#ooc: was this over and done with? did i extend this beyond what was intended? hhhgghhh im bad at knowing when to shutup

[randomraphaellalacognizi]

Too late now, friend!

[ Raphaella drags you, by the arm, to a door with a suspicious amount of squelching and meowing resonating from behind it. ]

Have fun in there~

[ She then promptly throws you into a five-by-five room with an absurd amount of octokittens, flooding the room up to your knees, and locks the door. They cover you almost immediately. Oops! ]

You wouldn’t happen to know where all the octokittens have gone would you? picked up some food I thought they might like but I can’t find them anywhere

@master-at-arms

Hmm. I’ve been thinking of who could be the next subject for my experiment- seems you’ll be just prefect for the job, Tim! Just follow me and I’ll show you exactly where they all went… hehehehe…

[robiness]

Qrow was meant to be a punching bag (theory, V7CH12 spoilers)

tw: depression, one brief mention of suicide at the very end

Many are upset about the literal and narrative butchering of two beloved characters in RWBY V7E12. The initial and probably most popular argument against what happened is that it doesn’t make sense, why would these characters do what they did. And honestly, that reasonable reaction to the injustice was mine, too.

But now that I’ve “calmed down”, meaning I’m finally not in a whirlwind of blind rage, indignation, and devastation, I started thinking about “Why did they do that?” with some level of depth. 

The answer I found is still unjust and disgusting, but at least it fell in line with something resembling logic.

Qrow enthusiasts have been complaining about his endless heartbreak. Why can’t be be happy for once? What’s the whole point in his recovery arc this volume if they’ll just scrap it? It’s like they put random tragedies on a dart board and the writers just started throwing.

Hear me out - they meant all of this. Every instance Qrow suffered is intended. They didn’t throw away his recovery arc because he was never meant to recover. 

I think that they’re going to make him an antagonist at worst, or a man driven to the ultimate tragedy at best. 

At this point, you’re probably like. What. Lol no. You’re as silly as the writers are.

But again, let me explain. I used to have that mindset of Qrow always being best but sad boy. A hero who just needs a chance. 

There was NO way this man will ever go dark:

he probably thinks he lost summer to salem

his nieces are actively hunted by salem and her forces, and RWBY for sure ain’t changing sides 

he’s always believed in the principles he has, and he’s always applied them. he’s a good Huntsman who cares, and knows his path 

he believes in ruby’s determination and ability to probs save the world

But that’s the thing.

He’s ALWAYS stuck by the principles he learned from Ozpin. Betrayal after betrayal, he was crushed but managed to somehow bounce back. 

This volume, he was on a good track. A good mind space. His kids are great, but then he met an equal - someone with literal plot armor against his Semblance. Misfortune is the reason why he stays away from the people he loves, why he blames himself for a lot of things, why he feels like baggage. 

A person his age who could be a friend, or more. Huntsman of equal ability and maturity.

Queerbaiting aside (I’m sorry I ever used that phrase, I hate them too), Clover was a possibility. Here was a potential team partner, friend, lover, whatever, but the point is he was finally free to explore what a developing relationship is like because here’s a guy who kinda got him, and probably won’t be harmed by staying close for an extended period of time. 

I think the chemistry in their fights solidified this too. Clover was someone who didn’t get in trouble by being at his side (except the first time in the mines, and Clover took it in stride and still succeeded).

Even better, Clover actually vocalizes that hey, it’s okay.

He doesn’t dismiss Qrow’s semblance, but he encourages Qrow to let go of the guilt a bit, that he’s worth more than his bad luck, and can continue to work around it. 

Qrow was nowhere near full recovery, but he was definitely on the way with a bit of Clover’s help. Later, my precious man finally smiles for real... not his smirk or sad smiles to Ruby. He’s smiling for the enjoyment of the moment and things are looking up!

(slightly sorry for the gif below)

(V7CH12 gifs would be appropriate from here on, but I am NOT doing that to myself)

So what’s the point, Robiness? We all know how THAT story goes. Qrow gets trauma because it’s shown to him, yet again, that his Semblance fucks up the good things, that even someone with the most potential to be safe ISN’T. Not around him. 

