While staying in Atlas, our young heroes of RWBY and the JN(O)R gang decide to take a day off to explore the sights. During their excursion, due to their differing interests, the group decides to split up into four pairs: Ren and Nora, Blake and Yang, Weiss and Jaune and lastly, Ruby and Oscar.
Ruby was really enthusiastic about checking out the Atlesian Delta Mall---a giant shopping precinct within the kingdom that was very popular with the local youths because of its entertainment arena home to an arcade and a giant movie complex among other fun areas.
At first the Rosebuds were happily enjoying themselves. However things turn sour when Oscar gets separated from Ruby while exploring the wall.
During his search for his missing rose, Oscar’s lone trek across the complex leads him to bump into a rather interesting group of people Before Oscar got a chance to even apologize to who he bumped into, he suddenly found himself swarmed on all sides by four girls who practically towered over him.
One girl was a proud blonde by the name of Clementine Pell. Another girl, a brunette with glasses was Naomi Navy. The third girl, a walking body of pink, was Ran Orchid and finally the fourth girl, Yasmine Alba---a red-eyed beauty with long hair as white as snow.
Oscar swallowed nervously as the girls flocked around him. Suddenly he felt like a worm trapped in a cage of hungry canaries.
Clementine: Well what do we have here ladies? Looks like a little prince has lost his way.
Naomi: Ooh you're right Clem! He does look like a prince.
Ran: He’s such a cutie pie. I love his freckles! I can just eat him up!
Yasmine: Quit acting so thirsty Ran. What's your name, sugar pie?
Oscar: *awkwardly* Uh...I---Os---Oscar.
Ran: Ooh Oscar!
Naomi: Like Gold!
Clementine: So you're a golden prince.
Oscar: Uh, if you'll excuse I really need to catch up with my---
Oscar attempted to walk past one of the girls---the snow-haired one---but to his dismay, she snaked her around one of his.
Yasmine: What's the rush, darling?
Ran: Yeah, why don't you come hang out with us?
Clementine: You wouldn't want to refuse the company of four beautiful girls like us now won't you?
Yasmine: Won't you!
Oscar: I...I...
Just when Oscar believed he was a goner, a glimmer of red caught his eyes as Ruby Rose came into view.
Ruby: There you are! I've been looking all over for you.
Oscar: *in relief* Ruby!
Instantly, Oscar wiggled his way out of the snow-haired girl’s grip and joined Ruby at her side. Ruby smiled at Oscar before training her attention on the four girls who eyed her with stern expressions.
The blonde one even got up in Ruby’s face.
Clementine: Excuse me but we saw him first!
Ran: Yeah paws off our little prince!
Ruby: *blinking confusedly* Your little… what now?
She looked at Oscar.
Ruby: Oscar, do you know these girls?
Oscar: No I've never seen them in my life.
Ruby: *frowning crossly* Are they harassing you?
Oscar: I---
Yasmine: He was about to get to know us personally before you butted in.
Naomi: Buzz off!
Ran: Yeah, who do you think you are?
Ruby: Oh where are my manners? The name’s Ruby Rose and…
Ruby draped one arm around Oscar’s shoulder pulling him closer to her with a big beaming smile.
Ruby: I'm his girlfriend!
CNRY: *in unison* What!
Oscar: Wait...what?
Clementine: *hands on hips; appearing skeptical* Funny, you don't seem like his girlfriend.
Yasmine: Yeah like a cutie prince like him would ever date ugly peasant trash like you.
Oscar: *frowning defensively* Hey! Don't talk to her like----
Ruby: It's okay, sweetie. I'll handle this.
Ruby glanced back at the four CNRY girls; the smile on her face now curling into a smirk.
Ruby: So you want proof, you say?
Before Oscar had time to react; the next thing the small farm boy knew, Ruby suddenly closed the space between them and planted her bare lips over his in a kiss.
At first, Oscar was caught off guard by the sudden invasion. His body stiffened at the first out of shock but after a while he slowly felt herself melt into the kiss and it was not long before that he actually started kissing Ruby back.
By the time the two parted, Oscar’s heart was like a drum in his chest. His cheeks were flushed; far more than usual as he just stood staring at Ruby.
He wasn’t the only one. When Ruby returned to the four girls, their faces were a perfect Picasso of astonishment, disappointment and unbridled rage. A masterpiece of human expression that brought the big Chesire-cat smile back to Ruby’s face.
Ruby: *smugly* Proof enough for you ladies? Or do you need more convincing?
Yasmine: *disgustedly* No thank you!
Clementine: Let's go girls. Before I lose my lunch.
Naomi & Ran: Totally!
Whipping their hair, the CNRY girls walked away; finally leave Ruby and Oscar to themselves once more.
Ruby: Phew! That was a close one. Sorry for that. It was the only thing I could think of. But at least they're gone now, right Oscar?
Oscar: ...
Ruby: Oscar?
Ruby faces Oscar; finding him still staring at her.
Ruby: What's with that face!
Oscar: I'm sorry! You...kissed me. You actually kissed me.
Ruby: *defensively* Yeah but it was a fake kiss. To help you with the---
Oscar: *frantically* I know I know! It's just...that was...well...my…
Oscar: No! No! It's ok. Better you than those girls, right? Besides...it was fine.
Ruby: *taken aback* Fine?
Oscar: As in good. *embarrassed* It’s…not exactly how I pictured our---I mean…my first kiss being but---y’know…
Ruby: *awkwardly*Well...uh...if it's any consolation, it was my first kiss too so…
Oscar: *incredulously* Wait...WHAT! That cannot be your first kiss. How?
Ruby: What do you mean how?
Oscar: I just...I mean I always figured you of all people would have kissed tons of guys before.
Ruby: Excuse me?
Oscar: I don't mean it any bad way. I just...I always figured a beautiful girl like you would have some tall handsome guy or y’know…several guys waiting for you back home in Vale.
Ruby: *snorts* That's…really weird but really sweet of you to assume but...no.
Oscar: *still in disbelief* Really? Not even at Beacon?
Ruby: Well at Beacon I was pretty much the runt of the school. Youngest huntress to be accepted, remember?
Oscar: Yeah but...you're also pretty amazing.
Ruby: *laughingly* Trust me. If you had met me back then, you wouldn't think that.
Oscar: I doubt it. If you were just as cool and kind as you are now, I would've liked you sooner. *jokingly* Y’know beat out all those guys in line for your hand.
Ruby: *giggling* Oh please. I didn't even have a date to the school dance. Me having a line of guys chasing after me. That’s rich!
Oscar: I should've been at Beacon.
Ruby: Why’d you say that?
Oscar: So I could’ve asked you to the dance.
Ruby: *snorts* Pffft! Again, really sweet of you Oscar but… you would’ve been 13. That’s younger than I was.
Oscar: *smiling* So? I'd still ask you.
Ruby: *blushing slightly* Well tell you what? If there's ever another dance, you'd be my first choice for my date.
Oscar: *grinning* I'm going to hold you to that. It’s a date. And…uh… speaking of dates…
Oscar took Ruby’s hand, looking at her warmly.
Oscar: Ms. Rose, would you do me the honour of going on a date with me right now?
Ruby:*snickering* Do me the honour?
Oscar: *embarrassedly* What? Tha---That’s how the guys asked out the girls back home. It’s a farm folk custom!
Ruby:*laughing* You’re not serious!
Oscar: *huffily* It is! You Valerian city girls just don’t know common courtesy.
Ruby: *teasingly* Jokes on you, I’m a Patch girl, born and raised. Besides I meant about the date thing. You’re not serious about that, right?
Oscar: Actually I am. We still have a couple hours to kill before we meet back up with the others, right? And…there’s a perfectly good movie theatre right over there that’s showing all three Grimm Samurais movies with a food court that gives out free popcorn to couples. Besides I think those crazy girls from before might still be lurking around. You mind playing my girlfriend for a few more hours?
Ruby: *excitedly* You had me at Grimm Samurais! Let’s go!
Oscar: *grinning* After you, snookums.
Ruby gave Oscar a weird look; brows raised. Oscar blushed.
Oscar: *defensively* What? It---It’s part of the pretend.
Ruby: Y’know what’s also part of the pretend. You paying for me.
Oscar: What!
Ruby: Now c’mon Oscar, what kind of pretend boyfriend would you be if you didn’t treat your cute pretend girlfriend to our pretend movie date? Isn’t that right pumpkin?
Oscar: *pouting* I’m going to pretend dump you.
Ruby: Can’t cause you’re pretend madly in love with me!
Ruby sticks out her tongue at Oscar playfully before skipping off before he could say anything else. Oscar only shook his head as he only stared after the Silver eyed huntress. He then sighed dreamily.
‘…Or maybe I’m just in love with you for real…’ Oscar thought; an affectionate smile already tugging at his lips. With that, the young farm boy caught up to Ruby; taking her hand in his again as she in turn beamed brightly and tugged him forward in eager excitement, as the two rosebuds entered the mall theater together.
And scene.
Squiggly Scriptwriter’s Commentary:
This has been sitting in my drafts for weeks and I didn’t realize how adorkably cheesy this was until I finished editing it. So much cheese. Hope no one reading is lactose intolerant.
This spawned from the random idea of what if… Ruby fake-out made out with Oscar to get him out of a sticky scenario with a group of fangirls. I quite like the romance trope of the fated pair fake kissing each other for show only for their real feelings to surface later in the plot.
I was planning on releasing this script earlier but…y’know busy bug syndrome got in the way. It wasn’t until I saw @blackhakumen beat me to the punch with his own version of the “playing pretend” trope for Rosegarden, that I finally figured it’s about time I finished this. You can almost say his work gave me the push to finally wrap this up! Thanks for the motivation boast with your script Black. If you haven’t, check out Mini Fanfic #64: My Boyfriend by Blackhakumen.
I haven’t written anything this cheesy for Rosegarden since my ‘A-Dork You!’ RWBY Squiggle Script. Good times. I still love that script.
A special thank you bunches of oats to my fellow Garden Rosebud @miki-13 for loaning me their lovely OCs who cameoed in this script.
The CNRY girls are from Miki’s RWBY fanfic---‘Reconciliation’. If you haven’t already checked it out, I’d definitely recommend it to you guys. It’s a fantastic read that not only tells an excellent interpretive follow-up from the events of V6 but it also includes an original cast of interesting characters. Seriously check it out.
I hope you didn’t mind the cameo Miki. When I first thought up this script, I was originally going to go with a random character but then I remembered your CNRY girls. Sorry if me borrowing them was for something as cheesy as this. The CNRY girls served their part well. I just hope I did your girls justice here.
Yo Squiggles. How about you tackle your next Squiggles Script with this idea: Yang finally telling the group about knowing that Raven is the spring maiden, and Oscar’s reaction to finding out she was hiding things just like Oz was. Whether he’s angry or more calm and understanding about that, I’m not too sure.
Alright Miggy, you asked for it. Though I don’t exactlywish to make a habit out of taking requests for RWBY Squiggle Scripts since I like for them to remain spontaneous, nevertheless,I took a crack at another one of your ideas prompts because it is a scenariothat I’m curious to see handled in the canon.
I’m interested inseeing how the CRWBY Writers are going to handle Yang spilling the beans on Raven to the teamand Oscar’s reaction. I have afeeling that the CRWBY Writers more or less might pull another BS approach andhave Oscar be perfectlyfine with Yang keeping her mother’ssecret while chastising Ozpin over his. The only time we’ve seen Oscar becometruly emotional is back in V4 after his first encounter with Ozpin and the dojoscene with Ruby in V5.
Following that, Oscar was slapped with this ‘perfectly fine’ demeanour even in the face of frustrating conflictthat I, quite frankly find rather disbelieving. Admittedly I’d like to think ofOscar as, not necessarily a ticking time bombbut more like a balloon that is idly sailing floating around without a care in the world untilsomething unexpected comes along to pop him right out of orbit and comecrashing right back down to the reality of the truth, y’know what I’m saying?
Keeping that in mind, I composed this script withthis concept of Yang’s deceit being the pin to finally pop Oscar and unleasheverything he’s been brushing off since Argus. A small disclaimer though. Iactually went for the more angry approach to Oscar’s reaction to Yang’sdeceit. In my imagination, I can see Oscar becoming furious with Yang; angrierthan he should have been with Jaune back in Argus. I went with the angryapproach because I, personally, cannot see Oscar being perfectly fine withYang’s hypocrisy.
Apologies in advancefor Jaune’s characterization in this squiggle scriptas well. As revealed in the canon, Jaune has been carrying a lot of his rageand grief retained from his loss over Pyrhha and it has reflected in hispersonality and overall tolerance to certain things over the seasons. While Iunderstand V6C9 more or less highlighted Jauneovercoming his grief over Pyrhha, I’m not quite convinced he’s done beingangry.
While his confrontation with Oscar may have caused him to finally differentiatehow he views Oscar over Ozpin, that’s not enough to indicate to me that Jauneis done being angry toward Oz and the idea of secrets being kept from the teamas a whole. That being said, sorry if I made everyone’s favourite Arc seem alittle douche-y.
I needed a secondary character to be especially confrontational with Yang overher deceit and figured Jaune fit the bill better than anyone else. If Yang was toever came clean, Jaune is another I can see being rather adverse to this; maybeeven a bit testy and borderline unpleasant. This is mostly going offof his reaction to Ozpin’s deceit in V6 C8 but youknow, this is mostly my interpretation.
As with every script I do my best to keep everyonein character according to my perception of the character and what I think theywould say in certain scenarios. So, I did my best. Without further ado, let’sjump right in.
RWBY Squiggle Script #012: Divided Once More
Picture it: Fast-forward. Yang has just finished informing everyoneabout the secret she’s been keeping about Raven. She reveals that she is theSpring Maiden. She doesn’t really say anything else beyond that and basicallywaits for everyone’s reactions to the news. Some folks are understanding, likeher RWBY teammates. Others…not so much.
Ren: So…Raven was the Spring Maiden all the timeand…Vernal was just her decoy.
Yang: Yeah. I’m sorry you’re only hearing this now but…Iwanted you to at least hear it from me. I just…I’m sorry.
Blake: *taking Yang’s hand and smiling at her comfortingly* Yang, it’s okay.
From the other side of the room where he stoodleaning against the wall, Jaune scoffed.
Jaune: *irritated* You guys aren’t serious. You’re comforting her?
Jaune: Yeah but she’s a liar! You knew who the SpringMaiden was and never told us. How could you?!
Weiss: Jaune, calm down. I’m sure Yang had aperfectly good reason to—
Jaune: To lie? Gee, now where have we heard that before?What happened to trusting each other and not lying to each other?
Yang: *defensively* Ididn’t lie to you.
Nora: *chiming in* Yeahbut you certainly didn’t tell us everything you knew about the Spring Maideneither.
