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“World peace.” Draco laughed a genuine deep laugh and Voldemort joined in. |
“I didn’t take you one for humor, Draco. Good one,” he said, accepting his glass as Draco sat opposite him in a high-back chair facing the fireplace. “To world peace,” he said with a smile. |
The two raised their glasses and drank. |
“Unfortunately, war tries everyone’s patience… both sides. One must have it in droves, stockpiled, and running over. War is a nasty business. What’s the quote? “No path of flowers leads to glory.”” |
“You quote Jean de La Fontaine, seventeenth century poet,” Draco commented matter-of-factly. |
“Yes,” Voldemort acknowledged, clearly impressed. “I like many of his quotes. They still stand useful today. He understood well the workings of timeless human nature.” |
“The one that pertains to me most these days is, “Happy is he who knows love through stories and not by his blows.”” |
“I’ll drink to that,” Voldemort magically refilled both of their glasses. |
“You would drink to that? Sorry, but in my years, I’ve never heard that you had a love interest. Pardon the alcohol induced frankness.” |
Voldemort, figuring Draco had been drinking for quite some time already, actually sat intrigued by the display of boldness. He wasn’t used to it. It amused him. |
“I’ll have you know, that in my… adolescent stupidity, I once fell for someone. It didn’t work out. You see, her parents blamed me for corrupting her, accusing me of bewitching her and cursing her to do my will. But that was not true. They didn’t want to believe that she actually had feelings for me.” |
The Dark Lord poured the harsh liquid down his throat and looked into the flames as if troubled by a distant memory. |
“They feared that she would get pregnant with my child and one day, my Mini lied down to sleep and when she awoke, they had taken away her ability to have children.” |
“Wh… what?” Draco sat horrified and frozen. He couldn’t believe the story he was hearing. His gray eyes moved to the lush dark carpet, trying to register what the Dark Lord had just said. It was appalling. |
“It was a long time ago. The concept of magical birth control was new and experimental… theoretical. They nearly killed her. And I never wanted to kill two people more than I wanted to kill them.” |
“What did you do to them?” Draco asked, thinking of a few dark curses he would’ve used if in the same situation. |
“Ironically, nothing. Even after what they did, she begged for their lives. In hindsight, I should’ve killed them long before that and consoled her while she grieved them. Our lives… could’ve been different. As it turned out, they suffered with the knowledge that they killed any chances of grandchildren and they did lose their precious daughter. She never spoke to them again and as I understand it, she didn’t attend their funerals either. Her mother drank herself to death and her father was found dead some time later. They never found the cause of death, but it wasn’t by me. I kept my word,” he sneered as though regretting the decision. |
Taking another swig of his drink at the unexpected, shocking path of the conversation and becoming far too brave for his own good, Draco asked, “What of her now?” |
“She lives.” Voldemort downed the remainder of his drink and magically poured another, keeping it coming. “She became afraid of me. She didn’t understand my ambition… my destiny. And even though she would have nothing to do with her parents again, she sided with their beliefs and did not come with me when she could have. To this day, she defies me.” |
“She defies you… and lives?” |
“She lives because I do not wish her dead. It is not impossible to escape my wrath. You of all people should know this, Draco. For you also live because I do not wish you dead.” |
And with that, the two sat silent for a long moment, staring into the flames. To Draco, the temperature of the room shot up to boiling. He was pretty sure he felt a drop of sweat fall down his temple, but ignored it. |
“She chooses to walk this world alone,” Voldemort continued. “As do I. When you cannot have the one you want, you tend not to want anyone at all.” Coming out of his reflective contemplation, he added, “But you wouldn’t understand that yet now would you?” |
Draco answered quickly, not wanting to reveal the truth. Of course he knew. He understood all too well. |
“No,” he lied. “My experience tells me that women are blood-sucking leeches… users that have only wanted me for my money, my status, my last name, or my dashing good looks,” he said with a wicked smile. “They have no capacity to care about anyone but themselves and are far more trouble than they are worth.” |
“I’ll drink to that as well.” |
