RWBY Listens to The Soundtrack

Vol. 3, Not Fall In Love With You

"'The thing to understand about these songs is that, while most are tailored for the show, some are preexisting ones that were repurposed for it.'" The note reminded them. "'Not Fall In Love With You is one such song. I believe Jeff Williams wrote in in college, about some girl he had a crush on. Don't know if that actually worked out, mind you. Oh, also, forgot to mention, Lamar's not in this soundtrack.''" At that, Nora booed. "'Didn't even notice myself until I was making the list. Anyways, in THIS context, however...it could be about Sun Wukong's little puppy crush on Blake Belladonna. Or maybe someone else's. I leave it to you to decide what to do with that.'" Blake's face was a bit red, but Ruby hit play anyways.

[Song Starts]

[*Cheerful Start*]

"So, BLAKE'S turn." Ruby impishly stated. Huh, why did Yang's face feel slightly off?

"I'm not...entirely certain." Weiss declared. "The specific language it used, how it reminded us that it's repurposed..."

"Maybe the S.I.'s not into this one?" Jaune offered.

"Nice change of pace..." Nora muttered.

"OR it means that it's not as...tied to any of us as the others are." Weiss concluded. "It seemed somewhat...insistent. Why did Yang feel relief at that? This was weird.

"Well, it's what SUN thinks, maybe." Ruby said. "So...eh."

[You are my star
You are the one]

"Okay yeah, it's SOUNDING like a collage love song." Nora declared.

"Again, why do you KNOW this?" Yang asked.

"I thought we went over that last time." Nora pointed out.

"...She's not wrong." Blake added.

[You make me smile when
The world's come undone]

"Definitely written for someone else." Blake stated. "I've never been described...that way."

"I mean it's not...really wrong, though." Yang felt the need to add. "I mean, you'd be surprised."

Wait, Nora wondered, was this actually-she had suspicions, but...? ...No, not yet. But the seeds were there.

"Point is, don't be so hard on yourself!" Ruby ordered.

[You are the one who
Sweeps me off of my feet]

"Huh, more...traditionally romantic than I was expecting." Blake admitted.

"Doesn't seem to be his style, no." Ren agreed.

"Well, like the note said, Jeff wrote this about something else first." Nora reminded them.

[You totally rock
You're crazy and cool]

"Now that DOES sound more like Sun." Blake chuckled.

"So I suppose it...is somewhat applicable, then." Weiss added.

[Everything's all that
I love about you]

"Everything everything?" Nora grinned.

"Everything everything." Ruby confirmed.

"Uhhh... Weiss began.

"It's probably a reference." Blake theorized.

[Girl of my dreams you would
Make my life complete]

"I'm not certain it's a matter of...complete." Pyrrha added. "More...an addition."

"You're thinking a lot about this, huh?" Yang noted.

"Well, after my song, I suppose..." Pyrrha explained

[Oh, but you're a
Distant dream to me]

"Didn't he wink at you literally the first time we SAW him?" Weiss asked rhetorically. "I wouldn't say "distant", personally."

"Surprised you remember that." Blake replied. "And it's...complicated."

"Yes well...it was memorable." Weiss defended, not wanting to think of the OTHER stuff that happened that day.

[Oh, then I know and
I know that you're]

"Are the lyrics skipping over some parts, or is that just me?" Jaune asked.

"It is a lot at once." Ren defended.

"Seems kinda lazy, tho." Nora offered.

[Out of my league
How could it ever be?]

"Yeah I'm sure that's what people thought about Jaune & Pyrrha, but look at that." Yang pointed out.

"And by "people", you mean Weiss, right?" Nora grinned.

"It was surprising to all of us, alright?" Weiss defended.

"...So, are we just not talking about Blake and Sun, or...?" Ruby asked.

[What am I supposed to do?
Just sit here and
Not fall in love with you?]

"I suppose in most cases it's not something you can control." Blake acquiesced. "In MOST. But you CAN control what you do with it."

"Some people are just entitled pricks." Yang agreed.

"And it would be easy to just blame dad, but..." Jaune muttered.

"Hey, nuff of that, you got over it." Nora ordered. "Right, Weiss?"

"...He DID, yes." Weiss granted. And not that she'd admit it, as Yang would just accuse her of having a crush on Pyrrha again (and who their age WOULDN'T, honestly?) but "Arkos"...actually seemed a good match.

[Can I do anything to conceal it?
Can I lock up my heart and not feel it?]

"Well no, but such feelings aren't always permanent." Ozpin spoke up at last. "In the moment, they may seem to be, but after a while, you forget why it was so important."

"That happened to you?" Ruby asked. Hey, she wasn't an expert on this stuff. No real first hand experience, after all.

