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m1nsur0 · 13 days ago

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[JTTW OC: 智平] Character Profile

Name: 阮智平 (Ruan Zhi Ping)

Age (JTTW): 1471

Height: 7’1” (215CM)

Pronouns: He/Him

Unflinching and unwavering in all ways, the Violet Dragon is not ever referred to as “pleasant” to endure, however it is preconception welcomed if it abstracts him to the follies of the living.

“Trying to turn him from his planned path is akin to throwing brittle knifes to a cliff face.” - Wujing

“The strangest man around, that’s for sure. Ya ever meet a doctor that wants you to come to him through death’s door?” - Bajie

“Abrasive, but all good pieces of sandpaper must be so.” - Sanzang

“More stoney faced than Ol’ Sun! Nothing The Great Sage can’t crack open.” - Wukong

SUMMARY: (a bit of a long one i would say)

-Born the eldest child of the Dragon [REDACTED].

-Left his home as a ward under the tutelage of Divine Knowledge at the age of 8, and began his own career in academics before reaching adulthood.

-Spends 400 years in isolation between painted realms and isolated corners of the primary realms, the only signs of his life are routinely submitted papers and documents regarding his innovations and social critiques.

-Gets unwillingly found by the Heaven’s Dog, and swears an accord to His Divinty to avoid a change in lifestyle.

-Emerges to his native lands briefly after reported Yaoguai disturbances in the Seas, and commits the minimum of social requirements to younger relatives before returning to isolation for another 200 years.

-After reaching undeniable renown of his works, he agrees to spend one year every century in mortal plains. Towards both placating his kin and making unwanted ties to other realms for research efficiency.

-Around age 800, his lack of care for social nuances lands him in hot water with the Jade Empress. Both hands are whipped on her command, to ensure consequences on his ability to write and study- the only thing of importance to him.

-Another century of isolation, however this time in his original bedchambers from his home at his parent’s residency. Not a single paper is released by the scholar, and he is as much of a ghost in his home as ever before.

-The joint efforts of Wenchang and Erlang prompt Zhiping to agree to meeting with them outside of politics, and he takes the long walk across the lands to meet them.

-On the walk, finds the first sprig of amusement in 500 years from a crash figure trapped under a mountain.

-Erlang and Wenchang pass on the Emperor’s “pardons of his actions” regarding The Court, and is ushered to Yao Wang and Guanyin to heal any internal injuries in his hand. After this comes a deal struck to expand Zhiping’s access to Heaven’s archives and scholars in apologies.

-The dragon scholar delves even further into his research, invigorated, and is not seen in person for another 300 years. Any work regarding outside beings having express magic pathways to avoid physical encounters.

-Guanyin enlists Zhiping to round off the group of pilgrims under a deal. Zhiping makes it clear that he cares not for buddhahood as the pre-established reward to other contract members, and accepts the task once his proposal is the one defining his involvement.

-Spends the years until the journey more social than normal, knowing that the environment he will have to endure

-Joins with the Tang Monk before reaching The Monkey King, is notably silent in comparison to the others in the group. Not one for small talk or “unnecessary” words.

-Ends up as the group’s healer due to his medical and surgical education, however is known to allow any other party member to suffer physical pains for a safe extra moment if they pushed his buttons recently.

-Despite being one of the group’s dragons, he never interacts with one other than Bai Long Ma- with plausible and pragmatic excuses to leave before meeting any other dragons in passing.

-About 2 years into the Journey, takes in an injured wolf pup, which then stays along for the ride from that point on after regaining it’s health. It takes a few years for Sanzang to settle with the predator.

-Zhiping is “closest” (as much as he can be) with Wujing due to their shared stable personalites, and an odd affection to Bai Long Ma that the group can’t seem to figure out as to why.

-Wukong and Zhiping have the first shift in their allyship after when Zhiping is almost entirely focused on the affects of Samadhi fire, in which the monkey feels something change in him after being on the receiving end of genuine care for the first time in centuries.

-Wukong becomes a bit of a step father to the group’s grown wolf, honing it’s protective and hunting skills. Most Definitely Not to work his stead once the journey fractured the group post-completion. He picks the dog up like he’s still a puppy.

-Zhiping breaks off from the group briefly at the Xiliang Kingdom due to his academic work, after many whines from the horse and dog. Reminding them that he is not bound to this task like the rest of them, and he knows that they’ll manage until they rejoin.

-He reunited with them later, now dealing with a cold-furred-shoulder from the monkey king.

-The golden circlet becomes his next area of research, both in neutrality of how the spell works, and how to possibly alleviate Wukong of the pain in unjust casting. The universe is against him completing that work until the scriptures are delivered- it renders the end goal void. But he keeps the project on the back burner regardless.

-Wukong and Zhiping enter a rocky exclusivity, born of Wukong’s paranoia of separation and possessive nature.

-Sanzang is confronted by Zhiping about his illogical use of the tightening spell, after an explosive argument, Sanzang says a comment out of bounds. The wolf scars the monk in retaliation, and Zhiping departs the group a second time with said canine. But not before placing soothing salves in the luggage Wujing carries.

-Seasons pass, and whilst the group can function on their own, Wukong works to convince Zhiping back with Guanyin’s additional effort, he then comes back after providing Wukong with a plan to outsmart Meifa Guo’s King.

-Zhiping remains with the group from then on, closer to the non-humans as ever before, but warning Sanzang that there’s no circlet or Guanyin to prevent him from being eaten by a dragon should he get too bold.

-The amount of wedding traps the pilgrims have encountered at this point prompts Wukong to make a veiled comment about the two of them after the run in with the Jade Rabbit.

-Tripitaka attains Buddhahood, The Journey Completes

-Wukong refuses anything beyond the removal of the circlet, Zhiping collects his agreed rewards. Their relationship stays strong as Zhiping takes Bai Long Ma and the Wolf, as the Dragon returns to a small island in view of Huaguoshan to complete his studies based on the Journey.

-The Monkey King is the only one he allows to enter the Island, and always makes comment on how not even the Divinity was allowed entrance to any of Zhiping’s domains.

-Throughout continued courtship, Wukong Learns that Zhiping has been inspired to start an academy from his enjoyment of educating the pilgrims from time to time. And the Monkey King decides he is the only one capable of funding such a project. It becomes a part of his betrothal gift to ensure it’s perfect.

-The academy is first open to only 3 monkeys from Huagoshan for a few decades, with no more than 4 at any given enrolment. Wukong declares himself a permanent student of Zhiping, and so only 3 others set foot on academy groups at most.

-Zhiping eventually expels his betrothed for his habit of never doing the assigned work, and only listening to the lectures that focus on botany or weapon masonry. Anything else is Wukong trying to distract the dragon to end work early.

-Nezha is not accepted as a student, despite his repeat attempt at entrance.

-Zhiping limits the academy to two students once he becomes King Consort, substituting it with public lectures beyond the regular medicinal ones to to anyone on Huaguoshan.

VISUAL DESIGN:

“His clothes are thin and fold neatly, they are as considerate of my weary bones as he is.” - Wujing

“Bah! Too Floaty, Too Floaty! It would do better for him to dress in a way that would not make others confuse him with a Lady” - Bajie

“Very delicate, for a Dragon.” - Sanzang

“Oh, very soft… very soft…. I would know most of all.” - Wukong

Zhiping dresses in old fashioned Deep Style clothes, light in colour and light in weight. shifting through Winter Blues, Spring Purples, Summer Pinks and Autumn Oranges.

Even on the journey, his clothes remain ideal for desk work, knowing that his skills in long-range combat and Wukong’s reliability means he has no need to change his wardrobe’s Function.

Once Wukong attaches himself to Zhiping, the outer layer of his hanfu is repurposed as a loose garment for the monkey- both as a signal of their connection and the monkey’s urge to playfully steal from his companion.

He bears no weapons on his person, only writing equipment in deep pockets and in his sleeves, his bow and arrow are stored in dimensional magic spaces that work towards efficiency in drawing a shot. This allows him to make the group look less intimidating due to how feeble he presents himself- before Wukong shatters the illusion.

Standing at 7’1”, he is only a few inches shy of Wujing and “Two Bajies Tall” (as the group says), his dragonic tail also stretches two meters from back to tip. However with how heavily it is armoured with thick scales it is seen as a blunt weapon more than a 5th appendage.

Both Horns and Tails are hidden in all but few specific scenarios. Either when he is alone in isolation or around a group he knows won’t press into his ancestry or kin’s identity. They are slightly more blue-toned than his hair and eyes, and glimmer like mother of pearl under the light. To Wukong’s disappointment, they are not shown within his reach, due to his habits of pulling and pinching.

STATS:

Physical Traits:

A classic glass-canon in fights, beyond his title as the “Feeble Scholar” Zhiping boasts highly specialised utility of his mind and body. His nature as a dragon offsets this fragility through lifestyle, and allows him a comfortable zone of sustainability before taking advantage of his innate speed to avoid conflicts that take away from time he could put towards research.

Too young to properly learn the sword and spear before leaving home to Wenchang’s abode, any combat skills in his youth were cultivated through observation of Heaven’s soldiers- and later a trade off with Erlang. This stuck to gaining skills in archery and knife throwing, preferring to stick to long range.

[Endurance: 2]

-Due to his lifestyle being limited to his desk and labs, the dragon does not refine his form beyond what is necessary to complete tasks related to his research. His skin is soft and unweathered from any hard labour, and if he grasps and scrolls to fast he is likely to gain a paper cut.

[Strength: 6]

-Unwillingly to spend time away from studies, and heavy lifting is done via magic manipulation- never by hand. It doesn’t help that said magic can reduce the tension needed to fire arrows. Slightly below average for a dragon, but left to dwindle without upkeep.

[Magic: 10]

-Due to both the wide field of Magic studies, and interwoven nature of it with earthly science, Zhiping quickly gained great abilities in it under Wenchang in Heaven whilst still a child. Gaining skills in conventional and sealed branches of magic due to sneaking into Xuanwu’s archives when his classes had finished for the day.

[Speed: 9]

-Born of the Seas, His body is built to manoeuvre water that offers far more resistance than air, and such finds anything above the water’s edge to offer no push back. His thin stature is aerodynamic and sleek, however the lack of muscles means he can only sprint in ways similar to a cheetah before he needs to halt.

[Constitution: 6]

-His body is naturally suited to ward off illness and fatigue, however his habits of using himself as a test subject for various pellets and spells has worn down various aspects of his body. His stomach can no longer handle eating more than once a week, and his hands still feel phantom pains. Walking the wolf does help build up stamina again, though.

Social Traits:

Blunt and uncaring for comfort in his words, the Violet Dragon has often found himself at the end of outcries from his harsh comments. It takes years for the best natured people to understand his sheer truthfulness and neutral intent. It has worked equally in his favour and against regarding goals. But he would rather lose his senses before he gains baseless placation in his encounters.

The path of erudition is where every step of his treads, no action or words are made if they do not move him in the right direction.

[Athleticism: 4]

-Briefly trained in proper etiquette by his kin and given a structured life until his departure to isolation, Zhiping has experience in courtly dance and basic performance arts. More graceful than strictly powerful, he can perform feats of entertainment and water-based traversal. However lacks the ability to measure up to other dragons in regards to endurance travel or weight lifting.

[Charisma: 0]

-Not inviting both subconsciously and by curated personality, Zhiping bolsters no way to prompt endearment and prefers using his bristly nature to nip any outside fondness in the bud. Any bonds forged with him are this tempered through years of putting up with harsh environment and even harsher comments. He has only every failed in inheriting courtly manners.

[Willpower: 5]

-Swings like a metronome between hyper focus and callous disregard for any topic depending on how it aligns with his scholarly pursuits. Topics can be hotly pursued and suddenly dropped when reevaluated to not hold any further academic value. It means that any he decides to pursue is hunted relentlessly, in a very specific scope of interest.

[Intelligence: 18/10]

-Undeniably the foundation of his being and soul, his mind overpowers every other part of him. Able to grasp any unfamiliar field of study to the highest degree within one day cycle. However with how long he has lived there are few topics left for him to discover anew. His intelligence does not stop at traditional means, with excellent abilities to decide his emotional and psychological state- and more importantly others. Possess such mastery over his emotions that many think he possesses none.

[Self-control: 6]

-He can easily coordinate his desires to what is pragmatically ideal to the moment, shutting off what is unnecessary or irrelevant to the task at hand. But also possesses no desire to temper the intensity of his studies towards compile knowledge. Dragons do have a nature to hoard.

[Creativity: 7]

-Study of the world is to study the arts and mind. There are infinite topics of interest regarding the creative arts, and creativeness in methods of conduct are often the only way to achieve results in contexts of tight parameters. When he is rarely not researching, Zhiping can be found illustrating his notes or tuning his Ruan.

Black Myth: Zhiping

Following the Mortal Death of Wukong, Zhiping’s efforts have continued on focusing on sustaining the lives of Huaguoshan’s inhabitants, ushering them to his academy under intense protective magic wards to avoid any more of Heaven’s Soldiers reaching them.

Some monkeys of Wukong’s mountain follow immediately, some stay with the healers he has instructed until this moment. Some flee the mountain. Zhiping states that the Mountain itself will attract the ire of Heaven and that the Academy can provide solace, that it would be forever open to any of Wukong’s denizens.

Quest 1: Medicinal Brews

Required: [Rescue Shen Monkey] [Gain access to Shen Monkey’s services] [Defeat the Whiteclad Noble] [Defeat Elder Jinchi] [Defeat Rat Royals] [Obtain: Loong Scales]

Speak to Shen Monkey, if [Loong Scales] are in possession, completing all new dialogue alluding to a healer who solved his chronic wounds will end in receiving [Ziluolan Pellets]

(Ziluolan Pellets: If added to a flask originating from a monkey, will create immunity to DOT effects- but will not remove the build up of Four Banes.)

Quest 2: Western Waters

Required: [Defeat Kang Jin-Star] [Defeat Cyan Loong WHILST having Ziluolan Pellets in brew effect] [Defeat Cyan Loong wearing Loong armour OR wielding a Loong Staff][Possess at least 4 Loong Pearls] [Talk With Bajie near Kang Jin Loong body]

After Bajie finishes his monologue, having all mentioned pre-requisites achieved will provide additional dialogue on Wukong and his involvement with Dragons. Allow for this extra dialogue to finish to have Bajie pass on the [Broken Arrow Tip Curio]

(Broken Arrow Tip: Takes up two equip slots. Allows [Pierce] to be applied to all damage. [Pierce] will reduce enemies DEF by 25% when headshots are landed. Can stack with multiple of the same Curio.)

Following Western Waters being completed, speaking to Chen Loong will start a cutscene related to Zhiping and the barrier towards his Academy grounds. The Destined One having a birthright allowing access to this island will make Chen Loong as to go there to ask the Dragon of that domain for a list of seeds. Receive [Seeds and Saplings List]

[This opens up the Sprawling Roots Quest]

Following Western Waters being completed, speaking to Xu Dog will open dialogue on the academic papers released on celestial pellets he has near his furnace. Complete this dialogue to be asked to take his noted questions to the paper’s Author. Receive [After-Lecture Questions]

[This opens up the Loong Road to Perfection Quest]

Quest 4: Familiar Seas

Required: [Defeat All Four Loong Bosses] [Defeat Yellow Loong with Ziluolan Pellets in Brew] [Defeat Yellow Loong with Broken Arrow Tip Curio Equipped] [Apply Pierce in Thrust Stance at least once during fight with Yellow Loong]

If the boss fight is completed with all above tasks, Yellow Loong will relinquish the rune needed to open a pathway through the Academy Ward.

Quest 5: Painted Realms, Painted Fogs.

Required: [Possess the reward rune from Yellow Loong] [Unlock Somersault Cloud]

After unlocking the ability to fly around Huagoshan, finding Bajie staring westward on a platform in the open-map will start a cutscene of him complaining about an odd fog cloud beyond the waters. He will end the cutscene muttering about Wukong’s Dragon. Flying towards the Fog will prompt a cutscene where the unlocking rune will dispel the illusioned cloud, and open up the Secret Area: Yinshi Academy.

Progress through the path to Yinshi until you encounter a Dragon Wrapped Gate.

Possessing the [Loong Scales] and at least 4 Loong Pearls will awaken the Dragon from slumber, and initiate the boss fight with [White Dragon, Son of Ao Run]

Fighting the White Dragon will end with a cutscene at 25% health, where a wolf will unavoidably interrupt any attack the Destined One is making, and will take the equipped weapon with it as it runs down the path towards the academy.

Drinking from the Gourd whilst the [Ziluolan Pellets] are in brew will end the boss fight early, and the player will retain their equipped weapon. A wolf will grab the attention of the player and guide them down towards the academy.

Both Boss endings will reward the player with [4x Celestial Ribbon]

Once the Destined one reaches Yinshi’s front door, A cutscene will start showing The Violet Dragon healing an elderly monkey.

There are no other fights in this map, and the Destined one cannot draw any weapon or cast spells once this point has been reached.

Quest 6: Violet Scales, Violent Tales.

Required: Complete [Painted Realms, Painted Fog] [Have Broken Arrow Tip Equipped]

The Violet Dragon will not speak, nor pay the Destined One any attention unless they walk directly into his line of sight after he moves to his open desk.

The Dragon will reach for the broken arrow tip, [This will remove it from the player’s inventory permanently] and will traverse the room to hand the Destined one the [Pristine Arrow Head Curio]

Leave the area via fast travel or Somersault Cloud to reset Yinshi Academy, then return to The Violet Dragon. This will prompt dialogue, asking if the Destined One knows the NPC’s name.

Exhaust this Dialogue to receive [Amethyst Abacus Necklace]

Zhiping will provide access to the reward chests deeper in Yinshi, and if given excess materials, will upgrade medicines beyond Xu Dog’s formulas.

