Princess Maker 1.5: pep!pep!

[idolpro]

[ When you insert the key and open the door, you'll find yourself in a humble cottage, in what seems to be the living room specifically. There are several doors, but a specific one catches your eye: simple in its decoration, the door has a cute little wooden plaque with flowers carved into it. Though the door is closed, you can see through it—as if it's somewhat transparent.

A wooden cradle sits in the room beyond, which is otherwise plain. Inside, a baby sleeps peacefully. When she stirs, calling for her parent, you, her nursemaid, are there instead, to cradle her back to sleep. ]

-

[ Slowly, the scene changes, fading in and out with various silent scenes—the baby coos pleasantly, giggling jovially when you (presumably) make faces at her; she tries to pick herself up and falls over, but she does not cry; a disagreement between you and her lead to a thoughtful discussion; the young girl carries a large laundry basket to do chores; she buys a pet dog, looking so proud for having earned the money all by herself; then the wall becomes opaque. ]

[ In the middle of the open doorway, a young girl the age of 11 stands, smiling at you. A stern-looking shepherd dog sits obediently next to her.

This is your little girl. You tried your best to rear her, and she's been good to you. You know she is capable of anything if she puts her mind to it—even becoming a princess. But you also know it's not easy to become a princess—she'll have to work hard, and she's capable of it but she'll need a guiding hand, you know. Better she become a princess than go off to war, though—better that she bear the burden of aristocracy than living a life of loneliness wrapped up in duty like her mother, or losing that life on the battlefield like her father. Whether she actually becomes a princess or not . . . well, that's up to fate, isn't it? Fortunately, when she goes to the Lost Continent, she won't be alone: you, as her longtime caretaker (her third parent, really, or her first, if you consider how her family's left her care entirely to you), may accompany her to her new school. You'll be her ally, her support, her greatest weapon; you'll be the one who determines her success . . . or her failure. ]

[ Of course, you're not the only one that thinks your charge can do it: Shira, one of the Queens of your Kingdom, hand-selected your employer's child. She doesn't have a child of her own to send—or rather, to be more accurate, her children are much more interested in local philanthropy than going to the Lost Continent, and besides that, you hear that Emi is against their children going overseas in the first place. Still, Shira can sponsor someone to go to the Lost Continent, so she chooses your employer's family; it seems your charge is a distant relative of her own family, after all. It's because of her that your charge will be able to go at all—in other words, it's your patriotic duty to make sure your charge gets that inheritance. ]

Comments

ROUND 0

[idolpro]

Fair temperament.
+3 charm.
+3 intelligence.
+3 diligence.
Moral compass: Neutral.

CHILD'S NAME?

[idolpro]

Submit your charge's name here by the end of Round 1.

Re: CHILD'S NAME?

[nutsandrevolts]

The Illustrious and Excellent Juniper, Goddess of Strength and Courage!

ROUND 1 CLASSES

[idolpro]

CURRENT STATS

[idolpro]

Fair temperament.
+3 charm.
+3 intelligence.
+3 diligence.
Moral compass: Neutral.

DECISION

[idolpro]

What classes do you choose to have your charge take? Will you give her free time?

You may choose from Culture class, Martial Arts class, and Math & Science class. If you choose to give her free time, please note what that free time will be dedicated to.

You have 48 classes to schedule for. If you'd like, you may simply note "evenly divided" for 16 classes in each category, or note 50% X class and 50% Y class, etc.

If you note "evenly divided between all classes and free time", that will be taken as 15 classes each/3 sessions of free time.

Re: DECISION

[send_noods]

We're going 15 Culture, 15 Math & Science, 10 Martial Arts, and 8 units of free time.

For free time, Wednesday's gonna teach her singing and dancing.

... and Moxie's gonna teach her to pick locks.

DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

Re: DISCUSSION

[tenebraecious]

She ought to take them all, no?

ROUND 1 DILEMMAS

[idolpro]

CLASS DILEMMA

[idolpro]

Perhaps as expected, a hierarchy has already established itself in your child's class. Only the best of the best are in Class 1-A, all of them most certainly sponsored by the most elite of the elite—but not all girls are made equal.

There's a collection of girls at the top of the food chain, born and bred aristocracy. Below them are the technical nobles—girls from knight families that have titles and lands but not really any prestige beyond the battlefield to speak of. Then there are the philanthropy projects: commoner girls who somehow managed to get into the school despite their lack of pedigree.

Not even halfway through the semester do you enter the classroom to see that the place is absolutely destroyed. The desks have been turned over, the chalkboards have been broken, the windows have been smashed, the doors have been split in two . . . and moreover, everything made of gold, silver, and jewels—the ornaments on the windows, the hanging plates that indicated which classroom this was—have been stolen.

You're not certain who did it, but there are rumors that the commoner, with her barbaric friends, are responsible. In fact, several girls would say that they witnessed her and her friends, and one has threatened to have the girl deported.

Your charge is deeply confused. She doesn't know what to do.

What should you do?

DECISION

[idolpro]

DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

PERSONAL DILEMMA

[idolpro]

Your child has been returning from class quieter and more withdrawn, recently. You wonder why, but asking doesn't get you much luck, just avoidance. After a few days of this, however, it comes out that apparently some of the more well-off kids have been bullying the others, and while your child isn't involved...she did know about it. In fact, she's been noted as someone who saw at least one case of it happen - which is why you're being told about it by school staff.

