Voting is open
Lieutenant Arisukawa Haruna

Balance Stats
❁ • Work / Life • ❁
❁ • ❁ Warrior / Princess ❁ • ❁
❁ • ❁ Radical / Respectable ❁ • ❁


Tactical Stats
Gunnery 0, Navigation +2, Command +2, Technology -4, Personal -2, Strategy +3

Stress: 3


PLEASE READ THE QUEST RULES BELOW

You collectively vote on the actions of Arisukawa Haruna, the first woman to serve openly in the Imperial Akitsukuni Navy.

This quest is set in a universe which is much like our own circa 1910, but with different politics, cultural norms, and ideas about gender and sexuality, as well as some unusual and advanced technology in places.

We are using this quest to explore themes like breaking the glass ceiling, divergent outlooks on gender and sexuality, colonialism and imperialism, and the place of royalty.

Content Warning
This quest goes some dark places.

There is violence, often explicit, often unfair, often against undeserving targets.

There are not always good options forward. The protagonist is not necessarily a good person.

There is implied content and discussion of sexual harassment and assault.

This is a world where people are often racist, sexist, queerphobic bigots. Sometimes, even the PC and the people they are friends with.

Voting Rules

We will tell you if write-in votes are allowed. If we do not say that write-ins are allowed, they are not. This is to prevent people from unrealistically hedging their bets.

You may proposal other options in a non-vote format, subject to approval, on non write-in votes.

We will tell you when a vote allows approved voting. If we don't say the answer is no, pick an option. We like making people commit.

Discussions makes the GM feel fuzzy.

Game Rules
When we ask you for a roll, roll 3d6. You are aiming to roll equal or under the value of your stat. If you succeed, Haruna gets through the situation with no real difficulties. If you roll above the target value, Haruna will still succeed, but this success will cost her something or add a complication.

Whenever Haruna loses something or faces hardship from a botched roll, she takes Stress. The more Stress Haruna has, the more the job and the circumstances she's in will get to her, and it'll be reflected in the narrative. Haruna must be kept under 10 Stress: if she reaches 10 Stress, she will suffer a breakdown and the results will not be great for her.

Haruna loses stress by taking time for herself, by making meaningful progress on her dreams, and by kissing tall, beautiful women.

Meta Rules
Author commentary is in italics so you know it's not story stuff.

Please don't complain about the system or the fact we have to roll dice. We've heard it before, we've heard it a thousand times across multiple quests. We're not going to change it, and it wears at our fucking souls.

Just going "oh noooo" or "Fish RNGesus Why!" is fun and fine. Complaining at length because you didn't get what you want less so.

If you have a question, tag both @open_sketchbook and @Artificial Girl. If you only tag one of us, you will be ignored. Seriously, we both write this quest.

And yes this is an alt-history type setting with openly gay and trans people, ahistoric medicine, and weird politics. Just... deal, please?

This quest employs a special system called Snippet Votes. Please read this post for more information.
 
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I mean personally I would have confessed long ago, in person, and proposed that at least for now we construct a fiction where she was my "preferred dalliance", and then work more to make commoner/royalty relationships more acceptable.

I dunno how many people would go for that though.

I think in the current context, making it clear through subtext that we would desperately like to be lovers is very important. It is very strenuously not her fault. Aiko is a clever and headstrong girl: if we make it clear that we want to but don't know how, I'm sure she'll come up with something to make it happen.

The real problems here are:
1) Repairing the relationship because Aiko's clearly thought we were ignoring her.
2) Implying through lesbian memes that we're down to having a wholesome and loving relationship with Aiko.
3) We're also down to fuck

[X] Respond by telling her what went wrong with the mail system. Tell her you'd like to still be friends, but pepper your letter with subtle flirtation. (roll +Subterfuge, +2 Stress)

ara, we're not supposed to vote yet.

It's okay I did it too lol.
 
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[] Attempt to explain your absence from writing. Try to make it clear it wasn't her fault. Come as close to an apology as dignity will allow. Ask her to please not stop writing. (Roll +Diplomacy, +1 Stress)

I vote this. Trying to balance Harunastress against not alienating Aiko horribly (or even more horribly).
 
On a side note, how does the stress mechanic here work again. Because we're at 6 now, which seems kind of high.
 
How is (valid) excuse + flirting the +2 stress option?
Trying to flirt subtly in writing takes a lot more effort, time, and is more difficult.
Also, because Haruna is scared. Intellectual brain Haruna, the one with the royal education and expectations, knows that this can never work, that it needs to end. That a clean break is best, that this might be a good chance to make this go away. Keeping it going feels like a lie, an indulgence that's going to catch up with her.

