#cain's not able

[lilac-rose-writes]

An Analysis and Comparison of Cain's Not Able's Original and Alternative Routes

1) Felix pushes Ted in himself/ Ted has Buggs push Felix in

Felix doesn't show any hint of sadness or hesitance when pushing Ted in. It's quick, it's brutal, and he takes pride in doing it himself. He doesn't care about Ted in the slightest. It's his final victory, the last way he can lord his superiority over Ted. It's a demonstration of his resentment, his distaste, all of the times he's dismissed Ted as lesser or unworthy of the company. As little as Felix wants it to appear to eb, it's personal.

And then there's the alternative route. Rather than using the stick or mop that Kid has given him, Ted stands back and orders Buggs to do his work for him. I believe that a large part of this is due to the upset he feels over Felix trying to kill him ("this was a sad day"). He is hesitant, because Felix is his brother, and until now, Ted "thought [his] brother loved [him]". Perhaps he thinks he wouldn't be able to follow through with actually doing away with Felix himself.

With Buggs doing it, there's an element of detachment. This can go one of two ways. It could be a way for Ted to try absolving himself of guilt, because if he didn't commit the murder with his own hands, he at least doesn't have the memory of them shoving his brother to his death. On the other hand, this could be a way of Ted trying to make the whole ordeal more detached from him. The only involvement he's had is giving instructions. Felix isn't even worth Ted's energy anymore, after that sort of a betrayal. Ted stands back and watches it happen, glaring coldly all the while. He's doing his utmost not to care, and for the most part, he's succeeding.

2) What each of them say just before the other is pushed in

This time, Ted's is the personal one. He's more than just correcting Felix's "Teddy"; this is his way of getting back at Felix for every time he's talked down to Ted. We see throughout the game how Felix considers his brother weak and inferior, incapable and idiotic. The nickname "Teddy" is derisive, intended as an insult. It mocks Ted, making him seem softer. "Felix" is professional. "Teddy" is babying and informal.

More than this, though, this line acts as a turning point for Ted. In that moment, he doesn't consider himself as Felix's brother. He doesn't want to be associated with his former self, the one who nodded and stayed silent and tripped over himself to please his brother. Ted is in control here. He's taking on a new identity, a new way of behaving outside of Felix's influence. This isn't about the company. It's about him.

And then there's Felix's last words to his brother, which are about the company. Because when it comes to Felix, everything is. He's been taught to value Applesoft above all else, so that's exactly what he does. He's first the company's heir, second a person. Applesoft takes priority over everything. And that's precisely why Felix is able to murder his brother without the barest indication of remorse.

The entire day, Felix treats Ted's death as nothing more than a business transaction. He wants to be the sole heir. He's dismissed Ted his entire life, but this isn't just Felix getting tired of him and deciding to dispose of him on a whim. He sees it as for the good of Applesoft. And that makes all the difference in the world.

3) How they both respond to the reveal of the plan

On one hand, you've got Ted. The only person preventing him from running away is Felix. Kid and Nugget are stood to the side, Felix is the one who pushes him in. But it's just been revealed to Ted that despite all of his hope otherwise, Felix doesn't care about or love him. He's shocked, and hurt, and betrayed. And there's something inside of him that still wants to believe this is a lie, that Felix will break into an out-of-character grin and mock him for falling for the trick.

He pleads with Felix rather than leaving, because he's so used to giving Felix all of the power that he doesn't know what else to do. Felix is in control because Ted continues to let him be.

I think it's important to note that Ted doesn't say that Felix wouldn't. Just that he "can't". It's a plea, a denial of what's right in front of him. Ted knows his brother is capable of killing him, but he doesn't want to believe it.