Ren: You didn’t trust usenough to tell us.
Jaune: I can’t believe this is happening again.I thought we were over this? What happened to no more secrets? No more lies!
Yang: *heatedly* Ididn’t lie! I just—
Yang takes a deep breath, recomposing herself tomake sure she chose her next words carefully.
Yang: *apologetically* Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys about thissooner. I messed up and I know that. This is why I am telling you now. I’m telling you. I know I can’t make up for everything that’sbeen done before and I don’t expect all of you to understand but…it was my mom.I didn’t want to keep this secret from everyone but I felt like I had to.
Jaune: *incredulously* You had to?
Yang: Yes! Raven is theSpring Maiden but she’s also my mother. The mother I spent years trying tofind. The mother who protected me from Neo. My mother!
Jaune: *confrontationally* Ohyou mean the same mother who betrayed us at the Battle of Haven and helpedCinder go after the Relic? The same mother whose tribe kidnapped Weiss and heldher hostage in their camp. The same mother who abandoned you and never lookedback!
Blake: Jaune!
At this point Jaune was up in Yang’s face; glaringat her angrily prompting Blake and Weiss to immediately come between thembefore things got more heated. Blake is pulling Yang away while Weiss wedgedherself between an infuriated Jaune and an equally annoyed Yang, whose eyeswere turning red in her growing anger.
Weiss: *cautiously* Jaune, that was out of line! You need to stop.
Yang: *from behind Blake* No,Weiss let him say what he has to say. *crossly* I don’texpect you of all people to understand Jaune since…y’know…you’re Mr. Perfect from the perfect home with the perfect big happy family withseven sisters and two loving parents who never backstabbed each other or lefttheir kids behind or worse, died! No, I don’t expect you tounderstand a thing about how I felt but that doesn’t give you the right tostand there and judge me!
Weiss: ENOUGH!
With all the strength she could muster, Weissfirmly shoves both Yang and Jaune off of each other. Her outburst stunseveryone especially Jaune and Yang.
Weiss: *furiously* Listento yourselves! Do you have any idea how ridiculous youtwo sound right now! We’re supposed to be friends…a family. This is not how a family is supposed to act! We’re supposed tocare about each other! Love each other! Not deceive or keep secrets from eachother and it certainly doesn’t give you the right to scream at each other likeyou don’t even care about the other people in the room who can hear you! Thisisn’t just about you! *breaking down with tears starting to form in her eyes* It’s not just about you…it’s…
Jaune: …Weiss?
Weiss: *tearfully* I…whydoes every family I end up with end up fighting. Why?
Ruby: *cautiouslyreaching out to Weiss after noticing her tears*…Weiss?
Weiss: …I’m sorry, I can’t go through this again, I’msorr—please excuse me!
Weiss exits the room before anyone could stop her.Ruby makes a move to go after Weiss but is stopped by Blake.
Blake: …I—I’ll go talk toher.
With that, Blake exits the room leaving everyoneelse in silence. Yang and Jaune appeared the guiltiest at what they hadunearthed.
Yang: *regrettably* I…I never meant to lie to you,okay? To any of you. Weiss is right. We’re more than just a team. We’resupposed to be a family and…it’s not good to keep secrets from your family. I’msorry I didn’t say anything sooner, I just—at the time, I didn’t think aboutany of you guys. I thought only about my mom and what Salem would do to her ifshe found out she was a maiden. So I made her secret my secret too. I know itwas wrong but at the time, it felt right because…look,there are just some cards that are best played—
Ruby: … close to the chest?
Yang winced at the strange familiarityin her words but nods otherwise.Jaune: *spitefully* Wow.Well…that sounds awfully familiar now,doesn’t it? You know Yang you talk big about trust but you’re no differentthan…
Oscar: …Ozpin.
Everyone’s attention immediately turned to Oscar.At this point, he had been eerily quiet in the corner during the whole ordealand now looked up at Yang for the first time she let the cat out the bag. Hishazel eyes were wide as he slowly processed everything he had just heard.
Ruby: *concernedly*…Oscar?
Yang : *awkwardly* Oscar…listen, I’m—
Oscar: …The Spring Maiden…is your mother?
Yang: Yeah, she…
Oscar: How long did you know about this?
Yang: What?
Oscar: How long have you known?
Yang: I…
Oscar: *firmly* Answerthe question!
All eyes fell on Yang now who looked awayhesitantly.
Ruby: …Yang?
Yang: … Since… the Battle of Haven.
Nora: This whole time!
Jaune: *furiously* Howcould you keep something like that from us? How could you think that was okay?!
Yang: *scolding Jaune* Itold you, She’s my mother!
Qrow: I don’tbelieve this. My sister was the Spring Maiden we were looking for the wholetime back in Mistral and didn’t tell me. And my own niece knew about it too anddidn’t tell me. You both didn’t tell me anything! So much for blood is thickerthan water.*sighs exasperatedly* I’m going for a dri—I’m going for a walk. I need some air.
Yang: Qrow I’m…
Ruby: Uncle Qrow?
Qrow exits theroom slamming the door hard behind him. Ruby’s shoulders slump sadly.
Ruby: *sadly* Not him too.
Ruby attempts to go after Qrow but is tapped on theshoulder by Maria.
Maria: Don’t worry. I’ll handle the ole bird this time. It’sbest you stay here so that you kids can work out…uhm…whatever this is supposedto be. *in alower voice to Ruby* Please work this out before it gets out ofhand. We don’t want a repeat of what happened in Argus.
Ruby gives Maria an affirming nod and the seniorhuntress smiles at her young protégée before exiting to catch up withQrow.
Ruby: Guys, I think we should all just…take a breath andtry to work things through. This doesn’t have to be as bad as it looks.
Jaune: *grumpily* Speakfor yourself.
Ren: I don’t understand. We all saw Raven godown to the Vault with Vernal and Cinder to retrieve the Relic. If Ravenwas the true Spring Maiden and the only one with access to the vault thenwhy didn’t she take the lamp for herself?
Yang: She was going to.
Ren: Going to?
Nora: *inquiringly* …But…?
Yang: I…. told hernot to.
Jaune: You did what!
Ruby: Yang!
Yang: I had to, okay! If my mom had taken the Relic then we allknow it would’ve only been a matter of time before Salem found her. Cinder killed the original Fall Maiden. She killed Pyrhha!She killed Vernal! She almost killed my mother but she stoppedher before she could. But as strong as my mom is, she’s no match for Salem. Being a Maidenand having a Relic would’ve made her a bigger target forSalem. She would’ve killed her for sure.I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t risk losing my mom. Not again. Not for good.
Ren: *processing everything* So…you made us the targets instead?
Nora: You made Salem comeafter us instead?
Jaune: To kill us instead.
Yang: I…I’m….sorry.
Ruby: No wait, that’s—that’s actually a good thing. Itmeans—
Oscar: …It was you.
For a second time, all eyes snapped to Oscar.
Oscar: *processing everything* …You’rethe reason we had to take the Relic to Atlas. You’re the reason we got on thattrain. The reason… the Grimm came after us. The reason we got separated. Thetrain crash… Maria…Jinn, it was you! It was all you…
Nora: …Oscar.
Oscar: We’re supposed to be in this together, you said. You can trust us,you said. We’re not going to turn our backs on you, you said. Those…those were your wordsto Ozpin, right Yang? You promised Ozpin that we weren’t going to desert him ifthe truth came out. That we’d never abandon him no matter what we learnt….andthen… we did. We did turn our backs on him. We hurt him.We…betrayed him. I—I betrayed him.
Nora: *worriedly* ….Oscar…no…
Ruby: *equally concerned* Youdidn’t betray Ozpin. You were just…doing the right thing.
Oscar: *distressfully* What right thing? Forcing someone to relive the most horrible time in theirlives, not once but for several thousand years of lifetimes when they didn’t consent to sharing it? Laying out all their failures andmistakes in front for everyone to judge him…andthen… turn onhim! That’s NOT the rightthing! That…that was…CRUEL!
*distraughtly tugging at his hair; anxiety rising* Salem was his secret. His pain. His mistake. His burden to bear. He didn’t want to show us. He didn’twant us to see it. See his failures. Re-experience them again! He begged us not to show it. But we… we forced him! We forced him toreveal all his secrets and then…we turned our backs on him. We had no right!I—I had no right! I….I betrayed him. I told Ruby about Jinn. I made ithappen.
I hurt him. I betrayed him. I betrayed us….because….
Oscar trails off; his head slowly turning toward Yang.
Oscar: …Because… of you.
Yang: *stiffening*…What?
Oscar: I did it… because of you!
Oscar startsadvancing on Yang; hazel eyes locked with violet.
Oscar: *voice slowly rising* You… started all ofthis! You’re the one who kept questioning his actions. Probing him for answershe wasn’t ready to give…
At this point,Yang is slowly backing away from Oscar; surprisingly fearful of the rage risingin his demeanour. But Oscar kept pushing; slowly backing her into a corner.
Yang: *nervously* …Oscar; pleasejust—
Oscar: You’re the one who confronted Ozpin. You’re the one who kept…asking.Kept…pushing him…because you wanted the truth. You…demanded it! You just wouldn’t let it go!*voice growing louder as his realizationslowly boiled into anger*What happened to nomore lies and half-truths? That’s what you told him! You forced him to give up all of his secrets when you’ve beensitting on your own THIS WHOLE TIME! You had no right!
Yang: *sadly*I…
Oscar: …This is your fault!
Oscar pushes Yang once. She takes it quietly; guiltwritten clearly on her face.
Oscar: …This is all… YOUR FAULT!
Oscar pushes Yang again, a little harder. Yangactually feels the force a little more this time and winces but she’s still tooguilty to react; head hanging low.
Oscar: EVERYTHING IS YOUR FAULT!
By the third shove, Yang is practically slammedinto the wall with Oscar’s shaky hands, trembling with rage holding her by thescruff of her jacket or as much as he could grab with Yang’s towering heightdifference compared to his short stature. At this point, angry tears arerolling down Oscar’s dotted cheeks and Yang couldn’t bring herself to look awayfrom his infuriated expression.
She had never seen Oscarthis enraged. This hurt. Not even back in Argus. The feeling wasdefinitely mutual from the others in the room. All except for Ruby.She, on the other hand, had witnessed Oscar lashing out before. Seen whathappens when his frustration rose to volatile levels. For a second time sincethey’d met, this was Oscar’s tipping point andwhat was sad was that it was her own sister who brought him to this level of resentment.Immediately, the arms of Jaune, Nora and Ren reached from behind Oscar andquickly restrained him before he did something else to Yang he’d later regret.
Oscar: *angrily fighting against JNR* Let go of me! Let me go!
Nora: Oscar you need to calm down!
Oscar: Don’t tell me to calm down! *turns his anger back on Yang* SHE DID THIS! YOU’RE A HYPOCRITE!
Yang: *guiltily* Oscar, I’m so—
Oscar: *pissed*So what! Sorry? That’s all youhave to say! Ozpin left because of you! You want me to feel sorry foryou? Where was that sympathy for Oz?! You had the nerve to expose Ozpin for hissecrets—oursecrets— when you’ve been sitting on your own! This whole time! Unbelievable!
Ruby: …Oscar…
Ruby plants herself in front of Yang. She attemptsto intervene but in his outburst,Oscar even reflected his irritation on Ruby, making her flinch under hisintense gaze.
Oscar: *warningly* DON’T!You cannot be taking her side!
Ruby: *taken aback* …I’mnot taking anyone’s side! *expression saddening* I just want all of this tostop!
Oscar: *solemnly*….Well…that makes two of us.
Oscar was full on crying at this point; face in hishands. He had even stopped thrashing at JNR who let him go. They each did theirbest to show consolation for the young farm boy with Nora even trying to hugOscar but he pushed her off him which left the thunder goddess stunned.
Oscar: *sobbing* I wantthis all to stop! I’m done! With all of this!
And he was off. Before anyone could really stophim, Oscar went straight for the door.
Ruby: Oscar…wait…
Ruby made a grab for Oscar’s hand but he quicklywrenches it away from her reach as if he’d been touched by burning steel. Likethe rest before him, Oscar storms out of the room, slamming it harshly inRuby’s face, much to her distraught. And then there were five.
Nora: *sadly* You know;here I thought we were free from drama once we got to Atlas.
Jaune: Anyone else has any super important informationthey were hiding from everyone else?
Ruby: *testily* JAUNE!Can you please NOT do this right now! You’re not helping! Can’t you seethe team is falling apart!
Jaune: *annoyed* Whatteam? This isn’t a team. And we’re not a family either. We might as well… be strangers.
And then four as Jaune stomped out after Oscar.Upon Jaune’s departure, Ruby officially breaks down.
Ruby: I…I can’t deal with all of this again.
Ruby crashes on the couch, face in her hands.Fortunately, Nora was quick to sit next to her and offer her a hug ofreassurance which Ruby accepted. Yang was still stunned from Oscar’sconfrontation to move.
Nora: *comfortingly* Hey,listen. Ren and I can handle Jaune. You don’t mind him one bit.
Ren: She’s right. Don’t take what he said to hearteither. His anger—this isn’t really about youor Yang. It’s…more him than you iswhat I’m trying to say.
Ruby: *groaning* Thisis exactly like what happened in Argus. Can someone please gocheck up on Oscar?
Ren: Shouldn’t we leave him alone? He seemed veryupset.
Ruby: Exactly! I don’t want him to be alone when he’sthis upset. The last time he got like this, he—*emotionally; tearing up slightly* I don’t want him to be alone right now.He has to know he’s not alone, okay?
Nora: *rubbing Ruby’s arms comfortingly* Don’t worry. After we findJaune, we can check up on Cute Boy Oz too.
Finally Yangspeaks.
Yang: No. I think it’s best if you checkup on Oscar, Ruby.
Ruby: *miserably*That’s…if he’ll actually talk to me.
Yang: *reassuringly with a half-smile* He will. As madas he is right now, Oscar’s always had a soft spot for you. If he does runagain, you’re the one he’ll want to chase after him.
Ruby: *concernedly* But…whatabout you?
Yang: *reassuringly* I’llbe alright. I’m going to go check in with Blake and Weiss. I just—I thinkit’s best if Ispent some time awayfrom everyone for a little while. Especially Oscar. I…don’t think he’ll be comfortable withme around right now so maybe I should…go somewhere else or something. I couldalways ask Neon and Flynt if I could crash with them for a while.
Ruby: *incredulously* You’removing out!
Yang: …At least until everything blows over.
Ruby:…But—
Ren: I think we can alluse some space from each other right now. Perhaps…some time apart would be bestto help defuse any lingering tensions.
Yang: Yeah.
Ruby: … R—Right.
Yang: I’m gonna go look forBlake and Weiss.
