I'm sure you have plenty of bunnies, but... actually, bodyguards require some very specific training. It's not enough to know how to fight - you have to know how to protect someone who might be drugged or injured or unconscious (meaning that, for example, dodging isn't an option sometimes), how to make yourself into a meat shield... and in addition, the guardee needs special training as well. How to escape, how not to interfere with the guards...
I'd love to see either pictures or stories of that sort of training. ^_^ I read a brilliant article about a group of trainees trying to get into the Secret Service (the US president's bodyguards), and the book Exile's Honor, by Mercedes Lackey, actually has a section where the main character is training a group of (fantasy-universe) bodyguards, if you need references. =D
And for another idea... how good are you at action scenes? Because it would be awesome to have the bodyguards swinging into action. And, of course, Zuko getting to kick some ass, too. No way is he going to let his combat training slip, after all. (All the future-fics talking about him doing administrative stuff day and night confused me... being a firebender is too important for the leader of a highly martially-oriented kingdom for him to go to seed! Ozai, Azulon, and Sozin were all pretty kick-ass.) And imagine how distracting it would be for the bodyguards, finding places where he can train safely - meaning NO SPIES, because you don't want people knowing what their target is capable of! - and then just standing by and watching as he does all that pretty firebending exercise. =P
...betcha Zuko keeps his sword-skills as a hidden ace up his sleeve. =P
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I'm sure you have plenty of bunnies, but... actually, bodyguards require some very specific training. It's not enough to know how to fight - you have to know how to protect someone who might be drugged or injured or unconscious (meaning that, for example, dodging isn't an option sometimes), how to make yourself into a meat shield... and in addition, the guardee needs special training as well. How to escape, how not to interfere with the guards...
I'd love to see either pictures or stories of that sort of training. ^_^ I read a brilliant article about a group of trainees trying to get into the Secret Service (the US president's bodyguards), and the book Exile's Honor, by Mercedes Lackey, actually has a section where the main character is training a group of (fantasy-universe) bodyguards, if you need references. =D
And for another idea... how good are you at action scenes? Because it would be awesome to have the bodyguards swinging into action. And, of course, Zuko getting to kick some ass, too. No way is he going to let his combat training slip, after all. (All the future-fics talking about him doing administrative stuff day and night confused me... being a firebender is too important for the leader of a highly martially-oriented kingdom for him to go to seed! Ozai, Azulon, and Sozin were all pretty kick-ass.) And imagine how distracting it would be for the bodyguards, finding places where he can train safely - meaning NO SPIES, because you don't want people knowing what their target is capable of! - and then just standing by and watching as he does all that pretty firebending exercise. =P
...betcha Zuko keeps his sword-skills as a hidden ace up his sleeve. =P