"you look alright, I guess."

ID: A digital artwork of Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black from RWBY sitting on a rock in a Vacuo desert. Emerald is sitting on the left half of the rock and staring into a sky with a bright sun in the background. Emerald is a mixed black and southwest asian woman wearing a green top which exposes her shoulders and white pants with an array of belts and brown leather protectors on her pants, and wearing a pensive expression. Mercury is sitting on the right half of the rock at night, with half of the shattered moon above him. Mercury is a white man with gray eyes and gray hair. He's resting his hands on his knees and looking up. He's wearing a gray leather jacket with black pants.

ID: A picture of one woman kissing another's hands on a gradient light blue to dark blue background. The woman on the left is Weiss Schnee, a white woman with white hair, wearing a blue-themed outfit. She's crying as she grasps Ruby's hands and kisses them. On the right is Ruby Rose, a half-Asian, half-white woman wearing a red-themed outfit, looking down at her hands and Weiss in fear and sorrow.

ID: A page of traditional sketches colored with marker of a multitude of fictional characters and a few ocs in assorted poses.

so I was reading Echo Base, and there’s a line at the end (mild spoilers) about how the ace ops have began to work with Salem. Of course, with me and my worm brain loving Emerald and Mercury, I figured that Cinder might dump them on have them work as assistance to the ace ops. 

and hey, if the current gang all got outfit changes, I figured these two, who’ve been wearing the same outfits since nearly the beginning of the series, might change it up. notes about design and updates to follow:

I overestimated how much red is in all the ace ops’ outfits. I need to keep it to once accent piece or else it looks a bit much. 

Since Emerald parallels Aladdin, I’ve maintained that she’ll eventually get a “prince ali” upgrade in her outfit. I referenced that heavily for this, as it added the convenience of being all white as well.

Dealt away with nearly all of her old outfit too, because listen. I’m gay as the next rwby fan, but that top isn’t a fighting look.

I also sort of intentionally added inquisitor-esque designs to their outfits. It’s both because I’m me and that the ace ops have similar lines in their outfits. You can see it in Emerald’s cape and shirt, and Mercury’s belt.

Emerald’s cape also looks like Ruby’s from v4-6.

Emerald can keep her heels but she gets traction on her boots, at least. It’s winter, you Texans writing/designing the show,

I’m less settled on Mercury’s, as I’m trying to incorporate his colors into an ace ops aesthetic. Unfortunately, black clashes with navy. I also gave him too much red.

I was going for a “v3 Yang” look with his kneepads, but it doesn’t match the streamlined military aesthetic.

His armor is shinier since he got it replaced!