History Fanfic / ArcCorp

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Jaune gives Pyrrha one after the latter's rants against anomalies lead to her claiming that he might secretly be working against ARC Corp due to his status as one. He pulls rank to reminder her that despite his status as the family's black sheep, he can still make a case for her removal, before chewing her out for her attitude and promising not to speak up on her behalf if the stress of the job gets to the point where she possibly becomes an anomaly herself.

* BadBadActing: A variant. The illusions of Kali Belladonna and Nicholas Arc act reasonably like people caught in a house fire, but they act nothing like the real ones would.

* BeastWithAHumanFace: The anomaly at the Scarlatina residence takes the form of a giant spider with a mostly human head on top. Human-like, but like a half-melted mannequin head with multiple empty, glowing eye sockets, and a nested mouth consisting of a ring of molars and proper mandibles inside. It ends up becoming the Containment Branch's TeamPet.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: This is part of the central conflict between Jaune and Ozpin. Having been raised in ARC Corp, Jaune is of the firm opinion that all anomalies, beneficial or not, need to be contained and kept away from the public. Ozpin however, being an anomaly himself, feels that some anomalies can benefit Remnant and should be approached on a case-by-case basis. Subverted, for as the fic goes on, it becomes clear that Jaune is actually the grey between his family's pure anti-anomaly stance and Ozpin's optimistic belief that anomalies and humanity can live in harmony, believing instead that the masquerade must be maintained for the good of ''both'' groups due to how easily things could go off the rails. It's later revealed that [[spoiler:Jaune allows dozens of anomalies, both in and outside Vale, to roam free so long as they can keep a low profile, being on friendly terms and working alongside several that live in the city proper. Naturally, he never reports their existences to his family, and he also refuses to let Ozpin know about this element of his beliefs as well, as he doesn't want the parasite to think he can be fully swayed to his viewpoint either.]]

** Similarly, there is friction between different offices of ARC Corp, particularly in regards to the Fist Office run by Saphron and Terra Arc, as they are typically called in as reinforcements against particularly nasty anomalies, meaning they wind up stepping on the other party's toes more often than not.

* LikeFatherUnlikeSon: While Jaune seeks to record and contain as many anomalies as possible, and even [[spoiler:works alongside them]], Nicholas errs on the side of MurderIsTheBestSolution and prefers to eliminate all anomalies found. This contrast is also found in their office names; Nicholas runs the Blades Office, while Jaune runs the Containment Office.

* Magic8Ball: When ARC Corp infiltrates the Schnee auction in Vale, the anomaly on offer is an unassuming magic 8-ball toy, except it apparently gives ''[[TheOmniscient specific and accurate]]'' answers to any question it's asked. ARC, who are more familiar than most with anomalies and the Schnee family, know it makes no sense for them to sell something as powerful as they're implying this ball is, and deduce there ''must'' be a twist or a catch they're leaving out. [[spoiler:The ball's answers are only as specific as the asker's knowledge, meaning it can't tell the user anything they don't already know. It's still not technically useless (it could serve as a lie detector), but far from the all-seeing oracle everyone was misled into thinking it is]].

** [[spoiler:Jaune, to avoid what he views as unnecessary violence, upholds another for all sentient anomalies in Vale. Or, rather, he set the terms of the masquerade and they police themselves. That way, the more kill-happy members of his family don't learn of the anomalies' existence and intervene.]]

** Once an anomaly has been contained or terminated, ARC Corp assigns them a name that references what they are/were. Of the anomalies Blake and Jaune have encountered so far:

** Additionally, the various offices of ARC Corp itself bear names that relate to those offices' methods. [[MurderIsTheBestSolution The Blades Office]], for example, focuses on destroying anomalies; the Fist Office is noted as being as subtle as a punch to the face; and the Containment Office secures anomalies without destroying them, if at all possible.

* MercyKill: Saphron uses this as justification for her attempt to blow up the book anomaly while Jaune is stuck to it, claiming death is preferable to being an anomaly's thrall. Jaune later confirms that this is company policy.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Blake, to an extent. In Chapter 26, it is revealed that Arc Corp has spent years trying to make Jaune unable to develop any close relationships, [[spoiler:believing such a thing would inevitably lead to him becoming an anomaly]], only for Blake to show up and befriend him before they could learn of her presence and get rid of her. While Saphron is miffed by this, Nicholas eventually sees this as a boon once it becomes clear how attached Blake is to his son, reasoning that it's valuable to have someone who will be motivated to actually keep Jaune under control.

