#i'm all for arguing about fate but i'll not be arguing about its worth as an adaptation since i dont even subscribe to your mindset

[skloomdumpster]

Do I answer you: Fate The Winx Saga is a bad adaptation. It can both make an engaging story and also be faithful to the source material. As a fan, I would have accepted the plot of Fate if certain minimums had been respected (ethnic groups, Tecna, that the Trix were not there from the beginning, certain names or localities), that's why it failed. Winx Club has an extensive mythology that could have been adapted, but was not wanted to be done due to laziness and perhaps due to a superior position of the showrunner over the animated series.

I think that if many fans of Fate The Winx Saga tried to know the Winx Club universe, you would understand many fans and even want some elements (the specialists had lightsabers!!!).

"Would a tv show, rated for sixteen year old or older, benefit from presenting characters who immediately adore each other, such as is the girls’ friendship in the cartoons?" Fate The Winx Saga cannot be sold as a feminist product when it undermines great friendships (Stella and Bloom). What they did with them is misogyny. And to say what you said is to want to justify it because you really like Fate The Winx Saga. It seems that you Fate fans want to justify everything, when there are things that cannot be justified no matter how much you like the series and that have to be criticized (uncorrected whitewhasing: Musa).

And no, it is no less realistic than in a series cataloged for people over 16 years old to be friends. In the animated series they weren't friends from the first moment, it was built, and in the second season with the arrival of Aisha it was something that was also built. In addition, that Fate did not need to build anything, because the friendship between them was the attraction of the series and what the public wanted to see. "But it is that the public in general" This public would have been convinced with a convincing plot, and surely the friendship between them would not have mattered.

Gonna assume this was sent by the same person.

You know, you've helped me pinpoint what is it about this argument that annoys me so much.

Here it is, written in 2000, by Robert Stam in the very article I mentioned:

Now, obviously we're not talking about a novel, we're talking an animation, but this is so painfully clear in all you've said, the inherit superiority of the source material because it's the senior material.

Right, that's what you're telling me, that being faithful equals good, which was that my entire answer was trying to dispute, not the valid criticisms thrown to the show, as the whitewashing, cringe dialogue and so on so forth, which, again, was mentioned in my second to last paragraph.

I'd like to point out that having female characters dislike each other is not misogyny and that it's a left field accusation to say implementing conflict in female relationships that had previously, in a kid's show, been conflict free, is misogynistic. This is simply facetious and I'm not falling for it.

Bloom and Stella's conflict goes beyond the rivalry of who gets the boy, seeing as even that relationship goes down the drain without the input of either. Stella's relationship with Sky is rocky because of her own actions and she doesn't feel jealous of Bloom, as much as she feels threatened by her and how "special" she is, from the get go. This is further explored in season 2, even when talking about the class disparity between the two. Not misogyny and the lumping of this conflict alongside with the whitewashing of Musa is just frankly offensive and disingenuous, but I'm sure you know this already.

And to wrap this up, I never said a tv show couldn't have character be happy and friendly from the get go and I'd gladly point you towards a piece of writing like such, for example Heartstopper. An amazing show! However a different show from Fate, because it chose a different approach. It's a happier, lighter one, and Fate is not a bad show, for choosing drama.

The gist of my text, hopefully put clearer now, is that an adaptation makes choices and it's within those choices and how they serve and interact with each other that criticism should lie and not in how faithful it is to its source material.

[magicxc]

Frenemies

Pairings: Survey Corps - people they cannot STAND

Word Count: 1076

Warnings: none

A/N: Idk man I love a good tussle jskksks. Like give me two characters who absolutely hate each other! And with AOT I really don't have to look too far, yay. This is basically canon but it's funny to think about so here it is as well. 

Headcannons Masterlist

Eren  - Jean, Weak People

I think the Jean one gets over exaggerated a little, and for good reason too, cause the girlies be EATING with those tropes. But at the end of the day they have a mutual understanding and are cordial at best. They're mostly cool because they share mutual friends and spaces but it’s no longer beef per se. 

Hear me out, I don't think anyone wiping out 80% of humanity is willing to kick it with people who aint about it. Mans need someone who’s willing to stand on business behind him. Even throughout the show he’s always admitted to not liking people who’s willing to live like “livestock.” So this is not to be confused with physically weak people by the way but psychologically weak people. Essentially Eren has beef if you’re willing to take it lying down. 

Levi - Zeke

Listennnn I LIVE for their fight scenes okay lmao. Like it's almost always on sight for them and their lil jabs at one another? It’s chucklessss for me omg. Lets be clear, their beef is absolutely warranted. It can be safely argued that Levi doesnt really care for most people but Zeke?? Oh baby its all smoke for him. 

Erwin - The Government 

I swear if it wasn't for the literal fate of humanity and his brewing theory Erwin would've just said fuck it cause baybeeee, they wanted that man GONE. They've tried to get him fired, pointed guns in his face, and built a whole ass guillotine to unalive him; in front of the entire town mind you. Maybe that was the custom back then I don't know. I don’t remember Erwin outright saying that he doesn't fuck with the government but fuck it, I’ll say it for him. Cause I'll stand ten toes down behind this one here. 

Connie - Ymir

I promise you I let out a nasty ole chuckle at the thought cause he don't even dislike her fr fr. I think it's a situation similar to Eren and Jean's in the sense that their friends and environment often see them in the same places. Because if we’re being real, not only do they have little in common but they just don't really vibe like that. I think they could've been a little more cordial but Ymir be on her own timing and it's usually at the expense of the squad. Like when she made fun of Connie for suspecting his mother was a titan or when she kidnapped Historia like 3 times and put them all in danger. And I can't even be mad at Connie for being the voice of reason cause him calling her ugly was simply the truth. I, too, reared back when I first saw Ymir's titan form. 

Jean - Eren, Reiner, Annie, Bertholt

The whole Eren thing is basically squashed but it’s worth noting that if he were to see him in public, he’d walk the other way. 

I lowkey had to dig deep for this one cause I genuinely forgot. But even though they’re all kumbaya now, those three bitches literally watched his homie get half his face chewed off by a titan. Jean is absolutely pouring one out for Marco every birthday by the way, but yeahh it’s still fuck them. Like if they were playing uno stacked, he’d save all his draw 4’s and make them draw 16. 

Onyankopon - Yelena

I'm not too sure that Ony dislikes anyone honestly. But I'm going with Yelena here mostly because she’s the reason he found himself in his current predicament. On what was supposed to be a solid plan in motion to save his people quickly turned into Ony modernizing a primitive people, helping build their resources from scratch, having people question his race (and I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar it was mfs that got ignorant), seeming untrustworthy among his peers, almost getting killed, fighting in a war he had nothing to do with, and probably losing his entire family in the rumble. Now, one or two of those things were inevitable, but if you were to view things from Ony’s POV everything went to shit over a bitch with a fatal attraction to a man with daddy issues. 

Reiner - Himself

Lmaooo I LOVE a good Reiner drag. And while this started out as a joke, I'm deadass now. This man stays talking about wanting to end it all but never follows through, smh. With lots of therapy and support, I genuinely think that Reiner would be on the road to recovery and a healthy lifestyle; but there’ll always be that lingering thought on if he’s worth it or not

Honorable mention: Ymir. But solely because she would get in the way of his fantasy life with Historia. 

Armin - Floch? 

This munchkin is damn near Tanjiro levels of sweet cause omg who does he even hate??? He is always looking for the good in people and I'm about to dislocate my shoulder reaching this hard BUT, hear me out - It’s Floch even if he doesn’t outright say it. The same Floch who damaged the flying boat and almost ruined their mission before it even started? The same Floch who fucked it up so bad that Hange had to sacrifice herself which resulted in Armin taking on an even bigger responsibility? The same Floch who got in a lil too close with his bestie Eren? Close enough to be trusted with his future plans? The same Floch who when he lay on that ground bleeding Armin was nowhere in sight? Even at the port where they attacked the Yeagerists and Armin got shot in the face, he pleaded with his old comrades to stand down but Floch is beneath that level of reasoning huh? Whether Armin despises Floch or not it's safe to say if Floch were getting jumped, Armin would definitely sneak in a kick before helping. 

Floch - Erwin

This is literally one of those cases where its like I disagree but I understand lol. That man legit made them do a suicide charge and yeah he lead the charge blah blah blah but I could never be that brave. And so that resentment is understandable but in all fairness it shaped Flochs character for the better to be honest; cause that whole pwussy boi arc was annoying. 

Also adding the main cast of the Scouts lmao. They thwarted his plans and he spent his DYING breath standing on business. Gotta respect it.

Tags - @eveningatthemoviesnetwork

[dragon-communion]

Concept:

All of Marika's children are born cursed in some way. Messmer's snake business. Melina's rune from birth was probably Destined Death and its blackflame. The omen twins and their blood. Miquella's eternal youth/oblivion and weird blood. Malenia's rot.

I don't think Radagon's kids were cursed as badly, and I actually blame most of their issues on him being the world's worst transmasc father. (/j)

So where does that leave Godwyn? Obviously his fate was to be the first to die and gestate deathblight, but that's all to blame on Marika messing with the Elden Ring as opposed to anything innate about his birth. And the kids we can 100% confirm as belonging to Godfrey show signs of the Crucible, which he's intimately and thematically associated with.

I really love the idea that Godwyn was always a merman, but if I look at him critically using what I know about the base game, I don't think it entirely makes sense? Crucible influence seems to make everything revert to a dragon. Reptilian tails, feathered wings, horns, breath attacks. Devolved dragons, sure, but it's really obvious to me when looking at some of the more elaborate Misbegotten as an example. Mohg and Morgott are also two halves of a whole- Mohg got the wings, Morgott got the tail.

You could argue the scaly tail is draconic, but I don't know. We tragically don't really get any sea monsters in Elden Ring, and even the giant serpent lives in a volcano. We've got some land octopus things, some crabs. The Tibia Mariners sort of count.

