Ironswordsman

Just a RWBY lurker

[rwby-confess]

Confession #1463

[thebreadthatcausedlesmis]

Technically, there is a mega folder with pretty much everything in it . The RWBY volumes alone are more than 120gb

[rwby-confess]

bestworstcase's post

[ironswordman]

RWBY VOLUME 10 IS GREENLIT

[ironswordman]

I like RWBY, I truly do. I got into it from my dad back when season 3 was coming out. But I've always felt a strange feeling when I watch it or interact with any other content around it, being offical manga, fan art, fanfics or even playing the games.

Imagine, if you will, and please do, you're in a factory or a classroom or a office or any other large space. The lights are on, they buzz and buzz but it doesn't bother you. There's no dark corner to scare you, nothing can hide. The door is open, you can see the hallway just outside, but only a bit. You don't know if someone is there or not, but does that matter? You know everyone that can be here, so theres no unknown to fear. There's a window up high, you can see the sky but only grey clouds. It looks like its going to rain, but it never will. Even if you might want it to.

You're sitting in the middle of the room. You're surrounded by stations. They can be anything, empty desks with their chairs pushed in. Big machines turned off and all their tools are properly put away. Clean cubicles with the pens all lined up and the phone is squared to the keyboard.

You're in the middle, theres no part of the room you can't see. It's empty, no corner of your vision, no pillar to hide behind. You're doing your job, or your homework, it doesn't matter. You're having fun, its what you like. Theres no risk to you, you're familar with this room enough to know no fear. Nothing is going wrong.

But its empty. Something should be here, but what is it? Is it more people? Is it a certain person? A different task? Should you even ask if you're already content?

That's what watchjng RWBY is like to me

I love it, but somethings not there and I don't know what it is.

[amelia-yap]

thoughts on family

[lovingdabeessss]

Yall ever think about red like roses? You know the song, it’s like the precursor to most popular Rwby song that’s ever happened? Which is red like roses part 2? That one? You guys ever think about it?

Cause boy howdy I do

The fact that it’s her trailer song?

Because I think about it! The fact that both Ruby and yangs trailer songs are both as much or more about other people then it is about them but Ruby’s is the one that’s a lie

Red like roses, the original, is a sad sorrowful song, its soft and sad and it has only 2 lines about herself

“Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest”

Simply grief

It also only contains the lines from everyone’s song that simplifies them down to their colors

Them without their depth, how they see themselves, how they’re seen by the world

Them as they present themselves

But Ruby’s is just

Grief

Just loss

And then throughout the rest of the song we get a lot more upbeat of a tune for her to fight to

But no lyrics

And even with the more upbeat tune it’s not *happy* it’s just active

And then after that, we get a small bit of a horror like sound until we get the fast paced red like roses sounds we know and love (very much feeling like a final move victory kinda sound very much like her sister end of her song)

But that’s it

Ruby’s grief, Weiss’s yearning, Blake’s self loathing, and Yang burning (I have a whole other thing I can say about how those lines are the things she focuses on but another time) and then instrumentals

But THEN

Red like roses part two

And BOY is it different

For ONE

the first section of the song is nearly entirely devoid of instruments!!! It’s just her speaking

Saying what she wants to say

And her FIRST LINE

Is PURELY ANGER

and it’s why red like roses is my FAVORITE FUCKING PEICE of character writing for Ruby or even in the damn show

NOTHING TOPS THIS!!!

The character choice that is deep down Ruby’s most essential feelings are RAGE

The character Choice that she is ANGRY AT HER MOTHER FOR DYING

GODDDD HOW GREAT IS THAT!!! HOW FANTASTIC!!! HOW WONDERFUL!!!

GOD ITS SO GOOOOOOODDDD

Yeah she’s devastated CLEARLY is she devastated!!! She describes her life as a never ending nightmare she doesn’t want to live in and that this has broken her forever, she talks about the shock and denial and grief

But the tone is anger!! She is angry at her mother for choosing the world over her!!! for not coming back!!! for making her life this hell

The kind of vibe of

You put me here

You lied to me, you told me you would come home, I always feared you wouldn’t, and I was right and you lied to me

She is angry she has been denied something so fundamental and so basic as just having her mom

Something she was entitled to

But she acknowledges that she knows her mom didn’t plan to die, and that she was doing what she thought was right

But it undoubtedly fucked her over regardless

End of the day, her mom is still gone, and she still has to fight monsters and save the world as a teenager

The fact that this song’s chorus is about red (blood and death but also rage and anger) consumes her mind and she is constantly inching closer to giving in to the break inside her that she’s been given instead of the love of her mother

And ANOTHER!!! GREAT THING ABOUT THIS SONG

is that this is the only Instance of getting to hear anything at all from summer rose-ANYTHING AT ALL

Her expression of emotion is just so genuine and so from her core it gets a response from beyond the grave!!!

