Okay guys, So I didn't particularly enjoy writing the debates. Mostly because I wasn't sure how to write the questions in detail.

And because I wasn't going to write an hours worth of reading into a chapter. It would just suck to read all that.

If anything, you can consider this chapter more of a filler.


At the debates

"Okay, after Mr. Cottons unnecessarily aggressive drivel, we would like to turn it over to Miss Hill." The moderator said as Jem resisted the urge to give the moderator the finger.

Jem knew how to be professional. But sometimes when someone was just being that big of a choch, you had to call them out on their bullshit. Who gave a shit if they were a moderator or not. The dude was an obvious putz. Jem figured he wasn't going to get a fair shake with some media fingers. Especially when he saw the one who looked like Mr. Potatohead back home.

"Miss Hill, with crime on the rise, what is your plan to combat crime?" They said as Robyn spoke again.

"Well, my happy huntresses have made it their mission to patrol areas in need, I plan on supplying them with more equipment as well as recruiting more huntsman and huntresses from across the kingdom under my specific employment in order to make a more secure environment for Mantle's citizens." She said as Jem couldn't really argue with that, Lost Liberty served a similar focus.

"And you Mr. Schnee?"

"Well the answer is simple, we need to expand our current military and police force in order to compensate for the higher crime rates down here." Again, that didn't seem like something much on the service.

"And Mr. Cotton, do you have anything 'useful' to add?" The moderator said as Jem could shoot this guy now if he wanted.

But saner heads prevailed.

"Well, if I'm completely honest, I don't necessarily disagree with either of those statements, but theres one problem. At no point did either of my opponents advocate for self reliance among the citizenry. Its important to have trust in our police, military, and of course the men and women of the huntsman corps. HOWEVER, as we saw with the attack on Vale, ordinary citizens such as myself were put in an extraordinary situation where you had to fight back. And the truth is that can happen at any moment, whether its someone breaking into your house or a Grimm Attack, waiting for help doesn't always pan out. Therefore while I do support increasing support for our security forces, we would be foolish to not encourage the citizens to keep and bear arms for their own personal defense. Because when seconds count, help could be minutes away." Jem said as best as he could.

"Mr. Cotton, could you try to clarify?" The moderator said as Jem was confused.

He gave a more detailed answer than the other two, how come he was the only one being asked to clarify?

"Absolutely, I believe it is necessary for every fighting age citizen to have a basic understanding of at least one weapons system that they feel comfortable with, I believe in providing adequate training to the citizens, because if we can teach more citizens to be strong and to look after themselves, it makes the police's jobs easier, it makes the citizens lives easier, and above all else, the kingdom will be safer. The training itself could build a necessary cohesion and understanding between the civilian mindset and the security forces mindset." He said as the moderator looked at him like he was crazy.

"Okay moving on from that rambling..." Jem could feel the Colt on his belt saying.

"Come on, we could do it!" But he put that voice in the back of his head.

"WHat a silly concept." Jacques said as Jem looked at him.

"You seriously believe the common citizen should be armed? That would be utter chaos!" Jacques said as Jem knew he wasn't going to like this guy.

"You know you would say that, its common for the rich wealthy kind to talk about taking away the means of self defense away from people they consider inferior to them." Jem said as Jacques glared at him.

"I would say that you're grasping at straws Mr. Cotton, I do not see the citizens as being inferior to me, I simply do not believe they can be trusted with some dangerous ideals and weaponry." He said as Jem glared back.

"And who are you to determine that? How many private security guards do you have backstage? Six? Seven? Do you got multiple teams or just the one? This may come as a surprise to someone born with a silver spoon up his ass..."


Back at the house

"Oh god..." Winter was facepalming as Willow actually snorted a bit in amusement.

"I still don't like him...but that was good." She thought as she still wasn't too keen on the fact that Jem was dating her daughter.

But seeing Jacques get frustrated knowing she didn't have to go back did put a smile on her face.


