Like with the details of Blue Lotus' plan, whether or not Hanazakari can have children, and what those children are like, is a question I'm planning to answer soon in the story proper. For now I'll just say "Yes, but..."
On another topic, I can confirm that Chigusa's Cultivar includes bringing mirror images of her to life, even if she vastly prefers to use pictures of her younger self. This doesn't mean that she can just hit the insta-win button by standing between two mirrors, doing so would utterly exhaust her powers and thus her emotions. All that on top of the irony that her last name, Kagamino, is spelt as 'Hall of Mirrors'
Appearance: Jill is usually the most boring person in the room.
Nationality: American(United States)
History: Jack's Parents had a habit of moving from place to place on a frequent basis. Before eventually settling in Texas. Jill, his twin sister who nobody heard of before, moved into the state from a boarding school and quickly befriended most of Jacks friends after Jack himself had disappeared. Brown dragon's most impressive feat as a Hanazakari was that she and her friends were able face off a Bishop who had organized a big concert. This was pre-Veil shred A journalist complimented the great special effects in his review of the concert.
Personality: Jack was a depressed boy who escaped his live through a obsession in 80s music. His friend Jay Jay got named after the Guitarist of the Twisted Sisters. Jill is a down to earth girl who also likes to remain in the background. Brown Dragon was a way to be someone completely different, to be a hero, like her idols.
Motivation: Jill to enjoy her retirement with her husband. She has given a lot of herself to be where she is. Don't. Disrupt. THIS.
Cultivar: Brown Dragon has the power to redirect attacks of her opponent towards herself and eat magical effects. She has always dealt with her emotions by feeling harder rather than learning proper technique. This has taken a physical toll on her. It also doesn't help that she repeatably overcharged her own powers in order to save her friends and teammates who found themselves in precarious situations.
Genera: Pentacles
Starshoot: Guitar
Regalia: Brown Dragon's Regelia has changed since she began. Her brown cape and her three pony tails flowed behind her throughout her live. But the wide bloomers she wore turned into a gown womwhere in her adolescence.
Affiliation: Witch
Aspects:
Technique: Squire
Physique: Squire
Heart: Baroness
Mind: Lady
Thinking the biological phenomenon called Hermaphoditism, gave me some plants and animals have gave me an idea. It's not really a concept that applies to humans. But sequential hermaphroditism is a attractive concept to me. Just imagine being able to change sexual characteristics throughout your life.
She became a bit of a Shonen protagonist as I was writing her, because the flower I'm basing her on is carnivorous and eats the pollinator's when after it becomes a female. I want that implication, so I just made her attract attacks instead.
[X] Tell them this 'new Hanazakari' plan, whether Yamahi or Chigusa is in charge, won't work. That it's illogical and won't work long-term.
-[X] "Listen to yourselves! Sfira's already told us they can't grant powers, so you're planning to, what, chop them up and stick the parts into people in the hopes they'll sprout? That's not how any of this works. You're just going to torture and maim a person and it won't help anyone. Not you, not YamahiPro, and certainly not humanity. And even if it did, all Sfira could give them is some super speed. You think YamahiPro is going to be interested in that over an army of Hanazakari that can make duplicates of themselves or copy the powers of any other Hanazakari? Or did you forget we're part Pathragadan now too? If this actually works, you two are going to have massive targets on your backs for every government, Corp, and Crime syndicate that wants a quick boost to their magical girl ranks."
Koyomi had to keep swinging her sword in arcs to not be trapped at the bottom of a Narcissi dogpile. But with all the Narcissi that had been summoned, that still left enough of them free to back attack her. Cloaking herself in darkness only did so much, as Chigusa having all these picture-clones meant some shots in the dark were still bound to connect.
She thought to pull the same trick she had on Yumemi, sending all the darkness away in an instant to pierce all their eyes with blinding light. But that presented a whole new problem, how to warn Emi and Vasilisa about this beforehand without Chigusa catching on?
Vasilisa was faring slightly better, floating up near the ceiling and picking off Narcissi one by one with her enchanted ray gun. Not that one by one was quite good enough given how many clones there were, and Vasilisa having transformed a while previously just to communicate with everyone, her emotions could only hold out so long. To get in some more attacks till then, she swooped down to snatch a clone up in her arms and threw them screaming into a bunch of fellow Narcissi.
