uvher

[uvher]

You're not that lucky.

[uvher]

Riccardo Albiero.

[uvher]

"Most everybody carries an antidote or two. Think of it as a kind of Crow-style roulette game." Vax leaned in, grinning conspiratorially. "Only, I usually know how the wheel is loaded. You'll be fine."

Of course, that was the cute answer. In truth, the attempts at poisoning were always deliberately targeted. Even now, as the Antaam ground Treviso under their heel, there were maneuvers in the dark by lesser houses to grab at power. After House Kortez slaughtered several Talons— and, oh, had Viago been peeved about that— it had been a bloody mad-grab by the cuchillos to take those empty seats.

The likelihood of a poisoning happening that night was pretty slim. No one would have had time to plan it out, and they'd be sloppy if they'd tried. Better to avoid being caught out for a slap-dash job than face the embarrassment— especially with a poison-master like Viago de Riva in attendance. Still...best to be cautious.

"Besides," Vax went on, strolling their way towards the growing din of Crows gathering in the main banquet hall of the Cantori Diamond. "Don't Wardens have a particularly hardy constitution?"

The hall entrance opened to an impressive display for a quick, after-battle party— as to be expected of Teia. There were tables laden with finger foods, all quick and easy to throw together in a pinch. There were plates of meats and cheeses interspersed with fresh fruits, jams, and crackers. Someone had put together a plate of arancini. Vax made a B-line toward a pile of chocolate truffles and sugar plums.

"This should all be good," she called over her shoulder. "Maybe take a second look at that arancini, though."

The elf was definitely too perceptive. The quirk of her lips made her think that perhaps she was getting ideas where there were none. Still, she met her gaze and dared her to say something. Her and Lucanis had agreed to be cordial with each other. Professional. She would not shut him out and in return he would deliver her Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain's metaphorical heads.

That was it. There was nothing more to it.

She definitely did not breathe a small sigh of relief to herself when she and Davrin had seen him stood beside Teia. Bloodied but very much alive. Then each time she saw the flash of spectral wings in the corner of her eye as she had charged the blighted dragon, she had not felt her heart kick in her chest. Of course she was concerned. If he died then who else would be their ace?

He was a weapon who just happened to be in the shape of a man. That he cooked and read silly romance novels in their book club and was surprisingly tender did not change that fact.

Her thoughts were cut off when Vax hopped from the railing and mentioned food. She should probably eat. Grey Warden stamina did not come from nowhere and after fighting a blighted dragon, Cornelia could feel her reserves running on empty. No doubt between her and Davrin they could clean the Crows out of a shocking amount of food. She suddenly had a craving for those little cheese rice ball things that she had tasted in the market not too long ago. What were they called again? Cornelia was sure she could probably recognise them if she saw them.

All that ground to a halt at the mention of poison.

"You poison the food?" Cornelia could not help the utter incredulity in her tone "When everyone is supposed to be celebrating? When you could kill some of your own people?"

[uvher]

whats wrong with you

whatever you want

[uvher]

Artwork by Burne Hogarth

[uvher]

Nuven'in closed her hand and the specter dissolved into nothing. She met Rook's gaze and smirked, finding his intensity amusing.

Rook's answer tumbled around like a cluster of leaves in a corner. It was very human, she realized: a practical answer based in action. It smacked of personal experience, a history of ramming against obstinate walls held firm by fools with heels dug firmly in the dirt. She wondered what system Rook had so chafed against.

At the same time, it revealed something very interesting about Rook. The best window to the soul was not the eyes but the mouth, in her opinion. Even words of concealment revealed something about the speaker, belying their prejudices and insecurities. The delicious question, then, was: what pain was Rook trying to cover and shove away beneath his own Pride?

"Perhaps," she said. "You describe Pride as both a defense and an offense, concealing and pushing away. A shield, essentially." She hummed and tilted her head to one side.

"You're clearly no stranger to battle," she went on. "How does one break a shield? And how does one do so without damaging what was shielded? If, of course, you care enough not to do so." Shrugging, she reached out her hand and a handful of grapes came to her. "I have never had any interest in the art of war, myself. Educate me."

Another riddle it was, then. But a point to make, Ogden noted. It was a philosophical question, something brought up from his time in the Circle and argued by the older mages in theory. They hadn't had much practice beyond what the walls of the Circle and the Chantry allowed. Their experiences defined them and so they took pride in what they knew.

