[RWBY] RWBY Shorts

[Bofors40mm]

salummer(?), to ruby and yang about jaune: grandbabies now.

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Operation produce enough grandchildren that she's too distracted to be evil?

 

[AndrewJTalon]

It's funny when realizations hit you. Often when you're doing something potentially unwise.

The realization hit Whitley Schnee like a slap to the face while he was standing in the middle of Vale's bustling commercial district. He had decided to leave his hotel where he was staying while he worked on the Vytal Festival for his father.

He was rich. He was famous. And he was completely, embarrassingly defenseless.

His name alone made him a walking target. His father's enemies, the White Fang, random opportunists: Any of them could decide today was the day to grab the youngest Schnee heir. And what would he do? Throw lien at them?

…Actually, that gave him an idea.

Whitley scanned the crowd until his eyes landed on the first person who looked like they might know how to throw a punch. Or shoot a gun. Or both.

She was standing outside a weapon shop, bouncing on her heels while eating a cookie the size of her face. Short black-and-red hair, bright silver eyes, and a massive scythe strapped to her back like it weighed nothing.

Perfect.

Whitley marched up to her, pulled out his wallet, and slapped an entire stack of high-denomination lien into her hands.

"You're a Huntress, correct?" he asked, voice crisp and business-like. "I require a bodyguard for the day. That should cover your fee, plus hazard pay. Do we have an agreement?"

Ruby Rose blinked at the money, then at him, then back at the money.

"Uhhhh… sure?" She tilted her head, cookie crumbs on her cheek. "Wait, are you being chased by Grimm right now? Or bad guys? Or both?"

"Not at this exact moment," Whitley said, already regretting everything and nothing. "But the odds are statistically high. Shall we?"

Ruby's entire face lit up like Crescent Rose on overdrive.

"OKAY!"


What followed was not a bodyguard assignment.

It was a roller coaster.

Ruby decided the best way to "protect" him was to show him how normal (As if either of them knew what that was) people lived in Vale. Within twenty minutes Whitley found himself in an arcade, holding a plastic gun and being screamed at by an overly enthusiastic Ruby.

"Shoot the zombies, Whitley! Not the civilians! No, not that civilian either—okay, maybe that one was a zombie, good job!"

He lost horribly. Ruby won every round and celebrated by buying him an oversized slushie "for morale."

Then came the "gallivanting" portion.

Ruby dragged him to a food truck festival, a weapons shop where she gave him an exhaustive rundown on so many guns that his eyes began to glaze (and he bought one just to shut her up and get out of there), and a comic book store where she spent forty minutes explaining why a certain issue of The Adventures of Xray and Vav was peak fiction. Whitley, who had never been allowed junk food or "frivolous reading material," discovered he actually liked both.

He didn't like getting shot at, which he learned quickly.

This happened when a small group of low-level White Fang thugs spotted his distinctive white hair and decided to make a quick score.

Ruby's reaction time was terrifying.

One second she was mid-sentence about weapon maintenance. The next, Crescent Rose was unfolded and she was a red-and-black blur of petals and high-velocity gunfire.

Whitley stood frozen as she took down four armed Faunus in under ten seconds without breaking a sweat.

When it was over, Ruby spun back to him, scythe collapsing with a cheerful shink, and offered the brightest smile he'd ever seen.

"You okay? They didn't even get close!"

Whitley stared at her, heart still hammering, adrenaline singing in his veins… and realized he was grinning like an idiot.

"That was the most fun I've had in my entire life."

Ruby laughed and punched his shoulder lightly. "See? Being a normal person is awesome! Well… mostly normal. With occasional gunfire."

By the time the sun began to set, Whitley was exhausted, sticky from various street foods, and carrying a small bag of comic books Ruby had insisted he needed "for cultural education."

They stopped at a quiet overlook near the cliffs.

Ruby turned to him, silver eyes sparkling in the dying light.

"So… same time next week? I still gotta teach you how to actually aim that pistol you bought earlier."

Whitley hesitated only a second before pulling out his scroll.

"I would like that very much." He held it out. "If you'll give me your number?"

Ruby's face went pink, but she beamed and quickly tapped her contact in.

"Deal! But only if you promise to let me drag you to the new amusement park when it opens. They have a ride that spins you upside down!"

Whitley, who had never been on an amusement park ride in his life, found himself nodding immediately.

"I look forward to it."

 

[digcat]

Here's hoping they meet the rest of team rwby next time.

 

[zMADLAXz]

Was rewatching Pyrrha's fights on Youtube because well her fights were fun, and lowkey her Semblance genuinely fucked.

I had forgotten how much she used it. The only people she didn't use it against were team CRDL and not to disparage their skills, but like, other than the dude with the Halberd, they didn't press her. Only the duel wielding guy was putting some numbers with how he deflected her shots.

One another thing that Monty did great was he always avoided that old cliche of fighters hitting swords for 10 seconds straight, usually it is 3-4 exchanges and then a hit, which is really realistic.

Though I have some criticism but ultimately it was good. Great even.

Now the entire reason why I brought this topic out, I have seen in all the older and even newer RWBY fights, and realized that a fighter with solid Defense and actual functioning Armor would actually beat them all up. Like seriously, huntsmen really depend on their speed and esoteric weapons/semblance.

No wonder Hazel was taking all of their asses.

 

[Abramus5250]

Operation produce enough grandchildren that she's too distracted to be evil?

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Evil GILF Summer/Salem is the kind of evil that is easily distracted by not only grandbabies, but everything surrounding them.

Conquering a kingdom gets put off because some of the local PTA moms are trying to get cookies banned and she's made it her mission to join the PTA and subvert it so such a travesty never happens.

Those power-tripping old farts on that neighboring HOA think they can enforce their awful rules outside of their jurisdiction? Not on granny's watch!

Would Salem Summer try to adopt Nora so Ren could marry his partner, and thus give Salem even more grandbabies? Would she adopt Cinder and encourage her to also be with Jaune?

 

[John Jackson]

Tai
"While I approve in principle Honey we really can't put the HOA's boards heads on spikes as a warning to the next 10 generations…maybe something with fire instead"
She might pull a pro gamer move and adopt REN so he can marry Nora after she's adopted by the Arc family for maximum grandchildren.

 

[KarasAdamas]

"I PANICKED!"

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With the amount of times Blake has pulled the Boyfriend to Engaged to Pregnant in this thread, it is now officially my head canon that this is Blake's panicked response. Specifically when it involves her parents.

 

[cavalal386]

With the amount of times Blake has pulled the Boyfriend to Engaged to Pregnant in this thread, it is now officially my head canon that this is Blake's panicked response. Specifically when it involves her parents.

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that, and running away from her problems.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The arcade was loud, bright, and full of cheerful chaos — exactly what Ruby had hoped for.

