Princess Maker 1.5: Heart Soldier Senshi

[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: Joyous Dark Firestorm Starling, one of the Queens of your Kingdom, hand-selected your employer's child. She could not send her own child to the Lost Continent, of course—she has her own inheritance battle to face within the Kingdom and sending her own child out is essentially forfeiting that battle—so she's selected theirs to sponsor. 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 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]

Re: DECISION

[crossmyheartandhope]

We're gonna investigate - talk to everyone involved, try and find witnesses, and try and track down the gold and stuff. If we find it, we'll try and backtrack and figure out who brought it where it is, and how it got there. We're gonna ask around, too, to see if anyone was poking around real suspicious, before things went down.

And if we do figure out who did what, we're gonna try and find out why, too, and dig up evidence to prove whatever we figure out.

Re: DECISION

[idolpro]

It doesn't seem like you'll get anything out of anyone; the commoner screams in your face and runs away, and one family would not have their child spoken to. They think this whole thing has gotten entirely out of hand. Who cares of little trinkets? As nobles, they can pay for the damage and the whole incident can be forgotten. The other family is in the process of finding out what happened themselves, so they don't have anything useful . . .

You find out that the commoner is friends with a bunch of the local savages; she's basically been inducted into their gang.

Incidentally, there's also a gang that wears gold . . . the same color that the commoner wears . . .

DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

Re: DISCUSSION

[crossmyheartandhope]

Okay, like. I'm just throwing it out there, but this is real fishy.

Before we do do anything, we better get to the bottom of what really happened.

Re: DISCUSSION

[adorabilities]

Yeah, it is.

Re: DISCUSSION

[420blazeit]

TBH, I'm thinking that those three girls are the ones to blame. I'm definitely not saying we just point that out or anything, but... yeeeah. Realy fishy is right.

Re: DISCUSSION

[dragonheartedgirl]

Just like the bullying last time.

[ except for once it's not ours.... ]

... It would be cowardly not to take a stance. However, until we know what's actually happened, it would be irresponsible to throw our weight on either side. I don't want to see anyone punished for something they didn't do, though.

Re: DISCUSSION

[crossmyheartandhope]

[So their investigation came back]

I mean... I got nothing.

The color gold don't mean they got the for real gold, and we don't got nothing to go on. No real witnesses, no evidence, no nothing.

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?

DECISION

[idolpro]

Re: DECISION

[crossmyheartandhope]

We're gonna try and figure out what went down - talk to everyone who saw it, and talk to the person who was supposed to've done it, too.

If we can sneak her in something to eat, wherever they got her, we're gonna do that, too.

Re: DECISION

[idolpro]

You do your best to investigate, though there's only so much that a servant can find out.

According to the local knights, the savage lurched out to grab the girl by her dress, lashing out at her violently. That seems like a done deal, doesn't it? Regardless of what it is, surely?

. . . The "savages", or the locals, give you a different story. The one that was dragged away, the so-called attacker—he is a single father with nothing to his name. He made ends meet by beggaring, but he also suffered from a certain condition: the Devil would occasionally possess him, causing him to lash out and convulse. Even he would not remember what happened by the end of it.

None of the locals were there to tell you what happened, in truth. It's the aristocrat's word against the beggar, and apparently he doesn't remember what happened. Still, if the Devil were to possess him—if that were an attack of witchcraft—then, well. That's hardly a defense. If anything, that just gives them more just cause to execute him: putting him out of his misery.

You manage to get some food to him, as your employer's family is well known enough among the knights that they'll turn a blind eye to your visit—but he only asks you to send the food to his child instead.

DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

Re: DISCUSSION

[crossmyheartandhope]

Looks like there's a bunch of messed up class BS going on again.

Think we better see what's up before we make any calls.

Re: DISCUSSION

[polarislight]

Perhaps we should ask both the girl and the accused attacker what happened.

Re: DISCUSSION

[adorabilities]

If it doesn't add up, we have to investigate, right? I-- this feels like it's just... scapegoating?

Re: DISCUSSION

[420blazeit]

Something's definitely up with this. I wonder why they would all be so adamant about a crime occurring.

Re: DISCUSSION

[crossmyheartandhope]

Yeah. And even if it for real's a crime, like... sounds like the girl ain't having a good time. If she's just hungry, we can't let em kill her for it.

Re: DISCUSSION

[crossmyheartandhope]

[So we sure did investigate]

...we can't let em kill him. He didn't do nothing wrong.

He's just got, like, epilepsy or something.

Re: DISCUSSION

[mapsio]

Agreed, killing him would be wrong.

TALK TO CHARGE

[polarislight]

Nari.

May we talk about something?

Re: TALK TO CHARGE

[idolpro]

She looks up to you—well maybe not up idk you might be like real short.

"Yes?"