Ren: We’ll see to Jaune.
One by one, Nora, Ren and Yang each depart withNora and Yang both flashing Ruby reassuring looks and gestures as they madetheir exit. And with that, Ruby was alone. Despite being together in considerablythe safest kingdom in all of Remnant, for a second time, they were divided andRuby was at a loss on what to do to fix it.
Ruby: *sighs miserably* I was wrong. This is worse than Argus.
And scene.
Not sure how to feel about this one. I’ll leave theverdict up to you readers especially you, Miggy. As a small heads up, I might make a sequel script to this. Two in fact. One featuring the RosegardeningRosebuds and another with Pine Dragon (thisis what I’ll call the FRIEND-ship between Yang and Oscar) again, possibly.Not sure. In the meantime, I hope you guys enjoy.
As the content I create for the RWBY FNDM continues to grow, I’ve created this separate masterpost for my growing list RWBY Squiggle Scripts. When I first started creating these scripts, it was never really my intention to keep making them as much as I’m leaning toward now. They were meant to be spontaneous and while that’s still a trait of these scripts, I’m becoming more incline to create more scripts these days. These scripts are the closest thing to fanfiction that I’ll write for RWBY and it’s been fun making them when I can. What’s even more fun is the reception they’ve received from fellow FNDM fan who enjoyed my writing. Thank you so much to you all for your support!
So for those of you who are a fan of my Squiggle Scripts, from now on you can find all of them in this one convenient post. My main Squiggles’ RWBY Content masterpost is becoming rather bloated with my added content so my biggest change would be to give all my new sections their own separate sub-posts to thrive in. There will be a link to this post in the main content post now.
I think I came up with a really cool RG idea, Squiggles: in the event that there is some sort of dance or event in volume 7, what if Oscar, like the good, respectful boi he is, asks Yang for her approval of asking Ruby out?
That’sa really sweet idea Miggy. As a matter of fact, I think it ties intoa question left by @protectoscarpine so lemme kill two birds with one stonehere.
“…Do you think Weiss, Blake, and Yang would giveadvice to Oscar about Ruby as well? Or would they just relentlessly tease himinstead..?”
Ialready sort of depicted a scene in a very old musing about Weiss giving Oscarsome advice about Ruby. It was during a moment Weiss, Ruby and Oscar had toattend a charity gala hosted by the Schnee Dust Company in its veryheadquarters so the three were there on a reconnaissance mission of some sort.Ruby was forced to attend the gala as Whitley’s date and during the nightWhitley had been very rude to Oscar, putting him down in front of hiscolleagues and Ruby, much to his humiliation.
AfterOscar departs from the dance, Weiss joins him on the balcony for consolationand the two share a nice brother-sisterly conversation where Weiss gives Oscarsome advice from her experience. Now this musing post was written before V6 andbefore I started including RWBY Squiggle Scripts insome of my theory posts. However I still did a good job at describing themoment. You can check out the original post right here.
Ican see Weiss being supportive of Oscar’s interest in Ruby in her own ice queen/snowangel way just as how I can pictureBlake being supportive in a way that’s appropriate for her personality andcharacter. If anything, the one I’m definitely expecting to be supportive butequally teasing about RoseGarden is Yang.
Beingthe big sister that she is, I can definitely picture Yang taking a crack atteasing Oscar over his feelings for Ruby. I don’t think she’ll have a problemwith this relationship either. I’ve seen other depictions of Yang’s reaction toRoseGarden proven rather violent resultingin her becoming enraged at Oscar for daring to have a crush on her baby sister.The same with Qrow and I always, admittedly found those sorts of depictionskind of ridiculous.
Inever pictured Qrow or Yang to be type to become furious with Oscar (or anyonefor that matter) for wanting to romantically pursue Ruby unless the individualappeared suspicious.Since we’re talking about Oscar specifically, I don’t see these two minding atall if Oscar liked Ruby. The most I can see them doing is having their fill of amusementat poking fun at Oscar; but nothing too harsh thatresults in the kid getting hurt in the process for just having an innocentteenage boy crush. Then again, this is only my opinion and toeach their own, I suppose.
Frommy perspective, Yang and Qrow would be cool with Oscar having a crush on Rubysince Oscar isa good boy. Despite their tensionwith Ozpin, I’d like to believe that as of V6, Yang and Qrow now differentiate Oscar from Ozpin and disassociate their feelingsabout both souls. They now see Oscar as his own person and actually havepositive opinions of him. But again that’s how I’m seeing it.
Butspeaking about Yang, Yang strikes me as the type to show her support by teasingthe living daylights out of Oscar just for her own kicks. This actually makesme think of VoltronLegendary Defender in its finalseason where Lance asked Allura on a date and he went to Coran for advice orsomething only for Coran to pull the dear old dad cardsince Coran is technically Allura’s parental guardian as entrusted by herfather King Alfor.
NowI’m picturing the opposite where, Oscar being the small town precious bean thathe is who was probably brought up on old fashioned family values going to Yangfor her blessing to ask Ruby to be his date to his dance, just as youenvisioned Miggy.
Mynew Pinehead headcanonfor Oscar’s backstory is that he was probably raised by his single mother for most of his life. Oscar never knew his fatherbecause he passed away before Oscar was born so the closest thing to a father figureOscar had was his ole Uncle Henry, a close relative of his dad who alsolooked out for him growing up and he ultimately extended the same treatment toOscar. Since AuntEm and Uncle Henryfit with the canon of the Wizard of Oz, I’m going to refer to Oscar’s auntand uncle by those names; at least in this version of my headcanon.
I’veshared a lot of headcanons for Oscar’s family. I should probably make a listone of these days. Anyways, in this headcanon, Henry and Em are actually Oscar’s great auntand uncle since Oscar’s father was their nephew. When Oscar’s fatherpassed away before he could meet his son, Uncle Henry promised Oscar’s poorwidowed mother that he and Em would help her raise Oscar in his place and bringhim up nice and fine just like his daddy. However they preferred to have Oscarrefer to them as ‘UncleHenry and Aunt Em’ to make them feelless old than they actually were. A little joke in theirfamily.
Inmy theory, Oscar once lived alone with his mother but his aunt and uncle livednot too far from Oscar’s original home so part of Oscar’s childhood was spent betweenhis house in the middle of the woods and the farm.
AnywaysUncle Henry was an old man with old fashioned ways and he brought up his nephewon those same honourable family values. So Oscar was taught that if he liked agirl and had plans to go steady with her inany shape or form; he should always ask the girl’s family for their blessingbefore he pursued anything out of respect.
AlthoughOscar simply just wants to ask Ruby to be his date to the dance; Uncle Henry’steachings was still cemented in his memories. So out of respect, Oscar shylyapproaches Yang. He goes to her as opposed to Qrow since a) Yang is Ruby’ssister and a closer blood relative and b) Yang’s more approachable than Qrow inOscar’s eyes.
Theconversation goes as well as you would hope with Yang initially being amused byOscar’s approach. But things take an interesting turnwhen the topic of Ozpin is woven into the conversation. And of course, you knowI gotta a SquiggleScript for it, right?
RWBY Squiggle Script #011: A Sister’s Blessing
Picture it:
Oscar: *nervously*Hey Yang, got a sec?
Yang: *flashes Oscar a welcoming smile* What’s up, farm boy?
Oscar: *nervously*You know the Atlas Dance that’scoming up?
Yang: Of course, Weiss and I are helping out withthe preparations. Makes me think back to the time we helped back at the BeaconDance. Why?
Oscar: …Well…do you knowif…Ruby might be going?
Yang: Well we’re all going soyeah she’ll definitely be there. Why?
Oscar: *twiddling his fingers; nerves rising* Do you know if she’s…y’know… going with anyone? Like…a date?
Yang: Pffft! Yeah, like Rubywould ask anyone to—
Yangdoes a double take, quirking a brow at Oscar’s nervous face.
Yang: Why you asking?
Oscar: *blushing*It’sjust… I was wondering if it’d be okay with you if I ask Ruby to go to the dancewith me.
Yang: *a little surprised* Why are you asking for mypermission? I’m not her mom.
Oscar: Yeah but you are her older sisterwhich makes you her closest immediate family. My Uncle Henry always used to sayif you’re serious about a girl, make sure it’s okay with her family firstbefore trying anything otherwise don’t come crying if you get shot at.
Yang: … How old was your uncle Oscar? How old?
Oscar: *wearily* Ican’t say. Not unless I want myself, my future children and my futurechildren’s children to be haunted by my uncle’s ghost. So…Pine Family secret. *shrugs andchuckles awkwardly*
Yangonly laughed.
Yang: Wait, so your uncletold you only ask permission when you’re serious about a girl?
Oscar: That’s right.
Yang: So…you’re serious about my sister?
Realizationwashed over Oscar’s face, turning him pink under his tanned complexion. Aplayful smirk played at Yang’s lips and she suddenly edged very close to Oscarwho only eyeballed her awkwardly.
Yang: Oscar. *teasing grinwidening* Do you like Ruby?
Oscar: *in complete denial* N—No! NO! I…I a-admireRuby. I admire her very, very much! As a huntress ! B-Becauseshe is an amazing huntress. A very amazing huntress. And…I…respect her as a huntress and—and…and as a woman!No! A girl.A nice girl. A…pretty nice girl….A…*trails off smiling dreamily as he thinks of Ruby* A very, very pretty nice girl with…beautiful eyesand a beautiful warm smile that just—
Oscarsnaps out of his daze, remembering where he was and who he was talking to. Butunfortunately his return from la-la-love land wasn’t quick enough since Yangheard every word he just muttered and now stood looking at him with a grin so wide;it’d give the Cheshire cat competition.
Yang: *bouncing amusedly* Oh my gosh! I was justyanking your chain, you really like her!
Oscar: *embarrassedly* Shush keep your voicedown!
Yang: *mischievously* Nuh uh. I’m going to have fun withthis.
Oscar: *wearily* Please don’t.
Hisdiscomfort was only met with Yang poking his cheek; Cheshire grin still veryprominent on her face.
Yang: *grinning* Sooo Oscar…. what areyour intentions with my baby sister? *laughs* I’vealways wanted to ask that. But seriously what are your plans?
Oscar: *incredulously* Plans? What plans?
Yang: *mischievous intent intensifying* You want my blessing, right? Impress me farm boy.
Oscar: *frowning*Ishould’ve gone with Qrow. At least he would’ve been less embarrassing.
Yang: *whiny* Oohcome ooooonnnnn! *playfullypokes Oscar in the cheek with a metal finger* What are you hoping for after this dance?Do you plan on confessing your true feelings? Plan on you and Ruby dating?Make her your girlllllllllfriend?
Atthis point, Yang is up in Oscar’s face smirking down at him. Oscar in turn wasmore shades of red than a bowl of strawberries.
Oscar: I—
Oscarbacks himself up a bit from Yang’s amused eyes looming over him and takes adeep breath to easy his frantic heartbeats.
Oscar: …Honestly, it’s notabout that. *sombrely* I just want her to like me and to know that she can trust me. Witheverything that’s happened since Mistral and all the tension with Oz, I’mworried that might’ve changed how Ruby sees me. From the start, she was alwaysnice to me.Looking out for me.Getting to know me.She never once made me feel like I was just a new body for Ozpin. Another life forhim to live through. She made me feel like I was still my own person. I felt…likeshe always saw me for just me. Just plain ole Oscar. It’s why I admire—it’swhy I like her so much. That level of compassion—how she always does what shecan to help others even when she doesn’t have to. She’s not perfect. Not… like she needs tobe or anything. She has her flaws and her quirks. But that spark of hers—theway how she just inspires others. Inspires me…that made her the most beautiful girlI’ve ever met in my life. That…and she’s also really, really pretty.
Atthis point, Oscar was red from ears to cheek but he smiled giddily against hisincreasingly blushing face as he continued his confession.
Oscar: Her eyes werethe first thing I noticed about her and…they’re the first thing I notice when Ilook at her. Not cause they’re silver or…they’re magical laser beams that canvaporize Grimm but…because when I look at her eyes, I…see her. I see her for the beautifulperson she is both inside and out. How… can a guy not fall in love with her for that?
Witha humble sigh, Oscar glance at Yang only to find her gawking at him; jawhanging.
Oscar: …What?
Yang:…You love her!
Oscar: What! No…I—
Yang: That’swhat you said. That’s what you just said! I HEARD YOU! Everyword!
Oscar: *blushing and defensive* I meant…hypothetically.
Yang: But you meant it though, right?
Oscar: I…I…I—
Atthis point Oscar could feel the blood reach his face and if he got anymoreflustered, he was certain he was going to have a nosebleed at some point.
Oscar: L–Look you already got meto admit I like her! Can we just drop ‘the other thing’ fornow? Please.Before this gets even more embarrassing.
Yang: *grinning broadly* Too late, lover boy.
Oscar: *embarrassed* Yang, I beg you please don’t make a big deal out ofthis. Even if I do feel that way with ‘the other thing’ that shall not be named, I don’t know… if Ruby… feels anything like that forme. I don’t think she would since…she’s so…and I–I’m so…. and then there’s the Ozpin thing—
Ijust don’t know how she sees me anymore. I can’t even think about that kind ofstuff. I don’t even think that’s possible anymore with…
Oscartrails off thinking about the inevitable Merge. He then shakes his head and snapsback from his momentary depressive thought.
Oscar: For now, I just reallywant to get to know Ruby better and for her to get to know me better. The real me.While I still can. And this dance is the best chance I got. For one night, she’sdoesn’t have be a Silver Eyed Warrior and I don’t have to be the guy with twosouls where everyone…doesn’t…trust his other half.
Wecan be ourselves however we want. She can finally know me. See me again and I just…want herto at least like me for that if it’s still possible.
Yang: *gushing* Awww…. I mean, good answer. Very good answer.Okay, next question and this one’s really important.
Yangtakes a breath as her expression became sombre.
Yang: Will you ever lie to my sister? Even if was to protect her?
Hertone was surprisingly firm and this question takes Oscar aback especially withhow light-hearted and playful Yang had been with him just then.
Oscar: *incredulously* Why would you—?
Yang: *firmly* Just answer the question.I mean… I’m not trying to imply anything here;I just want to know what you would do.
Oscar: *cautiously*…I…can’t speak for the future, Yang.I can’t speak for the type of person I’m going to become. But right now, as Oscar,what I can say is that I was raised by a family built on good morals. I mean,we had our fair share of things we kept to ourselves but trust and honesty wasalways important to us. That being said, the truth is also a double edged swordand I’m willing to see both sides thanjust the one.
Yang: *tersely* So you’re saying youwould lie.
