The Plans We Make (New)
The Plans We Make
Shining Armor stiffened to attention as General Ironwood appeared in the entrance to Cadance’s private box. Her security detail made way for him as he stepped inside.
General Ironwood received Shining Armor’s salute and then returned it. “Captain Armor, it’s good to see you again.”
“Likewise, sir.”
“How’s guarding the Council?”
“It … continues to be a great honour, sir.”
The corner of General Ironwood’s mouth turned upwards ever so slightly. “I’ll bet it is.”
“General Ironwood,” Cadance said, as she herself rose to her feet. “Thank you so much for joining us.”
“Yes, General,” Kali said, “thank you so much for joining us.” She had not, Cadance noted, risen to her feet.
Cadance cleared her throat. “General Ironwood, allow me to present Lady Kali Belladonna, wife of Ghira Belladonna and, thus, High Chieftainess of Menagerie. Kali—”
“This is the great General Ironwood, who needs no introduction,” Kali said, her voice soft and her tone somewhat unclear. From where she sat, slightly twisted around in her seat, she extended one arm out towards him.
But if General Ironwood was at all discomfited by it, he did not show it; he stepped forward, bowing as he himself reached out and took Kali’s hand, raising it almost, but not quite, to his lips. “A pleasure, ma’am.”
“Hmm,” Kali murmured.
General Ironwood straightened up, turning a few inches in Cadance’s direction. “Councillor, I would say that I came as soon as my duties permitted, but the truth is that I did watch that last match, if only out of a sense of what might have been.”
“'What might have been'?” Kali asked. “What might have been if young Weiss Schnee had attended Atlas instead of Beacon, I suppose?”
General Ironwood. “And Mister Sentry too, another Atlesian from a good family; but yes, Miss Schnee. Her sister Winter is one of my most promising young officers; I don’t mind admitting that I would have liked to have gotten her sister as well.”
“Perhaps Jacques Schnee felt that you’d collected enough of his children,” Kali said. “It might be one area in which I could understand his point of view.”
“Kali—”
“With respect, Councillor, the point is … a reasonable one,” General Ironwood said, raising one hand to stifle any objections that Cadance might make. He clasped his hands behind his back. “Belladonna told you that she’s transferring to Atlas next year.”
“Blake told me, yes,” Kali said.
“Then I’m sure, ma’am, that she didn’t tell you that I pushed her into it in any way,” General Ironwood said. “I’m sure that she didn’t tell you that because it didn’t happen, and Belladonna isn’t a liar.”
“No,” Kali admitted. “No, Blake … but nevertheless, can you perhaps understand my concerns? Do you have any children of your own, General?”
General Ironwood became very still and very quiet. Even when he spoke, it was barely more than a whisper. “I … I had two children, ma’am: a son and a daughter.”
Kali blinked. “'Had'?”
“My son … passed away, a couple of years ago.”
Kali’s golden eyes widened a little, her mouth forming an open O of shocked surprise. “I … I’m so sorry, General, I … it wasn’t my intent to stir up harmful … I can’t imagine what that must have been like.”
“It’s quite alright, ma’am,” General Ironwood replied, his voice becoming a little louder, but also stiffer, like an old tree that might crack under strong winds because it no longer had the ability to bend. “You were hardly to know.”
“And…” Kali paused a moment. “And your daughter?”
“Gone to Anima,” General Ironwood said. “I … haven’t heard from her in some time.”
“Ah,” Kali murmured. “Well, that … that is something that I understand very well. You have my deepest sympathies, General, and my hope that, one day, your daughter’s best friend will reach out to you behind her back in the way that Rainbow Dash reached out to me.”
General Ironwood’s eyebrows rose. “Dash did? Behind Belladonna’s back?”
“The wording makes it sound perhaps a little more malicious than it was,” Kali replied. “But yes, Rainbow Dash wrote me a very fine letter, and did so without telling Blake about it. For which I am very grateful; I fear that if it had been left to Blake, then either fear or stubbornness would have prevented her from ever making contact.”
General Ironwood almost smiled. “Dash has a good heart,” he said as he walked around the row of seats until he was standing over and in front of Kali, so that she didn’t need to twist her body around to look at him anymore. “A good heart, a strong heart, a brave heart. I’m afraid that if I need to wait for Aska to find a friend like that in Mistral who will reach out to me on her behalf, I might be waiting a long time; there aren’t that many like Dash around.”
Kali smiled. “You’re fond of her.”
“I wouldn’t speak to her like that for fear of making her head swell,” General Ironwood replied. “But yes, ma’am, I am very fond of her.”
“Then you must have been very pleased and impressed by her performance in the match a little while ago,” Kali said. “She did you proud.”
“All of my students have done me proud today, even the ones who didn’t quite manage to clinch victories,” General Ironwood declared. “But you’re right, Dash and her team were very impressive. And so was Belladonna.”
“Yes,” Kali said, “yes, Blake was marvellous, wasn’t she?” She looked up at General Ironwood. “Would you like to sit down, General? If only for the sake of my neck.”
General Ironwood sat. “You’d rather Blake stayed at Beacon with Team Iron, ma’am?”
“A part of me would rather that she wasn’t a huntress of any kind,” Kali admitted. “It’s a worthy cause, I know, but … her father and I never set out to raise a warrior, although the extent to which we can be said to have raised Blake at all can be unfortunately debated.” She paused. “Blake speaks very highly of Atlas, and of her Atlas comrades. More fondly than I might expect.”
“Have you met them?” General Ironwood asked.
“Some,” Kali said. “Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Trixie Lulamoon, Starlight Glimmer—”
“Then you know that they deserve every good word that Blake has to say about them, and more,” General Ironwood said.
Kali was quiet for a moment, but her golden eyes twinkled a little. She spoke softly but clearly as she said, “I’m beginning to suspect that you have a lot more than just two children, General Ironwood.”
General Ironwood made a sound that was somewhere between a chuckle and a snort. “Well, ma’am, I … I make no apologies for being proud of my kids. If I wasn’t, I’d only have myself to blame for not teaching them better.” It was his turn to pause. “Coming to Atlas is Belladonna’s choice, not mine.”
“But you welcome her presence,” Kali said.
“I welcome all talented students who wish to come to Atlas,” General Ironwood said. “And Belladonna is very, very talented.”
“You talk almost as if you did nothing to seek her out,” Kali said. “You got her out of jail, you brought her into your fold—”
“We needed her assistance,” General Ironwood reminded her. “I think that Dash might have had some longer term plan for Belladonna, but for my part, I never laid any obligation on her, and I didn’t envisage where this road would take her when we set off down it.”