I think Godwyn was at least marketed to the public as the most perfect man alive, so it'd make sense if he was just an unblemished Adonis and his curse was simply a matter of time, but that feels weird considering the rest of Marika's direct children explicitly have strange powers or deformities or both.

If we assume Castle Sol was his (part of me wants to think it belonged to Miquella but who can say), it's hard to tell if the eclipse iconography came before or after Godwyn's death. If it existed before, there's a good chance the Eclipse Shotel was actually his weapon. If the eclipse iconography came after his death, as part of their continued attempts to resurrect their lord, then Godwyn himself was not associated with the fucked up necromancy sun during his lifetime.

It's also worth noting that Castle Sol is only accessible by passing through the Forbidden Lands, the entire village of Zamor, an archer golem, and a gauntlet of Fire Monks, so anyone who lived there would've been shoved in the back of Marika's proverbial closet. The Mountaintops were probably locked down the second Marika wiped out the giants, if not during or before to bottleneck resources, so nobody would be visiting casually for a light chat and tea.

(As a side note, I really have to wonder how they feed anyone up there. Where's the farms? The livestock and game? Did the village of Zamor serve Castle Sol in any way? Does the massive graveyard up there belong to the astrologers, or the dead from the war against the giants? Both? Did Marika have an alliance with the ice dragons too? What's Borealis's position in the incredibly tense sociopolitical landscape of the Mountaintops???)

All of that taken together, it's not unreasonable to think that Castle Sol could be where Marika hid her strange merman son, but it's hard to draw any definitive conclusions. The duke of that castle would be in a position to oversee the continued imprisonment of the last Fire Giant as well as the Fire Monks and their prisoners, but given the castle's position so far from the fort I'm inclined to think the castle has more to do with the huge graveyard next to it.

I need to examine the architecture for clues as to when it was built and by whom, I think, because part of me wants to say it belonged to the astrologers, and that would make some sense. On first impression though I was reminded a lot of what it felt like to enter Radahn's fort for some reason. I'll come back to this.

[windywriter]

I mean, MC being Lilith's descendent was to set up their ability to bypass certain wards and such as well as allow them to communicate with her, as far as I'm aware it's the reason they're immune to Asmo's charm as well. MC wouldn't have the ring either if they weren't born with the power of angels.

The game never solved anything by "we have our sister back technically", the entire first season is MC helping the brothers with their problems, including the fact that letting go of the constant grief isn't letting go of Lilith and getting that understanding that moving on isn't bad, you still have her in your heart.

If you're talking about the fandom idea that the brothers only think of MC as Lilith then I'll let you know that was an angst au type thing. If one of the canon brothers treated MC as Lilith or her replacement then I'm almost certain that the others would beat some sense into him and make him apologize.

The brothers love *MC*, not Lilith's descendent. Belphie could be argued but the reveal was more about Lilith getting the life she always wanted in the end (living proof standing in front of him) and that hating *all* humans would be hating her too. And the reason he knows this now, the reason he's back with his brothers, the reason everything's going to be okay is MC. Maybe Lilith's descendent played some part in him wanting to get closer to them at first but I really don't think that'd last, his brothers and even MC would catch on quick and shut that down (saw a fic about that a while ago). After all, he also knew MC before any reveal, they were only "friends" but that meant he did know MC before "Lilith's Descendent".

MC being Lilith's (reincarnation's) descendant just solved certain plot holes with things like their abilities and why Lilith could talk to them but not her brothers.

Sorry if this is messy I'm not great at communicating my points or ideas. I've also got a really bad headache which isn't making it easier--

I actually used to think the same as you in some ways but I've been obsessed with this game for over a year and between rereading the story and reading fandom analysis, I've come to firmly believe that it wouldn't matter if MC wasn't Lilith's descendent, it was just an easy explanation for the plot holes and a typical otome wrap up for what was (iirc) supposed to be a 20 Lesson game.

(Not part of my take but I think the idea of Lilith being so done with the boys' shit and unable to knock some sense into them that she uses "power of fate" to knock around the papers so the boys get to deal with her most chaotic fucking rizzmaster descendent is absolutely hilarious and the entire plot point is worth it just for that)

Hi Anon, Yeah, the whole thing of Lilith being the reason MC can bypass certain stuff could easily be changed with the fact that the divine fruit Lilith gave her lover allowing them immunity against shit, plus my newest post about Lilith as a concept of love protecting MC (check it out here!) I think i mentioned it? idk, but if i didnt here it is.

As for the "technically we have out sister back" because its so ambiguous with the relationships lilith had with the other brothers, its hard to tell, except lucifer who i think mentions holding MC's hand reminds me of when he would hold lilith's hand which is a weird thing to say on a date. As for Belphie's situation, yes it does make sense that if Belphie were to hate MC who is a descendant of lilith he'd be hating her as well, but I think it would be much more interesting if we got him to forgive humanity or at least make steps towards it by confronting the one who he blames for it. And by seeing that they still have lilith's blessing it would mean that Lilith still loves them, and by hurting MC belphie is basically spitting in the face of his beloved sister's wishes.

Also overall, I made this version purely because Lilith being the brother's Sister, and MC being her descendant has some really messed up implications (going back to the lucifer part i pointed out) and technically they arent related by blood but if you have to put "technically" in front of something like that its still pretty strange. But im glad to hear your input! I hope you feel better!

[nigel-oh-nigel]

I Remember You

Chapter 1: accidence happens but acceptance don't always.

Do you believe in destiny? For me, it would be a very unfortunate obstacle to avoid if it does exist.

One could argue that destiny isn’t set in stone, that you are the one who can choose the best path for yourself. And i do agree with that.

What if, with certainty, a horrible series of events were destined to be lined before you?

A person threatened by such a calamity would choose to fight that pin pointed path and rip away from fate. They would deny it and avoid conviction, complain until the problem ceases to be. Such as the nature to survive, searching for a hole until the end.

But what if willingly, beyond all logic, you couldn’t say no? Despite the troubling circumstances, you rather fall deeper.

The roads through this busy city were icy and slippery, despite its ill conditions, cars still cruised across the street kicking up slushy ice onto the outer pavement as if quick-moving knives leading through water. Large piles of crushed flakes caked high and lined the sidewalk. Remembering the weather report, this was about four days' worth of fall.

You could imagine the outcome of so many snow days to be inconvenient, but it barely hinders the hardworking lifestyle of this city.

This amount of snow wasn’t what I was used to. My frail skin easily bumped up to the harsh still chilled air. Luckily it wasn’t windy, I'd snap to pieces if i walked too far. Coming from a more southern region where the air is, most of the time, dry, many are often bliss to the sight of seeing the trees, buildings, the ground and the roads glazed in this white wonder.

My childhood consisted of futilely waiting for a few flakes of snow. Any amount would have made me dazzled with joy, even if there was very little fun anyone could do with the amount we would receive. The kids would talk and hope for it before losing that hope as it neared March.

I know a place like New York would have an over abundant of this white stuff nearly all winter long. In fact, because of how busy its people can become and how dangerous traveling looks to be for them, people here have a deep complication with ice and will strive to get rid of it.

I guess we’d have trouble as well. Our little town would honestly freeze over if we had these inches of snow. Our fragile road system could crumble and fall apart to the first sighting of clear ice. The schools will shut down and few would dare risk their lives traveling to the stores for any minor reason.

The roads would be mostly vacate excluding the factory workers who bosses couldn’t care less if they died getting there.

Speaking of work, this job. Mister Young never told me that the interview would be so… personal, and being that i am far from home, it actually came off as creepy. Like I'm going to be abducted, without notice, at any moment, but maybe its just my imagination.

You see, i was offered this job position by a rich guy named Davidson Young, known widely for his mass production in green friendly vehicles, commercial to the public as well as to companies that demands savvy transporters.

If hired, I'll become an errand boy, a well-paid errand boy who’ll handle the task of suppling one of his many residential homes and satisfying the occupancy in it. Maybe it's more of a butler’s employment.

The questions, at first, were standard, only asking about existing past work experiences that might relate to the job I'm applying for.

I’ve worked at the store my parents run for four years, but getting a reference from my parents would be as valuable to them as asking about my mom’s cake recipe. Only a horrible son, or a son who had life crushing parents would get such a bad review. I doubt the employers cared for whatever gray that fell in, not that i had such a bad relationship with my parents.

The questions then evolved into hobbies or skills. Asking me about hobbies is really needlessly scraping for something, isn’t it? Being the monster company “Ventumio”, you’d think they’d aim for more professional level interns. Maybe someone that came from a more outstanding school than me, a person whose school can't afford to replace ten-year-old computers, and equipment our teachers been practically begging for their lessons.

No matter if i helped someone out or not, i doubt Mr. Young’s people will find a need for me on any level, even if it’s just helping to maintain a portion of the house. I was told that they had a lot of applicates already, so they didn’t want to spend too long on me.

Whatever. On the better side, a trip out of town wasn’t too bad. I had the pleasure of rooming with my older cousin, who moved up here a few years back. His personality was always hard to pin. It's in-between spastic, well-expressed, inner monologues that obsess over figurines from some shows he likes, and a monotone, laidback approach towards everything else living in the moment as if he was only inserted nearby to look and gleam.

He gives the BEST advice, but you kind of have to pry it out of him. For someone who’s “there” at times, other than his grave shift job, he does go out a lot, nearly every day. I tagged along with him once my three days being up here and found out that he was going to a pretty cool comic store. Apparently, he goes there so much that manager gives him the employee discount whenever he buys.

My cousin would joke and say that the comic store was his volunteer service for nerds everywhere. Though he doesn’t do any work as far as i can tell, I was told by one of his “friends” that he would sometimes dress up like a wizard, as he stood, smiled sleepily, and did nothing.

If somehow, the job did fall into my lap, there would be another problem to face later down the road.

It seems as though I've misunderstood the nature of the job. The position requires you to live within the residence, that may not boat well for my parents who barely allowed me to go in the first place.

