#now that i have a vacuo outfit for oscar that i like

[chaikachi]

Thoughts on the animatic?

Hmmm undecided. I think the closure of a full team reunion and Ruby's "hey everyone" would have been nice for a finale, esp if we don't end up getting more seasons. But in the optimistic world where we do get that final arc, I'm sorta glad the animatic didn't make the cut? Since this way gives them much more room to execute it at the start of v10. They can elaborate more on Vacuo and what everyone has been up to plus have more time to focus on the reunion proper, instead of just cutting to black. The RG shipper in me is a little disheartened and trying to brace myself for the fact that we might not get a proper focused hug between the two of them in that scene. But I believe in crwby and how they've stuck with writing RG's dynamic thusfar so I know they'll give us plenty of material in other ways at least 😤

[autumnsorbet]

Epilogue and theory v9/10

So today a few hours ago for me the epilogue came out I'm very excited about it since this is the most Ruby content related to the main show we've gotten and about a year it's better than us waiting and confusion like we did wondering what was going on with volume 9 where it was a to what felt like to 4 year wait 😅

I also like to hear a rise then there's possibly been a time skip of longer than we think and vacuole even though the epilogue shows the characters and the same outfits they've been wearing since volumes 6 and 7 I do like to think that when we do see these parts of the epilogue and volume 10 like we've been told by Eddie and kerry

💖

We'll see new updated looks maybe some of the characters will look older or a bit taller I really hope this happens and I can't wait to see what their character designs look like especially Oscars and winter

So let's get started with what I liked from the epilogue and some theories all throwing you here and there

🧡💚Oscar

wondering if the others were alive and actually trying to do research into it even though remnant has limited resources and information even ozpin didn't know what happened to Ruby and the others

♥️

So I'm excited to see their reaction and volume 10 I'm guessing we'll get the reunion with everyone and episode 2 whenever we get volume 10 and these explanation of the ever after will come up an episode 3 because I believe in episode 2 if they do end up getting to vacuo and reuniting with the

💖

others then that's going to be the main focus and then maybe a fight will happen and after that and episode 3 they'll take a break for episode they'll explain everything that's been happening with them Ruby and the others will explain what happened to them and the ever after, team Rwby will see how Oscar's merge is affecting him I wonder if jaune using his Aura amplification would help Oscar I'm not sure it might make it worse we'll have to see

💖

but like I said in other post on here and Twitter I Believe by the end of volume 10 Oscar's merge will be complete and will be left on a cliffhanger as to who it is or will actually get to see who it is at the end and we'll have to go from there sadly cuz either way we're either losing ozpin or Oscar

💙Nora

I'm so happy that this epilogue started out with Nora cuz she was one of the characters even more than Oscar that I wanted to know what was going to happen with since from the beginning they'd always set her up it's kind of like a pair with Rin and now we're getting to see Nora Branch out and do

💖

her own thing away from rent even though he can tell that now after telling himself and Nora that he loves her, he still gives Nora her space I'm glad that Nora got to stand up to people who were being hostile towards orphans since Nora's been an orphan for longer than we've probably known

💖

We get to see Nora actually interact with other characters for once outside of her team it's just amazing and I wish they had done this sooner

I can't wait till when we actually give volume 10 because I hope we'll see so much more of Nora and maybe if we're lucky maybe she'll somehow become a maiden

❤️💚Ren

I like what they're doing with Ren Ren sees that John isn't there anymore so now he's trying to be supportive and uplift the team the same way his leader would and I'm happy they're doing this he learned a lot from him and Atlas he saw how

💖

confident John became after losing so much and struggling since the beginning of beacon and now he's not there to uplift or support them like he used to so wren's trying to support and uplift everyone

💖

even though they're separated I also look forward to seeing what happens with him and volume 10 especially with his relationship with Nora he's still trying to give her space even though you can see he does want to be with her at the moment so I wonder what they'll do with him from what it seems maybe they'll have some moments with him along with maybe other characters like male characters

💖

kind of like we seen in Ruby Chibi where he'll be with some of the male characters and they'll be looking into Tyrion and Mercury working with the group called The crown from the before the dawn and after the fall light novels which are Cannon to the main story of rwby

💙Winter

I actually got to see more of winter than I thought I would with the rest of the epilogue I'm happy that we see how much control she seems to have over the maiden power so far her flying her combat and skills she truly is a good candidate for the powers

I'm hoping at some point we'll get to see winter interact with the other maiden I'm hoping that this maiden is very young somewhere around winter's age but has a bit more control over her powers than winter and maybe she can learn from someone instead of trying to teach maybe form a friendship or a bond and that will help them in their upcoming battle with Salem and speaking of Salem

❤️🖤Salem in vale

For the longest time now I theorize that Salem probably went to Vail I think she used up her grim pools on the dark Continent and needs to go to a place where a larger amount of her grandma are still active and that would be veil she's there looking for the crown possibly with cinder since she has Tyrion and mercury and vacuo teaming up with the crown

Salem can sit back and make more grim using the staff I honestly do have some doubts here and there when it comes to the writing in the show but so far over the past several volumes is actually gotten so much better and I love it it was especially amazing and volume 9

I'm not sure what they'll have Salem do with the staff maybe if we're lucky Salem will somehow separate Oscar and Oz before they merge I doubt that will happen with that could maybe happen so she can actually confront the person she wants to instead of a 15-16 year old

[aspoonofsugar]

What do you think about the possibility of Ruby losing her silver eyes? Does it work for the story or no?

Hi!

Do you mean as in becoming blind or as a consequence of the tree treatment? Either way, I don't think it works, sorry :)

I am considering the tree scenario because I guess you are referencing ascension.

I don't think Ruby is gonna change in any particular way physically... Maybe she can get a new outfit or a new hairstyle, at most? In general, I think the result of her little therapy session with the Blacksmith (it turns out the tree is a free therapy session :P) should be for her to just accept who she is. We'll see, but this is where I am expecting we are going, as for now. At most, she can modify Crescent Rose a little. Still, I don't think she should come out as someone different.

Now, when it comes to her eyes specifically, they are literally the crux of her arc. Every character is going through the different stages/gifts (Knowledge, Creation, Destruction, Choice) in different ways. When it comes to Ruby, the motif, which is guiding her through it all is her eyes.

She uses them for the first time in Beacon, in ignorance (Knowledge)

She gains Knowledge about them and uses them to save everyone in Mistral (Creation)

She fails to use them in Atlas (Destruction? I think we might have something more for Destruction tbh in Vacuo)

She will probably choose to use them to save Cinder, instead than killing her (Choice)

Not only that, but the Silver Eyes are a metaphor for idealism:

SEW are idealists that can see the Light even amidst the Darkness and can use that light to fight Grimms aka manifestations of Darkness and Anonimity

Salem's attempt to turn them into Grimm is then her attempt to break their hope

Maria's loss of her SE symbolically results in her running away from her mission as a Huntress. She states outload she fails because of that, but once she meets Ruby she finds hope (light) again and teaches her about the eyes

Now, Ruby isn't meant to lose her idealism. Tbh we have already had an idealist lose its ideals and that was Ironwood and it did not turn out well. Like, not at all. Alternatively, we have also had an adult running away from her mission out of cynism and that was Raven and it did not end well either. So, Ruby is now at a crossroad... will she grow up like the adutls who failed her or will she become something different?

Now, obviously before she can do it, she needs to let go of her idealistic image of Summer, hence the way the last episode ended. She needs to really understand she doesn't have to be her mother and that her mother is just another person. Symbolically, her struggle is really the inverse of Oscar (one of her major foils):

Ruby wants to become Summer

Oscar doesn't want to become Ozpin

That said, I don't really see the SE as just Summer's legacy... they are a part of it, of course. Still, I think Ruby's self-actualization won't come from her giving them up, but rather by her choosing how to use them.

After all, they are Dorothy's slippers and LRRH eyes :''') Ruby is not supposed to give up on the main attributes of her fairy tales...

Just like let's say...Weiss isn't meant to give up on her Schnee name nor her legacy. Winter did and it is framed as a negative thing, as a way for her to escape from who she is. Similarly, Blake is not meant to leave her Faunus heritage behind nor to hide her cat years. And Yang is not meant to get her arm back.

All their identities are meant to be affirmed through and despite these attributes that were given to them. And yet, they all can choose what to do with it.

Thank you for the ask!

[thinkingaboutrwby]

So I’ve been thinking. Based on how much he aged in the Ever After, Jaune was sent back about decade or two. He looks like he could just be exhausted and in his thirties or straight up in his forties. But regardless, he wasn’t sent back more than an lifetime and yet interacted with Alyx and Louis in the Neverafter. For Alyx’s story to be such a widespread fairytale, it had to have taken place conservatively at least a hundred of years ago in relation Remnant. More than likely she left Remnant somewhere in the range of 300-500 years ago and returned 200-400 years ago. This is good evidence to indicate there’s time dilation in the Ever After.

RWBY + Neo have been there for maybe a week at most, probably more like a few days right now. Jaune’s time in the Ever After corresponded to conservatively about 10x the time in Remnant, probably more like 30-50x. That certainly means that we will see a time skip with NERO in Vacuo. If RWBY gets out within a another few days, Ever-After-time, we could see the time skip be anywhere between a month (10x3 days) to a almost year (50x7 days) which either way is a significant amount of time to pass for plot stuff to happen.

I wonder what will happen with NERO? Will they already have located the Summer Maiden? Will Oscar and Ozpin’s merge have progressed? I’m assuming we’ll get new outfits from all of the Vacuo team. Will Emerald and Mercury see each other again? How are Ren and Nora especially coping without Jaune? Will we get an even taller Oscar (is our smoll bean sprouting)?

I don’t know if we’ll get an answer to whether the time dilation occured or what’s up with NERO until Volume 10, since Volume 9 is 10 episodes instead of the 14 like in past seasons. But food for thought?

