#so as usual all of these is just V1....point 5

[stormvanari]

expanded info of Ethel, the Prohibition-era Golden Guard (so far):

[Bigender | He/Him, She/Her]

Best described as provident and ruthless, Ethel served as a double agent for Lord Belos and Yurei. She originally had three eyes, but one (hidden behind her hair) got burned in an alley fight and is replaced by an oracle gem provided by Yurei to establish two-way contact between it and the GG.

Due to Belos’ influence, Ethel was originally submissive and loyal to the coven and it took a while for Yurei to build trust to the GG since she was the key to acquire intel of Belos’ inner circle.

When enough trust was built, Ethel was welcomed into Yurei’s base and her mask began to slip to reveal a stammering cryptographer. Regardless, she was hesitant to work with “wild witches” until Yurei shared its perspective of them while nursing a bleeding Ethel after the alley fight mentioned above.

As a result, the GG rose through the ranks as Yurei’s right hand and her loyalty to Belos began to falter. Moreover, she dutifully gathered as much intel to take down the coven even if it means to mercilessly sweep Belos’ guards.

Unfortunately, Ethel’s work was suddenly cut when she was drugged by a fatal poison supplied by an unidentified assailant and was kidnapped back to Belos. The ex-GG was then dragged to the Skull and woke up to her new surroundings. There, a heated interrogation happened and that triggered a fight between Ethel and Belos.

The former, under the effects of the deadly poison, kept fighting until she finally succumbed to it and fell to her death into the skeleton pit.

For a century, Ethel’s ghost lurked in the pit with other dead GGs and Caleb. But she began to hunt the Skull’s main floors when Ethel learned of Yurei being inaugurated as a member of the Boiling Isles’ newest government, the Titan’s Council.

Only two TCs, Yurei and Cherry, can see Ethel’s ghost. Jasmine learned oracle magic from home to see his form. Furthermore, the GG mainly follows the Oracle Councilor around and helped it around after a tearjerking reunion. Although, Yurei insisted that Ethel takes a break and hang out in its office.

However, this inspired Caleb’s opinion for Ethel to “leave the nest” and live with the witch who had a positive impact in her life. Gleefully enthusiastic in the inside, Ethel immediately agreed with the decision and bid farewell to the skeleton pit.

Arriving to the Omikus’ house, his ghost was surprised that Yurei replaced him with a “new right hand,” Jasmine. There was an air of discomfort between her and Ethel, who didn’t hesitate to kick the Plant Councilor out of the house (spooking the shit out of her, but that failed since Jasmine is used to Yurei meeting with ghosts that come in). But this tension disturbed Yurei and it had to convince the GG that Jasmine did not pose as a threat, nor did she replace Ethel’s name.

“If you are uncomfortable at the idea of referring my daughter as your extended family, you are welcome to schedule visits with me. Your intention to push Jasmine out of the house is not ideal to make your stay here, Ethel.”

Ethel’s magenta eyes glowed at the word “daughter.” He was surprised but disappointed, yet he was willing to know more about Jasmine and her history with Yurei.

There’s an eerie similarity between their respective families, quoted for the GG: both Ethel and Jasmine came from well-respected, but strict caretakers and have dismissed their values. Additionally, they have met Yurei on their runs and took shelter with it.

So, Ethel made a deal with Jasmine to be an understanding roommate even if the Plant Councilor felt uneasy at the GG’s bloody (literally) history. For example, Ethel busied herself learning about the modern Boiling Isles such as Scrolls and Crystal Balls, which the latter drew the GG more towards.

Eventually, Ethel would form a bond with Cherry after discovering a shared disgust towards the coven’s “crap delicacy” (although alcohol is off limits for the GG) and become an honorary “10th Titan’s Councilor.”

Anyways, storytime over! Now for the facts:

• Ethel is strictly non-alcoholic after an assassination attempt on her.

• Like Yurei, Ethel likes speaking with “proper vocabulary,” being formal words. Although this was heavily enforced by the coven, Ethel still likes learning cool words. But...she may forget the meaning and not know what she was really trying to say.

• Ethel was once requested to wear a special suit to keep her spirit in and walk around with like Yurei. She shot down the idea since the GG would look ridiculous in a spirit suit.

• Ethel is often referred as Yurei’s “secretary” at work, although he doesn’t do actual paperwork himself rather the ghost organizes, cleans, and stand guard during graveyard shifts.

• Ethel is picky.

• Ethel hates being told to speed up and prefers to work on her own pace.

[kerakeriza]

Damian Wayne: The Romantic

ever since damian's inception, he's always had a soft spot for romance, true love, and happy families. in particular, he always wanted his mother and father to make amends and come together to form a happy home, a cohesive unit.

let's talk about it!

(batman v1 #658, written by grant morrison, damian's creator)

as you can see, we get the first inkling of his inclination towards romance with this moment. yes, i know... talia's character was ruined the very moment morrison touched her. it's not as if she wasn't a romantic herself, though.

(batman v1 #240, written by dennis o'neil, talia's creator)

in fact, even bruce was a romantic back then.

(batman v1 #257, written by dennis o'neil)

seriously, how romantic is that? absolute poetry.

it only makes sense, then, that damian ended up the way he did. let's explore that a bit more, shall we?

(batman annual v1 #26, written by peter milligan)

you'll notice that in his earliest appearances, damian's speech patterns were much more... casual. they weren't yet elevated to the levels of a spoiled prince. his message remains, though. if his grandfather loved this woman, why didn't he simply give her a happily ever after? spoken like a true romantic, damian...

(robin v4 #169, written by peter milligan)

in this case, of course, damian is referring to familial love - but it still speaks to his heart. it's a sort of... "love will conquer all" mentality, and it drives him. it's embedded into his character already, and this is only the resurrection of ra's al ghul arc.

...there is more evidence of damian being a sucker for romance in battle for the cowl, but we can all agree to just skip over that, yeah? let's move on to his run as robin.

(batman: streets of gotham v1 #3, written by paul dini)

damian isn't very subtle, but he also isn't very open about wanting romance for *himself.* he obviously does want it for himself - but he's not going to just up and admit it. hence the "what's it to you?"

(batman and robin v1, #4, written by grant morrison)

damian oh-so enjoys the affectionate attention of women. again, he puts up an attitude about it, but it's all to disguise his inner enjoyment of it all.

(detective comics annual v1 #11, written by fabian nicieza)

when faced with an enemy attempting to seduce him, damian is very much *against* being taken advantage of. unlike the woman playfully calling him adorable, this is an actual threat. not only that, but note his exact words - "won't -- feel that way -- yet --"

this is not how he wants it to go. he doesn't want to feel unsafe, in the arms of a dangerous predator. when it does happen - which he expects it to, someday - it won't be anything like this. the only other way for it to be, though... is soft. warm. romantic. most of all, he wants to pursue it when he's *ready* for it. he'll express himself in the little ways, such as asking if katana is single, but he won't make any big moves. he's just a kid, but he's also just not that kind of person.

he's wise enough about romance to understand that he's just not ready for this *yet.*

(you'll notice a distinct departure in how he handles the issue of his own romantic life from here on out...)

(batman and robin v1 #12, written by grant morrison)

this is another instance of familial love rather than romantic love, however... it is also another instance of damian wearing his heart on his sleeve. he just wants to be loved for who he is, it's another piece of his very, very loving mentality. he is a sensitive soul, deep down.

(batgirl v3 #5, written by bryan q miller)

stephanie calls damian out for looking at her chest - of course, he denies it. (he can't have stephanie thinking he's some lecher.) naturally, he denies it by insulting her. that's just about how it usually goes for these two.

(batgirl v3 #6, written by bryan q miller)

at this point, damian has gotten good at using a good bit of teasing to repress his crushes. there's a real air of jealousy in how much he *emphasized* the word "boyfriend."

(batgirl v3 #6, written by bryan q miller)

even dick and barbara seem to agree that robin and batgirl of today mirror the robin and batgirl of yesterday. (if you'll recall, dick absolutely had a huge crush on barbara. it's kind of the whole reason they became a thing after a while.) dick already knows about damian's interest in older women... and given his own interest in older women, i doubt he cares that much - as long as it's just an unrequited crush from damian. (i'm sure dick wouldn't be okay with it if stephanie accepted the affections of an underage boy, even if that boy is damian.)

(world's finest, v4 #4, written by sterling gates)

as you can see, the teasing continues for a while.

(red robin v1 #12, written by chris yost)

damian once again can't behave himself around stephanie, but this time, he's even more forwardly mocking her appearance. well, mostly just her chest, but still. i fear that he knows older women are out of the question, so the best he can do is tease them. it's not as if that sort of flirting isn't being modeled for him on the daily by every vigilante in gotham. he was so much more pure of heart before he met the bats...

(red robin v1 #12, written by chris yost)

at this time, this might've been the *first* time that damian has ever actually given a... compliment? to tim. it's definitely the first time he's congratulated him. what can he say? he loves a little romance, even when it comes to the person he hates most. it probably helps that the engagement isn't to a woman he has a crush on himself.

(superman/batman v1 #77, written by joshua williamson)

as was the case with stephanie, with kara, damian also resorts to teasing - it's a bit less obvious if he truly has a crush on her, but if dick is on his case about it... he's usually right, that's all.

(batman and robin v1 #18, written by paul cornell)

this gives a bit more insight into why damian now chooses to repress his romantic side (and instead resorts to teasing those he has a crush on). of course, he knew his own parents' relationship was complicated... but nothing quite like this. he's had to bare witness to just how fake his father's affections can be towards other women, and he aches at the mere thought of becoming anything like that. he'd rather not date at all then *pretend* to like someone.

he'd much rather pretend *not* to like someone to protect everyone involved from the chaos that their own feelings may bring. he knows it all too well now, what indulging in your emotions can do to people. but his loving heart never left him. he tried hardening it, that's all... but if he truly didn't care about romance anymore, he wouldn't see such an issue with bruce's playboy ways. he's an advocate of true love - not whatever the hell that is.

...i hope that helped to illuminate the ways in which damian explores romance and affection (in many forms)! after ingratiating himself to gotham city, damian found himself repressing his crushes more and more, likely due to the environment surrounding him. the other vigilantes all tangle themselves into knots, and it seems that damian would personally rather avoid coming to terms with his own affections, especially when he knows they'll lead absolutely nowhere. as much as he likes to pretend that he's older than he really is, he's not an idiot. he knows what he isn't ready for, even if he really wants it someday. even if the concept of true love pervades his very mindset. it's something he really, really wants... for his parents, and for himself... someday. when he feels ready for it - ready to accept that it may cause trouble, just as it did for his parents, and for the countless villains he faces on a day-to-day basis. he'll overcome it all when he's ready.

[admiral-mason]

Ultra-Impact Part 4

Idea based on @valeriele3's Live Stream post

0-3 0-4 << YOU ARE HERE 0-5

PRELUDE /// FOURTH CLAIR DE ÉTOILES

TWO SUPREME MACHINES INFORM YOU OF THE CURRENT SITUATION.

You turned your body to face the red V-model machine, looking as if they had never fought V1 in the first place. Holding out its Knuckleblaster, V2 gestured to you for a handshake and you accepted it, feeling its three slightly sharp fingers in the process.

"You're here too?" You asked the robot as you finished up your handshake. "Indeed so. And it appears that I have the glory of the first of being able to talk with the godfather of this world."

V2's voice possessed a deep tone stronger than Capitano's voice you heard in the 5.1 Update's cutscenes on YouTube. They- or rather he- sounded cold and calculating, almost akin to a mafia boss or skilled hitman.

(A/N: V2's voice, in this case, sounds like the security units from The Callisto Protocol; the voice in question is Type 1 in the video.)

V1 then walked over to you two and the blue war robot pointed a middle finger at the red peacekeeping robot with its right arm while having its left arm on its hips.

"Hey, it's not my problem that the terminal procured my voice box faster than yours." V2 then looked towards the terminal before walking up to it. You followed closely out of curiosity. "Speaking of that, are you done procuring V1's voice box?"

The terminal's screen displayed a singular word: "YES." Meanwhile, you could see your Twitch chat fill up with messages on V2.

quantoom: Bro V1 and now V2??

johnifer donated $20.00 "OH MY GOD IT'S V2 AWOOGAH ARF ARFARFARF BARKBARKBARKBARKRBARKABRKABRAKR"

Mike: wtf

feetusdeletussthenyeetus donated $33.00 "Calm down bitch."

johnifer donated $69.00 "nuh uh"

feetusdeletussthenyeetus donated $69.00 "yuh huh"

NaviaLover291: Holy shot!

benjaminfan: do we just let them fight or

3929: Just lettem fight lmfao

As the two donators kept fighting with their wallets, V2's right arm suddenly had an object materialize in his left hand as his arm moved back into its original position. The object in question had a box-like shape with a speaker and some widgets and tidbits on its sides- it's likely V1's voice box, considering the "01" on the top of it.

You were kinda spooked out by this but didn't bother questioning it.

(A/N: this refers to how when you buy a weapon in Ultrakill, it kinda just materializes in your hand with no explanation; obviously this is simply for gameplay but my story does utilize some gameplay tidbits lmfao)

V2 then walked over to V1, whose animated movements made it feel giddy. The red machine then proceeded to place (it looked like a slap though with how the way the V-models place items) the voice box on V1's torso. The box disappeared with no trace of it but as usual, you didn't question it.

"Ah. Aaaah."

Now this had you raising an eyebrow because V1 picked a female's voice instead of the Microsoft SAM voice you've heard in all the videos.

(A/N: I imagine V1's voice sounds like this.)

(A/N: Do not question why the fuck I chose that in particular or I will eat all of your cookies)

"Oh, uh, hello, godfather! I can verbally communicate with you now!" V1 said, striding it- herself over to you. "And before you ask 'I thought your voice would be Microsoft SAM,' I'm a robot with no voice by default and as such there is nothing wrong with me being a girly girl~!"

You just stared at her with a blank expression. "O...kaaay, V1. It's just different, that's all."

"Any problems with that?"

"Nope."

"Alright cool!"

V2 then looked at the both of you. "Alright. Since our dear godfather just recently arrived, let me catch you up." He then looked at the terminal and pointed to it. "See that terminal over there? It tried warning you on that neck section of that 1000-THR Earthmover in Hell's Violence layer. To not touch the lands ruled by the seven gods... or what you know as Teyvat."

V2 then looked down. "As much as I would blame your curiosity, you would only have delayed the inevitable. I won't sugarcoat it: Hell is controlling Teyvat and its people in an attempt to kill you."

Your expression grew mortified, bewildered, and lost simultaneously. "Whoa whoa wait what?? Hell itself took over fucking Genshin??"

He looked back up at you, radiating serious yet somber energy despite his camera head only granting so much expression. "Unfortunately so. When you made your way to Teyvat, you inadvertently opened a backdoor for Hell to enter. It took over under the guise of those 'SAGAU Impostor AUs' on that Tumblr section or something."