Oscar: I’m saying I don’t knowwhat I would do if I was put in that type of position. Lie to keep the personyou love from being hurt or risk hurting them with the truth anyways—it’s notas black and white as you might think. Either way it wouldn’t end well foranyone as weboth know. It’s a tough call foranyone to make and I wouldn’t know what the right choice would be and that’s mebeing very honest.
Yanglooked down Oscar sternly for a few beats before making a face as she processedhis answer. She then nods in silent acceptance of his answer before moving onto her next question.
Yang: *solemnly*Wouldyou ever hurt Ruby? I mean…not intentionally just…if she does trust you,you wouldn’t do anything to break that trust, would you?
Oscar: Of course not. I mean, I’d try veryhard not to. Hurting Ruby is the last thing Iwant. I care too much about her after all. Right now, all I want to do is justtake her to the dance. This way she can have fun and I just want to show her agood time and hope she enjoys herself.
Yangquirks a brow at Oscar’s last comment and he immediately backpedals.
Oscar: …I—I mean I want herto have fun with me but not too much fun,y’know what I mean? Only the appropriate amount of fun that a normal girlshould have with a boy. N—Not that I was planning on doing anything else but just appropriate fun. I—I mean—
Oscar’sstuttering is interrupted by Yang snorting, no longer able to keep up herserious façade as she laughed at the flustered look on Oscar’s beet red face.The blonde huntress then smiled at Oscar understandingly as she clapped him onthe back.
Yang: It’s okay Oscar. I hearyou. I know you’re not that type of kid. You’re a good boy Oscar.The kind of good boy… I wouldn’t be too mad about taking my baby sis to thedance.
Oscar: *perking up* Really?
Yang: Yep. You now have theYang Xiao Long full seal of approval.
Yang: *teasingly*Oh I’m just kidding! Jeez! Lighten up a little there, lover boy.You’re going to have to get used to my wacky sense of humour before you marrymy sister someday.
Oscar: Ma–marry! Wait…what!
Yang: *whistling innocently* What? Whosaid anything about marriage? Psssh! I didn’t say anything like that.
Oscar: You did just now!
Yang: *feigning innocence* Did I though Oscar? Did I really?
Oscar: *pouts* I…I’mgonna go talk to Ruby now.
Withthat, Oscar leaves Yang who waves enthusiastically behind him.
Yang: Good luck Oscar!Remember break her heart and I’ll break your legs!
Oscar: *whips around in the distance* What!
Yang: I said break a leg. Goget her, loverboy!
Evenfrom afar, Yang could hear Oscar’s long groan of embarrassment and at that, shelaughed to herself.
Yang: *amusedly*Man, I’m going to have so much fun teasing him.
I think another obvious reason why we’d all love Oscar to join JNR is so that they can all begin to notice his crush on Ruby and become his “wingmen,” giving him advice and tips on how to win her over. Just wishful thinking 😂
Well…you’re not wrong Miggy. You’re definitely not wrongwith that. I have so many JNPR Reborn headcanons whereJaune, Nora and Ren pick up on Oscar’s obvious interest in Ruby and do theirbest to help him while also making sure to tease the living daylights out ofhim from time to time. Especially Nora.
Like one scene I’ve imagined is Jaune giving therundown on a team strategy but Oscar is too distracted by Ruby to payattention. At this point, Oscar has already integrated well into the group tothe point that Jaune has acknowledged the young farm boy’s tactical talents andas a means of grooming those skills, Jaune often pulls Oscar in on helping himdevise battle strategies and it becomes their way of bonding outside oftraining together.
I love the idea of Jaune realizing Oscar’spotential as either a leader or atleast very goodstrategist and develops a desire tomentor him the same way Pyrhha did for him back in the Beacon Days.
I love the idea of Oscar and Jaune bonding as bros with Oscar becoming the surrogate little brotherJaune admittedly always wanted to have since he only grew up around mostlysisters. Oscar coming to admire Jaune as a big brother figure is something Ineed canon. Doyou know what would also be pretty cute? IfOscar comes to admire Jaune as a huntsmen to the point that he considers himone of the coolest huntsmen he’s met, even going so far as to comment thatJaune must’ve been one of the best huntsmen at Beacon Academy (second to hisbeloved Ruby Rose, of course) while Ren and Nora both glance at each other andsnicker, knowing the truth full-well but not being able to bring themselves to breakOscar’s fanboy enthusiasmof their fearless leader.
As a Rosegardener, I’m already riding the Oscar crushing onRuby romantically hype train. But have you also considered, Oscarhaving a slight bro-crushon Jaune? Like Deku and All Might. Like he admires Jaune a lotand wants to become a great leader like him some day.
And of course, Oscar admiring Jaune so much, comesto see our titular Arc boy as a lucky duck in the ladies’ department and mimicsJaune with Ren back in V2 where he goes to Jaune for advice on girls.
I’ve actually pictured this scene where Oscar goesto Jaune for advice on how to handle his feelings for Ruby. So Oscar corners Jaunein the hallway but when he goes to bring up the subject, he’s interrupted byRen and Nora showing up. Though Oscar is enthusiastic to see Ren, he’s kind ofshy to talk since Nora is in the room and asks if she can give just the guyssome privacy saying it’s a guy thing he needs to talk about.
RWBY Squiggle Script #008: Guy Talk
Picture it like this:
Oscar: …Hey Jaune, can I…talk to you for a sec.
Jaune: Sure Oscar, what’s up?
Oscar: It’s…
Ren walks around the corner.
Oscar: Oh good! Ren, you’rehere too. Great.
Nora then comes skipping behind her boyfriend.
Nora: Ooooh are we having a secret team meeting or something?
Jaune: Kind of. Oscar wantedto talk about something.
Nora: Oh yeah? *hands on hipslooking at Oscar concernedly* What’sbothering our CuteBoy Oz?
Oscar: I…*blushes* actually…if it’s not too much of aproblem—I just want to talk to Ren and Jaune if that’s okay, Nora.
Nora: *double takes* WHAT!You’re singling MEout! Whatcha gotta say to them that you can’t say to me? Don’t you love meanymore?
Oscar: No…it’s nothing like that. I just… I really, reallyneed to talk to just Ren and Jaune aboutsome…stuff.Guy stuff. Withjust…the GUYS.
Nora: I see. You do realize I’m manlier thanall three of you combined, right?
Oscar: Nora…please!
Nora: *pouts grumpily but otherwise complies* Fine. I’ll let you guys have your little boy’s club meeting. But only because you’re so darn cute,Oscar. *pinches Oscar’scheeks playfully*
Oscar: *fans away Nora’s hands but otherwise smiles* Thank you Nora. I’ll make it up to you.
Nora. You better. Now if you boys need me, I’ll be rightoutside; listening at the door.
Oscar: Wait what?
Nora: I said I’ll be outside.
With that, Nora exits the room, finally leaving the boys to themselves.
Jaune: Alright spill Oscar, what kind of guy stuff do you need to talk about? *gives a wry gasp of surprise* Are you going through the change? Is our little farm boy finally becoming a farm man?
Oscar: …I…*pauses for another minute; his face reddening more beforefinally speaking again* I…wanted totalk to you guys about…girls.
Jaune and Ren: …What?
Oscar: Girls…I…like…a…girl but I…I don’t know how to…girls.So help. Please.
Ren: …And…you thought we… *indicates betweenhimself and Jaune* …would be helpfulwith that?
Oscar: *enthusiastically* Yeah,of course. You guys are like my big brothers so Ithought who better to ask for advice about this kind of stuff than you. Ifigured since Jaune is such a great leader and all round good guy, I’m sure youmust have a lot of ladies running after you back at Beacon, right? Left a lot ofbroken hearts behind in Vale?
Jaune: …Oh. Oh Oscar…you poor misguided fool. If by brokenhearts, you mean my own then yeah, I broke a lot of hearts. All the time.Sometimes twice a week.
Oscar: You…didn’t have a ton of girlfriends?
Jaune: I couldn’t even score one girlfriend. If I’m beingcompletely honest, my love life hasn’t exactly been fairy tale perfect. Back at Beacon,I spent most of my time chasing after a girl who I knew wasn’t into me and theone girl who actually was into me died in the Fall of Beacon…after our first and…last kiss. How’s that for luck.
Oscar: Ouch. Jaune…I’m…so…sorry.
Jaune: It’s alright. I’m flattered that you thought ofcoming to me for advice, Oscar. It’s just that when it comes to romance, I’mnot exactly your guy.
Oscar: Well…… what about youRen? You’re in a relationship. How’d you…y’know…charm Norainto wanting to be your girlfriend?
Ren: … *spaces out with an expression of sheer vacant confusion asif Oscar has just asked him to figure out an extremely complicated mathematicalequation*
Oscar: *looks over at Jaune wearily* He didn’t charm Nora,didn’t he?
Jaune: No. No he did not.
Oscar: *sarcastically* Wow…my bros.
Jaune: Yeahhh sorry kiddo. But you do have one more personclose by you can ask for advice. Someone who can definitely help you a lot better than me and Ren.
Oscar: If they’re better than you and Ren, I’ll take em. I’m really desperate here, guys.
Jaune: Say no more.*turns to the door* NORA!
Immediately, Nora kicks down the door and comessauntering in. Without even needing any of the boys to explain anything to her,the thunder goddess drags a vacant chair across the room, plunks it in front ofOscar and sits down facing him wearing nothing but an amused grin on her facewith her hand on her cheek all smug.
Nora: So…you wanna talk about girls.
And scene.
I would love for a moment like this withTeam JNPR 2.0.You’re not wishfullythinking at all Miggy. We’re sailing in the sameboat, m’friend.
If you’ve been following my Pinehead Headcanons then most of you might already know how much this squiggle meister is an advocate for the Oscar is the One True Ozma Pinehead theory.
I’ve latched onto this theory passionately because in my head, it’s the outcome that sounds the most favourable to me right now as opposed to the other side where most FNDM fam members believe Oscar to either be completely erased by the Merge becoming a clone of Ozpin with no memory of his old self (the common bad ending to the Man with Two Souls story) or just remains as his original self but with Ozpin’s memories (the classic good ending)
In the past, I used to think that the Merge meant Oscar and Ozpin becoming a perfect fusion of themselves with the new Wizard persona retaining elements of both souls. He would have Ozpin’s memories but still be very much the Oscar Pine know and love at his core.
But ever since I saw the Lost Fable and learnt of the original Ozma, I’ve fallen hard for the concept of Oscar being the other half of Ozma---the reincarnation of his original body that he never regained after the God of Light first resurrected his soul into the body of Diggs.
Although Ozma had lived countless of lifetimes paired to the bodies of other men, the noteworthy fact still remains that the God of Light never granted him back his original body. Here pegs the important question. If only Ozma’s soul was brought back then what happened to his original body. His first form.
This is why I love the concept of Oscar being that original form. Despite what other fans might think, there have been one or two tell-tale signs sprinkled throughout Oscar’s side of the story that have indicated, to me at least, that he is meant to be different than all the past Wizards of Light.
Seriously? How it is that folks can still think that Oscar is going to turn up just like all the other past Wizards when the narrative itself has emphasized that Oscar is meant to be his own person. He’s meant to be different. At first I pegged this meant that Oscar was going to be the Last Life. The last reincarnation. I still stand by that hunch that Oscar is the one meant to end the cycle. But now I’ve taken it a step further.
Oscar is meant to be the last life because unlike his predecessors, who each had their bodies paired with Ozma’s soul, Oscar Pine is essentially Ozma’s original body---just reborn in Modern Remnant currently living as a 14-year-old boy. The Merge isn’t meant to erase Oscar. If what I’m saying about Oscar being the incarnation of Ozma’s first form is proven true then it would mean that the Merge will be reuniting Ozma’s original soul with his original body.
If Ozpin represents Ozma’s soul or at least the current version of Ozma’s soul while Oscar represents the current version of Ozma’s original body; then by my theories, the Merge is actually a good thing. It’s the phenomenon that will make Ozma whole again as he is reunited both body and soul.
When you look at it this way, neither Ozma’s soul nor his body are the same anymore. Ozma’s soul isn’t the same because for centuries he’s been paired with countless men whose memories have now become a part of his. And Ozma’s body isn’t the same anymore either since he’s presently the14-year-old Oscar Pine.
Therefore, if Ozma isn’t the same man he used to be---body and soul then therefore he should be left to choose the life he wants to live from henceforth, right? After the Merge is complete, Ozma---Oscar will be free to live as whoever he wants. Now that he’s been made whole again, Oscar as Ozma can chose to be who he wants to be. He can chose to be Oscar Pine for the people who know and love him as Oscar Pine. I’ll come back to this point later.
Another reason why I love the ‘Oscar is One True Ozma’ Pinehead Headcanon is for the parallel between the pairings of Fairy-tale (Salem and Ozma) and Rosegarden (Ruby and Oscar).
In the past, Ozma fell in love with Salem who ultimately became a silver-haired, red eyed witch corrupted by the Power of Darkness hell-bent on humanity's destruction.
However in present day, Oscar is destined to fall in love with Ruby Rose, a red-haired, Silver Eyed huntress empowered with the Power of Light fighting towards humanity's salvation.
See where I’m going with this? When I look at it like that, this just makes me believe more in the RoseGarden love story being told because of this very strong comparison. I didn’t even realize how much Salem and Ruby parallel each other until now.
Even though Salem's hair could technically be considered more white than silver while Ruby's hair is more of a blend of black and red; nonetheless, that still leaves the strong comparison between these two ladies especially when you put them up side by side as the love interests of Ozma and Oscar respectively.
This point only serves to further drive my headcanon of Oscar Pine being revealed as the resurrection of Ozma's original body and his last life. Still makes me believe strongly that the Merge is meant to make Oscar remember that he is Ozma while making him whole again.
And once Oscar realizes who he truly is, he'll be left with a new choice---to decide whether to continue living as his old self (Ozma) or live as his new self (Oscar). And for the people who love him as Oscar, Oscar will chose to be Oscar. That’s my hunch and I’m sticking with it.
I know I’ve voiced this hunch of mine a few times before however I really wished to drive it home with the point about Salem and Ruby. The more I expand on this headcanon, the more I love it especially with those strong parallels. Everyone’s got their own theories that they refused to let go of. This is one of mine. Anytime anyone asks me what I think of Oscar’s fate with the Merge, THIS is going to be my answer.
I never viewed the Merge as anything negative and this assumption further proves that. The Merge is meant to make Oscar whole again. That’s how I see it. With this thought in mind, I think I’ll end this post with a small RoseGarden-inspired Squiggle Script since it’s been a while.
RWBY Squiggle Script #020: Her Oscar
Picture it. Ruby reunites with Oscar after the Merge is complete. When Ruby finds him, she discovers the boy standing with his back turned; staring out into the distance. He doesn’t meet her gaze, not even as she approached this unknown soul cautiously, unclear of his identity. Who was he now? Was he the boy she knew as Oscar Pine or…someone else entirely that Ruby wouldn’t be able to recognize even with Oscar’s familiar face. Now Ruby stood directly behind him, gazing longingly at his back hoping for the person she prayed he still was.
