#ask louisa murder drones

[xxsmoko-n-mirrorsxx]

Louisa's Random Thoughts

I know I said it was me to blame a couple days ago but maybe initially I was right to believe it was Tessa's fault. She brought that little Anti-Christ drone home. And those two would track in so much mud into the house, and we scolded Tessa about keeping faulty drones before, but this one was REALLY creepy.

Like, when I didn't want to deal with Tessa, I locked her in her room, so when I told Tessa I didn't want to deal with Cyn, she was supposed to keep that little heathen down in the cellar.

And then the Earth exploded. It was ALL Tessa's fault because she couldn't keep that little maid in order.

[xxsmoko-n-mirrorsxx]

THIS

do you or have you ever vaped or smoked?

Ew, oh my god, smoking is cringe, and vaping is really fucking bad for your lungs.

Like fucking early onset aging and lung cancer isn't a joke, so don't put shit in your lungs that doesn't belong

[xxrobotessaxx]

TESSA JAMES ELLIOT!!! WHERE ARE MY SEWING SCISSORS?!!?! from @xxsmoko-n-mirrorsxx

I-I-I don't know Mother... S-s-sorry Mother... *hid them in J's pocket so she doesn't have to give them back*

[copper-9spurgatory]

It's RT's J. Look, I hate you and you hate me but I need you to go after a target. I'll pay you in a drum of drone oil if you help me keep a certain someone away. I will leave by your landing pod brass laced claws so you can handle the job.

the target is @xxsmoko-n-mirrorsxx Tessa's mother, just... put on spoilers for all the Untrained Neural Networks, it might get gore-y

I’ll do anything for a large sum of oil, you guys make the best and are my only supplier.

Got the brass laced claws, putting them on now. That old bat doesn’t know when to quit does she? Well..looks like I’ll have to take matters into my own hands. Oh it’ll definitely be gorey, even if she’s a phantom, but I’ll have fun with this task.

[designation-zi]

Murder Drones Timeline of Events

Disclaimer: Most of this is speculation based off of background details and conjecture. Subject to change. If you notice anything I missed feel free to comment and I’ll make adjustments :)

Proceeding Events:

Sometime in the Future, around the 31st Century

- Humanity becomes advanced enough to venture into space and establish colonies and civilizations on exoplanets in other solar systems. Some of these include the “Proxima System”, “Plat-Binary System”, and the “Copper System.”

- JCJenson, an interstellar megacorporation creates a brand of autonomous robots known as “Worker Drones” to serve humanity and mine resources on the exoplanets. One of these planets is Copper-9 from the Copper System.

- Worker Drones are heavily abused and mistreated by humans, often being improperly disposed of and thrown into landfills.

- JCJenson is aware of the fact their drones have a chance of self rebooting if disposed of incorrectly, dubbing these “Zombie Drones.” This can happen if the drone and their core wasn’t properly disconnected and destroyed, or the software cleanup program “wdOS_606” wasn’t installed or was interrupted or rejected (even up to five years later.) The company is also aware that among these instances, there’s also a chance of the drone developing “Hazardous Mutations.”

- Camp 98.7 is established in the year 3002 on Copper-9.

Humanity’s Downfall:

Year still unknown, but still in the 31st Century

-Underneath a landfill of discarded drones on Earth, presumably in Australia, a drone with a P/N starting with “CYN” self reboots. A so called program named the “Absolute Solver” seemingly contacts her through her broken visor and appears to make a deal with her, promising not to “discard her.” This is how the Solver gets its first host. It’s not known if the Solver took complete control there or if Cyn’s possession was a process.

- The landfill is close by to the mansion of a wealthy human family known as the Elliotts. Their daughter “Tessa James Elliott” enjoys retrieving discarded drones from the landfill so she can repair them. These drones become part of the manor’s wait staff, but Tessa treats them like people and as her friends, even giving them wigs so they can have identifying traits — much to the annoyance of her parents.

- Among the drones Tessa has brought home three are known as N, V, and J due to their serial designation numbers visible on their yellow armbands. It can be noted that it seems Tessa scratched out the “Marked For Disassembly” on the bands with sharpie after she repaired them.

- One day Tessa finds Cyn in the dump and brings her home. She introduces her to N, V, and J shortly after.

- N treats Cyn kindly, and she refers to him as her big brother.

- An unknown amount of time passes and eventually Tessa seems to become unnerved around Cyn due to the drone’s odd behaviour and mannerisms. J often locks Cyn in the library basement because of this.

- Many of Tessa’s drones seem to mysteriously contract some sort of error which leaves them in a catatonic state with their visors flashing a large yellow X alongside the words “error 606” (note that 606 matches the software cleanup program’s name of wdOS_606.) Because of this they are placed into the library. One of these drones is V, who N regularly visits so he can try and talk to her and read to her.

- The Elliotts’s decide to throw a gala at their manor alongside another family called the Frumptlebuckets (lol.) An interesting observation is that these wealthy humans (or at least those in the Elliott’s social circle) apparently like to dress up and act similar to those from around the Victorian era.

- Cyn escapes from the basement and convinces N to attend the gala, so they head to the ballroom to ask Tessa. This ends up leading to an altercation with Tessa’s mother Louisa where she orders Tessa to dump Cyn and all of her other “broken” drones in the library back into the landfill.

- Cyn talks back to Louisa, but N takes the fall for her and ends up being chained outside next to a dead drone that had been picked apart by a flock of crows. Meanwhile, Tessa has been chained up in her bedroom alongside J and Cyn as punishment. This, alongside an earlier scene where she seemingly rubs her wrist in pain implies this happens fairly often to her and highlights that her parents are abusive.

- Tessa berates Cyn for N taking the blame for her, angered that N may end up dead. However, Cyn seems indifferent and calmly claims she has “backups” of N.

- Cyn transforms into her horrific eldritch Solver form and claims Tessa won’t have to “discard her pets” and that she won’t discard her either. She leaves out the window after warning Tessa to stay away from the gala due to her seeming squeamish, revealing her intent to massacre the humans.

- Wanting to save everyone from being killed, Tessa gets J to break their chains and the two of them sneak out and arm themselves with a revolver and sword respectively. Despite this, after they arrive everyone is massacred anyways thanks to Cyn/the Solver corrupting the other Worker Drones, including J, who shuts the door so Tessa can’t escape.

- It’s assumed N escapes being killed by the crows and walks in on Cyn slaughtering the humans at the gala due to a brief flashback of him seeing Cyn eating a human hand (when he touches the Zombie Drones VHS tape.)

