Not much to talk about up here. RT and AH are still funny as hell, RWBY is great (I'll be expanding more on that down below), the Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover is good so far, DnD is massive fun now that I've gotten into it, and Bray Wyatt/The Fiend continues to be the best part of WWE programming.
Now, on to the chapter.
RWBY Watches Classic Movies
Chapter 54
Penny walked along the stream, following the Stegosaurs as she fiddled with the settings on her borrowed camera. Nora's group ran to catch up with her.
"Uh, Penny!" Nora yelled ahead, "When Ozpin contacted you, why didn't you say anything to me?"
"Cuz I knew you would try to stop me."
"I would've tied you to the bed, yeah."
"Nora, I never knew you had such ideas." Pyrrha teased.
'You have no idea.' The orangette thought to herself with a glance to Ren.
"I've figured out how the animals are surviving without lysine." Penny said proudly.
"I don't care."
"I do! Been trying to figure that out since the beginning." Ruby said, leaning forward.
Penny ignored her. "If you look at the diets of the herbivore species that are thriving, they mostly eat agama beans, soy, basically anything lysine rich. And the carnivores, well they eat the herbivores, so- " a low roar made her stop, and single the others to stop. "Wait, wait. Stay right there. I'll be right back." She smiled as she ran ahead.
"So, the carnivores get their share of lysine by eating the herbivores. Makes sense."
"True, but because of how much lysine is probably lost in the herbivore," Summer said, "The carnivores probably have to eat multiple herbivores to get enough lysine in their systems, depending on the size of the animal. And the larger predators even more so."
"Penny, no! No!" Nora yelled, following after her girlfriend.
Penny pointed to a fallen log. "Stay there." she ordered before she left the stream for the cover of the foliage. Downstream was the herd of Stegosaurs, all milling about. Penny crawled through the foliage, keeping low until she came across a juvenile Stegosaur, no bigger than a medium-sized dog, and began taking pictures.
"Not gonna lie, that's kind of cute." Blake said.
"It is, isn't it?" Weiss agreed.
Back with the trio, Sun was taking more pictures, while Leo kept the rifle at the ready.
"She is way too close." Nora muttered to herself.
"The hell is she doing?" Sun asked.
"Too close! Too close!"
Penny reached out her hand toward the juvenile, and began petting its nose. The animal was hesitant at first, but eventually lowered it's head, closed it's eyes and grunted comfortably.
"Dammit, she always has to touch. She can't not. Every time." Nora said.
"She's going right up to it. Serious stones on her, all I'll say." Sun said.
The juvenile howled loudly, apparently having enough of being petted, and Penny quickly complied.
"Is this even possible?" Leonardo whispered.
"What, this? Yes!" Nora said, astonished, "What'd you think you were gonna document? What'd you think you were gonna see?"
"Animals." Sun said, "Maybe, uh, big iguanas."
Nora sighed. "Fruitcakes."
"I said it." Nora said proudly, mostly just happy she was the star of the show this time around.
Penny lifted her camera to take another picture, but when she did, the camera began making loud whirring sounds that startled the juvenile animal. It howled in alarm, bringing the attention of the adults.
"Penny!" Nora yelled.
"And now I called it." Nora muttered under her breath.
"This is not gonna go well." Sun sighed.
"Run, me!" Penny shouted.
Penny looked back, but saw that another adult was cutting off her escape route and headed further into the herd. Nora saw this and jumped the log, but Sun held her back.
"No, you idiot! Away! Run away from the big spike-tailed dinosaurs!"
"Shoot 'em!" she ordered Leo, who was aiming the rifle at the animals.
"They're just protecting their baby." He said.
"So am I!" Nora fired back.
In the nest, Penny was just trying to survive. She ducked as one of the adults took a swing at her with it's spiked tail. She recovered just in time to see another adult charging her, and ran for a hollow log nearby. She made it to the other end just as a pair of spikes shot down into the log right where her feet had been. Peeking out from inside the log, she saw the herd dispersing.
"I think we're okay." Leo said, lowering the rifle, "I think they're leaving." Sun let go of Nora, who ran for Penny.
"Yup. Looks like Penny, acts like Ruby." Yang nodded.
"Too close." Penny sighed, slumping down in her seat,
Fifteen minutes later, the quartet were walking back to the campsite, Leo and Sun in the lead, and Nora staying within five feet of Penny at all times.
