Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

ifeelbetterer:

rupertegiles:

Oh so at the Buffy panel at Awesome Con James Marsters talked about how sometimes Spike would be in a scene and he’d just have no idea why Spike is there and the script didn’t explain it, and so he just made up motivations and he said he basically just made up 90% of the time that he was there to kill Xander and forgot/changed his mind

Me too

(Source: drelliotreidmd)

Anonymous asked: okay, favourite city in alleirat and what the street food is like there

Oh my god, let me talk to you about my very favorite Alleirat city: Dase, the city of stone, called by her own people and all those with sense the jewel of the east.

Perched on the easternmost coast of the Alleirai continent, Dase (pronounced dah-SEH) is the biggest city in terms of population if not physical size, and presides over the finest harbor in the world (the southern coast, with their sprawling river delta, politely begs to differ, but look, they’re wrong, okay, good talk).  Beyond her size, Dase’s claim to fame is her towering four-hundred-foot coastal cliffs, and the semispherical harbor the ancient citizenry excavated straight into the stone wall with a combination of magic, explosives, and sheer determination.  The harbor is massive, able to comfortably house even the tallest ship without scraping the mast along the ceiling and protect quite a number of vessels in the event of a storm.  The city itself was originally built almost entirely out of the excess stone removed from the harbor, and as further expansions have been executed under the eye of the city stone workers, the buildings have been expanded since then with the same material, either taken from expansions to the harbor or knocked off another part of the cliff.  Dase mostly gets expanded up rather than out, since it’s approximately a half-circle facing against the cliffs on one side and there’s a city wall hemming it in along the curve, but it’s still sizable, about three miles in radius.  It’s also the place where Crispin and Brenneth grew up and lived until things went badly–Brenneth used to own a smithy on the blacksmith’s row that’s still standing, and her old sword is mounted in the audience chamber of the gothkenla (like a city hall crossed with a citadel, literally ‘city center’).

Because I have no impulse control, here’s a brief excerpt of Brenneth and Crispin returning: 

“Welcome back to Dase, the jewel of the East,” Crispin said, switching fluidly back to Alleirai and raising his bound hands as if presenting me a gift.  I turned, and looked, and all my exasperation with Crispin drained away to be replaced by the sun-warm, dizzy ecstasy of being back.

Dase was less beautiful and more striking—all its beauty was in strong lines and hard angles, like the cliffs it commanded. It was tall, about three or four stories on average, and built almost entirely out of the hard silver-grey stone of the cliffs, with wide windows cut into the walls and the sun turning it into a labyrinth of brilliant light and impenetrably dark shadows.  The air smelled of salt at the cliff face, but the city wind itself could change on a dime, bringing the scent of the farmlands from the inland fields.   From our angle were the places where Kal Dase—Dase Below, the subcity of tunnels—could be accessed were invisible, but we could see where the stone was ragged enough to be scaled to the eaves of the roof level. Shadows moved, quick as starlings, overhead, thieves about their business in Lai Dase, Dase Above.  

…From above, the city would look like a ragged half-circle, butting right up against the edge of the cliffs with an absolute disregard for the potential drop on the other side.  At what would be the center of the circle, if it were complete, was the gothkenla, the city center—the citadel building where the gothed lived, received audiences, passed judgement, and completed all their other duties.  City-side of the kenla was a sprawl of empty space that spread all the way to the cliff, serving as the central marketplace and, occasionally, execution grounds.  The ten major streets radiated out from the city square, a nest of alleyways interconnecting them, and led all the way to the city limits. Every sector had its own markets, its own hierarchies and systems—the city in miniature, divided up by class.  The path to the cage, sardonically marked Drop Alley with a wooden sign, butted up against one of the major throughways, the one that ran immediately cliff-side. Unless they had moved everything around rather a lot, which I imagined would be a challenge, the kenla was about an hour walk from where we stood, depending on foot traffic.  

But so, as you might imagine, food in Dase tends toward fish for meat and depends on her protectorate lands for kestho (the main grain grown in Alleirat, a very hardy, adaptable plant that produces dense breads that taste sort of like…rye?) and other farm products.  The ten city sectors often have smaller markets to service day-to-day needs, with the large market outside the gothkenla being a once-or-twice-a-week thing for more variety, but that’s, like, raw cooking material.  

