#now for the long wait to V10

[kyraxyrespace]

Evolution of White Knight in RWBY (Volume 9)

Episode 9.1 “A Place of Particular Concern” has Weiss admitting to what happened on the bridge. She doesn’t outright say Penny was killed by Jaune. Instead, she says that Jaune helped as best he could, and that Penny sacrificed herself. This is HUGE because she’s showing no resentment for his actions, and recognizes he was put into a position that was going to have an unfavorable outcome.

Episode 9.3 “Rude, Red, Royal,” nothing officially between the two, but Jaune’s nickname of Snow Angel for Weiss becomes literal when she summons up a pair of Nevermore wings.

Episode 9.4 “A Cat Most Curious,” again nothing official, but when Weiss was complaining about why they could not have teamed up with other Ever After characters like the Lively Carpenter or the Rusted Knight, she mentions that the knight is handsome. While she is not directly referencing Jaune in this case, the running theory in the FNDM is that Jaune will fill in the role of the Rusted Knight, and so this will be an interesting take. Will she still think the Rusted Knight is handsome if he does in fact turn out to be Jaune?

Episode 9.6 “Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds” Weiss joins in the group hug with Jaune. When the girls are asking him questions, Yang begins the question of “And when did you get so…” Weiss hops in close to the camera and finishes with “mature.” This causes her to heavily blush when she gets stares from her teammates, especially Yang’s. Since Jaune later confirms that he’s the Rusted Knight from Alyx’s story, Weiss was in fact indirectly referring to Jaune as handsome. After they hear Jaune’s story, Weiss is the first to apologize for the struggles he went through. When later found by the Curious Cat, Weiss (and Ruby) step forward to confront the cat, putting themselves on the front line in front of Jaune.

Episode 9.7 “The Perils of Paper Houses” has Weiss first out of the house after Jaune, and is the one asking what’s going on. When Team RWBY and Jaune are strategizing, Weiss sits down next to him. If Ruby wasn’t in her downward spiral, she would have been the one sitting next to Jaune helping to strategize, but instead Weiss takes her place next to Jaune. When Jaune returns from saddling up Juniper, he comes back in time to hear Weiss say “he’s not all there,” which upsets him. When he’s confronted by the team and his reasonings for not going to the tree or allowing the Paper Pleasers to go to the tree, it’s Weiss who is challenging him on why he cares about the village and it’s to her question that we get his response about protecting them. When the Jabberwalkers attack, Jaune and Weiss team up in the fight. Despite their earlier clash and the current fight, Jaune takes some time to thank Weiss for the assistance when she summoned her Arma Gigas to destroy one of Neo’s Jabberwalkers (and gets reminded by Yang to stay focused). When his sword is knocked away, Weiss grabs it and throws it back to him, which he then knocks into a Jabberwalker. After the dam breaks on the Paper Pleasers’ village, Weiss joins in on comforting a distraught Jaune. After Jaune unloads on Ruby, Weiss is the one that approaches him and calls his name, which snaps him out of his anger. When Jaune speaks about being alone on the bridge and being the only one, while Blake and Yang are clearly upset seeing him so upset, Weiss is the only one who was there and knows exactly what he means, and her face clearly shows it. Maybe it's a model error, but when Ruby says shut up and we get a look at the group again, Weiss’ hand is raised and poised like it was reaching out to Jaune. Was she going to comfort him? Wipe his tears away? Was something supposed to happen but Ruby cut it off?

Episode 9.8 “Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble” has very little in terms of content unless you’re squinting. Weiss is seen standing next to Jaune in several shots inside of Neo’s house, and in one shot it even looks like Jaune is stepping in front of Weiss to take a hit from the Cat. Where the squinting comes in is that when it shows the view from behind, it doesn’t reflect this at all. I don’t know if this is just overreach or positioning mistakes (normally I wouldn’t think this, but episode nine had the girls teleporting from one frame to the other, so honestly anything is possible at this point), but in one frame it looks like he's going to take a majority of the hit for Weiss (like Blake did for Yang) and the next frame he’s barely even near her. Either way, I really liked how Weiss and Jaune looked standing next to each other in this episode.

Episode 9.9 “A Tale Involving a Tree” Weiss is sitting behind Jaune on Juniper and had her arms wrapped around him. When J+WBY return to the Paper Pleaser’s village and Jaune is distressed, Weiss walks over and places a comforting hand on his back, assuring him that whatever he can’t understand can be figured out. When Jaune has an epiphany that ascension wasn’t actually that bad and he was being selfish so that he could be the hero (because he can’t let go of all the people he couldn’t save), Weiss is the one to lift his spirts, assuring him that even the best huntsmen have lost, but they were still good. Hearing this reassurance from her has Jaune tear up and is only able to say her name. Weiss then hugs him, being the one who initiates it (Blake and Yang jump in after). When the hug is broken, Weiss and Jaune still hold each other in a rather intimate manner (the only other time we’ve seen him hold her waist is when he was supporting her off the bridge). It’s only Weiss who he keeps hold of; he doesn’t try to hold Blake’s hand or put an arm around her. While I can’t definitively prove it, it looks to me that he keeps his eyes on her while ending the hug, which would parallel him being unable to take his eyes off of Weiss back in Volume 6, Episode 7 (and even there, when he was hugging Blake, he kept his arm around her shoulders and dropped connection with her after the hug). When J+WBY decide to protect Wooden!Ruby from Curious Cat, Jaune and Weiss stand next to each other. During the fight, Weiss hears Jaune cry out from a strike by Illusion!Pyrrha, almost a call back to Volume 5, Episode 11 when Jaune heard Weiss cry out in her battle with Vernal. She tries to help him by firing a fireball at Curious Cat, but it ends up striking Jaune instead and sends him over the edge of their platform. When Weiss sees this, she lets out a “No!” as he goes over the edge while on fire.

Episode 9.10 “Of Solitude and Self” has small moments because this is the big finale that needs to focus on wrapping up the volume. The most important thing is how comfortable the two are around each other. The two stand next to each other and hold hands before they step through the door. When Jaune is reverted back to his youthful age and looks, she’s the one giggling when Jaune realizes his voice went back up in octaves (everyone else is remaining smiling). Jaune follows Weiss through the portal leading to Vacuo, and the two are seen standing next to each other overlooking Shade Academy.

[prodkeiji]

so like. rwby volume 9 season finale

[bestworstcase]

Are you worried about Viz taking over RWBY? I’ve heard Kerry is still going to be involved in some capacity but that’s ambiguous. What about the other writers and creatives as well? Works like this are never written/realized by one man, it’s the collective hard work of the group. A lot of the intricacies you’ve teased out of RWBY, and their culmination in the narrative, rely on the same team (or some of them) being involved going forward. Where are you at on this rn?

really seems like the best case scenario honestly – kerry being the showrunner is obv the one taking point on the negotiations but it seems like the rest of the core crew and cast are being kept in the loop at minimum, though i’d bet contracts and production logistics are still being worked out behind the scenes. on the viz side they are clearly REALLY excited about the IP and kerry being involved decision-making for the show’s future is a pretty firm signal of intent to preserve the original vision and direction for the show, plus i would assume keeping the crew and cast together to the greatest degree possible is probably kerry’s biggest priority rn now that the first hurdle of finding rwby a new home has been cleared.

the ambiguity is 100% because nothing is settled yet aside from what’s been announced. it is frankly shocking that they closed the deal on the IP this fast—i know two months feels like a really long time when you’re waiting for news, but corporate acquisitions of any kind are not like picking up milk at a grocery store. just from a strictly financial standpoint everything needs to go through accounting and depending on how viz is structured treasury might have needed to sign off too, so that’s financial projections and budgeting that needs to happen and pass through multiple different layers of approval potentially across two different departments on top of legal and whatever specific considerations other departments may have had; there are a lot of moving pieces that have to be lined up just so. i was really, really confident that rwby would get picked up pretty quickly but if you’d asked me after the shut down announcement i would have told you six months to a year because that’s, in my experience, about how long this sort of thing takes if nobody is dragging their feet.

two months is fuckin wild.

but by the same token, yeah everyone involved with this deal is going to be up to their eyeballs in paperwork and meetings for at least a few more months before we get any concrete new announcements, and nothing is getting announced to the public until it’s settled because you don’t want to be announcing things that aren’t locked in yet. that includes basic stuff like whether the original VAs stay on—there is absolutely no reason to think that, say, lindsay won’t keep their role as ruby, but we are not going to hear that until they’ve signed a contract, which may still be months away. similarly there is no reason to think that viz acquired the IP without every intention to greenlight v10, but we are not going to hear a v10 announcement until all the production logistics and legal and financial decisions have been squared away.

just keep in mind that corporations move like glaciers and the two months between the RT shutdown announcement and viz snapping up both the IP and the showrunner means this is all happening at breakneck speed, suggesting that everyone with decision-making power at viz is incandescently excited to get this show back on the road. it’s in good hands, they’re hustling, we’re probably on track for v10 news sometime this fall.

