Seems like lucky lightning strikes not only in the pokeverse but also in FR

Heh. Diana is actually quite lucky. It makes me wonder if some of Vanille’s luck rubbed off on her.

Seriously, though, it’s more a commentary on Magic: the Gathering. I absolutely despise the way that people are being priced out of the game. I honestly think that the barrier to entry might be what eventually kills Magic, along with the increasingly crappy card stock quality and the generally poor design that’s been highlighted by the number of bans in recent history.

I remember when I first started playing, you used to see quite a few kids trying their hand at Magic. Increasingly, I see only older players, especially in the eternal formats (e.g., Vintage and Legacy) where entry is nigh impossible for anyone who isn’t willing to dedicate thousands of dollars to the game. FFS, the mana base alone for many upper tier Legacy decks can cost upward of $1000.

But to return to the point you made, yeah, Diana is pretty lucky. I think of it this way: nobody in the whole world loves Gary more than Diana, so it’s only fitting that Gary loves her back.

Diana And Her Kids (Final Rose)

Diana has always been someone who enjoys a good game or a good prank. So what about when she becomes a parent? Here is some of the mischief she and her kids have gotten up to:

• Turned their entire house into a giant pillow fort. This happened when Fujin and Jahne were both away on missions. Diana and the kids promptly turned the entire house into a giant pillow fort, complete with patrolling drones, automated sentry towers (that shot confetti), and a host of other innovations. Dinner was served in the middle of Fort Dining Table (a fort centred around the dining table). 
• Developed a special vest she can wear that allows her to carry all of the kids at once. Diana had lots of fun hitching rides on people’s backs when she was a kid, so she decided to make a vest that allows all of her kids to hitch a ride on her at the same time. Watching Diana walk down the corridor with all of their kids clinging onto her is both exasperating and heartwarming for Fujin and Jahne.
• Outlasted all of the children to convince them that keeping to decent sleeping times is important. After the kids rebelled against their set bedtimes, Diana decided to challenge them to a contest about who could stay up the longest playing video games. It was fun at first, but the kids swiftly realised that saying up playing video games was actually really exhausting. Victoria lasted the longest, but eventually, even she cracked. The kids no longer argue seriously about their bedtimes although they do grumble from time to time.
• Worked with the kids to train an army of squirrels. Despite having a squirrel for a mortal enemy as a kid, Diana is actually pretty fond of the little critters when they’re not stealing her food. The ones in the neighbourhood are actually reasonably friendly, so Diana and the kids made it their project to train them. By the time Victoria is at Beacon, the kids have basically turned the neighbourhood squirrels into their army.
• Helped the kids come up with experiments and equipment to make increasingly giant soap bubbles. Diana loves science and experimenting, and her kids do too. Making giant soap bubbles was a project they all worked on together, and the end results were some truly titanic soap bubbles. 

Booster Pack (Final Rose)

Lightning watched with a sort of morbid fascination as Diana carefully laid the booster pack of Gary: the Befriending cards on a specially prepared mat and donned some gloves.

“What are you doing?”

“I need to be super careful, mom.” Diana flexed her fingers and reached for the pack. There were some plastic sleeves beside her, along with other supplies dedicated to the preservation of cards. “This pack is from the oldest set of Gary, and I only got it because I won that big raffle the card store was doing. The set it comes from also has foil ultimate super legendary rare cards in it.”

“Ultimate super legendary rare cards?” Lightning thought that sounded a bit obnoxious.

“Yeah, mom.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It’s like this, mom. Each pack has 15 cards in it. In each pack there is always at least one rare.”

“Okay.”

“Now, legendary cards are like rare cards, only rarer. The odds of getting a legendary rare card are 1 in 10 packs.”

“That seems… kind of like a cash grab,” Lightning replied. It also probably explained the screams of joy she occasionally heard whenever she took Diana to the collectibles store to purchase some Gary cards. “Wait… what about super legendary cards?”

“Super legendary cards are only found in 1 in 100 packs.”

“Now, that’s just crazy.” Lightning shook her head. “How do people even find enough of those to play with.”

“You have to pay a lot of money,” Diana said. “Because they’re so rare.”

“And the ultimate super legendary cards?”

“Those are even rarer.” Diana shuddered. “You only get 1 in 1000 packs.”

“Good grief. Have you got one?”

Diana stared at her like she’d grown a second head. “Mom, I don’t buy enough packs to have one of those.”

“And the foil ultimate super legendary cards?”

