video;

[unhappy]

I'm sure a lot of you have noticed there are a lot of people appearing here from a place called Remnant. The world Nova City's guardian is from, all her friends and teachers... and there's a narrative going around that's being told from the perspective of a bunch of kids who don't know what's really going on in the world. They're students and they've gone through something difficult, so their kneejerk reaction is that everything bad that happened to them makes us the bad guys.

The world was broken before we did anything. [ Emerald's face looks concerned, worried. This is her attempt to show the world that just because a bunch of children are scared doesn't mean the people who scared them are wrong. ]

General Ironwood ripped a soul out of someone and bound it to a robot designed like a little girl to turn into a war machine. Headmaster Ozpin kept a woman in that school's basement because he was afraid they would lose her power if someone he couldn't control the person who received it like a puppet, trusting his every word. He chose one of his students instead of an adult, someone who would be able to understand what was happening around them, to carry that burden even if it would destroy her. Weiss may be a kind person, and she's done a lot of good here- I even considered her and her team friends, but her father pays off politicans, commits crimes for selfish reasons, and enslaves people based on their species. That man is the most powerful force in the business world- he can put the average person out of business with the flick of his wrist, and does so long as he can see a few extra dimes out of it. He destroys families, puts people on the streets.

What happened to Vale was sad. [ She looks down, her eyes actually looking like she's earnestly feeling guilty- she was. She really did dislike seeing the whole city burning. ] It was heartbreaking.. but these are the people in charge of this world. Cinder- the woman these people are blaming for all that happened- is not the monster they make her out to be. She saved me from starving on the streets and she's saved plenty of others who need help. We chose to help the oppressed, to fight along the others who had been thrown out like yesterday's trash like we were when those in charge pretended we didn't exist. She killed one of their friends who was trying to stop her, because that person would've killed her if she hadn't. As someone who's been at the mercy of someone from their side and had my life saved by Cinder before one of theirs ran a Dust-infused staff through my chest when I was already down and disarmed, I have no doubt she would've been killed instead of being heard.

[ She shakes her head, closing her eyes tightly before opening them up again. There's pain in her voice, pleading. ] What hope did anyone have when those people in power are such monsters? Of course we had to do something. I'm sorry for the lives that were lost. I'm sorry for the strife some of you had to go through. We didn't want to start a war, but when the people who lead you are the ones who pretend to be the good guys and hide the biggest sins from their followers, what else are we supposed to do? Fall in line and hope the world becomes a kinder place than it is? We chose to fight to have our voices heard. If what they were doing was really destined to fall on the right side of history, the whole world wouldn't have fallen onto separate sides of this so quickly.

All I'm asking is that you not forget that these teenagers- not even adults yet- are being forced to fight a war their leaders have kept secret from them for far too long and they don't understand why. They especially don't understand what they're fighting for besides their lives and their friends' lives, but that's not enough. They chose to become trainees, they should know what they're really fighting for. They should be angry. If they have to direct that at us because we had to take some routes that were harder, that's fine. But if you hunt us down for doing what was right in a situation none of you understand, that you've been lied to about since the beginning, how does that make you the heroes and us the villains?

You asked me to tell the truth when we last met, Ozpin. Your turn.

Comments

[Video]

[psychic_supremecy]

[There's a long pause as Mewtwo studies Emerald's face, looking for any indication of misleading. It's a damning story, but he's not sure that's all there is to it.]

Tell me. This process by which this 'Ironwood' ripped a soul out of someone and bound it to a machine. How did it happen? Where you there? Did you observe the process? What was the name of the soul's original owner?

[That was a bunch of rapid fire questions, but he wasn't keen on letting her take her time in forming responses.]

[Video]

[unhappy]

We got access to his files back home. That's how we knew she was a robot before everyone else did. It'd be disrespectful to share that information with everyone, Mewtwo, even if I wanted to.