[megazimbluerayvelds]

The big finale Incredibox Pt.7

And that was all the drawings from the normal incredibox, now we just have to wait a long time until we get the long-awaited v10!

[blue-scorpion-king]

RWBY is not dead, just on uncertain waters at the moment.

I am getting this out there for you all in this fandom who are feeling uncertain and scared for RWBY right now.

And maybe in the near future this fall and winter.

Or maybe even next year, in 2024.

And spoilers for RWBY up ahead.

RWBY is not dead.

Rooster Teeth did not cancel it or else, everyone would have been talking about it and I would , even at an later date from that hypothetical, disheartening announcement.

I ain't all that worried from V10 from getting greenlight at RTX this year, which was last month from this post being made.

Why? Crunchyroll might have made a deal with RT on V10 being greenlit AFTER the RWBY X DC crossover movie's 2nd part get released.

I know that it is speculation right now, but that is a high possibility.

Alongside that Red Vs Blue is still going, Let's Play is still up, and they are still being talked about.

By both fans, non-fans, and haters.

Even with their failings and all that. They still have to make money at the end of the day and go for supply and demand, even with having to make compromises.

But, as it stands right now, as we are in yet another RWBY hiatus, as it is the norm, just a little more uncertain than the other hiatuses-

We don't really know.

But, I don't think we should be really be worried about RWBY being 'dead' just because

Do keep going at it at trying to convince RT to finish RWBY by releasing V10 and onwards, which could be finished in 2 to 3 volumes. 2 to 3 years I think.

And always remember what the message of Ruby Rose to all of the world in V8 did to its people, which got shown at the end of V9.

She brought hope to all of

Even in this uncertain time of fear, despair, anger and bitterness of 'what could have been' for this fandom, especially with the massively uncertain time when Monty Oum died 8 years ago (R.I.P. always), and business happenings that we don't know, that are not being said online, all of that-

Don't give up hope.

Even if in a decade or two, when RWBY continues after an hypothetical hiatus that spanned sooo long.

And perhaps the writing on the wall of RWBY being 'dead' or 'dying' was written by those who have given up and not given hope to those who want to watch RWBY and enjoy it for what it is.

Even when they have left the series.

Even with those who think hope is a dangerous thing and can drive someone insane.

And get an man's project finished for all to experience. I don't know the full vision of Monty Oum and I wouldn't pretend that I do.

But, his story getting out there and being understood and cherished, even with life's ups and downs, even with him being dead, is what I think he would want as he was making it.

And that's all I have to say on this matter.

So, we will continue to wait for the day we all have been waiting for and the revolution that Team RWBY and friends bring to Remnant against the walking *cancer* witch, that is Salem.

When that days does come-

~Hades-Hando~

[powertaco]

Vol 9 Spoiler Rant (aka I have waited and thought on it and still dont’ like it/Ranting ahead

I hate Volume 9

I’ll start by saying that upfront so you aren’t shocked or surprised by a conclusion later down the line, and can leave if the notion of disliking it offends you.

I don’t doubt I’ll get many blocks or people who disagree with this take, which is fair since I’m putting the opinion out there and should be able to take it on the chin or stand by it. 

This will contain spoilers for V9, my thoughts on a lot of things, ships, and what not so if you want to turn back now the back button is over yonder.

If it’s disjointed I apologize but I’m not feeling my best, and the longer I think about it the more I dislike it and I’m sick of pretending and being toxically positive about it.

First off I’ll get a few things out of the way as things I approve of. 

The animation has largely grown phenomenally. There’s a few moments that are a little out of it (yo why you got a 3 foot neck Weiss?), but for the most part considering where we came from in the bass on the wall days of Volume 1. Big win here. 

The music. Good work Casey. Red Like Roses 3 is a banger, inside is great, and checkmate is…something. Overall good stuff. 

VA work. Good deal. Rob nails his ‘surprise’ villain as he always nails his roles but people seem to be putting their all into it. No hate here, and these guys clearly brought their A game. Good work!

This volume as a whole is very middling to me, bordering on bad depending on if or how V10 recontextualizes things that happened, which I will try to go into later. 

Essentially if you were a big fan of Bees this might be one of your favorites, but if you’re just kinda neutral to them like me then the volume didn’t have a lot to offer you and didn’t do much to really move the story forward.

Remember when Ambro said don’t fall in V8 like it was a big ominous thing, and remember how it ended up being almost entirely beneficial? Yeah so V9 was like that. Setting up stuff for an instant week to week payoff regardless of if it hurt the story or not cause we need that interest spiked to greenlight V10. 

For a Volume that took so long to make the entire thing is remarkably rushed. 

Why do Ruby and Weiss talk so little? Serious question. Even if you don’t ship them they’re supposed to be canon best friends, and yet they share almost as many lines together in the last few seasons as they do with Ren. In case you were wondering that’s not many. 

We had a reduced cast of characters and almost none of them can actually be bothered to interact meaningfully.

Why does Weiss and everyone keep ditching Ruby except Little? Ruby has a basically perfect assassin after her, and in the market everyone ditches her cause of nose hairs. 

But what can they do against Neo? Nothing, but they could maybe point her out, or talk and help distract her rather than leaving her to her own devices when she’s clearly not feeling well. 

Sometimes having someone there for you can help a lot, but instead we need to have Weiss backslide and the others abandon her so she can be alone to meet the smith. 

This is bad writing. I’m sorry but it is. Had this been Volume 1-3 Weiss? Sure I could buy this, but this is not that Weiss. If you need to have Ruby be alone to meet the smith, work harder. You had years for this. This would have gotten a C at best in a writing class with a see me after class/don’t keep using coincidences like this note attached to it. 

If you’re going to tell me I’m not a professional writer so I can’t critique then that’s asinine. I don’t drive trucks for a living but if I see one ramp off a cliff and into a pit I can tell you that, that guy/gal has messed up.

If Weiss wanted to help cheer on or try to get Bees together then that’s an even worse reason as the aforementioned ASSASSIN is after her partner.

“Oh but Neo wouldn’t attack in a busy market!” My guy do you know Neo “i live only to murder this woman’ AT ALL? There’s an amusing quote I can ascribe to her actions “i will kill as many people as I have to as long as you are one of them!” 

There was a reason the meme, ‘squads that would treat Ruby better’ was going around through volume 9 and even included pictures of villains. 

Blake and Ruby never talk outside of that one scene in V8, and Yang has focused way more on Blake and way less on being a sister. 

I’ve seen people defend her actions as being a target for her sister’s actions when she steps in front of Blake, but please note Yang just let her yell at Weiss and did nothing, until she starts yelling at Blake. 

Yeah, no I’m sorry she lets her have a go at Weiss and then when her girlfriend is getting her feefees hurt then she steps in. Her talking to her sister after the hound was nice (but again prob would have been a decent Weiss moment)

That’s bullshit. Had Yang stepped in or tried to when she was talking to Weiss then I could buy this, but as is it’s just another thing to hold against her. 

The bees eat a lot of screentime. If you’re a bee fan this is great. If you want story progression, this is not. 

