#overload!mistral

[zaltynn-alt2]

[got done with the designs for sans and papyrus' parents; my interpretation of dr w.d. gaster and oc, mistral. They are married, and have been for many many years]

[they knew each other from before the core existed, currently considering whether before the barrier or not, up to change honestly. they met thru mistral saving dings' life]

[mistral uses she/her, and is part of the royal guard, and well known for her dedication to the job. shes also a royal judge, someone who takes on impartial mediation roles in crime cases across the underground. it doesnt happen often that shes called upon, as theres more physical threats to take care of more than petty thievery ect. shes very proficient in battle, and has a strong mastery over magic. fiercely loyal and protective.]

[wingdings uses he/him, and is the royal scientist, known for his engineering. after monsters were sealed underground, he reinvented many quality of life things along with creating the core, the source of power for all the underground. (anyone read city of embers?) dings prefers to remain non-combative, and often is the go-to person for logical third options when one cant decide between fight or flight. talkative and unconventional.]

[mistral talks and types/writes in the mistral typeface, with proper upper and lowercase usage.]

[wingdings talks and types in wingdings, and uses sign language to communicate with other monsters. he writes in generic fonts. he speaks with lowercase, but writes in uppercase.]

[mistral is still learning to understand the typeface wingdings, and is nearly obsessive with becoming fluent.]

[dings has a mild case of overload, where he produces more magic than he needs to function and live with, but it isnt overly impactful to his everyday life.]

[foulfirerebel]

Pondering the status of RWBY Villains

Second verse, same as the first, but with our villains. Where are they? What're their status? Is it something to be concerned about?

Again, spoilers under the cut.

Alive/Active:

Salem: Still active as always, as she'll ever be. Last seen fleeing the smoldering remains of Atlas alongside Cinder Fall, Staff and Lamp in hand. No doubt she has plans for Vacuo, but what are they?

Cinder Fall: Active. Last seen in triumph in Volume 8, having gotten both Staff and Lamp and supposedly killed her competition. And having lied to Salem successfully. Shrouded in mystery, her future is.

Emerald Sustrai: Alive, defected to the heroes side in Volume 8.

Neo Politan: Alive, let go of her revenge plans against Ruby and is currently reinventing herself in the grasp of the Tree in the Ever After circa Volume 9.

Mercury Black: Alive, but in doubt over his place in the grand scheme of things as of Volume 8. An uncertain fate awaits the young man.

Tyrian Callows: Alive. Still. And laughing mad about it. Last seen headed for Vacuo. Will the scorpion taste his own sting and die from it?

Bertilak Celadon: Alive, presumably. One of the primary antagonists of Before the Dawn. Convinced to swap sides as his partner Carmine attempted to kill him. He decided to try hunting her down.

Carmine Escalados: One of the antagonists in both Before the Dawn and After the Fall. Last seen during a massive explosion in The Crown's hideout. Presumed alive, since Bertilak is convinced of her survival.

Jax Asturias: Co-leader of The Crown from Before the Dawn. Lobotimized, vegetative, but alive.

Gillian Asturias: Other co-leader of The Crown. Currently incarcerated alongside the rest of the conspirators, but alive.

Lil Miss Malachite: Still living. Still kingpin of Mistral, presumably.

Carolin Cordovin: Stopped during Volume 6, presumably still alive and on the side of the angels.

Ace Op Harriet, Marrow, and Elm: Three remaining Ace Operatives, Marrow confirmed defected to the good side. Harriet and Elm presumably saw the light too when Vine sacrificed himself.

Corsac Albain: Alive. Last seen being detained and imprisoned after failed assassination attempt on the Belladonna's in Volume 4.

The Dead (Warning, LONG):

Roman Torchwick: Deader than dead. Ate by a Grimm in Volume 3, blew up, resurfaced in RWBY Chibi in Volume 9 as an illusion cast by Neo. Stars in the prequel novel Roman Holiday alongside Neo.

Neo's parents: Both dead via their house exploding.

Beatrix Browning: Spymaster in Vale, trained Neo and other girls. Dead via explosion.

Hei Xiong: Dead. House explosion.

Arthur Watts: Dead. Killed either by flame or smoke inhalation, and if that didn't do it then crushed during Atlas' fall.

Adam Taurus: Definitely Dead. Stabbed twice by Blake and Yang during epic duel in Volume 6, fell off a cliff hitting every rock along the way into freezing cold water.

Hazel Reinhart: Defected in Volume 8, fought Salem off, burned himself to death and died presumably from that or point blank magic explosion.

Tock: Dead via Maria's blades.

Jacques Schnee: Dead via Ironwood gunning him down in V8 after being imprisoned in V7.

Clover Ebi: Dead via Harbinger through his gut via Tyrian circa V8.

Ace Op Vine: Redeemed himself via saving everyone from Ironwood's nuke in V8.

Rhodes: Dead via Cinder.

Cinder's evil stepmother and sisters: Dead via Cinder.

Chainsaw dude/Banesaw: Presumed dead during Mountain Glenn.

Leonardo Lionhart: Grisly death via multiple stab wounds via Seer Grimm in V5.

Fennec Albain: Death via entire balcony and then explosion from overloaded weapons.

Grimm:

Kevin the massive Grimm Wyvern: Frozen atop Beacon tower, still attracting Grimm as of After the Fall.

The Hound: Dead via Silver Eye blast and a statue falling ontop of it during V8.

Alpha Centapeedle: Killed via Ruby and Blake in V8.

The Queen Lancer: Dead via Knight summon from Weiss in V5.

The Apathy: Killed with fire and silver eye blast in V6.

The Leviathan: Killed via silver eye blast and giant drill in V6.

Monstra: Dead via point blank magic blast in V8.

Beringel: Killed via Ruby in V4 short.

Arma Gigas: Killed by Weiss in White Trailer.

Nightmare: Killed by everyone on Team RWBY as of Ice Queendom. Or at least sealed away by Shion.

Various Geists: 1 major kill via Team RNJR in V4, other via Ace Ops in V7.

The Nuckelavee: Killed by team RNJR in V4.

Sea Feilong: Killed by Blake, Sun, and a sea captain's massive ship cannon in V4.

The Chimera: Killed alongside its army of Manticores in V6.

Massive Army of Grimm (Megalioths, Sabyrs, Pteranadons): Killed via Atlas, Mantle, Team RWBY, and Ozpin magic blast.

Deathstalker and Nevermore: Killed during V1 initiation

King Taijitu: Killed via Ren during V1 initiation

One headed Taijitu: Killed during the Breach in Volume 2.

Unknown:

Bram Thornmane: Antagonist of Arrowfell. Status unknown after Atlas fell.

Dr. Merlot: Status unknown after his laboratory blew up. Secret ending/all artifacts ending of Grimm Eclipse point to him living.

Xiong Junior: Bouncer at club during Yellow trailer and volume 2. Status unknown. Last seen alive during volume 2.

Miltia and Melanie Malachite: Ditto with Junior. Background antagonists of Roman Holiday, Yellow Trailer. Last seen in Volume 2.

[altfire-archive]

Far From Home - an ESO mini-fic

Just a little fic about my and my friends' new ESO characters. Lioren is my Imperial nightblade, Ma'si is @juicypastels's Khajiit warden, and Hodlhorgh is my brother's Nord dragonknight.

~700 words

--

The Nord who stumbled out of the wayshrine stuck out like a sore thumb, and instantly Lioren perked up. He elbowed his companion, a lithe pitch-dark Khajiit, who followed his pointed gaze to the stranger. Tall, handsome, armed, and very clearly lost. Perfect.

"Far from home," Ma'si purred with barely concealed humor.

"Very," Lioren said, smirking.

He watched attentively as the Nord, despite his size, struggled to pick through the crowd of travelers. The wayshrine was practically overloaded, what should have been an orderly queue instead a bustling pile of cats and elves, all trying to get their turn to leave the island. The Nord, having come at an awkward time for incoming traffic, had his work cut out for him as the tide pushed him back toward the shrine, giving him no space to breathe. He was muttering what must have been apologies, though Lioren couldn't read his lips under his thick brown beard. Eventually he broke through to the edge with a gasp as if surfacing from underwater, victorious at last, and both Lioren and Ma'si erupted into applause.

"Well done!" Lioren called over the commotion.

"This one thought you were a goner," Ma'si quipped in turn.

The Nord looked around, confused, then turned his gaze down toward the pair of them. He pointed to himself, and Lioren nodded. Yes, you. His brow furrowed. "Do I... know you?"

"We're the Khenarthi's Roost welcoming party," Lioren said with a deep theatrical bow. When he straightened, the Nord had hesitantly stepped closer and the sheer size of him was all the more obvious - Lioren barely reached his chest, and Ma'si was even smaller, though not by much. He was easily as wide as the two of them together. "I'm Lioren Florianus, and this is my lovely assistant, Ma'si Zamanni."

"Assistant?" Ma'si laughed.

"Don't pay her any mind," Lioren said, dodging an elbow to his ribs and extending a hand to the stranger. "I take it you have a name?"

The Nord's frown only deepened. "Hodlhorgh," he said at last, and this time it was Ma'si's turn to dodge an elbow as she burst out laughing.

"That's a... lovely name," Lioren says, shooting her a look as he held back his own laughter. Nord names could certainly be... rather unique. "Can I call you Hod? I'll call you Hod."

Hod took his hand with a stiff nod. His frown hadn't abated. "Where did you say we are?"

"Khenarthi's Roost," Ma'si said, swiping a tear from her eye and holding out her arms in a grand gesture. "A lovely island south of Elsweyr."

Hod looked around, long blonde hair swinging about his shoulders, half-tied behind his skull. He cursed, something low and Nordic, clenching his fists at his sides. "Damned wayshrines."

"First time?" Lioren asked.

"Aye."

"Well, if you're in no hurry, we could use some help," Lioren said, and Ma'si shot him a questioning look. He ignored her. "There's some nasty business here with the Maormer and the Dominion - I don't suppose you're opposed to helping the enemy?"

"Enemy?" Hod frowned, then seemed to realize just how far from home he was. "Oh. This isn't Pact territory."

"Not even slightly," Ma'si contributed, wising up to Lioren's angle. "But a sword is a sword, and yours looks rather sharp."

"I really should head ba-"

"What, and end up in Hammerfell next?" Lioren interrupted with a laugh. "Help us out, and we'll show you how to actually use the shrine." He put a hand on Hod's right arm, just under his pauldron, though he had to reach up to do so. His Nordic armor was thickly padded and fur-lined, and Lioren wondered just how long he'd last under the brutal Elsweyr sun. At least the island had a pleasant enough sea breeze. "Come. We should head for Mistral at once."

"But-"

"It'll only be one night," Ma'si said, putting her hand on his other arm. Pinning him in place, in a way. "We should go. Soon it will grow dark."

Hod looked between them, something like panic in his eyes, but seemed to realize that there was no point in arguing. "Fine," he said, defeated. "I guess. Let's go."

