Aircraft Design Company- Matsura's Planes Are Always Fastest!

[open_sketch]

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Stress 0​

Office Stress 0​

XP 5​

Spoiler: Character Sheet

Matsura Asuka
Head Designer for Ohara Airworks
Age 24 (Legally 25)
Year 12 AF (After Flight)

Design Stats
Aerodynamics Engineering - +2
Structural Engineering - +2
Chemical Engineering - +1
Mechanical Engineering - +1
Ballistics Engineering - +1
Electrical Engineering - 0

Personal/Political Stats
Social Skills - 0
Politics Skills - 0
Importance - 2
Income - 1
Investments - Ohara

Resources
Power - 0
Wealth - 2

Designs
Type 1 Series - Military Variation (Designated T1M1)
Type 2 Racer (World Speed Record October 1910-April 1911, 180kph)
Model 2 Scout (Designated T1M2)
Navy Scout Prototype (Drowned Rat)
Dive Bomber B1M1 "Duck"
Machine Gun Carrier R1A "Dragonfly" (World Speed Record May-July 1911, 200kph)
Naval Rescue Water-Landing Supply Plane NR1M0 "Dolphin" (World speed record 240kph)
Rhino Demon Train Hunter
The world's first airliner
The world's first pulsejet airplane

Assets
Slide Rule
Computator (1 Reroll per Routine)

Languages
Albian
Gallian

Familiar Vices
Drinking
Prostitutes
Dancing

Family Life
- Engaged to Arita Yachi, formerly the leading Ace in the Imperial Army. Designated #1 Cutest Army Boy, he's having some serious problems with PTSD right now.
- Taking a second try at dating Mikami Kiho, ex-dockerwork from the south.

Upgrades
- 3 XP to upgrade a stat.

Spoiler: Ohara Airworks

Ohara Airworks
Start Up, Imperial Capital, Akitsukuni

Owner
- Mr. Ohara, Rich. Aircraft Enthusiast. Business guy.

Engineers

Kibe Koume, 26, Office Manager
Tiny & angry, Kibe went to school in Albia, picking up the language, the religion, and a fuckload of swear words. Speaks Albian.
Mechanical +2, Ballistics +1
Office Manager: If Kibe is not assigned to a team, the Office Stress is reduced by 1.

Sakane Jun, 26, Second Team Leader
A soured patriot, Sakane is married and has a young child being raised gender-neutrally. His two brothers who fought in the war.
Structural +2, Aerodynamics +1
Team Leader: If there are any additional projects, Sakane will lead them.
Joinery: Sakane has training in the traditional Akitsukuni carpentry art of joinery, creating complex self-supporting joints with no fasteners or glue. When working with non-monocoque wooden spars or ribs, +1 Structural.

Tezuka Kenji, ???
A stoner with occasional flashes of insight. Nobody really knows what he does, but he's probably useful?
Aerodynamics +2, Chemical +1
Flashes of Brilliance: Each natural 10 rolled by any team Tezuka is assigned to gives +1 forward to the next research roll.

Hasegawa Morio, 26
A hopeless nerd with a photography habit, mostly on account of developing his own film, Hasegawa seems to do nothing but work and stack card houses, but somehow has an incredible attractive boyfriend. Speaks Gallian.
Chemical +2, Ballistic +1
Silent Workhorse: Hasegawa can work on two different projects at once for no cost to Office Stress, providing they use different stats.

Kawamura Yosai, 25.
Serially successful womanizer and incredibly attractive, Kawamura doesn't seem to have much of a personality outside of seducing women. Well, except for that time he seduced Asuka, which nobody talks about. Speaks Dyske.
Structural +2, Electrical +1, Social +1
Easily Distracted: If Kawamura is working on the same team as a female or non-binary employee, the team is at -1d10.

Koide Hatsu, 24.
One of the few female graduates of an Akitsukuni engineering school, Koide is brilliant and incredibly driven, but her first job at Akibara was both humiliating and exposed her to an abusive coworker. Her father is a rich businessman with factories in Joseon, and she's engaged to Ken from Castles of Steel. Speaks Joseon.
Mechanical +2, Structural +1
No Sleep: If you let her, Koide will work herself to death. She can work a second project for no Office Stress, but all her stats will be reduced to 1 for the routine.

Kobayashi Ayao, ???
Disowned heiress of the Kobayashi family, all Kobayashi wanted was a career and to be a modern woman. For her trouble, a cousin threw acid on her, scarring her face, neck, much of her torso, and her left arm. Despite appearing serene and above it all, she's actually an avowed communist activist and baseball player.
Aerodynamics +2, Social +2

Adachi Ren, 24
Adachi learned chemistry from her father, one of the most famous chemical engineers in the country, rather than through formal schooling. She's married, has a kid, and takes spirituality very seriously. Yes, you did the math right, she had Yuki when she was 17. It's 1912, folks.
Chemical +2, Electrical +1
Young Mother: Adachi will cause double Office Stress if she has to work multiple tasks.

Uyeno Sei, Ballistics Engineer, 31.
The oldest member of the crew, this is Uyeno's second career. Her first was as an officer in the Imperial Navy with specialized technical training: her very promising career was cut short by her transition. Her work in a naval arsenal on machine-guns landed her the job here. Briefly dated Satomi (the age range is a bit creepy but again, 1912), she's missing a piece of her ear and is deaf on that side, from an exploding cannon. Recently returned from Varnmark from experimental surgery, she's known for her skill navigating gendered bureaucracy.
Ballistic +3

Mi Kyung-Jae, 23
A recent graduate of the Imperial College of Heijo, Mi is from the recently annexed territory of Joseon. For those keeping track at home, that means he's a Korean national living in Imperial Japan in 1912. We haven't seen much of his personality because he's rightfully terrified of everything around him. He has a specialty in endurance engine design and modification. Speaks Joseon.
Mechanical +1, Chemical +1
Endurance Engines: Mi has an excellent understanding of metallurgy and tolerances. Any engine he works on gains +1 Reliability if a 16+ is rolled.
Pulsejet Wizard: Mi is now one of the world's leading experts on the pulsejet engine. He can be given his own project to custom-craft pulsejet engines, and he gives +1 to any pulsejet-related project.
Joseon National: Mi does not have security clearance to work on any top-secret projects.

