Thebigpieman
I've got this, I think.
- Location
- United States
Yes and no:
Yui for reference.
Note that not everyone has tails and are just regular humans, like Daniel our intel officer and Salt Lord Chew.
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Mandat de l'impératrice des Cieux - Imperial Princess Troubleshooter Space Opera Quest
- Thread starter Whiskey Golf
- Start date
- Original Mature
Yui for reference.
Note that not everyone has tails and are just regular humans, like Daniel our intel officer and Salt Lord Chew.
Whiskey Golf
Being of Editing & Technical Assistance
- Location
- Chained to my desk
Er, no.
The Golden Orchid Empire's races are humans and kitsune, although after 500 years of interspecies mixing, the average foxthot has since lost her tail; it's only Great Houses where you'll find a strong concentration of foxbois and foxthots whose blood is pure enough that they retain their tails. I quote myself:
Also nobility =/= tails; there are a couple of characters who'll show later who're nobility, but their lineage is so intermixed that they've just got the fox ears and no tail.
Which simplifies matters somewhat; scholars are still arguing about whether the tail counts as aurat and therefor should be considered haram to display
(thus the question between do you tuck in the tail under the baju kurung, or poke it out through the tail cutout, also wearing a tudung with fox ears is probably going to be uncomfortable...)Anyway, it's not that tailed foxes are rare, there are plenty of them, but at the same time, untailed foxes will outnumber them by a hella lot.
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Whiskey Golf
Being of Editing & Technical Assistance
- Location
- Chained to my desk
The official story is that the tales of the origins of the foxes have been lost to the mists of time - people already are having trouble remembering Vietnam and WW2, what more things that happened 500 years ago...
and because foxgirls are bester than catgirls fite meThough as evolutionary holdovers, foxmen have single tails because back in the day their job was to go out and hunt and do food gathering and work, while foxthots have multiple tails for aggression and mating displays.
It does make it interesting though, that fox culture evolved to be matrilineal and girls have more privelage than boys (Masatada legally got bumped down the line of sucession once his daughter Yui was born. Other fox nobles would have been salt and all, but luckily he was still a junior officer at the time and thus was being busily run ragged and had less time to salt over how an accident of birth put his daughter in line for the throne ahead of him).
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- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Because. This is an anime-flavored space opera. 'Because foxgirls are hot' is all the reason we or Whiskey need.
Jane, I really need to find you better jobs. You're a mad scientist!
Lady, unless your PMC is run by saints and the mad, there's gotta be some kind of illegal shit going on.
"No, honestly, we really are just that shit!"
Yeah, there's no coup here, just a PMC being shit at admin and milking the fuck out of their contract. Someone's making a lot of cash here, and is about to get reamed by an IG squad.
- Location
- PA
Personally, I actually get the impression of parallel development happening IC, since it seems like the Foxfolk were a people that encountered humanity and went 'oh dat's hot' and started jumping them, and found out a few months later that the two were compatible. Cue the continued chasing and subsequent tail angst.
Whiskey Golf
Being of Editing & Technical Assistance
- Location
- Chained to my desk
"You may not care about the fucking IG, but the IG cares about fucking you."
Bones
Don't look behind you.
- Location
- Behind you.
... Duly noted.
Oh, we all know that. Trust, not for one moment has that ever been in question. I was curious about the IC reasons.
Valkur
The True Valkyria, Valkur!
- Location
- Fólkvangr
Er, no.
The Golden Orchid Empire's races are humans and kitsune, although after 500 years of interspecies mixing, the average foxthot has since lost her tail; it's only Great Houses where you'll find a strong concentration of foxbois and foxthots whose blood is pure enough that they retain their tails. I quote myself:
Also nobility =/= tails; there are a couple of characters who'll show later who're nobility, but their lineage is so intermixed that they've just got the fox ears and no tail.
Which simplifies matters somewhat; scholars are still arguing about whether the tail counts as aurat and therefor should be considered haram to display
Anyway, it's not that tailed foxes are rare, there are plenty of them, but at the same time, untailed foxes will outnumber them by a hella lot.
I didn't think this could happen. An anime opera? This will be interesting...
These insights make me smile as to what the author may be hinting at.
The official story is that the tales of the origins of the foxes have been lost to the mists of time - people already are having trouble remembering Vietnam and WW2, what more things that happened 500 years ago...
the truth is that I'm keeping that vague so as to give myself wiggle room
Though as evolutionary holdovers, foxmen have single tails because back in the day their job was to go out and hunt and do food gathering and work, while foxthots have multiple tails for aggression and mating displays.
It does make it interesting though, that fox culture evolved to be matrilineal and girls have more privelage than boys (Masatada legally got bumped down the line of sucession once his daughter Yui was born. Other fox nobles would have been salt and all, but luckily he was still a junior officer at the time and thus was being busily run ragged and had less time to salt over how an accident of birth put his daughter in line for the throne ahead of him).
1. Raccons girls are better. *puts up fists*
2. I also really like the thought you put into things like cultural norms in this fantasy universe.
Thank you for taking the time to answer me Whiskey
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Whiskey Golf
Being of Editing & Technical Assistance
- Location
- Chained to my desk
It's an anime space opera with a French title, but it's actually drawing from a lot of Asian influences, because IMO we don't really get a lot of Asian-flavored space opera.