- Tessa is killed, and in a twisted way of sticking to her word of not discarding her, Cyn skins her corpse to graft it onto her drone body. (Due to an image of humans in hazmat suits finding Tessa surrounded by the remains of the people from the gala, it’s not fully known if Cyn also killed her at the gala and then posed as her, or if she was killed shortly afterwards.)

- Cyn converts the drones from the manor, including N, V, and J into deadly “Disassembly Drones.” They are given a “nerfed” version of the Solver that Cyn has admin access over to better remain control over them. Their memories are erased before setting them loose to slaughter the rest of the humans on Earth. Sometime after, the Solver causes the planet to implode into a black hole.

- The other colonies on the human exoplanets catch wind of what’s happened back on Earth, so JCJenson establishes “Cabin Fever Labs” to research the Solver and how to stop it.

- One of these labs is established on Copper-9 at Camp 98.7 and its surrounding mineshafts (and a cathedral that was there for some reason.) Multiple drones are purposely given the Solver, notably Nori (002) and Yeva (048.)

- The other exoplanets of the Proxima and Plat-Binary systems are corrupted and wiped out due to the Solver spreading and the Disassembly Drones presumably being sicced there.

- Nori ends up becoming possessed by the Solver. Eventually the JCJenson scientists on Copper-9 are able to create a Crucifix USB patch that can get rid of the Solver’s hold on its hosts. This patch is seemingly only successfully used on Yeva. Unfortunately, before it can be used on Nori, the Solver uses her to kill all the scientists except for an intern named Mitchell who had mistakenly put on the wrong uniform of a doctor and had been sent to fetch Yeva.

- Before the Solver can kill Mitchell after he returns, Yeva saves him and throws the USB into Nori’s face which frees her from its control, but also leaves her mind scrambled. However, the Solver is still able to create a small black hole with Nori’s hand that Yeva is forced to cut off. It’s sent falling into a pit to the planet’s core that the Solver had opened up prior.

- Copper-9’s planetary core partly implodes which wipes all organic life off the planet and turns it into a frozen wasteland. (Don’t worry. The dogs had been evacuated beforehand.) It seems a group of humans tried to survive by cryogenically freezing themselves in a bunker called “Outpost 3” in one of Copper-9’s cities. This didn’t work due to the computer having an error. This leaves the Worker Drones to inherit the planet and embrace their freedom.

Aftermath:

Year still unknown

- Nori and Yeva escape Cabin Fever Labs, while other test subjects such as Alice (017) are left behind to try and survive the lab’s Anti Drone sentinels. Nori meets a drone named Khan Doorman and ends up marrying him while Yeva also finds herself a husband.

- Uzi Doorman and Doll are created by their parents uploading parts of their code into Untrained Neural Networks and they both inherit their mothers’ connections to the Solver.

- The Doorman family experiences moments of happy family memories until Nori begins to have “kooky insane” ramblings and visions about the Solver and Disassembly Drones which she refers to as “Sky Demons” as a result of her brain being scrambled from the USB patch.

- Nori tries to warn the other drones and tells Khan to build doors to shelter themselves from the upcoming dangers.

Return of the Solver:

Sometime before the year 3071

- Cyn/The Solver sends squads of Disassembly Drones to Copper-9. Their memories are wiped and they are made to believe they were created and sent by the humans of JCJenson to eliminate the rogue Worker Drone population. Their directive also involves piling their kills into a “Corpse Spire” and locating Cabin Fever Labs. Cyn also wants to kill all other Solver hosts for an unknown reason.

- The squad consisting of N, V, and J lands close to the bunker of Outpost 3 and begin killing any Worker Drones they come across.

- V is seemingly the only Disassembly Drone that has retained some memory of Cyn and the Solver. She keeps this to herself and follows her directive so Cyn will leave her alone. Additionally, she also pretends to forget about N, believing this will protect him.

- A colony of Worker Drones takes shelter in Outpost 3 where Khan starts to build protective doors like his wife had requested. Around this time Nori is stung with a Disassembly Drone’s nanite acid. Khan uses a wrench to put her out of her misery. However, unbeknownst to anyone else, Nori manages to survive in her Solver core/heart form and goes back to Cabin Fever Labs so she can look for the Crucifix USB Patch.

- V kills Doll’s parents. Doll witnesses this while hiding and the trauma seemingly causes her Solver abilities to begin manifesting.

- The “Worker Drone Defence Force” is established in Outpost 3 with Khan as the leader. Unfortunately, they don’t really try to defend anything and just play cards behind the doors.

- The other Disassembly Drone squads that make it to Cabin Fever Labs are killed by either the Sentinels or Alice and (presumably) her son Beau. Alice scavenges parts from Disassembly Drones and Worker Drones to add to herself and Beau since he is stuck in an Untrained Neural Network body. She also learns to put the Solver cores in heat as it “makes them sluggish.”

Year 3071

- The events of episodes 1 - 7 occur

• Recent Revelation: At the end of episode 3 Cyn arrives on Copper-9 impersonating an older Tessa. She is accompanied by a backed up copy of J who was previously killed by Uzi in episode 1. It’s currently unknown if J is aware that Tessa is actually dead.

[funnelcakesandinfinitesuffering]

Things I loved about the new Murder Drones episode: Part 2

N’s peace sign

Also, N didn’t know what he was talking about, because Louisa’s fan was freaking awesome

The complete overreaction of tying N to a tree to be eaten by crows, like seriously, chill

The crows were simultaneously adorable and terrifying

Uzi’s gamer tag is appropriately cringe

The Elliots chained up their freaking daughter, good lord

Cyn making those two male dolls kiss

Cyn turning said gay dolls into Toy Story monsters

The way she just switches from playful little anime girl to holo-spooky-snake-crab in less than a second

Uzi slipping up and accidentally calling N cute, and then immediately trying to recover by saying weird

Khan is still the worst

The robo-roach backing Uzi up and telling Khan to leave

Uzi going all tsundere when N asks what they are in the future

The shot with V and the lightning was expertly done

Tessa helping J break the chain by telling her it wants paid time off, and IT WORKED

The revolver joke

Tessa choosing a sword was perfectly extra

“This bird’s from the future.”

“I kill you, hehe.”

The fight scene against V was great

The behind the scenes video that showed stretched out J running

That one guy spouting all that Australian gibberish, and then Katie just like: “Bitch what?” And then goes back to her phone

[canadiannationalfox]

Pre-Murder Drones Fanfic/Drabble - A Dove's Harp - Jessa fanfic

tw// child abuse mention

Tessa was finally allowed out of her room, a few days prior she had pulled the ultimate hilarious stunt. Since her mother, Louisa, had planned a piano recital for the 13 year old girl, since it had happened without Tessa's say in the matter, Tessa had changed at the last minute from playing a classical inspired melody to a song from the olden times known simply as 'The Hours Song' or 'Insomnia Party'. Tessa had gotten in so much trouble, however, all of her Dad's friends who were in attendance found it mildly entertaining.