But Lesbian Brain Haruna is like she tall tho.

Haruna must, in this moment, exist somewhere on the continuum between intellectual brain and lesbian brain.
 
How is (valid) excuse + flirting the +2 stress option?

What if Aiko thinks I'm lying? What if she doesn't read my letter after I broke her heart? What if she doesn't reply?

Is +1 stress; see diplomacy, and "And I'm not meant to be flirting with, this can't go anywhere, oh god, what am I doing, I can't do this to her" is presumably more stressful?
 
Now I want her two crewmates to be reluctant wingmen for her.

Also want to take the option that builds up the most Stress because at this point I think a Stress Explosion is the only thing that might get Haruna to be honest with herself and Aiko.

Of course the really funny possibility would be that just as Haruna finally works up the nerve to throw social convention to the wind Aiko does something that earns her whatever the Akitsukuni equivalent of a knighthood is and thus the whole "she's a commoner" thing becomes moot.
 
Now I want her two crewmates to be reluctant wingmen for her.

Also want to take the option that builds up the most Stress because at this point I think a Stress Explosion is the only thing that might get Haruna to be honest with herself and Aiko.

Of course the really funny possibility would be that just as Haruna finally works up the nerve to throw social convention to the wind Aiko does something that earns her whatever the Akitsukuni equivalent of a knighthood is and thus the whole "she's a commoner" thing becomes moot.
I mean, the Empress does have the power to grant a land and title, yeah? But she'd have to do something impressive, like save her favorite cousins life or invent vacuum tube computers or something
 
Respond by telling her what went wrong with the mail system. Tell her you'd like to still be friends, but pepper your letter with subtle flirtation. (roll +Subterfuge, +2 Stress)

If this vote goes south and Aiko goes away and isn't friends anymore I'm going to cry forever.
It technically could go south, but it isn't that likely. The only roll that isn't at least a partial success is 1-1-1, and there's a ~74% chance of a full success anyway. The larger problem is the +2 stress, but if that's the vote you want to go with for her, then I say to go for it. You know, when the vote actually opens.
 
It technically could go south, but it isn't that likely. The only roll that isn't at least a partial success is 1-1-1, and there's a ~74% chance of a full success anyway. The larger problem is the +2 stress, but if that's the vote you want to go with for her, then I say to go for it. You know, when the vote actually opens.

And then there was the time in Airplane Design Quest where we rolled and got a natural failure with no way to recover, so in character we were informed that the Navy had decided randomly to cancel the competition the day of the trials.

Look man, I feel you, but I'm definitely not going in expecting success. Expectation of suffering means I have much shorter distances to fall.

I'll still cry forever though.
 
I'm leaning toward the diplomacy option. Forbidden romance is one other plate I don't think Haruna can manage spinning. It's good to have a friend, but we shouldn't lead her on.
 
Well,the stress mechanic is going to force us to choose between what is nice to have and what is important.

I believe this decision is really important.

So, time to take the stress.
 
I don't exactly agree with how the options have Stress from a flavor perspective, but from a mechanical perspective I agree completely. Stress gives a way to expand the range of votes that people will actually vote for. Putting Stress on the obviously-best-option means people might actually vote for something other than the obviously-best-option.
 
[X] Attempt to explain your absence from writing. Try to make it clear it wasn't her fault. Come as close to an apology as dignity will allow. Ask her to please not stop writing. (Roll +Diplomacy, +1 Stress)
 
[X] Respond by telling her what went wrong with the mail system. Tell her you'd like to still be friends, but pepper your letter with subtle flirtation. (roll +Subterfuge, +2 Stress)
It's been like 9 hours now so I'll assume voting is open.
 
[X] Respond by telling her what went wrong with the mail system. Tell her you'd like to still be friends, but pepper your letter with subtle flirtation. (roll +Subterfuge, +2 Stress)
 
[X] Attempt to explain your absence from writing. Try to make it clear it wasn't her fault. Come as close to an apology as dignity will allow. Ask her to please not stop writing. (Roll +Diplomacy, +1 Stress)

I am not sure flirting is the right thing to do now, especially by letter. It sounds awfully close to toying with her to me, although I get those wanting to rekindle the flame. Thing is in the end either we end the friendship altogether or marry her and say goodbye to all career and political ambitions or keep her as a semi-official mistress, but that would require accepting a political marriage in exchange I suppose and likely result in unbearable stress levels for all involved.
 
[x] Congratulate her on her getting into school. Ignore her desperate letter as a one-off. Try to keep writing like nothing's changed. It'll be okay. Just tell yourself it'll be okay.
 
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