DE: Who's got your back?

[bjornwilde]

Does your pup trust anyone to protect them? Who, and why?

Comments

[a1enzo]

Dani. His family. Dani. His circle of friends from the Academy. Dani.

[just_cant_lose]

Gene - his team, when they're not being crap. Sam. Alex.

Javert - ...Valjean, unfortunately, which is one of the reasons he avoids him.

Valjean - LOLOLOLOL. No.

Courfeyrac - his friends, of course!

Banner - the Hulk. Ugh ugh ugh.

Wayne - Batman. Alfred. X.

Aubrey - his crew, to a man. And Stephen, in non-naval ways.

Jim - not a soul. No one is capable, and he does not need them to be.

[clayforthedevil]

((argh and darn it, Valjean.))

[just_cant_lose]

Inorite. :(

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato trusts the rest of the Chosen, more or less unquestioningly, to protect him if he needs it. Even in Tri, where he spends quite a lot of time getting flustered about his friends' willingness to protect other people (because he sees their duty in very black-and-white, straightforward terms, and some of the other Chosen have slightly more complicated views on it), he still doesn't doubt that they'd put their lives on the line for him.

(He would kind of prefer that they didn't, because he's fairly convinced that the 'protecting each other' thing should ideally go one way, and that's him protecting everyone else.)

Also, Gabumon, obviously.


Hawke trusts Carver, and he did trust Bethany until terrible things happened to her. He's going to acquire more people that he trusts, slowly, over time. Some of them might end up horribly betraying that trust and making things a lot worse! It's good to be Hawke.


Sherral kind of has to trust his men. That's sort of an integral part of being a soldier, after all.


Yugo trusts everyone! But he also considers it very much a moot point, given that he doesn't ever really need protecting.

[yinyangwizard]

Word of advice to Hawke: he should maybe not trust Isabella that much. Ever. (Varric is solid though.)

[inlovewithwords]

Meh, Isabela is positively benign by comparison to some of Hawke's other friends as far as her secrets and antics go. I mean, Anders makes Hawke complicit in mass murder.

Varric is definitely The Most Solid, though.

[merryeccentricities]

Joly and Bahorel both trust their friends entirely, and with matters much more important to them than their own safety (not that they're unconcerned with their own safety, they've just both got things that matter way more. They know their friends get it.)

Gringoire, with no bitterness, doesn't expect anyone to help him or even to really try--or rather, he doesn't expect anyone to be able to help him, generally, and thus doesn't expect them to try. Life's just really big and complicated, you know? (All right, he trusts Djali to do what she can in his interest, to the extent a goat is capable of understanding that or doing anything ,but, like. She's a goat.)

[just_cant_lose]

Gringoire and Djali might literally be the best platonic pairing in the history of literature, for realz.

Only don't tell Hugo I said that, because, Hugo.

[clayforthedevil]

Hugo is a meanie.>:[ I'm amazed something as innocent as a playful goat survived the book, really.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee has his Kit Kat boys and girls, who, if they couldn't protect him physically, they would at least never betray him. Herman is a pacifist but would definitely fight for him if he had to.

In Milliways he has Jay, Eric (if Emcee asked him with a promise of paying him back), and I'm pretty sure that Noriko would fry anyone who tried to hurt him.

[harryhotspur]

...I'm realizing I have a lot of characters with trust issues. Some of them:

At one point, Harry would have said his family (the men in it, anyway), but-- not so much now.

Viola trusts Orsino to protect her to a certain extent, but having a Great Big Secret sort of precludes complete trust in anyone.

Segundus and Marius, for opposite reasons, have sort of a complex about relying on other people: Marius is too irrationally proud and Segundus is too self-effacing.

[clayforthedevil]

Golly, I can't imagine why Harry has trust issues. It is a mystery.

[harryhotspur]

Yeah, I just haven't quite worked that one out, you know.

[hangingoutwithcrows]

Honestly I can't see why anyone in those plays would have trust issues.

[not_the_second]

The thing is, as I've thought about it, Harry's actually an incredibly trusting person. He absolutely trusts people to behave honorably, just like he tries to. Which... has never been a particularly safe assumption, he was just never proved quite so dramatically wrong as he was by his dad and uncle at the end there.

[genarti]

For all of mine, the answer is yes! Close friendship and loyalty to at least one other person is one of the things that tends to draw me to a character.

Enjolras: all the Amis. Without a thought; there's years of trust and literal vows of brotherhood there, and all of them know they have each other's backs. (Okay, Grantaire's usefulness is... more limited. But his personal loyalty isn't in question.)

Cosette: Valjean -- that trust goes bone deep. No matter whether it's humanly possible to protect her from something, Cosette's gut instinct is that her dad will take care of her and protect her. Marius too, now.

Recent events haven't exactly changed that trust. But they have let her know that sometimes their judgement on how exactly to protect her might be a little flawed. Still, trust is the bedrock especially for Valjean, when you get right down to it.

