Cinder Fall in Stress Relief

## Cinder Fall

Cinder Fall depicted with flushed face by Rachel Marks (Published: ~June 2016)

In *Stress Relief*, **Cinder Fall** serves as the villain protagonist as the narrative details her efforts to sabotage Beacon Academy, but gets side-tracked from seducing Jaune Arc.

## Context

*Stress Relief* was Coeur Al'Aran's first major effort to write a piece mainly from one character's perspective, rather than integrating several characters for a balanced plot view. As a result, the narrative is biased towards Cinder's perspective, but it also gives deeper context into Cinder's rationale and planning for earlier, concurrent, and subsequent works such as *Professor Arc* and *Not this Time, Fate*. Coeur believed Cinder was an interesting character, and wanted to capture her character essence in the story, particularly her situational awareness and arrogant personality.

## *Stress Relief* from Cinder Fall's Perspective

### Background

It is unknown when Cinder was born, but from her disdain for "teenagers" and note that Beacon students were too young for her, it is likely she was born around the 20s BB. Early in her life, Cinder Fall played the role of a "black widow" employing skills such as seduction, subversion, and killing to work her way up the ranks. According to Cinder, an indeterminate amount of time passed since she employed these techniques for her gratification, but its speculated anywhere from one month to one year before the present. At some point, Cinder encountered several antagonists from the *RWBY* canon including Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black, Roman Torchwick, and Adam Taurus. While she knew they were capable individuals, she did not trust their loyalty to her cause.

Cinder also did not trust Mercury, Emerald, or Roman to not attract attention, as Mercury and Emerald killed Tukson earlier at his bookshop placing the Valean police on alert. Before arriving at Beacon, Cinder had Roman provide forged documents and endowments to the Haven Academy administrators. Following their admittance, she, Emerald, and Mercury transferred to Beacon, where Cinder patiently waited for the Vytal Tournament to strike. Unfortunately for Cinder, she had to deal with classes and could not achieve extended moments of silence without interruptions, not even in her dormitory to contemplate her plans.

### Beacon Dormitory

Cinder Fall reflected on her and other's involvement in her project, noting the best way to complete a job by her standards was to do it herself despite the burdens it placed on her. Cinder's main goal at Beacon Academy was to shut down the Cross-Continental Transmit Tower (CCT) to disrupt Vale's communication with Remnant. Cinder did not trust anyone else to deal with the CCT and assigned the task to herself. Cinder contemplated recent history, when her train of thought was interrupted by Emerald and Mercury arguing. Exasperated with their antics, she asked them to be quiet, which they complied.

#### The Hunt

Eventually, Emerald and Mercury commented that Cinder was stressed, and that she needed to rest. Cinder agreed, but was not sure the mechanism, as most available options such as visiting Vale, alcohol, and fighting at full strength were not options for her. As the trio thought, Emerald commented that Mercury's mechanism to relieve tension would involve sexual interactions with others or himself, much to Mercury's indignation, who commented it was a proven method to destress. Cinder was inspired by this idea, noting she would not have time for a relationship, but that a one-night stand would satisfy her concerns. Cinder reflected on her past as she decided to use her appearance and behavior as a tool to "hunt" a weak student to relieve her hormonal fluctuations.

### Meeting Jaune

At some point, Cinder finished a class from professor Peter Port, and was walking with Emerald and Mercury until she collided with Jaune Arc. Cinder noted his physical appearance as similar to other teenagers and observed his Arc family symbol, thinking she may have to dispatch him later. Cinder asked for more information on him and his team, which Emerald and Mercury provided. Cinder had to wary considering Team JNPR as either passive or threats, as she did not want to underestimate them, but also did not want to become paranoid.

## References

1. ↑ Also I'm trying a bit of an experiment in writing entirely from one person's PoV - namely Cinder's. So you'll never get to see Jaune's internal thoughts, meaning I'll be trying to show them in his actions, words and how he reacts to things.
2. ↑ Cinder is an interesting character and I've tried to capture how I imagine her character being. Cruel, calculating, *arrogant* but also mortal.
3. ↑ It was a weapon she'd used many times before, back when her power was not so assured - her resources not quite so vast. Seducing, subverting, killing. how many times had she played the black window on her desperate climb to the top?
4. ↑ At least a month... two or three at the most. Six? Surely it hadn't been over a year...?
5. ↑ She found that she couldn't answer, and that didn't bode well.
6. ↑ Mercury was the closest male to her physically, yet on that route lay hidden danger.
7. ↑ Roman was much the same, only many times worse.
8. ↑ Adam was a face she knew, and a figure she still needed to win over to their cause.