...Also every time Fleet Admiral Yonatan Chew shows up, the story starts leaning towards all sorts of SEA influences - i was actually going to write his rant in Manglish, but eventually i was talked out of that... also note the Ramly Burger in the Sidestory, which is only something Malaysians and Singaporeans will get (and then they'll ree at how he's making it and defeating the point of Ramly Burger lol)
Egon, for example, is more than a little influenced by my memories of growing up in Sabah - note the capital city's name is Jesselton, the old colonial name for Kota Kinabalu.
Thank you for taking the time to answer me Golf
No worries, though I actually prefer to go by Whiskey
Whiskey Golf
Being of Editing & Technical Assistance
- Location
- Chained to my desk
Wait till i write the side from the pov of Ayako's staff, lol
W8th voice actibg some more
Your ears will die
And all malaysians will want to kill me lmao
Valkur
The True Valkyria, Valkur!
- Location
- Fólkvangr
Can you edit this lol? Why would the Malaysians want to kill you?
Bones
Don't look behind you.
- Location
- Behind you.
I'm theorizing that way back when, after the deviant geneticists made their animal girl waifus, the fox girls killed off the other animal girls so they're wouldn't be any competition.
@Whiskey Golf nothing you can say will ever convince me otherwise.
*puts on tinfoil hat*
ckk185
Crazy Bunny Girl Scientist
- Location
- Port city
Ya think what you will. It's not gonna be a plot point.
Valkur
The True Valkyria, Valkur!
- Location
- Fólkvangr
Bones
Don't look behind you.
- Location
- Behind you.
If you're wondering what that "whoosh" noise was, it was the joke flying right over your head.
Thebigpieman
I've got this, I think.
- Location
- United States
Whiskey Golf
Being of Editing & Technical Assistance
- Location
- Chained to my desk
Alas i've seen far too manynpeople not realise the jokes and take jokes such as the one you make, seriously.
Back when the greatest generation was a thibg, someone wrote an omake where 9ne character was telling ghost stories andnshitposted that enterprise was this reincarnating zombie ghost. Fanon ran away withnit and is now utterly convinced that shipgirl enterprise is a zombie ghost eatibg the souls of all ships named enterprise so she can reincarnatr in their hulls.
Bones
Don't look behind you.
- Location
- Behind you.
Yeah, tell me about it man. It's crazy what people will latch onto for no real reason-I'M ONTO YOU WHISKEY.
You may have the rest of the thread fooled with your weeaboo ways, but I know the truth, I know all about the cat girl skeletons in the Empire's closet. But they missed a spot, there's survivors, hiding out in that other polity that'll show up to challenge the Empire. You'll see. YOU'LL ALL SEE.
*rushes to doomsday bunker to escape ckk185's fun police*
YOU CAN'T SILENCE THE TRUTH.
ckk185
Crazy Bunny Girl Scientist
- Location
- Port city
Ya and so was the question that was literally answered by the first line of the first post a joke ad well?
edit: Like you kind of have to realise that people have legit asked some rather... obvious questions that quite literally could have been answered if they looked through the previous posts carefully. And that the QM is probably holding our hands a fair amount.
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- Location
- Philippines
Given my line of work, I really, REALLY, REALLY feel for Not!Ooyodo now. Even if Ayako wasn't "Oh! Yo, doh" to begin with, I would recommend snapping her up as a member of Yui's staff as soon as possible.
Returning to the Empress
Whiskey Golf
Being of Editing & Technical Assistance
- Location
- Chained to my desk
[X] Plan Dig Deeper
-[X] Trust but verify. VSS has 2 days to produce the paperwork, failing which their arms will be seized.
-[X] Continue the investigation and stay in Egon.
-[X] Stay behind force. Konnie's task group will stay and monitor Egon for a few weeks.
28th May
Huangshan Palace
It's a little hard to believe that it's only been two weeks since you were sworn in as a member of the Regency Council and averted a potential political crisis. It feels a lot longer than just two weeks.
Your return journey had no issues, and your deception movements allowed your scratch task group to slip back into the Capital System without drawing undue attention. You arrived at Huangshan Palace in time to attend the Regency Council meeting in the mid-afternoon. As it's the first official meeting of the Regency Council, it's relatively short, intended to serve more as an introductory session, so that all the council members can gain each other's measure: the more serious, more substantial meeting will be taking place next week. You're not looking forward to that, because you're sure today's cordiality and lack of posturing won't be the case next week.
You make your way to Empress' apartments; the palace stewards escort you in and announce your entry. Ahri is overjoyed to see you, a statement she punctuates by squealing and tackling you in a hug as soon as you step through the doors. It's a good thing she's shorter and smaller than you, and you've been trained in the basics of CQC; you drop your Navy-issue duffle bag, extend your arms, and brace yourself to catch Ahri: you're able to absorb the impact and remain standing, avoiding a pratfall and the inevitable loss of face and decline in the estimation of the palace stewards. The two Guardsmen at the door simply stare ahead with practiced nonchalance, as the stewards beat a quiet retreat and shut the doors behind them.