“So what you’re telling me is that this Rainbow Dash’s fault, not yours?”
“I’m telling you that this is Belladonna’s choice,” General Ironwood said.
“Mhmm,” Kali murmured. “Blake has always made her own choices, whether I agreed with them or not.”
“What is it, in particular, that you disapprove of?” General Ironwood asked. “Atlas, military service, or something else?”
Kali was silent for a moment. “Honestly … I’m not sure that I could say. Certainly … I’m sorry, General, this isn’t your fault, and I can’t even say that … as you say, Blake’s made her choice, and I’m prepared to live with it. She wants to be a huntress, and I have to accept that. If she also wants to be an Atlesian soldier as well, then … as the wife of a high chieftain, I can hardly get on any anti-authority horse, can I? I suppose … I suppose I’m a little upset that she decided without talking to me about it, although, of course she didn’t talk to me about it; I wasn’t here.”
“The fact that there is a good explanation doesn’t make it any easier,” General Ironwood murmured.
“No,” Kali said. “No, it doesn’t, does it?” She sighed. “She’s not going to be a trophy for you, is she? You’re not going to put her on a metaphorical shelf somewhere so that you can point to Blake Belladonna, daughter of a former leader of the White Fang, proof that you and Atlas aren’t racist?”
“I’m going to put Belladonna in school with all of my other students,” General Ironwood said, “and when she graduates, I’m going to put her to work with all of my other specialists. I don’t have propaganda soldiers, I don’t have trophies; I have brave kids who are willing to offer up their guns in the service of Atlas.”
Shining Armor coughed, “Well, sir—”
“You’ve nothing to be ashamed of, Captain Armor,” General Ironwood said.
“I don’t understand,” Kali said.
“My husband’s position guarding the Council keeps him out of the field,” Cadance explained. “I fear General Ironwood has just made him feel meanly of himself.”
“For no reason,” General Ironwood insisted. “It’s a job that has to be done.”
Kali glanced Shining Armor’s way. “I don’t suppose there’s any way that Blake…” She trailed off. “No, no, that … Blake wouldn’t want me to interfere and she certainly wouldn’t want a position like that.”
“No,” General Ironwood agreed. “I don’t think she would.”
Kali was quiet for a moment. “All of this is, to some extent, reassuring, General, but … it really never occurred to you that having someone with the Belladonna name in your forces would be a fillip for Atlas?”
“Despite having two seats on the Council, ma’am, I’m more than content to leave politics to the politicians,” General Ironwood said.
Kali chuckled. “Is that so, General? Then perhaps I should redirect my question to Cadance?”
“I would never presume to interfere in General Ironwood’s running of the military,” Cadance said as she sat down on the other side of Kali, “but, at the same time, I’m very glad that Blake’s involvement provided an opportunity for us to meet like this.” Now it was Cadance’s turn to pause. “Efforts to help the faunus within Atlas are often slow, and made slower by vested interests and, I have to admit, a certain indifference from some who live amongst the clouds for the lives of those who live on the ground below. It can sometimes take a big impact, like the discoveries that Blake and Rainbow Dash made around those secret SDC facilities, to cause a shift in public opinion that opens up space for radical action. But, when it comes to diplomacy … there is less popular interest in foreign policy, and so there is more room to act without constant reference to the opinion of a public that doesn’t really hold strong views either way. It isn’t ideal, but I think that Atlas may be able to help Menagerie more easily than we can help our own faunus living in Mantle or Low Town.”
“Help Menagerie how?” asked Kali.
“That depends,” Cadance replied. “What does Menagerie want?”
“We do we want?” Kali repeated. “Oh, I could give you a list if you have time for it, but to start with, Menagerie wants admission into the family of kingdoms. We’re not some out-of-the-way backwater that you can forget about; we have as much claim to be regarded as a kingdom as Atlas, Mistral, Vale, or Vacuo. What makes Vacuo a kingdom that Menagerie does not possess? Unlike the four kingdoms, we actually have someone who might with justice be called a king. We want recognition, we want to be able to trade freely with our neighbours, and we want to be able to talk to our neighbours as well; we want a CCT tower. Can Atlas give us that?”
“I don’t see why not, since it was Atlas who gave the network to the four kingdoms in the first place,” Cadance replied. “General, can you think of any reason why a fifth tower could not be built in Menagerie?”
“I’m not a technician, Councillor, so I couldn’t say for certain,” General Ironwood replied. “I know that the CCT system was designed to work with four towers, but whether that means that it’s impossible to add more … personally, I’d welcome a fifth tower; it would mean that one of the towers could go offline without the whole system dropping out. I can certainly have it looked into.”
“You can have it…” Kali trailed off. “You … you’re serious?”
“I was asked a serious question; I gave a serious answer,” General Ironwood said.
“And you,” Kali said, turning to Cadance. “You’re serious?”
“Why shouldn’t I be?” asked Cadance.
“Because…” Kali stared at her for a moment. “Why?”
“Because this is something that I can do, while there are other things that I would like to do which I cannot,” Cadance admitted. “Because, as I told you, there is sometimes more latitude in foreign affairs. Because Atlas has a moral obligation, conferred on us by our wealth and strength alike, to show a leadership that is both moral and practical and … not always exercised by us as it should be. And because you’re right; there is nothing that sets Menagerie apart from the four kingdoms — the other four kingdoms — except that the four kingdoms themselves act as though it should be so. Why shouldn’t Menagerie have a CCT Tower? Why shouldn’t Menagerie have a huntsman academy, why shouldn’t there be teams from that academy fighting in the Vytal Festival, right here and now, for our entertainment?”
“Because the Last King of Vale didn’t like Menagerie,” Kali said. “He didn’t agree with the plans of Mistral to deport their faunus — it is hard to condemn him for that; many faunus didn’t like it either — he wanted the faunus to be treated as equals within the kingdoms, not sent away to somewhere else entirely. That was not immoral of him, but the way that he wasn’t able to see that some faunus might actually wish to live in their own land, away from men, the way that he acted as though if Menagerie were ignored and excluded, it would eventually go away … he was a great man, without doubt, but he erred greatly in that.”
“And a man who has been dead for many years,” Cadance said. “Why should we be bound forevermore by his disapproval? Menagerie is a fact, and how can we claim to treat the faunus as equals while treating the homeland of the faunus as inferior to majority-human kingdoms? If Menagerie wishes to join the international community, then I will do all I can to open up the doors.”