The whole crash was OOC, rushed and bad writing, whatever. But why did it happen? 

Qrow is basically the poster boy for mental health in this show. He’s depressed, and to him AND to the outside world, he’s right in thinking he’s only going to hurt people. He’s been proven right, many times, that he is bad luck.

What’s different this time?

He didn’t have hope, the other times he was let down. He had hope for humanity, yes, and that he can somehow contribute to saving it.

But he’s never had hope for himself, that he could be more than his Semblance. Clover’s character gave that to him. He was already trying to quit drinking, but that was for Ruby and the other kids, and by extension their mission, but not for himself.

When CRWBY killed that hope, it killed anything inside of Qrow that could’ve thought that he could be a hero. Or even simply better than he was before.

He’s crushed, his mind is clouded. As Clover died, he wanted to kill Tyrian, then he wanted James to fall. The legal type of justice wouldn’t be enough to assuage his need for vengeance. 

And he’s alone. Perhaps about to be arrested, I don’t know. But every other time he’s been crushed, he had the kids around to divert the attention even a little bit. But this time, there’s no one to help him process and move past this. No positivity from Ruby, no scolding from Yang to keep it together. No one.

If you’ve ever had mental illnesses, you could probably imagine being alone in that fragile state of mind. 

And you know who’s the most likely to know where the heck he is and that he’s going through something? His sister, Raven, because of her Semblance. 

Details have been important in how RWBY is told to the audience (though they retract when convenient lol). Sometimes, this includes release dates. February is the last month of winter, slowly turning into spring. Yes, I mean the Spring maiden. 

Let’s talk about Raven. 

She’s angry at her brother, also for feelings of betrayal. He betrayed their tribe, their values, everything they stood for. He left her, his sister. He chose Ozpin’s mission over her, even though their original plan was to just infiltrate Beacon to learn how to kill Huntsmen better. 

This means she remembers a boy that had the same ideas and supported her and their family. I don’t think she can accept that this Qrow, the one we know, is her actual brother, how he should be. When it comes to Qrow, I think what matters to her the most is proving that she was right all along, that they should’ve just stuck together and kept to their practices. 

And Qrow, regardless of the spring bit, if he encounters her as he is now... could easily believe that she was right. After all, the facts to him are:

He can’t escape his Semblance, ever.

He needs vengeance for Clover, because his death was his fucking fault. His attempt to deescalate the fight (leaving Harbinger in the snow) didn’t matter, because his bad luck won in the end. 

A plausible 3. Doing things “the good way” “the right way” is never going to cut it for him because he is walking misfortune. Something will always go wrong.

So why not drop all fucks and go ahead full-force?

His mind isn’t in its best state right now, and all his decisions will of course be emotional. 

We’ve known Qrow from point A depression to point B somewhat recovery to point C the last fucking straw. I think it’s something to consider that we’ve never heard anything about his youth, except that he used to believe in the brutality of their tribe. He never mentions it, and we don’t know anything about the circumstances that made him change, beyond “Ozpin gave him a place”. 

He gave up his heritage just to be proven that brutality would have protected his loved ones better. 

So yes, the punching bag theme, the endless misery, Clover’s death - all these are most likely building up to that shift in his character. We thought the eventual character shift would just be his recovery, but since that was scrapped, the only other way that makes sense is that he’s going to regress into someone that cannot be saved.

He’s not going to switch sides. He’s not going to stop loving his kids. He’s probably never going to join Salem. 

But his methods will be more ruthless now, driven by heartbreak and rage and self-hatred. God knows how he’ll deal with anyone in his way. He’s not going to fucking listen. He listened to Clover, and where did that get him? 

This way, the violent, straightforward way he used to know, this would protect his kids more efficiently, even if they don’t want him to go down that path. He’d probably leave them to protect them, and to be unhindered in his corner of the war.  

He’ll think that this - to be a rage-filled killing machine - would be the best case scenario for him and the rest of the world. Kind of like how he followed RNJR from a distance, killing all the Grimm that could get in their way.

We thought he was a broken man before, but this has been escalating. It’s been probably planned out since before.