"I'm glad to see you too," you gasp, petting Ahri's head, "but I do need to breathe, Ahri." Mentally, you sigh and add this emotional outburst to the ever-increasing list of things you'll need to talk to Ahri about. She still hasn't fully internalised that she's the Empress now, and acting like an ordinary teenager is indecorous…
Ahri mumbles a muffled noise of protest, but finally loosens her grip. "I'm so happy to see you, Onee-sama!" she gushes. "Welcome back! Did you bring me any souvenirs?"
"I have brought you the greatest gift of all," you proclaim. "Information!"
Ahri's face is an open book to you: her adoration for you is warring with her disappointment at how lame she thinks your gift is. Oh well, your cousin's a work in progress. Huangshan Palace wasn't built on this mountain range in one day…
"Also," you say, "I was thinking, maybe I could have dinner with you and then stay over tonight? We could have a sleepover and fluff our tails and have some girltalk, it's been far too long-"
"YES!" squeals Ahri, jumping in the air. "I mean, I'd like that, onee-sama," she hastily corrects herself.
"Alright," you say, smiling at her. "But there's something you need to do for me first."
"Anything!"
"I want you to review with me the homework I gave you two weeks ago."
Ahri visibly deflates; you chuckle softly and pat her head. She retaliates by resuming her death grip and burying her face in your bust.
Reviewing the results of Ahri's Political Etiquette homework, you find that Ahri is worse than you'd hoped, but better than you'd expected. If you had to rate her on a scale of one to ten, she'd barely rate two. In all fairness to Ahri, it's still an improvement from two weeks ago, when you'd have rated her as one. You give her a pointed look, and she fidgets under your gaze.
"Well, onee-sama? How did I do?"
You look at her nervous hopeful expression, the way she fidgets cutely, and your resolve crumbles.
"We can talk about it tomorrow, at teatime," you decide. "I need to report to Admiralty House in the morning, but I'll be free after lunch and I can come visit you again. If you want."
"I'd love that, onee-sama," says Ahri, doing her best not to squeal in happiness.
To your surprise, Ahri hasn't moved into the Empress's rooms; she's still staying in her rooms - well, the Crown Princess's rooms. It's been weeks since the late Empress's funeral, but she's refusing to move from where she is.
"I like where I am," she told you. That sent up warning flags in your mind: add that to the list of things you need to talk to her about.
You didn't intend to turn the sleepover into a teaching moment, but an offhand comment from Ahri - "onee-sama, why didn't you just take your whole fleet with you?" - spurs you into action. You seize Ahri's bed to use as a map table, and grab sundry items - pens, markers, lipstick tubes, cosmetics, hair brushes - and start arranging them on the bed.
"I wasn't quite expecting this," she says glumly. "I thought we'd be having fun."
You frown, allowing your face to mirror the confusion you feel. "But this is fun." You can understand why Uncle Johnny would use Legos on his own map table, but you don't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he's rubbed off on you. He can get unbearably smug, sometimes.
Ahri gives you a blank look, and sighs. "I was expecting a different kind of fun," she says, her hand fiddling with the hem of the sheer babydoll she wears. Aesthetically, you approve: the babydoll's design is tastefully daring, both elegant and tillitating, concealing and revealing all at once. But what it reveals is concerning to you. The babydoll hangs loosely off Ahri's frame; you'd thought she was slender, but looking at her now, she looks painfully thin. And it's quite obvious from how it hangs loosely off her slender bust that the babydoll she's wearing is sized for an older, more developed woman: her mother, the late Empress.
You can't help but worry some more about her. She's wearing the late Empress' negligee. She's refused to move into the Empress' chambers, she's still using the same rooms she had as Crown Princess. She's obviously not eating well, and she isn't getting enough exercise, and she's painfully lonely.
But calling her out right now won't do either of you any good, and if she suspects what's in your mind she might close up to you, so you've got no choice but to carry on and give her a crash course in naval tactics and distract her until you can call your mother and Uncle Johnny and get advice.
"Moving your fleet in a large formation is good if you want to make an impression," you say. "If you're making a state visit somewhere, if you're conducting presence patrols, for missions like that, where the point is to be seen and noticed, yes, moving the entire fleet would be the way to go. Here, follow me." You take Ahri's hand and lead her to the door, and point at the fleet. "From here, we can see the entire fleet - it's large, it's easily seen, it's easily tracked. Now, just stay here, and watch what happens." You jog back to the bed, move a few articles apart from the large collection, and jog back to Ahri's side. "What do you see now?"
"I don't get it?" asks Ahri confusedly, and you smile reassuringly. "That's the idea. Come."
You lead her back to her bed and point at the warship stand-ins. "See that? From afar, it still looks like my fleet is whole. It's only once you move closer that you realise that there are ships missing. A squadron here, a squadron there… twenty five ships is an invasion fleet, what more a force five times that number. But six squadrons of warships, departing on individual training cruises? That's a lot more discreet, and that's what the situation called for this time." Ahri looks at you dubiously, and you give her a serious look. "Imagine what would have happened if my task force had departed in force, or taken my whole fleet to Egon."