[ Yes, she remembers him. And yes, she's actually telling the truth on that one. Not even necessary to mislead on this one. ]

[Video] 1/2

[beacane]

[ ... my, my. cinder certainly has her meathooks in you, child. what an excellent actress, and such a deliberate leaving out of detail. it rings true of what cinder's message to the four kingdoms had been -- painting ozpin and his friends out to be dictators and world-burners, the real problem with the system.

and it also rings true of what salem is wrecking across this world.

for a moment, ozpin almost looks angry -- his eyes narrow slightly, his lips purse together. the accusations don't bother him (some of them are true, but most of them are absolute garbage, using his students to fight a war is completely ridiculous), and he knows that the majority of the people on his side won't believe it for a moment. but the chess pieces are in motion, and he has to do something.

telling the truth now is out of the question. his students deserve it, but he won't say it for the world to hear, not unless he has to. ozpin's name has been dragged through mud before, and he is still here. a tarnished reputation is hardly enough to scare him away from the truth of the situation, which is that cinder is responsible for destroying beacon, and for murdering pyrrha nikos.

but he cannot say that. he has to play it safe, and smart. think. ]

[Video]

[beacane]

Fairytales with morals at the end are only effective, Emerald, when you tell the entire story.

[ he sounds calm and unruffled, for the time being. settled into a chair in glynda's apartment, his cane resting against the arm, his fingers steepled together. ]

I confess myself disappointed, but not surprised, that Cinder has not told you the entire story -- or, perhaps, she does not know the entire story herself. Either way, impulsivity and arrogance led to the downfall of Beacon and Vale, and I am not the one who murdered [ use the correct word, emerald ] Pyrrha Nikos, nor am I the one who broadcast the deaths of innocent men, women, and children to the four kingdoms to prove a point. I am not the one who tricked Yang Xiao Long into seeing something that was not there, nor am I the one who caused Penny Polendina's death. But if you would like someone to be angry at -- someone to point fingers, and blame for the world's inequities, then I suppose I am the easiest target you have.

I am not going to recite my resume to you, nor am I going to justify my actions to you. But to say that I have created this institution -- used Beacon Academy as a way to create weapons out of children, and use them for my own means to an end? Ridiculous. I would die to protect them -- and I would hope they are all not only aware of that fact, but do not question it, nor my attempts to safeguard them individuals like Cinder.

[ he stops, there, before frowning ]

My truth has nothing to do with you, nor do I owe it to you. I do owe it to my students, and to my friends -- but to you? Perhaps you should ask Cinder who her boss is. You, and Mercury, may be enlightened to know just how far down the rabbit hole you have fallen.

[Video]

[get_dunked]

[A skeletal face with a perpetual grin appeared. Something about this caught his curiosity.]

"It sounds as though many of the Remnant residents have gained their fair share of 'Love,' be it by force, accident or free will..."

[Something about the way he said "Love" sounded less than cute.]

[Video]

[unhappy]

What do you mean?

[ It'd sound grosser to her if he said it in a normal way, honestly. ]

Video

[sarcaskick]

Boy. Someone woke up in a chatty mood today.

[ Is that really all he's going to say?

...

Apparently, yes. ]

Video

[unhappy]

[ If she burns all the bridges there won't be any temptation to cross them Mercury. ]

People shouldn't make promises they can't keep if they don't want a heavy dose of reality, that's all.

[ Plus Cinder put her up to it. ]

[fade_to_black]

[A pair of serious, feline eyes are observing this.]

I can't figure out if you are brainwashed or a liar. You better hope I never find out it's the latter. You say you're sorry? The stuff you're sorry over is the level of awful that I left the White Fang over. Lead by the man you as much admitted to me that you are allied with.

[unhappy]

[ Probably a bit of both. ]

How was that working out for you, Blake? Did anything at all change in this world since you joined Beacon besides that you made new friends?

( video )

[thelastdruid]

[The young man on the video screen looks more than angry. He looks...almost offended.]

Lady, there is no justification at all for ripping out someone's soul, let alone what you plan on doing with it. And enslaving someone is enslaving someone, I don't care what your intentions are.

