Poetry and Passion part 2

Because part 1 wasn't long enough lol.

Right, so onwards! To more poetry . . . and then some more. . . i feel like this blog is never going to end 0.0

In any case, after the Nazi, Jew, you know, we were asked to look at another holocaust and write a poem on that. So, i looked at the Indian partition and . . . I mean, when you read some of the things that happened, you're just, horrified. i mean, i would never have thought - ahem. please do your own research at your own risk.

I wrote a poem in any case, though it doesn't entirely follow the facts that we know, I felt that this was kind of my way of approaching it, of what i felt went on, so here we go.

1947

Bhago unhone bola.
Bhago.

Our friends yesterday,
burned our houses down today.

Kya hua?
Saval tak pahuncha nahi.

We were told
by our own family.
Your life, give up your life
to save our honor.

Hamari zindagi
Apni tak nahi.

Yesterday,
The grass was green,
soft,
held our feet,
cradled it.

The grass didn’t change.
Our fear of it did.
The grass reached up for us
And we struggled away from it.

We were dolls.
Marked with symbols,
Our new brand.

We were broken,
Cut up,
Torn apart,
To leave a mark on our honor.

The choice didn’t change.
Both were worse,
One prolonged,
The other painful.

Hamari zindagi,
Apni tak –

Hamara kya?
Aur bhi kuch tha.

Friends became enemies,
Identities now questioned.
Bullets shot to kill.

Not our enemies.
But our friends.

Ankhe bandh rakho.
Kuch bhi mat dekhna.

Walk and walk,
People ahead,
People behind.

Or were they bones ahead
And behind?
Above and underneath?

Hum kyu ja rahein hein?
Kisi ne rekha dal rakha hein.

This line changed our lives,
our deaths . . .

No one to mourn us,
No final rites.
Dead ahead and behind.
Families torn apart.

Hum khilone the kya?

So i tried experimenting with language a little, which is why there is a shift from Hindi to English and vice versa. But, I still feel like i couldn't capture the image i wanted to. But at the very least, I'm hoping that reading the poem would make some people look up some of the horrors of the partition, which was more my goal than actually describing the horrors.

But admittedly, capturing the helplessness and hopelessness was hard. So, I'm currently reading up on the Burma Death Railway and  . . . we'll see.

So after this, we were asked to try capturing an image via sound. in a way that people could visualize it . . I don't know how much sense I'm making. But yes, that was the general idea and, after all the horror and death and everything, it was a very welcome change.

Here are a few that i wrote.

The rustling of leaves
as wind blows through,
The soft sigh of trees
as they watch our stupidity.

The calm wind blows,
creating vacuums in my ears
and rustling my hair
As if greeting
a long lost friend.

The farting sound
of motorbikes,
begging for attention
and release.

The squeaks and squeals
of brakes
desperately trying
to stop.

The quiet purr of a car,
as it tries to
sneak through undetected.

Padded feet find their way,
On leaves that bear weight
But do not crumple.

Then, I reworked some of them, here are the ones that actually sound half decent.

Droopy trees, relaxed trees,
Swaying and playing,
sigh in annoyance,
but nonetheless straighten up.
For the weary, hapless traveller passing by.
Murmurs of frustration,
yet the trees wait with infinite patience.


Tears in my eyes,
A vacuum finds my ears.
Whilst rustling my hair,
A long lost friend greets me.
I swing an arm out,
Skirts swishing,
Tears now laughs
And embrace the wind.

Another short exercise, was writing a poem after hearing a prompt in 30 seconds. It's fun, in it's own way. I only wish i could write as fast as i type.

So, prompt 1: Windowpanes.

The window pane separates.
The outside from the inside,
the world from my room.
people shout, people call,
they laugh and shout,
lips always curled upwards
even if the smile is a lie.

My room though, is silent.
Lips downturned
or curled upwards
during rare occasions.
With a patter comes the rain,
no clouds announcing it's arrival.


Prompt 2: Watermelon Seeds.

Crunchy and cool,
Juices trickle down my throat,
Parched and dry,
I swallow loudly
As teeth nip at my neck.

Shivering and shuddering
Hot and cold at the same time,
Another juicy bite
And a tongue
Trails wet marks towards my chin.

The scrape of teeth
near the corner of my mouth,
Picking the seed
That lonely watermelon seed
that was, for a short while
my beauty spot
And spitting it away before
soft, fluffy hair
tickles me.

My hands wet,
dripping with sweet nectar,
his tongue lazily follows a path,
before sinking his teeth
in juicy red.

Not a moment later,
those tinted lips,
reach for mine.


Ahem. Admittedly, this one was hard. And whenever i find something a weee bit too hard, it tends to... go off into... well... erotica. Or something of the sort. Horror is generally calculated. Erotica though....


Anyways ~ prompt 3: Ladder.

So many ladders,
All set at a tilt,
45 degrees, no more, no less.

They create a small passage,
Step through enough
And they'll whisk you away,
To another land, another time!



And that's all the prompts i've giving you because the rest are . . . well . .  sad.

Yay. So um, i've got more really REALLY long poems, so i'll be putting them up in blogs of their own ^^

And, as a treat, if i can figure out this embedding sound files thingy, you guys can listen to me recite my poetry ~

Poetry and Passion

This was my first official class of the year! It's pretty exciting and also kind of daunting because i've been trying to find some time to write poetry, but it never really happened, so . . .

In any case, i've found assignments if set as target or challenges enables me to actually do something rather than just sit around and well . . . do nothing.

