#ruby and jaune

Volume 1, Episode 13:

Jaune: I'm a failure. Ruby: [cheerfully] Nope! Jaune: Nope? Ruby: Nope! You're a leader now, Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure. Jaune: But what if I'm a failure at being a leader? Ruby: Hmm… nope! Jaune: You know, you're not the easiest person to talk to about this stuff. Ruby: [still cheerfully] Nope! Ruby: [sobering] Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid. You might've even been a failure the first day we met! But you can't be one now. You know why? Jaune: Uh. Because…? Ruby: Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do. And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us. We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second.

Volume 9, Episode 7:

Jaune: I couldn't save them. I was supposed to save them. And they're dead. Yang: No, Jaune. They're gone, but they're not dead. They'll be back. Weiss: Yeah, it's what they wanted. Right, Ruby? Ruby: why are you asking me? Blake: Um. We just— Ruby: Because I'm the leader? Because I'm just supposed to have something to say? 'Cause I don't. Ruby: [more agitated] I mean, why do I have to be the leader anyway? Why do I have to always be the one to pick people up? What about me? 'No time,' right? (…) Ruby: I'm sorry, is this a bad time? Are we supposed to be mourning Jaune's make believe friends? Jaune: They're gone because of you! The walkers came for you, because Neo hates you! Oh, and let's not forget the reason we're in the Ever After in the first place is because of your plan, that that didn't work! 'What about you?' It's ALL about you!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

... which is all to say, it was fucked up the first time Ruby said all this. It was a red flag all the way back at Beacon. Ruby was wrong to tell Jaune that and frame it that way, and this has been building between them literally since day one because of it.

Ruby's never had a healthy or reasonable conception of what a leader is or what their responsibilities are and like. how could she? between being raised in her mother's shadow and her silver eyes putting her on a magic pedestal she never stood a chance. and if she confronted the fact that that might be a problem that would mean admitting she has a problem which is against the rules for leaders. it's never allowed to be about her; she can't want things or have doubts.

Ruby's optimism didn't break, she stopped choosing it. because it was always a conscious decision she was making. and now she can't anymore, understandably, because she's too tired! she doesn't have anything left to give!

which also brings up--

when Ruby snaps at Blake to shut up after Blake tries to look on the bright side, she doesn't say "You're wrong."

she says "Don't do that."

even in her meanest moment, she's not actually trying to pull Blake down.

I am NOT sorry

Seeing as it is Valentine's Day, and you are no doubt saturated with Lancaster Valentine's, allow me to try something different.

Spring is finally here, which means the return of birds singing, flowers blooming, sun shining, and-

ACHOO!

Allergies returning. And this year is especially bad, as Jaune is very allergic to flowers. He feels miserable and stuffy. If only there was a flower he knew that didn't make him allergic sneeze everywhere who could help him through this pollen season.

Jaune laid in his bed, tissues next to him on his night stand, cursing the brothers for giving him a massive amount of aura, yet he’s weak to pollen. He can get smacked around by a Ursa, but one nanosecond of contact with pollen and it’s like taking an arrow to the chest. But fortunately for him, there’s one flower that provides him comfort instead of nasal anguish like the others. A lovely little Rose, just happens to be laying next to him while they binge a bunch of anime.

Jaune: (nasally) you know maybe I should incorporate some of Denji’s fighting techniques.

Ruby: oh I can see it now, Jaune Arc: slayer of Grimm, bane of testicles.

Jaune: (Nasally) hey if it’s so or die I’m pretty sure kicks to the balls are allowed.

Ruby: I’m just saying, kick to the balls isn’t what real huntsman do.

There was a brief silence between the two for about five seconds until Jaune opened his mouth.

Jaune: (nasally) gurl you sooo would.

Whelp.I just answered a similar question that which you can read right here. But basicallymy answer is no. Though I’ll admit that hug was the strongest Ruby and Jaunemoment I’ve seen thus far in terms of emotional impact, I did not perceive itas romantic at all. Jaune was relieved to see Ruby alive. He was happy that shekept her promise. Remember Jaune is a guy who watched one of his closestcompanions walk away and was later told to be dead. Jaune almost lost Weiss inthe last chapter.

Jauneis a guy who has seen his loved ones either be killed or almost getkilled so seeing one of them, Ruby Rose actually show up alive---he’s going toget emotional and he should. So if the Lancaster shippers wish to perceive thisas romantic, they’re free to do so. Have your cake guys.

But as for this squiggle meister, I mostly tookit as the story affirming that Ruby isn’t just a close friend or teammate toJaune anymore. She’s family to him now and he obviously loves her like family. That’s my perception.

On a different note, can we just appreciate that Ruby actually has Jaune saved as “Vomit Boy” on her Scroll. That part made me crack up.

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Our wonderful organizer and community within the Lancaster Server have now finalized everything, and we are now set for this year’s Nine Days of Lancaster! Starting from the 28th of this month to the 6th of June- you will have the option to write/post a Lancaster fic based on the 2 prompts provided for that day!

If you aren’t writing, please make sure to pay attention to A03 to support your fellow Lancaster peeps who are going to be participating in the events! I will also say that if you aren’t writing, why not make some memes on the event? Maybe some art? 👀

Banner and prompt lists provided by @lil-red-reaper

If you feel like joining the event in any capacity, or just wish to see what everyone else is doing and have a community of fellow Lancaster shippers to share your HCs and Ruby/Jaune hyperfixations with, please feel free to join The Kingdom of Lancaster Discord Server with the link provided below!

Just make sure to follow the rules within the server, to respect your fellow shippers, and not be an asshat! ^_^

You wanna know something fun I just noticed upon rewatch?

In “Remembrance,” when Ruby wakes up because she hears Pyrrha’s voice, right before she finds Jaune practicing to the video she notes the fireflies in the air

hahahahahaaha

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

what’s tricky here, of course, is that the RNJR arc (rightly, I think) really wanted to focus in on what it meant to lose Pyrrha. Which makes sense: she’s someone we were more bonded with as an audience, and who (though we didn’t know it at the time) WASN’T COMING BACK, unlike certain other people. and because they chose to dovetail it with Ren’s backstory so it’s all just this mishmash of JNR needing to deal with their externalized internal angst via the Nuckelavee, to try and have Ruby shoehorn in some “AND PENNY” stuff might have come across as needlessly antagonistic-- setting her and Jaune up as rivals in the mourning Olympics instead of as parallel foils.

which is why I really can’t wait to see where they’re gonna go with this in volume 9-- even discounting whomever they may or may not meet on the island. the first time around, Penny was a personal loss for Ruby... but not really to anyone else. Penny’s place in the narrative in the Beacon arc is very much “Ruby’s weird crush friend;” though we see other people react in some way to her death, other than Pyrrha-- who, y’know, obviously took it hard because she killed her-- there was not a sense of communal mourning outside of “gee, too bad.” which meant that there was no one there to really notice or call out the way Ruby immediately repressed that shit and never talked about it again. now, though? now Penny means something to all of them; she’s their friend on her own terms. which means Ruby’s conspicuous silence on the matter will be called out and examined.

" That's plus one friend."