* StalkerWithoutACrush: Ruby got involved with Jaune and Arc Corp because she saw him hunting an anomaly and followed him around because he claimed to be Huntsman tracking a Grimm. When Blake jokingly asks if her obsession with becoming a member of the organization extends to any romantic interest in Jaune after she compares her devotion to getting hired to her mother's ten year quest to bed Taiyang, Ruby is horrified at the notion. [[spoiler: Chapter 67 however reveals that Ruby actually does have a crush on him.]]

* TagalongKid: A more useful example than most. Ruby works alongside Jaune and Blake investigating Wheat Valley for her week of required work experience. Since she's a Huntress in training she carries her weight and [[spoiler:saves both Jaune and Blake after the two are trapped by the farmers exploiting the anomaly]].

** Jaune and Ozpin openly dislike each other, but they do agree that anomalies shouldn't be abused. When the latter comes across a potential anomaly, he tells ARC Corp about it so that they contain it and he helps cover it up to keep the peace. And despite the constant barbs, their relationship is far more civil compared to Ozpin's and Nicholas's, as while Jaune simply wants to see him contained, his father wants Ozpin dead and tried to kill him the last time he was in Vale (Ozpin doesn't seem to hold a grudge about it, though).

* TakeThat: Jaune delivers one to ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' and other supernatural romance fiction by describing the Blood that Feeds, an anomalous blood disease that served as the inspiration for the vampire myth in-universe, outright stating that it’s nothing like popular media has said about them. Blake even decides to burn her fantasy novels after hearing him.

* BeastWithAHumanFace: The anomaly at the Scarlatina residence takes the form of a giant spider with a mostly human head on top. Human-like, but like a half-melted mannequin head with multiple empty, glowing eye sockets, and a nested mouth consisting of a ring of molars and proper mandibles inside.

*** Winter is the most ruthless and villainous of the Schnee family to date. She has a fondness for hosting auctions to sell anomalies, finding a perverse joy in witnessing the chaos she causes with them. She is also dead set on causing Jaune to [[spoiler:complete his partial transformation and]] become an anomalous being himself, and is willing to kill those close to him in order to force him over the DespairEventHorizon to do so.
*** Weiss is at the very least aware and complicit in the SDC selling anomalies for profit. Winter as well is shown to be ruthless and used the ''Rusted Queen'' as a lure to distract and very likely kill Jaune despite the risk it posed to the city.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: [[spoiler:The PerceptionFilter effect of "I AM DOG" turns out to work on animals as well as humans. The upshot of this is that Zwei sees Blake as a dog... a very attractive dog who he tries to chat up, much to her horror.]]

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:"Uncle Grass", a child trafficker operating in Menagerie, is hunted down and [[KillItWithFire incinerated]] by Jaune.]]

* StalkerWithoutACrush: Ruby got involved with Jaune and Arc Corp because she saw him hunting an anomaly and followed him around because he claimed to be Huntsman tracking a Grimm. When Blake jokingly asks if her obsession with becoming a member of the organization extends to any romantic interest in Jaune after she compares her devotion to getting hired to her mother's ten year quest to bed Taiyang, Ruby is horrified at the notion.

** Blake does not get into Beacon because she escapes the train early. She never met Ozpin and never formed a deal with him.

* IRejectYourReality: The Mountain Glenn anomaly came from this. [[spoiler:A new mother refused to believe that her baby would die or even that carrying it would likely kill her. When it died during the cesarian she became an anomaly in order to undo its death. A final message from the doctor even makes it clear that she wasn't in denial, she honestly thought nothing would go wrong]].

* KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade: Subverted. Qrow insists that this is ARC Corp's usual tactic whenever someone learns about anomalies. However, as Jaune explained to Blake during a separate conversation in an earlier chapter, this is only an extreme last-case scenario used if someone actually has proof and absolutely can't be convinced against sharing it. The vast majority of the time, witnesses of ARC Corp operations either keep quiet of their own violation (even if it's because they know no one would believe them) or join the company themselves.

