#how to train your huntresses idk

[dchuntress]

hey! do you have any tips on figuring out if huntress in a post is helena wayne or helena bertinelli?

hi there!! thank you for the ask, this was FUN to make <3

i will be honest, i usually guess it based on the vibes alone 😔 but also !! i do have some suggestions that i think should help, it's not always foolproof because even dc will mess things up but!!

disclaimer: i could always get something wrong in my information below, please don't hesitate to correct me if i said anything inaccurate! also, for the sake of convenience, i'll be using "earth 0" as a broad term for the main/default/prime/whatever earth/reality/canon.

0) elementary facts:

in crossbow at the crossroads, despite the description saying helena bertinelli, the huntress here is actually helena wayne. long story short, h. wayne borrows h. bertinelli's identity so that she could go to italy and shut down a trafficking ring there. i believe this is one of the biggest cause for confusion, as people tend to use catc comic panels for helena bertinelli — i was one of those people too! but really, on my rereads of the comics after i was more familiar with both huntresses, i was truly able to appreciate it as a helena wayne story.

helena wayne was formerly robin (n52). helena bertinelli was never robin.

helena wayne has been a lawyer (pre-crisis). helena bertinelli is a schoolteacher (usually highschool + english).

helena wayne is biologically a member of the batfamily, being the daughter of batcat in an alternate reality.

i specifically biologically because i personally think both huntresses shouldn't be reduced to batfam characters, they're both very independent lone wolf types.

helena bertinelli is of italian-sicilian heritage and is born into the then most powerful mafia family in gotham.

helena bertinelli is explicitly stated to be catholic and her relationship with faith has been depicted several times in the comics.

helena bertinelli has a pet, a white cat named doug. helena wayne does not have a pet... yet. fingers crossed.

in the beast world tour comic series, helena bertinelli gets turned into a panther but helena wayne stays human the whole time (sadly).

in bombshells, helena bertinelli is the huntress that features.

helena bertinelli has never travelled to a different earth within a story like helena wayne has. helena bertinelli has AUs but they are usually pre-established and she's not a multiversal anomaly.

1) continuities:

pre-crisis: helena bertinelli does not exist at all.

post-crisis: helena wayne does not exist at all.

new 52: both exist. however, primarily helena wayne is huntress; helena bertinelli is mostly affiliated with spyral and being matron in this continuity.

post new 52: both are huntresses again, usually h.w with jsa and h.b with gotham.

2) character design:

this is helena wayne's pre-crisis huntress design, unlike the two's other suits throughout the ages, this suit has stayed consistent for her with a couple of exceptions:

in my opinion, other suits have gone through too many changes and variants for me to pinpoint them like "this is helena's main suit!" because comic artists take liberty, but i am confident about some minor details.

eye colours, hair, and skin tone, in my opinion, are not the most helpful factors. both of them have had every eye colour, hair style, and skin tone under the sun. they've both been depicted as ethnically ambiguous, with recent comics confirming them as women of colour.

although, primarily: helena wayne has blue eyes, helena bertinelli has brown eyes. but again, you never know!

helena wayne has never had an abs window in her suit. that's helena bertinelli's thing, especially in the birds of prey comics and subsequent stuff.

helena bertinelli tends to wear crosses religiously, well at least before n52. in my recollection, the only time helena wayne has done that is in catc, when she was again pretending to be miss bertinelli.

similarly, helena bertinelli is the one who tends to have touches of gold on her suit. helena wayne normally doesn't.

shoulder pads are another good indicator; helena wayne's the one who usually has them. helena bertinelli to my recollection probably only wore it once or twice?

helena wayne sometimes has a face scar especially in her newer designs, owing to an extreme injury she sustains in earth 2: society.

personalities:

it's hard to describe their canon personalities in a rigid way, since i think at the end of the day, the two share a lot of values and viewpoints.

one thing i would say is that usually, helena wayne tends to present as emotionally stable or even detached, while helena bertinelli tends to feel her emotions strongly.

nevertheless, they're both silly, they're both intense, and they're both morally grey.

3) analyse the background & the company:

see who they are interacting with and where! based on their friends and teammates, you can usually gauge which huntress this is. for example, helena wayne has never been a member of the birds of prey*

*however, helena wayne did team up with batgirl! barbara gordon and dinah lance briefly in batgirl (n52).

but nevertheless, conversations about birds of prey, including shipping, usually refer to helena bertinelli.

teams and affiliations:

helena wayne: justice society of america. infinity inc.

helena bertinelli: birds of prey. justice league. outsiders. has worked with batfamily several times.

batfamily:

on earth 0, helena wayne was seen having interactions with only bruce wayne and damian al ghul. she actually develops a sort of sibling-like bond with damian briefly!

outside of earth 2, helena wayne has interacted with dick grayson and thomas wayne besides, well, selina kyle and bruce wayne.

on earth 0, helena bertinelli has interacted with: stephanie brown, barbara gordon, kate kane, tim drake, cassandra cain, bruce wayne, nightwing, and by extension, selina kyle and harley quinn.

ships:

helena bertinelli's common ships: barbara gordon, dinah lance, zinda blake, renee montoya, vic sage, nightwing, and so on. there are rarepairs here and there, too. canonically, she's also had a fling with catman and arsenal.

helena wayne's common ships: karen starr aka power girl, and... yeah. i'm very much biased but i honestly don't think i've seen people ship her with other characters much. canonically, her love interests include this dudebro named harry sim and... earth 2 nightwing

*helena bertinelli did interact with karen starr briefly! however, this was purposeful: karen was missing her helena who was dead then, and was hoping to find something with miss b.

3) have a broad idea of the two's comic appearances:

i'm not asking you to read their entire catalogue of comics (however, it'd be a fun experience; besides, if you read even for just one of them, it'll help you figure out comic panels that do not belong), but you can have a brief idea of what comic series you may expect them in.

for example, helena bertinelli is the one who features in the no man's land era, battle of the cowl, hush, convergence, and so on.

helena bertinelli was the bat in nml.

helena wayne was batwoman in an elseworlds comic and batman in earth 2: society.

also, you can usually find the source of their comic panels via reverse image searches!

4) adaptations:

justice league: unlimited: helena bertinelli.

batman: the brave and the bold: helena bertinelli, even though she has pre-crisis helena wayne's suit...

the justice league: crisis on infinite earths trilogy: helena wayne.

the arkhamverse games: helena bertinelli.

birds of prey and the fantabulous emancipation of harley quinn: helena bertinelli.

birds of prey tv show: helena kyle, apparently.

the arrow show: dead to me. buried and rotting and burned and discarded and molding. that is NOT my huntress!!!

4) peer review:

don't be shy to ask!!! we have a small yet powerful community at huntress hive mind, and imo my helena mutuals have been very chill if you'd like to ask on your dash too 💜

5) other:

watch my dumbass video

if there's anything more i can help you with, please don't hesitate to reach out!!!

[vees-genshin-blog]

Halovian Ruby Rose in Teyvat

WARNING: Somewhat of a fanrant that probably makes no sense and is kind of delulu. You have been warned.

You ever have a character who is the center for most of your major fanfic ideas, the one you like to put through the wringer, the one you want the most happiness for, and the one you like to think about in a crossover with the newest anime you've watched/manga you've read?

Well, that character for me is Ruby Rose, from RWBY. The adorable, cookie and weapon loving, scythe using Huntress-in-training. Or technically Huntress now? I actually never got past Vol 5, but I've seen spoilers.

Anyway, so I've tried to imagine what Ruby in Teyvat would be like, but I could never come up with a concrete plot/idea for it. I tried exploring so many questions like: How would she get there? When would she get there? What season should I pull her from? And most importantly: How would she interact with the characters? Would she be particularly close to some than others? Would she learn something from them and develop further as a character?

I had so many questions and my mind couldn't really come up with anything so I abandoned this for now and stuck to my "Ruby is a dragon AU".

Then, when Sunday dropped as a playable character, my mind suddenly thought "What if Ruby was a Halovian?" and my brain clicked.

Putting aside potential story ideas, I just want to see Ruby as a Halovian. Because Ruby uses a scythe, she's associated a lot with reapers, so it'd be interesting to see her with a more "angelic" representation. Better yet, combine both!!

Storywise, it makes for a great bullied backstory!! Ruby is bullied (both emotionally and physically) or left out because of the wings behind her ears. They all see her as a mutated bird faunus. She learns at a young age to hide away her halo (which I think can be physically taken off since Robin did it in that one video) because it would make her even more weird, but it leaves her feeling incomplete.

Stuff happens and she ends up in Teyvat meets the Traveler first, but she spends a lot of time just, hiding away from everyone because she's scared of what they're going to think of her (she's technically an alien from another world) but because she's Ruby, she helps defend travelers from any monsters but uses her hood to hide her features.

(Actually would wearing a hood hurt her wings?)

More stuff happens (IDK yet), and with the help of the Traveler she gets enough courage to meet the other characters and she's immediately floored by how nice everyone is and BAM found family trope comes in because I'm a sucker for found family after being isolated and bullied as a child.

In the beginning, Ruby still hid her halo, but once she gets comfy with everyone she just shows up with it on her head, and the more logic-minded characters are just wondering how it stays on and follows her head, and she's just happy to not have to hide 🥹🥹

Also, because I'm a Childe simp, I want her and Childe to have somewhat of a sibling dynamic. 👍👍👍

This could even open the way for eventual HSR crossover so Ruby can learn more about herself.

Basically this all boils down to "I want to see Ruby a Halovian" "I want to see Ruby in Genshin" and "I want to see Ruby get found family in the form of Genshin characters".

Yeah I'm delulu.

[solitaireships]

writing patterns tag game

Rules: list the first line(s) of your last 10 posted fics and see if there's a pattern!

I got tagged by @comfortingstars to do this! idk who all of my mutuals write and I always feel awkward tagging people, so you're welcome to do this if you want!

Fics are under the cut!

🫀 “I think I love you” - James

Working out with James is always more fun for Helena than doing it alone. She’s never been big on exercising, only doing it because it’s a necessity to stay in shape with her job as a Huntress. While James and her focus on different kinds of things at Atlas Academy’s private gym— he’s more focused on strength training while she focuses on aerobics— the company is nice. 

✨ “you look… nice.”

Piera zips up the back of her dress, getting ready at Miguel’s apartment for an Alchemax party he was invited to. Normally she wouldn’t come to these— Alchemax doesn’t like the press being present, they're always nervous that a secret could leak and fall into one of their rival companies’ hands. But tonight she’s not going to be there on press business, instead coming as Miguel’s girlfriend and plus one.

