Plank Sinatra

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

I'm sorry is it just me or are maiden powers really overrated by their guardian group? I mean Amber wasn't able to take on 3 people (+ maybe Neo). Not that impressive, I think she should be afraid of the termite.

@Forsythe

Mercury is worth at least a team's worth of first years. He was trained from birth by a top notch assassin to end human life with ease, and is expert in a fighting style that revolves around a pair of legs that can take an Ember Celica blast at point blank and come out no worse for wear. Emerald is a master thief who has displayed, in her only instances of combat, zero signs of wear, a talent for psych warfare, and a devastating ability at mid to long range. Even in the fights they've thrown to put the heroes at ease, they've dominated until it was convenient not to. In the one fight we've seen them go full speed on, the only reason they didn't straight up murder Coco and Yatsu - the two strongest fighters we've seen out of Beacon students - was because it was too soon in the plan.

Judging Amber by the most hardcore badasses in the show, especially after she was ready to kill one, PLUS the current candidate for Big Bad, isn't exactly fair. Even if discounting the point above about dramatic tension in a narrative.

The View [Closed]

I love this idea. Color me interested.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

Angel Ferrara

"Yeah, you're right. I mean, even if we didn't want to kill things, we could always do hair. Or sell stuff somewhere, people seem to like us a lot. We could probably haggle...pretty...what are you giving me that look for? There's stuff we can do besides cook and kill things!"

Kaia was giving him that look.

"I'm sure there's something that doesn't involve anything getting hurt...we're both really good with animals..." Angel sighed. "You're still doing it. Do you really wanna kill things?"

A pair of sightless eyes batted shamelessly.

...

"You suck. I guess I'm overruled. We'll go find someone that needs things killed, then."

CLOSED

Dana Harada

Ballin' Like Kobe

Location: America in a Nutshell, Olympus Academy
Interacting With: Rebekah Cross @Krayzikk

When Dana caught Rebekah's eye and expression, she returned the wave cheerfully; however, she took a couple seconds to grasp the meaning of her wrist flick and the invitation implicit. When she realized she was being asked over, her face brightened up with a smile, and she nodded her agreement vigorously. You wouldn't have been able to tell from her movements. Lazily, she laid a napkin down along her coffee table book and closed it so that the paper served as a thin, but workable bookmark. Then she arranged a loose, blocky triangle of napkins atop the book's front cover and fished out her wallet, dividing up the money for all food purchased, past and present. When that was tucked under her chin, along with the check, she lifted up her dishes in both hands and brought them up to the counter. Meeting the cashier's face as best as she could, she set the dishes to her left and then took the money from in front of her neck, sliding it forward.

"Enclosed is the money for my meal, in addition to two more of the Oreo milkshakes. Domo arigato."

The cashier was staring at her - her, and from the corner of her eye, the dishes she had brought up with her. Dana smiled politely and bowed her head at the woman.

"Ah yes. Gochisosama deshita. Thank you for the feast," she said dutifully, inclining her head further briefly and then lifting it. There was a sudden teasing edge to her smile. "Truly delicious for what it was. I understand more than most the difficulty of acquiring true high-caliber marbled beef in this most tasteless of wastelands, and do not fault you for making due."

The cashier was still staring. Wondering what she had done, she pushed the dishes forward, close enough to almost nudge the woman's wrist.

"Shakes?"

When she walked back to her table, she was carrying two more of the creamy beverages, and her smile had faded to one of complacent satisfaction. When she approached Rebekah's, however, all three of her current shakes - one half-consumed, two fresh in frosted mugs, topped with cherries and whipped cream - were balanced on the napkins atop her book. Harada nudged one forward to Rebekah and bowed her head politely in greeting.

"Hello, Rebekah. Thank you for the invitation."

Smiling, she rescinded her bow and opened up her book to the page it had been at before, detailing Morrrison's erratic public appearances and appeal during concerts. Rock stars were the coolest.

...

sluuuuuuuuurp

Ah.

