#it obviously depends on the london shows as well but even if they are going to happen this entire trip feels so tainted

[thxmomentiknew]

it’s the second day of a 13 day trip and i just want to go home

[nalyra-dreaming]

Do you think Jasper is actually Marius? I see that being the popular theory but the “wants power” makes me think no. Marius wants knowdlege not power and it would be a very different take on the character. I’ve seen people say Magnus (obviously not but looks wise he fits for me) and others saying Mael or even Santino.

Uh, no, I do not think he's Marius, sorry.

Marius has been hinted at in both seasons of IWTV, and heavily, and an introduction in another show would not make much sense, imho. I think they would want the impact in IWTV.

Marius is quite important for the story, whether one might like him or not, and so he will be in IWTV, and latest in s4 (depending on whether s3 will be split).

I think Jasper is either someone else in disguise, or an OC, I'm currently leaning towards OC.

Magnus is dead, it is one rather important aspect of the books that he does go into the fire, as it shapes Lestat and pays into later arcs in the books.

Mael or Santino I cannot see either, sorry.

I mean, in the books the "elders" of the Talamasca turn out to be vampires and ghosts (long story), yes, but they usually do not "assume control". And that is apparently exactly what "Jasper has done":

a mysterious American who has quietly assumed control and influence over the Talamasca’s London Motherhouse. Though his motives and methods are cloaked in shadow, his charm and righteous sense of purpose are as dangerous as the power he’s pursuing.

For a vampire to openly assume control... he must be extremely old - or very, very brazen.

IWTV has changed the death sleep during the day already, so a big handicap for the stories/characters has fallen away, granted, but that vampire is still a serial killer - and not everyone would be alright with that.

In the VC there is a subplot Anne dropped (and that they maybe picked up here) where the Talamasca are leaning more towards adversaries, since so many of their members get turned... but how that would fit with the motherhouse in London being taken over I cannot say (yet^^).

And why the Talamasca would allow that... is a whole different matter, too.

Assuming this is one of the founders who is slowly assuming control again then this would be Teskhamen, Marius maker. And I think the casting would fit quite well then.

But I doubt it is Marius himself.

[mae-gi-writes]

sweet like nectar | hyunjae . theboyz | (2)

"Run, run, baby, where I go? Closer and closer to you I'm addicted, I'm addicted to you" - NECTAR, THE BOYZ

In which you and Hyunjae only have 24 hours to enjoy life before it's time to grow up and go your separate ways.

Genre: fluff, a bit of angst, slowburn! teasing!Hyunjae. friend!Hyunjae, friends-to-lovers, idiots-to-lovers au.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

------- part one | part two -------

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

"Hot chocolate is a must."

"You and your hot chocolate," you rolled your eyes as you moved from the t-shirts section to the next. There didn't seem to be many options for men in this shop and you were slowly getting frustrated with the lack of choice given to you. That, or nothing seemed to suit your liking, "it's not even that good. It's just cheap choco mix and sugar."

Hyunjae hummed on the other side of the receiver, "that's the best. All that bad chemical stuff."

You pulled a face, "yuck. Help me choose a t-shirt."

You pulled your phone away from your ear, pressing down onto the video option until Hyunjae's face popped up on the screen. As usual, your heart did a mini flip inside your chest at the sight of your best friend, looking all fluffy and clean, wrapped up in his blankets as though he'd just woken up.

A small smile pulled at your mouth, "were you just napping?"

"As a matter of fact, I was."

"Lazy ass," you tsked, "aren't you supposed to be on shift today?"

"Got Kevin to replace me. I've been working extra shifts these past two weeks so--" he let out a soft yawn and rubbed at his eyes, the sight so adorable it made your heart melt into soft butter, "anyway, what do you need help with?"

"Choosing a shirt," you placed the two options on a nearby counter, "what do you think? White or red?"

"Depends. Who's it for?"

You snorted, "you, obviously."

"Ah then that's simple. Buy both."

"Hyunjae."

He giggled to himself, "I'm pretty, like you said, so anything will go--"

"Hyunjae."

"Well tell me who it's for and I'll be of more help."

"I just told you," you hoped your cheeks weren't as red as you felt they were. It was bad enough that none of you was brave enough to talk about the 'moment' you'd shared in the airport the other day. Was it weird to be buying a t-shirt for him when he was nothing but a friend? But it was a friendly gift though, wasn't it? Hyunjae blinked at you. Then, he straigtened slowly so that he was leaning onto his elbow instead, "what--is it for me?"

"Yes, like I said. So choose."

"Is that your way of saying that you're thinking of me?" a grin broke across his face, "aw look at you, being so cute and everything--"

"Shut up or I'll just put both back," you were already making a grab for the t-shirts when he yelled out, "wait! Alright alright. I'll tell you, just show me."

It had been a few months since you'd moved back to Seoul, and to say that you were happy was wrong. You weren't happy. Yes, it was your motherland. Yes, you were back with your family and was surrounded by people that seemed to love and genuinely care for you. But did that replace whatever freedom you had back in London? Did that make you miss the city of history and the adventures you could have in such a place filled with art and creations and leisure and just about anything you could think of? Yes. You missed it.

You missed London like you would miss a limb. It was part of you. Had been for four years, and would not be so easy to erase.

Since then, you'd kept in touch with Hyunjae as best as you could. But the time difference was not favorable and so more often than not you would miss each other. But he made up for it by sending you frequent messages, always asking about how you were doing and what were the major updates. You knew that he was now working at a famous audit firm as a junior, and that his working hours made that he barely had any free time. But still despite it all, he made the time to call you, even if it was just for five minutes.

You were grateful for that. For even that tiny moment where you had him all to yourself.

"The red one," Hyunjae's voice brought you back to reality. He seemed awfully invested in choosing the right color, "and it's Christmas, so it's two birds with one stone."

"True," you made a grab for the red t-shirt, "fine then. Thanks your highness, you may leave now."

"Pushing me away so soon huh? I barely spoke to you for five minutes," he whined as you made your way to the front desk. That caused you to scowl down at your phone, "well, I'm sorry that I'm busy. If you forget, Seoul's known for the amazing family time during Christmas, so pardon me if I have to run errands for my mom because she wants to invite the entire family over."

"You're so salty. All that because I'm not there."

"Don't kid yourself," you grinned down at your phone, "you're not that important."

"Hey, rude!"

Laughter bubbled up your chest and soon enough Hyunjae joined in. You probably looked like a crazy person to all the other sales shoppers but you didn't care. Not when Hyunjae was concerned.

When he was here, you felt whole. When he was here, you felt like you could do anything in this world.

Your conversation carried on until you reached the nearby bus station, with him telling you all about his newest job and how he was struggling to keep a healthy routine despite his horrible work hours. Your heart tugged in pain, sympathy filling you as he told you stories of how sometimes he'd return home at night without even the memory that he'd made it back. That sometimes he was so tired that he forgot to eat dinner. Worry bloomed through your chest at that and you chided that he needed to eat well to be able to work well, that these things were mutually exclusive.

"I know but it's hard when they expect you to be at the office at nine in the morning until three," he paused and added after some thought,"-- in the morning,"

"Do you get paid overtime for that?"

"Yeah but like--it's peanuts."

Spotting the bus as it made it's way over to your station, you looked back down at your phone, "I'll have to go soon. The bus is here."

Something that looked like disappointment flashed across his face, but it disappeared so quick that it might've been just a figment of your imagination, "I'll talk to you later?" he asked.

"Yeah," you nodded and sent him a quick smile, "yeah. No problem."

You kept your smile in place just until the call ended. Then your face dropped and you let out a sigh, glancing up at the grey sky and trying not to let your tears crawl up the back of your throat.

You missed him. You missed him so much that going a day without hearing his voice felt like a week. No, a month.

You were so down bad for him that it was pathetic, really.

Especially when you knew that he'd never be yours.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Christmas season was creeping up on you faster than you'd imagined. It kept you busy throughout the days where you had nothing else to do but lounge around the house in hopes of finding a suitable job. It seemed that Seoul wasn't friendly to female engineers, especially ones that had freshly graduated from University. And so you were still on the waiting list to be interviewed.

It was Christmas eve and your family had some of your aunts and uncles over for the occasion. Everyone had to be dressed in white or red, and you were busy bustling around in the kitchen, helping in any way you could, when the doorbell rang.

"Y/N! Could you get that honey?!" Your dad's voice echoed from the small tiny kitchenette where he was busy roasting some pork pieces.

"On it!" you yelled back. Wiping your hands onto the kitchen towel hanging by the sink, you quickly maneuvered through the already-packed kitchen to unlock the door.

"Hi! Can I take your stuff--"

The words died on your lips the moment you spotted a pair of familiar brown eyes. Ones that haunted you in your sleep.

You weren't quite sure what happened next.

One minute you were gawking at none other than Hyunjae who was standing before you in the flesh.

"Wha...." the words got all jumbled together and didn't make it past your mouth," wha--what are you--I--uhm--"

And the next, you were enveloped in his arms.

In Hyunjae's arms, to be more exact.

He smelled like home. Like diving headfirst into the comforts of your blankets once you got back home after a long tiring day. He smelled sweet and musky and woody all at the same time and it enveloped your senses, drugged you, made you want more. More. Just more of him. More of everything.

Before you knew it, your hands had flown up to grasp at his coat, pulled him so tightly against you that you swore you could've ripped the fabric right off him.

You felt his chuckle against the side of your head, the warmth of his breath enough to make you look up at him, at the beautiful crinkle of his eyes as he grinned down at you. His arms held you in place at your waist. Gentle. Yet firm.

"What--" your throat felt clogged with emotion, thick with tears that you blinked away, "what--are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" Hyunjae's grin widened, "merry Christmas."

It turned out that your entire family knew about his surprise visit, his mother even making arrangements so that Hyunjae could stay over that night and not have to drive back home in the dark after midnight. They ushered him in without a flicker of a doubt, your heart swelling at the way your parents seemed to flock over him like protective hens and kept him busy by asking all kinds of questions that would've made you run without a doubt with your tail between your legs.

Hyunjae, granted, seemed disposed to entertain their military interview, even going as far as to share a whisky on the rocks with your father as the rest of the women set up the dining table.

"So is he your boyfriend?" one of your cousins nudged your elbow, her eyebrows shooting up suggestively as you flushed deep red.

"No no, nothing like that," you stammered out, hoping that Hyunjae wasn't in proximity to hear of all these stupid, baseless rumours. That was how it always had been whenever a new member was introduced to the family. Gossip spread like wildfire, "he's just a friend."

"Just a friend you say? That comes over to visit on Christmas eve?" your cousin wrinkled her nose, "seems very unlikely."

She shot you a look that weighed a ton and sashayed away, unknowingly as your face burst into flames.

Did they really have to embarrass you like this? Couldn't it wait until tomorrow when he was gone?

"We've heard so much about you from Y/N, I feel like we know you all too well already," your mother gushed when the family was finally seated at the dinner table.

Hyunjae let out a laugh before he shook his head, "hope she hasn't been saying all that bad stuff about me."

"There is only bad stuff to say," You answered flatly. That earned you a whack on the arm from the latter, but you couldn't but grin despite it all. Hyujae was here, in the flesh, celebrating Christmas Eve with you.

Everything seemed like out of a fairytale.

The dinner was nice enough, with you and Hyunjae able to steal a few bits and pieces of conversation for your own amidst the dizzying flow of questions sent your way. You took note of his closeness the more the night evolved, his shoulder pressing onto your own and the way his hand would brush over yours multiple times below the table. It had your cheeks pinking with colour, though you hoped that your face gave nothing away and was more than glad when the cleaning up came about and you had an excuse to slip away from him.

All plates washed and the entire family now retreating to their own activities, you and Hyunjae managed to slip outside the back porch to enjoy the flurry of snowflakes descending upon Seoul like a gift. It wasn't everyday that you got to experience Winter in white, even after all these years. It was a miracle, a blessing. Even.

"Your family's really cool," was the first thing that came out of his mouth when you stepped out into the cold.

You buried your face into the puff material of your coat, and breathed in the freezing winter air, "yeah. They're...an interesting bunch."

"Way more interesting than my family."

Taking a seat on a bench right along the corner of the deck, you motioned for him to do the same, "your family's just small. That must be why you're not big on holidays."

