The Writer Games (Or Something)
It can take decades to write a masterpiece, and years to plan it- so see what a couple of amateurs come up with in 15 minutes after a prompt. College Fool, Couer Al'Alran, and the Jaune story concepts that followed.
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Coeur's Prompt - Cardin had always struggled to show his affection properly. Call it the results of a messed-up childhood, or just too much pressure... but sometimes you do silly things to get the attention of the people you like. Bullying Jaune Arc was just the only way he could think of, to grab the knight's attention.
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(C.F. Note: There were two different fills here. The first was what 'actually' came from the game: and it stinks. The other came from the idea at the 15th minute, and with several hours of massaging.)
College Fool's Fill -Fill One: Differences
A series of divergent point (DP)/AU shorts on how things could have gone on different paths at differing points of the story.
Vomit Boy
DP: After Jaune vomits in the trash can to the disgust of Yang and Ruby, and laughter of others, Cardin gives Jaune a hit on the back when Jaune jokes on bile. Cardin makes a joke about how the girls perfume made him want to puke too- a mean but well-placed joke that breaks the tension between them. When Ruby explodes, Jaune starts to go towards her- but Cardin's reminder that she's one of the girls that grossed out on him stays gives him pause. Jaune turns his back on Ruby.
Consequence: Flash forward. Teams RWBY and CRJL are mostly antagonistic- with Yang being Jaune's teasing/mocking harasser due to their bad start and Ruby's bad memory of visibly being abandoned by Jaune in the courtyard. Yang vows to beat up Jaune and Cardin as part of a 2-on-1... but Jaune gets the best of her by cutting her hair, though they knows it will mean hospital.
Fan of the Family
DP: In the ball room for Ozpin's speach. Cardin strikes up a conversation with Jaune after hearing his name is Arc. Cardin claims their grandfathers served in the war, when Arc saved Cardin's grandfather- and they start bonding over a common family history of heroism. When Jaune changes for the night into bunny PJs, Cardin drags him back for his own reputation and vows to not let the life debt go unfulfilled. When he asks if there's anything else he needs to save Jaune from, Jaune gets nervous and goes, well... to which Cardin sighs, and vows that Jaune's going to make it up to him for this.
Consequences: When Cardin gets on his bully streak with Velvet, Jaune (his team mate) stops it early on- appealing to that family pride and what not. Though Cardin's the dominant partner with a reputation for pushing Jaune to do his homework, Jaune is the conscience/brains of Team CRDJ.
Finders Keepers
DP: Cardin comes across Jaune stuck in the tree before Pyrrha arrives. He's not happy about a sissy partner- but when Pyrrha arrives, and Pyrrha's not interested in being his partner instead (because she has her eyes on Jaune), Cardin spites her by taking Jaune as his partner. Jaune and Cardin banter a bit, in which Jaune isn't terribly broken up about it because he admits he's not into red heads. Cardin finds commonality in it going, hey, he's into blondes.
Consequence: Waaaaay later (and probably should be separate AU prompt): Jaune wears the dress to the Ball... because Cardin didn't get a date. Ho yay undertones ensue.
Tough Love- the idea I wish I had 15 mins ago
DP: Cardin's blackmail streak with Jaune has a bit more reasoning behind it. Cardin's trying to push Jaune in a way that his team and friends aren't: the no-holding-back battles are actually pushing Jaune past his limits, while the essays and extra homework are actually a cram course to make up for Jaune's education. Pyrrha's intervention/attempt at intimidation runs aground when she realizes that Cardin's been doing his own work on the side as well- and covering up some of Jaune's failings.
Consequence: Pyrrha-Cardin-Jaune love triangle, with Jaune ignorant of both of them?
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And now for the good one-
College Fool's Fill: Tough Love
Beat 1 – The Hook – Why the protagonist needs/wants romance.
Cardin has a tough childhood. His father is a racist, but more than that is a strict instructor and gives a theory of how because Cardin is weak (possibly because he was sympathetic to faunus rabble), he (father) will make something stronger and better out of him. Cardin doesn't like it, doesn't like what Father's doing- but Father doesn't care, saying it's for his own good, and he'll appreciate it some day. Father tells Cardin that if he wants someone to like him, he'll have to make them strong in order to understand.
Beat 2 – The Meeting – The two characters meet and an attraction, or reason for one, is established.