So of course she got cocky enough that the next time she tried this, a Narcissus grabbed and ran off with Vasilisa's 360o fishbowl helmet, her own Starshoot. Though her basic transformation stayed up, her gravity field flickered and faded till she was stranded on the floor amid a swarm of past selves.
Emi however just stood there staring and mumbling, so nearly a statue that the Narcissi couldn't be bothered to pounce at her. She ultimately said, however strained, "Izumi-san, I... We're here to save Sfira, but I also, I guess, should be saving you. Like you did with me."
"Save me from what?" was all Hibiki responded with.
Again, Emi was left floundering for an answer, though one that did come to her was 'From yourself'. As it turned out though, she wasn't the only one who thought to try talking her way out of this brawl.
"Kagamino, Izumi, won't you listen?!" Koyomi changed tact by yelling out. As that actually got the Narcissi to stop for a second, she continued, "You've heard of the one calling himself 'Blue Lotus', haven't you? Said he stopped by to make a deal with YamahiPro."
"...He did, yes. Had the gall to genuinely claim he was a Frostfarer. But how do you know of him?" asked no less than Chigusa's prime self.
Doubting he was a Frostfarer was another thing Koyomi didn't need, but she knew this approach was a gamble to begin with. "I was there the day he escaped from RUNE," she said before pointing upwards, "and a few minutes ago on the roof of your house, he told me about YamahiPro himself, and that he wanted to see how 'emotional' you could get.
So if YamahiPro's now your enemy, shouldn't he be too? What does he even have left to dupe you corporate types with anymore?"
"I can confirm this Blue Lotus is a Frostfarer," Hibiki said and nodded, "and there's something even a single Frostfarer can offer, the creation of a Snow Queen."
The Snow Queen. The most powerful Frostfarer possible beyond compare. Had the last Snow Queen not been gradually destroyed by the countless intergalactic wars the Frost Fair had already fought, most likely the Earth would never have survived. But the divine punishment had been dealt to the Frost Fair meant the Snow Queen could never be one of their own, only a ghostly Jack Frost made from a Pawn could ever become a candidate for Queen.
"Wait, isn't a Snow Queen big deal, can a single Frostfarer really turn a Jack into one?" Vasilisa asked, glance askew, "And I get corpos wanting Frost Fair treasure, but why a Snow Queen? Big superweapon, or have they just lost their minds?"
"He said now being King Frost gives him the authority to do so," Hibiki said. If she knew she didn't add this was only by default.
"As for why Yamahi and co want one, it should already be obvious; to go back to the glory days," Koyomi muttered, "If they want new and younger Hanazakari by whatever insane means, have the fame and profits come crawling back, then they'll need a real enemy for them. Send them to fight in petty conflicts around the world, the magic's lost, and there's no way they say they're 'fighting or love'. But get them to fight an alien invasion, something we can all root against, well those who didn't go turncoat anyway, they can look like real heroes just like we did. Got their little scheme nailed down, haven't I?"
Chigusa and Hibiki just stood there, like there was nothing they could correct. Except one thing. "There'll be no Snow Queen under my watch though, I won't force my darling new Hanazakari into such madness," Chigusa said.
"You still don't get it, do you?" Koyomi asked with a glare. "The whole reason we fought and many of us died in the Frost Decade was so that nobody would need to be made a Hanazakari ever again. You bring us back, by mutilating Sfira no less, all you're doing is spitting on everything we accomplished!"
Those words got a sneering laugh out of Chigusa. "For an author, you have little imagination. Too much 'write what you know', perhaps? When i bring the Hanazakari back, I can have them do whatever I please. Petty and past squabbles will be no concern to us," she said.
"Have them do what?" Koyomi pressed, awaiting whatever answer she could possibly have.
"Oh no, hold on," Emi suddenly spoke up with a gasp. "If he's trying to make a Snow Queen, and he wanted us to get emotions out of Izumi-san and Kagamino-san to drain them, does that mean he wants you as candidates?"
Thinking that over, Chigusa went, "If so, have Yamahi figured me out, sicced him on me?!"
Hibiki meanwhile just looked utterly resigned to that.
"Brilliant deduction," a certain voice called from above, as he tossed an ice flower into the middle of Chigusa's room. "Now time, I am afraid, is up," Blue Lotus added as he leapt down, then instead of heading straight after anyone, skated around the boudoir with one hand outstretched till the walls and floor were covered in ice. "I noticed your manor had no mirrors, so I thought giving you a few would made the perfect present."