"...But the normal everyday citizens, the ones who just want to go to work, come home to their kids and have a drink while watching the game, they don't have that luxury of being able to afford 24/7 security details, You're talking about wanting to leave the people disarmed, I'm talking about looking out for them." He said as Jacques was gripping his podium.

"Mr. Cotton! I would say that your beliefs are that of a madman. And that upon my first act of being elected, I will clean this city up by insuring that this barbaric nonsense is outlawed!" Jacques said as Jem glared and stepped forward.

"Say when."

"Thats enough!" The moderator said as he noticed Jem had a more aggressive stance.

"Mr. Cotton! If you are done antagonizing Sir Jacques, I will remind you that we can throw you out at any time we see fit if you are proven to be belligerent!" The moderator said as Jem rolled his eyes at him.

"Now moving on to the voice of reason in the house. Miss Hill!" The moderator said as Jem shrugged.

"I still don't like the fact that Jacques is getting better treatment over me, but I guess I can accept this douchebag thinking Robyn is the voice of reason."

"With Mantle's economy shrinking, how do you plan on bringing about growth?" He asked as this was a relatively simple one for all the candidates.

Jem would admit, he wasn't prepared for this part. Most of his campaign had been focusing on crime and self reliance. So he would admit his weaknesses here. He was going up against a businessman and someone who was already involved in politics. He was going to have to come up with something fast.

"Well, the very first thing we need to do is repair our infrastructure. As you all know, there are certain parts of Mantle that various companies deem 'No Go' zones. What I want to do is put money towards reestablishing those areas as safe and secure locations, ripe for job opportunity. I will convince investors to put their faith in the people of Mantle in order to reinvest in our future." Robyn said as Jem could agree with that. Even if he wasn't sure what she planned to do.

"Well, I don't think I need to explain my plan." Jacques said as he took a sip of water.

"I have dealt with these corporate thugs all my life, I know enough to bring jobs back to this kingdom and to make sure that every citizen of Mantle will never have to worry about being out of a job." Okay now that was vague as hell.

But Jem supposed everyone would buy it since he did run a billion lien company. It would make sense.

"And Mr. Cotton?" Jem would admit, he did not know what to say. So he just decided to wing it.

"Well, in this regards, I would agree with my two opponents on the importance of reinvesting in our own communities. But there is something else that needs to be reconsidered. And that would be the TYPES of jobs we are bringing into our communities and their advancement opportunities." Jem started as he was thinking about the rants he had at work.

"Some people may get up to go to a job that they hate, they may consider it a dead end job, but they have to do it because it may be the only thing they know how to do, but in reality, they're dying inside because they hate their job." He said as he had an idea.

"So an important point we need to make is not only insuring our people have jobs, but to insure they have the opportunity to grow as an individual. Therefore I would support increasing technical training and trade work in order to effectively promote a skills based employment system in order to better train and service our citizens so that they would feel like they are growing. And as they grow as an individual, they will contribute more to our kingdom, and when the individual flourishes, the community flourishes, when the community flourishes, the kingdom will prosper." Jem said a little nervous.

Yeah he wasn't going to lie.

He pulled that one out of his ass.

He figured if he just said a bunch of words and made it sound pretty it would work.

How about that, he was already acting like a politician.

And he was starting to hate himself for it.

"Alright, our next question to all three candidates. Why should the people of Mantle trust you?" Jem was a bit quiet about this one.

"Well, they've seen me throughout the years, they know I wouldn't lie. So therefore I am asking the people of Mantle to please continue to put their faith in me, I will not let you down." Robyn said as it was Jacques turn to speak now.

"I am willing to give up my fortune in order to serve the people, so if I'm willing to sacrifice that, imagine what I will do for the citizens of Mantle." Jacques said as Jem was still quiet.

"Well...We're waiting Mr. Cotton." The moderator said as Jem was silent.

Winter was sitting at home wondering why Jem was taking so long.