Hyunjae's family consisted of him, his mother, and his two older sisters. Both which had gotten married a few years apart and now celebrated with the other sides of their families. Hyunjae's mother was content with that, for his was still an active air-hostess that flew around the world for a living.

That was probably how Hyunjae had managed to jump on a flight last minute. Which was why you asked, "how come you decided to come all the way to Seoul?"

"Why do you think?" he nudged your shoulder with a grin, "to spend time with your family? Not that I dislike them. They're great."

"What about Jinhee?"

"She's gone to visit her family in LA," he shrugged, "so I would've been alone anyway."

"And your mum?"

"Mum's halfway across Canada as we speak," he leaned back and once again, you felt the warmth of his shoulder brush yours. You weren't sure whether to lean away or press even more to him. It was tempting, considering the cold weather, "she said she's traveling to New York in a few days. It's her busy month."

"I bet," you spared him a glance, noticed he'd cut his hair just before coming. His side profile, paired with the falling snow in the background, made for a very picturesque moment, "do you miss her?"

"I should miss her," Hyunjae leaned into you, maybe unconsciously. It made your heart skip a beat, "but I think i'm kinda used to it now, her traveling, me doing my own thing," his eyes met yours, "I think I prefer it this way."

Maybe it was the cold that didn't make you pull away when you felt the warmth of his body coating your side. Maybe it was the fact that you couldn't, for the love of god, tears yourself away from his eyes no matter how much you tried. They were intense, like molten lava on this cold night, mesmerizing. It made you short of breath, made your chest tighten with all the unresolved feelings that suddenly came flooding back.

You were so deep in thought you hadn't realized how close you'd gotten to each other until your noses brushed.

Yelping, you jumped back in shock and turned away, rubbing at your face in the process, "sorry," you tried to laugh it off, though it sounded choked up, "should we--uhm--head back? it's getting late--"

"Awww but I really wanted to play in the snow," came Hyunjae's whine.

"You're so dramatic," you said flatly.

"Yes, hence the reason you love me," he wriggled his tongue at you and before you could make any kind of comeback -- or get your head out of the gutter for that matter -- he sprung up from his seat, grabbed your hand, and practically jerked you to the garden.

"Come on!" he yelled against the muffled silence of snowflakes, "let's see who can make the biggest snowman!"

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

"I won, fair and square."

"No, I won."

"Hyunjae, your snowman was barely over a foot tall."

His pout deepened, arms crossing over his body as he watched you fuss over the spare blankets and mattress hidden within the depths of your wardrobe, "that's because you took most of my snow, it's not fair--"

"There was snow everywhere!"

"Still! You know you're better at art. You have an advantage."

"It was your idea to build snowmen, now stop sulking and help me put your bed together."

Your best friend let out a loud huff like an overdramatic cat before grabbing onto the other end of the bedspread to help you set up his sleeping space.

"There, that's better," you nodded at him, "you can use the washroom first. It's the first door to the right."

While Hyunjae was out, you took this chance to quickly change out of your dinner clothes to slip on your pj's. Nothing fancy, just a huge-ass t-shirt that went down to your mid-thigh and some cotton shorts. Delving into your drawer of long socks, you were about to pull them on just as the door swiveled open to reveal your best friend.

But not just your best friend. Your very--very naked, from the chest up-- best friend.

You made a sound between a scoff and a strangle, "have you been walking like this around my house?"

"It's just my chest," Hyunjae frowned as he stepped in, a towel slung around his shoulder like he'd just taken a shower, "nothing that girls haven't seen before."

God. His chest. You'd seen Hyunjae's bare chest a couple of times but never actually had time to analyze it. Having never seen it so upclose up till now. He was lean, but with the kind of muscle that corded through his body in suggestion that he was fit and knew how to take care of himself.

It was attractive. It was tempting. It made your blood boil and your heart almost give out.

Quickly averting your eyes and turning your body away, "whatever," you mumbled and quickly maneuvered yourself out of the room, "just please wear a t-shirt if you're gonna go out in the hallway."

Scrambling to the bathroom like your life depended on it, you barely managed to shut the door before you pressed your back against it, a small breath escaping your lips as you looked up at the ceiling.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

You were so done. You could feel the heat in your cheeks, traveling all the way to the back of your neck.

Did he know how much of an effect he had on you?

Clearly it didn't seem like he cared all that much, and that made you sick in the stomach.

Because you were in love with him.

The realization caused a ragged breath to escape. You were in love with him.

And he was in love with someone else.

Deep breaths, in and out. In and out they went. A hand to your chest, feeling it thump against your palm, like an echo of comfort that managed to bring you back down to earth.

And you were supposed to survive the night knowing that he was right there? Right beside you?

You were not going to make it.

It took more than just a few minutes for you to regain some kind of sanity. And then, you took your time gently prying the door open, making sure that the corridor was void of noise and that everyone else seemed to have retreated to their spaces before tiptoeing back inside your room.

Hyunjae was already lying down onto his bed, freshly washed bangs splayed across his face as he read what looked like a manga from your high school stash. It had been everything to you back then, all these fictional love stories that made you swoon.

Now, the only thing that seemed to make you swoon was the boy right in front of your very eyes.

"Hey," his voice had dropped an octave. Or was that just you? Either way, it made your insides flutter slightly as you padded to your bed and sank into it, feeling the mattress dip under your weight as Hyunjae shifted so he could face you.

"What?" you asked, a little snappier than usual.

"I got you a present."

You blinked, "Well it's not Christmas yet, Einstein. You can give it to me tomorrow--"

"But I wanna give it to you today," he whined out and before you knew it, he was already rummaging through his bag before he tossed you a black box about the size of your palm. You yelped, barely managing to catch it in your grip as the said young man leaned back against the wall and grinned up at you, "happy early Christmas, Y/N."

"Can't I just open it tomorrow when everyone's around--"

"Absolutely not," Hyunjae snorted. He shifted closer so that his knees brushed against your calves, looking up at you as the dim light of the room bounced off his face, "you need to open it now."

"How about tomorrow morning?" you toyed with the gift in your hands. It was light, and you heard something jiggle inside it. Knowing Hyunjae who was the hero of pranks and jokes, you weren't the least bit interested in knowing what was in there and thus tried to find any excuse possible.

Hyunjae however, didn't seem all that phased by your whining, "open it now before I open it for you."

"You're harsh, isn't it my gift?"

"Y/N give it back to me, let me open it for you--"

"No!" You snatched it away and glared at him, "fine fine, I'll open it."

It wasn't wrapped, making it easier for you to pull open the latch as you were met with a plush, creamy interior.

Inside it, glittering from the soft light overhead, was a bracelet with a small bee pendant attached to it.

Your brain short-circuited for a minute. You gazed down at the bracelet as a small frown overtook your face.

"What's this?" you asked, looking back up at him in confusion.

Hyunjae's own face was unreadable as he pressed his lips together and nodded at the said box, "it's yours."

"But--" but Hyunjae didn't buy you gifts. He brought you out to museums, paid for your food sometimes, paid for shows or movies or snacks that you craved. But gifts was not something he'd ever dreamed of giving, not because he didn't want to but because most of the time he forgot your birthdays or important celebrations.

And so your brain was trying to compute why the hell this should be yours in the first place, "--why?" you finally asked lamely.

"What do you mean why?" Hyunjae laughed, "normally people say thank you--"

"Hyun, you don't--you've never--" the words barely made it past your throat. They clogged up, eyes burning with emotion, "you don't give me gifts, Hyunjae. What...is the meaning of this? Is this a prank? Is this--Is this a mistake?" You held it up for him to see, "was this meant for someone else?"

"No Y/N," he grabbed your hand, the one holding the box, and proceeded to kneel by your side so that his chest brushed your knees. Your legs parted to make way for him and suddenly he was so close that your lungs quivered, eyes widening at the lack of proximity.

"It's yours. I bought it. For you," as he spoke, Hyunjae gently lifted the bracelet from its velvet cushion and tossed the box aside. Then, with the kind of gentleness you'd never seen before, the young man's hand ran down the length of your arm, circling your wrist so that he could tie the bracelet around it.

He tsked, grinning as he held your hand up so that the bee pendant hung from it, "see? Looks good--"

"Why?" you cut him off, "why are you giving me this?"

Silence was his answer. It rang and hummed and vibrated between the two of you like a cord filled with unspoken tension that was about to snap any minute. You searched his gaze for anything--anything that might suggest this was a prank. You were halfway hoping that he'd burst out laughing in your face because maybe then it wouldn't be so hard to ignore the squeeze in your heartstrings, the way they kept on bubbling with hope that this--whatever this was -- was a clear message.

Hyunjae shifted, his arm brushed your knee and he proceeded to wrap it around the said limb, hand coming to a rest at the back of your leg as a soft gasp fell from your lips.

His touch was electrifying. It made you lose all focus, made you crave for more.

Always more.

"That day--at the airport," his murmur was so soft you could barely hear him, the deepness of his voice taking you by surprise, "I--I really wanted to kiss you."

You blinked.

Heat exploded through your face. Oh. Oh. Was he talking about what you thought he was talking about?

You opened your mouth but nothing seemed to make sense. Your brain was all over the place, all your senses going out of focus.

You just gaped at him.

Hyunjae continued, looking bashfully— adorably— embarrassed as he looked away, “—and I would’ve… if it wasn’t for Jinhee. That day I only restrained myself out of principle.”

And then he looked up at your face, into your eyes and you swore you forgot how to breathe.

“But I’ve been thinking about it ever since.” He admitted in a soft murmur, “I’ve been—thinking about you. A lot.”

Oh god.

Oh god, this was a confession.

This was — was this even real?

You weren’t sure what to say, what to do. Your limbs froze and your mouth dried up.

Hyunjae was probably feeling flustered since all you did was stare him down like he’d done something awfully terrible, for he let out a small nervous chuckle before one of his hands went to grasp yours.

You jumped at the contact, mouth parting in a soft “oh.” But Hyunjae didn’t relent, allowing his hand to trace the outside of your knuckle before intermingling your fingers and pressing them down onto the bed.

“I love you, because you’re my best friend,” he murmured out in a hoarse whisper, face inching up closer to yours, “but I want to be more than just that.”

Your mouth parted in a soft breath as a shaky whisper escaped, “do you mean that?”

Hyunjae’s head dipped into a nod.

That was enough.

Your hand slipped up to find the back of his neck and before you knew what you were doing, you tilted down to press a soft kiss to his lips.

The sound of surprise that left Hyunjae would’ve made you chuckle, if not for the fact that you were trying not to melt at the sensation of his mouth moving against yours.

Warmth exploded through your chest and almost impulsively a sound left your throat. Hyunjae let out a ragged breath in response. His hand traveled up to your jaw, holding you there as he took lead of the kiss. His lips slanted against yours, moving along to a rhythm that had you seeing stars as you all but trembled against him, trying not to faint at the multiple sensations searing through you. It was exhilarating, magical. Something out of a movie.

You’d kissed boys before. A small peck here and there. A few makeout sessions that had never strayed further than just lip locking. But never had you felt so consumed by this kiss that rendered you speechless with just a mere touch.

Hyunjae grunted against you when he felt your hands trickle through his locks right along his nape, and his other hand didn’t waste time to slide up your thigh, leaving hot trails of fire in his wake.

You gasped into him, and his tongue delved in to twine around yours. You all but melted against his chest, a soft whine echoing out of your mouth as he pulled you even closer with a growl.

It took you an enormous amount of self-control to finally pull away, especially when your best friend’s hand seemed all too intent on caressing every inch of your skin possible. His eyes fluttered up to meet yours as your noses brushed, and in his gaze you found a soft of tenderness that made your chest ache with desire.

“Uhm,” you weren’t sure what to say. What to do. Instead, your fingers kept on playing with his hair, “what—about Jinhee?”

He blinked, stared for a minute. And then let out a bark of a laugh.

“What?” Your cheeks felt hot to the touch, “what’s so funny?”

“I literally just kissed you,” his eyes glittered with playfulness as he leaned in once more to nuzzle your nose, “and that’s what you ask me first?”

“Well I—“ even your neck felt searing hot, “I need to make sure I’m not overstepping.”