What should've given Chigusa even more image-ammo instead her left her faint and quaking, now face to face with her real age reflected back endlessly. And not only did her clones have to feel what she felt, they were stuck flailing on the ice too.
Koyomi got to work shattering the ice below with her sword, then casting darkness over Chigusa's eyes, which she only then realised left her now seeing nothing. Vasilisa meanwhile snatched her fishbowl back before she tried lifting any nearby clones off the ice, but only so many at once with how far her gravity field extended.
"You tell me now, where's Sfira?!" Koyomi demanded of Chigusa. "If we could use anything, it's their speed."
"In the basement!" Chigusa cried back, like she just wanted this over with.
With more than half the Hanazakari here stuck reorienting themselves, Blue Lotus then skidded down the bannister and somersaulted into the air before landing on both feet, right between Hibiki and Emi. "Ah Hellebore, big fan. Not for your acting, necessarily, but for putting the very last Dandelionheart under the blade. I am in your debt. Anyway, loyal to Yamahi to the end, are we? You would not harm the company's new benefactor... or would you now?" he asked with an icy smile.
At first, all Hibiki could do was tremble and seethe. But then something in her broke and she hissed, "You know what? Maybe I would! Blossom, Lemon!" Her colour scheme turned yellow in a flash as her removed mask grew to become a bolt-shaped sword. From it, she shot a blast of lightning downwards. Blue Lotus inevitably dodged it by jumping up, then conjured a patch of ice below him as a shield from any carpet static. But at least its trajectory meant he hadn't tricked her into electrocuting Emi.
"I know, Hellebore, Orange, how about I make you both an offer? A once in a lifetime chance to end the Frost Fair for good," Blue Lotus then said out of nowhere, smiling as he stretched out his arms. "Records have it your Cultivar, original and borrowed, makes people feel only pain when they should feel their greatest love. Why not use it on me then, stop me from draining any more emotions? Is that not what you want? So, take a free shot."
Article:
Overseeing Blue Lotus' offer, Koyomi's reaction was:
[ ] To urge Emi to use her Cultivar, restore her confidence by showing her how it could be used for good.
[ ] To urge Hibiki to copy Emi's Cultivar, have her finally strike back against YamahiPro's orders.
[ ] To yell at them not to fall for it, this reeked of a trick.
-[ ] Create a thin layer of darkness over the ice and remove your darkness from Chigusa's eyes. (EpsilonRose write-in)
-[ ] Yell at her to dog pile Blue Lotus (EpsilonRose write-in)
[ ] To attack Blue Lotus herself, calling in Vasilisa if she could, as long as he taunted them by standing there.
[ ] To go get Sfira, even if she had to crash down through the floors to do so in time.
[ ] To distract by offering herself as a Snow Queen candidate. A lie of course, but would Blue Lotus still take the bait?
[ ] Write-in
[X] To go get Sfira, even if she had to crash down through the floors to do so in time.
I mean, I don't exactly think that using a power that works off the target's emotion is going to do much against a creature without any of those, but either way, I'd like to keep focus on saving our friend.
Points to Hibiki for ultimately still tear her leash to snap at Blue Lotus though, I suppose.
Well, Blue Lotus technically does have emotions... when he steals them. Or when he experiences something he somehow before hasn't in all his countless years of existence, so yeah mostly though stealing them.
Speaking of Blue Lotus, I found out that there's a TV show actually called The Lazarus Project, though of course it's hardly the first to use the name (a Doctor Who episode being one example). Though I have thought that Project Azazel could be a good alternate name for our Project Lazarus, given the scapegoat imagery and Blue Lotus being chained up
By the way, a couple of updates ago I used this as the BGM for Chigusa's manor, but for a while my plan was to go with using this piece instead. Given the title 'Waltz of the Witches', it's likely I'll still be able to fit it in somewhere going forth.
For this update, something I thought would get more of a reaction is we finally know what Blue Lotus' actual plan is, if not the specifics of it yet of course
Thanks for catching that! Changed the line to 'If we could use anything, it's their speed". Still not quite sure about that line though, as while Sfira's speed would obviously help out against Blue Lotus, it possibly sounds like Koyomi values Sfira mainly for their speed, which obviously isn't true. So I might rephrase it again later, unless people don't see it as a big deal
"Have them do what?" Koyomi pressed, awaiting whatever answer she could possibly have.
"Oh no, hold on," Emi suddenly spoke up with a gasp. "If he's trying to make a Snow Queen, and he wanted us to get emotions out of Izumi-san and Kagamino-san to drain them, does that mean he wants you as candidates?"