They have been not only calling me constantly, but my cousin as well. Dad called me for the second time today, half an hour ago, and it isn’t far of a reach to expect a call from mom as soon as she gets on break.

I told dad the simplistic of how it went but didn’t really bring up any of my festering concerns the interview made me feel. He would either demand that I jump on a plane at the very moment of worry, or he would likely jump on a plane coming to get me.

I think there’s no need to worry. Living on the property and being within close corners of people, it’s natural to wonder about my contacts, right? If I… might be dating at the moment, how often I'm in contact with people. Just the… basics.

Who am i kidding, that was bothering. Mr. Young did give me his number just in case i had questions, but he told me, at times, it would be hard to reach him. A time to call never crossed yet, but when I get back to my cousin’s apartment, it would be good to get some sort of clarity.

Walking seemed to be the safest method of travel as far as snow is involved, but since leaving the building of said job review, I felt off. Was it really that necessary to go that deep into my personal life?

The moral dilemmas question was just the weirdest.

If I could betray a coworker for a large sum of money?

How grey was my perspectives on breaking the law?

Have you taken any self-defense classes?

Would you consider yourself a good person? If so, then why?

How do you feel around dead bodies?

With extreme stretches of the imagination, I could link a vague reason to each bizarre question, but should I run? Calling my parents and tipping them a bit might be best, but there’s no way they’d allow me to stay an hour more after hearing this.

I'll think about it and try to watch out for suspicious stuff in the meantime.

To be fair, it was pretty cold at the moment about 2:00 in the evening, but the temperature was already dropping, resting now at fifteen or so Fahrenheit. On the sidewalk with me there were few people traveling in these conditions, about twenty-ish people scattered around coming and from me.

A man appeared from the corner of my eye pacing himself just a bit quicker in his steps than I did. the well-kept styled mid-trimmed haircut aligned with his aura of being a well statured man. A long fancy beige pea coat fell just above his knees, protecting the suit that laid under it.

He didn’t seem as though he was late, the expression on his face was too casual for that. Still, to his side he carried a workbag that suggested that he was either going to or leaving work.

I'd guess work related reasons would be the only thing that would drag anyone out the house, but now thinking about it, Christmas was just around the corner, two weeks from now. Though the late shoppers are common, I'd imagine the early birds would get a jump on things when they can.

Surely this man didn’t come out for that reason, but maybe some others did.

My eyes glanced away from him for just a moment to study others who were out. There was another man who worn too little clothes and was suffering from it, clattering his teeth and bracing himself in a hug.

I could hear slight mumbling from him since he was crossing the street very close by me.

“Stupid weather…”

He faded behind me.

My mind trailed off to wonder why he was out here, but was torn away by another person, this time a woman with a fuzzy head and matching earmuffs. She was bundled up in practical, thick layers of coats and sweaters.

Another person behind her was tall and muscular wearing mostly a thin overcoat that wasn’t as thick as what I could handle in this weather.

The entire that I had on was a shirt, a sweater, and a jacket. It blocked me from the elements decently, only allowing me to feel cold air at the very edges from any openings of my wear.

Strolling, kicking up my feet just a bit higher than my shin level, a simple, mindless thought came to me.

Why do we go through this?

Clearly the world can’t stop because of a few feet of snow. As long as the buildings stand people will be called to work. no one would turn down a workday because that would mean no income. That's just how it was. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to wish everyone luck on their travels.

Before I could enlighten myself to an epiphany that wasn’t going to come to me anytime soon, something sudden and worrisome caught my attention.

The man who walked with an expression that suggested that his heart and mind was already in his office doing desk work and making careful business decisions, stumbled backwards fighting for balance but failed to even withstand the forces of gravity for half a second, hit the ground.

As you could guess, this man who seemed to never accept a lesser hand dealt to him already showed an enormous amount of spite, rage, disbelief and a noticeable instinctive urge to do harm.

To whom? Well, it turns out that he didn’t fall completely on his own. There was a boy a decent amount younger than me, maybe twelve laying on top of the toppled man.

The boy eyed the man with an enduring, sincere grin as though blind to the cold, damped man’s bent hostile frown. If this was a cartoon, surely smoke would bellow from the glaring man’s head.

“Sorry there, sir. I didn’t mean it.” The boy dragged his words out but froze with hesitation to remove himself.

As if to dig a deeper, more definite consequential hole that would be hard to crawl out from, the wide-eyed quirky boy reached for the man's shoulder to dusk the lingering debris of ice on his arm, with hard slaps.

The man who finally recovered from whatever ill violent thoughts possibly crossing his mind finally spoke. Loudly, the business barked an order at the boy to get off, then latched a hand to the boy’s shoulder, fixing him in place. You could see nails penetrate the skin of the minor’s arm, a cold glare to match.

The explosive man gave a quick, forceful jerk to the boy’s arm to remove him, yet his gripe broke first before the boy budged an inch.

“You little fuck! Get your ass off me before I break your arm.” still upholding a bitter tone, the tempered man settled for a threat despite already trying and failing to do major harm. “You ruined my coat and suit. Do you want me to break your teeth in for this?”

The genuinely confused young teen gawked at the heated older, less than gentle, gentleman, then made an effort to remove himself off of him.

“that’s not a nice thing to say. Bro says you should be polite to people. I said I was sorry…” the boy lifted his bottom lip to his nose, childishly, then bowed his head firmly at the man apolitically.

“My shoes you little fucker! My clothes! What are you talking about?”

To his chagrin, a frown formed, then widened over the ever-puzzled kid’s face; nonetheless, he extended a hand to the souring man. “Um… let me help you up.”

With a clawing motion, the also childish man snatched for the shamed teen’s upper arm, ripping and pulling down to get up. The physically abled boy took it nonchalantly, still showing no visible signs of suffering.

“Wow! That's some grip for a guy who works at an office. You must do a little working out too.” the delighted boy remarked, praising him. “If you pull too hard, you might rip my arm off, ha ha.”

As if bothered that again he failed to make this dorpie kid whine in some way, the man fussed again, loudly and shamelessly.

“Where the hell are your parents? Don't you lie to me.”

It was subtle, but there was a sobering glow washing over the otherwise meek boy’s face. He sorrowfully laughed. “My parents died a few years ago. It's just me and my brother now. He's busy right now, so I'll have to- um… handle this myself.”

“You better not be lying boy. Where is your brother? Get him here now!”

“The name is drake.” the boy, drake quipped with a smile. “i said that I'd handle it please. Just tell me how.”

The now inquisitive man paused, mostly from the feeling of being dumbfounded by the hopeful drake. The once mostly boiled, but now mildly more simmered man clashed his teeth together.

“PAY. FOR. IT.” he chanted, fuming at the mouth. “A stupid kid doesn’t have the money to pay for my clothes.”

The naïve early teen cocked a brow to his words, then squeezed his lips together showing a small amount of defeat. “Ah, how much would it cost?”

The man rolled his eyes, adding the damage with an invisible calculator. “400. Maybe 500 for dry cleaner and su-”

“HA HA HA HA!” drake, after hearing the outrageous inflated cost, burst into a fit of laughter, then glanced up at the man with a friendly grin. “Nah. We can’t afford that. It would take years for me to pay you that much.”

Drake's laugh tapered little by little as he occasionally seen the growing bitter look of the dead serious businessman. “Wait, you were serious. No no, we can’t afford that.”

Drake dug into his worn pants pocket, then fished out five dollars. “Here. Please consider this.”

Like a bee sting, an aggressive straightened hook of the man’s hand swiftly struck the money away. The money drifted, gliding to the snowy pavement. To add insult to injury, a car came spilling snow from under its wheels. The airborne slush landed on the five dollars, burying it quickly.

“That was… wasteful.” the boy mumbled under his breath. “But we can maybe buy you a new coat. Maybe something as fancy as the one you have on.”

“Don't you bullshit me! You ruin this, a thousand-dollar suit. No crappy, poor jacket will make up for this.” the blinded angry man roared.

The man, that was twice the boy’s size, lounged at him then grabbed his hair ready to start a fight. He pulled Drake closer, pointing a stern index finger inches from his face. “I'm going to make sure your ass goes to jail, and you won’t see your fucking brother again!”

Having my fill, sitting by to watch this unfolding disaster, I was ready to intervene, surprised that an adult would take it this far.

A few onlookers had paused to stare, but since there was now physical contact being made between the two, more people stopped to watch.

As I stepped in to try and detour the crazy, a glint in the boy’s eyes stunned me to my core just from the glance alone. It wasn’t an angered, festered response to the old man’s aggression. It was a calm flame that I couldn’t comprehend.

“i hope one of these people call the cops so they ca- GAH!”

The loudmouth man’s words were cut short by a hand seizing the freedom of his jaw. I'd imagine confusion overcame him, draining the anger from the man’s eyes.

“i really hate people like you.” the boy whispered. The man’s cheeks caved in by drake’s handle, growing plump and red from the fingers that sunk into its flesh.

The man raised a hand then latched it onto the boy arm. It was wary to watch. Despite the desperate man’s best attempts, the short dominant kid grip was absolute and unwavering, fastened tightly around his mouth.

More instinctively than not, I stepped quickly to the fearsome drake, then grabbed his arm along with the stupid man.

“you’re hurting him, you know. This’ll get you into trouble.” I grunted, straining to loosen his hold even a little.

It shouldn’t be this hard. I was near double his height as well, and our combined strength can’t equalize to his power. This was unreal.

The boy looked up to me with lazy eyes, displaying the impression that he was giving this full-grown man and me trouble without really trying. He wasn’t what I'd call a normal kid.

I mean, what were his hands made of? Robot parts.

A little larger than a normal twelve-year old’s arm. It seems enduring and tempered. He was well-trained by someone, for whatever reason.