Kali nodded. “That would be … incredible, but I’m afraid that there are some in Menagerie or amongst the faunus who won’t see it the same way.”
“The White Fang,” Cadance murmured.
“Obviously, but not just them,” Kali said. “I wouldn’t worry about the White Fang; Sienna will huff and puff, but she won’t start a fight in Menagerie—”
“Can you be certain about that?” General Ironwood asked.
“I can, actually, seeing as I live there,” Kali replied, with a touch of asperity in her voice. “Certainly, we wouldn’t need Atlesian troops deployed to secure the CCT tower. That would do more for instability than anything Sienna Khan might say or do, no … the White Fang is popular on Menagerie; it’s seen as a group that is fighting for our people and their rights. But, crucially, that support is based on them fighting for our people and their rights somewhere far away from Menagerie and those who support them. That support is broad, yes, but not deep, and if Sienna chooses to start shooting or setting off bombs in Menagerie, then she’ll soon find out just how shallow the sea of her support is. She’s not so much a fool. No, the White Fang is not the issue; the issue is the fear that some will have — the fear that I share, to some extent — that if we step through the doors that you offer to open, we’ll be opening our own doors to exploitation by the SDC.”
“I didn’t realise there was dust in Menagerie,” Cadance said.
Kali nodded. “In the interior. Between the hostile environment and a lack of heavy mining equipment, we haven’t had much luck getting it out of the ground, but we’re pretty sure it’s there. Faunus who came to Menagerie from the mines of Mantle were convinced of it, and dreamt of extracting it for their own benefit, to no avail.”
Cadance was silent for a moment. “Then perhaps,” she said, “it is time for that dream, too, to come of age.”
Kali’s eyebrows rose. “Why … why would an Atlesian—?”
“Recent events,” Cadance said, with a sigh in her voice, “have unfortunately demonstrated that the Schnee Dust Company is not only a far poorer standard bearer for Atlas than could have been guessed, but also that it may not even be a reliable partner for Atlas. A company in which the CEO is unaware of what several of his own board members are doing is … as I say, it isn’t very reliable.” Cadance paused for a moment. “Perhaps the time has come to try a new approach.”
All the skybuses down from the arena were adorned with festive bunting on the outside, flags in green, blue, white, and yellow adorning all of the airships that ferried the contestants and the crowds alike between the arena and the grounds of Beacon below.
Including the airship that Team SAPR was on, bringing them back after the end of Team WWSR’s victory over Team NDGO.
It was crowded. The airship that had brought them up here had been crowded, and the one that was bringing them back was crowded too. No doubt, when Sunset came back again to watch Team TTSS, then that would be crowded, and it would still be crowded when Team SAPR took the skybus back to the arena for their match.
Pyrrha was beginning to think that there was not a single thing connected with this tournament that was not crowded.
Sunset had hoped that, mid-afternoon as it was, they might catch a flight back that was a little more vacant, but that had proved to be very optimistic of her.
The skybuses were little more than flying boxes, albeit reasonably comfortable flying boxes; there was no pilot, and no one checking tickets either; everything was fully automated — although someone with more mechanical knowhow than Pyrrha might know how to manually override everything in a pinch — programmed to go between the docking pads and the Amity Colosseum at set intervals. The flying box was mostly taken up with row after row of cushioned red seats, in rows eight seats wide, but all of those seats were taken up, and it was standing room only, with people pressed together throughout the skybus right up to the windows.
It was against one of the windows that Pyrrha was standing now, with Sunset on one side of her and Jaune on the other, with Ruby beside him. Turning her head — the only movement she could really make at present — she could see one of the Atlesian cruisers hovering nearby, attended by a small throng of lesser airships looping around it. Beyond that, she could see a Valish destroyer with its guns emerging out of the sloping armour of the hull, and beyond that, compensating with its sheer size for the fact that it was farthest off, one of the giant Mistralian battleships that Vale had purchased to augment its defences.
A flash of light from inside the skybus made her close her eyes for a moment, and Pyrrha looked back inside the airship.
Someone, a bearded and bespectacled man standing up in his seat, lowered his scroll from in front of his face. He did not apologise.
“A bit rude, don’t you think?” Sunset demanded.
“Sunset,” Pyrrha murmured, fixing a smile upon her face. “Let it go.”
“He didn’t even ask!” Sunset snapped. “You didn’t even ask!”
“Do you ask permission of the painting in the gallery or the statue in the museum before you take a photograph?” Pyrrha asked.
“Actually, I think a lot of art galleries have rules about no pictures,” Ruby pointed out. “We got thrown out once because we didn’t read the signs.”
“Well … yes, I suppose that wasn’t a particularly good example,” Pyrrha admitted.
“Not least because you’re not a painting,” Sunset said, “or a statue.”
“But I am public property,” Pyrrha said softly, speaking out of the side of her mouth as the smile remained fixed upon her face. “We all are. That’s what it means to compete in the Vytal Tournament.”
Sunset frowned. “It wouldn’t have killed him to ask you if it was okay first.”
“It is what it is,” Pyrrha replied. “The only thing that making a fuss will accomplish is to get a bad reputation. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
Sunset huffed for so long that it almost became a sigh. “I suppose not; that wasn’t much fun the first time,” she said. “Still…” She trailed off, which Pyrrha took for begrudging admission that she, Pyrrha, was right.
No other flashes went off inside the skybus, but the man who had taken the picture was not the only person inside the airship who was interested in Pyrrha. There were eyes turned her way, and scrolls too; Pyrrha thought it likely that at least one person was filming her, although why they would want to when she was just standing in a skybus waiting to land was rather beyond her.
But they watched her nevertheless, as though even the spectacle of Pyrrha Nikos standing still was a momentous and fascinating one.
She had been a celebrity for many years, arguably since she had been born, and yet, there were still times when she found it to be a very strange world indeed.
She felt Jaune slip his hand into hers, less than a moment before she felt his lips upon her cheek.
The smile upon her face became a little more genuine, even as Pyrrha’s eyes widened in surprise just a tad as she turned her head to look at him.
Jaune grinned sheepishly as he shrugged. “Well, if they were going to look anyway, I thought … give them something worth looking at?”
Pyrrha’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, really?”
“Well, I—”
Pyrrha reached out with her free hand, wrapping it around Jaune’s neck, her fingers in her long, floppy hair, as she leaned forwards, her body pressing against his, and kissed him fully on the lips.