[jessimiko]

I thought I'd try my hand at a volume 9 bingo card

Neo redemption

Let Neo be assimilated into the found family, no one is safe

Alice in Wonderland references

This one is pretty obvious

Rosegarden fuel

BRO I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH I COULD CRY. Please just let me have this and I'll be happy

"The Girl who Fell Through the World"

I'm telling you there's no way that fairytale and the Ever After aren't connected, or at least eerily similar

Alice allusion character is the summer maiden

I have literally no reason to believe this other than just a hunch, but I'm calling it now

Team Reunion

If this happens in volume 9 at all, it'll be at like the very end. I have specifics of what I want out of that reunion but that's not relevant here asdfghjkl

Summer Rose

I think both Ruby and Yang are gonna have to deal with things relating to Summer. IT'S TIME TO FACE THE MOMMY ISSUES LADS LET'S GOOOOOO

bumbleby kiss/confirmed

Listen I hate this ship for personal reasons but I want them to just KISS ALREADY FUCKING COMMIT

Oscar "The Little Prince" allusion confirmed

I think y'all have heard about this theory and I am 100% here for it. And now is the time, I mean HELLO Oscar "The Little Prince" Pine is in the DESERT!!! Again this is assuming Oscar is in this volume at all :')

Magic

I'm convinced magic is just gonna be a normal thing here, like just completely throws everyone for a loop

Characters going feral

I'm a simple woman, I want to see characters going absolutely apeshit in a fight. (Would be a great opportunity to see Oscar, Ren, and Nora go feral fighting the Grimm after Winter tells them the others are dead) Listen I know it's wishful thinking but let me be a clown alright

Oscar gets his semblance

Once again this only works if Oscar is in this volume, which GOD I hope he is, and if so let my son unlock his semblance it's TIME

Grieving

Who's grieving? RWBY? Jaune? Oscar, Ren, Nora and the others? WHY NOT ALL OF THEM

Near death situations

Can we even have a volume of RWBY without near death situations at this point, I think not

Theodore frozen by fear (fight, flight, freeze)

Okay so I have this theory. Each headmaster so far (minus Ozpin obviously) has fallen victim to their own fear, which manifested in different ways. Lionheart was flight, Ironwood was fight, and following that pattern, Theodore will be freeze. Fight, flight and freeze.

Half Ever After, half Vacuo?

So hear me out, I can't imagine they would skip over whatever happens in Vacuo (unless the Ever After is outside the passage of time). And if this whole volume is only the Ever After, then I would guess they would use Volume 10 to show us everything that's happened in Vacuo. But I can't see them going that long without showing RWBY, our main protagonists. So, I figure at least SOME of this volume must be what's happening in Vacuo, even just a little bit. Maybe in the second half? Like, first half or so we see RWBY and Jaune in the Ever After, and then they escape. Then maybe we see what happens in Vacuo and and at the end of THAT is a reunion. I'm high on copium

Ship wars in the FNDM get worse

This is a given, I fully suspect someone is gonna tell me to kms because I ship Rosegarden

Emotional support Little

LITTLE IS FRIEND SHAPED AND WILL OFFER THE BEST SUPPORT

They escape at the end

I'm not going all in on this bc I could be wrong, but the pacing makes sense in my head

Ruby emotional breakdown

GIRL LET IT OUT OR IT'LL COME OUT ITSELF IN AN EXPLOSION OF TEARS AND SCREAMING

Big lore dump

Again, kind of a given

Self reflection

I think this is gonna be the perfect time for a lot of self reflection in the Ever After. About their feelings, their goals, their ideals, what drives them. And they'll come out of it with newly steeled resolve! Or it'll be like, a trauma reliving nightmare. Maybe both!

New outfits for returning characters

Listen if we see Sun this volume and he doesn't get a new outfit I'm starting a riot

Fighting inner demons

Self-explanatory, I feel like this is also gonna be THE volume for fighting your demons. And given how fuckin weird the Ever After is that could be figuratively and/or literally

Uhhh that's about it! I've never done one of these before but I figured why not, now might be a fun time to try it. Feel free to use this for your own watch through of the volume :)

[lonizera]

i just posted my design for oscar’s vacuo outfit,,,so why do i have a 2.0 version in mind????

i was just sketching out nora’s then suddenly bOOM new design idea!! i’m not sure abt what to draw for ren, i might end up giving my design for oscar’s 1.0 vacuo outfit to him instead cuz i feel like it fits him better

i did say they were pretty self-indulgent but i’m getting ‘serious’ with the designing now haha

[help-i-need-a-cool-username]

Im not sure if i ship emercury yet or not, but the concept of Mercury spying on Emerald living her best life and getting jealous is gold to me

Like for some reason Salem has added another objective to his and Tyrian's mission: do reconnaissance on the kids who single handedly moved Atlas to Vacuo, and make sure they dont get in the way. And Emerald is there. Emerald is slowly learning how to hang out with them and do social activities but Mercury and Tyrian show up right at the end of that, so she's mostly adapted to NRO and SSSN. CFVY still doesnt like her so she avoids those social outings.

Whether because he never truly acknowledged her as a friend and she has some now or because he's been into her for a while Mercury gets jealous when she does friend things and half his updates back to HQ are just salty comments

So theres Emerald, walking around in a cute new outfit and rocking cowboy boots. She's doing karaoke nights with Nora and Neon, and having a blast. Mercury has never seen her smile that much. She walks around with her arm around Oscar's shoulders half the time and they giggle at inside jokes. She danced with Sun for a few songs at this improv Atlas refugee camp festival. Which, Mercury has danced with Emerald before, slow danced with her too, and she's not that great but her and Sun are swinging and spinning around and taking up a lot of space, and its just so different from his dances with her at the Beacon Dance. Just the amount of genuine joy she's expressing during this knocks Mercury back. Thankfully for Mercury's heart she has to sit down because she's tired and only dances with Oscar after that, which is a bit hilarious, and she watches whatever pathetic dance battle is happening between Nora and Neptune. One day she rolls her ankle out in the desert and yeah, Nora could easily carry her, but Nora took a pretty bad hit and they dont have Jaune around to heal either of them, so Ren carries her back to camp bridal style. And Emerald looks as comfortable as can be, chilling out with her arms around Ren's neck, because shes friends with these people. And Mercury is going through all these feelings like he's angry some guy is carrying her, he's jealous its not him carrying her, he missed out on carrying her last time the opportunity came up because they were kinda running for their lives and Hazel got to her first, he realizes she was basically his best friend and he never even hugged her, which is sad considering how tactile a person she is

And of course Tyrian is making fun of him the whole time, and Tyrian's type of teasing just makes him angrier and the updates even more salty

[hyperfixation-hideout]

Going through my inbox and apparently a lot of you have been asking what I'd like Oscar's Vacuo outfit to look like, so here's a haphazard MS Paint edit done with a trackpad by a non-artist (me) who doesn't even know how to use Paint:

god knows why I chose a screenshot where his jacket is scorched... it was just the first full-body I found in the folder and by the time I realized it was too late.

Crop the jacket, shorten the sleeves, freckle the arms, revive the rag, remove the collar, add a scarf. And maybe a little ponytail but I couldn’t figure out how to draw that. I wouldn’t complain if they removed the cummerbund or wrist straps, either. (Also make his skin darker again please! I couldn’t do it here cause it had to match but return his melanin!) I know the colors on the rag are a bit off for his current palette, so the outfit might look better without, but I miss her :’(

Look, I just really want a scarf a la The Little Prince, is that too much to ask?? And it can flap in the windy desert, pretty please? As a treat? 

I have this recurring vision of the v9 intro where Ruby is silhouetted from behind, standing on the beach looking out to the suns on the horizon -- her cape flaps in the wind and briefly covers her silhouette before twisting back, except now it’s thinner -- a scarf, and the silhouette revealed from behind the cape is Oscar looking out to the desert horizon, the suns replaced by the full moon as the sky cuts from day to night.

(alt versions and more thoughts/ideas below!)

Here’s one with the rag shorter and on the other side, idk which looks better

I think that one may be more balanced but the first makes him look taller? Oh well. Here’s one with fingerless gloves and no wrist straps (I tried, okay?)

I feel like he should keep some sort of wrist strap, but I like the idea of fingerless gloves for him :) Potentially angsty, given his whole staring-at-my-gloves-when-contemplating-my-identity thing he does, but it could also be a way of showing his growth, since he was looking at them while talking about how he isn’t the same farmhand he once was, but still keeping them as part of his history.

[osir-ethria]

.... Debating on whether or not I should do something other than the Schneeblings...

Well here’s another thing about them anyway.

Whitley loves fashion and designing with a much more creative aspect to clothing. Jacques however found out and called it far to feminine and that he should be focusing business and other things (minus fighting).

Winter would always let Whitley choose the dress she would wear to business meeting with Jacques and tell him about the guests reactions and how many compliments she got because of his choice. She did this in the form of a letter that Klein would hand Whitley because if she was seen anywhere near Whitley he would be reprimanded by their father. She’d first give him a list on what the event was about, how she was to be represented, and if Jacques was there to enjoy himself a little or purely just business.

This helped Whitley with his look when he went out on formal events and got to choose. (This is me saying please change his outfit for once. Maybe inspired by Weiss?)

Even though Winter never directly told Weiss but Whitley was the one who designed her outfits minus the Volume 7 one... I’d have to say Weiss looks good but like, the pounds of hair in that braid is unnecessary. She has a lot of hair but why make it not proportional to the rest of the head. Other than that she actually picked up a few things from Whitley just by studying what she’s been wearing.

After the half of the group that got to Vacuo arrives at the main kingdom they need new gear. The Atlas gear is going to give them a heat stroke. They are trying to decide what to do and they see an obviously emotionally unavailable Winter write a few things down, hand it to Whitley, and tells him to go all out.

Later she explains the whole fashion thing with them and tells them that if they’d trust him with their outfit designs to just list necessities, color schemes, any requirements that’ll help with how they fight, and what style of clothing they are comfortable or uncomfortable with. When Whitley receives these papers from the group he starts crying, they aren’t seeing it as weird and actually trust him with it. Remember, Jacques hated this side of Whitley.

Whitley works with Pietro to design the new gear and everyone loves it. Comfortable, looks good, and does its job. I also remember that the Schnee dust company doesn’t only have dust mines in Atlas even though it was the majority, there are some all over Remnent. (This is from the World of Remnent episode Rooster Teeth did about the Schnee Dust Company.) The Schnees however stay with the refugees instead of going somewhere else so they can help them. They also have enough money to help provide for the refugees like buying tents, getting food and water, and any other necessity. Whitley gets a good feeling from helping and not keeping it all to himself.

