It's Rosegarden Week, and I'm not much of a artist or writer (to all the RG fic writers and fanartists out there I am blowing each of you a little kiss, thank you) so I'm just gonna gush about this ship instead:
Do you ever think about Rosegarden and it's potential to work within the overall story and Ruby's character arc? Because it's just. Ruby's just this incredibly kind and selfless heroic individual, almost to her own detriment in prioritising everyone else's emotions and wellbeing over her own. Her making sure everyone gets their happy ending is Ruby's happy ending. Essentially defining her sense of self in how much she can give or do for others. Not ever asking or wanting anything for herself.
Which is very admirable:
Blake: (laughing a little) And why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?
Ruby: Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!
Blake: That's... very ambitious for a child. (her smile turns into a frown) Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale.
Ruby: Well, that's why we're here! To make it better. (1x03)
Yang: I'm not like Ruby, she's always wanted to be a Huntress. It's like she said, ever since she was a kid, she'd dreamt about being the heroes in the books. Helping people and saving the day, and never asking for anything else in return. (2x10)
But at the same time, it's important to have a life outside of that and to take time for yourself and your own wants and needs as well:
Ozpin: Well, you can't spend your whole life on the battlefield, even if you may want to.
Ruby: (crossing her arms, looking annoyed) Yeah, that lesson's been floating around a lot lately.
Ozpin: (staring out at the dancing couples) If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't so different. Two partners interlocked, although one wrong move on the ballroom merely leads to a swollen foot. (2x07)
It's interesting how Ozpin compares fighting to dancing when looking out at the dancing couples in this scene, most of which foreshadow the romantic relationships in the show like Arkos/Renora/Blacksun/Bumbleby. And while Ruby does not dance with anyone in V2, the only person we have seen her "fighting" aka casually sparring one-on-one with in the main series, (like Pyrrha/Jaune used to) is Oscar.
Fighting with a partner=Dancing with a partner=Romantic Foreshadowing (...I just realised Emerald and Mercury technically do both in the series. Do with that what you will.)
And I feel like Ruby developing romantic feelings for Oscar could be a way for her to learn to be more selfish, in the sense of... wanting something for herself, and could be an interesting way to foil her to Salem, as the main heroine/villain of the story respectively.
Salem, who began the conflict of the story in confronting the Gods, learning to be more selfless and let Ozma (the first incarnation) go, in doing so allowing herself to grieve properly and coming to understand the importance of the balance of life and death, thus breaking her own curse of immortality and being able to unite with Ozma in the afterlife . Ruby, who will likely be the one to end the conflict and confront the Gods, who needs to learn to be more selfish, would have a more personal and selfish motive to do so. Not just to act as the selfless heroine and making sure everyone gets their happy ending (which she already is), but also a desire to have her own happy ending too. Wanting to be with Oscar (the last incarnation) and to restore him as his own person as such. (if Oscar ended up sacrificing himself to the merge by using magic or having fully merged over time).
In shorter terms, Ozma (and consequently all the past lives) is dead, and should be left to rest and pass on (by Salem), while Oscar is alive and should be allowed to live his own life (with Ruby). Death and Life. Life and Death. It works, thematically speaking.
Salem's love of Ozma and refusal to accept his death because she wanted a life with him that leads to her confronting the Gods, which is the ignition spark for the entire conflict of the series in the present along with Salem and Oz's curse of reincarnation/immortality And just...the idea of there being a future parallel with Ruby and Salem if she developed romantic feelings for Oscar, and refusal to lose him to the merge (because she'd want him to remain his own person) but that instead being the spark to resolve the stories' central conflict, not just fighting against Salem and protecting the Kingdoms/Relics (which she's already doing), but giving her a more personal, selfish reason to put an end to it for good. To eventually confront the Gods herself and have them let Oz and Salem rest, not just to save the world, but so Oscar is free to live as his own person so she can be with him, like how Salem wanted to be with Ozma.
It just feels very much like coming full circle, and that's very satisfying to me. (even if I know most of the FNDM would get very upsetti spaghetti at the idea of Ruby falling in love with an icky gross boy being part of her arc)