Her eyes were closed, but nevertheless, she could see the light of the flashes going off; they would leave blotches of blue and green in her vision when she opened her eyes, but Pyrrha found she really didn’t care.
No, she didn’t care one bit.
“Now that was something worth looking at,” Pyrrha said mischievously as she broke off, moving back a little — only a little, as much for practical reasons as emotional ones — from him.
Jaune stared at her, a rich, ripe blush upon his cheeks, his eyes wide. “Yeah,” he murmured weakly. “Yeah, I … I guess it probably was.” He managed a smile. “Worth … worth it, too.”
Sunset sighed, and when Pyrrha looked over her shoulder, she saw their team leader shaking her head.
“I’m not sure that I’d want people watching that,” Ruby said.
Pyrrha chuckled. “Sunset’s right, Ruby; we aren’t statues. If people are going to watch, then let them watch; why should we circumscribe our lives for their benefit? I’m not ashamed to be in love; what do I have to hide?”
“Well, when you put it like that,” Ruby murmured. “Good for you guys, I guess.”
Pyrrha glanced across the skybus to where Team WWSR was stood against the other side of the airship. There were eyes on Weiss too — and on Rainbow Dash and Blake, who were near the front of their airship, their backs to everyone; although as Pyrrha glanced their way, she saw a little girl wearing a rainbow wig tug on one leg of Rainbow’s pants to get her attention — flashes going off in her face, and in the faces of her teammates.
Weiss didn’t deal with it by kissing anyone, but she was ignoring everyone taking pictures of her or staring at her; instead, she was deep in conversation with Flash, their faces pressed very close together, almost touching.
Sunset was watching them too. Pyrrha didn’t find that particularly strange, but the fact that Sunset was smiling as she watched … that, Pyrrha did find a little odd.
“You’re smiling,” she observed.
“Hmm?”
“You’re smiling,” Pyrrha repeated, smiling herself.
“I…” The smile faded a moment, then returned to Sunset’s face. “Well … why wouldn’t I?”
“Well…” Pyrrha trailed off.
The smile remained on Sunset’s face. “That was all a long time ago, Pyrrha; it’s been done a while, and I’m over it.” She paused a moment. “Ruby, can you text Penny and ask her if she can stay with Amber for a little while longer?”
“Sure,” Ruby said. “But why? Aren’t we going to meet up?”
“Not right away,” Sunset replied. “First, since it seems that there isn’t anywhere else that won’t be crowded, we’re going to go back to our dorm room, and we’re going to plan out our strategy against Team Pastel.”
“That will be difficult without knowing the terrain on which we’ll be fighting,” Pyrrha murmured.
“True,” Sunset allowed. “But we can still lay down some ground rules, some principles to guide our approach to the battle.” She paused. “I know that you’ve beaten Phoebe Kommenos every time that you’ve met her — not that that says too much; you’ve beaten everyone every time you’ve met them, but still — but I don’t want to underestimate her, and I don’t want to underestimate her team, and I especially don’t want this team to fall on its tailbone in front of your mother and the whole of Remnant because we breezed into the arena like we had it in the bag. We’re going to take this seriously, okay?”
“Right,” Jaune said. “Nobody wants to mess this up.”
“How much do we know about them?”
“I know some things,” Sunset replied. “I’d like to get a second opinion, though. Hey, Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow looked across the skybus towards them. “Yeah?”
“Can you come with us when we land?” Sunset asked. “I need to pick your brain about something.”
Rainbow did, in fact, come with them; when the skybus landed back on the docking pad, they left Blake and Team WWSR behind and moved down the path, passing as swiftly as they could through the heaving crowds until they reached the near-deserted sanctuary of the dormitories, where tourists and visitors were not allowed. Once they were there, it was only a short hop back to the dorm room, which felt quite refreshingly free of people as Pyrrha sat down in the window seat, tucking her red sash over her legs.
Outside her window faced the direction to let her still see the fairgrounds, the packed crowds, and the many available entertainments, and a little of the noise still reached her ears through the windows.
It was little enough, though, that she had no issue with ignoring it and keeping her attention on Sunset.
The latter had gotten a chess set out from underneath her bed — or Amber’s bed, considering who was using it presently — taking out a total of eight pieces, four white and four black.
Jaune sat down on his bed, while Ruby grabbed one of the chairs from the desk running against the wall and turned it around so she was facing Sunset.
Rainbow leaned against the door, her fingertips tapping against the wood.
“So, what’s up?” she asked. “What do you need my help with?”
“I need your thoughts on Team Pastel,” Sunset explained. “Seeing as they’re Atlas students.”
“Yeah, Atlas students three years above me,” Rainbow said. “I’m retaking my first year, but I was never in the same year as Phoebe or her team.”
“You’ve seen them fight though, right?” Sunset asked.
Rainbow nodded. “A little bit. First and second year students are invited to watch some of the upperclassmen combat classes, to gain the benefits of their experience.”
“Then you can correct me if I’m getting anything wrong,” Sunset said. “Unless your loyalty to Atlas is greater than any bond that we share.”
“For some teams, I wouldn’t help you,” Rainbow said. “If you were up against Tsunami, even Funky, I would be out the door, but Pastel … nah, you can take them out. If Phoebe wants loyalty, she ought to show some once in a while. What do you want to know?”
“I’m just thinking about how we want to approach this,” Sunset said. She squatted down on the floor with her chess pieces. “Okay, so the white pieces are us, and the black pieces are Team Pastel.” She picked up the first piece, the white queen, and pointed with it towards Pyrrha. “That’s Pyrrha.” She put down the queen and picked up the white knight. “This is me.” Down went the knight, up went the white rook. “This is Jaune, the rook.” She put down the white rook and picked up the white bishop. “And this is Ruby.” Sunset put down the white bishop. “And for Team Pastel, we have Phoebe Kommenos, the black queen; Mal Sapphire, the black knight; Thorn Hubert, the black rook; and Lycus Silvermane, the black bishop. Is everyone with me so far?”
“Yes,” Pyrrha said. “Although, having only ever encountered Phoebe in the arena, those names mean nothing to me.”
“Fortunately, I’ve done some snooping around on that front,” Sunset said, “although Rainbow will surely correct me if I’m wrong.”
Rainbow grinned. “Surely,” she said.