[whitleyschn33]

Sending you a character: Ruby

1. Pre-V7 Nuts and Dolts, Lancaster, and... hmm... maybe Rosegarden? Dont have a lot of Ruby ships.

2. White Rose, whatever Ruby/Cinder is, and... hmm... I guess any ship between her and her family/the Branwens. Dont know if anyone does ship that, but I know I've seen Ruby/Qrow before, and... no thank you.

3. Hoh boy, where to begin? To put it in the most simple terms - Ruby wants to have her cake and eat it too. She wants all the perks of being a Huntress, but none of the responsibilities. She wants to fight Salem, but also wants to call for help and let someone else do it for her. She wants to reap all the benefits of Ironwood's trust in her, but refuses to return it. She wants to build Amoty, but also wants to help Mantle. She wants to save everyone, but doesn't want to come up with a plan to do that. She wants to reject Ironwood's plan, but doesn't want to come up with an alternative. She's become arrogant and self-righteous, and I mourn for V3 Ruby.

4. Uhhh... I actually really liked her early characterization as a dork. Her fascination with storybook heroes, her fangirling over Glynda, her overboard design of Crescent Rose and fascination with weapons, her social awkwardness and flustered glee over being praised for her huntsman skills - it was all really, really endearing, and I would love to have that girl back - being over the moon at meeting the top huntsmen in Atlas and examining their weapons, offering to help her team upgrade their weapons, being overloaded with joy at being a Huntress like her mom, her lack of social skills tripping her up after Beacon and her having to learn coping mechanisms through Mistral. TLDR, I miss V1 "Normal Knees" Ruby.

5. Ruby kept in touch with her friends at Signal, and invited them to the Vytal festival. For someone as socially awkward as Ruby, the friends she had would have been precious, and she would have done her best to keep in touch.

6. You have Grimm-melting laser eyes that would elevate you to legend status, fucking ask about them and try to learn how to use them, damn you - !

Uhh... keep her earlier characterization, have her actually mourn for Penny, dont have her become so reassured in her own moral righteousness that she comes off as a complete bitch in the later volumes.

7. I like her Little Red Riding Hood allusion. It's a fun design quirk, and I wish it was used more. If I wanted to lean more into it, I would cut Tyrian from the show and replace him with the Hound in V4, giving Ruby a Big Bad Wolf that's following her constantly until she masters her silver eyes and can finally hit him with a strong enough blast to reveal... Summer, before the head reforms and the Hound vanishes to lick its wounds.

[chaoslordjoe]

RWBY - Do I Ship It #2? Ruby Rose

I’ve decided to continue this whole shebang with going over ships for individual characters each time. And for this one, we’re looking at our favorite cooking-deepthroating reaper, Ruby Rose...That may be one of my favorite character descriptions I’ve ever typed.

With introductions outta the way, let’s talk some Ruby ships.

White Rose

kinda leaves me indifferent?

overrated

would read a fic about it

Ideally, White Rose has become one of those ships that half of the FNDM loves to hate. But me, I’m not as triggered by it, let alone nowhere near as angered by it’s presence simply because it’s not Bumbleby.

Unlike BB, in which it’s presence makes me wanna slug my screen every time I see a comment thread screeching high praise about it, I can look at White Rose and just be more like: “Eh. It’s okay.” Simply because I have seen WR content that I enjoy, and that at least many WR shippers know when to shut up when they’re called out unlike Wasps.

Really, a lot of the content has a lot heart put into it to where I really can’t get mad at it. I know it’s a WLW ship. I know that’s become a thing to generally hate among RWBY fans. But I do think that WR is the lesser of two evils between that and BB not because I have a lot of friends who ship it, but because I think folks crap on it way too much compared to the demon that BB has become.

Am I saying there aren’t toxic WR fans still around? Hell no. They need to be called out on it, too. But I’m also generally more relaxed about the ship. Nothing major really.

Ladybug

I SHIP IT

CUTENESS OVERLOAD

underrated

hELL YES

Ladybug has become a recent addition to my ship list a while back. But I’ve fallen head over heels for it in such a short amount of time.

Even many folks I’ve spoken to who tend to gag at the mention of WLW ships in a fandom as egregious as RWBY’s agree that the Bugs are really harmless given soft the content of this ship often is. I’m not saying that Ladybug is all “wee-hee-we’re-a-couple-of-happy-go-lucky-dorks” because that would make it unoriginal and boring to read in many cases.

No, the reason I’ve grown to adore Ladybug so much is because I’m one of those who parrots how much of a missed opportunity (like the show is as a frigging whole) how many interactions there could be between Ruby and Blake.

Why wouldn’t they? They’re both into fantasy stories, both have darkened color schemes, and share some general views on why they fight. Really, Ladybug is just a good way for me to fill the void of just how much Rooster Teeth doesn’t give a fuck about how to organize their characters properly?

Volume 5 gets Freezerburn, and not onwards? Come on, RT.

But before I end up turning this into a rwde post, let’s just move onto the next ship.

Nuts & Dolts

I SHIP IT

CUTENESS OVERLOAD

Soulmates

I WOULD DIE FOR IT OKAY

Yeah this one was pretty obvious. But who cares?! I frigging adore Nuts & Dolts.

Let me just be clear in saying that I can ship it platonically/romantically, simply because I love the bond that Ruby and Penny share. They’re both hyperactive, kindhearted and strong-willed girls with a penchant for bladed weaponry and wanting to make the world a better place for everyone.

This initially made N&D into a guilty pleasure ship for me. But over time, I just couldn’t resist or get mad at it because I love how soft it feels. Same reason as Ladybug for the most part. But overall, I like N&D because of just how much soul there is between two people who were born differently with a set of powers that aren’t what you’d call “ordinary”.

As someone who’s been called “unique” or other labels with the disability I have, I usually find it very pretentious and downright grating to see stories that are supposed to be uplifting about being born in a different manner because that can be really damn annoying after a while.

Yeah, stuff like disability or other stuff is under-represented in pop culture. But often it’s portrayed in a very “Hollywood” fashion even if it’s not a work from that culture and work mindset.

I’m not saying N&D is one of those “unique” portrayals, but as something that shows what happens when two saviors who wanted a normal life have someone in each other that they can trust and even love for their shared experiences of being born differently.

Which is why I’ve grown to accept Ruby and Penny as the popular fan portrayal of being girlfriends or platonic friends. They have so much in common, which makes it that much more endearing for me personally.

Okay. Those are some Ruby/Other girl ships outta the way. Now let’s discuss some Ruby/guy ships...Here’s where it gets a little odd.

Lancaster

BROTP

overrated

no thanks

Oh boy. I’m probably gonna get some flak for this entry...

Let me just be clear that this is a post that is NOT meant to attack any particular shippers. This is me stating what I feel about certain ships and me occasionally talking about how I think they would turn out. 

It’s not my headcanon interpretations, per se. But instead it’s more how I picture it based on my experience with viewing relationships in my own life before I started discussing fandom ships.

Now that I have that out of the way, let’s discuss Ruby/Jaune.

When I first started watching RWBY, my first ship, like many others was Arkos (more on that when I cover Jaune). I felt that Pyrrha was just the right fit for a lovable dweeb like him with how it helped kick-start his character development and the framework for how he would improve himself overall.

Granted, I wasn’t really expecting Arkos to be canon since Pyrrha had died in V3. It was a tragic outcome for a ship that had so much buildup. And most of the FNDM agreed that Jaune needed a hug along with his friends to help him through it.

When I started to hear about the fact that Jaune was shipped with other girls in the main cast, I wasn’t really shocked since White Knight was already fairly popular. But when I found out about Lancaster, it was like: “Wait a second, people actually ship him with Ruby?”

Was more confusion than astonishment, to be honest. I didn’t really think that it would’ve been fitting despite how close and similar both team leaders were. But I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try with reading a couple of Lancaster works.

I got bored.

I’m not so much angry whenever I hear about Lancaster as I am just not impressed by how much fanon works recycle many tropes and plot elements.

Ruby is secretly in love with Jaune.

Jaune does something adorkable or manly which attracts Ruby.

Ruby makes/attempts to make a move on him with some crazy or titillating way that, while in-character for her, has been repeated one times too many in this or other ships featuring her.

Jaune is generally being a good boi throughout. I like Jaune, but I feel that he’s put in too many fanfics in which he’s overly good and pure. Again. It’s fitting for him, but sometimes a bit of difference in fan interpretation is nice. Make him angry, have him lash out at his friends at times. Just don’t make him a “perfect” boyfriend.

Both dorks often have to hide their relationship because of the possibility of Pyrrha being jealous, Yang going apeshit, or other characters reacting the way they do which is often buzzwords in a fic like that.

Lancaster shippers, I am not attacking you since this is your thing. If so, fine. But it’s not mine as I am giving an attempt to give constructive criticism about some of the ships listed here while talking about ships I like to make these posts all about even ground.

I prefer to see Ruby and Jaune as besties. Hell. I prefer to see them more like siblings considering how much Jaune acted like a big brother to Ruby on the road to Mistral with how Yang was bedridden with depression in V4. I also think that Jaune needs a friend right now rather than a love interest. The same could be said for a lot of characters right now, but that’s a different topic.

My biggest criticism for LC is that while I understand the similarities that they share, it’s the whole “opposite-gender-leads-fall-in-love” trope. This trope can be done right *coughRENORAcough* but is put in so many works that I’m not one of those fans who’s impressed with it.

The ship isn’t original, but it’s nothing to make me wanna rage-post like I’m Keemstar on Red Bull or the like. And I know people who are into it, to which I tell them: Good for all of you. It’s simply not my cup of tea.

Rosegarden

would read a fic about it

meh

not really my thing

Oh god, how I wish it wasn’t harvest season!

Kidding. Kidding. Rosegarden is legit, and all my friends in the group who ship it are wonderful people.

Another ship that I can’t really get angry at since compared to other ships that cover things like young love or ships of people who were born differently (see my Nuts & Dolts entry), RG is pretty fucking harmless and I can tolerate it more even though I’m not into it.

While I understand why it seems hypocritical of me to share and repost stuff related to RG on occasion, this is simply because I have reason to share it based on how much I’ve interacted with shippers and how I’ve actually had productive discussions with them outside of their ship.

It’s the community which I like more than the ship because of how much more chill they are. But there’s also a big reason why I know that some people crap on this one.

Ozpin.

Dude, if I had a Dollar for every “RG-is-pedophilia-because-Oscar-is-Ozpin’s-puppet” fallacy that was posted I wouldn’t be needing a stimulus check. Let me explain to y’all why that’s bullshit.

(RWDE mode online)

Is Ozpin eons of years old? Yes. He’s from Humanity 1.0 and was thrown into the bodies of men in the modern world in his war against Salem. It’s a rough situation with a lot of baggage to any relationship he puts up or wishes to even build-up and I don’t think it should be swept under the rug because there’s a lot of stuff that should be brought up about the guy.

Is Ozpin intervening on any potential interaction between Ruby and Oscar? No. Canon or no, Oz has been a neutral party in whatever interactions the two kids have because it’s not really his business. Do you honestly believe that if Ozpin would be the kind to boss his host around that he would attempt to butt in on their friendship?

As an Oz critic, I can say that while I understand both interactions, I draw the line at this ship being considered pedophilia.

