#they're our faunus children and we love them

[goldsrc-hl1]

All the stuff about Tifa is right, Miles was an ass with that comment. Post Volume 3 all the main girls except Ruby are 18 so they're not children.

But the rest of this... holy shit...

"Also not to stun your pee brain, but writing racism as "If we want respect and equality then we have to forgive our bigot overlords and defend them with not even a thank you." Is stupid, that be like me telling you that if you want minorities forgiveness, go fight cops, or me going to england and saying that. Blake tells unrelated faunus to fight armed dudes and the writers are stupid. And the overall issue is HBomberguy was right! In his review he stated that he was afraid that a certain group of people would look at how the faunus act and go "yeah that's how They are" uncharitable takes exist."

RWBY quite literally does not have this message. It openly states that it does not have a method for achieving equality.

Blake: Humans didn't do this. We did this: Faunus. We did this to ourselves. We are just as capable of hate and violence as the humans, but I don't think any of us would jump at the chance to point that out. So why are we letting Adam do it for us?! By doing nothing and staying silent, we let others speak and act in our place. And if we're not proud of the choices they make, then we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is the message that Adam Taurus will bring to the world if no one stops him. But we can stop him! You have to understand that all of you are looking for simple answers to a very complicated problem. And I can't give that to you. I don't know how to make hate go away, I don't. But I know that this kind of violence is not the solution. I understand that to ask you to leave your homes and protect Haven Academy is asking you to put your lives at risk. But that's what's at stake. So I'm going, and I'll stand by myself if I have to.

It is NOT at all framed as a solution to racism. It may help sway some Mistrali citizens, but it's not gonna end racism in Mistral. The bigger message here is that the Faunus are letting Adam Taurus speak for them, and since he is a walking Faunus caricature, people who previously did not hate the Faunus are growing to hate them. That has to be stopped, and Blake has the chance to do so. So she does, and she successfully reclaims the White Fang along with her father. It's open ended on how her father manages the new White Fang, so we'll have to wait and see how that turns out.

"Oh how about bumblbee? With Yang literally saying she viewed Blake as an object and wanted her around for her solely? You know fuck what Blake wants! Blaming Blake for running in fear when WF ruin a nation and Adam states he'll kill everyone she loves and he knows exactly where her parents are? Perish the thought, that sounds like something a scared child would exactly do! But Yang goes "No despite us not officially dating yet I'm owed her time and presence.""

Good fucking lord.

Yang has genuine abandonment issues. When she needed help the most, the one person she has confided in about her abandonment issues did just that - abandoned her. Yang doesn't understand why Blake did such a thing, and she's distraught, angry, and most of all, sad, about Blake abandoning her.

Once Weiss explains why she thinks Blake left, Yang comes around and realizes Blake did so because she wanted to protect her, and the first time Blake shows up, Yang is totally fine with her.

It's hard to tell what you mean by any of this but I think you're shaming her for being mad at Blake for abandoning her in which case... seriously? Yang has abandonment issues and confided in Blake that her mother abandoned her. She sacrificed her literal fucking arm for Blake. And Blake ran. I'd be pretty pissed as well.

Have you no empathy?

Yang, not even once, said she viewed Blake as an object or that she wanted her around for her solely. Literally where are you getting that from. She says, direct quote:

Yang: No one blamed her for anything! If she had just talked to us, she would've known that! How could I be there for her if she doesn't let me? What if I needed her here for me?

Nowhere does she say she needs Blake for her solely. That's a strawman, which is a logical fallacy.

I can't even begin to guess where you got the idea that Yang said she thinks Blake is an object so I don't know how to counter it other than telling you that you're dead fucking wrong lol.

"Yang's shitty, and it takes how long for them to get together? They don't even wait until adam cold before Yang claims her, after abusing her mentally when Blake tells her Adam likes to make you feel small and she brushes her off and is like "stop talking to me." Then they kiss what? THIS year? 2023? In volume 3 sun's winking at her and she's blushing and smiling and calling him a dork and they're hanging out, and I'm sitting here going "Do some of that for yang? All they did was share a dance, have her flirt with her or wink, something." And what she compliments her hair once? Granted I stopped after 7/8 so I bet the best LGBT rep happ- This just in, I'm getting word from my friends in the LGBT community who watched rwby saying that it's dogshit.

Yang isn't shitty at all. Already explained.

Yang doesn't brush her off after Blake tells her about Adam, she brushes her off after Blake says she'll protect Yang. Yang doesn't like being protected, it makes her feel lesser. This is also amplified by the Apathy living underneath Brunswick Farms.

IDK if you even watched the show cause they do that for Yang and Blake as well. Yang and Blake go out dancing in V7, constantly work together, compliment each other (and blush at said compliments), hell, there's even a scene of Yang slyly looking at Blake's ass lmfao. There's a fuckton of stuff with them.

Your friend is wrong.

"Having tons of LBGT characters doesn't matter if you write them like trash I guess, btw the first kiss happened in volume 9 in 2023 and rwby started in 015 and again sun flirts, winks etc and they show alot of chemistry with each other."