(Pristine Arrow Head: Takes up two equip slots. Allows for the [Shatter] effect to be applied to enemies. [Shatter] will apply 2% DEF reduction with each hit onto the enemy, stacking up to 20 times as long as the wearer is not hit. Stacks reset upon taking damage.)

(Amethyst Abacus: Takes up one equip slot. Wearing this curio will allow the user to summon Langgou, highly affective against some bosses.)

After this Quest, Zhiping will move on schedule around the map.

Sprawling Roots: Talk to Zhiping whilst he is in the Gardens, and with [Seeds and Saplings List] in inventory will end with gaining the [Seed Pouch] to give to Chen Loong.

Loong Road to Perfection: Talking to Zhiping whilst he is in the Lecture Halls, and with [After-Lecture Questions] in inventory will end with gaining the [Refined Fomula] to give to Xu Dog.

After all mentioned Quests are completed, The Destined One can now:

-In Yinshi Academy, use the equipped weapon to throw near Langgou, Zhiping’s Wolf, to play fetch. (If the Jingu Bang is equipped, you will have to play a game of tug with Langgou.)

Collect rare plants from the Academy Gardens, however taking more than 5 per visit will result in Zhiping removing the Destined One from the secret area for the day.

Listen to Zhiping’s tales of the Journey in the Archives.

Pat the White Dragon, Son of Ao Run as you pass through the Gate.

Using the [Amethyst Abacus] in Painted Mount Mei will take Xiaotian Quan’s aggro from the Destined One during Region’s Boss fight.

#jttw #jttw oc #journey to the west #sun wukong #sha wujing #zhu bajie #tang sanzang #oc #black myth wukong #black myth wukong oc #sun wukong x oc #had to get this out of my head or i would go insane #sorry to all those who have to witness this

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nevesmose · 6 months ago

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Crunching Bones and Numbers: A Nostramo Mathpost

Stand well back Night Lords fans, I'm attempting to use mathematics.

Just how much time did Nostramo have to endure suffer love the brutal effective redemptive actions of its murderer monster king? How long was Konrad actually there to have an effect on them?

This is all going by GW's timeline of the Heresy which can be found here btw.

Let's intepret this as generously as possible by saying that the 792.M30 date given here refers to the scattering of the primarchs rather than some other point earlier in Big E's fun little project.

So baby Konrad gets yeeted over to Nostramo. Does he toddle out of his little primarch pod and immediately choose violence?

Probably, yeah. We can imply some implications from Perturabo's primarch book which is fairly clear on his growth and capabilities.

So we can interpret this as a """""baby""""" primarch still appearing as an older child and being capable of doing their primarchey tasks either right at the start or very close to it.

So again, in order to be as generous to him as possible, let's assume that Konrad arrived on Nostramo in 792.M30 and immediately started night hauntering.

896 - 792 = 104 years. Hmm. That's quite a long time, but not immensely long by 30 / 40K standards even for normal humans. Turning back to Perty's book we can see that Calliphone who grew up with him in the 790s is still alive, albeit very old and reliant on augmetics, when he destroys Olympia in 004.M31 which puts her at a bit over 200 years old.

During the same scene she also mentions that Andos "refused the medicines of the Emperor" and died 90 years before then, which still means he lived to about 110.

So taking that as a baseline for a minimally-augmented human in a privileged social class with good access to healthcare and so on, Konrad was on Nostramo for about one aristocrat's natural lifetime.

That's not that long when you're trying to single-handedly overturn millennia of entrenched corruption and hopelessness with extreme violence as your only tool.

Even if we use half that lifespan because Nostramo is Nostramo, that's still about 50 years. Putting it in chunks on a timeline, your parents could've been adults when the Night Haunter came and your kids would be adults after he left. Sucks to be that particular generation in the middle though.

Looking at it that way, I feel like it makes some sense for Nostramo to have gone back to its old ways pretty soon after Konrad left. It didn't spend that long being forced out of them to begin with.

I also really enjoyed this part:

STOP CLOWNING ON KONRAD 😤

I just love the idea that Calliphone has been Watching and Judging the primarchs this whole time and has a personal ranking of best to worst. She could've fixed him, 300k word Curziphone fic coming soon.

#I wonder who her favourite was?#neves loreposts #night lords #nostramo #konrad curze #wh40k #warhammer 40000 #warhammer 40k #horus heresy #nightlordposting #wh30k #Konrad as the Baby from Dinosaurs is a delightfully cursed mental image isn't it? you're welcome #“AH HA HA I'M THE NIGHT HAUNTER! GOTTA LOVE ME!”

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thesparklingwriter · 2 years ago

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𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆'𝒔 200 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕!!

prompt: f, i, j, n | Zhongli

an: it's been a hot minute but i want to remind you guys that i am not dead and i will forever wake from my tumblr slumbr to write stuff for Zhongli. i have a kaeya ficcoming up and then another zhongli one and then i'm out of ideas and possibly doing exams o.o enjoy :)

taglist | masterlist | event

F is for fiancée…

Of course, human traditions like marriage are a little out of his area of expertise, but what’s another contract to add to his already staggering list? Especially when it’s so important to you? Introducing you to those around as his fiancee makes his heart swell with pride, and the grin on your face every time you say the word makes him want you to repeat it over and over again, to declare to the world that he’s yours. And he makes it painfully clear that he can’t wait until he can call you his wife, but until then, he’s more than happy to call you his fiancée.

I is for I love you…

Zhongli is very vocal about his love for you—you could never allow yourself to even think he doesn’t. But he knows his actions mean more than his words, so he makes sure to supplement his words of affirmation. You’re noticeably more hesitant to use the words, but when Zhongli hears you tell him you love him… It’s not that he’s surprised to hear it, or that he ever believed it wasn’t true, but it knocks him for six more often than it doesn’t. He’ll always be sure to make you repeat it as many times as possible, pretending he can’t hear you, before you call him out for his incessant teasing.

J is for jealousy…

It takes a while for Zhongli to realise that the bitter taste that settles in his mouth when he has to relinquish you to the rest of Liyue is jealousy. He’d initially chalked it up to being worried about your welfare out on the streets, with the way they crawl with Fatui nowadays. But then he sees you laughing with another adventurer, and while there are no signs of either of you being interested in each other, he suddenly feels his stomach turn. Upon seeing him, your face lights up and you excitedly introduce him to your friend, and Zhongli feels very childish for even allowing himself to be mildly upset. But perhaps, he can blame that on his dragon’s instincts.

N is for night…

Being an archon, Zhongli has no real need for sleep— at least, not in the same way you and other humans do. And that also means that sometimes he struggles to drift off. So at night, Zhongli sits beside you in bed, reading over old contracts or historical manuscripts that have been sent to him. Sometimes you complain about the bedside lamp being too jarring, and he settles for laying awake in bed, gently stroking your hair as you doze happily. Zhongli has mixed feelings about the night—on bad days it can be lonely, a reminder of the different natures of your existence, a reminder that he’ll live on for years after you die, but on most days he’s grateful for the quiet moments it yields. He can’t truly despise anything in the world as long as he has you.

#celeste's 200 follower event #celeste's 100 follower event #genshin x reader #zhongli x reader #zhongli fluff #zhongli genshin impact #zhongli genshin #zhongli genshin x reader #zhongli x you #genshin fanfiction #genshin impact fan fiction

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elspethdekarios · 7 months ago

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BG3 Tav Backstory Bash

This is a challenge to help people flesh out their Tav’s backstory by exploring their past. It is organized into four sections with seven prompts. You can treat this as a monthly challenge or a general project. You can write headcanons, fics, or share art based on the prompts! You can interpret the prompts however you want. If you want to share use the tag #bg3backstorybash

Thank you @lolthslover for tagging me in this forever ago!! It had taken me literally a month (or more??) to write all of this, so I'm sorry it took me so long!

I have no idea who all has done this already, so sorry if you're getting tagged again lol. I tag @mumms-the-word @waterdeepwhiskey @loserwitchbitch @lewdisescariot @fantasyfictionfables @orangekittyenergy and anyone else who wants to do it <3

I didn't answer all of the prompts, so make sure you check @kelandrin's original post for all of them!!

Elspeth Dekarios (née Vaidelark)

Age: 35

High Half Elf • Cleric, Corellon Larethian, Nature Domain • Noble • Chaotic Good

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

This is long, read under the cut!

Baby:

Parents

Elspeth Vaidelark is the second and youngest child of Lord Rodorick Vaidelark and Lady Selma Vaidelark. A high elf sorcerer born to low-level nobility in idyllic Evereska, Selma always longed to live in the hustle and bustle of a city. So, when a noble family in Baldur's Gate was seeking an alliance via arranged marriage, she volunteered. Selma is a cold woman, and an even colder mother. Rodorick, a human paladin, is a touch warmer than his wife, but aloof and distant from his daughters. He is about 60 years old, and Selma is about 200. They are both more than okay with this age difference, given their marriage has never been one of love, but of convenience and rank.

Birth

Elspeth was born 5 years after her sister Ariadne. Selma's first pregnancy was a breeze--no morning sickness, no swollen feet, and the birth itself was smooth and quick... but her second was not so easy. When she was pregnant with Elspeth, she was constantly sick and absolutely exhausted. Towards the end of her pregnancy, the midwife insisted Selma needed bedrest. When it was time for the baby to come, Selma was in labor for days, in pain and sick as a dog. When Elspeth finally made her appearance, Selma wanted to feel the same motherly love she felt with Ariadne, but when she held her new daughter for the first time, she felt only resentment. She thought perhaps their bond would strengthen later, once the trauma of her pregnancy subsided, but it never did.

First word

The Vaidelark sisters had a private tutor as small children before they started attending school. Little Elspeth's favorite part of tutoring was storytime, and she'd often wobble over to the tutor with a brightly colored children's book clutched to her chest. She'd thrust the book out in front of her, silently asking the woman to read to her. After months of tutoring, Elspeth had picked up a few words, but her speech was mostly babbling sounds, until one day, she handed a story to the tutor with a word, clear as day: "book."

Tantrum

Elspeth wasn't much of a tantrum-thrower--that was Ariadne. Though she did once throw a mighty fit after tossing her favorite doll down the stairs, breaking its ceramic head in the fall. She didn't know it would break, and it was her first lesson in actions having consequences. Her parents offered to buy her a new doll, but she didn't want a new doll. She wanted that doll, unbroken as it was moments before. She screamed and wailed and cried until her red face was wet with tears and snot before eventually falling asleep.

Childhood:

Friends

Elspeth had a consistent group of childhood friends, including her best friend, Hera. They met at school in the Upper City when they were about ten years old, and have been friends ever since, even living together in adulthood. Hera is a high elf with bronze skin and deep chestnut brown hair that has always been impossible to tame. Early in this friendship, Hera chased down a group of boys who were making fun of El's upturned nose, poking their own noses up and mocking her with nasally voices. El turned away, mortified and trying to hide her tears. Hera ran after them, kicking each of them in the shins and dragging the ring leader back to El by his collar to apologize. Elspeth credits Hera with teaching her to stand up for herself.

Siblings

Ariadne is older than El by 5 years. They've never been close. Ariadne was always the golden child in their parents' eyes. She realized quickly that she could do no wrong, and used it to her advantage. Their parents wanted Ariadne and Elspeth to follow in their father's footsteps, so they were both trained to become paladins from an early age. Where Ariadne found sword fighting and shield bashing natural, Elspeth struggled. She became decent with a weapon, but it never came easy, and she would often retreat to her room bloodied, bruised, and crying. Always being compared to her sister, Elspeth grew up knowing she was second best in everyone's eyes but their housekeeper, Tessie.

Getting into trouble

El got in trouble for everything even though she tried her best to stay out of it. Eventually, she realized her parents would find a way to use her as the scapegoat for anything they possibly could, and she stopped trying--though this didn't happen until she was a teenager.

Teenager:

First love

When she was about 15, Elspeth developed a massive crush on a human boy at her school. He was tall with deeply tanned skin and tousled black hair, and he looked at her like no one had ever looked at her before. Like he wanted her. He was the first boy she ever dated. They would sneak out of their upper city homes late at night and meet in the park like some kind of forbidden, secret love story (even though it wasn't forbidden at all). They were only a couple for a short amount of time before the infatuation faded, but she did love him--as much as she knew what love was at that point in her life. It was love in the moment.

Rebellion

Once she realized that she could never do right in her parents' eyes, she stopped trying. This really came to a head as a teenager. El didn't hold her tongue anymore, and she wasn't afraid to speak up for herself any longer. She got in heated arguments with her sister regularly, she stopped her Paladin training of her own accord, and she started spending as much time as she could away from home. As she got further into her teenage years, she started partying. She spent many nights out at dance halls with her friends, indulging in whatever mind-altering substance was offered to her--alcohol, dreammist; she even tried silkroot a few times. As she neared adulthood, these habits imbued her with a bit of a party-girl-socialite reputation in the city.

Reckless behavior

This incident actually happened in adulthood, but it's the most fitting thing for "reckless behavior":

El's partying habits continued into her 20s. Despite her strained relationship with her parents, she was still nobility, and she was a bit naive to the world outside of her upper city upbringing. One night, El and her friends attended a ball in honor of a diplomat's visit. Always looking for an excuse to wear her absolute best clothes, El was dressed in an extravagant lavender gown adorned with silver vines. When she bought it, she knew exactly what necklace she needed to wear with it--the one kept in the family safe, white gold with hanging droplets of shining diamonds and alexandrite. She always loved that necklace and the way it seemed to sparkle the most in moonlight. It was an heirloom from her father's side of the family, and worth an obscene amount of money. She wore it to the ball, got compliments on it all night, and when she and her friends decided to venture to a pub afterwards, didn't think twice about the fortune of gems that she wore around her neck.

She drank far too much wine that night, and possibly indulged in some other things as well. Most of it is a blur, but she remembers ending up in a card game with a stranger--a large man with a scar on his face. She remembers being certain, absolutely certain, that he was bluffing. She remembers being so confident that she would win that instead of betting gold, she bet her family's jewels that adorned her neck. And she remembers losing.

She came clean to her father the next day when the haze of the night wore off with the morning. He sent his toughest men, with the help of the Flaming Fist, the track the man down and pay him off. The jewels were secured and back in her father's safe, but Elspeth's relationship with her family was essentially over. They granted her her inheritance and she was told to leave. She didn't speak to them for years. Painful and embarrassing as the evening was (it landed her on the front page of the Gazette), it was a wakeup call for her to get her shit together.

Adulthood:

Serious relationships

El dated and slept around a little bit during her party years, but she never really fell in love until she met Leon. He was a paladin who trained at the same academy she attended to channel her divine magic (more on that in the next couple sections). Leon was charming, funny, treated her well--she fell in love with the way his auburn hair fell loosely behind his slightly pointed ears, the freckles dotting his skin, the chiseled muscles of his body....

Leon was good for her, she told herself. He encouraged her to try to repair her relationship with her family, and to show them that she'd grown and learned from her mistakes. She was much more mature now that she was in her 30s, and she always hated that her parents still probably thought of her as an obstinate, reckless child. "Redeem yourself," Leon would tell her. "They need to see how much you've changed." So she did. Bit by bit, she began stitching together her family ties until she and Leon were biweekly dinner guests at her parents' table. There was still tension, sure, and she would never see eye to eye with her mother, but her father seemed to actually grow fond of her in those months.

While Elspeth grew closer to her family (even Ariadne was tolerable most of the time), her and Leon began to grow apart. They were both invested in their own work, and their relationship fizzled out. It was an amicable breakup, though it was hard to remain friends, so they mostly avoided each other. El wasn't really hurt by the breakup, but she did miss him. She did feel like second best again, since Leon continued spending time with her family--her father especially took a liking to him. Even though she didn't love him anymore, she still carried a fondness for him... until he proposed to Ariadne.

She was in love with Leon, but she never experienced true, soul-binding, unconditional love until being with Gale. Neither of them had. What she had with Leon pales in comparison to her relationship with Gale. She had to process the betrayal, of course, but she doesn't miss him at all.

Work

Elspeth is a healer and assistant instructor at Ambrose Academy of the Divine--a post-secondary school for clerics and paladins of Seldarine deities to hone their skills and knowledge. Being a healer is her calling (literally lol). More on the Academy in the "Leaving Home" section.

Finding your place

Since Elspeth spent a lot of time with the housekeeper, Tessie, she picked up lots of skills that nobles don't often need to learn. She learned to cook, do laundry, basic cleaning skills--but most importantly, she learned about healing. Tessie worked as a healer for years before she began working for the Vaidelarks, and she was often the person El would seek out after being injured in training with her sister. Tessie would hold her small, work-worn hands over El's bloodied skin, and El would watch in awe as a turquoise light radiated from her palms and warmed her skin as it regenerated. Tessie taught her how to soak her bruised, sore body in a warm bath of epsom salt and herbs, how to make balsam ointment for burns, and how to stop bleeding quickly with pressure and bandages. Healing spells eventually became second nature to her.

Elspeth's mother, hailing from a land of elves, was a devout worshipper of Corellon, and raised her half-elf daughters to be the same. El always found peace at the small shrine her mother had built in the courtyard, and devoted herself to her own private worship for years. One night, as Elspeth kneeled at the stone statue of the Elffather under a clear, crescent moon, she felt a presence of overwhelming peace and certainty envelop her. She was spoken to without words, but somehow knew within her body that this presence was her god, and that he, in that moment, bestowed his favor upon her. The moment felt like it lasted for hours, but it was only a few seconds. When she opened her eyes, her palms were glowing golden and small, white flowers started sprouting from the ground she kneeled upon. For the first time in her life, she knew who she wanted to be.

Leaving Home

When Elspeth told her parents about her divine experience, her mother was--possibly for the first and only time in El's life--happy for her, even if she seemed a bit jealous that the god she spent her life worshipping revealed himself to her daughter instead of her. Regardless, her parents enrolled her in Ambrose Academy of the Divine where elven and half-elven clerics and paladins develop their skills, knowledge, and faith. Ambrose consists of the school, a healing center, and dormitories for students/instructors if they choose to live at the academy. Elspeth has lived, worked, and studied at Ambrose for over a decade, and it has truly become her home. She shares a suite with her best friend Hera, also a cleric of Corellon by coincidence (they've been best friends since childhood). Working in the healing center is her favorite, but twice a tenday she serves as an instructor assistant--something she's learned to enjoy, even if she was unsure at first.