Jaune and Cardin meet in the ball room the first night of Beacon. Noting the armor and sword, Cardin guesses Jaune is part of a warrior family. They talk, and though there's an initial connection over both their grandparents in the war, Jaune admits to feeling he could never live up or meet his father's expectations. Cardin empathizes, though he can't get that across- instead talking about how he earned his father's pride by becoming stronger. It's meant to inspire Jaune, but it repels him, and Jaune leaves dispirited.
Cardin bites his tongue, annoyed at how he stumbled it, and pushes around his future teammates a little. Cardin, thinking about his own father, vows to make Jaune strong, so that then they could be friends.
Beat 3 – Conflict Point 1 – Wherein the protagonist realises they should not be together, as it conflicts with their goal/dream/beliefs.
Cardin tries over the next few days/weeks to reconnect with Jaune, but fails because of the interference of JNPR/RWBY and co and his own social awkwardness. He moved Jaune's locker near his own so that they could 'coincidentally' meet in the morning- but Weiss and Pyrrha talk outside it, and then Jaune leaves with Ruby and Yang. At the Landing Strategy, Cardin's mass and armor send him far away, and by the time he gets to where Jaune is, he sees Pyrrha leading him away. On the first day of class he tries to save a spot for Jaune's team- but JNPR and RWBY are both late. etc. When Cardin plays the Team Leader card, Ruby gets involved and in the way.
The more Cardin fails to get Jaune's attention, the more frustrated he becomes. The more frustrated he becomes, the more he takes it out on others. The more he takes it out on others, the less attention Jaune wants to give to him.
Beat 4 – Raising the stakes – Wherein the two characters are bound together, despite the conflict. They accept their love/relationship/attraction.
After restraining his temper against Jaune till now, Cardin starts to bully Jaune directly to get some sort of notice. Thus begins Cardin's bullying streak.
Things that could be hyper-macho abrasive teasing end up coming off as basic bullying. But at the same time, it's never anything serious, and Cardin makes clear to his team that Jaune is off limits, that he's 'his.' Cardin's taunts and attacks are framed in terms of challenges- egging Jaune on to match him, or to counter him. Moreover, Cardin makes a successful argument to Glenda about why he should be Jaune's partner in the sparring matches: Cardin's ruthless, but he actually pushes Jaune to and past his limits, unlike the hyper-competent JNPR and RWBY who either demolish Jaune immediately, or go so easy on him that he gets nothing out of it.
Jaune starts to resent Cardin- but Cardin's thick skin means he doesn't mind, because he's finally got Jaune's attention when he enters the room. What's better, or worse, is that Cardin's bullying is... pretty much unopposed by RWBY and JNPR. Cardin consels himself that it must not be that bad, because if it was then Jaune's friends would stop him. Though he doesn't like it that the rest of his team thinks it's open season on Jaune, he's actually pleased when a stressed and fed-up Jaune punches back at Lark. Cardin 'rewards' Jaune by standing up for him infront of Glenda, keeping Jaune from getting in trouble.
Cardin thinks things are looking up- Jaune's slowly improving, and toughening up, which means that eventually- and then a good day gets even better when he hears Jaune and Pyrrha's conversation, and Jaune's confession.
Beat 5 – Conflict Point 2 – The relationship looks good, all is working, but there is niggling doubt. The conflict continues to gnaw away at them, it's a false happiness.
The blackmail arc.
Cardin having blackmail over Jaune is a breakthrough- whereas before Cardin had to compete with Teams RWBY and JNPR for Jaune's time, Jaune is now forced to spend more time with CRDL, which gives Cardin a much freer hand to mold Jaune into a 'strong' man, while also getting to claim Jaune as a friend. Because, through blackmail, Jaune is claiming vice-versa... and Cardin really thinks they're becoming that.
As their 'training' intensifies, Jaune really starts to rise- and even Jaune's concerned friends have to concede that he's doing better. Jaune's physical stats are greatly improved. His grades are rising as he applies himself doing all of Cardin's assignments- which, coincidentally, always seem to be Jaune's worst subjects, and often before tests. And he's even getting to the point of providing an actual challenge to Cardin in a match... which surprises and worries RWBY and JNPR even more, because even though Jaune beats Cardin in a match, a point which 'should' end the bullying if it was just a matter of strength, Jaune still puts up with Cardin... and still won't talk to them. Ruby has a clue, but when she privately tries to approach Cardin about Jaune, Cardin blows her off because his methods are working.