“You’re not,” he grinned. His hand cupped your cheek then before his lips found yours once more in a sweet kiss. When he pulled back, you were more than a little breathless, “I ended things right after you left.”

“What? So—So you’ve been playing along all this time?”

“Yeah kinda? I just wanted to give you your gift first.”

That was surprisingly sweet. So sweet that a smile couldn’t resist slipping past your lips as you impulsively tugged him back into a hug. He hugged you back, smoothing circles over your spine as you shivered in response.

“Thank you,” was your murmur.

Hyunjae chuckled lowly, the sound rumbling through his chest as he pressed another soft kiss to the edge of your jaw, “come here.”

And he pulled you onto his lap so that you all but fell straight onto him, embarrassment dusting your cheeks in permanent pink as he held you close.

He buried his face into the crook of your neck, “you don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to do this.”

“You don’t know how long,” you mumbled.

“What does that mean?”

“I see you,” you bit down onto your lower lip, “I’ve always seen you.”

That made him pause in contemplation. His beautiful eyebrows furrowed, biting the inside of his cheek, “since when have you…”

“A long time,” you averted your eyes, “a long time, Hyunjae.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“How could I? We were friends, I didn’t want to lose you.”

“Fair enough,” he pushed a stray strand of hair away from your face, caressed your cheekbone as he did so, “I didn’t want to lose you either.”

That night, you spent it cuddling with Hyunjae until the sun came up and until the birds started singing to welcome the new morning. It was funny how things turned out, one minute you’d been crying over him and the next, he was telling you that you were his everything. And that morning you lifted the bracelet up to the light, seeing the bee pendant glimmer like crystal jewels, as your heart swelled with joy because no matter how hard you tried to stay nonchalant about it, you were already a wreck for Hyunjae.

You would always come back to him. Always.

[1nconcievable]

The Jolly Good Show Caper (A British Retrospective) [Obviously Spoilers for that Episode]

As someone who is half British, has been to London, lived in England for a while, has studied History as part of my GCSEs (or high school if you're in America) and considering its November the 5th as of writing, I felt it was my obligation for me to look back on The Season 3 Episode 5 "The Jolly Good Show" and give my thoughts on it. (Don't worry its just me waffling about an episode and what I think. It's just for the fun of it. ALSO sorry if I got some things wrong)

(DISCLAIMER: I have not been to the Tower of London in person, I just did my own research. I am also not a professional when it comes to all history. So make sure you fact check and let me know in the comments)

So anyway, I tried to do it in order. Here we go:

Zack saying that they're driving on the wrong side of the road is probably not that surprising considering that roughly 30% of the world's countries and 35% of the world's population drive on the left which includes England.

Player describing the Tower of London as a fortress, prison etc is pretty spot on. I highly recommend going there yourself

Carmen saying that St Edwards Crown was used to crown all of the Kings and Queens since 1911 is half wrong. According to Wikipedia (I'M SORRY):

Versions of it have traditionally been used to crown English and British monarchs at their coronations since the 13th century

The original crown was a holy relic kept at Westminster Abbey, Edward the Confessor's burial place, until it was either sold or melted down when Parliament abolished the monarchy in 1649, during the English Civil War.

The crown used today was made for Charles II in 1661 to crown him. It's similar in weight and size to the original but its arches are Baroque.

The reason why Carmen may have said what she said was because the tradition of using St Edwards Crown to crown Kings and Queens was revived by George V in 1911

Player is right to say that there were attempts to steal the crown jewels. The most well known is Colonel Blood's attempt. Funnily enough, the guy got out scot free and still got his pension. https://youtu.be/iRmBE6B8F7I

Player also describing Bondfire night is pretty spot on. The Gunpowder Plot happened in Nov 5 1605 as a result of a group of Catholic men, led by Robert Catesby (not Guy Fawkes), trying to rebel against the Protestant King James 1 because Catholics back then weren't on the best of terms. Unfortunately the plot resulted in stricter laws against Catholics, don't worry the laws don't exist now.

Player "So, he was considered a hero or a villain, depending on who you ask"

Well, I've talked with some people and although we understand that the Gunpowder Plot was done because of the prejudice and oppression of Catholics in 1605 England, we agreed that maybe they should have dealt their anger differently. Maybe a way that doesn't lead them to getting hung, drawn and quartered. Either way, it's a complicated question that's up for you to decide.

Speaking of Catholics, I did go to a Catholic school and they don't celebrate bondfire night. My history teacher did ask if they could do it but bc Guy Fawkes was a Catholic and as Player said... they burn him... Can you see the problem?

And Shadowsan calling Bondfire Night chaos?..... how - dare - you.

The whole "if the ravens leave the tower, the kingdom will fall" is an actual myth that the writers were spot on about. Charles II is thought to have been the first to insist that the ravens of the Tower be protected after he was warned that the crown and the Tower itself would fall if they left. That's why the raven's wings are carefully maintained and there's even a Raven Master.

Carmen saying "That's not the loo" is kinda on point. Normally they would also say "loo" or toilet. Also, Ik this is a cartoon, but I can assure you that the guards would be a little more suspicious if she got into a place she wasn't supposed to.

The entire Zack and Ivy fish and chips thing is on point. Although some places still use newspapers, we normally just use hard paper like newspaper to wrap it. Ivy also saying chips and crisps is also correct, glad she was paying attention.

Zack feeding fish to the ravens is not allowed. sniff sniff... He really is a criminal through and through. I'm so proud. (JK! It's a joke. Don't feed the ravens!)

The Troll says "London Bridge is falling down my fair lady". This was to communicate the death of the Queen to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and key personnel, setting Operation London Bridge in motion. So theoretically, does The Troll and VILE want Carmen (the Queen) dead? Jeez, why did I go that dark?

Fun fact: 1968 and 1971 the bridge's facing stone was dismantled and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the U.S. state of Arizona.

When The Troll says that Red Rat is ready for takeaway - there is a takeaway box (like take out in America) next to him... and it's even Chinese. Not gonna lie, I'd go for the Indian takeaway instead.

When Carmen gets "arrested", the police uniforms that some of them wear are based on The Bermuda Police Service and to be honest in November, the Metropolitan Police would be wearing yellow jackets. Seriously, how are these people not freezing!?! If this was real life, at least the police would search Carmen's coat and let her wear it if it's that cold!

When Roundabout steals the Crown Jewels (wow... never thought I'd say that), he doesn't wear gloves. This isn't a British thing but generally, why would he do this without gloves? Like, if you're being a professional criminal, you would know not to leave fingerprints anywhere. Honestly it feels like Carmen is the only one who follows this logic!

Funny that Roundabout (an Englishman) gives the jewels to Le Chevre (Frenchman). Sorry, there is a joke that England and France have been rivals for centuries and it still exists in rugby and football (or soccer). SORRY AGAIN!

Throughout the episode they refer the iconic bell tower as "Big Ben". In actuality the name of the tower is Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben is used as a name for the largest bell in the tower. Ironically, the Big Ben bell might be where Shadowsan picks up his weapon.

When Zari drives Devineaux, the seating inside the car is correct for British Standards of driving.

When Roundabout is about to stab Shadowsan, he says "Mind The Gap". I've used the Underground and the saying is commonly used as a visual and audio warning that you hear all the time.

When Roundabout says "you git", it's pretty mild to what most actually use. If it's casual we would use the b or c word (I'll give you a hint. The b rhymes with mastered and the c one rhymes with Brunt.) but I can't say it because I don't want any younger ones using it yet. ;)

Carmen :"Sorry mate"

Look, it's a cartoon... but that... that hurt my soul. THAT IS FAR FROM A CONVINCING ACCENT! British can tell from a mile away!

You could've said "Sorry, love" or "Sorry, you alright?"

AHAHSHegJHSGFFB.... Apologies.

Towards the end of the episode, Team Red are standing at Westminster Bridge.

The "God Save the Queen" in the credits is obviously outdated but it was fun to listen to.

My opinion:

Most British terms are used correctly.

Most of the facts are accurate according to what I looked up

Everyone involved needs to get thick jackets for November weather, especially in the evening.

Police uniforms for some are incorrect but some are right.

WORK ON YOUR ACCENT TEAM RED!

Back to accents, I feel like most of the British cast had the Queens accent like what most media portays. It would have been nice to see other accents like cockney, scouse etc.

I thought it was a good episode and the scene of Carmen getting arrested gave me chills.

Anyway, that's what I thought. Thanks for reading.

REMEMBER REMEMBER THE 5TH OF NOVEMBER!

[cosmic-crybaby]

Blue Skies - Tommy Shelby

Chapter 12: ‘Wrapped In Cellophane’

Warnings In This Chapter: Nothing besides Esme making y/n cry again lol. 

Masterlist: 

---

Weeks had passed and you continued to stay with Thomas. 

The frequent commute back and forth between Arrow House and your home in Sutton Coldfield was getting tedious, especially with the baby growing more, and your fatigue never ceasing. You had realized that your own home was falling vacant due to the fact that you rarely left the mansion. He gave you the decision to move in with him fully. It was obviously spacious enough for the three of you, and you, as well as the children, were cared for by the maids when Thomas was busy. It was everything and more than what you had wished for. And yet something was still holding you back. 

You knew Thomas honored you and your growing family. He really wanted to protect that. He would do whatever he could to protect you, even following your wishes by keeping his business ordeals away from the home. He went a step further and insisted that he kept all work and family business meetings away from the home, even running background checks on all of his workers. Just to ensure that you were safe with him. You greatly appreciated his efforts, but part of you hoped the blame wouldn’t be put on you if things took a turn. 

Elizabeth and Henry began to warm up to the new father-figure in their lives. Their skepticism slowly faded the more Thomas was around. He was kind with them, gifted them toys and nice things, spending as much time with them as he could whenever they were around. You acknowledged that he treated them like they were his own, it made you admire him even more.  

It took a while for you to get used to the maids doing your usual routine. From getting your kids up out of bed, getting them dress and fed before school, it gave you some extra time in bed with Thomas before you had to get yourself up and ready to go to work. The company car drove you to the bakery and back home after the long days. Even in between the busy week days, when your children were in London, you cherished your private intimate moments with Thomas. Everything seemed to get easier for you, even when your bump started to show. Your regulars at the bakery would congratulate you, after admitting that they had never noticed before. 

With Elizabeth's birthday coming up soon, you wanted to make it special. You always made her a cake each year, and each year you made sure to surprise her with one thing she needed and one or two things she absolutely begged for, depending how good the bake sales were that year. This year was no different and you wanted to spoil her for once, making sure your children had memorable birthdays. Taking matters into your own hands you decided to make her another cake this year but make it something she favored but you rarely ever made. Strawberry ice-box cake. It was an easy recipe but the lack of time and well, a decent ice-box, made it difficult for you to fulfill her wishes. But, now that you were with Thomas you decided to use up your resources to your advantage for your own personal gain. Making your daughter happy on her special day. You had asked Thomas to at least participate.

“Why don’t you help out, darling? She would absolutely love it if she found out you helped,” You had begged him. Holding his hands in yours as you gave him a hopeful smile.

“I don’t bake…” He told you, rolling his neck a bit as he held the unlit cigarette between his lips. 

“Oh please? I’ll be there to guide you, you can be my sous chef,” You joked a bit. He chuckled, only to glance at the counter with the equipment and ingredients laid out for you. He had agreed reluctantly. ‘If it makes her happy’ he told you.

Needless to say, the kitchen wasn’t an entire mess by the time you put the biscuits in the oven to bake. Once they were set to cool you began to make the cream frosting as Thomas helped by cutting the strawberries. You couldn’t help but glance at him, the way he rolled his sleeves up and the way he worked the knife quickly to slice the strawberries, you licked your lips and looked away before he could catch you. 

Once he was done, he stood behind you, a hand on your waist as he observed you put the layers together. He wondered how you could make a simple cake recipe look so elegant and pristine. After you are finished piping on the décor with the icing you set it in the icebox to sit overnight. Thomas held you against the cold counter, kissing you passionately. You briefly pulled yourself away from him, giggling as you scoop a small amount of the frosting from the bowl on your finger and silently motion for him, instructing him to try some. The loving look in his eyes as he tried some. You placed your finger between your lips to lick up the remaining sweet and fluffy frosting.