“There should be one foil in every ten packs.”

“So… a foil ultimate super legendary card should only appear once in every… 10,000 packs?”

“Yeah.” Diana made a face. “And there are ten possible foil ultimate super legendary cards in this set, so the odds of getting a specific one of them in foil are one in 100,000 packs . All of them are pretty good, but one of them is way better than the others.” The little girl sighed. “Friendship Punch of Ultimate Doom is the best removal spell in the game, mom. It’s like… so good that the only reason they don’t ban it is because it’s the flagship card of the set.”

“How much is it worth?” Lightning asked idly. “If it’s the foil version of that card?”

Diana rubbed her chin and then replied.

Lightning blinked. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” Diana did. “Are you serious? That’s worth more than our house. Heck, that’s more than I earned on my last mission where I had to kill hundreds of Grimm, along with at two colossal Grimm.”

“Exactly, mom.” Diana held up her hands. “Which is why I’m preparing. If I get one, I have to protect it right away.”

“And how will you do that?”

Diana explained the procedures she would take to ensure that the card, if she got it, would be in perfect mint condition and completely protected from anything short of an orbital strike from one of Vanille’s satellites.

“So… are you going to open the pack?” Lightning asked.

Diana took a deep breath. “Okay. Wish me luck, mom.”

Slowly, Diana worked her way through the cards. When she got to the third last card, she looked at Lightning. “This is it, mom. The second last card, the one after this card, should be the rarest.” Slowly, she eased the card on top of it to the side. “It’s a foil!” Diana shrieked. “Mom, it’s a foil!”

“What card is it?”

“I don’t know yet…” Diana continued to ease the third last card away. And then she froze.

It was honestly the first time in Diana’s entire life that Lightning had ever seen her completely still. Even when she slept, Diana was usually moving around. But right now, she was completely and utterly still. Slowly, Lightning moved to look over Diana’s shoulder.

It was a foil Friendship Punch of Ultimate Doom.

And Diana was still staring at, completely still and completely silent.

Wordlessly, Lightning put on a pair of gloves, and ever so gently eased the card out of Diana’s hands. Following the steps Diana had outlined earlier, Lightning made sure that the card was properly protected. The house could take a direct hit from a missile, and the card would still be fine.

It was only when the card was safely ensconced in the last layer of protection that Diana moved.

“I did…” Diana stuttered. “I did it, mom! I… I… I got one! I got one!”

What followed was a solid ten minutes of Diana running around the house screaming at the top of her lungs followed by her running down the street and screaming at the top of her lungs before finally coming back to take another look at the card, only to start screaming some more.

“We should probably put this in your Aunt Vanille’s vault,” Lightning said when Diana had finally calmed down enough to actually hear her.

Diana nodded solemnly. “We should.” She paused and looked about furtively. “Also, no one else can ever know, mom. If people knew I had this…”

Lightning opened her mouth to point out that it was only a card game before remembering how much the card was worth. “Okay. We’ll keep this a secret.”

X     X     X

Centuries later…

Jahne bit back a laugh as Her Imperial Majesty Averia VII held up the foil Friendship Punch of Ultimate Doom that had once belonged to Diana Yun-Farron. The card itself was, of course, protected by a host of preservation and security measures. She could throw it into a star, and it would probably be okay.

“I can’t believe I have one of these,” Averia breathed. “There are, what, maybe four of these left in the entire galaxy?”

“If you exclude the reprints, then, yes, I think four is the correct number.” Jahne grinned. “And technically, you don’t have one of those. I have one of those.”

“But we’re married now, so it’s technically mine too.”

Behind Averia, Claire laughed. “Averia…”

“I mean we’re married, so we should share our cards, I mean our lives, with each other, right?” Averia clutched the card to her chest. “Right?”

Lord Hedgeborough exchanged a look with Claire. As much as he loved the empress, he had always thought she could sometimes get a bit too obsessive when it came to collectibles. And there were few people in the entire galaxy who could match the collection that had been passed down through Jahne’s side of the family.

“Uh… maybe you should give that back,” Jahne said. “You’re starting to scare me.”

“I… fine.” Averia handed the card back. “You’re right. I’m being silly.” She paused. “But it’s a foil Friendship Punch of Ultimate Doom from Gary: the Befriending Original Introductory Set. It’s even from the first print run!”

“Okay,” Claire wrapped one arm around Averia’s waist. “I think it’s time we left the card alone now. You can come back later.”