Thinking that over, Chigusa went, "If so, have Yamahi figured me out, sicced him on me?!"
Hibiki meanwhile just looked utterly resigned to that.
Is Arisugawa's trait of critical thinking contagious!? Rune needs to put her in quarantine to keep the threat in check, before we have a Aristotelia in full bloom incident again!
[X] To go get Sfira, even if she had to crash down through the floors to do so in time.
I bring these up as I wonder if people have noticed any similarities among Hanazakari of the same Cultivar, beyond just their power? Guess I'm thinking of stories where having the same class of power usually means you have broad personality traits in common.
I've been thinking about people assigning in-universe stereotypes to Genera, despite their arbitrariness which I've mentioned in-text. Like you'd expect Swords to be aggressive and Pentacles cautious, but Emi, Vasilisa, and Maimi all show that's not the case at all
[X] To yell at them not to fall for it, this reeked of a trick.
I'm pretty sure this is a gambit, and I'm pretty sure it would make him stronger somehow. Or at least he believes it would. Being able to derive strength from feeling pain would be unsurprising in a Frostfarer.
So of course she got cocky enough that the next time she tried this, a Narcissus grabbed and ran off with Vasilisa's 360o fishbowl helmet, her own Starshoot. Though her basic transformation stayed up, her gravity field flickered and faded till she was stranded on the floor amid a swarm of past selves.
What do you think he is? A Hanazakari who watched Hellsing Ultimate and Frozen back-to-back?
"You still don't get it, do you?" Koyomi asked with a glare. "The whole reason we fought and many of us died in the Frost Decade was so that nobody would need to be made a Hanazakari ever again. You bring us back, by mutilating Sfira no less, all you're doing is spitting on everything we accomplished!"
Those words got a sneering laugh out of Chigusa. "For an author, you have little imagination. Too much 'write what you know', perhaps? When i bring the Hanazakari back, I can have them do whatever I please. Petty and past squabbles will be no concern to us," she said.
That's not a lack of imagination, Chigusa, that's just different values and goals.
"I know, Hellebore, Orange, how about I make you both an offer? A once in a lifetime chance to end the Frost Fair for good," Blue Lotus then said out of nowhere, smiling as he stretched out his arms. "Records have it your Cultivar, original and borrowed, makes people feel only pain when they should feel their greatest love. Why not use it on me then, stop me from draining any more emotions? Is that not what you want? So, take a free shot."
In situations like this, I like to invoke the Scary Terry principle. Does Blue Lotus have any reason to tell Emi the one way to defeat him, or is it more likely that he's trying to trick her into doing something he wants?
I say we completely ignore him. That way, whether this is a single bluff or a double-bluff, we're foiling his trick. And we can focus on our main objective at the same time.
[X] To go get Sfira, even if she had to crash down through the floors to do so in time.
Thanks for catching that! Changed the line to 'If we could use anything, it's their speed". Still not quite sure about that line though, as while Sfira's speed would obviously help out against Blue Lotus, it possibly sounds like Koyomi values Sfira mainly for their speed, which obviously isn't true. So I might rephrase it again later, unless people don't see it as a big deal
Speaking of Blue Lotus, I found out that there's a TV show actually called The Lazarus Project, though of course it's hardly the first to use the name (a Doctor Who episode being one example). Though I have thought that Project Azazel could be a good alternate name for our Project Lazarus, given the scapegoat imagery and Blue Lotus being chained up
Calling it Project Lazarus is a bit odd when it doesn't seem to involve any attempts at resurrection, which is what Lazarus is mostly known for. Asclepius or Panacea might make more sense, given their implied goals. Maybe Eden, if you want to stick to the Christian naming convention.
Thanks for catching that! Changed the line to 'If we could use anything, it's their speed". Still not quite sure about that line though, as while Sfira's speed would obviously help out against Blue Lotus, it possibly sounds like Koyomi values Sfira mainly for their speed, which obviously isn't true. So I might rephrase it again later, unless people don't see it as a big deal
That valuation feels odd to me, in and of itself. Sfira's speed could be helpful, but she's already shown pretty severe control issues and Blue Lotus freezing the floor isn't going to help that. Once you factor in the time it will take to get to and free her, it doesn't seem like her powers would be much of a tactical benefit, even if rescuing her is still a strategic priority.