Culture Reconnection

Helena doesn’t cook very often. It’s not that she’s a bad cook, but with her and Chae-Yeong both hating being in the kitchen with other people, Chae-Yeong tends to be the one to make dinner more often than not. Helena figures that with how much food they’ll need for tonight’s Seollal celebrations, though, she could handle the majority of the cooking. 

Honeymoon

Shepard hasn’t been to the beach in years. When Mark had suggested that as a honeymoon spot, she wasn’t sure about it. She’s always gotten hot easily, and she hates being around sand. But with the charges against Mark being lifted, he has more freedom now than he has in a long time. So when he said in their wedding planning that he wanted to go to the beach for their honeymoon, Shepard was happy to oblige.

let me in your atmosphere

Andromeda wakes up feeling more rested than she usually does. She’s never been a good sleeper— even when she was a child she’d often wake up in the middle of the night. But for the first time that she can remember, she realizes as she stirs awake that she doesn’t think she had any late night interruptions to her sleep. She slept soundly, and she thinks that she owes her unusually good rest to her girlfriend. 

baby you know i’m guilty

The hum of live orchestral music fills the Gotham Museum of the Arts, just loud enough to be heard over the chorus of people in attendance at this year’s annual auction. Alex tries to focus on the music instead of the people— it’s easier for her to process that than to try to filter through all the noise to listen to just one conversation. 

Untitled Investigative Minds Ficlet (CW: mentions of periods)

The first night of Shepard’s period is always the worst. It’s not unusual for her to wake up in the middle of the night feeling like her insides are tearing themselves apart— something that happened tonight at 3 in the morning. The time she spent in the bathroom barely helped with the pain and nausea, and the Advil she took hasn’t kicked into effect as she made her way back into bed. 

Marks

Shepard’s sitting in bed, waiting for Hoffman. Why he always takes so long getting ready for bed is beyond her, but she doesn’t mind waiting. It’s not like he gets a lot of space right now— that’s one of the many downsides of being on the government's most wanted list— so she’ll let him take whatever moments he wants. 

in the morning

The soft light of the morning seeps through the curtains of Alex and Bruce’s room. It wakes her up from her sleep, eyes only half focused as she blinks into awareness. 

Christmas Gifts

It’s been a long time since Christmas has made Alex as excited as she was when she was a kid. Maybe it was back when she stopped believing in Santa that the holiday felt less special, or maybe it’s just because she’s been so busy with life that it’s hard to slow down. But as Alex sits by the Christmas tree with Selina, it’s easier to remember the feeling of excitement from when she was a kid. 

I think the main pattern with all of them is I like to use my opening paragraphs to orient the reader to whatever is going on in the fic and give some context!

[arc-misadventures]

could a Kryptonian AU work with Jaune's mother Kara Danvers A.K.A Supergirl making Jaune and all his sisters half-Kryptonian. but being half-Kryptonian means their power is taking longer to develop with only the oldest sister having all the powers. Jaune himself only has super strength, stamina, and durability that is more than enough to get into beacon which everyone writes off as a semblance. it is also why he's not allowed to spar with people cause his super strength could very quickly kill someone even though Jaune always holds back against people, Grim not so much he killed the Giant Nevermore by throwing a Death Stalker at it.

I’m Super…! Something, IDK?

Ozpin: So… You defeated a a Nevermore, a big one at that, by throwing a Death Stalker at it.

Jaune: I was just throwing away the… arachnid…? I think Scorpions are arachnids… Anyway, I was just throwing the, Stalker away, I just so happened to hit the, Nevermore in the process. Wish I had that filmed, it was really cool…

Ozpin: I see… So then you ran to the spot where they landed, and made sure they were dead.

Jaune: Yeah, but they weren’t there when I went to check up on them. Just a giant crater, I think they escaped…

Ozpin: …

Ozpin: Evidently you need some understanding of Grimm… So, your mother is, Supergirl, A.K.A. Kara Danverse…

Jaune: Arc.

Ozpin: Excuse me?

Jaune: Arc, Mom’s name is, Kara Arc. She married my dad after all so now she’s, Kara Arc.

Ozpin: Acheius Arc? He’s your father?

Jaune: Yeah, Dad had a strong enough Aura, and semblance to handle mom, and her super powers. They went at it a lot… I have a lot of siblings because of that…

Ozpin: You didn’t need to share that with me…

Jaune: Ha! Tell that to my parents…

Ozpin: …

Jaune: …

Ozpin: Mr. Arc?

Jaune: Yes?

Ozpin: Do you have any plans for the future?

Jaune: No.

Ozpin: Then how would you like to attend, Beacon Academy?

Jaune: What’s that?

Ozpin: It’s a academy to train, Huntsman, and Huntresses to fight against the, Grimm.

Jaune: Cool.

Ozpin: Would you like to attend?

Jaune: …

Jaune: Mom, Ozpin is trying to make me go to a Hunter Academy… thingy…?

Ozpin: …

Ozpin: Mr. Arc? Your Mother isn’t…?

Jaune: Shh! Mom is talking.

Ozpin: Oh, yes: super hearing. I forgot Mrs. Arc had that ability.

Jaune: Mom, no, that’s not a good reason to join a school!

Ozpin: What reason is she talking about?

Jaune: She wants me to go to, Beacon to start a harem.

Ozpin: She wants you to what?!

Jaune: Grandbabies, Ozpin, I want lots of grandchildren. A Huntsman Academy is a good place to find… Mom?!

Ozpin: What did you mother say?

Jaune: ‘Woman with aura will be able to endure the sexual prowess of, Arc men. Perfect for…’ I’m not saying that, Mom…

Ozpin: Okay…? So would you attend, Beacon Academy.

Jaune: Well, ignoring, Mom’s comments… Sounds like fun! I have nothing else to do! So let’s go to school!

Ozpin: Very well. Glynda, can you come in now.

Glynda: Hello, Mr. Arc, my name is, Glynda Goodwitch. I knew your mother years ago, when I was a student. She was a great role, all be it a rather energetic, and eccentric person.

Jaune: Oh, hello! Eh…? You’re in your late twenties?

Glynda: How did you know that?

Jaune: Mom, she’s talking about you. Don’t know what your age has to do with anything. Eh? She wants me to tell you something…

Glynda: And, what is it that you want to tell me, Kara?

Jaune: Eh? That doesn’t make any sense? Alright, alright, I’ll tell her! Sheesh. ‘Tye fruit is ripe, and ready to harvest.’ The hell does that mean?

Glynda: Grrrr…!!! Kara, I know you see yourself as my surrogate mother, quit trying to make it a reality by hooking me up with your son!

Jaune: …

Ozpin: Is your mother always like this; trying to hook you up with woman?

Jaune: Shut up, Ozpin. You, and Salem are still are still stuck in the world’s greatest divorce case in history. Don’t you judge me on my romantic relationships.

Ozpin: How good is her hearing…?!

Jaune: You’re singing in the shower is atrocious.

Ozpin: She heard me?!

Jaune: We all did…

Ozpin: Oh no…

[thescribeoflostmemories]

The Hunter becomes the hunted

Yandere! Capitano x huntress(?) Reader 

Uh… I don't know what I was going for with this (not accurate, so I have to kinda go and just make it since this thing's rotting in my brain since my economics exam along with a few other fanfic/fic blogs to write, this'll be the last one and I'll make a bit more original ones in-between (probably..?) took heavy liberties so uh, might delete this when Natlan comes out or something.

Tw: graphic stuff, trying to murder, implied sexual themes at the end. And uh yeah if I miss anything just comment so I'll fix it., IDK if I should put 18+ warning here so better be safe than sorry folks!

Also, y'all are crazy. 100+ notes, wish I could hug you guys. 😘

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

Arte, that's what they call you. Sure, you're not as strong as the title given to you but there's no denying your prowess of such skill with the bow and arrow. Being the youngest in the family, it's easier to overlook your talents and place you on the sidelines.

You've enjoyed a quiet hunt by yourself. Your family knows of this and tries to encourage you to be stronger like your siblings… your parents, grandparents, well you get it. 

Rumors started around when you saved your sister from being wed to someone she didn't love, and she lacked the courage to brandish her blade to defend herself. So of course you've donned your garb, mask and weapons to 'eliminate' the suitor in a duel for her hand. Her lover too is at the side ready to swap places with you so pretend they’re 'Arte', then it was your brother's turn…  followed by distant relatives, countless people tried to ask for your help in avoiding their inevitable marriage to mess up their courting competition to every eligible adult available and swap out with the person the client intends to marry at the last second. Everyone's happy with it, afterall who would question the winner?

Well, that would be the case, except. Everyone's having their own competition for your hand in marriage, not knowing that you were the one foiling other's initial plans. So imagine the shock on their faces when you tell them you'll fight for your own freedom and expect Arte to show up and sweep you off your feet. There were multiple rounds, and each battle you came out victorious. Half of the suitors had fled once they realized how much of a beast a spouse you'd be.

You had fallen in love with a hydro vision holder, a law enforcer from Fountaine. Not a person of war but a master of the quill. Their words could bend mountains and find the undeniable speck of truth. 

With the finals closing in, your opponent turned out to be a gnarly man, his body riddled in battle scars. Toothless and bald even! It disgusts you to think of what he'll do to you if he wins.

The man favors raw strength, while you on the other hand are in need of swift and more tactical skills. And all it takes is to tire him out and strike where it hurts after numerous twists and turns and occasional cuts at his leg. Unknowing to the dark and cold eyes that are trained on your nimble body. 

You have to thank Murata that she had given you strength and wisdom to overcome the brainless suitor. "If this is the kind of suitors that people expect me to marry, I might as well wed to myself!" Grinning as you came out nearly unscathed, victory is in your grasp! 

"It would be rude to not include me, young miss." A person in armor announced his arrival. You are well aware of this person, if you are given a chance to give a description of the word abyss. It would surely be him by definition.

"Your timing is rather poor, sir knight. Unfortunately for you, I have won my own hand in marriage." You faced him, face determined to not be conquered by anyone.

" As long as there's still a suitor left, the competition for your hand is still available. Isn't that right?" It irked you that he's right, now that he's here your own victory is nulled.

"I am honored that one such as myself is considered someone of your status, however." Pointed your fletching at him. " It is unethical to participate in this time. Tomorrow dawn, sir knight." 