The first kind of 'style' (i guess?) we were introduced to, was acrostic poetry? poems? So, what is this 'acrostic'? Well, in really simple terms, it means that you write poems by using the letters of your name - so, each sentence begins with a letter of your name.

I tried with my first name, and this is what i came up with:

And the world has ended,
Now darkness will reign supreme.
Justice forgotten, left to rot.
Allies no more, only enemies
Left in a world that has nothing.
I have been left with the devil.

Even

“Angel” he says, “My angel”
Never though, was I yours,
Just as your touch will never wake me.
“Angel” he calls once more.
“Live” I would say, if I could.
I after all, am just the corpse that you love.

Then i gave it a go with my surname.

“Shinigami” a small voice calls.
“Hear my plea” it cries.
In the darkness they resound,
Burning through the night with hate.
Ugly wounds dot his tormented breast.

Then,

Shout in desperation,
Hear your cries mingle with theirs.
In this world that damns,
Beauty, now becomes a poison.
Until you wake, let this be your prison.

Of course, none of these were really mind blowing and it was kind of hard coming up with a theme, so i guess i just kind of made do. No really, i wasn't too convinced by my own poems. They were just eh.

After this short but brief exercise, we were given some poems to read. They were:

Poet, lover, birdwatcher by Nizzim Ezekiel

Colour problems in the family by um. Okay i forgot the poet's name.

An introduction by Kamala Das

Daddy by Sylvia Plath

And one more that i can't remember now - it had something to do with convent schools?

They're in a way, confessional poetry. Where, you kind of confess about well, things you want people to know about i guess or things people want to know about . . . ? So, this was my first attempt. It's kind of nice, but somehow i feel it stills lacks something.

Flower petals fall
Like a gentle shower of snow
Creating patterns in the air,
They fall.

Seasons change,
From the lovers it now goes to leaves
I do not change,
But I watch.

Quietly, the leaves fall
Hardly daring to make a sound,
Despite being crushed underfoot.
I watch.

The rains come now,
Washing away the aches
Of unrequited love.
Along with love,
The leaves too disappear.

I do not change,
I watch.
I watch lovers find happiness
And hide in the rains
With a bouquet of flowers.

The rains crush the flowers
Crushing petals raised with such care,
Those petals I tended to,
Raised with smiles and laughs,
Raised with echoes of snow,
Tinged with melancholy,
But somehow warm.

I watch.
I say nothing,
I do nothing.
I simply watch.

Through the rains,
Comes a ray of light,
Like a beautiful blade.
Perhaps my salvation,
Perhaps not.

The world goes on,
They do not see,
They do not love,
And I watch.

I watch.
Blade in hand now,
Flowers replaced,
I watch the light shine
In all its resplendent glory.

Somehow, the world turns red,
Like rubies or perhaps
Like a blushing maiden.
It flows from me,
Thick and sluggish.

The world seems redder,
More vibrant,
And I watch.
I watch as blood flows,
I watch as the blade falls.
I watch as the world
Reaches its most beautiful,
With red snow falling.

I do not watch now,
But I know,
I know the petals are scattered,
But they will remain pure,
Stained by my red,
Never will they be crushed underfoot.

I mean, i love it, in it's own way . . . but still, it really feels like it's missing something. And no, i am not going to tell you any details about what i'm saying through the poem. After this, we tried to make 15 word poems where one word is repeated 3 times.

This was a little hard because not too much made sense . . . So here we go:

Soft like velvet,
I wonder,
If they'll feel the same
Velvety soft,
Like velvet petals.

This was my favorite:

Crack, Here comes thunder,
With the crack
Comes lightning
With another crack,
Comes my lover.

Then, same exercise, but this time, we had to try doing it with 30 words. And i couldn't stick to the word limit, since we were asked to try writing just whatever we wanted and cut things out . . . So, first attempt.

Run, run,
Here comes the red car,
Run, run,
It's coming for you
Run,
Breath doesn't matter,
Oxygen is unimportant.
Run
Or it'll get you!
Run
It's coming!
Don't stop!
It's here, it's here!
Get out of the way
Run, run,
Before it hits you!
Run,
Before it's too late.

My second attempt,

Run little girl, run.
Run as fast as you can,
Fleet footed,
Dodging leaves,
Run fast as you can.
Run from lies,
Run from the darkness,
Run from fear,
            From everything you fear.
Wind like blades,
Cut you down,
Still you run.
Leave slike daggers,
Tearing into you,
Yet you run.
Run little girl, run.
Fast as you can,
Still, darkness overtakes.

Now, after this, we were asked to watch a nice short (sarcasm) on the holocaust, you know, the one where 5 million jews and 4 million other people were killed? Yes, that one. The concentration camps and so on. Hitler's time.

AND, after watching. Well, 'things' i couldn't believe, heard things that i would like to swear were completely untrue, we were asked to write poetry on this. That was. Hard. Just plain old hard. Just. Nothing felt like you were enabling people to understand what was going on . . . how horrible it could have been. Just. Anyway. This was my attempt.

Their tongues silent,
No longer Wagging.
Soft, loud, husky, cracked,
Voices no longer heard.

Yet they haunt.
No presence, No soul.
Like broken dolls,
They rise.

Apparitions of the living,
They bring out truths
We wished to hear,
But not see.

Bodies without heads,
heads without eyes.
Half decayed,
Truths of a lie buried.

Plucked from the day,
They knew only of night
Of fear, of desperation.
Of isolation despite being surrounded.

Children no longer innocent,
Hear cries and pleas,
Night after night,
Night after night.

