idolpro | Princess Maker 1.5: avante en garde

[ When you insert the key and open the door, you'll find yourself stepping outside your home and into the bustling streets of the city slums. You walk down the street, only to hear the sound of a scream—

You rush to the scene: a young woman lies prone on the ground, having just been hit by a carriage. Her tattered clothes indicate her poverty; upon noticing such tatters, the driver simply moves on, and you know this to simply be a fact of this cruel life. But, you can hear something else—besides the mother's labored breathing, you can hear the sound of an infant. You roll her body over and lo—still cradled protectively is a young girl, though she will not be protected for much longer.

. . . Not unless you can help it. None else will—in these slums no one could care less if another child's life is lost—but you can do something about this. With nothing else on your mind, you pick the girl up, carrying her back to your humble abode.

Inside your apartment is a single living space without any doors—you can hear noises of the bustling life outside, as well as other people beyond the thin walls. The girl continues to cry, as though knowing to mourn, and you rock her back and forth, singing softly to your new charge to soothe her to sleep. ]

-

[ Slowly, the scene changes, fading in and out with various silent scenes—the baby cries, and in turn, the upstairs tenants knock at your ceiling; she finds her first words in your song, voice as fragile as the windpipe that carries the sound; a little toddler, she finds an injured bird and carries it home with her; you disagree on the bird's tenancy, and she storms out to run away for a little while as you regret; she returns sullenly with a secret nest built in the alley and ignores everything you say; then the wall becomes opaque. ]

[ In the corner of the room, a young girl the age of 11 crouches, looking away from you. She hums your song to the bird on her finger, which chirps along with her.

You wish you could have done better for your baby girl. But, this is what you love to do and maybe you'll get a gig that pays well enough that you two can move out of this shithole—hopefully. You tried your best to rear her, but with how infrequent you're in the house, working odd jobs in the day and performing at the pub at night, you're not sure anymore. 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, and she's horribly equipped for any of that. Then again, if anything your little tyke is tough, and if anyone could be a rags-to-riches princess, it would be her. Fortunately, when she goes to the Lost Continent, she won't be alone: you, as her longtime caretaker (her one and only parent, if you may be so bold), 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. ]

[ But just how were you able to be sponsored in the first place? . . . The story's rather funny, really.

It was when you and your girl were out and about, shopping in the market; just then, you heard the carriage, and saw it was too close to you and your daughter. You shielded her with your body, unwilling to let her die to the same fate that her mother did—

And then, by a stroke of luck, or perhaps through a miracle, the carriage managed to veer off just in time, slowing to a halt. The driver came to you to profusely apologize, and the noblewoman—perhaps looking somewhat familiar to some of you—steps out.

She took one look at your girl . . . and looked as though she'd just been struck.

She asked you both to enter the carriage, though it was more of a command then a request. With little choice in the matter, you entered the carriage with your daughter clinging tightly to you all the while; this was the first time she'd been so attached to you in ages.

The noblewoman explained herself: She is Princess Gold, the Queen of the Court. She's a professional sportsball player, although she's taken the season off to mourn . . . Her own daughter—who looked just like yours—recently passed from illness, and seeing such a familiar face, so healthy and hale, left Princess Gold speechless.

. . . Yet, through carelessness, such a face would have been dead, you not quick-footed enough and were the driver not able to change course. Princess Gold would compensate you, in any way possible.

This was your chance.

You asked her for some means of a better life for your daughter; you had nothing to your name but a few coins, and you would accept any help at all. After some thought, she agreed . . . on one condition:

Princess Gold would adopt your daughter, legally speaking. You would be assigned as her caretaker. Then, you would take her to the Lost Continent in order to receive her education there. It was the opportunity her own daughter would have taken, were she alive to do so . . .

. . . so, of course, you accepted. After all—this was your girl's chance at a better life. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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. . . !?!?!

What does your daughter think about all this? . . . Well, she doesn't want to go back to school, after all, but. . .

Sportspuck . . . (That's the important thing to be worrying about here.)

Ah—it worked, but...

...it seems like those two girls from knightly families are maybe worth befriending? Maybe they'd like to play sports, too?