After she'd learned that Jaune used to be a pretty big gamer before Mia came along, Ruby had made it her personal mission to drag him and Mia out for a "rediscovery day." Jaune had been hesitant at first, but the moment Mia heard "video games," her eyes lit up like Crescent Rose in scythe mode.

Now the three of them were deep in the arcade, moving from station to station.

They started with fighting games. Jaune and Ruby went head-to-head while Mia cheered from Jaune's lap. Ruby won most rounds, but Jaune managed a few surprise comebacks that had Ruby yelling in delight.

Then came the rhythm games. Mia insisted on playing with them, standing on a box between Jaune and Ruby. She stomped and clapped with wild enthusiasm, missing almost every beat but laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

Shooter games came next. Jaune and Ruby teamed up in co-op mode while Mia "helped" by pressing random buttons and shouting "PEW PEW PEW!" at the screen.

By the time they took a break, all three of them were smiling and a little sweaty.

They wandered over to the small café attached to the arcade. Ruby ordered the most ridiculous sugary dessert she could find — a towering ice cream float with extra whipped cream, sprinkles, and a cherry on top. Jaune got a sensible sandwich. Mia had a healthy lunchbox Jaune had packed, but she kept eyeing Ruby's float with open longing.

"Can I have some?" Mia asked, ears perked hopefully.

Ruby grinned. "Sure!"

Jaune gave her a pointed "Dad Look."

Ruby flushed instantly. "I mean… one bite. Just one!"

Mia took her bite, eyes widening in pure bliss. "It's so good! More please!"

Ruby glanced nervously at Jaune, feeling the full weight of his parental energy. "Sorry, Mia… that's all for now."

Mia's lower lip immediately wobbled into a world-class pout.

Jaune leaned over and gently wiped a bit of whipped cream from her cheek. "If you're good for the rest of the day, we can get a big dessert back at Beacon tonight. Deal?"

Mia sniffled but eventually nodded. "Deal…"

A few minutes later, Jaune stood up. "I'll be right back. Gotta use the bathroom. Ruby, can you watch her?"

"On it!" Ruby said, giving a determined salute.

The moment Jaune disappeared around the corner, Mia turned those big blue eyes on Ruby again.

"Auntie Ruby… pleeeeease can I have more float?"

Ruby hesitated, biting her lip. "Mia, your dad said—"

"But it's so yummy!" Mia whined, giving the most effective puppy-dog eyes in Remnant.

Ruby lasted about ten seconds before caving. "Okay… just a tiny bit more."

Five minutes later, Jaune returned to absolute mayhem.

Mia was running around the arcade like a sugar-fueled goblin, cackling wildly and weaving between game machines. Ruby was desperately chasing after her, arms outstretched, clearly trying (and failing) not to use her Semblance in a public place.

"Mia! Come back here!" Ruby called, voice cracking with panic. She jumped ahead of her with her Semblance, reappearing right in front of Mia... Who turned and dove between the arcade cabinets to the next row. "AH! HEY! GET BACK HERE!"

Ruby leaped over and landed, trying to catch the little half-Faunus girl, but Mia had dashed away again between some claw machines.

"MIA!"

Mia darted straight for the ball pit, scrambled up the nets surrounding it with surprising agility, and perched at the top like a triumphant monkey.

Jaune's voice cut through the noise, firm and stern. "Mia Arc. NO. Down. Now."

Mia froze, ears flattening. She looked at him defiantly for a second… then her face crumpled when he added, "If you don't come down right now, no more dessert for a month."

Mia gasped.

"No!"

"Yes!" Jaune insisted. "And no more game days with Ruby!"

"Th-That's right!" Ruby added weakly.

She sniffled, eyes filling with tears. "I… I can't get down…"

Jaune sighed and stepped in front of the ball pit, holding his arms out. "Jump. I've got you."

Mia hesitated only a moment before dropping into his arms. He caught her easily and held her close as she buried her face in his shoulder, still sniffling, the sugar rush winding down.

"Excuse me you two."

Which is when security found them.

- - -

Five minutes later, they stood outside the arcade on the sidewalk, the noisy honks of mid-day traffic filling the air. The owner made things clear: Don't come back for two weeks, or get a permanent ban.

Which felt like a death sentence to Ruby.

Looking utterly mortified, she turned to her friend. "Jaune, I'm so sorry! I only gave her a few more sips, I swear! I didn't think she'd turn into a hyperactive gremlin!"

Jaune shifted Mia to one arm and gave Ruby a tired but gentle smile. "It's okay. She's very sly and cute… and that makes it really hard to say no to her." He raised an eyebrow. "Without experience."

Ruby groaned, covering her face with both hands. "I ruined everything…"

Jaune chuckled softly. "Not at all. I'm actually glad you dragged us out today. I'd almost forgotten how fun this stuff could be." He glanced at the chaos around them and smiled wider. "Plus… watching you try to catch her was pretty funny."

"It was not!" Ruby pouted.

"It was," Jaune chuckled, as Ruby covered her face.

Ruby peeked through her fingers, still blushing. "You're not mad?"

"Nah." Jaune adjusted Mia, who was already calming down in his arms. "I appreciate how hard you try with us. And honestly… I think you'd make a really good mom someday."

Ruby turned scarlet, eyes going wide. "Wha- I- That's-!"

Jaune just laughed warmly as they started walking back toward the exit, Mia already dozing against his shoulder, sticky hands clutching his hoodie.

Ruby trailed after them, heart racing and mind spinning with way too many thoughts she definitely wasn't ready to examine yet.

But one thing was certain: arcade days with Jaune and Mia were going to become a regular thing.

... In two weeks.

 

[zMADLAXz]

I like all these snippets but Jaune is acting really lax with Mia. Not like a responsible father.

She constantly gets too many sweets, gets lost, Mia talks when she is supposed to stay silent etc.

Look we all enjoy her shenanigans, she's a sweet angel, but Jaune's gotta start putting boundaries because rest of the world just spoils her.

And despite how cute kids are, we all know you sometimes gotta be strict or they grow up to be troublemakers.

 

[Bommel]

Some speculation on the Schnee family, and specifically why Willow and Jacques have had 3 children together.
I've put it in this thread here, because despite the speculation being about sex, nothing about it is hot.

Willow has had 3 children with Jacques, but why?

It's very clear that Willow and all of her children hate Jacques (even if Whitley is able to hide that from the world) because he's been an abusive father and husband for what has clearly been years if not most of the lives the children.
There is literally nothing that indicates that Jacques was ever a good father or husband, and it's made very clear that the only reason why he married Willow in the first place is to take over her family company (he literally told that to Willow's face).