And that was the first vow made, the last hurdle to challenge your fate. It was night, you were praying feverishly for every archon to help guide you in your journey as a last ditch in assurance. That man is not to be trifled with, who has the strength of probably more than ten. And you know this, you may only have a sliver of a chance to get out of this. But you swore to yourself that you will be unconquered and unrelenting as the howls of the fearsome storms that haunt the calm and still-ly days of yore.

At the same location, early dawn. The skies merely darken, fitting for a time of battle. In this location, you have prepared all obstacles to merely disable him and strike to end all of this charade. Legs furtively ran through nature in hopes to catch the black knight off guard. Arrows flew in all directions, in an effort to slow him down. 

One mighty swing of his claymore to cut the futile attempt at harming him. You only cursed yourself at your lack of preparations. The rain's pitter patter turned heavy and made your clothes clung to your body. 

The gallant man slowly closed in on you, seemingly to take a moment to savor what view he could. For a man with few words, it sickens you for feeling his eyes undressing you, yet it was hard to read his thoughts with his helmet on. 

His claymore clashed against your steel bow, it doesn't feel like he's taking you seriously. More like toying with you that's for sure! The skirmish lasted for who knows how long. Heavy breaths from you and the sound of metal on metal can be heard for miles. He's enjoying it, every second of it.

A flash of light had taken you in a daze with how bright it was and he managed to scratch your eye. The searing pain caused you to scream, writhing in pain, thunder howls along with you. It was the first time you had been injured during the 'hunt'. Blood seeps out of its fleshy prison and down to your cheek, staining the ground.

You snarled at him as you disregard the weapons on hand, a flash of light signaled for the clap of thunder. Feeling the electricity coursing through you, and threw your fist at his helm as vengeance. Causing him to collapse to the ground from the shocking experience. 

Time felt like it stood still. No movement was made, you won. You finally won, laughing freely at your new found freedom. Facing away from the stunned man and at the skies thanking them, the archons. Especially Murata, your beloved pyro archon and the Electro archon for their assistance in your road to freedom. Head got lighter from the blood loss, but you didn't care for that anymore. Standing a few feet away from him, relishing this greatest victory for you. At your feet is the electro vision, a prize that would forever change you. 

Indeed, it is. The long, black haired man grabs your leg, forcing you to the ground clawing the earth as it leaves trails of resistance. He forced you to look at him, back against the cold ground, your hands pinned above your head.  "You.. lost!" Anger seethed through your teeth.

He's so titanous compared to you. " That's what you wanted, but only a child could win so prematurely." He taunted with his baritone voice, laughing at your silly notion of winning.

" You sly bastard, unhand me!" You yelled, trying to wiggle your way out under him, his leg preventing you from moving. It only excites him, gaining a soft chuckle from the one topping you. 

"You're quite adorable like this." With his free hand, ignoring the blood he smeared, caressing your cheek so lovingly, as if he had been dreaming of this moment long ago. "I finally have you within my reach…" he was saying something but with the amount of blood having spilled from your eye similarly to a tear continuously falling. A weak, pitiful cry left your lips as you kept thrashing under him. The pulsating pain filled your head, lulling you to sleep, loud ringing in your ear and as the world blurs into one all you saw is him, your soon to be husband. 

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

Capitano had been obsessing on you since his first witness to a 'contest' from one of your recent clients. He had an agent gather information about you to at first recruit you for your finesse. Next thing he knew, he's falling for you. You don't know how delighted he is when he finds out a contest is being held for your hand. He nearly had everything planned out. Well almost perfectly… 

Once pristine face, now scarred by him. A mark that no doubt you’ll wear proudly on of these days. No one had the guts to help you, even when you aided them when they needed it. So here you are after the ceremony in your cold, dreary, shared chamber with your monstrous husband. Not many people attended the wedding, or perhaps they were warned to stay away from you. 

Your older brother tried to take you back. But was given seven scars, one scar for each time he tried to get you back by your menacing fiancé for going against the rules. None would want to summon the ire of the harbinger of the cryo archon so they left you be, knowing how strong you are. 

"My dear dove." He called out, slowly getting closer. When he's leaning in, merely a shy away. Holding tightly on to the ceremonial dagger tucked between the folds of the garb. Obliging him in a kiss, his tongue forcefully went past your lips abusing and possibly bruising your small mouth. His hand caught yours that was about to strike him at the back. Deepening his kiss until your back touches the king size mattress. 

Capitano pulls away, after leaving you breathless, "It should be the other way around, are you that eager?" He teased, taking in the moment before enjoying you on your first night together. 

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

Part 1 complete!

Part 2:

[theseerasures]

why do you think Jacques had Weiss and Winter given martial training? In the later volumes it seems like he views Weiss going to Beacon as a waste of time that he was indulging, and the wiki states that Winter wasn't disowned for going to Atlas, but for joining the military. Since he lost control of Winter so effectively, I find it odd that he even entertained the idea Beacon. The Arma Gigas was supposed to be his 'no' but he could've just actually told Weiss no? Or cut off her training? idk

i’ve always seen it as something he didn’t really want but tacitly allowed bc he thought he could spin it into something advantageous

Huntresses have cultural cachet that normies don’t in Remnant, particularly in Atlas. the idea that his heirs would want to be trained as Huntresses is good press for SDC because it paints the company as being invested in altruism and action, in a similar vein to how Royal Family members are expected to serve stints in the military

the Academy is...basically boarding school, so a good way to get your kids out of your hair, especially if they've been kinda unruly. also a good way to instill some "discipline" into them! especially if, say, they won't be THAT far from home and you've been buds with the headmaster for years and can probably leverage him to mold your kids towards certain directions you want them to take

he would obviously be much more against Beacon because Beacon is an unknown quantity, but i think that's why the Arma Gigas test: he wanted something incredibly flashy that would knock Weiss down a peg physically and emotionally, so it wasn't enough that she be beaten--she had to feel humiliated. but because he invested so much in what was supposed to be a no-win situation when Weiss actually won he...couldn't go back on his word without sacrificing his own image. Jacques isn't interested in fairness, but he IS interested in the veneer of it, because it's a great alibi for abusing his kids (especially given the implications that he had been much, uh, firmer with Winter when push came to shove). the plan was to concede in the moment and slowly wear Weiss down to coming home, but then...well. everything else happened.

[havendance]

I love your Helena and Bruce role swap au but I hope Bruce still adopts someone or has Damian because I need him to still be a dilf

Fair enough!

The simplest way to do this would be to give James Cooper, Helena’s canonical child from the 1989 series. Bruce Wayne now has to deal with a child prodigy orphan kid! It’s right up his alley.

However James basically disappears from canon after that, so I’m largely ignoring him in this AU, but you could definitely have a version of it where he sticks around. Bruce begins to raise a child to fight crime :)

Part of me is inclined to give Bruce Damian in this AU. I’ve been mainly focusing on dick-jason-early tim eras of comics, so I haven’t given much thought to Damian yet. He meets Talia somehow, ends up with a young assassin son. Bruce doesn’t have his no-killing code in this AU since he’s filling the Huntress role, so seeing the contrast in how he raises Damian could be interesting.

Of course, the thing about this AU, is that Helena met Talia while she was with training with the league and the two formed a deep undefinable bond. So if Talia shows up with Bruce’s kid then Helena’s totally going to be like ‘You slept with Bruce? That punk kid my son’s age? wtf?’ (Dick and Bruce are roughly the same age in this au).

Actually, wait, I really like this idea: Damian’s other parent isn’t Helena (through vague comic psuedo-science) or Bruce. It’s someone else, it doesn’t really matter (I know Ra’s was trying to marry Talia off to Bane at one point, idk). But Talia shows up with this baby on Helena’s doorstep, like ‘I can’t raise this child in the league. I’m entrusting my son to you because I know that you’ll be better to give him a better life than I could. Take care of him’ and now Helena has a new son!

(Jason’s dead. Helena’s mourning and now she has a baby to take of. The son of one of her closest friends except no one can ever know that child is anyone other than her’s by a mysterious father because if they do then Damian will be in danger. The press is having a field day and when Tim shows up at Haley’s circus he gets roped into babysitting.)

ahhh, I’m sorry. I realize I’ve ended up back with Bruce childless. I just find Bruce in this sort of young punk, childless state to be a really fascinating part of this AU for me. Feel free to come up with your own take that does have him ending up with kids though! I by no means hold the monopoly on Bruce-Helena role swaps. (In fact I would love it more people came up with them 😊)

[rubyinasnuggie]

“in summer’s case, she was purposefully trying to distance herself from the SEW side of her family” then why did she choose to be a huntress? Does she feel ashamed of being born a SEW and was worried for Ruby’s fate as a fellow SEW? A lot of questions regarding your Summer now!

it's honestly out of practical concern, and it was originally her mother's idea after her father vanished

other families with long legacies of SEWs (like the Calaveras) were being wiped out. while Quinn (her father's last name that i might change but idk yet ) isn't a name with a long legacy, she knew sharing his name meant whoever hunted and killed him would only have an easier time finding Summer

so they changed their name to Rose and moved to Patch

i talked a bit in a previous ask, but Summer became a huntress because her mother, hoping to teach her to protect herself, taught her how to fight, and huntsman training was a natural progression of that

Summer thought, as long as she didn't broadcast her silver eyes, she would be safe and be able to fight off anyone trying to hunt her, but she was too good of a huntress and was unfortunately roped into the war against Salem

[onewomancitadel]

Right, i think my only problem with her whole backstory is honestly Rhodes.

He sees her being abused and decides the best course of action is to teach someone who’s being abused and clearly has emotional issues how to freakin fight. He also then pulls his weapons on HER in the end after everything.

Idk man. Just seems wack to me

Per a follow-up ask you mentioned it's just because you really don't get Rhodes' character, so I'm going to expand on my answer here in a post.

Rhodes is the most realistic part of Cinder's Cinderella/Rhodopis backstory. It is entirely believable to me that a bad fairy godfather decides the path he took is entirely acceptable for her to take as the way out when she was of age, because it comes with boarding and meals, just like her place at Madame's (and this is a world of Huntsmen and Huntresses). He had no responsibility to her, he wasn't her guardian, if anything she should've been grateful he gave her anything at all.

I mean, he came in and checked on her and trained her, that's really going above and beyond. He could've just walked past her like everybody else, right?

If she wastes her gift on killing Madame and the sisters then of course he has to put her down.

