Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble
Written by Miles Luna and Kiersi Burkhart
Directed by Kerry Shawcross, Paula Decanini and Yssa Badiola
Directed by Kerry Shawcross, Paula Decanini and Yssa Badiola
"I promised to serve Atlas as a Huntress... That I'd keep people safe... That I'd be there for my friends..."
— Ruby Rose
All alone, Ruby winds up at a tea party hosted by Neo...
Tropes in this episode include:
- And Then What?: To avenge Roman's death, Neo successfully pushes Ruby to the Despair Event Horizon. After Neo declines the Roman clone's suggestion to take over the Ever After, he asks if killing Ruby was enough. This prompts a shocked Neo to realise she no longer has a purpose. Seconds later, the Curious Cat recovers its plan to possess an empty soul by hijacking Neo's body instead of Ruby's, as they had originally intended.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: Little continues to hang around Ruby, but she angrily tells them to leave because, after everything she went through, she doesn't want to see more people die because of her. It doesn't work.
- Break Them by Talking: Neo makes extensive use of verbal assaults while she tortures Ruby, using illusions of Torchwick, Penny, Pyrrha, Ozpin, and Ironwood to guilt trip her into taking responsibility for their deaths and her failures to save lives, all the while doing her best to convince Ruby that the world is better off without her. Ruby, already in a bad mental and emotional place, breaks from the torment and sacrifices herself to the Tree.
- Call-Back: In this episode, Neo's circumstances are a direct inversion of Roman's death back in the third volume. Force-fed a white magical creature after an event draining her of all emotion draws it to become its vessel while Torchwick was eaten by a black magical creature when his unrestrained negative emotions attracted it to him.
- Catgirl: Once the Curious Cat possesses Neo, her face distorts, making her eyes the same as the cat's, and her mouth stretches unnaturally to become catlike and full of razor-sharp teeth.
- Cavalry Betrayal: The Curious Cat comes in to rescue Ruby from Neo, blasting her away when it seems Ruby will drink the tea. However, they then reveal they've been manipulating her all along to push her to the Despair Event Horizon, and try possessing her.
- Collapsing Lair: After Neo makes Ruby Ascend, she's left frozen in shock, and the house she built with her Semblance starts crumbling around her.
- Content Warning: A warning about distressing themes appears in the episode's opening, due to the focus on someone being driven to commit suicide.
- Continuity Nod: The mansion Neo created and the pictures of a little girl with her parents reference the events of the novel RWBY: Roman Holiday when she still went by the name Trivia Vanille and eventually killed her parents Jimmy and Carmel Vanille at the climax.
- Curse: The Curious Cat describes their curiosity as a curse. Because they need to know everything, they have a purpose that can never be fulfilled, and thus they can't Ascend through the tree and be fixed like other Afterans. Their quest's futility has driven them mad.
- Darkest Hour: Little is killed off, Ruby is Driven to Suicide in front of her friends after crossing the Despair Event Horizon (thanks to Neo's Breaking Speech), Yang has gone catatonic by what happened, and the Curious Cat has possessed Neo's body and is on a beeline for the Tree, intent on escaping to Remnant in search of the Brother Gods.
- Deader than Dead: Neo is no longer satisfied with merely killing Ruby. She wants to force her to drink tea made of the Tree's leaves so that she'll be utterly obliterated.
- Death of Personality: It's not enough for Neo to kill Ruby, she wants to psychologically break her enough that she'll essentially kill herself by willingly drinking tea steeped from the Tree's leaves and undergo Ascension.
- Despair Event Horizon:
- After everything that has happened over the show and enduring an emotional and physical beat down from Neo, Ruby is Driven to Suicide, deciding she no longer wants to be herself and giving herself over to the tree.
- Once she drives Ruby to Ascend, Neo realises she has nothing left to live for and is reduced to an Empty Shell, not even resisting when the Curious Cat pounces on her and takes her body for themself.
- Didn't See That Coming: The Curious Cat panics when Ruby drinks the tea and ascends, not realising she would pull such a stunt and briefly rob them of the means to escape. Seconds later, they possess Neo, since she no longer has a purpose.
- Didn't Think This Through: After Neo pushes Ruby to suicide via ascension, she realises she doesn't have a purpose since avenging Roman was her only motivation, and the Curious Cat takes advantage of this and possesses her.