The world bends and revolves around them very literally. We need to have a confession bridge show up so they can confess but we can’t get a ‘you have to talk about what’s bothering you’ camp you can’t leave until you talk things out for Ruby?

What are the rules of ever after? Basically w/e so the only reason Ruby can’t get that is cause well we want a breakdown. Again great writing. 

But let’s talk about it. Ruby has a breakdown. She complains there’s no time for her. It’s tragic because she’s put a lot of stuff on her own shoulders and internalized it. 

Good acting here, even from Jaune. 

Weiss puts out a hand and she flies away. 

When our heroes next see her she’s drank suicide tea. You can claim after the fact that ascension isn’t that (but i’m sorry that’s how it’s framed and the whole zooming into Yang’s eye thing is explicitly treated like it’s meant to be a big deal and get people talking)

Tragic truly, but you know what she believes in herself now, and now she’s all better. Her depression and desire to die are gone. I don’t know how it helps with Salem, as I’d be willing to bet Summer also believed in herself but it didn’t seem to help her much. If they go more into this in V10 I will retract this and accept it but I’m not in the mood to be forgiving to them atm.

Also again right after Ruby ‘kills’ herself they stop to help Jaune…just I’m sorry what?

Jaune still takes up too much time and serves a role that’s almost not needed and I don’t even hate or dislike him. His interesting development is stripped away at the end. 

By deaging Jaune now they can’t explain where they were with any real proof. A few scroll pics of a weird cat thing isn’t going to cut it. 

He has a few gray stripes and will likely go back to acting like he normally does and other than Nora ragging him about them once or twice will likely not be mentioned again. He may on occasion get to say something ‘wise’ but I’m doubting it since he went back to being the same almost right away. 

So rather than an aged, mature, and slightly damaged man going back and having to relate to his friends/people he knew he’s the same. Awesome development. 

Plus side is that now that deaging is canon DWR can still win! Anyway he takes entirely too much focus away. 

Ruby complains about how they have no time cause they have to help Jaune, and what do they do almost instantly after she ‘kills’ herself? Stop and help Jaune. It’s tonal whiplash. 

I get that JNPR are supposed to be deuteragonist but holy hell almost all the time goes to Jaune who is by far the least interesting of the bunch imo even with all the time dumped into him. 

Can we get more Ren and Nora? This could have been a good way for Nora to ‘learn’ who she is without Ren. 

If Nora had fallen(say off her hammer into the void at the start from Cinder during the scuffle with Penny in the air) and they met a wizened Nora who tried to act chipper but was clearly putting up a front it would be a great foil/combo with Ruby. 

It would also make her reuniting with Ren and being ready for a relationship in the next volume all the sweeter. 

We spend an episode on the red prince. Neat. You know what would have been better for it? Almost anything else, say perhaps after Ruby’s ‘suicide’ they spend a few frantic minutes trying to get to the tree until they see the reincarnated paper pleasers and then are like oh, ok so she’ll prob come back/be alright instead of just ‘we did what we can’. 

Girl I love you Weiss but you all did jack shit. You made one half hearted effort and stopped, and then every time Ruby might have gotten to talk they needed to help Jaune or something interrupted. 

Good work being the best partner ever by the way especially when Ruby spends a large portion of the volume helping you with all your problems and rushing to your side without a bit of hesitation and in return you muster up…about nothing. 

They did it in genlock and did it twice in this volume and arguably with Penny/Vine last volume. “Suicide is great!” Please stop doing this. 

Speaking of Penny if you like her you might want to get CRWBY to be pallbearers at your funeral so they can let you down one last time. 

If you liked Nuts’ and Dolts even more condolences. They’d have many chances to imply deeper feelings than friendship between them and take none of them. Her farewell song is called Friend where she talks about being friends with Ruby. 

During the fight with her clones, the Penny clone never once says she loves her. This is Neo, mouse killer and person with the largest hateboner for Ruby in the show. 

She is twisting the knife as much as she can so you can bet if she thought there was even an inkling there was more than friendly feelings between them she’d have had the clone say she loved her just to do that little bit more mental damage, but she didn’t. 

If there was ever a time to bring it up to put her off balance it was now. Neo is under no pressure and has no reason to not do so, so it basically sinks the ship. Well more than her being dead already does. 

I swear to god if they go to Vacuo and Pietro is in a coma or dead and there’s a new Penny I’m going to call Akira Toriyama and tell him RWBY is aping Dragon Ball because there’s no stakes in life or death anymore. 

Oh right, speaking of Neo she’s pretty ok until the end where she decides she’s cool with Ruby, gets to get the kill on the cat and then just bows out and leaves, and everyone is…strangely cool with that. 

Ascension or not I’m just struggling to think that any of them should just want her to essentially get away scot free. This woman tried to kill Ruby or get her to commit suicide and killed Little and we’re cool with letting her go because she killed the cat who was no longer a threat to them and did a hat doff? Um…yeah sure. I bet Yang is ok with people almost killing her sister, Weiss her best friend, etc. Then again maybe these versions of the characters are. 

I don’t care much about how ascension will change her; she's paid for nothing she’s done. “Get your revenge and you’ll get it and still get away scoTt free’. Ok last of us two. 

I can not overstate how pointless the suicide feels. 

It feels like they wanted her to do it, but have it not ‘take’ or have consequences because they’re in ever after and can say ‘hey the ascension thing fixes it’. 

Look, I'm glad the bees got together. Really I’m happy for you, but if you take out the Bee stuff, and the pining you’re left with a threadbare story that is only barely there since it’s all resolved in about five minutes. 

We all deserve better than that. The characters deserve better than that. 

I could keep going as this just scratches the surface level but it’s pissing me off to keep thinking about it. 

[aerithisms]

man i'm gonna try and push away the anxiety about v10 being greenlit and act like it's definitely gonna happen bc i'm so excited for it. how long were rwbyj gone??? what's happening with the gang they left behind?? has winter been spiralling and self-flagellating?? are ren and nora okay after losing another teammate?? are they all besties with cfvy and sssn now?? how many bygone side characters are gonna show up again after responding to ruby's message?? how is yang gonna take it when ruby tells her what she learned about summer and raven?? how will tai and qrow?? so much good stuff in store i can't wait

[malice-death]

RWBY Song Analysis: Winter vs. The Path to Isolation

Now I know what some of you are probably thinking, "The Path to Isolation is a Weiss Schnee song and has nothing to do with her sister.

But after looking at the deleted V9 epilogue, I can clearly see that this song can work for V7-V9 Winter.

And here's the reason why.

To start it off, Winter's return in Volume 7 was something that I couldn't wait to see, considering she is one of my favorite characters.

Winter as a whole is a very serious character, trying her hardest to keep up with the people around her, and make sure no one sees any sort of weakness, or disloyalty to Ironwood and the whole of Atlas.

Now when push came to shove during the volumes, She had to make choices she wasn't proud of nor dejected the orders in certain areas.

Even worse was probably all the deaths caused by the things around them.

Back of course this is about how V10 Winter suits "The Path to Isolation" now.

"It starts with the unexpected loss of something dear."

Already got one notch on the board. At the very end of V8, Winter witnessed the loss of her dear sister, Weiss.

"The warmth that comforted and cradled. Just disappears."

This one can pertain to Penny in a way, another person she lost, who physically disappeared, someone who sought to make sure she knew her life was valued.

"And in its place, there's nothing, just than endless empty hole."

Winter clearly shows how she felt in the deleted animatic, speaking on a more negative value, and really doesn't know how to cope properly with the grief she is feeling."

"The light that showed the way is gone and darkness takes control."

This one goes to Winter talking Ruby in a way, considering to everyone who came because of her video, but since she is dad, Winter doesn't think she can believe in such a voice, allowing the darkness in her heart take control.

"Bitterness and anger, are quick to fill the void."

"The path of isolation is littered with the dreams that lay destroyed."

While studying the song, this line alone was harder to think about, cause in the original context of thinking about Wiess, you can clearly see where this fits into her story.

But Winter's I had to rewatch a lot of the series to see where such things could take place in V10 potentially.

