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Fool Bloom (A Magical Woman Quest)

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ArlequineLunaire said:
"W-what?" Vasilisa gasped at first, before she went back to a crooked smile and said, "Stupid Nihon-jin, my country was one of the UN's own founders! You-you really think RUNE's gonna lift a finger against me?"
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Yup, none of the other permanent Security Council members are gonna object to Russia monopolizing the one (1) alien alive on Earth.
Well, the one that hasn't threatened to destroy humanity.

"Henshin!"

"For serious, old timer, that's your transformation mantra?" the Narcissi all laughed, "Puh-lease! The 70s called, they want their catchphrase back."
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If it works, it works.


ArlequineLunaire said:
Also, if anyone's wondering what happened to the tournament arc, you would've actually seen a proper one had you voted for one of the other options instead of asking Sfira what they think.
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If you feel like sharing more alternate plot details: Is there any way Blue Lotus might have turned up uninvited? Or invited?


GardenerBriareus said:
Depends. If the Shock Doctrine happened on this iteration of Earth, then I would consider it entirely unobjectionable, given that "being back in the USSR" would primarily mean "not being deliberately immiserated and having our entire infrastructure turned into a rummage sale by and for the First World" for most people.

Likewise, I'll give Vasilisa a pass because "Soviet ideals" has enough daylight in peoples' minds between itself and figures like Stalin.
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You absolutely do not gotta hand it to Stalin and company, but Russia hasn't been the same since the USSR fell. No surprise people like Vasilisa would feel a bit nostalgic.


[X] Write-in- "No" and hang up
 
Incidentally, Yamahi aren't meant to be a take on Yamaha despite the name, especially since they're not in the car business. The idea is that the syllables in their name read out 801 in goroawase, a very God complex-y number given Omega's linked with 800 and Alpha with 1, and in Buddhism is also 108 backwards.

GreatWyrmGold said:
If you feel like sharing more alternate plot details: Is there any way Blue Lotus might have turned up uninvited? Or invited?
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He still might, arc's not over yet. But for the now-cancelled tournament, uninvited was certainly a possibility, and for invited Koyomi would've gone looking for him since the tournament wasn't planned to start immediately.

StarSingerBlue said:
Why does she want to send Koyomi to prison ?
Is it just to be mean ?
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Pettiness is definitely part of it, but officially there's also Koyomi letting Blue Lotus go free (as she refused to kill Miyako) and her causing issues for the Earthly Purified given RUNE's overlap with them, on top of her being an unlicensed Hanazakari
 
Circling back around, I was hoping I'd see things in a better light after taking some time away.

That hasn't really proved to be the case.

At present, it kind of seems like this reality missed the boat on good things happening somewhere around the point where the Dandelionhearts' power was given to people who then, by and large, meekly handed it over to the Jeffrey Epsteins and Rupert Murdochs of the world so that they could continue enriching themselves.

Except for the ones like Koyomi and Emi, who instead collapsed into irrelevance and let the horrors that so disturbed them metastasize and propagate until they completely swallowed up any theoretical hope there may have once been that the Dandelionhearts and their consequences could have been harnessed to actually make the world a better place.

Oh, and also Miyako, I suppose. At least until she ends up as charred bones in an oil drum when she tries to change something.
 
I also realise that, with Sfira going off with Echo and Narcissus here, that this has become the third arc in a row to feature a kidnapping. Granted, it's slightly different this time since Sfira went willingly.

Speaking of Narcissus, I was trying to distinguish her dialogue from Freesia's since they're both women who act way younger than their actual age. So I decided to have her spout a bunch of 90s and 00s slang, going for the 'acts like a teenager' approach (or at least how she remembers teenagers) instead of 'acts like a little girl'
 
ArlequineLunaire said:
Pettiness is definitely part of it, but officially there's also Koyomi letting Blue Lotus go free (as she refused to kill Miyako) and her causing issues for the Earthly Purified given RUNE's overlap with them, on top of her being an unlicensed Hanazakari
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…
Yumemi has just managed to replace Seishirou Sakurazuka at the top of my « Fictional Asshole Exes » list.
I thought that wouldn't be possible.
 
