Log:Princess Guard Interludes (Directing the Guard)

2013/04/03 	 Ghost Scrapper Titan 1

Champions Mush - Wednesday, April 03, 2013, 11:10 PM

''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.''

Titan is sitting inside, in a lounge area, reading a book that's apparently written in Greek, based upon the characters on the outer cover.

Scrapper arrives and thanks the servant that guided her before sitting down next to Titan. She sighs and rubs her eyes.

Titan puts down his book, and smiles, "Need some sleep?"

Scrapper says, "I think we all do after that jaunt to Japan and the fight that followed. Gosh, I wish teleport wasn't such a sure-fire escape method."

Titan smiles, and doesn't seem to look tired at all, really. "I...only need maybe eight hours of sleep a week." He tilts his head a bit, "If you're talking about Lowers, I don't think he teleported. He just went underground. He could have gone anywhere at that point, since we couldn't follow him."

Scrapper nods. "I was busy trying to coordinate eight arms without a sense of touch while not accidentally groping you. I just knew one second we both had him and - without the use of magic - the next second we didn't."

Titan nods. "I saw my arm pass through him. The trick is going to be keeping him from doing that again."

Scrapper nods in agreement. "The only ideas I have are distasteful. Luckily, so far, his main goal seems to just be annoying and grand-standing."

Titan nods, and takes a deep breath. "So far. I think...it's not going to take much to push him over the edge, though."

Scrapper nods, "Which brings us back to our argument yesterday. How long before he decides to use that escape route of his to sneak into a place instead of out and we have to actually *be* bodyguards instead of superheroes?"

Titan nods. "I think that the magic here will likely make that difficult. But I'm not sure, since I'm not exactly sure how his powers work, other that that they're based on 'cosmic energy'."

Scrapper says, "Would you mind answering four questions for me? They are about the team instead of Mr Cosmic Energy."

Titan nods. "Sure."

Scrapper pulls a doodled up napkin out of her pocket. "It took me a while to boil down all the thoughts in my head to just a few questions, so bear with me," she says. "Number one, do you trust that, in my own paranoid way, I have Princess Stephanie's best interests at heart?"

Titan thinks about that for a moment. "Sure, I think so."

Scrapper looks a bit surprised. "No commentary? Just, yes?"

Titan chuckles and smiles. "You did ask a 'yes or no' question. But I can elaborate, if you like."

Scrapper considers, then says, "Yes, please do. This is more about getting to know each other and our expectations than just answering questions."

Titan nods. "I do think that you have her best interests in mind. However, how you go about it can be... a bit grating. But I certainly don't really doubt that you have the appropriate desired outcome."

Scrapper nods, "Okay, Number two: Do you have any special senses that would allow you to notice a potential threat that others would miss?"

Titan shakes his head, "Nope...no such senses."

Scrapper says, "You know I do, right?"

Titan nods. "I figured as much, yes."

Ghost wanders out of the room where she was sleeping all blurry eyed with her hair unbrushed and falling loose behind her shoulders. She's wearing a dressing robe. Beneath the robe is blue pjs. She has her Spetdod on the back of her hand. Maybe she sleeps with it on. Maybe it's just an automatic reaction to put it on as soon as she wakes. "Hel... yawnn.. lo." She calls out to Scrapper and Titan when she sees them.

Titan doesn't look sleepy at all. He waves to Ghost with a smile. "Hey there."

Scrapper starts to say more on the subject, but goes back to her napkin instead. She flips in back and forth since she promised Titan only four questions, deciding which to ask next, then waves to Ghost. "Sleep well?"

Ghost smiles and waves back. "Yes thanks, Scrapper. I needed that too. Going across to Undermoon plays havoc with your sleep cycle. I'm going to make some hot chocolate. Can I get you some?"

Scrapper says, "I'd love some, thanks."

Titan smiles. "Nothing for me, thank you."

Ghost starts to head for the kitchen area. She stops briefly to glance back with a grin, "You know one of the things I miss most when I stay here... Electric kettles!" Then she continues her journey.