In the end I decided that this was talking about the hope that Winter could've felt after defeating Ironwood, and "saving" Atlas/Mantle, but because of how the cards were dealt, those thoughts could be ruined.

"The cold seems to grow in my soul, its consuming me."

"Confused and I'm losing myself in the storm."

This one goes out to fighting physically and for fighting emotionally.

Winter spent a long time forgetting about how she felt about the things around her, always just following orders. But when everything happened, when everyone fell, and with Ironwood dead, she has no choice but to face the things that she never considered before.

"Growing jaded, being pushed, I'm unraveling."

"Can't find myself when I'm constantly pushed to conform."

Before Weiss was suffering at her father's whim and will, it was Winter who had that heiress seat, who was being pushed around to make sure she always followed through on everything.

Think about how she speaks, how the solider grows cold when she knew that she could have others standing there beside her.

"Enemies surround me, but the worst appear as friends."

"Liars and pretenders, only seek to reach their ends."

Winter has known many people, but Ironwood was someone she trusted, someone she knew for the longest time, but to see him falter to see him make orders that she couldn't approve of morally, was breaking her, making her remember all the things she probably to get away from such ideals.

And when you're in the military its harder to know friend from foe.

"Everything is breaking, right before my eyes."

"Looking in the mirror, I see someone that I don't recognize."

When Penny died, and Winter became the Winter Maiden, she didn't get a real chance at goodbye, just like when Weiss fell, she didn't get a proper chance at goodbye.

So, while she stands in the back breaking into pieces, the person, the maiden she sees every time she wakes up wasn't the person she wanted to know or see.

It was still that hard to remember who she was in the end.

"The joy my heart use to know is eluding me."

"Removed and the one thing I feel is alone."

"Smile's faded, and I'm spinning and sinking. I'm weakening."

This one brings us to the V9 epilogue, and how broken and alone Winter is. She stands away from her mother and Qrow, and even when she stands around anyone else, she seems to be at a distance.

"Frozen in solitude, loneliness chills to the bone."

"Memories escaping me, as my heart begins to drain."

"Scars that cover wounds, can't hide the self-inflicted pain."

To be honest, I was thinking that Winter must hide her own scars that she got over the years. And the fact that she decides that she doesn't want everyone back.

She believes that they aren't going to come back.

"Everything my mind wants, in conflict with my heart."

"Fighting back surrender, but every day I'm falling more apart."

Winter as a solider and a sister, and friend as well, but in the world she was born and trained in, she wasn't thinking about those things.

Her mind thinks in orders, while her heart thinks in feelings.

It's one of those things that almost never add up in certain types of military trained induvials.

I was the same sort of way for the first few months in my training.

It can take a lot of time to ease back into your heart.

"Mirror what's this thing that I see?"

"Who is staring back at me?" "A stranger to my heart has filled my mind."

This one goes to Penny and Winter, considering that when a maiden dies a bit of their spirit goes into their next host. Not to process or make a new person, but to give them new perspective on things that they never thought of before.

"Mirror"

"Help Me"

"Who Am I?"

Winter is not Snow White, she is the mirror, the thing that Weiss relied on.

And whose to say that the mirror never quesitoned themselves?" In the end sadly, until V10 comes out all of this is pure speculation.

But personally its my way to celebrate the end of V9, and the hopes of a new Volume on the horizon.

Until next time.

Thank you for reading.

And thank you, my dear Winter Maiden.

[hxntresses]

That epilogue.... hm.

I feel like I should be more excited? Especially cus they had SSSN and CFVY (FINALLY) in the back on the first frame, but like..... idk lmao,,

I'm just scared of how much more character assassination there will be for them. BtD did Sun dirty and even though the ending of the book kinda made up for it, I'm worried what they'll do with him now.

And Velvet, like.... I'm so, so excited to see her again. I've been waiting so long for this. I should be WAY more excited, but I'm just... worried they'll ruin her and indeed the rest of CFVY or just shove them into like one episode and not show them again/make them not very involved in w/e V10 has going on.

Worse case scenario I'll just have to go canon-divergent, but I guess we'll see if V10 does even end up happening.

[byteridge]

Angular: whats new in 10

The version v10 has been published and announced by this blog post. Although it may not appear as impactful as v9 (with Ivy and all), this release displays Angular team’s commitment to keep Angular up-to-date and relevant. I found this very exciting.

Today, in this blog we will learn what are the new features that are introduced in Angular 10. So, I jumped into the details of what changed and how to migrate. Here is what we found.

Pre-requisite: patience

MAJOR CHANGES:

New Date Range Picker

Optional Stricter Settings

Warnings about CommonJS imports

Deprecations and Removals

New Default Browser Configuration

As you go through the blog, their will be lot of theory in this blog,.. soo i request you all to be patient enough to go through the updates.

NEW DATE RANGE PICKER

https://byteridge.com/blog/images/0_ruU5G-8_hqEp3UBY-1.gif

To use the new date range picker, you can use the mat-date-range-input and mat-date-range-picker components.

See this example on StackBlitz. Learn more about date range selection.

2. OPTIONAL STRICT MODE We all know how much time will be saved by using strict mode,.. All the extra spaces a line and syntactic errors  are displayed right away so that we need not wait until the code has been complied . You can opt for strict mode just by entering 3 magical words ❤ ng new --strict USES OF ENABLING STRICT MODE

Enables strict mode in TypeScript

Turns template type checking to Strict

Default bundle budgets have been reduced by ~75%

Configures linting rules to prevent declarations of type any

Configures your app as side-effect free to enable more advanced tree-shaking

https://byteridge.com/blog/images/commonjs.png

Keeping Up to Date with the Ecosystem a Typescript 3.9 : Angular 9 was released with TypeScript 3.7 support. Soon TypeScript 3.8 was released and Angular v9.1 supported it. Not long after, another TypeScript version, 3.9, is released and Angular responds with v10, keeping up. b TSLib 2.9 : TSlib is updated to version 2.0. The runtime library for TypeScript contains helper functions that have now been updated to TSlib 2.0. c TSLint v6 :  The extensible static tool that checks TypeScript code for readability and functionality errors if any. Modern editors support it and build unique systems that can be customized with their own lint configurations, rules, and formatters. Starting with version 10 you will see a new tsconfig.base.json. This additional tsconfig.json file better supports the way that IDEs and build tooling resolve type and package configurations.

[mjofficehours]

2023-01-04

This week's take-aways from the Office Hours Discord session. I'm sure I forgot/missed some. Please help fill in the details if you can. TY.

I don't think he mentioned this today but the default version for MJ is now v4 so you can stop typing --v 4 at the end of prompts if you are doing that. Also q2 in v4 is broken right now. All it does is eat GPU.

Disclaimer: I am not associated with Midjourney, Discord, or this FB group in any official capacity. I do this because many people can't attend the weekly Office Hours via Discord on Wednesdays at noon Pacific and there is no other way to get these updates.

You're welcome.

1. Improvements to upscalers and higher/different ratios to v4 are not performing as well as hoped.

2. Its a balancing act trying to make improvements to v4 while pushing ahead with v5. Especially since v5 solves a lot of those issues in v4 that need improving. So they are shifting towards v5 but still want to improve aesthetics of v4.

3. v5 is progressing nicely and they are still trying to get all the features they want in it rather than rushing to get it out. He is reluctant to mention the features because he doesn't want to disappoint anyone if a feature doesn't make it into v5.

4. They are focusing on certain improvement in v5. More details. Better accuracy and resolution. Better response to prompts.

Read text better (I'm not clear if this referred to prompts or text placed in images).

5. More advanced tools for building longer series of images.

Some tools will require you to be more of an artist.

Important to have a version for people who like to draw. 90% of users won’t get good images (on the drawing MJ interface) but the 10% who like to draw and want to do that for a living will be able to create original work faster and have more fun doing it.

It's important to provide the drawing UI soon so people can see there’s a craft to it. Even though it only serves a small portion of users.

Side note: there was a lot more to this topic but the gist is that he understands now that there are people who like to draw and want to do that for a living. Not everyone who makes images is interested in telling a story. Many of us just like drawing and so giving us an interface that allows us to use our drawing skills to get the results we want is going to go a long ways to reaching out to the artist community.