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StarSingerBlue said:
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Yumemi has just managed to replace Seishirou Sakurazuka at the top of my « Fictional Asshole Exes » list.
I thought that wouldn't be possible.
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Well, Yumemi hasn't killed anyone close to Koyomi... though people are probably mentally adding 'Yet'.

This reminds me, I was gonna put 'Go on a date with Yumemi' as one of the choices this vote, but forgot to. I doubt it would surpass hanging up if I did put it in now, but anyone's free to make it a write-in vote.
Edit: Helps it'd be one of the least bad options
 
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"Kill someone for me, go to prison for a month or date me *wink* *wink*"
That would have been great. I would hate Yumeni so much more that way.

Can we write-in going to someone else who Yumeni would hates in order to get back at her. I get that Arisugawa is the one to hold the one brain cell in most situations, but this is making me feel so delightfully petty.
 
ArlequineLunaire said:
Well, Yumemi hasn't killed anyone close to Koyomi... though people are probably mentally adding 'Yet'.

This reminds me, I was gonna put 'Go on a date with Yumemi' as one of the choices this vote, but forgot to. I doubt it would surpass hanging up if I did put it in now, but anyone's free to make it a write-in vote.
Edit: Helps it'd be one of the least bad options
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You know, I was wondering about that and was half considering poining it out as Yumemi at least having some standards for abusing her power. So much for that. :V

Which, on the one hand, the aftermath of that could actually be fun to watch. On the other hand, her going "here's all these horrible options, but actually they're just an implicit way for me to blackmail you into a date while pretending it's your choice" sounds like another excellent reason to hang up on her. However, given I'm still in playing nice with the winning vote Mode, that sounds better than the alternatives at least.

[X] Go on a date with Yumemi
 
WallFlower said:
Can we write-in going to someone else who Yumeni would hates in order to get back at her.
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I don't think I've said that much about who Yumemi hates yet, other than unlicensed Hanazakari aka Witches. But I do have a couple of characters in mind who would fit the bill, so you can certainly write-in that.

Now I'm wondering which is the more toxic yuri ship, KoyomixYumemi or HarukaxKikuko (from Persona: The Beautiful)? Yumemi's in a bigger position of power, but at least Koyomi not being her subordinate has more ability to resist
 
WallFlower said:
"Kill someone for me, go to prison for a month or date me *wink* *wink*"
That would have been great. I would hate Yumeni so much more that way.
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I don't think Yumemi is quite that blunt about trying to crowbar herself into a relationship with her ex...but it would be funny. I've rooted for less plausible things (Blue Lotus casually joining the tournament) for that reason.

EDIT: Blue Lotus fights Yumemi in the semifinals, and tries to argue that as Frost King of one of the countries competing for Sfira, he has diplomatic immunity, so she can't hurt him. Yumemi, Lawful Stupid as she is, freezes until she figures out why that argument is bullshit, which gives Blue Lotus the opening he needs to strike a decisive blow.
 
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GreatWyrmGold said:
Blue Lotus fights Yumemi in the semifinals, and tries to argue that as Frost King of one of the countries competing for Sfira, he has diplomatic immunity, so she can't hurt him.
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Would probably be Cocytus in that omake-ish case, the human name for the Frost Fair's home planet (if you asked Blue Lotus the planet's actual name, he'd laugh and tell you "You would never be able to pronounce it").
And I bet some people are already picking up the Cocytus-Malebolge connection
 
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ArlequineLunaire said:
Well, Yumemi hasn't killed anyone close to Koyomi... though people are probably mentally adding 'Yet'.
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Oh, Seishirou is still No. 1 on the Evil Exes list.
Being an asshole is different, and Yumemi's abuse of power, faith in her own moral superiority and propensity for ridiculous petty bullshit win her the place.
Seishirou just did a bunch of really, really awful things and then fucked off to eat ice-cream for nearly a decade.
ArlequineLunaire said:
And I bet some people are already picking up the Cocytus-malebolge connection
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Those people do not include me.
 