"You'd have shown everyone that you're the bestest onee-sama and all those bitches gotta get outta your way!"
"Language, Your Majesty," you say flatly, chiding her. "I'd have been blatantly obvious. That would defeat the entire point of the idea of a discreet fact finding mission. And I'm sure you can imagine how Lady Akagi Sumeragi might have words to say about that." You draw yourself to your full height, spreading your tails behind you in all their glory, raising your hand to your mouth as you perform an arrogant noblewoman's laugh. "Ohohohoho! What a mighty force, Princess Yui! Pray tell, are you intending to bring some uninhabited system to heel? Truly, the boorishness and waste of the Imperial House knows no bounds! Is this truly the extent of stewardship displayed by the Prince of Akasha and his spawn?"
Your choice of sleepwear - a worn Navy t-shirt and sweatpants - ruins the effect somewhat, but judging by Ahri's horrified expression, your impersonation of the Sumeragi heir is spot on. You feel quite pleased at that reaction.
There's at least one clear benefit to channeling Lady Akagi (an act that makes you cringe internally and want to down a few drinks): Ahri is so unnerved by your impersonation that she can't summon the mental capacity to argue with you as you continue your crash course. You give her the broad strokes, how Daniel and your staff prepared the movement plans months in advance, because you try to anticipate every reasonable eventuality, how your timeline had fudge time built in to mitigate possible delays, how you used your CL squadrons as a screen and distraction, how you left Konnie and Daniel behind to investigate further. Under your instruction, Ahri has been a docile and obedient listener.
Your fingers are probably a more significant and immediate contributing factor to her current state of docility.
"So you left them behind?" asks Ahri. She's seated cross legged on her bed in front of you, her tails swishing this way and that, twitching pleasurably as your fingers massage her back. For a teenaged girl, she's got some really stiff shoulders; her murmurs of pleasure are interposed with hisses of pain as you work on her knotted muscles.
"I did," you answer. "Some people think leadership is micromanaging things, personally keeping an eye on what your people are doing. I disagree. Leadership is equipping and enabling the officers under your command to take action, making sure they understand your intent, and then stepping back and letting them go out and get things done."
"I guess, for that to work, you have to trust them," says Ahri thoughtfully. "Is that why you let Konnie plan her task force disposition?" You nod in acknowledgement, even though she can't see you.
"Exactly. Trust is how the Navy functions," you say. "I trust Konnie and Daniel to execute my intent and accomplish their objectives. They trust me to enable them and let them operate. It's a two way street. It's something I learned from watching Uncle Johnny - the higher up the chain you go, the less directly involved you are. If you don't trust the people under you, you can't get anything done. You have to delegate, you have to spread things out for other people to do, because you literally can't do everything. Of course, it also helps to know the people you're trusting. Konnie and I were squadronmates, Daniel's the best adjutant I've ever had. That's another thing I learned from Uncle Johnny: it's easier to trust people to get things done if you know they can get things done. Now, lie on your front."
Ahri eagerly shifts forward, as you run your fingers through her tails. Ahri squirms and her tails wag happily in excitement; you smile indulgently, pick up a grooming brush, and begin to fluff up her tails: one down, more to go. She sighs blissfully, and you can't help but smile. For a moment, you can pretend that this is an earlier, happier time, onee-sama and her little sister having a sleepover, staying up late talking, telling each other stories, brushing each other's tails, and cuddling each other to sleep.
When you finish grooming her tails, Ahri demands you let her groom your tails; you allow it, with the condition that she goes to sleep immediately. Ahri balks at your demand, claiming it's too early to go to bed, but caves the second you stand up. You sweeten the pot by agreeing to sleep with her tonight, conveniently pretending that you hadn't suggested a sleepover some hours before.
Truly, this deviousness is surely Uncle Johnny's influence. You don't recall being this manipulative before you became his protege.
Still, for all of Ahri's protestations about how she's not a little girl who needs to sleep early, she yawns sleepily once you get under the covers with her. "Good night, onee-sama," she says, kissing your cheek.
"Good night, Ahri," you say. You kiss her forehead and pat her head, and snuggle in to sleep, wrapping your arms around your cousin.
It's the middle of the night when you wake up. Your eyes snap open in the darkness, as you groggily try to figure out what woke y-
"Mama."
It's just one word, but it's filled with such despair and sorrow that you feel your heart seize up. Ahri's back is turned away from you, but you can hear her sobbing for her mother, begging her to come back, begging her father to wake up, begging for her parents to just come back don't leave her she'll be a good girl-
You touch her shoulder, and she turns and buries her face in your bust, trashing in the throes of her nightmare. All you can do is hold her and kiss her tears away and try to be a comforting warmth.
Ahri eventually subsides. Her nightmare fades. Her breathing slows and her body relaxes. She goes back to sleep, eventually.
You bury your face in her hair and inhale her scent, and pretend that you aren't blinking your own tears away. You need to be strong for her.
It's a long while before sleep claims you.
