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Anddddd I’m back!  After an extended (can I call one week ‘extended’?) break from posting/writing/living in fantasy realms where basically every couple is gay, I’m back in action!  Sort of.  I’m back to posting new chapters, at least.  That’s good enough, right?  Progress has been made.  Much more progress needs to happen before I’m not living out of boxes anymore, but the rest of those will be unpacked over the next year or so.

For now, I’m just happy to be somewhat back on schedule.  There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, but I’m finding moments when I can actually sit down and write for at least an hour.  Which is good, because writing is one of the things that keeps me sane.  The last thing we need is a crazy person taking over all of my stories!  Who knows what might happen then...

On that note, picking this story up again was actually pretty disorienting.  I didn’t remember what chapter we were on, and I didn’t even remember the plotlines that were happening.  I eventually got one of those ‘oh right!’ moments about two pages into Chapter 10, and it all came rushing back to me like a waterfall in reverse.

Just like with What Defines Us, this story is slowly slipping away from me - probably because I wrote most of it was over a year ago.  Almost a year and a half ago, actually, so I’m kind of ready to let it go.  We’re about halfway done though, I think.  (I can’t even remember how many chapters there are anymore.)  There are new stories to tell and new adventures to embark upon.

But first - to the commentary!  (AKA the stuff you actually want to read about.)

I mentioned that Chapter 9 is one of my favorite chapters because we break away from the class/lunch/practice routine and get more Yang/Blake alone time.  And I’m all for more Yang/Blake alone time!  It lets them solidify their relationship and get a whole lot of flirting out of the way.

When I decided that Yang and Blake needed more time together outside of class or walking in the hall, I tried to think of a way for practice to be canceled (without Ruby’s practice also being canceled).  Illness seemed like the most logical answer, and I could’ve easily left it at that.  ‘Coach Ironwood is sick.’  ‘Oh, bummer.’

But what fun is that?  While the story exists in a vacuum to us, the characters do not.  We’re observing a very small part of their lives, which means there’s years and years of information we’re not privy to.  Think of it like joining a conversation with two people who’ve been best friends for years.  Without even trying to, they’ll bring up inside jokes, familiar memories, or tiny moments they’ve both shared.

It’s the same here.  We’re only seeing a week or so of their lives, but they each have their own set of shared memories they draw upon and reference when appropriate.  We don’t get to see those moments, but I like to think the additional details add richness to the characters.

In this instance, I decided that Coach Ironwood would get sick, thereby canceling practice.  But then I thought that maybe it should be surprising that he got sick, and then I remembered Penny.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if Nora started a rumor that Coach Ironwood was a robot?  

(I thought so.)  

It doesn’t add anything to the story.  It was basically a single sentence, but from that sentence you probably got a picture of Nora suggesting (to anyone willing to listen) that Ironwood never got sick because he was a robot.  And when people asked what evidence she had, she’d merely point out that he was never sick, and that’s more than enough evidence for her.

(Taking it a step further, maybe we imagine that when Nora gets sick, she makes the (admittedly gross) decision to sneeze or cough his way, hoping to prove her theory correct.)

The best part about these little additions is that it gives you the opportunity to fill out part of their lives for yourself.  You don’t have to imagine it like I do.  I only give you the outline - a little prompt - and you fill it out as you see fit.

Another little addition that popped up in this chapter - Ren!

Unfortunately, he’s not in the story outside of this moment.  I didn’t have a role for him, but I wanted to make sure everyone knows that he’s still included in this universe.  Because you can’t have Nora without Ren, even if Ren only has a small part to play.  (I guess you could argue he still has a role - as Nora’s distraction…)

One thing I liked about this story is that Ruby gets to be the track star like she was in Rush.  This time, however, we actually get to see her at practice having fun and enjoying herself.  That’s one thing we really missed in Rush, since the only track scene we had there was the track meet (and that didn’t go very well for her).

To make amends (and to further push White Rose forward), Weiss gets to see Ruby at practice this time.  

I just had an idea.  The moment with Weiss watching Ruby, and Ruby running over to give her a hug, could easily be a snippet from after the events of Rush.  After they get their happily ever after, Weiss makes a point of watching Ruby’s practices and making it to every track meet.  She loves watching because Ruby has so much fun and beats everyone - happiness and competitiveness, two traits Weiss can’t help but fall even harder for.

It’s like a view from a parallel universe…

Anyway, there’s also a similarity in this moment between WtVH Ruby and WDU Ruby - both of them love picking Weiss up and twirling her in the air.  Remember when Ruby wondered if she was strong enough to pick Weiss up?  And when she did, she made the comment of ‘hey you’re not that heavy!’ (which was severely misinterpreted by Weiss).