Jaune's relationships with JNPR and RWBY become ever more strained, mutually now, as Jaune's real improvements are only recognized by Cardin and CRDL. To Jaune's frustration, JNPR and RWBY are too concerned to celebrate his growth from bottom of the class- and in a moment of what's supposed to be a friendship intervention in which they intervene in a CRDL-J training session to take Jaune away, it snaps. In stumbling through their justification- a concerned Pyrrha patronizes him about how he didn't need to work so hard for them, while most of Team RWBY disclaim (lie) that they're concerned for him and talk about how his association with Cardin's racism makes them look back- to the point that a stressed and strung out Jaune snaps. Reflecting Cardin's words from earlier, Jaune says they should settle this fight over him by strength, a team battle.
Ruby eagerly volunteers Team RWBY vs Team CRDL... but Jaune clarifies since he's involved, he'll have a say in his own fate, it will be 5 on 5. The friends wonder who they can send to sham for Team CRDL... except Jaune takes that spot, since clearly RWBY and JNPR think he's the weakest, prompting alarm and Pyrrha to take the fifth spot with RWBY.
The match is even- much to the surprise of Team RWBY, who expected CRDL to be pushovers. Instead, they form a solid core and teamwork, while Jaune spars with Pyrrha, who holds back. What breaks the deadlock is Jaune's strategic mind and positioning- predicing the lanes that Ruby could use her semblance in, and ambushing her with a shield to the face when she was setting up a maneuver. With Ruby down in a sucker strike, RWBY tumbles- sneak-assassin Thrush is able to 'assasinate' Weiss, removing support. Big Bruiser Cardin keeps Yang occupied, without triggering her semblance, while RDL tripple-team Blake and overcome her clones. Three on one vs. Blake becomes 4v1 on Yang, and then 5v1 on Pyrrha... who ultimately does stop holding back, but who can't make up for the Jaune factor, or CRDL's better teamwork.
CRDL wins- because of Jaune- and Ren and Nora help RWBY limp away to the infirmary, carrying the unconscious Ruby. Cardin is elated and suggests they all go out for food to celebrate, his treat. Jaune refuses, saying he needs some training drone time, and Cardin lets him go- but not before offering Jaune a room key to the CRDL dorm.
Jaune holds it next to his own, and considers throwing it away- but remembering the looks of his Teammates when they left, he feels 'his' friends are no longer his. Frustrated and angry at everyone- at Cardin for causing this, at RWBY for losing, at himself for going along with it and snapping at them and only having himself to blame for RWBY losing- Jaune throws away the JNPR key and throws himself into training with drones till he drops.
Beat 6 – The Black Moment – It all goes wrong, all hope is lost. The relationship seems doomed.
When Jaune wakes up, it's in CRDL's room. Cardin found him when they got back from dinner, and they took him back to CRDL's room. Cardin gave up his own bed- sleeping on the floor- and when CRDL wakes up they're all cheers for Jaune. The battle before was a bonding experience, and all the mocking and bullying of before has passed: Jaune is one of them, accepted and respected, and the teasing and mockery is now evenly spread as the boys of RDL tear into eachother without malice. Cardin just watches from the side, a proud smile on his face, as Jaune is in a stupor.
When they go to the cafeteria, there's an instant and venomous animosity from Jaune's friends. RWBY, sans Ruby, is all glares, and there's whispers about how someone (Ruby) was in the Beacon infirmery for a serious concussion. NPR is less openly hostile- but Ren is impassive to the extreme, Nora deliberately ignores Jaune, and and Pyrrha has an expression of hurt and confusion.
CRDL, tough skins all, pays it little mind except to boast how successful they were and that it's just sour grapes. After a dismal, forced team exercise during class in which JNPR's teamwork and communication was non-existent. The team is chided by the professor running it- which sparks snide comments from WBY against Jaune, which sparks CRDL to come to his defense. The fight climaxes with BWY and CRDL almost at blows before the professor intervenes... and points out that Jaune has disappeared.