Louisa dragged Tessa into the library by her wrist. "Mother, I'm sorry! I will be better!" Tessa pleaded as she was brought to the study.

Louisa let go of Tessa when they got to the heart of the library, Louisa's old harp from when she was a kid sat in there, it was a mahogany Celtic harp. "Due to your LITTLE STUNT you pulled, you will no longer be playing the piano, young lady!" the artificially blonde woman barked.

Tessa sat by the harp and she started trying it out.

"No, no NO!" Louisa scolded harshly, "You're doing it all wrong!" She grabbed Tessa's tender wrists and adjusted the girl's positioning.

The girl with the cool toned dark hair flinched as she was posed like a ball-jointed doll harshly. "Mother! That hurts!"

"Well, maybe it wouldn't if you didn't do so many things that would result in you getting locked in your room, your wrists wouldn't be so sore, now would they?"

James walked into the library, as he was coming to look for a book for work and heard the squabbling. He ran over and despite him usually taking Louisa's side, he intervened sharply yet with an air of worry in his voice, "Louisa, luv! Let's maybe hire her a tutor for harp instead."

"Why?" Louisa barked before she realized it was James and she softened her voice, "Sorry, James, dear... but, I am certainly capable."

James offered, "Perhaps, she would be better receptive to a tutor closer to her age?"

Louisa tilted her head in a way that made the soft alabaster coloured swan feathers on her sunhat droop with disappointment, her voice carrying a tone of discontentment as she uttered firmly, "Fine then... but she is not allowed to quit the harp."

James lead Tessa away from the library, insisting in a more gentle voice, "How's about you go play with your drones, Tessa? I am going to go phone around to see if there's any harp tutors within an hours drive of here.."

Tessa was thankful in that moment for her Father. She didn't say anything but silently nodded. She didn't want to play the harp, ever, but, this at least bought her some time to try to think of a way of getting out of it.

The Elliott heiress went to her room and sat at her work desk to sulk, not noticing the ponytailed maid drone there, tidying up Tessa's collection of stuffed animals.

"Something wrong, Princess Tess?" J asked worriedly, approaching her favourite human slowly, holding one hand out so when she did get to Tessa's side that she'd be ready to hold one of the girl's hands.

Tessa took a gentle hold of J's hand as soon as J was closer to her. "Oh, just... I finally am being long-term punished for my piano recital..."

"I told you not to play that silly song," J sighed softly, rubbing her thumb on the back of Tessa's hand.

"I don't want to play the harp, Jaybird, especially if Mother is forcing me to."

J knew Tessa hated doing what she was told to do if there was no fun involved but she'd have to comply. She soothed to the sulking girl whom she adored so much, "It's not that bad," deciding to mention something she had never said to Tessa before, "I... Actually like harp music, it's really beautiful."

The grey eyed Elliott girl looked into J's platinum white LED eyes for reassurance. "Y-you do?" she asked, her voice inquisitive and a bit more hopeful, "I guess I could learn to play, you know, if it's for you." Tessa didn't know why she felt like this. Like she cherished what J thought of her, she was J's boss, and yet, it made her all a flutter inside thinking about doing something to show her gratitude to J, even if it would be learning to play the harp.

J offered as she hugged Tessa gently, "If you get really good at the harp, maybe you could play my favourite songs, like Clair de Lune and Eternal Dream."

"I'd like that, maybe... if you're not harsh towards me when I'm still learning..." Tessa broke the hug and looked away shyly, not sure of what she was feeling in that moment, all she knew right then was that she wanted J to be happy.

The drone with the beautiful platinum ponytails soothed lovingly, "I won't," she giggled and placed one hand over her heart, " I promise, knight's honour."

"Jaybird... be careful...maybe use more corporate talk, I don't want Mother catching us still 'playing princess'... we will save knight and princess for when we are sure we are alone, 'right then?"

J sadly nodded, remarking numbly, "I understand boss, clearer than an HR handbook"

Tessa pulled J into a hug and whispered to her beloved drone, "But... deep down, just know, I appreciate everything, alright Jaybird?"

J let slip from her voice chip, "Of course, my dear dove." She was about to apologize for letting that slip out, but Tess was already responding with an almost angel soft voice,

"You're the best, J... thank you."

Every time Tessa would have harp practice, J stood by, watching over, both since James hard ordered J to be there if Tessa needed anything, but also so J could hear her beloved human girl getting slowly better at the harp, which made J's adoration for the girl grow more and more every day. "We will never be together," she sighed to herself quietly, watching Tessa practice Clair de Lune, "but, I will still dream... I want my beloved boss to be my princess."

The End

[antlersofthevoid]

I wanna know about Despina, please-

I love your design and idea of what the Solver true form, we needed more art like that

Ough. Despi. >:3

I'm actually working on the sketch of her redesign/proper design!

• What even IS Despina? Where did she come from?

• There are few people that know her name. Sirius Elliot, James' father and Tessa's grandfather, only knew of her through old texts and family rumors.

• It's believed that she was accused of committing witchcraft and exiled out of the original town that the elliot manor resides at the edge of, where she died in the woods. James has heard stories that the manor itself was built on her bones, and others say that there's an unmarked grave where the earth claimed her.

• She was summoned by Sirius when the company nearly went bankrupt. His worker drones just weren't exciting enough. If only he'd known what he was getting himself into.

•She's malevolent. While Despina does as she's asked, she's got her own ways of pulling strings to get what she wants. She's hungry, and this world-ending tech-fucker isnt going to let anything stand in her way.

• Sirius wasn't the first person that's ever summoned her for his own gain, but he was her favorite. Not only did he let her put a piece of herself in his little toys to give them sentience and life, she needed something in exchange for such a task.

Sirius was greedy enough and only cared about his company, and traded the safety of his future grandchildren and entire bloodline: a careless sacrifice.

• She can wander as much as she wants to without someone to need her, after all, she's been bound to a deal and still hasn't been paid what she's owed. She's been after Tessa for years.

• Despina isn't afraid to cheat to get her way, resorting to seduction, underhanding deals or straight-up murdering to get what she wants.

• looks like she could kill you, will kill you. If you're lucky enough to survive an encounter with her, you'll likely be plagued with nightmares for the rest of her life. Despina can distort her appearance to be more pleasing to the eye, but at the end of the day, she's still an eldritch mess of drone parts and bones.

• Selune, Louisa's original worker companion, was her first host. After one particular night where Despina got dangerously close to devouring a helpless infant Tessa, she made a deal in secret, acting as though she'd turned against her humans and wanted to assist in Despina's destruction of the Elliot bloodline.