"They shouldn't trust me."

The whole crowd and the viewers watching from home went silent.

"What did he say?" Winter asked watching the tv.

What was he doing? That was the dumbest thing he had said so far!

"They shouldn't trust me because politicians are only human, and human beings are flawed by nature, we can't put all of our faith in politicians, after all they're professional liars, they're experts at telling people what they WANT to hear, but they seldom tell them the truth of what they NEED to hear. And because of that, they would rather let people live in an illusion than be honest with their own people. Would you trust your politicians?" He directed that towards the moderator.

"Well uh, I think thats a little compli-"

"Theres nothing complicated about it, When it comes to politics, if your representative truly does represent you, and he does good, then by all accounts, support him as he does his job, but if that same representative is using your tax dollars to go and screw around while his people suffer, than frankly you deserve the right to tar and feather his ass. Just because someone is elected to office doesn't make them a saint, and it certainly doesn't mean that we should treat them as such." He said as he looked towards the camera.

"I myself don't trust all politicians, but I will make this promise right now, if I'm elected, I will try to make things better, and if I don't, well feel free to criticize me, don't kiss my ass and tell me I'm doing a good job if I'm screwing things up. And for the love of god don't let me try to tell you how good things are when you see how bad things can get in your everyday life." Jem finished as the event went silent.

"There is however one thing I would like to address to my opponent Miss Hill." He said as he walked over to Robyn.

"You said that the people could trust you because you would never lie to them, care to prove that?" He asked as he held out his hand.

"I know about your semblance, I want you to use it on me." He asked as Robyn was confused.

"I don't see the point of this."

"Trust me it is important." Robyn decided to humor him.

After all, it would be a way for the people of Mantle to show she could be trusted.

She grabbed his hand and instantly you could see the light green aura appear.

And then Jem turned to the crowd.

"Robyn Hill lied to me when we first met, because she assumed I kidnapped my adopted daughter because she didn't see human couples adopt Faunus before." Immediately after the crowd saw that the aura remained green , they also saw Robyn pull her hand away.

"SHIT!" Robyn had forgotten about that little incident!

"So if she was willing to lie to me, what makes you think she won't lie to you?" Jem said as he went back to his podium as the crowd looked at Robyn shocked, and she glared at the back of his head.

"You...You bastard!"

To say she was pissed was an understatement. She had completely forgotten about that whole incident. But he didn't! And now the entire Kingdom had seen the truth. Robyn was capable of lying, and Jem had just exposed it. It didn't matter if it was a white lie, it was enough to show that if she was willing to lie about that, then it might not be the only thing she is hiding from the public.

Jacques watched it with amusement.

"My My Mr. Cotton, you are full of surprises, I do believe you've secured my victory." Jacques had never been more confident of a victory before in his life.

The debates continued for an hour. The questions ranged from infrastructure to foreign relations. But towards the end, the moderator had only one more question.

"Mr. Cotton, do you have anything to say about your opponents."

"Yeah, Jacques is a dick."

"...That will be enough." The moderator didn't even want to hear what he would say about Robyn.

"Miss Hill?"

"Well, I'll give it to Jacques, he knows how to use his silver tongue, as for Cotton..." Robyn stopped.

"Hes Brash, dangerous, and trigger happy." Robyn said as Jem shrugged.

"Eh screw it, I'll take that."

"And Mr. Schnee?"

"I have nothing to say."

And just like that, the debate was over.

Soon the election would be coming.


So the way the moderators treat Jem is similar to a anti Ron Desantis commercial called 'The florever purge'

If you have ever seen it, it is the FUNNIEST thing I have ever seen.

Its supposed to be an Anti Desantis commercial, but all they did was make him look good.

They have people looking horrified at him saying things like 'We trust people to make their own decisions' and 'If you want to lock people down, I'm going to stand in your way.'

Like it makes me wonder if the whole commercial was secretly meant to be a troll. Because it makes me laugh how all they do is make him look good.