Jaune has slipped away to visit Ruby, still in the infirmary. Though the nurses forbid visitors, Jaune sneaks in anyway, finding Ruby conscience but quiet. After awkward small talk and stumbling, the two apologize simultaneously- Jaune for hurting Ruby, and Ruby for not being good enough to beat CRDL. They both revisit the hallway conversation of canon- in which Ruby pushed Jaune to not give up. Jaune thinks he's even more of a failure now because he's lost his team and his friends, and he still hasn't escaped Cardin's leash. Ruby disagrees- she says Jaune has grown strong, but that she's the one whose failed- failed to lead the friends to free him of his burdens, but also failed to recognize how he's grown taller and stronger by bearing it. Though they've both failed as leaders and friends, they both forgive eachother and re-affirm their friendship. While Jaune can't understand why Cardin has done all this, Ruby is tight-lipped about it- only asking that Jaune do what's right for him.
Jaune returns to the class, admitting he went to the infirmary. Despite CRDL's concern, and WBY's suspicion, he asks if JNPR can try the team event again. They pass- marginally- but their performance is so abysmal that Professor Ozpin asks if Jaune has anything to say for himself.
Jaune does: Jaune asks that he be removed from Team JNPR, because he doesn't belong there. Cardin steps forward, offering to take Jaune in as a fifth member- but Jaune refuses, clarifying that he's not looking for another team.
Jaune confesses that he lied his way into Beacon.
Beat 7 – Resolution – Obstacles overcome, romance achieved, or tragic ending.
It's an uproar, except for Ozpin who watches the reactions.
Everyone who didn't know is surprised- but Pyrrha and Cardin are both horrified, and Cardin shouts at Jaune, demanding why he'd admit it. Cardin's shout makes Pyrrha realize that Cardin knew- and in a flash, Ren's gun-knives come out and Nora's in knee-breaking mode as JNPR realizes why Jaune was so tight and strung-out- he was under Cardin's thumb. Realizing that Jaune was blackmailed the whole time pisses off WBY- who, transitioning to the obvious enemy, blame Ruby's hospital visit on CRDL for blackmailing Jaune into fighting them. It's almost a fight again, Professors or no.
Jaune's command voice is strong enough to cut through. He's putting this out so that Cardin no longer has any power over him any longer. He'd rather lose his team and be free than lose his friends and be under Cardin's thumb.
Cardin doesn't deny the charge of blackmail- but he doesn't care about the blame for him, but for the consequences if Jaune is thrown out. Cardin is off-balance and afraid, and when Pyrrha/WBY asks why he'd care if he were blackmailing Jaune in the first place, Cardin tells his viewpoint: that the blackmail was the threat to push Jaune harder than any of the friends were- it was Cardin who pushed him to study by making him do all the classwork and extra credit. The others thinks he's lying, but Glenda reveals that Cardin never took credit for Jaune's work, but put Jaune's name on the papers before turning them in. Cardin did his own homework on his own.
Cardin's mentorship program is a shocker. When pressed why, Cardin explains his distorted understanding of friendship that he learned from his father. That the way to have strong friends is to make them strong- and if they're weak, you have to build them up by pushing them outside their comfort zone, even if they don't like it. History vindicates the strong, the ends justify the means. And Cardin points out that, hey, Jaune is strong now! He's better than some of their peers- so there's no reason for Jaune to be kicked out.
Team CRDL echoes him- even though they tormented him the most, they support Jaune staying. Kick out someone else, if anyone's going to get kicked out. Maybe someone weaker, like Team RWBY? That, too, sparks a fight again- with WBY bristling at how CRDL acts like Jaune's friends now- but they're cut off by Ruby's admonishment that they are Jaune's friends now.
Ruby, having snuck out of the infirmary, gives a gentle chiding to her team- and the rest of Team JNPR as well. They didn't exactly help Jaune when Jaune needed it earlier- they didn't interfere until well after the fact, and they didn't try to help Jaune becoming stronger either. Pyrrha protests that she tried- but Ruby chides her on keeping Jaune's secret from the rest of them, even when she helped organize the two teams effort to free Jaune. If Pyrrha had shared that, not only might the match have gone differently- but Ruby would have known why Jaune was under leash and been able to resolve this from the start.
Because there really is no kick-out clause for cheating your way into Beacon, is there? she asks, looking at Ozpin.
Ozpin smiles. No Miss Rose... no there is not.
Ozpin lays out the simple, brutal, honest truth of admission standards to Beacon: Beacon doesn't select the best of the best because it's elitist, but because only the best are likely to survive. Sure, Beacon will only select the best transcripts... but the point of admission standards is to protect the applicants. Beacon, despite it's reputation for producing heroes, is not in the business of ethical purity- or else it wouldn't admit and allow cheaters, racists, elitists, and the occasional reformed criminal.