• Selune was stronger than Despina thought, and managed to keep her locked away within her core. After Selune's death, Despina was freed again, and now she's got her sights set on Cyn and Grimm.

• She can't do any harm to anyone or possess them without her veil being removed by her summoner. Sirius was the first to remove her veil.

• Despina created the baseline for the disassembly drones, twisting the poor workers of the manor into her solver underlings. The company took her design, and made their own, and managed to take her original copies of her three strongest pets away from her before she could fully put them under her control : V, J and N.

• Despina hates it when her little pets fight back.

[coverslutmosquitoe]

This isn't a prompt ask from me as I am just asking out of curiosity. Are there any Murder Drones pairings you had story/headcanons for? Like for mine:

J x James Elliot-James has Robophilia but has buried it deep within himself all his life. J makes hidden offers towards James in order to lower Worker Drone deaths within the Manor. James, who has remained civil but not in love with Louisa and who is getting up in age, agrees to the secretive affair.

Cyn x J-J gets stuck in a vent or something and can't call out due to the danger of waking up nearby sleeping visitors. Cyn is passing by and notices J. Cyn keeps herself quiet and due to her having a grudge for being locked in the basement or J being mean to N, offers J's lower half some 'comfort.'

Rebecca x Uzi-Pretty much just Hate Sex and the two wanting to see how sex is like among their kind.

I’m so sorry I am months late to this but I had typed out something and then tumblr didn’t save it so I abandoned this ask…. The concept with James is an interesting one. Not much to say about it.

Cyn x J concept is a good one too. Always down for characters taking advantage of each other. I like Cyn x J for a different reason though. J doesn’t seem to like Cyn at all. So a world where J somehow falls in love with her or Cyn becomes obsessed with her despite J constantly brushing her off is interesting to me. I especially love dynamics like that.

Rebecca(rip queen) x Uzi hate sex is also something I can get behind. I bet Rebecca was a secret nerd. Maybe if they had more time together they could’ve gotten along well. (´• ω •`)

Thank you for this ask! And once again I’m so so sorry for the wait… ahh.. My ask box is always open so please feel free to drop in anytime!

[theimperials1]

"What if she sends me away, what if she thinks i'm being a bad?" She started to tremble, but the chopping didn't stop "What if she hates me..."

That was the last straw, what came next was too fast to even prevent it, one second she was just cutting some lettuce, in the way she and Louisa liked to have it for their sandwiches...and just as she was about to finish and move on, and perhaps expel those venomous thoughts from her mind, she felt the pain, it was a sharp feeling of pain on her hand. J couldn't control it and made a loud half-scream when the knife opened a wound on the upper part of her palm and she dropped it on the spot.

Oil, oil over the lettuce, a ruined sandwich, she hears Louisa standing up, asking if she was hurt? she could only stare at the oil, dripping perhaps too slowly due to the fact the weapon made the injury wide, but she couldn't stand it, the dripping, the viscosity of it...and how she had just ruined the occasion to ask so foolishly.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot" She repeated that three times, as she turned around, Louisa's eyes opened wide as she saw the injury, and J fell sitting into the floor "You only know how to ruin everything, don't you?" She spoke to herself more than to anyone else

If you want to help further (I'm right now trying to finance a new Ac) you can do so through Ko-fi

[kazooiesart]

coughs

so the raising chip au is heavily inspired by the show raising hope. its not like one-to-one with the cast nor is it post-canon, its in its own universe, and everyone involved are adults, sans Chip herself.

like in wolfboy, all the drones previously worked for JCJenson, but some of them were deployed to Copper-9 to mine resources, yadda yadda. these drones eventually revolted, and once word got back to Copper-9, James and Louisa forced Tessa to turn N, V, and J into Disassembly Drones to kill the revolting workers. Not copies.

cyn was deemed too "broken" to do regular work or go with the Copper-9 group, so rather than scrapping her, she was basically turned into a 24/7 close watch on tessa, who's never left the manor despite being in her 20s (not allowed to) and is almost always working (usually repairing and upgrading drones)

since the society resulting from the revolt is still rather recent, the only ones who have parents are the children recently created. nori, yeva, etc all exist, its just they have no kids and just co-exist alongside uzi and doll, all that

ANYWAY. n finds chip abandoned in a scuffle between her parents and a disassembly drone, and since theyre only programmed to kill revolting worker drones, n decides to adopt her. hes not actually sure what she is until she gets older, anyway

j wont help, v tries but also isnt really helpful (her knowledge on baby care is the exact same as n's), eventually he meets thad and has him babysit after v lectures n on taking chip on a hunt. thad introduces n to uzi, and the trio start dating, with n moving in after giving the WDF a apology card. of course the worker drones are not really. pleased with this

n does frequently visit j and v, they just dont want to live in the base. n still kills the workers, of course, he just tries to make sure its not in public so he doesnt get caught

meanwhile, with tessa, shes going to snap. and she eventually does! she murders her parents, likely hiding them somewhere, with only herself and cyn knowing (she wouldve liked nobody to know but cyn literally cannot leave her side so there wasnt much of a choice)

shes in contact with the disassembly drones, as j as a communications relay on her that n and v like to hijack to talk to her. tessa also gives herself... basically alice's tail. yknow, long prehensile tail with a knife tied to the end. shes also a lot more unhinged and violent due to the high amount of anger shes been suppressing almost all of her life

for the vampire au... i dont have too much for it yet! its somewhat inspired by what we do in the shadows (the tv show) in that its three vampires (with each having their own familiar) with the head vampire coming to stay over for awhile. theyre also trying to take over, but... theyre not the greatest at it.

cyn is the head vampire, not above threatening her fellow vampires or their familiars to get others to cooperate. its nate for vanny and tessa for jenny (nothing for nate though, he loves doing anything!). uzi is nathan's familiar, lizzy is vanny's, and tessa is jenny's.

tessa was the most recent, having been "hired" after the vampires killed her parents and she begged them not to kill her. she tends to panic easily due to still having her overly strict parents berating in her head every time she even mildly messes up. uzi was the first, initially meant to be prey but nate changed his mind and asked if she wanted to instead be his familiar. lizzy was simply asked, though

thad is uzi's only school friend, and secretly loves vampires. uzi thinks its funny, but wont tell him she's a familiar. meanwhile, doll is a vampire hunter who's unaware she's best friends with a familiar, though is suspicious on lizzy's clearly faked disgusted demeanor about death or oil.

nori and doll's parents are also still alive! i dont have much for them yet though- but they are here!

someone remind me to explain raising chip & the vampire aus in the morning

[xxsmoko-n-mirrorsxx]

A Long Overdue... Apology? Roleplay with @xxrobotessaxx

Louisa stood outside of the shop, alike she had done before.