So Willow would have already have been bad by the time they had their youngest child.
Because Winter is in her mid-20's, Weiss is 17 when the story starts, and Whitley is something like 14, so Winter would have been at lest 10 before Willow got pregnant with Whitley.
That's a whole decade plus additional time before Willow got pregnant the fist time with Winter, which would have been more then enough time for Willow to have experianced and realise that Jacques emotionally abusive and a bad person.


So hear me out, a possible reason that I can think of is that..... Jacques is a creepy pervert.

Willow would not have wanted to have sex with Jacques again after all the emotional abuse and him telling her that he only married her to get her wealth and family company.
But after that Willow started drinking to cope, after she fell into despair, and so is drunk quite often.
This could implies that she was drunk when Whitley and Weiss were concieved, and Jacques took advantage of Willow when she was heavily intoxicated to become agreeable enough to have sex with Jacques.
Those times where she got that heavily intoxicated might have been a direct result of Jacques being particularly emotionally abusive.
Willow hasn't been able to report this because of all the power that Jacques has (including over any lawyers she could use to sew him), and she's never told any of her children because she doesn't want them to know (the only one besides Willow and Jacques who might know is Klein, who also can't do a lot for similar reasons).

Why would Jacques do this, rather than just hiring some callgirl?
All Jacques cares about is his greed money and power, and is also willing to do whatever it takes for the sake of profit and/or power.
So he'd get a kick from being in a position of power, and if Willow is really drunk, she can't really resist if she wanted too, or is too out of it to resist at all.
If Jacques is a creepy pervert who gets off on having power over others it could also open the possibility that Jacques has the women of the household staff into demeaning outfits (such as french maid outfits).

 

[Azzy Rael]

I like all these snippets but Jaune is acting really lax with Mia. Not like a responsible father.

She constantly gets too many sweets, gets lost, Mia talks when she is supposed to stay silent etc.

Look we all enjoy her shenanigans, she's a sweet angel, but Jaune's gotta start putting boundaries because rest of the world just spoils her.

And despite how cute kids are, we all know you sometimes gotta be strict or they grow up to be troublemakers.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, these are snippets of their life. How actually interesting are the basic times of childcare, versus the possibly few times Mia's more chaotic than honestly bad? Further there have been times we see Jaune be strict- but equally it hasn't been all that long since they moved to Beacon, and her entire life has changed. Honestly speaking, I feel Jaune is doing better than a lot of the parents of my friends at at least showing he cares and treating her like a person rather than a weird pet they keep.

 

[zMADLAXz]

To be fair, these are snippets of their life. How actually interesting are the basic times of childcare, versus the possibly few times Mia's more chaotic than honestly bad? Further there have been times we see Jaune be strict- but equally it hasn't been all that long since they moved to Beacon, and her entire life has changed. Honestly speaking, I feel Jaune is doing better than a lot of the parents of my friends at at least showing he cares and treating her like a person rather than a weird pet they keep.

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I guess that's fair, but I will say that her getting lost and her talking when she should rather stay quiet thing is getting really common. Something that absolutely shouldn't be.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

TRANSCRIPT 1



Private Meeting: Beacon Academy Headmaster's Office

Date: 14 June 2000 AMF



Participants:

Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy and Chair of the H.A.R. Council

Chancellor Edwina Browning, newly elected Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Vale



Chancellor Browning:

Headmaster, I didn't ask for this meeting to be lectured on history. I've read the sealed files. Mount Glenn was a tragedy, yes, but it's been thirteen years. The city sits on some of the richest untapped Gravity and Fire Dust veins on Sanus and contains advanced technologies thst could benefit everyone. My administration campaigned on renewal, on showing the people that Vale does not simply abandon its dreams. Reclaiming it would be a symbol — proof that we are not ruled by fear.



Ozpin:

Fear is a rational response to certain realities, Chancellor. And the reality inside Mount Glenn is not the one the public was told.



[A pause. The sound of Ozpin stirring his cocoa is audible.]



Ozpin (calmly):

Doctor Merlot did not merely fail to contain Grimm. He succeeded in changing them. The sonic emitters you have seen in every modern settlement were only the first, safest layer of his work. The later experiments — the ones that remain sealed — involved cybernetic augmentation and Aura imprinting. He attempted to give Grimm fragments of human souls so they could be trained, commanded… domesticated.



Chancellor Browning:

I've seen the summaries. "Augmented specimens." "Echoes of human personality." The Committee said it was a failure.



Ozpin:

The Committee called it a failure because the alternative was admitting that some of those specimens are still alive down there. Still learning. Still remembering the imprint of the men and women whose Aura Merlot grafted onto them. They are no longer simple beasts, Chancellor. They are something worse — something that can plan, that can wait, that can mimic human voices and more when the mood strikes them.



[Browning shifts in her chair. The leather creaks.]



Chancellor Browning:

Even if that's true, we have Huntsmen. We have the VDF. We have sonic arrays improved tenfold since Merlot's day. We could sterilize the underground levels, seal the worst sections permanently, and begin extraction operations under heavy guard. The economic benefit alone—



Ozpin (quietly, but with steel):

Would be dwarfed by the cost if even one augmented pack reaches the surface. Imagine a Beowolf that remembers how to operate a gun. Imagine a Nevermore that has learned the sound of a child's voice and uses it as bait. Imagine the first rescue team that goes down and never comes back — because the things wearing their friends' faces are waiting in the dark.



[Silence. Ozpin sets his mug down with a soft clink.]



Ozpin:

I was there the night the High Council voted to seal the tunnels. Chancellor Taurus resigned three weeks later because of the weight of what he had to do. He understood what we were burying alive. I am asking you, as someone who has watched far too many well-intentioned reclamation efforts end in new graveyards, to choose the better path. Leave it buried.



Chancellor Browning (lower, almost angry):

You're asking me to begin my term by telling the people of Vale that one of our greatest utopian projects must remain a tomb. That is political poison, Headmaster.



Ozpin:

Better poison now than plague later. The city is not merely lost, Chancellor. It is quarantined. There is a difference. The Grimm down there are no longer wild. They are… curious. And curiosity, in creatures that once fed only on despair, is the most dangerous thing of all.



[Longer silence. The distant sound of a Bullhead passing overhead.]



Chancellor Browning (finally, tired):

…You're certain the threat remains active?



Ozpin:

I have never been more certain of anything.



Chancellor Browning:

Then the quarantine stands. For now. But I will expect a full, unredacted briefing within the month. And if I ever discover you withheld material information from me, Headmaster, our working relationship will become considerably less cordial.



Ozpin (softly, with the faintest trace of a smile):

I would expect nothing less from Vale's Chancellor.



Chancellor Browning:

Good night, Headmaster.



Ozpin:

Good night, Chancellor. And… welcome to the chair.



[End of recording.]

 

[zMADLAXz]

See Merlot's actuons here raise a bit of a controversial point.