Staring a family/found family

Hera is definitely El's found family, but now, of course, her companions are found family as well. She's especially close with Karlach and Shadowheart (though they had their fair share of arguments before she turned away from Shar). She and Gale have worked tirelessly to find a solution to Karlach's infernal engine problem, and hope to one day bring her home from Avernus for good.

As for starting an actual family, I'm not sure if El and Gale want to have kids. I think if they did, it would be years down the road, and they'd only have 1. I think they would love being parents, but I see them wanting to focus solely on each other for a long time before/if that ever happens.

#elspeth #bg3 #bg3 tav #bg3 oc #bg3 tav backstory bash

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sabo-has-my-heart · 2 years ago

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NSFW Teacher!Sabo Edited Version

The edited version of my 200 Followers Event fic (here)

Warnings: NSFW, teacher x student relationship, oral both male and female receiving, spanking, very dom!Sabo, 18 y/o Reader

Word Count: 1300

I’ve wanted to write this basic idea for so long. Also, just to be clear, even though this is a teacher/student relationship and the reader is in highschool, they ARE 18, they aren’t underage!!!

This had all started when you’d failed that exam, he’d asked you to stay after class to speak with you. To be fair, it was an important exam, so you hadn’t thought anything of it. So he started tutoring you and once more, you thought nothing of it. Then you thought it was all in your head. Your teacher, Sabo, one of the ‘sexy six’ teachers in the school, flirting with you? No, it was in your head. At least it was ‘all in your head’ until he’d kissed you, a reward for doing so well, he’d said. Of course, you’d expected candy, a gold star, a $5 gift card tops! But to have him kissing you? That had been the last thing you’d expected. Not that you pushed him away, how could you? It was Sabo! Though once he’d pulled back, you did have some questions and concerns. He was your teacher! Of course you’d have questions and concerns!

Kneeling in front of the blond once more, you looked up at him, biting your lip, the tips of your fingers on the waistband of his slacks.

“What’re you waiting for? Or are you going to try to lie to me again and tell me you don’t want it?” Sabo asked with a chuckle. You simply shook your head, quickly undoing his pants and pulling them down, letting his hard cock out of its confines. Staying after school, fucking your teacher, pleasuring him, it always made your heart pound, but you loved it. Loved fucking your sexy as hell teacher, loved the rush of fucking or being fucked in his classroom, loved the filthy things he whispered in your ear. A slight groan left Sabo’s lips as you began to leave kitten licks along his length. Placing a hand on the back of your head, he pushed you closer, small kitten licks turning into running your tongue along his entire length, before wrapping your lips around the tip, head starting to bob up and down. Sabo’s breathing picked up, hand grabbing a fistfull of your hair, pulling you up and down on his cock. It wasn’t long until he had you choking on his dick, tears gathering at the corner of your eyes. Tears that lied about how much you enjoyed him fucking your mouth like this. Taking a shuddering breath, Sabo pulled you off his dick, pulling you into a rough kiss. Fuck, he wanted more. As he often did, Sabo had you on your back on his desk before you could register what had happened, the blond reaching under your skirt and pulling your panties down. Legs thrown over his shoulders, he began to lap and slurp at your already wet cunt, groaning against it. How was it that his 18-year-old student had him harder than anyone else he’d ever met, how did you taste better than anyone else he’d been with? From the moment you started making his heart pound, he knew it was a bad idea, knew that it was taboo, that he should stay away. But that failed exam gave him an excuse to be around you more, an opportunity he simply couldn’t let pass, each day growing closer, wanting you more and more until he couldn’t deny himself any longer. So he didn’t, he gave in, let himself enjoy such forbidden pleasures. Forbidden pleasures like the one he devoured now, hands on your thighs, keeping you spread open for him as his tongue swirled inside you, pulling more and more muffled moans from your lips. Fuck, how he wanted to hear your moans, hear you screaming his name. A pleasured gasp left your lips as you felt him flick his tongue against your clit, eyes shut tightly as he repeated the action again and again, making it harder and harder for you to stay quiet, hands clamped over your mouth. It wasn’t long before he had you cumming, his skilled tongue always able to bring you over the edge in no time. Sabo pulled back, breathing heavy as he looked at you, laying on his desk, legs still spread wide open. He wanted you, wanted to fuck you.

“S-Sabo… teacher, please. I need your cock.” you whimpered, trying to keep your voice down. The words sent a shiver down his spine, hearing you beg, the way you called out to him. He didn’t even hesitate, pulling you close as he thrust into you, lips pressed against yours as he swallowed your moan. Fuck, you were as tight as ever, squeezing around him. His hands quickly moved to your waist, pistoning his hard cock in and out of your pussy, biting back the moans that wanted to escape. The feeling of your walls clamping down around him, your warm, wet pussy taking him with ease, each time he pulled back, it felt like your cunt was trying to pull him back in. Thrusting forward hard and fast. Fuck, the way you were spasming and clenching around him, you were close, but he couldn’t let it end so quickly, he wanted more. Hands shaking, he held your hips flush against yours, making you whine. You’d been so close.

“Shh, you need to be q-quiet like a good girl. Otherwise s-someone will hear you. You want them to find out about this?” Sabo asked, biting his lip as the idea made his cock twitch. One of his colleagues walking in, catching the two of you in such a state. Watching, masterbating as Sabo bounced you up and down on his cock, holding you up by your thighs as he showed them your wet cunt. The imagery had him slamming in and out of your pussy again and again. Just as you reached the edge once more, Sabo pulled out, flipping you over before smacking your ass. He knew the risk he was taking, that someone could hear each hit, but his lust was clouding his thoughts as he smacked your ass again and again as you bit into your arm, trying to contain your cries. He quickly picked you up, hands holding you up by your thighs like he’d imagined, lowering you back down on his cock as he thrust up into you again and again. Covering your mouth with your hand, it took everything you had not to scream in pleasure as he bounced you up and down on his throbbing cock. You were close again, so close.

“Please let me cum. I’m a good girl.” you whimpered as quietly as you could manage, knowing how much Sabo loved it when you begged. Not that he could have denied you at this point, his thrusts speeding up until you were cumming around his cock, eyes rolled back as he shot load after load of cum deep into your cunt. He’d never cum inside you before, but it sent you tumbling into another orgasm, mouth open in a silent scream. It was a few minutes before you came down from your high, Sabo already cleaning you up, his pants pulled back up as he smiled at you.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to uh, lose control like that.” Sabo apologized, looking away. You just smiled and giggled, drawing his rather confused attention.

“I uh, I liked it. Having my teacher’s cum inside me feels… really good.” you said, cheeks turning a bright red. Sabo felt his pants grow tight again as he stared at you in slight shock.

“You know, there’s another important exam coming up, I should start tutoring you at my house on Saturdays.” Sabo said before he could stop himself. You could only nod, cheeks still bright red. Sure, tutoring, that’s what he’d be doing. He certainly wouldn’t be fucking his student and filling her to the brim with his cum, that would be taboo.

#one piece #one piece sabo #op sabo #sabo the revolutionary #chief of staff sabo #flame emperor sabo #sabo the revolutionary x reader #chief of staff sabo x reader #flame emperor Sabo x reader #teacher!Sabo #teacher x student #teacher x reader #student!reader

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fallingdowntherathole · 7 months ago

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"Oh, so now I'm a child? A little creature to be cradled?!" Auburn hair falling in her eyes, a pout akin to a child on her young face.Arya huffed, lips curling into a tight frown as she locked eyes with the spectral man in front of her. Of course he will think that of her, even now, as she's finally entering adulthood. She's still a child, his child, in his eyes.

"Arianna, please." A pause, as the ghost contemplates what is the best course of action. Amusing her behaviour will only enrich it further, probably spiralling into a neverending back and forth between this and that. Ah, the teenage years, he was once one, the same rebellious and restless energy; he even dealt with two other teens back when he was alive. No, thinking about them will only make this harder. He needs to focus on her now."Every time... Every time you go out to help one of these people, you get hurt. If I didn't know any better -" He stops, a smirk forming in the corner of his lips, an unsaid joke between them "I do say you are dancing with Death"

She barks a laugh at that, between a priceless joke and a cruel reality. A bittersweet sound echoing in the dark."Oh, but I am! I have been dancing with Death since the day I was born! Do you not remember? Even now, here, all we do is dance at the edge of the abyss."

He smiles for a second, then a deep worried frown appears, dark features mirroring his emotions. Even after his downfall, without a body, his spectral form still holds everything he ever was before. A man. A weapon. A friend. A father. He failed once, he will not fail again. He will not fail his friend. He will not fail her.

"How many times have you been to die in the past years?"

"Only three times."

"And how many times-"

"No. None of that, Lucien. Every time I went to die, I had a reason for it. You made your point clear, in the past, that I'm only a burden, a promise made a long time ago, an oath. Dead words on dead man's lips!" She's angry now. Anyone can tell. Her voice quiver, her hands tremble. A deep thunder in her voice, accentuating her hurt. The thu'um is a powerful weapon, one she does not use often enough. But now, here, in the tiny room of the sacred crypt, she can use it as she pleases. No one to hurt. No one to scare away. He is not scared of her, but still, he flinches. And anger too, is a powerful weapon, he knows that as well. "You keep saying that all you want is to protect me, to keep me safe, but damn if you do a good job at it! You throw insults at my face, keep saying I know nothing! But I do, and I do know very well that I don't need to listen to you, for that you are not my father!"

Silence. Deafening silence. The irony would be funny, if it wasn't tragic. His face is now a void of emotions, only his eyes glimmer with regret. Fear, desolation, shame. He's not good at this, never was. After the purification 200 years ago, after...after the death of the twins... he's not the same man. He's fragile, scared, on the edge of nothingness. He knew that when he made the promise to the king, he knew that when he first held her in his arms. He even knew that when he named her. But he couldn't refuse. He didn't want to. He swore, more to himself than to Martin, to be real, that he will protect her with everything in his power, and now, back from the death, he still holds to that promise. But he's bad at this. He doesn't mean to sound harsh, he doesn't mean to sound angry, he doesn't want to say the things he does. He realized, with an unspeakable feeling of dread, that he wasn't meant to protect. He was meant to kill. As he killed his victims when he was human, as he killed countless of people even. As he killed his friends, his family. His family. Plugged the knife in their heart, a quick death, a merciful act. For them more than for him, because there was nothing merciful going on in his soul at the time, and even now, he still feels that pain, the agony and the regret for his actions. All he has done, for nothing.And now he's killing her heart too, her soul, her hopes. More than ever, he believes, he found out what scares him the most about the dragonborn: Arya is more of his daughter than she ever was to Martin.

The lack of response from him is all that she needs to storm off. She doesn't look at him as she goes, she can't look at him. Because she believes she's right, and that alone is more crushing than any words he can muster to tell her. Off she goes, out of the room, down the corridor, opens the heavy black door and disappears into the bleaching white light of the snow. Echoes of her presence linger in the room, akin to electricity beams after the lightning strike. The only sound left in the dark sanctuary is the quiet dripping of water coming from somewhere around the dining room. A leak. Someone will have to fix that later, but not Lucien, for he has other things to do. Priorities over anything else, he used to say, and Arya is his priority. Now, that everyone else is gone, she remains. This fact alone is more than enough for him to get going. So after an eternity of seconds, he follows her out of the sanctuary, hiding in her shadow. Despite everything, despite his failures, he is still going to protect her.

Anyways, my laptop keeps crashing on me and I got bored, so here is a little WIP that may or may not be included in the fic I'm working on. Regardless, this was such a fun prompt to write! Can you tell I like to write angst? :))

But I digress, @bougainvillea-and-saltwater I humbly present you the creation that my writer block has to offer about Arya👉👈

Prompt #1073

Sometimes guardian angels don’t have a lovely singing voice and a set of fluffy wings, sometimes they have a deep frown on their face and a very bad attitude.

#writing ideas #creative writing #skyrim oc #wip #story wip #tes the dark brotherhood #what do you meant the septims were normal #they were all unhinged #including my oc Arya #lucien lachance #lucien being a father figure #again #you made me want to write :))#THANK YOU #my ocs #my writing

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cursestitched · 1 year ago

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Viewer discretion advised, themes of death and violence lay ahead. I'm more or less copying and pasting this, as I'll reference these bullet points to further sharpen the full profile of Satoru Jiro

- Satoru was 16 years old when he was framed for the murder of his adoptive parents. His sisters were placed into foster care and relocated outside of Kyoto (where they all lived originally) media leaks revealed that Satoru didn't share the same biological DNA with these adults (he wasn't aware of being adopted) and the media dragged their names (and religious group they worked for) through the mud with the allegations of being kidnappers where as other people stayed strong to them being good people that helped their community.

- While I still need to delve into this part, I'm still debating on if Satoru actually is a mutant who doubles as a being a curse user or jujutsu sorcerer (if you aren't familiar with JJK, don't feel overwhelmed I'm happy to clear up any terminology) a person that can see and exorcise cursed spirits birthed from negative human emotions. These qualities are exclusive only to the people of Japan with some rare exceptions of small groups in Africa and India. Satoru's cursed technique is curse spirit manipulation.

- If Satoru is a mutant, he's the first mutant / sorcerer hybrid that could potentially evolve himself into more or a curse being like many people in JJK such as Lord Tengen and Sukuna and Kenjaku due to being around the ages of 1,000 to 2,000 years old.

- Back to his story, Satoru was sentenced to eight years in prison only to get out early with a four year sentence after being found innocent. Making him 20 years old. Ostracized by the public ( a parallel to how he was ostracized in school into his preteen years because he could see curses spirits and no one else could, ultimately pushing him in highschool to be more popular and cool instead of being associated with the words "weird" and "strange") and inevitably abandoned by his friends. He ended up getting involved with the yakuza crime syndicated, targeted and indoctrinated into their way of life as he tried to find the person or people responsible for ruining his life.

- after "getting rid" of the people responsible, he did what he could to put his life back together. A family neighbor sent him some books and journals and much more knowledge or jujutsu sorcerer and cursed spirits, ( the person was a witness to him encountering and exorcising one) so while he didn't join Jujutsu High, he did his own thing, exorcising and obtaining curses for himself -- despite the disgusting taste. He may have also had knowledge about curses from stories from his parents or even their religious teachings but just didn't believe in those things until he saw one for the first time.

Eventually he got custody of his sisters after tracking them down (I might change this part around because it could tie back to the whole kidnapping allegations his parents were accused of) . They were living peacefully for a year before Satoru was approached by Nick Fury. By that point Satoru had small arsenal of about 200 curses inside of him. Fury had been watching him for a while now and gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. Relocate to America with his only family and work with the avengers for a fresh start and a second chance or remain branded as a monster in a city he can no longer call home. He chose the first option.

So, timeline wise, Satoru is a rookie on the team about six months after the events of Age Of Ultron, but definitely a little while before the events of Civil War.

Focusing on Wanda Maximoff here, I imagine that he would eventually have a kind of unrequited love for Wanda while understanding she's interested in vision. I imagine that during the events of civil war, he does try to console Wanda clearly able to relate to people seeing you as a monster for your actions and the powers that you have but never wanted despite your good intentions. That and the shared loss or parents despite the different circumstances. After Civil War, Satoru does side with Tony but like Natasha he would stand as neutral to a certain extent and be on Cap's side deep down. So he at least tries to give them Intel whenever he can through burner phones. Particularly checking up on Wanda and Vision.

#muse information #tw kidnapping #tw death #tw violence

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kinsey3furry300 · 3 years ago

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So how the heck do the Avengers pay for stuff, and how rich are they?

So, in the wake of “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” There’s a lot of debate about why Sam didn’t seem to get paid well for his work in the Avengers (at least in the MCU continuity), and this has got me thinking: we’ve got no evidence that the Avengers are, financially, anything but a hot mess. So lets break it down, Avenger by Avenger, using real-world pay scales for the ones who have jobs.

Tony: a billionaire, so clearly he’s a financial genius, right? Well….. his actions say otherwise. He’s shown to be wildly irresponsible with his money. He inherited a lot of wealth form his parents which was managed by the first Jarvis, Obadiah, and Pepper for him, he buys and then gives away not just woks of art, but entire collections by major 20th century artists on a whim, destroyed his own cars and home without concern, he tanks the value of his own company in the first Iron Man with a bad press interview, gets kicked of his own bord of directors, and ultimately, in Iron Man 2, gives control of his company to Pepper. He’s insanely rich, and insanely smart, but man, he’s not smart with his money. So all the cool stuff, his suits, the Avengers tower, the facility up-state: that’s all paid for by him, but Pepper is holding the purse-stings. So, does he pay the others? We have no evidence for most of them… but we do with Spidey. Peter Parker is in the Stark Internship Program a euphemism to hide the fact he’s training and mentoring him as a super-hero, but I find the wording interesting: he refers to Spidey, his surrogate son and chosen heir, as an intern. I.E., Unpaid. I’m guessing this is Howard’s influence over him, some sort of ‘make you own way in the world, son’ attitude, but if he’s not paying Spidey, is he paying anyone else? He certainly pays for stuff super heroes suits and things, equipment, fuel, the base, but does he pay anyone a wage? No one ever mentions it. You think it would come up.

So, if he’s not paying them a wage, where do Avengers (and thier allies) get their day-to-day money from, and are they rich? Using google and https://www.federalpay.org, lets find out.