Oh and her response

It’s such GOLDDDDD

because as amazing as it is to show Ruby as not just this sweet little girl who’s happy but also sad about her moms death but gets through it to comfort other people like any other protagonist but as a teenager who’s grown up in a broken home because her mother died for a cause she chose over her children and she’s MAD about it

It’s even MORE amazing and interesting that in summers response we get an equally interesting unique expression of emotion!!! She’s not reduced to simply sad dead mom or tragically dead wife!!!

Throughout the ENTIRETY of the song not ONCE does she say that if she did it again she’d choose her family, she’d choose her daughters, she’d choose Ruby

She’d always leave them

So much agony and sorrow expressed in how she hates watching her daughter suffer

How she hates what her death has done to Ruby, how it’s affected her, the responsibilities she was intending to handle now thrusted onto Ruby

But not once does she say she regrets leaving

She just didn’t think she was going to die

Her first lines in the song as well as her first lines EVER are:

“I know you're broken down by anger and by sadness

You feel I left you in a world that's full of madness

Wish I could talk to you, if only for a minute

Make you understand the reasons why I did it”

‘I know you’ve been broken by the anger and grief I’ve left you with, I know this has ruined your way of looking at the world, I wish I could talk to you even just once more’

But not to comfort her, not to apologize for leaving, not to just be with her

To make her daughter understand why she did this

Why she left them like this

She sees it as something she had to do Ruby sees it as a choice she made

She wanted to save her daughter from the awful future that awaited them all and then ended up leaving her to handle that future alone

She doesn’t apologize for it, she doesn’t take it back

She just acknowledges how hurt Ruby is

And then begs her not to follow her

To escape the cycle summer chose again and again and again until it killed her

The fact that the ending

Is a back and forth argument between them

Is the coolest thing in the world

Just:

You're not the only one who needed me

I thought you understood

You were the one I needed

And you left me as I always feared you would

Would I change it if I could?

Like I just can’t it’s so perfect

“You weren’t the only person who relied on me don’t you get that?” “You weren’t the only person I had to rely on and I yes I always knew you’d still leave me” “would I have done it differently”

LOVE IT

Not ONCE does summer say she’d wouldn’t have done it!!!! She says she didn’t know she was going to die but never that knowing it would’ve stopped her!!! It’s so good!!!

And then the conclusion!!! The mutual agreement that it doesn’t matter anyway because it’s already done!!! They defied life and death to have a conversation and the conclusion is that all these feelings and emotions they want to express but can’t don’t matter anyway because there’s nothing they can do with the feelings anyway

“It’s all already happened

It doesn't matter how

The petals scatter now

Every nightmare just discloses

It's your blood that's red like roses

And no matter what I do

Nothing ever takes the place of you”

The fact that it’s still a duet when they say “it’s your blood that’s red like roses”!!!! Because the whole song is about their doomed deaths!!! That not only did summer leave her but she left her to die a terrible meaningless death right after her!!!!! ITS SOOO GOOD!!!!

“And no matter what I do Nothing ever takes the place of you” SHES TRIED!!! SHES BEEN TRYING!!! ITS SO SAD!!! ITS SO HOPELESS!!!

GODDDDDD I LOVE RUBY

My happy cheerful young girl protagonist that’s secretly at her core defined by an anger shes been given no outlet for and that’s a secret despite the fact she’s represented by. R E D

[lovingdabeessss]

Yall ever think about red like roses? You know the song, it’s like the precursor to most popular Rwby song that’s ever happened? Which is red like roses part 2? That one? You guys ever think about it?

Cause boy howdy I do

The fact that it’s her trailer song?