The dead wish for death,
The apparitions wished for death,
And she came,
Hesitant, quiet.

Death herself cowed,
Her domain found,
Pleasure found,
Yet drowned.

"Work is freedom"
She said.
How else, could she help?

Mutilation, amputation.
All normal, everyday.
Fate abandoned,
To cruelty instead.

Death roamed,
Quiet, silent.
Night after night,
Night after night.

She called their names,
Led them by hand
Somewhere warmer,
Safer.
Night after night,
Night after night.

Daggers in the night
swallowed by fog.
Death whispered prayers
When no living soul would,
Cried in despair,
Night after night,
Night after night.

Death became light
To those swallowed by darkness.
It chewed and spat out
Empty shells that longed.

Night after night,
Night after night.

So, I mean, to me, though in the documentary, they said that the prisoners held on to some form of hope, to me it felt like that hope was death - the most clear way out and the reason it felt that way was because they said many died from typhoid if i remember right. And I kind of decided to portray death not as some sort of cruel monster, but instead as the last person you would expect to show kindness.

In any case, many more things coming up, so I'll write a part 2 to this... hope you all look forward to it :)

Critical reviews - Team RWBY

This is an anime i've been following a little after it had originally released. It's . . . different. So i'll talk about it by splitting things up and giving an analysis of the characters, my theories and what we're going to see/will happen. So, spoilers ahead, don't blame me if this is too much writing for you :P

 Ruby Rose

The trailer for Ruby depicted that she had lost someone important to her, which, soon after the series begins we discover is her mother. Ruby's theme song currently is 'Red like Roses'.

The first part of the song goes like this:

Red like Roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest.
White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test,
Black the beast descends from shadows,
Yellow beauty burns Gold.

Now that i know the basic theme of the series, and whom the team is comprised of, along with their colors, i find it amazing that all of team RWBY's colors turn up.

The song just barely touches on Ruby's relationship 'someone' who is dead. What we do know is that Ruby is still kind of effected by it, but not exactly how.

In any case, during the first part of season one, Ruby is sixteen, while everyone around her is two years OLDER. Ruby is portrayed as introverted, enthusiastic, slightly childish and immature and is trying her best to prove herself and why she's there, in Beacon, two years earlier than she should be. Now, i kind of understand what Ruby must have been going through. She was excited about where she was, however . . .

From the way she's introduced to us, from the way the series begins, i should have known better. I should have known how the series had already 'planned' it's dark turn. Pay attention to the beginning of episode one and you'll know what i mean.

Honestly speaking, that was awesome. I also don't own the GIFs. All Borrowed.

In any case, with just this at the beginning, one can say that this is going to be sort of shounen-y, which it is and isn't.

RWBY has managed to combine some form of action scenes and battles and so on while also developing the characters. Certainly not an easy task, they've done it kind of subtle-y and kind of in your face - what just happened? But nonetheless, in terms of character development itself, i thought it was beautiful, simply because when you have an action type manga/anime, you can expect there to be zero character development.

Another interesting aspect of the anime, is that all the characters have some part of their weapons transform into some form of gun.

They tend of use the recoil of the weapon to reposition themselves. This repositioning is in my belief used best by Ruby. And the reason why i say this, is because her semblance, is speed and her weapon is crescent rose. A sniper rifle cum scythe.

Flash anyone?

Just kidding. Anyway, Ruby uses the recoil obviously like the other characters, but also sometimes uses it very differently from the other characters. One example would be when they defeat the giant bird grimm (I just like calling it that), there are many other times, when we see Ruby use her semblance like in season 2, during the food fight. More on that later.

Now, somewhere after the first arc, which could be considered the Ruby Weiss arc, we find that Ruby tries to be more responsible, but by the second season, we that there are still places where she is immature, though she tries to be a good team leader. Which is great, Ruby doesn't suddenly grow up one day after a conversation with Ozpin. She takes time to grow into her role and while in certain episodes it may seem that she hardly has any character development, we do find that we are given a little more background about her.

Red like Roses part 2 goes like this:

I couldn't take it, couldn't stand another minute,
Couldn't bear another day without you in it,
All of the joy that i had known for all my life,
Was stripped away from me the minute that you died,
To have you in my life was all i ever wanted,
But now without i'm a soul forever haunted,
Can't help but feel that i had taken you for granted,
There's no way in hell that i can ever comprehend this!

I wasn't dreaming when they told you were gone, I was wide awake and thought they had to be wrong,
How could you leave me when you swore that you would stay?!
Now I'm stuck inside a nightmare every single f'ing (fucking) day!

it's like a movie, but there's not a happy ending, every scenes in black and there's no pretending,
This little fairytale doesn't seem to end well,
There's no knight shining armor who will wake me from this spell!

I know you didn't plan this,
You tried to do what's right,
But in the middle of this madness,
I'm the one, you left to win this fight

Red like roses, fills my head with dreams that i dream,
Always closer, to the emptiness and sadness that has come to take the place of you!

I know you're broken by anger and by sadness,
You felt i left you in this world that's full of madness,
Wish i could talk to you if only for a minute,
Make you understand the reasons why i did it.

I wanna tell you that you're all that ever mattered,
Want you to know that for eternity i'm shattered,
i tried so hard just to protect but i failed to,
And in a prison of abandonment i've jailed you!

I never planned that i would leave you there alone,
I was sure that i would see you when i made it back home
And all the times i swore that it would be okay,
Now i'm nothing but a liar and you're thrown into the fray!

