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've always been a fan of just saying, "I'm sorry, but I won't answer that question.", instead of lying.
Like, Aiko knows you're in the military and royal family, and you are totally in love with her, so if you're straight up refusing her, one of those two memberships is in play, and she's mature enough to handle that with a minimum of hurt feelings.

I don't think you can assume she does know these things. Pause, and ask yourself "if the girl I was in love with all of a sudden started doing odd things to be close to another girl, what might be going on?" and remember that Aiko is a college rower, not military, not diplomatic, not royal. She does not carry the implicit assumptions of those worlds.
 
I don't think you can assume she does know these things. Pause, and ask yourself "if the girl I was in love with all of a sudden started doing odd things to be close to another girl, what might be going on?" and remember that Aiko is a college rower, not military, not diplomatic, not royal. She does not carry the implicit assumptions of those worlds.

That's a fair criticism. But she was part of an underground political movement, and has seen some a little bit of the politicking that Arisugawa has to deal with, so she doesn't lack a complete understanding of activities that can't be openly discussed. Maybe Arisugawa might have to work a little nonverbal communication in there to get the point across, but I think it's doable.
 
7-15: Resquiat in pesci, in pesto, e in quatro formaggi
You looked at Aiko for a moment, turned the two stark choices you had over in your head. There wasn't a good way to do this. Either you lied to her or you broke all the rules regarding good security but then, you'd just fought some guy at a party (again) and at the least Aiko deserved to know why the hell this had even happened. You took a breath, then spoke in a low voice.

"...I'm supposed to try and find out about the fire-control computer she designed," you said as straight-forwardly and as simply as you could muster. "The Navy found out I was coming to Otrusia and wanted me to do some business for them while I was here, that's all." That had probably been the wrong way to phrase it because Aiko cheeks colored red almost instantly--she wasn't happy.

"You agreed to be a spy during the Atlas Games? What happened to our vacation?" Aiko asked, incredulous. "I thought you came because you wanted to support me!" While no one here apparently spoke Akitsukuni, the raised voice from Aiko was attracting attention. Or it would be, if there weren't a bunch of yelling police officers and people trying to shove their way out of the room. The pair of you were being jostled along by the crowd and it took a stupid amount of concentration to have this conversation and keep your feet at the same time.

"I did! I was already going when they asked me to do it," you insisted. "It's orders, you can't just say no to orders." While technically true (the Naval Special Police fellow had phrased it like a request but the Naval Special Police didn't really make requests) it still made you feel like a complete and utter boor to say it that way.

"Well you should have," Aiko hissed insistently. "I can't believe you were just hauling me around to help you be a spy."

"It's not like--" You said and found you were talking to thin air. The pair of you had been shuffled out of the building with the rest of shocked and excited party-goers. As soon as Aiko had space she had stormed away from you and down the winding road back towards town and the hotel. It would be a kilometers to walk--but then she was angry and in extremely good shape.

You started to follow, only to find yourself interrupted by a man in the uniform of the carabinieri, the national police force of Otrusia. It was a funny looking thing, a dark blue with white epaulettes, a double row of silver buttons, and an absurd looking pirate hat with a blue-and-black plume. The high-collar of the tunic was overloaded with silver braid, along with a crown overwhich someone had pinned a black and gold star. The man himself was tall and a bit gangly. He had a narrow face, dark hair and a large, sharp nose that made you think of an eagle's beak for some reason

"Miss, potrebbe venire with me? Abbiamo alcune domande."

This country was stupid.

"Sorry, I don't speak Otrusian," you said in Gallian.

"Certo che no. Maledetti turisti. I don't speak Gallian. Do you speak Dyske?"

What the hell was that accent? Is that what they sounded like in Kyburg? Your Dyske tutor would have been beside herself hearing this, you were certain. It was like someone had taken proper Dyske and cross-bred it with Gallian, Otrusian and a touch of Moravan for good measure.

"I speak Dyske, yes."

"Ah, good. Can you come with me, please? We need to get a statement."

You looked after Aiko, who by now had vanished thanks to the milling crowd, then back to the policeman.

"Is that really necessary?"

"You aren't in trouble, but we would appreciate your cooperation."

