Daugaard’s famous painting shows the goddesses Iah and Elyon as one being, bodies melding into each other into a harmonious and graceful whole.
―Henrik Rorbye, “Modern Art: A Century of Change”
Israfel
“I hope you like it,” said Magnus Kraej. He’d kept mostly silent throughout the tour, letting the butler do the talking. The only time he’d spoken up was to point out a portrait in the music room that he said was a Daugaard. “What do you think?”
“It’s a little too much,” said Asteria.
“You could have had the entire building,” said Kraej.
Really? The entire building? What had Asteria done for the Kraej? Nothing short of conquering a continent would explain that.
“What do you think?” Asteria asked Oren, Katja, and me.
“Amazing!” said Katja. She’d been shocked speechless by the sheer opulence of the apartment at first, but she’d recovered enough to squeal at the pool and gym.
“Much better than your old apartment,” said Oren. He looked uneasy, but even he had loosened quite a bit.
“At least it won’t be too cold in winter,” I said.
“This place is too big for one woman to manage,” said Asteria.
She was catching on.
“Why would you be managing this place alone? I have the perfect staff here for you,” said Magnus. “There are eleven people, including an excellent chef. You don’t need to worry about the upkeep or staff. I'll take care of it.”
Translation: The staff are all in my pocket. And so are you.
Seeing that it was hopeless to protest, Asteria turned to embrace Katja. “You’ll stay here with me, right?”
Katja patted Asteria’s head. “Sure, at least for tonight. I’d love to use the pool.”
“You, too, right? Oren? Israfel?”
“I didn’t bring my swimsuit,” I said.
“I don’t know how to swim,” said Oren.
“What?” Asteria and I chorused at the same time.
Magnus Kraej chuckled and gestured to one of the staff. “They’ll get swimsuits for you. A swimming instructor, too, if you want one.”
A Kraej only needs to wave his hand to be given everything, huh? Must be nice.
“I have to go. Enjoy yourselves,” said Kraej. As if on cue, Lifers entered the room and deposited boxes into the living room.
“What’s this?” asked Asteria.
“These are your things from your apartment. You won’t need to go back to East Thuesen again,” said Kraej.
“Magnus!” said Asteria. She followed him out. I could hear them talking at first, but they soon moved out of earshot. The Lifers definitely knew how good an EL’s enhanced hearing was.
When Asteria came back, she was frowning. “Did you know that they arrested a serial rapist near my apartment?”
“Yes, it’s all over the news,” said Katja.
“Magnus said I shouldn’t go back,” said Asteria. “I did manage to talk him out of giving me this apartment though. He’ll send his staff to bring me to a much smaller one in a safer location that I can manage by myself.”
That was a surprise. I could have sworn Kraej wanted her under his thumb.
“Do you need us to help you move?” asked Oren, eyeing the boxes the Lifers had brought it.
“It will take a few days before the other apartment is ready. I promised to stay here in the meantime. Did I tell you I got a new job?”
“What job? When do you start?” asked Katja.
Asteria told us all about her new job as a junior administrative coordinator at a charity. She must have gotten a plum position like that through her connection to Sariel or the Kraej. It sounded like her salary was going to be much higher than the cafe job, and a lot of travel was involved.
“Why don’t we relax and use the pool now? Let me check the swimsuits they brought,” said Asteria. She and Katja went to a room to change while the Lifers gave me and Oren a choice of board shorts or swim trunks. We changed in the guest bathroom at the pool.
The girls finished changing in a surprisingly short time. Katja looked great in a string bikini. Too bad my girlfriend couldn’t join us. She was taller, fitter, and had bigger boobs. Asteria, for some reason, was wearing a rash guard and board shorts. I wouldn’t have thought she was the shy type.
Katja jokingly catcalled me and Oren. “Nice abs!”
Asteria hid behind Katja. “Shh, don’t talk to Israfel like that.”
“Why?” asked Katja.
“He’s someone else’s property,” said Asteria.
“You mean that girlfriend no one’s ever seen? The one whose name he won’t tell us? I’m not sure she really exists,” said Oren.
“She exists. You’re right, Asteria. She’s a jealous woman.” I smiled. “Stop ogling me.”