This bedtime story ends with misery ever after,
The pages are torn and there's no final chapter,
I didn't have a choice, I did what i had to do,
I made a sacrifice, but forced a bigger sacrifice on you!

I know you live a nightmare,
i've caused you so much pain,
but baby please don't do what i did,
I don't want, you to live your life in vain.

Red like roses fills my head with dreams that i dream,
Always closer to the emptiness and sadness that has come to take the place of you

You're not the only one who needed me i thought you understoo-
You were the one i needed and you left as i always feared you would!
Would i change it, if i could?
It doesn't matter how,
the petals scatter now,
Every nightmare just discloses,
It's your blood that's red like roses
and no matter what i do,
Nothing ever take the place of you!

Talk about dark and spine chilling. What makes it chilling, is that Ruby though she seems happy and enthusiastic and everything, is really actually sad. And we never really see that, which is beautiful and also strange. We finally do see her talking to the grave at the beginning of season 3. She has not replaced her mother, but she has made friends. This is very interesting, because she never mentions her friends before Beacon. Did she not have friends? Or was it simply difficult for her until then to kind of let go of Yang and become friends with other people whom she didn't know? Those questions are answered by the end of season 3. I have a few speculations, which i'll explain when we come to team JNPR.

In any case, Ruby's growth up until Season 3 is in a 'comfortable' environment', safe even you could say. She hasn't been bullied so far, the few real confrontations she's faced have been against Weiss, who didn't believe she was worthy of being team leader, who them go on to becoming friends and maybe something more. Then, there is the confrontation between her and all the bad guys - no real development here, but she does what she believes is right, what she can do with her own power at this point. Towards the end, she has to confront loss and death with Prhya's death and then try to give her sister whom she relied on so much till now, space.

By the end of season 3, we find that Ruby is leaving with what remains of team JNPR, because team RWBY has been scattered. Ruby will now in season 4 probably get some hardcore growth, if not closure. I don't believe we'll really say we can see or hear about closure until petals stop following Ruby whenever she dashes. And i say this because of Red like Roses part two.

In terms of what a main character is like, for a female protagonist, Ruby is certainly different. Though she has a few cliches, they don't overpower her as a character on the whole. Ruby is sixteen, younger than everyone at Beacon, so it's fine if she's slightly immature and reckless, headstrong even. This we later find out, is probably because of the amount of time she's spent with her uncle, Qrow.

Given responsibility of team leader, slowly made her grow out of that, but not really. She's an introvert (cliche #1), but is able to become friends with Blake and Weiss eventually, along with Jaune. Interestingly enough, Ruby is a weapon maniac - she loves any and every weapon, though she doesn't go all ga ga over them. Lastly, your main character's semblance is speed. I just. sigh. Also, now that i remember, Ruby isn't portrayed as being super powerful or anything of that sort. In confrontations with enemies where she doesn't have her weapon, she tries to defend herself and also tries to trick them and run away, but isn't shown as extremely powerful without a weapon. Balanced protagonist. Interesting.

Anyway, she has one other speciality, which was pointed out in season one, but only given answers to it in season 3. Silver eyes. They can paralyse Grimm it would seem. It would also seem to be hereditary, but we can't say for sure.

But, this trait is also apparently very rare, because Ozpin makes a note of it, he also follows Ruby's progress everywhere and team RWBY is given opportunities none of the others are really given, which is interesting. It's almost like Ozpin is rushing Ruby into growing up and into whatever destiny has laid out for her. But at the same time, he also in the beginning of season 2 says "They're still children"

It's as if he knows that something terrible is to happen soon, which is why he gives Ruby or rather team RWBY free passes to do whatever they want - almost. Why? Why is team RWBY so important?

Weiss Schnee

Weiss is the heiress of the Schnee corporation it would seem, because her eldest sister has managed to escape this responsibility by joining the army - the defenders? Whatever. in any case, Weiss looks up at her sister and tries to aim to be her, but soon, she realizes that because she has the Schnee name, people will always tell her that she is good at everything. She has been looking for acknowledgement of sorts from her father as well as her sister.

During the first arc, Weiss comes out as extremely irritated, snobbish and borderline bitchy. But she also has these moments when she' kind of fun, comical even - when she drops the act of being the snobbish princess. This happens randomly - when she's flustered or when she's extremely enthusiastic about something.

However, Weiss is themed around 'loneliness' and somehow with it, an inability to do the things she really wants to. Her song is 'Mirror Mirror' and part one is like this:

Mirror, tell me something, tell who's the loneliest of all.
Mirror, tell me something, tell me who's the loneliest of all

Fear of what's inside me, Tell me can a heart be turned to stone?

Mirror mirror what's behind you?
Save me from the things i see
I can keep it from the world,
Why won't you let me hide from me?

Mirror mirror, tell me something, tell me who's the loneliest of all?
I'm the loneliest of all.

Now the reason for Weiss' loneliness is probably because as she grew up with the Schnee name, she didn't really have anyone she could truly call her 'friend'. Because of this, she acts snobbish and princessy, demanding even, because that;s how she's treated herself all her life and she doesn't really know how else to treat people.

The first person she really managed to treat differently is Ruby. Weiss was probably frustrated simply because she was used to everyone calling her number one. She was used to everything being handed to her on a silver platter. Ruby wasn't an eyesore, but with great power, comes great responsibility. Weiss couldn't see why Ruby was made team leader when she didn't seem to have the qualities necessary. Weiss then comes across as childish throughout the whole arc.