[ ] Go and make a statement. It's the proper thing to do.​
[ ] Go after Aiko, you really can't put off this conversation just because of some local law enforcement,​
-[ ] If you go after Aiko, how are you going to approach this conversation? Vote now on your phones.​
 
Well, great.

I'd offer a suggestion for approaching the conversation but I was also recently broken up with so I must not have very good advice for romantic matters.
 
[x] Go and make a statement. It's the proper thing to do.

We'll be pissing them off if we don't do the statement. We might have to give up on getting anything from Lucchesi, and try again with someone else. And I think Aiko wants some space, though I'll admit to not being any sort of romance expert. Hopefully we can talk to her in a couple hours when she's been able to think about things.
 
[X] Go after Aiko, you really can't put off this conversation just because of some local law enforcement,
-[X] Make it into our secret. You're secret agents on a secret mission to secretly get information for the Akitsukuni government! You've travelled to the exotic occident and gone to parties and... Okay granted you hadn't intended the gunfight and it didn't have anything to do with the spying, but there was a gunfight! But now you've done your part as a dashing warrior princess and it's up to your beautiful, intelligent beau to put her skills to the test and learn about the fire control system. There's not really any danger, you're a Princess of the Akitsukuni Court and she's an athlete, the worst that can happen is a stern talking to. It's just like one of those... Have they invented spy movies? Adventure paperbacks!

I'm pretty sure this is a bad idea and a bad angle, but I sort of love it conceptually whether it works or not.
 
[ ] Go and make a statement. It's the proper thing to do.[ ] Go after Aiko, you really can't put off this conversation just because of some local law enforcement,-[ ] If you go after Aiko, how are you going to approach this conversation? Vote now on your phones.
.... pffffffuuuuuuck. We blew the good mood up for pretty much nothing.

Although I suppose this conversation has been coming for awhile. Better now in the days before the world goes to shit and our princess is in charge of knocking over whatever colonies are on the opposite team, than solving relationship problems amidst the stress of war.
The important thing to note in this is that Haruna speaks what is essentially High German/RP/Posh and to her Kyburg/Austro-Bavarian German sounds like Sean Bean with gravel in his mouth
Oi! What's Haruna's problem with Sean Bean, the man's an international treasure!:V
Hopefully we can talk to her in a couple hours when she's been able to think about things.
I don't think a few hours is going to change the fundamental problems of the subject. If I may be frank, the only reason to not vote for tackling the subject is an admission of "I am clueless on how to solve this deep-seated conflict between Haruna and Akio's personal beliefs concerning the military". No shame in doing that, but there's really nothing we can't just tell the cops later. We're just kicking the ball down the road, a sure-fire way to make relationship problems worse. If we can't figure out a solution we like, then that's that. Rip the band-aid off.

[X] Go after Aiko, you really can't put off this conversation just because of some local law enforcement.
-[X]Two pronged approach: 1. Re-iterate the facts. The mission we were given had zero influence on our decision to come, as we weren't given it until after we made the decision. It in no way conflicts with our relationship, nor us supporting her efforts at the Atlas Games. 2. Let her speak her mind, fully and with precise meaning. Given Akio doubts Haruna's motives, she's convinced the military service undermines their relationship greatly. What's the extent and depth of her worries?
--[X]Be patient, calm, caring, and don't be afraid to ask for more clarification. Let Akio speak whatever she wants.

So I'm going for the 'rock in a storm' approach. These two lines are key, to what I see:
"I did! I was already going when they asked me to do it," you insisted. "It's orders, you can't just say no to orders." While technically true (the Naval Special Police fellow had phrased it like a request but the Naval Special Police didn't really make requests) it still made you feel like a complete and utter boor to say it that way.

"Well you should have," Aiko hissed insistently. "I can't believe you were just hauling me around to help you be a spy."
But one line from Akio isn't enough to fully tell her side of the story. By letting Akio speak mostly stream-of-consciousness, with a bit of redirection and hugs as needed, we can let her say what this betrayal makes her feel and where it comes from on her own terms and in her own words. If the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, the second step is understanding the problem. Not to mention that acting level-headed yet open minded hopefully reminds Akio of Haruna's "normal" behavior and helps put things back on an even tack.
 
