Author's note: This is a scene that was intended to tie-into one of Jason's chapters back during the whole thing with Anna gaining citizenship and Vizh being an Ambassador. It was mostly complete, but apparently was left forgotten and unposted... I'm not sure why. In any event, I tacked on enough to call it finished and present it now... it's only slightly late in continuity.

...that Ian was going to originally extend the whole Anna vs the Justice System subplot, but he never did. And then I forgot to pick it up and continue it. It's kind of neglected, so I'll have to fix that now.

This was a nice story that covers something obvious but that hardly anyone would think of. Visionary does need an intimidating bodyguard, and Joan is ideal. But sometimes, someone else might need a low-profile one that nobody notices, and then Anna's more ideal.

If I ever get around to posting an Ambassador Vizh adventure, then maybe it'll make more sense. Instead, I brought Joan on as the kids' bodyguard, and considered rewriting it that way but ultimately decided to go the lazy route and finish it with the original concept.

If you feel that there is something you need to do with it, sure... Otherwise, I think it was at a reasonable rest point for now until the next big shake-up happens. The wheels of justice move slowly, after all, and the mid-term elections aren't here yet either.





It came out of me considering different characters for placement on a LL Diplomatic staff. Obviously, the first criteria was whether I thought it would be fun to put whichever character into the role I was considering... but once I had ideas on who I wanted, I needed to think through and determine whether it made sense to give them those roles. What pluses and minuses would they bring?

Chiaki actually fits well as a bodyguard with Akiko, for a variety of reasons. Akiko was always written as someone who liked to flaunt her unconventional ways in front of the other crime figures... hence all of the pink. With her, it's almost a dare/trap... "See the helpless little female: go ahead and make a move". Plus, she has plenty of muscle in her organization to scare away any rash action against her... what she wants in her immediate circle are the absolute best people, and she wants them nondescript. The big-league people she deals with will have gone through enough themselves in making it to the top to know that her survival in organized crime is no accident. In many situations among these people, a show of force is a show of insecurity.

Vizh (and Earth, for that matter) would be new to the specific corridors of power he was about to enter, and he'd be dealing with many who got where they were entirely by accident of birth. There would be plenty in those circles who would need an obvious show of force to keep them from underestimating Earth's representative and starting anything rash.

I do want to learn to draw better though - well, probably I'll never get as good as you or as two friends of mine, but at the very least I'd like to be able to do maybe Sunday newspaper comic caliber someday.





It was more that after my two posts Ian said something like "there will be repercussions". So I put whatever else I had in mind on the back burner until he gets around to that. Only then all those distractions happened, and he never got to it. Then I had distractions and forgot all about it. Your post reminded me - not about exactly what I was going to do before, but reminded me to remember to do *something*, whatever it was.





Anyone with any kind of power can be a bodyguard depending on the circumstances. Liu Xi is a powerful elementalist, which is not too good for a close up assassination, but can keep armies at bay. Chiaki is very good close up, but she can be surrounded and overwhelmed by an armed militia fairly easily. Anna would be somewhere in between, able to handle a small army or a close-up assassination. But the one thing they all have in common is they're not very intimidating.

Note I left out Lara Night, because while she doesn't *look* intimidating, she's publicly recognizable as a super-hero, which counts as intimidation. She may as well be a cop in uniform.

As for Visionary and his ambassador duties, he might need different bodyguards depending on the circumstances. If he's going into a dangerous place, or for negotiation, Joan would definitely be the best bodyguard. If he was going to an official formal dinner, maybe Anna or even Chiaki (especially her, because she knows all about dressing for the occasion and etiquette) would be a better choice. Nothing ruins everyone's dress dinner than a twelve foot steam powered robot who shakes the crystal dangerously every time she takes a step.