Since street food is generally stuff that can be acquired and cooked with a minimum of effort and expense on the vendor’s part, I’m guessing that smoked meats (maybe venison/other wild-hunted meats in seasons where they’re plentiful and therefore cheaper, chicken/beef if a vendor could get a good deal, most commonly fish) play a big part.  I’m kind of thinking of a kabob-like situation, with chunks of smoked meat served on a skewer with whatever suitable vegetables are in season.  Spices and seasoning would be easy, it’s a trade city and you can make spices last a long time if you know what you’re doing, so please assume that all of these are very flavorful.  

Straight-up fruit vendors are also a pretty common thing, especially in the richer parts of the city where the fruit is nicer and possibly imported (maybe from the west where apples do better, or the south where everything does great, or even the Outrigger Islands where more tropical stuff can be found).  Fruit vendors also do phenomenally well in the hostel district where there are always sailors who miss real fresh stuff and are willing to shell out of their wages accordingly.  Like, the fruit vendors in the hostel district charge more than they maybe ethically should but the sailors don’t care enough to try to change it.  

Oh, and bread stuff, that should fill out the basics.  Since kestho grain doesn’t easily grind down into really fine flour and tends to be very dense, fluffy pastries aren’t really a thing like they are here, but miniature loaves of bread (like, the size of two fists) with various things baked into them are a hit.  You can go with meat/veggies for savory or (often dried) fruits for sweet–they’re often baked as an easily transported ration, too, although not so elaborately.  Kestho loaves with meat and hot Island spices do a booming business on the training grounds and as a traveling ration for the city guard, because they’re quick and easy to eat with protein and carbs for energy and a good kick.  That specific combination is actually called a soldier’s meal, because they were the original kestho loaf cooked by soldiers during the ancient pre-unification wars.

I wrote this on a bus with no dinner in sight and now I’m ravenous and I could murder a soldier’s meal with like some strawberries after, Jesus this was a bad idea.

words-writ-in-starlight asked: For the fic thing: "men died for you (i bet you liked it)" for Borgias. Fuck me the fuck up.

wildehacked:

Ao3 Summary: “Him,” Lucrezia says softly, and nods her head at the man across the room. Tomorrow he’ll be dead, she thinks, and masks her shiver with a bright smile. 

Actual Summary: AU where Micheletto isn’t hired to kill Cesare at that banquet. Instead, he’s hired to kill Lucrezia after her marriage to Giovanni Sforza, and winds up swearing fealty to her instead.

This fic features:
-Lucrezia attempting to poison Lord Sforza’s wine, which is how she stumbles across Micheletto attempting to poison her wine, which is how she ends up shoved against a stone wall with a dagger at her throat, Cesare’s lessons in self-defense meaning she has a knife pressed to the big vein in Micheletto’s thigh. “God, you’re fast,” she says, with the same false laugh she gives the French king in canon, the one that’s charming and sweet and full of bravado and masking utter terror. “I don’t think even my brother has someone as fast as you.” 
-Lucrezia in her nightgown with her gold hair falling all around her, knees tucked up to her chest, sitting on the edge of her bed, with Micheletto on the floor. Covered in blood. Having a quiet conversation about Saint Paul and marriage and the evils of being compelled to marry where the heart and flesh are unwilling. 
-Lucrezia doesn’t hook up with Paolo. She doesn’t know he exists. Lord Sforza is dead in the ground, and Pesaro is hers. 
-There is no baby. 
-Lucrezia doesn’t allow Cesare to poach her assassin. 
-Cesare is deeply, deeply suspicious of the assassin his little sister brought home from Pesaro. Micheletto falls in lust with him more or less at first sight, but his loyalty is already given. 
-Lucrezia realizes Micheletto is in love with Cesare before he does, although obviously he’s aware of the lust. 
-Micheletto realizes Lucrezia lusts after Cesare before she does, although obviously she’s aware of the love. 
-Lucrezia is deeply impressed by watching Micheletto garotte a watermelon
-Cesare is deeply distressed and deeply turned on by watching Micheletto garotte a watermelon and then watching Lucrezia stick her pink thumb into the meat of the severed fruit and lick off the juice.

