11, 12, and 15.
11. Guard dog knight or stoic sentinel?
This is terrible. How should I choose? The stoic sentinel has a mystery to them, and can easily become a puzzle to solve — how to get them to drop their defenses? How to warm their blood, and more? A marvellous challenge! A battle of wills, perhaps, or a demonstration of strategic and intellectual prowess...
And yet. The guard dog knight has the best element of all: surprise. When it's all a wildcard and you're on your toes, everything is more flavourful and alive. Will they be sweet and devoted, and beg to sit at your feet? Or will they suddenly bare their teeth and be overtaken by a sudden and unquenchable thirst when it comes to their royal, be it for protection or something else? Who knows! Fuck around and find out!
So, I shall cast my vote towards the guard dog, especially if they're adept at playing stoic or elegant when it suits them, but able to switch between modes of being. For enrichment purposes, of course.
12. Feral knight or poised?
It was already answered, but I'll go a little more into detail here as it ties in with what I just said. I suppose I'm very greedy, as usual, and I want everything; only feral leaves something missing, the courtly games and the subtle language plays and the glances stolen around corners, and that's a sadness without end; only poised and dealing with them becomes frustrating, not a crack showing on the surface, everything following rules and protocol and perfect sterility, an endless charade, chasing shadow puppets performing for an empty audience. But oh well, if I must choose something to make up the majority of the humours of said knight, I'll choose poised with a healthy dash of feral. Perhaps under specific circumstances only? Or after a long, long time, when their patience begins to run thin? I so love a slow burn, after all... and I do mean it when I say slow.
16. Does your knight get to guard you through the night or must they return to the barracks?
As you sent an ask afterwards asking for 15 from the royal's perspective, we shall go with 16.
That's a great question, and I'd love more context for it. However, as that's not possible, I have to say barracks — an overnight guard cannot be on duty during daytime — no matter the amount of devotion involved, one has to eventually sleep — and then so very much is lost in way of interactions and intel. Of course, their shift may change under extraordinary circumstances, such as travel or political unrest, but otherwise I'd like to allow my knight to be involved in society under, well, human rhythms. Not that keeping watch outside of my chambers as some sort of underhanded punishment doesn't sound lovely, of course, but that'd be for entirely different reasons. So.
Thank you for giving me such delectable little scenes to think about, beloved!
