BLIND | DreamSMP

XIII - Misdirected Anger

"I still don't understand," Tommy garbled, talking around a mouth full of thick bread and strawberry jam. "Why don't you live in L'Manberg?"

Techno cleared his throat. "Well, there's this thing called terrorism-"

"Not you, Techno. Phil. Why doesn't Phil just move back to L'Manberg instead of living here?"

"A lot of reasons, I suppose." Phil responded, scooping up a mouthful of breakfast potatoes and chewing thoughtfully on the warm, golden-brown cubes slathered in ketchup. "I have so many bad memories of L'Manberg. It's hard to think of anything I liked about the country in the first place, besides the plumbing. We don't have that out here."

"So why not move back? I'm sure it's not so bad anymore. Tubbo can't be worse than Schlatt."

"You'd think so," Phil muttered. "At least Schlatt held the country together, even if his policies were too authoritarian. Tubbo's public-ownership policies have wrecked the economy. He's trying to become a communist state while maintaining a government presence. It's insanity! The only reason I'm holding my property there is to keep Quackity and Fundy off my ass. If they knew how much I was visiting Techno, I'd probably be kicked out and declared an enemy of the state. Fucking ridiculous." Phil huffed angrily, setting down his fork with a ceramic clack.

"I moved to L'Manberg to be closer to my kids, and it ends up being the thing that tears them apart. Guess you could call that irony."

Silence draped itself over the room, penetrated by the occasional scraping of utensils on plates and the quiet sounds of awkward shifting.

"Don't you miss it though?" Tommy spoke timidly.

"I was there for you and Wilbur. After you two left, there wasn't a reason to stay. I did anyways, because I wanted to look after Tubbo, but there's nothing there for me now."

"But why would you side with Techno? He's the one who destroyed L'Manberg in the first place, it's his fault Wil-"

A fist was slammed forcefully on the table, rattling the dishware and stopping Tommy mid-sentence.

"It," Techno began, breath uneven and heavy. "Was not my fault. It was never my fault. Yes, I summoned those Withers; yes, I contributed to the destruction that day. But I did not kill him. You just won't accept that, because you loved him, you idolized him, and you couldn't deal with the fact that he led the massacre that day."

Techno had smoothly slipped back into the nonchalant mood he wore, disinterested and calm.

"You- you just want anarchy," Tommy muttered, trying and failing to produce a suitable response.

"I want things to be fair, an equal playing ground for everyone. Is it really just to let one person control everyone else?"

"But someone needs to be in charge! Otherwise it'd be chaos, and nobody could get anything done!"

"Chaos is human. We didn't have overbearing governments when we were nomads or neanderthals. It was natural, and it was certainly better than the lying, thieving, aristocratic institutions installed into our society today."

"You really agree with him Phil?" Tommy spluttered, shifting his focus.

"I don't necessarily agree with all of Techno's ideals," Phil said casually. "I believe in overthrowing unjustifiable hierarchies, and replacing them with ones that listen to the people, self-governance and all."

"Then why are you siding with him in the first place?!"

"Because we both think L'Manberg is controlled by a corrupt government, and we both want it gone."