It's a slow burn. There's chemistry with Sun and Blake, that relationship doesn't work out, and after v6 there's chemistry between Yang and Blake.

"Yang gets mad, demands blake be there when EVERYONE else is going back home too! Trauma dumps on her after using a laser pointer on her when Blake admits that she's tired of dealing with racism."

This is another strawman and one dead lie. Yang did not demand that Blake be there. Believe it or not, traumatized people usually need help, and when she needed help the most, Blake left.

Yang: No one blamed her for anything! If she had just talked to us, she would've known that! How could I be there for her if she doesn't let me? What if I needed her here for me?

This is not a demand.

Blake's problem was not racism, it was that she was worried about Roman Torchwick and the White Fang.

"Like instead of talking to her, Yang treats her like an animal an laughs it off then trauma dumps about her mom on her while blake is already highly stressed. Doesn't even solve the problem btw. All the LGBT characters thus far (besides Jaune's sister and her girlfriend, they can stay, sadly they're trapped in a shitty show) are horribly written for no reason."

Literally one of the big parts of the problem was that Blake wasn't talking to them and was pushing them all away to try and stop Torchwick and the White Fang. She has to force Blake to listen in order to help her. The trauma dumping was done in order to help her. The problem was that she was overworking herself to the point of self destructive behavior, and after their talk, the problem IS solved.

I gotta ask if you even watched this show.

Laser pointer bit is done to get Blake to actually confront Yang so she can help her. Blake needed help, was refusing help, so Yang has to go out of her way to help her.

They are not horribly written.

"Or the second Rep LGBT character Illia! A woman who took her crush and was gonna- *Looks at paper* Send her to her abuser while also blaming her for dating someone and not knowing her romantic feelings."

Ilia is pretty clearly no longer interested in Blake.

Miles stuff is good. I don't care for defending the writers of the show, only the writing itself.

So I didn't hyjack this poor person's post over [here.]

I thought making my own post would be the most logical conclusion. So it takes alot in my opinion to bury your head in the ground and pretend like you smart when you're so overly stupid.

Here's a discussion I had with a person where alot of alarming and stupid things were said on his part. @/crimsonxe

Well go through small sections, that's a lie, you know I'm long winded.

Here's a section where he states that writing about killing, maiming, and calling minorities bad isn't nearly as bad. I mentioned Miles calling Tifa a prostitute as well and I don't think he's getting it.

Manner of dress:

The problem isn't getting over it or not, the issue with calling remake Tifa a prosisitue is that she dresses more modest than the rwby cast, he has children with short skirts, no pants under and boob windows in frozen tundra. If he thinks THIS is provocative,

then him okaying THESE

designs on children is something he's mentally aware of! also weiss spends most of her time in that outfit in a frozen wasteland and then COMPLAINS about being cold!

Get over it? More like Have enough common sense not to post stuff like that. A wise man once said "just because you think of a tweet doesn't mean you have to hit send." (Also he says it's not fanservicey, need I remind everyone they sell a ruby body pillow, Yang always had her tits out and then as time goes on they start losing more and more clothing. Not fanservice my ass!)

Grown man argument for sexualizing teen girls.

"They don't go overboard." Here's a picture of a woman wearing chainmail on her bare skin in the desert, there's a difference between puritanical and horny silly designs after them saying shit like "we won't do the stupid stuff anime does" and then having the whole cast of female characters with their tits and ass out.

Also not to stun your pee brain, but writing racism as "If we want respect and equality then we have to forgive our bigot overlords and defend them with not even a thank you." Is stupid, that be like me telling you that if you want minorities forgiveness, go fight cops, or me going to england and saying that. Blake tells unrelated faunus to fight armed dudes and the writers are stupid. And the overall issue is HBomberguy was right! In his review he stated that he was afraid that a certain group of people would look at how the faunus act and go "yeah that's how They are" uncharitable takes exist.

And he was right a bunch of RWBY stans who were racist before vanishing literally came around going "boy did miles and kerry get you guys pegged, you're all exactly like this!" During the 98% most peaceful protesting age, well unless your a cop who wants to shoot out someone's eyes.

The LGBT pair (s)?

Yeah like the cardboard cutout guys miles pouted about when he didn't get credit for putting out there after people in the LGBT community asked when were the LGBT characters gonna appear.

The first Gay rep in the show was two unrelated characters we'd never see again after saying "characters" just don't promise things then lie forehead!

Or the second Rep LGBT character Illia! A woman who took her crush and was gonna- *Looks at paper* Send her to her abuser while also blaming her for dating someone and not knowing her romantic feelings.

"I guess you were too busy looking at Adam to notice me."

Yeah great first cardboard then a woman willing to kill off her her crushes family and blames her crush for not knowing she had a crush on her!

Oh how about bumblbee? With Yang literally saying she viewed Blake as an object and wanted her around for her solely? You know fuck what Blake wants! Blaming Blake for running in fear when WF ruin a nation and Adam states he'll kill everyone she loves and he knows exactly where her parents are? Perish the thought, that sounds like something a scared child would exactly do! But Yang goes "No despite us not officially dating yet I'm owed her time and presence.