It's as Mr. Winchester says: history vindicates the strong. If Mr. Arc is strong enough to survive Beacon, he earns his place as long as he's alive... and if he dies, then clearly he wasn't cut out for it in the first place. Ozpin either gets an ambitious and daring Hunter who grades alone wouldn't have found, or he gets a useful lesson. And even if Jaune didn't die, it seems he'll serve the later.
Glenda, with a dismissive remark towards teenagers acting too much like children, chides them all from the instructor perspective. Surprise surprise, they know pretty much everything.
Team Cardinal has strength, but serious ethical issues. Even if Beacon won't interfere with childish bullying, Cardin's racism is going to lose support and and earn loathing- and considering Cardin's fear at Jaune's admission, CRDL isn't as unaffected as they'd like to pretend. If Cardin wants allies, he'll have to learn to step away from coercion lest he make enemies instead.
Before RWBY can get too smug, though, Glenda has a blistering comment for them: if they wanted to improve the situation, they should have acted themselves. Instead of sitting by and condemning CRDL's bullying and otherwise, expecting someone else to act, they should have acted themselves. Instead, they left a nominal friend to be bullied, and then turned on him as he began to buckle under the strain. They were complacent- and lax on their training to boot, or else they could easily have won the battle.
And JNPR... Glenda doesn't mince words. JNPR fell apart as a team. Jaune let himself be blackmailed rather than bring it to the attention of others, even authorities, who could have helped, and didn't look to his team for support- even as he abandoned them as a leader. But the team itself didn't provide the support it needed to its leader. Glenda points out that Pyrrha's attempt at support didn't actually help Jaune: in trying to defer to what he wanted, Pyrrha didn't give him the push he needed as a partner- and then kept critical information that could have helped her friends address the situation. And Pyrrha and Ren... the fact that they were so uninvolved, that they just remained their own childhood twosome, is a mark of how divided their team is. Teams are partners of partners, not two people on their own, and NR's self-contained bubble meant they didn't even fight for their own team leader, when their coordination could have tilted the battle in Pyrrha's favor.
From the instructor perspective, all the students failed... but that's why they're here. To learn. The professors administer some trivial punishments on the Team Leaders- Jaune for lying, Cardin for blackmailing, and Ruby for sneaking out of the infirmary- and tell the teams to return to their dorms to reflect on what they've done.
The teams separate to their dorms- RWBY and JNPR to one way, CRDL to another. Cardin tries to reach out to Jaune- but Jaune, though pausing, turns his back and goes with his own team without looking back. Cardin shuts down, claims nothing is wrong. No one calls him out for lying.
The next time Cardin and Jaune meet, it's at the Team Leader detention with Ruby. Cardin and Jaune aren't talking- Cardin can't engage without bullying or blackmail, and Jaune doesn't want to talk. It's actually Ruby who presses them to clear the air- because she knows that even if Jaune hated the situation, Cardin was trying for something better, and that Jaune knows it as well.
Jaune finally speaks, and admits that he hated Cardin. Maybe still does. But as much as he hates it, he's stronger now- and that's thanks to Cardin- and that there were moments he forgot he was being blackmailed and actually enjoyed CRDL. The battle where they beat RWBY and Pyrrha- what a rush! And the comraderies afterwards.
Cardin, though he can't say 'I wanted to be friends,' comes as close as he is able. He mentions his father and upbringing. He says he was trying to do the same for Jaune. And Jaune, recalling the start, remembers that Cardin and his father ended up getting along.
Jaune doesn't think that will happen- at least not any time soon- and leaves with a threat that if Cardin ever does anything like that towards his friends, Jaune won't forgive him next time.
Cardin takes that as Jaune not reciprocating his intent- but Ruby helpfully points out that if Jaune won't forgive Cardin next time, doesn't that imply Jaune may have forgiven Cardin somewhat this time?
It's a repeat of much earlier in the story, when Ruby tried to approach Cardin about Jaune... but this time, Cardin asks Ruby what she thinks he should do. Ruby pulls out a list- 'training' for Cardin- and asks how hard he's willing to work to improve himself?
When Jaune goes to the cafeteria to eat with his friends, he's find to find that Team RWBY and JNPR have company- Team CRDL. Ruby invited CRDL to eat with them- in exchange for CRDL laying off the racism and bullying- and the teams are in a tense balance. JNPR on one side, RWBY across from them, and CRDL at the end. Ruby is sitting between RWBY and CRDL... and there's an empty seat right across from her, between Pyrrha and Cardin.