“So, you want to get involved now?” those fearsome, dangerous eyes had faded into a more inquiring glare. He stared at me, then grew more empathetic to my attempt to stop him. “no… You’re not a bad person, I guess. Your eyes are too soft. I wouldn’t feel good hurting you.” The boy unlatched the man’s face, then I let his arm go.

With a smudged look, he pointed his body at me, expressing a knowing grin.

“i even doubted you would have even tried to hurt me.” with a tilt of his head and a cock of his brow, he glared at the man on the ground. “I would have let him hit me for knocking him down, but someone like him shouldn’t throw weight he doesn’t have around. I can’t believe she likes him. I don’t see it.”

Drake scratched his head, turning his body away as if to ponder his dilemma in isolation.

Curious to the nature of the boy, i even wondered what he meant by “she”. It implied a connection of some sort the boy and this man shared somehow, but their initial interaction earlier didn’t suggest that they knew each other at all.

I bent down, reluctantly, to the out of breath man, checking the reddening area surrounding his mouth that will be there for a while.

“Who the fuck are you? Get the hell out of my face.”

“Yeah, you seem ok.” I halfheartedly moaned.

“Did you really stop me to save that man?” the boy inquired, showing a displeasing shift of his head, facing towards the ground.

Shame filled my eyes to the fact that I was sympathetic to a man willing to beat up kids.

“This guy is a jerk, but there’s no reason anyone should be walking away with any serious injuries.”, a gave drake a glaring smile, “also it would be bad for you to go to jail for a thing like this.”

Drake seemed to ponder my consequential words but shrugged it off. “Jail wouldn’t be so bad; they have food in there. But if my bro found out that I went to jail… it would make him feel less of a man. Plus being away from my bro would suck too.”

“Wait. What?” less of a man? “What do you mean?”

“He wants me to have a better life.”

Well, that makes sense, but the way he worded it sounded weird.

Drake turned his attention back to the man on the ground, who only recently caught his wind.

“Because of the stories she told me, I was kinda excited to meet you, but you have nothing in common with the stories I heard. And that really is sad.”

She? “Who is sh-

“you brat!! Don't you have any damn training?! Who do you think you are?”

To be expected and in his right, the man who collected himself within drake’s assessment of me, again erupted, squaring his focus to the boy.

A bit of the bite the once overly brazen man had a moment ago tapered from the intimidating way he was treated, but for some reason he again searched for the high ground to scold his attacker.

I saw a small flash from a phone within the corner of my eye. Surrounding us were now a lot of people, ogling at the “show” the two had. I was now fully involved.

Some just stood there, staring. A few seemed to have been shocked, as well as tickled by all that happened.

No one intervened like me, but there were some who had a phone close to their ears, possibly calling the police.

It was becoming clear that this boy was in trouble. I looked with panic in my eyes, scraping up some plan to redirect the attention, but before i did anything extreme…

“where’s your parents?” only after asking the crude question that I remembered that they had died. “Oh… sorry. I meant your brother.”

He glanced at me in a way that acknowledge I was heard, but no response was made to answer my clumsy question. Instead, Drake drove his regard to the capsized business man, the seemingly and sudden sorrowful boy pinched his lips together, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

“We were… supposed to be friends? But how is that?” he rolled his eyes, turning his back to the bewildered man, “there’s no way we would be. You're mean. Hot headed. and Like stuff too much.”

The bold boy, with a sudden, deepened, burning grudge towards the not-so-unfamiliar man, digging into his worn jacket pocket to fish out a dark-brown leather quality wallet with a light-black buckle that sealed it.

“Here.” Drake tossed the wallet into the lap of the confused man, who grew brighter in the face the more he seen what was in Drake’s hand. “Sorry Clover, I don’t want to be his friend anymore.”

“These…” the businessman gazed at the well-designed wallet, stunned. “This is my Wallet you brat.”

“Yep, time to go. I did what I had to do.” he spoke gingerly.

“you STOLE his wallet?!”, I affinized, realizing if i helped him now, I'd likely become an accessory to a thief.

His arms raised above his head, folded to be tucked behind his neck, then he intertwined the fingers into a net. He started off in the direction that he came from.

Metaphorically sucker punched and finding himself yet again on the hard icy sidewalk, holding his disrespected livelihood in his lap, the pride businessman had to pick himself back up to face his shame-er. His feet twisted and wobbled, hardly finding suitable ground to stabilize his feet. The heels of the designer shoes had some grip but weren’t the best fit for pure ice.

“You think someone as poor as you can get away from me, untouched? No. I'll make sure somebody get you.” He then bowed his shoulders in rekindled fury. “I bet you and your brother are homeless trash. That's why you can't afford to clean my suit.”

the boy turned so swiftly, though it might have been a fabrication on my part, wind seemed to slide off his shoulders. Feeling a different spark of heat flaring within him, my chest tightened. though he seemed like a person who would prefer a peaceful outcome at first, that look he had on his face now suggested things can go either way.

Grinding teeth of the boiling man, parted and his fangs were tucked away, but he wasn't done. this shady short dark-haired man that had his pride tampered with, still showed deep feral eyes that wish for long suffering. “I don’t have to call the cops; I'll get you myself.”

“ok” the boy quipped with a smile. “Sounds fun.”

I shuttered. "you two are acting stupid. just drop it and walk away." i thought that i could reason with them, but clearly there wasn't room for that.

The man, who realized that drake was leaving, pulled his phone out, then began to take a picture of the boy’s face. combining the information about what he said, not involving the cops anymore, erected a crimson red flag. it was just a feeling but this wouldn’t end well if he gets a picture. I ripped my coat off the tossed it over the drake’s face.

“HEY!” Drake remarked somewhat allowing me to place it over him.

“QUIT GETTING IN THE WAY! It has nothing to do with you.”

Both drake and the man had a negative reaction to me stopping the issue from escalating. i thought things were put on hold, but the faint sound of a shuttering camera caught my ears. I think my picture was taken instead.

" Now he got YOUR picture instead." Drake barked, frustrated at me. " I get you're trying to help, but…."

the odd kid with abnormal strength overpowered me, pulling the coat off. "I'm used to monsters like him."

" yep, you're pretty strong. maybe I should workout more." I scuffed, glaring dumbfounded at the boy named Drake.

surely the man, with an odd sense of justice, would want to try and take another picture.

With no urgency to his safety, Drake’s eyes floated to the camera phone again, by chance and another shutter sound echoed. "there. now you can just come after me."

“I got you now, brat!” the man cooed.

With a swift step and all the strength, I could muster focused within my legs, I kicked the iPhone up into the sky, sailing it yards away.

The man’s jaw dropped when the phone practically exploded from his hand.

“Wha?! You! Why did you do that? That phone costed me over a thousand as well.”

“I don’t like where this is going.” I stated, showing to be truly disturbed.

Glancing to both sides of me, a hot-headed man that would give a therapist a field day, a boy who seems prone to possible harm and a steady growing crowd, I rolled my eyes to the new level of involvement I've become.

“That was a nice kick.” Drake laughed. “Please play kickball with me and my bro when you get the chance!”

I felt like yelling at him for not being aware of his immediate threat to life, but I bit my tongue, opting for a more practical explanation.

“That man wants to REALLY hurt you and the police will be here soon.” I connection some points together in my head, then thinned my lips. The boy looked back with a smile at me.

“Yeah, I know, and the guy does seem like the type of person who would have "special friends.”, Drake mumbled, showing the wrong interested in that fact. " i hope they're a little tougher than him."

"wha?" my stress was nearly crushed by the crippling bolder of confusion his boy spat. "no. you shouldn't be planning a fight with a group of people."

“What if I am?” he plainly asked, searching my eyes with a solemn prowl.

A thought comprised of many assumptions, ruptured in mind like a balloon. It made me wonder if he had the proper priorities in urgency. If the police saw him, he’d be in child service pretty soon after.

“it's pretty dangerous to be in the street like this. I'm sure if the police see you, they’ll want to question your living status. yours and your brother's.” I nudged the fact more, pressing him to see doubt in his control. that some level of sanity would acutely strike him with a sense of crippling worry. however, there still wasn’t panic present on his face.

“You don’t know the half of it. They tried taking me three times now. I punched a police officer the last time they tried putting me in their car and now I think, they might want to press me for that.” Drake stated, showing some regret to the fact. “i hate that I did it. He was just worried about me, but he wouldn’t let go.”

That's… something. My eyes bucked; shock visibly displayed. He punched a policeman; this guy is screwed. Since that’s a federal crime, it could get pretty serious. An apology might not be enough, but… you never know.

“So… maybe you should apologize for what you did.” I brought it up trying to sound earnest about the suggestion, but maybe came off as an unreliable source for wisdom.

“no.” he respectfully declined. “ he went to the hospital.”

My stomach sunk and poured out somewhere inside of my body. This guy is screwed.

“Is that so?” I sighed, sickly. “We… should go.”

Yep. I'm getting too involved.

We skipped away through the various colored views of the crowd in a jog. there was one person that asked, “what happened Drake?”

And Drake answering the voice flatly, “I'll tell you later.”

I wonder if this will hurt my chances of getting that job. Likely if they find out.

Up to this point, you could have made an argument that I had no involvement in the actual conflict, maybe worthy of praise in wanting to stop the fight, but when I chose to flee with a delinquent and foul a mad man’s attempts to get revenge, that does make me involved.

We ran for a while, rounding a few corners and me slipping on ice that nearly made me fall before we stopped.

I was heaving air into my lungs, sucking the sweet nectar of air as though I was breathing through a thick filter.

We ran nearly a mile, so this was to be expected, but looking over to the boy, who stood by me waiting, breathed hollow breaths as if he never ran that mile.

“don’t die on me, brah.” he teased, reaching out to pat my back. “You should do some cardio and get in shape.”

“pant I- pant I thought I could speak, but my lungs still needed more time to recover.

I exhaled long lengths of hot air, injecting it into the icy wind, then waited for my breaths to become shallow before trying to speak again.

