What Defines Us - Commentary - Ch. 39-40 (Patreon)

Here’s a shocking fact - after this commentary, there’s only four remaining commentaries for What Defines Us.  Four!  After that, the story’s over.  Over as in done.  Over as in no new chapters.

I don’t know whether to be excited, happy, sad, nervous, or heartbroken - my thoughts on the end of this story are pretty much a mess at the moment.  On the one hand, I’m excited for everyone to see the ending and be able to view the story in its entirety.  On the other hand, I’m really nervous about what comes next.  

I guess we’ll see how I feel in eight weeks.  The last commentary could very well be an incoherent mess or just filled with exclamation points - we’ll see!  This week, however, I think I’m fine - which is good, because the last two chapters contained one of the biggest moments of the story, at least for Ruby and Weiss’ relationship.

That’s right - the big ‘I love you’ finally happens!

I’m totally jumping ahead of myself.  First, we start Chapter 39 with Weiss on her way to see Ruby.  During the car ride, we learn that Weiss actually hadn’t been sleeping when Ruby messaged.  Instead of sleeping, she was ‘meticulously dissecting and analyzing every little interaction they’d shared over the past two days.’

Remember how I pointed out that Weiss stopped herself from over-analyzing the situation when she woke up next to Ruby?  Well, we now see that Weiss wasn’t just magically cured of that trait - she still does it.  Maybe she’ll never stop doing it.  

The importance of her stopping herself in the prior chapter was that she was able to.  When she’s at home by herself, she doesn’t feel a need to stop herself, so she doesn’t.  Of course, now she can’t sleep, but that’s a small price to pay for diving into all those happy Ruby moments!

Ruby, however, seems to have little difficulty sleeping.  (Sorry, Weiss!)

What’s funny is that I initially planned on Ruby answering the door.  But this is another instance where the chapter ended up too short for my liking, so I decided that Ruby fell asleep instead.  It’s interesting how much a chapter can change just because you want it to be longer (smoothing out those creases…).  

First iteration of this chapter: Ruby answers the door and lets Weiss in, then they walk into the backyard together.  (This was ok, I guess.)

Second iteration: Ruby’s asleep, so Weiss walks to the back of the house and taps on her window.  (A little better…)

Third iteration:  There’s a fence in Weiss’ way, so she has to catapult herself over and then find Ruby’s window.  (See?  I added more action here.)

Fourth iteration:  There’s a bush on the other side of the fence; Blake thinks there’s an intruder; Weiss gets flattened by a ninja.

The final version was more fun, and I love adding fun parts to a story!  Plus, I also like showing the characters being awesome - like by Blake becoming a shadow and catching Weiss off guard.  This event also set up Yang’s jokes in the next chapter and explains why Blake took a nap the next day (more on that later).

But first!  The moment we’ve all been waiting for. 

Ruby leads Weiss to the small clearing in the woods where she tried to catch a butterfly, from all the way back in Chapter 9.  I thought it was appropriate to bring them back to that place so we can see how everything’s changed.  On the day Ruby tried to teach Weiss to catch a butterfly, Weiss was...emotional...just being in Ruby’s presence.  Remember, that was also the day she saw the pyramid of empty pill bottles in Ruby’s room and left in a hurry. 

On this night, however, did you ever think Weiss would leave?  Did you ever think this moment would be too big for her to handle?  (I’m hoping the answer is ‘no.’)  

This is another measuring stick on her progress, as well as their progress together.  And a measuring stick on how much they’ve grown!  Like in this one little section:

“But I was involved in some way, doesn’t that make me partially to blame?”

“Of course not,” Weiss immediately replied.  A small voice in the back of her mind called her out for the hypocrisy of that statement.  She spent the last year blaming herself for Ruby’s injuries, but that was different.  That was actually her fault.

...right?

By now, Ruby has a better understanding of the scope of her injury, including how others were affected by it.  Also by now, Weiss is questioning her long-held belief that she was solely responsible for what happened.  

For Weiss, this uncertainty of fault goes back to the flashback chapter of Ruby’s injury - Chapter 33.  At that moment in the hospital, she doesn’t know if it was her fault or not.  As the gravity of Ruby’s injuries became known, Weiss blamed herself more and more...but now she’s questioning it again.  She’s beginning to believe that maybe there are accidents and chance occurrences that played a role.

Everything’s coming full circle!  And this story about two separated lovers can’t truly come full circle without a proclamation of love - which Ruby does in probably the most roundabout way possible:

“I mean that...I like you...how Yang likes Blake.”

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.  Very clever, Ruby…

Fortunately, Weiss figured it out.  And then she delivers probably the best line in the entire story:

“Then you still love me?” Ruby asked, the question causing Weiss’ heart to overflow with fondness.