Whitley better ask Winter to train him or Winter forcefully teaches him because she can’t handle losing another sibling. This is just with a sword he hasn’t gotten his semblance yet.

He’s smarter than a lot think he should be, the only thing that’s stopping him from being a huntsman is how young he is, like I would prefer if he was around Oscar’s age, and he’s not of the physical or aura capability of a huntsman. You could argue Jaune was like that but Jaune was of the age to go to beacon, had a weapon, and was physically fit to the point he could play it off as maybe going to the school. The only thing he was lacking was skill which was remedied by Pyrrha.

Whitley hasn’t had any of that but I wouldn’t doubt that he’d be a good fit. I can imagine him trying to use his left hand but it doesn’t work out so he forces himself to switch and it works but he wanted to use his left hand for that. He’s not as nimble as Weiss but more so than Winter so he’s slowly forming into a mix. Best part would be he keeps his sarcastic attitude and teasing only being serious in serious situations.

I think all Schnees are brutally honest with everything but understand and feel bad when they hurt someone who hasn’t done anything bad to them or has gotten on their nerves. If they are misunderstood for what they say and they know it wouldn’t be easy to understand said topic they go soft and attempt to explain, Winter and Penny at the Schnee manor in Vol 7.

I also like to think that each of them are slightly gifted in the others area of art. Whitley is better with design, art, and visual concepts.

Weiss is better musical and hearing as well as being able to take quickly to anything she was forced to learn by Jacques or genuinely wanted to know. Weiss and Whitley also share common interest in design from a mathematical stand point because it gets their motors going which was derived from Jacques trying to control them and force how they think, what they do, and what’s going on.

Winter is more about art through movement. She taught Weiss how to dance and is probably the only person who could stand a chance against Yang with Martial Arts. With her being the most controlling of her emotions she could easily do acting which she was forced to do while in school before Atlas Academy.

Whitley learnt how to play the piano from Weiss with videos Klein recorded where Weiss explained how to play. This was an assignment by Jacques to prove she was practicing but Whitley caught them once and asked Klein if he could see the videos. Jacques thought he had the natural talent for the piano, nah he just practiced a lot with Weiss’s help.

Winter hasn’t listened to any of Weiss’ personal songs. By personal I mean the RWBY soundtracks. I head canon that those songs are Weiss describing their journey and how she believes their friends, enemies, and family feels.

I like the idea that Weiss’s songs were used as protest. Now Winter has heard a few she just never put two and two together that that was Weiss singing since she always had a soft pitched opera voice. Well not until she heard someone in the refugee camp blast This Life Is Mine which included the more opera segment. That broke Winter. The idea was on a head canon post but I forgot the name and I’ve liked to many posts to the point I doubt I’ll find it.

Whitley got two copies of Weiss’s songs, using a bit of money for himself and Winter there, and as a bonding activity between them and if they ever feel stressed listen to her music and voice. This is how Whitley realized that Jacques had been lying to him about his sisters just abandoning him and not caring for him at all that they left him, but rather Jacques pulled him away from Winter to ensure he wouldn’t end up like Weiss. This Life Is Mine hits close to Whitley as for Winter as much as she agrees with Whitley that it hits close she knows that Weiss’s song Path to Isolation hits more for her.

Weiss had managed to submit War, Until The End, and Fear to the people who published her songs before everything the evacuation using Pietro. Pietro questioned why and she just gave a quick summary, not explaining everything but just enough. Those publishers got though the portals and with the help of Whitley and the Schnee money got Weiss’s ‘final’ track out.

The songs are played everyday which was new for the Atlesians that survived compared to the survivors in Mantle. No one expected Weiss to be so defiant and see how abusive Jacques was to her and which they can assume the rest of the family. How they weren’t picture perfect.

......... I should stop now. Written to much again. I’ll most likely try to find the post with the idea that Weiss’s song were used as songs of retaliation in Mantle. If I do I’m going to reboot it so here me go, deep diving.

[greenteaandtattoos]

Sunsets and Stitches: A Forest Fire Siblings One-Shot

“Hey, Oscar!” 

The hazel-eyed boy looked up as his name was called. He had been washing some dishes after the rations for the refugees had gone out. He recognized the voice. He spotted a blonde-bushy-haired girl striding over to where he stood. It was Yang. Even though it had been nearly a week since team RWBY - and Jaune - had returned to Remnant and reunited with everyone in Vacuo, Oscar couldn’t help the stab of relief in his chest at the sight of her. 

Sometimes, he woke up in the morning in a panic, fear that their heart-felt reunion had been only a dream. Especially when it came to a certain red-clad girl… The feeling of Ruby’s arms around him, embracing him tightly, was a feeling so foreign yet so unforgettable at the same time. 

“Oscar.” Oscar let out a small huff as a voice reverberated in his head, pulling him from the memory. Ozpin had been interrupting his thoughts and daydreams about Ruby every chance he got, scolding him about getting distracted in a time of war. 

“Hey, Yang,” Oscar greeted, turning his attention to her as she approached. “What can I do for you?” Yang towered over him by a few feet, her wavy hair pulled up into a ponytail and cascading down her back like a field of wheat in the wind, glowing gold in the setting sun’s light. Her lavender eyes were unusually neutral, a change from the usual fiery determination that blazed in them. Oscar frowned and even Ozpin noticed something was amiss with his former student, concern pulsing from the wizard. 

“It seems like you have a problem,” she informed him knowingly. Oscar felt his face redden and anxiety wormed its way into his stomach. Did she know? Yang was Ruby’s older sister, and was very protective of her. If she found out about his crush on her baby sister… He gulped. 

Oz agreed, it might not turn out well. Especially with Yang’s very… vocal feelings towards him. She had forgiven him for hiding his secrets and then abandoning them, but she was still wary of the ages-old wizard, and she wasn’t the best at keeping her emotions to herself. 

Yang raised a hand, and Oscar automatically tensed. However, her hand came to rest gently atop his head. Mischief glinted in her eyes, and a smile spread across her face. 

“Your hair is a mess!” she exclaimed, ruffling his thick chocolate locks. “Have you ever grown out your hair before?” Oscar blinked, allowing himself to process what was going on, then let out an audible breath of relief. Ozpin hummed in amusement. 

He played off his breath with a laugh. “No, never.” He raised a hand and ran it through his hair. He had decided to try and grow out his hair once they had gotten to Vacuo. Ren and Nora had supported his idea, the former giving tips on how to wash it and brush it to keep it from getting tangled. He hadn’t been doing so well, though. The wind blew sand into it on a daily basis and the sun dried it out, bleaching it to a pale brown. 

Yang pulled her hand away and jabbed a thumb at her hair. “Well, lucky for you, I have. C’mon, let’s do something about this travesty.” She began to lead the way into the cool shade of the dorms, where they had all been staying. Once she had gotten Oscar comfy in a chair, she began to ruffle through some drawers and duffle bags. 

He watched curiously as she pulled out a brush, some hair ties, and some other hair products. “I feel the need to warn you,” Ozpin started, his voice light with amusement, “That Ms. Xiao Long takes hair care very seriously.” Oscar smiled nervously as the said huntress dropped everything onto the desk in front of him and began arranging them. 

“What does that mean?” Oscar inquired. “It means that you should probably do exactly what she tells you to in regards to your hair,” was his reply.

“Alright, kiddo,” Yang said, stretching her arms above her head and cracking her fingers. “Let’s get this mess fixed.” 

Luckily, there was a mirror in front of him, so he watched anxiously as she picked up a hair brush and began to brush it through his locks. To his surprise, she was very gentle, starting at the ends, brushing through them with practiced expertise. He hissed lightly as the bristles came into contact with a particularly stubborn knot. 

“Sorry,” she grunted. “The desert has really done a number to your hair.” Oscar scratched at one hand. “I should probably have asked for some hair tips before now, huh” he joked. Yang snorted. “I think we were all worried about more... pressing issues back then.” 

Oscar instinctively raised his hand to run it through his hair - a habit he did whenever he was nervous or embarrassed - only for Ozpin’s warning to come too late and he felt the sting as Yang slapped his hand down. 

“Ow!” he yelped quietly. “Hands down!” Yang barked. “Do you want this to be as painless as I can make it, or not?” Oscar rubbed his hand. “Sorry, mom,” he apologized dryly. Yang hmphed and continued with her work, her mouth twisting in concentration. 

“It might be best to just rest your hands,” Ozpin suggested. “Easy for you to say,” Oscar grumbled internally. Oscar’s uncomfortableness with physical contact was well-known to the others, and he appreciated Yang’s slow strokes and gentle hold, no doubt to try and put him at ease. However, he often struggled to keep himself still, finding too much energy within himself. Holding Long Memory helped calm him, but he didn’t have it with him now. He was trapped between a desk and a dragon. 

He elected to rest one hand on the desk, listlessly playing with the cracks in the wood, and dropped one hand to his shirt. He rubbed his thumb on the embroidered rose that he had asked Coco to stitch onto the hem. He traced the soft curve of the petals and the long stem as Yang worked. 

Yang’s eyes glanced down to where his hand had fallen, her gaze zeroing in on the rose. Her lips thinned. “I don’t think I’ve gotten to tell you that I like your outfit yet,” she said, uncharacteristically cool and controlled. 

Oh, shit, Oscar thought. Ozpin agreed, though chided him for his language as he did. “It seems Ms. Xiao-Long has exercised her powers of observation,” he commented. “This might not end well.”

“Uh, thanks,” Oscar said nervously. Ozpin’s comments did not help. “Coco made it.”

The upperclassman had offered to make Emerald, Ren, Nora, and him new clothes. He remembered going up to her in private and asking for the rose, his stomach as knotty as his hair. She had agreed, and even with her sunglasses keeping her expression hidden from him, he had heard the pity in her voice and the burn of her stare on his back as he left the room. 