If those Grimm have some sort of life/soul now. Should they be treated like actual living beings or as a mere predator species that has more advanced hunting methods.

 

[Sliverhero]

See Merlot's actuons here raise a bit of a controversial point.

If those Grimm have some sort of life/soul now. Should they be treated like actual living beings or as a mere predator species that has more advanced hunting methods.

Click to shrink...

Who to say they havent already escaped but noone knows. And they now able to live among people no one the wiser and they can breed.

Cue the great reveal that several of the cast parents were these hybrids

 

[CountvonBarnOwl]

Some speculation on the Schnee family, and specifically why Willow and Jacques have had 3 children together.
I've put it in this thread here, because despite the speculation being about sex, nothing about it is hot.

Willow has had 3 children with Jacques, but why?

It's very clear that Willow and all of her children hate Jacques (even if Whitley is able to hide that from the world) because he's been an abusive father and husband for what has clearly been years if not most of the lives the children.
There is literally nothing that indicates that Jacques was ever a good father or husband, and it's made very clear that the only reason why he married Willow in the first place is to take over her family company (he literally told that to Willow's face).

So Willow would have already have been bad by the time they had their youngest child.
Because Winter is in her mid-20's, Weiss is 17 when the story starts, and Whitley is something like 14, so Winter would have been at lest 10 before Willow got pregnant with Whitley.
That's a whole decade plus additional time before Willow got pregnant the fist time with Winter, which would have been more then enough time for Willow to have experianced and realise that Jacques emotionally abusive and a bad person.


So hear me out, a possible reason that I can think of is that..... Jacques is a creepy pervert.

Willow would not have wanted to have sex with Jacques again after all the emotional abuse and him telling her that he only married her to get her wealth and family company.
But after that Willow started drinking to cope, after she fell into despair, and so is drunk quite often.
This could implies that she was drunk when Whitley and Weiss were concieved, and Jacques took advantage of Willow when she was heavily intoxicated to become agreeable enough to have sex with Jacques.
Those times where she got that heavily intoxicated might have been a direct result of Jacques being particularly emotionally abusive.
Willow hasn't been able to report this because of all the power that Jacques has (including over any lawyers she could use to sew him), and she's never told any of her children because she doesn't want them to know (the only one besides Willow and Jacques who might know is Klein, who also can't do a lot for similar reasons).

Why would Jacques do this, rather than just hiring some callgirl?
All Jacques cares about is his greed money and power, and is also willing to do whatever it takes for the sake of profit and/or power.
So he'd get a kick from being in a position of power, and if Willow is really drunk, she can't really resist if she wanted too, or is too out of it to resist at all.
If Jacques is a creepy pervert who gets off on having power over others it could also open the possibility that Jacques has the women of the household staff into demeaning outfits (such as french maid outfits).

Click to shrink...

I posit a different theory. Jacques held his charming, dependable charade that he used to get into the good graces of Willow's family together in the first place until Weiss was 10 (Weiss says that her tenth birthday was when Jacques told Willow he never actually loved her when she explains the origin of her mother's drinking problem). If Weiss was 10, then Whitley would have been 8 at the time (Wiki lists him as being 16 in V4, same as Ruby), and Winter is listed as somewhere in her mid 20s as V3 kicks off, and in the SB thread we've all sort of agreed she is 24, so 24-7=17+/- 2 or 3 years. So about 9 years. (I had been wondering at the math, it was why I wrote this post)

People like Jacques IRL as often as not have incredible social skills (CRWBY cannot depict this because they suck at writing), and while the portion of their brain responsible for governing empathy and the like is usually stunted, underdeveloped, or malformed, a few happen also to be exceedingly intelligent individuals with such a malformation are smart enough to understand what they lack and lucid enough to effectively ape or imitate it as a matter of social survival or personal benefit. This is only magnified by the fact that such people always learn early on how to identify the easiest targets, and keep such people's company.

For a while, it served Jacques to act like a charming, caring, attentive, up-and-comer in the SDC (how, I assume, he earned the attention of Willow's father and fooled him into trusting the man with his daughter and legacy).

Of course, when he had three kids of his own, and he had been running the SDC long enough for a critical mass of his own allies and connections to supplant his deceased father-in-law's (and Nicholas, who lived long enough for Weiss to remember him, was finally dead) he didn't need to keep up the pretense anymore. So he stopped. It was probably no different from taking off a dirty coat for him, but to Willow and the kids it must have been a shock.

That and, as to your point on Willow and Jacques having 3 kids, on a setting like Remnant, that is more reasonable than having two or less. Because the Grimm are an existential threat and the real apex predator across most of the world, anybody having children needs to do so with the assumption that not all of them will survive to adulthood.

IRL the replacement rate is 2.1 to 2.4; two kids replacing two parents with an extra cushion if something goes wrong. Rounding up to the nearest whole child you get a functional rate of 3.

On Remnant, where the average life expectancy is lower and the average child mortality rate is higher, the birth rate required to at least keep the population stagnant is probably going to be more than that.

This creates a world in which culture expects you to have more children, society is more understanding and accommodating to the expenses of child rearing, and those who cannot have children must at least be willing to look after those of their neighbors' or their extended kin grouping, lest they face total ostracizing.

But we do not get families with a lot of children in our story. This is for multiple reasons, some are good, others are bad.

Reason 1 is a good reason. Rule 4 of Writing - all characters in a story must have a good enough excuse to be in it. RWBY has a cast bloat problem as is, and it would be exacerbated if we populated the world as we reasonably should.

Now we could populate the world, but if we did so carelessly, we would run the risk of breaking Rule 3 - all characters must be written as if they are alive (except dead characters who have to be written as if they are corpses). You cannot have a character who has a lot of kids and who does not act like he has a lot of kids absent an excuse (such as forgetfulness, not knowing of their existence or apathy). Or you could write a large family for only a few characters who matter to the story and break Rule 2 - all parts of a story shall be necessary to it and help develop either the plot, the characters, or both.

So, in order to avoid going the way of Naruto and having 40% of our time and effort occupied by filler which needlessly detracts from the development of the characters and impairs our understanding of them for no material impact to the plot, we could write about small families.

However, small families, on Remnant, should be the exception, and while it isn't a problem to write mostly about exceptions (and considering the sort of crowds the exceptions tend to exist in, you may find very quickly a cast improbably peopled by a large proportion of exceptions (which is not a problem, introducing unnecessary characters or radically and incongruously to get a fairer cross-section of the general population serves no end besides making your characters and world-building feel less believable to your audience).

In canon RWBY this is mostly done for us. Marrying Tai seems to have a barrier-to-entry that involves being a member of Team STRQ, and is a functional death sentence, so he stopped after 2. Jacques and Willow hate each other so they stopped at 3. Ghira and Kali don't have any good excuses in canon but one Blake was more than enough.