The first time she had shown up, it was to berate her daughter who had become a drone. Every other time she had come to insult her daughter lead up to Tessa putting ornate rose quartz decorations around the shop to keep out Louisa's negativity, ergo keeping the ghostly woman from entering.

She walked up to the door, her boots not even making a sound nor footprints in the snow, and looked in.

[xxrobotessaxx]

Why did you hate me so much. I was just a little girl... I was just trying my best. I had only my drones...Father left me alone with you, and you hurt me so badly. I... wanted to be loved, I wanted to feel safe, I wanted to be treated better.

I hope I never am like you... ever... I hope you burn in hell, I hope the Solver has it's hooks in you and is tearing you limb for limb, "Mother"

[bloodinhershoesrpg]

Congratulations Lia, you have been accepted for the role of Elijah Granville! In all honesty, without trying to falsely flatter you, I would have handed both of my sweet summer children you have applied for to you with pleasure and a kiss as both applications captured them wonderfully. But, alas, as you asked to only be accepted for one of them, Elijah felt ever so slightly more refined to me, with your writing drawing me in to an extent that I found myself snorting aloud to his remarks which I reckon might just be the very essence of bringing a character to life! I’m ecstatic to have you join us as everyone’s favourite poison garden owner! Please send in your account with 24 hours and have a look at the checklist before you do!

REGARDING YOURSELF

Name / Age / Pronouns: Lia, 21+, GMT Activity: Honestly, a lot of my time at the minute is taken up with the investigation into Katerina’s murder, so I’d put myself at about a 6 if I am accepted and get a spy on the ground. 8 once I realise I’m the murderer. Realistically I’ve been quite sluggish with activity online lately because of my fulltime job and being ill, but am hopeful such obstacles will calm themselves from this point on. Additional: If I am to be accepted for any I’d like to just be accepted for one at this stage (restrain me in future). Thank you.

REGARDING THE STAR OF YOUR SHOW

Character name and faceclaim: Elijah Granville, Theo James

CHARACTER DISSECTION

Picture a man with effortless access to all of the luxuries and comforts this world can offer. Picture that man devoid of nurturing elders and lessons in morality. If that man were to look in the mirror he’d recognise himself as Elijah Granville, profess himself as a god among mere mortals. It’s not because he’s truly that arrogant, but because he doesn’t know any better, doesn’t care enough to look and see. Maybe if his parents had been warmer, the staff that raised him more forceful and less subservient, peers more varied in circumstance, maybe then he could have been better. Only now he believes he is the best. There is nothing he wants for, or knows well enough to realise he is lacking, and there’s certainly not enough passion in his heart to stir and crave a different path. For everything he is; he is nothing, vapour, coasting through life with momentary flickers of association to other humans, to his own heart. Utterly numb to the beauty of art and people, mechanic in the taking of all that is named sinful, named debauched, sedated to the buzz. Poison from an errant tongue coiling slowly around the mind.

Arm outstretched along the line of the chair, a tumbler of whiskey settled to the side of it, some gauchely pretty young blonde in the seat to his left. The usual appearance of Elijah Granville as he seems to encompass the entire box reserved solely for his use. Even the way his eyes practically glaze over as they roam the stage for appearance’s sake, all too familiar. The blonde makes the mistake of speaking, of assuming that is her use. Some pathetic wonder expressed at the dancer’s, a quick admission of insecurity. “You’re right, darling, you could never look so graceful.” It’s unusual for him to respond to such futility, preying for his attention, but the bite of the words are enough to humour him for just a moment. He thinks so litte of those on the stage that her dismissal as even lesser seems a stunning indignity, punishment that she has opened her mouth in a way that doesn’t service him. Maria, or Louisa, or Emilia, settles back in her chair, deflated against the velvet. It is then, just after he strikes, that he moves. Forcing her to follow suit by expectation. Only when she has risen does he shake his head. No, no. “Stay here. You have lessons to learn, do you not.” The experience is surely soured for her, but he makes no note of it, is not intentionally cruel as he leaves her to stew alone. Leisurely strides have him backstage within moments, unfazed as he walks a straight path so all those buzzing in their hurry have to move around him. A figure he briefly acknowledges as familiar, a queen in the hive, steps out of his way, no notion to question him. He pushes open a fire escape and steps outdoors. There are no bodies to deal with, no smokers attempting pleasantries. His goal accomplished, to avoid the droning tones of theatregoers and the effort to cover his distaste. There’s very little he denies himself, but a line is still drawn at smoking indoors. More for the way they’ll surely bump up the cost of smoke damage or refunded tickets for alarms blaring, than for respect of the theatre. Architecture perhaps one allowance in its beauty, he holds too much venom for the funds the theatre siphons from him to recognise any attribute. Handrolled filters greet him in a sterling silver case, less pretentious than one might imagine, given how bashed and nicked the case truly is. A questionable hand-me-down from his grandfather when he was a boy, the picture of magnanimity at some fundraiser or another, a story regaled by the presses who happened upon the scene. He taps the cigarette against the lid of the box, allowing any stray tobacco to fall, or perhaps just for the habit of it when the cigarettes always look immaculate and machine pressed instead of forged by his hand. Just as he’s raising it to his lips, calamity strikes. “I’m sorry, you’re not supposed to..” Owlish features turn on the woman, and she steps back in response. Theatrically he settles the cigarette back in place, “Do finish that sentence.” Finally some real entertainment. Except she seems frozen in place, all too aware of her error at this point. “You’re not.. You can’t.” A scoff as he clicks the case shut, lest he drop them all on the ground and force her to her hands and knees. Unless you’re new here is on the tip of his tongue, but it seems too much an excuse, a kindness. “I can and I will. And I am.” he doesn’t stoop, doesn’t press forward, and yet the intensity of his words force a closeness and presume an attack. “Now shut the door and wait right there until I knock.” “I’ve got work..” “Yes, you have got work in making up for your ignorance. So hush now, let’s not fall out. I wont repeat myself” He doesn’t need to, for she closes the fire exit in front of her. He’s not one for grudges, not at all, so he finishes his cigarette, watches the smoke plume into the night sky, a far better dancer than inside the building, and doesn’t linger further. Knocks against the door to be let inside. A mistake to let him in, if ever there was one.