You know, if Cinder had just behaved better Madame probably wouldn't have tortured her as much. I mean, even if she didn't do her job perfectly she got hurt, but she could've just tried harder. Actually, it wasn't like it was all day everyday, right? If it were so bad, Cinder should've just figured out a way to leave sooner anyway, rather than turn on her masters.

Rhodes really embodies the attitude of characters like Ironwood which care about the 'bigger picture' and forcing other people to make sacrifices for him. The treatment of Mantle - I mean, we're trying to help them - is about the same as Cinder and it's not a coincidence all that stuff is explored at the same time.

Rhodes can't realistically threaten his job to help Cinder beyond what he's doing, right? He's already doing more than enough for her. Everybody has to suffer a little. He couldn't very well take her with him. Besides, he could not care for her.

That's all really contrasted against the main cast who are willing to risk everything to do the right thing and to extend understanding and compassion. Cinder didn't deserve one little bit of what she went through and she deserved somebody who would've risked everything to help her. No matter who she was, she deserved it.

Rhodes is really realistic, and probably my favourite dash of realism to the fairytales in the show. Ultimately, I think the magical good fairytale endings will come into play - and it makes so much sense for Cinder - but I really enjoy that characterisation and that cynicism. It's so clever to make one of your main villainesses a product of deadened fairytale storytelling, and you have to reinspire vigour and belief into it.

That's why you need a good, compassionate Huntsman Prince Charming straight out of a fairytale, who might be a little silly but is ultimately more powerful and better than a Huntsman like Rhodes.

I've known many people like Rhodes and I've heard all of this stuff before, and the deftness with which that's woven into her backstory is probably one of my favourite things. Even back in V5 she was using a weapon like Rhodes gave her when she was fighting Jaune, which means they were thinking about this and seeding it.

Her backstory was everything I wanted and more, and I love that the answer is actually realising true fairytale magic and belief in good things.

[itsclydebitches]

After reading the Roman Holiday preview... *long sigh*. Why is domestic abuse the go-to tragic backstory for rwby villains? And why is it always more than what our heroes have to deal with? Weiss was abused by her father but was able to escape to Beacon. Meanwhile, Cinder was a literal slave and was alone after killing her abusive family and Rhodes. What is going on!?

My guess is it's the subconscious belief that good people are born of good circumstances and bad people are born of bad circumstances. There are obviously some exceptions like Weiss and Qrow, but notably both of them had significant figures in their life who helped lead them down better paths: Winter and Ozpin. And, as you say, they both had the opportunity to go to Beacon, an escape from their living situations and the chance to be surrounded by more people/opportunities. There's potentially a message here about people flourishing when given external support (hey there, Good Place), but RWBY makes it far more about immediate circumstances than it does working to change over time:

Ruby has an adoring father and a mother who, while dead, also greatly loved her. Ruby is good.

Yang has a mother who abandoned her, but an adoring father and a an adoptive "Super Mom." Yang is good.

Blake was in an abusive relationship, but also has two parents who adore her and, despite the fandom's frustration with storytelling logistics like, "Why didn't they go find her after she left?" (because they weren't a part of the story then), they're presented as good people. Blake too is good.

Weiss has an abusive father and an alcoholic mother, but crucially an older sister who acts like a mother figure. Weiss is good.

Weiss becomes that good figure for Whitley. Whitley is now good.

Winter started this movement, so who was her good, supportive figure? Ironwood. Ironwood who welcomed her into the military, seems to have acted as a father figure, and became a respected peer. By the time Ironwood is made bad, Winter is already considered a hero by the narrative (despite the moral inconsistencies there), so it's fine.

Ren has a loving mother and father who die for him. Ren is good.

Nora is an orphan, but at a very young age gets Ren. Nora is good.

Jaune presumably has loving parents and seven sisters, one of whom we say doting on him with his extended family. Jaune is good.

Pyrrha presumably had a loving mother who visits her statue. Pyrrha is good.

Penny is a literal military weapon, but has a loving father. Penny is good.

Salem was locked in a tower by her father. Salem is bad (even before the grimm pool).

Cinder was a child slave and though she had Rhodes similar to how Weiss had Winter, her backstory arrives eight years late, after we know she becomes a villain. So Cinder is bad.

Adam was also a slave and, regardless of whether it was truly an accident or not, was branded with the logo of his abusers. Adam is bad.

Mercury seems to have just had an abusive father. Mercury is bad.

Emerald's family either died with her having no one to turn to (unlike Nora), or they abandoned her. Emerald is bad. Until the plot shuffles her into the heroic group. Then she's good. Emerald doesn't do something to become a part of that group, she's moved to the group first and then is seen as good.

Neo seems to have had abusive parents. Neo is bad.

Tyrian we don't know much about, but we do know he was already a killer before Salem. What little we've got of his backstory doesn't seem good. So Tyrian is bad.

We're given no information about Ironwood's backstory. Ironwood is good and then quickly becomes bad.

And Ozpin's stuff is such a mess it's unclear what the story even thinks of him at this point. That's a whole other post lol.

As said, there's some nugget of decent writing here in the form of unpacking the idea that people are more likely to make good decisions when given the opportunity and encouragement to do so, as well as the emotional support need to develop that moral compass and believe in yourself enough to follow it... but it's buried under RWBY's black and white worldview, the same worldview that's hurting the other, morally driven aspects of the story. We're not really shown instances in which characters who had everything still do terrible things, nor do we see characters who go through comparatively horrific circumstances and still do the right thing. The good people, while still going through horrible things, have benefits that the villains don't — Weiss' loving sister and wealth compared to Cinder's slavery and part-time visitor, for example — and the villains' experiences overall tend to be, well, more shocking in some respects. Lost legs, a shock collar, a brand, literal slavery, all happening at that formative young age... compare that to the heroes' struggles that, as said, are mitigated by some other good, or happen later in life after they're already established as good people. Blake is already trying to help the faunus when she enters a relationship with Adam (and is said to be mislead. Unlike villains Adam, Sianna, and Iilia, heroes Blake and Sun perform the "correct" kind of activism). Yang is already training to be a huntress when she loses her arm. Oscar is already fighting Salem when he's tortured, etc. We could include Ironwood's turn here too, regarding the shock value. Yeah, everyone is going through horrible stuff in Volume 7 and 8, but only Ironwood had the skin and muscle of his arm stripped off, resulting in a complete loss of the limb. And unlike Yang who was taken home, supported, and given months to recuperate, Ironwood is tossed back into a war with 8+ of his former allies now fighting against him. So RT literally says, "Of course he's bad now," except the argument is this ableist (and, given Yang, contradictory) idea that losing the arm made him bad, rather than the idea that abandoning someone during the worst moment of their life is going to leave them floundering — because that would put at least some of the blame on the heroes. And, as said, the morality is so black and white that there's no room for that nuance. It's not a matter of excusing the villains' actions, but rather examining how they came about and, if we're meant to feel sympathy, tying that to their good traits. Emerald's supposedly "kind" comment comes when she's helping Cinder destroy Beacon. Raven cries while she's deliberately allowing her daughter to be Salem's target instead of herself. Cinder cries because she hasn't successfully killed our heroes and gotten the amount of power she's after. Hazel mourns his sister while trying to kill a 14yo. These are all the WORST times to try and get the audience to feel for the bad guy. The story doesn't acknowledge that horrific circumstances can lead to bad decisions, but that people who commit bad - even truly horrific - acts can still do good in the future, or even do some good alongside the bad, the story says that these circumstances automatically lead to bad people and that you should feel bad for them despite what they've done. If Cinder cried because being in Atlas had triggered the worst memories of her life, that's an avenue towards seeing your villain as a complex human. Having Cinder cry because Watts points out what a shit job she's done at being The Worst Person Ever and expecting the audience to feel bad that Cinder has failed to, idk, take over the world or whatever is... stupid.

Honestly, it feels like another example of how RWBY is very much a simplistic fairy tale, no matter how much the characters insist its not. If you're good, you're good and if you're bad, you're bad. There's no middle ground, leaving characters like Ozpin and Ironwood to be abandoned and Ilia, Hazel, and Emerald forgiven the moment they switch from one side to the other. Now toss in the question of how people become good or bad and, well, surely good people lead good lives and bad people lead bad lives, right? So all you need to do is give your bad characters horrific, abusive, shockingly violent backstories while your good characters have, if not completely stable homes or perfect lives, at least a lot more than what the villains seem to have gotten. And the story isn't interested in acknowledging that motivation and morality aren't that simplistic. It can be offensive on its own, this theme of abused children becoming crazed murderers, but even when you try to follow that logic with something like, "Hey, Weiss our abused hero is threatening a defenseless minor to get what she wants, along with everything else the group as a whole has done. Is that something the story is going to unpack if you honestly believe these circumstances produce bad people?" the answer is always no. Because Weiss is Good™ and there's no interest in grappling with any storyline that might undermine that.

[misstrashchan]

RWBY V8 CH12 Initial Thoughts:

Yes yes I'm late watching the new episode don't look at me. Also @tumblezwei thank you thank you for showing me how to put the read more bit on posts, I can finally put it to good use.

Figured I might as well do a reaction/initial thoughts to this episode since I haven't done that in a while, so here goes:

- Man Ironwood is just. Super overcompensating with his Gun-gun.

"You've done the right thing."

"I have. Feels weird"

-I'M SORRY THAT WAS THE BEST LINE OF THE EPISODE HANDS DOWN. Just. The sass. The growth. Kicking Ironwood in the face while cuffed (does she have experience doing that? Fighting while arrested? It kinda looked similar to Mercury's fighting style too.) EMERALD I LOVE YOU.

- Ngl I feel extremely satisfied that we can finally FINALLY put the "Winter is Totally Going To Be A Villain" theory to bed after this episode. Not that I didn't used to see the appeal of it myself, but v8 made it increasingly clear that wasn't where her arc was headed. Also Schneebling reunion on the horizon? Pretty please???

- *Sees Oscar riding on the Chimera summon with Winter*

*Remembers Oscar riding with Yang on the hoverbike in episode 2*

My Snowpines/Rosegarden shipping ass: Gee Oscar, how come you get TWO big sister-in-laws?

- Small thing but it's always nice to see team ALPN fighting together. I know a few Oscar fans were freaking out about Penny potentially replacing Oscar as their teammate, but like I thought that wasn't really something to worry about. *gently bonks Oscar fanbase* Sillies.

