writing.

[cmdrg4ves]

a place for all headcanons and saved replies / general writing pertaining to @f1llgraves. it's to save me time when looking for headcanons lmao.

[f1llgravesa]

everyone is different but, graves parents raised him to take a certain reverence in being a husband. it was a formal affair, an oath taken before god - it would be shameful to fuck around, shameful to go against what you swore to uphold. he was raised to, essentially, always strive to take care of his partner ... marriage or otherwise, financially and mentally and physically. it was his job, according to his father and later his stepfather, to be the grounding force in a family home. he was essentially taught that it was on him to set his wife up for success going forward, and that's just how it was. how it would always be. his great grandfather, his grandfather, and his father before him all foretold as much.

and just like his father, and his grandfather, and his great grandfather ... graves was a name to uphold the above in a time of war. his great grandfather had experienced the trenches of world war one, his grandfather making sport of killing nazis after storming the beaches of normandy during world war two. his father had deployed to vietnam ( his mother too, as a nurse; how they met, according to family lore ), graves was bound by blood to the notion of raising a family in the wake of conflict. he just hadn't realized it yet.

they say that the 20's are peak developmental years.

to say he hadn't assumed he'd go to war is silly at most, the possibility was always there. he just hadn't expected to see peacetime transition so rapidly. he hadn't expected to learn first hand what it feels like to witness the fragility of human life in the darkest places of human interaction. " you either put it away or you get out at the end of your contract. " an older officer had said to him, a hand on sweat soaked back as he'd heaved whatever measly contents of his stomach up into dust. which hadn't been completely incorrect. some of his friend had gotten out when their contract was up, but he'd learned how to put it away. as far away, as high up, as he could.

to say he'd assumed that he'd be losing his youth like hair while trying to balance the life lessons of being a good husband was ... silly isn't the right word.

graves had spent all of his years after high school with a festering indifference to marriage and family. you learn how to pack away the horrors and your career is limitless.

and yet.

there he was, eyes on the dash display of truck too goddamn old for his new wife to drive ( it was unsafe, he'd argued, and she'd all but battled tooth and nail down to the last signed line when he'd insisted they get a new car ). phill had made a mental note maybe five minutes prior to change the oil in the morning, it'd sat too long on base, while hands busy themselves with unfolding the mask. a good husband. trying to staple a smile in place through the front door, christmas card photos in july thanks to inevitable deployment, swallowing an eventful evening over sat phone while hannah asked him about the promise of an eventual honeymoon.

( as soon as i can get leave, darling. i'll take you wherever you wanna go. )

deadbolt takes some effort to budge, gear heavy - he still feels relatively crunchy from an exceptional amount of air travel. door closes, deadbolt locking back up as he tediously arranges swinging items to nest into coat closet left barren, specifically picked for his gear, kept the rest of the floor clean and the clutter down.

mask stretches, he stuffs exhaustion into any corner he can think of where no one will look, it's the easiest approach.

besides, it seems irrelevant when he finds her laying across couch cushions, weeping in the dim flicker of television light. it's happened a few times now, this loss, he doesn't need to ask to understand what exactly had happened. she's good at keeping it from him on the phone, maybe she thinks it'll help, and maybe it does. it feels like his fault ( or it is his fault, if you were to ask his mother, who was adamant that stress is what kept them at a family of two ).

muscles feel miserable under the confines of skin as he kneels down, fingertips sweeping hair back. ( you eat somethin', sweetheart? the silence is telling. i'll make you somethin', anything you want. ) he'll declare that he plans on taking care of her, she'll argue that he just got home - that she's fine. but he's not stupid. ( indifference is the ultimate killer, sure. but he's not completely barren of empathy, he doesn't need to understand the weight of wanting motherhood. )

his knees and his back ache, maybe a little too much considering his age - but there he remains, craned over the couch, thumb dragging over the high point of her cheekbone.

