’know,” Fiona said with a grin. Looming over her, elbows blocking May. It fucks with her breathing and then more. Fiona’s eyes flicker down. That heated gaze slowly growing intense, like the day in the changing room. She licks her lips, her ears straining forward for more soft noise. She knows Fi can feel her heart race. That innocent smiles grows sweet and beutiful and so far from innocent.  

Her knee slides up.  

Pausing between May’s. That low throb was firmly settled between May’s legs now. She glances away but that only opens her up. Fiona’s lips and nose press into her neck. Her pulse is far to alive against such a soft kiss. Too soft. May wants more. Her body already arching for it.  

“Fi…” May was starting to tremble.  

“We deserve a second,” Fiona says as if it was a warning. Then her teeth digs in hard. May presses her hand against her mouth, breath loud and sharsh as her back arch but Fiona’s hand quickly comes up to pin it down. Her ears flutter pointedly. May wanted hands and teeth, Fiona wanted it all including her moans. She sucks hard and gives May a teaser for what it could feel around her pulsing cock.  

She doesn’t stop until May tugs her hair. After May feels pre-cum sliding down her shaft. Fiona growls and huffs. Teeth teasing the bruise but it was already healing. It still hurts, so Fi tongue sooth the spot. Low and slow like it was May’s shaft- Their Scrolls ping and Fiona looks ready to break it in her hands.  

G.O.A.T: stop. i can SMELL you horny idiots from here happywool: that’s a bad thing?  

She steal a kiss from May. Even burried in the snow, fighting in the cold, the kiss is warm and sweet. Even if Fiona’s sharp teeth nip with fustration.  

Her knee shifts higher. A hand palms May’s chest.  

G.O.A.T: SERIOUSLY. I CAN’T EXACTLY GET LAID foxhot: sounds like a u problem G.O.A.T: just finish the grimm so we can get Win home  

That stops Fiona dead in her tracks.  

mt.spur: what happen angeldust: Nothing important. G.O.A.T: i disagree and stop being a dumb bitch G.O.A.T: she’s fighting with her binder on angeldust: So are you! G.O.A.T: i didnt feint bitch  

May and Fiona rolls their eyes and share another kiss before Fiona pulls her onto her feet. "The sooner we finish the sooner we can finsih," Fiona says with a wink and runs off. May watches her with a small smile and tries to shake the snow out of her hair and clothes.  

The rest of the evening slips into a mix of auto-pilot and a straight up blur. The simple social outing for the ‘criminal’ was an extra hour, almost two. The Grimm was easy but they kept coming. Like every other week. RMJT has been out on so many missions half their classes were online, in the damn airships. The ones that weren’t were Combative Training, Advance Stealth Operations or Body Conditioning.  

Her Scroll kept going off too much to call it a nap and she feels to restless when she finally realizes they’re back in Mantle.  

May sets her back down the table and stretches out the kinks in her back. She groans as a few joints pop back into place. A pair of hands slide onto her shoulders, pressing into areas she didn’t realize were tense.  

The hands were too big to be Fiona’s, too small to be Joanna’s, too warm to be Winter’s. She blinks in surprise. For such a flirt Robyn was actually rather reserved. Most of her advances only happened when Winter was around. And sure enough, somehow the they manage to drag the Specialist.  

Or with Joanna, carry.  

A feint blush is on Winter’s cheeks now and she lets out a sigh. May has gotten used to all the touches and her partner’s casual show of strength. But Winter probably regressed up in Atlas, with only Glade.  

“You can set me down now,” Winter mumbles.  

“Not even a please,” Joanna playfully huffs. Instead she sits down on the couch. Her hands interwined with Winter’s… pressing it against her thighs.  

Just like the changing room.  

The room suddenly feels hotter. May’s blood was already hot from all of Fiona’s teasing and now its rapidly pooling in her shaft- Where’s the lamb. May looks around to see the women walk out of their bedroom, a bag in one hand and twirling the knife in the other.  

Now in the privacy of their home, Fiona is a little calmer. Her grin is still dark, her ears still strained but she doesn’t look like shes ready to pounce.  

Her prey is already caught after all.  

Fiona looks at May and winks. With a touch the coffee table and everything on it gone and she replaces it with the bed in their room. May finds her self menuvered, seated on the edge with Robyn behind her.  

May can only stare dazed at Winter. The women was… she was the image of Atlas perfection. Control, yet she’s trembling with Joanna’s hot breath on her neck. Power, though when that knife slices into her uniform she’s praying Fiona’s name.  

“Fi… fuck,” Winter mutters. Her Aura flares where the knife licks her skin. May whimpers and shifts between Robyn’s legs. Her leader murmers something. Something about how good girls don’t interrupt a show. A hand strokes May thighs, promising a reward for good girls.  