“It suits you.” Yang’s complement dragged his attention back to the present. There was a curtness in her voice that made Oscar want to squirm. He began to trace the cracks in the wooden desk with anxious speed. “Yang, I—”

She paused, lifting the brush ever so slightly from his head. “How far along is the merge?” Yang asked suddenly. Oscar’s head drooped slightly. “Far enough,” he said. Yang was silent for a moment, then, “I see.”

Oscar squirmed in his seat in the awkward silence, and Yang placed a hand on his shoulder to still him. “But I’m still me,” he burst out. “I promised that I would do as much good as I could with the time I had left, and I meant it.” Yang’s grip on his shoulder tightened, but not enough to hurt. “And how much good will you do to my sister when you’re gone and Oz is all that is left?” she asked. “Will it be good when you’ve gone and left her with a broken heart?” Oscar wilted. She knew.

“It is for this reason that I told you to find a way to dispel your crush,” Oz pointed out, backing Yang’s argument. Oscar felt anger bubble up in his chest. “No, you told me to forget it because it made you feel awkward,” Oscar retorted. “Perhaps, but—” 

Yang, who had seemingly been waiting for an answer, realized that he was conversing with Ozpin and resumed brushing, which interrupted the two as Oscar jerked his focus back to her. Right now, it was more important that he make her understand, rather than Ozpin. He had argued with over this topic many times before with him, and it always ended the same.

“Yang, I would never hurt Ruby,” he promised, putting as much sincerity in his voice as he could. “I-I really…” He paused, then took a deep breath, remembering Coco’s and Nora’s advice. “Go slow, but be honest and forthright,” they had said. So, that’s what he would do. 

“I care about her,” he admitted, finally sharing his secret. “I would never do anything to hurt her.” He felt the bristles of the brush prick at his scalp. “I know,” Yang said, the bite in her voice softening. “But you don’t really have a choice. Eventually, you will merge with Oz and—”

“Oz doesn’t have anything to do with this!” Oscar burst out. Yang froze, eyes wide. “I’m the one who cares about Ruby, not Oz,” he continued forcefully. “I’ve cut my life short for him, for the world, but I deserve to be able to do something for myself while I still have the chance… don’t I?” Yang stared at him with narrowed eyes, the brush frozen amidst chocolate tangles. She seemed to contemplate his words.

“But does my sister deserve to be left broken when the inevitable finally occurs?” she finally asked after a moment. Oscar closed his eyes, and ignored Ozpin’s attempts to give his input on the matter. 

“Ruby deserves happiness and peace,” he said. He crossed his hands and rested them against his heart. Even months after the torture, the area where Salem had struck him with her magic was still sensitive to the touch. “I just want to help her achieve that.” 

Even with his eyes closed, he could feel Yang watching him intently through the mirror. “You and me both, kid,” Yang said. “That’s all our mom wanted for us.” Oscar’s eyes shot open at the mention of their mother, Summer Rose. Ozpin went silent at the mention of his former silver-eyed student. Blake had shared the secret of the Hound with the others after they reunited at Schnee Manor back at Atlas, and Ozpin had realized fairly quickly what happened to his former pupil. 

Yang let out a small breath. “Since we seem to be spilling secrets today, I might as well share one.” Oscar turned his head to glance at her curiously, only for her hand to stop it and move it back to where it was. She began brushing his hair again. 

“I can’t tell you for sure why our mother left to face Salem like she did,” she started, her voice twisting with emotion. “But, I can give you my best guess.” Oscar felt Ozpin stiffen. “It was because of Ruby.” Oscar had a feeling that was going to be the answer, but he stayed silent, allowing Yang to continue. This was her secret to share. 

“Back then, Salem was still hunting down and killing silver-eyed warriors, not… what she’s doing with them now. I think… I think mom got scared because Ruby was born with silver eyes, and knew that Salem would eventually come for her.”

Ozpin remained silent, but Oscar could feel him emanating complex emotions, mixing with his own. Oscar couldn’t imagine how he was feeling, knowing that his former student had been subjected to a fate worse than death at the hands of Salem, and he hadn’t been able to do anything.

“And so, she decided to strike first, to try to get rid of the danger to her family. But whatever her plan was, it fell through and she…” she trailed off. 

Sympathy surged through Oscar, and finally got a good understanding as to why Yang was so adamant with her feelings toward Oscar’s crush on Ruby. She doesn’t want Ruby to feel the pain of a loved one disappearing again.

Talking wasn’t his strongest suit, but he would be damned if he didn’t find a way to express himself to Yang. “Oscar, wait,” Ozpin warned. “This isn’t a good idea.” Oscar took a deep breath. “You’re wrong,” he told the wizard firmly. “This may not seem like a good idea to you, but it’s what’s best for me.”

He met her gaze through the mirror. Her eyes glistened, though there were no tears. 

“I understand that you want to protect Ruby from experiencing such pain ever again. But so do I,” he told her, conviction strong in his voice. “I promise you, merge or not, I will help protect her. But, she isn’t some helpless girl, either. She knows that the merge will happen.” He paused, thinking back to her . “But she has never seen me as Ozpin,” he continued. “She chose to be my friend, despite my circumstances, just as I chose to remain by her side.”

Yang quirked a brow at his response, and for a moment, Oscar feared that he angered her. Then, she burst out laughing. “Stay friends with you, eh?” Oscar frowned, confused by her reaction. “What, you don’t think we should even be friends?” Anxiety and anger fluttered in his chest. Wanting to protect Ruby from heartbreak by keeping him from admitting his feelings towards her was one thing, but to disapprove of her friendship with him entirely? 

Yang coughed, her laughter dying down. “No, no. If only you two would remain just friends.” She put the brush down on the desk and picked up a hair tie, bright gold in color. “But, you have a point. Your life is your own, and my sister isn’t a baby anymore, not like she was when mom disappeared. Each of you can make your own choices.”  

Though pleased that Yang’s disapproval had lessened somewhat, her words still confused him. “Why did you laugh at the notion that she wants to stay friends with me?” he inquired. “Oh, Oscar,” Ozpin sighed. “And here I thought Ms. Rose was the clueless one when it came to people.” Oscar’s brow furrowed. “Hey,” he scoffed indignantly. 

Suddenly, Yang took a handful of his hair, gripping it hard enough that he yelped. “Really, Oscar,” she said. “Who knew that the one person you misjudge is the one person you like?” Oscar blinked at the connotations. “I-I misjudged that she wants to be friends with me? Has she said something? Does she not want to be friends with me anymore?” He began to fret. Had he done something? Said something? Was he too similar to Ozpin? 

Yang pulled and bunched up his hair into a loose ponytail. “You said it yourself,” she said. “She can make her own choices. Why don’t you ask her?” As Oscar fretted to himself, she slipped the ponytail around the base of the ponytail, then wrapped it around his hair three times, until it stood up on its own. Yang stepped back. “All done!” 

Momentarily distracted from his worries, Oscar instantly reached back to feel it. It was a small ponytail, but it held firm. He checked it out in the mirror. The golden hair tie stood out stark against his dark hair. It seemed to blaze as rays of sunlight struck it, like a ring of golden fire, from where they filtered through the window to his right as the sun sank further below the dunes. “Not a bad look for you,” Ozpin commented. 

Oscar turned to Yang. “Thanks… for everything.” Yang put a hand on her hips, a grateful smile on her face. “No problem. I think we both needed it.” Oscar nodded. A relief had lifted from his chest, though worry over Ruby’s thoughts on their friendship still bubbled in his stomach. 

Yang seemed to notice and patted his shoulder. “Hey, how I feel about your feelings toward my sister doesn’t mean anything, in the long run. As you said, she can make her own choices. If you want to know how she feels, ask her.” Oscar put his hands to his chest, clutching his vest, feeling the cloth rub against the tender, patched skin underneath, and looked out the window. The sun-baked sand turned tawny under the ember-glow of sunset, the desert sky clear and endless.

He turned back to her. “I think I will.” Yang’s body language still told him that she was worried about the situation and the potential consequences, but the familiar lavender fire had returned in her eyes. “That’s the spirit, pipsqueak. You do what feels right to you.” She patted his head again. 

Ozpin sighed. “I really don’t think this is a good idea, but I have my doubts that you’ll heed my advice on this matter anymore.” Oscar puffed out his chest. “I can’t ignore that you’re a part of me,” he replied. “But for now, my life is what is ahead of me.”

[claralaclarividente-fics]

Life is Dream: A Rosegarden story

Chapter 1- Once Upon A Time

Ruby’s eyes watered as the crisp air breezed in front of her face as she fell.

She had watched as her two teammates swooped down the void, only to be swallowed by a golden glimmer. By then, time had slowed down, and she thought about what could happen. Only to be eclipsed by the thought of her sister alone, wherever she might have ended up, waiting for her.

The battle had been arduous, and she had had a hard time tracking down her friends’ whereabouts during most of it, but when it had all quieted down, when Nora had placed a hand on her shoulder with a million questions in her blue eyes, the roar of the answer thumped in her ears.

Penny had understood right there and then, hugging her friends one by one- ‘do what you have to do.’

Jaune nodded gravely, thinking that if he were in their position, he’d do anything to bring his teammates back. ‘We’ll take it from here on out.’

There was no guidance, no certainty of what could happen, of what laid beyond the darkness. But Blake was trembling, her grasp on Gambol Shroud whitening her knuckles. Weiss held on Blake, afraid she might jump alone.

The decision had been made.

A tingling sensation distracted her thoughts, and with a rueful wonder she realized golden shimmers began to dance on her skin.

‘This is it, then.’ She barely had the ability to think before lighting gold consumed her. She felt herself fall asleep and tiredly closed her eyes.

Oscar opened his eyes at the insistence of Emerald. She had probably been trying to shake him awake for a while now judging by the tender expression she tried to conceal with fake annoyance.

Sitting up on his bed, he noticed that the quarters he shared with the rest of his team was empty.

The sunlight streamed harshly through the willowing blinds, telling him that it was way too late to be sleeping.

“Should have woken you up earlier but you nearly fell asleep on your dinner last night, so we thought it would be better to let you sleep in a bit more.” She explained as she slid open her Scroll, checking the itinerary for the day.

Mind still heavy with sleep, Oscar placed his bare feet on the cold floor. The frigid clay under his soles roused him enough so he began mentally preparing for the day.