X     X     X

Author’s Notes

Gary: the Befriending is a nod at Magic: the Gathering.

Diana is a collector at heart, so it’s not surprising that she is fully prepared for any eventuality. She just so happened to win big this time. Of course, no matter how much the card was worth, she would never sell it. She’s a collector, not an investor or a trader.

Averia VII has, on previous occasions (e.g., the plush toy incident) revealed that she too is a collector. Collectibles are very popular in the distant future, and with some games (e.g., Gary: the Befriending) still around from the Age of Heroes, the prices on some of them are astronomical. She most likely gets this part of her personality from Vanille I who is one of her predecessors (an empress who has half Dia-Farron) since a collector-type personality is something that both Vanille and Diana have. 

Incidentally, Averia VII’s most prized collectible is not something about the Age of Heroes. Instead, it is something much more recent. One of the more popular types of collectibles in the distant future is the collectible trading cards commemorating important individuals and events. These are kind of like baseball cards in that they aren’t used to play a game.

Each time a new ruler of the Empire takes the throne, commemorative cards are put out featuring them and various other figures, like their personal hedgehog. Averia’s most prized collectible is a foil ultimate super legendary rare that depicts her and Lord Hedgeborough. She could easily have ordered the makers to give her one as one of the conditions of allowing them to use her image, but she wanted to get it naturally.

Claire, knowing how much Averia likes collectibles, got her a few packs as a present. Averia opened the card, and the rest is history. The card now has pride of place in her personal collection.

Has Tag You’re It!Diana ever gotten into a heated argument with Averia and just tagged her to another location?

Tag You’re It can do two things: teleport Diana to something or teleport something to Diana. It’s called Tag You’re It because in a game of tag it’s basically unbeatable.

Now, to leave Averia somewhere, Diana would have to use her Semblance to go somewhere, then use her Semblance again to bring Averia to her before using it a third time to leave. 

Diana has indeed done that, but nothing too extreme. For instance, if she wants Averia to leave, she’ll go to her front door, bring Averia, and then go back to her room. It happens so quickly that it will be like Averia just got teleported to the front door.

Star (RWBY AU Snippet)

razieltwelve:

“What do you fear the most?” Death asked Weiss.

The queen glanced at the goddess for a long moment. There was grey in her hair now, and there were little creases around the corners of her eyes. “Not dying, if that’s what you’re wondering.” She grinned. “You’ve seen to that.”

“I suppose I have,” Death replied. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

“Hmm…” Weiss shifted slightly as a certain Lord of Corgis announced his arrival by hopping onto her lap. She ran one hand along Zwei’s back. “I suppose I fear being forgotten.” She gestured vaguely at the room around them. “I… I want to believe that I’ve been a good ruler, that when I die, I will leave Atlas in better condition than when I took the throne. Perhaps it’s arrogant, but I’d like it if people could remember what I did. Do you think that’s silly?”

“Not at all,” Death replied. “Why do you think so many rulers in the past built giant monuments? They wanted to be remembered.” Her lips twitched. “It speaks well of you that you haven’t ordered your architects to design a giant statue of you yet.”

“It would be a waste of money,” Weiss muttered. “If they’re going to build a statue of me, a life-sized one in a nice shrine would be nice. An overly big one will just fall over and break the next time we have an earthquake.”

“That is a good point.”

“But it’s how us mortals are, I guess. We don’t live for very long, all things considered. We’re extremely lucky to even make it to a century. From the moment we’re born, we know that one day we’ll have to die. Most people make peace with that. I know I have. But we’d like to be remembered. We’d like to know that somehow, someway we made a difference, that the world was better for us having lived.” Weiss smiled. “Maybe one day, centuries form now, they’ll tell stories about Queen Weiss and how she had to put up with Death and her corgi for decades.”

“I’m sure they will.” Death chuckled. “Although I doubt anyone would believe the stories. Who would believe a mortal whacking Death over the head with a broom?”

“In my defence,” Weiss said. “You were being a dolt, and it’s not like the broom did anything.”

“I’ll have you know that I was limping for days,” Death replied. “I was lucky to survive.”

“Can you even die?” Weiss asked. “I mean… who would even claim your soul?”

“Weiss, if there is anything strong enough to kill me out there, you can rest assured it’ll be strong enough to wipe out all of creation, which makes what happens to me kind of a moot point.”

“Okay… feel free not to tell me any more.” Weiss shuddered. “I know where this conversation is going, and I would rather not have to endure any more existential dread as I realise just what is out there that only the gods know about.”

