Magician Raising Project (Quest)

[RoydGolden]

D!

[zikari8]

Year 1 Month 1

You come to the quick realization that there’s nothing more boring in the world than two people sitting in an empty room and talking. It’s high time you go and do something fun for once. You get up and invite Esabelle to join you. She timidly accepts and the two of you escape into the night.

Without any particular goal, the two of you tour the moon lit streets, casually window shopping, snacking on whatever junk food catches your eye, and sightseeing at landmarks both of you have seen several times before. You follow up with a session of bowling at a crowded and noisy alley, and then dinner at a random fast food joint. All the while, the two of you engage in pleasant small talk and get to know each other a bit better.

It’s not exactly the most romantic or elegant of dates, as expected of the insensitive pragmatist that you are, but it seemed effective. Although she seemed to just meekly follow in your shadow for the start of your little adventure, but before you know it, she was energetically doing her best to knock down the white pins and laughing like there was no tomorrow. You knew that she didn’t interact with Clock Tower very often, but it seems she was even more sheltered than you thought. You yourself realize you're having a surprising amount of fun. When was the last time you left your workshop and went out to town for a night off?

Over the course of the night, you learn a few things about Esabelle. It seems that she’s a large fan of reading, and typically spends much of her early days cooped up with a stack of books. Her father spoils the hell out of her, so she doesn’t really have any work to do, even when she wants to be more active. She doesn’t say it out right, but her words seem to imply that she’s writing a novel as a means to stave off her boredom.

Somehow or another, the conversation ends up back to the topic of marriage. She seems comfortable enough to confide in you that she doesn’t know much about the other suitors. Most of the time, they simply chatted with her father or spoke to her but in a stiff and polite manner, the way one would address a queen. Apparently, this was the first time her father left in the middle of a meeting with a suitor, so he probably doesn’t like you very much.

Eventually, the clock nears the end of the day and it’s about time to call it a day. However, before you retire for the night, you suddenly decide to give Esabelle one more experience to remember the night by. You’re not sure if it’s because you feel sorry for her sheltered lifestyle or because you just wanted to show off or even something else, but you resolve to give her a show she can’t get easily elsewhere.

And so, you take her home… via a tour of the skies on a magical carpet ride. From far above the city, with the wind blowing through your hairs and the cityscape below, you show her a whole new world (no musical number included though). It’s a terribly inelegant spell that strains your circuits, but the look of amazement on Esabelle’s face is worth it. She was practically shivering in fear of heights when you started, but everything turned out okay.

Once the magic carpet ride ends, you drop her off at her place. Just as she’s about to return to her estate, she turns and gives you a final farewell.

“Thank you for tonight, John. I enjoyed it.”

And so, she returns to her home, leaving you to head back alone, contemplating the events of the night.

You now have a pretty good idea of the circumstances surrounding Esabelle and her family. Similarly, you have a concrete idea of the kind of person Esabelle is. Typically soft-spoken and obedient, a sheltered girl who seems content to live her life fulfilling her father’s wishes. Even so, she isn’t incapable of enjoyment. She doesn’t bring much to the table in terms of thaumaturgical knowledge, but at the same time, you can be sure she wouldn’t interfere with your research. She seems to have an atleast somewhat favorable impression of you; her father does not.

Although you’re her suitor now, that’s not a concrete title. If you don’t think she’s what you’d like in a wife, there’s still time to back out.

What will you do?

1. Remain Esabelle’s suitor and commit your efforts to courting her.
2. Resign from the position. She’s not what you’re looking for.
3. Keep being a suitor in name, but explore

women

other avenues

.

[Bloble]

1. Remain Esabelle’s suitor and commit your efforts to courting her.

Esabelle's a pleasant sort and you like each other. Each of you could (and likely would) do much worse. You can cover for each other's flaws reasonably well. Your thaumaturgical knowledge will compensate for her lack thereof, and she'll likely be better at that whole 'love and care' thing than someone as cold as you.

More than that, you've a hunch that she's more intelligent than life has allowed to be, if tonight's meeting is anything to go by. Esabelle Kaplan is a smart girl; she is the daughter of a magus, after all. She adapts to new ideas and experiences faster than you yourself do, and her interest in reading indicates a sharp intellect underneath the meekness. No doubt her talent went untended due to the common practices of her family, but if she were given the freedom to take charge of her own life, she might eventually reach or surpass your level.

Her father may be difficult, but you've something Esabelle's other suitors don't: actual chemistry.

A poetic person might wax about giving a flower the chance to blossom, but you're not that sensitive. You are a proper magus, after all.