Because I think about it! The fact that both Ruby and yangs trailer songs are both as much or more about other people then it is about them but Ruby’s is the one that’s a lie

Red like roses, the original, is a sad sorrowful song, its soft and sad and it has only 2 lines about herself

“Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest”

Simply grief

It also only contains the lines from everyone’s song that simplifies them down to their colors

Them without their depth, how they see themselves, how they’re seen by the world

Them as they present themselves

But Ruby’s is just

Grief

Just loss

And then throughout the rest of the song we get a lot more upbeat of a tune for her to fight to

But no lyrics

And even with the more upbeat tune it’s not *happy* it’s just active

And then after that, we get a small bit of a horror like sound until we get the fast paced red like roses sounds we know and love (very much feeling like a final move victory kinda sound very much like her sister end of her song)

But that’s it

Ruby’s grief, Weiss’s yearning, Blake’s self loathing, and Yang burning (I have a whole other thing I can say about how those lines are the things she focuses on but another time) and then instrumentals

But THEN

Red like roses part two

And BOY is it different

For ONE

the first section of the song is nearly entirely devoid of instruments!!! It’s just her speaking

Saying what she wants to say

And her FIRST LINE

Is PURELY ANGER

and it’s why red like roses is my FAVORITE FUCKING PEICE of character writing for Ruby or even in the damn show

NOTHING TOPS THIS!!!

The character choice that is deep down Ruby’s most essential feelings are RAGE

The character Choice that she is ANGRY AT HER MOTHER FOR DYING

GODDDD HOW GREAT IS THAT!!! HOW FANTASTIC!!! HOW WONDERFUL!!!

GOD ITS SO GOOOOOOODDDD

Yeah she’s devastated CLEARLY is she devastated!!! She describes her life as a never ending nightmare she doesn’t want to live in and that this has broken her forever, she talks about the shock and denial and grief

But the tone is anger!! She is angry at her mother for choosing the world over her!!! for not coming back!!! for making her life this hell

The kind of vibe of

You put me here

You lied to me, you told me you would come home, I always feared you wouldn’t, and I was right and you lied to me

She is angry she has been denied something so fundamental and so basic as just having her mom

Something she was entitled to

But she acknowledges that she knows her mom didn’t plan to die, and that she was doing what she thought was right

But it undoubtedly fucked her over regardless

End of the day, her mom is still gone, and she still has to fight monsters and save the world as a teenager

The fact that this song’s chorus is about red (blood and death but also rage and anger) consumes her mind and she is constantly inching closer to giving in to the break inside her that she’s been given instead of the love of her mother

And ANOTHER!!! GREAT THING ABOUT THIS SONG

is that this is the only Instance of getting to hear anything at all from summer rose-ANYTHING AT ALL

Her expression of emotion is just so genuine and so from her core it gets a response from beyond the grave!!!

Oh and her response

It’s such GOLDDDDD

because as amazing as it is to show Ruby as not just this sweet little girl who’s happy but also sad about her moms death but gets through it to comfort other people like any other protagonist but as a teenager who’s grown up in a broken home because her mother died for a cause she chose over her children and she’s MAD about it

It’s even MORE amazing and interesting that in summers response we get an equally interesting unique expression of emotion!!! She’s not reduced to simply sad dead mom or tragically dead wife!!!

Throughout the ENTIRETY of the song not ONCE does she say that if she did it again she’d choose her family, she’d choose her daughters, she’d choose Ruby

She’d always leave them

So much agony and sorrow expressed in how she hates watching her daughter suffer

How she hates what her death has done to Ruby, how it’s affected her, the responsibilities she was intending to handle now thrusted onto Ruby

But not once does she say she regrets leaving

She just didn’t think she was going to die

Her first lines in the song as well as her first lines EVER are:

“I know you're broken down by anger and by sadness

You feel I left you in a world that's full of madness

Wish I could talk to you, if only for a minute

Make you understand the reasons why I did it”

‘I know you’ve been broken by the anger and grief I’ve left you with, I know this has ruined your way of looking at the world, I wish I could talk to you even just once more’

But not to comfort her, not to apologize for leaving, not to just be with her

To make her daughter understand why she did this

Why she left them like this

She sees it as something she had to do Ruby sees it as a choice she made

She wanted to save her daughter from the awful future that awaited them all and then ended up leaving her to handle that future alone

She doesn’t apologize for it, she doesn’t take it back

She just acknowledges how hurt Ruby is

And then begs her not to follow her

To escape the cycle summer chose again and again and again until it killed her

The fact that the ending

Is a back and forth argument between them

Is the coolest thing in the world

Just:

You're not the only one who needed me

I thought you understood

You were the one I needed

And you left me as I always feared you would

Would I change it if I could?

