Turn 21 - Fluff and New Advisors
Turn 21 - Fluff and New Advisors
You have discovered a new horror of parenting.
Learner’s Permits.
Jeremy is finally old enough to officially learn how to drive somewhere other than the hovercraft track, and he naturally is very eager for this.
Obviously Willis can’t teach him, because your loving husband is a fighter pilot and fighter pilots are all adrenaline junkies who drive far too fast. So you crack your knuckles and buckle up, buttercup. Your boy will learn how to drive from you, and considering you’ve never gotten a single traffic ticket in your life (since becoming Queen) and thus have a perfect driving record (please disregard the stack of speeding violations when you were a teenager) you are confident that you will make a perfectly safe driver out of your son!
Lessons go quite well, actually. His experience on the track is obvious in how well he manages to handle the car you personally picked out to be his first vehicle to learn in. After the first few minutes you even completely forget about being nervous that your little man is behind the wheel.
You are so happy about his progress that you happily sign the paperwork to allow him to take his driver’s test early.
Which he promptly flunks, because he was driving too fast.
Obviously Willis has been giving your boy under the table instruction!
So you make sure you are in the car for his second go, and the examiner fails him again for driving too fast, when you are quite certain he was driving at a perfectly safe and sensible speed.
You bring this up and discover something. The only reason you didn’t have stacks of speeding tickets was because all such tickets were ultimately issued in the name of the Queen, which is you, and it is not possible for a lesser official to act in the name of the Queen against the Queen. You technically don’t even have a driver’s license, because driver’s licenses were issued under the authority of the Queen and as Queen you don’t need one because the licensing bureau cannot issue the Queen a license under the Queen’s authority. It makes your head hurt.
While you pout about this manifest injustice to your perfect driving skills, Willis (the traitor!) takes over teaching Jeremy how to drive and, shockingly, he passes this time.
You sulk for a solid hour about this.
Sekhmet finds it utterly hilarious though. So does Janet. So does Bastet. So do your kids. So does every single other person in the Palace.
Traitors.
So you do the only sensible thing, you slip into your kids play room, grab a big foam toy sword, and proceed to chase after all the snickering traitors to beat them for their treachery!
Much fun is had that day as the impromptu melee spreads throughout the Palace grounds, embroiling all the visitors to the complex, most members of Parliament, and a good chunk of the local community in an impromptu foam sword free for all.
You needed this. So did everybody else, as you can almost see the tensions and troubles of the past few years fading away as people cut loose and had fun in a harmless manner.
You do get SOME work done, of course. Both Dr Young and Professor Chapman forward you their lists of recommended candidates for their replacements as they go into retirement.
For the new Minister for Foreign Affairs
You take the time to meet each of them to get an impression of their personalities and how well you might mesh with them.
Dr Louise Hallis seems like you’d be dealing with Dr Young 2.0, she has nearly the same serious personality and reminds you irresistibly of an irritated librarian.
Isoroku Nikishina is currently the cultural affairs department head and conceals a rapier wit beneath a stoic exterior. During your interview he somehow shifted the topic to music and kept it there for some time, and you later learn that he is a professional musician himself when not engaged in government work.
Dr April Thomlinson strikes you as dangerously sharp. She doesn’t seem to miss much if anything from a single glance about the office.
Dr Regina Callahan has only just finished her PhD dissertation on the confluence of foreign relations and justice studies.and seems to be quite enthusiastic about the subject in your discussions.
For the Political advisor position you also have four choices.
Dustin Xi has long been Professor Chapman’s top assistant and chief of staff, and while he is perfectly willing to step up to the top job he doesn’t strike you as at all eager to do so and would be perfectly content to remain in the background.
Christina Ebon strikes you as incredibly aggressive. She has a background in business and seems to have an almost feral attitude towards overcoming business obstacles and objections. She’d be hard to work with, but extremely effective. Just… keep her the hell away from the press.
Dr Charlotte Mann is almost the antithesis to Christina, she’s calm, collected, and has a very soothing presence. She has a knack for communication, which is natural considering that she teaches Political Science and Communications at the University.
Jake of the Impossible to Pronounce Last Name (he patiently corrects your initial mangling of it, there are far too many letters in odd combinations!) has you in tears of laughter within minutes of your interview starting. When he isn’t poking fun of his own Polish heritage he’s very cogently breaking down the political rivalries within Parliament. He’d be a definite asset in terms of managing other politicians, that’s for sure.
QM NOTE - Vote will remain open until there are a minimum of 8 votes or 24 hours have passed.
QM NOTE 2 - ShadowArxxy is banned from the foam katana armory for repeatedly bopping the QM.
You have discovered a new horror of parenting.
Learner’s Permits.
Jeremy is finally old enough to officially learn how to drive somewhere other than the hovercraft track, and he naturally is very eager for this.