In fact, in canon RWBY, Jaune is supposed to be an everyman. So it is reasonable to guess that the oddity with his family is not that they are a household of ten, but that all of Jaune's siblings are girls.

Also, Nora and Ren's families got fucked up by the Grimm, and cases like theirs are probably somewhat common. So that is them explained.

The above is what I wish was the case.

Onto the bad reason, and the real reason why things came out the way that they did; why the families that we see are all implausibly small. CRWBY ignores Rule 3.

CRWBY are terrible writers. So much so that I maintain that all the good writing they accomplish happens either by accident or against their express wishes (and they try to cut out any shows of competence and skill, meager though they may be, as soon as they find them). See V8.

Because CRWBY are incompetent writers, and lacking in imagination the struggle to conceive of how or why a setting, no matter how fantastical, may differ from their own. This fact is doubly and tragintupally true in the soicial and cultural dimensions.

CRWBY cannot conceive of any place, real or fictional, where the societal norms are different from those of a liberal western capitalist city in a rich, high-trust monochronic society. No matter how out of place those values would be in a setting where the cultural forces holding dominance are anything but the Enlightenment, or the mixture of Christianity and Aristotelian philosophy that made the Renaissance and thereby the Enlightenment possible on Earth. Mind you, these are just the factors that I was able to think up over lunch, there are dozens if not hundreds more because cultures and anthropology are complex as shit.

They are like this because they are all Rousseauians. They are all conceited, and they are conceited enough to assume that just by being themselves their views and beliefs are the (0,0) of all reasonable opinions and right moral views with no regard to the anthropological or philosophical precedent of their environments. Nor, can they conceive of environments that might shape one differently, and even if they could, they would go far out of their way to let everybody know that a person is only as moral as they are in agreement with CRWBY.

Quite simply, they are narrow-minded enough to take the social norms of Austin, TX and assume that they are the norms in all places.

What we are left with is the fact that CRWBY are such awful writers that, even when there is a prima facie case that they are following the Rules of Writing, they are, in reality breaking them for reasons mapped on a mental axis that only people too dumb to know that they do not know everything can possess.

You're right that Jacques needs to feel in control of others in order to function, about 1/7th of the human race does to a degree where it becomes a noticeable component of any interaction that you may have with them. But personality is not a surefire marker either, some - typically in different circumstances and with different opportunities and connections - are liable to act in manners completely unlike Jacques. But while they take different forms, these behaviors are the same manipulations, and to the same ends.

Though I do genuinely wonder if Jacques would be this petty in this case because it makes me feel too much like Jacques is going to too much trouble to gain no reward. Not that he wouldn't, that is what petty means. But in this case, and done in a sloppy manner that is sure to earn him disapproval from his social circle... No, that tipping his hand too far. If you want to write Jacques you need to write a grown-up Joffrey Baratheon. From that starting point imagine a Joffrey with a mind to rival his uncle and grandfather, as well as the composure. He needs to be in control, and he wants to exert that control over others, but, the thing he wants most, is to be applauded for it. And that is how people like him always come apart. Their needs clash with their wants.

 

[zMADLAXz]

Willow has had 3 children with Jacques, but why?

It's very clear that Willow and all of her children hate Jacques (even if Whitley is able to hide that from the world) because he's been an abusive father and husband for what has clearly been years if not most of the lives the children.

Click to shrink...

Big Man, wasn't it told that only at Weiss's 10th birthday party did Jacques reveal that he only married Willow for her influence, and he told this to Willow herself.

What Canon indicates to me, is that he was the classical Rich, hard to please father, but it was par for course to Willow.

After his reveal, he stopped caring for the family and that started to enhance the cracks in their family(Whitley was already born at this point)

That means Willow stopped sleeping with him, well after the last Schneebling was born.

 

[Sliverhero]

Big Man, wasn't it told that only at Weiss's 10th birthday party did Jacques reveal that he only married Willow for her influence, and he told this to Willow herself.

What Canon indicates to me, is that he was the classical Rich, hard to please father, but it was par for course to Willow.

After his reveal, he stopped caring for the family and that started to enhance the cracks in their family(Whitley was already born at this point)

That means Willow stopped sleeping with him, well after the last Schneebling was born.

Click to shrink...

I assume that willow dad was still alive until weiss 10th birthday so he had to play nice until he died

 

[zMADLAXz]

I assume that willow dad was still alive until weiss 10th birthday so he had to play nice until he died

Click to shrink...

Ice Queendom did show that Lil Weiss interacted with her Gramps, so you could be right. Though him being alive till she was 10, maybe he died earlier and then Jacques started to develop hisbpower base at the Schnee Corporate and by the time of her 10th birthday he had amassed enough power and enough people loyal to him that he didn't have to pretend anymore.

Like a Tumor that lives long enkigh in the body, that it has its own circulatory system.

 

[Sliverhero]

Ice Queendom did show that Lil Weiss interacted with her Gramps, so you could be right. Though him being alive till she was 10, maybe he died earlier and then Jacques started to develop hisbpower base at the Schnee Corporate and by the time of her 10th birthday he had amassed enough power and enough people loyal to him that he didn't have to pretend anymore.

Like a Tumor that lives long enkigh in the body, that it has its own circulatory system.

Click to shrink...

Could be both, and he probaly already amassed his base in the company bit the reason he waited for Gramps to die is because he was too well loved and the moment he tried what he truly wanted, one world from gramps would have ended his career.

 

[zMADLAXz]

People like Jacques IRL as often as not have incredible social skills (CRWBY cannot depict this because they suck at writing), and while the portion of their brain responsible for governing empathy and the like is usually stunted, underdeveloped, or malformed, a few happen also to be exceedingly intelligent individuals.

Withh such a malformation are smart enough to understand what they lack and lucid enough to effectively ape or imitate it as a matter of social survival or personal benefit.

This is only magnified by the fact that such people always learn early on how to identify the easiest targets, and keep such people's company.

Click to shrink...

That's like, the textbook definition of a Sociopath. Like genuinely, you google a highly functioning Sociopath and this is what you'll get.

Huh, excellent diagnosing Count.

 

[ThunderBasilisk]

I would absolutely believe those Grimm arnt even down there anymore. And that Jaune made friends with several weird Faunus people.

 

[Gur40]

more ZZZ art

Spoiler: Yang

it fits her

---

A Dastardly Villianous!

Spoiler: Name Trademark Pending

A certain Red Reaper was upset of the name being taken

---

Giant Beowolf

Spoiler: Ancient? Elder?

Just a warm up to Ruby

---

Short Hair Weiss!

