Ozpin: Excuse me? Jailer~!

Oscar: (Mind) I guess we're in prison now? Should we hide and wait for them to be like, "Where'd he go~?"

Ozpin: Fine! I guess I'll just... sing "Six Pence, None the Richer" for a while~!

Oscar: ...What?

Ozpin: Kiiiss meee~! Under the milky twiliiight~!

Oscar: ...Is that really Six Pence, None the Richer?

Ozpin: Yes, now hush.

Ozpin: Kiiiss meee~! Shlim shlam da bimby bumda! Neeeeee ma~! Insta dah bim be doo baaah~!

Ozpin: ...Khm! I don't know the lyrics.

Oscar: Neither do I.

I would say I tried to keep the canon cores of these characters from RWBY while also making sense for their stories in AZRE. These three might be canonical characters but their backstories and struggles are different.

With Ruby, I'd say she kept her desire to be a Huntress because she wants to help but also because she wants to be the hero like in her books. Ruby craves a desire to be wanted partly because of Summer's disappearance, but also because she didn't have that many friends before Beacon and really relied on Yang for emotional and physical support.

Her autism is also far more obvious. Her infantilisation by Yang, Zanthus, and even herself at the beginning, is a very real issue that needs to be stopped if she wants to progress out of the shell she's in at the beginning. This feeds into her social anxiety but also her lack of emotional control, her impulsiveness, and to be honest, just how mean she can be when she feels wronged or the situation is out of her control.

But despite that, Ruby is smart. She understands things far more than people give her credit for, and not just in terms of engineering and weapon design. She understands her own conflicted feelings about her family, about Summer, while Yang, who is often the one who steps up and is the mature older sibling, cannot.

One thing I really wanted to delve into with them is their relationship with Summer and how that differs between the two.

With Penny, she's very much in the same boat as Ruby. She was isolated ever since she was born, trained up to be the soldier to protect the humans from unwanton deaths, and when she's put in this situation where she has to interact with Team RWBY and others, she messes up because she doesn't have the experience she needs.

And her idea around humanity is skewered by just who she is. Penny doesn't see herself as human, and ergo as anything worthwhile, until she makes those connections and learns that she is a person despite not being human. Though Penny never expresses a desire to be human, she desires to be loved all the same.

Which is why her death is even more tragic, because Penny was deeply loved to the point that Ruby's arc in Atlas is learning to weigh up her love and grief for Penny versus what Penny would've wanted. Would she have wanted to be brought back or would she have wanted to rest and not be treated like her death means nothing because she can just be brought back?

And lastly, Ozpin.

Ozpin is different because he has a lot more history and character in AZRE than canon imo. He was a normal child, who grew up with dreams and desires, but never wanted to be a massive hero or a major legend. It wasn't until Osian died and the curse passed to him that he was dragged into it.

I would say his biggest flaw and virtue is his ability to believe in the potential of people. On one hand, he is understanding and patient which allows people to change that might not have before (like Weiss), pushing for massive changes that he wouldn't have seen (The liquidation of the SDC and strong pushes for Atlas and Mantle nationalisation).

But then he is far too giving to people who won't change and in fact takes advantage of his kindness (like Gustave), which in turn hurts everyone around him. Gustave's behaviour negatively impacts every Faunus and minority in Beacon, especially Team AZRE, but Ozpin's unwillingness to jump on it immediately leads to severe consqeuences.

The student body loses trust in him, Eirian is damaged mentally from the abuse she suffered and Professor Melina loses their career because they had to basically use their Semblance just to get enough evidence for Ozpin to deem it enough to expell Gustave for good, causing yet another scandal for Beacon.

Not to mention that ultimately, Ozpin's goal is to beat Salem. He cares about everyone, including his students, but as his death gets closer, Ozpin feels more panicked and pressed to find a solution so in turn ends up neglecting his other duties, which again causes even more issues that are worse than last time.

RWBY stickers !

Oscar: ...Oz, do you... love the world?