“What have we got today on the agenda?”

Emerald rolled her eyes and thrusted a paper bag into the teen’s hands.

“Breakfast rolls with honey. Seriously Oscar, you barely ate last night and now you’re insisting on intermittent fasting? This is why even Little Red’s taller than you!” She jeered at his sudden bouts of sleepiness over the past month.

Oscar smiled, pained. Everyone up until now had been walking on eggshells regarding team RWBY, hushing down when they mentioned them, fearing guilt and sadness. But Emerald, who in her pragmatism did what had to be done, and said what needed to be said, did not care too much about being gentle with expectations.

It was weird. A month had passed since the exodus from Mantle and Atlas, and the remaining members of team JNPR were crestfallen, yet tried to ignore the growing negativity stemming in their hearts. They treated Oscar with care, trying to ignore the four missing links in their lives.

Surprisingly, Emerald and Penny were the only ones keeping hope.

Penny was hopeful and reverent. She had been made of alloy, bolts and dolts. But now she wore shoes, sand was annoying, and she could taste food. Anything was possible in this wide world of theirs.

For Emerald, it was more about seeing impossible feats of ancient wonder, something in her ears whispering that there were more incredible feats of magic to be revealed in her time alive. She felt that third chances in life were rare, and thus, grasped at its stray hairs strongly.

So they stuck by Oscar as the task of repatriation began at dawn and ended at dusk.

It had been a grueling month at Vacuo, nobody was happy to have the Atlesians in their land. The citizens of Mantle fared better, they had been humbled when they huddled close together back at the crater in the Motherland. But the Atlas elite? They could not wait for Mistrali ships to come in hoards to get them to colder ground. They revolted, nothing was up to their elevated standards.

But Theodore was nothing but pragmatic, as all Vacuans were, and a night off in the deserts shut the bunch of them up. The ones who made it back that is.

“Alright, I’ll stuff my face with honeyed bread rolls and spiced tea if it makes you happy.” Conceded Oscar after he tied up his boots and threw on the airy cotton cape on his shoulders. He had decided on a lighter fabric for his stay in Vacuo, the gauzy green tunic emboldened with red and white trimmings, and his loose cotton pants were good enough for the mighty sun that beat on the roofs of the deserts.

Emerald smiled despite herself. She and Penny had taken on the big sister role whenever Nora wasn’t there to mother Oscar to hell and back. It had taken some time to get used to, but for anyone that was not privy to the Fall of Beacon, Emerald was just Oscar’s older sister, who emerged at the Fall of Atlas.

Over the course of the weeks she proved herself, as a true Vacuan, and as a true ally.

“C´mon then. There’s a bunch of convoy ships from Argus and Vale willing to take in some snooty idiots in exchange of supplies. Don’t make Nora wait for you more, she’s missed on her hugging quota for the morning.” With a pat on his head, Emerald walked Oscar to the door, and off they were.

The day blurred by Oscar’s eyes, now and again stifling an inconvenient yawn, but nevertheless, persisted during the course of his workday.

Every day there were less Atlesians to send off, and less Mantle citizens who wanted to leave. Like May tended to say, Mantle knows how to show their teeth.

The migratory system they had built recorded every single citizen that wanted to leave or stay under Theodore’s watchful eye. The controls were harsh since there was no way to know if Neopolitan had blended into the crowd at all. Given that Emerald told Theodore and every staff member in Shade that they were to expect Tyrian and Mercury sooner rather than later, security had been the top priority these days.

In between tending to the wounded and sick, delivering supply packets to the tents of refugees, and breaking up fights, Oscar was beat by dusk.

By that time, Theodore insisted Oscar to keep their sparring sessions until he felt that Oscar moved and fought with more fluidity than the day before.

“Squirt,” Theodore would say, “I know Oz has taught you some things, but he was a dandy and thought that battle was graceful matter.” The rippled headmaster would flex and show him how merciless battle was.

Under the strongman’s tutelage, Oscar’s body ached and grew. With Ozpin’s mentoring in his head, his magic grew and he felt something inside of his soul bubble to the surface.

But at the end of the day, when Jaune was sitting right by his side, and Nora was babbling a ten miles per second into his hearing canal, he felt his shoulders drop their tension. He shot a thankful glance at Ren, who was casually conversing with Emerald, but still kept an eye on the youngest of their group. Penny and Nora, two ginger parakeets with insurmountable force and joy lulled his thoughts, until he sagged forward and faceplanted in his tomato soup.

The resounding splash alerted Jaune who quickly pulled Oscar’s face from the cold soup by grabbing him by the collar of his tunic. Oscar’s lack of reaction, and his fluttering eyelids greeted the blond huntsman, flooding him with worry.

The chatter died.

Nora leaned the boy to her side and grabbed his tanned cheeks, wet with stock, and panicked at his quivering eyelids.

Semi-conscious as he were, Oscar saw the motions at the table like photographs forming a standstill gallery inside his mind, the sounds dull and his feeling numb.

Nora and Emerald crowding over him, worried expressions marring his face.

Penny and her cold hands framing his cheeks, her confused expression.

Jaune’s golden aura around his vision as it tunneled.

Lastly, Theodore’s frown before he closed his eyes and tumbled into sleep.

__________________________________________

Ruby tumbled out of bed confused.

Her heartbeat alert and scared, her eyes darted to the four walls surrounding her. Sweet and spices reached her nose, the colourful walls held handmade tapestries and idyllic paintings. The rug that had cushioned her fall was fluffy, and the blanket tangling in her legs felt like a familiar hug.

“Where am I?”

Ruby struggled to stand up, and once she did, she gasped at herself.

In front of her, a mirror held her image. But it was all wrong. She wore a frilly white dress, with white stockings, red lace and ribbons, and her hair was tied in two tiny pigtails. She looked adorable.

And she hated it.

“Where’s-“ she looked at the nearest wardrove, and opened its doors as fast as she could. Rifling through the cutesy dresses, she was taken aback by a familiar skirt.

Holding the black dress with the black combat skirt, she wondered how her Beacon outfit appeared in the room she was in.

She stopped dead on her tracks.

“I’m not in Atlas anymore, am I?”

Clutching the dress to her chest, she slid down to the carpeted floor. She felt a bubble of panic come over her as she remembered the last events of her life.

“Right, Neo struck Yang, and Yang… She fell. We fought Cinder. And she died. I think. Then we…jumped.”

Ruby looked her hands over, turning them this way and that, as if they were given to change at any moment now.

“And-“ Ruby wheezed, close to hyperventilation. She trembled as she remembered flashes of the fight against Cinder, how Blake evolved her Semblance and fought as three copies of herself, about Neo striking the wrong Blake, and being fallen by the original one. Cinder taunting how she used Jinn, revealing their plans. Penny fell to the golden plateau, and then in a fit of rage, silver.

No more Cinder. Probably.

Her heart running like a wild animal under her chest, she took deep breaths as she tried to calm down. She rubbed the black fabric between her thumb and pointer finger, the texture was light to the touch. In the bottom frill, she found her name embroidered by her own hand. It was supposed to be comforting, but it only fueled her confusion.

A few tears threatened to spill, but then several knocks on the door startled her.

“Darling! Breakfast is ready!” a familiar voice called out to her outside the door.

In a haze, Ruby stood up and let the dress fall from her hands. She marched to the door and opened it in a swift motion, scaring the poor woman in front of it.

“Little Red! What sort of behaviour is this!?” An old woman that looked and sounded like María Calavera chided her, hands on her hips as she glowered annoyed at the teen.

“María! It’s you!” Elated, Ruby swooped in to hug the woman, who patted her back confusedly.

“Oh dear, now you’re calling your grandma by her first name too! Did you hit your head when you woke up this morning? What’s wrong with you?” Not-María held Ruby at arms length, checking her head for any injuries.

“Huh?”

Not-quite-María tutted, before guiding Ruby by the hand to the kitchen area of the cottage they seemed to be in.

“Little Red, you seldom ever visit me, and now you’re calling me by my name! Your mother hasn’t been disciplining you as she should!”

More confused than ever, Ruby sat on the stool offered by Not-Really-María.

The old woman sighed before plopping a plate of sausages, beans with crema and tortillas in front of her.

“Repeat after me, Little Red: Abuela María. Ah..Boo-Eh-Lah. Abuela.” Ruby looked at Abuela María in mild shock.

“Abuela?”

The Abuela María nodded satisfied and patted her hand.

“Now, after we finish mending that cape of yours, please give this basket of goodies to your mother for me. Oh! And thank her for the nice fabrics she sent with you, will you?”

Still starstruck, Ruby stared at Abuela María, not yet understanding anything that was happening in front of her.

“My…mother?”

Abuela María nodded, quite exasperatedly at her not-quite-granddaughter. She flipped her gray-haired braid over her shoulder and began repairing the red cape as she mumbled about ‘youth these days’.

“Yes, dear. Summer Rose. My daughter, your mother.”

More confused than anything, Ruby brought her hand up and mercilessly slapped her cheek. Abuela María looked at Ruby curiously, halting her sewing for a moment before resuming.

“But-but!” Ruby stuttered, holding her stinging cheek under her palm. “We don’t look anything alike!”

“My dear!” began Abuela María. “Silver eyes run in our family! Look!”

Abuela María removed her thick rimmed glasses and pointed at her eyes.

But all Ruby could see was a puckered red bruise, swollen and hurt. It slashed from her right temple to her left, there was not much to be said about eyes, as there were none.

Feeling not quite in a dream, but more in a bizarre nightmare, she stood up, the wooden stool clattering behind her.

Abuela María, with her glasses still removed and acting normally, bit off the last thread on the eye of her needle and folded the red cape neatly, offering it to Ruby.

Smiling sweetly, but with her disturbing red scarring across her visage, she gifted Ruby a basket filled with fruits, cheeses and breads, and pushed her through the cabin’s threshold.

Ruby looked petrified at the old lady that looked like her mentor but was nothing like her.

“Take this basket to your mother, will you? Be careful of the Big Bad Wolf, don’t let it bite you!”

Laughing merrily, the old woman closed the door on Ruby, leaving her alone in the cabin’s porch.

