Nameless

It's @nameless-writer-for-stories here, remember me? Dang, it's been like 5 years since I went on hiatus. My life had been nuts and still is now.

I would like to apologize to those who followed me (through these users: @nameless-writer-for-stories @rwby-dust) for the radio silence and long overdue hiatus. I did not mean to leave you all in the dark without explanations.

My previous years of Tumblr wasn't that bad, the issue was me. To be honest, I literally had no clue what I was doing despite my imaginations and urge to show my creativeness. Let's just say growing up into a full adult is a literal rollercoaster for me so I wasn't really myself at that time. There were times I tend to feel doubt in my writing and art, and experienced inferiority complex--which was definitely not good so I had to leave the social media to clear my head.

I resumed to practicing my drawing skills before I entered college in 2019. Around that time, I was late to join Arknights, a tower-defense game that was released in early January. And boy, it was the best game for me. Because of its art and lore, I got inspired to come back for creating art. I was not confident if I can make a return in Tumblr so, I decided to try Twitter with a fresh start and didn't bother posting my Tumblr works because of my insecurities. My first experience there was awkward and barely gained any followers so I was doubting myself again.

However, I stopped doubting and started thinking, "the only reason you didn't have anything is because you're not pushing to try more." Later on, I tried posting new art contents like mini comics and some of my favourite Arknights characters. It was slow progress and I only had 76 followers. Honestly, it was okay for me since it means I needed to improve more--until I got roped into League of Legends because of Starguardians2022. Not gonna lie, I was attracted to that because of the potential angst material (I'm crazy lol), especially Akali. There's just something about her that I can relate in a deeper level and I fell in love with her prime lore and SG lore.

So, I started drawing Lol content and also tried playing the game. Several days later, I finally got 100 followers! I was really happy and decided to keep it up. I'm still drawing Arknights content whenever I feel like it, and I'm planning to make a fan Star Guardian story with a little twist.

Just when I started to make more posts, the Elon Musk incident happened. I won't explain the details because I know that everyone has seen the news. Everyone in Twitter began talking about moving into different social medias but honestly, it's hard to leave Twitter behind because everyone was comfortable in speaking their thoughts and sharing things that they couldn't be able to share in real life, and I feel that way too. I came back to Tumblr with a good reason--that is to keep going. Sure, it's sad that Twitter is doomed to close but if it weren't for that site, I would have not be able to meet people who shows confidence in showing their artworks, and fan literature. Whether they're silly drawings or shenanigans, they are truly dedicated and passionate in their works. They inspired me to keep trying and show the best of what I can do.

Until Twitter does shut itself down, I will bring everything from that site to here. So, yeah---

this is it. it’s finally here. you might even say it will be the day we’ve waited for. because today is when i fiNALLY SCREAM FOR HOURS about all the gazillions of ways that the bees are yin and yang. there’s So Much here that i don’t even know where to begin, and every bit of research i do on the concept of yin and yang gives me something new to talk about.

but i won’t get ahead of myself. to put it briefly since i’m sure everyone is familiar with the idea, yin and yang are contradictory but interconnected forces, a duality which creates a whole. this post is going to show how blake and yang represent this same kind of interdependent duality, but first, we need to establish that each one of them on their own embody the concepts of “yin” and “yang” respectively. 

blake is yin, which is the black side of the circle. the word “yin” in chinese essentially means “shadow”, and as a concept it represents darkness, the moon, femininity, cold, gentleness, secrecy or something hidden, and so on. blake’s name means “black”. she was introduced to us in “red like roses” as the girl who “descends from shadows”, and shadow/darkness is a continuous motif throughout all of her songs. “from shadows, we’ll descend upon the world.” “shadows seem to fill your life.” “you don’t know what it’s like to live in shadows.” “rise up from shadows and into the light.” visually, blake’s design/palette is predominantly monochromatic, broken by shades of deep, dusky purple, all of which is indicative of nighttime. as a character, blake tends to be known as the “quiet one”, soft-spoken and subdued. she stays closed off, keeping her true self hidden in a way and not letting others get to know her. in a more literal sense, blake physically hides who she is by covering her faunus ears with a bow. secrecy, softness, darkness.