Also, Ted says that Felix can't kill him because he "did everything [Felix] said". In this case, that "can't" means that Felix shouldn't be allowed to do away with him. The only reason Ted can see for why Felix might want to kill him is that Ted has done something wrong. He doesn't blame Felix. Ted sees this as his own fault. He's been taught to agree with his brother, keep his mouth shut and stay in line, but even though he's been doing that the entire day, Felix still wants to kill him. Ted wants to be of use, wants to make Felix happy. But nothing he does will ever be enough, because Felix can't see him as anything more than a hindrance. Felix believes Applesoft should be run by someone strong and independent. And to him, Ted is incapable of being either.

On the other hand, there's Felix's reaction. First, he's incredulous. He processes what's going on much faster than Ted did, but rather than feeling betrayed, he throws something of a tantrum. He's so accustomed to Ted following him and doing exactly as he says that when placed in a situation where he has no power, Felix doesn't know how to handle it.

He tries to take back power with the definitive "I will not", but it doesn't work. He continues to call Ted by that same derisive nickname, but that serves as the last straw. And lastly, he does what he does best. He tries to make a deal.

Felix goes from denial to anger to bargaining in a matter of seconds. He defaults to repeating the actions he's practiced, the actions he's been taught. He tries to talk himself out of the hole he's dug, but it no longer works when he's been exposed as a liar. He's shattered the glorified image Ted had of him, and now he can only deal with the consequences.

Even if he does manage to get away and tell someone, it's highly unlikely anyone would believe him- and even if they did, they wouldn't care. The only company Felix has allowed himself to keep is Ted, and he's constantly emphasised how weak and useless his brother is. Saying that he had to run from Ted attempting to kill him sounds more than ludicrous- it would be embarrassing. It would ruin the air of superiority he's so carefully crafted, and any respect people might have had for him would be gone in an instant. All he can do is try to bargain, and insist that this isn't happening, and glare accusatorily at Ted as though he has any right to do so.

4) Both insult their help

While Nugget doesn't care about being called weird and Buggs seems to be okay with being insulted under his own terms, the fact remains that both Felix and Ted have no qualms about hurting people's feelings. They consider themselves above others thanks to the attitudes they've grown up around thus far. The main difference is that Felix sees himself as superior to everyone, and Ted sees the Huxleys as superior to everyone.

Ted apologises after calling Buggs fat because Buggs claims he "said [Ted] could make fun of [Buggs'] poverty, not [his] weight". But Ted must have either forgotten or disregarded this in the first place for that correction to be made. There's probably something more to be said here about Buggs taking pride in where he came from but not in his appearance, but that's a post for another time. I think it's interesting that Ted's picked up Felix's habit of insulting his assistance, and shows quite how big of an influence being around Felix alone has had. Nobody's taught him any differently, so while Ted doesn't have any aim to upset or hurt those working for him or who he considers beneath him, he's learned that it's expected that he does.

5) Their final words inside of the hole

Ted tries to appeal to Felix's (nonexistent) merciful side. If nothing else, he wants his brother to feel guilty about killing him. He wants his suffering to end, for Felix to get some help, to be able to move away from his biggest fear. Felix has done everything he can to make this as unpleasant as possible for Ted, and Ted still doesn't know what he did wrong.

And then there's Felix, who attacks. He does the only thing he knows how to do around Ted, and that's trying to wear his brother down. He clings to the favouritism that makes him feel worthy, makes empty promises because he doesn't want to believe he's replaceable. He calls Ted a failure because he can't come to terms with the fact that he's lost, and because- once again- nothing Ted does will ever make Felix view him as less of a failure.

There's more I could say and more to look into, so I'll possibly expand on this further at a later date. This was a lot of fun to look into and analyse, and I thank you for reading it all! :D

[kittieshauntedourfantasy]

Highkey unable to listen to Chonny Jash The Mind Electric without thinking about Cain's Not Able

[blackvelvetofnight]

concerts should cost 3 shiny nickels and be a block away. beautiful women take my hand we're going

[chloesimaginationthings]

Pomni and Gummigoo reunite in TADC!

[sm-baby]

CARNIVAL AU - Official Poster

Ko-fi🎪|| Carnival AU Masterpost📝

[roppiepop]

Who’s coming to the cookout?

