1/7/2005 Baby fawn eyes...

[Maxgoof]

That being said......I still think that someone on the council should have told Gilder to, if not STFU, at least calm down and allow Quentyn to explain himself UNINTERUPPTED! I don't think action of that nature would have shown "favoritism" or particular bias in favor of Quentyn. It would have simply given a YOUNG KIT the chance to defend himself against the 'charges' leveled by Gilder.

But Quentyn does need to learn to be more assertive in front of the Council.

Well, first of all Gilder is wrong in thinking that only he and Quentyn take his position seriously. I think Rillcreek does as well. He was, after all, at the soothstone. As far as we know, Gilder was not, unless he was there with Rahan. Rillcreek has been educating him, as best he can, in how to be a Questor. He also voiced the opinion that heros have little trouble finding someplace where they are needed.

And frankly, I think Rillcreek and Gilder are the only ones on the council that do take it seriously, unless there is a third, unvoiced elder who how takes him seriously after he virtually singlehandedly foiled the expansionist plot.

The only person, then who would have let Quentyn defend himself was Rillcreek, and if he spoke up for the boy at that point, he loses power on the council. This is part of why Rillcreek was disappointed. Quentyn should have demanded that he be heard, told Gilder himself the STFU and let him talk.

But seriously, we are all taking the censure issue entirely too seriously.

[Sharuuk]

I think that it was for the best that nobody tried to shut Gilder up.

Quentyn is still too inexperienced in this kind of affairs and would probably only have managed to get into worse trouble.

Whether or not Quentyn would have made things worse for himself or not isn't the issue. My point is that he wasn't given the chance to. Dispite Rillcreek's explanation and assurtion, every time Q tried to say anything Gilder simply shouted him down......and THAT'S where I feel that Quentyn got screwed in the deal.

One thing he's gonna have to get over is something we had in the USAF called "Awe of rank". In this case for Q, it's more "awe of perceived authority". Had he stood up to Gilder and the rest of the Council, I wonder if anyone might have admonished him about "respecting his elders".

Well....respect is a 2-way street...you do not demand respect, you command it...and thus far none of the CoE with maybe the exception of Mstr Rillcreek, has shown any substantive respect for Quentyn or the title of Questor.....which they bestowed on him.

S'aaruuk

[Dapple]

Heh the girls get all mushy. Is rilcreek teesing or will Quenty start dating.

[Namrepus221]

Heheheh, I suddenly got a mental image of Quentyn holding the journal over his head and that jingle from Zelda playing.

"You got the QUESTOR JOURNAL!" DO-DO-DEE-DOO!

Could be worce... it could have been the StarFox Adaventure's jingle X.x

"You found the QUESTOR JOURNAL!" DO-DEE-DEE-DOO!
"You found the KEY TO THE QUESTOR JOURNAL!" DO-DEE-DEE-DOO!
"You Found a SMALL TWIG!" DO-DEE-DEE-DOO
"You found the MUNDAIN POINTLESS ITEM THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE THIS AREA WITHOUT!" DO-DEE-DEE-DOO!

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=39

[Chaser617]

Now we have Rillcreek's explination, its harsh, but understandable, though, admitedly someone might have wanted to have given Quinn this talk BEFORE things happened, but, again, Hindsight is 20/20 and Quinn really is learning on the fly.

And lord even my wife said his eyes were irresistable....

[RDB]

With this diary, he will never have to go through that, as all he would have to do is pass it to the elders while Gilder is going on a tirade again.

Diary <> Journal. Journal = Ship's log (official account of what happened, and reasons therefor). Diary = Captain's personal log, where he puts how he really feels about stuff, and other things he doesn't want others to read till after he's dead...

Ron, who's kept a diary for ~20 years...

[Yuoofox]

Questor's Log: Stardate 1234567

Today I encountered a subspace anomoly on the bottom of one of my boots. I sent first officer Squidge to investigate, and analysis confirms it to be an orange-flavored specimen of chewing gum. How this may inflence the Racconan/Gragum neutral zone is yet to be determined.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dear Diary,

I am like SOOOOO happy! Master Reelcreek gave me this totally rad Questor diary, and it comes with a lock and key so I can keep like all of my precious secrets like totally safe, don'cha know! Far out!

**little drawings of hearts and dasies in the margins**

[Madmoonie]

Questor's Log: Stardate 1234567

Today I encountered a subspace anomoly on the bottom of one of my boots. I sent first officer Squidge to investigate, and analysis confirms it to be an orange-flavored specimen of chewing gum. How this may inflence the Racconan/Gragum neutral zone is yet to be determined.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dear Diary,

I am like SOOOOO happy! Master Reelcreek gave me this totally rad Questor diary, and it comes with a lock and key so I can keep like all of my precious secrets like totally safe, don'cha know! Far out!

**little drawings of hearts and dasies in the margins**

I certain that there laws against that kind of thing in certain states. Very tacky.

But very funny.

[CasVeg]

Oh, yes, Quentyn is entirely too timid and definitely lacks a professional attitude.

"Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to know the general whereabouts of the Royal's hideout?"

[Catherine_Puce]

I don't know if the journal is really the source of the narration...That's what first comes to mind, but I'm uncertain.
To this date, everything in the narration was reffering to events as if they had happened a while and a half ago. Makes perfect sense, since he only got the journal now...But does that mean that from now on we'll see a change in the narration? Instead of "And thus, I decided to implement the following strategy. That resulted in some of the worst weeks of my life.", we'll be getting "I'm going to start implementing that strategy tomorrow." "Started. Things didn't go as well as expected." "Kept trying. Ouch." "Oh my God what the hell was I thinking?!"?
Consider the following: http://npc.keenspace.com/d/20030330.html
"I've thought the following for years [...] Knowing what I do know about that sword, I probably would have never tried..."
It hasn't been years since the incident. Months at most, I guess.