“No one was ogling you,” said Katja.
We took towels from the staff and went to the heated indoor saltwater pool.
“Oh, yes! I could get used to this,” said Katja as she took her drink from the silver tray one of the staff was holding out to her.
“You guys should stay here with me for a few days before I move,” said Asteria.
“I have to go back to the barracks by curfew tonight,” said Oren.
“I could stay,” I said. “You girls need a big, strong man to protect you.”
“Why don’t you invite your girlfriend to come over, too? There’s plenty of room,” said Asteria.
“Nah, she’s too busy to even see me today,” I said.
Katja agreed to stay with Asteria for the time being. Oren and I would leave after dinner. In the meantime, we relaxed at the pool. Oren didn’t know how to swim so I taught him the basics. He was a fast learner, but he needed more practice. Asteria suggested we use the pool for the next few days when we had time.
We were munching on snacks and drinking cocktails when Asteria, who had been looking pensive, suddenly slapped her palm on her forehead and said, “What the hell! I’ve been played!”
I laughed. Of course, she had. That’s what happens when a little girl like Asteria tangled with someone like Magnus Kraej.
“What do you mean?” asked Oren.
“I’ve been wondering why Magnus gave in. He used The Donald,” said Asteria. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize it until now.”
“What the heck is the Donald?” I asked.
“The Donald is a strategy people use to make something unpalatable more acceptable by giving them something worse first,” said Asteria.
“What?” asked Katja. Oren was scratching his head.
“Okay, it’s like this. Pretend there’s a boy or girl you want to marry but you know your parents would never accept that person. Maybe they’re too old, too poor, or have a bad reputation. What you do is to bring in The Donald first. The Donald is someone or something outrageously bad. Your parents, of course, will be horrified and force you to break it off with The Donald.”
“Oh, I see,” said Katja. “Then they’ll be happy when you introduce your real partner.”
“Yes! Your parents will be more than happy for you to marry your boyfriend since it could be worse. It could be The Donald,” said Asteria.
“And this apartment is the Donald,” said Oren.
“I've been played,” said Asteria again. She shook her head and sighed. “Magnus has been trying to get me to move into a better apartment for months, but I never accepted until now.”
I clicked my tongue.
“It could be worse,” said Oren.
“How?” asked Asteria.
“Seraph could be back,” said Oren.
“He said he’d be back today, actually,” said Asteria.
Good goddess, there’ll be a bloodbath when Seraph finds out that Magnus Kraej secreted little Asteria in his love nest.
“What? Maybe you should hide or something,” said Katja.
“Hide? Why would I hide? I’ll call him later and invite him to dinner with us. Sariel and Uriel, too,” said Asteria.
We gaped at her.
Could it be true that she and Seraph really were just platonic friends? Was she aiming for Oren like I thought she was? None of it made sense.
Women, who can understand them?
When it's just Asteria and Katja, she feels comfortable enough to wear a bikini.
I'm not gonna lie, I was so curious that I genuinely searched it up on Google
ON MY SCHOOL CHROMEBOOK
Now both my FBI agent and my school will be confused as to why I searched up, "what is the donald"
Hahaha! You're in trouble now!
*burning ? eyes ?!!!*
OMG ?! You are going to make me fall in love with her. She is too cute in her swimming clothes!
I now understand why Magnus, Oren and Ely are so attracted to her!
Oh, yes, she is indeed cute!
*sigh*
My brain is dying...
How come? Did something happen? Don't die!
For anyone who wants to know (and somehow didn't know already,) the REAL name of the term that Asteria called "The Donald" is "The Big Ask." The big ask is a strategy that has likely existed since time immemorial, and the term likely existed for hundreds of years, but it was made famous and introduced into popular culture by the former 45th president of the United States, also known as "The Donald."
(Also, I have to say, I really like Asteria's way of explaining it. "The Donald," as she explained it, is the only explanation for why we have a complete failure like Biden as president. This is going to be the continuation a very bad 8 years. Are we on a 46th now? I didn't notice. All this president did is cancel all the previous president's policies and then re-instate the exact same policies only with his own name on them. If nothing else, this only goes to prove there's no real difference between Democrats and Republicans. They are both trying to destroy the United States as fast as humanly possible.)
