Making a Difference
is a RWBY Alternate Universe Fic written by Je'daii1298.
It introduces four original characters: Jasper Shaw, Oberon Roth, Max Grayson, and Sarah Elena. Their presence results in established teams being altered, and the story proceeds to depart from the original show.
Making a Difference contains examples of:
- The Ace: Pyrrha is a world-renown tournament fighter and the best combatant in her year.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Blake feels extreme guilt for her past actions to the point that she has recurring nightmares. When a slip of the tongue accidentally reveals part of her past to her teammates, she runs away and tries to kill herself. Luckily, Max intervenes.
- Adaptational Badass: Jaune already has his Aura unlocked and knows what it does when he goes to Beacon. He is still behind his peers in terms of skill, however.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Weiss's distrust of faunus is given more attention in this story. She openly defends systematic discrimination of the Faunus people, citing the actions of the Red Fang. Her beliefs result in frequent clashes with Jasper, who is a faunus. Her distrust is fueled by the fact that the Red Fang killed her mother.
- Adaptation Name Change: After Sienna Khan became the leader of the White Fang, the organization changed its name to the Red Fang, reflecting its more violent approach.
- Zig-zagged with Blake, who enters Beacon under a false surname, "Belmonte," instead of using her actual last name, Belladonna.
- All Men Are Perverts: Averted. Weiss is far from thrilled at the idea of sharing a dorm room with the opposite gender, invoking this trope. Jasper, her male teammate, proves her wrong by doing his best to make the girls comfortable.
- Alternate Universe Fic: It is explicitly stated in the story's official summary that there will be neither relics nor maidens in the story.
- Badass Bookworm: Blake and Oberon share this. Both enjoy books and even exchange reading material. The two are also trained warriors capable of holding their own in combat.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Sarah's semblance is revealed to be this.
- Country Mouse: Jasper Shaw lives in a small village north of Vale City called "Wilderness." As a result, Jasper has difficulty understanding modern slang terms and even thinks it's lewd of Nora to prop her leg on a table.
- Darker and Edgier: Given Blake's Adaptational Angst Upgrade and the inclusion of Cold-Blooded Torture, this is a given.
- Dead Fic: This story has vanished from fanfiction.net.
- Death by Adaptation: Willow Schnee was killed by the Red Fang when Weiss was eleven years old.
- Fantasy Pantheon: Jasper and his family practice Solasticism, his father being a priest. They worship Solas, the God of Light. All living things were created by Solas and must be treated with respect, while the Grimm are abominations that must be destroyed.
- For Want Of A Nail:
- Ruby ends up crashing into Jasper in the Emerald Forest, which leads to Weiss partnering up with Pyrrha. As a result, Team PRSS is formed with Pyrrha as the leader.
- Weiss does not call Jaune "tall, blonde and scraggly," so he does not seek her out in the locker room. As a result, he does not meet Pyrrha until after the initiation. This means that he is forced to come up with a landing strategy. After crashing through several trees, he makes eye contact with Sarah. Ren and Nora still become part of Jaune's team, but they form Team ALNE.
- Yang and Blake hear gunfire and go to investigate. They meet Oberon and Max, who have already partnered up, and the four decide to be on a team together. The end result is Team LMBR, led by Yang.
- Fun with Acronyms:
- Team ALNE(alpine) - Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, Sarah Elena
- Team LMBR(lumber) - Yang Xiao Long, Max Grayson, Blake Belmonte/Belladonna, Oberon Roth
- Team PRSS(prism) - Pyrrha Nikos, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Jasper Shaw
- Green Thumb: Jasper's semblance allows him to manipulate plants.
- Innate Night Vision: Being a faunus, Jasper can see in the dark.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After Team CRDL is caught harassing Velvet and pulling on her ears, they are put on probation for blatantly harming a fellow student. When they are caught trying to ambush Sarah at Forever Fall, they are expelled.
- Sarah does not get away with exhibiting her sadistic tendencies. She gets a stern talking-to from Professor Goodwitch and detention for repeatedly striking a downed opponent. When she uses her semblance, which inflicts excruciating pain, on Weiss, she is expelled and sent to prison.
- Little Bit Beastly: Jasper is a faunus, sporting a pair of wolf ears.
- Noble Bigot: Weiss supports Faunus discrimination and does not trust them because of the Red Fang. That said, she disapproves of bullying and admits that she should have stepped in when Velvet's ears were being pulled.
- Sadist: Sarah Elena. Her semblance causes a victim to feel pain.
- The Smurfette Principle: Gender-inverted with Team PRSS, as Jasper is the only male member of a team full of girls.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: Par for the course with RWBY stories.
- Jasper's weapon, Ardghal, is a longsword that can transform into a rifle.
- Oberon wields a saber with a built-in gun.
- Sword and Gun: Oberon wields a saber that's also a gun.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Yang and Oberon constantly trade insults with each other, but are actually good friends and even dated at one point.