[f1llgravesa]

things that graves does that just makes sense: enjoys cooking and actually p damn good at it, he can't portion to save his life tho which is probs bc he grew up helping his mama prep for church potlucks n shit so there's always mad leftovers. refers to his romantic partner as a lucky charm. never says he'll "come home in one piece" or something of the like because it's bad luck. still thinks looking up at the stars in nvgs is the coolest shit ever. always waits till everyone has their food before eating, which was unlearned in the army but re-learned after because his mother was adamant that it was rude. hot button temper sometimes. every dog can be carried like a baby if you just do it. is always very genuine with adoration, when he says he respects someone or something he means it. used to smoke marlboro reds or whatever he could get his hands on overseas. packs his gum in his lip like dip bc he used to dip in ranger bat. will always open the door for people going into businesses / places. will always pump and pay for your gas even if he's just your passenger. has built every gun he owns from the ground up because he thinks it's a waste of money to buy a stock firearm and then buy all the upgrade parts. was a mamas boy until his mom went off the deep-end after his father died and she remarried. giving gifts is a love language, receiving gifts not as much. gas station coffee > starbucks coffee. actually has a great deal of admiration for 141 and just sas as a whole from previous joint ops overseas while enlisted with sas. doesn't know how phone emojis work. was roasted by his guys for always coming off as laid back / easy going even in the thick of the shit cause he's always got that kinda lazy, eye crinkling smile - most of that is because he thinks it's important to always strive to keep morale up. likes to sing in the car. only listens to like dad country music unless he's training and then it's rock or anything loud / chaotic. will never complain about being in pain / old injuries / etc... or poor mental health rly, deff grew up in that "boys don't cry" / "i'll give you something to cry about" household esp after his mother remarried. kept a pretty solid beard in the army because of cag's mission perimeters. uses one of those like 5-1 shampoos that is supposed to be for hair / body / etc because he doesn't know any better. got divorced in his late 20's and was unironically kind of skewed on this idea that his job has created him to be someone fundamentally incompatible as a romantic partner. has driven the same truck since he moved from ranger to cag, refuses to buy a new one because he drives his vehicles into the ground before "wasting all that energy on picking something new", and even then a new vehicle is just a used vehicle because he doesn't really do flashy. lives well within his means considering the dough he rakes in, the house he owns is on a larger piece of land but is actually an older home that he bought after getting rehabilitated once discharged. has personal beef with the va. has to wear reading glasses now. his only expensive vice is like custom cowboy hats ( the kind they steam / shape in front of you ) and vintage watches. custom boots / shoes don't count because that's for mobility reasons. is p good at hiding his drop foot because he has braces / custom inserts / knows how to tape his foot. has terrible restless legs because of nerve damage-

[f1llgravesa]

theoretically it could be worse, theoretically it could always be worse, but that reality didn't make it easier; better; anything but jarring in the moment. countless stories shared across open fire and plumes of late night cigarettes - retelling over the smashed remains of what was once an identifiable ranger bar: BUT A STORY AND REALITY ARE VERY DIFFERENT, and phillip graves barely knows what to make out of the moment.

if his eyes are closed or just cloudy, for a passing moment, he's unsure. unsure if he's alive ... if this is just the seconds of limbo between the world he'd become accustomed to and the great, wild unknown. IT'S TOO LATE TO GET RIGHT WITH GOD, he thinks, if it's the latter of the two. his mouth feels gritty, and there's an almost paralyzing fear in the concept of sweeping tongue over lips that he can now dictate are wet with something that he can not name at that particular second. the faint scent of iron and something sticky-sweet against the heaviness of burning and dust - adrenaline hits him like a fucking train with the strained blink of eyes.

around him, night falls like a fucking blanket, he's flipping up dual-tubed nvgs, they fall into place so smoothly that he wants to believe they hadn't been absolutely obliterated by photocathode damage. ( not that it matters, they were shit anyway at best, and they sure weren't his. ) EVERYTHING IS DISORIENTING, from the scents to the sounds ... or lack their of, really. the ringing makes his teeth hurt, and it feels like hours between the blast and the desperate crawl to his feet. adrenaline makes his heart feel a thousand pounds as it hammers into the curve of ribs, he's blind to the agony of hard ignited fire chewing through pants - the sensation of uniform being shredded in places, leaving marred skin exposed to the now hellish evening air.