CONNECTING THE DOTS

Norah Monroe: If it irks him to have any dealings with the theatre at all, it bothers him all the more to have a face to put to it. Someone with the belief they are charming him, or guiding him, or offering anything at all. A meek little butterfly fluttering about anxiously with her placations, her assurances as to why this is a good investment- when it’s not. The worst part of it is the mask he has to wear, the near neutrality stretched across features, and blunting down of words so that he might sound reasonable, disaffected, instead of bored and frustrated and essentially tired of the whole affair. Even offended that a woman such as she gets to go home and pat herself on the back, presuming to have quelled the beast. She’s done nothing for him, as obsolete as the rest of the staff. And yet he supposes it’s better to have an unwitting adversary believe themselves in control. All the better to watch their eventual fall on the most holy day he can rid himself of them all, watch the demise of an intolerable legacy.

Raúl Mendoza: For whatever reason people oft assume you peers. As though grandeur and political aspirations go hand in hand. Somehow, at theatre functions Elijah is requited to attend, he will find himself pointed in the direction of the man, with prompt introduction before the guide takes their leave. There’s very little for you to talk about, very little interest held in politics or the theories behind them. Yet you allow a convenient amount of time to pass, pleasantries exchanged, because at least the man is an intellectual. Not much of one, considering his profession, but still a better option than the dull and frantic attempts at charm from the artists.

REGARDING YOUR INSPIRATION

Unfortunately I have nothing available for this section at this time (except one shoddy multi-char edit)

[xxsmoko-n-mirrorsxx]

You're very welcome, Tessa, Merry Christmas

Delivery from Louisa Elliott for 'Sheila' TJ Elliott.

EEEEEEEEEEEEE! THANKS, MOTHER!

[bountyofbeads]

U.S. military is taking custody of two British men accused of involvement in Islamic State killings of American hostages

By Ellen Nakashima, Souad Mekhennet, Rachel Weiner and Missy Ryan | Published October 09, 2019 6:42 PM ET | Posted October 9, 2019 7:15 PM ET |

The U.S. military is taking custody of several dozen high-value Islamic State detainees, including two British men accused of involvement in the militant group’s summary executions of American and other Western hostages. The action is designed to prevent their escape or release from camps in Syria, where they have been guarded by Kurdish forces now under threat from Turkey’s incursion, according to U.S. officials.

The move, a rare instance in which the United States has taken direct responsibility for Islamic State prisoners in Iraq and Syria, comes as U.S. officials scramble to ensure that Ankara’s unfolding military operation does not permit the Islamic State to regain strength.

The roughly 40 individuals being taken into U.S. custody, all considered important Islamic State figures, previously had been held in a constellation of small prisons in northeast Syria, run by Syrian Kurdish forces who have been the Pentagon’s primary partner against the Islamic State in Syria. The Kurds are now pulling guards from those facilities to confront the unfolding Turkish assault.

The British pair — part of a group of four British militants dubbed the “Beatles” by their hostages — were being detained with the goal of putting them on trial in the United States, said a senior U.S. official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. That official said the two men — Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh — had been taken to Iraq; other officials said recent administration discussions about the fate of those prisoners had examined the possibility of bringing them to Iraq. It was not clear whether that had occurred or whether they had been taken somewhere else.

“We are taking some of the most dangerous ISIS fighters out,” President Trump said at the White House on Wednesday, using an acronym for the Islamic State. “We are taking them out and putting them in different locations, where it’s secure. . . . We have a certain number of ISIS fighters that are particularly bad, and we wanted to make sure that nothing happened with them in respect to getting out.”

A criminal prosecution in the United States rests on the ability to obtain evidence from British authorities — a matter being litigated in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. In recent days, Attorney General William P. Barr asked Trump to make securing the detention of the two men a “priority” so they could be eventually prosecuted in the United States, and the president “immediately agreed,” according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The British men are accused of involvement in the beheading of Americans James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig as well as other Western hostages.

The Turkish attack on Kurdish forces raised concerns about the ability of the Kurds to maintain control over thousands of Islamic State detainees, as well as tens of thousands of women and children housed in separate camps, some of which are militant supporters.

“This is like a victory for the ISIS fighters. I just think it’s appalling,” said Diane Foley, James Foley’s mother. “It’s an abdication of our responsibility to ensure safety for our own citizens and allies.”

Officials have said that the U.S. military had orders not to intervene if the Kurds abandoned detention facilities to press all of their troops into the fight with Turkey. That position appears to be changing now as the military takes custody of a small portion of those detainees, suggesting the Pentagon is revising its plans amid a fast-moving situation.

“We now face the very real prospect of 10,000 ISIS prisoners rejoining the battlefield,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D.-N.H.) said in a statement Wednesday.

Mohammed Emwazi, the man who killed Foley, Sotloff, Kassig and other hostages in 2014, was killed in a drone strike the following year. A fourth American, Kayla Mueller, was killed while being held hostage by the Islamic State, but the exact cause of her death was not confirmed.

Kotey and Elsheikh had been in custody of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Their potential transfer to the United States for trial has been delayed by Elsheikh’s mother, Maha Elgizouli, who has challenged the British government’s decision not to prosecute her son in Britain. She also has sued the British government to block any evidence-sharing with U.S. prosecutors without legal assurance that her son will not be executed.

“Mrs. Elgizouli is solely concerned to protect her son from the death penalty,” attorney Edward Fitzgerald said in a July hearing before the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. “She recognizes that they should face justice. . . . But she submits that they should face justice in this country.”

But British authorities for years have said they would prefer to see the two charged in the United States.

Prosecutors in the United States would seek to convict Kotey and Elsheikh as conspirators in hostage-taking resulting in death, a charge that carries a potential death sentence, according to U.S. officials.

In an interview this summer, Kotey and Elsheikh denied involvement in any murders, saying they only facilitated ransom negotiations. Both men agreed to speak to The Washington Post, and Kurdish security officials facilitated separate interviews at a facility in Rmeilan, Syria.

Their role, both said, was to ask prisoners for contact information and personal details for “proof of life.” Kotey recalled having prisoners hold up signs urging their governments and families to “be quick or they will be kill me.”

At one point, Kotey said, a Syrian prisoner was shot in the back of the head in front of the European prisoners, who were made to hold signs saying they wanted to avoid a similar fate.

The British and American hostages were not included in that video, he said, because their governments were not negotiating.

“They were not pampered,” Elsheikh said. “The treatment had to be harsh to keep them in the state of mind” of compliance. “The prisoners had to be kept always under pressure.”

He said the harsh treatment included headlocks, punches and stress positions. But he denied any involvement in mock executions or waterboarding.

Kotey said he saw Emwazi, better known as “Jihadi John,” beat prisoners and threaten to waterboard them “as if he had previously” done so. He said Emwazi saw the killing of journalists and aid workers as warranted because they had “come to interfere in our internal affairs.”