“Thank you for helping,” You told him quietly as you placed your arms on his shoulders.  Even though he helped as much as he could, since you practically took over the project as he watched in amazement at your talent. Needless to say, Elizabeth's birthday was a success and she was more than happy to hear that Thomas helped.

After spending the week with your family and working, you decided to sit down and enjoy some tea with Esme. After she had gotten married to John, she was so busy taking care of the betting shop and watching over the heaps of kids he had from his late wife.

The two of you sat in the dining room of her new home that she shared with John. With John and Tommy being away for work, and the children were running and playing in the yard. You were glad you finally got around to some quality time with your closest friend. She poured you some tea and set the sugar, honey, and milk in front of you. Thanking her as you dipped some honey into the cup, stirring it with a spoon.

“So, how have you been since you’ve been married?” You asked, cheekily. Excited to hear all of the news. She takes a generous sip of her tea before answering.

“Oh it’s been great, ya know?...Working with John and the family it’s just great...but,” She paused.

“What is it?” You asked.

“It’s nothing, it's just Tommy…he’s,” She stopped herself again. “I- nevermind, I’m sorry,” She abruptly stopped herself. You snicker.

“You’re apologizing now? Has becoming a Shelby really tamed you?” You joked. She scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Nonetheless, I understand…how are you with the kids?” You then asked, changing the subject. She groaned a bit.

“Little shits hardly listen to me, let alone their own father…but, they’re sweet kids,” She said, looking out the window with a soft smile on her lips. You hummed, just happy to see your friend happy and content with her new life.

“I don’t want to pry, but have you made a decision yet?” She asked after a moment of comfortable silence. 

Her burning question made you shift uncomfortably, but your smile never faltered.

“Yeah…I think I have,” She moved a piece of her wavy brown hair out of her face.

“Really?” Her eyes widened, just the slightest. But, it was noticeable enough for you to take note of her expression. But you just hummed as a response and nodded your head.

“I think I want to keep it,” You shrug as you hold your hands over your stomach.

“(Y/n), Love are you sure?” She asked, ultimately unsure of you and your decision.

“I could wait but-”

“No, (y/n) I mean are you sure…one hundred percent sure you want this?” She asked you. You place your hands on the table as you take another sip of your tea. She urgently reaches to place her hand over yours.

“Is there a problem, Esme?” You asked, trying to read her.

“I’m simply reminding you that there is still time,” She had an unreadable expression on her face, but overall worried for you.

“Esme,” You retracted your hand from her, quite perplexed and a little offended. “I am going to have this baby,” You told her sternly. She exhaled, leaning back in her chair and drinking her tea. Her worried expression dropped to one of displeasure. You noticed the smudged mascara around her eyes, the sweat upon her forehead, and the look as if she was aching for something. Craving something.

But, you could also tell there was something she wasn’t telling you.

Why wasn’t she telling you?

“I don’t understand Esme…Is it something to do with Thomas?” You asked, pushing your tea to the side as it had gotten too cold for your liking.

She shook her head bitterly.

“This whole situation is fuckin’ crazy…how can you stake your life on someone, a man, you hardly know?”

“Esme, come off it,” You take your head at her. “You’re not a judgmental person, I know you…why are you saying all this?” Your words show the hurt you felt from her reaction.

“I swear I am not judging you, I…I’m warning you,”

It was like the whole world around you changed. The clouds hid the sun as the tone of conversation became serious. You felt the baby kicking at your sudden increase in heart rate.

“You don’t know Tommy or know anything about him…he is an emotional fuckin’ time bomb and it’s too soon for you to tell,”

“I don’t understand the sudden negativity…you can’t sit here and judge me for my relationship when you married his brother, another man you hardly know might I add…You hadn’t even seen him until your wedding day so do not sit here and act like a sanctimonious and jealous woman,”  You sternly stated.

“I am not jealous,” She spat.

“I finally find someone who makes me happy and you decided to just…shit all over it-”

“Don’t you dare,” She stopped you, pointing a finger at you. “I am not trying to take that away from you, and yeah so what if I didn’t know John before we got married...We got married for a pact, I just want you to open your fucking eyes,”

You take deep breaths to calm your beating heart. After your silence she continues.

“Have you ever considered what this would do to your kids if it doesn't work out?”

“I am doing this for my kids!” You shouted. “I want my children to see me in a healthy relationship for once because we both know my marriage with Alfie went to shit, I am allowed to do this for me too,” Your chest began to grow hot with anger.

“Be honest with yourself, you fuckin’ love him, you’re in love with Tommy fucking Shelby! You’re not doing this for them, you’re making a decision that will change the rest of their lives based on someone you don’t know! You’re selfish, reckless and naïve!”

Her words struck a nerve.

“Firstly, you don’t get to tell me how to parent my children, and secondly don’t you call me selfish, reckless, and naïve when all you do is sit around and sniff up every supply of snow the Shelby’s own and boss John around about how much you hate his family…”

You bit your cheek, you didn’t mean to make it known that Thomas and John tell you close to everything when it comes to Esme. She looked at you with disgust.

“How dare you,”

You didn’t say much more before you stood up and grab your coat and purse.

“Don’t come cryin’ to me when you see how he really is!” She shouted as you slammed the door shut behind you. The breeze outside blew your hair out of your face as the cool air nipped at your cheeks and nose. The crisp air was calming you in a way. You had taken a deep breath to calm your nerves before approaching the company car that drove you around wherever you needed to go. Once back in the mansion, you noticed how empty it felt. You were thankful that your children nor Thomas would have to see you like this.

“Please do not tell Thomas that I am like this, Francis,” You begged as you wiped the tears from your red cheeks.

“Of course Ms. (L/n),” The elderly woman nodded kindly as she guided you to the stairs.

“What would you like me to tell him?” She asked quietly.

You had paused as you used your hand to grip the railing.

“Tell him not to worry, just unwell…due to the baby,” You said before climbing up the rest of the way to your bedroom. Closing the door behind you as you took a moment to sit down on your side of the bed. Your head turned down as you stared into your lap.

The conversation you had just dawned on you. The things you had said to your closest friend were out of character and hurtful. But you weren’t the only one at fault and you knew that. It deeply upset you how defensive you had gotten at the words she spoke to you. You wipe your tears away and sniffle as your stomach churns. With one last deep breath you held your head high and calmed the muscles in your face. It looked like you hadn’t even cried.

‘ Don’t come cryin’ to me when you see how he really is! ’ Her words shouted at you. Staring in the vanity mirror as you fixed the runny mascara under your eyes.

“I won’t”

---

Tag List:

Read Pinned Post If You Would Like To Be Added

@violet-19999 @micarinitodemiel @dilfsandtherapy @shelundeadxxxx @dragons-are-my-favorite @trixie23  @babayaga67 @iambored24601 @heythere-06 @lothbrokcore @joliettes​

[collectionoftulips]

Thoughts following the most recent episode of The Way Home

There's probably maybe like one other person on here or maybe a few who watch The Way Home and if so, hi!!, and secondly, I hope my regulars will excuse me for talking about another show for a minute. (For those who haven't seen it - I really recommend giving it a watch!) Basically - I've had some thoughts swirling around my head since the latest episode (this is mainly about some of my changing thoughts on who I ship on the show):

(Spoilers for 2x08 of The Way Home and it's mostly Kat-centric thoughts)

In some ways, my thoughts can be summarised by two points and I will make the case for them below: I feel like I have outgrown Elliot/Kat the way they are currently being written and I'm pretty heavily going on the Kat/Thomas ship.

If someone had told me at the end of season one, that I would be finding myself torn between Elliot/Kat and a new ship, I would have said that they are bananas. But after thinking about it some, at least the way the ship is being currently written, I'm not the fan I once was - and I don't think it's entirely because I'm 'intended' to have those feelings at this point of the show.

I really appreciate how this season has really given Elliot more space to grow as an independent character outside of his romantic relationship with Kat, but I think by giving him that space, the show inadvertently, or perhaps too successfully, made a case for why they are not right for each other at this very moment in time. The fundamental issue, to me, is that Elliot has spent so much of his childhood idealising Kat and he has in some ways put her on a pedestal. He knows her, but the way he knows her is so intimately wrapped up in his feelings towards her and that coupled with the weight of their past together, makes it an increasingly less attractive ship because of a few reasons:

a) he knows her very well but it's going to be very difficult disentangle the reality from the fantasy he has grown up with in his head (and being friends with someone is very different from being in a romantic relationship with them) b) she's been put on this pedestal that the only way she can change in his eyes is by disappointing him; she's already got this aura of 'endgame' status in his head c) it's very difficult to see where they get room to grow in a way that allows them both the character growth they both need/deserve, especially given the amount of trauma that especially Kat is going through (Elliot has also been through stuff, but that's mainly in the past that we partly get to see or it's off-screen in the past).

Additionally, seeing Kat going back to the 1812 has really highlighted some aspects of her characterisation that were previously not as prominent; she's spent most of her life blaming herself for Jacob's disappearance and now that she is on the precipice of finding him, she's displaying really a lack of self-preservation and desperation (to the point where she even forgets Alice and Thomas has to literally remind her that she has people depending on her and obviously there's the subtext that he might have feelings for her that I'm now very here for). These things make total sense for Kat as a character, but I don't think any of the people back in her time fully realise the extent of that self-destructive tendency (we also saw a less Jacob-related instance of this in the most recent episode with Kat's idea to go to London and leave Brady, but Elliot was too busy to be all 'this is my shot!' to really notice).

My growing hypothesis since 2x07 is that a lot of Kat's interactions with Thomas is fundamentally fuelled by Thomas' acknowledgement and frustration with Kat's lack of self-preservation (a skill he himself had to learn growing up in the time he is from), a tendency which is also amplified by the fact that Kat is from a different time and doesn't really have the same kind of sense about the scale of danger around certain tasks. I'm might be reading into it, but I was thinking about what was going on during their superdramatic beach scene, when he picks her up and it looks for a moment like he is about to wade out to sea with her. On the surface, of course, Kat's terrified that Jacob might die and also a fear and frustration that she does not know her brother, that even if he survives it might not matter because he might not remember her, that he has grown so much from the little boy that she knew that the fact that she found him might matter very little.

But I was wondering a little about Thomas' reaction regarding that whole scene. He's of course frustrated that she doesn't seem to have much understanding of the extent to which the world that they inhabit is not one that is forgiving or allows one to stay on any kind of moral high ground, but I also thought that probably from his perspective, he's probably getting quite frustrated with Kat. This is a woman who seems to have absolutely no self-preservation, and while he has recently learned that she is a time traveller, that lack of self-preservation runs much deeper than just being ignorant of the time period. She is a woman he clearly deeply respects and admires and has growing feelings for but that regard is seemingly not one she has of herself, and it has to be pretty frustrating for him to see someone whose strength he admires seemingly not respect herself or have such little regard for her own wellbeing. Which is why I think he reacted the way he did, trying to snap her out of the emotional spiral she was going down when she was in a panic trying to grasp at anything to soothe the sense of crisis that was exploding inside her.

In these ways, I sort of feel like the show has propped Thomas up to be the opposite of Elliot; this is not a man who has been in love with Kat Landry a really long time, but one that only recently realised it, and where Elliot sees this idealised 'prize' version of Kat (informed by his childhood), Thomas sees all of Kat's 'flaws' and all of the 'cracks' that she conceals from people in her regular life, and loves appreciates her for those qualities.

While obviously the extent to which they have any future depends on what the writers have decided to do for season two (and for season three), and it is looking pretty bleak, I like the path forward for Kat/Thomas more, as there is more ground to cover there and I think it would be a very different dynamic that I would find refreshing. Hence me going a bit cold on Elliot and Kat (despite that kiss in the most recent episode which felt like the most shoehorned thing ever that had extremely poor build up but that's a rant for a different post) and am now leaning towards the potentially doomed ship of Thomas/Kat.

I don't know if this made any sense, and I'm not sure if anyone is interested in my thoughts on this but it's either ranting about it here or at some point writing fic, so I decided for the former for the time being.

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

Charlie Cox Interview（Broadway.com in London）

April 14, 2008

Charlie Cox could be forgiven for choosing the allure of Hollywood over the daily grind of the West End. It's both bracing and somewhat surprising, then, to find the 25-year-old star of the fantasy adventure film, Stardust, not to mention the Al Pacino Merchant of Venice and Heath Ledger vehicle Casanova before that, on stage at the Comedy Theatre in a Harold Pinter double bill, The Lover and The Collection. 