Cap: Well, before Civil war, he’s a shield operative, and he presumably still holds his military rank: he’s a US Army captain, with (well) over 40 years service, so USD$88,142.40 per year, with $237.71 drill pay (pay per drill you have to do on weekends, on leave or outside of normal service) and $175.00 per month hazard pay (which I bet is interesting) on top of that. As a WW2 veteran, he’d be eligible for a war pension if he:

Was not discharged for dishonorable reasons; and,

Served 90 days of active military duty; and,

Served at least one day during wartime ("wartime" as determined by the VA); and,

Had countable family income below a certain yearly limit; and,

Is age 65 years or older; or

Regardless of age is permanently disabled, not due to wilful misconduct.

As he’s still receiving 90k per year, he’s ineligible for a pension as his countable yearly income is above the limit. So if shield pays him in accordance with his rank and years of service, about $90, 600 per year incuding hazard pay.

After civil war, he’s a fugitive on the run, so presumably flat broke. I’d asume he gets his pension returened to him after the snap.

He’s also just gone from the 40’s to the present day, so 70 years of inflation probably makes buying things very confusing for him: everything would seem insanely expensive at first. He’d also not know what the correct prices are for anything invented after 45. You might get used to how much more expensive food and coffee is, but how much is a smart-phone worth? $200? $2000 $20000? Who knows? I bet the others have to facepalm a lot when he either refuses to pay for what he sees as clear price-gouging, and at the same time regularly pays insane amounts of money for goods and services because he doesn’t know better. He also has no known assets other than his pay: he rents an apartment making him one of the few American males in his age-group who isn’t a home-owner

Thor: Does Asgard even have currency? It’s depicted like a “Crystal spires and toga” type utopia with no poverty: even working class Asgardian’s like Scourge seem to be pretty well-off and want for nothing, so he’s from a post-scarcity society where actual magic is a thing. His “Another” coffee cup smashing and the fact he doesn’t have a computer of phone in Ragnarök might indicate that, no, he just doesn’t have, need or understand money. Splitting a bar tab with him must be a nightmare. His breakdown post snap indicates he’s got some cash, but not a huge amount, and is probably skiving of Valkyrie and the other Asgardians.

Banner: Okay, so a PhD could make you a lot of money from patents… in pharmacology or engineering. Theoretical physics? Not so good. And if Banner did have any patents, they’ve probably been seized under eminent domain by the US military. At the start of The Hulk film, he’s working a entry-level factory job at a botteling plant in Brazil. The minimum wage in Brazil is 1069.62 Real per month, that’s 12,835.44 Real per year, or around $2437.79 US per year, before everything goes wrong for him! He then runs off to India, works for Tony for a bit and then gets shot into space. Spidey may actually make more in allowance than Banner does, and Banner is a gown ass man with bills to pay: I’d imagine he loses a lot in ripped clothing.

Natasha and Barton: Pre Civil-war, both are government spooks, so how well does that pay? The salaries of CIA Intelligence Analysts based in the US range from $25,838 to $685,701 , with a median salary of $125,340, so let’s assume that Shield pays in a similar range: $685,701 per year for Director Fury, around 125,000 for Natasha and Cliff, which explains Cliff’s nice, middle-class mid-western home. Post civil war, presumably not great: we know that Natasha spends a lot of her savings running and hiding all across the world, and Cliff takes a deal and presumably lives of his savings, pension and his wife’s income.

Rhodes: Full USAF colonel with over 10 years service? $105,562.80 per year, plus $293.23 drill pay per drill and $175 per month hazard pay, and because he’s team Stark and not Team Cap in Civil War, he’d not lose any of that. He presumably also gets an injury pay-out after his accident. After T’challa and Stark, he might be the best paid avenger.

Dr Strange: spends all his money he made as a surgeon on trying to cure his hands: spends literally his last dollars heading to Nepal to train. Wong even jokes with him about their lack of worldly money when asking for a tuna-melt. But, can use illusion to make people think he has money, and his home and clothes etc. come with the job, so in the same boat as Thor in that he has no money, but needs none AKA, he’s a bastard to try and split a restaurant bill with.

Wanda and Vision: No know source of income, just sort of live in Tony’s hose and eat his food, and on top of that Wanda goes on the run after civil war… yet they can stay in fancy hotels in Edinburgh, a relatively expensive city, and Vison apparently bought them a house to retire in, so one of them has some source of money. Maybe Tony gave Vision years of back-pay form when he was still Jarvis, or maybe the vison has a day job, which is, frankly, hilarious. Could you imagine him as a barista? I can, and it makes me very happy.

Scott Lang: I’d assumed he’d be super, super broke, but apparently the average pay for a private security consultant in the Bay area is $85,430 per year. Not bad. Pity he gets sucked into the quantum realm just as his business is taking off, so presumably, flat broke again.

Bucky: no known income, and I doubt Hydra paid him for being the Winter Soldier so he probably has no savings, but he should, technically, qualify for a military pension. As a single veteran, he’d be eligible for federal tax-free pension of up to $1732 per month, or $20,784 tax free per year. Not much for someone who lives in NYC. He may also be eligible for medical benefits over the loss of his arm. Whether or not he got to see any of that money given how confused his life has been over the past 10 years is unclear, but on paper he’s eligible.

T’challa: He is, quite possibly, richer than Stark, and as an absolute monarch pays no tax and has access to his Nation’s vast wealth in vibanium. It’s good to be the king!

Captain Marvel: USAF captain, and a test pilot; the test pilot school only accepts applicants with a service length of less than 9 years 6 months (10 years six moths of helicopters) as they don’t want older applicants. With 8 years service, $79,538.40, plus drill pay and hazard. However, no know (human) pay since 1990. Flat broke.

Guardians of the Galaxy: no data, but I’m assuming “Cowboy Bebop” levels of perpetual never-ending poverty given the way they choose to live. I’d also assume Rocket has taken all their cash into some sort of Ponzi scheme of his own creation, because just look at him, of course he has.

Spidey: he’s got about $10 of his aunts’ money at any given time, so he can buy lunch… which may in fact be more than Banner or Lang, and we know it’s more that Strange or Thor.

So, here the big one: how rich or how broke is Sam?

Sam Wilson: annoyingly, we’re not directly told what rank Sam held in any MCU film. USAF pararescue “Maroon berets” are generally NCO’s (but there’ are officer-ranked pararescue) , and he’s seen working on his wings at one point, where as officers don’t generally work on or maintain airframes. He’s shown wearing a Nation Air guard grey while jogging at one point to confuse the matter further. The general consensus on redit is he’s a former USAF tech sergeant (E-6). But how long was he in the air force? With six years service (the minimum sensible time he could have served to work in pararescue based on his age), that would be $41,464.80 per year, plus drill pay and hazard. As Anthony Mackie, the actor that plays him, was 36 as of Civil War, and assuming the character is the same age, and assuming he retired from the air force that year, and he joined the USAF at 17, the youngest you can join, he’d have served 19 years, giving him a pay of $51,566.40, the maximum pay you can get at this rank before promotion to Master Sergent, but meaning he left just before he’d qualify for the 50% final salary pension you’d qualify for after 20 years. Which seems weird. So let’s assume the character is one year older than the actor that plays him and served 20 years (ages 17-37), that means Sam has a military pension of $25,783.20 per year (20,784 of it tax-free), plus any injury benefits. He councils other veterans, but doesn’t get paid for that. He also chooses Team Cap in Civil War, so would become a wanted criminal, and so lose his income between 2016 and 2018, and then gets snapped and has no income for 5 years, which would destroy his credit rating. Like the rest of Team Cap, he presumably gets his post snap pardon, and goes to work for the US government at his former pay and rank. However, given how Captain John Walker treats him as an equal, it’s possible he’s been promoted to a captain when the hired back, giving him a pay of between $54,176.40 to $88,142.40 (with 20 years experience, depending on if they take into account his prior service or not, and how much prior service he has), but either way, he’s just starting this as a new job after being legally dead for 5 years: no savings, and no credit.

Commercial fishing vessels cost about 10% of their total value per year in maintenance alone. I can’t identify what sort of boat the Wilson’s have, but some quick googling indicates that the cheapest 15m long wooden in-shore shrimp trawler costs around $140,000, so that’s $14,000 per year in maintenance costs alone, minimum. And that’s a lower estimate, assuming the rest of the business is sound, which we know it isn’t.

So, in concussion, yes, Sam is in some serious financial trouble until he can re-build his savings and credit, but the scary bit is he’s not alone in that: he’s probably better off than Lang, Banner, Danvers, Strange, Thor, Bucky, Wanda and Parker. Only Clint (if he gets a full pardon and gets his full pension), Rhodes, Stark and T’challa aren’t in some sort of potential financial problems. That asshole bank teller was right: despite the fact it seems to pay well on paper, with a few exceptions, the Avengers financials are probibaly a mess. EDIT: Rocket is running the Ponzi scheme, if that’s not clear from context. The others know they have money somewhere, but not where it’s gone. And It’s been pointed out to me that as he’s technically a POW while he’s the Winter Soldier, Bucky is owed over 70 years back-pay, equal to over 3 million dollars, details in the notes.

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blackswaneuroparedux · 3 years ago

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ltdan2288 asked: As a fellow veteran of the Afghan Campaign, might I ask if you have any thoughts about the imminent end of Allied air support & combat-advisory operations over there? The fall of large swaths of the country to the Taliban is already underway, which can only be seen as an unspeakable tragedy for the people there. From a strategic perspective, there’s no reason to believe that we won’t have to return in some capacity of AQ or ISIS reestablish themselves under Taliban sponsorship. At the same time, it’s not clear to me that our presence did anything beyond kick the can down the road and delay this inevitable outcome. As someone with such a deep knowledge of military history, I’m curious if you have a different perspective.

I have been avoiding answering this post for a while now because Afghanistan dredges up so many conflicting emotions inside me. I wrestle with so many memories of my time there with my regiment to fight in a war that we all didn’t really understand what we were fighting for.

Deep breath.

Almost two decades of conflict in Afghanistan has cost British taxpayers £22.2billion, or $31.3 billion according to UK government figures. As British troops prepare to leave Afghanistan, the 20-year deployment bill could be even higher. As of May 2021, the total cost of Operation Herrick (codename for the deployment of British soldiers to Helmand province) is £22.2billion. There were 457 fatalities on, or subsequently due to, Op Herrick. Of which 403 were due to hostile action. During the operation between January 1, 2006 and November 30, 2014, there were 10,382 British service personnel casualties. Of these 5,705 were injuries and the remainder being illness or disease. The UK’s remaining 750 troops in Afghanistan, involved in training local forces, started exiting the war-devastated country in May. Most of them will return home by the end of July.

They, like every one of us who went to fight in Afghanistan, will ask the same questions, ‘Why did we go there?’ ‘What was the real purpose of the mission?’ ‘Was it worth it?’

Both my older brothers fought there with special distinction and I later fought there too. I have very mixed emotions when I think about my time in Afghanistan. For all its faults and tortured history, I love that country and love its many ethnic people. I even started to learn Pashtu as I already had a spoken command of Urdu because I had been raised partly in both Pakistan and India and it’s where many Afghan refugees living in the UN camps for over a generation had learned Urdu too.

It’s not just that my family has history in Afghanistan going back to the days of the East India Company but I had a sincere respect for its culture and history as one of the central hot spots for great civilisational achievements, but also as a stubborn and unruly country who proudly defied the Great Powers to bend the knee and turned it into a ‘graveyard of empires’. Most of all I think of the friendships I made there and how my perspective on life changed as a consequence of knowing such resilience and fortitude in the face of catastrophe and death.

I’m sure like everyone else I wasn’t too surprised by President Biden’s announcement that he was announcing the imminent withdrawal of all American troops in Afghanistan. He wanted to pivot to something else when asked about it. “I want to talk about happy things, man!” He said. Who could begrudge him given that America has been at war in Afghanistan for a better part of 20 years and has nothing to really show for it. Except of course the loss of its brave service men and women as well as the death of thousands of Afghan civilians. It spent more than $2 trillion to kill Osama bin Laden, the architect behind 9/11 attacks and failed to convincingly snuff out both murderous terror groups, Al Qaeda and ISIS.

When the Secretary General of Nato announced back in April 2021 all alliance troops were to be withdrawn from Afghanistan, it was made to look like a nice, clean, enunciation of a joint decision. The end date was set for 11 September, 2021 - 20 years after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington - and it was in line with the oft-repeated alliance maxim: we went in together; we will come out together. Except that, on closer examination, it was all rather messier.

This was partly because the withdrawal from Afghanistan had actually been Trump’s policy, so here was Joe Biden, the anti-Trump, co-opting a policy from his predecessor (a policy Trump had been so keen on that he tried to accelerate the withdrawal after he lost the election). Biden then tried to detach it from Trump by slowing down the withdrawal date a little and expressing it in terms more comprehensible to the Washington establishment and to US allies.

Where Trump had essentially done a deal with the Taliban and set a withdrawal date of 1 May, Biden left the Taliban out of it and invoked the totemic date of 9/11. This does not mean, of course, that the withdrawal will not be completed a good deal sooner - once you announce a withdrawal, you might as well get on with it.

In fact, Biden had to make a decision one way or another, given the rapid approach of Trump’s 1 May withdrawal date. And, whether it came from Washington or Nato, it was pretty low key for an announcement that a 20-year military involvement that had cost 4,000 allied lives was ending. Indeed, many people beyond Washington and Afghanistan might not quite have registered the news, given the considerable noises from Nato’s simultaneous dire warnings about Russia massing troops on the Ukrainian border, the death of the Duke of Edinburgh in the UK, and the Covid pandemic everywhere.

And distractions were needed not just because Biden was implementing a Trump policy. It was also because he was ordering an unconditional withdrawal – which he justified, correctly, by saying that setting preconditions would mean that the troops could be there forever. It was a risk Biden knew all too well, given that Barack Obama had been persuaded by General David Petraeus – against his election pledges and his better judgement – that what Obama really wanted was not a withdrawal, but a ‘surge’ with conditions attached before a withdrawal could take place.

Distractions were also useful for London, where the timing was hardly ideal. Imagine you were in government in London, you had watched the dismal failure of the UK’s Herrick operations in Helmand Province between 2006 and 2014, you knew that your armed forces had suffered 456 deaths in 20 years, with many more severely injured, but you had hung on in there.

Your government had also just released a blueprint for foreign and security policy, setting future priorities even further from home, in the Indo-Pacific, and your Prime Minister was about to make a high-profile visit to India as part of his post-Brexit ‘Global Britain’ branding . In those circumstances, an announcement that the US had decided to leave Afghanistan, giving you no choice but to follow, was almost exactly what you did not need. Rather than showing the UK as a powerful, autonomous military actor and a valued ally, it showed the exact opposite.

It also reminded an unhappy British public about a costly conflict it had rather forgotten. And those who did more than bother to remember - like the families who lost loved ones on the battlefield - and who over the years have blamed successive governments for moving the goalposts and lacking an exit strategy (all true too).

All of which might explain why the UK’s Foreign and Defence Secretaries followed the US example by changing the subject to the iniquities of Russia and China, rather than issuing a joyous pronouncement to the effect of: hooray and thank goodness, our boys and girls are coming home.

The UK’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter gave a subdued, unenthusiastic response to Biden’s announcement. I cannot remember such open acknowledgement of UK-US military policy friction in recent decades - or such an abject admission by the UK of its defence dependence on the US. What Carter said was that the unconditional withdrawal was ‘not a decision we had hoped for, but we obviously respect it and it is clearly an acknowledgement of an evolving US strategic posture’. In other words, the UK had opposed Biden’s decision – or would have done, if asked (which is not clear). Also, that it was Washington’s ‘strategic posture’ that had ‘evolved’, not the UK’s. He suggested there was a real danger that progress made could be lost and that there could be a return to civil war, with the Taliban maybe returning to power - again, all true.

Given that the UK officially has only 750 troops in Afghanistan at present, and most of them are there in a training capacity, to dissent from the US position so openly would be considered decidedly rude in the Ministry of Defence. Perhaps to that end, General Carter played the dutiful soldier and had to - through gritted teeth - put a positive gloss on Afghanistan’s future, insisting that the objective in going into Afghanistan, ‘to prevent international terrorism emerging from the country’, had been achieved which was ‘great tribute to the work of British forces and their allies’.

He also said that Afghan forces were ‘much better trained than one might imagine’ and that the Taliban ‘is not the organisation it once was’, so that ‘a scenario could play out that is actually not quite as bad as perhaps some of the naysayers are predicting.’ Blah blah blah. He’s wrong, and I think he knows it but only in the sanctity of his gentlemen’s club might he truly admit it.

I know he’s wrong because the chatter amongst ex-veterans I know is that we’ve made a balls up of Afghanistan yet again - by ‘again’ I mean from the past 200 years of us Brits trying to bring order to chaos in Afghanistan and getting burned for our troubles.

Both my father and my older siblings tell me what their friends and ex-service peers (some very senior indeed) have been nattering over a drink at their gentlemen clubs where ex-veterans haunt the club bar. Many just shake their heads in sighed resignation before burying themselves in the Times crossword or drowning their sorrows with a beer or two at how lock in step we’ve become to the Americans at a time when the British army is re-branding itself as a more independent nimble hi-tech impact army (the creation of a new ranger regiment being but one example).

Still if President Biden wanted to tie a neat bow on U.S. involvement in Afghanistan - saying, as he had, that the logic for the war ended once al-Qaida was gutted and Osama bin Laden killed - then it reveals a stunning lack of introspection about the United States’ role in the conflict that will continue in Afghanistan long after the last American and British troops leave.

Less than three months after President Joe Biden declared that the last American troops would be out of Afghanistan by September 11th, the withdrawal is nearly complete. The departure from Bagram air base, an hour’s drive north of the capital, Kabul, in effect marked the end of America’s 20-year war. But that does not mean the end of the war in Afghanistan. If anything, it is only going to get worse.

It is true that the president had no good choice on Afghanistan, and that he inherited a bad deal from his predecessor. There are never good choices when it comes to Afghanistan: only bloody trade offs.

