What Defines Us - Commentary - Ch. 15-16 (Patreon)

At the risk of sounding like a broken record...is time flying, or what?  Not only have we made it past the quarter point, but we’re approaching some of my favorite sections of the story.  I’m really excited to share the next chapters with you and hear what you think as more of the past unravels.

Honestly, I have no idea how I was able to write the story in this way, but I do think it’s fun to collect bits and pieces of information strewn across multiple chapters.  You don’t get all of the answers at once, but that’s what makes it more interesting, right?  That’s what leaves us room to hypothesize and test our own theories against what actually happened.  I’ve always enjoyed trying to solve a good mystery, and I hope you do too.

One of the ways we learn information in this story is through the flashback/memory chapters.  Overall, I’m actually unsure how I feel about flashbacks being placed in movies/shows/etc., but I decided to use them here because I thought it would be a great way to show parts of the past that we missed.  In this way, the timeline of the story expands a bit to include sections of the year Weiss and Ruby spent apart.  And using these moments, we can extrapolate to present day.

When I was writing these particular chapters, I approached them with the goal of not announcing their presence.  I think I mentioned in a prior commentary that I wanted to elicit that moment of realization - when your mind shifts from the present to gathering information from the past.  Maybe there’s a brief bit of confusion about what’s happening, but the moment you realize what’s actually going on, your mind shifts into data gathering mode.  You analyze every word and interaction a bit more carefully.  You’re searching for clues about why things are the way they are.

For this chapter, I thought it was great to start with Weiss at one of the Schnee Dust facilities.  Because we know she’s been working while in Vale, this could easily be a chapter following her at work before she tries to see Ruby again.  What was it that clued you in that it was the past, not the present?  Was it the way Weiss spoke to the employees - so harsh and unrelenting?  Was it how agitated she was, in general?  Was it when Winter appeared?  Or when it was finally mentioned that they were in Atlas?

I’m genuinely curious!  Since I wrote the chapter, I always knew that it was the past.  I tried to put in enough clues, both subtle and overt, to make it clear that it wasn’t the present, but I don’t know which of those clues was the clue.  If you happen to remember, please feel free to message me and let me know!

When I finished this chapter, I knew there might be some confusion regarding when this took place.  I didn’t change the content though because I felt there were enough clues to figure out the answer to that question.  I didn’t want to spell everything out using precise timelines - that just makes it harder for me to remember everything!  But, seeing as how you’re all extra special people, we’re going to go through the clues to answer that question (if you haven’t already answered it for yourself).

From what I’ve heard so far, most people are thinking that this chapter happened right before the events in Chapter 1.  That’s...not quite correct, and here are the reasons why:  

In Chapter 1, on the way home from the forest, the message Weiss had from Winter was (essentially) - ‘You went into the forest again didn’t you.’  (My emphasis on ‘again.’)  That wasn’t the first time Weiss had gone into the forest by herself, but here in Chapter 15 Weiss has just decided that that’s how she’ll make things ‘fair.’  Therefore, what we’re actually witnessing is the first time Weiss went into the forest by herself.  We’re seeing what caused her to suddenly break and decide that risking her life was a good idea.  

The other hint was provided by Dr. Marigold when she said that Ruby had ‘only recently’ gone home from the hospital.  Ruby had only recently gone home, but in present day she’s been home for quite some time already.  She’s been training for months and months before the events in Chapter 1, so this can’t quite line up to Chapter 15.

That might leave us with another unanswered question - how often was Weiss going out into the forest?  I don’t actually answer that question in the story, but one could infer that if she was going often, she’d probably be incredibly powerful or skillful at hunting alone by now.  Seeing how the events of Chapter 1 unfolded, I don’t think that’s the case.  In my vision, Weiss only goes out when she feels she has to - on a day similar to the day we just witnessed, for instance.  On the days that are harder, where she’s not able to keep her emotions in check or hold her memories at bay, she decides to throw caution to the wind.  

I know what you’re thinking, being emotionally compromised is the worst time to put oneself in a life-threatening situation.  It is.  It really is.  And that’s why we had Chapter 1 - ill-advised decisions stacked on top of ill-advised decisions which nearly ended horribly.

**A small side note today: I had no idea that there was a character with the last name of Marigold in the recent seasons of the show, so this good doctor has no relationship to that person!  I just picked a color that could be a good last name.  Whoops.**

Ok, now that we know when this chapter was occurring, we can look at what else is going on.  

Weiss is working hard, but every little thing is like sandpaper to her nerves.  The other employees annoy her, and their mistakes frustrate her.  The hustle and bustle, the delays...she’s always on the verge of being set off by her environment.  I’m sure we’ve all had days like this, right?  Lack of sleep, grief, maybe a little resentment at everyone else being moderately happy...I’d be ready to bite someone’s head off too!

Metaphorically, of course…

Moving on...I really, really love Winter in this chapter.  Can you imagine being in her situation?  Weiss won’t talk to her, but Winter wants to help.  How can she help if she doesn’t know what’s going on in Weiss’ head?  