which would make yang……..well.

the chinese word “yang” means “sunny” or “light”. it is the white side of the circle and represents light, openness, warmth, the sun/daytime, action. the fact that yang has bright yellow hair that quite literally lights on fire is all you really need to know, but there is of course more to it. the meaning of her first name has already been discussed, but her last name means “little dragon”, and dragons breathe fire. her visual design is full of warm tones. her predominant lyrical motif is the sun. “you’re standing too close to a flame that’s burning hotter than the sun.” “i will burn like the sun, i will keep you safe and warm.” “i am the golden one who burns just like the sun.” @almea once murdered me with the concept that yang embodies multiple aspects of the sun, both in her fiery anger and in her warm, comforting nature. she’s an open and friendly, bubbly and excitable. everyone seems to immediately like her, and she prefers doing to pondering. action, warmth, light.

so now to the fun part. everything i mentioned above is a bit on the obvious side, but it’s when you put RWBY’s yin and yang together that the sheer staggering depth of this symbolism becomes apparent, to the point where i can only believe it was all done on purpose by some very evil and devious people who obviously want me to die.

when i’m lonenly, which is translated to most of the time, i make them; green, yellow, pink, blue, white, purple.

and, believe me, it’s kind of a relief to make them. not only for the colors and cute shape, but also for the fact that the time i spend makin them i am entertained and don’t have to think about my loneliness anymore.

i learnt how to make them like two months ago, by the way. and i have made over 300. 

This is for everyone. Guys, girls, both, neither, and more.

When you’re upset, make a star. When you’re stressed, make a star. I make them in school when the teacher yells at our class for being lazy or dumb. I make them at home when I’m in my room, wishing someone would notice my feelings and give me comfort. I’ve always made them with whatever I had around, and write a number on each and every one because its therapeutic. I can see how far I’ve come and how many times I haven’t given up.

Right now I’m at around four-hundred and seventy, and it really puts everything into a perspective.

Thats four hundred and seventy times that I could’ve given up. I’ve gotten pretty close on some of them - scarily close, but every one of those stars is a reminder to keep pushing forward, because I wake up every day and on my dresser is a box full of stars, and when I’m happy I think of how far I’ve come.

I think this idea should be passed around as much as possible. Its calming and distracting from and panic I feel. It gives me something methodical to do: Fold here. Fold there. Crease that line. There you go, Create. Produce. Make something solid and focus on it. Make another if you need to. Write a number. Fill up the jar, box, drawer.

And when you’re breaking and feel everything crashing down, you can look at your stars and think:

r w by and b n h a cro ss o ver !!!!!!!! wow

^^for @redlikeroses16 !!!!!!  u  r g r e a t  m a  N

bonus:

screenshot redraw from the final chapter of season 4

“Jealous of those with natural talents” Well, that is certainly some fine wording. I was thinking about it, then a friend brought up something… that this could indicate that up to nor, Cinder was a Semblance-less Mook. Which made me recall something. Remember this scene in V2 when Ruby is relaying what happened the previous night when Cinder infiltrated the CCT?

Interesting, huh? What is Cinder was a powerless girl who may have unlocked her Aura, but had no power otherwise? What if she was never able to unlock her Semblance? Be without power while others that she aspired to be greater than had theirs? Were able to use their natural talents? It also matches the Cinderella story, a powerless, helpless girl… until the day that her Fairy Godmother arrived and made all of her dreams come true.

Which would make sense. It would explain why Cinder is so power hungry. It’s why she is so vindictive and brutal to others. Why she got angry at Jaune almost landing a hit on her in V5. There is a small snag though, as shown int he flashback in V3:

Her being able to control Glass at a point where she should have had no power. But we have seen that she can weave Dust into clothing and we can assume that she’s received combat training and maybe even magic training from Salem by this point. It is very possible that Salem could have taught her how to do the weaving and how she can use it to control Dust. After all, Hazel gets powered up when he uses it in his body. Why not the same with Cinder?

My final prop for RTX next week, the reforged Gambol Shroud Design based on @y8ay8a's amazing design!