Sunset snorted. A green glow surrounded one of her hands, as she telekinetically lifted up the black queen. “Pyrrha, you’ve fought her before; what’s Phoebe’s semblance? I tried to find out, but I couldn’t. I know the semblances of her teammates, but not hers.”
“How do you know her teammates' semblances?” asked Ruby.
“I asked around,” Sunset said. “And I…” She cleared her throat. “I may have spent a little of Lady Nikos’ money getting Atlas upperclassmen to talk to me and spill the beans on Team Pastel. A use of which I have no doubt Lady Nikos would approve wholeheartedly.”
“Just so long as you didn’t bribe any of Team Pastel to throw the match, I’m sure you’re right,” Pyrrha murmured.
Sunset looked at her. “Pyrrha. Please. I have my pride, and my faith in this team. Anyway, the point is that nobody could — or would — tell me about Phoebe’s semblance.”
“I’m not surprised; I’m not sure myself,” Pyrrha admitted. “Certainly, I’ve never seen her use it. It may not be of much use in combat.”
“Or she’s hiding it,” Ruby suggested.
“It hasn’t done her much good if she’s keeping it quiet,” Jaune pointed out.
“True,” Sunset murmured. “Either way that’s … unfortunate, but it is what it is. If she has a semblance that she can use but isn’t making much of, that’s not something we have to worry about. If it’s a non-combat semblance, then again, we don’t have to worry about it. If it’s something else … there’s nothing we can do. Anyway, moving on to her teammates.” She levitated the black knight up into the air to join the queen. “Mal Sapphire; her semblance is fire-breathing—”
“It’s called Dragonsbreath,” Rainbow said.
“Yeah, but it’s breathing fire, isn’t it?” Sunset replied. “Is she a pyromaniac?”
Rainbow frowned. “I don’t think so, why?”
“Because I’ve heard she lights herself on fire as well,” Sunset said.
“It’s not like that,” Rainbow said. “She sets her cape on fire with dust. You do that too; it doesn’t make you a pyromaniac.”
“I don’t breathe fire as well,” Sunset murmured. “But anyway, she fights with a staff—”
“Don’t let the dust crystal at the top of her staff fool you,” Rainbow said. “She’s got seven dust chambers built into that staff and can cycle between them.”
Sunset levitated the black rook up to join the queen and the knight. “Thorn Hubert; he’s Team Pastel’s long range combatant; he’s an archer and another one who doesn’t make much use of his semblance as far as I could find out.”
“My guess is that whatever his semblance is, it isn’t much use for a bowman,” Rainbow said. “He’s a good shot though, and he uses all kinds of trick arrows.”
“You mean dust?” asked Ruby.
“Dust, sure,” Rainbow said. “But other things too; I once saw him shoot an arrow that burst in mid-air like a Hailstorm missile, and each fragment then exploded when it hit the floor.”
“And lastly,” Sunset said, as she levitated the final black piece, the bishop, up to join the others, “we have Lycus Silvermane—”
“His first name sounds Mistralian,” Pyrrha observed.
“I think he’s from Argus,” Rainbow said. “Mistralian mom, Atlesian dad. Or the other way around. Or something like that.” She paused. “Phoebe pays his way.”
“How do you mean?” asked Jaune.
“I mean that the word around Atlas is that when he started out at the academy, he dressed like Sun,” Rainbow said, “but now, everything he wears is tailored. She buys his loyalty.”
“Let’s not rush to cast aspersions, even if it is Phoebe Kommenos,” Sunset said quickly, a certain stiffness in her voice. “Just because … maybe she recognises his talent and wishes to nurture it.”
“Yes,” Pyrrha agreed. “Yes, you may be right.”
Clearly, Sunset was not enjoying the comparison, and while it was a ridiculous comparison — nobody paid for Sunset’s loyalty, and certainly not Pyrrha’s mother — Pyrrha thought that Sunset might rather move on from the subject instead of being reassured upon the subject.
“Why him?” Jaune asked. “Why him specifically?”
“Because he’s good,” Rainbow replied. “I’d say, having seen the team in action, that he’s the best of them. He’s not always their vanguard — Phoebe likes to go tip of the spear herself, for bragging — but he’s right there beside her. He fights with sickles, although he’s pretty good with his fists, and his semblance—”
“Lets him disguise himself as other people,” Sunset murmured.
“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed. “I don’t think he can do it for very long; I saw him use it once, and it drained his aura like you wouldn’t believe. Like he had a hole in his bucket. He uses it to throw people off their game.”
Sunset nodded. “Having seen them in action, what’s your opinion of them as a team?”
“I don’t like giving Phoebe any credit,” Rainbow muttered, “but she runs a tight ship. She may be an awful person and a poor fighter on her own, but she’s got a good team. They’ve got a good balance of close, medium, and long range, and they all know what they’re doing.”
“Well, so do I,” Sunset muttered. Her brow furrowed. “So, what do we do about this good team that we’re up against? Jaune? Anyone?”
Jaune leaned forward, elbows resting on his knee, one hand cupped around his chin. “You say … you say that Phoebe leads?”
Rainbow nodded. “That’s right. As far as I’ve seen, anyway.”
“Right,” Jaune murmured. He glanced at Pyrrha. “She’s going to go after you. Everything points to it. The fact that you’re rivals, the fact that you’re our best fighter, Mistralian values, it’s all there; she’s going to go for you. I don’t see how she can do anything else.”
“But Pyrrha’s always beating her,” Ruby pointed out.
“I’ve heard that Team Pastel uses numbers,” Sunset said. “They isolate certain members of the opposition, take them out, and then move on.”
“I’d say that’s fair, from watching them,” Rainbow agreed. “From what I’ve seen, they use Mal Sapphire to block; she keeps the … other members of the enemy team pinned down while Phoebe and Lycus deal with the target.”
“And Thorn Hubert?” Jaune asked.
“He can go either way, supporting the Mal or the main thrust; it depends how it goes,” Rainbow said.
“So,” Sunset said, “if we assume Jaune’s right — and he makes a good point — we should expect that Team Pastel will try and isolate Pyrrha and take her out before moving on to the rest of us.”
“But we’re not going to let that happen, right?” Jaune said.
Sunset grinned. “Come down here and play with these chess pieces while we work out how to stop it.”
She put down the black pieces and picked up the white queen, moving it to a position on the carpet a little way away from the others.
“Pyrrha,” she said, “on the basis of past actions and cultural mores and … personal grudges, we say that Phoebe and Lycus will go for her, with possible archery support from Thorn.” She placed the black queen and black bishop near to the white queen, with the black rook set a little behind them. “I agree that’s likely. Thoughts on how to stop it?”