But in announcing an unconditional withdrawal, he made the situation worse by throwing out the minimal conditions U.S. Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad had negotiated under the Trump administration. U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has delivered to the Afghan government and Taliban a draft Afghanistan Peace Agreement - the central idea of which is replacing the elected Afghan government with a so-called transitional one that would include the Taliban and then negotiate among its members the future permanent system of government. Crucial blank spaces in the draft include the exact share of power for each of the warring sides and which side would control security institutions.

The refrain now from the Biden administration is that the United States is not abandoning Afghanistan, that it will aim to do right by Afghan women and girls, and that it will try to nudge the Taliban and Kabul toward a peace deal using a diplomatic tool kit.

But the narrative ignores much of the reality on the ground. It also ignores history.

In theory, the Taliban and the American-backed government had been negotiating a peace accord, whereby the insurgents lay down their arms and participate instead in a redesigned political system. In the best-case scenario, strong American support for the government, both financial and military (in the form of continuing air strikes on the Taliban), coupled with immense pressure on the insurgents’ friends, such as Pakistan, might succeed in producing some form of power-sharing agreement.

But even if that were to happen - and the chances are low - it would be a depressing spectacle. The Taliban would insist on moving backwards in the direction of the brutal theocracy they imposed during their previous stint in power, when they confined women to their homes, stopped girls from going to school and meted out harsh punishments for sins such as wearing the wrong clothes or listening to the wrong music.

More likely than any deal, however, is that the Taliban try to use their victories on the battlefield to topple the government by force. They have already overrun much of the countryside, with government units mostly restricted to cities and towns. Demoralised government troops are abandoning their posts. In the first week of July 2021, over 1,000 of them fled from the north-eastern province of Badakhshan to neighbouring Tajikistan. The Taliban have not yet managed to capture and hold any cities, and may lack the manpower to do so in lots of places at once. They may prefer to throttle the government slowly rather than attack it head on. But the momentum is clearly on their side.

America and its NATO allies have spent billions of dollars training and equipping Afghan security forces in the hope that they would one day be able to stand alone. Instead, they started buckling even before America left. Many districts are being taken not by force, but are simply handed over. Soldiers and policemen have surrendered in droves, leaving piles of American-purchased arms and ammunition and fleets of vehicles. Even as the last American troops were leaving Bagram over the weekend of July 3rd, more than 1,000 Afghan soldiers were busy fleeing across the border into neighbouring Tajikistan as they sought to escape a Taliban assault.

As the outlook for the army and for civilians looks increasingly desperate, so do the measures proposed by the government. Ashraf Ghani, the president, is trying to mobilise militias to shore up the flimsy army. He has turned for help to figures such as Atta Mohammad Noor, who rose to power as an anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander and is now a potentate and businessman in Balkh province. “No matter what, we will defend our cities and the dignity of our people,” said Mr Noor in his gilded reception hall in Mazar-i-Sharif, the key to holding the north (sounds like Game of Thrones). The thinking is that such a mobilisation would be a temporary measure to give the army breathing space and allow it to regroup and the new forces would co-ordinate with government troops to push back hard on the Taliban.

However this is Afghanistan. The prospect of unleashing warlords’ private armies fills many Afghans with dread, reminding them of the anarchy of the 1990s. Such militias, raised along ethnic lines, tended to turn on each other and the general population.

With America gone and Afghan forces melting away, the Taliban fancy their prospects. They show little sign of engaging in serious negotiations with Mr Ghani’s administration. Yet they control no major towns or cities. Sewing up the countryside puts pressure on the urban centres, but the Taliban may be in no hurry to force the issue. They generally lack heavy weapons. They may also lack the numbers to take a city against sustained resistance. On July 7th they failed to capture Qala-e-Naw, a small town. Besides, controlling a city would bring fresh headaches. They are not good at providing government services.

Perhaps the Taliban have learned their history lesson and might refrain from attacking Kabul this time around. Their best course may be to tighten the screws and wait for the government to buckle. American predictions of its fate are getting gloomier. Intelligence agencies think Mr Ghani’s government could collapse within six months, according to the Wall Street Journal. So clearly the momentum is on the side of the Taliban and they just need to chip away at Ghani’s forces one district after another until the inevitable and hateful surrender of the central Afghan government to their demands.

At the very least, the civil war is likely to intensify, as the Taliban press their advantage and the government fights for its life. Other countries - China, India, Iran, Russia and Pakistan - will seek to fill the vacuum left by America. Some will funnel money and weapons to friendly warlords. The result will be yet more bloodshed and destruction, in a country that has suffered constant warfare for more than 40 years. Those who worry about possible reprisals against the locals who worked as translators for the Americans are missing the big picture: America, Britain and other allies are abandoning an entire country of almost 40m people to a grisly fate.

Nothing exemplifies - at least in Afghan eyes - of all that has gone wrong with American involvement in Afghanistan than in the manner of their leaving.

The U.S. left Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base's new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans' departure more than two hours after they left in the middle of the night without raising any alarms.

They left behind 3.5 million items, including tens of thousands of bottles of water, energy drinks and military MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat ration packs to the uninitiated). Thousands of civilian vehicles were left, many without keys to start them, and hundreds of armoured vehicles. The Americans also left small weapons and ammunition, but the departing US troops took heavy weapons with them. Ammunition for weapons not left for the Afghan military was blown up.

Now that is some feat considering the logistics of this mass exodus without drawing any attention. You have obviously been to Bagram and so you will know just how big and sprawling it is. Bagram Airfield is the size of a small city, roadways weaving through barracks and past hangar-like buildings. There are two runways and more than 100 parking spots for fighter jets known as revetments. One of the two runways is 12,000 feet long and was built in 2006. There's a passenger lounge, a 50-bed hospital and giant hangar-size tents filled with furniture. And all those shops to remind Americans of home from familiar fast food restaurants and hairdressers and massage parlours to buying clothing and jewellery and buying a Harley Davidson motorbike (or so I’ve been told).

I’m guessing that the Afghans were certainly outside of the wire and probably had not been inside Bagram Airfield for months. So from the outset they would not have had any reason to think anything was going on until the generators probably ran out of fuel and it started to go a little too quiet. The inner gate was probably discretely left unlocked and when the US stopped answering the radio/phone and then they probably investigated.

Before the Afghan army could take control of the airfield about an hour's drive from the Afghan capital, Kabul, it was invaded by a small army of looters, who ransacked barrack after barrack and rummaged through giant storage tents before being evicted, according to Afghan troops. Afghan military leaders insist the Afghan National Security and Defense Force could hold on to the heavily fortified base despite a string of Taliban wins on the battlefield. The airfield includes a prison with about 5,000 prisoners, many of them allegedly Taliban members.

I’m pretty sure some bright spark in the US Pentagon public affairs dept convinced his military superiors that it was important to avoid the optics of Americans leaving in the same way they did in Vietnam in case it depresses the American public and the US military. Instead it demoralised its allies, the Afghan national army who are now the only line of defence against the Taliban. In one night, they lost all the goodwill of 20 years by leaving the way they did, in the night, without telling the Afghan soldiers who were outside patrolling the area. The manner in which the Americans left Bagram air base amounts to a resounding vote of no confidence in Afghanistan’s future. It just looks bad.

The U.S. choice came with costs attached to each decision. With staying, the cost was potential U.S. troop casualties and a fear that things would not change on the ground. With leaving comes the cost of a deeper conflict in Afghanistan and a backsliding of progress made there over the past two decades. In many ways, the costs of staying seem shorter-term and borne by the United States, while the costs of leaving will be predominantly borne by Afghans over a longer time horizon. Yet, even if those costs seem remote now, history tells us that they will be blamed on the United States.

Biden perhaps reflective of history of Americans getting into quagmires abroad didn’t want to be seen exerting time and energy for a losing cause. His decision also reflects his administration’s foreign policy for the American middle-class paradigm, which focuses on domestic considerations over international ones (and is this so different from Trump’s “America First”? No, it is not). The irony, though, is that the American middle class largely doesn’t care about Afghanistan - their ambivalence gave way to support for this decision once it was announced, but it wouldn’t be hard to visualise the public approving of a scenario that kept a couple thousand troops there for a while longer.

What’s perhaps most disturbing is the narrative the president has presented along with the rationale for withdrawal: that America went to Afghanistan to defeat al-Qaida after 9/11, that mission creep led America to stay on too long and, therefore, it is time to get out. This takes an incomplete view of U.S. agency in the war in Afghanistan. The narrative implies that the civil conflict in Afghanistan today did not originate with America - that this more than 40-year war began with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, preceded America’s interference in Afghanistan, and will follow our departure.

The fact of the matter is that, by beginning the campaign in Afghanistan in 2001 and overthrowing the Taliban, who were then engaged in their draconian rule, and installing a new government, we western allies began a new phase of the Afghan conflict — one that pitted the Kabul government and the United States/Britain/NATO against the Taliban insurgency. The Afghan people did not have a say in the matter. That we allied powers are leaving Afghan women, children, and youth better off in many ways after 20 years is due to us, and we should be proud of that. But that we are leaving them mired in a bloody conflict is also due to us, because we could not hold off the Taliban insurgency, and we must all reckon publicly with that.

I have to ask myself why did we fail?

I’m only speaking about us Brits now as I’m sure you have your own thoughts as an ex-Marine officer of what you thought of the American military effort. Yes, I’m copping out of really bashing the yanks because first, I have too much respect for those fantastic American service men and women I did have the privilege to fight alongside with; and second, we Brits have nothing to crow about as we fucked up in lots of ways too, and to make things worse, we should have known better given our imperial history with Afghanistan.

The seeds of our failure in Afghanistan lies in not learning from history. We didn’t have a mission that was properly defined nor did we have a strategy that was clear, coherent, and easily communicated to both its fighting men and women as well as to the British public.

Were we there to get our hands bloody and to root out and destroy extreme Islamist terrorists or were we there to indulge in state building out of some idealistic notions of liberal humanitarianism? This question was at heart of our failure within our government and also within the British army as well as our relations with America and our NATO allies and finally the Afghans themselves.

Although never colonised in the same manner as other central and south Asian countries, the modern Afghan state is very much a creation borne out of great power rivalry. A land occupied by a number of different ethnic, linguistic and religious groups, it is a country whose borders were defined by, and whose sense of national identity was forged in response to western great power competition. Its geopolitical position - landlocked, mountainous, and surrounded by past great powers and present regional rivals - lends Afghanistan a dual role of geographic obscurity and great strategic significance, and has as such frequently been treated as little more than a buffer state between empires and a proxy of local powers. Its shared historical border with Russia and British India made it an object of imperial intrigue and, by consequence, has been subject to five European military interventions in the last 175 years.

The first three interventions of these occurred during the era of ‘the Great Game’ in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in which Britain and Russia (latterly the Soviet Union) competed for influence and control over Afghan politics in order to protect their respective imperial holdings in India and central Asia.

The fourth and fifth interventions, ranging from the late 1970s to the present day, similarly involved attempts by Soviets and then by an American-led international coalition to remove political leaders acting against their interests and to protect their favoured candidates.

The unifying feature of all these conflicts was the idea of Afghanistan as the site of potential threats to the interests and security of more powerful states.

Britain’s legacy in Afghanistan in particular set the tone for the country’s historical pattern of conflict and political contestation, fuelling both the intermittent emergence of Afghan national consciousness and a fractious political lineage that saw thirteen amirs in just eighty years. Interventions by the Empire during the Great Game set the conditions for the assassination of ostensibly national leaders by their compatriots (Shah Shuja Durrani in the First war) or their exile by the British (Shere Ali Khan and Ayub Khan in the Second).

Despite the British achieving their aim of protecting India in the second and third conflicts by maintaining Afghanistan as either a pro-British buffer state or as a neutral party, the Afghan narrative tends to emphasise successes such as the massacre of British forces retreating from Kabul to Jalalabad in 1842, the defeat of British and Indian forces at Maiwand in 1880, and the gaining of sovereignty in foreign affairs in 1919.

Soviet intervention in the late 1970s and 1980s further buttressed this identity of resistance, and the failure and ultimate overthrow of the Communist-backed Najibullah government, as well as the collapse of the Soviet Union shortly after their drawdown from Afghanistan, led to a sense amongst the victorious mujahidin of the country as the ‘graveyard of empires’.

Afghanistan’s modern history should thus be seen as inextricably linked to the ebbs and flows of great power politics. Each intervention exacerbated extant internal power struggles between rival elite individuals and groups vying for nominal control over the country. Foreign intervention in Afghanistan was met on each occasion with fierce resistance from tribal militias coalesced around religion; as has been remarked upon by one historian of the country, the threat of external domination has been one of the few means of uniting its disparate population around the concept of an Afghan ‘nation’, and in most cases this shared sense of identity cohered around religion, not nationalism.

Indeed, the presence of intervening powers and the development of the Afghan state may be seen as mutually supporting: whilst most Afghan leaders throughout the last two centuries have asserted their sovereignty over the country, the reality has in most circumstances been one of competing tribal chiefs and/or ‘warlords’ rather than a single dominant leader.

Where leaders have managed to cohere the disparate tribal and ethnic groupings of the country under one banner - most notably under the regime of Dost Mohamed Khan (1826-1839, 1845-1863) – this was due in large part to their diplomatic abilities of compromise and co-optation with Afghanistan’s regional power- brokers. In other cases, such as that of the reign of Abdurrahman (1880- 1901), power was maintained by an unflinching ‘internal imperialism’ and the use of punitive force against rebellious factions.

The challenges of maintaining and projecting centralised power in Afghanistan allow us to see the relationship of its leaders with world or regional powers in the last two centuries as one of mutual exploitation. Throughout the Great Game and the Cold War, whilst the British/Americans and Russians/Soviets would use threats and bribes (and occasionally force) to compel Afghan rulers to comply with their geopolitical needs, Afghan rulers themselves often deftly manipulated those powers to maintain and extend their own power.

The pattern followed by Afghan leaders from the nineteenth century to the present day is remarkably similar in the respect that most have relied upon a rentierist economic model, seeking external aid in order to sustain the cost of security and administration. The plan of modern rulers was to warm Afghanistan with the heat generated by the great power conflicts without getting drawn into them directly. Abdurrahman, for example, used British subsidies to fund his military campaigns against rebellious factions; the Musahiban rulers of the mid-twentieth century used American capital to develop its nascent economic infrastructure and Soviet finance to bolster its armed forces; and, following the overthrow of the last royal leader of Afghanistan, Mohamed Daoud, in 1978, the quasi-communist leadership of Babrak Karmal, Hafizullah Amin, Nur Muhammad Taraki, and Mohammad Najibullah during the late 1970s and 1980s relied in the main on Soviet money and military assistance in its ultimately failed attempt to implement socialist policies and put down the American, Saudi and Pakistani-backed mujahidin.

These trends continued into the post-Cold War period in respect to both the Taliban movement (essentially directed and funded by Pakistan), the Northern Alliance (funded largely by former Soviet central Asian states) and the regime of Hamid Karzai (maintained in economic and military terms by the American-led, NATO-operated International Security Assistance Force and the wider international community). In the former cases, occurring in the main in the period of civil war between 1992 and 2001, rentierism was limited to the maintenance of proxy parties and the continuation of conflict.

By contrast, the ISAF mission bore similarities with the Soviet-backed socialist regimes of the 1980s, insofar as it focused huge amounts of capital and military resources on stabilisation and state-building efforts. Both intervening parties made the error of ignoring Afghanistan’s political history and focused their efforts on bolstering the authority of a centralised state, both promoted policies that were deemed ‘universal’ in their application and were, unsurprisingly given such hubris, vulnerable to accusations by Afghan opposition to being alien and imperialistic ideologies, and both expended enormous amounts of blood and treasure in order to sustain the regimes they supported.

The UK’s struggle to locate a coherent strategy for Afghanistan should, therefore, be seen firstly in the light of the historical problematic of Afghan state-building. This is important in narrative terms because difficulties of defining strategy imply similar challenges in explaining strategy. As with its efforts to ‘think’ strategically, Britain’s ability to explain the strategy(ies) for the war in Afghanistan have been frequently criticised by various commentators. The most strategically debilitating aspect of the Afghan campaign has always been the incoherence of the mission’s purpose; indeed the question ‘‘why are we in Afghanistan?’’ has never really been settled in public consciousness. The international community massively underestimated the difficulties of state-building and greatly overstretched themselves in the commitments made to Afghanistan, and that they did so because ‘strategies’ for Afghanistan rested on assumptions of the universal applicability of liberal state-building.

The international community from the start (meaning from the Bonn Conference of late 2001) fundamentally misunderstood the nature of an Afghan society deeply ravaged by decades of conflict, and failed to foresee the malign effects state-building ventures would have on the country. Specifically, the Bonn Conference, which set out the parameters of the post-invasion Afghan state, implemented a centralised state system onto a state whose experience of such was limited, and where the success of such a system in extending its authority beyond the major cities was predicated on coercion and the use of force.

Historically this has rarely been a credible option for Afghan rulers or their international backers, and was even less so under the self-imposed restrictions of liberal war-fighting and state-building. Rather, re-creating a centralised state required Afghan and international actors to enter into the same methods of co-optation and compromise as those of the past; in necessitating these kind of measures – as opposed to implementing a looser, federal system of governance – the centralisation of the Afghan state paved the way for a reconstitution of a ruling order based on tribal elements and ‘strongmen’. This produced something of a paradox for state-builders, as the creation of a strong, central state capable of implementing liberal policies across Afghanistan came at the cost of entering into alliances with ‘warlords’ known for their illiberal and coercive political approaches and illicit economic activities.

Another unintended but unavoidable consequence of centralised state-building identified by scholars is the re-constitution of the rentier state in Afghanistan. Post-Bonn, Afghanistan returned to its historical norm of maintaining the state via the extraction of external security and development rents, without which it would almost certainly implode due to the ruinous state of its economy and taxation system. Studies have shown that his new rentierism differed from previous patronage systems at the state level insofar as it was fuelled by an unprecedented influx of capital and resources into the country. This had the effect of introducing regulated systems of ‘neo-patrimonalism’, where departments were to be distributed as rewards to the various factions that took part in the Bonn conference, and there had to be enough rewards to go around.