"...Is that why all those Knights of Favonius have red eyes?" V2 nodded. "They're being utilized as puppets; just like the Mannequins. With little to no control, they're forced to simply attack anything they see."

Hearing all this left you with a question: "But why me? I mean, not to be self-degrading, but I'm just a dumbass who plays games on a camera for a buncha people!"

The machine's next words somehow ended up just as, if not more mortifying than his last ones. "True. But that's not Hell's plan. See, once you die, you'll be dead in the real world. And the organism of suffering will utilize your computer to attempt to manifest itself into the real world."

"But that's not gonna happen!" V1 interjected, her voice still chippy as her previous sentence. "You got not one, but two supreme machines perfectly capable of taking on the entirety of Hell here to help you out of this shitfest. I still have my arsenal, and I helped V2 gain equivalent weapons thanks to that terminal that tried to warn you. And that brings us to your arsenal!"

She then dragged you to the terminal before selecting a gun icon in the top left corner, which pulled up a tab titled "WEAPONS." It was like Ultrakill's weapon screen, currently only with the revolvers. Except, you noticed that the revolvers were different from the base game.

Your default revolver- or better said revolvers- were the Dual Wield revolvers. Their icon was two blue revolvers, one placed upon the other. They cost zero points to buy, so you decided to click on them.

(A/N: Look here and set the video to 0:43 seconds and then peek at the bottom left corner)

Suddenly, your arms briefly clipped downwards before two revolvers appeared in your hands and you cautiously looked at them. They resembled the Piercer Revolver- only this time they had what looked to be a "12" in the display section where the battery should be.

A tutorial box then popped up in your vision.

DUAL REVOLVERS: CHOOSE TO ATTACK A SINGULAR TARGET OR TWO TARGETS SIMULTANEOUSLY. LIMITED AMMO; SHOOT WISELY.

"Ooh! You got double the firepower!" V1 excitedly said, already peeking at your revolvers. "Now can I have my Sharpshooter revolver back now?" You remembered that you still had it in your pocket and you nodded. V1 took her revolver from your pocket before saying a quick "thank you~!"

V2 looked at your new weapons and nodded. "You do indeed, godfather. Perhaps we should teach you some-" Suddenly, the sky flashed a bloody red and he stopped speaking.

"Shit... it seems that Hell finally caught up to us." He then walked up to the terminal and pushed a hidden button on its left side; this output a device akin to a phone and shut the terminal down. V2 grabbed it and hastily put it in your pocket.

"I'll explain later, godfather! Follow us!" You followed the two machines out of the forest, but once you did so...

...the three of you were met with a large force of fleshy figures in the distance. "It's sending husks after us..." V1 remarked. "Well, godfather, I hope you're ready for a true trial by fire, because I SURE AM CRAVING SOME BLOOD RIGHT NOW!"

You simply stared at the army of sinners as you held up your revolvers, still a little panicked. However, upon seeing V1 and V2 prepare for combat, you decided that at that moment, if Hell wanted to kill you, it would not do so without a fight.

Taglist: @valeriele3, @bunniotomia, @feetusdeletussthenyeetus, @quantoom

[generic-sonic-fan]

in one of your fics, i think it was the funeral talk one with team dark? omega stated that he was going to go play "VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES" did he really play violent video games? if so what kind? if not violent video games, question still stands, what kind?

Oh he absolutely plays violent video games! They're one of the ways he satisfies his urge for destruction when there's no Badniks to destroy. First-Person Shooters are his all-time favorite!

Prepare for a long and rambly post beneath the cut:

He's a sucker for any DOOM game (except for DOOM 3, which is a little too stealth-based for his tastes) and his particular favorite is DOOM 2016! He loves the high-intensity action, he loves the more open-ended approach he can take to each arena, and he loves the gore!!! He also really enjoys how the only meatbag you're forced to interact with in the game is the insane antagonist who you're trying to kill.

(He knows that Doomguy is a meatbag, but he's deemed Doomguy to be in the special category of meatbag that Shadow and Rouge are also in. AKA Omega would be besties with Doomguy in an instant if Doomguy were real.)

Oh, and he also has the original DOOM 1993 downloaded directly on his own hard drive, so that way if he's ever caught having to wait he has something to do. He's gotten to the point where he's unintentionally speedrunning the game because of how many times he's played through it.

Another one of his favorite games is Ultrakill, duh. The movement was a little difficult for him to get the hang of- DOOM's slower run-and-gun style is more similar to his combat IRL and therefore more intuitive to him -but he's mastered it by now. He likes it for a lot of the same reasons that he likes DOOM- guns, gore, and no meatbags to be found. V1 is his personal idol honestly. He doesn't really care for the lore though, which is a shame.

Other games he's played are Halo and Gears of War:

Halo was like a 6/10 for him. It's a tad too slow for him. He actually skips all the cutscenes, which is hilarious. Ironically his favorite game of the series is Halo 5 because that game sped up the movement a little bit, made some of the enemies robots (yayyy destroying robots! his favorite hobby!), and allowed Cortana to go apeshit, which he was rooting for since day 1.

He considers Gears of War to be a puzzle game. (Which is. . . really weird if you know anything about this game.) You see, Gears of War is even slower than Halo, and it's based around a punishing cover system. You have to know when the best moments are to leave cover and shoot or advance forward. Omega plays it when he's in the rare mood for something more cerebral than "Enemies in front of me, must shoot them". He also skips all the cutscenes in this one because he finds all the human characters annoying. If he could turn off the squad member NPCs he would. He too participates in the time-honored Gears of War tradition of shooting Dom on accident because he looks just like a fucking enemy.

Some other games that he's tried but didn't like:

Titanfall 2. The gunplay was fun, but he fucking hated the story and the unskippable cutscenes. He hates BT and Jack Cooper with a passion- they're way too sentimental and whiny for him.

The Call of Duty series is. . . eh? He usually will play them when they come out, but it's a very rare one that he'll actually like. There's usually too many humans and the action setpieces are too tame for his tastes.

He has a love-hate relationship with the original Borderlands. The combat is a blast but the RNG weapons and the quest-taking format was never his favorite. He prefers more linear campaigns without the implication that the protagonist he's playing as is doing any kind of service for the local meatbag population.

And don't even talk to him about Borderlands 2+3. The characters are just too annoying for him.

Anyways, to finish off this long ramble of a post, let me talk about some other genres of games that he could at least sort-of like:

He can't stand normal puzzle games, but he watched a let's play of Portal 1+2 and immediately fell in love with GLaDOS.

Strategy games are off the table but he could be persuaded by a tower defense game. I think he'd like Defense Grid: Awakening if he ever had the patience to try it.

Other games where you cause wanton destruction could catch his interest, such as Kill It With Fire! (A game where you kill spiders. With machines guns and flamethrowers. Lots of fun.)

Minecraft, but only if he's playing on his friends' server, and only if he gets a diamond sword and TNT. He's the one blowing up villages because he thinks it's funny. He might have more fun on a modern patch with the new combat-focused trial chambers.

Among Us, with the friend group, because of course. He's a total troll even when he's not imposter because he thinks it's funny.

These are my headcanons for him! If you have any other games you think he'd like, you should add them onto this post :)

[glade-constellation]

I've seen your takes in eclipse, and as a new TSAMS fan I honestly agree, man's a cornered dog that everyone's been trying to put down ever since they learned of his existence. That said, do you know about any fic recs that actually explore the points you're making? I would appreciate if you share some! Or just tell me about an ao3 tag I could visit!

Sorry this took me a moment to get to! I’m terrible at not bookmarking things so I had to dig through the TSAMS tag. This list isn’t in any particular order. Not all of these dig deep into Eclipse’s character but, if they don’t, they’re still good Eclipse-centric fics that I recommend giving a read.

For a general tag to check out, usually “Eclipse Redemption”, “Redemption Arc”, or even “Fix-It Fic” will get you something. There’s not really one definite tag for it sadly, and stories that aren’t redemption arcs don’t typically go deep into Eclipse as a character.

As for fic recommendations, I’ll put the list under the cut :

Rising Eclipse (Sun and Moon AU)

by BrightStar2000

After Sun's minor spell mistake, Eclipse finds himself alive, and not exactly well. He can't move without causing himself immense pain. He has nothing, but time, and Eclipse finds himself reflecting on his actions, and actively regretting them. What will begin as a revenge mission, becomes his chance at redeeming himself.

First in a series! I do recommend the whole series if this one interests you. This takes place after Eclipse’s first death, and goes into a lot of the guilt Eclipse V1 was shown to have. Mostly from Eclipse’s POV.

Sunk Cost Fallacy

by thedemonsurfer

"the phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial"

Or–

Eclipse has put too much effort into getting the star to give it up now. Even if it kills him.

Honestly recommend anything by Demon. All of their stories do an amazing job at digging into Eclipse and why he is the way he is. This particular one takes place after Eclipse V2 gets the Star, and shows how the Star affects him both mentally and physically.

Forgotten But Not Gone

by Smol40

Eclipse did...something. Why can't Sun and Moon remember?

Another Eclipse V2 where Eclipse has the Star. His loneliness and guilt gets to him, and he decided to try and wipe everyone’s memories to make his own family. (I would pay close attention to the tags on this one, especially the “Bittersweet Ending” one.)

Ghost in the Machine

by Snorp_Lord

Emails start coming through on Moon's computer with helpful information, but no name on them. Each email gives him more questions.

The sender turns out to be the last person he expects.

Short but good. Takes place when Eclipse V2 is working with Killcode and is trapped in the computer system. Moon and Eclipse actually get to talk about a few things.

Karma’s Bitter, But So Am I

by SinisterShepard

He lost. Eclipse actually lost. Banished to a forest with no one to help his quickly degrading state, Eclipse has to decide between his dignity or death.

And, once the pain sets in, he quickly realizes how much he's willing to lose for the promise of another day. Even if that day involves pushing Lunar even further away than before.

Amidst all this, he still manages to say the wrong thing, which...may end up costing his life all over again, judging by that look in Blood Moon's eyes.

~

Set after "The Death of Eclipse"

This will have 5 parts, and is a sort of redemption arc for Eclipse. That isn't obvious in the first chapter though.

One of the things I love about this series is how Eclipse still keeps his asshole-ish personality after his redemption. It’s one of the fanfics that I feel still keeps him pretty in character to canon after he’s supposed to be better.

Canaries in a Cage

by 22FluffyTheSpider123

Life in the terrarium while far from convenient, was somewhat getting a little easier. Even if most days left Sun with little to do and bored out of his mind. But he was still alive at least, which was certainly something given the name and overall existence of his captor.

Perilous situation that forces Sun and Eclipse to actually communicate and work together? Amazing.

Charade

by thedemonsurfer

Even false comfort is welcomed when you have nothing else.

(Is it really fake or are you just in denial?)

---

Sun and Eclipse share a moment of mutual comfort despite agreeing that they hate one another.

Another Demon recommendation. Another good fanfic that goes over Sun and Eclipse’s relationship.

Kill Code, You Are the Father

by I_See_Four

An Alternate Dimension where KC tries to build his family and connect with his sons. Due to miscommunications and general Kill Code shenanigans, it's a rocky road but attempts were made. Lunar gets caught right in the middle.

Just when things are looking up, old conflicts and threats of alternative dimensional possibilities come back to haunt them.

Diverges from the Sun and Moon show lore roughly around "Bloodmoon and Killcode TEAM UP?!".

This is not Eclipse-centric, but does do a very good job at dealing with both his and Lunar’s trauma. Honestly, just an overall good fix-it fic for TSAMS.

[lividria]

i swear every time i get into a game that has an actual community it'll feel like i just woke up on mars because i usually dig really deep into a game's lore, history, trivia, unused content, etc. and THEN i'll find stuff from the community and i don't even mean for that to happen it just works that way and it always plays out the exact same way without fail besides for when there is no community

like, a week or two ago i remembered OFF exists, watched a whole playthrough of it, have been listening to it's OST an unhealthy amount (I'm doing it right now, Unreasonable Behavior is so good), i go onto tumblr, first OFF post i see once i add it's tag to my feed is someone's art for an AU where all the characters all like hang out at a cafe together or something and everything is chill, which is like the antithesis of everything i had just experienced related to the game and i couldn't help but laugh in confusion once i realized what i was looking at

i go in the discord server for iconoclasts after obsessing over the game for like a year and annoying the fuck out of my friends about it, literally the only fanmade character i have seen is a chemico contra member who's also a phlebotomist, i had to google what a phlebotomist is and like... i didn't look into their lore by ctrl-f-ing or whatever so i'm probably missing something, but how do you come to this conclusion (actually i think i know, they mentioned they actually became one at some point after making this character which is really funny actually)

i start watching videos about pikmin after finally beginning to slowly come off one of the most intense hyperfixations i've had in my entire life to the point i had played through all 5 games in the series and dedicated weeks and entire days to trying to figure out the lore before giving up because it's nintendo lol and spending a roughly equal amount of time trying to come up with intentionally terrible ideas for more games in the series only to accidentally get WAY too into it (see my alph wraith post lol), i am greeted with Fiddlebert, and a later a dub of an AU where the player character is actually a wraith and is hiding it from the rest of the rescue corps (this post is still probably one of the funniest jokes i've ever seen) and the entire thing scarily resembles the type of shit i'd write if i was given this premise to work with down to the mention of an innocent child being consumed that's first brought up with a doodle of them saying "Oh boy I sure do hope being alive!" while holding The Goo THAT'S EXACTLY HOW I TREAT HORRIBLE EVENTS IN MY STORIES WHEN I'M TALKING ABOUT THEM

i look at the tag for ultrakill on tumblr and feel like i just got sent to hell myself with the punishment of being stuck in a permanent state of confusion due to the sheer contrast to the source material all the fanart has, same goes for most of the posts about it in general actually, i go in expecting like blood & violence and instead i'm greeted with gabriel & v1 making out. drawn by 50 different users. (i don't even need to link anything here just check #ultrakill you'll see)

and this isn't even touching on all of the ships i've seen that are utterly incomprehensible to me because. like. why magolor and the snowman enemy? why kingsly and puddle??? i thought alph didn't like louie? wait also what do you mean at least two people's headcanon is that louie is trans? (ok i couldn't re-find some of the things in this paragraph and i'm too tired to conduct an in-depth search but you could probably find it if you looked)

i'm not hating on anything i brought up here it's just a bunch of funny examples i think about a lot now that i've seen them, you guys go do whatever you want even if i don't get it go have fun lol, i just love the feeling of pure confusion when i walk into the room and get punched in the face with a complete subversion of my expectations because it feels like i'm missing SO MUCH CONTEXT and i never get used to it i love it i love the internet

[doctorofmagic]

Show me you don’t know a thing about Doctor Strange without telling me you don’t know a thing about Doctor Strange

Because I am SO done of seeing bs on the internet from people who only watched Infinity War or hate Stephen.

1. Wiping minds

Some people noticed that the plot for Spider-Man: No Way Home is quite similar to that one time in which Stephen conjured a spell to erase people’s memories on Peter’s identity so he could have his life back after Civil War.