"These images are incredible. Legendary." Sun said, taking out a packet of cigarettes. "Guys shoot their whole life, never get stuff half this good. I mean, you could give me the Pulitzer right now. Competition's over, close the entries. I'd like to thank everyone who lost." He just lit his lighter when he heard Penny yell up behind him.
"For the record," Sun said aloud, "I do not smoke. I tried it once back in combat school in Vacuo. I swore the stuff off after I nearly hacked up a lung and died."
"What about booze?" Qrow called down.
"I still got a few months left before I'm legal. We can discuss it then."
"Don't even think about it!" she yelled, "Dinosaurs can pick up scents from miles away. We're here to observe and document, not interact." Sun rolled his eyes as he simply stuck the cigarette behind his ear.
"Which, by the way, is a scientific impossibility." Nora said, "The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Whatever you study you also change, so…"
"Yeah, well, I think I'll take my chances. I'm sick of scratching around in rock and bone, making assumptions and deductions about the nurturing habits of animals that have been extinct for 65 million years. Absolutely sick of it. Then you show up and fill my head with stories for four years, so of course I'm gonna come here. What'd you expect?"
"I gave you stories of mutilation and death, weren't you paying attention?"
"Oh, please! Don't treat me like a grad student. I've worked around predators since I was 20. Lions, jackals, hyenas, you." Nora laughed at that. There was the wit she had fallen for.
"So, Nora, any thoughts on what to call this pairing?" Yang asked.
"You know, I hadn't thought about it yet. Hmmm."
"How about Lightning Bolts? Or Turbocharge?" Yang suggested before snapping her fingers, "No, wait! I got it: Gingersnaps." Everyone in the theater groaned, even Logan.
"See, I know it's a pun." Nora strained to say, "But I kinda like it."
As Sun and Leo neared the campsite, they suddenly stopped.
Leo looked back to Sun. "You smell that?" he asked.
Sun nodded. "Smoke." He took another whiff. "And it's coming from… shit!" he and Leo hauled ass towards the camp, the source of the scent.
"Thank God for Faunus senses." Nora said.
"You're welcome." Sun joked.
"Look." Penny said, stepping into Nora's path. "I'm trying to change 100 years of entrenched dogma. Dinosaurs were characterized very early on as vicious lizards. There's a lot of resistance to the idea of them as loving parents. Robert Burke said that the T. Rex was a rogue that would abandon its young at the earliest possible opportunity. I know I can prove otherwise."
"Fire!" Leo yelled, "Nora, Penny! Fire, base camp!"
As the pair returned to the campsite, Sun was pulling a container of water from the back of one of the trucks, opening it as he walked and poured some onto the small campfire.
"No." Penny said, "Water makes smoke billow. Use dirt." Leo immediately began scooping dirt onto the fire. Fortunately, Nora was there to ask the important questions.
"Who started the fire?"
She was immediately answered when Rin opened up the door to the front section of the trailer, wearing a long-sleeve pink shirt, black skirt, stockings and a white apron, and holding a frying pan.
"Oh, hi guys." She said sheepishly. "Anybody want eggs?"
"Grounded." Nora said, her eyes ablaze. "Grounded for ever!"
"And how long is forever, exactly?" Jaune asked. "In my experience, it was about a month and a half or so."
"Dad would usually fold after two or three weeks, depending." Ruby said, looking to Yang, who nodded.
"I was in the White Fang for most of my life." Blake said, "You don't really get grounded, so much as shelved from missions."
Later, Sun and Leo were hanging out by one of the cars, enjoying Rin's cooking, while said young lady was getting the ear-beating of a life time.
"Do you see any family resemblance there?" Sun asked the older man, who shrugged and made a so-so gesture with his hand.
"You practically told me to come here." Rin said as she laid down on the hood of the other car.
"What?" Nora said in exasperation as she tried to get the military scroll to work.
"You told me, 'don't listen to me.' I thought you were trying to tell something."
"Rin, you knew exactly what I meant. You have no idea what you're walking into here."
"What're gonna do, Nora? Lock her up for curiosity? Where do you think she gets it from?" Penny said with a grin as she put a few bags in the back of Sun and Leo's truck.
"Thank you, Penny." Rin said sincerely.
"Hey, don't start the teaming up thing already." Nora said. "Now, Leo, why in the name of Grimm does this thing never work?" she said to Leo as Penny and Rin began talking about how Rin had stowed away without getting noticed.
"Look, you're not on a land line, here. You have to wait for a decent signal." Nora vented her frustrations by making sure the device was secured in the transmitter case. Very secured. "Violence and technology, not good bed fellows." Leo added.