In other words, the structure of the post-invasion Afghan state was, to a great extent, defined not by the demands of good governance, the needs of the country or the demands of post-conflict stabilisation and reconstruction – the purposes for which the centralised model was chosen to promote – but rather by the first-order need to avoid the derailment of the centralised state by co-opting regional power brokers.

Because of the imperative of shoring up a nascent state by securing support from potential competitors, the gulf between the ends of liberal state-building and the illiberal means required to facilitate its functioning can therefore be seen to a certain extent as inevitable.

A major issue, however, was that the patrimonial linkages created by the state for its regional proxies was not comprehensive, as it did not extend to the Taliban’s Pashtun heartland and, as such, fuelled resentment and alienation as much as they placated and co- opted extra-state power brokers. Key players in the Northern Alliance - the primarily Tajik opposition to the Taliban - received prestigious posts within the state, whilst the predominantly Pashtun Taliban were themselves excluded from such arrangements. Because those rewarded by the state tended to be given ministerial or governorial roles in cities, the conflict dynamic tended to reflect an urban – rural divide similar to that of the Soviet occupation. Along this reading, the neo-Taliban insurgency was in many ways a product of the political miscalculations and deficiencies of post-invasion state- building activities.

Given this starting point, such a view concludes that the strategic problems encountered by the international community in Afghanistan were, to a large degree, problems created by (or at the very least exacerbated by) the state-builders themselves. They misread Afghan politics in a way that reflected their own philosophical assumptions about the state and society.

Strategy in Afghanistan suffered because the coalition effort, comprised of multiple national actors and the United Nations, rarely took on the form of a unified effort. Part of the reason for this was a divergence of opinion between actors as to the ultimate purpose – counter-terrorism or state-building – of the intervention.

In the first years of the Afghan campaign, the United States’ Bush Administration remained staunchly opposed to what it called ‘nation building’ and opted instead to pursue a policy of capture- or-kill missions against suspected terrorists. For the United Nations and most of the United States’ European NATO allies, however, state-building was considered a necessary element of any counter-terrorist strategy. This difference of opinion was manifest from the start by the creation of two parallel missions – the US-led, counter-terrorism-focused Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and the stabilisation missions of the European Union, United Nations (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)) and NATO (International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)) – engaged in seemingly incompatible aims of military prosecution and peace building.

Opinion on the impact of this dual approach varies. Some scholars have noted, along lines similar to those critiquing the state-building efforts of the international community that the approach taken by the UN, EU and ISAF was too ambitious, naïve and unrealistic, and therefore bound to fall short of their liberal political and economic goals. Both Europe and these international agencies ignored the necessity of paring down the international community’s state-building efforts to core, security-centric capacity building within the Afghan National Security Forces. But of course one can make the counter argument, as many have of course, that on the contrary it was the insufficiencies of state-building approaches vis-à-vis OEF’s counter-terrorist approach that led to subsequent failures in UN and ISAF efforts; specifically, that a disproportionate focus on counter-terrorism missions meant that opportunities of peace- building were irreparably compromised.

Within NATO there was a division not just of opinions but also one of mission relating to different political perspectives about the purpose of the Afghan mission and its ultimate referent object – whether it was primarily about the interests of the coalition member states or concerned in the main with Afghanistan itself – and, from that, the methods to be employed in pursuit of one or another objective. This was not merely a debate bounded by strategic necessity, however; rather, such debates stemmed as much from institutional disagreements over who would or could do what in Afghanistan, which in turn arose from the differences in political constitutions and cultural attitudes towards counterinsurgency and counter- terrorism.

These ‘national caveats’ or ‘red cards’ of participation created significant problems for NATO in Afghanistan, both political, in terms of the relations between states and the abiding sense amongst some that others were ‘free-riding’ on the collective security system and, and strategic and operational, in the sense that command-and-control capabilities and cohesion between forces were limited by the engagement restrictions placed on certain armed forces. Indeed, the disproportionate burden placed on combat-oriented states like the United States, the United Kingdom, and several new member states in Eastern Europe led to political statements denouncing Europe’s perceived transgressors of collective security participation; former US Defence Secretary Robert Gates argued, for example, that NATO had effectively become a ‘two-tier alliance’ ‘between members who specialise in ‘soft’ humanitarian, development, peacekeeping and talking tasks and those conducting the ‘hard’ combat missions - between those willing and able to pay the price and bear the burdens of alliance commitments, and those who enjoy the benefits of NATO membership... but don’t want to share the risks and the costs’.

A lack of strategic unity was the natural consequence of a structural compromise that produced two distinct strategic authorities that were, in many ways, competing with one another. Along similar lines to the political arrangements between the Afghan state and its regional proxies, the NATO alliance structure can be seen (and evidently is seen by officials such as Gates) as patrimonial: states participated on the basis of fulfilling their own interests and along operational lines that were complementary to those interests, for the purposes of securing an alliance structure that accommodated all participants ahead of the imperative of creating a coherent strategy for stabilising Afghanistan. As with the neo-patrimonialism of the Karzai regime NATO’s efforts would be dictated by the limitations imposed upon it by circumstance.

Thus, in the cases of Afghanistan’s and the international community’s internal political dynamics, strategy was confined by the structure of the Afghan state and society, the structure of the international community and NATO, and the interplay between those structures. The implication here is that the agency required for the possibility of a workable strategy may have been illusory from the start.

Leaving Afghanistan was never going to be pretty, but the latest turn is uglier than expected.

No one quite expected the speed of collapse within the Afghan National Army to hold of attacks of the Taliban. I don’t think it’s do with the lack of training or their professional skills is lacking (though there may be some truth in it). A big driver in the collapse is the money for wages, food and medical care for troops is syphoned to Dubai, so the Afghans who want to fight, and there are quite a few who hate the Taliban, get less replenishment than the 6th army in the last weeks of Stalingrad. They have arms, ammo and boots for this season only and that is it. Both money and morale are in short supply for these soldiers.

If I was a trained soldier in the Afghan National Army I would desert. I would say to them abandon the fixed defences these ‘ferenghis’ (foreigners) have gifted you and move to the hills and seek refuge with your tribal clan, who will be glad of the arms and experience you bring. Or get over the border if you are lucky to be in the North, if in the West you hire yourself to the Narcos in the badlands on the Iran border. Most other places it is either a last stand or defection, your Government and their relatives have already got their planes fuelled up in Kabul ready to move to their villa complexes in the UAE.

I’m being a trifle cynical but for good reason. Everyone who has been to Afghanistan sees the veil lifted on the corruption of aid and how the elites protect themselves ahead of defending the masses who bear the brunt of the bloodshed.

The corruption has been endemic from the get go, but the international community ignored it all for 'progress'. Any Afghan politico you hear on the media complaining about the West abandoning Afghanistan has at least $30 million parked in Dubai that should have gone to the soldiers, teachers, doctors, builders etc.

As spectacular as the collapse of the Afghan National Army has been it’s been even more scarier seeing how swift the Taliban has been in taking over vital provincial areas through propaganda, civilian intimidation, and rapid attacks. One by one, the Taliban has been taking over areas in a number of provinces in northern Afghanistan in recent weeks. The Taliban says it has taken control of 90 districts across the country since the middle of May. Some were seized without a single shot fired.

The UN's special envoy on Afghanistan, Deborah Lyon put the figure lower, at 50 out of the nation's 370 districts, but feared the worst was yet to come. Most districts that have been taken surround provincial capitals, suggesting that the Taliban are positioning themselves to try and take these capitals once all foreign forces are fully withdrawn. On a map, it's easy to see the point Lyon is making. A stark example is Mazar-i-Sharif, the biggest city in the north and a significant power centre in its own right. It was the rock upon which the Northern Alliance fought against the Taliban.

It is significant the Taliban are kicking off this offensive in the north, not their heartland in the south and east. The north was the toughest part of the country for them to crack last time. Their expectation is if they have victory there, success will flow much easier in their traditional homelands further south.

The strategy of taming the north extends to emasculating and profiting from trade routes to neighbours. On Monday night they captured the important border town of Shir Khan Bandar, Afghanistan's main crossing into Tajikistan. Earlier in the day, top Tajik government officials had met to discuss concerns about the growing instability next door. There is no indication that the Taliban intend to take their fight north of the border, but in the past Tajikistan has been a vital conduit for supplies flowing to the militants' northern enemies.

The last time the Taliban controlled the city was 20 years ago, when they left hundreds of captives in steel trucking containers to suffocate and die in the scorching desert heat. Now, the militants are back at the city gates once again, as part of a lightning offensive against Afghan government forces that has set alarm bells ringing from Kabul to Washington. So it should worry us all where will all this lead to.

America's drawdown seems to be the game changer. The Taliban have been beaten back several times in recent years, notably from Kunduz in 2015. The Taliban captured it briefly before US airstrikes were called in. Civilian casualties were high but the militants were driven out. The militant group has never been able to withstand the heavy US and NATO air assaults backing Afghan ground forces, but now the US and NATO are leaving, so is much of the threat of sophisticated and sustained air power. And the Taliban are well aware of this.

It seems to me behind the choice of withdrawal by the Biden government lies a bigger assumption that drives that choice. That is the Taliban militants' perceived desire for international recognition. This has been the mantra underpinning the American exit. The logic of the American argument has been simple: The Taliban wouldn't renege on their agreements with the US because they crave international acceptance. The events of this past week and more appear to blow a hole in that assumption.

Another assumption that’s currently being blown out of the water is the US establishing some presence outside of Afghanistan so that if it needs to intervene again to combat terrorism or flush out militants then it can do so from the safety of a neighbouring country. But so far no country has come forward to reciprocate. And why would they? Like the Afghans, no one likes foreign troops with boots on the ground in their country. Only the central Asian republics and possibly Pakistan would come close to allowing that but there would be a political cost those governments would pay with their people. Moreover by welcoming the Americans in, they also allow the militants to target that country too.

Another assumption is the nature of the Taliban support and links to terrorist groups. The U.S. may not face any serious post-withdrawal Afghan support of extremist threats to the United States, even if the Taliban does take over. It is all too true that the Taliban continues to talk to the remnants of Al Qaeda, as do elements of the Pakistani military. It is unclear, however, that these remnants of Al Qaeda focus on attacks on the U.S., and the Taliban does seem to oppose ISIS. It is also unclear that the Taliban will host other extremist movements that focus on attacking the U.S. or states outside the region.

It is unclear that any key element of the Taliban has an interest in such attacks on the United States. Even Al Qaeda now focuses largely on objectives inside Islamic countries, and it is unclear that some other major extremist force will emerge in Afghanistan that do not focus on regional threats and on taking over vulnerable, largely Islamic states.

At the same time, one needs to be careful about the assumption that the U.S. can defeat any such threats by launching precision air and missile strikes against extremist targets. It is unclear that the forces in Afghanistan involved in any small covert attacks on the U.S. will be easy to target and cripple if they do emerge. The Taliban is unlikely to tolerate major training camps and facilities for extremist forces, and any such strikes will present major problems for the U.S. if the extremist threat consists of scattered small facilities and small expert cadres that shelter among the Afghan population.

It is also far from clear that more intense U.S. air attacks on Taliban forces from outside Afghanistan will have any decisive effects. The loss of limited numbers of Taliban fighters as well as some key Taliban leaders and facilities will not offset the pace of their victories in the countryside or enable the central government to survive. A continuing U.S. ability to target and kill some key Taliban leaders and fighters also does not mean that the risk of such strikes will deter future Taliban willingness to let small, extremist strike groups conduct well-focused, well-planned strikes on U.S. or allied territory, especially if such groups in Afghanistan sponsor attacks on the U.S. or it strategic partner by strike units or cadres based in other countries.

At the same time, it does seem more likely that the Taliban, and/or any independent extremist groups, will focus largely on Iran, Pakistan, Russia, China, and the other “-Stans.”

Going forward I think we need to re-evaluate many of our assumptions about the war in Afghanistan.

The objectives of the Authorised Use of Military Force approved by the US Congress in 2001 have long been accomplished. Once Osama bin Laden was killed in Operation Neptune Spear in 2011, the last element of the AUMF was met. The American and British mission in Afghanistan was complete. But America and Britain did not leave because we wanted to do a spot of state building to curb the spread of militant islamist terror. That was a mistake as it turned out.

Post-Neptune Spear, The American, the British, and their allies’ conventional mission should have been ended, adopting instead a laser focus on intelligence collection and offensive special operations to prevent al-Qaeda (or any terrorist organisation) from re-establishing safe havens and training areas.

What was needed for an acceptable ‘victory’ and a ‘saving face’ withdrawal was to embrace the use of Afghan Militia Forces the same way the Allies did for our initial entry way back in 2001.

In 2001, Western powers won the initial military engagement in 42 days using special operations forces with local and regional allies - we need to return to this format - and through a combination of special operations and specific information operations efforts, regaining the high ground and influence over ‘centres of gravity’. The issue is not the number of troops, but the mission of the forces there. Once the mission is defined, the number of forces needed would be clear.

It has never been about the number of troops - it’s been about the lack of an achievable mission assigned to our forces in Afghanistan.

The US engaged in ‘nation-building’ for the wrong reasons - and has seen bad results. We installed Hamid Karzai, served as his praetorian guard to protect the new central government and abandon our AMF allies and attempted to build a large, bulky, expensive and ineffective Afghan National Army - a force that is now evaporating before our eyes. It was folly.

Americans will never make the Afghan people more like them - nor will they be able to instil what my American colleagues used to fondly refer to as ‘a Jeffersonian democracy’ in Afghanistan. That day may come but only when the Afghan people wish it to be so. Lest it be forgotten Americans sought independence in 1776; the Afghan people seek self-reliance and independence from foreign influence. This is their defining historical DNA: escape from any outside control.

The Afghan people are not ungoverned, they are self-governed - with no tradition of central democracy and no desire for our version of democracy or ‘prosperity’. By pushing ‘prosperity’ we had become targets for both the Afghan government and the Taliban. This has ended, but we must draw a distinction between the end of nation-building and the continuation of our own interests in Afghanistan and the region.

It is time to adopt a practical policy based on what will work and is in our allied interests, rather than by funding the aspirations of progressive politicians who have no real understanding of Afghanistan.

First, we must establish a clear post-‘state-building’ strategy - with achievable objectives. We must return to the policy and operational format we know will work - cooperation with Afghan tribal leaders and militia. This type of force was used to achieve the initial victory in 2001. Empowered warlords and regional leaders were the force multiplier that worked as the Afghan Militia Forces - and can again, in partnership with our Special Operations Forces work now. Intelligence collection and limited military operations should be our focus.

There is no way around it. One has to play the Great Game. Think tribal rather than central. Afghan nationhood is a liberal Western wet dream.

The central government is weak and corrupt just like all the other rulers of the past. The Afghan National Army is not as strong as it is on paper. It can hardly prop itself up rather than any government. Most of the Afghan National Army troops have stronger tribal loyalties than to the concept of a nation. Since the tribal chiefs play both sides to hedge their bets, it's no wonder 'their' people do what they're told. The Taliban know this because that has always been the Afghan way, so the tribes go with them. Provided the Taliban honour their promises to the tribal chiefs, the Taliban can do what they want.

On one hand, the tribes won't now be too bothered by central government and have a large pool of Western-trained troops to prop them up. On the other hand, they now have to do business formally with the Taliban again. Largely in order to get their hands on Western-supplied aid that will surely follow after the Americans leave.

Second, we must accept the reality of Pakistani influence in Afghanistan - and work with the Pakistanis to counter al-Qaeda and the other militants now attacking Pakistani targets within Pakistan. Pakistan has made great advances in securing the tribal areas on the other side of the border and they have always been the de facto control of much of the Taliban force capacity, such as the Haqqani network. Working with Pakistan is the best option within the current circumstance.

‘Endless wars’ are not an American value. The use of the US military must only be used in response to genuine threats, when American interests are at stake or lives in danger. Withdrawal of conventional military forces and discontinuing nation building is in the US interest: leaving Afghanistan is not.

Third, make Afghanistan China’s problem. Afghanistan could easily become a hotbed for growing Islamic extremism, which would to some extent affect stability in Xinjiang.

It is not without reason that Afghanistan is known as the “graveyard of empires”. The ancient Greeks, the Mongols, the Mughals, the British, the Soviet Union and most recently the US have all launched vainglorious invasions that saw their ambitions and the blood of their soldiers drain into the sand. But after each imperial retreat, a new tournament of shadows begins. With the US pulling out of Afghanistan, China is casting an anxious gaze towards its western frontier and pursuing talks with an ascendant Taliban. The burning questions are not only whether the Taliban can fill the power vacuum created by the US withdrawal but also whether China - despite its longstanding policy of “non-interference” - may become the next superpower to try to write a chapter in Afghanistan’s history.

Beijing has held talks with the Taliban and although details of the discussions have been kept secret, government officials, diplomats and analysts from Afghanistan, India, China and the US said that crucial aspects of a broad strategy were taking shape. An Indian government official said China’s approach was to try to rebuild Afghanistan’s shattered infrastructure in co-operation with the Taliban by channelling funds through Pakistan, one of Beijing’s firmest allies in the region. China is Pakistan’s wallet.

It has been reported that Beijing has been insisting that the Taliban limit its ties with groups that it said were made up of Uyghur terrorists in return for such support. The groups, which Beijing refers to as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, are an essential part of China’s security calculus in the region. The ETIM groups were estimated by the UN Security Council last year to number up to 3,500 fighters, some of whom were based in a part of Afghanistan that borders China. Both the UN and the US designated the ETIM as terrorists in 2002 but Washington dropped its classification last year. China has accused the ETIM of carrying out multiple acts of terrorism in Xinjiang, its north-western frontier region, where Beijing has kept an estimated 1m Uyghur and other minority peoples in internment camps.