Yang's shitty, and it takes how long for them to get together? They don't even wait until adam cold before Yang claims her, after abusing her mentally when Blake tells her Adam likes to make you feel small and she brushes her off and is like "stop talking to me." Then they kiss what? THIS year? 2023? In volume 3 sun's winking at her and she's blushing and smiling and calling him a dork and they're hanging out, and I'm sitting here going "Do some of that for yang? All they did was share a dance, have her flirt with her or wink, something." And what she compliments her hair once? Granted I stopped after 7/8 so I bet the best LGBT rep happ- This just in, I'm getting word from my friends in the LGBT community who watched rwby saying that it's dogshit.

Having tons of LBGT characters doesn't matter if you write them like trash I guess, btw the first kiss happened in volume 9 in 2023 and rwby started in 015 and again sun flirts, winks etc and they show alot of chemistry with each other.

Yang gets mad, demands blake be there when EVERYONE else is going back home too! Trauma dumps on her after using a laser pointer on her when Blake admits that she's tired of dealing with racism.

Like instead of talking to her, Yang treats her like an animal an laughs it off then trauma dumps about her mom on her while blake is already highly stressed. Doesn't even solve the problem btw. All the LGBT characters thus far (besides Jaune's sister and her girlfriend, they can stay, sadly they're trapped in a shitty show) are horribly written for no reason.

A second writer should look at these before they hit the screen.

Racism

He talks about a south park reference which I ignored cause it's so random?

racist dog whistling.

"Mika burton spun things a certain way." Nah there's tweets w of people admitting they fucked up and the achievement hunters go online , they bring her on a podcast and pretend to cry so people can feel bad for them. And good for her she doesn't forgive them. So spinning around? How about a source? Source can't be that you made it the fuck up cause that's not a source it's a sentence wasting everyone's time.

Also "Mile's isn't white." Aw man what am I gonna tell mile's white parent? Sorry some dude on the internet said your son can't be half white, sorry me I can't be half black, or Hawaiian, Sorry Miles because you look more black your Hispanic traits don't matter for the sake of the argument. What kinda of Juvenile , stupid statement IS this? He can't be white because you say so? But he calls himself white in many tweets and literally in the statement of writing racism in RWBY.

Also nice try, moving the goalpost means you can't lose. "I'm not defending him, now watch as I waste time defending him instead of finding a source against Mika's claims cause I'm bullshitting." I mean Mika doesn't even have a reason to lie, RT employees all admitted they heard and did nothing, Torian a black animator and editor also stated he had race issues with RT and Pat boivan from Castle super beast and pat stares at made a black joke that Miles and select few members laughed at in terms of them having no black or brown people working there. And they ignore woolie when it comes to sponsored stuff, he literally says this on multiple episodes of his show, and THAT's Worrying!

Point is if Miles himself is racist, weather he's white, Hispanic, black etc he still displayed racist behavior multiple times too many. He had a chance to say something to his employees, he didn't bother, he got nervous and waked off. He had the chance when he put BLM after the lashings he got and do something with that, change the company for the better etc, but he didn't he put it there as a band-aid and took it off when he thought people weren't looking.

I keep beating this dead horse because people like you don't seem to do research at all! Because in the face of it it's easier to lie, play dumb (pffft 'play') and make excuses for them instead of holding them accountable.

I didn't want to see RT burn down for a while, but they keep pulling a blizzard, and all these, tweets, articles, statements that miles or the others say or do that's stupid, harmful, racist, shitty keep popping up! At this point it be better as a lesson not to be shitty humans for RT to quietly burn, no special treatment, I'm holding them to the same standard I do for David cage, for activation Blizzard and many other triple A companies. If you don't wanna go down in flames, maybe don't do reprehensible things that keep burning bridges for you. Simple, don't be stupid forhead!

The real mornic stuff was listening to you try and fail at mental gymnastics and not provide a single source for anything you claimed I should "be in awe" of or switching the goal post. RT.s failing and they stacked the deck against themselves, THAT's why people hate them, statements like they saying that when yang drives down the crossroads to Mistral and people guessing she's going to Ruby only for them to like and say "if you heard the bike go one way." These critics, video's, and articles don't exist for no reason.

Pathetic, utterly pathetic, you boasted a big game , puffed out your chest and then walked straight into a cold clock and got your ass handed to you for several rounds. For someone who boasted about "getting in the ring" No flatter yourself, you weren't even competiton.

[basically-rainbow-aus]

Introducing the next pair of RWBabies! Veloheria and Saffron are childhood friends and are rarely ever seen without each other.

Their inboxes are also OPEN for questions!