Jaune got up and walked across the room, moving carefully so as not to step on any of the chess pieces. He squatted down opposite Sunset, one hand hovering over the remaining white pieces.
“I’m sure that Pyrrha could take on two opponents,” he began.
“That’ll get you another kiss later,” Sunset muttered, grinning.
“Hey, I’m serious,” Jaune said. “But … it would be best if we didn’t let them have things their own way. I’ll hold off Mal and Lycus; Ruby can take care of Thorn from a distance.” He put the white rook and bishop down on the carpet, moving the black knight and bishop further away from the two queens. “While you stick with Pyrrha.” He put down the white knight next to the white queen.
Rainbow frowned, but said nothing.
Sunset blinked. “You and Ruby?” she said.
Jaune nodded. “Sure. Why?”
“It’s not a bad start,” Sunset said. “But you have it backwards in one respect.” She swapped the white knight and the white rook around. “You stick with Pyrrha. I’ll hold off Mal and Lycus, and like you say, Ruby can take out Thorn.”
“Sniper duel?” Ruby asked.
“Sniper duel,” Sunset confirmed.
“Are we sure that it’s necessary for me to confront Phoebe?” Pyrrha asked. “If this Lycus Silvermane is the best fighter on their team, then perhaps I should seek to oppose him instead?”
“Your fans might prefer another instance of you stomping Phoebe into the ground,” Sunset pointed out.
“Are we here to win or to please my fans?” Pyrrha asked.
“Ideally both,” Sunset replied. “But I take your point—”
“Except that if Phoebe really wants to fight you—” Jaune began.
“That’s no different from her wanting to bring her team to bear on Pyrrha,” Ruby said. “We’re stopping that; why not stop Phoebe?”
“It could be more awkward, but not impossible,” Sunset murmured. “Okay, how is this? Ruby takes care of Thorn; I’ll go for Phoebe; Pyrrha, you and Jaune go for Lycus.” She started rearranging the chess pieces on the floor: the black rook and the white bishop at opposite ends, far away from one another, the white knight against the black queen, the white queen and rook against the black bishop. Only the black knight remained. Sunset tossed it up and down in her hands. “But what would Mal Sapphire do in that circumstance? Support her leader, or support Lycus?”
“I could … at least delay her,” Jaune offered.
“On the logic that our opponents will at least try and swarm Pyrrha, I’d rather have you stay close by her so that she’s not alone,” Sunset said. “And besides, you’re more use for your semblance than your sword. No offence.”
“None taken,” Jaune said.
“If Mal Sapphire does attempt to support Lycus Silvermane, then I should be able to deal with them both,” Pyrrha said. “As should you, Sunset, I think. Certainly, you are Phoebe’s equal, else she would have faced you for Soteria herself.”
Sunset nodded. “Okay then. Obviously, things like the terrain will play their part, but in principle, I think we have the beginnings of a plan.”
Phoebe Kommenos was in her own dorm room, in the bathroom, with the door closed.
She wanted a little privacy.
Her purse sat on the washboard in front of her, open.
She had taken the pictures of her mother and sister out and placed them up against the wall, with the scented candles burning around them and the little silver icons of the gods of Mistral placed nearby, with the candlelight reflecting off the metal.
Not many people were religious these days, but Phoebe’s ancestor had fought a war for self-expression, so she would make her respects to the gods when she wished to. Nobody in her team questioned it. If they ever wondered why the bathroom smelt sometimes, they didn’t ask her.
Phoebe breathed in deeply, inhaling the scent of ocean air that wafted from the burning blue candles.
Her eyes fell on the little icons of the gods. The gods of her household were all gone; they had burned in the fire that had swept through the House of Kommenos and claimed the lives of her mother and sister; the clay had cracked, the metal had melted, there had been nothing left of the gods of the household — the gods who had failed to protect the household. It was fitting, perhaps, that they should have burned alongside those who they were meant to watch over.
But it meant that Phoebe was without household gods, just as she was without a home or a household. It was only the gods of Mistral that she could speak to now, where she was but one voice amongst many that still called out to them.
Nevertheless, she would speak.
Phoebe closed her eyes. “Erech, god of the underworld, god of the dead, look kindly upon the souls of my mother and sister as they wander in the domain of shades. Lead them to the Blessed Isles where the grain-giving earth bears honey-scented fruit. Let them live afterlives untouched by misery.
“And if the gods and merciful shall grant me victory upon this day, then let the sound of my triumph echo down into the domain of the shades and let it reach their ears through the gate of ivory that they may know it is no false dream but the truth. Let them know that I have done well at last. That I have laid her low and bested her and redeemed the honour of our house against the House of Nikos.
“Callisto, sharpen my mind and make me cunning. Eulalia, loud of the war cry, strengthen my arm. Thessaly, lady of the night, shower down a hundred curses upon Pyrrha Nikos and let her be wracked with a thousand pains like maggots devouring her from the inside out until she is consumed by them. Let her die, but let me defeat her before she dies.
“All of this, I ask, O gods, and vow to command the sacrifice of a white bull from my herds, and two fat sows besides, that the scent of their flesh will waft up to the skies and be most pleasing to your nostrils.”
Phoebe opened her eyes, her gaze fixing upon the picture of Philonoe. How fair might she have grown to be, had she lived? Would she not have been a beauty to dazzle all of Mistral and put Pyrrha Nikos in the shade?
Turnus would have loved you fair, for all he turns his eyes away from me. He would have loved you, and it would have contented me to see you wed the Lord Rutulus, my sweet, dear sister.
Oh, happy fair.
Oh what a life that was denied to us.
Watch me, sister. I will yet give you reason to be proud.
Phoebe blew out the candles, and as the smoke filled the bathroom, she picked up her pictures and put them away in her purse, closing it up with a snap and a click of the clasp, before she…
Before she looked up, and caught sight of her own face in the bathroom mirror.
This is your last chance.
Your last chance, and you will waste it, as you have so many other chances before.
You can’t beat her. You never have, and you never have because she’s better than you. Better and more fortunate in every way, blessed by the gods.
She has everything, and you have nothing. You deserve to have nothing.
Such a disappointment.
Phoebe’s face twisted into a snarling scowl as she slammed her fist into the mirror, shattering it, sending cracks spreading out across the glass, her single reflection becoming half a hundred different reflections, all looking at her with anger and disgust.