In a clear indication of Beijing’s determination to counter the ETIM, Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, exhorted counterparts from the central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan this year to co-operate to smash the group. “We should resolutely crack down on the ‘three evil forces’ [of extremism, terrorism and separatism] including the East Turkestan Islamic Movement,” Wang said in May according to Chinese news media which I follow.

The importance of this task derived in part from the need to protect large-scale activities and projects to create a safe Silk Road. Silk Road is one of the terms that Chinese officials use to refer to the Belt and Road Initiative, the signature foreign policy strategy of President Xi Jinping to build infrastructure and win influence overseas.

An important part of China’s motivation in seeking stability in Afghanistan is protecting existing BRI projects in Pakistan and the central Asian states while potentially opening Afghanistan to future investments. China would have to more actively support efforts to ensure political stability in Afghanistan. So make them work for it. Western powers need to leverage China’s problems in Xinjiang to be more active in Afghanistan.

International media outlets and intelligence agencies worldwide have been circulating reports pointing toward the creation of a Chinese military base in the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province for a while now. Although China has not embarked on militarisation programs on foreign soil historically, and has profusely denied the rumours about building an Afghan “mountain brigade,” China’s first overseas military base in Djibouti provides an example of China’s newly adopted strategy of leveraging economic influence to further its strategic objectives. There’s even some chatter amongst Chinese officials that Beijing may entertain the idea of being part of a future UN international force should one be needed in Afghanistan (a bad idea but hey, let China find out first hand for itself).

The Afghan government was able to maintain a measure of stability largely because of the superiority of US air support. The drones, gunships, helicopters and heavy air artillery were unmatched by the Taliban. But when the US leaves, that advantage will evaporate. China’s imperative to create overland trade routes to Europe and the Middle East may draw it inevitably into Afghanistan’s domestic strife.

Of course China’s forward policy in the Wakhan Corridor needs to be assessed with a critical eye. Although on one level it seems to be motivated primarily by the threat of radicalisation, China’s interest in the region is also contingent on the strategic role that Afghanistan is capable of playing in the larger scheme of things. Despite China’s vehement denial, there seems to be sufficient evidence available indicating a definite military build up in the region, which provides China with an opportunity to showcase its ability to transform into a balancing force in the regional dynamics. I think that is a trade off that both America and Europe can afford to concede under the current circumstances.

In conclusion In the face of failure, there is an impulse to move on and not ask “what led to this?” But to avoid a reckoning with our follies is to risk their repetition, or worse.

it is probably too late to salvage either the civil or military situation in Afghanistan. It almost certainly is too late to salvage it with limited in-country U.S. forces, outside U.S. airpower and intelligence assets, and with no real peace agreement or functional peace process. Limited military measures are not the answer, and neither is simply reinforcing the past processes of failure. Tragic as it may be, withdrawal may not solve anything and may well make conditions worse for millions of Afghans, but reinforcing failure is not a meaningful strategy.

I do feel strongly that both the American and British governments must establish a clear path of redemption so that those who served and the families who sacrificed loved ones know that their loss was not wasted. At the same time our civilian governments must limit missions to intelligence collection and counter-terrorism missions that will prevent the metastasis of al-Qaeda or Isis in the region should the Afghan government fall. How we balance these two is going to be very interesting to follow in the next chapter in Afghanistan’s tortured history.

I apologise for the length of this post. This has been a hard post to write because of the subject matter and the many conflicted emotions and memories I have of my time in Afghanistan. I wish I had all the answers but I suppose the beginning of wisdom would be to know how to ask the right questions. Because we didn’t ask the right questions when we went in, we ended up making a real mess of it.

There is an understandable desire to bring all our allied troops home safe and that not another life is lost there. Yet I doubt this policy of withdrawing all troops will bring peace to anyone, not to us and most of all, the Afghanis themselves. As always in war it is the native population that will bear the real cost of war, in this case women, girls, and others brutalised under Taliban rule. What lies for them if the Taliban regain power to govern the country in their image is something I care not to imagine but retain a deep foreboding of their continued suffering. Ordinary Afghanis just want a respite from war and have a chance to live in peace, but without having us foreigners or the Taliban around. It is hard to imagine that happening at all. Our desire to save our soldiers’ lives set against ordinary Afghanis being left at the mercy of the Taliban is one of those humbling and brutalising trade offs that any war can only offer.

Near the end of his famed novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald described two of his privileged characters, Tom and Daisy, as “careless people” who “smashed up things and creatures” and then “retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness” to “let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

That description applies to America as a whole but also to we Brits and other Europeans, especially when we tire of a misguided war. Americans and we Brits are a careless people. In both Iraq and Afghanistan, we smashed up things and human beings with abandon, only to retreat into our materialism. No scratch that, returning soldiers retreated into themselves struggling with PTSD whilst the rest of our citizenry carried on with their own material struggles and their insipid culture wars. The point is we always leave others to clean up the mess in a very bloody fashion that never troubles our conscience.

Count on us, probably sooner rather than later, doing precisely the same thing in Afghanistan. Again.

Thanks for your question

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lozzypoz321 · 4 years ago

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Word count: 2.2k

A/N: I’m so sorry I haven’t posted in so long!!! But I am quite surprised that my current 200 followers (wow) haven’t unfollowed by now but this is my 200 celebration fic even though I’m a bit late- also I’m sorry if this sucks I just haven’t written in ages! Please bare with me! Kindly proofread by @canadianhufflepuffavenger 💗

Warnings: angst, past break up

Your real dad

Steve tightened his grip around your draw-string bag that he had convinced you to part ways with, as you, him and your mother made your way into the tower. He was dreading the reunion with Bucky after not seeing the team for about 2 weeks. You were practically bouncing on your feet to see your real dad. While Steve was there watching you treat your dad like a hero but not even spare him a glance.

Your family relationship was complicated yet simple at the same time: you hated your mom but tolerated her, loved your dad with all your heart, hated your stepdad as much as he tried, treated Peter like your brother and Thor exactly like your uncle.

Why did you hate your stepdad so much?

Well, first of all, he pretended like he was your real dad and tried to do all of the things with you that you and Bucky did together. Second, he always stole all your moms attention and made you feel like you were alone (whether he meant it or not)

The elevator door dinged, indicating that the three of you had reached your floor where currently Bucky, Thor, Tony, Natasha and Sam were hanging out, waiting for your “family”. The others were in the kitchen, trying to get a sneak taste of the food that had been ordered.

“Dad!” You yelled and raced up to the super soldier, he broke out into a grin and picked you up off the ground to invade you into a bone-breakinghug. “Hiya doll face.”

You grinned back at him and got down from his arms briefly to run across the room to retrieve your drawstring back so you could show your dad your new spiderman action figure that had been bought by your cousin Peter.

“Look! Look!”

He smirked slightly at your excited demeanour as you held up the toy as high as you could while jumping up and down for him to see. Once he’d figured out who the character was, you had already gone running off to see what Wanda and Vision had baked in one of the many kitchens.

“Hey Buck” Steve acknowledged as friendly as he could, it wasn’t that the two ‘friends’ hated each other, but there was definitely some tension in the room as the two sat parallel. Tony cleared his throat and mentioned something about having a cough as he quickly left the room.

“I better see where he got off to” Natasha and your mother said at exactly the same time, not wanting to experience what they thought was about to go down.

“Hi Steve” the older soldier greeted back, not sure what the intentions of the conversation were exactly. In the tower, the history between both soldiers and your mother was known but not really spoke of- Bucky dated your mother for quite a while (almost four entire years), and got her pregnant with you, but- as everybody was sure to know- all good things must come to an end- and the two broke up on good terms. That was before Steve Rogers himself got involved at a certain billionaire’s party when they realized they were (and this is in your mother's words) “meant for each other.”

“I’m erm, here to speak to you about something.” As if the awkwardness present in the room was no longer enough before, by now it was almost too much. Thor and Sam took the most obvious hint and left the room in search of something else to occupy their time.

“Well, you’re free to speak-“ Bucky was interrupted by the loud sound of laughing from behind the wooden door and almost instantly after a hushing sound. The two men had completely different reactions to this, Steve was utmostly confused, both eyebrows scrunching together, while Bucky’s face held a small smile. He knew exactly who was trying to eavesdrop and it just proved how much Steve did not know his stepdaughter from the fact he didn’t immediately know. “(Y/N),” he called out, the humour evident in his voice, “Parker, we know you're out there.”

“Awww, Peter you gave our secret identities up!”

By now Steve had caught on to the two of you and laughed lightly, trying to cover up the fact that his only chance to ask Bucky his question alone, was interrupted.

The wooden door creaked open, revealing Peter, dressed up in his spiderman suit for dramatic effect and you with a bandana on, which you thought made you look like a ninja and you held your action figure tightly in your left hand.

“(Y/N), you know it’s rude to eavesdrop” Steve scolded you, trying to be firm. You ignored him and shrugged your shoulders before going to follow the scent of Chinese food.

“Doll,” your dad stopped you “don’t ignore people, you know not to do that” he stood up from his spot on the sofa and began to also make his way to the kitchen, you right beside him muttering a small “okay dad.”

Steve tried not to let his heart sink as his best friend walked away. He would just have to try and get Bucky alone at another point in the night. If he didn’t get an answer, then he would have no use for the small box that was sitting in his trouser pocket.

“Bonjour,” Clint greeted the two of you as you both arrived for food, the island set up with enough plastic plates for everyone (Tony couldn’t be bothered with hiring people to wash normal, expensive ones multiple times a day)

Your mother smiled at you from the other side of the kitchen, but she was immediately confused when you didn’t smile back. The reason you had not, is because you had a feeling you knew exactly what question your stepdad had for Bucky and did not at all like the sound of it.

“Fries?” Bruce offered, tilting the box of food towards you. You nodded gratefully and grabbed a handful. The conversations at the table were mixed; Thor ranting passionately about the food at his home planet, Tony mumbling something about not even being hungry anyway (you thought he was just being salty since he didn’t get his Shawarma), Bucky and Sam having a silent argument across the table, and Peter was busy singing Christmas songs in his best Santa Claus voice.

“Have a holly jolly Christmas, and in case you didn’t seeeee” Natasha rolled her eyes dramatically at the teenager making everyone laugh.

“Hey don’t get annoyed at me! Everyone loves Christmas!”

You used to love Christmas before your parents separated and you weren’t allowed to spend the holiday with your dad.

“I don’t like Christmas,” your dad shrugged half mindedly while taking a sip of his soda. Peter looked at him like he had two heads and exclaimed in shock, “that impossible!”

“It ain’t kid,” Bucky chuckled while your mother shifted in her seat uncomfortably, realizing the reasoning.

While you worked your way through the pile of noodles, Thor’s incessant ranting came to an end, and the teenager had seemingly run out of songs, the group of superheroes decided to hang out in the living room and watch a movie before you, Steve and your mother had to go home.

“Which one?” Nat asked the room while holding up two movies, the nightmare before Christmas and the corpse bride. Both Halloween movies, neither particularly scary.

“How could one have a nightmare on the day before Christmas? Surely that is against the rules of the Holiday Christmas, that is based on happiness?” Thor asked, earning a quizzical look from you. “Stop tryna act like Shakespeare big man” Tony laughed while grabbing a handful of popcorn and shoving it all into his mouth.

Steve ignored the billionaire, and while no one seemed to be paying attention he directed his attention to Bucky, swallowing nervously. “Hey Buck, can I speak to you for a sec outside?”

Confusion spread over the soldier’s face for a split second before complying and getting up from the couch with Steve as discreetly as possible as to not raise suspicion from the rest of the team and you.

“What’s up?” He asked once they’d reached the hallway outside, he didn’t know what was up with the younger man but he could easily tell that he’d been acting nervous around himself and your mom.

“Um, I have a question, you don’t have to say yes or no or anything-“

“Your ranting.”

He stopped and thought for a second, wondering how to put it. “I know it’s been complicated recently, and I know this might make it worse with all your history with (Y/M/N) and (Y/N) but I really do love both of them and since (Y/M/N)’s parents passed a while ago, there’s no one to really ask for their blessing so I guess I’m here to ask you, can I have your blessing to propose to (Y/M/N)?”

Bucky stood emotionless for a second, not knowing how to react. He wasn’t sure whether to be happy for Steve and support him or to be angry. He had both reasonable attributes for each option but was cut short when he heard the sound of a door banging against its hinges on the floor above.

Both of your dad’s eyebrows scrunched together, who was that? Everyone in the tower knew not to do it because Tony despised it, and everyone with a brain knew that when Tony got annoyed, bad things happened.

Then almost instantly after the door entering the living room revealing an awkward Loki “I’m sorry to interrupt this conversation but your daughter slash stepdaughter, just ran upstairs in tears so if you could quickly wrap this little moment up, it would be greatly appreciated”

Bucky’s heart stopped, why were you crying?

He and Steve completely forgot about their previous conversation and quickly headed upstairs, nearly running Peter over in the process coming from the toilet. But just as they reached the door where you normally stayed when you came for sleepovers, Bucky stopped and put a finger to his lips.

“I think I should go in.” Instead of arguing, and saying that it would be good ‘bonding time’ to get you to like him, Steve silently agreed and let your dad go in.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he gently closed the door behind himself, instantly catching sight of you sat on the carpeted floor, furiously wiping your eyes with the sleeve of your hoodie.

“Hey, hey, don’t hurt yourself,” he took ahold of both of your wrists and set them down on your lap, “why’re you crying doll?”

Tears continued to stream unapologetically down your cheeks, you didn’t know how to tell him. That you had snuck out of the living room to see where the two had gone and then eavesdropped into their conversation, and once hearing your stepdad (who you did not like at all) was going to become a permanent part of your life, ran off crying.

“I don’t wanna talk about it” you shook your head, making him sigh. “Please tell me, I wanna know why. You trust me right (Y/N)?”

The simple nod was all he needed, yet his heart still ached. Seeing his only daughter in tears and didn’t trust him enough to tell him why? It was heartbreaking for him. “I don’t want him to marry mom,” you quietly admitted, “the only reason I’m still allowed to see you is because she thinks I still need a father figure, so now he’s gonna be here forever I won’t be- I won’t be able to see you anymore.”

He sighed deeply, trying to find a way to comfort you. “You will, I promise. I’ll always be apart of your life doll. No one can ever take you away from me because you're my daughter and I love you so so much, m’kay?”

You sniffled and wiped the final tears from your cheeks. “Okay.”

Before you could both get up and return downstairs to finish the movie, Bucky stopped you and lifted you up to whisper something to you.

Once he had finished you pulled back and nodded hesitantly, realizing that you should put your grudge behind you and face a fear.

Your dad and you returned outside, Steve waiting patiently while resting on the wall, gently smiling at you to make sure you were okay.

“Go on doll,” Bucky quietly urged, making you take a deep breath and just go for it.

“I give you my blessing to marry mom.” Steve’s heart skipped multiple beats as his brain tried to process what you had said. You’d finally accepted him into your life?

He broke out into a grin, trying to form words to thank you without seeming like this meant the absolute world to him. “Thank you (Y/N). I appreciate it so much.”

Bucky was proud of you for taking a leap and letting Steve into your life when you were scared. He realized at that moment that even if you did have a dad and a stepdad at the same time, he’d fulfilled his role already.

Taglist: @marvel-ous-hobbit @snarky--starky @rae-is-typing @stargazingfangirl18 @canadianhufflepuffavenger @herecomesthewriterwitch @every-marveler-ever @hera-the-writer @lovers-in-japan-reign-of-love @just-one-ordinary-fangirl @rooskaya-yelena @deephideoutmilkshake @kidney9-9 @js3639 @am3l1a-24 @bonkybarnes107 @ilovemarvel-andcats @sapphireplums @deannawallacee @keenmarvellover @garbage-potato @mollbt @spookybooisa

#dad!bucky #bucky x daughter!reader #bucky x child!reader #steve x child!reader #steve rogers x daughter!reader #bucky barnes x daughter!reader #bucky barnes x reader #Bucky Barnes #Steve Rogers #avengers x child!reader #avengers x platonic!reader #bucky x y/n

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angel-anoetic · 3 years ago

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*pops out of the void with a sharp thwack* Hey. Your writing is awesome and I'm trying desperately to ignore cannon right now. Could you do something with Foolish and Reader is the leader of this tribe who needed a place to live and is also very practical and when he's douting the point of his builds they're like "Of course they have a point we live here. ... And they bring you joy." And it's all very fluffy with Reader kicking Foolish's insecurities in the face? Thanks *drops into the void*

*waves* ayup! i love this and i will do my best to deliver! this request has so much energy, i love it. i think there will be implied feelings, but in general you can see this as plat or rom. thanks for the request!! *hunches over the computer for next three hours*

Don't forget to like to save and reblog to share!!

c!Foolish x gn!Reader - Savior

genre: /plat or /rom

warnings: none! (let me know if i missed something)

masterlist <3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had guided your people for nearly three weeks. The desert stretched farther than some of them ever could have imagined. With each passing day, it became harder to feed them, provide them water, and offer reassurance that new land would be waiting for them come the next few days.

It was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the twenty-second day when you and your guards stumbled upon a man while looking for food or water. Well, man wouldn't be the right word to describe the one who stood before you. His eyes gleamed like that of emeralds, and he stood much taller and larger than anyone could really tell. His skin carried streaks of gold, and he had gills placed strategically around him. He carried a trident, which he proudly held up against you and your guardsmen.

"Who are you, and why are you so far out here?" He barked, the trident in his hands facing you headfirst.

Your guardsmen placed their weapons at stand-by towards him, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

You signaled them to stand down, then faced the person standing in front of you.

"I am Y/N, leader of the Trainquales. We do not mean to disturb you nor your land, we are simply searching for a new home, a place we can settle for a time. Who are you, stranger?"

He lowered his weapon, still gripping it tightly. "I am Foolish, Totem of Undying and...other titles. Excuse my aggression, I was caught off guard. It's not often I see people out here."