“Ruby...I never stopped.” 

When I proofread the other day and read this line, my heart just about burst with happiness.  If you imagine how long you’ve waited for this moment, imagine how long I waited to write it!  (Actually, I can write out of order, so that might not be a good comparison…)  

Basically, this is the moment that makes all the angst rewarding.  They’re in love again - that means they can conquer the world together.  Which they’re totally going to do, but probably after Ruby pulls her foot out of her mouth for nearly calling Weiss fat.

Remember in the last chapter how Yang just picked Blake up to carry her around because she’s so cute?  And Ruby wondered if she could pick Weiss up?  Well that’s what Ruby’s thinking here - that she wants to carry Weiss around like Yang carries Blake - but she doesn’t phrase it correctly, at all.  Thankfully, she just told Weiss that she loved her, so she can probably get away with saying just about anything right now.

I pointed out before that I think of this story in four parts - Weiss’ return, Ruby’s first hunt, The Beacon Invite, and now this.  This last part is my favorite, because it’s the two of them becoming a couple again and moving forward with their lives - putting the ‘injury’ behind them.  

Professing those feelings was the start, and then they get to the really cute stuff - sitting on Ruby’s bed answering questions about what Past Ruby liked.  I thought this interaction was super adorable, with Weiss answering for Past Ruby, while Ruby answered for...well, for herself.  

Did you notice how Weiss takes the knowledge that some of Ruby’s answers have changed?

“Noted,” Weiss replied, dipping her head.  This time it didn’t bother her one bit that that piece of Ruby had changed.  If anything, it only made it more difficult to become a master of all things Ruby - something Weiss once prided herself in being.  And one day, she would be again. 

And do you remember how she took the news about the snickerdoodles in Chapter 5 when she brought some over for Ruby?

The news felt like a punch to the gut, knocking the air from Weiss’ lungs.

(By the way, I used snickerdoodles because they happen to be my favorite cookie!  I’ve been told I make pretty good ones too :P)

There’s a lot of information that comes out of these rapid questions - another being that Ruby’s favorite meal (and mine too, how convenient!) is spaghetti.  She then puts two-and-two together, and...

“Oh!  Is that why you make such good spaghetti?”

Why yes, Ruby.  That is why Weiss makes such good spaghetti - because she loves you so much, she made it all the time.

Also, when Ruby asked what Weiss’ favorite memory is of the two of them, did you notice a little, tiny reference hidden in there?

There were so many moments marked as her favorites.  The day Ruby made Weiss skip classes for the first time.  Their first kiss.  The moment Ruby said ‘yes.’  Their second first kiss.  The list went on and on...and kept growing. 

Remember the night they went to the park together (back in Chapter 8)?  When they got there, Weiss said she felt like the park was familiar, but shook off the memory.  In the next chapter, she explains how Ruby once forced her to skip class and they went to a park together instead.  It was the first time she skipped class, but she had a lot of fun spending the day with Ruby.  

I brought that little memory back as one of her favorites, because I had limited option to choose from.  When Weiss runs through that list, there couldn’t be anything new, you know?  If there was something new that you haven’t seen or heard of before, it would cause more questions than it would answer.

The other two moments Weiss lists are intentionally generic - they’re things you already know happened, so it’s not at all surprising that they’d be amongst Weiss’ favorites.  First kiss and a proposal - obvious!  Their second first kiss we witnessed, and Weiss told us about the day at the playground.

After the personal questions end, Ruby and Weiss finish the evening by doing something I imagine they did quite often in the past - going over videos and discussing strategies.  In this case, Ruby’s throwing herself into this new form of training with excitement and gusto.  While she was initially jealous after seeing the video, she now wants to learn how to replicate it - with Weiss.

She wants to be partners with Weiss again.

In this single chapter, Weiss got the love of her life back, and her partner back.  (Excuse me while I go weep in a corner.)

Oh, but before I do that - this chapter has one of my favorite chapter endings: 

This Ruby was more willing to express those feelings, as if unwilling to risk anything being left unsaid.  She was less modest.  She was quick to affection - well, quicker than before.  And, impossibly, she was more driven - something Weiss wouldn’t have thought possible if she wasn’t seeing it with her own eyes.

Two versions of Ruby...and Weiss was exceptionally fond of them both - in love with them both, actually.

That last sentence was one that came to mind very early in the writing of this story.  It encapsulates, in a nutshell, my vision for Weiss in this story.  I was so happy I found a place for it, but also for Weiss to make this realization.

Ruby may be different, but Weiss can still love her.  It doesn’t mean she loves the past version of Ruby any less - she can love both.  And she does.  (This would be a perfect place to end the commentary, but I have a whole ‘nother chapter to go.)

On to Chapter 40.  Chapter 40!  We made it through 40 chapters!  I still can’t believe that.  Why is this story so long??