[X] Go and make a statement. It's the proper thing to do.

Aiko left. She probably wants some space. We can let things cool down for an hour or so while we make a statement, get our thoughts in order, and then speak with her then.
 
[X] Go after Aiko, you really can't put off this conversation just because of some local law enforcement.
-[X]Two pronged approach: 1. Re-iterate the facts. The mission we were given had zero influence on our decision to come, as we weren't given it until after we made the decision. It in no way conflicts with our relationship, nor us supporting her efforts at the Atlas Games. 2. Let her speak her mind, fully and with precise meaning. Given Akio doubts Haruna's motives, she's convinced the military service undermines their relationship greatly. What's the extent and depth of her worries?
--[X]Be patient, calm, caring, and don't be afraid to ask for more clarification. Let Akio speak whatever she wants.
 
[X] Go and make a statement. It's the proper thing to do.

I think we need to do this. We are the warrior princess, we've quite thoroughly alienated both of the women we cared about tonight, and we just sort of casually wrecked an assasin in the middle of causing an international incident. Reverse order then- fob the police off, catch up to Aiko in a motorcar and talk to her about things, then try and figure out Ms. Computer.

I think we need to make sure she knows we just broke a bunch of rules telling her because we couldn't lie to her. And figure out what happens next together. Maybe really talk to Aiko about factions and the power struggles- she has a different perspective from the women's club, so she might push our princess into crystalizing some political goals.

We need her on our side if she is going to be a part of our lives long-term, not just a refuge we go to.
 
[X] Go and make a statement. It's the proper thing to do.

Aiko doesn't want a serious talking to about duty and military honor and the realities of war right now, she wants to storm off and be angry. Let her, it'll pass. I guess it's vaguely worrying letting her walk off into the darkness all alone in a foreign city but she's an Olympic athlete with both the physicality and the diplomatic status that implies, she can take care of herself.
 
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Actually, that point about safety changed my mind.

[X] Go after Aiko, you really can't put off this conversation just because of some local law enforcement.
-[x] Don't say anything. Listen, and be there, and keep her safe. In the end, you told her the truth when she asked, going against orders (basically) rather than lie to her. But you did lie to her by omission.
 
Honestly I'm peeved at Aiko because her anger makes no sense to me, she clearly wasn't listening to what Haruna said and conclusion jumping like a goddamn madwoman.
 
Honestly I'm peeved at Aiko because her anger makes no sense to me, she clearly wasn't listening to what Haruna said and conclusion jumping like a goddamn madwoman.
It's almost like she's angry at us because we could have been killed doing the navy's skulkduggery on a vacation we should have been spending with her. It's nit like we told her this was a working vacation....
 
It's almost like she's angry at us because we could have been killed doing the navy's skulkduggery on a vacation we should have been spending with her. It's nit like we told her this was a working vacation....
Except the only thing that could have killed us so far has been completely and utterly unrelated in every way. Assuming otherwise is just more idiotic conclusion-jumping.

Give her time to cool off and actually think, she's smarter than this bullshit.
 
Except the only thing that could have killed us so far has been completely and utterly unrelated in every way. Assuming otherwise is just more idiotic conclusion-jumping.

Give her time to cool off and actually think, she's smarter than this bullshit.
Clearly she should be less emotional after being part of a assassination attempt that put her girlfriend in danger followed by the aforementioned spy games. Completely breaks any suspension of disbelief when characters aren't completely stone cold logical machines...
 
I'll also remind you that from Aiko's side, the single hardest part of their relationship is how often Haruna's job gets in the way...
 
Clearly she should be less emotional after being part of a assassination attempt that put her girlfriend in danger followed by the aforementioned spy games. Completely breaks any suspension of disbelief when characters aren't completely stone cold logical machines...

I'm not saying that, I just said we should give her time to cool off. I'll just be annoyed if she's still pissed after she's had some time to sort through her own head and actually think about this.

I don't mind her having an overreaction in the moment, but if she can't admit that it's an overreaction later, then she's just being a stubborn asshat.

We wouldn't be on this party if we were not doing our spy work.
The party would have been attacked regardless of whether we were here for spy work or some other reason, so that's completely irrelevant.
 
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