Castles of Steel - Lesbians Good, Imperialism Bad

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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​


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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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OOF. I wasn't even able to get through the whole scene. That's the type of stuff I wish.. never mind. :oops2:

It's really good. Like, really good. Like, wow.
I'm bookmarking that to show future doms what they should do to me... and also future subs what I'd do for them. More the former. I'm burned out on domming.


Oh, the non-sexy bits were fabulous too! I love a good mystery. I also like the reasoning @ancusohm offered.
 
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[X] Dr. Hollins & Mr. Waters: Supportively
[X] Carolyn Keene & her mother, Mrs. Keene: Inquisitively
[X] Major Redhart: Accusatorily

Largely voting this way because my personal biases insist that even if Redhart didn't do it, he's guilty of something at least
 
[X] Dr. Hollins & Mr. Waters: Supportively
[X] Carolyn Keene & her mother, Mrs. Keene: Inquisitively
[X] Major Redhart: Accusatorily
 
Artificial Girl said:
You felt the hook and eye attachment at the collar give, heard fabric tear and the popping of the snap fasteners behind the faux-buttons along the front of your dress.

Oh wow.
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Oh my, Haruna! Good thing there are tailors aboard, and you love your wife girlfriend.

Artificial Girl said:
You are now Arisukawa Haruna, Ace Detective.
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Theme music plays

[X] Dr. Hollins & Mr. Waters: Supportively
[X] The Countess: Accusatorily
[X] Major Redhart: Inquisitively
 
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[X] Dr. Hollins & Mr. Waters: Supportively
[X] The Countess: Inquisitively
[X] Major Redhart: Accusatorily

i want to bully flashman
 
[X] Dr. Hollins & Mr. Waters: Supportively
[X] Carolyn Keene & her mother, Mrs. Keene: Inquisitively
[X] Major Redhart: Accusatorily
 
7-8: Elementary, My Dear Princess
  • Threadmarks
    • The babble of overlapping argumentative voices only seemed to get louder in response, but in turn this merely hardened your resolve. You were just here for a nice dinner and to introduce Aiko to the nice gay chaps, but somebody had to steal some stupid rock and ruin everything, and you weren't going to rest until everyone shut up about it. How did you even let someone take a rock you were wearing in the first place?

    "So, who are you going to start your investigation with?" Dr. Hollins asked, watching you scan the room carefully. "I have my own theories of course, but I shall defer to you in this case. After all, I am not above suspicion," he added with a tone of voice that suggested far more amusement at your expense than you thought charitable in this circumstance.

    "Of course you are." you said in Akitsukuni, slightly astonished, "It's everyone else we have to worry about."

    "Oh? I didn't know a friendly breakfast conversation excused one from criminal suspicion. Do you mind explaining your reasoning, lieutenette?"

    "You're not stupid enough to try and steal it in a dining room full of other people."

    "I wouldn't say that," Waters said with a dour grumble. His accent was worse than Hollins'.

    "Besides," you said, "what would you even do with it? Display it in your home? Return it to the Sultan of BIsnegar's grandchildren?"

    "Sell it, Haruna? For money?" Aiko pointed out. Right, but, no, they were on a lovely expensive holiday. They couldn't possibly want for money.

    "Not exactly polite to speak about people in a language they can't understand, Miss, mind speaking one of the civilized tongues?" The Albian officer had managed to crawl out of his bottle long enough to be indignant at you.

    "My apologies, I did not realize my twenty-five hundred year unbroken lineage of Imperial succession wasn't civilized enough for you, captain."

    "Well, now you know. Do you mind illuminating us as to what the devil you're talking about?" he said, clearly trying to look commanding and mostly betraying how he was drunk enough to make standing upright a dubious proposition.

    "Well, captain, it's entirely possible that anyone here has stolen the stone. Including you. In fact, considering that you seem to mostly be wasting all your money on losing at cards and drinking yourself into oblivion, you seem especially suspect at this moment."

    "I have a perfectly respectable win-loss rash--rat--rate--record, madam. You can ask any lady or gentleman I have played cards with onboard this ship, they'll vouch for my character."

    "I will do nothing of the sort!" Miss Lalanne called from across the room.

    Oh, this was promising. The man was entirely drunk enpough to think doing something this stupid was a good idea, and seemed entirely comfortable enough with the drink to likely still possess the coordinartion. Plus, you were rapidly growing to hate him, which was evidence enough for you.

    You stood and headed to his table, Aiko following more than a little out of her depths. She didn't speak a word of Albian, so the entire conversation was opaque to her, and you somewhat suspected she didn't understand why you were getting involved. That said, she looked upon the captain with an admirable disgust.

    "Oh, that's the man who harassed me earlier. I'd bet its him." she muttered. Right, it was! Well, now you were doubly sure.

