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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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You bowed slightly to the new girl as Aiko continued, "Mai, this Lieutenant Arisukawa Haruna
Slight typo.
"That's so exciting! How do you announce something like that, though? A press conference?" Mai asked. You had the sudden image of standing up in front of a bunch of reporters and kissing Aiko.

"Not exactly. In high society, appearances in certain places will do." you explained, "it's mostly so that Aiko doesn't have to lie anymore."

"I'm not the only one." Aiko added. "But yes, the main fear is the gossip rags making a big affair of it, and it affecting Haruna's career and such."

"... this is all so much. I don't understand why it would matter." Mai admitted. "Nobody at the tram yard much… well, no, that's not true. With the war over, a bunch of the men took their jobs back and a lot of my coworkers got replaced, because, you know, they're married and they don't need the income. Something like that?"
I like the transition. They're both subjects that sound low-stress on the surface but underneath hold tons of anxiety for those affected.
"They do that?" you said, a little disbelievingly. You'd never had a civilian job and likely never would, so you had no context.

"Yeah, the marriage bar. It's really common." Aiko explained. "I heard that Kobayashi Heavy Industries even does it with engineers, there were rumours in my class."

"That's absurd. Why should a woman give up her career just because her husband has a job?"

"They have kids to take care of. Or are going to have kids to take care of," Mai said. "Just how it is."
And how it's continued to be, and not just in Japan.
"What, if my mum somehow maneuvers me into a... " you had a grim thought. It would be exactly like your mother to approve of your relationship with Aiko in exchange for you playing her political games. Like the dates with Akibara Shinzo. Even if the maternity leave stuff got sorted.
Foreshadowing? Foreshadowing.
"I think I have too many medals for them to force me out of the service that easily," you continued, leaving your first thought unfinished. "Not that I like to, you know, give myself too much credit but I think it's fair to say I'm a legitimate national hero figure to a lot of people--and the political reality is that I'm a useful tool for the foreign ministry. A good example."

"I… hadn't thought of it like that," Mai said, her voice thoughtful. "You'll probably be fine, yeah. And… it's exciting anyway!"

Right. Maybe a little too heavy right now.
Nice attempt at cheerfulness Mai, but it didn't work.
When Aiko wrote to you and told you that your dad wanted to reconnect with you, honestly, you almost ignored it entirely. Pretended like it didn't happen.

The idea you owed that man anything, a single second, was rich. He had never been there for you, your entire life. The memories you had of him were fond, yes, but they were also infrequent and brief. He'd made his choice, he'd picked politics over you, over your mother, over your little brother. Simple as that.

But… those memories were still fond. And were you really that different, choosing the sea over Aiko?
Motherhood/adoption is going to be absolutely angst-ridden for our protagonist.
The day of your dinner meeting, you received a simple note: 'Dress down tonight.' So instead of your uniform (which rankled you), you dressed in your simplest civilian clothes and borrowed Aiko's old winter coat, which was small on her and a little oversized on you. Plus one of her hats. You looked at yourself and the mirror and were shocked to see someone who looked… exactly like every other working class woman or student on the street. It was strange, feeling like you blended in for once.

The usual car was waiting outside the apartment, but instead of ushering you inside, your father stepped out, wrapped in a winter coat and a hat that was far too cheap for a man like him and gestured for the pair of you to walk with him. You hadn't seen him… since two weeks before your graduation, and even then in passing. You tried to figure out if he'd visibly aged since then, but you simply didn't have enough to go on, just fuzzy memories. Did he used to have a moustache?

"Father." you said stiffly, slowing your step a moment. Aiko, you noticed, didn't, at least not until she noticed you weren't keeping up.

Your father smiled, looked you over, and sighed.

"Hello, Haruna," he said. Aiko was looking between the two of you, doing her best not to look worried but doing it anyway.
Well, if the dressing down wasn't putting Haruna out of her comfort zone then the meeting sure as hell is.
You'd read books with exactly this scene in it, the reunion with the estranged parent. It was practically cliche in the stories about the exciting lives of last generation's nobility which you'd grown up on. It was always big, emotional, happy tears or embracing or screaming hatred or defiant declarations.

"So… where are we going?" you asked awkwardly.

"... um. I had… I had a place in mind, it's within walking distance, if… you know…"

"Yeah. Um, right. Which way?"

You were expecting so much… more. Than this. Than just awkward, confused, all the emotions petering out before any of them could breach the surface.
Frankly, I can't say I would be much better. Those kind of fairy tale reconciliation aren't impossible, but there's also of complicated stuff in it.
The reason for the choice was clear soon enough. Ramen. A hot noodle soup was really the perfect winter meal. Your father smiled across the table at you.