Miyoshi Shigeri, 23.
A non-binary person and admirer of Asuka's work, they were in an support role in the Army before joining the company.
Structural +1, Mechanical +1, Aerodynamic +1
Mechanic: Miyoshi has some experience repairing and refurbishing aircraft. They get +1 if assigned on the clean-up phase.


Other Employees
- Ohara Satomi, 22, Mr. Ohara's niece and the company test pilot, Ohara is a general lesbian disaster. She's good at flying planes, driving cars, and kissing girls. She's bad at being patient, being respectable, and sticking to literally anyones conceptions of gender roles. Deeply in lesbians with Coralie D'Amboise.
- Fujkikawa Sotatsu, old, modelmaker. He's an old man and toymaker and we don't see much of him because he locks himself in his workshop a lot. He's friends with Kawamura?

Assets
- Engine Test Rig (Allows engine tweaking and optimization.
- Wind Tunnel (+1 Aerodynamics)
- Rapid Prototype Lab (+1 Clean Up)

Spoiler: Expanded Cast

Expanded Cast

Akitsukuni Industry
- Homura Mohoko: Head Engine Designer for Kobayashi. First female engineer in the country. A lot of sex appeal.
- Okumura: Head of Akibara aircraft design.
- Yamanaka Hajime: Kobayashi engineer. Young and eager.
- Igarashi Masazumi: Kobayashi engineer. Reserved and experienced.
- Admiral Akibara Toru: Imperial Navy Admiral. Maximum nepotism. Maximum douchebag.
- Lt.Cmnd Akibara Shinzo: The above's son. A hottie but very forward.



Character Families
- Matsura(?) Mizuko: Asuka's sister. Was paralyzed in an accident in Asuka's first flight. Lives Elsewhere and is married now. Can't forgive Asuka, even though she's tried.
- Adachi Motoki: Adachi's husband, an accountant. Legally blind.
- Adachi Yuki: Adachi's 7 year old daughter and wannabe pilot. Very adorable.
- Yachi's Brother: Exists.
- Sakane's Wife: Exists. Drives him a bit crazy, but he loves her.
- Yachi's Brother's Wife: Exists. Is statistically likely to be pregnant.
- Lt. Coralie D'Amboise: Gallian pilot in exile. Satomi's girlfriend. 25. Accomplished bisexual duelist. She flew in the war for a single day, and for her troubles got a hole blown in her cheek and had her left arm paralyzed.

Akisukuni Army & Ex-Army
- Lt. Torio Tanaka: Yachi's former observer as an enlisted man. Was jumped up to fly Ducks and lost a leg on his first mission. A trained painter, married to Torio Saya.
- Captain Amari Shiro: A Dragonfly pilot who ended up flying as Yachi's partner. Kind of delightfully twinky. They sorta slept together at one point, which wasn't great. He lost his previous boyfriend in the April Offensive and turned his plane into a shrine. He was shot in the gut and is still recovering.
- Major Izuhara: Logistics officer, Imperial Army, this bespectled officer stood up to the Caspian Crown Prince and accidentally kicked off the Akitsikuni-Caspian War. The guilt was so much that, after almost a year of running Army procurement, he shot himself in a phone both.
- Captain Nakai Sekien: Army scout pilot. First person to drop a bomb from an airplane, later head of the Duck Squadrons.
- Captain Teshima: A Desk pilot that fought with Yachi. Lost an arm in the process, took over for Major Izuhara after his death. Seems cheery despite it all.
- Captain Nashio: A real piece of shit dude and probably a rapist, he's also a war hero as the second-highest scoring ace on the Akitsukuni side. He was a young shitty kid in way over his head but it's no excuse.
- Lt. Kinjo: Kind of a dumb lump and Nashio's friend, one of the desk pilots. Dead at 19.
- Lt. Okazaki: Yachi's friend from before the war and pilot, he died in a spin in his dragonfly. His death probably hit Yachi the hardest.

Westerners
- Rose & Antoinette Sears: Pioneers of flight. Sisters. Black in 1910s not!America. Yikes.
- Timina Guasti: Famous aircraft designer from Otrusia. Likes big planes and green.
- Prince Protasov Vasilyevich: Crown Prince of Great Caspia. Real dick. You gotta hand it to him though, a decent flier.
- Count von Zeppelin: Invented rigid airships. Runs a successful airline business. Damned impressive.
- Bennhold: Aircraft Engineer. Experimenting with metal aircraft.
- Aileen Middlemiss: Albian reporter for the Artimis Times. Well meaning and oblivious.

Spoiler: Technology

Available Tech

• Materials: Wood, Duralumin, Molded Wood, Wood & Silk Composite, etc
• All engine mounts
• All wing types
• Basic reinforcement
• Wing warping and ailerons
• Basic water radiators
• Flying Wings
• Semi-Monocoque design (requires at least half the slots have frame pieces)
• Valved pulsejets
• Basic weapon mounts and turrets

Tech not Yet Developed

• Custom engines
• Monocoque construction
• Cantilever Wings and associated tech
• V and T tails
• Tailless designs
• Aluminum and titanium
• Cellulose surfacing
• Any kind of radar
• Weapon accessability mods
• Interruptor gear
• Geared propellers
• And Maybe Other Stuff

Spoiler: Akitsukuni & World

Akitsukuni
Island Nation

Government
Constitutional Monarchy
- The democratic portions of the government are dubiously legitimate.
- The head of state is the Empress of Akitsukuni. She gives her blessing to newly formed governments.
- The Navy and a small number of families have undue influence on politics.

Economy
Developing Mixed Market
- Most industry is controlled by a small number of wealthy, family-owned companies.
- The state provides most contracts to industry. Consumer good market is anemic.
- Exports are few, mostly cultural.
- Imports are raw minerals, food, oil, and expertise.
- Currently suffering an economic crash after the last war.