As someone who likes to draw I found this very encouraging and I can't wait to see what this UI looks like.

6. They are still working on image creation sites that are separate from Discord. Mobile app looks like it will be 10X better than Discord (on mobile).

7. They are looking at increasing the value of the $10.00 tier and creating a free tier where you pay for your sub by helping them with data collection (I think that means ranking images).

8. They might like to expand service to China (the way they have to Japan with NIJI) . He also noted that China is the first country to regulate AI images (they require watermarks).

EDIT: this was a passing comment as part of a broader discussion about what govt regulation might look like in the future and should not be read into too deeply.

9. GPU situation is much better. Things should be good unless the user base grows much faster but for now there is plenty of padding.

10. They are planning some contests as a way to hire new staff. They want to see what people can make. That's all the details I got but it sounded like they will tell us more soon.

11. they are thinking a lot about how to improve filters. Word filtering should improve over the next month

12. He doesn't expect to have a truly stable version until v8 or v10

13. They are still trying to get search working for the MJ website. He’s sorry everyone. It turns out it’s really complicated at this scale.

14. They have no plans to incorporate a chat bot directly into MJ but if they did make one it would be way weirder than what's currently out there.

[thequeenxofhearts]

Jason Todd x Reader

Summary: Jason buys a red car

‘Y/N.’ The manager said, ‘You can go home now.’ He smiled.

Y/N smiled back, ‘Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow, Emma.’

‘Bye, Y/N.’ Y/N’s colleague, Emma replied with a smile and a little wave.

As Y/N walked into the back room, she passed another colleague, Sam along the way. Sam was taking over from her now that her shift ended, ‘How’s it been?’ He asked.

Y/N chuckled, ‘Really not that bad at all.’

‘Not like yesterday then?’ Sam asked, Y/N rolled her eyes – yesterday’s shift had been awfully busy, and Y/N and Sam had been on the late shift together.

‘God no.’ She replied and Sam laughed, ‘See you tomorrow Y/N.’

Y/N grabbed her back and her jacket off the hook, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and read a new message from Jason.

During her lunch break, they had been texting and he said he would pick her up so she wouldn’t have to walk home. She was fine with walking home, she walked to and from work every day, and she imagined Jason pulling up outside the coffee shop on his motorbike, throwing her a helmet before she climbed on the back.

She wasn’t 100% keen on riding his motorbike, she’d heard of all kinds of accidents – she knew Jason would be careful with her as his passenger, but she still didn’t trust it.

The new message said, “Wait outside for me, won’t be long”. She pulled on her jacket before she pushed open the door and left.

She didn’t know why Jason wanted to pick her up, all he said when she messaged him on her break was “I’ll pick you up”, and when she insisted that she could walk home he said he had some kind of surprise for her.

She was waiting outside. It was cold, a little bit breezy, but not cold.

She stood outside the coffee shop, looking at the bookstore opposite. If Jason wasn’t picking her up she would be in there now, picking out a book (or two or three) that she knew she didn’t need but the covers caught her eye and she’d buy them anyway.

She smiled a little thinking back to the other day when Jason had asked her if she planned on reading any of the books on the shelf or if they were just there to make it look like she reads books.

‘I’ll get to them.’ She had said.

‘I bet you can’t go a month without buying a new book.’ Jason commented, only to laugh immediately afterwards when Y/N’s eye twitched slightly.

‘Can you at least read the old ones before the new ones?’ He asked. ‘I’ll get to them.’ She repeated with a smile.

‘Y/N?’ A familiar voice brought Y/N out of her thoughts, and she looked to the person who had spoken; Jamie, her awful ex.

‘Jamie?’ She asked.

‘How are you?’ He asked.

‘I’d be better if you left me alone.’ Y/N spoke looking away from him, her eyes focusing on the bookstore.

‘Ah come on you don’t mean that.’ Jamie chuckled.

She didn’t know what his problem was – he cheated on her so she dumped him, Y/N and Jason start dating and months later they bump into him in a bar where Jamie gets thrown out.

She had never seen Jason so angry before. Come on Jason, hurry up.

‘What are you doin’ out here anyway?’ Jamie asked.

‘Waiting for Jason.’ Y/N replied.

Jamie scoffed, ‘You’re still with him?’

‘You’re still single?’ She retorted.

She could see that Jamie was grinding his teeth, he cleared his throat and seemed to brush off her comment, ‘How long have you been waiting for? I can take you home if you want?’

‘Jamie, leave me alone.’ Y/N replied, glaring into his eyes.

Before Jamie could say anything, a loud noise…a deep vroom of a car engine. It got closer and closer, and a sporty red Audi pulled up on the roadside. The window rolled down and Y/N’s eyes widened, ‘Jason?’

‘What the fuck are you doing?’ He asked Jamie, who was standing in shock at the car in front of him.

‘Umm…err…I was just…’ Jamie stuttered.

‘Going away I hope.’ Jason commented, ‘Get in.’ He said to Y/N.

Without hesitation, she pulled open the car door and climbed inside.

‘He wasn’t bothering you, was he?’ Jason asked as he merged back onto the road.

‘No…Jason, what is this?’ She asked.

Jason gave a childlike smile, ‘Our new car.’

‘You bought a car and didn’t think to ask me first?’ She exclaimed.

‘No…but technically I didn’t buy it.’

‘Oh my god, you stole it!’

‘No! No! Listen it’s from Bruce.’ Jason replied.

‘Bruce?’ Y/N asked.

Jason nodded, ‘I know what you’re thinking, I’m a little surprised myself. But do you remember a few years ago, I went to Bialyia with Bruce?’

Y/N nodded.

‘I found out then, that Bruce had set up various savings accounts for myself and the other three,’ He shrugged, ‘He said it was for our futures. And he has been adding so much into it a month.’

‘And you bought a car with it?’ Y/N asked.

‘I bought us a car.’ Jason said, hoping a sweet smile will please her.

Y/N gave a small laugh, ‘Ok, you’re gonna have to tell me more.’

‘Would it make you feel any better if I tell you that there is enough money left over for us to buy our own house?’

Y/N looked at him, ‘Seriously?’ She asked. Jason nodded, ‘I know we’re happy with our apartment now, but I’m happy for us to wait until we wanna look for somewhere else.’

‘Umm…ok wow. Bruce has been-’

‘Looking out for us.’ Jason said, he took her hand, bringing it to his lips and pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

‘So why this car?’ Y/N asked.

‘Why not? It’s a great car!’ Jason exclaimed.

‘You got it today.’ Y/N laughed.

‘I know but I love it already!’ Jason exclaimed, ‘It’s got cruise control, rear cameras, parking sensors, and the roof comes down so when the summer comes, we can have the wind blowing through our hair.’ Jason ran a hand through his thick hair and pretending it was blowing in the summer breeze.

‘Yeah, the dirty Gotham wind.’ Y/N replied.

‘You know what I mean.’ Jason replied.

‘What car is it?’ Y/N asked, she had been too shocked to even notice what it was, only that it was red with black in some places – Jason’s favourite colours, of course.

His eyes lit up, she could tell he was desperate to sell this car to her, ‘It’s an Audi R8 V10 Quattro.’ He explained like a car salesman, ‘I love it, don’t you?’

‘It’s a cool car, but the question is, what are you gonna do with your bike?’ Y/N asked.

‘I have it all planned out babe, I’ll use my bike when you have the car. I know you have nowhere to park at work but I’ll drop you off and pick you up whenever you want, I’ll use my bike on patrol or whenever you have the car.’ Jason explained.

‘I suppose it would be nice to not have to walk to work in the rain.’

‘Or get the bus.’ Jason added.

He turned to their apartment building and parked in the building’s parking garage. He pulled into the parking space next to his bike.

He climbed out of the car and ran around to the passenger side to open the door for Y/N, he took her hand and helped her out of the car.