- I'm a little suprised given how Ironwood is the Big Bad of the Atlas arc how quickly he went down, without much dramatic flair or further esculation, but I am so glad Winter got that last awesome shot on him. (and that Oscar managed to get a few jabs in too) And like. He's still alive in jail. So who the hell knows what we're gonna do with him now. Take him to Vacuo along with Jaques apparently. I'm sure that'll go greeeeaaat.

- Ambrosius... after a quick google search the name apparently means "Divine" or "Immortal" in Greek. Hm. Unlike Jinn, not a specific reference to a mythical being, at least not in name, but I'm sure people are already theorizing on that front better than I could. Similar blue/gold design too. So maybe they're all Djinns in a sense, since they grant your desires, but split into four focusing on a specific kind of desire? That works. Anyways, super fun character and I hope they make more use of him. Like, because I wanna see more of his personality and also Oh my Gosh the Things You Can Do With His Powers are Basically Limitless as long as you're smart about it (hint hint get the CCT active around Remnant but Better)

- And gosh were our girls smart. Weiss working with Whitley to get the schematics and coordinates for the exact points of evacuation that they had originally planned out for their ships to create portals to the Vault/Central Zone (?) to Vacuo, Ruby puting in careful thought and wording about creating a copy of Penny with the existing robot parts from her to let the girl who was always there underneath remain and leaving the copy with the virus to self destruct, with Penny's designs for reference, they absolutely did their homework. Of course there was the risk of if Penny could exist without that physical form, but of course they all believed in her.

- Self destructing Not!Penny crawling towards the real Penny is super creepy and hopefully something she doesn't have nightmares about

- Of course the first thing Penny does when she realises she's a Real Girl is hug everyone so she can experience the joy of Real Normal Warm Hugs.

"Are hugs always this warm?"

"Yes, Penny"

"Woooow"

-MY HEART. No actually back up, back up, the Nuts and Dolts shipper in me is singing rn, because all the times Penny has been hugged by Ruby this volume and only now is she actually able to actually feel that hug. Like, the sentiment and emotional support of it was always there and obviously appreciated by her before, but like. Now she can FEEL it.

- I'm super happy for Penny and seeing her back to her cheerful adorable self is Delightful, but at the same time I'm now really worried for her too. She doesn't have to worry about the virus anymore, now she's a regular meat person, but here's the thing. She's a regular meat person. No more rocket boots. No more lasers. No more in built swords attached to her body with strings. No more resistance to harsher elements. No more night vision. Obviously she's still the Winter Maiden, so she's still a force to be reckoned with, and she has RWBY with her, but she's still a rookie maiden that is massively vulnerable right now. She's vulnerable in her new human form to anyone coming after her. And like. Things just feel like they're going too smoothly...

- Speaking of, hello hello my ominous darling Cinder. Just like last volume, when things seem to be going too smoothly, there you are. So Watts cut off Jaune's broadcast and all other communications in the kingdom, and I'm guessing Cinder's jumping in those portal spaces with Neo to come after Ruby and Penny? That along with the "Do Not Fall" warning seems... yeah something's gonna go terribly wrong by the end of this volume. Salem, Ironwood, Mantle, Penny... All these loose ends are just being dealt with so quickly and neatly for me to be fully comfortable.

- tfw you've read Before the Dawn and know that Vacuo was already struggling with refugees coming in since Atlas had closed its borders, Vale was overrun with Grimm, and Mistral had its defences spread thin already being the widest reaching kingdom, along with Leo, Hazel and Tyrian denting it even further in offing all the huntsman and huntresses, and Vacuo's people are already pretty stingy with outsiders, and if there are thousands coming from the kingdom that closed it's borders and ordered an dust embargo... oh boi the Vacuo arc is gonna be a doozy.

- I know it's probably too close to Atlas and therefore Salem, and we need a convenient way to segue into the Vacuo arc, but couldn't Argus have been an option for the portal evacuation? At least, as well as Vacuo?

- OH FUCK YEAH I FORGOT THEY MENTIONED THE WRITERS SAID V9 WAS GONNA BE A DETOUR AND WASN'T JUST GOING TO BE JUMPING STRAIGHT TO VACUO. So like. Are they gonna get lost in a void of time and space? Are they going to jump through time by accident? Or just in space? Both? If you fall do you just end up randomly in the middle of the desert, far from Vacuo? And v9 is just going to be RWBY trekking through the desert? Similar to v6 after the train crash? So many questions.

-Hmm. Torn between Cinder going after Penny/Ruby with Neo in the vault space, or potentially being confronted by ALPN+Emerald... JNR+Emerald seems more narratively fitting, but Neo seems deadset on her and Cinder killing to Ruby...

- I wonder if Qrow is gonna confront Ironwood while he's in jail... Role reversal of the start of the volume. Or maybe he's just going to consider it worth his time.

-Taking all the established Atlas characters right with us into the Vacuo arc seems like it's going to be... A Lot. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if team RWBY really did end up jumping in time in V9 to fast forward on the two city populations integrating with one another, like maybe by a few months? Idk I'm just spitballing. Initial thoughts and all.

- Last point but the hooded cowl is such a great look on Cinder. Love it.

[emersondarling]

(Very Incomplete) Assclass Fanfic Ideas That I Daydream Ab But Cannot Write: Part 1

Some are kinda generic and some themes/AU's aren't exactly original lol but I think ab them all the time soooo here ya go hehe

Oh also I'm not rly writing? it's more my ideas in somewhat short headcanon form ahhhh sorry to disappoint

(If someone actually decides to write any of these, or something similar, please like message or tag me because I'd love to read them ahhh)

•••

1. Red String of Fate AU

-Y'all know this trope right

-Like you and your soulmate at connected by a red string that can be tangled and tied but never breaks

-(You can only see your own, not anyone else's)

-So basically, Karasuma never had one

-He hasn't all his life so love never interested him

-Then he starts at teaching E class

-He meets Irina, she doesn't have a soulmate either

-Why? Because he was one of her assassination targets

-Halfway through the year, the principal comes to visit again to see how E class is 'progressing'

-Karasuma gets a major migraine and goes home early

-He wakes up the next day

-He looks down at his hands

-Not one, but two red strings are attached to his pinky fingers, one on each hand

-He's very confused

-He goes to school and climbs up the mountain, noting how one string goes into the main building and one goes up the mountain

-That must mean Irina is a soulmate

-(Or korosensei but he wouldn't bet on that)

-When they meet in the teacher's lounge, neither knows what happened

-But Karamsuma isn't complaining, he supposes, maybe having a soulmate would be...more interesting?

-Until, the principal makes his way to the top of the mountain

-Karasuma is training, as usual

-Gakuhou says his name and he turns

-Karasuma freezes as the hand Gakuhou is holding up is connected to his

-E class is just looking at the interaction with interest

2. Hanahaki Disease AU

-Maehara has it

-Thinks it's ironic that he, a playboy, is coughing up flower petals

-He likes Isogai obv

-The flowers are either the color of Isogai's eyes or have a special meaning (idk which one but maybe both)

-He thinks Isogai likes Kataoka because they hang outside of their duties as class representatives

-Really, Isogai just trying to help Kataoka get with Kayano

-Lots of angstttt and a sad Maehara

-Idk the ending but hopefully it's fluffy

3. 5 Times Karma and Nagisa set up dates (+ 1 Time When a Date was set up for them)

-Karma setting up dates in the weirdest ways for 5 different couples because he's bored

-Nagisa tiredly supervising because if Karma gets his way then the world would be on fire

-At the end, the 5 couples (who knew Karma set them up, he wasn't discreet at all) come together and set him and Nagisa up

4. 5 Times Ren Kisses Gakushuu (+ 1 Time Gakushuu Kisses Ren)

-Ren kisses Gakushuu 5 times secretly

-(they are dating in secret cause of Gakuhou)

-Gakushuu kisses Ren at the graduation ceremony in front of everyone and basically comes out

-very fluffy cause i like fluff

-(Bisexual Gakushuu, Pansexual? Ren)

5. Asano Assassination Attempt

-Okay but like, can we have both Asano's trying an assassination attempt?

-How amazing would that be like holy shit

-One day Gakuhou just walks up the mountain to pay korosensei a visit

-He gets korosensei all panicky with a puzzle

-Then he goes in for the kill

-Korosensei is dodging him and then -Gakushuu fucking swings in through the window, knife ablaze

-Korosensei is like more panicky and very surprised that Gakushuu is there

-The two Asanos get most of the tentacles but not enough to kill him

-Then they both leave while insulting each other

-Class E is just like wtf just happened

6. Never Have I Ever

-Basically, during their break at school, A class plays never have I ever in an empty classroom

-Gakushuu, of course, does not want to play

-They ask him anyways and he plays

-(Note: he was physically dragged to the game by the rest of the virtuosos)

-Most of the questions were common like "never have I ever been out of the country"

-(Seo shut up no one cares about LA)

-or "never have I ever failed a test"

-(Of course Gakushuu doesn't drink)

-(They're drinking water cause they'd die if the principal walked in with them getting drunk)

-Then one boy asks "never have I ever had my first kiss"

-Surprisingly, Gakushuu takes a sip of water

-Unfortunately, that's when the principal walks in

-He then dedicates his time to find out who it was and how painful their death should be

-(Anyone y'all ship with Gakushuu can go w/ this one haha) (I had Ren cause it's hilarious when he's freaked out)

7. Ren + 4 Thiefs

-The four virtuosos stealing Ren's clothes

-He's taller than all of them so his clothes are the biggest and most comfortable

-They've been doing it for a while and

-Ren is fed up

-That's the fic haha

8. AssClass/RWBY Crossover AU

-Takes place in the ass class universe

-E class is still trying to kill korosensei

-A class is also hiding a secret, they are huntresses and huntsmen in training

-They train to kill grim, which (in this AU) only come out at night because they are made of pure darkness

-They can detect grim when a crystal they are wearing around their neck glows

-The crystals are made of pure light and so attract the grim

-Then a powerful grim attacks in broad daylight on the mountain

-A class kills the grim, getting there by someone opening a portal/rip with their semblance

-They try and figure out why the grim was able to stand the sunlight and why he decided to attack e class

-E class was just staring at them arguing

-Idk that's all I have

-This is one of my favorites tho

•••

Okay that's my first post of this? I may post a second one when I'm not overloaded with school work. Hopefully this was alright ahh

(To anyone who's a writer: please?)

Edit: How...how did this get so many likes/rbs 🥺 you guys are amazing ahh

[anretoga]

At midnight, team RWBY couldn’t sleep because...

Yang: ...Are you guys awake?

Blake: Yes, I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep.