Politics
The Diet is currently ruled by a Constitutional Nationalist government. It has a system of nonlocal proportional representation, with representatives appointed by the party in accordance to their share of the vote.
- Constitutional Nationalists: 50%
- Purity Club: 9%
- New Independents: 26%
- Fairness Association: 11%
- United Communist League: 2%
- Monarchists: 1%
- Assorted Fringe Parties: 5%

Demographics
Akitsukuni is mostly very ethnically homogeneous. Around 5% of the population are various minorities, most from nearby countries. Roughly .1% are westerners here for business or in advisory positions.
- Population: 55 Million
- Religion: Mostly Kodo. Roughly 2% of the population follows western religions.
- Wealth: Most wealth is concentrated in the top 5% of the country. Nearly 20% of the population lives in conditions indistinguishable from peasantry.
- Urbanization: Heavily urbanized for a small economy: 35% and rapidly growing.

Military
At Peace
- Imperial Akitsukuni Navy (IAN): The 6th largest in the world, and the most experienced.
- Imperial Akitsukuni Army (IAA): 150,000 highly experienced soldiers, and a considerable reserve.

Aspects
- Poor Resources: Aluminum costs +1.
- Damn Akitsukuni Engines!: Engines have -1 Reliability.

Spoiler: Old Map

The Main Character Of This Quest Is Nonbinary And Uses They/Them Pronouns.

I Am Putting This Here Because The Next Person To Misgender Them Is Getting Yeeted Into The Trash

Also here's the Gayaverse TV Tropes page, because why not.​

 

[Lailoken]

Huh. TIL.

...Why asbestos, though? Fiberglass is stronger, and my admittedly limited understanding is that phenolic resins tend toward the flammable, rendering asbestos' spectacular heat-resistance essentially irrelevant.

Click to shrink...

Bakelite is very heat resistant. It's mostly extremely stable aromatics, low conductance, and when it does give out it chars and blocks further combustion. There's a reason that smoking pipes were made of it.

Asbestos would just be a matter of convenience in case fiberglass weren't an option. It's readily available and can have tensile strengths up to 10 GPa.

 

[open_sketch]

You set your pencil down, brushed the graphite soot off the page, and stared at the last numbers. It would need experimenting, still, wind tunnel tests, prototyping. But it was... it was something wonderful.

It was a dream. Your dream. It was beautiful, and it just might fly.

"Alright... sorry for keeping everyone late." you said, pushing away your chair in a deliberation action. "Drinks are on me tonight."

Everyone shuffled out, headed for their favourite spot, and your coworkers were quite eager to take advantage of your generousity. That was okay. There was a lot of work ahead of you, making the dream a reality. There would be more late nights, more struggles, more innovation. But someday soon, those crude blueprints and ballparked calculations would be canvas and wire, would be a growling engine and buzzing propeller. Just as the blank page had become a plan, that plan would become a machine, to carry people aloft, to sail across a foreign land, to win glory for your country, fame for the company, and progress for the science of flight.

As you chatted with your friends, watched Kawamura effortlessly smoothtalk a lonely secretary to accompany him home, listened to Koide and Kobayashi talk about baseball, convinced Adachi to stay for ten more minutes, you felt... different. Accomplished was perhaps the wrong word, but like you were striding for something. It was important, somehow.

A voice shook you out of your introspection.

"You okay? You're off in your own little world there." Koide said, bringing with her another beer. You graciously thanked her, knowing you'd still be picking up the tab. "Reminds me of someone."

"Yeah? What do you mean?" you asked, curious.

"I dunno, just... a little like Matsura, there. That spacey look." she said, and you laughed.

"Spirits, I hope not. I want to stay a little more grounded than that." you said, "Though if it helps me make better planes..."

"That's how they're so good at it, I think. Spend enough time with your head in the clouds, you probably pick up some of the local customs."

You held your thought a moment to take a drink, the buzz already starting to even out the world.

"Yeah. It's wild, thinking about the whole project like this. Thinking about the machine. I'm used to just thinking about, I dunno, the corner of the frame that needs reinforcing or whatever, you know?" you explained.

"Yeah, or just... the engine. I dunno though, I'm not really... I didn't study any of that stuff really. You know I thought I was going to make cars?" Koide explained, "Yeah, really. Originally I was lined up for Akibara's automotive division. But then they needed somebody to do some work on the Akibara light scout for the Navy, and that's where they shuffled me. A total fluke. How'd you end up here, making planes?"

"Patriotism, as weird as that sounds." you explained, "My father wanted me to join the Army, like he did, but I did really well in school and I really enjoyed this job I got in a furniture factory. I told my father I'd sign up to be an officer after I studied at college, be a field engineer. Make bridges for the troops. But I ended up falling in love with the process, and I got an offer from this crazy old capitalist putting together an airplane company and decided to take it instead."

"That's good, honestly. No offense, but... I know a lot of military men, and you're not a lot like them. You do a lot more good here." she said, and you nodded in agreement.

"I mean, you'd know, you're marrying one. You ready to be Mrs Kusakabe?" you said, a bit teasing.

"Spirits, yes. The wait is killing me, honestly, it feels like it's been just about to happen for like a year at this point. My father won't let me move in with him until I do." she said, exasperated. Koide lived on her own and was a legal adult, but her father was still the head of her household and if push came to shove his word could quite literally be law on matters such as this. No lie, you'd rushed into your marriage with Hainako so you could start your own page on the family registry and ensure your father couldn't fuck with your life for not falling in line like a good little soldier.

"Married life has worked out for me, despite my wife's best attempts at sabotaging it." you joked, "I hope you have many happy years together."

---

You made it home past dark, a light rain pattering off the rooftops and the fabric of your umbrella. You found yourself staring at the mechanism that kept the arms extended and wondering if similar principles might apply in the retractable landing gear of your aircraft. Perhaps...

You slide your door open, announced your presence, and shed your shoes and coat. You ducked your head in to see Hainako sitting with the baby, who was doing a valiant job trying to sit upright. You discarded your suitcase and dropped to the floor to get on their level, and the moment they saw you a massive smile broke out on their tiny face.

"Hey, daddy's home..."

---

That night, when you drifted to sleep, there was something different. A cool breeze, though the windows were closed. You opened your eyes to see what it was and found yourself staring at a blue sky, perfect fluffy white clouds drifting by. It was bright, but there was no sun that you could see, just the even azure expanse all around you, a band of tiny dots crawling across the sky. Wet grass played against your skin. The air smelled like springtime.

