smk_network | Video - Attempting This Princess Leader Thing

[Mal closed her connection to Merlin and considered what he had said when she arrived, about what a princess is here, about leadership. Then she opened her connection to everyone through her mirror.]

"Alright. Listen up. Someone is missing and we've been asked to go help. Those who chose not to. stay in the assigned apartments. Yours or together with others, I don't care. If things go sideways it will be easier to keep you lot safe if we know which one building you are all in."

[A deep breath.]

"For the rest of us. We need to work together. Most of you probably don't know or like me. That's fine. Most of you if I know you... I don't like you. But we don't have to like each other for this. We just need to work towards the same goal. After, if you want to tear into me, fine, you're welcome to try. But until we all come back successful and safe, we are horns out, not in. We are one."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

ace_of_hearts

[Ace watches it, ignores it, comes back, watches the responses, ignores them too, comes back AGAIN, and the more he watches, the more he laughs, this time actually responding:]

Did you grow up with any siblings?

From:

mal_contented

"No. Why exactly does that matter?"

From:

ace_of_hearts

You remind me of my brothers. You don't have to work so hard to prove yourself.

Ease up on yourself.

From:

mal_contented

[A rude snort.] "Yeah, right. Look at how people respond to me here" [Look at her whole life] "Proving myself is exactly what I have to do, apparently."

From:

ace_of_hearts

Ignore the first chick, she's being a bit much. Some people really hate being given orders. Do you want me to tell her off for you?

You don't need to prove yourself. You're trying too hard to be fit into a role. Ease up.

You said yourself, you don't like anyone you know, so what do you care what they think of you? Respect is earned, it can't be stolen.

From:

mal_contented

[She actually gave a laugh at that. Not a cruel one, though she knew it could sound that way.] "No, I don't need anyone to tell her off for me. I'm sure after this mission she and I will have it our ourselves, but thanks. And I do like some people I know, they're just the rarity. As for stealing respect... Well, there is respect and there is fear, and sometimes it can be hard to tell who falls into place because of which. And fear can be stolen. It can also be useful, at times." [Just not what she was going for now. Not that she felt she could admit that publically here.]

From:

ace_of_hearts

[He smiles at her laugh, unfazed by it, just amused that she's amused, though he frankly doubts Rose even wants "to have it out," just reacted to the words.]

[And speaking of which, his smiles fades instantly with her words.] Never ask for people to fear you.

From:

mal_contented

[She snorted.] "Oh yeah. Even if I wanted it, that's not how you get it. Trust me, grew up under the thumb of the most feared villian on my world. Fear is one thing I understand flat." [Other people's fear, that is.]

From:

ace_of_hearts

That's not what I meant.

Fear's not hard to understand. But it's impossible to control. Being feared isn't something you should want. It won't get rid of your own fear. It'll make people band together to work against you. The only way to defeat fear is to fight it head-on. You can fight the whole world like that, but it won't bring you happiness. Find the people you don't have to fear instead. They're out there.

Were you a slave, or blood?

From:

mal_contented

[She considered that for a long while, face set and it seemed almost like she wouldn't answer, then she shrugged. "She's my mother."

From:

ace_of_hearts

You're not one of Big Mam's daughters, are you? We'd probably recognize each other then. No, you said you don't have siblings and she's got like hundreds of kids. [He's exaggerating. It's only between a dozen and twenty. "Only."]

[He spins to show off the tattoo on his back.]

I'm a son of Whitebeard. The greatest man who ever lived. But he never met my mother. She died giving birth to a demon. You see, the whole world feared the blood the devil being passed down, and believed that it could destroy the world even if that child didn't wish it.

Fear of the monster led to torture. They killed thousands of children, anyone who could have been that child, any mother who resisted.

Don't seek to be feared. It's difficult enough to live with direct blood on your hands without adding to it.

Pops' enemies don't fear him. They know he would never destroy the world, because then where would his sons live? He protects us not using fear, just consequence.