[abisalli]

detective work 🔍❓

[cobbiecrow]

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙢𝙖𝙯𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘿𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙡

Did anyone else watch this as a child? It was strange and a little traumatic.

Au belongs @sm-baby

[yanako-san]

Here's a gif

Carnival! Caine and Able

The amazing digital carnival belongs to @sm-baby

[burrotello]

finally a rendered piece WOAH

art for @sywene-06 ‘s casino au!!! I heart it please check it out please

[ultravhasart]

hyped for her new solo!

[bananafire11]

Tadc..... dinosaurs.... tadc dinosaurs

[greykolla-art]

I’m getting really excited for the Digital Circus! 😁💗💗💗

I’m such a sucker for their weirdcore vibes, it’s my FAVOURITE aesthetic!

[cactus-idiot]

A small thingy for @sm-baby

The red and blue twins from her sibling episode series :D I made this because why not. Also I'm bored

[bet-on-me-13]

Wes ruins everything

Wes had finally done it, he had finally realized why nobody ever belived him about Fenton and Phantom! It made so much sense now, he had been looking for an answer for years, thinking he was going crazy because everybody refused to see the Obvious!

He was Cursed!

He literally had an Ancestoral Curse on his Bloodline that made it so that all those born with the gift of Prophecy would be ignored! A Gift of Prophecy that he apparently had.

It was Cassandra's Curse, the one from Greek Myths. Apparently she was his Great×1000 Grandmother and passed down the Gift (and Curse) of Prophecy to him. And he knew how to break it!

All he needed to do was gather the right resources, chant the correct incantations, make sure not to accidentally summon a Demon in the process, and he could just foist the Curse onto some other poor schmuck. Sure it would suck for them, and he would loose his Gift of Prophecy, but Wes had been ignored for Years at this point, he needed validation!

So he did the Ritual, and he didn't mess it up, and he managed to get rid of the Curse.

Now all he had to do was convince everybody that he was right for the first time in his life! This was going to be great!

...

Cass didn't know what was going on.

A while ago, she had started getting these...gut feelings that she couldn't explain.

She would look over the details of a Case her Family was working on, and see a patern that the others were seemingly ignoring. Like when she realized that The Penguin was about to raid the Docks on the East Side, but the others were convinced it was going to be on the West.

But when she had tried to tell them, they had brushed her off. "We've already concluded that he will begin the Raid on the West side, no need to go to the East."

She had gone anyways, and low and behold she had been right. But nobody even acknowledged that she had been right at all, they had just wondered how they had missed the signs, not even questioning how she had known.

It wasn't limited to Cases either. Even small things, like telling her brother's where the TV remote was were brushed off, and hours later they would still be looking, never even having checked where she told them.

It seemed that no matter what, nobody cared about her point of view anymore. They kept brushing her off, telling her she was wrong, actively ignoring her ideas.

And it was getting worse. They were starting to ignore her more and more, forgetting she was in the room, not calling her down for Dinner, even forgetting to check in on her during Patrol.

She knew that there must be something going on, Magical or otherwise, but when she tried bringing it up with her Dad or JLD, they would also Brush her off.

Her Family was forgetting her. And they didn't even realize it.

...

Danny was not okay at the moment.

When he had gone to school a few weeks ago and noticed everybody staring at him, he didn't give it much thought. Maybe Dash or Paulina had spread another Rumor about him again, not too out of the ordinary.

When his name had been called over the Intercom, he hadn't thought much of that either. His grades were falling even more than usual, so he assumed his Guidance Counselor wanted to have another talk with him.

When he walked into the Principals Office to see both of his Parents and some GIW Agents, that's when he realized something big must have happened.

He didn't have much of a chance to react when the Shields went up, but he did react when the first Ecto-Blast scorched the wall behind him. His Parents began to scream at him as they fired their Blasters, something about replacing somebody? He didn't know, he was pretty preoccupied at the moment.