(Bios are under the cut:)

Veloheria Amin-Bree (Based on Pervical of the Round Table)

Name Inspiration: ‘Velo’ from velocity, ‘Heria’ means decrease in Japanese

Nickname(s): ‘Velo’ by friends and family, ‘Vel’ by anyone, ‘Vee’ by Harriet, ‘Pup’ by Elm

Iolite-isms: Hound Dog, Puppy, Barker, Jeepers Creepers

Languages: Atlesian, Mantlan, Valean, Vacuan

Gender: Female

Species: Dog Faunus

Aura Colour: Purple

Schools and Team: Eiskappe Academy (combat school), Atlas Academy (Academy)/Member of the Ace Naxas, Future Member of Team JSSV (Jasper)

Bestie Better Than The Restie: Saffron Thyme, Sorrel Chamaero

Homeplace: Atlas

Orientation: Asexual Aromantic

Semblance: Slo-Mo, a Semblance that allows Veloheria to slow down time but move outside of it’s effects, essentially making her the ultimate speedster. She is able to use this to her full advantage by the time she gets to Atlas Academy and meets the other Ace Naxas. She is faster on all fours than on two feet though, which is often not an option as Grimm will attack lower opponents than higher ones, so more often than not she gets caught out by a Grimm aiming down in slo-mo. It is activated by Veloheria saying “Freeze!” while finger-gunning the air or a target, and is deactivated by Veloheria saying “Fetch!” while snapping her fingers – both methods require both hands to finger-gun or snap fingers. 

Weapon: Chew Toy, a series of mechanised and weaponised dog toys like frisbees, boomerangs, and tennis balls. Several of them simply explode, but others are bladed or use Dust to present the required effect, so no-one else can retrieve them without permission from Veloheria or if they are bringing them to her. 

Voiced by: Lindsey Jones

Trivia: 

Veloheria’s tail is reflective of her emotions like Marrow’s. If she is excited, happy, shocked, disappointed, all will be expressed via her tail even if she doesn’t show it on her face. She’s not as embarrassed about it as her dad though and will almost never hold it still while wagging.

As much of a daydreamer as she is, she’s academic as well as a rogue.

Despite not being the daughter of leaders, Veloheria believes herself to qualify as a good leader if Jade weren’t around. She likes following orders and making her peers proud of her work, but nothing fills her with more satisfaction than when she’s given direct permission to take the lead on a mission.

Her favourite food is petit fours, an Atlesian cake that she first found in Niko Nikos Treats when she was 7.

She can’t sing to save her life, but she has enough energy to play drums.

Once she gets to Atlas Academy, she begins to carry around a little flask of alcohol in her jacket. Gin, chardonnay, vodka, anything goes. It becomes a vice to her and a little bit of a guilty pleasure that she hides from her teammates and Alutori.

Alutori is practically a big sister, teetering on another parent. Veloheria has always had her around and trusts her with her life, which is why when given the chance to join the Ace Naxa program at age 11, Veloheria jumped at the opportunity and agreed instantly. 

Her best friend is Saffron, who she met in kindergarten, but her longest friend is Jade Ebi, who she has known since she was a baby.

There’s nothing Veloheria loves more than hearing or retelling all the stories that Marrow has told her about his battles and adventures. She’s also heard a few from Clover, the Happy Huntresses, and Darnarian about his fathers.

Saffron Thyme (Based on Excalibur)

Name Inspiration: Saffron is a spice that can be red or yellow

Nickname(s): ‘Saff’ by anyone

Iolite-isms: Meek, Fluffball, Sheer Cold, Robbin’ Time

Languages: Mantlan, Valean

Gender: Male

Species: Sheep Faunus

Aura Colour: Pale Red

Schools and Team: Eiskappe Academy (combat school), Atlas Academy (Academy)/Future Member of Team JSSV

Bestie Better Than The Restie: Veloheria Amin-Bree

Homeplace: Mantle

Orientation: Homosexual Homoromantic

Semblance: Cotton Guard, a Semblance that allows Saffron to manifest his Aura in the form of a cotton or wool-like substance. This can be manuveured however he so pleases, though more often than not it is used as an extension of his Aura’s shield function, able to deflect bullets and snap blades if enough Aura is pushed into it. He has not yet tested the offensive capabilities of the substance’s properties. 

Weapon: Cross, a standardized crossbow-staff hybrid indentical to that of Fiona’s, Joanna’s, and May’s. The crossbow function is fed by two magazines and possesses two bladed arms and a bayonet on each of said arms. The staff may also be split in two as to use a singular crossbow in its traditional method. 

Voiced by: Alessandro Juliani

Trivia: 

Saffron’s ears make him hypersensitive to loud noises. He hates the feedback on microphones and large clatters, which is less than optimal for a little Faunus boy commuting into a busy Kingdom every day for school.

He is fiercely academic and though he doesn’t show it, he’s extremely proud of how he’s turning out in his fields of combat and education.

Being practically born into the life of a Happy Huntress, Saffron is subtly political and still sees the desparities between Atlas and Mantle despite the huge leaps and bounds that have been made to improve conditions after Atlas’ lowering back to the ground years back. He thinks it’s pointless to have updated technology in Atlas if it never reaches Mantle and it’s that problem that means the Callows children are able to get into the systems so easily.