We will get there. But before we touch this specific story, we’re going back to the 60′s, in Strange Tales v1. Stephen was basically a M.I.B. He used to erase people’s minds ALL THE TIME but there IS a reason. The first is, Lee and Kirby didn’t know a better way to defeat magic users, mostly because Stephen (usually) doesn’t kill. So how do you lock someone who can easily escape through magic? It’s simple. You make them forget magic. And this is how Stephen “punished” the evil sorcerers who dared attack innocent people.

There’s also the concept that people cannot bear the idea that the supernatural is real. Even Moon Knight did that for years, Stephen being the first one to tell him the supernatural is very real.

When it comes to Peter? Stephen was guided by guilt for not taking sides in Civil War. I’ve talked about this before. So it’s only natural to asssume he’d do anything to make it up for the ones he wronged, starting with the New Avengers and, of course, Peter Parker, the one who suffered the most with this event. This is why Stephen summons Superior Iron Man and Reed Richards and force them to be accountable for their mistakes.

Of course, this begets the issue of morality. But please be aware that your heroes are not perfect. They make TONS AND TONS of mistakes. You’re just wrong to assume your fave is perfect because there’s no such thing as perfection, and comics are fantasy based on human emotions. Your heroes on big screen WILL make mistakes because they ARE humans, stop whining and deal with it.

2. Out of character?

Please, shut up. You’re just embarrassing yourself. Let me show why.

2.1. MCU!Stephen

MCU!Stephen is an adorable and arrogant dork. He will mess up with time even when he was told not to. He’s light-hearted whenever he’s around Wong. And maybe he will even smile before pain and death. You just watched Infinity War and assumed Stephen was a serious, edgy, arrogant and perfect sorcerer. He’s not. He’s so much more. Gods, people who say this are so stupid, please, I’m becoming dumber and dumber whenever I read their bs.

Try me, Beyoncé.

2.2. Comics!Stephen

Messing up a spell (Damnation #1)

Being goofy (X-Statix Presents: Deadgirl #2)

Being a reckless little b1tch (Avengers v8 #5)

Literally casting a spell to wipe people's memories of Peter Parker along with Tony and Reed because Peter asked him to do so. (Amazing Spider-Man #641)

Point me again where Stephen is out of character, please?

2.3. bUt iT's NoT cOmIcS

Scott Derrickson didn't use the darkest references to write Doctor Strange (2016) for you to come and complain about Stephen's characterization and discredit comic books shut up shut up shut up pleaaase EVERYTHING YOU’RE SEEING ON THE BIG SCREEN WAS HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY COMICS. YOU CAN’T POSSIBLY BE THIS STUPID. Also here’s a very rational analysis between the two versions. They’re ridiculously similar.

3. Messing up a spell

Every

Magic user

Messes up

Spells

I hope this helps.

4. Summing up

Not a Skrull. Not Mephisto. Not out of character. Shut up about #notmystephen. You’re just wrong.

[silver-state-knights]

i love reading your posts about hockey gear, it's so interesting—robin lehner for the ask game? -@gowoalies

hi there! sorry this took a million years to answer, i’ve just been SO busy with work and stuff lately! i did make it quite long for you, though !

as far as I could find for Robin’s setup, I’ve got:

pads: Brian’s, Gnetik-V

glove/blocker: Brian’s, Optik 2

skates: True Pro Custom, 1 piece model (these are actually pretty different from other goalie skates on the market, so stay stuned for that!)

stick: Warrior, Ritual V2 Pro

mask: Unknown, looks to be similar to a Bauer 960, as far as I can tell

so, let me just say- finding gear specifics for goalies is a HUGE pain in the ass and I would like to shout Brian’s out for literally posting his glove/blocker models right on their site! this isn’t to discourage anyone from sending me goalies, btw, but i really do appreciate that Brian’s makes everything easier for me!

the main thing i can say with regards to his glove and blocker is that it appears that Robin (like most goalies, but even more so for him, it seems) really likes to be able to customize everything with regards to his gear. Brian’s is mostly known for making custom goalie gear, and seem to be doing that almost exclusively at the moment. they’re not the most popular in comparison to the other brands (such as CCM, Bauer, Warrior, and now, more than ever, True). he is a recent convert to Brian’s from Vaughn, and it appears that his first set with Brian’s was created in 2019 before his trade to Vegas from the team that I will not be naming here.

Lehner is also one of the few NHL goalies who isn’t loyal to Lefevre- if you’ve ever noticed and wondered why so many goalies will switch pad/glove/blocker brands seemingly overnight, it’s usually when Lefevre is bought out by a new company. We saw this most recently when they were bought out by True, who are starting to carve out a huge corner for themselves with regards to goalie equipment). their products are very, very popular, and very well loved by NHL goalies, and have been for quite awhile now.

also another thing with his glove/blocker/pads- it strikes me as very odd that he would use two different models between his pads and his glove and blocker. goaltenders typically like to have a full set, where all three of these pieces are the same. two different models, even within the same brand, can be radically different from each other as far as fit, feel, and performance.

his stick, the Warrior Ritual V2 Pro, is an older model by now, but it appears that he’s had several of these, and ones that are similar (he had the previous generation, the Ritual V1 Pro and the Ritual V1 Pro+ before). there aren’t many NHL goalies using Warrior sticks, or really any of their goalie equipment at all, even though they are relatively popular at the retail level. this also kind of bucks the trend of most goalies playing at a high level wanting the lightest possible twigs; in my own experience, Warrior’s tend to weigh in a bit heavier vs. their competition.

a fun tidbit re: lehner’s sticks: he used to use a 28″ paddle, which is quite large, but the NHL started enforcing a rule that goaltenders under 6′6″ had to use a 26″ paddle or smaller. unfortunately, being 6′5″, lehner had to readjust his entire positioning and play style to adapt to the change. he had quite a bit to say on the topic at the time, as well.  i think to further illustrate this point, it is also worth nothing that, i myself, being 5′9″, also use a 26″ paddle on my Warrior sticks.

now, for probably the most interesting part (at least to me)- let’s talk about these True custom skates! so, first off, let me show you a picture of them (+ one of the Panda where you can actually see him wearing them):

Now, let me show you what a more typical goalie skate will look like, I decided to grab True’s Pro Custom 2 piece skate from the same generation for reference and to make it a more fair comparison:

The biggest difference between these two will be with regards to the bottom half. The one piece skates have a holder and half of the boot that is completely made of carbon fibre + carbon composite, which is meant to make the skate lighter while not sacrificing too much durability and heat moldability (or “bakability”) vs your typical goalie skate that has a plastic holder riveted on to the boot. However, I believe this 1 piece option has been discontinued by True and is/was unpopular compared to their other models. True got their start in custom skates, and does them very well even to this day, but these one piecers definitely stand out amongst their 2 piece counterparts.Trues actually seem to be one of the most popular skate options for NHL goalies at this point, and many skaters are switching over to them as well. However you don’t see too many other goalies in these anymore unless they’ve had them for awhile. And as far as I know, Lehner has had his pair for closer to 6 years by now. The only other goalie I can think of who has these is Thatcher Demko, and I’m not even sure if he’s still in them at this point.

Another notable thing with the one piecers is how they had their blades mounted. They used a more old fashioned “bolt in” system, in comparison to the more typical “trigger” system seen on Bauer’s TUUK holder, or the “dial” system seen on the CCM XS holder. This bolt in system is a bit of an issue, especially on these skates, mainly because if a puck hits the holder of the skate too hard, the blade’s ability to stay mounted can be compromised. Also, with time, most holders can wear out and blade integrity kind of goes down, but these old “bolt in” or “screw in” holders were more known for it than others. This is actually what we saw happen a year or so ago, when Lehner lost his blades not once, but twice in the same game. You can even see the equipment guys screwing these blades back in later in that video. The two piecers from that same generation appear to have used a similar setup, however, unlike the one piecers, the bolt for the blades isn’t exposed and out in the open, making it less likely to break.

Something else that I think is an interesting tidbit re: Lehner’s skates- allegedly, he only sharpens them once a season and refreshes them every so often with a re-edger because he likes the amount of glide the lack of edge gives him. This fact haunts me to this day and if I have to know about it, so do you.

The very, very summarized and brief TLDR of Robin Lehner’s goalie gear is: He doesn’t mind standing out from the crowd, and is going to do him, no matter how weird it is or what anyone has to say. Which, I think is a very, very in character way for him to be from what we’ve seen of him in interviews over the course of his career. His gear choices are fascinating, and somewhat unhinged, but it clearly seems to work for him!

[edgeofpanic]

 @yangsbandana​ ranked her top 10 bees moments and then i got in my feelings about them so fuck it!! here's my top 10 after the cut

10. that little eyeroll and smile blake does in v1 when yang picks up the chess piece in the emerald forest and says "how about a cute little pony?" they've only been partners for about for 30 minutes at this point, and blake has spent multiple episodes practically screaming "I DON'T WANT TO GET CLOSE TO ANYONE, I AM A BAD PERSON WHO DOESN’T DESERVE HAPPINESS." and still yang gets the prickly ex-terrorist to smile. gay.

9. yang's reply to blake at mountain glenn. blake is still so torn up about running away from home, her actions while with the white fang, running from adam, her present, her future. and all yang says is that she knows she won't run away from a challenge. that she's strong enough to face it and come out on the other side better than she was. the utter faith of it all!!

8. all of v4 lmao. but i have narrow that down so it's when yang looks at the pile of books in her very first scene in that volume and then turns away with the saddest look on her face. she misses just blake so much even though she left!!! and she doesn't want to because missing someone has never brought back the people she cares about, but she is anyway! bees angst is usually not my favorite but when it hits it hits and v4 and v5 were it

7. the dummied out cherry stem yang ties with her tongue while staring directly at blake in v2. she is extremely gay and she is trying so, so hard to show the girl she likes that she's interested. bless her. crwby, yall are cowards for taking this away from us

6. nora at the rally going "friends? just friends? i think they have more going on". nora is easily one of the most emotionally intelligent characters on the show so when she says two people wanna kiss i believe her. it's also notable that this is the first time anyone in-show has acknowledged blake and yang have something happening, even if they aren't necessarily together. praying that there's a followup to this in v10 where she outright asks what the deal is now that they're back from survivor island in the Time Pit

top 5...god i suffered for ages over this and i still think i forgot something

5. "i'll destroy everything you love...starting with her." cw for this vid: dismemberment, abusive relationships

i'm a relatively new fan having only picked up rwby in late 2019. my friends who were into it kept telling me it was pretty gay and one friend routinely sent bumbleby fanart because she knew it would entice me to start the show faster. and sure i thought they were cute, but i was still unsure if this was for real or not. but this scene. this one right here is the one where i went, "oh. oh, we're actually doing this.” there is no real way to read this as other than romantic. the framing, the timing, like.... man.

i’m also a sucker for devotion in ships and if sacrificing an arm to save the one you love and not even blaming them for running away isn’t devotion, i don’t know what it is.

4. burning the candle.

if number 5 convinced me, burning the candle was the one that got me on the train. here was my reaction from a friend sending gifs of this without too much context

and then i finally watched and got hella emotional. it’s a lot of firsts: yang opening up about her past, disagreement, blake allowing herself comfort. but they still manage to talk, work through how they feel, and leave better than they were. and i think it’s what i love about them the most? regardless of what happens, they have each others backs and always work toward a compromise. ugh. god.

also that stupid flirty wink is fooling no one, just say you’ll meet her under the bleachers

3. "what if I needed her there for me"/"yang was strength"

yes it’s kind of cheating to put two different scenes in one spot but they share real estate in my brain. these are the pinnacle of v5 bees angst, for me. there’s a lot left unsaid and literal continents between them, but they’re both saying the same thing. “i miss her a lot. i really wish she was here.” and at this point they haven’t been in the same room for almost 2 seasons. they have a lot of emotional ground to cover when they see each other and even more healing to do.

regardless of it all, they can’t stop thinking about each other. someway, somehow, they want to make their more-than-friendship work.

speaking of seeing each other again

2. beeunion 2.0

blake walks into the battle at haven at the most bizarre time. weiss has a big giant wasp summon (and it looks like she’s been stabbed???? but she’s fine???????), her friends are here, all the bad guys are also here, there’s some random kid fighting a juiced up dude with a cane. everything is fucking happening at once. and all blake can say is "yang?" In that little scared, hopeful voice

and like. the look on yang’s face as she sees blake for the first time is of utter awe. this person she never thought she’d see again singled her out in a room of utter chaos looking just as amazed to see her.

also there’s this gay little moment after yang comes out of the vault

1. “we’re protecting each other.”

to this day, this is the only scene in rwby that has almost brought me to tears. it really is all about both of them realizing they don’t have to face their ordeals alone ever again. they’ll be each others’ pillar with unwavering faith.

just! fuck me up!!!!!!! JUST FUCK ME UP

quick honorable mentions:

blake's gay little skip in v6

sun saying that yang would never blame blake for what happened with adam

bumblebee the bike ramming into adam at high speed

yangs gay meltdown over the haircut

“do you think...she thinks less of me?”/”you could always try calling yang...”

beeunion 3.0

actually all their moments in v7 (the talk in the truck, the moment in the airship, getting ready for their totally a date but not a date before the election)

[fishyfod]

Winter & Yang Parallels and Contrasts

A comparison of Winter Schnee and Yang Xiao Long, and how they are shaped by their society and circumstances.

Or a thinly veiled excuse to gush about two characters I like

[gif by 5by5brittana]

This is split into four parts:

Pre Volume 1 backstory and characteristics

Relationship with younger siblings

Parallel Journeys between V1-5 and V7-8

Rough Speculation for Volume 8

Spoilers for RWBY V8 E1-7. Under the cut because this turned out very long.

Also, take this with a grain of salt? I wrote this for fun. This really is just, me going off the deep end.

I. Childhood and Upbringing

Winter and Yang are both the eldest children of their respective families, and have spent most of their lives growing up in the shadows of their legacies: the Schnee name and the fallout of team STRQ. These legacies are tragedies, and for better and for worse Winter and Yang are in the unique position where they also know the before, the brief time their families were whole (at least on paper). As their families broke apart, Winter and Yang have felt the need to fill the parent role for their younger siblings (more on that later).

This is the curse of the parent-sibling*, in which the lines between adulthood, childhood and parenthood are all blurred together when one is still a child. Winter grew up as Willow and Jacques’s facade of a marriage slowly fell apart and Willow turned to alcohol, leaving Weiss and Whitley under the care of  Jacques - a manipulative abuser - and someone had to step up between him and Weiss and Whitley. Klein, it should be noted, was the exception to the rule, as most staff reported to Jacques. Yang never had Raven, she lost Summer and for a while Taiyang after he shut down - someone had to take care of Ruby. Qrow just couldn’t be a full-time replacement to any of them

* [I believe the professional term is “parentification”.]