"He speaks the truth." Neptune said.
"Maybe so, but my way makes me feel better." Nora said.
"The kind of documentation Ozpin wants puts you and your equipment in the field as close to the animals as safely possible." Penny said, getting ready to brief them.
"Yeah, while you're at it, why not smear your self with a little sheep's blood?" Nora added, "How about this, is there any reason to think the radio in the trailer will work?" she asked Leo.
"Well, you know, if you feel qualified at all, you could just flick the switch to 'on'." He said with a shrug.
"Wow, this is not the same Leo we knew." Glynda commented.
"Indeed." Ozcar agreed, "The absolute sass on this man…"
"Alright, look, guys, I'm getting my daughter out of here. If any of you want out, now's the time to say so."
"So listen, when you're out in the field," Penny started talking over her girlfriend.
So that's how she wants to play, huh? Well, Nora was a master at that game. "Sun, if you're staying, I'll be more than happy to deliver a letter to your wife, or a loved one. Give you a chance to say goodbye. Or Leo, if you have any personal effects of any kind, it's the least I can do. You guys know where to find me." Nora said, walking around the back of the car, Rin in tow.
"Our presence needs to be 100% antiseptic." Penny said, following after her, "If we so much as bend a blade of grass, we could- " she was cut off when Nora slammed the door behind her.
"Mom, are you mad?" Rin asked.
"No, I'm not mad, I'm furious!" she said, as she looked around the rear cabin. "Well, this looks like your handiwork." She commented, gesturing at the mess.
"I was gonna clean it up."
"Right now!" she ordered, and Rin quickly ran for a trash can and got to work. "Gods damn it, there's like a gazillion switches here."
Penny entered the trailer, knowing she could calm Nora down. "Nora, don't be mad. I was going to call you in a day or two to let you know where I was. I always do. You know I'm the best kind of girlfriend there is: the kind who travels a lot. You know you like that. You love your independence."
"Admittedly," Nora sighed, "I've gotten used to our relationship, but that doesn't mean that's how I want to live. Uh, Rin, honey, this is… tall-talk, could you just… you know, for a few minutes?"
Rin rolled her eyes and moved closer to the beds. "It's like a height restriction at an amusement park." She muttered. 'And you're not much taller than me in any case!'
"If you wanted to rescue me from something," Penny said, helping Rin with clean-up, "Why didn't you bail me out of that fund raiser at the museum three weeks ago, like you said you would?"
"Are we actually doing this right now?" Nora said.
"Yes. Yes we are." Penny said smugly.
"Uh, this is somewhat different circumstances, don'tcha think?" Nora said, not wanting to admit she had a point.
"Or what about that dinner with your parents that you never showed up for? Why not rescue me when I really it? Actually be there, when you say you will? I mean, I have made a career out of waiting for you."
"You know, Mom," Rin said, "Penny has a pretty good- "
"It is so important to your future that you don't finish that sentence." Nora said quickly, "Now, outside, please."
"Smart kid." Qrow chuckled.
"Damn right she is if she's Ren's kid." Nora said.
Rin started towards the door, but stopped in the entrance when Penny walked up to Nora. "Nora, come on, look." She said, pushing Nora into a chair, "I love that you rode in here on a white horse. I really do. It very touching, very dramatic. Very you. I just need you to show up in a cab every once in a while, too."
"Woah, woah, Rin, what are you doing?" Nora cried when she heard the door opening. "Don't go out there, it's not safe. Get in here. Shut the door."
Penny sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Okay, I know what I'm doing. You guys should definitely go. But I'm gonna stay. I love you, I just don't… need you right now."
"Uh, I'll tell you what you need." Nora said, standing back up. "A good anti-psychotic."
"Maybe we should look into those for Nora." Jaune whispered to Pyrrha.
"I know that was a joke, and you know there is not a treatment in the world that will change that." Pyrrha whispered back with a nod to Pyrrha. "That is genetic."
"I'll be back in five or six days." Penny protested.
"No, you'll be back in five or six pieces."
"What bothers you is that I'm not afraid of this place and you are."
"Of course I am, that's the whole point! Look, I just- "
"What's that sound?" Rin said, standing by one of the rear windows.
Nora and Penny stopped arguing and listened, hearing the low rumble coming from outside. They stepped outside to see a flight of Bullheads coming out from behind the jungle on top of an adjacent cliffside. Most of them carried vehicles and large storage containers beneath them, but a few appeared to be standard transport craft.
