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'll do it, I guess

AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA

We manage to impress her with our wit, but mess up our jacket in the process, thus proceeding "to her place" to clean the uniform and maybe something more...
Then, in the morning, we find out that somewhere in the drinking and lust we have managed to ruin our jacket, wear it anyway for the absence of options, and are, unfortunately, spotted by our Captain when returning on board?

Edit: Ah, I messed it up.
We just ruined our uniform, got just a laugh out of her and returned to the ship a sad mess, only made sadder by the captain.
 
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2-9: We bracketed the target but...
[x] The Bookish One

Ken was too pure, too sweet for this corrupt earth. He needed somebody equally pure.

Your hands, now formed into a little square scope in front of you, settled over the bookish girl.

"Target sighted. Full steam head!"

You got up confidently, walked over to the bar next to the girl, ready to order more drinks. Totally not playing her any mind. You stole a glance at the book… it was in Gallian, which you didn't speak or read. Cool. That was your first opening scrubbed. No matter.

The bartender came over and you ordered a beer for Kenishin, then stopped deliberately.

"Hey, watcha drinking?" You asked. You knew already, it was a light cocktail. A beginner's drink. "It looks tasty."

Step one: Build the target's confidence.

"Um, it's called a…" She paused a moment, like she was trying to remember. Probably a very infrequent drinker. "Cassis Grape."

"Huh. One of those, please!" You winked to the bartender. She winked back. Game recognize game. She got to work mixing the drink… slowly, and you turned to step two.

"You read Gallian? That's awesome." You said. Light, conversation, compliments. Focus on her positive qualities.

"Um… yeah. It's from school." She said. Of course, she was one of those girls. Any compliment you give her will just slide right off, poor thing. You'd need to summon all your powers for this one.

"Huh. Watcha studying?" You said.

"It's a book about Mr. Daucourt, the aircraft designer." She said. You gave a look that indicated you were expecting more, and she picked up quickly. "I just graduated from Nakadani… my father works for Akibara and he says he can get me a job there working with the engineers."

Oh wow, a real egghead. Oh well. It was working for Hideaki, so maybe…

"Wow, that's amazing!" You said, acting eager. Your drinks were arriving, but you ignored them for now.

"I dunno. It's really hard." She said, taking another tiny sip of her drink. "And I'm really nervous. I'm going to be one of the first women to work in engineering there."

You smiled sadly. "Yeah, that's rough."

There was a sort of slow dawning recognition on the girl's face as she realized who she was talking to.

"Ummm… sorry, you probably know all about that, Your Highness." Oh spirits.

"Hey, no princesses here tonight. Just some girls having a good time, no boys allowed." Step three: get her to bring up Ken so it looks like her idea.

"What about him?" She said. Jackpot. "Why is he here? Are you… um."

Okay, now it's game time. You need to emphasis that Ken is safe, approachable, and interested, in that order.

"Oh, no! That's my friend Lieutenant Kusakabe. He decided to accompany me today so I wouldn't be drinking alone. He's a great guy." You looked back at him and smiled. The girl gave him a little wave, and he waved back.

Contact established.

"That's really nice of him." The girl said, turning back, blushing to her ears. Oh, honey. Come on, he's just a boy.

"Yeah, he's like that. Can you believe a guy like that is single?"

"N-no, not really." She said, like you'd just told her you could fly or something.

"Yeah. Just the worst luck with girls." Okay, here goes the setup. "He's awfully shy is all. He'll never make the first move." Come on girl, pick up…

"... do you think I could talk to him?" The girl said, after a long, tense pause.

You looked her over like you had only just thought of it when she mentioned it. "Yeah, I bet. You're definitely his type." She hid her smile behind her book.

"Um… could you introduce me, maybe?"

"Sure, though I need to know who you are first."

"Um… right. I'm Koide Hatsu." She bowed a little, reflexively. "How do you do?"

Pretty darn good. "Alright, perfect." You lead over over to the table, Ken standing up to greet you.

"Ken, this is Koide Hatsu. Koide, meet Lieutenant Kusakabe Kenshin…"

---

You went back to the bar and finished off your cocktail. You'd gotten used to drinking like a sailor: this barely qualified as alcohol. You followed it up with some whiskey.

Ken and Koide were talking now, quietly in their little corner, their hands lying just near each other on the table. Those dorks. Just take his hand already. Or her hand. One of you. As you were watching them with the confident smile of someone who has accomplished her mission, someone else settled at the bar next to you. You looked over. And up.

Spirits, it was that tall girl.

"Hi." You said weakly.

"Hi." She said, with quiet confidence.

You felt like you were staring at an oncoming train.

"Um… can I help you?" No girl what the fuck is that oh spirits what are you doing.