You sat up. This place felt familiar. No, not familiar, but expected. You'd never been here before, but you'd always wanted to find your way to it.

"I was wondering when you'd get here." a voice said, and you turned to see Satomi, dressed for the summer, hands on her hips and a smile on her face. "We've been waiting ages."

You felt like you should have asked questions, maybe, but everything you thought you needed to know, you found yourself knowing.

"Sorry. I think I had some stuff to do first." you explained.

"Whatever, it's cool. Come on, there's some people you have to meet!"

You were pulled along by your hand to a crowd of people, pilots, engineers, and some people who just loved flight so much they could peek in. It was like a conference, or perhaps a party, people talking animatedly, sharing ideas, dozens of different languages, but all of them perfectly comprehensible to you. You were explaining your design to some young people you thought might be from New Alleghany, and you turned to show them your design and it was there, sitting on the field, gleaming white and perfect. Too perfect, almost, too clean, the paint too even, the colours too vivid, the lines too perfect. It wouldn't look like this, but you'd get it close.

You climbed behind the seat and primed the fuel pump. You'd never flown before, but you understood the principle, and here was a place you could never fall. The engines started, perfect puffs of odorless smoke like the steam from a kettle flaring from the exhaust, the engines humming happily with the rhythm water in a noisy creek, and you were off, flying, with the simple, uncomplicated confidence of a child. Below, you could see the town, and you could see Tokei. You could see your childhood home, your mother and father and brothers, as you remembered them from your youth, when your father knew everything there was, when your mother always knew what to say, when you and your brothers would stand united against the world. They'd never do it anywhere else, but here they had a chance to look up at what you made, at the beauty you brought to the world. You waved down and they waved back, smiling, proud.

The plane touched down with the gentle grace of a falling leaf, and you found yourself talking with friends, new and old. Laughing and dreaming, lying back to watch the clouds and seeing new and more fantastical shapes in them. A perfect summer day, the sort you have when you're a child that seem to go on and on for ages, the sort where it feels like the sun is frozen in the sky.

You were heading back up a hill with kite in hand when you paused a moment. There were two people who looked familiar to you, sitting with their backs turned, looking out over the endless green fields. It was disconcerting, to see people so morose on such a perfect day, so you approached. As you did, it became clear they were your boss, Matsura Asuka, and their boyfriend, their eyes afixed to something you couldn't see.

You reached out a hand to touch their shoulder, and just for a second, for one horrifying instant, it changed. Green became brown, blue became grey. Smoke and fire filled the skies, and all the beautiful dreams fell from the air.

You withdrew your hand, and the green fields returned. You squared your shoulders, and turned around. You headed back up the hill, kite in hand.

You didn't belong in that place. You never did.​

 

[tryrar]

I was JUST about to head to bed, but no, I had to take a trip on the feels train instead. Good work as always Sketch!

 

[Always Late]

You reached out a hand to touch their shoulder, and just for a second, for one horrifying instant, it changed. Green became brown, blue became grey. Smoke and fire filled the skies, and all the beautiful dreams fell from the air.

You withdrew your hand, and the green fields returned. You squared your shoulders, and turned around. You headed back up the hill, kite in hand.

You didn't belong in that place. You never did.​

Click to shrink...

Hm. So unlike the visions with Matsura Asuka, Sakane doesn't feel the connection between the military funding and the "dream of aviation". Makes sense, Sakane's first project is a wholly civilian affair.

But let's see if that sentiment lasts the next twenty or thirty years.

 

[FrangibleCover]

Hm. So unlike the visions with Matsura Asuka, Sakane doesn't feel the connection between the military funding and the "dream of aviation". Makes sense, Sakane's first project is a wholly civilian affair.

But let's see if that sentiment lasts the next twenty or thirty years.

Click to shrink...

I read it as a final rejection of his family's military careers and his guilt over not being at the front in the last war. He understands what his aircraft do, he's not stupid.

 

[CyberFemme]

So, aircraft design is a memetic hazard.

Firewall wants to know your location.

 

[ancusohm]

"That's how they're so good at it, I think. Spend enough time with your head in the clouds, you probably pick up some of the local customs."

Click to shrink...

Lol. That's a good line.

The wait is killing me, honestly, it feels like it's been just about to happen for like a year

Click to shrink...

*snort* I'm always a sucker for a good meta joke.

 

[open_sketch]

You'd not been to many weddings in your life: you had been a very isolated person, which didn't lead to a lot of invitations. The scale of this one completely dwarfed your previous experiences, and you immediately found yourself feeling adrift and overwhelmed, leaning close against Yachi. There had to be a hundred and fifty people in here, at least!

People weren't being overly loud or rowdy, this wasn't like Officer Horikiri's wedding, but there were enough people and the acoustics of the room were such that you found yourself hearing snippets of everyone's conversations, in an inescapable murmur all around. You were instantly put off guard by it.

Yachi smiled.

"Big crowd, huh?"

"More than I expected." you agreed, wincing a little.

"Here, come on."

Yachi maneuvered you toward the edge of the room, and you soon found yourself among friends, the other Ohara engineers. Not being surrounded by strangers was a good first step, and you already felt somewhat more human.

A few of the engineers had people with them, their plus-ones, you supposed. Some you recognized, like Adachi's husband Motoki, you recognized, but a few were new. Hasagawa was standing, still as awkward as ever, next to an absolutely, astonishingly attractive man who you recognized from pictures but still had some trouble believing was real here in the flesh. Mi was also accompanied by someone, a woman who was clearly struggling to keep up with the conversation around her. You got her name, but almost instantly after hearing it you'd forgotten it, and you couldn't work up the nerve to ask again. Joseon names just didn't stick in your head.

The group of you talked a while, not really sure what else to do. You weren't exactly the most outgoing lot, collectively, so the more extroverted of the group sort of hung out at the edge, fending off socialization from all angles.

It couldn't last, though, because you wanted a drink, and currently the drinks were all the way toward the center of the hall. You were going to have to make an excursion.

