Conflict of Interest - Commentary - Ch. 19-20 (Patreon)

Welcome back to another commentary!

In terms of writing, the past two weeks were pretty busy.  You’ve probably noticed (and already read) the What Defines Us oneshot I posted last week.  I hope you enjoyed that little peek into an alternate timeline for that universe!  I actually really liked revisiting that story and having the chance to make things end a little differently.

Honestly, I forgot how painful WDU is.  I feel so sorry for Weiss and the misery I put her through, but take comfort in knowing that things got better in the end.  I might add another oneshot or two to this timeline in the future, but no promises.  I have a couple of ideas for where the story could go next...but I also don't want to end up writing a whole new story for it.

I can at least tell you a little bit about it though, right?

Right.  Why not?

Well, I would alternate between Weiss and Ruby's POVs since that's how the original story is.  In that case, the next chapter would be from Ruby's POV.  And it would most likely be the day she's being released from the hospital, so she's pretty excited.

By this point, she's probably been awake for at least a couple weeks, so she’s come to terms with her new situation.  She also would have had more chances to spend time with Weiss and has probably met Blake multiple times as well.

She's going to live with Yang and Blake, like the original story.  The big difference on this day, however, would be that Weiss comes to help take her home.  This would be fun because we get to read Ruby's internal thoughts about Weiss!  Spoiler alert: she thinks Weiss is super pretty and awesome.

But she also notices that Weiss has an underlying sadness to her that doesn't seem to go away.  I think she would be astute enough to realize that she's the cause of that sadness (especially since she's the only one who recently lost years of memories).

So she knows, in a way, that she makes Weiss sad.  But she also knows that Weiss is trying really hard to hide it.  This could lead to an interesting dynamic where Ruby’s actively trying to make Weiss feel better by making her laugh or smile.

Poor Weiss will be in a difficult situation where she feels so happy and upbeat when around Ruby but is also constantly reminded that they aren't together anymore.  Ruby doesn't know about the ‘together’ part though, so she might accidentally cross some lines without realizing it (similar to the ice cream sharing scene in the original WDU).

In this timeline though, Ruby would retain more of that muscle memory or whatever you want to call what I gave her in WDU.  I imagine that those instincts faded when Weiss ran away.  Since she didn't run away this time, Ruby's memories are much closer than they ever were in WDU.  They’re lurking in the background where she can't access them but they impact her actions.  Her dreams, in particular, would include memories rather than nightmares.

Cue Ruby bringing up an awkward conversation with Yang:

“Is it normal to keep dreaming about the same person?”

“Depends.  Who is it?”

“...Weiss?”

“You're dreaming about Weiss?”

“Um, yeah, maybe.  Just simple things though!  Like we're making breakfast or going grocery shopping or something like that.”

Cue Yang trying not to cackle gleefully knowing that her little sister is dreaming about her nearly-wife.

Weiss, on the other hand, still gets the ‘hard’ path.  It would be much better than WDU, of course, but it still wouldn't be a walk in the park.  They would start to develop feelings much sooner, and much easier, but Weiss will still second-guess herself all the time.

I love the thought of them healing and recovering together though.  Ruby would be such a good supporter for Weiss, and we saw how much Weiss wants to support Ruby in return.  In a future, probably never going to be written chapter, Ruby would probably ask Weiss if they could live together even before they're officially dating again.  Because Ruby feels like they're very close, and she wants to give Yang and Blake their privacy back.

Can you imagine Weiss’ panic attack at that suggestion?  That would be so much fun to write...but, as of right now, those thoughts are sticking in my head!

I also managed to proofread The Lie in the past week, which went much faster than expected.  That's a good thing, of course!  I wrote that story so long ago that I was afraid it needed a ton of work.  Turns out, it's actually pretty good.  I might even read it again just to enjoy it a little more...

This is the first time I've ever wanted to reread a story immediately after editing.  I hope that everyone else likes it, because it’s one of my favorite Bumbleby stories.  It’s on the shorter side as far as my stories go (90k words), but that just makes it short and sweet.  Plus, Yang is super adorable.

Tldr; in the last two weeks, I finished both of the things I set out to do!  And there’s even three weeks of COI left.  I think I'm actually going to take a break from writing for a little bit.  We'll see how long this ‘break’ actually lasts, but I don't want to start another long story at the moment.  I might write a couple of oneshots, but that’s all.

