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Honourable Jester

@honourablejester / honourablejester.tumblr.com

Hey there. I'm icarus_chained on AO3. I wanted a blog for idle browsing and my myriad eclectic interests. Et, voila.
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Reblogged commonplacerfollowshisbrush
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the more i watch star trek tos, the more it becomes abundantly clear that the reason why modern trek doesnt get kirk at all is because they dont utilise mccoy nearly as much anymore

in modern trek, they always present the idea of logic vs emotion, with spock being logic and kirk being emotion, but thats not how tos has it. in tos, the logic vs emption debate is spock vs mccoy. kirk is supposed to be the mediator between the two, sometimes siding with one side over the other, sometimes finding a middle ground between the two. thats why hes the captain, hes able to see all angles and pick the best course

when you make kirk the emotional one, it completely breaks the format, because 9 time out of 10, it means kirk has to be correct. theres no more balance

mccoy is just as important to tos as spock is, and while i do understand why spock is as popular as he is, without mccoy, the show doesnt work. you need them both. kirk spock and mccoy are the three leads of the show, and removing one requires you to change the others, which is whats happened to kirk

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I have been saying this for approximately 400 years, thank you.

When I teach rhetoric in my college essay writing/analysis course, it's always with the example of Kirk, Spock, AND McCoy. Ethos, Logos, Pathos--you need all three. Kirk isn't the counterweight to Spock; he's the fulcrum that balances Spock and McCoy.

Kirk isn't emotion. Kirk is ethos: credibility, authority. Spock and McCoy are there to stop him from damaging that credibility by falling back on an authority he doesn't actually have in the situation, to remind him of the logic or compassion that's lacking when an abuse of power would be the easy or basely satisfying thing to do.

What keeps Kirk credible is that he usually chooses the most ethical thing to do based on the information he has; what makes him a good leader, outside of his own innate abilities, is his understanding that he requires these two trusted advisors to keep him on an even keel. When Kirk says "I need you" to both Spock AND Bones, he means it.

#star trek#st:tos#mccoy#this!#so much#they're a TRIO#for a reason
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Reblogged cleolinda
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Servant: Your highness, a party of adventurers has answered your call for help.

King: Excellent. What are they like?

Servant: One of them is a dragon-lady.

King: Interesting. Those are rare around these parts.

Servant: Another is a goblin paladin.

King: Not a role you usually see goblins in.

Servant: A third is a purple-skinned tiefling.

King: I didn't even know they come in that color.

Servant: The last one is a sapient gelatinous cube.

King: What. How did these four even meet?

Servant: They met in a tavern two hours ago, apparently.

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Queen: My love, please return to bed.

King: *pacing* Why would a gelatinous cube come to a tavern? Can it even get drunk? How did it fit through the doors?

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All-cubes party

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Hypothesis debunked.

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I'm not even disappointed about being wrong, I love that it's kinda evenly balanced?

(The Dragon-lady got my vote too lmao, shouldn't have underestimated the amount of lesbians and strong-woman-kinners on this site)

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I, on the other hand, am a gelatinous cube, because they're my favourite D&D creature and have been since I was a tiny child playing Castle of the Winds.

#cackles#d&d#oozes#gelatinous cubes#i just love them#forever and a day#i do appreciate 5e spelljammer for giving me plasmoids#not quite everything i wanted but i'll take it#oozes are the best
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Now that I’ve calmed down slightly, I’m just thinking that this is only the sixth time I’ve died in Fallen London.

Feducci claimed the honour of my first death. And my second. Damn the man. I got him on the third run, though! Good fight!

My third death was on discovering the wonderful world of piracy, and having the delightful experience of dying at sea, having tea (well, chess) with the boatman, waking back up in my lodgings, and then greeting my incoming ship and crew at the dock. Which was excellent.

My fourth death was on purpose, getting myself killed in a dockside brawl in order to chase a warrior nun into the afterlife. You know. As one does.

My fifth was back at sea. Piracy in the Khanate is, ah, a trifle trickier than it is in home waters? Lessons were learned by all!