[RWBY Official Manga Anthology Vol. 4: I Burn]

This is Winter and Yang’s own personal tragedy, and as inspiring as it might seem from the outside - a mature, responsible child that helps parent their younger sibling - it is not at all healthy for the child in question. It does not matter if things might’ve improved later, the damage has already been done. Parent-siblings tend to become caretakers as well, and this manifests in both Yang and Winter, albeit in very different ways.

Which leads me to the next point, which is to emphasize the differences in both of these scenarios. The expectations from the Schnee name are very much a product of high-class society and Atlas superiority, which is very different from STRQ’s private falling out. Winter is roughly 7 and 10 years older than Weiss and Whitley, so she’s about 12 when Weiss (5 at the time) would become more aware of Jacques’s behavior, 17 when Willow began drinking. Yang was about 6 when Summer disappeared and the trek to the woods happened, and it is unknown for how long Taiyang shut down. Willow became seriously depressed just before Winter left for Atlas, whereas Taiyang eventually got back on his feet. Winter was abused by Jacques, Yang was abandoned by Raven.

Winter’s speech often involves doublespeak with hidden meanings, a strict deference to decorum, and a fair share of veiled (or unveiled) insults. She is closed off, and rarely engages in open physical contact. In private with her siblings or close friends, she tends to be softer, and may hug or pat on one’s shoulders. She has learnt this behavior in order to navigate Atlas society and quell her father whilst protecting herself and her siblings. Unfortunately, Klein appears to be the only staff to put the children’s needs before his servitude to Jacques, so even Winter’s interactions with Weiss and Whitley are soured by this prim, and at times, hurtful behavior; even then appearances must be kept. This is why Winter doesn’t act like a typical “Mom friend”, and why her need to take care of others manifests differently: in her conscience and willpower to protect others. Hence, she trains to become a huntress, the personification of protection, a way to help despite her difficulties expressing that need more conventionally.

Yang is open and outgoing, an easy conversationalist and very physically affectionate with her peers. She is upbeat, and also tactful at the same time. Why? Some of it has to do with her severe abandonment issues, making her more prone to bask in her connections to others. Equally important are the experience and circumstances she had growing up. She grew up in Patch, a relatively small community that is at best middle class. She had Ruby - only two years younger - to entertain and to teach, and in such a small household that also means many chores and mundane responsibilities to take on. By all accounts, Taiyang made enough of a recovery from his depression to parent well enough, and seems a fairly affectionate person himself. With all this encouragement and learnt skills, little hinders Yang from caring for Ruby and others openly and proudly. Ergo, Yang acts like a “Mom friend”.

These are Winter and Yang’s main personas, one uncaring and one unreserved. It is only natural that away from prying eyes or when put on the edge, they drop the facade and act contrary to it. For example, when Winter is angry or provoked, she lashes out and loses her composure. Usually, when Yang is angry she acts quite cold and restrained in her anger, and tries to project an unaffected persona. Alone with those she loves, Winter is more open and talkative, where Yang allows herself to be melancholic.

Yang may be open and candid, and could even be described as wearing her heart on her sleeve, but she is extremely reticent when admitting weakness or sharing her own personal grievances. Which is incredibly like Winter, though she is also taciturn in general. They have a tendency to avoid creating truly personal connections with others. They’re both used to putting on mask of strength and reassurance, and are quite adept at controlling their emotions (to a point). This is a defensive mechanism - they emulate the adults in their lives (who know the values of keeping up appearances) since they do not believe they will be taken seriously otherwise. They have internalized that no one will act on their behalf unless they offer something in return. By acting quasi-maternally to their younger siblings, they continue this act because it’s how they think a responsible adult should raise children.

[RWBY Official Manga Anthology Vol. 2: Mirror, Mirror]

The “practice” in home on their sisters developed in them the belief they should put others before themselves, even outside their family. Selfless as it may be, without moderation this behavior could be quite unhealthy. The lack of concern to themselves makes them feel lost and without purpose, with low self esteem and self-destructive tendencies.

Winter gives up the luxury of the Schnee inheritance for servitude in the army, a perfect place for someone who believes herself expendable. She says her personal feelings don’t matter, and is willing to throw down her life for others. Sounds familiar? Yang wants to become a huntress, which conveniently allows her to help others while drifting along life with no true purpose. She has very low self esteem initially, and her semblance literally benefits her taking hits for everyone else.

Intertwined with this, is a desire to find purpose, and to find value in oneself. They seek independence and a sense of control. For Winter, this meant training in the Atlas Academy and abdicating the title of Schnee Heiress. She remembers well when she could no longer rely on her father’s allowance. For Yang, it’s having a bike of her own and going out at night. She becomes protective of her appearance and long hair.

It’s worth noting that particularly a physical aspect of this independence - fighting - was something taught to them by the neglectful parents. Taiyang taught Yang to fight hand-to-hand before Beacon, and the hereditary nature of the Schnee semblance means Willow was most likely Winter’s first mentor.

Part of this behavior is also a need to escape the situation at home. With Winter that goes without saying - Jacques is abusive. Yang wants to leave the home she held together when she was a child; note her desire to travel the world, and her attempts to distance herself from Ruby so she won’t have to be relied upon even at Beacon.

In a sense, they’re both searching for the same thing - a parent to replace the ones who failed them. Ironwood and Raven both offer to be their replacement parent, at the cost of asking the children to leave with them to a new home, the one they’re leading and ruling. This doesn’t fix their family problem, and personally I believe neither Winter nor Yang full-heartily saw it as a solution, but they were both desperate enough to find anyone - anyone at all - that would take a weight off their shoulders and put them first. Yang searches for Raven, hoping she’ll find in her a mother despite everything. Fortunately for her, Qrow saved her from running after Raven prematurely. Unfortunately for Winter, James’s close friendship with Jacques meant he has known her from a young age, had observed how Jacques manipulates her and her family, and eventually offered himself as a savior from her situation at home. He had subtly groomed her into thinking the military - and more importantly, himself - was her only option to escape Jacques.

Despite this major difference, some similarities between Yang and Raven’s relationship and Winter and Ironwood’s relationship persist: the bandit lifestyle Raven offers Yang is militant and violent, similar to Ironwood’s army. Yang’s learnt conditional trust in authority would fit quite well with a bandit hierarchy built on perceived strength. Winter’s authoritarian outlook lends itself quite well to rise up in the ranks of the military.

Lastly, I’d like to point out the “inherited” philosophies of their respective replacement parents:

Raven’s philosophy: The weak die, so the strong survive on their own.

Yang’s philosophy: If I am not strong, I am weak and will be alone.

Ironwood’s philosophy: Every sacrifice is worth the cause.

Winter’s philosophy: I am not worth anything, so I can be sacrificed.

They’re all destructive mindsets, but the children inverted the implied destruction caused to others into their own self-destruction, in concordance with their shared need to put others before themselves. Part of the children’s progression will be to rise above these philosophies.

II. Yang & Ruby vs. Winter & Weiss

In the previous section I explained why Winter and Yang both act quasi-maternal and how it affected their growth and character. Now let’s examine their primary familial relationship, with their younger sisters Weiss and Ruby.

The simple truth is that much of what I said about Winter and Yang’s childhood is equally true for Weiss and Ruby, which could be explained quite easily - there’s only so much a child can do to replace adults. The important distinction is that for Weiss and Ruby someone did put them above everyone else, and that’s Winter and Yang. Consciously or by instinct, the elder sisters wanted to provide the younger sisters the safety they felt robbed off, and to give them the opportunity to grow and live as children like they couldn’t. In turn, the younger siblings put them on a pedestal and idolized them.

It is heavily implied Winter acted as a buffer between Jacques and Weiss, and was her confidant. Note how fluently they communicate their true thoughts  to each other by hiding them in sneers and insults, yet drop all pretense in private and speak clearly what’s on their mind then. Winter worries about Weiss’s health and well-being, and isn’t interested in her studies and ranking; this is a deliberate choice to belie what Jacques instilled in Weiss, to put her happiness before her image. Winter mentored Weiss’s semblance training and is her harshest critic. She was Weiss’s main motivator to rebel against Jacques, and advised her to cut ties with the Schnee name like herself; she warns her of the futility in trying to reason with their father on his own terms. Winter encouraged Weiss to follow in her footsteps as a huntress, and also in her decision to figure herself out independently.

Yang, in her own words, was the one to hold everything together following Summer’s disappearance. She protected Ruby from feeling loveless and alone as she herself felt, by putting herself there where Taiyang couldn’t be. She gave her attention, she read to her and hugged her. She played with her and entertained her, and went along with every joke and scheme Ruby wanted to make. She enables Ruby to let loose and have fun, to take pride in her accomplishments and to stand up for herself. It’s important for Yang to show her support and pride in Ruby as frequently as she does, most likely to compensate the times Tai couldn’t. Among her family, Ruby goes to Yang when she is worried and afraid. Yang truly was Ruby’s best friend growing up.

Note how both Winter and Yang instilled values in Weiss and Ruby that are better than their own, and encouraged them to be better than themselves. They want them to actively search for happiness, although they themselves seem incapable of following the same advise - Winter went to a thankless job with little reward, Yang is afraid of forming friendships that are not just surface deep. The younger, prodigal sisters are assertive and have set themselves clear goals and ambitions in contrast to their elder sisters, who both prefer to follow and dedicate themselves to others.

[gif by deshieart]

The idyllic picture I described here is not complete. Winter and Yang may have significantly improved Weiss and Ruby’s childhood, but in their limited power as children - or perhaps their simple human limitations - there are blind spots in their relationships. There are issues the younger sisters have separate from the ones the elders tried to shield them from.

Winter still grew up in Atlas and under Jacques, and she is not immune from the dangerous influence of both. Early on, Weiss seemed to believe in similar ideas, and part of that behavior is due to Winter’s influence. Although Winter’s escape from home is understandable, it must’ve left some Weiss bitter being left behind. Winter forwent the Schnee name, where Weiss wants to  change it for the better, and part of me can’t help but think Weiss’s conviction was affected by Winter leaving home.

As she grew up, Yang had two main caretakers - Taiyang and Qrow - who both experience difficulties addressing and sharing their problems openly. Yang, in turn, learnt not to share her own issues and put on a reassuring facade. She compartmentalizes, keeping her issues separate from what she shared with Ruby. But children are more perceptive than we might think, and Ruby must have picked up on Yang’s behavior and took it in. Ruby has her own version of keeping to herself - she ignores her problems and represses, avoiding the issue altogether with seemingly no healthy outlet. [x]

The narrative of the show tends to juxtapose these relationships against each other, cutting from one to the other and comparing them side by side, parallel or anti-parallel. The most obvious contrast is in their warmth: in Volume 3, Winter and Weiss are polite and reserved even privately, having lunch at an outdoor cafe. Yang and Ruby are loud and brash, playing video games and ribbing each other with their uncle. Winter pushes Weiss to confront Jacques directly, Yang seems content to support Ruby’s initiative by following her.

In volumes 4 and 5, the narrative matches the sisters in opposites: it is Yang and Weiss that are bound home and want to leave, and Winter and Ruby fighting in Mistral. Yang and Weiss overcome their personal struggles, and view their sister as their salvation, but end up finding each other first by chance (incidentally, Yang “returns” to Raven at the same time Winter returns to Atlas back to Ironwood). Meanwhile, Winter and Ruby become aware of Salem and the larger war at play.

When they are united with their sisters, this trend continues as Yang initiates the hug with Ruby and stops her nervous blabbering, and Weiss hugs Winter to stop her alarmed frenzy. Yang and Weiss reassure Ruby and Winter of their well-being.

[gif by sirianhewigxiii]

Come Volume 7, Winter returns as a full-time character and we see how after their respective reunions, the sisters return to their preestablished roles. Winter and Yang support Weiss and Ruby in their decisions and actions, listening to their younger sisters as they did before. Now, however, the sisters are on a more even footing: Weiss is now free of Jacques like Winter, Yang acts more assertive like Ruby. As a result, the relationship is less one-sided. For example, though Winter is not as doubtful of Ironwood as Weiss, she listens to her input and divulges a secret to her, showing that despite having differing opinions they begin to see each other as equals. Yang goes along with Ruby’s plan to hide Salem’s immortality from Ironwood (and even takes it a step further when she reveals Amity to Robyn), but she’s not afraid to tell her she doesn’t feel comfortable with that decision. It’s a step up from what they had before.

In the finale of Volume 7 and the premiere of Volume 8, the bonds between sisters are challenged, and they separate from each other. Winter chooses her loyalty to Ironwood over her trust in Weiss, Yang chooses her conscience over her innate trust in Ruby. Mind, these situations are not completely the same: the split between Ruby and Yang is pragmatic and they still view themselves as united, the split between Weiss and Winter is ideological and they are on different sides of the conflict.

I’ll leave my speculation what will happen to the sisters in the latter half of Volume 8 for the last section.

II.V - Winter & Whitley

A brief aside about Whitley, would be to ask if what I said about Winter’s relationship with Weiss could also apply to Whitley. The answer is of course no, Whitley and Winter clearly have an entirely different relationship here. Frankly, pinpointing its exact nature more precisely is difficult, since the center of the Schnee narrative is Weiss and we have little interactions between the Schnees that don’t involve her. I cannot offer you a definite reason as to why the difference exists, but I have a few guesses.

I’ll assume what we see of Weiss and Whitley in volumes 4 and 7 is similar to what Winter and Whitley had, and take into account Weiss’s statement that Whitley never really liked Winter (or her).  As Willow pointed out to Weiss, Whitley was left alone with Jacques, and began imitating him and emulating his hurtful behavior. Jacques took him under his wing, when Willow was at her worst, Winter away, and Weiss in the process of leaving. Deep down he understands he was being abused by Jacques, but with the cards stacked against him his damaging attitude becomes clearer - and particularly, the likely reasons he resents Winter and Weiss for.

[gif by chittychittyyangyang]

So how come Weiss and Whitley turned out so different, and how does Winter factor into this? For starters, I’ll point out again that Winter’s influence on the Schnee household is very limited, and that humans tend to make mistakes. For her to gloss over Whitley, or to presumably ignore him, could be due to several reasons. Perhaps connecting with someone 10 years your junior was just too difficult. Maybe Jacques intervened more often with Whitley, seeing as he was younger and impressionable.

It’s difficult to tell what exactly happened here between Whitley and Winter, and I don’t think specifying here is helpful. I’ll sum up by saying that however their relationship turned sour, I lean towards the reason being human error rather than malicious intent. Family situations tend to be complicated.

III. Yang & Blake vs. Winter & Penny

Here I want to talk about more subtle parallels between Yang’s journey throughout volumes 1-5 and Winter’s journey in volumes 7-8.5. The major comparison here would be between Yang and Blake’s relationship, and Winter and Penny’s relationship.

Before I begin, I’d like to stress that although Bumbleby is clearly romantic in nature, here I’m more interested in their development separate from the romantic aspects of it. As such, it’s not my intention here to argue in favor of romantic Winter/Penny, though I have nothing against it. I view it more as a platonic relationship with some familial undertones.

