Preperations

[Wayfarer]

Well....if HAVE to get back on the subject.......(do we do that here?).....

Oh, sometimes.
Rarely.
And not for long.
Then we spin back off into a tangent again.
Sorta like now.

*Spins whirly-madcap away, with cloak swirling out around her*

Wheeee!

[UncleMonty]

I don't know... Maybe it's just me, but I find a really dramatic point in the story here.
Quentyn is now, officially, a thief! he is stealing stuff!
What's more, he hasn't been caught. That means he's learned to be a successful thief.

Since the start of the story he has never shown any slightest skill or inclination at this, and adding the time he would have required to heal after his beating, I'd guess this last episode of the comic covers several weeks at least. I don't know if this is about Quentyn "turning to the dark side" or his just being forced to make a serious change in the way he sees the world, but I believe the Quentyn we all knew before this point in the storyline would NOT have considered stealing supplies, and would have been outraged at anyone who told him he'd be doing just that in a few months..
Imagine what his friends would think.

[BlasTech]

"CRY HAVOC AND LET FLY THE TOMATOES OF DOOM!" 8)

[StrangeWulf13]

Y'know, that'd be handy at the comedy clubs when a bad comic gets up. Then you only need one guy with a basket of rotten vegetables.

Can we say tomato shotgun?

[Sharuuk]

Y'know, that'd be handy at the comedy clubs when a bad comic gets up. Then you only need one guy with a basket of rotten vegetables.

Can we say tomato shotgun?

Or if they can follow in a single line one after the other.....tomato Gatling gun!! MESSSSSSYYYYYY!!!!

S'aaruuk

[SolidusRaccoon]

Perfect for the mob.

[Nikas_Zekeval]

Y'know, that'd be handy at the comedy clubs when a bad comic gets up. Then you only need one guy with a basket of rotten vegetables.

Can we say tomato shotgun?

Or if they can follow in a single line one after the other.....tomato Gatling gun!! MESSSSSSYYYYYY!!!!

S'aaruuk

That assumes Quentin has the Lux strength to fling the tomatoes. They might just be his 'ready ammo'. Just reach back to wind up for the next throw and let the tomato drop into his paw for the throw, or step back and bat them in like hand balls.

[Maxgoof]

Of course, that may simply be artistic license. That may be the same tomato in different positions to show the windup.

[Sharuuk]

I'm looking at the little purpleish glow surrounding them.....I think that they are physically there and not the "blur of motion" you suggest.....also, I think would have put Q's arm (multiples) in the image holding each tomato if your 'wind-up' theory was correct.

Quentyn may be a black bander, but he still has some lux capabilities and "levitation tomato launch" might be something he can do effectively.

S'aaruuk

[TGIF]

I don't know... Maybe it's just me, but I find a really dramatic point in the story here.
Quentyn is now, officially, a thief! he is stealing stuff!
What's more, he hasn't been caught. That means he's learned to be a successful thief.

I was really shocked at this transition.

To have gone from being blessed by the (presumably holy) white stag to being a thief is a fall that I couldn't have anticipated, even with all that he has been through.

I wonder if there are going to be spiritual consequences to this act that will manifest in the comic? (E.g.: will he lose his white forelock?)

If he didn't have friends in high places that he could call on to help him recover his sword, maybe - maybe - it could be condoned. But even there, stealing "because I needed it" is a very dangerous slippery slope to set foot on.

TGIF

[Tom Mazanec]

At least he noted what he took from where and will pay for it later. And he feels guilty. But I hope RHjr does not push this process any further.

[RDB]

So you always multiply your estimated repair time by a factor of four?

The way I've heard it, multiply by two and change to the next higher units:
1 hour becomes 2 days,
2 days becomes 4 weeks, etc.

Ron

[Sharuuk]

I don't know... Maybe it's just me, but I find a really dramatic point in the story here.
Quentyn is now, officially, a thief! he is stealing stuff!
What's more, he hasn't been caught. That means he's learned to be a successful thief.

I was really shocked at this transition.

To have gone from being blessed by the (presumably holy) white stag to being a thief is a fall that I couldn't have anticipated, even with all that he has been through.

I think you're either misreading this or possibly reading too much into it.....he hasn't 'fallen'....Quentyn feels guilty about stealing a few items, has noted what he took and from whom with full intent of repayment. He's also taken this action out of desperation.....he has no more money, there's no time to negotiate with the owners about "borrowing" the goods, he sure as hell ain't gonna ask the Guardsmen for any help.....he has to do this on his own and in this case by whatever means necessary. As a Questor, he'll do whatever he has to do, within reason, to accomplish his task....in this case getting WC back. A little petty thievery in the midst of (to him) a crisis doesn't qualify as a fall from grace. I agree with what he's done and why...and given the same set of circumstances, would probably do no differently myself.

I wonder if there are going to be spiritual consequences to this act that will manifest in the comic? (E.g.: will he lose his white forelock?)