“pant I'm ok.” feeling as though I've remained a puddle of myself long enough, my back straightened from its coiled state. “huff more importantly… what are you going to do? The police are after you?”

“Go back to the apartment and wait for bro to get back so we can do a lil workout.” he smiled, “that jog was a pretty good warmup, but my blood is pumping now!”

Warmup? Workout? Apartment…?

“What apartment do you and your brother stay in?” I pointed out. He has a place to stay after all?

“Oops…”, he covered his mouth, then side glanced me, wary in the eyes. “Forget you heard that.”

Ignoring his request, I leaned back onto the edge of a brick wall. “I thought you said you were homeless?” I was feeling pretty hot from the run, so the cold didn’t bother me from resting a bit.

He stared at me, lack luster, maybe reflecting on my words. “I’m not entirely homeless, at least, not anymore. You know, I was told NOT to tell anyone about this, but you act like a nice guy.”

Maybe they’re in the building without being known? Occupying an empty room, they’ve gained access to.

“We live in an abandon apartment that was supposed to be condemned.” he confessed, finding a spot on the wall beside me.

“Sounds dangerous… when you say ‘we’ do you mean just you and your brother, or….”

“Nope. Can't tell you that much.” he hummed, laughing under his tone. “‘we’re’ ok where we live so there’s no need to worry. It's not illegal.”

“Yes, it is!”

“we’re not hurting anyone.”

“Who owns the building?!”

“can’t tell you.”

“that’s suspicious.”

“Are you going to tell on us?”

“No….” though a tiny part of me was convinced that i should.

He swung his head to study me, then snickered to himself. “Yeah, I believe you.” then looked to the ground covered in snow.

I creased my brow. “It’s none on my business. I mean, I don’t know your… situation.”

“let’s keep it that way.”

“But…”

“But?”

That well-dressed but more than cranky man came to mind. Sure, everything he barked should be tallied as empty under-toned threats, but it’s stuck in my head.

“Not that I think you should worry, but making enemies like that guy you bumped into could turn into a bad thing if they’d mean their threats.”

“He DID mean his threat.” Drake spoke ominously, “He's the type of guy who will follow through with hurting someone. In fact, it wouldn’t shock me to see some people trying to find me.”

“Wait, WHAT! H-how can you be sure about that?”

Plain faced, yet not completely relaxed like before. Drake Inhabited the wall no longer, standing strong, facing me. A sudden pressure was practically visible, growing and incasing me as if I was a trapped animal.

“Me and my brother… ran into people with eyes like him. He's shady and his hands are dirty.” Drake gave my shoulders, arms, and legs a glance-over before floating his focus to mine. “You look fit enough to fight, but you should definitely run if you ever see him again.”

I tunnel-visioned. My muscles stiffen, locking in placed. Sensing the fat in my cheeks solidify. My jaw slowly dips until finally a split formed between my porched lips.

“you’re… overthinking it. He's just an office guy.”

An invisible object, weighted, but not too heavy to completely stop the flow of air, formed over my chest. I was gradually growing uncomfortable. I sprung off the wall as well to chase that slightly better feeling I had earlier, but Drake’s eyes followed me.

“You made him mad too, you know. I appreciate that you wanted to help me, but shouldn’t have. You placed a bounty on your head.” he resonated an aura that felt murky with awaiting prowl. There was just something about him that was stunning. “He’s going to try and kill us.”

He wasn’t that tall, so feeling intimidated by him felt unusual, but his stance screamed heedfulness.

“He did get the chance to take my picture, so that might buy you some time.” Drake reasoned, folding his arms.

As if defending myself from a threat, I raised my hands, fiddling with the air to reach a point. “But what about you?! You made him mad too.”

“Yep.” Drake plainly stated with no care.

“So, he’ll look to hurt you too, right?”

“Yep.” drake added.

“aren’t you… bothered if he does try to get us?”

“Like I said before, there’s no need to worry about me. If he finds me first, you don’t have to worry about the guy anymore.”

Was that a threat?

My hands dug deeper into my pockets, squeezing into a ball. “what’s that’s supposed to mean?”

“whao whao! I ain’t no killer. It's just that I know how to handle people.”

I cocked a brow lifting and shifting my head away, then hummed going silent. “You must have had… a tough life."

“You seem cool to share a few stories with, but I'm going to have to go soon and meet with someone.” he groaned suddenly, “I'm sure she saw me throw Thomas wallet back at him. I'm sorry Clover, but that guy isn’t a friend of ours. Why would she wait all this time to meet such a-”

“WAIT. Did you just say Thomas?!” I yipped, straining my voice to a nearly formless squeak. “that’s my…”

Drake, the Stranger I've met just fifteen minutes ago, seemingly by accident, spoke my name with a sense of familiarity that I was not comfortable with. How would he even know me?

Drake cut his gaze towards me, discerning my flaring tone as a shift in our friendly chat. He frowned at me as if to be on guard, but reasoned to ask me what was wrong.

“dude. Why are you acting like that?! You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

He looked confused.

“it’s just that you said Thomas. I never told you my name yet.”

“What? I'm talking about that guy we… oh…” his face sunk and fell pale, almost sickly.

“ ‘Oh’, what?!” a rant of annoyance escaped.

“ N-nothing. Bro.” Drake huffed, glancing up at me just to give a response. Obviously, something was caked on his mind, but this, he didn’t want me to know. “we can… I have to… just…”

His body was so stiff. Locked in a similar way i shut down when I was told the man from before might want my head too. Drake was debating something in mind, this as well fed into my concern as well. How does he know my name?

"I- I just want to thank you for, you know, helping back there." Drake side-glanced me with suspicion and mild embarrassment.

"sure, but whatever i did, didn't really-" as i was rambling, the boy suddenly hugged me. "uhh?"

this awkward encounter lasted for about ten seconds before he was ready to peel away from me. "well, i got to go. see ya."

my face freeze, displaying plain dumbfoundedness. "you're leaving after that?"

"yep. don't die out here." he spun around then trailed away with a wave of his hand.

"don't die out here?" i cocked a brow.

[emmetrain]

Falling: What does your muse think about falling in love or commitment? 

Change: What was a turning point in your muse’s life?

Disease: What does your muse do on a sick day?

Number 13: Does your muse believe any superstitions? 

Noise: Name one sound your muse finds absolutely unbearable.

Fear-Themed Headcanon Questions

Falling: What does your muse think about falling in love or commitment? 

Answered before, so I get to pick songs from my Emmet playlist >:D Emmet falling in love summarized (he probably would sing this if the Battle Subway was a musical, Abel and Alex are not safe from being pulled in for the song);;

When He Sees Me

I stick with real things Usually facts and figures When information's in its place I minimize the guessing game Guess what? (What?)

I don't like guessing games Or when I feel things Before I know the feelings How am I supposed to operate If I'm just tossed around by fate? Like on an unexpected date?

Is what if when he sees me, what if he doesn't like it? What if he runs the other way and I can't hide from it? (Ah) What happens then? (Ah) If when he knows me, he's only disappointed? What if I give myself away, to only get it given back? (Ah) I couldn't live with that (how do you live with that?)

So, I'm just fine, inside my shell-shaped mind This way I get the best view So that when he sees me, I want him too

But still I can't help from hoping (in hope for love?) To find someone to talk to Who likes the way I am Someone who when he sees me Wants to again

Also, on Emmet falling in love, I offer this song as well;;

The Manic- Amarente

There's a pain I'll carry with me Through the days I will dream Of losing you And losing me I'm not the man that you will need I've let you down entirely You're better off You're better off I'll let you go You're better off Kick me out and let me go You don't need me, I'm an angry soul Shut me out and lock the door You don't need me

Overall, Emmet wants the romance, but is deadly afraid of commitment and love before making sure the other person is enthusiastic + right person. If he believes the other person would be happier with someone else (verrry healthy thinking he does on behalf of his crush), he will put some distance and bury his feelings definitely.

Change: What was a turning point in your muse’s life?

For our main verse, of course it is Ingo's disappearance. Emmet's optimism and naivety took a big hit when it happened, and his self-worth took a nosedive. Emmet before this, in Twin Trouble verse, is a happier, more naive and positive person. A lot more cocky and reaching for the stars.

For his backstory, it is the day Emmet realized Ingo was the victim of their parents as much as Emmet was. Before that realization, Emmet took Ingo as the golden child of the family and had resentment building up for his twin.

Disease: What does your muse do on a sick day?

:) There is no sick days. None. (You can imagine Emmet forcefully dragged by Ingo from collar at this point.)

Emmet is a troublesome patient; his denial can frustrate anyone. It does not matter how severe his condition is, Emmet will NOT be derailed. Which means even if someone managed to make him rest, Emmet will be grumbling and frustrated, trying to argue with the person that he is fine. Can he go now? x10

However, if the sickness is very very insignificant, Emmet will still be “spoiled-rotten baby brother” who will demand all of Ingo’s attention, whining and grumbling.

If you hear Emmet talking about how sick he is? He is healthy with a mild headache and just in for the attention. If you hear nothing and he is uncharacteristically silent? Rush him to hospital, he is dying.

Number 13: Does your muse believe any superstitions? 

Emmet's long hair is due to his superstition :) He likes having long hair, but wanted a change and cut it short to match with Ingo. The disappearance took place shortly after, and Emmet trying to make sense of this situation, decided he had "cut Ingo's life short and brought misfortune" by cutting his long hair.

He is not going to cut his hair until he gets his brother home, safe and sound. And even after that, his fear stays.

Noise: Name one sound your muse finds absolutely unbearable.

Crying. Especially children crying.

It brings back terrible memories, and he will be, for the rest of the day, completely on edge/more flighty. He will absolutely rush to help and/or cheer the little one up with little stickers and stuff. But he cannot stop his old wounds from being opened.