When asked, she confirms that she did see it happen, but she didn't do anything - she's not a bully and as much as she doesn't like seeing it, it was a whole group of rich kids! What was she supposed to do? She'd just get bullied too or get kicked out of school or something if she tried to do anything, right?

What do you do about this?

DECISION

[idolpro]

DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

ROUND 2 CLASSES

[idolpro]

CURRENT STATS

[idolpro]

Fair temperament.
Neutral-good morality.

Charm: 61
Intelligence: 61
Diligence: 30

DECISION

[idolpro]

What classes do you choose to have your charge take? Will you give her free time?

You may choose from Culture class, Martial Arts class, and Math & Science class. If you choose to give her free time, please note what that free time will be dedicated to.

You have 48 classes to schedule for. If you'd like, you may simply note "evenly divided" for 16 classes in each category, or note 50% X class and 50% Y class, etc.

If you note "evenly divided between all classes and free time", that will be taken as 15 classes each/3 sessions of free time.

DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

ROUND 2 DILEMMAS

[idolpro]

PERSONAL DILEMMA

[idolpro]

Your child comes home late tonight, looking scuffed up. Before you can wonder too much about it, she opens her mouth to tell you:

She witnessed one of the girls in her class get attacked by one of the locals. The attacker was accused of attempting to take her life, or otherwise trying to steal something of hers, or something—strangely, it doesn't seem like it adds up, and that bothers her. She's not even sure the commoner tried to attack the girl—they looked so gaunt and thin, malnourished. How could they attack anyone?

But the fact remains: there are witnesses who would say that this crime occurred. The savage is to be executed—such were the words of the local knights.

What do you do about this, if anything?

CLASS DILEMMA

[idolpro]

Fortunately, since there's no evidence, no one was deported. Instead:

One family essentially swept the incident under the rug by paying off the damages, declaring what actually happened to be impossible to discern the truth of; both accusers start trying to get closer to the commoner, not leaving her alone.
One girl is punished by cleaning the school, although another would help clean and yet another would help pay for the damages.

The commoner seems to be discouraged from going to school, entirely avoiding the rest of the semester. Her parent seems to be trying to get a sports class going at school, but they need everyone's support in order to be able to proceed.

The semester passes without further incident, but . . . !?

On the first day of the new semester, the stolen possessions show up in the lockers of three different girls: were they the culprits after all. . . !?!?!

Where does your daughter stand in this? . . . Well, she doesn't really know. She doesn't know who she can trust, now. . .

What, if anything, should you do?

ROUND 3 DILEMMAS

[idolpro]

FINAL DILEMMA

[idolpro]

With the help of several, the sportspuck bake sale would be a success; the commoner's guardian is able to become a coach! Sportspuck is available as a sport at school now.

One family begins to stand out as the belle of the class—the top dog, if you will. Her family holds many many parties and fundraisers, of which many girls attend, even if they aren't rich enough to go—but surely everyone's all friends enough that status shouldn't matter. There, the girls learn of the family's many business endeavors in the Lost Continent: fashion, cosmetics, bakeries, the works!

. . . For some reason, in these parties there are incidents of pickpocketing and thievery, although no one can figure out who did them. . .

At the end of the semester is a grand ball, though there's a bit of a ruckus there: many of the nobles invited are rather unpleasant, insulting and passive aggressive that someone keeps getting invited when there's clearly a rat in their presence. After all, who else keeps stealing things? First the beginning of the school year, now the thief is brazen enough to steal directly . . .

The atmosphere is unpleasant. Then, a fight nearly breaks out—fortunately the girl from the knights families manage to stop it, with another helpfully keeping people away, but the accusations toward the commoner are still widely heard: on top of being a thief, she would have her own gang of savages come around to ruin their livelihoods, to cause disruptions in their lives, to stir mayhem and humiliate them. She doesn't seem to understand what they're referring to, and so they threaten: mark their words, those who strike them will pay with blood—

. . . And then, somehow, the knight's girl calms them down, even to the point of rescinding their words if only so that she would not hear the harshness of them. Rumors and whispers spread throughout the party: it must be true. This girl can make anyone do anything for her.

The party ends before the hour is up and everyone manages to go home . . . but there are rumors that those who had complained loudly and threatened the commoner had their carriages tampered with, resulting in terrible injuries. Several girls won't be able to make it to school for some time, and a few have started entirely homeschooling. . .

With all that in mind, the school decides to take a semester to renovate, thanks to the many donations from almost everyone but especially one family. Well, at least on the surface it's renovations: there are, however, rumors that the Lost Continent program might try to go on pause due to how unruly the savage locals are. Perhaps the Lost Continent is lost for a reason. . .

At least sportspuck is still open. Even the savages love sportspuck.

In any case, there are a few things most pertinent to you:

• The savage your daughter witnessed was executed, publicly. On the way to sportspuck, your daughter managed to catch a glimpse of the man's children grieving in the streets; her heart went out to them, especially as they're familiar to her due to the work she's been doing, but what could she do? She could only comfort them; she skips sportspuck to be with them.
  
  Your child is angry. She doesn't think what she's doing is good enough. She wants to make change, more change, real change; she wants to do something more than subtly diffusing situations and pettily pickpocketing mean nobles at parties and conducting parties to hint to other nobles that they should pressure the knights into doing something. Your charge doesn't understand how knights could execute someone so in need of help; is this what her parents were doing before? Could things even change if she became princess? Just how does school help her, anyway, if she's spending her time being homeschooled?
  
  Maybe she should quit.
  
  What, if anything, should you do?