Thor: Sif and the Warriors Three. His parents. At Milliways: X, mostly, and Diana. Those are the big ones who spring to mind, but honestly Thor's a pretty trusting guy who's pretty confident in his own assessments (for good or ill); there are a lot of people he'd trust to watch his back in a fight.

Loki is not currently one. That breaks his heart. But yeah -- he loves him, and he can still be fooled by him to a certain extent, but he doesn't trust him right now.

Kazul: Cimorene, Morwen, Mendanbar, Roxim, maybe her giantess friend whose name I'm forgetting. At Milliways, there are people she'd trust if she really needed to trust someone, but no one who's yet in the Trusted Friend category without a pressing need.

River: oh heck yes. All of Serenity's crew, past and present. (Even Jayne, these days, snark or not.) Duo. Galadan. X. Several other people in her world. A lot of people who no longer come to Milliways. A lot of people who do.

Trowa: Any of the other Gundam pilots. X. Cass Cain. His sister, situationally -- he trusts her utterly, but she's not a fighter. Commander Une and Lucrezia Noin, also situationally, for very different reasons.

[just_cant_lose]

Valjean: *proud tear*

[genarti]

So DON'T FUCK IT UP, VALJEAN I mean, er. *cough*

(That journal + icon makes for a disconcerting combination with the message, though. *laughing*)

[just_cant_lose]

Valjean: I will try. *woebegone angstball of tenuous joy*



(*cackle* I know, sorry! Am on iPad at train terminal and far too lazy to be switching accounts. Jim is offering sincere* encouragement to the family's new future!

*rolling his eyes. :\)

[varadia]

Jim was Valjean the WHOLE TIME?????

[just_cant_lose]

THE WHOLE TIME. Foolproof disguise, bro.

[varadia]

Ysalwen: She trusts her companions, her Wardens, and a lot of the people and soldiers at the Vigil, in various and sundry ways. Ultimately her trust comes down to Liranan and Zevran, she knows they would have her back until the end. And in Milliways, Cullen. Out of Milliways -- not that Cullen. Somehow I feel like the different world makes it easier, even with the same backstory up until the Duncan is present part of the Origin. I mean, there are other people in Milliways that she would trust to try, but she does not trust any of them to succeed (yet).

X: She would trust most of Security to some degree. Thor. Stitch. Elle hands down even if X is passed out and unconscious or powerless or insane. Bruce Wayne. Meg Ford in a place where political gamesmanship is more important than being able to punch things. Trowa. Cass Cain. Most of the MCU cast if the situation was super-dire.

Dean Winchester: He will trust Sam until the end, even when part of him tells him it's a bad idea because they keep dumbass secrets from each other all the time. And vice versa, I bet. *wry* Coyote, because Dean is Dumb and she is exactly his kind of person.

Raven: Coyote, Moiraine, and Ace. Because Family.

Galadan: River, Mary Lennox, and Gabriel Tam. Mostly because they are real people to him, and he is pretty assured that he is a real person to them, as well. But in combat-type things really only River. Everyone else would get themselves killed. (I mean, he is pretty sure they would try to save him, but then they would die, too, so. Nope.)

[bjornwilde]

Ahsoka: Assuming she's more into s01 and not precanon as I've got her now. Herself. Anakin. Rex and the 501st. Abstractly, the Jedi Order.
Sabine: Herself and Ketsu Onyo.
Hank: Charles, Alex, and Sean. He wants to say Mystique but he has no idea what she's like now.
Rollo: Whomever he is fighting alongside. Ragnar to a huge extent, at least for now.
Eliot: Margo aka Jill, if you know the books.
Selina: Herself and Jay. Soon Bruce Wayne will start to gain her trust. Alfred never will.
Izana: Any garde pilot, Nagate, the Honoka sisters, the command staff of Sidonia.
Sam Wilson: Steve and Natasha. Eventually other Avengers but he hasn't met them yet.

[inlovewithwords]

Poor Ahsoka.

[bjornwilde]

Later she'll trust Obi-Wan and Padme. And then she'll get Barriss (which goes *SO* well) and that blue senator whose name is escaping me. Lux might have been there once but then he went and made a deal with Death Watch.

[inlovewithwords]

I think my comment bears reiterating:

Poor Ahsoka.

[bjornwilde]

I'm trying to think of this as people Ahsoka knows will guard her back. The Jedi Order and the 501st (and clones in general tbh) are a more abstract trust.

But hey, Rex proved trustworthy! And Anakin doesn't betray her...not for 15 years at least. ; p

[inlovewithwords]

Anakin had to be dragged off her "Stop Maul" plot to go 'rescue' Palpatine, and by the time she turned around, he'd turned into a psychotic mass-murderer of children and helped bring down the Republic.

Obi-wan vanished, Padme died, Rex gave up and went into hiding.

And the clones who were less on top of things than Rex had killed the Jedi.

And the Jedi had been incompetent for years.

Seriously.

Poor. Ahsoka.

[bjornwilde]

I was trying to be optimistic. ;p

And why do I feel like we're bantering like Anakin and Ahsoka?