I explained in the first section how Yang and Winter keep people at arm’s length, so it’s natural to wonder about the exceptions to that rule, their relationships with Blake and Penny respectively. When they meet their new partners, Yang and Winter seem mostly set in their ways, with no real tangible goal beyond wanting to help others where they can. To them, Blake and Penny are a breath of fresh air, determined and purposeful, and they’re challenged by their perspective.

To me at least, how Yang and Blake interact during Beacon is quite similar to what we see of Winter and Penny’s relationship in volume 7. It starts off as a working relationship, but the continuous presence around each other has lead it into easy affection. It’s a give-and-take of differing personalities finding common ground, though here the more apt analogy would be Yang/Penny and Winter/Blake. They begin feeling safe with one another, opening up and sharing intimate details about themselves, and the other’s opinion and well-being matter to them. They even work well together as fighting partners.

[gif by chittychittyyangyang]

Yang tells Blake about Raven and her complicated family life, partially in an attempt to stop Blake from overworking herself. After Winter’s outburst at Jacques, she shares with Penny her vulnerability regarding her family, and tells her she can’t let her emotions take control of her. Neither Blake nor Penny accept their lessons at face value, and question those beliefs. Was Blake’s determination really like Yang’s quest to find Raven? Are Winter’s emotions truly a hindrance and Penny should follow suit? Still, their disagreements don’t stop them from caring about each other, as we see when Yang hugs Blake and Winter holds Penny’s hands.

Blake is a faunus rights activist who fights for what she believes in, and Yang admires her for it, and is also subtly inspired by her. Penny is dedicated to her role as the Protector of Mantle, and Winter is endeared by her devotion to the cause. In both cases however, this beautiful aspiration is soured by Adam and Ironwood, who use Blake and Penny’s noble efforts for their own gain.

Next both relationships experience a “falling out”. Yang fights to save Blake from Adam at the end of Volume 3, and sacrifices her right arm trying to protect Blake. At the end of Volume 7, Winter and Penny fight Cinder, and Winter sacrifices her body (and purpose as a Winter Maiden) for Penny. We have Yang and Winter, defeated and critically injured, left behind by Blake and Penny, both running away from their controlling abusers Adam and Ironwood.

There’s an interesting tidbit here about their natures as characters, as both “falling outs” hammer on a shared flaw between the couples. Yang and Blake are both afraid of putting their trust in someone else, one is afraid of being deemed unsatisfactory and the other afraid of hurting by association. Winter and Penny are both self-sacrificial, the former thinks her opinion and thoughts are worthless, the latter wishes to put all the weight of the world on her shoulders. The finales and aftermaths of volumes 3 and 7 are a cruel display of these flaws.

Yang and Winter are both injured enough to require a replacement for parts of their bodies, a robotic arm and an exoskeleton. The supplier of both limbs is Ironwood, who projects himself onto both women, “rewarding” them for selfless acts of heroic sacrifice like he sees himself. He saw Yang’s fight the the tournament, criticized her harshly for it, then heard about her noble sacrifice and told her he wishes she’d return fighting soon. He groomed Winter to be his second, scolds her when she disobeys him, and after her injury emphasizes her importance to him. It seems to me that Ironwood attempted to make Yang indebted to himself like he managed with Winter before.

The process of recovery for both women is difficult, and in Winter’s case rushed. On a purely physical level it could be argued they have recovered from their injuries, as both eventually return to the field after their recovery. If we consider their emotional state, things become trickier; though Yang was at first offered a fairly lengthy recovery period on her own terms, in Volume 4 her main motivation to recover is not for herself but for other’s sake - appeasing Tai and worrying for Ruby. Similarly, Winter’s recovery is overshadowed by Ironwood’s orders and the current situation’s time constraints.

This behavior on Yang and Winter’s part is not so strange to me, when I consider Taiyang and Ironwood’s roles in their lives. Because of Taiyang’s issues when she was a child, Yang learnt to put others before herself, particularly when it concerns Ruby and Tai. Yang’s recovery becomes less about herself and more about others after Tai subtly insults her intelligence and her “moping”. I view this as falling back into old habits, Yang learning that if Tai is put through too much then she’s taken too much space (she puts on her arm after overhearing Tai saying he has to stay to take care of her), and must compensate by putting Ruby (and in a sense Tai) first.

[gif by sister-ilia]

After accepting Winter to the army, Ironwood acts as some form of surrogate father to her. Winter looks up to him because he offered her safety from Jacques, and looks for his approval constantly. Look at her reactions when she’s scolded by Ironwood for misbehavior. Ironwood offered her asylum in exchange for subservience. When Winter is in her hospital, he first reminds her how reassuring it is to have her on his side, and then proceeds to kill a councilman for disagreeing with him. It’s an indirect threat against Winter, one carefully cultivated throughout their working relationship in the military.

Regardless, the physical recovery is only part of a larger process Yang and Winter have to go through. Volume 5 made it quite apparent Yang suffers from PTSD and emotional trauma from her fight with Adam, and Blake leaving triggered Yang’s fear of abandonment. She faces Raven for the first time, and is haunted by Blake’s mere mention. She struggles against the past - the parent she wanted to put hope unto - and the future - the hope she has in Blake.

Winter faces similar struggles in the first half of Volume 8 parallel to Yang in Volume 5. She is traumatized by the fight against Cinder, most likely with PTSD as well, and Penny leaving as she did has shook her inner beliefs. For the first time, we see her visibly struggling to adhere to Ironwood’s orders with ease, and she’s deeply concerned for Penny’s well-being. She is torn between her loyalty - to Ironwood, the parent she put her trust in - and her moral compass - to Penny, who challenged her to follow her feelings.

Coincidentally, RWBY chose to portray Yang and Winter’s stress with a shaking fist, where they were injured. Having said that, Winter displays many similar physical ticks like that before her injury, but the deliberate focus on the same tick as Yang is too great for me to ignore.

Both of these struggles are also marked by a decisive choice to take action and be assertive, which is remarkable where these two are concerned. Yang forms the plan to find Ruby via Raven and refuses her offer to join the tribe. Winter forgoes Ironwood’s orders to bring team JYR to custody, and instead relies on them to save Oscar from the Whale.

Yang’s recovery does not in Volume 5 either (nor does it end in Volume 6 for that matter), but at the moment Winter’s parallel arc is unfinished. I’ll speculate about this a bit more in the next section.

IV. Rough Speculation

So when I say rough speculation, I mean it in two different ways. One, is that I’m mostly focused on characters arcs, and they’ll be fairly abstract. Two, is that I’m fairly sure most of these parallels are accidental and not intended, so I don’t hold much hope any of these will come true. Instead, think of these as “if I wanted to make these parallels intentional, how would the story proceed next?”

One parallel I do think is intentional is between the sisters. It is the first time we observe both relationships put into the test, and the outcome of this split will obviously change the sister’s dynamic with each other. How will these two relationships compare to one another by the end of the volume, I do not know, the current arc isn’t finished yet. I can only comment on how I want and hope these relationships will proceed. Currently, I see the physical split between the sisters as an opportunity to reevaluate themselves independently of the other’s influence. And, I think this change will be positive for all of them.

Though it’s obvious Yang’s choice deeply affects Ruby and will contribute to her expected breaking point, I think Ruby will come out stronger at the end of it. Yang’s choice to take charge herself is obviously very important to her growth as a person. Given how RWBY framed their split around a mutual understanding both sisters’ viewpoints are correct, I don’t think their reconciliation will be one-sided - they will come to understand where the other is coming from, and their relationship - and team RWBY - will grow from it.

Despite the difference in circumstances, I think Winter and Weiss will echo this development as well. Jacques may be mostly neutralized, but the Schnee family won’t be miraculously healed because of it. At the moment, Weiss is facing that reality now with Whitley and Willow, and I think her arc this volume will lead her to begin healing her family in earnest. Winter will almost definitely leave Ironwood, and for the first time in her life she’ll be free from someone seeking to control her, free to follow her conscience. It will also give her an opportunity to reconcile with her family without Jacques’s influence, which ties in quite nicely with Weiss’s arc - Weiss pulling her family together, Winter letting herself be pulled to them. Weiss and Winter’s bond will come out stronger, and the Schnees will finally have a chance to heal.

[gif by wnterschnee]

You might’ve noticed I put a lot of emphasis on when and where Winter and Yang make choices for themselves, because I think these moments are vital for them to grow as a person. Starting with Volume 5, there’s a been a slow progression where Yang asserts herself more often, which culminates in her decision in Volume 8 to break away from Ruby with her own objective. Like her, Winter in Volume 7 quite often disagrees with Ironwood’s plans, yet follows them anyway because of her loyalty to him. This loyalty is no longer enough to sway her in Volume 8 when she starts disobeying his orders.

Again, I’m comparing two unfinished arcs, but I’m excited to see where this development will lead us. Having Winter and Yang parallel each other like so would really hammer home how similar these two can be beneath the surface. If at some point it involves more direct contact to drive each other, that’d just be icing on the cake. For now I’ll enjoy that their only personal interaction with each other is Yang telling Winter “[she’s] still just following orders?”, followed by a glare - hopefully this preludes a future conversation between them talking about this exact point.

I’ve already touched upon predictions related to the first two parts of this analysis, what about the third? Here we can go a bit wilder, because we already know what happens to Yang (and Blake) in Volumes 5 and 6. How would I mirror Volumes 5 and 6 with Winter (and Penny)? When I think of Yang’s recovery arc, two major scenes at the ends of Volume 5 and 6 come to mind.

The first is her confrontation with Raven in the Maiden Vault, an incredibly powerful scene where Yang properly confronts Raven and calls out her cowardice. One of the reasons it works so well is how difficult it is to realize Raven’s place in Yang’s life is not clear cut; Yang hates her for abandoning her and shirking her responsibilities as a parent, yet there is still love between them. Raven’s reaction itself is both an admission of care when she concedes to Yang, and also another failure on her part by leaving her off with the responsibility, running away again. In simpler terms, Yang reluctantly confronts someone she cares for deeply, yet isn’t on her side.

Who would be the Raven to Winter in a parallel scenario? One possibility is Ironwood, who holds a similar position to Winter as Raven did to Yang. Ironwood is an almost paternal figure to Winter, but he’s making wrong and dangerous choices, and Winter seems to realize it as well. He used her and exploited her, but also offered her safety and stability. Even after Winter defects, I don’t think Winter will want to fight him physically (if she’s capable), and would probably attempt to sway him with her words. Admittedly I don’t foresee Winter’s attempt at non-aggression to be successful like Yang, so it might come to blows anyway.

A second possibility it to put Penny in Raven’s place. Given that Penny’s also Maiden like Raven, and she’s on her way to the Atlas Vault, there’s some potential thematic parallels. Given their established relationship, I think neither would want to confront each other physically, and would rather talk instead. It’s possible here Winter and Penny will switch metaphorical roles, and it might be Penny that gives Winter the final push towards the heroes sides. It’s also possible, given Penny’s hacked plot line, that Winter will instead have to sway Penny back from whatever the hacking did to her. The last interpretation would also fit in quite well with Winter and Penny’s arc focusing on personal choice and feelings winning over.

The other incredibly important scene in Yang’s arc is the Bumbleby vs. Adam fight. Blake and Yang finally liberate themselves from Adam, Blake’s abuser and Yang’s personal enemy, and they defeat him by working together. Yang is freed of her personal demons, Blake of her literal demons, and in the aftermath of his death they mend their relationship. Their trust in each other won over strength.

[gif by sister-ilia]

If a parallel scene to the Nevermore fight would exist for Winter and Penny, I can think of three characters that could fulfill Adam’s role. Cinder already set her eyes on Penny and is fairly likely to fight her again, and in their previous clash injured Winter. It matches fairly well plot-wise, but I don’t think Cinder is enough of a personal villain to either Penny or Winter to match the same gravitas as Adam. For similar reasons, Watts, Penny’s “puppeteer”, can also fill Adam’s proverbial shoes in this imagined scenario, but I fear he’s too inconsequential overall.

Or, it could be Ironwood in Adam’s place. Ironwood seeks to control Penny (like Adam did with Blake), and acts as Winter’s personal demon (like Adam was to Yang) by continuously conditioning her to repress herself. Like the Nevermore fight, there’s a motive for them to avoid killing him, but given Ironwood’s current state of mind he might push them to that edge in self defense. Even if Ironwood’s defeat would not involve death, it would be a liberate Penny and Winter, freeing them from his control once and for all - but a Pyrrhic victory all the same. I’ll admit, this might be my favorite way to defeat Ironwood.

Coda

I’ll emphasize one last thought regarding these character arcs -  it is my strong belief character progressions, and healing arcs in particular, do not have a clear and set timeline. What I outlined here are not endings, but steps in the way. RWBY seems to agree with my train of thought, and with Yang in particular we see this in her current arc: yes, she has progressed immensely from Volume 3, but the healing process does not simply end, even if it may seem that way on the surface. I approach Winter’s character in the same manner; I have high hopes of her character and as a person, but change is an ongoing process, and I’ll treat it as such.

Thanks for reading my analysis! I know it’s a bit long and messy, I’ve had to skim through some ideas that could be expanded upon, so send an ask my way if you’d like me to elaborate on anything.

Other interesting reads:

Kali-tmblr’s essay regarding siblings relationships.

Tumblingxelian’s review of Yang’s Volume 4 arc.

Petracore’s review of Winter’s Volume 7 arc.

Theseerasures’s comparison of Winter and Yang.

Schneefamilyincorrectquotes talking about Schneeblings.

[masterhandss]

HameFura Manga V6 Bonus SS (translated)

It says “Magical Girl Flag Breakers” and “Our Enemies: The Ruin Four”

Volume 6 Bonus SS - “Magical★Girl Flag Breakers”

Hello! So I snagged a raw copy of Manga Volume 6 on the internet because I was really excited for the bonus story ever since I got raws of Volume 5. For those who don’t know, typically a copy of the manga comes with an extra chapter with Katarina having a dream about different scenarios (V1 was Fortune Lover, V2 is a Highschool AU, V3 is a Fantasy RPG AU, V4 is a Genderbend AU and V5 is a Kindergarten AU), and alongside the chapter of the volume is a image preview of the next story in the next volume.

I couldn't wait to read this one-shot so with the power of google translate, I’ve decided to translate it myself! Please read this one, it’s a very fun one-shot, so much so that I want more of this story XDD (also because it took me half a day to translate this from pictures qwq)

Please do remember to read this one-shot once an official English Release of Manga Volume 6 comes out, and please forgive me for any mistake I made while translating this story to English.

--------

It was a sunny morning that day. I, Katarina Claes, an ordinary high school student, overslept that day and was late for school. While I was dashing to school with a fresh cucumber in my mouth from our fridge instead of my breakfast, was suddenly struck with something hard on the head. I was surprised! I rubbed my head and looked around, but I saw nothing.

I was about to start running again because I assumed that I just imagined, until I heard a voice. "Ouch, I'm sorry I bumped into you", the voice said as I looked up to follow it. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH~~~~" I screamed instinctively as I looked at what looks like a small little doll.