[hangezoeenthusiast]

You failed me

multiple x gn!reader

word count: 2,524

warnings: cursing, yelling, arguing, death, angst, blood, explosion, the egg (it deserves its own warning)

synopis: you guys failed me(us)

(the lyrics go with each person, might not get everyone, and also xd’s part is kinda wonky)

song: rät by penelope scott

I come from scientists and atheists and white men who kill God They make technology, high quality, complex physiological Experiments and sacrilege in the name of public good They taught me everything, just like a daddy should

Quackity, Karl, George, and Sapnap left you. Your mentors, your friends. The ones who taught you everything you knew. They went to build their little “Kinoko Kingdom” while you stayed in the ruins, the dust. “They’ll regret that.” you swore. You built something better, something greater.

It was called “Las Nevadas”. A place where everyone was allowed. They would remember not to fuck with you. They would soon realize that they should watch their back for the rest of their short, stupid lives.

“Watch out, you guys, I'm watching your every move.”

And you were beautiful and vulnerable and power and success God damn, I fell for you, your flamethrowers, your tunnels, and your tech I studied code because I wanted to do something great like you And the real tragеdy is half of it was true

Wilbur majorly fucked up. He was supposed to be with you to the end, your guys’ country, right? No. He left you behind. He went to find peace, find his heaven, while you stayed on earth, wallowing away until your flesh seeped off your rattling bones, rotting away by yourself, with no one to bare witness.

“Why didn’t you bring me with you Wilbur?” you asked his stupid grave on top of the once L’Manburg. “Why did you get the ecstasy, why do I get the remains?”

“I’m coming for you Wilbur, and when I do, we are going to wreck upon justice on everyone who wronged us, wronged you, they will feel our wrath.”

But we've been fuckin' mеan, we're elitist, we're as flawed as any church And this faux-rad West coast dogma has a higher fuckin' net worth I bit the apple 'cause I trusted you, it tastes like Thomas Malthus Your proposal is immodest and insane And I hope someday Selmers rides her fuckin' train

"Y/n!" Technoblade yelled. "I TRUSTED YOU, AND YOU BETRAYED ME, FOR WHAT, TO BLOW UP A STUPID COUNTRY, A COUNTRY THAT WAS DOOMED TO FAIL FROM THE START." He started to battle you, missing every single swing, blinded by fury.

“YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON MY SIDE.”

"LOOK AT ME GODDAMN IT."

You looked up at him in the eyes and boldly said, "No, Techno, don’t you see, you’re in the wrong here, you’re the one who betrayed me." You were blinded by friendship, you couldn’t see that Tommy had betrayed Techno, and that what the Butcher Army did to Techno was terrible.

"What do you mean Y/n, you know what they did, they wronged me, they used me, they tortured me, they gave me hell, so I gave it back to them, I destroyed the things they loved, the people they loved, you see Y/n, those who have treated me with kindness I will repay that kindness tenfold, and those who treat me with injustice, that use me, that hunt me down, that hurt my friends, I shall repay that injustice a thousand times over, do you understand?"

"No I don't, Techno, you can't do this.” you begged. He pushed you out of the way, "Get out of my way Y/n." “No, I won’t, I won’t let you destroy everything we worked for.”

“Well, then I have to fight you.”

And thus the battle began, Swords clashing against each other, blood spilling from open wounds, friends digging each other into a whole both of them couldn’t get out of. Techno was letting you off easy, he knew his strength, he knew that he could’ve beaten you in one swipe, but he didn’t want to kill you.

So when you had the opportunity, you swept from under his feet, and knocked him down. You placed your blade onto his neck, pressing down until a little drop of blood appeared, “Stay down Technoblade, or I’ll do something worse than try to put you on trial.”

He watched as you walked away from him, trying to save L’Manberg from a worst fate than death itself.

“One day Y/n, you’ll see, I’m on your side.”

I loved you, I loved you, I loved you, it's true I wanted to be you and do what you do I lived here, I loved here, I bought it, it's true I feel so stupid, and so used I feel so used

"Why would you do that Dream? You didn't have to do that." you interrogated. Dream had stupidly blew up the community house. You both didn't plan that, he had gone behind your back. "I had to Y/n, you wouldn't understand."

"What do you mean I don't understand, you went against my back, we were supposed to-" you cut off yourself, "Dream, don't you understand, you did something stupid, and what did you get, you got stupid jail." "The reason I did that is because I needed to isolate myself from humanity." he said, proudness lacing his words.

"What do you mean?" you questioned. "If anyone knows I can revive people, I'm screwed, so that's why I need to be by myself, yeah it sucks major ass, but at least no one else will know, well, besides you anyways." "I have a task for you Y/n/n, I need you to find a way to bring Tommy and Ghostbur in here."

"Why Dream?"

"I'm going to revive Wilbur."

I was your baby, your firstborn, the hot girl in your comp-sci class And I was Darwin's prep school dream, bred, born and raised to kick your ass I fell for circuit boards, rocket ships, pictures of the stars If you could only be what you pretend you are

"PHILZA MINECRAFT COME BACK HERE." you were chasing Phil, through the woody forest, covered by oak trees. He had information on Technoblade's whereabouts and you needed it. You chased him with your enchanted netherite armor, netherite sword and axe, and a few op potions. Your goal was to capture Philza and interrogate him on where Techno's place was. The thing was, you were his child. His own child trying to kill his own son.

He felt betrayed, his own child turned against him and their brother, their family. "The Butcher Army must've gotten to you somehow." he thought in his head. Surely, his darling Y/n didn't do it on their own will, right?

He was incorrect, you did it because you believed that Techno needed to be brought to justice, by punishment. You believed that your own sibling needed to die, because he was a "liability" to L'Manberg's growth and future. He needed to die because as long as he would live his long life with his little enderman Edward, retired, he would still cause trouble to everything you, Quackity, Tubbo, Fundy, and Ranboo had built.

He pleaded, "Stop Y/n, you don't have to do this." You argued, "I do Philza, as long as he lives, my plans for L'Manberg will forever cease to exist."

He felt like shit, you called him Philza, not Dadza, or Dad, or anything besides his normal name. "Did I screw something up?" he asked himself quietly under his breath. "Yes you did Phil, you took the traitor's side." you had heard Phil mumble.

"HE'S NOT A TRAITOR." Phil yelled at you. "Yes he is, he deserves what he is about to get, I will say it again, where is his base?"

"I'm not saying, Y/n, why are you doing this, Techno is your own sibling." "He's not my sibling anymore, that stopped when he destroyed L'Manberg, you're lucky I forgived you." you declared.

"Y/n/n, please don't do this."

"I have to Dadza, I can't let him roam free."

When I said take me to the moon, I never meant take me alone I thought if mankind toured the sky, it meant that all of us could go But I don't want to see the stars if they're just one more piece of land For us to colonize, for us to turn to sand

Bad had tried to convice you to join the Eggpire. You had no effect while being next to the egg, and he had to take you out. People who had no effect towards the egg had to be eliminated.

He was creepily following you, waiting until you stopped to get a chance to capture you. He had hope that you did have an effect, that you would join the Egg with him. He didn't want to kill you, you were his best friend, besides Skeppy of course.

"Come back here Y/n." he said. "No chance in hell Bad, get the fuck away from me." "HEY, LANGUAGE!" he exclaimed. "No language, get away from me, you're creeping me out."

He threw his trident, spinning in the air, trying to catch up to your frantic steps. You were trying to get to Church Prime, where no one could kill anyone, hopefully Bad would abide to that rule. You were just about to step on Church Prime when you bumped into a hard, armored chest.

You looked up shyly, and saw Punz, with his red eyes reflecting anger. "Where are you going Y/n?" he questioned. "Somewhere." you blankly stated. You were desperate, you didn't want to die, or anything else that Bad was going to do to you. You tried to dodge Punz, but he placed a hand on your shoulder, "Stay right here Y/n."

"No, get away from me, I don't know what's wrong with all of you, but go away, I don't want anything to do with your stupid Eggpire." He raged, and grabbed your wrist heavily, "DON'T TALK ABOUT THE EGG LIKE THAT, IT WILL TAKE CONTROL OF THE SERVER, AND YOU ALL WILL BE ITS SERVANTS." "LET ME THE FUCK GO PUNZ." you screamed. You were wiggling in his grip, trying to escape his lunatic self.

While he was holding you, you saw two other shadows behind you. It was Antfrost and Bad. "What do you guys want from me, I didn't do anything wrong."

"You are against the Egg Y/n, people who are like you and Tommy have to die."

"Well, I'm not dying today." you murmured under your breath. "What was that you said?" Antfrost asked you.

You smirked, "I'm not dying today, I'll tell you one more time, let go of me."

Bad and Antfrost walked closer to you, Punz right behind you, all of them cornering you into a tight spot. "What you going to do about it Y/n, you're cornered."

"You'll know when they get here, but for now, you better run boys."

'Cause we're so fuckin' mean, we're so elitist, we're as fucked as any church And this bullshit West coast dogma has a higher fuckin' net worth I bit the apple 'cause I loved you, and why would you lie? And then I realized that you're just as naïve as I am Oh, you're so traumatized it makes me want to cry

"Tubbo, don't do this." Schlatt had unfortunately found out that you were a spy, that you were on Pogtopia's side. He had ordered Tubbo to kill you with fireworks, to light you on fire, give you blisters all over your body. "Please Tubbs, you're my friend." you pleaded.

"I can't Y/n/n, or something worse will happen." he whispered to you. "What do you mean?" you asked. "He can-" he trailed off, looking somewhere else besides your eyes. "Tubbo, you don't have to do what that stupid bastard tells you to do, you're your own person, with your own thoughts and actions."

"I'm sorry Y/n, I hope you can forgive me."

"TUBBO N-" you was cut off by firewords hitting your skin, making blisters and burn marks all over your body. You lost your second canon life, feeling betrayed by Tubbo. He killed you for what, a stupid father who never cared about him in his entire life, a father who exiled his friends that actually treated him like a person, and not like some random piece of trash.

You respawned in your bed, feeling bruises and bumps mostly on your forearms and your back.