I mean, come on! The FNDM ships Ruby with villains like Roman, Cinder and Salem, who are adults when she’s a teenager! And suddenly it’s okay to claim pedophilia just because Ozpin is present?! ARE YOU HIGH?

If we’re going with that logic, fine, just have Ozpin ascend from his brain after Salem is 86′d, THEN we can have a development in RG’s friendship whether it’s romantic or not. But leave the fans of this pairing out of it!

(RWDE mode offline)

The reason I don’t ship Rosegarden is because I’m not a fan of the whole “young love” trope either. I wouldn’t mind it so much if Oscar wasn’t relegated to a support role due to being an Oz host and he had more screen time rather than the old wizard.

Maybe I’m just too cynical about stuff like this to really care. But the point is, I can’t get mad at this ship either and I’m willing to read up on it in small doses.

Strawbana

I ship it

CUTENESS OVERLOAD

the sexiest pair

we need more of it

underrated

Sun Wukong, you magnificent monkey bastard! You always seem to brighten my day whenever I’m looking through critical discussions related to this show.

Much as I love BlackSun, I’m definietly curious to learn more about other ships involving my homeboy here. Solar Flare, I also like. But Sun/Ruby? Thank you sir, may I have another!

Ugh. Can’t believe I just quoted Animal House to describe my love for this painfully underrated ship. Somebody get me some soap...

Other than their VAs being married in real life, I like Strawbana/Red Sun the same reason as Nuts & Dolts with this being a ship that features two extremely upbeat characters finding love in one another with just how much they kick ass for the reasons of just being good people.

Kinda/sorta the only straight Ruby ship I’m into just because of how much they could rub off on one another, and how much I’d love to see them interact more in canon material. Not just the show but any other tie-in stuff.

Next time, we cover Weissu.

[teamoliv-archive]

Cutscene: Duty

Morado didn’t expect to spend all day in the hospital, but the moment he heard the news he had to come running. The elderly huntress Marianne had come along, seemingly mostly as moral support. He managed to prove he was who he said he was to the medical staff and was finally allowed into a more tightly guarded and heavily staffed room than expected. Marianne stayed outside in the hallway.

They found her. Lilac, or what was left of her, was laying attached to a multitude of readers and measurements. He could see through the glass that separated where he stood and the operation theater several surgeons were still picking pieces of stone and ice from her broken body.

He snapped his attention to the nearest person who looked like a doctor. “Give me the details. All of them.” 

The doctor looked at Morado with a morose expression. “It’s pure luck there was anything left of her to save. Apparently that dust apparatus she had attached to herself overloaded. While there was an explosion, her torso was covered in stone and most of her vitals were spared any real damage.” He looked at a thick stack of papers from a clipboard. “However, she’s suffered multiple limb breaks, a heavy skull fracture, and moderate brain damage. Even in the best case recovery will take years of physical therapy and preventive medicine. She’ll never walk again, may be blind in one eye at a minimum, and will need extensive care throughout her life. Of course, MTHS has vacated her position and we’ve not been able to reach her next of kin. You’re the next closest as her fiance.

All the more reason for him to stay in Mistral. It was a damn miracle and he didn’t know if she was even going to know his name by the time she came out of all this, but she was alive. 

“Thank you. I’ll leave you to your work. Let me know if anything happens.”

Morado exited the room with a mix of emotions. He would probably be shaking more than he was if it wasn’t for the cybernetic suit he was stuck in.

The normally masked huntress stood with her hood down and a new wooden mask in one hand. Her burnt face had caught the attention of several nurses during her wait, but she assured them she had already been taken care of years ago. “Well?”

“It’s... bad. Real bad, but with everything that happened it’s still a miracle we even have this.” He gently set himself down on the bench. If he had just dropped down he might break it. “I don’t know what to do...”

“You still plan to care for her after everything that’s happened and all she’s hidden from you.” Marianne noted softy.

“I already dropped the ball once with this. I need to be there for her, not just because she’s still my fiance, but because no one else is going to do it.” His scroll rang, souring his already fragile mood. He picked it up with a gruff “What?”

“....You’re not making this up, are you? No, no, of course not. Hold my wing pack for me. We’ll be right there.”

“What was that about?” Marianne squinted her eyes in an awkward way as one side of her face lagged behind the other where the old burns were worse.

“There’s an SOS outside the kingdom. It’s from an Atlas ship.”

[grailacademy]

Welcome To Grail Academy - Chapter Fourteen: Too Young To Die

For an abandoned taffy factory, the beastly structure sure was animated. The tall smokestacks obscured the light of the sun, like grey obelisks marking an apocalyptic shrine. Groups of men and women in beige jumpsuits and caps rolled large crates out on trolleys, loading the packages onto the backs of taffy delivery trucks. A man with a thick beard and baggy eyes barked directions from the catwalk above, his potbelly bouncing as he yelled. It was systematic chaos, ants gathering food, bees building a hive, cockroaches scattering under light. The floor manager saw the line of children file into the factory through a garage door, nodded and pointed to a hallway that funneled out of the worker’s space. Queenie leading the pack, she directed everyone to follow.

Rettah held onto Yorick’s sweaty hand, pulling him along like a puppy on a leash. She was rambling about something, it could have been about a comic book she was reading, or maybe she was explaining their cover at the factory, but he wasn’t paying attention. He was still in sensory overload. Her hand on his was like holding an alligator’s tail, he felt every pore and ring of her fingerprints, every drop of sweat. The shouting and mechanical whirring of the machines sounded like standing in the middle of a bomb range. His heart was a flamenco dancer twirling and leaping in his chest, his legs were shaking, the images of Buck were stained on the insides of his eyelids every time he blinked. Scarlet swayed behind him, hands on his head.

The noise, noise, noise of the factory rattled in the distance as a new sound overtook Yorick’s ears. An argument, behind a closed door of what looked to be a freezer, presumably the place where this taffy company once stored product preservatives.

“The shipments are ahead of schedule, but the border keeps stopping our deliveries before they can leave Calicem.” A man’s voice, deep and gravely.

“We certainly can’t go after city government. It’s still an independent settlement.” A woman’s voice, stern.

“That’s exactly why we SHOULD. There won’t be any assistance from Mistral military.”

“Yes, but you forget their connections to Haven. The alliances between academies could prove to be bothersome, at the least.”

“Those toddlers are only a small inconvenience. If we move fast, we can collapse the communications tower and prevent any distress signals.”

Another woman’s voice, gentle and soft, cut through the bickering and hummed “Goodness, you call the hunters children while I sit here with a couple of infants! Play nice, you two”, the voice tittered.

The door to the locker was pushed open and the meeting came into full view. A circular wooden dining table sat in the center, a series of eight mismatched cushioned lounge chairs sitting around it. A tray with a silver tea pot and bowls of sugar cubes and biscuits was adjusted directly in the center. Those sitting at the table were all holding a cup of their own, although some did not drink the warm beverage. The room was cold, frigid, not quite to the point of frost or needing a jacket, but enough to send a chill down Yorick’s back. A man in a heavy orange and gold coat had his fist clenched on the table, his clean shaven head glistening in the reflection of his tea cup. A short woman sat across from him, the locks of her chestnut hair curling over her shoulder as she sipped her tea delicately, with her pinkie out. A boy with ragged black hair, shaved short in some parts and left long in others, sat on a crate in the corner, arms folded over his chest. “Be patient.” the gentle voice continued, echoing from somewhere in the far back of the room, dripping from the darkness like molasses. “There is no need to cause such a disturbance over a few delivery trucks. Let our people do their jobs, they have families to feed.”

“Pardon the interruption, but we have a new recruit” Queenie stated, gaining the abrupt attention of everyone’s eyes on her. She and Rettah stepped out of the way, and Scarlet shoved Yorick into the room. The boy on the crate shook his head and stood up, leaving the room. His arms unfolding as he trudged out made plain the dark marks on his back underneath his tank top, which Yorick stared at for a brief moment. He tripped over his feet and slipped into the room, not knowing what to do with his hands. He patted his legs and puffed out his cheeks, before that gentle voice hummed again. “You….”

suddenly, the darkness shrunk and a streak of black whooshed past the table. Now he was being embraced in a tight hug, by a pale woman who held his head to her naked breast. She was as cold as death, but somehow had the nurturing touch of a mother. She released him after an uncomfortably long five seconds, smiling excitedly and inspecting him. “Oh, he’s perfect! Just as I had imagined him. A magnificent specimen! Yes!” She poked the flesh of his forearms, prodded at his stomach, lifted the ends of his hair and counted a few strands, pulled one of his shoes off and felt around to make sure he had all his toes, stretched the goggles on his head as far as they could go, letting them snap onto his forehead when she let go. The process had Yorick giggling nonstop, since he had neglected to mention that he was extremely ticklish.

“What—Who are you? Where am I, what is this?” He asked, noticing the long trail of black hair winding behind the woman. She tittered again, petting his head and calming down.

“You must be very confused, I’m sure. My name is Sable Zil Alhaqiqa Trinity. But you may call me Sable. And this,” she held her arms out and gestured to the space around her, “is my temple.”

The man sitting at the table cleared his throat, and Sable turned to explain, “These are some of my disciples. Lolanthe Aylin, a scholar and the head of our production department, and Aurum Fitzroy, the leader of our field scouts.” She leaned over and whispered, “he also makes a wonderful raspberry biscuit.” Yorick looked back and saw that the man was angrily chewing on a biscuit with speckles of red berry in it.

A black tendril of hair draped itself over Yorick’s shoulder like an arm, Sable’s signal for him to turn around. “Walk with me, Yorick.” He glanced back to the rest of RSQ as the pair strolled down the hallway, and caught Rettah waving goodbye before the locker door shut behind them. “How do you know my name?”

“I know lots of things.”

Wow, that’s totally not creepy, he thought. Sable’s hair slid along the floor behind her, as if she wore a dramatically long veil to a wedding gown. They travelled through the factory, each assembly line and packing room adding to its daunting size. “Are you afraid of me, Yorick?”

“A bit, yeah.”

“That is understandable, haha.” She chuckled. He laughed as well, until Sable’s hair lifted off his shoulder and fell into place on her back. “I’m a strange person. We are strange people!” She was right about that.

“Do you know about the Hedge Witches?”

“We….learned about them in class, I think.” He scratched the back of his hand. The little he knew about them wasn’t exactly in a good light.

“Then you know what we do here.”

“You’re anarchists. Terrorists.”

Sable snorted, “Oh, nothing that dramatic.” They reached a room with ceiling-to-floor windows that hung above the work floor, but the windows were almost entirely covered with sheets of scribblings and notes. “My disciples are not mindless brutes. They are scientists, artists, teachers, chefs, lawyers, those who have been wronged by Calicem government. The ones who run this city, they are oppressors. They profit from marginalized people’s misery.” As she spoke, Yorick strolled around the room and read some of the notes. They seemed to be a combination of diary entries and experiment logs. “....The world has been cruel to us. We were born out of hate and fear, not love. That is why I do this, Yorick. I want to create a new world. A better one.” The branches of hair slithered up the walls of the room like spilt ink, and when Yorick turned around, Sable was reclining in a hammock of her own hair. He could sympathize with her reasons. But Yorick questioned her, “Why do you need me, then?”