"Yachi, drinks." you muttered, and he followed you over to the table to select a cup. You offered him, but he refused, which was fair enough. Yachi only drank in small amounts, and not at all since the General's party. He'd had a bad history with booze in the Army, and worse, he was worried of becoming like some of his wartime friends, self-medicating their war neurosis.

It didn't hurt to offer, though.

Yachi soon struck up conversation with somebody on the way back, and you found yourself once again contemplating the overwhelming-ness of the hall. It wasn't helping that you were standing. Nobody else in the center of the hall was standing, only the people at the edges. You were being weird and people were staring.

If you struck up conversation with somebody, though, you'd be normal. People were standing and talking all over the place. You just had to do that. You hunted around for people you recognized, spotting Akibara Shinzo on the other side of the hall, talking with… oh, that'd be the Navy princess. The butcher. Your vague feeling of unease about the man doubled: if he was friends with her, he was probably bad news.

"Hey, Asuka, come over here!" Yachi said, and you breathed a sigh of relief to have some kind of objective, so you didn't feel so lost. You retraced a few steps around serving trays and guests to where Yachi was talking to a man in a naval uniform, who had a woman on his arm. She was pregnant and showing, and you didn't want to dwell on it, but you suspected her boyfriend (?) was trans so… there was a story there. None of your business, though.

"Asuka, this is Lieutenant Kanabe Akio. We met a few years ago, when I was coming back from the colonies."

"Hello." you said, not really knowing what else to contribute. Were you staring? Had he noticed you wondering if you were staring? "I like your…" oh, no, mistake, now you have to choose something! "... medal?"

You indicated to the blue and yellow ribbon on his chest.

"Order of the Precious Seal, Fourth Class."

"I see," you said, still feeling awkward. "...What is it for?"

"At the Battle of Sŏnbong I volunteered to enter a flooded compartment wearing a rebreather to try and manually blow our ballast tanks so we could surface the boat. We were so lucky to have the thing: it was part of all that new rescue equipment, after that flying boat got cancelled."

"Oh. I'm glad." you said, struggling at the intersection of admiration for the deed, relief at the good fortune, and professional annoyance over the cancellation of your beautiful flying boat.

"I was just coming over to apologize to your boyfriend for being sort of awful to him when we first met. We picked him up from Nokor and, well, a lot of us didn't take kindly to having to carry an Army officer on our boat."

The way he said your boyfriend without missing a beat at all was… it felt really good. He was one of the first people you'd ever talked to who didn't make some kind of big deal out of it, one way or another. You appreciated your team's support, for example, but their enthusiasm sometimes rang a little hollow, an air of protesting too much. Nevermind the constant questioning, disapproval, and judgement from others.

"Look, I wasn't super thrilled to be aboard at the time, but it's fine." Yachi said, with characteristic calm, "Still, what has you being all nice to an Army officer? Don't they flog you for that?"

"Just trying to, you know, make amends. I was pretty unpleasant to deal with for a few years there. High expectations at the Naval Academy, you know? Or maybe you don't, I heard they let Army cadets sleep in."

Yachi laughed, though you were sure if you saw the joke. It seemed identical to the rest of the rivalry stuff.

"Every day, yeah. Though you wanted to get up early or you'd miss the cake. I know how it is, though, and honestly, it's fine. We all grow. Still, why the change of heart?"

"I was being miserable to myself and to everyone else, even when I went on leave, so Emi here and my boyfriend Takumi sat me down at some point and they helped we work out that… I didn't have to prove anything to the world about who I was. Not in the way that I was trying to do when we met, anyway."

Yachi turned to the woman (Emi?), smiling.

"Well, thank you. Now I have one less Navy officer I hate. Only ten thousand more to go." he joked.

The two of you moved on, heading back to the engineers, and you found yourself with a question.

"The rivalry is still important to you, even after leaving the Army?" you asked. Yachi's face immediately went dark.

"You have to understand, Asuka, they're bastards. All of them. You can have a conversation with some of them, but you can't trust any of them. You know that want to replace the whole Army? They want it all under their control, the Admirals are trying to take over the country." he said. He sounded utterly convinced.

"Yachi, that's nuts." you said, but you instantly took it back. Of course the admirals were trying to take over the country, it's just the generals probably were too.

It was a good think Akitsukuni had enemies, or they'd probably turn on each other.

Still feeling rather overwhelmed, you found your seat, the proscribed spot on the floor for you and Yachi, soon after, and you pulled your sketchbook from your bag and a fresh pencil to work with. Yachi had said it might be seen as a little rude, but sketching was a ritual that might help you keep calm, and you needed it. You'd been fiddling with the pencil already for a few minutes now, tapping it with your fingers in a soothing rhythm, and the moment you brought the tip to paper the anxiety subsided, at least a little.

Yachi started talking with the neighbouring guests, most of whom were other Ohara engineers (you were in a nice little cluster), so you focused on your drawing, a hypothetical sketch of a long-range aircraft, inspired by some of the things Sakane had been telling you about the desert racer. Something that had been on your mind, with the increased range of your planes of late, that trips across the ocean may be a possibility, perhaps within fifteen to twenty years. Navigation would be difficult, especially over water, and training pilots for celestial navigation like sailors would be a hell of a complicating factor. Plus, unlike ships, a plane couldn't just sit and wait when it got too cloudy to see the stars.

There were experiments in various navies, especially in New Alleghany, into radio direction-finding, a system of determining range and direction from a transmitter using an antenna. If a system like that could be attached to an aircraft, and broadcast towers set up ahead of the flight, it might facilitate easier ocean crossings and the like. If an airline was to be truly world-spanning, this system would likely be needed to make carrying passengers over the ocean practical.

Right now, von Zeppelin's line only crossed water in a few select places, most notably the Akitsukuni Sea on the way to Tokei, a new route that was opening in just a few weeks. It seemed the war had made the country important enough to warrant going the few extra hundred kilometers from the Dyske colonies. With radio beacons like this, the world would truly get smaller, and it would be so much easier to train pilots to-

"Er...Asuka. Come meet the lieutenant." Yachi said.

You looked up from your page to see two people standing there. The Navy princess, and another woman who positively towered over her. Up close the princess seemed somehow a bit more intimidating. It must be the crisp black uniform and what seemed like countless medals, including a gaudy one hanging around her neck. Or maybe her ramrod-straight posture, like she was on parade here in the hall. Even though she was chatting (pleasantly? You thought?) there was still something threatening about her.