"Here we go." Nora said, pulling Rin by the wrist behind her. "I'm gonna get you out on one these right now. Hello! Over here!" she waved her free hand trying to get the attention of one of the airships. Meanwhile, Sun was taking pictures and Leo was looking at the craft through a pair of binoculars.
"What the hell?" he said, "It says InGen on the side of that Bullhead." Nora looked at him. "I don't get that. Why would Ozpin send two teams?"
Nora, Rin and Penny ran over to him, Nora taking the binoculars from him.
"Doesn't he trust us?" Penny said, "We haven't even started."
Nora looked at the military grade Humvee under one of the Bullheads, then followed the wire holding it up to the Bullhead carrying it. It was painted black with the words "InGen" written on it in red.
"I think I know who's behind that." Said Ruby, a little worried.
"I believe I do as well, Ms. Rose." Ozcar sighed.
Not an hour later, the same cars were on the ground and hauling ass across a field. The lead car held a familiar blonde in the back seat.
"This is as good a place as any for base camp." Salem said into her radio headset. "That's first priority after we're finished for today. I want it up and running in thirty minutes. Understood?"
The ghillie mesh separating the front and back seats was pulled away to reveal a tiger-eared faunus with dark skin covered in stripe tattoos and piercing red eyes.
"Cancel that order." Sienna told Salem.
"Why should I?" Salem asked her, eyes narrowed.
'Did that woman just give me an order?' Salem thought, pausing as she cut into her steak, 'And did I just allow her to?'
"This is a game trail, Ms. Ozpin, carnivores hunt on game trails. Do you want to set up base camp or a buffet?"
Salem frowned, but saw the sense in what the other woman said and nodded.
"Have a scouting party look for potential camp sites. I want at least three alternatives by the time we're finished."
"Salem, if you want me to run your little camping trip, there are two conditions. First off, I'm in charge, and when I'm not around Corsac is. All you have to do is sign the checks, tell us we're doing a good job, and bust open the booze when we have a good day.
"Second condition is my fee. You can keep it. All I want in return for my services is the right to hunt one of the tyrannosaurs. A male. A buck only. How and why are my business. Now, if you don't like either of those two conditions, you're own your own. So go ahead, set up base camp right here, or in a swamp, or in the middle of a Rex nest for all I care, for I've been on too many safaris with rich dentists to listen to any more suicidal ideas. Okay?"
Salem sat wide-eyed at this woman who she had personally hired for this job give her an ultimatum, much less orders. Her eyes narrowed and a smile spread across her face. She liked this woman.
"Okay." She said, almost chuckling.
"You okay there, Oz?" Oscar asked Ozpin who had suddenly given him control.
"Amazing. She made it look so easy…" the ancient headmaster said to himself.
So, yeah. You guys have been wondering who I would cast as Roland Tembo, and I chose Sienna Khan. Personally, I like Sienna. She was an interesting character who was killed off way too soon, but that actually gives her more versatility in fanfiction. Like Neo in a way. I wanted to include the deleted scene where Ajay recruits Sienna (yes it's a thing, I've seen it) but I decided not to because I didn't know where it fit in the movie. Honestly, it's was fun writing her, and I'm happy with how she turned out.
RWBY SPOILERS AHEAD! NON-FIRST MEMBERS SKIP AHEAD NOW!
Okay, last Saturday's episode really got me. It looked like it would be all happy stuff up until the last five minutes or something. Then BAM! Shit hits the fan at supersonic velocities. This right here, this is how you do a fucking episode.
So, first off, the shipping. First, we get some minor Bumblebee, which I like. Nothing to get too excited over, just something to go 'aw, that's sweet.' Then, some small Nuts and Dolts comedy, always fun. But most importantly of all, RENORA IS A THING! Yes, thank you, Miles and Kerry! This is how you do shipping; don't just tease it, just commit and give an answer in no uncertain terms. I think a good lip lock is pretty damn certain, don't you. Of course, the drawback here, according to previous history, is that there are now small death flags for both Ren and Nora.
But the bit that hit the closest to home for me was the election bit. I like to think most Americans know where I'm coming from when I say fucking election shenanigans. And I'm not talking just Trump here. This shit has been going on for the last few decades, it's just that Trump is the most recent and currently well-known bullshit. Comes to societal commentary, subtle this was not.
RWBY SPOILERS CONCLUDED
Alright, I'm done ranting. I hope you guys liked the chapter.
Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.
Next Update: 12/17/19