“Because,” Sable plucked a piece of paper off of one of the walls and handed it to Yorick. ”This power is your destiny.” Yorick clutched the newsprint photo in his hand, recognizing the face of his grandmother on the paper.

“Who. The hell. Is Sable.” Esmerelda slammed her hands down on the headmaster’s desk, grinding her teeth. Her team and herself were all looking worse for wear, Bernard blinking in and out of consciousness on the couch in the corner, Nico sitting beside him with his partner’s head in his lap, wincing with every breath he took. The school nurse peeled Bernard’s eyes open and shone a small light to see if his pupils dilated (which they didn’t), and applied a salve to the many purple and red marks across Nico’s chest and stomach. “It’s a miracle you don’t have any broken bones. Just a couple of bruised ribs.” The nurse remarked while she wrapped gauze around Nico’s torso to hold him together. Esmerelda herself had bandages wrapped around her forearms where the wires cut her, and around her neck where Queenie had attempted to slit her throat.

“I understand that you’re upset-” Madehold tried to calm down her students, but to no avail. “-UPSET!? My team and I could have died out there. Upset doesn’t even begin to describe it. For gods sake, they took Yorick and killed one of their teammates! How could you let those monsters into the academy? And why did they know so much about you and the school? And WHO IN THE GODS NAMES IS SABLE!?”

Madehold let out a long sigh, lacing her fingers together and holding them up to her lips as she sat there. It was one thing to have to deal with these kids screaming at her so late at night, but it was another thing to do so while she was inebriated. After a moment, she turned in her office chair and stood, making her way to the window. “I guess I have some explaining to do, don’t I?”

[littlemisssquiggles]

RWBY Musings #50: Oscar’s Great and Powerful Semblance A Squiggle Meister’s Views on ThatKaitoDan’s RWBY Theory.

megashadowdragon asked “what are your thoughts www(.)youtube(.)com/watch?v=9YElXr5_Mqw”

Squiggles Answers:

Well first off, appreciative shout out to both @che1sea-xiao-long​ and @megashadowdragon​ for sharing this video with me.

I actually really, REALLY like ThatKaitoDan’s theory on Oscar’s possible semblance being sealing---the ability to permanently take away someone’s ability to use their semblance in combat.

I like Dan’s concept because I appreciated how he was able to connect it back to Princess Ozma---the Wizard of Oz character that many RWBY theorists have speculated Oscar to be influenced by. So that titbit I enjoyed the most about his theory commentary. If Oscar’s semblance does have a sealing kind of effect then I can anticipate it being what finally stops Hazel Rainart in his tracks, should he and Oscar have their inevitable rematch.

The last time our heroes faced off against this rampaging juggernaut, none of them were successful to stop him. Neither the combined efforts of everyone teaming up to combat him nor Weiss utilizing her summons amplified by Jaune’s semblance was enough to thwart Hazel. Hazel, with his own semblance that enables him to block out pain, is a nearly unstoppable villain which currently places him as a very unbeatable foe.

The heroes were fortunate enough that the arrival of the Mistral authorities and the announcement of Cinder’s fall was what caused Hazel to retreat with Emerald and Mercury. If the battle had been allowed to continue, I don’t think they would’ve fared well.

Though Oz did make mention of Hazel having a ‘limit’ to his semblance, this still makes him dangerous because if Hazel can take being empowered by two shards of dust crystals into his body, then how much can he take? What exactly is Hazel’s limit?

I’m curious to know just how many dust crystals Hazel can take before he completely overloads himself on power. And even if he does combust from all the energy within the crystals, I don’t think a still rampaging and unstable Hazel Rainart will be any less a threat against our heroes.

Here’s what I think. I think in a rematch, Hazel will use so much dust that he’ll literally risk killing himself in the process. He’ll lose control and put his life at death’s doorstep. I think it’s in a moment like that where Oscar possessing a power that can seal or perhaps nullify another’s semblance would be a powerful asset. It’s what I think could be a very key factor in finally stopping Hazel.

Picture a crazed Hazel transforming himself into a human dust golem, no longer able to control the power being emitting from the embedded dust in his body. It’s in this moment where Oscar gets a crazy idea to climb on top of Hazel’s back.

Removing both of his gloves so that he can have better physical contact, Oscar uses the full extent of his semblance on Hazel; nullifying his abilities. This tactic works as it slows Hazel’s movements. With his pain resistance switched off a la Oscar Pine, Hazel begins to thrash around, now wreathing from the excruciating pain with Oscar holding on for dear life but still managing to keep the giant man neutralized.

This will later allow for the other heroes to quickly remove the dust shards from Hazel, ending his tirade. I figured this would’ve been how they defeated Hazel during the Haven Battle but no, the most we got was Nora Valkyrie going all supercharged on him and whaling him through the front door. This still by the way, didn’t stop Hazel either.

As I said already, the next time the heroes go up against Hazel, I doubt they’ll be able to stop him like last time. Not to mention that I figured a rematch with Hazel would be the best opportunity for Oscar to unlock his semblance in the heat of battle. The events of V4-V5 already set up Hazel being a sort of arch nemesis to both Oscar and Ozpin so if I had to predict a perfect time for our veteran farm boy turned wizard incarnate to awaken his own hidden power, it would be then. But this is just my assumption.

If Oscar can disable Hazel’s semblance then he can finally stop the juggernaut.

In Dan’s theory video, he referenced the scene from V1 C6 where Pyrhha used some of her aura to unlock Jaune’s. Another lovely tie in since I don’t hear folks often talk about that scene.

Speaking of which, there’s something I’d like to point out about that particular moment. As Pyrhha unlocked Jaune’s aura, she recited something:

“…For it in passing that we achieve immortality, through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above us, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder, protect thee...”

I made note of this in my RWBY Recap of Volume 1. In my notes, I asked myself if it was absolutely necessary for Pyrhha to recite this whenever using her aura to unlock another’s. Almost like a little spell or ritual incantation of some sort. I’m curious about this since it was never mentioned or brought up again. We haven’t even seen another character use this technique after Pyrhha.

I call attention to this quote because its words make me wonder something.

Pyrhha said ‘For it is in passing that we achieve immortality, through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above us, infinite in distance and unbound by death…’---why does this line somehow make me feel like Pyrhha is somehow still alive. Not physically but like…perhaps spiritually.

If Remnant is a world where super powered human beings, monsters, immortal beings and magic exist as part of the norm then surely supernatural beings such as ghosts and spirts are plausible things too, right? It shouldn’t be too farfetched if there are spirits who roam Remnant, right? 

I can’t shake this inkling of a feeling that after she died, because of her virtuous nature and her willingness to sacrifice herself for the sake of protecting her school and loved ones, that Pyrhha basically cheated death and returned as this sentinel spirit that now guards Beacon including the Vault of the Fall Maiden.

Ozpin mentioned back in V5 that he made things very difficult to find the Vault of the Fall Maiden. So my idea is that the Vault of the Fall Maiden is probably constructed like some kind of labyrinth with many hidden rooms and equally hidden traps and puzzles. 

I sincerely hope that Fall’s Vault is more fortified because what disappointed me about the Spring Maiden’s Vault was that it wasn’t as reinforced as I expected it to be.Another point is that Oz chose Pyrhha as a candidate to become the next Fall Maiden, right? Imagine how interesting it would be if Pyrhha’s Spirit went on to become some kind of Guardian of the Vault or Beacon Academy. 

I don’t care if her physical body got turned to ash. May Pyrhha’s spirit return as an eternal hero, still continuing to protect her school from beyond the freaking grave, dagnabbit? A squiggle meister can only dream.  

Anyways, back to talking about Oscar. Although I really do like Dan’s idea, I’m still standing by my own theory about Oscar having a mind semblance. While Dan’s theory connected to Oscar’s character influence, I based my idea more so on Oscar’s personality or…at least my interpretation of what little glimpses of it we saw last season.

As you guys know, V5 C5 was my all-time favourite episode of the last season purely for the scene between Oscar and Ruby. I love how Oscar was able to get Ruby to finally open up about how she truly felt regarding everything she’s been through since V3. Oscar has only known Ruby for a couple of weeks during that time and already he was able to do more for her than what any other character has done in just one scene.

Not to mention that he even attempted to do the same with Hazel by trying to reason with him during their fight.

That whole impression of connecting to others---understanding the way they think and feel and ultimately helping them come to their senses and thus assist them from within--- I figured these traits could be adapted into a strong mental semblance where Oscar is able to connect to other’s via their mind---seeing their memories, reading their thoughts and thus understanding them from an empathic point of view that wouldn’t require much physical effort. It’d be a supportive power as Dan mentioned in his video.

I based that purely on his current predicament being connected to Ozpin and forced to share a mind space with him while also considering Oscar’s inclination to want to reach out and understand others; be it ally or foe.

Not as fleshed out as Dan’s but…I really do like the idea of Oscar’s power having something to do with his mind. After all, the mind is a fragile thing and it represents the uncharted inner corridors of one’s very being.

Can you imagine a character having power over that especially if they’re a hero?

I also dig this concept because it also provides the threat of Oscar being able to possible control; manipulate someone’s thoughts and/or possibly destroying their mind. 

I just have this thought of Oscar letting his emotions get the better of him and becoming so furious that he uses his mental semblance to stop someone and the results leaves the person either brain dead, brain damaged or at least mentally unstable. 

For all the Young Justice fans in the FNDM community, remember how in Invasion, Miss Martian turned Aqualad into a vegetable after becoming angry and overdoing it with her telepathy powers on him? That’s how I figured it would be for Oscar.

We rarely talk about the dark implications a powerful semblance can have on a victim.

While Dan sees Oscar being like Eraserhead from My Hero Academia, I was more leaning towards a Professor Xavier from X-Men kind of power for Oscar. 

In a way, I think both can work really well cause they tie into Oscar as a character. As a matter of fact, I’d like to take both Dan’s idea and my own and combine the two together.

Theory Fusion Activate!

Oz mentioned that one’s semblance can grow and evolve, right?

So what if…Oscar’s semblance is Nullification. He unlocks the ability to disable one from using their semblance for a period of time depending on his aura levels. In the beginning, he’s only able to use this power by making physical contact with said person but in time, with more training, his ability evolves to the point where he’s able to nullify another' with his mind. While doing this places a bit of mental strain on Oscar’s part, the mental nullification proves more effective than the physical version.

Not sure how much this makes sense in the context of Ruby but it can work. It takes the best parts of both mine and Dan’s ideas and merge them to form something plausible for Oscar to have.  

My reasoning behind wanting Oscar to possess a mind or mental-based semblance is because at the moment, Emerald Sustrai is the only mental-based semblance user in the cast and she’s with the villains.

I wanted another mental-semblance user on the side of the heroes in order to counter Emerald.

Let’s say, Emerald is fighting Oscar and tries to use her illusions on him. But because Oscar’s power is Nullification, his semblance makes him completely immune to Emerald’s tactics so he’s able to negate her illusions. That’d be awesome.