Jarred and perturbed, Ruby walked away from the cabin thoughtlessly, and into the winding roads that crossed the forest.

Only once she reached a small ravine, did she sit on the forest floor and pushed to her face the cape that smelled like home, like Yang and Qrow and Weiss and Blake and everyone she knew, did she weep.

For the longest time she cried, but after a while she felt her tears dry up, her shoulders stopped their heaving, and her heart dulled to a somber beat.

Ruby wiped her tears with the cape and splashed her face with the cool water from the ravine. She looked at her reflection, and disliking the pigtails pulling the hair at her nape, she tugged at the elastics and ruffled her hair. She bunched the skirt in her fists.

Annoyed at her dress, she looked down to it expecting to see white ruffles on white lace, she was caught off guard when she found herself wearing a black version of the dress she had woken up into.

As much as she marveled at this feat of reality writing itself, she feared it.

Taking one last look at her reflection, and tugging on the hood on her cape, she trudged into the deep forest, following the map she was given and hoped for the best.

[chatterkat]

Thanks for the reply!

I think the “Sky is Falling” song could also be about the Hound given it’s prominence in the scene the song is played and what we learn later, but the rap part which you highlighted is super interesting. If the song is for Oscar, than yeah I think the lyrics could clearly be pointing to his reaction after Ruby’s “death”. You know until you pointed it out I didn’t take the line about being green to mean being sick, but that makes sense too. I saw it as being green as in being a newbie/inexperienced. He’s the newest one to this fight, not a person who’s trained for years like the others, and now that he lost 6 of his friends he is trying to figure out how to go on. He for sure has to be thinking about Ruby’s message of not giving up and her talk about moving forward because she knew her fallen friends wouldn’t have given up if it was her, and now it is her who is gone.

I hope one day we can hear more about the inspiration/direction given for the songs. I’m really curious about “Treasure” in particular. I want to know was it written for specific characters or not, as it certainly feels specific, given how very clearly it’s about two people with a close relationship. A lot of people think it’s a Bumblebee song given how their separation is emphasized that volume, but then it would be also be really dramatic for separation of a single day. Not to say those two can’t be dramatic, but we now have a separation of an undisclosed amount of time with Vacuo so this dramatic song would be more appropriate for something like that. Sometimes the songs don’t line up directly with the show, which could be just direction changes or maybe they can have multiple interpretations in mind. Or as we have seen for some songs it could foreshadow future events.

I’m gonna do a RWBY rewatch soon and I want to make an analysis of every song(which is a tall order given there are so many), but I love the way music is used in this show. To tell a story beyond what we see on screen. It’s such a rare thing, that really maybe only musical style cartoons do, but I’ve not really seen it done as background music to this level. Other than maybe weirdly the Sonic Adventure games, where each character gets not just songs for them in their levels but a specific style of music only for them.

Oh and that’s definitely an interesting fact about the concept art. I hope everyone gets new desert appropriate outfits next volume. Like that coat looks like it would be super uncomfortable in the hot sun unless their auras protect them from heat as well like with cold.

Sorry for the long post here. I love talking about symbolism and this show just has so much of it.

The Little Prince, The Rose, & The Aviator

AKA We just got confirmation that Oscar's main allusion is in fact The Little Prince so I wanted to gather all evidence that supports it in show thus far.

cross-posted from twitter

A brief summary for those who aren't familiar:

The Little Prince is a story about a young boy that travels to many worlds & meets many people. It is told out of chronological order from the perspective of an airplane pilot that the prince meets close to the end of his journey.

It explores themes around childhood and growing up, love, loss, friendship, loneliness, and hope, among other things. All ideas very prevalent in RWBY.

Part 1: The Little Prince

The first theme I want to touch on is that struggle of trying not to lose yourself as you grow up.

"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again."

Oscar is the youngest of the group, and yet he is one of the characters most often shown trying to reason with the adults in the room.

Yes, we've mainly seen it with Hazel, Ironwood, and Oz... but while the rest of RWBYJNR are also 'just kids', he spends so much energy trying to reason with them and mediate conflicts there as well. All while still being the youngest of the bunch.

Another way this shows itself is in Oscar's resistance to merging with Oz. The merge is a very clear metaphor for how the people you meet and the things you experience can often change you. And how, when you're a kid, it all feels like its completely out of your control.

Speaking of the hoverbike scene, I want to shift to a different part of The Little Prince. The infamous moment with the fox and what it is to be 'tamed'. To be tamed is to create ties with others. To become important to them and for them to be important to you.

When Oscar is having a talk with Oz in v8 about how he finally felt like himself, the person he wanted to be, and felt like he was finally "part of the team"... There is a fox plushie lying on the ground as he passes by.

But we see that Oscar was right to feel this way later on.

Because just as he was "only a little boy like a hundred thousand other little boys" when he first met everyone... he had since been tamed, and tamed his friends in turn. And they fought tooth and nail to bring him back when he was captured by Salem.

Part 2: The Aviator & the Rose

In RWBY, most characters have a main allusion that is central to their arc and then secondary allusions for what roles they fill in relation to other characters. (Ex. Yang's main allusion is Goldilocks, but when thrown into the plot, she also becomes the Beauty to Blake's Beast, just as Blake was once the Beauty to Adam's Beast).

If we apply that metric to other characters here, we know that Ozpin's main allusion is The Wizard of Oz and Ruby is Little Red Riding Hood... so when placed within Oscar's story structure of The Little Prince, they become The Aviator and The (Ruby) Rose, respectively.

The aviator is a man that struggles to hold onto his childlike wonder. He tries, but he lives in a world of grown-ups so it becomes difficult with time. The little prince - much like Oscar with Ozpin - helps him remember some of the things that he's forgotten.

When the little prince meets him, the aviator is grumbly after crash landing his plane in the desert & is trying to fix it before he runs out of water.

Funny then, that when Oscar is crash landing a plane it is Oz that instructs him on how to do it.

When the aviator explains his circumstances, the prince laughs and exclaims that he "fell from the sky too". Which is an interesting tie in to the canon RWBY fairytale mentioned in Before the Fall, The Boy Who Fell From The Sky...

...as well as another fairytale we've seen mentioned in the show proper: The Girl Who Fell Through The World. A tale that was first talked about by Oscar, later expanded upon by Ozpin, and finally lived by Ruby Rose herself. (Yes her team also experienced it but it's very strongly emphasized Ruby and Alyx were paralleling each other in ways the others were not).

One thing about the little prince and the aviator is that by the end of their journey when it's time to say farewell, it's quite clear they've tamed each other as well. So much time spent by the pilot wishing to fix his plane and get out of the desert, but when it's finally time to say farewell, he does not want to go. This is not something we've gotten in show yet, but I'm willing to guess is going to be the basis for when the war is won and Oz is finally set free. Leaving the two of them to finally have to say goodbye.

And I realized I couldn't bear the thought of never hearing that laugh again. For me it was like a spring of resh water in the desert. "Little fellow, I want to hear you laugh again..."

Moving onto the Rose.

In the story, the little prince is enamored by her as soon as he sees her for the first time. As he gets to know her, she is described as many things. Some that fit Ruby well (miraculous, naïve) and some that she subverts (vain, self-centered).

Ruby might not be caught up on physical appearance, but she is convinced that she's the only one in all the world that can do what she has to do. It's a childish way of looking at things, and to believe you can't accept help from others is - in its own way - selfish.

In the book, the rose asks the little prince to tend to her. She's very needy with her demands and while the prince loves her dearly, it is a strained relationship. In RWBY, Oscar sees Ruby wilting very early on and decides to tend to her without waiting for her to ask. Of which we have... SO MANY EXAMPLES AND I DON'T HAVE A HIGH ENOUGH IMAGE LIMIT TO POST THEM ALL SO YOU GET 2.

Not pictured here, but still worthy of note: Oscar mediating when Ruby is being undermined in v8, Oscar talking the responsibility of telling Ironwood the truth in V7, the "food always makes me feel better" / "I made you a casserole because you were sad" scenes. The List Goes On.

Part 3: Other Easter Eggs & Evidence

There are also other fun little pieces that drive home just how much these characters allude to the book as well as the inspiration it's had on the show in general.

The first thing the little prince asks the aviator for is a drawing of a sheep that he can take home with him so that it can eat up the sprouts of baobab trees before they overgrow his entire planet and destroy it (and his rose) in the process...

The tree in the Ever After has maple leaves, but the shape of its trunk is very clearly not a maple. When compared to these illustrations, it seems to have pulled inspiration from baobabs... and what does the tree in the Ever After do?

Its roots consume the rose.

One of the lessons that's brought up repeatedly in the book is that:

"One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”

This is brought up in a few different ways:

The little prince left his rose back home, so when he looks to the night sky, separated from her, he says:

"The stars are beautiful because of a flower you don’t see . . ."

When Ruby is in the Ever After, with no one to tend to her, she is in a town filled with paper stars.

It is brought up again in reference to the desert, which we have a wonderful tie-in now thanks to the animatic shared at RTX recently:

“What makes the desert beautiful,” the little prince said, “is that it hides a well somewhere . . .”

And again by the aviator in reference to the little prince himself.

What makes the little prince special is his loyalty to a flower. Ruby Rose, who inspired Oscar to keep fighting, who reminded him he was brave, and who's mission he has worn on his literal shoulders.

Two other lines in that passage I've highlighted I also want to mention.

"As the little prince was falling asleep, I picked him up in my arms, and started walking again. I was moved. It was as if I was carrying a fragile treasure."

This line about the little prince being a treasure (treasure is an rg song truthers rise up 🙌)

And the emphasis on lamps being symbolic of the Little Prince himself which... we've seen for Oscar A LOT.

"What moves me so deeply about this sleeping little prince is his loyalty to a flower - the image of a rose shining within him like the flame within a lamp, even when he's asleep... (...) Lamps must be protected: A gust of wind can blow them out..."

Also Ruby has been referred to as a "spark" by Oz before and when Oscar is worrying over Ruby at Brunswick farms, Maria tells him to "keep that fire fed" which is exactly what lamp lighters do. Just very deliberate use of that imagery here.