It takes so much mental energy to hold a long story in your head for so long...plus, I have the unfortunate propensity to devote more and more time to writing as I get closer to completing it.  Hopefully if I take a little time off, I'll feel rested and ready to start the next one.  Right now, I think it's going to be a cute, shorter (70-90k words) White Rose story, but we'll see how I feel when I get there!

Ok, I could talk about all that stuff forever.  Let’s get to the real story!  Or the current story, as they’re all technically ‘real’ (except the WDU alt timeline in my head...that one’s not real yet…)

Chapter 19 and 20 are two of the better chapters, in my humble opinion.  And my humble opinion is clearly biased by how frequently they kiss.  I love when they kiss!  It’s so satisfying to write a kiss scene after laying all of the emotional groundwork...like building a house and finally getting to hang the front door.  I’ve never actually built a house or hung a front door, but I imagine that would be pretty satisfying!

Before the steamy car scene, however, Chapter 19 gives us more Dream Theory tie-ins!  This one’s a pretty big one - Yang tells Ruby that she’s going to propose to Blake!  And she actually buys the engagement ring we know she kept in her desk drawer for the entire time Blake was away.

Thinking about that makes me pretty sad...in this chapter, she’s so happy, excited, and nervous.  This is the first time she’s told anyone that she wants to marry Blake, and Ruby even convinces her to buy the ring right then.

This should give you a slightly better timeline for where this story matches up with Dream Theory, though it will become much clearer in time.  Notice that Yang says she doesn’t know when she’ll propose or how - that was my way of obscuring the timeline a little bit so we don’t go diving through Dream Theory making sure everything lines up.

Buy the ring first, figure out everything else later - that’s Yang’s motto!

Yang mentions that Blake’s been super stressed and busy at work.  She’s currently working on that new device, remember?  It was called...the Daydreamer?  I think.  So she’s stressed trying to roll out a brand new, super advanced dream system, but also because...well, if you’ve read Dream Theory, you might remember.  If not, I don’t want to spoil it!

I’m sure you noticed that Ruby convinced Yang to buy the ring ‘with all the features.’  And what’s one feature I’m constantly putting in jewelry that would’ve been slightly helpful during Dream Theory?

Tracking devices!

Ah what a missed opportunity...for angst, I mean.  Because if Yang had already proposed, and Blake had already said yes, Blake would be in the unfortunate position of having to take off her engagement ring.

Ugh, that’s horrible!  She wouldn’t just have to take it off, she would have had to get rid of it entirely!  I’m sure she doesn’t have the technical know-how to remove or disable it.  If she could turn it off (say through a program menu or something), you’d have to worry that Ruby could remotely turn it back on.

So...to keep Yang safe...Blake would have to throw away her engagement ring.  Ouch.

Why do I want to write that so badly?

Ok, less focus on emotional pain today.  This chapter had some great White Rose moments, after all!  I think it’s safe to say that Ruby has fallen head over heels for Weiss already, and Weiss is quickly following her down that rabbit hole.

Weiss proposes a meeting at work.  Can you believe that?  She wants to see Ruby somewhere where all of their coworkers could possibly see them.  Of course, you don’t really have to worry about anyone seeing you if you have Ruby taking control of video surveillance systems.

So...the whole thing was a ploy though.  Weiss asked Ruby to meet her at her car because she wanted to...seduce Ruby, essentially.

Can you imagine how disgruntled she must have been when Ruby prematurely ended their makeout session the night before at her house?  Disgruntled, confused, and a little worried, perhaps.  She probably thought they were obviously going to sleep together - she was giving Ruby all the permissions to do so, after all, yet Ruby stopped.

Being that she’s Weiss, she probably analyzed the situation into oblivion after Ruby left.  Had she misread Ruby’s desires?  Was Ruby not attracted to her in that way?  She had to find out the answer.

I need to write more of Weiss as a seductress.  She’s quite good at it.  Of course, Ruby wasn’t exactly difficult to seduce.

I wonder how that would work in reverse...with Ruby as the seductress.  I find it a little hard to imagine Ruby in that role...but I’m sure there’s a universe where she could do it.  Weiss would have about zero resistance to it too.  Or she would externally resist while internally dying to give in.

At the end of Chapter 19, we reach another test of their budding relationship - a trial where they’re pitted against one another!  I’m sure you knew it was coming.  It was bound to happen, right?  Because how can they finally make the decision to be together without seeing that they can still be great at their jobs?

That’s obviously very important to Weiss (although less important recently), so they have to make this work.

