Hello, Beautiful Hunters! I apologize sincerely, but this isn't an actual chapter. Instead, I need to address a major problem in the development of War of OA that a few of my much loved readers have made me realize that I should make a statement about. To those few people who either reviewed or PMed me, and a few that even talked to me in person, I realized I said that I would leave this author's note either at the end of Act 1 Chapter 4, or at the very beginning of Act 2, but because there were so many people contacting me about this in the PM system, it seemed like a good idea to make a direct statement about it. Also, I'm pretty sure half of the people asking me about this aren't even following the story, which means I have to refer you guys to a very popular letter of the alphabet: Y?
In any case, the issue I want to talk to you guys about is that I realize I may have confused everyone about the triad dynamic between Weiss, Ruby, and Grey. Before I posted chapter 3, if someone asked me how WeissxGreyxRuby was going to work, I would have given you the traditional "no spoilers" response and told you to keep reading the story, but that was back when I had already prewritten up to Act 4 and actually knew what the hell was going on with the plot and its characters. However, since I noticed that the original script of War of OA was the literary equivalent of any 3 seconds of nyan cat on loop, (plot holes for example), I decided to overhaul almost the entire story, and that means that things with WxGxR are kind of up in the air right now, so I'm going to tell you guys what's going on with that.
First of all, WxGxR is canon to War of OA, and will always be canon to War of OA. That means that, after a certain point, Weiss and Ruby will both be dating Grey in a polyamorous love triangle, but I'm pretty sure what most of my Beautiful Hunters want to know about is White Rose. Obviously, if I'm going to form a triad between the pair of them and an OC, people are going to question if the two girls would also end up together. Don't get me wrong, even though I'm in the process of rewriting most of the story, I've already made my decision on if White Rose will become canon, but I'm not going to tell you what that decision is. I'm sorry, but even though WeissxGrey and RubyxGrey are both individually their own things, telling you guys what's going to happen between Weiss and Ruby would pretty much ruin a third of the entire book, so clearly, I'm not going to tell you anything. Honestly, my problem isn't about what happens with White Rose, it's more about the specific aspects of their relationship. No matter what happens between Weiss and Ruby romantically in War of OA, where am I going to go with it once it happens? How am I going to reach that outcome? How will this affect the triad and the other characters in the story? More importantly, how is this going to affect the story since plot relevance is my biggest concern with this?
What you need to take away from that paragraph is that Grey will be dating both Weiss and Ruby after a certain point, but if you want to see if Ice Queen and Little Red end up together, you will have to keep reading since straight up telling you what happens will be an immersion breaking spoiler. To those of you whom I told their fate was to be determined, that's still true. I didn't lie to you guys, and I didn't just decide what to do with White Rose in the past two days. My only real issue with the White Rose problem, though, isn't if they'll end up together, but what I stated previously about what kind of consequence their dynamic would have on the story and other characters, as well as concluding that part of the story in a way that makes logical sense and keeps you guys entertained. Again, if you want to know if Weiss and Ruby take the plunge and get together, you need to keep reading.
Being in a polyamorous relationship can be mentally taxing for one reason or another. The non-monogamous nature of the romance can make a person reevaluate their entire existence, making them ask themselves if this was something they truly wanted to do, and potentially causing a few mental problems along the way since that's not an easy question to deal with. That's only natural. However, with both Weiss and Ruby dating one man, Grey, they would eventually start questioning if they also had romantic feelings for each other since, in their minds, both of them dating Grey would mean that they were indirectly involved with each other as well. I try to pride myself on the realism and sturdy rationale within my stories, and this thought process is a common occurrence for many people who experiment with polyamory for the first time. Since they're both with Grey, they would inevitably ask themselves if they were obligated to be with each other, and not just him. That one question would then raise dozens of others such as, did they want to be with each other? Should they experiment with each other? If something happens, how would they handle it? Would they flip out? Would they give in to the pressure and explore? Most importantly, are they even attracted to girls? If they are, how will Grey react? What would he think if his two girlfriends ended up together alongside their relationship with him? If they're not attracted to girls, what would happen then?
Keep in mind, White Rose plays a VERY SIGNIFICANT role in the story no matter how you look at it, and that's going to be true no matter what the outcome happens to be. Again, realism is my main concern with White Rose, so the very fact that there is even a question about if Weiss and Ruby become date mates means that I'm going to eventually address it within the context of the story. Each and everyone of these questions will be answered at some point in War of OA, and if I can think of any others that seem pertinent to the situation, I'll put those down as well. This is just realistic. These are the kinds of things someone would ask themselves when just beginning a polyamorous relationship, especially if they were in the same situation Ruby and Weiss are in where they've never had a single boyfriend, and never really had a reason to question their own sexual preferences or interests.