Ruby: *skeptically* Who…are you now? Are you…Oscar…or Ozpin? Or…is it Ozma? Are you Ozma?
The unknown soul only met Ruby’s question with one of his own.
Unknown Soul: *sombrely* Who do you see me as?
Ruby: I…
Ruby frowned; hands clenched against her beating chest.
Ruby: *ruefully* I…want Oscar. I want you to be Oscar. My Oscar.
Finally; the unknown soul turned around. Ruby gasped; eyes widening as she found herself before the smiling face of one Oscar Pine.
Oscar: *confidently* Then I’m Oscar.
Oscar then slowly cupped Ruby’s face tenderly; his hazel eyes radiant as he gazed deeply into her silver eyes with all the love he had in his heart for her. This gesture only made Ruby whimper under the warmth of his caress in a weak attempt to withhold the tears of unbridled joy that trickled down her blushing cheeks.
Oscar: *passionately* I am your Oscar.
Truth be told, Ruby didn’t need him to confirm this but she appreciated it all the same. The minute he turned to her, she already knew.
As a being of a mystical lamp once quoted, call it magic or something much stronger, but in that moment Ruby Rose knew exactly who it was standing in front of her. He was the boy she loved and that was all that mattered as she closed the gap between them and kissed him; no longer shy to hide her love for him.
After all, he was hers. Now and forever more.
And scene.
This is how I would picture the CRWBY closing off Oscar’s arc while at the same time cementing RoseGarden as an endgame couple. But y’know, these are only my ideas.
As always, everything is up to the call of the CRWBY Writers. Whatever wild ride they have in store, especially for us Rosegardening Pineheads, I pray that it’s as charmingly cute as the bond between these two Rosebuds.
RWBY Musings #72: A Farm Boy and his Bot. What if…Oscar gains his very own robot companion for the Atlas Arc?
So lately, I’m beginning to adore the concept of Oscar eventually gaining some kind of magical or rather unusual companion inspired by another known character from the Wizard of Oz. In my last musing post, I mentioned Oscar assuming control of Salem’s winged Beringels so that he may control them as the RWBY-verse’s equivalent of the Golden Cap.
Now I’m here to present another Oz-inspired possibility. What if…while in Atlas, Oscar either builds and/or gains the friendship of an Atlesian robot and this character will draw reference from the Oz character: Jack Pumpkinhead.
Oscar’s Robot
For those of you who might not know:
According to Wikipedia, in the second Oz book, the Marvellous Land of Oz, Jack Pumpkinhead is an animated homunculus. Jack is described as being incredibly tall with a skinny figure made from tree limbs and jointed with wooden pegs. He has a large carved jack-o’-lantern for a head which is where his name is derived from. Although, unlike most jack-o-lanterns, the seeds and other pumpkin guts were not removed from Jack so it substitutes for his brain.
Jack was originally made by a little boy named Tip (the male persona of Princess Ozma before she ultimately regained her true form) to scare his guardian, an old witch named Mombi. When Mombi saw Jack, she nearly smashed him to pieces but instead, decided to test out her new Powder of Life on him. The powder worked and made Jack come to life.
Jack has been noted to not be known for his intelligence which varies depending on the quality and number of seeds in his pumpkin-head at the time. Despite this, Jack manages to come up with random bits of wisdom and common sense often. That is the character of Jack Pumpkinhead.
As we know, Oscar Pine is alluded to Princess Ozma. Since Ozma is the original creator and parent of Jack Pumpkinhead, what if…Oscar will build his own Pumpkinhead in reference to how Tip made Jack Pumpkinhead or…perhaps Pumpkinhead is an Atlas Academy practice droid designed by Atlas for its students to gain hands on training during their combat simulation drills by fighting sentient machines
Perhaps…Pumpkinhead was an out-dated model that the school failed to maintain over the years. The bot had taken so many hits that it was due for decommissioning before being sent on its way to the junkyard scrap heap to be salvaged for it parts along with the others in its outdated series since Atlas was due to upgrade to newer, more efficient models in coming time.
Or…at least that was the plan before Oscar more or less rescues (technically steals) the machine---keeping it stored away where he and the other heroes were housed in Atlas---a full house suite organized for them courtesy of Winter Schnee and the General and overseen by Weiss who basically acts as landlady making sure nobody wrecks the place her sister generously helped organize for them. So Oscar keeps Pumpkinhead secured in his room while doing his best to repair the bot piece by piece with as limited resources as he had on his own time.
At first the former farm hand kept Pumpkinhead a secret away from the other heroes. But ultimately Oscar had no choice but to come clean about the tall, pumpkin-headed secret he’s been hoarding in his bedroom.
I’m kind of amused at the idea of Oscar being the type to pick up a stray robot without question. I think if done in the canon it could be a reference to Oz while providing a call back to Fullmetal Alchemist. After all, in FMA, Oscar’s VA--Aaron Dismuke played Alphonse Elricand us ole school FMA fans know how Alphonse was notorious for picking up stray cats.
Picture…Oscar pulling an Alphonse just with picking up a stray sentient robot he was trying to patch-up. One of my favourite Pinehead headcanons is that Oscar has a natural born talent for mechanical engineering as a testament to his upbringing back on his family farm.
In the V6 opening, Oscar could be spotted reading an Atlas Mechanics magazine during his shot with JNR and Qrow. A throwaway detail or conceivably a foreshadowing nod to what’s to be seen of this farm boy’s hidden talents during the Atlas Arc?
I’d absolutely love it if Oscar is good at repairing machinery with robots being no exception. I think that could be a really interesting skill for him to have. Plus picture the look on everyone’s faces to learn that our veteran farm boy’s got a knack for tinkering with them mechanical thingamabobbles and gadgets.
Remember how back in V2, Ruby snuck Zwei onto Team RWBY’s off-campus field trip to Mountain Glenn with Oobleck and we got that funny bit where Oobleck calls Ruby out only for Zwei to unceremoniously pop out of Ruby’s backpack; barking defiantly at her when she hisses for him to get back in the bag.
RWBY Squiggle Script #016: Pumpkinhead
Picture it. A similar scenario like that with Oscar where an online, Pumpkinhead is unceremoniously uncovered in Oscar’s bedroom closet and the farm boy is awkwardly put on the spot to explain himself; all the while standing between his profoundly stupefied comrades and teammates (at least Jaune, Nora, Ruby and Weiss for the sake of this scene. Let’s say the others were away on other errands or something) and a spooked Pumpkinhead who sat curled up in a ball behind Oscar, frightened by the unfamiliar non-Oscar faces.
Jaune: ….Oscar, is that a… 8ft robot standing in your bedroom?
Oscar: Actually he’s 7ft 11 inches tall to be exact. But…yeah…it’s---it’s a robot.
Jaune: Okay, let me try asking again. Oscar, why is there a 7ft 11 inches tall robot in your bedroom?
Oscar: *chuckling nervously with a shrug* Would you believe me if I said he followed me home?
Weiss: *incredulously* Oscar, be serious. Did you steal that Atlesian Practice droid?
Oscar: *awkward laughing intensifies* Psssh no, of course not. I told you. He followed me...sort of. Look I’ll explain everything just promise me you won’t freak out if I tell you.
Despite their equally doubting expressions, the others settled down to listen to Oscar’s explanation.
Oscar: It started a while back. It was the first Battle Sim class for us first years and our professor wanted us to practice combat against a moving target. For that class we were each paired up with a practice droid to spar with. I got this fella. *pats Pumpkinhead* For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to…hurt him. The minute I raised my weapon, he just looked at me and curled up all frightened and shaken. I know that sounds really, really crazy but… it did happen. Even my teacher took notice and started yelling at me to take it down. Show no mercy against the enemy, he said. Even if that enemy is a defenceless practice droid who was more scared of you and…refused to fight. So naturally, I refused to fight too.
I won’t attack an opponent who isn’t trying to harm me. So I ended up not fighting at all and…as you’d expect, the teacher sent me straight to Ironwood.
Jaune: *incredulously* So that’s why you were in trouble before? For refusing to beat up one practice droid?
Oscar: *nods* Yeah. Turns out you can get a full month’s detention for anything at Atlas Academy. As punishment, I was put in charge of helping with droid maintenance. The robo-tech guy supervising me is a real piece of work, to say the least, but other than that, it wasn’t half bad. I didn’t mind looking after the droids. From there, I noticed this guy following me around a lot. Even when he was supposed to be offline, everywhere I turned, he was there just…staring at me. I guess you could say he took a weird shine to me after our forfeit fight. It was really weird and really uncomfortable, at first.
But after a while I got use to the stares and actually started to appreciate the company. *chuckles* You can say he’s been my fateful companion during the more boring detention days and he’s a surprisingly good listener. Doesn’t say much…or…do much except stare but I think we became friends.
Weiss: *dubiously*…You befriended…a robot?
Oscar: *defensively* It can happen.
Ruby: He’s right. It can.
Weiss: *exasperated* Please don’t encourage him.
Nora: Can you guys quit interrupting? I wanna know what happens next? Go on Oscar.
Oscar: *frowning* Well…what happened next is actually the worst part. One detention, I didn’t find him with the other bods. Some first years from my class had rented him out for some extracurricular target practice.
Ruby: What… happened?
Oscar: *exasperated; fist clenching* What’d you think? They broke him! Wrecked him up really bad. Students are allowed to fight the droids after school but these students overdid it. And what’s worst is that after they were done, they just…left him. The robo-tech will clean up the mess for us, they said. They didn’t even bother returning him. Just left him in pieces. I tried to tell them off but I was useless. They just pushed me aside.
Nora: *annoyed* Please tell me you reported those jerks!
Ruby: Did you tell someone? Ironwood? The robo-tech?
Oscar: I tried but…it just made things worse. I told the robo-tech about what happened but… he didn’t care. I asked him if he could repair him but he said… *scoffs* He said fixing damaged goods isn’t in his payroll. It’s not in his job requirements to fix the bots, he’s just supposed to polish them up and make them look pretty. Who cares if a couple of them get ruined in a few rough sparring matches? Atlas’ got the funds so why bother fixing the broken bots when they could just as easily replace them with newer models. If I had left him as is, he would’ve been scrapped! I…couldn't just…leave him like that. I had to do something so…
Ruby: …So…you saved him?
Weiss: He stole it!
Oscar: I…*head handing guiltily* Yeah, I stole him, yes.
Weiss: I can’t believe it. We’ve been hoarding a felon.
Ruby: Weiss, quit being so overdramatic.
Weiss: I am not!
Nora: So…exactly how long have you been hiding this bot here under our noses?
Oscar: Let’s see, one…two weeks so probably…about a month.
Groans all around, the most audible being Weiss’. Ruby being Ruby appeared more sympathetic.
Ruby: Well… he seems to be up and running now. Why didn’t you try taking him back to the school again?
Oscar: He’s not completely fixed yet. There’s still more work to be done but I can only do some much with such little tools and with such a little workspace. Besides I already tried that but...he won't let me. I think he's too scared to go back there after what those kids did to him.
Weiss: He’s scared? He's a machine!
Ruby: Weiss, even machines can have feelings too.
Weiss: But---
Oscar: *wearily* Do you guys mind lowering your voices please? He doesn't like it when you yell. He hates loud noises.
At this, Oscar gently pats the tall robot behind him.
Oscar: It's okay big guy. We won't yell anymore. It's okay, Pumpkin.
Ruby: *snorts* Pumpkin?
Oscar:*embarassed* Uhh…yeah. It’s short for Pumpkinhead.
Nora: Aww. That's kind of sweet.
Weiss: *arms crossed with an incredulous expression* You named it!
Jaune: *reasonably* Oscar, I understand you want to help this bot but you do realize he's Atlas Academy property. You can't just keep him in the house. He's not a pet.
Oscar: *pouting* I know I can’t keep him but he's still pretty messed up. If I take him back to the school as he is now, they'll throw him away for sure. At least let me try and fix him first. Please.
Jaune: Oscar...
Oscar: *imploringly* Please.
Jaune and Nora exchanged unsure looks. Weiss huffed but in the end it was Ruby who spoke up.
Ruby: Okay.
Weiss: What! Ruby you're not serious!
Ruby: It's like Oscar said, we can’t send him back to the school broken. The least we can do is let him finish fixing him.
Weiss: Unbelievable.
Ruby: Weiss...
Ruby plants a firm hand on Weiss’ shoulder, looking at her squarely so she’s certain the Schnee girl could see her serious expression.
Ruby: Please.
Weiss stares at Ruby blankly for a few beats before finally sighing, admitting defeat.
Weiss: Fine. But it's not staying in here. *indicates to the bedroom* There’s an empty storage room downstairs in the basement. It's not much but it’s definitely more appropriate to house your...Pumpkin friend than a small bedroom closet. It’s yours till the bot is fixed and…I’ll see if I can get you some better tools to speed up the process. While I detest lying to my sister and the General, I guess I could always say it’s for a school project or something. Not making any promises.
Oscar beams.
Oscar: Thank you Weiss-cream.
Weiss: *eye twitching* Call me that again and you and your bot will be sleeping in the streets tonight.
Oscar: *nervously* Y---Yes ma’am. I promise I’ll move Pumpkin as soon as the storage room opens up.
Weiss: Good. Just…hurry up and fix it. The last thing we need is trouble with Atlas Academy.
---
As promised, Oscar moved Pumpkinhead immediately into the storage room after Weiss gave him access. In this next concocted scene, Pumpkin is safely secured with Oscar now standing behind him on a chair for added height while he worked diligently on repairing some of the remaining damages done to its head.
Oscar: Alright big guy. You’ll only feel a slight tickle but I promise it won’t hurt.
Pumpkinhead voices his disapproval with incoherent robot noises but otherwise stays trustingly cooperative while Oscar patches him. When Oscar was done, he patted the top of Pumpkinhead’s head with a proud grin, happy with his handiwork.
Oscar: There you go. Now that part’s all done for today. See. Not as bad as you thought, right bud? Nothing to be scared about.
Ruby: Didn't realize you were such a robot whisperer.
Oscar nearly falls off his chair as he zips around to find Ruby standing at the top of the staircase leading down into the storage room. She wore an amused smile; arms crossed as she came down.
Oscar: *embarrassed* Ru---Ruby? How---How long have you been standing there?
Ruby: *giggling* Not too long but long enough to see you sweet talk, Mr. Pumpkinhead over there. Are you sure you don’t need any help fixing him? Yang’s pretty handy; no pun intended and…I might know a thing or two that could help out too just so you know. I did built my weapon from scratch after all.