In this story, however, White Rose is just beginning to bud.  From Ruby’s reaction, however, we can assume that this isn’t Weiss’ first time coming to see her at the track.  There was no confusion or that look of ‘hey, what are you doing here?’  Instead, it was just delight at seeing each other again.

They’re so cute…

I’ve been working on a lot of Bumblebee stuff at the moment, but I have several ideas for corresponding White Rose stories that maybe I’ll need to work on.  We need more White Rose!  

What else do we need?  More super-obvious hints dropped by Blake about her and Yang’s shared past.  Like, seriously, maybe she should have a sign made or something.  Or she could just come right out and tell Yang the truth, but then our story would end and I was having too much fun coming up with more and more blatant hints.

Like this one:

“She even followed you into trouble, didn’t she?” Blake asked, her eyes sparkling with humor when Yang laughed and nodded enthusiastically.
“She did.  She sure did.  Little rascal has no fear.”
“Well…” Turning back to the track, Blake watched a group of long distance runners sail by.  “She grew up well.”

Ok, this one is only obvious to us, but still.  We can misinterpret it as Blake making a blanket comment about Ruby having ‘grown up well’ in a generic sense, but we know better than that!  We know that Blake knew Ruby as a child - they went to school together, after all.  So we know that she’s actually comparing Ruby in elementary school to now, from tiny child stumbling over her feet to track star.

Another hint about Blake and Yang’s past is rolled into a bit of conversation that I only added to the chapter for length.  The part I’m referring to is the topic of Blake picking out a list of books for Yang to read.  I think that would be super cute and interesting to see!  I also loved Blake’s confidence in her ability to recommend books.  Because she’s read so many, she has a treasure trove of examples to choose from, and she feels like she understands what Yang would like.

This brings us directly to another tiny nod to the past, which we notice but Yang (of course) doesn’t:

“But Weiss has known me longer,” Yang pointed out.
“Has she?” Blake repeated, giving Yang a sly smile before shrugging.  

When said in a light-hearted, joking way, of course Yang didn’t think anything suspicious about it.  But, because we’re smarter and wiser than Yang, we know that Blake has actually known Yang since elementary, which means they have known each other for longer.  Technically.

At this point, Blake is probably having fun making these casual comments and wondering when Yang will catch on.  Besides hints about the past, she’s definitely turning up the casual flirting and suggestions that she has feelings for Yang that extend beyond friendship.  There’s this not-so-subtle question:

“If you didn’t see that, I’m wondering what else you might have missed,” Blake mused, grabbing her bag and standing to join Yang.  “Have you ever thought about who might like you, and you just haven’t noticed?”

And then there’s the casual touches:

Reaching out, she gave Yang’s arm a quick squeeze before letting go.

And one of these days, Yang will finally figure it out.  I swear!  (I just thought about what might happen if Yang never figured it out and Blake transfers away or something.  Probably a revolt.  Plus, that sounds like a sucky end to a story!)

But besides Yang’s relationship with Blake, this chapter is about Yang’s relationship with Ruby.  We know that Yang’s always looking out for Ruby, but it’s in this chapter that Yang starts to feel like Ruby might not need as much help anymore.  Which is good, because Yang’s graduating and will leave school behind.

Yang’s starting to find more examples of how Ruby’s grown up though.  There’s her relationship with Weiss, which strikes Yang by surprise but enforces the idea that Ruby is getting older and more mature.  And then there’s her success at track, in school, at making friends and being friendly to everyone around her.  Besides that, she has a general aura of confidence and self-assurance in who she is.  If you noticed, I ended the chapter with a huge dose of symbolism: 

“But I’m not a baby anymore!”
Chuckling at the response, Yang wrapped her arm around Ruby’s shoulders and gave her sister a sideways hug.
“No you’re not, Ruby,” she agreed before letting go.  “You’re really not.”

Yang ‘let go’ of Ruby’s shoulders here, but we could also say that she’s letting go of the idea that Ruby always needs her help.  That isn’t the case anymore for many of the reasons Blake’s pointed out - Ruby’s grown up really well and become the exceptional person she was always meant to be.

I swear, every time I write about Ruby, I fall in love with her character even more.  And, like Blake mentioned, I can see why Weiss couldn’t resist!

On to Chapter 10, which is also one of my favorites (for reasons explained in a little bit).

I mentioned last time how Blake stops reading in order to speak to Yang, probably because she finds Yang more interesting than anything she’s reading.  Well, at the beginning of Chapter 10, we see her set her book aside for Yang once again.  Of course, Yang tries not to read into it because she doesn’t want to be that person (you know, the person who freaks out because their crush set their book down in order to speak to them).

But Blake’s seriously laying down some charm, right?

“People like you because you’re kind-hearted, Yang,” Blake finally said.  “It’s always been that way.”
“Always?”  

Always, yes.  Since elementary school, at least.