After much drinking and more discussion on Jean de La Fontaine’s many quotes and insight about life, destiny, fear, patience, time, and strength, they were both surprised at the thoughts and opinions that had been revealed. It brought amusement as well as understanding and much to their surprise… agreement. |
It was the turning point that Draco sought after. |
“With the exception of tonight, you are too quiet, Draco. But you are not a mindless creature like so many others. Intellectual conversation is most welcome here. Since we’ve talked so much about human nature and fear, I give you this advice. To overcome that which you fear most, one must do what we can to prevent it. And to prevent it, one must seek the knowledge of the Dark Arts and grasp all the power that you can. The higher your achievement, the more confidence you will gain, the more courageous you’ll become.” |
Voldemort paused for a moment, now knowing why Draco came. |
“Above all others, it is you who has the greatest potential to lead your generation. They will respect you. They will fear you. And they will do whatever you say. I want sound, intelligent, talented, powerful leaders. I do not wish you dead. Do you understand?” |
As Draco stood, his head went down respectfully. He was drunk and feeling the full effects… and the last thing he wanted to do was say something stupid, so he said nothing. Instead, he raised his glass one last time as if to toast what the Dark Lord had just said and gulped down his last full drink. |
He set the glass down with a thud and picked up the bottle of Firewhiskey. It still had plenty for the future, should he need it. And even though his legs felt like he was holding up the weight of the world, he managed to put one foot in front of the other and make his way back to his living quarters. |
And as he left, Voldemort had one last Jean de La Fontaine quote milling around in his paranoid, inebriated head… |
“People who make no noise are dangerous.” |
Author’s Note: |
Shamefully, I work at a snail’s pace. Writer’s block reared its ugly head again and caused me to re-write. First, he interrogated her parents, but I hated it, so I had to completely re-write that piece. I’m still not completely happy with it, but alas, the story must go on. I spent entirely too long it. Ugh! Sorry! |
This next chapter planned is very near and dear to my heart. I’ve had these images in my head since day one and I finally get to share them with you. Imagine if you will, Christmas Eve; a black-hooded figure with a silver mask; a remorseful Death Eater at Westminster Abbey. It’s coming up next… |
Hugs to all still reading this story. Thank you from my heart, |
Dark Whisper |
P.S. *78,600 reads and 316 have Favorited. Amazing! My hopes for this story were far exceeded long, long ago. I don’t know how to thank you! |
News: I wrote a new one-shot for the Autumn holidays called “Blue Pumpkin.” It is very different than my normal writings as Molly tells a sad tale to one of her grandchildren. Check it out if you are interested. |
And finally, Credits: |
Yes, there really was a Jean de La Fontaine (French poet who lived 1621-1695) and many of his quotes are still around today. |
Quote 1 is from Book X fable 14, reported in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations 10th ed. (1919). |
Quote 2 is from Book IV (1668) fable 1. |
Quote 3 is from Book VIII (1678-1679) fable 23. |
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Take the 2-minute tour × |
I know how to make nested master pages in webforms but is it also possible in MVC2? I know how to do it with markup only though. |
I would like to set it from code depending on a criteria. Is it possible with some code in the controller to define the nested master page and master page? |
share|improve this question |
Duplicate of stackoverflow.com/questions/947134/… – Ahmad Jul 23 '10 at 9:26 |
Bit harsh, this is a valid question. SO is not a forum where posters are insulted for not falling in line. @Nyla. There is a wealth of information on nesting master pages in MVC 2. What requirements do you have that makes things different for you? – David Neale Jul 23 '10 at 11:10 |
Thank you David. I am looking for how to set a nested master page from within my controller. – Nyla Pareska Jul 23 '10 at 11:27 |
@Nyla: Does the linked question help you with what you need? If not, you'll need to edit this question to provide more detail about what you're trying to do. If it does, I'll go ahead and close this one. – Bill the Lizard Jul 23 '10 at 12:32 |
@Bill, I changed my initial question as apparently it was not clear enough. Thank you for your time. – Nyla Pareska Jul 23 '10 at 12:51 |
3 Answers 3 |