If you’re not convinced yet, remember:

RWBY loves literature parallels. 

Leo Lionheart changed, and gave in to fear. The Cowardly Lion.

James Ironwood, the Tin Man, has proven that he’s thrown away his heart. 

Qrow Branwen, the Scarecrow, was always fucking destined to lose his mind.

I don’t know what will happen after, what kind of sick tragic death he’ll end up with. Since they’re romanticizing his suffering so much, he’ll probably end up killing himself after his work’s done. 

I have no idea how the details will go, but I’m pretty sure this is the path the writers will take. There is just no other reason I can fathom as to why they keep hurting my man. I want to be wrong, but I can’t think of anything else, unless some deus ex machina shit happens in the finale, but hell if I’m ever trusting CRWBY again. 

And yeah, as a depressed person who relates to and loves Qrow, the idea of the message of “it’s never going to get better” fucking sucks. 

[thefairefolk-rp]

Welcome, Mor! Your application for Alekto Bone has been accepted!

OOC INFORMATION:

Name/Nickname: Mor

Age: 22

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

Timezone: Central Time Zone

Activity and Availability (Please answer in words as well as rating your availability from 1-10): For activity, 6 or 7 seems accurate. I will typically answer as soon as I can and write whenever possible, normally I can get replies out within 24 to 48 hours of whenever I see the post. Availability is at 8, I’m almost always on at some point during the day but my schedule is erratic and I am frequently occupied and so, while I may not be able to immediately reply or post, I am online and able to deal with messaging or lurking in the feed and able to read whatever comes by.

Have you read the rules and FAQ?: yes I have read both and the lore made available by your navigation pages.

IC INFORMATION: Desired Character: Alekto Bone Second Choice Character: Mordrid Fagan

What made you choose this character?: When I read through your character list, there were a handful that caught my eye immediately, this was one of them. I’ve played many characters in the past, on all parts of the moral scale, but Alekto, willing to give up everything for power and still seeking more after she got it, is something new exactly because she doesn’t care about right or wrong, all that matters is how a situation benefits her. “But, her own ambition for power overwhelmed her conscience.” This caught my attention because of what it suggests about the character. One, that she has something of a conscience even if it’s less to her than what she can gain from a situation, meaning that Alekto is more than just selfishness and greed driving her actions. Two, she’s private and cautious about others and clearly values her power, which means she wouldn’t have risked everything for a cause she wasn’t absolutely certain had a chance of winning or at the very least is so confident in her skills that she saw the reward outweighing the risk of treason.

It’s this mix of pride and ambition that contrasts against caution and what strikes me as fear of loosing what she has that drew me to Alekto as a character when I first read over the bio, along with the notion of playing a character who is so strongly driven by personal gain and gladly uses the power at her disposal, which is something I don’t get to do often. There’s a level of darkness in her that is very different from the “good” characters I usually play, and I would love to continue to explore the character as well as how she plays into the plot and interacts with others.

Are there any changes you would like to make?: No. Everything is wonderful.

Questions/Comments: This group is amazing, your plot and lore is so well developed and as an extensive para rper I love the fact that you guys rp in the same way. And you have hundreds of well developed characters that are open and available, which is incredible enough on its own. Thank you for all your help and please, if there are any problems now or in the future let me know. This has also become a thing out of the work of a few days: https://www.pinterest.com/bonesinthegrcund/alekto-bone/

Also the writing sample got long (not on purpose I swear) but I promise I can write shorter if needed and I tend to match length with whoever I rp with unless asked otherwise

Writing Sample (Must be 300 words or more, third person limited, in the character you’re auditioning for’s point of view): Fear was a powerful motivator. And yet, despite the knowledge of what happened to thieves in the Unseelie Court, and what happened to thieves who took from the royal family, the faerie captured by two of the Magi that morning for attempting to steal from the castle had still smiled and confessed with a nonchalance that made it difficult for Alekto to decide if he was brave or just a fool who still believed he could talk his way out of his situation. She settled on the latter, and had gleaned as much information as possible on the criminal. Hob, poor, a daughter and a wife. Desperate. The Archmage watched as the he was dragged forth in chains before the king in a public display to show off what happened to criminals, a warning to the people. She only half listened to the thief as he growled about the corruption of the Aven family and promised that there would be more like him, which was soon cut off by a blow to his back by one of the knights demanding silence.