And now my sixth, and by far my most spectacular. There is nothing quite like ramming a dirigible right down the pupil of a vast, pendulous superweapon in a roaring suicide run in defense of night and neath. Or, well. Ramming a dream echo of a dirigible into the dream memory of said superweapon. And possibly dying only a dream death? I’m not sure. But it was spectacular, regardless. Honestly, I have calmed down, somewhat, but the thought of it is making me giddy all over again. The Starved War is spectacular. If it’s still there in a week when I can go jaunting in the Waswood again, I’m so tempted to dream it again.

I love this game. Death is so much fun. And, okay, somewhat tedious at times, but that’s … I mean, there’s such charm to a setting where you can die at sea, beat your ship home via the afterlife, and be standing waiting for it at the dock. Like. You die, and the boatman sighs at you, and you idle away some time playing chess or staring unwisely into the shore beyond the river, and then you’re back at home and up and raring to go once more. Feducci killed me that first time, and I was back up and at the duelling grounds the literal next morning. And then again, when he promptly killed me again. Like. You get so giddy and brave in this game. Try things. Why not? What’s the worst that could happen?

Well. Some eldritch horror type things, there’s plenty of fairly grisly things that can happen to you, but … It’s the Neath. It’s fine. Walk it off and go again. You know?

I think … I think maybe I haven’t actually quite calmed down yet? Possibly. I might be a bit giddy still. But I do love this game. So much.

#fallen london#death#the neath#the starved war#i'm still giddy apparently#but this game is so good#you get fearless in the neath#you court death and nightmares and scandal so casually#there are horrors and nightmares and JOY down here#it's so good
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The Waswood's ability to let you replay older stories you missed is so good.

I just lived a dream of the Starved War. I am so glad I could. That was spectacular. Genuinely spectacular. I'm all giddy and breathless now.

To the end, be London's reply! To the end! *cackles*

(I sang terrible songs at the Boatman, I was so giddy. He threw me off the boat. Fair enough, honestly).

#fallen london#starved war#EXCELLENT story#absolutely excellent#i'm so giddy
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"But you know what? Be damned to them. Steal yourself a new clan. Spit in their eye and dare them to critique your performance. Rob them blind and make them pay you for it. Come be monsters with us, Louie. Come be thieves. Come wear your war wounds openly and proud. Come lie because the lies are fun, not because you believe in them. Come be honest. Come be free."

--- Tess the Nosferatu, from my VtM story Treasures Indeed.

It occurs to me that I've written three stories (this one, Wonderous Curses, and And Ghostly Glories) around the Nosferatu-Toreador clan rivalry, around the themes of beauty and horror and lies and truths and all the places where they meet and merge and intermingle, and in every single one ... in every single one, all three, it's a Nosferatu acting as the seducer.

I, uh. I don't have a favourite clan at all, your honour. No sir. Not at all. Heh.

#vtm#older fanfic#nosferatu#toreador#thieves#liars#beautiful lies vs honest horrors#well#sometimes#i'm idly rereading and i just enjoy tess#she's a vicious and gentle old monster#clan nosferatu forever
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Reblogged
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no sorry i just can't be normal about the Don Camillo stories. What do you MEAN the very catholic priest and the very communist mayor went poaching together. What do you mean the priest beat up fifteen city communists barehanded for laughing at him on a bicycle and the mayor told the bishop that he couldn't possibly replace Camillo because no replacement priest would be able to take a punch as well as him. What do you mean the mayor stowed away a full arsenal after stealing it during the war and the priest just stole back a machine gun, a mortar, some ammo, and then set the rest on fire. What do you mean the mayor and the priest have both beaten up each other half a dozen times and then the mayor named his youngest son after the priest. What do you mean the priest heard the communist barber say he'd cut the priest's throat if he went to him for a shave and immediately went "bet!". What do you mean the mayor threatened to throw off the window any one from the local government who didn't agree to bury the old schoolmarm in a royalist flag. What do you mean the priest threatened the mayor with his own machine gun into giving him money for a communal installation. What do you mean they misfired a TANK together AFTER the war had ended for a decade.

#don camillo#yes this#everybody read/watch them#they're so good#SO good#the absolute worst pair of friends-slash-enemies ever#i love them

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