As we all know, RWBY is a show that is built around taking in established narrative and character archetypes, layering them, tweaking them and/or ultimately subverting them. One of its core narrative and symbolic elements are the seasons, so it seems only fitting that they’d take inspiration from and implement established overarching seasonal archetypes (in terms of tone and narration) to the plot.

One of the major works in terms of archetypal literary criticism that deals with the seasons has to be Frye’s. Frye proposed that the totality of literary works constitute a “self-contained literary universe”. Since we’re watching a show whose whole premise is having every single myth, legend and fairytale coexist in a single universe, with characters sometimes alluding to multiple myths at once, I’d hope this sounds uncannily familiar.

Frye divided all literary framework into four categories: comedy, romance, tragedy and satire. What sets Frye apart from the other critics is that he linked each category with a season. He posited that literary works were how humanity assimilated the outside world and nature at large, which is how those four types of plot structures correspond to the four seasons in the cycle of the natural world.

What does that mean for RWBY?

If, as I suspect, each narrative arc corresponding to one of the four continents in Remnant - with each continent symbolizing a season - aligns with the genre and plot structure defined by Frye, then we can make more or less accurate predictions as to the direction and themes of the two remaining arcs (as well as some of the plot points).

blake finds weiss before she finds ruby. she might as well start there.

“did you see-“

“do i have eyes?” blake tries not to flinch at her tone. “of course i did.” a pause. softer, “i’m worried about her.”

“i am too.”

“you have a funny way of showing it.” weiss stands and looks blake in the eye. blake forces her ears not to lay flat against her head. “have you tried talking to her?”

“of course i have. you’ve seen me-“

“that is not what i meant, and you know that.” there’s something in weiss’s eye that makes her uneasy. her protectiveness over yang has been clear since the vytal festival incident, but there’s something else. weiss knows something that blake doesn’t.

“there was no fire,” blake says dumbly. she doesn’t know what else to say. “there was no fire, but her eyes were red. i didn’t know… that she could do that.”

weiss deflates somewhat. “i didn’t either. none of us did.” her shoulders pull back again. “but things change.”

“what do you me-“

“do you think she wouldn’t change the way she fought after what happened to her?” blake’s throat tightens. “what’s left of her arm may have healed, blake, but the rest of her hasn’t. she fights differently because she’s scared. she’s more controlled because look at what happened the last time she rushed in without thinking. she doesn’t fight to win anymore. she fights to protect herself and stay alive.”

blake blinks- she really didn’t expect to get this far with weiss. or this intense. “and have you… talked to her about it?”

weiss lets out a clipped, bitter laugh. “believe me, i’ve tried. but you know yang-“ in the back of her mind, blake thinks you used to, but you don’t anymore “-she’s always the first to help, and the last to accept it.”

blake’s eyebrows furrow. “i don’t know what-“

“of course you don’t!” weiss’s voice is much louder now, and blake pushes down the embarrassment that crawls up her neck. “of course you don’t, because you haven’t bothered to talk to her about why you left.”

blake bristles at this. “you know why I left! it was my fault that he took her arm. it’s my fault that happened to her. i hurt her enough.” blake doesn’t bother to blink away the tears that well up. “i hurt her and i don’t know how to fix it, weiss. i can’t. she’s better without me.” blake sniffs. “it ended up being for the better. she’s healed, and i had business with the white fang. maybe it was for the better. she doesn’t need me.”

“you’re wrong.”

weiss and blake turn their heads to see ruby leaning against the doorframe. her combat boots and skirt are gone, and her hair is pushed out of her face. blake’s heart tightens. sixteen is still so, so young.

“yang won’t talk to me. well, she talks to me, but not about how she’s feeling. it’s not like she ever has, though.” ruby pushes her self off of the doorframe and makes her way over. “yang… she’s always been the kind of person to put everyone’s needs before her own. we know this- you know this,” she tilts her head in blake’s direction, and blake wants to scream.