In the morning, the only sign that anything's different at all is that Ahri is clingier than usual. She whines childishly when you try to rouse her and tries to drag both of you back to bed. As a serving naval officer, you too can appreciate the simple luxury of spending the day in bed, but duty calls, so reluctantly you abuse your superior height and strength to drag both you and Ahri out of bed, into the shower. Ahri's sleepy cuddling ends with a startled shout as she's drenched in cold water. Her indignant incoherent sputtering subsides once you strip her with businesslike efficiency and start scrubbing her down, and by the time you're done rinsing her, the water's warmed up and she's awake enough that she offers to help wash you in turn. Truth be told, when all's said and done, it would have been a lot faster for you to clean yourself, but you can sacrifice some time for Ahri's happiness; she's a lot gentler, more languid in her movements, and she keeps blushing and giggling happily as she washes you.
At the breakfast table she manages to eat a piece of toast and jam for breakfast, though she spends more time staring in horror at your plate than she does eating.
"You eat that much?" she gasps. You look down at your plate in confusion. Eggs sunny side up, bacon, steak, sausages, toast, baked beans, hash browns, fried tomatoes, orange juice, black coffee with a dash of salt in it - it's a perfectly ordinary navy breakfast. You tell her as much.
For some reason, she seems unnerved by the amount of food on your plate, and by how you demolish your breakfast faster than she eats her slice of toast. You manage to coax her to have a bit of your eggs and bacon. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step; your journey to get Ahri to eat better begins with a single bite of bacon.
Once breakfast is done, you check up on her homework reading for the day, give her a goodbye kiss, and head out to take care of your business.
Your morning is full and busy, but the upside is that you manage to keep wasted time to a minimum: the Navy's unofficial motto may be "Hurry up and wait", but Vice Admirals get to wait less - especially Vice Admirals who're Imperial Princesses and the protege of Commander Fleet Operations. You sort out the running of your fleet, prepare to handover, and take care of all the paperwork that needs your signoff. In between all of that, you manage to message your mother and Uncle Johnny, asking for advice on dealing with Ahri. You're discreet, of course, keeping Ahri's name out of it, crouching the request in generalities and half truths. Mummy's reply is fairly non-committal, just a note that she'll think on it and come back to you later. Uncle Johnny's reply is slightly more helpful.
She civ isit
You roll your eyes at his typing, and reply back. Yes. Was it that obvious?
eh if she navy.you wouldnt ssk for ky help la
like you see the thongs on the holo snd you just like
dont do it ok
ike y dont just ssk them if they okaymsll thhe goddamn time its super snnyoing like walau dun hav berrernthings to do isit
just be ere for them sndndont tskl too much
gib ice cresm its tood, lostsa icecresm
That's it for now, I'll provide you with more advice later.
Remember, be there for them, be supportive, provide hugs and handholding if necessary, I will think about it and come back to you in a while with regard to the eating and sleeping issues - I assume that you want to keep this on the downlow and don't want to involve any medical professionals in this matter, for now. It would be remiss of me not to point out to you that with a condition like this, professional medical help will be an inevitable requirement, sooner or later, for treatment of both physiological and psychiatric symptoms.
His typing improved quite dramatically there, towards the end. He probably gave his phone to his adjutant and dictated; you'd know, he's done it with you before, plenty of times.
You'll be meeting Ahri in a few hours. You really should take this time to decide on your reaction to her progress, and your involvement in her life.
What is your approach in giving Ahri feedback?
[ ] Encouraging. She's making good progress, keep at it!
[ ] Measured. She's made some improvements, but she still has a long way to go.
[ ] Harsh. This isn't good enough. She has to buck up and unfuck herself.
[ ] Siscon. Everything Ahri does is correct. Even the mistakes.
Moving forward, how involved are you going to be in Ahri's life and education?
[ ] Hands off. Her tutors will take care of her education, and Ahri will take care of her life. You'll keep your independence to operate as you see fit.
[ ] Present. You can play a role in her education and life, to a reasonable extent. You're giving up a certain degree of independence, but you're not completely chained to Ahri.
[ ] Involved. You'll effectively be Ahri's surrogate parent, directly overseeing her education and life. You're giving up a good amount of independence, anchoring yourself to nurture Ahri.
[ ] Helicopter. You will never leave the palace. Ever.
-[X] Trust but verify. VSS has 2 days to produce the paperwork, failing which their arms will be seized.
-[X] Continue the investigation and stay in Egon.
-[X] Stay behind force. Konnie's task group will stay and monitor Egon for a few weeks.
28th May
Huangshan Palace
It's a little hard to believe that it's only been two weeks since you were sworn in as a member of the Regency Council and averted a potential political crisis. It feels a lot longer than just two weeks.
Your return journey had no issues, and your deception movements allowed your scratch task group to slip back into the Capital System without drawing undue attention. You arrived at Huangshan Palace in time to attend the Regency Council meeting in the mid-afternoon. As it's the first official meeting of the Regency Council, it's relatively short, intended to serve more as an introductory session, so that all the council members can gain each other's measure: the more serious, more substantial meeting will be taking place next week. You're not looking forward to that, because you're sure today's cordiality and lack of posturing won't be the case next week.