Oscar: Thanks but…as much as I’d love the extra hands, I don’t want to distress Pumpkin too much. He’s not really open to new people right now. Besides I used to help my uncle fix the machinery back on the farm. Fixing a giant robot, surprisingly not that different from fixing a tractor. I mean it is different but my Uncle Henry was the best mechanic I know. Taught me everything he knew and I've always loved a good pet project.
Wiping his grease stained hands on a handkerchief he kept in his back pocket, Oscar smiled broadly as he patted the top of Pumpkinhead’s exposed top once life time before closing it shut. After that, the young boy jumped down from his perch to stand next to Ruby, admiring the work he was able to get done that evening.
Oscar: *smiles at Ruby* It's a slow hurdle but at least we’re getting somewhere, y’know?
Ruby: *nods; smiling back* Well uh...you seem to be doing a pretty great job so far on your own. I'm actually really impressed.
Oscar: *blushing* For real?
Oscar tried leaning against a small table that was next to him; absently neglecting the table had wheels. Immediately Oscar scrambled to regain his balance and make sure the tools on top the table didn’t clatter to the floor and startle Pumpkinhead. While he was victorious in keeping the giant bot at ease, that didn’t stop him from momentarily making a spectacle of himself in front of Ruby who eyed him closely, hand covering her mouth to supress another giggle.
Oscar: *cheekily* I meant to do that.
For the sake of Oscar’s pride, Ruby ignored his last blunder as she slowly approached Pumpkinhead. Instantly, the bots beady white eyes swivelled around inside their socket to focus in on Ruby.
Ruby: He's looking a lot better from earlier.
Oscar: *rubbing the back of his neck bashfully; cheeks slightly flushed* Thanks. I owe Weiss big time for letting me use the storage room. It’s amazing how much more work I can get done when I’m not trying to hide a giant robot in my closet anymore.
Ruby nods wordlessly as she slowly edged closer to Pumpkinhead, eyes wide with curious wonder. Now Ruby was standing close to the robot’s legs. The instant she made an attempt to move further, that’s when the uproar started. Incoherent static mechanical noises echoed throughout the garage as Pumpkinhead made a fuss trying to move as far away from Ruby as possible.
Immediately, Oscar pulled Ruby back making sure to gently move her as far away from the robot as possible. After he did that, he ran to the robot’s side, doing his best to silence its distressed signals.
Oscar: Whoa! WHOA! Easy Pumpkin. She's a friend. She’s not going to hurt you. Easy bud, easy.
A few gentle words and reassuring pats later, Oscar managed to tame the robot yet again and Pumpkinhead settled silent once more. However its optical eye never left Ruby who now stood far, a bit shaken herself. Now it was her turn to be comforted by Oscar who returned to her side with a reassuring smile.
Oscar: … I should have warned you. Pumpkin doesn’t really like anyone coming near him except me. Sorry about that.
Ruby: No it’s….okay. Is he better now?
Oscar: Yeah, he should be good so long as you stay over here.
Ruby nodded. Rubbing her shoulder nervously, she made an attempt to break the awkwardness of her blunder.
Ruby: …So ......Pumpkinhead, huh?
Oscar: *chuckling* Name of the year, right?
Ruby: *smirking wryly* I guess. Why that name though?
Oscar: It’s an old boring farm boy story you probably wouldn’t want to here.
Ruby: *smiling* Oh yeah? Try me.
Her answer made Oscar smile.
Oscar: Well; when I was a little kid growing up on the farm, we had this old neighbour. I never learned what her real name was. I just used to call her Ms. M for mean because she was the meanest old lady in the world, at least to 10-year-old Oscar. Although she had her own farm with her own cornfields, she’d always let her pigs and her weird four horned cow wander onto our side of the land and destroy our crops before they could harvest.
Ruby: *disbelievingly* I’m sorry. A four-horned cow?
Oscar: *nods* Yep. And each time my family complained, she’d just laugh at us and still leave her animals to mess up our crops while hers remained perfectly fine. Not that it helped much. She was actually a really bad farmer and all her former farmhands couldn’t stand working for her.
Ruby: She sounds like quite the handful.
Oscar: She was. I hated that old lady. Aunt Em taught me that it’s not good to hate people but that lady was a real witch. She was never nice to me and she was even worst to my aunt. Reminds me a lot of that Mombi kid from school actually. Both are a bunch of bullies.
Anyways, one harvest, 10 year old me figured he had enough of Ms M and wanted to teach her a lesson. So I picked the biggest pumpkin I can carry and built this giant scare---er---pumpkin hoping he would scare Ms M and her animals off our land. You can probably guess what I named him.
Ruby: *drumming her finger against her chin, pretending to ponder* Hmm, think, think, think. *snaps fingers and grins* Pumpkinhead?
Oscar: *laughs* You've been paying attention.
Ruby: *giggles* So what happened? Did the OG Pumpkinhead scare away the old wicked witch next door?
Oscar: Nope. Didn't even phase her at all. Actually it was the ten shot gun bullets through the window from Aunt Em that did the trick. Never dared bother us again after that.
Ruby: *jaw hanging in a mix of shock and amusement* No way!
Oscar: *grinning wide* Yes way! I can still hear my Aunt Em now. Oscar, fetch me my gun! No, not that one! The bigger one with the bigger bullets.
At this point, Ruby was in stitches, hardly able to contain her laughter and Oscar joined her.
Ruby: *though laughter* I'm sorry. I'm having a hard time picturing your dainty old aunt firing a gun.
Oscar: *chuckling* There's an old Mistralian saying back home. You don’t mess with the west and if it hails from the south, get out. West and South Anima are mostly farming lands. If there are two things you don't play with in my neck of the woods, it's family and produce and that old witch had it coming big time.
I'd never forget the look on her face when my aunt marched straight up to her house and blew out all her windows. All ten of them on all sides. Not a single piece of glass was spared that day. Em even took out Ms. M’s glass eye. But for that she used a teeny, tiny pistol.
Ruby: *wheezing* You are making this up!
Oscar: *sarcastically* Would I lie?
Ruby gave Oscar a knowing look, punching him playfully in the shoulder.
Oscar: *chuckling* Okay, okay, you got me. That last part about the glass eye is made up but everything else is full proof. Farm boy's honour on my uncle’s grave.
Oscar grinned cheekily and Ruby only shook her head in amusement at the former farm hand.
Ruby: Wow. And I guess this Pumpkinhead reminds you of home.
Oscar: Yeah. Y'know he's not too different from the one on the farm. He's bright orange. Got two beady eyes and a crooked moon smile. Big ole pumpkin-sized head and skinny arms and legs---
At Oscar’s comments, Pumpkinhead made a noise from behind as if to show his displeasure of Oscar’s remarks about its physique. Oscar backpedals, turning to flash the robot a kind-hearted smile.
Oscar: *chuckles* I don't mean that in a bad way Pumpkin. You're a good boy. Yes you are, Whose the best Pumpkinhead in the world? You are!
At Oscar’s affectionate comments, the colour on Pumpkinhead’s eyes turned neon pink as if to reflect its delight of being coddled by Oscar and its robot legs even wiggled, as if mimicking a dog wagging its tails happily at its owner. It is a unexpectedly adorable moment that even makes Ruby gush. So much so that she forgets herself.
Ruby: *cooing; heart-eyes; clapping her hands excitedly* Awww, he is a sweet guy!
This time, Pumpkinhead sprung up suddenly; bursting through the cables that Oscar was partially using before in his current stage of repairing the bot as it shuffled behind whatever giant piece of infrastructure within the storage room was big enough to shield the bot from Ruby. From there Pumpkinhead remained.
Oscar groaned, rubbing his forehead. Ruby, in turn, looked to him guiltily.
Ruby: *apologetically* I am so, sorry. Things were getting so cheery, I forgot about…before. I’m really sorry Oscar. I guess Pumpkin really doesn’t like me now, huh?
Oscar: *exasperated but assuring* Don't…*sighs*…Don’t take it personally. It's not really you. Pumpkin’s scared of everyone. He's alright with me because I think I'm the first person who hasn't tried to hurt him before. Kind of a bad thing to say, isn’t it?
Ruby: Well...isn't he a practice droid? Aren't they built specifically for combat? To take a hit whenever on the battlefield?
Oscar: Yeah but...that doesn't necessarily mean he liked being used that way. What if all the other practice droids are like Pumpkin?
Ruby: I think your guy is a special case, Oscar.
Oscar: You’re probably right. But it makes you wonder doesn't it? I know you guys must think I'm being silly for caring about something that's technically not alive but...he feels alive to me. When he's scared...I feel his fear. I understand it as if it's my own. It's not his fault he was born to be this. He never asked to be made into a practice droid for others to beat up on him whenever they liked. It wasn't his choice. He just had to accept the role he was dealt with but just because this is his life now doesn’t mean he has to like it. He's free to feel scared and not be okay with everything.
Ruby eyed Oscar weirdly. Even though she knew he was speaking from the heart in defence of Pumpkinhead, she couldn’t help but get the impression that his words felt oddly off. As if there was more to them between the lines.
Ruby: *concernedly* Oscar, is everything...okay? With you?
Now it was Oscar’s turn to eye Ruby strangely.
Oscar: *surprised* Yeah I'm good. Why wouldn't I be?
Ruby: I---
Ruby opens her mouth to continue but instead decides against it; claiming it wasn’t the right time to pry.
Ruby: Nevermind.
Oscar looks over Ruby once more, waiting to see if she might say something else but when she doesn’t, he shrugs casually.
Oscar: I'm...going to go check up on Pumpkin. Did you need me for something?
Just like that, Ruby remembers why she came down to the storage room in the first place. She blushes, a bit embarrassed that she had gotten so distracted before.
Ruby: *awkwardly* Oh right! No, no, I just...came down to let you know dinner's almost ready.
Oscar: *smiles* Ooh good I'm starving actually. Let me just clean up here and I’ll join you up upstairs.
Ruby nods. As Oscar makes a move to tidy up to leave, that’s when Pumpkinhead peep its head out, eyes fixed on Oscar.
Oscar: Hey buddy, I'm going up to eat now. I won’t be gone for long but I need you to be on your best behaviour, okay?
Oscar had meant to sound more assuring but his attempt was met with distressed robotic chatter. At the noise, Oscar’s expressed dropped shamefacedly.
Oscar: …Look, I know you don't like it when I leave but…I’ll just be upstairs. I’ll only be gone for like four minutes. Three if I eat really fast.
The robotic distressed signals only intensified and Oscar slumps, face in hand.
Ruby: What's wrong?
Oscar: *sighing* He's…in one of his clingy moods, tonight. Must've been all the excitement from today. When he's stressed like this he doesn't like me to leave. Doesn't want to be left alone. *groans loudly* Guess I'm missing dinner.
Ruby: No you don't. I'll bring your plate down for you. I'll just let the others know we'll be having dinner in the garage tonight.
Oscar: Wait… we?
Ruby: Yeah. You, Pumpkinhead and me. *smiles brightly* You can keep Pumpkin company so he doesn’t stress out and I can keep you company. But…that's only if you---y’know, want my---
Oscar: No, no it’s cool. I---Pumpkin's not much of a talker anyways and...
Oscar flashes Ruby a smile.
Oscar: I'd like your company.
Ruby: *beaming* Great! I promise I won't overstep again this time. Besides…
Ruby turns her attention on Pumpkinhead who was still peeping out at them.
Ruby: *perkily*We may have had a rough start but don't worry Pumpkin, you and I will be bestest of friends in no time too.
Ruby flashes Pumpkinhead a big toothy smile, hitting him with a big ole Ruby Rose thumbs up only for Pumpkin to jolt and zip his head right back behind his hiding spot.
Oscar: *sweatdrops* Sorry.
Ruby: Playing hard to get I see. Not to worry, I've befriended your type before. You're not getting me to give up that easy.
With a determined huff that earns a chuckle from Oscar, Ruby turns on her heals to head back upstairs.
Oscar: Hey Ruby?
Ruby looks back.
Oscar: Thank you. From me and Pumpkin. *cheeks reddening* Mostly me.
Ruby says nothing. Instead she just smiles brightly, pleased with herself to see her friend smiling at her. With that, she leaves to go grab their food.
And scene.
What do you guys think? Now this squiggle meister has shared quite a bit of Oscar- themed theories and Pinehead headcanons before but I think this one has become one of my personal favourites especially as we’re going into the Atlas Arc.
I already got my wish last season with the introduction of flying monkey Grimm in the series. Now what I’d love to see next is Oscar awakening his inner mechanic and creating Pumpkinhead. And after Pumpkinhead, perhaps even Sawhorse will be integrated into RWBY as well as both characters were signature in Princess Ozma’s side of the story.
Words cannot fathom how much I really, really dig this idea. I really want Pumpkinhead to become a canon character in Oscar’s story now because I think it could be pretty cute for Oscar to have his very own robotic companion who he becomes attached to. Ruby had Penny but unlike Oscar, Penny wasn’t canonically invented by Ruby. Pinocchio wasn’t made by either Little Red Riding Hood or Dorothy Gale.
However Princess Ozma did create Jack Pumpkinhead and eventually Sawhorse.
Who knows? If my Pinehead theory comes true, perhaps Oscar will invent his own Pumpkinhead while in Atlas. Atlas is the most technologically advanced kingdom in Remnant so it is a huge possibility. Plus as I’ll point out again, this fits into the Wizard of Oz. If Oscar becomes an inventor on top of being a great and powerful wizard, I don’t think anyone can really complain because it comes with the source material he was influenced by.
Plus Oscar becoming an inventor could be something worth exploring as part of his individual story outside of his story with Ozpin. The whole Ozma reincarnation cycle and magic and longstanding battle with Salem to protect humanity became part of Oscar’s story via his connection with Ozpin who is essentially the Wizard of Oz.
But Oscar inventing Pumpkinhead is more connected to Princess Ozma who he draws reference from. So therefore, this is an opportunity to develop Oscar as his own character outside of Ozpin. Right now, most of Oscar’s story has primary been focused the part he shares with Ozpin.
That’s fine but… ya’ll know how much I have been advocating for Oscar to get his own fair share of development, right? And I think this is an idea on how RWBY can do that while drawing reference from the fairy-tale character Oscar was based off of. This is something the CRWBY Writers can do with Oscar while in Atlas as a means of fleshing him out. I’m just saying.
But y’know. For now, it’s only just another theory to add to the rest as always.
Hello, Miss Squiggles. I just wanted to say that I've really enjoyed your RWBY Squiggle Scripts. You mentioned that you were planning to do two scripts of what happened after the team's departure, right? If so, then I might have an idea on how Ruby would confront Oscar after his out burst. Oscar could plan on leaving Atlas to find out how to stop Salem all on his own, but Ruby does whatever she could to stop him. It a little similar to Axel's confrontation with Xion when she tried to leave XIII.
