#that's the last one for loyal pin e4 for now

[sollucets]

aninpin + hands

[aura-acolyte]

Hello, hello. The name's Mare Birch (call me Marie at your own peril) and I'm 18. You may know me as the Hero of Hoenn who saved the world from Groudon and Kyogre and Deoxys' Meteor. Or maybe you don't know me at all because nobody ever seems to recognize me even though I've saved the entire world at least twice maybe more.

Anyways, I'm the Chosen of Rayquaza which basically meant Rayquaza looked at me and said "yeah, I wanna give her superpowers. That seems like a good idea." And it was cause now I can save so many people!

I'm an Aura User. Aura Wielder? Aura Guardian? I can manipulate Aura. It lets me do things like throw Aura Spheres and sense people's emotions and be cool.

If you're ever in trouble or need the world to be saved, just call my name and I'll be there! Uh, actually, that doesn't really work cause super hearing is one of the few powers I don't have so instead, like, send me an ask or something. My askbox is always open which is probably a mistake but hey, what're you gonna do.

List of Pokemon because they won't all fit on my trainer card:

Kaen the Blaziken: My starter and one of my most powerful Pokemon, he is a master of speed and is capable of Mega Evolving into an even faster Mega Blaziken.

Kyoshi the Lucario: My mentor and other strongest Pokemon, she taught me everything I know about Aura. He uses any pronouns.

Okami the Mightyena: The only Pokemon I've ever caught in a traditional manner. She once attacked my Uncle but now she's my loyal friend.

Kusanagi no Tsuru the Doublade: Kusanagi for short, Kusanagi is a powerful Doublade who taught me swordplay. I often weild her like a pair of swords. She uses any pronouns.

Henka the Sylveon: A Sylveon who hatched from an Egg I was given. She evolved during a battle with Drake.

Shiruto the Swampert: My other starter. Yeah, that's right I got two. Nobody else was taking him.

Ataque the Tinkaton: A Tinkaton I picked up on my trip to Paldea. I'm pretty sure she's secretly evil. Warning: She will Bonk.

Other facts about me:

I'm a Champion Class trainer meaning I've beaten the Hoenn E4 and Champ but I am not the Champ because I don't wanna be.

Latias is my bestest friend ever.

I have a girlfriend named Zinnia. Go bother her at @last-lorekeeper.

I'm 4 foot 6. It's the worst.

OOC: Hey, hey! It's me, BackSet. It's been a while so I thought I'd revamp my pinned. Now it explains Mare a lot better and is a lot more characer for her. Anyways, there's not much I need to explain here but some general disclaimers: Mare kinda sort of breaks the Power Ceiling for Pokemon. Most of the time I make sure to only put her up against threats on the same power level because of that. Legendaries, freak science experiments, natural disasters, etc.

Mare's blog also regularly deals with themes of death, the sanctity of life, what it means to be a good person, injuries both major and minor, and mental illness (particularly a savior complex). So if any of that gets to you, you probably wanna block. I'll try to tag where appropriate.

(Also, here's art from @awn-moo)

And some art from my friend Jupiter (she's tagged in the post and I don't want to bother her by tagging her a second time so just go to the post to find her blog)

[its-a-branwen-thing]

The Right Thing

Doing the right thing has been something repeated a lot by our characters this season. Ironwood. Qrow. Oscar. The Ace Ops. Team RWBY. It’s just as much the centerpiece to this volume as trust. Because they all think that their way is the correct way. I definitely think this volume is laying down the narrative groundwork for what really constitutes the idea of the “right thing.” And I’m gonna break it down.

“It’s important not to lose sight of what drives us, love, justice, reverence, but the moment you put your desires before my own, they will be lost to you.”

In E4 of V6, Salem lays into her subordinates after their failure at Haven. It’s all because Cinder acted to put her own needs--her revenge against Ruby, her proclivity for hubris--first. Salem is an absolute ruler and she makes this very clear. She does not have a council. She does not trust those beneath her. She uses fear to control them. And when they fail her she does not forgive them easily. Salem is her own judge, jury, and witness. And when those in her circle do no succeed, she takes matters into her own hands regardless of what it might cost.

Sound familiar?

I made a long post about Ironwood and his character arc and why I think he makes such an amazing fallen hero or, let’s just say it, an anti-villain. This isn’t about Ironwood’s right or wrongness, but I understand the interpretative nature of his decisions and why people feel one way or the other. But this is, in the framework of this show, a definite deterioration of his good standing with our main cast.

Ironwood has always kept his power insular. He has loyal supporters that he earned, I don’t doubt, not by using fear but by being a good leader. Salem’s team is ruled mostly by blind devotion (Tyrian), hunger for power (Cinder), need for revenge (Watts and...Hazel?), and then, like, Stockholm’s Syndrome at this point (Mercury, Emerald--although also because she stans a queen Cinder).

Ironwood’s circle is composed of people who have the same goals in mind as him and who believe in his methods. Even when they become unethical. Winter and the Ace Ops still side with him even knowing it will cost them Mantle. Clover doesn’t question why Qrow needs to be detained he just does it. Because what Ironwood says is the right thing is, to them, the right thing. But it isn’t given to them as a choice, it’s done as a command.

“Someone is about to make a play and I do not trust Leo to stop them.”

“You’ve never trusted anyone but yourself.”

“And for good reason! If Oz had just listened to me from the start.”

I wish I’d included this in my last Ironwood post because it proves he has always been divested of trust.

Watching this scene in V4 again helped me realize that Ironwood has always been a man about power. He hoards his armies and those loyal to him and isolates Atlas to prepare for, what we now know, his plan to launch Amity Tower and reconnect the world. But he fails at that. And what is his immediate reaction? Not to try and work out an alternative with those around him. But to shut them down. And detain them.