Just stay cool. Introduce yourself.

"Sorry, hello. Matsura Asuka, I'm-"

"Is that a half-wave dipole antenna? For direction finding?" the tall woman said, her face immediately breaking into a smile, and you couldn't help but be swept up in the enthusiasm. Finally, someone interesting!

"Yes, just something I'm playing around with. They're all much too big now but I was thinking about how to best mount them on an aircraft. Navigating over water has proved very difficult…" you explained.

"Oh, that's brilliant, but wouldn't it work better if it were arranged vertically?" she said.

Obviously, but not on an aircraft.

"Well, yes, but drag is a factor. How did you recognize this?"

"I'm a student at Horonai University, I'm studying radio waves and transmitters and stuff a lot, I find it super fascinating, I really hope I get to work with them after I graduate."

"I graduated from Horonai myself…" you started, but she nodded in recognition.

"Yeah, I know! A bunch of your old teachers talk about you all the time. My fluid dynamics teacher has an essay you wrote framed on the wall of her office." she said.

"Really? That seems rather excessive." you said, frowning a bit. If it was the essay you were thinking of, that was actually vaguely disappointing. You'd finished that on about two hours sleep the night before. "Still, it's a very good school, and I'm sure you'll go far. What has you so interested in radios?"

"Well, I'm really interested in the idea of radio broadcasts specifically, though there's a lot that's interesting. Still, imagine how amazing it would be if we all had radios in our homes. We could do stuff like broadcast important news, or warnings, like if there was an earthquake or a tsunami or something you could coordinate people! Or maybe even… there's people experimenting with it to try and get clear enough reception for music, wouldn't that be cool?"

All the possibilities of the radio wave, and she's fixated on sending sounds to people.

"That is interesting. I'll admit most of my research has been more into navigation and rangefinding and such."

"Of course, for the planes! That makes sense."

As excellent as this conversation was, you were rather curious, and you decided to pry a little.

"So are you dating, um, the Princess?" you asked, indicating subtly to your left where she and Yachi were still talking about something or other. War stuff. It was a bit of a redundant question, being rather obvious.

"Yes! I'm just glad she's finally home safe and we have a chance to, you know. Be together. We only really started dating the day the war started and then, you know… She was gone. But it's better now," She was pretty happy to talk about the princess. It felt like you were talking to a girl from secondary school with someone's name written over and over in the margins of their notebooks. But maybe you were being harsh?

You wondered how much she knew about her girlfriend.

Uncomfortable, you attempted to steer the conversation back toward radios, but you heard something, Yachi saying something about letting people be nobles while indicating to himself, and though it took a while to register in your brain, it eventually set in.

Was Yachi… a noble? Was that a thing? Could that just be a thing? You thought you had to be born a noble, that seemed to be how it worked, and from what you'd heard of Yachi's family he was most certainly not.

"You're a noble, Yachi?" you asked, finally.

"You didn't know? The Order of the Meritorious Spear above… 4th class, I think? Automatically confers nobility on the recipient." The princess explained, condescension dripping from every syllable.

Wow. You had to ponder on this. What did that mean? You didn't really know anything about the nobility, except that they had a lot of money and fancy houses and stuff. Obviously, Yachi didn't really have either. You vaguely recalled something about the nobles from before the first constitution still getting money from the government, a percentage of what their lands used to be worth… Yachi didn't have any land. Did he? Did they grant him land? Would it be passed on to anyone? Would it-

"Wait, will that make me a noble when we get married?" you asked. You honestly weren't sure.

Instantly, you regretted asking the question here in public. Princess Arisukawa's face didn't change, but you knew she was judging you. Probably her girlfriend too. This is why you're supposed to think before you speak!

"You're getting married?" the Princess asked, and you cringed. Here we go again. You didn't want to do this, not now. You were already at the end of your emotional resources, the party was draining on you.

"Eventually, or so we've planned. It's a bit complicated." you said, hoping the conversation would just go away. Please do the polite thing and stop.

"Of course. I can imagine it must be. I know that the formal religious ceremonies are kind of a new thing but I don't exactly know if you can just invent one out of nothing. I mean, they're all based on something people actually did and this… It's a bit odd? Don't you think?"

Even her girlfriend seemed to think she was going too far, but the look on her face indicated she wanted to keep talking. You didn't have to tolerate this. You shouldn't have to tolerate this, especially not from her. You weren't doing anything wrong! How dare she!

The anxiety finally ran out, and you found in its place, all you had was a cool anger.

"It'll be something of an invention, sure, but that is my job. Much like maintaining our enlightened guardianship of Joseon is yours." you said, trying your hardest to keep your voice even. You didn't break composure, you had to keep your poise. She didn't get to define you.

Her face fell, the first emotion you'd seen from her so far, and she bowed.

"My apologies. I overstepped. Please, forgive my hasty words." she said, in a tumble of words, and after a moment she stood up awkwardly, taking her girlfriend by the arm and pulling her away. You let out a long breath and stared up at the ceiling, feeling completely overwhelmed.

"I want to go outside," you said quietly, "or at least back to the edge of the room. Please. I can't deal with this right now."

Yachi nodded, taking your arm, and the two of you navigated toward the door. You stopped before leaving as a voice rose over the crowd, and you turned to see Koide- no, Kusakabe and her new husband arrive through the doors on the other end of the hall, to the applause and cheers of the crowd. They looked wonderful and happy, and you wanted to be happy, but right now it felt like…

It felt like seeing a piece of something that you weren't going to be allowed to have.

Kusakabe's husband (... Mr. Kusakabe?) stood up and started talking, a short little speech before the cask of sake was broken open by the two of them and drinks were passed out. Despite your position on the edge of events, they reached you in short order, and Yachi took one in a trembling hand, only spilling a little as he brought it to his lips.

"I figure I've earned one, at the wedding." he explained. He didn't have to, he had things well under control.

The two of you stayed at the edge of things for a while longer, sitting against the wall, and it helped a lot. The fact you weren't surrounded by sound, and that you were less obliged to talk to people here, was greatly calming, and you thought Yachi appreciated it too.