[Shiki]

1. Remain Esabelle’s suitor and commit your efforts to courting her.


​not gonna give up until h-scene

[Bird of Hermes]

1. Remain Esabelle’s suitor and commit your efforts to courting her.

We have decent compatibility, chemistry and balance out each others flaws nicely. Seems like a pretty good matchup.

[SleepMode]

1. Remain Esabelle’s suitor and commit your efforts to courting her.

The father may be a obstacle, but with a pinch of tenacity courting is possible.

[RoydGolden]

1.

[Kuroyuki]

1. Remain Esabelle’s suitor and commit your efforts to courting her.

[alfheimwanderer]

1. Remain Esabelle’s suitor and commit your efforts to courting her.

Curse you for getting disney songs stuck in my head!

That said, she sounds like she could be rather nice. There's some definite chemistry there, and I do have a fondness for writers!

[zikari8]

Year 1 Month 1

Alright, you’ve decided. You’re going to do your best to win Esabelle’s hand in marriage!

It’s probably not going to be a walk in the park, however. From what you can tell, her father doesn’t like you very much. That’s fine, but you have a hunch that he has a pretty large influence on Esabelle’s decisions, to say the least. Raising his opinion of you will probably up your chances of marrying Esabelle drastically. But doing that doesn’t seem easy, especially when the man seems heavily focused on prestige. You’re not sure what the best way to win his favor is…

The next day after your meeting with Esabelle, while you are pondering how to best secure your position as the young lady’s fiancé, you receive a letter from the girl herself. In it, she once again thanks you for the wonderful evening and asks if it’s okay for her to keep in touch with you. Naturally, you respond with confirmation.

Over the following week, you are kept busy with your actual work. Thanks to your earlier research, you manage to finish your paper and submit it for review. Once it has been accepted, it should be published in about a month’s time. You’re confident in your new spell so there shouldn’t be any problems. You also are kept busy with the patenting process for another new invention of yours. All in all, not a lot of time to ponder your courting adventures.

However, while you are kept busy, you’ve begun a regular correspondence with Esabelle. Every day, you receive a letter from her in the mail and you reply with your own letter, sent through a familiar pigeon. The topic of her letters varies, but she mostly talks about things she did during the day, matters she’s been reading about, and questions about some of your life experiences and adventures. Through her letters, you find her writing casual yet elegant. It’s like reading the diary of a poet.

One day, you receive two letters in the mail. The first is from Esabelle, a formal invitation to the Keplans’ monthly ball at their estate. She says that she would be delighted if you would attend and casually lists a few other people who would be attending, each and every one an important and prestigious member of the higher magus society. Finally, she ends her letter humorously promising you a dance if you’ll come.

The second letter, however, is directly from the faculty of Eulyphis, the Clock Tower Department of Spiritual Evocation. They are offering you a temporary position at a research facility situated around Manchester, in recognition of your recent accomplishments. You will be put in charge of a small team on a project and work as a guest lecturer for one of Eulyphis’s sister departments in Manchester. The research facility in question is the Waltham Institute and is of a moderately small size, but has both history and prestige. Your initial term will start in 10 days and will last for six weeks. Depending on your results, they are planning to consider making you an associate director of the facility. You are to reply as soon as possible whether or not you accept the position.

It’s a good offer. No, it’s a great offer. There are no problems with the pay or position, as for as you’re concerned. If anything, this is the career opportunity you’ve been waiting for, for a long time. If you take the position, you’ll have begun to take the first step into the higher echelon of magus society.

However, if you accept, you’ll have to leave London, for six weeks. Esabelle’s birthday is in about two months; you’ll return just before it. While you’re gone, you won’t be able to meet with Esabelle or her father. The ball you are invited to is natural out of the question. You can probably keep up your correspondence with Esabelle, but that’s about it.

What will you do?

A. Accept the offer. Go to Manchester.
B. Decline the offer. Stay in London.

[Bloble]

A. Accept the offer. Go to Manchester.

Esabelle's father values prestige. What could be more prestigious than a position as a lecturer at Eulyphis? It's certainly a step up from your current position, and moreso than that, an improvement you can show off as a sign of you rapidly rising up the ranks of the Clock Tower. If you've any hope of earning his approval, it'll be by demonstrating that you are a proper magus from start to finish. Not being able to meet with Esabelle is unfortunate, but correspondence through letters should suffice and they do say absence makes the heart grow fonder.

A shame about the ball, though. Then again, isn't it only a two hour train ride between Manchester and London? Surely you'll be able to get one night off.