get your fucking gun up, graves. DO NOT DIE QUIETLY: he thinks of his men, the first two in through that door followed by their interpreter. someone had done something, maybe tripwires ... maybe good ol fashion bad luck. debris embeds itself in his uniform, in his fucking face - there's a sense of dread, an unshakable concept of horror. what the fuck just happened.

flashlight spills out into the darkness, dogs bark, kids cry - the world rumbles with life beyond their once quiet domain. charliemed, this is assassin-1-four, over. rifle shoulders, heartrate continues upward acceleration, jaw clenches tight to steady any shakiness in hands as he steps forward into doorway, followed by a series of hands that pull toppled masses from the fatal funnel. there's no chance in clearing, not when pain begins its slow seep up his leg. " clear the rest of the house. watch for wires. " voice is firm despite the monumental strain in his breathing, those same hands urge him backwards, back into the now settling flurry of debris.

this is assassin-1-four, requesting medevac, over. thoughts feel scattered in the moment, he's waving off those hands that had pulled him back as they move for whats left of pant-leg with knife. for a second, he doesn't recognize the stretch of his own leg - it feels alien, like he's looking at someone else in the mess of it all. " i've got it. " but he doesn't move, doesn't bring gun down from the garden wall that climbs into the early morning air as paranoia soaks into his very soul. charliemed, this is assassin-1-four, i authenticate champion, over.

SUDDENLY HE'S FUCKING FREEZING, eyes trained hard to combat the onset of sleepiness ( a doctor would later explain the symptoms of a brain injury in such a casual way, he'd feel almost out of place in the va office ), trying to remain indifferent to the sound of fabric as it's torn away - a dizzying pain, a stomach faltering smell. they say the ending is always grand, and he'd expected nothing less from this life but -

" stiener, what's the status inside ? " his fingers have to be pried off ptt, jaw set harder than before. multiple enemy kia. hvt identified and down. what's the status of the casevac ? over. his brain swims, tongue feeling like bricks in his mouth as smith answers behind him ( god bless him, really ). a heavy mouthed exhale, the blades of helicopter cut through air dense enough to slice with a knife. gun stays poised at shoulder, vision hazy, until those hands once again pull him right back.

[f1llgravesa]

GRAVES & HIS UNIFORM PRIOR TO GETTING OUT. before i deep dive into his rack, i want to state that graves attended west point military academy for four years before being commissioned as an army officer, 11b, in 1999. he served a mandatory five years in that role, three of those years being set during the initial invasion overseas. ultimately, he would end up serving seventeen years in the united stated armed forces; from big army, to the 75th ranger regiment, to special operational detachment delta. his service history, deployment rotation, and overall credentials both as a former army officer and a private military contractor are considered distinguished because he was active in, at the time, a completely new warzone.

now, let's get into it.

above. combat infantry badge. row one. army distinguished service ribbon. row two. defense superior service ribbon. legion of merit. row three. purple heart with second award. meritorious service ribbon. row four. army commendation ribbon - 7th award with c device. army achievement ribbon with fourth award. row five. joint service achievement ribbon. army achievement ribbon with fourth award. army good conduct ribbon with three knots. row six. national defense service ribbon. afghanistan campaign ribbon with two stars. iraq campaign ribbon with one star. row seven. global war on terrorism expeditionary ribbon. armed forces service ribbon. humanitarian service ribbon with one star. row eight. army service ribbon. army overseas service ribbon. united nations service ribbon. nato isaf ribbon. beneath. special forces tab badge. master parachutist badge. army expert marksmanship badge with the hanging rifle.

above. special operations joint task force afghanistan csib. row one. army presidential unit citation. army meritorious unit commendation with oak leaf cluster. army superior unit award. beneath. graves nameplate.

left sleeve. special forces tab. ranger tab. airborne tab. army special forces airborne arrowhead. misc. three service stripes on sleeves. us army collar device. us army special forces collar device. blue infantry shoulder cord. us army major shoulder marks.

[cmdrg4ves]

FOOT DROP, also referred to as drop foot, is what happens when you cannot actively lift the front of foot / toes due to weakness or paralysis of the muscles. it can be caused by a variety of things, and treated appropriately with the assistance of medical professionals. because of its nature, people who experience foot drop are often compelled to overcompensate in their steps; they can also be prone to poor balance, dragging their toes, or furthering discomfort to to over-correction. it can effect one or both feet.