Or even better, imagine Oscar’s Nullification growing to the point where he’s able to just activate his semblance by merely looking at his opponents. So anyone who dares step within close proximity of his line of vision gets their semblance rendered useless against Oscar. The only limit to that is at first Oscar is only able to nullify one person at a time but again, with more practice and training, he can grow till his range of ability could expand to more than one person depending on his mental strength.

To make sense of how Oscar is able to do that, let’s return to my theory of his semblance being mental or becoming mental-based in time so his Nullification evolves from requiring physical contact to just a stronger mental focus. So Oscar would need to become stronger mentally to help enhance his semblance which fits into his character. This could lend to Ren providing Oscar with some mentorship in meditation and focus.

The final form would be the sealing---permanently stopping a person from using their semblance for good. As Dan already mentioned, the series pointed out that aura can be used to unlock someone’s aura and training one’s aura is what leads to them eventually unlocking their semblance, correct?

So if semblance is awakened by aura and aura can be used to awaken aura. Then what would happen should someone learn to use aura to permanently disable someone’s aura so that they can’t use their semblance?

Aura is a term in RWBY that still eludes me a bit. Aura has been described as the manifestation of the soul. So…if someone were to seal off another’s aura…couldn’t that potentially kill a person if used incorrectly? Just asking. 

If Oscar does gain that kind of power in the end, then I’d imagine that it’d be a tactic Oscar would only resort to as last alternative because of the dangerous consequences of using it; not just on the victim but on Oscar himself.

Dan referred to Oscar’s sealing power being like Energy bending in Avatar the Last Airbender.

Wasn’t one of the drawbacks of energy bending that the user could be corrupted by the essence of the person who’s bending they were taking away? 

I can’t recall where it was said but I think I remember the lion turtle mentioning that to Aang when they first met. I…think? Correct me if I’m wrong here guys. 

But let’s say…Oscar does gain the whole sealing power as part of the final form in his Nullification Semblance. I only like the Sealing aspect of Oscar’s semblance as a last resort because I imagine a power like that could be very unsafe to use freehand.  The dangers of such a power are that one, this technique could run the risk of killing the victim since we are messing with aura---meaning one’s very soul, here. 

Not to mention that it places the user---Oscar at risk as well. Finally two, this technique would require a lot of aura on Oscar’s part or at least I’d imagine so. Like a lot especially to account for the victim resisting against the sealing process. 

After all, Pyrhha used some of her aura to awaken Jaune’s right?  So let’s say each time Oscar uses his semblance to nullify an opponent’s semblance, the effort to maintain this feat requires aura so the longer he maintains the nullification process, the more aura he drains from himself.

Somehow I’m visualizing Oscar’s nullification powers like chains that bind his enemies with an analog timer ticking down to how much longer Oscar can restrain his victim. A little exaggerated but you get the idea. 

So if sealing becomes a power for Oscar to have, it’s something that could help win a fight but can also potentially kill Oscar. I know it takes away the light-hearted ease of use of Dan’s original point but…this squiggle meister thinks a power like that would come with risks. After all, with great power comes great responsibility.  

But that’s just me. The more I think and elaborate on this, the more I’m really digging the concept of it. 

ThatKaitoDan is a genius for coming up with this theory for Oscar’s semblance. 

I doubt he’ll ever read my Tumblr post response to his theory but I would’ve loved to have heard his feedback on my add-ons to his theory. I’d love to hear his thoughts on my thoughts. 

He really is onto to something awesome and his idea for Oscar’s semblance is now one of my favourites apart from my own and the combination of our two theories. 

So if I had to pick which powers I can see Oscar having, it’s either a mental based power (like telepathy) or sealing or nullification---the grand combination of the two as I described in this post. That’s this squiggle meister’s thoughts on that. 

ThatKaitoDan’s Oscar’s Great and Power Semblance: RWBY Theory 

More Squiggles’ RWBY Content

~LittleMissSquiggles (2018) 

[yangingaround]

I’ve seen people say sun should stick around to see his reaction to atlas’s racism since he’s from vacuo when we’ll already have Blake’s reaction. keeping him around to get his reaction takes away from her & makes it once again about him. Plus mistral needs huntsman him catching up with his team makes sense. Instead of him following hoping she returns his feelings. That’s forcing romance in when shes shown 0 signs of returning his feelings for the past 2 volumes. What are your thoughts on that?

i agree with you, honestly, there’s no reason for him to go (especially as he’d be ditching his team again, which would only further the impression of him as a terrible leader who only cares about his friends when something interesting is happening around them)

it would just be forcing him into another plot he has no place in, taking up space and screentime other characters need far more than a side character stretched over the role of a secondary character who has had zero development in the five years he’s been on the show (and he’s already had an inordinate amount of screentime. Ilia and Penny, who’ve both been vastly more important to the overall plot, have had less screentime than him combined and yet demonstrated far more depth, complexity and character in scenes that often lasted less than two minutes), and yeah, the only reason most people really want him there is in the vain hope that Blake might reciprocate his feelings if he’s around her constantly (because that’s romantic - don’t worry boys, if you bother, annoy and refuse to leave a girl alone, eventually you’ll wear her resistances down and she’ll have to go out with you!)

and the writers have already said they don’t want to overload the show with unnecessary cast sapping screentime because they’ve recognised that as a flaw the last few volumes have had, some characters Sun have just been there for the sake of being there, not because they have any real relevance or because they’re actually vital or necessary to the plot seriously you can remove Sun entirely from the Menagerie arc and very little actually changes except you don’t get the constant annoying interruptions and Blake actually gets to interact with her family

so really, outside our main team, the second main team, and the lying old wizard, his unquestioning subordinate and the unfortunate tween who never asked for this, there’s no other characters who should be leaving for Atlas when the plot gets to that point except maybe Ilia because she’s from the region, has history there that could be expanded on, especially if parts of the plot focus on Jacques’ shitty business practices endangering lives to turn a profit, and having a rougher life in general she’d probably know her way around better than Weiss would, given Weiss was essentially kept in a gilded cage and likely never saw anything outside of Atlas high society - but Ilia getting to go is still rather unlikely

-Mod S

[sniperct]

Sun showing up in vacuo makes no sense either unless his team goes. He’s a leader and they need him with them they made a point that Mistral needs huntsman. SSN is from there & yet they haven’t even shown up. Ilia is from atlas & I don’t think she needs to go to atlas He’s really always been a waste of space comedic relief character that’s not needed. They’ve also said they don’t want to overload the show the past couple of volumes proved that to them. The only character not needed was sun.

Sun is FROM Vacuo, that’s why I suggested that’s where he should go. Home. He can become relevant again when they go to that academy for that relic.

[thejaf711]

Toast and Ice

“Shit,” exclaimed Yang. She’d been in Mistral in the same place as her family for several days, but ultimately had been unable to get restful sleep. Everything was perfect for her to sleep: heavy blanket, cool room, even a cooling cup of tea on her nightstand. Regardless, sleep evaded the blonde huntress

The room around her provided little entertainment with its white walls and wood floors. The walls had plenty of paintings, though, but she had studied them countless times in her boredom. The ficus in the corner needed watering and the bookshelf needed dusting. Am i that bored? Yang thought. Pulling her scroll up to her face, she squinted as the brightness caught her. 2:30. Slightly past half the night and hours before most people are up. Even at 9:00, she is usually the first out of rooms to get the day started.

Unsure of who this house belonged to, she did not want to train in the middle of the night as she had in the past on restless nights in fear of breaking something, but instead sat on the edge of her bed. But one can only sit on their bed on sleeplessness for so long, she surmised. Having never ventured out of her room at night before now, her curiosity was getting the better of her.

Her stomach growled. Despite the large dinner they had had the night before, she was starving. Damn metabolism. She got up and put on a long brown robe over her sleepwear. Not her usual colour but it matched her brown pajama pants and orange sports bra. Closing her robe, she opened the door to the outside.

The long halls only got longer at night. Twenty feet felt like a hundred. Stepping gingerly as to not make a peep, she crept towards the kitchen. Growing up around her light sleeping father and sister gave her the skill of stealth out of necessity. Whether she chose to use it outside the home was up in the air.

Reaching the living room, she began to lessen her stealth and move a little faster. After all she was at least fifty feet from any bedroom at this point. A lamp flipped on next to one of the couches, bringing Yang into defensive position with fists up and feet apart.

“You’re up at a weird time,” said a small girl in all white even at this hour. Yang relaxed. Weiss’ hair was down and she was holding a steaming mug of coffee.

Yang breathed a sigh of relief. “I could say the same for you. And coffee? Aren’t you afraid you’ll melt drinking that stuff like you do?”

Weiss huffed. “I’m not actually made of ice you know.”

“I know, that’s why it’s fun to tease you about it,” Yang said sticking her tongue out. “Laugh all you want, but this focuses me. Gives me a reason to keep going.”

“Most people refer to that as caffeine addiction.” Yang moved to sit next to her teammate.

Weiss’ expression softened. “Had a lot of days where i had to drink a lot of coffee to keep up with my dad’s intensive training. Now this stuff doesn’t do anything, no matter how strong i make it.”

“I’m sorry, Weiss.”

“Don’t be. Means i don’t have to worry about not sleeping because of this.” Weiss shifted to see her teammate better on the couch.

“What kept you up tonight?” Asked Yang.

“Ozpin gave us quite the information overload a couple days ago. Also that whole being kidnapped thing got to me a bit.”

“Fair enough,” yang said changing her expression. Her mom had done this as much as anything. Yang reminded herself to pay Raven back for this new trauma one day.

“I’m ok though. Just tired but not tired you know. What about you?” Weiss sipped her coffee

“Tired but not tired. A little hungry too. A lot overwhelmed. Mostly ready for all this grimmshit to be over with. And you know Ruby’s going to need years of counselling when all this is over.” Weiss giggled. Regardless if it was a joke or not, Yang’s tone and almost dismissal of that inevitably was humourous.  Yang giggled in return. She wondered if Weiss had picked up on her projection.

“We all will without a doubt.” Weiss took a long gulp from her coffee. “I borrowed a little something from Qrow if you want some.” She held up a bottle of Mistral rye.

“You know we probably shouldn’t.” Yang reached for the bottle and took a sip.

“After the shit we’ve been through, i think they’ll give us a pass.” Weiss took the bottle and poured some in her coffee before passing the bottle back.

Yang smiled after another swig. It was smooth whiskey. She understood why Qrow was fond of it. “Weiss,” she said before pausing

“Hmm” weiss replyed.

“I just wanted to say thank you. You know for listening to me the last few days. Just being there means a lot.” Yang chugged a shots worth of rye to finish her sentence.

“I didn’t know booze softened you up so fast,” Weiss teased. “If i’d known i’d given it to you last year.” The two girls giggled and Yang gave weiss a lite punch in the arm. “You know i love you right?”

“Note to self give the Ice Queen whiskey to melt her a bit.” They laughed harder this time, still keeping their noise level down as not to disturb the others. “I love you too, girl. Don’t ever leave me again, ok?”

A tear welled up in Weiss’ eye. “I won’t.” She smiled.