You make your way to Empress' apartments; the palace stewards escort you in and announce your entry. Ahri is overjoyed to see you, a statement she punctuates by squealing and tackling you in a hug as soon as you step through the doors. It's a good thing she's shorter and smaller than you, and you've been trained in the basics of CQC; you drop your Navy-issue duffle bag, extend your arms, and brace yourself to catch Ahri: you're able to absorb the impact and remain standing, avoiding a pratfall and the inevitable loss of face and decline in the estimation of the palace stewards. The two Guardsmen at the door simply stare ahead with practiced nonchalance, as the stewards beat a quiet retreat and shut the doors behind them.
"I'm glad to see you too," you gasp, petting Ahri's head, "but I do need to breathe, Ahri." Mentally, you sigh and add this emotional outburst to the ever-increasing list of things you'll need to talk to Ahri about. She still hasn't fully internalised that she's the Empress now, and acting like an ordinary teenager is indecorous…
Ahri mumbles a muffled noise of protest, but finally loosens her grip. "I'm so happy to see you, Onee-sama!" she gushes. "Welcome back! Did you bring me any souvenirs?"
"I have brought you the greatest gift of all," you proclaim. "Information!"
Ahri's face is an open book to you: her adoration for you is warring with her disappointment at how lame she thinks your gift is. Oh well, your cousin's a work in progress. Huangshan Palace wasn't built on this mountain range in one day…
"Also," you say, "I was thinking, maybe I could have dinner with you and then stay over tonight? We could have a sleepover and fluff our tails and have some girltalk, it's been far too long-"
"YES!" squeals Ahri, jumping in the air. "I mean, I'd like that, onee-sama," she hastily corrects herself.
"Alright," you say, smiling at her. "But there's something you need to do for me first."
"Anything!"
"I want you to review with me the homework I gave you two weeks ago."
Ahri visibly deflates; you chuckle softly and pat her head. She retaliates by resuming her death grip and burying her face in your bust.
- 女王之天命 -
Reviewing the results of Ahri's Political Etiquette homework, you find that Ahri is worse than you'd hoped, but better than you'd expected. If you had to rate her on a scale of one to ten, she'd barely rate two. In all fairness to Ahri, it's still an improvement from two weeks ago, when you'd have rated her as one. You give her a pointed look, and she fidgets under your gaze.
"Well, onee-sama? How did I do?"
You look at her nervous hopeful expression, the way she fidgets cutely, and your resolve crumbles.
"We can talk about it tomorrow, at teatime," you decide. "I need to report to Admiralty House in the morning, but I'll be free after lunch and I can come visit you again. If you want."
"I'd love that, onee-sama," says Ahri, doing her best not to squeal in happiness.
- 女王之天命 -
To your surprise, Ahri hasn't moved into the Empress's rooms; she's still staying in her rooms - well, the Crown Princess's rooms. It's been weeks since the late Empress's funeral, but she's refusing to move from where she is.
"I like where I am," she told you. That sent up warning flags in your mind: add that to the list of things you need to talk to her about.
You didn't intend to turn the sleepover into a teaching moment, but an offhand comment from Ahri - "onee-sama, why didn't you just take your whole fleet with you?" - spurs you into action. You seize Ahri's bed to use as a map table, and grab sundry items - pens, markers, lipstick tubes, cosmetics, hair brushes - and start arranging them on the bed.
"I wasn't quite expecting this," she says glumly. "I thought we'd be having fun."
You frown, allowing your face to mirror the confusion you feel. "But this is fun." You can understand why Uncle Johnny would use Legos on his own map table, but you don't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he's rubbed off on you. He can get unbearably smug, sometimes.
Ahri gives you a blank look, and sighs. "I was expecting a different kind of fun," she says, her hand fiddling with the hem of the sheer babydoll she wears. Aesthetically, you approve: the babydoll's design is tastefully daring, both elegant and tillitating, concealing and revealing all at once. But what it reveals is concerning to you. The babydoll hangs loosely off Ahri's frame; you'd thought she was slender, but looking at her now, she looks painfully thin. And it's quite obvious from how it hangs loosely off her slender bust that the babydoll she's wearing is sized for an older, more developed woman: her mother, the late Empress.
You can't help but worry some more about her. She's wearing the late Empress' negligee. She's refused to move into the Empress' chambers, she's still using the same rooms she had as Crown Princess. She's obviously not eating well, and she isn't getting enough exercise, and she's painfully lonely.
But calling her out right now won't do either of you any good, and if she suspects what's in your mind she might close up to you, so you've got no choice but to carry on and give her a crash course in naval tactics and distract her until you can call your mother and Uncle Johnny and get advice.
"Moving your fleet in a large formation is good if you want to make an impression," you say. "If you're making a state visit somewhere, if you're conducting presence patrols, for missions like that, where the point is to be seen and noticed, yes, moving the entire fleet would be the way to go. Here, follow me." You take Ahri's hand and lead her to the door, and point at the fleet. "From here, we can see the entire fleet - it's large, it's easily seen, it's easily tracked. Now, just stay here, and watch what happens." You jog back to the bed, move a few articles apart from the large collection, and jog back to Ahri's side. "What do you see now?"
"I don't get it?" asks Ahri confusedly, and you smile reassuringly. "That's the idea. Come."