Do you know what you treasure most yet?

From:

mal_contented

[Excuse her while she tries to figure out how your parents never met. Because that one makes no sense to her. Actually, most of that made no sense. So she focused on the bits that did.] "I know, but there is no one here" [except maybe Merlin] "That I'd tell what it was to."

From:

ace_of_hearts

That's fine, I'm not asking you to.

But instead of trying to intimidate anyone, and prove how tough you are, ease up on yourself. Just focus on protecting what's important to you. You want to rescue Dreamfinder, for whatever reason, that's great. But the rest of us aren't total imbeciles, believe it or not. And if you treat everyone like they are, they're just going to act like it to save time. It's not a good way to run a mission. Before being a captain, you have to know how to put together a team you can trust. If you can't trust your team, they can't trust you either, right?

So first just prove you can protect what's most important to you. Then expand that a little when you find someone else worth protecting, like a friend.

And try not to fight the whole world at once. It's more rewarding not to.

From:

mal_contented

"We don't have time to become a team or learn to trust each other, though. He's in trouble NOW."

From:

ace_of_hearts

Welcome to the first step in learning to trust others. I'd go straight away, but Merlin said no. I've been on solo hunting missions since I could crawl, but I gotta trust the locals, and Merlin knows him better than all of us combined. And Dreamfinder is a teacher. So step 1? Trust him to hold his own long enough to let us find him. Who knows? It might even be a teaching mission just like Hades throwing a bunch of monsters at us first day.

It's hard waiting, and resting up, but you're strong-willed, you'll manage it.

From:

mal_contented

"If he's holding his own waiting for us to trust each other, he's in more danger from old age than anything else," [she said, dryly.]

From:

ace_of_hearts

I don't mean for us to all become best nakama and get married happily ever after.

I mean long enough to prepare supplies, maps, and organize.

I was a world-renowned captain before joining my father's crew, and I didn't become a commander there overnight. It took a long time. He would have trusted me with one hundred men easily enough, but I didn't know them that well, and I didn't want to step on anyone else's toes, especially since I was so much younger than the rest of them.

Something to consider. Sometimes the strongest thing you can do is know when to let someone else step forward.

From:

mal_contented

[Except Merlin TOLD her to step up and be a leader. But she so did not want to have that argument now.]

"Nakama?" [she asked instead.]

From:

ace_of_hearts

Crew. Friends. Allies. You don't always get along, and sometimes you drive each other crazy, but you've always got their back against the universe. Betrayal is the one unforgiveable sin.

From:

mal_contented

"I've never heard that term before," [She admitted. Did it suit her and the other VKs? She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure she could handle thinking about it, either.]

From:

ace_of_hearts

When I was captain of the Spades, they mostly just had to run to keep up with me and make sure I didn't fall unconscious in my soup, and I got to protect them like treasure and make sure they all had fun and got closer to their dreams.

Whitebeard runs his crew a bit differently. They're much closer, even though there's sixteen hundred of us. We all call him Pops, and he looks after us like family. Marco and Namur and Thatch even called me brother when I joined. It's a good feeling. Not the same as Luffy or growing up with them, but appreciated.

From:

mal_contented

"Sixteen hundred. That sounds like a lot of people expecting someone to be perfect." [Like say all of Auradon. She knew that pressure. It was what broke her. She kept her voice cool, however, betraying none of the pain she felt.]

From:

ace_of_hearts

No. We're pirates. We don't do perfect or heroes, or greater good or anything like that.

We do exactly what we want to and nothing else.

From:

mal_contented

[A rude snort.] "Like Uma then? Pass. But if you have a leader you have at least some rules."

From:

ace_of_hearts

Uma?

Yeah, we do. Even pirates have codes and laws of the sea. The pirate code is the only rules I'll follow anywhere always.

And like I said, I was a division commander of 100 men. Their fuck-ups were mine to handle.