“You hungry too? All i really want is some toast. Pretty sure that’s all we have left anyways.”

“I’d like that.” The teammates smiled. Yang picked up the bottle and carried it over to the kitchen with her to get the bread out. Taking several swigs in the process, Yang pulled out the butter and put the bread in the toaster. Weiss sat at the bar with her coffee. “Your face is getting a little red.”

“Empty stomach. This stuff is gonna hit me like an ursa if i don’t eat something.” Weiss giggled. “ What is it?” Yang asked with a smile

“Never thought i’d see one of my teammates get tipsy before.”

“First time for everything, sweetheart.” The toast popped up suddenly, startling the two girls. They both laughed after they composed themselves.

As she buttered the toast, Yang’s expression changed. “You know i used to do this for Ruby every morning. Before school when we were kids, and even on weekends. Ruby is a great fighter, especially when she has to fight to cook anything.” They laughed. Weiss had gathered that Ruby was not the domestic type. “I loved doing this though.” She sighed.

“You ok? I know i’ve asked you this before. Can you give me a straight answer this time?” Weiss frowned as she took the bottle from yang for a swig.

“Yeah i can. I have no idea where my future is. Is it here with ruby forever or will i go off and get in big adventures? Will i become the next Qrow and be an alcoholic just getting by because of his immense skill? I don’t know.” Weiss sipped her coffee with a frown. “I tell you what i do know though,” Yang began, “we’re going to keep on going and i’m going to protect my sister and you no matter what.”

“That’s admirably. You have a lot to be proud of yourself for,” weiss said smiling. Yang handed her a freshly buttered piece of toast. Breaking it in half, weiss took a bite.

“Klein used to make toast for me and Winter sometimes. Father said it was poor people food but the simplicity made it desirable.” Yang felt the wave of nostalgia that hit her teammate. “I miss him. Between Father and Shitley i often wondered if they were the only ones who cared.”

“What about your mother?”

“Willow Schnee developed a bad habit or two.”

“Yeah good ol Tiayang Xiao Long isn’t known to be the most responsible. Losing two wives was difficult for him. He left the alcoholism to Qrow but he had plenty of destructive habits. His irresponsibility never got us in too much trouble but sometimes things got a little tight. We never worried though. Dad always knew what to do in the end.” Yang smiled. “He got this arm for me afterall.”

Weiss knew not to ask about the arm, touchy subject as it was. She took another bite of toast after a swig of whiskey. “It must have been an adjustment.”

“Dad helped a lot. He did what he could. A lot of it’s up in my head is all.” Weiss frowned. The problem ran deeper than her teammate’s head; weiss had seen her hand shake. Weiss couldn’t force recovery though.

“If you say so,” were the only words Weiss could get out.

“I’d ask you what you meant by that but i think the whiskey would talk too much. Since you made toast, how about 0i make one too.” Weiss picked up her mug and Yang her bottle, giggling at the Ice Queen’s pun. “To new beginnings?” Yang cheered.

“To new beginnings and decent sleep.” The clinked their respective receptacles together.

“I can drink to that.” Yang took a glass from the fridge and poured a shot, downing it almost immediately. “What time is it?”

“Probably close to 3:30 or so. I stopped checking the time a while ago.” Weiss had an idea. “You know we might sleep better if we can cuddle or something.” Yang raised an eyebrow. “It’s the same principle as having a teddy bear, just the other is living and breathing rather than stuffed and inanimate.”

“You know i think i’ll take you up on that offer. I could use the company. You must finally be feeling tired?” Yang said with a yawn.

“Yeah this rye is working as intended.” Weiss yawned in return. “Take another shot and let’s go. Might as well try for six hours before before Ruby wakes us up.”

“Agreed.” Yang finished her toast and took a double shot. “Want one?” Weiss nodded and Yang poured her a double. Weiss drank it with a grimace, eliciting a giggle from Yang. “A little much?”

“No no it’s fine. Not used to shots is all.” Weiss stood up and wobbled a little. “Sorry. Lightweight.”

Yang giggled again. “I was too. Too many nights sneaking Qrow’s alcohol for that now.”

“Oh and you were the one who said we probably shouldn’t. Yang Xiao Long for shame.” They both shrugged and laughed. “Come on let’s try to sleep.”

“Your room or mine?”

“Your room has a bigger bed to accommodate your hair,” Weiss said with a teasing smile.

“Hey my hair is majestic. Besides you’re one to talk yours goes past your butt.” Weiss laughed. The whiskey had turned them into giggling messes. The bottle had been full before the girls had gotten to it but now it was almost empty. “A little artificial relaxation was not necessary but definitely welcomed tonight. Thank you, Weiss.”

“You’re welcome, Yang.” She turned to her teammate and embraced her, wrapping her arms around the much larger girl’s waist. Yang wrapped her arms around Weiss’ shoulders. For once, yang felt she could be truly happy.

After their hug, they moved to Yang’s room and found the bed in the dark. Climbing into it, they cuddled next to each other. “Good night, Weiss” yang said as she kissed her teammate on the forehead.

Weiss beamed as she snuggled into her teammate’s arms. “Good night, Yang.” She reached up and returned the kiss. She immediately closed her eyes and snuggled closer.

Yang smiled as she felt her teammate get comfortable. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, wrapping her arm around Weiss. Yang was surprised at how warm how warm she was. She’s like a little space heater, Yang thought. Smiling one last time, she succumbed to sleep.

[tripstations]

The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: France’s Best Kept Secret

Provence is perhaps too popular: most travelers journey only as far as Avignon; further north, Lyon becomes a food lover’s stop over on one’s pursuit of Paris pleasures. Consider a road trip through the bucolic Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France from Lyon to Valence, indulging your senses in the 12,383.9 arcadian kilometers of Provençal lavender fields, Rhône Valley vineyards, historic chateaux’s, charming villages and the rustic, rugged and rocky 28 kilometers of Ardèche river valley. Oh, and the wine: save time to sip Vignoble, St. Joseph, Condrieu, Crozes-Hermitages, Cotes du Rhone, Rhône Côte Rotie, St Joseph and St Peray. This truly undiscovered bit of France, her best-kept secret, is just waiting for you to taste and savour. Let  Skycanner  help you book your flights or hotels or take along this handy Lonely Planet guide to the Ardèche and La Drôme!

First Stop: Lyon

With 2000 plus years of history, Lyon is not only famous for her heritage but also for her gastronomy, as well as famous Chef sons, Paul Bocuse and Daniel Boulud and is an excellent historic and tasty home base to start your Rhône-Alpes road trip. Make the Marriott Hotel Lyon Cité Internationale, ideally situated in the beautifully imagined Renzo Piano’s Cité Internationale , your home as you savour food tastings at  Paul Bocuse’s Les Halles de Lyon and dinner at the Sofitel Lyon Bellecour’s romantic Les Trois Dômes. Hire a greeter, lace up your walking shoes and wander Le Jardin du Rosaire, directly below the beautiful Basilique Notre-Dames de Fourvi��re. Still high above Vieux Lyon and in her Parc des Hauters, take in views of the valley and rushing rivers Saône and Rhône with the  white-capped Alpes just beyond. The majestic and well-preserved Théâtres Romains de Fourvière welcomes various Jazz and other Festivals and is the oldest of its type in France: a must-see for history buffs. Push open an ancient, wooden door and explore the hidden, off the beaten track walkways of the Long Traboules, winding their way through the courtyards and alleyways of residential Vieux Lyon. Stroll the funky and fantastic Confluence, Europe’s largest urban redevelopment project, a newly reclaimed modern gathering point for the local Lyonnaise, literally where the Rhône and Saône converge. Enjoy shopping, superb dining or simply prends une verre and people watch. Enjoy the spectacular Antarctica exhibit, at Lyon’s stunning Musée des Confluences, running until December 2016,  a complete penguin overload for your senses! Lunch is a must at the Museums’s La Brasserie des Confluences where you will enjoy typical Lyonnais food served in a spectacular light-filled room.

Onto Vienne

Explore further south and enjoy the wine, food, and hospitality of the city of Vienne, perhaps most famous for it’s Jazz à Vienne where at sunset, you can grab a seat on one of the sun-splashed stones of the Vienne Roman Theatre and get your jazz on with such international artists as Diana Krall, Chick Korea, Seal and Tonya Baker. We enjoyed an animated wine tasting in the tourism office’s new Côte & Cuisine cooking and tasting room, dominated by the three story ‘Wall of Wine’ showcasing the incredible diversity of the wines produced in this Gallo-Roman region. Treat yourself to an overnight and dinner at the Relais & Châteaux listed La Pyramid Hotel and savour dinner at the hotel’s L’espace PH3, 2 Michelin starred chef Patrick Henriroux’s open kitchen concept restaurant, respecting its traditional roots but adding a very modern touch. Contemporary interiors in bright colours by Régis Dho delight!

Day Three Starts with Some Lavender:

Oh, the beautiful Ardèche region: a nature lover’s dream where hiking, kayaking, glamping and field upon field of purple lavender and a Paleolithic cave make this natural reserve a tripstations favorite. Tour de France enthusiasts will want to make the Ardèche their cycling home base during the famous race in July. A warm northern Provencal sun greets us as we continue south and an early morning stop at La Musée de la Lavande. We have a private tour of those great fields of purple and learn of the Museum’s distillation process and of lavender’s medicinal importance and uses. With the smell of lavender lingering, we continue into the mountainous area of the Ardeche and discover the beautiful Ardèche Gorge, the green and white cliffs perfectly framed by a beautiful blue Provencal sky. And of course, the famous and monumental Pont d’Arc. This beautiful natural reserve offers both campers and outdoor enthusiasts 28 kilometers of rushing river for kayaking, hiking or swimming. Lunch or dinner can be found at the rustic Prehistoric Lodge du Pont d’Arc where your family can enjoy a truly unique glamping experience right on the river.  Make sure you check out The Lodge’s soon to be opened and spectacular Silex, four upscale hotel rooms dug into the cliffs of the Ardèche mountain range and soak away your tired hiking feet in one of their opulent hand-hewed stone tubs. Take your history buffs with you as you visit Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave, showcasing the world’s best preserved and earliest known  figurative cave paintings as well as other human and animal evidence of early upper Paleolithic life. You aren’t able to actually visit the original Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc although the Caverne du Pont d’Arc is a meticulously executed replica of the original cave and its 36,000-year-old paintings.

On the Steps of the Chateau Grignan

Located in the Drôme Provençale, the charming village of Grignan will welcome you with spectacular sunset views of Mademoiselle de Sévigné’s Château de Grignan perched high on an ancient Roman hill and offering sweeping views of the mountains of Lance, Mont Ventoux, and the Dentelles. Wander the quaint streets and listen to the mighty mistral winds that whistle and blow their cold winds through the town’s bell towers and church steeples. Must stay: Le Clair de la Plume is an incredibly charming and beautiful hotel that offers her guests classic french charm and ambiance while maintaining a sense of luxury and opulence. Dinner is a must in her Bistro dining room, and breakfast is a sumptuous buffet of coffee, croissant, viennoiseries and individually cooked eggs enjoyed in their conservatory or sunny garden. If you can, ask for the private Lover’s Pavilion, your own Petit Trianon where you can enjoy spectacular sunset views of the Chateaux across golden fields of wheat and purple rows of lavender. And should the Mistrals blow not too fresh, consider a private dip in the hotel’s pool with your special amour.