[He scoffs, shaking his head.]

If that's the kind of thing you people did, they have every right to hate you.

[Yeah, it was after that second paragraph that Nathan stopping paying attention. Maybe sort of lost his temper.]

( video )

[unhappy]

Ironwood, Ozpin, and Schnee are them, not us. They're the one's who have been coming after us for fighting to overthrow them. Thanks for paying attention.

[crystal_fists]

[Annie observes this quietly, her expression professionally unreadable. So much for this place being 'relatively safe'. Well, she was the kind of person that would probably never be safe regardless. But it reeks of the petty power struggles that happened in the interior.

Well, she knew a good world was probably too good to be true. It seems that putting one's faith in humans not to tear each other apart is futile no matter where you end up.]

What an interesting story. Yet it remains that all the people of this world have is your word. That's a bit of quandary.

I think this is the most she's spoke to someone she hasn't kidnapped so far.

[unhappy]

Maybe, but I'd rather have it be our word against theirs than theirs being accepted as fact without defending ourselves.

video;

[iridescentillusion]

You speak as if you owe this world an explanation, when in reality you owe nothing.

[He sounds just as calm as he looks, almost looking bored. Still, he took in everything she said. An intriguing tale for sure, if nothing else.]

It will be your word against theirs regardless, but it is merely your own decisions to carry over any battles from your home world. Denizens of this realm should know to stay out of disputes that do not relate to them, especially if it were relating to conflicts that none of us bore witness to but yourselves.

[He does quietly chuckle.]

But I'm sure I'm simply preaching to the choir. A new realm should merely be a clean slate, but I doubt those from your world will let things go that easily.

[Yep, there's certainly a reason why he's willing to help Roman.]

video;

[unhappy]

They won't. I'm sure you've noticed the second Weiss woke up she declared war on one of ours. Even I think Roman is gross, he smells bad, and we don't get along at all but he hasn't done anything worth forcing everyone he associates with into accepting criminal status himself besides revive Weiss's grudge. They've already gone after two of us too, one stalking me and another attacking Cinder.

Ozpin asked me to tell the truth, so I did. The world deserves to know our side before they all assume their Guardians know what they're talking about and throw us under a bus.

Video

[theonewithsixeyes]

You look like a teenager yourself, to be fair. Just as easily manipulated as them. Sounds like you thought you were fighting the right war but ended up killing the wrong people and are trying to act like it wasn't your fault. You didn't even get your goal.

But they're the villains, I guess. They fought against your 'just' war and now here we are.

[At this point, he's accepted that no matter how many times he warns Remnant arrivals, they will not keep this squabble among themselves, and try to get Genessia involved in it.]

What a way to use your fresh start, huh?

Video

[unhappy]

I actually know what I'm talking about and still decided to stick around.

[ She's not a new arrival. She's been here before and they're hardly the first group to get their world's squabbles involved. ]

I'm guessing you haven't been here that long so you don't remember me from before. I never said things weren't our fault, I never said we never did anything bad, and the goal was in progress before we ended up here again. The people who had to die died. But I'm also not going to keep quiet and let them turn an entire world against us after they've already broken promises not to.

I know people here love to pretend like they're on some kind of high horse when someone defends themselves just because they weren't the first person to speak up- I've seen it plenty of times- but come on. Does it feel good to condescend to people who don't want to get stalked in alleys or hunted down like dogs or what? I kept quiet and I kept my head down and that's what I got even without the "fresh start" you've imagined, so I'd really like to know.

Video

[rulerofme]

Attachment: Link 1, Link 2.

Emerald. You are a liar and a manipulator. And I do believe the only reason you are even bothering to come out with any of this is because you can't hide it any longer. Even with all of this, you've shown an excellent about to act. How can you expect anyone to believe your side of the story when you've already proven how willing you are to deceive others?

Video

[unhappy]

Nice to see you again too, David.