Of course, before I can even touch upon White Rose, I'm going to need to deal with the most important conflict in the romantic storyline, and tackle the reason why Weiss and Ruby would want to be in a triad to begin with. Obviously, polyamory is no joke. Its not an easy relationship to maintain, and I'm pretty sure every single human being on the face of the planet is aware of this. Before WxGxR can officially become canon, Ruby and Weiss would be going nuts trying to figure out if they wanted to share Grey with one another and how they would manage doing so, and if being with the man they both loved would be worth the emotional backlash that would no doubt come with the relationship. How badly do they want to be with him? How would they handle the jealousy? Could they handle the jealousy? Would they be able to withstand the thought that Grey could spending more time with one girl than the other, and that gossip about each of them behind their backs was bound to happen at some point? Would one girl try to undermine the other? Would she try to steal him away from her? Primarily, could they handle the thought of Grey sharing his love and affectionate with another girl instead of focusing all of his attention on one of them? Essentially, what this comes down to is that before I can make White Rose even remotely relevant to the storyline, I have to make a triad relationship with Grey not only seem like a viable option for them, but also make them enthusiastically consent to it. I have to raise these questions about polyamory in a logical scenario for each character, give a satisfactory answer to each of them when the character comes to a decision, and then I need to make the characters willfully engage in the dynamic because it seems desirable and that they know exactly what they're getting into before they do. I can't just ignore the flaws with polyamory and force them into it with some half-baked reasoning like, "Oh, we like the same guy? Twinsies!" Come on, that's just lazy.
Also, is no one worried about Grey? Sure, he's my OC, and the main protagonist, and the center of the relationship when it first forms, but this doesn't mean that he's going to be the mastermind behind the whole thing or reveling in the fact that two girls want his D. He's human just like Weiss and Ruby. He's going to have just as many concerns over this relationship as they do, and I might even say he'd have more concerns considering he has a totally different role in the relationship than they do., primarily, potentially breaking up Team RWBY if things go south.
Again, if I haven't made it clear yet, the topic of White Rose will not even be approached until Weiss and Ruby become comfortable enough with this new romantic experience that they can start focusing on other things besides making sure they don't screw things up. Only then will will they start questioning if they have feelings for each other. Only after Weiss and Ruby fully understand how polyamory works, and their dual relationship with Grey Arsen has been established, will I even come close to talking about their own potentially homoerotic feelings. They wouldn't even be thinking about that before things have been established. I'd also like to point out here that the reasoning I've decided for how WxGxR becomes canon will also play into the development of White Rose because. I may have had to take a bit of creative license with the World of Remnant, but it still fits perfectly within the lore.
Other than that, there is one more thing I need to touch up on, and feel free to skip down to the last paragraph where I summarize this author's note if you want to. In regard to White Rose, this isn't really that important, but it does have to do with the rest of the story and the plotline of War of OA, so I would highly recommend reading this whole thing.
I've made it my mission to put every single major ship in the fandom as part of the story, even if I just mention it once or twice, and each and every single one of them will have a significant influence on how the story progresses, some more than others. This includes: Bumblebee (YangxBlake), Arkos (JaunexPyrrha), Flour Power (RenxNora assuming that's the term for it), SunxBlake, and NeptunexWeiss, as well as a few less important ships that I feel would work well with this story. I'm not going to guarantee that every ship will be romantically involved, but each of them will be mentioned at the very least. More importantly, most if not all of them will influence the romantic relationship between Weiss, Grey, and Ruby either positively or negatively. Again, each ship will be in the story, but as for what kind of relationship they have, you have to continue reading the story and find out for yourself. I've already figured out what I want to do with each of them as well, even though I'm still working out what will happen with White Rose, but that's only because they're all minor characters, and Weiss and Ruby require more careful attention because they're the MCs. They have the most important story relevance, so they need to be treated as such.
TL;DR, there's a list of things that you need to take away from this: 1) I'm not going to tell you what specifically happens with White Rose, so if you want to know if they get together, keep reading. 2) Due to how much I try to focus on realism and plot relevance/impact, no matter what happens with RubyxWeiss, thank the plot. 3) Even if they don't end up together, they'll both still be dating Grey at the same time. 4) Every major ship will be in the story, but I'm not going to tell you if they end up together, so if you want to know what happens to your OTP, keep reading, and no matter what happens, thank the plot. 5) Weiss and Ruby will at some point question their sexuality and if they're attracted to each other. 6) Before any of that is going to happen, the triad between those two and Grey needs to be established first- that's the most important thing.
Take care, Beautiful Hunters. I will see you in the in the Act 1 finale next update.