"I just… I saw what you did for your friend there, that was really nice of you. They're cute together." She said, leaning against the bar close to you.

"Yeah very cute." Say she's cute. Say she's cute too. "You know, I just, like…"

"I wish I had somebody looking out for me like that." She said. Perfect opening. Just say 'I can be that person' or 'No need you did it yourself' or…

"Yeah that'd be nice." You said noncommittally.

That was the wrong set of words! Haruna
why are you like this you are an Imperial princess.

"How long are you ashore?" The girl asked. Okay, she wants to know if you are free tonight. Haruna, this girl wants to spend the night with you. You have three days of leave, maybe more. Just say you're free.

"Oh um, well my ship is being repaired…" You trailed off and looked at your shoes. "So…"

… so? SO? That wasn't an answer! Tell her you are free tonight.

"Well, um, what are you drinking?" She is trying to buy you a drink.

You looked down at your empty glass. "Nothing, apparently."

Asopksdgnpjngpoisndfgpokng.

"Oh. Okay." The girl shuffled away looking more than a little awkward.

You put your head down on the bar hopelessly, and the bartender came by.

"That was a disaster, honey." She said. She poured something and slid it directly against your head. "One of the worst performances I've ever seen."

You just groaned. Of all the nights you fumbled it had to be this one, didn't it?

----

Three drinks later, you looked up from the bar. Kenshin and Koide were gone somewhere. The tall girl was also gone. So were most of the clients. The bartender was packing up.

You paid and staggered away back out into the dark streets. There were street lamps on each corner, little beacons in the distance, but not much else besides.

You glanced up both ends of the street. You'd walked a circle around the block so many times you couldn't remember how you got in. There was theoretically a hotel somewhere nearby where you could get a room. You just had to remember where it was.

You were an indeterminate number of steps away from the bar when you remembered this wasn't back home. This wasn't in the upscale districts and you didn't have an escort. This was a foreign city, it was the early hours of the morning, and you had no one with you.

Your left hand tightened around your scabbard, and you started making your way towards the nearest lamp post. It seemed impossibly far away, and it was a chore just staying upright.

A man stepped out of an alley and started coming up the road ahead of you, framed by the light. You quickly crossed the dusty street, your head down, and crossed again when he passed. Your heart was racing.

You were most of the way there when you heard footsteps behind you. You turned to see two men walking fast, in local clothes. One of them had a shovel over his shoulder, and they were walking silently. With purpose.

You sped up into almost a run, your hand against the buildings for guidance and stability, heading for the light. You didn't make it far before your skirt caught on something. Maybe a protruding nail or a knot in a board. There was a rip of fabric and you staggered and fell, twisting back. The men were right behind you. You couldn't see their faces, and they spoke a language you didn't understand.


What do you do?

This is a write-in vote.
 
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"I just graduated from Nakadani… my father works for Akibara and he says he can get me a job there working with the engineers."

And I'm really nervous. I'm going to be one of the first women to work in engineering there.


Oh hey we know this one :V don't worry you get to work for a way better place than akibara
 
Damn. I want to say they're just on their way to work (doing what, I couldn't even guess) and will walk right by us, but... we were at in the middle of a riot just a few weeks ago, and pretty recognizable as the only woman in a naval officers uniform. Plus you know, drunk, alone, and female.
 
Hmm. I'm not actually sure if we're overreacting or not. I'm pretty sure we are, but 'pretty sure' isn't 'certain,' and the consequences of being wrong are ... severe.
 
Honestly, there's nothing to do.

Haruna's too drunk to walk, so neither fighting nor running away are an option. At the same time, she doesn't speak the language, so talking's not an option either.

[X] Calm down and try to Clear your head
 
[x] take a deep breath, try too stay calm. be ready to act if needed and ask the gentleman if they could point you toward your hotel
 
Well, in an effort to actually write something in.

[x]Keep a hand on your sword, turn around, and scream at their faces.

If they have no ill-intentions, hopefully they'll go away, and if they do, maybe they'll think twice.
 
Yeah, gotta agree that if they mean Haruna harm, there isn't much she can do in her present state. The combination of being quite drunk and already on the ground is just too much. Additionally, the possibility that they don't mean Haruna harm makes attacking first a bad idea.

[X] Calm down and try to Clear your head

Anyway, the worst part is that if Haruna is attacked, Ken will feel bad about leaving her behind. That would be terrible because it would get in the way of the adorable shipping.

Also, don't feel too bad, Haruna, about failing to get a date yourself. That was merely a secondary objective to getting Ken a date, which was accomplished admirably.
 
NGL, you made me want to strangle Haruna/wingwoman like a boss and cover for her long enough for her to get her mojo going again :V

[X] Calm down and try to clear your head
 
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