StarSingerBlue said:
Those people do not include me.
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The frozen lake of Cocytus, the Hell of the betrayers, where those who betray are punished and the Devil freezes himself in place with the downdraft of his own wings, is the ninth circle of Hell in the Divine Comedy.

The ditches of Malebolge are the eighth, where assorted classes of those who deceive are punished: seducers and panderers; flatterers; simoniacs; counsellors of fraud; barrators; thieves; sowers of discord; sorcerers; hypocrites; alchemists, imposters, counterfeiters and perjurers.
 
As they relate to Fool Bloom, the Frost Fair say their condition is due to them 'betraying God', though are incredibly vague about what that specifically means. And as Malebolge includes sorcerers and alchemists, you can see the Hanazakari link
 
ArlequineLunaire said:
Now I'm wondering which is the more toxic yuri ship, KoyomixYumemi or HarukaxKikuko (from Persona: The Beautiful)?
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Oh boy, oh boy, Kikuko was kind of a mess, wasn't she? (In a good way, unless you had to interact with her personally.) Like, she was still young enough that there was a chance for her to get her act together, but then "I can fix her" is hardly the sign of a healthy relationship and I don't think her interactions with Haruka would in any way have benefited from a "romantic" element. Say what you want about Yumemi, but she's significantly less likely to shank Koyomi in a fit of psychotic jealousy.
GreatWyrmGold said:
I don't think Yumemi is quite that blunt about trying to crowbar herself into a relationship with her ex...but it would be funny.
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Honstly, at that point, it'd less be about wanting to make a relationship work and more just a blatant power play to get a sense of control.
 
Edgedancer said:
but then "I can fix her" is hardly the sign of a healthy relationship
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Still was the approach voters took. Though true, I don't think anyone expected them to have a full-on relationship, especially since Haruka had better options like Colette (much as Kikuko tried to sabotage them).

Which is another difference. Haruka as a Persona protagonist had plenty of other love interests, whereas Koyomi so far only has Emi as an alternative who's clearly not in a healthy mental state. Well, there's also Hayato, but Koyomi being the same age as his Mum, that's an obvious non-starter
 
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[] Write-in- "No" and hang up
-[] "Sfira, You hoped that it may be different here. I thought it was supposed be different here, apparently we share a boat. Do you want to join me, because if your 'ownership' is determined by this tournament then nobody could possibly object if you won."

Edit: KoyomiXSfira

Double edit:
Small change in plans:
[X] Write-in- "I just told someone they weren't some object" and hang up
-[X] "Sfira, You hoped that it may be different here. I thought it was supposed be different here, apparently we share a boat. Do you want to join me, because if your 'ownership' is determined by this tournament then nobody could possibly object if you won."

We seem to be the only ones who don't acknowledge the validity of this tournament and arguing in with our actions that this is wrong. Sfira is a lot like Miyako in that they both ran away from a bad home environment hoping for something better.
The important distinction is that Sfira got the message that her hope were dashed as people kept walking over her and deciding what would be best for her. In addition to her seeing that In addition to seeing eartlings treating eachother as objects (see Miyako not being allowed to interact with Arisugawa).

Sfira like Miyako hoped find a better place by taking a leap of faith and running away. The difference is that Miyako learned to wear a skirt before running away and Sfira needs to discover her metaphorical skirt.

This also feels appropriate route for Arisugawa to take after Yumeni just told her that Arisugawa is just an object for her desires that can be bought and owned. I'm starting to wonder if Arisugawa had to run away from a bad marriage with Yumeni in the past.
 
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[X] Write-in- "I just told someone they weren't some object" and hang up

-[X] "Sfira, You hoped that it may be different here. I thought it was supposed be different here, apparently we share a boat. Do you want to join me, because if your 'ownership' is determined by this tournament then nobody could possibly object if you won."
 