The second part of the arc though, is between Blake and Weiss. Weiss has a very clear prejudice towards the faunists, but more specifically, towards the White Fang, because her family and her company has been put in danger time and time again because of them. I think Weiss hates the White Fang more because the tension the White fang created for her father caused her to grow up in a dysfunctional family. note, that we know nothing of Weiss' mother.

Now, in the second season, we're given a little more background on blake, but also Weiss. Weiss has every reason to hate Blake and the faunists and the White Fang, but she seems not to want to let go of Blake as a friend and so ends up saying 'I've had some time to think'. Personally, i believe that this is Weiss saying that your past is yours as is mine, but i won't let that get in the way of our friendship. Weiss probably still hates the White fang, but now probably, only for the violent gang it's become today. Her understanding of Blake and faunists in general seems to have changed, though perhaps not openly.

Also, around this time, we have Neptune introduced almost as a love interest for Weiss. Neptune though, is afraid of water. Thank god he's in love with the ice queen then. but somehow, because of the way Ruby and Weiss have been interacting, i question Neptune. Secondly, it would be cool if there were lesbian relationships.

More onto the point of WhiteRose though. Well, Weiss' sister says "Thank you for taking an interest in my sister"

Ruby is course as confused as we are and seems to want to turn to Weiss and go all. What? In any case, Ruby also tries to 'polish' her vocabulary in front of Weiss' sister, as if to impress her. Why? Ruby doesn't have anything to prove to Weiss' sister, so why is she trying so hard?

In any case, in season 3, we see that Weiss is facing problems from home. Her money's been cut off and she now will need to rely on herself and her friends. But Weiss being the proud girl she is, refused to tell anyone about it. As a character, we find that Weiss has begun to learn of teamwork. Team attacks are different - like iceflower and checkmate. by teamwork, i mean that compared to season one and two, in season three with the arena battles, Weiss generally guards everyone's backs and also makes sure there is good placement for finishing moves and so on. Weiss is a great support type character xD

So, Weiss is now left with two choices. Figure out her destiny like her sister or go back quietly, with her dad. Obviously, Weiss chose the later. Which is why, 'Mirror mirror' part 2 is so important.

Who am I to complain?
My life's been spared so much pain.
Born with all that i need, My comfort's all guaranteed.

So what's the problem?
What's keeping me? From moving forward, It's hard to see.

I should be free now,
I should be fine.
But the life i've fought for,
Still isn't mine.

Some believe in fairy stories,
And the ghosts that they can't see.
I know that i could do so much,
If i could just believe in me.
Mirror, mirror, tell me something,
Can i stop my fall?

Years of scorn will leave you cold.
Forget your dreams do what you're told.
When disapproval is all you're shown,
The safest place becomes alone
And isolation's the price you pay,
And every friendship is pushed away.

But bit by bit now,
A step each day,
I'm slowly starting,
To find my way . . .

Some believe in fairy stories,
And the ghosts that they can't see.
I know that i could do so much,
If i could just believe in me.
Mirror mirror, I'll tell you something,
I think I might change it all.

You would think that this is Weiss' moment. Not really though. She's only just found her strength, her goal and most of all she's sure now of what she wants to do. She couldn't summon until she reached a decision, but once she did, it seemed that Weiss became an OP character. Before this, Weiss was only able to use her semblance glyphs. The beautiful shiny patterns that appear whenever she uses her power. This is why Weiss does not have a gun type weapon. She simply has her sword - Myrtenaster.

In any case, before we can really truly feel her resolution, Weiss has been shipped off with her father.

But, if we're to go by the song, for Weiss, things will hopefully change 'soon'. And it would seem, she's going to do it with her own hands.

Overall, as a character, Weiss isn't an introvert or a tsundere or anything, she simply doesn't know how to deal with people in general - like Ruby. Neptune however, she showed an active interest in, but after he rejected her, i'm just wondering what exactly is going to happen to her romantic life. Weiss though she seems to have everything she wants and needs, isn't exactly 'daddy's daughter'. Which is very interesting. Weiss also seems to come from a slightly dysfunctional background, like Ruby and the others.

However, unlike the others, Weiss seemed to be hiding her resolution behind 'As a Schnee it's my duty'. We've never really heard or seen Weiss' own resolution like Ruby's. Weiss has also warmed up to Ruby far more than during season one, meaning that Weiss is beginning to see Ruby in a different light, depending on her, though only subconsciously. Weiss' growth as a character i think can really be expected only during season 4 onwards, because in the past three seasons, we see that while there is some growth, it isn't exactly extremely obvious like Ruby's or Blake's. Instead, it seems more like they're laying groundwork for Weiss' development as a character. And most of this groundwork was laid down during season 3. Lastly, Weiss has been portrayed as a slightly more mature character than the others in team Ruby, which is probably why all of the character development that will change our views and perspectives of Weiss will happen only in season 4.

Blake Belladonna

Blake is a faunist. She is basically a kitty and she wields Gambol Shroud. Now that i've got that out, from the trailer, right in the beginning Blake tells us what she feels. At the end of the trailer, she leaves who is presumably her lover - Adam.

Why do i think this? Well, the thing is, during the fight with the spider bot, when Blake is knocked down, Adam tries to buy time for her and looks at her. LOOKS. Because he turned away, he got whacked by the giant spider, but now Adam is more concerned about Blake because of where she is. He picks her up and moves out.