GRAVES + FOOT DROP. caused by a career ending incident in 2016 when a compound rigged with explosives went up, graves' drop foot is caused by damage to the peroneal nerve ( though his doctor theorizes that some of the blast related brain injury may have contributed, as it contributes to an auditory processing disorder ). it became extremely apparent during his stay at walter reed medical center while he was actively re-learning how to walk.

AS OF 2022, GRAVES HAS NO HAD SURGICAL TREATMENT ON THE INJURY. because of busy work schedule, he relies on things like shoe inserts, specific taping methods, and devices like the walkaide to treat injury. surgery would take him out of the game for too long, and there's no guarantees of complete success. he is certainly in no place / mood to want to relearn how to walk and function after the hell that was 2016.

this all being said, graves has done a lot to essentially live with injury. sometimes, when he's home, it can be more apparent / obvious because he's too tired to try and in no mood to go through the process of taping. however, this is not room to underestimate graves, who has shown that he is plenty capable of doing his job even with injury.

beyond general foot drop, graves has miserably restless legs due to nerve damage. it can make sitting still or laying down insufferable, especially in his left foot ( the one directly effected by foot drop ), and he has used a good few things - including a foot wraps that electrically stimulate nerves - to alleviate the discomfort / sensation.

[f1llgravesa]

Visit Original Link

shadow company is called in to clean up the uncleanable messes, and take out targets other outfits can't touch. we are a magnet for missions too sensitive to ever get declassified and too messy for those who don't know when to bend the rules of engagement. to put it bluntly, we get the job done.

NO MASTERS, NO KINGS ! shadow company is a private contracting company based out of amarillo, texas. founded in july of 2017 by former delta force operator, phillip graves, shadow company is heavily structured in a military fashion ... including the implement of officers vs enlisted titles, which can be seen across the game itself with the various shadows. this is an unshakable fail safe implemented by graves in the instance of his death: it means shadow company will not fall to pieces if the hands are changed, theoretically at least - it depended heavily on who took the reigns, whether that be marcus lerch or another shadow.

originally, graves was just that ... a shadow. he preferred to operate as a commander / ceo from the background, often on target with his shadows during the early days of the company. however, as the company grew, graves became a more reserved ground commanding force - only utilized physically in the field when deployed to very sensitive situations, often tailed by a meticulously handpicked team of people he'd served with prior or people he trained / worked with regularly.

graves reputation in the intelligence community as a heavily reliable operator with an IRON RESOLVE IN THE FACE OF HELL earned him immense credibility among political figures who often referenced his stacked service history when hiring him. it also earned a quiet desire to work with and for him in the sof community that only grew as the war overseas drug on.

THE URBAN LEGENDS SURROUNDING HIS NAME IN THE ARMED FORCES WORKED IN HIS FAVOR, and it wasn't long until shadow company was breaking through various barriers - obtaining more than a few rotary wing aircraft, their numbers eventually growing into thirty-odd thousand contractors working worldwide for the commander. shadow company became known for a versatility: TRAINING FOREIGN FIGHTING FORCES, DEPLOYING AS PRIVATE SECURITY, TOUCHING ON MESSY CIVIL WARS, AND MUCH MORE.

while graves primarily only hires us based operators, shadow company has become well-known for their ability to reach foreign operators for assistance on ground / in country.

in 2022, after graves ( alleged ) death, someone stepped in to fill his shoes, remaining nameless as they re-routed ground forces toward al-qatala and the russian contracting community. SHEPHERD'S INTELLIGENCE BLUNDER WAS AN UGLY SCAR ON THEIR REPUTATION, and the kia status of their original founder left former and future clients widely disenchanted. that nameless entity would never genuinely be open about identity, instead, heavy behind the scenes work and very quiet calls would be made inside the community.

shadow company's reputation being very meticulously mended, the source carefully concealed. some people rumor that graves is still alive, operating the company from behind the veil again with the intention of using legal loopholes to operate accordingly and bring violence to shepherd and the russian entity that had ambushed his men in al-mazrah. other people brush that off, stating it's a story fabricated to keep morale up.

overall, shadow company as of 2022 pre-graves "death" is noted to be a highly sought after employer, and an even more sought after fighting force - very competent, very lethal.