Weiss: Me neither.

Yang: Yeah It’s crazy how everything happened so fast. We’re re huntresses now and have missions that take my breath away...but I’m not tired. The excitement of knowing how my next mission will be tomorrow, doesn’t let me sleep.

Blake: I wouldn’t agree more. Even we’re improving thanks to the Ace ops and your sister is training you also right Weiss?

Weiss: Yes, even if she doesn’t express it I know that she is impressed at my improvements! I missed her so much!… Ruby are you listening to us?

Ruby: *muttering* who would sleep with the noise you make

Weiss: Hey! I heard that!

Yang: *chuckles* What about you Ruby? I heard you had a mission, how was it? I guess It was exciting

Ruby: Yeah... also I saw something I didn’t realise before… but it’s complicated idk if you-

Blake: -Don’t worry we had all night

Yang: Yeah we’re all ears

Ruby: *sighs* I warned you (gets out of her bed)

Say there’s this person you pass in the hall every day

You’ve known him before Beacon’s fall

You’re used to thinking about him in a certain way

From the persona that he displayed

And then something changes …and he changes…

WBY looking to each other confused

From a guy that you’d never be into, into a guy that you’d kinda be into

From a guy that I’d never be into, into a guy that I’d kinda be into

Is he worth it?

Team RWBY~ …Is he?

Blake: Is she talking about …you know…him?

Weiss: Of course not!

Yang: I even don’t know …we should let her finish.

Ruby: Say there’s this person that you thought that you knew that well

Nora: (listening from the other room) *groaning* she’s going to get a punch!

Ruby: You though that he was a dork but now you can tell he’s gone~

From a guy that you’d never be into, into a guy that you’d kinda be into

From a guy that I’d never be into, into a guy that I’d kinda be into

Is he worth it?

Team RWBY~

Nora: Shut up please Ruby!

Ruby: (lowering her voice)

I’ve been always be kind to the people around me~

Except when I hang out with him

There are so many changes that I’m going through

And why I’m telling this to you?…

Guess there’s a part of me that wants to *smile*

WBY: *gasp*

I guess a part of me wants to, who knew

I guess a part of me likes to talk to him

I guess a part of me likes to who knew~

I guess a part of me likes to sit with him

I guess a part of me likes to who knew~

I guess a part of me!-

Nora: Shhh!

Ruby: (lowering her voice and heading to her bed)

-back to lay on my bed…I know that is weird but it’s totally true

WBY: The guy that you’d kinda be into…

Ruby: Yeah

RWBY: The guy that I’d(you’d) kinda be into

Ruby: is~~-(Nora breaks the door)

Ruby: Ren?! (Ren tried to stop Nora but he couldn’t)

Nora: AHHHH!

Next day

Yang: Ruby wake up!

Ruby: *groans* 5 minutes more…

Yang: I’m glad you’re fine, did you remember what happened last night?

Ruby: What are you talking about? The usual, I arrived from a mission and then I went to sleep.

Yang: What? But-

Ruby: *groans* Yesterday’s mission was exhausting! so if you don’t mind I want to sleep more! (turns her back)

Blake: *whispering* Yang I don’t think it’s a good idea to remind her what happened.

Yang: *whispering* but I want to know who is him…

Weiss: You’re clueless don’t you? It’s kinda obvious.

Yang: Maybe but I just want to make sure.

Blake: Let’s leave her alone maybe she needs to sleep more after the hit she received.

Yang: … Fine

(heading to the door)

Weiss: who would have believed these two dorks would end up together.

Yang: *grins* I remember you denied when Blake was referring to him.

Weiss: oh shut up!

[maskyartist]

fuck it, lets talk about some Silver Eyed Warrior!Roman cause lord knows i need some comfort character content in this place.

- for one, Roman DOES know stories about people with Silver Eyes. an older lady in Mantle would tell him about their magic and strength and abilities when he went shopping at her bakery for bread n such. he just never believed a single word of it.

- magic? miracles? that’s for desperate people. and Roman isnt desperate. he can take care of himself just fine, with or without magical eyes.

- he dove deeper into this disbelief when he went half blind in a nasty accident involving his first real crime in stealing large crates of Dust, when a Fire Dust Crystal exploded at his feet. he considers himself lucky it only took an eye, but now that “magic” he had before must be gone. he only has one eye.

- because of his disbelief, Roman has been actually shoving his magic down and down into himself so he can ignore it and not properly figure it out. so when the whole “eaten by Grimm thing” happens, all Roman can think is that he would do anything to keep living. keep surviving.

- instead of an explosion, its Roman’s bright flash of Silver Eye magic that causes the ship to go down, with the Grimm thrashing about only to end up essentially spitting Roman out overboard and disappearing into the usual pile of smoke and ash.

- essentially this leads into my own Roman Lives AU which i really need to get into more, but things happen sorta like normal in canon. Roman just manages to catch both Ozpin-post-reincarnation-thing and Maria’s eye cause “you have silver eyes” n all that jazz.

- Maria actually offered Roman a chance to train with her and Ruby, but he declined.

“Two things here, ma’am. One? Pretty sure Little Red wants my head on a pike still, and brothers only know how bad she’d probably Wanna try this “magic” on me. And two? I don’t need help with this. I’ve figured out how to survive on my own, I can figure out...whatever this is when I need it.”

- after everything that happened at Beacon, and how that magic literally saved his life, Roman definitely believes those stories now. but he still doesn’t actually use that Silver Eyed Warrior magic he has. doesnt train it either. he just doesn’t feel he needs it. Roman is strong, he can take care of himself, with or without magic. he’s done it before, and he’ll keep doing it till the Brothers themselves strike him down.

- less serious, Roman absolutely thought his eyes were grey for the first like 4 years of his life. when he found out they were shiny silver he literally couldnt figure out the difference. but hey! maybe that’s a good thing! at least then no one can tell he has these “special eyes” or whatever if they just think they’re grey!

- Roman HAS used his Silver Eyes before. to save Neo. When? Idk I just know it happened and that when Neo asked about it, Roman just shrugged.

“How am I supposed to know? I think it’s just my Semblance.” His smirk is cocky and confident just like the rest of his body. “Pretty powerful stuff, huh?”

- Until Roman unlocked his actual Semblance (Silver Tongue), he always thought those little flashes of bright white light that took down Grimm were just his Semblance. so when he DID actually unlock his Semblance, he...wasn’t sure WHAT that magic stuff was. so he mostly just ignored it.

- tbh, Roman probably refused to help the others when they mentioned he has Silver Eyes too so he could do some good.

“Listen, Red, just because you love waltzing into danger to activate your superpowers, doesn’t mean I want anything to do with this myself.” He says firmly, narrowing his eyes at the huntress in training. “I’m not here to fulfill a destiny or whatever. I’m here to survive. So you can keep walking your way right into danger just fine, no skin off my back, but I have at least SOME self preservation I’d like to keep.”

And that’s sorta all I got rn. Maybe finally I can fulfill my desires to actually DRAW Roman with silver eyes.

[artemis-pendragon]

After I finish my old west fic and the hangover fic I'm seriously considering writing a Witcher Hannibal AU. Pretty sure I already made a post about this, but i want it so bad so hear me out:

Will as a Witcher, because he hunts monsters by becoming one. (Also because Will with white hair and cat eyes would be sexy Your Honor.) He has a horse named Winston.

Hannibal as a sexy sorcerer who's obsessed with Will but is also a manipulative bastard about it. Maybe he'd specialize in healing magic because he's a doctor? Idk

Abigail as the Child of Destiny, with Garrett Jacob Hobbs as the Emperor of Nilfgaard. She'd be Will's accidentally aquired Child Surprise and Hannibal would 100% be like "cool guess I'm also her dad now sorry Will nothing you can do about it!"

Jack as the most experienced Witcher at Kaer Morhen who trains all the newer Witchers and is generally In Charge.

Alana would probably be a Witcher. She could also be a sorceress but idk, and I think it would be more fun if Margot was a sorceress and they were married because I love the Witcher/sorceress dynamic so much. (Also because Alana with white hair and cat eyes would also be sexy Your Honor.)

Margot as a sorceress in the Lodge of Sorceresses. Maybe she got away from Mason when they were younger by running away, then ended up at Aretuza academy and trained there.

Chiyoh would probably be a sorceress who Hannibal is close to/maybe they met at the academy. I also imagine her being a renowned huntress/markswoman as well as a renowned magic-user; I might make her a Witcher instead because that might make more sense for her.

Bedelia could be Hannibal's primary instructor/mentor while he was at the academy. Maybe she's head of the Lodge of Sorceresses or something.

Zeller and Price as annoying bards who think they're the main characters but actually just hang around the Witchers and cause problems and make bad jokes.

Beverly as a sorceress who specializes in death-related magic and acts as a sort of ambassador between the Lodge of Sorceresses and Kaer Morhen.

Freddie Lounds would probably also be a sorceress who uses scrying on people's personal lives for nefarious purposes. She would definitely spread nasty rumors about Witchers and how they're basically monsters themselves.

Mason would probably be some kind of insufferable rich baron or prince or something. Idk but either way Alana and Margot would fuck his shit up at some point.

Maybe the Great Red Dragon is an actual dragon that Will is contracted to kill? Still not 100% sure about that one but I'm thinking that might work best.

Anyway thanks for coming to my TED Talk. If I have any left over motivation once I'm done with my other fics, this is 100% happening!! It's been slowly rotting my brain since last summer and I Want It So Much

[theseerasures]

For the meta thing, how about big sisters with absent mothers: Winter and Yang? Like, how they dealt with things differently and what a friendship between them would look like

anon i just want you to know that as soon as received this ask i barged into my girlfriend’s room to be like “is this you???” because this ask is so EXQUISITELY tailored to my personal interests that i was like “literally who else would cater to me like this” and it was not her, apparently!!! so thank you very much for this ask.

of course i have SO MANY thoughts about this topic that it took me a complete month to marshal them into something faintly coherent, if staggeringly long, so. i hope it’s worth the wait.

S(chnee)-side: how to lose brothers and alienate sisters

let’s start from some well-trodden ground: the season 5 character shorts, and their subsequent caricaturization via Chibi, which posit the Yang vs. Winter dichotomy as something like “Yang loves Ruby by diving into a monster’s mouth for her, and telling her she always has her back, and Winter does the same for Weiss by...siccing monsters on her, and telling her that she won’t always be around to save her from them.” much hay has already been made about the reasons why the two of them would act in the ways they did, so for the purposes of my own meta i’m going to skip over those, and concentrate on how content since season 5 has updated these conceptions.

and on Winter’s end of things, these conceptions have been updated by showing that she’s, uh.