Highly unlikely......he hasn't taken up stealing as a way of life.

If he didn't have friends in high places that he could call on to help him recover his sword, maybe - maybe - it could be condoned. But even there, stealing "because I needed it" is a very dangerous slippery slope to set foot on.

It's precisely those people that he doesn't want involved is why he hasn't called on them...he doesn't want to compromise their positions in the city, and besides, he has to do this alone and in his own way....and again, that doesn't make his actions better or worse.......if stealing those items didn't bother him so much....then I'd think you had a point......he's bothered by the act and will do everything he can to "atone" once this is all over.

I'm not worried about him.....psychologically or spiritually.

S'aaruuk

[TGIF]

I don't know... Maybe it's just me, but I find a really dramatic point in the story here.
Quentyn is now, officially, a thief! he is stealing stuff!
What's more, he hasn't been caught. That means he's learned to be a successful thief.

I was really shocked at this transition.

To have gone from being blessed by the (presumably holy) white stag to being a thief is a fall that I couldn't have anticipated, even with all that he has been through.

I think you're either misreading this or possibly reading too much into it.....he hasn't 'fallen'....Quentyn feels guilty about stealing a few items, has noted what he took and from whom with full intent of repayment. He's also taken this action out of desperation.....he has no more money, there's no time to negotiate with the owners about "borrowing" the goods

The problem is the Torah (and the Bible) doesn't say "don't steal unless you really need to". When G-d picked a top ten list out of the 613 commandments in the Torah, not stealing was important enough to get included.

If he didn't have friends in high places that he could call on to help him recover his sword, maybe - maybe - it could be condoned. But even there, stealing "because I needed it" is a very dangerous slippery slope to set foot on.

It's precisely those people that he doesn't want involved is why he hasn't called on them...he doesn't want to compromise their positions in the city, and besides, he has to do this alone and in his own way

Nothing that we've seen in the story shows that he can't or shouldn't call on his friends for help. How would their approaching the Guard to explain who Quentyn is and the importance of recovering his sword compromise them?

As for needing to do this on his own, here too nothing that we've been shown indicates that. I would expect a testosterone loaded bonehead to feel like that, not an intelligent and spiritually enlightened person.

While it's good that he's keeping track and intends to repay them when he is able, it is still stealing. (And by the way, "repay them when I can" is another very slippery slope. It is too easy to decide that you need to spend money on other things before you repay, and then on other things, etc. Always with the intention to eventually repay, but it keeps getting pushed off.)

In my youth I was bankrupted by having a partner embezzle from our business. Because I was too proud (and too stupid) to let anyone know I was in trouble, I ended up on the street homeless and hungry. I never once thought of stealing anything, no matter how hungry I was. So I can't buy the excuses that Quentyn is making.

TGIF

[Tom Mazanec]

It would be interesting to know if earlier questors, doing "within reason", went as far as Quentyn has. Is this something questoring is considered to sometimes require, in Racconan culture? Also, he has initiated a chain of events in which injury or even death is a foreseeable outcome, something at least as bad as stealing IMHO. The more I think about this, the less I like the change in Quentyn.

[Maxgoof]

Please note that Quentyn is keeping track of everything he takes with the full intention of paying them for the wares when he can.

Once he makes good on that, he has not stolen, he has merely delayed payment. True, it was an involuntary delay on the part of the vendor, but things will be made aright.

Some sins you *can* pay for.

[Wayfarer]

The only twist I would throw into this discussion would be to ask if we are really seeing a change in Quentyn, or perhaps rather his "humanness" (or racconan-ness, or fallen-ness) as exposed through a certain set of extreme circumstances. Nothing says that Quentyn is or is supposed to be perfect. We have seen him thus far as a good and noble person, though I would venture to say we have also not seen him challenged to this extreme for this long. I don't necessarily think it ruins or even really changes Quentyn as a character to know that he is susceptible to compromise. In fact, I think it would be rather unbelievable if he never messed up or acted less than perfectly. I will be interested to know what the outcome of his actions will be, but I don't think it is inherently problematic to see that our hero can succumb to flaws.

[Kerry Skydancer]

Interesting takes on all of this. Aside from the temporary thefts (and that's excusable too, since he'd have paid for things if he hadn't had a pretty sizable chunk of cash fined away by the government) he's not doing anything that I have trouble with at all. The people who are getting set up to be hurt pretty much deserve it.

[Tom Mazanec]

Interesting turn this thread has taken. I forgot about his friends till TGIF reminded me...except in a marathon of reading about a month ago, he hasn't used them while I followed the strip. But he said he did not have to include the Redcaps in what he is doing, so presumably a gang war is not necessary. And that bothers me more than his stealing...even if they "deserve" it.

[Madmoonie]

See, that is why I am not that cocerned. I don't like him stealing, and he doesn't either. But Quentyn never tries to justify it with thoughts of that the "deserved" it or it was the right thing to do. He is desperate and knows it. But he will also try to make amends as well.