[inlovewithwords]

One, because you're arguing her point of view when my taking an opposing stands lends itself to similar patterns.

Two, I do have a habit of picking characters whose speech patterns sometimes reflect my own*.

Three, my patterns shift sometimes when called upon.

Four, because I really don't know how to let an argument die.

Five, because Anakin is my license to act like a complete jerk.

* Actually Anakin is the furthest from my speech patterns, generally speaking.

[bjornwilde]

Just to be sure, I do not think you are being a jerk and you are very correct, poor Ahsoka.

[inlovewithwords]

Eriond doesn't really need protecting, but he smiles and appreciates the thought. Horse, Garion, in general his 'family' that was that traveling party, his actual family.

Henry... uh, sort of trusts Regina, sort of doesn't. When he finds Emma, utterly trusts her.

Evelyn trusts her teachers and her girlfriend--the people, not the Circle and obviously she's scared shitless of the Templars and trying to ignore this fact.

Lois trusts Clark, Oliver, her dad, Martha, Chloe, and Jimmy. More or less. But she really trusts Clark over all of them, because he's the one she trusts to comfort her when she's brokenhearted. That's scarier than any amount of fire or bullets.

R2-D2 trusts Anakin not to let him get stolen or scrapped or gotten rid of somehow, and to come after him if he fails that. This is, in fact, an almost 100% justified trust, right up until the moment it isn't. He will thereafter not really trust anyone with that until Leia and Luke. (He knows he's the Skywalker astromech.)

Anakin's reaction to this question is best done in his own words, and assuming once he's training Ahsoka: "I don't need protecting, but I appreciate the thought. If it came to it? *sigh* Fine. Ahsoka. Rex, and my Shadow Squadron. Obi-wan or Yoda, I suppose. Chancellor Palpatine, of course. Any of the Jedi would come if I needed it, that's proven. Artoo always has my back. Any of the clones would watch my back in battle--well, mostly, there was that one time, but that was an anomaly. What? No, I don't need Padme protecting me. I'm her guard more often than not, that's how this works."

This number will in fact eventually go down to about one-half, because Palpatine will totally keep him alive under most circumstances but it's not actually guaranteed. (Anakin needs better life choices.)

Tavi trust Kitai first and foremost, obviously. Max and Araris are next, then Ehren, Amara, Bernard, Varg, and Magnus. In Milliways, Alanna ranks about here too, and probably Ellen Park and Gavroche. Isana is a special case of him trusting her to always put his well-being first but to have somewhat flawed judgment on the subject from time to time. Fidelias is a special case of mixed absolute and zero trust at the same time, it is possible to do if you're Tavi. The soldiers of the First Aleran rank above General People, but also Tavi does in general trust most of his people* to approximately want him Not Dead these days, and anyone who does has to get past a formidable and terrifyingly loyal army and spy brigade to reach him. That said, mostly people protecting him is "keep me alive so I can keep you alive," because a large part of his job is protecting his people.

*not politicians, they are not people.

[ceitfianna]

Will: All of the Merry Men, Doc, Atton are the ones that come to mind first. There are others, a lot of it comes down to fighting, if he's fighting beside someone then he trusts them.

Charles: Hank, Alex, Sean, Moira, Erik and Raven but not as without a doubt as he did before. In Milliways X, Jay, Alanna and others

Quentin: Toby, May, Raj, the Luidaeg, Duke Torquill, April, Danny. In Milliways Alanna, Ysalwen he would do the same for both of them without question but he would be much less likely to trust someone from Milliways to fully the same degree as trust is complicated for him.

William: Mark, his mother in his world, in Milliways-his father, Katya, Stiles, X, Valjean. He's not someone who thinks of other people as protecting him, that's his job, but he knows that he can't protect himself the same way in Milliways.

Moist: If he absolutely had to, he would trust Jay, Emcee and Claudia Donovan otherwise nope.

Sameth: His family, Nick, Yrael with reservations, in Milliways Kait, Ysalwen and others I'm blanking on.

Jane: Her brothers, Tom, in Milliways-Alice from Twilight, Dean Winchester, Security in general

Demeter: Oh this is a complicated question for her because it depends, they don't like having to call on each other. Always Kore, every one else it changes on who they're going up against. In Milliways, she does the protecting.

Ivan: Miles, Gregor, Simon, Duv, Mark, Tej, rest of his family and any other Barrayaran soldier. In Milliways, I don't think there's anyone. I don't play him enough and he's wary about trust.

Tumnus: The Pevensies, so many other Narnians and Archenlanders, in Milliways-Caspian when he was around.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei trusts that his closest spirit retainers will do their utmost to protect him - even lay down their lives if they have to. Other than that, he does not place complete trust in anyone except for Inari and Tenjin.

There are certain people he trusts to cover for him or keep his secrets, but he would argue that it's not the same as "protecting" him per se.

[have_no_mercy]

Tess - Clark. Because he's Clark.

Kylo - ...weeeelll, kind of sort of Hux and Snoke. But not really.