[f1llgravesa]

graves doctor asking him to not drink so much caffeine because fifteen years of high stress environments, the periodic c*ke addiction, and the excess of caffeine and nicotine used to keep him awake on deployments has fucked him up: graves, still doing the ol ranger coffee dip pouch when he's overseeing or working long ops with shadow company:

[f1llgravesa]

graves knew what he was getting into with the military, but the extent was very different. being loosely told what you might encounter, and actually encountering it, are two different things. during the initial invasion, training programs involving mout and cqb weren't completely rolled out. imagine being twenty-four / twenty-five in a combat environment that is vastly unknown, flying by the seat of your pants, in charge of a bunch of 18-22 year olds that are being rolled into the street like canon fodder.

[f1llgravesa]

no shade but graves can cook. and i don't mean like, get premade meals and put them in an oven. i mean cook. like, like follow a recipe or wing it and make a whole, bombass dinner.

[f1llgravesa]

ok but like hear me out here ok w/ this ugly ass post bc im not at my pc to make an actual graphic w/e. lets say hypothetically you wanna make shadow co characters ... why not the boys from the ambush mission huh. why not alive / pow au in future huh. huh hu h huh hu hhhh

daniel erikson. former green beret, dishonorably discharged from the united states armed forces after his command found out he was utilizing steroids to essentially keep working on a knee injury. hired by shadow company in 2019 as a psuedo "commanding officer" in the company's teams structure. he lives in goodlake, oklahoma, which is right on the border of texas, and has one son and an ex wife.

james vance. former recon marine, served as an rto in both iraq and afghanistan. graves moved him from willits, california to amarillo, texas as part of his agreed upon employment contract given the fact that vance was struggling financially and couldn't afford to make treks in and out of texas for work. unmarried, he'd given most of his money to his parents, a pair of alcoholics who'd sucked his wallet dry even in the usmc.

lucas dipaolo. former navy seal, the youngest of the group, and the newest of the three in terms of hire date ( 2021 ). dipaolo got out of the military after serving eight years in the united states navy. deeply disenchanted with aspects of military living, him and his team were left on the ground during the withdrawal in afg ( like other sof operators, including operators from other countries ). he was given a good word by a former superior who actively works with shadow company.

[f1llgravesa]

GRAVES & HIS UNIFORM PRIOR TO GETTING OUT. before i deep dive into his rack, i want to state that graves attended west point military academy for four years before being commissioned as an army officer, 11b, in 1999. he served a mandatory five years in that role, three of those years being set during the initial invasion overseas. ultimately, he would end up serving seventeen years in the united stated armed forces; from big army, to the 75th ranger regiment, to special operational detachment delta. his service history, deployment rotation, and overall credentials both as a former army officer and a private military contractor are considered distinguished because he was active in, at the time, a completely new warzone.

now, let's get into it.

above. combat infantry badge. row one. army distinguished service ribbon. row two. defense superior service ribbon. legion of merit. row three. purple heart with second award. meritorious service ribbon. row four. army commendation ribbon - 7th award with c device. army achievement ribbon with fourth award. row five. joint service achievement ribbon. army achievement ribbon with fourth award. army good conduct ribbon with three knots. row six. national defense service ribbon. afghanistan campaign ribbon with two stars. iraq campaign ribbon with one star. row seven. global war on terrorism expeditionary ribbon. armed forces service ribbon. humanitarian service ribbon with one star. row eight. army service ribbon. army overseas service ribbon. united nations service ribbon. nato isaf ribbon. beneath. special forces tab badge. master parachutist badge. army expert marksmanship badge with the hanging rifle.

above. special operations joint task force afghanistan csib. row one. army presidential unit citation. army meritorious unit commendation with oak leaf cluster. army superior unit award. beneath. graves nameplate.

left sleeve. special forces tab. ranger tab. airborne tab. army special forces airborne arrowhead. misc. three service stripes on sleeves. us army collar device. us army special forces collar device. blue infantry shoulder cord. us army major shoulder marks.