"I think we're really bad at parties." you admitted, and Yachi nodded.

"Yeah. I think we are. That's okay."

You were considering sneaking out for a smoke when Kibe shuffled past, a look on her face. You looked quizzically to her, and she slowed a moment, beckoning you to your feet and pointing across the hall.

"You see those guys over there?" she said, sounding angrier than usual, and you pushed your glasses up your nose to get a better look.

"Is that Itoh from Akibara?" you asked, "Did Koi- Mrs. Kusakabe invite him? I wouldn't have thought she would…"

"Of course she didn't. He's crashing the place, the fucking creep. I'm going to go have a word." Kibe spat.

"Please don't start yelling at the wedding." you pleaded.

"I'm just going to have a word! They can't get away with this. Do you have any idea what happened to her at Akibara?"

You did. You didn't like to think about it, but you had realized.

"Okay. I'm right behind you. Yachi… I'll be right back. I need to deal with some industry stuff." you said.

He nodded, and you shuffled behind Kibe, keeping a bit of distance. Kibe was loud and mean, and you could be calm and reasonable. Between the two of you, you'd talk to him and have this sorted.

Normally, you would have liked to open, but Kibe was, as usual, not patient enough.

"Itoh! What the hell!" she called, pointing at the man and getting right up in his face, so much so that he almost fell over backward in a drunken sprawl. "I know for a fact you weren't invited, so what the hell are you doing here?"

"Just-"

"Don't just anything, she doesn't want you here! Get the hell out, now!"

You were noticing it wasn't just Itoh. There were four engineers here, all of whom you vaguely recognized from your time working alongside Akibara during the war. Including one you'd see Koide stare at, worried.

You pulled Kibe's sleeve and indicated to the man, and then you saw probably the most terrifying sight you'd ever seen. You thought that you'd seen Kibe mad, but you were wrong, that was just her natural state. This was anger.

"Spirits! Okura too? You have some nerve fucking showing your face here tonight, you bastard! You need to leave right now, or I'm going to do something you're going to regret!"

One of the engineers babbled something drunkenly, and she angrily kicked a cup his way.

"That's Mrs. Kusakabe to you, motherfucker! Get out! You're not ruining her special night, you've already hurt her too much for one lifetime! Isn't that enough? What the fuck is wrong with you?" she hissed.

"Okay, okay, that's enough, It's a party, let's relax."

You glanced over to see the Navy princess, stepping forward, arms held out diplomatically. Meddling.

"I am not relaxing, not while these Akibara bastard party-crashers are here. They're not invited, and they aren't welcome!"

A change came over Princess Arisukawa, her expression hardening, and Kibe saw it too, immediately stepping back out of the way. One way or another, she was going to handle this now. You weren't sure you wanted to find out the way the Butcher of Heijo handled things.

You stepped over to where the Princess's girlfriend was, as she leaned to talk to Kibe.

"What's going on? Who are those guys?" the tall woman asked. Kibe sneered.

"Engineers from Akibara Complex, the former workplace of the bride. She had a very rough time there, we need to get them out before they make things worse. Especially that one."

She pointed to Okura, who was currently saying something to the Princess that you couldn't quite make out through the other conversations.

"What'd he do?" the woman asked, staring at him with a grimace, and you thought in that moment she'd already basically worked it out.

"He… he hurt her. Very badly." Kibe said.

You couldn't help but notice the woman's fist tightening, the anger coming over her face. After a moment, she simply turned and pushed past the princess, knocking a serving tray aside and reaching down to grab the man by his collar, dragging him up and lifting him off the ground. He kicked and flailed a moment as she yelled, her voice carrying easily above the hall, and then one of the other men grabbed her and there was instant, incomprehensible chaos.

You got a brief glance of Yachi's fist connecting with somebody's face, and then the fight seemed to explode out in all directions in a flail of bodies and limbs. You backed up, or tried to, but you stumbled over one of the serving trays, and a moment later one of the Akibara engineers was pushed into you and you fell, awkwardly, only partially catching yourself with a hand.

Immediately, you felt that something was wrong. Namely, that you were in a lot of pain. You bit your lip to stay quiet, checking quickly as the fight was rapidly pushed outside. Didn't seem broken, but then you flexed and there was another horrible jab of pain that seemed to go all the way up your arm. You weren't a doctor, but you'd read enough to suspect a sprain.

Of course. A sprain wrist on your writing hand. Just what you needed.

You adjusted your glasses again and propped yourself against the wall. Kibe was sitting with the tall woman, who was sobbing something awful, and everyone in the entire hall was looking in your direction. You wilted, opting to stay seated. You wanted to go out and check on Yachi, but the idea of standing up in front of everyone was simply crushing.

So you waited until conversation resumed. Shinzo Akibara came down from the front of the hall after conversing with the couple and headed outside, and finally things started to go back to normal, a lot of confused talk about what had happened, the rude partygoers and such. Then Shinzo came back in, heading up to the front, and Mr. Kusakabe stood back up to speak.

"I"m terribly sorry about that, everyone. It seems we had some party crashers, but fortunately a joint effort from some of our military representatives saw them off. Perhaps not the best start to our party, but things could certainly be worse. If you want to forget about the entire incident, that would be lovely. We're passing around some more booze to help with that."

People were now looking to their drinks instead of to the door, so you took your chance to duck out. There, the Princess, her girlfriend, the Navy man from before, and Yachi were all sitting out on the curb, Yachi clearly coming down off a nervous incident, and you quickly went to his side, leaning against him.

"You okay? Anything I can do?" you asked.

"Asuka, what happened to your wrist?" Yachi asked, and you waved him off (and immediately regretted it as the motion caused more pain).

"Don't worry about me. Are you going to be alright?"

"I'm fine, just… you know, a little too exciting. Let me see…"

You offered your wrist to him, and he looked at it and nodded.

"Okay, well, I can say I'm definitely not a doctor. I'm not sure what I was planning on doing there. We'll talk to somebody, okay, there's got to be a doctor here, or nearby, I know looking at it quick is important. Try not too move it too much, though." he said. You nodded.

"But we're not moving until you're ready. I don't want you collapsing."