‘Check this out.’ He said excitedly, he pressed the lock on the car key, and it locked the car. The wing mirrors went in as the blinkers flashed, then he pressed the button again and the blinkers flashed for a few seconds longer, ‘It’s activated the alarm.’ He said proudly.

‘Jay most cars have that function on the key.’ Y/N replied.

Jason frowned, ‘But most cars aren’t like my car.’

Y/N took his hand and pulled him towards the elevator, ‘It’s a beautiful car Jay.’ She stood on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips, ‘No, it’s a cool car, you’re beautiful.’

Y/N blushed, ‘Come on.’ She smiled, pulling him into the elevator.

[doctorofmagic]

My thoughts on Stephen and Carol

That was... unexpected, to say the least. Now I have this task to elaborate my feelings and opinions in a way that is paradoxically personal and rational at the same time.

Let’s begin.

Background

Carol and Stephen know each other for a very, very long time. Their first team-up happened in Marvel Team-Up v1 #76 (1978), when Silver Dagger captured Clea (again - and yes, I’ll talk about her later). Both Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel decided to offer a helping hand to Stephen.

Stephen also assisted Carol in a mystic issue, combining their powers in Ms. Marvel v2 #4-5 (2006). It’s from this very run I suspect Kelly Thompson pictured the idea of a relationship between them. Nothing official, but all it takes to assume there’s something else going on is a mere look.

It’s true they were on opposite sides post Civil War, but Carol decided to join the New Avengers later on, which also gives this relationship one more layer.

Lastly, Aaron’s Avengers also featured them on the same team for a while, in addition to the previous Captain Marvel v10 #6-7, in which they swapped bodies and Carol had a taste of Stephen’s pain. We’re also considering Captain Marvel v10 #19 because, at this point, it’s clear that Thompson had plans for them since 2019.

Captain Marvel #27

Since this a blog dedicated to Stephen, it’s hard for me not to look through his perspective. I know the story is about Carol and how she’s struggling to mourn. But you’re all here for him. So this is my very detailed yet not-so-reliable review about their moment together.

....

Stephen is so sweet, wtf.

First, he confesses that he lost a patient on the table, WHICH MEANS that Thompson is following the events of Surgeon Supreme. Honestly? It’s the first comic book to do so. But fine. I can live with that.

Man is not having a good day. In fact, it’s a terrible day, which probably justifies the end. Here we another glimpse that Stephen still can’t deal with loss. Life is so important to him precisely because he has lost so much. In addition, for a moment, he forgets that Carol isn’t supposed to be drinking. So he turns the whiskey into Seltzer. In the meantime, Carol can’t help but relate to him. I know, Carol, I’VE BEEN THERE.

There’s another moment that warmed my heart (in a sense because it’s quite sad when you think about it). Stephen asked Carol if he was bothering her. Do you have any idea how insecure Stephen is? BECAUSE HE IS. He’s always afraid of bothering people and that’s why he isolates himself. That’s why he’s always pushing people away. That’s why he’s so miserable and lonely.

Stephen is the sweetest, I can’t. He doesn’t even know his own favorite color. COME ON, STEPHEN.

I admit, though. They know how to flirt. Stephen is the kind of person who flirts through self-loathing, which is only natural given his mental health. And Carol... Well, she’s a girlboss. It’s perfect. Also he’s sassy. And do I love my sassy boi? Very much.

But here’s another sad thing. Stephen is not seen as a “good addiction”. He’s simply not the worse one. And he’s aware of that. Do you know how I know? I mean, despite all the countless articles I wrote about his self-loathing?

Because of this:

Yet again Stephen is aware that he used someone else to fill his void. And yet again, he was used. I can’t remember the last time Stephen had a healthy relationship. In fact, I can. It was with Linda, the Night Nurse. And that was a loooong time ago. I can’t even begin to comprehend how lonely he feels. And how miserable he feels whenever he fails to create a solid bond. Not only romantic ones, but also platonic relationships and friendships as well. I want him to be happy, it’s not too much. So why am I on the verge of tears?

Fine. I dissected the issue panel by panel, such is my commitment. But how I truly feel about them? Before answering that...

Things to be considered

Hear me out. There’s a very famous forbidden OTP party in Secret Wars: Secret Love #1. I can’t remember the author of the post but here, on this very hellsite, they confirmed some of those OTPs were ships that Marvel would never allow to happen because they’re, well, LGBTQIA ships. Cherik? Yes. Stony? Yes. Kate Bishop and America Chavez? Yes. CarolJess? YES. It’s the closest we’ll ever get to Marvel’s main characters to be queer.

I’m quite open to shipping Stephen with any character. However, I cannot look away when I’ve always rooted for Carol to be an LGBTQIA character. So, much to my surprise, as I was checking the spoilers on the hopes that Jess and Carol would finally have a revelation... STEPHEN HAPPENED. Trust me, Carol stans, this was as much unexpected to me as it was to you.

Truth be told, as a Stephen stan, I get tons of hate, because people mostly know him for his Illuminati era and how patronizing he behaves sometimes. But this is the reason why I made this blog. I want more people to know Stephen as deeply as I do. I know it’s frustrating. But I’m not the enemy. You have no idea how hard I try to find subtle words and clues that Stephen is not straight (because he isn’t, please).

So, after all is said and done... I still think they’re cute. And please, do not hand me down a guilty verdict yet.

I think of Stephen a lot on a daily basis, so it’s only natural to headcanon which heroes he has hooked up with throughout the years. And I swear to Vishanti, Carol crossed my mind a few times. I only figured it would never happen. But it did and now I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel. But it’s okay. Because it’s not going to last - and I’ll explain why.

The future

Despite the fact that CarolJess should be a thing™, when it comes to canon, she’s deeply connected to Rhodes. Their relationship is so important to Carol that she sacrificed it out of love. She’s mourning. There’s this feeling of emptiness in her heart, pretty much similar to what Stephen experienced when Clea left him the first time.

They’ve met in a very delicate and frail state of mind and spirit. Some (most?) people do it, as an attempt to fill the void with anything or anyone that resembles affection. They’re aware of that.

That’s why I don’t think it will last. It’s not a relationship born through mutual growth, it’s a relationship born in mourning and sorrow.

You know me, mates. I’d do anything for Stephen’s happiness. But that’s not it. His happiness lies on a powerful sorceress from the Dark Dimension. You know her name. And Carol? Well, if not on Jess because Marvel desires to keep selling comic books to homophobes, then on Rhodes.

It feels just like my hook up list headcanon, only better because there’s angst. And boi, do I love angst?

That said... We have more issues coming, in addition to that beautiful cover for #29. Let’s wait and see. I do think Carol and Stephen share an angsty a beautiful background and that’s why I’d rather have them instead of Elektra. No offense, Elektra and Stephen are HOT. But I believe Carol and Stephen offer deeper layers. And this is why I made such a long post about them and didn’t do the same to Savage Avengers. No matter how hard I try to be rational, when it comes to Stephen, it’s just stronger than me.

PS: forgive me if I missed something, I’m truly exhausted but my mind wouldn’t allow me to rest until I made this post. Thank you for your support.

[roz-ani]

After seeing Yang blush at Blake I've been overwelmed by the urge to see Ruby blushing at Oscar......i mean Blake and Oscar already blushed at their respective crush, and Yang finally followed in the last episode sooo, 'sup Ruby you're the only one left, you wanna blush at Oscar so bad bestie ha ha.......👀

Same, Gunchucks, same XD

While I personally don't ship Bumbleby, I'm really happy for all the fans of their relationship. It was a really sweet reunion ❤️ Good to know that SOME people got what they wanted XD

I still feel bad about not noticing Oscar blushing in the first episode, but maybe my analysis compensated for this terrible mistake XD And like I said there - this, in my opinion, was the first real sign of Oscar having feelings for Ruby. All their previous interactions were meant to build-up their friendship. I'm pretty sure neither of them have thought of dating in their current situation. Their mission is what matters the most, they play the biggest roles in the whole conflict, but that doesn't mean they can't develop any feelings for each other. They wouldn't be the first ones after all...