Like I just can’t it’s so perfect

“You weren’t the only person who relied on me don’t you get that?” “You weren’t the only person I had to rely on and I yes I always knew you’d still leave me” “would I have done it differently”

LOVE IT

Not ONCE does summer say she’d wouldn’t have done it!!!! She says she didn’t know she was going to die but never that knowing it would’ve stopped her!!! It’s so good!!!

And then the conclusion!!! The mutual agreement that it doesn’t matter anyway because it’s already done!!! They defied life and death to have a conversation and the conclusion is that all these feelings and emotions they want to express but can’t don’t matter anyway because there’s nothing they can do with the feelings anyway

“It’s all already happened

It doesn't matter how

The petals scatter now

Every nightmare just discloses

It's your blood that's red like roses

And no matter what I do

Nothing ever takes the place of you”

The fact that it’s still a duet when they say “it’s your blood that’s red like roses”!!!! Because the whole song is about their doomed deaths!!! That not only did summer leave her but she left her to die a terrible meaningless death right after her!!!!! ITS SOOO GOOD!!!!

“And no matter what I do Nothing ever takes the place of you” SHES TRIED!!! SHES BEEN TRYING!!! ITS SO SAD!!! ITS SO HOPELESS!!!

GODDDDDD I LOVE RUBY

My happy cheerful young girl protagonist that’s secretly at her core defined by an anger shes been given no outlet for and that’s a secret despite the fact she’s represented by. R E D

[vigilantsycamore]

My brain keeps throwing fic ideas at me and one of those (feel free to use it if you find it interesting) is "Ruby somehow ends up in a world where she was never born (think It's A Wonderful Life without the guardian angel), but the POV character is the Rubyless Remnant's version of Weiss"

The starting point would be Weiss, trapped in Atlas after the Fall of Vale, clearly not in a good place, and viewing her time at Beacon as a mistake, and then suddenly she gets kidnapped rescued by this mysterious girl in a red cloak who claims to be her partner even though they've never met

Weiss's initial assumption is that she's being kidnapped by some sort of stalker fan... but that's still a step up over living with Jacques so she'll take it. She doesn't actually believe anything Ruby's saying... and then Ruby mentions that Weiss always wanted bunk beds as a kid

Hey. Mysterious stalker fan cloak girl. How do you know that

After that Weiss starts to believe there might be something to Ruby's story

I'm thinking that at that point, Weiss's plan would just be "follow the girl in the red cloak and see where this goes"

Ruby's plan is probably to find her teammates - one down, two to go. First problem, the last time this Blake and this Weiss saw each other was their argument from The Stray. Second problem, I've thought about this and there's a very real chance that a Yang in a Rubyless Remnant would have died before she even got into Beacon, and there's no way Ruby'd take that information well

Weiss helps Ruby with processing that, starts listening to Ruby's stories of this Other (canon) Remnant, promises to help Ruby find a way home, starts to fall in love with Ruby along the way...

Thing is though, (unless this is an altered timeline situation and all you have to do is un-alter it) there's really 2 options for how this might end. Either Ruby never finds a way home and instead stays in the formerly Rubyless Remnant, or Ruby does find a way home... leaving Rubyless Weiss once again without a Ruby. That last option is the one I prefer

[alanaisalive]

The other night husband and I were watching a documentary about the yeti where they were doing DNA analysis of samples of supposed yeti fur, and every one of them came back as bears.

Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.

So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.

Bears. They’re everywhere. Be wary. Anyone or anything could be a bear.

[iguanamouth]

oh shit

[throughshadow-to-the-edgeofnight]

[alanaisalive]

As the OP of this post, I’m going to threaten that if this gets to one million notes by the 10 year anniversary on 1 June 2026, one year from today, I will get a lower back tattoo of the loch ness bear monster.

[docd666]

Y'all know what to do Tumblr.

[setzeri]

For the 1st anniversary of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom I unleash comics where Rauru & Sonia are just weird people.