Medieval Valence:

As the capital of the Drome department, Valence is known as the Town of the Romans and primarily a leather and shoemaking center and is where a very young Napoleon, following his commission, joined the La Fère-Artillerie regiment,  which was stationed in Valence. Overlooking the Rhône River and in close proximity to vineyards producing Crozes-Hermitages, St Joseph and St Peray wines, this beautiful medieval town makes an excellent stop off for wine tours of the region. Often referred to as ‘the door to the south’ the city boasts unique and well preserved medieval architecture including the Maison des Têtes built between 1528 and 1532 and the beautiful the Saint-Apollinaire Cathedral, constructed between 1063 and 1099 and consecrated in 1095 by Pope Urban II. Make sure you hire a local greeter to fully appreciate the intricate and impressive medieval dialogue this city has to offer.  We were delighted with a special tasting of wines from Cave de Tain by the engaging and extremely knowledgeable sommelier Marie-Josée Faure of Terres de Syrah, a unique wine tourism group. We sipped special bottles of  Crozes-Hermitage Blanc and Cep Saint Jean while discussing the history and terroir of this special wine region of the Rhône-Alpes. Your final dinner in Valence must be a special one.  Make it at Maison Pic’s André, home to the 3-star gastronomic experience of the internationally-renowned chef, Anne-Sophie Pic, who shares her personal stories of the Pic family through iconic dishes made by her father and grandfather, paying homage to the French family and the great classics of French cuisine.

You can easily connect to Lyon and the Rhône-Alpes region of France as Air Canada has begun offering year-round service between Montreal’s Trudeau airport and Lyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport. Canadians now have a direct link to the second-largest metropolitan area in France. And with up to five flights a week with 37 international business class lie-flat suites and 228 economy-class seats, there isn’t any reason not to visit this lovely gastronomic, wine and lavender-scented destination, France’s best-kept secret!

tripstations was invited to enjoy the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France as part of a press trip sponsored by Air Canada, Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Tourisme, Rail Europe and Atout France.

Please note: This post contains product links from Amazon and Skyscanner which are affiliate links, meaning if you click over and purchase something, we will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price (at no extra cost to you) which goes towards maintaining tripstations. Thank you in advance!

World Traveler, Writer, and Blogger, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the tripstations.com travel blog.  A former Actor, current shower-singer, and non-hipster foodie. Loves his week-end house in St Marys, Ontario. Dad to Sophia, Ariel, and Hastings three of the best cats in the world.

The post The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: France’s Best Kept Secret appeared first on Tripstations.

from Tripstations http://bit.ly/2Xxo17e via IFTTT

[drilmachine-blog]

Top 6 Best Table Fans In India : 2019 Reviews

The scorching heat in India and the increasing electricity bills due to the usage of Air Conditioners needs no introduction. Table Fans have been with Indian households for enough that I feel like they are part of our culture now.

A Table fan’s ability to compete with giant air coolers in terms of instant relief and cost have made it the easy go to for an average Indian. Unlike ceiling fans, which are difficult to clean or move from one place to another, table fans are much more mobile. They are affordable, light in weight and occupy very little house space.

Just like any other air cooling devices, Table Fans also have evolved with time. The table fans of today are far superior to the ones from before. They are of better quality, less noisy, offer more air, a few even come with LED indicators too.

But just like any other device, there are good table fans and terrible ones too. What differentiates a good table fan from a worst one has been clearly explained in the “Buying Guide” present at the end of this article.

Before buying a table fan, make sure that

It is of good company Top Fan speed available How safe is the fan in a house Is there any jerk to the fan as a whole? Companies like Usha Maxx, Crompton, Polar mistral, Luminous mojo are some of the best known brands in Table Fans. After spending hours on research on cost, speed, oscillation and much more, we have concluded the following 5 best table fans available in the market.

Best Table Fans In India : 2019 Reviews Best Table Fans Fan Type Speed Change Warranty Buy Now Usha Maxx Air Table Fan Desk fan Yes 1 Year Check the Price Orient Electric Desk Table Fan Desk fan Yes 2 Years Check the Price V- Guard Personal Fan Lab Personal Fan Yes 1 Year Check the Price Havells Birdie 230mm Table Fan Personal Fan No 1 Year Check the Price Luminous Buddy High Speed Table Fan Personal Fan No 2 Years Check the Price Crompton High Flo Eva Table Fan Desk fan Yes 2 Years Check the Price Top 6 Best Table Fans in India: 2019 Reviews 1. Usha Maxx Air Table Fan Usha Maxx Air Table Fan

A household name since 1934, there is no Indian who is not familiar with Usha’s products. Hence there is no surprise that it is an Usha fan at the top of this list. But what makes this the best and top worthy?

With a great white colour and aesthetically pleasing design, this table fan is entirely made of plastic. It is incredibly light in weight and can be easily moved about from place to place. The Usha Maxx air has PVC blades which are smooth and do not rust like their metal counterparts.

This table fan has a 400mm sweep which can provide instant relief even to a considerably big room. Even with its blades rotating at a speed of 1280 rpm, this fan is noiseless and  jerk free when oscillating from one side to another. Coming to the power consumption, it needs an input of 55 watts energy and is quite energy efficient actually.

In addition to its great design and performance,the Usha Maxx air table fan comes with overheat protection. This means that this fan is protected from any possibility of overheating due to thermal overload.

This product comes with one year manufacturer warranty. While this fan is in white colour, Usha Air Maxx also comes in a premium blue colour. It’s semi transparent you are someone looking for both performance AND style, you can consider this too.

Things We Liked:

Noiseless Sweep Great Design Aerodynamic blades for better air delivery Uniform oscillation Motor Overheat protection 1 year manufacturer warranty Things We Didn’t Like:

The blades sometimes may get stuck and would need either a pen or some push to start. Buy Now From Amazon

2. Orient Electric Desk Table Fan Orient Electric Desk Table Fan

Orient Electric Desk fan is a direct competition to Usha Air maxx. It comes with Resin Plastic blades which are aerodynamically designed to offer maximum air thrust.

With a stylish blue and white mixed colouring, this fan is easy to assemble as its parts are all snap fit. This means that you don’t have to fix it using nuts or screws like normal fans. The powder coated guard with polymer ring offers extra protection to the blades.

The fan comes with a 90 degree oscillation and a bi directional tilt. This means you can place this on a table or down on the floor using the tilt to direct the airflow up or down. Hence this is ideal if you are a bachelor or have a small family.

With a power consumption of 53 watts, the fan operates at a speed of 1330 RPM and the speed can be adjusted with a 3 piano styled buttons to its base. Furthermore, the motor is protected from any overheating by a thermal overload protection.

As this table fan comes with a manufacturer warranty of 2 years, I would say that it’s a great buy.

Things We Liked

Snap Fit Assembly Aerodynamically Designed For  Air Thrust 90 Degree Oscillation with Up and Down tilt Thermal Overheat Protection 2 years manufacturer warranty Things we didn’t like

Nothing specific to mention. It overall is a great product. Buy Now From Amazon

3. V- Guard Personal Fan Lab Breeze V-Guard Personal Fan Lap Breeze Table Fan

A cute addition from the V-Guard family, the Personal Fan Lab Breeze is a portable table fan ideal for single cabins in offices, study tables, shop counters and for work desks at homes. This is ideal for people who are looking for portable table fans to carry around from place to place.

This compact and small fan is pre assembled before shipped and is ready for plug and play. The incredibly noiseless table fan is made out of great quality plastic and has 5 fan blades in all.It’s aerodynamic design offers good air thrusted forwards.

The best part about this fan is its tilt. It has a vertical tilt which can be slided forward or backward for upward or downward flow of air. It can also be moved 360 degrees around by rotating the grill frame on the base like a bottle cork/cap.

The speed can be controlled not by buttons but by a knob present at the base of this fan. The sweep of this fan is 10 inches which means it can give out good air in close ranges. As it just consumes 40 watts of energy, you may not expect high speed as well. You also cannot expect this personal fan for giving air to an entire room because of its small size.

There are no negatives for this product except that it is a bit heavier in weight and does not have an automatic sweep option like most table fans. The product comes with a 1 year manufacturer warranty and any disputes are directly addressed by V-Guard.

Things we Liked:

Uniform Air Delivery Compact and ergonomic design Great performance for long durations 40 Watts energy consumption 1 year warranty Things we Didn’t Like:

A little bit heavy and not totally light weight The fan may be a bit jerky after using for a long time Absence of automatic sweep. Buy Now From Amazon

4. Havells Birdie 230mm Personal Table Fan Havells Birdie 230mm Personal Fan

A cheerfully coloured personal fan by Havells, the Birdie 230mm is ideal for usage in small cabins, desks, shop counters and for study tables at home.  

A pre assembled product, the Havells Birdie is made out of great copper windings and great quality plastic. The ergonomically designed 3 leaf abs blade with aerofoil section give out superior air throw (upto 6-7 feet) and are ideal for smaller places.

The mesh is spiral and elegant. There is a globe styled guard ring within which the fan frame is fixed and it can move about its own axis in 360 degrees. The rocker enables the fan to be thrust front and back for air flow to be upwards and downwards.

This fan comes with a 2 capacitor pole motor. Hence you can expect high efficiency of the fan at lower power consumption. The speed of the fan is 2800 RPM for a 55 watt power consumption and has an innovative rotation style.

The only problem with this fan other than being a little bit noisy is the absence of control buttons. There are no buttons as such for this fan with which you can control it. It is direct plug in to power on and plug out to power off.

Havells Birdie comes in 2 colours, Black on Grey mesh and Yellow upon Maroon mesh. The product comes with a 1 year manufacturer warranty.

Things we liked:

2 Pole capacitor Motor for higher efficiency and lower power consumption Stylish design and colours Rotational Ring surrounding the frame. Great quality blades and speed in this pricing segment Things we didn’t like:

Absence of control buttons. Noise when used for longer durations.

[and-his-name-is-rouge-crimson]

"That sounds good to me." Rouge chuckled, as his fingers contracted lightly about Pyrrha's. This always made the Vacuan smile like the big goof he was, tosay it had the added effect of causing Celica's brain to overload.

Yet something about all this was so familiar. Vacuo? No it was Mistral he was thinking of. He remembered a girl with vibrant green eyes, that lit up when he gave her that pendant he said was supposed to protect her. Though that was years ago, and for the life of him Rouge could not put a name to that face.

"Pyrrha, you remember my baby sister Celica?" Rouge asked gesturing over his shoulder, to his twelve year old sister who was hiding behind him.

“Of course!” Pyrrha responded cheerfully. “It’s hard to forget such a skilled fighter and brilliant smile.”

Sparing the larger Vacuian a warm smile, she looked over his shoulder and gaze waiting for her there. “Hello again.”