Like you said, Oscar has the "first blush phase" behind him and I have a feeling there's more to come in the future volumes. I believe he's not fully aware of his feelings too, but it shouldn't take him long to realize that there might be "something wrong" with him. But Ruby? Well, that's a different story. Especially with her upcoming mental breakdown. I really hope that Oscar will play some role in making her feel better about herself. They're very similar characters, both of them are going through a lot now, but Oscar is/will be doing better - I believe his bottling up his real emotions too - than our main heroine. She's the one he looks up to the most, she told him he's not giving himself enough credit, she's been constantly reminding him about his individuality. Ruby let herself be vulnerable around Oscar. He's the only person who can fully understand the situation she's in, her responsibility.

Still, while Oscar might be developing feelings for Ruby, it's going to be a long time until we get a clear sign from her and... That's really great! Rosegarden is a good example of a well written slow burn. We have a well established friendship and you can't go further without making it clear to the audience.

Remember, friends hug too, so it's normal to see the interrupted reunion as something platonic. None of them blushed and for me, that confirms the suspicion that Oscar isn't fully aware of his feelings. They've just appeared, and he had... better things to do... Still, we don't know how exactly Oscar would react to the hug. Maybe he'd blush again? I'm particularly interested in what Ruby wanted to say to him... I'll admit that I wanted to yeet Emerald out the window in that moment, but the fact that they brought our attention specifically to Ruby and Oscar's reunion? Right after Bumbleby and Renora moments? That's exactly the thing I expect to see in the future - hints. And speaking of future:

Right after the v7 finale I came up with this: v8 - Oscar showing signs of his crush on Ruby, realization, v9 Oscar being awkward around her, v10 further awkwardness with signs of acceptance, v11 acceptance and Ruby developing feelings for Oscar, v12 realization, confession near/in the finale + confirmed relationship in the epilogue. That's obviously just an overall prediction. I'd have to explain the details and when it was revealed that only 2 days would pass in v8, I knew I was in danger XD My point is: make us wait as long as possible, but don't stop giving us hints.

Combining RG awkwardness from v7 with mutual blushing would literally kill me, so I'm obviously looking forward to the future volumes XD And I'm willing to wait as long as necessary to get a well written relationship ❤️

[heartsoftruth]

MY EXPERIENCE | FRIDAY IN ZANDVOORT

After 2 years of waiting because of Covid; today was finally the day I could see F1-cars drive around Zandvoort again.

Sadly my weekend tickets were cancelled because of the Covid-rules in Holland (1/3 was cancelled), but I was able to buy 2 for Friday.

I wore my Mercedes hat yesterday towards the track proudly as well, but when I came in Zandvoort and saw the sea of Orange I can’t say I didn’t feel a bit scared of what was about to come. So. Much. Orange. So. Much. RB.

Dutch fans x My Merc hat wearing ass

But I can not say anything against the Dutch fans that were there today. No one said anything mean towards me (some did speak English all of a sudden so I talked Dutch loudly with my friend making them go 🤯 a couple times HAHAH). But other than that nope. Of course you stick out but that’s something you know and I knew as well.

There were two people (a woman and man) that were a bit behind us all of a sudden for FP2. I didn’t hear them before (and I think they only came for FP2) because they were VERY loud and when Lewis went off they booed really loudly. They were the only ones and me and my RB-hat wearing friend looked around and gave whoever it was a 😒😒😒 and then they were silent. Then Lewis came on the screen again and the man yelled: GAY! That was almost rhe moment I turned around again to say: That wasn’t what he told me last night 😂😂💀

Those two hookigans were the only ones and I could tell they were the new type of fans Max has brought to this sport. Way too loud and not what we’re used to as autosport fans. You could tell they were football hooliganish because when one particular song came on just before FP2 that is used for an ajax player they yelled: WHERE MY AJACIEDENNNN??? And there was total silence 😂😂💀💀💀💀

F1 | 2021

To see the F1-cars around the tracks tho is amazing. It’s surreal to think I saw them IRL. The people I’ve watched for years and years and YEARS (with some hello Seb, fernando, Kimi and of course Lewis). I’ve seen these drive and for so many years and some even before they went to F1 here in Zandvoort as well. And now as world champions.

The only thing that shocked me was the sound of the engines. Jesus. F1 should do something about it because F3 at the moment is way louder than F1. Now I understand why Lewis was sighing longingly even more when he heard that V10 a couple months ago. I already miss it on the couch, but in real life. I was truly in shock. Not gonna lie.

FP1 was great to see. The thing with Vettel did confuse me and I still don’t know why it took that long and more so so much time off me being able to see Lewis live hahahaha. It was great to see him get P1 tho. I cheered HAHAHAH. Then thought: oh fuck max still has to finish but he didn’t get it so I was 🥳

Sad to see Lewis had to end his FP2 so soon. As it started I was also cheering and even screamed his name - will post that in a moment - while an orange smoke thing were lighten around me. The contrast was huge 😂😂💀💀💀

Happy to see Charles get P1 in the second session that way I wasn’t too bumped out. Also glad to see him and the F3 guys also did great. Cheered for baby Leclerc and Hauger even watched my InstaStory I saw just now haha. 😂😂🔥

[semperintrepida]

The Sellout, chapter two

two: the big reveal

Kassandra sipped her coffee and surveyed the Portland skyline: the muddy river far below, Mount Hood backlit by sunrise skies as soft and pink as a kitten's tongue, and the laughably light traffic skating along I5. Roofs and trees, then trees in greater and greater numbers until they made a velvety green carpet all the way to the mountains. Portland had to be the smallest big city she'd ever lived in.

She sipped again, letting the coffee's warmth ward off the chill from the polished concrete floor beneath her feet, and she wandered away from the unbroken expanse of floor-to-ceiling windows that formed the eastern wall of her condo, back to the table where her laptop waited for her to put the finishing touches on the Yelp review she'd been dying to write since yesterday afternoon.

After visiting fifty — no, closer to a hundred — coffee shops in the month she'd lived here so far, she'd never experienced one quite like Cliffhanger Coffee. The latte she'd ordered was damn near perfect, but the coffee snob capital of the US was full of near-perfect lattes. It wasn't full of beautiful, dark-haired women with fire in their eyes who could pull espresso shots while throwing volleys of sharp, sharp words at the first sign of a threat.

Despite turning up the dials on her charm and attentiveness, Kassandra had gotten skewered almost as soon as she'd opened her mouth. After two years of living with Pacific Northwest passive aggressiveness, the woman's flat-out, in-your-face aggressiveness had hit Kassandra like the first taste of a sea breeze after years in the desert.

She'd savored every sip of that latte while walking up Belmont back to her car, and later on, she'd fallen asleep thinking about the woman's sharp words, the muscled lines of her forearms, and how they'd disappeared into blackwork tattoos that ran under the rolled-up sleeves of her flannel shirt. Trees on one arm and plants on the other, ferns giving way to some kind of vine, twisting in intricate lines on her skin...

Kassandra shook the thought away and focused on the text she'd written. Come for the delicious drinks, stay if the barista likes you... She tapped a finger against her chin in thought, then typed out one final sentence before she clicked "Post Review."

She examined her handiwork with a satisfied grin, then finished off the last of her coffee. Maybe she could squeeze in a visit to the other side of the river after her one o'clock planning meeting downtown. She picked up her phone.

Dessa answered in the middle of the first ring. "Good morning, Kassandra." She'd been Kassandra's assistant long enough to know her working hours went from seven a.m. to seven p.m. and often beyond.

"Dessa. Good morning. How's my two to four looking this afternoon?"

Quiet click-clicks as Dessa brought up her calendar. "You've got a one-on-one with Trevor Adams from two-thirty to three-thirty."

"Reschedule him to early next week."

"Consider it done."

"Any messages for me?"

"Kevin would like you to call, but he says it's not urgent."

Kassandra snorted. A CEO's not urgent merely meant right now instead of yesterday. "Coordinate a call with Lisa so I can talk to him at his earliest convenience." Lisa, his long-suffering admin assistant, who'd followed him from Microsoft to Juniper and every other stop along the way.

"It'll probably be around eight-thirty."