Spoiler: cute

Whitley Hated Being Called Boy Weiss after this

---

Stolen From Tumblr

Spoiler: Cinder Arm BS

I got a few questions with her grim arm.

Her grim arm can ignore aura? Cause she is able to stab Vernal and Penny so easily.

Why can't she siphon Maiden powers right away? I thought her grim arm was an upgraded version of the grim glove.

Is Cinder aware of her grim arm creeping through her human flesh?

AmbivertCollegeGuy • 2d ago

The arm absorbs the victim's soul to steal the Maiden powers but if their Aura is intact then it absorbs the Aura instead. Think of it as eating away the hard part of a lollipop to get the gum at the center. Aura is protecting them from having their soul stolen.

That's why Amber (the original Fall Maiden) was left in a coma. Her Aura was broken so Cinder could steal her soul and with it the Maiden powers. Amber was practically missing half of her soul. It's a similar case to Pietro's.

The arm doesn't bypass Aura tho. The writers sometimes feel lazy and say "she got caught off-guard" when they need someone to die. That's how Sienna died too. She "forgot aura exists lol".

What Do You Think?

The Arm eats magic and aura? ignore it entirely? more retcons on Aura needing to be active or turned on and off?

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The Arc family farmhouse smelled like Isabel's famous pot roast and fresh baked bread. The rest of the Arc family daughters were elsewhere, leaving just Jaune to sit quietly next to his father, looking mildly traumatized. He was back for the weekend after starting Beacon, and the airship ride had been rough. But he'd made it and that was what counted.

Nicholas Arc, former Jedi Padawan and current clueless Huntsman, was happily chewing his food when his wife finally spoke.

"So," Isabel said, voice deceptively sweet as she cut into her roast, "I heard something interesting today from Headmaster Ozpin in Vale."

Jaune's shoulders hunched.

Nick blinked innocently. "Oh? What's that, dear?"

Isabel set her knife down with a little too much force.

"Apparently, there are four different young women at Beacon Academy who have received orders from their respective families or mentors to kill you — or your child — on sight."

A beat of silence.

Jaune turned to stare at his father in disbelief.

Nick scratched his cheek. "Ah. You heard about that."

Isabel's eye twitched. "Yes, Nicholas. I heard about that. Would you care to explain why the daughter of a Sith Lord, two Mandalorian-raised girls, and the granddaughter of a Dathomir Nightsister all want my husband and son dead?"

Nick smiled that same dopey, lovable smile that had somehow won her over decades ago.

"Well, you see, honey… it's a long story."

"I have time," Isabel said, voice dangerously calm.

Jaune tried to sink into his chair and disappear.

Nick rubbed the back of his neck. "When I crash-landed on Remnant all those years ago, I wasn't exactly… subtle. And um... There was a gigantic interstellar war going on... The Sith are like the Jedi's dark mirror and apparently, Pyrrha's mother was a Sith apprentice who crashlanded-I think I know the one. Taiyang's father was a Mandalorian who taught Ruby and Yang the old 'shoot Jedi on sight' rule-They're a warrior culture, love to fight us. They lose all the time against us but they keep fighting. And Willow's mother — the Nightsister — well, they're not exactly fond of Jedi either. Like, they use the Darkside too and use it like magic and uh, they try to kill us. A lot."

Isabel stared at him for a long moment.

Then she picked up her wine glass and drained it in one go.

"You absolute idiot," she growled, though there was more fond exasperation than real anger. "You crash-land on a death world, fall in love with me, have eight children, and somehow forget to mention that half the galaxy's worst monsters followed you here?"

Nick shrugged sheepishly. "I didn't know for sure! And I didn't want to worry you!"

"Worry me?" Isabel laughed, sharp and disbelieving. "Nick, our son is at Beacon with four very dangerous, very skilled young women who were all raised to murder him. One of them is a Sith apprentice!"

"Technically she's a very nice girl," Jaune mumbled.

Isabel pointed her fork at him. "You stay out of this, young man. You're already in enough trouble for not telling me sooner. I had to hear it from Ozpin!"

Jaune sank lower.

Nick reached over and gently took his wife's hand, his expression softening.

"I know it sounds bad, Izzy. But they haven't actually tried to kill him yet. In fact… I think some of them might like him. A lot."

Isabel stared at him. Then at Jaune. Then back at her husband.

"You're telling me our son has somehow attracted four women who were ordered to assassinate him… and they're now romantically interested instead?"

Nick beamed proudly. "He takes after me!"

Jaune buried his face in his hands.

"It's not like that! W-We're just friends! Who occasionally threaten to murder me!"

"Definitely after me!" Nick added.

Isabel pinched the bridge of her nose, but her lips were twitching with reluctant amusement.

"I married the most ridiculous man in the galaxy," she muttered.

"You sure did, honey!" Nick beamed.

Then she sighed, stood up, and walked around the table to pull Jaune into a tight hug.

"You listen to me, Jaune Arc," she said, voice fierce but warm. "If any of those girls so much as looks at you wrong, you tell me immediately. I don't care if they're Sith, Mandalorians, or Nightsisters. You're my baby. I will handle it."

Jaune hugged her back, smiling into her shoulder. "Yes, Mom."

Isabel kissed the top of his head, then turned and pointed at her husband.

"And you," she said, eyes narrowing, "are sleeping on the couch tonight for keeping this from me for twenty years."

Nicholas accepted his fate with a dramatic sigh. "Yes, dear."

 

[John Jackson]

Nick
" In my defense redhead sith girls almost always fall in love and convert for love. At least that's what Master Luke told me, and Mando attacks are basically practice for the order, and Nigjsisters usual don't try to kill is so much as take is a breeding slaves"
Jaune
"What was that last part?"

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Jaune was training in a simulator with his lightsaber. He wasn't sure how many people really bought the explanation that it was "An ancient coherent Aura Blade powered by Dust", but it seemed to be working all right. He let the Force flow through him, deflecting the low powered shots from the drones.

The Force warned him, and a wire lashed out and wrapped around him.

"Ack!"

Then, metallic cuffs were launched, locking onto his ankles and wrists. He fell to the ground, shutting his lightsaber off.

"Oof!"

Yang and Ruby flew down from the ceiling rafters, in gold/black and red/black Mandolorian armor. They pointed their weapons at him, and Jaune gulped.

"So, VB," Yang said conversationally, "Dad told us Mandalorians have one standing order when it comes to Jedi. 'Shoot first, ask questions never.'"

Ruby spun Crescent Rose with a cheerful grin. "And we're really good at following Dad's training!"

"So," Yang said lazily, "You got a reason we shouldn't fulfill our mission?"

"Ummm... Well... A few?" Jaune managed. "One, what does Mandolore and the Jedi's conflicts have to do with us? We're friends, right?"

"Well," Yang tried.

Ruby nodded.