Both Kotey and Elsheikh claim they were no longer working with Emwazi when the killing of hostages began. But they say they were among a very small group of Islamic State members who knew Emwazi’s true identity, first reported in The Washington Post in early 2015.

A decision is expected in the coming weeks from the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on whether the British government’s offer to share evidence on Elsheikh and Kotey, absent a promise from the United States that the men will not face the death penalty, violates British law.

Toby Cadman, a British lawyer representing Diane Foley, said he also worries that moving the prisoners around could create new opportunities for the defendants’ families to delay a prosecution.

“The last thing anyone wants is for the process to be . . . fudged in order to get them before a court that they can then challenge,” he said. “You want these people lawfully handed over.”

A fourth “Beatle,” Aine Davis, was convicted in Turkey of membership in a terrorist organization and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Mekhennet reported from Rmeilan, Syria. Khabbat Abbas and Louisa Loveluck in Rmeilan contributed to this report.

Pentagon won’t take over Islamic State prisons if U.S.-allied Kurdish forces withdraw, officials say

By Missy Ryan and Liz Sly | Published

October 08 at 10:55 PM ET | Washington Post | Posted October 9, 2019 7:20 PM ET |

The U.S. military has no plans to intervene if Syrian Kurdish forces abandon a constellation of Islamic State prisons in Syria to confront a possible Turkish invasion, officials said Tuesday.

Kurdish officials said that guards were still in place at the more than 20 prisons and camps under their control but were prepared to move, raising the possibility that about 11,000 militants and their families could escape.

U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the evolving U.S. strategy in Syria, said the Pentagon did not have enough forces to oversee the prisons if those facilities were left unguarded, nor a mandate to do so.

The Trump administration has said that the responsibility for the militants detained by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the main U.S. partner against the Islamic State in Syria, would fall to the Turkish government if it goes ahead with the incursion.

The potential for a battle between two American allies in Syria has intensified the Trump administration’s struggle to find a solution for the detainees and about 70,000 displaced women and children housed in separate camps, some of whom are militant supporters.

The White House highlighted the risks surrounding Islamic State detainees this week as President Trump announced that a small contingent of U.S. forces positioned along Syria’s northern border would be relocated, a precautionary move ahead of the expected Turkish offensive. Turkey considers the Kurdish forces to be terrorists.

Navy Cmdr. Sean Robertson, a Pentagon spokesman, reiterated the administration’s warnings Tuesday, saying Turkey could be “responsible for freeing thousands of ISIS fighters” if it invaded.

The offensive has turned one of the Trump administration’s biggest long-term challenges in Syria — the lack of an international consensus on what to do with the remnants of the Islamic State — into a near-term one.

For the past year, U.S. officials have been pushing other countries, with little success, to repatriate their citizens who were captured fighting for the Islamic State. In addition to fears about possible prison breaks, military commanders have said a new generation of extremists could emerge among the thousands of children being reared under bleak conditions at the camps.

Even before news emerged of an imminent Turkish offensive, a senior Pentagon official acknowledged the impasse the administration had reached.

“There does have to be a Plan B of what comes next,” Mick Mulroy, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said last week during remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations. “I can’t declare what that is today because, quite frankly, we haven’t developed it entirely.”

It’s unclear whether the U.S. military would change course if the SDF’s response to a large-scale operation were to result in a major prison break. Officials said at least some senior militants are now being held in Iraq, under more stable conditions.

Analysts have also questioned whether the SDF would follow through with its threat to withdraw guards at the prisons, if only because nearby Kurdish communities would be the first targets of any escaping militants.

The Kurds recognize that “the prisoners are their only bargaining chip for keeping the Americans there,” said Amarnath Amarasingam, an assistant professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, who specializes in extremism and visited a camp for the relatives of militants last week.

SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel said many Kurdish fighters would feel compelled to protect their families if Turkey invaded northeast Syria, which is home to most of the Kurdish population.

Even before this week’s announcement, Kurdish officials said tensions in the detention facilities had increased since the release of an audio recording last month that purportedly featured Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi urging fighters to carry out attacks and free detainees from prisons and camps in Iraq and Syria.

“The camps and detention facilities are a time bomb. We can guard them, but in areas where we have weak security it may become easier for Daesh to reorganize itself,” Gabriel said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

The militant detainees are being held in an assortment of overcrowded “pop-up” prisons, often schools or government offices without beds or mattresses.

Of the more than 11,000 prisoners, about 2,000 are from more than 40 countries, most of which refuse to take them back. The remainder are from Syria and Iraq.

The majority of the prisons are outside the border area where Turkey is expected to initially move its forces during an incursion. But Turkey might later push into areas where others are located.

Officials see a particular risk in the vast al-Hol detention camp, a dismal sprawl of tents near the Iraqi border that is home to an estimated 70,000 displaced women and children. The camp is surrounded by a flimsy fence and lacks even basic security precautions such as searchlights.

In an interview last week, the SDF’s top commander, Gen. Mazloum Abdi, said Kurdish guards don’t have “100 percent” control of the camp.

As conditions deteriorate and winter approaches, anger across the camp is growing with the Kurdish-majority guards. According to the International Rescue Committee, 339 children have died there since the start of the year, most of them under the age of 5.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the location of Queen’s University. It is in Kingston, Ontario, not Toronto.

Sly reported from Beirut. Louisa Loveluck in Irbil, Iraq, and Souad Mekhennet and Ellen Nakashima in Washington contributed to this report.

Trump has opened the door for an Islamic State resurgence in Syria

By David Ignatius | Published October 09 at 3:12 PM ET | Washington Post | Posted October 9, 2019 7:20 PM ET |

By acquiescing to Turkey’s invasion of northeastern Syria on Wednesday, President Trump has opened the door to what could become a genuine nightmare for the United States and its allies: the revival of the deadly terrorist organization that called itself the Islamic State.

The danger lies not simply in the group’s sleeper cells that are still active — and that detonated three suicide bombs in the terrorists’ former capital of Raqqa on Wednesday. The larger risk comes from about 11,000 Islamic State fighters who have been detained by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish-led militia that Trump is abandoning, and who may now try to flee.

As the SDF mobilizes to combat the Turks, security at nearly 20 makeshift prisons is likely to deteriorate, U.S. officials said. The U.S. military has said that it won’t take control, nor will European allies. Turkey’s claim that it can police the camps is hollow, given that many of these terrorists arrived in Syria after passing through Turkey.

The cascade of bad events could get worse if action isn’t taken quickly. U.S. officials fear that as security deteriorates, U.N. relief agencies may abandon control of a camp called al-Hol, which holds more than 70,000 refugees, more than 25 percent of whom are relatives of killed or captured Islamic State fighters. Riots have rocked al-Hol in recent days, and visitors say that some areas are too dangerous to enter.