It’s Cox's second-ever professional stage gig following a Southwark Playhouse production three years ago of Tis Pity She's A Whore. In the first of the two Pinters, both dating to the early 1960s, Cox makes a cameo appearance as a milkman suggestively delivering cream to the home of the adulterous (or is she really?) Gina McKee. But it's The Collection that tests the young actor's chops, playing both the boy toy of older gent Timothy West as well as a possible bedmate of McKee's Stella. (The truth, as so often in Pinter, is teasingly elusive.)

 The supremely open and affable Cox chatted to Broadway.com one recent Saturday before that day's two shows about his West End debut, fielding those famous Pinter pauses, and why the fame that surely awaits him is also in some way terrifying.

So, here you are nearing the final stretch of a four-month West End run when surely the demand for you to stick with movies must be intense.

I suppose, and there is a way in which this was the first real decision that I had to make, since I was offered a film at the same time as this play. But the truth of the matter is, when you start out acting, you take any job you can get. A lot of young actors nowadays are being forced into film and into fame, and they're not any better than when they started. And I've always thought the best possible scenario for my life and my career is longevity, and the theater has to be part of that.

But don't agents go, "You can't give over 16 weeks to lesser-known Pinter when you could be doing movies?"

It depends on who the agent is. My agent in England [Lindy King] is incredibly understanding. There is no such thing as "can" or "can't." She sees the bigger picture. I mean, obviously, she will advise me as to what she thinks is best for my career, but that's precisely why this appealed to me so much. I hope to do much more theater. I love it. I've had a fabulous time all the way through.

When you did Tis Pity at the Southwark Playhouse in 2005, that was only a three-week run. How have you found the eight-show-a-week routine over the past few months?

It's interesting: After rehearsals, a lot of the work is done, and you don't have to come into work and face new challenges as you often do on a film. I'm finding that when you do a long run, you have to go places you've never been before to keep the material fresh, and that's working with some very seasoned actors in both film and theater: Timothy West, Gina McKee... I will go through a period of four or five days when I feel I can't deliver, but then something happens that brings you out of any possible rut. It's about finding new ways of being able to hear it each night.

I'm sure the fact that it's Pinter is a major plus.

Yes, especially that it's Pinter. The words he uses are so precise and so brilliant and so perfect for their placement within a script that when we first started, I thought, I can't do this without a dictionary.

What about those celebrated Pinter pauses? Are they tricky to navigate?

Well, we have to remember that Pinter was an actor first and foremost, and he is there to help the actor in his writing. There's become this belief that you have to tap out the pauses, but he'll openly admit that is absolute bollocks. With Harold, the punctuation is even more important than the pauses and the silences.

Did Pinter come to rehearsals?

He came on three different occasions, and I was kind of all right with it. Gina and Rich were really, really scared. He had very, very few notes: he gave me some areas where I could slow down a bit.

It must be fun priming yourself for the intrigue of The Collection with your brief encounter with Gina in The Lover.

The two plays do work surprisingly well together in that Harold's characters tend to do battle with the same power struggle. But let's be honest: the milkman could be done by anyone; it's kind of embarrassing, actually. What happened was that Jamie [the plays' director, Jamie Lloyd] gave me the script and said that there's a small character in The Lover who's normally played by the person who plays Bill in The Collection: that made a lot of sense to me.

You began in theater with a Jacobean writer, John Ford. Do you see any Shakespeare in your stage future, especially having appeared with Al Pacino on screen in The Merchant of Venice?

I'd love to, though I don't find it very easy. I know there are some people who find that doing Shakespeare is just like chatting but I'm much more comfortable doing something more modern. I don't feel natural when playing royal monarchs [Laughs.]

You worked with the late Heath Ledger on Casanova and his awful death must prompt all sorts of questions about the price of fame.

God yes, though you'd never have encountered anyone genuinely kinder or less driven by ego than Heath. But I can honestly tell you that I never got into [this profession] for money or anything like that. Fame terrifies me to my very soul, I just fucking hate it. It makes me incredibly anxious.

You've clearly got a genuine sense of perspective, so I'm sure you'll deal with it just fine. What's next, once the play ends?

I've got a month off and then I'm off to Los Angeles to do another movie with Al Pacino, who this time is playing my dad, who is being taken off life support. It's called Lullaby, and the whole thing takes place in a hospital room; it's a dark comedy, actually.

~*~

[f1uckinghell]

I'm super sick so probably going to spend this weekend in bed... any fic/tv show reccos?

Hell yes! But please be warned that I have a very specific taste 😅 maybe other ppl can add more!

Get well soon anon 🤧 here you go:

🐉 I'm a big fan of actual play dnd shows, because they give you so many hours of content and the cooperative, improvised storytelling just hits the spot soooo right for me.

My favorites are:

Fantasy High by Dimension 20 (a bunch of kids starting their first year of adventuring school - extremely funny improv and storytelling with endearing characters)

Fantasy High: Sophomore Year by Dimension 20 (those kids going on their first adventure outside the school - so much queer joy, incredible story, so many moments that are just so good and memorable)

The Unsleeping City by Dimension 20 (magical adventure set in NYC)

Basically you can never go wrong with Dimension 20 (A Crown of Candy is one of my faves but that's only on dropout unfortunately)

Critical Role Campaign 2 (a bunch of co-dependent people with a lot of dick jokes and the most tragic backstories you've ever heard save the world. Also, the actors playing them are all best friends.)

📺 Netflix Shows:

Heartstopper (will make your heart melt)

Young Royals (royalty and scandal, my favorite combo)

One Piece (the live action one, so fun)

Arcane (gorgeous animation, great story)

Disenchantment (fun and cute but with a proper plot and a queer MC)

DTS (obviously lol)

Shadow and Bone (they canceled it and I might just strangle someone at Netflix for it)

Queer Eye (always up to bring some more love and joy into your life)

Please Like Me (relatively unknown Australian show about the most awkward man you've ever seen. Perfectly captures the weird feeling of being in your early 20s.)

Bonding (student who works as a dominatrix, and her best friend/assistant try to navigate sex work, classes and their love lives)

Sandman (magical, beautiful, atmospheric and a little creepy)

Call the Midwife (follows a group of midwives in post-WW2 London)

👀 other shows:

The Mandalorian (got me even though I'm not big on Star Wars)

What We Do In The Shadows (so fucking funny and entertaining)

Ted Lasso (will make you feel so good, but will also make you cry)

Bluey (heal your inner child)

As for fic recs, I really don't have time to read atm 🥲 but my favorites are this one and this one for F1 rpf.

[antiques-for-geeks]

Kolchak : The Night Stalker at 50 - The Ripper

One of our favourite shows is 50 years old today.

About thirty years ago, Friday nights were a different experience; some of the school year diligently did their homework, avoiding having to do it on Sunday night. The cool kids were down the park; the local teenage boys trying to woo the local teenage girls with cheap cider from a corner shop whose proprietor would incessantly complain about the crumbling moral fibre of society, yet whose only check for the suitability of the cigarettes and alcohol he sold to his juvenile customers was their ability to pay.

Then there were those who were glued to the TV, who fell in love with early evening comedy, talk shows, late night news analysis and cult films starting not long before midnight.

Guess which ones we were?

Around the autumn of 1991, a series of late night cult TV started on BBC 2 in the UK. Called The Mystery Train was presented by Richard O’Brien (he of The Rocky Horror Show and Crystal Maze fame) and came in three parts. A serial, a film (usually a 50s sci-fi / schlock horror flick) and a short. Much like the Saturday morning matinees at the cinema my Dad used to tell me about.

The serial that was chosen for this nighttime smorgasbord? Kolchak : The Night Stalker.

Fronted by Darren McGavin reprises his titular role of Carl Kolchak (or Karl depending on the week's writer) from the earlier TV movies, it continued the adventures of the old-school newshound whose stories always seem to end up taking him into the world of the paranormal, shadowy government conspiracy, corporate shenanigans or scientists who unwittingly have unleashed far more than they expected.

To keep him in check, as much as Kolchak can be kept in check, Simon Oakland also returned as his long suffering boss, Tony Vincenzo.

The show has been seen as the progenitor of the X-Files, but it’s really better. Yes, it is rather “monster of the week” at its core, but Kolchak’s conceit is better than either Mulder or Scully. Plus, it’s unencumbered by a story-arc that has to be periodically shoe-horned into the show.

With hindsight the show really sat well with The Mystery Train’s eclectic vibe. Funnily, for a while neither Pop nor I knew the other was watching the show; but once we found out, Monday break and lunchtimes at school were a breathless analysis of Friday’s episode. Those who had missed it, or worse still didn't care, obviously shrugged their shoulders and left us to it.

Analysis might be stretching it a bit far. More a mix of piss-taking at the quality of the special effects, the flatness or excitement of that week’s story or marvelling at certain shots and the atmosphere they managed to create.

Siskel & Ebert’s jobs, no doubt to their relief, were safe.

Why bring this up now? Well, exactly 50 years ago today, the 13th of September 1974, Kolchak : The Night Stalker began airing in the US at 10pm, on ABC with the Episode The Ripper. 

The show only lasted a season, and a shorter than intended one at that, but it has cast a very long shadow.

Plot

The Ripper strikes. It's about to go down.

Quite straightforward this one. A series of murders in Chicago has similarities with those committed in Whitechapel, London during 1888. No-one other than Kolchak can - or is willing enough to - suspend belief and put the pieces together to do what is needed to stop the killer.

Guests

Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland were joined by :

Beatrice Colen - Jane Plumm

Ruth McDevitt - Elderly Woman

Jack Grinnage - Ron Updyke

Ken Lynch - Capt. Warren

Marya Small - Masseuse

Donald Mantooth - Policeman

Robert Bryan Berger - Mail Boy

Roberta Collins - Detective Cortazzo

Clint Young - Driver

and

Mickey Gilbert as The Ripper

The Scoop

Pop : I haven't watched this series for many years, but this one feels like it hits all the beats of a 'typical' Night Stalker episode.

Carl Kolchak stalking a supernatural fiend, mostly at night, to get a juicy story.

Police officers being thrown about by said fiend.

Some banter with an exasperated Tony Vincenzo, Carl's boss at the Independent News Service.

Light piss taking of Ron Updike, a rival reporter.

Footage of a Chicago 'L' train passing through the city (you're going to see this clip a lot!)

Since it's the pilot, that all makes sense, but it also exposes one of my main issues with this series - it's very much like a smaller scale, less impressive version of the 2 highly successful feature films, which many original viewers were likely to have seen first. Still, taken on its own merits it's a decent pick for a pilot. And just to be clear, I'd definitely count myself as a fan of this series.

Just like the films, it's all very darkly lit. Although it reminds me a little of the critique of 'Manos, the hands of fate" in MST3k - "Every frame of this movie looks like someone's last known photo!", in my opinion, the lack of light in many of the scenes only adds to the creepy atmosphere, and helps to disguise cheap sets and costumes.

There is a decent amount of outdoor footage, and pacing is also good for a show of this era. This is the pilot, so I'm interested to see if that continues!

You won't catch him like that. Our hero holds court to an exasperated Vincenzo and an indifferent Police Captain, who's about to get his arse handed to him.

Tim : This could so easily have been a rejected script for a third Kolchak film and yes, it does feel a little rushed in places, but the script does a good job of reintroducing the Kolchak/Vincenzo dynamic to an audience who would not have had the luxury of pulling up a streaming service and re-watching the preceding movies.

It also pretty well sets up the character of Ron Updyke and his, albeit one-sided, rivalry with Kolchak. Jack Grinnage and Darren McGavin were good friends, which is immediately obvious from chemistry.

The tension and tone of the show is established quickly in the opening shots and maintained. Part of this is down to the theme by Gil Melle, part to the incidental music; that moment you hear the series theme and its flip from gentle to menacing half way through. Coupled with some really lovely cinematography, even if by modern standards, sometimes feels a bit shonky.

What the episode doesn’t do well is as obvious as what it does - away from the leads and the characters of Updyke and Captain Warren (Ken Lynch), there is a very real feeling that everyone else is wallpaper, only there to move the story forward to Kolchak’s next checkpoint.