** [[spoiler:Mountain Glenn is the way it is because of a couple expecting a child, which would be born fatally deformed, but were in denial about it. When the fateful operation was carried out, the newborn passed as expected, and the unhinged grieving mother became anomalous and ''reversed all death in the area'' to bring the child back... and would continue to do so every time the baby still couldn't survive, like clockwork. Because of two people who refused to listen to sound medical advice, a small city and its entire population were condemned]].

* MoneyIsNotPower: Mountain Glenn was started thanks to [[spoiler:a rich couple who couldn't understand that their money was not enough to save their fatally malformed baby]].

* BigScrewedUpFamily: Blake views Jaune's family in this manner as she learns more about them. It comes to a head when she calls Saphron after Jaune is captured during a mission and, rather than start planning a rescue, Saphron talks about {{Mercy Kill}}ing her brother without a second thought and finding someone to replace him. She's so aghast when Jaune not only explains afterwards that this is standard procedure, but also implies that some of his other siblings would actually get some enjoyment from murdering him, that she drags him off to meet her parents so he can know what an actual loving family is like. Her hatred of them manages to deepen even more when she learns that [[spoiler:several of his siblings indeed wish he was dead, and that Jaune's father actually did attempt to kill him at one point, only stopping when one of his sisters pointed out that he could make for an interesting test subject.]] For his part, Jaune is well aware that his family is awful, though it's unclear how deep his awareness of their hatred for him goes: it's telling that the family member he likes and admires the most is [[his godmother, Salem, if only because their shared anomalous nature helps them bond]].

* BigScrewedUpFamily: Blake views Jaune's family in this manner as she learns more about them. It comes to a head when she calls Saphron after Jaune is captured during a mission and, rather than start planning a rescue, Saphron talks about {{Mercy Kill}}ing her brother without a second thought and finding someone to replace him. She's so aghast when Jaune not only explains afterwards that this is standard procedure, but also implies that some of his other siblings would actually get some enjoyment from murdering him, that she drags him off to meet her parents so he can know what an actual loving family is like. Her hatred of them manages to deepen even more when she learns that [[spoiler:several of his siblings indeed wish he was dead, and that Jaune's father actually did attempt to kill him at one point, only stopping when one of his sisters pointed out that he could make for an interesting test subject.]] For his part, Jaune is well aware that his family is awful, even if he doesn't know as much about the truth as Blake discovers.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality:
** This is part of the central conflict between Jaune and Ozpin. Having been raised in ARC Corp, Jaune is of the firm opinion that all anomalies, beneficial or not, need to be contained and kept away from the public. Ozpin however, being an anomaly himself, feels that some anomalies can benefit Remnant and should be approached on a case-by-case basis.
** As the fic goes on, it becomes clear that Jaune is the grey between his family's pure anti-anomaly stance and Ozpin's optimistic belief that anomalies and humanity can live in harmony, believing instead that the masquerade must be maintained for the good of ''both'' groups due to how easily things could go off the rails. Hence why he opts to contain anomalies instead of killing them, since he thinks there's no reason to destroy them as long as they don't cause active harm. It's later revealed that [[spoiler:Jaune allows dozens of anomalies, both in and outside Vale, to roam free so long as they can keep a low profile, being on friendly terms and working alongside several that live in the city proper. Naturally, he never reports their existences to his family, and he also refuses to let Ozpin know about this element of his beliefs as well, as he doesn't want the parasite to think he can be fully swayed to his viewpoint either.]]
* BlackComedy:

** Jaune's interest in anomalies and preference to keeping them contained makes him this in contrast to the rest of his family who prefer to approach to them. The rest of the family's frosty attitude towards him isn't helped by [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead his role in the death of his mother]] or [[spoiler: his anomalous nature; his family only tolerates his existence because Coral made a case of using him for anomaly research]].

* CruelToBeKind: Jaune rather harshly and bluntly tells Ruby that she's fired in Chapter 27, when he and Blake return to Vale to discover that [[spoiler:Yang is in the office and now aware of anomalies.]] Jaune explains to Blake after everyone else leaves that he never planned to hire her full-time anyway out of concern for her safety and this was as good a time as any to properly reject her, insisting that it was far nicer than anything his siblings would have done. [[spoiler:Though Jaune later apologizes offscreen and ends up keeping her as an office-sitter whenever he and Blake are out of town.]]
* CutenessProximity: Ruby thinks the Guardian Weaver is cute, to Blake's confusion. She has a similar reaction to the globe, though she also uses it to invoke some lighthearted AGodAmI antics.