He’s extremely close to not only his mothers, but also his Aunts May and Joanna. Both helped him train as a kid and May especially is the adult he trusts most, being his confidant when he can’t talk to Fiona or Robyn.

He and Veloheria met in kindergarten. They’re extremely close and he has woken up to her throwing rocks as his window more than once so he can come out and play. She was also how he met both Jade and Sorrel, who he has ... mixed feelings on, to say the very least, what with Jade’s occasional insults and Sorrel’s overall intimidating deamanour.

Saffron has traumatophobia, an irrational fear of being hurt or injured. He doesn’t tell people where this steams from because he doesn’t remember it himself. His Semblance is a major relfection into this phobia as it protects him no matter what, and his training has made it so he can prevent causing himself injury.

He’s not picky when it comes to food, he’ll just eat what he’s given, but his favourite would have to be quatre quarts, another Atlesian cake, with an espresso.

Alutori did once offer him a place in the Ace Naxa program, but his traumatophobia won over and he denied the offer.

[howlingday]

tragic backstory (tm) au) cin-cin has ruby yang and pyrrha out to lunch today so a bored jaune is meandering through the school looking for something to do when he stumbles across blake talkign to someone. turns out it's her mother and father and jaune actually makes a really good impression on them.

kali: "so blake, how did you meet your new boyfriend?"

ghirha: "you made a good choice this time, far better than that adam"

blake: "we're not dating."

kali and ghirha together: "we'll no time like the present to fix that"

Partly Clouder

The White Fang were not always so violent. There was a time when peace was not only their preferred method, but their only method. They believed in equality without hostility. But at some point, a member grew tired of peace and sought violence instead. Were they wrong to think so, or merely misguided?

Jaune: And you're sure you'll be okay?

Cin-Cin: (Nods) I'll be fine! I have my new big sisters to help me!

Yang: R-Right... Sisters...

Ruby: Where are we going?

Cin-Cin: I wanna go to a bookstore! I heard from Becky Becker that the new playrites are in stock!

Pyrrha: Then that'll be our first stop. Are you ready, Nora?

Nora: Just a second. (Swigs back a bottle of soda, Downs in one go) Alright, let's- (Belches) go.

Cin-Cin: (Giggles)

Weiss: (Rolls her eyes)

Jaune: Have fun! (They leave) Are you sure you don't want to come, Ren?

Ren: I will be fine on my own. There is much I wish to do while Nora is out.

Jaune: Okay. (Looks to Blake and Weiss) Uh, I guess I'm ready to meet your parents, huh?

Blake: Don't say it like that.

Weiss: Especially when you've already met mine.

Ren: (They leave) ...Finally. (Strips naked) Ah... One with the universe.

Blake: I don't think this is a good idea, Jaune.

Jaune: I heard you, Blake.

Weiss: Did you hear how I know it isn't?

Jaune: I did.

Weiss: I just wanted to be sure, considering you're ignoring my advice.

Jaune: I know it's not the best idea.

Weiss: The worst.

Blake: Without question.

Jaune: BUT... It's something I want to try. After all, when was the last time a Schnee and a Belladonna met before Beacon?

Blake: I'm pretty sure during the Faunus Wars.

Jaune: Great! This will be a good time to bury the hatchet!

Weiss: Preferably in no one's back.

Sienna: Thank you again for escorting me to this meeting, Ghira. I know our last... interaction wasn't on the best of terms.

Ghira: Water under the bridge. Besides, it wasn't you I was angriest with. It was Adam.

Sienna: Who is now in prison, thanks to our guest at this meeting.

Kali: I'm so excited. I get to meet with celebrity and see our baby in person! Do you think they're engaged?

Ghira: Kali, calm down.

Sienna: Don't bother, Ghira. Ca- I mean, Kali was never one for being subtle about love. Especially if it's one of her own.

Kali: Can you blame me? Years of her life wasted with that brute, Adam, and now she's with someone who actually cares about human/Faunus equality. The only thing that would make him better is if he loved fish.

Ghira: Oh, Brothers...

Jacques: Must you escort me, James? I have plenty of guards ready, willing, and able to defend me at a moment's notice.

Ironwood: Yes, but they're also loyal to you, which means they'll shoot anyone you tell them to.

Jacques: Do you really think so little of me, James?

Ironwood: It's not a matter of thinking little; it's a matter of preventing the worst outcome. Not to mention that this is the perfect opportunity to learn more about Arc. His tactical mind would be vital to Atlas, if only we could have him transfer schools. He may be an early graduate.

Jacques: Like yourself?

Ironwood: And your daughter.

Jacques: Yes, and one of two, while the other is escorting Arc as we speak.

Ironwood: Are you proud of her?

Jacques: That she developed close ties with Arc? Of course. Nothing makes me more proud than the early networking my children conduct. Who knows, our mysterious hero may become Jaune Arc-Schnee!

Jaune: ...I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this.

Blake: Really? You weren't expecting a screaming match between the High Leader of the White Fang, the Menagerie Chieftain, the CEO of the SDC, and the General of the Atlas military and Headmaster of said Academy?