[teamoliv-archive]

Cutscene: True Loyalties

It was three agonizing weeks since Onyx was able to get out of that wretched hospital. His voice was still gone but at least he no longer felt the awful lingering symptoms of being without his old medications. Somehow they managed to clear that up. What was shocking, however, was finding out that his bills have been taken care of already thanks to a generous donation from the Cheshire Financial Group to aide victims of the White Fang’s violence. He knew that wasn’t what actually happened. The note hidden in his room solidified that.

It was from his sister, and it came with directions to come to her home in the city’s upper levels quietly once he got out.

Why was Mistral built against a cliff!? It had taken him forever to get up here and even longer to find the blasted home. As he expected of his sister, the place took up a lot of property in one of Mistral’s most affluent districts. A filthy faunus wandering around drew a lot of eyes that he subsequently ignored. He had half a mind to throw the next jeerer off the side of the mountain. He didn’t have the energy to keep himself invisible the whole time. The building itself was big and the surrounding grounds even bigger. There was an electronically locked gate at the front. He didn’t even get to push the button before he heard Lilac’s voice on the other end.

“Took you long enough, Nyx. Get in here.”

Lilac had soon sat her brother down with a fresh change of clothes, a bath, and a decent meal. He looked way better than he did when he got there. “Geez, Dad really did a number on you, huh?” Before her brother could silently protest, she waved it off, “Yeah, I know what happened. I’ve been watching the entire city for a while now. Come on, I’ve got a few things to show you.” She starts to guide him to a large room that looked to be a personal garage turned into a workshop. Sitting on a table was a sleek set of gauntlets plated gold with black on the finger joints and underlay. The whole mechanism, particularly the reel, was more compact than before. “Go ahead. Try it on.”

The new gauntlets fit perfectly. The underlayer must have been made out of some kind of armored fabric or rubber. No cold steel to deal with there. He flicks his wrist like before and it contracted back onto his arm in a much nicer-looking bracer, only the finger-less gloves that remained betrayed what it did. The smaller reel stayed in place. He looks up at Lilac in a bit of surprise. He had never been hugely close to his sister but they never hated each other either. Even if they weren’t blood, he assumed they were as close as most would be.

Lilac offered Onyx a smile and nodded. “Good. That’s a present from me. You’ll need to be able to get back out there, won’t you?” No, as conniving and stealthy as he liked to try to be, Onyx wasn’t ever one to really back away when he knew he had a fight on his hands he couldn’t avoid. He wasn’t going to take this sitting down.

“I hope you’re ready for this next part, you’re going to need to see it.” She lit up a few monitors showing footage from her drones. Several shots of the attack on Haven were shown, as all manner of other nasty things. Among them were several shots of Ivory speaking with that man from before- what was his name? 

Jade Leroux. It took a moment to click in Onyx’s head. He did recall Father mentioning something about this being why she had left. What was this about?

“Nyxie...” His sister continued, “This guy’s responsible for everything. Everything we care about anyway: What happened to you, what’s been going on with your trip to Menagerie, and Mom... That ‘bodyguard’ of yours has been his mole for years. She was supposed to get close to you... That’s why Mom and Dad wanted you meeting people so badly. They knew but they didn’t want to tip him off either. He was making them too much money to risk that just yet- and that’s why she killed her.”

Onyx felt like he would have been speechless even if he hadn’t lost his voice. He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t gotten reason to suspect it from what Leroux and his father had said to him. Looking back, Ivory was the only one who could have made a vehicle explode the way it had. This made too much sense, including Ivory’s awkward attempts to comfort him so soon after his mother had died. She hadn’t left his side after she found out he was in the same car. It was strange at the time, but that really was when she started sticking to him as much as she did ever since.

Was all that trust he placed in the one person he could really call a friend all just an elaborate lie!? He didn’t want to believe this was the whole story, but that didn’t matter right now did it? He tried to speak only making a few choking noises still.

“I’m sorry, Nyxie... I am. But I couldn’t let them keep trying to use you like that. Dad can handle himself. He knows what happened, but I don’t think he’s willing to move against him. We can’t just keep letting them do as they please.

“At least not to the Cheshires. I say it’s time we remind them who they’re trying to manipulate and burn them for even trying. It’s time for revenge. Mom wanted Leroux dead and I’m going to show his little tools what happens when they think they can attack us like that. I have some friends who are going to be causing a lot of problems soon. We just need you out of the lower levels for this.” She gives her brother a pleading look as she walks over to a mannequin wearing some kind of tubed vest. “I want you here with me when we do this. We’ll get this done, no matter what we have to do or who gets in the way.”

How long was Lilac holding this grudge? It seems like she’s been harboring this for years and planning the entire time. Why not tell him sooner!? Was she waiting to get him away from Father? He watches a map on another screen. There were several blips showing something sending a signal from various public buildings, including the hospital he was just at. A lot of these were lower-income neighborhoods- the residential ones. He points at it carefully.

“That’s how we’re going to do it.” She says, turning toward the screen, “I found out Leroux’s operations are somewhere in that district. Just killing him won’t send enough of a signal of who he thinks he’s messing with.” There was a venom in her voice that Onyx had never heard before. It was pure bloodlust. “So I’m blowing the entire district. If he wants to pretend he’s as dangerous as he says, let’s see him deal with this. I’ve already got armed people going after his favorite little spots, too... and whatever else they want. It was part of the idea.”

She turns back to smiling when she locks eyes with Onyx, but something about her seemed a little unhinged. Had his sister always been this way and he just not noticed? He very seldom saw her. “I need to introduce you to my contact sometime, Onyx. I think you’ll like her.”

The entire district!? As much as Onyx wanted to play off a lack of concern over civilian casualties, he had to admit this had him horrified. Seeing a plan that would result in hundreds burning to death purely to make a point was... disturbing. Perhaps his time in Menagerie had softened him, perhaps he never was as callous as he thought he was when he came face to face with the consequences of Lilac’s plan... 

Maybe he was just a coward. 

Either way, he couldn’t hide his revulsion and horror. He unravels the gauntlet back over his hand on reflex and took a step back as if a large Grimm had just materialized in the room.

This is what Father was saying when he mentioned you ruining everything, didn’t he?

“Onyx...?” Lilac tilts her head. Maybe this was a bit too much all at once. It was a lot she was asking. “You don’t have to do anything.” She says, taking careful steps forward, “Just stay here. I’ll do the rest. We’ll get rid of them and then we can make Dad listen.”

Stay here. Yet another who wanted him to just lay about and do what he was told... He wouldn’t have expected it from his sister as well as his father.

Well thank you for the weapon, Lilac, but I will be taking my leave now.

His sister’s eyes narrowed, half in anger and half in disappointment. “I get it...” She walks over to the tubed vest and puts it on. He watches for a moment as she starts to fasten something to her arms-

Needles? She was sticking them into her... Another look revealed some kind of dust cocktail on the back in numerous small doses. She throws her thick rubber coat on over this and turns to face him.

“One more time, Onyx. Stay here. You don’t have to think this is right or even a good idea, but don’t go back out there until I’m done! I will force you to if you don’t-”

He had already made up his mind. Lilac had clearly gone far past any point of reason if she was so willing to annihilate an entire city block to kill one man, let alone whatever that vest was for. He unleashes a flurry of wires, forming a barrier between the two of them. 

Then Lilac started to spark as the machinery she attached to herself whirred to life.

The visible parts of her skin began to glow with a bright violet light and arced lighting her hair and eyes started to glow along with it. She buckled under the pain while waiting for the painkillers to start coursing through her system and dull the feedback from the dust.

“I guess we’ll be testing both our new weapons, huh?” Her voice had a sickly static to it, like it was masked behind a radio- likely a side effect of the lightning dust. So this was only one chamber, huh? What would happen if she used others? Or combined them? Well, best not overload herself now. She didn’t want to kill her brother anyway.

She outstretches her hand and starts building up aura augmented with the dust. With a quick flash, a wave of electricity danced through the metal wires.

Onyx had to take a quick leap back to avoid the arcing lightning. It wasn’t going to kill him, he wagered, but it would heavily incapacitate him again. No, he couldn’t stand here and fight. He needed to get out of here. Mustering as much strength as he could, he snapped free the maze of wire and forced himself to flash out of sight. He hadn’t used his semblance in weeks. It was going to take a lot more concentration than normal and he didn’t assume his sister didn’t have a security system in play, too.

For whatever reason, Lilac wasn’t following, but he heard her over an intercom that played over speakers she had installed in various points in the home. 

“There’s still time, Onyx! I’m doing this for us! For our family! If this is because of that militia then remember it was Jade’s idea to send you there in the first place! Are you going to tell me you’re letting him get to you!?”

No, this wasn’t about Leroux. This wasn’t about them either. This was about himself- and a pledge to never let anyone else make his decisions for him no matter who they were. The door to the final exit in the hallway slammed shut. He had to push himself into a right door that opened into a parlour. This was clearly a middle room since there were no windows. He’d have to keep going.

That’s when he heard all the beeping. Several ball-liked drones wheeled out of hiding places and started to chase him. A few had small arms mounted into them and began shooting. It wasn’t much trouble dodging to deflecting the shots. These little things didn’t seem to be all that accurate and had difficulty making sharp turns. They were not meant to fight against a trained huntsmen. One spray of wires tripped up their pathfinding and send them crashing into each other, beeping sadly.

He ducked out of another door and down another hallway. Windows! Then came the loud slamming noise as the metal security shutters started falling. He’d have to move fast and race them to get out one of them. He was only just getting there before a large mass of stone slammed into his path.

The colors in Lilac’s dust-infused form had shifted again- yellow this time. Her hair’s color mostly stayed the same but the glow that came off of it and affected her aura clued him as to what she was using. “You’re only going to get yourself hurt again!” His sister shouted, “Don’t you see that!? I’m protecting you!”

No, no you’re not. You’re trying to just keep me out of your mad crossfire.

That shot had slammed into a wall and nearly broke it. An idea formed in his head as he decided to pull something risky, he moved in an obviously telegraphed manner that he was going to head in the other direction. This wouldn’t fool most people but Lilac never had any formal fighting training. She wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. All she knew how to do was throw raw force at the problem until it stopped moving. As expected, another large earthen shot flew in front of him. Speeding up, he intentionally let it slam into him and the wall behind him.

Right at the window shutter. The thin metal creeked and groaned under the impact and Onyx felt that now too familiar feeling of his aura breaking. It was enough to shatter the glass behind him.

He rolled behind him and tumbled out the busted window into the grounds below. He ached yet again but at least this time he wasn’t being electrocuted or having the life choked from him. He throws out a wire at a street lamp and swings off down the street, lashing to new points as he keeps going. There was no way she was going to be able to follow that quickly.

He only hoped he could find a way to stop this...

[toebeeeans]

Kask Mistral aero helmet review

Gear > Bike > Helmets It has the looks and aerodynamics, but can this Kask deliver? Posted: 2 January 2018by Nick Busca Key information Price £320 Contact www.kask.com We’ve used Kask’s Bambino Pro and the Protone for the past two seasons, so were pretty excited to unpack another part of the family: the Mistral, which […]

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from Information Overload News http://www.informationoverload.news/kask-mistral-aero-helmet-review/