You right about this point but look. I personnatly write some novel, in a complete amator way, but before show it to any editor I'll probably reread all the text and re-write all what I find not enough good. I personnatly think that Quentyn writed in that journal for several years. This book is now full of writing, ink stain and other damage that appear over the time. If he want be added to the published questor book: http://npc.keenspace.com/d/20041118.html, he did to take his old book and reworks for that the editor can read it without problem. In all way, he will let someone borrow his precious questor journal.

?a l'a une trop grnade valeur sentimentale.

S.P.P.

[CoolMouse]

Heh the girls get all mushy. Is rilcreek teesing or will Quenty start dating.

My impression was that Millcreek was just a bit jealous about it.

[Anthony Lion]

One thing he's gonna have to get over is something we had in the USAF called "Awe of rank". In this case for Q, it's more "awe of perceived authority". Had he stood up to Gilder and the rest of the Council, I wonder if anyone might have admonished him about "respecting his elders".

Awe of Rank?
The first think I learned when I finished bootcamp in the RNoAF and came to the airbase I was to serve on was 'You do not salute officers of less than Captain's rank if they belong to your own section.' (And with very few majors and higer brass walking around, I soon lost the urge to salute every time some runt popped by.) Why this rule? 'If you salute us, we have to salute you, and frankly, we don't care about all that crap.'
Easygoing and friendly gang, as long as we did our work.
(I still think I can assemble a Sidewinder 9L blindfolded, though the captain never let me try, the sissy)

It was quite funny watching US or other countries' soldiers, though...
Particualry when they step off the airplane and realises that the one who used the 'paddles' to direct the aircraft to its parking-space has one or two stars on his shoulders...
(** = Lieutenant, * = SecondLieutenant in Norway)

Anyway, Quentyn was in a completely unfamiliar situation, had not prepared himself for what might happen and well, not being allowed to speak quite probably stopped him from getting into deeper dodo.

[Nikas_Zekeval]

That being said......I still think that someone on the council should have told Gilder to, if not STFU, at least calm down and allow Quentyn to explain himself UNINTERUPPTED! I don't think action of that nature would have shown "favoritism" or particular bias in favor of Quentyn. It would have simply given a YOUNG KIT the chance to defend himself against the 'charges' leveled by Gilder.

But Quentyn does need to learn to be more assertive in front of the Council.

S'aaruuk

I think you missed the point. Quentin is just some random 'young kit' He is the Questor of Freeman's Downs. That is a position of authority AND responsibility. And part of that likely job IS telling some self-righteous acting Eldar to 'shut his yap' so he can answer the question.

[Nikas_Zekeval]

There is a US military (and likely others have similar ones) joke.

A visiting general is trying to get a sentry to let him by, without the general having the pass word or any other authorization. "Son, do you know my rank?"

"Sir, please don't mistake your rank for my authority"

A sentry, even an E-1 Private, can order generals to back off if they can't show they are supposed to be there. Quentin needs to get it into his head that while he might not have the rank, he does sometimes have the authority to speak sharply to some Elders.

[The JAM]

[...unWARP!!!]

Good evening.


True. If Quentyn had a little more knowledge about the workings of the Council, he could have said, "ELDER GILDER, ARE YOU GOING TO ALLOW ME MY LEGALLY GIVEN RIGHT TO COUNTER YOUR ACCUSATIONS OR ARE YOU GOING TO SIT THERE AND CONTINUE YAPPING YOUR JAW AND MAKING A MOCKERY OF THIS MEETING??"

"What....did....you...say....?"

"Would you like me to repeat myself, or will the stenographer do a better job? You are overstepping your authority, SIR, according to [article __ section __ paragraph ___ etc etc] and by doing so, you're making this an ILLEGAL session."

Rilcreek might have then demanded Gilder to offer an immediate apology, he he he...

The President may have the highest rank, but if he does something wrong, the People can very much fire him, his entire staff, the Congress, and start all over again.

...at least in theory...


Zacatepongolas!

Until next time, remember:

I

AM

THE

J.A.M. (a.k.a. Numbuh i: "Just because I'm imaginary doesn't mean I don't exist")

Good evening.

[WARP!!!]

[Sharuuk]

Okay.....I think we're all arguing the same point except from different perspectives....

Rillcreek stated, and most of us agree that Q was unprepared. However, there's a big difference between simply being unprepared and getting blindsided.. .....which is pretty much what Gilder did to him.

S'aaruuk

[Greatbeast]

I disagree about Quentin being blindsided.....

If he were warned by anyone (Rilcreek ?) that person would have likely been noticed and been considered as favoritism.

ALSO, since Q was so busy reading Questor journals and stories from the get-go, (and I think its likely one or two of the old questors ended up with run-in's with the law/counsel) im sure that the procedures of the council of elders were mentioned and such. And if Quentin didnt know the procedures and rights he should have looked them up....

He didnt do his homework, thats all

[Kerry Skydancer]

Yep. He didn't think it through, and Rillcreek voted the censure at least in part to make sure his nose was rubbed in it... and to make sure he'd look him up afterwards to ask why, so he could give him pointers. Rillcreek's not a questor, but he -was- a freelance earlier in his career. He's the closest thing to a proper mentor the boy's going to find.

[CasVeg]

Has anyone considered the possibility that Rillcreek is actually Quentyn of Ridgedale?

[Sharuuk]

I haven't but that's sure one helluva hypothesis......annnnd it would make a bit of sense as well. Question is, how long has Rillcreek been in Freeman Downs? Or at least are there any documents or journals by "Quentyn Of Ridgedale"?

S'aaruuk