Overall though, this was one of my favourite episodes back in the 1990s and on rewatching it didn’t disappoint.

Highlight

Pop : I love Kolchak's freak out when he's hiding in the ripper's wardrobe and is about to get caught. Darren McGavin really does give his all to sell this series, and his performance perfectly walks the line by treating the material just seriously enough to avoid undermining it.

Tim : Agree the wardrobe scene is a key moment, but the chase between The Ripper and Police is an exciting, if sanitised for 1970s US network TV, action scene that feels larger than the budget. The lighter, more comedic moments with the Independent News Service staff and the Police land well too, providing just enough of a counterpoint to the show's horror, to avoid seeming silly.

"Miss Physical Therapist" in a Ripper story. Uh-huh. Right. "Contestants". Gotcha.

Lowlight

Pop : The ripper himself has no character - he's a silent killing machine.

He also manages to keep his Victorian era suit and cloak perfectly intact through decades of gruesome murder. Perhaps his clothes are also supernatural?

Tim : Jane Plumm’s given a raw deal in this episode; the way she’s introduced, you’re immediately made aware she’s a one dimensional. disposable character defined largely by her physique.

Score on the doors

Pop : I'll give this one 7/10.

Tim : Solid. 8/10.

How can you explain it? Who could explain it? Who'd believe it? Carl ponders if his story will ever fly.

[zendyval]

I think if Euphoria starts filming when R+J is in production then yes they will have to be apart a lot, but I highly highly doubt they will not see each other once in those 3 months. Tom obviously can't travel because he's doing shows 6 days a week, but Zendaya can. Yes Euphoria takes up a lot of her time, but let's not forget she was able to take some time away during both seasons for Dune filming and Dune press. I don't doubt for a second she'd get some time away to fly to London to see him even if it's just a few days. I think people still have this idea of Zendaya who is addicted to working and prioritizing it over her personal life when she's shown that's not the case anymore. Euphoria is important to her and she's an EP so she has to dedicate a lot of time to it, but that doesn't mean she won't find any amount of time possible for her relationship as well.

and look, maybe this will be the demise of their unhealthy relationship as anons want or speculate it to be. But to your point, as said, the structure of S3 filming could be very segmented. I think the whole thing is each season is kind of it's own beast and they may also be working with them on scheduling especially since half the cast are now movies stars in their own right- so they may do Sydney's stuff at one part, depending on if Jacob E. is involved in her part or not, that could be another, Z another. Who knows.

Heck maybe S3 is going to be shorter and just be 4 episodes.

Who knows.

[rozeedigital]

Tips For Finding The Right PPC Consultant In London For Your Business

Google ads are an effective way of online advertising that was developed by Google. Through it, you’re able to show brief advertisements for your service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users. Its been proven time and time again to be successful for many different businesses in promoting your offerings.

Looking for someone with google ads experience who’s able to get you and your brand, company, or other where you need it to be can be a challenge if you don’t know where to look. Luckily for you, if you continue to read this article and check out Rozee Digital, you can find the right PPC consultant in London for you!

Is A PPC Consultant In London Right For My Business?

If you’re a business with high margins or value customer lifetime services, then having a PPC consultant is ideal for you. With the help of a PPC consultant from London, you’re able to reach more people at a faster rate and at the right time, rather than alone.

For eCommerce brands, PPC consultants are effective to have when trying to compete with overly crowded search result engines. You’re easily able to grow your business with marketing services that are dedicated to helping your brand in the long run.

Having an expert PPC consultant in your back pocket is how you’re able to stay afloat amongst the rest of the competition. With fully customizable marketing strategies and the crucially important information about your brand or service that you provide the agency with, experts know just what to do and how to do it effectively and fast while aligning with your business goals.

How Long Should A PPC Consultant In London Campaign Last?

While your business is active, you should always be with a PPC consultant and an SEO so that you’re able to ensure your company has decent exposure and engages with the audience actively.

You need to consider social success when creating the PPC campaign, the goal should be open communication with no hidden ideas or end goals. Remember not to give up your PPC consultant or the idea of PPC in general, results typically take two months, and you’re generally offered a two-month trial as such.

Depending on whether your company is interested in a long or short-term campaign, is what makes the time up you should be with the SEO and PPC consultant agency. If it is a short-term campaign that you’re more interested in, 6-12 months would be the way to go for you. Long-term is obviously longer than that, if not a permanent plan.

A secure way to make sure your company and brand have a secure way of positive growth is having the service done for 12 months. To build yourself up over time, look for even the smallest advantages throughout the six-month period so you know that it’s worth it and isn’t something to give up on. This way you are able to see your money is being well spent and why it’s being spent this way.

How Much Do PPC Consultant Agencies In London Charge?

How much PPC consultant agencies charge in London depends on the type of management service you’re looking for. Is it services or products or brand awareness that you’re trying to sell to the public and potential consumers?

One of the best ways for agencies, specifically, to charge is a percentage based on ad spending. Business owners and brand owners pay a certain percentage of the total ads that are spent on advertising. It’s usually around 15% – 20% of the total.

Mutually though, an hourly charge is a more straightforward approach for the client and agency. Some benefactors of hourly charging include improving ad quality scores, an increase in website traffic, no need for a long-term contract, and the best for smaller businesses.

Next is flat rate pricing, where clients need to pay regardless of the total budget that’s being spent on the ad. this way, the client doesn’t need to worry about increasing or decreasing the ad’s budget. Though it is more suited for larger businesses, it’s more efficient in reports and has fraud-click protection.

Final Thoughts

Having a PPC consultant by your side during the marketing phases of your business, brand, or services, is the way to go in the long run. With them, your worries are put at ease as they take care of the ads, marketing, and related strategies.

For more insights on digital marketing and getting in contact with an agency, Rozee Digital offers a lot more on PPC consultants in London.

Source URL :https://bit.ly/3WkO3G6

[lilithofpenandbook]

Okay, I need to jump in here for my own theory, based on personal experience as someone who was born in Yorkshire, grew up there, moved to london, and moved back up North.

As a child, people always asked me if I was from London. I never understood it until I actually realised what accents were. Even though I lived in Yorkshire (around Leeds to be specific) I didn't sound like that at all. I spoke with an RP accent. This was because I was firstly homeschooled, and back then there weren't as many opportunities for home schooled kids to meet, and secondly literally because I watched Cbeebies and BBC shows. All of which are primarily presented by RP speaking hosts. Add to that the fact that my mum lacks any real accent (she came to England in her twenties, still can't work out why she has no accent), and my dad spoke in a more RP leaning accent to us, and you have me and my sister, proper RP speakers despite living in Yorkshire.

Obviously, when we moved to London, the accent stayed. It's only after we moved back here to Yorkshire that our accents have gotten muddled. I now speak in both accents, RP and Yorkshire, especially depending on who I'm with. And even then, in my town there are varying levels of Yorkshire that hint at class (or who you hang around with) too. Both accents are so Yorkshire, yet one is distinctly "posher" than the other. This is how I expect Lily and Petunia spoke. They still had a Yorkshire accent, but it was more RP leaning due to their class. This one girl in my class a few years ago had that. She still sounded like she was from here, but she also sounded less casual, more posh.

As for Severus, there's firstly the fact that he seemed to have been isolated a lot as a child. If he was closer to his mum, and if she had a more RP leaning accent, there's always the chance that he picked up that over his dad's. Maybe he just watched a lot of the well off kids and picked it up from them. Perhaps he taught himself to speak like them because they were "better" in a way (new clothes, nice parents, that sort of thing). Maybe he had a school teacher with an RP accent in primary school. Personally I reckon that while he spoke almost the same way as Lily and Petunia, he may have had a stronger Yorkshire lilt in his voice, that maybe he disguised. Or maybe he just was trying not to sound like his dad.

As for adult Severus, he probably developed the RP accent in Hogwarts, especially from the other slytherins. Even if he wasn't trying to fit in, he would have just picked it up from them, because I guarantee that was the main way the house spoke, and it may have switched to his "default" there.

Or maybe, he just is one of those people who tends to adopt the accent of those around him. I tend to do that, speak Yorkshire in my hometown, and London in London. Because he's in hogwarts almost all the time, he would have used the RP accent that most people use, to the point that it becomes his default. Perhaps if he was to go back to Cokeworth, he would slip back into the Cokeworth accent.

Hello hello, love your blog and all the meta! Do you have any thoughts or saved meta on Snape’s accent? I don’t remember us seeing any indications in book-canon about him having an accent that stands out in any way, but I’d imagine that a poor boy growing up in the midlands (or in the north, as we thought before Spinner’s End was revealed to be in Cokeworth), to have a strong regional accent. Since this is an obvious class marker would he have tried to tone it down or hide it as he got older in Hogwarts? Thoughts?

Hello! Thank you, I'm always surprised anyone reads my posts so that's such a nice thing to hear! I've actually been thinking about Snape's accent lately so I love this ask and also get out of my head.

The books seem to show Snape speaking the Queen's English (ie. the dialect spoken primarily in the South of England and considered by some to be "proper" English, those people being dismissive of regional dialects in ways I personally don't agree with). This can be deduced more from seeing how the dialogue of characters like Dobby and Hagrid are written than anything else. Hagrid is written as speaking with a thick West Country accent, with a lot of "yeh" instead of "you" and "ter" instead of "to" etc. You also see similar clearly denoted regional dialects with characters like Mundungus Fletcher (whose accent is Cockney):

“Blimey,” said Mundungus weakly ___ “Keep your ’airnet on!” said Mundungus

-Order of the Phoenix, Ch. 2

“Well, you’re a bunch of bleedin’ ‘eroes, then, aren’t you, but I never pretended I was up for killing meself -”

-Deathly Hallows, Ch. 11

Because we see these characters with their pronunciations clearly written into their dialogue, we're meant to assume the other characters speak the Queen's English, as no specific dialect is otherwise indicated. McGonagall is Scottish but it's never mentioned that her accent might be as well, and her dialogue doesn't indicate it is either. In fact, if you do a quick search on potter-search.com for the word "Scottish" the only instance that comes up in any of the HP books - which are set in the Scottish Highlands with McGonagall as a prominent Scottish character - is at the end of Deathly Hallows when the dragon the trio break out of Gringotts deposits them in the middle of a Scottish loch. It’s the only time the word Scottish is used in the whole series. I think that says a lot about JK Rowling as the writer and what her own biases are when it comes to writing representatively of the places her story - and its characters - inhabit.

I don't think Rowling put that much thought into Snape's accent and where he's from. The underlying message is that the Queen's English is the "default" accent and peppering her books with regional dialect in the dialogue of folksy characters like Hagrid gives them a bit of color, or that giving someone like Mundungus a Cockney accent denotes his being an untrustworthy criminal (and it's not exactly a revelation that she has unchecked internalized biases that show through her writing). But I also think that she wrote Snape with Alan Rickman in mind and that made her vision of him a bit conflicting, ie. she wrote his backstory as growing up in a Midlands slum and yet he speaks like the RADA trained actor she envisioned him as in her mind.

That won't stop me from coming up with meta about Snape's accent, though! I've been thinking about it lately, actually, because I see a lot of posts that talk about how he must have lost his accent at school to fit in with the other Slytherins, since there are, historically, many pure-bloods and Sacred 28 families in that house and he would have had a hard enough time fitting in as it was. I've always thought these theories made sense but lately I've been wondering if there could be an alternate reading of Snape's accent.

We don't really know much about Snape's mother but I've thought about how she might have come from a reasonably well-off wizarding family, or at the very least from a higher class background than she ended up raising her son in. Although most Brits grow up speaking with the accent of their region, some do grow up speaking how they're taught to at home if it diverges from other locals. The example that comes to mind is how John Lennon always had a scouse accent having grown up middle class in Liverpool, while Paul McCartney - also from Liverpool - spoke the Queen's English because his mother insisted on teaching him to speak it at home, despite their family being working class, in order to give him a leg up through the classist confines of British social classes.

So my own meta has lately been to play with the idea that Snape always spoke with the accent we see his adult self speaking with, because his mother wanted him to have a chance to do better in life than what she was able to give him (again, given how classist British society is, and was especially back in the 60s). It may also explain why he had so few friends as a child: if he was raised to speak the Queen's English in a working class slum, the other children may have ostracized him for it and he may have inadvertently alienated them.