Thanks for reading my story! I feel like Magnus uses this tactic a lot...
Biden's spent most of his time this year desperately trying to fix the scorched earth mess Trump left behind. I'd rather have a superfund site to deal with than be given both the White House and a gag order stopping me just telling people who really screwed them over this week. I'm amazed a human can keep their temper after being scapegoated for this latest mess.
@kaithar You can't say that after Biden made the decision to abandon Bogam air force base in the dead of night without telling the Iraquies. That one is 100% on Biden and no one else. He can say what he wants about Trump making the deal and forcing him to withdraw, but he did not have to abandon the single most defensible airfield in the area before evacuations could begin.
@Jemini I don't have access to the intel he's working from or the exact details of the withdrawal instructions communicated internally, so I can't exactly claim to make better judgements than his. I'm just pointing out the deal and schedule were signed before the election, Biden forced the date forward to buy a couple of extra months.
It's not his job to micromanage the military, he gets the options for doing a job and approves the one that he wants doing, if the commander in chief has to give direct orders it generally means multiple layers of command have screwed up and things have gone horribly wrong. It's not really a matter of how competent or detail obsessed the person at the top is, it's a hard limit in the human brain for how much of any given thing can be comprehended at once... Detail level working memory is something humans haven't got enough of. I refuse to believe he wrote a list the day before it happened, logistics on this scale takes time, heck, planes aren't magic. Any governments that thought they could wait at time it with the US withdrawal are a bunch of idiots, *never* be the team following the retreating army, it's just common sense.
I swear, there has to be more than one person in that office yelling "Why is any of this a surprise? There are literally text books about this stuff."
Also, while I don't know if it's the case for that particular base, it's normally slipped into high school history that one of the basics of strategy is that you always try to abandon a held location at night with little to no notice. In most historical combat operations the retreat is more dangerous than the advance. Advancing is force first, support second, defense focused on the territory you are taking over. Retreat always leaves a vulnerable team somewhere because you're intentionally weakening your forces and defending against ambush. Thus the same strategy is used as when you want to move house without telling a creeper: move fast, undercover if possible, at night if practical, and with at little notice as is feasible.
@kaithar Yeah, except that they abandoned the defensible base and left the vulnerable base staffed. If anything, it should have been the other way around. Abandoning Bogram and using the civilian airport instead is the reason 13 American soldiers got killed and we now have a hostage situation in Iraq.
Speaking of those 13 dead soldiers, Biden's speech was all about his own son and paid no attention to the soldiers who died. He was also checking his watch during the funeral event like he couldn't stand to be there. He is showing blatant disrespect for the armed forces left and right on this event.
No, Biden is not a good president. Trump was not a good president. Biden replacing Trump does not make Biden a good president. If you think otherwise, you should go watch the South Park episode about the election between the giant douche and the turd sandwich, because that's the situation we have here between Trump and Biden.
@Jemini I'm guessing you saw part of the mother's rant? Perhaps the deleted Facebook post?
@Jemini Okie, that took a while, sorry, had to do a bit of digging. I'm going to spoiler this stuff since it's pretty ugly in parts.
Regarding the funeral event:
Some context, the source I've seen for info about that event comes from Shana Chappell, I don't know how accurate her account of her conversation with him actually is, but it's impossible to be any more disrespectful to her son's memory than the rest of her statement. I saw her facebook post going around twitter, where 75% of is fair anger over her account of the interaction but the rest has a couple of red flags, with a link to nypost's coverage who were kind enough to mirror her instagram post instead. They split the screenshot of it over 3 separate images. And oh wow.
Some choice highlights include claims the withdraw failures "has to be on purpose", calls for what can only be described as a call to install "our true leader" by force, support for the related election conspiracy, obligatory use of the word "sheeple"... I'm sure you get the idea, I'm trying to be careful with my wording but sadly she was very clear with hers. Repeatedly clear. Given the people using one to promote the other, there were people understandably angry at her. The tragedy of it is that it's impossible to give her credibility as a witness, so we lose a source on what actually happened.
As for Bagram... yeah, this gets dark:
After some checking I can give you 4 logical arguments for abandoning the base like that, but it's not exactly pleasant logic.