Jaune: No, I was. I just wasn't expecting... this kind of shouting.

Jacques: I will be the one to apologize first! My grievances are far more severe than yours, mongrel.

Sienna: No, I will apologize to him first! The blood of every soul fallen or injured in Atlas is my responsibility, you greedy war-monger!

Ironwood: He should attend Atlas! His brilliant mind could benefit our military and serve to guide us into a new age of tactical enlightenment.

Ghira: He should come to Menagerie! He should see the Faunus plight firsthand, so that he may lead with a better understanding of Faunus suffering!

Weiss: I'm just glad they haven't focused on us yet. That would be embarrassing.

Kali: Yes, it would, Miss Schnee.

Weiss: Aah! Where did you come from?!

Kali: I slipped under the table while my husband was distracted. You must be Weiss. My daughter told me all about you.

Weiss: Daughter? You mean...

Kali: Blake, yes. She's told me so much about how you've changed her perspective, and how perhaps not all humans are beyond hope.

Weiss: Oh, that's... very flattering?

Kali: And you must be Jaune. My, you're more handsome than the videos show you to be.

Jaune: (Blushing) Um...

Blake: Mom! Stop!

Kali: Oh, you know I'm only teasing, Kitten. I've always had a soft spot for blond boys. Especially after that one from so long ago. If you were younger, you would be the spitting image of him.

Kali: But that was so long ago. Almost twenty years, in fact. I was a different woman. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by how Blake's story went. After all, she's just like her mother.

Blake: (Blushing) Mom...

Kali: (Sighs) Please, take good care of my daughter, both of you. She's my most precious treasure.

Weiss: Hmph! As if you could expect anything less from Weiss Schnee.

Kali: From a Schnee, I expect nothing. But you aren't just a Schnee. You're a Schnee I haven't seen in so long. And you, Jaune, are an entirely unique person altogether. But I can't help but feel like I've seen you before. I don't know why, but I feel like I can trust you. (Giggles) It must be the blond hair.

Jaune: I'd like to help you, but I can't even control a meeting.

Kali: That's because you aren't using your resources, dear. I can stop half of the table, but you have to use your own to stop the other half. Do you understand?

Jaune: ...I think I do.

Kali: Good. Now, follow my lead. (Paws the air, Smashes her fist down) HEY! KAHN! GHIRA! SHUT UP AND LISTEN!

Ghira: (Stiffens)

Sienna: (Flinches)

Kali: Now it's your turn, Jaune.

Jaune: (Nods)

Jacques: Are you actually going to surrender because a guest told you to heel? You really are beasts!

Weiss: Oh, Father? (Jacques looks at her, She's on her scroll) Forgive me, but I can't remember. How many Js are in "bigot"?

Jacques: (Grunts)

Blake: And General, perhaps Professor Ozpin would like to hear how you intend to weaponize one of his students.

Ironwood: That's not what I- (Clears his throat, Sits down)

Jaune: How was that?

Kali: (Claps her hands) Perfect! And you did it in your own way! (Giggles) I haven't had to use "that" voice in so long. Now, shall we begin our meeting properly now?

Jaune: Yeah, we should. Oh, and Blake? Weiss? Thanks again for your help. I couldn't have done it without you guys here.

Weiss: That's clearly the case.

Blake: As is us standing by to help you.

Jaune: Right. Now, as for why I brought you all here.

Kali: Pick up the pace, dear! We don't want to miss our flight!

Ghira: On my way, darling.

Kali: (Sighs) To think my baby girl would grow so much in so short of time. It just reminds me of the last time in happened.

Ghira: I don't blame you, dear. None of us do. We were just glad to have you back.

Kali: Yes, but two years, Ghira. Two years of my daughter's life I'll never get back because of my selfishness.

Ghira: You were young, and your family needed you. If two had to be set aside for everyone else, it was understandable.

Kali: But not forgivable.

Ghira: Do you miss it?

Kali: (Looks to the blue sky, Clouds roll by lazily) Sometimes... (Thinking) Now I remember that boy.

15 Years Ago...

Sienna: Captain! Enemy vessel escaped! Shall we pursue?

Thug: Nah! We shouldn't! Those punks won't be back; not after how we humiliated them!

Sienna: I was talking to the Captain, Roll! Captain, we have everything from their cargo hold. Shall we split it amongst the crew?

Captain: We'll sell it. Spoils from a thief's ship get more complicated the more it's stolen, to say nothing of a Sky Pirate's.

Punk: And who would steal from the Sky Pirate Queen? (Crew laughs)

Sienna: The box just moved! (Everyone freezes, Captain approaches) C-Captain! Be careful! It might be trapped.

Captain: (Opens the chest) Oho? A pair of sapphires under a cap of gold? (Picks up shivering boy, Shushes) It's okay, I won't hurt you.

Cabin Boy: It's a kid!

Kali: Can you talk? No? That's okay. My name is Captain Belladonna, Queen of the Sky Pirates. (Smiles sweetly) But you can call me, "Kali."