Fortunately, Ruby has a great relationship with winning or losing trials.  She’s also mentioned before that she’s only a small piece of the police department’s argument, so it’s not like she built the entire case and is responsible for seeing it through.  It’s a team sport for her, whereas Weiss is more of a solo contributor.

Weiss builds her arguments, her strategies, decides what questions to ask, etc.  As such, it makes sense that she’d be more invested in the outcome.  Losing a trial means that she failed to convince the jury.

Ruby can still ‘win’ her section of the trial without winning the entire case.  In Chapter 20, however, she kind of just...loses.

She got subbed in at the last minute though, so it’s not really her fault.  Besides, how could she have predicted that Weiss would blindside her out of left field like that?

I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to present new evidence like that, but this is a future AU!  Their laws are probably different from ours, so I took the liberty of making it permissible.  Defense attorneys typically have more leeway than prosecutors (at least, that’s what TV shows have taught me!).

Thinking about Weiss from the early chapters to Weiss now, we can see how much she’s changed.  Would Chapter 2 Weiss ever consider softening her strategy?

Um, hell no.  She was going to win, and she didn’t care who she upset while doing it.

But she actually considers it for Ruby!  She wants so badly to make Ruby happy, she legitimately considers softening her arguments and possibly losing in the process.

Weiss Schnee...voluntarily losing?  Someone alert the church elders!!

Random thought - I should have changed the judge’s name.  Judge Jones has one too many J’s.  Plus, ending on an S always makes possessive words look strange.  Weiss is already bad enough - you have no idea how many times I’ve wished I could change her name.  It’s a very pretty name!  But ending in an S...

Another random thought - I literally chuckled when I saw that the media referred to that yacht’s sinking as the ‘Rich Wreck.’  Small moment of actually being clever...I can see the news headlines now, and the inevitable memes that would follow.

The best part about the trial is that Weiss sees how poorly the prosecutors utilize Ruby’s expertise.  This was another way of showing that Weiss can see herself working with Ruby.  She might not come right out and say it, but she’s subconsciously imagining how she would introduce Ruby to the jury.

I loved that she got annoyed when Charles forced her to interrupt Ruby.  You can practically feel her vitriol.  She’s basically like, “How dare you make me interrupt my girlfriend, you imbecile.”

I hope you were impressed by my stellar boat knowledge!  I mean, I actually know next-to nothing about boats, but a quick Google search suggested that they don’t mesh well with strong magnets.  I would guess most things don’t mesh with powerful magnets, so I just rolled with it.  Who knows if it’s actually scientifically accurate or not!  (I’m sure someone’s going to point out if it isn’t, so I’ll know shortly.)

Twenty chapters in and Weiss finally realizes that Ruby likes her so much because she’s a challenge (and not just in the courtroom).  That realization effectively seals the deal for Weiss.  She struggled with going head-to-head in trial because she wants to make Ruby happy.  But if challenging Ruby is what will make her happy, well...Weiss is more than capable of doing that.

They really are just perfect for one another!

Of course, Weiss freaks out afterwards, thinking she went too far.  She did just present some questionable evidence to set her client free, after all.  Ruby’s delayed arrival at her house only amplifies those worries.

But Ruby’s only late because she spent an extra few minutes trying to figure out what kind of pizza Weiss likes!  I imagine Ruby was very surprised when she couldn’t find any record of Weiss ordering a pizza ever.  (How many pizza databases did she break into to figure that out?)

I just realized that Ruby could have texted Weiss and asked what kind of pizza she liked, but I thought it was funny that Ruby ordered half with everything and half with nothing.  She thought to herself...Weiss either hates pizza or loves it.  Probably hates, but I’m still going to get one and see.

Weiss probably doesn’t order pizza because she never has anyone over.  And she can’t eat an entire pizza by herself, so she gets other food instead.  Now that Ruby’s about to become a regular fixture in her life...she’ll be ordering pizza far more often.  As for whether she prefers everything or just cheese...I can’t make up my mind, so you’ll have to decide!

With only a few chapters left, we’ll be wrapping up this story in no time.  I hope you enjoy the ending!  It’s not the official end of their story since we see a lot of them in Dream Theory, but it will be the end for now.

Just like this is the end of my commentary for now!  I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do next...maybe I’ll read a book or something?  But I’m hoping a little break will make me even more excited for whatever project I pick up next.  Of course, I’m already excited for this idea I had a little while ago, but maybe I’ll be even more excited when I finally start working on it.

Until then, thank you for your continued support!  You definitely encourage me to keep writing and keep getting better.

Until next time,

Miko