“when i left patch-“

“wait, wait, what?” blake’s heart comes to a screeching halt. “you left? how could you just leave when she just got-“

“look who’s talking,” weiss spits out. blake stops her sentence dead in it’s tracks. shame crawls up her cheeks and neck, her heart frozen.

ruby pushes on. “i left because i needed to. i didn’t want to leave her, but she wasn’t physically able to come. she needed to rest,” and ruby sounds wise beyond her years. blake stands still.

“you left because you didn’t want to hurt her, but you were also scared, blake. weiss left because she was forced to. and as for me-“ ruby averts her eyes- “there isn’t a day where i don’t regret leaving her.”

a silence falls among the three of them. blake breaks it with a shuddering exhale. “i didn’t know you both left. that means that she just… she was just alone? the whole time?”

“she had dad. and zwei. but that’s not the point. the point is that she hasn’t healed. i hear her crying out in pain when she has to fix something with her arm. i dropped a plate the first night we got here, and she started crying. there is something wrong and she won’t tell me, and that breaks my heart.” ruby looks down, and then looks blake straight in the eye. “did she tell you she found her mom?”

blake feels the blood drain from her face. “… what?”

“i figured.” ruby is speaking so easily, like this is a normal topic of conversation for them to be having. it scares blake. “she was at haven. i’ll give you a guess as to whose side she was on.”

there’s a ringing in her faunus ears now. the tears she kept trying to push down are back with a vengance. “oh my god i- i couldn’t even… i didn’t know-“

“and that’s the problem. you didn’t know because you guys haven’t talked. it’s been what, three weeks? and all you say to each other is “good morning?” or “pass the salt?” i love you, blake, and i love my sister. but this has gotten ridiculous.” ruby’s voice carries so much strength in her words, and blake has never been scared of her until now. “yang is not okay. and from what i can tell, you’re not okay, either.”

“but what should i do? she doesn’t want to talk to me. she won’t even look at me, ruby. how can i fix something she doesn’t want to be fixed?”

“did it ever occur to you that she might be thinking the exact same thing?”

no, it didn’t.

“yang needs help, but she won’t accept it. she needs to be strong for everyone because if she’s not strong for everyone else, she doesn’t know how to be strong for herself. the world has stomped all over her and put her through hell, but she’s still standing. she’s not okay, but she can be. and blake, i think it needs to start with you.”

blake doesn’t know what to say. weiss seems to sense this. “just talk to her, blake,” she says softly. she puts a hand on her shoulder. “be completely honest with her. it would do the both of you so much good.”

“and i think it will go a lot better than you expect,” ruby adds, nodding.

blake inhales deeply before slowly nodding her head. “okay.” she locks eyes with weiss, and then ruby. “okay. i will. thank you guys.”

ruby and weiss smile at blake as she leaves the room.

“do you think they’ll be okay?” ruby asks. weiss looks at her knowingly.

“i have a really good feeling that they will be.”

-

it’s about sundown when blake knocks hesitantly on yang’s door with her elbow. the two cups of tea in her hand are scalding hot, and somehow, they anchor her.

they don’t anchor her enough to keep her eyebrows from shooting up when she hears a soft “come in”.

yang is on her bed, her prosthetic opened and a screwdriver in her mouth as she twists one of the wires of her arm. her hair is in a messy bun and she’s only wearing a sports bra and joggers and i’m so in love, blake thinks. i don’t deserve her. her hands tighten around the cups of tea.

yang looks up and meets blake’s eyes. clearly not expecting her, her eyebrows skyrocket and she takes the screwdriver out of her mouth. “uh, hey,” she says. her lips tighten.

“hey. i uh, um…” and blake, who has never been great with saying words, fumbles for a second. just ask. that’s all you have to do. she deserves to know why. do this for her.

“i was, um, wondering if we could… you know… talk?” blake raises the cups in her hand. “i brought jasmine. if that’s, um, still your favorite.”

blake doesn’t breathe for the next five seconds. yang closes the open panel of her prothetic and turns her body fully towards blake. they lock eyes once more, and in the back of her mind, blake is thinking please say something, anything, please tell me you’re okay, let me help you.

but then a smile slowly breaks out onto yang’s face- a real smile, with all of her perfect teeth and freckle-dusted cheeks on display. blake’s heart throbs, and she’s never been more in love.