He didn't protest, having long learned he would lose, where the topic of his well-being was concerned. You rested your arm against your lap to keep it still, and leaned against him, staring up at the darkening sky.

You were really starting to hate weddings.

---

Regular updates resume, starting now.​

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If you don't, a reminder to go read Castles of Steel. I also have a new 40k Quest, Suffer Not, which you should check out.​

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Special thanks to @Artificial Girl for helping me with this update when my brain and hands were giving out.​

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When I got a concussion, Asuka got a concussion. So when I get carpel tunnel, Asuka gets a sprained wrist.​

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Poor Asuka.​

 

[Karlito]

Befriending that Princess could have been good for Asuka's political minigame. Shame she's an ass as well as a butcher, eh?

 

[TortugaGreen]

Love me some awkward conversation and misunderstandings. Also what's the particular plan with Asuka's turn at plane designing? Are we going to do a bunch of backdated turns to cover what was going on while Sakane was long-range-planeing?

 

[samdamandias]

Shame she's an ass as well as a butcher, eh?

Click to shrink...

She doesn't like planes. Clearly, this is not the sort of person we want to associate with except for the bare minimum required to steer her away from Mi.

Also what's the particular plan with Asuka's turn at plane designing?

Click to shrink...

Unscramble the pulsejet builder and maybe see about inventing the cantilever. Rumble is going to be all kinds of fun to work with.

 

[Artificial Girl]

She doesn't like planes. Clearly, this is not the sort of person we want to associate with except for the bare minimum required to steer her away from Mi.

Unscramble the pulsejet builder and maybe see about inventing the cantilever. Rumble is going to be all kinds of fun to work with.

Click to shrink...

Extremely Haruna Voice: A plane tried to kill me once, that's enough for me.

 

[The Laurent]

Extremely Haruna Voice: A plane tried to kill me once, that's enough for me.

Click to shrink...

I mean, to be fair, how long did Asuka keep out of the air after a plane tried to kill them?

And their own creation, nonetheless.

 

[Pyrelight]

Interesting to compare the two perspectives, though how much of some differences is real and how much is projected is hard to know.

Still feeling rather overwhelmed, you found your seat, the proscribed spot on the floor for you and Yachi, soon after, and you pulled your sketchbook from your bag and a fresh pencil to work with.

Click to shrink...

Prescribed?

 

[Ramble]

That Shinzo dude handled that pretty well all things considered. Straight up.

Also YEAH! YACHI! KNOCK HIS FUCKING TEETH OUT! WOOOOOO!

 

[Broken25]

Extremely Haruna Voice: A plane tried to kill me once, that's enough for me.

Click to shrink...

I am just waiting for the chapter when the Empress gets her plane and she inevitably forces haruna to go with her.

 

[10ebbor10]

Befriending that Princess could have been good for Asuka's political minigame. Shame she's an ass as well as a butcher, eh?

Click to shrink...

I mean, kinda.
From Castles of Steel it's clear that there's quite a bit of differe t interpretation of actions going on.

One way or another, she was going to handle this now. You weren't sure you wanted to find out the way the Butcher of Heijo handled things.

Click to shrink...

Note how Matsura nearly assumes that Haruna's going to methaphorically run down the interlopers with bayonets drawn, while in Castles she nearly succeeds in resolving everything with a non-violent diplomatic solution.

 

[DocMatoi]

I love kibe so much

 

[brmj]

A joy to read as always. I really sympathize with Asuka here. Sounds like me at a party too. The nerd-out between them and Aiko was fun, and as much as the situationw with Haruna was unfortunate, I continue to admire Asuka's unique way of calmly, succinctly demolishing someone with laser like precision when pushed far enough. They absolutely Take No Shit and it is amazing.

 

[CyberFemme]

I'm glad that Asuka and Aiko got along. I'll admit the idea of her coming to work for Ohara really spins my propeller.

Aiko would get to work somewhere where she can push the envelope of wirless communication, where she won't be mistreated or have he achievements undervalued, and we'll get access to an incredibly talented electrical engineer (Sketch has said that Aiko's kind of a genius) to help up with the veritable tsunami of electrical stuff coming down the pipe in the years ahead (radio navigation, radio communication, eventually RADAR, plus all the electrical gauges, lights, and so on).

Actually, I could totally see a radio developed to be light and small for use on aircraft ending up as a consumer item sold by one of Ohara's sub-divisions (I think Mr. Ohara spoke about restructuring the business after the war), helping to diversify our revenue stream (Ooooo, maybe Yachi can start writing radio dramas?!).

Thought Aiko's relationship with Haruna, we would also get indirect access to both the Reformist faction of the Navy, and the Imperial house. Aiko's work with aircraft might also wear off some of Haruna's dislike for them and inform her about their capabilities, letting her make better use of them, and advancing her career - perhaps even putting her on an early carrier.

Add the fact that Yachi was a premier ace pilot in the Army, and we seem to have a core group of liberal and potentially influential individuals in the middle of the military-industrial complex, where they could exert that influence to curb the worst excesses of those institutions.

 

[Ramble]

I wonder if it would be possible to get mr Ohara to poach Aiko after she gets out of school.

 

[Legion0047]

mhh.
This is a very good quest but it doesn't have enough aircrafts.
I hope that with an expanding team we'll be able to handle more stuff.

 

[Nuew]

We'd have to wait two years to get an EE, though that could be acceptable.

Assuming that this is continuing into another conversation between Asuka/Yachi and Haruna/Aiko; if that goes well enough we could offer Aiko a tour of Ohara, to at least get her interested. I can't imagine that Mr. Ohara would be upset, though we'd have to worry about what Mi would think—even if we did talk Hwangsong out with Haruna and are convinced that she regrets it, and did at least try to be minimally violent… I don't think that'd convince Mi to forgive the person who was directly responsible for his best friend's death (not that that's unreasonable on Mi's part). And I'm not sure he'd be OK working with somebody who will likely be Haruna's wife by that time.

 

[Artificial Girl]

All this talk assumes Aiko is interested in working on aircraft electric systems and aircraft radios.

 

[Nuew]

Yeah, we'd probably have to roll for it. I don't imagine it would be a very difficult roll though, probably.