He has enough trust in Blake though, to ask her to buy time for him. Adam also warns her to get out of the way. That was not comradery. It was concern. blake was also looking for his directions. However, as blake explains later on, the reason she left the White Fang was because she could no longer stand their means. She also loved Adam at one point. A lot of things she says are in references to her experiences with him. Blake loved Adam in her own way, however, she found out that Adam had 'changed'. He was no longer reachable. She could no longer touch him, which was why she chose to leave the White Fang AND Adam.

Adam of course we later find out, doesn't really take this well. Blake's theme song 'From shadows' goes like this:

From shadows,
We'll descend upon the world,
Take back what you stole.
From shadows,
We'll reclaim our destiny,
Set our future free,
And we'll rise.
And we'll rise.

Above the darkness and the shame.
Above the torture and the pain.
Above the ridicule and hate.
Above the binding of our fate.

Born with no life,
Into subjugation.
Treated like a worthless animal,
Stripped of all rights,
Just a lesser being,
Crushed by cruel, ruthless Human rule.

When it started,
All we wanted was a chance to live our lives,
Now in darkness,
Taking everything we want and we will rise.
We'll rise.
We'll rise.

Now the whole song suits blake, and it's pretty dark. It talks basically about all the faunists and generally how they're treated throughout the series. Blake though seems ashamed of her heritage. She wears a bow that covers her kitty ears and seems to be pretending that she's something she's not. All of blake's dialogues now that i think about it are kind of related to the song. About the way she and her 'people' were treated.

Blake tried everything to help improve the faunists image however, as she said, the only time their image of the faunists changed was when the White Fang became violent. She hated it, but could do nothing about it. Adam's wishes she couldn't stand by and so left.

All of Blake's dialogues which are few, she always seems to be bordering on pessimistic. Her words are always tinged with the darkness from the way she was treated as a child. Blake has been trying to escape her past, she has been trying to escape a lot of things, which is also why she hates her semblance - she leaves something behind to run away.

In my opinion, her semblance is beautiful. To be able to leave behind something, even a cop of yourself is beautiful in it's own way. However, blake simply feels that her semblance is cowardly. And as blake says, she tends to 'avoid' her problems. When things got bad with Adam, she ran away. When things got bad with her team, she ran away.

However, because she ran away, she also grew when she came back to the team. Blake didn't exactly go back to the team and apologize. Instead, the team ended up coming to her and kind of telling her that they were fine with whoever she was, is. So Blake instead of running away, begins to form a deeper bond with team RWBY. Blake's basic personality doesn't change. She's still extremely serious, and only tends to give out her opinions when asked or when the situation calls for her to speak up. She likes books and seems to read far more than the rest of team RWBY and does research far far differently than yang. If there are any comical moments with Blake, it's because she a cat.

But then, we have Sun introduced as a love interest and you're like. Okay. Fine. I can deal with a . . . Monkey. Hello Monkey King. Right, This would also probably be a good time to mention that all the people in RWBY are chosen from some sort of fairytale. Ruby is Red riding hood from Red riding hood. Weiss is Snow white from Snow white and Blake is the beast from beauty and the Beast.

Now, Sun in my opinion was brought in because they needed someone to take care of blake and bring her to her senses after she ran from team RWBY. He does a pretty good job at beating bad guys up. In any case, Blake and Sun go to the dance in Season 2, where Ruby discovers someone breaking in and so on, but really, nothing much happens.

I know that there are Bumblebee sippers out there, but really, i don't know how well that would work. Firstly, to me it seems like Sun was a replacement for Adam. He's a pretty cool replacement. Yang in some ways has a few of Adam's traits. Maybe this is why Blake might be kind of sort of attracted to yang and also why in season 3 she doubts Yang. Blake is not sure if she's about to see a repeat of her past, which is why you can see why i'd say there's a slight chance but not really.

Now, Blake almost seems naive before 'From Shadows' the full version came out.

Born with no life,
Into subjugation.
Treated like a worthless animal,
Stripped of all rights,
Just a lesser being,
Crushed by cruel, ruthless Human rule.
When it started,
All we wanted was a chance to live our lives,
Now in darkness,
Taking everything we want and we will rise.
We'll rise.
We'll rise.

From shadows,
We'll descend upon the world,
Take back what you stole.
From shadows,
We'll reclaim our destiny,
Set our future free,
And we'll rise.
And we'll rise.

Above the darkness and the shame.
Above the torture and the pain.
Above the ridicule and hate.
Above the binding of our fate.

Call us liars, degenerates and killers,
Psychos, heartless, insane criminals
Stupid mutts and nothing but pure evil
primal, bloodshed, that's all that's left to do.
We're misguided,
Treated us like criminals and we should hide
Born indicted,
Tired of being pushed around and we will fly,
We'll fly
We'll fly

From shadows we'll descend upon the world,
From shadows we'll reclaim our destiny.

The second part that was added is pretty chilling, but does refer to everything the White Fang does under orders from Cinder. They tried peaceful methods, but that didn't seem to work. Which was why they resorted to violence and Grimm. By the way, do you get Grimm training manuals?

Ahem. So, during season three, which i would say is the Yang Blake arc, Blake seems to reveal her insecurities instead of running. She tells Yang what she actually thinks, whereas she had done the opposite in season 2. At the end of season three however, Blake is confronted by Adam. Adam . . . is now basically just a bastard in my opinion.

Now, a lot of people have said that Adam landed the finishing blow on Blake before she could escape and found out it was a copy was lot convenience. Yes and no in my opinion. Firstly, this is Blake's ability. Her semblance. Blake needed to escape with yang and the most obvious distraction was her copy. Secondly, to me, Adam seemed kind of disappointed.