* ExperiencedProtagonist: Zigzagged with Jaune. On the one hand, he's new to running an office, has no formal combat training, and has initially has a problem with forgetting that Blake ''is'' new to ARC Corp and thus doesn't realize things Jaune takes for granted. On the other hand, he ''has'' dealt with anomalies since birth, is good at the investigative part of the job, and has amicable connections with everyone from the local business that supplies his and Blake's suits to [[spoiler:various anomalies that live in Vale]].

* FamilyBusiness: ARC Corp is run by Jaune’s family, who have been a part of the company for generations. Jaune himself started working there only two weeks before the story begins.

* FantasticNuke: Terra's Slaved Anomaly appears to be an orb with disconcerting lights sparkling inside it, which is implied to harness the power of the stars themselves. She can load the power into her gun, and when it's charged enough the resulting blast is enough to obliterate an entire cargo ship and leave a crater ''in the ocean''.

* FluffyTheTerrible: The Guardian Weaver from the Scarlatina case is a dog-sized spider with a human face that Blake doesn't want anything to do with. Jaune decides to name it Timothy and it becomes the office pet.

** Ruby wasn't invited to attend Beacon early because the night of Torchwick's robbery, she got sidetracked watching Jaune writing on a wall with white chalk during an anomaly bust. Ozpin does grant her the offer regardless when he runs into her at Jaune's office in an early chapter, but by that point, she's too enamored with Arc Corp to care.

* AGodAmI: PlayedForLaughs, in that Ruby regularly makes announcements to the globe in Jaune's office as though she were their god. Said announcements include "don't abandon your pets", "eating cookies is a religious expression", and "don't do any holy wars".

* GondorCallsForAid: Cruelly subverted in Chapter 18. When Jaune is captured by an anomaly, Blake is forced to run and call for help. The Fist Office agrees to "help" by planning to blow up the building with Jaune in it and promising to find Blake a new boss as soon as they can, while Ozpin just refuses to help altogether due to his past with Arc Corp. Ultimately, Blake has to rescue Jaune with no one but Timothy to help her.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Ozpin says he participated in the ARC containment failure ages ago because some anomalies were in their custody which had properties that were desperately needed for humanity's survival. Jaune doesn't buy it -- the way he tells it, at the time the Grimm ''weren't'' an existential threat to humanity.

* ImplausibleDeniability: As it's company policy not to let ''anything'' slip about anomalies to non-employees, Jaune spends his first meeting with Blake desperately trying to play off the mountain of evidence (including his own actions) that something is seriously wrong.

* InVinoVeritas: Blake briefly muses about this while thinking about her relationship with Jaune, begrudgingly admitting that her attraction to Jaune when under the influence of a recent anomaly is a sign that she might want a romantic relationship with him.

** When trying to convince Ruby that it would be better to allow Ozpin get his hands on a new Anomaly up for auction, Qrow brings up Summer Rose's death and the thought that said Anomaly's [[TheOmniscient purported powers]] could have prevented her death. [[WhatTheHellHero Blake reads him the riot act of how unacceptable that emotional blackmail was]].

* KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade: Subverted. Qrow insists that this is ARC Corp's usual tactic whenever someone learns about anomalies. However, as Jaune explains to Blake during a separate conversation in an earlier chapter, this is only an extreme last-case scenario used if someone actually has proof and absolutely can't be convinced against sharing it. The vast majority of the time, witnesses of ARC Corp operations keep quiet of their own violation, even if it's because they know no one would believe them.

** While Jaune is aware that [[spoiler:''he'' is considered an anomaly]], he's seemingly unaware that [[spoiler:his unique status of being the only known human to resist a full transformation is the ''sole'' reason that he's still alive, as it makes him a valuable research subject for Coral regarding such cases. On the whole, his family views him as an odd curiosity at best, and is right alongside Coral as an annoyance that should be killed immediately at worst, and he is completely none the wiser to the depths of his family's animosity towards him]]. Naturally, Blake's opinion of Jaune's family only manages to sink even lower upon learning this.