“Phoe—” Lycus started to speak from outside, his voice coming in from the other side of the door. “My lady?”
He understood deference, did Lycus, even if he was only an Argive mongrel, a half-breed in every way. He understood what she required of him, not only in battle, but in other respects as well. He understood how she expected him to behave if he was to maintain the lifestyle to which, thanks to her, he had become accustomed.
He was a good boy.
Phoebe picked up her purse, holding it in one hand as she stepped out of the bathroom.
Lycus was waiting for her, already dressed for battle, wearing custom-fitted blue jeans with black synthetic poleyns and cuisses strapped to his upper legs and knees and a hole specially cut at the back for his grey lupine tail to emerge without damaging the integrity of the pants; often, when faunus had to take scissors to their garments, it led to things starting to unravel, but not in this case. His black t-shirt was tight over his body, revealing every muscle underneath, while more muscles bulged upon his arms, only partly hidden by the black synthetic coulters and vambraces around his lower arms and elbows. His shoulder pauldrons, too, were black, as were the fingerless gloves that sat upon his hands. He was already armed, a pair of sickles thrust into his belt. Around his left arm, he wore a plain gold honour band, a band that she had given him to bind him to her.
His features were sharp, and his hair was long and silver white and the most untidy thing about him, a long shock of hair falling down between his eyes and covering his nose, partly concealing one blue eye from view. He was a handsome youth. If he were not a faunus, if he were not of such common birth, if he were fully Mistralian, then she might … but no. No, she was not Pyrrha Nikos to be so heedless of custom, manners, and propriety. Faunus might make good servants, but servants made poor partners.
He was useful, but his uses had limits.
“Is everything okay, my lady?” he asked.
“Everything’s fine,” she said briskly as she shut the bathroom door. She would get Mal to clean up the broken glass later.
Phoebe walked to the desk that ran along the wall of this Beacon room, pulled out a chair, and sat down upon it, facing Lycus.
He kept his eyes upon her.
“Once, long ago, when Mistral was young,” Phoebe said, “Mistral went to war with the Kingdom of Thrace, a rival for power in Anima. The Emperor sent his best and noblest general, Lord Paullus, to subjugate the Thracians, and he did, defeating them in battle and taking their queen prisoner. Lord Paullus brought the Thracian Queen Tamara home to Mistral in chains, accompanied by her husband and children. But for Paullus, the victory was tinged with bitterness, for both his sons had perished in the war, and he had no other heirs to carry on his line. The House of Paullus would end with him. So who was the more fortunate, or unfortunate, in the end? The general who conquered his enemies and won great glory; or the queen who was defeated, but who yet had the consolation of her family around her even in the midst of ruin. Who was the more unfortunate?”
Lycus was quiet for a moment. “I would say … it was the queen,” he said. “Yeah, she had her family still, but the Emperor could have had them all killed whenever he wanted, and there would have been nothing that she could do about it.”
No, you’re wrong; the most unfortunate person is myself, Phoebe thought, for I have neither great glory in arms to take pride in nor the love of my family to console me in the lack of great accomplishment.
I have nothing and no one.
While she has both, glory and love. How is that fair? How can that be just? How can it be right that not one single tragedy has befallen her to balance out the blessings she has had of fortune?
“What…?” Lycus pause for a moment. “What did happen to her, my lady?”
“Who?”
“The Queen of the Thracians.”
“Oh,” Phoebe said, “the Emperor’s son became besotted with the beauty of Tamara’s daughter and took the Thracian princess to wife. When he took the throne, he raised her kinsfolk to high honour.” And now, they are the Stewards of Mistral and rule the city in the absence of an Emperor. How fortune turns.
“Huh,” Lycus said. “Lucky them.”
“Yes,” Phoebe murmured. “Lucky them.” She paused. “Get Mal and Thorn in here.”
Lycus got to his feet. “Right away, my lady.”
He crossed the room in quick strides, flinging the door open. “In,” he said peremptorily.
Mal Sapphire and Thorn Hubert shuffled inside from where they had been waiting in the corridor for her to be ready to deal with them.
Mal was a little sheep faunus girl, with ram’s horns emerging from out of the sides of her head to curl around her ears. Her hair was blonde, dyed blue at the tips to match her eyes, and her features were soft, too soft in Phoebe’s opinion; she looked as though she were forever about to start crying. She wore a sapphire blue dress with long, baggy sleeves, although much of it was covered by a black cloak that trailed along the floor.
Thorn was a little shorter than Lycus, but broader in the shoulder and just as muscular in the arms. He was dressed in various shades of brown and green, like a mixture of fresh leaves and dead ones, with the sleeves of his tunic rolled up to expose his biceps to view. His hair was dark and cut short, and his features were square and solid like an anvil fit for smithing swords upon.
Phoebe regarded them both, her gaze flitting from one to the other.
She did not invite them to sit down, nor did they move to do so. Even Lycus remained standing after he shut the door behind them.
“This battle,” she said, “will not be an easy one. The reputation of our enemies goes before them, and that reputation is … well merited. I do not walk into the arena expecting easy victories. But nor will I resign myself to defeat, not yet.”
Though I cannot outfight Pyrrha, I may yet outwit her.
“Nor will I permit you to resign yourselves to defeat either; we may yet triumph. We may yet cover ourselves in glory and bring honour to our names. We may, I say we shall yet win because we will confound their expectations.
“They think that we will focus on Pyrrha, their strongest, their champion; they think that Mistralian honour and my pride will compel me to seek her out. No doubt, they are already making plans for how to counter our plans that they have imagined in their minds. But it will not be so.” On the desk were four pictures, pictures of the members of Team SAPR. Phoebe spread them out, pushing them closer to Mal and Thorn. Her fingers lingered over Pyrrha’s boyfriend, Jaune Arc. “We will deal with the weakest members of Team Sapphire first: Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose; only then will we confront the stronger half of the team, when we have the advantage of numbers. In this way, we will take them completely by surprise and force them to react to us and our actions. Thorn: when the battle begins, you will make Sunset and Pyrrha dance with your arrows; Lycus, you and Mal will cut off Jaune Arc from all aid and tear through his aura.”
“He’s got a lot of it, my lady,” Lycus murmured.
“I’m sure that you can destroy quite a lot of it at a time,” Phoebe told him. “Can you not?”
Lycus nodded. “I’ll get it done.”