Fiona briefly smiles over her shoulder. The knowledge that this show was also for them… May throbs against her clothes. Whimpers with as Joanna hums, staring at the tent her pants. Winter looks ready to feint. Breathing shallow and eyes clouded. Still Fiona goes slow. Those flexing abs revealed inch by near minute.  

“Hurry, please Fiona… I’m going to pass out-”  

“Oh!” Fiona’s blinks, that dominance replaced by surprised concern. She laughs nervously, knife swiftly gliding through the shirt, coat and binder. Winter’s Aura lights up her skin as the blade tilts her head back.  

Exposed. Volunrable. Submissive.

[itsuki-minamy]

BEAUTIFUL PIECES: Bonus Short Story

"EVEN OVER TIME" (By Miyazawa Tatsuki)

Translation: Naru-kun

For some reason, Shiro was walking slowly down the mountain path, thinking that it wouldn't rain well on this day. He had hardly met the inhabitants of the village, which loses inhabitants every year. In front of him, an old woman who was wearing rain gear crossed and ran to the place.

"Every year, it's hard work."

There is a feeling of sympathy and shame, effort, and a slight but unmistakable fear deep in his eyes.

When he met her, she was still a child.

He was sure of it.

Her should see him as a monster.

Her feet, moving away, get faster and faster. As if trying to escape the ghostly entities that appeared in the rain.

(I wonder if I could retire as I did in the past.)

He felt like a mixture of emptiness and sadness came to his mind, and he looked up at the lead-colored sky, as if it wasn't that bad.

Use an airship like before? Or buy something on an island and live there?

There is money. He spend a lot of time researching things and got some patents.

He wanted to be as useful as possible to humanity, so he focus on biochemistry. For another 500 years, he could live on that money alone.

He use enormous resources to carry his feelings and wait for the day when he don't feel anything. Delicious and seductive thinking. It will be a future that will surely be lost. But there is no other way to end this slow and endless loneliness and suffering.

After all, he will not die.

He cannot die.

He tried many times.

Before he died suddenly, the words he said came to mind.

"I won't forgive you if you don't live properly, Shiro."

Shiro coughed with tears.

"I am alive, Kuro. Now for many, many years. But I'm tired. I can't longer bear the absence of you two.”

Like an old man, he was having fun as he scaled the mountain trail slowly. Now, ninety percent of the day has thoughts of memories. The brain of a superhuman Shiro, who never dies, can remember the past as clearly as possible.

However, for the remaining ten percent of the time he suddenly returned to himself, he was attacked by a sadness that seemed to crumble him.

It was endless torture.

The cat that was entrusted to Shiro and Kuro worked hard. She lived so long that Shiro was not alone.

But the last days had come. That day, the stubborn and shiny cat, cried and hugged Shiro all the time. Shiro knew that. The cat is not afraid of her death, nor would she part with him. Only one man was sad to leave Shiro forever. The cat was crying for Shiro on the last day of her life.

When he stopped at the summit, the raindrops were getting stronger. He had poor visibility, but Shiro had no difficulty. He had been here many times. Many tombstones lined up. First, the word Miwa is sleeping in the back. In black granite a step below, there is the word Kuro.

Next to it is a pale pink cat grave.

Shiro walked over there, shedding huge tears, and shrugged.

"Kuro! Neko!”

He hit his head several times on a stone, shouting the name of his former friends.

++++++++++

"Gaah... ah!"

While screaming, he fell out of bed. At that moment, he hit his forehead with a tool that he had left on the floor.

"Owww!"

"Huh? What happened?"

A black-haired man in an apron and a ladle in his right hand leapt into the room.

"Oh, are you alright, Shiro?"

A cat with a toothbrush in her mouth approached concerned. It seems that both of them got up early and were preparing for the morning.

"Hahaha, no, a little."

Shiro held his forehead.

"I had a bad dream."

“Listen, everyone. I don't know if we can improvise, but let's do something tonight!”

Kuro suddenly said.

"Ah! You're bleeding!"

The cat pointed quickly. When Shiro lowered his hand from his forehead, was bloody. Apparently he cut himself with the tip of a tool.

"Ah? Hey, are you okay?”

Kuro asked in a worried voice. The cat silently places her hand on Shiro's shoulder. Shiro was crying.

He was crying and crying with a crying and laughing look as he looked at the blood.

"It hurts much?"

"Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself a lot?”

Shiro shook his head.

"No. I am happy."

(I have friends who care about me like this. And I have a body that bleeds like this. I have a body that is no different from all those who eventually age and decompose.)

He was glad it was that way. The nightmare time had passed.

Kuro and Neko looked at each other with a strange expression.

Anyway, that day, Shiro was sent to rest, and Shiro was willing to do them that favor.

END.