Excuse me."

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

Kaia Iona

"Huh? No, it's okay," she reassured him. Right, money. He was better than her at that kinda stuff. Kaia turned to his voice, and smiled. "Hey, we haven't tried the west side yet, right? There's gotta be another place over there."

@Caasicam

Angel Ferrara

"Uhhh...no, guess we haven't. But..." Angel sighed softly and brushed his hair back away from his face, bangs hanging down the side of his forehead. "I dunno. I just feel like we're slowing down a lot more than we used to. I mean, not that I don't want you to see as much of - err, not see, I...I wanna move at your pace and all. Don't get me wrong. I...I'm not sure where I'm going with this."

He grinned shyly and ran his fingers over his mouth, holding in a nervous laugh.

"Alright, I'm going to try that again without sounding like an idiot. Okay. I just don't want to lose track of something that might be out there, with my dad and all. Fiore's a nice place, but...I don't know if it's where I'm gonna find any answers. And that's really all I want. I love cooking...but I could be cooking in a forest and be just as happy. The reason I came all this way isn't just to cook. Or for making more money than we need." The blonde cook clutched a few locks of his hair between both sets of fingers and looked over to Kaia. "You get what I'm saying, right? Do I still sound too pushy?"

Oh no. I still sound too pushy.

"Besides, you get a say in what we get up to, too. We're partners. 50/50, right?"

He held out a light fist to bump - and, after a second of realizing that she wouldn't get the message, took Kaia's hand, gently balled it up into a fist, and tapped it against his own. Used to be they'd accidentally hit each other in the gut trying to coordinate themselves. Those days were long past, but the scars stomachaches were still fresh.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Lauren Negasi

"Oho. I get it - save the hottest girl for last so that the others can't see you getting grabby. Devious. That's why you're the cap, Cap." Lauren tilted her head over her shoulder to look down on Ben with an open-mouthed grin that could almost be described as jubilant, were it under less serious circumstances. The boxer stretched her legs outward and mimed cocking Lawnslot with a distinct chk-chk sound that crackled from the corner of her mouth. "Hey, come to think of it, wasn't Lancelot the one that ended up nailin' the qu-wheeeeeeee!"

Ben sent Lauren soaring (stopping her train of thought so hard that her brain could have used an SDC logo) up after Sangue, and she landed with an oomph! in a semi-sitting position. She kicked her feet over the gap for a second, savoring the swish of cool air on her legs, before she scooted back and hefted herself to her feet. Lawnslot was tucked under her right arm, in case she needed an excuse to spin around on her feet and glack something as it approached.

"Alright, Cap, coast is clear. Grab a hold of Fury and swing on up. Never thought I'd say it, but there's too many holes and not enough pegs up here."

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

I'd be interested to see what a couple of you all think about a specific part of the new episode

Specifically, the scene between Jaunce and Pyrrha, and most specifically, the end. It seems to me like the thing that struck Pyrrha so deeply, Jaune saying that she shouldn't let anything stand in the way of her destiny, was so impactful because the operation that would transmit Amber's aura to her might affect her personality, thereby partially destroying who she is, including her feelings for Jaune. Her self was, it appeared, the thing that was standing in her way. Of course, Jaune didn't know what he was endorsing since he was just trying to help, but it's still sad to see a tender moment go sour because of a misunderstanding. Especially since Jaune blames himself completely for the pain Pyrrha's feeling.

Did you guys see this the same way? If not, what was your take?

@Lugubrious

Episode thoughts

Yeah, I got that vibe too. But I've personally been on the bandwagon saying that Pyrrha has been flying death flags all season, and that contrary to expectations Penny is gonna find herself hacked by Cinder and tear Pyrrha half a dozen new ones. I think the Arkos moment was just another step of buildup to that.

Also kind of bummed that my theory of Raven as a Maiden seems to be disproven - I doubt Qrow would have only just gotten in touch with her and she'd be allowed to wander on her own so freely if she were a Maiden. She's just kind of a wingnut Huntress who happens to be a shitty mom.