I don't know how to start this post, but I woke up in the middle of last night to write ideas for a tournament arc. So, um, have my barely-edited midnight rambles I guess?
Tournament arc participants:
  • Yumemi/White Egret, fighting for RUNE/the United Nations
  • Vasilia/Zinnia, fighting for the Russian Federation
  • Hibiki/Hellebore, fighting for Japan
  • Palmira/Alstroemeria, fighting for Peru, since they had someone in the area
  • Two unknown jobbers, probably from China and the USA
  • Blue Lotus/Blue Lotus, fighting for the Frost Fair (singular)
  • Koyomi/Black Rose, fighting for Sfira not being the captive of any damn country
Possibly another eight Hanazakari from other countries. Probably includes France and the UK, the other two permanent UNSC members; maybe also Brazil, Germany, India, and...three other countries? From my limited understanding of the geopolitical tier list, a 16-member tournament (even with the UN, Frost Fair, and No taking up three slots) would probably require dipping into B-tier powers, and there are a lot more of those than there are spare slots in the tournament. And unless some of the new characters turn out to be interesting or important, at that point we're at, a 63% jobber density, which is too many jobbers. But 25% is kinda low, so one of the established characters would have to job for Yumemi or Blue Lotus in round 1. Probably Palmira.

Assuming the eight-member bracket...
  • The finals would be Blue Lotus and Black Rose, of course.
  • Semi-finals would be Blue Lotus and White Egret, and Black Rose and Zinnia. Aside from Koyomi/Yumemi, those are the most emotionally loaded fights.
  • Round 1...
    • Black Rose and Hellebore, since Hibiki is the only established competitor left who has a significant ideological conflict with Koyomi
    • Alstroemeria and White Egret, for basically the same reason. I guess Palmira might conflict with Vasilia, but then we couldn't have...
    • Zinnia and the American, Cold War in miniature
    • Blue Lotus and the magical girl from China. Sucks to job for the big villain.
Plot twist: Koyomi realizes she's going to lose to Vasilia, and blasts whatever's keeping Sfira in one place. Her mundane friends help Sfira escape, and the real final match is between Yumemi and Koyomi after all. Blue Lotus and Vasilia end up fighting along the way, the winner planning to take Sfira from whoever wins the final round, but Koyomi and Yumemi's relationship isn't so distant that they won't team up against the Frost Fair. (Oh, yeah, Vasilia loses. Spoilers, sorry.)
Miyako tries to turn this into a power-of-friendship moment, look how much stronger we are together, but Koyomi and Yumemi's relationship is too distant for that and they start fighting before she even finishes her sentence.
 
WallFlower said:
"Sfira, You hoped that it may be different here. I thought it was supposed be different here, apparently we share a boat. Do you want to join me, because if your 'ownership' is determined by this tournament then nobody could possibly object if you won."
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While I really like this write-in, a slight issue with it is that Sfira's already been taken away by Hibiki and Chigusa, so Koyomi doesn't have the opportunity to say this to them right now. Unless the idea is it's the first thing she says to them upon meeting up again.

Also, since the whole tournament arc was prematurely ended by Hibiki and Chigusa, I think you mean 'was decided by this tournament' given it's abruptly over. Your phrasing kinda implied it was still happening (GWG's post being an AU)

GreatWyrmGold said:
I don't know how to start this post, but I woke up in the middle of last night to write ideas for a tournament arc.
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The funny thing is, I was planning to have Koyomi actually lose halfway through had we gone through with the tournament, which would've put us in a similar situation to what we have now.

Still, I was considering giving you Omake EXP for this post given you planned, or started to plan, a whole arc essentially. Unless you think i should hold off till you've refined it more
 
ArlequineLunaire said:
Also, since the whole tournament arc was prematurely ended by Hibiki and Chigusa, I think you mean 'was decided by this tournament' given it's abruptly over. Your phrasing kinda implied it was still happening (GWG's post being an AU)
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Ah, sorry for missing it I should probably reread it at a time when I've had a good night sleep and some coffee.
 
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