EXACTLY everything I could have wanted

brickhousebuck:

i really want steve, when asked in an interview or something about what he’s going to do now, responding “maybe i’ll go to college, i’m only thirty one, i’ve got plenty of time to work it out”

and the reporter just. staring at him like he’s grown another head

so steve repeats, “i’m thirty one, by my count.” he doesn’t mention the whole not aging thing. doesn’t want to blow their minds any more. “I was twenty six when i boarded the valkyrie.”

“thirty one” the reporter repeats. “you had the fate of the entire world on your shoulders and you were younger than me when i got married.”

and steve just nods. “i’m guessing you don’t want to hear how much tactical experience i actually had before the battle of new york, huh,” and the reporter flips their shit

(Source: spacebuck, via windbladess)

modularnra40 asked: I just read through your Empress Amidala tag. I love it. I love Padme's trauma. But. I want to know. Are there ever any times when Padme. forgets? To be horrified? Like, something will happen - some horrible thing, and she can just *fix* it. And every now and then it's soooo eaasy. Instead of bickering senators immorally arguing politics, she can just order the starving citizens fed. Or on a personal level (Vader is still Anakin, she still loves Anakin, qed she loves Vader) Then she remembers.

suzukiblu:

That sounds like the kind of thing that Padmé is going to occasionally have a problem with, yes. Like, yes, sometimes Vader shows up all happy and sweet and kisses her face and plays with the twins and is entirely useless at helping her get her paperwork done and is just so content and KIND, and sometimes there’s a natural disaster or a pirate attack or problems with the Hutts and she can just send aid or drop the FUCKING hammer and it’s DONE and sometimes some senator or another is being fucking selfish and hateful and greedy and she can just LOOK at them and they will backpedal for their FUCKING LIVES and it’s–it’s–

Fuck, it’s TERRIBLE, actually, it’s the worst thing Padmé’s ever done IN the Senate, short of accidentally playing right into Palpatine’s hands and getting him elected. But what else is she going to do, exactly? 

… really. What else could she do. 

How much must Luke Skywalker be freaking out right now?

meripihka7:

priscellie:

thefalconawakens:

bystander3:

Can you imagine?

You are moping on your island of self-imposed exile, and then this girl shows up.

• She’s flying your best friend’s ship. The ship that Han thought he lost for ever. The ship that was stolen and passed through so many hands that he was sure he’d never see it again. The same ship that took you away from home for the first time.
  
• She’s accompanied by your personal droid. The droid you left behind and abandoned. The droid that C-3PO was sure would never be the same again.
  
• She holds out her hand and she’s holding your father’s light saber. The sword you were sure was lost forever. The light saber that you dropped down a bottomless air shaft on a gas giant thirty years ago. The light saber you knew you would never see again.
  
• You look up and you see her eyes. Maz Kanata says that if you live long enough, you see the same eyes looking out of different faces. The girl’s face is different, but those eyes are the same. You know those eyes. They’re the eyes you thought you’d never see again.
  

And that’s when you know it.

You’re screwed.

They say sometimes the Force works in mysterious ways. Sometimes, the Force will send you little signs. Subtle clues.

Other times, the Force will just beat you repeatedly over the head with a gigantic neon sign that says: “You can’t run away from your past anymore, Luke. I won’t let you. Look, here is your past come back to haunt you. Now deal with it.”

You have no idea how much I adore this post with my whole being

I like the idea of the Force sending Luke little signs over the years that it’s time to return to his loved ones, gently increasing in intensity as he ignores them, until it finally gets fed up and shoves the events of Episode 7 into motion, finishing with a flourish of HERE’S YOUR NEW APPRENTICE, SPACE HOBO.

Aided and abetted by the ghost trio, I imagine. Especially since he did not look at all surprised.

Obi-Wan and Yoda sending him dreams and whispers for 15 years, before an exasperated Anakin pushed them aside “Excuse me, but you two are not very good at dealing with Skywalkers and have amply demonstrated that fact over the decades. We don’t do subtle. *appears giant-size over the sky* That’s it, Luke, we’re sending you all the things! So PULL YOUR SHIT TOGETHER, SON!!”

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)