I can't actually respond to this since all you have to do is go "but how do I know you're not lying?" and that's the end of any actual conversation.

[Video]

[aurabble]

[This goes beyond pissed now.] Your friend is a murderer. Your friend enjoys hurting innocent people. It probably helps her ego. But no matter what reason she gives, she’s nothing but a liar and no better than the Grimm. No, you know what? She’s worse.

You’re friends with a murderer and no amount of justification you give will change that. Live with it.

[He pauses. It looks like he isn't sure whether to cry or scream and break everything around him.] And if you ever talk about Pyrrha in that way again...I don’t care. I’ll do what I have to.

[Video]

[unhappy]

Uh huh. It's been established that I'm a very good liar, but it doesn't make what your people did any better.

[ Part of her just really wants to piss Jaune off. He wasn't as bad as team RWBY since he was always feeling down on himself about something but honestly? Watching him fall into hatred like that was much easier to deal with than pretending to be happy with him and everyone else. ]

What, truthfully?

Private Video

[maybeitsmaybelline]

[Roman's reply comes in late. For one thing, he's thoroughly enjoying the drama unfolding in the replies. More importantly he can't respond based on his knee-jerk reaction because it's too repulsive, even for a private message; Roman Torchwick, asshole extraordinaire, is proud of Emerald.

He's never thought much of her. She only joined Cinder because she was too weak to survive on her own and he can't stand the way she follows Cinder around like a lovestruck puppy, happily abandoning her free will for a comfortable living and scraps of affection. But here without Cinder, with her cover still vaguely intact, with Ozpin himself willing to talk to her, she could have 'reformed' and gotten the same comfort from the supposed heroes. She also could've quietly rejected their offer and just ignored them. Instead, she was making a huge public fuss of it and giving the world a much-needed reality check. In this post alone she's shown more backbone and independent thought than in the past few years combined.

Ugh, he feels gross even thinking about it. He waits to message her until he can beat back the fit of paternal warmth. That also gives him time to check out of their hotel and find a new one. If no one was looking for them before, they sure as hell would be now. He sends this video from the new one. Behind him, she can see her belongings on one of the beds.]

Well, there goes any chance we had of staying under the radar for a bit. Did you really have to go and do that without, I don't know, a little warning?

Private Video

[unhappy]

[ Emerald squints at the video. More important than his words, her crap is definitely somewhere else. Which means one of two things: ]

Did you steal my stuff?

[ It's that or he actually moved her things and is expecting her to come with, for her safety. And that just feels gross. ]

Video, private

[toogoodforwords]

[ Neo is eating kettle corn.

That's it. It's just an open feed of her eating kettle corn.

She waves at Emerald. ]

Video, private

[unhappy]

Hey Neo.

[ You tagged me before I got around to tagging you! HUH. ]

--Wait when did you get here?

Voice;

[respect_points]

[Rikku doesn't say anything right away. She's more-or-less just listening. There was plenty of bad things going on in this, but more than that, Rikku didn't know how to feel right now. Emerald was a friend, but should be this suspicious of her friend?

'Before we didn't anything'

Which means right away, she had some part in this. Rikku didn't know details. She just knew the basics from what Emerald told her when she arrived at her door. How much could Rikku really believe? So she was associated with Cinder... While she couldn't say that saving her was bad, she just.... had bad gut feelings about Cinder. She hadn't interacted with her, but she'd seen the earlier post and some of the things said.

'We didn't want to start a war'.

Just twisting her gut even more. What was Rikku supposed to think? She was so confused right now. Emerald....]

Just because a father is corrupt doesn't mean the child is too...

[Yeah, that's what she decided to touch on. Not that she was taking any side really, but that was the one thing that bugged her the most, besides the obvious world squabbles.]

Voice;

[unhappy]

I didn't say she was, but she's not one of the people who run the world back home.

[ Doesn't make her like her any more, but attacking a person enough people like to elect her to be their protector? Not a good idea if you want sympathy. She makes a point not to call Weiss corrupt. ]