You lead her back to her bed and point at the warship stand-ins. "See that? From afar, it still looks like my fleet is whole. It's only once you move closer that you realise that there are ships missing. A squadron here, a squadron there… twenty five ships is an invasion fleet, what more a force five times that number. But six squadrons of warships, departing on individual training cruises? That's a lot more discreet, and that's what the situation called for this time." Ahri looks at you dubiously, and you give her a serious look. "Imagine what would have happened if my task force had departed in force, or taken my whole fleet to Egon."
"You'd have shown everyone that you're the bestest onee-sama and all those bitches gotta get outta your way!"
"Language, Your Majesty," you say flatly, chiding her. "I'd have been blatantly obvious. That would defeat the entire point of the idea of a discreet fact finding mission. And I'm sure you can imagine how Lady Akagi Sumeragi might have words to say about that." You draw yourself to your full height, spreading your tails behind you in all their glory, raising your hand to your mouth as you perform an arrogant noblewoman's laugh. "Ohohohoho! What a mighty force, Princess Yui! Pray tell, are you intending to bring some uninhabited system to heel? Truly, the boorishness and waste of the Imperial House knows no bounds! Is this truly the extent of stewardship displayed by the Prince of Akasha and his spawn?"
Your choice of sleepwear - a worn Navy t-shirt and sweatpants - ruins the effect somewhat, but judging by Ahri's horrified expression, your impersonation of the Sumeragi heir is spot on. You feel quite pleased at that reaction.
- 女王之天命 -
There's at least one clear benefit to channeling Lady Akagi (an act that makes you cringe internally and want to down a few drinks): Ahri is so unnerved by your impersonation that she can't summon the mental capacity to argue with you as you continue your crash course. You give her the broad strokes, how Daniel and your staff prepared the movement plans months in advance, because you try to anticipate every reasonable eventuality, how your timeline had fudge time built in to mitigate possible delays, how you used your CL squadrons as a screen and distraction, how you left Konnie and Daniel behind to investigate further. Under your instruction, Ahri has been a docile and obedient listener.
Your fingers are probably a more significant and immediate contributing factor to her current state of docility.
"So you left them behind?" asks Ahri. She's seated cross legged on her bed in front of you, her tails swishing this way and that, twitching pleasurably as your fingers massage her back. For a teenaged girl, she's got some really stiff shoulders; her murmurs of pleasure are interposed with hisses of pain as you work on her knotted muscles.
"I did," you answer. "Some people think leadership is micromanaging things, personally keeping an eye on what your people are doing. I disagree. Leadership is equipping and enabling the officers under your command to take action, making sure they understand your intent, and then stepping back and letting them go out and get things done."
"I guess, for that to work, you have to trust them," says Ahri thoughtfully. "Is that why you let Konnie plan her task force disposition?" You nod in acknowledgement, even though she can't see you.
"Exactly. Trust is how the Navy functions," you say. "I trust Konnie and Daniel to execute my intent and accomplish their objectives. They trust me to enable them and let them operate. It's a two way street. It's something I learned from watching Uncle Johnny - the higher up the chain you go, the less directly involved you are. If you don't trust the people under you, you can't get anything done. You have to delegate, you have to spread things out for other people to do, because you literally can't do everything. Of course, it also helps to know the people you're trusting. Konnie and I were squadronmates, Daniel's the best adjutant I've ever had. That's another thing I learned from Uncle Johnny: it's easier to trust people to get things done if you know they can get things done. Now, lie on your front."
Ahri eagerly shifts forward, as you run your fingers through her tails. Ahri squirms and her tails wag happily in excitement; you smile indulgently, pick up a grooming brush, and begin to fluff up her tails: one down, more to go. She sighs blissfully, and you can't help but smile. For a moment, you can pretend that this is an earlier, happier time, onee-sama and her little sister having a sleepover, staying up late talking, telling each other stories, brushing each other's tails, and cuddling each other to sleep.
When you finish grooming her tails, Ahri demands you let her groom your tails; you allow it, with the condition that she goes to sleep immediately. Ahri balks at your demand, claiming it's too early to go to bed, but caves the second you stand up. You sweeten the pot by agreeing to sleep with her tonight, conveniently pretending that you hadn't suggested a sleepover some hours before.
Truly, this deviousness is surely Uncle Johnny's influence. You don't recall being this manipulative before you became his protege.
Still, for all of Ahri's protestations about how she's not a little girl who needs to sleep early, she yawns sleepily once you get under the covers with her. "Good night, onee-sama," she says, kissing your cheek.
"Good night, Ahri," you say. You kiss her forehead and pat her head, and snuggle in to sleep, wrapping your arms around your cousin.
- 女王之天命 -
It's the middle of the night when you wake up. Your eyes snap open in the darkness, as you groggily try to figure out what woke y-
"Mama."
It's just one word, but it's filled with such despair and sorrow that you feel your heart seize up. Ahri's back is turned away from you, but you can hear her sobbing for her mother, begging her to come back, begging her father to wake up, begging for her parents to just come back don't leave her she'll be a good girl-
You touch her shoulder, and she turns and buries her face in your bust, trashing in the throes of her nightmare. All you can do is hold her and kiss her tears away and try to be a comforting warmth.