Titan chuckles quietly. "You need to find Sukeban."

Scrapper yells back to the kitchen in a joking tone. "Learn warming spells like everybody else here" then goes back to her napkin. "Do you think Princess Stephanie needs bodyguards?" she asks Titan, "... and please elaborate on that one too. ... that's number 3, of course."

Titan nods slowly. "I think that Stephanie is quite capable on her own, of course. But when she officially became a princess, she became more of a target. So, while she might not 'need' bodyguards, I think it's a good idea for her to have them."

Scrapper nods in agreement, "I think out of the entire team, she would be the person most likely to answer 'no' to that question. I asked her something similar and she replied that other people need protecting more."

Titan nods. "Sounds like her."

Ghost sticks her head out the doorway of the kitchen, "There's a status issue too, I think, Scrapper, Titan. Nobles have bodyguards, and as a member of the royal line and considering how her parentage is viewed by some of the hard line conservatives, the Princess needs to conform to some of the traditions whether or not she really needs us in that role."

Scrapper nods at Ghost's comment, looks back at napkin and mutters, "I can't decide if my last question should be 'who do you think should lead the team' or 'what do you think the team's primary mission should be' because both questions depend on the other for their answer."

Titan chuckles. "I can answer them both. One is easier than the other. The team's primary mission should be whatever Stephanie wants it to be. If she wants us to actively guard her, we do that. If she wants us to act as a quick reaction strike force, we do that."

Scrapper frowns, "How can you both agree that she needs bodyguards and say our primary mission should be waiting for her orders knowing she wants us to be anything *other* than bodyguards?"

Titan takes a deep breath. "As for who I think should lead the team...I think you both have good ideas." He motions to both Scrapper and Ghost. "But I think that socially, Ghost is a bit more adept." He then looks back to Scrapper specifically. "I think you might want to listen to how Ghost made suggestions about what to do when confronting Lowers today, and see how to incorporate that style of giving orders into your own style."

Titan nods. "You're right. It's a contradiction, but since Stephanie put the team together, it's her decision what the team does. She's going to have us act as bodyguards sometimes, I'm sure."

Ghost returns with two mugs of hot chocolate. "There's a difference between you and I, Scrapper. You want to be the team leader. I want the team to be led well and for the members of the team to be as safe as is possible consist with our mission, whatever that mission is. If you can achieve that I won't challenge you for the leadership spot. Although I hope you'll be receptive to my suggestions. I am smarter and more tactically aware than just about anyone else I've ever met."

Scrapper nods at Ghost's comment, "Just so I am clear and you guys understand me, what do you two think a bodyguard actually does?"

Titan rubs his temple a little bit. "A bodyguard protects a particular person from harm. Seriously...don't you think it's a bit insulting to ask?"

Ghost says, "In my case it's a fair question, Titan. I'm not a bodyguard, Scrapper. I've never had to perform that role. Uh, mostly I used to be on the other end of that situation. What I do is I serve the Princess. I do as she commands."

Scrapper says, "The biggest tool in a bodyguard's arsenal is prevention. You guys know those scenes in the history vids when a bodyguard throws himself between the president - or whoever his client is - and a shooter? That's a bodyguard team failing to do their jobs properly and offering to pay the ultimate sacrifice to make up for it. A good bodyguard should never let the shooter in the building, let alone the room. A bodyguard's job is to be paranoid and alert, all the time, long before the client thinks there is a need."

Scrapper says, "If we wait for the princess to acknowledge she needs us to be bodyguards, we are too late."

Titan smiles slightly, "Except that, as I said, I don't think she 'needs' bodyguards. I don't really disagree with the rest, though."

Ghost nods, handing one of the mugs to Scrapper. "Yes. I've been working my way through the media files in the city library as well as the Undermoon news in the embassy library. The Princess seems to be an extraordinarily competent hero in her own right." She smiles, "On the other hand, I'd feel personally shamed if I didn't do everything I could to protect her, whether she needed it or not."