- Disc-One Final Boss: The heroes thought that Neo was their only villainous problem in the Ever After. When Neo drives Ruby to ascend, it leaves her feeling so hollow that the Curious Cat is able to possess her. Having been secretly trying to break down Ruby throughout the volume, the Cat is initially horrified by Neo's success in driving Ruby to suicide as it deprives them of their one chance to reach Remnant by possessing Ruby... until they realize Neo's emptiness and possesses her instead.
- Dissonant Serenity: It is with a contented, wholesome smile and lightly swaying from one side to the other, looking like a cutesy girl about to eat some of her favorite ice cream, that Neo informs Ruby that she's going to enjoy watching her break.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Curious Cat's behavior towards Ruby and later Neo when trying to possess them comes across as eerily reminiscent of a sexual predator, with the moments they tried to possess them being disturbingly similar to rape scenes. The way they pounce on Neo and do an Orifice Invasion on her when they possess her doesn't exactly help things
- Driven to Suicide: Neo's emotional and physical beatdown drives Ruby so far across the Despair Event Horizon that she decides to drink the tea and sacrifice herself to the Tree.
- Empty Shell: After driving Ruby to suicide, Neo realises she's lost her only purpose left in life. This makes her perfect for serving as the Curious Cat's new vessel.
- Evil All Along: The Cat reveals they've been manipulating Ruby into breaking her, so they can take over her body as a host and escape to Remnant; when Neo deprives him of Ruby, he posesses her instead. The Cat has been driven mad by a purpose they cannot fulfill because they have a question that cannot be answered: why did their creators the Brother Gods abandon them and the Ever After? They're so convinced they'll find the answers in Remnant that they will go to any lengths to find them, no matter how evil they become in the process.
- Evil Versus Evil: The Curious Cat vs Neo. The former wants to take over Ruby's body to reach Remnant in search of the answers they seek while the latter wants to avenge Roman's death by breaking Ruby and then erasing her from existence. When Ruby Ascends, she's left so hollow that the Curious Cat is able to take control of her.
- Grand Theft Me: The Curious Cat wanted to take over Ruby's body, but when she surrenders herself to the Tree, they choose Neo instead.
- Grayscale of Evil: The Cat transforms from their typical purple and blue color scheme to a black and white one with anaglyph elements in preparation for taking possession of Neo.
- Heroic BSoD: After Ruby drinks the tea, Yang is frozen staring at where she was and doesn't even react to the events around her, becoming just as empty as Neo in the process and unable to properly stand without Blake's assistance.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal: While they were hardly friends the last time they spoke, the Curious Cat at least feigned friendliness towards Jaune. Here, having claimed Neo's body for their own, the Cat says they're tired of his "sob story" and attacks him before fleeing. Since the Cat's power can only work if the target has lost some of their heart or purpose, Jaune's ability to spend decades keeping his faith in an eventual reunion with Team RWBY made him a non-viable option for the Cat and a thorn in their side for breaking down Ruby.
- Internal Reveal: Ruby finally learns the reason Neo hates her is because she blames her for Torchwick's death and Neo uses a clone of Torchwick to tell her this since she can't talk.
- Kill the Cutie: As a cute, adorable mouse, Little wants to comfort Ruby and help find her way home. They thwart the Cat's attempt to possess Ruby by biting the Cat's tail, but is knocked down as a result. Barely an instant later, Neo crushes Little with her foot right in front of Ruby's face, destroying what little hope Ruby had left in the process. The Tree eventually claims Ruby for Ascension, taking Little's body with her.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Neo tortures Ruby to the Despair Event Horizon and drives her to suicide with tea from the Tree's leaves to erase her existence. Afterwards, she realises she has nothing left to live for and becomes an Empty Shell herself, leaving her the perfect replacement for Ruby as a vessel for the Curious Cat to possess. She is then possessed by the Curious Cat, which is shown to be an excruciating process disturbingly reminiscent of rape
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: The Curious Cat is revealed to have a mouth full of razor-sharp fangs once their true nature is revealed. They can display this inhuman, razor-toothed grin even when they're possessing Neo.
- Motive Rant: While trying to possess Ruby, the Curious Cat says it resents their creators the Brother Gods for cursing them with curiosity and abandoning the Ever After. In search of answers, the Cat needs to escape to Remnant through a host body so they can confront the Creators.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Even after her illusions break Ruby's aura, Neo has the illusory Ozpin keep pummeling Ruby to further torture her into breaking. It forces Ruby to lash out with her scythe to defend herself... resulting in the illusion suddenly transforming into a fatally-injured Oscar that leaves her broken with guilt.