There was a small boy with wings. The boy covered his ears and frowned at my loud outcry. "Oh, I'm sorry" I apologized, also instinctively, but this is turning out to be a really weird situation. What even is this small little boy? It's a really well-made toy or something like that. "I'm not a toy", eh did I say that out loud?

I was surprised to hear a reply, so I asked "Are you a dwarf then?"

"No, I'm a spirit" he said with a matter-of-fact tone. 'Oh, so he's a spirit~' is what I would have said........ 

"Wait, what do you mean a spirit?" I wasn't convinced at all. What do you mean it's a spirit? The little spirit boy begins to explain to me, who was still surprised and flustered, while pointing with his tiny finger.

Well, it turned out to be quite the serious discussion. While a story about an evil organization, the most worrisome part to me was, "So, if the 'planet' dies, what will happen?" I could predict what his answer would be, but it still scared me to hear what the answer was. "If the planet dies, all living creatures here will die" The little spirit replied with an expected answer. When he said that all living creatures will die, does that mean everyone?!

"We will fight and defeat the evil organization with the power we receive from the planet," the spirit declared so bravely. He may look cute like a doll, but he was very cool. I instinctively made a guts pose, "In behalf of everyone, I thank you. Good luck on your fight". "Thank you, but the one who will be fighting is not me--. The spirit boy was interrupted by a loud explosion nearby, where I heard a loud scream saying "Ah! It's a monster!".

When I ran over there to check it out, for some reason, there was something big rampaging in a park just further away. Wait, what? There was a giant bear that appeared out of nowhere?! Around these parts, there could be monkeys showing up, but not bears.

Next to me, the spirit boy was visibly upset. "Oh no, They've already started to appear. I haven't even formed a contract with anyone yet" the spirit boy whispered. What does he mean by a contract? No, its not the time for such questions when something serious is happening in front of us.

"Um, Spirit boy, lets run away, the situation over there looks dangerous". I called out to him, but the spirit boy didn't answer with his eyes growing bigger. "And you, can you help me with my work?" He said as if there wasn't anything happening in front of us. What does he mean help with his work? What is he saying in such a dangerous time like this.

"The Evil Organization".

"?!"

"What happening right now, it's involving the things I've told you about. I need your help, please". "Wait, even if you say it so suddenly like this...." I'm already really late for school, and at this point getting in would be really difficult. I'm in deep trouble. "Please, I can only ask you." I was being stared with such a desperate face and moist eyes, making it really hard to refuse. Aside from that, the noise in the park is getting louder, and I feel like it's really dangerous to stay here.

For now, its best to run away for the time being and listen to him when we get to somewhere safer. I thought and said, "I understand. I'll help you, so lets run away from here first." My words did not even finish until the end. Before I finished, the spirit boy grinned and said, "Okay, then lets form the contract."

The moment I saw his grinning smile, I knew something was weird, but before I could say anything, the spirit boy pulled something that looked like a stick with a flag and asked, "What is your name?" "Katarina Claes". For some reason, my mouth started to move on my own and said my name. Eh, what's going on?

"Then, Katarina Claes, I will appoint you as a magical girl who will help protect this planet". When I shook the flag that the spirit boy had, my body was wrapped in light, and my school uniform changed into a cute and frilly costume. 

"What's this?!" "It's a magical girl costume. Now you have the power to do more than what a hundred normal persons can do".

"Wearing this frilly outfit can make me do that?!" "Yes, that costume has that kind of power. With this, you can defeat the enemy as a magical girl". "Wait, what's a magical girl? and by enemy you mean--" "Ah, it's already here"

As soon as the spirit boy interrupted my words with his own, a giant pink bear doll came out from the entrance of the park.

"What's that?" "That's our enemy. Now, let's defeat it with the power of a magical girl." "Even if you tell me to defeat it--?!"

What should I do? The bear started to launch itself towards us while I was trying to figure out what to do. While it is a stuffed toy bear, it was very big so it's power was quite impressive.

It’ll be bad if I get hit, so I jumped really high unexpectedly in order to avoid it. Wow, the bear looked really surprised by my movements, which are a hundred times faster and stronger than a normal person, and it made the bear look like fool as he gave his all into that attack. What a terrifying bear. That bear tried to attack with a punch again. The bear is very quick for its size. Thanks to this outfit, I can easily avoid his punches, but this can’t keep going on like this.

“Hey spirit, how I can I defeat this bear?”. While trying to avoid the bear’s attacks, I asked the spirit who was watching me jump above. “Oh, that’s right. Point the bracelet at the bear and say ‘Flag Break’. If you do that, you can defeat it”. He seems to have forgotten to tell me this earlier.

I wondered if that was enough, but I did as I was told, pointing my bracelet at the bear and shouted “Flag Break”, and a ray of light appeared from the bracelet. When the light hits and wraps the bear in its entirety, it disappeared after the light.

I coughed while staring at the spot where the bear disappeared, and the spirit who was now next to me said, “Thank you, Katarina. Thank you for your continued support. My name is Raphael”, he said as I held his outreached hand. 

This how I, Katarina Claes, became a magical girl who fights against evil organizations.

And, through this event, I learned that I should not accept unclear requests so easily. I became a magical girl by being convinced in a shocked state by Raphael, and in the months since I became a magical girl, my number of friends seemed to have increased. After several months, I realized that there are more magical girls in my school, such as Maria who was part of the student council and the school’s cooking club, Mary from the gardening club, and Sophia from the literature club. Strangely, all of them are smart and beautiful students. Not only that, they were all scouted by a female spirit named Anne as magical girls. I was only scouted in the heat of the moment, but everyone else are so good at their job, and eventually we all began to get along as friends. Until then, I usually go to school late because I always get lost, but now we all go to school together every day.

“Yes, I tried to turn the flowers in the gardening club as a bookmark, Katarina. If you’d like, please use it”. “Wow. it’s so cute, thank you. Mary has good taste” “Katarina, I’ve brought a book I want to recommend” “You did? I’m looking forward to it. Thank you, Sophia” “Katarina, I brought some sweets I made in the cooking club, please eat some if you’d like” “Oh! Thank you Maria. I love your sweets so much because they are just so delicious”

Just like that, we continue to have fun chatting to each other, when suddenly there was a figure ahead of us. “Hello, Katarina and co.”

A beautiful young man with blonde hair and blue eyes appeared before me. “Wow, you’re here again Geordo” I frowned, but Geordo returned it with a smile. “Today, I will defeat you and make you mine”, that’s when he suddenly changed into a black cloak with a mask; the uniform of the evil organization.

Yes, this handsome young man is named Geordo, he might look like a prince, but he is actually one of the Four Kings of Ruin, part of the enemy organization that we, magical girls, need to defeat. I met Geordo after I had become a magical girl, during my third battle. It was Geordo who summoned enemies like the giant stuffed toy bear and released it onto the city. Since then, I had fought him multiple times as enemies, where he continuously says things like “You’ve piqued my interest. Would you become mine?” whenever he approaches me. Is this a new form of attack? When I reply to him with an attack, he would reply with “One day, I will beat you and make you mine”. 

I don’t know if this is a new kind of attack, but Geordo would typically show up every three days, and now that its the third day, it probably means I need to transform into a magical girl again.

“I hate you” “Yeah, please stop disturbing our good time” “Please pack it up”

Mary, Sophia and Maria all said, as they transformed into magical girls too. “You girls are interrupting the moment between me and Katarina. You girls are in my way” Geordo said, as he raised his hand to the sky. Then, a black circle appeared, with people falling out from it.

“Ouch! Geordo, do you know how many time you’ve been calling out to us recently? I was gonna take a nap”, that was Geordo’s twin brother who scratched his head, the snobby Alan who is also part of the Four Kings. “That’s right, I was on a date with a girl” said Keith, the playboy from the Four Kings of Ruin, who frowned and brushed his bangs. The last one was expressionless, but was looking at the pasta who had fallen onto the ground with a sad face. He is Nicol, the final member of the four who has a magical and mysterious charm to him.

“Everyone, don’t be so lazy. Let’s work together and defeat the magical girls once and for all” Geordo said to them, and they all turned to me in a daze. There’s something he didn’t know about his allies when he called them out.

“Yo, it’s been a long time, Katarina. You’re still playing magical girl?” Alan said. Perhaps he was embarrassed that he had just declared that he would take a nap, because his face was flushed red. I met him during one of my battles.

“Katarina Claes, you’re always so free. It’s so lonely to think that you don’t have anyone to date yet,” Keith said. Perhaps he was shy or was embarrassed by the girl he was just on a date with, because his face was also quite red. I also met him during one of my battles so I’m acquainted with him.

Maybe he was called from a place where he was eating his pasta, and now it had fallen to the ground and splattered, because Nicol had a very sad expression. ”................” “Would you like some of these sweets so compensate for your food?” I offered to him. He gave me such a happy and devilish smile, saying “thank you” as he reached out for one of the sweets. I staggered a bit at the sight. I also met Nicol during one of my battles.

“What are you guys talking about so happily with my Katarina? I called you guys here to deal with the other three magical girls who are trying to get in between us” Geordo said. “What are you taking about? You’re the ones who are in the way of our good time,” Mary lifted her eyebrows and snapped at Geordo, who simply replied to her accusation with a dark smile. “That’s my line. You high school girls who just talk about crap without any meaning”.

“That’s rude, it’s not meaningless” Sophia said angrily. Well this is the kind of thing that Geordo definitely won’t understand. He doesn’t seem to have a prejudice against high school girls... wait a minute, shouldn’t we be fighting? Geordo, Mary and Sophia are quarrelling, Alan and Keith are summoned but have flushed cheeks and are looking away, Maria is sharing handmade sweets to Nicol who lost his pasta.

Recently, every time we confront the Four Kings of Ruin, we more frequently fight like this, without throwing any hands. I even started to wonder if I was still a magical girl, so I tried to look around for our two spirits, before I was interrupted by Maria who offered sweets to me. It was so good that I lost all my will for battle.

“Lady Katarina, Lady Katarina, please get up. It’s time for you to go to school”

What happened to the battle? “Battle? Katarina, you’re sleeping. We need to get you ready for school”, Anne said, bringing out my clothes. “Oh I had  a very strange dream. I was transformed into a magical girl. Not only that, the enemies were Geordo and the others. What a strange dream”.

“What’s a magical girl?” Anne gave me a suspicious look while the adjusting my clock. “Ah, um, a magical girl fights against an evil organization--”

“Katarina, I’m grateful for your explanations but we don’t time for that right now, so I’ll ask about it later after we finish your preparations”. Ann told me, and when I looked at the clock, I knew that it was almost time for class and that I was about to be late. I hurriedly cooperated with Anne and started preparing myself for school. My usual day begins as from that point.

--------

That’s it! It’s a very cute one-shot, and I hope after I post this, maybe it inspires people to write stories based on this au qwq. Volume 7′s oneshot is “Detective?! Katarina’s Office” (Tantei?! Katarina Jimusho) so if thats interesting then i’ll translate that too.

Some unnecessary notes from me if you’re interested in reading:

Since Katarina is the hero and Miri is the leader of the evil organization, I guess if this really was a story then the plot twist is that Katarina is her daughter. I can imagine maybe this story takes place in her old world with her old family (mom, dad, grandma, two brothers) but the difference here is that Katarina is adopted or something like that.

It’s interesting that Raphael is Katarina’s fairy partner instead of Ann. It works since both Kat and Raph use Dark Magic in canon lol haha also because it shows how competent Ann is haha

It’s also cool to see the playboy version of Keith liking Katarina.

Sophia and Nicol don’t seem to be related at all in this version of the story, which I’m cool with. They could also have a Hawkmoth-Chat Noir situation where they aren’t aware of each other’s secret identities (though I doubt it myself since they all transformed in front of the boys, but hey i’m just throwing it out there).

Omg rip Nicol’s pasta. Press f to pay respects

[munshine]

cause when we jumping and popping we jopping 🎶

MUN INFO

name/alias: belle age: 21+ pronouns: s/h timezone: gmt+9 discord: just ask!! little trivia fact about yourself: i am incapable of pouring water into a cup evidence by the fact that i just poured it all over my counter instead, like, 5 minutes ago.

CHARACTER INFO

character name: kang moon (he is basically the same from v1 ug if anyone was here except i changed the romanization bc i got tired of saying hi this is mun’s mun hahaha, it felt like i was in cashier hell being told the price is 0 bc there’s no sticker) stage name: he just goes by moon age: 28 zodiac sign: virgo sun / cancer moon / pisces ascendant 🔥 group/band/position: solo_02 info links or quick points about your character: his about page / his info page plots or any development you’d like to see for your character:

i’m a sucker for antagonistic plots and moon has a personality that can easily cause…conflict. so anything rooted in some kind of problem that blows up, or a long-time grudge, or a short-time grudge, or anything that involves someone punching him in the face i am down for.

friendships that feel a little one sided. can go either way, really, depending on circumstances. either moon doesn’t afford them as much attention as he could, or he decides to fixate on them and invests too much into the friendship.

he also gets jealous easily, so despite him pretending that he’s just Too Good For Fame he doesn’t actually think that at all and might act like a dick to someone hitting above his average within their music scene depending on their interactions or how well/not they mesh.

alternatively, will definitely try to leverage Their fame to help him. he is on instagram Way too much and he Will try and sneak his face onto other people’s feeds. moon Loves having fake friends when it can further his own career.

moon is/was very much a serial dater so if anyone wants an ex plot we can see if they would’ve dated, but i have a feeling it’ll have ended poorly. like i said, self-obsessed, likely was a trash bf once the honeymoon phase wore off. he tends to ignore any and all red flags in the self-proclaimed name of love. can be one of those people who goes from 0 to 100 way too fast. can also disengage just as fast if he decides he’s over it, so there’s really a lot of ways things could have collapsed spectacularly. girl or guy is fine, he’s into anyone that’s pretty, tho usually goes for people older than him. he doesn’t like the expectation that he should have to take care of Anyone other than himself. i’m open to current feelings for each other, neutral or friends or hatred etc.

people he vibes with music-wise, who he enjoys throwing ideas back and forth with or kind of hanging out and jamming around together.

i’m pretty flexible plots wise, i just do prefer things seeped in drama, angst, antagonism, etc. mun is pretty High Energy, High Emotion and he does Poorly when someone isn’t giving him their full attention or acts too cool to be around him, he’ll just dramatically exit and never return.

he’s kind of all over the place, i’d classify him as extremely obnoxious to deal with. tends to overblow any and all problems. creates angst for himself out of thin air. i’m writing this in kind of a meme-y manner but i do gravitate toward more angsty/intense/emotionally raw plots just so i don’t blindside you with plotting.

[ayoalex]

Why is Team RWBY since the beginning present as a dangerous team?

Ok, before I begin this post I have to warn that:

1- I'm not an expert, this is based on my basic knowledge as someone that used to do martial arts as a kid, play a lot of video games and watch a bunch of anime/cartoon or read manga

2- This is going to be a long post, sorry 😞

3- You are always welcome to discuss in the replies or to correct in whatever I could get wrong, again I'm not an expert so don't be shy to call me out. Btw, English is not my first language so it's possible I could have some grammar mistakes.