“But we have an opportunity to reunite the world, if we launch the tower we can all work together again, we could even call for help. If we can hold out long enough...”

“Sometimes doing the right thing means making tough decisions.”

“You’re right. And I think the right thing to do would be to stand our ground.”

I think this exchange is missed too often. Ruby and Blake both advise Ironwood to take a stand, to “hold out” against Salem’s armies until the tower can be launched. They aren’t asking him for anything more than what he made clear to them in the beginning was what he wanted. And he chooses not to listen to them because it isn’t what he’s judged as a viable plan. Even the Ace Ops, who are witnessing this too, immediately blame RWBY for not being more up front with Ironwood. And it’s sad, because I see exactly why they’re angry. But as Weiss said, “none of this matter right now!” because it doesn’t. Because Salem is here. And the right thing is being pulled in too many directions for it to mean much of anything.

---

“Why couldn’t you just do the right thing? Instead of the thing you were told?”

“Sometimes the right decision’s the hardest to make.”

I have some feelings about this line that I can’t quite articulate without sounding, well, positively bonkers. Because paired with his “someone had to take the fall” it sounds a little too...off? Like it happened already? (Also why did he jump out of the plane first?? I just...so they wouldn’t have his luck and would hopefully be injured in the crash?)

But the point I’m trying to make is that this is where we see what the cost of blind loyalty is. There have been plenty of posts discussing Clover and Qrow and Robyn’s actions and why they did the things they did. But I think, paired with Clover’s manipulation of Robyn, this was a betrayal not only to Qrow but to us, the audience. Because we liked Clover (well, I mean, your mileage may vary). And yet he still did Ironwood’s bidding until the end, even to the point of it costing him his life (again, I know there’s heavy debate around this) because nothing mattered more than his orders, not even his heart reason.

The Ace Ops are inflexible in their loyalty to Ironwood. It’s unconditional. And they believe what they’re doing is right. But our team, RWBY and JNR and Oscar and Qrow, believe in something different. They believe in doing what’s right intuitively. They’re not viewing this war like a chessboard with pieces to be moved at will. Ironwood is doing that, which is why I think Cinder’s “gotcha” at the end is so ironic. Because Salem isn’t the only one playing chess. Ironwood is too.

But our other heroes are not.

Why is Qrow in the drop ship on his way to prison with Robyn at the end of E13? Because he went back instead of escaping or pursuing Tyrian.


He went back to the scene of a crime that will be pinned on him to be at the side of a dying friend. This directly juxtaposes Clover’s whole character as he was presented in his final moments. There are no rules in Qrow’s world anymore, really, and he isn’t a solider like Clover. Their orders were to apprehend Tyrian. And Qrow let him go. Because something mattered more than that, and that small ownership of self is what’s been shown this season as what separates our heroes from our fallen heroes and their enemies.

---

“My life doesn’t matter!”

“I disagree.”

Penny, a robot designed by the Atlesian military, who has been in Ironwood’s circle this whole time, chooses without hesitation to save Winter instead of go after Cinder. Because Winter’s life mattered more to her than getting Cinder. And in the end, she chooses to go with RWBYJRN and MP and leave behind her position at Atlas. Because it was, to her, the right choice. It is a discussion she has with Winter in various scenes. She doesn’t believe in what Ironwood is doing because he’s ignoring the most important part of what makes people human:

Personal feelings.

Please don’t hurt me.

----

“I am done letting others’ inability to see the big picture get in the way of doing what’s right. Robyn, the Council, this Kingdom...even you.”

Ironwood’s inability to see the smaller side of humanity is what makes him ultimately fall right into Salem’s palm. Because he’s functioning just like she is. Rule absolute. His declaration of martial law speaks to that. While our heroes have always put other things first. Each other, the people of Mantle, the idea of saving someone or staying with someone rather than pursuing a goal that might, in the long run, help “the big picture”. This is precisely what Salem always threatens to snuff out. Those small sparks of hope or justice or love. It’s why Ren’s hesitation is also so important. Because it showed our heroes care more about each other than the “big picture.” And, fantasy or not, humanity in those small moments has always been the right thing here. And some of our cast are missing that piece.

Salem has a relic and a maiden. So do our heroes. But divided, they have a maiden while their enemies have a relic. Salem divided them exactly as she said she would, because Ozpin wasn’t there to talk sense into Ironwood and Oscar wasn’t good enough I guess the trust that was built between him and team RWBY was broken (can’t deny that, Ironwood was pissed they went behind his back and I get it). Doing what’s right isn’t about what makes sense from a standpoint of strategy. It’s about what, inside, our heroes feel is right. We can call it idealistic or naive but remember that’s exactly what Salem fears. And it’s exactly what our heroes need in order to unite themselves again. They need--and I say this with a heavy, heavy sigh--to trust love.

---

“A smaller, more honest soul. It's true that a simple spark can ignite hope, breathe fire into the hearts of the weary. The ability to derive strength from hope is undoubtedly mankind's greatest attribute...which is why I will focus all of my power to snuff it out.”

And that, friends, is why I believe that the right thing is always based on our emotions. Because not relying on them is what cost our tin man his heart. They are what Salem prevents her people from having. And yet having them is what lead Penny to coming into her own as the winter maiden. It’s what fuels Ruby’s silver eyes. It’s what made Pyrrha go back into Beacon Tower even knowing she’d lose. Because it was the right thing to do.

There’s always a case for kindness and love and hope. And I’d like to make it here.