[alfheimwanderer]

A. Accept the offer. Go to Manchester.

Are we sure we can't visit for the ball? Or invite her to see our new digs?

[Bird of Hermes]

Then again, isn't it only a two hour train ride between Manchester and London? Surely you'll be able to get one night off.

Three hours, and that's not counting delays and breakdowns which will add another hour at the minimum.

[Shiki]

B. Decline the offer. Stay in London.

There might be another chance for you to get what you want in career but however if you refuse the ball, I think your chance for Esabelle would be small as she can meet another man there with a better prestige than yours and consider that you only just be together for a short while. And since you are not there, the father will notice those man rather than you. I think Esabelle's feelings will still have a factor on his father's decision. You can have another ways to make a prestige of yours aside from being a lecturer and if ever you pulled a better one, it will raise the father's opinion on you. Maybe if you reason out that his daughter's birthday is more important and you can still have other ways to have an opportunity on your career, the father will be more impressed.

[SleepMode]

​A

[Bird of Hermes]

A.
This solves the Dad problem. We need to write letters to Esabelle all the time though to keep her keen.

[Daiki]

A. No reason to refuse at this point. Bettering your situation should be one of your goals if you seriously want to marry her. That's something she should understand. Just get her a better present for the birthday.

[SleepMode]

A. No reason to refuse at this point. Bettering your situation should be one of your goals if you seriously want to marry her. That's something she should understand. Just get her a better present for the birthday.

Probably a book, whether on Lore or something nearly unobtainable through normal means.

[zikari8]

Year 1 Month 1

You’ve decided to accept the position and go to Manchester. You feel bad about leaving London, but reason that this is a good opportunity. Particularly, if you take the chance to raise your social status, it may help smooth things over with Esabelle’s father.

You immediately write back to accept the department’s invitation. You then write Esabelle, informing her that you will most likely be unable to attend the ball due to business and give her brief summary of the situation. She replies stating that she understands and wishes you the best of luck.

With that out of the way, you begin to prepare for your stay at Manchester.

Year 1 Month 2

The ten days pass quickly and before you know it, it’s time to head out. You’ve been keeping in contact with Esabelle and given her an address in Manchester to which she may write to. Also, during the ten days, you learn that Mizuki Kotegawa was also offered a position at Waltham and will be working alongside you. You aren’t too surprised; if they were offering a position to you, it’d make sense that Mizuki would get one. Her position is more or less the same as yours, but she’ll be working on a separate project.

Either way, the day comes and you arrive at the Waltham Institute. There you meet a familiar yet completely unfamiliar face.

Emilia B. Gleason

“Hello there, Mr. Joestar. Welcome to Waltham.”

Before you stands Emilia B. Gleason, one of the women you considered marrying. To your surprise, it seems that she is the acting director of the Institute. You had heard that she was an impressive practitioner of spiritual evocation, but you hadn’t expected this. That said, the woman doesn’t seem to show any special reaction towards your arrival, and simply greets you in a polite, elegant manner.
Emilia quickly gives you a tour around the institute, shows you your living quarters, hands you your lecturing schedule, and sends you off to do whatever you must. She seems to give off the idea that as long as you get results, anything is fine.

You get a list of the members of the team you’ll be managing. Each one seems like a talented individual with considerable skill and experience. Some even seem more impressive than yourself. You similarly get a roster of the students enrolled in the course you’ll be lecturing, and they seem promising buds of potential.

Once you’ve settled in, you steel yourself to do your best. It would be no understatement to say that what you do here will direct your path in life. Talented people, state of the art equipment, a challenging task, this is an opportunity that will allow you to grow not only your status but also your own skills and connections. If you do really well, you’ll be able to get that coveted promotion as well!

However, there are only six weeks. Your time here is limited. Of all things, what do you want to prioritize and how will you go about completing your work?

What work do you prioritize?

1) Focus your efforts on the project.
2) Focus your efforts on lecturing.
3) Balance the two equally.
4) You can do it all!!!! Maximum effort on everything! Exhaustion is just an illusion.

How will you tackle the challenges ahead?

a) Work closely with Mizuki. Even if you’re on different projects, the two of you can help each other.
b) Bond with your team members. You’re in this together and close-knit teamwork will improve your results.
c) Get to know your students. They’ll be important in the future so you should start to connect with them early on.
d) Become better acquainted with Emilia. She is your boss, afterall.
e) Don't bother with other people. You work best alone.

[Bird of Hermes]

3) Balance the two equally.

Like Napoleon we shall divide and conquer. 4

b) Bond with your team members. You’re in this together and close-knit teamwork will improve your results.

Jolly co-operation never fails