HelloBlack.Correction fam,I was planning on doing two scripts as a continuation tothis script righthere based on a prompt by @miggy97
Andat the time, I was excited to write this idea, so much so that I had planned onexpanding on it for two more parts. However, that changed once I got wind ofsome negativity involving my script over on RWBY Reddit and I readthe comments on there. They weren’t nice.
Iwas really proud of Script #012 becauseit was my first time writing a script that featured the full JNR_QROWMBY. Itwas a challenge but I was pleased that I got it done. And even more pleasedwhen I saw how much folks liked it here on Tumblr. Thank you so much to theTumblr RWBY fans who liked that script. Your comments were really nice andhelped inspired this second part. However I’d be lying if I said the negativitymy last script received over on Reddit didn’t kill my enthusiasm to continueworking on the scripts I promised. I struggled to finish this second scriptbecause I was concerned by how folks would take it. I went back and forth onideas and dialogue. I panicked over certain lines because I was nervous aboutit being ‘toooverdramatic’ or whatnot. I’ve saidbefore that I create these squiggle scripts for fun. This kind of feeling isnot fun.
Allthat culminated in a script concept that I no longer have the drive to finish. Becauseof this, I decided to scrap the third script all together. But I’m going to atleast share what I had for the second part since you brought it up Black. Thisdoesn’t mean I won’t write other RWBY Squiggle Scripts. I will if I feel up toit. It’s just unfortunate that I don’t feel like working on this particularscript idea anymore so sorry if that disappoints anyone or you Black.
I’mgoing to use this script to answer your question since ironically you and Iwere almost on the same page on how I went about this second script. Almost.
RWBY SquiggleScript #017: As You Go
“…The worldI know can hate you,The world Iknow can break you,But as you go, remember I’m by your side
The lovewithin you can heal these tears that burn,And throughit all remember, I’m by your sideAs you go…”
Picture it. Ruby has had a long day. She just spent the past couple of hours concerned forher friends. For the second time since Argus, the team had fallen apart and fora second time, Ruby was at a loss on what to do. Despite Nora and Yang’smessages assuring her that things were fine, at least on their side with Jauneand Weiss, Ruby dreamed her ventures was just as successful.
Ruby must’ve walked the whole block of Atlassearching for Oscar. He was nowhere to be found. Though she revisited everyplace in Atlas she and her comrades had toured during their stay within thekingdom, asked everyone she thought might know his whereabouts, she couldn’tfind him and for a second time since Argus, Ruby panicked for him.
She didn’t want to lose Oscar. Not again. Notever. She hardly doubt that he left to go shopping this time. No shopping spreein Atlas was going to dispel the terse overwrought note Oscar left the groupon. She had never seen the former farm boy so mad before; not even back at thedojo in Mistral.
This revelation only served to worsen Ruby’sanxiety at finding her friend. So you could imagine her honest surprise whenshe went up to the rooftop of the resident apartment the heroes were stationedtemporarily only to find Oscar up there too.
Ruby had only gone up there as a means ofclearing her head before returning to her search. Who would have thought thiswas where she would discover her missing friend. There was Oscar. His smallboyish form leant against the metal railing, separating him from the edge ofthe building. Hazel eyes, plagued with melancholy, gazed longingly into thedistance as the cold evening air caressed his dark brown hair which appeared fluffier than usual.Probably due to the amount of times Oscar ran his fingers through them insilent frustration as he did right before Ruby’s eyes.
Though Ruby’s face melted in unadulterated relief at the sight ofher friend, Oscar’s greeting towards her didn’t mimic the same compassion.Anger and annoyance, retained from that afternoon’s earlier events stillreflected heavily on his face and lingered in his voice as he sharply turnedtoward Ruby and met her gaze with a scowl.
Oscar: *snappily*If you’ve come up here to try and convince me to forgive your sister,save your breathe.
Ruby: *a mixture of relief and surprise* You’re… here?
Oscar: *passively*You sound surprised. Did I disappoint you?
Ruby: No, of course not!I’m just—I’m just really relieved thatyou’re still here.
Oscar scoffs at this; returning his gaze to theview of Atlas.
Oscar: *passively* Yeah well…don’t get used to it. Tomorrow I’m going to talk to GeneralIronwood. Ask if he’d be okay with probably arranging an airship to take mehome.
Ruby: *incredulously* Ta—Take you…home? Back to Mistral! Why—Why would you dothat?
Oscar: *passively*Well it is where I’m from, right?
He trains his gaze back on Ruby who is still tryingto process the absurdity of his last answer. Her reaction only makes Oscar sneerfurther.
Oscar: You know I had somany chances to leave. I could’ve walked away after the first time Ozpinhijacked my body to fight off Hazel. I could’ve walked away after Ozpin left.No matter where I turn, it just feels like fate keeps telling me that Ishouldn’t be here. That I should’ve never left the farm. I left my family for this! My whole life—my home and for what? To be threatened, blamed for mistakes I nevermade, nearly eaten alive by Grimm on multiple occasions, punched in the face, slammed against the wall, yelled at and of course,let’s not forget the biggest kicker, lied to. Deceived by people who made me believe I was fighting for the rightreasons.
Ruby: But…you are.Oscar, you left home because you wanted to be more than just a farmhand. Youwanted to do more. Be more. Do what you canto help protect humanity and save the world. Do what you can to help the teambecause you’re kind and brave.
Ruby tries toreach for Oscar’s hand but for a second time, he wrenches it out of her reachas he pushes past her roughly.
Oscar: *crossly*Why bother fighting withpeople who don’t care about me?
Ruby: That’s not true.I—we care about youOscar.
Oscar: No you only care about half of me. Because I’m the half that never lied to you, right? At least, notyet.
Ruby: …You don’t mean that.
Oscar: *crossly* Yes Ido!
Ruby: …Oscar…you can’t go. You can’t just…leave!
Oscar: I’m sorry Ms. Rose but that’s not your decision to make.
Ruby: *taken aback*… Ms. Rose?
Oscar: *impassively* Yeah. Why bother with familiarities anymore, right?
Ruby: *imploringly* Oscar…please canwe just…talk. Talk to me.
Oscar: *exploding* There is nothing for us totalk about! I meant what I said when I said I was done! I’m officially done! Ican’t take any more of this! I don’t want to be here! I want to be home with myfamily. My family who loves me and who I can trust. Who would never lie to meever.
Ruby: …Oscar—
Oscar: That’s why I’m up here. To get one last look atthe city. You only get to see Atlas once so might as well soak up as much ofthe view as I can before I—
Ruby: *sharply* NO!
Oscar: What?
Ruby: You’re NOT leaving! You can’t leave!
The coldness inhis eyes was what broke Ruby’s heart the most.
Oscar: *sternly* Like I said, that’s not your decision to make.
Now it was Ruby’s turn to get agitated.
Ruby: Oscar…we have come so far. We’re finally inAtlas. We’re finally safe in Atlas.The Relics are safe. We’re safe. You’re safe. If you go back to Mistral now, whatdo you think is going to happen? You think things are going to be the same? Youthink you could just waltz right back home and return to your normal old farmboy life just like that? As if the last few months never happened?
Oscar: *nonchalantly* Andwhat’s so wrong about that? Forgetting everything.
Ruby: *testily; voice rising* Because you can’t! Salem’s forces know who you are. Chancesare Hazel, Emerald and Mercury already returned to Salem and told her thatyou’re Ozpin. What if she sends someone to attack you? What if she sends theGrimm to attack you? To kidnap you?
Ruby closes her eyes as memories of the longjourney to Mistral resurfaced and flooded her vision; rewriting her face withnothing but guilt.
Ruby: *regrettably* …I almost got Jaune, Nora and Ren killed becauseSalem made me her target after what I did to Cinder. Uncle Qrowalmost died protecting me because Salem sent one of her goonsafter me. If you go home now, what would you do if she came after you forOzpin?
Oscar: *tensing up* …Stop.
Ruby: *pressing* Whatwould you do if she went after your family? Ozpin is gone andyou’re still barely a huntsman! You can’t even handle one Grimm on yourown; how would you defend yourself against Salem!
Oscar: *voice rising*…I said stop!
Ruby: *shouting* Howwould you feel if your aunt got hurt trying to protect you or worse, killedbecause of you!
Oscar: *shouting* Stopit!
That did it. Oscar glared; face red in anger. Hisfrustration and annoyance was only rivalled by Ruby’s who stood her ground withher arms crossed.
Ruby: No! You need to hearthis!
Oscar: No I don’t! Why don’t you go lecture your liar of a sister! Save your precious words of wisdom forher!
Ruby: This isn’t about Yang. This is about you.You’re being unreasonable!
Oscar: I am being reasonable! Going back home is the mostreasonable thing I’ve thought of in months. I should’ve done that a long timeago. At least then I could spent whatever time I have left with someone who reallycares about me. At least then I wouldn’t have to listen to you prattle on likeyou understand how I feel! You don’t!
Ruby: *taken aback*…I…I couldn’t understand how youfeel?
Oscar: No you don’t and stop pretending like you do! Howcould you possibly understand how I feel. Any of it? Do you have two souls? Doyou have lifetimes of mistakes to fix and duties to uphold?
No you don’t! That’s all me! Me alone!
Ruby: …Oscar I——
Oscar: You’re constantly surrounded by your friends andyour family. You have your sister, your uncle, your teammates, your friends.You even have Maria—a seasoned mentor who can teach you everything aboutbecoming a Silver Eyed Warrior and provide you with all the answers you need.
But me, what do I have, huh? I have no team.No family here. Sure, Maria might like me but I can’t ask heranything about who or what I’m going tobecome. My mentor—the one who’s supposed to give me all the answers is gone!
Oscar’s fist clenched and it is at this moment hiseyes met Ruby’s, revealing the puddle of tears that had been welding in hiseyes the moment his anger dropped and his true fears started to surface. It ishere where Ruby saw Oscar’s sadness. His pain and it hurt.
Oscar: I don’t want to hurt my aunt. I don’t want herkilled because of me. That’s the last thing I want. But I don’t want to be hereeither. At least at home, I don’t have to be this alone anymore. I don’t wantto feel alone anymore. So if I want to go then please let me go. At least homewill be better than staying here feeling like this!
I’m not even sure I have any real friends. You might say youlike me now but is this really friendship or is it just tolerance? I have no bonds withanyone. I have no one.
And when I change, how much will you tolerate me then, huh? I am alone,Ruby.
*voice cracking* I am…alone in all of this.
Ruby: …Oscar, listen to me. I’m…
Rubystops when she noticed something off about Oscar.He was no longer making eye contact with her. Instead he just stood with hishand on his chest, face scrunched up as he breathed heavily. A little too heavily.
Ruby: Oscar?
Noresponse. Only heavier breathing. Immediately Ruby inched closer to Oscar. Heseemed a bit unsettled from Ruby’s point of view.
Ruby: *concernedly* Oscar?
OnOscar’s end, things were disorienting. Oddly enough it wasn’t an unexperiencedfeeling. Oscar has felt anxious before. Onthe contrary often times he would praise himself with how well he was able tohold himself together even in the most hair-raising ofmoments.
But thisfeeling. This particular feeling was a darkness he hadn’t felt in along time. But now, as his heart thundered in his chest and the world aroundhim spiralled downward as if the very ground underneath him would open up andswallow him whole, he could feel this familiar darkness slinking its darktendrils up his body dragging him underneath its depths. It was suffocating.Suddenly he forgot how to breathe and then…he couldn’t.
Ruby: Oscar, tell me what’s wrong.
Oscar: *hyperventilating*…Crap! I…I think …
Oscarinhales sharply.
Oscar: *breathlessly* I’m having…a panicattack…
Oscarstaggered a bit and instinctively, Ruby placed her hand on his shoulder tosteady him.
Ruby: *nervous but trying to remain calm* Easythere. Okay. S–Sit down? Do you want to sit down or…Oscar doesn’t answer. This time his heavy breathing didn’t permit him to speakso the most he could muster was a frantic nod. Gently, Ruby helped Oscar to sitdown on the ground before seating herself right next to him, eyeing himclosely.
You would thinkthat being an experienced huntress who faced more than her fair share ofchallenges; Ruby would be better equipped to handle any scenario thrown at her.
Unfortunately the does and don’ts of what to do when someone is having a panicattack in front of you was not a lesson Ruby recalled being taught duringBeacon’s curriculum.
She felt out of her element, unsure of what would be thebest course of action to take next. All she knew was that she had to dosomething for Oscar’s sake. Next to her, Oscar’s breathing hastened; both ofhis hands resting firmly in front of him as he tried his best to catch hisbreath but to no avail.
Ruby: What….What do you need? What can I do to help? Anything.
With a trembling hand, Oscar taps his back.
Ruby: …Your back? You…want me to rub your back?
Oscar nods affirmatively and Ruby complies as shegently starts rubbing Oscar’s back. Back on Oscar’s end, the storm inside hismind kept raging on. But rather than allow it to further consume him, insteadhe did his best to concentrate his focus on the movement of Ruby’s hand as shedrew circles on his back.
With each motion she made, Oscar attempted to matchhis breathing to the pattern. Eventually it started to work a little and hisbreathing eased to even pants.
Ruby: *hesitantly* Do you…wantme to call someone? Maria? Qrow? Jaune? Weiss? Nora? Ya—I can go call someonefor help.
Oscar shakes his head.
Oscar: *through faint breathes* Don’t leave!
Oscar looks Ruby dead in the face.
Oscar: *gasping*…Please…don’t leave!
Ruby gazed into Oscar’s eyes deeply before herexpression hardened with a look, determined but soft at the same time.
Ruby: Okay I won’t. I won’tleave your side, I promise.
To prove her point, Ruby rested her free hand on topof Oscar’s, rubbing her thumb against his knuckles soothingly.
Ruby: *kindly* Take allthe time you need. I’ll stay with you till you catch your breath. Everything isgoing to be okay, Oscar. I’m here for you.
Ruby then beams, bright and beautiful. Between her comfortinghands and her radiant smile, Oscar felt his once frantic heart finally put atease; like sunshine peeking through the heavens after a tempest.
Though hestill needed time to regain his composure against the tides, if there was onething Oscar was certain of, it was that the storm was beginning to billow over withour freckled farm boy finally resurfacing from the darkness he’d once fellunder and into the caress of the ruby sunset awaiting him on the other side.
15 minutes. Thatwas how long it took for everything to settle back to normal. Ruby glanced overat Oscar. Though his initial panic had subsided, he hadn’t uttered another wordto her since it passed. In spite of this, Ruby sat patiently next to him, one handstand still rubbing his back while the other held his, every once in a while givingit a small assuring squeeze. Eventually Oscar finally regains his composureenough to speak. With one heavy sigh, he looks up at Ruby, expression solemn.