" Is it possible with some code in the controller to define the nested master page and master page?" |
Nope. The default view engine only lets you define one level of MasterPages. |
See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.mvc.controller.view.aspx |
share|improve this answer |
Well there is no way of doing that in the controller, afaik. However what is stopping you from passing in a ViewState variable and quering that in your view to determine what your masterpage should be ? |
Something that might help you: templated partial view |
share|improve this answer |
The child page will look like a regular child master page. |
The view page will inherit the child page. |
place 'Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewMasterPage"' in the top line, and point the MasterPageFile to the parent master page. |
The content placeholders will be chained: i.e., the top master page will have ContentPlaceHolder sections with an ID, and the subordinate master page will have a Content section with a ContentPlaceHolderID set to the ID of the superior ContentPlaceHolder in the parent page. |
The key is that the view engine will substitute the innermost text into the next level up placeholder until all placeholders are filled with html content. |
I am preparing the MVC Music Store sample application with this method and it works fine for me. |
This allows the programmer to follow the Dont Repeat Yourself rule and not repeat code from one master page to another. You can define a top-level master page with site navigation and basic formatting common to all pages, and then use a child master page when there are differences in page rendering that are unique to a specific set of views rendered by a specific controller. |
I know this is an old post, but the concept is worth commenting on even today. |
I am using MVC2 because that is what is currently authorized on my computer at work. |
share|improve this answer |
Your Answer |
Napoleon: Total War: The Peninsular Campaign Review: Wellington Party |
Lots of people complained that Napoleon: Total War was more of an expansion pack than a full game. Does that make The Peninsular Campaign an expansion pack for an expansion, then? |
Yes. But that's not as weird, or as awful as it sounds, as thankfully this time around developers The Creative Assembly have released an expansion in the truest sense of the word, with The Peninsula Campaign - a battle for Iberia between French and Allied forces - short in scope and low on price. |
Short, Sharp - Full Total War campaigns can last for days, even weeks at a time. Between Empire and Napoleon, for example, I've clocked in over 200 hours of single-player conquest. But sometimes you don't have days or weeks. This is where Peninsular excels, as it takes the core gameplay of Total War and shrinks it to a small map with reduced baggage, meaning you can finish the campaign in a single afternoon's play if all goes well. |
Guerrillas In The Mist - Peninsular adds a few new units to the game, like the Guerillero and Provocateur (strategic units which can incite unrest in cities), but the best are the new guerrilla battlefield units, which can be arranged outside of your regular army's deployed zone. Once deployed, they remain hidden until you move them, making them brilliant for laying traps and cheeky flanking manoeuvres and one of the best tweaks to the series' battlefield in a long time. |
Is Anybody There? - The focus on a particular region during a particular era makes Peninsular feel to Napoleon as Colonisation felt to Civilization. Where the latter maintained a sense of scope through home ports and a chain of supply, however, Peninsula does little to make use of the fact that Britain and France's source of money and troops lie past the Pyrenees, making this a sparse and isolated experience. |
If you enjoy tinkering with trade markets and dabbling in diplomacy, Peninsular may not be for you, as commerce and international relations - integral to Empire and Napoleon: Total War - are severely limited. What you're left with then is fighting, mostly on land, so if you're big on Total War but short on time, Peninsula is a great way to sample the game's strengths without having to devote weeks to a proper campaign. |
Napoleon: Total War: The Peninsular Campaign was developed by The Creative Assembly and published by Sega for the PC on June 22. Retails for USD $7. A copy of the expansion was provided to us by the publishers for reviewing purposes. Completed campaign as Britain. |
Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ. |
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For other ships of the same name, see HMS Orlando. |
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