[y0urnewhyperfixation]

whiterose in bloom day 4: favorite fic (I couldn't choose one lol)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/38672775/chapters/96685365

https://archiveofourown.org/works/47785732/chapters/120464026#workskin

[itsmyestate]

1AM Shit Post about Shadow Slave but what’s new (also major spoilers so if you’re a new reader don’t scroll down!)

Shadow Slave having two of its big main themes being around ‘nothing can be perfect’ and how ‘freedom is choosing the chains you are bound by’ is honestly such a rad move by G3 as an author.

Something about how ultimate freedom does not get presented in a liberating but rather damning sense, and how the God’s own flaws only became their undoing because they were ashamed. About how hiding away your own mistakes and how to be free from everything is something none should do, not to mention wish for.

And it’s something how both these actions is almost antithetical to the relationship of lights and shadows, and that to ultimately be a person means to face the horror of being known; you can’t have your cake and then eat it, or in this case you can’t stand in the light and not have a shadow cast in your image. How a shadow being untethered means to forget why it mattered. Why anything mattered.

On that note Sunny being called Eye Candy will never not be funny to me; he really was a fem boy since day one (even after becoming a Saint he still thinks he is only decently attractive… BLUD 😭)

[kira-kui-n]

expect my 2 hour lore video on the hitherto undiscussed latin bat outer god within the week

[lumsketch]

decided to celebrate Make A Terrible Comic Day with another elden ring lore drop

[spectralpixelsredone]

You Can't Thwart Stage One (Cinder/Salem Circle Analysis)

RWBY Volume 3 Analysis

This analysis focuses on the events of RWBY Volume 3, particularly the Vale Arc, and the villains' success in achieving their goals. It draws on insights from TV Tropes and the RWBY wiki. Feel free to share your thoughts or conclusions in comments or reblogs.

The Vale Arc: Villains' Triumph

Despite numerous opportunities, the heroes fail to thwart the villains' scheme in Volume 3, achieving only minor victories. The villains' plan unfolds successfully due to the heroes' repeated failures:

They cannot prevent the villains from infecting the control tower with a virus.

They fail to stop a bomb-laden train from releasing Grimm into Vale, allowing the villains to pose as allies by "saving" the city.

The villains manipulate Yang into attacking a seemingly defeated opponent during a live broadcast.

They orchestrate Pyrrha's accidental killing of Penny during another broadcast.

Using these moments, the villains seize global airwaves to deliver a speech that triggers a massive Grimm invasion.

As a result, Beacon Academy is destroyed, many lives are lost (including two key characters), Cinder gains the Fall Maiden's full power, and Salem confirms the Relic of Choice is hidden at the school. Salem concludes the volume with a speech to Ozpin, vowing to extinguish humanity's hope and destroy all he holds dear.

The heroes' limited successes include:

Saving Vale city, which the villains deem unimportant.

Freezing the Grimm Wyvern to Beacon's ruined tower, inadvertently attracting more Grimm and preventing Huntsmen from reclaiming the school.

Permanently injuring Cinder, fueling her obsession with vengeance against Ruby. (Which is useless as Cinder and Salem get Vale destroyed anyhow)

Villains' Strategy: Flaw Exploitation

The villains' success stems from exploiting the heroes' weaknesses during a vulnerable period when training and systems prioritize strengths over addressing flaws. Their "Stage One" plan is meticulously crafted to succeed without interference, leveraging deep intel and preparations. However, there is no equally strategic "Stage Two." The chaos they create prevents them from immediately targeting another static objective, making their victory a surprise escalation in a cold war rather than a bid for world domination. The lack of a clear endgame contributes to their success by obscuring their ultimate intentions, slowing the heroes' responses.

Villains' Dynamics

Surprisingly, Salem commands a small inner circle, with few minions. Unlike larger villain groups like DC's Legion of Doom, her team is effective despite internal tensions and mutual dislike, with occasional villainous friendships. They outmaneuver larger organizations and make fools of their opponents.

Cinder Fall

Cinder, initially presented as a formidable antagonist, self-destructs due to her flaws. Her obsession with power lacks a clear purpose, mirroring Salem's ambiguous goals. Her backstory reveals a desire to avoid pain and gain strength, but she has no defined endgame. This vagueness inadvertently aids her, as her unpredictable motives make her plans hard to counter. However, her role as Salem's intermediary with the White Fang creates tension with Adam, who views her as a threat.

