Visual Novel / Foreign Affairs Pixelberry

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Foreign Affairs is on one of the many books released under Pixelberry's Choices: Stories You Play collection.

Welcome to the Vancross Institute, where the next generation of political leaders go to study politics, diplomacy... and how to avoid scandal.

Foreign Affairs includes examples of:

• Alliterative Name: If you keep the default surname, Kennedy's mother's name will be Melissa Monroe.
• Arranged Marriage: Dionne has been in one for most of her life, telling Kennedy she won't get to date before she's married.
• Bodyguard Crush: Tatum is this for Kennedy as a love interest. He's also their Childhood Friend.
• Birthday Episode: Chapter 4 focuses on Dionne's birthday.
• Calling the Old Man Out: In Chapter 12, Kennedy calls out their mom on how she's always prioritized her career over her own child.
• Character Customization: Besides Kennedy's gender and looks, you can also choose their pronouns, a first for Choices, allowing your character to be Transgender or non-binary. Blaine is also customizable in choosing their gender and three different looks.
• Developers' Desired Date: The main love interest is Blaine Hayes, since the plot largely revolves around the rivalry between their and Kennedy's countries, Ardona and Rutherland.
• Double Agent: The main villain turns out to be Winston Torres, Kennedy's mom's advisor. He is trying to help President Monroe's opponent Lewis Wright win the election because he has a grudge against Ardona and knows Wright will go to war with them (as opposed to President Monroe, who is trying to make peace with them).
• Fake Relationship: Winston sets Kennedy up in one of these in order to distract from the scandal. The player has the option of fake dating either Alexei or Evelyn.
• Forbidden Love: Blaine is the First Child of Ardona, while Kennedy is the First Child of Rutherland. Since the two countries have been sworn enemies for centuries, the two aren't allowed to date each other, lest there be a scandal.
  • To a lesser extent, Tatum is Kennedy's bodyguard and Ayna is their teacher’s assistant.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Like all Choices characters, your character can be named whatever you desire, their default name being Kennedy Monroe.
• Historical In-Joke: Kennedy Monroe's name is a reference to both the Kennedy family, especially President John F., and Marilyn Monroe, who were rumored to have been more than "friends."
• Hometown Nickname: Blaine affectionately refers to Kennedy as Rutherland.
• How We Got Here: The story starts at a press conference for an "incident" which the press is calling a sex scandal before rewinding to six weeks earlier when Kennedy starts their term at Vancross.
• Immoral Journalist: Mike Williams.
• I Will Only Slow You Down: While the group is running from the paparazzi in Chapter 1, Dionne breaks a heel on her favorite shoes and says to go on without her.
• Lessons in Sophistication: One of the classes shown in Chapter 2 is Etiquette and involves tea.
  Evelyn: "You know you're not supposed to put your pinky up while drinking tea. It's actually rude."
• Love-Interest Traitor: Kennedy learns that Ayna is the one who has been betraying their location to the paparazzi. Lewis Wright, President Monroe's opponent in the election, agreed to pay for her father's cancer treatment in exchange for incriminating photos of Kennedy supposedly having an affair. Ayna comes to deeply regret her actions and agrees to make it up to Kennedy however she can.
• The Magic Poker Equation: In Chapter 4, when you decide to play poker with Tatum and other bodyguards, you get two K's and you get two more K's during the game. If you go all in, you win and take Tatum out of the game.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: A class on Social Media in Chapter 2 has the class discussing a selfie Henri once posted with the crown jewels on his bare ass he thought he had deleted to show that someone will always have saved it for posterity.
• Overly Long Name: Dionne's full name and title are Princess Dionne Mariana Regina Dorada de Rothschild Serrano of the Kingdom of Pavadena.
• Publicity Stunt Relationship: Kennedy performs a publicity stunt with Alexei or Evelyn after they and their love interest are publicly exposed on the cover of Voyeur magazine.
• Relationship Values: Starting with Chapter 2, Kennedy has to manage their Diplomacy points with their classmates in school by mediating their problems, with their support helping them down the line at the Peace Summit.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: After revealing himself to be a traitor, Winston is arrested by Kennedy and her love interest. He tries to reason with Melissa and she orders her bodyguards to take him out of her sight.
• Shipper on Deck: Kennedy can set up Dionne and Peter, as well as help either Evelyn or Alexei get together with Henri.
• So Unfunny, It's Funny: In a premium scene with Tatum in Chapter 2, Kennedy can try to get him to loosen up with dad jokes.
• Streaking: A premium scene in Chapter 2 has Kennedy play Tower Pong with Blaine or Dionne with the loser going streaking once around the quad.
• The Voiceless: Murphy, Dionne's bodyguard, is a constant presence in the story but never speaks. Subverted in the final chapter when he asks Kennedy if they're okay, shocking everyone present.
• Wham Line:
  • Dionne drops this bombshell to Kennedy at the end of Chapter 1.
    Dionne: "Blaine Hayes is the First Son/Daughter of Ardona."
• Wrench Wench: Zaira is this when she describes having taken the Dean's car apart piece by piece and then placed it on his roof, including the diplomatic flags.