We could invite them over?

...Sure, why not? They're as close as it gets to us, right?

Especially, well—it'd be good to know those families better, and maybe she could learn a few things from them, too...

...it seems like they're pretty kind, at least.

Or at least they're trying to look that way. If they wanna prove they're worth getting friendly with, they should actually be friendly.

We should be able to convince the two nosy ones to join the team. That way we can keep more of an eye on them.

Re: PERSONAL DILEMMA

unbr8kable - 2020-09-26 23:20 (UTC) - Expand

deicider - 2020-09-26 23:22 (UTC) - Expand

unbr8kable - 2020-09-26 23:38 (UTC) - Expand

deicider - 2020-09-26 23:40 (UTC) - Expand

unbr8kable - 2020-09-26 23:48 (UTC) - Expand

deicider - 2020-09-26 23:50 (UTC) - Expand

unbr8kable - 2020-09-26 23:54 (UTC) - Expand

deicider - 2020-09-26 23:55 (UTC) - Expand

unbr8kable - 2020-09-27 00:12 (UTC) - Expand

deicider - 2020-09-27 00:13 (UTC) - Expand

unbr8kable - 2020-09-27 00:25 (UTC) - Expand

It seems like all the girls are more or less not committed to whatever happened before...

But now there's this whole new mess.

Mm... at least they're not pressing it.

I think probably we need to make sure she has at least one friend at school...

We could see if any of them are interested in sports? Even if it's a different one... sports still connect.

And it's a good bonding activity...

Mm, team sports are about working together.

Many children decide to join you for your sportspuck sale! You get to learn the names of all the kids as Kingfisher makes new friends (for real, they can't be faking it 'cause they're doing sportsball).

The Illustrious and Excellent Juniper, Goddess of Strength and Courage! is eager to help you bake!
Ruka puts on a musical performance at the sale to help draw more customers in and show Kingfisher support.
Sheepity shows her support as well by showing up!
Venus and her family bring their own baked goods, and Venus asks about how to play sportspuck. She's also hosting her own fundraisers, and she basically showers you with money!

Nari Hyuna-Ae comes to help you with the baking, too. . . although, it seems that she and Kingfisher are a little awkward together.

Later, Kingfisher tells you—actually, Nari has been playing sportspuck with her gang. She's not really sure what to do about that. She's kind of—awkward. Because Nari is like, you know . . .

. . . Really cool? Or something? Uhmmm.

Edited 2020-09-27 00:31 (UTC)

Whole the hell gives their kid a name like "Sheepity".

...probably Angel?

Guess sports really does bring people together.

...ah, they let Shishiou name their daughter...

...we might need to give Chrys some love advice, though.

Oh she found her sports rival.

[ Nods approvingly. ]

Her first "sports rival". They grow up so fast~

[ Nods. ]

She'll really develop as a person from here on out.

It's easier when you got somebody beside you, pushing you on.

Re: !!!

calmthefoxdown - 2020-09-27 01:26 (UTC) - Expand

One family seems to be doing a bunch of other things, too! They're not just inviting you to one party, but several; these parties are definitely mimicking high society back in your Kingdom, made in the name of fundraising and making friends, but you know. It's an aristocrat. There's definitely some politics going on there.

Will you choose to go? . . . Not that you have much money to donate, though. . .

We don't wanna be the only ones not showing up at these things, right?

If it's AlcheME, it's probably good intentioned.

Probably... they won't mind if we don't have as much money?

We should try and make sure our daughter has something nice to wear, though.

Of course they'll mind if we don't have as much money. We should really try to get a better job, y'know? We probably don't got that many tuxes at home--didn't think we were working at that kind of club.

softlyfalling - 2020-09-27 00:54 (UTC) - Expand

unbr8kable - 2020-09-27 01:03 (UTC) - Expand

softlyfalling - 2020-09-27 01:05 (UTC) - Expand

unbr8kable - 2020-09-27 01:14 (UTC) - Expand

deicider - 2020-09-27 01:04 (UTC) - Expand

softlyfalling - 2020-09-27 01:06 (UTC) - Expand

deicider - 2020-09-27 01:06 (UTC) - Expand