It ALSO ties into earlier in the novel where, among the little prince's many travels meeting plenty of confusing adults he doesn't understand, he encounters a lamplighter. And of all those that confused him, he found he could at least relate to this one and see value in his work.

There is also a matter of how the prince's first appearance is at sunrise:

That he is cited to live on a planet "scarcely bigger than himself" and "being in need of a friend". How we see Oscar very alone on his farm back in Mistral, just like the prince, only tending to his daily chores by himself, we never even see his aunt.

And while there are a few other bits and pieces i'm surely forgetting, the last big one I want to talk about is how both the beginning and end of the book start with a venomous snake.

The aviator shows us a drawing of a boa constrictor eating a wild beast...

...versus Oscar's first appearance coming immediately after he wakes from a nightmare of Tyrian, a venomous scorpion faunus, being sent to capture his rose.

And the story ends with the little prince in a desert getting bit by a venomous snake that sends him back to his rose and away from the aviator... thank goodness RWBY loves to subvert its fairytale origins, amiright?

"(The little prince) fell gently the way a tree falls, there wasn't even a sound..."

tl;dr Oscar is for sure The Little Prince, Ruby has always been his rose, RG canon, Tryian vs. Oscar in the desert real and #GREENLIGHTVOLUME10 SO WE CAN SEE IT HAPPEN ALREADY >:OOOO

Thank you for reading 💕

[autumnsorbet]

Older Oscar he farmman

Edit were the gold is more highlighted

⚙️I think I made him to buff XD

🌲He's 21-25 here

👕👖

,steam punk outfit, long hair in a braid I gave, him some gauntlets to use to fight with that shoot dust in a laser beam form so that way he won't have to use magic , I also gave him a top hat 😅 He has scar on his chest from v8 when Salem made him taste the rainbow of pain,I also had a highlights to his hair to draw attention to his face

💜

I made his outfit a bit too busy but I like how it turned out it turned out better than I imagined

I might redo it cuz like I said it's just a bit too busy I think I'll do it where it has more consistency in the outfit next time but overall like I said this came out better than I had imagined

🧡

This is kind of an idea I have for another au I was working on Oscar finds a way to delay his merge for several years so this is what I think he will look like older

,I'm think of having it were some how the hero didn't lose the staff in this version of the AU Penny decided to throw it off of the edge of the runway and it was lost forever and nobody fell and

everybody made it to vacuo and after going through the gates people couldn't go back through but Atlas fell and so water came through and now there's a big lake in the middle of the desert where the portal came through in the water becomes a resource they use while in vacuo so people won't go short on water and stuff

Salem doesn't get the relic she gets a fake relic that they may be made before they made the wrong way they made a fake religions figured out how to trick ambrosia into letting them make the fake relic and then the wrong way Salem think she has the staff and that it doesn't work

And yeah Penny's alive in this version everyone's and vacuole preparing for Salem to come and since she doesn't have the staff she taking years to make more grim half of the grim she ends up eventually making she's going to send to beacon cuz she knows that's where the final relic is and the rest she's going to try to attack vacuo with

Farm man Oscar in vacuo growing plants and food for the ppl XD

[hamliet]

So about your (very deep) RWBY analysis you said there were a few plausible ships in consequence, could you write on that too? I'm curious to see what those are if we follow that analysis

Sure! Firstly, thanks for reading that lol.

So I’ll just come out and say that I don’t fully trust the writers in this aspect, but the main ships that I see set up for in the alchemical sense are, of course, Yang/Blake and Ren/Nora, but also Ruby/Oscar and potentially Emerald/Mercury and Jaune/Weiss. (I will touch on Pyrrha/Jaune, but I don’t think Pyrrha is going to or should come back so... :( ) This all depends on how they stick to the alchemical structure, but just to reiterate: it’s extremely unlikely an alchemical story with a fairy tale basis is going to end with most characters single. It could and could do it well, but I’m skeptical lol.

Just to add a disclaimer: this is all theory and speculation; I honestly do not care about ships in this series besides Ren and Nora and hence am not emotionally invested. I could be wrong, and I’m fine with it. Please don’t come for me. 

Let’s begin by going over what romance is in alchemy. I talked about this in my previous meta, but the key principles of an alchemical work are the solar king and lunar queen. So who are they? What is their role in alchemy? 

Behold, the symbol for the philosopher’s stone:

Or more clearly: 

The large circle is the macrocosm, or universe as a whole. The triangle is body, mind, and heart (originally it was body, soul, and spirit). The square is the four classical elements (fire, air, earth, water). The smaller circle is the microcosm, wherein the two people inside are the Solar King and Lunar Queen, opposites conjoined in harmony. Together two conjoined opposites (yes it’s related to yin/yang, but eastern alchemy focuses more on the Elixir of Life rather than the actual stone and there are five elements, not four) create the philosopher’s stone. 

I talked about this in the past meta, but we know Ruby is a philosophical child because her father’s name literally means sun and her mother’s defining trait thus far is her silver eyes. She’s the stone itself, but also team RWBY is the stone, and other characters are on their own journeys to becoming philosopher’s stone. Things overlap. 

I didn’t come up with those designations of silver=moon on my own, though. Generally the two principles that are combined in a philosopher’s stone are marked by one (or more) of the following: 

Male: Sun, Sulphur, fire and air, hot and dry, Red, gold, heart.

Female: Moon, Mercury (or quicksilver), earth and water, cool and moist, White, silver, mind.

Don’t read too much into the genders, because that tends to matter the least and plays into antiquated views. Obviously. Characters rarely meet all the marks as well, but if marked with one should be paired with someone from the opposite marking. 

Let’s talk the obvious ones first: Ren and Nora, Blake and Yang, and Jaune and Pyrrha. 

Ren and Nora are pretty perfectly matched. Ren is mind, earth (“Lie” means “plum tree”) and water (“Ren” means “lotus,” a water-based flower). Nora is heart (her shirt, plus her brave qualities), fire (Thor and the association with electricity, plus “Nora” means “light”), and air (she flies, and a Valkyrie is a mythical flying creature in Norse mythology). 

Yang and Blake are also a good match. Yang is sun, gold (her name), fire and air (”Xiao long” means dragon), and heart. Blake is moon (Belladonna is a nightshade), earth and water (think of where her home village is), and mind. Blake was also a match for Sun Wukong, however, and this is why I’m skeptical about the writing of ships in this series--because they teased Sun/Blake for little reason (and I remember being confused). However, they did know that Blake’s partner needed to be her opposite, so Yang or Sun could work, and I think it’s clear that Blake/Yang is endgame and I like it. 

Pyrrha is red (her name), gold (her outfit), heart and mind, and her shield had a sun on it. 

Jaune was white (the dress he wore to the dance), body (differing from the norm, but fit because Pyrrha was both heart and mind; a body character tends to be either lusty or cowardly, the latter of which was Jaune in the first season), and moon. Look at Jaune’s shield, which so happens to match the silver/moon symbol in alchemy: 

However, Pyrrha has now died, and I’m still sad about it. However, also of note: fitting with the characters they are based off of, Team JNPR are have reversed gender dynamics from the alchemical norms. Again, I would bet that was done on purpose. 

Onto my speculations: 

For Ruby... well, I said she was the philosopher’s stone. 

In some ways, Ruby and Weiss are the philosopher’s stone together, but I think this is more platonic than romantic (it’s a lovely ship though and I see why people ship it). The reason for this is because while Ruby is Red, air, and Heart, and Weiss is White, water, and mind, Ruby and Weiss are both silver. They don’t compliment each other in this, which is why I don’t see it as a likely endgame romantic ship (but, like Frodo and Samwise Gamgee, I do see them as alchemical partners who help stop Salem together). 

But her romantic partner should be someone who is also both sun and moon, who is white where she is red, gold where she is silver, earth where she is air (she flies), mind where she is heart. Ideally they would also be a philosophical child. There’s one character I can think of who is marked as sun and moon, white, mind, and earth, and that’s Oscar Pine. See: Ozpin’s cane, which Oscar uses on his own quite a bit (that’s a sun and moon motif):

Additionally, in the scene where Ruby and Oscar meet for the first time, the paintings on the wall are a sun (fire) with distinctive air around it and a crescent moon over earth and water. 

If Weiss ends up in any ship, it will be with a person marked as heart, red, fire, and gold to her mind, white, water (ice), and silver. Neptune is water too, so this one is unlikely. Sun seems like a possibility on paper, but they haven’t interacted significantly at all (maybe they will in Vacuo?) But the most likely option to me is actually Jaune Arc--but a lot depends on the coming arcs (heh).

Wait, you said he was white! Key word: was. Jaune was never mind and will never be mind, but he has become brave as opposed to his initial fear, and I’d go so far as to say he’s heart now thanks to Pyrrha’s influence. Since Pyrrha’s death as well, he’s started incorporating gold and red into his outfit in a likely homage to Pyrrha. (It is actually possible for someone to shift markings; Daenerys in A Game of Thrones is white and moon, but becomes red and fire and all that by the end of the novel). 

Jaune’s arc of grief over Pyrrha is unlikely to end with him being forever alone, and while there are plenty of ways to show this that don’t involve him in a relationship with someone else, it’s the most obvious way to show this. It also fits from a narrative perspective that the only way Jaune could ever be with Weiss is through integrating with Pyrrha’s traits and qualities. We’ll see, though, because as of now he’s still marked as moon, and he’d need to become sun or fire. Cinder also directly compared Pyrrha and Weiss, and immediately after this Jaune unlocked part of his soul to heal Weiss, playing the role of the prince in Weiss’s fairy tale (Snow White). However, as Cinder’s own story shows us, not all princes in their retellings of these fairy tales are romantic. So this might not play out, but it has the set-up to do so. 

Lastly, Emerald and Mercury I think are alchemical partners regardless of whether or not they end up together romantically. Mercury’s name says it all, and Emerald’s eyes mark her as red. He’s mind, she’s heart. I’m adding this to the questionably romantic ones because I’m curious about the fact that Emerald and Mercury are now separated in the current season, just like all four of the above ships I mentioned. 

Also to keep in mind: sometimes writers say eff the tropes. See: Harry and Ginny, who are both red and air (but Ginny’s name also marks her as white, so). 