But a wise man was a man who knew he knew nothing.

Which was what Ogden had to learn as a Warden recruit. All of his fancy classes and lessons at the Circle did not match the weight of a sword in hand. A different kind of pride to gain there; one within a brotherhood and belief of fighting for the good of the world. Even if the older wardens whispered of how it was, truly, a losing battle. The pride to hide the faults away.

"...It's a cover," Ogden began. "It's something which grows in aversion and if let to grow for too long, is used to cover up the faults in the system, perhaps even to the point the person is blinded by their pride. It's thinking they know better and refusing to listen when people point out what's actually best. Pride is to cover pain, to shove one's perceived worth in the face. Hubris comes before the fall in all the tales due to this."

Ogden leaned back, glancing between his companions before meeting her eyes with determination.

"And more often than not, their pride isolates them from the people they may have listened to before it evolved into that hubris. The question, then, is how do you pull hubris back before it falls and can never rise again?"

[uvher]

Rude, Bertrand thought, rolling his eyes. And uncultured.

"Perhaps I will spend my day making petty pictographs. You while away the time effectively enough doing much the same." He gestured to the growing mural on the wall, wrinkling his nose. "I suppose it's...quaint."

"Nothing suitable for you." Solas walked over, picking up a jar of pigment nearest to Bertrand's hand and placing it further out of reach.

"And I have hoarded nothing. All of these pigments I have made myself. What use could you have of ink, in any case? I was not aware you knew how to write."

[uvher]

// i came up with bertrand when i was actively in a theater program and that's why he's so insufferable tbh

[uvher]

im always quoting this tweet and am shocked and appalled that it has under 5k likes

[uvher]

They love being worshipped. 🖤

[uvher]

If Vax were a dog, she would have her tail tucked between her legs. As it was, she was an elf and was stubbornly keeping her head up and her shoulders squared. Best to belie just how much she knew she was in the shit.

"Well. You know that super-potent, slow-acting poison you've been working on? The one with the delayed effect? The good news is: the delay time is probably in the window you were aiming for." Vax swayed a little on her feet, her toes and fingertips starting to go tingly. "The bad news is: it looks a little too much like that other poison you've been having me immunize myself with and I didn't look at the labels."

She grinned and shrugged, trying to keep the situation light. "You wouldn't happen to have an antidote worked out yet, would you?"

@uvher asked: Vax to Viago: "Do you want the good news or the bad news?"

Viago sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Those words were something he never wanted to hear from any of his assassins, least of all Vax. She had a penchant for trouble that few of the others did. And, usually, for getting out of it as well.

But of course, that didn't mean they escaped completely unscathed.

"Vax, what did you do and how badly did you mess it up?" Hopefully it was something that could be easily fixed.

[uvher]

📝 Lucanis for Cornelia

Send me  “📝”  and I’ll respond with a letter that my muse would write to yours. [Accepting] | @bloodlaurel

Rook,

You asked about those "delightfully cheesy little rice balls" that were being sold in the market the other day. They're called arancini di riso. They're a Salleni dish, originally, but there's variations all over Antiva.

If you're curious about how it's made, I have a recipe from the family's cook that I've saved. It's my personal favorite, but by no means the only way to do it.

Ingredients:

Risotto

4 cups rice (arborio or carnaroli is best, but arborio is more forgiving)

6 cups chicken broth (this is easily made in advance)

1/3 cup butter, salted

a nice, large pinch of saffron, if available

1 cup grated parmesan cheese.

Sauce (this is very customizable, but here's a basic sauce)

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 onion finely chopped

1 small stick celery finely diced

1/2 carrot finely diced

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

8 ounces ground beef

8 ounces ground pork

3/4 cup chopped pancetta

1/4 cup red wine (white wine works, too)

2 cups tomato passata

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 stalk rosemary (fresh or dried)

freshly ground pepper

salt to taste

Frying

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup milk or water

1 egg

2 cups dried breadcrumbs

8 ounces mozzarella cheese

Oil for frying (light flavored olive oil works, or any other neutral oil)

Preparations:

In a large saucepan, bring the chicken broth, butter, and salt (with optional saffron) to a boil.

Add the rice, stir and bring it back to a boil.

Once boiling, reduce the heat to the lowest cover with a tight fitting lid (I put a thin kitchen towel between the lid and the pan to capture the moisture) and cook for 15 minutes. Be sure not to lift the lid!