Scrapper accepts the mug with a nod of thanks. "So what do we do? Be bodyguards first as her grandfather and the growing Change Faction want, or accede to her wishes and be a superhero team-slash-commando unit first? She left the decision up to us when she refused to participate in the selection of a team leader, which really means it is up to us three."

Titan nods. "There's another thing to consider, too. She may not be the only target. There are...other folks here, who would like to see me gone, but for other reasons."

Titan shrugs, "Though certainly, Stephanie is a much more important target than I will ever be here."

Ghost says, "The princesses' weak spot is her father." She grins wryly, "I think her mother scares off a lot of potential trouble from the Undermoon elements. And Earth sourced threats may well see her mother as the more vulnerable point. Earth still has a mostly male dominated society. However her father is a normal human from all accounts. It's his protection that should concern us the most in my opinion."

Titan rubs his chin a bit. "I also think it's worth considering that the role of 'bodyguard' is a bit broader here than normally defined. For example, the situation with the fae who stole the birth certificate, and was going to forge a changed one, to remove the line of succession. Stephanie was in no physical harm there, but certainly she was protected by those who went to retrieve it. We need to guard Stephanie from physical harm, yes...but also other threats that are less tangible."

Titan says, "It's akin to the Musketeers from France centuries ago. They served the King, but they didn't necessarily do so by his side all the time."

Scrapper says, "So what roles do we three fill? I mean outside of our usual combat positions."

Ghost makes a mental note to looks up Musketeers, France. Another item on a -- long -- list.

Titan shrugs, "Aside from my powers, I'm an able actor, public speaker, and storyteller."

Ghost says, "If I can win the Westmarch goblin war that will do a lot towards bringing the army over to supporting the Princess. That's what I'm involved in at this time."

Scrapper shrugs. "I have my bodyguard training, which includes the usual things - detecting poison, analyzing magic and such, plus my purple force effects and spells," she says.

"... and my winning personality," she adds with a smirk.

Titan nods. "I suppose it's worth noting that I'm immune to poisons. At least more earthly ones. I wont' be a great poison tester, since there'd be no noticeable effect."

Scrapper nods "I can smell poison ... even caffeine."

Ghost says, "Huh! I knew it. Coffee is a deadly drug."

Ghost laughs, and sips her chocolate. "I honestly cannot understand how anyone can drink that stuff."

Titan shrugs, "It makes people feel like they've had a bit of adrenaline. And more importantly - after they drink it a lot, if they quit, they feel sluggish."

Scrapper says, "It is funny that English has a word for a substance that is healthy is a generic way - a 'tonic' - and no word for something that is non-specifically bad."

Scrapper says, "So, who do we tell her is in charge?"

Titan stands and stretches. "Ultimately it's up to her. I suggest that it's not necessary to have a strict hierarchy right this second. I know it might seem a bit...odd. But it'll give you some time to grow into a leadership role, Scrapper. Just...listen to Ghost's suggestions on dealing with people."

Scrapper says, "Who we tell her is in charge sends her a signal about the direction we see this team going," she says to Titan's departing back. Sighing, she hangs her head.

Ghost also stretches, "I ought to get back to work. Scrapper, Titan is right. Appoint a leader and half the team will, consciously or otherwise, disagree. You want the leadership role. Grow into it. Learn to convince people what you suggest.. not order, suggest.. is right most of the time and they'll soon start defer to your judgement and accept you as the leader."

Scrapper nods and also rises. "One last question. If I were to grab his elbow because I sensed something he didn't tomorrow, do you think Titan would still yell at me?"

Ghost says, "Yes. And rightly so. Because he would resist automatically and you won't move him. If you don't have the moment it will take to say, 'Threat to P's left, cover her.' then you have to move in and take the shot yourself. Ask me again in a month's time and you might get a different answer."

Scrapper nods, "Fair enough. Good night. ... and thank you."