[ask-beacons-finest]

GrimmAge!Sun, stepping up towards the bow of a sailing ship, his hands resting on his hips, calling out: Oyy, Lady Belladonna.

GrimmAge!Blake, leaning over the ship's railings watching the ocean below, her head turning at the call from Sun, wearing a cowl to hide her ears: You needn't call me that, Sun. We aren't at home anymore.

GrimmAge!Sun, taking a place besides her: And you needn't wear that cowl, we won't be hitting the mainland in another few days.

GrimmAge!Blake, sighing, pulling the cowl off her head, revealing her cat ears: I'm simply trying to get accustomed to it. The damned thing is a nuisance. I wish I didn't need to wear it at all.

GrimmAge!Sun, placing a hand on Blake's shoulder: Ay. But you know the reason just as well as I. Humans are dangerous, unpredictable. They fear things they don't understand, and their only response to that fear is violence. They're savages, Blake. And we can't risk the Belladonna heir princess to-

GrimmAge!Blake, scowling, slashing out at Sun, who dodges the strike: They aren't all savages. Have you ever even met a human!? I have. She was kind. Lovely.

GrimmAge!Sun, crossing his arms, a stern look on his face: Ah yes. The blonde warrior who left you without even saying goodbye. She sounds like a wonderful example of the good of humanity.

GrimmAge!Blake, glaring at Sun in silence, turning her head away from him: Irrelevant. Besides, I've heard tales of humans partaking in open trade with folk more bestial than the Faunus.

GrimmAge!Sun, nodding: Ah yes. The beast-kin. The mad magic users who graft the skin of the black beasts onto their newborn children, a ritual that kills most of them. What a perfect group of people to trade willingly with. I'm sure they want nothing of too much value. Just the blood of infants or the bones of one you love most.

GrimmAge!Blake, with an irritated sigh: What are you getting at?

GrimmAge!Sun, narrowing his eyes: I'm getting at this. Do not compare our people to those savages, human or beast-kin. Your adoration of that human woman from years past has clouded your judgement. It's unbecoming of the heir princess.