Ahri eventually subsides. Her nightmare fades. Her breathing slows and her body relaxes. She goes back to sleep, eventually.
You bury your face in her hair and inhale her scent, and pretend that you aren't blinking your own tears away. You need to be strong for her.
It's a long while before sleep claims you.
- 女王之天命 -
In the morning, the only sign that anything's different at all is that Ahri is clingier than usual. She whines childishly when you try to rouse her and tries to drag both of you back to bed. As a serving naval officer, you too can appreciate the simple luxury of spending the day in bed, but duty calls, so reluctantly you abuse your superior height and strength to drag both you and Ahri out of bed, into the shower. Ahri's sleepy cuddling ends with a startled shout as she's drenched in cold water. Her indignant incoherent sputtering subsides once you strip her with businesslike efficiency and start scrubbing her down, and by the time you're done rinsing her, the water's warmed up and she's awake enough that she offers to help wash you in turn. Truth be told, when all's said and done, it would have been a lot faster for you to clean yourself, but you can sacrifice some time for Ahri's happiness; she's a lot gentler, more languid in her movements, and she keeps blushing and giggling happily as she washes you.
At the breakfast table she manages to eat a piece of toast and jam for breakfast, though she spends more time staring in horror at your plate than she does eating.
"You eat that much?" she gasps. You look down at your plate in confusion. Eggs sunny side up, bacon, steak, sausages, toast, baked beans, hash browns, fried tomatoes, orange juice, black coffee with a dash of salt in it - it's a perfectly ordinary navy breakfast. You tell her as much.
For some reason, she seems unnerved by the amount of food on your plate, and by how you demolish your breakfast faster than she eats her slice of toast. You manage to coax her to have a bit of your eggs and bacon. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step; your journey to get Ahri to eat better begins with a single bite of bacon.
Once breakfast is done, you check up on her homework reading for the day, give her a goodbye kiss, and head out to take care of your business.
Your morning is full and busy, but the upside is that you manage to keep wasted time to a minimum: the Navy's unofficial motto may be "Hurry up and wait", but Vice Admirals get to wait less - especially Vice Admirals who're Imperial Princesses and the protege of Commander Fleet Operations. You sort out the running of your fleet, prepare to handover, and take care of all the paperwork that needs your signoff. In between all of that, you manage to message your mother and Uncle Johnny, asking for advice on dealing with Ahri. You're discreet, of course, keeping Ahri's name out of it, crouching the request in generalities and half truths. Mummy's reply is fairly non-committal, just a note that she'll think on it and come back to you later. Uncle Johnny's reply is slightly more helpful.
She civ isit
You roll your eyes at his typing, and reply back. Yes. Was it that obvious?
eh if she navy.you wouldnt ssk for ky help la
like you see the thongs on the holo snd you just like
dont do it ok
ike y dont just ssk them if they okaymsll thhe goddamn time its super snnyoing like walau dun hav berrernthings to do isit
just be ere for them sndndont tskl too much
gib ice cresm its tood, lostsa icecresm
That's it for now, I'll provide you with more advice later.
Remember, be there for them, be supportive, provide hugs and handholding if necessary, I will think about it and come back to you in a while with regard to the eating and sleeping issues - I assume that you want to keep this on the downlow and don't want to involve any medical professionals in this matter, for now. It would be remiss of me not to point out to you that with a condition like this, professional medical help will be an inevitable requirement, sooner or later, for treatment of both physiological and psychiatric symptoms.
His typing improved quite dramatically there, towards the end. He probably gave his phone to his adjutant and dictated; you'd know, he's done it with you before, plenty of times.
You'll be meeting Ahri in a few hours. You really should take this time to decide on your reaction to her progress, and your involvement in her life.
What is your approach in giving Ahri feedback?
[ ] Encouraging. She's making good progress, keep at it!
[ ] Measured. She's made some improvements, but she still has a long way to go.
[ ] Harsh. This isn't good enough. She has to buck up and unfuck herself.
[ ] Siscon. Everything Ahri does is correct. Even the mistakes.
Moving forward, how involved are you going to be in Ahri's life and education?
[ ] Hands off. Her tutors will take care of her education, and Ahri will take care of her life. You'll keep your independence to operate as you see fit.
[ ] Present. You can play a role in her education and life, to a reasonable extent. You're giving up a certain degree of independence, but you're not completely chained to Ahri.
[ ] Involved. You'll effectively be Ahri's surrogate parent, directly overseeing her education and life. You're giving up a good amount of independence, anchoring yourself to nurture Ahri.
[ ] Helicopter. You will never leave the palace. Ever.
Whiskey Golf
Being of Editing & Technical Assistance
- Location
- Chained to my desk
Yes, everyone, this isn't dead. Sorry about the delay, things happened. -_-;;
Voting moratarium in place for 36 hours from now, voting will open at 0200 GMT on 09 July 2019.
And yes, after selling this quest on fluffy tails, and promising fluffy tails, we do finally have fluffy tails being touched.
Voting moratarium in place for 36 hours from now, voting will open at 0200 GMT on 09 July 2019.
And yes, after selling this quest on fluffy tails, and promising fluffy tails, we do finally have fluffy tails being touched.