...full of shit.

we’ve now had TWO instances of Winter going above and beyond to protect someone vulnerable. the first time was for Penny, with whom she has a sisterly bond, and the second time was for Ren, with whom she has...exchanged a few lines of dialogue. if she’s so ready and willing to hurl herself bodily into the path of an aggressor for someone who is basically a stranger, then why all the pageantry with Weiss about how she can’t (or won’t) save her? did she carve some kind of blood relative exemption into her saving people thing? does it only apply to people who wear a lot of green?¹

to properly address this question--and to bring in the Willow of it all--i think we should step back and ask: how does Winter actually feel about the Schnee name?

not Jacques’ name, mind. nor anything he did to besmirch it. Willow’s name, and Winter’s birthright.

because what has always been interesting to me is that while Weiss has talked about reclaiming or rehabilitating the Schnee name from their father’s meddling and still clearly wants to reconcile herself with it, even after being disinherited, Winter has only ever talked about distancing. it’s entirely possible that she had similar aspirations when she was around Weiss’ age and was just more thoroughly disabused of them, but my point stands: Winter shows a discomfort with the Schnee name overall in a way that Weiss has yet to. you don’t have to look any further than Winter’s combat style to see how this discomfort is telegraphed, as she barely uses any Dust, or Glyphs, and the one aspect of her Semblance that she does use and tout are Summons, which just so happens to be the part that emphasizes her own individual ability to conquer foes. something about the Schnee name feels irreconcilably tainted for Winter,² and while i’m sure a large part of it has to do with her father, who can make her explode into emotion confetti by just being in the same room as her for thirty seconds, a not-insignificant part can probably be chalked up to the fact that...

Willow Schnee was probably never all that good a mother.

granted: we’ve have exactly one scene (two if you count the 8.2 sneak peek) with her, so i’m fully ready to be called Boo Boo the Fool if we get a flashback and Willow was some kind of crusading super-mom prior to her descent into alcoholism, but. the idea that she hasn’t ALWAYS had to compromise herself and her children just to get by feels facile. this is not to victim blame, but to say that Willow is an imperfect person (in that she is. a person) placed into a horrific situation, which means that she could not always deal with the situation perfectly. it’s important to remember her agency--both before and after she became an alcoholic--but it’s just as important not to idealize it into something it’s not. Willow was by no means a co-abuser to her children, but she was probably always inconsistent, because living with your abuser for years on end does that to you. personally, i’ve always envisioned pre-alcoholism Willow as...well-meaning and much more perceptive and intelligent than people give her credit for, but beset with her own flaws that grew in proportion to her hurt and bitterness. she was capable of shielding her children from her husband’s worst excesses, and often did; but she was just as capable of retreating when she might have fought, of excusing Jacques’ actions to try to keep the peace, even of lashing out at those who shouldn’t have to handle her negative emotions.

her descent into alcoholism exacerbated these tendencies, but Willow has always been a complicated woman, and the idea that there was a prelapsarian time when Willow was an unmitigated good, before...idk, her Good battery ran out and she became Drunk Victim Non-Mom, is...well, it’s definitely something that a ten-year-old who had an ENORMOUSLY traumatic birthday would believe (and blame herself for), but Winter might disagree. i don’t think her view would be any more objective, if only because the day Winter Schnee has an un-myopic thought is the day i pass gracefully into the West, but her view is probably more complicated and less flattering, because Winter knew her mother more as a person, and that’s something we’re gonna talk about more with Yang and Ruby, later.

the point i want to make now, with Winter, is that her determined inconstancy, where she’ll readily jump into the jaws of a monster for her siblings in one breath and berate them and caution them against needing her in the next--that comes from her experience with Willow. the lesson she wants her siblings to learn is not just “the people who are supposed to love you are cruel, so get a helmet,” but “the people who are supposed to love you disappoint you, which is worse, so it’s better to not rely on them at all.”³ better for them to learn it from her than firsthand, but also--better for herself, because when she does disappoint them (and she did. she left.) at least she can take comfort in the fact that surely it doesn’t hurt as much; she warned them, after all.

in Winter’s mind, this kind of disappointment is an inevitability, so what’s paramount is to make sure that when it does happen her siblings are at least prepared for it. in the face of that the fact that she would actually risk life and limb to help them if they ever need it falls to the wayside; i don’t think it was a mindful decision that Winter consciously made--like, i don’t think she ever thought “i’m going to withhold the fact that i would die for them because that would contradict the whole social Darwinism thing i’m trying to drill into their heads,” because Winter’s just...not that kind of deliberate rational actor, in any arena. rather--and maybe even more damning--i think she just assumes that Weiss and Whitley already KNOW, that it’s a given for them the sacrifices she’d make for them in the same way it’s a given for her. but they don’t! because you have to say these things, and Winter has been force-feeding them the precise opposite.

ultimately all of these contradictory impulses stem from Winter’s deep-seated need for control--both of herself, and of the environments around her, and those in turn come from the fact that she was a) repeatedly wounded as a child and b) had to shoulder responsibilities far beyond her own ability as that same child, which...continues to this day. from this perspective, what matters is less keeping her siblings safe, and more her own ability to save them. she knows that’s imperfect, so she compensates by enforcing what worked for her onto them, and also by keeping them away from anything that could harm them, without their input. i never thought much of the contrast in environments for the character shorts--like of course Weiss would spar with Winter’s Summons at home like the untested shut-in she was--but what did take me aback was that in season 7, after Weiss has waltzed across an entire continent and been promoted to a full Huntress, Winter...still exclusively trains Weiss with her Summons up in Atlas, while Ruby and Yang are traipsing across Mantle killing ACTUAL Grimm. i have no doubt that this was for foreshadowing reasons, but still: it points to the fact that for all Winter loves Weiss and would fight giant monsters for her, there’s a part of her that...doesn’t trust Weiss, and wants to maintain control over her.⁴

this, i think, is part of the reason why Whitley treats her basically like an un-person: it’s not just that she left when he was too young and Jacques filled in all the gaps with lies and slander, it’s also that even when Winter was around the bigger age gap made it much easier for her to reconcile keeping him out of the loop, for his own good. she can’t ever be vulnerable around either of her siblings, but especially not Whitley, because he’s too young; he might let something slip when they’re around Jacques, and she shouldn’t be putting that kind of burden on him anyway. if he resents her when she’s just trying to protect him--except you said that you wouldn’t, Winter you absolute moron--then that’s his prerogative. it doesn’t change her own responsibilities. they can be miserable and Byronic in their own separate cubby holes and it’s fine.

(it’s not fine.)

R(ose)⁵-side: tonight, the role of Replacement Goldfish will be played by...everyone

let’s get one thing out of the way: Yang is a GOOD big sister, and some of the ways that she is good can be chalked up to the fact that she had a better home life, but only some. her character short ends with her promising Ruby that she’ll always have her back after spending the short proving it, and she has--until recently, and we’ll get to that--lived up to it. people get caught up on how much time Yang spends with Blake nowadays, but it’s important to remember that the entire impetus for Yang reuniting with anyone during the Mistral arc was about Ruby. so is the thing that separates a Yang from a Winter is that a Yang preaches what she practices, and isn’t firing a million zillion mixed signals at all times?

well--yeah, basically, but we’re gonna make a big thing out of it anyway.

what made Yang and Ruby different from the Schnees--even before the character shorts--was a sense of parity. in contrast to Winter insisting on maintaining a) the most unapproachable facade in the world, and b) a death-grip on every situation at all times, Yang was characterized from the outset as...chill (ironically). despite her Semblance being LITERALLY hotheadedness, Yang’s passionate energy never manifested in any real desire to take charge. the fact that she was fine (even happy!) with Ruby being bumped up to her year and then becoming leader speaks volumes to how much Yang trusts and respects Ruby’s judgement. rather than try to mask her flaws, she exudes this kind of...radiant fallibility and lets Ruby take care of her, or keep her in line. they complement each other: Yang takes care of more grounded concerns like individual fights and making friends, while Ruby--again, until recently--set more abstract goals and gave them moral direction.

a lot of this can be attributed to the smaller age gap, but i think it also comes from growing up as two motherless free-range children on an island--and the motherlessness is obviously a huge deal for both of them. when i started writing this i honestly thought i’d talk more about Raven, since she’s the mom who’s actually a character already, and her absence plays a huge role in how Yang deals with her abandonment issues in the present, but to be honest: the loss that cut the deepest for Ruby AND Yang is Summer, because Summer was actually around enough to be lost. despite the show frequently dividing custody of Team STRQ right down the middle between Ruby and Yang, where Ruby “gets” Summer and Qrow and Yang “gets” Tai and Raven, it’s the admixture of Rose and Branwen that makes the two of them who they are.⁶ Yang spent more time with Summer, but Ruby spends more time with Qrow, who is Yang’s blood uncle, so the dichotomy between nature and nurture is fascinatingly blurred.

i know this is an unpopular opinion, but i hope Summer really is dead, because the ways that her daughters interpellate their own identities from her absence drives so much of the story. that SUMMER was the first mother Yang lost--not Raven, because Yang didn’t even know about Raven until Summer died--is what shapes her relationship with Ruby, but also her relationship with Raven. what’s always simmering just below the surface of any Yang-Raven confrontation is that the person Yang actually wanted to find the whole time she was looking for Raven was Summer, because she wanted a mom, and a mom looked like Summer. Raven’s not stupid--it might be her one redeeming quality--so it’s likely that she’s always known and resented this. it’s not an accident that the moment Yang stopped looking for Raven for Raven and started looking for her for an easy conduit to her real family was the moment she actually found Raven.⁷ it was the first step to Yang outgrowing her old habits, of waiting for a mother to return--a classic “she needed a hero so that’s what she hurdy blah”

in a way that’s what she’s been doing this whole time. in contrast to Winter, who compensated for her mother’s flaws by ratifying them into universal law, Yang did the same by defying their supposed truth: people might leave her, but she won’t leave Ruby, and Ruby won’t leave her. it’s telling that whenever Yang leaves--even as a literal child--she always took Ruby with her, even if she planned on coming back. (it’s just as telling that when Winter left she didn’t.) she’ll always be there for Ruby, to give her the boost she needs to become the Summer they all want her to be, which means being a little of Summer herself--the part of Summer that baked cookies and slew monsters. and in return Ruby gave her...a sense of certainty, i think: that Ruby needs her and therefore won’t leave, but also that Ruby has the parts of Summer that Yang can’t muster herself--the grand heroic ideal, the moral certitude, etc.