"...Sometimes." Ozpin replied. "But not...completely, always." Glynda of course knew that he'd have had the time...but not WHO he was talking about. ...Still, why was he being so...risky?

"Ah great, still being weird and cryptic, course." Yang muttered.

[Try to hide from the fact
That there's no turning back
I'm in love]

"I don't think you should." Ren offered. "I think the...last Soundtrack has shown us all how counterproductive that is."

"Hehehe yeah..." Nora muttered, Pyrrha just sheepishly looked away.

"So...why aren't we talking about Blake & Sun?" Ruby asked. "I mean, I get that's this is awkward, but..."

"Well, again, this wasn't written with any of us in mind." Weiss reminded her. "I suppose we're just...focusing on the general themes."

"The note DID kind of push that." Blake agreed. What...did it say about her that she was doing the same? She knew that she...well, also found him kinda neat, but...she wasn't feeling the same kinds of emotions she'd seen from Team JNPR.

[You leave me weak
You make me strong]

"Okay the SECOND line's cool, but the first one could be read kinda poorly." Nora critiqued.

"I suppose I can see that." Blake admitted.

[All that I need is to
Know I'm not wrong]

"Well, as long as you're not a creep about it...and as long as there's not, like, some kind of big age gap or something, I wouldn't call it wrong, no." Yang answered.

"You'd be surprised how many people don't get that." Blake muttered. No. Not the time.

[If love is blind how do
I make you see me?]

"Well, uh, good question, cause I feel like a total idiot." Jaune muttered, looking to Pyrrha.

"How many times do I need to tell you that you're doing fine?" Pyrrha lightly asked.

[You're my PYT
My cherie amour]

"Uh, what?" Ruby asked.

"That second line reminds me vaguely of Old Valeian." Weiss offered. "But the first...I have no idea."

"I think we get the jist, though, right?" Jaune asked.

"...Is that spelled with a G or a J...?" Ruby wondered.

[One look at you and
My heart starts to soar]

"Yeah, okay, enough with the exaggeration, alright?" Blake asked. "That's a...bit much."

"No, it isn't." Yang declared. "Stop being so hard on yourself, okay?" she gently asked.

Wait, Weiss thought, was this...aaaaand Nora just started chucking. Maybe it was. Huh.

[No other girl could
Compete with your esprit]

"Hey Weiss, what does that one-?" Ruby began.

"It means "the quality of being lively, vivacious, & witty."" Weiss explained.

"So Jeff definitely wrote this about someone else, then." Blake deadpanned.

"Blake..." Ruby muttered.

[Oh and if your heart would just agree
Oh, then I know and I know that I could be]

"Well, DOES it?" Nora asked.

"I've...only known him for a month." Blake deflected. She was...not sure how to answer that.

"We should...give it time." Weiss proposed. They'd given herself & JNPR time, of a sorts, so...

[Oh I could believe
All that I ever need]

"You know, Glynda, you've been even quieter than usual." Nora noted.

"I suppose I just don't have anything to say about this one." Glynda replied.

[What am I supposed to do?
Just sit here and
Not fall in love with you?]

"Ah, repeating already!" Nora shouted. "Too early, I don't like!"

"...how do you know this is early?" Weiss asked.

"Feels like it." Nora responded.

[Can I do anything to conceal it?
Can I lock up my heart and not feel it?]

"Hmm...I think I see where Nora's coming from." Pyrrha admitted.

"Compared to all the others..." Blake agreed.

[Try to hide from the fact
That there's no turning back
I'm in love]

"It may simply be the structure." Ozpin offered. "But I'm not a musician," This time, "so I suppose I wouldn't know.

"Maybe it's just..." Ruby began.

[And like the autumn leaves
I just can't help myself
I'm falling there's no doubt]

"...Okay that was terrible." Ruby finished. Yang didn't actually pun that much, but when she DID...

"Yeah, also, TOLD YA!" Nora shouted.

"It wasn't a competition, Ms. Valkyrie." Glynda reprimanded.

"Yes is is, I win." Nora declared.

[It's you and no one else
Is there any chance
For this dream romance?]

"Yeah, also, um..." Ruby began, "...we're not really...talking about Sun much, are we? And I know it wasn't written for us, but it's still in our soundtrack."

"It usually takes us until the end to figure things out anyways." Nora pointed out.

"Yeah, but...we still talk about US." Ruby countered.

"Eh, she's got a point." Yang agreed. Honestly, why WASN'T she? Why did she feel off every time it mentioned the two of them alone?

[Should I just give up
What's a fool to do?]

"Also, he's not exactly here, so..." Jaune added.

"It may be a conversation for later." Ozpin offered.

"No, I..." Blake spoke up. "...I'm just...trying to compose my thoughts here." And just next verse, she finally did.

[Could you fall for me
Like I fell for you?]

"I...don't know." Blake finally admitted. "There's...something, but..."