Anyway, I’m actually not a fan of Chapter 40, a fact I realized in the midst of my proofreading.  I mean, it’s a perfectly ok chapter, but it probably should’ve been two chapters.  It’s the longest chapter we’ve had so far, which means I really just squished two chapters into one.  I actually considered splitting it in two the day before posting it.  Then I remembered that the POV switches every chapter, and splitting this chapter would mean I’d have to - 

A: add another chapter so that the POVs still lined up, or 

B: switch the POV of every remaining chapter.

Sometimes, you just have to accept things the way they are...or at least accept that you can’t make super radical changes with a day to spare.  It’s a learning experience though!  Next time, I’ll hopefully be able to pick out these chapters in editing and find a way to trim them down or split them apart.

I think the issue I had with this chapter was that I wanted to put too much into it.  I wanted to show Ruby and Weiss waking up together on the morning after their big confession (and all the cuteness that came with it).  I also wanted them to end the day together again, so I had to fill up the day with other events.

Think of it this way - I couldn’t have them wake up and then immediately go to sleep at their old house.  I had to fill up Ruby’s day, and that led to a full chapter.  But I needed Ruby’s POV for the end of the chapter so that we could have Weiss’ POV for the hunt tomorrow.  It might’ve been better to stick two more chapters in there somewhere… (Just what I needed to do with an already-long story!)

If you can’t tell, I have a lot of regrets about this.  But I’ll hopefully be better about it in the future!

Anyway, the actual chapter though.  This time it’s Ruby watching Weiss wake up, when it was Weiss watching Ruby the previous day.  Ruby’s growing bolder and more confident as the days progress, which I would say is due to her weird sense of comfort around Weiss.  This goes back to the question of what Ruby remembers without really remembering?  It also incorporates Blake’s comments on how their relationship will never be traditional because of the past they share.  (The author’s way of saying ‘hey, let them move too fast - I want to finish the story already!’)

I hope you can see how comfortable they’re getting with one another though.  And, did you notice this little gem that Ruby didn’t even think about?

“Good morning!” she called out to Blake and Yang, pulling out a chair for Weiss before heading to the stove to collect her food.  

How cute is that??  And she thought literally nothing of it.  Meanwhile, Weiss probably stared after Ruby with hearts in her eyes, thinking how adorable and sweet it was for Ruby to pull out a chair for her.

While Ruby gets her breakfast, Yang makes a comment giving you the approximate time of day.  I added this so that it would make sense for the chapter to end at night again, otherwise it would seem like Ruby did too little during the day. 

You might’ve noticed that I rarely give exact times though, which is for an important reason.  I feel like using precise timelines in stories is hard to keep track of.  If you say something happens on Monday, then you need to remember it was Monday later on.  And that Monday was three days prior to your events on Thursday.

I have a couple of future stories where I had to keep track of days of the week, but I’d prefer not to when possible.  That’s why we don’t actually know how long Weiss has been back in Vale (unless you know - did you count the days?).  I don’t make a big deal out of it because I don’t want people to pay attention to that part of the story.  

The same theory applies to time of day.  If I tell you that they woke up 11 a.m., it will start a clock in your mind.  When Ruby and Weiss go over to the old house at 7 p.m., you might think…‘wow, Ruby only did that much in 8 hours??’

Ok, I’ve spent too much time on this.

(Hehe, had to say it.)

Can you imagine Weiss at work that day?  She wants to get a lot done so she can spend more time with Ruby, but she’s probably levitating off the ground out of happiness.  The employees were probably really weirded out by it.

Meanwhile, Ruby’s studying the day away and fiddling around with her ring.  Knowing that it’s an engagement ring, she tries it on and gets goosebumps, which should be a pretty clear indication of how she feels about Weiss at the moment.  You probably noticed that she pointed out the word ‘eternity’ again - the title that continues to haunt me.  How would you feel if I change the title now?  I can do that, right?

Probably can, just like I can have Nora show up out of the blue!  I adore writing Nora’s character - she’s like Ruby times ten.  And she delivers a personal easter egg for you!

“What’s up, wiggle butt??”

This is a nickname I use for Violet (my dog), so it seemed appropriate that Nora would call Ruby by it.

I wanted Nora to show up unannounced for a couple reasons.  One, she seemed most likely to do something like that.  And two, she can be so chaotic that there’d be no reason to believe what she says.  However, when she arrives she makes an interesting comment:

“That’s allowed, right?  Cuz you guys were at the tournament, so I figured it was ok now!”

The implication of this statement being that Ruby’s friends were staying away until Ruby was ready to meet them.  This was probably something they all agreed upon, or Blake and Yang discussed with them and they willingly accepted.  That doesn’t particularly mean they were out of the loop, however.  Velvet had a recent photo of Ruby (from Blake) in Chapter 1, so most likely everyone was receiving frequent updates on Ruby’s progress.