...and now we’re finally gonna talk about the Schism, which i honestly think is the best thing that has happened to their relationship, development-wise. by the end of the Mistral arc Yang has arrived at a healthier perspective with respect to her relationships with everyone: now it’s not about indiscriminately giving herself away to people in the hopes that they might not leave her, but about choosing to give herself away to the people she loves and trusts. on one level this should not conflict with her relationship with Ruby at all, because Yang loves Ruby, but on another...the fact that Yang no longer feels obligated to perform unending support, to be the grounded complement, to fill in the parts of Summer that Ruby can’t--of COURSE that’s going to bring about conflict. because it turns out Yang never needed Ruby to give her direction or discipline. she’s now had time to think of the things she herself values, and those...don’t exactly match up with Ruby’s--or Summer’s.⁸ Yang, having known Summer as a mother, having been confronted repeatedly with the fallibility of mothers, is starting to outgrow Summer, and grow separately from Ruby.

but growing separately doesn’t have to mean growing apart, and i think Yang, at least, knows this. she clearly feels Some Kinda Way about their disagreement (and Blake’s implicit alignment with Ruby), but she’s also confident enough in her own beliefs by this point to commit to them. Yang’s taking charge instead of deferring to Ruby, and it turns out that...she’s actually not a bad leader herself, since she and Jaune have pretty much split a lot of those responsibilities. for her it’s not a question of losing faith or love in Ruby as a person, but about discovering what she herself fights for.

Ruby...sees it differently, because Ruby sees Summer differently. if Yang has always defined herself against Summer by deciding that she can NEVER fully be Summer, so she’ll make do with what she can, then Ruby’s always defined herself against Summer by marking Summer as the endpoint of her personal trajectory. what Ruby knows of Summer--that she was a person who enjoyed life and did not believe in original sin, that had a magical special destiny that was totally fine and awesome and didn’t drive her to her death, that she was a baker of cookies and slayer of monsters--is what Tai and Qrow--and Yang--told her about Summer, because Ruby was too young to remember the real Summer. so Summer for her is this abstract paragon to live up to, and no more. she can’t possibly exceed Summer, because the Summer Ruby knows encompasses literally all that is good.

when Yang tells Ruby “i’ve always got your back” in the short, a lot of it is about Yang, and the ways Yang needed to be there for other people so they’ll be there for her in return. but it’s also something Ruby really needed to hear, because Ruby needed the security and comfort of knowing that even if she screws up there are people around her who can help shoulder the burden. that security already took a serious hit after Yang lost her arm, but Ruby, kind and generous person that she is, was able to reconcile with that, because YANG HAD JUST LOST HER ARM. it would be ridiculous to expect Yang to have her back the way she used to, and besides--it was time she grew up, and growing up means becoming more like Summer, all of Summer, by herself.

and...she gets pretty far, is the thing, because Ruby IS a lot like Summer, and is incredible and amazing all by herself to boot, but the point is that no one should feel this much pressure to be All That Is Good, especially when you’re a teen. Ruby’s not ready to recognize that, partly because at this point so many people are looking to her for leadership, but also because being Summer’s heir is the only real link she has to her mom.⁹ so she hunkers down and does the best she can, in a situation that has far spiraled beyond anybody’s control...and then Yang tells her that it’s not working out, that this time it’s not that she can’t have Ruby’s back, but that she won’t. in Ruby’s mind, this could only mean one of two things: either Yang no longer believes what Ruby believes--what Summer believed, or...Yang no longer believes in Ruby, because she wasn’t good enough.

and well. it’s Ruby. it’s not hard to guess which reason she’s picking right now, especially since she pretty conspicuously refused to call the shots during the Amity heist.

but this is of course a false dichotomy. it’s not about which one of them is right, or even more right, and the show does a very good job with the framing to show that both of them have a point. similarly, what Ruby needs right now is neither confirmation that her long-held beliefs are objectively the best ones, nor that she is good enough to become Summer after all. no; what she needs instead is the knowledge that she’s allowed to fuck up, to deviate from what people have told her about Summer, to become what Summer never was. that’s something Yang can--and will--help her work out.

oh no this analogy is breaking apart: how they’d get along

...oi.

look, even beyond the fact that Winter doesn’t get along with ANYONE over much, i don’t think there’s any universe where she wouldn’t immediately rub Yang the wrong way. not only because Winter’d initially treat Ruby with the same cold tyranny that she (up until very recently) treats Weiss, but also because Yang’s partner is Blake, and--to say nothing of Atlas/Schnee-on-Faunus oppression--she was personally made collateral during the fallout with Blake’s abuser.¹⁰ i myself wouldn’t say that Winter abused Weiss, but to Yang’s protective and skewed view...

well, can you imagine Weiss trying to explain the way Winter ~~~trained her to the Bees? “oh, she sent a pack of Beowolves to hunt me! it was a meant-to-lose fight and when i started doing well she just moved the goalposts. one of her wolves almost ate me before i begged her to stop but it...probably...wouldn’t have...it was fine! my Aura didn’t dip THAT much. Winter’s the best!!” Yang’s hair would have been on fire after the first sentence, is all i’m saying. this coupled with the fact that Yang would very likely view Winter leaving Weiss and Whitley through the lens of Raven doing the same thing to her, and i think it would take a pretty long time for the two of them to see eye to eye on anything.

which is not to say that they have nowhere to go but antagonism, because at their cores Winter and Yang both have a) no hesitation whatsoever when it comes to protecting the people they care about and b) a tendency to define protection literally, often bodily. the difference is that Yang’s Semblance weaponizes these protective instincts for her, and she learned the limits of taking that too far. Winter...doesn’t, and hasn’t.¹¹ that COULD lead to some interesting conversations, but i don’t think Yang has quite the emotional clarity and generosity to reckon with that yet, and they’re not about to talk about it inside the Giant Whale.

a necessary part of Winter’s development is learning to respect the people around her instead of instantly categorizing them into boxes labeled “to fight” and “to protect and order around.” her friction with Yang could be an intriguing way to explore that; i have no doubt, for example, that Winter would have hurled herself between Elm and Yang just as readily as she had between Elm and Ren. similarly, i think if Winter ever were in the same room with both Raven and Yang she’d last about ten seconds before trying to rip Raven’s hair out with her teeth, because Raven is neglectful and casually demeaning in ways that are instantly recognizable to Winter (in the same way they were to Weiss).¹² the issue is that her doing any of these things for Yang--y’know, the same Yang who IMMEDIATELY gave Blake the cold shoulder when she tried to pull the whole “i’ll protect you” crap--is that she would only find it confusing and frustrating, and likely wouldn’t mince words expressing that.

Yang’s a big sister herself, and therefore knows all the big sister tricks, and Yang has a consistent pattern of not wanting to rely on other people, particularly people she sees as adults. so the best path toward a Winter and Yang friendship is probably not the head-on approach, but obliquely through someone else. that someone else can’t be Weiss, because Yang would be already hypervigilant about the way Winter treats Weiss--but it could be Ruby. even putting aside the fact that she is now one of the most important people in the world for BOTH her sisters, Ruby herself is very easy to love, and Winter loves very easily, despite herself. what they have in common--idealism and a martyr complex--would also engender some cool interactions, and Ruby would let Winter take care of her, if only to make Winter feel better.

i could see that being the impetus for Yang tentatively, grudgingly forming her own friendship with Winter, because there ARE things that Winter can give Yang, even if Yang can’t (or won’t) admit she wants them. it’s nice to try out being the kid sister, once in a while.

still, even if they get that far: i can’t imagine their relationship as anything friendlier than this.

¹ tbh neither would actually surprise me; what Winter does and doesn’t let herself do is only knowable to the Gods Who Have Forsaken This Land, and they’re certainly unknowable to Winter herself.

² maybe she knows that the whole “the Schnees were up-from-bootstraps-good-capitalists until that guy Jacques came along” thing is stupid!! i don’t care that he’s Santa Nicholas Schnee ain’t shit

³ this i think is why the current thing with Ironwood is such a bitter pill to swallow, because...she thought she’d been so careful. not in thinking that she’d chosen a man who couldn’t disappoint her, but in caring so deeply about him and investing so much of herself into him, despite the fact she’s only ever let herself call him “sir,” or “General.”

⁴ though i will say, to give Winter some credit: she actually accepts the fact that her sister is totally her own person now with a lot more aplomb than i’d expected, both in the “you stole an airship” scene and during all of Sparks. i wouldn’t be so generous as to read subtle treason into her disclosure of Ironwood’s Winter Maiden plans, but it does point to Winter’s desire for control being much more easily unlearned than that of her boss.

⁵ geddit? it’s a joke about handed-ness because now they both have the Hand Tremor

⁶ Tai is, as always and on purpose, the stabilizing agent. “appropriately underwhelming,” as Winter might put it, but absolutely essential.

⁷ of course then Raven had the gall to resent THAT too, because she’s the worst, and...see above, about Winter Schnee’s self-unknowing.

⁸ curiously, the values that Yang most espouses now--the importance of knowing what you’re getting into, protecting what is tangible, what is within your ability--are a) hard-won from years of taking care of Ruby and b) ones that she shares with Raven. the only difference is that Yang’s circle of protection extends far beyond Raven’s, which only includes herself.

⁹ weirdly enough the best person to talk to Ruby about this might be Raven, who has a very skewed perception of Summer herself (because Raven’s perception of EVERYONE is generally fucked up), but probably won’t hold back when talking about Summer’s flaws. Ruby won’t want to hear any of it, but i think she needs to.

¹⁰ i do think Blake and Winter would have some interesting conversations, if Blake ever...was generous enough to deal with *gestures at all of Winter.* it’s easier to compare Blake to Willow given the shared nature of their interpersonal abuse, but Winter on the other hand knows what it’s like to be hand-picked and groomed by a charismatic man with a singular vision who ended up wholly compromising that vision for the sake of their personal ego. that the White Fang are a good force perverted while the Atlesian Military is rotten to the core would...make the conversation more lively? it’s probably fine?

¹¹ “i’m Winter Schnee and i have maladaptive coping mechanisms that i am currently clinging to, as a maladaptive coping mechanism”

¹² though there...probably IS a world where Raven and Winter end up getting along after the initial skirmish, and it disturbs Yang and Qrow to no end