"Yeah!"

"We did have movie and game nights, and I made you guys dinner, lunch, and breakfast," Jaune pointed out.

"He did!" Ruby nodded enthusiastically.

"And that was good," Yang hummed.

"And we both want to fight the Grimm, right?" Jaune pressed.

"True!" Ruby chirped.

"Mmhm," Yang nodded.

"And," Jaune added, "Mandalorian training is awesome. I mean, you caught me like that! You guys wanna show me some moves?"

Ruby and Yang exchanged a long, suffering look.

Yang groaned. "He's too nice. I can't shoot him. It'd be like kicking a golden retriever."

Ruby pouted. "But Granddad and Dad said—"

"We'll table the murder for now," Yang said. "I mean, those were really great cookies. And you'd be really sad to kill your best friend, right?"

Ruby nodded.

"Yeah, I would... You'd be sad to kill your boyfriend, too."

Even behind the helmet, Jaune could see Yang's blush.

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!"

"I'm fine with being whatever, as long as it's not dead!" Jaune offered.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Jaune sat cross-legged on the dorm floor with Mia curled in his lap, his scroll open in front of them. The screen glowed soft and warm, casting little flickers of light across her curious face as he swiped to the album slowly, like every photo was made of glass.

"This one's from the first barn dance Katie ever dragged me to," he said, voice low. The picture showed a younger Jaune-hair even messier, cheeks flushed-grinning sheepishly while a pretty cat-eared girl in a sundress glared at the bright red punch stain down her front. "I tripped over my own feet and dumped the whole bowl on her."

Mia giggled, ears twitching. "Mama looks funny!"

"She was furious," Jaune admitted, smiling despite the ache. "Threatened to skin me and use my hide for a new purse. Then she laughed so hard she snorted, and forgave me on the spot."

Mia traced a tiny finger over Katie's smiling face. "You and Mama liked dancing, right, Daddy?"

"We loved it," he said softly. "She could spin me until I was dizzy and still make it look easy."

Mia tilted her head. "You like dancing with Yang, right? And Pyrrha? And Weiss? And Blake?"

Jaune's thumb paused on the scroll. "Yeah, sweetheart. Those nights were… a lot of fun."

"So…" Her voice got smaller, careful. "Why can't one of them be my new mama?"

The air left his lungs like someone had punched him. For a second he couldn't speak; the dorm felt too quiet, the glow of the scroll suddenly too bright.

"Mia…" He swallowed. "It's not that simple, baby."

Her ears drooped. "Why? Don't you like them?"

"No—no, I like them a lot." The words came out rough. "But your mama is your mama. She loved you more than anything in the world. I can't just… replace her."

Mia stared at the photo, lower lip wobbling. "But Mama's gone. I don't remember her, Daddy."

The confession hit harder than any Beowolf ever could. Jaune's eyes stung hot and sudden.

"Mia…"

"Other kids have mamas," she whispered, voice cracking in that tiny, broken way only little kids can manage. "Why can't I?"

He pulled her in, arms wrapping tight around her small frame, pressing her head to his chest so she wouldn't see the tears he was barely holding back. He would not cry. Not in front of her. He couldn't.

"Daddy? Did I say something wrong?" She asked, innocent and quiet.

"You didn't say anything wrong," he managed, voice thick.

She sniffled against his hoodie. "Promise?"

"I promise." He kissed the top of her head, right between her fluffy ears, and held her until the shaking stopped—for both of them.

---

The holodisk sat in Jaune's hand like a loaded gun.

It was small, no bigger than a coin, matte black with a single silver rune etched on the surface. Katy had pressed it into his hand the night before they wheeled her into surgery, her fingers cold, her smile crooked and fearless. He'd promised he would watch it "when he was ready."

Since then… Four years. Four years of moving it from drawer to drawer, box to box. Every time he'd been tempted to put it into a player, his insides had turned to ice. It had gone back in a drawer, a box-Anywhere out of sight.

Except now.

Jaune sat on the edge of his bed, elbows on knees, staring at the disk in his hand like it might detonate.

The door creaked. Yang slipped in, arms crossed, hair still damp from the showers.

"Hey," she said softly. "Thought I'd find you brooding."

"I'm not brooding," he muttered. "I'm… contemplating."

Yang snorted.

"Sure." She dropped beside him, close enough that their shoulders brushed. She was silent for a moment, staring at it with him.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Katy's… Her last message," Jaune whispered. "She left it for me before…"

Yang's face was stony. She nodded.

"I get it," she murmured.

"... I promised I'd show Mia it," he said quietly, "That I'd watch it. So she could see her mom. But I…"

He clenched his fist around the disk.

Silence fell, hard and thick. Yang sucked in a breath, then she spoke.

"Jaune…" She paused, then continued, her voice far softer than usual. "You know, I remember my mom more than Ruby does. Dad and Qrow made damn sure of it. Videos, pictures, stupid stories about how Summer once punched a guy for calling her short… Ruby and I are just now reading her journal together. Hurts like hell every page, but…" She shrugged. "If I were Mia, I'd want to see it."

Jaune's throat worked. "…I can't watch it. I open the case and my hands shake and I just—" He bowed his head, fingers digging into his scalp. "Why can't I watch it?"

"Because losing her fucking sucked, that's why."

He let out a wet, startled snort. "Yeah…"

Yang nudged his knee with hers. "So… why don't we watch it with you?"

"Yang… I-I don't know—"

She huffed, half-laugh, half-growl. "You know I'm not stupid. I'm not some bimbo who only cares about hair and punching. We all wear masks, Jaune. You put on the big stoic leader face, swallow every tear, because you think if Mia or any of us sees you crack, the world ends. You want us to believe you've got it handled." She leaned in, lilac eyes fierce.

"Newsflash: your friends will forgive you if you're not handling it well. Hell, we'll forgive you if you never handle it perfectly. Because we're your friends. And if you can't trust us to hold you when you're weak, why the hell should we trust you to do the same for us?"

The room was dead quiet except for the faint hum of the lamp.

Jaune stared at her for a long second, something raw and exhausted flickering across his face.

"…You're a pain in the ass sometimes, you know that?"

Yang flashed a small, crooked grin. "It's because I'm right."

He exhaled shakily, shoulders slumping. "…That's the worst part."

She bumped his arm. "Tomorrow night. Everyone. We'll put Mia to bed early, and we'll watch it together. You don't have to be the strong one for once. Just show up."

"Okay," he whispered. "Tomorrow."

Yang grinned, soft and fierce. "Attaboy."

She stood, ruffled his hair like he was the kid, and headed for the door. Halfway out she paused.

"Hey, Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

"She'd be really proud of you. Both of you."

The door clicked shut behind her.