“Then do so,” Phoebe said. “And leave Ruby Rose to me; she will be helpless once I close the distance with her. Once those two have been eliminated, then, and only then, will we focus our efforts on Pyrrha; in the second stage of the battle, Mal, you will occupy Sunset Shimmer until Pyrrha has been eliminated, then the rest of us will join you. Do you all understand?”
They nodded their assent. That was all she required.
“Good,” Phoebe said. “Very good.”
They’ll never see it coming.
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RUBY ROSE will be helpless in melee?
ROTFL… are you kidding me? Wow. Phoebe… not unless you get rid of Crescent Rose first… and can keep Ruby from using her semblance.
I know that, canonically, Ruby sucks at hand to hand… but unless she’s out of aura, why would she ever need to resort to hand to hand unless she has to defend a fixed position. She’s all but impossible to lock down with her semblance. In an open battlefield like the arena, she’ll be zipping away to snipe again… or to gain speed and take you out with a single super speed slash from Crescent Rose.
With the way Sunset has her fighting, she’ll probably just petal out of range and resume sniping… and with her semblance she can get distance and get into firing position again faster than any other sniper we’ve seen in this story.
No… you certainly won’t be beating Ruby, Phoebe. But then, it’d be a shock if SAPR even loses Jaune… it’s going to be a 4-0 win.
Ooh, even from just their plans, I'm liking the new SAPR v. PSTL fight already
I have to say, Phoebe is horribly underestimating Ruby. Not only would Phoebe have to catch Ruby ('cause, y'know, Petal Burst), but she'd have Sunset to deal with.
And Sunset vs. Phoebe? Oh, that is gonna be glorious! (Cinder might get a kick out of it, too)
The fact that Sunset is prepared and her plan is well-thought-out compared to Phoebe, who only really takes strength into account, and not weapons, semblances and range like Sunset, I can think of a quote from Sun Tzu's Art of War:
Welp, never though Phoebe will follow the plan I devised while reading sunset's plan XD, Joune arc first, then Ruby while running for sunset and Phyrra, Pyrrha and finally Sunset, with some twicks, and i added twicks with broken patterns and other stuff that crossed my mind as a playgame XD, anyway, regardless, Pheobe will lose, she appears that she hasn't investigated much about her opponents, you can't rush to Ruby just like that, the lack of information will make her lose, but they will hold a good fight nonetheless.
I had this idea where after we have this:
Rainbow hasn't been helping as much as she could here, and throwing wrenches into Sunsets planning seems like a Rainbow thing to do.
I love this renewed discussion between Kali, Cadence and General Ironwood.
Oh, Pheobe... you poor fool. Always thinking only of yourself, you thought only how SAPR would plan for you, but not the rest of your team. You equate glory as strength. You only think Pyrrha is great because of her heritage and station, and that Sunset is great because of her viral video and Lady Nikkos' patronage. That is why you have not given a single thought to the ability of Jaune or even Ruby Rose. You probably dismissed Ruby's abilities once you heard she wield's the tool of a 'farmer', assuming you bothered to pay her even that much attention. And that is why your 'plan' is not a strategy, for it's barely even a goal.
Pride cometh before the fall. A fall that we have been eagerly awaiting since Phoebe sabotaged the Grimm lures and nearly got so many killed. This will be a most satisfying match. A fall that will be well-deserved.
I wonder... how would Phoebe feel if she knew that her beloved sister died because of how she bullied and terrorized Cinder? That the worthless servant girl she had beaten because she couldn't beat Pyrrha has risen so high that she is now the only one the Invincible Girl fears?
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In fairness to Phoebe, the fundamental idea is sound... Or as sound as any plan could be when fighting against SAPR. Focusing on Sunset or Pyrrha while the rest of the team is up is just going to result in your team breaking against a freaking wall.
While Jaune has come a long way and improved greatly, his reputation as one of the lower skilled huntsmen of his year may haunt him for quite a long time. Ruby in turn has kind of fallen into the background since Sunset and Pyrrha hold most of the limelight; Not saying she would have a bad reputation or anything, but it's easy to see how someone outside looking in might see her as being carried by Sunset and Pyrrha without having to be overly talented herself.
I'm honestly more amazed that Phoebe hasn't attempted something underhanded outside of the arena in order to stack things in her favor, like poisoning members of team SAPR; Something that would weaken them in the battle itself, but wouldn't stop them from competing because winning via the other team being unable to battle wouldn't be a true victory for Phoebe.
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That's exactly it. Phoebe equates glory and fame as strength. Ruby and Jaune don't make the effort to stand out, and she didn't bother to look any further. Whereas Sunset has done an abundance of careful investigation and asking around about Phoebe and her team, even used a bit of Lady Nikkos' funds to do so. Phoebe has even more money to splash around and she still doesn't make even half the same effort, not even hiring someone else to investigate for her.
As for trying more underhanded tactics, we know that she is usually eager to do so. Like I said, she once lured tons of Grimm to get Sunset killed (regardless of other student casualties) so she could take Soteria from Sunset's dead hands. However, Cinder retaliated by sending Lightning to teach Phoebe a brutal lesson, with the warning to leave Team SAPR alone.
I think it's always been a little sad that Ruby gets relegated to support fire so often under Sunset's leadership since she's a beast in close combat so long as she's not disarmed, and even then it'd be hard to keep her from just snatching her weapon back up a dash later with her semblance. Hell even when she does use the gun part of Crescent Rose in the show it's usually quite close if not straight up point blank.
It's understandable of course, and not even necessarily the wrong move on Sunset's part as she really is, for better or worse, the most sensible long range option given the team's composition. It could be argued Sunset would be better suited to ranged support with her magic and that it's really just the way she uses it that makes her to a mid-range fighter but that's a whole other tangent.
Either way I'm glad that it seems like our girl will get a chance to shine beyond just fire support for her one battle of the tournament because Phoebe's in for quite the surprise when she learns it's the Scythe part of sniper-scythe that Ruby's always put the emphasis on
Is something missing from this paragraph?
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I don't think so. I could be wrong but I'm not seeing it.
11646283
The bit I am questioning is "General Ironwood." There is no action, implying either the name is only there to indicate who is speaking, or that what he might be doing or expressing is missing from the paragraph.
(It stands out as a bit strange because the paragraphs before and after do not note speakers in the same way, and that is the *entire* paragraph.)
Well Phobe’s plan works perfectly fine for Sapr. Juan’s was already planning on fighting Lycus, and Sunset was already get between Phobe and her target. They’re just going to be some initial confusion in the beginning for them they will easily recover from.