It took more effort than he cared to admit to escape the Room, but a stray shot to the hidden Shield Projector under the Principals Desk proved to be his saving grace. Unfortunately the moment he escaped the Office, he was met with a veritable Army of GIW Agents, all armed to the Teeth with Weapons he had never even seen before.

He managed to get away for a moment, hiding in the Bathroom as the Agents chasing him passed it by. That's when he met Wes.

He obviously hadn't been expecting him, but the moment he saw him Wes put on a smug look. "Oh hi Fenton, trying to get away from the other students?"

Danny had replied with confusion, "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"I finally managed to convince everybody about you, now everyone knows that you're Phantom! I'll bet you're hiding from all of the other Students hounding you for questions right?"

"...it was you?"

"Yeah, so? I finally get to be right!"

"...You absolute MORON-"

That was the last Danny got to say to Wes before an Ecto-Blast launched him through a Wall, seeing his face morph into a look of Shock just before the dust cloud covered it up.

Since that day, Danny had been on the Run. Nowhere was safe anymore now that the GIW knew both his Human and Ghost's faces, but he had to keep running. He crossed state Lines already, and was on his way to the next Ecto-Rich City he could sense, somewhere in New Jersey.

He cursed his Fenton Luck every day. Why had everybody believed Wes this time?! Nobody had ever belived him before, nobody even seemed to acknowledge his existence after a while! What had changed?

Danny just wanted to rest already.

...

Cass had taken to Patrolling alone recently. She had taken to doing a lot of things alone, actually.

After the first month, it seemed that nobody could remember that she was in the room with them, even if she was within their eyeline, she just faded into the background. By the 2 Month Mark they had stopped talking to her entirely, although occasionally she would get a Text or two from her dad. By the 3 month Mark she was completely invisible, and By the 5th she had been forced to get used to it.

She didn't know what was going on, was it a Meta Ability? Magic? Alien Tech? She had no idea.

She had begun to cook for herself after the first time Alfred forgot to set her Plate at the Table. The same with Washing her own Clothes, Cleaning her Room, and Paying her Phone Bills. At the very least the Automated Allowance Payments to her Account had kept up, or she wouldn't have been able to go to her favorite Cafe anymore.

It was bittersweet for her. She used to go to that Cafe every week with Alfred, but he didn't even come on his own anymore. Had he only come for her? Did she really mean that much to them? It hurt, she finally had a family that cared for her and suddenly she didn't exist to them.

She sat alone at a Table, ignored by everyone in the Cafe as usual, when a new face walked in. He looked about her age, a little roughed up, walking with a sort of cautious gaint, as if he was scared of something. His Body Language seemed to agree with her assessment, as his body practically screamed "Worry" in its movements.

Cass stopped watching at that point. Just another Gotham Teen, probably worried over something like getting not having enough money or getting mugged on the way home. It was a Common sight in Gotham.

She attention was pricked again for a moment when she heard a voice speak up. "Uh, can I sit here?"

She ignored it, he wasn't talking to her.

"Um, excuse me? Miss? Could I sit here?" He repeated.

She ignored him again, he wasn't talking to her. Nobody talked to her.

"Hello? Do you have Earbuds in?" He said, and he waved his hand in front of her face.

Her face. He waved his hand. In front of Her Face.

He was talking to her.

She looked up at him sharply, seeming to startle him for a moment before he asked, "So, is that a no?"

"You can see me?" She asked.

He looked a bit bewildered, but replied "Uh, yeah? Why would I not? Are you...a Ghost?". That last part sounded a bit suspicious.

"No. Not a Ghost. But nobody sees me. Ever. Nobody remembers me." She replied. She had never spoken this much to anybody outside of her Family, but in the past few weeks she had been starved for interaction.

He seemed slightly interested, and sat down at her table. He looked her in the eyes, and said "Do you...talk about it?"

She smiled. He could see her.

[sm-baby]

Freakshow AU by @hootbon

kofi☠️

Im learning a new animation program and made this!! hehe I always imagined this sort of scene with the brothers >///> I finally get to do it