Right at the end of season three, we find out that Blake once more ran away. This you can't blame on Blake. She was forced to face Adam, someone she had avoided and she like the others didn't have a clear reason 'why' she chose to be a huntress. The simple matter to blake was, that this was a better path than following the White Fang.

Now, Blake's running off in this case is not in my opinion 'avoiding' the problem. Blake ran because she felt that if she remained close to the others, she would endanger them. Which is true. Adam already threatened her friends in front of Blake herself. Rather, he threatened Blake that way.

Overall, Blake only partially developed as a character. To me, she kind of reminds me of a pet cat. Comfortable until their owner turns violent and then avoiding the issue altogether. Running from home, returning to the place where they believe they've found a new home and then running off once more when it seems that danger is imminent. In certain ways though, blake resembles the beast as well, insecure in her position of the world until a 'space' or 'place' was provided by team RWBY. But, her outlook over the White Fang, and people did change.

She wasn't as pessimistic anymore, instead finding solace in books or research and showing how determined she could be when pursuing the White fang, to 'right' her wrongs. Blake eventually took what yang says to heart and realizes that always actively pursuing leads at the cost of sleep and health wasn't good and so kind of took a step back. Blake began to trust team RWBY at the very least after everything that happened in season 2.

I believe though, that this like Weiss is going to serve more as groundwork for true character development come season 4.

Yang Xiao Long

Yang just so happens to be Ruby's older sister and is obsessed with finding her mother. Though Yang says that she became huntress because she wanted to see the world and enjoyed adventure and so on, i personally believe that she hoped to use this opportunity to find her mother. Simply because she had no information as to where her mother was.

Now, in yang's trailer, this obsession is shown along with her recklessness (i think it's a family trait now). her semblance seems to be something akin to 8 times down 9 times up. Or that she gets stronger with every hit - like she absorbs that energy and retaliates with it. Whatever it is, it's hard to explain. I like the simple explanation they provide in the game however - 'Second Wind'

Now, Yang's theme song is 'I Burn' (why am i not surprised?)

Come at me,
And you'll see,
I'm more than meets the eye.

You think that,

You'll break me,

You're gonna find in time,

You're standing too close to a flame that's burning.

Hotter than the sun in the middle of July.

Sending out your army, but you still can't win;

Listen up, silly boy, 'cuz I'm gonna tell you why...

I burn!
Can't hold me now,
You got nothing that can stop me.
I burn!
Swing all you want.
Like a fever I will take you down.

Reign supreme?
In your dreams;
You'll never make me bow.
Kick my ass?
I'm world-class,
And Super Saiyan now.

You're starting up a fight that you just can't finish;
Watch the little hearts while they scrape you off the floor.
Bringing out your rockets? Well, shoot 'em up, baby,
High as you can go, but I'm the one who's gonna soar.

I burn!
Can't hold me now,
You got nothing that can stop me.
I burn!
Swing all you want,
Like a fever I will take you down.

It doesn't have to be this way;
Let's kiss and make up, then you'll learn
You can fight your life away;
I get what I want, so don't bother and just watch me burn.

Hotter than the sun,
Feel my fire;
Pyromaniac: my desire.
Thought that you could see the truth,
'Til I just burned down the booth.
Human Torch can't fuck with me;
Strike 'em quick, lightning fast;
Melt them bitches down to ash.

Gasoline, kerosene;
Strike the match, ignite the scene.
Shit will never be the same;
Feel the fury of my flame.
Beg for mercy: it won't help;
Embrace the ending you were dealt.
Seems you fucks will never learn;
Now sit back and watch me burn.

I burn!
Can't hold me now,
You got nothing that can stop me.
I burn!
Swing all you want,
Like a fever I will take you down.

I burn!
Can't hold me now,
You got nothing that can stop me.
I burn!
Swing all you want,
Like a fever I will take you down.

There's nothing really cold or disturbing about Yang's song, though it does seem ironic once you reach season 3. In any case, right in the beginning, Yang abandons Ruby to go with some friends that we never see again. Who were they?

But this was necessary, so that Ruby could meet Weiss and Blake. Yang we soon learn has a soft spot for her sister. Like . . . bordering on obsession maybe? Well in any case, it's nice to see sibling love instead of rivalry. Yang though hot headed, worries about Ruby, but also admires her spirit. To a certain extent, it seems as though her love for Ruby is tinged with protectiveness, from her inability to save her sister a long time ago when she was looking for her mother.

Which is why, we find that when yang is doing her search during her trailer, despite being better equipped - Ember Celica, despite being a better fighter, Ruby comes by only later and asks what's going on. Yang seems to feel guilty about the whole ordeal and so she keeps it a secret from Ruby probably because she finds it easier. 

Throughout the series, we find that Yang is easily incited - abuses, boob jokes, butt jokes and so on. However, Yang also has overwhelming self confidence and esteem. She won't back down from a fight she knows she can win and will not deal with people trying to hurt her team mates or loved ones. Yang is also always up for a fight in general. Yang seems to have more of a playful personality than Ruby in my opinion, coupled with puns. Really . . . bad puns.

However, in terms of character development, in season one, yang is portrayed as the loving sister who won't be or can't be stopped by anything, in season two, we see that at one point she was very foolish and so now makes sure to try and keep Ruby safe while following her heart's desires.

Now, i find this funny and ironic because Yang's mom is always watching over her. In the yellow trailer, you'll notice a raven. What was her mom's name? Raven. During the rest of the episodes, somewhere in the background, you'll notice a raven.

Now in season two, towards the end, her mother saves her and also happens to say in a dream that yang is having "We need to talk".