While the poor shifted uneasily, the exception being the more malicious fae who looked as if invited to a banquet, the nobles previously leering around the room like vultures awaiting a fresh corpse had already quickly started to loose interest in the faerie that was already condemned even if he did not yet know it, as always only caring about such matters so long as they were an entertainment. There was little doubt that many watched the king and those leading his forces with the same attention, searching for weakness and leverage to use in the future. They were creatures of opportunity, just as Alekto was, and she gave them no such pleasure. Archmage; she had always believed the title suited her well, the black robes tailored to fit perfectly and glamoured to appear as if she was clothed in darkness itself, the position one she had carved and taken for herself by raw power and skill, not by the inheritance and bribery of the nobility. She made subtle changes to the magic around her appearance, a dangerous gleam in her eyes that extended beyond the natural, an increased sharpness to her features… and found satisfaction in the way some averted their gaze from hers the second they noticed that she was staring back.

For a second, the thief looked at her as he announced that he didn’t care what happened to him. It sparked something within Alekto that responded to the challenge, the corners of her lips twitching up momentarily in a way reminiscent of the smile of a predator. It had been the Magi that apprehended them, and it was the Magi that would be best suited to make him reveal his secrets when Oberon got tired of hearing him talk. It didn’t take long, his words changed from nonchalance to insult and the king’s expression darkened even more than the Archmage’s, cruelty and anger clearly showing with no need for a glamour of any kind to enhance it. Alekto stepped forward at his motion, the command simple and clear.

“Break him.”

Her robes swirled in the air as she moved, giving the appearance that she was gliding through the air rather than walking. Hob, poor… Alekto regarded his defiant expression and smile with contempt, tilting her head to the side and examining his shackled wrists and feet. A daughter and a wife… She stopped a few feet away from him, watched his face turn from stubborn hubris to horror as she brought forth the illusions of his child and spouse, realistic to a point that had it not been for the fact that they were not present moments ago, one could have easily believed they were physically there. Fear was a powerful motivator, but love was stronger. And when the glamour-created fae began to suffer and cry out in pain, when images rapidly flashed before the thief of his loved ones suffering his punishment and worse, he finally cracked, begging for it to stop and for his family‘s safety, all that bravado gone in an instant. Too real to be dismissed as an illusion, and the message was made very clear. The same could easily be done to the real versions of his family, the king already knew their faces.

The Archmage did not stop, listening intently to every word that came from the pitiful figure thrashing against his chains as he began to give out names and locations, attempting to bargain for the lives of his family. Desperate. Her attention only doubled when he mentioned knowing more, offering contacts and affiliations if his torment ended through violent sobs, though she showed no outward reaction. It was only when the thief had crumbled on the floor, reduced to nothing more than quiet begging and tears, that the king ordered it to finish. Alekto lingered for a heartbeat before complying, the illusions breaking and her magic withdrawing until once again the only glamours she held were the ones around herself. She cast a glance at the preening nobility, now silent and watching the tormented man before them. Oberon ordered that the hob be locked away, having gained yet another example to what happened to those who defied him. For Alekto, it was a display of her power and what she could easily do at a moment’s notice. And not a single faerie in the public could bring themselves to look her in the eyes after such a display.

Later that night, she glamoured her clothes and appearance to appear as a red-haired delicate wisp of a fae, far more the graceful Seelie than Unseelie and with no resemblance of her true self, and crept through the castle to the imprisoned thief with aid from her magic. The guards would later report that an unknown woman had snuck through their ranks unseen and released the prisoner, helping him escape and giving him more than enough time to leave with his family. The king’s fury ended with them being harshly punished for the failure, while Alekto had gained herself both respect and fear amongst the court as well as eyes and ears within the criminal affiliations plaguing it, something which would make her life far easier in the future. And she intended to take advantage of both to their fullest extent.