“That’s probably for the best.” Death leaned over Weiss. “But, you know, you’re being silly.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re worried about being forgotten.” Ruby kissed Weiss’s cheek. “But how could you possibly be forgotten? This world could be ground to dust and all the stars in the sky could go out, but you would still be remembered. Why? Because I am Death, Weiss, and I will remember you. Every moment. Every second. Every single thing. I will remember all of it.”

Weiss was speechless. When she finally managed to speak, her voice trembled. “You’d better not forget me, you dolt. And you’d better not do anything silly when I do die.”

“Silly?” Ruby laughed. “Like name a star or something after you?”

“Oh, good grief. You’d better not.”

When Weiss eventually did die, Ruby did not name a star after her. No, instead, astronomers would refer to a new constellation by the name Death herself had suggested: the Queen. It was glorious, and the only thing Ruby missed was the glare she knew Weiss would have given her if she’d been around to know about it.

And long after Weiss had died and the kingdoms of old gave way to new nations and the passage of time had turned mountains to dust and oceans to deserts, still Death remembered.

People are always saying that nothing lasts forever.

Some things do.

Didn’t Vanille get banned from every casino when she was 14? So couldn’t she afford to buy the caves outright once she found them… unless that all went on drones and other equipment.

The vast majority of the money Vanille earned by scamming the casinos went into infrastructure. Even as a student, she saw that the only way to get the funding she needed to live her life the way she wanted (i.e., a life where she could explore the full extent of her intellect and pursue all the research she wanted) was to build perhaps the largest and most powerful company in history.

To that end, she purchased numerous properties not only to serve as research facilities but also to serve as the eventual sites of factories, distribution depots, and so on. This meant she had very little cash on hand as she began to execute her plans. Worse, some of her facilities did begin to come under scrutiny and even attack by corporate rivals or those interested in stealing her knowledge and research.

This is why she wanted the caves. The caves were the most defensible location she could get her hands on, and they would allow her to conduct her most crucial and ground-breaking research free from scrutiny and away from the prying eyes of her competitors. 

Once she made the necessary breakthroughs, she was able to leverage those into advances in key areas of technology (e.g., manufacturing, drones, health care, food technology, etc.), which was then taken to an industrial scale at her already purchased facilities. She then used the money she earned there to purchase the caves outright.

A little known fact is that Vanille basically runs the commercial freight business in Vale. She had competitors, but they tried to wipe her out when she was relatively weak. When she got stronger, she used a series of shell companies and cunning to turn them against each other before buying them all out and seizing control.

The only person to ever threaten the stranglehold she has on Vale’s freight industry is actually Diana. Diana’s genius with drones and robots is so good that she revolutionised the delivery business (and later the freight business) as a kid. By the time Diana was a teenager, her drones and robots delivered the majority of parcels and other deliveries in Vale. 

Of course, this isn’t really an issue. From the moment that Diana began to show promise as her number one minion, Vanille began to alter the structure of the company to ensure that Diana would not only have a say in how the company operated but also part-ownership. 

It makes Lightning wonder why Diana still bothers to do chores for pocket money, but Diana explains that she doesn’t like spending her ‘company money’ on personal stuff, choosing instead to rely on pocket money and the various errands and stuff that her personal drones and other robots can manage to fund her hobbies and interests.

Star (RWBY AU Snippet)

“What do you fear the most?” Death asked Weiss.

The queen glanced at the goddess for a long moment. There was grey in her hair now, and there were little creases around the corners of her eyes. “Not dying, if that’s what you’re wondering.” She grinned. “You’ve seen to that.”

“I suppose I have,” Death replied. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

“Hmm…” Weiss shifted slightly as a certain Lord of Corgis announced his arrival by hopping onto her lap. She ran one hand along Zwei’s back. “I suppose I fear being forgotten.” She gestured vaguely at the room around them. “I… I want to believe that I’ve been a good ruler, that when I die, I will leave Atlas in better condition than when I took the throne. Perhaps it’s arrogant, but I’d like it if people could remember what I did. Do you think that’s silly?”

“Not at all,” Death replied. “Why do you think so many rulers in the past built giant monuments? They wanted to be remembered.” Her lips twitched. “It speaks well of you that you haven’t ordered your architects to design a giant statue of you yet.”

“It would be a waste of money,” Weiss muttered. “If they’re going to build a statue of me, a life-sized one in a nice shrine would be nice. An overly big one will just fall over and break the next time we have an earthquake.”

