Kaustubh Dudhane > Recent Status Updates

...we all need pretty dreams to cling to. The hope of a second chance, if not the chance itself...

Sometimes it’s better to do a thing than live with the fear of it.

Standards ain’t high in the Far Country, General. Out here you put three sticks together, it’s a fort.

‘Have you ever noticed that God is wonderful at watching,’ he called, ‘but quite poor when it comes to helping out?’

Redemption can come in the most unlooked-for places.

‘Prayer is arrogance,’ intoned Jubair. ‘The hope of man to change the will of God. But God’s plan is set and His words already spoken.’
‘Fuck Him, then!’ snapped Sufeen.

Jubair mildly raised one brow. ‘Oh, you will find it is God who does the fucking.’ 🤣

‘Deal. Reckon I’m going to like you, girl. What’s your name?’
‘Shy South.’
Sweet raised that brow again. ‘Shy?’
‘It’s a name, old man, not a description. Now hand me back that bottle.’ 😆

“The sad truth is, men love to follow a man other men fear,” said Clover.

Then there was the lynchpin of the whole business, King Orso—born with a silver spoon so far up his arse you could see the end when he yawned.😂

Times change, he supposed. The winners are those who change with them.

Who knew generosity could be more dangerous than greed?

Reckon we can all agree if there’s one thing we got too much of in the North, it’s corpses.

Gratitude is like spring blooms, fine-smelling but short-lived.

You can’t get attached to weapons in a battle any more than you can get attached to men.
Sometimes you have to leave ’em in the dirt.

Clover had his doubts on that score. He’d seen victories enough, and they were like the false summits of a great fell. You struggle towards ’em, sure you’ve made the top, then the moment you get there you see another just beyond. No fight was ever the last. No victory was ever for good.

But obedience can be a hard habit to break. Ask any dog.

But these were desperate times. And in desperate times, one must sometimes call upon the services of monsters.

Well, now and again in the North we run out o’ men. But we never run out o’ fights.

Savine had heard it said that it is best to beat opponents fairly, but she much preferred beating them with the deck stacked wildly in her favour. 😁

“Got no pride, eh, Clover?”

“Used to have, my king. Used to have a fucking surfeit. Like a field in spring can draw too many bees. But I found when you’re struggling, there’s not a lot you can buy with the stuff. Pride, that is, not bees. So I shed mine. Don’t miss it in the least.”

“The first weapon you bring to any fight ain’t a spear or an arrow or an axe.”
Flick blinked at him. “Sword?”

“Surprise,” said Clover. “Surprise makes brave men cowards, strong men weak, wise men fools.”

That’s the trouble with songs. They tend to stop before it all turns to shit.

“One can win a thousand battles.” Lord Marshal Brint worried at that lady’s ring on his little finger, gazing into the middle distance as though at an opposing army. “But in the end, no man can defeat his own bladder."

Allowances, explanations and compromises were likewise unaffordable luxuries.

Feluda has a theory about himself. No matter where he goes, he says, mysterious things start happening around him.

"I like comebacks. Particularly in terms of what it does for you as a player, psychologically. Comebacks give you an objective, a point to prove, a target to hit."

Power roared through his muscles: the power of belief. This was the power of a god of war. The thrill of battle sang through him and he knew the battlefield was where he truly belonged, not drowning regret and sorrow in scummy alehouses.

As Malleus' intestines slopped to the earth, Daryn realised he had been wrong earlier - he could still feel joy.

No other fucker here would be able to make paltry peasants stand and fight, so it was up to him to keep this rabble together. If that means pretending he was the fearless warrior of old, then so be it. In any case, he was pretending more for himself than for them.

We have both made dark bargains that have scarred our souls. Using that power brings only death.