---

The common room lights were off, only the faint glow from the holoprojector painting everyone's faces soft blue. Weiss and Blake had taken Mia next door to put her to bed with stories. The rest of them sat in a quiet half-circle on the carpet: Ruby and Yang on either side of Jaune, Pyrrha behind him, Nora and Ren close enough to reach.

Jaune knelt in front of the projector, holodisk trembling between his fingers.

"…I appreciate this, guys," he said, voice cracking on every other word. "I don't… I don't know if I can do this alone. I just… I want to watch it with Mia… but only after I see it first, you… you know?"

"It's okay, Jaune," Ruby whispered. "Really."

"Yeah…" Yang added, soft.

Jaune stared at the projector for a long, silent minute.

Pyrrha leaned forward. "I can start it for you? Or—or we could do this another day, any day—"

"Jaune," Nora said, completely serious for once. "It's okay."

"Yes," Ren murmured. "It's your choice."

Jaune swallowed, nodded once, and raised the remote. His thumb hovered, shook. Pyrrha looked at him, and rested her hand over his. His shaking stopped. He slowly nodded, then pressed play.

The hologram blossomed open.

Katie sat propped against white hospital pillows, pale as paper, oxygen tube under her nose. But her smile was the same crooked, fearless grin Jaune remembered from barn dances and stolen nights under the stars.

"Hello Jaune. Hello Mia. I've made this recording for you… You know." She took a shallow breath. "Jaune… I can't imagine how hard this is for you. You always felt so much, took on so much. You keep blaming yourself for this… You shouldn't."

Her smile widened, tired but warm.

"The parting… is going to be hard. It's okay to be mad at me, to be sad. It's natural to feel this way. I know you will hurt a lot and won't know how to handle it. You'll try to carry on and be strong for Mia. I know you will… Just know that it's okay to open up to others. It will hurt. It will never stop hurting. But it won't destroy you… It will make you stronger. And you want to be strong, that's your dream, to protect everyone. Don't be afraid to pursue that dream, because I know you'll be great at it. Because you care so much. And don't close off your heart, please. I know how sweet and kind you are, so never lose that. Please."

She paused, gathering strength.

"I'm sorry I can't do more for you… But you made me the happiest I've ever been. We… we've made a baby. And she's wonderful. Even now I can feel her and I know she's going to be beautiful. And I'm only sorry that we didn't get more time together… That's the only regret I have. But I am so, so glad we met, and I am so glad we made her. And even happier that she will be healthy and happy."

Tears slid down her cheeks now, but she kept going.

"Mia… I am so sorry I won't get to be there with you. I'm sorry I won't get to read you bedtime stories or cook you dinner, or play with you. You'll be confused about it. Maybe even sad. And that's okay, because it's something to be sad about. Don't… don't hide your feelings, okay sweetie? Be honest and kind and straightforward. Listen to your father, he loves you and only wants the best for you. You and he might fight, especially when you get older… But he only ever wants you to be happy, and so do I."

She laughed once, a small, watery sound.

"The world can be a very dark and scary place sometimes. So dark and scary and terrible that you want to hide forever. But there's also so many wonderful and beautiful things in it. Love. Family. Friendship. These… these are the most valuable things in this world. Though it doesn't hurt to save your money and be careful with it." Another tiny laugh. "Your family will teach you, we're good at it. Be careful of bad boys: a lot of them might look flashy and cool, but it's the good guys who can be dangerous but know when not to be who are the best, just like your dad. You're going to have bumps and bruises and bad things will happen… But please, never stop being a good person. Don't let the darkness in this world remove the light, because that's what we're here for: to be the light when things are dark."

Her breathing was ragged now, but her eyes never left the camera.

"Finally… there are many kinds of battles. I… I couldn't take the medicine that would cure me, because it would hurt you. Don't ever, ever feel guilty about that, Mia. I fought this battle, and I'll win it. Even if this takes me… you will live, and that's a win because I love you. A mom is supposed to protect her child, and that's a battle worth fighting. If I had to go back and do it over again… I wouldn't change a thing. Not meeting and loving your dad, and not having you. Because I love you both so much. One day… one day, we will meet again. On white shores, in a green land without pain or suffering. We will all be together. But not for a long time. So, be a good girl, say your prayers, and be kind. I love you, Mia. I love you, Jaune."

The hologram winked out.

The room was silent except for quiet, stifled crying.

Jaune's head bowed, tears rolling off his chin onto the carpet. Ruby and Yang wrapped around him from both sides. Pyrrha's arms came around him from behind, chin resting on his shoulder. Nora wormed in and hugged his arm with all her strength. Ren laid a steady hand on the back of Jaune's neck.

Jaune's voice came out broken and small. "…Thanks, guys."

Ruby's answer was muffled against his sleeve. "…Any time…"

No one moved for a long, long while.

 

[CountvonBarnOwl]

That's like, the textbook definition of a Sociopath. Like genuinely, you google a highly functioning Sociopath and this is what you'll get.

Huh, excellent diagnosing Count.

Click to shrink...

That is exactly what Jacques is.

Whitley Hated Being Called Boy Weiss after this

Click to shrink...

I generally write from the perspective and assumption that Willow forgets Whitley's name whenever she is drunk and calls him either Weiss or Jacques instead.

What Do You Think?

The Arm eats magic and aura? ignore it entirely? more retcons on Aura needing to be active or turned on and off?

Click to shrink...

Definitely more retcons about Aura needing to be turned on or off. Aura doesn't seem to be a permanent passive shield, which for Ruby is good because it makes her more of a counter to Cinder already.

Cinder has two weaknesses 1) Heavy weapons at extreme range. 2) Somebody with more Aura than she can deplete. Appropriately on a narrative level, Ruby and Jaune each cover one of these approaches.

Cinder's entire fighting style and kit rely on attacking from every angle, range, and deflection at close to mid-range and depleting her enemy's Aura as quickly as possible.

This enables her to seize the initiative at the outset and control and dictate the terms of the fight the whole way through (very fitting and in character for Cinder).

The only two replies are 1) long range annihilation by a one-shot weapon from ambush, and; 2) sending in a heavily armored guy with so much Aura that she just cannot bring him down before she wears out and/or makes a mistake and gets killed for it.

 

[zMADLAXz]

Cinder has two weaknesses 1) Heavy weapons at extreme range. 2) Somebody with more Aura than she can deplete

Click to shrink...

What I am hearing is that Jaune can pull a Goku and make Cinder choke on his big, strong, plentiful Aura, and as she is brought to her knees by the sheer mass of the Aura, Ruby, actually disables her powers using her Silver Eyes (making all that absorbed Aura from Jaune blow up as there is no container to hold it any more), and then Snipes her goddamn Cerebellum off.

. . .

Nahhhh that is too smart and makes too much sense as a strategy for CRWBY to implement.