* LotusEaterMachine: The textbook creature's trump card when all else fails is to invoke the power of fiction -- [[spoiler:literally writing a passage of the story and ensnaring Blake in it, trapping her in a scene where all her loved ones call her a disappointment and the narration urges her to kill herself as penance for her crimes. Jaune stops her from going through with it and breaks the illusion]].

* Magic8Ball: When ARC Corp infiltrates the Schnee auction in Vale, the anomaly on offer is an unassuming magic 8-ball toy, except it apparently gives ''[[TheOmniscient specific and accurate]]'' answers to any question it's asked. ARC, who are more familiar than most with anomalies and the Schnee family, know it makes no sense for them to sell something as powerful as they're implying this ball is, and deduce there ''must'' be a twist or a catch they're leaving out. [[spoiler:Then they discover the truth: the ball's answers are only as specific as the asker's knowledge, meaning it can't tell the user anything they don't already know. It's still not technically useless (it could serve as a lie detector), but far from the all-seeing oracle everyone was misled into thinking it is]].

* {{Anticlimax}}: Ozpin reveals to Blake that Faunus are anomalies in Chapter 18, something that had been foreshadowed in prior conversations with Weiss and Saphron. But since she's focused on Jaune's safety more than anything else at the moment, Blake directly tells Ozpin that she doesn't care at all about this or his attached HannibalLecture. This is made even less impactful when Jaune explains several chapters later that Faunus are moreso ''anomalous'', being descended from an anomaly, than anomalies themselves.

** Jaune's main point of contention regarding Terra's Slaved Anomaly, ''A Scene of Stars'', is that, when she uses it to steal stars for her weapon, she is causing potential Class X-2 events (or at least a variant thereof) in the solar systems from which she stole them, essentially consigning to death every scrap of life in the entirety of said systems.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: A Beacon student intended to use the ''Blank Slate'' so they could become invisible and turn Beacon into their playground. They did indeed become invisible -- and their life and identity are completely erased to the point that no one will ''ever'' see them again, even themselves.

** As the fic goes on, it becomes clear that Jaune is the grey between his family's pure anti-anomaly stance and Ozpin's optimistic belief that anomalies and humanity can live in harmony, believing instead that the masquerade must be maintained for the good of ''both'' groups due to how easily things could go off the rails. Hence why he opts to contain anomalies instead of killing them, since he thinks there's no reason to destroy them as long as they don't cause active harm. It's later revealed that [[spoiler:Jaune allows dozens of anomalies, both in and outside Vale, to roam free so long as they can keep a low profile, being on friendly terms and working alongside several that live in the city proper. Naturally, he never reports their existences to his family, and he also refuses to let Ozpin know about his element of his beliefs as well, as he doesn't want the parasite to think he can be fully swayed to his viewpoint either.]]

** Jaune's interest in anomalies and preference to keeping them contained makes him this in contrast to the rest of his family who prefer to approach to them. The rest of the family's frosty attitude towards him isn't helped by [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead his role in the death of his mother]].

* BrokenMasquerade: ARC Corp works very hard to prevent this, but there have been times in the past where they failed and they need to switch to explaining away the anomaly as something natural. Notably, Aura and Semblances are actually a side effect of an anomaly called "Light of the Soul" that was released by Ozpin to counter the Grimm, which are another anomaly with the full name of "Brother's Grimm". Though this also extends to seemingly mundane things, such as why wires become so easily tangled, with Jaune writing a paper to explain that this was simply based on probability when he was younger.

* DetonationMoon: The moon of Remnant was broken by an anomaly of some sort. Janue is sincerely annoyed at Blake for not realizing that herself.

** Pyrrha is such a believer in the Fist Office's tactics because her first encounter with an anomaly left her trapped in a tunnel of love with Saphron and Terra for five whole years, on top of almost being eaten alive at the end of it.

** Jaune's interest in Anomalies and preference to keeping them contained makes him this in contrast to the rest of his family who prefer to approach to them. The rest of the family's frosty attitude towards him isn't helped by [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead his role in the death of his mother]].

* BrainsAndBrawn: Discussed, with Blake viewing her and Jaune's dynamic as such. Since she has the aura, training, and combat semblance, she sees herself as the brawn who handles the more dangerous anomalies and bodyguards Jaune; meanwhile, Jaune is the brains that focuses mainly on the investigation and research side of things due to his years of experience and knowledge.

* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: Working for ARC Corp and regular interaction with anomalies invokes this in Blake, who after the mess that was Mountain Glenn, finds that Timothy no longer remotely scares her and joins Jaune and Ruby in treating it as the TeamPet. She even notes how silly it was to ever fear him, as he is basically a ball of affection.

* DealWithTheDevil: Blake makes a deal with a fae entity residing in one of Coral's anomalies, the ''Lady of the Lake'': [[spoiler:in exchange for her ability to feel emotions for a week, she would gain a power that can easily kill an anomalized Winter. While under the contract, the being also briefly takes control of Blake to make the faunus officially claim it as her Slaved Anomaly, in hopes of enticing her to make future dealings]]. Blake is understandably not of a fan of this, but learns that she's also under a {{geas}} that renders her unable to reveal this information to Jaune or anyone else.

** Unlike Coeur's other works with Jaune's family, [[spoiler:Juniper Arc]] was killed before the story began.
** Winter is KilledOffForReal after Arc Corp raids the SDC and kills her after she becomes anomalized.

* ForcefulKiss: [[spoiler:Blake gives one to Jaune in Chapter 47, mainly because it's the only thing she can think of that would shock him enough to stop [[ForcedTransformation his transformation into an anomaly]]. It works, and he thanks Blake while assuring her he knows there wasn't any deeper meaning behind it beyond bringing him back to his senses.]] The following chapter has [[spoiler:Blake ruminate on how [[LoveEpiphany she can no longer deny her feelings]] after such an action]].

* ItAmusedMe: What Jaune concludes to be the motive behind the Schnee auctions. The family definitely doesn't need the money, and given that items like the Blank Slate ended up in the hands of a Beacon student, they don't seem too concerned about getting maximum profit for selling anomalies either. As such, he can only assume they just get pleasure in whatever mayhem might be caused, an idea that only gets more credence when the auction Blake and Roman attend immediately triggers a large-scale gang war.

** The ''Lady of The Lake'' is a fae entity that resides in a book, that combines this trope with DealWithTheDevil and JerkassGenie as it asks for something equivalent (according to its own definition anyway) in exchange for what is asked. It can also put whoever uses it under a {{Geas}} that renders them unable to reveal this information to anyone else.

* ScrubbingOffTheTrauma: After her experience at [[spoiler:a furry convention featuring actual anthro attendants]], Blake has Jaune hose her down with a high-powered pressure washer to try and feel physically and spiritually clean again.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Blake, to an extent. In Chapter 26, it is revealed that Arc Corp has spent years trying to make Jaune unable to develop any close relationships, [[spoiler:believing such a thing would inevitably lead to him becoming an anomaly]], only for Blake to show up and befriend him before they could learn of her presence and get rid of her.

** The ''Lady of The Lake'' is a fae entity that resides in a book, that combines this trope with DealWithTheDevil as it asks for something equivalent (according to its own definition anyway) in exchange for what is asked.

** In canon, Nicholas Schnee was an [[HonestCorporateExecutive honest, kind man]] who was willing to get his hands just as dirty as his workers' to build his company. Here, he was a traitor to ARC Corp who, along with his wife Serenity Arc, abandoned the company's duty and ran off to sell the byproducts of the powerful anomaly ''All Becomes Dust''.
** Weiss is at the very least aware and complicit in the SDC selling anomalies for profit. Winter as well is shown to be ruthless and used the ''Rusted Queen'' as a lure to distract and very likely kill Jaune despite the risk it posed to the city.

* DealWithTheDevil: Blake makes a deal with a fae entity residing in one of Coral's anomalies, trading [[spoiler:her ability to feel emotions for a week in exchange for a power that can easily kill an anomalized Winter. While under the contract, the being also briefly takes control of Blake to make the faunus officially claim it as her Slaved Anomaly, in hopes of enticing her to make future dealings]]. Blake is understandably not of a fan of this, but learns that she's also under a {{geas}} that renders her unable to reveal this information to Jaune or anyone else.
* DeathByAdaptation: Unlike Coeur's other works with Jaune's family, [[spoiler:Juniper Arc]] was killed before the story began.