[f1llgraves1-deactivated20230625]

just a quick little transportation headcanon !

2017 FORD F-350, graves, who typically hates spending money on cars / other items that often seem to flex funds... bought this truck in 2019 after the ford he'd bought in 2007 completely died and he could no longer justify the cost of fixing it. this truck is beaten into the ground work wise, and has been driven far outside of texas / long distance.

2020 CAN-AM SIDE BY SIDE, graves, quite literally, only bought this to alternate driving with his younger brother - who also owns one. they use it for camping and hunting trips, typically, but sometimes they'll take them out to go off-roading locally. graves also sometimes uses it to go to the range or fuck around on his property.

2021 HARLEY-DAVIDSON PAN AMERICA 1250, the actual only selfish purchase graves has made in terms of things that... are for himself, fully, really, without any ties to work or anyone else. he considers it a head clearer, his younger brother argues that it's more of a death trap with how graves rides sometimes.

[f1llgraves1-deactivated20230625]

If you don't mind me asking, why do you think Shepherd hired Shadow Company instead of using the military?

private military companies are almost impossible to touch, from a legal standpoint. wagner, blackwater, caci, titan - these companies can commit atrocities against other human beings without prosecution ... some being as complex as wagner, which isn't one specific contracted group, rather, its a network of privately funded businesses (which, i'm pretty sure the russian pmc group in cod is based on wagner). even with the un adopted policies against "mercenaries", larger nations wont play ball with the idea... and the work around is that mercenaries have become corporate, which skirts right around any standing laws.

but more importantly than that, PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANIES COME WITH BUILT IN FAIL-SAFES FOR THE ENTITIES THAT HIRE THEM. because a lot of these companies cannot be held accountable, and they're super secretive in how they operate, they can be blamed if things go wrong ... but their involvement can also be fully denied.

governments can also utilize them when they believe there will be high casualty situations, because pmc causalities are not counted toward military casualties: this skews the actual amount of death in combat zones, masking the toll of human life to the public. for all these reasons, shepherd picked shadow company.

he could hire shadow company, who more than likely had a high earning reputation winning govt contracts for conflicts and security, and he knew that he could either throw graves under the bus or deny his involvement if things went south. missiles go missing under shadow company? he can easily claim they weren't supposed to have them, that they weren't working for him / had been outsourced and were abusing american weapons systems, or just flat out pretend they'd had no involvement at all. at the end of the day it didn't matter what happened, shadow company guaranteed shepherd won.

this isn't saying that all private military groups do terrible shit overseas, it's just been labeled a " wild west " scenario.

there are a lot of companies that only work in security or pulling people out of places that govts aren't supposed to meddle (for instance, the withdrawal from afg saw a ton of pmc's on the ground getting politicians / etc out. happened in ukraine too). the cabo delgado mozambique instance in 2019 is a good example of a pmc company stayed to ensure there wasn't mass casualties in pemba.

[f1llgraves1-deactivated20230625]

this one is just self indulgent but in west point graves took -

for his major in defense and strategic studies and his minor in war, technology, and society.

PLEBE / YEAR ONE - (fall) english composition, chemistry 1, math modeling, psychology, american history. (spring) english lit, physics 1, calculus 1, intro to computing and information technology, regional history. YEARLING / YEAR TWO - (fall) intro into strategic studies, physics 2, philosophy and ethical reasoning, political science, persian 1. (spring) strategy and policy, physical geography, probability and statistics, advanced economics: principles and problems, persian 2. COW / YEAR THREE - (fall) research methods strategic studies, persuasive communications, warfare-age of industrialization, general psychology for leaders, history of military art. (spring) special ops: theory & practice, rebellion + insurgency & civil war, the history of irregular warfare, advanced international relations, cyber foundations. FIRSTIE / YEAR FOUR - (fall) domains of war, warfare in age of revolutions, the history of innovation, military ethics, constitutional and military law. (spring) war & its theorists, genocide & mass atrocity, conflict and negotiation, mass media & american politics, officership.