    "Still, isn't it rather interesting that a man of your rank is traveling first-class? How much does the Albian Army pay you, Captain-?" you said, simply throwing whatever came to your mind out to put the man on the spot. To his credit (as much as the thought pained you) he responded surprisingly nimbly for a man who had clearly been drunk continuously since you'd left dock, and quite possibly well before that.

    "I do quite well enough, miss. And I'm here on the War Office's charity. They paid me to come out here to watch the Caspians lose a war to some coolies. Only the bloody Caspians could do that, honestly. They're practically halfway to being wogs themselves. What a buggering amateur hour that was. The pack of idiots on their general staff couldn't pour piss out of a boot with instructions on the heel."

    You'd never heard that expression before in your life, and you couldn't quite stifle the laughter that snuck up on you as the meaning registered, despite your best effort. You had to hold a finger to stop him from talking again while you regained your composure. He seemed nonplussed by your reaction, apparently unable to fathom why you found his denigration of your people and the Caspians so amused.

    "S-still, I can't imagine you could pass up the chance at some easy drinking money, could you? Unless the War Office's charity extends to drowning oneself in cheap booze."

    "This is quite pricey." he snapped back, apparently quite offended, and pulled his bottle closer. "If I knew I was in for an interrogation I would've taken the damn thing. Georgie'd have appreciated it at least."

    "Who?"

    "Georgina Shapes, Lieutenette, her unit's the one who properly looted the damn thing in the first place. It ought to be in the regimental offices if it belongs anywhere."

    "I'm sure. So what you're saying is you had a motive?"

    "You could say I had motive based on that I suppose, but it's not my place to go pinching things what the War Office doesn't want me to pinch now, is it? Besides, stealing something for the regiment? They'd drum me out in disgrace. Conduct unbecoming. It was probably the little private detective trying to drum up more business or some such nonsense. Wants her name in the papers."

    "So magnanimous of you, sir," you replied acidly. "Of course, that doesn't preclude you from having taken it, does it?"

    "No, but I've not been near her all evening."

    "Really? You can't seem to help sniffing around every other woman on board," you replied, remembering the way that Aiko had spoken of her brief encounters with the man.

    "I… how--!? Listen, I ought to… well!" he stood up, gesticulating wildly, leveling an accusatory finger. "I won't stand to- whoaaa…" The man swayed uncertainly for a moment and reached out to put a hand on the table, which unfortunately tilted under his weight. He stumbled and without further preamble sprawled out onto the floor, his bottle and other dinner dishes following shortly after.

    "...Never mind," you said. "Clearly he isn't capable of perpetrating anything that needs fine motor skills at the moment."

    "How dare!" he slurred from his position on the floor. "I am perfectly capable of theft… if I wanted to…"

    "Of course you are." You turned your attention towards the frankly horrifying child in the room. Perhaps the man was right about this--she had to have been making all of that nonsense up. It was a way to sell newspapers or cheap paperback novels.

    "I ain't no thief," Carolyn said almost as soon as you looked at her. Her mother made a disapproving noise. "I'm not a thief, fine. I stop crimes! What kind of put on is this? Just because some drunk Limey said it don't--doesn't--make it true."

    "She was snooping around the dining room earlier," Hollins sniffed. "Quite suspiciously…"

    "I snoop because there's crime!" The girl insisted. "You talked to me on deck the other day, I told you all about the nonsense I have to put up with!" Your gaze turned to her mother, who smiled.

    "Oh, she's always solving little mysteries. The usual sort of teenage thing, you know?" She said breezily. "And my daughter couldn't possibly have been involved in this sort of theft, really."

    "They're not little, ma! They're felonies! Those guys got ten years in the state pen! That other lady, that geezer kidnapper I told you about, she's probably getting the chair!"

    "She is at the top of her class at school. And she plays field hockey. She's quite good. A forward, you know?" Her mother continued, her expression just slightly strained, as if she were doing her best to ignore what her daughter was saying. "Besides, she's still awaiting trial, dear," she continued. Oh…

    "Look, all that aside," you said as the awful realization that this child's life was probably actually has harrowing as she had told you began to hit, "I assume you have an alibi?"

    "She's been with me all afternoon," her mother said. "She hasn't been away from my side or out of my sight for more than a few moments."

    "Well, that does rule her out," you mused. Her mother seemed honest and not like the sort of person who would lie to protect her daughter--just trying to ignore that the girl was some sort of prodigious teenage detective, which you supposed she could be forgiven for.

    "That leaves two," you murmured to yourself softly.

    "Yeah, and, just something to think about here, lady, but hmmm, maybe it's the famous thief," Carolyn Keene said sarcastically. "The one with books about her thievin'. You know, being a famous thief strikes me as both sorta counterproductive, and also like… wouldn't a good thief be totally unknown? Like, if you were actually good at not getting caught."

    "First of all, young lady, I'll have you know that I have never been convicted of any crimes in any court," Miss Lapenne said.