“That is a good point.”

“But it’s how us mortals are, I guess. We don’t live for very long, all things considered. We’re extremely lucky to even make it to a century. From the moment we’re born, we know that one day we’ll have to die. Most people make peace with that. I know I have. But we’d like to be remembered. We’d like to know that somehow, someway we made a difference, that the world was better for us having lived.” Weiss smiled. “Maybe one day, centuries form now, they’ll tell stories about Queen Weiss and how she had to put up with Death and her corgi for decades.”

“I’m sure they will.” Death chuckled. “Although I doubt anyone would believe the stories. Who would believe a mortal whacking Death over the head with a broom?”

“In my defence,” Weiss said. “You were being a dolt, and it’s not like the broom did anything.”

“I’ll have you know that I was limping for days,” Death replied. “I was lucky to survive.”

“Can you even die?” Weiss asked. “I mean… who would even claim your soul?”

“Weiss, if there is anything strong enough to kill me out there, you can rest assured it’ll be strong enough to wipe out all of creation, which makes what happens to me kind of a moot point.”

“Okay… feel free not to tell me any more.” Weiss shuddered. “I know where this conversation is going, and I would rather not have to endure any more existential dread as I realise just what is out there that only the gods know about.”

“That’s probably for the best.” Death leaned over Weiss. “But, you know, you’re being silly.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re worried about being forgotten.” Ruby kissed Weiss’s cheek. “But how could you possibly be forgotten? This world could be ground to dust and all the stars in the sky could go out, but you would still be remembered. Why? Because I am Death, Weiss, and I will remember you. Every moment. Every second. Every single thing. I will remember all of it.”

Weiss was speechless. When she finally managed to speak, her voice trembled. “You’d better not forget me, you dolt. And you’d better not do anything silly when I do die.”

“Silly?” Ruby laughed. “Like name a star or something after you?”

“Oh, good grief. You’d better not.”

When Weiss eventually did die, Ruby did not name a star after her. No, instead, astronomers would refer to a new constellation by the name Death herself had suggested: the Queen. It was glorious, and the only thing Ruby missed was the glare she knew Weiss would have given her if she’d been around to know about it.

And long after Weiss had died and the kingdoms of old gave way to new nations and the passage of time had turned mountains to dust and oceans to deserts, still Death remembered.

When did Vanille start building her lab at Beacon?

She first started building her lab while she was a student at Beacon. She found old, incomplete maps of the cave system underneath Beacon and tasked a whole bunch of her drones with mapping it out. She then convinced her team (mostly Lumina) to help her build the first chambers.

She later approached Ozpin, and he agreed to let her build her lab. She initially started off paying rent (since Beacon owned the caves) before she eventually secured enough funding to buy out the caves. The cost of the buyout was huge, and it coincided with a massive upgrade and expansion to Beacon’s already excellent facilities.

The cave system underneath Beacon is actually one of the largest in the world. At present, the lab occupies a significant portion of it, and Vanille has successfully mapped and gained control of all exit and entry points to the cave system.

Has Vanille ever put on glasses to make herself look “smarter” when explaining a concept to someone just because it would be funny or something like that?

If Vanille wears glasses its either for safety reasons or because she has something installed in them to do something (e.g., x-ray vision glasses, thermal vision glasses, etc.).

She may or may not have once gotten into trouble with her team because she accidentally left on the x-ray vision glasses she was using for one of her experiments when she got back to the dorm room.

Vanille does, however, have special earmuffs that also cover her fox ears.

As an amusing aside, neither Diana nor Fang wear glasses. They have completely perfect vision. In fact, both of them are capable of refining their vision in myriad ways (e.g., seeing in the dark, seeing thermally, seeing through walls…) due to the various genetic templates they have access to.

Nevertheless, Diana does have a treasured pair of Gary sunglasses that she got at Gary Land despite the fact that her eyes can easily adjust to any level of sunlight.

To me, Velvet seems like a perfect representative for a huntress without a semblance. Reason being that we’ve only seen her use Faunus traits and her camera/hardlight tech (and given how canon seems to have forgotten about all teams aside from rwby and jnpr, I don’t think we’ll ever get a definitive answer what her semblance actually is.)

It is quite possible that her Semblance is the ability to copy and mimic movements she has seen before (i.e., something not unlike the sharingan from Naruto). It would explain how she can reproduce the movements of the people whose weapons she has copied.