You chuckled and opened your arms. "Still, my apology stands. It has been so long since we've seen another face, especially like one of yourself. I ask you to follow us, so you may see my people, and join us tonight as we rest."

At this, he began to relax, the grip around his weapon loosening. He looked behind him, then past you. He nodded, the only confirmation you needed.

You began to walk back towards your people, guards the following suit, as Foolish stayed behind the crowd.

"You know, it would be nice to get to know you better. I am one or words rather than action, and I feel we have started on the wrong foot."

For a minute there was silence, then a heavy presence stood next to you.

"Thank you. Now, tell me, how long have you lived out here, alone?"

"Since as far back as I remember. To be fair, I have been around a long time. I'd say beyond 200 years, for sure. How long have you lead your people?"

"I could say the same as you. Except I barely took my position about 11 years ago, not long for someone like my people, but long enough to establish ourselves."

As you crossed the final hill, your people came into view. The burgundy tents glowed as the lanterns adorned them. Your people were like a rumble among the silence of the desert. Some stood around chatting, the mothers sat with the elders and listened to long told stories as children ran around chasing one another. Others were sat around a large campfire, enjoying a small meal, whatever could be spared. Laughing, whispers, giggles fill the cool night air.

You looked over to Foolish who was absolutely entrapped at the scene before him, his eyes glowing.

The night followed, with Foolish enjoying the nightlife of your people. He listened diligently to the stories and laughed along with the elders, even going as far as to play a game of tag with the children. The older kids followed him around, hoping for the chance to hold the trident.

As it came to an end with everyone heading to bed, you stood tall observing your people rest.

Foolish stood next to you, scanning the area.

"You mentioned earlier that you and your people were looking for a place to stay."

"Yes..."

"I think I can help."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day Foolish led you and your people to what he had told you was his summer home. He told you that he could help you and your people, offering shelter and the resources to help them establish themselves. What you hadn't expected was for there to be enough buildings for every family to have their own home.

There were some pre-established fields and in another section, the area was already cleared for new fields to be placed.

As everyone swarmed to pick a home for themselves you watched in amazement. This was exactly what you had been searching for, exactly what you had promised for them.

Foolish appeared by your side and you looked over to him. You placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently.

"Thank you so much. You really have no idea what this really means for us."

He smiled but the look he held within his eyes told you his feelings were indifferent.

"What's wrong?"

"I...I just fear that something like this is not enough. When I met you, I told you I was known by many names. One of those names...I'd rather forget. Since then, I've tried to forget and make up for what I can never take back. And these builds," He paused and looked to you, "for you and your people, I fear it's not enough."

You let out a small laugh. He looked at you, confused.

You couldn't help but let out a larger laugh.

"I am so-so sorry." You began to catch your breath and looked to Foolish who was smiling himself, still confused.

"Oh please, Foolish! You cannot be serious right now! Look at these buildings. There are so many, and they're so perfectly built that my people may finally have spaces of their own for once. You provided us fields, something we've not been able to keep since...decades ago."

A blush set over his features as he looked towards the buildings once more. They gleamed against the mid-day sun and your people rushed everywhere, settling in, tending to their new crops.

"Look, you have already done more in a night and day than I ever could have in a year. And I know you enjoy having them here. They love you, you bring joy to their hearts."

You have him a hug, which he gave back and smiled.

"Thank you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i hope this did your request justice!

#c!foolish x reader #c!foolish gamers x reader #foolish gamers imagine #mcyt fanfiction #mcyt imagine #mcyt x y/n #mcyt x reader #dsmp imagine #dsmp x reader #dsmp foolish imagine #lovely anon #anon request

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iphoenixrising · 3 years ago

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DickTim Week 2021: Day 5 Winged!Talon Tim au

So. another dual prompt and I really regret nothing about this one tbh. I took tomorrow’s Talon and today’s Wings and made a Winged!Talon!Tim fic. Of course, I talked to the wonderful babes on Capes & Coffee about a what if combination and this just, whew. Careful, it might break your heart a little, but damn if it isn’t an interesting idea.

Not beta read, so don't be a hater :D

Previous Talon!Tim universe posts: The initial idea, Babe and I talking it out, Talon Training Ask, Ra’s vs the Court, Talon and Ra’s, Talon and Ra’s take 2, Talon and Shiva short.

Watching B take on the new and improved Talon is really the entertainment of the year.

Once upon a time it had taken all of them plus more to take down as much of the Court of Owls as humanly possible. Of course, like rats, the Bats knew there would be no way to get the entire Court or all the Talons, not when the upper echelons of Gotham had spent the better part of 200 years creating, storing, training, and obtaining more.

Politicians were investigated, corrupt cops removed, and criminals burrowed underground once word of what the capes did to save the day got passed around.

For the first time in years, crime in Gotham was at an all time low.

But, as the coin flip dictates, nothing good lasts forever. Trouble is always brewing below the surface to eventually rise to the top and try to take over.

Case in point:

The Bats of Gotham have come up against a new threat wearing the signature Talon armor, and the call goes out to all available capes for help taking on the undead mercenary before another crime family ends up in the Obituaries rather than Blackgate.

The fact the Court is still up and running after the Batfamily took them down in a fiery blaze that ended with all their Talons gone, Sensei exposed, and most the ruling families imprisoned or poisoned by Lincoln March, is like a kick to the abdomen after they closed that particular book. Worse, with a new Talon soldier is sighted running around Gotham, another circus kid has been kidnapped and turned into the right hand of the Court of Owls. Dick, with his absolute survivors guilt, is the one to make going after the Talon and whoever is still behind the scenes a top priority.

Which is how they find themselves in the middle of Knight’s Stadium facing down a Talon that is too short to be March. Red Hood, Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and Black Bat pretty much got their asses handed to them in the first twelve minutes. Pretty hard to understand until you take into account the new and improved Talon facing them now is terrifying in a completely different way than most undead assassins are.

He knows them.

He knows them in ways that lets him fight fast and furious with vicious accuracy, striking at weaknesses few of the vigilantes of Gotham realized they even had.

He isn't as big as Lincoln or even Cobb, not nearly as old. He hasn't been kept in cryostasis waiting for the next generation to need his skills. He doesn't have creaks in his joints from being put on deep freeze too many times.

This one is silent and efficient, obviously trained in multiple types of martial arts, is highly proficient with or without the standard Talon knives, is a master tactician, counters the majority of their moves with alarming consistency–

and the fucking Talon has wings.

Honest-to-God wings.

Everyone had assumed the metal monstrosities on his back were weapons of some kind, but the glint of steel in the streetlight flash a warning before the lumps moved in an arch, extending far out past his shoulder blades, slicing into Red Hood’s body suit with a razor-sharp edge, shredding the armor like paper.

It’s not enough he’s got weapons obviously made specifically for his skill set, it’s not enough he’s an assassin and doesn’t hold to the same standards of non-lethal combat, it’s not enough that he can use his wings to fly or to fight like he’s using another limb to kick the shit out of them, and it’s not enough that he effortlessly counters so many of their attacks that he has to have some kind of inside information on all of them and their fighting styles.

The knives are definitely a thing when the Talon can throw them hard enough to penetrate parts of their suits in between armored plating, which further drives the theory that this is a person they’ve dealt with before. Intimately. Few people in the world know how their suits are made. Even more, few people know particulars enough when their suits are constantly reconstructed.

The only thing on their side that tipped the scales in their favor–

–the Batman.

The wings threw him off his game, obviously, but not enough to stop B from holding his own with swift and merciless force.

It's like watching a dance of fast and furious fists, blades in Talon's hands glinting deadly in the night, finding B's suit over and over and over until he's made it to blood and bone. He takes every hit the Batman can dish out, head snapping back, left, and right with the volley of jaw-breaking blows and bone-shattering kicks.

None of it gives the Talon pause. When a move makes him drop a blade, another is already in hand, cutting into their body suits, wings flipping out to defend or distract, sweeping moves and well coordinated attacks.

The unnatural appendages are like another arm, another leg, an extension working on the same central nervous system, regardless as to how the Court managed to make it happen.

A jump kick off a trash can is a lucky shot as a wing catches B in the ribs hard enough to knock him into the wall of Mike's Famous Hotdogs. The only thing saving the Dark Knight from a concussion or permanent brain damage is the plating in his cowl.

It gives the Talon enough time to make a final bid for a battered Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin struggling to their feet again, eyes for their fallen mentor.

Before he can lunge forward to start the attack yet again, the Talon just stops, pauses like he’s stuck or something, and in the span of a breath, both wings extend fully, flap powerfully once to propel him up into the Gotham night.

O tries her best to track his flight through the city, but no one’s arms are working well enough to toss a tracker on him.

She loses him over Cape Carmine, slams her palms against her system in frustration, makes sure she gets as much footage from the confrontation as possible.

After some sleep and a whole lot of bandages and ice packs, the Bat family meets in the Cave to watch the footage, breakdown the Talon’s fighting style, his weaponry, and make theories on his identity.

O helps out with readings she has of electronic pulses she managed to capture coming from the armor over his wings. She thinks she might be able to use it to track him if they can get close enough for her equipment to ping the signal again.

B makes a trip to Arkham since Freeze apparently hasn’t stopped producing the formula used to put Talons in cryostasis.

It’s not until Gotham’s power grid has a massive surge that O and the Bats can pinpoint a possible location, all of them invested in one hell of a fight to get the last rats still scurrying in the underground.

The plan of attack comes together smoothly once they’ve scoped out the location, seen the shady activity, and together, they make one hell of a plan.

And because, you know, Gotham, it is completely normal for the Court of Owl's headquarters to have a skylight.

Natch.

For this one, they've got Batgirl and Black Bat, Red Hood and Robin, Nightwing and B, a real family affair.

O's quiet voice over comms leading them through the maze of traps and empty rooms, abandoned libraries and spooky ball rooms. The laboratory isn't the most horrific they've all ever seen (because the Joker's summer place is literally the stuff of nightmares), but a few of them do gag on the smell alone.

The plan, however, goes horribly awry when the clear sounds of tormented screaming echoes from right under their reinforced bootheels.

Black Bat's fists clench hard, her breathing wheezes out when the tone, the utter agony goes right through her.

A shudder slides up Robin's spine as all of them turn toward the noise.

Without a flicker or a word, the Batman moves, strafing in the shadows toward the sound. He can't assume it's an innocent civilian with something the Court wants, but he's betting on the fact that scream will lead them to whoever is running the show.

The medieval room has bars and reinforced locks, implements hanging on the wall. The cement brick is stained rust colored with old blood, the vestiges of training, and the awful realization they've found another hidden niche in the city that always existed right under their noses is punctuated with the abrupt drop in temperature, with the sudden charge in the air, with the zzzzcrack snapping beyond the door, replaced with a muted buzzing Robin can feel in his back teeth.

B is already on his way to the roof, Batgirl down through the floor vent while Nightwing picks the locks with fast precision, knocking the tumblers around.

Robin and Red Hood stay close to the reinforced door, balancing on the balls of their feet, katana and .45s at the ready.

Black Bat takes the high road, ceiling tiles giving way under her Bat-a-rang. She gives a sharp nod before she's up and gone.

"All right. Ready?" Nightwing stands, cracks his neck, flips his escrimas in both hands, works his shoulders to prepare for the strain of each blow he plans to give.

"Ya betcha ass," Hood murmurs low, a cut figure with both guns at his sides, gloved fingers on the trigger guard.

"Don't disappoint," Robin snarls, "either of you."

"Nice pep talk, squirt," Nightwing snickers.

"Tt, back up your mouth with action."

"Better shuddap, Demon. Golden Boy ain't fuckin' 'round. Neither is the Bat. We get one more chance a' this asshole. We ain't gonna blow it again, ya feel me?"

"Finally, something we agree on, Hood."

"Other than N's shitty mullet?"

Nightwing swiftly glares at them both over his shoulder, unconsciously putting himself front and center of the trio, ready to be the first in once they get the signal.

– which is the sound of the glass raining down from the heavens.

Three booted feet kick the door hard enough to take it off the hinges, lying against the faded stains like a fallen body.

First step in the room is the complete opposite to what they'd all been expecting.

The two Owl masks aren't the usual, but a perversion of the originals, crudely drawn yawning mouths complete with fangs dripping blood.

But.

The boy on his knees, arms in a binder holding the appendages hostage at a painful angle, is dripping the real thing. Rivulets down his chest and where his back is partially visible. Some from the base of the wings going into the back of his shoulder blades where the skin is torn and raw.

The bar gag shoved in his mouth doesn't take away from the splatters on his chin, the bruising on his face, the swollen eye. But it's his wings that makes the Bats falter from the initial rushing attack.

His wings are without the armor, are bound straight up above his restrained body with hooks grotesquely puncturing through the downy softness, desecrating the beauty with blood and gore. The angle makes the pull to his back where the wings are part of him just another agony on top of atrocity.

"Fuck," from the first Owl mask, and a swift move frees the Talon's bound arms, the appendages flopping uselessly to the floor, only his trapped, tortured wings keeping him up on his knees.

The second Owl shoves the first back, "let him take care of them. Let's get out of here!"

The first Owl snarls out something low and foreign, the phrases rolling off his tongue.

The words lock into place, and the Talon's head snaps up, snarling around the gag in his mouth.

When his face is finally, finally visible, the protectors of Gotham are frozen in their tracks.

Familiar violet-blue eyes, too-long blue-black hair, cut jawline and pointed nose. Tiny scar on his right cheek from the time he caught Ra's al Ghul's ring across the face.

"Jesus Fucking Christ," is barely heard through the Red Hood's synths and in no way fully expresses his utter horror at what these dirty motherfuckers have done.

Robin wretches, bile burning the back of his throat once those eyes swing up to the masked parody of the Owls and his bare upper body is visible through the blood and sweat on his chest, when the scars peeking through on his collar bones form a half-visible Y-incision, when the coloring of the bared wings now makes sense (robin's wings, Damian Wayne thinks with his heart beating pitter patter fast, and his stomach in knots, they put robin's wings on him...).

And the hurt, agonized noise coming out of Nightwing's chest is the only noise he can make when those dimmed, dazed eyes swing from the Owls back to the vigilantes frozen in their spots, when there's no spark of joy or fondness or stubbornness he's so used to seeing staring him down.

The errant thought, the first instinct, is the only humane way to deal with this new Talon is to put him down for good wars with the man behind the mask that only wants to reach out, wants to pull the Talon into his body and curve over, to scream at the injustice of it all, to rail at himself for not even suspecting.

Another switch flipped and the hooks release his wings, blood splattering on top the old stains.

"Get them! Don't fuck it up this time or you won't get another chance," the second Owl shoves the Talon's injured shoulder in the direction of the horrified vigilantes.

They don't even bother to take the gag out of his mouth before setting him on his target.

A flap of wings, and the Talon is on his feet again, swaying only slightly. He's in the boots and pants from earlier, the rest of his uniform tossed carelessly behind him by his tormentors. A sweep of his feet and the knives glint in bare palms, a whisper of a sound.

The curved, clawed blade glints in the overhead light when the Talon raises it and cuts the strap of the bar gag in his bloody mouth, turns his head to spit it out without looking away from the vigilantes.

The Batman, grim and stoic in the face of this surprising turn of events, gives the barest nod. From her hiding spot behind the complex machinery, Black Bat takes off after the running Owl members, leaving the rest of the family to deal with their former third Robin.

The wings flinchingly flare out and their former bird hunches over, ready for the attack.

“Wait! Wait, wait, wait,” the Red Hood removes the helmet, leaves the domino underneath. He keeps one hand out in peace, slowly dipping down to put his helmet on the ground. “Is us, Tim. Timmy. Baby Bird. Is us. Yer family. Gotta lookit us, yeah?”

For the first time, the Talon speaks, “who’s Tim?”

And then he lunges.

The fight happens very differently this time.

The former power behind the punches is obviously dulled with the Talon’s identity reveal. He doesn’t hold back, is utterly ruthless with his attacks. He takes out B’s right knee, puts Hood down on the stained floor, knocks Robin into the wall with crushing force, and slams Batgirl’s head off the operating table.

He stands over Nightwing, wicked blade in hand and robin’s wings spread wide. He takes a knee, the sharp edge right above N’s adam’s apple, staring down impassively into the whiteouts.

“Timmy,” N spits blood, grunting when one knee pins his arm down. “Timmy, please. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. I love you and I’m sorry they did this to you.”

Those eyes don’t change in the slightest. “You should not have tried to oppose the Owls.”

“We beat them once,” Nightwing gasps, “and you helped us, Baby Bird. You were with us then, don’t you remember.”

“I was nothing before the Court perfected me,” the Talon replies emotionlessly.

“You were perfect before they ever touched you.”

“No,” and the Talon leans down, puts them a breath away. “The only thing you and those others do is put the criminals back in prison, back in Arkham for them to escape again, for them to kill and destroy over and over again. Like this, I can stop them permanently.”

“Oh Timmy,” and behind the whiteouts, Nightwing’s eyes spill over, his vision wavery. “Timmy–”

“Don’t call me that. Stop calling me that.”

“You know me, you know us. You have to remember–”

“Lies. All of it lies!”

Nightwing’s chest stutters, his fist clenching, “it’s not. None of it is. Not even this–”

And he’s fast enough to grab the back of the Talon’s neck, to lean up enough against the blade pressed against his throat, can bring their mouths together, can kiss him like he’s dying and the Talon is the only thing that can save him.

It’s sloppy and awkward because the Talon doesn’t know what’s happening, gasps against the vigilante’s mouth. The tongue sliding over his, the muffled moan in his mouth sparks something in the back of his brain where the Court of Owls could never touch.

When Nightwing pulls back, stares up at wide violet-blue eyes, when the blade falls away to clatter against the block, when the Talon’s mouth trembles and tears fill his eyes, when his wings flutter and falter, fold in on them both, when his voice goes hoarse with, “D-Dick?” Nightwing throws both arms around his waist and holds on.

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