U.S. analysts said Wednesday afternoon that the Turkish air attacks were broader and deeper than many had initially expected, striking targets farther east and south than the objectives Turkey had indicated to U.S. officials. Kurdish civilians were said to be fleeing Kobani after heavy shelling there, and shelling was also reported in the eastern city of Qamishli.

Here’s the appalling scenario that U.S. officials fear could unfold if the Turkish invasion isn’t a quick, limited operation, as Trump apparently hopes: As security collapses in northeastern Syria, hardened Islamic State fighters could escape the prisons, storm the al-Hol camp to reunite with their families and then renew the terrorist assault against the West that they began in 2014.

A revived Islamic State would pose a threat to the U.S. homeland — but probably a greater one to Europe, Russia and regions where the “foreign fighters” originated. Though these places are all threatened by what’s ahead, none has taken significant steps to ease the impending crisis.

This frightening risk of “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” against the Islamic State is a result of the Trump administration’s chronic policy breakdown. This begins with Trump himself, whose erratic swings on Syria have appalled some of his closest political allies. But it extends to an interagency process so enfeebled under Trump that it has failed for months to generate clear plans for dealing with a possible Islamic State resurgence if U.S. troops should leave, as Trump demanded in December.

European nations have been nearly as guilty as the Trump administration. As I explained in May, they have refused U.S. and Kurdish pleas to repatriate some of their nationals held in the SDF-controlled prisons, or even to pay the SDF for holding them. “The European Union is in denial,” one official told me then, noting that the refugee issue was so toxic politically that no European government dared touch it.

How large is the Islamic State army-in-waiting, if the prisoners escape the camps? Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the SDF commander, gave me some numbers in an interview in Kobani in July. He said that the SDF was guarding 12,000 Islamic State fighters who were captured when the caliphate was defeated. In addition to about 9,000 Syrian and Iraqi radical Islamists, this group included 2,500 foreign fighters, Mazloum said, with about 1,000 Europeans. U.S. estimates are slightly lower, counting about 2,200 foreign fighters among 11,000 prisoners.

The prisons are rough, makeshift facilities, mostly improvised in old schoolhouses and municipal buildings. There’s one actual prison in Hasakah, which was built by the Syrian regime and commandeered by the SDF. The prisoners themselves are said to be ragged and lice-ridden, according to an American who has visited one of the sites. Two prisons have already seen riots and attempted breakouts, including one in April at a facility in Dayrik that was holding British prisoners, according to a U.S. official.

Some foreign fighters have been questioned by FBI and U.S. military interrogators, or by representatives of France, Britain and other countries from which the detainees originally traveled. In recent weeks, U.S. and other coalition officials have begun discussing what they might do if security collapsed. But there has been little coordination.

The United States has identified 50 of the most dangerous detainees and may seek to transfer them to neighboring countries, perhaps Iraq. Trump has also requested that the United States take control of two notorious prisoners, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh (known in Britain as the “Beatles”), who are believed to have killed Western hostages.

For Trump, what’s unfolding now in Syria is largely a self-inflicted wound. It will be politically costly for him, but there’s a deeper problem. U.S. successes in the Middle East are too rare and precious to be squandered. But that’s what appears to be happening now in this grotesque coda to the war against the Islamic State.

Turkey wants to destroy us. Trump just gave them a green light.

By Hemin Kobane | Published October 09 at 6:43 PM ET | Washington Post | Posted October 9, 2019 725 PM ET |

Hemin Kobane is the Syrian Democratic Forces liaison with the international coalition against the Islamic State.

Not that long ago, the people of northeastern Syria were greeting U.S. troops as our saviors, as the torchbearers of freedom. Children gathered around the American visitors and expressed joy at the hope they were bringing for the future of our lands. Now those same Syrian children may face death amid the chaos of a new conflict.

This week, as we now know, President Trump spoke with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan has long made his plans for northeastern Syria clear. He wants to occupy a 19-mile-wide belt of territory along the border and to radically transform its demographics, replacing the Kurdish population there with 3 million Syrian Arab refugees from cities across Syria. We believe that he ultimately plans, in agreement with the Russians and the Syrian government, to settle our region with jihadists and their families displaced from other parts of the country.

Trump made it clear to Erdogan that the Turks may act as they see fit — and now Turkish troops have crossed the border into Syria, shelling and bombing our communities as they go. The attack threatens to cause a vast humanitarian disaster.

The United States has cast aside the Kurds and free people of Syria, leaving them to their fates at the hands of their mortal enemies. The international community is silent. This is yet another bitter defeat for the people of northeastern Syria.

We regarded the Americans as our friends and brothers in the fight against Islamic State, our common enemy. They worked at our side in hard times. They bled with us, bore witness to our 11,000 martyrs, the men and women who sacrificed their lives for the common cause. They saved hundreds of our friends who were wounded and might have otherwise died.

As a result of our work, we were able to save the international community from the threat of the Islamic State, which ended with the liberation of all Islamic State-held territories following the historic battle of Baghouz in March. U.S. troops and advisers on the ground contributed to the gains we made in stability, peace and freedom.

We fought together on the front lines. There were many sleepless nights, and we spent many hard days together. We know that you truly believe in our cause. We believed that you will stand with us to the end. We hoped that the stability and freedom of the area under our control would offer a strategic stronghold for the future of the entire region. Our fellowship was a light of hope for the citizens of all of Syria.

Unfortunately, yet once more, our foes in the region are conspiring to destroy our people. The tragedy of the Kurdish people, who have suffered for so many generations, is about to repeat itself.

One need look no further than recent history. Last year, the Russians evacuated their positions in the Kurdish-majority city of Afrin and allowed the Turks to move in. The Turks, who supported a variety of radical factions, allowed their fundamentalist allies to occupy the town. Nearly 1,500 people from Afrin, half of them civilians, were killed; the rest — 300,000 people altogether — were displaced to refugee camps.

Now, as a result of this fateful decision, the Kurds of Syria will see the United States as a collaborator of Erdogan, the dictator who wishes to destroy everything we have built. Yet we trust in the principles, values and freedoms of the American spirit. We understand fully that Trump’s position is his own, and that it does not represent the position of the American people. We have always regarded the U.S. soldier as a friend, one whom we always aimed to guard and protect. We always lived up to our words and cherished our fellowship.

We hope, in these hard times, that we will once again have your support to change our fate — to save our people from genocide, because Turkey had previously supported the Islamic State and the Islamist radicals in killing and displacing our people. They failed in that mission, so now they are now trying to do it themselves. We hope the free world and democratic Syria will prevail.