[f1llgraves1-deactivated20230625]

star wars. after surviving the purge of mandalore, graves, like others, scatters across the galaxy to seek refuge in concealment. he starts a pseudo kind of "bounty hunting" group that ends up primarily capitalizing on unrest & aggression in the galaxy. shadow company is made up out of anyone with a semblance of training that wants to profit on what the empire has tried to monopolize: violence.

the last of us / zombie apocalypse. shadow company had been comfortably formed, funded, and inadvertently prepared for the figurative end. when society came to a screeching halt, they utilized their numbers and skillsets to create heavily guarded communities across different states, trading supply convoys and the like between them. graves sits at the center of it all, unwittingly building his own sort of civilization while wiping out competition and potential threats through violence of action.

fall out. much like the above, shadow company was prepared for the end without realizing it - their alleged use to government officials prior to the fallout made them particularly favored in the militant circle ... their flexible morals and ability to do what was necessary had graves and a good handful of his men chosen to be put on ice. fast forward to long after the blast, and shadow company has become an entity on the surface that is similar to the brotherhood of steel and the like groups.

far cry 5. montana senators are tired of "social media rumors" that make them look inept, specifically the notion of an armed religious cult in a smaller county. shadow company, already utilized a multitude of times through the us government, is hired with the intention of a swift course of action and a quick expulsion. where the government issues arrest warrant for the illustrious joseph seed, graves and his men are tasked to kill any of the family that puts up a fight. however, incomplete / bad intel makes the entire situation go sideways - graves, usually extensively prepared to burn a city down if needed, doesn't bring the man power he needs to scorched earth his way through the county ... now he, and a small handful of his men, are stuck behind enemy lines.

marvel / dc. after being medically discharged from the military, graves forms shadow company - per most timelines. he and his group continue to work with the government on various tasks and missions, though it's occasionally annoying considered the introduction of enhanced beings. he's not a fan of weaponized sentient beings, but that's neither here nor there.

the hunger games. a district one career tribute, graves is selected for the hunger games and ultimately emerges a victor. a capitol favorite for his "funny little accent" and relatively charming personality, he seems to fit the mold of the people's lavish pet. however, he utilizes connections in district one to funnel defected peacekeepers out to district thirteen ... referred to as shadow company, they're a group of militarized individuals who have set up to train the beginnings / growth of a rebellion.

fantasy / the witcher / etc. shadow company is just a bounty hunting group tbh. like a defected knights from a kingdom taken over idk. i'm too lazy to keep writing these lmao.

[f1llgraves1-deactivated20230625]

tbh graves fave color is blue, but not just regular ol blue, the color blue that the sky is when it’s mid afternoon on a too hot summer day and there’s not a single cloud up there overhead - and you can see the earth stretch for what feels like lifetimes. his favorite fruit has always been watermelon; when he first got home from walter reed, his mothers sister would come keep an eye on him cause it was still so awkward to move and function on injuries - and she’d always help him get out to the back porch and bring him blended watermelon lemonade and talk to him about how bright and big his future was gonna be.

he’s driven the same truck for years because it’s the first thing he was ever able to pay off and call his own. he makes good money but donates most of it to organizations for veterans because he has an intimate knowledge of the seemingly rock bottom that comes with the end of service. he will drink his coffee absolutely any way you make it without any complaint, but he prefers it scalding and black with only two little sugar packets (the most generic ones you got) because it’s a little reminder that he can and needs to slow down.

he sleeps with a white noise machine because sometimes his ears ring really bad when the house is quiet, and he thinks the little foot wrap that vibrates to stimulate nerves and quell restless legs is probably the funniest (and most depressing) thing a doctors ever given him. he hates the dentist, wears the same kind of classic cut wrangler or levi jean (if it ain’t broke), and likes to drive a little too fast with his windows down even when it’s cold as hell outside.

he has few photos from his deployments, but one shit quality digital camera video of an extremely intense nerf war with british forces at a joint operations base. he’s more of a sweet than savory guy, likes to try his damnedest to cook, and spends the weekends on the range with old friends and a few shadows.

at the end of the day, his intentions are always good but violence is the only currency he understands after serving from 18 to 38 in a war that he basically saw start and end, and it’s as embarrassing as you can probably imagine to exist in a body that doesn’t feel like your own sometimes, explaining to people who ask about your occupation that you never could quite figure out how to bring yourself home.