Oscar: Hey.
Ruby: Hey.*comfortingly* How are you feeling?
Oscar: Better but…embarrassed. *shakes head miserably* I’m sorry about before.
Ruby: Don’t be. You don’t have to apologize for that.I’m just happy you’re ok.
Oscar: *sadly* … But I’m not.
Ruby frowns.
Ruby: Was… that your first time having a panic attack?
Oscar: …No. I…
Oscar pauses momentarily to close his eyes,frowning as the memories of an unknown part of his childhood flooded his mind.A vision of a bloodied figure. A child—a young boy hunchedover bawling his eyes out; his screams as thunderous as the lighting thatroared through the stormy skies outside a broken door. And eyes— red and burning like embers that loomed in the background slowlyeclipsing said child—drowning him in a sea of black until his screams werenothing but a pained whimper. Eventually Oscar brushes these thoughts away withhitched breath.
Oscar: *solemnly* I…used to have them. After…
Oscar paused again. The memories attempting tosnake their way back into his thoughts but, again he rejects them firmly.
Oscar: …I just used to have them. Haven’t had one in ayear.
Oscar makes a face; an expression full of deep regretthat makes Ruby’s heart sink.
Oscar: *awkwardly*… I’m sorry.
Ruby: *reassuringly* No—it’s okay.
Ruby takes both of Oscar’s hands in consolation.
Ruby:Everything’s fine, Oscar.
Rubyflashes Oscar her warmest, more encouraging smile in hopes of gettingone in return. But much to Ruby’s disappointment, Oscar shakes his head glumly.
Oscar: *sadly* NoRuby, stop. Stop saying everything is fine. It’s not! We just spent the last fewminutes screaming at each other. You just saw me have a panic attack right in front of you. This isn’t fine! So… can you pleasejust…stop saying it’s fine.
Ruby opens hermouth to retort but her answer gets caught in her throat at the depressed lookon Oscar’s face. Instead she sighs, patting Oscar’s hand.
Silence fallsbetween them and another few beats pass before Oscar speaks again.
Oscar: … I’msorry I lashed out at you earlier. Those things I said, I—that’s wasn’t…me.
Ruby: Oscarit’s….*pauses torethink her response* …Me too. I’m sorry too.
Oscarsighs.
Ruby: *cautiously* Areyou… really thinking of leaving? Going back to Mistral?
Oscar: I—
Oscar runs his fingers through his hair with a longsigh of exasperation.
Oscar:…No. I just… wanted to be mad.
Ruby: What?
Oscar: *frustrated* I just wanted to be mad,okay. I wanted to be mad and allowed to be madabout everything for once!
Ruby: *cautious but supportive* Oscar… you’re allowedto be upset. You can be mad. You can be mad all you want. Youcan scream. You can yell. You can cry. As much as you want. As much as you need.
Ruby gently cups Oscar’s face, making sure that shewas looking directly into his eyes to prove that she meant her next words.
Ruby: You don’t need anyone’s permission to be yourself. Not mine, not Ozpin’s,not Ironwood’s, not anyone. You don’thave to be anyone else but you.
Oscar: You’re…your ownperson.
Ruby: Hmm?
Oscar: That’s what you saidto me that time. Back when Ozpin first left. You told me that I’m still my ownperson.
Oscar: *gloomily*Am Ithough? Am I really?Because it hasn’t felt like that at all in… months.
Oscargets up and walks away from Ruby. He returned to the railing overlooking theAtlesian cityscape, wind blowing through his hair. Ruby got up too, watchingOscar’s back from a distance. She wanted to move closer but opted for standing ata respectable foot away from Oscar.
Oscar: *solemnly*…Suddenly I feel like my emotions aren’tmy own anymore. That I have to constantly put someone else’s feelings above myown and think like them. All the time. Like I’m supposed to act like someoneelse. Walk like someone else. Talk like someone else. Fight like someone else.Accept the responsibilities, memories and mistakes of someone else. Keepsecrets like someone else. React to problems like someone else. Behave entirelylike someone else and completely forget what’s it like to be… me.Because…how long am I going to be me? How do I know I’m not going to wake uptomorrow and just…be someone else I don’t even recognize? Will I even be able totell the difference? Will I remember…at all? Who I am? Who I was? I…
Ruby: *concerned but cautious* Oscar…
Rubystruggles to find the right question.
Ruby: …Oscar, are you okay? Really okay?With everything?
Finally,Oscar turns around to meet Ruby’s gaze again, face full of tears.
Oscar: *voice breaking* I… don’t know anymore. Idon’t know anything anymore. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do anymore. AllI know now is that… I’m scared. And angry and frustrated and confused! But worse of all, I feel…alone. I’m…alone.
Oscarlooks down at his hands which were shaking.
Oscar: Jinn said the God ofLight created the reincarnation cycle so that Ozma would never have to bealone. Never have to fight alone. Never have to feel like he had the weight ofthe world only on his shoulders because he shared the responsibility withoutsomeone else. A likeminded soul, he said. So then why do I feel like this? We’re supposed to be two minds. We’re supposed to do this together.How did I end up being the only one trying to fix all of his problems bymyself? How did I end up having to mend his broken bonds by myself? I’m just a kid! I never wanted any of this. I never asked for any ofthis. It’s not fair!
Ruby: Oscar…
Oscar: *voice cracking; tears of frustrationsoaking his cheeks* Ifthis cycle is meant for us never having to gothrough anything alone then how did I still end up alone? Ozpin is gone and Idon’t know if he’ll ever come back again. And even if he does, what would itmatter? No one trusts him! No one wants him here. Everyone turned their backson him and I can’t fix that. Nothing I do can fix that!
Ruby: Oscar…
Oscar: … And when I change,everyone’s going to turn their backs on me too! *gaze turns to Ruby’s slowly* Even you.
FinallyRuby speaks up.
Ruby: Oscar, that’s not true.You have me.I’m on your side.
In an instant, Ruby was before Oscar, takinghis hands again with a smile.
Ruby: I’m here for you.
Oscar: *shakes head roughly* Yeah but…why? Youknow I don’t get you at all. Why do you care so much about me? I’ve been tryingto wrap my mind around why you care somuch. At first I thought maybe it’s because of Ozpin. Then after Ozpin left, Ifigured it’s because you pitied me. You barely know anything about me so…that’swhat it is, right? It’s pity.
Ruby: … It’s not pity, Ijust….
Rubytakes a step back and looks Oscar dead in the face.
Ruby: …You’re right. We’vebeen together for only a few months and there’s still a lot about you I don’tknow and fully understand. But the thing is that I want toknow. I care about you Oscar because I consider you a friend. Someone I woulddo anything for and anything to protect. That’s who you are to me.
Backin Mistral, when we met it didn’t matter to me that you and Ozpin shared a body. I mean I was definitely surprised—it’s not every day youmeet someone with two souls with one of them being the former headmaster ofyour old school. But that’s not what made me seek you out. It never was.
When I look at you, I don’t see Ozpin. I see theface of a boy who was…thrust into a battle he wasn’t prepared for at first,overwhelmed by a new sense of purpose he’s been saddled with. I recognize that face. I know that faceall too well because… it’s same face I wore when I started Beacon. You are nothing like Ozpin.You’re like me!
Oscar: *stunned expression* Like…you?
Ruby: *nodding*You’re just a 14 year old farmhand from Anima. Well, I was just a15-year-old girl from Patch, barely out of combat school. One minute I’mstanding inside a dust shop reading comic books and the next thing I know I’mfighting armed henchmen robbing the dust shop. Even chased their boss up to therooftop trying to stop him from making his getaway.
Oscar: …Wasn’t that a bit…reckless?
Ruby:*sarcastically* Have you met me? *chuckling*You’re right, it was reckless. That was the night I met Professor Ozpin for thefirst time and he invited to attend Beacon. As a girl who’s dreamed aboutbecoming a huntress, I was beyond excited but…on the inside, I was also really,really scared. I was the youngest student back at Beacon. Everyone there wereeither better than me or had more experience and yet there I wastrying to fit in. To prove myself. To prove to everyone that doubted me that Ideserved to be there even though I was just a child. It wasn’t easy but… I gotthrough it because I wasn’t alone.
I would have never gotten to where I am now if Ididn’t have the support of my family and friends. Back at combat school, UncleQrow took me under his wing and taught me everything I know about being ascythe wielder. And Yang helped me to socialize and that helped me to makefriends with everyone. It’s actually kind of funny now when I look back. Tothink, I used to think I didn’t need to make friends.
Oscar: *in disbelief* Really?You?
Ruby: *chuckling softly* Hard to believe right? Itwasn’t an easy change but it was a welcomed one in the right direction. Achange for the better which is why I know it’s going to be okay for you too.
Oscar: …But this is different.*sulks,disappointedly* Change for me means…loss.
Ruby: How do you know that?
Oscar: What?
Ruby: What if you’re wrongabout the Merge? How do you know you’re not going to be just fine? Jinn saidOzma learned the importance of living with the souls he was paired withand…Ozpin did say he’s the one that’s going to change but his memories staybehind.
Oscar: *skeptically*How do I know that’s not another thing he lied to me about?
Ruby: How do you know it wasn’t one of the times he wasactually telling the whole truth?
Oscar: I….
Oscar trails off, head dropping.
Oscar: …I…really don’t knowanymore.
This prompts Ruby to rest her hands on Oscar’sshoulders, urging him to look at her.
Ruby: Listen, I may not be able to tell you the kind ofperson you’re going become after the Merge. I…can’t give you those answers nomatter how much I wish I could.
Oscar: *guiltily* …Ruby…
Ruby: But…*determinedly* What I can dois give you someone you can always count on. WhatI can promise you is someone who would never turnher back on you. I may not have two souls but… when I look at you; Isee a lot of myself. You and I are nothing like anyone else. We both understandwhat it’s like to be young and inexperienced but still carry a huge badge ofresponsibility on our chests. We’re the only ones who can do the things we cando and be the people we’re expected to be. And we both share a power that wasgranted to us by the God of Light. It’s what connects usand because of that, I’ll stand by you no matter what.
Oscar: But… if I change—
Ruby: *firmly* If you changethen I’d still stand by your side. Even if you don’t remember theOscar you used to be, I won’t forget him and you can bet your butt that I won’tlet you forget him either. I’ll be right there to remind you of the amazingperson you used to be and help you to become the amazing person you’re going tobe. Because RubyRose is a friend toOscar Pine and she will continue to be his friend for all ofhis lifetimes.
Oscar’s eyes widened.
Oscar: ….You…really mean that?
Rubylifts Oscar’s chin, flashing him a big smile.
Ruby: *confidently*I promise you that.
Oscar: *laughingly*You’re…not giving me much of choice now, aren’t you?
Ruby: *cheekily*Nope. Afraid you’re stuck with me, farm boy.
This earns Ruby a genuine laugh from Oscar and itwarmed her heart to see him smiling again.
Oscar: So…what are wesupposed to be exactly? What do you call a pair with a girl who can vaporizemonsters with the blink of an eye and a guy who’s both fourteen and over athousand years old?
Ruby taps her finger in thought.
Ruby: *wisely* We’re … justtwo small,honest souls. We may be just kids but we’re also so much more. We’rehuntsmen.Symbols of hope and protectors of humanity. But more than that, we’re our own people who forge our own paths together.
I may be a Silver Eyed Warrior but I’m nothing likethe ones before me. They all lived their lives doing what they can to protectothers but they also lived by their own rules. I am me and I’m learning to dothis my own way even if I might not fully understand everything as yet. Just ashow you’re not Ozpin or Ozma or any of the others before you. You might gaintheir memories and have to shoulder their duties but even if you change, Idon’t think you’ll be anything like them. Never mind that you’re anotherlikeminded soul in a whole line of likeminded souls. You are Oscar Pine. And that’sperfectly okay because from what I know, Oscar Pine is pretty darn great.
Oscar smiles; chuckling slightly.
Oscar: *coyly*…Ruby Rose is pretty darn great too.
Ruby returns the smile, bright and pretty.
Oscar: *skeptically* …Hey Ruby…about Yang, I don’t know if I’m readyto—
Ruby: I know. And it’s okay. This…wasn’t about that anyways. And that doesn’t affect this. I meant what I said when I said I’m herefor you. Us honestsouls got to stick together, right?
Rubyextends her hand for a handshake. Oscar grins and accepts it, looking genuinelytouched by Ruby’s support. However that expression didn’t last long as his facebecame blue again. Ruby stiffened. She could feel Oscar’s hands tremblingbetween her finger tips and at first, she figured he was going to have another meltdownin front of her. But instead Oscar does something he’s never done before. Hecloses the gap between him and Ruby, suddenly pulling her forward as he wrappedhis arms around her neck; embracing her tightly.
Thisgesture honestly surprised Ruby and for a beat she just stood there awkwardlystaring at the top of Oscar’s head. She could feel him burying his nose into hershoulder, his hair tickling her neck. This was surely a first. Not to say that Oscarwasn’t an affectionate person; it’s just that in Ruby’s experience with him, itwas unlike the farm boy to actually initiate physicalcontact between them. Usually that’s her department.
Oscar: *through tears* …What did I do to deserve a friend like you?
Ruby’s initial shock melts into warmth. A smile tugsat her lips as she returns the hug to Oscar’s sobbing form; her cheeks touchinghis hair as she stroked his head soothingly.
Ruby: By just being you.
And scene.That’s it. That’s all folks. That’s all I got. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
This is pretty much all I got for this script. LikeI said, I was originally going to include a third installement to thisfeaturing Oscar reconcilingwith Yang. But not gonna go there, guys. Sorry. Will need somedowntime to recharge because I really wish to keep the spontaneous nature ofthis scripts and this one took me too freaking long. And even now that it’scomplete, I dunno what to make of it.
There are elements in there that fit into a favouriteRosegardeningRosebuds headcanon of mine whereOscar suffers a meltdown from all the pressure he’s feeling and Ruby is thereto reassure him that she’s got his back always; making a promise tohim that no matter what happens, she will be there for Oscar. She is in hiscourt.
This is something that I was hoping the main serieswould have touched on in V6, especially since it teased the divide among theheroes and the tension with Ozpin. I was hoping for some scene where Ruby andOscar just talk things out and Ruby makes a solemn vow to be the closeconfidant that Oscar needs. That…didn’t really happened…well kinda-ish.
But not in the immense detail as this. I’m not sureif we’ll see something to this level done in the canon. Definitely not to thislevel of two people talking this much on screen.
But at least it fits into things I would like tosee explored for Oscar’s character and his friendship with Ruby. Not sure whatto make of this script. I’m just glad that it’s finally done and the verdict asalways is up to the readers. Don’t chastise me too much guys.