    "Letting the statute of limitations run out doesn't count as being acquitted! Also you wrote a series of novels that are just dramatized confessions!" Carolyn countered. "Including the painting you nabbed from the Countess! An Old Woman Reading, wasn't it?"

    "That was never proven, and all those books all have carefully written legal disclaimers that note that any relation of the stories in those books to any events are purely coincidental, besides which I have retired. I no longer seek such thrilling escapades and adventures. In any case, could you blame someone for having a few youthful indiscretions?" said Lapenne.

    "Didn't you steal the better half the Gallery of the Republic, my dear?" Redhart asked from the floor.

    "Didn't your lot steal all of Aryavarta?" Lapenne retorted.

    "That's not what this is about," you said with a groan. This was starting to give you a headache.

    "Look," you said bluntly, "Did you take the damn thing?"

    "Of course not," Lapenne sniffed.

    "Well there we are." you said, sitting back down. This was starting to wear on you.

    "Haruna, I am completely lost. Can you explain?" Aiko asked.

    "Alright." you said, pointing around the room. "That woman there is an Albian noble, and she claims that that woman there stole a very expensive gem from her. She denies it."

    "What's her name, sorry? I think somebody said it, but it's hard to make out anything when everyone's speaking Albian."

    "Uh… Emelin Lalanne, I believe." you said.

    "... My brother has a series of books about her, he was reading them when I saw them last." Aiko said. "She's a high class thief of some sort? I suspect it must be her, then."

    "She said she didn't do it." you pointed out.

    "Trusting her at her word, an excellent deduction technique right there," Hollins said with a slight grin. He was entirely too happy about this.

    "How do you do this for a living?" You asked. You resisted the urge to drop your head into your hands.

    "I don't any longer," Hollins said with an impish smile. "Besides, I am but a humble doctor. Mister Waters is the private detective."

    "Shut up, Bertie. Though you have overlooked one suspect," Waters said.

    Of course you were. The Countess. She could be claiming the stone as stolen in order to collect insurance money. Or perhaps to frame her as revenge for the previous theft? Oh, that made perfect sense. She could stash the gem somewhere, make the accusation (with the previous theft as evidence) have the first class passengers raise a fuss about the thief in their midst, and…

    Oh, they'd unload her at the port in Aryavarta, wouldn't they? You should ask the Doctor about the statute of limitations for burglary in Albia and its colonies, but you'd bet it was much longer, they were a draconian sort. She'd surely be placed under arrest there…

    It was brilliant, and clearly-

    "Haruna, the thief lady has just left," Aiko murmured.

    You looked up to see the empty table, and the doors to the dining room swinging closed.

    [ ] After her!​
    [ ] Fuck it, let's have dinner.​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Aren't there bouncers for that? Besides we're on a ship in the middle of the sea. There's no place for her to go other than into the drink.
     
    Where's she going to run to again? We're at sea and helicopters haven't been invented.

    We do not need our name in the paper for this sort of nonsense. Let's eat.

    [X] Fuck it, let's have dinner
     
    Night_stalker said:
    Yeah, that is worrying. She could be trying for a lifeboat, but well....
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    Yeah, good luck trying to paddle to shore. I'm sure that'll work out wonderfully.

    Also, we should call over some strapping young lads to put the floor decoration into storage and maybe get some water into his alcoholbloodstream. While drunken Albish chavs make for decent conversation starters, there are better choices for a dinner show.

    [X] Fuck it, let's have dinner.
     
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    [X] Fuck it, let's have dinner

    Seriously? If she did it then she'd have the sense to not immediately attempt to run away on a ship in the middle of the sea.

    Redheart is quite monstrously drunk and making me wonder if he's pronouncing Lieutenantette with a 'Left'.
     
    open_sketch said:
    "My apologies, I did not realize my twenty-five hundred year unbroken lineage of Imperial succession wasn't civilized enough for you, captain."
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    Savage.
    open_sketch said:
    "...Never mind," you said. "Clearly he isn't capable of perpetrating anything that needs fine motor skills at the moment."

    "How dare!" he slurred from his position on the floor. "I am perfectly capable of theft… if I wanted to…"
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    :p
    open_sketch said:
    "Besides," you said, "what would you even do with it? Display it in your home? Return it to the Sultan of BIsnegar's grandchildren?"

    "Sell it, Haruna? For money?" Aiko pointed out. Right, but, no, they were on a lovely expensive holiday. They couldn't possibly want for money.
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    It's... kind of funny how the thought of selling it doesn't even register for Haruna.
    Artificial Girl said:
    Haruna is in civvies actually, has been the whole trip.
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    Ah, good, take our heels off and we have a pair of daggers-slash-throwing-stars ready to go.
     
    We're not being paid enough to put on our ass-kicking boots. We should get back to doing... whatever we were doing beforehand, before the night gets too long.

    [X] Fuck it, let's have dinner.
     
    Yeah, she's caught. Just send somebody after her.

    [X] Fuck it, let's have dinner.
     
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