"One of my favorite spots when I need to get away from everything," he said with the casual smoothness you expected. "There's times when I could do without being Vice Minister for a while, you know?"

The thought that flashed through your mind was not kind. Why didn't he used that time to be there for his children?
Obligations, sure. But what does one do when life boxes you in? And how do you know where the walls of the sandbox are?

These are questions people ask their entire life.
"I can't say I've had the luxury of not being Lieutenant Arisukawa very frequently." you replied tensely. Subtext: you took your job seriously.

"It's hardly a luxury, I'd say it's near to a necessity. You're more than a mannequin for your uniform to rest on, though I suspect you know that." he replied. Subtext: Not as seriously as you claimed.

"True, of course. I try to be careful in choosing those times and places." Subtext: I spend those times with the people I love. Why didn't you?

"Ah, a luxury of youth. Enjoy it while you can."

"I intend-"

"Spirits, both of you! Did none of your fancy tutors teach you how to talk to your family?" Aiko suddenly exclaimed, somehow both a shout and a whisper. "Hi dad, how's work! Oh, it's great! So many trains! How was the war? Oh, you know, battleships, big explosions, I'm more medal than woman now, I had a great time!"
From the fun analysis to Commoner Sense Interruption, ah classic. I love this section, I just love it.
You both stared a moment as Aiko's face went through a parade of emotions, from infuriated frustration to shock at herself to the kind of embarrassment that had you wanting to curl up and disappear on the spot, and all the way to the false serenity of somebody trying desperately to pretend the last minute hadn't happened.

You couldn't help it, even your self-control had its limit. You laughed, more than you expected, gripping the table for support, tears in your eyes. You're not sure if your father broke first or not, but it didn't matter, he was right there with you, the smile on his face enormous and genuine.

"She's right, you know! She's absolutely right." your father said, once he had enough control over himself to form words again, "That was completely the wrong foot to get off on!"
And here we go, the first thing to bond on.
You cradled your head in your hands, the entire thing just too surreal.

"Right, want to try again?" you asked.

"... that's exactly why I'm here." he replied.
WOOOO! First dad, next-and-a-long-time-in-the-future our mother!
You did ask him about work, and he told you about his own private war with corporations and bureaucrats and the Diet, fought over memos and meetings and snide letters. He asked about the war, and you rattled off a highlight reel, feeling a strange reassurance that he seemed to know what part of the story came next, that he'd been following as best he could.

It didn't begin to make it okay, the years of absence. But you couldn't help but want to fill him in, as though if you gave him a little bit of what he'd missed, maybe you'd get back a little bit, a tiny piece of the presence you wished he'd had. It seemed to be working.
Yes, yes, YEEEEES!
And since your father was a regular, it seemed, they had brought out three bottles of beer with labels indicating they were proudly brewed right here in Tokei.

If there was ever a special occasion, this was it. This was exactly the circumstance where a single bottle of beer was completely reasonable, where self-control would become useless aversion. It was, by all measures you'd set yourself, okay.

But you hesitated as your reached, your hand briefly retreating from the bottle. A small motion, nothing in the grand scheme, meaningless.

You met your father's eyes, and you knew he noticed.
...whelp. I am not looking forward to that deception check.
[X] Admit the truth. (+1 Stress)

... I just realized this is the 100th threadmark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations!
 
[X] Admit the truth. (+1 Stress)

Well, he's father. Maybe not dad yet, but he's trying, and I think he deserves a chance.
 
"That's so exciting! How do you announce something like that, though? A press conference?" Mai asked. You had the sudden image of standing up in front of a bunch of reporters and kissing Aiko.
Do it. Doitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoit.
Motherhood/adoption is going to be absolutely angst-ridden for our protagonist.
Everything is angst-ridden for her. :p
Part of being a drama protagonist.

[X] Admit the truth. (+1 Stress)

I get the feeling that hiding it will just be far more Stress in the long run. Better to bite the bullet now. And stick to one or two beers at most here.
 
[X] Admit the truth. (+1 Stress)

I don't think he has any right to know, but, honestly, he probably already has suspicions. That bender wasn't subtle, and he's been keeping tabs on Haruna.

Hell, he's no stranger to intrigue. He might have arranged this to (among other things) test if Haruna can still handle her drink.

Maybe we could hide it tonight, but he'll probably figure it out eventually. Best to be upfront now.
 
[X] Admit the truth. (+1 Stress)

I was hesitant about reading the quest at first, but I'm glad to have been proven wrong.
 
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