Log:Princess Guard Interludes (Ghost)

Princesses' Guard Interludes 2013/03/25 	 Ghost Scrapper 1

Champions Mush - Monday, March 25, 2013, 12:24 PM -

Undermoon Embassy

''Atop the rocky cliff near the end of the bridge stands the tiny "fairy tale" castle that serves as the Undermoon embassy. It's no larger than a large house, and its great front gate (with drawbridge to cross a decorative moat) is only the size of a normal door. Its slender towers are topped with graceful spires from which fly pennants of many colours and designs, but chiefly of purple and silver. Over the main gate hangs a rectangular flag of the same colour.''

''That's the outside. As soon as one passes through the gate it's another story - the castle is vast, the walls tall, the spires tower above the courtyard! Various buildings of the same graceful architectural style are found among the gardens of exotic flora, and the place is busy with staff, both human and fae.''

Ghost enters from Sandy Bottoms Island.

Ghost arrives at the Undermoon Embassy after a shopping trip with the intent, now she has a PDA and thus a contact number, of leaving a message for Scrapper asking her teammate to get in touch.

Scrapper is inside the Embassy where her PDA would not function, so likely has not received Ghost's message. She is perched high above on a ledge, apparently bird-watching. She waves when she spots Ghost enter.

Ghost spots Scrapper, or rather initially the movement and then looks up and recognizes Scrapper. She waves back, and points down at the ground in front of herself.

Scrapper nods and hops off the ledge, floating slowly to the ground so as not to alarm any people or animals below. "What's up?" she asks casually.

Ghost grins, "You, it seems. What is the fascination that superheroes have with rooftops and high ledges? Do you all have a trace of bird DNA in you?"

Scrapper says, "No, actually I was assessing the limits of the magic on the castle. See those giant birds up there? They aren't giant birds and although Lorelei called it a 'pocket dimension', it isn't exactly what I took that phrase to mean. Watch one when it tries to fly inside the castle. Those aren't giant birds: we have been shrunk."

Ghost lifts her head and watches. After a few moments a bird flies into the area of effect... and she nods. "I see. I'll have to consider the implications of that. You realize it also means that the castle is vulnerable to entry from the sky. Which a pocket dimension would have prevented. So much for those thick doors being fitted at the gate. That's the Fae thinking in Undermoon terms, a place where flight seems to be largely unheard of."

Scrapper says, "Physically, we are on Earth. Anyone with a ladder can get inside the castle. Magically, we are on Undermoon where Earth electronics often doesn't work and different magical rules apply."

Scrapper jerks her head toward the Princess' Guard headquarters. "Join me?"

Ghost nods, "I could enchant electronics to work in here. Mine do. That is, I could enchant if I was back home. But I suspect my inability to do so here is the result of my spell-casting being incredibly inefficient. Earth mages might well be able to do it."

Ghost nods, "Yes. There's something I want to talk about with you anyway.. I came here to leave a message for you."

Scrapper nods and starts to reply to the electronics comment then pauses. "Oh? What did you want to talk about?"

Ghost says, "Let's go inside. Where we won't be disturbed, and won't disturb anyone."

Scrapper nods and completes her walk to the headquarters in silence. After requesting a bit of privacy from the servants and closing the door to the sitting room, she comments, "I can almost guarantee they have a method of listening if they choose, but this is as private as we are going to get inside the castle."

Ghost nods. She turns to fully face Scrapper. "We need to settle the question of who is in charge on missions. Obviously Princess Lorelei is in charge overall but if, as I hope will be the case, she doesn'rt tag along on external missions, the team will need a competent field commander." Ghost pauses to gauge Scrapper reaction and give her a chance to respond.

Scrapper doesn't seem surprised, "I am, of course. But getting the others to recognize that there even needs for somebody to be in charge is going to be like herding cats and I am looking forward to your support on that."

Ghost smiles coolly, "I'm probably smarter than anyone else on the team. I have command experience and a tactical expertise that was second to none in my home nebula. What makes you more qualified than me?"

Scrapper says, "The team trusts me. I agree, if you had that one *very important* quality, you would be the better choice and may become leader in the future, once this team actually resembles a team instead of a bunch of half-cocked overgrown teenagers. But for now I think you and I have the expertise, Titan and I have the necessary trust, which leaves me as much in charge in the field as anybody. Do you agree?""

Ghost says, "I'll reserve my judgment. But until I make a decision you'll have my full support. I won't go behind your back if I decide I can keep the team safer and more effective than your leadership. I'll tell you to your face and we can work out the situation as and when it occurs. Neither will I hold you to some impossible standard of perfection as a pre-condition for my support. But if you mess up and get one of us killed or injured that changes the situation. Do you consider that acceptable?"

Scrapper says, "The important thing you need to remember is that this team does not contain soldiers. It contains volunteers: street musicians and homeless teens and boyfriends. I've seen you enter a room: you take note of the exits before you look for a chair. Can you honestly tell me that if you *or I* ordered Titan to not fall for a diversion designed to take advantage of his feelings for the princess that he would listen to either of us? First we actually need to have a team in more than name before we bicker over who runs it. I ask for one caveat to your conditions: support me in public. When things are happening too fast for me to stop and explain myself is the worst possible time for us to have an argument and the most likely time for you to want to. I know you can lead. Can you follow that much?"

Ghost snorts, "I was a starship commander, not the Sercian Warlord or even the Admiral of my adopted family. I know how to follow orders... Now, the incident at the warehouse illustated one thing very clearly. The get-to-know each other part of the first meeting was completely inadequate. I don't know a fraction of what the others in the team can do, and without at least that optimizing team responses is going to be difficult to impossible. Have you any better knowledge in this area? We badly need to get together and showcase our abilities. Work out ways to maximise our individual and group strengths and minimise our weaknesses. Oh, and communications. You must sort that out as soon as possible."

Scrapper smiles, "I agree on both counts. By the way, excellent job holding that statue down while the bruisers pounded on it the other day. If you hadn't been keeping him prone that silly high-damage swan dive maneuver that I pulled would not have hit the broad side of a barn. I swear some days that every single person who learns that they can do more than their peers focuses on damage output to the exclusion of everything else. Seeing somebody else demonstrate some tactics to actually support the bruisers was a refreshing change."

Scrapper says, "Now, as for the communication issue, I want to point out that I possibly have more trust issues than anybody on the team and realize that you are the perfect person to make little communications earpieces for us to wear with hidden explosives to take us all out at the touch of a button." Scrapper sighs, and holds up her hand to stop any potential interruption before continuing. "But if I'm going to ask you to trust me I'm going to trust you - so please build the earpieces ... without a self destruct please. I might survive such an explosion and would be very ... 'put out' over another betrayal in my life."

Ghost shakes her head, "There are communicators just as good as I can make on sale from suppliers. I can reprogram the crypto so our communications are secure. But that's only half the problem. They won't work here or in Undermoon. Mmm... Maybe the Princess can assign a Fae mage to try and learn the enchantment from me. It's time consuming and I can't even be sure it will work here, or even that it will work at all. In theory it will work but by the time mages in the nebula had developed it there wasn't any working old technology left to try it on."

Scrapper says, "Also, please don't build one for Quinn or the princess. I'm certain that you know as well as I that 'techno-sorcery' is a game changer and they are both trusting enough to tell the world. Learn, but please try to refrain from teaching."

[OOC] Scrapper says, "gotta go"