4- Do not want to see any type of hate for any character 🤨

5- And last, decided to post this here because I prefer RWBY Tumblr community than Reddit one 💀

Let's begin!

When they present RWBY at the beginning of the project we got a glimpse of what they can do individually in the short films know as Red, White, Black and Yellow as well as some aspects of their character, backstory, etc.

As RWBY continued their journey we could see they seem as a force to be reckoned with when together but seem to be lacking in some aspects when they were alone.

The ones that didn't do better alone was mostly Ruby and Weiss while Blake and Yang seems to be able to hold their own alone (tho Blake seems to be in her flop era in the last volumes 💀).

So, let's talk about them as individual first.

Ruby: we all know her, leader of the team and the youngest of them all.

Ruby do pretty well alone when she's fighting Grimms, specially those that aren't that hard to go against. She's basically a prodigy and for that she got into Beacon earlier (and the fact she has silver eyes 😬).

She's the few people in Remnant that use a scythe as a weapon and she's pretty damn good with it; as told by a lot of character using that weapon is hard af so probs for her to be able to be so fucking smooth and amazing with Crescent Rose.

As told by Ruby herself in V1 while talking with Jaune, she did her weapon and here comes her first problem.

Not practical. Crescent Rose is a bad ass weapon and I absolutely love it but it's heavy and takes a lot to use it. It's a rifle as well so Ruby basically has to be a sniper to be able to go well with it.

It's a weapon that doesn't goes well with a team as can get in the way unless the user becomes a support for the team instead of being at front.

This is basically a metaphor of how Ruby is kinda a lone wolf at the beginning and awkward af with people.

But! She later gives some upgrades to Crescent Rose that helps her change the direction of scythe which give her adaptability! Which is completely important!

Now, if I take Crescent Rose away of Ruby what happens?

She's dead bro

Ruby is useless in close range combat, specifically physically one. We can see that in a lot of moments through the volumes.

She usually use her semblance as an advantage, which with her weapon works perfectly but without it is... Meh. It only helps her to speed up.

In Volume 5 Ozpin calls her out for that and then trains her, we then see Ruby being able to actually block and evade attacks without the use of her semblance... Until Ozpin took control of Oscar 💀

She knows basic stuffs, mostly with her defense but she lacks attack.

We don't actively see an improvement of this part in the future as she's seen to struggle keeping up with Harriet. Tho I'm going to give Ruby the fact that Harriet was being emotional and "aaahhh go crazy go stupid" In there.

Tho, Ruby lacks in this she make up by being a quick thinker and strategic.

She's the one that comes up with the plans and she's fast on her feet as well, she knows how to use her teammates perfectly to the point on coming up with duo attacks for them. She use her creativity to be able to defeat enemies as we can see at the end of V6 against the crazy old lady.

In general Ruby lacks close range fighting skills as well hand to hand combat + she can be really reckless and not actually think stuffs through it at first which can lead to disaster (she's getting better tho!)

Weiss: so... Oh boy, the ice queen comes next.

Her first actual win in a solo combat was Marrow if I remember correctly.

So here's the thing, as a solo fighter Weiss is the weakest link because she relies heavily in her semblance, get her someone that can break her aura fast and that's it, she loses.

But her semblance is really REALLY good.

Like she could stand in one place, do her thing and that's it but there's a thing... Weiss is too logical and sometimes narrow minded, her winning against Marrow was amazing and made me proud because she used EVERYTHING in that damn room to her favor. She was creative!

For her type of semblance that's important!

At the beginning she was too STIFF with her semblance but it got to the point where she has learned to be fast on her feet. Use her semblance in a better, creative way AND be a support in the team.

But now, without her semblance Weiss is a good fighter, being a mix of ballet with fencing/swordplay. Really pretty to see and then take off the damn weapon and she's pretty useless.

See a pattern here? Team Whiterose are completely useless without their weapons and semblance, mmmm

Overall Weiss is a freaking monster thanks to her semblance. She has gotten better to it, to control it and stuff, became more creative and less stiff as well as quick thinker but she needs to get better in hand to hand combat... Please, I'm begging.

Blake: ah yeah, our favorite emo cat girl.

So, Blake is crazy. That's it, that's everything I'm going to say about her.

Ok no, but seriously her fighting style is chef kiss

Blake use of her semblance is amazing, like this girl knows what she's doing when fighting.

Her weapons are great as well, like they are sword, a gun, then that freaking ribbon where she goes all Spiderman with everyone. Amazing!

Tho, she comes with an advantage that no other in her team has.

As explained by different characters in the series, Faunus has physical advantage over humans, not only some of them can see in the dark, but they seem to get some characteristics of the animal they are based off.

A good example is how agile Velvet is thanks to the fact she's a rabbit faunus or the way Sun jumps because of being a monkey faunus.

Blake being a cat faunus gives her ton of advantage, she's stealthy, agile, fast, listen better than the average human, etc

Combine that with her semblance, weapon and fighting style and you have an amazing fighter.

But Blake is reckless and that have cost her in the past. Not only that but while she seems to know only basic stuff in hand to hand combat, relies a lot in her semblance and lately she use her ribbon way too much.

That gives an opportunity to the enemy to take her out easily as we saw in her fight against Vine.

I'm going to say that Blake is generally a good fighter and probably one of the best in Team RWBY in general words but lately she seems to focus a lot in her ribbon which makes her an easy target, idk if this on purpose because Blake have always dislike her semblance or it just they don't know how to make Blake fighting style anymore but it kinda annoys me how she has been reduced to a damsel in distress in some fighting scenes.

Overall Blake is a top notch fighter and her weakness are small details that she slowly overcoming.

Yang: ah yeah, here comes my girl (stupid Tumblr mobile isn't letting me putting her name in yellow 😡)

As you guys know I'm a hoe for this girl so I will try to be objective here.

Yang is the strongest member of the team, not only physically but mentally as well.

So, by far she has my favorite fighting style of all the damn characters, I just love watching Yang fight. I think is because I did martial arts as a kid and then some kick boxing in college so idk.

Listen, this girl is so damn practical, her weapons are absolutely genius.

She's probably the few (maybe only one?) Character that actually took an existing fighting style and did her weapon around it + uses her semblance around it which is practical and smart af

Which comes to one of my favorite things of Yang, how tactical she is. Like Yang is what Ruby could be if it wasn't because of the damn weapon.

Like you guys don't get, Ruby weakness is Yang strength.

Yang since the very beginning showed us how of an amazing fighter she is. You thought Ruby is a prodigy? That Weiss is a monster? Blake is out of this world? Well Yang is fucking God.

I know I KNOW, I said I was going to be objective but it just MISS YANG XIAO LONG IS WHAT CINDER WISH SHE COULD BE, I SWEAR TO GOD, THIS GIRL IS BETTER THAN SOME OF THE ADULTS IN THE SHOW.

Ok ok ok

Yang is emotional tho, which cost her a lot (like A LOT, she lost her arm), in the past she was angry 24/7 (still is but baby got it under control 🥰). People are going to say "well not in v1, 2 and 3!".

I'm sorry but that girl has angry issues and the only moment she gets to be angry is when fighting so yeah, she would angry fight everyone and you know what? She still was an amazing fighter while doing so cuz she would kick everyone ass, being tactical about it, find her opponent weakness and absolutely looking hot while doing so.

Anyway, Yang doesn't have like a huge weakness like Ruby or Weiss, literally are small details. She's pretty much versatile as Ember Celica give her the option of shooting at her opponent. Since the beginning she was pretty much one of the best fighters of all the kids, probably coming second after Phyrra.

Her semblance use is pretty good as well, she seems to have a better grasp of it than some of the other kids and know how to manipulate it without overusing it.

Which btw is what made me have like a huge problem with V4 with the whole Taiyang stuff cuz Yang already knew how to fight like he was telling her, so idk I feel that was an insult to Yang as a character because the reason she lost her arm was because of stress, tired, being in battlefield and hello her partner is in danger.

RWBY

Now that I finished with them individually we can see that RWBY has 2 support fighters, 1 versatile and the other one a basically upfront fighter. Which comes in handy a lot of fights.

But it isn't this what makes them a formidable team but it's their chemistry.

Since the very beginning we see they do the most important thing in any type of relationship, communication.

As Weiss has her problem with Ruby at the beginning she end up talking with an adult about it and then getting call out for her poor behavior, that makes her change her approach to Ruby but before all that she did communicate Ruby what her problem was with her which made Ruby to talk with Ozpin and change her approach to study and her team as well.

We see that Yang and Blake goes well since the beginning as well, and they communicate a lot better than Ruby and Weiss at the beginning. To the point that we can see it in their teamwork.

When it comes to Weiss racism the rest of the team communicate her to stop it and then you have Blake and Weiss discussion about it where we got a glimpse of Weiss life in Atlas as well the revelation of Blake being a faunus and an ex member of the White Fang. This makes Blake run away which later Weiss criticized while telling her that they should talk first and communicate better.

The priority of RWBY as a team is communication. Ruby communicate her plans to the rest of the teams, Weiss her feelings, Blake her knowledge and Yang... Ok maybe Yang needs to work in this department.

This makes their teamwork really strong and their bond just continues getting deeper.

Add to this the fact they learn to use each other in a better way, as having both Weiss and Ruby as support helps a ton, Blake to distract their opponents and Yang to finish them off.

A good example of this is probably the train part in V6, where Yang fights all of the Grimms closely, Blake tends to fight them at some distance while helping out and Ruby with Weiss combination of support make the job hard for the Grimms.

This is exactly why JOYR had such a problem with a new Grimm, Yang needs someone to catch her back while she finds a way to destroy the Grimm which is usually provided by her teammates meanwhile RWB didn't had the boost of strength that Yang gives them in battle to be able to finish off the Hound.

Even in duos RWBY are a hard opponent to go against, probably the duo that would have a hard time is Freezerburn as we see in V3 and still I think if you put them fight together currently they would be a duo you wouldn't want to cross lol

They shouldn't have a problem with trios either but usually Yang is the strength of the group and basically the tank so is understandable that RWB had a hard time adapting without her there.

There's a part in the book Before the Dawn where Coco talks about RWBY and how they are a really strong team and even say that while JNPR aren't bad, they were basically carrying on with Phyrra since Jaune wasn't the fighter he is today. (Plus other problems that Renora have as fighters but this is something for other day).

RWBY in general has a great communication between the members, a great leadership, strong bonds and amazing fighters. They know how to adapt to each other styles and some members even complement each other (Yang and Blake).

Other thing that should be talk about its how basically Ruby and Weiss are too similar and too different at the same time to the point that they should clash a lot (which they used to do) but thanks to the fact they communicate their teamwork is amazing and in their own way they make it work.

It really helps that Ruby with Weiss can have the luxury to go upfront against an enemy while having Weiss to back her up which is something she can't do with Yang or Blake.

That's mostly because their teamwork is a metaphor of their own relationship as well as Yang and Blake teamwork is a metaphor of their own relationship.

Usually Weiss is the main support of her team since she's a large range fighter thanks to her semblance which is basically what she gives to her teammates outside of the battle.

RWBY basically fight is how they are with each other outside of the battle as we can see in multiple instances.

Yang being the tank and strength in their fighting style is exactly what Yang is to RWB, she's basically the heart and soul of the team and without her a lot of their attacks doesn't have the strength necessary for it to work as well as we can in V8 how long it took to RWB to know what to do while Yang already knew what she had to do with JOYR. She's the action.

While Ruby is the leader and sometimes call the shoot, she guide the girls through battle and help both with support and action. She usually starts the fight as a sniper until she sees an opening to fight up close which is a thing she actually do with her team. She takes a step back before talking with any of them and helps them navigate through situation in their lifes like promising Weiss to being on her side at Atlas to sometimes intervening between Weiss and her family.

Blake in the other hand is more of a wild card, she's usually Yang personal support as their styles complement each other but in most situations she does it on her own, unlike Ruby, Blake usually is more of an upfront fighter and only being support when Yang needs her which is a thing outside of battle. She usually does her own way, and while she support both Weiss and Ruby is with Yang where we see a more intimate support.

This is what makes RWBY dangerous, their bond and chemistry is something they worked hard to have as they started with difficulties, is a thing the 4 of them appreciate and love, it really helps they know how to communicate and do so to be able to have a healthy relationship between each other.

Right now we are finally seeing a lack of communication between RWBY, specially between Yang and Ruby.

As we all know RWBY is a direct parallel of STRQ which means this miscommunication between Yang and Ruby is important for their future as a team. Is implied that they still have each other back but it's necessary for Yang to open up to Ruby about what's going since this could create a breach if not treated.

Conclusion: stan RWBY and stan LOONA 😌

[danganronpa-imagine-headcanon]

The Danganronpa V1 girls spending time with an S/o on Fourth of July!

I know that some people don’t celebrate it, but for those who do— take this! Happy 4th of July!

Toko Fukawa

•She would love to watch fireworks with you, even if she won’t admit it

•She thinks it’s simply romantic and sweet to be sitting in each other’s presence, watching the fireworks light up the night sky and swirling in a variety of different colors

•She loves to write about the moment with you, in such great detail that it’s endearing

•Toko would never take the initiative, but she thinks kissing while fireworks are going off would be really fun and sweet to do

•Also, if you guys decided to set off any on your own, lighting the fireworks is a big no for her

•You would have to light them

•But! If fireworks scare you, or you don’t like the sound of them, it doesn’t bother her

•She’d let you guys stay inside and cuddle together— though she’ll probably comment on how your scent is gross!

•She’s just trying to distract you from the loud booming outside, she doesn’t actually think that, it’s all light-hearted

•If you guys made any sort of snacks for the occasion, she’d help you make it!

•She honestly just loves spending time with you, and getting to do that on such a fun day really means a lot to her, even if she won’t admit it

•Toko probably added a firework scene in the book she’s currently writing, afterwords

•You’re lucky if you get to read it

Genocide Jack

•She doesn’t really understand why the 4th of July is celebrated, she only really sees it as a day to hear loud booming go off

•But! That doesn’t mean she doesn’t like it

•Watching fireworks together definitely consists of making out

•She won’t let you leave that area without doing that at least once

•No, she is not going to let you peacefully enjoy them, this is Genocide Jack we’re talking about

•She’d love to set off fireworks by herself, especially loud and big ones!

•Anyways— if you’re scared of fireworks, no problem!

•She’ll tease you about it for a while, but somehow, her shouting can cover up most of the sounds, so she just kind of yells and cackles about a bunch of random things

•She would be the one to insist that you two made something

•Like cookies, or something! Decorate the cookies to celebrate the occasion!

•She dropped approximately five eggs on the floor

•On purpose

•But, to wrap up the day, she would definitely drag you into bed and pull you close to her

•She’d mutter something vulgar, probably like, “I hope you enjoyed all that shit, it was fun as hell.”