Adam Taurus

Adam, a key White Fang leader, is more popular than his predecessor, Sienna Khan. Salem values his loyalty, entrusting him to secure the White Fang's cooperation. Adam kills Sienna to assume control, resolving Salem's concerns about her reluctance. However, his actions backfire. Using his power, Adam attempts to kidnap Blake Belladonna and kill her parents, who later form a Faunus militia that foils his mission to destroy Haven. His self-destructive tendencies, like Cinder's, undermine their cause. It’s unclear if Salem knows or cares about Adam’s death.

Salem

Salem's goals remain enigmatic—possibly seeking the Relics to rule the world or to end her own existence, though the cruel Brother Gods are unlikely to grant the latter. She operates indirectly, relying on her minions, who often dislike each other, underperform, or lack resources. Watts and Tyrian are exceptions: Tyrian excels in his role, while Watts identifies issues but is ignored. In Volume 8, Watts achieves success when acting independently, but Cinder’s ego-driven actions lead to his death. Salem’s indifference to losing a competent minion like Watts highlights her detachment. A potential "Stage Two" could have succeeded if Watts’ warnings had been heeded.

Salem’s Inner Circle

Salem’s small, fractious inner circle is remarkably effective despite its dysfunction:

Arthur Watts: Highly competent but ignored, achieving success when independent. Dies due to Cinder’s actions.

Cinder Fall: A dangerous "big bad" wannabe whose lack of clear goals makes her unpredictable.

Hazel Rainart: Motivated by irrational goals, eventually turns against Salem.

Mercury Black: Skilled but low-ranking, likely to defect.

Tyrian Callows: Highly effective but dangerously unstable.

Emerald Sustrai: Defects from the group.

Neopolitan: Motivated solely by vengeance against Ruby, indifferent to Salem’s goals.

Roman Torchwick: Unaware of Salem’s existence but effective. His death indirectly aids Salem’s Volume 8 victory via Neo’s actions.

Vermillion Raddock: Status unknown, possibly dead.

Other groups like human supremacists, Silver Bullet, Starhead Industrial Company, or the SDC are not directly tied to Salem. The White Fang aligns with her after Adam eliminates Sienna, but his self-destruction leaves Salem without their support. The Grimm serve as cannon fodder, relying on zerg-rush tactics, exploiting weaknesses like Atlas’ lack of air defenses. (Prob. cause they would hate Salem also, the somewhat help her goals by accident)

The Heroes’ Dysfunction

Salem’s small, dysfunctional team triumphs because the heroes are equally disorganized and weaker. With major militaries neutralized, Salem holds a strategic advantage despite her reduced forces. The heroes’ reliance on Ruby’s optimism as a “Morality Pet” exacerbates their failures. Her “Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!” personality allows teammates to justify their flaws:

Weiss uses Ruby’s optimism to avoid confronting her father’s influence over her family and company.

Blake condemns even sympathetic White Fang members, driven by Adam’s extremism and her aversion to violence.

Yang frames their journey as a fairy tale, blaming Salem for all problems (including Summer Rose’s death). (Granted she's not wrong if Salem been in the background pushing causing strife...but who knows)

The villains’ blunders, particularly Cinder and Adam’s “Bond Villain Stupidity” in pursuing revenge, temporarily mask the heroes’ flaws. However, when the villains adapt, the heroes falter, ignoring the strain on Ruby, assuming she’ll recover due to her outward resilience.

Key Takeaways

Cinder: Mysterious enigmas are often just grunts, unlikely to evolve beyond their role.

Adam: Leaders prone to self-destruction undermine their own causes.

Salem: Her ambiguous, ever-shifting goals make her unpredictable, giving her control over the planet’s fate.

The Forces of Good: Disunity and dysfunction allow weaker villains to dominate, leaving the heroes dependent on the villains’ mercy—or facing defeat.

Other Drabbles

(Roman sudden death allows Salem to win.)

[amelia-yap]

life is hard.

[the-real-skye]

Obviously, the best solution is to kiss Ruby in front of them!

[freshmiraclecheesecake]

While being gentlely hugged by Jaune.