- No Sympathy:
- Ruby learns Neo's resentment stems from her being responsible for Torchwick's death, and furiously tells her she's not going to apologize for it.
- The Curious Cat reveals their true colors to Jaune by referring to his hardships as a "sob story" before attacking him and making headway to the tree.
- Orifice Invasion: The Curious Cat possesses Neo by forcing themself into her mouth and down her throat.
- Painful Transformation: Ruby screams in pain as the Curious Cat tries forcing their way into her body to possess her, and, although she can't articulate how it feels, Neo's in visible agony as the Cat forces their way into her mouth to claim her body.
- Psychotic Smirk: Neo sports a cold-blooded smirk after she fatally stomps on Little, reveling in managing to torment Ruby one last time before she breaks.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Neo successfully gets Ruby to cross the Despair Event Horizon and Ascend, but is hollowed out after realising she has nothing left to live for. This makes her vulnerable to the Cat's possession.
- Reflective Eyes: Ruby drinking the tea is seen through a reflection in Yang's, then Neo's eyes.
- The Reveal: The Curious Cat's Motive Rant reveals that they were made by the Brother Gods, who then abandoned them and went elsewhere to create humanity.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Using the clones of Penny, Pyrrha, Torchwick, Ozpin, Ironwood, Lionheart and Clover, Neo attacks Ruby through physical and emotional means, calling her out on her various actions and saying she never thought about what her actions have done. Ruby eventually falls into despair upon realising the Cat's efforts to break her and Little's died in front of her.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Jaune is revealed to have been right about his distrust of the Curious Cat, but instead of wanting to feed team RWBY and him to the tree as he believed, they actually want to feed themself to Ruby or another suitable vessel to escape the Ever After.
- Spooky Painting: Neo's illusion of Roman first appears to Ruby suddenly turning and greeting her from a painting of him and Neo standing before her parents bodies. He then walks out of the painting after the lights come on for the tea party Neo set up.
- Stealth Pun: Once the Cat possesses Neo, they become a cat in a hat.
- Suddenly Speaking: In this chapter, Neo speaks for the first time, though only through her illusions of other people. Once the Curious Cat takes over her body, it starts speaking through her body, though with its own voice.
- They Just Dont Get It: When Ruby is taken to the tree after drinking the tea, Jaune tries forcing the Cat to take them to her, but the Cat angrily retorts they already told them how to get to the tree:Curious Cat: You still don't get it do you? It is not a place you go, it's a place you know.
- Transformation of the Possessed: The cat warps Neo's face to resemble their own after possessing her, and speaks in a distorted version of their own voice.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: After making Ruby Ascend, Neo refuses Torchwick's suggestion to take over the Ever After with her Semblance. Once the voice asks if killing Ruby was enough, Neo realises she has nothing left to live for. And unfortunately for her, feeling so "empty" leaves her exactly the kind of vessel the Curious Cat can work with.
- Villainous Breakdown: After Ruby is taken by the Tree, the Curious Cat furiously scratches at the place where Ruby lay, shocked at their plans being ruined. They recover quickly, however, when they discover Neo is an Empty Shell and possesses her.
- Villainous Rescue: Neo saves Ruby from being taken over by the Curious Cat, but only because she wants to be the one to kill her.
- Voices Are Mental: Even after possessing Neo, the Curious Cat speaks in their own voice. The Transformation of the Possessed gives a discreet justification as it altered her physiology a lot when they possessed her, and their voice becomes the Voice of the Legion upon possession.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: The Curious Cat's goal as revealed in this episode has been to drive Ruby into full-on despair so that he can possess her body and escape the Ever After. When Ruby is Driven to Suicide, the Cat switches gears upon realising he has another perfectly viable vessel that just hit her own Despair Event Horizon and successfully takes Neo instead to escape.
- You Are Too Late: WBY and Jaune arrive just in time to watch Ruby drink the tea and be taken away. Equally, Jaune tries stopping the Curious Cat from claiming Neo but fails, and no one is able to stop the Cat as they hightail it to the tree.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One: Once they reveal their true intent, the Curious Cat accomplishes phase one of their plan of possessing someone without little to no pushback (aside from his intended vessel Ascending).
"I don't want to be me anymore."
— Ruby Rose