[hadesisqueer]

Okay no one asked but things I want to see the Vacuo Arc:

Sun and Team SSSN of course. I want to see more of him and as I've seen from a few spoilers of Before the down, I want to see Scarlet dissing Sun lmao. Also him being explicitely gay.

More of Sun and Blake's friendship.

The outfits: They're in the desert now, not the tundra. I wanna see ponytail Yang again, I wanna see Blake (and Qrow) realising that maybe wearing black isn't a good idea but it's already too late, I wanna see Penny stealing Ruby's cloak to put it around her head.

Weiss and Winter (assuming she survives The Befuckening of Atlas and joins the group; actually assuming anyone besides team RWBY survives vol 8 because they all have death flags and mom pick me up I'm scared) in the desert. Like, can you imagine those two in the desert? They're from Atlas. Cold, clean Atlas. They'd fucking hate it and the sand lmao. Now add Whitley to the party and it gets even funnier (he, just like Winter, probably won't go but it would be interesting if they put the three Schnee siblings together and can see them bond and making up and just being a family without military or Jackass around).

Winter and Penny (again, if they survive and join the party). Just love the friendship between those two.

“The desert” episode of ATLA but it's the entirety of vol 9. Who gets high on cactus juice? My bet's on Nora.

Giraffe Grimm. I fucking need to see those.

Nora in a place with no laws. I want to see that, and I want to see Ren trying to stop her from doing whatever she tries to do lol.

MARIA IN A PLACE WITH NO LAWS.

Renora moments (please survive); desert edition.

Bumbleby moments. A little Behaaw maybe.

The return of Team CVFY. But like, I want that scene to be: the gang is fighting some Grimm but they don't actually do anything because Coco and her minigun are faster. Or Velvet and her photographic memory. I need Caffeine playing in the background.

Coco trying to hit on Yang; Blake hates it and she stops.

Also Coco trying to convince Jaune to get another haircut.

Weiss and Velvet bonding about hating the desert and the sand.

Fox making blind jokes and Yang making arm puns. Become best friends.

“We're a year above you what do you mean you've already graduated???”

“What do you mean this fifteen year old boy is our dead headmaster?”

“Hold up. Who the fuck is that Salem you're talking about and what do you mean she's coming?”~everyone except Theodore.

“Wait Penny is alive? And she has weird powers? Awesome!”~Sun.

Oscar. Just Oscar. My boy deserves the best.

Same with Yatsu. Deserves the best.

Neptune tries to hit on Yang. “Wrong tree” scene all over again.

Neptune trying to flirt with Weiss again. Doesn't really work either.

Neptune's semblance on-screen.

No seriously I need Team RWBY, Team JNR and Team CVFY talking about Beacon. I think it would be nice (and sad) for all of them to see other teams that were classmates with them, and what the Fall of Beacon meant for them. Maybe remembering some good moments like in vol 5 ep 7?

Probably won't happen and team CVFY is in the background all the time but hey one can dream.

Seeing Shade Academy.

Meeting Theodore and Rumpole (but like on-screen I mean). Apparently Theodore wants Qrow to take his place as headmaster so it would be interesting to see those two interacting?

This is actually for vol 8 but in case it doesn't happen: Raven wake up from your two-volume-nap and do something damn it you're a maiden for fuck's sake.

That goes for you too, Taiyang, stop watering the sunflowers and go help your daughters.

More Emerald and Mercury? Redemption arc maybe?

More Neo. Same with the redemption arc thing but I doubt it. Just backstab Cinder already, my girl.

The Summer Maiden. Seriously, probably the thing I'm the most excited about. A part of me believes that Summer Rose is alive and she's the Summer Maiden but that's too obvious, just like Vernal and Winter. They will probably introduce another character. Who knows, maybe they will pull out a Penny again (loved character we haven't seen in a while returns and becomes pretty important and all of sudden holy shit she's a Maiden) and Velvet becomes the Summer Maiden because the other one dies in front of her or something (faunus maiden I support the idea). Maybe Neo becomes the Summer Maiden. Maybe Cinder (if she's alive and doesn't die in the Befuckening of Atlas) will succeed this time and she will become a Double Maiden, which will lead to Cinder vs Raven &Penny. I have no idea and that's what I like the most about it.

Either way, first of all, they need to survive the Befuckening of Atlas (some of them probably won't and I don't even want to think about that). And I need to survive it too lol.

Edit because I wrote SSSN wrong

[moondrop04]

RWBY VOLUME 8 EPISODE 12 SPECULATION AFTERMATH!!!

SPOILERS!!!

SPOILERS!!!

SPOILERS!!!

Alright!!! Finally time to get this AFTERMATH post on the way!!! As usual my job has been making it a bit hard for me to write these posts right after an episode appears, but it does not mean I haven’t been able to keep up with everyone else’s reactions and reviews of the latest episode......and there is a lot. I will admit this episode in particular has made myself confused at certain points, but after rewatching the it multiple times and watching other people’s reviews on certain subjects I now have a much better understanding and clarity to let myself express my thoughts on this episode. So as always let’s get dive right in and get straight into the AfterMath 😁

-(Phase 1) Ok from what I wrote from my speculation post it wasn’t all that hard to guess that Emerald would be a key part in handling Ironwood. What I was not expecting that the plan would involve her taking his weapons, as he is followed by an attack from Jaune, Nora, Ren, Oscar and Winter. Now admittedly I was a bit disappointed by how this scene was played out 😔.

After rewatching it multiple times I have a clear understanding of what the writers were going for when having to deal with Ironwood personally. A fully outfitted Ironwood and the Ace-Ops to back him up would make for a tough fight and would likely take too much time to deal with. If our heroes would take away some of his advantages (his weapons and the Ace-Ops), then surrounding the general in a surprise attack would make for the ideal strategy, given their short time constraint to finish their plan before Salem returns.

Now as much as this phase 1 of the plan works on paper, I would have to say my biggest issue with this scene solely revolves around the animation and choregraphy of the fight. While it is cathartic to watch Ironwood get hit after hit by everyone, each attack from each character felt a bit stale compared to earlier fights. If I had to compare it to another fight it more or less felt the same as the JN_R Vs Neo fight was animated, to me at least. Now I may have some had some nit-picks about the scene but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna blame CRWBY’s animators for not doing a better job. With everything that had happened this past year, especially with COVID, I understand if the animation team weren’t able to produce the kind of quality they would want to put into their fight sequences. In fact they have produced much better quality content on other fronts, such as lighting, special effects, facial expressions and movements so far within volume 8 that completely makes up for the of quality of Vol.8 fights. So while I would have liked to have seen this fight done a bit better, I understand and accept with what we were given and anticipate what the animation team will give us in the future. 😊

-(Spirit of Creation) Wow! I was really not expecting there to be more spirits within the other relics after Jinn, but after seeing the introduction of Ambrosius I am now kind of excited what the other two will be.

You know....If the spirits of knowledge and creation are “blue”.....then maybe the spirits of destruction and choice could be “red”? Because you know.....Red and Blue......”Red Vs Blue”......shut up I think it will be cool 😡

-(To Bring The “Real” You To The Surface) Alright it took me several rewatches to understand Penny’s “recreation” and I can confidently say I am 90% sure how it happened 😤. With that being said I want to say that I am really glad that the writers went this route with Penny’s character. I had believed that there would come a time eventually that Penny would gain a more “humanoid” body and I am so happy it’s happening now.

The reason why I like this is because I had imagined if Penny were to lose her robotic abilities and become more human, then maybe she could follow a different path, other then a huntress, to helping her friends in the future. Maybe she could follow in pietro’s footsteps and become an inventor and craftsmen for team RWBY and JN_R if they ever require her assistance?

It would be disappointing to not see Penny using her robotic abilities anymore, but I think if she can find a path to helping her friends and other people without being a huntress, then I would be very pleased to see what she could come up with 😊.

-(MoonDrop Real Talk) Now with all that being said there’s something I would like to talk about regarding the apparent backlash about this direction in Penny’s story. For the past few days I have noticed numerous fans criticize harshly about how the writers wrote team RWBY’s request for Penny’s new body and how they have showcased the abilities of the staff of creation......and it has given me a bit of clarity to tell you guys why I treat RWBY and the fandom with so much positivity.

For myself I have liked RWBY so far because I have seen and read so many different stories, from so many different forms of media, that I’m not incredibly picky to what direction I want the show to take. If there is a point in the story that doesn’t go the way I thought and I become disappointed about it, then instead of being mad I just take a step back from my own thought process and try to see what direction the writers are taking their story in.

When I do this it brings about one of the great joys I have with this show and that is creating new and interesting ways on how the show could go forward, which I love to do when I write my speculation posts.

Do I think there should be different choices in how the characters should be? Absolutely!

Do I think fights could be better and a lot more epic? Hell yeah!

But I don’t want to be the type of person to express their dislikes of a show so negatively that my words and feelings could hurt, or make someone feel much worse. To me I have always been self-conscious of how others are feeling when they express their thoughts on a subject. So when I see others express their dislike on how the story is going so far, I become worried of what is actually going on in their own lives to make them express their dislikes to the world in such a negative way, that I don’t attack them back and tell them that they are wrong in how they are feeling.

I understand you don’t like how RWBY is going the way you want it to, so I just want to ask if you don’t like it then just walk away from it. It would definitely make your life much better to walk away from such dark thoughts and it is a consideration worth wondering about 😥.

-(DO NOT FALL) Ok with all that personal talk out of the way, let’s speak about the last portion of the episode. After the creation of the doorways to Vacuo for the civilians of Mantle and Atlas to escape through, it was very interesting to hear from Ambrosius to warn team RWBY not to fall off the walkways in the dimension he created.

If the opening of Volume 8 is any indicator of what’s about to happen, then the girls are potentially gonna fall. Could this possibly be a hint on what the story could be in volume 9, and on how the girls will escape from this dimension before continuing their journey in Vacuo? We will just have to wait and see at the finale of Volume 8 🤔....

So with that I will say with some minor criticisms that I did enjoy episode 12 and I cannot wait to see the last 2 episodes of the volume. Till then I will see you guys in the next speculation post.......

BUH-BYE!!!!