•And then she’d fall asleep

•Overall— She really did have fun! It would just definitely be chaotic

Aoi Asahina

•Aoi was really excited to see fireworks with you!

•She thought they were just so pretty, and low and behold, they were!

•She held your hand the entire time, a smile on her face as you two watched the fireworks go off in the air

•She would definitely light some with you if you asked, enjoying the giggling and frantic running away as you both waited for it to go off

•If you didn’t like fireworks, she would just keep you inside and try to take your mind off of them!

•She’d definitely play music in the background while laughing and talking to you

•As the two of you went to bed that night, she held you close to her, a caring smile on her face as she squeezed you tightly

•“I love you, S/o. I really had fun with you today!”

•You only responded in a content hum, and that was enough for her

Sakura Ogami

•As soon as you woke up that morning, Sakura told you happy 4th of July

•She was really happy to see fireworks with you, believe it or not

•It was something nice, being able to be in the presence of a person she loved while watching something so beautiful and tranquil in the night sky

•She would hold you close as they went off, a small smile on her face as she stroked your hair

•The fireworks exploded in the black sky, lighting it with a beautiful set of colors

•She would also like lighting them!

•It was fun to be able to do it and have the real experience of being the one causing the colorful explosions

•You can light some, but if you’re scared to, she can light them all, no problem!

•However, if you didn’t like fireworks, Sakura wouldn’t mind

•She would offer to work out with you, subtly putting on some music to mask the loud cracks of the fireworks

•She would hate for you to be scared on such a special occasion

•She would also make things with you, for sure!

•Small cupcakes or cookies decorated with fourth of july colors was always fun to make

•Besides, she got to spend time with you. What more could she want?

•That night when you two got into bed, you leaned your head on her shoulder, and she chuckled

•“Thank you for spending 4th of July with me, S/o. I hope you had fun.”

•By your happy giggle, she was more than aware that you did!

Celestia Ludenburg

•4th of July? Yes, it was quite fun, wasn’t it?

•Celeste wouldn’t take the initiative to ask you to do anything, but if you asked to go watch fireworks with her, well, she certainly wouldn’t decline

•You two sat on some grass and gazed up at the sky, watching the fireworks pop and explode

•She would point out a color she liked, or point out some she thought you would like, just in case you didn’t see it well enough

•She would be more than happy to light them with you, as well

•Celeste could never fight back the smile on her face when she saw you gasp and your eyes light up at a firework you two lit

•She was one of the people who made you feel that happy, and she was content with that

•If you didn’t want to be around fireworks, that was definitely fine with her as well

•After some light-hearted teasing, she would make you two some properly made tea, and you two could sit in a room with the TV playing a gentle show in the background

•Celeste would adore it if she could make things with you

•It didn’t matter to her, but she would definitely like to be over the top, making a whole layered cake with fourth of July colors and white frosting

•When you two went to sleep that night, she laid down on the other side of the bed, but wouldn’t protest if you went over to stay close to her

•She would stroke your hair, the realization dawning upon her that you really were hers, she really loved someone and they really loved her back

•“I had fun, S/o,” She would tell you in her usual accent, calmer and quieter now.

•“I had fun too,” You responded with a smile.

•That was all she wanted.

Sayaka Maizono

•Sayaka adored fireworks!

•They were so beautiful, and she watched them every year on the fourth of July

•But being able to watch them with a significant other? She was so excited! Ecstatic, even! This would be so much fun

•She was smiling so widely the entire time, pointing out especially pretty colors

•“Look S/o! I know, that one was kind of loud, but it was such a beautiful color!”

•Lighting them off herself would be a whole other world for her

•She would be more than happy to, and laugh everytime it would go off and shine in the dark nighttime, almost reflecting the stars

•Fireworks were fun to watch, sure, but they were even more fun to set off yourself!

•If you didn’t like fireworks, Sayaka wouldn’t watch them this year

•She’d simply sing to you, hopefully blocking out the loud noises

•She’d reassure you that everything would be fine

•That night, she’d probably reach out and hold your hand, humming you to sleep with a gentle tune before falling asleep herself, your hands touching

Kyoko Kirigiri

•Kyoko was rather calm about the day, however did go and watch fireworks with you

•She found your excitement quite adorable, and she just loved to see you so happy

•She would allow you to lean on your shoulder as you watched them, draping an arm around you

•She would light fireworks with you! However, she would keep her gloves on

•Lighting the fireworks with the person she loved was so much fun, really, even if she couldn’t express it well

•If you didn’t like fireworks, she was more than okay with holding you close and watching movies, preferably crime or detective themed ones

•Maybe on a smaller note, she would like drawing small little doodles with you

•For instance, drawing small fireworks, or putting happy fourth of july in block letters

•It’s just endearing and fun to her, when she does it with you

•As a whole? She really enjoyed spending time with you, and would not hesitate to do it again

Mukuro Ikusaba

•Fourth of July was something she never really celebrated until she met you.

•You two definitely went to watch fireworks if you wanted!

•Mukuro is amazed by the fireworks that she sees, and she’s more than happy to see them with you

•She’d lace her fingers with yours, squeezing tightly onto your hand as you two gazed up at the fireworks

•If she got the pleasure of being about to light one, she would be more than happy to do so!

•It’s honestly really pure, because she’s trying to act nonchalant about it, but she really is excited. She can’t hide the way her eyes shone and the small smile formed on her face

•However, if fireworks were something you tended to stay away from, she would insist that it was okay and you guys could stay inside

•You two would also make cookies!

•It would be fun and cool to do

•With the 4th of July colors, you two might write each others name on the cookies and draw little hearts on them

•It might be sweet and lovey-dovey, but mukuro absolutely adored that, even if she wouldn’t admit it

•She would give you ear plugs if necessary, or play soft rain noises to block out the sound of fireworks

•To end the day, she would move over and pull you close into her chest, her strong arms wrapped around you

•She didn’t say anything, but neither of you really had to

•Her slow and even breaths lulled you to sleep after such a long day

Junko Enoshima

•To be honest, Junko probably woke you up that morning by exploding loud fireworks in the yard at 5:00AM

•The neighbors complained, but luckily nothing happened

•Whenever you two finally went out to go see fireworks, you gazed up at the sky

•Junko was laughing, making occasional vulgar comments while holding onto your hand

•She commented on how pretty is was, though

•“Not prettier than me, though, babe! I’m worth sixty packages of these fireworks!”

•If you guys ever got the chance to light fireworks, Junko would probably stand close to the lit firework, or not be careful with the fire used to light it, so you would have to light all of the fireworks

•She’ll complain about not being able to feel the despair of getting hurt, but you insisted she was not going to the hospital for major burns on the fourth of July

•If you were scared of fireworks, she would definitely tease you about it and gush about the despair it would bring you to be forced to see them

•You would have to say a pretty firm and direct, ‘No’ before she finally agreed to do something else

•She’d make snacks with you if you insisted!

•Decorating cookies could be fun, anyways

•She dropped so many eggs and got icing everywhere, along with almost burning the house down

•But, it brought her despair, cue you panicking for both of your safety

•Also— her loud voice probably blocked out any fireworks, or was at least enough to distract you

•At the end of the day, she would let you cuddle close to her chest

•“Jeez, if you wanted to touch my tits, just say so,” She snickered, before reaching down and giving you a light kiss on the head, “Love ya, dumbass. Hope you had fun.”

•Overall? It’s Junko. She likes despair. What did you expect?

[eohachu]

RULES: When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

I was tagged by Aamna @yibobibo to show the process for this gifset. Thank you so much kleine Maus 🧡 Thank you for showing us your own process!!

Thank you also to @lan-xichens @suibianjie @highwarlockkareena @nyx4 and @aheartfullofjolllly​ for starting this amazing project 🥰

Let’s get right into it, shall we:

Planning

I never do much planning. Maybe I should tho... I had this set in mind ever since I first saw that WenZhou scene in episode 32. The intimacy instantly reminded me of the two other scenes I included in this set. For some reason there’s always That Scene That Hits Me in danmei live adaptations!!

At first I had planned to do 6 separate gifs but I didn’t like the format so I decided to try overlays! It was my first time blending two gifs together. I think it turned out quite fine.

So I looked for the respective scenes, cut them into clips, and put them through Avisynth. I decided to go quite big so I chose a dimension of 540x400. (Usually my gifs are 540x370.)

I save all the clipped out scenes in a folder inside the folders for the respective dramas.

Creating

So, for the first gif I first imported the two clips separately. Then I deleted the extra frames for each one and sharpened them (also separately). For sharpening I use this action that includes converting them into smart objects. I mostly use the “Sharpening V1″ option, sometimes if it looks good also “Sharpening V2″.

Now I duplicated the Yunlan part of the gif (left side) onto the Shen Wei part. I tried the “Lighten” blending mode like HanYi explained in her tutorial, but it wasn’t right for what I had in mind lol. So I simply set the blending mode back to normal and added a mask to one of the gifs:

And I blacked out the area where I wanted the underlying gif to show up. So now it looks like this:

A bit sad, isn’t it? So in the next step I went through my usual colouring process: Brightness/Contrast, Curves, Levels (sometimes I use them, sometimes I don’t), Vibrance, Selective Color, Hue/Saturation. The biggest problem was to make the skin color vibrant but not too yellow or pink (somehow I always ended up with either of these).

(I’ll be honest, I don’t usually change this much. I don’t normally touch whites and neutrals at all. It’s just that this gif was pretty difficult to colour ksfhsdkjf)

This is what it looks like now:

I definitely wanted to include typography here, which is also something I did for the first time heh. So I’m sure there’s easier ways to do this but alas, here is how I did it:

I added a text layer and typed in the quote. I wanted to go for something simple so I turned to the good ol’ Verdana font. I wanted it to look like a box, so I played around with the space bar and manually adjusted the spaces between letters which you can do where the little VA symbol is:

After I was done with all my gifs (lmao) I decided I wanted to add the quote in hanzi too, as a transparent layer in the background. So I looked up the quotes in Chinese, pasted them into another text layer and set the blending mode to soft light. I also played around with font size and spaces. The font I used is one of PS’s pre-installed ones called FZShuTi.

Added the watermark, and done!! Then I repeated basically the same process for the other two scenes, except that I didn’t need to blend two gifs together for the last one. I had to adjust the layers for colouring individually since they are three different shows with different lighting, setting, and colouring and I wanted it to look at least a bit consistent (🥵).

Special thanks to Kareena who helped me point out some problems I had!!

Posting:

Yeah so I’m pretty impatient when it comes to posting but I queued this one to post in the evening as I do for most of my content. I loaded the gifs into a photo post, added an ID and the Darwish quote. It was quite difficult to find a quote that fit all of these pairings but that one hit me in the face (Mahmoud pls....).

Added the names of the shows and the episode numbers, plus a link to the set that finally convinced me to make this hehe (thank u Aamna).

D O N E !

Tagging:

@aikakuu​ and this piece of art (srsly one of my favourite XingChen pieces out there ;-;)

@yutaan​ and this lil Wen Ning!!

@hawberries​ and this piece that took me out

 @shuang-hua​ and these babies (i know it’s watercolour so no pressure if it’s difficult to make a show-your-process post!!)

@weiwuxian​ and the juniors <3 (listen my lack of planning is why i could never do this)

[fadedneonzzz]

I posted 1,520 times in 2021

73 posts created (5%)

1447 posts reblogged (95%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 19.8 posts.

I added 2,958 tags in 2021

#rwby - 1275 posts

#cinder fall - 711 posts

#yang xiao long - 201 posts

#ruby rose - 184 posts

#weiss schnee - 128 posts

#blake belladonna - 121 posts

#winter schnee - 103 posts

#emerald sustrai - 86 posts

#bumbleby - 82 posts

#rwby volume 8 - 67 posts

Longest Tag: 66 characters

#but dont act like she isn't one of the best characters in the show

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Cinder Fall V1-V3 version, I commissioned the artist Ridd-Li on Twitter (Artist doesn’t use Tumblr)

270 notes • Posted 2021-07-07 15:29:38 GMT

#4

I really am so tired of people calling Cinder’s backstory boring and unimaginative. I guess one could argue that it was unimaginative, but the Cinderella story has been told since the time of the ancient Egyptians. While they definitely could’ve done more to make more creative, it’s pretty hard to revolutionize a tale that is basically 2,000 years old with hundreds, if not thousands of iterations all being the ultimate “rags to riches” story. A simple tale of a young woman who is deemed worthless gets the chance to finally be something else than a housemaid.

I get that we’ve waited years for Cinder’s backstory, but to call it pointless because it didn’t blow you away is very disrespectful to not only the people who did enjoy it, but the writers as well.

Could it have deviated more from the original source material? Absolutely. However, much like the other characters’ inspirations, they haven’t met the same end. For example, Ruby has yet to be eaten by a wolf, Weiss hasn’t been poisoned, and Yang isn’t running away from 3 bears. For Cinder, she is the Cinderella who couldn’t put up with the abuse any longer. Cinderella is often portrayed as a pure hearted person who endures all of her hardships no matter how difficult it became for her. What Cinder and Cinderella for sure have in common is that in the beginning their suffering continued without any end in sight. When their chance to get what they want was within arm’s reach, her cruel step-family stepped in to ruin that dream.

Also keep in mind that most iterations of Cinderella are usually older than Cinder was. They also have the patience of saints, this in turn makes Cinder’s struggle more understandable and gives it a sense of realism. Simply calling Cinder’s backstory “Edgy Cinderella” wouldn’t be the most accurate summation. Cinder is a child, a child who was pushed around and abused at an early age. Treated like trash for no reason other than existing.

She’s always in the wrong for protecting herself, even when she’s (somewhat) justified.

From Cinder’s perspective, she must be constantly asking herself why must she suffer? Why does no one love or care about her? And most importantly, Why is she not worth it? Unfortunately, due to Rhodes not understanding the severity of what Cinder was going through, the only conclusion she can come to is “You just aren’t worth it”.

See the full post

326 notes • Posted 2021-10-03 03:00:02 GMT

#3

In the comment section to the video “One Villainous Scene: To Be Worthy” by The MegaNintenBro, this comment stood out to me:

Something that I didn’t notice until this person pointed it out. It’s a very interesting interpretation of what we see from Cinder. And the commenter is correct as I went back to V8ep6 and V8ep10 to see and

See the full post

476 notes • Posted 2021-09-06 02:35:11 GMT

#2

There’s something that I just noticed, as we all know Salem lost both Hazel and Watts in V8, but in exchange she got 2 relics.

What I realized was that both Hazel and Watts represent those qualities in some way. You may think Watts represents Knowledge, and Hazel represents Creation in some strange way, but I think it’s the other way around.

Hazel represents a lack of Knowledge, as the main reason he joined Salem was because he was told a lie and fed a (mostly) false narrative.

See the full post

625 notes • Posted 2021-10-19 21:21:56 GMT

#1

I don’t usually use Tumblr, but I might as well share this here

A big thank you to @cosmokyrin for this awesome commission of my favorite RWBY Villain Cinder Fall

746 notes • Posted 2021-03-11 01:50:53 GMT

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