1. Suggestions about maintaining a presence at the base is flawed for the simple reason they had to leave. That's what they agreed to, the base was to be turned over and they were to leave. Thus they'd at most have only been able to keep it until the deadline. If they gave the suggestion they weren't going to do so it would have triggered an escalation. They turned the lights off because they took their equipment and people and left. Thus: "They left the area before they caused the area to become an active combat zone"
2. Hypothetical alternative the first. They arrange a transition to hand over the base and hold an evac force there til the deadline while stripping their assets out. Based on the outcome in Kabul, the base would have received attacks even if the Taliban didn't officially target it, with the Afghan transition force placed in a situation where they either needed to help defend the US forces still there or choose to only defend their own assets. The former would mark them targets of the enemy, the latter would likely mark them for dereliction. Both would be irrelevant since the Taliban would treat them as US aligned forces during the take over.
3. Hypothetical alternative the second. Same premise as 2, only we take some less optimistic assumptions. They now have an Afghan presence there while the base is being stripped. A presence with a vested interest in retaining any hardware they can, which is reasonable from their position. Retaining the assumptions of self-preservation and lack of malice, there's a few ways it can go, but with the same outcome. Perhaps they retain some equipment, perhaps they'll marginally hamper the withdrawal, it won't be pretty regardless. Regardless, the Taliban show up and they do what they did in reality, they defect in the hopes of not dying. If the US are still there it's one unpleasant outcome, if they aren't then nothing changes other than the enemy getting more hardware. Political fall out increases regardless.
4. The prior 3 are predicated on an important detail: Kabul would be abandoned instead, Bagram would be held as the final evac. The number of troops in the country couldn't be increased, in those scenarios they concentrate defence of one airport with what resources they could use. The third hypothetical is splitting the troops between the two. It's literally the worst parts of all the other outcomes. Neither would have the holding strength because it's split so both would have to fall faster, neither has the evac capacity since it's being split so both have to leave more behind, allies at both would be less supported so allied military casualties would be higher and Afghan fall would be faster. The leading advantage is that it sounds morally good on paper if you pretend the problems are someone else's problems to deal with.
Now the elephant in the room:
Anyone trying to get out on a US flight would have to do so by trying to get into whichever was still active. Options 1-3 means the civilians would have to leave Kabul, travel to the base, get in, and hope the US would help them. Given the place got looted we can question how well it would hold against an attack, but remember that keeping out insurgents means keeping out civilians. Replay the scenes at Kabul airport, only at Bagram. Option 4 does split the group trying to get out, but also splits the resources, and I have zero doubts Kabul airport would have been far, far worse than what we saw.
Ah, but it gets worse... where are the NATO forces in this analysis? In reality they're at Kabul in a concentrated withdrawal. In these 4 scenarios do they stay there? If they stay there they're either on their own or with weakened support. Which is to say, that would have called for the remaining British forces to hold the airport or move to the US base.
In reality we know the plan deviated and additional troops were sent in to maintain the held ground. In all scenarios that means increasing deployment at the base in the soon to be Taliban controlled area with brass gambling that it wasn't met with an attack on the non-civilian target. In scenario 4 the extra troops are split so either deploy more or fail to maintain control, both multiply risk.
The only redeeming factor in any of this is that it isn't the worst case option. That would be Biden ripping up the agreement, setting up another decade of chaos and military action in the area, antagonising Pakistan, Russia and China in the process. Roll the dice to see if we actually get a third Gulf War proper.
If you can see a way to make any of this result in less overall casualties than we got, please tell me cause all I see is dozens of timelines that are nothing but misery.
Nobody is going to admit it, but by leaving Bagram the way they did they basically guaranteed 3 things: nobody would die there before their last boot left the base, nothing would be given to the enemy unless they left it behind, and no additional blame would be laid on any ally for anything that could have happened otherwise. To paraphrase for the realist: There are no good futures here, just degrees of atrocity.
And for a third, separate, comment in a row... I apologise to everyone who isn't interested in this for dragging the comments down into this mess of mud and blood. The never ending parade of journalists, politicians and shameless filling the media with articles and bikeshedding about who to blame is getting to me a bit. Did the past 20 years magically disappear from whatever brain cells they have able to form guilt?