The idea that Snape has always spoken with the accent he has as an adult is partly supported by the conversations we see between Snape and Lily as children, where Snape's accent isn't written in the regional dialects we see other characters having. There are a few minor moments where young Snape seems to have a Northern lilt, but it comes off more as something that slips into his speech than characterizes it, when compared to Mundungus or Hagrid (emphases mine):

‘We’re all right. We haven’t got wands yet. They let you off when you’re a kid and you can’t help it. But once you’re eleven,’ he nodded importantly, ‘and they start training you, then you’ve got to go careful.’ ______ ‘They wouldn’t give you to the Dementors for that! Dementors are for people who do really bad stuff. They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban. You’re not going to end up in Azkaban, you’re too -‘ He turned red again and shredded more leaves. Then a small rustling noise behind Harry made him turn: Petunia, hiding behind a tree, had lost her footing. ‘Tuney!’ said Lily, surprise and welcome in her voice, but Snape had jumped to his feet. ‘Who’s spying now?’ he shouted. ‘What d’you want?’

-Deathly Hallows, Ch. 33

There's a bit of Northern in how he says "you've got to go careful" and shortens "do you" into "d'you" but overall his speech is fairly standard Queen's English. It sounds more like a kid trying to sound cool, the way the Weasley twins and even Ron often do (Ron saying "geroff" to his mum, the twins shouting "oy" to each other or saying "blimey" even though they all grew up in Devon and their speech is generally also written following standard Queen's English).

Young Snape's accent may also have been something that caught Lily's attention or just put her at ease - seeing this skinny, twitchy kid wearing odd looking clothes and looking uncared for and poor but hearing him speak with a more familiar accent and vocabulary would have made it easier for her to connect with him. We see from Petunia's dialogue as an adult that she speaks the Queen's English, so we can assume the two girls grew up speaking it at home. There aren't really any colloquialisms in her speech, and what little (and it's really so, so little) we see of Lily seems to show the same.

Some people claim that Snape’s Northern accent comes out when he's triggered, but I can't find examples of it. At his most triggered in the Shrieking Shack in PoA, he still speaks as he always does:

'SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!’ Snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. ‘Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck, you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he’d killed you! You’d have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black - now get out of the way, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!'

-Prisoner of Azkaban, Ch. 19

Even in HBP when he's fleeing and Harry triggers him, his speech is consistent with hiw it’s written through the rest of the series:

'No, Potter!’ screamed Snape. There was a loud BANG and Harry was soaring backwards, hitting the ground hard again, and this time his wand flew out of his hand. He could hear Hagrid yelling and Fang howling as Snape closed in and looked down on him where he lay, wandless and defenceless as Dumbledore had been. Snape’s pale face, illuminated by the flaming cabin, was suffused with hatred just as it had been before he had cursed Dumbledore. ‘You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them - I, the Half-Blood Prince! And you’d turn my inventions on me, like your filthy father, would you? I don’t think so … no!’ Harry had dived for his wand; Snape shot a hex at it and it flew feet away into the darkness and out of sight. ‘Kill me, then,’ panted Harry, who felt no fear at all, but only rage and contempt. ‘Kill me like you killed him, you coward -‘ ‘DON’T -‘ screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house behind them, ‘- CALL ME COWARD!'

-Half-Blood Prince, Ch. 28

There isn't really much in these moments to suggest a Northern accent coming out. So in a radical departure from the fandom, I've been mulling over the meta that Snape always had the accent we see him with. It's not as unlikely as people think, and certainly not impossible.

[thedrarrylibrarian]

hi love!! i recently finished both my marked for later and tbr - any recs for drarry fics that are long and have a bookish feel? id greatly appreciate it <33

Hello to you too, Love! I have two other Long Fic lists that you should check out as well, but if you're looking for something long, then let me recommend to you Long Fics 3!

Long Fics 3

Little Compton Street (One Rainy Night in Soho) by @writcraft (65,636 words, rated E)

Draco is lonely, Harry hates the press and it won’t stop raining in London. Harry discovers a magical street that’s close to disappearing forever and Draco realises he’s one rainy night in Soho away from finding everything he’s been searching for.

Breathe Me by @kedavranox (73,661 words, rated E)

Since the singular incident of being a Horcrux for many years has left Harry with a sensitivity to Dark magic, Harry begins training with Jacob, a Wizard who lives in New York, using this sensitivity to his advantage to cleanse magical spaces of Dark magic. After a year of training, Draco Malfoy shows up, wanting to learn from Jacob as well, and unexpectedly the two men grow a bond, both magical and physical. But Jacob’s sudden death leaves Harry floundering and growing increasingly dependent on drugs and sex to avoid his problems. After his brief and tumultuous affair with Draco ends, Harry begins a life of travel, avoiding returning home permanently and continuing his drug habit. He flits from job to job, from place to place, never settling down for a moment, until, years later, Harry is called back to England by his friends to help Draco find his way out of a cursed Manor.

Running on Air by @tinyhistory (74,875 words, rated T)

Draco Malfoy has been missing for three years. Harry is assigned the cold case and finds himself slowly falling in love with the memories he collects.

Knead by @jovialobservationanchor (83,103 words, rated E)

This is not a story about Harry renovating Grimmauld Place.

This is a story about coffee shops and brewpubs, about Ginny and Luna on a farm with creatures, about magical Oregon, coastal road trips, flying, friendship, and Draco Malfoy's lean arms.

Hermione Granger's Hogwarts Crammer for Delinquents on the Run by @waspabi (93,391 words, rated T)

'You're a wizard, Harry' is easier to hear from a half-giant when you're eleven, rather than from some kids on a tube platform when you're seventeen and late for work.

Little Deaths and How to Avoid Them (or Draco Malfoy's Guide to Stop Dying and Start Living Instead) by @greaseonmymouth (96,144 words, rated T)

Malfoy is way too interested in coroner reports for somebody who's definitely not looking for ways to die, Harry wants to be friends with him, and Ginny wants to break up with Harry.

Light up the Night by saras_girl (98,098 words, rated M)

This year, despite his better judgement, Harry’s love life is going off with a bang. Advent fic 2019.

Love and Other Unsafe Medical Practices by @tedahfromtayla (116,854 words, rated E)

Love is a lot like surgery: sometimes you have to take risks to succeed and most times there are unexpected side effects.

Harry is back in a hospital room after an Auror sting gone wrong and nobody is amused at this point. It's starting to become somewhat of a familiar scene for Ron and Hermione. This time his healer is one Draco Malfoy so it's actually a /little/ funny when something goes wrong during recovery.

By the Grace by @letteredlettered (139,812 words, rated T)

Harry is an Auror instructor. Malfoy wants to be an Auror.

The Ordeal of Being Known by @lou-isfake (146,645 words, rated M)

When Auror Potter is anonymously cursed with silence by being forced to hide his own voice inside his mind, there's unfortunately only one person in the country with the qualifications to fix it: Certified and Licensed Healer Legilimens, Draco Malfoy, specialist in Mind Curses and Afflictions. It's obviously a terrible idea, a disaster waiting to happen, but Draco's never been able to back down from a challenge... especially from Potter.

You might also enjoy:

Long List 1

Long List 2

Long Case Fics

❤️ As always, if you find a fic you enjoy, please remember to leave the author a kudos or a comment! ❤️

Lots of Love and Happy Reading!

P.S. If you're looking for even more long fics, don't forget that you can now sort through my AO3 Bookmarks by length! Try filtering through bookmarker's tags of 70,000-100,000, 100,000+, and even 200,000+!

[early2000smovieimagines]

Meeting and Dating Ahkmenrah

(Not my gif)(Requested by anonymous)

(This movie was my childhood. Brings back so many good memories ...and crushes.)

- You’d worked at quite a few museums in your day but none of them were quite like the Museum of Natural History; a fact you’d be made aware of very suddenly and without warning.

- You were somewhat new to the building, hired to do work on the exhibits since you were skilled in restoration and design. You weren’t a night worker, at least you weren’t supposed to be, but you’d accidentally dropped something as you were leaving your office and were forced to stay late to clean it up.

- After a few moments of sweeping, you’d heard a commotion upstairs and as you went to leave the museum; and investigate, you’d walked straight into the beautiful chaos of a night at the museum.

- Let’s just say that Larry had a lot to explain, all of which you took surprisingly well; though you didn’t have much of a choice now did you?

- Ahkmenrah spotted you from across the museum and watched as you made your way around the new magical world, staring at every person and thing in awe. He spied on you throughout the night and found that when he’d finally thought it appropriate to approach you, the sun was already beginning to rise.

- So the next day, he asks Larry about you, pretending as though he’s asking for no reason at all. Larry knowingly offers to introduce the two of you and the mummy drops the act, eagerly accepting.

“I’d like that very much, yes.”

- Larry approaches you with the sparkling pharaoh and is soon called away by someone else, leaving the two of you alone to speak. Ahkmenrah motions over to a bench nearby, commenting that it “must be a lot to get used to” as you both take a seat. You laugh in agreement and before you know it, the two of you are engaged in a conversation.

- Ahkmenrah’s sweet, he’s charming, he’s handsome, and he’s quite enamored with you; though you don’t know that just yet.

- Soon enough, it’s time for the sun to rise and he takes notice, begrudgingly standing and admitting that he “must say goodbye”. You respond with a somewhat disappointed goodbye yourself, watching as he begins to walk away before he turns and says “I should like to see you tomorrow ...to continue our conversation” to which you happily agree.

- The two of you become close fairly quickly. Anytime he spots you in a room, he makes a beeline towards you; both because he really likes you and because he’s somewhat awkward himself.

- He always likes being there for you, considering you’re new and not used to all that history coming to life stuff. He takes pride in being your guide and sort of likes the feeling of you depending on him a bit.

- Your “friendship” takes an obvious romantic turn, particularly; and outwardly, on his side; I say “friendship” because it was probably somewhat obvious from that he liked you more than that even from the beginning.

- He compliments you, oftentimes earnestly and quietly calling you beautiful, uses any excuse to touch you and your clothes, etc. He awes you with talks of Egypt and sweeps you off your feet quite easily. It’s really only a matter of time before the two of you get together.

- That “time” comes one day as you’re both sitting all alone. The room is dark and warmly lit and you’re sitting so close that his knees are touching yours. His hands hold yours as he speaks quietly to you and your face is leaned in close so that you can hear him.

- And then it just happens, your faces close in and you kiss, his grasp tightening around your hands.

- You’re interrupted by one of the others, most likely Larry who quickly apologizes and mentions something about the sun coming up before leaving the two of you be. Ahkmenrah turns back to you, saying something along the lines of “so we must once again say goodbye” with a small smile.

“It would appear so.” You respond, though you’re hesitant to move from your place. But alas, the sun has to rise and you have to go home.

“Tomorrow then,” He smiles at you, giving your hand one last squeeze. “...My queen.”

- You leave that morning, eager for the daylight to go and for you to be reunited with your newfound lover once more.

- Ahkmenrahs from ancient Egypt so I’m sure he isn’t particularly accustomed to “normal” Pda. That being said, he is somewhat dorky and practically has an entire hall to himself so he either just gives you innocent pda or the two of you go to his exhibit; and not have to worry about anyone seeing you.

- He’s been locked up in a sarcophagus for about fifty years; or more, so he’s arguably a bit touch starved. He’s always trying to touch you in some way and absolutely loves it whenever you touch him.

- He likes holding both your hands in his, occasionally bringing one of them to his lips. He just likes touching your hands in general if we’re being honest.

- Gentle caresses. He’s in love, leave him alone.

- Forehead and cheek kisses. He likes prolonging the amount of time his lips spend on your skin; a normal prolonged amount of time of course.

- Long, soft kisses.

- Loving makeout sessions. His hands roam your back and pull you in as close as they can whenever you have one.

- He likes laying between your legs and/or resting his head in your lap.

- Cuddling with your arms wrapped around each other and your head resting against his shoulder. He likes laying and talking with you, playing with the fingers that lay on his chest.

- Having his robes draped over and around you.

- He likes having you with him at all times, both because he’s protective of you and because he can’t bear to be away from you for more than a few hours.