To me, the fact that Winter resorted to springing a therapist on Weiss is significant in two ways.  First, Winter knew it could seriously jeopardize her relationship with Weiss.  What if it was something Weiss never forgave her for?  Second, think about their family!  What if someone else found out that there was a therapist in the building - for Weiss Schnee, of all people.  With their family’s status, Winter took a huge risk by bringing Dr. Marigold there.  She probably did it as stealthily as possible, and that’s one of the reasons Weiss’ assistant was told to go on an extended lunch.  But Winter risked the potential backlash, because she knows Weiss needs to talk to someone.

Realistically, I guess you could say that Winter’s attempt to help actually hurt because Weiss then started going out into the forest by herself.  Maybe.  But maybe Weiss was always going to find some self destructive way to deal with her sorrow.  Plus, as much as she loathed Dr. Marigold’s presence, the good doctor’s words lingered in Weiss’ mind in Chapter 1 when Weiss thought she’d reached the end.

‘No one asked you to leave -’

By the way, I cried multiple times while writing, editing, and proofreading this chapter.  Especially when Weiss apologizes to Ruby for her outburst...ugh, that gets me every time.

Oh - and the importance of the date.  I can’t explain that to you guys yet, but hopefully you’ll understand later on.  Keep an eye out for those numbers - the 27th.  If you haven’t figured it out (or guessed) already, it should become more clear later on.

Chapter 16 might be the antithesis of Chapter 15.  It’s not loaded with information or tears.  It’s just...Ruby hanging out with and sparring against her sister.

Every chapter in this story should serve a purpose, but...this chapter’s original purpose was “the chapter between two Weiss POV chapters.”  Seriously.  When I was doing my outlining, I realized I had two Weiss chapters back-to-back and didn’t want to put them in different spots in the story.  So...I knew I needed another Ruby chapter.

Thankfully, Ruby also needed some alone time with Yang.  It ended up working out well, I think.  This chapter was a bit of a breather compared to the two before it (which were loaded with information), and gave us great insight on Ruby’s thoughts on Weiss.  It’s not earth shattering, but a nice scene between Ruby and Yang that shows how far Ruby’s come.

If you haven’t noticed yet, so far in the story we’ve only seen Ruby fighting from her own point of view.  That will change soon, but keep that in mind as you think about how Ruby describes the battle.  

By the way, I love that Blake played along with Yang’s ‘torch’ comment - how Yang is going to ‘pass the torch’ to Ruby.  Bumblebee managed to have a pretty adorable relationship in this story, and I absolutely think that Blake would pick up on what Yang was hinting at and go along with it.  Because it made Yang happy, right?  And that was worth it.

I also love Ruby trying to figure out if the torch would shoot fireballs or anything cool like that.  That’s Ruby, of course - everything needs to shoot something!  Bullets or fireballs or knives - she loves her multipurpose items. 

Ruby’s practice with Yang took up the bulk of this chapter.  I thought those moments were interesting and quintessential Ruby.  This is what we expect from her, right?  She tries, and tries, and tries again.  Although, she hints in this chapter that that might not have been how she felt in the early stages in her recovery.  Being ‘destroyed’ by Yang was discouraging, but she wasn’t at all discouraged this day.  She just kept trying until she got this close to winning - with a little help from Blake and Ruby’s new tricks!

My favorite part of this chapter is the conversation Yang and Ruby have at the end.  Does it feel to you guys like Yang is loosening up a bit when it comes to Weiss?  At least she says she’ll try - for Ruby, of course.  But that’s huge, right?  We’ll see if she follows through.

On the other hand, did anyone notice that Yang totally went back on the deal she made with Weiss?  She said that if Weiss could beat Ruby, they wouldn’t go on the hunt - then she told Ruby that they would go regardless.  Is she playing both sides of the field, or is she just that confident that Ruby will win?  I was going to explain this further, but then realized I can’t do that without giving something away - I’ll explain later though!

This chapter ended with one of the most important concepts in the entire story (see, every chapter has a purpose - even if it didn’t at first!).  And this is the difference in Ruby and Weiss’ recovery - the circumstances that surrounded them.  Having a support system, and accepting that support system, Ruby was able to bounce back quickly.  Weiss had a support system with Winter, but - for a variety of reasons - wasn’t comfortable or willing to accept that help.  

I just wanted to point that out because...every person’s recovery is different, just like every person’s circumstances are different.  Maybe we have a sister like Yang, or like Winter.  Maybe we’re like Ruby, or like Weiss.  Maybe we’re none of the above.  We’re unique, making it impossible to compare our recovery to anyone else’s.  Even if Ruby and Weiss had suffered the exact same physical injuries, their road to recovery would still be vastly different.

I think this is important to remember when we inevitably compare ourselves to others - when so-and-so breaks their arm and has their cast off in six weeks, but it took us eight.  If we can understand Weiss and Ruby’s differences, surely we can understand our own, right?  That’s my hope.  At least Ruby seems to get it - and she’s going to try to help Weiss in a way that Weiss might not have had in the past year.

We’ll see if she’s successful soon - and by soon, I mean it could still be a few months. :D

Until next time, 

Miko