Take off the heat and let the rice sit for a further 10 minutes. Rice should be moist and cling together easily.

Turn the rice out onto a large, flat baking dish and mix through with the grated parmesan cheese. Cover with a towel and let sit to cool. Taste and add salt as you like.

For the sauce, heat the oil in a saucepan and add the finely chopped onion, carrot and celery. Saute for a few minute until softened.

Once the vegetables are softened, add the pancetta and chopped garlic followed by the ground meats. Stir and fry to brown, breaking up the meat well ("Make it look a little like sawdust" is what the cook used to say).

Add the wine and let it come to a boil.

Add the remaining ingredients and bring back to a boil. Dampen the heat and simmer slowly for 1 hour until the sauce has thickened and reduced to about 4 cups. Season to taste as you do this.

Allow the sauce to cool so you don't burn your hands when making the balls (hard lesson to learn).

There will still be plenty of sauce left over from filling the arancini. This excess can be jarred for later.

Take about a tablespoon of rice and flatten into your cupped hand (you should wet your hands beforehand to make handling the rice easier). Add a large teaspoonful of sauce (be sure to catch lots of meat) and a cube of mozzarella.

Fold and mold the rice around the filling, patching with more rice as needed. Press together firmly with your other hand cupped over the top and form a ball. Try to keep these cool while you prepare the rest (a mage with some specialty in ice tends to come in handy here).

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, water, or milk and egg. The batter should be thin. The breadcrumbs should go on a large plate for easy use.

Coat each rice ball in the batter and roll them in breadcrumbs.

(If previously mentioned ice mage is available, have them help cool the balls down so they're less likely to fall apart while you fry them).

Pour the frying oil into a saucepan (about 2 inches worth). Heat for about 5 minutes or until a chunk of bread dropped in it will sizzle and turn golden brown.

With a slotted spoon, carefully lower about 3 or 4 balls into the oil. Fry until golden brown, turning as necessary for an even color.

Remove the balls and set on a towel you don't care about to drain. They should still be piping hot when served.

Of course, I don't expect you to jump into the kitchen and start making these yourself (your culinary talents...lie elsewhere, I think). However, if you would ever like a demonstration (or just to have them to eat) all you need do is ask and I will deliver.

Yours, Sincerely,

Lucanis Dellamorte

[uvher]

Vax didn't want Solas's words to be a comfort. She grit her teeth against the way the knot in her chest loosened, stopped in her tracks and breathed through her nose. She wanted to hold onto her pain, press it deeper into her skin and feel it. Fuck Solas for easing that away from her even a little bit.

"But I—" She cut herself off.

It was hard not to spill out her thoughts and emotions all over the place. Maybe it was because they were in her mind, fadewalking behind her usual barriers. She could barely find her defenses there, and Solas probably knew that.

"We got Ghilan'nain's archdemon." A concession, as close to agreeing with him as she'd allow herself. "So she's not immortal anymore. That is something." She bit her lip, more words pressing against her teeth until she couldn't keep them back. "But I have a team that's off its game. I need to help them get their heads together before we try to take another shot, but where do I even begin?"

@uvher continued from here.

"I know." Solas said flatly, forgoing the urge to throw her 'no shit' back at her. The siege at Weisshaupt had been horrifically bloody, from what he'd seen. Throwing it back in her face, though a part of him wanted to, would not have helped. Rook had well seen the might of the Evanuris by now. That was what mattered.

He watched her pace for a moment, features knit into a frown by a cocktail of sympathy, judgement, and reluctant pride. She'd failed to stop Ghilan'nain, yes. But she and her entire team were still alive, despite impossible odds. That was... not nothing. In fact it was exceedingly impressive, and at the very least more than he'd expected.

"But so are you." he pointed out steadily. He saw little need to sing her praises quite any more than that. But she should still learn to see her victories where she could get them.

"That means something. That you live to fight another day. Against enemies like Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain, that is its own rare victory."

[uvher]

Send me  “📝”  and I’ll respond with a letter that my muse would write to yours. 

[uvher]

@fadewalking

[uvher]

Send me  “📝”  and I’ll respond with a letter that my muse would write to yours. 

[uvher]

// oooo some of these are like. headcanon asks and 'temporary' memes. hmmmmm.

// think i'm gonna do a quick meme dump just to get some of these out of my drafts