[miraculousagentsofkrypton]

We all know the Jinxy Peddler's requests weren't arbitrary and were deeply individual. But what that actually means is that the auction scene is just an insanely good character moment.

We know of three requests to humans: Alyx's best and worst memories, Ruby's hope, and Yang's ability to know what it is to feel loved.

Given Ruby's, we know it doesn't necessarily have to be something they currently possess. I'm fairly certain its the thing they treasure and desire the most. And it's a thing they know what it means and feels like to possess. The absence of giving it away wouldn't be theoretical because they *have* possessed it at some point.

So what do Ruby and Yang's tell us then.

Ruby's greatest desire was Hope. This isn't a circumstantial type greatest desire; this has been the thing Ruby has Desperately Clung to the entire series. She's clung to it for herself, but also to be a source of it for others. She's Always been Intimately aware of the fact that Hope is the Single Most Important Thing a Hero and a Huntress Team Must Possess.

For all that Volume 1 Ruby was inexperienced, she wasn't naive or dumb. And her life hadn't been free of hardship. Her perspective was a choice.

And more than anything, Volume 9 Ruby needed her Hope back. And we all know Penny has always been a metaphorical representation of Hope for Ruby

Yang, more than anything in the entire world, covets the idea of being Loved. Love in this case isn't necessarily romantic, just the need to know someone cares about her just as much as she does them. The thing is, one doesn't deeply desire that feeling to that extent unless they feel it's absence. And Boy, has Yang felt its absence.

Every Single Person in Yang's Life has left her at some point, only some of them returning to her. Raven abandoned her, Tai emotionally abandoned her, Summer died, Qrow certainly wasn't a constant, Ruby left, Blake left, even Weiss technically. Where Yang has been a constant for everyone she loves, they haven't for her. (The semantics of Ruby and Yang's semi-mutual separation aren't relevant for this. This is Yang's emotions, Exact Logic has no place here.)

People keep doing this over and over despite Yang's best efforts, and lovingly devoted ways. And I wonder if Yang had truly felt that knowledge that she is Loved, since Summer died. Remember, it wasn't being loved, it was knowing what it is to feel loved.

Yang is so so loved, by many. But she so desperately wanted to feel loved, and to feel secure in it.

[anthurak]

Weird/Funny little idea I had:

Team RWBY as part of a multi-crossover with a large cast where they aren't really the main central focus characters, but are instead are essentially in the same role as the Penguins in the Madagascar movies. In that they are a quartet of comedically unhinged, hyper-competent badass side-characters who are often off solving big plot issues while everyone else is dealing with character stuff or just being weirdly unsettlingly hilarious.

Like say, Ruby being always at once super upbeat and friendly while also being ruthlessly pragmatic, or Blake being rather laid-back and chill while having a shocking amount of off-hand know-how of criminal activity, or just the whole whole team having just a neverending supply of casual yet extremely dark and unsettling anecdotes from their experience as what is essentially fantasy war-veterans.

[anthurak]

Further ideas:

Yang is a light-hearted, fun-loving daredevil who gets unsettlingly enthusiastic about fights and gets this creepy grin whenever she gets angry.

And Weiss at first comes off as the most NORMAL of the bunch, being often a bit flabbergasted at her teammates’ antics and being a bit of their proverbial ‘straight man’. Except she only ever seems to be mildly annoyed at even the most unsettling of her teammates’ antics, to the point where she herself comes off rather unsettling. And of course she herself is always on board with whatever zany scheme is at play. Whenever Ruby suggests some unhinged plan like heisting a casino or breaking into a secret government facility, Weiss is generally the one to go ‘Ruby, that plan is crazy. So let’s be smart about it, shall we?’ She’s also still something of the buttmonkey of the team XD

And of course the whole team is pretty much always rather unsettlingly Ride-or-Die for each other. Like if they ever get a whiff that one is in danger, or just being made fun of or being ordered around; the weapons are coming out. Blake and Yang are a combination of ‘sickeningly sweethearts’ and ‘melodramatic rivals to lovers’ who at times seem like they might get off to mortal danger together and/or trying to kill each other. Meanwhile Ruby and Weiss are just casually affectionate/romantic with each other and also really casual about all the messed up shit they’d do for each other. Plus all four are just really mutually codependent with each other.