GrimmAge!Blake, turning her attention back to the Sea, speaking with a low growl: Leave me be, Sun. And for the final time, and I am saying this not as your friend but as your ruler to be, they're not all savages.

~~~~~~~

GrimmAge!Yang, slamming the head of a vaguely humanoid-shaped black creature into a wooden wall, the wood splintering beneath her prey, shouting: WHERE ARE THEY!?

GrimmAge!Yang, stabbing her sword through the creature's chest before it could even hope to answer, a brutal ripping sound of flesh and river of brackish ichor coming from the creature as she cleaves her blade through its side, calling out through the hall of shambling copies: WEISS?! MAY!? SISTER!!?!? WITCH!? WHERE ARE YOU!?

GrimmAge!Yang, her body exploding into burning light, the creatures approaching her stopping in their tracks and begin to cower away from her, a smile spreading on her face as she raises her blade: Fine. I'll find them after I rid the world of you vile things. This will be great fun.

[kali-tmblr]

Why is Penny Back?

"The Greatest Kingdom" caused much of the RWBY fandom to erupt with joy over having Penny back from the scrap heap. Unfortunately this joy was immediately followed by a host of paranoid conspiracy theories about why she came back. I want to examine three popular reasons that I think are bad, and offer up six alternative reasons that I think actually have some credibility.

Let's look at the bad reasons first:

1) To die again. Good writers don't pull the same stunt twice in the same story to the same character. A lot of fans won't put up with writers repeating themselves once within a story, and almost all of them will revolt if they repeat two things in a story. So, even if they ARE going to repeat one thing, they're likely to save it until a lot later, when the stakes are a lot higher and the audience is less likely to revolt, and that one repeat isn't likely to be Penny's death.

2) To be hacked. Penny wasn't hackable in her first iteration, and I think we can safely assume that after a hacking scare Atlas's greatest cyberneticist has made his robot daughter even less hackable now. You'd have an easier time hacking Ironwood's heart monitor. That said, there is a related concern, but we'll get to that later.

3) Fan pressure. As often as this excuse gets thrown up, I have yet to see any credible evidence of fan pressure changing the writing of this show. Nor would outside pressure be necessary, for reasons I will go into later.

Now let's consider six alternative reasons for Penny's return, from least to most likely. The first will examine her physical features, the second and third her role in relation to Team RWBY, the fourth and fifth will look at the reasons for her creation by the Atlesians, and the final one will look at the reasons for her creation by Monty Oum and CRWBY;

1) Heightened senses. The scene in "Black and White" where Penny points out that Blake has cat ears under her bow didn't just convince the remaining members of RWBY that Blake was indeed a Faunus. Indeed, it wasn't necessary for that purpose; they already knew that she was a Faunus. But it also told the audience that Penny has heightened senses. Maybe she has heat sensors that detected the heat signature of Blake's cat ears, maybe something else. We never saw her use those heightened senses again in the first three volumes, but there's no reason she can't use them to reveal something our characters need to know now.

Now let's look at her two potential roles in relation to Team RWBY:

2) Native Child Guide. RWBY is exploring new territory and needs a Native Guide. Jaune and Ren served as the Native Guides on Volume 4, with Qrow serving as an acerbic Native Guide in Volume 5. We already saw in "The Greatest Kingdom" that Weiss may have been too sheltered to serve as a completely reliable Native Guide.

But Penny would not only be a Native Guide but a Native Child Guide. Professional anthropologists love to work with Native Child Guides when studying cultures, for a crucial reason. Children will tell you what's really going on with a combination of bluntness and naivité that no adult can match. Perhaps there is something in the kingdom of Atlas that Team RWBY needs to see through the eyes of a child.

3) Innocent. Also known as the Rookie, the Newbie, or the Audience Identification Figure. The Innocent is the reverse of the Native Child Guide. Instead of giving information to the protagonists that they need to hear, they get information from the protagonists that the audience needs to hear by asking the obvious questions the protagonists already know and may or may not want to admit.

While Penny served briefly as the Innocent in "Black and White", Jaune was the Innocent for most of the Beacon arc. Then he matured out of the role and Oscar served as the Innocent for the Mystral arc. It may be that Penny returns to this role in the Atlas arc.

If so, I will miss Oscar serving as the Innocent, as I think he did it very well. But if he's not serving as the Innocent, that will mean one of two things. Either he is maturing out of that role and into another role, or he is the subject of the questions the Innocent needs to ask. ("Who is that cute boy? Are you dating him?")

But, remember when I said there was a potential problem similar to hacking? Innocents, because of their lack of people knowledge/skills, are especially vulnerable to manipulation. It's not necessary to go through the layers of security to hack Penny if you can straight up manipulate her. That's something to keep in mind.

Now let's examine what Penny's creation tells us about the Kingdom of Atlas. The difference between Penny and the other robots is that Penny has an Aura. Only living beings have an Aura. So where did Penny get her Aura from? There are two possibilities:

4)The Relic of Creation. Most fans are assuming that we'll have to go through the rigamarole of finding the Winter Maiden, escorting her to the portal, etc. etc., but we've already done that story. I highly doubt the Relic of Creation is currently sealed up in it's designer cubbyhole. Ironwood's m.o. is "Resources are meant to be used" so I fully expect to find the Relic in a lab in the middle of Mad Science Mountain with wires sticking out of it. And, given that the Relic of Knowledge is attended by a Blue Fairy, it may be that the Blue Fairy of the Relic of Creation brought Penny/Pinocchio to life and gave her an Aura for Piedro/Gepetto. That would certainly be an awe-inspiring demonstration of the power of that Relic. And if that Relic also has a three uses/century limit on it as well, it might also curtail that Relic's future use in the story.

The secondary evidence for this theory is how panicked Ironwood sounded on the scroll with Ozpin when the Fall of Beacon started. The Grimm invasion didn't scare him, he was panicking over Ozpin finding out about Penny. "Ozpin, the girl, I -- I can explain!" Did you break a promise and use something you weren't supposed to use, Jimmy?

5) Aura Transfer Technology. Ever since we heard Ironwood give his speech about wanting to protect soldiers in "A Minor Hiccup" I have believed that the original concept behind Penny's robot body was to help badly injured soldiers. The fact that Ironwood himself turned out to be a badly injured soldier only reinforced this belief. Then the other shoe dropped when we saw the Aura transfer pods in "Fall". Atlas already had the technology to, as Qrow put it, "Capture it (Aura) and cram it into something else", and not just the Auras of injured soldiers but of magic wielders. It's interesting that Qrow said some THING else and not some ONE else, as if the ultimate goal of the project was to end the confusion over where a Maiden's power went by permanently housing them in robot forms. Later, I wondered if Ironwood wanted to try this with Oz as well, and perhaps even to capture Salem's essence and store it permanently in some kind of containment field. I don't think any of these ideas are especially good, but they do have a distinct mad scientist/control freak vibe that suits the ambiance of Atlas.

At first I thought Penny was Piedro's dead daughter, whose Aura was transferred to a robot as happened in Astroboy. But after Jinn the Blue Fairy of Knowledge showed up I realized that the Blue Fairy of Creation might have simply been able to imbue a robot with Aura as happened in Pinnochio and Pygmalion. On a practical level, it doesn't matter which way it happened. Either way, Penny is proof of concept that robots can successfully contain Auras, and that is an important story beat.

And that brings us to the last and most important reason why Penny came back, the reason why Monty created her in the first place:

6) Androids Are Cool.

RWBY lives and dies by the Rule of Cool. Androids are cool, so, as detailed in the Official Companion, CRWBY made one. Remnant's tech level was about right for them to be starting to tinker with AIs, so why not? It would also allow the writers to explore story beats involving the implications and complications of AIs that they had already examined in other Rooster Teeth productions. Nor is there any need for fans to pressure the writers to bring Penny back when the pressure would be generated by the writers themselves.

All in all, there's a lot of story opportunities that open up with Penny back, and I look forward to exploring them.