BUT. BUT. Her mother also says somewhere else that she won't or can't protect yang. This is very interesting, because towards the end of season three, when Yang sees Adam hurting Blake, she rushes in without thinking. By the way Adam swung the sword, he intended to chop Yang in half. But she didn't get chopped in half. Why? 

There is a slight chance that Raven provided what little help she could in that moment, which only led to yang's arm being cut off. Blake escapes with her, then apologizes and leaves yang. Now, the last episode, when we're shown Yang, we find a very subdued, confused, sad, miserable Yang. Even her love for Ruby doesn't come through because of the trauma she's facing physically and mentally. Yang's outfit has also taken a drastic turn. Where she previously used to wear revealing, flattering outfits, now we find that she's well covered up.

AND there is a goddamned Raven outside her window. Would anyone like to take note of that? Anyways, Yang didn't exactly develop as a character, but instead we're shown how she became the person she is today, which is also pretty cool. Lastly, Yang, is Goldilocks.

Now, I'm actually pretty excited to see how Yang goes on with life come season 4.

So, i think next i'll try working on team JNPR, then maybe the villains.

Add some spice to your life

I'm sure a lot of you would have heard how cinnamon or nutmeg or a few spices can change any dish for better or worse, depending on the quantity you've used. The same is well and true for desserts.

Or even something as simple as milk. Hot milk with an inch long piece of cinnamon and some sugar is an absolute delight just before sleeping at night. Whenever i've had it just before bed, it puts me to sleep pretty well.

There's no real preparation for this though. You heat the milk, pour it into a cup, add the sugar to your liking and drop your cinnamon stick into it. The aroma is far better than that of milk and the flavor too settles your stomach.

Of course, if you're not too fond of sugar, you could try the same with chocolate. I've tried making this milk with dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate. Honestly though, with cinnamon, the white chocolate tastes best. You should also add at least one and a half times the amount of chocolate you would normally put in because otherwise you can't really detect the flavor of the white chocolate.

Some other exciting things to do, would be to make Chocolate lava cakes! These are pretty easy to make and you would only be dirtying two vessels tops to get the batter ready, and you'll require at least six ramekins.

And i've looked through a few of these recipes and made some adjustments of my own. With my recipe, you should be able to actually taste the chocolate in the cake instead of just sugar as well as any kind of spice that you add.

So, without further ado:

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
120 gms chocolate (sweetened cooking chocolate)
120 gms butter (salted - i use Amul)
1 cup flour
pinch of nutmeg (trust me, less is mroe with this)
pinch of cinnamon (if you don't have powdered cinnamon, simply use a very small piece - about 2 cms x 0.5 cm should do. anything more is overkill)
Milk (keep about 1/2 a cup, you may not need it)

Take out a saucepan and half fill it with water. Put it on the stove to heat it up. This will be your double boiler.

In a smaller vessel, measure out the butter and the butter and the chocolate. When the water starts boiling, hold this vessel just above the water and stir the mixture with a spoon. The reason why you should hold it above the water instead of letting it contact the water is because if it is in contact with the water, the chocolate at the bottom solidifies and burns.

Once your chocolate and butter has melted, set the vessel aside and leave it to cool. Remember to stir the mixture every once in a while though, so that the chocolate doesn't solidify on the sides of the vessel.

In the meantime, powder your sugar with the pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon (powdered or not - the mixer will powder your cinnamon for you) and place it a vessel. Crack two eggs over the sugar and bring out your hand mixer. the reason why i've asked you to crack the eggs over the powdered sugar is so that the sugar doesn't fly out of the bowl when you try to beat it.

Note that you could beat this by hand as well, however, you would require several people to help. With the hand mixer, you beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture takes on a white color and the goop gives some slight resistance when you simply try to push the goop around with your hand mixer.

By this time, your chocolate and butter mixture should have cooled, so you simply pour this mixture into the egg mixture and beat it in with the hand mixer/whisk/whatever you're using.

Once this is done, dump your flour in and beat it in. Once completely blended, check if the mixture 'flows' on it's own. If the mixture is pretty solid, add some milk. Once the batter has the ability to 'flow' on its own, and by this i don't mean it's extremely runny, it should at least be a sludgy gloop, prepare your 6 ramekins by lining it with either oil or butter (i've found oil works better) and then pour your batter into the 6 ramekins.

If you don't plan to bake all of the cakes at the same time, remember that you can stick any extra in the fridge till you want to eat it. Note that this is safe only upto 3 - 4 days because of the raw egg in the mixture.

Once you're ready to bake the cakes, preheat the oven to 230C and then place the cakes in, reset the temperature to 200C and bake it for about 10 - 12 minutes.

After the 10 - 12 minutes are over, to check if your cake is too runny or not, with a thick hand towel/dish towel/oven gloves, pick up one ramekin and tilt it sideways. If liquid immediately runs out on all the angles you've tilted it at, give it another 5 minutes or so.

Also I've noted that different people like this cooked to different consistencies. Try baking it a little less or a little more to see what you like best! This recipe i've tried on both dark chocolate as well as white chocolate and the white chocolate turned out extremely well!

Now, the reason why this recipe you'll like better is because for one, the taste of raw egg doesn't come through very strongly. Two, you can taste the flavor of the chocolate instead of a sugary mess. Three, the cinnamon and nutmeg add this exotic taste and aroma. They just uplift the cake to new levels.

So, bon appetit ~

If you guys like my recommendations, i'll be sure to try out more new recipes and post them :)