"I'll help you Tubbo, I’ll get rid of him.”

You dumb bitch I loved you, I loved you, I loved you, it's true I wanted to be you and do what you do I lived here, I loved here, I bought it, it's true I'm so embarrassed, I feel abused

“Come on Y/n/n, come with me.” Punz begged of you. He wanted you to visit the Egg. You didn’t want to be controlled by a stupid omelette. "I'm not Punzo, why are you so obsessed with that stupid thing."

"DON'T SPEAK OF THE EGG LIKE THAT."

You put your hands in front of you, accidentally touching Punz's chest, "Ok calm down buddy." He didn't calm down and instead yelled at you on why you had to join the Eggpire.

"If you join, you will be forever happy."

"If you join you'll get whatever you want."

You were tired of the members of the Eggpire to convince you to join them, you didn't like eggs anyway. "Punz, for the last time, I'm not joining you, stop telling me."

“Then you have to die.”

So fuck your tunnels, fuck your cars, fuck your rockets, fuck your cars again You promised you'd be Tesla, but you're just another Edison 'Cause Tesla broke a patent, all you ever broke were hearts I can't believe you tore humanity apart

“XD!” You were pissed at him, he had destroyed your house, made your friends pissed at you, just everything you liked. All because he wanted you for himself.

He wanted you to be dependent on his every word, and he was being a manipulative psychopath. And you didn’t tolerate that, it was like he was his human counterpart, Dream.

He walked to you with confidence, waiting for to get a hug from you, well, he didn’t get that. You slapped him so hard his head swung to the left.

“WHAT THE FUCK.”

“That’s what you get you stupid son of a bitch. You fucking ruined everything.” “Calm down Y/n/n, what is wrong?” He acted concerned, but you knew that he was faking. He would do anything to get someone’s approval.

“DO YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT’S WRONG, IT’S YOU, YOUR STUPID PRESENCE IN MY LIFE. YOU KEEP ON WALKING AROUND LIKE YOU FUCKING OWN THE PLACE.”

“Calm down darling, just take some netheri-” you interrupted him by slapping the ore out of his hands. “I don’t need jack shit from you XD, you know what, take back the necklace, I don’t want it.” You pulled the shiny, green emerald necklace off your neck, and pulled XD’s palm out.

You placed the necklace filled with memories, and put it on his hand. You closed up his palm, and walked away, leaving XD to his own accord.

“We could’ve had evertything X.”

[waheelawhisperer]

Why Team RWBY is Right

Yes, I know, another RWBY post. This one focuses on the situation at the end of Volume 7, so I'm going to be dropping the Read More link sooner rather than later. The reddit posts I link here and here are recommended reading, and I'll be drawing from both of them, as well as adding my own analysis.

First of all, I think the way the end of Volume 7 was written was fantastic, perhaps the best content that CRWBY's ever written in this show. If you paid attention to fan reaction at the time, you'll know that this generated a lot of discussion and engagement, across multiple platforms. The two threads I linked are examples of that. Even now, there are still people (hi, I'm people!) arguing over whether Ironwood or Team RWBY was right and/or lionizing/vilifying one or both groups. The end of Volume 7 set up a difficult and interesting moral dilemma (is it better to save what we can or is it worth risking it all to save all of the people that we, as Huntsmen and Huntresses, have an obligation to protect?) and set groups of characters that have been working more or less together for the whole Volume against each other. Ironwood thinks that the right call is to flee Mantle, to save what he can and prevent Salem from obtaining the Relics, while Team RWBY thinks that they should instead stand and fight. Ironwood presents his argument as pragmatic: he's making the hard choices that give humanity a chance of survival. His army cannot win a fight, and so Mantle must be abandoned. Team RWBY's argument is framed at least partly from a moral perspective: Huntsmen and Huntresses abandoning the people they swore to protect is wrong, a betrayal of the promises they made when they accepted the job. From a practical standpoint, they point out that he has more options/allies than he's considered: Mantle/Robyn are on their side and the Amity project could potentially allow them to call for reinforcements.

There are a number of things we need to talk about to put the situation in context. First is that Cinder is a very smart manipulator who just hit Ironwood's trauma button with a People's Elbow from the top rope and followed it up with a Stone Cold Stunner, grinning maniacally the entire time. Ironwood is in the middle of a PTSD-induced breakdown because Cinder has just ripped open every single wound associated with his various psychological issues and traumas at once. He's hurt, terrified, exhausted, and making bad decisions at least partly because of that. His trauma does not excuse his actions, but it does allow the audience to see where they come from. As one of the reddit commenters put it, "he's like this for a reason, but that reason doesn't mean what he's doing is right".

Frankly, Ironwood should not be in command at this point. He is not in any condition to be making decisions and realistically ought to be in the infirmary, if anything, but instead he's standing at his desk, deciding the fate of millions. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in my post about how the Atlesian military sucks at its job, it doesn't seem like there's anyone who could step into his shoes in the upper echelons of military leadership. To be fair, Ironwood isn't exactly the type to relinquish control regardless, but given how much of his personal struggles and character arc are about his belief that he lacks people he can trust and his difficulties learning to reach out to and trust others (on his terms and when he is in control, and only ever then), it's not out of the realm of possibility that he could've stepped down long enough to get some proper rest and medical attention if he'd had a bit more structural support. He's partly to blame for the Atlesian military's incompetence, given that he's in charge of the damn organization, but that doesn't change the fact that the way it's set up isn't exactly doing him any favors in this situation.

This is at least in part why Ironwood makes what I consider his most egregious mistake in this situation: refusing to send out scouts. Information is key in warfare, and the protagonists don't have enough of it at this point. Their strategies all hinge upon the belief that Salem is approaching, but no one has bothered to confirm that. Ironwood should have sent out drones or scout ships in order to be sure that the arrival of an enemy army was, in fact, imminent and immediately begun planning and preparing for all realistic contingencies.

Still, as viewers, we know that Salem is on her way, so we can skip the confirmation stage and move on toward determining what should be done. Let's examine the strategic and tactical realities: Salem is coming, immediately, with an army in tow. She's after the Relics, and the Maiden because the Maiden can access the Relics. All three of Salem's objectives are in Atlas, and thus Atlas must be kept safe somehow. Ironwood's army is exhausted and spread thin after defending Mantle, while Salem's troops are presumably fresh. Taking all of this into account, retreating seems logical, right?

Well, not quite. In fact, retreating is incredibly stupid, for a number of reasons. It's a knee-jerk reaction informed by Ironwood's fear and paranoia, and it makes long-term victory damn near impossible.

Now, let me be clear, I am not arguing this from a moral or ethical perspective. When the very survival of humanity is at stake, I don't really give a shit about morals or ethics. I am arguing on a purely pragmatic basis that Ironwood's plan is stupid and ineffective.

I'm well aware that "there is no victory in strength" is a major theme in RWBY, but this is an action show, which means that while the ultimate victory does not come from strength, beating up bad guys is still very much a part of the show's composition. Temporary victory in strength is absolutely on the table, especially if you define "victory" as "not getting ripped to shreds by an enemy that fundamentally hates you for daring to exist and cannot be reasoned with in any way", and is in fact an essential component of ultimate victory. All that means that humanity requires some kind of functioning fighting force, whether that be Remnant's Huntsmen or Atlas's army. The anti-military messaging of the Atlas Volumes has always fallen flat to me, to be honest, because Remnant is a world where having a military makes total sense. Humanity faces an existential threat. That threat cannot be reasoned with, bribed, or otherwise deterred without the use of force, especially given that only a few people know that Salem exists. There are three ways to stop the Grimm from wiping out settlements: defenses so strong that the Grimm cannot penetrate them, some kind of armed force capable of repelling them, or the complete suppression of negativity, such that the Grimm are never drawn to a settlement to attack it. We see that the first and the third have repeatedly failed. Mountain Glenn was destroyed because it lacked the natural defenses of Vale, and even Vale suffered when Cinder's plan brought about the Fall of Beacon. We saw during Volume 3 that events can be orchestrated to create a sufficient spike of negative emotion to attract the Grimm, and Mantle and Mistral failed to suppress widespread negative emotion prior to and during the Great War. That leaves fighting back, and a military is very useful in this context. Huntsmen are difficult and expensive to train (the Academies do not seem to have particularly large classes, the training takes four years at the Academies in addition to any preparatory training, and each Huntsman requires special, personalized equipment) and there don't seem to be very many of them, which means they run into difficulties covering the wide swaths of territory that many of the Kingdoms control. By contrast, US Army basic training (which I am using as a rough equivalent for Atlesian military training because I have no idea what the actual in-universe training looks like) lasts less than three months, which means producing a soldier is much easier than producing a Huntsman. More soldiers means more area you can cover, which means more territory you can control and defend. Realistically, any remotely organized political entity on Remnant ought to have a military, but evidently the Great War left a whole lot of collective societal trauma.

Okay, tangent over with. I'll get into why Ironwood's plan is stupid now. We have established that a functioning fighting force is necessary to defend Remnant. Well, that fighting force becomes a lot less functional when it runs out of food, ammunition, clothing, medical supplies, vehicles, and everything else a modern army requires to fight. We see in Volume 7 that the Kingdom of Atlas's industrial base is in Mantle. The city of Mantle is full of factories and Dust refineries. Atlas has an agricultural district, which the Grimm trample in Volume 8, but it's too small to produce the food required by the population of one city and the refugees from another unless Plant Dust can do some really wild stuff, and the series never really explores that. Also, as far as I could tell from what we saw on screen, the only crop it grew is wheat, which is not a balanced diet on its own. Raw materials like ore, Dust, and timber are found on the ground. Food crops and livestock are grown and raised on the ground. Ironwood fleeing to the upper atmosphere both condemns his people to strict rationing and dooms his war machine if he stays there long-term. Eventually, he will reach the point where he cannot feed his people, supply his soldiers, or keep either of them healthy. By abandoning Mantle, he abandons the infrastructure Atlas depends on to survive, and he has no allies to provide that infrastructure: Vale is in bad shape after the attack on Beacon, Mistral is barely holding on post-Haven, and Vacuo is both lacking in the type of infrastructure Atlas needs and outright hates Atlas for years of exploitation. The only hope of retaining the long-term viability of the Atlesian war machine is by defending the infrastructure that supports it. From a strategic standpoint, Mantle cannot fall.