After a pause, Jaune takes the seat, and breaks the awkward pause by stealing a nugget off of Cardin's plate and starting to talk about training plans... for all three teams.
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Coeur's Impression:
Normally I give out Jaune-centric prompts and while this one still focuses on jaune, I wanted to splice the action out in another direction, onto someone a little less represented. Cardin. Now Normally the Cardinator is paired with Velvet - a forbidden love/redemption angle that i honestly at least prefer more than the baseless shipping of other characters. It shows them both growing and changing the way they think.
But this is different. Bullying as a method of gaining attention, it's common with young teens - and also socially maladjusted older teens. So here we go!
There's two fics here, in a sense. The first one had more the angle of a comedy one - and it works too, it's a good start but unfinished. Because the second is more developed I'll comment on that one.
I like that CF took this on a more serious route. When I gave the prompt there was obvious potential for it to be a comedy one, but yaoi lulz aside this is a serious issue for Cardin, and it's given that respect.
CF went for the 7 beat romance structure here, which by this point we really ought to explain for people. It's just for romance stories, and I suppose I can see about adding a resource at the bottom for examples.
I particularly liked that is was used for friendship more than romance in this case - and more than that, Cardin is wrong in this (in a sense), his view is too strict and regimental thanks to his father's teachings - but unlike other fics, CF doesn't have someone just point that out and Cardin goes "Oops, yeah you're right - guess I'll change my ways now!"
Cardin believes it, and implements it - and it works. Because honestly sometimes even the wrong direction can still produce results. In this fic everyone is wrong - even Jaune, who just festered and confusedly threw his anger around rather than stand up for himself. Everyone is wrong, and Glynda points that out to each of them.
The ending promise of some reconciliation between Cardin and Jaune was nice - but considering Cardin was no less (or more) at fault than the others, I'd have liked to see Jaune be a little less... critical.
In the end though I liked it, and the 7-Beat works well enough here. There are some balance issues, in that beats 6&7 go on for a long time, whereas a black moment should actually be short and explosive, like a stab to the gut.
But we forgive it because it's not a true romance - so doesn't need to follow it quite so rigidly.
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C.F.'s Reflection:
Let's talk about the interesting one, and not the utter fail of the game that I'm too honest to hide.
So. Cardin. And the 8 Beat Romance structure for a twisted sort of bromance. I used the structure because it's a good one for drama- even if romance isn't actually involved- but also because Coeur was angling for that sort of line. If this were 'canon,' I've no doubt shippers would sail.
Cardin's an ass here- no question- but something I wanted to aim for was how even jerks can have feelings, and how people with different sense of compassion can justify different things. Because make no mistake, Cardin is expressing a positive sort of interest in Jaune- he wants a friend- but Cardin's world-view is one where 'strength' is the virtue that matters. The best thing Cardin can do- to help Jaune, to relate with Jaune, to become friends with Jaune- is to make Jaune strong. It's a sort of 'the ends justify the means' upbringing in practice- Cardin could connect with his father, despite the discomfort at first, and believes he and Jaune will have something similar. It's neither insincere or illogical- there's actually some good research out there about how experience of abuse and stress- think 'hazing rituals' or boot camp- can bring about strong bonds of acceptance. No one likes being hazed- but no one quite fits into a group afterwards if they haven't been.
Meanwhile, Jaune's team and friends are compassionate in the 'good' way, and do nothing to stress Jaune out- but I wanted to hit on how 'nice' wasn't necessarily 'better.' Yeah, they don't push Jaune around... but they don't push Jaune when he needs to be pushed either. They don't push about bullying when he's suffering, which does nothing to help the bullying. And they don't push him in training to be strong- and as a would-be hunter he needs to be strong. The only thing they were helping Jaune towards by doing nothing was getting killed in the future. In contrast to that, Cardin can seem the good guy: he's doing what Jaune needs to survive, not making Jaune happy till he dies.
So this was a story with a theme of 'everyone's in the wrong, for right reasons.' I wasn't going for equivalence- Cardin's clearly the primary instigator- but Glenda's call-out towards the end was the chance to show everyone's failings in the situation. And it's thanks to that- thanks to recognizing even his own flaws- that Jaune is able to tentatively forgive Cardin, who's not the sole villain.