Because Team RWBY showed up at The Invite, Nora’s assuming it’s ok for Ruby to have her friends back.  Kind of a leap, but isn’t that Nora?

And isn’t she right?  Ruby has said she wants to learn about the past and Yang’s opened that door for her.  Yang also has the opportunity to get rid of Nora earlier, if wanted.  Did you notice her side of the phone call, which we have to assume is with Ren?

“Yeah, she’s here,” Yang said before briefly glancing at Ruby.  “Uh...yeah.  In a few minutes.  Thanks.” 

If we fill in Ren’s words, the conversation probably went like this:

“Is Nora there?”

“Yeah, she’s here.”

“Should I come get her?”

“Uh...yeah.  In a few minutes.  Thanks.”

In a few minutes.  Yang tells Ren to give them a few minutes before coming to get Nora.  Why would she do that other than to give Ruby and Nora the chance to hang out?  And for Ruby to have another friend?

(Blake still gets MVP, but I think Yang gets Sister of the Year.)

Also, Blake’s late night escapades come back into this chapter.  Because she was woken up last night, she’s taking a nap at this time - which we learn because Yang says she’s going to go wake Blake up.  I added this part to explain how Nora knocked on the door without Blake knowing they had a visitor.

My favorite part of this chapter is the section with Nora in it.  I feel like she’s the perfect person to introduce at this point in time because you don’t know what she’ll say, but she’s far smarter than we might give her credit for.  She seems like she says anything, but she actually has the perfect things to say.

“So we knew each other?” Ruby asked while she worked.

“Know, silly.”

What Nora’s subtly saying is that they didn’t used to be friends.  They are friends.  It doesn’t matter if Ruby doesn’t remember - Nora’s still going to be her friend.

Also, one of my favorite parts of the entire story:

“Oh, so Team RUBY -”

“RWBY,” Nora corrected. 

“Right.  That’s what I said.”

“No, you said RUBY, but it’s RWBY.”

“Those sound exactly the same!”

“But you can’t forget Weiss!”

“Of course I’m not forgetting Weiss!” Ruby insisted.

I’m probably a big dork for thinking that’s so funny…

Nora tells a lot of lies in a short period of time, but I used the lies to mask the truths she tells (both from you and from Ruby).  It’s like the story of the boy who cried wolf, where no one believes him when he finally tells the truth.  The question is...is Nora intentionally crying wolf?  (We’ll never know.)

Nora’s purpose in this chapter wasn’t to give Ruby details about her relationship with Weiss.  Her purpose was to show Ruby that she had friends - has friends.  I think it’s very sweet for her to have that moment where she realizes that she not only had a girlfriend but close friends as well.  

Ruby, the awkward social outcast determined to become a huntress, suddenly understands that there was more to life and more to her life.

After Nora leaves with Ren, we get a quick look at Ruby picking out another hunt - a really quick look because she just picks the top one on the list.  (I hope you felt Yang’s disappointment that they didn’t get to look through the other options).  I don’t know how the hunts actually work, but I think there would be different categories of contracts to take.  Some would appeal to sneakier huntsmen (Blake with her Assassinate contracts), while others would appeal to the huntsmen who want to wreak havoc (Yang with her Eradicate contracts).

Notice that Ruby spells everyone’s names correctly (unlike someone else we know…)  Whatever happened to Roby Rose, anyway??

With the hunt selected, Weiss shows up and Blake builds upon her case for story MVP:

“Let’s give them some privacy, hmm?” Blake said quietly before leading Yang out of the room, giving Ruby and Weiss a smile as they left.

I’d love to write the Bumblebee side of this story, if I ever find an extra year’s worth of time on my hands...

The end of this chapter is all about how Weiss and Ruby used to be together, and how that past relationship is starting to blend with their present.  Ruby wants to go back to their old house, where she feels oddly comfortable (again, what does she really remember?).  And Weiss shows Ruby the little baskets placed everywhere to pick up her petals, which I think is a really sweet, really personal touch that makes the house theirs.

It was fun to come up with an idea of how their team used to operate.  I hope Weiss’ brief explanation showed how great they are at what they do, and how much time they put into preparing even before they go out to fight.  For Ruby, this is a complete surprise, which just shows us where she is right now - she’s a skilled fighter, but she doesn’t have the team background she learned through Beacon.  Don’t worry though - Weiss is going to teach Ruby everything she needs to know.

But first...we need to get through some Nevermores.  

I’m excited about the next chapter.  I wish I could tell you why, but you’ll see next week!   And again, thank you for reading my rambling words all the time.  I really appreciate your support!

Until next time,

Miko