“People are wrong.  You’re even more amazing than they know.  But...I always knew that.”

I think it’s sweet that Blake thinks so highly of Yang, which we learn through compliments like these.  And we see that Blake really wants to know more about Yang - more specifically, how Yang decides to stand up for someone.  Maybe Blake’s curiosity has something to do with learning more about what led Yang to stand up for her on that fateful day many years ago?  We’ll never know (but probably).

Bringing Trevor back into this chapter was something of a fortunate accident (or expert story planning - you be the judge).  I’d already decided that Blake would make the request for Yang to walk through her actions, but I thought we’d meet another random student.  Then I realized that it might be a more meaningful interaction if Yang already knew of this person through Ruby.  It also emphasizes the theme from the last chapter - that Ruby doesn’t need Yang’s protection anymore.  If anything, Ruby’s like a Yang-Lite, going around and making friends just like her sister does.

And so, Trevor became Ruby’s acquaintance first.  I went back to an early chapter and found the perfect spot to have Ruby mention meeting him (and Freddy).

I don’t think I mentioned this in that chapter’s commentary, but I picked a frog because I felt like a frog was small enough to live in a backpack for a day.  Why did Trevor need to have a pet at all?  Literally because I wanted Ruby to say that she got to hold ‘him’ and for Yang to say, “We’re still talking about the frog, right?”  So not only did we get Trevor, but Freddy as well.  Because why not?

Besides our time with Trevor and Freddy, this chapter is about Penny.  And, literally, I was in tears the other day while editing that part of the chapter.  It’s just...she put so much work into that project, and it was beautiful.  So of course someone had to go and ruin it for her.  (I just realized the similarity to when I write a story and then get troll reviews - people knocking you down just because they can.)

Honestly, I should have had Yang punch Cardin.  I think that would’ve been an appropriate response, not to mention highly satisfying to see.  But I was trying to show how much Yang had grown and had self-restraint and blah blah blah...so he got away with a firm warning.

And because the idea of Penny’s project staying destroyed was just too unbearable for me, I fixed it.  Well, Blake, Yang, and Penny fixed it.  

I always get this warm, happy feeling in my heart when I read that Yang walks back to Penny and Blake’s already helping pick up the pieces.  And I feel even happier when I read Blake’s line: 

“And if there’s three of us?”

She doesn’t have to help.  She’s not the one with an agenda to stick up for everyone.  Plus, she’s only known Penny for like...three days or something.  Still, she helps.

I like to think this is where more of Blake’s personality shines through.  Sure, she’s smart.  Sure, she likes teasing Yang with hints about the past, but she also has a heart of gold.  She wouldn’t walk away, just like Yang wouldn’t.  Just like Ruby wouldn’t.  Just like Weiss...well, Weiss wouldn’t walk away as long as Ruby was around.  (Just kidding.  Weiss would probably help and then pretend that it was somehow in her best interest to do so.)

But while everyone else stared at the spectacle, Blake immediately helped.  

In the last chapter, she talked about how Ruby grew up nicely, but what about herself?  Can you imagine the version of Blake from Chapter 1 having the confidence to step in like that?  Pushing to the middle of a crowd of gawkers and not thinking twice about becoming part of the scene?

Not only does she rush to help, but she also comes up the solution for how to put the house back together.

While they’re working on the house, there’s two pretty obvious nods to the show.  I’m sure you saw them, but the first is Penny’s baby Grimm, who she thinks is ‘cute.’  Maybe her version is, although the claws still sound a bit too large to be ‘cute…’

The second is her comment:

“People never think I’m creative!  They only think I’m weird and robotic.”

Heh.  Well...in another universe, Penny.  In another universe...

After they fix Penny’s project (good as new, I swear!), Blake makes a comment about how Yang always apologizes for the bullies.  This is exactly what Yang did in Chapter 1 too:  

“I’m sorry they were picking on you.”

And then Blake responds with another super obvious (but only to us) answer:

“We’re lucky to have someone like you around...when we need you.”

She groups herself with the bullied in this sentence, and Yang is actually a little confused by it.  Of course, she lets go of the feeling as soon as Blake looks away.  Because of course, why wouldn’t she forget as soon as she couldn’t see Blake’s eyes?  Personally, I find it impossible to think when someone isn’t staring directly into my eyes.

Ok, the sarcasm probably wasn’t necessary.  Why am I sassing my characters?  I’m the one who made Yang so oblivious, this is my fault.  I’m really just sassing myself, I guess.

Anyway, that’s all I have for now, but I’m excited for the next...nine chapters (all of which are my favorite, clearly).  And I’m also hyper concerned about not having another story ready to post when this one ends...but we’ll see how that goes when we get there!

Thank you for putting up with me and my sometimes-inconvenient life changes!


Until next time,

Miko

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