"That works." She drummed her fingers on the tabletop. "How're things back at the ranch?"

A sigh. "Markos has been looking for you."

Kassandra rolled her eyes. "He can make a calendar request like everyone else."

"I told him that, but you know how he is."

She did, all too well. He liked his meetings with her to be in person and off the record, like he was some big-shot politician instead of a middling marketing executive. "I'll be on site tomorrow morning. If he weasels by again, tell him he can buy me lunch."

"Will do. Anything else you need?"

"That's it for now. Thanks, Dessa."

She gave one last smirking glance at Yelp, then closed the browser tab and pulled up Outlook. The number of messages in her inbox had reached quadruple digits, and she made a mental note to spend some time cleaning it up later. She scrolled around until she found the email she wanted, then picked up her phone again. "Hi, Evelyn. It's Kassandra. Ready to start crunching those square footage numbers on the southeast flagship?"

.oOo.

A little after two o'clock, Kassandra turned her Audi R8 onto the looping ramp that led up to the Morrison Bridge, and just past the apex of the curve, she punched the gas and grinned as the big V10 began to howl. The acceleration shoved her hard into her seat, and it was like sitting in a recliner strapped to a rocket, more than making up for the fact that the car only came with an automatic transmission. No matter. If she wanted to shift gears herself, she had motorcycles for that.

She found a place to park on a side street off Belmont, slung her laptop bag over her shoulder, then backtracked a couple of blocks to the building that housed Cliffanger Coffee. The neighborhood wore its light industrial roots proudly: lots of brick and corrugated metal, and the coffeeshop's building was no exception. The ground floor units had lofted ceilings, but there were two more floors above them that looked like they'd been converted into apartments sometime in the last forty years. Likely rent controlled. Probably what had kept the owner from tearing it all down and putting up a mixed use development in its place.

A development on a street corner like this could net tens of millions.

The corner unit was occupied by a store selling overpriced furniture, and she scanned the price tags through the windows as she passed: five-hundred-dollar end tables and six-thousand-dollar couches. The store had probably been open for less than a year. She wondered what had been in its place a decade ago, when the coffee shop next door had moved in and nudged this neighborhood a little further down the path of gentrification.

A slate-colored sign bearing the words "Cliffhanger Coffee" hung over the door, the bold white lettering in a font that was clean and timeless rather than trendy, set over an angular slash that was more suggestive of a cliff than explicit.

Kassandra pushed the door open and stepped inside. Busier today, with customers dotting the interior tables, and the same three people from yesterday seated at the couches, deep in conversation. The woman — the owner, Kassandra reminded herself — was at the register, smiling as she handed a cup to a customer. At the sound of the door opening, her gaze slid from the man, to Kassandra, then back again.

The woman's smile faded as soon as the customer turned his back to her. She wore a blue and white plaid button-down with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and tight black jeans. The buckle of her belt glinted silver under the menu board's lights. "What do you want?" she asked as Kassandra walked up to the counter, her gaze as opaque as smoked glass, and Kassandra knew she wasn't really asking about a drink.

"I'll take a double shot, bone dry cappuccino, please."

The woman's eyes narrowed a fraction as Kassandra's weaponized order hit its mark. "Four dollars and thirty cents," she said flatly, slamming her fingertip into the register's touchscreen so hard its plastic casing creaked. This time, Kassandra took a good look at the woman's hands: long and slender, implying fine bones within, but her fingers were wrapped with muscles, as were her wrists and forearms, powerful lines disappearing into black foliage and vines that climbed up her arm.

That kind of muscle didn't come from pulling shots at an espresso machine — it came from training and effort. Kassandra knew it well; she wore it herself from her neck to her calves, earned it in the weight room and on the pitch, and, once everyone figured out she'd grow up to be tall instead of fast, on the basketball court. The woman had probably started young at whatever sport it was, but she was too tall and lean to be a gymnast, and no soccer player who wasn't a goalkeeper had wrists like that, and she wasn't tall enough to be a keeper anyway...

Kassandra realized she was staring, and her fingers fumbled at her wallet inside her suit jacket's pocket. It took her two tries to pull a twenty from the cash in her money clip, and she made herself take a slow breath before she pushed it across the counter. "Can you make that drink for here, please?" she asked once she'd regained her poise.

The woman tilted her head and eyed the twenty. Her look could have shattered concrete. Then the twenty disappeared into the cash drawer and a stack of coins and bills took its place. "You might as well have a seat," she said, tossing the words over her shoulder as she moved to the espresso machine.

And just like the day before, the woman's shroud of irritation fell away as soon as she focused her full attention on making the drink, her eyes lighting up with a clean, unburdened joy. This woman was the one Kassandra wanted to talk to. She wanted to ask, Does it feel the same way for you too? It was beating everyone in the paint to a rebound, or hitting a holeshot on the racetrack, that flowing perfection where everything is just so and all is right in the world. Kassandra had spent a lifetime chasing it.

One espresso shot and two full pitchers of steamed milkfoam later, the drink slid across the counter. "Bone dry," the woman said in a voice to match.

Kassandra picked up the cup, murmuring her thanks before she drifted around the perimeter of the shop. Lots of brick and exposed metal, softened by green plants. Real ones. This place would Instagram well. She sipped the drink, the hot espresso tunneling through a thick layer of fluffy foam, completely free of milk and its diluting effects. Yesterday's latte had been near-perfect, but this drink was perfection in every way, its components correctly proportioned, the shot ecstatically good. She needed to find out who the woman's coffee roaster was.

A set of shelves crammed with books occupied much of the back wall, under a small, hand-lettered sign reading take one, leave one. Past the shelves, a bulletin board hung over a small self-service bar that held carafes of cream and a variety of sweeteners. Kassandra's eye lingered on a line of brightly colored stickers running along the edge of the board: Best of Portland 2010, Best of Portland 2011, 2012, 2013... all the way to last year, 2017.

She chose a table against the wall that was mostly hidden from the counter's line of sight, pulled her laptop from her bag, sat down, and pretended to get to work.

A steady stream of customers passed through the doors of the shop, despite the doldrums of the mid-afternoon, and the thread of tension wound tight around the woman's voice began to loosen as she filled orders and chatted with customers. Once, she even laughed, low and round and rich, the sound fuming in the air like a good bourbon. Until that moment, Kassandra wasn't sure the woman was capable of it.

The shop began to empty out as the clock swept past three. Kassandra packed her laptop away and carefully set the empty cup into the bus tub under the self-service bar. She strolled over to the counter, ignoring the hostile glances from the regulars at the couches. There was a jar full of business cards next to the register she hadn't noticed before. Enter to win a ten-pack of drinks written in strong, angular lettering.

The woman turned to her and crossed her arms.

"The drink was perfect," Kassandra said.

Silence.

"I didn't catch your name."

"I didn't give it to you."

Not this way, Kassandra wanted to say. Let's not do it like this. Let's just talk. Tell me about your coffee: who grew it, where it came from, and what drew you to doing this? Because she wanted to see that bright joy return to the woman's eyes instead of the anger living there now. "You don't like me at all, do you?"

"Have you given me a reason to like you?"

"Have I given you a reason not to?" Her brows knit with real confusion. "If I've caused any offense, I'm sorry."

"You seem to think that I have to give you the time of day because you're dropping twenties on drinks."

That stung. "Consider it compensation for wasting your precious time, then." She had tried to be nice from several angles, but had bounced off the mirror finish of the woman's anger every time. Nice didn't work on everyone. She'd keep her interest professional then, and run a different play from the playbook. "I guess you really wanted that fifth star," she said, and then she reached into her laptop bag and fished out one of her business cards, and she smirked as she caught a glimpse of a siren's enigmatic smile looking out from a familiar green circle. She locked eyes with the woman and threw the card into the jar by the till. "See you later."

As she walked out the door and onto the sidewalk, she couldn't help but grin. She would have loved to see the woman's face as she read the words on the card:

Kassandra Agiadis Vice President of International Real Estate Development Starbucks Coffee Company

Chapter two of The Sellout. Continued in chapter three...