Obviously Willis can’t teach him, because your loving husband is a fighter pilot and fighter pilots are all adrenaline junkies who drive far too fast. So you crack your knuckles and buckle up, buttercup. Your boy will learn how to drive from you, and considering you’ve never gotten a single traffic ticket in your life (since becoming Queen) and thus have a perfect driving record (please disregard the stack of speeding violations when you were a teenager) you are confident that you will make a perfectly safe driver out of your son!
Lessons go quite well, actually. His experience on the track is obvious in how well he manages to handle the car you personally picked out to be his first vehicle to learn in. After the first few minutes you even completely forget about being nervous that your little man is behind the wheel.
You are so happy about his progress that you happily sign the paperwork to allow him to take his driver’s test early.
Which he promptly flunks, because he was driving too fast.
Obviously Willis has been giving your boy under the table instruction!
So you make sure you are in the car for his second go, and the examiner fails him again for driving too fast, when you are quite certain he was driving at a perfectly safe and sensible speed.
You bring this up and discover something. The only reason you didn’t have stacks of speeding tickets was because all such tickets were ultimately issued in the name of the Queen, which is you, and it is not possible for a lesser official to act in the name of the Queen against the Queen. You technically don’t even have a driver’s license, because driver’s licenses were issued under the authority of the Queen and as Queen you don’t need one because the licensing bureau cannot issue the Queen a license under the Queen’s authority. It makes your head hurt.
While you pout about this manifest injustice to your perfect driving skills, Willis (the traitor!) takes over teaching Jeremy how to drive and, shockingly, he passes this time.
You sulk for a solid hour about this.
Sekhmet finds it utterly hilarious though. So does Janet. So does Bastet. So do your kids. So does every single other person in the Palace.
Traitors.
So you do the only sensible thing, you slip into your kids play room, grab a big foam toy sword, and proceed to chase after all the snickering traitors to beat them for their treachery!
Much fun is had that day as the impromptu melee spreads throughout the Palace grounds, embroiling all the visitors to the complex, most members of Parliament, and a good chunk of the local community in an impromptu foam sword free for all.
You needed this. So did everybody else, as you can almost see the tensions and troubles of the past few years fading away as people cut loose and had fun in a harmless manner.
You do get SOME work done, of course. Both Dr Young and Professor Chapman forward you their lists of recommended candidates for their replacements as they go into retirement.
For the new Minister for Foreign Affairs
[] | Name | Diplomacy | Intelligence | Justice | Special |
[] | Louise Hallis | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1000 Upkeep |
[] | Isoroku Nikishina | 3 | 0 | 0 | Add 1 free Cultural Action each turn |
[] | April Thomlinson | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
[] | Regina Callahan | 3 | 0 | 1 |
You take the time to meet each of them to get an impression of their personalities and how well you might mesh with them.
Dr Louise Hallis seems like you’d be dealing with Dr Young 2.0, she has nearly the same serious personality and reminds you irresistibly of an irritated librarian.
Isoroku Nikishina is currently the cultural affairs department head and conceals a rapier wit beneath a stoic exterior. During your interview he somehow shifted the topic to music and kept it there for some time, and you later learn that he is a professional musician himself when not engaged in government work.
Dr April Thomlinson strikes you as dangerously sharp. She doesn’t seem to miss much if anything from a single glance about the office.
Dr Regina Callahan has only just finished her PhD dissertation on the confluence of foreign relations and justice studies.and seems to be quite enthusiastic about the subject in your discussions.
For the Political advisor position you also have four choices.
[] | Name | Political | Interior | Political Rating | Special |
[] | Dustin Xi | 3 | 1 | 5 | -1000 Upkeep |
[] | Christina Ebon | 3 | 2 | -5 | |
[] | Charlotte Mann | 3 | 1 | 10 | |
[] | Jake Mroczkiewitz | 3 | 1 | 5 | +20 Crown Influence Targets and has an awesome Polish name |
Dustin Xi has long been Professor Chapman’s top assistant and chief of staff, and while he is perfectly willing to step up to the top job he doesn’t strike you as at all eager to do so and would be perfectly content to remain in the background.
Christina Ebon strikes you as incredibly aggressive. She has a background in business and seems to have an almost feral attitude towards overcoming business obstacles and objections. She’d be hard to work with, but extremely effective. Just… keep her the hell away from the press.
Dr Charlotte Mann is almost the antithesis to Christina, she’s calm, collected, and has a very soothing presence. She has a knack for communication, which is natural considering that she teaches Political Science and Communications at the University.
Jake of the Impossible to Pronounce Last Name (he patiently corrects your initial mangling of it, there are far too many letters in odd combinations!) has you in tears of laughter within minutes of your interview starting. When he isn’t poking fun of his own Polish heritage he’s very cogently breaking down the political rivalries within Parliament. He’d be a definite asset in terms of managing other politicians, that’s for sure.
QM NOTE - Vote will remain open until there are a minimum of 8 votes or 24 hours have passed.
QM NOTE 2 - ShadowArxxy is banned from the foam katana armory for repeatedly bopping the QM.