If Ironwood had done his damn job properly, Mantle would also be a fortress, meaning that fleeing actually would have made fighting a defensive battle harder, but he didn't, so it's kind of a moot point. Even so, with advance warning, Ironwood could have evacuated the city to Atlas and then seeded the streets with mines, created temporary barricades, and prepared his forces to meet the enemy advance. We don't see the big airships do anything during the fight for Mantle, so I'm assuming they've expended limited resources and taken minimal damage prior to Salem's arrival. If I'm correct, Ironwood could have concentrated his fleet once he'd determined Salem's approach vector and massed the power of 40 airships against her forces.

These are all simple measures that could have been taken in the brief time between the conversation in Ironwood's office and Salem's arrival. A defensive battle is still a viable option at this time, especially with proper use of the air fleet to break the back of any enemy advance before it reaches either city. With Robyn allied with Ironwood, Mantle would have supported the war effort wholeheartedly. The holes in Mantle's defenses could have been exploited to create killing fields and the refugees could have been pressed into service performing task like providing medical support or preparing food to free up the soldiers for the upcoming battle.

I've seen some people argue that Ironwood's plan is just a tactical retreat, but it's never presented that way in the series. Ironwood ascending to the upper atmosphere solves the immediate problem, and only the immediate problem. He still has nowhere to safely land and resupply and nowhere from which to safely stage an attack, unless he intends to let his army rest and restock for a few days and then immediately retake Mantle, but this is, again, never brought up in the narrative, and the clear indication the story is giving is that he's fleeing in fear without considering the long-term consequences and justifying it by claiming he's making the hard choices.

On top of all that, the sky isn't even safe. Cutting off the evacuations and fleeing doesn't chance the fact that Cinder has already infiltrated Atlas. She's free to strike at strategic targets or just murder refugees at will. Raising the city might keep Ironwood ahead of Salem's army, but Salem is immortal. She can wait as long as she needs to to starve him out. All she has to do is task some Grimm to shadow the city from below while it moves through the upper atmosphere in which they can't survive and then task her forces to attack it whenever it descends to resupply, and all of this isn't even considering the tensions between Atlas and Mantle, human and Faunus, military and civilian (who may well be justifiably upset that their Kingdom's vaunted military is running instead of fighting), rich and poor, or whatever disparate groups you can think of. Add in potential rationing and repressive curfews/restrictions and riots aren't just likely, they're damn near inevitable, and every bullet Ironwood's troops have to spend suppressing rebellions is a bullet they can't use against Salem and can't easily replace. Follow Ironwood's plan and Atlas will tear itself apart without Salem having to lift a finger.

People like to say that Team RWBY just whines instead of offering solutions, but this is not the case. Ruby brings up the possibility of completing the Amity Tower and calling for help. While this plan has potential problems of its own, it is, in fact, an alternative, and they had, like, two minutes to come up with anything before Ironwood wanted to throw them in jail. Weiss still manages to point out that Ironwood has Mantle on his side (meaning he can work with a capable leader in Robyn) and Blake attempts to encourage Ironwood to work collaboratively. Ironwood's the one shutting down dialogue here, and everyone plays into Salem's hands as a result.

As an aside, I always find the negative reaction to Ironwood declaring martial law, both in- and out-of-universe, to be extremely amusing, because this is exactly the kind of situation for which martial law is intended. An invading enemy force is on home soil, civilian forces and systems are overwhelmed, and the survival of the Kingdom depends on the effectiveness of the military response. The response really should have been "yeah, makes sense, how do we blow up the giant whale?" rather than the kind of outrage we see from both Team RWBY and the Council.

To sum things up, Ironwood attempts to exercise command when he's clearly unfit to do so, completely misreads both the tactical and strategic situation, and attempts to implement a stupid plan that is emblematic of the Atlesian military's institutional incompetence. I think it comes back to the Atlesian military's lack of institutional experience, to be honest. They don't know how to deal with situations like this and don't have training or doctrinal guidance to fall back on, so we see a failure on every level to anticipate and plan for an invasion. Modern real-world militaries have contingency plans for everything from nuclear war to some drunk dipshit trying to rob a munitions depot because real-world nations are constantly fighting each other, but Atlas hasn't had the incentive to develop that kind of intelligence infrastructure, so they repeatedly get caught flat-footed when they encounter new situations. Team RWBY was right about defending Mantle, though I think they were arguing mostly from the wrong perspective, and I think both sides failed to present their arguments in a way that would incite compliance from the other. Ironwood fails to make a convincing case that the option he chose is the most viable option available and Team RWBY fails to couch their arguments in the cold pragmatism that might have gotten through to him.

To be clear, this is a shit situation where there is no good answer. Ironwood's solution might well have been the best answer if he'd addressed the issues listed above and provided a viable location to which to retreat and a way to recreate the necessary infrastructure, while fighting for Mantle is enormously risky, and losing the battle might well have doomed humanity as a whole. Volume 7 did a great job of setting up this conflict between Ironwood and the other protagonists, and while I'm not super happy with the way Volume 8 resolved it for a number of reasons, I think it stands as one of the high points of RWBY's writing.

I've got a few other post ideas bouncing around in my head, but the next one is probably going to be an explanation of why Team RWBY was... not right, necessarily, from a purely utilitarian perspective, in the sense that it led to the most optimal outcome, but absolutely justified in not trusting Ironwood, so be on the lookout for that one hopefully sometime in the next few days. As always, there's probably something I missed or forgot somewhere in here, but I'm always open to feedback and so on. Shoutouts to the, like, 4 people who listen to me ramble, you guys rock.

[teaveetamer]

Sorry to be inundating you with Fates stuff today (this is my first ask to you, but I mean, you're being flooded, so... sorry), but it really is kinda wild to see people arguing content levels in Fates vs 3H. Like, you can argue about the quality of the overall outcome (and why that is cuz I mean who knows, 3H could've had a tighter budget than Fates that forced them to reuse assets, idk), but Fates really put a lot into keeping things unique. There's maybe a handful of maps reused across all paths (and those that are are, well, pretty justified by it being the same location, like Birthright and Conquest Izumo - compare to how Felix and Sylvain share paralogue maps, or every non-CF post-TS story having the exact same location for their first four chapters), the stories diverge greatly across all routes (with maybe a handful of shared events with different contexts, like Kagero getting kidnapped by the Kotaro, which even then still happens at different times and play out slightly differently as a result on each route), and while neither of the other two routes wrap it up quite like how Revelation does, both end on a conclusive enough ending (you don't know everything, and it sucks Azura died, but you *did* deal with Anankos's agents and ended Nohr's ambitions of conquest that he was manipulating, so the threat is more or less dealt with). There's a lot to reasonably argue about whether the decision to split the routes is good from a "how businesses handle this sort of thing" perspective, but it'd be like arguing that FE11 and 12 are rip-offs because FE3 had both in one game - it may have been an iffy choice to split a very interconnected story into different games, but every Fates route was still the exact same in terms of level of content and told an overall full story within each route (with a number of levels comparable to prior Fire Emblems), its not like they cut it off after, say, 15 chapters and went "Oh well, the war is still ongoing and we didn't resolve everything fully here, please buy Revelation and you can see the end of this story."

I honestly wonder if some of it is just, like, Time making people forget what exactly was in Fates. If you didn't like it then I doubt you played it more than once (if at all), and the game came out like 7 years ago at this point (6 in the west). Content-wise Fates is probably the absolute densest FE game we have ever gotten. Each route is the same length as PoR. A singular route is the same amount of content as an entire FE game.

If someone came up to you and said "hey, I'll sell you PoR, RD, and Awakening for $80 you'd be like "fucking SCORE!"

From a pure business/marketing perspective, I do think it was a massive miss to sell Fates the way they did. Primarily because, well, obviously not everyone is going to think about this as logically as I have. People see three different games with one overarching title and their immediate reaction is "why should I pay $80 for something I should be getting for $40!"

I'll admit, when the game first came out I thought it was a scam too! It's only after a few years and seeing how Fates's content compares to most other games (and especially how it compared to 3H) that I realized, actually, it's not that bad. Because I'm not paying $80 for something that should be $40. I'm paying $80 for something that should be $120.

It probably would have been better to bundle them all together and charge a higher price, but that wouldn't have flown either. Because then you'd have people saying "why should this 3DS game cost $80 when the rest of them only cost $40???" the sticker shock would definitely put prospective buyers off. Especially if those prospective buyers are people who have never touched the series before and just see it on the shelf at their local game store.

I don't think there was ever really going to be a perfect way to get what the games were worth out of them without putting off some buyers, but the avenue they chose was probably a compromise made out of the desire to not put off prospective new to the series or casual buyers. Better to get them in the door, and then if they really like it they'll be willing to pay for the rest. And if they don't like it and don't buy the rest then hey, you still made the $40 sale.

I don't know if anyone remembers this, but I'm pretty sure thats why they staggered the release of Rev in the west by a few weeks even though it was fully completed and localized when BR and CQ came out (since it had to be, it was included on the 3-in-1 cart). To give people time to beat the first two, yes, but also to create time between the original release so people didn't get such sticker shock when picking up the first two.

Also, as a side note, I'm pretty sure most of 3H's budget went into the voice acting. Voice acting is not cheap, especially when you need to hire two full casts. Fates saved a ton by not having super extensive voice acting and by reusing many English actors for different characters (e.g. Roger Rose does Takumi, Niles, and Hisame, or Dave Stanbra does Xander, Kaze, Shura, Siegbert, Kilma, the Rainbow Sage, and Sumeragi).