"But what?" Nora asked. Before the question could be answered, the intermission came up.

[*Catchy Intermission*]

"It's...actually taking the time to look at it, I suppose I DO have a crush on him, but it doesn't feel...like that much of one." Blake explained. "It's not very intense, not like...not like what JNPR has."

"...Yeah that DOES happen." Nora granted. "Seen it a couple times on the road."

"So...you don't feel the same way as the song, then." Ruby summed up.

"...I guess not." Blake admitted. "I don't really see it going anywhere like THAT."

"Well that's...just how it works out sometimes." Weiss assured her, remembering the Dance.

"There's nothing wrong with that." Ren agreed.

"And you know you don't owe him anything, right?" Yang asked, thinking back to the glimples she got of how that prick in with mask treated her. "And he'd tell you the same thing."

"He is remarkably mature in those matters, I've noticed." Pyrrha added. "I recall overhearing him reassuring Scarlet about a relationship that didn't work out at lunch."

"...So do I." Blake admitted, pointing to her bow. "It's just...I don't know, maybe part of me was expecting it to go more like the last couple times."

"It's a different situation, Ms. Belladonna." Glynda replied. "And he isn't even here."

"Either way, it did strike me as somewhat superficial, if you don't mind me saying." Ozpin added. "I don't exactly keep an eye out for these things, despite what Professor Peach likes to say, but I don't miss them either."

"Thanks for the clarification." Blake half-sarcastically responded. Of all the things she was suspecting him of being, that wasn't one of them. Although maybe she should be worrying about Professor Peach, then...

In any event, this was...helpful. Still, "I'm...probably going to have to say something so that we're on the same page after this." Blake admitted. "Just so we don't...fumble around on it."

"He'll get it, he's cool like that." Ruby added.

"I know. And...either way, he's still a good friend. One of my best, I think." Blake concluded. Her friends & teachers nodded. Okay, that was...alright. There was still someone else's voice saying that she owed him, but she'd learned to ignore that voice after getting away from him.

For how long, though? If the intro was to be taken literally, then in only a couple weeks...no, she'd deal with it then. Wait to see the aftermath.

[(Ooooooooohhh)
What am I supposed to do?
Just sit here and]

Of course, extra backup vocals aside, they'd heard this before. Twice. So they just sat back and hummed along.

[Not fall in love with you?
(Oh, can I not fall in love with you?)]

No, it wasn't something that could be helped. All that mattered was the response, and there was a stark difference between Sun &...other people. He may be disappointed at first, Blake was to an extent, but he'd get it.

[Can I do anything to conceal it? (Ooooh, no)
Can I lock up my heart and not feel it? (Ooooohhh)]

Either way, it was sucky catchy. Not the most & they could see why the S.I. was somewhat dismissive of it, but it was nice nonetheless.

[Try to hide from the fact
That theres no turning back
I'm in love (I'm in love!)]

Well, turns out Blake wasn't. At least, not in THAT way, no. But Sun's a good friend. Maybe not the brightest & apparently the way they met wasn't...unusual for him, but nonetheless.

[(I'm in love!)
What am I supposed to do?
(What you say)]

In this case, the answer was...just move on. Stay as friends. Because despite what trashy soap operas that Blake totally didn't enjoy as a guilty pleasure claimed, it WAS possible to still be friends after something like this.

[Just sit here and
(What you do)
Not fall in love with you?]

Overall, the context of this being Jeff's college song made it easier to sing along to. Blake didn't feel as...awkward as she imagined Pyrrha & Nora were. Not this time, at least.

[Can I do anything to conceal it? (No!)
Can I lock up my heart and not feel it? (Oh no!)]

If Sun WAS here, then how WOULD this have gone? Blake knew him well enough to know that...yeah, it would have ended nicely, but in the moment...well, wasn't that kind of invasive, actually? It's not like Blake was ignorant to his feelings, but...

[Try to hide from the fact
That theres no turning back
I'm in love]

"So, that's that." Ruby concluded. "Blake, you good?"

"...Yeah. Actually I'm fine." Blake admitted. "It was...good to look into that." Yang just turned away slightly, contemplating that.

"Who knew Jeff's college song would be so useful, eh?" Nora pointed out. "Though I bet the shippers were upset when it probably didn't go anywhere."

"Some relationships are more healthy platonic than romantic." Ozpin offered. "But it's not as though, if these feelings exist, the show could have left them out entirely, even if it didn't work out."

"Yeah, probably not." Blake concluded. Now THAT was invasive...but eh.

"Alright!" Ruby declared. "Up next we haaaaavvvveee....Neon! Huh, that's sounds fun."

~~~~~
That's Batch 1 of Vol 3. 
Batch 2 will be out on.... let's go with Wednesday? Yeah, Wednesday.