* DealWithTheDevil: Blake makes a deal with a fae entity residing in one of Carol's anomalies, trading [[spoiler:her ability to feel emotions for a week in exchange for a power that can easily kill an anomalized Winter. While under the contract, the being also briefly takes control of Blake to make the faunus officially claim it as her Slaved Anomaly, in hopes of enticing her to make future dealings]]. Blake is understandably not of a fan of this, but learns that she's also under a {{geas}} that renders her unable to reveal this information to Jaune or anyone else.

** Blake temporarily becomes this when first using [[spoiler:one of Coral's anomalies (a book housing a fae), inadvertently trading all her emotions for several days so she can be granted the means to assist Jaune in killing Winter]]. She questions if Carol's own emotionless state was also the result of this, but is quickly corrected on the matter.

* DealWithTheDevil: Blake makes a deal with a fae entity residing in one of Carol's anomalies, trading [[spoiler:her ability to feel emotions for a week in exchange for a power that can easily kill an anomalized Winter. While under the contract, the being also briefly takes control of Blake to make the faunus officially claim it as her Slaved Anomaly, in hopes of enticing her to make future dealings]]. She's also under a {{geas}} that renders her unable to explain of this to others.

* MirrorCharacter: Pyrrha serves as this to Blake; while both are recently hired members of [=ARC=] Corp who were [[AdaptationalJobChange originally going to attend Beacon]], Pyrrha was hired through the official process and channels, being vetted by three separate office directors before being reached out to, while Blake basically hired herself in the middle of an emergency and is only begrudgingly approved retroactively by other offices. Both of their first anomalies dealt with were living buildings that they killed, but Pyrrha's experience aged her mentally, making her OlderAndWiser even though she's the same age as Blake. Finally, Pyrrha's a NiceGirl who shares Saphron's belief that all anomalies should be exterminated, while Blake's a KnightInSourArmor who shares Jaune's stance that most anomalies should only be contained at worst.

* MotiveRant: PlayedWith. Blake tries to force Winter into one, but Winter shrugs off the attempt, lampshading that there's no reason for her to do so. However, this is only because she views Blake as little more than Jaune's LivingEmotionalCrutch: once Jaune himself approaches her later in the fight, she ''does'' stop attacking in order to gloat and explain that her plan was to [[spoiler:force Jaune to his breaking point in order to see how much of his humanity he can maintain, as she has many investors eager to pay to have their own anomaly powers while keeping their minds. Antagonizing Jaune (the only person who has ever accomplished this) is the best way to experiment with such a thing]].

* EmptyShell: Coral Arc, who is only focused on her research and little else. She only has the barest understanding of how emotions and different human relationships are meant to work, as evidenced by her interactions with Jaune, wherein she sees no issue with French kissing him as a sign of affection despite his protests, and even states to Blake that she'd have sex with him if she thought it was necessary to keep him stable.

** Blake, Coral, and Jaune aren't fond of Pyrrha being part of their squad during the assault on Schnee Manor, due to her sharing Saphron's black-and-white KillEmAll mentality towards anomalies and because she's obviously been given orders to kill Jaune at the first sign of anomalous behavior. Likewise, Pyrrha doesn't trust any of them due to the trio being clear anomaly sympathizers.

* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler:While Roman Torchwick isn't an employee of [=ARC=] Corp or the Containments Office, his prior experience assisting them against the ''Rusted Queen'' means that when he's invited to a Schnee Anomaly Auction shortly afterward, he wastes no time alerting Jaune and Blake about it and gets partnered up with Blake in order to infiltrate the auction.]]

* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: Part of the reason for Jaune's status as the family BlackSheep is that the family matriarch Juniper died defending him on a mission, with several of his sisters outright blaming him for her death.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Doctor Merlot, in canon, was a madman who performed experiments on the Creatures of Grimm, culminating in the fall of Mountain Glenn; by the time he is confronted in ''VideoGame/RWBYGrimmEclipse'', he has developed a god complex and considers the loss of his research a greater tragedy than the city's fall. In this story, [[spoiler:he was a medical doctor offered a job to perform a cesarean section for a mother's difficult pregnancy. When faced with the thought of an unskilled back-alley doctor killing both an expectant mother and her unborn child in an impossible operation, Merlot resolved to operate himself in the hopes of saving at least the mother.]] Thought the fact that Merlot mentioned that the job offer came with a significant chunk of money he would use for his own research projects might indicate that he simply didn't have the opportunity to begin his slide into madness.