What about Ironwood? Did anyone get the sense he has some old unresolved PTSD going on that he hinted at with in RWBY's dorm? The "tension" teased in that scene was so lame and over so fast that Ironwood was about all I had the energy to give a shit about.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

I think some of Monty's old animation made it into Merc and Yang, plus the fight between Amber, Cinder, Merc and Em. If you look at the credits for those two episodes you can see his name credited for animation work.

I think the only non-Monty fight I've liked this volume was Coco and Yats vs. Merc and Em. That was pretty based.

EDIT:

by the way

this episode was fucking based

CLOSED

Dana Harada

Location: Diner, Olympus Academy
Interacting With: Rebekah Cross @Krayzikk, her own addictive personality

In the end, she paid for her own thrice-damned shake.

The casual restaurants were quite expensive here - or perhaps it just seemed so when you were shelling out a wallet full of crisp new exchanged currency. Perhaps she would save the splurges like this for sojourns out for dinner with her brother. Or perhaps his blonde friend, the flighty one who bathed in the sunlight. He probably appreciated a good pout on a girl. Perhaps Jonas would even appreciate him having his chain yanked a little. Then again, such a thing would be dishonorable to one who her brother considered a brother in his own right. Dana blew bubbles in her shake dejectedly, unsure how she would continue paying for the thick, chocolatey treats without going broke. She couldn't beg for money from home every couple weeks to eat, could she?

Could she?

Dana flicked the straw away from her mouth briefly to scan the diner. Though it appeared to be breakfast time for the majority of patrons, she was allowed to order a burger here (complete with a pretzel bun, which for some reason she had assumed would be both crunchier and saltier than it really was) just as early in the morning as though eating waffles and scrambled eggs. She didn't see anyone else who had broken the laws of the American food continuum (praise be to glorious kaiseki dinner) and though it had made her feel self-conscious at first, she quickly decided that ordering whatever the hell kind of food you wanted appeared to be quintessentially American in of itself. Though she'd spent most of her dinner reading a coffee table book on one Jim Morrison (another bizarre, beautiful American invention she was finding herself enthralled by) she had devoted a fair bit of time people watching. Trying to guess the parents of demigods and divert her eyes again before her staring was noticed.

Such activity had continued until she caught sight of Rebekah Cross, the demigoddess who had advised her of her initial food stops yesterday, plugging away into her laptop in a corner booth. She had looked between her book and the booth several times until they happened to be looking in a similar direction, then gave a brief, but friendly wave of acknowledgement to the other girl. Social obligation handled, she flipped her page and decided it was safe to take another sip of her shake.

Mmmmm.

It's so creamy.

How many shakes is too many shakes?

...

Jonaaaaas heeeeelp!

Mecha Carta Institute

"Calm down, Judgment. It was another patron." Jericho sounded like he was trying to repress a small laugh. "Yes, the problems you face inside a school library must be truly legion. Now quit being a baby and relax. You're making my arm uncomfortable. ...Well, that I won't even pretend is dignified enough to reply to."

Jericho walked out from the aisle he had been traversing with two books gripped in his right hand. He was clutching them with his fingers tenuously, as though he were scared of damaging them somehow, but after a second or two he raised his arm up and shifted his grip to better get a hold of both his tomes of interest. He spared an odd look at the vase on his way out, but walked over to a table and set both his books down nonetheless.

There was a flash of white in the corner of his vision. The right side. Bright white.

Unnatural.

"Don't be crude," he said calmly, still standing and turning to face the pale woman. She had pressed herself tightly against the end of the shelf, with ramrod posture and a stricken face. She was clearly uncomfortable with the thought of his approach, so he waved slightly with his uncovered hand and didn't take a step towards her. From his chosen table to her, there was a distance of ten, perhaps fifteen feet. Plenty of distance for both parties to stay aloof.

"Sorry to startle you. That must have been quite the catch."