Calling it Project Lazarus is a bit odd when it doesn't seem to involve any attempts at resurrection, which is what Lazarus is mostly known for. Asclepius or Panacea might make more sense, given their implied goals. Maybe Eden, if you want to stick to the Christian naming convention.
I believe part of the project revolved around finding a way to duplicate the secrets of the Frost Fair's immortality.
The reason that an outside Hanazakari who finds out about this is immediately horrified is because the likely cost of this is becoming like the Frost Fair, which they quite reasonably argue is a fate worse than death.
But the world order is run by neoliberal ghouls, who probably see the idea of immortality at the price of being an emotionless husk who can only live and feel joy through vampirizing other people's lives, hopes, and dreams and ask "where's the downside, tell me where to sign up?"
That valuation feels odd to me, in and of itself. Sfira's speed could be helpful, but she's already shown pretty severe control issues and Blue Lotus freezing the floor isn't going to help that. Once you factor in the time it will take to get to and free her, it doesn't seem like her powers would be much of a tactical benefit, even if rescuing her is still a strategic priority.
Driving off Blue Lotus first and then rescuing Sfira at leisure might well be the better move, if Sfira is not much of a warrior.
After all, I imagine Blue Lotus would consider Sfira to be quite a prize too; he could probably think of all sorts of ways to use her as a bargaining chip or otherwise gain advantage from capturing her.
I admit I settled on the name Lazarus more for meta reasons than in-story ones, with the whole 'The Frost Fair are back' plot point even if it's just one of them. But what also made me settle on the name Lazarus, from a more in-story POV, was reading about how Lazarus supposedly lost his emotions after being resurrected, due to what sights he'd seen in the afterlife. And the project was still about keeping the Frost Fair alive, though you could say that's more Ephesus than Lazarus.
But yeah, you could argue that Kamizono's Cultivar and this plot to use Sfira to make more Hanazakari have bigger Lazarus echoes.
Edit: Project Lazarus was indeed about 'bringing back' the Frost Fair by making humanity more like them, though how much Yumemi actually believed in that aspect of it or if she just mentioned it to Koyomi to provoke her is of course debatable
So, logic check, just to make sure I didn't miss anything, like last time. Our current situation is as follows:
Blue Lotus wants to provoke one of us to an emotional high and then drain whoever it was, so they'll become the new Snow Queen.
Based on the fact that he didn't just go ahead and do it, it seems like the emotional peak is necessary for this process.
Given our current ranks and the fact that we weren't getting completely stomped, it seems likely that everyone here is at, roughly, the same power level and thus picking the strongest one of us probably isn't a major concern for him.
His suggestion to Orange and Hellebore is almost certainly a trap.
It sounds like a great way to cause at least one of them major emotional issues.
Sfira is somewhere secure and not here.
There are decent odds that she is, more or less, safe where she is.
Going after her would require A) turning our backs on Blue Lotus and B) leaving the rest of his potential targets (most of whom seem more emotionally unstable) with him.
Blue Lotus seems much better at fighting than we are, at least on a tactical level, given how well he controlled the flow of the last fight.
Does all of that seem accurate and did I miss anything?
Only two corrections. He'd drain and then kill whoever's on an emotional high, so they'll become a Jack Frost wraith who in turn could potentially become the Snow Queen. The exact process from Jack Frost to Snow Queen is something Blue Lotus' not telling. Also, Sfira's specifically in the manor basement, so they're fairly close.
Fair enough. I was assuming we're at least one floor above ground and likely several corridors away from a door to the basement (which we'd probably have to spend some time searching for). In the grand scheme of things, that's fairly close, but on the timescale of a fight, it's going to take long enough to get there for a lot to happen. More importantly, she's not immediately here, meaning she's not in much danger of getting hit by a stray shot or becoming a target of opportunity, unless someone starts throwing around enough fire power to bring down the manor.
Actually, on that topic, would you be willing to tell us where exactly in the manor we are, or at least which floor we're on?
Chigusa's boudoir is about halfway up the manor, in the middle of the stairs that lead all the way from the upper floors to somewhat near the ground floor.
Also, guess I read 'not here' as 'not in the manor' rather than 'not immediately present'
I note that everyone assumes Blue Lotus's suggestion is a trap purely because Blue Lotus suggested it. (Including me, it's a reasonable assumption.)
If I run a quest, I should have the villain tell the protagonist how to beat them and bank on everyone assuming it's a trap. The reveal that the players were given the easy solution and deliberately chose to ignore it would be so fun. For me, at least.