- You’ll usually hang back and cling to his arm whenever you’re standing together. He likes feeling your presence at his side and the light grip you have on him.

- A bit clingy. He only gets to see you at night and has been alone for quite some time, of course he’s gonna want to be around you as much as possible.

- He always gets somewhat flustered when you give him gifts; particularly sweet things like flowers. You would have sworn you’d given him your underwear with the way he smiles and blushes in response.

- Ahkmenrah was the favorite son so he was a bit spoiled as a child. That being said, he’s surprisingly humble and sweet for a pharaoh that was given the best of everything.

- He’s probably teared up a little because of you at some point, whether it be your actions or just the fact that you’re there with him. He can get a bit emotional at times.

- Dancing together. We all saw how beautifully that man can move.

- Sneaking him out every once in a while. He really likes your apartment; even if you’re sort of embarrassed because he’s a literal pharaoh and lived in a temple when he was alive.

- Movie dates. They’re the easiest thing to do with him and he’s missed out on pretty much all of them so he’s got a lot of catching up to do.

- Listening to music together.

- Considering his time at Cambridge and just the way he is, he may or may not wax poetic about or at you on occasion. He gets a little embarrassed when he realizes that he’s doing it but it’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever heard/seen.

- Compliments and lots of them; usually paired with a term of endearment.

- He uses a lot of pet names on you, usually somewhat old fashioned ones. My dear, my sun, my queen, etc.

- He’s the cutest when posing for photos. He tries to look all regal in the beginning but it quickly dissolves into the adorable dorkiness that you know so well.

- The boy is lovestruck. He could sit and watch you do nothing with this look of unwavering love on his face for hours. Need to do some work? Thats totally fine. He’ll just sit there and love you.

- Please let him braid your hair. There’s just something that’s so relaxing and sweet about it to him.

- He has a hard time saying no to you. You’re his queen after all, you should have everything you could ever dream of; and he’s just too sweet to deny nearly anyone.

- Polite and respectful, Ahkmenrah is a gentleman with incredibly good manners. You’ll never be disappointed in his behavior.

- Helping Larry and him take care of the museum and tablet.

- Teaching him about all he’s missed.

- Always having a translator. He certainly comes in handy when you’re traveling around the museum and run into some “hostile” exhibits.

- Getting quietly and excitedly told a bunch of stories. He’s always so adorably eager to tell you about his life; whether it be about Ancient Egypt or more present times.

- He wants to introduce you to his parents so badly; though he’s somewhat embarrassed by them. Maybe you’ll transfer to the London museum for a bit?

- Getting bragged about. He always makes you sound cooler than you really are, though in your case, that’s just how he sees you.

- Stopping him from making morbid comments; oftentimes at the wrong time, or just giving him a look. He’s got a sort of different view on what’s exactly an acceptable thing to say.

“Too dark?”

- Sharing looks and making comments to each other.

- He’s always so gentle and caring with you; especially when you’re hurt or upset. He prides himself on being by your side and taking care of you.

- He’s a fairly patient person; especially with you. I mean, he’s had to wait a lot more than a few years to be let out of his sarcophagus so one can assume that he’d be good at that sort of thing.

- He’s not a terribly jealous person. Arguably, if you choose to be in a difficult relationship with a mummy, then you obviously want that relationship, right? He’s loyal and he expects you to be as well; that’s how it was in his times.

- That being said: if someone shows interest in you then he’ll get a bit jealous; though he’ll save his real jealousy for when he gets to see how you respond to them and how they respond to him making it known that you’re together.

- The museum can certainly get a bit dangerous at times; and he can only be there for you when you’re there, so of course he’ll be protective of and worry about you. He looks out for you and tells you to be careful every time you’re saying goodbye.

- The two of you hardly ever fight or argue, you’re just compatible with each other; and you rarely have the time to do so anyway. Plus, your pharaoh doesn’t have a mean bone in his body and lives to please you, so why would he try to fight with you?

- If he’s somehow done something; which is highly unlikely, he’ll apologize the minute that he realizes he’s upset you or thinks that he has. He’ll give you space if you want or need it and welcomes you back with open arms when you’re ready.

- If you’ve upset him then he’ll do his best to give you the silent treatment and act professional with you; not quite cold but not loving like he usually is. He’ll do so until you apologize and he cracks, shyly accepting your apology and reverting back to his sweet self.

- Lots of I love yous. You’re his queen, what do you expect?

- Your relationship is certainly going to be a bit challenging, but the happiness and love you feel with each other is worth it.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

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

[scripttorture]

You mention in posts how torture doesn’t make people obedient and usually makes them spiteful (which obviously makes sense), but isn’t it realistic for someone to comply out of fear rather than loyalty? Whether that was giving up information or obeying orders or something else entirely. I imagine it depends on the person, and they would probably still be willing to turn on their torturers if given the chance, but would it be possible for them to obey orders in hopes of avoiding more pain?

This is a much more nuanced and complicated topic then we’re taught to assume.

 When it comes to giving up information it’s pretty clear cut. No, torture can’t lead to accurate information for a lot of interconnected reasons. I have about six separate masterposts covering the reasons for this.

 One of those is the antagonism torture produces. Another is the memory problems torture causes. Another is the effect that the use of torture has on organisations and the chain of command. Another is the effect torture has on torturers.

 Torture drastically increases the chances of memory loss and it also increases the chances of inaccurate memories. So not only is a torture victim less likely to talk, they’re more likely to be wrong if they do talk.

 But the effects on victims aren’t the main reason torture doesn’t work as a way of getting information. You’re assuming that torturers have access to people who have information.

 The reality is that torture destroys an organisation’s ability to gather accurate information. Most information comes from volunteers: when torture comes into play less people volunteer information. This means that an organisation which tortures is more likely to be questioning someone who knows nothing. That person is then abused until they start making things up.

 Because there’s less access to volunteered information and because humans are very bad at telling when someone is lying, a lot of these made up stories are believed. And this then effects who else the organisation arrests and tortures. This creates a sort of spiral, with lies leading to more lies.

 Additionally the torturers themselves make things worse. There’s less quality research on them, but the research and anecdotal accounts create a pretty clear picture of their behaviour. They undermine the chain of command, they lose the skills the originally had as they turn to torture, they’re aggressive, incredibly competitive and they have a… fracturing effect on their organisation.

 Basically they’re incredibly difficult to work with and totally convinced of their own importance. And this effects their colleagues. It totally divides organisations. The worst case I’ve read about involved members of the same organisation killing each other over access to prisoners.

 That’s a short run through of the main factors. Torture, in the legally defined sense, means all of these factors are in play. Plus a few more I’ve omitted to keep this shorter.

 With all of that together you just can’t get accurate information.

 If you want longer posts I’ve made on the subject I suggest looking for the ‘torture doesn’t work’ tag and the ‘torture as interrogation’ tag. You can also read the masterposts. If you want a much more in depth look at why torture consistently fails as a way of getting information I recommend O’Mara’s Why Torture Doesn’t Work and Rejali’s Torture and Democracy.

 O’Mara is a neuroscientist and goes through the effects torture has on the brain in a way that’s accessible, explaining the damage torture causes and how that destroys the evidence torturers claim to be seeking. Rejali’s book is a breeze block but it’s really a must, it is the textbook on torture in a broad sense. He ties together information from across the globe creating a broader picture of what torture does, not just to victims but to societies.

 The question of compliance under threat and pain… is more complicated.

 People can be forced to do some things. That much is obvious from a brief glance at human history and things like slavery. But it’s important to listen to what people in these scenarios say.

 And my opinion, based on what I’ve read, is that what these people say doesn’t support the idea that humans will easily obey instructions when they’re hurt or threatened. I think instead these people are making hard headed, rational choices in absolutely awful situations. I think when we don’t have these experiences of torture or slavery, it’s easy to look at the surface of the situation and assume that pain alone assures obedience. I think that happens because it’s hard for use to understand the rationale when we don’t have that lived experience.

 Let me give some examples. So it probably goes without saying that slavery goes hand in hand with physical abuse. One of the major researchers on slavery, whose data I quote pretty regularly, assumes throughout his writings that pain is the deciding factor which ‘makes’ people obey.

 But he also describes a couple of very obvious consistent patterns in the ways slavers behave. Slavers almost universally do the following things as well as using physical abuse:

Separate enslaved people from their community

Bar enslaved people from other forms of support

Make enslaved people financially/materially reliant on the slavers

Tell enslaved people that going to the police/authorities will lead to the enslaved person being arrested

Try to convince enslaved people that they will be better off if they comply, usually by framing it as a debt to be worked off with promises of riches after a period of time

 Now here’s the thing: we know from studies on cults and studies on ICURE techniques that a lot of these strategies will result in obedience when there is no violence or physical abuse.

 Given that I don’t think we can assume that violence is the deciding factor. In fact I think the evidence we have from forced confessions under torture suggests the violence may lead to less obedience and a lower ‘success’ rate then a set up that used emotional abuse or other exploitative techniques without violence.

 We have two sources of historical data that are used for statistical studies on forced confessions. One is from historical France. We think that this data set only involved torture to force a confession; no other method of coercion just violence. The rate of forced confessions varied a little in different areas but over all it’s about 10%. The second data set is from the ‘London Cage’ a British prison during the second world war. Here we know that torture was combined with blackmail, bribery and other kinds of coercion. The rate of forced confessions there was about 30%.

 And while this is just two studies, while the data is lacking… That is one hell of a jump.

 Let’s circle back to ICURE. ICURE stands for Isolation, Control information, create Uncertainty, Repetition and Emotive responses. It’s a set of techniques which can, sometimes, change someone’s beliefs when it’s applied consistently over a long time.

 Notice the effort slavers put in to isolating their victims. Notice that the behaviour pattern I’m describing means the slavers are creating uncertainty over seeking help and repeating those messages as well as messages that the victims will be better off if they just go along with it.

 Slavers will generally also try to control the information their victims have access to, taking phones and blocking access to news sources and other resources. Now a lot of slavers will transport their victims to other states or countries putting a language barrier in place. They sometimes also use emotive responses in attempts to persuade victims to comply.

 I’ve read multiple accounts where survivors of modern slavery described slavers telling them that the money they were making was being sent to the victim’s family and without it the family would not survive. (Sometimes the slavers do send small amounts to the families of their victims, sometimes they pocket everything.) I’ve also read accounts where gangs of slavers used religion and oaths taken in a religious setting to persuade their victims they’d be punished by God for not complying.

 Even with all of this, all these techniques we know can sometimes ‘work’- lots of people refuse. Lots of people disobey. Lots of people escape. Lots of people actively sabotage the operations the slavers put together.

 And if you look at that same history of slavery, that shows us people can sometimes be forced to work, you’ll see that this has always been true.

 We have records of historic enslaved people attacking slavers, forming organised militias, forming parallel societies, sacking towns, taking over an entire Caribbean island and beating off four European armies in the process. We also have records of smaller acts. Sabotage, worship of banned deities, speaking banned languages, destruction of property, aiding in the escape of others.

 What I’m saying is: this isn’t black and white. The evidence, modern and historical does not paint a clear picture of violence leading to obedience.

 Instead I believe that it shows humans are resilient, stubborn, adaptable creatures. People can survive all kinds of horrible situations. It is more accurate, more human, to assume that people make rational choices.

 Sometimes those choices involve short term compliance while looking for a better option or a way out. But we tend to hear less stories about the people who completely refuse to comply. We tend to treat that as an impossible fiction when it is a recorded historical and modern reality.

 Bringing this back to writing as a general rule the more complicated the act the less likely you can force someone to do it. Because the more complicated it is the more opportunities they’ll have to sabotage it or use it against their abuser.

 I recommend reading up on the history of Haiti pet. Then Brazil via Palmares.

 I’ll end this by bringing it back to those statistics on forced confessions in historical France. Imagine the conditions with me for a moment. Unsanitary, cramped cells. Dehydration, starvation and disease. Plus the kinds of scarring torture that are conjured up in the minds of most Western people when the word ‘torture’ comes up; thumb screws, leg irons that tighten until the bone snaps, whips.

 Picture it. Try to imagine the pain those people went through.

 And remember that 90% of them did not comply long enough to sign their name.

Available on Wordpress.

Disclaimer